Writing More Informative Letters of Reference

OpenAIRE

Wright, Scott M; Ziegelstein, Roy C

2004-01-01

Writing a meaningful and valuable letter of reference is not an easy task. Several factors influence the quality of any letter of reference. First, the accuracy and reliability of the writer's impressions and judgment depend on how well he knows the individual being described. Second, the writer's frame of reference, which is determined by the number of persons at the same level that he has worked with, will impact the context and significance of his beliefs and estimations. Third, the letter...

Writing more informative letters of reference.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Scott M; Ziegelstein, Roy C

2004-05-01

Writing a meaningful and valuable letter of reference is not an easy task. Several factors influence the quality of any letter of reference. First, the accuracy and reliability of the writer's impressions and judgment depend on how well he knows the individual being described. Second, the writer's frame of reference, which is determined by the number of persons at the same level that he has worked with, will impact the context and significance of his beliefs and estimations. Third, the letter-writing skills of the person composing the letter will naturally affect the letter. To support the other components of a candidate's application, a letter of reference should provide specific examples of how an individual's behavior or attitude compares to a reference group and should assess "intangibles" that are hard to glean from a curriculum vitae or from test scores. This report offers suggestions that should help physicians write more informative letters of reference.

Pseudo-Synesthesia through Reading Books with Colored Letters

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Colizoli, Olympia; Murre, Jaap M. J.; Rouw, Romke

2012-01-01

Background Synesthesia is a phenomenon where a stimulus produces consistent extraordinary subjective experiences. A relatively common type of synesthesia involves perception of color when viewing letters (e.g. the letter ‘a’ always appears as light blue). In this study, we examine whether traits typically regarded as markers of synesthesia can be acquired by simply reading in color. Methodology/Principal Findings Non-synesthetes were given specially prepared colored books to read. A modified Stroop task was administered before and after reading. A perceptual crowding task was administered after reading. Reading one book (>49,000 words) was sufficient to induce effects regarded as behavioral markers for synesthesia. The results of the Stroop tasks indicate that it is possible to learn letter-color associations through reading in color (F(1, 14) = 5.85, p = .030). Furthermore, Stroop effects correlated with subjective reports about experiencing letters in color (r(13) = 0.51, p = .05). The frequency of viewing letters is related to the level of association as seen by the difference in the Stroop effect size between upper- and lower-case letters (t(14) = 2.79, p = .014) and in a subgroup of participants whose Stroop effects increased as they continued to read in color. Readers did not show significant performance advantages on the crowding task compared to controls. Acknowledging the many differences between trainees and synesthetes, results suggest that it may be possible to acquire a subset of synesthetic behavioral traits in adulthood through training. Conclusion/Significance To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of acquiring letter-color associations through reading in color. Reading in color appears to be a promising avenue in which we may explore the differences and similarities between synesthetes and non-synesthetes. Additionally, reading in color is a plausible method for a long-term ‘synesthetic’ training program. PMID

The Neural Substrates for Letter String Readings in The Normal and Reverse Directions: An fMRI Study

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Ge, Sheng; Saito, Takashi; Wu, Jing-Long; Ogasawara, Jun-Ichi; Yamauchi, Shuichi; Matsunaga, Naofumi; Iramina, Keiji

In order to investigate the difference in cortical activations between reading letter strings in the normal direction and the reverse direction, an fMRI study was conducted. In this study, the cortical activations elicited by Japanese letter string reading and Chinese letter string reading were investigated. The subjects performed the normal direction reading task (read letter strings from left to right), and the reverse direction reading task (read letter strings from right to left). According to the experimental results, the activated brain regions during the normal and the reverse direction reading tasks were compared. It was found that visuospatial transformation was involved in the reverse direction reading task, while this function was not significant during the normal direction reading task. Furthermore, we found that there was no significant difference in cortical activation between Japanese and Chinese letter string readings.

Speech Perception Engages a General Timer: Evidence from a Divided Attention Word Identification Task

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Casini, Laurence; Burle, Boris; Nguyen, Noel

2009-01-01

Time is essential to speech. The duration of speech segments plays a critical role in the perceptual identification of these segments, and therefore in that of spoken words. Here, using a French word identification task, we show that vowels are perceived as shorter when attention is divided between two tasks, as compared to a single task control…

Bayesian Action–Perception Computational Model: Interaction of Production and Recognition of Cursive Letters

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Gilet, Estelle; Diard, Julien; Bessière, Pierre

2011-01-01

In this paper, we study the collaboration of perception and action representations involved in cursive letter recognition and production. We propose a mathematical formulation for the whole perception–action loop, based on probabilistic modeling and Bayesian inference, which we call the Bayesian Action–Perception (BAP) model. Being a model of both perception and action processes, the purpose of this model is to study the interaction of these processes. More precisely, the model includes a feedback loop from motor production, which implements an internal simulation of movement. Motor knowledge can therefore be involved during perception tasks. In this paper, we formally define the BAP model and show how it solves the following six varied cognitive tasks using Bayesian inference: i) letter recognition (purely sensory), ii) writer recognition, iii) letter production (with different effectors), iv) copying of trajectories, v) copying of letters, and vi) letter recognition (with internal simulation of movements). We present computer simulations of each of these cognitive tasks, and discuss experimental predictions and theoretical developments. PMID:21674043

Associative priming in a masked perceptual identification task: evidence for automatic processes.

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Pecher, Diane; Zeelenberg, René; Raaijmakers, Jeroen G W

2002-10-01

Two experiments investigated the influence of automatic and strategic processes on associative priming effects in a perceptual identification task in which prime-target pairs are briefly presented and masked. In this paradigm, priming is defined as a higher percentage of correctly identified targets for related pairs than for unrelated pairs. In Experiment 1, priming was obtained for mediated word pairs. This mediated priming effect was affected neither by the presence of direct associations nor by the presentation time of the primes, indicating that automatic priming effects play a role in perceptual identification. Experiment 2 showed that the priming effect was not affected by the proportion (.90 vs. .10) of related pairs if primes were presented briefly to prevent their identification. However, a large proportion effect was found when primes were presented for 1000 ms so that they were clearly visible. These results indicate that priming in a masked perceptual identification task is the result of automatic processes and is not affected by strategies. The present paradigm provides a valuable alternative to more commonly used tasks such as lexical decision.

On Coding Non-Contiguous Letter Combinations

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Frédéric eDandurand

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Starting from the hypothesis that printed word identification initially involves the parallel mapping of visual features onto location-specific letter identities, we analyze the type of information that would be involved in optimally mapping this location-specific orthographic code onto a location-invariant lexical code. We assume that some intermediate level of coding exists between individual letters and whole words, and that this involves the representation of letter combinations. We then investigate the nature of this intermediate level of coding given the constraints of optimality. This intermediate level of coding is expected to compress data while retaining as much information as possible about word identity. Information conveyed by letters is a function of how much they constrain word identity and how visible they are. Optimization of this coding is a combination of minimizing resources (using the most compact representations and maximizing information. We show that in a large proportion of cases, non-contiguous letter sequences contain more information than contiguous sequences, while at the same time requiring less precise coding. Moreover, we found that the best predictor of human performance in orthographic priming experiments was within-word ranking of conditional probabilities, rather than average conditional probabilities. We conclude that from an optimality perspective, readers learn to select certain contiguous and non-contiguous letter combinations as information that provides the best cue to word identity.

Identification and Analysis of Multi-tasking Product Information Search Sessions with Query Logs

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Xiang Zhou

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This research aims to identify product search tasks in online shopping and analyze the characteristics of consumer multi-tasking search sessions. Design/methodology/approach: The experimental dataset contains 8,949 queries of 582 users from 3,483 search sessions. A sequential comparison of the Jaccard similarity coefficient between two adjacent search queries and hierarchical clustering of queries is used to identify search tasks. Findings: (1 Users issued a similar number of queries (1.43 to 1.47 with similar lengths (7.3-7.6 characters per task in mono-tasking and multi-tasking sessions, and (2 Users spent more time on average in sessions with more tasks, but spent less time for each task when the number of tasks increased in a session. Research limitations: The task identification method that relies only on query terms does not completely reflect the complex nature of consumer shopping behavior. Practical implications: These results provide an exploratory understanding of the relationships among multiple shopping tasks, and can be useful for product recommendation and shopping task prediction. Originality/value: The originality of this research is its use of query clustering with online shopping task identification and analysis, and the analysis of product search session characteristics.

Fuel number identification method and device therefor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doi, Takami; Seno, Makoto; Tanaka, Keiji

1998-01-01

The present invention provides a method of and a device for automatically identifying the number on the upper surface of a fuel of a fuel assembly in a PWR type reactor. Namely, the number on the upper surface of the fuel assembly of the PWR is not arranged in a row, but indent letters are dispersed to predetermined positions of the surface to be indented. Accordingly, the identification of letters is difficult. In the present invention, the letters are identified by the following procedures. Procedure (1): the letters are detected while having a corner portion of the upper surface of a fuel assembly where the number is indented as characteristic points. A procedure (2): a letter region is determined to a relative position based on the characteristic points while determining indent letters having the same direction as one group. A procedure (3): a letter identification treatment is applied to the letter images in the above-mentioned letter region to identify them. A neural network is used for the letter identification treatment. (N.H.)

When do letter features migrate? A boundary condition for feature-integration theory.

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Butler, B E; Mewhort, D J; Browse, R A

1991-01-01

Feature-integration theory postulates that a lapse of attention will allow letter features to change position and to recombine as illusory conjunctions (Treisman & Paterson, 1984). To study such errors, we used a set of uppercase letters known to yield illusory conjunctions in each of three tasks. The first, a bar-probe task, showed whole-character mislocations but not errors based on feature migration and recombination. The second, a two-alternative forced-choice detection task, allowed subjects to focus on the presence or absence of subletter features and showed illusory conjunctions based on feature migration and recombination. The third was also a two-alternative forced-choice detection task, but we manipulated the subjects' knowledge of the shape of the stimuli: In the case-certain condition, the stimuli were always in uppercase, but in the case-uncertain condition, the stimuli could appear in either upper- or lowercase. Subjects in the case-certain condition produced illusory conjunctions based on feature recombination, whereas subjects in the case-uncertain condition did not. The results suggest that when subjects can view the stimuli as feature groups, letter features regroup as illusory conjunctions; when subjects encode the stimuli as letters, whole items may be mislocated, but subletter features are not. Thus, illusory conjunctions reflect the subject's processing strategy, rather than the architecture of the visual system.

The influence of short-term memory on standard discrimination and cued identification olfactory tasks.

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Zucco, Gesualdo M; Hummel, Thomas; Tomaiuolo, Francesco; Stevenson, Richard J

2014-01-30

Amongst the techniques to assess olfactory functions, discrimination and cued identification are those most prone to the influence of odour short-term memory (STM). Discrimination task requires participants to detect the odd one out of three presented odourants. As re-smelling is not permitted, an un-intended STM load may generate, even though the task purports to assess discrimination ability. Analogously, cued identification task requires participants to smell an odour, and then select a label from three or four alternatives. As the interval between smelling and reading each label increases this too imposes a STM load, even though the task aims to measure identification ability. We tested whether modifying task design to reduce STM load improve performance on these tests. We examined five age-groups of participants (Adolescents, Young adults, Middle-aged, Elderly, very Elderly), some of whom should be more prone to the effects of STM load than others, on standard and modified tests of discrimination and identification. We found that using a technique to reduce STM load improved performance, especially for the very Elderly and Adolescent groups. Sources of error are now prevented. Findings indicate that STM load can adversely affect performance in groups vulnerable from memory impairment (i.e., very Elderly) and in those who may still be acquiring memory-based representations of familiar odours (i.e., Adolescents). It may be that adults in general would be even more sensitive to the effects of olfactory STM load reduction, if the odour-related task was more difficult. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Letter Names, Letter Sounds and Phonological Awareness: An Examination of Kindergarten Children across Letters and of Letters across Children

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Evans, Mary Ann; Bell, Michelle; Shaw, Deborah; Moretti, Shelley; Page, Jodi

2006-01-01

In this study 149 kindergarten children were assessed for knowledge of letter names and letter sounds, phonological awareness, and cognitive abilities. Through this it examined child and letter characteristics influencing the acquisition of alphabetic knowledge in a naturalistic context, the relationship between letter-sound knowledge and…

Mind Wandering in Text Comprehension under Dual-Task Conditions

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Peter eDixon

2013-10-01

Full Text Available In two experiments, subjects responded to on-task probes while reading under dual-task conditions. The secondary task was to monitor the text for occurrences of the letter e. In Experiment 1, reading comprehension was assessed with a multiple-choice recognition test; in Experiment 2, subjects recalled the text. In both experiments, the secondary task replicated the well-known missing-letter effect in which detection of e’s was less effective for the word the. Letter detection was also more effective when subjects were on task, but this effect did not interact with the missing-letter effect. Comprehension was assessed in both the dual-task conditions and in a control single-task conditions. In the single-task conditions, both recognition (Experiment 1 and recall (Experiment 2 was better when subjects were on task, replicating previous research on mind wandering. Surprisingly, though, comprehension under dual-task conditions only showed an effect of being on task when measured with recall; there was no effect on recognition performance. Our interpretation of this pattern of results is that subjects generate their response to on-task probes on the basis of a retrospective assessment of the contents of working memory. Further, we argue that under dual-task conditions, the contents of working memory is not related to the reading processes required for accurate recognition performance. These conclusions have implications for models of text comprehension and for the interpretation of on-task probe responses.

Letter-Sound Knowledge: Exploring Gender Differences in Children When They Start School Regarding Knowledge of Large Letters, Small Letters, Sound Large Letters, and Sound Small Letters

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Hermundur Sigmundsson

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This study explored whether there is a gender difference in letter-sound knowledge when children start at school. 485 children aged 5–6 years completed assessment of letter-sound knowledge, i.e., large letters; sound of large letters; small letters; sound of small letters. The findings indicate a significant difference between girls and boys in all four factors tested in this study in favor of the girls. There are still no clear explanations to the basis of a presumed gender difference in letter-sound knowledge. That the findings have origin in neuro-biological factors cannot be excluded, however, the fact that girls probably have been exposed to more language experience/stimulation compared to boys, lends support to explanations derived from environmental aspects.

Traditions of martyrdom in the Ignatian Letters

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S. Fuhrmann

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The letters of Ignatius represent one of the key texts for the emergence of martyrdom during the second century AD in Christianity. This article is concerned with the question whether Ignatius contributed to a “theology of martyrdom” or whether he rather relied on previous traditions. The author argues, by undertaking an analysis of certain pragmatics and semantics, that the motif of martyrdom is solely used to buttress Ignatius’ claim for authority among his intended addressees by referring to an understanding of martyrdom that has its roots in the New Testament. An identification of the author of the letters with a historical martyr is regarded as unlikely.

Exploring relations between task conflict and informational conflict in the Stroop task.

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Entel, Olga; Tzelgov, Joseph; Bereby-Meyer, Yoella; Shahar, Nitzan

2015-11-01

In this study, we tested the proposal that the Stroop task involves two conflicts--task conflict and informational conflict. Task conflict was defined as the latency difference between color words and non-letter neutrals, and manipulated by varying the proportion of color words versus non-letter neutrals. Informational conflict was defined as the latency difference between incongruent and congruent trials and manipulated by varying the congruent-to-incongruent trial ratio. We replicated previous findings showing that increasing the ratio of incongruent-to-congruent trials reduces the latency difference between the incongruent and congruent condition (i.e., informational conflict), as does increasing the proportion of color words (i.e., task conflict). A significant under-additive interaction between the two proportion manipulations (congruent vs. incongruent and color words vs. neutrals) indicated that the effects of task conflict and informational conflict were not additive. By assessing task conflict as the contrast between color words and neutrals, we found that task conflict existed in all of our experimental conditions. Under specific conditions, when task conflict dominated behavior by explaining most of the variability between congruency conditions, we also found negative facilitation, thus demonstrating that this effect is a special case of task conflict.

De-identification of psychiatric intake records: Overview of 2016 CEGS N-GRID shared tasks Track 1.

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Stubbs, Amber; Filannino, Michele; Uzuner, Özlem

2017-11-01

The 2016 CEGS N-GRID shared tasks for clinical records contained three tracks. Track 1 focused on de-identification of a new corpus of 1000 psychiatric intake records. This track tackled de-identification in two sub-tracks: Track 1.A was a "sight unseen" task, where nine teams ran existing de-identification systems, without any modifications or training, on 600 new records in order to gauge how well systems generalize to new data. The best-performing system for this track scored an F1 of 0.799. Track 1.B was a traditional Natural Language Processing (NLP) shared task on de-identification, where 15 teams had two months to train their systems on the new data, then test it on an unannotated test set. The best-performing system from this track scored an F1 of 0.914. The scores for Track 1.A show that unmodified existing systems do not generalize well to new data without the benefit of training data. The scores for Track 1.B are slightly lower than the 2014 de-identification shared task (which was almost identical to 2016 Track 1.B), indicating that these new psychiatric records pose a more difficult challenge to NLP systems. Overall, de-identification is still not a solved problem, though it is important to the future of clinical NLP. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On Which Abilities Are Category Fluency and Letter Fluency Grounded A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of 53 Alzheimer's Dementia Patients

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Ilaria Bizzozero

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Background/Aims: In Alzheimer's dementia (AD, letter fluency is less impaired than category fluency. To check whether category fluency and letter fluency depend differently on semantics and attention, 53 mild AD patients were given animal and letter fluency tasks, two semantic tests (the Verbal Semantic Questionnaire and the BORB Association Match test, and two attentional tests (the Stroop Colour-Word Interference test and the Digit Cancellation test. Methods: We conducted a LISREL confirmatory factor analysis to check the extent to which category fluency and letter fluency tasks were related to semantics and attention, viewed as latent variables. Results: Both types of fluency tasks were related to the latent variable Semantics but not to the latent variable Attention. Conclusions: Our findings warn against interpreting the disproportionate impairment of AD patients on category and letter fluency as a contrast between semantics and attention.

The distributed neural system for top-down letter processing: an fMRI study

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Liu, Jiangang; Feng, Lu; Li, Ling; Tian, Jie

2011-03-01

This fMRI study used Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) to investigate top-down letter processing with an illusory letter detection task. After an initial training that became increasingly difficult, participant was instructed to detect a letter from pure noise images where there was actually no letter. Such experimental paradigm allowed for isolating top-down components of letter processing and minimizing the influence of bottom-up perceptual input. A distributed cortical network of top-down letter processing was identified by analyzing the functional connectivity patterns of letter-preferential area (LA) within the left fusiform gyrus. Such network extends from the visual cortex to high level cognitive cortexes, including the left middle frontal gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus, left superior parietal gyrus, bilateral precuneus, and left inferior occipital gyrus. These findings suggest that top-down letter processing contains not only regions for processing of letter phonology and appearance, but also those involved in internal information generation and maintenance, and attention and memory processing.

Analysis and synthesis of nuclear medical letters in the field of nephrological diseases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kley, K.H.

1979-01-01

The task of this study consisted in providing the conditions for the automized issue of nuclear nephrological medical letters based on the nuclear medical polyclinic Marburg Selex system working for 8 years now. Part of the task was to develop the structure and coding of the medical letter content appropriately for EDP documentation, as in the Selex system all data for medical letter acquisition are simultaneously acquired on a data carrier for EDP documentation. The analysis of commonly provided medical letters also exhibited in this field the known weaknesses: especially insufficient systematics and the all-over information of interfering redundances. The work describes in detail how the required thesaurus has been worked out and structured into obligatory and optional rough and detailed components. A general form was developed for the findings of paired organs and the special form for nuclear nephrological medical letters was adapted to it. Of the auxiliaries worked out for the doctor in setting up the working instructions to operate the Selex system, scriptate leaflet, short vocabulary album; the two former are presented fully and the latter with typical examples. The result of this work can basically also be applied to other hardware. (orig.) [de

Allograph priming is based on abstract letter identities: Evidence from Japanese kana.

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Kinoshita, Sachiko; Schubert, Teresa; Verdonschot, Rinus G

2018-04-23

It is well-established that allographs like the uppercase and lowercase forms of the Roman alphabet (e.g., a and A) map onto the same "abstract letter identity," orthographic representations that are independent of the visual form. Consistent with this, in the allograph match task ("Are 'a' and 'A' the same letter?"), priming by a masked letter prime is equally robust for visually dissimilar prime-target pairs (e.g., d and D) and similar pairs (e.g., c and C). However, in principle this pattern of priming is also consistent with the possibility that allograph priming is purely phonological, based on the letter name. Because different allographic forms of the same letter, by definition, share a letter name, it is impossible to rule out this possibility a priori. In the present study, we investigated the influence of shared letter names by taking advantage of the fact that Japanese is written in two distinct writing systems, syllabic kana-that has two parallel forms, hiragana and katakana-and logographic kanji. Using the allograph match task, we tested whether a kanji prime with the same pronunciation as the target kana (e.g., - い, both pronounced /i/) produces the same amount of priming as a kana prime in the opposite kana form (e.g., イ- い). We found that the kana primes produced substantially greater priming than the phonologically identical kanji prime, which we take as evidence that allograph priming is based on abstract kana identity, not purely phonology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Use of Profanity During Letter Fluency Tasks in Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease

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Ringman, John M.; Kwon, Eunice; Flores, Deborah L.; Rotko, Carol; Mendez, Mario F.; Lu, Po

2012-01-01

Objective To assess whether the production of profanity during letter fluency testing distinguishes frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Background Alterations in language and social behavior typify FTD spectrum disorders. Nonetheless, in can be difficult to distinguish pathologically-defined frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) from AD clinically. Assessing verbal fluency by having patients generate as many words as they can beginning with specific letters in a given period of time can yield diverse information of diagnostic utility. Method Words produced during FAS letter fluency testing were reviewed and instances of the use of "f*ck", "*ss", and "sh*t" and other words felt to be inappropriate were sought. The frequency of these words was compared between clinically diagnosed FTD and AD patients using chi-square tests. Results We found that 6/32 (18.8%) patients with FTD generated the word "f*ck" during the "F" trial as opposed to none of 38 patients with AD (p = 0.007). Patients who said "f*ck" had diagnoses of either behavioral variant FTD (3/15), progressive non-fluent aphasia (2/8), or semantic dementia (1/3). Conclusions Though the specific neuropathology in these cases is uncertain, generation of "f*ck" during letter fluency testing appears to have utility in differentiating FTD from AD. PMID:20829665

Use of Standard Guidelines for Department of Medicine Summary Letters.

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Fitz, Matthew; La Rochelle, Jeffrey; Lang, Valerie; DeWaay, Deborah; Adams, William; Nasraty, Farah

2018-04-12

Phenomenon: Fourth-year medical students obtain Department of Medicine (DOM) letters ("Chair" letters) to support their residency applications. Writing and interpreting DOM letters are challenging. There is heterogeneity in the letters that makes it difficult to both write and read these letters. The purpose of this study is to determine the value of new guidelines developed by a task force of clerkship directors and program directors in internal medicine and assess the implementation of these guidelines. The Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine performed a cross-sectional survey of internal medicine clerkship directors at U.S. and Canadian medical schools in 2014. In addition, the primary author's institution reviewed 1,347 DOM letters between 2012 and 2014 to assess the implementation of these guidelines. The survey response rate was 78%. DOM letter writers reported the guidelines were better, easier to implement, and more compatible with the purpose of DOM letters than previously. Most letter readers reported that letters using the guidelines were more credible. Writers of DOM letters in lower academic ranks rated the letters with guidelines higher in several domains than those in higher academic ranks. Readers of DOM letters in higher academic ranks rated the letters with guidelines higher in several domains than those in lower academic ranks. In the DOM letters examined, the odds of meeting each guideline increased with each additional year. However, for 3 guidelines there was an initial decline in adherence from 2012 to 2013 before increasing again in 2014-the recommended length, clerkship description, and detailed narrative guidelines. Letters solely written by a chair were less likely to incorporate the guidelines. Insights: Clerkship directors often write the DOM letters and identify with the purpose of the guidelines. As writers, lower ranking academic faculty value the guidelines more than higher ranking academic faculty. As readers of DOM letters

Contemporary trends in the research of the Letter to Philemon

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Bartosz Adamczewski

2005-03-01

Full Text Available In the period of last two or three decades interpretation of the Letter to Philemon has undergone significant changes. Exegetes applying the historical-critical method proposed recently several new ways of reconstructing the situation that occasioned Paul’s writing the letter. It has been suggested e.g. that Onesimus was no runaway, but probably an envoy from Colossae, or Philemon’s estranged brother, or a slave justifiably seeking intercession, or a roamer. Synchronic methods applied by many exegetes (structural, rhetorical, narrative and pragmatic criticism elucidate various kinds of influence of the letter upon the reader. More and more popular becomes also nowadays manifold liberationist approach. However, beyond applying these various hermeneutic procedures there is also, at least for believing exegetes, an important task of adequate explaining the significance of the Letter to Philemon as an inspired writing.

Cue combination in a combined feature contrast detection and figure identification task.

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Meinhardt, Günter; Persike, Malte; Mesenholl, Björn; Hagemann, Cordula

2006-11-01

Target figures defined by feature contrast in spatial frequency, orientation or both cues had to be detected in Gabor random fields and their shape had to be identified in a dual task paradigm. Performance improved with increasing feature contrast and was strongly correlated among both tasks. Subjects performed significantly better with combined cues than with single cues. The improvement due to cue summation was stronger than predicted by the assumption of independent feature specific mechanisms, and increased with the performance level achieved with single cues until it was limited by ceiling effects. Further, cue summation was also strongly correlated among tasks: when there was benefit due to the additional cue in feature contrast detection, there was also benefit in figure identification. For the same performance level achieved with single cues, cue summation was generally larger in figure identification than in feature contrast detection, indicating more benefit when processes of shape and surface formation are involved. Our results suggest that cue combination improves spatial form completion and figure-ground segregation in noisy environments, and therefore leads to more stable object vision.

Samuel Hartlib on the death of Descartes: a rediscovered letter to Henry More

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Penman, Leigh T. I.

2015-01-01

This paper discloses the content of a previously overlooked epistle by the Anglo-Prussian intelligencer Samuel Hartlib to Henry More concerning the death of René Descartes. After a discussion situating the letter within the sequence of the More–Hartlib correspondence, an analysis of the rhetorical structure of the epistle is offered, followed by a brief assessment of Hartlib's attitude towards Descartes, and the identification of his source concerning the news of the philosopher's death. An account of the transmission of the letter via a nineteenth-century periodical is also provided. The text of Hartlib's letter and an overlooked passage of Hartlib's diary concerning Descartes's death, which draws on the content of the More letter, are presented as appendixes.

What can we learn from learning models about sensitivity to letter-order in visual word recognition?

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Lerner, Itamar; Armstrong, Blair C.; Frost, Ram

2014-01-01

Recent research on the effects of letter transposition in Indo-European Languages has shown that readers are surprisingly tolerant of these manipulations in a range of tasks. This evidence has motivated the development of new computational models of reading that regard flexibility in positional coding to be a core and universal principle of the reading process. Here we argue that such approach does not capture cross-linguistic differences in transposed-letter effects, nor do they explain them. To address this issue, we investigated how a simple domain-general connectionist architecture performs in tasks such as letter-transposition and letter substitution when it had learned to process words in the context of different linguistic environments. The results show that in spite of of the neurobiological noise involved in registering letter-position in all languages, flexibility and inflexibility in coding letter order is also shaped by the statistical orthographic properties of words in a language, such as the relative prevalence of anagrams. Our learning model also generated novel predictions for targeted empirical research, demonstrating a clear advantage of learning models for studying visual word recognition. PMID:25431521

Impaired Letter-String Processing in Developmental Dyslexia: What Visual-to-Phonology Code Mapping Disorder?

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Valdois, Sylviane; Lassus-Sangosse, Delphine; Lobier, Muriel

2012-01-01

Poor parallel letter-string processing in developmental dyslexia was taken as evidence of poor visual attention (VA) span, that is, a limitation of visual attentional resources that affects multi-character processing. However, the use of letter stimuli in oral report tasks was challenged on its capacity to highlight a VA span disorder. In…

Open Letter Regarding the University of Minnesota's Program on Human Sexuality and Sexual Attitude Reassessment Seminars

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Hunt, William C.; Nelson, James

1976-01-01

This article contains a letter which questions the value and ethics of the Program on Human Sexuality (University of Minnesota) and also contains the response to the letter by a member of the Theological-Ethical Task Force which sponsors the program. (Author)

Combining the Post-Cue Task and the Perceptual Identification Task to Assess Parallel Activation and Mutual Facilitation of Related Primes and Targets.

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Scherer, Demian; Wentura, Dirk

2018-03-01

Recent theories assume a mutual facilitation in case of semantic overlap for concepts being activated simultaneously. We provide evidence for this claim using a semantic priming paradigm. To test for mutual facilitation of related concepts, a perceptual identification task was employed, presenting prime-target pairs briefly and masked, with an SOA of 0 ms (i.e., prime and target were presented concurrently, one above the other). Participants were instructed to identify the target. In Experiment 1, a cue defining the target was presented at stimulus onset, whereas in Experiment 2 the cue was not presented before the offset of stimuli. Accordingly, in Experiment 2, a post-cue task was merged with the perceptual identification task. We obtained significant semantic priming effects in both experiments. This result is compatible with the view that two concepts can both be activated in parallel and can mutually facilitate each other if they are related.

Letters in the Forest: Global precedence effect disappears for letters but not for non-letters under reading-like conditions

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Thomas eLachmann

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Normally-skilled reading involves special processing strategies for letters, which are habitually funneled into an abstract letter code. On the basis of previous studies we argue that this habit leads to the preferred usage of an analytic strategy for the processing of letters, while non-letters are preferably processed via a holistic strategy. The well-known Global Precedence Effect (GPE seems to contradict to this assumption, since, with compound, hierarchical figures, including letter items, faster responses are observed to the global than to the local level of the figure, as well as an asymmetric interference effect from global to local level. We argue that with letters these effects depend on presentation conditions; only when they elicit the processing strategies automatized for reading, an analytic strategy for letters in contrast to non-letters is to be expected. We compared the GPE for letters and non-letters in central viewing, with the global stimulus size close to the functional visual field in whole word reading (6.5o of visual angle and local stimuli close to the critical size for fluent reading of individual letters (.5o of visual angle. Under these conditions, the GPE remained robust for non-letters. For letters, however, it disappeared: letters showed no overall response time advantage for the global level and symmetric congruence effects (local-to-global as well as global-to local interference. We interpret these results as according to the view that reading is based on resident analytic visual processing strategies for letters.

Different letter-processing strategies in diagnostic subgroups of developmental dyslexia.

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Lachmann, Thomas; van Leeuwen, Cees

2008-07-01

Normally reading adults (N = 15) and primary school children (N = 24) and two diagnostic subgroups of children with developmental dyslexia (N = 21)-all native German speakers-performed a successive same-different task with pairs of letters and nonletters (pseudoletters or geometrical shapes). The first item of a pair was always presented on its own, and the second either on its own or surrounded by a congruent or incongruent nontarget shape. Adults showed congruence effects with nonletters but not with letters, and children with both types of stimuli. Frequent-word reading-impaired dyslexics (N = 11) in addition showed dramatically slower overall reaction times. Nonword reading-impaired dyslexics (N = 10) showed congruence effects with nonletters but negative congruence effects with letters. The results support the notion that normal readers have established a special visual processing strategy for letters. Processing speed rather than reading expertise seems crucial for this strategy to emerge. The contrasting effects between subgroups of dyslexics reveal specific underlying deficits.

The impact of familiarization strategies on the missing-letter effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Plamondon, Andréanne; Roy-Charland, Annie; Chamberland, Justin; Quenneville, Joannie; Laforge, Christian

2017-08-01

When reading a text and searching for a target letter, readers make more omissions of the target letter if it is embedded in frequent function words than if it is in rare content words. While word frequency effects are consistently found, few studies have examined the impacts of passage familiarity on the missing-letter effect and studies that have present conflicting evidence. The present study examines the effects of passage familiarity, as well as the impacts of passage familiarization strategy promoting surface or deep encoding, on the missing-letter effect. Participants were familiarized with a passage by retyping a text, replacing all common nouns with synonyms, or generating a text on the same topic as that of the original text, and then completed a letter search task on the familiar passage as well as an unfamiliar passage. In Experiment 1, when both familiar and unfamiliar passages use the same words, results revealed fewer omissions for the retyping and synonyms conditions. However, in Experiment 2, when different words are used in both types of texts, no effect of familiarization strategy was observed. Furthermore, the missing-letter effect is maintained in all conditions, adding support to the robustness of the effect regardless of familiarity with the text.

Adaptive Algorithm For Identification Of The Environment Parameters In Contact Tasks

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Tuneski, Atanasko; Babunski, Darko [Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, ' St. Cyril and Methodius' University, Skopje (Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of)

2003-07-01

An adaptive algorithm for identification of the unknown parameters of the dynamic environment in contact tasks is proposed in this paper using the augmented least square estimation method. An approximate environment digital simulator for the continuous environment dynamics is derived, i.e. a discrete transfer function which has the approximately the same characteristics as the continuous environment dynamics is found. For solving this task a method named hold equivalence is used. The general model of the environment dynamics is given and the case when the environment dynamics is represented by second order models with parameter uncertainties is considered. (Author)

Adaptive Algorithm For Identification Of The Environment Parameters In Contact Tasks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tuneski, Atanasko; Babunski, Darko

2003-01-01

An adaptive algorithm for identification of the unknown parameters of the dynamic environment in contact tasks is proposed in this paper using the augmented least square estimation method. An approximate environment digital simulator for the continuous environment dynamics is derived, i.e. a discrete transfer function which has the approximately the same characteristics as the continuous environment dynamics is found. For solving this task a method named hold equivalence is used. The general model of the environment dynamics is given and the case when the environment dynamics is represented by second order models with parameter uncertainties is considered. (Author)

Contributions of Emergent Literacy Skills to Name Writing, Letter Writing, and Spelling in Preschool Children

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Puranik, Cynthia S.; Lonigan, Christopher J.; Kim, Young-Suk

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine which emergent literacy skills contribute to preschool children’s emergent writing (name-writing, letter-writing, and spelling) skills. Emergent reading and writing tasks were administered to 296 preschool children aged 4–5 years. Print knowledge and letter-writing skills made positive contributions to name writing; whereas alphabet knowledge, print knowledge, and name writing made positive contributions to letter writing. Both name-writing and letter-writing skills made significant contributions to the prediction of spelling after controlling for age, parental education, print knowledge, phonological awareness, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge; however, only letter-writing abilities made a significant unique contribution to the prediction of spelling when both letter-writing and name-writing skills were considered together. Name writing reflects knowledge of some letters rather than a broader knowledge of letters that may be needed to support early spelling. Children’s letter-writing skills may be a better indicator of children’s emergent literacy and developing spelling skills than are their name-writing skills at the end of the preschool year. Spelling is a developmentally complex skill beginning in preschool and includes letter writing and blending skills, print knowledge, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge. PMID:21927537

From Grapheme to Phonological Output: Performance of Adults Who Stutter on a Word Jumble Task.

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Megann McGill

Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to extend previous research by analyzing the ability of adults who stutter to use phonological working memory in conjunction with lexical access to perform a word jumble task.Forty English words consisting of 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-letters (n = 10 per letter length category were randomly jumbled using a web-based application. During the experimental task, 26 participants were asked to silently manipulate the scrambled letters to form a real word. Each vocal response was coded for accuracy and speech reaction time (SRT.Adults who stutter attempted to solve fewer word jumble stimuli than adults who do not stutter at the 4-letter, 5-letter, and 6-letter lengths. Additionally, adults who stutter were significantly less accurate solving word jumble tasks at the 4-letter, 5-letter, and 6-letter lengths compared to adults who do not stutter. At the longest word length (6-letter, SRT was significantly slower for the adults who stutter than the fluent controls.Results of the current study lend further support to the notion that differences in various aspects of phonological processing, including vision-to-sound conversions, sub-vocal stimulus manipulation, and/or lexical access are compromised in adults who stutter.

Graphomotor skills in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD): Handwriting and learning a new letter.

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Huau, Andréa; Velay, Jean-Luc; Jover, Marianne

2015-08-01

The aim of the present study was to analyze handwriting difficulties in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and investigate the hypothesis that a deficit in procedural learning could help to explain them. The experimental set-up was designed to compare the performances of children with DCD with those of a non-DCD group on tasks that rely on motor learning in different ways, namely handwriting and learning a new letter. Ten children with DCD and 10 non-DCD children, aged 8-10 years, were asked to perform handwriting tasks (letter/word/sentence; normal/fast), and a learning task (new letter) on a graphic tablet. The BHK concise assessment scale for children's handwriting was used to evaluate their handwriting quality. Results showed that both the handwriting and learning tasks differentiated between the groups. Furthermore, when speed or length constraints were added, handwriting was more impaired in children with DCD than in non-DCD children. Greater intra-individual variability was observed in the group of children with DCD, arguing in favor of a deficit in motor pattern stabilization. The results of this study could support both the hypothesis of a deficit in procedural learning and the hypothesis of neuromotor noise in DCD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structured printed referral letter (form letter; saves time and improves communication

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R.P.J.C. Ramanayake

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Referral of patients to hospitals, specialists and other institutions is an essential part of primary health care. Patients are referred to specialists when investigation or therapeutic options are exhausted in primary care or when opinion or advice is needed from them. Referral has considerable implications for patients, health care system and health care costs. Good communication between primary and secondary care is essential for the smooth running of any health care system. Referral and reply letters are the sole means of communication between doctors most of the time and breakdown in communication could lead to poor continuity of care, delayed diagnoses, polypharmacy, increased litigation risk and unnecessary testing. A referral letter also helps to avoid patient dissatisfaction and loss of confidence in family physician. Studies of referral letters have reported that specialists are dissatisfied with their quality and content. Inclusion of letter writing skills in the medical curriculum, peer assessment and feedback have shown to improve the quality of referral letters. . Form letters have shown to enhance information content and communication in referral process. In Sri Lanka referral letters are usually hand written and frequent complaints are that these letters do not contain adequate information and retrieval of information is a problem due to poor legibility and clarity. Sometimes Primary care doctors refer patients to hospitals and specialists with only verbal instructions. To address these short comings this form letter was introduced. Based on the guidelines and systematic review of published articles, items of information to be included were decided. Printed forms of the letter are kept in the practice and the doctor has to just fill up relevant information under each heading. The objectives of introducing this structured referral letter was to improve the quality and standard of referral letters and save time for both general

Cognitive task load in a naval ship control centre: from identification to prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Grootjen, M; Neerincx, M A; Veltman, J A

Deployment of information and communication technology will lead to further automation of control centre tasks and an increasing amount of information to be processed. A method for establishing adequate levels of cognitive task load for the operators in such complex environments has been developed. It is based on a model distinguishing three load factors: time occupied, task-set switching, and level of information processing. Application of the method resulted in eight scenarios for eight extremes of task load (i.e. low and high values for each load factor). These scenarios were performed by 13 teams in a high-fidelity control centre simulator of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The results show that the method provides good prediction of the task load that will actually appear in the simulator. The model allowed identification of under- and overload situations showing negative effects on operator performance corresponding to controlled experiments in a less realistic task environment. Tools proposed to keep the operator at an optimum task load are (adaptive) task allocation and interface support.

Teaching Letter Sounds in Preschool, Kindergarten, and Special Education: Five Strategies to Ease the Memory Burden

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Lynn

2010-01-01

Teaching students the most frequent sounds of the alphabet letters is the first crucial step in good phonics instruction. But beginning letter and sound lessons, especially if poorly taught or too rapidly paced, can be overwhelming and confusing for some young children and struggling readers. How can we simplify the cognitive task for such…

Classification of the Correct Quranic Letters Pronunciation of Male and Female Reciters

Science.gov (United States)

Khairuddin, Safiah; Ahmad, Salmiah; Embong, Abdul Halim; Nur Wahidah Nik Hashim, Nik; Altamas, Tareq M. K.; Nuratikah Syd Badaruddin, Syarifah; Shahbudin Hassan, Surul

2017-11-01

Recitation of the Holy Quran with the correct Tajweed is essential for every Muslim. Islam has encouraged Quranic education since early age as the recitation of the Quran correctly will represent the correct meaning of the words of Allah. It is important to recite the Quranic verses according to its characteristics (sifaat) and from its point of articulations (makhraj). This paper presents the identification and classification analysis of Quranic letters pronunciation for both male and female reciters, to obtain the unique representation of each letter by male as compared to female expert reciters. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) was used as the classifier to classify the data with Formants and Power Spectral Density (PSD) as the acoustic features. The result shows that linear classifier of PSD with band 1 and band 2 power spectral combinations gives a high percentage of classification accuracy for most of the Quranic letters. It is also shown that the pronunciation by male reciters gives better result in the classification of the Quranic letters.

The UAB Informatics Institute and 2016 CEGS N-GRID de-identification shared task challenge.

Science.gov (United States)

Bui, Duy Duc An; Wyatt, Mathew; Cimino, James J

2017-11-01

Clinical narratives (the text notes found in patients' medical records) are important information sources for secondary use in research. However, in order to protect patient privacy, they must be de-identified prior to use. Manual de-identification is considered to be the gold standard approach but is tedious, expensive, slow, and impractical for use with large-scale clinical data. Automated or semi-automated de-identification using computer algorithms is a potentially promising alternative. The Informatics Institute of the University of Alabama at Birmingham is applying de-identification to clinical data drawn from the UAB hospital's electronic medical records system before releasing them for research. We participated in a shared task challenge by the Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS) Neuropsychiatric Genome-Scale and RDoC Individualized Domains (N-GRID) at the de-identification regular track to gain experience developing our own automatic de-identification tool. We focused on the popular and successful methods from previous challenges: rule-based, dictionary-matching, and machine-learning approaches. We also explored new techniques such as disambiguation rules, term ambiguity measurement, and used multi-pass sieve framework at a micro level. For the challenge's primary measure (strict entity), our submissions achieved competitive results (f-measures: 87.3%, 87.1%, and 86.7%). For our preferred measure (binary token HIPAA), our submissions achieved superior results (f-measures: 93.7%, 93.6%, and 93%). With those encouraging results, we gain the confidence to improve and use the tool for the real de-identification task at the UAB Informatics Institute. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From word superiority to word inferiority: Visual processing of letters and words in pure alexia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Habekost, Thomas; Petersen, Anders; Behrmann, Marlene

2014-01-01

Visual processing and naming of individual letters and short words were investigated in four patients with pure alexia. To test processing at different levels, the same stimuli were studied across a naming task and a visual perception task. The normal word superiority effect was eliminated in bot...

Automated systems for the de-identification of longitudinal clinical narratives: Overview of 2014 i2b2/UTHealth shared task Track 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Stubbs, Amber; Kotfila, Christopher; Uzuner, Özlem

2015-12-01

The 2014 i2b2/UTHealth Natural Language Processing (NLP) shared task featured four tracks. The first of these was the de-identification track focused on identifying protected health information (PHI) in longitudinal clinical narratives. The longitudinal nature of clinical narratives calls particular attention to details of information that, while benign on their own in separate records, can lead to identification of patients in combination in longitudinal records. Accordingly, the 2014 de-identification track addressed a broader set of entities and PHI than covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - the focus of the de-identification shared task that was organized in 2006. Ten teams tackled the 2014 de-identification task and submitted 22 system outputs for evaluation. Each team was evaluated on their best performing system output. Three of the 10 systems achieved F1 scores over .90, and seven of the top 10 scored over .75. The most successful systems combined conditional random fields and hand-written rules. Our findings indicate that automated systems can be very effective for this task, but that de-identification is not yet a solved problem. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of letter string length and report condition on letter recognition accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Raghunandan, Avesh; Karmazinaite, Berta; Rossow, Andrea S

Letter sequence recognition accuracy has been postulated to be limited primarily by low-level visual factors. The influence of high level factors such as visual memory (load and decay) has been largely overlooked. This study provides insight into the role of these factors by investigating the interaction between letter sequence recognition accuracy, letter string length and report condition. Letter sequence recognition accuracy for trigrams and pentagrams were measured in 10 adult subjects for two report conditions. In the complete report condition subjects reported all 3 or all 5 letters comprising trigrams and pentagrams, respectively. In the partial report condition, subjects reported only a single letter in the trigram or pentagram. Letters were presented for 100ms and rendered in high contrast, using black lowercase Courier font that subtended 0.4° at the fixation distance of 0.57m. Letter sequence recognition accuracy was consistently higher for trigrams compared to pentagrams especially for letter positions away from fixation. While partial report increased recognition accuracy in both string length conditions, the effect was larger for pentagrams, and most evident for the final letter positions within trigrams and pentagrams. The effect of partial report on recognition accuracy for the final letter positions increased as eccentricity increased away from fixation, and was independent of the inner/outer position of a letter. Higher-level visual memory functions (memory load and decay) play a role in letter sequence recognition accuracy. There is also suggestion of additional delays imposed on memory encoding by crowded letter elements. Copyright © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Letters and Letter Writing in Early Modern Culture: An Introduction

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Gabriella Del Lungo Camiciotti

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The recently renewed scholarly interest in historical letters and letter writing has given rise to several studies which explore the culture of epistolarity from different perspectives. The article offers an introduction to recent scholarship on epistolary discourse and practices in early modern culture. Given the importance of letters as data for several types of diachronic investigation, the article focuses on three points that are crucial for an understanding of the relevance of epistolary discourse itself in early modern European culture. Firstly, letters are invaluable data for historical linguistics, to which they provide information for the history of languages, and sociohistorical and sociolinguistic research. A second recent field of investigation considers letters as documents and material items; the results of research in this area have contributed to the reconstruction of official relationships and information exchanges in past cultures and shed light on social interaction. A third, more traditional area of study, deals with the letter as a form that has given rise to many different genres across the centuries, both practical and literary.

Word Reading and Processing of the Identity and Order of Letters by Children with Low Vision and Sighted Children

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Gompel, Marjolein; van Bon, Wim H. J.; Schreuder, Robert

2004-01-01

Two aspects of word reading were investigated in two word-naming experiments: the identification of the constituent letters of a word and the processing of letter-order information. Both experiments showed qualitative differences between children with low vision and sighted children, but no quantitative or qualitative differences within the group…

Effects of Grammatical Categories on Letter Detection in Continuous Text

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Foucambert, Denis; Zuniga, Michael

2012-01-01

The present study focuses on the interplay between the linguistic principles and the psycholinguistic processes involved in reading. Results from 56 participants on a letter detection task reveal that readers do not process all function words in the same manner. Omission rates were highest for function words occupying the head of maximal…

The influence of visual and phonological features on the hemispheric processing of hierarchical Navon letters.

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Aiello, Marilena; Merola, Sheila; Lasaponara, Stefano; Pinto, Mario; Tomaiuolo, Francesco; Doricchi, Fabrizio

2018-01-31

The possibility of allocating attentional resources to the "global" shape or to the "local" details of pictorial stimuli helps visual processing. Investigations with hierarchical Navon letters, that are large "global" letters made up of small "local" ones, consistently demonstrate a right hemisphere advantage for global processing and a left hemisphere advantage for local processing. Here we investigated how the visual and phonological features of the global and local components of Navon letters influence these hemispheric advantages. In a first study in healthy participants, we contrasted the hemispheric processing of hierarchical letters with global and local items competing for response selection, to the processing of hierarchical letters in which a letter, a false-letter conveying no phonological information or a geometrical shape presented at the unattended level did not compete for response selection. In a second study, we investigated the hemispheric processing of hierarchical stimuli in which global and local letters were both visually and phonologically congruent (e.g. large uppercase G made of smaller uppercase G), visually incongruent and phonologically congruent (e.g. large uppercase G made of small lowercase g) or visually incongruent and phonologically incongruent (e.g. large uppercase G made of small lowercase or uppercase M). In a third study, we administered the same tasks to a right brain damaged patient with a lesion involving pre-striate areas engaged by global processing. The results of the first two experiments showed that the global abilities of the left hemisphere are limited because of its strong susceptibility to interference from local letters even when these are irrelevant to the task. Phonological features played a crucial role in this interference because the interference was entirely maintained also when letters at the global and local level were presented in different uppercase vs. lowercase formats. In contrast, when local features

Model-based identification and use of task complexity factors of human integrated systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ham, Dong-Han; Park, Jinkyun; Jung, Wondea

2012-01-01

Task complexity is one of the conceptual constructs that are critical to explain and predict human performance in human integrated systems. A basic approach to evaluating the complexity of tasks is to identify task complexity factors and measure them. Although a great deal of task complexity factors have been studied, there is still a lack of conceptual frameworks for identifying and organizing them analytically, which can be generally used irrespective of the types of domains and tasks. This study proposes a model-based approach to identifying and using task complexity factors, which has two facets—the design aspects of a task and complexity dimensions. Three levels of design abstraction, which are functional, behavioral, and structural aspects of a task, characterize the design aspect of a task. The behavioral aspect is further classified into five cognitive processing activity types. The complexity dimensions explain a task complexity from different perspectives, which are size, variety, and order/organization. Twenty-one task complexity factors are identified by the combination of the attributes of each facet. Identification and evaluation of task complexity factors based on this model is believed to give insights for improving the design quality of tasks. This model for complexity factors can also be used as a referential framework for allocating tasks and designing information aids. The proposed approach is applied to procedure-based tasks of nuclear power plants (NPPs) as a case study to demonstrate its use. Last, we compare the proposed approach with other studies and then suggest some future research directions.

47 CFR 74.1283 - Station identification.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... translator's call letters and location, giving the name, address and telephone number of the licensee or his... FM Broadcast Booster Stations § 74.1283 Station identification. (a) The call sign of an FM broadcast... requests for the assignment of particular combinations of letters will not be considered. (b) The call sign...

Relevance of the Irrelevant : Using Task-Irrelevant Emotional Stimuli to Test the Load-Hypothesis through ERP’s

OpenAIRE

Andersson, Per

2010-01-01

The role of attention and perceptual resources were studied in a one-back task and a letter-search task, both using the same stimuli. In the letter task, pictures were used as task-irrelevant and distracting emotional stimuli. The emotional processing of the pictures was measured through the Late Positive Potential (LPP), an event-related potential (ERP) recorded with EEG. LPP activity was significantly greater to emotional than neutral stimuli during the one-back task; this shows that emotio...

Disabled vs nondisabled readers: perceptual vs higher-order processing of one vs three letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Allegretti, C L; Puglisi, J T

1986-10-01

12 disabled and 12 nondisabled readers (mean age, 11 yr.) were compared on a letter-search task which separated perceptual processing from higher-order processing. Participants were presented a first stimulus (for 200 msec. to minimize eye movements) followed by a second stimulus immediately to estimate the amount of information initially perceived or after a 3000-msec. interval to examine information more permanently stored. Participants were required to decide whether any letter present in the first stimulus was also present in the second. Two processing loads (1 and 3 letters) were examined. Disabled readers showed more pronounced deficits when they were given very little time to process information or more information to process.

Adaptive lag synchronization and parameters adaptive lag identification of chaotic systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu Yuhua, E-mail: yuhuaxu2004@163.co [College of Information Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620 (China) and Department of Mathematics, Yunyang Teachers' College, Hubei, Shiyan 442000 (China); Zhou Wuneng, E-mail: wnzhou@163.co [College of Information Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620 (China) and Key Laboratory of Wireless Sensor Network and Communication, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050 (China); Fang Jian' an, E-mail: jafang@dhu.edu.c [College of Information Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620 (China); Sun Wen, E-mail: sunwen_2201@163.co [School of Mathematics and Information, Yangtze University, Hubei, Jingzhou 434023 (China)

2010-07-26

This Letter investigates the problem of adaptive lag synchronization and parameters adaptive lag identification of chaotic systems. In comparison with those of existing parameters identification schemes, the unknown parameters are identified by adaptive lag laws, and the delay time is also identified in this Letter. Numerical simulations are also given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

What Do Letter Migration Errors Reveal About Letter Position Coding in Visual Word Recognition?

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Colin J.; Bowers, Jeffrey S.

2004-01-01

Dividing attention across multiple words occasionally results in misidentifications whereby letters apparently migrate between words. Previous studies have found that letter migrations preserve within-word letter position, which has been interpreted as support for position-specific letter coding. To investigate this issue, the authors used word…

Analysis of reliability of professor recommendation letters based on concordance with self-introduction letter.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sang Hyun

2013-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the concordance between a checklist's categories of professor recommendation letters and characteristics of the self-introduction letter. Checklists of professor recommendation letters were analyzed and classified into cognitive, social, and affective domains. Simple correlation was performed to determine whether the characteristics of the checklists were concordant with those of the self-introduction letter. The difference in ratings of the checklists by pass or fail grades was analyzed by independent sample t-test. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine whether a pass or fail grade was influenced by ratings on the checklists. The Cronbach alpha value of the checklists was 0.854. Initiative, as an affective domain, in the professor's recommendation letter was highly ranked among the six checklist categories. Self-directed learning in the self-introduction letter was influenced by a pass or fail grade by logistic regression analysis (pprofessor recommendation letters and the sum of all characteristics in the self-introduction letter.

Ego Depletion in Real-Time: An Examination of the Sequential-Task Paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Arber, Madeleine M; Ireland, Michael J; Feger, Roy; Marrington, Jessica; Tehan, Joshua; Tehan, Gerald

2017-01-01

Current research into self-control that is based on the sequential task methodology is currently at an impasse. The sequential task methodology involves completing a task that is designed to tax self-control resources which in turn has carry-over effects on a second, unrelated task. The current impasse is in large part due to the lack of empirical research that tests explicit assumptions regarding the initial task. Five studies test one key, untested assumption underpinning strength (finite resource) models of self-regulation: Performance will decline over time on a task that depletes self-regulatory resources. In the aftermath of high profile replication failures using a popular letter-crossing task and subsequent criticisms of that task, the current studies examined whether depletion effects would occur in real time using letter-crossing tasks that did not invoke habit-forming and breaking, and whether these effects were moderated by administration type (paper and pencil vs. computer administration). Sample makeup and sizes as well as response formats were also varied across the studies. The five studies yielded a clear and consistent pattern of increasing performance deficits (errors) as a function of time spent on task with generally large effects and in the fifth study the strength of negative transfer effects to a working memory task were related to individual differences in depletion. These results demonstrate that some form of depletion is occurring on letter-crossing tasks though whether an internal regulatory resource reservoir or some other factor is changing across time remains an important question for future research.

Ego Depletion in Real-Time: An Examination of the Sequential-Task Paradigm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madeleine M. Arber

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Current research into self-control that is based on the sequential task methodology is currently at an impasse. The sequential task methodology involves completing a task that is designed to tax self-control resources which in turn has carry-over effects on a second, unrelated task. The current impasse is in large part due to the lack of empirical research that tests explicit assumptions regarding the initial task. Five studies test one key, untested assumption underpinning strength (finite resource models of self-regulation: Performance will decline over time on a task that depletes self-regulatory resources. In the aftermath of high profile replication failures using a popular letter-crossing task and subsequent criticisms of that task, the current studies examined whether depletion effects would occur in real time using letter-crossing tasks that did not invoke habit-forming and breaking, and whether these effects were moderated by administration type (paper and pencil vs. computer administration. Sample makeup and sizes as well as response formats were also varied across the studies. The five studies yielded a clear and consistent pattern of increasing performance deficits (errors as a function of time spent on task with generally large effects and in the fifth study the strength of negative transfer effects to a working memory task were related to individual differences in depletion. These results demonstrate that some form of depletion is occurring on letter-crossing tasks though whether an internal regulatory resource reservoir or some other factor is changing across time remains an important question for future research.

Decoding English Alphabet Letters Using EEG Phase Information

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YiYan Wang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Increasing evidence indicates that the phase pattern and power of the low frequency oscillations of brain electroencephalograms (EEG contain significant information during the human cognition of sensory signals such as auditory and visual stimuli. Here, we investigate whether and how the letters of the alphabet can be directly decoded from EEG phase and power data. In addition, we investigate how different band oscillations contribute to the classification and determine the critical time periods. An English letter recognition task was assigned, and statistical analyses were conducted to decode the EEG signal corresponding to each letter visualized on a computer screen. We applied support vector machine (SVM with gradient descent method to learn the potential features for classification. It was observed that the EEG phase signals have a higher decoding accuracy than the oscillation power information. Low-frequency theta and alpha oscillations have phase information with higher accuracy than do other bands. The decoding performance was best when the analysis period began from 180 to 380 ms after stimulus presentation, especially in the lateral occipital and posterior temporal scalp regions (PO7 and PO8. These results may provide a new approach for brain-computer interface techniques (BCI and may deepen our understanding of EEG oscillations in cognition.

A STUDY ON LEGIBILITY OF LETTERING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Merve ERSAN,

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In the most general sense, lettering is the art of drawing letters, in which the letter forms carry illustrtive features. In this research which is titled "An Analysis on Legibility in Letterings Used in Print Advertisements", letterings used in and specially designed for print ads are analysed and their contribution to the ads are examined. Legibility, which is the fundamental function of writing and typography is examined in the field of lettering that has an illustrative approach. Also, the article puts emphasis on the technique and form’s contribution on content in letterings. Keywords: Lettering, print advertisements, letter design, illustration, legibility.

EFL Students’ Preferences toward the Lecturer’s Corrective Feedback in Business Letters Writing

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La Ode Sanu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate; the students’ preferences toward the lecturer’s corrective feedback in the business letter writing and their reasons why they preferred for particular corrective feedback types. A case study was used by involving 15 EFL students who enrolled the Business Correspondence Course. The questionnaire and interview were used as the research instruments. This study revealed that; (1 the students preferred to receive lecturer correction (M=5.00, followed by lecturer-students conferencing (M=4.13, peer-correction (M=2.73, error identification (M=2.00, lecturer commentary (M=1.93, and self-correction (M=1.27. (2 the students’ reasons at choosing the lecturer correction were getting the directly good correction from the lecturer, which it would be used as the reference/guide for further improvements both linguistic accuracy and business letter organization. In lecturer-students conferencing, beside they got good correction and grateful appreciation from both their lecturer and other students, they could learn and share the knowledge of errors made together; however they ashamed their linguistics errors, low ability and knowledge in formatting good business letter could be known by others. In peer-correction, the students got the unsatisfied and satisfied corrective feedback from their peers; and they were doubt with their peers’ ability and knowledge in giving correction. In Error identification and lecturer commentary, it was difficult for the students to diagnose the real errors and to correct them. Finally, the reasons of self-correction were useless and unsatisfied to evaluate their own work since they had limited ability and knowledge in formatting the business letter writing effectively.

The influence of reading expertise in mirror-letter perception: Evidence from beginning and expert readers

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Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni; Dimitropoulou, María; Estévez, Adelina; Carreiras, Manuel

2013-01-01

The visual word recognition system recruits neuronal systems originally developed for object perception which are characterized by orientation insensitivity to mirror reversals. It has been proposed that during reading acquisition beginning readers have to “unlearn” this natural tolerance to mirror reversals in order to efficiently discriminate letters and words. Therefore, it is supposed that this unlearning process takes place in a gradual way and that reading expertise modulates mirror-letter discrimination. However, to date no supporting evidence for this has been obtained. We present data from an eye-movement study that investigated the degree of sensitivity to mirror-letters in a group of beginning readers and a group of expert readers. Participants had to decide which of the two strings presented on a screen corresponded to an auditorily presented word. Visual displays always included the correct target word and one distractor word. Results showed that those distractors that were the same as the target word except for the mirror lateralization of two internal letters attracted participants’ attention more than distractors created by replacement of two internal letters. Interestingly, the time course of the effects was found to be different for the two groups, with beginning readers showing a greater tolerance (decreased sensitivity) to mirror-letters than expert readers. Implications of these findings are discussed within the framework of preceding evidence showing how reading expertise modulates letter identification. PMID:24273596

Identification and location tasks rely on different mental processes: a diffusion model account of validity effects in spatial cueing paradigms with emotional stimuli.

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Imhoff, Roland; Lange, Jens; Germar, Markus

2018-02-22

Spatial cueing paradigms are popular tools to assess human attention to emotional stimuli, but different variants of these paradigms differ in what participants' primary task is. In one variant, participants indicate the location of the target (location task), whereas in the other they indicate the shape of the target (identification task). In the present paper we test the idea that although these two variants produce seemingly comparable cue validity effects on response times, they rest on different underlying processes. Across four studies (total N = 397; two in the supplement) using both variants and manipulating the motivational relevance of cue content, diffusion model analyses revealed that cue validity effects in location tasks are primarily driven by response biases, whereas the same effect rests on delay due to attention to the cue in identification tasks. Based on this, we predict and empirically support that a symmetrical distribution of valid and invalid cues would reduce cue validity effects in location tasks to a greater extent than in identification tasks. Across all variants of the task, we fail to replicate the effect of greater cue validity effects for arousing (vs. neutral) stimuli. We discuss the implications of these findings for best practice in spatial cueing research.

Episodic Short-Term Recognition Requires Encoding into Visual Working Memory: Evidence from Probe Recognition after Letter Report.

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Poth, Christian H; Schneider, Werner X

2016-01-01

Human vision is organized in discrete processing episodes (e.g., eye fixations or task-steps). Object information must be transmitted across episodes to enable episodic short-term recognition: recognizing whether a current object has been seen in a previous episode. We ask whether episodic short-term recognition presupposes that objects have been encoded into capacity-limited visual working memory (VWM), which retains visual information for report. Alternatively, it could rely on the activation of visual features or categories that occurs before encoding into VWM. We assessed the dependence of episodic short-term recognition on VWM by a new paradigm combining letter report and probe recognition. Participants viewed displays of 10 letters and reported as many as possible after a retention interval (whole report). Next, participants viewed a probe letter and indicated whether it had been one of the 10 letters (probe recognition). In Experiment 1, probe recognition was more accurate for letters that had been encoded into VWM (reported letters) compared with non-encoded letters (non-reported letters). Interestingly, those letters that participants reported in their whole report had been near to one another within the letter displays. This suggests that the encoding into VWM proceeded in a spatially clustered manner. In Experiment 2, participants reported only one of 10 letters (partial report) and probes either referred to this letter, to letters that had been near to it, or far from it. Probe recognition was more accurate for near than for far letters, although none of these letters had to be reported. These findings indicate that episodic short-term recognition is constrained to a small number of simultaneously presented objects that have been encoded into VWM.

Episodic Short-Term Recognition Requires Encoding into Visual Working Memory: Evidence from Probe Recognition after Letter Report

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Christian H. Poth

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Human vision is organized in discrete processing episodes (e.g. eye fixations or task-steps. Object information must be transmitted across episodes to enable episodic short-term recognition: recognizing whether a current object has been seen in a previous episode. We ask whether episodic short-term recognition presupposes that objects have been encoded into capacity-limited visual working memory (VWM, which retains visual information for report. Alternatively, it could rely on the activation of visual features or categories that occurs before encoding into VWM. We assessed the dependence of episodic short-term recognition on VWM by a new paradigm combining letter report and probe recognition. Participants viewed displays of ten letters and reported as many as possible after a retention interval (whole report. Next, participants viewed a probe letter and indicated whether it had been one of the ten letters (probe recognition. In Experiment 1, probe recognition was more accurate for letters that had been encoded into VWM (reported letters compared with non-encoded letters (non-reported letters. Interestingly, those letters that participants reported in their whole report had been near to one another within the letter displays. This suggests that the encoding into VWM proceeded in a spatially clustered manner. In Experiment 2 participants reported only one of ten letters (partial report and probes either referred to this letter, to letters that had been near to it, or far from it. Probe recognition was more accurate for near than for far letters, although none of these letters had to be reported. These findings indicate that episodic short-term recognition is constrained to a small number of simultaneously presented objects that have been encoded into VWM.

Perceptual and Conceptual Priming of Cue Encoding in Task Switching

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Schneider, Darryl W.

2016-01-01

Transition effects in task-cuing experiments can be partitioned into task switching and cue repetition effects by using multiple cues per task. In the present study, the author shows that cue repetition effects can be partitioned into perceptual and conceptual priming effects. In 2 experiments, letters or numbers in their uppercase/lowercase or…

Attentional fluctuations in preschoolers: Direct and indirect relations with task accuracy, academic readiness, and school performance.

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Isbell, Elif; Calkins, Susan D; Swingler, Margaret M; Leerkes, Esther M

2018-03-01

Attentional control fluctuates in the presence of internal and external distractors, wandering on and off a given task. The current study investigated individual differences in attentional fluctuations in 250 preschoolers. Attentional fluctuations were assessed via intra-individual variability in response time in a Go/No-Go task. Greater fluctuations in attentional control were linked to lower task accuracy. In addition, greater attentional fluctuations predicted lower performance in a task of cognitive flexibility, the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. Attentional fluctuations were also associated with laboratory measures of academic readiness in preschool, as assessed by the Applied Problems and Letter-Word Identification subscales of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement, which in turn predicted teacher reports of academic performance in first grade. Attentional fluctuations also had indirect associations with emergent math skills in preschool, via cognitive flexibility, as well as indirect associations with first-grade teacher reports of academic performance, via the relations between cognitive flexibility and emergent math skills in preschool. These results suggest that consistency is an important aspect of attentional control during early childhood. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age-related differences in the automatic processing of single letters: implications for selective attention.

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Daffner, Kirk R; Alperin, Brittany R; Mott, Katherine K; Holcomb, Phillip J

2014-01-22

Older adults exhibit diminished ability to inhibit the processing of visual stimuli that are supposed to be ignored. The extent to which age-related changes in early visual processing contribute to impairments in selective attention remains to be determined. Here, 103 adults, 18-85 years of age, completed a color selective attention task in which they were asked to attend to a specified color and respond to designated target letters. An optimal approach would be to initially filter according to color and then process letter forms in the attend color to identify targets. An asymmetric N170 ERP component (larger amplitude over left posterior hemisphere sites) was used as a marker of the early automatic processing of letter forms. Young and middle-aged adults did not generate an asymmetric N170 component. In contrast, young-old and old-old adults produced a larger N170 over the left hemisphere. Furthermore, older adults generated a larger N170 to letter than nonletter stimuli over the left, but not right hemisphere. More asymmetric N170 responses predicted greater allocation of late selection resources to target letters in the ignore color, as indexed by P3b amplitude. These results suggest that unlike their younger counterparts, older adults automatically process stimuli as letters early in the selection process, when it would be more efficient to attend to color only. The inability to ignore letters early in the processing stream helps explain the age-related increase in subsequent processing of target letter forms presented in the ignore color.

Secure automated canning and identification task (SACIT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quintana, G.R.; Thunborg, S.; Morimoto, A.K.

1991-01-01

Many nuclear facilities manually remove and package, or bagout, radioactive materials from a glove box. Up to four operators are involved in removing the can and sealing it in a plastic bag, sealing it in a second can and placing it on a cart for transport. This paper reports that a major objective of the Secure Automated Canning and Identification Task (SACIT) is to provide protection from an insider threat at bagout stations where nuclear materials are vulnerable to diversion and substitution. The SACIT system consists of a robot system, an inner glove box transfer device, a shrink wrap heat ring, specialized robot end effectors, supervisory computer systems, and an operator's control station. The robot performs functions such as removing and weighing the can, separating the bagged can from the rest of the bag after it is sealed, transferring it into a second can, and setting up the application of a shrink wrap seal to the second can. The computer performs real time monitoring of the robots movements while screening the operator's input for validity and safety

Post eLetter Solutions: Healthy Results for Improving Patient Communication Processes at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

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Boulter, Rhonda

2009-06-01

The primary objective of the Australia Post eLetter project 1 was to determine the feasibility of using the eLetter service with the Patient Administration System Appointment Scheduling Module to provide a fully automated mailing function that would eliminate the need for manual processing of mail delivery. Issues with timely delivery of letters throughout all outpatient sites at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) have been identified as being mainly due to limited human resources being available to perform mailing duties and the like. This new desktop service enables staff to transmit data electronically in conjunction with the appointment software for large quantity mail postings to Australia Post via a secure line. Australia Post then validates the address, appends a barcode, prints the letter, envelopes it and inserts it into the mail distribution network in the state of the recipient. This article depicts the process that has eliminated the manual processing of a letter via the traditional Microsoft application, Wordmate, a system at RHH that was always difficult to use. With the introduction of eLetter, the RHH's Specialist Clinics have significantly improved the timeliness and quality of communication with patients as well as reducing administration tasks for staff.

Credit Card Debt Hardship Letter Samples

OpenAIRE

lissa coffey

2016-01-01

Having trouble with your credit card debt? Below you will find examples of hardship letters. There are several things to consider when writing a credit card hardship letter. A hardship letter is the first step to letting the credit card company know that things are bad. This free credit card hardship letter sample is only a guide in order to start the negotiation. Credit card debt hardship letter example, hardship letter to credit card. If you are having trouble paying off your debt and need ...

Critical contrastive rhetoric: The influence of L2 letter writing instruction on L1letter writing

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Mehrnoosh Fakharzadeh

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The present study employed critical contrastive rhetoric to investigate the L2 to L1 transfer of organizational pattern and directness level of speech acts in business complaint letters. By examining the L1 complaint letters of 30 tourism university students in two phases of study, pre and post instruction of English complaint letter, the study revealed that the rhetorical organization of Persian letters are in a state of hybridity. The post instruction comparison of letters, however, showed a tendency towards applying English conventions both in organization and directness level of complaint speech act in the L1 complaint letters. The results also revealed that after instruction the expert in the field of tourism viewed some letters as inappropriate in terms of politeness which is reflected through some lexical items.

A Letter to Ahmad Khan

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I.M. Mirgaleev

2016-12-01

Full Text Available We bring to attention of specialists an undated letter of Ottoman ruler Mehmed II Fatih to the Great Horde khan Ahmad from the collection of famous collector of Ottoman charters Feridun-bey [1, S. 289]. The addressee is the famous ruler of the Great Horde, khan Ahmad. Daulat Khan mentioned in the letter is Nur-Davlet. He was connected with khan Ahmad, and, as indicated by the letter, he had also set in close contact with the Ottomans whose ruler openly declares in a letter that “our sight of benevolence and patronage is directed toward him”. Thereby the Sultan made it clear to the “principal” Tatar khan Akhmad that Nur-Davlet was under the patronage of the Ottoman Empire. Considering the period of activity of Nur-Davlet in Crimea, presumably the letter was written in 1477. Famous researcher of the Crimean Khanate V.D. Smirnov had already examined the letter and the question of why Ahmad Khan was named the Crimean khan in the title of the letter [2, p. 221–222].

Blink activity and task difficulty.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Y; Yamaoka, K

1993-08-01

This study investigated the relationship between task difficulty and blink activity, which includes blink rate, blink amplitude, and blink duration. Two kinds of tasks established two levels of difficulty. In Exp. 1, a mental arithmetic task was used to examine the relationship. Analysis showed that blink rate for a difficult task was significantly higher than that for an easier one. In Exp. 2, a letter-search task (hiragana Japanese alphabet) was used while the other conditions were the same as those in Exp. 1; however, the results of this experiment were not influenced by the difficulty of the task. As results indicate that blink rate is related to not only difficulty but also the nature of the task, the nature of the task is probably dependent on a mechanism in information processing. The results for blink amplitude and blink duration showed no systematic change during either experiment.

Local Navon letter processing affects skilled behavior: a golf-putting experiment.

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Lewis, Michael B; Dawkins, Gemma

2015-04-01

Expert or skilled behaviors (for example, face recognition or sporting performance) are typically performed automatically and with little conscious awareness. Previous studies, in various domains of performance, have shown that activities immediately prior to a task demanding a learned skill can affect performance. In sport, describing the to-be-performed action is detrimental, whereas in face recognition, describing a face or reading local Navon letters is detrimental. Two golf-putting experiments are presented that compare the effects that these three tasks have on experienced and novice golfers. Experiment 1 found a Navon effect on golf performance for experienced players. Experiment 2 found, for experienced players only, that performance was impaired following the three tasks described above, when compared with reading or global Navon tasks. It is suggested that the three tasks affect skilled performance by provoking a shift from automatic behavior to a more analytic style. By demonstrating similarities between effects in face recognition and sporting behavior, it is hoped to better understand concepts in both fields.

Effect of yoga relaxation techniques on performance of digit-letter substitution task by teenagers

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Pradhan Balaram

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Background/Aims : Memory and selective attention are important skills for academic and professional performance. Techniques to improve these skills are not taught either in education or company training courses. Any system which can systematically improve these skills will be of value in schools, universities, and workplaces. Aims:To investigate possible improvements in memory and selective attention, as measured by the Digit-Letter Substitution Task (DLST, due to practice of Cyclic Meditation (CM, a yoga relaxation technique, as compared to Supine Rest (SR. Materials and Methods : Subjects consisted of 253 school students, 156 boys, 97 girls, in the age range 13-16 years, who were attending a 10-day yoga training course during summer vacation. The selected subjects had English as their medium of instruction in school and they acted as their own controls. They were allocated to two groups, and tested on the DLST, immediately before and after 22.5 minutes practice of CM on one day, and immediately before and after an equal period of SR on the other day. The first group performed CM on day 9 and SR on day 10. For the second group, the order was reversed. Results : Within each group pre-post test differences were significant for both the relaxation techniques. The magnitude of net score improvement was greater after SR (7.85% compared to CM (3.95%. Significance levels were P < 0.4 x 10 -9 for SR and P < 0.1 x 10 -3 for CM. The number of wrong attempts also increased significantly on both interventions, even after removing two outlier data points on day 1 in the SR group. Conclusions: Both CM and SR lead to improvement in performance on the DLST. However, these relaxation techniques lead to more wrong cancellation errors.

Letter Knowledge in Parent–Child Conversations

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Robins, Sarah; Treiman, Rebecca; Rosales, Nicole

2014-01-01

Learning about letters is an important component of emergent literacy. We explored the possibility that parent speech provides information about letters, and also that children’s speech reflects their own letter knowledge. By studying conversations transcribed in CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000) between parents and children aged one to five, we found that alphabetic order influenced use of individual letters and letter sequences. The frequency of letters in children’s books influenced parent utterances throughout the age range studied, but children’s utterances only after age two. Conversations emphasized some literacy-relevant features of letters, such as their shapes and association with words, but not letters’ sounds. Describing these patterns and how they change over the preschool years offers important insight into the home literacy environment. PMID:25598577

The neural substrates associated with attentional resources and difficulty of concurrent processing of the two verbal tasks.

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Mizuno, Kei; Tanaka, Masaaki; Tanabe, Hiroki C; Sadato, Norihiro; Watanabe, Yasuyoshi

2012-07-01

The kana pick-out test has been widely used in Japan to evaluate the ability to divide attention in both adult and pediatric patients. However, the neural substrates underlying the ability to divide attention using the kana pick-out test, which requires participants to pick out individual letters (vowels) in a story while also reading for comprehension, thus requiring simultaneous allocation of attention to both activities, are still unclear. Moreover, outside of the clinical area, neuroimaging studies focused on the mechanisms of divided attention during complex story comprehension are rare. Thus, the purpose of the present study, to clarify the neural substrates of kana pick-out test, improves our current understanding of the basic neural mechanisms of dual task performance in verbal memory function. We compared patterns of activation in the brain obtained during performance of the individual tasks of vowel identification and story comprehension, to levels of activation when participants performed the two tasks simultaneously during the kana pick-out test. We found that activations of the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus and superior parietal lobule increase in functional connectivity to a greater extent during the dual task condition compared to the two single task conditions. In contrast, activations of the left fusiform gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, which are significantly involved in picking out letters and complex sentences during story comprehension, respectively, were reduced in the dual task condition compared to during the two single task conditions. These results suggest that increased activations of the dorsal inferior frontal gyrus and superior parietal lobule during dual task performance may be associated with the capacity for attentional resources, and reduced activations of the left fusiform gyrus and middle temporal gyrus may reflect the difficulty of concurrent processing of the two tasks. In addition, the increase in synchronization between

Letter-transposition effects are not universal: The impact of transposing letters in Hebrew.

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Velan, Hadas; Frost, Ram

2009-10-01

We examined the effects of letter transposition in Hebrew in three masked-priming experiments. Hebrew, like English has an alphabetic orthography where sequential and contiguous letter strings represent phonemes. However, being a Semitic language it has a non-concatenated morphology that is based on root derivations. Experiment 1 showed that transposed-letter (TL) root primes inhibited responses to targets derived from the non-transposed root letters, and that this inhibition was unrelated to relative root frequency. Experiment 2 replicated this result and showed that if the transposed letters of the root created a nonsense-root that had no lexical representation, then no inhibition and no facilitation were obtained. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrated that in contrast to English, French, or Spanish, TL nonword primes did not facilitate recognition of targets, and when the root letters embedded in them consisted of a legal root morpheme, they produced inhibition. These results suggest that lexical space in alphabetic orthographies may be structured very differently in different languages if their morphological structure diverges qualitatively. In Hebrew, lexical space is organized according to root families rather than simple orthographic structure, so that all words derived from the same root are interconnected or clustered together, independent of overall orthographic similarity.

Identification of Elderly Falling Risk by Balance Tests Under Dual Tasks Conditions

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Mohammad Ali Aslankhani

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Objectives: This study aimed to identify elderly fallers and non-fallers by balance test under dual tasks conditions. Methods & Materials: This study was an analyze-comparative study. Subjects were from three park of Tehran. Subjects were 20 older adults with outhistory of falls (aged 75.95±6.28 years and 21 older adults with a history of 2 or more falls in the previous one year (aged 72.50±7.31 Years . All subjects performed Timed Up & Go test under 3 conditions (TimedUp & Go, Timed Up & Go with numbers counter randomly [TUG cognitive], and Timed Up & Go while carrying a full cup of water [TUG manual]. A multivariate analysis of variance and logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: The results showed significant difference between elderly fallers and non fallers in fall risk composed dependent variable (P=0.0005, as the non fallers had greater score than the elderly fallers. Also, results showed that TUG cognitive has prediction capacity of elderly fall (P=0.013. Conclusion: Consequently, balance under cognitive dual task conditions could be useful method in identification of risk of falling and planning dual task exercise program and physiotherapy to preventfalls.

Measuring implicit gender-role orientation: the gender initial preference task.

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Stieger, Stefan; Burger, Christoph; Schiller, Franziska R; Schulze, Esther K; Voracek, Martin

2014-01-01

Individuals prefer their name letters over nonname letters, which is known as the name-letter effect (NLE). This research aimed to examine a possible NLE for gender-role orientation (GRO) by rating letters for their gender-typicality in an initial preference task (Gender-IPT). Indeed, a clear NLE appeared: Men rated their initials as more male-typical, whereas women rated them as more female-typical. The Gender-IPT showed good convergent validity with other direct and indirect (Gender Implicit Association Test) measures of GRO as well as predictive validity with sensation seeking and gender-typical everyday life behaviors. The Gender-IPT seems to be a useful and practical indirect measure to assess GRO in a short, convenient, and computer-independent way, complementing other indirect measures of GRO.

The effect of decreased interletter spacing on orthographic processing.

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Montani, Veronica; Facoetti, Andrea; Zorzi, Marco

2015-06-01

There is growing interest in how perceptual factors such as the spacing between letters within words modulate performance in visual word recognition and reading aloud. Extra-large letter spacing can strongly improve the reading performance of dyslexic children, and a small increase with respect to the standard spacing seems beneficial even for skilled word recognition in adult readers. In the present study we examined the effect of decreased letter spacing on perceptual identification and lexical decision tasks. Identification in the decreased spacing condition was slower than identification of normally spaced strings, thereby confirming that the reciprocal interference among letters located in close proximity (crowding) poses critical constraints on visual word processing. Importantly, the effect of spacing was not modulated by string length, suggesting that the locus of the spacing effect is at the level of letter detectors. Moreover, the processing of crowded letters was facilitated by top-down support from orthographic lexical representation as indicated by the fact that decreased spacing affected pseudowords significantly more than words. Conversely, in the lexical decision task only word responses were affected by the spacing manipulation. Overall, our findings support the hypothesis that increased crowding is particularly harmful for phonological decoding, thereby adversely affecting reading development in dyslexic children.

Overt use of a tactile-kinesthetic strategy shifts to covert processing in rehabilitation of letter-by-letter reading.

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Lott, Susan Nitzberg; Carney, Aimee Syms; Glezer, Laurie S; Friedman, Rhonda B

2010-11-01

BACKGROUND: Letter-by-letter readers identify each letter of the word they are reading serially in left to right order before recognizing the word. When their letter naming is also impaired, letter-by-letter reading is inaccurate and can render even single word reading very poor. Tactile and/or kinesthetic strategies have been reported to improve reading in these patients, but only under certain conditions or for a limited set of stimuli. AIMS: The primary aim of the current study was to determine whether a tactile/kinesthetic treatment could significantly improve reading specifically under normal reading conditions, i.e. reading untrained words presented in free vision and read without overt use of the strategy. METHODS #ENTITYSTARTX00026; PROCEDURES: Three chronic letter-by-letter readers participated in a tactile/kinesthetic treatment aimed at first improving letter naming accuracy (phase 1) and then letter-by-letter reading speed (phase 2). In a multiple case series design, accuracy and speed of reading untrained words without overt use of the trained tactile/kinesthetic strategy was assessed before phase 1, after phase 1 and again after phase 2. OUTCOMES #ENTITYSTARTX00026; RESULTS: All three patients significantly improved both their speed and accuracy reading untrained words without overt use of the trained tactile/kinesthetic strategy. All three patients required the additional practice in phase 2 to achieve significant improvement. Treatment did not target sentence level reading, yet two of the three patients became so adept that they could read entire sentences. CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates previous findings on the efficacy of tactile/kinesthetic treatment for letter-by-letter readers with poor letter naming. It further demonstrates that this treatment can alter cognitive processing such that words never specifically trained can be read in free vision without overtly using the trained strategy. The data suggest that an important element in achieving

Letters From Peplau.

Science.gov (United States)

Peden, Ann R

2018-03-01

Dr. Hildegard Peplau, considered to be our first modern Nurse theorist and the Mother of Psychiatric Nursing, was a prolific writer, engaging in correspondence with colleagues and students who sought her professional and theoretical expertise. Through these letters, she influenced psychiatric nursing while maintaining a broad international network of professional colleagues. An analysis of letters, written between 1990 and 1998, provides insights into Peplau's last decade of professional life and a model of how to support the next generation of nurse scholars. Using content analysis, 24 letters received between 1990 and 1998 were read, reread, and coded. Recurring themes were identified. Three themes were identified. These include Peplau, the Person: Living a Life of Professional Balance; Lighting a Spark: Investing in the Next Generation; and Work in the Vineyards of Nursing: Maintaining a Life of Scholarship. The letters depict Peplau's keen intellect, her wide professional network, her leisure time spent with family and friends, and her own work to assure that her theoretical legacy continued. Peplau's insights continue to be relevant as psychiatric mental health nursing leaders engage in activities to support the next generation of scholars and leaders.

Initial letters on the pages of Ukrainian old printed books of the 17th-18th centuries

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Yukhymets H. M.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to such a complicated and little studied element of artistic decoration of Ukrainian printed books of the 17th-18th centuries as capital letters. The authors research old printed books from the collection of imprints of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s typography. Various topics, iconography, compositional and artistic stylistic features of miniature illustrations of initial letters, their location on book pages, content correspondence or discrepancy with a text, usage of one clichй in various editions provide multiple new possibilities to researchers. Especially the authors accentuate iconography of gospel and life subjects, as well as the source studies analysis of initial letters, which in Ukrainian old printed editions of Baroque epoch impress with innovation of subject development and the ambition for original decisions of complex compositional tasks conditioned not only by the size and format of an initial, but also by the form and location of the letter itself in a certain decorative space.

Author response to letter. Ref: Madsen et al. "Unnecessary work tasks and mental health: a prospective analysis of Danish human service workers".

Science.gov (United States)

Madsen, Ida Eh; Rugulies, Reiner

2015-03-01

We read with interest the letter from Drs Durand-Moreau, Loddé, and Dewitte (1) regarding our article on unnecessary work tasks and mental health (2). The authors argue that: (i) the article is flawed by an imprecise one-item exposure measurement, (ii) the results may be affected by reverse causality, and (iii) ultimately the elimination of unnecessary work tasks may increase "psychic suffering". We would like to take this opportunity to address their concerns. We acknowledge, as we did in the article itself, that measuring unnecessary work tasks using only one item is less than ideal and could have increased measurement error in our analyses. The item we used to measure unnecessary work tasks assesses the employee's overall evaluation regarding the extent to which they must conduct work tasks that they, for whatever reason, deem unnecessary. We are unconvinced by the claim by Drs Durand-Moreau, Loddé, and Dewitte that this phenomenon is somehow unrelated to Semmer's definition of unnecessary tasks (3, 4), regardless of the sense-making processes underlying an individual employee's evaluation of a particular work task as unnecessary. Regarding the issue of reverse causality, the analyses were longitudinal and the effect estimates were adjusted for the baseline mental health level of the participants. Consequently, we examined changes in mental health over time, and our results cannot be explained by poorer mental health making workers think "that what they're doing is useless" as claimed in the commentary. Although causal inference is always a delicate issue when applying observational research methods, the adjustment for baseline mental health should account for reverse causality at least. Drs Durand-Moreau, Loddé, and Dewitte question that our findings suggest that the elimination of unnecessary work tasks may be beneficial to employee mental health. Instead they propose that unnecessary work tasks may be conducive to mental health because "some tasks may seem

The legibility of letters and words

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beier, Sofie

2016-01-01

The saying made famous by Mathew Carter that "type is a beautiful group of letters, not a group of beautiful letters”, highlights the fact that although a typeface consists of a number of letters it is when the letters are assembled in a word that they become type. However, research indicates...... that what makes letters legible in isolation is not necessarily the same as what makes them legible in words. Is it possible to create a typeface where both letters and words have a high level of legibility or are those factors so different that they cannot be combined? Through a literature review...... on relevant experimental investigations, I will in this talk present examples of when the legibility findings on letters and words correlate and when they differ....

Contingent attentional capture across multiple feature dimensions in a temporal search task.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Motohiro; Kawahara, Jun I

2016-01-01

The present study examined whether attention can be flexibly controlled to monitor two different feature dimensions (shape and color) in a temporal search task. Specifically, we investigated the occurrence of contingent attentional capture (i.e., interference from task-relevant distractors) and resulting set reconfiguration (i.e., enhancement of single task-relevant set). If observers can restrict searches to a specific value for each relevant feature dimension independently, the capture and reconfiguration effect should only occur when the single relevant distractor in each dimension appears. Participants identified a target letter surrounded by a non-green square or a non-square green frame. The results revealed contingent attentional capture, as target identification accuracy was lower when the distractor contained a target-defining feature than when it contained a nontarget feature. Resulting set reconfiguration was also obtained in that accuracy was superior when the current target's feature (e.g., shape) corresponded to the defining feature of the present distractor (shape) than when the current target's feature did not match the distractor's feature (color). This enhancement was not due to perceptual priming. The present study demonstrated that the principles of contingent attentional capture and resulting set reconfiguration held even when multiple target feature dimensions were monitored. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Can "CANISO" Activate "CASINO"? Transposed-Letter Similarity Effects with Nonadjacent Letter Positions

Science.gov (United States)

Perea, Manuel; Lupker, Stephen J.

2004-01-01

Nonwords created by transposing two "adjacent" letters (i.e., transposed-letter (TL) nonwords like "jugde") are very effective at activating the lexical representation of their base words. This fact poses problems for most computational models of word recognition (e.g., the interactive-activation model and its extensions), which assume that exact…

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy reveals altered hemispheric laterality in relation to schizotypy during verbal fluency task.

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Hori, Hiroaki; Ozeki, Yuji; Terada, Sumio; Kunugi, Hiroshi

2008-12-12

Previous functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia and those with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) show reduced laterality, or relative right hemispheric dominance, during the performance of cognitive activation tasks; however, neuroimaging studies looking at non-clinical schizotypy have been few. We have recently reported that schizotypal traits at a non-clinical level are associated with right prefrontal dominance during a letter version of the verbal fluency task (VFT), but it is unknown whether such relationship between schizotypy and functional laterality would be observed across various cognitive tasks. Here we examined the relationships of schizotypal traits as measured by the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) in healthy adults with hemispheric lateralization of prefrontal activation during letter and category VFTs, using near-infrared spectroscopy. Thirty-two participants were divided into high- (n=16) and low- (n=16) SPQ groups by the median split of the total SPQ score. The high-SPQ group, but not low-SPQ group, showed significantly right-greater-than-left asymmetry of prefrontal activation during letter VFT, whereas such pronounced hemispheric asymmetry in relation to schizotypy was not found during category VFT. These results indicate that non-clinical schizotypy is related to right prefrontal preference during the letter version of VFT in particular, suggesting that the association between schizotypal traits and functional laterality may vary depending on cognitive activation tasks.

Market Research on Law School Student Aid Award Letters and Shopping Sheet Information. NASFAA Consumer Information & Law Student Indebtedness Task Force Report

Science.gov (United States)

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, 2016

2016-01-01

"Market Research on Law School Student Aid Award Letters and Shopping Sheet Information" set out to identify through consumer testing what information on the financial aid award letter and U.S. Department of Education's (ED) Shopping Sheet could be modified to create a document that better assists students applying to, or currently…

Commentary to the Letter of Robert Arasimowicz

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnieszka Rosa

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The author in his letter to the editor presents his own vision of carrying out archives’ tasks that arise from the public principle of archives. He is concerned especially with stagnation and passive role of archives in promoting their collections. To justify his theses the author conducted a survey among a group of his friends. He asked them four questions that tested their knowledge of archives and archival collections. Answers proved earlier conjectures to be true and were similar to the author’s experience; they showed that the society has poor knowledge of archives and their collections. The author proposed some general solutions, referring especially to actions taken by museums.

The letter knowledge assessment tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedro, Cassandra; Lousada, Marisa; Pereira, Rita; Hall, Andreia; Jesus, Luis M T

2017-10-10

There is a need to develop letter knowledge assessment tools to characterise the letter knowledge in Portuguese pre-schoolers and to compare it with pre-schoolers from other countries, but there are no tools for this purpose in Portugal. The aim of this paper is to describe the development and validation procedures of the Prova de Avaliação de Competências de Pré-Literacia (PACPL), which assesses letter knowledge. This study includes data that has been gathered in two phases: pilot and main study. In the pilot study, an expert panel of six speech and language pathologists analysed the instrument. Children (n = 216) aged 5;0-7;11 participated in the main study that reports data related to the psychometric characteristics of the PACPL. Content validity, internal consistency, reliability and contributing factors to performance were examined statistically. A modified Bland-Altman method revealed good agreement amongst evaluators. The main study showed that the PACPL has a very good internal consistency and high inter-rater (96.2% of agreement and a Cohen's k value of 0.92) and intra-rater (95.6% of agreement and a Cohen's k value of 0.91) agreement. Construct validity of the PCAPL was also assured (Cronbach's α of 0.982). Significant differences were found between age groups with children increasing their letter knowledge with age. In addition, they were better at identifying than at producing both letter names and letter sounds. The PACPL is a valid and reliable instrument to assess letter knowledge in Portuguese children.

Selective attention and error processing in an illusory conjunction task - An event-related brain potential study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijers, AA; Boksem, MAS

2005-01-01

We recorded event-related potentials in an illusory conjunction task, in which subjects were cued on each trial to search for a particular colored letter in a subsequently presented test array, consisting of three different letters in three different colors. In a proportion of trials the target

Mild cognitive impairment: loss of linguistic task-induced changes in motor cortex excitability.

Science.gov (United States)

Bracco, L; Giovannelli, F; Bessi, V; Borgheresi, A; Di Tullio, A; Sorbi, S; Zaccara, G; Cincotta, M

2009-03-10

In amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), functional neuronal connectivity may be altered, as suggested by quantitative EEG and neuroimaging data. In young healthy humans, the execution of linguistic tasks modifies the excitability of the hand area of the dominant primary motor cortex (M1(hand)), as tested by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). We used TMS to investigate functional connectivity between language-related cortical areas and M1(hand) in aMCI. Ten elderly women with aMCI and 10 age-matched women were recruited. All participants were right handed and underwent a neuropsychological evaluation. In the first TMS experiment, participants performed three different tasks: reading aloud, viewing of non-letter strings (baseline), and nonverbal oral movements. The second experiment included the baseline condition and three visual searching/matching tasks using letters, geometric shapes, or digits as target stimuli. In controls, motor evoked potentials (MEP) elicited by suprathreshold TMS of the left M1(hand) were significantly larger during reading aloud (170% baseline) than during nonverbal oral movements, whereas no difference was seen for right M1(hand) stimulation. Similarly, MEP elicited by left M1(hand) stimulation during letter and shape searching/matching tasks were significantly larger compared to digit task. In contrast, linguistic task performance did not produce any significant MEP modulation in patients with aMCI, although neuropsychological evaluation showed normal language abilities. Findings suggest that functional connectivity between the language-related brain regions and the dominant M1(hand) may be altered in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Follow-up studies will reveal whether transcranial magnetic stimulation application during linguistic tasks may contribute to characterize the risk of conversion to Alzheimer disease.

Letter-Transposition Effects Are Not Universal: The Impact of Transposing Letters in Hebrew

Science.gov (United States)

Velan, Hadas; Frost, Ram

2009-01-01

We examined the effects of letter-transposition in Hebrew in three masked-priming experiments. Hebrew, like English has an alphabetic orthography where sequential and contiguous letter strings represent phonemes. However, being a Semitic language it has a non-concatenated morphology that is based on root derivations. Experiment 1 showed that…

7 CFR 3560.709 - Demand letter.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Demand letter. 3560.709 Section 3560.709 Agriculture... DIRECT MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING LOANS AND GRANTS Unauthorized Assistance § 3560.709 Demand letter. (a) If a... repayment schedule, the Agency will send the borrower a demand letter specifying: (1) The amount of...

Letters of Map Change (LOMC)

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Homeland Security — Documents, including different types of Letters of MAP Revision (LOMR) and Letters of Map Amendment (LOMA), which are issued by FEMA to revise or amend the flood...

31 CFR 29.511 - Demand letters.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Demand letters. 29.511 Section 29.511... Overpayments § 29.511 Demand letters. Except as provided in § 29.516(e), before starting collection action to recover an overpayment, the Benefits Administrator must send a demand letter that informs the debtor in...

Letter Dice. Technical Note No. 6.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunter, Jock

Letter and syllable dice devised for a project in rural Ecuador provide inexpensive, easily reproducible learning materials for practice in basic literary skills. Eleven wooden cubes with six letters on each cube are cast onto a surface and the player constructs words from the letters on the top side of the dice. After a word is formed and…

Letter to the parliament:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

This piece was a letter directed towards various ministers in the parliament, targeted at raising a discussion on the values in the education of architects in Denmark and various related topics.......This piece was a letter directed towards various ministers in the parliament, targeted at raising a discussion on the values in the education of architects in Denmark and various related topics....

9 CFR 592.310 - Form of official identification symbol and inspection mark.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Form of official identification symbol... Identifying and Marking Products § 592.310 Form of official identification symbol and inspection mark. (a) The shield set forth in Figure 1, containing the letters “USDA,” shall be the official identification symbol...

Resource Letter: GW-1: Global warming

Science.gov (United States)

Firor, John W.

1994-06-01

This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on the possibility of a human-induced climate change—a global warming. Journal articles and books are cited for the following topics: the Greenhouse Effect, sources of infrared-trapping gases, climate models and their uncertainties, verification of climate models, past climate changes, and economics, ethics, and politics of policy responses to climate change. [The letter E after an item indicates elementary level or material of general interest to persons becoming informed in the field. The letter I, for intermediate level, indicates material of somewhat more specialized nature, and the letter A indicates rather specialized or advanced material.

Implied reading direction and prioritization of letter encoding.

Science.gov (United States)

Holcombe, Alex O; Nguyen, Elizabeth H L; Goodbourn, Patrick T

2017-10-01

Capacity limits hinder processing of multiple stimuli, contributing to poorer performance for identifying two briefly presented letters than for identifying a single letter. Higher accuracy is typically found for identifying the letter on the left, which has been attributed to a right-hemisphere dominance for selective attention. Here, we use rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of letters in two locations at once. The letters to be identified are simultaneous and cued by rings. In the first experiment, we manipulated implied reading direction by rotating or mirror-reversing the letters to face to the left rather than to the right. The left-side performance advantage was eliminated. In the second experiment, letters were positioned above and below fixation, oriented such that they appeared to face downward (90° clockwise rotation) or upward (90° counterclockwise rotation). Again consistent with an effect of implied reading direction, performance was better for the top position in the downward condition, but not in the upward condition. In both experiments, mixture modeling of participants' report errors revealed that attentional sampling from the two locations was approximately simultaneous, ruling out the theory that the letter on one side was processed first, followed by a shift of attention to sample the other letter. Thus, the orientation of the letters apparently controls not when the letters are sampled from the scene, but rather the dynamics of a subsequent process, such as tokenization or memory consolidation. Implied reading direction appears to determine the letter prioritized at a high-level processing bottleneck. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Brain activations during bimodal dual tasks depend on the nature and combination of component tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emma eSalo

2015-02-01

Full Text Available We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain activations during nine different dual tasks in which the participants were required to simultaneously attend to concurrent streams of spoken syllables and written letters. They performed a phonological, spatial or simple (speaker-gender or font-shade discrimination task within each modality. We expected to find activations associated specifically with dual tasking especially in the frontal and parietal cortices. However, no brain areas showed systematic dual task enhancements common for all dual tasks. Further analysis revealed that dual tasks including component tasks that were according to Baddeley’s model modality atypical, that is, the auditory spatial task or the visual phonological task, were not associated with enhanced frontal activity. In contrast, for other dual tasks, activity specifically associated with dual tasking was found in the left or bilateral frontal cortices. Enhanced activation in parietal areas, however, appeared not to be specifically associated with dual tasking per se, but rather with intermodal attention switching. We also expected effects of dual tasking in left frontal supramodal phonological processing areas when both component tasks required phonological processing and in right parietal supramodal spatial processing areas when both tasks required spatial processing. However, no such effects were found during these dual tasks compared with their component tasks performed separately. Taken together, the current results indicate that activations during dual tasks depend in a complex manner on specific demands of component tasks.

Transposed-Letter Priming Effects with Masked Subset Primes: A Re-Examination of the "Relative Position Priming Constraint"

Science.gov (United States)

Stinchcombe, Eric J.; Lupker, Stephen J.; Davis, Colin J.

2012-01-01

Three experiments are reported investigating the role of letter order in orthographic subset priming (e.g., "grdn"-GARDEN) using both the conventional masked priming technique as well as the sandwich priming technique in a lexical decision task. In all three experiments, subset primes produced priming with the effect being considerably…

Development of children's identity and position processing for letter, digit, and symbol strings: A cross-sectional study of the primary school years.

Science.gov (United States)

Schubert, Teresa; Badcock, Nicholas; Kohnen, Saskia

2017-10-01

Letter recognition and digit recognition are critical skills for literate adults, yet few studies have considered the development of these skills in children. We conducted a nine-alternative forced-choice (9AFC) partial report task with strings of letters and digits, with typographical symbols (e.g., $, @) as a control, to investigate the development of identity and position processing in children. This task allows for the delineation of identity processing (as overall accuracy) and position coding (as the proportion of position errors). Our participants were students in Grade 1 to Grade 6, allowing us to track the development of these abilities across the primary school years. Our data suggest that although digit processing and letter processing end up with many similarities in adult readers, the developmental trajectories for identity and position processing for the two character types differ. Symbol processing showed little developmental change in terms of identity or position accuracy. We discuss the implications of our results for theories of identity and position coding: modified receptive field, multiple-route model, and lexical tuning. Despite moderate success for some theories, considerable theoretical work is required to explain the developmental trajectories of letter processing and digit processing, which might not be as closely tied in child readers as they are in adult readers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

48 CFR 42.504 - Postaward letters.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION AND AUDIT SERVICES Postaward Orientation 42.504 Postaward letters. In some circumstances, a letter or other written form of communication to the contractor may be adequate postaward...

A Stimulus Sampling Theory of Letter Identity and Order

Science.gov (United States)

Norris, Dennis; Kinoshita, Sachiko; van Casteren, Maarten

2010-01-01

Early on during word recognition, letter positions are not accurately coded. Evidence for this comes from transposed-letter (TL) priming effects, in which letter strings generated by transposing two adjacent letters (e.g., "jugde") produce large priming effects, more than primes with the letters replaced in the corresponding position (e.g.,…

Launch of Zoological Letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukatsu, Takema; Kuratani, Shigeru

2016-02-01

A new open-access journal, Zoological Letters, was launched as a sister journal to Zoological Science, in January 2015. The new journal aims at publishing topical papers of high quality from a wide range of basic zoological research fields. This review highlights the notable reviews and research articles that have been published in the first year of Zoological Letters, providing an overview on the current achievements and future directions of the journal.

Bayesian Modeling for Identification and Estimation of the Learning Effects of Pointing Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Kyo, Koki

Recently, in the field of human-computer interaction, a model containing the systematic factor and human factor has been proposed to evaluate the performance of the input devices of a computer. This is called the SH-model. In this paper, in order to extend the range of application of the SH-model, we propose some new models based on the Box-Cox transformation and apply a Bayesian modeling method for identification and estimation of the learning effects of pointing tasks. We consider the parameters describing the learning effect as random variables and introduce smoothness priors for them. Illustrative results show that the newly-proposed models work well.

Letters to those who Dare Feel: Using Reflective Letter-Writing to Explore the Emotionality of Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Using reflective letter-writing as a method of generating data, a group of four researchers embarked on a collaborative autoethnographic inquiry into the emotional dimensions of researching social aspects of HIV & AIDS. In this article, we use the medium of a narrative dialogue to represent and re-examine our reflective letter-writing method. The dialogue draws attention to key features of reflective letter-writing as a collaborative autoethnographic research method and, in so doing, highlights and explores the nature, potential significance, and challenges of this method. Our discussion points to the value of a collaborative process of reflective letter-writing as a way for researchers to access and portray emotional aspects of their research experience, to deepen their engagement with these emotional dimensions, and to gain insight into their own and others' lived research experiences.

Written Communications Simulation: Write Me a Letter.

Science.gov (United States)

North Carolina State Dept. of Public Instruction, Raleigh. Div. of Vocational Education.

This simulation is intended for use as a culminating activity after students have been exposed to personal and/or business letter writing, use of reference manuals, typing of letters, mailing procedures, typing of numbers, punctuation practice, and filing procedures. Stated objectives are to enable students to type a mailable letter; to inspect,…

Effects of serial and concurrent training on receptive identification tasks: A Systematic replication.

Science.gov (United States)

Wunderlich, Kara L; Vollmer, Timothy R

2017-07-01

The current study compared the use of serial and concurrent methods to train multiple exemplars when teaching receptive language skills, providing a systematic replication of Wunderlich, Vollmer, Donaldson, and Phillips (2014). Five preschoolers diagnosed with developmental delays or autism spectrum disorders were taught to receptively identify letters or letter sounds. Subjects learned the target stimuli slightly faster in concurrent training and a high degree of generalization was obtained following both methods of training, indicating that both the serial and concurrent methods of training are efficient and effective instructional procedures. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Brain activity during auditory and visual phonological, spatial and simple discrimination tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Salo, Emma; Rinne, Teemu; Salonen, Oili; Alho, Kimmo

2013-02-16

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure human brain activity during tasks demanding selective attention to auditory or visual stimuli delivered in concurrent streams. Auditory stimuli were syllables spoken by different voices and occurring in central or peripheral space. Visual stimuli were centrally or more peripherally presented letters in darker or lighter fonts. The participants performed a phonological, spatial or "simple" (speaker-gender or font-shade) discrimination task in either modality. Within each modality, we expected a clear distinction between brain activations related to nonspatial and spatial processing, as reported in previous studies. However, within each modality, different tasks activated largely overlapping areas in modality-specific (auditory and visual) cortices, as well as in the parietal and frontal brain regions. These overlaps may be due to effects of attention common for all three tasks within each modality or interaction of processing task-relevant features and varying task-irrelevant features in the attended-modality stimuli. Nevertheless, brain activations caused by auditory and visual phonological tasks overlapped in the left mid-lateral prefrontal cortex, while those caused by the auditory and visual spatial tasks overlapped in the inferior parietal cortex. These overlapping activations reveal areas of multimodal phonological and spatial processing. There was also some evidence for intermodal attention-related interaction. Most importantly, activity in the superior temporal sulcus elicited by unattended speech sounds was attenuated during the visual phonological task in comparison with the other visual tasks. This effect might be related to suppression of processing irrelevant speech presumably distracting the phonological task involving the letters. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Maritime Geo-Fence Letter Report

Science.gov (United States)

2016-07-01

1 Classification | CG-926 RDC | author | audience | month year Maritime Geo-Fence Letter Report Authors: Irene Gonin and Gregory...Johnson   Distribution Statement A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. July 2016 Report No. CG-D-10-16 Maritime Geo-Fence...United States Coast Guard Research & Development Center 1 Chelsea Street New London, CT 06320 Maritime Geo-Fence Letter Report 1

The role of sensorimotor learning in the perception of letter-like forms: tracking the causes of neural specialization for letters.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Karin H; Atwood, Thea P

2009-02-01

Functional specialization in the brain is considered a hallmark of efficient processing. It is therefore not surprising that there are brain areas specialized for processing letters. To better understand the causes of functional specialization for letters, we explore the emergence of this pattern of response in the ventral processing stream through a training paradigm. Previously, we hypothesized that the specialized response pattern seen during letter perception may be due in part to our experience in writing letters. The work presented here investigates whether or not this aspect of letter processing-the integration of sensorimotor systems through writing-leads to functional specialization in the visual system. To test this idea, we investigated whether or not different types of experiences with letter-like stimuli ("pseudoletters") led to functional specialization similar to that which exists for letters. Neural activation patterns were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after three different types of training sessions. Participants were trained to recognize pseudoletters by writing, typing, or purely visual practice. Results suggested that only after writing practice did neural activation patterns to pseudoletters resemble patterns seen for letters. That is, neural activation in the left fusiform and dorsal precentral gyrus was greater when participants viewed pseudoletters than other, similar stimuli but only after writing experience. Neural activation also increased after typing practice in the right fusiform and left precentral gyrus, suggesting that in some areas, any motor experience may change visual processing. The results of this experiment suggest an intimate interaction among perceptual and motor systems during pseudoletter perception that may be extended to everyday letter perception.

Usage of fMRI for pre-surgical planning in brain tumor and vascular lesion patients: Task and statistical threshold effects on language lateralization☆☆☆

Science.gov (United States)

Nadkarni, Tanvi N.; Andreoli, Matthew J.; Nair, Veena A.; Yin, Peng; Young, Brittany M.; Kundu, Bornali; Pankratz, Joshua; Radtke, Andrew; Holdsworth, Ryan; Kuo, John S.; Field, Aaron S.; Baskaya, Mustafa K.; Moritz, Chad H.; Meyerand, M. Elizabeth; Prabhakaran, Vivek

2014-01-01

Background and purpose Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive pre-surgical tool used to assess localization and lateralization of language function in brain tumor and vascular lesion patients in order to guide neurosurgeons as they devise a surgical approach to treat these lesions. We investigated the effect of varying the statistical thresholds as well as the type of language tasks on functional activation patterns and language lateralization. We hypothesized that language lateralization indices (LIs) would be threshold- and task-dependent. Materials and methods Imaging data were collected from brain tumor patients (n = 67, average age 48 years) and vascular lesion patients (n = 25, average age 43 years) who received pre-operative fMRI scanning. Both patient groups performed expressive (antonym and/or letter-word generation) and receptive (tumor patients performed text-reading; vascular lesion patients performed text-listening) language tasks. A control group (n = 25, average age 45 years) performed the letter-word generation task. Results Brain tumor patients showed left-lateralization during the antonym-word generation and text-reading tasks at high threshold values and bilateral activation during the letter-word generation task, irrespective of the threshold values. Vascular lesion patients showed left-lateralization during the antonym and letter-word generation, and text-listening tasks at high threshold values. Conclusion Our results suggest that the type of task and the applied statistical threshold influence LI and that the threshold effects on LI may be task-specific. Thus identifying critical functional regions and computing LIs should be conducted on an individual subject basis, using a continuum of threshold values with different tasks to provide the most accurate information for surgical planning to minimize post-operative language deficits. PMID:25685705

Testing a Poisson Counter Model for Visual Identification of Briefly Presented, Mutually Confusable Single Stimuli in Pure Accuracy Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Kyllingsbaek, Soren; Markussen, Bo; Bundesen, Claus

2012-01-01

The authors propose and test a simple model of the time course of visual identification of briefly presented, mutually confusable single stimuli in pure accuracy tasks. The model implies that during stimulus analysis, tentative categorizations that stimulus i belongs to category j are made at a constant Poisson rate, v(i, j). The analysis is…

Teaching Complaint and Adjustment Letters--And Tact (My Favorite Assignment).

Science.gov (United States)

Deimling, Paula

1992-01-01

Describes a three-part assignment in which each student writes a complaint letter and an adjustment letter responding to another student's complaint letter. Discusses how the third part of the assignment--journal entries--allows students to formulate their own criteria for excellent letters based upon their reactions to the letters they receive.…

N250r and N400 ERP correlates of immediate famous face repetition are independent of perceptual load.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Markus F; Schweinberger, Stefan R

2008-11-06

It is a matter of considerable debate whether attention to initial stimulus presentations is required for repetition-related neural modulations to occur. Recently, it has been assumed that faces are particularly hard to ignore, and can capture attention in a reflexive manner. In line with this idea, electrophysiological evidence for long-term repetition effects of unattended famous faces has been reported. The present study investigated influences of attention to prime faces on short-term repetition effects in event-related potentials (ERPs). We manipulated attention to short (200 ms) prime presentations (S1) of task-irrelevant famous faces according to Lavie's Perceptual Load Theory. Participants attended to letter strings superimposed on face images, and identified target letters "X" vs. "N" embedded in strings of either 6 different (high load) or 6 identical (low load) letters. Letter identification was followed by probe presentations (S2), which were either repetitions of S1 faces, new famous faces, or infrequent butterflies, to which participants responded. Our ERP data revealed repetition effects in terms of an N250r at occipito-temporal regions, suggesting priming of face identification processes, and in terms of an N400 at the vertex, suggesting semantic priming. Crucially, the magnitude of these effects was unaffected by perceptual load at S1 presentation. This indicates that task-irrelevant face processing is remarkably preserved even in a demanding letter detection task, supporting recent notions of face-specific attentional resources.

Exploring Corporate Rhetoric: Metadiscourse in the CEO's Letter.

Science.gov (United States)

Hyland, Ken

1998-01-01

Examines how metadiscourse is used to create a positive corporate image in 137 CEOs' letters, showing how CEOs use nonpropositional material to realize rational, credible, and affective appeals. Reveals the essentially rhetorical nature of CEOs' letters by comparing the frequency and distribution of metadiscourse in their letters and directors'…

Motor imagery in Asperger syndrome: testing action simulation by the hand laterality task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Massimiliano Conson

Full Text Available Asperger syndrome (AS is a neurodevelopmental condition within the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD characterized by specific difficulties in social interaction, communication and behavioural control. In recent years, it has been suggested that ASD is related to a dysfunction of action simulation processes, but studies employing imitation or action observation tasks provided mixed results. Here, we addressed action simulation processes in adolescents with AS by means of a motor imagery task, the classical hand laterality task (to decide whether a rotated hand image is left or right; mental rotation of letters was also evaluated. As a specific marker of action simulation in hand rotation, we assessed the so-called biomechanical effect, that is the advantage for judging hand pictures showing physically comfortable versus physically awkward positions. We found the biomechanical effect in typically-developing participants but not in participants with AS. Overall performance on both hand laterality and letter rotation tasks, instead, did not differ in the two groups. These findings demonstrated a specific alteration of motor imagery skills in AS. We suggest that impaired mental simulation and imitation of goal-less movements in ASD could be related to shared cognitive mechanisms.

Angles of Refraction: The Letters of Mary Delany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eleonora Chiavetta

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Mary Delany (1700-1788 is particularly famous for her paper-cuttings or ‘mosaicks’ based on botanical subjects. A very lively woman of fashion, she was close to Queen Charlotte and one of the Bluestocking Ladies. She left a vivid portrait of life and society in eighteenth century England and Ireland in the six volumes of her Autobiography and Letters, edited in 1861 by her descendant Lady Llanover. Her autobiography is made up of 18 letters sent to her most intimate friend, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Portland. The first letter is dated 1740, but in this, as in the following ones, Mrs. Delany narrates her past life to her friend, starting from the early years of her life, describing her unhappy marriage, financial difficulties as a widow, and family relationships. Along with these ‘autobiographical’ letters, other letters written by her to her sister Ann are introduced, which date to the periods of life Mrs. Delany is dealing with. The aim of this paper is to focus on the textual, linguistic and content differences between the two letter types, and analyse how the identity of Mary Delany is differently constructed and perceived in the explicit autobiographical letters addressed to the Duchess of Portland, and the ones written to her sister. 

Independent priming of location and color in identification of briefly presented letters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ásgeirsson, Árni Gunnar; Kristjánsson, Árni; Bundesen, Claus

2014-01-01

Attention shifts are facilitated if the items to be attended remain the same across trials. Some researchers argue that this priming effect is perceptual, whereas others propose that priming is postperceptual, inv olv ing f acilitated response selection. The experimental f indings hav e not been...... was to identify a color-singleton letter among distractors. All stimulus presentation contingencies were randomized, and responses were unspeeded, to av oid ef f ects of observ er expectation and postperceptual ef f ects. Repeating target color and/or position strongly improv ed perf ormance. The ef f ects...... of color and position repetition were independent of one another and were stable across participants. The results argue for a strong perceptual component in priming, which biases selection toward recent target features and positions, showing that perceptual mechanisms are suf f icient to produce priming...

The effects of video game experience and active stereoscopy on performance in combat identification tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Keebler, Joseph R; Jentsch, Florian; Schuster, David

2014-12-01

We investigated the effects of active stereoscopic simulation-based training and individual differences in video game experience on multiple indices of combat identification (CID) performance. Fratricide is a major problem in combat operations involving military vehicles. In this research, we aimed to evaluate the effects of training on CID performance in order to reduce fratricide errors. Individuals were trained on 12 combat vehicles in a simulation, which were presented via either a non-stereoscopic or active stereoscopic display using NVIDIA's GeForce shutter glass technology. Self-report was used to assess video game experience, leading to four between-subjects groups: high video game experience with stereoscopy, low video game experience with stereoscopy, high video game experience without stereoscopy, and low video game experience without stereoscopy. We then tested participants on their memory of each vehicle's alliance and name across multiple measures, including photographs and videos. There was a main effect for both video game experience and stereoscopy across many of the dependent measures. Further, we found interactions between video game experience and stereoscopic training, such that those individuals with high video game experience in the non-stereoscopic group had the highest performance outcomes in the sample on multiple dependent measures. This study suggests that individual differences in video game experience may be predictive of enhanced performance in CID tasks. Selection based on video game experience in CID tasks may be a useful strategy for future military training. Future research should investigate the generalizability of these effects, such as identification through unmanned vehicle sensors.

Student Teacher Letters of Reference: A Critical Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Richard W.; Schroeder, Mark P.

2012-01-01

Letters of reference are commonly used in acquiring a job in education. Despite serious issues of validity and reliability in writing and evaluating letters, there is a dearth of research that systematically examines the evaluation process and defines the constructs that define high quality letters. The current study used NVivo to examine 160…

Identification of Time-Varying Pilot Control Behavior in Multi-Axis Control Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Zaal, Peter M. T.; Sweet, Barbara T.

2012-01-01

Recent developments in fly-by-wire control architectures for rotorcraft have introduced new interest in the identification of time-varying pilot control behavior in multi-axis control tasks. In this paper a maximum likelihood estimation method is used to estimate the parameters of a pilot model with time-dependent sigmoid functions to characterize time-varying human control behavior. An experiment was performed by 9 general aviation pilots who had to perform a simultaneous roll and pitch control task with time-varying aircraft dynamics. In 8 different conditions, the axis containing the time-varying dynamics and the growth factor of the dynamics were varied, allowing for an analysis of the performance of the estimation method when estimating time-dependent parameter functions. In addition, a detailed analysis of pilots adaptation to the time-varying aircraft dynamics in both the roll and pitch axes could be performed. Pilot control behavior in both axes was significantly affected by the time-varying aircraft dynamics in roll and pitch, and by the growth factor. The main effect was found in the axis that contained the time-varying dynamics. However, pilot control behavior also changed over time in the axis not containing the time-varying aircraft dynamics. This indicates that some cross coupling exists in the perception and control processes between the roll and pitch axes.

Sixty-Minute Review of Letter Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Cunningham, Donald H.; Graham, Louise

1974-01-01

The article describes a one-hour presentation which provides a basic stereotyped pattern of letter organization for the four types of letters (order, request, claim, and reply) the business of secretarial student is most likely to have to write. The four paragraphs of the pattern are: purpose, explanation, optional, and closing. (AG)

Systematic derivation of an Australian standard for Tall Man lettering to distinguish similar drug names.

Science.gov (United States)

Emmerton, Lynne; Rizk, Mariam F S; Bedford, Graham; Lalor, Daniel

2015-02-01

Confusion between similar drug names can cause harmful medication errors. Similar drug names can be visually differentiated using a typographical technique known as Tall Man lettering. While international conventions exist to derive Tall Man representation for drug names, there has been no national standard developed in Australia. This paper describes the derivation of a risk-based, standardized approach for use of Tall Man lettering in Australia, and known as National Tall Man Lettering. A three-stage approach was applied. An Australian list of similar drug names was systematically compiled from the literature and clinical error reports. Secondly, drug name pairs were prioritized using a risk matrix based on the likelihood of name confusion (a four-component score) vs. consensus ratings of the potential severity of the confusion by 31 expert reviewers. The mid-type Tall Man convention was then applied to derive the typography for the highest priority drug pair names. Of 250 pairs of confusable Australian drug names, comprising 341 discrete names, 35 pairs were identified by the matrix as an 'extreme' risk if confused. The mid-type Tall Man convention was successfully applied to the majority of the prioritized drugs; some adaption of the convention was required. This systematic process for identification of confusable drug names and associated risk, followed by application of a convention for Tall Man lettering, has produced a standard now endorsed for use in clinical settings in Australia. Periodic updating is recommended to accommodate new drug names and error reports. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Examination of soldier target recognition with direct view optics

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Frederick H.; Larkin, Gabriella; Bisordi, Danielle; Dorsey, Shauna; Marianucci, Damien; Goss, Lashawnta; Bastawros, Michael; Misiuda, Paul; Rodgers, Glenn; Mazz, John P.

2017-10-01

Target recognition and identification is a problem of great military and scientific importance. To examine the correlation between target recognition and optical magnification, ten U.S. Army soldiers were tasked with identifying letters on targets at 800 and 1300 meters away. Letters were used since they are a standard method for measuring visual acuity. The letters were approximately 90 cm high, which is the size of a well-known rifle. Four direct view optics with angular magnifications of 1.5x, 4x, 6x, and 9x were used. The goal of this approach was to measure actual probabilities for correct target identification. Previous scientific literature suggests that target recognition can be modeled as a linear response problem in angular frequency space using the established values for the contrast sensitivity function for a healthy human eye and the experimentally measured modulation transfer function of the optic. At the 9x magnification, the soldiers could identify the letters with almost no errors (i.e., 97% probability of correct identification). At lower magnification, errors in letter identification were more frequent. The identification errors were not random but occurred most frequently with a few pairs of letters (e.g., O and Q), which is consistent with the literature for letter recognition. In addition, in the small subject sample of ten soldiers, there was considerable variation in the observer recognition capability at 1.5x and a range of 800 meters. This can be directly attributed to the variation in the observer visual acuity.

Naming, word identification and reading comprehension: Why is there a correlation, and what can it be used for?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Mads

There is a well-established correlation between students’ reading skills and how quickly they can name letters and pictures. Naming speed before formal instruction can even predict later reading skills. But the cause of the correlation is unclear. The talk will summarize a series of studies showing...... that 1) what is being named (letters or pictures) is important for the correlation with different reading subskills (word identification or reading comprehension), 2) that naming is particularly useful in the prediction of reading speed, and 3) that naming is important for early identification of reading...

Testing a Poisson counter model for visual identification of briefly presented, mutually confusable single stimuli in pure accuracy tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Kyllingsbæk, Søren; Markussen, Bo; Bundesen, Claus

2012-06-01

The authors propose and test a simple model of the time course of visual identification of briefly presented, mutually confusable single stimuli in pure accuracy tasks. The model implies that during stimulus analysis, tentative categorizations that stimulus i belongs to category j are made at a constant Poisson rate, v(i, j). The analysis is continued until the stimulus disappears, and the overt response is based on the categorization made the greatest number of times. The model was evaluated by Monte Carlo tests of goodness of fit against observed probability distributions of responses in two extensive experiments and also by quantifications of the information loss of the model compared with the observed data by use of information theoretic measures. The model provided a close fit to individual data on identification of digits and an apparently perfect fit to data on identification of Landolt rings.

Motor-cognitive dual-task performance: effects of a concurrent motor task on distinct components of visual processing capacity.

Science.gov (United States)

Künstler, E C S; Finke, K; Günther, A; Klingner, C; Witte, O; Bublak, P

2018-01-01

Dual tasking, or the simultaneous execution of two continuous tasks, is frequently associated with a performance decline that can be explained within a capacity sharing framework. In this study, we assessed the effects of a concurrent motor task on the efficiency of visual information uptake based on the 'theory of visual attention' (TVA). TVA provides parameter estimates reflecting distinct components of visual processing capacity: perceptual threshold, visual processing speed, and visual short-term memory (VSTM) storage capacity. Moreover, goodness-of-fit values and bootstrapping estimates were derived to test whether the TVA-model is validly applicable also under dual task conditions, and whether the robustness of parameter estimates is comparable in single- and dual-task conditions. 24 subjects of middle to higher age performed a continuous tapping task, and a visual processing task (whole report of briefly presented letter arrays) under both single- and dual-task conditions. Results suggest a decline of both visual processing capacity and VSTM storage capacity under dual-task conditions, while the perceptual threshold remained unaffected by a concurrent motor task. In addition, goodness-of-fit values and bootstrapping estimates support the notion that participants processed the visual task in a qualitatively comparable, although quantitatively less efficient way under dual-task conditions. The results support a capacity sharing account of motor-cognitive dual tasking and suggest that even performing a relatively simple motor task relies on central attentional capacity that is necessary for efficient visual information uptake.

The Effect of Orthographic Depth on Letter String Processing: The Case of Visual Attention Span and Rapid Automatized Naming

Science.gov (United States)

Antzaka, Alexia; Martin, Clara; Caffarra, Sendy; Schlöffel, Sophie; Carreiras, Manuel; Lallier, Marie

2018-01-01

The present study investigated whether orthographic depth can increase the bias towards multi-letter processing in two reading-related skills: visual attention span (VAS) and rapid automatized naming (RAN). VAS (i.e., the number of visual elements that can be processed at once in a multi-element array) was tested with a visual 1-back task and RAN…

Advice letter on policy instruments renewable electricity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

In a letter of July 2010 the Energy Council made recommendations for a policy framework with more obligations and fewer subsidies. This included the Energy Council's advice to investigate whether the introduction of a supplier obligation could play a major role in the realisation of the CO2 emission target of the Netherlands and increase the share of renewable energy in line with European agreements. This advice letter deals with one aspect of the broader considerations: the share of renewable electricity and the kind of incentive framework that is needed to achieve the target concerned. In this letter we will examine the possibilities of the SDE+ support (financial incentive for renewable energy) scheme and the supplier obligation, the effects on the market and the consequences for achieving the target. This letter closes with conclusions and recommendations. [nl

Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story

OpenAIRE

Rosen, Michael

2013-01-01

From minding your Ps and Qs to wondering why X should mark the spot, Alphabetical is a book for everyone who loves words and language. Whether it's how letters are arranged on keyboards or Viking runes, textspeak or zip codes, this book will change the way you think about letters for ever. How on Earth did we fix upon our twenty-six letters, what do they really mean, and how did we come to write them down in the first place? Michael Rosen takes you on an unforgettable adventure through the hi...

Priming T2 in a Visual and Auditory Attentional Blink Task

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burg, E. van der; Olivers, C.N.L.; Bronkhorst, A.W.; Theeuwes, J.

2008-01-01

Participants performed an attentional blink (AB) task including digits as targets and letters as distractors within the visual and auditory domains. Prior to the rapid serial visual presentation, a visual or auditory prime was presented in the form of a digit that was identical to the second target

Visual and Artistic Functions of Letters in Khaghani’s Poetry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohsen Zolfaghari

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract The intensity of emotion and fluctuation of meaning in the poet's mind causes him to go beyond the ordinary language and convey intellectual and emotional meanings through metaphors, similes and linguistic preparations. He has sharp eyes and a sensitive spirit and creative temperament and attempts strengthening his own literary language and creating personal style by inventing novel images, showing the creativity and imagination and entering in various arenas of imagination. This point more than anything else could be done by presenting images and new figures. Perhaps in the sixth century, and especially in Azerbaijani school, more than other periods, poets have been looking for creating innovative style in eloquence. Their major attempts were mainly in imaging, a wide field that they have competed. It is obvious that in this illustration the alphabet letters would be very helpful. Khaghani's Divan of poetry, as one of the greatest poets of this school, is the perfect poetical book of paintings in which meaning has been hidden under a delicate pattern and new different scientific, cultural and religious images. Letters are a broad range of elements that put a new field in front of the poet and he is aware of the potential features of the letters, new images, and artistic creativity techniques as well. This paper shows descriptive - analytical study of various aspects of Khaghani’s poetry and frequency of letters in the alphabet letters, alphabetic-based authenticity of images, different similarity reasons, semantic and literal multi-relevance of letters in the context of poetry, producing figures of speech based on letters, sensational relationship exists between images and letters which have been shown in his poetry. Letter have a double and even multiple application in Khaghani's poetic works (divan and moreover the construction of words and conveying meaning which is the real and common usage, they were used as artistic instruments

Letter position coding across modalities: the case of Braille readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Perea, Manuel; García-Chamorro, Cristina; Martín-Suesta, Miguel; Gómez, Pablo

2012-01-01

The question of how the brain encodes letter position in written words has attracted increasing attention in recent years. A number of models have recently been proposed to accommodate the fact that transposed-letter stimuli like jugde or caniso are perceptually very close to their base words. Here we examined how letter position coding is attained in the tactile modality via Braille reading. The idea is that Braille word recognition may provide more serial processing than the visual modality, and this may produce differences in the input coding schemes employed to encode letters in written words. To that end, we conducted a lexical decision experiment with adult Braille readers in which the pseudowords were created by transposing/replacing two letters. We found a word-frequency effect for words. In addition, unlike parallel experiments in the visual modality, we failed to find any clear signs of transposed-letter confusability effects. This dissociation highlights the differences between modalities. The present data argue against models of letter position coding that assume that transposed-letter effects (in the visual modality) occur at a relatively late, abstract locus.

Exploring the effects of driving experience on hazard awareness and risk perception via real-time hazard identification, hazard classification, and rating tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Borowsky, Avinoam; Oron-Gilad, Tal

2013-10-01

This study investigated the effects of driving experience on hazard awareness and risk perception skills. These topics have previously been investigated separately, yet a novel approach is suggested where hazard awareness and risk perception are examined concurrently. Young, newly qualified drivers, experienced drivers, and a group of commercial drivers, namely, taxi drivers performed three consecutive tasks: (1) observed 10 short movies of real-world driving situations and were asked to press a button each time they identified a hazardous situation; (2) observed one of three possible sub-sets of 8 movies (out of the 10 they have seen earlier) for the second time, and were asked to categorize them into an arbitrary number of clusters according to the similarity in their hazardous situation; and (3) observed the same sub-set for a third time and following each movie were asked to rate its level of hazardousness. The first task is considered a real-time identification task while the other two are performed using hindsight. During it participants' eye movements were recorded. Results showed that taxi drivers were more sensitive to hidden hazards than the other driver groups and that young-novices were the least sensitive. Young-novice drivers also relied heavily on materialized hazards in their categorization structure. In addition, it emerged that risk perception was derived from two major components: the likelihood of a crash and the severity of its outcome. Yet, the outcome was rarely considered under time pressure (i.e., in real-time hazard identification tasks). Using hindsight, when drivers were provided with the opportunity to rate the movies' hazardousness more freely (rating task) they considered both components. Otherwise, in the categorization task, they usually chose the severity of the crash outcome as their dominant criterion. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digit and letter alexia in carbon monoxide poisoning

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Qingyu Shen; Xiaoming Rong; Rui Pan; Ying Peng; Wei Peng; Yamei Tang

2012-01-01

This study examined a 24-year-old patient with delayed encephalopathy, who was admitted to hospital with complaints of headache and visual impairment 1 week after acute carbon monoxide poisoning. The results of a visual field assessment, electroencephalography and head magnetic resonance imaging indicated damage to the cerebral cortex. After a 2-week treatment period, the patient had recovered from the visual impairment, but exhibited digit- and letter-reading difficulty. The Chinese aphasia battery and the number and letter battery supplement were conducted. The results revealed that the patient exhibited digit and letter alexia, while the ability to read Chinese characters was preserved. In contrast, the patient exhibited a deficit in Chinese character writing, while number and letter writing remained intact. Following treatment, reading and writing ability was improved and electroencephalographic abnormalities were ameliorated. Overall, our experimental findings demonstrated that delayed encephalopathy following acute carbon monoxide poisoning was characterized by digit and letter alexia.

The identification and modeling of visual cue usage in manual control task experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Sweet, Barbara Townsend

Many fields of endeavor require humans to conduct manual control tasks while viewing a perspective scene. Manual control refers to tasks in which continuous, or nearly continuous, control adjustments are required. Examples include flying an aircraft, driving a car, and riding a bicycle. Perspective scenes can arise through natural viewing of the world, simulation of a scene (as in flight simulators), or through imaging devices (such as the cameras on an unmanned aerospace vehicle). Designers frequently have some degree of control over the content and characteristics of a perspective scene; airport designers can choose runway markings, vehicle designers can influence the size and shape of windows, as well as the location of the pilot, and simulator database designers can choose scene complexity and content. Little theoretical framework exists to help designers determine the answers to questions related to perspective scene content. An empirical approach is most commonly used to determine optimum perspective scene configurations. The goal of the research effort described in this dissertation has been to provide a tool for modeling the characteristics of human operators conducting manual control tasks with perspective-scene viewing. This is done for the purpose of providing an algorithmic, as opposed to empirical, method for analyzing the effects of changing perspective scene content for closed-loop manual control tasks. The dissertation contains the development of a model of manual control using a perspective scene, called the Visual Cue Control (VCC) Model. Two forms of model were developed: one model presumed that the operator obtained both position and velocity information from one visual cue, and the other model presumed that the operator used one visual cue for position, and another for velocity. The models were compared and validated in two experiments. The results show that the two-cue VCC model accurately characterizes the output of the human operator with a

The Indirect Empathic Approach to Claim Letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, James D.

1985-01-01

In discussing letter-writing methods for business communication classes, the article explains that claim letter formats other than the direct approach are not only legitimate, but also effective, and suggests that the approach selected should depend upon the circumstances surrounding the claim. (CT)

Culture and subculture in transactional letter writing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shaw, Philip; Okamura, Akiko

2000-01-01

This study examines the relative contributions of subculture membership and mother-tongue status/target culture membership in writing transactional letters. We examined the letters accompanying articles initially submitted for publication by 26 NSE and 23 NNSE academics, and compared them with ef...

Interpreting instructional cues in task switching procedures: the role of mediator retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Logan, Gordon D; Schneider, Darryl W

2006-03-01

In 3 experiments the role of mediators in task switching with transparent and nontransparent cues was examined. Subjects switched between magnitude (greater or less than 5) and parity (odd or even) judgments of single digits. A cue-target congruency effect indicated mediator use: subjects responded faster to congruent cue-target combinations (e.g., ODD-3) than to incongruent cue-target combinations (e.g., ODD-4). Experiment 1 revealed significant congruency effects with transparent word cues (ODD, EVEN, HIGH, and LOW) and with relatively transparent letter cues (O, E, H, and L) but not with nontransparent letter cues (D, V, G, and W). Experiment 2 revealed significant congruency effects after subjects who were trained with nontransparent letter cues were informed of the relations between cues and word mediators halfway through the experiment. Experiment 3 showed that congruency effects with relatively transparent letter cues diminished over 10 sessions of practice, suggesting that subjects used mediators less as practice progressed. The results are discussed in terms of the role of mediators in interpreting instructional cues.

Children's metacognitive judgments in an eyewitness identification task.

Science.gov (United States)

Keast, Amber; Brewer, Neil; Wells, Gary L

2007-08-01

Two experiments examined children's metacognitive monitoring of recognition judgments within an eyewitness identification paradigm. A confidence-accuracy (CA) calibration approach was used to examine patterns of calibration, over-/underconfidence, and resolution. In Experiment 1, children (n=619, mean age=11 years 10 months) and adults (n=600) viewed a simulated crime and attempted two separate identifications from 8-person target-present or target-absent lineups given lineup instructions that manipulated witnesses choosing patterns by varying the degree of social pressure. For choosers, but not nonchoosers, meaningful CA relations were observed for adults but not for children. Experiment 2 tested a guided hypothesis disconfirmation manipulation designed to improve the realism of children's metacognitive judgments. Children (N=796, mean age=11 years 11 months) in experimental and control conditions viewed a crime and attempted two separate identifications. The manipulation had minimal impact on the CA relation for choosers and nonchoosers. In contrast to adults, children's identification confidence provides no useful guide for investigators about the likely guilt or innocence of a suspect. These experiments revealed limitations in children's metacognitive monitoring processes that have not been apparent in previous research on recall and recognition with younger children.

Age-Related Declines in Early Sensory Memory: Identification of Rapid Auditory and Visual Stimulus Sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Fogerty, Daniel; Humes, Larry E; Busey, Thomas A

2016-01-01

Age-related temporal-processing declines of rapidly presented sequences may involve contributions of sensory memory. This study investigated recall for rapidly presented auditory (vowel) and visual (letter) sequences presented at six different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) that spanned threshold SOAs for sequence identification. Younger, middle-aged, and older adults participated in all tasks. Results were investigated at both equivalent performance levels (i.e., SOA threshold) and at identical physical stimulus values (i.e., SOAs). For four-item sequences, results demonstrated best performance for the first and last items in the auditory sequences, but only the first item for visual sequences. For two-item sequences, adults identified the second vowel or letter significantly better than the first. Overall, when temporal-order performance was equated for each individual by testing at SOA thresholds, recall accuracy for each position across the age groups was highly similar. These results suggest that modality-specific processing declines of older adults primarily determine temporal-order performance for rapid sequences. However, there is some evidence for a second amodal processing decline in older adults related to early sensory memory for final items in a sequence. This selective deficit was observed particularly for longer sequence lengths and was not accounted for by temporal masking.

50 CFR 216.257 - Letters of Authorization.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Conducting Precision Strike Weapon Missions in the Gulf of Mexico § 216.257 Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of Authorization, unless suspended or revoked...

Effects of age and auditory and visual dual tasks on closed-road driving performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaparro, Alex; Wood, Joanne M; Carberry, Trent

2005-08-01

This study investigated how driving performance of young and old participants is affected by visual and auditory secondary tasks on a closed driving course. Twenty-eight participants comprising two age groups (younger, mean age = 27.3 years; older, mean age = 69.2 years) drove around a 5.1-km closed-road circuit under both single and dual task conditions. Measures of driving performance included detection and identification of road signs, detection and avoidance of large low-contrast road hazards, gap judgment, lane keeping, and time to complete the course. The dual task required participants to verbally report the sums of pairs of single-digit numbers presented through either a computer speaker (auditorily) or a dashboard-mounted monitor (visually) while driving. Participants also completed a vision and cognitive screening battery, including LogMAR visual acuity, Pelli-Robson letter contrast sensitivity, the Trails test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution (DSS) test. Drivers reported significantly fewer signs, hit more road hazards, misjudged more gaps, and increased their time to complete the course under the dual task (visual and auditory) conditions compared with the single task condition. The older participants also reported significantly fewer road signs and drove significantly more slowly than the younger participants, and this was exacerbated for the visual dual task condition. The results of the regression analysis revealed that cognitive aging (measured by the DSS and Trails test) rather than chronologic age was a better predictor of the declines seen in driving performance under dual task conditions. An overall z score was calculated, which took into account both driving and the secondary task (summing) performance under the two dual task conditions. Performance was significantly worse for the auditory dual task compared with the visual dual task, and the older participants performed significantly worse than the young subjects. These findings demonstrate

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains nine separate letters on data on elastic (p,n) charge exchange: compilation, the potentialities of δ-electron control of luminosity in experiments with internal targets at the Nuclotron, pion broadening and low-mass dilepton production, fluctuation of electromagnetic cascade axis in dense amorphous segmented media, the forward detector of the ANKE spectrometer. Tracking system and its use in data analysis, quantum field theory with three-dimensional vector time, curvature decomposition and the Einstein-Yang-Mills equations, an integral equation for the spinor amplitude of a massive neutral Dirac particle in a curved space time with arbitrary geometry and surprising resonances in 147 Sm(nα) 144 Nd reaction

Letter position coding across modalities: the case of Braille readers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Perea

Full Text Available The question of how the brain encodes letter position in written words has attracted increasing attention in recent years. A number of models have recently been proposed to accommodate the fact that transposed-letter stimuli like jugde or caniso are perceptually very close to their base words.Here we examined how letter position coding is attained in the tactile modality via Braille reading. The idea is that Braille word recognition may provide more serial processing than the visual modality, and this may produce differences in the input coding schemes employed to encode letters in written words. To that end, we conducted a lexical decision experiment with adult Braille readers in which the pseudowords were created by transposing/replacing two letters.We found a word-frequency effect for words. In addition, unlike parallel experiments in the visual modality, we failed to find any clear signs of transposed-letter confusability effects. This dissociation highlights the differences between modalities.The present data argue against models of letter position coding that assume that transposed-letter effects (in the visual modality occur at a relatively late, abstract locus.

Experimental test of contemporary mathematical models of visual letter recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Townsend, J T; Ashby, F G

1982-12-01

A letter confusion experiment that used brief durations manipulated payoffs across the four stimulus letters, which were composed of line segments equal in length. The observers were required to report the features they perceived as well as to give a letter response. The early feature-sampling process is separated from the later letter-decision process in the substantive feature models, and predictions are thus obtained for the frequencies of feature report as well as letter report. Four substantive visual feature-processing models are developed and tested against one another and against three models of a more descriptive nature. The substantive models predict the decisional letter report phase much better than they do the feature-sampling phase, but the best overall 4 X 4 letter confusion matrix fits are obtained with one of the descriptive models, the similarity choice model. The present and other recent results suggest that the assumption that features are sampled in a stochastically independent manner may not be generally valid. The traditional high-threshold conceptualization of feature sampling is also falsified by the frequent reporting by observers of features not contained in the stimulus letter.

When Do First Letters Mnemonics Aid Recall?

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, P. E.; Cook, N.

1978-01-01

The evidence for the effectiveness of the first letter mnemonic technique is confused. There are at least three studies showing no effect, and one where an improvement in recall occurred. Reports two experiments which attempted to locate the conditions under which the first letter mnemonic is effective. (Author/RK)

Matching is not naming: a direct comparison of lexical manipulations in explicit and implicit reading tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Vogel, Alecia C; Petersen, Steven E; Schlaggar, Bradley L

2013-10-01

The neurobiological basis of reading is of considerable interest, yet analyzing data from subjects reading words aloud during functional MRI data collection can be difficult. Therefore, many investigators use surrogate tasks such as visual matching or rhyme matching to eliminate the need for spoken output. Use of these tasks has been justified by the presumption of "automatic activation" of reading-related neural processing when a word is viewed. We have tested the efficacy of using a nonreading task for studying "reading effects" by directly comparing blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activity in subjects performing a visual matching task and an item naming task on words, pseudowords (meaningless but legal letter combinations), and nonwords (meaningless and illegal letter combinations). When compared directly, there is significantly more activity during the naming task in "reading-related" regions such as the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and supramarginal gyrus. More importantly, there are differing effects of lexicality in the tasks. A whole-brain task (matching vs. naming) by string type (word vs. pseudoword vs. nonword) by BOLD timecourse analysis identifies regions showing this three-way interaction, including the left IFG and left angular gyrus (AG). In the majority of the identified regions (including the left IFG and left AG), there is a string type × timecourse interaction in the naming but not the matching task. These results argue that the processing performed in specific regions is contingent on task, even in reading-related regions and is thus nonautomatic. Such differences should be taken into consideration when designing studies intended to investigate reading. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Extra-large letter spacing improves reading in dyslexia

Science.gov (United States)

Zorzi, Marco; Barbiero, Chiara; Facoetti, Andrea; Lonciari, Isabella; Carrozzi, Marco; Montico, Marcella; Bravar, Laura; George, Florence; Pech-Georgel, Catherine; Ziegler, Johannes C.

2012-01-01

Although the causes of dyslexia are still debated, all researchers agree that the main challenge is to find ways that allow a child with dyslexia to read more words in less time, because reading more is undisputedly the most efficient intervention for dyslexia. Sophisticated training programs exist, but they typically target the component skills of reading, such as phonological awareness. After the component skills have improved, the main challenge remains (that is, reading deficits must be treated by reading more—a vicious circle for a dyslexic child). Here, we show that a simple manipulation of letter spacing substantially improved text reading performance on the fly (without any training) in a large, unselected sample of Italian and French dyslexic children. Extra-large letter spacing helps reading, because dyslexics are abnormally affected by crowding, a perceptual phenomenon with detrimental effects on letter recognition that is modulated by the spacing between letters. Extra-large letter spacing may help to break the vicious circle by rendering the reading material more easily accessible. PMID:22665803

A Study of Recurrent and Convolutional Neural Networks in the Native Language Identification Task

KAUST Repository

Werfelmann, Robert

2018-05-24

Native Language Identification (NLI) is the task of predicting the native language of an author from their text written in a second language. The idea is to find writing habits that transfer from an author’s native language to their second language. Many approaches to this task have been studied, from simple word frequency analysis, to analyzing grammatical and spelling mistakes to find patterns and traits that are common between different authors of the same native language. This can be a very complex task, depending on the native language and the proficiency of the author’s second language. The most common approach that has seen very good results is based on the usage of n-gram features of words and characters. In this thesis, we attempt to extract lexical, grammatical, and semantic features from the sentences of non-native English essays using neural networks. The training and testing data was obtained from a large corpus of publicly available essays written by authors of several countries around the world. The neural network models consisted of Long Short-Term Memory and Convolutional networks using the sentences of each document as the input. Additional statistical features were generated from the text to complement the predictions of the neural networks, which were then used as feature inputs to a Support Vector Machine, making the final prediction. Results show that Long Short-Term Memory neural network can improve performance over a naive bag of words approach, but with a much smaller feature set. With more fine-tuning of neural network hyperparameters, these results will likely improve significantly.

The Predictive Validity of Teacher Candidate Letters of Reference

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Richard W.; Schroeder, Mark P.

2014-01-01

Letters of reference are widely used as an essential part of the hiring process of newly licensed teachers. While the predictive validity of these letters of reference has been called into question it has never been empirically studied. The current study examined the predictive validity of the quality of letters of reference for forty-one student…

Teaching letter sounds to kindergarten English language learners using incremental rehearsal.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Meredith; Brandes, Dana; Kunkel, Amy; Wilson, Jennifer; Rahn, Naomi L; Egan, Andrea; McComas, Jennifer

2014-02-01

Proficiency in letter-sound correspondence is important for decoding connected text. This study examined the effects of an evidence-based intervention, incremental rehearsal (IR), on the letter-sound expression of three kindergarten English language learners (ELLs) performing below the district benchmark for letter-sound fluency. Participants were native speakers of Hmong, Spanish, and Polish. A multiple-baseline design across sets of unknown letter sounds was used to evaluate the effects of IR on letter-sound expression. Visual analysis of the data showed an increase in level and trend when IR was introduced in each phase. Percentage of all non-overlapping data (PAND) ranged from 95% to 100%. All participants exceeded expected growth and reached the spring district benchmark for letter-sound fluency. Results suggest that IR is a promising intervention for increasing letter-sound expression for ELLs who evidence delays in acquiring letter sounds. Copyright © 2013 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 280.99 - Letter of credit.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.99 Letter of credit. (a) An owner or operator may satisfy the... brackets are to be replaced with the relevant information and the brackets deleted: Irrevocable Standby.... We certify that the wording of this letter of credit is identical to the wording specified in 40 CFR...

Particles and Nuclei, Letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains eight separate letters on analysis of experimental data on relativistic nuclear collisions in the Lobachevski space, relativistic contribution of the final-state interaction to deuteron photodisintegration, on the charge asymmetry of the like-sign lepton pairs induced by B - B bar - production asymmetry, limits on the ν e → ν e neutrino oscillation parameters from an experiment at the IHEP-JINR neutrino detector, excitation of high spin isomers in photonuclear reactions, study of product formation in proton-nuclear reactions on the 129 I target induced by 660-MeV protons, application of jet pumps in the cryogenic system of the Nuclotron - superconducting accelerator of relativistic particles and study of the silicon drift detector performance with inclined tracks

The elaboration of motor programs for the automation of letter production.

Science.gov (United States)

Thibon, Laurence Séraphin; Gerber, Silvain; Kandel, Sonia

2018-01-01

We investigated how children learn to write letters. Letter writing evolves from stroke-by-stroke to whole-letter programming. Children of ages 6 to 9 (N=98) wrote letters of varying complexity on a digitizer. At ages 6 and 7 movement duration, dysfluency and trajectory increased with stroke number. This indicates that the motor program they activated mainly coded information on stroke production. Stroke number affected the older children's production much less, suggesting that they programmed stroke chunks or the whole letter. The fact that movement duration and dysfluency decreased from ages 6 to 8, and remained stable at ages 8 and 9 suggests that automation of letter writing begins at age 8. Automation seems to require the elaboration of stroke chunks and/or letter-sized motor programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Peer assessment of outpatient consultation letters – feasibility and satisfaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dojeiji Suzan

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Written correspondence is one of the most important forms of communication between health care providers, yet there is little feedback provided to specialists. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility and satisfaction of a peer assessment program on consultation letters and to determine inter-rater reliability between family physicians and specialists. Methods A rating scale of nine 5-point Likert scale items including specific content, style items, education value of the letter and an overall rating was developed from a previous validated tool. Nine Internal Medicine specialists/subspecialists from two tertiary care centres submitted 10 letters with patient and physician identifiers removed. Two Internal Medicine specialists, and 2 family physicians from the other centre rated each letter (to protect writer anonymity. A satisfaction survey was sent to each writer and rater after collation of the results. A follow-up survey was sent 6–8 months later. Results There was a high degree of satisfaction with the process and feedback. The rating scale information was felt to be useful and appropriate for evaluating the quality of consultation letters by 6/7 writers. 5/7 seven writers felt that the feedback they received resulted in immediate changes to their letters. Six months later, 6/9 writers indicated they had maintained changes in their letters. Raters rank ordered letters similarly (Cronbach's alpha 0.57–0.84 but mean scores were highly variant. At site 1 there were significant differences in scoring brevity (p Conclusion Most participants found peer assessment of letters feasible and beneficial and longstanding changes occurred in some individuals. Family physicians and specialists appear to have different expectations on some items. Further studies on reliability and validity, with a larger sample, are required before high stakes professional assessments include consultation letters.

Letter of Map Revision

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — The National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) data incorporates all Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map(DFIRM) databases published by FEMA, and any Letters Of Map Revision...

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains nine separate letters on nonlocal chiral quark model with confinement, perturbation of finite-lattice spectral levels by nearby nuclear resonances, on the application of 'Z 0 + jet' events for determining the gluon distribution in a proton at the LHC, account of light velocity constancy in the Galilean problem on the free movement of a particle and its fall onto the ground, first results of crystal deflector investigations at the Nuclotron external beams, decay parameters of K mesons, measured at proton synchrotron U-70 using 'Hyperon' set-up and modern world data, prototype of atomic-emission spectrometer on the basis of one-electrode impulse RF discharge for analytical measurements, polarimeter for Nuclotron internal beam and primordial bubbles of colour superconducting quark matter

The role of inhibition for working memory processes: ERP evidence from a short-term storage task.

Science.gov (United States)

Getzmann, Stephan; Wascher, Edmund; Schneider, Daniel

2018-05-01

Human working memory is the central unit for short-term storage of information. In addition to the selection and adequate storage of relevant information, the suppression of irrelevant stimuli from the environment seems to be of importance for working memory processes. To learn more about the interplay of information uptake and inhibition of irrelevant information, the present study used ERP measures and a short-term storage and retrieval task, in which pairs of either numbers or letters had to be compared. Random sequences of four stimuli (two numbers and two letters) were presented, with either the numbers or the letters being relevant for comparison. The analysis of ERPs to each of the four stimuli indicated more pronounced P2 and P3b amplitudes for relevant than irrelevant stimuli. In contrast, the N2 (reflecting inhibitory control) was only elicited by irrelevant stimuli. Moreover, the N2 amplitude of the second irrelevant stimulus was associated with behavioral performance, indicating the importance of inhibition of task-irrelevant stimuli for working memory processes. In sum, the findings demonstrate the role of cognitive control mechanisms for protecting relevant contents in working memory against irrelevant information. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

[Delegation of medico-administrative tasks : what do medical interns and secretaries think?

Science.gov (United States)

Castioni, Julien; Hagenbuch, Angélique; Tâche, Johann; Cappai, Milva; Jovanovic, Milica; Sartori, Claudio

2017-11-22

The hospital activity of physicians in training mainly consists in direct contacts with patients, tasks indirectly linked to patients such as administration, as well as clinical and theoretical training. In our era of digitalization, an important administrative work load without any added medical value fills their daily chores. In parallel activities of medical secretaries are getting more partitioned, with their desks situated far from physicians' and tasks often limited to finalizing discharge letters. Added to multiple overtime, this reduces physicians' and secretaries' work satisfaction. This article describes the context and development of delegating medico-administrative tasks to secretaries in our department of internal medicine.

Patient information letters on nutrition: development and implementation.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Binsbergen, J.J. van; Drenthen, A.J.

2003-01-01

BACKGROUND: In 1998 the Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG) began developing patient information letters (PILs), based on the practice guidelines for family physicians (FPs) (NHG standards). Five nutritional guidance letters have since been developed with the Dutch Nutrition Center.

Color associations for days and letters across different languages

Science.gov (United States)

Rouw, Romke; Case, Laura; Gosavi, Radhika; Ramachandran, Vilayanur

2014-01-01

While colors are commonplace in everyday metaphors, relatively little is known about implicit color associations to linguistic or semantic concepts in a general population. In this study, we test color associations for ordered linguistic concepts (letters and days). The culture and language specificity of these effects was examined in a large group (457) of Dutch-speaking participants, 92 English-speaking participants, and 49 Hindi-speaking participants. Non-random distributions of color choices were revealed; consistencies were found across the three language groups in color preferences for both days and letters. Interestingly, while the Hindi-speaking participants were presented with letter stimuli matched on phonology, their pattern of letter-to-color preferences still showed similarities with Dutch- and English-speaking participants. Furthermore, we found that that the color preferences corresponded between participants indicating to have conscious color experiences with letters or days (putative synesthetes) and participants who do not (non-synesthetes). We also explored possible mechanisms underlying the color preferences. There were a few specific associations, including red for “A,” red for “Monday,” and white for “Sunday.” We also explored more general mechanisms, such as overall color preferences as shown by Simner et al. (2005). While certainly not all variation can be explained or predicted, the results show that regularities are present in color-to-letter or color-to-day preferences in both putative synesthetes and non-synesthetes across languages. Both letter-to-color and day-to-color preferences were influenced by multiple factors. The findings support a notion of abstract concepts (such as days and letters) that are not represented in isolation, but are connected to perceptual representational systems. Interestingly, at least some of these connections to color representations are shared across different language/cultural groups. PMID

Color associations for days and letters across different languages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romke eRouw

2014-05-01

Full Text Available While colors are commonplace in everyday metaphors, relatively little is known about implicit color associations to linguistic or semantic concepts in a general population. In this study, we test color associations for ordered linguistic concepts (letters and days. The culture and language specificity of these effects was examined in a large group (457 of Dutch-speaking participants, 92 English-speaking participants, and 49 Hindi-speaking participants. Non-random distributions of color choices were revealed; consistencies were found across the three language groups in color preferences for both days and letters. Interestingly, while the Hindi-speaking participants were presented with letter stimuli matched on phonology, their pattern of letter-to-color preferences still showed similarities with Dutch- and English-speaking participants. Furthermore, we found that that the color preferences corresponded between participants indicating to have conscious color experiences with letters or days (putative synesthetes and participants who do not (non-synesthetes. We also explored possible mechanisms underlying the color preferences. There were a few specific associations, including red for A, red for Monday, and white for Sunday. We also explored more general mechanisms, such as overall color preferences shown by Simner et al (2005. While certainly not all variation can be explained or predicted, the results show that regularities are present in color-to-letter or color-to-day preferences in both putative synesthetes and non-synesthetes across languages. Both letter-to-color and day-to-color preferences were influenced by multiple factors. The findings support a notion of abstract concepts (such as days and letters that are not represented in isolation, but are connected to perceptual representational systems. Interestingly, at least some of these connections to color representations are shared across different language/cultural groups.

Michelangelo, a Tireless Letter Writer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adelin Charles Fiorato

2014-04-01

Full Text Available A titan of artistic creation, the sculptor-painter-architect Michelangelo was also a tireless letter writer. Five hundred and eighteen of his letters have reached us, stretching from his youth to the eve of his death, but we know that many others have been lost. Written in a kind of familiar Florentine and in a style of minimalist ‘realism’ – which does not prevent the presence of either impetuous polemical flights or pages of literary indulgence – these letters deal mainly with everyday subjects: day-by-day relationships, either endearing or resentful, with his relatives, financial or property matters and, above all, the marriage problems which concerned his nephew Leonardo, the sole heir of the family. But one also discovers in them the artist’s warm feelings of friendship and love, his poetic and aesthetic exchanges, his relationships, often conflictual, with his fellow-artists and patrons as well as his reflections on old age and death. All in all, these letters represent a documentary chronicle of a Florentine bourgeois family and the technical hassle of an entrepreneur’s activity. If, on the one hand, the Carteggio does not shed light either on Michelangelo’s conception of art or the way in which he realized his works, on the other it illustrates certain latent aspects of his projects, as well as of his personality, which was at the same time melancholy and aggressive, surprisingly whole and manifold. This luxuriant correspondence presents, so to speak, a ‘genetic’ interest, since it reveals the hidden face of the brilliant conceiver and creator, of the artist and entrepreneur struggling with the obstacles whose overcoming makes creation possible. 

How To Write a Business Letter. Power of the Printed Word.

Science.gov (United States)

Forbes, Malcolm

Business letters should turn people on rather than turning them off. To write a good business letter, know what the goal is before starting to write, call the reader by name, tell what the letter is about in the first paragraph, refer to dates when answering letters, and write from the reader's point of view. Be positive, be nice, and be natural.…

DOCUMENTARY LETTER OF CREDIT IN THE REGULATION OF 600-PARIS PUBLICATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

VASILE NEMES

2011-04-01

Full Text Available In the year 2007 was adopted the Publication no. 600 of Paris regarding the Rules and the Uniform Practices for documentary letters of credit which replaced the Publication no. 500. Publication no. 600 (UCP 600 is applied to all the irrevocable documentary letters of credit when the parties make express reference to these Rules. The Publication no. 600 includes uniform rules, international practices and standards of irrevocable documentary letters of credit. The new Publication has brought a number of changes on the issues regarding the performance of the letters of credit, both in the relationship with the nonbanking institutions participants and in the relationship between the credit institutions participating in the performance of the letter of credit. This study, without being exhaustive, aims to capture the main aspects of novelty brought by the publication no. 600 and their legal approach to the new perspective of the international trade relations. It has in view, in particular, the irrevocable character of the letter of credit, the elaboration method and procedure of the letter of credit, the participants to the unfolding of the specific relationship of the letter of credit and the main duties of the involved credit institutions.

Return to sender: Constantijn Huygens as a man of letters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gosseye, L.; Blom, F.; Leerintveld, A.

2013-01-01

Return to Sender takes as its starting point Constantijn Huygens’ letters and shows us the author in his different guises: intimus of René Descartes, translator of John Donne, collector of art, writer of flirtatious love letters and the author of a long consolatory letter-poem for an ailing friend

Surface feature congruency effects in the object-reviewing paradigm are dependent on task memory demands.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimchi, Ruth; Pirkner, Yossef

2014-08-01

Perception of object continuity depends on establishing correspondence between objects viewed across disruptions in visual information. The role of spatiotemporal information in guiding object continuity is well documented; the role of surface features, however, is controversial. Some researchers have shown an object-specific preview benefit (OSPB)-a standard index of object continuity-only when correspondence could be based on an object's spatiotemporal information, whereas others have found color-based OSPB, suggesting that surface features can also guide object continuity. This study shows that surface feature-based OSPB is dependent on the task memory demands. When the task involved letters and matching just one target letter to the preview ones, no color congruency effect was found under spatiotemporal discontinuity and spatiotemporal ambiguity (Experiments 1-3), indicating that the absence of feature-based OSPB cannot be accounted for by salient spatiotemporal discontinuity. When the task involved complex shapes and matching two target shapes to the preview ones, color-based OSPB was obtained. Critically, however, when a visual working memory task was performed concurrently with the matching task, the presence of a nonspatial (but not a spatial) working memory load eliminated the color-based OSPB (Experiments 4 and 5). These results suggest that the surface feature congruency effects that are observed in the object-reviewing paradigm (with the matching task) reflect memory-based strategies that participants use to solve a memory-demanding task; therefore, they are not reliable measures of online object continuity and cannot be taken as evidence for the role of surface features in establishing object correspondence.

Letter to Carl Niigeli

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

We reproduce an english translation of one of these letters below, in which ... contemporary scientific knowledge, and that under the circumstances ... generation it became necessary to limit the numbers because of lack of space, so that, in.

Letters of intent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

Thursday 5 November was another major milestone en route to the establishment of the experimental programme for CERN's LHC protonproton collider to be built in the 27- kilometre LEP tunnel. After initial discussions of 'Expressions of Interest' at the specially arranged meeting at Evian-les-Bains, France, earlier this year (May, page 1), three Letters of Intent have emerged, together involving nearly 2000 physicists from research institutes all over the world. As well as these researchers listed on the documents, the plans in fact involve many additional technical specialists who work behind the scenes. It was a historic moment as these three detector proposals were aired at the first open meeting of the new LHC Experiments Committee. CERN's main auditorium and a large overflow room receiving relayed video pictures were both packed. From these three schemes - ATLAS, CMS and L3P - and the first reactions to their letters of intent, eventually two projects will emerge, for which full technical proposals will be prepared, including construction plans and credible costings

The impact of task demand on visual word recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, J; Zevin, J

2014-07-11

The left occipitotemporal cortex has been found sensitive to the hierarchy of increasingly complex features in visually presented words, from individual letters to bigrams and morphemes. However, whether this sensitivity is a stable property of the brain regions engaged by word recognition is still unclear. To address the issue, the current study investigated whether different task demands modify this sensitivity. Participants viewed real English words and stimuli with hierarchical word-likeness while performing a lexical decision task (i.e., to decide whether each presented stimulus is a real word) and a symbol detection task. General linear model and independent component analysis indicated strong activation in the fronto-parietal and temporal regions during the two tasks. Furthermore, the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and insula showed significant interaction effects between task demand and stimulus type in the pseudoword condition. The occipitotemporal cortex showed strong main effects for task demand and stimulus type, but no sensitivity to the hierarchical word-likeness was found. These results suggest that different task demands on semantic, phonological and orthographic processes can influence the involvement of the relevant regions during visual word recognition. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Serial recall of rhythms and verbal sequences: Impacts of concurrent tasks and irrelevant sound.

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Debbora; Gathercole, Susan E

2011-08-01

Rhythmic grouping enhances verbal serial recall, yet very little is known about memory for rhythmic patterns. The aim of this study was to compare the cognitive processes supporting memory for rhythmic and verbal sequences using a range of concurrent tasks and irrelevant sounds. In Experiment 1, both concurrent articulation and paced finger tapping during presentation and during a retention interval impaired rhythm recall, while letter recall was only impaired by concurrent articulation. In Experiments 2 and 3, irrelevant sound consisted of irrelevant speech or tones, changing-state or steady-state sound, and syncopated or paced sound during presentation and during a retention interval. Irrelevant speech was more damaging to rhythm and letter recall than was irrelevant tone sound, but there was no effect of changing state on rhythm recall, while letter recall accuracy was disrupted by changing-state sound. Pacing of sound did not consistently affect either rhythm or letter recall. There are similarities in the way speech and rhythms are processed that appear to extend beyond reliance on temporal coding mechanisms involved in serial-order recall.

Pseudo-synesthesia through reading books with colored letters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Colizoli, O.; Murre, J.M.J.; Rouw, R.

2012-01-01

Background Synesthesia is a phenomenon where a stimulus produces consistent extraordinary subjective experiences. A relatively common type of synesthesia involves perception of color when viewing letters (e.g. the letter ‘a’ always appears as light blue). In this study, we examine whether traits

Letters on nuclear controversy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kafka, P.; Maier-Leibnitz, H.

1982-01-01

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz a well-known scientist, nuclear physicist, for 50 years, who publicily supported the idea not to overrate the dangers of peaceful utilization of nuclear energy, has grown tired of talking only to colleagues. He invites a junior fellow physicist, who held engaged speeches against the nuclear power plant Zwentendorf, to an exchange of thoughts. Peter Kafka, an astro-physicist studied the self organisation of the universe from the big bang to the economic crisis and encountered the question of which conditions have to be fulfilled to prevent progress from becoming caranogenous. He became one of the spokesmen of 'political ecology' and called for resistance again large-scale technological use of scientific knowledge. He was enthusiastic about the idea of an exchange of letters, because he - just like his partner - believes in gaining knowledge by discussion. The variety of subjects is sketched briefly in form of three lectures. In the letters both scientists discuss intensly about: - Freedom of science and responsibility of science. - Decisions on energy questions under time-pressure. - Risks of nuclear plants. - Large scale technology and large-scale research or decentralization. - Energy utilization and energy waste. - Nuclear energy and alternatives. - Sense and nonsense of detailed future planning. In the end no one has convinced the other. The reader however finds a lot of new incentives in the letters - printed in unabridged form - a lot of new and significant arguments for a discussion which has only just started. (orig.) [de

Insights from developmental and acquired letter position dyslexia on morphological decomposition in reading

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naama eFriedmann

2015-07-01

Full Text Available We explored morphological decomposition in reading, the locus in the reading process in which it takes place and its nature, comparing different types of morphemes. We assessed these questions through the analysis of letter position errors in readers with letter position dyslexia(LPD. LPD is a selective impairment to letter position encoding in the early stage of word reading, which results in letter migrations (cloud-could. We used the fact that migrations in LPD occur mainly in word-interior letters, whereas exterior letters rarely migrate.The rationale was that if morphological decomposition occurs prior to letter position encoding and strips off affixes, word-interior letters adjacent to an affix (signs-signs would become exterior following affix-stripping and hence exhibit fewer migrations.We tested 11 Hebrew readers with developmental LPD and 1 with acquired LPD in 6 experiments of reading aloud, lexical decision, and comprehension, at the single word and sentence levels. We examined migrations next to inflectional,derivational,or bound function morphemes compared with exterior letters.Root letters adjacent to inflectional and derivational morphemes were treated like middle letters, and migrated frequently, whereas root letters adjacent to bound function morphemes patterned with exterior letters, and almost never migrated. Given that LPD is a pre-lexical deficit, these results indicate that morphological decomposition takes place in an early, pre-lexical stage. Morphologically complex nonwords showed the same pattern, indicating that this decomposition is structurally, rather than lexically, driven.We suggest that letter position encoding takes place before morphological analysis, but in some cases, as with bound function morphemes, the complex word is re-analyzed as two separate words. In this reanalysis, letter positions in each constituent word are encoded separately,and hence the exterior letters of the root are treated as exterior and

7 CFR 1737.80 - Description of characteristics letter.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... the amount of the proposed loan, its purposes, rate of interest, loan security requirements, and other... SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PRE-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMMON TO INSURED AND GUARANTEED TELECOMMUNICATIONS LOANS Characteristics Letter § 1737.80 Description of characteristics letter. (a) After all of the...

30 CFR 1.3 - Use of letters and acronym MSHA.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Use of letters and acronym MSHA. 1.3 Section 1.3 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR OFFICIAL EMBLEM AND...; ESTABLISHMENT AND USE OF OFFICIAL EMBLEM § 1.3 Use of letters and acronym MSHA. The letters and acronym MSHA may...

Anonymous letters? DNA and fingerprints technologies combined to solve a case.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbaro, A; Cormaci, P; Teatino, A; La Marca, A; Barbaro, A

2004-12-02

Two brothers, living in two different cities, received two different anonymous letters. We performed latent prints development and DNA research on the letters and also on a glass used by a cousin suspected to be the letters' sender.

Letters of Marcus Antonius Kappus from colonial America IV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janez Stanonik

1989-12-01

Full Text Available The letter of Marcus Antonius Kappus which we publish in our present the fourth - continuation of his letters from Colonial America, is not preserved - as the first three letters are - in a manuscript. Instead we find it published in the famous contemporary collection of Jesuitic letters which appeared from 1728 till 1758 under the editorship of Joseph Stöcklein and his successors in Augsburg and Graz under the title Der neue Welt-Bott mit Allerhand Nachrichten derer Missionariorum Soc. Jesu. Kappus' letter can be found in vol. I, part II, p. 86-88 under the number 56. It has never since 1728 been reprinted in German, neither has it ever been published in an English translation. Our reprint of the German text is justified because Stöcklein's collection is generally not available even in the largest libraries, especially in America. An English translation can be useful because of the difficulties the old form of its German with its localisms can cause to its readers.

The effect of normal aging and age-related macular degeneration on perceptual learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Astle, Andrew T; Blighe, Alan J; Webb, Ben S; McGraw, Paul V

2015-01-01

We investigated whether perceptual learning could be used to improve peripheral word identification speed. The relationship between the magnitude of learning and age was established in normal participants to determine whether perceptual learning effects are age invariant. We then investigated whether training could lead to improvements in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Twenty-eight participants with normal vision and five participants with AMD trained on a word identification task. They were required to identify three-letter words, presented 10° from fixation. To standardize crowding across each of the letters that made up the word, words were flanked laterally by randomly chosen letters. Word identification performance was measured psychophysically using a staircase procedure. Significant improvements in peripheral word identification speed were demonstrated following training (71% ± 18%). Initial task performance was correlated with age, with older participants having poorer performance. However, older adults learned more rapidly such that, following training, they reached the same level of performance as their younger counterparts. As a function of number of trials completed, patients with AMD learned at an equivalent rate as age-matched participants with normal vision. Improvements in word identification speed were maintained at least 6 months after training. We have demonstrated that temporal aspects of word recognition can be improved in peripheral vision with training across a range of ages and these learned improvements are relatively enduring. However, training targeted at other bottlenecks to peripheral reading ability, such as visual crowding, may need to be incorporated to optimize this approach.

Name-letter branding under scrutiny: real products, new algorithms, and the probability of buying.

Science.gov (United States)

Stieger, Stefan

2010-06-01

People like letters matching their own first and last name initials more than nonname letters. This name-letter effect has also been found for brands, i.e., people like brands resembling their own name letters (initial or first three). This has been termed name-letter branding effect. In the present study of 199 participants, ages 12 to 79 years, this name-letter branding effect was found for a modified design (1) using real products, (2) concentrating on product names rather than brand names, (3) using five different products for each letter of the Roman alphabet, (4) asking for the buying probability, and (5) using recently introduced algorithms, controlling for individual response tendencies (i.e., liking all letters more or less) and general normative popularity of particular letters (i.e., some letters are generally preferred more than other letters).

Open Letter to Religious Leaders about Sex Education

Science.gov (United States)

American Journal of Sexuality Education, 2011

2011-01-01

The "Open Letter to Religious Leaders about Sex Education" reinforces scriptural and theological commitments to truth-telling in calling for "full and honest education about sexual and reproductive health." This "Open Letter" was published in 2002, at about the midpoint of a decade-long federal government commitment to…

Effectiveness of Reptile Species Identification--A Comparison of a Dichotomous Key with an Identification Book

Science.gov (United States)

Randler, Christoph; Zehender, Irene

2006-01-01

Species identification tasks are a prerequisite for an understanding of biodiversity. Here, we focused on different educational materials to foster the identification of six European reptile species. Our educational training unit was based on natural plastic models of six species and pupils either used an illustrated identification book or a…

Analyzing International Letters in a Business Communication Class.

Science.gov (United States)

Devet, Bonnie

1998-01-01

Shows how students can use persuasive principles of communication (format and writer's purpose) and of classical rhetoric (organization, ethos, pathos, logos, and style) to improve their ability to analyze business letters. Shows how applying these principles to the analysis of business letters from other countries helps students write better and…

Professional Citation Practices in Child Maltreatment Forensic Letters

Science.gov (United States)

Schryer, Catherine F.; Bell, Stephanie; Mian, Marcellina; Spafford, Marlee M.; Lingard, Lorelei

2011-01-01

Using rhetorical genre theory and research on reported speech, this study investigates the citation practices in 81 forensic letters written by paediatricians and nurse practitioners that provide their opinion for the courts as to whether a child has experienced maltreatment. These letters exist in a complex social situation where a lack of…

What Do Children Do in the Rime-Analogy Task? An Examination of the Skills and Strategies Used by Early Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Lynne; McDougall, Sine

2003-01-01

This study contrasted and compared the extent to which phoneme and rhyme-based skills and letter-sound knowledge predicted 4- and 5-year-olds' performance in the analogy task and in a test of single work reading. Findings suggested that the balance of skills that children drew upon was determined by the demands of the task. Findings pose…

Microevaluating Learners' Task-Specific Motivation in a Task-Based Business Spanish Course

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Julio; Serafini, Ellen J.

2016-01-01

Scholars of task-based language teaching (TBLT) advocate for the identification of learners' communicative needs to inform syllabus design, particularly in language for specific purposes contexts (e.g., Long 2015). However, little research has applied TBLT principles in designing Spanish for specific purposes curricula. Moreover, despite the…

Readability of "Dear Patient" device advisory notification letters created by a device manufacturer.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Luke A; Sharma, Arjun; Ottenberg, Abigale L; Mueller, Paul S

2013-04-01

In 2006, the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) recommended that cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) manufacturers use advisory notification letters to communicate with affected patients. To evaluate the readability of the HRS sample "patient device advisory notification" letter and those created by 1 CIED manufacturer. The HRS sample letter and 25 Boston Scientific Corporation letters dated from 2005 through 2011 were evaluated by using 6 readability tests. Readability (Flesch-Kincaid score) of the HRS sample letter was grade level 12.5, and median readability of the device manufacturer letters was grade level 12.8 (range 10.8-18.9). Similar results were obtained by using other readability scales. No letters had readability scores at the National Work Group on Literacy and Health's recommended reading level-fifth grade; the letters' readability exceeded this recommended level by an average of 7.7 grades (95% confidence interval 6.9-8.5; Preadability scores at the average reading level of US adults-eighth grade; the letters' readability exceeded this level by an average of 4.7 grades (95% confidence interval 3.9-5.5; Preadability of the HRS sample letter and those created by a CIED manufacturer significantly exceeded the recommended and average US adults' reading skill levels. Such letters are unlikely to be informative to many patients. CIED manufacturers should ensure that advisory letters are comprehensible to most affected patients. Copyright © 2013 Heart Rhythm Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Task and task-free fMRI reproducibility comparison for motor network identification

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kristo, G.; Rutten, G.J.; Raemaekers, M.; de Gelder, B.; Rombouts, S.A.R.B.; Ramsey, N.F.

2014-01-01

Test-retest reliability of individual functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results is of importance in clinical practice and longitudinal experiments. While several studies have investigated reliability of task-induced motor network activation, less is known about the reliability of the

Visual and Artistic Functions of Letters Khaghani’s Poetry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr. M. Zolfaghari

Full Text Available The intensity of emotion and vibration of meaning in the poet's mind causes him to go beyond the ordinary language and through metaphors, similes and linguistic preparation he conveys intellectual and emotional meanings. He has a sharp eye and a sensitive spirit and creative temprement and by inventing new images shows the creativity and imagination in various arenas and attempts in the way of literary strength and creating personal style and this point more than anything else must be done by presenting images and newness. Perhaps in the sixth century, and especially in Azerbaijani school, more than other periods, poets have been looking for creating innovative style in eloquence. Their major attempts were mainly in imaging, it was a wide field that they have competed and it is natural that in this illustration the alphabet letters would be very helpful. Khaghani poetry as one of the greatest poets of this school has the perfect poetrical book of painting and meaning, and delicated pattern in new and different scientific, cultural and religious paintings and letters are a broad range of elements that put a new field in front of the poet and he is aware of the potential features of the letters and also the new images and the artistic creativity.This paper shows descriptive - analytical study of various aspects of Khaghani’s poetry and frequency of letters in the alphabet, authentic images based on alphabet, taken at different pseudo relevance of poetry in the context of multiple semantic and literal characters, making figures of speech based on literary characters, images and characters and the sense of connection . . . which has been shown in his poetry.Letter has double and even multiple uses in Khaghani poetic works (divan and more than the construction of words which is the real and common sense that is used as an artistic. There is a world in the heart of every letter, word and morpheme lies in the poet's point of view is the last and

Letter Frequency Analysis of Lithuanian and Other Languages Using the Latin Alphabet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gintautas Grigas

2015-12-01

Full Text Available It is important to evaluate specificities of alphabets, particularly the letter frequencies while designing keyboards, analyzing texts, designing games based on alphabets, and doing some text mining. In order to adequately compare lettter frequences of Lithuanian language to other languages in the Internet space, Wikipedia source was selected which content is common to different languages. The method of letter frequency jumps is used. The main attention is paid to the analysis of letter frequencies at the boundary between native letters and foreign letters used in Lithuanian and other languages.

Letter-By-Letter Reading: Natural Recovery and Response to Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pélagie M. Beeson

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The present investigation provides a longitudinal study of an individual (RB with acquired alexia following left posterior cerebral artery stroke. At initial testing, RB exhibited acquired alexia characterized by letter-by-letter (LBL reading, mild anomic aphasia, and acquired agraphia. Repeated measures of reading accuracy and rate were collected for single words and text over the course of one year, along with probes of naming and spelling abilities. Improvements associated with natural recovery (i.e., without treatment were documented up to the fourth month post onset, when text reading appeared to be relatively stable. Multiple oral reading (MOR treatment was initiated at 22 weeks post-stroke, and additional improvements in reading rate and accuracy for text were documented that were greater than those expected on the basis of spontaneous recovery alone. Over the course of one year, reading reaction times for single words improved, and the word-length effect that is the hallmark of LBL reading diminished. RB's response to treatment supports the therapeutic value of MOR treatment to in LBL readers. His residual impairment of reading and spelling one-year post stroke raised the question as to whether further progress was impeded by degraded orthographic knowledge.

Standardized Letter of Recommendation for Otolaryngology Residency Selection

Science.gov (United States)

Perkins, Jonathan N.; Liang, Conan; McFann, Kim; Abaza, Mona M.; Streubel, Sven-Olrik; Prager, Jeremy D.

2013-01-01

Objectives/Hypothesis Develop a standardized letter of recommendation (SLOR) for otolaryngology residency application that investigates the qualities desired in residents and letter writer’s experience. Compare this SLOR to narrative letters of recommendation (NLOR). Study Design Prospective SLOR/NLOR Comparison. Methods The SLOR was sent to a NLOR writer for each applicant. The applicant’s NLOR/SLOR pair was blinded and ranked in seven categories by three reviewers. Inter-rater reliability and NLOR/SLOR rankings were compared. Means of cumulative NLOR and SLOR scores were compared to our departmental rank list. Results Thirty-one SLORs (66%) were collected. The SLORs had higher inter-rater reliability for applicant’s qualifications for otolaryngology, global assessment, summary statement, and overall letter ranking. Writer’s background, comparison to contemporaries/predecessors, and letter review ease had higher inter-rater reliability on the NLORs. Mean SLOR rankings were higher for writer’s background (p=0.0007), comparison of applicant to contemporaries/predecessors (p=0.0031), and letter review ease (p<0.0001). Mean SLOR writing time was 4.17±2.18 minutes. Mean ranking time was significantly lower (p<0.0001) for the SLORs (39.24±23.45 seconds) compared to the NLORs (70.95±40.14 seconds). Means of cumulative SLOR scores correlated with our rank list (p=0.004), whereas means of cumulative NLOR scores did not (p=0.18). Means of cumulative NLOR and SLOR scores did not correlate (p=0.26). Conclusions SLORs require little writing time, save reviewing time, and are easier to review compared to NLORs. Our SLOR had higher inter-rater reliability in 4 of 7 categories and was correlated with our rank list. This tool conveys standardized information in an efficient manner. PMID:23172646

Should intellectual property be disseminated by "forwarding" rejected letters without permission?

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, V K

1996-08-01

Substantive scientific letter writing is a cost-effective mode of complementing observational and experimental research. The value of such philosophically uncommitted and unsponsored well-balanced scientific activity has been relegated. Critical letter writing entails the abilities to: maintain rational scepticism; refuse to conform in order to explain data; persist in keeping common sense centre-stage; exercise logic to evaluate the biological significance of mathematical figures, including statistics, and the ability to sustain the will to share insights regarding disease mechanisms on an ostensibly lower research platform. During peer review, innovative letter writing may share the occasionally unfortunate fate of innovative research. Rejected scientific letters do not automatically lose copyright. Periodicals with high letter loads will see some valuable contributions wasted, but that is the price for maintaining autonomy in scientific publication. The scientific community is an integrated whole that must respect the rights of authors at all levels. Unauthorised forwarding of rejected letters sets the dangerous precedent of justifying unjust means.

Letters to a Young Baller: Exploring Epistolary Criticism

Science.gov (United States)

Chawansky, Megan

2010-01-01

This article explores the possibilities of epistolary criticism within the realm of sport studies and aspires to encourage scholars to consider the use of non-traditional sport memorabilia and source materials when telling emotive stories about sport and sport practices. The use of letters and the letter-writing format to tell a personal narrative…

Melanie Klein's letters addressed to Marcelle Spira (1955-1960).

Science.gov (United States)

Quinodoz, Jean-Michel

2009-12-01

Between 1955 and 1960, Melanie Klein wrote some 45 hitherto unpublished letters to Marcelle Spira, the Swiss psychoanalyst living at that time in Geneva. In 2006, after Spira's death, these letters were deposited with the Raymond de Saussure Psychoanalysis Centre in Geneva. They are the only known letters that Klein addressed to her psychoanalyst colleagues. Several topics are mentioned in them: (1) the meetings between the two women in Geneva and London; (2) Spira's contribution to Boulanger's translation into French of The Psychoanalysis of Children, which Klein herself carefully revised; (3) the papers that Klein was at that time working on, including Envy and Gratitude; (4) Spira's own work; (5) the difficulties that Spira, a Kleinian psychoanalyst who trained in Buenos Aires, was encountering in her attempt to be admitted to the Swiss Psychoanalytical Society; and (6) a few items of personal and family news. In addition to the invaluable historical information that these letters provide, they offer us a very moving epistolary self-portrait of Melanie Klein, enabling us to discover her personality in the final years of her life - she died in September 1960, just two months after writing her last letter to Spira.

[Representation of letter position in visual word recognition process].

Science.gov (United States)

Makioka, S

1994-08-01

Two experiments investigated the representation of letter position in visual word recognition process. In Experiment 1, subjects (12 undergraduates and graduates) were asked to detect a target word in a briefly-presented probe. Probes consisted of two kanji words. The latters which formed targets (critical letters) were always contained in probes. (e.g. target: [symbol: see text] probe: [symbol: see text]) High false alarm rate was observed when critical letters occupied the same within-word relative position (left or right within the word) in the probe words as in the target word. In Experiment 2 (subject were ten undergraduates and graduates), spaces adjacent to probe words were replaced by randomly chosen hiragana letters (e.g. [symbol: see text]), because spaces are not used to separate words in regular Japanese sentences. In addition to the effect of within-word relative position as in Experiment 1, the effect of between-word relative position (left or right across the probe words) was observed. These results suggest that information about within-word relative position of a letter is used in word recognition process. The effect of within-word relative position was explained by a connectionist model of word recognition.

[Patients' letters and pre-modern medical lay-culture].

Science.gov (United States)

Stolberg, Michael

2007-01-01

Consulting by letter was fairly common practice among the educated, upper classes of early modern Europe. Surviving letters of consultation written by patients, relatives or friends count among the most valuable source for the analysis of pre-modern experiences of disease and the body. This essay gives a brief overview of the various types of consultation letters and related documents which resulted from this practice before tracing the historical development of epistolary consultations from the late Middle Ages through the heyday medical correspondence in the 18th c. before its decline in the 19th c. It presents "experience", "self-fashioning" and "discourse" as three particularly fruitful levels of analysis on which patients' letters can be used within the wider framework of a cultural history of medicine. These three levels of analysis, or three distinct approaches, enable historians to access a greater awareness of the ways in which the experience of illness and the body is culturally framed with an analysis of the performative effects of patients' narratives and the influence of medical discourse among the wider society.

Collected Letters of José Martí: a linguistic approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guerra, Ana Jústiz

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Any approach to José Marti’s literary production should consider the study of his collected letters, which are noticeable for its content and expressive devices. This article synthesizes the criteria of former researchers who have considered Marti’s collected letters as a privileged genre among the multiple and diverse cultivated by the Apostle (speeches, dramas, essays, journal article, short stories and literary criticism. The collected letters takes a large proportion of his prolific literary production and its expressive force has been widely recognized as a source of inspiration for other poets. His collection of letters is outstanding and lasting in time for its expressive magnificence, its depth of content and precise choice of words. Originally written for a definite addressee, the letters are currently read by new generations of readers, who rediscover a new message in each. Topic considered in this article is part of a wider range study which is been prepared as Ph. D. thesis.

Robotics/Automated Systems Task Analysis and Description of Required Job Competencies Report. Task Analysis and Description of Required Job Competencies of Robotics/Automated Systems Technicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Hull, Daniel M.; Lovett, James E.

This task analysis report for the Robotics/Automated Systems Technician (RAST) curriculum project first provides a RAST job description. It then discusses the task analysis, including the identification of tasks, the grouping of tasks according to major areas of specialty, and the comparison of the competencies to existing or new courses to…

The Complaint Letter and Response.

Science.gov (United States)

Shukla, P. K.

1998-01-01

Describes an assignment in which students write a letter of complaint, and discusses how this assignment aids students in seeing the importance of effective written communication to their daily lives. (SR)

Scientific Letter: Monosymptomatic Hypochondriacal Psychosis ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Scientific Letter: Monosymptomatic Hypochondriacal Psychosis (somatic delusional disorder): A report of two cases. ... African Journal of Psychiatry. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives.

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains thirteen separate letters on start-to-end simulations of SASE FEL at the TESLA test facility, possible ways of improvement of the FEM oscillator with a Bragg resonator, the status and perspectives of the electron cooling method development, crystalline ion beams in storage rings, latest results of modeling of LHC beam injection, charge exchange injection in a synchrotron equipped with an electron cooling system, fringe and hysteresis effects in electron guns, nonstationary regimes of electron flow formation in secondary emission inverse coaxial diodes, a proposal of the experiment testing of the fine structure of the Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation, computer simulation of the electron beam dynamics at the accelerator structure and the injector of S-band linac with energies of 3 and 10 MeV, calculation of the electron beam dynamics of the accelerator LUE-200, the accelerator-accumulation facility ITEP-TWAC and accelerators-drivers of electronuclear facilities

Phonologically-Based Priming in the Same-Different Task With L1 Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Lupker, Stephen J; Nakayama, Mariko; Yoshihara, Masahiro

2018-02-01

The present experiment provides an investigation of a promising new tool, the masked priming same-different task, for investigating the orthographic coding process. Orthographic coding is the process of establishing a mental representation of the letters and letter order in the word being read which is then used by readers to access higher-level (e.g., semantic) information about that word. Prior research (e.g., Norris & Kinoshita, 2008) had suggested that performance in this task may be based entirely on orthographic codes. As reported by Lupker, Nakayama, and Perea (2015a), however, in at least some circumstances, phonological codes also play a role. Specifically, even though their 2 languages are completely different orthographically, Lupker et al.'s Japanese-English bilinguals showed priming in this task when masked L1 primes were phonologically similar to L2 targets. An obvious follow-up question is whether Lupker et al.'s effect might have resulted from a strategy that was adopted by their bilinguals to aid in processing of, and memory for, the somewhat unfamiliar L2 targets. In the present experiment, Japanese readers responded to (Japanese) Kanji targets with phonologically identical primes (on "related" trials) being presented in a completely different but highly familiar Japanese script, Hiragana. Once again, significant priming effects were observed, indicating that, although performance in the masked priming same-different task may be mainly based on orthographic codes, phonological codes can play a role even when the stimuli being matched are familiar words from a reader's L1. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Identification of tasks of maintenance centered in the reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torres V, A.; Rivero O, J.J.

2004-01-01

The methodology of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) it has become, after the discovery of their advantages, an objective of many industrial facilities to optimize their maintenance. However, diverse subjective factors affect the determination of the parameters (technical of predictive to apply and times among interventions) that characterize the tasks of RCM. A method to determine the monitoring tasks at condition and the times more recommended for to apply the monitoring by time and the search of faults, with focus in system. This methodology has been computerized inside the code MOSEG Win Ver 1.0. The same has been applied with success to the determination of tasks of RCM in industrial objectives. (Author)

Burroughs's Postcolonial Visions in The Yage Letters

OpenAIRE

Keomany, Melanie

2016-01-01

In her article "Burroughs's Postcolonial Visions in The Yage Letters" Melanie Keomany discusses the contents of William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg's The Yage Letters which could be dismissed as openly bigoted and racist. Keomany posits that the text reveals valuable connections between the colonial expansion of the eighteenth century and 1950s USA and Latin America. By re-shaping Burroughs's lived experiences in the Amazon into a text where the narrator William Lee mimics sardonically an...

Letters to a Young Writer.

Science.gov (United States)

Waldman, Anne; Becker, Robin

2002-01-01

Presents words of encouragement to a young poet. Includes empathetic words and motivating ideas. Presents a letter including a quote from "Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth and ideas about that quote. (SG)

Decisions to Shoot in a Weapon Identification Task: The Influence of Cultural Stereotypes and Perceived Threat on False Positive Errors

OpenAIRE

Fleming, Kevin K.; Bandy, Carole L.; Kimble, Matthew O.

2009-01-01

The decision to shoot engages executive control processes that can be biased by cultural stereotypes and perceived threat. The neural locus of the decision to shoot is likely to be found in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) where cognition and affect converge. Male military cadets at Norwich University (N=37) performed a weapon identification task in which they made rapid decisions to shoot when images of guns appeared briefly on a computer screen. Reaction times, error rates, and EEG activ...

50 CFR 216.258 - Renewal of Letters of Authorization.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Conducting Precision Strike Weapon Missions in the Gulf of Mexico § 216.258 Renewal of Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of Authorization...

David Bohm : causality and chance, letters to three women

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

The letters transcribed in this book were written by physicist David Bohm to three close female acquaintances in the period 1950 to 1956. They provide a background to his causal interpretation of quantum mechanics and the Marxist philosophy that inspired his scientific work in quantum theory, probability and statistical mechanics. In his letters, Bohm reveals the ideas that led to his ground breaking book Causality and Chance in Modern Physics. The political arguments as well as the acute personal problems contained in these letters help to give a rounded, human picture of this leading scientist and twentieth century thinker.

Responses to comments received on the draft final report of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Task Force on Radioactive Waste Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

The Task Force solicited comments on its Draft Final Report from a variety of sources. Letters were sent to over 400 individuals who had expressed interest in the interest in the Department's radioactive waste, management programs, a notice was placed in the Federal Register, the morning session of the January 1993 meeting of the full Secretary of Energy Advisory Board was given over to discussion of the draft, and Task Force members and staff presented the effort at several professional meetings. Altogether 32 written comments were received. They are reproduced here, followed in each case by the Task Force's response to specific suggestions made to improve the draft. (The panel did not respond to comments that simply reflected policy preferences or that praised the group's effort.) With one exception, those specific suggestions are highlighted and given a letter designation from open-quotes Aclose quotes to open-quotes Zclose quotes. The Task Force's responses, written in the Fall 1993, are labeled in a like manner. For the one exception, a comments submitted by Judy Treichel, the Task Force's response is printed on copies of her annotated pages

Responses to comments received on the draft final report of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Task Force on Radioactive Waste Management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1994-10-01

The Task Force solicited comments on its Draft Final Report from a variety of sources. Letters were sent to over 400 individuals who had expressed interest in the interest in the Department`s radioactive waste, management programs, a notice was placed in the Federal Register, the morning session of the January 1993 meeting of the full Secretary of Energy Advisory Board was given over to discussion of the draft, and Task Force members and staff presented the effort at several professional meetings. Altogether 32 written comments were received. They are reproduced here, followed in each case by the Task Force`s response to specific suggestions made to improve the draft. (The panel did not respond to comments that simply reflected policy preferences or that praised the group`s effort.) With one exception, those specific suggestions are highlighted and given a letter designation from {open_quotes}A{close_quotes} to {open_quotes}Z{close_quotes}. The Task Force`s responses, written in the Fall 1993, are labeled in a like manner. For the one exception, a comments submitted by Judy Treichel, the Task Force`s response is printed on copies of her annotated pages.

Reduced self-regulation mirrors the distorting effects of burnout symptomatology on task difficulty perception during an inhibition task.

Science.gov (United States)

Wekenborg, Magdalena Katharina; Hill, LaBarron K; Miller, Robert; Stalder, Tobias; Thayer, Julian Francis; Sophie Penz, Marlene; Kirschbaum, Clemens

2018-06-09

Burnout, a pathological consequence of chronic work stress, shows an increasing incidence rate in industrialized countries. Previous findings indicate that burnout may be linked to a detachment of the negative association between subjectively appraised task demand and cognitive performance, which is typically seen in healthy individuals. The present study sought to confirm this relationship and to investigate whether this dissociation is mirrored in a biological marker of self-regulation, i.e., resting vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV). A heterogeneous sample (N = 65) of working adults (M age = 43.3, SD = 10; 23.1 % male) with varying degrees of burnout symptomatology completed three cognitive tasks (2-back, number-letter, and go/nogo) to assess different domains of executive functioning (updating, set-shifting, and inhibition), and respective demand ratings. Additionally, vagally mediated HRV at rest, operationalized as the root-mean square differences of successive R-R intervals (RMSSD), was recorded. Burnout symptomatology moderated the association between subjective task difficulty and performance parameters of the go/nogo task, such that higher burnout scores were associated with reductions in the naturally occurring negative association between self-rated task demand and response inhibition. Intriguingly, this pattern was mirrored when replacing burnout with HRV. These findings suggest that burnout symptomatology, and individual differences in self-regulatory capacities (indexed by resting HRV), may alter one's capacity for accurate task evaluation, a mechanism which could potentially underlie the dissociation between self-rated cognitive function and actual performance among individuals experiencing burnout.

LETTERS OF MARIA KUNCEWICZOWA TO HER LATE HUSBAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Wzorek

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the last book of Maria Kuncewiczowa – a set of twenty-three letters (provided with a postscript addressed to her deceased husband. The uniqueness of this correspondence, presented in literary form, lies in the fact that the recipient is dead, treated by the sender as someone constantly present in the real world and still associated with the temporality. "Listy do Jerzego" ("Letters to Jerzy" are – as Tadeusz Swat, one of the reviewers say – “an attempt at denial of death, to save Jerzy by love, memory, and literature.” The analysis of the work highlights the occurring axiological categories. It has been demonstrated that "Letters to Jerzy" is a book about eternal love reaching beyond the grave (in this respect, in stark contrast with "Tristan" 1946, felt with dignity of old age, and finally transcending into faith. "Letters to Jerzy" is also an attempt to reduce the suffering of the writer over the loss of her beloved husband. To some extent, therefore, they correspond to her earlier work "Cudzoziemka" ("Foreigner" in which Kuncewiczowa liberates from the negative emotions associated with the death of her mother.

Referral letters to the psychiatrist in Nigeria: is communication ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

history, may not be elements that non-psychiatrist phy- sicians routinely collect during their examinations and, therefore, one would not expect such information to be available to be included in referral letters. Conclusion. Deficits in communication or information transfer through referral letters to the psychiatrist are common.

Referral letters to the psychiatrist in Nigeria: is communication ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Result: A majority (>80%) of the referral letters had no information on the current medication list, relevant psychosocial history, outline of management to date, results of investigations to date, and known allergies. Conclusion: Deficits in communication or information transfer through referral letters to the psychiatrist are ...

Love letters to the dead: resurrecting an epistolary art.

Science.gov (United States)

Lander, Dorothy A; Graham-Pole, John R

This article explores the art of letter-writing, specifically to our beloved dead, as a form of autoethnographic research, pedagogy, and care work. As university teachers and qualitative researchers in palliative and end-of-life care, we review the literature and history of epistolary communications with the deceased, as a prelude to writing our own letters. John writes to his long-dead mother and Dorothy to her recently deceased spouse Patrick, each letter followed by a reflective dialogue between us. Through this dialogue, we highlight the potential application of this art, or handcraft, to formal and informal palliative care, and the implications for practice, pedagogy, policy, and research. We propose that such direct, non-mediated, communications can offer a valuable form of healing for bereaved people. The therapeutic potential of letter writing and the abundance of literary and popular culture exemplars of responses from the dead are also largely unexplored in death education and research.

Letters in this Issue

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Reforming the General Chemistry Textbook individual letters by Edward T. Samulski; Stephen J. Hawkes; Stephen J. Fisher; J. Stephen Hartman; A. R. H. Cole; Stanley Pine, Ronald Archer, and Herbert Kaesz; Jimmy Reeves; Robert Hill; and Brock Spencer, C. Bradley Moore and Nedah Rose. Re: article by R. J. Gillespie The author replies

Early Language and Reading Development of Bilingual Preschoolers From Low-Income Families.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Carol Scheffner; Miccio, Adele W

2006-01-01

Learning to read is a complex process and a number of factors affect a child's success in beginning reading. This complexity increases when a child's home language differs from that of the school and when the child comes from a home with limited economic resources. This article discusses factors that have been shown to contribute to children's success in early reading, namely-phonological awareness, letter-word identification, oral language, and the home literacy environment. Preliminary evidence suggests that bilingual children from low-income backgrounds initially perform poorly on phonological awareness and letter identification tasks, but appear to acquire these abilities quickly in kindergarten once these abilities are emphasized in early reading instruction. In addition, the findings show that bilingual preschoolers' receptive language abilities in English and Spanish positively impact their early letter-word identification abilities at the end of kindergarten. A positive relationship between bilingual preschoolers' home literacy environment and early reading outcomes has not been found to date. Educational implications for serving young, bilingual children from programs such as Head Start are discussed.

The Syntax of Persuasion: Two Business Letters of Request.

Science.gov (United States)

Limaye, Mohan R.

1983-01-01

Business letter-writers are advised to develop reader empathy and benefit before they ask a favor. The author analyzed two model 16th century letters of request to determine if similar advice was given in the past, and found that the request was subordinate to building a mutually beneficial relationship. (PD)

Undergraduate nursing students writing therapeutic letters to families: an educational strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Erlingsson, Christen

2009-02-01

Writing therapeutic letters to families is discussed in this article as an educational strategy encouraging students to think reflectively about family nursing. At the University of Kalmar, Sweden, undergraduate nursing students in a primary care module interviewed families using the Calgary Family Assessment Model and wrote therapeutic letters to these families. This article describes (a) the examination process, which was the context for writing therapeutic letters, (b) results of analyses of the letters, and (c) student's post-examination evaluation comments. Results indicate that most students needed encouragement to focus on the family's strengths and resources instead of focusing on own feelings or problems they perceived the family as having. Students also needed support in relinquishing their hierarchical role of "expert nurse." Students' evaluation comments showed that writing therapeutic letters provided students with opportunities to reflect about the connections between family nursing theory and the family itself.

A Fragmentary Archive: Migratory Feelings in Early Anglo-Saxon Women's Letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Watt, Diane

2017-01-01

The letters by Anglo-Saxon women in the Boniface correspondence are connected by cultural practices and emotions centered on the conversion mission that functioned to maintain connections between the Anglo-Saxon diaspora. A striking recurring focus of these letters is on loss and isolation, which connects them to the Old English elegies. Many of the letters describe the writers' traumatic experiences that result from the death or absence of kin. These are women who endured the trauma of being left behind when others migrated overseas or who, in traveling away from their homeland, found themselves isolated in an alien environment, displaced in time as well as space. This article offers an analysis of the letters, focusing on the queer temporalities they explore, the queer emotions they evoke, and the queer kinships that they forge. It argues that the women's letters represent fragments of an early queer archive of migratory feelings.

Engineering Task Plan for Routine Engineering Support for Core Sampler System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

BOGER, R.M.

1999-01-01

Routine engineering support is required during normal operation of the core sampler trucks and associated ancillary equipment. This engineering support consists of, but is not limited to, troubleshooting operation problems, correcting minor design problems, assistance with work package preparation, assistance with procurement, fabrication shop support, planning of engineering tasks and preparation of associated Engineering Task Plans (ETP) and Engineering Service Requests (ESR). This ETP is the management plan document for implementing routine engineering support. Any additional changes to the scope of this ETP shall require a Letter of Instruction from Lockheed Martin Hanford Corp (LMHC). This document will also be the Work Planning Document for Development Control (HNF 1999a). The scope of this task will be to provide routine engineering support for Characterization equipment as required to support Characterization Operations. A task by task decision will be made by management to determine which tasks will be done per this ETP and if additional ETPs and/or ESRs are required. Due to the unique nature of this task, the only identifiable deliverable is to provide support as requested. Deliverables will be recorded in a task logbook as activities are identified. ESRs will be generated for tasks that require more than 40 person hours to complete, per Characterization Engineering Desk Instructions (DI 1999a)

Open letter to the Vatican.

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

An open letter was published by Latin American and Caribbean women during the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the International Conference on Population and Development. The letter generally focused on the Church¿s stand on women's reproductive rights. In particular, it questioned the Church on the following aspects of reproductive health, which include: 1) maternal death related to lack of access to reproductive health care; 2) Vatican representatives insisting that only parents can supervise their children education and health, which also lead to many cases of sexual abuse and incest; 3) women's sexual inequality and daily violence; 4) the Vatican delegation blocking the advances of contraception, sexual education, and HIV prevention; 5) problems of migrants and allocation of resources; and 6) the Church failing to recognize the capacity of young people to make decisions based on their own conscience.

Scientific Letter: High-intent suicide and the Beck's Suicide Intent ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Scientific Letter: High-intent suicide and the Beck's Suicide Intent scale: a case report. ... African Journal of Psychiatry. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current ... Abstract. Scientific Letter - No Abstract Available ...

Parkinson's Disease Is Associated with Goal Setting Deficits during Task Switching

Science.gov (United States)

Meiran, Nachshon; Friedman, Gilad; Yehene, Eynat

2004-01-01

Ten Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients and 10 control participants were tested using a task-switching paradigm in which there was a random task sequence, and the task was cued in every trial. Five PD patients showed a unique error profile. Their performance approximated guessing when accuracy was dependent on correct task identification, and was…

[Changes in CIRUGIA ESPANOLA Letters to the Editor between 2000 and 2007].

Science.gov (United States)

Rosell-Pradas, Jorge; Sánchez-Cantalejo, Emilio

2008-09-01

To describe the frequency and bibliographic characteristics of letters to the editor in the journal, Cirugía Española published between 2000 and 2007 and to compare the differences in the periods between 2000-2003 and 2004-2007. A descriptive and cross-sectional study, using the letters to the editor published in Spanish surgery between 2000 and 2007, as observation units. The variables considered were: the number of letters according to the volume and year of publication, substantive content of the paper, text length, graphics resources use, number of signatories and their professional profile, institutions of the authors, by origin and number of Autonomous Communities and number of bibliographical references. To meet the second objective, we compared letters from the period 2000-2003 with the period 2004-2007 against the rest of variables considered as a result. We used descriptive statistics and statistical analysis for comparison of distributions (chi2), with a level of significance of p < 0.05, using the SPSS software (Version 15.0). We identified 312 documents classified as letters. Between 2002 and 2005 their number was small. Often referring to clinical cases 187 (59.9%) and related letters, 98 (31.4%). Of those, 81.1% met the standard length of the text and only 6 letters (1.9%) was the use of graphics exceeded. In 122 letters (39.1%) the permitted number of authors was exceeded. They were mostly contributed by surgeons, 238 cases (76.3%), usually a single hospital, with 294 letters (94.2%) mainly from, Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid and Valencia. Only 58.1% of the letters complied with the permitted number of references. More related letters were published in the last period (59 letters; 42.1%) than during the years 2000-2003 (39 letters; 22.7%) (chi2 = 14.79; p < 0.001). The correct length of the text improved in the second period, 136 (97.1%), compared to the first 117 (68%) (chi2 = 42.67; p < 0.001. The graphics resources were used properly in both

32 CFR 884.17 - Commander's instruction letter to member.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... instruction letter to member. Subject: Instructions in Case of Release on Bail or Personal Recognizance 1. You... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Commander's instruction letter to member. 884.17... civilian custody on bail or on your own recognizance, report immediately in person or by telephone to the...

Lost and Found, Letters and Methods: Assessing Attitudes toward Chiropractic and Medical Care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannah Kern

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Attitudes toward traditional and chiropractic medicine were compared using Milgram's lost letter technique. A total of 192 letters were placed on the windshields of vehicles in parking lots at six restaurants and department stores in each of four quadrants of a medium-sized, Southeastern city. These letters were addressed to "Admissions" at either a fictitious Institute of Medicine or Institute of Chiropractic Care. Return addresses included either a male or a female name. Thus, those who found a lost letter were faced with the option of returning or not returning a letter from either a male or a female, addressed to an Institute of traditional or non-traditional medicine. After examining previous studies which had used the lost letter technique, numerous methodological improvements were implemented. For example, letters were randomly assigned to potential drop spots for each of 24 study locations (six study locations in each of four city quadrants, and a Latin square design was used to control for possible order effects in the four study conditions that were implemented. Nearly 65% of the letters (124 of 192 were returned. We found: 1 letters addressed to a fictitious Institute of Chiropractic Care were just as likely to be returned as those addressed to a fictitious Institute of Medicine; 2 letters with female return addresses were as likely to be returned as those with male return addresses; 3 there was no interaction between study conditions; 4 based on what was essentially a replication study, a comparison of the pattern of returns using the first and second cycle of lost letters (n = 96 for each cycle revealed an equivalent pattern of no-difference findings. DOI: 10.2458/azu_jmmss.v1i1.78

A classification of marked hijaiyah letters' pronunciation using hidden Markov model

Science.gov (United States)

Wisesty, Untari N.; Mubarok, M. Syahrul; Adiwijaya

2017-08-01

Hijaiyah letters are the letters that arrange the words in Al Qur'an consisting of 28 letters. They symbolize the consonant sounds. On the other hand, the vowel sounds are symbolized by harokat/marks. Speech recognition system is a system used to process the sound signal to be data so that it can be recognized by computer. To build the system, some stages are needed i.e characteristics/feature extraction and classification. In this research, LPC and MFCC extraction method, K-Means Quantization vector and Hidden Markov Model classification are used. The data used are the 28 letters and 6 harakat with the total class of 168. After several are testing done, it can be concluded that the system can recognize the pronunciation pattern of marked hijaiyah letter very well in the training data with its highest accuracy of 96.1% using the feature of LPC extraction and 94% using the MFCC. Meanwhile, when testing system is used, the accuracy decreases up to 41%.

The A.I.D.A. Plan and the Writing of Sales Letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Jong, Rowena

A study based on textual analysis of sales letters is reported that evaluates the Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action (AIDA) approach to teaching the writing of sales letters. Thirty business letters written by undergraduate business students and executives were analyzed. The forms of cohesion, voice pattern, and information focus of the…

22 CFR 201.71 - Terms of letters of credit.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... shall not be inconsistent with or contrary to the terms of the letter of commitment. Any such letter of credit or agreement may be modified or extended at any time in such a manner and to such extent as is acceptable to the approved applicant and the bank: Provided, That such modification or extension may not be...

A Very High Momentum Particle Identification Detector

CERN Document Server

Acconcia, T.V.; Barile, F.; Barnaföldi, G.G.; Bellwied, R.; Bencedi, G.; Bencze, G.; Berenyi, D.; Boldizsar, L.; Chattopadhyay, S.; Cindolo, F.; Chinellato, D.D.; D'Ambrosio, S.; Das, D.; Das, K.; Das-Bose, L.; Dash, A.K.; De Cataldo, G.; De Pasquale, S.; Di Bari, D.; Di Mauro, A.; Futo, E.; Garcia, E.; Hamar, G.; Harton, A.; Iannone, G.; Jimenez, R.T.; Kim, D.W.; Kim, J.S.; Knospe, A.; Kovacs, L.; Levai, P.; Nappi, E.; Markert, C.; Martinengo, P.; Mayani, D.; Molnar, L.; Olah, L.; Paic, G.; Pastore, C.; Patimo, G.; Patino, M.E.; Peskov, V.; Pinsky, L.; Piuz, F.; Pochybova, S.; Sgura, I.; Sinha, T.; Song, J.; Takahashi, J.; Timmins, A.; Van Beelen, J.B.; Varga, D.; Volpe, G.; Weber, M.; Xaplanteris, L.; Yi, J.; Yoo, I.K.

2014-01-01

The construction of a new detector is proposed to extend the capabilities of ALICE in the high transverse momentum (pT) region. This Very High Momentum Particle Identification Detector (VHMPID) performs charged hadron identification on a track-by-track basis in the 5 GeV/c < p < 25 GeV/c momentum range and provides ALICE with new opportunities to study parton-medium interactions at LHC energies. The VHMPID covers up to 30% of the ALICE central barrel and presents sufficient acceptance for triggered- and tagged-jet studies, allowing for the first time identified charged hadron measurements in jets. This Letter of Intent summarizes the physics motivations for such a detector as well as its layout and integration into ALICE.

24 CFR 242.49 - Funds and finances: deposits and letters of credit.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... collection under the letter of credit. In the event a demand for payment thereunder is not immediately met... letters of credit. 242.49 Section 242.49 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and...: deposits and letters of credit. (a) Deposits. Where HUD requires the mortgagor to make a deposit of cash or...

Scientific Letter: Stabbing nails into the neck: an unusual self ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Scientific Letter: Stabbing nails into the neck: an unusual self-damaging behavior mandating neurosurgery. A Aghabiklooei, R Aghabiklooei, N Zamani. Abstract. Scientific Letter - No Abstract Available. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT.

Involuntary attention with uncertainty: peripheral cues improve perception of masked letters, but may impair perception of low-contrast letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerzel, Dirk; Gauch, Angélique; Buetti, Simona

2010-10-01

Improvements of perceptual performance following the presentation of peripheral cues have been ascribed to accelerated accrual of information, enhanced contrast perception, and decision bias. We investigated effects of peripheral cues on the perception of Gabor and letter stimuli. Non-predictive, peripheral cues improved perceptual accuracy when the stimuli were masked. In contrast, peripheral cues degraded perception of low-contrast letters and did not affect the perception of low-contrast Gabors. The results suggest that involuntary attention accelerates accrual of information but are not entirely consistent with the idea that involuntary attention enhances subjective contrast. Rather, peripheral cues may cause crowding with single letter targets of low contrast. Further, we investigated the effect of the amount of uncertainty on involuntary attention. Cueing effects were (initially) larger when there were more possible target locations. In addition, cueing effects were larger when error feedback was absent and observers had no knowledge of results. Despite these strategic factors, location uncertainty was not sufficient to produce cueing effects, showing that location uncertainty paired with non-predictive cues reveals perceptual and not (only) decisional processes.

The Danish letters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beier, Sofie; Ejlers, Steen

2011-01-01

The talk will focus on Danish type designers and their work on Æ (AE), Ø (Oslash) and Å (Aring). These 'anomalies' found in the Danish written language, often causes difficulties for type designers. The counters of Ø/ø sometimes appear overcrowded, the uppercase Æ can result in an uncomfortably o......' attempt to create the optimal variation of these letters, we will give a brief introduction to the Danish typography tradition ranging from the early 20th Century and up until today....

Letters to the Editor

Science.gov (United States)

1999-09-01

All the Letters to the Editor in this issue are in the same PostScript or PDF file. Contents The imaginary Sun? Harold Aspden Energy Science Ltd, PO Box 35, Southampton SO16 7RB, UK Difficult physics? Tim Akrill Chief Examiner, A-level Physics, Edexcel Foundation Was it a dream? Bill Jarvis 6 Peggy's Mill Road, Edinburgh EH4 6JY

Analysis of letter name knowledge using Rasch measurement.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowles, Ryan P; Skibbe, Lori E; Justice, Laura M

2011-01-01

Letter name knowledge (LNK) is a key predictor of later reading ability and has been emphasized strongly in recent educational policy. Studies of LNK have implicitly treated it as a unidimensional construct with all letters equally relevant to its measurement. However, some empirical research suggests that contextual factors can affect the measurement of LNK. In this study, we analyze responses from 909 children on measures of LNK using the Rasch model and its extensions, and consider two contextual factors: the format of assessment and the own-name advantage, which states that children are more likely to know letters in their own first names. Results indicate that both contextual factors have important impacts on measurement and that LNK does not meet the requirements of Rasch measurement even when accounting for the contextual factors. These findings introduce philosophical concerns for measurement of constrained skills which have limited content for assessment.

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 4, July-August 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2010-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Learning Progressions in Science: A New Approach Emphasizes Sustained Instruction in Big Ideas (Patti Hartigan); (2) Putting the "Boy Crisis" in…

29 CFR 1621.3 - Procedure for requesting an opinion letter.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 1621.3 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION PROCEDURES-THE EQUAL PAY ACT § 1621.3 Procedure for requesting an opinion letter. (a) A request for an opinion letter should be submitted in writing to the Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...

Pirates at Parties: Letter Position Processing in Developing Readers

Science.gov (United States)

Kohnen, Saskia; Castles, Anne

2013-01-01

There has been much recent interest in letter position coding in adults, but little is known about the development of this process in children learning to read. Here, the letter position coding abilities of 127 children in Grades 2, 3, and 4 (aged 7-10 years) were examined by comparing their performance in reading aloud "migratable" words (e.g.,…

Referral letters to the emergency department: is the medication list accurate?

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

McCullagh, M

2015-02-01

Medication errors are common when patients transfer across healthcare boundaries. This study was designed to investigate the quality of information on medicines provided by general practitioners (GPs) on emergency department (ED) referral letters. A convenience sample of referral letters to the ED of a teaching hospital was reviewed. The medication list and\\/or patient\\'s drug allergy status were noted. Medicines reconciliation including patient (or carer) interview was conducted to determine the patient\\'s actual home medication list. This was compared with the GP list and any discrepancies were identified and addressed. A total of 92 referral letters were included in the analysis of which 60 were computer-generated and 32 were hand-written. GPs provided dose and frequency of administration information in 47 (51%) of the letters sampled i.e. 44 (71%) computer-generated versus 3 (10%) hand-written; p < 0.001. In addition, the patient was taking their medicines exactly as per the GP list in 20 (22%) of cases. The patient\\'s drug allergy status was documented in 13 (14%) of the letters.

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 1, January-February 2007

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2007-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Response to Intervention: A New Approach to Reading Instruction Aims to Catch Struggling Readers Early (Nancy Walser); (2) Getting Advisory Right: Focus and…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 2, March-April 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2010-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Online Testing, Version 1.0: Oregon's Adaptive Computer-Based Accountability Test Offers a Peek at a Brave New Future (Robert Rothman); (2) Beyond…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 5, September-October 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Walser, Nancy, Ed.

2010-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Scenes from the School Turnaround Movement: Passion, Frustration, Mid-Course Corrections Mark Rapid Reforms (Laura Pappano); (2) The Media Savvy Educator:…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 28, Number 2, March-April 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2012-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Course Credits on the Quick: Controversial Online Recovery Programs Speed the Path to Graduation (Andrew Brownstein); (2) Collaborating to Make Schools More Inclusive…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 4, July-August 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2011-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Integrated Data Systems Link Schools and Communities: Researchers Combine School and Non-School Data to Inform Interventions and Policy (Patti Hartigan);…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 3, May-June 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2009-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Improving Teaching and Learning through Instructional Rounds (Lee Teitel); (2) Developmentally Appropriate Practice in the Age of Testing: New Reports Outline Key Principles…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 6, November-December 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2009-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) "Platooning" Instruction: Districts Weigh Pros and Cons of Departmentalizing Elementary Schools (Lucy Hood); (2) Behind the Classroom Door: A Rare Glimpse Indicates the…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 4, July-August 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2008-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Taking the Measure of New Teachers: California Shifts from Standardized Tests to Performance-Based Assessment as a Condition of Licensure (Robert Rothman);…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 1, January-February 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Walser, Caroline T., Ed.

2011-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) The Greening of Environmental Ed: Teachers Focus on Complexity, Evidence, and Letting Students Draw Their Own Conclusions (Lucy Hood); (2) Like Teacher,…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 3, May-June 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2011-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Bringing Art into School, Byte by Byte: Innovative Programs Use Technology to Expand Access to the Arts (Patti Hartigan); (2) Differentiated Instruction…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 4, July-August 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2009-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Putting the Brakes on "Summer Slide": Modified School Calendars Build in Time to Enrich Learning and Sustain Gains (Brigid Schulte); (2) Closing…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 1, January-February 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2009-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Learning Across Distance: Virtual-Instruction Programs Are Growing Rapidly, but the Impact on "Brick-and-Mortar" Classrooms Is Still up in the Air…

How to write effective business letters: scribing information for pharmacists.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, C W

1993-11-01

Pharmacists frequently write letters but lack specific training on how to do it well. This review summarizes strategies for improving business correspondence, emphasizes basic writing guidelines, and offers practical advice for pharmacists. The first steps for effective communication are careful planning and identifying the main message to be conveyed. The purpose for writing should be stated in the opening paragraph of the letter. To ensure a successful outcome, actions needed should be clearly summarized and visually highlighted. The tone of the letter should reflect a reasonable speech pattern, not the cryptic writing found in many scientific papers. The layout of the letter should be inviting, which is readily achievable through judicious use of word processing. Many delivery options are available, such as traditional postal services, express mail, and facsimile transmission. Readers are encouraged to test these basic writing principles and decide for themselves whether these recommendations affect the success of business correspondence.

John von Neumann selected letters

CERN Document Server

2005-01-01

John von Neuman was perhaps the most influential mathematician of the twentieth century, especially if his broad influence outside mathematics is included. Not only did he contribute to almost all branches of mathematics and created new fields, but he also changed post-World War II history with his work on the design of computers and with being a sought-after technical advisor to many figures in the U.S. military-political establishment in the 1940s and 1950s. The present volume is the first substantial collection of (previously mainly unpublished) letters written by von Neumann to colleagues, friends, government officials, and others. The letters give us a glimpse of the thinking of John von Neumann about mathematics, physics, computer science, science management, education, consulting, politics, and war. Readers of quite diverse backgrounds will find much of interest in this fascinating first-hand look at one of the towering figures of twentieth century science.

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 22, Number 6, November-December 2006

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2006-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) (In)formative Assessments: New Tests and Activities Can Help Teachers Guide Student Learning (Robert Rothman); (2) Recent Research on the Achievement Gap: How Lifestyle…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 5, September-October 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2009-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) The Invisible Hand in Education Policy: Behind the Scenes, Economists Wield Unprecedented Influence (David McKay Wilson); (2) Bonding and Bridging: Schools Open Doors for…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 1, January-February 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2010-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Charters and Unions: What's the Future for This Unorthodox Relationship? (Alexander Russo); (2) From Special Ed to Higher Ed: Transition Planning for Disabled Students Focuses…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 3, May-June 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2008-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) "Equity, Access, and Opportunity": Despite Challenges, More Districts Adopt One-to-One Laptop Programs (Colleen Gillard); (2) Small Kids, Big Words: Research-Based Strategies…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 6, November-December 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Walser, Nancy, Ed.

2010-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Video Games Take Testing to the Next Level: Researchers See Promise in Game-Like Assessments That Measure Complex Skills (Robert Rothman); (2) An Academic…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 28, Number 1, January-February 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Walser, Nancy, Ed.

2012-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Using Theater to Teach Social Skills: Researchers Document Improvements for Children with Autism (Patti Hartigan); (2) The Family Model of Schooling Revisited: Few Teachers,…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 5, September-October 2007

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2007-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Confronting the Autism Epidemic: New Expectations for Children with Autism Means a New Role for Public Schools (Kate McKenna); (2) Internet Research 101:…

Intertextuality in Ba's So Long a Letter and Umunnakwe's Dear ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Intertextuality takes for granted the interdependence of literary texts because every artistic creation is a re-echoing of past knowledge. Mariama Ba's So Long A Letter and Ndubisi Umunnakwe's Dear Ramatoulaye are African examples. This work examines how Ba's So Long A Letter intertextualises with Umunnakwe's Dear ...

24 CFR 200.63 - Required deposits and letters of credit.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Commissioner for collection under the letter of credit. In the event a demand for payment thereunder is not... credit. 200.63 Section 200.63 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban... Required deposits and letters of credit. (a) Deposits. Where the Commissioner requires the mortgagor to...

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 21, Number 6, November-December 2005

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2005-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Is History... History?: Standards, Accountability, and the Future of Our Nation's Past (Robert Rothman); (2) Curriculum Access for All: How Teachers Can Use Universal Design…

Electronic Discharge Letter Mobile App

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lezcano, Leonardo; Triana, Michel; Ternier, Stefaan; Hartkopf, Kathleen; Stieger, Lina; Schroeder, Hanna; Sopka, Sasa; Drachsler, Hendrik; Maher, Bridget; Henn, Patrick; Orrego, Carola; Specht, Marcus

2014-01-01

The electronic discharge letter mobile app takes advantage of Near Field Communication (NFC) within the PATIENT project and a related post-doc study. NFC enabled phones to read passive RFID tags, but can also use this short-range wireless technology to exchange (small) messages. NFC in that sense

Weight and see: Loading working memory improves incidental identification of irrelevant faces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David eCarmel

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Are task-irrelevant stimuli processed to a level enabling individual identification? This question is central both for perceptual processing models and for applied settings (e.g., eyewitness testimony. Lavie’s load theory proposes that working memory actively maintains attentional prioritization of relevant over irrelevant information. Loading working memory thus impairs attentional prioritization, leading to increased processing of task-irrelevant stimuli. Previous research has shown that increased working memory load leads to greater interference effects from response competing distractors. Here we test the novel prediction that increased processing of irrelevant stimuli under high working memory load should lead to a greater likelihood of incidental identification of entirely irrelevant stimuli. To test this, we asked participants to perform a word-categorization task while ignoring task-irrelevant images. The categorization task was performed during the retention interval of a working memory task with either low or high load (defined by memory set size. Following the final experimental trial, a surprise question assessed incidental identification of the irrelevant image. Loading working memory was found to improve identification of task-irrelevant faces, but not of building stimuli (shown in a separate experiment to be less distracting. These findings suggest that working memory plays a critical role in determining whether distracting stimuli will be subsequently identified.

Identification of User Needs. EDIS Task I Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Howard Research Co., Arlington, VA.

This report presents the identification of user needs in the Army research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) community. Two types of information are provided in this report. The first type includes discussions of the RDT&E cycle, the level of informational need, time response, item categories and other factors as they relate to the…

Visuo-spatial interference affects the identification of emotional facial expressions in unmedicated Parkinson's patients.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Rodríguez, Beatriz; Guillén, Carmen Casares; Barba, Rosa Jurado; io Valladolid, Gabriel Rub; Arjona, José Antonio Molina; Ellgring, Heiner

2012-02-15

There is evidence that visuo-spatial capacity can become overloaded when processing a secondary visual task (Dual Task, DT), as occurs in daily life. Hence, we investigated the influence of the visuo-spatial interference in the identification of emotional facial expressions (EFEs) in early stages of Parkinson's disease (PD). We compared the identification of 24 emotional faces that illustrate six basic emotions in, unmedicated recently diagnosed PD patients (16) and healthy adults (20), under two different conditions: a) simple EFE identification, and b) identification with a concurrent visuo-spatial task (Corsi Blocks). EFE identification by PD patients was significantly worse than that of healthy adults when combined with another visual stimulus. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 2, March-April 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Walser, Nancy, Ed.

2011-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Hybrid Schools for the iGeneration: New Schools Combine "Bricks" and "Clicks" (Brigid Schulte); (2) Dual Language Programs on the Rise: "Enrichment" Model Puts Content Learning…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 26, Number 3, May-June 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2010-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Unleashing the "Brain Power" of Groups in the Classroom: The Neuroscience behind Collaborative Work (Nancy Walser); (2) Putting AP to the Test: New Research Assesses the…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 25, Number 2, March-April 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2009-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Money and Motivation: New Initiatives Rekindle Debate over the Link between Rewards and Student Achievement (David McKay Wilson); (2) An Inexact Science: What Are the Technical…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 6, November-December 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2008-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) When Worlds Collide: Universal PreK Brings New Challenges for Public Elementary Schools (David McKay Wilson); (2) Answers and Questions: Schools Survey Their Students--and…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 6, November-December 2007

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2007-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Charting a New Course toward Racial Integration: Districts Seek Legal Routes to Capture the Benefits of Diversity (Brigid Schulte); (2) Voluntary Integration: Two Views--(a)…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 6, November-December 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Walser, Nancy, Ed.

2011-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) With Cheating on the Rise, Schools Respond (David McKay Wilson); (2) Waldorf Education in Public Schools: Educators Adopt--and Adapt--This Developmental, Arts-Rich Approach…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 2, March-April 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2008-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Educating Teenage Immigrants: High Schools Experiment with Ways to Group New English-Language Learners (Lucy Hood); (2) Hot Topics and Key Words: Pilot Project Brings Teachers…

Letter-Sound Reading: Teaching Preschool Children Print-to-Sound Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Gail Marie

2016-01-01

This intervention study investigated the growth of letter sound reading and growth of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word decoding abilities for a representative sample of 41 US children in preschool settings. Specifically, the study evaluated the effectiveness of a 3-step letter-sound teaching intervention in teaching preschool children to…

Why Doctors Do Not Answer Referral Letters | Smith | South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Healthcare workers at primary healthcare (PHC) clinics are frustrated by the fact that they do not receive replies to their referral letters to doctors. Referral letters act as permission slips to allow patients easy access to treatment by specialists at secondary and tertiary service levels and communicate reasons for ...

21 CFR 170.6 - Opinion letters on food additive status.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2010-04-01 2009-04-01 true Opinion letters on food additive status. 170.6... (CONTINUED) FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION (CONTINUED) FOOD ADDITIVES General Provisions § 170.6 Opinion letters on food additive status. (a) Over the years the Food and Drug Administration has given informal...

Teaching Braille Letters, Numerals, Punctuation, and Contractions to Sighted Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Putnam, Brittany C.; Tiger, Jeffrey H.

2015-01-01

Braille-character recognition is one of the foundational skills required for teachers of braille. Prior research has evaluated computer programming for teaching braille-to-print letter relations (e.g., Scheithauer & Tiger, 2012). In the current study, we developed a program (the Visual Braille Trainer) to teach not only letters but also…

Trends in the Employment Process: Resumes and Job Application Letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Spinks, Neld; Wells, Barron

1999-01-01

Surveys of Fortune 500 companies in 1978, 1985, and 1995 revealed trends and preferences in content of resumes and cover letters. Compared to earlier years, current preferences were for both letters and resumes in the initial contact, more emphasis on grammar and spelling, and acceptance of two-page resumes. (SK)

Is the psychological refractory period effect for ideomotor compatible tasks eliminated by speed-stress instructions?

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Yun Kyoung; Cho, Yang Seok; Lien, Mei-Ching; Proctor, Robert W

2007-09-01

It has been argued that the psychological refractory period (PRP) effect is eliminated with two ideomotor compatible tasks when instructions stress fast and simultaneous responding. Three experiments were conducted to test this hypothesis. In all experiments, Task 1 required spatially compatible manual responses (left or right) to the direction of an arrow, and Task 2 required saying the name of the auditory letter A or B. In Experiments 1 and 3, the manual responses were keypresses made with the left and right hands, whereas in Experiment 2 they were left-right toggle-switch movements made with the dominant hand. Instructions that stressed response speed reduced reaction time and increased error rate compared to standard instructions to respond fast and accurately, but did not eliminate the PRP effect on Task 2 reaction time. These results imply that, even when response speed is emphasized, ideomotor compatible tasks do not bypass response selection.

Identification of tasks performed by stroke patients using a mobility assistive device

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hester, Todd; Sherrill, Delsey M; Hamel, Mathieu

2006-01-01

of these devices. In this study, we propose the use of wearable sensors to identify tasks performed by stroke patients with a mobility assistive device. Subjects performed ten tasks with a three-axis accelerometer attached to their ankle and a neural network was trained to identify the task being performed...... tasks associated with the use of a cane. Therefore, we envision that the methodology presented in this paper could be used to evaluate the use of a cane in the context of the task being performed........ Results from 15 stroke patients indicated that these motor tasks can be reliably identified with a median sensitivity of 90 % at a median specificity of 95%. These results indicate that it is possible to use a single module with a three-axis accelerometer attached to the ankle to reliably identify motor...

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 1, January-February 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2008-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Leadership Lessons From Schools Becoming "Data Wise" (Jennifer L. Steele and Kathryn Parker Boudett); (2) A Guide on the Side: Mentors Help New Leaders Prepare for Life in the…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 5, September-October 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline T., Ed.

2011-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: One Small Change Can Yield Big Results (Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana); (2) Voice of Experience: Jerry Weast--Leading a System…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 2, March-April 2007

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2007-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) More Than "Making Nice": Getting Teachers to (Truly) Collaborate (Laura Pappano); (2) "Doing the Critical Things First": An Aligned Approach to PreK and Early Elementary Math;…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 24, Number 5, September-October 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2008-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Teaching 21st Century Skills: What Does It Look Like in Practice? (Nancy Walser); (2) Getting and Spending: Schools and Districts Share Lessons on the Effective Uses of…

21 CFR 570.6 - Opinion letters on food additive status.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 6 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Opinion letters on food additive status. 570.6... (CONTINUED) ANIMAL DRUGS, FEEDS, AND RELATED PRODUCTS FOOD ADDITIVES General Provisions § 570.6 Opinion letters on food additive status. (a) Over the years the Food and Drug Administration has given informal...

Mud, Blood, and Bullet Holes: Teaching History with War Letters

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Andrew

2013-01-01

From handwritten letters of the American Revolution to typed emails from Iraq and Afghanistan, correspondence from U.S. troops offers students deep insight into the specific conflicts and experiences of soldiers. Over 100,000 correspondences have been donated to the Legacy Project, a national initiative launched in 1998 to preserve war letters by…

Parameters identification and adaptive full state hybrid projective synchronization of chaotic (hyper-chaotic) systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Manfeng; Xu Zhenyuan; Zhang Rong; Hu Aihua

2007-01-01

Based on the active control idea and the invariance principle of differential equations, a general scheme of adaptive full state hybrid projective synchronization (FSHPS) and parameters identification of a class of chaotic (hyper-chaotic) systems with linearly dependent uncertain parameters is proposed in this Letter. With this effective scheme parameters identification and FSHPS of chaotic and hyper-chaotic systems can be realized simultaneously. Numerical simulations on the chaotic Chen system and the hyper-chaotic Chen system are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme

Nonword Repetition Priming in Lexical Decision Reverses as a Function of Study Task and Speed Stress

Science.gov (United States)

Zeelenberg, Rene; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan; Shiffrin, Richard M.

2004-01-01

The authors argue that nonword repetition priming in lexical decision is the net result of 2 opposing processes. First, repeating nonwords in the lexical decision task results in the storage of a memory trace containing the interpretation that the letter string is a nonword; retrieval of this trace leads to an increase in performance for repeated…

WATERSHED ALGORITHM BASED SEGMENTATION FOR HANDWRITTEN TEXT IDENTIFICATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Mathivanan

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper we develop a system for writer identification which involves four processing steps like preprocessing, segmentation, feature extraction and writer identification using neural network. In the preprocessing phase the handwritten text is subjected to slant removal process for segmentation and feature extraction. After this step the text image enters into the process of noise removal and gray level conversion. The preprocessed image is further segmented by using morphological watershed algorithm, where the text lines are segmented into single words and then into single letters. The segmented image is feature extracted by Daubechies’5/3 integer wavelet transform to reduce training complexity [1, 6]. This process is lossless and reversible [10], [14]. These extracted features are given as input to our neural network for writer identification process and a target image is selected for each training process in the 2-layer neural network. With the several trained output data obtained from different target help in text identification. It is a multilingual text analysis which provides simple and efficient text segmentation.

46 CFR 308.522 - Collateral deposit fund, letter of transmittal, Form MA-302.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 8 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Collateral deposit fund, letter of transmittal, Form MA... Collateral deposit fund, letter of transmittal, Form MA-302. The standard form of letter of transmittal for use in establishing a collateral deposit fund, may be obtained from the American War Risk Agency or...

Resource Letter MP-3: The Manhattan Project and Related Nuclear Research

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, B. Cameron

2016-10-01

This Resource Letter is a supplement to the earlier Resource Letters MP-1 and MP-2, and provides further sources on the Manhattan Project and related research. Books, review papers, journal articles, videos, and websites are cited for the following topics: general works, technical works, biographical and autobiographical works, foreign wartime nuclear programs and related allied intelligence, the use of the bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, technical papers of historical interest, postwar policy and technical developments, and educational materials. Together, these three Resource Letters describe nearly 400 sources of information on the Manhattan Project.

Dear Hacker Letters to the Editor of 2600

CERN Document Server

Goldstein, Emmanuel

2010-01-01

Actual letters written to the leading hackers' magazine. For 25 years, 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has given voice to the hacker community in all its manifestations. This collection of letters to the magazine reveals the thoughts and viewpoints of hackers, both white and black hat, as well as hacker wannabes, technophiles, and people concerned about computer security. Insightful and entertaining, the exchanges illustrate 2600 's vast readership, from teenage rebels, anarchists, and survivalists to law enforcement, consumer advocates, and worried parents.: 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has been the

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 3, May-June 2007

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2007-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) The Road to School Improvement: It's Hard, It's Bumpy, and It Takes as Long as It Takes (Richard F. Elmore and Elizabeth A. City); (2) Better Teaching with Web Tools: How…

Harvard Education Letter. Volume 23, Number 4, July-August 2007

Science.gov (United States)

Chauncey, Caroline, Ed.

2007-01-01

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Meeting of the Minds: The Parent-Teacher Conference Is the Cornerstone of School-Home Relations. How Can It Work for All Families? (Laura Pappano); (2) In Search of That "Third…

Composing chaotic music from the letter m

Science.gov (United States)

Sotiropoulos, Anastasios D.

Chaotic music is composed from a proposed iterative map depicting the letter m, relating the pitch, duration and loudness of successive steps. Each of the two curves of the letter m is based on the classical logistic map. Thus, the generating map is xn+1 = r xn(1/2 - xn) for xn between 0 and 1/2 defining the first curve, and xn+1 = r (xn - 1/2)(1 - xn) for xn between 1/2 and 1 representing the second curve. The parameter r which determines the height(s) of the letter m varies from 2 to 16, the latter value ensuring fully developed chaotic solutions for the whole letter m; r = 8 yielding full chaotic solutions only for its first curve. The m-model yields fixed points, bifurcation points and chaotic regions for each separate curve, as well as values of the parameter r greater than 8 which produce inter-fixed points, inter-bifurcation points and inter-chaotic regions from the interplay of the two curves. Based on this, music is composed from mapping the m- recurrence model solutions onto actual notes. The resulting musical score strongly depends on the sequence of notes chosen by the composer to define the musical range corresponding to the range of the chaotic mathematical solutions x from 0 to 1. Here, two musical ranges are used; one is the middle chromatic scale and the other is the seven- octaves range. At the composer's will and, for aesthetics, within the same composition, notes can be the outcome of different values of r and/or shifted in any octave. Compositions with endings of non-repeating note patterns result from values of r in the m-model that do not produce bifurcations. Scores of chaotic music composed from the m-model and the classical logistic model are presented.

A comparison of Data Driven models of solving the task of gender identification of author in Russian language texts for cases without and with the gender deception

Science.gov (United States)

Sboev, A.; Moloshnikov, I.; Gudovskikh, D.; Rybka, R.

2017-12-01

In this work we compare several data-driven approaches to the task of author’s gender identification for texts with or without gender imitation. The data corpus has been specially gathered with crowdsourcing for this task. The best models are convolutional neural network with input of morphological data (fl-measure: 88%±3) for texts without imitation, and gradient boosting model with vector of character n-grams frequencies as input data (f1-measure: 64% ± 3) for texts with gender imitation. The method to filter the crowdsourced corpus using limited reference sample of texts to increase the accuracy of result is discussed.

Verse Letter from Gregory of Nazianzus to Vitalianus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erika Brodňanská

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The article offers a complex view of the poetic letter of Gregory of Nazianzus II, II, 3 Ad Vitalianum, which has not yet been the subject of modern criticism. The letter is a plea by Vitalianus’ banished sons for their father to take them back. Based on the manuscript tradition, the article’s author concludes that the fictional author of the letter is the son Phocas rather than Peter. The disrupted relationship between father and sons is reflected in both the content of the poem and the forms of salutations used: the seemingly positive epithets φέριστε, μακάρτατε, and φίλε; forms of address which directly express a certain distance and coldness (μέγα φέρτατε, ὦ ἄνα, or even animosity towards the father (ὀλοώτατε δαῖμον, ὦ κακόβουλε. The poetic letter has a concentric structure (A; B; C; D; E; F; G; F´; E´; D´; C´; B´; A´, with individual com­ponents linked for the most part thematically. The letter is written in dactylic hexameter. The most frequently used metre in the verses is the holodactyl, and the most frequent caesura is the caesura post tertium trochaeum. As far as the breach of Hermann’s bridge in verses is concerned, and based on the understanding of the term ‘word’ in metrics, the author of the article concludes that in the majority of cases the breach is only ‘visual’, and cannot be detected when listened to. Gregory did not avoid three true hiatuses; and in two verses, in order to keep the rhythm of dactylic hexameter, it is essential to measure a long syllable as a short one. However, metric errors may be related to prosodic licence.

Text-based language identification of multilingual names

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Giwa, O

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Text-based language identification (T-LID) of isolated words has been shown to be useful for various speech processing tasks, including pronunciation modelling and data categorisation. When the words to be categorised are proper names, the task...

Open letter to Mr Christian Bataille, Deputy of Nord region, France. Open letter on nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delacroix P

2007-02-01

The author, by means of a letter to the deputy Christian Bataille, presents arguments to the shutdown of old nuclear power plants. He points out the environmental and economical arguments in favor of a decrease of the nuclear power use in France. (A.L.B.)

50 CFR 216.219 - Renewal and modifications of Letters of Authorization.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Explosive Severance.... Gulf of Mexico § 216.219 Renewal and modifications of Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of...

Letter: Meyerhofer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mackinnon, A.J.

2011-01-01

This letter confirms that the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) was an important part of the FY10 NIF Polar Drive Exploding Pusher experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). These experiments were designed by LLE to produce requested neutron yields to calibrate and qualify nuclear diagnostics. LLE built a deuterium-tritium filling system for the glass shells and provided them to LLNL for mounting. In FY10, four exploding pusher implosions were performed with measured neutron yields within a factor of two of requested and ion temperatures within 20% of requested. These implosions are proving to be an ideal platform for commissioning the nuclear diagnostic suite on the NIF and are achieving all of the objectives planned for this campaign.

SiD Letter of Intent

CERN Document Server

Aihara, H.; Oreglia, M.; Berger, E.L.; Guarino, V.; Repond, J.; Weerts, H.; Xia, L.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, Q.; Srivastava, A.; Butler, J.M.; Goldstein, Joel; Velthuis, J.; Radeka, V.; Zhu, R.-Y.; Lutz, P.; de Roeck, A.; Elsener, K.; Gaddi, A.; Gerwig, H.; Grefe, C.; Klempt, W.; Linssen, L.; Schlatter, D.; Speckmayer, P.; Thom, J.; Yang, J.; Christian, D.C.; Cihangir, S.; Cooper, W.E.; Demarteau, M.; Fisk, H.E.; Garren, L.A.; Krempetz, K.; Kutschke, R.K.; Lipton, R.; Para, A.; Tschirhart, R.; Wenzel, H.; Yarema, R.; Grunewald, M.; Pankov, A.; U., Gomel State Tech.; Dutta, T.; Dauncey, P.D.; Balbuena, J.P.; Fleta, C.; Lozano, M.; Ullan, M.; Christian, G.B.; Faus-Golfe, A.; Fuster, J.; Lacasta, C.; Marinnas, C.; Vos, M.; Duarte, J.; Fernandez, M.; Gonzalez, J.; Jaramillo, R.; Lopez, Virto A.; Martinez-Eivero, C.; Moya, D.; Ruiz-Mimeno, A.; Vila, I.; Colledani, C.; Dorokhov, A.; Hu-Guo, C.; Winter, M.; Moortgat-Pick, G.; Onoprienko, D.V.; Kim, G.N.; Park, H.; Adloff, C.; Blaha, J.; Blaising, J.-J.; Cap, S.; Chefdeville, M.; Drancourt, C.; Espargiliare, A.; Gaglione, R.; Geffroy, N.; Jacquemier, J.; Karyotakis, Y.; Prast, J.; Vouters, G.; Gronberg, J.; Walston, S.; Wright, D.; Sawyer, L.; Laloum, M.; Ciobanu, C.; Chauveau, J.; Savoy-Navarro, A.; Andricek, L.; Moser, H.-G.; Cowan, R.f.; Fisher, P.; Yamamoto, R.K.; Kenney, ClMl; Boos, E.E.; Merkin, M.; Chen, S.; Chakraborty, D.; Dyshkant, A.; Hedin, D.; Zutshi, V.; Galkin, V.; D'Ascenzo, N.; Ossetski, D.; Saveliev, V.; Kapusta, F.; De Masi, R.; Vrba, V.; Lu, C.; McDonald, K.T.; Smith, A.J.S.; Bortoletto, D.; Coath, R.; Crooks, J.; Damerell, C.; Gibson, M.; Nichols, A.; Stanitzki, M.; Strube, J.; Turchetta, R.; Tyndel, M.; Weber, M.; Worm, S.; Zhang, Z.; Barklow, T.L.; Belymam, A.; Breidenbach, M.; Cassell, R.; Craddock, W.; Deaconu, C.; Dragone, A.; Graf, N.A.; Haller, G.; Herbst, R.; Hewett, J.L.; Jaros, J.A.; Johnson, A.S.; Kim, P.C.; MacFarlane, D.B.; Markiewicz, T.; Maruyama, T.; McCormick, J.; Moffeit, K.; Neal, H.A.; Nelson, T.K.; Oriunno, M.; Partridge, R.; Peskin, M.E.; Rizzo, T.G.; Rowson, P.; Su, D.; Woods, M.; Chakrabarti, S.; Dieguez, A.; Garrido, Ll.; Kaminski, J.; Conway, J.S.; Chertok, M.; Gunion, J.; Holbrook, B.; Lander, R.L.; Tripathi, S.M.; Fadeyev, V.; Schumm, B.A.; Oreglia, M.; Gill, J.; Nauenberg, U.; Oleinik, G.; Wagner, S.R.; Ranjan, K.; Shivpuri, R.; Varner, G.S.; Orava, R.; Van Kooten, R.; Bilki, B.; Charles, M.; Kim, T.J.; Mallik, U.; Norbeck, E.; Onel, Y.; Brau, B.P.; Willocq, S.; Taylor, G.N.; Riles, Keith; Yang, H.-J.; Kriske, R.; Cremaldi, L.; Rahmat, R.; Lastovicka-Medin, G.; Seidel, S.; Hildreth, M.D.; Wayne, M.; Brau, J.E.; Frey, R.; Sinev, N.; Strom, D.M.; Torrence, E.; Banda, Y.; Burrows, P.N.; Devetak, E.; Foster, B.; Lastovicka, T.; Li, Y.-M.; Nomerotski, A.; Riera-Babures, J.; Vilasis-Cardona, X.; Manly, S.; Adeva, B.; Iglesias Escudero, C.; Vazquez Regueiro, P.; Saborido Silva, J.J.; Gallas Torreira, A.; Gao, D.; Jie, W.; Jungfeng, Y.; Li, C.; Liu, S.; Liu, Y.; Sun, Y.; Wang, Q.; Yi, J.; Yonggang, W.; Zhao, Z.; De, K.; Farbin, A.; Park, S.; Smith, J.; White, A.P.; Yu, J.; Lou, X.C.; Abe, T.; Iwasaki, M.; Lubatti, H.J.; Band, H.R.; Feyzi, F.; Prepost, R.; Karchin, P.E.; Milstene, C.; Baltay, C.; Dhawan, S.; Kwon, Y.-J.

2009-01-01

Letter of intent describing SiD (Silicon Detector) for consideration by the International Linear Collider IDAG panel. This detector concept is founded on the use of silicon detectors for vertexing, tracking, and electromagnetic calorimetry. The detector has been cost-optimized as a general-purpose detector for a 500 GeV electron-positron linear collider.

Limited data speaker identification

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

recognition can be either identification or verification depending on the task objective. .... like Bayesian formalism, voting method and Dempster-Shafer (D–S) theory ..... self-organizing map (SOM) (Kohonen 1990), learning vector quantization ...

Letter knowledge in parent-child conversations: differences between families differing in socio-economic status.

Science.gov (United States)

Robins, Sarah; Ghosh, Dina; Rosales, Nicole; Treiman, Rebecca

2014-01-01

When formal literacy instruction begins, around the age of 5 or 6, children from families low in socioeconomic status (SES) tend to be less prepared than children from families of higher SES. The goal of our study is to explore one route through which SES may influence children's early literacy skills: informal conversations about letters. The study builds on previous studies (Robins and Treiman, 2009; Robins et al., 2012, 2014) of parent-child conversations that show how U. S. parents and their young children talk about writing and provide preliminary evidence about similarities and differences in parent-child conversations as a function of SES. Focusing on parents and children aged three to five, we conducted five separate analyses of these conversations, asking whether and how family SES influences the previously established patterns. Although we found talk about letters in both upper and lower SES families, there were differences in the nature of these conversations. The proportion of letter talk utterances that were questions was lower in lower SES families and, of all the letter names that lower SES families talked about, more of them were uttered in isolation rather than in sequences. Lower SES families were especially likely to associate letters with the child's name, and they placed more emphasis on sequences in alphabetic order. We found no SES differences in the factors that influenced use of particular letter names (monograms), but there were SES differences in two-letter sequences (digrams). Focusing on the alphabet and on associations between the child's name and the letters within it may help to interest the child in literacy activities, but they many not be very informative about the relationship between letters and words in general. Understanding the patterns in parent-child conversations about letters is an important first step for exploring their contribution to children's early literacy skills and school readiness.

ERP Indices of Stimulus Prediction in Letter Sequences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edith Kaan

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Given the current focus on anticipation in perception, action and cognition, including language processing, there is a need for a method to tap into predictive processing in situations in which cue and feedback stimuli are not explicitly marked as such. To this aim, event related potentials (ERPs were obtained while participants viewed alphabetic letter sequences (“A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, “E”, …, in which the letters were highly predictable, and random sequences (“S”, “B”, “A”, “I”, “F”, “M”, …, without feedback. Occasionally, the presentation of a letter in a sequence was delayed by 300 ms. During this delay period, an increased negativity was observed for predictive versus random sequences. In addition, the early positivity following the delay was larger for predictive compared with random sequences. These results suggest that expectation-sensitive ERP modulations can be elicited in anticipation of stimuli that are not explicit targets, rewards, feedback or instructions, and that a delay can strengthen the prediction for a particular stimulus. Applications to language processing will be discussed.

Integrated cross-domain object storage in working memory: evidence from a verbal-spatial memory task.

Science.gov (United States)

Morey, Candice C

2009-11-01

Working-memory theories often include domain-specific verbal and visual stores (e.g., the phonological and visuospatial buffers of Baddeley, 1986), and some also posit more general stores thought to be capable of holding verbal or visuospatial materials (Baddeley, 2000; Cowan, 2005). However, it is currently unclear which type of store is primarily responsible for maintaining objects that include components from multiple domains. In these studies, a spatial array of letters was followed by a single probe identical to an item in the array or differing systematically in spatial location, letter identity, or their combination. Concurrent verbal rehearsal suppression impaired memory in each of these trial types in a task that required participants to remember verbal-spatial binding, but did not impair memory for spatial locations if the task did not require verbal-spatial binding for a correct response. Thus, spatial information might be stored differently when it must be bound to verbal information. This suggests that a cross-domain store such as the episodic buffer of Baddeley (2000) or the focus of attention of Cowan (2001) might be used for integrated object storage, rather than the maintenance of associations between features stored in separate domain-specific buffers.

The Problem of Informational Object Identification in Case of the Considerable Quantity of Identifying Features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. D. Kulik

2010-03-01

Full Text Available The modification of the algorithm of identification of the informational object, used for identification of the hand-written texts performer in an automated workplace of the forensic expert, is presented. As modification, it is offered to use a method of association rules discovery for definition of statistically dependent sets of feature of hand-written capital letters of the Russian language. The algorithm is approved on set of 691 samples of hand-written documents for which about 2000 identifying feature are defined. The modification of the identification algorithm allows to lower level of errors and to raise quality of accepted decisions for information security.

Measuring Young Children's Alphabet Knowledge: Development and Validation of Brief Letter-Sound Knowledge Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Piasta, Shayne B.; Phillips, Beth M.; Williams, Jeffrey M.; Bowles, Ryan P.; Anthony, Jason L.

2016-01-01

Early childhood teachers are increasingly encouraged to support children's development of letter-sound abilities. Assessment of letter-sound knowledge is key in planning for effective instruction, yet the letter-sound knowledge assessments currently available and suitable for preschool-age children demonstrate significant limitations. The purpose…

Letter-sound processing deficits in children with developmental dyslexia: An ERP study.

Science.gov (United States)

Moll, Kristina; Hasko, Sandra; Groth, Katharina; Bartling, Jürgen; Schulte-Körne, Gerd

2016-04-01

The time course during letter-sound processing was investigated in children with developmental dyslexia (DD) and typically developing (TD) children using electroencephalography. Thirty-eight children with DD and 25 TD children participated in a visual-auditory oddball paradigm. Event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by standard and deviant stimuli in an early (100-190 ms) and late (560-750 ms) time window were analysed. In the early time window, ERPs elicited by the deviant stimulus were delayed and less left lateralized over fronto-temporal electrodes for children with DD compared to TD children. In the late time window, children with DD showed higher amplitudes extending more over right frontal electrodes. Longer latencies in the early time window and stronger right hemispheric activation in the late time window were associated with slower reading and naming speed. Additionally, stronger right hemispheric activation in the late time window correlated with poorer phonological awareness skills. Deficits in early stages of letter-sound processing influence later more explicit cognitive processes during letter-sound processing. Identifying the neurophysiological correlates of letter-sound processing and their relation to reading related skills provides insight into the degree of automaticity during letter-sound processing beyond behavioural measures of letter-sound-knowledge. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sense-Making and Map-Making: War Letters as Personal Geographies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christina Knopf

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Structured in three parts, this article will briefly review David Herman’s idea of “spatial reference” in narrative, particularly in epistolary form, and explain the research method used in this project; introduce military geographies and demonstrate how various spatial references function in war letters; and, lastly, illustrate the value of war letters as spatial artifacts and subjective cartography.

A Novel Handwritten Letter Recognizer Using Enhanced Evolutionary Neural Network

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmoudi, Fariborz; Mirzashaeri, Mohsen; Shahamatnia, Ehsan; Faridnia, Saed

This paper introduces a novel design for handwritten letter recognition by employing a hybrid back-propagation neural network with an enhanced evolutionary algorithm. Feeding the neural network consists of a new approach which is invariant to translation, rotation, and scaling of input letters. Evolutionary algorithm is used for the global search of the search space and the back-propagation algorithm is used for the local search. The results have been computed by implementing this approach for recognizing 26 English capital letters in the handwritings of different people. The computational results show that the neural network reaches very satisfying results with relatively scarce input data and a promising performance improvement in convergence of the hybrid evolutionary back-propagation algorithms is exhibited.

Some Influences of Greek and Roman Rhetoric on Early Letter Writing.

Science.gov (United States)

Hildebrandt, Herbert W.

1988-01-01

Describes how letter writing, especially business letters, was influenced by Greek and Roman oral rhetoricians. Discusses three precepts of oral rhetoric--inventio, dispositio, and style--and notes that the classical theories' reflection in written communication can be seen in selected Italian, German, and English epistolographic works. (MM)

Yeast identification: reassessment of assimilation tests as sole universal identifiers.

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, J; Rawling, S; Stratford, M; Steels, H; Novodvorska, M; Archer, D B; Chandra, S

2011-11-01

To assess whether assimilation tests in isolation remain a valid method of identification of yeasts, when applied to a wide range of environmental and spoilage isolates. Seventy-one yeast strains were isolated from a soft drinks factory. These were identified using assimilation tests and by D1/D2 rDNA sequencing. When compared to sequencing, assimilation test identifications (MicroLog™) were 18·3% correct, a further 14·1% correct within the genus and 67·6% were incorrectly identified. The majority of the latter could be attributed to the rise in newly reported yeast species. Assimilation tests alone are unreliable as a universal means of yeast identification, because of numerous new species, variability of strains and increasing coincidence of assimilation profiles. Assimilation tests still have a useful role in the identification of common species, such as the majority of clinical isolates. It is probable, based on these results, that many yeast identifications reported in older literature are incorrect. This emphasizes the crucial need for accurate identification in present and future publications. © 2011 The Authors. Letters in Applied Microbiology © 2011 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Philosophical Intelligence: Letters, Print, and Experiment during Napoleon's Continental Blockade.

Science.gov (United States)

Watts, Iain P

2015-12-01

This essay investigates scientific exchanges between Britain and France from 1806 to 1814, at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. It argues for a picture of scientific communication that sees letters and printed texts not as separate media worlds, but as interconnected bearers of time-critical information within a single system of intelligence gathering and experimental practice. During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte's Continental System blockade severed most links between Britain and continental Europe, yet scientific communications continued--particularly on electrochemistry, a subject of fierce rivalry between Britain and France. The essay traces these exchanges using the archive of a key go-between, the English man of science Sir Charles Blagden. The first two sections look at Blagden's letter-writing operation, reconstructing how he harnessed connections with neutral American diplomats, merchants, and the State to get scientific intelligence between London and Paris. The third section, following Blagden's words from Britain to France to America, looks at how information in letters cross-fertilized with information in print. The final section considers how letters and print were used together to solve the difficult practical problem of replicating experiments across the blockade.

Politeness Strategies in Good-news Business Letters

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

毕争; 李纳

2008-01-01

This paper analyzes the presentation of politeness in good-news business letters at the lexical,syntactic,and discourse levels based on Leech's Politeness Principle and Brown and Levinson's Face-saving Theory.

Convolutional neural networks and face recognition task

Science.gov (United States)

Sochenkova, A.; Sochenkov, I.; Makovetskii, A.; Vokhmintsev, A.; Melnikov, A.

2017-09-01

Computer vision tasks are remaining very important for the last couple of years. One of the most complicated problems in computer vision is face recognition that could be used in security systems to provide safety and to identify person among the others. There is a variety of different approaches to solve this task, but there is still no universal solution that would give adequate results in some cases. Current paper presents following approach. Firstly, we extract an area containing face, then we use Canny edge detector. On the next stage we use convolutional neural networks (CNN) to finally solve face recognition and person identification task.

Y2K affiliation, immediate pedestrian density, and helping responses to lost letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Bridges, F S; Thompson, P C

2001-06-01

Of 75 letters "lost" in Florida, 41 were returned in the mail (the helpful response). Immediate pedestrian density was significantly related to nonhelping responses. The greater the number of subjects passing by a lost letter, the less likely any one of them would respond to it. The rates of return did vary with the addressees' affiliations. Returned responses for the affiliates, Y2K Arkbuilders and the Believers of God's Judgement Against Homosexuals: Y2K Millennium Bug, were substantially lower than for the affiliate, Y2K Computer Repair & Programming, Inc. Returns for the Believers of God's Judgement Against Homosexuals: Y2K Millennium Bug affiliate were significantly lower than for the Y2K Arkbuilders affiliate. Variables such as sex, race, and estimated age of subjects were not associated with helping to return a lost letter. The rate of return of lost letters is not the only important measure to be examined in studies using lost letters.

Letter position coding across modalities: braille and sighted reading of sentences with jumbled words.

Science.gov (United States)

Perea, Manuel; Jiménez, María; Martín-Suesta, Miguel; Gómez, Pablo

2015-04-01

This article explores how letter position coding is attained during braille reading and its implications for models of word recognition. When text is presented visually, the reading process easily adjusts to the jumbling of some letters (jugde-judge), with a small cost in reading speed. Two explanations have been proposed: One relies on a general mechanism of perceptual uncertainty at the visual level, and the other focuses on the activation of an abstract level of representation (i.e., bigrams) that is shared by all orthographic codes. Thus, these explanations make differential predictions about reading in a tactile modality. In the present study, congenitally blind readers read sentences presented on a braille display that tracked the finger position. The sentences either were intact or involved letter transpositions. A parallel experiment was conducted in the visual modality. Results revealed a substantially greater reading cost for the sentences with transposed-letter words in braille readers. In contrast with the findings with sighted readers, in which there is a cost of transpositions in the external (initial and final) letters, the reading cost in braille readers occurs serially, with a large cost for initial letter transpositions. Thus, these data suggest that the letter-position-related effects in visual word recognition are due to the characteristics of the visual stream.

Letters from a Nightingale nurse.

Science.gov (United States)

Denny, E

1996-01-01

Mary Cadbury was one of six daughters in a wealthy Birmingham family, all of whom took up professional or unpaid philanthropic work. In 1873 Mary began nurse training at the Nightingale School, St Thomas's Hospital, and regularly sent letters to family and friends, which provide a graphic account of the experience of a nurse in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Letter Knowledge in Parent–Child Conversations: Differences between Families Differing in Socio-Economic Status

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah eRobins

2014-06-01

Full Text Available When formal literacy instruction begins, around the age of 5 or 6, children from families low in socioeconomic status (SES tend to be less prepared than children from families of higher SES. The goal of our study is to explore one route through which SES may influence children’s early literacy skills: informal conversations about letters. The study builds on previous studies (Robins, Treiman, & Rosales, 2014; Robins, Treiman, Rosales, & Otake, 2012; Robins & Treiman, 2009 that show how U. S. parents and their young children talk about writing and provides preliminary evidence about similarities and differences in parent–child conversations as a function of SES. Focusing on parents and children aged three to five, we conducted five separate analyses of these conversations, asking whether and how family SES influences the previously established patterns. Although we found talk about letters in both upper and lower SES families, there were differences in the nature of these conversations. The proportion of letter talk utterances that were questions was lower in lower SES families and, of all the letter names that lower SES families talked about, more of them were uttered in isolation rather than in sequences. Lower SES families were especially likely to associate letters with the child’s name, and they placed more emphasis on sequences in alphabetic order. We found no SES differences in the factors that influenced use of particular letter names (monograms, but there were SES differences in two-letter sequences (digrams. Focusing on the alphabet and on associations between the child’s name and the letters within it may help to interest the child in literacy activities, but they many not be very informative about the relationship between letters and words in general. Understanding the patterns in parent–child conversations about letters is an important first step for exploring their contribution to children’s early literacy skills and

Identification of Misconceptions through Multiple Choice Tasks at Municipal Chemistry Competition Test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dušica D Milenković

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the level of conceptual understanding of chemical contents among seventh grade students who participated in the municipal Chemistry competition in Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2013 have been examined. Tests for the municipal chemistry competition were used as a measuring instrument, wherein only multiple choice tasks were considered and analyzed. Determination of the level of conceptual understanding of the tested chemical contents was based on the calculation of the frequency of choosing the correct answers. Thereby, identification of areas of satisfactory conceptual understanding, areas of roughly adequate performance, areas of inadequate performance, and areas of quite inadequate performance have been conducted. On the other hand, the analysis of misconceptions was based on the analysis of distractors. The results showed that satisfactory level of conceptual understanding and roughly adequate performance characterize majority of contents, which was expected since only the best students who took part in the contest were surveyed. However, this analysis identified a large number of misunderstandings, as well. In most of the cases, these misconceptions were related to the inability to distinguish elements, compounds, homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures. Besides, it is shown that students are not familiar with crystal structure of the diamond, and with metric prefixes. The obtained results indicate insufficient visualization of the submicroscopic level in school textbooks, the imprecise use of chemical language by teachers and imprecise use of language in chemistry textbooks.

Inferring biological tasks using Pareto analysis of high-dimensional data.

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Yuval; Sheftel, Hila; Hausser, Jean; Szekely, Pablo; Ben-Moshe, Noa Bossel; Korem, Yael; Tendler, Avichai; Mayo, Avraham E; Alon, Uri

2015-03-01

We present the Pareto task inference method (ParTI; http://www.weizmann.ac.il/mcb/UriAlon/download/ParTI) for inferring biological tasks from high-dimensional biological data. Data are described as a polytope, and features maximally enriched closest to the vertices (or archetypes) allow identification of the tasks the vertices represent. We demonstrate that human breast tumors and mouse tissues are well described by tetrahedrons in gene expression space, with specific tumor types and biological functions enriched at each of the vertices, suggesting four key tasks.

Re-Audit of the Contents of GP Referral letters to General Adult Community Psychiatrists.

Science.gov (United States)

Odelola, Catherine; Jabbar, Farid

2017-09-01

The quality of information provided by referring general practitioners to secondary care mental health services are crucial elements in the effective management of patients. In order to establish effective communication, both primary and secondary care health professionals should contribute to planning and organising this process taking into account their different opinions and views. Anonymous questionnaire was designed to collect information on items that GPs and psychiatrist rated as most important items in GP referral letters to psychiatrists. The questionnaires were sent out electronically. Each item was scored using a rating scale where 0 was least important and 10 was most important. Items that scored 8 and above were agreed by all as the most important items. 76 GP letters were audited using a devised checklist of the identified most important items. Data was collected and analysed using a devised data collection tool. A re-audit was done 6months later. A response rate of 70% was obtained for both psychiatrists and GPs. Reasons for referral were described in almost all GP referral letters (95%). Only 24% referral letters had details about current physical health which improved to 59%. Concerns about risk were described in only 47% of letters and treatment provided by GP in 50% of letters. These improved in 79% and 71% of letters respectively in the re-audit. The involvement of professionals in devising a standardised approach for referral letters has improved communication in this re-audit between GPs and Psychiatrists. This is evident in the improvement in key aspects of the referral letters: past medical history, past psychiatric history, current physical health, treatment provided by GP. Efficient communication between GPs and psychiatrists improves the quality of health care for patients.

42 CFR 93.202 - Charge letter.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Charge letter. 93.202 Section 93.202 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HEALTH ASSESSMENTS AND HEALTH EFFECTS STUDIES OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES RELEASES AND FACILITIES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE POLICIES ON RESEARCH...

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains six separate records on the DELPHI experiment at LEP, the Fermi-surface dynamics of rotating nuclei, production of large samples of the silica dioxide aerogel in the 37-litre autoclave and test of its optical properties, preliminary radiation resource results on scintillating fibers, a new algorithm for the direct transformation method of time to digital with the high time resolution and development and design of analogue read-out electronics for HADES drift chamber system

Michael Maier--nine newly discovered letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenke, Nils; Roudet, Nicolas; Tilton, Hereward

2014-02-01

The authors provide a transcription, translation, and evaluation of nine newly discovered letters from the alchemist Michael Maier (1568-1622) to Gebhardt Johann von Alvensleben (1576-1631), a noble landholder in the vicinity of Magdeburg. Stemming from the final year of his life, this correspondence casts new light on Maier's biography, detailing his efforts to secure patronage amid the financial crisis of the early Thirty Years' War. While his ill-fated quest to perfect potable gold continued to form the central focus of his patronage suits, Maier also offered his services in several arts that he had condemned in his printed works, namely astrology and "supernatural" magic. Remarks concerning his previously unknown acquaintance with Heinrich Khunrath call for a re-evaluation of Maier's negotiation of the discursive boundaries between Lutheran orthodoxy and Paracelsianism. The letters also reveal Maier's substantial contribution to a work previously ascribed solely to the English alchemist Francis Anthony.

Task conflict in the Stroop task: When Stroop interference decreases as Stroop facilitation increases in a low task conflict context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin Andrew Parris

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In the present study participants completed two blocks of the Stroop task, one in which the Response-Stimulus Interval (RSI was 3500ms and one in which RSI was 200ms. It was expected that, in line with previous research, the shorter RSI would induce a low Task Conflict context by increasing focus on the colour identification goal in the Stroop task. Based on previous research showing the role of Task Conflict in the presence or absence Stroop facilitation, this was expected to lead to the novel finding of an increase in facilitation and simultaneous decrease in interference. Such a finding would be problematic for models of Stroop effects that predict these indices of performance should be affected in tandem. A crossover interaction is reported supporting these predictions. As predicted, the shorter RSI resulted in incongruent and congruent trial RTs decreasing relative to a static neutral baseline condition; hence interference decreased as facilitation increased. An explanatory model (expanding on the work of Goldfarb, Henik and colleagues is presented that: 1 Shows how under certain conditions the predictions from single mechanism models hold true (i.e. when Task conflict is held constant; 2 Shows how it is possible that interference can be affected by an experimental manipulation that leaves facilitation apparently untouched and; 3 Predicts that facilitation cannot be independently affected by an experimental manipulation.

Justification and authority in institutional review board decision letters.

Science.gov (United States)

Clapp, Justin T; Gleason, Katharine A; Joffe, Steven

2017-12-01

While ethnographic study has described the discussions that occur during human subjects research ethics review, investigators have minimal access to the interactions of ethics oversight committees. They instead receive letters stipulating changes to their proposed studies. Ethics committee letters are central to the practice of research ethics: they change the nature of research, alter the knowledge it produces, and in doing so construct what ethical research is and how it is pursued. However, these letters have rarely been objects of analysis. Accordingly, we conducted a qualitative analysis of letters written by American institutional review boards (IRBs) overseeing biomedical and health behavioral research. We sought to clarify how IRBs exercise their authority by assessing the frequency with which they provided reasons for their stipulations as well as the nature of these reasons. We found that IRBs frequently do not justify their stipulations; rather, they often leave ethical or regulatory concerns implicit or frame their comments as boilerplate language replacements, procedural instructions, or demands for missing information. When they do provide justifications, their rationales exhibit substantial variability in explicitness and clarity. These rhetorical tendencies indicate that the authority of IRBs is grounded primarily in their role as bureaucratic gatekeepers. We conclude by suggesting that greater attention to justification could help shift the basis of the IRB-researcher relationship from compliance to mutual accountability. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Estimating workload using EEG spectral power and ERPs in the n-back task

Science.gov (United States)

Brouwer, Anne-Marie; Hogervorst, Maarten A.; van Erp, Jan B. F.; Heffelaar, Tobias; Zimmerman, Patrick H.; Oostenveld, Robert

2012-08-01

Previous studies indicate that both electroencephalogram (EEG) spectral power (in particular the alpha and theta band) and event-related potentials (ERPs) (in particular the P300) can be used as a measure of mental work or memory load. We compare their ability to estimate workload level in a well-controlled task. In addition, we combine both types of measures in a single classification model to examine whether this results in higher classification accuracy than either one alone. Participants watched a sequence of visually presented letters and indicated whether or not the current letter was the same as the one (n instances) before. Workload was varied by varying n. We developed different classification models using ERP features, frequency power features or a combination (fusion). Training and testing of the models simulated an online workload estimation situation. All our ERP, power and fusion models provide classification accuracies between 80% and 90% when distinguishing between the highest and the lowest workload condition after 2 min. For 32 out of 35 participants, classification was significantly higher than chance level after 2.5 s (or one letter) as estimated by the fusion model. Differences between the models are rather small, though the fusion model performs better than the other models when only short data segments are available for estimating workload.

Substituted-Letter and Transposed-Letter Effects in a Masked Priming Paradigm with French Developing Readers and Dyslexics

Science.gov (United States)

Lete, Bernard; Fayol, Michel

2013-01-01

The aim of the study was to undertake a behavioral investigation of the development of automatic orthographic processing during reading acquisition in French. Following Castles and colleagues' 2007 study ("Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 97," 165-182) and their lexical tuning hypothesis framework, substituted-letter and…

Body sway at sea for two visual tasks and three stance widths.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoffregen, Thomas A; Villard, Sebastien; Yu, Yawen

2009-12-01

On land, body sway is influenced by stance width (the distance between the feet) and by visual tasks engaged in during stance. While wider stance can be used to stabilize the body against ship motion and crewmembers are obliged to carry out many visual tasks while standing, the influence of these factors on the kinematics of body sway has not been studied at sea. Crewmembers of the RN Atlantis stood on a force plate from which we obtained data on the positional variability of the center of pressure (COP). The sea state was 2 on the Beaufort scale. We varied stance width (5 cm, 17 cm, and 30 cm) and the nature of the visual tasks. In the Inspection task, participants viewed a plain piece of white paper, while in the Search task they counted the number of target letters that appeared in a block of text. Search task performance was similar to reports from terrestrial studies. Variability of the COP position was reduced during the Search task relative to the Inspection task. Variability was also reduced during wide stance relative to narrow stance. The influence of stance width was greater than has been observed in terrestrial studies. These results suggest that two factors that influence postural sway on land (variations in stance width and in the nature of visual tasks) also influence sway at sea. We conclude that--in mild sea states--the influence of these factors is not suppressed by ship motion.

Suggestopaedia-Canada. Information Letter, No. 4.

Science.gov (United States)

Racle, Gabriel

This issue of the information letter consists of two articles, "Music Therapy" and "Research and Applications of Psychomusical Techniques"; a review of the book, "La musicotherapie et les methods nouvelles d'association des techniques" by Guilhot and Cecourt, and a bibliography of books on music therapy written in…

Measuring Working Memory With Digit Span and the Letter-Number Sequencing Subtests From the WAIS-IV: Too Low Manipulation Load and Risk for Underestimating Modality Effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Egeland, Jens

2015-01-01

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is one of the most frequently used tests among psychologists. In the fourth edition of the test (WAIS-IV), the subtests Digit Span and Letter-Number Sequencing are expanded for better measurement of working memory (WM). However, it is not clear whether the new extended tasks contribute sufficient complexity to be sensitive measures of manipulation WM, nor do we know to what degree WM capacity differs between the visual and the auditory modality because the WAIS-IV only tests the auditory modality. Performance by a mixed sample of 226 patients referred for neuropsychological examination on the Digit Span and Letter-Number Sequencing subtests from the WAIS-IV and on Spatial Span from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition was analyzed in two confirmatory factor analyses to investigate whether a unitary WM model or divisions based on modality or level/complexity best fit the data. The modality model showed the best fit when analyzing summed scores for each task as well as scores for the longest span. The clinician is advised to apply tests with higher manipulation load and to consider testing visual span as well before drawing conclusions about impaired WM from the WAIS-IV.

A Review of NASA Human Research Program's Scientific Merit Processes: Letter Report

Science.gov (United States)

Pawelczyk, James A. (Editor); Strawbridge, Larisa M. (Editor); Schultz, Andrea M. (Editor); Liverman, Catharyn T. (Editor)

2012-01-01

At the request of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened the Committee on the Review of NASA Human Research Program's (HRP's) Scientific Merit Assessment Processes in December 2011. The committee was asked to evaluate the scientific merit assessment processes that are applied to directed research tasks2 funded through the HRP and to determine best practices from similar assessment processes that are used in other federal agencies. This letter report and its recommendations are the product of a 10-member ad hoc committee, which included individuals who had previously conducted research under the HRP, were familiar with the HRP s research portfolio and operations, had specific knowledge of peer review processes, or were familiar with scientific merit assessment processes used in other organizations and federal agencies, such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Science Foundation (NSF); and U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Defense (DOD), and Transportation.

[Letters to the editor published in Peruvian biomedical journals indexed in SciELO-Peru 2006-2013].

Science.gov (United States)

Montenegro-Idrogo, Juan José; Mejía-Dolores, Jhon William; Chalco-Huamán, Joel L

2015-01-01

This bibliometric study describes the characteristics of letters to the editor published between 2006-2013 in biomedical journals indexed in SciELO-Peru.253 letters (10.3% of total publications) were collected. Most letters (139) were in the Peruvian Journal of Experimental Medicine and Public Health, with marked increase throughout those years. 25% of letters submitted included medical student participation. 14% of authors presented with international affiliations and 27% with endogenous affiliation - common in university journals (Anales de la Facultad de Medicina, Revista Médica Herediana).The usual criteria justifying the publication of letters were: opinion of medical fact or public domain (35.6%) and discussion of results, methodological flaws or interpretation (22.9%). In biomedical journals indexed in SciELO Peru the letters to the editor comprise a percentage of publications that has increased in recent years, with low publication of letters of findings or primary data, compared with opinion or criticism.

EEG Analysis during complex diagnostic tasks in Nuclear Power Plants - Simulator-based Experimental Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ha, Jun Su; Seong, Poong Hyun [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

2005-07-01

In literature, there are a lot of studies based on EEG signals during cognitive activities of human-beings but most of them dealt with simple cognitive activities such as transforming letters into Morse code, subtraction, reading, semantic memory search, visual search, memorizing a set of words and so on. In this work, EEG signals were analyzed during complex diagnostic tasks in NPP simulator-based environment. Investigated are the theta, alpha, beta, and gamma band EEG powers during the diagnostic tasks. The experimental design and procedure are represented in section 2 and the results are shown in section 3. Finally some considerations are discussed and the direction for the further work is proposed in section 4.

EEG Analysis during complex diagnostic tasks in Nuclear Power Plants - Simulator-based Experimental Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ha, Jun Su; Seong, Poong Hyun

2005-01-01

In literature, there are a lot of studies based on EEG signals during cognitive activities of human-beings but most of them dealt with simple cognitive activities such as transforming letters into Morse code, subtraction, reading, semantic memory search, visual search, memorizing a set of words and so on. In this work, EEG signals were analyzed during complex diagnostic tasks in NPP simulator-based environment. Investigated are the theta, alpha, beta, and gamma band EEG powers during the diagnostic tasks. The experimental design and procedure are represented in section 2 and the results are shown in section 3. Finally some considerations are discussed and the direction for the further work is proposed in section 4

Influence of Task Difficulty and Background Music on Working Memory Activity: Developmental Considerations.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaniel, Shlomo; Aram, Dorit

1998-01-01

A study of 300 children in kindergarten, grade 2, and grade 6 found that background music improved visual discrimination task performance at the youngest and middle ages and had no effect on the oldest participants. On a square identification task, background music had no influence on easy and difficult tasks but lowered performance on…

Cholinergic enhancement reduces orientation-specific surround suppression but not visual crowding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna A. Kosovicheva

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Acetylcholine (ACh reduces the spatial spread of excitatory fMRI responses in early visual cortex and the receptive field sizes of V1 neurons. We investigated the perceptual consequences of these physiological effects of ACh with surround suppression and crowding, two tasks that involve spatial interactions between visual field locations. Surround suppression refers to the reduction in perceived stimulus contrast by a high-contrast surround stimulus. For grating stimuli, surround suppression is selective for the relative orientations of the center and surround, suggesting that it results from inhibitory interactions in early visual cortex. Crowding refers to impaired identification of a peripheral stimulus in the presence of flankers and is thought to result from excessive integration of visual features. We increased synaptic ACh levels by administering the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil to healthy human subjects in a placebo-controlled, double-blind design. In Exp. 1, we measured surround suppression of a central grating using a contrast discrimination task with three conditions: 1 surround grating with the same orientation as the center (parallel, 2 surround orthogonal to the center, or 3 no surround. Contrast discrimination thresholds were higher in the parallel than in the orthogonal condition, demonstrating orientation-specific surround suppression (OSSS. Cholinergic enhancement reduced thresholds only in the parallel condition, thereby reducing OSSS. In Exp. 2, subjects performed a crowding task in which they reported the identity of a peripheral letter flanked by letters on either side. We measured the critical spacing between the target and flanking letters that allowed reliable identification. Cholinergic enhancement had no effect on critical spacing. Our findings suggest that ACh reduces spatial interactions in tasks involving segmentation of visual field locations but that these effects may be limited to early visual cortical

Reply to letter to the editor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Woelders, H.

2006-01-01

In response to the letter by Dr. Amir Arav I would like to mention the following. The application of the principle of directional solidification to cryopreservation of living cells was, as far as I am aware, not the invention of Dr. Arav. It was first published and patented by Rubinsky (Berkeley,

Final Report: ATLAS Phase-2 Tracker Upgrade Layout Task Force

CERN Document Server

Clark, A; The ATLAS collaboration; Hessey, N; Mättig, P; Styles, N; Wells, P; Burdin, S; Cornelissen, T; Todorov, T; Vankov, P; Watson, I; Wenig, S

2012-01-01

he mandate of the Upgrade Layout Task Force was to develop a benchmark layout proposal for the ATLAS Phase-2 Upgrade Letter of Intent (LOI), due in late 2012. The work described in this note has evolved from simulation and design studies made using an earlier "UTOPIA" upgrade tracker layout, and experience gained from the current ATLAS Inner Detector during the first years of data taking. The layout described in this document, called the LoI-layout, will be used as a benchmark layout for the LoI and will be used for simulation and engineering studies described in the LoI.

31 CFR 500.406 - Drafts under irrevocable letters of credit; documentary drafts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Drafts under irrevocable letters of credit; documentary drafts. 500.406 Section 500.406 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to... ASSETS CONTROL REGULATIONS Interpretations § 500.406 Drafts under irrevocable letters of credit...

31 CFR 515.406 - Drafts under irrevocable letters of credit; documentary drafts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Drafts under irrevocable letters of credit; documentary drafts. 515.406 Section 515.406 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to... CONTROL REGULATIONS Interpretations § 515.406 Drafts under irrevocable letters of credit; documentary...

Why doctors do not answer referral letters

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Referral letters act as permission slips to allow patients easy access to ... Methods: A qualitative study method was used, as the purpose of this study was to .... The total list of topics ..... Research design: qualitative and quantitative approaches.

46 CFR 28.60 - Exemption letter.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... VESSELS General Provisions § 28.60 Exemption letter. (a) Types of exemptions. (1) Specific exemption means... for an exemption of either type must be in writing, have specific reasons for the request, and be sent... vessel to which any exemption applies. (e) Right of appeal. Any person directly affected by a decision or...

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains seven separate records on physics from extra dimensions, new physics in the new millennium with GENIUS: double beta decay, dark matter, solar neutrinos, the (μ - , e + ) conversion in nuclei mediated by light Majorana neutrinos, exotic muon-to-positron conversion in nuclei: partial transition sum evaluation by using shell model, solar neutrino problem accounting for self consistent magnetohydrodynamics solution for solar magnetic fields, first neutrino observations from the Sudbury neutrino observatory and status report on BOREXINO and results of the muon-background measurements at CERN

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains seven separate records on kinematic separation and mass analysis of heavy recoiling nuclei, dynamical effects prior to heavy ion fusion, VACTIV-DELPHI graphical dialog based program for the analysis of gamma-ray spectra, irradiation of nuclear emulsions in relativistic beams of 6 He and 3 H nuclei, optical and structural investigations of PLZT x/65/35 (x = 4, 8 %) ferroelectric ceramics irradiated by a high-current pulsed electron beam, the oscillating charge and first evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay

Standardized letters of recommendation and successful match into otolaryngology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimple, Adam J; McClurg, Stanley W; Del Signore, Anthony G; Tomoum, Mohamed O; Lin, Feng-Chang; Senior, Brent A

2016-05-01

Historically, narrative letters of recommendation have been utilized in the selection of applicants for otolaryngology residency programs. In the last two application cycles, our specialty adopted a standardized letter of recommendation (SLOR). The intent was to decrease time burden for letter writers and to provide readers with an objective evaluation of applicants. The objective of this study was to determine attributes in the SLOR that correlate with matching into a residency program. We performed a retrospective study using SLOR, United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) step 1 scores, and matched outcomes of applicants who applied to our institution for the 2013 and 2014 match cycle. We included the following variables from the SLOR in the statistical analysis to determine which ones were associated with matching: patient care, medical knowledge, communication skills, procedural skills, research, initiative and drive, commitment to otolaryngology, commitment to academic medicine, match potential, and USMLE1 scores. We identified 532 applicants and 963 SLOR. In successful applicants, scores for patient care, medical knowledge, communication skills, initiative and drive, and match potential were statistically higher (P otolaryngology, commitment to academic medicine, and USMLE step 1 scores were not higher among successfully matched applicants. Although SLOR can save time for letter writers and provide an objective description of applicants, the utility of individual domains within the SLOR is questionable. Additionally, it is concerning that applicants' professionalism and procedural skills are not correlated with matching in our specialty. NA. Laryngoscope, 126:1071-1076, 2016. © 2016 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

The effects of memory load and stimulus relevance on the EEG during a visual selective memory search task : An ERP and ERD/ERS study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gomarus, HK; Althaus, M; Wijers, AA; Minderaa, RB

Objective: Psychophysiological correlates of selective attention and working memory were investigated in a group of 18 healthy children using a visually presented selective mernory search task. Methods: Subjects had to memorize one (load 1) or 3 (load3) letters (memory set) and search for these

African Journals Online: Browse Alphabetically -- letter T

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 19 of 19 ... African Journals Online: Browse Alphabetically -- letter T ... and economic aspects of management and conservation of tropical flora and fauna. ... Les principaux thèmes qui y sont abordés recouvrent les axes de recherche ...

Automatization Aspects of Dyslexia: Speed Limitations in Word Identification, Sensitivity to Increasing Task Demands, and Orthographic Compensation.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Leij, Aryan; van Daal, Victor H. P.

1999-01-01

Ten students (age 10) with dyslexia were compared to 10 chronological-age controls and 20 reading-age controls. Response latencies of the students with dyslexia were slower when familiar words, letter clusters, and nonwords had to be named. A larger word-frequency effect and larger word-length effect indicate difficulty with increasing task…

Increasing Word-Reading Speed in Poor Readers: No Additional Benefits of Explicit Letter-Cluster Training

Science.gov (United States)

Marinus, Eva; de Jong, Peter; van der Leij, Aryan

2012-01-01

The present study examined whether explicit training of letter-clusters leads to more gains in word-reading speed than training of the separate letters of the same clusters. Ninety-nine poor reading second-grade children were randomly assigned to a cluster-training, a parallel letter-training, or a no-training condition. The cluster-training…

The New Scarlet Letter: Student Perceptions of the Accounting Profession after Enron

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, Mimi; Kreuze, Jerry; Langsam, Sheldon

2004-01-01

Recent scandals have tarnished the integrity of the accounting profession, marking it with a modern version of the scarlet letter "A," which represented disgrace in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." In this study, the authors surveyed college business students on their perceptions of the accounting profession and examined how it can…

Should intellectual property be disseminated by "forwarding" rejected letters without permission?

OpenAIRE

Gupta, V K

1996-01-01

Substantive scientific letter writing is a cost-effective mode of complementing observational and experimental research. The value of such philosophically uncommitted and unsponsored well-balanced scientific activity has been relegated. Critical letter writing entails the abilities to: maintain rational scepticism; refuse to conform in order to explain data; persist in keeping common sense centre-stage; exercise logic to evaluate the biological significance of mathematical figures, including ...

Multiscale global identification of porous structures

Science.gov (United States)

Hatłas, Marcin; Beluch, Witold

2018-01-01

The paper is devoted to the evolutionary identification of the material constants of porous structures based on measurements conducted on a macro scale. Numerical homogenization with the RVE concept is used to determine the equivalent properties of a macroscopically homogeneous material. Finite element method software is applied to solve the boundary-value problem in both scales. Global optimization methods in form of evolutionary algorithm are employed to solve the identification task. Modal analysis is performed to collect the data necessary for the identification. A numerical example presenting the effectiveness of proposed attitude is attached.

Site locality identification study: Hanford Site. Volume II. Data cataloging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-07-01

Data compilation and cataloging for the candidate site locality identification study were conducted in order to provide a retrievable data cataloging system for the present siting study and future site evaluation and licensng processes. This task occurred concurrently with and also independently of other tasks of the candidate site locality identification study. Work in this task provided the data utilized primarily in the development and application of screening and ranking processes to identify candidate site localities on the Hanford Site. The overall approach included two steps: (1) data acquisition and screening; and (2) data compilation and cataloging. Data acquisition and screening formed the basis for preliminary review of data sources with respect to their probable utilization in the candidate site locality identification study and review with respect to the level of completeness and detail of the data. The important working assumption was that the data to be used in the study be based on existing and available published and unpublished literature. The data compilation and cataloging provided the basic product of the Task; a retrievable data cataloging system in the form of an annotated reference list and key word index and an index of compiled data. The annotated reference list and key word index are cross referenced and can be used to trace and retrieve the data sources utilized in the candidate site locality identification study

Lexical semantic access and letter access are involved in different aspects of reading

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Mads

). In this subset sample, both letter access and lexical access accounted for unique variance in reading fluency. The pattern of effects for lexical access did not change by controlling for serial rapid naming (RAN). Conclusions: The results suggest that letter access and lexical access are important for different......Purpose: This study investigated the effects of lexical access speed and letter access speed on reading fluency and reading comprehension. We hypothesized that 1) letter access speed would correlate with reading fluency but not comprehension, while 2) lexical access speed would influence reading...... comprehension. For readers who are struggling with recoding, most of the reading effort is probably tied up with recoding, leaving little to be explained by lexical access. Therefore we expected that 3) lexical access speed would primarily predict reading fluency for readers who were no longer struggling...

The effect of fMRI task combinations on determining the hemispheric dominance of language functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niskanen, Eini; Koenoenen, Mervi; Villberg, Ville; Aeikiae, Marja; Nissi, Mikko; Ranta-aho, Perttu; Karjalainen, Pasi; Saeisaenen, Laura; Mervaala, Esa; Kaelviaeinen, Reetta; Vanninen, Ritva

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to establish the most suitable combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language tasks for clinical use in determining language dominance and to define the variability in laterality index (LI) and activation power between different combinations of language tasks. Activation patterns of different fMRI analyses of five language tasks (word generation, responsive naming, letter task, sentence comprehension, and word pair) were defined for 20 healthy volunteers (16 right-handed). LIs and sums of T values were calculated for each task separately and for four combinations of tasks in predefined regions of interest. Variability in terms of activation power and lateralization was defined in each analysis. In addition, the visual assessment of lateralization of language functions based on the individual fMRI activation maps was conducted by an experienced neuroradiologist. A combination analysis of word generation, responsive naming, and sentence comprehension was the most suitable in terms of activation power, robustness to detect essential language areas, and scanning time. In general, combination analyses of the tasks provided higher overall activation levels than single tasks and reduced the number of outlier voxels disturbing the calculation of LI. A combination of auditory and visually presented tasks that activate different aspects of language functions with sufficient activation power may be a useful task battery for determining language dominance in patients. (orig.)

The effect of fMRI task combinations on determining the hemispheric dominance of language functions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Niskanen, Eini [University of Eastern Finland, Department of Applied Physics, Kuopio (Finland); Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland); Koenoenen, Mervi [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland); Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio (Finland); Villberg, Ville; Aeikiae, Marja [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Neurology, Kuopio (Finland); Nissi, Mikko; Ranta-aho, Perttu; Karjalainen, Pasi [University of Eastern Finland, Department of Applied Physics, Kuopio (Finland); Saeisaenen, Laura; Mervaala, Esa [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio (Finland); University of Eastern Finland, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio (Finland); Kaelviaeinen, Reetta [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Neurology, Kuopio (Finland); University of Eastern Finland, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Neurology, Kuopio (Finland); Vanninen, Ritva [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland); University of Eastern Finland, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland)

2012-04-15

The purpose of this study is to establish the most suitable combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language tasks for clinical use in determining language dominance and to define the variability in laterality index (LI) and activation power between different combinations of language tasks. Activation patterns of different fMRI analyses of five language tasks (word generation, responsive naming, letter task, sentence comprehension, and word pair) were defined for 20 healthy volunteers (16 right-handed). LIs and sums of T values were calculated for each task separately and for four combinations of tasks in predefined regions of interest. Variability in terms of activation power and lateralization was defined in each analysis. In addition, the visual assessment of lateralization of language functions based on the individual fMRI activation maps was conducted by an experienced neuroradiologist. A combination analysis of word generation, responsive naming, and sentence comprehension was the most suitable in terms of activation power, robustness to detect essential language areas, and scanning time. In general, combination analyses of the tasks provided higher overall activation levels than single tasks and reduced the number of outlier voxels disturbing the calculation of LI. A combination of auditory and visually presented tasks that activate different aspects of language functions with sufficient activation power may be a useful task battery for determining language dominance in patients. (orig.)

The effect of fMRI task combinations on determining the hemispheric dominance of language functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Niskanen, Eini; Könönen, Mervi; Villberg, Ville; Nissi, Mikko; Ranta-Aho, Perttu; Säisänen, Laura; Karjalainen, Pasi; Aikiä, Marja; Kälviäinen, Reetta; Mervaala, Esa; Vanninen, Ritva

2012-04-01

The purpose of this study is to establish the most suitable combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language tasks for clinical use in determining language dominance and to define the variability in laterality index (LI) and activation power between different combinations of language tasks. Activation patterns of different fMRI analyses of five language tasks (word generation, responsive naming, letter task, sentence comprehension, and word pair) were defined for 20 healthy volunteers (16 right-handed). LIs and sums of T values were calculated for each task separately and for four combinations of tasks in predefined regions of interest. Variability in terms of activation power and lateralization was defined in each analysis. In addition, the visual assessment of lateralization of language functions based on the individual fMRI activation maps was conducted by an experienced neuroradiologist. A combination analysis of word generation, responsive naming, and sentence comprehension was the most suitable in terms of activation power, robustness to detect essential language areas, and scanning time. In general, combination analyses of the tasks provided higher overall activation levels than single tasks and reduced the number of outlier voxels disturbing the calculation of LI. A combination of auditory and visually presented tasks that activate different aspects of language functions with sufficient activation power may be a useful task battery for determining language dominance in patients.

"Physical Review Letters" in the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Angiolillo, Paul J.; Lynch, Jonathan

2010-01-01

Ask any physicist what the preeminent journal in the field is, and I think the almost unanimous answer will be "Physical Review Letters" ("PRL"). This weekly journal of the American Physical Society publishes high-impact research from all the major subdisciplines of physics. This journal is not the one you would think is the first place a high…

Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Tuck, Eve

2009-01-01

In this open letter, Eve Tuck calls on communities, researchers, and educators to reconsider the long-term impact of "damage-centered" research--research that intends to document peoples' pain and brokenness to hold those in power accountable for their oppression. This kind of research operates with a flawed theory of change: it is often used to…

Language Arts/Arts: Adopt-a-Letter

Science.gov (United States)

Soloway, Rhoda K.

1978-01-01

Describes a five-week project in which elementary students chose a favorite letter as the main character of a 25- to 30-page book for practice in language skills. The book each child made was composed of more than 20 learning activities that stimulated students to review and practice skills, parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms and alliteration as…

An Analysis of English Business Letters from the Perspective of Interpersonal Function

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Bo

2012-01-01

The purpose of the present study is to find out the features of English business letters. Halliday's systemic functional linguistics is used as the theoretical framework, mainly, interpersonal fucntion. The English business letter (EBL) is an important written text used for international business communication and it has its own features of text.…

Topology identification of the complex networks with non-delayed and delayed coupling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Wanli; Chen Shihua; Sun Wen

2009-01-01

In practical situation, there exists many uncertain information in complex networks, such as the topological structures. So the topology identification is an important issue in the research of the complex networks. Based on LaSalle's invariance principle, in this Letter, an adaptive controlling method is proposed to identify the topology of a weighted general complex network model with non-delayed and delayed coupling. Finally, simulation results show that the method is effective.

medication history documentation in referral letters of children

African Journals Online (AJOL)

CHILDREN PRESENTING AT THE EMERGENCY UNIT OF A TEACHING. HOSPITAL IN LAGOS ... infrequently reported in referral letters to a tertiary care hospital in Lagos,. Nigeria. .... researcher, a pharmacist and clinical pharmacologist.

The Presentation of Self in Letters of Application: A Mixed-Method Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Soroko, Emilia

2012-01-01

The application letter, as the first phase of employment-seeking, is an opportunity for a job applicant to make a favorable impression on a potential employer. In the current study, the author used a mixed-method approach to empirically explore strategies for self-presentation in job application letters and determine the methods used in the…

HWVP NCAW melter feed rheology FY 1993 testing and analyses: Letter report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, P.A.

1996-03-01

The Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant (HWVP) program has been established to immobilize selected Hanford nuclear wastes before shipment to a geologic repository. The HWVP program is directed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) provides waste processing and vitrification technology to assist the design effort. The focus of this letter report is melter feed rheology, Process/Product Development, which is part of the Task in the PNL HWVP Technology Development (PHTD) Project. Specifically, the melter feed must be transported to the liquid fed ceramic melter (LFCM) to ensure HWVP operability and the manufacture of an immobilized waste form. The objective of the PHTD Project slurry flow technology development is to understand and correlate dilute and concentrated waste, formatted waste, waste with recycle addition, and melter feed transport properties. The objectives of the work described in this document were to examine frit effects and several processing conditions on melter feed rheology. The investigated conditions included boiling time, pH, noble metal containing melter feed, solids loading, and aging time. The results of these experiments contribute to the understanding of melter feed rheology. This document is organized in eight sections. This section provides the introductory remarks, followed by Section 2.0 that contains conclusions and recommendations. Section 3.0 reviews the scientific principles, and Section 4.0 details the experimental methods. The results and discussion and the review of related rheology data are in Sections 5.0 and 6.0, respectively. Section 7.0, an analysis of NCAW melter feed rheology data, provides an overall review of melter feed with FY 91 frit. References are included in Section 8.0. This letter report satisfies contractor milestone PHTD C93-03.02E, as described in the FY 1993 Pacific Northwest Hanford Laboratory Waste Plant Technology Development (PHTD) Project Work Plan

12 CFR 614.4720 - Letters of credit.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM LOAN POLICIES AND OPERATIONS Banks for Cooperatives and Agricultural Credit Banks Financing International Trade § 614.4720 Letters of credit. Banks for cooperatives and agricultural credit banks, under policies adopted by their boards of directors...

DOE Defense Program (DP) safety programs. Final report, Task 003

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

The overall objective of the work on Task 003 of Subcontract 9-X52-W7423-1 was to provide LANL with support to the DOE Defense Program (DP) Safety Programs. The effort included the identification of appropriate safety requirements, the refinement of a DP-specific Safety Analysis Report (SAR) Format and Content Guide (FCG) and Comprehensive Review Plan (CRP), incorporation of graded approach instructions into the guidance, and the development of a safety analysis methodologies document. All tasks which were assigned under this Task Order were completed. Descriptions of the objectives of each task and effort performed to complete each objective is provided here

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains eight separate records on the role of the complanar emission of particles in nuclear interaction for E 0 >10 16 eV detected in the stratosphere, 10 B nucleus fragment yields, nuclear teleportation (proposal for an experiment), invisible 'glue' bosons in model field theory, calculation of the ionization differential effective cross sections in fast ion-atom collisions, interactions of ultracold neutrons near surface of solids, g factors as a probe for high-spin structure of neutron-rich Dy isotopes, search for periodicities in experimental data by the autoregressive model methods

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains eight separate records on quantum field theory and symmetries in nuclear physics, multifractal analysis of AFM images of Nb thin film surfaces, the fast-acting memory for multichannel converters of time to digital, an analysis of the anomalous Cherenkov radiation obtained in the relativistic lead ion beam at CERN SPS, the problem of consistency of the thermal-spike model with experimentally determined electron temperature, ATLAS calorimeter performance for charged pion as well as on collective flow in multifragmentation induced by relativistic helium and carbon ions variation of the coulomb repulsion in multifragmentation

The "One-Letter-War"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gammeltoft, Peder

2017-01-01

The resolve of the naming dispute between Denmark, Norway and Sweden over the sea name Skagerrak has always been hailed as a prime example of how a naming dispute between countries over joint geographical name features should be handled and solved. This is a search into the story behind the scenes...... by the national mapping agencies. Practical Implications: Useful for institutions seeking name dispute resolution. Building on the extensive correspondence of almost fifty letters in the Danish Place-Name Commission’s journal archive, this naming dispute is shown to be of a rather different nature and resolve...

Experiment design for pilot identification in compensatory tracking tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, W. R.

1976-01-01

A design criterion for input functions in laboratory tracking tasks resulting in efficient parameter estimation is formulated. The criterion is that the statistical correlations between pairs of parameters be reduced in order to minimize the problem of nonuniqueness in the extraction process. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated for a lower order dynamic system.

75 FR 75453 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Technical Data Letter of Explanation

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-03

... Request; Technical Data Letter of Explanation AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and Security. ACTION: Notice....gov . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Abstract These technical data letters of explanation will assure the Bureau of Industry and Security that U.S.-origin technical data will be exported only for...

Blindness and the age of enlightenment: Diderot's letter on the blind.

Science.gov (United States)

Margo, Curtis E; Harman, Lynn E; Smith, Don B

2013-01-01

Several months after anonymously publishing an essay in 1749 with the title "Letter on the Blind for the Use of Those Who Can See," the chief editor of the French Encyclopédie was arrested and taken to the prison fortress of Vincennes just east of Paris, France. The correctly assumed author, Denis Diderot, was 35 years old and had not yet left his imprint on the Age of Enlightenment. His letter, which recounted the life of Nicolas Saunderson, a blind mathematician, was intended to advance secular empiricism and disparage the religiously tinged rationalism put forward by Rene Descartes. The letter's discussion of sensory perception in men born blind dismissed the supposed primacy of visual imagery in abstract thinking. The essay did little to resolve any philosophical controversy, but it marked a turning point in Western attitudes toward visual disability.

Degree of handedness and priming: Further evidence for a distinction between production and identification priming mechanisms.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donna J. LaVoie

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The distinction between implicit and explicit forms of memory retrieval is long-standing, and important to the extent it reveals how different neural architecture supports different aspects of memory function. Similarly, distinctions have been made between kinds of repetition priming, a form of implicit memory retrieval. This study focuses on the production-identification priming distinction, which delineates priming tasks involving verification of stimulus features as compared to priming tasks that require use of a cue to guide response retrieval. Studies investigating this dissociation in dementia or similar patient populations indicate that these forms of priming may differ in their neural bases. The current study looks at degree of handedness as a way of investigating inferred neural architecture supporting these two forms of priming. A growing body of research indicates that degree of handedness (consistent, or CH, versus inconsistent, or ICH is associated with greater interhemispheric interaction and functional access to right hemisphere processing in ICH, with superior performance seen in ICH on memory tasks reliant on this processing. Arguments about the theoretical mechanisms underlying identification and production forms of perceptual priming tasks suggest that performance on these tasks will differ as a function of degree of handedness. We tested this question in a group of CH and ICH young adults, who were asked to study lists of words prior to performing a production priming task (word stem completion, a perceptual word identification task, and a word stem cued recall task. While both handedness groups exhibited reliable priming across tasks, word stem completion priming was greater in ICH than CH participants, with identification priming not differing between groups. This dissociation supports the argument that production and identification forms of priming have different underlying neural bases.

African Journals Online: Browse Alphabetically -- letter D

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dar Es Salaam Medical Students' Journal. The journal publishes original research, case report/case series, letter to the editor, reviews of health related issues in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, public and allied health sciences. Furthermore the DMSJ endeavours to disseminate research findings mainly of medical ...

50 CFR 216.218 - Letters of Authorization.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Explosive Severance Activities Conducted During Offshore Structure Removal Operations on the Outer Continental Shelf in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico § 216.218 Letters of...

15 CFR 700.63 - Letters of Understanding.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Letters of Understanding. 700.63 Section 700.63 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL SECURITY INDUSTRIAL BASE REGULATIONS...

Una lettera a Sylos Labini. (A letter to Sylos Labini

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Franco Modigliani

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The letter, dated 14 September 1956, starts a decade long correspondence between Franco Modigliani and Paolo Sylos Labini. Here Modigliani discusses at length a first draft of Sylos Labini’s book on oligopoly theory. Differently from Modigliani’s well known 1958 review of the book, Modigliani focuses here not mainly on the structure of oligopoly industries, but especially on the macroeconomic implications of Sylos Labini’s model. The letter is reproduced with Sylos Labini’s annotated comments on Modigliani’s remarks. JEL codes: B31, D43, E13

Teaching braille letters, numerals, punctuation, and contractions to sighted individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Putnam, Brittany C; Tiger, Jeffrey H

2015-01-01

Braille-character recognition is one of the foundational skills required for teachers of braille. Prior research has evaluated computer programming for teaching braille-to-print letter relations (e.g., Scheithauer & Tiger, 2012). In the current study, we developed a program (the Visual Braille Trainer) to teach not only letters but also numerals, punctuation, symbols, and contractions; we evaluated this program with 4 sighted undergraduate participants. Exposure to this program resulted in mastery of all braille-to-print relations for each participant. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

A letter signed: the very beginnings of Dalton's atomic theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Pratt, Herbert T

2010-11-01

This paper explores the provenance and content of a previously unknown personal letter by John Dalton (1766-1844), which is dated 12 April 1803. It relates to a startling breakthrough in Dalton's research, which pre-dates by five months the earliest date in his laboratory notebook, namely, 6 September 1803. The author acquired the letter about thirty years ago, and now offers it to the public. He makes no attempt to explain how it contributes to--or even changes--our understanding of Dalton, but leaves that privilege to Dalton scholars.

Strategies identification in an experimental reading comprehension task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stanković Sanda

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Standardized reading comprehension tests (RCTs usually consist of a small number of texts each accompanied by several multiple-choice questions, with texts and questions simultaneously presented. The score the common measure of reading comprehension ability in RCTs is the score. Literature review suggests that strategies subjects employ may influence their performance on RCT, however the score itself provides no information on the specific strategy employed. Knowledge of test-taking strategies could have impact on understanding of the actual purpose and benefits of using RCTs in pedagogical and psychological practice. With the ultimate objective of constructing a first standard RCT in Serbian language, the preliminary step we took was to conduct an experimental reading comprehension task (ERCT consisting of 27 short texts displayed in succession, each followed by a single multiplechoice question. Using qualitative analysis of subjects’ responses in semi-structured postexperimental interview, we identified four overall strategies used on ERCT. Our results show that groups of students who used specific strategies differed significantly from one another in text reading time, with no differences found regarding the question reading and answering time. More importantly, there were no significant between-group differences found in terms of ERCT score. These findings suggest that choice of strategy is a way to optimize the relation between one’s own potential and ERCT task requirements. RCT based on ERCT principles would allow for a flexible choice of strategy which would not influence the final score.

Letter of Polish Hetman Jan Zamoyski “About Passage of Tatars through Pokuttya in 1594”.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roman Hautala

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The present article contains the text of the letter sent by Polish hetman Jan Zamoyski to Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini August 12, 1594 describing the circumstances of the recent invasion of Tatar troops in Hungary. Judging by contents of the letter, Zamoyski did not hide his desire to be justified in the eyes of the Roman Curia for the ineffectiveness of his actions, which would have to prevent Tatars to invade Hungary through Ukrainian territory that was subordinated to Rzeczpospolita. Thus, this letter is interesting for two reasons. In the first place, Zamoyski’s letter contains detailed information about movement of Tartar troops to the west and stratagemme of khan Ghazi Giray, which allowed Tatars to lull Polish hetman and painlessly penetrate into Hungarian territory. On the other hand, the letter contains somewhat clumsy attempts of Zamoyski to justify his unsuccessful actions, which represent a particular interest. This article, therefore, contains the Latin text of the letter and its Russian translation as well as the preface and necessary comments to the text explaining the reasons and the very course of Tatar invasion of the Kingdom of Hungary. In addition, the authors placed facsimiles of two handwritten copies of the letter from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan at the end of the article.

39 CFR 320.4 - Suspension for certain letters of college and university organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... universities to carry in their internal mail systems the letters of their bona fide student or faculty... university. Colleges and universities choosing to provide their student or faculty organizations access to their internal mail systems are responsible for assuring that only letters of bona fide student or...

High-Throughput Block Optical DNA Sequence Identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Sagar, Dodderi Manjunatha; Korshoj, Lee Erik; Hanson, Katrina Bethany; Chowdhury, Partha Pratim; Otoupal, Peter Britton; Chatterjee, Anushree; Nagpal, Prashant

2018-01-01

Optical techniques for molecular diagnostics or DNA sequencing generally rely on small molecule fluorescent labels, which utilize light with a wavelength of several hundred nanometers for detection. Developing a label-free optical DNA sequencing technique will require nanoscale focusing of light, a high-throughput and multiplexed identification method, and a data compression technique to rapidly identify sequences and analyze genomic heterogeneity for big datasets. Such a method should identify characteristic molecular vibrations using optical spectroscopy, especially in the "fingerprinting region" from ≈400-1400 cm -1 . Here, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy is used to demonstrate label-free identification of DNA nucleobases with multiplexed 3D plasmonic nanofocusing. While nanometer-scale mode volumes prevent identification of single nucleobases within a DNA sequence, the block optical technique can identify A, T, G, and C content in DNA k-mers. The content of each nucleotide in a DNA block can be a unique and high-throughput method for identifying sequences, genes, and other biomarkers as an alternative to single-letter sequencing. Additionally, coupling two complementary vibrational spectroscopy techniques (infrared and Raman) can improve block characterization. These results pave the way for developing a novel, high-throughput block optical sequencing method with lossy genomic data compression using k-mer identification from multiplexed optical data acquisition. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Upport vector machines for nonlinear kernel ARMA system identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Ramón, Manel; Rojo-Alvarez, José Luis; Camps-Valls, Gustavo; Muñioz-Marí, Jordi; Navia-Vázquez, Angel; Soria-Olivas, Emilio; Figueiras-Vidal, Aníbal R

2006-11-01

Nonlinear system identification based on support vector machines (SVM) has been usually addressed by means of the standard SVM regression (SVR), which can be seen as an implicit nonlinear autoregressive and moving average (ARMA) model in some reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). The proposal of this letter is twofold. First, the explicit consideration of an ARMA model in an RKHS (SVM-ARMA2K) is proposed. We show that stating the ARMA equations in an RKHS leads to solving the regularized normal equations in that RKHS, in terms of the autocorrelation and cross correlation of the (nonlinearly) transformed input and output discrete time processes. Second, a general class of SVM-based system identification nonlinear models is presented, based on the use of composite Mercer's kernels. This general class can improve model flexibility by emphasizing the input-output cross information (SVM-ARMA4K), which leads to straightforward and natural combinations of implicit and explicit ARMA models (SVR-ARMA2K and SVR-ARMA4K). Capabilities of these different SVM-based system identification schemes are illustrated with two benchmark problems.

Referral letter with an attached structured reply form: Is it a solution for not getting replies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. P. J. C. Ramanayake

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Communication between primary care doctors and specialists/hospital doctors is vital for smooth functioning of a health care system. In many instances referral and reply letters are the sole means of communication between general practitioners and hospital doctors/specialists. Despite the obvious benefits to patient care, answers to referral letters are the exception worldwide. In Sri Lanka hand written conventional letters are used to refer patients and replies are scarce. Materials and Methods: This interventional study was designed to assess if attaching a structured reply form with the referral letter would increase the rate of replies/back-referrals. It was conducted at the Family Medicine Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. A structured referral letter (form was designed based on guide lines and literature and it was used for referral of patients for a period of six months. Similarly a structured reply form was also designed and both the referral letter and the reply letter were printed on A4 papers side by side and these were used for the next six months for referrals. Both letters had headings and space underneath to write details pertaining to the patient. A register was maintained to document the number of referrals and replies received during both phases. Patents were asked to return the reply letters if specialists/hospital doctors obliged to reply. Results: Total of 90 patients were referred using the structured referral form during 1st phase. 80 letters (with reply form attached were issued during the next six months. Patients were referred to eight different specialties. Not a single reply during the 1 st phase and there were six 6 (7.5% replies during the 2 nd phase. Discussion: This was an attempt to improve communication between specialists/hospital doctors and primary care doctors. Even though there was some improvement it was not satisfactory. A multicenter island wide study should be

Brain activation patterns resulting from learning letter forms through active self-production and passive observation in young children

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Alyssa J Kersey

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Although previous literature suggests that writing practice facilitates neural specialization for letters, it is unclear if this facilitation is driven by the perceptual feedback from the act of writing or the actual execution of the motor act. The present study addresses this issue by measuring the change in BOLD signal in response to hand-printed letters, unlearned cursive letters, and cursive letters that 7 year-old children learned actively, by writing, and passively, by observing an experimenter write. Brain activation was assessed using fMRI while perceiving letters – in both cursive and manuscript forms. Results showed that active training led to increased recruitment of the sensori-motor network associated with letter perception as well as the insula and claustrum, but passive observation did not. This suggests that perceptual networks for newly learned cursive letters are driven by motor execution rather than by perceptual feedback.

A study to assess the quality of information in referral letters to the orthodontic department at Kingston Hospital, Surrey.

Science.gov (United States)

Izadi, Maryam; Gill, Daljit S; Naini, Farhad B

2010-04-01

To assess the quality of information included in referral letters sent to the orthodontic department at Kingston Hospital, Surrey, UK. Referral letters sent by both general dental practitioners (GDPs) and specialist orthodontists were analysed retrospectively in order to ascertain the percentage meeting the inclusion criteria as suggested by Mossey (2006) and the British Orthodontic Society (2008) for the quality of information included in an ideal orthodontic referral letter. Thirty-five consecutive letters sent between May and September 2005 and 206 letters sent in the same period in 2008 were collected by hand and analysed against the inclusion criteria. The numbers of referral letters received from GDPs, specialist orthodontists, and others sources were also determined. Most of the referrals sent in 2005 and 2008 included 40-50% of the referral inclusion points. This was despite an almost twofold increase in the number of referral letters received from specialist orthodontic practitioners in 2008. The majority of the letters, from both GDPs and specialists, did not include details of the oral hygiene or caries status of the patient, or an indication of their motivation towards treatment. None of the referral letters included a plaque score. The main weaknesses in the quality of information provided in referral letters were that in more than 80% of the letters there was no mention of the patient's medical history and no comment on caries status, the standard of oral hygiene, patient motivation for treatment, or an Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need score. The quality of information included in referral letters sent to Kingston Hospital orthodontic department needs to be improved.

Label-free identification of intestinal metaplasia in the stomach using multiphoton microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, G; Wei, J; Zheng, Z; Ye, J; Zeng, S

2014-01-01

The early diagnosis of intestinal metaplasia (IM) in the stomach together with effective therapeutic interventions is crucial to reducing the mortality-rates of the patients associated with gastric cancer. However, it is challenging during conventional white-light endoscopy, and histological analysis remains the ‘gold standard’ for the final diagnosis. Here, we describe a label-free imaging method, multiphoton microscopy (MPM), for the identification of IM in the stomach. It was found that multiphoton imaging provides cellular and subcellular details to the identification of IM from normal gastric tissues. In particular, there is significant difference in the population density of goblet cells between normal and IM gastric tissues, providing substantial potential to become a quantitative intrinsic marker for in vivo clinical diagnosis of early gastric lesions. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the potential of MPM for the identification of IM. (letters)

The effect of texture on face identification and configural information processing

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Tzschaschel Eva Alica

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Shape and texture are an integral part of face identity. In the present study, the importance of face texture for face identification and detection of configural manipulation (i.e., spatial relation among facial features was examined by comparing grayscale face photographs (i.e., real faces and line drawings of the same faces. Whereas real faces provide information about texture and shape of faces, line drawings are lacking texture cues. A change-detection task and a forced-choice identification task were used with both stimuli categories. Within the change detection task, participants had to decide whether the size of the eyes of two sequentially presented faces had changed or not. After having made this decision, three faces were shown to the subjects and they had to identify the previously shown face among them. Furthermore, context (full vs. cropped faces and orientation (upright vs. inverted were manipulated. The results obtained in the change detection task suggest that configural information was used in processing real faces, while part-based and featural information was used in processing line-drawings. Additionally, real faces were identified more accurately than line drawings, and identification was less context but more orientation sensitive than identification of line drawings. Taken together, the results of the present study provide new evidence stressing the importance of face texture for identity encoding and configural face processing.

Rene Descartes’ letter to abbot Mersenne. November, 20, 1629. Translation from English

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Goncharova Alina Alekseevna

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This letter is of value for lingua-philosophical and linguistic researches. Rene Descartes’ remarks about the first proposal for the universal language are expounded in it. Descartes was considered as a pioneer in linguistic constructions due to these remarks. This letter contains philosopher’s conclusions about the universal language’s grammar and use, as well as project’s implementation obstacles.

Consideration of the linguistic characteristics of letters makes the universal model of reading more universal.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kyungil; Lee, Chang H; Lee, Yoonhyoung

2012-10-01

We suggest that the linguistic characteristics of letters also need to be considered to fully understand how a reader processes printed words. For example, studies in Korean showed that unambiguity in the assignment of letters to their appropriate onset, vowel, or coda slot is one of the main sources of the letter-transposition effect. Indeed, the cognitive system that processes Korean is tuned to the structure of the Korean writing system.

Crossmodal deficit in dyslexic children: practice affects the neural timing of letter-speech sound integration

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Gojko eŽarić

2015-06-01

Full Text Available A failure to build solid letter-speech sound associations may contribute to reading impairments in developmental dyslexia. Whether this reduced neural integration of letters and speech sounds changes over time within individual children and how this relates to behavioral gains in reading skills remains unknown. In this research, we examined changes in event-related potential (ERP measures of letter-speech sound integration over a 6-month period during which 9-year-old dyslexic readers (n=17 followed a training in letter-speech sound coupling next to their regular reading curriculum. We presented the Dutch spoken vowels /a/ and /o/ as standard and deviant stimuli in one auditory and two audiovisual oddball conditions. In one audiovisual condition (AV0, the letter ‘a’ was presented simultaneously with the vowels, while in the other (AV200 it was preceding vowel onset for 200 ms. Prior to the training (T1, dyslexic readers showed the expected pattern of typical auditory mismatch responses, together with the absence of letter-speech sound effects in a late negativity (LN window. After the training (T2, our results showed earlier (and enhanced crossmodal effects in the LN window. Most interestingly, earlier LN latency at T2 was significantly related to higher behavioral accuracy in letter-speech sound coupling. On a more general level, the timing of the earlier mismatch negativity (MMN in the simultaneous condition (AV0 measured at T1, significantly related to reading fluency at both T1 and T2 as well as with reading gains. Our findings suggest that the reduced neural integration of letters and speech sounds in dyslexic children may show moderate improvement with reading instruction and training and that behavioral improvements relate especially to individual differences in the timing of this neural integration.

New social tasks for cognitive psychology; or, new cognitive tasks for social psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Wettersten, John

2014-01-01

To elucidate how differing theories of rationality lead to differing practices, their social rules must be analyzed. This is true not merely in science but also in society at large. This analysis of social thinking requires both the identification of innate cognitive social psychological processes and explanations of their relations with differing rules of rational practice. These new tasks can enable social psychologists to contribute to the study of how social situations facilitate or inhibit rational practice and enable cognitive psychologists to improve social psychological theory. In contrast to dominant current research strategies, social and cognitive psychologists can integrate social studies of rational practices and their consequences with studies of underlying cognitive psychological processes. In this article I do not attempt to carry out these tasks but rather point to both their lack of recognition and their importance.

48 CFR 49.601-2 - Letter notice.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Letter notice. 49.601-2 Section 49.601-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION CONTRACT MANAGEMENT... immediate complete spoilage of work-in-process having a definite commercial value, or (D) to prevent any...

An Invitation to between-Session Change: The Use of Therapeutic Letters in Couples and Family Counseling

Science.gov (United States)

Kindsvatter, Aaron; Nelson, Jill R.; Desmond, Kimberly J.

2009-01-01

Therapeutic letters (i.e., brief therapeutic messages that are sent to clients between counseling sessions) have been used since the days of Freud and have been shown to have beneficial therapeutic impacts. This article describes the use of therapeutic letters in couples and family counseling. The use of three types of therapeutic letter (letters…

BioCreAtIvE Task1A: entity identification with a stochastic tagger

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Kinoshita Shuhei

2005-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Our approach to Task 1A was inspired by Tanabe and Wilbur's ABGene system 12. Like Tanabe and Wilbur, we approached the problem as one of part-of-speech tagging, adding a GENE tag to the standard tag set. Where their system uses the Brill tagger, we used TnT, the Trigrams 'n' Tags HMM-based part-of-speech tagger 3. Based on careful error analysis, we implemented a set of post-processing rules to correct both false positives and false negatives. We participated in both the open and the closed divisions; for the open division, we made use of data from NCBI. Results Our base system without post-processing achieved a precision and recall of 68.0% and 77.2%, respectively, giving an F-measure of 72.3%. The full system with post-processing achieved a precision and recall of 80.3% and 80.5% giving an F-measure of 80.4%. We achieved a slight improvement (F-measure = 80.9% by employing a dictionary-based post-processing step for the open division. We placed third in both the open and the closed division. Conclusion Our results show that a part-of-speech tagger can be augmented with post-processing rules resulting in an entity identification system that competes well with other approaches.

Scientific Letter: Self-inflicted bilateral orchidectomy precipitated by ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Scientific Letter: Self-inflicted bilateral orchidectomy precipitated by erotic bizarre delusions: a case report. ... African Journal of Psychiatry. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home ...

14 CFR 21.617 - Issue of letters of TSO design approval: import appliances.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

...: import appliances. 21.617 Section 21.617 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION... Order Authorizations § 21.617 Issue of letters of TSO design approval: import appliances. (a) A letter of TSO design approval may be issued for an appliance that is manufactured in a foreign country with...

Resource Letter MP-2: The Manhattan project and related nuclear research

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, B. Cameron

2011-02-01

This Resource Letter is a supplement to my earlier Resource Letter MP-1 and provides further sources on the Manhattan Project and related nuclear research. Books and journal articles are cited for the following topics: General works, technical works, biographical and autobiographical works, foreign wartime programs and allied intelligence, technical papers of historical interest, and postwar policy and technical developments. I also give a list of videos and websites dealing with the Manhattan Project, nuclear weapons, and nuclear issues.

Is the Male Advantage in Mental-Rotation Performance Task Independent? On the Usability of Chronometric Tests and Paper-and-Pencil Tests in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Quaiser-Pohl, Claudia; Neuburger, Sarah; Heil, Martin; Jansen, Petra; Schmelter, Andrea

2014-01-01

This article presents a reanalysis of the data of 862 second and fourth graders collected in two previous studies, focusing on the influence of method (psychometric vs. chronometric) and stimulus type on the gender difference in mental-rotation accuracy. The children had to solve mental-rotation tasks with animal pictures, letters, or cube…

Valued Components of a Consultant Letter from Referring Physicians' Perspective: a Systematic Literature Synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rash, Arjun H; Sheldon, Robert; Donald, Maoliosa; Eronmwon, Cindy; Kuriachan, Vikas P

2018-03-05

Effective communication between the consultants and physicians form an integral foundation of effective and expert patient care. A broad review of the literature has not been undertaken to determine the components of a consultant's letter of most value to the referring physician. We aimed to identify the components of a consultant's letter preferred by referring physicians. We searched Embase and MEDLINE (OVID) Medicine (EBM) Reviews and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for English articles with no restriction on initial date to January 6, 2017. Articles containing letters from specialists to referring physicians regarding outpatient assessments with either an observational or experimental design were included. Studies were excluded if they pertained to communications from referring physicians to consultant specialists, or pertained to allied health professionals, inpatient documents, or opinion articles. We enumerated the frequencies with which three common themes were addressed, and the positive or negative nature of the comments. The three themes were the structure of consultant letters, their contents, and whether referring physicians and consultants shared a common opinion about the items. Eighteen articles were included in our synthesis. In 11 reports, 91% of respondents preferred structured formats. Other preferred structural features were problem lists and brevity (four reports each). The most preferred contents were oriented to insight: diagnosis, prognosis, and management plan (16/21 mentions in the top tertile). Data items such as history, physical examination, and medication lists were less important (1/23 mentions in the top tertile). Reports varied as to whether referring physicians and consultants shared common opinions about letter features. Referring physicians prefer brief, structured letters from consultants that feature diagnostic and prognostic opinions and management plans over unstructured letters that emphasize data elements such as

Hamlet and Japanese Men of Letters

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Kawachi Yoshiko

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Shakespeare has exerted a powerful influence on Japanese literature since he was accepted in the second half of the nineteenth century. Particularly Hamlet has had a strong impact on Japanese men of letters and provided them with the impetus to revive the play in contemporary literature. In this paper I discuss how they have utilized Hamlet for their creative activity and enriched Japanese literature.

An analysis of the application of AI to the development of intelligent aids for flight crew tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Baron, S.; Feehrer, C.

1985-01-01

This report presents the results of a study aimed at developing a basis for applying artificial intelligence to the flight deck environment of commercial transport aircraft. In particular, the study was comprised of four tasks: (1) analysis of flight crew tasks, (2) survey of the state-of-the-art of relevant artificial intelligence areas, (3) identification of human factors issues relevant to intelligent cockpit aids, and (4) identification of artificial intelligence areas requiring further research.

"Letter-Space": Typographic Translations of Urban Place

Science.gov (United States)

Naismith, Jacqueline; O'Sullivan, Annette

2011-01-01

This article discusses a Bachelor of Design honours year typography project in the medium of letterpress. The "Letter-space" project positioned letterpress as a textual, spatial and structural visual language, through which the experiences and meanings of a local urban place were translated, mapped and given form through typographic design. We…

Readerly and Writerly "Letters from the Park."

Science.gov (United States)

Conde, Susana

1993-01-01

Discusses in depth the film "Cartas del parque" ("Letters from the Park"), the first of six films in the "Amores Dificiles" series. Notes that the film is pervaded by the traditional overdetermination of gender roles. Suggests that an intrusive and authoritative narrator makes of this both a "readerly" and a…

Documentary Letters of Credit, Legal Nature and Sources of Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alavi Hamed

2016-06-01

Full Text Available There is no doubt about risky nature of international trade. Such risk can be conceptualized as country risk, transportation risk, customer risk and etc. Documentary Letters of Credit (LC are used as a method of payment in international business for many centuries in order to reduce risk of trade specially when parties are located in different countries and do not have precise information from financial standing of each other. In such occasion LC will reduce the risk of trade by shifting payment obligation from buyer as an individual to a payment guarantee of a bank as a legal entity in return for presentation of complying documents with terms of credit by seller. Familiarity with legal nature and different legal frameworks which govern the international operation of documentary letters of credit can facilitate the process of international trade for businessmen and boost national economies. However, lack of knowledge about them can impose huge losses on international traders. Situation will be more complicated when we understand that there are many internationally recognized legal frameworks which can affect the operation of LC and they get frequently updated in order to address technological and economic developments in global market. In this paper, author tries to answer questions regarding (i what are international legal frameworks governing operation of documentary letters of credit? (ii which areas of LC operation has been covered by them and (iii how do they address the legal questions regarding international operation of documentary letters of credit?

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains eight separate records on the interaction of high energy Λ 6 He hypernuclear beams with atomic nuclei, the position-sensitive detector of a high spatial resolution on the basis of a multiwire gas electron multiplier, pseudorapidity hadron density at the LHC energy, high precision laser control of the ATLAS tile-calorimeter module mass production at JINR, a new approach to ECG's features recognition involving neural network, subcriticity of a uranium target enriched in 235 U, beam space charge effects in high-current cyclotron injector CI-5, a homogeneous static gravitational field and the principle of equivalence

Letters from Augustin Hallerstein, an eighteenth century Jesuit astronomer in Beijing

Science.gov (United States)

Juznic, Stanislav

2008-11-01

Augustin Hallerstein (1703-1774) was the last astronomer sent to Beijing by the Society of Jesus. He left Europe for China in his mid-thirties, and continued to send letters back home until he died thirty-five years later. These letters and reports contained important information on Chinese astronomy, and were read in the courts of Europe; many were also published. Hallerstein was one of the most important European astronomers in Beijing, his European publications surpassing those of his predecessors.

Physics-based mathematical models for quantum devices via experimental system identification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schirmer, S G; Oi, D K L; Devitt, S J [Department of Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Rd, Cambridge, CB3 0WA (United Kingdom); SUPA, Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG (United Kingdom); National Institute of Informatics, 2-1-2 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8430 (Japan)], E-mail: sgs29@cam.ac.uk

2008-03-15

We consider the task of intrinsic control system identification for quantum devices. The problem of experimental determination of subspace confinement is considered, and simple general strategies for full Hamiltonian identification and decoherence characterization of a controlled two-level system are presented.

The Quasi-Business Letter: Passport to Foreign Culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Lalande, John F.

1979-01-01

Suggests having foreign language students write business letters to stimulate interest in developing writing skills. This project gives the students the opportunity of travelling abroad vicariously and to collect souvenirs while improving their communication skills in the foreign language. (CFM)

Subjective task complexity in the control room

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braarud, Per Oeivind

2000-05-01

Understanding of what makes a control room situation difficult to handle is important when studying operator performance, both with respect to prediction as well as improvement of the human performance. Previous exploratory work on complexity showed a potential for prediction and explanation of operator performance. This report investigates in further detail the theoretical background and the structure of operator rated task complexity. The report complements the previous work on complexity to make a basis for development of operator performance analysis tools. The first part of the report outlines an approach for studying the complexity of the control room crew's work. The approach draws upon man-machine research as well as problem solving research. The approach identifies five complexity-shaping components: 'task work characteristics', 'teamwork characteristics', 'individual skill', 'teamwork skill', and 'interface and support systems'. The crew's work complexity is related to concepts of human performance quality and human error. The second part of the report is a post-hoc exploratory analysis of four empirical HRP studies, where operators' conception of the complexity of control room work is assessed by questionnaires. The analysis deals with the structure of complexity questionnaire ratings, and the relationship between complexity ratings and human performance measures. The main findings from the analysis of structure was the identification of three task work factors which were named Masking, Information load and Temporal demand, and in addition the identification of one interface factor which was named Navigation. Post-hoc analysis suggests that operator's subjective complexity, which was assessed by questionnaires, is related to workload, task and system performance, and operator's self-rated performance. (Author). 28 refs., 47 tabs

Touch-screen task-element times for improving SAE recommended practice J2365 : a first proposal.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-10-01

This report describes the identification of task elements and the estimation of their times for in-vehicle tasks such as dialing a phone number or finding a song using a touch screen. These : elements were derived from an experiment in which 24 drive...

Letters of credit getting more expensive.

Science.gov (United States)

Nemes, J

1991-09-02

Hospital executives who haven't been in the market recently for a new or renewed letter of credit will find it a more expensive way to back their variable-rate debt. Annual fees are surging, for reasons ranging from an international banking agreement that goes into effect next year to more conservative fee structures being instituted because of bad loans made by some banks in the past decade.

Quantification of baseline pupillary response and task-evoked pupillary response during constant and incremental task load.

Science.gov (United States)

Mosaly, Prithima R; Mazur, Lukasz M; Marks, Lawrence B

2017-10-01

The methods employed to quantify the baseline pupil size and task-evoked pupillary response (TEPR) may affect the overall study results. To test this hypothesis, the objective of this study was to assess variability in baseline pupil size and TEPR during two basic working memory tasks: constant load of 3-letters memorisation-recall (10 trials), and incremental load memorisation-recall (two trials of each load level), using two commonly used methods (1) change from trail/load specific baseline, (2) change from constant baseline. Results indicated that there was a significant shift in baseline between the trails for constant load, and between the load levels for incremental load. The TEPR was independent of shifts in baseline using method 1 only for constant load, and method 2 only for higher levels of incremental load condition. These important findings suggest that the assessment of both the baseline and methods to quantify TEPR are critical in ergonomics application, especially in studies with small number of trials per subject per condition. Practitioner Summary: Quantification of TEPR can be affected by shifts in baseline pupil size that are most likely affected by non-cognitive factors when other external factors are kept constant. Therefore, quantification methods employed to compute both baseline and TEPR are critical in understanding the information processing of humans in practical ergonomics settings.

Adolescent Suidice--An Open Letter to Counselors.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, Jane

1988-01-01

A mother of a 16 year-old suicide victim writes to school counselors who let her down by not informing her of important changes in her son's activities, personality, and choice of friends at school. The letter also addresses two psychologists in a psychiatric hospital who suppressed information about the boy's suicidal intentions and his…

The anthrax letters: a medical detective story

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Cole, Leonard A

2003-01-01

.... Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cole, Leonard A., 1933The anthrax letters : a medical detective story / Leonard A. Cole. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-309-08881-X - ISBN 0-309-52584-5 (PDF) 1. Bioterrorism- United States. 2. Anthrax- United States. 3. Postal service- United States. 4. Victims of...

Effect of alcohol and divided attention task on simulated driving performance of young drivers

OpenAIRE

FREYDIER , Chloé; BERTHELON , Catherine; Bastien-Toniazzo , Mireille; GINEYT , Guy

2013-01-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate driving impairment linked to divided attention task and alcohol and determinate if it is higher for novice drivers compared to more experienced drivers. Sixteen novice drivers and sixteen experienced drivers participated in three experimental sessions corresponding to blood alcohol concentration [BAC] of 0.0 g/L, 0.2 g/L and 0.5 g/L. They performed a divided attention task [car-following task combined with a number parity identification task], and their re...

Letter report: Evaluation of dryer/calciner technologies for testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sevigny, G.

1996-02-01

This letter report describes some past experiences on the drying and calcination of radioactive materials or corresponding simulants; and the information needed from testing. The report also includes an assessment of informational needs including possible impacts to a full-scale plant. This includes reliability, maintenance, and overall size versus throughput. Much of the material was previously compiled and reported by Mike Elliott of PNL open-quotes Melter Performance Assessmentclose quotes and Larry Eisenstatt of SEG on contract to WHC in a letter to Rod Powell. Also, an annotated bibliography was prepared by Reagan Seymour of WHC. Descriptions of the drying and calciner technologies, development status, advantages and disadvantages of using a WFE or calciner, and recommendations for future testing are discussed in this report

I like Cities; Do You like Letters? Introducing Urban Typography in Art Education

Science.gov (United States)

Huerta, Ricard

2010-01-01

This article proposes a study of the letters and graphics found in the city, while at the same time opening up unusual spaces linked to the cultural arena and visual geographies for the creation of learning spaces in art education, introducing urban typography for training teachers. The letters in urban spaces can help us reinterpret the…

A 2004 unanswered letter to the Economist magazine requesting a retraction (and apology).

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Gilbert N

2012-01-01

This is a copy of (the bulk of) a letter I mailed on May 13, 2004 to Sir Robert P. Wilson, President, and three editors of the magazine, the Economist. With the letter, I also sent each recipient a copy of my latest book, "Life at the Cell and Below-Cell Level" as a gesture of good will.

Validation of the human odor span task: effects of nicotine.

Science.gov (United States)

MacQueen, David A; Drobes, David J

2017-10-01

Amongst non-smokers, nicotine generally enhances performance on tasks of attention, with limited effect on working memory. In contrast, nicotine has been shown to produce robust enhancements of working memory in non-humans. To address this gap, the present study investigated the effects of nicotine on the performance of non-smokers on a cognitive battery which included a working memory task reverse-translated from use with rodents (the odor span task, OST). Nicotine has been reported to enhance OST performance in rats and the present study assessed whether this effect generalizes to human performance. Thirty non-smokers were tested on three occasions after consuming either placebo, 2 mg, or 4 mg nicotine gum. On each occasion, participants completed a battery of clinical and experimental tasks of working memory and attention. Nicotine was associated with dose-dependent enhancements in sustained attention, as evidenced by increased hit accuracy on the rapid visual information processing (RVIP) task. However, nicotine failed to produce main effects on OST performance or on alternative measures of working memory (digit span, spatial span, letter-number sequencing, 2-back) or attention (digits forward, 0-back). Interestingly, enhancement of RVIP performance occurred concomitant to significant reductions in self-reported attention/concentration. Human OST performance was significantly related to N-back performance, and as in rodents, OST accuracy declined with increasing memory load. Given the similarity of human and rodent OST performance under baseline conditions and the strong association between OST and visual 0-back accuracy, the OST may be particular useful in the study of conditions characterized by inattention.

Cognitive task load in a naval ship control centre : from identification to prediction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grootjen, M.; Neerincx, M.A.; Grootjen, M.; Veltman, J.

2006-01-01

Deployment of information and communication technology will lead to further automation of control centre tasks and an increasing amount of information to be processed. A method for establishing adequate levels of cognitive task load for the operators in such complex environments has been developed.

Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erich S Tusch

Full Text Available The inhibitory deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging posits that older adults' inability to adequately suppress processing of irrelevant information is a major source of cognitive decline. Prior research has demonstrated that in response to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli there is an age-associated increase in the amplitude of the N1 wave, an ERP marker of early perceptual processing. Here, we tested predictions derived from the inhibitory deficit hypothesis that the age-related increase in N1 would be 1 observed under an auditory-ignore, but not auditory-attend condition, 2 attenuated in individuals with high executive capacity (EC, and 3 augmented by increasing cognitive load of the primary visual task. ERPs were measured in 114 well-matched young, middle-aged, young-old, and old-old adults, designated as having high or average EC based on neuropsychological testing. Under the auditory-ignore (visual-attend task, participants ignored auditory stimuli and responded to rare target letters under low and high load. Under the auditory-attend task, participants ignored visual stimuli and responded to rare target tones. Results confirmed an age-associated increase in N1 amplitude to auditory stimuli under the auditory-ignore but not auditory-attend task. Contrary to predictions, EC did not modulate the N1 response. The load effect was the opposite of expectation: the N1 to task-irrelevant auditory events was smaller under high load. Finally, older adults did not simply fail to suppress the N1 to auditory stimuli in the task-irrelevant modality; they generated a larger response than to identical stimuli in the task-relevant modality. In summary, several of the study's findings do not fit the inhibitory-deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging, which may need to be refined or supplemented by alternative accounts.

THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

African Journals Online (AJOL)

attention. In fact, I am aware of only two studies that focus on Galatians in .... does not explicitly use the term “coming age” here or elsewhere in his letters, .... framework according to which history is divided into the period before and the.

To Domingos: letters, friends, literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laíse Ribas Bastos

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The object for studying and analysis in this work is a set of letters received by Domingos Carvalho da Silva, which points to the constitution of a scene consisted of friendship and dissidences around a common literary and intellectual perspective. The objective of this work is to map the heterogeneity of the group as well as the problematic project involving the literary production in that moment, in order to find, thus, the means and ways of permanence of literature as it was configured between the 1940s and the 1960s.

Letter report: Cold crucible melter assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elliott, M.L.

1996-03-01

One of the activities of the PNL Vitrification Technology Development (PVTD) Project is to assist the Tank Waste Remediation Systems (TWRS) Program in determining which melter systems should be performance tested for potential implementation in the high-level waste (HLW) vitrification plant. The Richland Operations Office (RL) has recommended that the Cold Crucible Melter (CCM) be evaluated as a candidate ''next generation'' melter. As a result, the CCM System Evaluation cost account was established under the PVTD Project so that the CCM could be initially assessed on a high-priority basis. This letter report summarizes a brief initial review and assessment of the CCM. Using the recommendations made in this document, Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) and RL will make a decision regarding the urgency of performance testing the CCM. If the decision is favorable, a subcontract will be negotiated for performance testing of a CCM using Hanford HLW simulants in a pilot-scale facility. Because of the aggressive nature of the schedule, the CCM evaluation was not rigorous. The evaluation consisted of a literature review and interviews with proponents of the technology during a recent trip to France. This letter report summarizes the evaluation and makes recommendations regarding further work in this area

Resource letter SH-1: superfluid helium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hallock, R.B.

1982-01-01

The resource letter covers the general subject of superfluid helium and treats 3 He and 3 He-- 4 He mixtures as well as 4 He. No effort has been made to include the fascinating experiments on either solid helium or the equally fascinating work on adsorbed helium where the helium coverage is below that necessary for superfluidity. An earlier resource letter by C. T. Lane [Am. J. Phys. 35, 367 (1967)] may be consulted for additional comments on some of the cited earlier manuscripts, but the present work is self-contained and may be used independently. Many high-quality research reports have not been cited here. Rather, the author has tried in most cases to include works particularly readable or relevant. There is a relatively heavy emphasis on experimental references. The primary reason is that these works tend to be more generally readable. No doubt some works that might have been included, have not, and for this the author takes responsibility with apology. Articles selected for incorporation in a reprint volume (to be published separately by the American Association of Physics Teachers) are marked with an asterisk(*). Following each referenced work the general level of difficulty is indicated by E, I, or A for elementary, intermediate, or advanced

Memory systems, processes, and tasks: taxonomic clarification via factor analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruss, Peter J; Mitchell, David B

2009-01-01

The nature of various memory systems was examined using factor analysis. We reanalyzed data from 11 memory tasks previously reported in Mitchell and Bruss (2003). Four well-defined factors emerged, closely resembling episodic and semantic memory and conceptual and perceptual implicit memory, in line with both memory systems and transfer-appropriate processing accounts. To explore taxonomic issues, we ran separate analyses on the implicit tasks. Using a cross-format manipulation (pictures vs. words), we identified 3 prototypical tasks. Word fragment completion and picture fragment identification tasks were "factor pure," tapping perceptual processes uniquely. Category exemplar generation revealed its conceptual nature, yielding both cross-format priming and a picture superiority effect. In contrast, word stem completion and picture naming were more complex, revealing attributes of both processes.

Building gold standard corpora for medical natural language processing tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Deleger, Louise; Li, Qi; Lingren, Todd; Kaiser, Megan; Molnar, Katalin; Stoutenborough, Laura; Kouril, Michal; Marsolo, Keith; Solti, Imre

2012-01-01

We present the construction of three annotated corpora to serve as gold standards for medical natural language processing (NLP) tasks. Clinical notes from the medical record, clinical trial announcements, and FDA drug labels are annotated. We report high inter-annotator agreements (overall F-measures between 0.8467 and 0.9176) for the annotation of Personal Health Information (PHI) elements for a de-identification task and of medications, diseases/disorders, and signs/symptoms for information extraction (IE) task. The annotated corpora of clinical trials and FDA labels will be publicly released and to facilitate translational NLP tasks that require cross-corpora interoperability (e.g. clinical trial eligibility screening) their annotation schemas are aligned with a large scale, NIH-funded clinical text annotation project.

Letter to Congressional Leaders on Top Defense Management Challenges

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2000-01-01

... Budget Committee and you on Department of Defense (DoD) management challenges. The joint letter requested that we update our previous assessments of the most significant management problems facing the DoD...

International Large Detector. Letter of intent

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stoeck, Holger [Sydney Univ., NSW (Australia). Falkiner High Energy Physics Group; Bergauer, Thomas; Dragicevic, Marko [Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna (AT). Inst. fuer Hochenergiephysik] (and others)

2010-07-01

In the summer of 2007, the GLD concept study group, whose membership was largely based in Asia, and the LDC concept study group, which was mostly based in Europe with a strong north american membership, joined forces to produce a single Letter of Intent for a detector at the International Linear Collider, and formed the ILD concept group. Both the GLD and LDC concepts used the particle flow algorithm for jet reconstruction and a TPC for the central tracker. The basic parameters of the two concepts such as the size of the detector and the strength of the solenoid field, however, were quite different and had to be unified in order to write this letter of intent for ILD. Also, other critical details such as the interaction region design had to be unified. This was a non-trivial task, neither politically nor sociologically. The newly-formed concept study group, the ILD group, created a management team and engaged in intense studies to define the ILD detector concept by scientifically optimising the detector designs. The process has worked remarkably well, and we present here the outcome of this study as well as the large amount of studies that preceded separately by the two older concept groups. The ILD detector concept is now well defined, even though some technology choices are still open. One of the merits of unifying the detector concepts was that it revitalised the studies on physics performance and detector designs. We believe that the level of sophistication of the simulation and physics analyses has reached a high degree of sophistication for a detector group at this stage. This was achieved through collaboration and competition, and is the result of a productive learning process. The unification had also positive effects on the subdetector R and D efforts. Most R and D on detector technologies relevant to the GLD and LDC groups is being performed within the framework of detector R and D collaborations such as LCTPC, SiLC, CALICE, and FCAL which pursue their

International Large Detector. Letter of intent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoeck, Holger; Bergauer, Thomas; Dragicevic, Marko

2010-01-01

In the summer of 2007, the GLD concept study group, whose membership was largely based in Asia, and the LDC concept study group, which was mostly based in Europe with a strong north american membership, joined forces to produce a single Letter of Intent for a detector at the International Linear Collider, and formed the ILD concept group. Both the GLD and LDC concepts used the particle flow algorithm for jet reconstruction and a TPC for the central tracker. The basic parameters of the two concepts such as the size of the detector and the strength of the solenoid field, however, were quite different and had to be unified in order to write this letter of intent for ILD. Also, other critical details such as the interaction region design had to be unified. This was a non-trivial task, neither politically nor sociologically. The newly-formed concept study group, the ILD group, created a management team and engaged in intense studies to define the ILD detector concept by scientifically optimising the detector designs. The process has worked remarkably well, and we present here the outcome of this study as well as the large amount of studies that preceded separately by the two older concept groups. The ILD detector concept is now well defined, even though some technology choices are still open. One of the merits of unifying the detector concepts was that it revitalised the studies on physics performance and detector designs. We believe that the level of sophistication of the simulation and physics analyses has reached a high degree of sophistication for a detector group at this stage. This was achieved through collaboration and competition, and is the result of a productive learning process. The unification had also positive effects on the subdetector R and D efforts. Most R and D on detector technologies relevant to the GLD and LDC groups is being performed within the framework of detector R and D collaborations such as LCTPC, SiLC, CALICE, and FCAL which pursue their

Geophysical Research Letters: New policies improve top-cited geosciences journal

Science.gov (United States)

Calais, Eric; Diffenbaugh, Noah; D'Odorico, Paolo; Harris, Ruth; Knorr, Wolfgang; Lavraud, Benoit; Mueller, Anne; Peterson, William; Rignot, Eric; Srokosz, Meric; Strutton, Peter; Tyndall, Geoff; Wysession, Michael; Williams, Paul

2010-01-01

Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) is the American Geophysical Union's premier journal of fast, groundbreaking communication. It rapidly publishes high- impact,letter-length articles, and it is the top-cited multidisciplinary geosciences journal over the past 10 years, with an impact factor that increased again in 2009, to 3.204. For manuscripts submitted to GRL, the median time to first and final decision is 23 and 27 days, respectively—a 35% improvement since 2007—and the median time from submission to publication is 13 weeks for 90% of GRL papers—a 25% improvement since 2007. Among high-impact publications in the geosciences, GRL has the fastest turnaround.

Priming in implicit memory tasks: prior study causes enhanced discriminability, not only bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeelenberg, René; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan M; Raaijmakers, Jeroen G W

2002-03-01

R. Ratcliff and G. McKoon (1995, 1996, 1997; R. Ratcliff, D. Allbritton, & G. McKoon, 1997) have argued that repetition priming effects are solely due to bias. They showed that prior study of the target resulted in a benefit in a later implicit memory task. However, prior study of a stimulus similar to the target resulted in a cost. The present study, using a 2-alternative forced-choice procedure, investigated the effect of prior study in an unbiased condition: Both alternatives were studied prior to their presentation in an implicit memory task. Contrary to a pure bias interpretation of priming, consistent evidence was obtained in 3 implicit memory tasks (word fragment completion, auditory word identification, and picture identification) that performance was better when both alternatives were studied than when neither alternative was studied. These results show that prior study results in enhanced discriminability, not only bias.

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains nine separate records on the new results on simulation of the nuclotron beam extraction with a bent crystal, the Ehrenfest force in inhomogeneous magnetic field, the e/h ratio of the electromagnetic calorimeter, a new approach to develop hadronic event generators in HEP, an algebraic description of multilayer systems with resonances, a high-voltage module for photomultipliers, an estimation of the spin-flip contribution to the np→pn process from the charge exchange reaction on the deuteron, a measurement of the tensor analyzing powers in the dd→ 3 Hp reactions at RIKEN as well as on calibration of SPES4-π set-up in experiments on SATURNE-II

Particles and nuclei, letters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

The present collection of letters from JINR, Dubna, contains seven separate records on the integral representation for structure functions and target mass effects, multiscale properties of DNA primary structure including cross-scale correlations, dissipative evolution of the elementary act, the fine structure of the M T =1 Gamow-Teller resonance in 147g Tb→ 147 Gd β + /EC decay, the behaviour of the TVO temperature sensors in the magnetic fields, a fast method for searching for tracks in multilayer drift chambers of HADES spectrometer, a novel approach to particle track etching including surfactant enhanced control of pore morphology, azimuthal correlations of secondary particles in 32 S induced interactions with Ag(Br) nuclei at 4.5 GeV/ c/ nucleon

Time Series Modeling of Human Operator Dynamics in Manual Control Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Biezad, D. J.; Schmidt, D. K.

1984-01-01

A time-series technique is presented for identifying the dynamic characteristics of the human operator in manual control tasks from relatively short records of experimental data. Control of system excitation signals used in the identification is not required. The approach is a multi-channel identification technique for modeling multi-input/multi-output situations. The method presented includes statistical tests for validity, is designed for digital computation, and yields estimates for the frequency response of the human operator. A comprehensive relative power analysis may also be performed for validated models. This method is applied to several sets of experimental data; the results are discussed and shown to compare favorably with previous research findings. New results are also presented for a multi-input task that was previously modeled to demonstrate the strengths of the method.

Effects of low speed wind on the recognition/identification and pass-through communication tasks of auditory situation awareness afforded by military hearing protection/enhancement devices and tactical communication and protective systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kichol; Casali, John G

2016-01-01

To investigate the effect of controlled low-speed wind-noise on the auditory situation awareness performance afforded by military hearing protection/enhancement devices (HPED) and tactical communication and protective systems (TCAPS). Recognition/identification and pass-through communications tasks were separately conducted under three wind conditions (0, 5, and 10 mph). Subjects wore two in-ear-type TCAPS, one earmuff-type TCAPS, a Combat Arms Earplug in its 'open' or pass-through setting, and an EB-15LE electronic earplug. Devices with electronic gain systems were tested under two gain settings: 'unity' and 'max'. Testing without any device (open ear) was conducted as a control. Ten subjects were recruited from the student population at Virginia Tech. Audiometric requirements were 25 dBHL or better at 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz in both ears. Performance on the interaction of communication task-by-device was significantly different only in 0 mph wind speed. The between-device performance differences varied with azimuthal speaker locations. It is evident from this study that stable (non-gusting) wind speeds up to 10 mph did not significantly degrade recognition/identification task performance and pass-through communication performance of the group of HPEDs and TCAPS tested. However, the various devices performed differently as the test sound signal speaker location was varied and it appears that physical as well as electronic features may have contributed to this directional result.