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Sample records for matters header executive

  1. Header integrity assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rotvel, F [ELSAMPROJEKT, Fredericia (Denmark); Sampietri, C [ENEL, Milano (Italy); Verelst, L [LABORELEC, Linkebeek (Belgium); Wortel, H van [TNO, Apeldoorn (Netherlands); Zhi, Li Ying [KEMA, Arnhem (Netherlands)

    1999-12-31

    In the late eighties creep cracks in the nozzle-to-header welds of high temperature headers became internationally recognized as a problem in older steam power plants. To study the problem a 2 1/4Cr1Mo service-exposed header, which was scrapped due to creep damage, was made available for testing. A full-scale model was fabricated with partly repaired nozzle to header welds and then tested at increased temperature. Loads included internal pressure and system loads. Damage accumulation and creep crack initiation and growth were predicted and experimentally verified. Conclusions and the practical implications for power plant operation are described. (orig.) 7 refs.

  2. Header integrity assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rotvel, F. [ELSAMPROJEKT, Fredericia (Denmark); Sampietri, C. [ENEL, Milano (Italy); Verelst, L. [LABORELEC, Linkebeek (Belgium); Wortel, H. van [TNO, Apeldoorn (Netherlands); Li Ying Zhi [KEMA, Arnhem (Netherlands)

    1998-12-31

    In the late eighties creep cracks in the nozzle-to-header welds of high temperature headers became internationally recognized as a problem in older steam power plants. To study the problem a 2 1/4Cr1Mo service-exposed header, which was scrapped due to creep damage, was made available for testing. A full-scale model was fabricated with partly repaired nozzle to header welds and then tested at increased temperature. Loads included internal pressure and system loads. Damage accumulation and creep crack initiation and growth were predicted and experimentally verified. Conclusions and the practical implications for power plant operation are described. (orig.) 7 refs.

  3. Conceptual design of a chickpea harvesting header

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Golpira

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Interest in the development of stripper headers is growing owing to the excessive losses of combine harvesters and costs of manually harvesting for chickpeas. The design of a new concept can enhance the mechanized process for chickpea harvesting. A modified stripper platform was designed, in which passive fingers with V-shape slots removes the pods from the anchored plant. The floating platform was accompanied by a reel to complete the harvesting header. Black-box modeling was used to redesign the functional operators of the header followed by an investigation of the system behavior. Physical models of the platform and reel were modified to determine the crucial variables of the header arrangement during field trials. The slot width was fixed at 40 mm, finger length at 40 mm, keyhole diameter at 10 mm and entrance width at 6 mm; the batted reel at peripheral diameter of 700 mm and speed at 50 rpm. A tractor-mounted experimental harvester was built to evaluate the work quality of the stripper header. The performance of the prototype was tested with respect to losses and results confirmed the efficiency of the modified stripper header for chickpea harvesting. Furthermore, the header with a 1.4 m working width produced the spot work rates of 0.42 ha h-1.

  4. Multi-protocol header generation system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roberts, David A.; Ignatowski, Michael; Jayasena, Nuwan; Loh, Gabriel

    2017-09-05

    A communication device includes a data source that generates data for transmission over a bus, and a data encoder that receives and encodes outgoing data. An encoder system receives outgoing data from a data source and stores the outgoing data in a first queue. An encoder encodes outgoing data with a header type that is based upon a header type indication from a controller and stores the encoded data that may be a packet or a data word with at least one layered header in a second queue for transmission. The device is configured to receive at a payload extractor, a packet protocol change command from the controller and to remove the encoded data and to re-encode the data to create a re-encoded data packet and placing the re-encoded data packet in the second queue for transmission.

  5. Testing Header Component of Electricity Power Industry Boiler

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soedardjo, S.A; Andryansyah, B; Artahari, Dewi; Natsir, Muhammad; Triyadi, Ari; Farokhi

    2000-01-01

    Testing of header component of Suralaya Unit II electricity power by replication method has been carried out. That header component is cross over pipe which interconnection between Primary and Superheater Outlet Header Secondary Superheater Outlet Header with the operation time over 14 years. The main composition of cross over pipe is 2 1/4 Cr 1 Mo or frequently specified as ferritique steel. The replication testing shown that the damage classification on those cross over pipe in A class based on failure classification from Neubauer and Wedel. Simple calculation in favor of cross over pipe remaining lifetime is about 16.5 years moreover

  6. Relationship between grey matter integrity and executive abilities in aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manard, Marine; Bahri, Mohamed Ali; Salmon, Eric; Collette, Fabienne

    2016-07-01

    This cross-sectional study was designed to investigate grey matter changes that occur in healthy aging and the relationship between grey matter characteristics and executive functioning. Thirty-six young adults (18-30 years old) and 43 seniors (60-75 years old) were included. A general executive score was derived from a large battery of neuropsychological tests assessing three major aspects of executive functioning (inhibition, updating and shifting). Age-related grey matter changes were investigated by comparing young and older adults using voxel-based morphometry and voxel-based cortical thickness methods. A widespread difference in grey matter volume was found across many brain regions, whereas cortical thinning was mainly restricted to central areas. Multivariate analyses showed age-related changes in relatively similar brain regions to the respective univariate analyses but appeared more limited. Finally, in the older adult sample, a significant relationship between global executive performance and decreased grey matter volume in anterior (i.e. frontal, insular and cingulate cortex) but also some posterior brain areas (i.e. temporal and parietal cortices) as well as subcortical structures was observed. Results of this study highlight the distribution of age-related effects on grey matter volume and show that cortical atrophy does not appear primarily in "frontal" brain regions. From a cognitive viewpoint, age-related executive functioning seems to be related to grey matter volume but not to cortical thickness. Therefore, our results also highlight the influence of methodological aspects (from preprocessing to statistical analysis) on the pattern of results, which could explain the lack of consensus in literature. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Threats and surprises behind IPv6 extension headers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hendriks, Luuk; Velan, Petr; de Oliveira Schmidt, Ricardo; De Boer, Pieter Tjerk; Pras, Aiko

    2017-01-01

    The concept of Extension Headers, newly introduced with IPv6, is elusive and enables new types of threats in the Internet. Simply dropping all traffic containing any Extension Header - a current practice by operators-seemingly is an effective solution, but at the cost of possibly dropping legitimate

  8. A proven twin header design for small PWRs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davidov, Maurice

    1987-01-01

    A unique design of PWR steam generator, developed by Foster Wheeler in Britain more than 30 years ago, avoids the problem of tubesheet sludge accumulation. The twin header steam generator uses a vertical, inverted U-tube bundle connected to cylindrical inlet and outlet headers. The advantages of the design and operating experience are outlined. (author)

  9. Remaining life assessment of carbon steel boiler headers by repeated creep testing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Drew, M. [ANSTO, Materials and Engineering Science, New Illawarra Road, Lucas Heights, PMB 1 Menai, NSW 2234 (Australia)]. E-mail: michael.drew@ansto.gov.au; Humphries, S. [ANSTO, Materials and Engineering Science, New Illawarra Road, Lucas Heights, PMB 1 Menai, NSW 2234 (Australia); Thorogood, K. [ANSTO, Materials and Engineering Science, New Illawarra Road, Lucas Heights, PMB 1 Menai, NSW 2234 (Australia); Barnett, N. [BlueScope Steel, P.O. Box 1854, Wollongong, NSW (Australia)

    2006-05-15

    The condition of carbon steel boiler headers that have been in service for over 25 years has been assessed periodically by NDT, dimensional measurements, replication and accelerated creep testing. Historical temperature records were limited, so estimates of effective header temperatures were made from replicas. These estimates were compared with header stub thermocouple readings. At about 280,000 service hours, samples were chain-drilled from the headers for accelerated creep testing. These test results indicated that the headers had satisfactory remaining life. Nine years after the original samples were taken, additional samples were removed from one header at 337,000 service hours. The creep rupture properties measured from the repeated tests were almost identical to the initial results. A mild degree of random, nodular graphite was found in the samples and its effect on creep properties is discussed.

  10. Packet Header Compression for the Internet of Things

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pekka KOSKELA

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the extensive growth of Internet of Things (IoT, the number of wireless devices connected to the Internet is forecasted to grow to 26 billion units installed in 2020. This will challenge both the energy efficiency of wireless battery powered devices and the bandwidth of wireless networks. One solution for both challenges could be to utilize packet header compression. This paper reviews different packet compression, and especially packet header compression, methods and studies the performance of Robust Header Compression (ROHC in low speed radio networks such as XBEE, and in high speed radio networks such as LTE and WLAN. In all networks, the compressing and decompressing processing causes extra delay and power consumption, but in low speed networks, energy can still be saved due to the shorter transmission time.

  11. Creep-fatigue monitoring system for header ligaments of fossil power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, K.L.; Deardorf, A.F.; Copeland, J.F.; Pflasterer, R.; Beckerdite, G.

    1993-01-01

    The cracking of headers (primary and secondary superheater outlet, and reheater outlet headers) at ligament locations is an important issue for fossil power plants. A model for crack initiation and growth has been developed, based on creep-fatigue damage mechanisms. This cracking model is included in a creep-fatigue monitoring system to assess header structural integrity under high temperature operating conditions. The following principal activities are required to achieve this goal: (1) the development of transfer functions and (2) the development of a ligament cracking model. The first task is to develop stress transfer functions to convert measured (monitored) temperatures, pressures and flow rates into stresses to be used to compute damage. Elastic three-dimensional finite element analyses were performed to study transient thermal stress behavior. The sustained pressure stress redistribution due to high temperature creep was studied by nonlinear finite element analyses. The preceding results are used to derive Green's functions and pressure stress gradient transfer functions for monitoring at the juncture of the tube with the header inner surface, and for crack growth at the ligaments. The virtual crack closure method is applied to derive a stress intensity factor K solution for a corner crack at the tube/header juncture. Similarly, using the reference stress method, the steady state creep crack growth parameter C * is derived for a header corner crack. The C * solution for a small corner crack in a header can be inserted directed into the available C t solution, along with K to provide the complete transient creep solution

  12. Technology Corner: Analysing E-mail Headers For Forensic Investigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Tariq Banday

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Electronic Mail (E-Mail, which is one of the most widely used applications of Internet, has become a global communication infrastructure service.  However, security loopholes in it enable cybercriminals to misuse it by forging its headers or by sending it anonymously for illegitimate purposes, leading to e-mail forgeries. E-mail messages include transit handling envelope and trace information in the form of structured fields which are not stripped after messages are delivered, leaving a detailed record of e-mail transactions.  A detailed header analysis can be used to map the networks traversed by messages, including information on the messaging software and patching policies of clients and gateways, etc. Cyber forensic e-mail analysis is employed to collect credible evidence to bring criminals to justice. This paper projects the need for e-mail forensic investigation and lists various methods and tools used for its realization. A detailed header analysis of a multiple tactic spoofed e-mail message is carried out in this paper. It also discusses various possibilities for detection of spoofed headers and identification of its originator. Further, difficulties that may be faced by investigators during forensic investigation of an e-mail message have been discussed along with their possible solutions.

  13. Simulation of neuro-fuzzy model for optimization of combine header setting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S Zareei

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction The noticeable proportion of producing wheat losses occur during production and consumption steps and the loss due to harvesting with combine harvester is regarded as one of the main factors. A grain combines harvester consists of different sets of equipment and one of the most important parts is the header which comprises more than 50% of the entire harvesting losses. Some researchers have presented regression equation to estimate grain loss of combine harvester. The results of their study indicated that grain moisture content, reel index, cutter bar speed, service life of cutter bar, tine spacing, tine clearance over cutter bar, stem length were the major parameters affecting the losses. On the other hand, there are several researchswhich have used the variety of artificial intelligence methods in the different aspects of combine harvester. In neuro-fuzzy control systems, membership functions and if-then rules were defined through neural networks. Sugeno- type fuzzy inference model was applied to generate fuzzy rules from a given input-output data set due to its less time-consuming and mathematically tractable defuzzification operation for sample data-based fuzzy modeling. In this study, neuro-fuzzy model was applied to develop forecasting models which can predict the combine header loss for each set of the header parameter adjustments related to site-specific information and therefore can minimize the header loss. Materials and Methods The field experiment was conducted during the harvesting season of 2011 at the research station of the Faulty of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. The wheat field (CV. Shiraz was harvested with a Claas Lexion-510 combine harvester. The factors which were selected as main factors influenced the header performance were three levels of reel index (RI (forward speed of combine harvester divided by peripheral speed of reel (1, 1.2, 1.5, three levels of cutting height (CH(25, 30, 35 cm, three

  14. Dose surveys in two digital mammography units using DICOM headers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsalafoutas, I.; Michalaki, C.; Papagiannopoulou, C.; Efstathopoulos, E.

    2012-01-01

    Background and objective: Digital mammography units store images in DICOM format. Thus, data regarding the acquisition parameters are available within DICOM headers, including among others, the anode/filter combination, tube potential and tube current exposure time product, compressed breast thickness, entrance surface air kerma (ESAK) and mean glandular dose (MGD). However, manual extraction of these data for the verification of the displayed values' accuracy and for dose survey purposes is time consuming. Our objective was to develop a method that enables the automation of such procedures. Materials and methods: Two hundred mammographic examinations (800 mammograms) performed in two digital units (GE, Essential) were recorded on CD-roms. Using appropriate software (DICOM Info Extractor) all dose related DICOM headers were extracted into a Microsoft Excel based spreadsheet, containing embedded algorithms for the calculation of ESAK and MGD according to Dance et al (Phys. Med. Biol. 45, 2000) methodology. Results: The ESAK and MGD values stored in the DICOM headers were compared with those calculated and in most cases were within ±10%. The basic difference among the two mammographic units is that, the older one calculates MGD assuming a breast composition 50% glandular-50% adipose tissue, while the newer one calculates the actual breast glandularity and stores this value in a DICOM header. The average MGD values were 1.21 mGy and 1.38 mGy, respectively. Conclusion: For the units studied, the ESAK and MGD values stored in DICOM headers are reliable. Utilizing tools for their automatic extraction provides an easy way to perform dose surveys. (authors)

  15. Orthogonal transformations for change detection, Matlab code (ENVI-like headers)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2007-01-01

    Matlab code to do (iteratively reweighted) multivariate alteration detection (MAD) analysis, maximum autocorrelation factor (MAF) analysis, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) on image data; accommodates ENVI (like) header files.......Matlab code to do (iteratively reweighted) multivariate alteration detection (MAD) analysis, maximum autocorrelation factor (MAF) analysis, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) on image data; accommodates ENVI (like) header files....

  16. Enabling IP Header Compression in COTS Routers via Frame Relay on a Simplex Link

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Sam P.; Pang, Jackson; Clare, Loren P.; Cheng, Michael K.

    2010-01-01

    NASA is moving toward a networkcentric communications architecture and, in particular, is building toward use of Internet Protocol (IP) in space. The use of IP is motivated by its ubiquitous application in many communications networks and in available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology. The Constellation Program intends to fit two or more voice (over IP) channels on both the forward link to, and the return link from, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) during all mission phases. Efficient bandwidth utilization of the links is key for voice applications. In Voice over IP (VoIP), the IP packets are limited to small sizes to keep voice latency at a minimum. The common voice codec used in VoIP is G.729. This new algorithm produces voice audio at 8 kbps and in packets of 10-milliseconds duration. Constellation has designed the VoIP communications stack to use the combination of IP/UDP/RTP protocols where IP carries a 20-byte header, UDP (User Datagram Protocol) carries an 8-byte header, and RTP (Real Time Transport Protocol) carries a 12-byte header. The protocol headers total 40 bytes and are equal in length to a 40-byte G.729 payload, doubling the VoIP latency. Since much of the IP/UDP/RTP header information does not change from IP packet to IP packet, IP/UDP/RTP header compression can avoid transmission of much redundant data as well as reduce VoIP latency. The benefits of IP header compression are more pronounced at low data rate links such as the forward and return links during CEV launch. IP/UDP/RTP header compression codecs are well supported by many COTS routers. A common interface to the COTS routers is through frame relay. However, enabling IP header compression over frame relay, according to industry standard (Frame Relay IP Header Compression Agreement FRF.20), requires a duplex link and negotiations between the compressor router and the decompressor router. In Constellation, each forward to and return link from the CEV in space is treated

  17. Secured Hash Based Burst Header Authentication Design for Optical Burst Switched Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balamurugan, A. M.; Sivasubramanian, A.; Parvathavarthini, B.

    2017-12-01

    The optical burst switching (OBS) is a promising technology that could meet the fast growing network demand. They are featured with the ability to meet the bandwidth requirement of applications that demand intensive bandwidth. OBS proves to be a satisfactory technology to tackle the huge bandwidth constraints, but suffers from security vulnerabilities. The objective of this proposed work is to design a faster and efficient burst header authentication algorithm for core nodes. There are two important key features in this work, viz., header encryption and authentication. Since the burst header is an important in optical burst switched network, it has to be encrypted; otherwise it is be prone to attack. The proposed MD5&RC4-4S based burst header authentication algorithm runs 20.75 ns faster than the conventional algorithms. The modification suggested in the proposed RC4-4S algorithm gives a better security and solves the correlation problems between the publicly known outputs during key generation phase. The modified MD5 recommended in this work provides 7.81 % better avalanche effect than the conventional algorithm. The device utilization result also shows the suitability of the proposed algorithm for header authentication in real time applications.

  18. RObust header compression (ROHC) performance for multimedia transmission over 3G/4G wireless networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fitzek, Frank; Rein, S.; Seeling, P.

    2005-01-01

    Robust Header Compression (ROHC) has recently been proposed to reduce the large protocol header overhead when transmitting voice and other continuous meadi over IP based control stacks in wireless networks. In this paper we evaluate the real-time transmission of GSM encoded voice and H. 26L encod...

  19. Socioeconomic status, white matter, and executive function in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ursache, Alexandra; Noble, Kimberly G

    2016-10-01

    A growing body of evidence links socioeconomic status (SES) to children's brain structure. Few studies, however, have specifically investigated relations of SES to white matter structure. Further, although several studies have demonstrated that family SES is related to development of brain areas that support executive functions (EF), less is known about the role that white matter structure plays in the relation of SES to EF. One possibility is that white matter differences may partially explain SES disparities in EF (i.e., a mediating relationship). Alternatively, SES may differentially shape brain-behavior relations such that the relation of white matter structure to EF may differ as a function of SES (i.e., a moderating relationship). In a diverse sample of 1082 children and adolescents aged 3-21 years, we examined socioeconomic disparities in white matter macrostructure and microstructure. We further investigated relations between family SES, children's white matter volume and integrity in tracts supporting EF, and performance on EF tasks. Socioeconomic status was associated with fractional anisotropy (FA) and volume in multiple white matter tracts. Additionally, family income moderated the relation between white matter structure and cognitive flexibility. Specifically, across multiple tracts of interest, lower FA or lower volume was associated with reduced cognitive flexibility among children from lower income families. In contrast, children from higher income families showed preserved cognitive flexibility in the face of low white matter FA or volume. SES factors did not mediate or moderate links between white matter and either working memory or inhibitory control. This work adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that the socioeconomic contexts in which children develop not only shape cognitive functioning and its underlying neurobiology, but may also shape the relations between brain and behavior.

  20. Phishtest: Measuring the Impact of Email Headers on the Predictive Accuracy of Machine Learning Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tout, Hicham

    2013-01-01

    The majority of documented phishing attacks have been carried by email, yet few studies have measured the impact of email headers on the predictive accuracy of machine learning techniques in detecting email phishing attacks. Research has shown that the inclusion of a limited subset of email headers as features in training machine learning…

  1. 40 Gbit/s NRZ Packet-Length Insensitive Header Extraction for Optical Label Switching Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Seoane, Jorge; Kehayas, E; Avramopoulos, H.

    2006-01-01

    A simple method for 40 Gbit/s NRZ header extraction based on envelope detection for optical label switching networks is presented. The scheme is insensitive to packet length and spacing and can be single-chip integrated cost-effectively......A simple method for 40 Gbit/s NRZ header extraction based on envelope detection for optical label switching networks is presented. The scheme is insensitive to packet length and spacing and can be single-chip integrated cost-effectively...

  2. Mechanical design of the hot steam headers of the THTR-300 steam generators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blumer, U.; Stumpf, M.

    1988-01-01

    The high pressure steam headers of the THTR steam generators have been subject to special attention during the design phase due to the following reasons: these components are the pressure retaining parts with the heaviest wall thickness in the region of the steam generators; they therefore are sensitive to thermal transient conditions; they are operated in the elevated temperature regime, where creep effects cannot be neglected; there is almost no service experience from fossil steam generators with this type of material (Alloy 800). Safety consideration therefore have been rather extensive and have focussed on two main areas which will be treated in this paper: 1. Analytical investigations on the cyclic material behaviour under all specified operating conditions, taking into account the non-elastic response of the material. 2. Limitation of the consequences of a header rupture by installation of heavy whip restraints. Elastic-plastic-creep analyses: The analyses were performed in different stages and are explained in the corresponding order: Evaluation of the critical location on the header and establishment of a simplified model of a nozzle region for further analysis. Preliminary thermal analyses of all specified transient conditions on simplified procedures, in order to establish a severity ranking of the conditions. Establishment of representative loading blocks. Evaluation of the material properties for thermal and structural, especially non-elastic behaviour. Detailed thermal analyses. Detailed structural analyses of the non-elastic cyclic response. Extrapolation for all cycles and assessment of the results by design codes. Discussion of the results. Header whip restraint design: In addition to the above analysis efforts, heavy whip restraints were provided to assure limitation of the effects of a header failure. This pager shows the measures that were taken to restrain the movement in case of longitudinal and transverse breaks: The anti-whip designs are

  3. Executive dysfunctions in migraine with and without aura: what is the role of white matter lesions?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Pira, Francesco; Reggio, Ester; Quattrocchi, Graziella; Sanfilippo, Cristina; Maci, Tiziana; Cavallaro, Tiziana; Zappia, Mario

    2014-01-01

    Executive dysfunctions and white matter lesions on magnetic resonance imaging have been reported in migraine. The aim of this study was to determine whether any correlation between these 2 variables exists. Forty-four subjects affected by migraine with or without aura were compared with 16 healthy subjects. A battery of neuropsychological tests assessing executive functions was administered to all subjects. Number and total volume of white matter lesions were assessed in the whole brain and in the frontal lobe. The performances of both groups of migraineurs, with and without aura, were significantly worse when compared with controls on Boston Scanning Test. Moreover, we found lower performances compared with controls respectively on Frontal Assessment Battery in patients with migraine with aura and on Controlled Oral Word Association Test in patients with migraine without aura. Nineteen patients (43.2%) and one control subject (6.2%) had white matter lesions. We did not find any significant correlation between white matter lesions load and neuropsychological performances. On the basis of our results, white matter lesions load on magnetic resonance imaging do not seem to contribute to neuropsychological performances deficit in migraineurs. © 2013 American Headache Society.

  4. Regional frontal gray matter volume associated with executive function capacity as a risk factor for vehicle crashes in normal aging adults.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiroyuki Sakai

    Full Text Available Although low executive functioning is a risk factor for vehicle crashes among elderly drivers, the neural basis of individual differences in this cognitive ability remains largely unknown. Here we aimed to examine regional frontal gray matter volume associated with executive functioning in normal aging individuals, using voxel-based morphometry (VBM. To this end, 39 community-dwelling elderly volunteers who drove a car on a daily basis participated in structural magnetic resonance imaging, and completed two questionnaires concerning executive functioning and risky driving tendencies in daily living. Consequently, we found that participants with low executive function capacity were prone to risky driving. Furthermore, VBM analysis revealed that lower executive function capacity was associated with smaller gray matter volume in the supplementary motor area (SMA. Thus, the current data suggest that SMA volume is a reliable predictor of individual differences in executive function capacity as a risk factor for vehicle crashes among elderly persons. The implication of our results is that regional frontal gray matter volume might underlie the variation in driving tendencies among elderly drivers. Therefore, detailed driving behavior assessments might be able to detect early neurodegenerative changes in the frontal lobe in normal aging adults.

  5. Detection and Repair of Ligament Cracks in a 109mm Thick Superheater Outlet Header

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Day, Peter

    2006-01-01

    Conventional thermal power station boilers are constructed of drums and a series of headers which are interconnected with many hundreds of tubes. Typically feed water enters the boiler at about 250 deg C at a pressure of around 250 bar with steam outlet temperatures of 540 deg C and a pressure of 170 bar. Superheater outlet headers may be subjected to quite arduous conditions during service. Not only are they exposed to high pressure stresses but also to high thermal stresses due to varying thermal gradients through the section thickness particularly at start up and during two shift operation. The area that is exposed to the greatest thermal gradients is the narrow ligament that exists between the tube hole penetrations in the header bore. In the mid the 1980's industry wide surveys found cracking in a large percentage (25-50%) of headers after 15 years of service. Detection and sizing of ligament cracking and estimates of the rate of growth are therefore a major consideration especially in plant that is two shifted. In order to manage the risk both remote visual and ultrasonic inspection are performed during each major unit overhaul. Conclusion: Ultrasonic techniques used for this inspection need to be carefully evaluated with respect to their effectiveness. Conventional pulse echo is capable of detection but using for example a technique such as AS2207 level 1 will not show the defect size. Time of flight diffraction has shown itself to be effective in accurately sizing ligament cracking. However the complex geometry of header ligaments appears to cause a narrowing of the beam with the effect that crack tip responses can be concentrated at the centre of the ligament. Therefore great care needs to be taken during data interrogation because errors in sizing can occur. Wherever possible both 'B' and 'D' scan data should be collected. It appears that the greatest accuracy is obtained with respect to defect growth from the B scan image. With respect to the welding a

  6. Design and Evaluation of IP Header Compression for Cellular-Controlled P2P Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, T.K.; Zhang, Qi; Fitzek, F.H.P.

    2007-01-01

    In this paper we advocate to exploit terminal cooperation to stabilize IP communication using header compression. The terminal cooperation is based on direct communication between terminals using short range communication and simultaneously being connected to the cellular service access point....... The short range link is than used to provide first aid information to heal the decompressor state of the neighboring node in case of a packet loss on the cellular link. IP header compression schemes are used to increase the spectral and power efficiency loosing robustness of the communication compared...

  7. Qualifying the use of RIS data for patient dose by comparison with DICOM header data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilde, R.; Charnock, P.; McDonald, S.; Moores, B. M.

    2011-01-01

    A system was developed in 2008 to calculate patient doses using Radiology Information System (RIS) data and presents these data as a patient dose audit. One of the issues with this system was the quality of user-entered data. It has been shown that Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) header data can be used to perform dose audits with a high level of data accuracy. This study aims to show that using RIS data for dose audits is not only a viable alternative to using DICOM header data, but that it has advantages. A new system was developed to pull header data from DICOM images easily and was installed on a workstation within a hospital department. Data were recovered for a common set of examinations using both RIS and DICOM header data. The data were compared on a result-by-result basis to check for consistency of common fields between RIS and DICOM, as well as assessing the value of data fields uncommon to both systems. The study shows that whilst RIS is not as accurate as DICOM, it does provide enough accurate data and that it has other advantages over using a DICOM approach. These results suggest that a 'best of both worlds' may be achievable using Modality Performed Procedure Step (MPPS). (authors)

  8. 36 CFR 902.51 - Records relating to matters that are required by Executive order to be kept secret.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... that are required by Executive order to be kept secret. 902.51 Section 902.51 Parks, Forests, and... order to be kept secret. Records relating to matters that are specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy...

  9. Novel Scheme for Packet Forwarding without Header Modifications in Optical Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wessing, Henrik; Christiansen, Henrik Lehrmann; Fjelde, Tina

    2002-01-01

    We present a novel scheme for packet forwarding in optical packet-switched networks and we further demonstrate its good scalability through simulations. The scheme requires neither header modification nor any label distribution protocol, thus reducing component cost while simplifying network...

  10. A LOCA analysis for AHWR caused by ECCS header rupture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chatterjee, B.; Gawai, Amol; Gupta, S.K.; Kushwaha, H.S.

    2000-01-01

    Loss of coolant accident (LOCA) analyses for the proposed 750 MWth Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), initiated by the rupture of 8 inch NB ECCS header has been carried out. This paper narrates the description of AHWR and associated ECCS, postulated scenario with which the analyses is carried out, results, discussion and conclusion

  11. “The Relationship between Executive Functioning, Processing Speed and White Matter Integrity in Multiple Sclerosis”

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genova, Helen M.; DeLuca, John; Chiaravalloti, Nancy; Wylie, Glenn

    2014-01-01

    The primary purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between performance on executive tasks and white matter integrity, assessed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). A second aim was to examine how processing speed affects the relationship between executive functioning and FA. This relationship was examined in two executive tasks that rely heavily on processing speed: the Color-Word Interference Test and Trail-Making Test (Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System). It was hypothesized that reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) is related to poor performance on executive tasks in MS, but that this relationship would be affected by the statistical correction of processing speed from the executive tasks. 15 healthy controls and 25 persons with MS participated. Regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between executive functioning and FA, both before and after processing speed was removed from the executive scores. Before processing speed was removed from the executive scores, reduced FA was associated with poor performance on Color-Word Interference Test and Trail-Making Test in a diffuse network including corpus callosum and superior longitudinal fasciculus. However, once processing speed was removed, the relationship between executive functions and FA was no longer significant on the Trail Making test, and significantly reduced and more localized on the Color-Word Interference Test. PMID:23777468

  12. A computational fluid dynamics and effectiveness-NTU based co-simulation approach for flow mal-distribution analysis in microchannel heat exchanger headers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Long; Lee, Moon Soo; Saleh, Khaled; Aute, Vikrant; Radermacher, Reinhard

    2014-01-01

    Refrigerant flow mal-distribution is a practical challenge in most microchannel heat exchangers (MCHXs) applications. Geometry design, uneven heat transfer and pressure drop in the different microchannel tubes are three main reasons leading to the flow mal-distribution. To efficiently and accurately account for these three effects, a new MCHX co-simulation approach is proposed in this paper. The proposed approach combines a detailed header simulation based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and a robust effectiveness-based finite volume tube-side heat transfer and refrigerant flow modeling tool. The co-simulation concept is demonstrated on a ten-tube MCHX case study. Gravity effect and uneven airflow effect were numerically analyzed using both water and condensing R134a as the working fluids. The approach was validated against experimental data for an automotive R134a condenser. The inlet header was cut open after the experimental data had been collected. The detailed header geometry was reproduced using the proposed CFD header model. Good prediction accuracy was achieved compared to the experimental data. The presented co-simulation approach is capable of predicting detailed refrigerant flow behavior while accurately predicts the overall heat exchanger performance. - Highlights: •MCHX header flow distribution is analyzed by a co-simulation approach. •The proposed method is capable of simulating both single-phase and two-phase flow. •An actual header geometry is reproduced in the CFD header model. •The modeling work is experimentally validated with good accuracy. •Gravity effect and air side mal-distribution are accounted for

  13. Daily Press Headers as a Reinforcement to Brand Identity in Spanish Sport Newspapers both Print and Online

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belén PUEBLA MARTÍNEZ

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Press headers are to daily newspapers the same as brands are to products. Because a newspaper is an object itself which also participates in a double designing process: from information and from product design; and in both cases this serves the same purpose, that the reader feels attracted and comes back for more every day. On that trip, which takes place either to the newsstand or to the computer, to become visible and unique is of paramount importance and the header is the element that best identifies not only the publication but also the tone of the language that the reader expects to find in it. This study intends to dive into the Spanish sport daily press headers, both print and digital, to establish how newspapers achieve their pretended brand identity.

  14. Optimising residual stresses at a repair in a steam header to tubeplate weld

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soanes, T.P.T.; Bell, W.; Vibert, A.J.

    2005-01-01

    Following the discovery of incorrect weld metal in the steam side shell to tubeplate weld in a type 316H stainless steel superheater steam header, a repair strategy had to be determined. The strategy adopted was to remove the incorrect weld material, which extended around the full circumference, by machining from the inside of the header, followed by rewelding from the inside using an automatic welding process and localised post-weld heat treatment. Due to concern over potential reheat cracking of the repair after return to service, a considerable amount of residual stress modelling was carried out to support the development and optimisation of a successful repair and heat treatment strategy and thus underwrite the safety case for return to service

  15. Summary report on underground road header environmental control.

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Belle, BK

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available and on monitoring should be reassessed to take into consideration the recent findings and current international trends. 5 6. No conclusive results were obtained with regard to the use of a wet cutter head in conjunction with the Bank 2000 Road Header Dust... this response time interval is lower than the T90 response time, a good indication of the methane gas trends can be obtained. To protect the methane sensors from the harsh environment around an active RH, the 22 Custodian sensors were placed in polycarbonate...

  16. 20% inlet header break analysis of Advanced Heavy Water Reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Srivastava, A.; Gupta, S.K.; Venkat Raj, V.; Singh, R.; Iyer, K.

    2001-01-01

    The proposed Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is a 750 MWt vertical pressure tube type boiling light water cooled and heavy water moderated reactor. A passive design feature of this reactor is that the heat removal is achieved through natural circulation of primary coolant at all power levels, with no primary coolant pumps. Loss of coolant due to failure of inlet header results in depressurization of primary heat transport (PHT) system and containment pressure rise. Depressurization activates various protective and engineered safety systems like reactor trip, isolation condenser and advanced accumulator, limiting the consequences of the event. This paper discusses the thermal hydraulic transient analysis for evaluating the safety of the reactor, following 20% inlet header break using RELAP5/MOD3.2. For the analysis, the system is discretized appropriately to simulate possible flow reversal in one of the core paths during the transient. Various modeling aspects are discussed in this paper and predictions are made for different parameters like pressure, temperature, steam quality and flow in different parts of the Primary Heat Transport (PHT) system. Flow and energy discharges into the containment are also estimated for use in containment analysis. (author)

  17. Researching of Covert Timing Channels Based on HTTP Cache Headers in Web API

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denis Nikolaevich Kolegov

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, it is shown how covert timing channels based on HTTP cache headers can be implemented using different Web API of Google Drive, Dropbox and Facebook  Internet services.

  18. Endothelial Function Is Associated with White Matter Microstructure and Executive Function in Older Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathan F. Johnson

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Age-related declines in endothelial function can lead to cognitive decline. However, little is known about the relationships between endothelial function and specific neurocognitive functions. This study explored the relationship between measures of endothelial function (reactive hyperemia index; RHI, white matter (WM health (fractional anisotropy, FA, and WM hyperintensity volume, WMH, and executive function (Trail Making Test (TMT; Trail B − Trail A. Participants were 36 older adults between the ages of 59 and 69 (mean age = 63.89 years, SD = 2.94. WMH volume showed no relationship with RHI or executive function. However, there was a positive relationship between RHI and FA in the genu and body of the corpus callosum. In addition, higher RHI and FA were each associated with better executive task performance. Tractography was used to localize the WM tracts associated with RHI to specific portions of cortex. Results indicated that the RHI-FA relationship observed in the corpus callosum primarily involved tracts interconnecting frontal regions, including the superior frontal gyrus (SFG and frontopolar cortex, linked with executive function. These findings suggest that superior endothelial function may help to attenuate age-related declines in WM microstructure in portions of the corpus callosum that interconnect prefrontal brain regions involved in executive function.

  19. Neuroanatomical Substrates of Executive Functions: Beyond Prefrontal Structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bettcher, Brianne M.; Mungas, Dan; Patel, Nihar; Elofson, Jonathan; Dutt, Shubir; Wynn, Matthew; Watson, Christa L.; Stephens, Melanie; Walsh, Christine M.; Kramer, Joel H.

    2016-01-01

    Executive functions are often considered lynchpin “frontal lobe tasks”, despite accumulating evidence that a broad network of anterior and posterior brain structures supports them. Using a latent variable modeling approach, we assessed whether prefrontal grey matter volumes independently predict executive function performance when statistically differentiated from global atrophy and individual non-frontal lobar volume contributions. We further examined whether fronto-parietal white matter microstructure underlies and independently contributes to executive functions. We developed a latent variable model to decompose lobar grey matter volumes into a global grey matter factor and specific lobar volumes (i.e. prefrontal, parietal, temporal, occipital) that were independent of global grey matter. We then added mean fractional anisotropy (FA) for the superior longitudinal fasciculus (dorsal portion), corpus callosum, and cingulum bundle (dorsal portion) to models that included grey matter volumes related to cognitive variables in previous analyses. Results suggested that the 2-factor model (shifting/inhibition, updating/working memory) plus an information processing speed factor best explained our executive function data in a sample of 202 community dwelling older adults, and was selected as the base measurement model for further analyses. Global grey matter was related to the executive function and speed variables in all four lobar models, but independent contributions of the frontal lobes were not significant. In contrast, when assessing the effect of white matter microstructure, cingulum FA made significant independent contributions to all three executive function and speed variables and corpus callosum FA was independently related to shifting/inhibition and speed. Findings from the current study indicate that while prefrontal grey matter volumes are significantly associated with cognitive neuroscience measures of shifting/inhibition and working memory in healthy

  20. Association of television violence exposure with executive functioning and white matter volume in young adult males.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hummer, Tom A; Kronenberger, William G; Wang, Yang; Anderson, Caitlin C; Mathews, Vincent P

    2014-07-01

    Prior research has indicated that self-reported violent media exposure is associated with poorer performance on some neuropsychological tests in adolescents. This study aimed to examine the relationship of executive functioning to violent television viewing in healthy young adult males and examine how brain structure is associated with media exposure measures. Sixty-five healthy adult males (ages 18-29) with minimal video game experience estimated their television viewing habits over the past year and, during the subsequent week, recorded television viewing time and characteristics in a daily media diary. Participants then completed a battery of neuropsychological laboratory tests quantifying executive functions and underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Aggregate measures of executive functioning were not associated with measures of overall television viewing (any content type) during the past week or year. However, the amount of television viewing of violent content only, as indicated by both past-year and daily diary measures, was associated with poorer scores on an aggregate score of inhibition, interference control and attention, with no relationship to a composite working memory score. In addition, violent television exposure, as measured with daily media diaries, was associated with reduced frontoparietal white matter volume. Future longitudinal work is necessary to resolve whether individuals with poor executive function and slower white matter growth are more drawn to violent programming, or if extensive media violence exposure modifies cognitive control mechanisms mediated primarily via prefrontal cortex. Impaired inhibitory mechanisms may be related to reported increases in aggression with higher media violence exposure. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Multiple-output all-optical header processing technique based on two-pulse correlation principle

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Calabretta, N.; Liu, Y.; Waardt, de H.; Hill, M.T.; Khoe, G.D.; Dorren, H.J.S.

    2001-01-01

    A serial all-optical header processing technique based on a two-pulse correlation principle in a semiconductor laser amplifier in a loop mirror (SLALOM) configuration that can have a large number of output ports is presented. The operation is demonstrated experimentally at a 10Gbit/s Manchester

  2. Asynchronous broadcast for ordered delivery between compute nodes in a parallel computing system where packet header space is limited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Sameer

    2010-06-15

    Disclosed is a mechanism on receiving processors in a parallel computing system for providing order to data packets received from a broadcast call and to distinguish data packets received at nodes from several incoming asynchronous broadcast messages where header space is limited. In the present invention, processors at lower leafs of a tree do not need to obtain a broadcast message by directly accessing the data in a root processor's buffer. Instead, each subsequent intermediate node's rank id information is squeezed into the software header of packet headers. In turn, the entire broadcast message is not transferred from the root processor to each processor in a communicator but instead is replicated on several intermediate nodes which then replicated the message to nodes in lower leafs. Hence, the intermediate compute nodes become "virtual root compute nodes" for the purpose of replicating the broadcast message to lower levels of a tree.

  3. The effect of the flow direction inside the header on two-phase flow distribution in parallel vertical channels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marchitto, A.; Fossa, M.; Guglielmini, G.

    2012-01-01

    Uniform fluid distribution is essential for efficient operation of chemical-processing equipment such as contactors, reactors, mixers, burners and in most refrigeration equipment, where two phases are acting together. To obtain optimum distribution, proper consideration must be given to flow behaviour in the distributor, flow conditions upstream and downstream of the distributor, and the distribution requirements (fluid or phase) of the equipment. Even though the principles of single phase distribution have been well developed for more than three decades, they are frequently not taken in the right account by equipment designers when a mixture is present, and a significant fraction of process equipment consequently suffers from maldistribution. The experimental investigation presented in this paper is aimed at understanding the main mechanisms which drive the flow distribution inside a two-phase horizontal header in order to design improved distributors and to optimise the flow distribution inside compact heat exchanger. Experimentation was devoted to establish the influence of the inlet conditions and of the channel/distributor geometry on the phase/mass distribution into parallel vertical channels. The study is carried out with air–water mixtures and it is based on the measurement of component flow rates in individual channels and on pressure drops across the distributor. The effects of the operating conditions, the header geometry and the inlet port nozzle were investigated in the ranges of liquid and gas superficial velocities of 0.2–1.2 and 1.5–16.5 m/s, respectively. In order to control the main flow direction inside the header, different fitting devices were tested; the insertion of a co-axial, multi-hole distributor inside the header has confirmed the possibility of greatly improving the liquid and gas flow distribution by the proper selection of position, diameter and number of the flow openings between the supplying distributor and the system of

  4. Continuous monitoring of variations in the 235U enrichment of uranium in the header pipework of a centrifuge enrichment plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Packer, T.W.

    1991-01-01

    Non-destructive assay equipment, based on gamma-ray spectrometry and x-ray fluorescence analysis has previously been developed for confirming the presence of low enriched uranium in the header pipework of UF 6 gas centrifuge enrichment plants. However inspections can only be carried out occasionally on a limited number of pipes. With the development of centrifuge enrichment technology it has been suggested that more frequent, or ideally, continuous measurements should be made in order to improve safeguards assurance between inspections. For this purpose we have developed non-destructive assay equipment based on continuous gamma-ray spectrometry and x-ray transmission measurements. This equipment is suitable for detecting significant changes in the 235 U enrichment of uranium in the header pipework of new centrifuge enrichment plants. Results are given in this paper of continuous measurements made in the laboratory and also on header pipework of a centrifuge enrichment plant at Capenhurst

  5. Tutoring executives online

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bignoux, Stephane; Sund, Kristian J.

    2018-01-01

    Studies of learning and student satisfaction in the context of online university programmes have largely neglected programmes catering specifically to business executives. Such executives have typically been away from higher education for a number of years, and have collected substantial practical...... experience in the subject matters they are taught. Their expectations in terms of both content and delivery may therefore be different from non-executive students. We explore perceptions of the quality of tutoring in the context of an online executive MBA programme through participant interviews. We find...... that in addition to some of the tutor behaviours already discussed in the literature, executive students look specifically for practical industry knowledge and experience in tutors, when judging how effective a tutor is. This has implications for both the recruitment and training of online executive MBA tutors....

  6. Tutoring Executives Online

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bignoux, Stephane; Sund, Kristian J.

    2016-01-01

    Studies of learning and student satisfaction in the context of online university programs have largely neglected programs catering specifically to business executives. Such executives have typically been away from higher education for a number of years, and have collected substantial practical...... experience in the subject matters they are taught. Their expectations in terms of both content and delivery may therefore be different from non-executive students. We explore perceptions of the quality of tutoring in the context of an online executive MBA program through participant interviews. We find...... that in addition to some of the tutor behaviors already discussed in the literature, executive students look specifically for practical industry knowledge and experience in tutors, when judging how effective a tutor is. This has implications for both the recruitment and training of online executive MBA tutors....

  7. Twin header bore welded steam generator for pressurized water reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davies, R.J.; Hirst, B.

    1979-01-01

    A description is given of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) steam generator concept, several examples of which have been in service for up to fourteen years. Details are given of the highly successful service record of this equipment and the features which have been incorporated to minimize corrosion and deposition pockets. The design employs a vertical U tube bundle carried off two horizontal headers to which the tubes are welded by the Foster Wheeler Power Products (FWPP) bore welding process. The factors to be considered in uprating the design to meet the current operating conditions for a 1000 MW unit are discussed. (author)

  8. Hot steam header of a high temperature reactor as a benchmark problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Demierre, J.

    1990-01-01

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) initiated a Coordinated Research Programme (CRP) on ''Design Codes for Gas-Cooled Reactor Components''. The specialists proposed to start with a benchmark design of a hot steam header in order to get a better understanding of the methods in the participating countries. The contribution of Switzerland carried out by Sulzer. The following report summarized the detailed calculations of dimensioning procedure and analysis. (author). 5 refs, 2 figs, 2 tabs

  9. A Study on Thermal Performance of a Novel All-Glass Evacuated Tube Solar Collector Manifold Header with an Inserted Tube

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jichun Yang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A novel all-glass evacuated tube collector manifold header with an inserted tube is proposed in this paper which makes water in all-glass evacuated solar collector tube be forced circulated to improve the performance of solar collector. And a dynamic numerical model was presented for the novel all-glass evacuated tube collector manifold header water heater system. Also, a test rig was built for model validation and comparison with traditional all-glass evacuated tube collector. The experiment results show that the efficiency of solar water heater with a novel collector manifold header is higher than traditional all-glass evacuated tube collector by about 5% and the heat transfer model of water heater system is valid. Based on the model, the relationship between the average temperature of water tank and inserted tube diameter (water mass flow has been studied. The results show that the optimized diameter of inserted tube is 32 mm for the inner glass with the diameter of 47 mm and the water flow mass should be less than 1.6 Kg/s.

  10. Novel scheme for efficient and cost-effective forwarding of packets in optical networks without header modification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wessing, Henrik; Fjelde, Tina; Christiansen, Henrik Lehrmann

    2001-01-01

    We present a novel scheme for addressing the outputs in optical packet switches and demonstrate its good scalability. The scheme requires neither header modification nor distribution of routing information to the packet switches, thus reducing optical component count while simplifying network...

  11. Predicting the fidelity of JPEG2000 compressed CT images using DICOM header information

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Kil Joong; Kim, Bohyoung; Lee, Hyunna; Choi, Hosik; Jeon, Jong-June; Ahn, Jeong-Hwan; Lee, Kyoung Ho

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: To propose multiple logistic regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN) models constructed using digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) header information in predicting the fidelity of Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) 2000 compressed abdomen computed tomography (CT) images. Methods: Our institutional review board approved this study and waived informed patient consent. Using a JPEG2000 algorithm, 360 abdomen CT images were compressed reversibly (n = 48, as negative control) or irreversibly (n = 312) to one of different compression ratios (CRs) ranging from 4:1 to 10:1. Five radiologists independently determined whether the original and compressed images were distinguishable or indistinguishable. The 312 irreversibly compressed images were divided randomly into training (n = 156) and testing (n = 156) sets. The MLR and ANN models were constructed regarding the DICOM header information as independent variables and the pooled radiologists' responses as dependent variable. As independent variables, we selected the CR (DICOM tag number: 0028, 2112), effective tube current-time product (0018, 9332), section thickness (0018, 0050), and field of view (0018, 0090) among the DICOM tags. Using the training set, an optimal subset of independent variables was determined by backward stepwise selection in a four-fold cross-validation scheme. The MLR and ANN models were constructed with the determined independent variables using the training set. The models were then evaluated on the testing set by using receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) analysis regarding the radiologists' pooled responses as the reference standard and by measuring Spearman rank correlation between the model prediction and the number of radiologists who rated the two images as distinguishable. Results: The CR and section thickness were determined as the optimal independent variables. The areas under the ROC curve for the MLR and ANN predictions were 0.91 (95% CI; 0

  12. White matter integrity in veterans with mild traumatic brain injury: associations with executive function and loss of consciousness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorg, Scott F; Delano-Wood, Lisa; Luc, Norman; Schiehser, Dawn M; Hanson, Karen L; Nation, Daniel A; Lanni, Elisa; Jak, Amy J; Lu, Kun; Meloy, M J; Frank, Lawrence R; Lohr, James B; Bondi, Mark W

    2014-01-01

    We investigated using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and the association between white matter integrity and executive function (EF) performance in postacute mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). In addition, we examined whether injury severity, as measured by loss of consciousness (LOC) versus alterations in consciousness (AOC), is related to white matter microstructural alterations and neuropsychological outcome. Thirty Iraq and Afghanistan War era veterans with a history of mTBI and 15 healthy veteran control participants. There were no significant overall group differences between control and mTBI participants on DTI measures. However, a subgroup of mTBI participants with EF decrements (n = 13) demonstrated significantly decreased fractional anisotropy of prefrontal white matter, corpus callosum, and cingulum bundle structures compared with mTBI participants without EF decrements (n = 17) and control participants. Participants having mTBI with LOC were more likely to evidence reduced EF performances and disrupted ventral prefrontal white matter integrity when compared with either mTBI participants without LOC or control participants. Findings suggest that altered white matter integrity contributes to reduced EF in subgroups of veterans with a history of mTBI and that LOC may be a risk factor for reduced EF as well as associated changes to ventral prefrontal white matter.

  13. Executive Functions in Healthy Older Adults Are Differentially Related to Macro- and Microstructural White Matter Characteristics of the Cerebral Lobes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Hirsiger

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Aging is associated with microstructural white matter (WM changes. WM microstructural characteristics, measured with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI, are different in normal appearing white matter (NAWM and WM hyperintensities (WMH. It is largely unknown how the microstructural properties of WMH are associated with cognition and if there are regional effects for specific cognitive domains. We therefore examined within 200 healthy older participants (a differences in microstructural characteristics of NAWM and WMH per cerebral lobe; and (b the association of macrostructural (WMH volume and microstructural characteristics (within NAWM and WMH separately of each lobe with measures of executive function and processing speed. Multi-modal imaging (i.e., T1, DTI, and FLAIR was used to assess WM properties. The Stroop and the Trail Making Test were used to measure inhibition, task-switching (both components of executive function, and processing speed. We observed that age was associated with deterioration of white matter microstructure of the NAWM, most notably in the frontal lobe. Older participants had larger WMH volumes and lowest fractional anisotropy values within WMH were found in the frontal lobe. Task-switching was associated with cerebral NAWM volume and NAWM volume of all lobes. Processing speed was associated with total NAWM volume, and microstructural properties of parietal NAWM, the parietal WMH, and the temporal NAWM. Task-switching was related to microstructural properties of WMH of the frontal lobe and WMH volume of the parietal lobe. Our results confirm that executive functioning and processing speed are uniquely associated with macro- and microstructural properties of NAWM and WMH. We further demonstrate for the first time that these relationships differ by lobar region. This warrants the consideration of these distinct WM indices when investigating cognitive function.

  14. Fabrication of an improved tube-to-pipe header heat exchanger for the Fuel Failure Mockup (FFM) Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prislinger, J.J.; Jones, R.H.

    1977-05-01

    The procedure used in fabricating an improved tube-to-pipe header heat exchanger for the Fuel Failure Mockup (FFM) Facility is described. Superior performance is accomplished at reduced cost with adherence to the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The techniques used and the method of fabrication are described in detail

  15. Executive Dysfunction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabinovici, Gil D.; Stephens, Melanie L.; Possin, Katherine L.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose of Review: Executive functions represent a constellation of cognitive abilities that drive goal-oriented behavior and are critical to the ability to adapt to an ever-changing world. This article provides a clinically oriented approach to classifying, localizing, diagnosing, and treating disorders of executive function, which are pervasive in clinical practice. Recent Findings: Executive functions can be split into four distinct components: working memory, inhibition, set shifting, and fluency. These components may be differentially affected in individual patients and act together to guide higher-order cognitive constructs such as planning and organization. Specific bedside and neuropsychological tests can be applied to evaluate components of executive function. While dysexecutive syndromes were first described in patients with frontal lesions, intact executive functioning relies on distributed neural networks that include not only the prefrontal cortex, but also the parietal cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum. Executive dysfunction arises from injury to any of these regions, their white matter connections, or neurotransmitter systems. Dysexecutive symptoms therefore occur in most neurodegenerative diseases and in many other neurologic, psychiatric, and systemic illnesses. Management approaches are patient specific and should focus on treatment of the underlying cause in parallel with maximizing patient function and safety via occupational therapy and rehabilitation. Summary: Executive dysfunction is extremely common in patients with neurologic disorders. Diagnosis and treatment hinge on familiarity with the clinical components and neuroanatomic correlates of these complex, high-order cognitive processes. PMID:26039846

  16. Experimental use of road header (AM-50) as face cutting machine for extraction of coal in longwall panel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Passi, K.K.; Kumar, C.R.; Prasad, P. [DGMS, Dhanbad (India)

    2001-07-01

    The scope of this paper has been limited to the use of available machines and techniques for attaining higher and more efficient production in underground coal mines. Under certain conditions of strata and higher degree of gassiness, the longwall method with hydraulic sand stowing is the only appropriate method of work for extraction of thick seam. In Moonidih Jitpur Colliery of M/S IISCO, No. 14 seam, Degree III gassy seam, 9.07 m thick, is extracted in multilift system with hydraulic sand stowing. In general, the bottom lift is extracted by Single Ended Ranging Arm Shearer and the middle and top lift are extracted by conventional method. However, in one of the panels spare road header machine was used as face cutting machine in bottom lift, on an experimental basis. This paper presents a successful case study of extraction of bottom lift coal by the longwall method with hydraulic sand stowing using road header (AM 50) as the face cutting machines. 9 figs.

  17. LHCb: Dynamically Adaptive Header Generator and Front-End Source Emulator for a 100 Gbps FPGA Based DAQ

    CERN Multimedia

    Srikanth, S

    2014-01-01

    The proposed upgrade for the LHCb experiment envisages a system of 500 Data sources each generating data at 100 Gbps, the acquisition and processing of which is a big challenge even for the current state of the art FPGAs. This requires an FPGA DAQ module that not only handles the data generated by the experiment but also is versatile enough to dynamically adapt to potential inadequacies of other components like the network and PCs. Such a module needs to maintain real time operation while at the same time maintaining system stability and overall data integrity. This also creates a need for a Front-end source Emulator capable of generating the various data patterns, that acts as a testbed to validate the functionality and performance of the Header Generator. The rest of the abstract briefly describes these modules and their implementation. The Header Generator is used to packetize the streaming data from the detectors before it is sent to the PCs for further processing. This is achieved by continuously scannin...

  18. Executive dysfunction, brain aging, and political leadership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Mark; Franklin, David L; Post, Jerrold M

    2014-01-01

    Decision-making is an essential component of executive function, and a critical skill of political leadership. Neuroanatomic localization studies have established the prefrontal cortex as the critical brain site for executive function. In addition to the prefrontal cortex, white matter tracts as well as subcortical brain structures are crucial for optimal executive function. Executive function shows a significant decline beginning at age 60, and this is associated with age-related atrophy of prefrontal cortex, cerebral white matter disease, and cerebral microbleeds. Notably, age-related decline in executive function appears to be a relatively selective cognitive deterioration, generally sparing language and memory function. While an individual may appear to be functioning normally with regard to relatively obvious cognitive functions such as language and memory, that same individual may lack the capacity to integrate these cognitive functions to achieve normal decision-making. From a historical perspective, global decline in cognitive function of political leaders has been alternatively described as a catastrophic event, a slowly progressive deterioration, or a relatively episodic phenomenon. Selective loss of executive function in political leaders is less appreciated, but increased utilization of highly sensitive brain imaging techniques will likely bring greater appreciation to this phenomenon. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was an example of a political leader with a well-described neurodegenerative condition (cerebral amyloid angiopathy) that creates a neuropathological substrate for executive dysfunction. Based on the known neuroanatomical and neuropathological changes that occur with aging, we should probably assume that a significant proportion of political leaders over the age of 65 have impairment of executive function.

  19. Air Emission Projections During Acid Cleaning of F-Canyon Waste Header No.2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    CHOI, ALEXANDER

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop the air emission projections for the maintenance operation to dissolve and flush out the scale material inside the F-Canyon Waste Header No.2. The chemical agent used for the dissolution is a concentrated nitric acid solution, so the pollutant of concern is the nitric acid vapor. Under the very conservative operating scenarios considered in this study, it was determined that the highest possible rate of nitric acid emission during the acid flush would be 0.048 lb. per hr. It turns out that this worst-case air emission projection is just below the current exemption limit of 0.05 lb. per hr. for permit applications

  20. Do executives' backgrounds matter to IPO investors? Evidence from the life science industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chok, Jay; Qian, Jifeng

    2013-01-01

    In this study, we focus on the impact of senior executives' industry backgrounds on the amount of capital raised in the stock market. The primary contribution of the study entails applying the upper echelon theory to the initial public offering (IPO) phenomenon. Specifically, we hypothesize that the industry backgrounds of corporate executives affect the amount of capital that the firm raised in the primary stock market. We argue that the firm's future investment strategies are unobserved by the investors ex-ante and investors expect firms' investment strategies to be based on the executives' industry backgrounds. As a result, the executives' industry backgrounds influence the investors' expectations about what investment strategies the firm is likely to deploy. Furthermore, the above logic also suggests that executives of different industry backgrounds should prefer different investment strategies corresponding with demand for different amount of capital. As a result, we expect the industry backgrounds to covary with the capital raised from both the supply and demand perspectives. To test the hypotheses, we ran a reduced econometric model wherein the executives' background predicts the amount of capital raised. Regression analyses suggest that the capital raised is negatively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in the healthcare and genomic sectors but positively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in regulatory affairs. The results provide tentative support for the notion that investors infer corporate strategies from senior executives' industry backgrounds.

  1. Do executives' backgrounds matter to IPO investors? Evidence from the life science industry.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jay Chok

    Full Text Available In this study, we focus on the impact of senior executives' industry backgrounds on the amount of capital raised in the stock market. The primary contribution of the study entails applying the upper echelon theory to the initial public offering (IPO phenomenon. Specifically, we hypothesize that the industry backgrounds of corporate executives affect the amount of capital that the firm raised in the primary stock market. We argue that the firm's future investment strategies are unobserved by the investors ex-ante and investors expect firms' investment strategies to be based on the executives' industry backgrounds. As a result, the executives' industry backgrounds influence the investors' expectations about what investment strategies the firm is likely to deploy. Furthermore, the above logic also suggests that executives of different industry backgrounds should prefer different investment strategies corresponding with demand for different amount of capital. As a result, we expect the industry backgrounds to covary with the capital raised from both the supply and demand perspectives. To test the hypotheses, we ran a reduced econometric model wherein the executives' background predicts the amount of capital raised. Regression analyses suggest that the capital raised is negatively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in the healthcare and genomic sectors but positively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in regulatory affairs. The results provide tentative support for the notion that investors infer corporate strategies from senior executives' industry backgrounds.

  2. Do Executives' Backgrounds Matter to IPO Investors? Evidence from the Life Science Industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chok, Jay; Qian, Jifeng

    2013-01-01

    In this study, we focus on the impact of senior executives' industry backgrounds on the amount of capital raised in the stock market. The primary contribution of the study entails applying the upper echelon theory to the initial public offering (IPO) phenomenon. Specifically, we hypothesize that the industry backgrounds of corporate executives affect the amount of capital that the firm raised in the primary stock market. We argue that the firm's future investment strategies are unobserved by the investors ex-ante and investors expect firms' investment strategies to be based on the executives' industry backgrounds. As a result, the executives' industry backgrounds influence the investors' expectations about what investment strategies the firm is likely to deploy. Furthermore, the above logic also suggests that executives of different industry backgrounds should prefer different investment strategies corresponding with demand for different amount of capital. As a result, we expect the industry backgrounds to covary with the capital raised from both the supply and demand perspectives. To test the hypotheses, we ran a reduced econometric model wherein the executives' background predicts the amount of capital raised. Regression analyses suggest that the capital raised is negatively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in the healthcare and genomic sectors but positively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in regulatory affairs. The results provide tentative support for the notion that investors infer corporate strategies from senior executives' industry backgrounds. PMID:23690920

  3. Thermal-hydraulic analysis of Ignalina NPP compartments response to group distribution header rupture using RALOC4 code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Urbonavicius, E.

    2000-01-01

    The Accident Localisation System (ALS) of Ignalina NPP is a containment of pressure suppression type designed to protect the environment from the dangerous impact of the radioactivity. The failure of ALS could lead to contamination of the environment and prescribed public radiation doses could be exceeded. The purpose of the presented analysis is to perform long term thermal-hydraulic analysis of compartments response to Group Distribution Header rupture and verify if design pressure values are not exceeded. (authors)

  4. Design and analysis of reactor headers for Narora Atomic Power Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Danak, M.R.

    1975-01-01

    Reactor header for Narora Atomic Power Reactor is a 400 mm O.D. 10 metres long pressure vessel in the primary coolant circuit connecting 153 feeders to PHT pumps or steam generators. The vessel dimensions are restricted are by containment philosophy. The outlet connections for pumps or steam generators are to be of the size of vessel diameter and DO/t ratio for the vessel is approximately 10. The design and stresses induced meet the code requirements except that at times it is difficult to get precise stress values in absence of certain data and lack of code or available literature giving practical approach to the problem. It can be seen that the 400 mm equal tees used as part of the vessel cannot be penetrated in the light of code reinforcement requirements. However if the tees have to penetrated to retain established feeder layout, it should be established experimentally or by some detailed stress analysis that it will meet the intent of code. (author)

  5. Damage distribution and remnant life assessment of a super-heater outlet header used for long time

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hiroyuki, Okamura [Science Univ. of Tokyo (Japan); Ryuichi, Ohotani [Kyoto Univ. (Japan); Kazuya, Fujii [Japan Power Engineering and Inspection Corp., Tokyo (Japan); Masashi, Nakashiro; Fumio, Takemasa; Hideo, Umaki; Tomiyasu, Masumura [Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

    1998-11-01

    This paper presents the results of investigation on evaluating damage distribution to base metals and welded joints in the thickness direction and evaluate damage on ligaments. Thick wall tested sample was the superheater outlet header component long term serviced in high pressure and temperature condition in thermal power plant. The simulate unused steel of component material was made from sample by suitable heat treatment, and the extent of damage was assessed based on a comparison of nondestructive and destructive test results between simulate unused and aged samples. Damage evaluation was also made by FEM structural stress analysis. (orig./MM)

  6. Pacemaker syndrome with sub-acute left ventricular systolic dysfunction in a patient with a dual-chamber pacemaker: consequence of lead switch at the header.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khurwolah, Mohammad Reeaze; Vezi, Brian Zwelethini

    In the daily practice of pacemaker insertion, the occurrence of atrial and ventricular lead switch at the pacemaker box header is a rare and unintentional phenomenon, with less than five cases reported in the literature. The lead switch may have dire consequences, depending on the indication for the pacemaker. One of these consequences is pacemaker syndrome, in which the normal sequence of atrial and ventricular activation is impaired, leading to sub-optimal ventricular filling and cardiac output. It is important for the attending physician to recognise any worsening of symptoms in a patient who has recently had a permanent pacemaker inserted. In the case of a dual-chamber pacemaker, switching of the atrial and ventricular leads at the pacemaker box header should be strongly suspected. We present an unusual case of pacemaker syndrome and right ventricular-only pacinginduced left ventricular systolic dysfunction in a patient with a dual-chamber pacemaker.

  7. CFD simulation for thermal mixing of a SMART flow mixing header assembly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Young In; Bae, Youngmin; Chung, Young Jong; Kim, Keung Koo

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Thermal mixing performance of a FMHA installed in SMART is investigated numerically. • Effects of operating condition and discharge hole configuration are examined. • FMHA performance satisfies the design requirements under various abnormal conditions. - Abstract: A flow mixing header assembly (FMHA) is installed in a system-integrated modular advanced reactor (SMART) to enhance the thermal mixing capability and create a uniform core flow distribution under both normal operation and accident conditions. In this study, the thermal mixing characteristics of the FMHA are investigated for various steam generator conditions using a commercial CFD code. Simulations include investigations for the effects of FMHA discharge flow rate differences, turbulence models, and steam generator conditions. The results of the analysis show that the FMHA works effectively for thermal mixing in various conditions and makes the temperature difference at the core inlet decrease noticeably. We verified that the mixing capability of the FMHA is excellent and satisfies the design requirement in all simulation cases tested here

  8. Brain levels of high-energy phosphate metabolites and executive function in geriatric depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harper, David G; Joe, Elizabeth B; Jensen, J Eric; Ravichandran, Caitlin; Forester, Brent P

    2016-11-01

    Depression in late life has been associated with difficulties in cognitive processing, particularly in the domains of executive function, processing speed and memory, and increases the risk of developing dementia suggesting a neurodegenerative phenotype. Mitochondrial dysfunction is frequently an early event in neurodegenerative illnesses and may be operative in patients with late life depression. Phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P MRS) allows for the quantification of bioenergetic molecules produced by mitochondria. Ten patients with late life depression and eight normal elderly controls were studied with Stroop color and interference tests, which are widely used measures of processing speed and executive function, respectively, followed by (31P) MRS 3-dimensional chemical-shift imaging measuring levels of adenosine triphosphate, phosphocreatine, inorganic phosphate, and pH over the whole brain. In all subjects, gray matter phosphocreatine was positively associated with Stroop interference. Levels of white matter adenosine triphosphate were associated with Stroop interference in subjects with late life depression but not normal elderly. There was also a complementary association between white matter inorganic phosphate and Stroop interference in late life depression patients. These findings suggest two independent sources of executive function dependence on bioenergetic state in the aging brain. The dependence of executive function performance in subjects with late life depression on ATP in white matter may be associated with mitochondrial impairment and is consistent with predictions of the vascular depression hypothesis. Further research with wider neuropsychological testing targeting bioenergetic markers could help clarify the scope of these effects. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Relap5/Mod3.1 analysis of main steam header rupture in VVER- 440/213 NPP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kral, P. [Nuclear Research Inst. Rez (Switzerland)

    1995-12-31

    The presentation is focused on two main topics. First the applied modelling of PGV-4 steam generator for RELAP5 code are described. The results of steady-state calculation under reference conditions are compared against measured data. The problem of longitudinal subdivision of SG tubes is analysed and evaluated. Secondly, a best-estimate analysis of main steam header (MSH) rupture accident in WWER-440/213 NPP is presented. The low reliability of initiation of ESFAS signal `MSH Rupture` leads in this accident to big loss of secondary coolant, full depressurization of main steam system, extremely fast cool-down of both secondary and primary system, opening of PRZ SV-bypass valve with later liquid outflow, potential reaching of secondary criticality by failure of HPIS. 7 refs.

  10. Relap5/Mod3.1 analysis of main steam header rupture in VVER- 440/213 NPP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kral, P [Nuclear Research Inst. Rez (Switzerland)

    1996-12-31

    The presentation is focused on two main topics. First the applied modelling of PGV-4 steam generator for RELAP5 code are described. The results of steady-state calculation under reference conditions are compared against measured data. The problem of longitudinal subdivision of SG tubes is analysed and evaluated. Secondly, a best-estimate analysis of main steam header (MSH) rupture accident in WWER-440/213 NPP is presented. The low reliability of initiation of ESFAS signal `MSH Rupture` leads in this accident to big loss of secondary coolant, full depressurization of main steam system, extremely fast cool-down of both secondary and primary system, opening of PRZ SV-bypass valve with later liquid outflow, potential reaching of secondary criticality by failure of HPIS. 7 refs.

  11. Relap5/Mod3.1 analysis of main steam header rupture in VVER- 440/213 NPP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kral, P.

    1995-01-01

    The presentation is focused on two main topics. First the applied modelling of PGV-4 steam generator for RELAP5 code are described. The results of steady-state calculation under reference conditions are compared against measured data. The problem of longitudinal subdivision of SG tubes is analysed and evaluated. Secondly, a best-estimate analysis of main steam header (MSH) rupture accident in WWER-440/213 NPP is presented. The low reliability of initiation of ESFAS signal 'MSH Rupture' leads in this accident to big loss of secondary coolant, full depressurization of main steam system, extremely fast cool-down of both secondary and primary system, opening of PRZ SV-bypass valve with later liquid outflow, potential reaching of secondary criticality by failure of HPIS

  12. 17 CFR 200.16 - Executive Assistant to the Chairman.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... of the laws and its relations with the public, industry, and the Congress. The Executive Assistant is... Commission, members of the staff, and/or representatives of the public on matters arising with regard to... cases in which the Chairman or the General Counsel has determined that separation of functions...

  13. Structural networks involved in attention and executive functions in multiple sclerosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Llufriu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Attention and executive deficits are disabling symptoms in multiple sclerosis (MS that have been related to disconnection mechanisms. We aimed to investigate changes in structural connectivity in MS and their association with attention and executive performance applying an improved framework that combines high order probabilistic tractography and anatomical exclusion criteria postprocessing. We compared graph theory metrics of structural networks and fractional anisotropy (FA of white matter (WM connections or edges between 72 MS subjects and 38 healthy volunteers (HV and assessed their correlation with cognition. Patients displayed decreased network transitivity, global efficiency and increased path length compared with HV (p < 0.05, corrected. Also, nodal strength was decreased in 26 of 84 gray matter regions. The distribution of nodes with stronger connections or hubs of the network was similar among groups except for the right pallidum and left insula, which became hubs in patients. MS subjects presented reduced edge FA widespread in the network, while FA was increased in 24 connections (p < 0.05, corrected. Decreased integrity of frontoparietal networks, deep gray nuclei and insula correlated with worse attention and executive performance (r between 0.38 and 0.55, p < 0.05, corrected. Contrarily, higher strength in the right transverse temporal cortex and increased FA of several connections (mainly from cingulate, frontal and occipital cortices were associated with worse functioning (r between −0.40 and −0.47, p < 0.05 corrected. In conclusion, structural brain connectivity is disturbed in MS due to widespread impairment of WM connections and gray matter structures. The increased edge connectivity suggests the presence of reorganization mechanisms at the structural level. Importantly, attention and executive performance relates to frontoparietal networks, deep gray nuclei and insula. These results support the relevance of

  14. Executive deficits, not processing speed relates to abnormalities in distinct prefrontal tracts in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettit, Lewis D; Bastin, Mark E; Smith, Colin; Bak, Thomas H; Gillingwater, Thomas H; Abrahams, Sharon

    2013-11-01

    Cognitive impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is characterized by deficits on tests of executive function; however, the contribution of abnormal processing speed is unknown. Methods are confounded by tasks that depend on motor speed in patients with physical disability. Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have revealed multi-system cerebral involvement, with evidence of reduced white matter volume and integrity in predominant frontotemporal regions. The current study has two aims. First, to investigate whether cognitive impairments in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are due to executive dysfunction or slowed processing speed using methodology that accommodates motor disability. This is achieved using a dual-task paradigm and tasks that manipulate stimulus presentation times and do not rely on response motor speed. Second, to identify relationships between specific cognitive impairments and the integrity of distinct white matter tracts. Thirty patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 30 age- and education-matched control subjects were administered an experimental dual-task procedure that combined a visual inspection time task and digit recall. In addition, measures of executive function (including letter fluency) and processing speed (visual inspection time and rapid serial letter identification) were administered. Integrity of white matter tracts was determined using region of interest analyses of diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging data. Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis did not show impairments on tests of processing speed, but executive deficits were revealed once visual inspection time was combined with digit recall (dual-task) and in letter fluency. In addition to the corticospinal tracts, significant differences in fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity were found between groups in a number of prefrontal and temporal white matter tracts including the anterior cingulate, anterior thalamic radiation

  15. Power raise through improved reactor inlet header temperature measurement at Bruce A Nuclear Generation Station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Basu, S.; Bruggemn, D.

    1997-01-01

    Reactor Inlet Header (RIH) temperature has become a factor limiting the performance of the Ontario Hydro Bruce A units. Specifically, the RIH temperature is one of several parameters that is preventing the Bruce A units from returning to 94% power operation. RIH temperature is one of several parameters which affect the critical heat flux in the reactor channel, and hence the integrity of the fuel. Ideally, RIH temperature should be lowered, but this cannot be done without improving the heat transfer performance of the boilers and feedwater pre-heaters. Unfortunately, the physical performance of the boilers and pre-heaters has decayed and continues to decay over time and as a result the RIH temperature has been rising and approaching its defined limit. With an understanding of the current RIH temperature measurement loop and methods available to improve it, a solution to reduce the measurement uncertainty is presented

  16. Structural brain correlates of executive engagement in working memory: children's inter-individual differences are reflected in the anterior insular cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossi, Sandrine; Lubin, Amélie; Simon, Grégory; Lanoë, Céline; Poirel, Nicolas; Cachia, Arnaud; Pineau, Arlette; Houdé, Olivier

    2013-06-01

    Although the development of executive functions has been extensively investigated at a neurofunctional level, studies of the structural relationships between executive functions and brain anatomy are still scarce. Based on our previous meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies examining executive functions in children (Houdé, Rossi, Lubin, and Joliot, (2010). Developmental Science, 13, 876-885), we investigated six a priori regions of interest: the left anterior insular cortex (AIC), the left and the right supplementary motor areas, the right middle and superior frontal gyri, and the left precentral gyrus. Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from 22 to 10-year-old children. Local gray matter volumes, assessed automatically using a standard voxel-based morphometry approach, were correlated with executive and storage working memory capacities evaluated using backward and forward digit span tasks, respectively. We found an association between smaller gray matter volume--i.e., an index of neural maturation--in the left AIC and high backward memory span while gray matter volumes in the a priori selected regions of interest were not linked with forward memory span. These results were corroborated by a whole-brain a priori free analysis that revealed a significant negative correlation in the frontal and prefrontal regions, including the left AIC, with the backward memory span, and in the right inferior parietal lobe, with the forward memory span. Taken together, these results suggest a distinct and specific association between regional gray matter volume and the executive component vs. the storage component of working memory. Moreover, they support a key role for the AIC in the executive network of children. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. THE EXECUTION INSTANCE OF THE JUDICIAL JUDGEMENTS SENTENCED IN THE LITIGATIONS OF ADMINISTRATIVE CONTENTIOUS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ADRIANA ELENA BELU

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The instance which solved the fund of the litigation rising from an administrative contract differs depending on the material competence sanctioned by law, in contrast to the subject of the commercial law where the execution instance is the court. In this matter the High Court stated in a decision1 that in a first case the competence of solving the legal contest against the proper forced execution and of the legal contest that has in view the explanation of the meaning of spreading and applying the enforceable title which does not proceed from a jurisdiction organ is in the authority of the court. The Law of the Administrative Contentious no 554/2004 defines in Article 2 paragraph 1 letter t the notion of execution instance, providing that this is the instance which solved the fund of the litigation of administrative contentious, so even in the case of the administrative contracts the execution instance is the one which solved the litigation rising from the contract. Corroborating this disposal with the ones existing in articles 22 and 25 in the Law, it can be shown that no matter the instance which decision is an enforceable title, the execution of the law will be done by the instance which solved the fund of the litigation regarding the administrative contentious.

  18. A Document-Based EHR System That Controls the Disclosure of Clinical Documents Using an Access Control List File Based on the HL7 CDA Header.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeda, Toshihiro; Ueda, Kanayo; Nakagawa, Akito; Manabe, Shirou; Okada, Katsuki; Mihara, Naoki; Matsumura, Yasushi

    2017-01-01

    Electronic health record (EHR) systems are necessary for the sharing of medical information between care delivery organizations (CDOs). We developed a document-based EHR system in which all of the PDF documents that are stored in our electronic medical record system can be disclosed to selected target CDOs. An access control list (ACL) file was designed based on the HL7 CDA header to manage the information that is disclosed.

  19. Medial frontal white and gray matter contributions to general intelligence.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Toshiyuki Ohtani

    Full Text Available The medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC are part of a wider neural network that plays an important role in general intelligence and executive function. We used structural brain imaging to quantify magnetic resonance gray matter volume and diffusion tensor white matter integrity of the mOFC-rACC network in 26 healthy participants who also completed neuropsychological tests of intellectual abilities and executive function. Stochastic tractography, the most effective Diffusion Tensor Imaging method for examining white matter connections between adjacent gray matter regions, was employed to assess the integrity of mOFC-rACC pathways. Fractional anisotropy (FA, which reflects the integrity of white matter connections, was calculated. Results indicated that higher intelligence correlated with greater gray matter volumes for both mOFC and rACC, as well as with increased FA for left posterior mOFC-rACC connectivity. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that DTI-derived FA of left posterior mOFC-rACC uniquely accounted for 29%-34% of the variance in IQ, in comparison to 11%-16% uniquely explained by gray matter volume of the left rACC. Together, left rACC gray matter volume and white matter connectivity between left posterior mOFC and rACC accounted for up to 50% of the variance in general intelligence. This study is to our knowledge the first to examine white matter connectivity between OFC and ACC, two gray matter regions of interests that are very close in physical proximity, and underscores the important independent contributions of variations in rACC gray matter volume and mOFC-rACC white matter connectivity to individual differences in general intelligence.

  20. 76 FR 1213 - Core Principles and Other Requirements for Swap Execution Facilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-07

    ... Part II Commodity Futures Trading Commission 17 CFR Part 37 Core Principles and Other Requirements... RIN Number 3038-AD18 Core Principles and Other Requirements for Swap Execution Facilities AGENCY... Compliance With the Core Principles III. Effective Date and Transition Period IV. Related Matters A...

  1. Set-Shifting Ability Is Associated with Gray Matter Volume in Older People with Mild Cognitive Impairment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kota Tsutsumimoto

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Background/Aims: An understanding of the association between gray matter volume and executive functioning could provide strategies to reduce dementia risk in older people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI. Methods: In a cross-sectional analysis, we assessed executive functioning in 83 older people with MCI using three standard neuropsychological tests: set shifting (difference between Trail Making Test Parts B and A, working memory (difference between Digit Span forward and backward from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV, and selective attention/response inhibition (difference between the second and third conditions of the color- and picture-word Stroop test. Gray matter volume was computed from brain MRIs and SIENAX from FSL software. Results: Gray matter volume was significantly associated with set-shifting performance after accounting for age, gender, body mass index, education, and global cognition (standardized β = -0.376, p = 0.001, but not with working memory or selective attention/response inhibition. Conclusion: The executive function of set-shifting ability was correlated with gray matter volume in older people with MCI.

  2. Ensuring fair levels of executive directors’ remuneration: Regulation and use of principles against the use of detailed legal rules in determining the most effective approach for setting executive pay levels. A discussion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ewgeni Hersonski

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to present arguments concerning the fair levels of executive directors’ remuneration. It is argued that principles are a better way to achieve this goal. However, we also find arguments in support of detailed legal rules when dealing with this matter. Since both methods have their pros and cons the paper delivers a balanced discussion and also outlines how the executive pay is currently regulated in the UK, the United States as well as on the global scale.

  3. Abnormal gray matter volume and impulsivity in young adults with Internet gaming disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Deokjong; Namkoong, Kee; Lee, Junghan; Jung, Young-Chul

    2017-09-08

    Reduced executive control is one of the central components of model on the development and maintenance of Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Among the various executive control problems, high impulsivity has consistently been associated with IGD. We performed voxel-based morphometric analysis with diffeomorphic anatomical registration by using an exponentiated Lie algebra algorithm (DARTEL) to investigate the relationship of gray matter abnormalities to impulsivity in IGD. Thirty-one young male adults whose excessive Internet gaming began in early adolescence, and 30 age-matched male healthy controls were examined. IGD subjects showed smaller gray matter volume (GMV) in brain regions implicated in executive control, such as the anterior cingulate cortex and the supplementary motor area. The GMVs in the anterior cingulate cortex and the supplementary motor area were negatively correlated with self-reporting scales of impulsiveness. IGD subjects also exhibited smaller GMV in lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices comprising the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the left inferior parietal lobule when compared with healthy controls. The GMVs in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex were negatively correlated with lifetime usage of Internet gaming. These findings suggest that gray matter abnormalities in areas related to executive control may contribute to high impulsivity of young adults with IGD. Furthermore, alterations in the prefrontal cortex were related with long-term excessive Internet gaming during adolescence. © 2017 Society for the Study of Addiction.

  4. 8 CFR 1003.24 - Fees pertaining to matters within the jurisdiction of an immigration judge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... jurisdiction of an immigration judge. 1003.24 Section 1003.24 Aliens and Nationality EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE GENERAL PROVISIONS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW Immigration Court-Rules of Procedure § 1003.24 Fees pertaining to matters within the jurisdiction of an...

  5. An integrative architecture for general intelligence and executive function revealed by lesion mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colom, Roberto; Solomon, Jeffrey; Krueger, Frank; Forbes, Chad; Grafman, Jordan

    2012-01-01

    Although cognitive neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in executive control, the broader functional networks that support high-level cognition and give rise to general intelligence remain to be well characterized. Here, we investigated the neural substrates of the general factor of intelligence (g) and executive function in 182 patients with focal brain damage using voxel-based lesion–symptom mapping. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System were used to derive measures of g and executive function, respectively. Impaired performance on these measures was associated with damage to a distributed network of left lateralized brain areas, including regions of frontal and parietal cortex and white matter association tracts, which bind these areas into a coordinated system. The observed findings support an integrative framework for understanding the architecture of general intelligence and executive function, supporting their reliance upon a shared fronto-parietal network for the integration and control of cognitive representations and making specific recommendations for the application of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System to the study of high-level cognition in health and disease. PMID:22396393

  6. Increased Executive Functioning, Attention, and Cortical Thickness in White-Collar Criminals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raine, Adrian; Laufer, William S.; Yang, Yaling; Narr, Katherine L.; Thompson, Paul; Toga, Arthur W.

    2011-01-01

    Very little is known on white collar crime and how it differs to other forms of offending. This study tests the hypothesis that white collar criminals have better executive functioning, enhanced information processing, and structural brain superiorities compared to offender controls. Using a case-control design, executive functioning, orienting, and cortical thickness was assessed in 21 white collar criminals matched with 21 controls on age, gender, ethnicity, and general level of criminal offending. White collar criminals had significantly better executive functioning, increased electrodermal orienting, increased arousal, and increased cortical gray matter thickness in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, somatosensory cortex, and the temporal-parietal junction compared to controls. Results, while initial, constitute the first findings on neurobiological characteristics of white-collar criminals It is hypothesized that white collar criminals have information-processing and brain superiorities that give them an advantage in perpetrating criminal offenses in occupational settings. PMID:22002326

  7. Evaluation of intergranular cracks on the ring header cross at Grand Gulf Unit No. 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Czajkowski, C.J.

    1987-01-01

    A metallurgical investigation was performed on a sample of cracked ring header cross material from the Grand Gulf Unit No. 1 Nuclear Power Station. The cracks were located in a 6-7 in (15-17.5 cm) width band running circumferentially below the cross to cap weld with a similar band above the cross to discharger pipe weld. The indications were up to 19 mm in length and 6.0 mm in depth. This particular sample was cut from a cross which had not seen actual service but which had been used to qualify the induction heating stress improvement (IHSI) technique for the Grand Gulf units. The base material was SA 182 material manufactured to SA 403-type WP 304 stainless steel. The investigation consisted of visual/dye penetrant examination, chemical analysis, hardness testing, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The evaluated cracks were intergranular and initiated on the forging's exterior surface. The grain size of the material was larger than ASTM 00 and no definitive corrosive species were found by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). The cracking is considered to be the result of the forging having been overheated/burned during manufacture. (author)

  8. A Patient with Fragile X-Associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome Presenting with Executive Cognitive Deficits and Cerebral White Matter Lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kensaku Kasuga

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS is a late-onset neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects males who are carriers of a premutation of a CGG expansion in the FMR1 gene. In Asian populations, FXTAS has rarely been reported. Here, we report the case of a Japanese FXTAS patient who showed predominant executive cognitive deficits as the main feature of his disease. In contrast, the patient exhibited only very mild symptoms of intention tremor and ataxia, which did not interfere with daily activities. A gene analysis revealed that the patient carried a premutation of a CGG expansion (111 CGG repeats in the FMR1 gene. The mRNA expression level of FMR1 in the patient was 1.5-fold higher than in controls. On brain MRI scans, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images showed high-intensity lesions in the middle cerebellar peduncles and the cerebral white matter, with a frontal predominance. The present case extends previous notions regarding the cognitive impairment in FXTAS patients. Recognizing FXTAS patients with predominant cognitive impairment from various ethnic backgrounds would contribute to our understanding of the phenotypic variation of this disease.

  9. Plataformas de colheita e colheita manual com trilha mecânica sobre a qualidade de sementes de arroz ( Oryza sativa, L. Harvest header and manual harvest with mechanical strip on rice ( Oryza sativa, L. seeds quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Fernandez Franco

    1999-06-01

    Full Text Available Durante a colheita do arroz irrigado ocorrem perdas e danos físicos e fisiológicos às sementes. No final da década de oitenta, surgiram as plataformas recolhedoras, que retiram ou arrancam o grão ao invés de cortar a panícula, porém, pouco se conhece a respeito dos danos físicos e fisiológicos que este sistema de plataforma pode causar às sementes. Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar os danos mecânicos causados às sementes dos cultivares de arroz BR-IRGA 409 e BR-IRGA 410, por três formas de colheita: (a colheita manual e trilha mecânica; (b colheita com plataforma de corte; (c colheita com plataforma recolhedora. Quando a colheita foi mecânica, realizou-se a coleta das amostras diretamente no graneleiro. O delineamento experimental foi blocos ao acaso, com seis repetições. Os resultados demonstraram que as sementes de arroz irrigado dos cultivares estudados não apresentaram diferenças significativas em suas qualidades físicas e fisiológicas, quando colhidas com plataforma de corte e com a plataforma recolhedora. Estes dois métodos de colheita, porém, apresentaram danos significativamente maiores quando comparados à colheita manual e trilha mecânica.During irrigated rice harvesting occur losses and physical and phisiological seed damage. Late 80's, appeared the strippers headers that strip the grain, instead of cutting the spike. However, little is know about physical and phisiological seed damage by harvest header. The objective of this work was to evaluate the mechanical damage caused to BR-IRGA 409 and BR-IRGA 410 rice cultivars by three harvesting methods: (a manual harvesting and mechanical strip; (b cutterbar harvesting and; (c stripper header harvesting. Samples were collected directly in the grain tank when the harvest was mechanical. The experimental design was randomized blocks with six replications. Results demonstrated that the rice seeds of the studied variety didn't showed significant differences in

  10. Regional MRI Perfusion Measures Predict Motor/Executive Function in Patients with Clinically Isolated Syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Efrosini Z. Papadaki

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS demonstrate brain hemodynamic changes and also suffer from difficulties in processing speed, memory, and executive functions. Objective. To explore whether brain hemodynamic disturbances in CIS patients correlate with executive functions. Methods. Thirty CIS patients and forty-three healthy subjects, matched for age, gender, education level, and FSIQ, were administered tests of visuomotor learning and set shifting ability. Cerebral blood volume (CBV, cerebral blood flow (CBF, and mean transit time (MTT values were estimated in normal-appearing white matter (NAWM and normal-appearing deep gray Matter (NADGM structures, using a perfusion MRI technique. Results. CIS patients showed significantly elevated reaction time (RT on both tasks, while their CBV and MTT values were globally increased, probably due to inflammatory vasodilation. Significantly, positive correlation coefficients were found between error rates on the inhibition condition of the visuomotor learning task and CBV values in occipital, periventricular NAWM and both thalami. On the set shifting condition of the respective task significant, positive associations were found between error rates and CBV values in the semioval center and periventricular NAWM bilaterally. Conclusion. Impaired executive function in CIS patients correlated positively with elevated regional CBV values thought to reflect inflammatory processes.

  11. White matter hyperintensities and working memory : An explorative study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Harten, Barbera; Weinstein, Henry C.; Scheltens, Philip; Sergeant, Joseph A.; Scherder, Erik J. A.; Oosterman, J

    2008-01-01

    White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are commonly observed in elderly people and may have the most profound effect on executive functions, including working memory. Surprisingly, the Digit Span backward, a frequently employed working memory task, reveals no association with WMH. In the present study,

  12. Attention and Regional Gray Matter Development in Very Preterm Children at Age 12 Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lean, Rachel E; Melzer, Tracy R; Bora, Samudragupta; Watts, Richard; Woodward, Lianne J

    2017-08-01

    This study examines the selective, sustained, and executive attention abilities of very preterm (VPT) born children in relation to concurrent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of regional gray matter development at age 12 years. A regional cohort of 110 VPT (≤32 weeks gestation) and 113 full term (FT) born children were assessed at corrected age 12 years on the Test of Everyday Attention-Children. They also had a structural MRI scan that was subsequently analyzed using voxel-based morphometry to quantify regional between-group differences in cerebral gray matter development, which were then related to attention measures using multivariate methods. VPT children obtained similar selective (p=.85), but poorer sustained (p=.02) and executive attention (p=.01) scores than FT children. VPT children were also characterized by reduced gray matter in the bilateral parietal, temporal, prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, bilateral thalami, and left hippocampus; and increased gray matter in the occipital and anterior cingulate cortices (family-wise error-corrected pregional gray matter development appear to contribute, at least in part, to the poorer attentional performance of VPT children at school age. (JINS, 2017, 23, 539-550).

  13. Internet-based interface for STRMDEPL08

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reeves, Howard W.; Asher, A. Jeremiah

    2010-01-01

    The core of the computer program STRMDEPL08 that estimates streamflow depletion by a pumping well with one of four analytical solutions was re-written in the Javascript software language and made available through an internet-based interface (web page). In the internet-based interface, the user enters data for one of the four analytical solutions, Glover and Balmer (1954), Hantush (1965), Hunt (1999), and Hunt (2003), and the solution is run for constant pumping for a desired number of simulation days. Results are returned in tabular form to the user. For intermittent pumping, the interface allows the user to request that the header information for an input file for the stand-alone executable STRMDEPL08 be created. The user would add the pumping information to this header information and run the STRMDEPL08 executable that is available for download through the U.S. Geological Survey. Results for the internet-based and stand-alone versions of STRMDEPL08 are shown to match.

  14. Physical activity in the elderly is associated with improved executive function and processing speed: the LADIS Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Frederiksen, K.S.; Verdelho, A.; Madureira, S.; Bazner, H.; O'Brien, J. T.; Fazekas, F.; Scheltens, P.; Schmidt, R.; Wallin, A.; Wahlund, L.O.; Erkinjunttii, T.; Poggesi, A.; Pantoni, L.; Inzitari, D.; Waldemar, G.

    2015-01-01

    Objectives Physical activity reduces the risk of cognitive decline but may affect cognitive domains differently. We examined whether physical activity modifies processing speed, executive function and memory in a population of non-dementia elderly subjects with age-related white matter changes

  15. Contamination of mushrooms with 137Cs on the territory of the Middle-Slovak Region in 2011

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Durecova, A.; Durec, F.; Auxtova, L.; Cechova, A.

    2011-01-01

    During the year 2011 in our laboratory were processed 64 samples of mushrooms growing in the wild. The 137 Cs has been established in most of the samples in separate headers and stamps of mushrooms. The highest activities of 137 Cs in the samples were fixed in mushrooms taken from the Skalka site at Kremnica. In the header of cyanosis mushroom (Boletus pulverulentus) subducted during October 18, 2011 from the locality Skalka-Kremnica was activity 190 Bq of 137 Cs/kg in fresh matter. (authors)

  16. Volumetric correlates of memory and executive function in normal elderly, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duarte, Audrey; Hayasaka, Satoru; Du, Antao; Schuff, Norbert; Jahng, Geon-Ho; Kramer, Joel; Miller, Bruce; Weiner, Michael

    2007-01-01

    In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), atrophy negatively impacts cognition while in healthy adults, inverse relationships between brain volume and cognition may occur. We investigated correlations between gray matter volume and cognition in elderly controls, AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients with memory and executive deficits. AD demonstrated substantial loss in temporal, parietal and frontal regions while MCI exhibited moderate volume loss in temporal and frontal regions. In controls, memory and executive function were negatively correlated with frontal regions, while in AD, memory was positively correlated with temporal and frontal gyri, and executive function with frontal regions. The combination of the two patterns may explain the lack of correlations in MCI. Developmental versus pathological contributions to these relationships are discussed. PMID:16904823

  17. White matter microstructure mediates the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and spatial working memory in older adults

    OpenAIRE

    Oberlin, Lauren E.; Verstynen, Timothy D.; Burzynska, Agnieszka Z.; Voss, Michelle W.; Prakash, Ruchika Shaurya; Chaddock-Heyman, Laura; Wong, Chelsea; Fanning, Jason; Awick, Elizabeth; Gothe, Neha; Phillips, Siobhan M.; Mailey, Emily; Ehlers, Diane; Olson, Erin; Wojcicki, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    White matter structure declines with advancing age and has been associated with a decline in memory and executive processes in older adulthood. Yet, recent research suggests that higher physical activity and fitness levels may be associated with less white matter degeneration in late life, although the tract-specificity of this relationship is not well understood. In addition, these prior studies infrequently associate measures of white matter microstructure to cognitive outcomes, so the beha...

  18. The effect of lifelong bilingualism on regional grey and white matter volume.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsen, Rosanna K; Pangelinan, Melissa M; Bogulski, Cari; Chakravarty, M Mallar; Luk, Gigi; Grady, Cheryl L; Bialystok, Ellen

    2015-07-01

    Lifelong bilingualism is associated with the delayed diagnosis of dementia, suggesting bilingual experience is relevant to brain health in aging. While the effects of bilingualism on cognitive functions across the lifespan are well documented, less is known about the neural substrates underlying differential behaviour. It is clear that bilingualism affects brain regions that mediate language abilities and that these regions are at least partially overlapping with those that exhibit age-related decline. Moreover, the behavioural advantages observed in bilingualism are generally found in executive function performance, suggesting that the frontal lobes may also be sensitive to bilingualism, which exhibit volume reductions with age. The current study investigated structural differences in the brain of lifelong bilingual older adults (n=14, mean age=70.4) compared with older monolinguals (n=14, mean age=70.6). We employed two analytic approaches: 1) we examined global differences in grey and white matter volumes; and, 2) we examined local differences in volume and cortical thickness of specific regions of interest previously implicated in bilingual/monolingual comparisons (temporal pole) or in aging (entorhinal cortex and hippocampus). We expected bilinguals would exhibit greater volume of the frontal lobe and temporal lobe (grey and white matter), given the importance of these regions in executive and language functions, respectively. We further hypothesized that regions in the medial temporal lobe, which demonstrate early changes in aging and exhibit neural pathology in dementia, would be more preserved in the bilingual group. As predicted, bilinguals exhibit greater frontal lobe white matter compared with monolinguals. Moreover, increasing age was related to decreasing temporal pole cortical thickness in the monolingual group, but no such relationship was observed for bilinguals. Finally, Stroop task performance was positively correlated with frontal lobe white

  19. Litigation to execution in legal labour relationships. Study case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dragos Lucian Radulescu

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Enforced execution is the legal way by which the Creditor under an enforceable order protects his rights by resorting to coercive force of the state. When the Debtor does not comply voluntarily, the Creditor may appeal to the Bailiff to commence the enforced execution in all manner prescribed by law. Of course, the start of compulsory execution is limited by the conditions of admissibility imperatively specified in the law, principally the condition to exist an enforceable order owned by the Creditor. Regarding the order to be enforced, it can be represented either by an enforceable or final judgement, with provisional enforcement or any other document that can be enforced. Procedurally, the provisions of Art.712 of the Civil Procedure Code allow the introduction by a Creditor who has a litigation to execution against the execution itself, against the Closures issued by the Bailiff, and against any other act of enforcement. Jurisdiction of the Court in this matter will be of the Executor Court or the Court in whose district the Debtor is situated, on the date of the appeal. The appeal of the Debtor questions the Parties not only over the acts of execution because the appeal is also allowed over the explanations relative to the meaning, scope or application of the enforceable order, but in the conditions limited by the legal nature of this order. Thus, according to the law when enforceable order is not issued by a Court or Arbitration may be invoked before an Executor Court including reasons of fact or law which could not be discussed during an earlier trial, in the first instance or in an appeal. Basically, if enforced execution is under an enforceable order that is not from a Court, these reasons can be invoked when there is no other processual mean for its abolition. There also can be submitted a complaint against the Closure by which was upheld the appeal for an enforced execution, and the act of execution concerning the division of the

  20. Black Lives Matter: A Call to Action for Counseling Psychology Leaders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowell, Candice; Mosley, Della; Falconer, Jameca; Faloughi, Reuben; Singh, Anneliese; Stevens-Watkins, Danelle; Cokley, Kevin

    2017-08-01

    Police brutality and widespread systemic racism represent historical and current sources of trauma in Black communities. Both the Black Lives Matter movement and counseling psychology propose to confront these realities at multiple levels. Black Lives Matter seeks to increase awareness about systemic racism and promote resilience among Black people. Counseling psychology states values of multiculturalism, social justice, and advocacy. Executive leadership in counseling psychology may seek to promote racial justice, yet struggle with how to participate in Black Lives Matter movements and address racial discrimination within larger systems spontaneously and consistently. However, counseling psychology trainees and professionals are actively involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, leading the way forward. Through the framework of spontaneity in social movements, this manuscript highlights what counseling psychologists are currently contributing to Black Lives Matter and makes recommendations that build on the opportunity counseling psychologists have for further involvement in the movement.

  1. Obesity Associated Cerebral Gray and White Matter Alterations Are Interrelated in the Female Brain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karsten Mueller

    Full Text Available Obesity is known to affect the brain's gray matter (GM and white matter (WM structure but the interrelationship of such changes remains unclear. Here we used T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI in combination with voxel-based morphometry (VBM and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI with tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS to assess the relationship between obesity-associated alterations of gray matter density (GMD and anisotropic water diffusion in WM, respectively. In a small cohort of lean to obese women, we confirmed previous reports of obesity-associated alterations of GMD in brain regions involved in executive control (i.e., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC and habit learning (i.e., dorsal striatum. Gray matter density alterations of the DLPFC were negatively correlated with radial diffusivity in the entire corpus callosum. Within the genu of the corpus callosum we found a positive correlation with axial diffusivity. In posterior region and inferior areas of the body of the corpus callosum, axial diffusivity correlated negatively with altered GMD in the dorsal striatum. These findings suggest that, in women, obesity-related alterations of GMD in brain regions involved in executive control and habit learning might relate to alterations of associated WM fiber bundles within the corpus callosum.

  2. Tabled Execution in Scheme

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Willcock, J J; Lumsdaine, A; Quinlan, D J

    2008-08-19

    Tabled execution is a generalization of memorization developed by the logic programming community. It not only saves results from tabled predicates, but also stores the set of currently active calls to them; tabled execution can thus provide meaningful semantics for programs that seemingly contain infinite recursions with the same arguments. In logic programming, tabled execution is used for many purposes, both for improving the efficiency of programs, and making tasks simpler and more direct to express than with normal logic programs. However, tabled execution is only infrequently applied in mainstream functional languages such as Scheme. We demonstrate an elegant implementation of tabled execution in Scheme, using a mix of continuation-passing style and mutable data. We also show the use of tabled execution in Scheme for a problem in formal language and automata theory, demonstrating that tabled execution can be a valuable tool for Scheme users.

  3. 29 CFR 471.20 - What authority under this part or Executive Order 13496 may the Secretary delegate, and under...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... to Labor OFFICE OF LABOR-MANAGEMENT STANDARDS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR NOTIFICATION OF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS UNDER FEDERAL LABOR LAWS OBLIGATIONS OF FEDERAL CONTRACTORS AND SUBCONTRACTORS; NOTIFICATION OF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS UNDER FEDERAL LABOR LAWS Ancillary Matters § 471.20 What authority under this part or Executive...

  4. Altered caudate connectivity is associated with executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Simoni, Sara; Jenkins, Peter O; Bourke, Niall J; Fleminger, Jessica J; Jolly, Amy E; Patel, Maneesh C; Leech, Robert; Sharp, David J

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Traumatic brain injury often produces executive dysfunction. This characteristic cognitive impairment often causes long-term problems with behaviour and personality. Frontal lobe injuries are associated with executive dysfunction, but it is unclear how these injuries relate to corticostriatal interactions that are known to play an important role in behavioural control. We hypothesized that executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury would be associated with abnormal corticostriatal interactions, a question that has not previously been investigated. We used structural and functional MRI measures of connectivity to investigate this. Corticostriatal functional connectivity in healthy individuals was initially defined using a data-driven approach. A constrained independent component analysis approach was applied in 100 healthy adult dataset from the Human Connectome Project. Diffusion tractography was also performed to generate white matter tracts. The output of this analysis was used to compare corticostriatal functional connectivity and structural integrity between groups of 42 patients with traumatic brain injury and 21 age-matched controls. Subdivisions of the caudate and putamen had distinct patterns of functional connectivity. Traumatic brain injury patients showed disruption to functional connectivity between the caudate and a distributed set of cortical regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex. Cognitive impairments in the patients were mainly seen in processing speed and executive function, as well as increased levels of apathy and fatigue. Abnormalities of caudate functional connectivity correlated with these cognitive impairments, with reductions in right caudate connectivity associated with increased executive dysfunction, information processing speed and memory impairment. Structural connectivity, measured using diffusion tensor imaging between the caudate and anterior cingulate cortex was impaired and this also correlated with

  5. First application of a partially automated road header at Prosper-Haniel colliery; Ersteinsatz einer teilautomatisierten Teilschnittmaschine auf dem Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reinewardt, Klaus-Juergen [Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel, Bottrop (Germany). Betrieb Produktion; Achilles, Peter [RAG Deutsche Steinkohle AG, Herne (Germany). Abt. PPE-V Vorleistungstechnik

    2010-09-15

    Mechanical road heading in the RAG Deutsche Steinkohle mines makes use of AM 105 road headers. Within the scope of an EU-subsidised R and D project the machine has been subjected to an automation of its control features and an integration of sensors for seam position identification and for navigation. The focal points of the automation are: - the scheduled performance of automated cutting operations, - the adherence to a defined loading height due to seam position identification and - the incorporation of first auxiliary functions for navigation (position sensing). In addition, the machine is expected to determine its respective functional state and recognised potential functional faults by itself, and - subject to its present load condition - it is to deliver the basis for a maintenance scheme geared to its current condition. This paper describes above-mentioned development steps and reports on the experience gathered in the underground use of that machine in the Prosper-Haniel colliery. (orig.)

  6. White matter integrity in dyskinetic cerebral palsy: Relationship with intelligence quotient and executive function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga Laporta-Hoyos

    2017-01-01

    Conclusion: The widespread loss in the integrity of WM tissue is mainly located in the parietal lobe and related to IQ in dyskinetic CP. Unexpectedly, executive functions are only related with WM microstructure in regions containing fronto-cortical and posterior cortico-subcortical pathways, and not being specifically related to the state of fronto-striatal pathways which might be due to brain reorganization. Further studies of this nature may improve our understanding of the neurobiological bases of cognitive impairments after early brain insult.

  7. Fathers matter: The role of father parenting in preschoolers' executive function development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meuwissen, Alyssa S; Carlson, Stephanie M

    2015-12-01

    Although previous work has shown that mothers' parenting influences the development of child executive function (EF; important self-control skills developed during the preschool years), the role of fathers' parenting has not been thoroughly investigated. We observed fathers' autonomy support and control in dyadic play with their 3-year-old children (N pairs=110) and measured father and child EF independently with laboratory tasks. We found that fathers' controlling parenting was significantly inversely related to the child EF composite, above and beyond family income and child verbal ability. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that fathers are important for the development of EF in their children and suggest that fathers should be included in both research and parenting interventions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Gray matter volume covariance patterns associated with gait speed in older adults: a multi-cohort MRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blumen, Helena M; Brown, Lucy L; Habeck, Christian; Allali, Gilles; Ayers, Emmeline; Beauchet, Olivier; Callisaya, Michele; Lipton, Richard B; Mathuranath, P S; Phan, Thanh G; Pradeep Kumar, V G; Srikanth, Velandai; Verghese, Joe

    2018-04-09

    Accelerated gait decline in aging is associated with many adverse outcomes, including an increased risk for falls, cognitive decline, and dementia. Yet, the brain structures associated with gait speed, and how they relate to specific cognitive domains, are not well-understood. We examined structural brain correlates of gait speed, and how they relate to processing speed, executive function, and episodic memory in three non-demented and community-dwelling older adult cohorts (Overall N = 352), using voxel-based morphometry and multivariate covariance-based statistics. In all three cohorts, we identified gray matter volume covariance patterns associated with gait speed that included brain stem, precuneus, fusiform, motor, supplementary motor, and prefrontal (particularly ventrolateral prefrontal) cortex regions. Greater expression of these gray matter volume covariance patterns linked to gait speed were associated with better processing speed in all three cohorts, and with better executive function in one cohort. These gray matter covariance patterns linked to gait speed were not associated with episodic memory in any of the cohorts. These findings suggest that gait speed, processing speed (and to some extent executive functions) rely on shared neural systems that are subject to age-related and dementia-related change. The implications of these findings are discussed within the context of the development of interventions to compensate for age-related gait and cognitive decline.

  9. 5 CFR 842.211 - Senior Executive Service, Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service, and Senior Cryptologic...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Senior Executive Service, Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service, and Senior Cryptologic Executive Service. 842.211 Section 842.211... EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM-BASIC ANNUITY Eligibility § 842.211 Senior Executive Service, Defense...

  10. Neutron star evolutions using tabulated equations of state with a new execution model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Matthew; Kaiser, Hartmut; Neilsen, David; Sterling, Thomas

    2012-03-01

    The addition of nuclear and neutrino physics to general relativistic fluid codes allows for a more realistic description of hot nuclear matter in neutron star and black hole systems. This additional microphysics requires that each processor have access to large tables of data, such as equations of state, and in large simulations the memory required to store these tables locally can become excessive unless an alternative execution model is used. In this talk we present neutron star evolution results obtained using a message driven multi-threaded execution model known as ParalleX as an alternative to using a hybrid MPI-OpenMP approach. ParalleX provides the user a new way of computation based on message-driven flow control coordinated by lightweight synchronization elements which improves scalability and simplifies code development. We present the spectrum of radial pulsation frequencies for a neutron star with the Shen equation of state using the ParalleX execution model. We present performance results for an open source, distributed, nonblocking ParalleX-based tabulated equation of state component capable of handling tables that may even be too large to read into the memory of a single node.

  11. Disrupted white matter structure underlies cognitive deficit in hypertensive patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Xin; Ma, Chao; Zhang, Junying; Chen, Yaojing; Zhang, Zhanjun; Sun, Xuan; Chen, Kewei

    2016-01-01

    Hypertension is considered a risk factor of cognitive impairments and could result in white matter changes. Current studies on hypertension-related white matter (WM) changes focus only on regional changes, and the information about global changes in WM structure network is limited. We assessed the cognitive function in 39 hypertensive patients and 37 healthy controls with a battery of neuropsychological tests. The WM structural networks were constructed by utilizing diffusion tensor tractography and calculated topological properties of the networks using a graph theoretical method. The direct and indirect correlations among cognitive impairments, brain WM network disruptions and hypertension were analyzed with structural equation modelling (SEM). Hypertensive patients showed deficits in executive function, memory and attention compared with controls. An aberrant connectivity of WM networks was found in the hypertensive patients (P Eglob = 0.005, P Lp = 0.005), especially in the frontal and parietal regions. Importantly, SEM analysis showed that the decline of executive function resulted from aberrant WM networks in hypertensive patients (p = 0.3788, CFI = 0.99). These results suggest that the cognitive decline in hypertensive patients was due to frontal and parietal WM disconnections. Our findings highlight the importance of brain protection in hypertension patients. (orig.)

  12. White matter correlates of cognitive domains in normal aging with diffusion tensor imaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Efrat eSasson

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The ability to perform complex as well as simple cognitive tasks engages a network of brain regions that is mediated by the white matter fiber bundles connecting them. Different cognitive tasks employ distinctive white matter fiber bundles. The temporal lobe and its projections subserve a variety of key functions known to deteriorate during aging. In a cohort of 52 healthy subjects (ages 25-82 years, we performed voxel-wise regression analysis correlating performance in higher-order cognitive domains (executive function, information processing speed, and memory with white matter integrity, as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI fiber tracking in the temporal lobe projections (uncinate fasciculus (UF, fornix, cingulum, inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF, and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF. The fiber tracts were spatially registered and statistical parametric maps were produced to spatially localize the significant correlations. Results showed that performance in the executive function domain is correlated with DTI parameters in the left SLF and right UF; performance in the information processing speed domain is correlated with fractional anisotropy (FA in the left cingulum, left fornix, right and left ILF and SLF; and the memory domain shows significant correlations with DTI parameters in the right fornix, right cingulum, left ILF, left SLF and right UF. These findings suggest that DTI tractography enables anatomical definition of region of interest for correlation of behavioral parameters with diffusion indices, and functionality can be correlated with white matter integrity.

  13. Commentary: Mentoring the mentor: executive coaching for clinical departmental executive officers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geist, Lois J; Cohen, Michael B

    2010-01-01

    Departmental executive officers (DEOs), department chairs, and department heads in medical schools are often hired on the basis of their accomplishments in research as well as their skills in administration, management, and leadership. These individuals are also expected to be expert in multiple areas, including negotiation, finance and budgeting, mentoring, and personnel management. At the same time, they are expected to maintain and perhaps even enhance their personal academic standing for the purposes of raising the level of departmental and institutional prestige and for recruiting the next generation of physicians and scientists. In the corporate world, employers understand the importance of training new leaders in requisite skill enhancement that will lead to success in their new positions. These individuals are often provided with extensive executive training to develop the necessary competencies to make them successful leaders. Among the tools employed for this purpose are the use of personal coaches or executive training courses. The authors propose that the use of executive coaching in academic medicine may be of benefit for new DEOs. Experience using an executive coach suggests that this was a valuable growth experience for new leaders in the institution.

  14. Single-instruction multiple-data execution

    CERN Document Server

    Hughes, Christopher J

    2015-01-01

    Having hit power limitations to even more aggressive out-of-order execution in processor cores, many architects in the past decade have turned to single-instruction-multiple-data (SIMD) execution to increase single-threaded performance. SIMD execution, or having a single instruction drive execution of an identical operation on multiple data items, was already well established as a technique to efficiently exploit data parallelism. Furthermore, support for it was already included in many commodity processors. However, in the past decade, SIMD execution has seen a dramatic increase in the set of

  15. Neonatal white matter abnormalities an important predictor of neurocognitive outcome for very preterm children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lianne J Woodward

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Cerebral white matter abnormalities on term MRI are a strong predictor of motor disability in children born very preterm. However, their contribution to cognitive impairment is less certain. OBJECTIVE: Examine relationships between the presence and severity of cerebral white matter abnormalities on neonatal MRI and a range of neurocognitive outcomes assessed at ages 4 and 6 years. DESIGN/METHODS: The study sample consisted of a regionally representative cohort of 104 very preterm (≤32 weeks gestation infants born from 1998-2000 and a comparison group of 107 full-term infants. At term equivalent, all preterm infants underwent a structural MRI scan that was analyzed qualitatively for the presence and severity of cerebral white matter abnormalities, including cysts, signal abnormalities, loss of white matter volume, ventriculomegaly, and corpus callosal thinning/myelination. At corrected ages 4 and 6 years, all children underwent a comprehensive neurodevelopmental assessment that included measures of general intellectual ability, language development, and executive functioning. RESULTS: At 4 and 6 years, very preterm children without cerebral white matter abnormalities showed no apparent neurocognitive impairments relative to their full-term peers on any of the domain specific measures of intelligence, language, and executive functioning. In contrast, children born very preterm with mild and moderate-to-severe white matter abnormalities were characterized by performance impairments across all measures and time points, with more severe cerebral abnormalities being associated with increased risks of cognitive impairment. These associations persisted after adjustment for gender, neonatal medical risk factors, and family social risk. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the importance of cerebral white matter connectivity for later intact cognitive functioning amongst children born very preterm. Preterm born children without cerebral white

  16. White matter microstructure alterations: a study of alcoholics with and without post-traumatic stress disorder.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caitlin A Durkee

    Full Text Available Many brain imaging studies have demonstrated reductions in gray and white matter volumes in alcoholism, with fewer investigators using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI to examine the integrity of white matter pathways. Among various medical conditions, alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD are two comorbid diseases that have similar degenerative effects on the white matter integrity. Therefore, understanding and differentiating these effects would be very important in characterizing alcoholism and PTSD. Alcoholics are known to have neurocognitive deficits in decision-making, particularly in decisions related to emotionally-motivated behavior, while individuals with PTSD have deficits in emotional regulation and enhanced fear response. It is widely believed that these types of abnormalities in both alcoholism and PTSD are related to fronto-limbic dysfunction. In addition, previous studies have shown cortico-limbic fiber degradation through fiber tracking in alcoholism. DTI was used to measure white matter fractional anisotropy (FA, which provides information about tissue microstructure, possibly indicating white matter integrity. We quantitatively investigated the microstructure of white matter through whole brain DTI analysis in healthy volunteers (HV and alcohol dependent subjects without PTSD (ALC and with PTSD (ALC+PTSD. These data show significant differences in FA between alcoholics and non-alcoholic HVs, with no significant differences in FA between ALC and ALC+PTSD in any white matter structure. We performed a post-hoc region of interest analysis that allowed us to incorporate multiple covariates into the analysis and found similar results. HV had higher FA in several areas implicated in the reward circuit, emotion, and executive functioning, suggesting that there may be microstructural abnormalities in white matter pathways that contribute to neurocognitive and executive functioning deficits observed in alcoholics. Furthermore

  17. Physical activity in the elderly is associated with improved executive function and processing speed

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frederiksen, Kristian Steen; Verdelho, Ana; Madureira, Sofia

    2015-01-01

    or dementia, were included. Multiple variable linear regression analysis with baseline MMSE, education, gender, age, stroke, diabetes and ARWMC rating as covariates revealed that physical activity was associated with better scores at baseline and 3-year follow-up for executive function (baseline: β: 0.39, 95......OBJECTIVES: Physical activity reduces the risk of cognitive decline but may affect cognitive domains differently. We examined whether physical activity modifies processing speed, executive function and memory in a population of non-dementia elderly subjects with age-related white matter changes......-year follow-up. Physical activity was assessed at baseline, and cognitive compound scores at baseline and 3-year assessment were used. RESULTS: Two-hundred-eighty-two subjects (age, y (mean (SD)): 73.1 (± 5.1); gender (f/m): 164/118); MMSE (mean (SD)): 28.3 (± 1.7)) who had not progressed to MCI...

  18. Altered caudate connectivity is associated with executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Simoni, Sara; Jenkins, Peter O; Bourke, Niall J; Fleminger, Jessica J; Hellyer, Peter J; Jolly, Amy E; Patel, Maneesh C; Cole, James H; Leech, Robert; Sharp, David J

    2018-01-01

    Traumatic brain injury often produces executive dysfunction. This characteristic cognitive impairment often causes long-term problems with behaviour and personality. Frontal lobe injuries are associated with executive dysfunction, but it is unclear how these injuries relate to corticostriatal interactions that are known to play an important role in behavioural control. We hypothesized that executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury would be associated with abnormal corticostriatal interactions, a question that has not previously been investigated. We used structural and functional MRI measures of connectivity to investigate this. Corticostriatal functional connectivity in healthy individuals was initially defined using a data-driven approach. A constrained independent component analysis approach was applied in 100 healthy adult dataset from the Human Connectome Project. Diffusion tractography was also performed to generate white matter tracts. The output of this analysis was used to compare corticostriatal functional connectivity and structural integrity between groups of 42 patients with traumatic brain injury and 21 age-matched controls. Subdivisions of the caudate and putamen had distinct patterns of functional connectivity. Traumatic brain injury patients showed disruption to functional connectivity between the caudate and a distributed set of cortical regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex. Cognitive impairments in the patients were mainly seen in processing speed and executive function, as well as increased levels of apathy and fatigue. Abnormalities of caudate functional connectivity correlated with these cognitive impairments, with reductions in right caudate connectivity associated with increased executive dysfunction, information processing speed and memory impairment. Structural connectivity, measured using diffusion tensor imaging between the caudate and anterior cingulate cortex was impaired and this also correlated with measures of

  19. Executive Orders from 1994-2013

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Archives and Records Administration — The President of the United States manages the operations of the Executive branch of Government through Executive orders. After the President signs an Executive...

  20. 75 FR 55574 - Joint Public Roundtable on Swap Execution Facilities and Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-13

    ...; File No. 4-612] Joint Public Roundtable on Swap Execution Facilities and Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'') and Securities and Exchange Commission... discuss swap execution facilities and security-based swap execution facilities in the context of certain...

  1. Reconfiguration of brain network architecture to support executive control in aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallen, Courtney L; Turner, Gary R; Adnan, Areeba; D'Esposito, Mark

    2016-08-01

    Aging is accompanied by declines in executive control abilities and changes in underlying brain network architecture. Here, we examined brain networks in young and older adults during a task-free resting state and an N-back task and investigated age-related changes in the modular network organization of the brain. Compared with young adults, older adults showed larger changes in network organization between resting state and task. Although young adults exhibited increased connectivity between lateral frontal regions and other network modules during the most difficult task condition, older adults also exhibited this pattern of increased connectivity during less-demanding task conditions. Moreover, the increase in between-module connectivity in older adults was related to faster task performance and greater fractional anisotropy of the superior longitudinal fasciculus. These results demonstrate that older adults who exhibit more pronounced network changes between a resting state and task have better executive control performance and greater structural connectivity of a core frontal-posterior white matter pathway. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Concurrent Models for Object Execution

    OpenAIRE

    Diertens, Bob

    2012-01-01

    In previous work we developed a framework of computational models for the concurrent execution of functions on different levels of abstraction. It shows that the traditional sequential execution of function is just a possible implementation of an abstract computational model that allows for the concurrent execution of functions. We use this framework as base for the development of abstract computational models that allow for the concurrent execution of objects.

  3. Executive Energy Leadership Academy | NREL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Executive Energy Leadership Academy Executive Energy Leadership Academy NREL's Executive Energy Leadership Academy is a nationally renowned program that provides non-technical business, governmental, and foreground. Leadership Program The Leadership Program is designed for community and industry leaders with an

  4. Educating Executive Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blair, Clancy

    2016-01-01

    Executive functions are thinking skills that assist with reasoning, planning, problem solving, and managing one’s life. The brain areas that underlie these skills are interconnected with and influenced by activity in many different brain areas, some of which are associated with emotion and stress. One consequence of the stress-specific connections is that executive functions, which help us to organize our thinking, tend to be disrupted when stimulation is too high and we are stressed out, or too low when we are bored and lethargic. Given their central role in reasoning and also in managing stress and emotion, scientists have conducted studies, primarily with adults, to determine whether executive functions can be improved by training. By and large, results have shown that they can be, in part through computer-based videogame-like activities. Evidence of wider, more general benefits from such computer-based training, however, is mixed. Accordingly, scientists have reasoned that training will have wider benefits if it is implemented early, with very young children as the neural circuitry of executive functions is developing, and that it will be most effective if embedded in children’s everyday activities. Evidence produced by this research, however, is also mixed. In sum, much remains to be learned about executive function training. Without question, however, continued research on this important topic will yield valuable information about cognitive development. PMID:27906522

  5. The longitudinal development of social and executive functions in late adolescence and early adulthood

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sophie Jane Taylor

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Our earlier work suggests that executive functions and social cognition show protracted development into late adolescence and early adulthood (Taylor, Barker, Heavey and McHale, 2013. However, it remains unknown whether these functions develop linearly or non-linearly corresponding to dynamic changes to white matter density at these age ranges. Executive functions are particularly in demand during the transition to independence and autonomy associated with this age range (Ahmed and Miller, 2011. Previous research examining executive function (Romine and Reynolds, 2005 and social cognition (Dumontheil, Apperly and Blakemore, 2010 in late adolescence has utilised a cross sectional design. The current study employed a longitudinal design with 58 participants aged 17, 18 and 19 years completing social cognition and executive function tasks, Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (Wechsler, 1999, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark and Tellegen, 1988 and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond and Snaith, 1983 at Time 1 with follow up testing 12 to 16 months later. Inhibition, rule detection, strategy generation and planning executive functions and emotion recognition with dynamic stimuli showed longitudinal development between time points. Self-report empathy and emotion recognition functions using visual static and auditory stimuli were stable by age 17 whereas concept formation declined between time points. The protracted development of some functions may reflect continued brain maturation into late adolescence and early adulthood including synaptic pruning (Sowell, Thompson, Tessner and Toga, 2001 and changes to functional connectivity (Stevens, Kiehl, Pearlson and Calhouln, 2007 and/or environmental change. Clinical implications, such as assessing the effectiveness of rehabilitation following Head Injury, are discussed.

  6. Correlations between measures of executive attention and cortical thickness of left posterior middle frontal gyrus - a dichotic listening study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lundervold Arvid

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The frontal lobe has been associated to a wide range of cognitive control functions and is also vulnerable to degeneration in old age. A recent study by Thomsen and colleagues showed a difference between a young and old sample in grey matter density and activation in the left middle frontal cortex (MFC and performance on a dichotic listening task. The present study investigated this brain behaviour association within a sample of healthy older individuals, and predicted a positive correlation between performance in a condition requiring executive attention and measures of grey matter structure of the posterior left MFC. Methods A dichotic listening forced attention paradigm was used to measure attention control functions. Subjects were instructed to report only the left or the right ear syllable of a dichotically presented consonant-vowel syllable pair. A conflict situation appears when subjects are instructed to report the left ear stimulus, caused by the conflict with the bottom-up, stimulus-driven right ear advantage. Overcoming this processing conflict was used as a measure of executive attention. Thickness and volumes of frontal lobe regions were derived from automated segmentation of 3D magnetic resonance image acquisitions. Results The results revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between the thickness measure of the left posterior MFC and performance on the dichotic listening measures of executive attention. Follow-up analyses showed that this correlation was only statistically significant in the subgroup that showed the typical bottom-up, stimulus-driven right ear advantage. Conclusion The results suggest that the left MFC is a part of an executive attention network, and that the dichotic listening forced attention paradigm may be a feasible tool for assessing subtle attentional dysfunctions in older adults.

  7. Balanced bilingualism and early age of second language acquisition as the underlying mechanisms of a bilingual executive control advantage: Why variations in bilingual experiences matter.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. Quin eYow

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-year-old English-Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number-letter switching and n-back task that measure the executive function components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages on the Stroop and number-letter task (mixing cost only, indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related executive functions such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global

  8. Spaceborne computer executive routine functional design specification. Volume 2: Computer executive design for space station/base

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kennedy, J. R.; Fitzpatrick, W. S.

    1971-01-01

    The computer executive functional system design concepts derived from study of the Space Station/Base are presented. Information Management System hardware configuration as directly influencing the executive design is reviewed. The hardware configuration and generic executive design requirements are considered in detail in a previous report (System Configuration and Executive Requirements Specifications for Reusable Shuttle and Space Station/Base, 9/25/70). This report defines basic system primitives and delineates processes and process control. Supervisor states are considered for describing basic multiprogramming and multiprocessing systems. A high-level computer executive including control of scheduling, allocation of resources, system interactions, and real-time supervisory functions is defined. The description is oriented to provide a baseline for a functional simulation of the computer executive system.

  9. Teaching Celia in the Age of Black Lives Matter

    OpenAIRE

    Brandon R. Byrd

    2016-01-01

    The emergence of Black Lives Matter has introduced a language of black liberation to a new generation of students. In doing so, it has provided an opportunity for historical study. Teacher-scholars can and should take advantage of the renewed interest in systemic threats to black life in the United States when teaching about past victims of state-sanctioned violence including Celia, an enslaved teenager executed for killing her master after years of sexual abuse. In doing so, they can not onl...

  10. A competence executive coaching model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pieter Koortzen

    2010-07-01

    Research purpose: The purpose of this article is to address the training and development needs of these consulting psychologists by presenting a competence executive coaching model for the planning, implementation and evaluation of executive coaching interventions. Research design, approach and method: The study was conducted while one of the authors was involved in teaching doctoral students in consulting psychology and executive coaching, specifically in the USA. The approach involved a literature review of executive coaching models and a qualitative study using focus groups to develop and evaluate the competence executive coaching model. Main findings: The literature review provided scant evidence of competence executive coaching models and there seems to be a specific need for this in the training of coaches in South Africa. Hence the model that was developed is an attempt to provide trainers with a structured model for the training of coaches. Contribution/value-add: The uniqueness of this competence model is not only described in terms of the six distinct coaching intervention phases, but also the competencies required in each.

  11. Educating executive function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blair, Clancy

    2017-01-01

    Executive functions are thinking skills that assist with reasoning, planning, problem solving, and managing one's life. The brain areas that underlie these skills are interconnected with and influenced by activity in many different brain areas, some of which are associated with emotion and stress. One consequence of the stress-specific connections is that executive functions, which help us to organize our thinking, tend to be disrupted when stimulation is too high and we are stressed out, or too low when we are bored and lethargic. Given their central role in reasoning and also in managing stress and emotion, scientists have conducted studies, primarily with adults, to determine whether executive functions can be improved by training. By and large, results have shown that they can be, in part through computer-based videogame-like activities. Evidence of wider, more general benefits from such computer-based training, however, is mixed. Accordingly, scientists have reasoned that training will have wider benefits if it is implemented early, with very young children as the neural circuitry of executive functions is developing, and that it will be most effective if embedded in children's everyday activities. Evidence produced by this research, however, is also mixed. In sum, much remains to be learned about executive function training. Without question, however, continued research on this important topic will yield valuable information about cognitive development. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1403. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1403 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. White matter atrophy and cognitive dysfunctions in neuromyelitis optica.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frederic Blanc

    Full Text Available Neuromyelitis optica (NMO is an inflammatory disease of central nervous system characterized by optic neuritis and longitudinally extensive acute transverse myelitis. NMO patients have cognitive dysfunctions but other clinical symptoms of brain origin are rare. In the present study, we aimed to investigate cognitive functions and brain volume in NMO. The study population consisted of 28 patients with NMO and 28 healthy control subjects matched for age, sex and educational level. We applied a French translation of the Brief Repeatable Battery (BRB-N to the NMO patients. Using SIENAx for global brain volume (Grey Matter, GM; White Matter, WM; and whole brain and VBM for focal brain volume (GM and WM, NMO patients and controls were compared. Voxel-level correlations between diminished brain concentration and cognitive performance for each tests were performed. Focal and global brain volume of NMO patients with and without cognitive impairment were also compared. Fifteen NMO patients (54% had cognitive impairment with memory, executive function, attention and speed of information processing deficits. Global and focal brain atrophy of WM but not Grey Matter (GM was found in the NMO patients group. The focal WM atrophy included the optic chiasm, pons, cerebellum, the corpus callosum and parts of the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, including superior longitudinal fascicle. Visual memory, verbal memory, speed of information processing, short-term memory and executive functions were correlated to focal WM volumes. The comparison of patients with, to patients without cognitive impairment showed a clear decrease of global and focal WM, including brainstem, corticospinal tracts, corpus callosum but also superior and inferior longitudinal fascicles. Cognitive impairment in NMO patients is correlated to the decreased of global and focal WM volume of the brain. Further studies are needed to better understand the precise origin of cognitive impairment in

  13. Essays in Executive Compensation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D. Zhang (Dan)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractThis dissertation focuses on how executive compensation is designed and its implications for corporate finance and government regulations. Chapter 2 analyzes several proposals to restrict CEO compensation and calibrates two models of executive compensation that describe how firms would

  14. Executive dysfunction correlates with caudate nucleus atrophy in patients with white matter changes on MRI: A subset of LADIS

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Macfarlane, Matthew Duncan; Looi, Jeffrey Chee Leong; Walterfang, Mark

    2013-01-01

    and falls in cross-sectional and follow-up studies. Frontostriatal (or frontosubcortical) brain circuits may serve many of these functions, with the caudate nuclei playing a role in convergence of cognitive functions. This study aimed to determine whether reduced caudate volume relates to cognitive...... functions (executive functions, memory functions and speed of processing) and WMC. We determined caudate nuclei volumes, through manual tracing, on a subgroup of the LADIS study (n=66) from four centres with baseline and 3-year follow-up MRI scans. Regression analysis was used to assess relationships...... between caudate volume, cognitive function and WMC. Severity of WMC did not relate to caudate volume. Smaller caudate volumes were significantly associated with poorer executive functioning at baseline and at 3 years, but were not associated with scores of memory or speed of processing. Thus, in patients...

  15. Uncertainty analysis of the 35% reactor inlet header break in a CANDU 6 reactor using RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.0 with integrated uncertainty analysis option

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dupleac, D.; Perez, M.; Reventos, F.; Allison, C.

    2011-01-01

    user-selected parameters including code embedded correlations and models such as the wall-to-fluid heat transfer package, executes the code runs to propagate the uncertainty through, and processes the output data to derive the tolerance interval defining the uncertainty region. This paper includes a: 1. Brief description of RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.0(IUA) and associated CANDU 6 base input model for the 35% reactor inlet header (RIH) break scenario, 2. Discussion of the safety criteria, relevant phenomena, and associated code parameters used in the uncertainty analysis, 3. Discussion and conclusions for the RIH transient and associated uncertainties. (author)

  16. Uncertainty analysis of the 35% reactor inlet header break in a CANDU 6 reactor using RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.0 with integrated uncertainty analysis option

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dupleac, D., E-mail: danieldu@cne.pub.ro [Politehnica Univ. of Bucharest (Romania); Perez, M.; Reventos, F., E-mail: marina.perez@upc.edu, E-mail: francesc.reventos@upc.edu [Technical Univ. of Catalonia (Spain); Allison, C., E-mail: iss@cableone.net [Innovative Systems Software (United States)

    2011-07-01

    user-selected parameters including code embedded correlations and models such as the wall-to-fluid heat transfer package, executes the code runs to propagate the uncertainty through, and processes the output data to derive the tolerance interval defining the uncertainty region. This paper includes a: 1. Brief description of RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.0(IUA) and associated CANDU 6 base input model for the 35% reactor inlet header (RIH) break scenario, 2. Discussion of the safety criteria, relevant phenomena, and associated code parameters used in the uncertainty analysis, 3. Discussion and conclusions for the RIH transient and associated uncertainties. (author)

  17. An indirect search for dark matter using antideuterons: the GAPS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hailey, C J

    2009-01-01

    The general antiparticle spectrometer (GAPS) experiment is an indirect dark matter search. GAPS detects the antideuterons produced in WIMP-WIMP annihilation, a generic feature in many theories beyond the Standard Model. Antideuterons are a nearly background free signature of exotic physics. GAPS has substantial discovery potential for dark matter within the minimal supersymmetric model and its extensions, and models with universal extra dimensions. GAPS complements underground experiments, reaching parts of supersymmetric parameter space unavailable to them, and working to better constrain the properties of dark matter where they overlap in parameter space. GAPS is designed to be launched from a balloon. GAPS is funded for a prototype flight in 2011, to be followed by a long duration balloon flight to execute its science program. We discuss recent theoretical investigations on antideuteron searches, and their implications for experiment design. We describe the GAPS experiment placing particular emphasis on recent investigations that represent technical or conceptual extensions of the original GAPS concept.

  18. Executive functioning in pre-school children with autism spectrum disorders: The relationship between executive functioning and language

    OpenAIRE

    Linnerud, Ida Cathrine Wang

    2014-01-01

    Background: Executive function difficulties are prevalent in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and there are several indications of a modifying relationship between executive functions and language in children. However, there is limited research on the relationship between executive functioning and language in young children with ASD. The current study compared real-world executive functioning between groups of children with ASD, language disorders (LD), and typical development (T...

  19. Television and children's executive function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lillard, Angeline S; Li, Hui; Boguszewski, Katie

    2015-01-01

    Children spend a lot of time watching television on its many platforms: directly, online, and via videos and DVDs. Many researchers are concerned that some types of television content appear to negatively influence children's executive function. Because (1) executive function predicts key developmental outcomes, (2) executive function appears to be influenced by some television content, and (3) American children watch large quantities of television (including the content of concern), the issues discussed here comprise a crucial public health issue. Further research is needed to reveal exactly what television content is implicated, what underlies television's effect on executive function, how long the effect lasts, and who is affected. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Assessing Executive Functioning: A Pragmatic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hass, Michael R.; Patterson, Ashlea; Sukraw, Jocelyn; Sullivan, Brianna M.

    2014-01-01

    Despite the common usage of the term "executive functioning" in neuropsychology, several aspects of this concept remain unsettled. In this paper, we will address some of the issues surrounding the notion of executive functioning and how an understanding of executive functioning and its components might assist school-based practitioners…

  1. Guidelines for Automation Project Execution

    OpenAIRE

    Takkinen, Heidi

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to create instructions for executing an automation project. Sarlin Oy Ab needed directions on how to execute an automation project. Sarlin is starting up a new business area offering total project solutions for customers. Sarlin focuses on small and minor automation projects on domestic markets. The thesis represents issues related to project execution starting from the theory of the project to its kick-off and termination. Site work is one importan...

  2. 40 CFR 68.155 - Executive summary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 15 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Executive summary. 68.155 Section 68...) CHEMICAL ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Risk Management Plan § 68.155 Executive summary. The owner or operator shall provide in the RMP an executive summary that includes a brief description of the following...

  3. Executions in The Bahamas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lofquist, William Steele

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The stories of those who have been executed in the Bahamas are heretofore untold. In telling these stories and in linking them to the changing course of Bahamian history, the present research adds an important dimension to our understanding of Bahamian history and politics. The major theme of this effort is that the changing practice of the death penalty is much more than a consequence of changes in crime. The use of the death penalty parallels the changing interests of colonial rulers, the changing practice of slavery, and the changing role of the Bahamas in colonial and regional affairs. Four distinctive eras of death penalty practice can be identified: (1 the slave era, where executions and commutations were used liberally and with a clear racial patterning; (2 a long era of stable colonialism, a period of marginalization and few executions; (3 an era of unstable colonialism characterized by intensive and efficient use of the death penalty; and (4 the current independence era of high murder rates and equally high impediments to the use of executions.

  4. Using Cyber Capabilities to Inform and Influence

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-01

    to locating landmarks, or we could use e-mail headers. No matter what service you use to send e-mail—G-mail, Hotmail , Outlook—an outbound IP Address...markets do not host e-mail servers, so many customers use services such as Gmail, Hotmail , or Yahoo. Another way of delivering e-mail to a specific

  5. Low pre-existing gray matter volume in the medial temporal lobe and white matter lesions are associated with postoperative cognitive dysfunction after cardiac surgery.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kengo Maekawa

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD is recognized as a complication in the elderly after cardiac surgery. Imaging of the brain provides evidence of neurodegeneration in elderly patients; however, abnormalities in brain structure and their relation to POCD are uncertain. This pilot study investigated whether loss of gray matter in the bilateral medial temporal lobe (MTL, seen in preoperative MRI, was associated with POCD. METHODS: Data were collected prospectively on 28 elderly patients scheduled for elective cardiac surgery. MRI of the brains of all patients were assessed for prior cerebral infarctions, and carotid and intracranial arterial stenosis. Patients also completed six neuropsychological tests of memory, attention and executive function before and after surgery. POCD was defined as an individual decrease in more than two tests of at least 1 standard deviation from the group baseline mean for that test. The degree of gray matter loss in the MTL of each patient was calculated using voxel-based morphometry with three-dimensional, T1-weighted MRI. This represented the degree of gray matter change as a Z score. RESULTS: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction was identified in 8 of the 28 patients (29%. Patients with POCD had significantly more white matter lesions on MRI, and greater loss of gray matter in the bilateral MTL (average Z score 2.0±0.9 than patients without POCD. An analysis by stepwise logistic regression identified gray matter loss in the MTL and cerebral infarctions on MRI as independent predictors of POCD. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggested that reduced gray matter in the bilateral MTL and white matter lesions existed in brains of elderly cardiac surgery patients who experienced POCD. Additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings.

  6. How Do South Korean Female Executives' Definitions of Career Success Differ from Those of Male Executives?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Yonjoo; Park, Jiwon; Han, Soo Jeoung; Ju, Boreum; You, Jieun; Ju, Ahreum; Park, Chan Kyun; Park, Hye Young

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare South Korean female executives' definitions of career success with those of male executives, identify their career development strategies for success and provide implications for research and practice. Two research questions guiding our inquiry included: How do female executives' definitions of…

  7. Validating the Executive Personal Finance Scale with Financial Investments and Expectations in University Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Bijou; Lester, David

    2016-06-01

    The validity of the Executive Personal Finance Scale (EPFS) was tested in a sample of 93 undergraduate students (31 men, 62 women; M age = 20.5 years, SD = 1.3, range = 18-24). Scores on the Motivation drive, Organization, and Planning subscales of this scale were associated with having a savings account, owning bank CDs, and self-estimated knowledge about financial matters, while scores on the Impulse control and Motivational drive subscales were associated with expectations for a satisfactory retirement income. The results provide support for the validity of the EPFS. © The Author(s) 2016.

  8. Total Cerebral Small Vessel Disease MRI Score Is Associated With Cognitive Decline In Executive Function In Patients With Hypertension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renske Uiterwijk

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Hypertension is a major risk factor for white matter hyperintensities, lacunes, cerebral microbleeds and perivascular spaces, which are MRI markers of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD. Studies have shown associations between these individual MRI markers and cognitive functioning and decline. Recently, a total SVD score was proposed in which the different MRI markers were combined into one measure of SVD, to capture total SVD-related brain damage. We investigated if this SVD score was associated with cognitive decline over 4 years in patients with hypertension. Methods: In this longitudinal cohort study, 130 hypertensive patients (91 patients with uncomplicated hypertension and 39 hypertensive patients with a lacunar stroke were included. They underwent a neuropsychological assessment at baseline and after 4 years. The presence of white matter hyperintensities, lacunes, cerebral microbleeds, and perivascular spaces were rated on baseline MRI. Presence of each individual marker was added to calculate the total SVD score (range 0-4 in each patient. Results: Uncorrected linear regression analyses showed associations between SVD score and decline in overall cognition (p=0.017, executive functioning (p<0.001 and information processing speed (p=0.037, but not with memory (p=0.911. The association between SVD score and decline in overall cognition and executive function remained significant after adjustment for age, sex, education, anxiety and depression score, potential vascular risk factors, patient group and baseline cognitive performance.Conclusions: Our study shows that a total SVD score can predict cognitive decline, specifically in executive function, over 4 years in hypertensive patients. This emphasizes the importance of considering total brain damage due to SVD.

  9. Autism Spectrum Disorder and intact executive functioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrara, R; Ansermet, F; Massoni, F; Petrone, L; Onofri, E; Ricci, P; Archer, T; Ricci, S

    2016-01-01

    Earliest notions concerning autism (Autism Spectrum Disorders, ASD) describe the disturbance in executive functioning. Despite altered definition, executive functioning, expressed as higher cognitive skills required complex behaviors linked to the prefrontal cortex, are defective in autism. Specific difficulties in children presenting autism or verbal disabilities at executive functioning levels have been identified. Nevertheless, the developmental deficit of executive functioning in autism is highly diversified with huge individual variation and may even be absent. The aim of the present study to examine the current standing of intact executive functioning intact in ASD. Analysis of ASD populations, whether high-functioning, Asperger's or autism Broad Phenotype, studied over a range of executive functions including response inhibition, planning, cognitive flexibility, cognitive inhibition, and alerting networks indicates an absence of damage/impairment compared to the typically-developed normal control subjects. These findings of intact executive functioning in ASD subjects provide a strong foundation on which to construct applications for growth environments and the rehabilitation of autistic subjects.

  10. EMI Execution Service (EMI-ES) Specification

    CERN Document Server

    Schuller, B

    2010-01-01

    This document provides the interface specification, including related data models such as state model, activity description, resource and activity information, of an execution service, matching the needs of the EMI production middleware stack composed of ARC, gLite and UNICORE components. This service therefore is referred to as the EMI Execution Service (or “ES” for short). This document is a continuation of the work previously know as the GENEVA, then AGU (“ARC, gLite UNICORE”), then PGI execution service. As a starting point, the v0.42 of the “PGI Execution Service Specification” (doc15839) was used.

  11. Balanced bilingualism and early age of second language acquisition as the underlying mechanisms of a bilingual executive control advantage: why variations in bilingual experiences matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yow, W Quin; Li, Xiaoqian

    2015-01-01

    Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition) on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-years-old English-Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function (EF) tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number-letter switching, and n-back task) that measure the EF components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages) on the Stroop and number-letter task (mixing cost only), indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related EFs such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global set-shifting.

  12. Balanced bilingualism and early age of second language acquisition as the underlying mechanisms of a bilingual executive control advantage: why variations in bilingual experiences matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yow, W. Quin; Li, Xiaoqian

    2015-01-01

    Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition) on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-years-old English–Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function (EF) tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number–letter switching, and n-back task) that measure the EF components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages) on the Stroop and number–letter task (mixing cost only), indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related EFs such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global set-shifting. PMID:25767451

  13. White-matter changes correlate with cognitive functioning in Parkinson's disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca J Theilmann

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI findings from emerging studies of cortical white-matter integrity in Parkinson’s disease (PD without dementia are inconclusive. When white-matter changes have been found, their relationship to cognitive functioning in PD has not been carefully investigated. To better characterize changes in tissue diffusivity and to understand their functional significance, the present study conducted DTI in 25 PD patients without dementia and 26 controls of similar ages. An automated tract-based DTI method was used. Fractional anisotropy (FA, mean diffusivity (MD, axial diffusivity (AD, and radial diffusivity (RD were analyzed. Neuropsychological measures of executive functioning (working memory, verbal fluency, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control and visuospatial ability were then correlated with regions of interest that showed abnormal diffusivity in the PD group. We found widespread reductions in FA and increases in MD in the PD group relative to controls. These changes were predominantly related to an increase in RD. Increased AD in the PD group was limited to specific frontal tracks of the right hemisphere, possibly signifying more significant tissue changes. Motor-symptom severity did not correlate with FA. However, different measures of executive functioning and visuospatial ability correlated with FA in different segments of tracts, which contain fiber pathways to cortical regions that are thought to support specific cognitive processes. The findings suggest that abnormal tissue diffusivity may be sensitive to subtle cognitive changes in PD, some of which may be prognostic of future cognitive decline.

  14. Impact of Strategically Located White Matter Hyperintensities on Cognition in Memory Clinic Patients with Small Vessel Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biesbroek, J Matthijs; Weaver, Nick A; Hilal, Saima; Kuijf, Hugo J; Ikram, Mohammad Kamran; Xu, Xin; Tan, Boon Yeow; Venketasubramanian, Narayanaswamy; Postma, Albert; Biessels, Geert Jan; Chen, Christopher P L H

    2016-01-01

    Studies on the impact of small vessel disease (SVD) on cognition generally focus on white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume. The extent to which WMH location relates to cognitive performance has received less attention, but is likely to be functionally important. We examined the relation between WMH location and cognition in a memory clinic cohort of patients with sporadic SVD. A total of 167 patients with SVD were recruited from memory clinics. Assumption-free region of interest-based analyses based on major white matter tracts and voxel-wise analyses were used to determine the association between WMH location and executive functioning, visuomotor speed and memory. Region of interest-based analyses showed that WMHs located particularly within the anterior thalamic radiation and forceps minor were inversely associated with both executive functioning and visuomotor speed, independent of total WMH volume. Memory was significantly associated with WMH volume in the forceps minor, independent of total WMH volume. An independent assumption-free voxel-wise analysis identified strategic voxels in these same tracts. Region of interest-based analyses showed that WMH volume within the anterior thalamic radiation explained 6.8% of variance in executive functioning, compared to 3.9% for total WMH volume; WMH volume within the forceps minor explained 4.6% of variance in visuomotor speed and 4.2% of variance in memory, compared to 1.8% and 1.3% respectively for total WMH volume. Our findings identify the anterior thalamic radiation and forceps minor as strategic white matter tracts in which WMHs are most strongly associated with cognitive impairment in memory clinic patients with SVD. WMH volumes in individual tracts explained more variance in cognition than total WMH burden, emphasizing the importance of lesion location when addressing the functional consequences of WMHs.

  15. Disciplining and Screening Top Executives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S. Dominguez Martinez (Silvia); O.H. Swank (Otto); B. Visser (Bauke)

    2006-01-01

    textabstractBoards of directors face the twin task of disciplining and screening executives. To perform these tasks directors do not have detailed information about executives' behaviour, and only infrequently have information about the success or failure of initiated strategies, reorganizations,

  16. Fathers Matter: The Role of Father Autonomy Support and Control in Preschoolers' Executive Function Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meuwissen, Alyssa S.; Carlson, Stephanie M.

    2015-01-01

    Although previous work has shown that mothers' parenting influences the development of child executive function (important self-control skills developed in the preschool years) the role of fathers' parenting has not been thoroughly investigated. We observed fathers' autonomy support and control in dyadic play with their 3-year-old children (N pairs = 110), and measured father and child EF independently with laboratory tasks. We found that fathers' controlling parenting was significantly inversely related to the child EF composite, above and beyond family income and child verbal ability. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that fathers are important for the development of EF in their children, and suggest fathers should be included in both research and parenting interventions. PMID:26209884

  17. Nurse executive transformational leadership found in participative organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunham-Taylor, J

    2000-05-01

    The study examined a national sample of 396 randomly selected hospital nurse executives to explore transformational leadership, stage of power, and organizational climate. Results from a few nurse executive studies have found nurse executives were transformational leaders. As executives were more transformational, they achieved better staff satisfaction and higher work group effectiveness. This study integrates Bass' transformational leadership model with Hagberg's power stage theory and Likert's organizational climate theory. Nurse executives (396) and staff reporting to them (1,115) rated the nurse executives' leadership style, staff extra effort, staff satisfaction, and work group effectiveness using Bass and Avolio's Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Executives' bosses (360) rated executive work group effectiveness. Executives completed Hagberg's Personal Power Profile and ranked their organizational climate using Likert's Profile of Organizational Characteristics. Nurse executives used transformational leadership fairly often; achieved fairly satisfied staff levels; were very effective according to bosses; were most likely at stage 3 (power by achievement) or stage 4 (power by reflection); and rated their hospital as a Likert System 3 Consultative Organization. Staff satisfaction and work group effectiveness decreased as nurse executives were more transactional. Higher transformational scores tended to occur with higher educational degrees and within more participative organizations. Transformational qualities can be enhanced by further education, by achieving higher power stages, and by being within more participative organizations.

  18. A simple hypothesis of executive function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno eKopp

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Executive function is traditionally conceptualized as a set of abilities required to guide behavior toward goals. Here, an integrated theoretical framework for executive function is developed which has its roots in the notion of hierarchical mental models. Further following Duncan (2010a,b, executive function is construed as a hierarchical recursive system of test-operation-test-exit units (Miller, Galanter, and Pribram, 1960. Importantly, it is shown that this framework can be used to model the main regional prefrontal syndromes, which are characterized by apathetic, disinhibited and dysexecutive cognition and behavior, respectively. Implications of these considerations for the neuropsychological assessment of executive function are discussed.

  19. Diffuse alterations in grey and white matter associated with cognitive impairment in Shwachman–Diamond syndrome: Evidence from a multimodal approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Perobelli

    2015-01-01

    Cognitive impairment in Shwachman–Diamond syndrome subjects is associated with diffuse brain anomalies in the grey matter (verbal skills with BA44 and BA20 in the right hemisphere; perceptual skills with BA5, 37, 20, 21, 42 in the left hemisphere and white matter connectivity (verbal skills with alterations in the fronto-occipital fasciculus and with the inferior-longitudinal fasciculus; perceptual skills with the arcuate fasciculus, limbic and ponto-cerebellar fasciculus; memory skills with the arcuate fasciculus; executive functions with the anterior cingulated and arcuate fasciculus.

  20. Executive Functioning Heterogeneity in Pediatric ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kofler, Michael J; Irwin, Lauren N; Soto, Elia F; Groves, Nicole B; Harmon, Sherelle L; Sarver, Dustin E

    2018-04-28

    Neurocognitive heterogeneity is increasingly recognized as a valid phenomenon in ADHD, with most estimates suggesting that executive dysfunction is present in only about 33%-50% of these children. However, recent critiques question the veracity of these estimates because our understanding of executive functioning in ADHD is based, in large part, on data from single tasks developed to detect gross neurological impairment rather than the specific executive processes hypothesized to underlie the ADHD phenotype. The current study is the first to comprehensively assess heterogeneity in all three primary executive functions in ADHD using a criterion battery that includes multiple tests per construct (working memory, inhibitory control, set shifting). Children ages 8-13 (M = 10.37, SD = 1.39) with and without ADHD (N = 136; 64 girls; 62% Caucasian/Non-Hispanic) completed a counterbalanced series of executive function tests. Accounting for task unreliability, results indicated significantly improved sensitivity and specificity relative to prior estimates, with 89% of children with ADHD demonstrating objectively-defined impairment on at least one executive function (62% impaired working memory, 27% impaired inhibitory control, 38% impaired set shifting; 54% impaired on one executive function, 35% impaired on two or all three executive functions). Children with working memory deficits showed higher parent- and teacher-reported ADHD inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms (BF 10  = 5.23 × 10 4 ), and were slightly younger (BF 10  = 11.35) than children without working memory deficits. Children with vs. without set shifting or inhibitory control deficits did not differ on ADHD symptoms, age, gender, IQ, SES, or medication status. Taken together, these findings confirm that ADHD is characterized by neurocognitive heterogeneity, while suggesting that contemporary, cognitively-informed criteria may provide improved precision for identifying a

  1. Larger mid-dorsolateral prefrontal gray matter volume in young binge drinkers revealed by voxel-based morphometry.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonia Doallo

    Full Text Available Binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking is a high prevalent pattern of alcohol consumption among young people in several countries. Despite increasing evidence that binge drinking is associated with impairments in executive aspects of working memory (i.e. self-ordered working memory, processes known to depend on the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 9, less is known about the impact of binge drinking on prefrontal gray matter integrity. Here, we investigated the effects of binge drinking on gray matter volume of mid- dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in youths. We used voxel-based morphometry on the structural magnetic resonance images of subjects reporting a persistent (at least three years binge drinking pattern of alcohol use (n = 11; age 22.43 ± 1.03 and control subjects (n = 21; age 22.18 ± 1.08 to measure differences in gray matter volume between both groups. In a region of interest analysis of the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, after co-varying for age and gender, we observed significantly larger gray matter volume in the left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 9 in binge drinkers in comparison with control subjects. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume and Self-Ordered Pointing Test (SOPT total errors score in binge drinkers. The left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume also correlated with the quantity and speed of alcohol intake. These findings indicate that a repeated exposure to alcohol -that does not meet criteria for alcohol dependence- throughout post-adolescent years and young adulthood is linked with structural anomalies in mid-dorsolateral prefrontal regions critically involved in executive aspects of working memory.

  2. Regional gray matter growth, sexual dimorphism, and cerebral asymmetry in the neonatal brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilmore, John H; Lin, Weili; Prastawa, Marcel W; Looney, Christopher B; Vetsa, Y Sampath K; Knickmeyer, Rebecca C; Evans, Dianne D; Smith, J Keith; Hamer, Robert M; Lieberman, Jeffrey A; Gerig, Guido

    2007-02-07

    Although there has been recent interest in the study of childhood and adolescent brain development, very little is known about normal brain development in the first few months of life. In older children, there are regional differences in cortical gray matter development, whereas cortical gray and white matter growth after birth has not been studied to a great extent. The adult human brain is also characterized by cerebral asymmetries and sexual dimorphisms, although very little is known about how these asymmetries and dimorphisms develop. We used magnetic resonance imaging and an automatic segmentation methodology to study brain structure in 74 neonates in the first few weeks after birth. We found robust cortical gray matter growth compared with white matter growth, with occipital regions growing much faster than prefrontal regions. Sexual dimorphism is present at birth, with males having larger total brain cortical gray and white matter volumes than females. In contrast to adults and older children, the left hemisphere is larger than the right hemisphere, and the normal pattern of fronto-occipital asymmetry described in older children and adults is not present. Regional differences in cortical gray matter growth are likely related to differential maturation of sensory and motor systems compared with prefrontal executive function after birth. These findings also indicate that whereas some adult patterns of sexual dimorphism and cerebral asymmetries are present at birth, others develop after birth.

  3. Building the blocks of executive functioning: differentiating early developing processes contributing to executive functioning skills

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mandell, D.J.; Ward, S.E.

    2011-01-01

    The neural processes that underlie executive function begin to develop in infancy. However, it is unclear how the behavior manifested by these processes are related or if they can be differentiated early in development. This study seeks to examine early emerging executive functioning skills in

  4. The Impact of Hedge Fund Activism on Target Firm Performance, Executive Compensation and Executive Wealth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Carrothers

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the relationship between hedge fund activism and target firm performance, executive compensation, and executive wealth. It introduces a theoretical framework that describes the activism process as a sequence of discrete decisions. The methodology uses regression analysis on a matched sample based on firm size, industry, and market-to-book ratio. All regressions control for industry and year fixed effects. Schedule 13D Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC filings are the source for the statistical sample of hedge fund target firms. I supplement that data with target firm financial, operating, and share price information from the CRSP-COMPUSTAT merged database. Activist hedge funds target undervalued or underperforming firms with high profitability and cash flows. They do not avoid firms with powerful CEOs. Leverage, executive compensation, pay for performance and CEO turnover increase at target firms after the arrival of the activist hedge fund. Target firm executives’ wealth is more sensitive to changes in share price after hedge fund activism events suggesting that the executive team experiences changes to their compensation structure that provides incentive to take action to improve returns to shareholders. The top executives reap rewards for increasing firm value but not for increased risk taking.

  5. Sexual Harassment and Organizational Outcomes Executive Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-01

    quid pro quo type of Sexual harassment and Organizational, 4 sexual harassment (e.g., sexual coercion). This should drive organizational efforts to... Sexual Harassment and Organizational Outcomes Executive Summary Charlie L. Law DEFENSE EQUAL...Executive Summary] No. 99-11 Sexual harassment and Organizational, 2 Executive Summary Issue

  6. Executable Architecture Research at Old Dominion University

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tolk, Andreas; Shuman, Edwin A.; Garcia, Johnny J.

    2011-01-01

    Executable Architectures allow the evaluation of system architectures not only regarding their static, but also their dynamic behavior. However, the systems engineering community do not agree on a common formal specification of executable architectures. To close this gap and identify necessary elements of an executable architecture, a modeling language, and a modeling formalism is topic of ongoing PhD research. In addition, systems are generally defined and applied in an operational context to provide capabilities and enable missions. To maximize the benefits of executable architectures, a second PhD effort introduces the idea of creating an executable context in addition to the executable architecture. The results move the validation of architectures from the current information domain into the knowledge domain and improve the reliability of such validation efforts. The paper presents research and results of both doctoral research efforts and puts them into a common context of state-of-the-art of systems engineering methods supporting more agility.

  7. Executive function, episodic memory, and Medicare expenditures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bender, Alex C; Austin, Andrea M; Grodstein, Francine; Bynum, Julie P W

    2017-07-01

    We examined the relationship between health care expenditures and cognition, focusing on differences across cognitive systems defined by global cognition, executive function, or episodic memory. We used linear regression models to compare annual health expenditures by cognitive status in 8125 Nurses' Health Study participants who completed a cognitive battery and were enrolled in Medicare parts A and B. Adjusting for demographics and comorbidity, executive impairment was associated with higher total annual expenditures of $1488 per person (P episodic memory impairment was found. Expenditures exhibited a linear relationship with executive function, but not episodic memory ($584 higher for every 1 standard deviation decrement in executive function; P < .01). Impairment in executive function is specifically and linearly associated with higher health care expenditures. Focusing on management strategies that address early losses in executive function may be effective in reducing costly services. Copyright © 2017 the Alzheimer's Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Independence and executive remuneration for supervisory board members and non-executive directors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hana Horak

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the author analyses the issues of independence and rewarding members of supervisory boards and non-executive directors in administrative boards. The question of independence was developed as one of the fundamental issues of corporative administration. Members of these organs of society should have the appropriate qualifications, specific knowledge and skills in order to reasonably and impartially weigh up social business and reach decisions in the best interests of society, its members and other interest holders. So that they can act in accordance with this, the presumption is that they are independent. Recently, after financial crises, it is precisely the independence of supervisory members, that is, non-executive directors, which is considered to be the foundation of the fight against the opportunism of administration and main shareholders. The authors analyse the Recommendations on Independence and Executive Remuneration for members of supervisory and administrative boards of the European Union, together with their implementation in Croatian law and practice.

  9. The contribution of executive control to semantic cognition: Convergent evidence from semantic aphasia and executive dysfunction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Hannah E; Almaghyuli, Azizah; Noonan, Krist A; Barak, Ohr; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2018-01-03

    Semantic cognition, as described by the controlled semantic cognition (CSC) framework (Rogers et al., , Neuropsychologia, 76, 220), involves two key components: activation of coherent, generalizable concepts within a heteromodal 'hub' in combination with modality-specific features (spokes), and a constraining mechanism that manipulates and gates this knowledge to generate time- and task-appropriate behaviour. Executive-semantic goal representations, largely supported by executive regions such as frontal and parietal cortex, are thought to allow the generation of non-dominant aspects of knowledge when these are appropriate for the task or context. Semantic aphasia (SA) patients have executive-semantic deficits, and these are correlated with general executive impairment. If the CSC proposal is correct, patients with executive impairment should not only exhibit impaired semantic cognition, but should also show characteristics that align with those observed in SA. This possibility remains largely untested, as patients selected on the basis that they show executive impairment (i.e., with 'dysexecutive syndrome') have not been extensively tested on tasks tapping semantic control and have not been previously compared with SA cases. We explored conceptual processing in 12 patients showing symptoms consistent with dysexecutive syndrome (DYS) and 24 SA patients, using a range of multimodal semantic assessments which manipulated control demands. Patients with executive impairments, despite not being selected to show semantic impairments, nevertheless showed parallel patterns to SA cases. They showed strong effects of distractor strength, cues and miscues, and probe-target distance, plus minimal effects of word frequency on comprehension (unlike semantic dementia patients with degradation of conceptual knowledge). This supports a component process account of semantic cognition in which retrieval is shaped by control processes, and confirms that deficits in SA patients reflect

  10. Culture, executive function, and social understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Charlie; Koyasu, Masuo; Oh, Seungmi; Ogawa, Ayako; Short, Benjamin; Huang, Zhao

    2009-01-01

    Much of the evidence from the West has shown links between children's developing self-control (executive function), their social experiences, and their social understanding (Carpendale & Lewis, 2006, chapters 5 and 6), across a range of cultures including China. This chapter describes four studies conducted in three Oriental cultures, suggesting that the relationships among social interaction, executive function, and social understanding are different in these cultures, implying that social and executive skills are underpinned by key cultural processes.

  11. Developmental Changes in Executive Functioning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kerry; Bull, Rebecca; Ho, Ringo M. H.

    2013-01-01

    Although early studies of executive functioning in children supported Miyake et al.'s (2000) three-factor model, more recent findings supported a variety of undifferentiated or two-factor structures. Using a cohort-sequential design, this study examined whether there were age-related differences in the structure of executive functioning among…

  12. ARC Code TI: IPG Execution Service

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Execution Service allows users to submit, monitor, and cancel complex jobs. Each job consists of a set of tasks that perform actions such as executing...

  13. Comprehensive Technical Report of the Inquiry into the Application of Living Systems Theory to 41 U. S. Army Battalions: Executive Summary. Volume 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    1984-11-01

    information such as statutory and executive directives, regulations, and technical manuals is blended with matter/energy (people, equipment, and...which might be initiated in order to counteract these potential pathologies. An organizacion , like an organism, cannot survive when its basic processes...Normative Tables and Performance Indicator Scales presented in the study. The Tables and Scales, much like the specification in a technical ,. manual , permit

  14. Questionnaire-based assessment of executive functioning: Psychometrics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castellanos, Irina; Kronenberger, William G; Pisoni, David B

    2018-01-01

    The psychometric properties of the Learning, Executive, and Attention Functioning (LEAF) scale were investigated in an outpatient clinical pediatric sample. As a part of clinical testing, the LEAF scale, which broadly measures neuropsychological abilities related to executive functioning and learning, was administered to parents of 118 children and adolescents referred for psychological testing at a pediatric psychology clinic; 85 teachers also completed LEAF scales to assess reliability across different raters and settings. Scores on neuropsychological tests of executive functioning and academic achievement were abstracted from charts. Psychometric analyses of the LEAF scale demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency, parent-teacher inter-rater reliability in the small to large effect size range, and test-retest reliability in the large effect size range, similar to values for other executive functioning checklists. Correlations between corresponding subscales on the LEAF and other behavior checklists were large, while most correlations with neuropsychological tests of executive functioning and achievement were significant but in the small to medium range. Results support the utility of the LEAF as a reliable and valid questionnaire-based assessment of delays and disturbances in executive functioning and learning. Applications and advantages of the LEAF and other questionnaire measures of executive functioning in clinical neuropsychology settings are discussed.

  15. EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gricel eOrellana

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The executive function (EF is a set of abilities, which allows us to invoke voluntary control of our behavioral responses. These functions enable human beings to develop and carry out plans, make up analogies, obey social rules, solve problems, adapt to unexpected circumstances, do many tasks simultaneously and locate episodes in time and place. EF includes divided attention and sustained attention, working memory, set-shifting, flexibility, planning and the regulation of goal directed behavior and can be defined as a brain function underlying the human faculty to act or think not only in reaction to external events but also in relation with internal goals and states. EF is mostly associated with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC. Besides EF, PFC is involved in self-regulation of behavior, i.e. the ability to regulate behavior according to internal goals and constraints, particularly in less structured situations. Self-regulation of behavior is subtended by ventral medial /orbital PFC. Impairment of EF is one of the most commonly observed deficits in schizophrenia through the various disease stages. Impairment in tasks measuring conceptualization, planning, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, ability to solve complex problems and working memory occur in schizophrenia. Disorders detected by executive tests are consistent with evidence from functional neuroimaging, which have shown PFC dysfunction in patients while performing these kinds of tasks. Schizophrenics also exhibit deficit in odor identifying, decision-making and self-regulation of behavior suggesting dysfunction of the orbital PFC. However, impairment in executive tests is explained by dysfunction of prefronto-striato-thalamic, prefronto-parietal and prefronto-temporal neural networks mainly. Disorders in executive functions may be considered central facts with respect to schizophrenia and it has been suggested that negative symptoms may be explained by that executive dysfunction.

  16. Executive Competencies of Nurses within the Veterans Health Administration: Comparison of Current and Future Nurse Executive Views

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Sutto, Natalie B

    2006-01-01

    ...). Using the Delphi method for executive decision-making, 144 current nurse executives, as well as 168 nurses identified for potential selection to this position, judged the relative importance of SKAs...

  17. Statistical Symbolic Execution with Informed Sampling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filieri, Antonio; Pasareanu, Corina S.; Visser, Willem; Geldenhuys, Jaco

    2014-01-01

    Symbolic execution techniques have been proposed recently for the probabilistic analysis of programs. These techniques seek to quantify the likelihood of reaching program events of interest, e.g., assert violations. They have many promising applications but have scalability issues due to high computational demand. To address this challenge, we propose a statistical symbolic execution technique that performs Monte Carlo sampling of the symbolic program paths and uses the obtained information for Bayesian estimation and hypothesis testing with respect to the probability of reaching the target events. To speed up the convergence of the statistical analysis, we propose Informed Sampling, an iterative symbolic execution that first explores the paths that have high statistical significance, prunes them from the state space and guides the execution towards less likely paths. The technique combines Bayesian estimation with a partial exact analysis for the pruned paths leading to provably improved convergence of the statistical analysis. We have implemented statistical symbolic execution with in- formed sampling in the Symbolic PathFinder tool. We show experimentally that the informed sampling obtains more precise results and converges faster than a purely statistical analysis and may also be more efficient than an exact symbolic analysis. When the latter does not terminate symbolic execution with informed sampling can give meaningful results under the same time and memory limits.

  18. Toward synthesizing executable models in biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Jasmin; Piterman, Nir; Bodik, Rastislav

    2014-01-01

    Over the last decade, executable models of biological behaviors have repeatedly provided new scientific discoveries, uncovered novel insights, and directed new experimental avenues. These models are computer programs whose execution mechanistically simulates aspects of the cell's behaviors. If the observed behavior of the program agrees with the observed biological behavior, then the program explains the phenomena. This approach has proven beneficial for gaining new biological insights and directing new experimental avenues. One advantage of this approach is that techniques for analysis of computer programs can be applied to the analysis of executable models. For example, one can confirm that a model agrees with experiments for all possible executions of the model (corresponding to all environmental conditions), even if there are a huge number of executions. Various formal methods have been adapted for this context, for example, model checking or symbolic analysis of state spaces. To avoid manual construction of executable models, one can apply synthesis, a method to produce programs automatically from high-level specifications. In the context of biological modeling, synthesis would correspond to extracting executable models from experimental data. We survey recent results about the usage of the techniques underlying synthesis of computer programs for the inference of biological models from experimental data. We describe synthesis of biological models from curated mutation experiment data, inferring network connectivity models from phosphoproteomic data, and synthesis of Boolean networks from gene expression data. While much work has been done on automated analysis of similar datasets using machine learning and artificial intelligence, using synthesis techniques provides new opportunities such as efficient computation of disambiguating experiments, as well as the ability to produce different kinds of models automatically from biological data.

  19. EMI Execution Service Specification 1.0

    CERN Document Server

    Schuller, B. (JUELICH); Smirnova, O (Lund University); Konstantinov, A. (Oslo University); Skou Andersen, M. (University of Copenhagen); Riedel, M. (JUELICH); Memon, A.S. (JUELICH); Memon, M.S. (JUELICH); Zangrando, L. (INFN); Sgaravatto, M. (INFN); Frizziero, E. (INFN)

    2010-01-01

    This document provides the interface specification, including related data models such as state model, activity description, resource and activity information, of an execution service, matching the needs of the EMI production middleware stack composed of ARC, gLite and UNICORE components. This service therefore is referred to as the EMI Execution Service (or “ES” for short). This document is a continuation of the work previously known as the GENEVA, then AGU (“ARC, gLite UNICORE”), then PGI execution service.

  20. PERCEPTIONS OF EXECUTIVE PAYMENT ABUSE IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tudor Pendiuc

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available In the aftermath of the financial crisis, executive compensation abuse has been deeply criticized. Thus, the actuality of research is undeniable. The article highlights the importance of learning from other institutions’ past and present executive compensation abuse experiences by presenting the participants’ shared experiences (having to do with executive compensation abuse and by studying how participants perceive executive compensation abuse. The main objective of this research lies in exploring participants’ shared experiences concerning executive compensation abuse, as well as their perceptions, discrepancies and unsolved questions – presented within an ample, interconnected qualitative and quantitative methodological approach. A sample of 20 individuals was chosen for the triangulation method. From the resultant triangulation six new themes derive from the interview/questionnaire questions specifically referring to executive payment abuse namely: (a ethics means distinguishing between right and wrong, (b perspectives of ethical behaviour, (c types of executive payment abuse, (d the participant’s perceptions of institution and colleagues.

  1. An Embodied Account of Early Executive-Function Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gottwald, Janna M.; Achermann, Sheila; Marciszko, Carin; Lindskog, Marcus; Gredebäck, Gustaf

    2016-01-01

    The importance of executive functioning for later life outcomes, along with its potential to be positively affected by intervention programs, motivates the need to find early markers of executive functioning. In this study, 18-month-olds performed three executive-function tasks—involving simple inhibition, working memory, and more complex inhibition—and a motion-capture task assessing prospective motor control during reaching. We demonstrated that prospective motor control, as measured by the peak velocity of the first movement unit, is related to infants’ performance on simple-inhibition and working memory tasks. The current study provides evidence that motor control and executive functioning are intertwined early in life, which suggests an embodied perspective on executive-functioning development. We argue that executive functions and prospective motor control develop from a common source and a single motive: to control action. This is the first demonstration that low-level movement planning is related to higher-order executive control early in life. PMID:27765900

  2. Questionnaire-based assessment of executive functioning: Case studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kronenberger, William G; Castellanos, Irina; Pisoni, David B

    2018-01-01

    Delays in the development of executive functioning skills are frequently observed in pediatric neuropsychology populations and can have a broad and significant impact on quality of life. As a result, assessment of executive functioning is often relevant for the development of formulations and recommendations in pediatric neuropsychology clinical work. Questionnaire-based measures of executive functioning behaviors in everyday life have unique advantages and complement traditional neuropsychological measures of executive functioning. Two case studies of children with spina bifida are presented to illustrate the clinical use of a new questionnaire measure of executive and learning-related functioning, the Learning, Executive, and Attention Functioning Scale (LEAF). The LEAF emphasizes clinical utility in assessment by incorporating four characteristics: brevity in administration, breadth of additional relevant content, efficiency of scoring and interpretation, and ease of availability for use. LEAF results were consistent with another executive functioning checklist in documenting everyday behavior problems related to working memory, planning, and organization while offering additional breadth of assessment of domains such as attention, processing speed, and novel problem-solving. These case study results demonstrate the clinical utility of questionnaire-based measurement of executive functioning in pediatric neuropsychology and provide a new measure for accomplishing this goal.

  3. An empirical analysis of executive behaviour with hospital executive information systems in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Wei-Min

    2013-01-01

    Existing health information systems largely only support the daily operations of a medical centre, and are unable to generate the information required by executives for decision-making. Building on past research concerning information retrieval behaviour and learning through mental models, this study examines the use of information systems by hospital executives in medical centres. It uses a structural equation model to help find ways hospital executives might use information systems more effectively. The results show that computer self-efficacy directly affects the maintenance of mental models, and that system characteristics directly impact learning styles and information retrieval behaviour. Other results include the significant impact of perceived environmental uncertainty on scan searches; information retrieval behaviour and focused searches on mental models and perceived efficiency; scan searches on mental model building; learning styles and model building on perceived efficiency; and finally the impact of mental model maintenance on perceived efficiency and effectiveness.

  4. Vectorization vs. compilation in query execution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J. Sompolski (Juliusz); M. Zukowski (Marcin); P.A. Boncz (Peter)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractCompiling database queries into executable (sub-) programs provides substantial benefits comparing to traditional interpreted execution. Many of these benefits, such as reduced interpretation overhead, better instruction code locality, and providing opportunities to use SIMD

  5. 39 CFR 211.3 - Executive orders and other executive pronouncements; circulars, bulletins, and other issuances of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Executive orders and other executive pronouncements; circulars, bulletins, and other issuances of the Office of Management and Budget. 211.3 Section 211.3 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION APPLICATION OF...

  6. Executive summary

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Nimwegen, N.; van Nimwegen, N.; van der Erf, R.

    2009-01-01

    The Demography Monitor 2008 gives a concise overview of current demographic trends and related developments in education, the labour market and retirement for the European Union and some other countries. This executive summary highlights the major findings of the Demography Monitor 2008 and further

  7. Towards Synthesizing Executable Models in Biology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasmin eFisher

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Over the last decade, executable models of biological behaviors have repeatedly provided new scientific discoveries, uncovered novel insights, and directed new experimental avenues. These models are computer programs whose execution mechanistically simulates aspects of the cell’s behaviors. If the observed behavior of the program agrees with the observed biological behavior, then the program explains the phenomena. This approach has proven beneficial for gaining new biological insights and directing new experimental avenues. One advantage of this approach is that techniques for analysis of computer programs can be applied to the analysis of executable models. For example, one can confirm that a model agrees with experiments for all possible executions of the model (corresponding to all environmental conditions, even if there are a huge number of executions. Various formal methods have been adapted for this context, for example, model checking or symbolic analysis of state spaces. To avoid manual construction of executable models, one can apply synthesis, a method to produce programs automatically from high-level specifications. In the context of biological modelling, synthesis would correspond to extracting executable models from experimental data. We survey recent results about the usage of the techniques underlying synthesis of computer programs for the inference of biological models from experimental data. We describe synthesis of biological models from curated mutation experiment data, inferring network connectivity models from phosphoproteomic data, and synthesis of Boolean networks from gene expression data. While much work has been done on automated analysis of similar datasets using machine learning and artificial intelligence, using synthesis techniques provides new opportunities such as efficient computation of disambiguating experiments, as well as the ability to produce different kinds of models automatically from biological data.

  8. Execute-Only Attacks against Execute-Only Defenses

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-02-18

    strongest implementations of execute-only defenses: it exploits novel hardware features to incorporate non-readable code to prevent direct information...build two proof-of- concept exploits that can achieve control flow hijacking on a system protected by full- featured Readactor. • We evaluate the...According to the CVE [31], 123 such arbitrary read vulnerabilities were reported between January and September of 2015, in Firefox (CVE-2015-4495

  9. Grid workflow job execution service 'Pilot'

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shamardin, Lev; Kryukov, Alexander; Demichev, Andrey; Ilyin, Vyacheslav

    2011-12-01

    'Pilot' is a grid job execution service for workflow jobs. The main goal for the service is to automate computations with multiple stages since they can be expressed as simple workflows. Each job is a directed acyclic graph of tasks and each task is an execution of something on a grid resource (or 'computing element'). Tasks may be submitted to any WS-GRAM (Globus Toolkit 4) service. The target resources for the tasks execution are selected by the Pilot service from the set of available resources which match the specific requirements from the task and/or job definition. Some simple conditional execution logic is also provided. The 'Pilot' service is built on the REST concepts and provides a simple API through authenticated HTTPS. This service is deployed and used in production in a Russian national grid project GridNNN.

  10. Grid workflow job execution service 'Pilot'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shamardin, Lev; Kryukov, Alexander; Demichev, Andrey; Ilyin, Vyacheslav

    2011-01-01

    'Pilot' is a grid job execution service for workflow jobs. The main goal for the service is to automate computations with multiple stages since they can be expressed as simple workflows. Each job is a directed acyclic graph of tasks and each task is an execution of something on a grid resource (or 'computing element'). Tasks may be submitted to any WS-GRAM (Globus Toolkit 4) service. The target resources for the tasks execution are selected by the Pilot service from the set of available resources which match the specific requirements from the task and/or job definition. Some simple conditional execution logic is also provided. The 'Pilot' service is built on the REST concepts and provides a simple API through authenticated HTTPS. This service is deployed and used in production in a Russian national grid project GridNNN.

  11. Helping Behavior in Executives' Global Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miller, Stewart; Mors, Marie Louise; McDonald, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Drawing on research on helping behavior in networks at the upper echelons, we develop and test theory about helping behavior in senior executive networks. We examine the location and relational dependence of the network contact. Our results reveal that executives are more likely to perceive...... insiders in their network to be helpful, but geographic location has no effect on expectations of receiving help. With regards to relational dependence: executives who are more dependent on their contacts are more likely to perceive them to be helpful. We also look at whether perceived helpfulness affects...... an executive’s willingness to engage in risky new business development -- an important performance indicator - and indeed find that those executives that perceive their networks to be helpful are more likely to be willing to take risky decisions. We test these arguments using primary data on 1845 relationships...

  12. MIV Project: Executive Summary

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ravazzotti, Mariolina T.; Jørgensen, John Leif; Neefs, Marc

    1997-01-01

    Under the ESA contract #11453/95/NL/JG(SC), aiming at assessing the feasibility of Rendez-vous and docking of unmanned spacecrafts, a reference mission scenario was defined. This report gives an executive summary of the achievements and results from the project.......Under the ESA contract #11453/95/NL/JG(SC), aiming at assessing the feasibility of Rendez-vous and docking of unmanned spacecrafts, a reference mission scenario was defined. This report gives an executive summary of the achievements and results from the project....

  13. Supramodal Executive Control of Attention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ALFREDO eSPAGNA

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The human attentional system can be subdivided into three functional networks of alerting, orienting, and executive control. Although these networks have been extensively studied in the visuospatial modality, whether the same mechanisms are deployed across different sensory modalities remains unclear. In this study we used the attention network test for visuospatial modality, in addition to two auditory variants with spatial and frequency manipulations to examine cross-modal correlations between network functions. Results showed that among the visual and auditory tasks the effects of executive control, but not effects of alerting and orienting were significantly correlated. These findings suggest that while alerting and orienting functions rely more upon modality specific processes, the executive control of attention coordinates complex behavior via supramodal mechanisms.

  14. Executive functions and self-regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmann, Wilhelm; Schmeichel, Brandon J; Baddeley, Alan D

    2012-03-01

    Self-regulation is a core aspect of adaptive human behavior that has been studied, largely in parallel, through the lenses of social and personality psychology as well as cognitive psychology. Here, we argue for more communication between these disciplines and highlight recent research that speaks to their connection. We outline how basic facets of executive functioning (working memory operations, behavioral inhibition, and task-switching) may subserve successful self-regulation. We also argue that temporary reductions in executive functions underlie many of the situational risk factors identified in the social psychological research on self-regulation and review recent evidence that the training of executive functions holds significant potential for improving poor self-regulation in problem populations. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Executive function and cerebral blood flow on dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in cases of subcortical infarction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasegawa, Akira; Utsumi, Hiroya

    2006-01-01

    In order to clarify the extent of dysexecutive function of patients with subcortical infarctions, participants of this study underwent neuropsychological tests and single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT). These participants were categorized into two groups; patients with basal ganglia lesions (BG group) (n=5) and those with white matter lesions (WM group) (n=12). Participants were administered executive function tests as a part of a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Administered executive measures included the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT), the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), and the Trait Making Test; Parts A and B. There were no group differences in their age, years of education and global cognitive performance. Student's t-tests were conducted to determine group differences in executive function. As a result, the number of total errors, the number of perseverative errors and the number of categories completed on the WCST were significantly worse for the BG group than for the WM group. These groups did not differ on other measures administered. In addition, all participants underwent SPECT, and their results were compared with the normal control data. Hypoperfusion was found on parts of the bilateral frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes for the BG and WM groups. These tendencies stood out in the right hemisphere of the BG group. The BG group exhibited decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF) on the area of right side dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (e.g., Brodmann area 44). These analyses revealed that individuals with BG lesions showed significant executive declines that might be associated with decreased CBF in the subcortical-frontal system. It may support the idea that BG is connected with DLPFC via frontal-subcortical neuronal circuit. Patients with BG lesions may experience dysexecutive function due to the phenomenon of diaschisis from the disruption of this circuit. (author)

  16. Matter-antimatter and matter-matter interactions at intermediate energies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Antonio Carlos Fontes dos

    2002-01-01

    This article presents some of the recent experimental advances on the study on antimatter-matter and matter-matter interactions, and some of the subtle differences stimulated a great theoretical efforts for explanation of the results experimentally observed

  17. White matter correlates of impaired attention control in major depressive disorder and healthy volunteers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rizk, Mina M; Rubin-Falcone, Harry; Keilp, John; Miller, Jeffrey M; Sublette, M Elizabeth; Burke, Ainsley; Oquendo, Maria A; Kamal, Ahmed M; Abdelhameed, Mohamed A; Mann, J John

    2017-11-01

    Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with impaired attention control and alterations in frontal-subcortical connectivity. We hypothesized that attention control as assessed by Stroop task interference depends on white matter integrity in fronto-cingulate regions and assessed this relationship using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in MDD and healthy volunteers (HV). DTI images and Stroop task were acquired in 29 unmedicated MDD patients and 16 HVs, aged 18-65 years. The relationship between Stroop interference and fractional anisotropy (FA) was examined using region-of-interest (ROI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analyses. ROI analysis revealed that Stroop interference correlated positively with FA in left caudal anterior cingulate cortex (cACC) in HVs (r = 0.62, p = 0.01), but not in MDD (r = -0.05, p= 0.79) even after controlling for depression severity. The left cACC was among 4 ROIs in fronto-cingulate network where FA was lower in MDD relative to HVs (F (1,41) = 8.87, p = 0.005). Additionally, TBSS showed the same group interaction of differences and correlations, although only at a statistical trend level. The modest sample size limits the generalizability of the findings. Structural connectivity of white matter network of cACC correlated with magnitude of Stroop interference in HVs, but not MDD. The cACC-frontal network, sub-serving attention control, may be disrupted in MDD. Less cognitive control may include enhanced effects of salience in HVs, or less effective response inhibition in MDD. Further studies of salience and inhibition components of executive function may better elucidate the relationship between brain white matter changes and executive dysfunction in MDD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. A worked example using the SP249 advanced assessment route: the carregado unit 6 final superheater outlet header

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brear, J.M.; Jarvis, P.; Jones, G.T. [ERA Technology (United Kingdom); Jovanovic, A.S.; Friemann, M.; Kluttig, B.; Ober, M. [Stuttgart Univ. (Germany). Staatliche Materialpruefungsanstalt; Batista, A. [EDP-PROET (Portugal); Araujo, C.L. de; Pires, A. [ISQ (Portugal)

    1995-12-31

    As a key part of its information resource, the SP249 Project contains a number of case studies, drawn from the collective experience of the partners and from the literature. The user of the system may search this data-base by component type and material or by assessment method, to find a practical example close to his own current problem. He can thus draw upon past experience as well as state-of-the-art knowledge to obtain advice. To facilitate this, a set of key-words has been defined to create links between the case studies and the overall assessment methodology. These relate to damage and failure types and causes as well as to techniques of investigation and assessment. For demonstration, validation and didactic purposes, certain of these case studies - one per end-user utility in the project - have been chosen for full elaboration as `worked-examples`. These real component evaluations are worked through by an expert group from the project team so as to provide the utility staff with `hands-on` training in both the practical techniques of component life. The assessment and the use of the knowledge based system. The exercise also provides valuable opportunity for feedback, allowing refinement of the technology package and the software. Amongst these worked examples, an assessment of EDP`s Carregado Unit 6 Final Superheater Outlet Header has been chosen for special attention - as the operators have kindly allowed direct CSS to the component during two outages. This article summarises the Carregado Case Study. It is intended to serve as a demonstration and as to how the Advanced Assessment Route (AAR) is used in practice. The actions performed and results obtained are summarised

  19. 8 CFR 1003.0 - Executive Office for Immigration Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Executive Office for Immigration Review. 1003.0 Section 1003.0 Aliens and Nationality EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE GENERAL PROVISIONS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW § 1003.0 Executive Office for...

  20. Collective operations in a file system based execution model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shinde, Pravin; Van Hensbergen, Eric

    2013-02-19

    A mechanism is provided for group communications using a MULTI-PIPE synthetic file system. A master application creates a multi-pipe synthetic file in the MULTI-PIPE synthetic file system, the master application indicating a multi-pipe operation to be performed. The master application then writes a header-control block of the multi-pipe synthetic file specifying at least one of a multi-pipe synthetic file system name, a message type, a message size, a specific destination, or a specification of the multi-pipe operation. Any other application participating in the group communications then opens the same multi-pipe synthetic file. A MULTI-PIPE file system module then implements the multi-pipe operation as identified by the master application. The master application and the other applications then either read or write operation messages to the multi-pipe synthetic file and the MULTI-PIPE synthetic file system module performs appropriate actions.

  1. [Ecological executive function characteristics and effects of executive function on social adaptive function in school-aged children with epilepsy].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, X J; Wang, L L; Zhou, N

    2016-02-23

    To explore the characteristics of ecological executive function in school-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy and examine the effects of executive function on social adaptive function. A total of 51 school-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy aged 5-12 years at our hospital and 37 normal ones of the same gender, age and educational level were included. The differences in ecological executive function and social adaptive function were compared between the two groups with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and Child Adaptive Behavior Scale, the Pearson's correlation test and multiple stepwise linear regression were used to explore the impact of executive function on social adaptive function. The scores of school-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy in global executive composite (GEC), behavioral regulation index (BRI) and metacognition index (MI) of BRIEF ((62±12), (58±13) and (63±12), respectively) were significantly higher than those of the control group ((47±7), (44±6) and (48±8), respectively))(Pchildren with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy in adaptive behavior quotient (ADQ), independence, cognition, self-control ((86±22), (32±17), (49±14), (41±16), respectively) were significantly lower than those of the control group ((120±12), (59±14), (59±7) and (68±10), respectively))(Pchildren with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy. School-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy may have significantly ecological executive function impairment and social adaptive function reduction. The aspects of BRI, inhibition and working memory in ecological executive function are significantly related with social adaptive function in school-aged children with epilepsy.

  2. Executive Headteachers: What's in a Name? Executive Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theobald, Katy; Lord, Pippa

    2016-01-01

    Executive headteachers (EHTs) are becoming increasingly prevalent as the self-improving school system matures; there are over 620 EHTs in the school workforce today; and the number recorded in the School Workforce Census (SWC) has increased by 240 per cent between 2010 and 2014. The role is still evolving locally and nationally and, as EHTs take…

  3. Executive functions in anorexia nervosa

    OpenAIRE

    Jauregui-Lobera, Ignacio

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: The pathophysiologic mechanisms that account for the development and persistence of anorexia nervosa (AN) remain unclear. With respect to the neuropsychological functioning, the executive functions have been reported to be altered, especially cognitive flexibility and decision-making processes. Objectives: The aim of this study was to review the current state of the neuropsychological studies focused on anorexia nervosa, especially those highlighting the executive functions. Met...

  4. Self-assembled software and method of overriding software execution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouchard, Ann M.; Osbourn, Gordon C.

    2013-01-08

    A computer-implemented software self-assembled system and method for providing an external override and monitoring capability to dynamically self-assembling software containing machines that self-assemble execution sequences and data structures. The method provides an external override machine that can be introduced into a system of self-assembling machines while the machines are executing such that the functionality of the executing software can be changed or paused without stopping the code execution and modifying the existing code. Additionally, a monitoring machine can be introduced without stopping code execution that can monitor specified code execution functions by designated machines and communicate the status to an output device.

  5. 8 CFR 3.0 - Executive Office for Immigration Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Executive Office for Immigration Review 3.0 Section 3.0 Aliens and Nationality DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY GENERAL PROVISIONS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW § 3.0 Executive Office for Immigration Review Regulations of the Executive Office for...

  6. Executive Functions in Premanifest Huntington’s Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    You, S. Christine; Geschwind, Michael D.; Sha, Sharon J.; Apple, Alexandra; Satris, Gabriella; Wood, Kristie A.; Johnson, Erica T.; Gooblar, Jonathan; Feuerstein, Jeanne S.; Finkbeiner, Steven; Kang, Gail A.; Miller, Bruce L.; Hess, Christopher P.; Kramer, Joel H.; Possin, Katherine L.

    2014-01-01

    Objective We investigated the viability of psychometrically robust executive function measures as markers for premanifest Huntington’s disease (HD). Methods Fifteen premanifest HD subjects and 42 controls were compared on the NIH EXAMINER executive function battery. This battery yields an overall Executive Composite score, plus Working Memory, Cognitive Control, and Fluency Scores that are measured on psychometrically matched scales. The scores were correlated with two disease markers, disease burden and striatal volumes, in the premanifest HD subjects. Results The premanifest HD subjects scored significantly lower on the Working Memory Score. The Executive Composite positively correlated with striatal volumes, and Working Memory Score negatively correlated with disease burden. The Cognitive Control and Fluency Scores did not differ between the groups or correlate significantly with the disease markers. Conclusions The NIH EXAMINER Executive Composite and Working Memory Score are sensitive markers of cognitive dysfunction, striatal volume, and disease burden in premanifest HD. PMID:24375511

  7. Blood Pressure Control in Aging Predicts Cerebral Atrophy Related to Small-Vessel White Matter Lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyle C. Kern

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Cerebral small-vessel damage manifests as white matter hyperintensities and cerebral atrophy on brain MRI and is associated with aging, cognitive decline and dementia. We sought to examine the interrelationship of these imaging biomarkers and the influence of hypertension in older individuals. We used a multivariate spatial covariance neuroimaging technique to localize the effects of white matter lesion load on regional gray matter volume and assessed the role of blood pressure control, age and education on this relationship. Using a case-control design matching for age, gender, and educational attainment we selected 64 participants with normal blood pressure, controlled hypertension or uncontrolled hypertension from the Northern Manhattan Study cohort. We applied gray matter voxel-based morphometry with the scaled subprofile model to (1 identify regional covariance patterns of gray matter volume differences associated with white matter lesion load, (2 compare this relationship across blood pressure groups, and (3 relate it to cognitive performance. In this group of participants aged 60–86 years, we identified a pattern of reduced gray matter volume associated with white matter lesion load in bilateral temporal-parietal regions with relative preservation of volume in the basal forebrain, thalami and cingulate cortex. This pattern was expressed most in the uncontrolled hypertension group and least in the normotensives, but was also more evident in older and more educated individuals. Expression of this pattern was associated with worse performance in executive function and memory. In summary, white matter lesions from small-vessel disease are associated with a regional pattern of gray matter atrophy that is mitigated by blood pressure control, exacerbated by aging, and associated with cognitive performance.

  8. Challenging executive dominance in European democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Curtin, D.

    2014-01-01

    Executive dominance in the contemporary EU is part of a wider migration of executive power towards types of decision making that eschew electoral accountability and popular democratic control. This democratic gap is fed by far-going secrecy arrangements and practices exercised in a concerted fashion

  9. Challenging Executive Dominance in European Democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Curtin, D.

    2013-01-01

    Executive dominance in the contemporary EU is part of a wider migration of executive power towards types of decision making that eschew electoral accountability and popular democratic control. This democratic gap is fed by far‐going secrecy arrangements and practices exercised in a concerted fashion

  10. File Managing and Program Execution in Web Operating Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Bravetti, Mario

    2010-01-01

    Web Operating Systems can be seen as an extension of traditional Operating Systems where the addresses used to manage files and execute programs (via the basic load/execution mechanism) are extended from local filesystem path-names to URLs. A first consequence is that, similarly as in traditional web technologies, executing a program at a given URL, can be done in two modalities: either the execution is performed client-side at the invoking machine (and relative URL addressing in the executed...

  11. Genetic effect of interleukin-1 beta (C-511T) polymorphism on the structural covariance network and white matter integrity in Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Chi-Wei; Hsu, Shih-Wei; Tsai, Shih-Jen; Chen, Nai-Ching; Liu, Mu-En; Lee, Chen-Chang; Huang, Shu-Hua; Chang, Weng-Neng; Chang, Ya-Ting; Tsai, Wan-Chen; Chang, Chiung-Chih

    2017-01-18

    Inflammatory processes play a pivotal role in the degenerative process of Alzheimer's disease. In humans, a biallelic (C/T) polymorphism in the promoter region (position-511) (rs16944) of the interleukin-1 beta gene has been significantly associated with differences in the secretory capacity of interleukin-1 beta. In this study, we investigated whether this functional polymorphism mediates the brain networks in patients with Alzheimer's disease. We enrolled a total of 135 patients with Alzheimer's disease (65 males, 70 females), and investigated their gray matter structural covariance networks using 3D T1 magnetic resonance imaging and their white matter macro-structural integrities using fractional anisotropy. The patients were classified into two genotype groups: C-carriers (n = 108) and TT-carriers (n = 27), and the structural covariance networks were constructed using seed-based analysis focusing on the default mode network medial temporal or dorsal medial subsystem, salience network and executive control network. Neurobehavioral scores were used as the major outcome factors for clinical correlations. There were no differences between the two genotype groups in the cognitive test scores, seed, or peak cluster volumes and white matter fractional anisotropy. The covariance strength showing C-carriers > TT-carriers was the entorhinal-cingulum axis. There were two peak clusters (Brodmann 6 and 10) in the salience network and four peak clusters (superior prefrontal, precentral, fusiform, and temporal) in the executive control network that showed C-carriers covariance strength. The salience network and executive control network peak clusters in the TT group and the default mode network peak clusters in the C-carriers strongly predicted the cognitive test scores. Interleukin-1 beta C-511 T polymorphism modulates the structural covariance strength on the anterior brain network and entorhinal-interconnected network which were independent of the white

  12. Executable Behaviour and the π-Calculus (extended abstract

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bas Luttik

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Reactive Turing machines extend classical Turing machines with a facility to model observable interactive behaviour. We call a behaviour executable if, and only if, it is behaviourally equivalent to the behaviour of a reactive Turing machine. In this paper, we study the relationship between executable behaviour and behaviour that can be specified in the pi-calculus. We establish that all executable behaviour can be specified in the pi-calculus up to divergence-preserving branching bisimilarity. The converse, however, is not true due to (intended limitations of the model of reactive Turing machines. That is, the pi-calculus allows the specification of behaviour that is not executable up to divergence-preserving branching bisimilarity. Motivated by an intuitive understanding of executability, we then consider a restriction on the operational semantics of the pi-calculus that does associate with every pi-term executable behaviour, at least up to the version of branching bisimilarity that does not require the preservation of divergence.

  13. Conceptualization and Operationalization of Executive Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baggetta, Peter; Alexander, Patricia A.

    2016-01-01

    Executive function is comprised of different behavioral and cognitive elements and is considered to play a significant role in learning and academic achievement. Educational researchers frequently study the construct. However, because of its complexity functionally, the research on executive function can at times be both confusing and…

  14. 32 CFR 724.702 - Executive management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Executive management. 724.702 Section 724.702 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL NAVAL DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD Organization of the Naval Discharge Review Board § 724.702 Executive management. The...

  15. A science-based executive for autonomous planetary vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters, S.

    2001-01-01

    If requests for scientific observations, rather than specific plans, are uplinked to an autonomous execution system on the vehicle, it would be able to adjust its execution based upon actual performance. Such a science-based executive control system had been developed and demonstrated for the Rocky7 research rover.

  16. Executive control of attention in narcolepsy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sophie Bayard

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC is a disabling sleep disorder characterized by early loss of hypocretin neurons that project to areas involved in the attention network. We characterized the executive control of attention in drug-free patients with NC to determine whether the executive deficits observed in patients with NC are specific to the disease itself or whether they reflect performance changes due to the severity of excessive daytime sleepiness. METHODOLOGY: Twenty-two patients with NC compared to 22 patients with narcolepsy without cataplexy (NwC matched for age, gender, intellectual level, objective daytime sleepiness and number of sleep onset REM periods (SOREMPs were studied. Thirty-two matched healthy controls were included. All participants underwent a standardized interview, completed questionnaires, and neuropsychological tests. All patients underwent a polysomnography followed by multiple sleep latency tests (MSLT, with neuropsychological evaluation performed the same day between MSLT sessions. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Irrespective of diagnosis, patients reported higher self-reported attentional complaints associated with the intensity of depressive symptoms. Patients with NC performed slower and more variably on simple reaction time tasks than patients with NwC, who did not differ from controls. Patients with NC and NwC generally performed slower, reacted more variably, and made more errors than controls on executive functioning tests. Individual profile analyses showed a clear heterogeneity of the severity of executive deficit. This severity was related to objective sleepiness, higher number of SOREMPs on the MSLT, and lower intelligence quotient. The nature and severity of the executive deficits were unrelated to NC and NwC diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that drug-free patients with NC and NwC complained of attention deficit, with altered executive control of attention being explained by the severity of objective

  17. 29 CFR 541.100 - General rule for executive employees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... REGULATIONS DEFINING AND DELIMITING THE EXEMPTIONS FOR EXECUTIVE, ADMINISTRATIVE, PROFESSIONAL, COMPUTER AND OUTSIDE SALES EMPLOYEES Executive Employees § 541.100 General rule for executive employees. (a) The term...

  18. 32 CFR 700.320 - The Civilian Executive Assistants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... the Navy. (b) Each Civilian Executive Assistants, within his or her assigned area of responsibility... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false The Civilian Executive Assistants. 700.320... of the Navy The Office of the Secretary of the Navy/the Civilian Executive Assistants § 700.320 The...

  19. Rumination prospectively predicts executive functioning impairments in adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connolly, Samantha L; Wagner, Clara A; Shapero, Benjamin G; Pendergast, Laura L; Abramson, Lyn Y; Alloy, Lauren B

    2014-03-01

    The current study tested the resource allocation hypothesis, examining whether baseline rumination or depressive symptom levels prospectively predicted deficits in executive functioning in an adolescent sample. The alternative to this hypothesis was also evaluated by testing whether lower initial levels of executive functioning predicted increases in rumination or depressive symptoms at follow-up. A community sample of 200 adolescents (ages 12-13) completed measures of depressive symptoms, rumination, and executive functioning at baseline and at a follow-up session approximately 15 months later. Adolescents with higher levels of baseline rumination displayed decreases in selective attention and attentional switching at follow-up. Rumination did not predict changes in working memory or sustained and divided attention. Depressive symptoms were not found to predict significant changes in executive functioning scores at follow-up. Baseline executive functioning was not associated with change in rumination or depression over time. Findings partially support the resource allocation hypothesis that engaging in ruminative thoughts consumes cognitive resources that would otherwise be allocated towards difficult tests of executive functioning. Support was not found for the alternative hypothesis that lower levels of initial executive functioning would predict increased rumination or depressive symptoms at follow-up. Our study is the first to find support for the resource allocation hypothesis using a longitudinal design and an adolescent sample. Findings highlight the potentially detrimental effects of rumination on executive functioning during early adolescence. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. White matter connectivity and Internet gaming disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Bum Seok; Han, Doug Hyun; Kim, Sun Mi; Lee, Sang Won; Renshaw, Perry F.

    2017-01-01

    Internet use and on-line game play stimulate corticostriatal-limbic circuitry in both healthy subjects and subjects with Internet gaming disorder (IGD). We hypothesized that increased fractional anisotropy (FA) with decreased radial diffusivity (RD) would be observed in IGD subjects, compared with healthy control subjects, and that these white matter indices would be associated with clinical variables including duration of illness and executive function. We screened 181 male patients in order to recruit a large number (n = 58) of IGD subjects without psychiatric co-morbidity as well as 26 male healthy comparison subjects. Multiple diffusion-weighted images were acquired using a 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Tract-based spatial statistics was applied to compare group differences in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics between IGD and healthy comparison subjects. IGD subjects had increased FA values within forceps minor, right anterior thalamic radiation, right corticospinal tract, right inferior longitudinal fasciculus, right cingulum to hippocampus and right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF) as well as parallel decreases in RD value within forceps minor, right anterior thalamic radiation and IFOF relative to healthy control subjects. In addition, the duration of illness in IGD subjects was positively correlated with the FA values (integrity of white matter fibers) and negatively correlated with RD scores (diffusivity of axonal density) of whole brain white matter. In IGD subjects without psychiatric co-morbidity, our DTI results suggest that increased myelination (increased FA and decreased RD values) in right-sided frontal fiber tracts may be the result of extended game play. PMID:25899390

  1. Executive functioning: a scoping review of the occupational therapy literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramm, Heidi A; Krupa, Terry M; Missiuna, Cheryl A; Lysaght, Rosemary M; Parker, Kevin H

    2013-06-01

    Increasingly recognized as an important factor in the performance of complex, goal-directed tasks, executive functioning is understood in different ways across disciplines. The aim was to explore the ways in which executive functioning is conceptualized, discussed, described, and implied in the occupational therapy literature. A scoping review of the occupational therapy literature was conducted following Levac, Colquhoun, and O'Brien's (2010) recommended methodology. Executive functioning is described both as a set of performance component skills or processes and as the executive occupational performance inherent in complex occupations. Executive functioning is implicit in occupational performance and engagement, and some health conditions seem to be commonly associated with impaired executive functioning. Assessing executive functioning requires dynamic occupation- and performance-based assessment. Interventions targeting executive functioning are grounded in metacognitive approaches. Executive functioning is a complex construct that is conceptualized with considerable variance within the occupational therapy literature, creating barriers to effective service delivery.

  2. Hyperactivity in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): The role of executive and non-executive functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudec, Kristen L; Alderson, R Matt; Patros, Connor H G; Lea, Sarah E; Tarle, Stephanie J; Kasper, Lisa J

    2015-01-01

    Motor activity of boys (age 8-12 years) with (n=19) and without (n=18) ADHD was objectively measured with actigraphy across experimental conditions that varied with regard to demands on executive functions. Activity exhibited during two n-back (1-back, 2-back) working memory tasks was compared to activity during a choice-reaction time (CRT) task that placed relatively fewer demands on executive processes and during a simple reaction time (SRT) task that required mostly automatic processing with minimal executive demands. Results indicated that children in the ADHD group exhibited greater activity compared to children in the non-ADHD group. Further, both groups exhibited the greatest activity during conditions with high working memory demands, followed by the reaction time and control task conditions, respectively. The findings indicate that large-magnitude increases in motor activity are predominantly associated with increased demands on working memory, though demands on non-executive processes are sufficient to elicit small to moderate increases in motor activity as well. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  3. Financial Management for Childcare Executive Officers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster-Jorgensen, Karen; Harrington, Angela

    This handbook is designed to assist childcare executive officers (CEOs) in managing the finances of their programs. The guide is divided into five sections. Section 1, "Financial Entrepreneurship," advocates the adoption of an entrepreneurial spirit in directors and recommends: (1) becoming the Chief Executive Officer of the program; (2) actively…

  4. Executive functioning in low birth weight children entering kindergarten.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, S E; DeBoer, M D; Scharf, R J

    2018-01-01

    Poor executive functioning is associated with life-long difficulty. Identification of children at risk for executive dysfunction is important for early intervention to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes. This study is designed to examine relationships between birthweight and executive functioning in US children during kindergarten. Our hypothesis was that children with higher birthweights would have better executive function scores. We evaluated data from 17506 US children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten 2011 cohort. Birthweight and gestational age were obtained by parental survey. Executive functions were directly assessed using the number reverse test and card sort test to measure working memory and cognitive flexibility, respectively. Teacher evaluations were used for additional executive functions. Data were analyzed using SAS to run all linear and logistical regressions. For every kilogram of birthweight, scores of working memory increased by 1.47 (Pexecutive functioning. As birthweight increases executive function scores improve, even among infants born normal weight. Further evaluation of this population including interventions and progression through school is needed.

  5. Innovative behavior in nurse executives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, C E

    1994-05-01

    This study addresses the problem-solving styles of hospital nurse executives and explores the relationship between problem-solving style and leader effectiveness. The Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) and the Leader Effectiveness and Adaptability Description-Self (LEAD-S) were the instruments used to survey nurse executives from 66 medium-sized urban California hospitals. The majority of respondents used innovative approaches, but no correlation was found between problem-solving style and leader effectiveness.

  6. Supervision of execution of dismantling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Canizares, J.

    2015-01-01

    Enresa create and organizational structure that covers various areas involved in effective control of Decommissioning Project. One area is the Technical Supervision of Works Decommissioning Project, as Execution Department dependent Technical Management. In the structure, Execution Department acts as liaison between the project, disciplines involved in developing and specialized companies contracted work to achieve your intended target. Equally important is to ensure that such activities are carried out correctly, according to the project documentation. (Author)

  7. Execution and executability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradford, Robert W.; Harrison, Denise

    2015-09-01

    "We have a new strategy to grow our organization." Developing the plan is just the start. Implementing it in the organization is the real challenge. Many organizations don't fail due to lack of strategy; they struggle because it isn't effectively implemented. After working with hundreds of companies on strategy development, Denise and Robert have distilled the critical areas where organizations need to focus in order to enhance profitability through superior execution. If these questions are important to your organization, you'll find useful answers in the following articles: Do you find yourself overwhelmed by too many competing priorities? How do you limit how many strategic initiatives/projects your organization is working on at one time? How do you balance your resource requirements (time and money) with the availability of these resources? How do you balance your strategic initiative requirements with the day-to-day requirements of your organization?

  8. A Sales Execution Strategy Guide for Technology Startups

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ian Gilbert

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available The majority of startups fail to consider sales execution as part of their overall strategy. This article demonstrates how a sales execution strategy can help a company take a product or service to market more efficiently and effectively by focusing on the customers that are key to generating revenue. Combined with techniques for recruiting effectively and measuring sales outcomes, a sales execution strategy helps technology startups exceed growth aspirations and potentially reduce or even eliminate the requirement for external investment. In this article, we first describe the focus of assistance currently given to startups and the reasons why sales execution strategies are often overlooked. Next, we outline recommendations for developing, implementing, and supporting a sales execution strategy. Finally, we summarize the key points presented in the article.

  9. Metacognition and executive functioning in Elementary School

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trinidad García

    Full Text Available This study analyzes differences in metacognitive skills and executive functioning between two groups of students (10-12 years with different levels of metacognitive knowledge (high n = 50, low n = 64. Groups were established based on students' score on a test of knowledge of strategy use. Metacognitive skills were assessed by means of self-report. Students reported the frequency with which they applied these strategies during the phases of planning, execution, and evaluation of learning. Information about student executive functioning was provided by families and teachers, who completed two parallel forms of a behavior rating scale. The results indicated that: a the group with high levels of metacognitive knowledge reported using their metacognitive skills more frequently than their peers in the other group. These differences were statistically significant in the phases of planning and execution; b both family and teachers informed of better levels of executive functioning in the students with high metacognitive knowledge. Statistically significant differences were found in planning, functional memory, focus, and sustained attention. These results show the existence of an association between different levels of metacognitive knowledge, and differences in metacognitive skills and executive functions, and suggest the need to emphasize this set of variables in order to encourage students to acquire increasing levels of control over their learning process.

  10. Quality circles: the nurse executive as mentor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flarey, D L

    1991-12-01

    Changes within and around the health care environment are forcing health care executives to reexamine their managerial and leadership styles to confront the resulting turbulence. The nurse executive is charged with the profound responsibility of directing the delivery of nursing care throughout the organization. Care delivered today must be of high quality. Declining financial resources as well as personnel shortages cause the executive to be an effective innovator in meeting the increasing demands. Quality circles offer the nurse executive an avenue of recourse. Circles have been effectively implemented in the health care setting, as has been consistently documented over time. By way of a participative management approach, quality circles may lead to increased employee morale and productivity, cost savings, and decreased employee turnover rates, as well as realization of socialization and self-actualization needs. A most effective approach to their introduction would be implementation at the first-line manager level. This promotes an acceptance of the concept at the management level as well as a training course for managers to implement the process at the unit level. The nurse executive facilitates the process at the first-line manager level. This facilitation will cause a positive outcome to diffuse throughout the entire organization. Quality circles offer the nurse executive the opportunity to challenge the existing environmental turmoil and effect a positive and lasting change.

  11. Naps Enhance Executive Attention in Preschool-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cremone, Amanda; McDermott, Jennifer M; Spencer, Rebecca M C

    2017-09-01

    Executive attention is impaired following sleep loss in school-aged children, adolescents, and adults. Whether naps improve attention relative to nap deprivation in preschool-aged children is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare executive attention in preschool children following a nap and an interval of wake. Sixty-nine children, 35-70 months of age, completed a Flanker task to assess executive attention following a nap and an equivalent interval of wake. Overall, accuracy was greater after the nap compared with the wake interval. Reaction time(s) did not differ between the nap and wake intervals. Results did not differ between children who napped consistently and those who napped inconsistently, suggesting that naps benefit executive attention of preschoolers regardless of nap habituality. These results indicate that naps enhance attention in preschool children. As executive attention supports executive functioning and learning, nap promotion may improve early education outcomes. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  12. Teaching Celia in the Age of Black Lives Matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brandon R. Byrd

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The emergence of Black Lives Matter has introduced a language of black liberation to a new generation of students. In doing so, it has provided an opportunity for historical study. Teacher-scholars can and should take advantage of the renewed interest in systemic threats to black life in the United States when teaching about past victims of state-sanctioned violence including Celia, an enslaved teenager executed for killing her master after years of sexual abuse. In doing so, they can not only draw useful connections between the past and present but also lay the foundations for a more meaningful study of black radicalism and black resistance in the United States.

  13. 78 FR 55244 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board; Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-10

    ... DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... the membership of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Senior Executive Service (SES... rating of a senior executive's performance, the executive's response, and the higher level official's...

  14. The contribution of executive control to semantic cognition: Convergent evidence from semantic aphasia and executive dysfunction

    OpenAIRE

    Thompson, Hannah E; Almaghyuli, Azizah; Noonan, Krist A.; Barak, Ohr; Lambon Ralph, Matthew; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2018-01-01

    Semantic cognition, as described by the Controlled Semantic Cognition (CSC) framework (Rogers, Patterson, Jefferies, & Lambon Ralph, 2015), involves two key components: activation of coherent, generalizable concepts within a heteromodal ‘hub’ in combination with modality-specific features (spokes), and a constraining mechanism that manipulates and gates this knowledge to generate time- and task- appropriate behaviour. Executive-semantic goal representations, largely supported by executive...

  15. White matter microstructure mediates the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and spatial working memory in older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberlin, Lauren E; Verstynen, Timothy D; Burzynska, Agnieszka Z; Voss, Michelle W; Prakash, Ruchika Shaurya; Chaddock-Heyman, Laura; Wong, Chelsea; Fanning, Jason; Awick, Elizabeth; Gothe, Neha; Phillips, Siobhan M; Mailey, Emily; Ehlers, Diane; Olson, Erin; Wojcicki, Thomas; McAuley, Edward; Kramer, Arthur F; Erickson, Kirk I

    2016-05-01

    White matter structure declines with advancing age and has been associated with a decline in memory and executive processes in older adulthood. Yet, recent research suggests that higher physical activity and fitness levels may be associated with less white matter degeneration in late life, although the tract-specificity of this relationship is not well understood. In addition, these prior studies infrequently associate measures of white matter microstructure to cognitive outcomes, so the behavioral importance of higher levels of white matter microstructural organization with greater fitness levels remains a matter of speculation. Here we tested whether cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) levels were associated with white matter microstructure and whether this relationship constituted an indirect pathway between cardiorespiratory fitness and spatial working memory in two large, cognitively and neurologically healthy older adult samples. Diffusion tensor imaging was used to determine white matter microstructure in two separate groups: Experiment 1, N=113 (mean age=66.61) and Experiment 2, N=154 (mean age=65.66). Using a voxel-based regression approach, we found that higher VO2max was associated with higher fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of white matter microstructure, in a diverse network of white matter tracts, including the anterior corona radiata, anterior internal capsule, fornix, cingulum, and corpus callosum (PFDR-correctedmicrostructure within these regions, among others, constituted a significant indirect path between VO2max and spatial working memory performance. These results suggest that greater aerobic fitness levels are associated with higher levels of white matter microstructural organization, which may, in turn, preserve spatial memory performance in older adulthood. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. The Risk Preferences of U.S. Executives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brenner, Steffen

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, I elicit risk attitudes of U.S. executives by calibrating a subjective option valuation model for option exercising data (1996 to 2008), yielding approximately 65,000 values of relative risk aversion (RRA) for almost 7,000 executives. The observed behavior is generally consistent...... with moderate risk aversion and a median (mean) RRA close to one (three). Values are validated for chief executive officers (CEOs) by testing theory-based predictions on the influence of individual characteristics on risk preferences such as gender, marital status, religiosity, and intelligence. Senior managers...... such as CEOs, presidents, and chairpersons of the boards of directors are significantly less risk averse than non-senior executives. RRA heterogeneity is strongly correlated with sector membership and firm-level variables such as size, performance, and capital structure. Alternative factors influencing option...

  17. Stateless and stateful implementations of faithful execution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierson, Lyndon G; Witzke, Edward L; Tarman, Thomas D; Robertson, Perry J; Eldridge, John M; Campbell, Philip L

    2014-12-16

    A faithful execution system includes system memory, a target processor, and protection engine. The system memory stores a ciphertext including value fields and integrity fields. The value fields each include an encrypted executable instruction and the integrity fields each include an encrypted integrity value for determining whether a corresponding one of the value fields has been modified. The target processor executes plaintext instructions decoded from the ciphertext while the protection engine is coupled between the system memory and the target processor. The protection engine includes logic to retrieve the ciphertext from the system memory, decrypt the value fields into the plaintext instructions, perform an integrity check based on the integrity fields to determine whether any of the corresponding value fields have been modified, and provide the plaintext instructions to the target processor for execution.

  18. Renewal and change for health care executives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, G C; Bice, M O

    1991-01-01

    Health care executives must consider renewal and change within their own lives if they are to breathe life into their own institutions. Yet numerous barriers to executive renewal exist, including time pressures, fatigue, cultural factors, and trustee attitudes. This essay discusses such barriers and suggests approaches that health care executives may consider for programming renewal into their careers. These include self-assessment for professional and personal goals, career or job change, process vs. outcome considerations, solitude, networking, lifelong education, surrounding oneself with change agents, business travel and sabbaticals, reading outside the field, physical exercise, mentoring, learning from failures, a sense of humor, spiritual reflection, and family and friends. Renewal is a continuous, lifelong process requiring constant learning. Individual executives would do well to develop a framework for renewal in their careers and organizations.

  19. Child overweight and obesity are associated with reduced executive cognitive performance and brain alterations: a magnetic resonance imaging study in Mexican children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, C C C; Moreno, B; González-Santos, L; Concha, L; Barquera, S; Barrios, F A

    2015-06-01

    Overweight and obesity in childhood is associated with negative physical and psychological effects. It has been proposed that obesity increase the risk for developing cognitive deficits, dementia and Alzheimer's disease and that it may be associated with marked differences in specific brain structure volumes. The purpose of this study was a neurobiopsychological approach to examine the association between overweight and obesity, brain structure and a paediatric neuropsychological assessment in Mexican children between 6 and 8 years of age. We investigated the relation between the body mass index (BMI), brain volumetric segmentation of subcortical gray and white matter regions obtained with magnetic resonance imaging and the Neuropsychological Assessment of Children standardized for Latin America. Thirty-three healthy Mexican children between 6 and 8 years of age, divided into normal weight (18 children) and overweight/obese (15 children) groups. Overweight/obese children showed reduced executive cognitive performance on neuropsychological evaluations (i.e. verbal fluidity, P = 0.03) and presented differences in brain structures related to learning and memory (reduced left hippocampal volumes, P = 0.04) and executive functions (larger white matter volumes in the left cerebellum, P = 0.04 and mid-posterior corpus callosum, P = 0.03). Additionally, we found a positive correlation between BMI and left globulus pallidus (P = 0.012, ρ = 0.43) volume and a negative correlation between BMI and neuropsychological evaluation scores (P = 0.033, ρ = -0.37). The findings contribute to the idea that there is a relationship between BMI, executive cognitive performance and brain structure that may underlie the causal chain that leads to obesity in adulthood. © 2014 The Authors. Pediatric Obesity © 2014 World Obesity.

  20. Modified dark matter: Relating dark energy, dark matter and baryonic matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edmonds, Douglas; Farrah, Duncan; Minic, Djordje; Ng, Y. Jack; Takeuchi, Tatsu

    Modified dark matter (MDM) is a phenomenological model of dark matter, inspired by gravitational thermodynamics. For an accelerating universe with positive cosmological constant (Λ), such phenomenological considerations lead to the emergence of a critical acceleration parameter related to Λ. Such a critical acceleration is an effective phenomenological manifestation of MDM, and it is found in correlations between dark matter and baryonic matter in galaxy rotation curves. The resulting MDM mass profiles, which are sensitive to Λ, are consistent with observational data at both the galactic and cluster scales. In particular, the same critical acceleration appears both in the galactic and cluster data fits based on MDM. Furthermore, using some robust qualitative arguments, MDM appears to work well on cosmological scales, even though quantitative studies are still lacking. Finally, we comment on certain nonlocal aspects of the quanta of modified dark matter, which may lead to novel nonparticle phenomenology and which may explain why, so far, dark matter detection experiments have failed to detect dark matter particles.

  1. What executives should remember.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drucker, Peter F

    2006-02-01

    In more than 30 essays for Harvard Business Review, Peter Drucker (1909-2005) urged readers to take on the hard work of thinking--always combined, he insisted, with decisive action. He closely analyzed the phenomenon of knowledge work--the growing call for employees who use their minds rather than their hands--and explained how it challenged the conventional wisdom about the way organizations should be run. He was intrigued by employees who knew more about certain subjects than their bosses or colleagues but who still had to cooperate with others in a large organization. As the business world matured in the second half of the twentieth century, executives came to think that they knew how to run companies--and Drucker took it upon himself to poke holes in their assumptions, lest organizations become stale. But he did so sympathetically, operating from the premise that his readers were intelligent, hardworking people of goodwill. Well suited to HBR's format of practical, idea-based essays for executives, his clear-eyed, humanistic writing enriched the magazine time and again. This article is a compilation of the savviest management advice Drucker offered HBR readers over the years--in short, his greatest hits. It revisits the following insightful, influential contributions: "The Theory of the Business" (September-October 1994), "Managing for Business Effectiveness" (May-June 1963), "What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits" (July-August 1989), "The New Society of Organizations" (September-October 1992), "The Information Executives Truly Need" (January-February 1995), "Managing Oneself" (March-April 1999 republished January 2005), "They're Not Employees, They're People" (February 2002), "What Makes an Effective Executive" (June 2004).

  2. Design review of the SYVAC Executive

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lane, G.D.

    1985-01-01

    The report documents the current SYVAC Executive design. Eight criteria for evaluating aspects of the design as objectively as possible are described as well as the results of applying them. Principal benefits arising from implementation of design recommendations are perceived to be improved maintainability and better delineation of the interface between the Executive and SYVAC submodels. (author)

  3. Deep versus periventricular white matter lesions and cognitive function in a community sample of middle-aged participants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soriano-Raya, Juan José; Miralbell, Júlia; López-Cancio, Elena; Bargalló, Núria; Arenillas, Juan Francisco; Barrios, Maite; Cáceres, Cynthia; Toran, Pere; Alzamora, Maite; Dávalos, Antoni; Mataró, Maria

    2012-09-01

    The association of cerebral white matter lesions (WMLs) with cognitive status is not well understood in middle-aged individuals. Our aim was to determine the specific contribution of periventricular hyperintensities (PVHs) and deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMHs) to cognitive function in a community sample of asymptomatic participants aged 50 to 65 years. One hundred stroke- and dementia-free adults completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and brain MRI protocol. Participants were classified according to PVH and DWMH scores (Fazekas scale). We dichotomized our sample into low grade WMLs (participants without or with mild lesions) and high grade WMLs (participants with moderate or severe lesions). Analyses were performed separately in PVH and DWMH groups. High grade DWMHs were associated with significantly lower scores in executive functioning (-0.45 standard deviations [SD]), attention (-0.42 SD), verbal fluency (-0.68 SD), visual memory (-0.52 SD), visuospatial skills (-0.79 SD), and psychomotor speed (-0.46 SD). Further analyses revealed that high grade DWMHs were also associated with a three- to fourfold increased risk of impaired scores (i.e.,<1.5 SD) in executive functioning, verbal fluency, visuospatial skills, and psychomotor speed. Our findings suggest that only DWMHs, not PVHs, are related to diminished cognitive function in middle-aged individuals. (JINS, 2012, 18, 1-12).

  4. Executive compensation and firm performance: Evidence from Indian firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehul Raithatha

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The study examines the relationship between executive compensation and firm performance among Indian firms. The evidence suggests that firm performance measured by accounting, as well as market-based measures, significantly affects executive compensation. We also test for the presence of persistence in executive compensation by employing the system-generalised methods of moments (GMM estimator. We find significant persistence in executive compensation among the sample firms. Further, we report the absence of pay–performance relationship among the smaller sample firms and business group affiliated firms. Thus, our findings cast doubts over the performance-based executive compensation practices of Indian business group affiliated firms.

  5. 78 FR 41191 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board Senior Executive Service Performance... Transportation Board (STB) publishes the names of the Persons selected to serve on its Senior Executive Service... performance appraisal system making senior executives accountable for organizational and individual goal...

  6. 76 FR 69770 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-09

    ... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board AGENCY: Office of... of a senior executive's performance by the supervisor, and considers recommendations to the appointing authority regarding the performance of the senior executive. Office of Personnel Management. John...

  7. 76 FR 78257 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-16

    ... FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... appointment of the members of the Senior Executive Service Performance Review Boards for the Federal... appropriate personnel actions for members of the Senior Executive Service. DATES: This notice is effective...

  8. 78 FR 44577 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Office of the Secretary Senior Executive Service Performance... notice announces the appointment of the members of the Senior Executive Service Performance Review Boards... other appropriate personnel actions for incumbents of Senior Executive Service, Senior Level and Senior...

  9. 77 FR 54570 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-05

    ... DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board AGENCY... the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Review.... The PRB shall review and evaluate the initial summary rating of the senior executive's performance...

  10. Executive functioning in older adults with hoarding disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayers, Catherine R; Wetherell, Julie Loebach; Schiehser, Dawn; Almklov, Erin; Golshan, Shahrokh; Saxena, Sanjaya

    2013-11-01

    Hoarding disorder (HD) is a chronic and debilitating psychiatric condition. Midlife HD patients have been found to have neurocognitive impairment, particularly in areas of executive functioning, but the extent to which this is due to comorbid psychiatric disorders has not been clear. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine executive functioning in geriatric HD patients without any comorbid Axis I disorders (n = 42) compared with a healthy older adult comparison group (n = 25). We hypothesized that older adults with HD would perform significantly worse on measures of executive functioning (Wisconsin Card Sort Task [Psychological Assessment Resources, Lutz, Florida, USA] ( Psychological Assessment Resources, 2003) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV digit span and letter-number sequencing tests [Pearson, San Antonio, TX, USA]). Older adults with HD showed significant differences from healthy older controls in multiple aspects of executive functioning. Compared with healthy controls, older adults with HD committed significantly more total, non-perseverative errors and conceptual level responses on the Wisconsin Card Sort Task and had significantly worse performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV digit span and letter-number sequencing tests. Hoarding symptom severity was strongly correlated with executive dysfunction in the HD group. Compared with demographically-matched controls, older adults with HD have dysfunction in several domains of executive functioning including mental control, working memory, inhibition, and set shifting. Executive dysfunction is strongly correlated with hoarding severity and is not because of comorbid psychiatric disorders in HD patients. These results have broad clinical implications suggesting that executive functioning should be assessed and taken into consideration when developing intervention strategies for older adults with HD. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  11. Strategic management: a new dimension of the nurse executive's role.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, L J

    1990-09-01

    The growth of corporate orientation for health care structures, with a focus on bottom-line management, has radically altered the role of nurse executives. With the organization's emphasis on performance, productivity, and results, successful nurse executives are now integrating the management of the delivery of nursing care with the management of complex corporate structures and relationships. The editor of Executive Development discusses the rapidly changing expectations and demands of the contemporary nurse executive's work. The nurse executive's role can be viewed from many perspectives: its scope, its value, its structure, its content. Content--"What does the nurse executive do that makes a real difference?"--is the focus here.

  12. 76 FR 76122 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-06

    ... CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... change in the membership of the Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board for the Chemical Safety... Senior Executive Service (SES) and makes recommendations as to final annual performance ratings for...

  13. Corporate governance going astray: executive remuneration built to fail

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Winter, J.; Grundmann, S.; Haar, B.; Merkt, H.; Mülbert, P.O.; Wellenhofer, M.; Baum, H.; von Hein, J.; von Hippel, T.; Pistor, K.; Roth, M.; Schweitzer, H.

    2010-01-01

    Modern remuneration systems for executive directors include substantial elements of performance based pay. The idea behind this is that by rewarding executives for performance their interests become aligned with those of the company’s shareholders, thus bridging the principal-agent gap. Executive

  14. 78 FR 67147 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-08

    ... FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... appointment of the members of the Senior Executive Service Performance Review Boards for the Federal... actions for members of the Senior Executive Service. DATES: This notice is effective November 5, 2013. FOR...

  15. 78 FR 57837 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-20

    ... CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... change in the membership of the Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board for the Chemical Safety... Senior Executive Service (SES) and makes recommendations as to final annual performance ratings for...

  16. 77 FR 60450 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-03

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Office of the Secretary Senior Executive Service Performance... announces the appointment of the members of the Senior Executive Service Performance Review Boards for the... appropriate personnel actions for incumbents of Senior Executive Service, Senior Level and Senior Professional...

  17. 77 FR 70779 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-27

    ... FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... appointment of the members of the Senior Executive Service Performance Review Boards for the Federal... actions for members of the Senior Executive Service. DATES: This notice is effective November 27, 2012...

  18. 77 FR 66191 - Senior Executive Service-Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-02

    ... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Senior Executive Service--Performance Review Board AGENCY: Office... performance review boards. The board reviews and evaluates the initial appraisal of a senior executive's... performance of the senior executive. U.S. Office of Personnel Management. John Berry, Director. The following...

  19. Repetitive thinking, executive functioning, and depressive mood in the elderly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Philippot, Pierre; Agrigoroaei, Stefan

    2017-11-01

    Previous findings and the depressive-executive dysfunction hypothesis suggest that the established association between executive functioning and depression is accounted for by repetitive thinking. Investigating the association between executive functioning, repetitive thinking, and depressive mood, the present study empirically tested this mediational model in a sample of older adults, while focusing on both concrete and abstract repetitive thinking. This latter distinction is important given the potential protective role of concrete repetitive thinking, in contrast to the depletive effect of abstract repetitive thinking. A sample of 43 elderly volunteers, between 75 and 95 years of age, completed tests of executive functioning (the Stroop test, the Trail Making test, and the Fluency test), and questionnaires of repetitive thinking and depression. Positive correlations were observed between abstract repetitive thinking and depressive mood, and between concrete repetitive thinking and executive functioning; a negative correlation was observed between depressive mood and executive functioning. Further, mediational analysis evidenced that the relation between executive functioning and depressive mood was mediated by abstract repetitive thinking. The present data provide, for the first time, empirical support to the depressive-executive dysfunction hypothesis: the lack of executive resources would favor a mode of abstract repetitive thinking, which in turn would deplete mood. It suggests that clinical intervention targeting depression in the elderly should take into consideration repetitive thinking modes and the executive resources needed to disengage from rumination.

  20. IT doesn't matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, Nicholas G

    2003-05-01

    As information technology has grown in power and ubiquity, companies have come to view it as ever more critical to their success; their heavy spending on hardware and software clearly reflects that assumption. Chief executives routinely talk about information technology's strategic value, about how they can use IT to gain a competitive edge. But scarcity, not ubiquity, makes a business resource truly strategic--and allows companies to use it for a sustained competitive advantage. You only gain an edge over rivals by doing something that they can't. IT is the latest in a series of broadly adopted technologies--think of the railroad or the electric generator--that have reshaped industry over the past two centuries. For a brief time, as they were being built into the infrastructure of commerce, these technologies created powerful opportunities for forward-looking companies. But as their availability increased and their costs decreased, they became commodity inputs. From a strategic standpoint, they became invisible; they no longer mattered. that's exactly what's happening to IT, and the implications are profound. In this article, HBR's editor-at-large Nicholas Carr suggests that IT management should, frankly, become boring. It should focus on reducing risks, not increasing opportunities. For example, companies need to pay more attention to ensuring network and data security. Even more important, they need to manage IT costs more aggressively. IT may not help you gain a strategic advantage, but it could easily put you at a cost disadvantage. If, like many executives, you've begun to take a more defensive posture toward IT, spending more frugally and thinking more pragmatically, you're already on the right course. The challenge will be to maintain that discipline when the business cycle strengthens.

  1. Neural modeling of prefrontal executive function

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Levine, D.S. [Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)

    1996-12-31

    Brain executive function is based in a distributed system whereby prefrontal cortex is interconnected with other cortical. and subcortical loci. Executive function is divided roughly into three interacting parts: affective guidance of responses; linkage among working memory representations; and forming complex behavioral schemata. Neural network models of each of these parts are reviewed and fit into a preliminary theoretical framework.

  2. Interacting dark matter disguised as warm dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boehm, Celine; Riazuelo, Alain; Hansen, Steen H.; Schaeffer, Richard

    2002-01-01

    We explore some of the consequences of dark-matter-photon interactions on structure formation, focusing on the evolution of cosmological perturbations and performing both an analytical and a numerical study. We compute the cosmic microwave background anisotropies and matter power spectrum in this class of models. We find, as the main result, that when dark matter and photons are coupled, dark matter perturbations can experience a new damping regime in addition to the usual collisional Silk damping effect. Such dark matter particles (having quite large photon interactions) behave like cold dark matter or warm dark matter as far as the cosmic microwave background anisotropies or matter power spectrum are concerned, respectively. These dark-matter-photon interactions leave specific imprints at sufficiently small scales on both of these two spectra, which may allow us to put new constraints on the acceptable photon-dark-matter interactions. Under the conservative assumption that the abundance of 10 12 M · galaxies is correctly given by the cold dark matter, and without any knowledge of the abundance of smaller objects, we obtain the limit on the ratio of the dark-matter-photon cross section to the dark matter mass σ γ-DM /m DM -6 σ Th /(100 GeV)≅6x10 -33 cm 2 GeV -1

  3. 75 FR 1028 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-08

    ... CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... change in the membership of the Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board for the Chemical Safety... performance ratings of members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) and makes recommendations as to final...

  4. Structures and Relationships between the Business Executive and Information Technology Executive at the University: A Mixed Methods Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hollman, Angela K.

    2014-01-01

    This study uses an explanatory mixed methods methodology to attempt to determine the reporting relationships between business and IT executives within the university. The study also explores IT and business executives thoughts on these relationships. Supporting research from organizational studies and business-IT alignment is combined in order to…

  5. Inter-Organisational Coordination in Ramp-Up Execution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Irene; Karlsson, Christer

    the degree of fragmentation in the process planning and execution. Resource dependence theory (RDT) is used as central explanatory framework for inter-organisational interdependencies formation throughout the planning and execution of the ramp-up activities and milestones. This study aims at exploring inter...

  6. Executive Function and Reading Comprehension: A Meta-Analytic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Follmer, D. Jake

    2018-01-01

    This article presents a meta-analytic review of the relation between executive function and reading comprehension. Results (N = 6,673) supported a moderate positive association between executive function and reading comprehension (r = 0.36). Moderator analyses suggested that correlations between executive function and reading comprehension did not…

  7. Dissociation in undergraduate students: disruptions in executive functioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giesbrecht, Timo; Merckelbach, Harald; Geraerts, Elke; Smeets, Ellen

    2004-08-01

    The concept of dissociation refers to disruptions in attentional control. Attentional control is an executive function. Few studies have addressed the link between dissociation and executive functioning. Our study investigated this relationship in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 185) who completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Random Number Generation Task. We found that minor disruptions in executive functioning were related to a subclass of dissociative experiences, notably dissociative amnesia and the Dissociative Experiences Scale Taxon. However, the two other subscales of the Dissociative Experiences Scale, measuring depersonalization and absorption, were unrelated to executive functioning. Our findings suggest that a failure to inhibit previous responses might contribute to the pathological memory manifestations of dissociation.

  8. ROUTING FINANCIAL FLOWS AT THE EXECUTION OF THE MUNICIPALITY BUDGET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariya V. Fedotova

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Economic development of each administrative-territorial unit is an important factor in the economic development of the Russian Federation. In its turn, the effective execution of the budget at each level of the budget system is invariably topical, influencing the development of a system of both centralized and decentralized finance. The paramount characteristic of the organization of the budget execution of the municipality is an ability to ensure the timely and full execution of their commitments. There is a direct correlation of the budget process on both the revenue and expenditure sides. Cash gap in the local budget execution is actually quite common and, usually, inevitable, because revenues are coming unevenly during the financial year, budgetary expenditures are seasonal, and this threatens the execution of planned budgets; there is a need to raise funds. The article deals with the execution of the cash balance plan, cash flow at the single account of budget, debt and source of financing deficits. The analysis of financial flows in the execution of municipalities’ budget shows problems of execution of budget revenues and allows assessing the scale of emerging cash gaps. An outcome of the review consists in the recognition of an objective need to develop approaches to assessing the effectiveness of budget execution at all its stages and to implement the monitoring of the effectiveness of budget execution and timely effective measures for ensuring its high-quality.

  9. Ten Years of Change in Executive Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolt, James F.

    1993-01-01

    As recently as the 1980s, most companies did not pay much attention to executive education. In the 1990s, many see executive education as a must for revamping competitive strategies, increasing productivity, improving quality, reducing cycle time, and revitalizing corporate culture. (Author/JOW)

  10. Understanding the Executive Functioning Heterogeneity in Schizophrenia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raffard, Stephane; Bayard, Sophie

    2012-01-01

    Schizophrenia is characterized by heterogeneous brain abnormalities involving cerebral regions implied in the executive functioning. The dysexecutive syndrome is one of the most prominent and functionally cognitive features of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, it is not clear to what extend executive deficits are heterogeneous in schizophrenia…

  11. Unraveling Executive Functioning in Dual Diagnosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duijkers, Judith C L M; Vissers, Constance Th W M; Egger, Jos I M

    2016-01-01

    In mental health, the term dual-diagnosis is used for the co-occurrence of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) with another mental disorder. These co-occurring disorders can have a shared cause, and can cause/intensify each other's expression. Forming a threat to health and society, dual-diagnosis is associated with relapses in addiction-related behavior and a destructive lifestyle. This is due to a persistent failure to control impulses and the maintaining of inadequate self-regulatory behavior in daily life. Thus, several aspects of executive functioning like inhibitory, shifting and updating processes seem impaired in dual-diagnosis. Executive (dys-)function is currently even seen as a shared underlying key component of most mental disorders. However, the number of studies on diverse aspects of executive functioning in dual-diagnosis is limited. In the present review, a systematic overview of various aspects of executive functioning in dual-diagnosis is presented, striving for a prototypical profile of patients with dual-diagnosis. Looking at empirical results, inhibitory and shifting processes appear to be impaired for SUD combined with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or cluster B personality disorders. Studies involving updating process tasks for dual-diagnosis were limited. More research that zooms in to the full diversity of these executive functions is needed in order to strengthen these findings. Detailed insight in the profile of strengths and weaknesses that underlies one's behavior and is related to diagnostic classifications, can lead to tailor-made assessment and indications for treatment, pointing out which aspects need attention and/or training in one's self-regulative abilities.

  12. Questionnaire of Executive Function for Dancers: An Ecological Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Alina; Rodriguez, Mabel; Quevedo, Liliana; de Cossio, Lourdes Fernandez; Borges, Ariel; Reyes, Alicia; Corral, Roberto; Blanco, Florentino; Alvarez, Miguel

    2012-01-01

    There is a current debate about the ecological validity of executive function (EF) tests. Consistent with the verisimilitude approach, this research proposes the Ballet Executive Scale (BES), a self-rating questionnaire that assimilates idiosyncratic executive behaviors of classical dance community. The BES was administrated to 149 adolescents,…

  13. Executive Function and Adaptive Behavior in Muenke Syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yarnell, Colin M P; Addissie, Yonit A; Hadley, Donald W; Guillen Sacoto, Maria J; Agochukwu, Nneamaka B; Hart, Rachel A; Wiggs, Edythe A; Platte, Petra; Paelecke, Yvonne; Collmann, Hartmut; Schweitzer, Tilmann; Kruszka, Paul; Muenke, Maximilian

    2015-08-01

    To investigate executive function and adaptive behavior in individuals with Muenke syndrome using validated instruments with a normative population and unaffected siblings as controls. Participants in this cross-sectional study included individuals with Muenke syndrome (P250R mutation in FGFR3) and their mutation-negative siblings. Participants completed validated assessments of executive functioning (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function [BRIEF]) and adaptive behavior skills (Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Second Edition [ABAS-II]). Forty-four with a positive FGFR3 mutation, median age 9 years, range 7 months to 52 years were enrolled. In addition, 10 unaffected siblings served as controls (5 males, 5 females; median age, 13 years; range, 3-18 years). For the General Executive Composite scale of the BRIEF, 32.1% of the cohort had scores greater than +1.5 SD, signifying potential clinical significance. For the General Adaptive Composite of the ABAS-II, 28.2% of affected individuals scored in the 3rd-8th percentile of the normative population, and 56.4% were below the average category (General Executive Composite and the ABAS-II General Adaptive Composite. Individuals with Muenke syndrome are at an increased risk for developing adaptive and executive function behavioral changes compared with a normative population and unaffected siblings. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  14. Mismanagement Reasons of the Projects Execution Phase

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hatem Khaleefah Al-Agele

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The execution phase of the project is most dangerous and the most drain on the resources during project life cycle, therefore, its need to monitor and control by specialists to exceeded obstructions and achieve the project goals. The study aims to detect the actual reasons behind mismanagement of the execution phase. The study begins with theoretical part, where it deals with the concepts of project, project selection, project management, and project processes. Field part consists of three techniques: 1- brainstorming, 2- open interviews with experts and 3- designed questionnaire (with 49 reason. These reasons result from brainstorming and interviewing with experts., in order to find the real reasons behind mismanagement of the execution phase. The most important reasons which are negatively impact on management of the execution phase that proven by the study were (Inability of company to meet project requirements because it's specialized and / or large project, Multiple sources of decision and overlap in powers, Inadequate planning, Inaccurate estimation of cost, Delayed cash flows by owners, Poor performance of project manager, inefficient decision making process, and the Negative impact of people in the project area. Finally, submitting a set of recommendations which will contribute to overcome the obstructions of successful management of the execution phase.

  15. Executive Orders-Barack Obama

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Archives and Records Administration — Executive orders are official documents, numbered consecutively, through which the President of the United States manages the operations of the Federal Government....

  16. 47 CFR 54.704 - The Administrator's Chief Executive Officer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false The Administrator's Chief Executive Officer. 54... Administrator shall nominate by consensus a Chief Executive Officer. The Board of Directors shall submit the... Administrator's Chief Executive Officer. (3) If the Board of Directors does not reach consensus on a nominee or...

  17. MANAGERIAL PROBLEMS CONFRONTED BY EXECUTIVE CHEFS IN HOTELS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kemal BIRDIR

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The study was conducted to determine the managerial problems confronted by executive chefs working at 4 and 5-star hotels in Turkey. A survey developed by the researchers was employed as a data collection tool. Answers given by participants were analyzed using “T-test” and “ANOVA” analyses in order to determine whether there are significant differences of opinion on the subject (collated in answers to the survey questionnaire amongst executive chefs, based on answers given by them (expressed as average figures dependent upon such variables as their “Age”, “Gender”, “Educational Status” and “Star status of the hotel within which they worked.” The study results showed that the most important problem confronting executive chefs was “finding educated/trained kitchen personnel.” On the specific problem, “responsibility and authority is not clear within the kitchen,” there was a significant difference of opinion by the gender of the executive chefs. Moreover, there was a significant difference of opinion dependent upon the star status of the hotels within which the chefs worked on the problem of whether or not “the working hours of kitchen personnel were too long.” The findings suggest that there are important problems confronted by executive chefs. Moreover, male and female executive chefs have different opinions on the magnitudes of some specific problems. Whereas there are various reports and similar publications discussing problems faced by executive chefs, the present study is the first one in the literature that solely explore the managerial problems experienced at a kitchen context.

  18. TOWARD THE DOMINANCE OF THE EXECUTIVE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danica Fink-Hafner

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the recent processes of globalization and (within this framework Europeanization, with a focus on the changes in national political Systems (particularly in post-communist EU member states due to the pressures of these processes. The main thesis is that national executives have been gaining power in relation to the legislative due to international pressures. The international financial and economic crisis has added to this trend as countries become more financially dependent on International centers of power which demand efficient economic liberalization from national executives as a precondition for the required international loans. The case study of Slovenia is presented from a comparative perspective (in some aspects being a deviant case so as to offer new theoretical insights into the mechanisms of strengthening the national executives.

  19. Header [nuclear battery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goslee, D.E.; Barr, H.N.

    1976-01-01

    The invention relates to a nuclear-powered microwatt thermoelectric generator, small in size, efficient in operation, and which will last for a considerable period of time. The generator is suitable for implanting within the human body for powering devices such as cardiac pacemakers

  20. Central executive involvement in children's spatial memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ang, Su Yin; Lee, Kerry

    2008-11-01

    Previous research with adults found that spatial short-term and working memory tasks impose similar demands on executive resources. We administered spatial short-term and working memory tasks to 8- and 11-year-olds in three separate experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2 an executive suppression task (random number generation) was found to impair performances on a short-term memory task (Corsi blocks), a working memory task (letter rotation), and a spatial visualisation task (paper folding). In Experiment 3 an articulatory suppression task only impaired performance on the working memory task. These results suggest that short-term and working memory performances are dependent on executive resources. The degree to which the short-term memory task was dependent on executive resources was expected to be related to the amount of experience children have had with such tasks. Yet we found no significant age-related suppression effects. This was attributed to differences in employment of cognitive strategies by the older children.

  1. Executive functioning complaints and escitalopram treatment response in late-life depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manning, Kevin J; Alexopoulos, George S; Banerjee, Samprit; Morimoto, Sarah Shizuko; Seirup, Joanna K; Klimstra, Sibel A; Yuen, Genevieve; Kanellopoulos, Theodora; Gunning-Dixon, Faith

    2015-05-01

    Executive dysfunction may play a key role in the pathophysiology of late-life depression. Executive dysfunction can be assessed with cognitive tests and subjective report of difficulties with executive skills. The present study investigated the association between subjective report of executive functioning complaints and time to escitalopram treatment response in older adults with major depressive disorder (MDD). 100 older adults with MDD (58 with executive functioning complaints and 42 without executive functioning complaints) completed a 12-week trial of escitalopram. Treatment response over 12 weeks, as measured by repeated Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores, was compared for adults with and without executive complaints using mixed-effects modeling. Mixed effects analysis revealed a significant group × time interaction, F(1, 523.34) = 6.00, p = 0.01. Depressed older adults who reported executive functioning complaints at baseline demonstrated a slower response to escitalopram treatment than those without executive functioning complaints. Self-report of executive functioning difficulties may be a useful prognostic indicator for subsequent speed of response to antidepressant medication. Copyright © 2015 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. WCET Analysis of Java Bytecode Featuring Common Execution Environments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Luckow, Kasper Søe; Thomsen, Bent; Frost, Christian

    2011-01-01

    We present a novel tool for statically determining the Worst Case Execution Time (WCET) of Java Bytecode-based programs called Tool for Execution Time Analysis of Java bytecode (TetaJ). This tool differentiates itself from existing tools by separating the individual constituents of the execution...... environment into independent components. The prime benefit is that it can be used for execution environments featuring common embedded processors and software implementations of the JVM. TetaJ employs a model checking approach for statically determining WCET where the Java program, the JVM, and the hardware...

  3. BPELPower—A BPEL execution engine for geospatial web services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Genong (Eugene); Zhao, Peisheng; Di, Liping; Chen, Aijun; Deng, Meixia; Bai, Yuqi

    2012-10-01

    The Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) has become a popular choice for orchestrating and executing workflows in the Web environment. As one special kind of scientific workflow, geospatial Web processing workflows are data-intensive, deal with complex structures in data and geographic features, and execute automatically with limited human intervention. To enable the proper execution and coordination of geospatial workflows, a specially enhanced BPEL execution engine is required. BPELPower was designed, developed, and implemented as a generic BPEL execution engine with enhancements for executing geospatial workflows. The enhancements are especially in its capabilities in handling Geography Markup Language (GML) and standard geospatial Web services, such as the Web Processing Service (WPS) and the Web Feature Service (WFS). BPELPower has been used in several demonstrations over the decade. Two scenarios were discussed in detail to demonstrate the capabilities of BPELPower. That study showed a standard-compliant, Web-based approach for properly supporting geospatial processing, with the only enhancement at the implementation level. Pattern-based evaluation and performance improvement of the engine are discussed: BPELPower directly supports 22 workflow control patterns and 17 workflow data patterns. In the future, the engine will be enhanced with high performance parallel processing and broad Web paradigms.

  4. Executive and Perceptual Distraction in Visual Working Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-01

    The contents of visual working memory are likely to reflect the influence of both executive control resources and information present in the environment. We investigated whether executive attention is critical in the ability to exclude unwanted stimuli by introducing concurrent potentially distracting irrelevant items to a visual working memory paradigm, and manipulating executive load using simple or more demanding secondary verbal tasks. Across 7 experiments varying in presentation format, timing, stimulus set, and distractor number, we observed clear disruptive effects of executive load and visual distraction, but relatively minimal evidence supporting an interactive relationship between these factors. These findings are in line with recent evidence using delay-based interference, and suggest that different forms of attentional selection operate relatively independently in visual working memory. PMID:28414499

  5. Matter, dark matter, and anti-matter in search of the hidden universe

    CERN Document Server

    Mazure, Alain

    2012-01-01

    For over ten years, the dark side of the universe has been headline news. Detailed studies of the rotation of spiral galaxies, and 'mirages' created by clusters of galaxies bending the light from very remote objects, have convinced astronomers of the presence of large quantities of dark (unseen) matter in the cosmos. Moreover, in the 1990s, it was discovered that some four to five billion years ago the expansion of the universe entered a phase of acceleration. This implies the existence of dark energy. The nature of these 'dark; ingredients remains a mystery, but they seem to comprise about 95 percent of the matter/energy content of the universe. As for ordinary matter, although we are immersed in a sea of dark particles, including primordial neutrinos and photons from 'fossil' cosmological radiation, both we and our environment are made of ordinary, baryonic matter. Strangely, even if 15-20 percent of matter is baryonic matter, this represents only 4-5 percent of the total matter/energy content of the cosmos...

  6. Executive function in different groups of university students

    OpenAIRE

    Prosen, Simona; Smrtnik Vitulić, Helena

    2015-01-01

    The present study analyses the executive function (EF) skills of 369 students of primary education (n = 116), preschool education (n = 72), social pedagogy (n = 54), and biology (n = 128). It explores how the different groups of students use selected executive skills and whether there are any differences between the groups in this respect. Eleven EF skills were self-assessed using the Executive Skills Questionnaire for Students (Dawson & Guare, 2010). All of the groups of students experien...

  7. 24 CFR 983.204 - When HAP contract is executed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false When HAP contract is executed. 983... When HAP contract is executed. (a) PHA inspection of housing. (1) Before execution of the HAP contract... into a HAP contract for any contract unit until the PHA has determined that the unit complies with the...

  8. The salience network and human personality: Integrity of white matter tracts within anterior and posterior salience network relates to the self-directedness character trait.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prillwitz, Conrad; Rüber, Theodor; Reuter, Martin; Montag, Christian; Weber, Bernd; Elger, Christian E; Markett, Sebastian

    2018-04-28

    A prevailing topic in personality neuroscience is the question how personality traits are reflected in the brain. Functional and structural networks have been examined by functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, however, the structural correlates of functionally defined networks have not been investigated in a personality context. By using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), the present study assesses in a sample of 116 healthy participants how personality traits proposed in the framework of the biopsychosocial theory on personality relate to white matter pathways delineated by functional network imaging. We show that the character trait self-directedness relates to the overall microstructural integrity of white matter tracts constituting the salience network as indicated by DTI-derived measures. Self-directedness has been proposed as the executive control component of personality and describes the tendency to stay focused on the attainment of long-term goals. The present finding corroborates the view of the salience network as an executive control network that serves maintenance of rules and task-sets to guide ongoing behavior. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  9. Quantifying Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Angelo, Joseph A

    2011-01-01

    Quantifying Matter explains how scientists learned to measure matter and quantify some of its most fascinating and useful properties. It presents many of the most important intellectual achievements and technical developments that led to the scientific interpretation of substance. Complete with full-color photographs, this exciting new volume describes the basic characteristics and properties of matter. Chapters include:. -Exploring the Nature of Matter. -The Origin of Matter. -The Search for Substance. -Quantifying Matter During the Scientific Revolution. -Understanding Matter's Electromagnet

  10. LQCD workflow execution framework: Models, provenance and fault-tolerance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piccoli, Luciano; Simone, James N; Kowalkowlski, James B; Dubey, Abhishek

    2010-01-01

    Large computing clusters used for scientific processing suffer from systemic failures when operated over long continuous periods for executing workflows. Diagnosing job problems and faults leading to eventual failures in this complex environment is difficult, specifically when the success of an entire workflow might be affected by a single job failure. In this paper, we introduce a model-based, hierarchical, reliable execution framework that encompass workflow specification, data provenance, execution tracking and online monitoring of each workflow task, also referred to as participants. The sequence of participants is described in an abstract parameterized view, which is translated into a concrete data dependency based sequence of participants with defined arguments. As participants belonging to a workflow are mapped onto machines and executed, periodic and on-demand monitoring of vital health parameters on allocated nodes is enabled according to pre-specified rules. These rules specify conditions that must be true pre-execution, during execution and post-execution. Monitoring information for each participant is propagated upwards through the reflex and healing architecture, which consists of a hierarchical network of decentralized fault management entities, called reflex engines. They are instantiated as state machines or timed automatons that change state and initiate reflexive mitigation action(s) upon occurrence of certain faults. We describe how this cluster reliability framework is combined with the workflow execution framework using formal rules and actions specified within a structure of first order predicate logic that enables a dynamic management design that reduces manual administrative workload, and increases cluster-productivity.

  11. Executive and Memory Function in Adolescents Born Very Preterm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ment, Laura; Allan, Walter; Schneider, Karen; Vohr, Betty R.

    2011-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Many preterm children display school difficulties, which may be mediated by impairment in executive function and memory. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate executive and memory function among adolescents born preterm compared with term controls at 16 years. METHODS: A total of 337 of 437 (77%) adolescents born in 1989 to 1992 with a birth weight executive function and memory tasks. Multiple regression analyses were used to compare groups and to identify associations between selected factors and outcomes among preterm subjects. RESULTS: Adolescents born preterm, compared with term controls, showed deficits in executive function in the order of 0.4 to 0.6 SD on tasks of verbal fluency, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, planning/organization, and working memory as well as verbal and visuospatial memory. After exclusion of adolescents with neurosensory disabilities and full-scale IQ executive dysfunction, as measured with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, on the Metacognition Index (odds ratio [OR]: 2.5 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2–5.1]) and the Global Executive Composite (OR: 4.2 [95% CI: 1.6–10.9]), but not on the Behavioral Regulation index (OR: 1.5 [95% CI: 0.7–3.5]). Among adolescents born preterm, severe brain injury on neonatal ultrasound and lower maternal education were the most consistent factors associated with poor outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Even after exclusion of preterm subjects with significant disabilities, adolescents born preterm in the early 1990s were at increased risk of deficits in executive function and memory. PMID:21300680

  12. Program Execution on Reconfigurable Multicore Architectures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjiva Prasad

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Based on the two observations that diverse applications perform better on different multicore architectures, and that different phases of an application may have vastly different resource requirements, Pal et al. proposed a novel reconfigurable hardware approach for executing multithreaded programs. Instead of mapping a concurrent program to a fixed architecture, the architecture adaptively reconfigures itself to meet the application's concurrency and communication requirements, yielding significant improvements in performance. Based on our earlier abstract operational framework for multicore execution with hierarchical memory structures, we describe execution of multithreaded programs on reconfigurable architectures that support a variety of clustered configurations. Such reconfiguration may not preserve the semantics of programs due to the possible introduction of race conditions arising from concurrent accesses to shared memory by threads running on the different cores. We present an intuitive partial ordering notion on the cluster configurations, and show that the semantics of multithreaded programs is always preserved for reconfigurations "upward" in that ordering, whereas semantics preservation for arbitrary reconfigurations can be guaranteed for well-synchronised programs. We further show that a simple approximate notion of efficiency of execution on the different configurations can be obtained using the notion of amortised bisimulations, and extend it to dynamic reconfiguration.

  13. Career Patterns of Supply Chain Executives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Flöthmann, Christoph; Hoberg, Kai

    2017-01-01

    career patterns for SCEs. They differ in terms of the individuals' previous professional experience, educational background, and the time they needed to arrive in an executive position. By characterizing the backgrounds and career paths of SCEs, we show that supply chain management (SCM) is truly a cross......This exploratory study analyzes the careers of 307 supply chain executives (SCEs). Motivated by career theory, our findings create new knowledge about the educational backgrounds and career paths that lead to SCE positions. Based on an optimal matching analysis, we are able to distinguish among six......-functional profession. Our findings suggest that previous staff responsibility appears to be a more important hiring criterion than extensive SCM experience. While 56% of the executives had prior staff responsibility, only 12% of the cumulated careers were actually spent inside the SCM function....

  14. Dark Matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Einasto J.

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available I give a review of the development of the concept of dark matter. The dark matter story passed through several stages from a minor observational puzzle to a major challenge for theory of elementary particles. Modern data suggest that dark matter is the dominant matter component in the Universe, and that it consists of some unknown non-baryonic particles. Dark matter is the dominant matter component in the Universe, thus properties of dark matter particles determine the structure of the cosmic web.

  15. Assessments of executive function in patients with subcortical cerebral infarction using the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsumoto, Tetsuo; Kato, Haruhisa; Hasegawa, Akira; Utsumi, Hiroya

    2008-01-01

    To assess executive functions in patients with subcortical cerebral infarctions, we performed neuropsychological tests including the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). BADS is an executive function test constructing of 6 subtests. We recruited 24 patients who had subcortical ischemia on magnetic resonance image (MRI). The BADS Japanese version, Trail Making Test (TMT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were employed. TMT and WCST are recognized executive function tests. We classified the participants into two categories in relation to the degree of deep white matter hyperintensity (DWMH) according to the classification of Fazekas. The low grade DWMH group consisted of 11 patients with punctate foci on MRI. The 13 patients showing the beginning of confluence of foci on MRI were categorized as the high grade DWMH group. All patients were right handed, and had no right hand disability impeding the test. We excluded patients with severe stenotic or occlusive lesions in cerebral arteries on brain magnetic resonance angiography. The Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) was employed to exclude demented participants. To assess the mood of participant, we introduced the Japan Stroke Scale of Depression Scale (JSS-D). Statistical analysis was performed by Student's t-test. There was no significant difference in length of education, TMT, MMSE and JSS-D scores. The high grade DWMH group was significantly older. The WCST score were significantly impaired in the high grade DWMH group. Scores of BADS subtests showed no significant difference, but the age-matched standardized score was significantly low in the high grade DWMH group. Pathological findings showed that the greater the spread of DWMH, the more ischemia on cerebral whitematter progressed. In this study, we found that patients with severe subcortical ischemia may have impaired executive functions. These results might be conducted by the pathological features of DWMH. (author)

  16. 75 FR 62501 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board: Update

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-12

    ... AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board: Update... Development, Office of Inspector General's Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board. DATES: September... reference-- USAID OIG Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Review Board). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 5...

  17. Embedding Temporal Constraints For Coordinated Execution in Habitat Automation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Paul; Schwabacher, Mark; Dalal, Michael; Fry, Charles

    2013-01-01

    Future NASA plans call for long-duration deep space missions with human crews. Because of light-time delay and other considerations, increased autonomy will be needed. This will necessitate integration of tools in such areas as anomaly detection, diagnosis, planning, and execution. In this paper we investigate an approach that integrates planning and execution by embedding planner-derived temporal constraints in an execution procedure. To avoid the need for propagation, we convert the temporal constraints to dispatchable form. We handle some uncertainty in the durations without it affecting the execution; larger variations may cause activities to be skipped.

  18. Caracterização das publicações periódicas em fonoaudiologia e neurociências: estudo sobre os tipos e temas de artigos e visibilidade na área de linguagem Periodicals' profile in speech-language and hearing pathology and neurosciences: study on types and headers of the language area articles, and their visibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandrelli Virginio de Vasconcelos

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available TEMA: caracterização das publicações periódicas em Fonoaudiologia e Neurociências: estudo sobre os tipos e temas de artigos e visibilidade na área de linguagem. OBJETIVO: caracterizar as publicações periódicas em Fonoaudiologia estudando os artigos da área de Linguagem relacionados às Neurociências no período de 2002 a 2006. CONCLUSÃO: ficou evidente um aumento crescente de publicações em Linguagem e em Neurociências nos últimos cinco anos. Contudo, o número de publicações em determinados temas como a Dislexia, a Doença de Alzheimer e o Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção / Hiperatividade ainda mostra-se resumido.BACKGROUND: periodicals' profile in speechlanguage and hearing pathology and neurosciences: study on types and headers of the language articles, and their visibility. PURPOSE: to characterize periodicals in SpeechLanguage Pathology and Hearing, studying the articles of the Language's area related to Neurosciences in the period from 2002 to 2006. CONCLUSION: increasing publication in Language and Neurosciences in the last five years has been evident. However, number of publications in certain headers, such as dyslexia, Alzheimer's disease and AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder are still abridged.

  19. Remembering the Future of Centralized Control-Decentralized Execution

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Sheets, Patrick

    2003-01-01

    ... concepts which should drive system development. To realize the significance of the USAF C2 tenet of "centralized control-decentralized execution," one must understand how C2 is executed, in contingency theaters of operation...

  20. Executive Compensation and Principal-Agent Theory.

    OpenAIRE

    Garen, John E

    1994-01-01

    The empirical literature on executive compensation generally fails to specify a model of executive pay on which to base hypotheses regarding its determinants. In contrast, this paper analyzes a simple principal-agent model to determine how well it explains variations in CEO incentive pay and salaries. Many findings are consistent with the basic intuition of principle-agent models that compensation is structured to trade off incentives with insurance. However, statistical significance for some...

  1. 78 FR 28243 - Senior Executive Service; Performance Review Board; Members

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-14

    ... NATIONAL CAPITAL PLANNING COMMISSION Senior Executive Service; Performance Review Board; Members AGENCY: National Capital Planning Commission. ACTION: Notice of Members of Senior Executive Service... Senior Executive Service. The PRB established for the National Capital Planning Commission also makes...

  2. 76 FR 29013 - Senior Executive Service; Performance Review Board; Members

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-19

    ... NATIONAL CAPITAL PLANNING COMMISSION Senior Executive Service; Performance Review Board; Members AGENCY: National Capital Planning Commission. ACTION: Notice of Members of Senior Executive Service... Senior Executive Service. The PRB established for the National Capital Planning Commission also makes...

  3. Executive and perceptual distraction in visual working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Richard J; Baddeley, Alan D; Hitch, Graham J

    2017-09-01

    The contents of visual working memory are likely to reflect the influence of both executive control resources and information present in the environment. We investigated whether executive attention is critical in the ability to exclude unwanted stimuli by introducing concurrent potentially distracting irrelevant items to a visual working memory paradigm, and manipulating executive load using simple or more demanding secondary verbal tasks. Across 7 experiments varying in presentation format, timing, stimulus set, and distractor number, we observed clear disruptive effects of executive load and visual distraction, but relatively minimal evidence supporting an interactive relationship between these factors. These findings are in line with recent evidence using delay-based interference, and suggest that different forms of attentional selection operate relatively independently in visual working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Evaluating the Effects of Executive Learning and Development on Organisational Performance: Implications for Developing Senior Manager and Executive Capabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akrofi, Solomon

    2016-01-01

    In spite of decades of research into high-performance work systems, very few studies have examined the relationship between executive learning and development and organisational performance. In an attempt to close this gap, this study explores the effects of a validated four-dimensional executive learning and development measure on a composite…

  5. Mirror matter as self-interacting dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohapatra, R.N.; Nussinov, S.; Teplitz, V.L.

    2002-01-01

    It has been argued that the observed core density profile of galaxies is inconsistent with having a dark matter particle that is collisionless and that alternative dark matter candidates which are self-interacting may explain observations better. One new class of self-interacting dark matter that has been proposed in the context of mirror universe models of particle physics is the mirror hydrogen atom, whose stability is guaranteed by the conservation of mirror baryon number. We show that the effective transport cross section for mirror hydrogen atoms has the right order of magnitude for solving the 'cuspy' halo problem. Furthermore, the suppression of dissipation effects for mirror atoms due to a higher mirror mass scale prevents the mirror halo matter from collapsing into a disk, strengthening the argument for mirror matter as galactic dark matter

  6. Genetic analyses of the stability of executive functioning during childhood.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Polderman, T.J.C.; Posthuma, D.; de Sonneville, L.M.J.; Stins, J.F.; Verhulst, F.C.; Boomsma, D.I.

    2007-01-01

    Executive functioning is an umbrella term for several related cognitive functions like selective- and sustained attention, working memory, and inhibition. Little is known about the stability of executive functioning during childhood. In this study the longitudinal stability of executive functioning

  7. Developmental trajectories of fronto-executive functions in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: A preliminary study

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Howley, S A

    2011-01-01

    22qll.2 deletion syndrome (22qllDS) is associated with borderline-mild intellectual disability and specific neurocognitive deficits, particularly in prefrontally-mediated executive functions (EF). There is evidence for white matter abnormalities in frontal cortical regions in 22qllDS, however little is known about the development of EF across the age range. Forty-eight individuals with 22qllDS were divided into 3 age groups: Child (7 male; n = 16; 6–11 years; M (SD) age = 8.4 (1.7); mean FSIQ = 72.9); Adolescent (7 male; n = 15; 12–15 years; M (SD) age = 13.1 (0.8); mean FSIQ = 68.0) and Adult (7 male; n = 17; 16–45 years; M (SD) age = 28.8 (11.5); mean FSIQ = 69.6). Forty healthy controls were also recruited and divided into the same 3 age groups: Child (6 male; 6–11 years, n = 12; M (SD) age = 9.3 (1.7); mean FSIQ = 99.1); Adolescent (6 male; 12–15 years; n = 12; M (SD) age = 13.2 (1.1); mean FSIQ = 100.9) and Adult (6 male; 16–45 years; n = 16; M (SD) age = 28.8 (9.4); mean FSIQ = 109). All participants completed standardised tests of a range of executive functions, specifically working memory, planning, problem-solving, strategy formation, cognitive flexibility and inhibition, and cross-sectional developmental trajectories of each function were constructed. No age-mediated improvements on EF tasks were observed in the 22qllDS groups, with the exception of verbal working memory. The control group exhibited significant age-mediated improvements in working memory, strategy formation and planning efficiency. These findings support the hypothesis that 22qllDS individuals experience atypical development of neuroanatomical regions and networks associated with EF in typical individuals. Future longitudinal work is required to examine intra-individual development of executive and non-executive cognitive processes.

  8. Writing executable assertions to test flight software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahmood, A.; Andrews, D. M.; Mccluskey, E. J.

    1984-01-01

    An executable assertion is a logical statement about the variables or a block of code. If there is no error during execution, the assertion statement results in a true value. Executable assertions can be used for dynamic testing of software. They can be employed for validation during the design phase, and exception and error detection during the operation phase. The present investigation is concerned with the problem of writing executable assertions, taking into account the use of assertions for testing flight software. They can be employed for validation during the design phase, and for exception handling and error detection during the operation phase The digital flight control system and the flight control software are discussed. The considered system provides autopilot and flight director modes of operation for automatic and manual control of the aircraft during all phases of flight. Attention is given to techniques for writing and using assertions to test flight software, an experimental setup to test flight software, and language features to support efficient use of assertions.

  9. News from the Staff Association Executive Committee

    CERN Multimedia

    Staff Association

    2018-01-01

    On 17 April, the Staff Council proceeded to the election of the Executive Committee of the Staff Association and the members of the Bureau. First of all, why a new election of the Executive Committee elected in April 2018 after that of December 2017 (Echo No. 281)? Quite simply because a Crisis Executive Committee with a provisional Bureau had been elected for a period from 1st January to 16 April 2018 with defined and restricted objectives (Echo No. 283). Therefore, on 17 April, G. Roy presented for election a list of 12 persons, including five members for the Bureau, who agreed to continue their work within the Executive Committee, based on an intensive programme with the following main axes: Crèche and School and in particular the establishment of a foundation; Concertation: review and relaunch of the concertation process; Finalisation of the 2015 five-yearly review; Preparation and start of the 2020 five-yearly review; Actuarial reviews of the Pension Fund and the CHIS; Internal enquiries and...

  10. [Memory processes and executive functioning: novel trends for research].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collette, Fabienne; Angel, Lucie

    2015-01-01

    The existence of processes common to memory systems and executive functioning was evidenced by studies in the domain of cerebral neuroimaging, individual differences (mainly in normal aging) and, to a lesser extent, neuropsychology. Executive functioning depends on a large antero-posterior brain network, some regions of which (the middle dorsolateral and ventrolateral cortex, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex) are involved in a series of executive processes, but also in encoding and retrieval of information in episodic memory and short-term memory. A consequence of lesions in frontal areas is to impair strategical organization of the information to-be-processed (an executive process) and thus leads to a lower memory capacity in frontal patients. Moreover, executive abilities will influence both memory efficiency and the associated brain networks even in people without brain pathology. These data attest to the importance of the relationships between executive and memory processes for an optimal cognitive functioning. Recent advances in neuroimaging and electrophysiology data acquisition and analysis techniques should allow us to better determine and understand the fashion in which these relationships work. © Société de Biologie, 2016.

  11. Executive Functioning: Relationship with High School Student Role Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donna P. Mann

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND. Student role performance for academic success in secondary education is under represented in the occupational therapy literature, despite the persistently high dropout rate in the United States (Stillwell & Sable, 2013. Executive dysfunction is one of many possible contributors to difficulties in the classroom (Dirette & Kolak, 2004 and is a better indicator of school performance than IQ (Diamond, 2012. This research examined executive functioning of both alternative and traditional high school students to determine if there is a relationship between executive function and academic success as measured by cumulative grade point average. METHOD. 132 high school students from three different school settings were given the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Self Report (BRIEF-SR. The Global Executive Composite (GEC and individual subscale scores were compared to GPA. RESULTS. No significant difference in GEC scores was found among settings. Subscale scores for “inhibition” and “task completion” were significantly different in the alternative school setting. A weak negative correlation was seen between the GEC and GPA. However, academically unsuccessful students scored statistically lower on the GEC. CONCLUSION. Global executive dysfunction was not predicted by setting but was seen in academically unsuccessful students.

  12. 76 FR 57947 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-19

    ... AND EFFICIENCY Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership AGENCY: Council of the... of Personnel Management, each agency is required to establish one or more Senior Executive Service... appraisal of a senior executive's performance by the supervisor, along with any recommendations to the...

  13. Composable Framework Support for Software-FMEA Through Model Execution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kocsis, Imre; Patricia, Andras; Brancati, Francesco; Rossi, Francesco

    2016-08-01

    Performing Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA) during software architecture design is becoming a basic requirement in an increasing number of domains; however, due to the lack of standardized early design phase model execution, classic SW-FMEA approaches carry significant risks and are human effort-intensive even in processes that use Model-Driven Engineering.Recently, modelling languages with standardized executable semantics have emerged. Building on earlier results, this paper describes framework support for generating executable error propagation models from such models during software architecture design. The approach carries the promise of increased precision, decreased risk and more automated execution for SW-FMEA during dependability- critical system development.

  14. Executive function influences sedentary behavior: A longitudinal study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul D. Loprinzi

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Background: No study has evaluated the effects of executive function on follow-up sedentary behavior, which was this study’s purpose. Methods: A longitudinal design was employed among 18 young adult college students (Mage = 23.7 years; 88.9% female. Accelerometer-determined sedentary behavior and physical activity, along with executive function, were assessed at baseline. Approximately 8 weeks later, re-assessment of accelerometer-determined sedentary behavior and physical activity occurred. Executive function was assessed using the Parametric Go/No-Go (PGNG computer task. From this, 2 primary executive function outcome parameters were evaluated, including the Simple Rule and Repeating Rule. Results: After adjusting for baseline sedentary behavior, age, gender, body mass index and baseline moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA, for every 25% increase in the number of correctly identified targets for the Repeating rule at the baseline assessment, participants engaged in 91.8 fewer minutes of sedentary behavior at the follow-up assessment (β = -91.8; 95% CI: -173.5, -10.0; P = 0.03. Results were unchanged when also adjusting for total baseline or follow-up physical activity. Conclusion: Greater executive function is associated with less follow-up sedentary behavior.

  15. 77 FR 65685 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board; Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-30

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9747-4] Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... performance review boards. This board shall review and evaluate the initial appraisal of a senior executive's... performance of the senior executive. Members of the 2012 EPA Performance Review Board are: Benita Best-Wong...

  16. 78 FR 77125 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board; Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-20

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9904-20-OARM] Senior Executive Service Performance Review... review boards. This board shall review and evaluate the initial appraisal of a senior executive's... performance of the senior executive. Members of the 2013 EPA Performance Review Board are: Benita Best-Wong...

  17. Neurobehavioral Abnormalities Associated with Executive Dysfunction after Traumatic Brain Injury

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodger Ll. Wood

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Objective: This article will address how anomalies of executive function after traumatic brain injury (TBI can translate into altered social behavior that has an impact on a person’s capacity to live safely and independently in the community.Method: Review of literature on executive and neurobehavioral function linked to cognitive ageing in neurologically healthy populations and late neurocognitive effects of serious TBI. Information was collated from internet searches involving MEDLINE, PubMed, PyscINFO and Google Scholar as well as the authors’ own catalogs.Conclusions: The conventional distinction between cognitive and emotional-behavioral sequelae of TBI is shown to be superficial in the light of increasing evidence that executive skills are critical for integrating and appraising environmental events in terms of cognitive, emotional and social significance. This is undertaken through multiple fronto-subcortical pathways within which it is possible to identify a predominantly dorsolateral network that subserves executive control of attention and cognition (so-called cold executive processes and orbito-frontal/ventro-medial pathways that underpin the hot executive skills that drive much of behavior in daily life. TBI frequently involves disruption to both sets of executive functions but research is increasingly demonstrating the role of hot executive deficits underpinning a wide range of neurobehavioral disorders that compromise relationships, functional independence and mental capacity in daily life.

  18. Real-time Executive for a basic principle simulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buerger, L.; Szegi, Zs.; Vegh, E.

    1987-09-01

    A basic principle simulator for WWER-440 type nuclear power plants is under development in the Central Research Institute for Physics, Budapest. So far the technological models of both to primary and secondary circuits are ready and this paper presents the Real-time Executive and the on-line operating environment which controls the simulator. This executive system contains eight programs and the detailed structure of the data base is presented. The control of the execution of the model programs, their timing and the error recoveries are also discussed. (author) 5 refs

  19. Programming real-time executives in higher order language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foudriat, E. C.

    1982-01-01

    Methods by which real-time executive programs can be implemented in a higher order language are discussed, using HAL/S and Path Pascal languages as program examples. Techniques are presented by which noncyclic tasks can readily be incorporated into the executive system. Situations are shown where the executive system can fail to meet its task scheduling and yet be able to recover either by rephasing the clock or stacking the information for later processing. The concept of deadline processing is shown to enable more effective mixing of time and information synchronized systems.

  20. Executive functions as predictors of math learning disabilities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Toll, S.W.M.; van der Ven, S.H.G.; Kroesbergen, E.H.; van Luit, J.E.H.

    2011-01-01

    In the past years, an increasing number of studies have investigated executive functions as predictors of individual differences in mathematical abilities. The present longitudinal study was designed to investigate whether the executive functions shifting, inhibition, and working memory differ

  1. Assessing executive functions in preschoolers using Shape School Task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Nieto

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Over the last two decades, there has been a growing interest in the study of the development of executive functions in preschool children due to their relationship with different cognitive, psychological, social and academic domains. Early detection of individual differences in executive functioning can have major implications for basic and applied research. Consequently, there is a key need for assessment tools adapted to preschool skills: Shape School has been shown to be a suitable task for this purpose. Our study uses Shape School as the main task to analyze development of inhibition, task-switching and working memory in a sample of 304 preschoolers (age range 3.25-6.50 years. Additionally, we include cognitive tasks for the evaluation of verbal variables (vocabulary, word reasoning and short-term memory and performance variables (picture completion and symbol search, so as to analyze their relationship with executive functions. Our results show age-associated improvements in executive functions and the cognitive variables assessed. Furthermore, correlation analyses reveal positive relationships between executive functions and the other cognitive variables. More specifically, using structural equation modeling and including age direct and indirect effects, our results suggest that executive functions explain to a greater extent performance on verbal and performance tasks. These findings provide further information to support research that considers preschool age to be a crucial period for the development of executive functions and their relationship with other cognitive processes

  2. Financial performance and remuneration of executive directors of brazilian

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Larissa Degenhart

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to examine whether there is a relationship between financial performance and the remuneration of executive directors of Brazilian companies. Thus, there was a descriptive, documentary and quantitative research. The review period was the years 2011 to 2015. The study population consisted of Brazilian companies listed on the BM&FBovespa and the sample consisted of companies that presented all the variables used in each year surveyed, totaling 219 companies. For the data analysis was conducted to Spearman correlation analysis and linear regression, and was performed using the SPSS statistical software. From the study results it was found that the variables: Total Asset Profitability (ROA and company size had a significant and positive relationship with the fixed remuneration, variable and total executive directors. These results showed for the analyzed scenario, the compensation of executive officers is higher when the ROA is high and also in relation to the company size, large companies pay their executives more than smaller companies. Finally, it can be concluded that there is a relationship between financial performance and Fixed Compensation, and Variable Total executive directors of Brazilian companies listed on the BM&FBovespa. In addition, this research contributes to the understanding of the amounts paid to executive officers, demonstrating that the performance of companies reflected in the remuneration of the executive directors, so that they act in the company in order to raise the economic and financial results.

  3. Executive function and bilingualism in young and older adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shanna eKousaie

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Research suggests that being bilingual results in advantages on executive control processes and disadvantages on language tasks relative to monolinguals. Furthermore, the executive function advantage is thought to be larger in older than younger adults, suggesting that bilingualism may buffer against age-related changes in executive function. However, there are potential confounds in some of the previous research, as well as inconsistencies in the literature. The goal of the current investigation was to examine the presence of a bilingual advantage in executive control and a bilingual disadvantage on language tasks in the same sample of young and older monolingual anglophones, monolingual francophones, and French/English bilinguals. Participants completed a series of executive function tasks, including a Stroop task, a Simon task, a sustained attention to response task (SART, the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST, and the digit span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and language tasks, including the Boston Naming Test (BNT, and category and letter fluency. The results do not demonstrate an unequivocal advantage for bilinguals on executive function tasks and raise questions about the reliability, robustness and/or specificity of previous findings. The results also did not demonstrate a disadvantage for bilinguals on language tasks. Rather, they suggest that there may be an influence of the language environment. It is concluded that additional research is required to fully characterize any language group differences in both executive function and language tasks.

  4. Cognitive predictors and age-based adverse impact among business executives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Rachael M; Dilchert, Stephan; Ones, Deniz S; Dages, Kelly D

    2015-09-01

    Age differences on measures of general mental ability and specific cognitive abilities were examined in 2 samples of job applicants to executive positions as well as a mix of executive/nonexecutive positions to determine which predictors might lead to age-based adverse impact in making selection and advancement decisions. Generalizability of the pattern of findings was also investigated in 2 samples from the general adult population. Age was negatively related to general mental ability, with older executives scoring lower than younger executives. For specific ability components, the direction and magnitude of age differences depended on the specific ability in question. Older executives scored higher on verbal ability, a measure most often associated with crystallized intelligence. This finding generalized across samples examined in this study. Also, consistent with findings that fluid abilities decline with age, older executives scored somewhat lower on figural reasoning than younger executives, and much lower on a letter series test of inductive reasoning. Other measures of inductive reasoning, such as Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, also showed similar age group mean differences across settings. Implications for employee selection and adverse impact on older job candidates are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Motor resonance facilitates movement execution: an ERP and kinematic study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mathilde eMénoret

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Action observation, simulation and execution share neural mechanisms that allow for a common motor representation. It is known that when these overlapping mechanisms are simultaneously activated by action observation and execution, motor performance is influenced by observation and vice versa. To understand the neural dynamics underlying this influence and to measure how variations in brain activity impact the precise kinematics of motor behaviour, we coupled kinematics and electrophysiological recordings of participants while they performed and observed congruent or non-congruent actions or during action execution alone. We found that movement velocities and the trajectory deviations of the executed actions increased during the observation of congruent actions compared to the observation of non-congruent actions or action execution alone. This facilitation was also discernible in the motor-related potentials of the participants; the motor-related potentials were transiently more negative in the congruent condition around the onset of the executed movement, which occurred 300 ms after the onset of the observed movement. This facilitation seemed to depend not only on spatial congruency but also on the optimal temporal relationship of the observation and execution events.

  6. [Memory and the executive functions].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tirapu-Ustárroz, J; Muñoz-Céspedes, J M

    The terms 'executive functioning' or 'executive control' refer to a set of mechanisms involved in the improvement of cognitive processes to guide them towards the resolution of complex problems. Both the frontal lobes, acting as structure, and the executive processes, acting as function, work with memory contents, operating with information placed in the diencephalic structures and in the medial temporal lobe. Generally, we can state that many works find an association between frontal damage and specific memory shortages like working memory deficit, metamemory problems, source amnesia, or difficulties in the prospective memory. This paper is a critical review of the working memory concept and proposes a new term: the attentional operative system that works with memory contents. Concerning the metamemory, the frontal lobes are essential for monitoring processes in general and for 'the feeling of knowing' kind of judgements in particular. Patients suffering prefrontal damage show serious problems to remember the information source. Thus, the information is rightly remembered but the spatiotemporal context where that information was learned has been forgotten. Finally, the prospective memory deals with remembering to make something in a particular moment in the future and performing the plan previously drawn up.

  7. Executive Functions in Youth With Spastic Cerebral Palsy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pirila, Silja; van der Meere, Jaap J.; Rantanen, Kati; Jokiluoma, Maria; Eriksson, Kai

    Dependent on criteria used, between 35% and 53% of the participants with cerebral palsy fulfilled the criteria of clinically relevant executive function problems as defined by Conners' (1994) Continuous Performance Test. Executive function problems were noticed mainly in participants with bilateral

  8. 78 FR 44563 - Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-24

    ... FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Review Board AGENCY... Management, one or more PRBs. The PRB shall review and evaluate the initial appraisal of a senior executive's performance by the supervisor, along with any response by the senior executive, and make recommendations to...

  9. 77 FR 51523 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-24

    ... COUNCIL OF THE INSPECTORS GENERAL ON INTEGRITY AND EFFICIENCY Senior Executive Service Performance... required to establish one or more Senior Executive Service (SES) performance review boards. The purpose of these boards is to review and evaluate the initial appraisal of a senior executive's performance by the...

  10. Solid Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Angelo, Joseph A

    2011-01-01

    Supported by a generous quantity of full-color illustrations and interesting sidebars, Solid Matter introduces the basic characteristics and properties of solid matter. It briefly describes the cosmic connection of the elements, leading readers through several key events in human pre-history that resulted in more advanced uses of matter in the solid state. Chapters include:. -Solid Matter: An Initial Perspective. -Physical Behavior of Matter. -The Gravity of Matter. -Fundamentals of Materials Science. -Rocks and Minerals. -Metals. -Building Materials. -Carbon Earth's Most Versatile Element. -S

  11. ADAMS executive and operating system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pittman, W. D.

    1981-01-01

    The ADAMS Executive and Operating System, a multitasking environment under which a variety of data reduction, display and utility programs are executed, a system which provides a high level of isolation between programs allowing them to be developed and modified independently, is described. The Airborne Data Analysis/Monitor System (ADAMS) was developed to provide a real time data monitoring and analysis capability onboard Boeing commercial airplanes during flight testing. It inputs sensor data from an airplane performance data by applying transforms to the collected sensor data, and presents this data to test personnel via various display media. Current utilization and future development are addressed.

  12. The Executive as Integrator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohn, Hans M.

    1983-01-01

    Argues that although the executive has many tasks, he or she must view internal organizational integration as a primary task, making use of organizational charts, job descriptions, statements of goals and objectives, evaluations, and feedback devices. (RH)

  13. 29 CFR 541.402 - Executive and administrative computer employees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... LABOR REGULATIONS DEFINING AND DELIMITING THE EXEMPTIONS FOR EXECUTIVE, ADMINISTRATIVE, PROFESSIONAL, COMPUTER AND OUTSIDE SALES EMPLOYEES Computer Employees § 541.402 Executive and administrative computer...

  14. Implementing an Executive-Function Syllabus: Operational Issues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Russell Jay Hendel

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available A recent approach to pedagogic challenge, contrastive to the hierarchy approach of Bloom, Anderson, Gagne, Van Hiele, Marzano, Webb and many others, identifies pedagogic challenge with executive function: Pedagogy is defined as challenging if it addresses executive function. Executive function, in turn, is defined by the presence of multiple modalities of topic approach and a multi-parameter development of the topic. This paper discusses operational issues in implementing a teaching methodology based on multi-parameter problems. This paper advocates teaching a multi-parameter topic using a step-by-step incremental approach, introducing one parameter at a time. Examples are presented from trigonometry, actuarial mathematics, statistics and (biblical literary analysis. The paper also discusses the use of the incremental approach for problem creation and remediation.

  15. Hot and cold executive functions in youth with psychotic symptoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacKenzie, L E; Patterson, V C; Zwicker, A; Drobinin, V; Fisher, H L; Abidi, S; Greve, A N; Bagnell, A; Propper, L; Alda, M; Pavlova, B; Uher, R

    2017-12-01

    Psychotic symptoms are common in children and adolescents and may be early manifestations of liability to severe mental illness (SMI), including schizophrenia. SMI and psychotic symptoms are associated with impairment in executive functions. However, previous studies have not differentiated between 'cold' and 'hot' executive functions. We hypothesized that the propensity for psychotic symptoms is specifically associated with impairment in 'hot' executive functions, such as decision-making in the context of uncertain rewards and losses. In a cohort of 156 youth (mean age 12.5, range 7-24 years) enriched for familial risk of SMI, we measured cold and hot executive functions with the spatial working memory (SWM) task (total errors) and the Cambridge Gambling Task (decision-making), respectively. We assessed psychotic symptoms using the semi-structured Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia interview, Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes, Funny Feelings, and Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument - Child and Youth version. In total 69 (44.23%) youth reported psychotic symptoms on one or more assessments. Cold executive functioning, indexed with SWM errors, was not significantly related to psychotic symptoms [odds ratio (OR) 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.85-2.17, p = 0.204). Poor hot executive functioning, indexed as decision-making score, was associated with psychotic symptoms after adjustment for age, sex and familial clustering (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.25-4.50, p = 0.008). The association between worse hot executive functions and psychotic symptoms remained significant in sensitivity analyses controlling for general cognitive ability and cold executive functions. Impaired hot executive functions may be an indicator of risk and a target for pre-emptive early interventions in youth.

  16. Healthcare. Executive Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnevale, Anthony P.; Smith, Nicole; Gulish, Artem; Beach, Bennett H.

    2012-01-01

    This executive summary highlights several findings about healthcare. These are: (1) Healthcare is 18 percent of the U.S. economy, twice as high as in other countries; (2) There are two labor markets in healthcare: high-skill, high-wage professional and technical jobs and low-skill, low-wage support jobs; (3) Demand for postsecondary education in…

  17. Prefrontal cortex executive processes affected by stress in health and disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Girotti, Milena; Adler, Samantha M; Bulin, Sarah E; Fucich, Elizabeth A; Paredes, Denisse; Morilak, David A

    2017-07-06

    Prefrontal cortical executive functions comprise a number of cognitive capabilities necessary for goal directed behavior and adaptation to a changing environment. Executive dysfunction that leads to maladaptive behavior and is a symptom of psychiatric pathology can be instigated or exacerbated by stress. In this review we survey research addressing the impact of stress on executive function, with specific focus on working memory, attention, response inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. We then consider the neurochemical pathways underlying these cognitive capabilities and, where known, how stress alters them. Finally, we review work exploring potential pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches that can ameliorate deficits in executive function. Both preclinical and clinical literature indicates that chronic stress negatively affects executive function. Although some of the circuitry and neurochemical processes underlying executive function have been characterized, a great deal is still unknown regarding how stress affects these processes. Additional work focusing on this question is needed in order to make progress on developing interventions that ameliorate executive dysfunction. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  18. Validating Avionics Conceptual Architectures with Executable Specifications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nils Fischer

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Current avionics systems specifications, developed after conceptual design, have a high degree of uncertainty. Since specifications are not sufficiently validated in the early development process and no executable specification exists at aircraft level, system designers cannot evaluate the impact of their design decisions at aircraft or aircraft application level. At the end of the development process of complex systems, e. g. aircraft, an average of about 65 per cent of all specifications have to be changed because they are incorrect, incomplete or too vaguely described. In this paper, a model-based design methodology together with a virtual test environment is described that makes complex high level system specifications executable and testable during the very early levels of system design. An aircraft communication system and its system context is developed to demonstrate the proposed early validation methodology. Executable specifications for early conceptual system architectures enable system designers to couple functions, architecture elements, resources and performance parameters, often called non-functional parameters. An integrated executable specification at Early Conceptual Architecture Level is developed and used to determine the impact of different system architecture decisions on system behavior and overall performance.

  19. EXECUTIVE STOCK OPTION EXERCISING BEHAVIOR: EVIDENCE FROM BURSA MALAYSIA

    OpenAIRE

    Ahmad Ibn Ibrahimy; Dr. Rubi Ahmad

    2012-01-01

    In spite of the fact that shareholders exercise their options when it is in the money, s eparation of ownership and control creates the necessity of verifying the adoption of corporate governance mechanism, such as Executive Stock Option Scheme (ESOs). This study verifies the relationship between Executive Stock Option (ESO) exercise and firm performance to explore the exercise pattern of Malaysian executives whether there is any differences in trading option. We found a significant positive ...

  20. Design, Implementation and Evaluation of an Operating System for a Network of Transputers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1987-06-01

    WHILE TRUE -- listen to linki SEQ receiving the header BYTE.SLICE.INPUT (linkl,headerl,1,header.size) -- decoding the block size block.sizelLO] z...I’m done BYTE.SLICE.OUTPUT (screen[0] ,header0,3,1) WHILE TRUE -- listen to linki SEQ- rec eiving the header BYTE.SLICE. IPUT (linkl,headerl,1

  1. Executive summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1981-02-01

    This paper is an 'executive summary' of work undertaken to review proposals for transport, handling and emplacement of high level radioactive wastes in an underground repository, appropriate to the U.K. context, with particular reference to: waste block size and configuration; self-shielded or partially-shielded block; stages of disposal; transportation within the repository; emplacement in vertical holes or horizontal tunnels; repository access by adit, incline or shaft; and costs. The paper contains a section on general conclusions and recommendations. (U.K.)

  2. Executive cognitive impairment detected by simple bedside testing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Aims. Cognitive impairment in people with type 2 diabetes is a barrier to successful disease management. We sought to determine whether impaired executive function as detected by a battery of simple bedside cognitive tests of executive function was associated with inadequate glycaemic control. Methods. People with ...

  3. What's next? : operational support for business process execution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schonenberg, M.H.

    2012-01-01

    In the last decade flexibility has become an increasingly important in the area of business process management. Information systems that support the execution of the process are required to work in a dynamic environment that imposes changing demands on the execution of the process. In academia and

  4. 21 CFR 1305.12 - Procedure for executing DEA Forms 222.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 9 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Procedure for executing DEA Forms 222. 1305.12... I AND II CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES DEA Form 222 § 1305.12 Procedure for executing DEA Forms 222. (a) A purchaser must prepare and execute a DEA Form 222 simultaneously in triplicate by means of interleaved...

  5. Early development of executive functions: a differential study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sylvia Sastre-Riba

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The ontogeny of executive functions is essential in explaining differential and normative developmental trends. Executive functions must be studied from an early age given their consequential effects on mental flexibility, monitoring information, planning, and cognitive control. We propose a differential study in alternative developmental courses through observing typical babies, Down syndrome babies, and babies with risk-factors at birth (due to low weight or to congenital hypothyroidism. Applymg Systematic Observational Methodology, spontaneous babies' activity was registered. The results indicated that: a Typical babies showed better shifting and action flexibility in order to obtain a goal, thus better results; b Among the higher risk-babies, the lower efficacy in executive functioning was observed in underweight babies. Those with hypothyroidism were more in line with the typical babies; c Underweight babies showed a good level of combining actions but they obtained inferior results; d Down syndrome babies displayed more executive functioning difficulty, lower flexibility, high perseveration and less error detection.

  6. Recognition of VLSI Module Isomorphism

    Science.gov (United States)

    1990-03-01

    forthforth->next; 6.5 else{ prev4=prev4->next; forth=forth->next; if (header-. nenI ->tai==third){ header-.nevrI->tail=prev3; prev3->next=NULL; end...end=TRUE; if (header-. nenI ->head=third){ header-.newn->head=third->next; I if((third!=prev3)&&(finished!=TRUE)){ prev3->next=prev3->next->next; third

  7. Performance enhancement of various real-time image processing techniques via speculative execution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Younis, Mohamed F.; Sinha, Purnendu; Marlowe, Thomas J.; Stoyenko, Alexander D.

    1996-03-01

    In real-time image processing, an application must satisfy a set of timing constraints while ensuring the semantic correctness of the system. Because of the natural structure of digital data, pure data and task parallelism have been used extensively in real-time image processing to accelerate the handling time of image data. These types of parallelism are based on splitting the execution load performed by a single processor across multiple nodes. However, execution of all parallel threads is mandatory for correctness of the algorithm. On the other hand, speculative execution is an optimistic execution of part(s) of the program based on assumptions on program control flow or variable values. Rollback may be required if the assumptions turn out to be invalid. Speculative execution can enhance average, and sometimes worst-case, execution time. In this paper, we target various image processing techniques to investigate applicability of speculative execution. We identify opportunities for safe and profitable speculative execution in image compression, edge detection, morphological filters, and blob recognition.

  8. Executive functions in synesthesia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rouw, Romke; van Driel, Joram; Knip, Koen; Richard Ridderinkhof, K.

    2013-01-01

    In grapheme-color synesthesia, a number or letter can evoke two different and possibly conflicting (real and synesthetic) color sensations at the same time. In this study, we investigate the relationship between synesthesia and executive control functions. First, no general skill differences were

  9. Parent-rated emotional-behavioral and executive functioning in childhood epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kavanaugh, Brian C; Scarborough, Vanessa Ramos; Salorio, Cynthia F

    2015-01-01

    The present study examined clinical and demographic risk factors associated with parent-rated emotional-behavioral and executive functioning in children and adolescents with epilepsy. The medical records of 152 children and adolescents with epilepsy referred for neuropsychological evaluation were reviewed. Results indicated that the sample displayed significantly elevated symptoms across the emotional-behavioral and executive domains assessed. Executive functioning and behavioral symptoms had the highest rates of clinically elevated scores, with lowest rates of elevated scores in internalizing and externalizing emotional problems. Only 34% of those participants with clinically significant emotional-behavioral or executive functioning difficulties had a history of psychological or counseling services, highlighting the underserved mental health needs of this population. In regard to clinical factors, the majority of seizure-related variables were not associated with emotional-behavioral or executive functioning. However, the frequency of seizures (i.e., seizure status) was associated with behavioral regulation aspects of executive functioning, and the age at evaluation was associated with externalizing problems and behavioral symptoms. Family psychiatric history (with the exception of ADHD) was associated with all domains of executive and emotional-behavioral functioning. In summary, emotional-behavioral and executive functioning difficulties frequently co-occur with seizures in childhood epilepsy, with both seizure-related and demographic factors contributing to the presentation of such neurobehavioral comorbidities. The present findings provide treatment providers of childhood epilepsy with important information to assist in better identifying children and adolescents who may be at risk for neurobehavioral comorbidities and may benefit from intervention. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Metacognitive Monitoring of Executive Control Engagement during Childhood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chevalier, Nicolas; Blaye, Agnès

    2016-01-01

    Emerging executive control supports greater autonomy and increasingly adaptive behavior during childhood. The present study addressed whether children's greater monitoring of how they engage control drives executive control development. Gaze position was recorded while twenty-five 6-year-olds and twenty-eight 10-year-olds performed a self-paced…

  11. 45 CFR 73.735-802 - Executive order prohibitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... CONDUCT Financial Interest § 73.735-802 Executive order prohibitions. (a) Basic prohibition of Executive Order 11222. (1) An employee shall not have a direct or indirect financial interest that conflicts... employee need not have a financial interest that actually conflicts with his or her duties to violate the...

  12. Evaluating Market Orientation of an Executive MBA Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubas, Khalid M.; Ghani, Waqar I.; Davis, Stanley; Strong, James T.

    1998-01-01

    A study assessed the market orientation of the executive Master's in Business Administration (MBA) program at Saint Joseph's University (Pennsylvania) in terms of 12 skills and knowledge areas that reflect effective managerial performance and the student-executives' perceptions of program strengths and weaknesses in delivering these skills.…

  13. Executive dysfunction, severity of traumatic brain injury, and IQ in workers with disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matheson, Leonard

    2010-01-01

    To study whether severity of traumatic brain injury and the intelligence quotient are related to executive dysfunction. Sixty-two adults with brain injury who were referred for a work capacity evaluation. Retrospective review of severity of traumatic brain injury, intelligence quotient from a previously-conducted neuropsychological evaluation, determination of executive function status from the neuropsychological evaluation, and both self-report and informant-report executive dysfunction scores from the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Executive dysfunction and the intelligence quotient are related to severity of traumatic brain injury, but executive dysfunction and the intelligence quotient are not related to each other. Executive dysfunction as determined by a neuropsychological evaluation was not consistent with clients' self-reports but was consistent with informant-reported executive dysfunction. Five types of executive dysfunction were reported by knowledgeable informants, with significant elevations on the Shift, Plan/Organize, Task Monitor, Organization of Materials, and Working Memory BRIEF clinical scales. The intelligence quotient is not a useful indicator of executive dysfunction. Informant-report executive dysfunction is a reliable and potentially useful adjunct to a neuropsychological evaluation. Working memory is the most severe type of executive dysfunction and may not be adequately measured by current neuropsychological evaluation methods.

  14. Executive compensation and the EVA and MVA performance of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Kirstam

    executive compensation and different measures of financial performance. Both ... traditional accounting measures such as ROA and ROE and the newer ... as different 'lenses' to look at executive remuneration, namely the principal-agent,.

  15. Experience with Remote Job Execution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lynch, Vickie E.; Cobb, John W; Green, Mark L.; Kohl, James Arthur; Miller, Stephen D.; Ren, Shelly; Smith, Bradford C.; Vazhkudai, Sudharshan S.

    2008-01-01

    The Neutron Science Portal at Oak Ridge National Laboratory submits jobs to the TeraGrid for remote job execution. The TeraGrid is a network of high performance computers supported by the US National Science Foundation. There are eleven partner facilities with over a petaflop of peak computing performance and sixty petabytes of long-term storage. Globus is installed on a local machine and used for job submission. The graphical user interface is produced by java coding that reads an XML file. After submission, the status of the job is displayed in a Job Information Service window which queries globus for the status. The output folder produced in the scratch directory of the TeraGrid machine is returned to the portal with globus-url-copy command that uses the gridftp servers on the TeraGrid machines. This folder is copied from the stage-in directory of the community account to the user's results directory where the output can be plotted using the portal's visualization services. The primary problem with remote job execution is diagnosing execution problems. We have daily tests of submitting multiple remote jobs from the portal. When these jobs fail on a computer, it is difficult to diagnose the problem from the globus output. Successes and problems will be presented

  16. Clustering execution in a processing system to increase power savings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bose, Pradip; Buyuktosunoglu, Alper; Jacobson, Hans M.; Vega, Augusto J.

    2018-04-03

    Embodiments relate to clustering execution in a processing system. An aspect includes accessing a control flow graph that defines a data dependency and an execution sequence of a plurality of tasks of an application that executes on a plurality of system components. The execution sequence of the tasks in the control flow graph is modified as a clustered control flow graph that clusters active and idle phases of a system component while maintaining the data dependency. The clustered control flow graph is sent to an operating system, where the operating system utilizes the clustered control flow graph for scheduling the tasks.

  17. Clustering execution in a processing system to increase power savings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bose, Pradip; Buyuktosunoglu, Alper; Jacobson, Hans M.; Vega, Augusto J.

    2018-03-20

    Embodiments relate to clustering execution in a processing system. An aspect includes accessing a control flow graph that defines a data dependency and an execution sequence of a plurality of tasks of an application that executes on a plurality of system components. The execution sequence of the tasks in the control flow graph is modified as a clustered control flow graph that clusters active and idle phases of a system component while maintaining the data dependency. The clustered control flow graph is sent to an operating system, where the operating system utilizes the clustered control flow graph for scheduling the tasks.

  18. Exploiting Semantic Web Technologies to Develop OWL-Based Clinical Practice Guideline Execution Engines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jafarpour, Borna; Abidi, Samina Raza; Abidi, Syed Sibte Raza

    2016-01-01

    Computerizing paper-based CPG and then executing them can provide evidence-informed decision support to physicians at the point of care. Semantic web technologies especially web ontology language (OWL) ontologies have been profusely used to represent computerized CPG. Using semantic web reasoning capabilities to execute OWL-based computerized CPG unties them from a specific custom-built CPG execution engine and increases their shareability as any OWL reasoner and triple store can be utilized for CPG execution. However, existing semantic web reasoning-based CPG execution engines suffer from lack of ability to execute CPG with high levels of expressivity, high cognitive load of computerization of paper-based CPG and updating their computerized versions. In order to address these limitations, we have developed three CPG execution engines based on OWL 1 DL, OWL 2 DL and OWL 2 DL + semantic web rule language (SWRL). OWL 1 DL serves as the base execution engine capable of executing a wide range of CPG constructs, however for executing highly complex CPG the OWL 2 DL and OWL 2 DL + SWRL offer additional executional capabilities. We evaluated the technical performance and medical correctness of our execution engines using a range of CPG. Technical evaluations show the efficiency of our CPG execution engines in terms of CPU time and validity of the generated recommendation in comparison to existing CPG execution engines. Medical evaluations by domain experts show the validity of the CPG-mediated therapy plans in terms of relevance, safety, and ordering for a wide range of patient scenarios.

  19. Executive Orders-William J. Clinton

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Archives and Records Administration — Executive orders are official documents, numbered consecutively, through which the President of the United States manages the operations of the Federal Government....

  20. Executive functioning deficits in young adult survivors of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gough, Aisling; Linden, Mark A; Spence, Dale; Halliday, Henry L; Patterson, Christopher C; McGarvey, Lorcan

    2015-01-01

    To assess long-term impairments of executive functioning in adult survivors of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Participants were assessed on measures of executive functioning, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and social functioning. Survivors of BPD (n = 63; 34 males; mean age 24.2 years) were compared with groups comprising preterm (without BPD) (executive functioning relating to problem solving (OR: 5.1, CI: 1.4-19.3), awareness of behavior (OR: 12.7, CI: 1.5-106.4) and organization of their environment (OR: 13.0, CI: 1.6-107.1). Birth weight, HRQoL and social functioning were predictive of deficits in executive functioning. This study represents the largest sample of survivors into adulthood of BPD and is the first to show that deficits in executive functioning persist. Children with BPD should be assessed to identify cognitive impairments and allow early intervention aimed at ameliorating their effects. Implications for Rehabilitation Adults born preterm with very-low birth weight, and particularly those who develop BPD, are at increased risk of exhibiting defects in executive functioning. Clinicians and educators should be made aware of the impact that BPD can have on the long-term development of executive functions. Children and young adults identified as having BPD should be periodically monitored to identify the need for possible intervention.

  1. A Technical/Strategic Paradigm for Online Executive Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Marlene A.; Keaveney, Susan M.

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses the development and delivery of online courses for the executive education audience. The goal is to introduce a new framework, the technical/strategic paradigm, that will help educators to identify the pedagogical needs of disparate executive groups and adjust their online course development plans accordingly. We describe…

  2. The structure of executive functions and relations with early math learning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Ven, S.H.G.

    2011-01-01

    In this dissertation, the relation between executive functions and mathematical skills in children was investigated. Two main aims were addressed: (1) unraveling the structure of executive functions, and (2) investigating the nature of the relations between executive functions and mathematics.

  3. [The role of university hospital executive board members].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Debatin, J F; Rehr, J

    2009-09-01

    Demographic changes and medical progress in combination with vastly altered regulatory and economic environments have forced considerable change in the structure of German university hospitals in recent years. These changes have affected medical care as well as research and medical school training. To allow for more flexibility and a higher level of reactivity to the changing environment German university hospitals were transferred from state agencies to independent corporate structures. All but one remains wholly owned by the respective state governments. The governing structure of these independent medical hospitals consists of an executive board, generally made up of a medical director, a financial director, a director for nursing, and the dean of the medical faculty. In most hospitals, the medical director serves as chief executive officer. The regulations governing the composition and responsibility of the members of the executive board differ from state to state. These differences do affect to some degree the interactive effectiveness of the members of the executive boards. Modalities that stress the overall responsibility for all board members seem to work better than those that define clear portfolio limits. Even more than organizational and regulatory differences, the effectiveness of the work of the executive boards is influenced by the personality of the board members themselves. Success appears to be a clear function of the willingness of all members to work together.

  4. Executive functions in children who experience bullying situations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wandersonia Medeiros

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Bullying is characterized by intentional, repetitive, and persistent aggressive behavior that causes damage to the victim. Many studies investigate the social and emotional aspects related to bullying, but few assess the cognitive aspects it involves. Studies with aggressive individuals indicate impairment in executive functioning and decision-making. The objective of this study was to assess hot and cold executive functions in children who experience bullying. A total of 60 children between 10 and 11 years of age were included in the study. They were divided into four groups: aggressors (bullies, victims, bully-victims, and control. Tests for decision-making, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility were used. The bully group made more unfavorable choices on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT, which may indicate difficulties in the decision-making process. The victim group took longer to complete the Trail Making Test (Part B than aggressors, suggesting lower cognitive flexibility in victims. The hypothesis that aggressors would have lower performance in other executive functions such as inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility has not been confirmed. This study indicates that bullies have an impairment of hot executive functions whereas victims have a comparatively lower performance in cold executive functions. In addition to social and cultural variables, neurocognitive and emotional factors seem to influence the behavior of children in bullying situations.

  5. Speech-in-speech perception and executive function involvement.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcela Perrone-Bertolotti

    Full Text Available This present study investigated the link between speech-in-speech perception capacities and four executive function components: response suppression, inhibitory control, switching and working memory. We constructed a cross-modal semantic priming paradigm using a written target word and a spoken prime word, implemented in one of two concurrent auditory sentences (cocktail party situation. The prime and target were semantically related or unrelated. Participants had to perform a lexical decision task on visual target words and simultaneously listen to only one of two pronounced sentences. The attention of the participant was manipulated: The prime was in the pronounced sentence listened to by the participant or in the ignored one. In addition, we evaluate the executive function abilities of participants (switching cost, inhibitory-control cost and response-suppression cost and their working memory span. Correlation analyses were performed between the executive and priming measurements. Our results showed a significant interaction effect between attention and semantic priming. We observed a significant priming effect in the attended but not in the ignored condition. Only priming effects obtained in the ignored condition were significantly correlated with some of the executive measurements. However, no correlation between priming effects and working memory capacity was found. Overall, these results confirm, first, the role of attention for semantic priming effect and, second, the implication of executive functions in speech-in-noise understanding capacities.

  6. Executive attention impairment in first-episode schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orellana Gricel

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We compared the attention abilities of a group of first-episode schizophrenia (FES patients and a group of healthy participants using the Attention Network Test (ANT, a standard procedure that estimates the functional state of three neural networks controlling the efficiency of three different attentional behaviors, i.e., alerting (achieving and maintaining a state of high sensitivity to incoming stimuli, orienting (ability to select information from sensory input, and executive attention (mechanisms for resolving conflict among thoughts, feelings, and actions. Methods We evaluated 22 FES patients from 17 to 29 years of age with a recent history of a single psychotic episode treated only with atypical neuroleptics, and 20 healthy persons matched with FES patients by sex, age, and educational level as the control group. Attention was estimated using the ANT in which participants indicate whether a central horizontal arrow is pointing to the left or the right. The central arrow may be preceded by spatial or temporal cues denoting where and when the arrow will appear, and may be flanked by other arrows (hereafter, flankers pointing in the same or the opposite direction. Results The efficiency of the alerting, orienting, and executive networks was estimated by measuring how reaction time was influenced by congruency between temporal, spatial, and flanker cues. We found that the control group only demonstrated significantly greater attention efficiency than FES patients in the executive attention network. Conclusions FES patients are impaired in executive attention but not in alerting or orienting attention, suggesting that executive attention deficit may be a primary impairment during the progression of the disease.

  7. Organ procurement from executed prisoners in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharif, A; Singh, M Fiatarone; Trey, T; Lavee, J

    2014-10-01

    Organ procurement from executed prisoners in China is internationally condemned, yet this practice continues unabated in 2014. This is despite repeated announcements from Chinese authorities that constructive measures have been undertaken to conform to accepted ethical standards. While there is unanimous agreement on the unethical nature of using organs from executed prisoners, due to its limitations on voluntary and informed consent, there is insufficient coverage of forced organ procurement from prisoners of conscience without consent. Strategies to influence positive change in China over the last few decades have failed to bring this practice to an end. While organ donation and transplantation services in China have undergone considerable structural changes in the last few years, fundamental attempts to shift practice to ethically sourced organs have floundered. In this article, we discuss the organ trade in China, reflect upon organ procurement from executed prisoners (including both capital prisoners and prisoners of conscience) and provide an overview of contradictory Chinese efforts to halt forced organ procurement from executed prisoners. Finally, we highlight current actions being taken to address this issue and offer comprehensive recommendations to bring this ethically indefensible practice to an immediate end. © Copyright 2014 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

  8. Executive functions in persons with metabolic syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Subotić Tatjana

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Modern man lyfestyle contributes to the increasing incidence of metabolic syndrome in the developed world. Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in adults ranges from 20 to 25%, and it tends to increase. Each year, 3.2 million people around the world die from complications associated with this syndrome. Treatment involves cooperation of medical doctors of various specialties, but the decisive factor is patient motivation, given that the treatment requires significant lifestyle changes. Our hypothesis is that metabolic syndrome patients have reduced ability to plan, convert plan into action and effectively implement planned activities, showing signs of dysexecutive syndrome. The term executive functions comes from the English word 'executive', which also means the controlling, in neuropsychology reserved for high-level abilities that influence more basic abilities such as attention, perception, memory, thinking and speaking. The main objective of this study was to determine characteristics of executive functioning in patients with metabolic syndrome. The sample consisted of 61 subjects of both sexes, aged 20 to 60 years, divided into two groups - those with a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome and those without this diagnosis. The results suggest that people with metabolic syndrome showed significantly poorer performance in almost all indicators of executive functions, represented by Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test variables.

  9. FAIR - Baseline technical report. Executive summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gutbrod, H.H.; Augustin, I.; Eickhoff, H.; Gross, K.D.; Henning, W.F.; Kraemer, D.; Walter, G.

    2006-09-01

    This document presents the Executive Summary, the first of six volumes comprising the 2006 Baseline Technical Report (BTR) for the international FAIR project (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research). The BTR provides the technical description, cost, schedule, and assessments of risk for the proposed new facility. The purpose of the BTR is to provide a reliable basis for the construction, commissioning and operation of FAIR. The BTR is one of the central documents requested by the FAIR International Steering Committee (ISC) and its working groups, in order to prepare the legal process and the decisions on the construction and operation of FAIR in an international framework. It provides the technical basis for legal contracts on contributions to be made by, so far, 13 countries within the international FAIR Consortium. The BTR begins with this extended Executive Summary as Volume 1, which is also intended for use as a stand-alone document. The Executive Summary provides brief summaries of the accelerator facilities, the scientific programs and experimental stations, civil construction and safety, and of the workproject structure, costs and schedule. (orig.)

  10. 75 FR 6729 - Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Review Board; Members

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-10

    ... NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Review... Performance Review Boards. The Board shall review the initial appraisal of a senior executive's performance by... senior executive performance. The members of the Performance Review Board for the National Archives and...

  11. Online Synthesis for Operation Execution Time Variability on Digital Microfluidic Biochips

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alistar, Mirela; Pop, Paul

    2014-01-01

    have assumed that each biochemical operation in an application is characterized by a worst-case execution time (wcet). However, during the execution of the application, due to variability and randomness in biochemical reactions, operations may finish earlier than their wcets. In this paper we propose...... an online synthesis strategy that re-synthesizes the application at runtime when operations experience variability in their execution time, obtaining thus shorter application execution times. The proposed strategy has been evaluated using several benchmarks....

  12. Subjective executive difficulties – a study using the Dysexecutive Questionnaire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ewa Małgorzata Szepietowska

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Subjective executive difficulties, understood as a sense of disruption of planning, control and correction of one’s own activity, is often reported by healthy as well as clinical individuals. Self-report measures such as the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX-S are used to assess the severity of this feeling. The diagnostic value of this method is debated due to the numerous factors affecting the beliefs on executive deficits. Aim of the study: With reference to inconclusive data concerning the underlying factors of subjective executive deficits and the value of self-report measures the following aims of the present study were established: a determination of the demographic, clinical and cognitive characteristics of individuals with various levels of subjective executive difficulties, b finding which of these variables contribute to the risk of subjective executive difficulties increase. Material and methods: The study included 213 adult individuals. DEX-S as well as measures of cognitive assessment (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA; subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, WAIS-R and depressive mood assessment [Geriatric Depression Scale (Short Form, GDS-15] were used. Demographic variables (age, gender and educational level as well as clinical variables (lack of/presence of central nervous system disease history, including lateralised brain pathology were also taken into consideration. Based on DEX-S results a cluster analysis was performed and two groups of subjects with a different level of subjective executive difficulties were identified: low-severity group (individuals reporting no complaints regarding executive deficits and high-severity group (individuals with complaints. Group comparisons demonstrated that individuals complaining about executive deficits have a higher depressive mood index and lower scores on some subtests used to assess cognitive functions. The results of logistic regression analysis

  13. The Dog that Stopped Barking: Mass Legal Executions in 21st Century America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul H. Blackman

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available During the first two centuries of European colonization of what is now the United States, executions for a variety of offenses relatively frequently involved mass executions, that is, the execution for the same criminal incident of four or more persons. By the time of American independence, some of those crimes had largely ceased to exist or to elicit such punishment, like witchcraft and piracy. However, the punishment of slaves and Indians kept the percentage of executed persons involved in mass executions significant, if not large. During the last quarter of the 19th and first six decades of the 20th century, mass legal executions diminished as a percentage and were largely limited to punishing robbery-related homicides, including felony-homicides of conspirators. Throughout that period, the end of mass executions for a particular crime presaged the end of all executions for that offense, and the last mass legal execution occurred in 1960.

  14. Marketing the Masters of Executive Management program

    OpenAIRE

    Barrera, Mark A.; Karriker, Timothy W.

    2007-01-01

    MBA Professional Report The purpose of this MBA project was to review the current Masters of Executive Management education curriculum at NPS. An internal analysis of the current program was conducted to fully understand the strategic goals of the program and the existing curriculum. An environmental scan of current and potential military customers was conducted to assess requirements for junior executive education and determine whether the MEM program corresponds with these requiremen...

  15. Management report of the executive board 2005

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2005-07-01

    This 2005 report of the executive board of the group AREVA provides information on the following five topics: 1 - asset of financial position and performance with the human resources and the environmental report. 2 - general information on the company and share capital. 3 - the regulated agreements. 4 - information regarding executive management and supervisory bodies. 5 - annual general meeting of shareholders of may 2, 2006 and financial statements and notes. (A.L.B.)

  16. Management report of the executive board 2005

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    This 2005 report of the executive board of the group AREVA provides information on the following five topics: 1 - asset of financial position and performance with the human resources and the environmental report. 2 - general information on the company and share capital. 3 - the regulated agreements. 4 - information regarding executive management and supervisory bodies. 5 - annual general meeting of shareholders of may 2, 2006 and financial statements and notes. (A.L.B.)

  17. Decoupled Access-Execute on ARM big.LITTLE

    OpenAIRE

    Weber, Anton

    2016-01-01

    Decoupled Access-Execute (DAE) presents a novel approach to improve power efficiency with a combination of compile-time transformations and Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS). DAE splits regions of the program into two distinct phases: a memory-bound access phase and a compute-bound execute phase. DVFS is used to run the phases at different frequencies, thus conserving energy while caching data from main memory and performing computations at maximum performance. This project analyses th...

  18. The assessment of executive functioning in children

    OpenAIRE

    Henry, L.; Bettenay, C.

    2010-01-01

    Background: Executive functioning is increasingly seen as incorporating several component sub-skills and clinical assessments should reflect this complexity. \\ud \\ud Method: Tools for assessing executive functioning in children are reviewed within five key areas, across verbal and visuospatial abilities, with emphasis on batteries of tests. \\ud \\ud Results: There are many appropriate tests for children, although the choice is more limited for those under the age of 8 years. \\ud \\ud Conclusion...

  19. Executive Information Systems' Multidimensional Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Executive Information Systems are design to improve the quality of strategic level of management in organization through a new type of technology and several techniques for extracting, transforming, processing, integrating and presenting data in such a way that the organizational knowledge filters can easily associate with this data and turn it into information for the organization. These technologies are known as Business Intelligence Tools. But in order to build analytic reports for Executive Information Systems (EIS in an organization we need to design a multidimensional model based on the business model from the organization. This paper presents some multidimensional models that can be used in EIS development and propose a new model that is suitable for strategic business requests.

  20. A real-life, ecologically valid test of executive functioning : The executive secretarial task

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lamberts, Kirsten F.; Evans, Jonathan J.; Spikman, Jacoba M.

    2010-01-01

    A major goal of neuropsychological assessment is predicting a person's level of functioning in daily life. Making predictions about everyday executive functioning based on tests is problematic because of the contrast between demands made in the test environment and demands made in everyday life

  1. Evaluating the Theory of Executive Dysfunction in Autism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Elisabeth L.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper studies of executive function in autism spectrum disorder are reviewed. Executive function is an umbrella term for functions such as planning, working memory, impulse control, inhibition, and shifting set, as well as for the initiation and monitoring of action. In this review, the focus will be on planning, inhibition, shifting set,…

  2. Executive Schedule C System (ESCS)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Office of Personnel Management — Used to store information on Federal employees in the Senior Executive Service (SES) and appointed employees in the Schedule C System. Every four years, just after...

  3. Executive function and health-related quality of life in pediatric epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schraegle, William A; Titus, Jeffrey B

    2016-09-01

    Children and adolescents with epilepsy often show higher rates of executive functioning deficits and are at an increased risk of diminished health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The purpose of the current study was to determine the extent to which executive dysfunction predicts HRQOL in youth with epilepsy. Data included parental ratings on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE) questionnaire for 130 children and adolescents with epilepsy (mean age=11years, 6months; SD=3years, 6months). Our results identified executive dysfunction in nearly half of the sample (49%). Moderate-to-large correlations were identified between the BRIEF and the QOLCE subscales of well-being, cognition, and behavior. The working memory subscale on the BRIEF emerged as the sole significant predictor of HRQOL. These results underscore the significant role of executive function in pediatric epilepsy. Proactive screening for executive dysfunction to identify those at risk of poor HRQOL is merited, and these results bring to question the potential role of behavioral interventions to improve HRQOL in pediatric epilepsy by specifically treating and/or accommodating for executive deficits. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Executive functioning in chronic alcoholism and Korsakoff syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maharasingam, Malini; Macniven, Jamie A B; Mason, Oliver J

    2013-01-01

    Korsakoff syndrome (KS) is characterized by dense anterograde and retrograde amnesia. There is often a temporal gradient to the retrograde amnesia, with earlier memories more readily recalled than recent memories. Executive functioning has also been found to be impaired in KS. However, research comparing executive functioning between chronic alcoholics (AL) and patients with KS has been relatively sparse to date. In a group comparison design, executive functioning in 15 KS patients and 16 chronic alcoholic patients was assessed using the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome test (BADS) and other secondary measures. The KS group was found to be significantly more impaired than the AL group on overall performance on the BADS (p Korsakoff patients are significantly more impaired in executive functioning than non-Korsakoff chronic alcoholics. We thank the participants of the study and also acknowledge the support of the University of Nottingham, particularly Nadina Lincoln, and the North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We are also very grateful to the anonymous reviewers of earlier drafts of this manuscript for their invaluable comments.

  5. Executive and language control in the multilingual brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Anthony Pak-Hin; Abutalebi, Jubin; Lam, Karen Sze-Yan; Weekes, Brendan

    2014-01-01

    Neuroimaging studies suggest that the neural network involved in language control may not be specific to bi-/multilingualism but is part of a domain-general executive control system. We report a trilingual case of a Cantonese (L1), English (L2), and Mandarin (L3) speaker, Dr. T, who sustained a brain injury at the age of 77 causing lesions in the left frontal lobe and in the left temporo-parietal areas resulting in fluent aphasia. Dr. T's executive functions were impaired according to a modified version of the Stroop color-word test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance was characterized by frequent perseveration errors. Dr. T demonstrated pathological language switching and mixing across her three languages. Code switching in Cantonese was more prominent in discourse production than confrontation naming. Our case suggests that voluntary control of spoken word production in trilingual speakers shares neural substrata in the frontobasal ganglia system with domain-general executive control mechanisms. One prediction is that lesions to such a system would give rise to both pathological switching and impairments of executive functions in trilingual speakers.

  6. Executive coaching in diversity from the systems psychodynamic perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lerato Motsoaledi

    2012-03-01

    Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to describe the application of systems psychodynamic role analysis and to determine its trustworthiness in assisting executives to work effectively with conscious and unconscious diversity dynamics in their organisations. Motivation for the study: Executives generally struggle to understand the deeper meaning of diversity behaviour that manifests inside and around them, leading to conflict. Without understanding the unconscious meaning of the behaviour, organisations founder easily. Awareness of below-the-surface behaviour leads to insight and taking responsibility for diversity-related behaviours. Research design, approach and method: The researcher coached six executives in South African state departments over a period of 10 months. The coaching addressed and analysed the executives’ organisational roles. She analysed the data using discourse analysis. Main findings: Themes relating to the diversity dynamics of gender, race, ethnicity, authority, disability, language, age, de-authorisation of diversity work and the coaching process emerged. The coaching assisted the executives to gain insights into below-the-surface diversity dynamics, to address diversity in a sustained manner and to take up their organisational roles more effectively. Practical/managerial implications: Coached executives will have a more objective and dynamic experience of diversity issues that manifest in organisations, between colleagues and within themselves. Contribution/value-add: Executive coaching from a systems psychodynamic perspective displays trustworthiness in improving participants’ diversity awareness, especially with regard to gender, race, ethnicity and authorisation.

  7. Executive Editor Frank Shushok, Jr. Sits down with Peter Felten and Charles C. Schroeder to Discover What Matters Most for a Meaningful Undergraduate Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shushok, Frank, Jr.

    2017-01-01

    Peter Felten is executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning and assistant provost for teaching and learning at Elon University, where he also serves as a professor of history. Charles C. Schroeder is the past president of ACPA--College Student Educators International and founding coexecutive editor of "About Campus." Felten and…

  8. Defining Execution Viewpoints for a Large and Complex Software-Intensive System

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Callo Arias, Trosky B.; America, Pierre; Avgeriou, Paris

    2009-01-01

    An execution view is an important asset for developing large and complex systems. An execution view helps practitioners to describe, analyze, and communicate what a software system does at runtime and how it does it. In this paper, we present an approach to define execution viewpoints for an

  9. 76 FR 61726 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review; Correction

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Office of the Secretary Senior Executive Service Performance Review; Correction AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DHS. ACTION: Notice; correction. SUMMARY: The... the appointment of the members of the Senior Executive Performance Review Boards. This correction adds...

  10. Impact of sociodemographic variables on executive functions

    OpenAIRE

    Campanholo, Kenia Repiso; Boa, Izadora Nogueira Fonte; Hodroj, Flávia Cristina da Silva Araujo; Guerra, Glaucia Rosana Benute; Miotto, Eliane Correa; Lucia, Mara Cristina Souza de

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Executive functions (EFs) regulate human behavior and allow individuals to interact and act in the world. EFs are sensitive to sociodemographic variables such as age, which promotes their decline, and to others that can exert a neuroprotective effect. Objective: To assess the predictive role of education, occupation and family income on decline in executive functions among a sample with a wide age range. Methods: A total of 925 participants aged 18-89 years with 1-28 years' education...

  11. Analysis for Parallel Execution without Performing Hardware/Software Co-simulation

    OpenAIRE

    Muhammad Rashid

    2014-01-01

    Hardware/software co-simulation improves the performance of embedded applications by executing the applications on a virtual platform before the actual hardware is available in silicon. However, the virtual platform of the target architecture is often not available during early stages of the embedded design flow. Consequently, analysis for parallel execution without performing hardware/software co-simulation is required. This article presents an analysis methodology for parallel execution of ...

  12. Executive Functioning in Highly Talented Soccer Players

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verburgh, Lot; Scherder, Erik J. A.; van Lange, Paul A.M.; Oosterlaan, Jaap

    2014-01-01

    Executive functions might be important for successful performance in sports, particularly in team sports requiring quick anticipation and adaptation to continuously changing situations in the field. The executive functions motor inhibition, attention and visuospatial working memory were examined in highly talented soccer players. Eighty-four highly talented youth soccer players (mean age 11.9), and forty-two age-matched amateur soccer players (mean age 11.8) in the age range 8 to 16 years performed a Stop Signal task (motor inhibition), the Attention Network Test (alerting, orienting, and executive attention) and a visuospatial working memory task. The highly talented soccer players followed the talent development program of the youth academy of a professional soccer club and played at the highest national soccer competition for their age. The amateur soccer players played at a regular soccer club in the same geographical region as the highly talented soccer players and play in a regular regional soccer competition. Group differences were tested using analyses of variance. The highly talented group showed superior motor inhibition as measured by stop signal reaction time (SSRT) on the Stop Signal task and a larger alerting effect on the Attention Network Test, indicating an enhanced ability to attain and maintain an alert state. No group differences were found for orienting and executive attention and visuospatial working memory. A logistic regression model with group (highly talented or amateur) as dependent variable and executive function measures that significantly distinguished between groups as predictors showed that these measures differentiated highly talented soccer players from amateur soccer players with 89% accuracy. Highly talented youth soccer players outperform youth amateur players on suppressing ongoing motor responses and on the ability to attain and maintain an alert state; both may be essential for success in soccer. PMID:24632735

  13. Executive functioning in highly talented soccer players.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lot Verburgh

    Full Text Available Executive functions might be important for successful performance in sports, particularly in team sports requiring quick anticipation and adaptation to continuously changing situations in the field. The executive functions motor inhibition, attention and visuospatial working memory were examined in highly talented soccer players. Eighty-four highly talented youth soccer players (mean age 11.9, and forty-two age-matched amateur soccer players (mean age 11.8 in the age range 8 to 16 years performed a Stop Signal task (motor inhibition, the Attention Network Test (alerting, orienting, and executive attention and a visuospatial working memory task. The highly talented soccer players followed the talent development program of the youth academy of a professional soccer club and played at the highest national soccer competition for their age. The amateur soccer players played at a regular soccer club in the same geographical region as the highly talented soccer players and play in a regular regional soccer competition. Group differences were tested using analyses of variance. The highly talented group showed superior motor inhibition as measured by stop signal reaction time (SSRT on the Stop Signal task and a larger alerting effect on the Attention Network Test, indicating an enhanced ability to attain and maintain an alert state. No group differences were found for orienting and executive attention and visuospatial working memory. A logistic regression model with group (highly talented or amateur as dependent variable and executive function measures that significantly distinguished between groups as predictors showed that these measures differentiated highly talented soccer players from amateur soccer players with 89% accuracy. Highly talented youth soccer players outperform youth amateur players on suppressing ongoing motor responses and on the ability to attain and maintain an alert state; both may be essential for success in soccer.

  14. The role of executive functions in social impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Rachel C; Vogan, Vanessa M; Powell, Tamara L; Anagnostou, Evdokia; Taylor, Margot J

    2016-01-01

    Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by socio-communicative impairments. Executive dysfunction may explain some key characteristics of ASD, both social and nonsocial hallmarks. Limited research exists exploring the relations between executive function and social impairment in ASD and few studies have used a comparison control group. Thus, the objective of the present study was to investigate the relations between executive functioning using the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF), social impairment as measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and overall autistic symptomology as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) in children and adolescents with and without ASD. Seventy children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD and 71 typically developing controls were included in this study. Findings showed that behavioral regulation executive processes (i.e., inhibition, shifting, and emotional control) predicted social function in all children. However, metacognitive executive processes (i.e., initiation, working memory, planning, organization, and monitoring) predicted social function only in children with ASD and not in typically developing children. Our findings suggest a distinct metacognitive executive function-social symptom link in ASD that is not present in the typical population. Understanding components of executive functioning that contribute to the autistic symptomology, particularly in the socio-communicative domain, is crucial for developing effective interventions that target key executive processes as well as underlying behavioral symptoms.

  15. The pervasive nature of unconscious social information processing in executive control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ranjani ePrabhakaran

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Humans not only have impressive executive abilities, but we are also fundamentally social creatures. In the cognitive neuroscience literature, it has long been assumed that executive control mechanisms, which play a critical role in guiding goal-directed behavior, operate on consciously processed information. Although more recent evidence suggests that unconsciously processed information can also influence executive control, most of this literature has focused on visual masked priming paradigms. However, the social psychological literature has demonstrated that unconscious influences are pervasive, and social information can unintentionally influence a wide variety of behaviors, including some that are likely to require executive abilities. For example, social information can unconsciously influence attention processes, such that simply instructing participants to describe a previous situation in which they had power over someone or someone else had power over them has been shown to unconsciously influence their attentional focus abilities, a key aspect of executive control. In the current review, we consider behavioral and neural findings from a variety of paradigms, including priming of goals and social hierarchical roles, as well as interpersonal interactions, in order to highlight the pervasive nature of social influences on executive control. These findings suggest that social information can play a critical role in executive control, and that this influence often occurs in an unconscious fashion. We conclude by suggesting further avenues of research for investigation of the interplay between social factors and executive control.

  16. Executive Functioning in Participants Over Age of 50 with Hoarding Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayers, Catherine R; Dozier, Mary E; Wetherell, Julie Loebach; Twamley, Elizabeth W; Schiehser, Dawn M

    2016-05-01

    The current investigation utilized mid-life and late-life participants diagnosed with hoarding disorder (HD) to explore the relationship between executive functioning and hoarding severity. Correlational analyses were used to investigate the associations between executive functioning and hoarding severity in nondemented participants. Multiple regression was used to determine if executive functioning had a unique association with HD severity when accounting for depressive symptoms. Participants were recruited from the San Diego area for HD intervention studies. Participants were 113 nondemented adults aged 50-86 years who met DSM-5 criteria for HD. The mean age of the sample utilized in the analyses was 63.76 years (SD, 7.2; range, 51-85 years). The sample was mostly female (72%), Caucasian (81.4%), and unmarried (78%). Hoarding severity was assessed using the Saving Inventory-Revised and the Clutter Image Rating and depression was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Executive functioning was assessed using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST-128) and the Trail Making and Verbal Fluency subtests of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System. Executive function (operationalized as perseveration on the WCST-128) was significantly associated with Clutter Image Ratings. In a multivariate context, executive function and depressive symptom severity were both significant predictors of variance in Clutter Image Rating. Our results suggest that executive function is related to severity of HD symptoms and should be considered as part of the conceptualization of HD. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  17. Detection of reduced interhemispheric cortical communication during task execution in multiple sclerosis patients using functional near-infrared spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jimenez, Jon J.; Yang, Runze; Nathoo, Nabeela; Varshney, Vishal P.; Golestani, Ali-Mohammad; Goodyear, Bradley G.; Metz, Luanne M.; Dunn, Jeff F.

    2014-07-01

    Multiple sclerosis (MS) impairs brain activity through demyelination and loss of axons. Increased brain activity is accompanied by increases in microvascular hemoglobin oxygen saturation (oxygenation) and total hemoglobin, which can be measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Due to the potentially reduced size and integrity of the white matter tracts within the corpus callosum, it may be expected that MS patients have reduced functional communication between the left and right sides of the brain; this could potentially be an indicator of disease progression. To assess interhemispheric communication in MS, we used fNIRS during a unilateral motor task and the resting state. The magnitude of the change in hemoglobin parameters in the motor cortex was significantly reduced in MS patients during the motor task relative to healthy control subjects. There was also a significant decrease in interhemispheric communication between the motor cortices (expressed as coherence) in MS patients compared to controls during the motor task, but not during the resting state. fNIRS assessment of interhemispheric coherence during task execution may be a useful marker in disorders with white matter damage or axonal loss, including MS.

  18. Associations between executive functioning, coping, and psychosocial functioning after acquired brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolters Gregório, Gisela; Ponds, Rudolf W H M; Smeets, Sanne M J; Jonker, Frank; Pouwels, Climmy G J G; Verhey, Frans R; van Heugten, Caroline M

    2015-09-01

    To examine the relationships between executive functioning, coping, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in individuals with neuropsychiatric symptoms after acquired brain injury (ABI). Cross-sectional study. Individuals (n = 93) in the post-acute and chronic phase (>3 months) after ABI and their significant others (N = 58) were recruited from outpatient clinics of four mental health centres in the Netherlands. Outcome measures were the Trail Making Test, Stroop Colour Word Test, Frontal Systems Behavioural Scale, Utrecht Coping List, Patient Health Questionnaire, and Life Satisfaction Questionnaire. Data were analysed with multiple regression analyses. Self-reported executive dysfunction was associated with greater use of passive coping styles (β = .37, p executive functioning (β = -.94, p executive functioning tests were not associated with coping, depressive symptoms, or quality of life. For clinicians, these data indicate that individuals who report greater difficulties with executive functioning after ABI are inclined to use maladaptive passive coping styles, which should be targeted in treatment. In comparison, individuals who report greater difficulties with executive functioning should not be prompted to use problem-focused coping styles. These individuals may benefit from other coping styles, such as the use of seeking social support or acceptance of problems. Coping influences the association between executive functioning and quality of life. Individuals who report difficulties with executive functioning after ABI may be inclined to use passive coping styles, which are maladaptive. Problem-focused coping strategies may be more useful for individuals who have strong executive abilities. This study was a cross-sectional study; thus, a cause-and-effect relationship could not be established between executive functioning, coping, and psychosocial functioning. As this research was part of standard clinical care, non-traditional tests for executive

  19. D matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shiu, Gary; Wang Liantao

    2004-01-01

    We study the properties and phenomenology of particlelike states originating from D branes whose spatial dimensions are all compactified. They are nonperturbative states in string theory and we refer to them as D matter. In contrast to other nonperturbative objects such as 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles, D-matter states could have perturbative couplings among themselves and with ordinary matter. The lightest D particle (LDP) could be stable because it is the lightest state carrying certain (integer or discrete) quantum numbers. Depending on the string scale, they could be cold dark matter candidates with properties similar to that of WIMPs or wimpzillas. The spectrum of excited states of D matter exhibits an interesting pattern which could be distinguished from that of Kaluza-Klein modes, winding states, and string resonances. We speculate about possible signatures of D matter from ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and colliders

  20. Development of a scale of executive functioning for the RBANS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, Robert J; Kitchen Andren, Katherine A; Tolle, Kathryn A

    2018-01-01

    The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) is a cognitive battery that contains scales of several cognitive abilities, but no scale in the instrument is exclusively dedicated to executive functioning. Although the subtests allow for observation of executive-type errors, each error is of fairly low base rate, and healthy and clinical normative data are lacking on the frequency of these types of errors, making their significance difficult to interpret in isolation. The aim of this project was to create an RBANS executive errors scale (RBANS EE) with items comprised of qualitatively dysexecutive errors committed throughout the test. Participants included Veterans referred for outpatient neuropsychological testing. Items were initially selected based on theoretical literature and were retained based on item-total correlations. The RBANS EE (a percentage calculated by dividing the number of dysexecutive errors by the total number of responses) was moderately related to each of seven established measures of executive functioning and was strongly predictive of dichotomous classification of executive impairment. Thus, the scale had solid concurrent validity, justifying its use as a supplementary scale. The RBANS EE requires no additional administration time and can provide a quantified measure of otherwise unmeasured aspects of executive functioning.

  1. 76 FR 61346 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-04

    ... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board AGENCY: Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Department of Defense (DoD). ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice announces the appointment of the members of the Senior Executive Service (SES...

  2. A three-component, hierarchical model of executive attention

    OpenAIRE

    Whittle, Sarah; Pantelis, Christos; Testa, Renee; Tiego, Jeggan; Bellgrove, Mark

    2017-01-01

    Executive attention refers to the goal-directed control of attention. Existing models of executive attention distinguish between three correlated, but empirically dissociable, factors related to selectively attending to task-relevant stimuli (Selective Attention), inhibiting task-irrelevant responses (Response Inhibition), and actively maintaining goal-relevant information (Working Memory Capacity). In these models, Selective Attention and Response Inhibition are moderately strongly correlate...

  3. Automated procedure execution for space vehicle autonomous control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broten, Thomas A.; Brown, David A.

    1990-01-01

    Increased operational autonomy and reduced operating costs have become critical design objectives in next-generation NASA and DoD space programs. The objective is to develop a semi-automated system for intelligent spacecraft operations support. The Spacecraft Operations and Anomaly Resolution System (SOARS) is presented as a standardized, model-based architecture for performing High-Level Tasking, Status Monitoring and automated Procedure Execution Control for a variety of spacecraft. The particular focus is on the Procedure Execution Control module. A hierarchical procedure network is proposed as the fundamental means for specifying and representing arbitrary operational procedures. A separate procedure interpreter controls automatic execution of the procedure, taking into account the current status of the spacecraft as maintained in an object-oriented spacecraft model.

  4. Optimization of application execution in the GridSpace environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Malawski, M.; Kocot, J.; Ryszka, I.; Bubak, M.; Wieczorek, M.; Fahringer, T.

    2008-01-01

    This paper describes an approach to optimization of execution of applications in the GridSpace environment. In this environment operations are invoked on special objects which reside on Grid resources what requires a specific approach to optimization of execution. This approach is implemented in the

  5. A meta-analysis of executive components of working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nee, Derek Evan; Brown, Joshua W; Askren, Mary K; Berman, Marc G; Demiralp, Emre; Krawitz, Adam; Jonides, John

    2013-02-01

    Working memory (WM) enables the online maintenance and manipulation of information and is central to intelligent cognitive functioning. Much research has investigated executive processes of WM in order to understand the operations that make WM "work." However, there is yet little consensus regarding how executive processes of WM are organized. Here, we used quantitative meta-analysis to summarize data from 36 experiments that examined executive processes of WM. Experiments were categorized into 4 component functions central to WM: protecting WM from external distraction (distractor resistance), preventing irrelevant memories from intruding into WM (intrusion resistance), shifting attention within WM (shifting), and updating the contents of WM (updating). Data were also sorted by content (verbal, spatial, object). Meta-analytic results suggested that rather than dissociating into distinct functions, 2 separate frontal regions were recruited across diverse executive demands. One region was located dorsally in the caudal superior frontal sulcus and was especially sensitive to spatial content. The other was located laterally in the midlateral prefrontal cortex and showed sensitivity to nonspatial content. We propose that dorsal-"where"/ventral-"what" frameworks that have been applied to WM maintenance also apply to executive processes of WM. Hence, WM can largely be simplified to a dual selection model.

  6. Enhancing Writing through Strengthened Executive Function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Russell Jay Hendel

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available We explore aspects of essay writing requiring high-level organizational capacity and executive function. The literature supports the approach that specific and focused writing-skill mastery leads to reduced anxiety and increased self-efficacy which correlates with improved writing skills. Although essay writing is a complex multi-dimensional task, two particular strategies, tree-diagram and reference methods, specifically address the organizational skills characteristic of executive function. The tree and reference methods presented in this paper address the flow of information, not content, and consequently, the methods presented in this paper apply to mathematics and English as well as to K-12 and college level.

  7. Towards a Reactive Semantic Execution Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komazec, Srdjan; Facca, Federico Michele

    Managing complex and distributed software systems built on top of the service-oriented paradigm has never been more challenging. While Semantic Web Service technologies offer a promising set of languages and tools as a foundation to resolve the heterogeneity and scalability issues, they are still failing to provide an autonomic execution environment. In this paper we present an approach based on Semantic Web Services to enable the monitoring and self-management of a Semantic Execution Environment (SEE), a brokerage system for Semantic Web Services. Our approach is founded on the event-triggered reactivity paradigm in order to facilitate environment control, thus contributing to its autonomicity, robustness and flexibility.

  8. Emotion suppression moderates the quadratic association between RSA and executive function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spangler, Derek P; Bell, Martha Ann; Deater-Deckard, Kirby

    2015-09-01

    There is uncertainty about whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a cardiac marker of adaptive emotion regulation, is involved in relatively low or high executive function performance. In the present study, we investigated (a) whether RSA during rest and tasks predict both relatively low and high executive function within a larger quadratic association among the two variables, and (b) the extent to which this quadratic trend was moderated by individual differences in emotion regulation. To achieve these aims, a sample of ethnically and socioeconomically diverse women self-reported reappraisal and emotion suppression. They next experienced a 2-min resting period during which electrocardiogram (ECG) was continually assessed. In the next phase, the women completed an array of executive function and nonexecutive cognitive tasks while ECG was measured throughout. As anticipated, resting RSA showed a quadratic association with executive function that was strongest for high suppression. These results suggest that relatively high resting RSA may predict poor executive function ability when emotion regulation consumes executive control resources needed for ongoing cognitive performance. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  9. Dark matter detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forster, G.

    1995-01-01

    A fundamental question of astrophysics and cosmology is the nature of dark matter. Astrophysical observations show clearly the existence of some kind of dark matter, though they cannot yet reveal its nature. Dark matter can consist of baryonic particles, or of other (known or unknown) elementary particles. Baryonic dark matter probably exists in the form of dust, gas, or small stars. Other elementary particles constituting the dark matter can possibly be measured in terrestrial experiments. Possibilities for dark matter particles are neutrinos, axions and weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). While a direct detection of relic neutrinos seems at the moment impossible, there are experiments looking for baryonic dark matter in the form of Massive Compact Halo Objects, and for particle dark matter in the form of axions and WIMPS. (orig.)

  10. Empowering Muslim Women Though Executive Coaching & Mentoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fadila Grine

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the role and effect of executive coaching and mentoring on the empowerment of Muslim women and enhancing their levels of contribution. It further substantiates the manner in which executive coaching can accommodate both the nature and needs of Muslim women while further unleashing her respective talents, creativity and skills. The study further highlights the role and significance of coaching in spheres relevant to family, as well as social and career development. This study highlights the use of the strategic technique for personal and leadership development set to explore talents, leaders and implicit abilities. Moreover, it exhibits the flexibility of self-coaching and its appropriateness for Muslim women, especially concerning self-development, which in turn influences social and institutional development. This inquiry highlights a number of practical results which emphasizes the viability and efficacy of executive coaching on personal and institutional levels as far as the making of better world for Muslim women is concerned.

  11. Disposal Of Waste Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jeong Hyeon; Lee, Seung Mu

    1989-02-01

    This book deals with disposal of waste matter management of soiled waste matter in city with introduction, definition of waste matter, meaning of management of waste matter, management system of waste matter, current condition in the country, collect and transportation of waste matter disposal liquid waste matter, industrial waste matter like plastic, waste gas sludge, pulp and sulfuric acid, recycling technology of waste matter such as recycling system of Black clawson, Monroe and Rome.

  12. Impeded Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence & Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics,Johannes Gutenberg University,Staudingerweg 7, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Slatyer, Tracy R. [Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Wang, Xiao-Ping [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence & Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics,Johannes Gutenberg University,Staudingerweg 7, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Xue, Wei [Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

    2016-12-12

    We consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario “Impeded Dark Matter”. We demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may even be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. For positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden SU(2) sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector.

  13. Impeded Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia; Slatyer, Tracy R.; Wang, Xiao-Ping; Xue, Wei

    2016-01-01

    We consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario “Impeded Dark Matter”. We demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may even be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. For positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden SU(2) sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector.

  14. Executive and Language Control in the Multilingual Brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony Pak-Hin Kong

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Neuroimaging studies suggest that the neural network involved in language control may not be specific to bi-/multilingualism but is part of a domain-general executive control system. We report a trilingual case of a Cantonese (L1, English (L2, and Mandarin (L3 speaker, Dr. T, who sustained a brain injury at the age of 77 causing lesions in the left frontal lobe and in the left temporo-parietal areas resulting in fluent aphasia. Dr. T’s executive functions were impaired according to a modified version of the Stroop color-word test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance was characterized by frequent perseveration errors. Dr. T demonstrated pathological language switching and mixing across her three languages. Code switching in Cantonese was more prominent in discourse production than confrontation naming. Our case suggests that voluntary control of spoken word production in trilingual speakers shares neural substrata in the frontobasal ganglia system with domain-general executive control mechanisms. One prediction is that lesions to such a system would give rise to both pathological switching and impairments of executive functions in trilingual speakers.

  15. Remuneration Committee, Board Independence and Top Executive Compensation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chii-Shyan Kuo

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we examine whether the levels and structures of top executive compensation vary discernibly with different levels of board independence. We also examine how the newly mandated adoption of the remuneration committee (RC in Taiwan affects the board independence-executive pay relation. The mandatory establishment of RC for Taiwanese public firms, starting in 2011, is intended to strengthen the reasonableness and effectiveness of the executive compensation structure; thus, it is timely and of interest for practitioners and regulators to understand whether the establishment of RCs can effectively discipline top executive compensation policies. We first find that CEOs of firms that do not appoint independent directors have greater levels of annual pay than is the case for firms that have appointed independent directors, after controlling for the effect of CEO pay determinants. Second, we find that CEO pay for early RC adopters is more closely related to firm performance. Third, we find that the establishing of RCs may decrease CEO pay and enhance the pay-performance association, in particular for firms that have not appointed independent directors; however, this effect is not found to be statistically significant.

  16. Parenting style is related to executive dysfunction after brain injury in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potter, Jennifer L; Wade, Shari L; Walz, Nicolay C; Cassedy, Amy; Stevens, M Hank; Yeates, Keith O; Taylor, H Gerry

    2011-11-01

    The goal of this study was to examine how parenting style (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive) and family functioning are related to behavioral aspects of executive function following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children. Participants included 75 children with TBI and 97 children with orthopedic injuries (OI), ages 3-7 years at injury. Pre-injury parenting behavior and family functioning were assessed shortly after injury, and postinjury executive functions were assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF; Gioia & Isquith, 2004) at 6, 12, and 18 months postinjury. Mixed model analyses, using pre-injury executive functioning (assessed by the BRIEF at baseline) as a covariate, examined the relationship of parenting style and family characteristics to executive functioning in children with moderate and severe TBI compared to OI. Among children with moderate TBI, higher levels of authoritarian parenting were associated with greater executive difficulties at 12 and 18 months following injury. Permissive and authoritative parenting styles were not significantly associated with postinjury executive skills. Finally, fewer family resources predicted more executive deficits across all of the groups, regardless of injury type. These findings provide additional evidence regarding the role of the social and familial environment in emerging behavior problems following childhood TBI.

  17. Parenting Style Is Related to Executive Dysfunction After Brain Injury in Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potter, Jennifer L.; Wade, Shari L.; Walz, Nicolay C.; Cassedy, Amy; Yeates, Keith O.; Stevens, M. Hank; Taylor, H. Gerry

    2013-01-01

    Objective The goal of this study was to examine how parenting style (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive) and family functioning are related to behavioral aspects of executive function following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children. Method Participants included 75 children with TBI and 97 children with orthopedic injuries (OI), ages 3–7 years at injury. Pre-injury parenting behavior and family functioning were assessed shortly after injury, and postinjury executive functions were assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF; Gioia & Isquith, 2004) at 6, 12, and 18 months postinjury. Mixed model analyses, using pre-injury executive functioning (assessed by the BRIEF at baseline) as a covariate, examined the relationship of parenting style and family characteristics to executive functioning in children with moderate and severe TBI compared to OI. Results Among children with moderate TBI, higher levels of authoritarian parenting were associated with greater executive difficulties at 12 and 18 months following injury. Permissive and authoritative parenting styles were not significantly associated with postinjury executive skills. Finally, fewer family resources predicted more executive deficits across all of the groups, regardless of injury type. Conclusion These findings provide additional evidence regarding the role of the social and familial environment in emerging behavior problems following childhood TBI. PMID:21928918

  18. Relations with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) and draft agreement between UNESCO and that body. Executive Board 151. session. Item 9.11 of the provisional agenda

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mayor, F.; Kadyshevsky, V.G.

    1997-01-01

    This document contains a proposal for the conclusion of an agreement between UNESCO and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna (Russian Federation) in order to promote international co-operation for research on the fundamental properties of matter. The proposal made was initiated by JINR which is an international intergovernmental organization with 18 Member States. In accordance with Article XI.1 of UNESCO's Constitution, the Director-General requests the Executive Board's approval of the draft agreement with JINR

  19. Prospects and Challenges in the Deliverance of Executive Masters ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the recent decade Executive Masters degree programmes have become very popular deliverance in the Tanzanian higher learning institutions. ... Using The Open University of Tanzania as a case study, this article will focus on two programmes, namely; Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) and Masters ...

  20. Compare of Executive Function in Bipolar I Disorder and Schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Reza khodaei-Ardakani

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Objective: There is evidence for differential executive function in Bipolar I Disorder (BID and schizophrenia that may tend different cognitive deficits and abnormalities. The objective of this sudsy was to compare the executive function of BID and schizophrenic patients. Materials & Methods: We studied 50 patients with BID, and 50 with schizophrenia participants in outpatients' clinic of Rouzbeh hospital. All participants completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST the Persian version. The participants were mach in three basic variables which had most contributions in cognitive conditions in patients. They were Age, educational status and period of illness. Results: The two patient groups had compared performance on the WCST in compared with general population (P<0/05. In the WCST, schizophrenic patients showed impairment executive function than BID patients (P<0/05. Conclusion: findings indicated that schizophrenic patients had more dysfunctions executive function than the Bipolar disorder I patients. Although, both disorders may show impairment in executive function, but the dysfunction in schizophrenia greater than Bipolar I Disorder patients.

  1. Executive function in fibromyalgia: Comparing subjective and objective measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelonch, Olga; Garolera, Maite; Valls, Joan; Rosselló, Lluís; Pifarré, Josep

    2016-04-01

    There is evidence to suggest the existence of an executive dysfunction in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia, although there are certain inconsistencies between studies. Here, we aim to compare executive performance between patients with fibromyalgia and a control group by using subjective and objective cognitive tests, analyzing the influence of patient mood on the results obtained, and studying associations between the two measures. 82 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 42 healthy controls, matched by age and years of education, were assessed using the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult Version (BRIEF-A) as a subjective measure of executive functioning. A selection of objective cognitive tests were also used to measure a series of executive functions and to identify symptoms of depression and anxiety. Patients with fibromyalgia perceived greater difficulties than the control group on all of the BRIEF-A scales. However, after adjustments were made for depression and anxiety the only differences that remained were those associated with the working memory scale and the Metacognition and Global Executive Composite index. In the case of the objective cognitive tests, a significantly worse overall performance was evidenced for the fibromyalgia patients. However, this also disappeared when adjustments were made for depression and anxiety. After this adjustment, fibromyalgia patients only performed significantly worse for the interference effect in the Stroop Test. Although there were no significant associations between most of the objective cognitive tests and the BRIEF-A scales, depression and anxiety exhibited strong associations with almost all of the BRIEF-A scales and with several of the objective cognitive tests. Patients with fibromyalgia showed executive dysfunction in subjective and objective measures, although most of this impairment was associated with mood disturbances. Exceptions to this general rule were observed in the

  2. The Lisbon Strategy's Empowerment of Core Executives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borrás, Susana; Peters, B. Guy

    2011-01-01

    This paper studies the effects of the Lisbon Strategy on the way in which national executives co-ordinate EU policy at the domestic level. Comparing seven countries (Denmark, the United Kingdom [UK], Austria, Slovenia, Spain, France and Poland) it finds evidence that the Lisbon Strategy has been...... advancing (further) centralization and politicization in national patterns of EU policy co-ordination, empowering core executives. The Lisbon Strategy's ideational elements (‘grand’ goals and politically visible targets) as well as organizational requirements (Spring Council, national programming and annual...

  3. School Executive Website Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiede, Robert

    2009-01-01

    The School Executive Website will be a one-stop, online site for officials who are looking for educational data, best practices, product reviews, school documents, professional opinions, and/or job-related networking. The format of the website is designed in certain sections similar to other current and popular websites, such as Angie's List.com,…

  4. Proverb comprehension impairments in schizophrenia are related to executive dysfunction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thoma, Patrizia; Hennecke, Marie; Mandok, Tobias; Wähner, Alfred; Brüne, Martin; Juckel, Georg; Daum, Irene

    2009-12-30

    The study aimed to investigate the pattern of proverb comprehension impairment and its relationship to proverb familiarity and executive dysfunction in schizophrenia. To assess the specificity of the impairment pattern to schizophrenia, alcohol-dependent patients were included as a psychiatric comparison group, as deficits of executive function and theory of mind as well as dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex, which have been related to proverb comprehension difficulties, are common in both disorders. Twenty-four schizophrenia patients, 20 alcohol-dependent patients and 34 healthy controls were administered a multiple-choice proverb interpretation task incorporating ratings of subjective familiarity and measures of executive function. Schizophrenia patients chose the correct abstract and meaningful interpretations less frequently and instead chose the incorrect concrete (both meaningless and meaningful) proverb interpretations more often than alcohol-dependent patients and healthy controls. Relative to healthy controls, schizophrenia patients also chose more abstract-meaningless response alternatives and were impaired in all executive domains. Impaired divided attention was most consistently associated with proverb interpretation deficits in both patient groups. Taken together, schizophrenia patients showed a specific pattern of proverb comprehension impairments related to executive dysfunction and symptoms. The comparison with the alcohol-dependent subgroup suggests that a more comprehensive and severe impairment of complex higher-order cognitive functions including executive behavioural control and non-literal language comprehension might be associated with frontal dysfunction in schizophrenia as compared to alcohol use disorder.

  5. EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION IN ALCOHOL DEPENDENT INDIVIDUALS: A CASE CONTROL STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neethi Valsan

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND The use of alcohol is increasingly prevalent in our country. Being a neurotoxin, it tends to affect elective mental capacities. Frontal lobe is found to be most affected by chronic alcohol use. AIM To study the executive functions in alcohol dependent individuals and to determine any relationship with alcohol intake variables. MATERIALS AND METHODS 30 recently detoxified alcohol dependent individuals attending the De-addiction Clinic of Medical College, Kottayam, was compared to 30 controls on four tests of executive functions, namely, Controlled Word Association Test, Trail Making Test, Stroop Test, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Statistical analysis of the data has been done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Windows version 10. RESULTS Executive function was significantly impaired in the alcohol dependent individuals when compared to normal controls in all the four tests. On analysing the effect of drinking variables on executive functioning, the performance of patients is seen to improve with abstinence in Stroop. Those with a positive family history of ADS in the first degree relatives produced fewer words in verbal fluency. CONCLUSION As the executive impairment remains more or less stable irrespective to the chronicity or amount of alcohol use, it could be assumed that the executive dysfunction observed is a trait marker rather than a state dependent variable.

  6. The most frequently used tests for assessing executive functions in aging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camila de Assis Faria

    Full Text Available There are numerous neuropsychological tests for assessing executive functions in aging, which vary according to the different domains assessed. OBJECTIVE: To present a systematic review of the most frequently used instruments for assessing executive functions in older adults with different educational levels in clinical and experimental research. METHODS: We searched for articles published in the last five years, using the PubMed database with the following terms: "neuropsychological tests", "executive functions", and "mild cognitive impairment". There was no language restriction. RESULTS: 25 articles fulfilled all the inclusion criteria. The seven neuropsychological tests most frequently used to evaluate executive functions in aging were: [1] Trail Making Test (TMT Form B; [2] Verbal Fluency Test (VFT - F, A and S; [3] VFT Animals category; [4] Clock Drawing Test (CDT; [5] Digits Forward and Backward subtests (WAIS-R or WAIS-III; [6] Stroop Test; and [7] Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST and its variants. The domains of executive functions most frequently assessed were: mental flexibility, verbal fluency, planning, working memory, and inhibitory control. CONCLUSION: The study identified the tests and domains of executive functions most frequently used in the last five years by research groups worldwide to evaluate older adults. These results can direct future research and help build evaluation protocols for assessing executive functions, taking into account the different educational levels and socio-demographic profiles of older adults in Brazil.

  7. 31 CFR 30.0 - Executive compensation and corporate governance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Executive compensation and corporate governance. 30.0 Section 30.0 Money and Finance: Treasury Office of the Secretary of the Treasury TARP STANDARDS FOR COMPENSATION AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE § 30.0 Executive compensation and corporate governance...

  8. Dataflow Query Execution in a Parallel Main-Memory Environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wilschut, A.N.; Apers, Peter M.G.

    1991-01-01

    The performance and characteristics of the execution of various join-trees on a parallel DBMS are studied. The results are a step in the direction of the design of a query optimization strategy that is fit for parallel execution of complex queries. Among others, synchronization issues are identified

  9. Maternal Executive Function, Harsh Parenting, and Child Conduct Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Wang, Zhe; Chen, Nan; Bell, Martha Ann

    2012-01-01

    Background: Maternal executive function and household regulation both are critical aspects of optimal childrearing, but their interplay is not understood. We tested the hypotheses that (a) the link between challenging child conduct problems and harsh parenting would be strongest for mothers with poorer executive function and weakest among those…

  10. Effects of alcoholism severity and smoking on executive neurocognitive function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glass, Jennifer M; Buu, Anne; Adams, Kenneth M; Nigg, Joel T; Puttler, Leon I; Jester, Jennifer M; Zucker, Robert A

    2009-01-01

    Neurocognitive deficits in chronic alcoholic men are well documented. Impairments include memory, visual-spatial processing, problem solving and executive function. The cause of impairment could include direct effects of alcohol toxicity, pre-existing cognitive deficits that predispose towards substance abuse, comorbid psychiatric disorders and abuse of substances other than alcohol. Cigarette smoking occurs at higher rates in alcoholism and has been linked to poor cognitive performance, yet the effects of smoking on cognitive function in alcoholism are often ignored. We examined whether chronic alcoholism and chronic smoking have effects on executive function. Alcoholism and smoking were examined in a community-recruited sample of alcoholic and non-alcoholic men (n = 240) using standard neuropsychological and reaction-time measures of executive function. Alcoholism was measured as the average level of alcoholism diagnoses across the study duration (12 years). Smoking was measured in pack-years. Both alcoholism and smoking were correlated negatively with a composite executive function score. For component measures, alcoholism was correlated negatively with a broad range of measures, whereas smoking was correlated negatively with measures that emphasize response speed. In regression analyses, both smoking and alcoholism were significant predictors of executive function composite. However, when IQ is included in the regression analyses, alcoholism severity is no longer significant. Both smoking and alcoholism were related to executive function. However, the effect of alcoholism was not independent of IQ, suggesting a generalized effect, perhaps affecting a wide range of cognitive abilities of which executive function is a component. On the other hand, the effect of smoking on measures relying on response speed were independent of IQ, suggesting a more specific processing speed deficit associated with chronic smoking.

  11. Context Aware Concurrent Execution Framework for Web Browser

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Saeed, Aamir; Erbad, Aiman Mahmood; Olsen, Rasmus Løvenstein

    Computing hungry multimedia web applications need to efficiently utilize the device resources. HTML5 web workers is a non-sharing concurrency platform that enables multimedia web application to utilize the available multi-core hardware. HTML5 web workers are implemented by major browser vendors...... to facilitate concurrent execution in web clients and enhance the quality of ambitious web applications. The concurrent execution in web workers allows parallel processing using available cores at the expense of communication overhead and extra computation. The benefits of concurrent execution can be maximized...... by balancing load across workers/CPU cores. This work presents load-balancing algorithms between web workers using parameters such as scheduler throughput, computation priority and game entity locality. An award-winning web-based multimedia game (raptjs.com) is used to test the performance of the load balance...

  12. Executive function processes predict mobility outcomes in older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gothe, Neha P; Fanning, Jason; Awick, Elizabeth; Chung, David; Wójcicki, Thomas R; Olson, Erin A; Mullen, Sean P; Voss, Michelle; Erickson, Kirk I; Kramer, Arthur F; McAuley, Edward

    2014-02-01

    To examine the relationship between performance on executive function measures and subsequent mobility outcomes in community-dwelling older adults. Randomized controlled clinical trial. Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Community-dwelling older adults (N = 179; mean age 66.4). A 12-month exercise trial with two arms: an aerobic exercise group and a stretching and strengthening group. Established cognitive tests of executive function (flanker task, task switching, and a dual-task paradigm) and the Wisconsin card sort test. Mobility was assessed using the timed 8-foot up and go test and times to climb up and down a flight of stairs. Participants completed the cognitive tests at baseline and the mobility measures at baseline and after 12 months of the intervention. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine whether baseline executive function predicted postintervention functional performance after controlling for age, sex, education, cardiorespiratory fitness, and baseline mobility levels. Selective baseline executive function measurements, particularly performance on the flanker task (β = 0.15-0.17) and the Wisconsin card sort test (β = 0.11-0.16) consistently predicted mobility outcomes at 12 months. The estimates were in the expected direction, such that better baseline performance on the executive function measures predicted better performance on the timed mobility tests independent of intervention. Executive functions of inhibitory control, mental set shifting, and attentional flexibility were predictive of functional mobility. Given the literature associating mobility limitations with disability, morbidity, and mortality, these results are important for understanding the antecedents to poor mobility function that well-designed interventions to improve cognitive performance can attenuate. © 2014, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2014, The American Geriatrics Society.

  13. Diversity of approaches in assessment of executive functions in stroke: Limited evidence?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Conti

    2015-03-01

    There is a paucity of tools to reliably measure executive dysfunction after stroke, despite the fact that executive dysfunction is frequent. Identification of the best tools for executive dysfunction assessment is necessary to address important gaps in research and in clinical practice.

  14. Data-driven execution of fast multipole methods

    KAUST Repository

    Ltaief, Hatem

    2013-09-17

    Fast multipole methods (FMMs) have O (N) complexity, are compute bound, and require very little synchronization, which makes them a favorable algorithm on next-generation supercomputers. Their most common application is to accelerate N-body problems, but they can also be used to solve boundary integral equations. When the particle distribution is irregular and the tree structure is adaptive, load balancing becomes a non-trivial question. A common strategy for load balancing FMMs is to use the work load from the previous step as weights to statically repartition the next step. The authors discuss in the paper another approach based on data-driven execution to efficiently tackle this challenging load balancing problem. The core idea consists of breaking the most time-consuming stages of the FMMs into smaller tasks. The algorithm can then be represented as a directed acyclic graph where nodes represent tasks and edges represent dependencies among them. The execution of the algorithm is performed by asynchronously scheduling the tasks using the queueing and runtime for kernels runtime environment, in a way such that data dependencies are not violated for numerical correctness purposes. This asynchronous scheduling results in an out-of-order execution. The performance results of the data-driven FMM execution outperform the previous strategy and show linear speedup on a quad-socket quad-core Intel Xeon system.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  15. The nature of white matter abnormalities in blast-related mild traumatic brain injury

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasmeet P. Hayes

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI has been a common injury among returning troops due to the widespread use of improvised explosive devices in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. As most of the TBIs sustained are in the mild range, brain changes may not be detected by standard clinical imaging techniques such as CT. Furthermore, the functional significance of these types of injuries is currently being debated. However, accumulating evidence suggests that diffusion tensor imaging (DTI is sensitive to subtle white matter abnormalities and may be especially useful in detecting mild TBI (mTBI. The primary aim of this study was to use DTI to characterize the nature of white matter abnormalities following blast-related mTBI, and in particular, examine the extent to which mTBI-related white matter abnormalities are region-specific or spatially heterogeneous. In addition, we examined whether mTBI with loss of consciousness (LOC was associated with more extensive white matter abnormality than mTBI without LOC, as well as the potential moderating effect of number of blast exposures. A second aim was to examine the relationship between white matter integrity and neurocognitive function. Finally, a third aim was to examine the contribution of PTSD symptom severity to observed white matter alterations. One hundred fourteen OEF/OIF veterans underwent DTI and neuropsychological examination and were divided into three groups including a control group, blast-related mTBI without LOC (mTBI - LOC group, and blast-related mTBI with LOC (mTBI + LOC group. Hierarchical regression models were used to examine the extent to which mTBI and PTSD predicted white matter abnormalities using two approaches: 1 a region-specific analysis and 2 a measure of spatial heterogeneity. Neurocognitive composite scores were calculated for executive functions, attention, memory, and psychomotor speed. Results showed that blast-related mTBI + LOC was associated with greater odds of

  16. Exact and approximate probabilistic symbolic execution for nondeterministic programs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Luckow, Kasper Søe; Păsăreanu, Corina S.; Dwyer, Matthew B.

    2014-01-01

    Probabilistic software analysis seeks to quantify the likelihood of reaching a target event under uncertain environments. Recent approaches compute probabilities of execution paths using symbolic execution, but do not support nondeterminism. Nondeterminism arises naturally when no suitable probab...... Java programs. We show that our algorithms significantly improve upon a state-of-the-art statistical model checking algorithm, originally developed for Markov Decision Processes....... probabilistic model can capture a program behavior, e.g., for multithreading or distributed systems. In this work, we propose a technique, based on symbolic execution, to synthesize schedulers that resolve nondeterminism to maximize the probability of reaching a target event. To scale to large systems, we also...

  17. A short executive function training program improves preschoolers’ working memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emma eBlakey

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive training has been shown to improve executive functions in middle childhood and adulthood. However, fewer studies have targeted the preschool years – a time when executive functions undergo rapid development. The present study tested the effects of a short four session executive function training program in 54 four-year-olds. The training group significantly improved their working memory from pre-training relative to an active control group. Notably, this effect extended to a task sharing few surface features with the trained tasks, and continued to be apparent three months later. In addition, the benefits of training extended to a measure of mathematical reasoning three months later, indicating that training executive functions during the preschool years has the potential to convey benefits that are both long-lasting and wide-ranging.

  18. Cognitive programs: Software for attention's executive

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John K Tsotsos

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available What are the computational tasks that an executive controller for visual attention must solve? This question is posed in the context of the Selective Tuning model of attention. The range of required computations go beyond top-down bias signals or region-of-interest determinations, and must deal with overt and covert fixations, process timing and synchronization, information routing, memory, matching control to task, spatial localization, priming, and coordination of bottom-up with top-down information. During task execution, results must be monitored to ensure the expected results. This description includes the kinds of elements that are common in the control of any kind of complex machine or system. We seek a mechanistic integration of the above, in other words, algorithms that accomplish control. Such algorithms operate on representations, transforming a representation of one kind into another, which then forms the input to yet another algorithm. Cognitive Programs (CPs are hypothesized to capture exactly such representational transformations via stepwise sequences of operations. CPs, an updated and modernized offspring of Ullman's Visual Routines, impose an algorithmic structure to the set of attentional functions and play a role in the overall shaping of attentional modulation of the visual system so that it provides its best performance. This requires that we consider the visual system as a dynamic, yet general-purpose processor tuned to the task and input of the moment. This differs dramatically from the almost universal cognitive and computational views, which regard vision as a passively observing module to which simple questions about percepts can be posed, regardless of task. Differing from Visual Routines, CPs explicitly involve the critical elements of Visual Task Executive, Visual Attention Executive, and Visual Working Memory. Cognitive Programs provide the software that directs the actions of the Selective Tuning model of visual

  19. Dataflow Query Execution in a Parallel, Main-memory Environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wilschut, A.N.; Apers, Peter M.G.

    In this paper, the performance and characteristics of the execution of various join-trees on a parallel DBMS are studied. The results of this study are a step into the direction of the design of a query optimization strategy that is fit for parallel execution of complex queries. Among others,

  20. Business Communication and Leading Executives in the U.S.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hildebrandt, Herbert W.

    Since 1969, the graduate school of business at the University of Michigan has been collecting data on newly promoted executives (chief executive officers, presidents, and vice presidents in business and industry). In 1980, the questionnaire was revised to include more questions concerning their academic preparation for a business career. Responses…

  1. Validation of a Comprehensive Executive Learning and Development Measure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akrofi, Solomon; Clarke, Nicholas; Vernon, Guy

    2011-01-01

    Evaluating the returns on intangible assets in general and executive human capital in particular is still a challenging endeavour. One possible means of addressing this challenge involves developing a broad measure of executive learning and development (L&D), encapsulating both the formal and informal activities that closely reflect the dynamic…

  2. Improving the Execution of Supply Chain Management in Organizations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Teller, Christoph; Kotzab, Herbert; Grant, David B.

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to identify areas for improving the level of supply chain management (SCM) execution. A conceptual model was developed that proposes internal and joint SCM conditions and the adoption of SCM processes as the main antecedents of SCM execution. Based on a survey of 174 senior...

  3. Elastic execution of continuous mapreduce jobs over data streams

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2015-01-01

    There is provided a set of methods describing how to elastically change the resources used by a MapReduce job on streaming data while executing......There is provided a set of methods describing how to elastically change the resources used by a MapReduce job on streaming data while executing...

  4. Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bashir, A.; Cotti, U.; De Leon, C. L.; Raya, A; Villasenor, L.

    2008-01-01

    One of the biggest scientific mysteries of our time resides in the identification of the particles that constitute a large fraction of the mass of our Universe, generically known as dark matter. We review the observations and the experimental data that imply the existence of dark matter. We briefly discuss the properties of the two best dark-matter candidate particles and the experimental techniques presently used to try to discover them. Finally, we mention a proposed project that has recently emerged within the Mexican community to look for dark matter

  5. Cannabinoid modulation of executive functions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pattij, T.; Wiskerke, J.; Schoffelmeer, A.N.M.

    2008-01-01

    Executive functions are higher-order cognitive processes such as attention, behavioural flexibility, decision-making, inhibitory control, planning, time estimation and working memory that exert top-down control over behaviour. In addition to the role of cannabinoid signaling in other cognitive

  6. Building utility executive strength. [Job rotation as part of management training

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Esser, N.J.

    1977-02-17

    The selection and development of strong executive talent to manage the utility industry is essential if some of the controversy and confusion over the role and policies of utilities is to be resolved. The industry has traditionally trained and elevated executives within the organization, but new technical developments have changed the managerial skills required of executives. Today's manager needs an understanding of the total industry regardless of his initial training, the politics involved in advocating issues, and the need to keep costs down. To develop managerial continuity, utilities can institute job rotation as part of their management training program. The option to bring in executives from outside the company allows more stringent standards and introduces new ideas. Competitive salaries increase the opportunity to attract and retain talent. The Board of Directors can actively develop a flexible organizational structure that allows the executive group to adjust to changing demand. (DCK)

  7. Using recurrence plot analysis for software execution interpretation and fault detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosdorf, M.

    2015-09-01

    This paper shows a method targeted at software execution interpretation and fault detection using recurrence plot analysis. In in the proposed approach recurrence plot analysis is applied to software execution trace that contains executed assembly instructions. Results of this analysis are subject to further processing with PCA (Principal Component Analysis) method that simplifies number coefficients used for software execution classification. This method was used for the analysis of five algorithms: Bubble Sort, Quick Sort, Median Filter, FIR, SHA-1. Results show that some of the collected traces could be easily assigned to particular algorithms (logs from Bubble Sort and FIR algorithms) while others are more difficult to distinguish.

  8. Specific Language Impairment and Executive Functioning: Parent and Teacher Ratings of Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wittke, Kacie; Spaulding, Tammie J.; Schechtman, Calli J.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: The current study used the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function--Preschool Version (BRIEF-P; Gioia, Espy, & Isquith, 2003), a rating scale designed to investigate executive behaviors in everyday activities, to examine the executive functioning of preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) relative to their…

  9. Constitutional Basis for the Enforcement of ''Executive'' Policies that ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Although "executive" policies remain an important governance tool, there appears to be confusion on the status and possible basis for their judicial enforcement in South Africa. The aim of this article is to critically reflect on the status and possible constitutional basis for the enforceability of "executive" policies that give effect ...

  10. Sales Target and Ethical Behaviour of Marketing Executives in the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... No 3 (2011) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. ... This study examined sales target for marketing executives in Nigerian banks its influence ... administered on one hundred and nineteen (119) marketing executives from

  11. Execution of the European Arrest Warrant by the Romanian Judicial Authorities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ion Rusu

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The unprecedented development of criminality at the social and economical levels, the tendency toglobalize some categories of crimes, of maximum gravity, as terrorism, armament traffic, drug traffic orhuman traffic, have determined the world states to undertake specific measures to prevent, combat and finallyreduce it. The first and most important measure taken by the Europe’s Council, regarding the intensificationof judicial cooperation in criminal matters was the adoption of the European Convention on extradition, inParis on 13 December 1957, completed by the two Additional Protocols in Strasbourg, on 15 October 1975and 17 March 1978. In this context, the release of the Council’s Framework Decision on 13 June 2002 on theEuropean arrest warrant and the procedures of delivery among the member states (2002/584/JAI representeda natural decision, with the purpose of contributing at ensuring a free, secure and just European space. TheEuropean arrest warrant is a judicial decision through which a competent judicial authority of a EuropeanUnion member state solicits the arrest and delivery by another member state, in order to proceed to theprosecution, trial or execution of a penalty or safety measure that is privative of freedom.

  12. Mining dynamic noteworthy functions in software execution sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Bing; Huang, Guoyan; Wang, Yuqian; He, Haitao; Ren, Jiadong

    2017-01-01

    As the quality of crucial entities can directly affect that of software, their identification and protection become an important premise for effective software development, management, maintenance and testing, which thus contribute to improving the software quality and its attack-defending ability. Most analysis and evaluation on important entities like codes-based static structure analysis are on the destruction of the actual software running. In this paper, from the perspective of software execution process, we proposed an approach to mine dynamic noteworthy functions (DNFM)in software execution sequences. First, according to software decompiling and tracking stack changes, the execution traces composed of a series of function addresses were acquired. Then these traces were modeled as execution sequences and then simplified so as to get simplified sequences (SFS), followed by the extraction of patterns through pattern extraction (PE) algorithm from SFS. After that, evaluating indicators inner-importance and inter-importance were designed to measure the noteworthiness of functions in DNFM algorithm. Finally, these functions were sorted by their noteworthiness. Comparison and contrast were conducted on the experiment results from two traditional complex network-based node mining methods, namely PageRank and DegreeRank. The results show that the DNFM method can mine noteworthy functions in software effectively and precisely.

  13. Executive Functions and Social Skills in Survivors of Pediatric Brain Tumor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolfe, Kelly R.; Walsh, Karin S.; Reynolds, Nina C.; Mitchell, Frances; Reddy, Alyssa T.; Paltin, Iris; Madan-Swain, Avi

    2012-01-01

    Medical advances have resulted in increased survival rates for children with brain tumors. Consequently, issues related to survivorship have become more critical. The use of multimodal treatment, in particular cranial radiation therapy, has been associated with subsequent cognitive decline. Specifically, deficits in executive functions have been reported in survivors of various types of pediatric brain tumor. Survivors are left with difficulties, particularly in self-monitoring, initiation, inhibition, and planning, to name a few. Another domain in which survivors of pediatric brain tumor have been reported to show difficulty is that of social skills. Parents, teachers, and survivors themselves have reported decreased social functioning following treatment. Deficits in executive functions and social skills are likely interrelated in this population, as executive skills are needed to navigate various aspects of social interaction; however, this has yet to be studied empirically. Twenty-four survivors of pediatric brain tumor were assessed using a computerized task of executive functions, as well as paper and pencil measures of social skills and real world executive skills. Social functioning was related to a specific aspect of executive functions, i.e., the survivors’ variability in response time, such that inconsistent responding was associated with better parent-report and survivor-report social skills, independent of intellectual abilities. Additionally, parent-reported real-world global executive abilities predicted parent-reported social skills. The implications of these findings for social skills interventions and future research are discussed. PMID:22420326

  14. The Evolution of Galaxies by the Incompatibility between Dark Matter and Baryonic Matter

    OpenAIRE

    Chung, Ding-Yu

    2001-01-01

    In this paper, the evolution of galaxies is by the incompatibility between dark matter and baryonic matter. Due to the structural difference, baryonic matter and dark matter are incompatible to each other as oil droplet and water in emulsion. In the interfacial zone between dark matter and baryonic matter, this incompatibility generates the modification of Newtonian dynamics to keep dark matter and baryonic matter apart. The five periods of baryonic structure development in the order of incre...

  15. An Analysis of a Hard Real-Time Execution Environment Extension for FreeRTOS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    STANGACIU, C.

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available FreeRTOS is a popular real-time operating system, which has been under a significant attention in the last years due to its main advantages: it is open source, portable, well documented and implemented on more than 30 architectures. FreeRTOS execution environment is dynamic, preemptive and priority based, but it is not suitable for hard real-time tasks, because it provides task execution determinism only to a certain degree and cannot guarantee the absence of task execution jitter. As a solution to this problem, we propose a hard real time execution extension to FreeRTOS in order to support a particular model of HRT tasks, called ModXs, which are executed with no jitter. This article presents a detailed analysis, in terms of scheduling, task execution and memory usage of this hard real time execution environment extension. The article is concluding with the advantages this extension brings to the system compared to the small memory and timing overhead introduced.

  16. Rehabilitasi Neuropsikologi Dalam Upaya Memperbaiki Defisit Executive Function (Fungsi Eksekutif Klien Gangguan Mental

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nur Fatwikiningsih

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Executive function is responsible for directing self behavior in order to purposive and aims such as planning, organizing, problem solving, self-monitoring skills and self regulation. This function is associated with frontal lobe (center of think. The main components of executive function are anticipation (set realistic expectations, understanding the consequences, planning (organization, execution or implementation (maintain flexibility, self-monitoring (emotional control, error recognition. Dysfunction executive (deficit of executive functions is one cause of disability in the client's mental disorders so that clients of mental disorders commonly have difficulty in performing  activities of complex psychological like behavior of complex, purposeful, targeted and selective attention, decision-making, judgment, selection, planning, and flexibility. Neuropsychological rehabilitation efforts can be used to improve executive function (executive function thus will significantly improve emotional health, social functioning, and independent skill.  The rehabilitation program consists of a variety of techniques that include Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT, verbalization, goal setting and cognitive remediation.

  17. Dark Matter

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    What You See Ain't What. You Got, Resonance, Vol.4,. No.9,1999. Dark Matter. 2. Dark Matter in the Universe. Bikram Phookun and Biman Nath. In Part 11 of this article we learnt that there are compelling evidences from dynamics of spiral galaxies, like our own, that there must be non-luminous matter in them. In this.

  18. NIH EXAMINER: conceptualization and development of an executive function battery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kramer, Joel H; Mungas, Dan; Possin, Katherine L; Rankin, Katherine P; Boxer, Adam L; Rosen, Howard J; Bostrom, Alan; Sinha, Lena; Berhel, Ashley; Widmeyer, Mary

    2014-01-01

    Executive functioning is widely targeted when human cognition is assessed, but there is little consensus on how it should be operationalized and measured. Recognizing the difficulties associated with establishing standard operational definitions of executive functioning, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke entered into a contract with the University of California-San Francisco to develop psychometrically robust executive measurement tools that would be accepted by the neurology clinical trials and clinical research communities. This effort, entitled Executive Abilities: Measures and Instruments for Neurobehavioral Evaluation and Research (EXAMINER), resulted in a series of tasks targeting working memory, inhibition, set shifting, fluency, insight, planning, social cognition and behavior. We describe battery conceptualization and development, data collection, scale construction based on item response theory, and lay the foundation for studying the battery's utility and validity for specific assessment and research goals.

  19. Test Review: Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (BDEFS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allee-Smith, Paula J.; Winters, Rebecca R.; Drake, Amanda; Joslin, Amanda K.

    2013-01-01

    The Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (BDEFS), authored by Russell A. Barkley and published by Guilford in 2011, is an individually administered assessment tool that may be used to evaluate adults ages 18 to 81. The purpose of this measure is to screen those who may be experiencing executive functioning (EF) deficits in…

  20. Service order execution procedure (in terms of labour law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana VIDAT

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available From the perspective of labor law, it is understood that the execution of the order of service, the essence of labor discipline, has in principle lawful purpose and, consequently, can not attract liability. It requires, however, the regulation mechanism by which theoretical assertions regarding order execution service materializes from a procedural standpoint.

  1. Meta-analysis of executive functioning in ecstasy/polydrug users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, C A; Jones, A; Montgomery, C

    2016-06-01

    Ecstasy/3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) use is proposed to cause damage to serotonergic (5-HT) axons in humans. Therefore, users should show deficits in cognitive processes that rely on serotonin-rich, prefrontal areas of the brain. However, there is inconsistency in findings to support this hypothesis. The aim of the current study was to examine deficits in executive functioning in ecstasy users compared with controls using meta-analysis. We identified k = 39 studies, contributing 89 effect sizes, investigating executive functioning in ecstasy users and polydrug-using controls. We compared function-specific task performance in 1221 current ecstasy users and 1242 drug-using controls, from tasks tapping the executive functions - updating, switching, inhibition and access to long-term memory. The significant main effect demonstrated overall executive dysfunction in ecstasy users [standardized mean difference (SMD) = -0.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.26 to -0.11, Z = 5.05, p Ecstasy users showed significant performance deficits in access (SMD = -0.33, 95% CI -0.46 to -0.19, Z = 4.72, p ecstasy users to date and provides a behavioural correlate of potential serotonergic neurotoxicity.

  2. Automatic Deficits can lead to executive deficits in ADHD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriella Martino

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available It has been well documented an executive dysfunction in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD and with Reading Disorder (RD. The purpose of the present study was to test an alternative hypothesis that deficits in executive functioning within ADHD may be partially due to an impairment of the automatic processing. In addition, since the co-occurrence between ADHD and RD, we tested the hypothesis that the automatic processing may be  a possible common cognitive factor between ADHD and RD. We investigated the automatic processing of selective visual attention through two experiments. 12 children with ADHD, 17 with ADHD+RD and 29 typically developing children, matched for age and gender, performed two tasks: Visual Information Processing Task and Clock Test. As expected, ADHD and ADHD+RD groups differed from the control group in controlled process task, suggesting a deficit in executive functioning. All clinical subjects also exhibited a lower performance in automatic processes, compared to control group. The results of this study suggest that executive deficits within ADHD can be partially due to an impairment of automatic processing.

  3. Parenting, corpus callosum, and executive function in preschool children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kok, Rianne; Lucassen, Nicole; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; Ghassabian, Akhgar; Roza, Sabine J; Govaert, Paul; Jaddoe, Vincent W; Hofman, Albert; Verhulst, Frank C; Tiemeier, Henning

    2014-01-01

    In this longitudinal population-based study (N = 544), we investigated whether early parenting and corpus callosum length predict child executive function abilities at 4 years of age. The length of the corpus callosum in infancy was measured using postnatal cranial ultrasounds at 6 weeks of age. At 3 years, two aspects of parenting were observed: maternal sensitivity during a teaching task and maternal discipline style during a discipline task. Parents rated executive function problems at 4 years of age in five domains of inhibition, shifting, emotional control, working memory, and planning/organizing, using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version. Maternal sensitivity predicted less executive function problems at preschool age. A significant interaction was found between corpus callosum length in infancy and maternal use of positive discipline to determine child inhibition problems: The association between a relatively shorter corpus callosum in infancy and child inhibition problems was reduced in children who experienced more positive discipline. Our results point to the buffering potential of positive parenting for children with biological vulnerability.

  4. Automatic Error Recovery in Robot Assembly Operations Using Reverse Execution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Laursen, Johan Sund; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Ellekilde, Lars-Peter

    2015-01-01

    , in particular for small-batch productions. As an alternative, we propose a system for automatically handling certain classes of errors instead of preventing them. Specifically, we show that many operations can be automatically reversed. Errors can be handled through automatic reverse execution of the control...... program to a safe point, from which forward execution can be resumed. This paper describes the principles behind automatic reversal of robotic assembly operations, and experimentally demonstrates the use of a domain-specific language that supports automatic error handling through reverse execution. Our...

  5. Ffuzz: Towards full system high coverage fuzz testing on binary executables.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Zhang

    Full Text Available Bugs and vulnerabilities in binary executables threaten cyber security. Current discovery methods, like fuzz testing, symbolic execution and manual analysis, both have advantages and disadvantages when exercising the deeper code area in binary executables to find more bugs. In this paper, we designed and implemented a hybrid automatic bug finding tool-Ffuzz-on top of fuzz testing and selective symbolic execution. It targets full system software stack testing including both the user space and kernel space. Combining these two mainstream techniques enables us to achieve higher coverage and avoid getting stuck both in fuzz testing and symbolic execution. We also proposed two key optimizations to improve the efficiency of full system testing. We evaluated the efficiency and effectiveness of our method on real-world binary software and 844 memory corruption vulnerable programs in the Juliet test suite. The results show that Ffuzz can discover software bugs in the full system software stack effectively and efficiently.

  6. Ffuzz: Towards full system high coverage fuzz testing on binary executables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Bin; Ye, Jiaxi; Bi, Xing; Feng, Chao; Tang, Chaojing

    2018-01-01

    Bugs and vulnerabilities in binary executables threaten cyber security. Current discovery methods, like fuzz testing, symbolic execution and manual analysis, both have advantages and disadvantages when exercising the deeper code area in binary executables to find more bugs. In this paper, we designed and implemented a hybrid automatic bug finding tool-Ffuzz-on top of fuzz testing and selective symbolic execution. It targets full system software stack testing including both the user space and kernel space. Combining these two mainstream techniques enables us to achieve higher coverage and avoid getting stuck both in fuzz testing and symbolic execution. We also proposed two key optimizations to improve the efficiency of full system testing. We evaluated the efficiency and effectiveness of our method on real-world binary software and 844 memory corruption vulnerable programs in the Juliet test suite. The results show that Ffuzz can discover software bugs in the full system software stack effectively and efficiently.

  7. Executive turnover: the influence of dispersion and other pay system characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messersmith, Jake G; Guthrie, James P; Ji, Yong-Yeon; Lee, Jeong-Yeon

    2011-05-01

    Using tournament theory as a guiding theoretical framework, in this study, we assess the organizational implications of pay dispersion and other pay system characteristics on the likelihood of turnover among individual executives in organizational teams. Specifically, we estimate the effect of these pay system characteristics on executive turnover decisions. We use a multi-industry, multilevel data set composed of executives in publicly held firms to assess the effects of pay dispersion at the individual level. Consistent with previous findings, we find that pay dispersion is associated with an increased likelihood of executive turnover. In addition, we find that other pay characteristics also affect turnover, both directly and through a moderating effect on pay dispersion. Turnover is more likely when executives receive lower portions of overall top management team compensation and when they have more pay at risk. These conditions also moderate the relationship between pay dispersion and individual turnover decisions, as does receiving lower compensation relative to the market.

  8. Executive functioning and substance use in adolescence: Neurobiological and behavioral perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen; Kahn, Rachel E; Lauharatanahirun, Nina; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Bickel, Warren K; Chiu, Pearl H; King-Casas, Brooks

    2017-06-01

    The current review is guided by the theoretical perspective that emphasizes the regulating role of executive functioning (Carver et al., 2009) and presents studies that elucidate the ways that executive functioning (inhibition and working memory) explain individual differences in adolescent substance use independently or by regulating the reactive system (reward and punishment sensitivity). Behavioral studies indicate that main effects of executive functioning on adolescent substance use are often nonsignificant or weak in effect sizes. In contrast, emerging evidence suggests consistent and stronger regulating effects of executive functioning over reward and punishment sensitivity. Functional neuroimaging studies reveal significant associations between executive functioning task-related hemodynamic responses and substance use with strong effect sizes. There is also direct evidence from studies testing statistical interactions of the regulating effects of EF-related brain activation, and indirect evidence in studies examining functional connectivity, temporal discounting, and reinforced control. We note key future directions and ways to address limitations in existing work. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Budget-based power consumption for application execution on a plurality of compute nodes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Archer, Charles J; Inglett, Todd A; Ratterman, Joseph D

    2012-10-23

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for budget-based power consumption for application execution on a plurality of compute nodes that include: assigning an execution priority to each of one or more applications; executing, on the plurality of compute nodes, the applications according to the execution priorities assigned to the applications at an initial power level provided to the compute nodes until a predetermined power consumption threshold is reached; and applying, upon reaching the predetermined power consumption threshold, one or more power conservation actions to reduce power consumption of the plurality of compute nodes during execution of the applications.

  10. On the ability of the Viking gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer to detect organic matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biemann, Klaus

    2007-06-19

    A recent paper by Navarro-Gonzalez et al. [Navarro-Gonzalez R, Navarro KF, de la Rosa J, Iniguez E, Molina P, Miranda LD, Morales P, Cienfuegos E, Coll P, Raulin F, et al. (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:16089-16094] claims to show that the Viking GCMS (gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer) experiment, which carried out a search for organic matter at the surface of Mars in 1976, "may have been blind to low levels of organics." To rebut this assertion, the Viking experiment, test data, and results on Mars are reviewed, and the fallacies in the design, execution, and interpretation of the new experiments presented by Navarro-Gonzalez et al. are critically examined.

  11. 75 FR 70002 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board; Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-16

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9227-3] Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... review and evaluate the initial appraisal of a senior executive's performance by the supervisor, along with any recommendations to the appointment authority relative to the performance of the senior...

  12. 76 FR 70131 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board; Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-10

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9489-5] Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board... review and evaluate the initial appraisal of a senior executive's performance by the supervisor, along with any recommendations to the appointment authority relative to the performance of the senior...

  13. 76 FR 80902 - Senior Executive Service; Performance Review Board; Members

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-27

    ... COURT SERVICES AND OFFENDER SUPERVISION AGENCY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Senior Executive Service; Performance Review Board; Members AGENCY: Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the... agency's Senior Executive Service. The PRB established for the Court Services and Offender Supervision...

  14. Codecaying Dark Matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dror, Jeff Asaf; Kuflik, Eric; Ng, Wee Hao

    2016-11-18

    We propose a new mechanism for thermal dark matter freeze-out, called codecaying dark matter. Multicomponent dark sectors with degenerate particles and out-of-equilibrium decays can codecay to obtain the observed relic density. The dark matter density is exponentially depleted through the decay of nearly degenerate particles rather than from Boltzmann suppression. The relic abundance is set by the dark matter annihilation cross section, which is predicted to be boosted, and the decay rate of the dark sector particles. The mechanism is viable in a broad range of dark matter parameter space, with a robust prediction of an enhanced indirect detection signal. Finally, we present a simple model that realizes codecaying dark matter.

  15. Impact of sociodemographic variables on executive functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campanholo, Kenia Repiso; Boa, Izadora Nogueira Fonte; Hodroj, Flávia Cristina da Silva Araujo; Guerra, Glaucia Rosana Benute; Miotto, Eliane Correa; de Lucia, Mara Cristina Souza

    2017-01-01

    Executive functions (EFs) regulate human behavior and allow individuals to interact and act in the world. EFs are sensitive to sociodemographic variables such as age, which promotes their decline, and to others that can exert a neuroprotective effect. To assess the predictive role of education, occupation and family income on decline in executive functions among a sample with a wide age range. A total of 925 participants aged 18-89 years with 1-28 years' education were submitted to assessment of executive functions using the Card Sorting Test (CST), Phonemic Verbal Fluency (FAS) Task and Semantic Verbal Fluency (SVF) Task. Data on income, occupation and educational level were collected for the sample. The data were analyzed using Linear Regression, as well as Pearson's and Spearman's Correlation. Age showed a significant negative correlation (p<0.001) with performance on the CST, FAS and SVF, whereas education, income and occupation were positively associated (p<0.001) with the tasks applied. After application of the multivariate linear regression model, a significant positive relationship with the FAS was maintained only for education (p<0.001) and income (p<0.001). The negative relationship of age (p<0.001) and positive relationship of both education (p<0.001) and income (p<0.001and p=0.003) were evident on the CST and SVF. Educational level and income positively influenced participants' results on executive function tests, attenuating expected decline for age. However, no relationship was found between occupation and the cognitive variables investigated.

  16. Impact of sociodemographic variables on executive functions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenia Repiso Campanholo

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Executive functions (EFs regulate human behavior and allow individuals to interact and act in the world. EFs are sensitive to sociodemographic variables such as age, which promotes their decline, and to others that can exert a neuroprotective effect. Objective: To assess the predictive role of education, occupation and family income on decline in executive functions among a sample with a wide age range. Methods: A total of 925 participants aged 18-89 years with 1-28 years' education were submitted to assessment of executive functions using the Card Sorting Test (CST, Phonemic Verbal Fluency (FAS Task and Semantic Verbal Fluency (SVF Task. Data on income, occupation and educational level were collected for the sample. The data were analyzed using Linear Regression, as well as Pearson's and Spearman's Correlation. Results: Age showed a significant negative correlation (p<0.001 with performance on the CST, FAS and SVF, whereas education, income and occupation were positively associated (p<0.001 with the tasks applied. After application of the multivariate linear regression model, a significant positive relationship with the FAS was maintained only for education (p<0.001 and income (p<0.001. The negative relationship of age (p<0.001 and positive relationship of both education (p<0.001 and income (p<0.001 and p=0.003 were evident on the CST and SVF. Conclusion: Educational level and income positively influenced participants' results on executive function tests, attenuating expected decline for age. However, no relationship was found between occupation and the cognitive variables investigated.

  17. Topological hierarchy matters — topological matters with superlattices of defects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Jing; Kou Su-Peng

    2016-01-01

    Topological insulators/superconductors are new states of quantum matter with metallic edge/surface states. In this paper, we review the defects effect in these topological states and study new types of topological matters — topological hierarchy matters. We find that both topological defects (quantized vortices) and non topological defects (vacancies) can induce topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters after considering the superlattice of defects. These topological mid-gap states have nontrivial topological properties, including the nonzero Chern number and the gapless edge states. Effective tight-binding models are obtained to describe the topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters. (topical review)

  18. English Business Communication Needs of Mexican Executives in a Distance-Learning Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grosse, Christine Uber

    2004-01-01

    Many firms within and outside the United States operate in multilingual environments that require executives to do business in English as well as in other languages. Executives for whom English is a second language often face special challenges communicating in such settings. This study examines how 115 executives in a distance-learning business…

  19. Benefits of regular aerobic exercise for executive functioning in healthy populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guiney, Hayley; Machado, Liana

    2013-02-01

    Research suggests that regular aerobic exercise has the potential to improve executive functioning, even in healthy populations. The purpose of this review is to elucidate which components of executive functioning benefit from such exercise in healthy populations. In light of the developmental time course of executive functions, we consider separately children, young adults, and older adults. Data to date from studies of aging provide strong evidence of exercise-linked benefits related to task switching, selective attention, inhibition of prepotent responses, and working memory capacity; furthermore, cross-sectional fitness data suggest that working memory updating could potentially benefit as well. In young adults, working memory updating is the main executive function shown to benefit from regular exercise, but cross-sectional data further suggest that task-switching and post error performance may also benefit. In children, working memory capacity has been shown to benefit, and cross-sectional data suggest potential benefits for selective attention and inhibitory control. Although more research investigating exercise-related benefits for specific components of executive functioning is clearly needed in young adults and children, when considered across the age groups, ample evidence indicates that regular engagement in aerobic exercise can provide a simple means for healthy people to optimize a range of executive functions.

  20. From Modelling to Execution of Enterprise Integration Scenarios: The GENIUS Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheibler, Thorsten; Leymann, Frank

    One of the predominant problems IT companies are facing today is Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Most of the infrastructures built to tackle integration issues are proprietary because no standards exist for how to model, develop, and actually execute integration scenarios. EAI patterns gain importance for non-technical business users to ease and harmonize the development of EAI scenarios. These patterns describe recurring EAI challenges and propose possible solutions in an abstract way. Therefore, one can use those patterns to describe enterprise architectures in a technology neutral manner. However, patterns are documentation only used by developers and systems architects to decide how to implement an integration scenario manually. Thus, patterns are not theoretical thought to stand for artefacts that will immediately be executed. This paper presents a tool supporting a method how EAI patterns can be used to generate executable artefacts for various target platforms automatically using a model-driven development approach, hence turning patterns into something executable. Therefore, we introduce a continuous tool chain beginning at the design phase and ending in executing an integration solution in a completely automatically manner. For evaluation purposes we introduce a scenario demonstrating how the tool is utilized for modelling and actually executing an integration scenario.

  1. Executive functions and psychiatric symptoms in drug-refractory juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, Jordana; Thomas, Rhys H; Church, Carla; Rees, Mark I; Marson, Anthony G; Baker, Gus A

    2014-06-01

    The pattern of executive dysfunction reported in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) resembles that of patients with cluster B personality disorders. This study examined whether executive dysfunction and maladaptive behavior reported in patients with JME are related. Sixty patients with drug-refractory JME were administered tests of intellect, memory, and executive dysfunction. Anxiety, depression, personality traits, impact of epilepsy, and perceived cognitive effects of antiepileptic drugs were measured. Half of the cohort exhibited moderate to severe anxiety symptoms. The patients performed most poorly on naming ability and inhibition switching. Duration of epilepsy exacerbated poor performance on inhibition switching. Females presented with pathological scores for neurotic and introvert traits and males for introvert traits. Abnormal personality traits and psychiatric disorders were associated with worse intellectual and executive functioning. People with extreme Eysenck Personality Scale - Brief Version (EPQ-BV) scores demonstrated the greatest level of executive impairment. Furthermore, the same degree of dysfunction was not seen in any individual with unremarkable EPQ-BV scores. This study indicates that specific patterns of executive dysfunction are related to maladaptive behavior in JME. Distinct behavioral patterns may be used to identify functional and anatomical differences between people with JME and for stratification to enable gene discovery. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  2. Investigating the effects of caffeine on executive functions using traditional Stroop and a new ecologically-valid virtual reality task, the Jansari assessment of Executive Functions (JEF(©)).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soar, K; Chapman, E; Lavan, N; Jansari, A S; Turner, J J D

    2016-10-01

    Caffeine has been shown to have effects on certain areas of cognition, but in executive functioning the research is limited and also inconsistent. One reason could be the need for a more sensitive measure to detect the effects of caffeine on executive function. This study used a new non-immersive virtual reality assessment of executive functions known as JEF(©) (the Jansari Assessment of Executive Function) alongside the 'classic' Stroop Colour-Word task to assess the effects of a normal dose of caffeinated coffee on executive function. Using a double-blind, counterbalanced within participants procedure 43 participants were administered either a caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee and completed the 'JEF(©)' and Stroop tasks, as well as a subjective mood scale and blood pressure pre- and post condition on two separate occasions a week apart. JEF(©) yields measures for eight separate aspects of executive functions, in addition to a total average score. Findings indicate that performance was significantly improved on the planning, creative thinking, event-, time- and action-based prospective memory, as well as total JEF(©) score following caffeinated coffee relative to the decaffeinated coffee. The caffeinated beverage significantly decreased reaction times on the Stroop task, but there was no effect on Stroop interference. The results provide further support for the effects of a caffeinated beverage on cognitive functioning. In particular, it has demonstrated the ability of JEF(©) to detect the effects of caffeine across a number of executive functioning constructs, which weren't shown in the Stroop task, suggesting executive functioning improvements as a result of a 'typical' dose of caffeine may only be detected by the use of more real-world, ecologically valid tasks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Executive Functioning in Pediatric Chronic Pain: Do Deficits Exist?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Karen E; Harbeck-Weber, Cynthia; Zaccariello, Michael J; Kimondo, Jacqueline N; Harrison, Tracy E; Bruce, Barbara K

    2018-01-01

    Despite ample research documenting deficits in executive functioning for adults with chronic pain, the literature on pediatric patients with chronic pain is limited and provides mixed results. The current study sought to further investigate the nature of executive dysfunction in this population and also examine the relationships between pain intensity, duration, and catastrophizing with sustained attention, working memory, and self- and parent-report of executive functioning. Pediatric pain clinic and rehabilitation program. Forty adolescents with chronic pain and their parents participated in this study. Participants completed neuropsychological measures and standardized self-report questionnaires during a 45- to 60-minute testing session. Fifty percent of this sample of adolescents with chronic pain demonstrated significant difficulties on at least one measure, with nine participants indicating difficulties on multiple measures. Pain significantly increased during the testing session. Pain variables of intensity, duration, and catastrophizing are related to sustained attention and working memory. This study adds support to previous findings suggesting subclinical struggles with executive functioning for adolescents with chronic pain. One-half of the sample indicated difficulties in either sustained attention and/or working memory. Future studies that would more thoroughly examine more complex executive functioning skills in this population would be helpful to further guide multidisciplinary treatment of these patients, particularly regarding whether or not school accommodations are warranted. © 2017 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  4. Reconfigurable manufacturing execution system for pipe cutting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Y. H.; Xie, J. Y.

    2011-08-01

    This article presents a reconfigurable manufacturing execution system (RMES) filling the gap between enterprise resource planning and resource layer for pipe-cutting production with mass customisation and rapid adaptation to dynamic market, which consists of planning and scheduling layer and executive control layer. Starting from customer's task and process requirements, the cutting trajectories are planned under generalised mathematical model able to reconfigure in accordance with various intersecting types' joint, and all tasks are scheduled by nesting algorithm to maximise the utilisation rate of rough material. This RMES for pipe cutting has been effectively implemented in more than 100 companies.

  5. Nuclear power plant and apparatus for superheating steam

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schluderberg, D.C.

    1983-01-01

    The invention consists of an apparatus for superheating steam, the apparatus comprising a horizontally disposed generally cylindrical elongate shell, inlet means in the shell for receiving steam, outlet means in the shell for discharching the steam, and a bundle of inclined tubes positioned in the flow path of the steam, each of the tubes having a length which is less than the diameter of the shell and opening into and extending in an upward direction from an outlet header to an inlet header, the inlet header beeing connected to a source of vapor, and the outlet header beeing connected to a condensate drain, characterised in that the test bundle comprises two banks of the tubes, the angle at which each of the tubes of one of the banks extends relative to a vertical longitudinal centerplane, the tubes of one of the banks terminate at and open into the inlet header, and the tubes of the other banks terminate at an open into another inlet header

  6. The impact of motivation and teachers' autonomy support on children's executive functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sosic-Vasic, Zrinka; Keis, Oliver; Lau, Maren; Spitzer, Manfred; Streb, Judith

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigates the interplay of executive functions, motivation, and teacher's autonomy support in school context. In a cross-sectional study design 208 students from different school types completed a standardized motivation questionnaire and processed two executive function tasks. All teachers who teach these students were asked about their autonomy supporting behavior by a standardized test. Multilevel analyses assessed the effects of the student's motivation and their teachers' autonomy support on student's executive functions. Our results show considerable relationships between these variables: high executive function capacities came along with teacher's autonomy support and student's intrinsic motivation styles, whereas low executive function capacities were related to external regulation styles. The results indicate the importance of autonomy support in school instruction and disclose the need to popularize the self-regulation approach.

  7. Ownership Structure and Earnings Management in periods of Executive Changes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sommer, Rasmus S.

    This paper reports evidence of earnings management associated with non-routine executive changes in a Danish context. It is hypothesised that incoming executives in non-owner-controlled companies decrease earnings by means of discretionary accruals in the financial statements relating to the period...

  8. Executive functions and parent-child interaction during technology-enhanced storytelling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Horvers, A.; Molenaar, I.; Teepe, R.C.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2017-01-01

    This study explores how children's executive functions influences the way parent and child engage in a technology-enhanced story telling activity (TES). Research has indicated that children's executive functions (inhibitory control, memory and cognitive flexibility) are related to how they engage in

  9. 78 FR 5516 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-25

    ... OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. ACTION: Annual notice. SUMMARY: Notice... established a Senior Executive Service PRB. The PRB reviews and evaluates the initial appraisal of a senior...

  10. 75 FR 14214 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-24

    ... OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. ACTION: Annual notice. SUMMARY: Notice... established a Senior Executive Service PRB. The PRB reviews and evaluates the initial appraisal of a senior...

  11. 76 FR 39926 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-07

    ... OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. ACTION: Annual notice. SUMMARY: Notice... established a Senior Executive Service PRB. The PRB reviews and evaluates the initial appraisal of a senior...

  12. 76 FR 81998 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-29

    ... OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Membership AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. ACTION: Annual notice. SUMMARY: Notice... established a Senior Executive Service PRB. The PRB reviews and evaluates the initial appraisal of a senior...

  13. Dark Matter Caustics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Natarajan, Aravind

    2010-01-01

    The continuous infall of dark matter with low velocity dispersion in galactic halos leads to the formation of high density structures called caustics. Dark matter caustics are of two kinds : outer and inner. Outer caustics are thin spherical shells surrounding galaxies while inner caustics have a more complicated structure that depends on the dark matter angular momentum distribution. The presence of a dark matter caustic in the plane of the galaxy modifies the gas density in its neighborhood which may lead to observable effects. Caustics are also relevant to direct and indirect dark matter searches.

  14. Studies on TOP executive performance evaluation system of Chinese listed companies

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    WANG De-wu 王德武; JIANG Guo-qing 姜国庆; JIANG Shuo 姜硕; HUANG Allen R

    2004-01-01

    According to the development status of Chinese listed companies, it is important to implement a stock option incentive plan for the top executives (TE) of the companies. It is necessary to establish a set of indices to evaluate a top executive's performance and award performance-based stock options to them scientifically and reasonably.This thesis sets indices from the perspective of the top executive's behaviour and results,which differs from the traditional methods performance evaluation.

  15. Are over-paid Chief Executive Officers better innovators?

    OpenAIRE

    Habib Jouber

    2013-01-01

    This paper focuses on the pay level of the highest paid executive directors, which we label as "Executive Director’s Organizational Level" (henceforth EDOL), to raise the question if highest paid CEOs invest heavily in innovative projects. Two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions show that over-paid CEOs are more likely to invest in R & D projects. They highlight, moreover, both from a "statutory" and an "activist" perspective, that CEOs’ intends to invest in value-enhancing innovations are...

  16. Safe robot execution in model-based reinforcement learning

    OpenAIRE

    Martínez Martínez, David; Alenyà Ribas, Guillem; Torras, Carme

    2015-01-01

    Task learning in robotics requires repeatedly executing the same actions in different states to learn the model of the task. However, in real-world domains, there are usually sequences of actions that, if executed, may produce unrecoverable errors (e.g. breaking an object). Robots should avoid repeating such errors when learning, and thus explore the state space in a more intelligent way. This requires identifying dangerous action effects to avoid including such actions in the generated plans...

  17. Bilingualism and age are continuous variables that influence executive function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Incera, Sara; McLennan, Conor T

    2018-05-01

    We analyzed the effects of bilingualism and age on executive function. We examined these variables along a continuum, as opposed to dichotomizing them. We investigated the impact that bilingualism and age have on two measures of executive control (Stroop and Flanker). The mouse-tracking paradigm allowed us to examine the continuous dynamics of the responses as participants completed each trial. First, we found that the Stroop effect was reduced with younger age and higher levels of bilingualism; however, no Bilingualism by Age interaction emerged. Second, after controlling for baseline, the Flanker effect was not influenced by bilingualism or age. These results support the notion that bilingualism is one way of enhancing some aspects of executive function - specifically those related to the Stroop task - across the adult life span. In sum, different levels of bilingualism, and different ages, result in varying degrees of executive function as measured by the Stroop task.

  18. Executive functions in morality, religion, and paranormal beliefs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wain, Omar; Spinella, Marcello

    2007-01-01

    Moral, religious, and paranormal beliefs share some degree of overlap and play important roles in guiding peoples' behavior. Although partly cultural phenomena, they also have neurobiological components based on functional neuroimaging studies and research in clinical populations. Because all three show relationships to prefrontal system functioning, the current study examined whether they related to executive functions as measured by the Executive Function Inventory in a community sample. As in previous research, religious beliefs related positively to both moral attitudes and paranormal beliefs. Moral attitudes, however, did not relate to paranormal beliefs. Paranormal beliefs related inversely to impulse control and organization, whereas small positive correlations occurred between traditional religious beliefs, impulse control, and empathy. Moral attitudes, on the other hand, showed consistent positive correlations with all executive functions measured, independent of demographic influences. These findings concordantly support that prefrontal systems play a role in morality, religion, and paranormal beliefs.

  19. A multitasking general executive for compound continuous tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvucci, Dario D

    2005-05-06

    As cognitive architectures move to account for increasingly complex real-world tasks, one of the most pressing challenges involves understanding and modeling human multitasking. Although a number of existing models now perform multitasking in real-world scenarios, these models typically employ customized executives that schedule tasks for the particular domain but do not generalize easily to other domains. This article outlines a general executive for the Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) cognitive architecture that, given independent models of individual tasks, schedules and interleaves the models' behavior into integrated multitasking behavior. To demonstrate the power of the proposed approach, the article describes an application to the domain of driving, showing how the general executive can interleave component subtasks of the driving task (namely, control and monitoring) and interleave driving with in-vehicle secondary tasks (radio tuning and phone dialing). 2005 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

  20. Wildfire: distributed, Grid-enabled workflow construction and execution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Issac Praveen

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We observe two trends in bioinformatics: (i analyses are increasing in complexity, often requiring several applications to be run as a workflow; and (ii multiple CPU clusters and Grids are available to more scientists. The traditional solution to the problem of running workflows across multiple CPUs required programming, often in a scripting language such as perl. Programming places such solutions beyond the reach of many bioinformatics consumers. Results We present Wildfire, a graphical user interface for constructing and running workflows. Wildfire borrows user interface features from Jemboss and adds a drag-and-drop interface allowing the user to compose EMBOSS (and other programs into workflows. For execution, Wildfire uses GEL, the underlying workflow execution engine, which can exploit available parallelism on multiple CPU machines including Beowulf-class clusters and Grids. Conclusion Wildfire simplifies the tasks of constructing and executing bioinformatics workflows.