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Sample records for reorientation task paradigms

  1. Differences between appetitive and aversive reinforcement on reorientation in a spatial working memory task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golob, Edward J; Taube, Jeffrey S

    2002-10-17

    Tasks using appetitive reinforcers show that following disorientation rats use the shape of an arena to reorient, and cannot distinguish two geometrically similar corners to obtain a reward, despite the presence of a prominent visual cue that provides information to differentiate the two corners. Other studies show that disorientation impairs performance on certain appetitive, but not aversive, tasks. This study evaluated whether rats would make similar geometric errors in a working memory task that used aversive reinforcement. We hypothesized that in a task that used aversive reinforcement rats that were initially disoriented would not reorient by arena shape and thus make similar geometric errors. Tests were performed in a rectangular arena having one polarizing cue. In the appetitive condition water consumption was the reward. The aversive condition was a water maze task with reinforcement provided by escape to a hidden platform. In the aversive condition rats returned to the reinforced corner significantly more often than in the dry condition, and did not favor the diagonally opposite corner. Results show that rats can use cues besides arena shape to reorient in an aversive reinforcement condition. These findings may also reflect different strategies, with an escape/homing strategy in the wet condition and a foraging strategy in the dry condition.

  2. Behavioral Assessment of Listening Effort Using a Dual-Task Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean-Pierre Gagné

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Published investigations (n = 29 in which a dual-task experimental paradigm was employed to measure listening effort during speech understanding in younger and older adults were reviewed. A summary of the main findings reported in the articles is provided with respect to the participants’ age-group and hearing status. Effects of different signal characteristics, such as the test modality, on dual-task outcomes are evaluated, and associations with cognitive abilities and self-report measures of listening effort are described. Then, several procedural issues associated with the use of dual-task experiment paradigms are discussed. Finally, some issues that warrant future research are addressed. The review revealed large variability in the dual-task experimental paradigms that have been used to measure the listening effort expended during speech understanding. The differences in experimental procedures used across studies make it difficult to draw firm conclusions concerning the optimal choice of dual-task paradigm or the sensitivity of specific paradigms to different types of experimental manipulations. In general, the analysis confirmed that dual-task paradigms have been used successfully to measure differences in effort under different experimental conditions, in both younger and older adults. Several research questions that warrant further investigation in order to better understand and characterize the intricacies of dual-task paradigms were identified.

  3. Reorienting with terrain slope and landmarks.

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    Nardi, Daniele; Newcombe, Nora S; Shipley, Thomas F

    2013-02-01

    Orientation (or reorientation) is the first step in navigation, because establishing a spatial frame of reference is essential for a sense of location and heading direction. Recent research on nonhuman animals has revealed that the vertical component of an environment provides an important source of spatial information, in both terrestrial and aquatic settings. Nonetheless, humans show large individual and sex differences in the ability to use terrain slope for reorientation. To understand why some participants--mainly women--exhibit a difficulty with slope, we tested reorientation in a richer environment than had been used previously, including both a tilted floor and a set of distinct objects that could be used as landmarks. This environment allowed for the use of two different strategies for solving the task, one based on directional cues (slope gradient) and one based on positional cues (landmarks). Overall, rather than using both cues, participants tended to focus on just one. Although men and women did not differ significantly in their encoding of or reliance on the two strategies, men showed greater confidence in solving the reorientation task. These facts suggest that one possible cause of the female difficulty with slope might be a generally lower spatial confidence during reorientation.

  4. A dual-task paradigm for behavioral and neurobiological studies in nonhuman primates.

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    Watanabe, Kei; Funahashi, Shintaro

    2015-05-15

    The dual-task paradigm is a procedure in which subjects are asked to perform two behavioral tasks concurrently, each of which involves a distinct goal with a unique stimulus-response association. Due to the heavy demand on subject's cognitive abilities, human studies using this paradigm have provided detailed insights regarding how the components of cognitive systems are functionally organized and implemented. Although dual-task paradigms are widely used in human studies, they are seldom used in nonhuman animal studies. We propose a novel dual-task paradigm for monkeys that requires the simultaneous performance of two cognitively demanding component tasks, each of which uses an independent effector for behavioral responses (hand and eyes). We provide a detailed description of an optimal training protocol for this paradigm, which has been lacking in the existing literature. An analysis of behavioral performance showed that the proposed dual-task paradigm (1) was quickly learned by monkeys (less than 40 sessions) with step-by-step training protocols, (2) produced specific behavioral effects, known as dual-task interference in human studies, and (3) achieved rigid and independent control of the effectors for behavioral responses throughout the trial. The proposed dual-task paradigm has a scalable task structure, in that each of the two component tasks can be easily replaced by other tasks, while preserving the overall structure of the paradigm. This paradigm should be useful for investigating executive control that underlies dual-task performance at both the behavioral and neuronal levels. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Measuring listening effort: driving simulator versus simple dual-task paradigm.

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    Wu, Yu-Hsiang; Aksan, Nazan; Rizzo, Matthew; Stangl, Elizabeth; Zhang, Xuyang; Bentler, Ruth

    2014-01-01

    The dual-task paradigm has been widely used to measure listening effort. The primary objectives of the study were to (1) investigate the effect of hearing aid amplification and a hearing aid directional technology on listening effort measured by a complicated, more real world dual-task paradigm and (2) compare the results obtained with this paradigm to a simpler laboratory-style dual-task paradigm. The listening effort of adults with hearing impairment was measured using two dual-task paradigms, wherein participants performed a speech recognition task simultaneously with either a driving task in a simulator or a visual reaction-time task in a sound-treated booth. The speech materials and road noises for the speech recognition task were recorded in a van traveling on the highway in three hearing aid conditions: unaided, aided with omnidirectional processing (OMNI), and aided with directional processing (DIR). The change in the driving task or the visual reaction-time task performance across the conditions quantified the change in listening effort. Compared to the driving-only condition, driving performance declined significantly with the addition of the speech recognition task. Although the speech recognition score was higher in the OMNI and DIR conditions than in the unaided condition, driving performance was similar across these three conditions, suggesting that listening effort was not affected by amplification and directional processing. Results from the simple dual-task paradigm showed a similar trend: hearing aid technologies improved speech recognition performance, but did not affect performance in the visual reaction-time task (i.e., reduce listening effort). The correlation between listening effort measured using the driving paradigm and the visual reaction-time task paradigm was significant. The finding showing that our older (56 to 85 years old) participants' better speech recognition performance did not result in reduced listening effort was not

  6. Language and Spatial Reorientation: Evidence from Severe Aphasia

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    Bek, Judith; Blades, Mark; Siegal, Michael; Varley, Rosemary

    2010-01-01

    Investigating spatial cognition in individuals with acquired language impairments can inform our understanding of how components of language are involved in spatial representation. Using the reorientation paradigm of Hermer-Vazquez, Spelke, and Katsnelson (1999), we examined spatial cue integration (landmark-geometry conjunctions) in individuals…

  7. Succumbing to Bottom-Up Biases on Task Choice Predicts Increased Switch Costs in the Voluntary Task Switching Paradigm

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    Orr, Joseph M.; Weissman, Daniel H.

    2010-01-01

    Bottom-up biases are widely thought to influence task choice in the voluntary task switching paradigm. Definitive support for this hypothesis is lacking, however, because task choice and task performance are usually confounded. We therefore revisited this hypothesis using a paradigm in which task choice and task performance are temporally separated. As predicted, participants tended to choose the task that was primed by bottom-up biases. Moreover, such choices were linked to increased switch costs during subsequent task performance. These findings provide compelling evidence that bottom-up biases influence voluntary task choice. They also suggest that succumbing to such biases reflects a reduction of top-down control that persists to influence upcoming task performance. PMID:21713192

  8. The Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of a Dual-Tasking Paradigm in a Memory Clinic.

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    Nielsen, Malene Schjnning; Simonsen, Anja Hviid; Siersma, Volkert; Hasselbalch, Steen Gregers; Hoegh, Peter

    2018-01-01

    Daily living requires the ability to perform dual-tasking. As cognitive skills decrease in dementia, performing a cognitive and motor task simultaneously become increasingly challenging and subtle gait abnormalities may even be present in pre-dementia stages. Therefore, a dual-tasking paradigm, such as the Timed Up and Go-Dual Task (TUG-DT), may be useful in the diagnostic assessment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). To investigate the diagnostic and prognostic ability of a dual-tasking paradigm in patients with MCI or mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to evaluate the association between the dual-tasking paradigm and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers. The study is a prospective cohort study conducted in a clinical setting in two memory clinics. Eighty-six patients were included (28 MCI, 17 AD, 41 healthy controls (HC)). The ability to perform dual-tasking was evaluated by the TUG-DT. Patients underwent a standardized diagnostic assessment and were evaluated to determine progression yearly. ROC curve analysis illustrated a high discriminative ability of the dual-tasking paradigm in separating MCI patients from HC (AUC: 0.78, AUC: 0.82) and a moderate discriminative ability in separating MCI from AD (AUC: 0.73, AUC: 0.55). Performance discriminated clearly between all groups (p paradigm for progression and rate of cognitive decline. A moderately strong correlation between the dual-tasking paradigm and CSF AD biomarkers was observed. In our study, we found that patients with MCI and mild AD have increasing difficulties in dual-tasking compared to healthy elderly. Hence, the dual-tasking paradigm may be a potential complement in the diagnostic assessment in a typical clinical setting.

  9. The Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of a Dual-Tasking Paradigm in a Memory Clinic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Malene Schjnning; Simonsen, Anja Hviid; Siersma, Volkert

    2018-01-01

    -tasking paradigm, such as the Timed Up and Go-Dual Task (TUG-DT), may be useful in the diagnostic assessment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic and prognostic ability of a dual-tasking paradigm in patients with MCI or mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to evaluate...... the association between the dual-tasking paradigm and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers. METHODS: The study is a prospective cohort study conducted in a clinical setting in two memory clinics. Eighty-six patients were included (28 MCI, 17 AD, 41 healthy controls (HC)). The ability to perform dual...

  10. Attentional reorienting triggers spatial asymmetries in a search task with cross-modal spatial cueing.

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    Rebecca E Paladini

    Full Text Available Cross-modal spatial cueing can affect performance in a visual search task. For example, search performance improves if a visual target and an auditory cue originate from the same spatial location, and it deteriorates if they originate from different locations. Moreover, it has recently been postulated that multisensory settings, i.e., experimental settings, in which critical stimuli are concurrently presented in different sensory modalities (e.g., visual and auditory, may trigger asymmetries in visuospatial attention. Thereby, a facilitation has been observed for visual stimuli presented in the right compared to the left visual space. However, it remains unclear whether auditory cueing of attention differentially affects search performance in the left and the right hemifields in audio-visual search tasks. The present study investigated whether spatial asymmetries would occur in a search task with cross-modal spatial cueing. Participants completed a visual search task that contained no auditory cues (i.e., unimodal visual condition, spatially congruent, spatially incongruent, and spatially non-informative auditory cues. To further assess participants' accuracy in localising the auditory cues, a unimodal auditory spatial localisation task was also administered. The results demonstrated no left/right asymmetries in the unimodal visual search condition. Both an additional incongruent, as well as a spatially non-informative, auditory cue resulted in lateral asymmetries. Thereby, search times were increased for targets presented in the left compared to the right hemifield. No such spatial asymmetry was observed in the congruent condition. However, participants' performance in the congruent condition was modulated by their tone localisation accuracy. The findings of the present study demonstrate that spatial asymmetries in multisensory processing depend on the validity of the cross-modal cues, and occur under specific attentional conditions, i.e., when

  11. Attentional Modulation of Word Recognition by Children in a Dual-Task Paradigm

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    Choi, Sangsook; Lotto, Andrew; Lewis, Dawna; Hoover, Brenda; Stelmachowicz, Patricia

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: This study investigated an account of limited short-term memory capacity for children's speech perception in noise using a dual-task paradigm. Method: Sixty-four normal-hearing children (7-14 years of age) participated in this study. Dual tasks were repeating monosyllabic words presented in noise at 8 dB signal-to-noise ratio and…

  12. The unconscious nature of insight: A dual-task paradigm investigation

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    Lebed A. A.

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Background. Insight is a specific part of the thinking process during creative problem solving. The experience of a sudden unexpected solution of the problem makes it distinct from other problem solving. Though the insight problem solving process is hidden from the observer and the solver himself, it is possible to study working memory changes during the problem-solving process in order to observe the tracks of insight. Objective. A critical experiment was carried out to determine whether it is legitimate to measure insight-problem-solving dynamics within a dual-task paradigm and working memory model. Also a verification was conducted of the hypothesis of whether insight problem solving competes for cognitive resources with unconscious processes. Design. We designed a special procedure based on Kahneman’s (1973 modified dual-task paradigm, allowing simultaneous performance of the problem-solving process and probe tasks of different types. The reaction time was measured for the probe task. ere were two problems conditions (insight and regular, and two probe tasks conditions (implicit and explicit. Participants: 32 participants, aged from 18 to 32 years (M = 19.81; σ = 2.51. Results. Significant differences in implicit probe reaction time were found between the dual-task condition (implicit categorization and insight problem solving and solo implicit probe condition (t(15 = –3.21, p = .006, d = –.76. A joint effect of problem type and probe type was found (F(1, 60= 4.85, p = .035, ηp2 = .07. Conclusion. The results support the idea that information processing of conscious and of unconscious processes are separate. Unconscious processing capacity is limited. Implicit skill seems to be operated by the same mechanisms as insight problem solving, therefore competing for a common resource. It was also shown that such hidden creative unconscious processes as insight can be tracked via working memory load.

  13. Innovative character of marketing paradigm of education governance

    OpenAIRE

    E. G. Sytnychenko

    2014-01-01

    The most common methodological basis for creating marketing paradigm of public education management is the allocation of general forms of marketing to management activities. Immediate methodological basis for the formation of the said paradigm was synthesis of marketing concepts and management activities. Educational marketing is a cognitive foundation of values reorientation of all forms of regulation to meet the social and educational needs of the individual. In this sense, marketing manage...

  14. Is Rest Really Rest? Resting State Functional Connectivity during Rest and Motor Task Paradigms.

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    Jurkiewicz, Michael T; Crawley, Adrian P; Mikulis, David J

    2018-04-18

    Numerous studies have identified the default mode network (DMN) within the brain of healthy individuals, which has been attributed to the ongoing mental activity of the brain during the wakeful resting-state. While engaged during specific resting-state fMRI paradigms, it remains unclear as to whether traditional block-design simple movement fMRI experiments significantly influence the default mode network or other areas. Using blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fMRI we characterized the pattern of functional connectivity in healthy subjects during a resting-state paradigm and compared this to the same resting-state analysis performed on motor task data residual time courses after regressing out the task paradigm. Using seed-voxel analysis to define the DMN, the executive control network (ECN), and sensorimotor, auditory and visual networks, the resting-state analysis of the residual time courses demonstrated reduced functional connectivity in the motor network and reduced connectivity between the insula and the ECN compared to the standard resting-state datasets. Overall, performance of simple self-directed motor tasks does little to change the resting-state functional connectivity across the brain, especially in non-motor areas. This would suggest that previously acquired fMRI studies incorporating simple block-design motor tasks could be mined retrospectively for assessment of the resting-state connectivity.

  15. Conflict monitoring and adjustment in the task-switching paradigm under different memory load conditions: an ERP/sLORETA analysis.

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    Deng, Yuqin; Wang, Yan; Ding, Xiaoqian; Tang, Yi-Yuan

    2015-02-11

    The aim of the present study was to examine electrophysiological and behavioral changes caused by different memory loads in a task-switching paradigm. A total of 31 healthy individuals were subjected to a task, in which the stimulus-response reversal paradigm was combined with the task-switching paradigm. The event-related potentials were recorded and the N2 component, an index of conflict processing, was measured. In addition, the neural sources of N2 were further analyzed by standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography. The event-related potential results showed that high memory load triggered a higher N2 mean amplitude. Moreover, the standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography data showed that high memory load caused an increase in current densities at the anterior cingulate cortex and the prefrontal cortex in the task-switching paradigm. In summary, our findings provide electrophysiological evidence to interpret possible influences of memory loads on conflict monitoring and modulation during the task switching. These results imply that the working memory load overrules the influence of task-switching performance on the intensification of cognitive control.

  16. Reorienting Hypnosis Education.

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    Alter, David S; Sugarman, Laurence Irwin

    2017-01-01

    The legacy model of professional clinical hypnosis training presents a restrictive frame increasingly incompatible with our evolving understanding of psychobiology, health, and care. Emerging science recognizes human experience not as disease and diagnosis, but as manifestations of individual, uniquely-endowed, adaptively self-regulating systems. Hypnosis is a particularly well-suited discipline for effecting beneficial change in this paradigm. Training in clinical hypnosis must progress from the current linearly-structured, diagnosis-based, reductionist model toward a more responsive, naturalistic, and client-centered curriculum in order to remain relevant and accessible to clinicians beginning to integrate it into their practices. To that end, this article extends Hope and Sugarman's (2015) thesis of hypnosis as a skill set for systemic perturbation and reorientation to consider what those skills may be, the principles on which they are based, and how they may be taught. Parsing a clinical vignette reveals how incorporation of novelty and uncertainty results in less restrictive and more naturalistic hypnotic encounters that, in response to client-generated cues, elicit psychophysiological plasticity. This disruptive hypnosis education and training framework extends the utility and benefit of applied clinical hypnosis.

  17. The part task of the part-spacing paradigm is not a pure measurement of part-based information of faces.

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    Qi Zhu

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Faces are arguably one of the most important object categories encountered by human observers, yet they present one of the most difficult challenges to both the human and artificial visual systems. A variety of experimental paradigms have been developed to study how faces are represented and recognized, among which is the part-spacing paradigm. This paradigm is presumed to characterize the processing of both the featural and configural information of faces, and it has become increasingly popular for testing hypotheses on face specificity and in the diagnosis of face perception in cognitive disorders. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In two experiments we questioned the validity of the part task of this paradigm by showing that, in this task, measuring pure information about face parts is confounded by the effect of face configuration on the perception of those parts. First, we eliminated or reduced contributions from face configuration by either rearranging face parts into a non-face configuration or by removing the low spatial frequencies of face images. We found that face parts were no longer sensitive to inversion, suggesting that the previously reported inversion effect observed in the part task was due in fact to the presence of face configuration. Second, self-reported prosopagnosic patients who were selectively impaired in the holistic processing of faces failed to detect part changes when face configurations were presented. When face configurations were scrambled, however, their performance was as good as that of normal controls. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In sum, consistent evidence from testing both normal and prosopagnosic subjects suggests the part task of the part-spacing paradigm is not an appropriate task for either measuring how face parts alone are processed or for providing a valid contrast to the spacing task. Therefore, conclusions from previous studies using the part-spacing paradigm may need re-evaluation with

  18. Reorienting the future role of the religión: humanize humanity. The role of the religión in society of the future will be purely spiritual

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    José María Vigil

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The post-Religional paradigm enables emerge in many people, questions about the future of religiosity and religions. The author confronts himself with this concern and tries to control, in a concrete way, the possibilities of a future for religions. In order, and as a starting point, the current process of secularization and the new and growing social phenomenon of 'no religion', this article analyzes the profound changes that are occurring in this time of transition. Then makes a proposal for extension and conversion of the old anthropological concept of spirituality to redirect it towards human depth. In presenting these profound changes, this new concept of spirituality seeks to understand the dimensions and functions that religions are no longer able to keep in post agrarian society what is to come, contributing with ideas and suggestions to deploy creativity with the central task from which religions should reorient and focus, that is, the task of humanizing humanity.

  19. Resting-state functional connectivity of ventral parietal regions associated with attention reorienting and episodic recollection

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    Sander M Daselaar

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available In functional neuroimaging studies, ventral parietal cortex (VPC is recruited by very different cognitive tasks. Explaining the contributions VPC to these tasks has become a topic of intense study and lively debate. Perception studies frequently find VPC activations during tasks involving attention-reorienting, and memory studies frequently find them during tasks involving episodic recollection. According to the Attention to Memory (AtoM model, both phenomena can be explained by the same VPC function: bottom-up attention. Yet, a recent functional MRI (fMRI meta-analysis suggested that attention-reorienting activations are more frequent in anterior VPC, whereas recollection activations are more frequent in posterior VPC. Also, there is evidence that anterior and posterior VPC regions have different functional connectivity patterns. To investigate these issues, we conducted a resting-state functional connectivity analysis using as seeds the center-of-mass of attention-reorienting and recollection activations in the meta-analysis, which were located in the supramarginal gyrus (SMG, around the temporo-parietal junction—TPJ and in the angular gyrus (AG, respectively. The SMG seed showed stronger connectivity with ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC and occipito-temporal cortex, whereas the AG seed showed stronger connectivity with the hippocampus and default network regions. To investigate whether these connectivity differences were graded or sharp, VLPFC and hippocampal connectivity was measured in VPC regions traversing through the SMG and AG seeds. The results showed a graded pattern: VLPFC connectivity gradually decreases from SMG to AG, whereas hippocampal connectivity gradually increases from SMG to AG. Importantly, both gradients showed an abrupt break when extended beyond VPC borders. This finding suggests that functional differences between SMG and AG are more subtle than previously thought. These connectivity differences can be

  20. Re-orientation of American energy policy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Siebert, H

    1981-01-01

    The new organization of American economic policy has shown some effects also in the sectoral policies apart from the revision of the concept, new focuses in economic policy - e.g. the struggle against inflation - and the structural re-orientation concerning the role of the government as well as the private sector. Energy policy can be regarded as a paradigm of Reagan's concept of a 'supply-oriented economic policy'. The following contribution gives a survey of the outlines of American energy policy. Chapter one sketches the philosophy of 'supply-oriented' economic policy which is in obvious contrast to the former practice of American energy policy (chapter two). Chapter three deals with the essential problem of the new approach, the deregulation of the price controls especially for natural gas. Chapter four comments on measures of tax policy. Chapter five deals with the price-independent deregulation and the sectors concerned, i.e. coal, electricity and nuclears. Chapter six discusses the governmental quantity policy (distribution of licences). Chapter seven explains the policy of research promotion for synthetic gas. Finally an assessment is made.

  1. Utility as a rationale for choosing observer performance assessment paradigms for detection tasks in medical imaging.

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    Wunderlich, Adam; Abbey, Craig K

    2013-11-01

    Studies of lesion detectability are often carried out to evaluate medical imaging technology. For such studies, several approaches have been proposed to measure observer performance, such as the receiver operating characteristic (ROC), the localization ROC (LROC), the free-response ROC (FROC), the alternative free-response ROC (AFROC), and the exponentially transformed FROC (EFROC) paradigms. Therefore, an experimenter seeking to carry out such a study is confronted with an array of choices. Traditionally, arguments for different approaches have been made on the basis of practical considerations (statistical power, etc.) or the gross level of analysis (case-level or lesion-level). This article contends that a careful consideration of utility should form the rationale for matching the assessment paradigm to the clinical task of interest. In utility theory, task performance is commonly evaluated with total expected utility, which integrates the various event utilities against the probability of each event. To formalize the relationship between expected utility and the summary curve associated with each assessment paradigm, the concept of a "natural" utility structure is proposed. A natural utility structure is defined for a summary curve when the variables associated with the summary curve axes are sufficient for computing total expected utility, assuming that the disease prevalence is known. Natural utility structures for ROC, LROC, FROC, AFROC, and EFROC curves are introduced, clarifying how the utilities of correct and incorrect decisions are aggregated by summary curves. Further, conditions are given under which general utility structures for localization-based methodologies reduce to case-based assessment. Overall, the findings reveal how summary curves correspond to natural utility structures of diagnostic tasks, suggesting utility as a motivating principle for choosing an assessment paradigm.

  2. A study of stress reorientation of hydrides in zircaloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yourong, Jiang; Bangxin, Zhou [Nuclear Power Inst. of China, Chengdu, SC (China)

    1994-10-01

    Under the conditions of circumferential tensile stress from 70 to 180 MPa for Zircaloy tubes or the tensile stress from 55 to 180 MPa for Zircaloy-4 plates and temperature cycling between 150 and 400 degree C, the effects of stress and the number of temperature cycling on hydride reorientation in Zircaloy-4 tubes and plates and Zircaloy-2 tubes containing about 220 {mu}g/g hydrogen have been investigated. With the increase of stress and/or the number of temperature cycling, the level of hydride reorientation increases. When hydride reorientation takes place, there is a threshold stress concerned with the number of temperature cycling. Below the threshold stress, hydride reorientation is not obvious. When applied stress is higher than the threshold stress, the level of hydride reorientation increases with the increase of stress and the number of temperature cycling. Hydride reorientation in Zircaloy-4 tubes develops gradually from the outer surface to inner surface. It might be related to the difference of texture between outer surface and inner surface. The threshold stress is affected by both the texture and the value of B. So controlling texture could still restrict hydride reorientation under tensile stress.

  3. When Stroop helps Piaget: An inter-task positive priming paradigm in 9-year-old children.

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    Linzarini, A; Houdé, O; Borst, G

    2015-11-01

    To determine whether inhibitory control is domain general or domain specific in school children, we asked 40 9-year-old children to perform an inter-task priming paradigm in which they responded to Stroop items on the primes and to Piaget number conservation items on the probes. The children were more efficient in the inhibition of a misleading "length-equals-number" heuristic in the number conservation task if they had successfully inhibited a previous prepotent reading response in the Stroop task. This study provides evidence that the inhibitory control ability of school children generalizes to distinct cognitive domains, that is, verbal for the Stroop task and logico-mathematical for Piaget's number conservation task. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Dynamics of the central bottleneck: dual-task and task uncertainty.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariano Sigman

    2006-07-01

    Full Text Available Why is the human brain fundamentally limited when attempting to execute two tasks at the same time or in close succession? Two classical paradigms, psychological refractory period (PRP and task switching, have independently approached this issue, making significant advances in our understanding of the architecture of cognition. Yet, there is an apparent contradiction between the conclusions derived from these two paradigms. The PRP paradigm, on the one hand, suggests that the simultaneous execution of two tasks is limited solely by a passive structural bottleneck in which the tasks are executed on a first-come, first-served basis. The task-switching paradigm, on the other hand, argues that switching back and forth between task configurations must be actively controlled by a central executive system (the system controlling voluntary, planned, and flexible action. Here we have explicitly designed an experiment mixing the essential ingredients of both paradigms: task uncertainty and task simultaneity. In addition to a central bottleneck, we obtain evidence for active processes of task setting (planning of the appropriate sequence of actions and task disengaging (suppression of the plan set for the first task in order to proceed with the next one. Our results clarify the chronometric relations between these central components of dual-task processing, and in particular whether they operate serially or in parallel. On this basis, we propose a hierarchical model of cognitive architecture that provides a synthesis of task-switching and PRP paradigms.

  5. Spin reorientation via antiferromagnetic coupling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ranjbar, M., E-mail: mojtaba.ranjbar@physics.gu.se [Data Storage Institute, A-STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 5, Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608 (Singapore); Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 412 96 Gothenburg (Sweden); Sbiaa, R. [Data Storage Institute, A-STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 5, Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608 (Singapore); Department of Physics, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 36, PC 123, Muscat (Oman); Dumas, R. K. [Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 412 96 Gothenburg (Sweden); Åkerman, J. [Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 412 96 Gothenburg (Sweden); Materials Physics, School of ICT, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), 164 40 Kista (Sweden); Piramanayagam, S. N. [Data Storage Institute, A-STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 5, Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608 (Singapore)

    2014-05-07

    Spin reorientation in antiferromagnetically coupled (AFC) Co/Pd multilayers, wherein the thickness of the constituent Co layers was varied, was studied. AFC-Co/Pd multilayers were observed to have perpendicular magnetic anisotropy even for a Co sublayer thickness of 1 nm, much larger than what is usually observed in systems without antiferromagnetic coupling. When similar multilayer structures were prepared without antiferromagnetic coupling, this effect was not observed. The results indicate that the additional anisotropy energy contribution arising from the antiferromagnetic coupling, which is estimated to be around 6 × 10{sup 6} ergs/cm{sup 3}, induces the spin-reorientation.

  6. Self-Reorientation Following Colorectal Cancer Treatment - A Grounded Theory Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johansson, Ann-Caroline B; Axelsson, Malin; Berndtsson, Ina; Brink, Eva

    2015-01-01

    After colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment, people reorganize life in ways that are consistent with their understanding of the illness and their expectations for recovery. Incapacities and abilities that have been lost can initiate a need to reorient the self. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have explicitly focused on the concept of self-reorientation after CRC treatment. The aim of the present study was therefore to explore self-reorientation in the early recovery phase after CRC surgery. Grounded theory analysis was undertaken, using the method presented by Charmaz. The present results explained self-reorientation as the individual attempting to achieve congruence in self-perception. A congruent self-perception meant bringing together the perceived self and the self that was mirrored in the near environs. The results showed that societal beliefs and personal explanations are essential elements of self-reorientation, and that it is therefore important to make them visible.

  7. Sexual reorientation therapy: an orthodox perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlton, Clark

    2004-01-01

    This article evaluates the phenomenon of sexual reorientation therapy from the standpoint of Orthodox Christian theology. It is argued that homosexual desire is the product of the fall of mankind and cannot be considered "normal." At the same time, however, reorientation therapies, whether secular or Christian, are inherently reductionistic and fail to address the underlying spiritual pathologies involved in homosexual desire (or any other deep-seated passion). The purpose of therapeia in the Orthodox Church is the psycho-somatic transfiguration of the whole person into the image of Christ, not merely the cessation of homosexual activity or the "reidentification" of one's "lifestyle."

  8. The reorientation of spatial planning systems and policies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Galland, Daniel; Enemark, Stig

    2012-01-01

    Danish spatial planning has been increasingly subjected to profound reorientations over the past two decades. The comprehensive frame wherein planning policies and practices operated across different levels of administration has become significantly altered. This has been particularly evident after...... the implementation of a structural reform that changed the political and administrative structure in the country. Most importantly, the reform abolished the county level, which caused that planning policies, functions and responsibilities were re-scaled to municipal and national levels. This situation brought about...... radical shifts in terms of the scope of planning policies, the implementation of land-use tasks as well as the performance of the institutional arrangements operating within and beyond the planning system. Based on an in-depth analysis concerned with these changes, the paper endeavours into discussing how...

  9. Working memory updating occurs independently of the need to maintain task-context: accounting for triggering updating in the AX-CPT paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kessler, Yoav; Baruchin, Liad J; Bouhsira-Sabag, Anat

    2017-01-01

    Theoretical models suggest that maintenance and updating are two functional states of working memory (WM), which are controlled by a gate between perceptual information and WM representations. Opening the gate enables updating WM with input, while closing it enables keeping the maintained information shielded from interference. However, it is still unclear when gate opening takes place, and what is the external signal that triggers it. A version of the AX-CPT paradigm was used to examine a recent proposal in the literature, suggesting that updating is triggered whenever the maintenance of the context is necessary for task performance (context-dependent tasks). In four experiments using this paradigm, we show that (1) a task-switching cost takes place in both context-dependent and context-independent trials; (2) task-switching is additive to the dependency effect, and (3) unlike switching cost, the dependency effect is not affected by preparation and, therefore, does not reflect context-updating. We suggest that WM updating is likely to be triggered by a simple mechanism that occurs in each trial of the task regardless of whether maintaining the context is needed or not. The implications for WM updating and its relationship to task-switching are discussed.

  10. Effective Parenting and Socialization for Value Re-Orientation in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The paper discusses the meaning/concept and nature of parenting, effective parenting, some problems of parenting in Nigeria, socialization as a medium of value inculcation and value reorientation. The paper believes that value reorientation in Nigeria is a feasible project that can only be attained through the enforcement ...

  11. The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pardilla-Delgado, Enmanuelle; Payne, Jessica D

    2017-01-31

    The Deese, Roediger and McDermott (DRM) task is a false memory paradigm in which subjects are presented with lists of semantically related words (e.g., nurse, hospital, etc.) at encoding. After a delay, subjects are asked to recall or recognize these words. In the recognition memory version of the task, subjects are asked whether they remember previously presented words, as well as related (but never presented) critical lure words ('doctor'). Typically, the critical word is recognized with high probability and confidence. This false memory effect has been robustly demonstrated across short (e.g., immediate, 20 min) and long (e.g., 1, 7, 60 d) delays between encoding and memory testing. A strength of using this task to study false memory is its simplicity and short duration. If encoding and retrieval components of the task occur in the same session, the entire task can take as little as 2 - 30 min. However, although the DRM task is widely considered a 'false memory' paradigm, some researchers consider DRM illusions to be based on the activation of semantic memory networks in the brain, and argue that such semantic gist-based false memory errors may actually be useful in some scenarios (e.g., remembering the forest for the trees; remembering that a word list was about "doctors", even though the actual word "doctor" was never presented for study). Remembering the gist of experience (instead of or along with individual details) is arguably an adaptive process and this task has provided a great deal of knowledge about the constructive, adaptive nature of memory. Therefore, researchers should use caution when discussing the overall reach and implications of their experiments when using this task to study 'false memory', as DRM memory errors may not adequately reflect false memories in the real world, such as false memory in eyewitness testimony, or false memories of sexual abuse.

  12. Target berthing and base reorientation of free-floating space robotic system after capturing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Wenfu; Li, Cheng; Liang, Bin; Xu, Yangsheng; Liu, Yu; Qiang, Wenyi

    2009-01-01

    Space robots are playing an increasingly important role in on-orbital servicing, including repairing, refueling, or de-orbiting the satellite. The target must be captured and berthed before the servicing task starts. However, the attitude of the base may lean much and needs re-orientating after capturing. In this paper, a method is proposed to berth the target, and re-orientate the base at the same time, using manipulator motion only. Firstly, the system state is formed of the attitude quaternion and joint variables, and the joint paths are parameterized by sinusoidal functions. Then, the trajectory planning is transformed to an optimization problem. The cost function, defined according to the accuracy requirements of system variables, is the function of the parameters to be determined. Finally, we solve the parameters using the particle swarm optimization algorithm. Two typical cases of the spacecraft with a 6-DOF manipulator are dynamically simulated, one is that the variation of base attitude is limited; the other is that both the base attitude and the joint rates are constrained. The simulation results verify the presented method.

  13. Characterization of domain reorientation in Pzt ceramics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lente, Manuel Henrique; Povoa, Jose Marques; Eiras, Jose Antonio

    1997-01-01

    The dynamic of domains in ferroelectric materials has been intensively studied due to its importance in applications like non volatile memories. Domain reorientation was characterized in lead zirconate titanate samples, pure and doped, through measurements of the transient current, after reversal a electric field. The reorientation behavior of the domains showed to be influenced by type of impurity (Nb or Fe) and by the electrical field intensity. Analysis of the experimental results reveals mainly the existence of two contributions: a dependent (t 0.1 s) of the field intensity. (author)

  14. Managerial strategies to reorient hospitals towards health promotion: lessons from organisational theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Röthlin, Florian

    2013-01-01

    Reorienting health services towards health promotion is one of the major health promotion strategies stipulated by the Ottawa Charter). Important contradictions, tensions and barriers to health promotion implementation associated with organisational structures have, thus far, been underexposed in the hospital health promotion discourse. This paper aims at identifying risks and the chances for hospital management to strategically and sustainably reorient their hospitals towards health promotion. The paper combines theories and findings from organisational science and management studies as well as from capacity development in the form of a narrative literature review. The aim is to focus on the conditions hospitals, as organisational systems with a highly professionalised workforce, provide for a strategically managed reorientation towards health promotion. Models and principles helping managers to navigate the difficulties and complexities of health promotion reorientation will be suggested. Hospital managers have to deal with genuine obstacles in the complexity and structural formation of hospital organisations. Against this background, continuous management support, a transformative leadership style, participative strategic management and expert governance can be considered important organisational capacities for the reorientation towards a new concept such as health promotion. This paper discusses managerial strategies, effective structural transformations and important organisational capacities that can contribute to a sustainable reorientation of hospitals towards health promotion. It supports hospital managers in exploring their chances of facilitating and effectively supporting a sustainable health promotion reorientation of their hospitals. The paper provides an innovative approach where the focus is on enhanced possibilities for hospital managers to strategically manage the reorientation towards health promotion.

  15. Spatial reorientation in rats (Rattus norvegicus): Use of geometric and featural information as a function of arena size and feature location

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maes, J.H.R.; Fontanari, L.; Regolin, L.

    2009-01-01

    Rats were used in a spatial reorientation task to assess their ability to use geometric and non-geometric, featural, information. Experimental conditions differed in the size of the arena (small, medium, or large) and whether the food-baited corner was near or far from a visual feature. The main

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imhoff, Roland; Lange, Jens; Germar, Markus

    2018-02-22

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

  17. Young children reorient by computing layout geometry, not by matching images of the environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sang Ah; Spelke, Elizabeth S

    2011-02-01

    Disoriented animals from ants to humans reorient in accord with the shape of the surrounding surface layout: a behavioral pattern long taken as evidence for sensitivity to layout geometry. Recent computational models suggest, however, that the reorientation process may not depend on geometrical analyses but instead on the matching of brightness contours in 2D images of the environment. Here we test this suggestion by investigating young children's reorientation in enclosed environments. Children reoriented by extremely subtle geometric properties of the 3D layout: bumps and ridges that protruded only slightly off the floor, producing edges with low contrast. Moreover, children failed to reorient by prominent brightness contours in continuous layouts with no distinctive 3D structure. The findings provide evidence that geometric layout representations support children's reorientation.

  18. Fundamental experiments on hydride reorientation in zircaloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colas, Kimberly B.

    In the current study, an in-situ X-ray diffraction technique using synchrotron radiation was used to follow directly the kinetics of hydride dissolution and precipitation during thermomechanical cycles. This technique was combined with conventional microscopy (optical, SEM and TEM) to gain an overall understanding of the process of hydride reorientation. Thus this part of the study emphasized the time-dependent nature of the process, studying large volume of hydrides in the material. In addition, a micro-diffraction technique was also used to study the spatial distribution of hydrides near stress concentrations. This part of the study emphasized the spatial variation of hydride characteristics such as strain and morphology. Hydrided samples in the shape of tensile dog-bones were used in the time-dependent part of the study. Compact tension specimens were used during the spatial dependence part of the study. The hydride elastic strains from peak shift and size and strain broadening were studied as a function of time for precipitating hydrides. The hydrides precipitate in a very compressed state of stress, as measured by the shift in lattice spacing. As precipitation proceeds the average shift decreases, indicating average stress is reduced, likely due to plastic deformation and morphology changes. When nucleation ends the hydrides follow the zirconium matrix thermal contraction. When stress is applied below the threshold stress for reorientation, hydrides first nucleate in a very compressed state similar to that of unstressed hydrides. After reducing the average strain similarly to unstressed hydrides, the average hydride strain reaches a constant value during cool-down to room temperature. This could be due to a greater ease of deforming the matrix due to the applied far-field strain which would compensate for the strains due to thermal contraction. Finally when hydrides reorient, the average hydride strains become tensile during the first precipitation regime and

  19. LANGUAGE REORIENTATION AND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Chinwe Ugochukwu

    building and leadership challenge; language reorientation; conclusion and ... Igbo land, for example, many students enrol to study foreign languages, but the reverse is the ... Following the lead of Franz Boas, such a view is no longer relevant. ... Consequently, on International Mother Language Day, all languages share.

  20. Effects of Aging and Tai Chi on a Finger-Pointing Task with a Choice Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William W. N. Tsang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. This cross-sectional study examined the effect of aging on performing finger-pointing tasks involving choices and whether experienced older Tai Chi practitioners perform better than healthy older controls in such tasks. Methods. Thirty students and 30 healthy older controls were compared with 31 Tai Chi practitioners. All the subjects performed a rapid index finger-pointing task. The visual signal appeared randomly under 3 conditions: (1 to touch a black ball as quickly and as accurately as possible, (2 not to touch a white ball, (3 to touch only the white ball when a black and a white ball appeared simultaneously. Reaction time (RT of anterior deltoid electromyogram, movement time (MT from electromyogram onset to touching of the target, end-point accuracy from the center of the target, and the number of wrong movements were recorded. Results. Young students displayed significantly faster RT and MT, achieving significantly greater end-point accuracy and fewer wrong movements than older controls. Older Tai Chi practitioners had significantly faster MT than older controls. Conclusion. Finger-pointing tasks with a choice paradigm became slower and less accurate with age. Positive findings suggest that Tai Chi may slow down the aging effect on eye-hand coordination tasks involving choices that require more cognitive progressing.

  1. Effect of Task-Correlated Physiological Fluctuations and Motion in 2D and 3D Echo-Planar Imaging in a Higher Cognitive Level fMRI Paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladstein, Jarle; Evensmoen, Hallvard R; Håberg, Asta K; Kristoffersen, Anders; Goa, Pål E

    2016-01-01

    To compare 2D and 3D echo-planar imaging (EPI) in a higher cognitive level fMRI paradigm. In particular, to study the link between the presence of task-correlated physiological fluctuations and motion and the fMRI contrast estimates from either 2D EPI or 3D EPI datasets, with and without adding nuisance regressors to the model. A signal model in the presence of partly task-correlated fluctuations is derived, and predictions for contrast estimates with and without nuisance regressors are made. Thirty-one healthy volunteers were scanned using 2D EPI and 3D EPI during a virtual environmental learning paradigm. In a subgroup of 7 subjects, heart rate and respiration were logged, and the correlation with the paradigm was evaluated. FMRI analysis was performed using models with and without nuisance regressors. Differences in the mean contrast estimates were investigated by analysis-of-variance using Subject, Sequence, Day, and Run as factors. The distributions of group level contrast estimates were compared. Partially task-correlated fluctuations in respiration, heart rate and motion were observed. Statistically significant differences were found in the mean contrast estimates between the 2D EPI and 3D EPI when using a model without nuisance regressors. The inclusion of nuisance regressors for cardiorespiratory effects and motion reduced the difference to a statistically non-significant level. Furthermore, the contrast estimate values shifted more when including nuisance regressors for 3D EPI compared to 2D EPI. The results are consistent with 3D EPI having a higher sensitivity to fluctuations compared to 2D EPI. In the presence partially task-correlated physiological fluctuations or motion, proper correction is necessary to get expectation correct contrast estimates when using 3D EPI. As such task-correlated physiological fluctuations or motion is difficult to avoid in paradigms exploring higher cognitive functions, 2D EPI seems to be the preferred choice for higher

  2. Effect of silver nanoparticles on photo-induced reorientation of azo groups in polymer films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Jingli; Yang Jianjun; Sun Youyi; Zhang Douguo; Shen Jing; Zhang Qijin; Wang Keyi

    2007-01-01

    A series of polymer films containing azo groups and silver nanoparticles were prepared. Photo-induced reorientation of the film was conducted under irradiation of polarized light with wavelength at 365 nm, 442 nm and 532 nm, respectively. The influence of the concentration of dopant silver on the reorientation of the azo groups was studied. An enhancement of about 50% for the reorientation rate and about 70% for the reorientation amplitude was achieved. From a comparison of the enhancement obtained by irradiating with three different light sources, it was realized that the mechanism for enhancement of reorientation of azo groups is due to plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles doped in the polymer films

  3. Spin-reorientation magnetic transitions in Mn-doped SmFeO3

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian Kang

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Spin reorientation is a magnetic phase transition in which rotation of the magnetization vector with respect to the crystallographic axes occurs upon a change in the temperature or magnetic field. For example, SmFeO3 shows a magnetization rotation from the c axis above 480 K to the a axis below 450 K, known as the Γ4 → Γ2 transition. This work reports the successful synthesis of the new single-crystal perovskite SmFe0.75Mn0.25O3 and finds interesting spin reorientations above and below room temperature. In addition to the spin reorientation of the Γ4 → Γ2 magnetic phase transition observed at around TSR2 = 382 K, a new spin reorientation, Γ2 → Γ1, was seen at around TSR1 = 212 K due to Mn doping, which could not be observed in the parent rare earth perovskite compound. This unexpected spin configuration has complete antiferromagnetic order without any canting-induced weak ferromagnetic moment, resulting in zero magnetization in the low-temperature regime. M–T and M–H measurements have been made to study the temperature and magnetic-field dependence of the observed spin reorientation transitions.

  4. Tectonic patterns on a reoriented planet - Mars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Melosh, H.J.

    1980-01-01

    Both geological and free-air-gravity data suggest that the positive mass anomaly associated with the Tharsis volcanoes may have reoriented Mars' lithosphere by as much as 25 deg. Since Mars is oblate, rotation of the lithosphere over the equatorial bulge by 25 deg produces membrane stresses of several kilobars, large enough to initiate faulting. Plots of the magnitude and direction of stresses in a reoriented planet show that near Tharsis the dominant fault type should be north-south-trending normal faults. This normal fault province is centered at 30 deg N latitude and extends about 45 deg east and west in longitude. Similar faults should occur at the antipodes, north of Hellas Planitia

  5. Field-induced strain memory with non-180 .deg. domain-reorientation control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kadota, Yoichi; Hosaka, Hiroshi; Morita, Takeshi

    2010-01-01

    Using non-180 .deg. domain-reorientation control, we propose the strain memory effect in ferroelectric ceramics. Electric fields with asymmetric amplitudes were applied to soft-type lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics, and the strain hysteresis and the polarization loop were measured. The butterfly curve became asymmetric under an electric field with a particular asymmetric amplitude. The asymmetric butterfly curve had two stable strain states at zero electric field. Thus, the strain memory effect was realized as the difference between the two stable strain states. An XRD analysis was carried out to verify the contribution of the non-180 .deg. domain reorientation to the strain memory effect. The non-180 .deg. domain reorientation was determined as the intensity ratio of the (002) to the (200) peak. The strain memory determined from macroscopic strain measurements had a linear relationship to the non-180 .deg. domain volume fraction. This result indicated the origin of the strain memory to be the non-180 .deg. domain reorientation.

  6. Planar reorientation maneuvers of space multibody systems using internal controls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyhanoglu, Mahmut; Mcclamroch, N. H.

    1992-01-01

    In this paper a reorientation maneuvering strategy for an interconnection of planar rigid bodies in space is developed. It is assumed that there are no exogeneous torques, and torques generated by joint motors are used as means of control so that the total angular momentum of the multibody system is a constant, assumed to be zero in this paper. The maneuver strategy uses the nonintegrability of the expression for the angular momentum. We demonstrate that large-angle maneuvers can be designed to achieve an arbitrary reorientation of the multibody system with respect to an inertial frame. The theoretical background for carrying out the required maneuvers is briefly summarized. Specifications and computer simulations of a specific reorientation maneuver, and the corresponding control strategies, are described.

  7. The Cognitive Paradigm Ontology: Design and Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laird, Angela R.

    2013-01-01

    We present the basic structure of the Cognitive Paradigm Ontology (CogPO) for human behavioral experiments. While the experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience literature may refer to certain behavioral tasks by name (e.g., the Stroop paradigm or the Sternberg paradigm) or by function (a working memory task, a visual attention task), these paradigms can vary tremendously in the stimuli that are presented to the subject, the response expected from the subject, and the instructions given to the subject. Drawing from the taxonomy developed and used by the BrainMap project (www.brainmap.org) for almost two decades to describe key components of published functional imaging results, we have developed an ontology capable of representing certain characteristics of the cognitive paradigms used in the fMRI and PET literature. The Cognitive Paradigm Ontology is being developed to be compliant with the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), and to harmonize where possible with larger ontologies such as RadLex, NeuroLex, or the Ontology of Biomedical Investigations (OBI). The key components of CogPO include the representation of experimental conditions focused on the stimuli presented, the instructions given, and the responses requested. The use of alternate and even competitive terminologies can often impede scientific discoveries. Categorization of paradigms according to stimulus, response, and instruction has been shown to allow advanced data retrieval techniques by searching for similarities and contrasts across multiple paradigm levels. The goal of CogPO is to develop, evaluate, and distribute a domain ontology of cognitive paradigms for application and use in the functional neuroimaging community. PMID:21643732

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimchi, Ruth; Pirkner, Yossef

    2014-08-01

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

  9. A magnetic relaxation study on anisotropic reorientation in aqueous polyelectrolyte solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mulder, C.W.R.

    1984-01-01

    The present thesis proposes a study on anisotropic reorientation of aqueous polyelectrolyte solutions. In particular, it is directed to the question to what extent information may be obtained on anisotropic reorientation by nuclear magnetic relaxation experiments. The polymethacrylic acid/water system has been chosen as probe system. (Auth.)

  10. Modularity beyond Perception: Evidence from the PRP Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magen, Hagit; Cohen, Asher

    2010-01-01

    The Dimension Action (DA) model asserts that the visual system is modular, and that each task involves multiple-response mechanisms rather than a unitary-response selection mechanism. The model has been supported by evidence from single-task interference paradigms. We use the psychological refractory period paradigm and show that dual-task…

  11. Clinical fMRI of language function in aphasic patients: Reading paradigm successful, while word generation paradigm fails

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engstroem, Maria; Landtblom, Anne-Marie; Ragnehed, Mattias; Lundberg, Peter; Karlsson, Marie; Crone, Marie; Antepohl, Wolfram

    2010-01-01

    Background: In fMRI examinations, it is very important to select appropriate paradigms assessing the brain function of interest. In addition, the patients' ability to perform the required cognitive tasks during fMRI must be taken into account. Purpose: To evaluate two language paradigms, word generation and sentence reading for their usefulness in examinations of aphasic patients and to make suggestions for improvements of clinical fMRI. Material and Methods: Five patients with aphasia after stroke or trauma sequelae were examined by fMRI. The patients' language ability was screened by neurolinguistic tests and elementary pre-fMRI language tests. Results: The sentence-reading paradigm succeeded to elicit adequate language-related activation in perilesional areas whereas the word generation paradigm failed. These findings were consistent with results on the behavioral tests in that all patients showed very poor performance in phonemic fluency, but scored well above mean at a reading comprehension task. Conclusion: The sentence-reading paradigm is appropriate to assess language function in this patient group, while the word-generation paradigm seems to be inadequate. In addition, it is crucial to use elementary pre-fMRI language tests to guide the fMRI paradigm decision.

  12. Clinical fMRI of language function in aphasic patients: Reading paradigm successful, while word generation paradigm fails

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Engstroem, Maria; Landtblom, Anne-Marie; Ragnehed, Mattias; Lundberg, Peter (Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linkoeping Univ., Linkoeping (Sweden)), e-mail: maria.engstrom@liu.se; Karlsson, Marie; Crone, Marie (Dept. of Clinical and Experimental Medicine/Logopedics, Linkoeping Univ., Linkoeping (Sweden)); Antepohl, Wolfram (Dept. of Clinical and Experimental Medicine/Rehabilitation, Linkoeping Univ., Linkoeping (Sweden))

    2010-07-15

    Background: In fMRI examinations, it is very important to select appropriate paradigms assessing the brain function of interest. In addition, the patients' ability to perform the required cognitive tasks during fMRI must be taken into account. Purpose: To evaluate two language paradigms, word generation and sentence reading for their usefulness in examinations of aphasic patients and to make suggestions for improvements of clinical fMRI. Material and Methods: Five patients with aphasia after stroke or trauma sequelae were examined by fMRI. The patients' language ability was screened by neurolinguistic tests and elementary pre-fMRI language tests. Results: The sentence-reading paradigm succeeded to elicit adequate language-related activation in perilesional areas whereas the word generation paradigm failed. These findings were consistent with results on the behavioral tests in that all patients showed very poor performance in phonemic fluency, but scored well above mean at a reading comprehension task. Conclusion: The sentence-reading paradigm is appropriate to assess language function in this patient group, while the word-generation paradigm seems to be inadequate. In addition, it is crucial to use elementary pre-fMRI language tests to guide the fMRI paradigm decision.

  13. Spatial reorientation by geometry in bumblebees.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valeria Anna Sovrano

    Full Text Available Human and non-human animals are capable of using basic geometric information to reorient in an environment. Geometric information includes metric properties associated with spatial surfaces (e.g., short vs. long wall and left-right directionality or 'sense' (e.g. a long wall to the left of a short wall. However, it remains unclear whether geometric information is encoded by explicitly computing the layout of surface geometry or by matching images of the environment. View-based spatial encoding is generally thought to hold for insect navigation and, very recently, evidence for navigation by geometry has been reported in ants but only in a condition which does not allow the animals to use features located far from the goal. In this study we tested the spatial reorientation abilities of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris. After spatial disorientation, by passive rotation both clockwise and anticlockwise, bumblebees had to find one of the four exit holes located in the corners of a rectangular enclosure. Bumblebees systematically confused geometrically equivalent exit corners (i.e. corners with the same geometric arrangement of metric properties and sense, for example a short wall to the left of a long wall. However, when one wall of the enclosure was a different colour, bumblebees appeared to combine this featural information (either near or far from the goal with geometric information to find the correct exit corner. Our results show that bumblebees are able to use both geometric and featural information to reorient themselves, even when features are located far from the goal.

  14. Giant magnetostriction effect near onset of spin reorientation in MnBi

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Y.; Ryan, P. J.; McGuire, M. A.; Sales, B. C.; Kim, J.-W.

    2018-05-01

    In materials undergoing spontaneous symmetry breaking transitions, the emergence of multiple competing order parameters is pervasive. Employing in-field x-ray diffraction, we investigate the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the crystallographic structure of MnBi, elucidating the microscopic interplay between lattices and spin. The hexagonal phase of MnBi undergoes a spin reorientation transition (TSR), whereby the easy axis direction changes from the c axis to the basal plane. Across TSR, an abrupt symmetry change is accompanied by a clear sign change in the magnetostrictive coefficient, revealing that this transition corresponds to the onset of the spin reorientation. In the vicinity of TSR, a significantly larger in-plane magnetostrictive effect is observed, presenting the emergence of an intermediate phase that is highly susceptible to an applied magnetic field. X-ray linear dichroism shows that asymmetric Bi and Mn p orbitals do not play a role in the spin reorientation. This work suggests that the spin reorientation is caused by structural modification rather than changes in the local electronic configuration, providing a strategy for manipulating the magnetic anisotropy by external strain.

  15. Long-term reliability of the visual EEG Poffenberger paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedrich, Patrick; Ocklenburg, Sebastian; Mochalski, Lisa; Schlüter, Caroline; Güntürkün, Onur; Genc, Erhan

    2017-07-14

    The Poffenberger paradigm is a simple perception task that is used to estimate the speed of information transfer between the two hemispheres, the so-called interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT). Although the original paradigm is a behavioral task, it can be combined with electroencephalography (EEG) to assess the underlying neurophysiological processes during task execution. While older studies have supported the validity of both paradigms for investigating interhemispheric interactions, their long-term reliability has not been assessed systematically before. The present study aims to fill this gap by determining both internal consistency and long-term test-retest reliability of IHTTs produced by using the two different versions of the Poffenberger paradigm in a sample of 26 healthy subjects. The results show high reliability for the EEG Poffenberger paradigm. In contrast, reliability measures for the behavioral Poffenberger paradigm were low. Hence, our results indicate that electrophysiological measures of interhemispheric transfer are more reliable than behavioral measures; the later should be used with caution in research investigating inter-individual differences of neurocognitive measures. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Visually induced reorientation illusions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, I. P.; Hu, G.; Oman, C. M. (Principal Investigator)

    2001-01-01

    It is known that rotation of a furnished room around the roll axis of erect subjects produces an illusion of 360 degrees self-rotation in many subjects. Exposure of erect subjects to stationary tilted visual frames or rooms produces only up to 20 degrees of illusory tilt. But, in studies using static tilted rooms, subjects remained erect and the body axis was not aligned with the room. We have revealed a new class of disorientation illusions that occur in many subjects when placed in a 90 degrees or 180 degrees tilted room containing polarised objects (familiar objects with tops and bottoms). For example, supine subjects looking up at a wall of the room feel upright in an upright room and their arms feel weightless when held out from the body. We call this the levitation illusion. We measured the incidence of 90 degrees or 180 degrees reorientation illusions in erect, supine, recumbent, and inverted subjects in a room tilted 90 degrees or 180 degrees. We report that reorientation illusions depend on the displacement of the visual scene rather than of the body. However, illusions are most likely to occur when the visual and body axes are congruent. When the axes are congruent, illusions are least likely to occur when subjects are prone rather than supine, recumbent, or inverted.

  17. Nanopolar reorientation in ferroelectric thin films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hubert, C.; Levy, J.; Rivkin, T. V.; Carlson, C.; Parilla, P. A.; Perkins, J. D.; Ginley, D. S.

    2001-01-01

    The influence of varying oxygen pressure P(O 2 ) during the growth of Ba 0.4 Sr 0.6 TiO 3 thin films is investigated using dielectric and local optical probes. A transition from in-plane to out-of-plane ferroelectricity is observed with increasing P(O 2 ). Signatures of in-plane and out-of-plane ferroelectricity are identified using dielectric response and time-resolved confocal scanning optical microscopy (TRCSOM). At the crossover pressure between in-plane and out-of-plane polarization (P c =85 mTorr), TRCSOM measurements reveal a soft, highly dispersive out-of-plane polarization that reorients in plane under modest applied electric fields. At higher deposition pressures, the out-of-plane polarization is hardened and is less dispersive at microwave frequencies, and the dielectric tuning is suppressed. Nanopolar reorientation is believed to be responsible for the marked increase in dielectric tuning at P(O 2 )=P c

  18. Optimized Motor Imagery Paradigm Based on Imagining Chinese Characters Writing Movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Zhaoyang; Allison, Brendan Z; Jin, Jing; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Xingyu; Li, Wei; Cichocki, Andrzej

    2017-07-01

    motor imagery (MI) is a mental representation of motor behavior. The MI-based brain computer interfaces (BCIs) can provide communication for the physically impaired. The performance of MI-based BCI mainly depends on the subject's ability to self-modulate electroencephalogram signals. Proper training can help naive subjects learn to modulate brain activity proficiently. However, training subjects typically involve abstract motor tasks and are time-consuming. to improve the performance of naive subjects during motor imagery, a novel paradigm was presented that would guide naive subjects to modulate brain activity effectively. In this new paradigm, pictures of the left or right hand were used as cues for subjects to finish the motor imagery task. Fourteen healthy subjects (11 male, aged 22-25 years, and mean 23.6±1.16) participated in this study. The task was to imagine writing a Chinese character. Specifically, subjects could imagine hand movements corresponding to the sequence of writing strokes in the Chinese character. This paradigm was meant to find an effective and familiar action for most Chinese people, to provide them with a specific, extensively practiced task and help them modulate brain activity. results showed that the writing task paradigm yielded significantly better performance than the traditional arrow paradigm (p paradigm was easier. the proposed new motor imagery paradigm could guide subjects to help them modulate brain activity effectively. Results showed that there were significant improvements using new paradigm, both in classification accuracy and usability.

  19. Molecular reorientation of dye doped nematic liquid crystals in the laser illumination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    San, S. E.; Koeysal, O.; Ecevit, F. N.

    2002-01-01

    In this study it is investigated how dye doped nematic liquid crystals reorient under the illumination of laser beam whose wavelength is appropriate to absorbance characteristics of the doping dye. Nematic liquid crystal E7 is used with anthraquinone dye 1% wt/wt in the preparation of the sample and this material is filled in homegenously aligned measurement cell having 15 μm thickness. Mechanism of molecular reorientation includes the absorbance effects of the energy of laser by doping dye and this reorientation causes the refractive index of the material to be changed. There are potential application possibilities of such molecular reorientation based effects in nonlinear optics such as real time holography whose basis is grating diffraction that is observed and investigated in the frame of fundamentals of molecule light interaction mechanisms. Experimental analyses allowed finding characteristic values of diffraction signals depending on physical parameters of set up for a dye doped liquid crystal system and this system provided a 20 % diffraction efficiency under the optimum circumstances

  20. Degrading emotional memories induced by a virtual reality paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuperus, Anne A; Laken, Maarten; van den Hout, Marcel A; Engelhard, Iris M

    2016-09-01

    In Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, a dual-task approach is used: patients make horizontal eye movements while they recall aversive memories. Studies showed that this reduces memory vividness and/or emotionality. A strong explanation is provided by working memory theory, which suggests that other taxing dual-tasks are also effective. Experiment 1 tested whether a visuospatial task which was carried out while participants were blindfolded taxes working memory. Experiment 2 tested whether this task degrades negative memories induced by a virtual reality (VR) paradigm. In experiment 1, participants responded to auditory cues with or without simultaneously carrying out the visuospatial task. In experiment 2, participants recalled negative memories induced by a VR paradigm. The experimental group simultaneously carried out the visuospatial task, and a control group merely recalled the memories. Changes in self-rated memory vividness and emotionality were measured. The slowing down of reaction times due to the visuospatial task indicated that its cognitive load was greater than the load of the eye movements task in previous studies. The task also led to reductions in emotionality (but not vividness) of memories induced by the VR paradigm. Weaknesses are that only males were tested in experiment 1, and the effectiveness of the VR fear/trauma induction was not assessed with ratings of mood or intrusions in experiment 2. The results suggest that the visuospatial task may be applicable in clinical settings, and the VR paradigm may provide a useful method of inducing negative memories. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Continuous reorientation of synchronous terrestrial planets due to mantle convection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leconte, Jérémy

    2018-02-01

    Many known rocky exoplanets are thought to have been spun down by tidal interactions to a state of synchronous rotation, in which a planet's period of rotation is equal to that of its orbit around its host star. Investigations into atmospheric and surface processes occurring on such exoplanets thus commonly assume that day and night sides are fixed with respect to the surface over geological timescales. Here we use an analytical model to show that true polar wander—where a planetary body's spin axis shifts relative to its surface because of changes in mass distribution—can continuously reorient a synchronous rocky exoplanet. As occurs on Earth, we find that even weak mantle convection in a rocky exoplanet can produce density heterogeneities within the mantle sufficient to reorient the planet. Moreover, we show that this reorientation is made very efficient by the slower rotation rate of a synchronous planet when compared with Earth, which limits the stabilizing effect of rotational and tidal deformations. Furthermore, a relatively weak lithosphere limits its ability to support remnant loads and stabilize against reorientation. Although uncertainties exist regarding the mantle and lithospheric evolution of these worlds, we suggest that the axes of smallest and largest moment of inertia of synchronous exoplanets with active mantle convection change continuously over time, but remain closely aligned with the star-planet and orbital axes, respectively.

  2. Thermocapillary reorientation of Janus drops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosales, Rodolfo; Saenz, Pedro

    2017-11-01

    Janus drops, named after the Ancient Roman two-faced god, are liquid drops formed from two immiscible fluids. Experimental observations indicate that a Janus drop may re-orientate in response to an applied external thermal gradient due to the Marangoni effect. Depending on the angle between the interior interface and the direction of the temperature gradient, disparities in the physical properties of the constituent liquids may lead to asymmetries in the thermocapillary flow. As a result, the drop will move along a curved path until a torque-free configuration is achieved, point after which it will continue on a straight trajectory. Here, we present the results of a theoretical investigation of this realignment phenomenon in the Stokes regime and in the limit of non-deformable interfaces. A 3D semi-analytical method in terms of polar spherical harmonics is developed to characterize and rationalize the hydrodynamic response (forces and torques), flow (velocity and temperature distribution) and trajectory of a Janus drop moving during the temperature-driven reorientation process. Furthermore, we discuss how this phenomenon may be exploited to develop dynamically reconfigurable micro-lenses. This work was partially supported by the US National Science Foundation through Grants DMS-1614043 and DMS-1719637.

  3. Surface role in reorientation of internal layers of molybdenum single crystal during rolling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Antsiforov, P.N.; Gorordetskij, S.D.; Markashova, A.I.; Martynenko, S.I.

    1991-01-01

    Structure, orientations and chemical composition of surface and internal layers of molybdenum rolled monocrystals are studied using electron microscopy, X-ray and Auger-analyses. Model of reorientation allowing to determine relation of deformation mechanism localized in surface layer with reorientation of internal layers, is described to explain the results

  4. Reexamining unconscious response priming: A liminal-prime paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avneon, Maayan; Lamy, Dominique

    2018-03-01

    Research on the limits of unconscious processing typically relies on the subliminal-prime paradigm. However, this paradigm is limited in the issues it can address. Here, we examined the implications of using the liminal-prime paradigm, which allows comparing unconscious and conscious priming with constant stimulation. We adapted an iconic demonstration of unconscious response priming to the liminal-prime paradigm. On the one hand, temporal attention allocated to the prime and its relevance to the task increased the magnitude of response priming. On the other hand, the longer RTs associated with the dual task inherent to the paradigm resulted in response priming being underestimated, because unconscious priming effects were shorter-lived than conscious-priming effects. Nevertheless, when the impact of long RTs was alleviated by considering the fastest trials or by imposing a response deadline, conscious response priming remained considerably larger than unconscious response priming. These findings suggest that conscious perception strongly modulates response priming. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Effort-Based Decision-Making Paradigms for Clinical Trials in Schizophrenia: Part 1—Psychometric Characteristics of 5 Paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reddy, L Felice; Horan, William P; Barch, Deanna M; Buchanan, Robert W; Dunayevich, Eduardo; Gold, James M; Lyons, Naomi; Marder, Stephen R; Treadway, Michael T; Wynn, Jonathan K; Young, Jared W; Green, Michael F

    2015-09-01

    Impairments in willingness to exert effort contribute to the motivational deficits characteristic of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of 5 new or adapted paradigms to determine their suitability for use in clinical trials of schizophrenia. This study included 94 clinically stable participants with schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls. The effort-based decision-making battery was administered twice to the schizophrenia group (baseline, 4-week retest) and once to the control group. The 5 paradigms included 1 that assesses cognitive effort, 1 perceptual effort, and 3 that assess physical effort. Each paradigm was evaluated on (1) patient vs healthy control group differences, (2) test-retest reliability, (3) utility as a repeated measure (ie, practice effects), and (4) tolerability. The 5 paradigms showed varying psychometric strengths and weaknesses. The Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task showed the best reliability and utility as a repeated measure, while the Grip Effort Task had significant patient-control group differences, and superior tolerability and administration duration. The other paradigms showed weaker psychometric characteristics in their current forms. These findings highlight challenges in adapting effort and motivation paradigms for use in clinical trials. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center 2015.

  6. Tourism development and the degrowth paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andriotis Konstantinos

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to look at alternatives to the classic models of development by exploring the paradigm of degrowth in a tourism context. Degrowth touted as an alternative to mainstream paradigms of development, aims to ensure a high quality of life for people in a society where work, production and consumption are reduced. As a weapon to the problems accrued by capitalism, degrowth reorients the current unsustainable and inequitable path through the transition to a smaller economy with less production and consumption. By arguing that natural limits to growth of many destinations have already been surpassed and their carrying capacity levels have been reached, degrowth proposes the abandonment of growth which promotes nothing other than a quest for profits on part of the owners of capital and results in disastrous implications for the environment and the humanity. As a philosophical concept and movement, degrowth is revolutionary and anticapitalist directed to sustainable change which results from an interest in locality and place, small and medium-sized enterprises, employment generation and reduction in working hours, ecology and quality of life, decommodification of tourism activity, carbon reduction in transport, changed pattern of production and consumption, and high priority in the travel experience.

  7. The detour paradigm in animal cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kabadayi, Can; Bobrowicz, Katarzyna; Osvath, Mathias

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we review one of the oldest paradigms used in animal cognition: the detour paradigm. The paradigm presents the subject with a situation where a direct route to the goal is blocked and a detour must be made to reach it. Often being an ecologically valid and a versatile tool, the detour paradigm has been used to study diverse cognitive skills like insight, social learning, inhibitory control and route planning. Due to the relative ease of administrating detour tasks, the paradigm has lately been used in large-scale comparative studies in order to investigate the evolution of inhibitory control. Here we review the detour paradigm and some of its cognitive requirements, we identify various ecological and contextual factors that might affect detour performance, we also discuss developmental and neurological underpinnings of detour behaviors, and we suggest some methodological approaches to make species comparisons more robust.

  8. A geometrical approach to determine reorientation start and continuation conditions in ferromagnetic shape memory alloys considering the effects of loading history

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shirani, M; Kadkhodaei, M

    2014-01-01

    Ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMAs) and magnetic shape memory alloys (MSMAs) are metallic alloys that can undergo inelastic responses when exposed to magnetic fields. Several constitutive models have been proposed so far to model the behaviors of FSMAs. In this work, the effects of loading history on reorientation start conditions are considered, and it is shown that reorientation start conditions are not fixed values; rather, they change with respect to the amount of loading history. To consider the effects of loading history on reorientation start conditions, an available phase diagram in stress-field space is generalized to reorientation surfaces in stress-field-loading history space. Correspondingly, kinetic laws are derived in a continuum framework to be used with the reorientation surfaces to determine the amount of the martensitic variant 2 volume fraction. Based on the geometry of the reorientation surfaces, conditions that must be satisfied to ensure the continuation of reorientations are obtained. Available experimental findings validate the proposed model and the reorientation surfaces. (paper)

  9. Educating Academic Staff to Reorient Curricula in ESD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biasutti, Michele; Makrakis, Vassilios; Concina, Eleonora; Frate, Sara

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a professional development experience for higher education academic staff within the framework of an international Tempus project focused on reorienting university curricula to address sustainability. The project included revising curricula to phase sustainable development principles into university…

  10. Executive function deficits in team sport athletes with a history of concussion revealed by a visual-auditory dual task paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tapper, Anthony; Gonzalez, Dave; Roy, Eric; Niechwiej-Szwedo, Ewa

    2017-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine executive functions in team sport athletes with and without a history of concussion. Executive functions comprise many cognitive processes including, working memory, attention and multi-tasking. Past research has shown that concussions cause difficulties in vestibular-visual and vestibular-auditory dual-tasking, however, visual-auditory tasks have been examined rarely. Twenty-nine intercollegiate varsity ice hockey athletes (age = 19.13, SD = 1.56; 15 females) performed an experimental dual-task paradigm that required simultaneously processing visual and auditory information. A brief interview, event description and self-report questionnaires were used to assign participants to each group (concussion, no-concussion). Eighteen athletes had a history of concussion and 11 had no concussion history. The two tests involved visuospatial working memory (i.e., Corsi block test) and auditory tone discrimination. Participants completed both tasks individually, then simultaneously. Two outcome variables were measured, Corsi block memory span and auditory tone discrimination accuracy. No differences were shown when each task was performed alone; however, athletes with a history of concussion had a significantly worse performance on the tone discrimination task in the dual-task condition. In conclusion, long-term deficits in executive functions were associated with a prior history of concussion when cognitive resources were stressed. Evaluations of executive functions and divided attention appear to be helpful in discriminating participants with and without a history concussion.

  11. Gazing toward humans: a study on water rescue dogs using the impossible task paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Aniello, Biagio; Scandurra, Anna; Prato-Previde, Emanuela; Valsecchi, Paola

    2015-01-01

    Various studies have assessed the role of life experiences, including learning opportunities, living conditions and the quality of dog-human relationships, in the use of human cues and problem-solving ability. The current study investigates how and to what extent training affects the behaviour of dogs and the communication of dogs with humans by comparing dogs trained for a water rescue service and untrained pet dogs in the impossible task paradigm. Twenty-three certified water rescue dogs (the water rescue group) and 17 dogs with no training experience (the untrained group) were tested using a modified version of the impossible task described by Marshall-Pescini et al. in 2009. The results demonstrated that the water rescue dogs directed their first gaze significantly more often towards the owner and spent more time gazing toward two people compared to the untrained pet dogs. There was no difference between the dogs of the two groups as far as in the amount of time spent gazing at the owner or the stranger; neither in the interaction with the apparatus attempting to obtain food. The specific training regime, aimed at promoting cooperation during the performance of water rescue, could account for the longer gazing behaviour shown toward people by the water rescue dogs and the priority of gazing toward the owner. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Task Uncertainty Can Account for Mixing and Switch Costs in Task-Switching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rennie, Jaime L.

    2015-01-01

    Cognitive control is required in situations that involve uncertainty or change, such as when resolving conflict, selecting responses and switching tasks. Recently, it has been suggested that cognitive control can be conceptualised as a mechanism which prioritises goal-relevant information to deal with uncertainty. This hypothesis has been supported using a paradigm that requires conflict resolution. In this study, we examine whether cognitive control during task switching is also consistent with this notion. We used information theory to quantify the level of uncertainty in different trial types during a cued task-switching paradigm. We test the hypothesis that differences in uncertainty between task repeat and task switch trials can account for typical behavioural effects in task-switching. Increasing uncertainty was associated with less efficient performance (i.e., slower and less accurate), particularly on switch trials and trials that afford little opportunity for advance preparation. Interestingly, both mixing and switch costs were associated with a common episodic control process. These results support the notion that cognitive control may be conceptualised as an information processor that serves to resolve uncertainty in the environment. PMID:26107646

  13. The Applicability of Rhythm-Motor Tasks to a New Dual Task Paradigm for Older Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soo Ji Kim

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Given the interplay between cognitive and motor functions during walking, cognitive demands required during gait have been investigated with regard to dual task performance. Along with the needs to understand how the type of concurrent task while walking affects gait performance, there are calls for diversified dual tasks that can be applied to older adults with varying levels of cognitive decline. Therefore, this study aimed to examine how rhythm-motor tasks affect dual task performance and gait control, compared to a traditional cognitive-motor task. Also, it examined whether rhythm-motor tasks are correlated with traditional cognitive-motor task performance and cognitive measures. Eighteen older adults without cognitive impairment participated in this study. Each participant was instructed to walk at self-paced tempo without performing a concurrent task (single walking task and walk while separately performing two types of concurrent tasks: rhythm-motor and cognitive-motor tasks. Rhythm-motor tasks included instrument playing (WalkIP, matching to rhythmic cueing (WalkRC, and instrument playing while matching to rhythmic cueing (WalkIP+RC. The cognitive-motor task involved counting forward by 3s (WalkCount.f3. In each condition, dual task costs (DTC, a measure for how dual tasks affect gait parameters, were measured in terms of walking speed and stride length. The ratio of stride length to walking speed, a measure for dynamic control of gait, was also examined. The results of this study demonstrated that the task type was found to significantly influence these measures. Rhythm-motor tasks were found to interfere with gait parameters to a lesser extent than the cognitive-motor task (WalkCount.f3. In terms of ratio measures, stride length remained at a similar level, walking speed greatly decreased in the WalkCount.f3 condition. Significant correlations between dual task-related measures during rhythm-motor and cognitive-motor tasks support the

  14. Monitoring supports performance in a dual-task paradigm involving a risky decision-making task and a working memory task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bettina eGathmann

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Performing two cognitively demanding tasks at the same time is known to decrease performance. The current study investigates the underlying executive functions of a dual-tasking situation involving the simultaneous performance of decision making under explicit risk and a working memory task. It is suggested that making a decision and performing a working memory task at the same time should particularly require monitoring - an executive control process supervising behavior and the state of processing on two tasks. To test the role of a supervisory/monitoring function in such a dual-tasking situation we investigated 122 participants with the Game of Dice Task plus 2-back task (GDT plus 2-back task. This dual task requires participants to make decisions under risk and to perform a 2-back working memory task at the same time. Furthermore, a task measuring a set of several executive functions gathered in the term concept formation (Modified Card Sorting Test, MCST and the newly developed Balanced Switching Task (BST, measuring monitoring in particular, were used. The results demonstrate that concept formation and monitoring are involved in the simultaneous performance of decision making under risk and a working memory task. In particular, the mediation analysis revealed that BST performance partially mediates the influence of MCST performance on the GDT plus 2-back task. These findings suggest that monitoring is one important subfunction for superior performance in a dual-tasking situation including decision making under risk and a working memory task.

  15. Monitoring supports performance in a dual-task paradigm involving a risky decision-making task and a working memory task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gathmann, Bettina; Schiebener, Johannes; Wolf, Oliver T.; Brand, Matthias

    2015-01-01

    Performing two cognitively demanding tasks at the same time is known to decrease performance. The current study investigates the underlying executive functions of a dual-tasking situation involving the simultaneous performance of decision making under explicit risk and a working memory task. It is suggested that making a decision and performing a working memory task at the same time should particularly require monitoring—an executive control process supervising behavior and the state of processing on two tasks. To test the role of a supervisory/monitoring function in such a dual-tasking situation we investigated 122 participants with the Game of Dice Task plus 2-back task (GDT plus 2-back task). This dual task requires participants to make decisions under risk and to perform a 2-back working memory task at the same time. Furthermore, a task measuring a set of several executive functions gathered in the term concept formation (Modified Card Sorting Test, MCST) and the newly developed Balanced Switching Task (BST), measuring monitoring in particular, were used. The results demonstrate that concept formation and monitoring are involved in the simultaneous performance of decision making under risk and a working memory task. In particular, the mediation analysis revealed that BST performance partially mediates the influence of MCST performance on the GDT plus 2-back task. These findings suggest that monitoring is one important subfunction for superior performance in a dual-tasking situation including decision making under risk and a working memory task. PMID:25741308

  16. Evaluating the Fabreville Heart Health Program in Laval, Canada: a dialogue between two paradigms, positivism and constructivism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Minh Nguyet; Otis, Joanne

    2003-06-01

    As part of the Canadian Federal-Provincial Initiative in Heart Health, the goal of the Fabreville Heart Health Program was to sensitize a district of Laval, Quebec's second most populous city, to heart-healthy behaviours. The program was planned and implemented by a committee composed of Fabreville community leaders and professionals from the Public Health Department. Between 1992 and 1994, intervention objectives were defined by the department in terms of changing individual behaviours associated with cardiovascular risk factors, namely diet, sedentariness and smoking, as well as adapting physical and social environments to facilitate these changes. However, from 1994 to its conclusion in 1997, the program was re-oriented to engage the population in mobilizing their own community and taking charge of interventions themselves. Actions then became dependent on the interests and motivation of Fabreville residents to transform their lifestyles and aspects of their physical environment. The initial evaluation process, based on the positivist paradigm, was designed to measure changes in individual behaviours and certain physical environments, such as an increase in designated non-smoking areas. However, following the re-orientation towards community mobilization, it was decided that evaluation should go beyond the professional production of data to include a process of the collective construction of knowledge. Evaluation methodology then became based on the constructivist paradigm. Yet field constraints such as lack of community involvement in both leadership and process evaluation, and the need to ensure evaluation standards and fulfil sponsor obligations, compelled the Public Health Department to return to using a certain number of positivist methods. The ensuing inter-paradigm dialogue helped broaden the scope of evaluation and contributed to gaining a more in-depth understanding of the processes and outcomes of community mobilization.

  17. Effect of spin reorientation on magnetocaloric and transport properties of NdAl{sub 2}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza, M.V. de, E-mail: marcos_vinicios@hotmail.com [Núcleo de Pós-Graduação em Física, Campus Prof. José Aloísio de Campos, UFS, 49100-000 São Cristóvão, SE (Brazil); Silva, J.A. da [Núcleo de Pós-Graduação em Física, Campus Prof. José Aloísio de Campos, UFS, 49100-000 São Cristóvão, SE (Brazil); Silva, L.S. [Núcleo de Pós-Graduação em Física, Campus Prof. José Aloísio de Campos, UFS, 49100-000 São Cristóvão, SE (Brazil); Instituto Federal de Tocantins, IFTO – Campus Colinas do Tocantins, AV. Bernardo Sayao S/N, Chácara Raio de Sol, Setor Santa Maria, CEP 77760-000 Colinas do Tocantins, TO (Brazil)

    2017-01-01

    We report the magneto-thermal and resistive properties of rare-earth dialuminide NdAl{sub 2}, including spin reorientation transition. To this purpose, we used a theoretical model that considers the interactions of exchange and Zeeman, besides the anisotropy due to the electrical crystal field. The theoretical results obtained were compared to experimental data of the NdAl{sub 2} in single crystal and bulk forms. Explicitly, we have calculated the anisotropic variation of magnetic entropy with the magnetic field oriented along the three principal crystallographic directions: [100], [110], and [111] of NdAl{sub 2} single crystal, where a signature of the spin reorientation is observed in the [110] and [111] directions. Moreover, of magnetoresistivity we consider the applied magnetic field along the crystallographic directions [100] and [110]. In turn, for the polycrystalline form, the good agreement between theory and experiment confirms the presence of spin reorientation, which was predicted theoretically in magnetization curves. - Highlights: • Modeling of the thermodynamics quantities in NdAl{sub 2} single crystal and policrystal. • Modeling of the transport properties in NdAl{sub 2} single crystal. • Effect of reorientation of spin on caloric and transport properties.

  18. X-ray diffraction investigation of spin reorientation in SmFe2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaviko, V.S.; Korolyov, A.V.; Mushnikov, N.V.

    1996-01-01

    Spontaneous magnetoelastic crystal lattice distortions in the spin reorientation region of high magnetostrictive SmFe 2 have been investigated by X-ray diffraction in the temperature range 80-300 K. Comparison of experimental shapes of X-ray diffraction lines with calculated shapes shows that, in the region of the spin reorientation transition, a mixture of left angle 110 right angle and left angle 111 right angle phases rather than the angular left angle uuw right angle -type phase is realized. The temperature dependence of the relative volume content of left angle 110 right angle and left angle 111 right angle phases is determined using least-squares fitting. (orig.)

  19. Mandarin functional MRI Language paradigms

    OpenAIRE

    Ci, He; van Graan, Andre; Gonz?lvez, Gloria; Thompson, Pamela; Hill, Andrea; Duncan, John S.

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to implement convenient, fast, and accurate Mandarin task paradigms for functional MRI, and to locate the Chinese language functional areas in frontal and temporal lobes. Materials and Methods Nineteen healthy Chinese volunteers participated in this study, which utilized a block design with four language tasks: auditory naming (AN), picture naming (PN), verbal fluency?character (VFC), and verbal fluency?letter (VFL). All functional images wer...

  20. The BOLD Response during Stroop Task-Like Inhibition Paradigms: Effects of Task Difficulty and Task-Relevant Modality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Rachel L. C.

    2005-01-01

    Previous studies of the Stroop task propose two key mediators: the prefrontal and cingulate cortices but hints exist of functional specialization within these regions. This study aimed to examine the effect of task modality upon the prefrontal and cingulate response by examining the response to colour, number, and shape Stroop tasks whilst BOLD…

  1. Terahertz probes of magnetic field induced spin reorientation in YFeO{sub 3} single crystal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Xian; Jiang, Junjie; Ma, Guohong, E-mail: ghma@staff.shu.edu.cn [Department of Physics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China); Jin, Zuanming [Department of Physics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China); Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz (Germany); Wang, Dongyang; Tian, Zhen; Han, Jiaguang [Center for Terahertz Waves and College of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronics Information and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Cheng, Zhenxiang [Department of Physics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China); Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522 (Australia)

    2015-03-02

    Using the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, we demonstrate the spin reorientation of a canted antiferromagnetic YFeO{sub 3} single crystal, by evaluating the temperature and magnetic field dependence of resonant frequency and amplitude for the quasi-ferromagnetic (FM) and quasi-antiferromagnetic modes (AFM), a deeper insight into the dynamics of spin reorientation in rare-earth orthoferrites is established. Due to the absence of 4f-electrons in Y ion, the spin reorientation of Fe sublattices can only be induced by the applied magnetic field, rather than temperature. In agreement with the theoretical predication, the frequency of FM mode decreases with magnetic field. In addition, an obvious step of spin reorientation phase transition occurs with a relatively large applied magnetic field of 4 T. By comparison with the family members of RFeO{sub 3} (R = Y{sup 3+} or rare-earth ions), our results suggest that the chosen of R would tailor the dynamical rotation properties of Fe ions, leading to the designable spin switching in the orthoferrite antiferromagnetic systems.

  2. Reorientation response of magnetic microspheres attached to gold electrodes under an applied magnetic field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Los Santos Valladares, L.; Reeve, R.M.; Mitrelias, T.; Langford, R.M.; Barnes, C.H.W.; Bustamante Dominguez, A.; Aguiar, J. Albino; Majima, Y.

    2013-01-01

    In this work, we report the mechanical reorientation of thiolated ferromagnetic microspheres bridging a pair of gold electrodes under an external magnetic field. When an external magnetic field (7 kG) is applied during the measurement of the current-voltage characteristics of a carboxyl ferromagnetic microsphere (4 μm diameter) attached to two gold electrodes by self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of octane dithiol (C 8 H 18 S 2 ), the current signal is distorted. Rather than due to magnetoresistance, this effect is caused by a mechanical reorientation of the ferromagnetic sphere, which alters the number of SAMs between the sphere and the electrodes and therefore affects conduction. To study the physical reorientation of the ferromagnetic particles, we measure their hysteresis loops while suspended in a liquid solution. (author)

  3. Reorientation response of magnetic microspheres attached to gold electrodes under an applied magnetic field

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Los Santos Valladares, L.; Reeve, R.M.; Mitrelias, T.; Langford, R.M.; Barnes, C.H.W., E-mail: luis_d_v@hotmail.com [Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge Materials and Structures Laboratory (United Kingdom); Bustamante Dominguez, A. [Laboratorio de Ceramicos y Nanomateriales, Facultad de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima (Peru); Aguiar, J. Albino [Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE (Brazil). Departamento de Fisica; Azuma, Y. [Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Midori-ku, Yokohama (Japan); Majima, Y. [CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Midori-ku, Yokohama (Japan)

    2013-08-15

    In this work, we report the mechanical reorientation of thiolated ferromagnetic microspheres bridging a pair of gold electrodes under an external magnetic field. When an external magnetic field (7 kG) is applied during the measurement of the current-voltage characteristics of a carboxyl ferromagnetic microsphere (4 μm diameter) attached to two gold electrodes by self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of octane dithiol (C{sub 8}H{sub 18}S{sub 2}), the current signal is distorted. Rather than due to magnetoresistance, this effect is caused by a mechanical reorientation of the ferromagnetic sphere, which alters the number of SAMs between the sphere and the electrodes and therefore affects conduction. To study the physical reorientation of the ferromagnetic particles, we measure their hysteresis loops while suspended in a liquid solution. (author)

  4. INIST: databases reorientation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bidet, J.C.

    1995-01-01

    INIST is a CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) laboratory devoted to the treatment of scientific and technical informations and to the management of these informations compiled in a database. Reorientation of the database content has been proposed in 1994 to increase the transfer of research towards enterprises and services, to develop more automatized accesses to the informations, and to create a quality assurance plan. The catalog of publications comprises 5800 periodical titles (1300 for fundamental research and 4500 for applied research). A science and technology multi-thematic database will be created in 1995 for the retrieval of applied and technical informations. ''Grey literature'' (reports, thesis, proceedings..) and human and social sciences data will be added to the base by the use of informations selected in the existing GRISELI and Francis databases. Strong modifications are also planned in the thematic cover of Earth sciences and will considerably reduce the geological information content. (J.S.). 1 tab

  5. Molecular reorientations in the nematic and rotatory phases of di-n-pentyloxyazoxybenzene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen, X.P.; Krawczyk, J.; Chrusciel, D.

    1986-04-01

    Results of dielectric relaxation (DR), quasielastic neutron scattering (QNS), calorimetric DSC and preliminary X-ray measurements on the fifth member - 5.OAOB - of the alkoxyazoxybenzene homologous series are presented. It has been found that 5.OAOB exhibits two mesophases: a nematic (N) and an ''intermediate'' crystalline phase (Cr I) just below it. From comparison of the DR and QNS studies one can conclude that in the N phase the molecule as a whole performs rotational diffusion around the long axis (τ perpendicular DR ∼150 ps) and at the same time the two moieties perform faster independent reorientations around N - benzene rings bonds with τ QNS ∼5 ps. The Cr I phase is identified as a solid unaxial rotational phase in which fast molecular reorientations exist. It seems that the fast reorientations observed in the N phase to some extent survive to the Cr I phase. A model of molecular arrangements in the Cr I phase is proposed and it explains the reduction of the dielectric increment observed on passing from the N phase to this phase. (author)

  6. Stress induced reorientation of vanadium hydride

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beardsley, M.B.

    1977-10-01

    The critical stress for the reorientation of vanadium hydride was determined for the temperature range 180 0 to 280 0 K using flat tensile samples containing 50 to 500 ppM hydrogen by weight. The critical stress was observed to vary from a half to a third of the macroscopic yield stress of pure vanadium over the temperature range. The vanadium hydride could not be stress induced to precipitate above its stress-free precipitation temperature by uniaxial tensile stresses or triaxial tensile stresses induced by a notch

  7. Trait Cheerfulness Does Not Influence Switching Costs But Modulates Preparation and Repetition Effects in a Task-Switching Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raúl López-Benítez

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Many studies have shown the beneficial effect of positive emotions on various cognitive processes, such as creativity and cognitive flexibility. Cheerfulness, understood as an affective predisposition to sense of humor, has been associated with positive emotions. So far, however, no studies have shown the relevance of this dimension in cognitive flexibility processes. The aim of this research was to analyze the relationship between cheerfulness and these processes. To this end, we carried out two studies using a task-switching paradigm. Study 1 aimed at analyzing whether high trait cheerfulness was related to better cognitive flexibility (as measured by reduced task-switching costs, whereas Study 2 aimed at replicating the pattern of data observed in Study 1. The total sample was composed of 139 participants (of which 86 were women selected according to their high versus low scores in trait cheerfulness. In a random way, participants had to judge whether the face presented to them in each trial was that of a man or a woman (gender recognition task or whether it expressed anger or happiness (expressed emotion recognition task. We expected participants with high versus low trait cheerfulness to show a lower task-switching cost (i.e., higher cognitive flexibility. Results did not confirm this hypothesis. However, in both studies, participants with high versus low trait cheerfulness showed a higher facilitation effect when the stimuli attributes were repeated and also when a cue was presented anticipating the demand to perform. We discuss the relevance of these results for a better understanding of cheerfulness.

  8. Stategic reorientation of industrial R&D towards commercial objectives.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brook, Jacques W.; de Bruijn, E.J.; McDonough III, Edward F.; Kaynak, E.; Harcar, T.D.

    2007-01-01

    In an effort to leverage R&D knowledge asset and to create more value from industrial R&D in today’s increasing liberalized and globalising business environments, some corporations adopt a strategic reorientation of their industrial R&D organisation towards commercial objectives. This study suggests

  9. The reorientation of cell nucleus promotes the establishment of front-rear polarity in migrating fibroblasts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maninová, Miloslava; Klímová, Zuzana; Parsons, J Thomas; Weber, Michael J; Iwanicki, Marcin P; Vomastek, Tomáš

    2013-06-12

    The establishment of cell polarity is an essential step in the process of cell migration. This process requires precise spatiotemporal coordination of signaling pathways that in most cells create the typical asymmetrical profile of a polarized cell with nucleus located at the cell rear and the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) positioned between the nucleus and the leading edge. During cell polarization, nucleus rearward positioning promotes correct microtubule organizing center localization and thus the establishment of front-rear polarity and directional migration. We found that cell polarization and directional migration require also the reorientation of the nucleus. Nuclear reorientation is manifested as temporally restricted nuclear rotation that aligns the nuclear axis with the axis of cell migration. We also found that nuclear reorientation requires physical connection between the nucleus and cytoskeleton mediated by the LINC (linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton) complex. Nuclear reorientation is controlled by coordinated activity of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)-mediated activation of GTPase Rho and the activation of integrin, FAK (focal adhesion kinase), Src, and p190RhoGAP signaling pathway. Integrin signaling is spatially induced at the leading edge as FAK and p190RhoGAP are predominantly activated or localized at this location. We suggest that integrin activation within lamellipodia defines cell front, and subsequent FAK, Src, and p190RhoGAP signaling represents the polarity signal that induces reorientation of the nucleus and thus promotes the establishment of front-rear polarity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Dielectric resonance in ErFeO3 in the region of spin reorientation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dan'shin, N.K.; Kovtun, N.M.; Sdvizhkov, M.A.

    1984-01-01

    In the region of spin reorientation in ErFeO 3 in the millimetre wave range a dielectric resonance has been found - excitation of electromaqnetic field natural oscillations in spherical samples. The fregurncies of dielectric resonance in samples from ErFeO 3 possess strong independence of temperature and magnetic field in the vicinity of the spin reorientation for account of a strong growth in the magnetic susceptibility. The frequencies change most considerably in the region of low-temperature spin reorientation related to antiferromagnetic rare earth ordering. Strong anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility cases various temperature and field dependences of the dielectric resonance frequencies at different orientations of the exciting electromagnetic field relative to the crystal axes. It is shown that the method of dielectric resonance permits to determine with high accuracy the temperatures of spontaneous - and crystal fields of induced phase transformations. The crystal dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability dispersion are determined

  11. Task-relevant information is prioritized in spatiotemporal contextual cueing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higuchi, Yoko; Ueda, Yoshiyuki; Ogawa, Hirokazu; Saiki, Jun

    2016-11-01

    Implicit learning of visual contexts facilitates search performance-a phenomenon known as contextual cueing; however, little is known about contextual cueing under situations in which multidimensional regularities exist simultaneously. In everyday vision, different information, such as object identity and location, appears simultaneously and interacts with each other. We tested the hypothesis that, in contextual cueing, when multiple regularities are present, the regularities that are most relevant to our behavioral goals would be prioritized. Previous studies of contextual cueing have commonly used the visual search paradigm. However, this paradigm is not suitable for directing participants' attention to a particular regularity. Therefore, we developed a new paradigm, the "spatiotemporal contextual cueing paradigm," and manipulated task-relevant and task-irrelevant regularities. In four experiments, we demonstrated that task-relevant regularities were more responsible for search facilitation than task-irrelevant regularities. This finding suggests our visual behavior is focused on regularities that are relevant to our current goal.

  12. Task uncertainty can account for mixing and switch costs in task-switching.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrick S Cooper

    Full Text Available Cognitive control is required in situations that involve uncertainty or change, such as when resolving conflict, selecting responses and switching tasks. Recently, it has been suggested that cognitive control can be conceptualised as a mechanism which prioritises goal-relevant information to deal with uncertainty. This hypothesis has been supported using a paradigm that requires conflict resolution. In this study, we examine whether cognitive control during task switching is also consistent with this notion. We used information theory to quantify the level of uncertainty in different trial types during a cued task-switching paradigm. We test the hypothesis that differences in uncertainty between task repeat and task switch trials can account for typical behavioural effects in task-switching. Increasing uncertainty was associated with less efficient performance (i.e., slower and less accurate, particularly on switch trials and trials that afford little opportunity for advance preparation. Interestingly, both mixing and switch costs were associated with a common episodic control process. These results support the notion that cognitive control may be conceptualised as an information processor that serves to resolve uncertainty in the environment.

  13. Fluorescence quenching studies of potential-dependent DNA reorientation dynamics at glassy carbon electrode surfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qin; Cui, Chenchen; Higgins, Daniel A; Li, Jun

    2012-09-05

    The potential-dependent reorientation dynamics of double-stranded DNA (ds-DNA) attached to planar glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surfaces were investigated. The orientation state of surface-bound ds-DNA was followed by monitoring the fluorescence from a 6-carboxyfluorescein (FAM6) fluorophore covalently linked to the distal end of the DNA. Positive potentials (i.e., +0.2 V vs open circuit potential, OCP) caused the ds-DNA to align parallel to the electrode surface, resulting in strong dipole-electrode quenching of FAM6 fluorescence. Switching of the GCE potential to negative values (i.e., -0.2 V vs OCP) caused the ds-DNA to reorient perpendicular to the electrode surface, with a concomitant increase in FAM6 fluorescence. In addition to the very fast (submilliseconds) dynamics of the initial reorientation process, slow (0.1-0.9 s) relaxation of FAM6 fluorescence to intermediate levels was also observed after potential switching. These dynamics have not been previously described in the literature. They are too slow to be explained by double layer charging, and chronoamperometry data showed no evidence of such effects. Both the amplitude and rate of the dynamics were found to depend upon buffer concentration, and ds-DNA length, demonstrating a dependence on the double layer field. The dynamics are concluded to arise from previously undetected complexities in the mechanism of potential-dependent ds-DNA reorientation. The possible origins of these dynamics are discussed. A better understanding of these dynamics will lead to improved models for potential-dependent ds-DNA reorientation at electrode surfaces and will facilitate the development of advanced electrochemical devices for detection of target DNAs.

  14. Thought Suppression Research Methods: Paradigms, Theories, Methodological Concerns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niczyporuk Aneta

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available It is hard to provide an unequivocal answer to the question of whether or not thought suppression is effective. Two thought suppression paradigms - the “white bear” paradigm and the think/no-think paradigm - give mixed results. Generally, “white bear” experiments indicate that thought suppression is counterproductive, while experiments in the think/no-think paradigm suggest that it is possible to effectively suppress a thought. There are also alternative methods used to study thought suppression, for instance the directed forgetting paradigm or the Stroop task. In the article, I describe the research methods used to explore thought suppression efficacy. I focus on the “white bear” and the think/no-think paradigms and discuss theories proposed to explain the results obtained. I also consider the internal and external validity of the methods used.

  15. Default mode network connectivity during task execution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vatansever, D; Menon, D K; Manktelow, A E; Sahakian, B J; Stamatakis, E A

    2015-11-15

    Initially described as task-induced deactivations during goal-directed paradigms of high attentional load, the unresolved functionality of default mode regions has long been assumed to interfere with task performance. However, recent evidence suggests a potential default mode network involvement in fulfilling cognitive demands. We tested this hypothesis in a finger opposition paradigm with task and fixation periods which we compared with an independent resting state scan using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a comprehensive analysis pipeline including activation, functional connectivity, behavioural and graph theoretical assessments. The results indicate task specific changes in the default mode network topography. Behaviourally, we show that increased connectivity of the posterior cingulate cortex with the left superior frontal gyrus predicts faster reaction times. Moreover, interactive and dynamic reconfiguration of the default mode network regions' functional connections illustrates their involvement with the task at hand with higher-level global parallel processing power, yet preserved small-world architecture in comparison with rest. These findings demonstrate that the default mode network does not disengage during this paradigm, but instead may be involved in task relevant processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Photoinduced reorientation and polarization holography in a new photopolymer with 4-methoxy-N-benzylideneaniline side groups

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nobuhiro Kawatsuki

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The photoinduced reorientation and surface relief (SR formation behaviors of a novel photosensitive polymer, which was transparent in visible region, were investigated using linearly polarized-313-nm light and holographic exposure with a 325-nm He-Cd laser. The polymer was comprised of photosensitive 4-methoxy-N-benzylideneaniline side groups, and exhibited a sufficient photoinduced molecular reorientation with a birefringence of 0.11. Holographic exposure generated a SR structure, which had a periodical molecular reorientation that depended on the polarization of the interference beams. The generated SR height was ∼212 nm, and the inscription of a double holographic exposure yielded a two-dimensional SR structure.

  17. Reorientation of single-wall carbon nanotubes in negative anisotropy liquid crystals by an electric field

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amanda García-García

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT are anisotropic nanoparticles that can cause modifications in the electrical and electro-optical properties of liquid crystals. The control of the SWCNT concentration, distribution and reorientation in such self-organized fluids allows for the possibility of tuning the liquid crystal properties. The alignment and reorientation of CNTs are studied in a system where the liquid crystal orientation effect has been isolated. Complementary studies including Raman spectroscopy, microscopic inspection and impedance studies were carried out. The results reveal an ordered reorientation of the CNTs induced by an electric field, which does not alter the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules. Moreover, impedance spectroscopy suggests a nonnegligible anchoring force between the CNTs and the liquid crystal molecules.

  18. Paradigms in object recognition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mutihac, R.; Mutihac, R.C.

    1999-09-01

    A broad range of approaches has been proposed and applied for the complex and rather difficult task of object recognition that involves the determination of object characteristics and object classification into one of many a priori object types. Our paper revises briefly the three main different paradigms in pattern recognition, namely Bayesian statistics, neural networks, and expert systems. (author)

  19. A Systematic Review of fMRI Reward Paradigms in Adolescents versus Adults: The Impact of Task Design and Implications for Understanding Neurodevelopment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Jessica M.; Plate, Rista C.; Ernst, Monique

    2013-01-01

    The neural systems underlying reward-related behaviors across development have recently generated a great amount of interest. Yet, the neurodevelopmental literature on reward processing is marked by inconsistencies due to the heterogeneity of the reward paradigms used, the complexity of the behaviors being studied, and the developing brain itself as a moving target. The present review will examine task design as one source of variability across findings by compiling this literature along three dimensions: (1) task structures, (2) cognitive processes, and (3) neural systems. We start with the presentation of a heuristic neural systems model, the Triadic Model, as a way to provide a theoretical framework for the neuroscience research on motivated behaviors. We then discuss the principles guiding reward task development. Finally, we review the extant developmental neuroimaging literature on reward-related processing, organized by reward task type. We hope that this approach will help to clarify the literature on the functional neurodevelopment of reward-related neural systems, and to identify the role of the experimental parameters that significantly influence these findings. PMID:23518270

  20. Microtubule array reorientation in response to hormones does not involve changes in microtubule nucleation modes at the periclinal cell surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atkinson, Samantha; Kirik, Angela; Kirik, Viktor

    2014-01-01

    Aligned microtubule arrays spatially organize cell division, trafficking, and determine the direction of cell expansion in plant cells. In response to changes in environmental and developmental signals, cells reorganize their microtubule arrays into new configurations. Here, we tested the role of microtubule nucleation during hormone-induced microtubule array reorientation. We have found that in the process of microtubule array reorientation the ratios between branching, parallel, and de-novo nucleations remained constant, suggesting that the microtubule reorientation mechanism does not involve changes in nucleation modes. In the ton2/fass mutant, which has reduced microtubule branching nucleation frequency and decreased nucleation activity of the γ-tubulin complexes, microtubule arrays were able to reorient. Presented data suggest that reorientation of microtubules into transverse arrays in response to hormones does not involve changes in microtubule nucleation at the periclinal cell surface PMID:25135522

  1. Cognitive structure, flexibility, and plasticity in human multitasking-An integrative review of dual-task and task-switching research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, Iring; Poljac, Edita; Müller, Hermann; Kiesel, Andrea

    2018-06-01

    Numerous studies showed decreased performance in situations that require multiple tasks or actions relative to appropriate control conditions. Because humans often engage in such multitasking activities, it is important to understand how multitasking affects performance. In the present article, we argue that research on dual-task interference and sequential task switching has proceeded largely separately using different experimental paradigms and methodology. In our article we aim at organizing this complex set of research in terms of three complementary research perspectives on human multitasking. One perspective refers to structural accounts in terms of cognitive bottlenecks (i.e., critical processing stages). A second perspective refers to cognitive flexibility in terms of the underlying cognitive control processes. A third perspective emphasizes cognitive plasticity in terms of the influence of practice on human multitasking abilities. With our review article we aimed at highlighting the value of an integrative position that goes beyond isolated consideration of a single theoretical research perspective and that broadens the focus from single experimental paradigms (dual task and task switching) to favor instead a view that emphasizes the fundamental similarity of the underlying cognitive mechanisms across multitasking paradigms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Theory of phase transformation and reorientation in single crystalline shape memory alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, J J; Liang, N G; Cai, M; Liew, K M; Huang, W M

    2008-01-01

    A constitutive model, based on an (n+1)-phase mixture of the Mori–Tanaka average theory, has been developed for stress-induced martensitic transformation and reorientation in single crystalline shape memory alloys. Volume fractions of different martensite lattice correspondence variants are chosen as internal variables to describe microstructural evolution. Macroscopic Gibbs free energy for the phase transformation is derived with thermodynamics principles and the ensemble average method of micro-mechanics. The critical condition and the evolution equation are proposed for both the phase transition and reorientation. This model can also simulate interior hysteresis loops during loading/unloading by switching the critical driving forces when an opposite transition takes place

  3. Quantitative analysis of distributed control paradigms of robot swarms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ngo, Trung Dung

    2010-01-01

    describe the physical and simulated robots, experiment scenario, and experiment setup. Third, we present our robot controllers based on behaviour based and neural network based paradigms. Fourth, we graphically show their experiment results and quantitatively analyse the results in comparison of the two......Given a task of designing controller for mobile robots in swarms, one might wonder which distributed control paradigms should be selected. Until now, paradigms of robot controllers have been within either behaviour based control or neural network based control, which have been recognized as two...... mainstreams of controller design for mobile robots. However, in swarm robotics, it is not clear how to determine control paradigms. In this paper we study the two control paradigms with various experiments of swarm aggregation. First, we introduce the two control paradigms for mobile robots. Second, we...

  4. Naming and categorizing objects: task differences modulate the polarity of semantic effects in the picture-word interference paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hantsch, Ansgar; Jescheniak, Jörg D; Mädebach, Andreas

    2012-07-01

    The picture-word interference paradigm is a prominent tool for studying lexical retrieval during speech production. When participants name the pictures, interference from semantically related distractor words has regularly been shown. By contrast, when participants categorize the pictures, facilitation from semantically related distractors has typically been found. In the extant studies, however, differences in the task instructions (naming vs. categorizing) were confounded with the response level: While responses in naming were typically located at the basic level (e.g., "dog"), responses were located at the superordinate level in categorization (e.g., "animal"). The present study avoided this confound by having participants respond at the basic level in both naming and categorization, using the same pictures, distractors, and verbal responses. Our findings confirm the polarity reversal of the semantic effects--that is, semantic interference in naming, and semantic facilitation in categorization. These findings show that the polarity reversal of the semantic effect is indeed due to the different tasks and is not an artifact of the different response levels used in previous studies. Implications for current models of language production are discussed.

  5. Egocentric and allocentric alignment tasks are affected by otolith input.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarnutzer, Alexander A; Bockisch, Christopher J; Olasagasti, Itsaso; Straumann, Dominik

    2012-06-01

    Gravicentric visual alignments become less precise when the head is roll-tilted relative to gravity, which is most likely due to decreasing otolith sensitivity. To align a luminous line with the perceived gravity vector (gravicentric task) or the perceived body-longitudinal axis (egocentric task), the roll orientation of the line on the retina and the torsional position of the eyes relative to the head must be integrated to obtain the line orientation relative to the head. Whether otolith input contributes to egocentric tasks and whether the modulation of variability is restricted to vision-dependent paradigms is unknown. In nine subjects we compared precision and accuracy of gravicentric and egocentric alignments in various roll positions (upright, 45°, and 75° right-ear down) using a luminous line (visual paradigm) in darkness. Trial-to-trial variability doubled for both egocentric and gravicentric alignments when roll-tilted. Two mechanisms might explain the roll-angle-dependent modulation in egocentric tasks: 1) Modulating variability in estimated ocular torsion, which reflects the roll-dependent precision of otolith signals, affects the precision of estimating the line orientation relative to the head; this hypothesis predicts that variability modulation is restricted to vision-dependent alignments. 2) Estimated body-longitudinal reflects the roll-dependent variability of perceived earth-vertical. Gravicentric cues are thereby integrated regardless of the task's reference frame. To test the two hypotheses the visual paradigm was repeated using a rod instead (haptic paradigm). As with the visual paradigm, precision significantly decreased with increasing head roll for both tasks. These findings propose that the CNS integrates input coded in a gravicentric frame to solve egocentric tasks. In analogy to gravicentric tasks, where trial-to-trial variability is mainly influenced by the properties of the otolith afferents, egocentric tasks may also integrate

  6. Effects of noise and task loading on a communication task loading on a communication task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orrell, Dean H., II

    Previous research had shown the effect of noise on a single communication task. This research has been criticized as not being representative of a real world situation since subjects allocated all of their attention to only one task. In the present study, the effect of adding a loading task to a standard noise-communication paradigm was investigated. Subjects performed both a communication task (Modified Rhyme Test; House et al. 1965) and a short term memory task (Sternberg, 1969) in simulated levels of aircraft noise (95, 105 and 115 dB overall sound pressure level (OASPL)). Task loading was varied with Sternberg's task by requiring subjects to memorize one, four, or six alphanumeric characters. Simulated aircraft noise was varied between levels of 95, 105 and 115 dB OASPL using a pink noise source. Results show that the addition of Sternberg's task and little effect on the intelligibility of the communication task while response time for the communication task increased.

  7. Reorientation of magnetization with temperature in 2D ferromagnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fridman, Yu. A.; Spirin, D.V.; Klevets, Ph. N.

    2002-01-01

    We investigated 2D Heisenberg ferromagnet (monolayer) with the account of dipolar forces and uniaxial anisotropy and found a reorientation phase transition in temperature from out-of-plane to in-plane phase. This phase transition is of the first order with hysteresis. We estimated the temperatures of switching both analytically and numerically

  8. Limitations in dual-task performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pannebakker, Merel Mathilde

    2009-01-01

    In this thesis, the effect of information-processing overload on working-memory dependent information processing was examined using dual-task paradigms. The experiments described strengthen the importance of a functional explanation for dual-task limitations. First, it showed evidence for a unified

  9. Stable panoramic views facilitate snap-shot like memories for spatial reorientation in homing pigeons.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tommaso Pecchia

    Full Text Available Following spatial disorientation, animals can reorient themselves by relying on geometric cues (metric and sense specified both by the macroscopic surface layout of an enclosed space and prominent visual landmarks in arrays. Whether spatial reorientation in arrays of landmarks is based on explicit representation of the geometric cues is a matter of debate. Here we trained homing pigeons (Columba livia to locate a food-reward in a rectangular array of four identical or differently coloured pipes provided with four openings, only one of which allowed the birds to have access to the reward. Pigeons were trained either with a stable or a variable position of the opening on pipes, so that they could view the array either from the same or a variable perspective. Explicit mapping of configural geometry would predict successful reorientation irrespective of access condition. In contrast, we found that a stable view of the array facilitated spatial learning in homing pigeons, likely through the formation of snapshot-like memories.

  10. Spontaneous reorientation is guided by perceived surface distance, not by image matching or comparison.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sang Ah Lee

    Full Text Available Humans and animals recover their sense of position and orientation using properties of the surface layout, but the processes underlying this ability are disputed. Although behavioral and neurophysiological experiments on animals long have suggested that reorientation depends on representations of surface distance, recent experiments on young children join experimental studies and computational models of animal navigation to suggest that reorientation depends either on processing of any continuous perceptual variables or on matching of 2D, depthless images of the landscape. We tested the surface distance hypothesis against these alternatives through studies of children, using environments whose 3D shape and 2D image properties were arranged to enhance or cancel impressions of depth. In the absence of training, children reoriented by subtle differences in perceived surface distance under conditions that challenge current models of 2D-image matching or comparison processes. We provide evidence that children's spontaneous navigation depends on representations of 3D layout geometry.

  11. Control and Interference in Task Switching--A Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiesel, Andrea; Steinhauser, Marco; Wendt, Mike; Falkenstein, Michael; Jost, Kerstin; Philipp, Andrea M.; Koch, Iring

    2010-01-01

    The task-switching paradigm offers enormous possibilities to study cognitive control as well as task interference. The current review provides an overview of recent research on both topics. First, we review different experimental approaches to task switching, such as comparing mixed-task blocks with single-task blocks, predictable task-switching…

  12. Task Complexity, Student Perceptions of Vocabulary Learning in EFL, and Task Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xiaoli; Lowyck, Joost; Sercu, Lies; Elen, Jan

    2013-01-01

    Background: The study deepened our understanding of how students' self-ef?cacy beliefs contribute to the context of teaching English as a foreign language in the framework of cognitive mediational paradigm at a ?ne-tuned task-speci?c level. Aim: The aim was to examine the relationship among task complexity, self-ef?cacy beliefs, domain-related…

  13. Mean-field theory of photoinduced molecular reorientation in azobenzene liquid crystalline side-chain polymers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, T.G.; Johansen, P.M.

    1997-01-01

    . The theory provides an explanation for the high long-term stability of the photoinduced anisotropy as well as a theoretical prediction of the temporal behavior of photoinduced birefringence. The theoretical results agree favorably with measurements in the entire range of writing intensities used......A novel mean-field theory of photoinduced reorientation and optical anisotropy in liquid crystalline side-chain polymers is presented and compared with experiments, The reorientation mechanism is based on photoinduced trans cis isomerization and a multidomain model of the material is introduced...

  14. The juggling paradigm: a novel social neuroscience approach to identify neuropsychophysiological markers of team mental models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filho, Edson; Bertollo, Maurizio; Robazza, Claudio; Comani, Silvia

    2015-01-01

    Since the discovery of the mirror neuron system in the 1980s, little, if any, research has been devoted to the study of interactive motor tasks (Goldman, 2012). Scientists interested in the neuropsychophysiological markers of joint motor action have relied on observation paradigms and passive tasks rather than dynamic paradigms and interactive tasks (Konvalinka and Roepstorff, 2012). Within this research scenario, we introduce a novel research paradigm that uses cooperative juggling as a platform to capture peripheral (e.g., skin conductance, breathing and heart rates, electromyographic signals) and central neuropsychophysiological (e.g., functional connectivity within and between brains) markers underlying the notion of team mental models (TMM). We discuss the epistemological and theoretical grounds of a cooperative juggling paradigm, and propose testable hypotheses on neuropsychophysiological markers underlying TMM. Furthermore, we present key methodological concerns that may influence peripheral responses as well as single and hyperbrain network configurations during joint motor action. Preliminary findings of the paradigm are highlighted. We conclude by delineating avenues for future research.

  15. Molecular reorientations in a substance with liquid-crystalline and plastic-crystalline phases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen, Xuan Phuc.

    1986-05-01

    Results of dielectric relaxation (DR), quasielastic neutron scattering (QNS), far infrared absorption (FIR), proton magnetic resonance (PMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and preliminary X-ray diffraction measurements on the di-n-pentyloxyazoxybenzene (5.OAOB) are presented. The measurements carried out by all these methods showed that 5.OAOB exhibits a nontypical for liquid-crystalline materials phase diagram. It has two mesophases: a nematic (N) and an ''intermediate'' crystalline phase just below it. A complex interpretation of results obtained is given. All suggestions concerning the character of reorientational motions of the molecule as a whole as well as of its segments in mesomorphic phases are analyzed. From comparison of the DR and QNS studies one can conclude that in the N phase the molecule as a whole performs rotational diffusion around the long axis (τ DR ∼ 100 ps) and at the same time the two moieties perform faster independent reorientations around N - benzene rings bonds withτ QNS ∼ 5 ps. On the basis of various experimental data it is shown that the CrI phase is a plastic-crystalline phase for which the molecule and its segments perform fast stochastic unaxial reorientations. This is the first case where the existence of such a phase in liquid-crystalline materials has been experimentally confirmed. (author)

  16. The functional neuroanatomy of multitasking: combining dual tasking with a short term memory task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deprez, Sabine; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu; Peeters, Ron; Emsell, Louise; Amant, Frederic; Sunaert, Stefan

    2013-09-01

    Insight into the neural architecture of multitasking is crucial when investigating the pathophysiology of multitasking deficits in clinical populations. Presently, little is known about how the brain combines dual-tasking with a concurrent short-term memory task, despite the relevance of this mental operation in daily life and the frequency of complaints related to this process, in disease. In this study we aimed to examine how the brain responds when a memory task is added to dual-tasking. Thirty-three right-handed healthy volunteers (20 females, mean age 39.9 ± 5.8) were examined with functional brain imaging (fMRI). The paradigm consisted of two cross-modal single tasks (a visual and auditory temporal same-different task with short delay), a dual-task combining both single tasks simultaneously and a multi-task condition, combining the dual-task with an additional short-term memory task (temporal same-different visual task with long delay). Dual-tasking compared to both individual visual and auditory single tasks activated a predominantly right-sided fronto-parietal network and the cerebellum. When adding the additional short-term memory task, a larger and more bilateral frontoparietal network was recruited. We found enhanced activity during multitasking in components of the network that were already involved in dual-tasking, suggesting increased working memory demands, as well as recruitment of multitask-specific components including areas that are likely to be involved in online holding of visual stimuli in short-term memory such as occipito-temporal cortex. These results confirm concurrent neural processing of a visual short-term memory task during dual-tasking and provide evidence for an effective fMRI multitasking paradigm. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Models for predicting the inflectional paradigm of Croatian words

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Šnajder

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Morphological analysis is a prerequisite for many natural language processing tasks. For inflectionally rich languages such as Croatian, morphological analysis typically relies on a morphological lexicon, which lists the lemmas and their paradigms. However, a real-life morphological analyzer must also be able to handle properly the out-of-vocabulary words. We address the task of predicting the correct inflectional paradigm of unknown Croatian words. We frame this as a supervised machine learning problem: we train a classifier to predict whether a candidate lemma-paradigm pair is correct based on a number of string- and corpus-based features. The candidate lemma-paradigm pairs are generated using a handcrafted morphology grammar. Our aim is to examine the machine learning aspect of the problem: we test a comprehensive set of features and evaluate the classification accuracy using different feature subsets. We show that satisfactory classification accuracy (92% can be achieved with SVM using a combination of string- and corpus-based features. On a per word basis, the F1-score is 53% and accuracy is 70%, which outperforms a frequency-based baseline by a wide margin. We discuss a number of possible directions for future research.

  18. Understanding paradigms used for nursing research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weaver, Kathryn; Olson, Joanne K

    2006-02-01

    The aims of this paper are to add clarity to the discussion about paradigms for nursing research and to consider integrative strategies for the development of nursing knowledge. Paradigms are sets of beliefs and practices, shared by communities of researchers, which regulate inquiry within disciplines. The various paradigms are characterized by ontological, epistemological and methodological differences in their approaches to conceptualizing and conducting research, and in their contribution towards disciplinary knowledge construction. Researchers may consider these differences so vast that one paradigm is incommensurable with another. Alternatively, researchers may ignore these differences and either unknowingly combine paradigms inappropriately or neglect to conduct needed research. To accomplish the task of developing nursing knowledge for use in practice, there is a need for a critical, integrated understanding of the paradigms used for nursing inquiry. We describe the evolution and influence of positivist, postpositivist, interpretive and critical theory research paradigms. Using integrative review, we compare and contrast the paradigms in terms of their philosophical underpinnings and scientific contribution. A pragmatic approach to theory development through synthesis of cumulative knowledge relevant to nursing practice is suggested. This requires that inquiry start with assessment of existing knowledge from disparate studies to identify key substantive content and gaps. Knowledge development in under-researched areas could be accomplished through integrative strategies that preserve theoretical integrity and strengthen research approaches associated with various philosophical perspectives. These strategies may include parallel studies within the same substantive domain using different paradigms; theoretical triangulation to combine findings from paradigmatically diverse studies; integrative reviews; and mixed method studies. Nurse scholars are urged to

  19. Reorientational motion of a cross-link junction in a poly(dimethylsiloxane) network measured by time-resolved fluorescence depolarization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stein, A.D.; Hoffman, D.A.; Frank, C.W.; Fayer, M.D.

    1992-01-01

    The reorientational dynamics of a cross-link junction in poly(dimethylsiloxane) networks, measured by the fluorescence anisotropy decay of a chromophore tagged to the cross-link, have been investigated over a range of temperatures from T g +75 to T g +150. The probe chromophore, 1-dimethylamino-5-sulfonylnaphthalene amide (dansyl amide), is pendant to a trifunctional silane that acts as a cross-linking molecule. In cyclohexanol, the fluorescence anisotropy decay is in agreement with Debye--Stokes--Einstein hydrodynamic theory (rotational diffusion) demonstrating that the cross-linker can be used as a probe of orientational relaxation. The fluorescence anisotropy decays at a rapid rate in an end-linked poly(dimethyl siloxane) network reflecting fast reorientational motion of the cross-link junction. This reorientation appears diffusive and has a temperature dependence in accord with the Williams--Landel--Ferry equation. A model is proposed that suggests that reorientation and translational motion of the cross-link occur simultaneously and are both coupled to fluctuations of the polymer chain ends

  20. Paradigms and pragmatism: approaches to medical statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Healy, M J

    2000-01-01

    Until recently, the dominant philosophy of science was that due to Karl Popper, with its doctrine that the proper task of science was the formulation of hypotheses followed by attempts at refuting them. In spite of the close analogy with significance testing, these ideas do not fit well with the practice of medical statistics. The same can be said of the later philosophy of Thomas Kuhn, who maintains that science proceeds by way of revolutionary upheavals separated by periods of relatively pedestrian research which are governed by what Kuhn refers to as paradigms. Through there have been paradigm shifts in the history of statistics, a degree of continuity can also be discerned. A current paradigm shift is embodied in the spread of Bayesian ideas. It may be that a future paradigm will emphasise the pragmatic approach to statistics that is associated with the name of Daniel Schwartz.

  1. Re-orientating time in product design : a phenomenology-inspired perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stienstra, J.T.; Hengeveld, B.J.; Hummels, C.C.M.

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a work in progress design case that is used to exemplify how a phenomenology-inspired perspective on time can impact the design of highly interactive systems and products. The design presents a calendar with a re-orientated layout that is based on a bodily relationship with time,

  2. Mental fatigue and task control : Planning and preparation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lorist, MM; Klein, Martin; Nieuwenhuis, S; De Jong, R; Mulder, G; Meijman, TF

    The effects of mental fatigue on planning and preparation for future actions were examined, using a task switching paradigm. Fatigue was induced by "time on task," with subjects performing a switch task continuously for 2 hr. Subjects had to alternate between tasks on every second trial, so that a

  3. Stress-induced reorientation of hydride precipitates in Zr-2.5Nb-0.5Cu garter springs under complex loading

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De, P.K.; John, J.T.; Raman, V.V.; Banerjee, S.

    1991-01-01

    Zr-2.5Nb-0.5Cu garter springs which are placed between coolant and calandria tubes in PHWRs experience complex loading due to simultaneous application of tension, compression and torus bending moment due to coolant tubes. The gradual pick up of hydrogen by the garter springs during service is likely to have hydride platelets reoriented under the applied stresses. In the present paper, the magnitudes and the directions of the principal stresses under the complex loading condition obtained have been calculated and the extent of hydride reorientation predicted. Simulation experiments consisting of simulated loading of hydrogen (upto 400 ppm) precharged springs at the service temperature (300degC) and also in-situ hydrogen charging of the springs under simulated loading conditions have been carried out. In addition, hydrogen precharged springs have been subjected to temperature cycling between 50 and 300degC under complex loading conditions, to evaluate the influence of temperature variation on hydride reorientation. Metallographic examination of the hydride platelets in the above springs has shown an excellent agreement with the analytical prediction. Torus bending moment values appear to play a significant role in reorienting the hydride platelets. It has been observed that under normal torus bending moment corresponding to 90 mm dia coolant tubes hydrogen platelets close to the outer rim of the spiral get reoriented in the radial direction. However, on application a torus bending moment corresponding to 30 mm dia tubes, hydride platelets get reoriented along the radial direction, irrespective of the magnitude of tensile and compression loading. (author). 9 refs., 15 figs., 1 appendix

  4. The juggling paradigm: a novel social neuroscience approach to identify neuropsychophysiological markers of team mental models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edson eFilho

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Since the discovery of the mirror neuron system in the 1990s, little, if any, research has been devoted to the study of interactive motor tasks (Goldman, 2012. Scientists interested in the neuropsychophysiological markers of joint motor action have relied on observation paradigms and passive tasks rather than dynamic paradigms and interactive tasks (Konvalinka and Roepstorff, 2012. Within this research scenario, we introduce a novel research paradigm that uses cooperative juggling as a platform to capture peripheral (e.g., skin conductance, breathing and heart rates, electromyographic signals and central neuropsychophysiological (e.g., functional connectivity within and between brains markers underlying the conceptual notion of team mental models (TMM. We discuss the epistemological and theoretical grounds of a cooperative juggling paradigm, and propose testable hypotheses on neuropsychophysiological markers underlying TMM. Furthermore, we present key methodological concerns that may influence peripheral responses as well as single and hyperbrain network configurations during joint motor action. Preliminary findings of the paradigm are highlighted. We conclude by delineating avenues for future research.

  5. Survival Processing and the Stroop Task

    OpenAIRE

    Stephanie A. Kazanas; Kendra M. Van Valkenburg; Jeanette Altarriba

    2015-01-01

    This study was designed to investigate the impact of survival processing with a novel task for this paradigm: the Stroop color-naming task. As the literature is mixed with regard to task generalizability, with survival processing promoting better memory for words, but not better memory for faces or paired associates, these types of task investigations are important to a growing field of research. Using the Stroop task provides a unique contribution, as identifying items by color is an importa...

  6. On the importance of Task 1 and error performance measures in PRP dual-task studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strobach, Tilo; Schütz, Anja; Schubert, Torsten

    2015-01-01

    The psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm is a dominant research tool in the literature on dual-task performance. In this paradigm a first and second component task (i.e., Task 1 and Task 2) are presented with variable stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and priority to perform Task 1. The main indicator of dual-task impairment in PRP situations is an increasing Task 2-RT with decreasing SOAs. This impairment is typically explained with some task components being processed strictly sequentially in the context of the prominent central bottleneck theory. This assumption could implicitly suggest that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing, i.e., decreasing SOAs do not increase reaction times (RTs) and error rates of the first task. The aim of the present review is to assess whether PRP dual-task studies included both RT and error data presentations and statistical analyses and whether studies including both data types (i.e., RTs and error rates) show data consistent with this assumption (i.e., decreasing SOAs and unaffected RTs and/or error rates in Task 1). This review demonstrates that, in contrast to RT presentations and analyses, error data is underrepresented in a substantial number of studies. Furthermore, a substantial number of studies with RT and error data showed a statistically significant impairment of Task 1 performance with decreasing SOA. Thus, these studies produced data that is not primarily consistent with the strong assumption that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing in the context of PRP dual-task situations; this calls for a more careful report and analysis of Task 1 performance in PRP studies and for a more careful consideration of theories proposing additions to the bottleneck assumption, which are sufficiently general to explain Task 1 and Task 2 effects. PMID:25904890

  7. On the importance of Task 1 and error performance measures in PRP dual-task studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strobach, Tilo; Schütz, Anja; Schubert, Torsten

    2015-01-01

    The psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm is a dominant research tool in the literature on dual-task performance. In this paradigm a first and second component task (i.e., Task 1 and Task 2) are presented with variable stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and priority to perform Task 1. The main indicator of dual-task impairment in PRP situations is an increasing Task 2-RT with decreasing SOAs. This impairment is typically explained with some task components being processed strictly sequentially in the context of the prominent central bottleneck theory. This assumption could implicitly suggest that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing, i.e., decreasing SOAs do not increase reaction times (RTs) and error rates of the first task. The aim of the present review is to assess whether PRP dual-task studies included both RT and error data presentations and statistical analyses and whether studies including both data types (i.e., RTs and error rates) show data consistent with this assumption (i.e., decreasing SOAs and unaffected RTs and/or error rates in Task 1). This review demonstrates that, in contrast to RT presentations and analyses, error data is underrepresented in a substantial number of studies. Furthermore, a substantial number of studies with RT and error data showed a statistically significant impairment of Task 1 performance with decreasing SOA. Thus, these studies produced data that is not primarily consistent with the strong assumption that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing in the context of PRP dual-task situations; this calls for a more careful report and analysis of Task 1 performance in PRP studies and for a more careful consideration of theories proposing additions to the bottleneck assumption, which are sufficiently general to explain Task 1 and Task 2 effects.

  8. Reorientational motion of a cross-link junction in a poly(dimethylsiloxane) network measured by time-resolved fluorescence depolarization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stein, A.D. (Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)); Hoffman, D.A. (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)); Frank, C.W. (Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)); Fayer, M.D. (Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States))

    1992-02-15

    The reorientational dynamics of a cross-link junction in poly(dimethylsiloxane) networks, measured by the fluorescence anisotropy decay of a chromophore tagged to the cross-link, have been investigated over a range of temperatures from {ital T}{sub {ital g}}+75 to {ital T}{sub {ital g}}+150. The probe chromophore, 1-dimethylamino-5-sulfonylnaphthalene amide (dansyl amide), is pendant to a trifunctional silane that acts as a cross-linking molecule. In cyclohexanol, the fluorescence anisotropy decay is in agreement with Debye--Stokes--Einstein hydrodynamic theory (rotational diffusion) demonstrating that the cross-linker can be used as a probe of orientational relaxation. The fluorescence anisotropy decays at a rapid rate in an end-linked poly(dimethyl siloxane) network reflecting fast reorientational motion of the cross-link junction. This reorientation appears diffusive and has a temperature dependence in accord with the Williams--Landel--Ferry equation. A model is proposed that suggests that reorientation and translational motion of the cross-link occur simultaneously and are both coupled to fluctuations of the polymer chain ends.

  9. Localization of Broca's Area Using Functional MR Imaging: Quantitative Evaluation of Paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Chi Heon; Kim, Jae-Hun; Chung, Chun Kee; Kim, June Sic; Lee, Jong-Min; Lee, Sang Kun

    2009-04-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is frequently used to localize language areas in a non-invasive manner. Various paradigms for presurgical localization of language areas have been developed, but a systematic quantitative evaluation of the efficiency of those paradigms has not been performed. In the present study, the authors analyzed different language paradigms to see which paradigm is most efficient in localizing frontal language areas. Five men and five women with no neurological deficits participated (mean age, 24 years) in this study. All volunteers were right-handed. Each subject performed 4 tasks, including fixation (Fix), sentence reading (SR), pseudoword reading (PR), and word generation (WG). Fixation and pseudoword reading were used as contrasts. The functional area was defined as the area(s) with a t-value of more than 3.92 in fMRI with different tasks. To apply an anatomical constraint, we used a brain atlas mapping system, which is available in AFNI, to define the anatomical frontal language area. The numbers of voxels in overlapped area between anatomical and functional area were individually counted in the frontal expressive language area. Of the various combinations, the word generation task was most effective in delineating the frontal expressive language area when fixation was used as a contrast (plocalizing Broca's area was 81% and specificity was 70%. Word generation versus fixation could effectively and reliably delineate the frontal language area. A customized effective paradigm should be analyzed in order to evaluate various language functions.

  10. On the importance of Task 1 and error performance measures in PRP dual-task studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tilo eStrobach

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The Psychological Refractory Period (PRP paradigm is a dominant research tool in the literature on dual-task performance. In this paradigm a first and second component task (i.e., Task 1 and 2 are presented with variable stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs and priority to perform Task 1. The main indicator of dual-task impairment in PRP situations is an increasing Task 2-RT with decreasing SOAs. This impairment is typically explained with some task components being processed strictly sequentially in the context of the prominent central bottleneck theory. This assumption could implicitly suggest that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing, i.e. decreasing SOAs do not increase RTs and error rates of the first task. The aim of the present review is to assess whether PRP dual-task studies included both RT and error data presentations and statistical analyses and whether studies including both data types (i.e., RTs and error rates show data consistent with this assumption (i.e., decreasing SOAs and unaffected RTs and/ or error rates in Task 1. This review demonstrates that, in contrast to RT presentations and analyses, error data is underrepresented in a substantial number of studies. Furthermore, a substantial number of studies with RT and error data showed a statistically significant impairment of Task 1 performance with decreasing SOA. Thus, these studies produced data that is not primarily consistent with the strong assumption that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing in the context of PRP dual-task situations; this calls for a more careful report and analysis of Task 1 performance in PRP studies and for a more careful consideration of theories proposing additions to the bottleneck assumption, which are sufficiently general to explain Task 1 and Task 2 effects.

  11. Characteristics of hydride precipitation and reorientation in spent-fuel cladding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, H. M.; Strain, R. V.; Billone, M. C.

    2000-01-01

    The morphology, number density, orientation, distribution, and crystallographic aspects of Zr hydrides in Zircaloy fuel cladding play important roles in fuel performance during all phases before and after discharge from the reactor, i.e., during normal operation, transient and accident situations in the reactor, temporary storage in a dry cask, and permanent storage in a waste repository. In the past, partly because of experimental difficulties, hydriding behavior in irradiated fuel cladding has been investigated mostly by optical microscopy (OM). In the present study, fundamental metallurgical and crystallographic characteristics of hydride precipitation and reorientation were investigated on the microscopic level by combined techniques of OM and transmission electron and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) of spent-fuel claddings discharged from several boiling and pressurized water reactors (BWRs and PWRs). Defueled sections of standard and Zr-lined Zircaloy-2 fuel claddings, irradiated to fluences of ∼3.3 x 10 21 n cm -2 and ∼9.2 x 10 21 n cm -2 (E > 1 MeV), respectively, were obtained from spent fuel rods discharged from two BWRs. Sections of standard and low-tin Zircaloy-4 claddings, irradiated to fluences of ∼4.4 x 10 21 n cm -2 , ∼5.9 x 10 21 n cm -2 , and ∼9.6 x 10 21 n cm -2 (E > 1 MeV) in three PWRs, were also obtained. Microstructural characteristics of hydrides were analyzed in as-irradiated condition and after gas-pressurization-burst or expanding-mandrel tests at 292-325 C in Ar for some of the spent-fuel claddings. Analyses were also conducted of hydride habit plane, morphology, and reorientation characteristics on unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding that contained dense radial hydrides. Reoriented hydrides in the slowly cooled unirradiated cladding were produced by expanding-mandrel loading

  12. How can health remain central post-2015 in a sustainable development paradigm?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Peter S; Buse, Kent; Brolan, Claire E; Ooms, Gorik

    2014-04-03

    In two years, the uncompleted tasks of the Millennium Development Goals will be merged with the agenda articulated in the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. This process will seek to integrate economic development (including the elimination of extreme poverty), social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and good governance into a combined sustainable development agenda. The first phase of consultation for the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals reached completion in the May 2013 report to the Secretary-General of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Health did well out of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) process, but the global context and framing of the new agenda is substantially different, and health advocates cannot automatically assume the same prominence. This paper argues that to remain central to continuing negotiations and the future implementation, four strategic shifts are urgently required. Advocates need to reframe health from the poverty reduction focus of the MDGs to embrace the social sustainability paradigm that underpins the new goals. Second, health advocates need to speak--and listen--to the whole sustainable development agenda, and assert health in every theme and every relevant policy, something that is not yet happening in current thematic debates. Third, we need to construct goals that will be truly "universal", that will engage every nation--a significant re-orientation from the focus on low-income countries of the MDGs. And finally, health advocates need to overtly explore what global governance structures will be needed to finance and implement these universal Sustainable Development Goals.

  13. Behavior learning in differential games and reorientation maneuvers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satak, Neha

    method is the Direct Approximation of Value Function (DAVF) method. In this method, unlike the CSR method, the player formulates an objective function for the opponent but does not formulates a strategy directly; rather, indirectly the player assumes that the opponent is playing optimally. Thus, a value function satisfying the HJB equation corresponding to the opponent's cost function exists. The DAVF method finds an approximate solution for the value function based on previous observations of the opponent's control. The approximate solution to the value function is then used to predict the opponent's future behavior. Game examples in which only a single player is learning its opponent's behavior are simulated. Subsequently, examples in which both players in a two-player game are learning each other's behavior are simulated. In the second part of this research, a reorientation control maneuver for a spinning spacecraft will be developed. This will aid the application of behavior learning and differential games concepts to the specific scenario involving multiple spinning spacecraft. An impulsive reorientation maneuver with coasting will be analytically designed to reorient the spin axis of the spacecraft using a single body fixed thruster. Cooperative maneuvers of multiple spacecraft optimizing fuel and relative orientation will be designed. Pareto optimality concepts will be used to arrive at mutually agreeable reorientation maneuvers for the cooperating spinning spacecraft.

  14. Intragranular twinning, detwinning, and twinning-like lattice reorientation in magnesium alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Wei; Gao, Yanfei; Li, Nan; Parish, Chad M.; Liu, Wenjun; Liaw, Peter K.; An, Ke

    2016-01-01

    Deformation twinning plays a critical role on improving metals or alloys ductility, especially for hexagonal close-packed materials with low symmetry crystal structure. A rolled Mg alloy was selected as a model system to investigate the extension twinning behaviors and characteristics of parent-twin interactions by nondestructive in situ 3D synchrotron X-ray microbeam diffraction. Besides twinning-detwinning process, the “twinning-like” lattice reorientation process was captured within an individual grain inside a bulk material during the strain reversal. The distributions of parent, twin, and reorientated grains and sub-micron level strain variation across the twin boundary are revealed. A theoretical calculation of the lattice strain confirms that the internal strain distribution in parent and twinned grains correlates with the experimental setup, grain orientation of parent, twin, and surrounding grains, as well as the strain path changes. The study suggests a novel deformation mechanism within the hexagonal close-packed structure that cannot be determined from surface-based characterization methods.

  15. Paradigms of modern radio-biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grodzins'kij, D.M.

    2005-01-01

    The basic paradigms of modern radio-biology are considered as models of pictures of essence of radio-biology problems and methods of their decision. It is marked on absolute heuristics of these ascending conceptual assertions and their assistance to subsequent development of experimental science. That has the concrete display in the decision of actual tasks of protection of people from action of ionizing radiation

  16. A systematic review of fMRI reward paradigms used in studies of adolescents vs. adults: the impact of task design and implications for understanding neurodevelopment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Jessica M; Plate, Rista C; Ernst, Monique

    2013-06-01

    The neural systems underlying reward-related behaviors across development have recently generated a great amount of interest. Yet, the neurodevelopmental literature on reward processing is marked by inconsistencies due to the heterogeneity of the reward paradigms used, the complexity of the behaviors being studied, and the developing brain itself as a moving target. The present review will examine task design as one source of variability across findings by compiling this literature along three dimensions: (1) task structures, (2) cognitive processes, and (3) neural systems. We start with the presentation of a heuristic neural systems model, the Triadic Model, as a way to provide a theoretical framework for the neuroscience research on motivated behaviors. We then discuss the principles guiding reward task development. Finally, we review the extant developmental neuroimaging literature on reward-related processing, organized by reward task type. We hope that this approach will help to clarify the literature on the functional neurodevelopment of reward-related neural systems, and to identify the role of the experimental parameters that significantly influence these findings. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  17. Symbiotic Sensing for Energy-Intensive Tasks in Large-Scale Mobile Sensing Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Duc V; Nguyen, Thuong; Scholten, Hans; Havinga, Paul J M

    2017-11-29

    Energy consumption is a critical performance and user experience metric when developing mobile sensing applications, especially with the significantly growing number of sensing applications in recent years. As proposed a decade ago when mobile applications were still not popular and most mobile operating systems were single-tasking, conventional sensing paradigms such as opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing do not explore the relationship among concurrent applications for energy-intensive tasks. In this paper, inspired by social relationships among living creatures in nature, we propose a symbiotic sensing paradigm that can conserve energy, while maintaining equivalent performance to existing paradigms. The key idea is that sensing applications should cooperatively perform common tasks to avoid acquiring the same resources multiple times. By doing so, this sensing paradigm executes sensing tasks with very little extra resource consumption and, consequently, extends battery life. To evaluate and compare the symbiotic sensing paradigm with the existing ones, we develop mathematical models in terms of the completion probability and estimated energy consumption. The quantitative evaluation results using various parameters obtained from real datasets indicate that symbiotic sensing performs better than opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing in large-scale sensing applications, such as road condition monitoring, air pollution monitoring, and city noise monitoring.

  18. Symbiotic Sensing for Energy-Intensive Tasks in Large-Scale Mobile Sensing Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scholten, Hans; Havinga, Paul J. M.

    2017-01-01

    Energy consumption is a critical performance and user experience metric when developing mobile sensing applications, especially with the significantly growing number of sensing applications in recent years. As proposed a decade ago when mobile applications were still not popular and most mobile operating systems were single-tasking, conventional sensing paradigms such as opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing do not explore the relationship among concurrent applications for energy-intensive tasks. In this paper, inspired by social relationships among living creatures in nature, we propose a symbiotic sensing paradigm that can conserve energy, while maintaining equivalent performance to existing paradigms. The key idea is that sensing applications should cooperatively perform common tasks to avoid acquiring the same resources multiple times. By doing so, this sensing paradigm executes sensing tasks with very little extra resource consumption and, consequently, extends battery life. To evaluate and compare the symbiotic sensing paradigm with the existing ones, we develop mathematical models in terms of the completion probability and estimated energy consumption. The quantitative evaluation results using various parameters obtained from real datasets indicate that symbiotic sensing performs better than opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing in large-scale sensing applications, such as road condition monitoring, air pollution monitoring, and city noise monitoring. PMID:29186037

  19. Symbiotic Sensing for Energy-Intensive Tasks in Large-Scale Mobile Sensing Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duc V. Le

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Energy consumption is a critical performance and user experience metric when developing mobile sensing applications, especially with the significantly growing number of sensing applications in recent years. As proposed a decade ago when mobile applications were still not popular and most mobile operating systems were single-tasking, conventional sensing paradigms such as opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing do not explore the relationship among concurrent applications for energy-intensive tasks. In this paper, inspired by social relationships among living creatures in nature, we propose a symbiotic sensing paradigm that can conserve energy, while maintaining equivalent performance to existing paradigms. The key idea is that sensing applications should cooperatively perform common tasks to avoid acquiring the same resources multiple times. By doing so, this sensing paradigm executes sensing tasks with very little extra resource consumption and, consequently, extends battery life. To evaluate and compare the symbiotic sensing paradigm with the existing ones, we develop mathematical models in terms of the completion probability and estimated energy consumption. The quantitative evaluation results using various parameters obtained from real datasets indicate that symbiotic sensing performs better than opportunistic sensing and participatory sensing in large-scale sensing applications, such as road condition monitoring, air pollution monitoring, and city noise monitoring.

  20. The effect of stress state on zirconium hydride reorientation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cinbiz, Mahmut Nedim

    Prior to storage in a dry-cask facility, spent nuclear fuel must undergo a vacuum drying cycle during which the spent fuel rods are heated up to elevated temperatures of ≤ 400°C to remove moisture the canisters within the cask. As temperature increases during heating, some of the hydride particles within the cladding dissolve while the internal gas pressure in fuel rods increases generating multi-axial hoop and axial stresses in the closed-end thin-walled cladding tubes. As cool-down starts, the hydrogen in solid solution precipitates as hydride platelets, and if the multiaxial stresses are sufficiently large, the precipitating hydrides reorient from their initial circumferential orientation to radial orientation. Radial hydrides can severely embrittle the spent nuclear fuel cladding at low temperature in response to hoop stress loading. Because the cladding can experience a range of stress states during the thermo-mechanical treatment induced during vacuum drying, this study has investigated the effect of stress state on the process of hydride reorientation during controlled thermo-mechanical treatments utilizing the combination of in situ X-ray diffraction and novel mechanical testing analyzed by the combination of metallography and finite element analysis. The study used cold worked and stress relieved Zircaloy-4 sheet containing approx. 180 wt. ppm hydrogen as its material basis. The failure behavior of this material containing radial hydrides was also studied over a range of temperatures. Finally, samples from reactor-irradiated cladding tubes were examined by X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation. To reveal the stress state effect on hydride reorientation, the critical threshold stress to reorient hydrides was determined by designing novel mechanical test samples which produce a range of stress states from uniaxial to "near-equibiaxial" tension when a load is applied. The threshold stress was determined after thermo-mechanical treatments by

  1. Development and Pilot Testing of the Dual Task Screen in Healthy Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephens, Jaclyn; Nicholson, Rachel; Slomine, Beth; Suskauer, Stacy

    Athletes with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) should refrain from high-risk activities until recovered (symptom free and cognitive and physical exam findings normalize). Studies have suggested that this examination may not be sufficiently sensitive because dual-task paradigms, which typically assess motor performance while a person simultaneously completes a distractor task, can detect residual deficits in athletes who otherwise appear recovered from mTBI. Paradigms used to date are time-intensive procedures conducted in laboratory settings. Here, we report findings from a pilot study of the Dual Task Screen (DTS), which is a brief evaluation with two dual-task paradigms. In 32 healthy female adolescents, the DTS was administered in a mean of 5.63 min in the community, and every participant had poorer dual-condition performance on at least one of the motor tasks. The DTS is a clinically feasible measure and merits additional study regarding utility in adolescents with mTBIs. Copyright © 2018 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  2. Taking the road less taken: reorienting the state for periurban water security

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Narain, Vishal; Ranjan, Pranay; Vij, S.; Dewan, Aman

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes the intervention strategy to improve water security in Sultanpur, a village in periurban Gurgaon, India. Most approaches to improving natural resource management in periurban contexts focus on mobilising the community; little attention is paid to reorienting the state or

  3. Testing the Automatization Deficit Hypothesis of Dyslexia via a Dual-Task Paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yap, Regina L.; van der Leij, Aryan

    1994-01-01

    Fourteen Dutch children with dyslexia were compared with controls on automatic processing under a dual task (motor balance task and auditory choice task) model. Results indicated the dyslexic group was more impaired in the dual task condition than in the single task condition, compared with controls. Findings support the automatization deficit…

  4. Arousal and attention re-orienting in autism spectrum disorders: evidence from auditory event-related potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena V Orekhova

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The extended phenotype of autism spectrum disorders (ASD includes a combination of arousal regulation problems, sensory modulation difficulties, and attention re-orienting deficit. A slow and inefficient re-orienting to stimuli that appear outside of the attended sensory stream is thought to be especially detrimental for social functioning. Event-related potentials (ERPs and magnetic fields (ERFs may help to reveal which processing stages underlying brain response to unattended but salient sensory event are affected in individuals with ASD. Previous research focusing on two sequential stages of the brain response - automatic detection of physical changes in auditory stream, indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN, and evaluation of stimulus novelty, indexed by P3a component, - found in individuals with ASD either increased, decreased or normal processing of deviance and novelty. The review examines these apparently conflicting results, notes gaps in previous findings, and suggests a potentially unifying hypothesis relating the dampened responses to unattended sensory events to the deficit in rapid arousal process. Specifically, ‘sensory gating’ studies focused on pre-attentive arousal consistently demonstrated that brain response to unattended and temporally novel sound in ASD is already affected at around 100 ms after stimulus onset. We hypothesize that abnormalities in nicotinic cholinergic arousal pathways, previously reported in individuals with ASD, may contribute to these ERP/ERF aberrations and result in attention re-orienting deficit. Such cholinergic dysfunction may be present in individuals with ASD early in life and can influence both sensory processing and attention re-orienting behavior. Identification of early neurophysiological biomarkers for cholinergic deficit would help to detect infants at risk who can potentially benefit from particular types of therapies or interventions.

  5. The impact of reorienting cone-beam computed tomographic images in varied head positions on the coordinates of anatomical landmarks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jae Hun; Jeong, Ho Gul; Hwang, Jae Joon; Lee, Jung Hee; Han, Sang Sun [Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Yonsei University, College of Dentistry, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-06-15

    The aim of this study was to compare the coordinates of anatomical landmarks on cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) images in varied head positions before and after reorientation using image analysis software. CBCT images were taken in a normal position and four varied head positions using a dry skull marked with 3 points where gutta percha was fixed. In each of the five radiographic images, reference points were set, 20 anatomical landmarks were identified, and each set of coordinates was calculated. Coordinates in the images from the normally positioned head were compared with those in the images obtained from varied head positions using statistical methods. Post-reorientation coordinates calculated using a three-dimensional image analysis program were also compared to the reference coordinates. In the original images, statistically significant differences were found between coordinates in the normal-position and varied-position images. However, post-reorientation, no statistically significant differences were found between coordinates in the normal-position and varied-position images. The changes in head position impacted the coordinates of the anatomical landmarks in three-dimensional images. However, reorientation using image analysis software allowed accurate superimposition onto the reference positions.

  6. A role of right middle frontal gyrus in reorienting of attention: a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Japee, Shruti; Holiday, Kelsey; Satyshur, Maureen D; Mukai, Ikuko; Ungerleider, Leslie G

    2015-01-01

    The right middle fontal gyrus (MFG) has been proposed to be a site of convergence of the dorsal and ventral attention networks, by serving as a circuit-breaker to interrupt ongoing endogenous attentional processes in the dorsal network and reorient attention to an exogenous stimulus. Here, we probed the contribution of the right MFG to both endogenous and exogenous attention by comparing performance on an orientation discrimination task of a patient with a right MFG resection and a group of healthy controls. On endogenously cued trials, participants were shown a central cue that predicted with 90% accuracy the location of a subsequent peri-threshold Gabor patch stimulus. On exogenously cued trials, a cue appeared briefly at one of two peripheral locations, followed by a variable inter-stimulus interval (ISI; range 0-700 ms) and a Gabor patch in the same or opposite location as the cue. Behavioral data showed that for endogenous, and short ISI exogenous trials, valid cues facilitated responses compared to invalid cues, for both the patient and controls. However, at long ISIs, the patient exhibited difficulty in reverting to top-down attentional control, once the facilitatory effect of the exogenous cue had dissipated. When explicitly cued during long ISIs to attend to both stimulus locations, the patient was able to engage successfully in top-down control. This result indicates that the right MFG may play an important role in reorienting attention from exogenous to endogenous attentional control. Resting state fMRI data revealed that the right superior parietal lobule and right orbitofrontal cortex, showed significantly higher correlations with a left MFG seed region (a region tightly coupled with the right MFG in controls) in the patient relative to controls. We hypothesize that this paradoxical increase in cortical coupling represents a compensatory mechanism in the patient to offset the loss of function of the resected tissue in right prefrontal cortex.

  7. Deficient Biological Motion Perception in Schizophrenia: Results from a Motion Noise Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jejoong eKim

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Schizophrenia patients exhibit deficient processing of perceptual and cognitive information. However, it is not well understood how basic perceptual deficits contribute to higher level cognitive problems in this mental disorder. Perception of biological motion, a motion-based cognitive recognition task, relies on both basic visual motion processing and social cognitive processing, thus providing a useful paradigm to evaluate the potentially hierarchical relationship between these two levels of information processing. Methods: In this study, we designed a biological motion paradigm in which basic visual motion signals were manipulated systematically by incorporating different levels of motion noise. We measured the performances of schizophrenia patients (n=21 and healthy controls (n=22 in this biological motion perception task, as well as in coherent motion detection, theory of mind, and a widely used biological motion recognition task. Results: Schizophrenia patients performed the biological motion perception task with significantly lower accuracy than healthy controls when perceptual signals were moderately degraded by noise. A more substantial degradation of perceptual signals, through using additional noise, impaired biological motion perception in both groups. Performance levels on biological motion recognition, coherent motion detection and theory of mind tasks were also reduced in patients. Conclusion: The results from the motion-noise biological motion paradigm indicate that in the presence of visual motion noise, the processing of biological motion information in schizophrenia is deficient. Combined with the results of poor basic visual motion perception (coherent motion task and biological motion recognition, the association between basic motion signals and biological motion perception suggests a need to incorporate the improvement of visual motion perception in social cognitive remediation.

  8. Perceptual Measurement in Schizophrenia: Promising Electrophysiology and Neuroimaging Paradigms From CNTRICS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butler, Pamela D.; Chen, Yue; Ford, Judith M.; Geyer, Mark A.; Silverstein, Steven M.; Green, Michael F.

    2012-01-01

    The sixth meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) focused on selecting promising imaging paradigms for each of the cognitive constructs selected in the first CNTRICS meeting. In the domain of perception, the 2 constructs of interest were “gain control” and “visual integration.” CNTRICS received 6 task nominations for imaging paradigms for gain control and 3 task nominations for integration. The breakout group for perception evaluated the degree to which each of these tasks met prespecified criteria. For gain control, the breakout group believed that one task (mismatch negativity) was already mature and was being incorporated into multisite clinical trials. The breakout group recommended that 1 visual task (steady-state visual evoked potentials to magnocellular- vs parvocellular-biased stimuli) and 2 auditory measures (an event-related potential (ERP) measure of corollary discharge and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) version of prepulse inhibition of startle) be adapted for use in clinical trials in schizophrenia research. For visual integration, the breakout group recommended that fMRI and ERP versions of a contour integration test and an fMRI version of a coherent motion test be adapted for use in clinical trials. This manuscript describes the ways in which each of these tasks met the criteria used in the breakout group to evaluate and recommend tasks for further development. PMID:21890745

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2017-01-01

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

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Madeleine M. Arber

    2017-09-01

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

  11. Enabling health systems transformation: what progress has been made in re-orienting health services?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wise, Marilyn; Nutbeam, Don

    2007-01-01

    The Ottawa Charter has been remarkably influential in guiding the development of the goals and concepts of health promotion, and in shaping global public health practice in the past 20 years. However, of the five action areas identified in the Ottawa Charter, it appears that there has been little systematic attention to the challenge of re-orienting health services, and less than optimal progress in practice. The purposes of re-orienting health services as proposed in the Ottawa Charter were to achieve a better balance in investment between prevention and treatment, and to include a focus on population health outcomes alongside the focus on individual health outcomes. However, there is little evidence that a re-orientation of health services in these terms has occurred systematically anywhere in the world. This is in spite of the fact that direct evidence of the need to re-orient health services and of the potential benefits of doing so has grown substantially since 1986. Patient education, preventive care (screening, immunisation), and organisational and environmental changes by health organisations have all been found to have positive health and environmental outcomes. However, evidence of effectiveness has not been sufficient, on its own, to sway community preferences and political decisions. The lack of progress points to the need for significant re-thinking of the approaches we have adopted to date. The paper proposes a number of ways forward. These include working effectively in partnership with the communities we want to serve to mobilise support for change, and to reinforce this by working more effectively at influencing broader public opinion through the media. The active engagement of clinical health professionals is also identified as crucial to achieving sustainable change. Finally we recognize that by working in partnership with like-minded advocacy organizations, the IUHPE could put its significant knowledge and experience to work in leading action to

  12. Power-induced evolution and increased dimensionality of nonlinear modes in reorientational soft matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laudyn, Urszula A; Jung, Paweł S; Zegadło, Krzysztof B; Karpierz, Miroslaw A; Assanto, Gaetano

    2014-11-15

    We demonstrate the evolution of higher order one-dimensional guided modes into two-dimensional solitary waves in a reorientational medium. The observations, carried out at two different wavelengths in chiral nematic liquid crystals, are in good agreement with a simple nonlocal nonlinear model.

  13. Hydride reorientation in Zircaloy-4 examined by in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weekes, H.E. [Department of Materials, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP (United Kingdom); Jones, N.G. [Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, 27 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0FS (United Kingdom); Lindley, T.C. [Department of Materials, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP (United Kingdom); Dye, D., E-mail: david.dye@imperial.ac.uk [Department of Materials, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP (United Kingdom)

    2016-09-15

    The phenomenon of stress-reorientation has been investigated using in situ X-ray diffraction during the thermomechanical cycling of hydrided Zircaloy-4 tensile specimens. Results have shown that loading along a sample’s transverse direction (TD) leads to a greater degree of hydride reorientation when compared to rolling direction (RD)-aligned samples. The elastic lattice micro-strains associated with radially oriented hydrides have been revealed to be greater than those oriented circumferentially, a consequence of strain accommodation. Evidence of hydride redistribution after cycling, to α-Zr grains oriented in a more favourable orientation when under an applied stress, has also been observed and its behaviour has been found to be highly dependent on the loading axis. Finally, thermomechanical loading across multiple cycles has been shown to reduce the difference in terminal solid solubility of hydrogen during dissolution (TSS{sub D,H}) and precipitation (TSS{sub P,H}).

  14. Detection of unusual spin reorientation induced by magnetic field in DyFeO3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balbashov, A.M.; Marchukov, P.Yu.; Nikolaev, I.V.; Rudashevskij, E.G.

    1988-01-01

    It is detected that in DyFeO 3 the vector of antiferromagnetism reorientates continuously in two mutually perpendicular planes, and transition from one plane into the other one is a first-order phase transformation

  15. Does Task-Set Reconfiguration Create Cognitive Slack?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilbert, Sam J.

    2005-01-01

    C. Oriet and P. Jolicoeur (see record 2003-08747-016) reported 2 experiments in which the perceptual contrast of stimuli was manipulated in a task-switching paradigm. They failed to observe an interaction in the reaction time data between task switching, perceptual contrast, and response-stimulus interval. Using the locus of slack logic, they…

  16. A New Paradigm for Evaluating Avoidance/Escape Motivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsutsui-Kimura, Iku; Bouchekioua, Youcef; Mimura, Masaru; Tanaka, Kenji F

    2017-07-01

    Organisms have evolved to approach pleasurable opportunities and to avoid or escape from aversive experiences. These 2 distinct motivations are referred to as approach and avoidance/escape motivations and are both considered vital for survival. Despite several recent advances in understanding the neurobiology of motivation, most studies addressed approach but not avoidance/escape motivation. Here we develop a new experimental paradigm to quantify avoidance/escape motivation and examine the pharmacological validity. We set up an avoidance variable ratio 5 task in which mice were required to press a lever for variable times to avoid an upcoming aversive stimulus (foot shock) or to escape the ongoing aversive event if they failed to avoid it. We i.p. injected ketamine (0, 1, or 5 mg/kg) or buspirone (0, 5, or 10 mg/kg) 20 or 30 minutes before the behavioral task to see if ketamine enhanced avoidance/escape behavior and buspirone diminished it as previously reported. We found that the performance on the avoidance variable ratio 5 task was sensitive to the intensity of the aversive stimulus. Treatment with ketamine increased while that with buspirone decreased the probability of avoidance from an aversive stimulus in the variable ratio 5 task, being consistent with previous reports. Our new paradigm will prove useful for quantifying avoidance/escape motivation and will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of motivation. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

  17. Model for field-induced reorientation strain in magnetic shape memory alloy with tensile and compressive loads

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu Yuping; Dui Guansuo

    2008-01-01

    A model based on the micromechanical and the thermodynamic theory is presented for field-induced martensite reorientation in magnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA) single crystals. The influence of variants morphology and the material property to constitutive behavior is considered. The nonlinear and hysteretic strain and magnetization response of MSMA are investigated for two main loading cases, namely the magnetic field-induced reorientation of variants under constant compressive stress and tensile stress. The predicted results have shown that increasing tensile loading reduces the required field for actuation, while increasing compressive loads result in the required magnetic field growing considerably. It is helpful to design the intelligent composite with MSMA fibers

  18. Reorientation Timescales and Pattern Dynamics for Titan's Dunes: Does the Tail Wag the Dog or the Dragon?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewing, R. C.; Hayes, A. G.; McCormick, C.; Ballard, C.; Troy, S. A.

    2012-04-01

    Fields of bedform patterns persist across many orders of magnitude, from cm-scale sub-aqueous current ripples to km-scale aeolian dunes, and form with surprisingly little difference in expression despite a range of formative environments. Because of the remarkable similarity among bedform patterns, extracting information about climate and environment from these patterns is a challenge. For example, crestline orientation is not diagnostic of a particular flow regime; similar patterns form under many different flow configurations. On Titan, these challenges have played out with many attempts to reconcile dune crestline orientation with modeled and expected wind regimes. We propose that thinking about the time-scale of the change in dune orientation, rather than the orientation itself, can provide new insights on the long-term stability of the dune-field patterns and the formative wind regime. In this work, we apply the crestline re-orientation model developed by Werner and Kocurek [Geology, 1997] to the equatorial dune fields of Titan. We use Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar images processed through a de-noising algorithm recently developed by Lucas et al. [LPSC, 2012] to measure variations in pattern parameters (crest spacing, crest length and defect density, which is the number of defect pairs per total crest length) both within and between Titan's dune fields to describe pattern maturity and identify areas where changes in dune orientation are likely to occur (or may already be occurring). Measured defect densities are similar to Earth's largest linear dune fields, such as the Namib Sand Sea and the Simpson Desert. We use measured defect densities in the Werner and Kocurek model to estimate crestline reorientation rates. We find reorientation timescales varying from ten to a hundred thousand times the average migration timescale (time to migrate a bedform one meter, ~1 Titan year according to Tokano (Aeolian Research, 2010)). Well-organized patterns have the

  19. Limitations in dual-task performance

    OpenAIRE

    Pannebakker, Merel Mathilde

    2009-01-01

    In this thesis, the effect of information-processing overload on working-memory dependent information processing was examined using dual-task paradigms. The experiments described strengthen the importance of a functional explanation for dual-task limitations. First, it showed evidence for a unified coding medium (as put forward in the theory of event coding; Hommel, Müsseler, Aschersleben, & Prinz, 2001) in which features, operations and responses are available and can influence each other. A...

  20. Young Children's Use of Features to Reorient Is More than Just Associative: Further Evidence against a Modular View of Spatial Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newcombe, Nora S.; Ratliff, Kristin R.; Shallcross, Wendy L.; Twyman, Alexandra D.

    2010-01-01

    Proponents of a geometric module have argued that instances of young children's use of features as well as geometry to reorient can be explained by a two-stage process. In this model, only the first stage is a true reorientation, accomplished by using geometric information alone; features are considered in a second stage using association (Lee,…

  1. The effects of stimulus modality and task integrality: Predicting dual-task performance and workload from single-task levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, S. G.; Shively, R. J.; Vidulich, M. A.; Miller, R. C.

    1986-01-01

    The influence of stimulus modality and task difficulty on workload and performance was investigated. The goal was to quantify the cost (in terms of response time and experienced workload) incurred when essentially serial task components shared common elements (e.g., the response to one initiated the other) which could be accomplished in parallel. The experimental tasks were based on the Fittsberg paradigm; the solution to a SternBERG-type memory task determines which of two identical FITTS targets are acquired. Previous research suggested that such functionally integrated dual tasks are performed with substantially less workload and faster response times than would be predicted by suming single-task components when both are presented in the same stimulus modality (visual). The physical integration of task elements was varied (although their functional relationship remained the same) to determine whether dual-task facilitation would persist if task components were presented in different sensory modalities. Again, it was found that the cost of performing the two-stage task was considerably less than the sum of component single-task levels when both were presented visually. Less facilitation was found when task elements were presented in different sensory modalities. These results suggest the importance of distinguishing between concurrent tasks that complete for limited resources from those that beneficially share common resources when selecting the stimulus modalities for information displays.

  2. Learning and transfer of category knowledge in an indirect categorization task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helie, Sebastien; Ashby, F Gregory

    2012-05-01

    Knowledge representations acquired during category learning experiments are 'tuned' to the task goal. A useful paradigm to study category representations is indirect category learning. In the present article, we propose a new indirect categorization task called the "same"-"different" categorization task. The same-different categorization task is a regular same-different task, but the question asked to the participants is about the stimulus category membership instead of stimulus identity. Experiment 1 explores the possibility of indirectly learning rule-based and information-integration category structures using the new paradigm. The results suggest that there is little learning about the category structures resulting from an indirect categorization task unless the categories can be separated by a one-dimensional rule. Experiment 2 explores whether a category representation learned indirectly can be used in a direct classification task (and vice versa). The results suggest that previous categorical knowledge acquired during a direct classification task can be expressed in the same-different categorization task only when the categories can be separated by a rule that is easily verbalized. Implications of these results for categorization research are discussed.

  3. Does dual-tasking neutralize emotional memory and reduce conditioned responses?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Engelhard, I.M.; Krypotos, A.M.; Leer, A.; van Dis, E.A.M.

    2016-01-01

    This experiment tested whether dual-tasking (i.e., recalling the emotional memory while performing a visuospatial dual-task) neutralizes emotional memory, thereby decreasing conditioned responses. Undergraduates completed a differential conditioning paradigm with pictures of food items as

  4. Planar reorientation of a free-free beam in space using embedded electromechanical actuators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolmanovsky, Ilya V.; Mcclamroch, N. Harris

    1993-01-01

    It is demonstrated that the planar reorientation of a free-free beam in zero gravity space can be accomplished by periodically changing the shape of the beam using embedded electromechanical actuators. The dynamics which determine the shape of the free-free beam is assumed to be characterized by the Euler-Bernoulli equation, including material damping, with appropriate boundary conditions. The coupling between the rigid body motion and the flexible motion is explained using the angular momentum expression which includes rotatory inertia and kinematically exact effects. A control scheme is proposed where the embedded actuators excite the flexible motion of the beam so that it rotates in the desired sense with respect to a fixed inertial reference. Relations are derived which relate the average rotation rate to the amplitudes and the frequencies of the periodic actuation signal and the properties of the beam. These reorientation maneuvers can be implemented by using feedback control.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meiran, Nachshon; Friedman, Gilad; Yehene, Eynat

    2004-01-01

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

  6. SemEval-2016 task 10

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schneider, Nathan; Hovy, Dirk; Johannsen, Anders Trærup

    2016-01-01

    This task combines the labeling of multiword expressions and supersenses (coarse-grained classes) in an explicit, yet broad-coverage paradigm for lexical semantics. Nine systems participated; the best scored 57.7% F1 in a multi-domain evaluation setting, indicating that the task remains largely...... unresolved. An error analysis reveals that a large number of instances in the data set are either hard cases, which no systems get right, or easy cases, which all systems correctly solve....

  7. Spin reorientation transition in Co/Au multilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Quispe-Marcatoma, J., E-mail: jquispem@unmsm.edu.pe [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Rio de Janeiro 22290-180 (Brazil); Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, P.O. Box 14-0149, Lima 14, Perú (Peru); Tarazona, H. [Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, P.O. Box 14-0149, Lima 14, Perú (Peru); Pandey, B. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Rio de Janeiro 22290-180 (Brazil); Department of Applied Science, Symbiosis Institute of Technology, SIU, Lavale, Pune 412 115, India. (India); Sousa, M.A. de [Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia 74001-970 (Brazil); Carvalho, M. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Rio de Janeiro 22290-180 (Brazil); Landauro, C.V. [Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, P.O. Box 14-0149, Lima 14, Perú (Peru); Pelegrini, F. [Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia 74001-970 (Brazil); Baggio Saitovitch, E. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Rio de Janeiro 22290-180 (Brazil)

    2014-10-01

    We report a study about the spin reorientation transition (SRT) from perpendicular easy axis to in-plane easy axis of magnetization in Co/Au multilayers. A series of multilayers of Si/Au(100 Å)/{[Co(t_C_o)/Au(20 Å)]_2_0}/Au(50 Å) family were studied, with Co layer thickness varying between 6 Å to 30 Å. The thickness of the Au layer was chosen large enough in order to minimize the interlayer exchange coupling between Co layers. In such thick Au-layer samples the magnetic properties are mainly the result of competition between interlayer magnetostatic coupling due to stray field, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and shape anisotropy. The effective anisotropy constant K{sub eff} and the second order anisotropy K{sub 2} were deduced from the fit of the resonant magnetic field obtained from out of plane dependence Ferromagnetic Resonance (FMR) experiments. To study the SRT, we have plotted the phase diagram between K{sub eff} and K{sub 2}. The results show that SRT occurs through the metastable region with K{sub 2} ≤ −½ K{sub eff}, (K{sub eff} > 0). It is interesting to note that FMR shows the coexistence of two modes with different anisotropy for small Co thickness, while for thick Co layers the modes have the same anisotropy. Moreover, in thick Co layer samples, volume and surface spin wave resonance (SWR) modes were also excited by the microwave field, around the perpendicular FMR geometry, giving a clear evidence of a magnetic coupling between the Co layers. - Highlights: • Co/Au multilayers with varying Co layer thickness are prepared by DC-magnetron sputtering. • The spin reorientation transition (SRT) and flipping of magnetic moment are studied. • Effective anisotropy constant (K) and 2nd order anisotropy constant (K{sub 2}) are calculated. • K Vs K{sub 2} plot showed that SRT occurs through the metastable region with K{sub 2} ≤ −½ K, (K > 0). • Ferromagnetic Resonance spectra showed the coexistence of two resonance modes.

  8. Spin-reorientation and anisotropy of the magnetization in single crystalline Ho2Co15Si2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tegus, O.

    2000-01-01

    We have studied the magnetic properties of a Ho 2 Co 15 Si 2 single crystal. The easy magnetization direction is parallel to the c-axis in an extended temperature region below the Curie temperature. A spin-reorientation transition takes place at 323 K, leading to an easy magnetization direction perpendicular to the c-axis below this temperature. We have compared the present results with those obtained previously on various R 2 Co 17 single crystals and found that Si substitution not only leads to a sign reversal in the Co sublattice anisotropy but also leads to a substantial anisotropy of the saturation magnetization. Sign and magnitude of the magnetization anisotropy are conserved during the spin-reorientation transition. (orig.)

  9. A Role for Attentional Reorienting During Approximate Multiplication and Division

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Curren Katz

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available When asked to estimate the outcome of arithmetic problems, participants overestimate for addition problems and underestimate for subtraction problems, both in symbolic and non-symbolic format. This bias is referred to as operational momentum effect (OM. The attentional shifts account holds that during computation of the outcome participants are propelled too far along a spatial number representation. OM was observed in non-symbolic multiplication and division while being absent in symbolic multiplication and division. Here, we investigate whether (a the absence of the OM in symbolic multiplication and division was due to the presentation of the correct outcome amongst the response alternatives, putatively triggering verbally mediated fact retrieval, and whether (b OM is correlated with attentional parameters, as stipulated by the attentional account. Participants were presented with symbolic and non-symbolic multiplication and division problems. Among seven incorrect response alternatives participants selected the most plausible result. Participants were also presented with a Posner task, with valid (70%, invalid (15% and neutral (15% cues pointing to the position at which a subsequent target would appear. While no OM was observed in symbolic format, non-symbolic problems were subject to OM. The non-symbolic OM was positively correlated with reorienting after invalid cues. These results provide further evidence for a functional association between spatial attention and approximate arithmetic, as stipulated by the attentional shifts account of OM. They also suggest that the cognitive processes underlying multiplication and division are less prone to spatial biases compared to addition and subtraction, further underlining the involvement of differential cognitive processes.

  10. Agricultural Economics and Qualitative Research: Incompatible Paradigms?

    OpenAIRE

    Vera Bitsch

    2000-01-01

    The disciplinary paradigm of agricultural economics emphasizes rational behavior in a world constrained by scarce resources. The research practice focuses on the quantitative modeling of optimization behavior. These models, though, only offer limited support to practitioners in solving real-world problems. Qualitative research approaches contribute to this task, particularly with research in developing countries. Participatory action research was introduced in the seventies; case studies have...

  11. Are women better than men at multi-tasking?

    OpenAIRE

    Stoet, Gijsbert; O’Connor, Daryl B.; Conner, Mark; Laws, Keith R.

    2013-01-01

    Background: There seems to be a common belief that women are better in multi-tasking than men, but there is practically no scientific research on this topic. Here, we tested whether women have better multi-tasking skills than men.\\ensuremath\\ensuremath Methods: In Experiment 1, we compared performance of 120 women and 120 men in a computer-based task-switching paradigm. In Experiment 2, we compared a different group of 47 women and 47 men on "paper-and-pencil" multi-tasking tests.\\ensuremath\\...

  12. Use of Geometry for Spatial Reorientation in Children Applies Only to Symmetric Spaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lew, Adina R.; Gibbons, Bryony; Murphy, Caroline; Bremner, J. Gavin

    2010-01-01

    Proponents of the geometric module hypothesis argue that following disorientation, many species reorient by use of macro-environment geometry. It is suggested that attention to the surface layout geometry of natural terrain features may have been selected for over evolutionary time due to the enduring and unambiguous location information it…

  13. Allocating time to future tasks: the effect of task segmentation on planning fallacy bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forsyth, Darryl K; Burt, Christopher D B

    2008-06-01

    The scheduling component of the time management process was used as a "paradigm" to investigate the allocation of time to future tasks. In three experiments, we compared task time allocation for a single task with the summed time allocations given for each subtask that made up the single task. In all three, we found that allocated time for a single task was significantly smaller than the summed time allocated to the individual subtasks. We refer to this as the segmentation effect. In Experiment 3, we asked participants to give estimates by placing a mark on a time line, and found that giving time allocations in the form of rounded close approximations probably does not account for the segmentation effect. We discuss the results in relation to the basic processes used to allocate time to future tasks and the means by which planning fallacy bias might be reduced.

  14. A behavioral paradigm to evaluate hippocampal performance in aged rodents for pharmacological and genetic target validation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hilary Gerstein

    Full Text Available Aged-related cognitive ability is highly variable, ranging from unimpaired to severe impairments. The Morris water maze (a reliable tool for assessing memory has been used to distinguish aged rodents that are superior learners from those that are learning impaired. This task, however, is not practical for pre- and post-pharmacological treatment, as the memory of the task is long lasting. In contrast, the object location memory task, also a spatial learning paradigm, results in a less robust memory that decays quickly. We demonstrate for the first time how these two paradigms can be used together to assess hippocampal cognitive impairments before and after pharmacological or genetic manipulations in rodents. Rats were first segregated into superior learning and learning impaired groups using the object location memory task, and their performance was correlated with future outcome on this task and on the Morris water maze. This method provides a tool to evaluate the effect of treatments on cognitive impairment associated with aging and neurodegenerative disorders.

  15. Investigating decision rules with a new experimental design: the EXACT paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biscione, Valerio; Harris, Christopher M.

    2015-01-01

    In the decision-making field, it is important to distinguish between the perceptual process (how information is collected) and the decision rule (the strategy governing decision-making). We propose a new paradigm, called EXogenous ACcumulation Task (EXACT) to disentangle these two components. The paradigm consists of showing a horizontal gauge that represents the probability of receiving a reward at time t and increases with time. The participant is asked to press a button when they want to request a reward. Thus, the perceptual mechanism is hard-coded and does not need to be inferred from the data. Based on this paradigm, we compared four decision rules (Bayes Risk, Reward Rate, Reward/Accuracy, and Modified Reward Rate) and found that participants appeared to behave according to the Modified Reward Rate. We propose a new way of analysing the data by using the accuracy of responses, which can only be inferred in classic RT tasks. Our analysis suggests that several experimental findings such as RT distribution and its relationship with experimental conditions, usually deemed to be the result of a rise-to-threshold process, may be simply explained by the effect of the decision rule employed. PMID:26578916

  16. Game-XP: Action Games as Experimental Paradigms for Cognitive Science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, Wayne D

    2017-04-01

    Why games? How could anyone consider action games an experimental paradigm for Cognitive Science? In 1973, as one of three strategies he proposed for advancing Cognitive Science, Allen Newell exhorted us to "accept a single complex task and do all of it." More specifically, he told us that rather than taking an "experimental psychology as usual approach," we should "focus on a series of experimental and theoretical studies around a single complex task" so as to demonstrate that our theories of human cognition were powerful enough to explain "a genuine slab of human behavior" with the studies fitting into a detailed theoretical picture. Action games represent the type of experimental paradigm that Newell was advocating and the current state of programming expertise and laboratory equipment, along with the emergence of Big Data and naturally occurring datasets, provide the technologies and data needed to realize his vision. Action games enable us to escape from our field's regrettable focus on novice performance to develop theories that account for the full range of expertise through a twin focus on expertise sampling (across individuals) and longitudinal studies (within individuals) of simple and complex tasks. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  17. Cognitive pitfall! Videogame players are not immune to dual-task costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donohue, Sarah E; James, Brittany; Eslick, Andrea N; Mitroff, Stephen R

    2012-07-01

    With modern technological advances, we often find ourselves dividing our attention between multiple tasks. While this may seem a productive way to live, our attentional capacity is limited, and this yields costs in one or more of the many tasks that we try to do. Some people believe that they are immune to the costs of multitasking and commonly engage in potentially dangerous behavior, such as driving while talking on the phone. But are some groups of individuals indeed immune to dual-task costs? This study examines whether avid action videogame players, who have been shown to have heightened attentional capacities, are particularly adept multitaskers. Participants completed three visually demanding experimental paradigms (a driving videogame, a multiple-object-tracking task, and a visual search), with and without answering unrelated questions via a speakerphone (i.e., with and without a dual-task component). All of the participants, videogame players and nonvideogame players alike, performed worse while engaging in the additional dual task for all three paradigms. This suggests that extensive videogame experience may not offer immunity from dual-task costs.

  18. Hard-magnetic surface layer effect on the erbium orthoferrite plate domain structure in the region of gradual spin reorientation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belyaeva, A.I.; Vojtsenya, S.V.; Yur'ev, V.P.

    1988-01-01

    Rearrangement of domain structures in the erbium orthoferrite plates with hard-magnetic surface layer is investigated during gradual spin reorientation. This phenomenon is explained by means of the proposed physical models. It is shown that in these plates an approach to the temperature interval of spin reorientation causes a decrease in the density of energy of domain walls separating the internal and surface domains. This decrease results in transition to the domain structure which are close to equilibrium ones inside the crystal. 30 refs.; 4 figs

  19. The role of auditory transient and deviance processing in distraction of task performance: a combined behavioral and event-related brain potential study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefan eBerti

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Distraction of goal-oriented performance by a sudden change in the auditory environment is an everyday life experience. Different types of changes can be distracting, including a sudden onset of a transient sound and a slight deviation of otherwise regular auditory background stimulation. With regard to deviance detection, it is assumed that slight changes in a continuous sequence of auditory stimuli are detected by a predictive coding mechanisms and it has been demonstrated that this mechanism is capable of distracting ongoing task performance. In contrast, it is open whether transient detection – which does not rely on predictive coding mechanisms – can trigger behavioral distraction, too. In the present study, the effect of rare auditory changes on visual task performance is tested in an auditory-visual cross-modal distraction paradigm. The rare changes are either embedded within a continuous standard stimulation (triggering deviance detection or are presented within an otherwise silent situation (triggering transient detection. In the event-related brain potentials, deviants elicited the mismatch negativity (MMN while transients elicited an enhanced N1 component, mirroring pre-attentive change detection in both conditions but on the basis of different neuro-cognitive processes. These sensory components are followed by attention related ERP components including the P3a and the reorienting negativity (RON. This demonstrates that both types of changes trigger switches of attention. Finally, distraction of task performance is observable, too, but the impact of deviants is higher compared to transients. These findings suggest different routes of distraction allowing for the automatic processing of a wide range of potentially relevant changes in the environment as a pre-requisite for adaptive behavior.

  20. E-learning, dual-task, and cognitive load: The anatomy of a failed experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Nuland, Sonya E; Rogers, Kem A

    2016-01-01

    The rising popularity of commercial anatomy e-learning tools has been sustained, in part, due to increased annual enrollment and a reduction in laboratory hours across educational institutions. While e-learning tools continue to gain popularity, the research methodologies used to investigate their impact on learning remain imprecise. As new user interfaces are introduced, it is critical to understand how functionality can influence the load placed on a student's memory resources, also known as cognitive load. To study cognitive load, a dual-task paradigm wherein a learner performs two tasks simultaneously is often used, however, its application within educational research remains uncommon. Using previous paradigms as a guide, a dual-task methodology was developed to assess the cognitive load imposed by two commercial anatomical e-learning tools. Results indicate that the standard dual-task paradigm, as described in the literature, is insensitive to the cognitive load disparities across e-learning tool interfaces. Confounding variables included automation of responses, task performance tradeoff, and poor understanding of primary task cognitive load requirements, leading to unreliable quantitative results. By modifying the secondary task from a basic visual response to a more cognitively demanding task, such as a modified Stroop test, the automation of secondary task responses can be reduced. Furthermore, by recording baseline measures for the primary task as well as the secondary task, it is possible for task performance tradeoff to be detected. Lastly, it is imperative that the cognitive load of the primary task be designed such that it does not overwhelm the individual's ability to learn new material. © 2015 American Association of Anatomists.

  1. Individuation instructions decrease the Cross-Race Effect in a face matching task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2015-09-01

    Conclusions: Individuation instructions are an effective moderator of the CRE even within a face matching paradigm. Since unfamiliar face matching tasks most closely simulate document verification tasks, specifically passport screening, instructional techniques such as these may improve task performance within applied settings of significant practical importance.

  2. Bridging FORTRAN to object oriented paradigm for HEP data modeling task

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, J.

    1993-12-01

    Object oriented (OO) technology appears to offer tangible benefits to the high energy physics (HEP) community. Yet many physicists view this newest software development used with much reservation and reluctance. Facing the reality of having to support the existing physics applications, which are written in FORTRAN, the software engineers in the Computer Engineering Group of the Physics Research Division at the Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory have accepted the challenge of mixing an old language with the new technology. This paper describes the experience and the techniques devised to fit FORTRAN into the OO paradigm (OOP)

  3. Successes of trade reorientation and expansion in post-communist transition: an enterprise-level approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Winiecki

    2000-06-01

    Full Text Available The article offers an approach to the westward reorientation of foreign trade by the post-communist economies of East-Central Europe at the micro--i.e. enterprise--level. Having presented the dynamics of reorientation and its theoretical/historical underpinnings, the writer then goes on to underline the surprisingly large number of microeconomic determinants behind the strong westbound export surge. The article starts with the most often cited factor, namely the distressed sale argument, and then shifts the focus to determinants that have received far less attention: an unusual extension of the "distressed sale" argument and another, more important one, namely the legacy of the oversized industrial sector and resultant availability of firms ready (or forced to test their mettle on the world markets. The following section extends the list of determinants to foreign direct investment and the growing export activity of domestic de novo firms. The linkages between the determinants are also pointed out. The final section sums up the observations.

  4. Dual reorientation relaxation routes of water molecules in oxyanion’s hydration shell: A molecular geometry perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xie, Wen Jun; Yang, Yi Isaac; Gao, Yi Qin, E-mail: gaoyq@pku.edu.cn [Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering and Biodynamic Optical Imaging Center, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)

    2015-12-14

    In this study, we examine how complex ions such as oxyanions influence the dynamic properties of water and whether differences exist between simple halide anions and oxyanions. Nitrate anion is taken as an example to investigate the hydration properties of oxyanions. Reorientation relaxation of its hydration water can occur through two different routes: water can either break its hydrogen bond with the nitrate to form one with another water or switch between two oxygen atoms of the same nitrate. The latter molecular mechanism increases the residence time of oxyanion’s hydration water and thus nitrate anion slows down the translational motion of neighbouring water. But it is also a “structure breaker” in that it accelerates the reorientation relaxation of hydration water. Such a result illustrates that differences do exist between the hydration of oxyanions and simple halide anions as a result of different molecular geometries. Furthermore, the rotation of the nitrate solute is coupled with the hydrogen bond rearrangement of its hydration water. The nitrate anion can either tilt along the axis perpendicularly to the plane or rotate in the plane. We find that the two reorientation relaxation routes of the hydration water lead to different relaxation dynamics in each of the two above movements of the nitrate solute. The current study suggests that molecular geometry could play an important role in solute hydration and dynamics.

  5. Dual reorientation relaxation routes of water molecules in oxyanion’s hydration shell: A molecular geometry perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xie, Wen Jun; Yang, Yi Isaac; Gao, Yi Qin

    2015-01-01

    In this study, we examine how complex ions such as oxyanions influence the dynamic properties of water and whether differences exist between simple halide anions and oxyanions. Nitrate anion is taken as an example to investigate the hydration properties of oxyanions. Reorientation relaxation of its hydration water can occur through two different routes: water can either break its hydrogen bond with the nitrate to form one with another water or switch between two oxygen atoms of the same nitrate. The latter molecular mechanism increases the residence time of oxyanion’s hydration water and thus nitrate anion slows down the translational motion of neighbouring water. But it is also a “structure breaker” in that it accelerates the reorientation relaxation of hydration water. Such a result illustrates that differences do exist between the hydration of oxyanions and simple halide anions as a result of different molecular geometries. Furthermore, the rotation of the nitrate solute is coupled with the hydrogen bond rearrangement of its hydration water. The nitrate anion can either tilt along the axis perpendicularly to the plane or rotate in the plane. We find that the two reorientation relaxation routes of the hydration water lead to different relaxation dynamics in each of the two above movements of the nitrate solute. The current study suggests that molecular geometry could play an important role in solute hydration and dynamics

  6. Extrinsic Curie temperature and spin reorientation changes in Nd2Fe14B/α-Fe nanocomposites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lewis, L.H.; Panchanathan, V.

    1998-05-01

    The Curie temperatures and spin reorientation temperatures of a series of four melt-spun nanocomposite materials comprised of Nd 2 Fe 1 4B and varying amounts of α-Fe were measured using independent techniques. The phase constitution and grain size was assessed with synchrotron x-ray diffraction; the Curie temperatures were measured by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and dc SQUID magnetometry in the temperature range 375 K ≤ T ≤ 800 K, whereas the spin reorientation transition temperature was determined from ac susceptibility measurements taken in the range 10 K ≤ T ≤ 300 K. The Curie temperature increases with increasing excess iron content, resulting in a 18 degree enhancement over the Curie temperature of pure Nd 2 Fe 14 B for 27 wt% excess α-Fe. The spin reorientation temperatures are depressed from the single-crystal value by an average of 10 degrees. Both anomalous effects are attributed to intergranular exchange coupling present in the alloys, although the effects of uncompensated stress between the constituent phases cannot be ruled out The experimental results suggest that while the Curie temperature of the Nd 2 Fe 14 B phase may be extrinsically enhanced significantly beyond the bulk value, possibly extending the range of applications of this compound, the anisotropy may be simultaneously lowered, impeding the attainment of high coercivities in these alloys

  7. Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Balazs Aczel

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The Deliberation without Attention (DWA effect refers to apparent improvements in decision-making following a period of distraction. It has been presented as evidence for beneficial unconscious cognitive processes. We identify two major concerns with this claim: first, as these demonstrations typically involve subjective preferences, the effects of distraction cannot be objectively assessed as beneficial; second, there is no direct evidence that the DWA manipulation promotes unconscious decision processes. We describe two tasks based on the DWA paradigm in which we found no evidence that the distraction manipulation led to decision processes that are subjectively unconscious, nor that it reduced the influence of presentation order upon performance. Crucially, we found that a lack of awareness of decision process was associated with poorer performance, both in terms of subjective preference measures used in traditional DWA paradigm and in an equivalent task where performance can be objectively assessed. Therefore, we argue that reliance on conscious memory itself can explain the data. Thus the DWA paradigm is not an adequate method of assessing beneficial unconscious thought.

  8. QNS study of uniaxial molecular reorientation in solid t-cyanobutane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Urban, S.; Nawrocik, W.

    1977-01-01

    The results of a quasielastic neutron scattering (QNS) investigation on a t-cyanobutane, (CH 3 ) 3 CCN, sample jn three solid phases are presented. It was found there is a fast uniaxial reorientation of the t-cyanobutane molecules in phase 1, characterized by correlation times of the order of several picoseconds and an activation barrier ΔE= (0.5 +- 0.2) kcal/mole. The lack of quasielastic broadening in the neutron spectra of lower-temperature phases implies that molecular rotation then is much slower or completely hindered. (author)

  9. Reorientation effects for 52 MeV vector polarized deuterons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nurzynski, J.; Kihm, T.; Knopfle, K.T.; Mairle, G.; Clement, H.

    1987-01-01

    The differential cross sections and the vector analysing powers were measured for the elastic and inelastic scattering of 52 MeV vector polarized deuterons from 20 Ne, 22 Ne, 26 Mg, 28 Si, 32 S, 34 S, 36 Ar and 40 Ar nuclei. Coupled channels analysis was carried out using an axially symmetric rotational model with either prolate or oblate quadrupole deformations for each isotope. Calculations assuming harmonic vibrator model were also carried out. In general, reorientation effects were found to be weak. A global optical model potential containing an imaginary spin-orbit component was found to be the most suitable in describing the experimental data at this energy

  10. Reorientation Timescales and Pattern Dynamics for Titan's Dunes: Does the Tail Wag the Dog or the Dragon?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, A. G.; Ewing, R. C.; Cassini Radar Science Team, T.

    2011-12-01

    Fields of bedform patterns persist across many orders of magnitude, from cm-scale sub-aqueous current ripples to km-scale aeolian dunes, and form with surprisingly little difference in expression despite a range of formative environments. Because of the remarkable similarity between and among patterns, extracting information about climate and environment from these patterns is a challenge. For example, crest orientation is not diagnostic of a particular flow regime; similar patterns form under many different flow configurations. On Titan, these challenges have played out with many attempts to reconcile dune-field patterns with modeled and expected wind regimes. We propose that thinking about the change in dune orientation, rather than the orientation itself, can provide new insights on the long-term stability of the dune-field patterns and the formative wind regime. In this work, we apply the re-orientation model presented by Werner and Kocurek [Geology, 1997] to the equatorial dune fields of Titan. We measure variations in pattern parameters (crest spacing, crest length and defect density, which is the number of defect pairs per total crest length) both within and between Titan's dune fields to describe pattern maturity and identify areas where changes in dune orientation are likely to occur (or may already be occurring). Measured defect densities are similar to Earth's largest linear dune fields, such as the Namib Sand Sea and the Simpson Desert. We use measured defect densities in the Werner and Kocurek model to estimate crestline reorientation rates. We find reorientation timescales varying from ten to a hundred thousand times the average migration timescale (time to migrate a bedform one meter, ~1 Titan year according to Tokano (Aeolian Research, 2010)). Well organized patterns have the longest reorientation time scales (~10^5 migration timescales), while the topographically or spatially isolated patches of dunes show the shortest reorientation times (~10

  11. Video-task assessment of learning and memory in Macaques (Macaca mulatta) - Effects of stimulus movement on performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Washburn, David A.; Hopkins, William D.; Rumbaugh, Duane M.

    1989-01-01

    Effects of stimulus movement on learning, transfer, matching, and short-term memory performance were assessed with 2 monkeys using a video-task paradigm in which the animals responded to computer-generated images by manipulating a joystick. Performance on tests of learning set, transfer index, matching to sample, and delayed matching to sample in the video-task paradigm was comparable to that obtained in previous investigations using the Wisconsin General Testing Apparatus. Additionally, learning, transfer, and matching were reliably and significantly better when the stimuli or discriminanda moved than when the stimuli were stationary. External manipulations such as stimulus movement may increase attention to the demands of a task, which in turn should increase the efficiency of learning. These findings have implications for the investigation of learning in other populations, as well as for the application of the video-task paradigm to comparative study.

  12. Reorientational properties of fluorescent analogues of the protein kinase C cofactors diacylglycerol and phorbol ester.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pap, E.H.W.; Ketelaars, M.; Borst, J.W.; Hoek, van A.; Visser, A.J.W.G.

    1996-01-01

    The reorientational properties of the fluorescently labelled protein kinase C (PKC) cofactors diacylglycerol (DG) and phorbol ester (PMA) in vesicles and mixed micelles have been investigated using time-resolved polarised fluorescence. The sn-2 acyl chain of DG was replaced by diphenylhexatriene-

  13. Musical training, bilingualism, and executive function: a closer look at task switching and dual-task performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moradzadeh, Linda; Blumenthal, Galit; Wiseheart, Melody

    2015-07-01

    This study investigated whether musical training and bilingualism are associated with enhancements in specific components of executive function, namely, task switching and dual-task performance. Participants (n = 153) belonging to one of four groups (monolingual musician, bilingual musician, bilingual non-musician, or monolingual non-musician) were matched on age and socioeconomic status and administered task switching and dual-task paradigms. Results demonstrated reduced global and local switch costs in musicians compared with non-musicians, suggesting that musical training can contribute to increased efficiency in the ability to shift flexibly between mental sets. On dual-task performance, musicians also outperformed non-musicians. There was neither a cognitive advantage for bilinguals relative to monolinguals, nor an interaction between music and language to suggest additive effects of both types of experience. These findings demonstrate that long-term musical training is associated with improvements in task switching and dual-task performance. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  14. A reorientation strategy for reducing delirium in the critically ill. Results of an interventional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colombo, R; Corona, A; Praga, F; Minari, C; Giannotti, C; Castelli, A; Raimondi, F

    2012-09-01

    A wide variability in the approach towards delirium prevention and treatment in the critically ill results from the dearth of prospective randomised studies. We launched a two-stage prospective observational study to assess delirium epidemiology, risk factors and impact on patient outcome, by enrolling all patients admitted to our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) over a year. The first step - from January to June 2008 was the observational phase, whereas the second one from July to December 2008 was interventional. All the patients admitted to our ICU were recruited but those with pre-existing cognitive disorders, dementia, psychosis and disability after stroke were excluded from the data analysis. Delirium assessment was performed according with Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU twice per day after sedation interruption. During phase 2, patients underwent both a re-orientation strategy and environmental, acoustic and visual stimulation. We admitted a total of respectively 170 (I-ph) and 144 patients (II-ph). The delirium occurrence was significantly lower in (II-ph) 22% vs. 35% in (I-ph) (P=0.020). A Cox's Proportional Hazard model found the applied reorientation strategy as the strongest protective predictors of delirium: (HR 0.504, 95% C.I. 0.313-0.890, P=0.034), whereas age (HR 1.034, 95% CI: 1.013-1.056, P=0.001) and sedation with midazolam plus opiate (HR 2.145, 95% CI: 2.247-4.032, P=0.018) were negative predictors. A timely reorientation strategy seems to be correlated with significantly lower occurrence of delirium.

  15. San Juan College Task Force on Innovation 1995 Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Nelle

    In fall 1994, San Juan College, in New Mexico, established the Task Force on Innovation to examine changes in the paradigm of education and how those changes might affect the college. The Task Force determined that the primary driver of change in education was technology, and specifically the increasing number of means and ease of access to…

  16. The Failure of Deactivating Intentions: Aftereffects of Completed Intentions in the Repeated Prospective Memory Cue Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Moritz; Fischer, Rico; Goschke, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    We used a newly developed experimental paradigm to investigate aftereffects of completed intentions on subsequent performance that required the maintenance and execution of new intentions. Participants performed an ongoing number categorization task and an additional prospective memory (PM) task, which required them to respond to PM cues that…

  17. Spin reorientation transition and hard magnetic properties of MnBi intermetallic compound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, K.; Wu, X.; Ly, V.; Shoji, T.; Kato, A.; Manabe, A.

    2012-04-01

    The effects of mechanical grinding (MG) on the crystallite size, the spin reorientation transition temperature (TSR) and the hard magnetic properties in melt-spun low temperature phase (LTP) MnBi have been investigated in order to understand the origin of magnetic hardening induced by MG. The room-temperature coercive field (μ0Hcj) is enhanced dramatically from 0.08 T before MG to 1.5 T after MG for 43.2 ks while TSR is concurrently suppressed from 110 to 38 K. The coercive force exhibits positive temperature dependence approximately 50-60 K above TSR and the lowered TSR after MG could result in magnetic hardening at room temperature. The room-temperature coercive force of LTP-MnBi is highly dependent on the crystallite size (D) and is found to be described phenomenologically by the following relationship: μ0Hcj = μ0Ha(δ/D)n, where μ0Ha is ˜ 4 T, the Bloch wall width δ is 7 nm, and the exponent n is approximately 0.7. Our results suggest that the grain refinement is the primary origin of the hardening effect induced by MG with a possible minor hardening effect due to the suppression of the spin reorientation transition temperature.

  18. Task and Interruption Management in Activity-Centric Computing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jeuris, Steven

    to address these not in isolation, but by fundamentally reevaluating the current computing paradigm. To this end, activity-centric computing has been brought forward as an alternative computing paradigm, addressing the increasing strain put on modern-day computing systems. Activity-centric computing follows...... the scalability and intelligibility of current research prototypes. In this dissertation, I postulate that such issues arise due to a lack of support for the full set of practices which make up activity management. Most notably, although task and interruption management are an integral part of personal...... information management, they have thus far been neglected in prior activity-centric computing systems. Advancing the research agenda of activity-centric computing, I (1) implement and evaluate an activity-centric desktop computing system, incorporating support for interruptions and long-term task management...

  19. Video game practice optimizes executive control skills in dual-task and task switching situations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strobach, Tilo; Frensch, Peter A; Schubert, Torsten

    2012-05-01

    We examined the relation of action video game practice and the optimization of executive control skills that are needed to coordinate two different tasks. As action video games are similar to real life situations and complex in nature, and include numerous concurrent actions, they may generate an ideal environment for practicing these skills (Green & Bavelier, 2008). For two types of experimental paradigms, dual-task and task switching respectively; we obtained performance advantages for experienced video gamers compared to non-gamers in situations in which two different tasks were processed simultaneously or sequentially. This advantage was absent in single-task situations. These findings indicate optimized executive control skills in video gamers. Similar findings in non-gamers after 15 h of action video game practice when compared to non-gamers with practice on a puzzle game clarified the causal relation between video game practice and the optimization of executive control skills. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Animal to human translational paradigms relevant for approach avoidance conflict decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirlic, Namik; Young, Jared; Aupperle, Robin L

    2017-09-01

    Avoidance behavior in clinical anxiety disorders is often a decision made in response to approach-avoidance conflict, resulting in a sacrifice of potential rewards to avoid potential negative affective consequences. Animal research has a long history of relying on paradigms related to approach-avoidance conflict to model anxiety-relevant behavior. This approach includes punishment-based conflict, exploratory, and social interaction tasks. There has been a recent surge of interest in the translation of paradigms from animal to human, in efforts to increase generalization of findings and support the development of more effective mental health treatments. This article briefly reviews animal tests related to approach-avoidance conflict and results from lesion and pharmacologic studies utilizing these tests. We then provide a description of translational human paradigms that have been developed to tap into related constructs, summarizing behavioral and neuroimaging findings. Similarities and differences in findings from analogous animal and human paradigms are discussed. Lastly, we highlight opportunities for future research and paradigm development that will support the clinical utility of this translational work. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Visuo-spatial processing in a dynamic and a static working memory paradigm in schizophrenia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cocchi, Luca; Schenk, Françoise; Volken, Henri

    2007-01-01

    patients with schizophrenia and matched controls in a new working memory paradigm involving dynamic (the Ball Flight Task - BFT) or static (the Static Pattern Task - SPT) visual stimuli. In the BFT, the responses of the patients were apparently based on the retention of the last set of segments...... that visuo-spatial working memory can simply be dissociated into visual and spatial sub-components....

  2. Comparison of fMRI paradigms assessing visuospatial processing: Robustness and reproducibility.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Verena Schuster

    Full Text Available The development of brain imaging techniques, in particular functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, made it possible to non-invasively study the hemispheric lateralization of cognitive brain functions in large cohorts. Comprehensive models of hemispheric lateralization are, however, still missing and should not only account for the hemispheric specialization of individual brain functions, but also for the interactions among different lateralized cognitive processes (e.g., language and visuospatial processing. This calls for robust and reliable paradigms to study hemispheric lateralization for various cognitive functions. While numerous reliable imaging paradigms have been developed for language, which represents the most prominent left-lateralized brain function, the reliability of imaging paradigms investigating typically right-lateralized brain functions, such as visuospatial processing, has received comparatively less attention. In the present study, we aimed to establish an fMRI paradigm that robustly and reliably identifies right-hemispheric activation evoked by visuospatial processing in individual subjects. In a first study, we therefore compared three frequently used paradigms for assessing visuospatial processing and evaluated their utility to robustly detect right-lateralized brain activity on a single-subject level. In a second study, we then assessed the test-retest reliability of the so-called Landmark task-the paradigm that yielded the most robust results in study 1. At the single-voxel level, we found poor reliability of the brain activation underlying visuospatial attention. This suggests that poor signal-to-noise ratios can become a limiting factor for test-retest reliability. This represents a common detriment of fMRI paradigms investigating visuospatial attention in general and therefore highlights the need for careful considerations of both the possibilities and limitations of the respective fMRI paradigm-in particular

  3. The influence of stress state on the reorientation of hydrides in a zirconium alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cinbiz, Mahmut N.; Koss, Donald A.; Motta, Arthur T.

    2016-01-01

    Hydride reorientation can occur in spent nuclear fuel cladding when subjected to a tensile hoop stress above a threshold value during cooling. Because in these circumstances the cladding is under a multiaxial stress state, the effect of stress biaxiality on the threshold stress for hydride reorientation is investigated using hydrided CWSR Zircaloy-4 sheet specimens containing ∼180 wt ppm of hydrogen and subjected to a two-cycle thermo-mechanical treatment. The study is based on especially designed specimens within which the stress biaxiality ratios range from uniaxial (σ_2/σ_1 = 0) to “near-equibiaxial” tension (σ_2/σ_1 = 0.8). The threshold stress is determined by mapping finite element calculations of the principal stresses and of the stress biaxiality ratio onto the hydride microstructure obtained after the thermo-mechanical treatment. The results show that the threshold stress (maximum principal stress) decreases from 155 to 75 MPa as the stress biaxiality increases from uniaxial to “near-equibiaxial” tension.

  4. Language Tasks and Mobile Technologies: A Paradigm Shift in Designing Task-Based CALL for Young Language Learners / Activités langagières et technologies mobiles : un changement de paradigme dans la conception des tâches en apprentissage des langues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martine Pellerin

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This article examines how the use of mobile technologies (iPods and tablets in language classrooms contributes to redesigning task-based approaches for young language learners. The article is based on a collaborative action research (CAR project in Early French Immersion classrooms in the province of Alberta, Canada. The data collection included digital ethnographic observation in the classrooms, students’ artifacts, and interviews with teachers and students. The findings outlined how the use of mobile technologies such as iPods and tablets contributes to redesigning language tasks and activities by helping young learners to create their own learning environment and meaningful language tasks, as well as self-assess and regulate their language learning process. The research also provides evidence of how the use of mobile technologies contributes to redesigning task-based approaches for young language learners that reflect learning principles based on emergent learning theories as well as Vygotskian sociocultural theories in second language acquisition (SLA. Activités langagières et technologies mobiles : un changement de paradigme dans la conception des tâches en apprentissage des langues assisté par ordinateur pour jeunes apprenants Cet article étudie la façon dont l'utilisation des technologies mobiles (iPods et tablettes dans les classes de langue contribue à la refonte des approches basées sur des tâches pour les jeunes apprenants. L'article se fonde sur un projet de collaboration recherche-action (CRA dans les classes initiales d'immersion en français dans la province de l'Alberta, au Canada. La collecte de données comprenait l'observation ethnographique numérique dans les salles de classe, les artefacts des élèves, et des entrevues avec les enseignants et les étudiants. Les résultats ont montré comment l'utilisation des technologies mobiles telles que les iPods et tablettes contribue à la refonte des tâches et des

  5. Thermal reorientation of hydrogenic Pr3+ centers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jones, G. D.

    1996-01-01

    Sets of five multi-hydrogenic centers of both CaF 2 :Pr 3+ and SrF 2 :Pr 3 + show bleaching under selective polarized-light irradiation. Two forms of bleaching behaviour are observed. In reversible polarized bleaching, irradiation creates re-oriented equivalent centers, which can be restored to the original orientation by switching the laser polarization by 90 deg. Indefinite sequences of bleaching and recovery can be established. In photoproduct bleaching, inequivalent centers are produced, which can be reverted by subsequently selectively exciting their absorption lines. Thermal recovery of the bleached centers on warming the crystals occurs abruptly over a 5 K range around 100 K and is noteworthy in occurring at essentially identical temperatures for H - , D - and T - centers. The simplest model for this thermal recovery is thermal activation of the mobile hydrogenic ions over a double well potential barrier. An alternative model proposed by Universitaet Regensburg requires the involvement of high frequency excitations in scattering processes for surmounting the barrier

  6. The Influence of Cue Reliability and Cue Representation on Spatial Reorientation in Young Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, Ian M.; Huttenlocher, Janellen; Ratliff, Kristin R.

    2014-01-01

    Previous studies of children's reorientation have focused on cue representation (e.g., whether cues are geometric) as a predictor of performance but have not addressed cue reliability (the regularity of the relation between a given cue and an outcome) as a predictor of performance. Here we address both factors within the same series of…

  7. Social reorientation in adolescence: neurobiological changes and individual differences in empathic concern

    OpenAIRE

    Overgaauw, Sandy

    2015-01-01

    One of the most prominent changes in adolescence is social reorientation. In other words, adolescents develop more intimate relationships with peers, they discover what it is like to be involved in a romantic relationship, and they take (social) risks by for example showing risky driving in the presence of friends. Given that social networks with peers become central elements in the adolescent’s life, investigating the role of individual differences related to the development of social reorie...

  8. A novel task-oriented optimal design for P300-based brain-computer interfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zongtan; Yin, Erwei; Liu, Yang; Jiang, Jun; Hu, Dewen

    2014-10-01

    Objective. The number of items of a P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI) should be adjustable in accordance with the requirements of the specific tasks. To address this issue, we propose a novel task-oriented optimal approach aimed at increasing the performance of general P300 BCIs with different numbers of items. Approach. First, we proposed a stimulus presentation with variable dimensions (VD) paradigm as a generalization of the conventional single-character (SC) and row-column (RC) stimulus paradigms. Furthermore, an embedding design approach was employed for any given number of items. Finally, based on the score-P model of each subject, the VD flash pattern was selected by a linear interpolation approach for a certain task. Main results. The results indicate that the optimal BCI design consistently outperforms the conventional approaches, i.e., the SC and RC paradigms. Specifically, there is significant improvement in the practical information transfer rate for a large number of items. Significance. The results suggest that the proposed optimal approach would provide useful guidance in the practical design of general P300-based BCIs.

  9. Neural architecture underlying classification of face perception paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laird, Angela R; Riedel, Michael C; Sutherland, Matthew T; Eickhoff, Simon B; Ray, Kimberly L; Uecker, Angela M; Fox, P Mickle; Turner, Jessica A; Fox, Peter T

    2015-10-01

    We present a novel strategy for deriving a classification system of functional neuroimaging paradigms that relies on hierarchical clustering of experiments archived in the BrainMap database. The goal of our proof-of-concept application was to examine the underlying neural architecture of the face perception literature from a meta-analytic perspective, as these studies include a wide range of tasks. Task-based results exhibiting similar activation patterns were grouped as similar, while tasks activating different brain networks were classified as functionally distinct. We identified four sub-classes of face tasks: (1) Visuospatial Attention and Visuomotor Coordination to Faces, (2) Perception and Recognition of Faces, (3) Social Processing and Episodic Recall of Faces, and (4) Face Naming and Lexical Retrieval. Interpretation of these sub-classes supports an extension of a well-known model of face perception to include a core system for visual analysis and extended systems for personal information, emotion, and salience processing. Overall, these results demonstrate that a large-scale data mining approach can inform the evolution of theoretical cognitive models by probing the range of behavioral manipulations across experimental tasks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Attention Deficit ِDuring Dual-Task Performance in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamid Salehi

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: The aims of the present investigation was the evaluation of divided attention deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD patients by using dual-task paradigm in order to ascertain whether this method can be useful in the early diagnosis of AD or not.  Methods & Materials: A total of 23 elderly individuals (11 females and 12 males voluntarily participated in the investigation: 13 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD and 10 healthy elderly individuals. The experimental setup consisted of (a single -task and (b dual-task trials at two levels of difficulty. In singletask condition, the participants were asked to recite the months of the year continuously with normal order (easy and backward (difficult. They also performed a computerized visuospatial/motor tracking task. The participants then performed the tracking task in conjunction with each of the months reciting tasks as dual-task condition. Results: The results showed a significant interaction (disease×level of difficulty effect. So that, the performance impairment on combine performance in two simultaneous tasks was related to task difficulty, but the elderly control group did not differ in the easy and difficult conditions. Conclusion: These findings not only increase our understanding of the attention deficits in AD patients, but also have implications for the mediating effect of cognitive load in using dual-task paradigm for studying attention mechanisms of cognitively suffered individuals.

  11. Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kray, Jutta; Gaspard, Hanna; Karbach, Julia; Blaye, Agnès

    2013-01-01

    In this study we examined whether developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing for task-goal maintenance are dependent on the amount of task practice and task-sequencing demands. To measure task-goal maintenance we applied a switching paradigm in which children either performed only task A or B in single-task blocks or switched between them on every second trial in mixed-task blocks. Task-goal maintenance was determined by comparing the performance between both blocks (mixing costs). The influence of verbal self-cueing was measured by instructing children to either name the next task aloud or not to verbalize during task preparation. Task-sequencing demands were varied between groups whereas one group received spatial task cues to support keeping track of the task sequence, while the other group did not. We also varied by the amount of prior practice in task switching while one group of participants practiced task switching first, before performing the task naming in addition, and the other group did it vice versa. Results of our study investigating younger (8–10 years) and older children (11–13 years) revealed no age differences in beneficial effects of verbal self-cueing. In line with previous findings, children showed reduced mixing costs under task-naming instructions and under conditions of low task-sequence demands (with the presence of spatial task cues). Our results also indicated that these benefits were only obtained for those groups of children that first received practice in task switching alone with no additional verbalization instruction. These findings suggest that internal task-cueing strategies can be efficiently used in children but only if they received prior practice in the underlying task so that demands on keeping and coordinating various instructions are reduced. Moreover, children benefitted from spatial task cues for better task-goal maintenance only if no verbal task-cueing strategy was introduced first. PMID:24381566

  12. Task complexity, student perceptions of vocabulary learning in EFL, and task performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xiaoli; Lowyck, Joost; Sercu, Lies; Elen, Jan

    2013-03-01

    The study deepened our understanding of how students' self-efficacy beliefs contribute to the context of teaching English as a foreign language in the framework of cognitive mediational paradigm at a fine-tuned task-specific level. The aim was to examine the relationship among task complexity, self-efficacy beliefs, domain-related prior knowledge, learning strategy use, and task performance as they were applied to English vocabulary learning from reading tasks. Participants were 120 second-year university students (mean age 21) from a Chinese university. This experiment had two conditions (simple/complex). A vocabulary level test was first conducted to measure participants' prior knowledge of English vocabulary. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of the learning tasks. Participants were administered task booklets together with the self-efficacy scales, measures of learning strategy use, and post-tests. Data obtained were submitted to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and path analysis. Results from the MANOVA model showed a significant effect of vocabulary level on self-efficacy beliefs, learning strategy use, and task performance. Task complexity showed no significant effect; however, an interaction effect between vocabulary level and task complexity emerged. Results from the path analysis showed self-efficacy beliefs had an indirect effect on performance. Our results highlighted the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs and learning strategy use. Our findings indicate that students' prior knowledge plays a crucial role on both self-efficacy beliefs and task performance, and the predictive power of self-efficacy on task performance may lie in its association with learning strategy use. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

  13. Preparing master-level mental health nurses to work within a wellness paradigm: Findings from the eMenthe project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doyle, Louise; Ellilä, Heikki; Jormfeldt, Henrika; Lahti, Mari; Higgins, Agnes; Keogh, Brian; Meade, Oonagh; Sitvast, Jan; Skärsäter, Ingela; Stickley, Theo; Kilkku, Nina

    2018-04-01

    Mental health promotion remains an important component of mental health nursing practice. Supporting wellness at both the individual and societal levels has been identified as one of the key tenets of mental health promotion. However, the prevailing biomedical paradigm of mental health education and practice has meant that many nurses have not been equipped to incorporate a wellness perspective into their mental health practice. In the present study, we report on an exploratory study which details the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required by master-level mental health nurses to practice within a wellness paradigm from the perspective of three groups of key stakeholders: (i) service users and family members (n = 23); (ii) experienced mental health nurses (n = 49); and (iii) master-level mental health nursing students (n = 37). The findings, which were reported from individual and focus group interviews across five European countries, suggested a need to reorientate mental health nursing education to include a focus on wellness and resilience to equip mental health nurses with the skills to work within a strengths-based, rather than a deficits-based, model of mental health practice. Key challenges to working within a wellness paradigm were identified as the prevailing dominance of the biomedical model of cause and treatment of mental health problems, which focusses on symptoms, rather than the holistic functioning of the individual, and positions the person as passive in the nurse-service user relationship. © 2017 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

  14. Memory distorions resulting from a choice blindness task

    OpenAIRE

    Pärnamets, Philip; Hall, Lars; Johansson, Petter

    2015-01-01

    Using a choice blindness paradigm, it is possible to switch decisions and outcomes in simple choice tasks. Such switches have been found to carry over into later choices, hypothesized to be mediated by beliefs about earlier decisions. Here we investigated participants’ memories for stimuli in a simple choice blindness task involving preferential choices between pairs of faces. We probed participants’ recognition and source memory following a round of choices where on some trials participants ...

  15. Differential preparation intervals modulate repetition processes in task switching: an ERP study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min eWang

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In task-switching paradigms, reaction times (RTs switch cost (SC and the neural correlates underlying the SC are affected by different preparation intervals. However, little is known about the effect of the preparation interval on the repetition processes in task-switching. To examine this effect we utilized a cued task-switching paradigm with long sequences of repeated trials. Response-stimulus intervals (RSI and cue-stimulus intervals (CSI were manipulated in short and long conditions. Electroencephalography (EEG and behavioral data were recorded. We found that with increasing repetitions, RTs were faster in the short CSI conditions, while P3 amplitudes decreased in the LS (long RSI and short CSI conditions. Positive correlations between RT benefit and P3 activation decrease (repeat 1 minus repeat 5, and between the slope of the RT and P3 regression lines were observed only in the LS condition. Our findings suggest that differential preparation intervals modulate repetition processes in task switching.

  16. PARADIGMS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabrina Oktoria Sihombing

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available A paradigm influences what we see and conceive about certain facts. Paradigm can also influence what we accept as a truth. Yet, the debate over which paradigm and methodology is best suit for marketing and consumer behavior has begun since 1980s. Many researchers criticized the domination of logical empiricism paradigm and offered alternative paradigm to understand marketing and consumer behavior. This article discusses several paradigms and methodology, which are part of qualitative paradigm, and compares them with positivism paradigm. This article will also point to the importance of reconciliation between qualitative and quantitative paradigm in order to improve marketing and consumer behavior studies.

  17. Imaging gait analysis: An fMRI dual task study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bürki, Céline N; Bridenbaugh, Stephanie A; Reinhardt, Julia; Stippich, Christoph; Kressig, Reto W; Blatow, Maria

    2017-08-01

    In geriatric clinical diagnostics, gait analysis with cognitive-motor dual tasking is used to predict fall risk and cognitive decline. To date, the neural correlates of cognitive-motor dual tasking processes are not fully understood. To investigate these underlying neural mechanisms, we designed an fMRI paradigm to reproduce the gait analysis. We tested the fMRI paradigm's feasibility in a substudy with fifteen young adults and assessed 31 healthy older adults in the main study. First, gait speed and variability were quantified using the GAITRite © electronic walkway. Then, participants lying in the MRI-scanner were stepping on pedals of an MRI-compatible stepping device used to imitate gait during functional imaging. In each session, participants performed cognitive and motor single tasks as well as cognitive-motor dual tasks. Behavioral results showed that the parameters of both gait analyses, GAITRite © and fMRI, were significantly positively correlated. FMRI results revealed significantly reduced brain activation during dual task compared to single task conditions. Functional ROI analysis showed that activation in the superior parietal lobe (SPL) decreased less from single to dual task condition than activation in primary motor cortex and in supplementary motor areas. Moreover, SPL activation was increased during dual tasks in subjects exhibiting lower stepping speed and lower executive control. We were able to simulate walking during functional imaging with valid results that reproduce those from the GAITRite © gait analysis. On the neural level, SPL seems to play a crucial role in cognitive-motor dual tasking and to be linked to divided attention processes, particularly when motor activity is involved.

  18. Exploring decoy effects on computerized task preferences in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Audrey E. Parrish

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The asymmetric dominance effect or decoy effect emerges when a third inferior option is introduced to a choice set. The decoy option, although typically not chosen, impacts relative preference for the original two options. This decisional bias stands in contrast with rational choice theory, which dictates that choice behavior should remain consistent for the original options with the addition of different alternatives to a choice set such as the decoy. In the current study, we assessed the decoy effect in rhesus monkeys using a computerized task battery that introduced two different computerized tasks, including a matching-to-sample task and a psychomotor task called PURSUIT. Decoy tasks were designed such that they were inferior versions of these original task options, requiring longer time to completion (via slowed cursor speeds and subsequently reduced reinforcement rates. Monkeys learned to associate unique icons for each task (including for decoy tasks, and used these icons to select their preferred task from a choice set of two to three task options. Monkeys learned to perform all tasks, but did not show evidence of the decoy effect using this task preference paradigm. We discuss the role of initial task preference (and task biases, task type (symbolic vs. perceptual, and decoy effect sizes in light of these findings. We contrast the current results to previous findings of the decoy effect in rhesus monkeys using a perceptual paradigm as well as to other evidence of the decoy effect in non-primate animal species.

  19. PARADIGMS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

    OpenAIRE

    Sabrina Oktoria Sihombing

    2011-01-01

    A paradigm influences what we see and conceive about certain facts. Paradigm can also influence what we accept as a truth. Yet, the debate over which paradigm and methodology is best suit for marketing and consumer behavior has begun since 1980s. Many researchers criticized the domination of logical empiricism paradigm and offered alternative paradigm to understand marketing and consumer behavior. This article discusses several paradigms and methodology, which are part of qualitative paradigm...

  20. A Novel Analog Reasoning Paradigm: New Insights in Intellectually Disabled Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curie, Aurore; Brun, Amandine; Cheylus, Anne; Reboul, Anne; Nazir, Tatjana; Bussy, Gérald; Delange, Karine; Paulignan, Yves; Mercier, Sandra; David, Albert; Marignier, Stéphanie; Merle, Lydie; de Fréminville, Bénédicte; Prieur, Fabienne; Till, Michel; Mortemousque, Isabelle; Toutain, Annick; Bieth, Eric; Touraine, Renaud; Sanlaville, Damien; Chelly, Jamel; Kong, Jian; Ott, Daniel; Kassai, Behrouz; Hadjikhani, Nouchine; Gollub, Randy L; des Portes, Vincent

    2016-01-01

    Intellectual Disability (ID) is characterized by deficits in intellectual functions such as reasoning, problem-solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, and learning. As new avenues are emerging for treatment of genetically determined ID (such as Down's syndrome or Fragile X syndrome), it is necessary to identify objective reliable and sensitive outcome measures for use in clinical trials. We developed a novel visual analogical reasoning paradigm, inspired by the Progressive Raven's Matrices, but appropriate for Intellectually Disabled patients. This new paradigm assesses reasoning and inhibition abilities in ID patients. We performed behavioural analyses for this task (with a reaction time and error rate analysis, Study 1) in 96 healthy controls (adults and typically developed children older than 4) and 41 genetically determined ID patients (Fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome and ARX mutated patients). In order to establish and quantify the cognitive strategies used to solve the task, we also performed an eye-tracking analysis (Study 2). Down syndrome, ARX and Fragile X patients were significantly slower and made significantly more errors than chronological age-matched healthy controls. The effect of inhibition on error rate was greater than the matrix complexity effect in ID patients, opposite to findings in adult healthy controls. Interestingly, ID patients were more impaired by inhibition than mental age-matched healthy controls, but not by the matrix complexity. Eye-tracking analysis made it possible to identify the strategy used by the participants to solve the task. Adult healthy controls used a matrix-based strategy, whereas ID patients used a response-based strategy. Furthermore, etiologic-specific reasoning differences were evidenced between ID patients groups. We suggest that this paradigm, appropriate for ID patients and developmental populations as well as adult healthy controls, provides an objective and quantitative assessment of visual

  1. Delayed Match Retrieval: A Novel Anticipation-Based Visual Working Memory Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaldy, Zsuzsa; Guillory, Sylvia B.; Blaser, Erik

    2016-01-01

    We tested 8- and 10-month-old infants' visual working memory (VWM) for object-location bindings--"what is where"--with a novel paradigm, Delayed Match Retrieval, that measured infants' anticipatory gaze responses (using a Tobii T120 eye tracker). In an inversion of Delayed-Match-to-Sample tasks and with inspiration from the game…

  2. Inefficient cognitive control in adult ADHD: evidence from trial-by-trial Stroop test and cued task switching performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heuser Isabella

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Contemporary neuropsychological models of ADHD implicate impaired cognitive control as contributing to disorder characteristic behavioral deficiencies and excesses; albeit to varying degrees. While the traditional view of ADHD postulates a core deficiency in cognitive control processes, alternative dual-process models emphasize the dynamic interplay of bottom-up driven factors such as activation, arousal, alerting, motivation, reward and temporal processing with top-down cognitive control. However, neuropsychological models of ADHD are child-based and have yet to undergo extensive empirical scrutiny with respect to their application to individuals with persistent symptoms in adulthood. Furthermore, few studies of adult ADHD samples have investigated two central cognitive control processes: interference control and task-set coordination. The current study employed experimental chronometric Stroop and task switching paradigms to investigate the efficiency of processes involved in interference control and task-set coordination in ADHD adults. Methods 22 adults diagnosed with persistent ADHD (17 males and 22 matched healthy control subjects performed a manual trial-by-trial Stroop color-word test and a blocked explicitly cued task switching paradigm. Performance differences between neutral and incongruent trials of the Stroop task measured interference control. Task switching paradigm manipulations allowed for measurement of transient task-set updating, sustained task-set maintenance, preparatory mechanisms and interference control. Control analyses tested for the specificity of group × condition interactions. Results Abnormal processing of task-irrelevant stimulus features was evident in ADHD group performance on both tasks. ADHD group interference effects on the task switching paradigm were found to be dependent on the time allotted to prepare for an upcoming task. Group differences in sustained task-set maintenance and

  3. Task conflict and proactive control: A computational theory of the Stroop task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalanthroff, Eyal; Davelaar, Eddy J; Henik, Avishai; Goldfarb, Liat; Usher, Marius

    2018-01-01

    The Stroop task is a central experimental paradigm used to probe cognitive control by measuring the ability of participants to selectively attend to task-relevant information and inhibit automatic task-irrelevant responses. Research has revealed variability in both experimental manipulations and individual differences. Here, we focus on a particular source of Stroop variability, the reverse-facilitation (RF; faster responses to nonword neutral stimuli than to congruent stimuli), which has recently been suggested as a signature of task conflict. We first review the literature that shows RF variability in the Stroop task, both with regard to experimental manipulations and to individual differences. We suggest that task conflict variability can be understood as resulting from the degree of proactive control that subjects recruit in advance of the Stroop stimulus. When the proactive control is high, task conflict does not arise (or is resolved very quickly), resulting in regular Stroop facilitation. When proactive control is low, task conflict emerges, leading to a slow-down in congruent and incongruent (but not in neutral) trials and thus to Stroop RF. To support this suggestion, we present a computational model of the Stroop task, which includes the resolution of task conflict and its modulation by proactive control. Results show that our model (a) accounts for the variability in Stroop-RF reported in the experimental literature, and (b) solves a challenge to previous Stroop models-their ability to account for reaction time distributional properties. Finally, we discuss theoretical implications to Stroop measures and control deficits observed in some psychopathologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Microtubule bundling plays a role in ethylene-mediated cortical microtubule reorientation in etiolated Arabidopsis hypocotyls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Qianqian; Sun, Jingbo; Mao, Tonglin

    2016-05-15

    The gaseous hormone ethylene is known to regulate plant growth under etiolated conditions (the 'triple response'). Although organization of cortical microtubules is essential for cell elongation, the underlying mechanisms that regulate microtubule organization by hormone signaling, including ethylene, are ambiguous. In the present study, we demonstrate that ethylene signaling participates in regulation of cortical microtubule reorientation. In particular, regulation of microtubule bundling is important for this process in etiolated hypocotyls. Time-lapse analysis indicated that selective stabilization of microtubule-bundling structures formed in various arrays is related to ethylene-mediated microtubule orientation. Bundling events and bundle growth lifetimes were significantly increased in oblique and longitudinal arrays, but decreased in transverse arrays in wild-type cells in response to ethylene. However, the effects of ethylene on microtubule bundling were partially suppressed in a microtubule-bundling protein WDL5 knockout mutant (wdl5-1). This study suggests that modulation of microtubule bundles that have formed in certain orientations plays a role in reorienting microtubule arrays in response to ethylene-mediated etiolated hypocotyl cell elongation. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  5. Revisiting the age-prospective memory-paradox: the role of planning and task experience

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hering, A.; Cortez, S.A.; Kliegel, M.; Altgassen, A.M.

    2014-01-01

    The present study aimed at investigating age-related differences in prospective memory performance using a paradigm with high ecological validity and experimental control. Thirty old and 30 young adults completed the Dresden Breakfast task; a meal preparation task in the lab that comprises several

  6. Effort-Based Decision Making in Schizophrenia: Evaluation of Paradigms to Measure Motivational Deficits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Michael F; Horan, William P

    2015-09-01

    Effort-based decision making requires one to decide how much effort to expend for a certain amount of reward. As the amount of reward goes up most people are willing to exert more effort. This relationship between reward level and effort expenditure can be measured in specialized performance-based tasks that have only recently been applied to schizophrenia. Such tasks provide a way to measure objectively motivational deficits in schizophrenia, which now are only assessed with clinical interviews of negative symptoms. The articles in this theme provide reviews of the relevant animal and human literatures (first 2 articles), and then a psychometric evaluation of 5 effort-based decision making paradigms (last 2 articles). This theme section is intended to stimulate interest in this emerging area among basic scientists developing paradigms for preclinical studies, human experimentalists trying to disentangle factors that contribute to performance on effort-based tasks, and investigators looking for objective endpoints for clinical trials of negative symptoms in schizophrenia. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. Imaging deductive reasoning and the new paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oaksford, Mike

    2015-01-01

    There has been a great expansion of research into human reasoning at all of Marr’s explanatory levels. There is a tendency for this work to progress within a level largely ignoring the others which can lead to slippage between levels (Chater et al., 2003). It is argued that recent brain imaging research on deductive reasoning—implementational level—has largely ignored the new paradigm in reasoning—computational level (Over, 2009). Consequently, recent imaging results are reviewed with the focus on how they relate to the new paradigm. The imaging results are drawn primarily from a recent meta-analysis by Prado et al. (2011) but further imaging results are also reviewed where relevant. Three main observations are made. First, the main function of the core brain region identified is most likely elaborative, defeasible reasoning not deductive reasoning. Second, the subtraction methodology and the meta-analytic approach may remove all traces of content specific System 1 processes thought to underpin much human reasoning. Third, interpreting the function of the brain regions activated by a task depends on theories of the function that a task engages. When there are multiple interpretations of that function, interpreting what an active brain region is doing is not clear cut. It is concluded that there is a need to more tightly connect brain activation to function, which could be achieved using formalized computational level models and a parametric variation approach. PMID:25774130

  8. A novel hybrid ensemble learning paradigm for nuclear energy consumption forecasting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang, Ling; Yu, Lean; Wang, Shuai; Li, Jianping; Wang, Shouyang

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► A hybrid ensemble learning paradigm integrating EEMD and LSSVR is proposed. ► The hybrid ensemble method is useful to predict time series with high volatility. ► The ensemble method can be used for both one-step and multi-step ahead forecasting. - Abstract: In this paper, a novel hybrid ensemble learning paradigm integrating ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and least squares support vector regression (LSSVR) is proposed for nuclear energy consumption forecasting, based on the principle of “decomposition and ensemble”. This hybrid ensemble learning paradigm is formulated specifically to address difficulties in modeling nuclear energy consumption, which has inherently high volatility, complexity and irregularity. In the proposed hybrid ensemble learning paradigm, EEMD, as a competitive decomposition method, is first applied to decompose original data of nuclear energy consumption (i.e. a difficult task) into a number of independent intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) of original data (i.e. some relatively easy subtasks). Then LSSVR, as a powerful forecasting tool, is implemented to predict all extracted IMFs independently. Finally, these predicted IMFs are aggregated into an ensemble result as final prediction, using another LSSVR. For illustration and verification purposes, the proposed learning paradigm is used to predict nuclear energy consumption in China. Empirical results demonstrate that the novel hybrid ensemble learning paradigm can outperform some other popular forecasting models in both level prediction and directional forecasting, indicating that it is a promising tool to predict complex time series with high volatility and irregularity.

  9. Detecting gait abnormalities after concussion or mild traumatic brain injury: A systematic review of single-task, dual-task, and complex gait.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fino, Peter C; Parrington, Lucy; Pitt, Will; Martini, Douglas N; Chesnutt, James C; Chou, Li-Shan; King, Laurie A

    2018-05-01

    While a growing number of studies have investigated the effects of concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) on gait, many studies use different experimental paradigms and outcome measures. The path for translating experimental studies for objective clinical assessments of gait is unclear. This review asked 2 questions: 1) is gait abnormal after concussion/mTBI, and 2) what gait paradigms (single-task, dual-task, complex gait) detect abnormalities after concussion. Data sources included MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) accessed on March 14, 2017. Original research articles reporting gait outcomes in people with concussion or mTBI were included. Studies of moderate, severe, or unspecified TBI, and studies without a comparator were excluded. After screening 233 articles, 38 studies were included and assigned to one or more sections based on the protocol and reported outcomes. Twenty-six articles reported single-task simple gait outcomes, 24 reported dual-task simple gait outcomes, 21 reported single-task complex gait outcomes, and 10 reported dual-task complex gait outcomes. Overall, this review provides evidence for two conclusions: 1) gait is abnormal acutely after concussion/mTBI but generally resolves over time; and 2) the inconsistency of findings, small sample sizes, and small number of studies examining homogenous measures at the same time-period post-concussion highlight the need for replication across independent populations and investigators. Future research should concentrate on dual-task and complex gait tasks, as they showed promise for detecting abnormal locomotor function outside of the acute timeframe. Additionally, studies should provide detailed demographic and clinical characteristics to enable more refined comparisons across studies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Task-induced frequency modulation features for brain-computer interfacing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayaram, Vinay; Hohmann, Matthias; Just, Jennifer; Schölkopf, Bernhard; Grosse-Wentrup, Moritz

    2017-10-01

    Task-induced amplitude modulation of neural oscillations is routinely used in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for decoding subjects' intents, and underlies some of the most robust and common methods in the field, such as common spatial patterns and Riemannian geometry. While there has been some interest in phase-related features for classification, both techniques usually presuppose that the frequencies of neural oscillations remain stable across various tasks. We investigate here whether features based on task-induced modulation of the frequency of neural oscillations enable decoding of subjects' intents with an accuracy comparable to task-induced amplitude modulation. We compare cross-validated classification accuracies using the amplitude and frequency modulated features, as well as a joint feature space, across subjects in various paradigms and pre-processing conditions. We show results with a motor imagery task, a cognitive task, and also preliminary results in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as using common spatial patterns and Laplacian filtering. The frequency features alone do not significantly out-perform traditional amplitude modulation features, and in some cases perform significantly worse. However, across both tasks and pre-processing in healthy subjects the joint space significantly out-performs either the frequency or amplitude features alone. This result only does not hold for ALS patients, for whom the dataset is of insufficient size to draw any statistically significant conclusions. Task-induced frequency modulation is robust and straight forward to compute, and increases performance when added to standard amplitude modulation features across paradigms. This allows more information to be extracted from the EEG signal cheaply and can be used throughout the field of BCIs.

  11. Task-induced frequency modulation features for brain-computer interfacing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayaram, Vinay; Hohmann, Matthias; Just, Jennifer; Schölkopf, Bernhard; Grosse-Wentrup, Moritz

    2017-10-01

    Objective. Task-induced amplitude modulation of neural oscillations is routinely used in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for decoding subjects’ intents, and underlies some of the most robust and common methods in the field, such as common spatial patterns and Riemannian geometry. While there has been some interest in phase-related features for classification, both techniques usually presuppose that the frequencies of neural oscillations remain stable across various tasks. We investigate here whether features based on task-induced modulation of the frequency of neural oscillations enable decoding of subjects’ intents with an accuracy comparable to task-induced amplitude modulation. Approach. We compare cross-validated classification accuracies using the amplitude and frequency modulated features, as well as a joint feature space, across subjects in various paradigms and pre-processing conditions. We show results with a motor imagery task, a cognitive task, and also preliminary results in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as using common spatial patterns and Laplacian filtering. Main results. The frequency features alone do not significantly out-perform traditional amplitude modulation features, and in some cases perform significantly worse. However, across both tasks and pre-processing in healthy subjects the joint space significantly out-performs either the frequency or amplitude features alone. This result only does not hold for ALS patients, for whom the dataset is of insufficient size to draw any statistically significant conclusions. Significance. Task-induced frequency modulation is robust and straight forward to compute, and increases performance when added to standard amplitude modulation features across paradigms. This allows more information to be extracted from the EEG signal cheaply and can be used throughout the field of BCIs.

  12. Schema-driven facilitation of new hierarchy learning in the transitive inference paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumaran, Dharshan

    2013-01-01

    Prior knowledge, in the form of a mental schema or framework, is viewed to facilitate the learning of new information in a range of experimental and everyday scenarios. Despite rising interest in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying schema-driven facilitation of new learning, few paradigms have been developed to examine this issue in humans. Here we develop a multiphase experimental scenario aimed at characterizing schema-based effects in the context of a paradigm that has been very widely used across species, the transitive inference task. We show that an associative schema, comprised of prior knowledge of the rank positions of familiar items in the hierarchy, has a marked effect on transitivity performance and the development of relational knowledge of the hierarchy that cannot be accounted for by more general changes in task strategy. Further, we show that participants are capable of deploying prior knowledge to successful effect under surprising conditions (i.e., when corrective feedback is totally absent), but only when the associative schema is robust. Finally, our results provide insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying such schema-driven effects, and suggest that new hierarchy learning in the transitive inference task can occur through a contextual transfer mechanism that exploits the structure of associative experiences. PMID:23782509

  13. Schema-driven facilitation of new hierarchy learning in the transitive inference paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumaran, Dharshan

    2013-06-19

    Prior knowledge, in the form of a mental schema or framework, is viewed to facilitate the learning of new information in a range of experimental and everyday scenarios. Despite rising interest in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying schema-driven facilitation of new learning, few paradigms have been developed to examine this issue in humans. Here we develop a multiphase experimental scenario aimed at characterizing schema-based effects in the context of a paradigm that has been very widely used across species, the transitive inference task. We show that an associative schema, comprised of prior knowledge of the rank positions of familiar items in the hierarchy, has a marked effect on transitivity performance and the development of relational knowledge of the hierarchy that cannot be accounted for by more general changes in task strategy. Further, we show that participants are capable of deploying prior knowledge to successful effect under surprising conditions (i.e., when corrective feedback is totally absent), but only when the associative schema is robust. Finally, our results provide insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying such schema-driven effects, and suggest that new hierarchy learning in the transitive inference task can occur through a contextual transfer mechanism that exploits the structure of associative experiences.

  14. Selective activation of the superior frontal gyrus in task-switching: an event-related fNIRS study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cutini, Simone; Scatturin, Pietro; Menon, Enrica; Bisiacchi, Patrizia Silvia; Gamberini, Luciano; Zorzi, Marco; Dell'Acqua, Roberto

    2008-08-15

    In the task-switching paradigm, reaction time is longer and accuracy is worse in switch trials relative to repetition trials. This so-called switch cost has been ascribed to the engagement of control processes required to alternate between distinct stimulus-response mapping rules. Neuroimaging studies have reported an enhanced activation of the human lateral prefrontal cortex and the superior frontal gyrus during the task-switching paradigm. Whether neural activation in these regions is dissociable and associated with separable cognitive components of task switching has been a matter of recent debate. We used multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure brain cortical activity in a task-switching paradigm designed to avoid task differences, order predictability, and frequency effects. The results showed a generalized bilateral activation of the lateral prefrontal cortex and the superior frontal gyrus in both switch trials and repetition trials. To isolate the activity selectively associated with the task-switch, the overall activity recorded during repetition trials was subtracted from the activity recorded during switch trials. Following subtraction, the remaining activity was entirely confined to the left portion of the superior frontal gyrus. The present results suggest that factors associated with load and maintenance of distinct stimulus-response mapping rules in working memory are likely contributors to the activation of the lateral prefrontal cortex, whereas only activity in the left superior frontal gyrus can be linked unequivocally to switching between distinct cognitive tasks.

  15. Nuclear reorientation in static and radio-frequency electro-magnetic fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dubbers, D.

    1976-01-01

    Nuclear reorientation by external electromagnetic fields is treated using Fano's irreducible tensor formulation of the problem. Although the main purpose of this paper is the description of the effects of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) on an ensemble of oriented nuclei in the presence of a crystal electric field gradient (efg), the results are applicable to all types of nuclear or atomic orientation or angular correlation work. The theory is applied to a number of exemplary cases: magnetic field dependence of nuclear orientation in the presence of quadrupole interactions; sign determination in electric quadrupole coupling; line shapes of nuclear acoustic resonance (NAR) signals; quadrupole splitting and multiquantum transitions in NMR with oriented nuclei. (orig./WBU) [de

  16. Management as an innovation paradigm of education governance: philosophical analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. G. Sytnychenko

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Value of management paradigm management determined that it is the most adequate model of implementation of educational innovations. Innovative approaches to governance, grounded in management theory, the needs reorientation of government to the needs of the consumer education. The main reason for this is the nature of activity management, its focus on management education as a social and cultural process determined in all the richness of social, organizational and personal relationships. In modern terms the greatest impact on innovation processes in governance provides administrative management. Distribution system innovations in the field of education creates opportunities to influence the system of government most directly dynamic management - innovation. Innovation Management - a purposeful innovation management system, its resources, people involved in developing and implementing innovations in order to maximize the effectiveness of innovation as the most important factor of the control system. The focus of innovation management in the management of education is to develop strategies of educational innovation as from within the educational sector, and about the management of innovation processes in its interaction with socio-cultural environment. Development and dissemination of innovation is a priority strategy of education in modern times, as it defines the rest of educational strategies.

  17. The vulnerability to schizophrenia mainstream research paradigms and phenomenological directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanghellini, Giovanni; Fusar-Poli, Paolo

    2012-01-01

    Early psychopathological attempts to characterize the vulnerability to schizophrenia were based on the phenomenological method. From the beginning, phenomenologically-oriented psychopathologists have searched the basic vulnerability underlying schizophrenic phenomena in two main domains: depersonalization and derealisation/desocialization. Schizophrenic persons undergo a special kind of depersonalisation: the living body becomes a functioning body, a thing-like mechanism in which feelings, perceptions, and actions take place as if they happened in an outer space. They also endure a special kind of derealisation/de-socialization: the interpersonal scene becomes like a theatre stage, pervaded with a sense of unreality, on which the main actor is unaware of the plot, out of touch with the role he is acting and unable to make sense of the objects he encounters and of what the other people are doing. Many years later, the mainstream research paradigms employed to investigate the vulnerability concept in schizophrenic psychosis have included genetic studies, birth cohort studies, psychosis proneness, and clinical high risk. We will review these studies and conclude with an outline of future research directions focusing on three main features of the psychopathology of early schizophrenia: anomalies of the pre-reflexive self and of the social self (intersubjectivity), and existential re-orientation.

  18. Comparison of fMRI data from passive listening and active-response story processing tasks in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vannest, Jennifer J; Karunanayaka, Prasanna R; Altaye, Mekibib; Schmithorst, Vincent J; Plante, Elena M; Eaton, Kenneth J; Rasmussen, Jerod M; Holland, Scott K

    2009-04-01

    To use functional MRI (fMRI) methods to visualize a network of auditory and language-processing brain regions associated with processing an aurally-presented story. We compare a passive listening (PL) story paradigm to an active-response (AR) version including online performance monitoring and a sparse acquisition technique. Twenty children (ages 11-13 years) completed PL and AR story processing tasks. The PL version presented alternating 30-second blocks of stories and tones; the AR version presented story segments, comprehension questions, and 5-second tone sequences, with fMRI acquisitions between stimuli. fMRI data was analyzed using a general linear model approach and paired t-test identifying significant group activation. Both tasks showed activation in the primary auditory cortex, superior temporal gyrus bilaterally, and left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The AR task demonstrated more extensive activation, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior/posterior cingulate cortex. Comparison of effect size in each paradigm showed a larger effect for the AR paradigm in a left inferior frontal region-of-interest (ROI). Activation patterns for story processing in children are similar in PL and AR tasks. Increases in extent and magnitude of activation in the AR task are likely associated with memory and attention resources engaged across acquisition intervals.

  19. Negative Priming Effect after Inhibition of Weight/Number Interference in a Piaget-Like Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schirlin, Olivier; Houde, Olivier

    2007-01-01

    Piagetian tasks have more to do with the child's ability to inhibit interference than they do with the ability to grasp their underlying logic. Here we used a chronometric paradigm with 11-year-olds, who succeed in Piaget's conservation-of-weight task, to test the role of cognitive inhibition in a priming version of this classical task. The…

  20. Physiological Aging Influence on Brain Hemodynamic Activity during Task-Switching: A fNIRS Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasta, Roberta; Cutini, Simone; Cerasa, Antonio; Gramigna, Vera; Olivadese, Giuseppe; Arabia, Gennarina; Quattrone, Aldo

    2017-01-01

    Task-switching (TS) paradigm is a well-known validated tool useful for exploring the neural substrates of cognitive control, in particular the activity of the lateral and medial prefrontal cortex. This work is aimed at investigating how physiological aging influences hemodynamic response during the execution of a color-shape TS paradigm. A multi-channel near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure hemodynamic activity in 27 young (30.00 ± 7.90 years) and 11 elderly participants (57.18 ± 9.29 years) healthy volunteers (55% male, age range: (19-69) years) during the execution of a TS paradigm. Two holders were placed symmetrically over the left/right hemispheres to record cortical activity [oxy-(HbO) and deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR) concentration] of the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the dorsal premotor cortex (PMC), and the dorso-medial part of the superior frontal gyrus (sFG). TS paradigm requires participants to repeat the same task over a variable number of trials, and then to switch to a different task during the trial sequence. A two-sample t -test was carried out to detect differences in cortical responses between groups. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the impact of age on the prefrontal neural activity. Elderly participants were significantly slower than young participants in both color- ( p aging. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the HbO mean concentration of switching task in the PMC ( p = 0.01, β = -0.321) and of shape single-task in the sFG ( p = 0.003, β = 0.342) were the best predictors of age effects. Our findings demonstrated that TS might be a reliable instrument to gather a measure of cognitive resources in older people. Moreover, the fNIRS-related brain activity extracted from frontoparietal cortex might become a useful indicator of aging effects.

  1. Exploring the repetition bias in voluntary task switching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mittelstädt, Victor; Dignath, David; Schmidt-Ott, Magdalena; Kiesel, Andrea

    2018-01-01

    In the voluntary task-switching paradigm, participants are required to randomly select tasks. We reasoned that the consistent finding of a repetition bias (i.e., participants repeat tasks more often than expected by chance) reflects reasonable adaptive task selection behavior to balance the goal of random task selection with the goals to minimize the time and effort for task performance. We conducted two experiments in which participants were provided with variable amount of preview for the non-chosen task stimuli (i.e., potential switch stimuli). We assumed that switch stimuli would initiate some pre-processing resulting in improved performance in switch trials. Results showed that reduced switch costs due to extra-preview in advance of each trial were accompanied by more task switches. This finding is in line with the characteristics of rational adaptive behavior. However, participants were not biased to switch tasks more often than chance despite large switch benefits. We suggest that participants might avoid effortful additional control processes that modulate the effects of preview on task performance and task choice.

  2. Large isosymmetric reorientation of oxygen octahedra rotation axes in epitaxially strained perovskites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rondinelli, James M; Coh, Sinisa

    2011-06-10

    Using first-principles density functional theory calculations, we discover an anomalously large biaxial strain-induced octahedral rotation axis reorientation in orthorhombic perovskites with tendency towards rhombohedral symmetry. The transition between crystallographically equivalent (isosymmetric) structures with different octahedral rotation magnitudes originates from strong strain-octahedral rotation coupling available to perovskites and the energetic hierarchy among competing octahedral tilt patterns. By elucidating these criteria, we suggest many functional perovskites would exhibit the transition in thin film form, thus offering a new landscape in which to tailor highly anisotropic electronic responses.

  3. Spin reorientation and magnetic anisotropy in Y2Co17-xCr x (x 1.17-3.0) compounds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuquan, B.; Tegus, O.; Dagula, W.; Brueck, E.; Boer, F.R. de; Buschow, K.H.J.

    2005-01-01

    Spin reorientation transitions and magnetic anisotropy in Y 2 Co 17-x Cr x (x = 1.17-3.0) compounds have been investigated by means of X-ray diffraction and magnetization measurements. The powder X-ray diffraction patterns show that most samples crystallize as a single phase with the rhombohedral Th 2 Zn 17 -type structure. However, in the compound Y 2 Co 14 Cr 3 the Th 2 Zn 17 phase coexist with the hexagonal Th 2 Ni 17 -type phase. The lattice parameters a and c hardly change and the unit cell volume V increases slightly with increasing Cr content. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the aligned powder of the samples have confirmed that at room temperature the compound with x = 1.17 has planar anisotropy, but the compounds with x = 1.76, 2.34 and 3.00 have uniaxial anisotropy. Spin reorientation phenomena occur in all of the compounds. With increasing Cr content, the Curie temperature, the spin reorientation temperature, the spontaneous magnetization, and the anisotropy constant K 2 of the Y 2 Co 17-x Cr x (x = 1.17-3.0) compounds decrease strongly while the anisotropy constant K 1 increases in the range of x from 1.17 to 2.34 and then decreases in the range of x from 2.34 to 3.00

  4. Anisotropic molecular reorientations of quinuclidine in its plastic solid phase: 1H and 14N NMR relaxation study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brot, C.; Virlet, J.

    1979-01-01

    14 N and 1 H NMR relaxation times have been measured in quinuclidine in its plastic phase. These measurements rule out isotropic motion. Correlation times for several anisotropic reorientational models are calculated from these NMR data. The best agreement with the values calculated from neutron scattering experiments (preceding paper) is obtained for a model where the molecules reorient by +-90 0 jumps about the crystallographic C 4 axes with a residence time of (22.2+-2).10 -12 s, and by +-120 0 jumps about the molecular C 3 axes with a residence of (5.25+-2.8).10 -12 s, at room temperature. The activation enthalpy is 15.3 kJ.mol. -1 for the +-90 0 jumps, and higher for the +-120 0 jumps. Translational correlation times have also been measured at high temperature, below the melting point

  5. Contrasting Effects of Dual-task Paradigm and of Timing Interruption Paradigm in Interval Timing of the Context of Culti-modal Processing%跨通道情境下双任务范式与计时中断范式中的效应比较*

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    尹华站; 李丹; 袁祥勇; 黄希庭

    2013-01-01

    为了探讨跨通道情境下同一种刺激序列中双任务范式与计时中断范式中位置效应和间断效应的异同,研究设计了实验1和实验2。实验1以2500 ms和4500 ms为目标时距,采用相同的刺激序列(视觉呈现时距信号,听觉呈现干扰信号或中断信号),要求3组被试分别在控制、干扰及中断条件下完成相应任务,结果发现不管2500 ms或4500 ms时,中断条件较干扰条件和控制条件的间断效应更明显;同时发现在2500 ms时,不管控制、干扰还是中断条件下均发现了位置效应,而4500 ms时仅在中断条件下出现了位置效应,这可能由于实验1的控制及干扰任务中的4500 ms时的“晚”位置的时间确定性较高,以致掩盖了位置效应。为了降低“晚”位置出现的确定性,更好地对比两种范式中的效应,实验2将目标时距设置为1500 ms和2500 ms,结果发现在1500 ms或2500 ms时,不管控制、干扰还是中断条件下均发现了位置效应,且中断条件较干扰条件和控制条件下间断效应更明显。上述结果意味着跨通道情境下同一种刺激序列中双任务范式与计时中断范式中位置效应是否相同局限在一定时间范畴;计时中断范式中的中断效应对计时的消弱较双任务范式干扰效应更显著。%Distribution of attention in time information processing is one of the hot areas of research science, and the dual-task paradigm is one of the most common ways to study distribution of attention. It requires an individual to perform two tasks simultaneously, the less the attention allocated to a temporal interval, the shorter it is judged(Brown, 1997). The attention sharing effect is discussed within the framework of the scalar expectancy model of timing. In such paradigm the parallel processing itself may interfere with time perception and lead to unexpected deviations. In order to avoid such interference, the timing interruption paradigm would be a better

  6. Development of a computational model for astronaut reorientation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stirling, Leia; Willcox, Karen; Newman, Dava

    2010-08-26

    The ability to model astronaut reorientations computationally provides a simple way to develop and study human motion control strategies. Since the cost of experimenting in microgravity is high, and underwater training can lead to motions inappropriate for microgravity, these techniques allow for motions to be developed and well-understood prior to any microgravity exposure. By including a model of the current space suit, we have the ability to study both intravehicular and extravehicular activities. We present several techniques for rotating about the axes of the body and show that motions performed by the legs create a greater net rotation than those performed by the arms. Adding a space suit to the motions was seen to increase the resistance torque and limit the available range of motion. While rotations about the body axes can be performed in the current space suit, the resulting motions generated a reduced rotation when compared to the unsuited configuration. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Cognitive-motor dual-task ability of athletes with and without intellectual impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Biesen, Debbie; Jacobs, Lore; McCulloch, Katina; Janssens, Luc; Vanlandewijck, Yves C

    2018-03-01

    Cognition is important in many sports, for example, making split-second-decisions under pressure, or memorising complex movement sequences. The dual-task (DT) paradigm is an ecologically valid approach for the assessment of cognitive function in conjunction with motor demands. This study aimed to determine the impact of impaired intelligence on DT performance. The motor task required balancing on one leg on a beam, and the cognitive task was a multiple-object-tracking (MOT) task assessing dynamic visual-search capacity. The sample included 206 well-trained athletes with and without intellectual impairment (II), matched for sport, age and training volume (140 males, 66 females, M age = 23.2 ± 4.1 years, M training experience = 12.3 ± 5.7 years). In the single-task condition, II-athletes showed reduced balance control (F = 55.9, P balance and the MOT task between both groups. The DT costs were significantly larger for the II-athletes (-8.28% versus -1.34% for MOT and -33.13% versus -12.89% for balance). The assessment of MOT in a DT paradigm provided insight in how impaired intelligence constrains the ability of II-athletes to successfully perform at the highest levels in the complex and dynamical sport-environment.

  8. Sex differences in a landmark environmental re-orientation task only during the learning phase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piccardi, Laura; Bianchini, Filippo; Iasevoli, Luigi; Giannone, Gianluca; Guariglia, Cecilia

    2011-10-10

    Sex differences are consistently reported in human navigation. Indeed, to orient themselves during navigation women are more likely to use landmark-based strategies and men Euclidean-based strategies. The difference could be due to selective social pressure, which fosters greater spatial ability in men, or biological factors. And the great variability of the results reported in the literature could be due to the experimental setting more than real differences in ability. In this study, navigational behaviour was assessed by means of a place-learning task in which a modified version of the Morris water maze for humans was used to evaluate sex differences. In using landmarks, sex differences emerged only during the learning phase. Although the men were faster than the women in locating the target position, the differences between the sexes disappeared in delayed recall. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Slips of action and sequential decisions: a cross-validation study of tasks assessing habitual and goal-directed action control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zsuzsika Sjoerds

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Instrumental learning and decision-making rely on two parallel systems: a goal-directed and a habitual system. In the past decade, several paradigms have been developed to study these systems in animals and humans by means of e.g. overtraining, devaluation procedures and sequential decision-making. These different paradigms are thought to measure the same constructs, but cross-validation has rarely been investigated. In this study we compared two widely used paradigms that assess aspects of goal-directed and habitual behavior. We correlated parameters from a two-step sequential decision-making task that assesses model-based and model-free learning with a slips-of-action paradigm that assesses the ability to suppress cue-triggered, learnt responses when the outcome has been devalued and is therefore no longer desirable. Model-based control during the two-step task showed a very moderately positive correlation with goal-directed devaluation sensitivity, whereas model-free control did not. Interestingly, parameter estimates of model-based and goal-directed behavior in the two tasks were positively correlated with higher-order cognitive measures (e.g. visual short-term memory. These cognitive measures seemed to (at least partly mediate the association between model-based control during sequential decision-making and goal-directed behavior after instructed devaluation. This study provides moderate support for a common framework to describe the propensity towards goal-directed behavior as measured with two frequently used tasks. However, we have to caution that the amount of shared variance between the goal-directed and model-based system in both tasks was rather low, suggesting that each task does also pick up distinct aspects of goal-directed behavior. Further investigation of the commonalities and differences between the model-free and habit systems as measured with these, and other, tasks is needed. Also, a follow-up cross-validation on the neural

  10. Electric field triggering the spin reorientation and controlling the absorption and release of heat in the induced multiferroic compound EuTiO{sub 3}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ranke, P. J. von, E-mail: von.ranke@uol.com.br; Ribeiro, P. O.; Alho, B. P.; Alvarenga, T. S. T.; Nobrega, E. P.; Caldas, A.; Sousa, V. S. R. de; Lopes, P. H. O.; Oliveira, N. A. de [Instituto de Física, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro–UERJ, Rua São, Francisco Xavier, 524, 20550-013 Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janerio (Brazil); Gama, S. [Departamento de Ciências Exatas e da Terra-UNIFESP, Diadema, 09971-270 Sao Paulo (Brazil); Carvalho, A. Magnus G. [Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron, CNPEM, 13083-970 Campinas, Sao Paulo (Brazil)

    2015-12-28

    We report remarkable results due to the coupling between the magnetization and the electric field induced polarization in EuTiO{sub 3}. Using a microscopic model Hamiltonian to describe the three coupled sublattices, Eu-(spin-up), Eu-(spin-down), and Ti-(moment), the spin flop and spin reorientation phase transitions were described with and without the electric-magnetic coupling interaction. The external electric field can be used to tune the temperature of the spin reorientation phase transition T{sub SR} = T{sub SR}(E). When the T{sub SR} is tuned around the EuTiO{sub 3}—Néel temperature (T{sub N} = 5.5 K), an outstanding effect emerges in which EuTiO{sub 3} releases heat under magnetic field change. The electric field controlling the spin reorientation transition and the endo-exothermic processes are discussed through the microscopic interactions model parameters.

  11. Improving Dual-Task Walking Paradigms to Detect Prodromal Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maroua Belghali

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Gait control is a complex movement, relying on spinal, subcortical, and cortical structures. The presence of deficits in one or more of these structures will result in changes in gait automaticity and control, as is the case in several neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD and Parkinson’s disease (PD. By reviewing recent findings in this field of research, current studies have shown that gait performance assessment under dual-task conditions could contribute to predict both of these diseases. Such suggestions are relevant mainly for people at putatively high risk of developing AD (i.e., older adults with mild cognitive impairment subtypes or PD (i.e., older adults with either Mild Parkinsonian signs or LRRK2 G2019S mutation. Despite the major importance of these results, the type of cognitive task that should be used as a concurrent secondary task has to be selected among the plurality of tasks proposed in the literature. Furthermore, the key aspects of gait control that represent sensitive and specific “gait signatures” for prodromal AD or PD need to be determined. In the present perspective article, we suggest the use of a Stroop interference task requiring inhibitory attentional control and a set-shifting task requiring reactive flexibility as being particularly relevant secondary tasks for challenging gait in prodromal AD and PD, respectively. Investigating how inhibition and cognitive flexibility interfere with gait control is a promising avenue for future research aimed at enhancing early detection of AD and PD, respectively.

  12. Testing the social dog hypothesis: are dogs also more skilled than chimpanzees in non-communicative social tasks?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wobber, Victoria; Hare, Brian

    2009-07-01

    Relative to non-human primates, domestic dogs possess a number of social skills that seem exceptional-particularly in solving problems involving cooperation and communication with humans. However, the degree to which dogs' unusual skills are contextually specialized is still unclear. Here, we presented dogs with a social problem that did not require them to use cooperative-communicative cues and compared their performance to that of chimpanzees to assess the extent of dogs' capabilities relative to those of non-human primates. We tested the abilities of dogs and chimpanzees to inhibit previously learned responses by using a social and a non-social version of a reversal learning task. In contrast to previous findings in cooperative-communicative social tasks, dogs were not more skilled on the social task than the non-social task, while chimpanzees were significantly better in the social paradigm. Chimpanzees were able to inhibit their prior learning better and more quickly in the social paradigm than they were in the non-social paradigm, while dogs took more time to inhibit what they had learned in both versions of the task. These results suggest that the dogs' sophisticated social skills in using human social cues may be relatively specialized as a result of domestication.

  13. The Next Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernardo Kastrup

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available In order to perceive the world, we need more than just raw sensory input: a subliminal paradigm of thought is required to interpret raw sensory data and, thereby, create the objects and events we perceive around ourselves. As such, the world we see reflects our own unexamined, culture-bound assumptions and expectations, which explains why every generation in history has believed that it more or less understood the world. Today, we perceive a world of objects and events outside and independent of mind, which merely reflects our current paradigm of thought. Anomalies that contradict this paradigm have been accumulated by physicists over the past couple of decades, which will eventually force our culture to move to a new paradigm. Under this new paradigm, a form of universal mind will be viewed as nature’s sole fundamental entity. In this paper, I offer a sketch of what the new paradigm may look like.

  14. Passive motion paradigm: an alternative to optimal control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohan, Vishwanathan; Morasso, Pietro

    2011-01-01

    IN THE LAST YEARS, OPTIMAL CONTROL THEORY (OCT) HAS EMERGED AS THE LEADING APPROACH FOR INVESTIGATING NEURAL CONTROL OF MOVEMENT AND MOTOR COGNITION FOR TWO COMPLEMENTARY RESEARCH LINES: behavioral neuroscience and humanoid robotics. In both cases, there are general problems that need to be addressed, such as the "degrees of freedom (DoFs) problem," the common core of production, observation, reasoning, and learning of "actions." OCT, directly derived from engineering design techniques of control systems quantifies task goals as "cost functions" and uses the sophisticated formal tools of optimal control to obtain desired behavior (and predictions). We propose an alternative "softer" approach passive motion paradigm (PMP) that we believe is closer to the biomechanics and cybernetics of action. The basic idea is that actions (overt as well as covert) are the consequences of an internal simulation process that "animates" the body schema with the attractor dynamics of force fields induced by the goal and task-specific constraints. This internal simulation offers the brain a way to dynamically link motor redundancy with task-oriented constraints "at runtime," hence solving the "DoFs problem" without explicit kinematic inversion and cost function computation. We argue that the function of such computational machinery is not only restricted to shaping motor output during action execution but also to provide the self with information on the feasibility, consequence, understanding and meaning of "potential actions." In this sense, taking into account recent developments in neuroscience (motor imagery, simulation theory of covert actions, mirror neuron system) and in embodied robotics, PMP offers a novel framework for understanding motor cognition that goes beyond the engineering control paradigm provided by OCT. Therefore, the paper is at the same time a review of the PMP rationale, as a computational theory, and a perspective presentation of how to develop it for designing

  15. Passive Motion Paradigm: an alternative to Optimal Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vishwanathan eMohan

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available In the last years, optimal control theory (OCT has emerged as the leading approach for investigating neural control of movement and motor cognition for two complementary research lines: behavioural neuroscience and humanoid robotics. In both cases, there are general problems that need to be addressed, such as the ‘degrees of freedom problem’, the common core of production, observation, reasoning, and learning of ‘actions’. OCT, directly derived from engineering design techniques of control systems quantifies task goals as ‘cost functions’ and uses the sophisticated formal tools of optimal control to obtain desired behaviour (and predictions. We propose an alternative ‘softer’ approach (PMP: Passive Motion Paradigm that we believe is closer to the biomechanics and cybernetics of action. The basic idea is that actions (overt and overt are the consequences of an internal simulation process that ‘animates’ the body schema with the attractor dynamics of force fields induced by the goal and task specific constraints. This internal simulation offers the brain a way to dynamically link motor redundancy with task oriented constraints ‘at runtime’, hence solving the ‘degrees of freedom problem’ without explicit kinematic inversion and cost function computation. We argue that the function of such computational machinery is not only to shape motor output during action execution but also to provide the self with information on the feasibility, consequence, understanding and meaning of ‘potential actions’. In this sense, taking into account recent developments in neuroscience (motor imagery, simulation theory, mirror neurons and in embodied robotics, PMP offers a novel framework for understanding motor cognition that goes beyond the engineering control paradigm provided by OCT. Therefore, the paper is at the same time a review of the PMP rationale, as a computational theory, and a perspective presentation of how to develop it

  16. The Categorisation of Non-Categorical Colours: A Novel Paradigm in Colour Perception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cropper, Simon J.; Kvansakul, Jessica G. S.; Little, Daniel R.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate a new paradigm for studying the development of the colour ‘signal’ by having observers discriminate and categorize the same set of controlled and calibrated cardinal coloured stimuli. Notably, in both tasks, each observer was free to decide whether two pairs of colors were the same or belonged to the same category. The use of the same stimulus set for both tasks provides, we argue, an incremental behavioural measure of colour processing from detection through discrimination to categorisation. The measured data spaces are different for the two tasks, and furthermore the categorisation data is unique to each observer. In addition, we develop a model which assumes that the principal difference between the tasks is the degree of similarity between the stimuli which has different constraints for the categorisation task compared to the discrimination task. This approach not only makes sense of the current (and associated) data but links the processes of discrimination and categorisation in a novel way and, by implication, expands upon the previous research linking categorisation to other tasks not limited to colour perception. PMID:23536899

  17. Control processes through the suppression of the automatic response activation triggered by task-irrelevant information in the Simon-type tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sanga; Lee, Sang Ho; Cho, Yang Seok

    2015-11-01

    The congruency sequence effect, one of the indices of cognitive control, refers to a smaller congruency effect after an incongruent than congruent trial. Although the effect has been found across a variety of conflict tasks, there is not yet agreement on the underlying mechanism. The present study investigated the mechanism underlying cognitive control by using a cross-task paradigm. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, participants performed a modified Simon task and a spatial Stroop task alternately in a trial-by-trial manner. The task-irrelevant dimension of the two tasks was perceptually and conceptually identical in Experiment 1, whereas it was perceptually different but conceptually identical in Experiment 2. The response sets for both tasks were different in Experiment 3. In Experiment 4, participants performed two Simon tasks with different task-relevant dimensions. In all experiments in which the task-irrelevant dimension and response mode were shared, significant congruency sequence effects were found between the two different congruencies, indicating that Simon-type conflicts were resolved by a control mechanism, which is specific to an abstract task-irrelevant stimulus spatial dimension. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Differential brain activation patterns in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with task switching

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dibbets, P.; Evers, E.A.; Hurks, P.P.; Bakker, K.; Jolles, J.

    2010-01-01

    Objective: The main aim of the study was to examine blood oxygen level-dependent response during task switching in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: Fifteen male adults with ADHD and 14 controls participated and performed a task-switching paradigm. Results:

  19. Pair Negotiation When Developing English Speaking Tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bohórquez Suárez, Ingrid Liliana; Gómez Sará, Mary Mily; Medina Mosquera, Sindy Lorena

    2011-01-01

    This study analyzes what characterizes the negotiations of seventh graders at a public school in Bogotá when working in pairs to develop speaking tasks in EFL classes. The inquiry is a descriptive case study that follows the qualitative paradigm. As a result of analyzing the data, we obtained four consecutive steps that characterize students'…

  20. An adaptive semantic matching paradigm for reliable and valid language mapping in individuals with aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Stephen M; Yen, Melodie; Eriksson, Dana K

    2018-04-17

    Research on neuroplasticity in recovery from aphasia depends on the ability to identify language areas of the brain in individuals with aphasia. However, tasks commonly used to engage language processing in people with aphasia, such as narrative comprehension and picture naming, are limited in terms of reliability (test-retest reproducibility) and validity (identification of language regions, and not other regions). On the other hand, paradigms such as semantic decision that are effective in identifying language regions in people without aphasia can be prohibitively challenging for people with aphasia. This paper describes a new semantic matching paradigm that uses an adaptive staircase procedure to present individuals with stimuli that are challenging yet within their competence, so that language processing can be fully engaged in people with and without language impairments. The feasibility, reliability and validity of the adaptive semantic matching paradigm were investigated in sixteen individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia and fourteen neurologically normal participants, in comparison to narrative comprehension and picture naming paradigms. All participants succeeded in learning and performing the semantic paradigm. Test-retest reproducibility of the semantic paradigm in people with aphasia was good (Dice coefficient = 0.66), and was superior to the other two paradigms. The semantic paradigm revealed known features of typical language organization (lateralization; frontal and temporal regions) more consistently in neurologically normal individuals than the other two paradigms, constituting evidence for validity. In sum, the adaptive semantic matching paradigm is a feasible, reliable and valid method for mapping language regions in people with aphasia. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Stroop-like effects in a new-code learning task: A cognitive load theory perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazan-Liran, Batel; Miller, Paul

    2017-09-01

    To determine whether and how learning is biased by competing task-irrelevant information that creates extraneous cognitive load, we assessed the efficiency of university students with a learning paradigm in two experiments. The paradigm asked participants to learn associations between eight words and eight digits. We manipulated congruity of the digits' ink colour with the words' semantics. In Experiment 1 word stimuli were colour words (e.g., blue, yellow) and in Experiment 2 colour-related word concepts (e.g., sky, banana). Marked benefits and costs on learning due to variation in extraneous cognitive load originating from processing task-irrelevant information were evident. Implications for cognitive load theory and schooling are discussed.

  2. Aging increases distraction by auditory oddballs in visual, but not auditory tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leiva, Alicia; Parmentier, Fabrice B R; Andrés, Pilar

    2015-05-01

    Aging is typically considered to bring a reduction of the ability to resist distraction by task-irrelevant stimuli. Yet recent work suggests that this conclusion must be qualified and that the effect of aging is mitigated by whether irrelevant and target stimuli emanate from the same modalities or from distinct ones. Some studies suggest that aging is especially sensitive to distraction within-modality while others suggest it is greater across modalities. Here we report the first study to measure the effect of aging on deviance distraction in cross-modal (auditory-visual) and uni-modal (auditory-auditory) oddball tasks. Young and older adults were asked to judge the parity of target digits (auditory or visual in distinct blocks of trials), each preceded by a task-irrelevant sound (the same tone on most trials-the standard sound-or, on rare and unpredictable trials, a burst of white noise-the deviant sound). Deviant sounds yielded distraction (longer response times relative to standard sounds) in both tasks and age groups. However, an age-related increase in distraction was observed in the cross-modal task and not in the uni-modal task. We argue that aging might affect processes involved in the switching of attention across modalities and speculate that this may due to the slowing of this type of attentional shift or a reduction in cognitive control required to re-orient attention toward the target's modality.

  3. Dynamic Isovector Reorientation of Deuteron as a Probe to Nuclear Symmetry Energy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ou, Li; Xiao, Zhigang; Yi, Han; Wang, Ning; Liu, Min; Tian, Junlong

    2015-11-20

    We present the calculations on a novel reorientation effect of deuteron attributed to isovector interaction in the nuclear field of heavy target nuclei. The correlation angle determined by the relative momentum vector of the proton and the neutron originating from the breakup deuteron, which is experimentally detectable, exhibits significant dependence on the isovector nuclear potential but is robust against the variation of the isoscaler sector. In terms of sensitivity and cleanness, the breakup reactions induced by the polarized deuteron beam at about 100 MeV/u provide a more stringent constraint to the symmetry energy at subsaturation densities.

  4. The Face-to-Face Light Detection Paradigm: A New Methodology for Investigating Visuospatial Attention Across Different Face Regions in Live Face-to-Face Communication Settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Laura A; Malloy, Daniel M; Cone, John M; Hendrickson, David L

    2010-01-01

    We introduce a novel paradigm for studying the cognitive processes used by listeners within interactive settings. This paradigm places the talker and the listener in the same physical space, creating opportunities for investigations of attention and comprehension processes taking place during interactive discourse situations. An experiment was conducted to compare results from previous research using videotaped stimuli to those obtained within the live face-to-face task paradigm. A headworn apparatus is used to briefly display LEDs on the talker's face in four locations as the talker communicates with the participant. In addition to the primary task of comprehending speeches, participants make a secondary task light detection response. In the present experiment, the talker gave non-emotionally-expressive speeches that were used in past research with videotaped stimuli. Signal detection analysis was employed to determine which areas of the face received the greatest focus of attention. Results replicate previous findings using videotaped methods.

  5. New energy paradigm?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldoni, Giovanni

    2007-01-01

    The rise of oil prices, the difficulties in markets liberalization, and the poor results of competition have convinced many that a new energy paradigm is necessary. Taking the original definition of scientific paradigm, it doesn't seem that a practical solution could be found outside the present paradigm of energy policy, made of privatisation, liberalisation and competition [it

  6. A Novel Analog Reasoning Paradigm: New Insights in Intellectually Disabled Patients.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aurore Curie

    Full Text Available Intellectual Disability (ID is characterized by deficits in intellectual functions such as reasoning, problem-solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, and learning. As new avenues are emerging for treatment of genetically determined ID (such as Down's syndrome or Fragile X syndrome, it is necessary to identify objective reliable and sensitive outcome measures for use in clinical trials.We developed a novel visual analogical reasoning paradigm, inspired by the Progressive Raven's Matrices, but appropriate for Intellectually Disabled patients. This new paradigm assesses reasoning and inhibition abilities in ID patients.We performed behavioural analyses for this task (with a reaction time and error rate analysis, Study 1 in 96 healthy controls (adults and typically developed children older than 4 and 41 genetically determined ID patients (Fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome and ARX mutated patients. In order to establish and quantify the cognitive strategies used to solve the task, we also performed an eye-tracking analysis (Study 2.Down syndrome, ARX and Fragile X patients were significantly slower and made significantly more errors than chronological age-matched healthy controls. The effect of inhibition on error rate was greater than the matrix complexity effect in ID patients, opposite to findings in adult healthy controls. Interestingly, ID patients were more impaired by inhibition than mental age-matched healthy controls, but not by the matrix complexity. Eye-tracking analysis made it possible to identify the strategy used by the participants to solve the task. Adult healthy controls used a matrix-based strategy, whereas ID patients used a response-based strategy. Furthermore, etiologic-specific reasoning differences were evidenced between ID patients groups.We suggest that this paradigm, appropriate for ID patients and developmental populations as well as adult healthy controls, provides an objective and quantitative assessment of

  7. Directed forgetting of complex pictures in an item method paradigm

    OpenAIRE

    Hauswald, Anne; Kissler, Johanna

    2008-01-01

    An item-cued directed forgetting paradigm was used to investigate the ability to control episodic memory and selectively encode complex coloured pictures. A series of photographs was presented to 21 participants who were instructed to either remember or forget each picture after it was presented. Memory performance was later tested with a recognition task where all presented items had to be retrieved, regardless of the initial instructions. A directed forgetting effect that is, better recogni...

  8. The auditory oddball paradigm revised to improve bedside detection of consciousness in behaviorally unresponsive patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morlet, Dominique; Ruby, Perrine; André-Obadia, Nathalie; Fischer, Catherine

    2017-11-01

    Active paradigms requiring subjects to engage in a mental task on request have been developed to detect consciousness in behaviorally unresponsive patients. Using auditory ERPs, the active condition consists in orienting patient's attention toward oddball stimuli. In comparison with passive listening, larger P300 in the active condition identifies voluntary processes. However, contrast between these two conditions is usually too weak to be detected at the individual level. To improve test sensitivity, we propose as a control condition to actively divert the subject's attention from the auditory stimuli with a mental imagery task that has been demonstrated to be within the grasp of the targeted patients: navigate in one's home. Twenty healthy subjects were presented with a two-tone oddball paradigm in the three following condition: (a) passive listening, (b) mental imagery, (c) silent counting of deviant stimuli. Mental imagery proved to be more efficient than passive listening to lessen P300 response to deviant tones as compared with the active counting condition. An effect of attention manipulation (oriented vs. diverted) was observed in 19/20 subjects, of whom 18 showed the expected P300 effect and 1 showed an effect restricted to the N2 component. The only subject showing no effect also proved insufficient engagement in the tasks. Our study demonstrated the efficiency of diverting attention using mental imagery to improve the sensitivity of the active oddball paradigm. Using recorded instructions and requiring a small number of electrodes, the test was designed to be conveniently and economically used at the patient's bedside. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  9. Negation in context: evidence from the visual world paradigm

    OpenAIRE

    Orenes, Isabel; Moxey, Linda; Scheepers, Christoph; Santamaría, Carlos

    2016-01-01

    Literature assumes that negation is more difficult to understand than affirmation, but this might depend on the pragmatic context. The goal of this paper is to show that pragmatic knowledge modulates the unfolding processing of negation due to the previous activation of the negated situation. To test this, we used the visual world paradigm. In this task, we presented affirmative (e.g., her dad was rich) and negative sentences (e.g., her dad was not poor) while viewing two images of the affirm...

  10. Are divided attention tasks useful in the assessment and management of sport-related concussion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Register-Mihalik, Johna K; Littleton, Ashley C; Guskiewicz, Kevin M

    2013-12-01

    This article is a systematic review of the literature on divided attention assessment inclusive of a cognitive and motor task (balance or gait) for use in concussion management. The systematic review drew from published papers listed in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL databases. The search identified 19 empirical research papers meeting the inclusion criteria. Study results were considered for the psychometric properties of the paradigms, the influence of divided attention on measures of cognition and postural control and the comparison of divided attention task outcomes between individuals with concussion and healthy controls (all samples were age 17 years or older). The review highlights that the reliability of the tasks under a divided attention paradigm presented ranges from low to high (ICC: 0.1-0.9); however, only 3/19 articles included psychometric information. Response times are greater, gait strategies are less efficient, and postural control deficits are greater in concussed participants compared with healthy controls both immediately and for some period following concussive injury, specifically under divided attention conditions. Dual task assessments in some cases were more reliable than single task assessments and may be better able to detect lingering effects following concussion. Few of the studies have been replicated and applied across various age groups. A key limitation of these studies is that many include laboratory and time-intensive measures. Future research is needed to refine a time and cost efficient divided attention assessment paradigm, and more work is needed in younger (pre-teens) populations where the application may be of greatest utility.

  11. Exploring methodological frameworks for a mental task-based near-infrared spectroscopy brain-computer interface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weyand, Sabine; Takehara-Nishiuchi, Kaori; Chau, Tom

    2015-10-30

    Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable users to interact with their environment using only cognitive activities. This paper presents the results of a comparison of four methodological frameworks used to select a pair of tasks to control a binary NIRS-BCI; specifically, three novel personalized task paradigms and the state-of-the-art prescribed task framework were explored. Three types of personalized task selection approaches were compared, including: user-selected mental tasks using weighted slope scores (WS-scores), user-selected mental tasks using pair-wise accuracy rankings (PWAR), and researcher-selected mental tasks using PWAR. These paradigms, along with the state-of-the-art prescribed mental task framework, where mental tasks are selected based on the most commonly used tasks in literature, were tested by ten able-bodied participants who took part in five NIRS-BCI sessions. The frameworks were compared in terms of their accuracy, perceived ease-of-use, computational time, user preference, and length of training. Most notably, researcher-selected personalized tasks resulted in significantly higher accuracies, while user-selected personalized tasks resulted in significantly higher perceived ease-of-use. It was also concluded that PWAR minimized the amount of data that needed to be collected; while, WS-scores maximized user satisfaction and minimized computational time. In comparison to the state-of-the-art prescribed mental tasks, our findings show that overall, personalized tasks appear to be superior to prescribed tasks with respect to accuracy and perceived ease-of-use. The deployment of personalized rather than prescribed mental tasks ought to be considered and further investigated in future NIRS-BCI studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Performing prototype distortion tasks requires no contribution from the explicit memory systems: evidence from amnesic MCI patients in a new experimental paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zannino, Gian Daniele; Perri, Roberta; Zabberoni, Silvia; Caltagirone, Carlo; Marra, Camillo; Carlesimo, Giovanni A

    2012-10-01

    Evidence shows that amnesic patients are able to categorize new exemplars drawn from the same prototype as in previously encountered items. It is still unclear, however, whether this ability is due to a spared implicit learning system or residual explicit memory and/or working memory resources. In this study, we used a new paradigm devised expressly to rule out any possible contribution of episodic and working memory in performing a prototype distortion task. We enrolled patients with amnesic MCI and Normal Controls. Our paradigm consisted of a study phase and a test phase; two-thirds of the participants performed the study phase and all participants performed the test phase. In the study phase, participants had to judge how pleasant morphed faces, drawn from a single prototype, seemed to them. Half of the participants were shown faces drawn from the A-prototype and half from the B-prototype. A- and B-faces were opposite in a morphing space with a neutral human face at the center. In the test phase, participants had to judge the regularity of faces they had never seen before. Three different types of faces were shown in the test phase, that is, A-, B-, or neutral-faces. We expected that implicit learning of the category boundaries would lead to a category-specific increase in perceived regularity. The results confirmed our predictions. In fact, trained subjects (compared with subjects who did not undergo the study phase) assigned higher regularity scores to new faces drawn from the same prototype as the faces seen during training, and they gave lower regularity scores to new faces drawn from the opposite prototype. This effect was super imposable across subjects' groups. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Cost of Task Switching: An ERP Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ling; Wang, Meng; Zhao, Qian-Jing; Fogelson, Noa

    2012-01-01

    Background When switching from one task to a new one, reaction times are prolonged. This phenomenon is called switch cost (SC). Researchers have recently used several kinds of task-switching paradigms to uncover neural mechanisms underlying the SC. Task-set reconfiguration and passive dissipation of a previously relevant task-set have been reported to contribute to the cost of task switching. Methodology/Principal Findings An unpredictable cued task-switching paradigm was used, during which subjects were instructed to switch between a color and an orientation discrimination task. Electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioral measures were recorded in 14 subjects. Response-stimulus interval (RSI) and cue-stimulus interval (CSI) were manipulated with short and long intervals, respectively. Switch trials delayed reaction times (RTs) and increased error rates compared with repeat trials. The SC of RTs was smaller in the long CSI condition. For cue-locked waveforms, switch trials generated a larger parietal positive event-related potential (ERP), and a larger slow parietal positivity compared with repeat trials in the short and long CSI condition. Neural SC of cue-related ERP positivity was smaller in the long RSI condition. For stimulus-locked waveforms, a larger switch-related central negative ERP component was observed, and the neural SC of the ERP negativity was smaller in the long CSI. Results of standardized low resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) for both ERP positivity and negativity showed that switch trials evoked larger activation than repeat trials in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Conclusions/Significance The results provide evidence that both RSI and CSI modulate the neural activities in the process of task-switching, but that these have a differential role during task-set reconfiguration and passive dissipation of a previously relevant task-set. PMID:22860090

  14. Neural mechanisms underlying the cost of task switching: an ERP study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ling Li

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: When switching from one task to a new one, reaction times are prolonged. This phenomenon is called switch cost (SC. Researchers have recently used several kinds of task-switching paradigms to uncover neural mechanisms underlying the SC. Task-set reconfiguration and passive dissipation of a previously relevant task-set have been reported to contribute to the cost of task switching. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: An unpredictable cued task-switching paradigm was used, during which subjects were instructed to switch between a color and an orientation discrimination task. Electroencephalography (EEG and behavioral measures were recorded in 14 subjects. Response-stimulus interval (RSI and cue-stimulus interval (CSI were manipulated with short and long intervals, respectively. Switch trials delayed reaction times (RTs and increased error rates compared with repeat trials. The SC of RTs was smaller in the long CSI condition. For cue-locked waveforms, switch trials generated a larger parietal positive event-related potential (ERP, and a larger slow parietal positivity compared with repeat trials in the short and long CSI condition. Neural SC of cue-related ERP positivity was smaller in the long RSI condition. For stimulus-locked waveforms, a larger switch-related central negative ERP component was observed, and the neural SC of the ERP negativity was smaller in the long CSI. Results of standardized low resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA for both ERP positivity and negativity showed that switch trials evoked larger activation than repeat trials in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC and posterior parietal cortex (PPC. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results provide evidence that both RSI and CSI modulate the neural activities in the process of task-switching, but that these have a differential role during task-set reconfiguration and passive dissipation of a previously relevant task-set.

  15. Validation of operant social motivation paradigms using BTBR T+tf/J and C57BL/6J inbred mouse strains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Loren; Sample, Hannah; Gregg, Michael; Wood, Caleb

    2014-01-01

    Background As purported causal factors are identified for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), new assays are needed to better phenotype animal models designed to explore these factors. With recent evidence suggesting that deficits in social motivation are at the core of ASD behavior, the development of quantitative measures of social motivation is particularly important. The goal of our study was to develop and validate novel assays to quantitatively measure social motivation in mice. Methods In order to test the validity of our paradigms, we compared the BTBR strain, with documented social deficits, to the prosocial C57BL/6J strain. Two novel conditioning paradigms were developed that allowed the test mouse to control access to a social partner. In the social motivation task, the test mice lever pressed for a social reward. The reward contingency was set on a progressive ratio of reinforcement and the number of lever presses achieved in the final trial of a testing session (breakpoint) was used as an index of social motivation. In the valence comparison task, motivation for a food reward was compared to a social reward. We also explored activity, social affiliation, and preference for social novelty through a series of tasks using an ANY-Maze video-tracking system in an open-field arena. Results BTBR mice had significantly lower breakpoints in the social motivation paradigm than C57BL/6J mice. However, the valence comparison task revealed that BTBR mice also made significantly fewer lever presses for a food reward. Conclusions The results of the conditioning paradigms suggest that the BTBR strain has an overall deficit in motivated behavior. Furthermore, the results of the open-field observations may suggest that social differences in the BTBR strain are anxiety induced. PMID:25328850

  16. Validation of operant social motivation paradigms using BTBR T+tf/J and C57BL/6J inbred mouse strains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Loren; Sample, Hannah; Gregg, Michael; Wood, Caleb

    2014-09-01

    As purported causal factors are identified for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), new assays are needed to better phenotype animal models designed to explore these factors. With recent evidence suggesting that deficits in social motivation are at the core of ASD behavior, the development of quantitative measures of social motivation is particularly important. The goal of our study was to develop and validate novel assays to quantitatively measure social motivation in mice. In order to test the validity of our paradigms, we compared the BTBR strain, with documented social deficits, to the prosocial C57BL/6J strain. Two novel conditioning paradigms were developed that allowed the test mouse to control access to a social partner. In the social motivation task, the test mice lever pressed for a social reward. The reward contingency was set on a progressive ratio of reinforcement and the number of lever presses achieved in the final trial of a testing session (breakpoint) was used as an index of social motivation. In the valence comparison task, motivation for a food reward was compared to a social reward. We also explored activity, social affiliation, and preference for social novelty through a series of tasks using an ANY-Maze video-tracking system in an open-field arena. BTBR mice had significantly lower breakpoints in the social motivation paradigm than C57BL/6J mice. However, the valence comparison task revealed that BTBR mice also made significantly fewer lever presses for a food reward. The results of the conditioning paradigms suggest that the BTBR strain has an overall deficit in motivated behavior. Furthermore, the results of the open-field observations may suggest that social differences in the BTBR strain are anxiety induced.

  17. Measuring language lateralisation with different language tasks: a systematic review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abigail R. Bradshaw

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Language lateralisation refers to the phenomenon in which one hemisphere (typically the left shows greater involvement in language functions than the other. Measurement of laterality is of interest both to researchers investigating the neural organisation of the language system and to clinicians needing to establish an individual’s hemispheric dominance for language prior to surgery, as in patients with intractable epilepsy. Recently, there has been increasing awareness of the possibility that different language processes may develop hemispheric lateralisation independently, and to varying degrees. However, it is not always clear whether differences in laterality across language tasks with fMRI are reflective of meaningful variation in hemispheric lateralisation, or simply of trivial methodological differences between paradigms. This systematic review aims to assess different language tasks in terms of the strength, reliability and robustness of the laterality measurements they yield with fMRI, to look at variability that is both dependent and independent of aspects of study design, such as the baseline task, region of interest, and modality of the stimuli. Recommendations are made that can be used to guide task design; however, this review predominantly highlights that the current high level of methodological variability in language paradigms prevents conclusions as to how different language functions may lateralise independently. We conclude with suggestions for future research using tasks that engage distinct aspects of language functioning, whilst being closely matched on non-linguistic aspects of task design (e.g., stimuli, task timings etc; such research could produce more reliable and conclusive insights into language lateralisation. This systematic review was registered as a protocol on Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/5vmpt/.

  18. Complex Span versus Updating Tasks of Working Memory: The Gap Is Not that Deep

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmiedek, Florian; Hildebrandt, Andrea; Lovden, Martin; Wilhelm, Oliver; Lindenberger, Ulman

    2009-01-01

    How to best measure working memory capacity is an issue of ongoing debate. Besides established complex span tasks, which combine short-term memory demands with generally unrelated secondary tasks, there exists a set of paradigms characterized by continuous and simultaneous updating of several items in working memory, such as the n-back, memory…

  19. A Bayesian approach for estimating the probability of trigger failures in the stop-signal paradigm

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Matzke, D.; Love, J.; Heathcote, A.

    Response inhibition is frequently investigated using the stop-signal paradigm, where participants perform a two-choice response time task that is occasionally interrupted by a stop signal instructing them to withhold their response. Stop-signal performance is formalized as a race between a go and a

  20. Reorientation-effect measurement of the first 2+ state in 12C: Confirmation of oblate deformation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar Raju, M.; Orce, J. N.; Navrátil, P.; Ball, G. C.; Drake, T. E.; Triambak, S.; Hackman, G.; Pearson, C. J.; Abrahams, K. J.; Akakpo, E. H.; Al Falou, H.; Churchman, R.; Cross, D. S.; Djongolov, M. K.; Erasmus, N.; Finlay, P.; Garnsworthy, A. B.; Garrett, P. E.; Jenkins, D. G.; Kshetri, R.; Leach, K. G.; Masango, S.; Mavela, D. L.; Mehl, C. V.; Mokgolobotho, M. J.; Ngwetsheni, C.; O'Neill, G. G.; Rand, E. T.; Sjue, S. K. L.; Sumithrarachchi, C. S.; Svensson, C. E.; Tardiff, E. R.; Williams, S. J.; Wong, J.

    2018-02-01

    A Coulomb-excitation reorientation-effect measurement using the TIGRESS γ-ray spectrometer at the TRIUMF/ISAC II facility has permitted the determination of the 〈 21+ ‖ E 2 ˆ ‖21+ 〉 diagonal matrix element in 12C from particle-γ coincidence data and state-of-the-art no-core shell model calculations of the nuclear polarizability. The nuclear polarizability for the ground and first-excited (21+) states in 12C have been calculated using chiral NN N4LO500 and NN+3NF350 interactions, which show convergence and agreement with photo-absorption cross-section data. Predictions show a change in the nuclear polarizability with a substantial increase between the ground state and first excited 21+ state at 4.439 MeV. The polarizability of the 21+ state is introduced into the current and previous Coulomb-excitation reorientation-effect analyses of 12C. Spectroscopic quadrupole moments of QS (21+) = + 0.053 (44) eb and QS (21+) = + 0.08 (3) eb are determined, respectively, yielding a weighted average of QS (21+) = + 0.071 (25) eb, in agreement with recent ab initio calculations. The present measurement confirms that the 21+ state of 12C is oblate and emphasizes the important role played by the nuclear polarizability in Coulomb-excitation studies of light nuclei.

  1. Orienting task effects on text recall in adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, E W; Dixon, R A; Nowak, C A; Hultsch, D F

    1982-09-01

    This investigation examined the effects of orienting task-controlled processing on the text recall of younger (18 to 32 years), middle-aged (39 to 51 years), and older (59 to 76 years) adults. The participants were presented with a 500-word narrative text. Three groups performed orienting tasks (syntactic, stylistic, advice) within an incidental memory paradigm. A fourth group was asked for intentional recall. Analysis indicated a significant age by orienting task interaction. Younger adults recalled more propositions when recall was intentional or when it was preceded by a deep-orienting task than when it was preceded by a shallow-orienting task. Middle-aged and older adults recalled more propositions when recall was intentional than when it was incidental, regardless of the depth of the orienting task. There were no significant differences in intentional recall. In addition, a significant age x orienting task x propositional level interaction indicated that younger adults recalled more of the main ideas of the text following deep processing, whereas the middle-aged and older adults recalled more of these ideas following intentional processing.

  2. Granular-relational data mining how to mine relational data in the paradigm of granular computing ?

    CERN Document Server

    Hońko, Piotr

    2017-01-01

    This book provides two general granular computing approaches to mining relational data, the first of which uses abstract descriptions of relational objects to build their granular representation, while the second extends existing granular data mining solutions to a relational case. Both approaches make it possible to perform and improve popular data mining tasks such as classification, clustering, and association discovery. How can different relational data mining tasks best be unified? How can the construction process of relational patterns be simplified? How can richer knowledge from relational data be discovered? All these questions can be answered in the same way: by mining relational data in the paradigm of granular computing! This book will allow readers with previous experience in the field of relational data mining to discover the many benefits of its granular perspective. In turn, those readers familiar with the paradigm of granular computing will find valuable insights on its application to mining r...

  3. A 3D finite-strain-based constitutive model for shape memory alloys accounting for thermomechanical coupling and martensite reorientation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jun; Moumni, Ziad; Zhang, Weihong; Xu, Yingjie; Zaki, Wael

    2017-06-01

    The paper presents a finite-strain constitutive model for shape memory alloys (SMAs) that accounts for thermomechanical coupling and martensite reorientation. The finite-strain formulation is based on a two-tier, multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient into thermal, elastic, and inelastic parts, where the inelastic deformation is further split into phase transformation and martensite reorientation components. A time-discrete formulation of the constitutive equations is proposed and a numerical integration algorithm is presented featuring proper symmetrization of the tensor variables and explicit formulation of the material and spatial tangent operators involved. The algorithm is used for finite element analysis of SMA components subjected to various loading conditions, including uniaxial, non-proportional, isothermal and adiabatic loading cases. The analysis is carried out using the FEA software Abaqus by means of a user-defined material subroutine, which is then utilized to simulate a SMA archwire undergoing large strains and rotations.

  4. The functional role of dorso-lateral premotor cortex during mental rotation: an event-related fMRI study separating cognitive processing steps using a novel task paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamm, Claus; Windischberger, Christian; Moser, Ewald; Bauer, Herbert

    2007-07-15

    Subjects deciding whether two objects presented at angular disparity are identical or mirror versions of each other usually show response times that linearly increase with the angle between objects. This phenomenon has been termed mental rotation. While there is widespread agreement that parietal cortex plays a dominant role in mental rotation, reports concerning the involvement of motor areas are less consistent. From a theoretical point of view, activation in motor areas suggests that mental rotation relies upon visuo-motor rather than visuo-spatial processing alone. However, the type of information that is processed by motor areas during mental rotation remains unclear. In this study we used event-related fMRI to assess whether activation in parietal and dorsolateral premotor areas (dPM) during mental rotation is distinctively related to processing spatial orientation information. Using a newly developed task paradigm we explicitly separated the processing steps (encoding, mental rotation proper and object matching) required by mental rotation tasks and additionally modulated the amount of spatial orientation information that had to be processed. Our results show that activation in dPM during mental rotation is not strongly modulated by the processing of spatial orientation information, and that activation in dPM areas is strongest during mental rotation proper. The latter finding suggests that dPM is involved in more generalized processes such as visuo-spatial attention and movement anticipation. We propose that solving mental rotation tasks is heavily dependent upon visuo-motor processes and evokes neural processing that may be considered as an implicit simulation of actual object rotation.

  5. The Effect of Peak Temperatures and Hoop Stresses on Hydride Reorientations of Zirconium Alloy Cladding Tubes under Interim Dry Storage Condition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cha, Hyun Jin; Jang, Ki Nam; Kim, Kyu Tae

    2016-01-01

    In this study, the effect of peak temperatures and hoop tensile stresses on hydride reorientation in cladding was investigated. It was shown that the 250ppm-H specimens generated larger radial hydride fractions and longer radial hydrides than the 500ppm-H ones. The precipitated hydride in radial direction severely degrades mechanical properties of spent fuel rod. Hydride reorientation is related to cladding material, cladding temperature, hydrogen contents, thermal cycling, hoop stress and cooling rate. US NRC established the regulation on cladding temperature during the dry storage, which is the maximum fuel cladding temperature should not exceed 400 .deg. C for all fuel burnups under normal conditions of storage. However, if it is proved that the best estimate cladding hoop stress is equal to or less than 90MPa for the temperature limit proposed, a higher short-term temperature limit is allowed for low burnup fuel. In this study, 250ppm and 500ppm hydrogen-charged Zr-Nb alloy cladding tubes were selected to evaluate the effect of peak temperatures and hoop tensile stresses on the hydride reorientation during the dry storage. In order to evaluate threshold stresses in relation to various peak temperatures, four peak temperatures of 250, 300, 350, and 400 .deg. C and three tensile hoop stresses of 80, 100, 120MPa were selected.

  6. Signal detection theory, the exclusion failure paradigm and weak consciousness--evidence for the access/phenomenal distinction?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irvine, Elizabeth

    2009-06-01

    Block [Block, N. (2005). Two neural correlates of consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Science, 9, 46-52] and Snodgrass (2006) claim that a signal detection theory (SDT) analysis of qualitative difference paradigms, in particular the exclusion failure paradigm, reveals cases of phenomenal consciousness without access consciousness. This claim is unwarranted on several grounds. First, partial cognitive access rather than a total lack of cognitive access can account for exclusion failure results. Second, Snodgrass's Objective Threshold/Strategic (OT/S) model of perception relies on a problematic 'enable' approach to perception that denies the possibility of intentional control of unconscious perception and any effect of following different task instructions on the presence/absence of phenomenal consciousness. Many of Block's purported examples of phenomenal consciousness without cognitive access also rely on this problematic approach. Third, qualitative difference paradigms may index only a subset of access consciousness. Thus, qualitative difference paradigms like exclusion failure cannot be used to isolate phenomenal consciousness, any attempt to do so still faces serious methodological problems.

  7. Physiological Aging Influence on Brain Hemodynamic Activity during Task-Switching: A fNIRS Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberta Vasta

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Task-switching (TS paradigm is a well-known validated tool useful for exploring the neural substrates of cognitive control, in particular the activity of the lateral and medial prefrontal cortex. This work is aimed at investigating how physiological aging influences hemodynamic response during the execution of a color-shape TS paradigm. A multi-channel near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS was used to measure hemodynamic activity in 27 young (30.00 ± 7.90 years and 11 elderly participants (57.18 ± 9.29 years healthy volunteers (55% male, age range: (19–69 years during the execution of a TS paradigm. Two holders were placed symmetrically over the left/right hemispheres to record cortical activity [oxy-(HbO and deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR concentration] of the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, the dorsal premotor cortex (PMC, and the dorso-medial part of the superior frontal gyrus (sFG. TS paradigm requires participants to repeat the same task over a variable number of trials, and then to switch to a different task during the trial sequence. A two-sample t-test was carried out to detect differences in cortical responses between groups. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the impact of age on the prefrontal neural activity. Elderly participants were significantly slower than young participants in both color- (p < 0.01, t = −3.67 and shape-single tasks (p = 0.026, t = −2.54 as well as switching (p = 0.026, t = −2.41 and repetition trials (p = 0.012, t = −2.80. Differences in cortical activation between groups were revealed for HbO mean concentration of switching task in the PMC (p = 0.048, t = 2.94. In the whole group, significant increases of behavioral performance were detected in switching trials, which positively correlated with aging. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the HbO mean concentration of switching task in the PMC (p = 0.01, β = −0.321 and of shape single-task in the sFG (p = 0.003, β = 0

  8. Stress-induced martensite variant reorientation in magnetic shape memory Ni–Mn–Ga single crystal studied by neutron diffraction

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Molnár, Peter; Šittner, Petr; Lukáš, Petr; Hannula, S.-P.; Heczko, Oleg

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 17, č. 3 (2008), 035014/1-035014/4 ISSN 0964-1726 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100520; CEZ:AV0Z10480505 Keywords : NiMnGa single crystal * neutron diffraction * stress induced martensite reorientation Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 1.743, year: 2008

  9. Renal SPECT with 99m Tc-Dmsa. Reorientation and processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez, J.L.; Perera, A.; Fraxedas, R.

    1998-01-01

    For the study of different renal affections with repercussion in the parenchyma is widely used the plane gammagraphy wit 99m Tc-Dmsa though not in the same way the SPECT technique. In general, the different inclination and orientation of the longitudinal axes of both kidneys in the patients entail aid to high variability in the detection of the different types of defects which leads to a possible mistaken diagnostic. With a view to this,it was developed in our centre a methodology for the automated reorientation of the different renal volumes obtained by SPECT and its posterior processing, obtaining as result a software with a high grade of independence from the operator. In this way, it is obtained a procedure standardization and so it let us with major rigor to realize evolutive studies of the patients. (Author)

  10. Better and Faster: Knowledge Transfer from Multiple Self-supervised Learning Tasks via Graph Distillation for Video Classification

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, Chenrui; Peng, Yuxin

    2018-01-01

    Video representation learning is a vital problem for classification task. Recently, a promising unsupervised paradigm termed self-supervised learning has emerged, which explores inherent supervisory signals implied in massive data for feature learning via solving auxiliary tasks. However, existing methods in this regard suffer from two limitations when extended to video classification. First, they focus only on a single task, whereas ignoring complementarity among different task-specific feat...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2002-10-01

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

  12. An FMRI-compatible Symbol Search task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liebel, Spencer W; Clark, Uraina S; Xu, Xiaomeng; Riskin-Jones, Hannah H; Hawkshead, Brittany E; Schwarz, Nicolette F; Labbe, Donald; Jerskey, Beth A; Sweet, Lawrence H

    2015-03-01

    Our objective was to determine whether a Symbol Search paradigm developed for functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) is a reliable and valid measure of cognitive processing speed (CPS) in healthy older adults. As all older adults are expected to experience cognitive declines due to aging, and CPS is one of the domains most affected by age, establishing a reliable and valid measure of CPS that can be administered inside an MR scanner may prove invaluable in future clinical and research settings. We evaluated the reliability and construct validity of a newly developed FMRI Symbol Search task by comparing participants' performance in and outside of the scanner and to the widely used and standardized Symbol Search subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). A brief battery of neuropsychological measures was also administered to assess the convergent and discriminant validity of the FMRI Symbol Search task. The FMRI Symbol Search task demonstrated high test-retest reliability when compared to performance on the same task administered out of the scanner (r=.791; pSymbol Search (r=.717; pSymbol Search task were also observed. The FMRI Symbol Search task is a reliable and valid measure of CPS in healthy older adults and exhibits expected sensitivity to the effects of age on CPS performance.

  13. Real-time scheduling of software tasks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoff, L.T.

    1995-01-01

    When designing real-time systems, it is often desirable to schedule execution of software tasks based on the occurrence of events. The events may be clock ticks, interrupts from a hardware device, or software signals from other software tasks. If the nature of the events, is well understood, this scheduling is normally a static part of the system design. If the nature of the events is not completely understood, or is expected to change over time, it may be necessary to provide a mechanism for adjusting the scheduling of the software tasks. RHIC front-end computers (FECs) provide such a mechanism. The goals in designing this mechanism were to be as independent as possible of the underlying operating system, to allow for future expansion of the mechanism to handle new types of events, and to allow easy configuration. Some considerations which steered the design were programming paradigm (object oriented vs. procedural), programming language, and whether events are merely interesting moments in time, or whether they intrinsically have data associated with them. The design also needed to address performance and robustness tradeoffs involving shared task contexts, task priorities, and use of interrupt service routine (ISR) contexts vs. task contexts. This paper will explore these considerations and tradeoffs

  14. Crystal growth of Sm0.3Tb0.7FeO3 and spin reorientation transition in Sm1−xTbxFeO3 orthoferrite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Anhua; Wang, Bo; Zhao, Xiangyang; Xie, Tao; Man, Peiwen; Su, Liangbi; Kalashnikova, A.M.; Pisarev, R.V.

    2017-01-01

    In this work, Sm 0.3 Tb 0.7 FeO 3 single crystal was successfully grown by optical floating zone method. Sm 0.3 Tb 0.7 FeO 3 samples with a-, b-, and c-orientation were manufactured by means of Laue photograph. Magnetic properties of Sm 0.3 Tb 0.7 FeO 3 single crystals are studied over a wide temperature range from 2 to 400 K. Spin reorientation transition from Γ 2 to Γ 4 are observed by means of the temperature dependence of magnetization It indicated the reorientation transition temperature of Sm 1−x Tb x FeO 3 single crystals is lowered with the contents of Tb contents rising based on this work and our previous works, thus the spin reorientation transition temperature can be adjusted through changing the compound in orthoferrites materials, which means that we can get orthoferrites single crystals with high magnetism property in various temperature through material design. - Highlights: • Sm 0.3 Tb 0.7 FeO 3 single crystals with various compounds were successfully grown by optical floating zone method. • The relation between SRT temperature and composition in Sm 1−x Tb x FeO 3 orthoferrite was indicated. • The spin reorientation transition temperature of Sm 1−x Tb x FeO 3 single crystals can be adjusted through changing the compound in orthoferrites materials.

  15. Spin reorientation and structural relaxation of atomic layers: Pushing the limits of accuracy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyerheim, H.L.; Sander, D.; Popescu, R.; Kirschner, J.; Robach, O.; Ferrer, S.

    2004-01-01

    The correlation between an ad-layer-induced spin reorientation transition (SRT) and the ad-layer-induced structural relaxation is investigated by combined in situ surface x-ray diffraction and magneto-optical Kerr-effect experiments on Ni/Fe/Ni(111) layers on W(110). The Fe-induced SRT from in-plane to out-of-plane, and the SRT back to in-plane upon subsequent coverage by Ni, are each accompanied by a small lattice relaxation of at most 0.002 Angstrom. Such a small strain variation excludes a magnetoelasticity driven SRT, and we suggest the interface anisotropy as a possible driving force

  16. An Objective Screening Method for Major Depressive Disorder Using Logistic Regression Analysis of Heart Rate Variability Data Obtained in a Mental Task Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guanghao Sun

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Background and Objectives: Heart rate variability (HRV has been intensively studied as a promising biological marker of major depressive disorder (MDD. Our previous study confirmed that autonomic activity and reactivity in depression revealed by HRV during rest and mental task (MT conditions can be used as diagnostic measures and in clinical evaluation. In this study, logistic regression analysis (LRA was utilized for the classification and prediction of MDD based on HRV data obtained in an MT paradigm.Methods: Power spectral analysis of HRV on R-R intervals before, during, and after an MT (random number generation was performed in 44 drug-naïve patients with MDD and 47 healthy control subjects at Department of Psychiatry in Shizuoka Saiseikai General Hospital. Logit scores of LRA determined by HRV indices and heart rates discriminated patients with MDD from healthy subjects. The high frequency (HF component of HRV and the ratio of the low frequency (LF component to the HF component (LF/HF correspond to parasympathetic and sympathovagal balance, respectively.Results: The LRA achieved a sensitivity and specificity of 80.0% and 79.0%, respectively, at an optimum cutoff logit score (0.28. Misclassifications occurred only when the logit score was close to the cutoff score. Logit scores also correlated significantly with subjective self-rating depression scale scores (p < 0.05.Conclusion: HRV indices recorded during a mental task may be an objective tool for screening patients with MDD in psychiatric practice. The proposed method appears promising for not only objective and rapid MDD screening, but also evaluation of its severity.

  17. Game-like tasks for comparative research: leveling the playing field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Washburn, D. A.; Gulledge, J. P.; Rumbaugh, D. M. (Principal Investigator)

    1995-01-01

    Game-like computer tasks offer many benefits for psychological research. In this paper, the usefulness of such tasks to bridge population differences (e.g., age, intelligence, species) is discussed and illustrated. A task called ALVIN was used to assess humans' and monkeys' working memory for sequences of colors with or without tones. Humans repeated longer lists than did the monkeys, and only humans benefited when the visual stimuli were accompanied by auditory cues. However, the monkeys did recall sequences at levels comparable to those reported elsewhere for children. Comparison of similarities and differences between the species is possible because the two groups were tested with exactly the same game-like paradigm.

  18. Survival Processing and the Stroop Task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephanie A. Kazanas

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This study was designed to investigate the impact of survival processing with a novel task for this paradigm: the Stroop color-naming task. As the literature is mixed with regard to task generalizability, with survival processing promoting better memory for words, but not better memory for faces or paired associates, these types of task investigations are important to a growing field of research. Using the Stroop task provides a unique contribution, as identifying items by color is an important evolutionary adaptation and not specific to humans as is the case with word recall. Our results indicate that survival processing, with its accompanying survival-relevance rating task, remains the best mnemonic strategy for word memory. However, our results also indicate that presenting the survival passage does not motivate better color-naming performance than color-naming alone. In addition, survival processing led to a larger amount of Stroop interference, though not significantly larger than the other conditions. Together, these findings suggest that considering one’s survival when performing memory and attention-based tasks does not enhance cognitive performance generally, although greater allocation of attentional resources to color-incongruent concrete objects could be considered adaptive. These findings support the notion that engaging in deeper processing via survival-relevance ratings may preserve these words across a variety of experimental manipulations.

  19. Didaktiske paradigmer og refleksion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Torben Spanget

    2014-01-01

    analysis of subject didactics by Sigmund Ongstad. The two positions offer fundamentally different insights into didactics. Nielsen’s position establishes didactics as a knowledge domain and Ongstad’s position points to the dynamics of subject didactics by analyzing communication as a basic aspect. Krogh...... this article. A possible utilitarian didactical paradigm, already indicated by Krogh as a historical paradigm prominent in our time, is also discussed. It is suggested that reflection could be seen as a normative response to the utilitarian paradigm, and not as a paradigm in its own right. It is concluded...

  20. The performance of cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, in a reversal learning task varies across experimental paradigms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon Gingins

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Testing performance in controlled laboratory experiments is a powerful tool for understanding the extent and evolution of cognitive abilities in non-human animals. However, cognitive testing is prone to a number of potential biases, which, if unnoticed or unaccounted for, may affect the conclusions drawn. We examined whether slight modifications to the experimental procedure and apparatus used in a spatial task and reversal learning task affected performance outcomes in the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus (hereafter “cleaners”. Using two-alternative forced-choice tests, fish had to learn to associate a food reward with a side (left or right in their holding aquarium. Individuals were tested in one of four experimental treatments that differed slightly in procedure and/or physical set-up. Cleaners from all four treatment groups were equally able to solve the initial spatial task. However, groups differed in their ability to solve the reversal learning task: no individuals solved the reversal task when tested in small tanks with a transparent partition separating the two options, whereas over 50% of individuals solved the task when performed in a larger tank, or with an opaque partition. These results clearly show that seemingly insignificant details to the experimental set-up matter when testing performance in a spatial task and might significantly influence the outcome of experiments. These results echo previous calls for researchers to exercise caution when designing methodologies for cognition tasks to avoid misinterpretations.

  1. The performance of cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, in a reversal learning task varies across experimental paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gingins, Simon; Marcadier, Fanny; Wismer, Sharon; Krattinger, Océane; Quattrini, Fausto; Bshary, Redouan; Binning, Sandra A

    2018-01-01

    Testing performance in controlled laboratory experiments is a powerful tool for understanding the extent and evolution of cognitive abilities in non-human animals. However, cognitive testing is prone to a number of potential biases, which, if unnoticed or unaccounted for, may affect the conclusions drawn. We examined whether slight modifications to the experimental procedure and apparatus used in a spatial task and reversal learning task affected performance outcomes in the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus (hereafter "cleaners"). Using two-alternative forced-choice tests, fish had to learn to associate a food reward with a side (left or right) in their holding aquarium. Individuals were tested in one of four experimental treatments that differed slightly in procedure and/or physical set-up. Cleaners from all four treatment groups were equally able to solve the initial spatial task. However, groups differed in their ability to solve the reversal learning task: no individuals solved the reversal task when tested in small tanks with a transparent partition separating the two options, whereas over 50% of individuals solved the task when performed in a larger tank, or with an opaque partition. These results clearly show that seemingly insignificant details to the experimental set-up matter when testing performance in a spatial task and might significantly influence the outcome of experiments. These results echo previous calls for researchers to exercise caution when designing methodologies for cognition tasks to avoid misinterpretations.

  2. Effect of tDCS on task relevant and irrelevant perceptual learning of complex objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Meel, Chayenne; Daniels, Nicky; de Beeck, Hans Op; Baeck, Annelies

    2016-01-01

    During perceptual learning the visual representations in the brain are altered, but these changes' causal role has not yet been fully characterized. We used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to investigate the role of higher visual regions in lateral occipital cortex (LO) in perceptual learning with complex objects. We also investigated whether object learning is dependent on the relevance of the objects for the learning task. Participants were trained in two tasks: object recognition using a backward masking paradigm and an orientation judgment task. During both tasks, an object with a red line on top of it were presented in each trial. The crucial difference between both tasks was the relevance of the object: the object was relevant for the object recognition task, but not for the orientation judgment task. During training, half of the participants received anodal tDCS stimulation targeted at the lateral occipital cortex (LO). Afterwards, participants were tested on how well they recognized the trained objects, the irrelevant objects presented during the orientation judgment task and a set of completely new objects. Participants stimulated with tDCS during training showed larger improvements of performance compared to participants in the sham condition. No learning effect was found for the objects presented during the orientation judgment task. To conclude, this study suggests a causal role of LO in relevant object learning, but given the rather low spatial resolution of tDCS, more research on the specificity of this effect is needed. Further, mere exposure is not sufficient to train object recognition in our paradigm.

  3. Reorientation-effect measurement of the first 2+ state in 12C: Confirmation of oblate deformation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Kumar Raju

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available A Coulomb-excitation reorientation-effect measurement using the TIGRESS γ−ray spectrometer at the TRIUMF/ISAC II facility has permitted the determination of the 〈21+‖E2ˆ‖21+〉 diagonal matrix element in 12C from particle−γ coincidence data and state-of-the-art no-core shell model calculations of the nuclear polarizability. The nuclear polarizability for the ground and first-excited (21+ states in 12C have been calculated using chiral NN N4LO500 and NN+3NF350 interactions, which show convergence and agreement with photo-absorption cross-section data. Predictions show a change in the nuclear polarizability with a substantial increase between the ground state and first excited 21+ state at 4.439 MeV. The polarizability of the 21+ state is introduced into the current and previous Coulomb-excitation reorientation-effect analyses of 12C. Spectroscopic quadrupole moments of QS(21+=+0.053(44 eb and QS(21+=+0.08(3 eb are determined, respectively, yielding a weighted average of QS(21+=+0.071(25 eb, in agreement with recent ab initio calculations. The present measurement confirms that the 21+ state of 12C is oblate and emphasizes the important role played by the nuclear polarizability in Coulomb-excitation studies of light nuclei.

  4. Winnicott's paradigm outlined

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zeljko Loparic

    Full Text Available The main objective of this paper is to present a unified view of Winnicott’s contribution to psychoanalysis. Part I (Sections 1-4 starts off by recalling that, according to some important commentators, Winnicott introduced a change in paradigms in psychoanalysis. In order to show that this change can be viewed as an overall “switch in paradigms”, in the sense given by T. S. Kuhn, this paper presents an account of the Kuhn’s view of science and offers a reconstruction of Freud’s Oedipal, Triangular or “Toddler-in-the-Mother’s-Bed” Paradigm. Part II (Sections 5-13 shows that as early as the 1920’s Winnicott encountered insurmountable anomalies in the Oedipal paradigm and, for that reason, started what can be called revolutionary research for a new framework of psychoanalysis. This research led Winnicott, especially during the last period of his life, to produce an alternative dual or “Baby-on-the-Mother’s-Lap” Paradigm. This new paradigm is described in some detail, especially the paradigmatic dual mother-baby relation and Winnicott’s dominant theory of maturation. Final remarks are made regarding Winnicott’s heritage and the future of psychoanalysis.

  5. Conversion of short-term to long-term memory in the novel object recognition paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Shannon J; Deshpande, Kaivalya; Stinnett, Gwen S; Seasholtz, Audrey F; Murphy, Geoffrey G

    2013-10-01

    It is well-known that stress can significantly impact learning; however, whether this effect facilitates or impairs the resultant memory depends on the characteristics of the stressor. Investigation of these dynamics can be confounded by the role of the stressor in motivating performance in a task. Positing a cohesive model of the effect of stress on learning and memory necessitates elucidating the consequences of stressful stimuli independently from task-specific functions. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine the effect of manipulating a task-independent stressor (elevated light level) on short-term and long-term memory in the novel object recognition paradigm. Short-term memory was elicited in both low light and high light conditions, but long-term memory specifically required high light conditions during the acquisition phase (familiarization trial) and was independent of the light level during retrieval (test trial). Additionally, long-term memory appeared to be independent of stress-mediated glucocorticoid release, as both low and high light produced similar levels of plasma corticosterone, which further did not correlate with subsequent memory performance. Finally, both short-term and long-term memory showed no savings between repeated experiments suggesting that this novel object recognition paradigm may be useful for longitudinal studies, particularly when investigating treatments to stabilize or enhance weak memories in neurodegenerative diseases or during age-related cognitive decline. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Early mammalian development under conditions of reorientation relative to the gravity vector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolgemuth, D. J.; Grills, G. S.

    1985-01-01

    A clinostat was used to assess the effects of reorientation relative to the gravity vector on mammalian germ cells cultured in vitro. Previous studies using this system revealed an inhibition of meiotic maturation of mouse oocytes. In the present study, the effects of clinostat rotation on in vitro fertilization were examined. The frequency of fertilization of experimental cultures did not vary from that of the clinostat vertical control cultures at either of the rotation rates examined. Importantly, no abnormalities of fertilization, such as parthenogenetic activation, fragmentation, or polyspermy were seen. It is concluded that the initial events of fertilization were unaffected by this treatment, although the developmental potential of these embryos remains to be assessed.

  7. Reorientation-effect measurement of the matrix element in 10Be

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orce, J. N.; Drake, T. E.; Djongolov, M. K.; Navrátil, P.; Triambak, S.; Ball, G. C.; Al Falou, H.; Churchman, R.; Cross, D. S.; Finlay, P.; Forssén, C.; Garnsworthy, A. B.; Garrett, P. E.; Hackman, G.; Hayes, A. B.; Kshetri, R.; Lassen, J.; Leach, K. G.; Li, R.; Meissner, J.; Pearson, C. J.; Rand, E. T.; Sarazin, F.; Sjue, S. K. L.; Stoyer, M. A.; Sumithrarachchi, C. S.; Svensson, C. E.; Tardiff, E. R.; Teigelhoefer, A.; Williams, S. J.; Wong, J.; Wu, C. Y.

    2012-10-01

    The highly-efficient and segmented TIGRESS γ-ray spectrometer at TRIUMF has been used to perform a reorientation-effect Coulomb-excitation study of the 21+ state at 3.368 MeV in 10Be. This is the first Coulomb-excitation measurement that enables one to obtain information on diagonal matrix elements for such a high-lying first excited state from γ-ray data. With the availability of accurate lifetime data, a value of -0.110±0.087 eb is determined for the diagonal matrix element, which assuming the rotor model, leads to a negative spectroscopic quadrupole moment of QS(21+)=-0.083±0.066 eb. This result is in agreement with both no-core shell-model calculations performed in this work with the CD-Bonn 2000 two-nucleon potential and large shell-model spaces, and Green's function Monte Carlo predictions with two- plus three-nucleon potentials.

  8. Production of False Memories in Collaborative Memory Tasks Using the DRM Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saraiva, Magda; Albuquerque, Pedro B.; Arantes, Joana

    2017-01-01

    Studies on collaborative memory have revealed an interesting phenomenon called collaborative inhibition (CI) (i.e., nominal groups recall more information than collaborative groups). However, the results of studies on false memories in collaborative memory tasks are controversial. This study aimed to understand the production of false memories in…

  9. Touchscreen-paradigm for mice reveals cross-species evidence for an antagonistic relationship of cognitive flexibility and stability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S Helene Richter

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The abilities to either flexibly adjust behavior according to changing demands (cognitive flexibility or to maintain it in the face of potential distractors (cognitive stability are critical for adaptive behavior in many situations. Recently, a novel human paradigm has found individual differences of cognitive flexibility and stability to be related to common prefrontal networks. The aims of the present study were, first, to translate this paradigm from humans to mice and, second, to test conceptual predictions of a computational model of prefrontal working memory mechanisms, the Dual State Theory, which assumes an antagonistic relation between cognitive flexibility and stability.Mice were trained in a touchscreen-paradigm to discriminate visual cues. The task involved ‘ongoing’ and cued ‘switch’ trials. In addition distractor cues were interspersed to test the ability to resist distraction, and an ambiguous condition assessed the spontaneous switching between two possible responses without explicit cues. While response times did not differ substantially between conditions, error rates increased from the ‘ongoing’ baseline condition to the most complex condition, where subjects were required to switch between two responses in the presence of a distracting cue. Importantly, subjects switching more often spontaneously were found to be more distractible by task irrelevant cues, but also more flexible in situations, where switching was required. These results support a dichotomy of cognitive flexibility and stability as predicted by the Dual State Theory. Furthermore, they replicate critical aspects of the human paradigm, which indicates the translational potential of the testing procedure and supports the use of touchscreen procedures in preclinical animal research.

  10. Methylphenidate and brain activity in a reward/conflict paradigm: role of the insula in task performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivanov, Iliyan; Liu, Xun; Clerkin, Suzanne; Schulz, Kurt; Fan, Jin; Friston, Karl; London, Edythe D; Schwartz, Jeffrey; Newcorn, Jeffrey H

    2014-06-01

    Psychostimulants, such as methylphenidate, are thought to improve information processing in motivation-reward and attention-activation networks by enhancing the effects of more relevant signals and suppressing those of less relevant ones; however the nature of such reciprocal influences remains poorly understood. To explore this question, we tested the effect of methylphenidate on performance and associated brain activity in the Anticipation, Conflict, Reward (ACR) task. Sixteen healthy adult volunteers, ages 21-45, were scanned twice using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they performed the ACR task under placebo and methylphenidate conditions. A three-way repeated measures analysis of variance, with cue (reward vs. non-reward), target (congruent vs. incongruent) and medication condition (methylphenidate vs. placebo) as the factors, was used to analyze behaviors on the task. Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals, reflecting task-related neural activity, were evaluated using linear contrasts. Participants exhibited significantly greater accuracy in the methylphenidate condition than the placebo condition. Compared with placebo, the methylphenidate condition also was associated with lesser task-related activity in components of attention-activation systems irrespective of the reward cue, and less task-related activity in components of the reward-motivation system, particularly the insula, during reward trials irrespective of target difficulty. These results suggest that methylphenidate enhances task performance by improving efficiency of information processing in both reward-motivation and in attention-activation systems. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  11. Diverse task scheduling for individualized requirements in cloud manufacturing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Longfei; Zhang, Lin; Zhao, Chun; Laili, Yuanjun; Xu, Lida

    2018-03-01

    Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) has emerged as a new manufacturing paradigm that provides ubiquitous, on-demand manufacturing services to customers through network and CMfg platforms. In CMfg system, task scheduling as an important means of finding suitable services for specific manufacturing tasks plays a key role in enhancing the system performance. Customers' requirements in CMfg are highly individualized, which leads to diverse manufacturing tasks in terms of execution flows and users' preferences. We focus on diverse manufacturing tasks and aim to address their scheduling issue in CMfg. First of all, a mathematical model of task scheduling is built based on analysis of the scheduling process in CMfg. To solve this scheduling problem, we propose a scheduling method aiming for diverse tasks, which enables each service demander to obtain desired manufacturing services. The candidate service sets are generated according to subtask directed graphs. An improved genetic algorithm is applied to searching for optimal task scheduling solutions. The effectiveness of the scheduling method proposed is verified by a case study with individualized customers' requirements. The results indicate that the proposed task scheduling method is able to achieve better performance than some usual algorithms such as simulated annealing and pattern search.

  12. The optimum decision rules for the oddity task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Versfeld, N J; Dai, H; Green, D M

    1996-01-01

    This paper presents the optimum decision rule for an m-interval oddity task in which m-1 intervals contain the same signal and one is different or odd. The optimum decision rule depends on the degree of correlation among observations. The present approach unifies the different strategies that occur with "roved" or "fixed" experiments (Macmillan & Creelman, 1991, p. 147). It is shown that the commonly used decision rule for an m-interval oddity task corresponds to the special case of highly correlated observations. However, as is also true for the same-different paradigm, there exists a different optimum decision rule when the observations are independent. The relation between the probability of a correct response and d' is derived for the three-interval oddity task. Tables are presented of this relation for the three-, four-, and five-interval oddity task. Finally, an experimental method is proposed that allows one to determine the decision rule used by the observer in an oddity experiment.

  13. Extendable supervised dictionary learning for exploring diverse and concurrent brain activities in task-based fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Shijie; Han, Junwei; Hu, Xintao; Jiang, Xi; Lv, Jinglei; Zhang, Tuo; Zhang, Shu; Guo, Lei; Liu, Tianming

    2018-06-01

    Recently, a growing body of studies have demonstrated the simultaneous existence of diverse brain activities, e.g., task-evoked dominant response activities, delayed response activities and intrinsic brain activities, under specific task conditions. However, current dominant task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (tfMRI) analysis approach, i.e., the general linear model (GLM), might have difficulty in discovering those diverse and concurrent brain responses sufficiently. This subtraction-based model-driven approach focuses on the brain activities evoked directly from the task paradigm, thus likely overlooks other possible concurrent brain activities evoked during the information processing. To deal with this problem, in this paper, we propose a novel hybrid framework, called extendable supervised dictionary learning (E-SDL), to explore diverse and concurrent brain activities under task conditions. A critical difference between E-SDL framework and previous methods is that we systematically extend the basic task paradigm regressor into meaningful regressor groups to account for possible regressor variation during the information processing procedure in the brain. Applications of the proposed framework on five independent and publicly available tfMRI datasets from human connectome project (HCP) simultaneously revealed more meaningful group-wise consistent task-evoked networks and common intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs). These results demonstrate the advantage of the proposed framework in identifying the diversity of concurrent brain activities in tfMRI datasets.

  14. An Integrative Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammack, Phillip L.

    2005-01-01

    Through the application of life course theory to the study of sexual orientation, this paper specifies a new paradigm for research on human sexual orientation that seeks to reconcile divisions among biological, social science, and humanistic paradigms. Recognizing the historical, social, and cultural relativity of human development, this paradigm…

  15. Solving peg-in-hole tasks by human demonstration and exception strategies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abu-Dakka, Fares; Nemec, Bojan; Kramberger, Aljaz

    2014-01-01

    that the proposed approach combined with exception strategies outperforms traditional approaches for robot-based assembly. Experimental evaluation was carried out on Cranfield Benchmark, which constitutes a standardized assembly task in robotics. This paper also performed statistical evaluation based on experiments...... available robot controller. Originality/value – This paper proposes a new approach to the robot assembly based on the Learning by Demonstration (LbD) paradigm. The proposed framework enables to quickly program new assembly tasks without the need for detailed analysis of the geometric and dynamic...

  16. Public Administration Education in Europe: Continuity or Reorientation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajnal, Gyorgy

    2015-01-01

    The article explores the changing patterns of disciplinary orientation in European public administration (PA) education. The study builds on an earlier research, which defined three distinct clusters of countries, based on their specific PA education tradition. It asks whether countries' movement away from the Legalist paradigm has continued since…

  17. Reorientational Dynamics of Enzymes Adsorbed on Quartz: A Temperature-Dependent Time-Resolved TIRF Anisotropy Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Czeslik, C.; Royer, C.; Hazlett, T.; Mantulin, W.

    2003-01-01

    The preservation of enzyme activity and protein binding capacity upon protein adsorption at solid interfaces is important for biotechnological and medical applications. Because these properties are partly related to the protein flexibility and mobility, we have studied the internal dynamics and the whole-body reorientational rates of two enzymes, staphylococcal nuclease (SNase) and hen egg white lysozyme, over the temperature range of 20–80°C when the proteins are adsorbed at the silica/water interface and, for comparison, when they are dissolved in buffer. The data were obtained using a combination of two experimental techniques, total internal reflection fluorescence spectroscopy and time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy measurements in the frequency domain, with the protein Trp residues as intrinsic fluorescence probes. It has been found that the internal dynamics and the whole-body rotation of SNase and lysozyme are markedly reduced upon adsorption over large temperature ranges. At elevated temperatures, both protein molecules appear completely immobilized and the fractional amplitudes for the whole-body rotation, which are related to the order parameter for the local rotational freedom of the Trp residues, remain constant and do not approach zero. This behavior indicates that the angular range of the Trp reorientation within the adsorbed proteins is largely restricted even at high temperatures, in contrast to that of the dissolved proteins. The results of this study thus provide a deeper understanding of protein activity at solid surfaces. PMID:12668461

  18. Does children's moral compass waver under social pressure? Using the conformity paradigm to test preschoolers' moral and social-conventional judgments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Elizabeth B; Chen, Chuansheng; Smetana, Judith G; Greenberger, Ellen

    2016-10-01

    The current study tested whether preschoolers' moral and social-conventional judgments change under social pressure using Asch's conformity paradigm. A sample of 132 preschoolers (Mage=3.83years, SD=0.85) rated the acceptability of moral and social-conventional events and also completed a visual judgment task (i.e., comparing line length) both independently and after having viewed two peers who consistently made immoral, unconventional, or visually inaccurate judgments. Results showed evidence of conformity on all three tasks, but conformity was stronger on the social-conventional task than on the moral and visual tasks. Older children were less susceptible to pressure for social conformity for the moral and visual tasks but not for the conventional task. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Functional Disconnectivity during Inter-Task Resting State in Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chabran, Eléna; Roquet, Daniel; Gounot, Daniel; Sourty, Marion; Armspach, Jean-Paul; Blanc, Frédéric

    2018-05-03

    Limited research has been done on the functional connectivity in visuoperceptual regions in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) patients. This study aimed to investigate the functional connectivity differences between a task condition and an inter-task resting state condition within a visuoperceptual paradigm, in DLB patients compared with Alzheimer disease (AD) patients and healthy elderly control subjects. Twenty-six DLB, 29 AD, and 22 healthy subjects underwent a detailed clinical and neuropsychological examination along with a functional MRI during the different conditions of a visuoperceptual paradigm. Functional images were analyzed using group-level spatial independent component analysis and seed-based connectivity analyses. While the DLB patients scored well and did not differ from the control and AD groups in terms of functional activity and connectivity during the task conditions, they showed decreased functional connectivity in visuoperceptual regions during the resting state condition, along with a temporal impairment of the default-mode network activity. Functional connectivity disturbances were also found within two attentional-executive networks and between these networks and visuoperceptual regions. We found a specific functional profile in the switching between task and resting state conditions in DLB patients. This result could help better characterize functional impairments in DLB and their contribution to several core symptoms of this pathology such as visual hallucinations and cognitive fluctuations. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  20. Upper extremity rehabilitation of stroke: Facilitation of corticospinal excitability using virtual mirror paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kang Youn

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Several experimental studies in stroke patients suggest that mirror therapy and various virtual reality programs facilitate motor rehabilitation. However, the underlying mechanisms for these therapeutic effects have not been previously described. Objectives We attempted to delineate the changes in corticospinal excitability when individuals were asked to exercise their upper extremity using a real mirror and virtual mirror. Moreover, we attempted to delineate the role of visual modulation within the virtual environment that affected corticospinal excitability in healthy subjects and stroke patients. Methods A total of 18 healthy subjects and 18 hemiplegic patients were enrolled into the study. Motor evoked potential (MEPs from transcranial magnetic stimulation were recorded in the flexor carpi radialis of the non-dominant or affected upper extremity using three different conditions: (A relaxation; (B real mirror; and (C virtual mirror. Moreover, we compared the MEPs from the virtual mirror paradigm using continuous visual feedback or intermittent visual feedback. Results The rates of amplitude increment and latency decrement of MEPs in both groups were higher during the virtual mirror task than during the real mirror. In healthy subjects and stroke patients, the virtual mirror task with intermittent visual feedback significantly facilitated corticospinal excitability of MEPs compared with continuous visual feedback. Conclusion Corticospinal excitability was facilitated to a greater extent in the virtual mirror paradigm than in the real mirror and in intermittent visual feedback than in the continuous visual feedback, in both groups. This provides neurophysiological evidence supporting the application of the virtual mirror paradigm using various visual modulation technologies to upper extremity rehabilitation in stroke patients.

  1. Context influences decision-making in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A comparison of traditional and novel choice-impulsivity paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patros, Connor H G; Alderson, R Matt; Lea, Sarah E; Tarle, Stephanie J

    2017-02-01

    Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by an impaired ability to maintain attention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. Impulsivity is frequently defined as the preference for small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards, and has been associated with a variety of negative outcomes such as risky behavior and academic difficulty. Extant studies have uniformly utilized the traditional paradigm of presenting two response choices, which limits the generalization of findings to scenarios in which children/adolescents are faced with dichotomous decisions. The current study is the first to examine the effect of manipulating the number of available response options on impulsive decision-making in boys with and without ADHD. A total of 39 boys (ADHD = 16, typically developing [TD] = 23) aged 8-12 years completed a traditional two-choice impulsivity task and a novel five-choice impulsivity task to examine the effect of manipulating the number of choice responses (two vs five) on impulsive decision-making. A five-choice task was utilized as it presents a more continuous array of choice options when compared to the typical two-choice task, and is comparable given its methodological similarity to the two-choice task. Results suggested that boys with ADHD were significantly more impulsive than TD boys during the two-choice task, but not during the five-choice task. Collectively, these findings suggest that ADHD-related impulsivity is not ubiquitous, but rather dependent on variation in demands and/or context. Further, these findings highlight the importance of examining ADHD-related decision-making within the context of alternative paradigms, as the exclusive utilization of two-choice tasks may promote inaccurate conceptualizations of the disorder.

  2. When thoughts become action: an fMRI paradigm to study volitional brain activity in non-communicative brain injured patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boly, M; Coleman, M R; Davis, M H; Hampshire, A; Bor, D; Moonen, G; Maquet, P A; Pickard, J D; Laureys, S; Owen, A M

    2007-07-01

    The assessment of voluntary behavior in non-communicative brain injured patients is often challenging due to the existence of profound motor impairment. In the absence of a full understanding of the neural correlates of consciousness, even a normal activation in response to passive sensory stimulation cannot be considered as proof of the presence of awareness in these patients. In contrast, predicted activation in response to the instruction to perform a mental imagery task would provide evidence of voluntary task-dependent brain activity, and hence of consciousness, in non-communicative patients. However, no data yet exist to indicate which imagery instructions would yield reliable single subject activation. The aim of the present study was to establish such a paradigm in healthy volunteers. Two exploratory experiments evaluated the reproducibility of individual brain activation elicited by four distinct mental imagery tasks. The two most robust mental imagery tasks were found to be spatial navigation and motor imagery. In a third experiment, where these two tasks were directly compared, differentiation of each task from one another and from rest periods was assessed blindly using a priori criteria and was correct for every volunteer. The spatial navigation and motor imagery tasks described here permit the identification of volitional brain activation at the single subject level, without a motor response. Volunteer as well as patient data [Owen, A.M., Coleman, M.R., Boly, M., Davis, M.H., Laureys, S., Pickard J.D., 2006. Detecting awareness in the vegetative state. Science 313, 1402] strongly suggest that this paradigm may provide a method for assessing the presence of volitional brain activity, and thus of consciousness, in non-communicative brain-injured patients.

  3. The resilience of paradigm mixes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daugbjerg, Carsten; Farsund, Arild Aurvåg; Langhelle, Oluf

    2017-01-01

    This paper argues that a policy regime based on a paradigm mix may be resilient when challenged by changing power balances and new agendas. Controversies between the actors can be contained within the paradigm mix as it enables them to legitimize different ideational positions. Rather than engaging...... context changed. The paradigm mix proved sufficiently flexible to accommodate food security concerns and at the same time continue to take steps toward further liberalization. Indeed, the main players have not challenged the paradigm mix....

  4. Executive Function Is Necessary for Perspective Selection, Not Level-1 Visual Perspective Calculation: Evidence from a Dual-Task Study of Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qureshi, Adam W.; Apperly, Ian A.; Samson, Dana

    2010-01-01

    Previous research suggests that perspective-taking and other "theory of mind" processes may be cognitively demanding for adult participants, and may be disrupted by concurrent performance of a secondary task. In the current study, a Level-1 visual perspective task was administered to 32 adults using a dual-task paradigm in which the secondary task…

  5. Social learning of an associative foraging task in zebrafish

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zala, Sarah M.; Määttänen, Ilmari

    2013-05-01

    The zebrafish ( Danio rerio) is increasingly becoming an important model species for studies on the genetic and neural mechanisms controlling behaviour and cognition. Here, we utilized a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm to study social learning in zebrafish. We tested whether social interactions with conditioned demonstrators enhance the ability of focal naïve individuals to learn an associative foraging task. We found that the presence of conditioned demonstrators improved focal fish foraging behaviour through the process of social transmission, whereas the presence of inexperienced demonstrators interfered with the learning of the control focal fish. Our results indicate that zebrafish use social learning for finding food and that this CPP paradigm is an efficient assay to study social learning and memory in zebrafish.

  6. A Randomized Trial to Measure the Efficacy of Applying Task Oriented Role Assignment to Improve Neonatal Resuscitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-05-06

    In an effort to address performance gaps we devised a teaching paradigm, called Task-Oriented Role Ass ignment’, in which we have delegated a...task delegation , thereby improving NRP performance. Health care professionals taking the NRP course were randomized to either the control group, which...such as leadership (mean = 4· control, s study; p = 0.05). However, both groups scored similarly in overall NRP task performance with mean scores of

  7. Dynamic selective switching in antiferromagnetically-coupled bilayers close to the spin reorientation transition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernández-Pacheco, A.; Mansell, R.; Petit, D.; Lee, J. H.; Cowburn, R. P.; Ummelen, F. C.; Swagten, H. J. M.

    2014-01-01

    We have designed a bilayer synthetic antiferromagnet where the order of layer reversal can be selected by varying the sweep rate of the applied magnetic field. The system is formed by two ultra-thin ferromagnetic layers with different proximities to the spin reorientation transition, coupled antiferromagnetically using Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interactions. The different dynamic magnetic reversal behavior of both layers produces a crossover in their switching fields for field rates in the kOe/s range. This effect is due to the different effective anisotropy of both layers, added to an appropriate asymmetric antiferromagnetic coupling between them. Field-rate controlled selective switching of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy layers as shown here can be exploited in sensing and memory applications.

  8. Effectiveness of four different clinical fMRI paradigms for preoperative regional determination of language lateralization in patients with brain tumors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zaca, Domenico; Deib, Gerard; Pillai, Jay J. [Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Division of Neuroradiology, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Baltimore, MD (United States); Nickerson, Joshua P. [University of Vermont School of Medicine/Fletcher Allen Healthcare, Department of Radiology, Burlington, VT (United States)

    2012-09-15

    Blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has demonstrated its capability to provide comparable results to gold standard intracarotid sodium amobarbital (Wada) testing for preoperative determination of language hemispheric dominance. However, thus far, no consensus has been established regarding which fMRI paradigms are the most effective for the determination of hemispheric language lateralization in specific categories of patients and specific regions of interest (ROIs). Forty-one brain tumor patients who performed four different language tasks - rhyming (R), silent word generation (SWG) sentence completion, and sentence listening comprehension (LC) - for presurgical language mapping by fMRI were included in this study. A statistical threshold-independent lateralization index (LI) was calculated and compared among the paradigms in four different ROIs for language activation: functional Broca's (BA) and Wernicke's areas (WA) as well as larger anatomically defined expressive (EA) and receptive (RA) areas. The two expressive paradigms evaluated in this study are very good lateralizing tasks in expressive language areas; specifically, a significantly higher mean LI value was noted for SWG (0.36 {+-} 0.25) compared to LC (0.16 {+-} 0.24, p = 0.009) and for R (0.40 {+-} 0.22) compared to LC (0.16 {+-} 0.24, p = 0.001) in BA. SWG LI (0.28 {+-} 0.19) was higher than LC LI (0.12 {+-} 0.16, p = 0.01) also in EA. No significant differences in LI were found among these paradigms in WA or RA. SWG and R are sufficient for the determination of lateralization in expressive language areas, whereas new semantic or receptive paradigms need to be designed for an improved assessment of lateralization in receptive language areas. (orig.)

  9. Neural correlates of the spatial and expectancy components of endogenous and stimulus-driven orienting of attention in the Posner task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doricchi, Fabrizio; Macci, Enrica; Silvetti, Massimo; Macaluso, Emiliano

    2010-07-01

    Voluntary orienting of visual attention is conventionally measured in tasks with predictive central cues followed by frequent valid targets at the cued location and by infrequent invalid targets at the uncued location. This implies that invalid targets entail both spatial reorienting of attention and breaching of the expected spatial congruency between cues and targets. Here, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to separate the neural correlates of the spatial and expectancy components of both endogenous orienting and stimulus-driven reorienting of attention. We found that during endogenous orienting with predictive cues, there was a significant deactivation of the right Temporal-Parietal Junction (TPJ). We also discovered that the lack of an equivalent deactivation with nonpredictive cues was matched to drop in attentional costs and preservation of attentional benefits. The right TPJ showed equivalent responses to invalid targets following predictive and nonpredictive cues. On the contrary, infrequent-unexpected invalid targets following predictive cues specifically activated the right Middle and Inferior Frontal Gyrus (MFG-IFG). Additional comparisons with spatially neutral trials demonstrated that, independently of cue predictiveness, valid targets activate the left TPJ, whereas invalid targets activate both the left and right TPJs. These findings show that the selective right TPJ activation that is found in the comparison between invalid and valid trials results from the reciprocal cancelling of the different activations that in the left TPJ are related to the processing of valid and invalid targets. We propose that left and right TPJs provide "matching and mismatching to attentional template" signals. These signals enable reorienting of attention and play a crucial role in the updating of the statistical contingency between cues and targets.

  10. Vibrations and reorientations of H2O molecules in [Sr(H2O)6]Cl2 studied by Raman light scattering, incoherent inelastic neutron scattering and proton magnetic resonance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hetmańczyk, Joanna; Hetmańczyk, Lukasz; Migdał-Mikuli, Anna; Mikuli, Edward; Florek-Wojciechowska, Małgorzata; Harańczyk, Hubert

    2014-04-24

    Vibrational-reorientational dynamics of H2O ligands in the high- and low-temperature phases of [Sr(H2O)6]Cl2 was investigated by Raman Spectroscopy (RS), proton magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR), quasielastic and inelastic incoherent Neutron Scattering (QENS and IINS) methods. Neutron powder diffraction (NPD) measurements, performed simultaneously with QENS, did not indicated a change of the crystal structure at the phase transition (detected earlier by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at TC(h)=252.9 K (on heating) and at TC(c)=226.5K (on cooling)). Temperature dependence of the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of νs(OH) band at ca. 3248 cm(-1) in the RS spectra indicated small discontinuity in the vicinity of phase transition temperature, what suggests that the observed phase transition may be associated with a change of the H2O reorientational dynamics. However, an activation energy value (Ea) for the reorientational motions of H2O ligands in both phases is nearly the same and equals to ca. 8 kJ mol(-1). The QENS peaks, registered for low temperature phase do not show any broadening. However, in the high temperature phase a small QENS broadening is clearly visible, what implies that the reorientational dynamics of H2O ligands undergoes a change at the phase transition. (1)H NMR line is a superposition of two powder Pake doublets, differentiated by a dipolar broadening, suggesting that there are two types of the water molecules in the crystal lattice of [Sr(H2O)6]Cl2 which are structurally not equivalent average distances between the interacting protons are: 1.39 and 1.18 Å. However, their reorientational dynamics is very similar (τc=3.3⋅10(-10) s). Activation energies for the reorientational motion of these both kinds of H2O ligands have nearly the same values in an experimental error limit: and equal to ca. 40 kJ mole(-1). The phase transition is not seen in the (1)H NMR spectra temperature dependencies. Infrared (IR), Raman (RS) and inelastic

  11. The Influence of Stimulus Discriminability on Young Children's Interference Control in the Stroop-Like Happy-Sad Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bluell, Alexandra M.; Montgomery, Derek E.

    2014-01-01

    The day-night paradigm, where children respond to a pair of pictures with opposite labels for a series of trials, is a widely used measure of interference control. Recent research has shown that a happy-sad variant of the day-night task was significantly more difficult than the standard day-night task. The present research examined whether the…

  12. Evaluation of kinesthetic-tactual displays using a critical tracking task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jagacinski, R. J.; Miller, D. P.; Gilson, R. D.; Ault, R. T.

    1977-01-01

    The study sought to investigate the feasibility of applying the critical tracking task paradigm to the evaluation of kinesthetic-tactual displays. Four subjects attempted to control a first-order unstable system with a continuously decreasing time constant by using either visual or tactual unidimensional displays. Display aiding was introduced in both modalities in the form of velocity quickening. Visual tracking performance was better than tactual tracking, and velocity aiding improved the critical tracking scores for visual and tactual tracking about equally. The results suggest that the critical task methodology holds considerable promise for evaluating kinesthetic-tactual displays.

  13. Age-related emotional bias in processing two emotionally valenced tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Philip A; Lien, Mei-Ching; Jardin, Elliott

    2017-01-01

    Previous studies suggest that older adults process positive emotions more efficiently than negative emotions, whereas younger adults show the reverse effect. We examined whether this age-related difference in emotional bias still occurs when attention is engaged in two emotional tasks. We used a psychological refractory period paradigm and varied the emotional valence of Task 1 and Task 2. In both experiments, Task 1 was emotional face discrimination (happy vs. angry faces) and Task 2 was sound discrimination (laugh, punch, vs. cork pop in Experiment 1 and laugh vs. scream in Experiment 2). The backward emotional correspondence effect for positively and negatively valenced Task 2 on Task 1 was measured. In both experiments, younger adults showed a backward correspondence effect from a negatively valenced Task 2, suggesting parallel processing of negatively valenced stimuli. Older adults showed similar negativity bias in Experiment 2 with a more salient negative sound ("scream" relative to "punch"). These results are consistent with an arousal-bias competition model [Mather and Sutherland (Perspectives in Psychological Sciences 6:114-133, 2011)], suggesting that emotional arousal modulates top-down attentional control settings (emotional regulation) with age.

  14. Poorer divided attention in children born very preterm can be explained by difficulty with each component task, not the executive requirement to dual-task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delane, Louise; Campbell, Catherine; Bayliss, Donna M; Reid, Corinne; Stephens, Amelia; French, Noel; Anderson, Mike

    2017-07-01

    Children born very preterm (VP, ≤ 32 weeks) exhibit poor performance on tasks of executive functioning. However, it is largely unknown whether this reflects the cumulative impact of non-executive deficits or a separable impairment in executive-level abilities. A dual-task paradigm was used in the current study to differentiate the executive processes involved in performing two simple attention tasks simultaneously. The executive-level contribution to performance was indexed by the within-subject cost incurred to single-task performance under dual-task conditions, termed dual-task cost. The participants included 77 VP children (mean age: 7.17 years) and 74 peer controls (mean age: 7.16 years) who completed Sky Search (selective attention), Score (sustained attention) and Sky Search DT (divided attention) from the Test of Everyday Attention for Children. The divided-attention task requires the simultaneous performance of the selective- and sustained-attention tasks. The VP group exhibited poorer performance on the selective- and divided-attention tasks, and showed a strong trend toward poorer performance on the sustained-attention task. However, there were no significant group differences in dual-task cost. These results suggest a cumulative impact of vulnerable lower-level cognitive processes on dual-tasking or divided attention in VP children, and fail to support the hypothesis that VP children show a separable impairment in executive-level abilities.

  15. Eighteen-month-olds' memory interference and distraction in a modified A-not-B task is not associated with their anticipatory looking in a false-belief task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zmyj, Norbert; Prinz, Wolfgang; Daum, Moritz M

    2015-01-01

    Infants' performance in non-verbal false-belief tasks is often interpreted as if they have understood false beliefs. This view has been questioned by a recent account that explains infants' performance in non-verbal false-belief tasks as the result of susceptibility to memory interference and distraction. We tested this alternative account by investigating the relationship between infants' false-belief understanding, susceptibility to memory interference and distraction, and general cognitive development in 18-month-old infants (N = 22). False-belief understanding was tested in an anticipatory looking paradigm of a standard false-belief task. Susceptibility to memory interference and distraction was tested in a modified A-not-B task. Cognitive development was measured via the Mental Scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. We did not find any relationship between infants' performance in the false-belief task and the A-not-B task, even after controlling for cognitive development. This study shows that there is no ubiquitous relation between susceptibility to memory interference and distraction and performance in a false-belief task in infancy.

  16. Magnetic ordering and spin-reorientation transitions in TbCo3B2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dubman, Moshe; Caspi, El'ad N.; Ettedgui, Hanania; Keller, Lukas; Melamud, Mordechai; Shaked, Hagai

    2005-01-01

    The magnetic structure of the compound TbCo 3 B 2 has been studied in the temperature range 1.5 K≤T≤300 K by means of neutron powder diffraction, magnetization, magnetic ac susceptibility, and heat capacity measurements. The compound is of hexagonal symmetry and is paramagnetic at 300 K, undergoes a magnetic Co-Co ordering transition at ∼170 K, and a second magnetic Tb-Tb ordering transition at ∼30 K. The latter induces a spin-reorientation transition, in which the magnetic axis rotates from the c axis toward the basal plane. Below this transition a symmetry decrease (γ magnetostriction) sets in, leading to an orthorhombic distortion of the crystal lattice. The crystal and magnetic structures and interactions and their evolution with temperature are discussed using a microscopic physical model

  17. A diffusion decision model analysis of evidence variability in the lexical decision task

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tillman, Gabriel; Osth, Adam F.; van Ravenzwaaij, Don; Heathcote, Andrew

    2017-01-01

    The lexical-decision task is among the most commonly used paradigms in psycholinguistics. In both the signal-detection theory and Diffusion Decision Model (DDM; Ratcliff, Gomez, & McKoon, Psychological Review, 111, 159–182, 2004) frameworks, lexical-decisions are based on a continuous source of

  18. Reorienting development: towards and engendered employment strategy

    OpenAIRE

    Selim Jahan

    2005-01-01

    Development strategies, in the name of gender-neutral, are gender-blind. The gender blindness of development strategies are derived from the gender-insensitiveness of dominant development paradigms, which, in the name of work, do not make any distinction between productive and reproductive work and does not differentiate, in the name of household, the asymmetries faced by its different members on the basis of sex. Given the nature of gender blindness of development strategies, it is clear tha...

  19. Zero-Field Spin Structure and Spin Reorientations in Layered Organic Antiferromagnet, κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Cl, with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishikawa, Rui; Tsunakawa, Hitoshi; Oinuma, Kohsuke; Michimura, Shinji; Taniguchi, Hiromi; Satoh, Kazuhiko; Ishii, Yasuyuki; Okamoto, Hiroyuki

    2018-06-01

    Detailed magnetization measurements enabled us to claim that the layered organic insulator κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Cl [BEDT-TTF: bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene] with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction has an antiferromagnetic spin structure with the easy axis being the crystallographic c-axis and the net canting moment parallel to the a-axis at zero magnetic field. This zero-field spin structure is significantly different from that proposed in the past studies. The assignment was achieved by arguments including a correction of the direction of the weak ferromagnetism, reinterpretations of magnetization behaviors, and reasoning based on known high-field spin structures. We suggest that only the contributions of the strong intralayer antiferromagnetic interaction, the moderately weak Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, and the very weak interlayer ferromagnetic interaction can realize this spin structure. On the basis of this model, characteristic magnetic-field dependences of the magnetization can be interpreted as consequences of intriguing spin reorientations. The first reorientation is an unusual spin-flop transition under a magnetic field parallel to the b-axis. Although the existence of this transition is already known, the interpretation of what happens at this transition has been significantly revised. We suggest that this transition can be regarded as a spin-flop phenomenon of the local canting moment. We also claim that half of the spins rotate by 180° at this transition, in contrast to the conventional spin flop transition. The second reorientation is the gradual rotation of the spins during the variation of the magnetic field parallel to the c-axis. In this process, all the spins rotate around the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya vectors by 90°. The results of our simulation based on the classical spin model well reproduce these spin reorientation behaviors, which strongly support our claimed zero-field spin structure. The present study highlights the

  20. New horizons for Korean energy industry--shifting paradigms and challenges ahead

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, H.-J.Hyun-Joon.

    2003-01-01

    Korean energy industry is experiencing a radical paradigm shift. Vertically integrated monopoly is being dismantled while state-owned energy companies are privatized. The industry is in transition from extensive government control to more flexible and market-oriented operation. Along with the task of successfully implementing these structural changes, Korea is now faced with challenges of addressing energy security with the decentralized supply system. This paper discusses ongoing efforts to transform electric power and natural gas industries in Korea, and then explores possible schemes for regional energy cooperation that will enhance efficiency and supply security

  1. Of Paradigms and Power

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carstensen, Martin B.; Matthijs, Matthias

    in the study of policy paradigms. To demonstrate the general applicability of our framework, the paper examines the evolution of British macroeconomic policy making since 1990. We show that various Prime Ministers and their Chancellors were able to reinterpret and redefine the dominant neoliberal understanding......? Despite the profound impact of Peter Hall’s approach to policy paradigms and social learning, there is a burgeoning consensus that transposing a rudimentary ‘Kuhnian’ understanding of paradigms into the context of public policy making leads to a notion of punctuated equilibrium style shifts as the only...

  2. The influence of a working memory task on affective perception of facial expressions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seung-Lark Lim

    Full Text Available In a dual-task paradigm, participants performed a spatial location working memory task and a forced two-choice perceptual decision task (neutral vs. fearful with gradually morphed emotional faces (neutral ∼ fearful. Task-irrelevant word distractors (negative, neutral, and control were experimentally manipulated during spatial working memory encoding. We hypothesized that, if affective perception is influenced by concurrent cognitive load using a working memory task, task-irrelevant emotional distractors would bias subsequent perceptual decision-making on ambiguous facial expression. We found that when either neutral or negative emotional words were presented as task-irrelevant working-memory distractors, participants more frequently reported fearful face perception - but only at the higher emotional intensity levels of morphed faces. Also, the affective perception bias due to negative emotional distractors correlated with a decrease in working memory performance. Taken together, our findings suggest that concurrent working memory load by task-irrelevant distractors has an impact on affective perception of facial expressions.

  3. Performance monitoring and analysis of task-based OpenMP.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Ding

    Full Text Available OpenMP, a typical shared memory programming paradigm, has been extensively applied in high performance computing community due to the popularity of multicore architectures in recent years. The most significant feature of the OpenMP 3.0 specification is the introduction of the task constructs to express parallelism at a much finer level of detail. This feature, however, has posed new challenges for performance monitoring and analysis. In particular, task creation is separated from its execution, causing the traditional monitoring methods to be ineffective. This paper presents a mechanism to monitor task-based OpenMP programs with interposition and proposes two demonstration graphs for performance analysis as well. The results of two experiments are discussed to evaluate the overhead of monitoring mechanism and to verify the effects of demonstration graphs using the BOTS benchmarks.

  4. A Processing Approach to the Working Memory/Long-Term Memory Distinction: Evidence from the Levels-of-Processing Span Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Nathan S.; Craik, Fergus I. M.

    2012-01-01

    Recent theories suggest that performance on working memory (WM) tasks involves retrieval from long-term memory (LTM). To examine whether WM and LTM tests have common principles, Craik and Tulving's (1975) levels-of-processing paradigm, which is known to affect LTM, was administered as a WM task: Participants made uppercase, rhyme, or…

  5. Effect of training on the ability of dual-task coordination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosin F.M.

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available Within the framework of the working memory model proposed by A. Baddeley and G. Hitch, a dual-task paradigm has been suggested to evaluate the capacity to perform simultaneously two concurrent tasks. This capacity is assumed to reflect the functioning of the central executive component, which appears to be impaired in patients with dysexecutive syndrome. The present study extends the investigation of an index ("mu", which is supposed to indicate the capacity of coordination of concurrent auditory digit span and tracking tasks, by testing the influence of training on the performance in the dual task. The presentation of the same digit sequence lists or always-different lists did not differently affect the performance. The span length affected the mu values. The improved performance in the tasks under the dual condition closely resembled the improvement in the single-task performance. So, although training improved performance in the single and dual conditions, especially for the tracking component, the mu values remained stable throughout the sessions when the single tasks were performed first. Conversely, training improved the capacity of dual-task coordination throughout the sessions when dual task was performed first, addressing the issue of the contribution of the within-session practice to the mu index.

  6. Visuo-spatial processing in a dynamic and a static working memory paradigm in schizophrenia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cocchi, Luca; Schenk, Françoise; Volken, Henri

    2007-01-01

    patients with schizophrenia and matched controls in a new working memory paradigm involving dynamic (the Ball Flight Task - BFT) or static (the Static Pattern Task - SPT) visual stimuli. In the BFT, the responses of the patients were apparently based on the retention of the last set of segments...... that visuo-spatial working memory can simply be dissociated into visual and spatial sub-components....... of the perceived trajectory, whereas control subjects relied on a more global strategy. We assume that the patients' performances are the result of a reduced capacity in chunking visual information since they relied mainly on the retention of the last set of segments. This assumption is confirmed by the poor...

  7. Experimental evaluation of user performance in a pursuit tracking task with multimodal feedback

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Obrenović Željko

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we describe the results of experimental evaluation of user performance in a pursuit-tracking task with multimodal feedback. Our experimental results indicate that audio can significantly improve the accuracy of pursuit tracking. Experiments with 19 participants have shown that addition of acoustic modalities reduces the error during pursuit tracking for up to 19%. Moreover, experiments indicated the existence of perceptual boundaries of multimodal HCI for different scene complexity and target speeds. We have also shown that the most appealing paradigms are not the most effective ones, which necessitates a careful quantitative analysis of proposed multimodal HCI paradigms.

  8. Does oxytocin lead to emotional interference during a working memory paradigm?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tollenaar, Marieke S; Ruissen, M; Elzinga, B M; de Bruijn, E R A

    2017-12-01

    Oxytocin administration may increase attention to emotional information. We hypothesized that this augmented emotional processing might in turn lead to interference on concurrent cognitive tasks. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether oxytocin administration would lead to heightened emotional interference during a working memory paradigm. Additionally, moderating effects of childhood maltreatment were explored. Seventy-eight healthy males received 24 IU of intranasal oxytocin or placebo in a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind between-subjects study. A working memory task was performed during which neutral, positive, and negative distractors were presented. The main outcome observed was that oxytocin did not enhance interference by emotional information during the working memory task. There was a non-significant trend for oxytocin to slow down performance irrespective of distractor valence, while accuracy was unaffected. Exploratory analyses showed that childhood maltreatment was related to lower overall accuracy, but in the placebo condition only. However, the maltreated group sample size was very small precluding any conclusions on its moderating effect. Despite oxytocin's previously proposed role in enhanced emotional processing, no proof was found that this would lead to reduced performance on a concurrent cognitive task. The routes by which oxytocin exerts its effects on cognitive and social-emotional processes remain to be fully elucidated.

  9. ERP signatures of conscious and unconscious word and letter perception in an inattentional blindness paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schelonka, Kathryn; Graulty, Christian; Canseco-Gonzalez, Enriqueta; Pitts, Michael A

    2017-09-01

    A three-phase inattentional blindness paradigm was combined with ERPs. While participants performed a distracter task, line segments in the background formed words or consonant-strings. Nearly half of the participants failed to notice these word-forms and were deemed inattentionally blind. All participants noticed the word-forms in phase 2 of the experiment while they performed the same distracter task. In the final phase, participants performed a task on the word-forms. In all phases, including during inattentional blindness, word-forms elicited distinct ERPs during early latencies (∼200-280ms) suggesting unconscious orthographic processing. A subsequent ERP (∼320-380ms) similar to the visual awareness negativity appeared only when subjects were aware of the word-forms, regardless of the task. Finally, word-forms elicited a P3b (∼400-550ms) only when these stimuli were task-relevant. These results are consistent with previous inattentional blindness studies and help distinguish brain activity associated with pre- and post-perceptual processing from correlates of conscious perception. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Comparing temporal order judgments and choice reaction time tasks as indices of exogenous spatial cuing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eskes, Gail A; Klein, Raymond M; Dove, Mary Beth; Coolican, Jamesie; Shore, David I

    2007-11-30

    Attentional disorders are common in individuals with neurological or psychiatric conditions and impact on recovery and outcome. Thus, it is critical to develop theory-based measures of attentional function to understand potential mechanisms underlying the disorder and to evaluate the effect of intervention. The present study compared two alternative methods to measure the effects of attentional cuing that could be used in populations of individuals who may not be able to make manual responses normally or may show overall slowing in responses. Spatial attention was measured with speeded and unspeeded methods using either manual or voice responses in two standard attention paradigms: the cued target discrimination reaction time (RT) paradigm and the unspeeded temporal order judgment (TOJ) task. The comparison of speeded and unspeeded tasks specifically addresses the concern about interpreting RT differences between cued and uncued trials (taken as a proxy for attention) in the context of drastically different baseline RTs. We found significant cuing effects for both tasks (speeded RT and untimed TOJ) and both response types (vocal and manual) giving clinicians and researchers alternative methods with which to measure the effects of attention in different populations who may not be able to perform the standard speeded RT task.

  11. Effectiveness of four different clinical fMRI paradigms for preoperative regional determination of language lateralization in patients with brain tumors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaca, Domenico; Deib, Gerard; Pillai, Jay J.; Nickerson, Joshua P.

    2012-01-01

    Blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has demonstrated its capability to provide comparable results to gold standard intracarotid sodium amobarbital (Wada) testing for preoperative determination of language hemispheric dominance. However, thus far, no consensus has been established regarding which fMRI paradigms are the most effective for the determination of hemispheric language lateralization in specific categories of patients and specific regions of interest (ROIs). Forty-one brain tumor patients who performed four different language tasks - rhyming (R), silent word generation (SWG) sentence completion, and sentence listening comprehension (LC) - for presurgical language mapping by fMRI were included in this study. A statistical threshold-independent lateralization index (LI) was calculated and compared among the paradigms in four different ROIs for language activation: functional Broca's (BA) and Wernicke's areas (WA) as well as larger anatomically defined expressive (EA) and receptive (RA) areas. The two expressive paradigms evaluated in this study are very good lateralizing tasks in expressive language areas; specifically, a significantly higher mean LI value was noted for SWG (0.36 ± 0.25) compared to LC (0.16 ± 0.24, p = 0.009) and for R (0.40 ± 0.22) compared to LC (0.16 ± 0.24, p = 0.001) in BA. SWG LI (0.28 ± 0.19) was higher than LC LI (0.12 ± 0.16, p = 0.01) also in EA. No significant differences in LI were found among these paradigms in WA or RA. SWG and R are sufficient for the determination of lateralization in expressive language areas, whereas new semantic or receptive paradigms need to be designed for an improved assessment of lateralization in receptive language areas. (orig.)

  12. Influence of the spin reorientation transition on the hysteresis characteristics of Nd-Fe-B film and bulk magnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lileev, A.S.; Parilov, A.A.; Reissner, M.; Steiner, W.

    2004-01-01

    A comparison was made of the hysteresis characteristics of hard magnetic films with those of bulk samples based on Nd 2 Fe 14 B in the temperature range between 4.2 and 293 K. In both types of specimens characteristic 'dips' appear below 135 K in the demagnetisation curves which are caused by both the spin reorientation from easy axis to easy cone and the deviation from a perfect texture of the sample

  13. The reliability paradox: Why robust cognitive tasks do not produce reliable individual differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedge, Craig; Powell, Georgina; Sumner, Petroc

    2017-07-19

    Individual differences in cognitive paradigms are increasingly employed to relate cognition to brain structure, chemistry, and function. However, such efforts are often unfruitful, even with the most well established tasks. Here we offer an explanation for failures in the application of robust cognitive paradigms to the study of individual differences. Experimental effects become well established - and thus those tasks become popular - when between-subject variability is low. However, low between-subject variability causes low reliability for individual differences, destroying replicable correlations with other factors and potentially undermining published conclusions drawn from correlational relationships. Though these statistical issues have a long history in psychology, they are widely overlooked in cognitive psychology and neuroscience today. In three studies, we assessed test-retest reliability of seven classic tasks: Eriksen Flanker, Stroop, stop-signal, go/no-go, Posner cueing, Navon, and Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Code (SNARC). Reliabilities ranged from 0 to .82, being surprisingly low for most tasks given their common use. As we predicted, this emerged from low variance between individuals rather than high measurement variance. In other words, the very reason such tasks produce robust and easily replicable experimental effects - low between-participant variability - makes their use as correlational tools problematic. We demonstrate that taking such reliability estimates into account has the potential to qualitatively change theoretical conclusions. The implications of our findings are that well-established approaches in experimental psychology and neuropsychology may not directly translate to the study of individual differences in brain structure, chemistry, and function, and alternative metrics may be required.

  14. Interference between a fast-paced spatial puzzle task and verbal memory demands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epling, Samantha L; Blakely, Megan J; Russell, Paul N; Helton, William S

    2017-06-01

    Research continues to provide evidence that people are poor multi-taskers. Cognitive resource theory is a common explanation for the inability to efficiently perform multiple tasks at the same time. This theory proposes that one's limited supply of cognitive resources can be utilized faster than it is replenished, which results in a performance decline, particularly when these limited resources must be allocated among multiple tasks. Researchers have proposed both domain-specific, for example, spatial versus verbal processing resources, and domain general cognitive resources. In the present research, we investigated whether a spatial puzzle task performed simultaneously with a verbal recall task would impair performance in either task or both tasks, compared to performance on the tasks individually. As hypothesized, a reduction in word recall was found when dual-tasking, though performance on the puzzle task did not significantly differ between the single- and dual-task conditions. This is consistent, in part, with both a general resource theory and a Multiple Resource Theory, but further work is required to better understand the cognitive processing system. The employment of the recall task in the dual-task paradigm with a variety of secondary tasks will help to continue mapping out the specificity (or lack thereof) of cognitive resources utilized in various mental and physical tasks.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scherer, Demian; Wentura, Dirk

    2018-03-01

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

  16. Influence of gap and overlap paradigms on saccade latencies and vergence eye movements in seven-year-old children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bucci, Maria Pia; Pouvreau, Nathalie; Yang, Qing; Kapoula, Zoï

    2005-07-01

    The latency of eye movements is influenced by the fixation task; when the fixation stimulus is switched off before the target presentation (gap paradigm) the latency becomes short and express movements occur. In contrast, when the fixation stimulus remains on when the target appears (overlap paradigm), eye movement latency is longer. Several previous studies have shown increased rates of express saccades in children; however the presence of an express type of latency for vergence and combined movements in children has never been explored. The present study examines the effects of the gap and the overlap paradigms on horizontal saccades at far (150 cm) and at close (20 cm) viewing distances, on vergence along the median plane, and on saccades combined with convergence or divergence in 15 normal seven-year-old children. The results show that the gap paradigm produced shorter latency for all eye movements than the overlap paradigm, but the difference was only significant for saccades at close viewing distances, for divergence (pure and combined), and for saccades combined with vergence. The gap paradigm produced significantly higher rates of express latencies for saccades at close viewing distances, for divergence, and for saccades combined with divergence; in contrast, the frequencies of express latencies for saccades at far viewing distances and for convergence (pure or combined) were similar in the gap and the overlap paradigms. Interestingly, the rate of anticipatory latencies (gap paradigm. Our collective findings suggest that the initiation of saccades at close viewing distances and of divergence is more reflexive, particularly in the gap paradigm. The finding of frequent anticipatory divergence that occurs at similar rates for seven-year-old children (this study) and for adults (Coubard et al., 2004, Exp Brain Res 154:368-381) indicates that predictive initiation of divergence is dominant.

  17. Dynamic paradigm of turbulence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mukhamedov, Alfred M.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper a dynamic paradigm of turbulence is proposed. The basic idea consists in the novel definition of chaotic structure given with the help of Pfaff system of PDE associated with the turbulent dynamics. A methodological analysis of the new and the former paradigm is produced

  18. A 1D constitutive model for shape memory alloy using strain and temperature as control variables and including martensite reorientation and asymmetric behaviors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jaber, M Ben; Mehrez, S; Ghazouani, O

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, a new 1D constitutive model for shape memory alloy using strain and temperature as control variables is presented. The new formulation is restricted to the 1D stress case and takes into account the martensite reorientation and the asymmetry of the SMA behavior in tension and compression. Numerical implementation of the new model in a finite element code was conducted. The numerical results for superelastic behavior in tension and compression tests are presented and were compared to experimental data taken from the literature. Other numerical tests are presented, showing the model’s ability to reproduce the main aspects of SMA behavior such as the shape memory effect and the martensite reorientation under cyclic loading. Finally, to demonstrate the utility of the new constitutive model, a dynamic test of a bi-clamped SMA bending beam under forced oscillation is described. (paper)

  19. Spin reorientation in α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles induced by interparticle exchange interactions in alpha-Fe2O3/NiO nanocomposites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frandsen, Cathrine; Lefmann, Kim; Lebech, Bente

    2011-01-01

    We report that the spin structure of alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles rotates coherently out of the basal (001) plane at low temperatures when interacting with thin plate-shaped NiO nanoparticles. The observed spin reorientation (up to similar to 70 degrees) in alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles has, in appearan......, similarities to the Morin transition in bulk alpha-Fe2O3, but its origin is different-it is caused by exchange coupling between aggregated nanoparticles of alpha-Fe2O3 and NiO with different directions of easy axes of magnetization.......We report that the spin structure of alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles rotates coherently out of the basal (001) plane at low temperatures when interacting with thin plate-shaped NiO nanoparticles. The observed spin reorientation (up to similar to 70 degrees) in alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles has, in appearance...

  20. The framing effect in a monetary gambling task is robust in minimally verbal language switching contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korn, Christoph W; Heekeren, Hauke R; Oganian, Yulia

    2018-04-01

    Decision-making biases, in particular the framing effect, can be altered in foreign language settings (foreign language effect) and following switching between languages (the language switching effect on framing). Recently, it has been suggested that the framing effect is only affected by foreign language use if the task is presented in a rich textual form. Here, we assess whether an elaborate verbal task is also a prerequisite for the language switching effect on framing. We employed a financial gambling task that induces a robust framing effect but is less verbal than the classical framing paradigms (e.g., the Asian disease problem). We conducted an online experiment ( n = 485), where we orthogonally manipulated language use and language switching between trials. The results showed no effects of foreign language use or language switching throughout the experiment. This online result was confirmed in a laboratory experiment ( n = 27). Overall, we find that language switching does not reduce the framing effect in a paradigm with little verbal content and thus that language switching effects seem contingent on the amount of verbal processing required.

  1. Letter and Colour Matching Tasks: Parametric Measures of Developmental Working Memory Capacity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tamara L. Powell

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We investigated the mediating role of interference in developmental assessments of working memory (WM capacity across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. One hundred and forty-two participants completed two versions of visuospatial (colour matching task, CMT and verbal (letter matching task, LMT WM tasks, which systematically varied cognitive load in a high and low interference condition. Results showed similar developmental trajectories across high interference contexts (CMT- and LMT-Complex and divergent developmental growth patterns across low interference contexts (CMT- and LMT-Simple. Performance on tasks requiring greater cognitive control was in closer agreement with developmental predictions relative to simple recall guided tasks that rely solely on the storage components of WM. These findings suggest that developmental WM capacity, as measured by the CMT and LMT paradigms, can be better quantified using high interference contexts, in both content domains, and demonstrate steady increases in WM through to mid-adolescence.

  2. Functional MRI approach for assessing hemispheric predominance of regions activated by a phonological and a semantic task

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cousin, Emilie; Peyrin, Carole; Pichat, Cedric [Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, UMR CNRS 5105, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France); Lamalle, Laurent; Le Bas, Jean-Francois [Unite IRM, IFR1, CHU Grenoble (France); Baciu, Monica [Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, UMR CNRS 5105, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France)], E-mail: mbaciu@upmf-grenoble.fr

    2007-08-15

    This fMRI study performed in healthy subjects aimed at using a statistical approach in order to determine significant functional differences between hemispheres and to assess specialized regions activated during a phonological and during a semantic task. This approach ('flip' method and subsequent statistical analyses of the parameter estimates extracted from regions of interest) allows identifying: (a) hemispheric specialized regions for each language task [semantic (living categorization) and phonological (rhyme detection)] and (b) condition-specific regions with respect to paradigm conditions (task and control). Our results showed that the rhyme-specific task regions were the inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and left inferior parietal (BA 40, 39) lobules. Furthermore, within the inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus was specific to target (rhyming) items (related to successfully grapho-phonemic processing). The categorization-specific task regions were the left inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and superior temporal (BA 22) cortices. Furthermore, the superior temporal gyrus was related to non-target (non-living) items (correlated to task difficulty). The relatively new approach used in this study has the advantage of providing: (a) statistical significance of the hemispheric specialized regions for a given language task and (b) supplementary information in terms of paradigm condition-specificity of the activated regions. The results (standard hemispheric specialized regions for a semantic and for a phonological task) obtained in healthy subjects may constitute a basement for mapping language and assessing hemispheric predominance in epileptic patients before surgery and avoiding post-surgical impairments of language.

  3. Functional MRI approach for assessing hemispheric predominance of regions activated by a phonological and a semantic task

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cousin, Emilie; Peyrin, Carole; Pichat, Cedric; Lamalle, Laurent; Le Bas, Jean-Francois; Baciu, Monica

    2007-01-01

    This fMRI study performed in healthy subjects aimed at using a statistical approach in order to determine significant functional differences between hemispheres and to assess specialized regions activated during a phonological and during a semantic task. This approach ('flip' method and subsequent statistical analyses of the parameter estimates extracted from regions of interest) allows identifying: (a) hemispheric specialized regions for each language task [semantic (living categorization) and phonological (rhyme detection)] and (b) condition-specific regions with respect to paradigm conditions (task and control). Our results showed that the rhyme-specific task regions were the inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and left inferior parietal (BA 40, 39) lobules. Furthermore, within the inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus was specific to target (rhyming) items (related to successfully grapho-phonemic processing). The categorization-specific task regions were the left inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and superior temporal (BA 22) cortices. Furthermore, the superior temporal gyrus was related to non-target (non-living) items (correlated to task difficulty). The relatively new approach used in this study has the advantage of providing: (a) statistical significance of the hemispheric specialized regions for a given language task and (b) supplementary information in terms of paradigm condition-specificity of the activated regions. The results (standard hemispheric specialized regions for a semantic and for a phonological task) obtained in healthy subjects may constitute a basement for mapping language and assessing hemispheric predominance in epileptic patients before surgery and avoiding post-surgical impairments of language

  4. Affective and Cognitive Verbal Theory of Mind in Schizophrenia: Results From a Novel Paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okruszek, Łukasz; Piejka, Aleksandra; Szczepocka, Ewa; Wysokiński, Adam; Pluta, Agnieszka

    2018-03-01

    Impairments of Theory of Mind (ToM) have been repeatedly demonstrated in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). However, only a handful of studies have explored deficits in affective and cognitive subcomponents of ToM. Thus, this study aims to examine affective and cognitive ToM abilities in SCZ by using a novel, verbal paradigm. Twenty-four SCZ and 22 healthy comparison subjects (HC) completed a battery of tasks, which consisted of: (i) Brief Cognitive Assessment Tool for Schizophrenia (B-CATS), (ii) three well-established tasks measuring social cognitive abilities, and (iii) original tasks which assess ability to infer cognitive and affective mental states based on everyday verbal social interactions. In line with previous findings, SCZ were outperformed by HC in all tasks. However, the interaction effect of the group and the task showed that cognitive (as opposed to affective) ToM was more profoundly impaired in patients with SCZ. It is proposed that in SCZ group cognitive ToM is more impaired as it involves more effortful reflective processes, while affective ToM, which is more automatic and based on reflexive processes, may differentiate patients from healthy comparison subjects to a lesser extent. (JINS, 2018, 24, 305-309).

  5. Limited evidence of individual differences in holistic processing in different versions of the part-whole paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sunday, Mackenzie A; Richler, Jennifer J; Gauthier, Isabel

    2017-07-01

    The part-whole paradigm was one of the first measures of holistic processing and it has been used to address several topics in face recognition, including its development, other-race effects, and more recently, whether holistic processing is correlated with face recognition ability. However the task was not designed to measure individual differences and it has produced measurements with low reliability. We created a new holistic processing test designed to measure individual differences based on the part-whole paradigm, the Vanderbilt Part Whole Test (VPWT). Measurements in the part and whole conditions were reliable, but, surprisingly, there was no evidence for reliable individual differences in the part-whole index (how well a person can take advantage of a face part presented within a whole face context compared to the part presented without a whole face) because part and whole conditions were strongly correlated. The same result was obtained in a version of the original part-whole task that was modified to increase its reliability. Controlling for object recognition ability, we found that variance in the whole condition does not predict any additional variance in face recognition over what is already predicted by performance in the part condition.

  6. Two chronic motor training paradigms differentially influe nce acute instrume ntal learning in spinally transected rats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bigbee, Allison J.; Crown, Eric D.; Ferguson, Adam R.; Roy, Roland R.; Tillakaratne, Niranjala J.K.; Grau, James W.; Edgerton, V. Reggie

    2008-01-01

    The effect of two chronic motor training paradigms on the ability of the lumbar spinal cord to perform an acute instrumental learning task was examined in neonatally (postnatal day 5; P5) spinal cord transected (i.e., spinal) rats. At ∼P30, rats began either unipedal hindlimb stand training (Stand-Tr; 20-25 min/day, 5 days/wk), or bipedal hindlimb step training (Step-Tr; 20 min/day; 5 days/wk) for 7 wks. Non-trained spinal rats (Non-Tr) served as controls. After 7 wks all groups were tested on the flexor-biased instrumental learning paradigm. We hypothesized that 1) Step-Tr rats would exhibit an increased capacity to learn the flexor-biased task relative to Non-Tr subjects, as locomotion involves repetitive training of the tibialis anterior (TA), the ankle flexor whose activation is important for successful instrumental learning, and 2) Stand-Tr rats would exhibit a deficit in acute motor learning, as unipedal training activates the ipsilateral ankle extensors, but not flexors. Results showed no differences in acute learning potential between Non-Tr and Step-Tr rats, while the Stand-Tr group showed a reduced capacity to learn the acute task. Further investigation of the Stand-Tr group showed that, while both the ipsilateral and contralateral hindlimbs were significantly impaired in their acute learning potential, the contralateral, untrained hindlimbs exhibited significantly greater learning deficits. These results suggest that different types of chronic peripheral input may have a significant impact on the ability to learn a novel motor task, and demonstrate the potential for experience-dependent plasticity in the spinal cord in the absence of supraspinal connectivity. PMID:17434606

  7. The WIMP Paradigm: Current Status

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Jonathan

    2011-01-01

    The WIMP paradigm is the glue that joins together much of the high energy and cosmic frontiers. It postulates that most of the matter in the Universe is made of weakly-interacting massive particles, with implications for a broad range of experiments and observations. I will review the WIMP paradigm's underlying motivations, its current status in view of rapid experimental progress on several fronts, and recent theoretical variations on the WIMP paradigm theme.

  8. Supervised Machine Learning for Population Genetics: A New Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrider, Daniel R.; Kern, Andrew D.

    2018-01-01

    As population genomic datasets grow in size, researchers are faced with the daunting task of making sense of a flood of information. To keep pace with this explosion of data, computational methodologies for population genetic inference are rapidly being developed to best utilize genomic sequence data. In this review we discuss a new paradigm that has emerged in computational population genomics: that of supervised machine learning (ML). We review the fundamentals of ML, discuss recent applications of supervised ML to population genetics that outperform competing methods, and describe promising future directions in this area. Ultimately, we argue that supervised ML is an important and underutilized tool that has considerable potential for the world of evolutionary genomics. PMID:29331490

  9. Task-irrelevant emotion facilitates face discrimination learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorenzino, Martina; Caudek, Corrado

    2015-03-01

    We understand poorly how the ability to discriminate faces from one another is shaped by visual experience. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether face discrimination learning can be facilitated by facial emotions. To answer this question, we used a task-irrelevant perceptual learning paradigm because it closely mimics the learning processes that, in daily life, occur without a conscious intention to learn and without an attentional focus on specific facial features. We measured face discrimination thresholds before and after training. During the training phase (4 days), participants performed a contrast discrimination task on face images. They were not informed that we introduced (task-irrelevant) subtle variations in the face images from trial to trial. For the Identity group, the task-irrelevant features were variations along a morphing continuum of facial identity. For the Emotion group, the task-irrelevant features were variations along an emotional expression morphing continuum. The Control group did not undergo contrast discrimination learning and only performed the pre-training and post-training tests, with the same temporal gap between them as the other two groups. Results indicate that face discrimination improved, but only for the Emotion group. Participants in the Emotion group, moreover, showed face discrimination improvements also for stimulus variations along the facial identity dimension, even if these (task-irrelevant) stimulus features had not been presented during training. The present results highlight the importance of emotions for face discrimination learning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Categorization difficulty modulates the mediated route for response selection in task switching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Darryl W

    2017-12-22

    Conflict during response selection in task switching is indicated by the response congruency effect: worse performance for incongruent targets (requiring different responses across tasks) than for congruent targets (requiring the same response). The effect can be explained by dual-task processing in a mediated route for response selection, whereby targets are categorized with respect to both tasks. In the present study, the author tested predictions for the modulation of response congruency effects by categorization difficulty derived from a relative-speed-of-processing hypothesis. Categorization difficulty was manipulated for the relevant and irrelevant task dimensions in a novel spatial task-switching paradigm that involved judging the locations of target dots in a grid, without repetition of dot configurations. Response congruency effects were observed and they varied systematically with categorization difficulty (e.g., being larger when irrelevant categorization was easy than when it was hard). These results are consistent with the relative-speed-of-processing hypothesis and suggest that task-switching models that implement variations of the mediated route for response selection need to address the time course of categorization.

  11. Linking aims, paradigm and method in nursing research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houghton, Catherine; Hunter, Andrew; Meskell, Pauline

    2012-01-01

    To explore the use of paradigms as ontological and philosophical guides for conducting PhD research. A paradigm can help to bridge the aims of a study and the methods to achieve them. However, choosing a paradigm can be challenging for doctoral researchers: there can be ambiguity about which paradigm is suitable for a particular research question and there is a lack of guidance on how to shape the research process for a chosen paradigm. The authors discuss three paradigms used in PhD nursing research: post-positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism. They compare each paradigm in relation to its ontology, epistemology and methodology, and present three examples of PhD nursing research studies to illustrate how research can be conducted using these paradigms in the context of the research aims and methods. The commonalities and differences between the paradigms and their uses are highlighted. Creativity and flexibility are important when deciding on a paradigm. However, consistency and transparency are also needed to ensure the quality and rigour necessary for conducting nursing research. When choosing a suitable paradigm, the researcher should ensure that the ontology, epistemology and methodology of the paradigm are manifest in the methods and research strategies employed.

  12. Investigation of hydraulic fracture re-orientation effects in tight gas reservoirs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hagemann, B.; Wegner, J.; Ganzer, L. [Technische Univ. Clausthal, Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany). ITE

    2013-08-01

    In tight gas formations where the low matrix permeability prevents successful and economic production rates, hydraulic fracturing is required to produce a well at economic rates. The initial fracture opens in the direction of minimum stress and propagates into the direction of maximum stress. As production from the well and its initial fracture declines, re-fracturing treatments are required to accelerate recovery. The orientation of the following hydraulic fracture depends on the actual stress-state of the formation in the vicinity of the wellbore. Previous investigations by Elbel and Mack (1993) demonstrated that the stress alters during depletion and a stress reversal region appears. This behavior causes a different fracture orientation of the re-fracturing operation. For the investigation of re-fracture orientation a two-dimensional reservoir model has been designed using COMSOL Multiphysics. The model represents a fractured vertical well in a tight gas reservoir of infinite thickness. A time dependent study was set up to simulate the reservoir depletion by the production from the fractured well. The theory of poroelasticity was used to couple the fluid flow and geo-mechanical behavior. The stress state is initially defined as uniform and the attention is concentrated to the alteration of stress due to the lowered pore pressure. Different cases with anisotropic and heterogeneous permeability are set up to determine its significance. The simulation shows that an elliptical shaped drainage area appears around the fracture. The poroelastic behavior effects that the stress re-orientates and a stress reversal region originates, if the difference between minimum and maximum horizontal stresses is small. The consideration of time indicates that the dimension of the region initially extends fast until it reaches its maximum. Subsequently, the stress reversal region's extent shrinks slowly until it finally disappears. The reservoir characteristics, e.g. the

  13. Action-Effect Associations in Voluntary and Cued Task-Switching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sommer, Angelika; Lukas, Sarah

    2018-01-01

    The literature of action control claims that humans control their actions in two ways. In the stimulus-based approach, actions are triggered by external stimuli. In the ideomotor approach, actions are elicited endogenously and controlled by the intended goal. In the current study, our purpose was to investigate whether these two action control modes affect task-switching differently. We combined a classical task-switching paradigm with action-effect learning. Both experiments consisted of two experimental phases: an acquisition phase, in which associations between task, response and subsequent action effects were learned and a test phase, in which the effects of these associations were tested on task performance by presenting the former action effects as preceding effects, prior to the task (called practiced effects). Subjects either chose freely between tasks (ideomotor action control mode) or they were cued as to which task to perform (sensorimotor action control mode). We aimed to replicate the consistency effect (i.e., task is chosen according to the practiced task-effect association) and non-reversal advantage (i.e., better task performance when the practiced effect matches the previously learned task-effect association). Our results suggest that participants acquired stable action-effect associations independently of the learning mode. The consistency effect (Experiment 1) could be shown, independent of the learning mode, but only on the response-level. The non-reversal advantage (Experiment 2) was only evident in the error rates and only for participants who had practiced in the ideomotor action control mode. PMID:29387027

  14. Examining depletion theories under conditions of within-task transfer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brewer, Gene A; Lau, Kevin K H; Wingert, Kimberly M; Ball, B Hunter; Blais, Chris

    2017-07-01

    In everyday life, mental fatigue can be detrimental across many domains including driving, learning, and working. Given the importance of understanding and accounting for the deleterious effects of mental fatigue on behavior, a growing body of literature has studied the role of motivational and executive control processes in mental fatigue. In typical laboratory paradigms, participants complete a task that places demand on these self-control processes and are later given a subsequent task. Generally speaking, decrements to subsequent task performance are taken as evidence that the initial task created mental fatigue through the continued engagement of motivational and executive functions. Several models have been developed to account for negative transfer resulting from this "ego depletion." In the current study, we provide a brief literature review, specify current theoretical approaches to ego-depletion, and report an empirical test of current models of depletion. Across 4 experiments we found minimal evidence for executive control depletion along with strong evidence for motivation mediated ego depletion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  15. Synergetic motor control paradigm for optimizing energy efficiency of multijoint reaching via tacit learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashibe, Mitsuhiro; Shimoda, Shingo

    2014-01-01

    A human motor system can improve its behavior toward optimal movement. The skeletal system has more degrees of freedom than the task dimensions, which incurs an ill-posed problem. The multijoint system involves complex interaction torques between joints. To produce optimal motion in terms of energy consumption, the so-called cost function based optimization has been commonly used in previous works.Even if it is a fact that an optimal motor pattern is employed phenomenologically, there is no evidence that shows the existence of a physiological process that is similar to such a mathematical optimization in our central nervous system.In this study, we aim to find a more primitive computational mechanism with a modular configuration to realize adaptability and optimality without prior knowledge of system dynamics.We propose a novel motor control paradigm based on tacit learning with task space feedback. The motor command accumulation during repetitive environmental interactions, play a major role in the learning process. It is applied to a vertical cyclic reaching which involves complex interaction torques.We evaluated whether the proposed paradigm can learn how to optimize solutions with a 3-joint, planar biomechanical model. The results demonstrate that the proposed method was valid for acquiring motor synergy and resulted in energy efficient solutions for different load conditions. The case in feedback control is largely affected by the interaction torques. In contrast, the trajectory is corrected over time with tacit learning toward optimal solutions.Energy efficient solutions were obtained by the emergence of motor synergy. During learning, the contribution from feedforward controller is augmented and the one from the feedback controller is significantly minimized down to 12% for no load at hand, 16% for a 0.5 kg load condition.The proposed paradigm could provide an optimization process in redundant system with dynamic-model-free and cost-function-free approach.

  16. Synergetic motor control paradigm for optimizing energy efficiency of multijoint reaching via tacit learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashibe, Mitsuhiro; Shimoda, Shingo

    2014-01-01

    A human motor system can improve its behavior toward optimal movement. The skeletal system has more degrees of freedom than the task dimensions, which incurs an ill-posed problem. The multijoint system involves complex interaction torques between joints. To produce optimal motion in terms of energy consumption, the so-called cost function based optimization has been commonly used in previous works.Even if it is a fact that an optimal motor pattern is employed phenomenologically, there is no evidence that shows the existence of a physiological process that is similar to such a mathematical optimization in our central nervous system.In this study, we aim to find a more primitive computational mechanism with a modular configuration to realize adaptability and optimality without prior knowledge of system dynamics.We propose a novel motor control paradigm based on tacit learning with task space feedback. The motor command accumulation during repetitive environmental interactions, play a major role in the learning process. It is applied to a vertical cyclic reaching which involves complex interaction torques.We evaluated whether the proposed paradigm can learn how to optimize solutions with a 3-joint, planar biomechanical model. The results demonstrate that the proposed method was valid for acquiring motor synergy and resulted in energy efficient solutions for different load conditions. The case in feedback control is largely affected by the interaction torques. In contrast, the trajectory is corrected over time with tacit learning toward optimal solutions.Energy efficient solutions were obtained by the emergence of motor synergy. During learning, the contribution from feedforward controller is augmented and the one from the feedback controller is significantly minimized down to 12% for no load at hand, 16% for a 0.5 kg load condition.The proposed paradigm could provide an optimization process in redundant system with dynamic-model-free and cost-function-free approach

  17. Power-controlled transition from standard to negative refraction in reorientational soft matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piccardi, Armando; Alberucci, Alessandro; Kravets, Nina; Buchnev, Oleksandr; Assanto, Gaetano

    2014-11-25

    Refraction at a dielectric interface can take an anomalous character in anisotropic crystals, when light is negatively refracted with incident and refracted beams emerging on the same side of the interface normal. In soft matter subject to reorientation, such as nematic liquid crystals, the nonlinear interaction with light allows tuning of the optical properties. We demonstrate that in such material a beam of light can experience either positive or negative refraction depending on input power, as it can alter the spatial distribution of the optic axis and, in turn, the direction of the energy flow when traveling across an interface. Moreover, the nonlinear optical response yields beam self-focusing and spatial localization into a self-confined solitary wave through the formation of a graded-index waveguide, linking the refractive transition to power-driven readdressing of copolarized guided-wave signals, with a number of output ports not limited by diffraction.

  18. The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubio-Fernández, Paula

    2017-08-01

    Over two decades, the director task has increasingly been employed as a test of the use of Theory of Mind in communication, first in psycholinguistics and more recently in social cognition research. A new version of this task was designed to test two independent hypotheses. First, optimal performance in the director task, as established by the standard metrics of interference, is possible by using selective attention alone, and not necessarily Theory of Mind. Second, pragmatic measures of Theory-of-Mind use can reveal that people actively represent the director's mental states, contrary to recent claims that they only use domain-general cognitive processes to perform this task. The results of this study support both hypotheses and provide a new interactive paradigm to reliably test Theory-of-Mind use in referential communication.

  19. Evolution of the radiological protection paradigms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sordi, Gian Maria A.A.

    2009-01-01

    We consider as initial radiological protection paradigms those in vigour after the release of the atomic energy for pacific usages in 1955. In that occasion, only one paradigm was introduced, presently named dose limitation system. After arguing about the basis that raised the paradigm, we introduced the guidance, that is, the measurements to be implemented to comply with the paradigm. In that occasion, they were two, i.e., the radiation dose monitoring and the workplace classification. Afterwards, the reasons that caused the radiological protection paradigms changes in force until 1995 are discussed. The initial paradigm was modified introducing the justification and the optimization principles, adding that the radiological protection should be economical and effective. The guidance also increased to four: personal monitoring, workplace classification, reference level and workers classification. Afterwards, we give the main justifications for the present paradigms that besides the formers were added the dose constraints, the potential exposure and the annual risk limits. Due to these modifications, the workers classifications were eliminated from the guidance, but the potential exposure and the search for the dose constraints were added. Eventually, we discuss the tendencies for the next future and the main changes introduced by the ICRP in the Publication 103, 2007. (author)

  20. ERP correlates of object recognition memory in Down syndrome: Do active and passive tasks measure the same thing?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Hoogmoed, A H; Nadel, L; Spanò, G; Edgin, J O

    2016-02-01

    Event related potentials (ERPs) can help to determine the cognitive and neural processes underlying memory functions and are often used to study populations with severe memory impairment. In healthy adults, memory is typically assessed with active tasks, while in patient studies passive memory paradigms are generally used. In this study we examined whether active and passive continuous object recognition tasks measure the same underlying memory process in typically developing (TD) adults and in individuals with Down syndrome (DS), a population with known hippocampal impairment. We further explored how ERPs in these tasks relate to behavioral measures of memory. Data-driven analysis techniques revealed large differences in old-new effects in the active versus passive task in TD adults, but no difference between these tasks in DS. The group with DS required additional processing in the active task in comparison to the TD group in two ways. First, the old-new effect started 150 ms later. Second, more repetitions were required to show the old-new effect. In the group with DS, performance on a behavioral measure of object-location memory was related to ERP measures across both tasks. In total, our results suggest that active and passive ERP memory measures do not differ in DS and likely reflect the use of implicit memory, but not explicit processing, on both tasks. Our findings highlight the need for a greater understanding of the comparison between active and passive ERP paradigms before they are inferred to measure similar functions across populations (e.g., infants or intellectual disability). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Efficient Actor Recovery Paradigm for Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahjoub, Reem K; Elleithy, Khaled

    2017-04-14

    The actor nodes are the spine of wireless sensor and actor networks (WSANs) that collaborate to perform a specific task in an unverified and uneven environment. Thus, there is a possibility of high failure rate in such unfriendly scenarios due to several factors such as power consumption of devices, electronic circuit failure, software errors in nodes or physical impairment of the actor nodes and inter-actor connectivity problem. Therefore, it is extremely important to discover the failure of a cut-vertex actor and network-disjoint in order to improve the Quality-of-Service (QoS). In this paper, we propose an Efficient Actor Recovery (EAR) paradigm to guarantee the contention-free traffic-forwarding capacity. The EAR paradigm consists of a Node Monitoring and Critical Node Detection (NMCND) algorithm that monitors the activities of the nodes to determine the critical node. In addition, it replaces the critical node with backup node prior to complete node-failure which helps balancing the network performance. The packets are handled using Network Integration and Message Forwarding (NIMF) algorithm that determines the source of forwarding the packets; either from actor or sensor. This decision-making capability of the algorithm controls the packet forwarding rate to maintain the network for a longer time. Furthermore, for handling the proper routing strategy, Priority-Based Routing for Node Failure Avoidance (PRNFA) algorithm is deployed to decide the priority of the packets to be forwarded based on the significance of information available in the packet. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed EAR paradigm, the proposed algorithms were tested using OMNET++ simulation.

  2. Final report on development evaluation of Task Group 3 pressure tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fleck, R.G.; Price, E.G.; Cheadle, B.A.

    1983-11-01

    This report describes the production and evaluation of pressure tubes manufactured to the recommendations of Task Group 3 (TG3) of the Creep Engineering Design Plan. The Zr-2.5 wt percent Nb tubes were manufactured by modified production route to change their metallurgical structure and so reduce the in-service elongation rates. Three modified routes were investigated and a total of twenty-eight tubes produced. There were no difficulties in manufacture and the tubes satisfied the quality assurance and design specifications of reactor grade tubes. Metallurgical evaluation showed that the expected changes in microstructure had occurred but not to the extent anticipated. The TG3 tubes were found to have comparable properties to current tubes when tested for: tensile strength (irradiated and unirradiated); hydride cracking; stress to reorient hydrides; hydrogen diffusion; flaw tolerance; corrosion (irradiated and unirradiated); wear; rolled joint characteristics; irradiation creep and growth. Lower in-service elongation rates are expected for tubes produced by two of the modified routes

  3. Contingency learning is not affected by conflict experience: Evidence from a task conflict-free, item-specific Stroop paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levin, Yulia; Tzelgov, Joseph

    2016-02-01

    A contingency learning account of the item-specific proportion congruent effect has been described as an associative stimulus-response learning process that has nothing to do with controlling the Stroop conflict. As supportive evidence, contingency learning has been demonstrated with response conflict-free stimuli, such as neutral words. However, what gives rise to response conflict and to Stroop interference in general is task conflict. The present study investigated whether task conflict can constitute a trigger or, alternatively, a booster to the contingency learning process. This was done by employing a "task conflict-free" condition (i.e., geometric shapes) and comparing it with a "task conflict" condition (i.e., neutral words). The results showed a significant contingency learning effect in both conditions, refuting the possibility that contingency learning is triggered by the presence of a task conflict. Contingency learning was also not enhanced by the task conflict experience, indicating its complete insensitivity to Stroop conflict(s). Thus, the results showed no evidence that performance optimization as a result of contingency learning is greater under conflict, implying that contingency learning is not recruited to assist the control system to overcome conflict. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Macroscopic Magnetization Control by Symmetry Breaking of Photoinduced Spin Reorientation with Intense Terahertz Magnetic Near Field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurihara, Takayuki; Watanabe, Hiroshi; Nakajima, Makoto; Karube, Shutaro; Oto, Kenichi; Otani, YoshiChika; Suemoto, Tohru

    2018-03-01

    We exploit an intense terahertz magnetic near field combined with femtosecond laser excitation to break the symmetry of photoinduced spin reorientation paths in ErFeO3 . We succeed in aligning macroscopic magnetization reaching up to 80% of total magnetization in the sample to selectable orientations by adjusting the time delay between terahertz and optical pump pulses. The spin dynamics are well reproduced by equations of motion, including time-dependent magnetic potential. We show that the direction of the generated magnetization is determined by the transient direction of spin tilting and the magnetic field at the moment of photoexcitation.

  5. Effect of reorientation of anisotropic point defects on relaxation of crystal elastic coefficients of high order

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Topchyan, I.I.; Dokhner, R.D.

    1977-01-01

    The effect of reorientation of anisotropic point defects in uniform fields of elastic stresses on the relaxation of the elastic coefficients of a crystal was investigated in the nonlinear elasticity theory approximation. In calculating the interaction of point defects with elastic-stress fields was taken into consideration. The expression for the relaxations of the elasticity coefficients are obtained in an analytical form. The relaxation of the second-order elasticity coefficients is due to the dimentional interaction of a point defect with an applied-stress field, whereas the relaxation of the higher-order elasticity coefficients is determined both by dimentional and module effects

  6. Infant eye and head movements toward the side opposite the cue in the anti-saccade paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sukigara Masune

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The anti-saccade task, when people must respond in the direction opposite to a visual stimulus, has been used as a marker of operation of the frontal cortical oculomotor area. However, early development of oculomotor control has been little studied with the infant anti-saccade paradigm, and a few studies did not recognize anti-saccades in infants in light of the results of adult anti-saccade. Since the characteristics of infant eye movements are little known, applying the criteria used in adult study is by no means the best way to study infant anti-saccade. As it is indicated that coordinated eye and head movements often enable infants to control the direction of their gaze, head movements should be examined as an infant orienting response. The aim of this study was to address how infants used eye and head movements during the anti-saccade paradigm. To distinguish infants' responses, we also investigated eye and head movements during a task for an inhibition of return. Inhibition of return, in which delayed responses occur in the direction to which attention had previously been oriented, has been thought to mark activity of the superior colliculus. Since the superior colliculus is thought to develop much earlier in life than the frontal lobes, we thought it useful to compare these task performances during infancy. Methods Infants were divided into three groups according to age. Anti-saccade and inhibition-of-return tasks were given. Their eye and head movements during tasks were independently recorded by the corneal reflection method in the head-free condition. Results Younger infants tended to initiate eye movement less than older ones in both tasks. In the anti-saccade task, responses opposite to the cue tended to show longer latency than responses to the cue. Infants made faster responses toward the side opposite the cue when it was to the right than when it was left of fixation. Regarding the comparison of responses

  7. Effort-Based Decision-Making Paradigms for Clinical Trials in Schizophrenia: Part 2—External Validity and Correlates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horan, William P; Reddy, L Felice; Barch, Deanna M; Buchanan, Robert W; Dunayevich, Eduardo; Gold, James M; Marder, Steven R; Wynn, Jonathan K; Young, Jared W; Green, Michael F

    2015-09-01

    Effort-based decision making has strong conceptual links to the motivational disturbances that define a key subdomain of negative symptoms. However, the extent to which effort-based decision-making performance relates to negative symptoms, and other clinical and functionally important variables has yet to be systematically investigated. In 94 clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia, we examined the external validity of 5 effort-based paradigms, including the Effort Expenditure for Rewards, Balloon Effort, Grip Strength Effort, Deck Choice Effort, and Perceptual Effort tasks. These tasks covered 3 types of effort: physical, cognitive, and perceptual. Correlations between effort related performance and 6 classes of variables were examined, including: (1) negative symptoms, (2) clinically rated motivation and community role functioning, (3) self-reported motivational traits, (4) neurocognition, (5) other psychiatric symptoms and clinical/demographic characteristics, and (6) subjective valuation of monetary rewards. Effort paradigms showed small to medium relationships to clinical ratings of negative symptoms, motivation, and functioning, with the pattern more consistent for some measures than others. They also showed small to medium relations with neurocognitive functioning, but were generally unrelated to other psychiatric symptoms, self-reported traits, antipsychotic medications, side effects, and subjective valuation of money. There were relatively strong interrelationships among the effort measures. In conjunction with findings from a companion psychometric article, all the paradigms warrant further consideration and development, and 2 show the strongest potential for clinical trial use at this juncture. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  8. Subsidies to energy in the world: their extent, their efficiency and their necessary reorientation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finon, D.

    2010-10-01

    This report aims at analyzing the extent of subsidies to energy in the world, at assessing theoretical and practical arguments against different forms of subsidy, and at synthesizing reflections on reforms of subsidies to energy, mainly in developing countries. In the first part, the author recalls the theoretical and practical backgrounds of subsidies to energy, indicates the different forms of support to energy production and consumption, and discusses the existing assessments in the world and in some regions while specifying subsidies to fuels in the transport sector. In a second part, he addresses theoretical and practical critics of subsidies (notably in terms of environmental and economical inefficiency), assessments of economical and environmental benefits of their withdrawal, and ways of reorienting subsidies for fossil fuels in developing countries

  9. Solid triphenylmethanol: A molecular material that undergoes multiple internal reorientational processes on different timescales

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kitchin, Simon J.; Xu Mingcan; Serrano-Gonzalez, Heliodoro; Coates, Laura J.; Zaka Ahmed, S.; Glidewell, Christopher; Harris, Kenneth D.M.

    2006-01-01

    In solid triphenylmethanol, the molecules are arranged in hydrogen-bonded tetramers, and it is already well established that the hydrogen bonding in this material undergoes a dynamic switching process between different hydrogen bonding arrangements. In addition to this motion, we show here, from solid-state 2 H NMR studies of the deuterated material (C 6 D 5 ) 3 COH, that each phenyl ring in this material undergoes a 180 deg.-jump reorientation about the C 6 D 5 -C(OH) bond, with an activation energy of ca. 50 kJ mol -1 . The timescale for the phenyl ring dynamics is several orders of magnitude longer than the timescale for the hydrogen bond dynamics in this material, and is uncorrelated with the dynamics of the hydrogen bonding arrangement

  10. Task representation in individual and joint settings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wolfgang ePrinz

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper outlines a framework for task representation and discusses applications to interference tasks in individual and joint settings. The framework is derived from the Theory of Event Coding. This theory regards task sets as transient assemblies of event codes in which stimulus and response codes interact and shape each other in particular ways. On the one hand, stimulus and response codes compete with each other within their respective subsets (horizontal interactions. On the other hand, stimulus and response code cooperate with each other (vertical interactions. Code interactions instantiating competition and cooperation apply to two time scales: on-line performance (i.e., doing the task and off-line implementation (i.e., setting the task. Interference arises when stimulus and response codes overlap in features that are irrelevant for stimulus identification, but relevant for response selection. To resolve this dilemma, the feature profiles of event codes may become restructured in various ways. The framework is applied to three kinds of interference paradigms. Special emphasis is given to joint settings where tasks are shared between two participants. Major conclusions derived from these applications include: (1 Response competition is the chief driver of interference. Likewise, different modes of response competition give rise to different patterns of interference. (2 The type of features in which stimulus and response codes overlap is also a crucial factor. Different types of such features give likewise rise to different patterns of interference. (3 Task sets for joint settings conflate intraindividual conflicts between responses (what, with interindividual conflicts between responding agents (whom. Features of response codes may, therefore, not only address responses, but also responding agents (both physically and socially.

  11. Task representation in individual and joint settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prinz, Wolfgang

    2015-01-01

    This paper outlines a framework for task representation and discusses applications to interference tasks in individual and joint settings. The framework is derived from the Theory of Event Coding (TEC). This theory regards task sets as transient assemblies of event codes in which stimulus and response codes interact and shape each other in particular ways. On the one hand, stimulus and response codes compete with each other within their respective subsets (horizontal interactions). On the other hand, stimulus and response code cooperate with each other (vertical interactions). Code interactions instantiating competition and cooperation apply to two time scales: on-line performance (i.e., doing the task) and off-line implementation (i.e., setting the task). Interference arises when stimulus and response codes overlap in features that are irrelevant for stimulus identification, but relevant for response selection. To resolve this dilemma, the feature profiles of event codes may become restructured in various ways. The framework is applied to three kinds of interference paradigms. Special emphasis is given to joint settings where tasks are shared between two participants. Major conclusions derived from these applications include: (1) Response competition is the chief driver of interference. Likewise, different modes of response competition give rise to different patterns of interference; (2) The type of features in which stimulus and response codes overlap is also a crucial factor. Different types of such features give likewise rise to different patterns of interference; and (3) Task sets for joint settings conflate intraindividual conflicts between responses (what), with interindividual conflicts between responding agents (whom). Features of response codes may, therefore, not only address responses, but also responding agents (both physically and socially). PMID:26029085

  12. A task-based support architecture for developing point-of-care clinical decision support systems for the emergency department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilk, S; Michalowski, W; O'Sullivan, D; Farion, K; Sayyad-Shirabad, J; Kuziemsky, C; Kukawka, B

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to create a task-based support architecture for developing clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) that assist physicians in making decisions at the point-of-care in the emergency department (ED). The backbone of the proposed architecture was established by a task-based emergency workflow model for a patient-physician encounter. The architecture was designed according to an agent-oriented paradigm. Specifically, we used the O-MaSE (Organization-based Multi-agent System Engineering) method that allows for iterative translation of functional requirements into architectural components (e.g., agents). The agent-oriented paradigm was extended with ontology-driven design to implement ontological models representing knowledge required by specific agents to operate. The task-based architecture allows for the creation of a CDSS that is aligned with the task-based emergency workflow model. It facilitates decoupling of executable components (agents) from embedded domain knowledge (ontological models), thus supporting their interoperability, sharing, and reuse. The generic architecture was implemented as a pilot system, MET3-AE--a CDSS to help with the management of pediatric asthma exacerbation in the ED. The system was evaluated in a hospital ED. The architecture allows for the creation of a CDSS that integrates support for all tasks from the task-based emergency workflow model, and interacts with hospital information systems. Proposed architecture also allows for reusing and sharing system components and knowledge across disease-specific CDSSs.

  13. Adaptation to emotional conflict: evidence from a novel face emotion paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clayson, Peter E; Larson, Michael J

    2013-01-01

    The preponderance of research on trial-by-trial recruitment of affective control (e.g., conflict adaptation) relies on stimuli wherein lexical word information conflicts with facial affective stimulus properties (e.g., the face-Stroop paradigm where an emotional word is overlaid on a facial expression). Several studies, however, indicate different neural time course and properties for processing of affective lexical stimuli versus affective facial stimuli. The current investigation used a novel task to examine control processes implemented following conflicting emotional stimuli with conflict-inducing affective face stimuli in the absence of affective words. Forty-one individuals completed a task wherein the affective-valence of the eyes and mouth were either congruent (happy eyes, happy mouth) or incongruent (happy eyes, angry mouth) while high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. There was a significant congruency effect and significant conflict adaptation effects for error rates. Although response times (RTs) showed a significant congruency effect, the effect of previous-trial congruency on current-trial RTs was only present for current congruent trials. Temporospatial principal components analysis showed a P3-like ERP source localized using FieldTrip software to the medial cingulate gyrus that was smaller on incongruent than congruent trials and was significantly influenced by the recruitment of control processes following previous-trial emotional conflict (i.e., there was significant conflict adaptation in the ERPs). Results show that a face-only paradigm may be sufficient to elicit emotional conflict and suggest a system for rapidly detecting conflicting emotional stimuli and subsequently adjusting control resources, similar to cognitive conflict detection processes, when using conflicting facial expressions without words.

  14. Adaptation to emotional conflict: evidence from a novel face emotion paradigm.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter E Clayson

    Full Text Available The preponderance of research on trial-by-trial recruitment of affective control (e.g., conflict adaptation relies on stimuli wherein lexical word information conflicts with facial affective stimulus properties (e.g., the face-Stroop paradigm where an emotional word is overlaid on a facial expression. Several studies, however, indicate different neural time course and properties for processing of affective lexical stimuli versus affective facial stimuli. The current investigation used a novel task to examine control processes implemented following conflicting emotional stimuli with conflict-inducing affective face stimuli in the absence of affective words. Forty-one individuals completed a task wherein the affective-valence of the eyes and mouth were either congruent (happy eyes, happy mouth or incongruent (happy eyes, angry mouth while high-density event-related potentials (ERPs were recorded. There was a significant congruency effect and significant conflict adaptation effects for error rates. Although response times (RTs showed a significant congruency effect, the effect of previous-trial congruency on current-trial RTs was only present for current congruent trials. Temporospatial principal components analysis showed a P3-like ERP source localized using FieldTrip software to the medial cingulate gyrus that was smaller on incongruent than congruent trials and was significantly influenced by the recruitment of control processes following previous-trial emotional conflict (i.e., there was significant conflict adaptation in the ERPs. Results show that a face-only paradigm may be sufficient to elicit emotional conflict and suggest a system for rapidly detecting conflicting emotional stimuli and subsequently adjusting control resources, similar to cognitive conflict detection processes, when using conflicting facial expressions without words.

  15. Neutron powder diffraction investigation of magnetic structure and spin reorientation transition of HoFe{sub 1-x}Cr{sub x}O{sub 3} solid solutions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Xinzhi [Department of Nuclear Physics, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China); Hao, Lijie, E-mail: haolijie@ciae.ac.cn [Department of Nuclear Physics, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China); Liu, Yuntao; Ma, Xiaobai; Meng, Siqin; Li, Yuqing; Gao, Jianbo; Guo, Hao; Han, Wenze; Sun, Kai; Wu, Meimei [Department of Nuclear Physics, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China); Chen, Xiping; Xie, Lei [Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, CAEP, Mianyang 621900 (China); Klose, Frank [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Lucas Heights, New South Wales 2234 (Australia); Department of Physics and Materials Science, The City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (China); Chen, Dongfeng, E-mail: dongfeng@ciae.ac.cn [Department of Nuclear Physics, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413 (China)

    2016-11-01

    Orthoferrite solid solution HoFe{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}O{sub 3} (x=0, 0.2,…,1.0) was synthesized via solid state reaction methods. The crystal structure, magnetism and spin reorientation properties of this system were investigated by X-ray diffraction, neutron powder diffraction and magnetic measurements. For compositions of x≤0.6, the system exhibits similar magnetic properties to HoFeO{sub 3}. With increasing Cr-doping, the system adopts a Γ{sub 4}(G{sub x}A{sub y}F{sub z}) magnetic configuration with a decreased Neel temperature from 640 K to 360 K. A Γ{sub 42} spin reorientation of Fe(Cr){sup 3+} was also observed in this system with an increase in transition temperature from 56 K to about 200 K due to competition between the Fe(Cr)–Fe(Cr) and Ho–Fe(Cr) interactions. For the x≥0.8, the system behaves more like HoCrO{sub 3} which adopts a Γ{sub 2}(F{sub x}C{sub y}G{sub z}) configuration with no spin reorientation below the Neel temperature T{sub N}. Throughout the whole substitution range, we found that the saturated moment of Fe(Cr) was less than the ideal value for a free ion, which implies the existence of spin fluctuation in this system. A systematic magnetic structure variation with Cr-substitution is revealed by Rietveld refinement. A phase diagram combining the results of the magnetic measurements and neutron powder diffraction results was obtained. - Highlights: • With Cr-substitution in the HoFe{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}O{sub 3} system, A Γ{sub 42} spin reorientation of Fe(Cr){sup 3+} was observed with an increase in transition temperature from 56 K to about 200 K for x=0−0.6. • The saturated moment of Fe(Cr) position was found to be systematically less than the ideal value of free ion, and thus implies the presence of spin quantum fluctuation. • A composition–temperature phase diagram throughout x=0–1 for HoFe{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}O{sub 3} system was established.

  16. Three paradigms of horror

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dejan Ognjanović

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Starting with the definition of horror as a literary genre the core story of which is based on a meeting with threatening Otherness whose influx into consensual reality and it’s tacit normality creates unrest and awakens fear in the protagonists and the audience, this paper defines the three key paradigms of the horror genre, based on the causes of fear, or rather the “monstrous” Otherness in them. Paradigm 1 concerns the “fear of one’s own self”: the root of the fear is inside, in the individual psyche, in the split, deceived, or in some other way unreliable self which is, consciously or unconsciously, harmful to others, and ultimately to itself. Paradigm 2 deals with the “Fear of others”: the root of fear is outside and is concerned with other people and other creatures which have an urge to occupy a certain human microcosm. Paradigm 3 is concerned with the “Fear of the numinous”: the root of the fear is mostly situated on the outside; however its shape is amorphous, ambivalent and unknowable. The “monster” is faceless; it touches on primary forces of the divine/demonic, and as such is situated on the very border between inside/outside. All three paradigms, with their main approaches and constitutive elements, are modulated through two basic possible treatments: the conservative and the progressive (liberal, which affords a total of six basic variations of horror. Starting from definitions given by John Carpenter, Robin Wood and his own, the author analyzes representative examples from horror literature and film for each paradigm and its variation, with a special accent on the image of Otherness and its connection to the norm, its intrusion into the status quo, anthropocentrism and the presence or absence of a happy ending. The paper demonstrates the richness of connotative potential within the horror genre and provides a basis for its taxonomy.

  17. Tai Chi practitioners have better postural control and selective attention in stepping down with and without a concurrent auditory response task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Xi; Siu, Ka-Chun; Fu, Siu N; Hui-Chan, Christina W Y; Tsang, William W N

    2013-08-01

    To compare the performance of older experienced Tai Chi practitioners and healthy controls in dual-task versus single-task paradigms, namely stepping down with and without performing an auditory response task, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the Center for East-meets-West in Rehabilitation Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Twenty-eight Tai Chi practitioners (73.6 ± 4.2 years) and 30 healthy control subjects (72.4 ± 6.1 years) were recruited. Participants were asked to step down from a 19-cm-high platform and maintain a single-leg stance for 10 s with and without a concurrent cognitive task. The cognitive task was an auditory Stroop test in which the participants were required to respond to different tones of voices regardless of their word meanings. Postural stability after stepping down under single- and dual-task paradigms, in terms of excursion of the subject's center of pressure (COP) and cognitive performance, was measured for comparison between the two groups. Our findings demonstrated significant between-group differences in more outcome measures during dual-task than single-task performance. Thus, the auditory Stroop test showed that Tai Chi practitioners achieved not only significantly less error rate in single-task, but also significantly faster reaction time in dual-task, when compared with healthy controls similar in age and other relevant demographics. Similarly, the stepping-down task showed that Tai Chi practitioners not only displayed significantly less COP sway area in single-task, but also significantly less COP sway path than healthy controls in dual-task. These results showed that Tai Chi practitioners achieved better postural stability after stepping down as well as better performance in auditory response task than healthy controls. The improved performance that was magnified by dual motor-cognitive task performance may point to the benefits of Tai Chi being a mind-and-body exercise.

  18. Shape-assisted body reorientation enhances trafficability through cluttered terrain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chen; Pullin, Andrew; Haldane, Duncan; Fearing, Ronald; Full, Robert

    2014-11-01

    Many birds and fishes have slender, streamlined bodies that reduce fluid dynamic drag and allow fast and efficient locomotion. Similarly, numerous terrestrial animals run through cluttered terrain where 3-D, multi-component obstacles like grass, bushes, trees, walls, doors, and pillars also resist motion, but it is unknown whether their body shape plays a major role. Here, we challenged discoid cockroaches that possess a rounded, thin, nearly ellipsoidal body to run through tall, narrowly spaced, grass-like beams. The animals primarily rolled their body to the side to maneuver through the obstacle gaps. Reduction of body roundness by artificial shells inhibited this side roll maneuver, resulting in a lower traversal probability and a longer traversal time (P exoskeleton shell to a legged robot of a nearly cuboidal body. The rounded shell enabled the robot to use passive side rolling to maneuver through beams. To explain the mechanism, we developed a simple physics model to construct an energy landscape of the body-terrain interaction, which allowed estimation of body forces and torques exerted by the beams. Our model revealed that, by passive interaction with the terrain, a rounded body (ellipsoid) rolled more easily than an angular body (cuboid) to access energy valleys between energy barriers caused by obstacles. Our study is the first to demonstrate that a terradynamically ``streamlined'' shape can reduce terrain resistance and enhance trafficability by assisting body reorientation.

  19. Studying Dynamic Myofiber Aggregate Reorientation in Dilated Cardiomyopathy Using In Vivo Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Deuster, Constantin; Sammut, Eva; Asner, Liya; Nordsletten, David; Lamata, Pablo; Stoeck, Christian T; Kozerke, Sebastian; Razavi, Reza

    2016-10-01

    The objective of this study is to assess the dynamic alterations of myocardial microstructure and strain between diastole and systole in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy relative to healthy controls using the magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging, myocardial tagging, and biomechanical modeling. Dual heart-phase diffusion tensor imaging was successfully performed in 9 patients and 9 controls. Tagging data were acquired for the diffusion tensor strain correction and cardiac motion analysis. Mean diffusivity, fractional anisotropy, and myocyte aggregate orientations were compared between both cohorts. Cardiac function was assessed by left ventricular ejection fraction, torsion, and strain. Computational modeling was used to study the impact of cardiac shape on fiber reorientation and how fiber orientations affect strain. In patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, a more longitudinal orientation of diastolic myofiber aggregates was measured compared with controls. Although a significant steepening of helix angles (HAs) during contraction was found in the controls, consistent change in HAs during contraction was absent in patients. Left ventricular ejection fraction, cardiac torsion, and strain were significantly lower in the patients compared with controls. Computational modeling revealed that the dilated heart results in reduced HA changes compared with a normal heart. Reduced torsion was found to be exacerbated by steeper HAs. Diffusion tensor imaging revealed reduced reorientation of myofiber aggregates during cardiac contraction in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy relative to controls. Left ventricular remodeling seems to be an important factor in the changes to myocyte orientation. Steeper HAs are coupled with a worsening in strain and torsion. Overall, the findings provide new insights into the structural alterations in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. © 2016 The Authors.

  20. The Neural Mechanisms Underlying Internally and Externally Guided Task Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orr, Joseph M.; Banich, Marie T.

    2013-01-01

    While some prior work suggests that medial prefrontal cortex (MFC) regions mediate freely chosen actions, other work suggests that the lateral frontal pole (LFP) is responsible for control of abstract, internal goals. The present study uses fMRI to determine whether the voluntary selection of a task in pursuit of an overall goal relies on MFC regions or the LFP. To do so, we used a modified voluntary task switching (VTS) paradigm, in which participants choose an individual task to perform on each trial (i.e., a subgoal), under instructions to perform the tasks equally often and in a random order (i.e. the overall goal). In conjunction, we examined patterns of activation in the face of irrelevant, but task-related external stimuli that might nonetheless influence task selection. While there was some evidence that the MFC was involved in voluntary task selection, we found that the LFP and anterior insula (AI) were crucial to task selection in the pursuit of an overall goal. In addition, activation of the LFP and AI increased in the face of environmental stimuli that might serve as an interfering or conflicting external bias on voluntary task choice. These findings suggest that the LFP supports task selection according to abstract, internal goals, and leaves open the possibility that MFC may guide action selection in situations lacking in such top-down biases. As such, the current study represents a critical step towards understanding the neural underpinnings of how tasks are selected voluntarily to enable an overarching goal. PMID:23994316

  1. Enabling Sustainable Agro-Food Futures: Exploring Fault Lines and Synergies Between the Integrated Territorial Paradigm, Rural Eco-Economy and Circular Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Dan Kristian; Kjeldsen, Chris; Thorsøe, Martin Hvarregaard

    2016-01-01

    What kind of futures does agro-food imaginaries enable and who can get involved in the making of agro-food futures? In this respect, what can the increasingly influential idea of circular economy potentially offer in terms of enabling more sustainable agrofood futures? We approach this task...... important contributions in relation to studies of alternative food networks and the “quality” turn. These research agendas have challenged the current logic of the food system in terms of offering alternative visions of future development. We highlight two examples from the literature—the eco......-economy and the integrated territorial agri-food paradigm—that develop broader frameworks for rethinking the future of the agro-food system and which have distinguished themselves in contrast to the industrialized and globalized conventional food system. We find that with respect to reorienting and reconfiguring economic...

  2. Differences in perceptual learning transfer as a function of training task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, C Shawn; Kattner, Florian; Siegel, Max H; Kersten, Daniel; Schrater, Paul R

    2015-01-01

    A growing body of research--including results from behavioral psychology, human structural and functional imaging, single-cell recordings in nonhuman primates, and computational modeling--suggests that perceptual learning effects are best understood as a change in the ability of higher-level integration or association areas to read out sensory information in the service of particular decisions. Work in this vein has argued that, depending on the training experience, the "rules" for this read-out can either be applicable to new contexts (thus engendering learning generalization) or can apply only to the exact training context (thus resulting in learning specificity). Here we contrast learning tasks designed to promote either stimulus-specific or stimulus-general rules. Specifically, we compare learning transfer across visual orientation following training on three different tasks: an orientation categorization task (which permits an orientation-specific learning solution), an orientation estimation task (which requires an orientation-general learning solution), and an orientation categorization task in which the relevant category boundary shifts on every trial (which lies somewhere between the two tasks above). While the simple orientation-categorization training task resulted in orientation-specific learning, the estimation and moving categorization tasks resulted in significant orientation learning generalization. The general framework tested here--that task specificity or generality can be predicted via an examination of the optimal learning solution--may be useful in building future training paradigms with certain desired outcomes.

  3. Utility of the Hebb-Williams Maze Paradigm for Translational Research in Fragile X Syndrome: A Direct Comparison of Mice and Humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boutet, Isabelle; Collin, Charles A; MacLeod, Lindsey S; Messier, Claude; Holahan, Matthew R; Berry-Kravis, Elizabeth; Gandhi, Reno M; Kogan, Cary S

    2018-01-01

    To generate meaningful information, translational research must employ paradigms that allow extrapolation from animal models to humans. However, few studies have evaluated translational paradigms on the basis of defined validation criteria. We outline three criteria for validating translational paradigms. We then evaluate the Hebb-Williams maze paradigm (Hebb and Williams, 1946; Rabinovitch and Rosvold, 1951) on the basis of these criteria using Fragile X syndrome (FXS) as model disease. We focused on this paradigm because it allows direct comparison of humans and animals on tasks that are behaviorally equivalent (criterion #1) and because it measures spatial information processing, a cognitive domain for which FXS individuals and mice show impairments as compared to controls (criterion #2). We directly compared the performance of affected humans and mice across different experimental conditions and measures of behavior to identify which conditions produce comparable patterns of results in both species. Species differences were negligible for Mazes 2, 4, and 5 irrespective of the presence of visual cues, suggesting that these mazes could be used to measure spatial learning in both species. With regards to performance on the first trial, which reflects visuo-spatial problem solving, Mazes 5 and 9 without visual cues produced the most consistent results. We conclude that the Hebb-Williams mazes paradigm has the potential to be utilized in translational research to measure comparable cognitive functions in FXS humans and animals (criterion #3).

  4. Pair Negotiation When Developing English Speaking Tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ingrid Liliana Bohórquez Suárez

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available This study analyzes what characterizes the negotiations of seventh graders at a public school in Bogotá when working in pairs to develop speaking tasks in EFL classes. The inquiry is a descriptive case study that follows the qualitative paradigm. As a result of analyzing the data, we obtained four consecutive steps that characterize students’ negotiations: Establishing a connection with a partner to work with, proposing practical alternatives, refusing mates’ propositions, and making practical decisions. Moreover, we found that the constant performance of the process of negotiation provokes students to construct a sociolinguistic identity that allows agreements to emerge.

  5. A novel task for the investigation of action acquisition.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom Stafford

    Full Text Available We present a behavioural task designed for the investigation of how novel instrumental actions are discovered and learnt. The task consists of free movement with a manipulandum, during which the full range of possible movements can be explored by the participant and recorded. A subset of these movements, the 'target', is set to trigger a reinforcing signal. The task is to discover what movements of the manipulandum evoke the reinforcement signal. Targets can be defined in spatial, temporal, or kinematic terms, can be a combination of these aspects, or can represent the concatenation of actions into a larger gesture. The task allows the study of how the specific elements of behaviour which cause the reinforcing signal are identified, refined and stored by the participant. The task provides a paradigm where the exploratory motive drives learning and as such we view it as in the tradition of Thorndike [1]. Most importantly it allows for repeated measures, since when a novel action is acquired the criterion for triggering reinforcement can be changed requiring a new action to be discovered. Here, we present data using both humans and rats as subjects, showing that our task is easily scalable in difficulty, adaptable across species, and produces a rich set of behavioural measures offering new and valuable insight into the action learning process.

  6. Discrepancy of neural response between exogenous and endogenous task switching: an event-related potentials study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyajima, Maki; Toyomaki, Atsuhito; Hashimoto, Naoki; Kusumi, Ichiro; Murohashi, Harumitsu; Koyama, Tsukasa

    2012-08-01

    Task switching is a well-known cognitive paradigm to explore task-set reconfiguration processes such as rule shifting. In particular, endogenous task switching is thought to differ qualitatively from stimulus-triggered exogenous task switching. However, no previous study has examined the neural substrate of endogenous task switching. The purpose of the present study is to explore the differences between event-related potential responses to exogenous and endogenous rule switching at cue stimulus. We modified two patterns of cued switching tasks: exogenous (bottom-up) rule switching and endogenous (top-down) rule switching. In each task cue stimulus was configured to induce switching or maintaining rule. In exogenous switching tasks, late positive deflection was larger in the switch rule condition than in the maintain rule condition. However, in endogenous switching tasks late positive deflection was unexpectedly larger in the maintain-rule condition than in the switch-rule condition. These results indicate that exogenous rule switching is explicit stimulus-driven processes, whereas endogenous rule switching is implicitly parallel processes independent of external stimulus.

  7. Lexical Retrieval is not by Competition: Evidence from the Blocked Naming Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarrete, Eduardo; Del Prato, Paul; Peressotti, Francesca; Mahon, Bradford Z.

    2014-01-01

    A central issue in research on speech production is whether or not the retrieval of words from the mental lexicon is a competitive process. An important experimental paradigm to study the dynamics of lexical retrieval is the blocked naming paradigm, in which participants name pictures of objects that are grouped by semantic category (‘homogenous’ or ‘related’ blocks) or not grouped by semantic category (‘heterogeneous’ or ‘unrelated’ blocks). Typically, pictures are repeated multiple times (or cycles) within both related and unrelated blocks. It is known that participants are slower in related than in unrelated blocks when the data are collapsed over all within-block repetitions. This semantic interference effect, as observed in the blocked naming task, is the strongest empirical evidence for the hypothesis of lexical selection by competition. Here we show, contrary to the accepted view, that the default polarity of semantic context effects in the blocked naming paradigm is facilitation, rather than interference. In a series of experiments we find that interference arises only when items repeat within a block, and only because of that repetition: What looks to be ‘semantic interference’ in the blocked naming paradigm is actually less repetition priming in related compared to unrelated blocks. These data undermine the theory of lexical selection by competition and indicate a model in which the most highly activated word is retrieved, regardless of the activation levels of nontarget words. We conclude that the theory of lexical selection by competition, and by extension the important psycholinguistic models based on that assumption, are no longer viable, and frame a new way to approach the question of how words are retrieved in spoken language production. PMID:25284954

  8. Perceptual load in sport and the heuristic value of the perceptual load paradigm in examining expertise-related perceptual-cognitive adaptations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel; Schmid, Simone

    2013-03-01

    In two experiments, we transferred perceptual load theory to the dynamic field of team sports and tested the predictions derived from the theory using a novel task and stimuli. We tested a group of college students (N = 33) and a group of expert team sport players (N = 32) on a general perceptual load task and a complex, soccer-specific perceptual load task in order to extend the understanding of the applicability of perceptual load theory and further investigate whether distractor interference may differ between the groups, as the sport-specific processing task may not exhaust the processing capacity of the expert participants. In both, the general and the specific task, the pattern of results supported perceptual load theory and demonstrates that the predictions of the theory also transfer to more complex, unstructured situations. Further, perceptual load was the only determinant of distractor processing, as we neither found expertise effects in the general perceptual load task nor the sport-specific task. We discuss the heuristic utility of using response-competition paradigms for studying both general and domain-specific perceptual-cognitive adaptations.

  9. Do Cost Functions for Tracking Error Generalize across Tasks with Different Noise Levels?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathon Sensinger

    Full Text Available Control of human-machine interfaces are well modeled by computational control models, which take into account the behavioral decisions people make in estimating task dynamics and state for a given control law. This control law is optimized according to a cost function, which for the sake of mathematical tractability is typically represented as a series of quadratic terms. Recent studies have found that people actually use cost functions for reaching tasks that are slightly different than a quadratic function, but it is unclear which of several cost functions best explain human behavior and if these cost functions generalize across tasks of similar nature but different scale. In this study, we used an inverse-decision-theory technique to reconstruct the cost function from empirical data collected on 24 able-bodied subjects controlling a myoelectric interface. Compared with previous studies, this experimental paradigm involved a different control source (myoelectric control, which has inherently large multiplicative noise, a different control interface (control signal was mapped to cursor velocity, and a different task (the tracking position dynamically moved on the screen throughout each trial. Several cost functions, including a linear-quadratic; an inverted Gaussian, and a power function, accurately described the behavior of subjects throughout this experiment better than a quadratic cost function or other explored candidate cost functions (p<0.05. Importantly, despite the differences in the experimental paradigm and a substantially larger scale of error, we found only one candidate cost function whose parameter was consistent with the previous studies: a power function (cost ∝ errorα with a parameter value of α = 1.69 (1.53-1.78 interquartile range. This result suggests that a power-function is a representative function of user's error cost over a range of noise amplitudes for pointing and tracking tasks.

  10. Spin reorientation and giant low-temperature magnetostriction of polycrystalline NdFe1.9 compound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Y. M.; He, Y.; Huang, Y.; Zhang, L.; Tang, S. L.; Du, Y. W.

    2018-04-01

    The spin reorientation and magnetostriction of polycrystalline NdFe1.9 cubic Laves phase compound were investigated. A prominent transition from tetragonal symmetry to orthorhombic symmetry in NdFe1.9 compound was determined by X-ray crystallographic study. Meanwhile, a large spontaneous magnetostriction λ111 of ∼3100 ppm was detected at 15 K, which is larger than the theoretical value of 2000 ppm predicted by single-ion model. NdFe1.9 exhibits larger low-field magnetostriction than PrFe1.9 and TbFe1.9 at 5 K in the magnetic field range of H ≤ 13 kOe, which makes it a promising material for low-temperature applications. The present work might be helpful to discover inexpensive Nd-based high-performance magnetostrictive and even magnetoelectric materials for low-temperature applications.

  11. SCHOOL ECONOMY IN THE INVENTING EDUCATION PARADIGM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anatoliy Alexandrovich Lepeshev

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Requirements applied to specialists for working in the sixth wave of innovation, i.e. Industry 4.0, determines the necessity of education system improvement concerning training solution and, as a result, creation of inventive ideas. Today in our country this process is stimulated by various competitions, including financing for the implementation of results. In training programs knowledge approach still prevails. The corresponding methods, along with stimulation, are included into educational programs in leading foreign educational institutions, mostly at universities. If in previous decades mostly divergent methods were studied (morphological analysis, the focal objects method, synectics, etc., then now the leading place is taken by theory of inventive problem solving – TRIZ created in the former USSR by G.S. Altshuller in connection with the increasing leading corporations requirement for specialists in TRIZ. This fact gives Russia essential competitive advantages in the innovative way of development. For effective use of this advantage it is important to form the TRIZ-based innovative thinking beginning from school days. For this purpose authors developed new methods in TRIZ-pedagogics, uniting metasubject results (in higher education institutions – competences into the system of innovative thinking. As a result, both educational and economic effects are achieved: the intellectual property created in educational process. For schools it is the possibility of significant improvement of financing causing importance of new mechanisms of intellectual property fixation, protection and implementation. Recommendations about creation of such system are provided in the article. Purpose Defining the opportunities and ways of improving economic effectiveness of educational activities in the paradigm of inventive education. Tasks: – analysis of school education institutions experience in implementation of approaches preceding the inventing education

  12. Studying visual attention using the multiple object tracking paradigm: A tutorial review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyerhoff, Hauke S; Papenmeier, Frank; Huff, Markus

    2017-07-01

    Human observers are capable of tracking multiple objects among identical distractors based only on their spatiotemporal information. Since the first report of this ability in the seminal work of Pylyshyn and Storm (1988, Spatial Vision, 3, 179-197), multiple object tracking has attracted many researchers. A reason for this is that it is commonly argued that the attentional processes studied with the multiple object paradigm apparently match the attentional processing during real-world tasks such as driving or team sports. We argue that multiple object tracking provides a good mean to study the broader topic of continuous and dynamic visual attention. Indeed, several (partially contradicting) theories of attentive tracking have been proposed within the almost 30 years since its first report, and a large body of research has been conducted to test these theories. With regard to the richness and diversity of this literature, the aim of this tutorial review is to provide researchers who are new in the field of multiple object tracking with an overview over the multiple object tracking paradigm, its basic manipulations, as well as links to other paradigms investigating visual attention and working memory. Further, we aim at reviewing current theories of tracking as well as their empirical evidence. Finally, we review the state of the art in the most prominent research fields of multiple object tracking and how this research has helped to understand visual attention in dynamic settings.

  13. Visual attention and emotional memory: recall of aversive pictures is partially mediated by concurrent task performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pottage, Claire L; Schaefer, Alexandre

    2012-02-01

    The emotional enhancement of memory is often thought to be determined by attention. However, recent evidence using divided attention paradigms suggests that attention does not play a significant role in the formation of memories for aversive pictures. We report a study that investigated this question using a paradigm in which participants had to encode lists of randomly intermixed negative and neutral pictures under conditions of full attention and divided attention followed by a free recall test. Attention was divided by a highly demanding concurrent task tapping visual processing resources. Results showed that the advantage in recall for aversive pictures was still present in the DA condition. However, mediation analyses also revealed that concurrent task performance significantly mediated the emotional enhancement of memory under divided attention. This finding suggests that visual attentional processes play a significant role in the formation of emotional memories. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved

  14. Emergence of motor synergy in vertical reaching task via tacit learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashibe, Mitsuhiro; Shimoda, Shingo

    2013-01-01

    The dynamics of multijoint limbs often causes complex dynamic interaction torques which are the inertial effect of other joints motion. It is known that Cerebellum takes important role in a motor learning by developing the internal model. In this paper, we propose a novel computational control paradigm in vertical reaching task which involves the management of interaction torques and gravitational effect. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed method is valid for acquiring motor synergy in the system with actuation redundancy and resulted in the energy efficient solutions. It is highlighted that the tacit learning in vertical reaching task can bring computational adaptability and optimality with model-free and cost-function-free approach differently from previous studies.

  15. A new learning paradigm: learning using privileged information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vapnik, Vladimir; Vashist, Akshay

    2009-01-01

    In the Afterword to the second edition of the book "Estimation of Dependences Based on Empirical Data" by V. Vapnik, an advanced learning paradigm called Learning Using Hidden Information (LUHI) was introduced. This Afterword also suggested an extension of the SVM method (the so called SVM(gamma)+ method) to implement algorithms which address the LUHI paradigm (Vapnik, 1982-2006, Sections 2.4.2 and 2.5.3 of the Afterword). See also (Vapnik, Vashist, & Pavlovitch, 2008, 2009) for further development of the algorithms. In contrast to the existing machine learning paradigm where a teacher does not play an important role, the advanced learning paradigm considers some elements of human teaching. In the new paradigm along with examples, a teacher can provide students with hidden information that exists in explanations, comments, comparisons, and so on. This paper discusses details of the new paradigm and corresponding algorithms, introduces some new algorithms, considers several specific forms of privileged information, demonstrates superiority of the new learning paradigm over the classical learning paradigm when solving practical problems, and discusses general questions related to the new ideas.

  16. Superconducting spin valves controlled by spiral re-orientation in B20-family magnets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pugach, N. G.; Safonchik, M.; Champel, T.; Zhitomirsky, M. E.; Lähderanta, E.; Eschrig, M.; Lacroix, C.

    2017-10-01

    We propose a superconducting spin-triplet valve, which consists of a superconductor and an itinerant magnetic material, with the magnet showing an intrinsic non-collinear order characterized by a wave vector that may be aligned in a few equivalent preferred directions under the control of a weak external magnetic field. Re-orienting the spiral direction allows one to controllably modify long-range spin-triplet superconducting correlations, leading to spin-valve switching behavior. Our results indicate that the spin-valve effect may be noticeable. This bilayer may be used as a magnetic memory element for cryogenic nanoelectronics. It has the following advantages in comparison to superconducting spin valves proposed previously: (i) it contains only one magnetic layer, which may be more easily fabricated and controlled; (ii) its ground states are separated by a potential barrier, which solves the "half-select" problem of the addressed switch of memory elements.

  17. Differential recruitment of theory of mind brain network across three tasks: An independent component analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thye, Melissa D; Ammons, Carla J; Murdaugh, Donna L; Kana, Rajesh K

    2018-07-16

    Social neuroscience research has focused on an identified network of brain regions primarily associated with processing Theory of Mind (ToM). However, ToM is a broad cognitive process, which encompasses several sub-processes, such as mental state detection and intentional attribution, and the connectivity of brain regions underlying the broader ToM network in response to paradigms assessing these sub-processes requires further characterization. Standard fMRI analyses which focus only on brain activity cannot capture information about ToM processing at a network level. An alternative method, independent component analysis (ICA), is a data-driven technique used to isolate intrinsic connectivity networks, and this approach provides insight into network-level regional recruitment. In this fMRI study, three complementary, but distinct ToM tasks assessing mental state detection (e.g. RMIE: Reading the Mind in the Eyes; RMIV: Reading the Mind in the Voice) and intentional attribution (Causality task) were each analyzed using ICA in order to separately characterize the recruitment and functional connectivity of core nodes in the ToM network in response to the sub-processes of ToM. Based on visual comparison of the derived networks for each task, the spatiotemporal network patterns were similar between the RMIE and RMIV tasks, which elicited mentalizing about the mental states of others, and these networks differed from the network derived for the Causality task, which elicited mentalizing about goal-directed actions. The medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, and right inferior frontal gyrus were seen in the components with the highest correlation with the task condition for each of the tasks highlighting the role of these regions in general ToM processing. Using a data-driven approach, the current study captured the differences in task-related brain response to ToM in three distinct ToM paradigms. The findings of this study further elucidate the neural mechanisms associated

  18. The effect of episodic retrieval on inhibition in task switching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grange, James A; Kowalczyk, Agnieszka W; O'Loughlin, Rory

    2017-08-01

    Inhibition in task switching is inferred from n-2 repetition costs: the observation that ABA task switching sequences are responded to slower than CBA sequences. This is thought to reflect the persisting inhibition of Task A, which slows reactivation attempts. Mayr (2002) reported an experiment testing a critical noninhibitory account of this effect, namely episodic retrieval: If the trial parameters for Task A match across an ABA sequence, responses should be facilitated because of priming from episodic retrieval; a cost would occur if trial parameters mismatch. In a rule-switching paradigm, Mayr reported no significant difference in n-2 repetition cost when the trial parameters repeated or switched across an ABA sequence, in clear contrast to the episodic retrieval account. What remains unclear is whether successful episodic retrieval modulates the n-2 repetition cost. Across 3 experiments-including a close replication of Mayr-we find clear evidence of reduced n-2 task repetition costs when episodic retrieval is controlled. We find that the effect of episodic retrieval on the n-2 task repetition cost is increased when the cue-task relationship is made more abstract, suggesting the effect is because of interference in establishing the relevant attentional set. We also demonstrate that the episodic retrieval effect is not influenced by retrieval of low-level, perceptual, elements. Together, the data suggest the n-2 task repetition cost-typically attributable to an inhibitory mechanism-also reflects episodic retrieval effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Increasing Working Memory Load Reduces Processing of Cross-Modal Task-Irrelevant Stimuli Even after Controlling for Task Difficulty and Executive Capacity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, Sharon S; Tusch, Erich S; Holcomb, Phillip J; Daffner, Kirk R

    2016-01-01

    The classic account of the load theory (LT) of attention suggests that increasing cognitive load leads to greater processing of task-irrelevant stimuli due to competition for limited executive resource that reduces the ability to actively maintain current processing priorities. Studies testing this hypothesis have yielded widely divergent outcomes. The inconsistent results may, in part, be related to variability in executive capacity (EC) and task difficulty across subjects in different studies. Here, we used a cross-modal paradigm to investigate whether augmented working memory (WM) load leads to increased early distracter processing, and controlled for the potential confounders of EC and task difficulty. Twenty-three young subjects were engaged in a primary visual WM task, under high and low load conditions, while instructed to ignore irrelevant auditory stimuli. Demands of the high load condition were individually titrated to make task difficulty comparable across subjects with differing EC. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to measure neural activity in response to stimuli presented in both the task relevant modality (visual) and task-irrelevant modality (auditory). Behavioral results indicate that the load manipulation and titration procedure of the primary visual task were successful. ERPs demonstrated that in response to visual target stimuli, there was a load-related increase in the posterior slow wave, an index of sustained attention and effort. Importantly, under high load, there was a decrease of the auditory N1 in response to distracters, a marker of early auditory processing. These results suggest that increased WM load is associated with enhanced attentional engagement and protection from distraction in a cross-modal setting, even after controlling for task difficulty and EC. Our findings challenge the classic LT and offer support for alternative models.

  20. Increasing working memory load reduces processing of cross-modal task-irrelevant stimuli even after controlling for task difficulty and executive capacity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharon Sanz Simon

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The classic account of the Load Theory (LT of attention suggests that increasing cognitive load leads to greater processing of task-irrelevant stimuli due to competition for limited executive resource that reduces the ability to actively maintain current processing priorities. Studies testing this hypothesis have yielded widely divergent outcomes. The inconsistent results may, in part, be related to variability in executive capacity (EC and task difficulty across subjects in different studies. Here, we used a cross-modal paradigm to investigate whether augmented working memory (WM load leads to increased early distracter processing, and controlled for the potential confounders of EC and task difficulty. Twenty-three young subjects were engaged in a primary visual WM task, under high and low load conditions, while instructed to ignore irrelevant auditory stimuli. Demands of the high load condition were individually titrated to make task difficulty comparable across subjects with differing EC. Event-related potentials (ERPs were used to measure neural activity in response to stimuli presented in both the task relevant modality (visual and task-irrelevant modality (auditory. Behavioral results indicate that the load manipulation and titration procedure of the primary visual task were successful. ERPs demonstrated that in response to visual target stimuli, there was a load-related increase in the posterior slow wave, an index of sustained attention and effort. Importantly, under high load, there was a decrease of the auditory N1 in response to distracters, a marker of early auditory processing. These results suggest that increased WM load is associated with enhanced attentional engagement and protection from distraction in a cross-modal setting, even after controlling for task difficulty and EC. Our findings challenge the classic LT and offer support for alternative models.

  1. The search for understanding: the role of paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Marcella; Dowling, Maura; Millar, Michelle

    2018-03-16

    Kuhn's ( 1962 ) acknowledgement of a paradigm as a way that scientists make sense of their world and its reality gave recognition to the idea of 'paradigm shift'. This shift exposes the transience of paradigm development shaped by societal and scientific evolution. This ongoing evolutionary development provides the researcher with many paradigms to consider regarding how research is undertaken and the search for understanding achieved. An understanding of paradigm development is necessary when planning a study and can shape the search for understanding. It is hoped that the discussion presented here will assist novice and experienced researchers in articulating the rationales for their paradigm choices. An overview of the dominant paradigms is presented, reflecting ongoing paradigm development shaped by ontological, epistemological and methodological perspectives. Potential paradigm choices that shape research aims, objectives and focus in the search for understanding are considered. The inherent debates about paradigm shift, division, war and synthesis leave the researcher many perspectives to consider. Articulating the world views underpinning constructivism, interpretivism and pragmatism is particularly challenging because of the blurring of boundaries between them. The evolutionary nature of paradigmatic development has provided nurse researchers with the opportunity for methodological openness to the myriad research approaches, methods and designs that they may choose to answer their research question. However, it is imperative that researchers consider their ontological stances and the nature of their research questions. This is challenging in constructivism, interpretivism and pragmatism, where there is often an overlap of paradigm world views. ©2018 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

  2. A new paradigm for individual subject language mapping: Movie-watching fMRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tie, Yanmei; Rigolo, Laura; Ovalioglu, Aysegul Ozdemir; Olubiyi, Olutayo; Doolin, Kelly L.; Mukundan, Srinivasan; Golby, Alexandra J.

    2015-01-01

    Background Functional MRI (fMRI) based on language tasks has been used in pre-surgical language mapping in patients with lesions in or near putative language areas. However, if the patients have difficulty performing the tasks due to neurological deficits, it leads to unreliable or non-interpretable results. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of using a movie-watching fMRI for language mapping. Methods A 7-min movie clip with contrasting speech and non-speech segments was shown to 22 right-handed healthy subjects. Based on all subjects' language functional regions-of-interest, six language response areas were defined, within which a language response model (LRM) was derived by extracting the main temporal activation profile. Using a leave-one-out procedure, individuals' language areas were identified as the areas that expressed highly correlated temporal responses with the LRM derived from an independent group of subjects. Results Compared with an antonym generation task-based fMRI, the movie-watching fMRI generated language maps with more localized activations in the left frontal language area, larger activations in the left temporoparietal language area, and significant activations in their right-hemisphere homologues. Results of two brain tumor patients' movie-watching fMRI using the LRM derived from the healthy subjects indicated its ability to map putative language areas; while their task-based fMRI maps were less robust and noisier. Conclusions These results suggest that it is feasible to use this novel “task-free” paradigm as a complementary tool for fMRI language mapping when patients cannot perform the tasks. Its deployment in more neurosurgical patients and validation against gold-standard techniques need further investigation. PMID:25962953

  3. Ostracism Online: A social media ostracism paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Wouter; Levordashka, Ana; Ruff, Johanna R; Kraaijeveld, Steven; Lueckmann, Jan-Matthis; Williams, Kipling D

    2015-06-01

    We describe Ostracism Online, a novel, social media-based ostracism paradigm designed to (1) keep social interaction experimentally controlled, (2) provide researchers with the flexibility to manipulate the properties of the social situation to fit their research purposes, (3) be suitable for online data collection, (4) be convenient for studying subsequent within-group behavior, and (5) be ecologically valid. After collecting data online, we compared the Ostracism Online paradigm with the Cyberball paradigm (Williams & Jarvis Behavior Research Methods, 38, 174-180, 2006) on need-threat and mood questionnaire scores (van Beest & Williams Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91, 918-928, 2006). We also examined whether ostracized targets of either paradigm would be more likely to conform to their group members than if they had been included. Using a Bayesian analysis of variance to examine the individual effects of the different paradigms and to compare these effects across paradigms, we found analogous effects on need-threat and mood. Perhaps because we examined conformity to the ostracizers (rather than neutral sources), neither paradigm showed effects of ostracism on conformity. We conclude that Ostracism Online is a cost-effective, easy to use, and ecologically valid research tool for studying the psychological and behavioral effects of ostracism.

  4. Fine and gross motor skills: The effects on skill-focused dual-tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raisbeck, Louisa D; Diekfuss, Jed A

    2015-10-01

    Dual-task methodology often directs participants' attention towards a gross motor skill involved in the execution of a skill, but researchers have not investigated the comparative effects of attention on fine motor skill tasks. Furthermore, there is limited information about participants' subjective perception of workload with respect to task performance. To examine this, the current study administered the NASA-Task Load Index following a simulated shooting dual-task. The task required participants to stand 15 feet from a projector screen which depicted virtual targets and fire a modified Glock 17 handgun equipped with an infrared laser. Participants performed the primary shooting task alone (control), or were also instructed to focus their attention on a gross motor skill relevant to task execution (gross skill-focused) and a fine motor skill relevant to task execution (fine skill-focused). Results revealed that workload was significantly greater during the fine skill-focused task for both skill levels, but performance was only affected for the lesser-skilled participants. Shooting performance for the lesser-skilled participants was greater during the gross skill-focused condition compared to the fine skill-focused condition. Correlational analyses also demonstrated a significant negative relationship between shooting performance and workload during the gross skill-focused task for the higher-skilled participants. A discussion of the relationship between skill type, workload, skill level, and performance in dual-task paradigms is presented. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Skills-demands compatibility as a determinant of flow experience in an inductive reasoning task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiefele, Ulrich; Raabe, Andreas

    2011-10-01

    The skills-demands fit hypothesis of flow theory was examined. Based on the earlier finding that high demands in a game situation do not reduce the experience of flow, a cognitive task paradigm was used. The effect of skills-demands compatibility on the experience of flow but not of other, similar psychological states (i.e., concentration, negative and positive activation) was also investigated. Participants were 89 undergraduate students who worked on a number of inductive reasoning tasks in four successive trials with or without skills-demands compatibility. The results clearly supported the skills-demands fit hypothesis; concentration and activation were affected only by the tasks' difficulty. Inductive reasoning tasks are a useful tool for the experimental analysis of flow, and skills-demands compatibility is a significant and powerful condition of flow, but not of other, similar psychological states.

  6. Policy paradigms, transnationalism, and domestic politics

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Skogstad, Grace Darlene

    2011-01-01

    Policy Paradigms, Transnationalism, and Domestic Politics offers a variety of perspectives on the development of policy paradigms -- the ideas that structure thinking about what can and should be done in a policy domain...

  7. Serial or overlapping processing in multitasking as individual preference: Effects of stimulus preview on task switching and concurrent dual-task performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reissland, Jessika; Manzey, Dietrich

    2016-07-01

    Understanding the mechanisms and performance consequences of multitasking has long been in focus of scientific interest, but has been investigated by three research lines more or less isolated from each other. Studies in the fields of the psychological refractory period, task switching, and interruptions have scored with a high experimental control, but usually do not give participants many degrees of freedom to self-organize the processing of two concurrent tasks. Individual strategies as well as their impact on efficiency have mainly been neglected. Self-organized multitasking has been investigated in the field of human factors, but primarily with respect to overall performance without detailed investigation of how the tasks are processed. The current work attempts to link aspects of these research lines. All of them, explicitly or implicitly, provide hints about an individually preferred type of task organization, either more cautious trying to work strictly serially on only one task at a time or more daring with a focus on task interleaving and, if possible, also partially overlapping (parallel) processing. In two experiments we investigated different strategies of task organization and their impact on efficiency using a new measure of overall multitasking efficiency. Experiment 1 was based on a classical task switching paradigm with two classification tasks, but provided one group of participants with a stimulus preview of the task to switch to next, enabling at least partial overlapping processing. Indeed, this preview led to a reduction of switch costs and to an increase of dual-task efficiency, but only for a subgroup of participants. They obviously exploited the possibility of overlapping processing, while the others worked mainly serially. While task-sequence was externally guided in the first experiment, Experiment 2 extended the approach by giving the participants full freedom of task organization in concurrent performance of the same tasks. Fine

  8. Functional brain and age-related changes associated with congruency in task switching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eich, Teal S.; Parker, David; Liu, Dan; Oh, Hwamee; Razlighi, Qolamreza; Gazes, Yunglin; Habeck, Christian; Stern, Yaakov

    2016-01-01

    Alternating between completing two simple tasks, as opposed to completing only one task, has been shown to produce costs to performance and changes to neural patterns of activity, effects which are augmented in old age. Cognitive conflict may arise from factors other than switching tasks, however. Sensorimotor congruency (whether stimulus-response mappings are the same or different for the two tasks) has been shown to behaviorally moderate switch costs in older, but not younger adults. In the current study, we used fMRI to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms of response-conflict congruency effects within a task switching paradigm in older (N=75) and younger (N=62) adults. Behaviorally, incongruency moderated age-related differences in switch costs. Neurally, switch costs were associated with greater activation in the dorsal attention network for older relative to younger adults. We also found that older adults recruited an additional set of brain areas in the ventral attention network to a greater extent than did younger adults to resolve congruency-related response-conflict. These results suggest both a network and an age-based dissociation between congruency and switch costs in task switching. PMID:27520472

  9. Key success factors for brand orientation in Dutch hospitals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Judith Tielen; Dr. Gerrita van der Veen

    2016-01-01

    he reorientation of the public sector along market lines has led to the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM): the assumption that the public sector can be improved by management principles and techniques traditionally associated with the private sector. However, market orientation has also become

  10. Paradigm Shifts in Ophthalmic Diagnostics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebag, J; Sadun, Alfredo A; Pierce, Eric A

    2016-08-01

    Future advances in ophthalmology will see a paradigm shift in diagnostics from a focus on dysfunction and disease to better measures of psychophysical function and health. Practical methods to define genotypes will be increasingly important and non-invasive nanotechnologies are needed to detect molecular changes that predate histopathology. This is not a review nor meant to be comprehensive. Specific topics have been selected to illustrate the principles of important paradigm shifts that will influence the future of ophthalmic diagnostics. It is our impression that future evaluation of vision will go beyond visual acuity to assess ocular health in terms of psychophysical function. The definition of disease will incorporate genotype into what has historically been a phenotype-centric discipline. Non-invasive nanotechnologies will enable a paradigm shift from disease detection on a cellular level to a sub-cellular molecular level. Vision can be evaluated beyond visual acuity by measuring contrast sensitivity, color vision, and macular function, as these provide better insights into the impact of aging and disease. Distortions can be quantified and the psychophysical basis of vision can be better evaluated than in the past by designing tests that assess particular macular cell function(s). Advances in our understanding of the genetic basis of eye diseases will enable better characterization of ocular health and disease. Non-invasive nanotechnologies can assess molecular changes in the lens, vitreous, and macula that predate visible pathology. Oxygen metabolism and circulatory physiology are measurable indices of ocular health that can detect variations of physiology and early disease. This overview of paradigm shifts in ophthalmology suggests that the future will see significant improvements in ophthalmic diagnostics. The selected topics illustrate the principles of these paradigm shifts and should serve as a guide to further research and development. Indeed

  11. Transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates cognitive multi-task performance differentially depending on anode location and subtask.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melissa eScheldrup

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available There is a need to facilitate acquisition of real world cognitive multi-tasks that require long periods of training (e.g., air traffic control, intelligence analysis, medicine. Non-invasive brain stimulation – specifically transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS – has promise as a method to speed multi-task training. We hypothesized that during acquisition of the complex multi-task Space Fortress, subtasks that require focused attention on ship control would benefit from tDCS aimed at the dorsal attention network while subtasks that require redirection of attention would benefit from tDCS aimed at the right hemisphere ventral attention network. We compared effects of 30 min prefrontal and parietal stimulation to right and left hemispheres on subtask performance during the first 45 min of training. The strongest effects both overall and for ship flying (control and velocity subtasks were seen with a right parietal (C4 to left shoulder montage, shown by modeling to induce an electric field that includes nodes in both dorsal and ventral attention networks. This is consistent with the re-orienting hypothesis that the ventral attention network is activated along with the dorsal attention network if a new, task-relevant event occurs while visuospatial attention is focused (Corbetta et al., 2008. No effects were seen with anodes over sites that stimulated only dorsal (C3 or only ventral (F10 attention networks. The speed subtask (update memory for symbols benefited from an F9 anode over left prefrontal cortex. These results argue for development of tDCS as a training aid in real world settings where multi-tasking is critical.

  12. Transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates cognitive multi-task performance differentially depending on anode location and subtask.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheldrup, Melissa; Greenwood, Pamela M; McKendrick, Ryan; Strohl, Jon; Bikson, Marom; Alam, Mahtab; McKinley, R Andy; Parasuraman, Raja

    2014-01-01

    There is a need to facilitate acquisition of real world cognitive multi-tasks that require long periods of training (e.g., air traffic control, intelligence analysis, medicine). Non-invasive brain stimulation-specifically transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)-has promise as a method to speed multi-task training. We hypothesized that during acquisition of the complex multi-task Space Fortress, subtasks that require focused attention on ship control would benefit from tDCS aimed at the dorsal attention network while subtasks that require redirection of attention would benefit from tDCS aimed at the right hemisphere ventral attention network. We compared effects of 30 min prefrontal and parietal stimulation to right and left hemispheres on subtask performance during the first 45 min of training. The strongest effects both overall and for ship flying (control and velocity subtasks) were seen with a right parietal (C4, reference to left shoulder) montage, shown by modeling to induce an electric field that includes nodes in both dorsal and ventral attention networks. This is consistent with the re-orienting hypothesis that the ventral attention network is activated along with the dorsal attention network if a new, task-relevant event occurs while visuospatial attention is focused (Corbetta et al., 2008). No effects were seen with anodes over sites that stimulated only dorsal (C3) or only ventral (F10) attention networks. The speed subtask (update memory for symbols) benefited from an F9 anode over left prefrontal cortex. These results argue for development of tDCS as a training aid in real world settings where multi-tasking is critical.

  13. Motivating Learning in Mathematics Through Collaborative Problem Solving: A Focus on Using Rich Tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nasreen Hussain

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper is based on the concept that lively and interactive math classes are possible by incorporating rich tasks to meet the needs of students operating at different levels in the classrooms. A study was carried out to find out the impact on learning and motivation of using rich tasks at secondary level in the maths class by incorporating co-operative learning. Qualitative research paradigm was opted for the study using an action research approach and the data were collected through two semi-structured interviews conducted at the onset of the research and after the intervention. Few important findings indicate that rich tasks demand different levels of challenge and extend opportunities to those students who need them.

  14. Reorientation of molecules in a Cl3P/Dirac h/NCCl2CF3 crystal according to NQR data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kyuntsel', I.A.; Mokeeva, V.A.; Soifer, G.B.

    1988-01-01

    The structural-dynamic inequivalence of the molecules in solid Cl 3 P/Dirac h/NCCl 2 CF 3 has been established, and their rotational mobility has been studied with the aid of the temperature dependence of the resonance frequency and of the spin-lattice relaxation time of the 35 Cl nuclei. The observed motion has been interpreted with consideration of the molecular structure as reorientation between unequal potential wells in the crystal lattice, and the corresponding activation parameters have been determined from the 35 Cl NQR data

  15. PAEA Accreditation Task Force Briefing Paper: Moving Toward Profession-Defined, Outcomes-Based Accreditation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bondy, Mary Jo; Fletcher, Sara; Lane, Steven

    2017-12-01

    In anticipation of a revision to the Standards for Accreditation, the Phyisician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) charged a small task force to develop a strategy for engaging its members in the revision process. Rather than focusing on the current Standards, the task force members recommend a backward design approach to determine the desired outcomes of a successful revision to the Standards. Ultimately, the group believes that shifting to a profession-defined, outcomes-based model for accreditation will allow for greater innovation in physician assistant education and reduce the strain on programs facing resource limitations, particularly clinical site shortages. Task force members value accreditation and urge a paradigm shift in the Standards revision process to focus on meaningful educational outcomes that lead to enhanced program quality and patient safety.

  16. Membrane paradigm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Price, R.H.; Thorne, K.S.

    1986-01-01

    The membrane paradigm is a modified frozen star approach to modeling black holes, with particles and fields assuming a complex, static, boundary-layer type structure (membrane) near the event horizon. The membrane has no effects on the present or future evolution of particles and fields above itself. The mathematical representation is a combination of a formalism containing terms for the shear and bulk viscosity, surface pressure, momentum, temperature, entropy, etc., of the horizon and the 3+1 formalism. The latter model considers a family of three-dimensional spacelike hypersurfaces in one-dimensional time. The membrane model considers a magnetic field threading the hole and undergoing torque from the hole rotation. The field is cleaned by the horizon and distributed over the horizon so that ohmic dissipation is minimized. The membrane paradigm is invalid inside the horizon, but is useful for theoretically probing the properties of slowly evolving black holes

  17. Effort-based decision making as an objective paradigm for the assessment of motivational deficits in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fervaha, Gagan; Duncan, Mark; Foussias, George; Agid, Ofer; Faulkner, Guy E; Remington, Gary

    2015-10-01

    Negative symptoms and motivational deficits are prevalent features of schizophrenia, and represent robust predictors of real-world functional outcomes. The standard for assessment of these symptoms is clinical interview and severity ratings on standardized rating scales. In the present study we examined the psychometric properties of a performance-based measure of motivational deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Ninety-seven patients with schizophrenia were included in this investigation. Patients' willingness to expend effort for reward (i.e., motivation) was evaluated using an effort-based decision making paradigm where participants chose over a series of trials whether to expend a greater amount of effort for a larger monetary reward versus less effort for a smaller reward. Effort performance was evaluated twice, separated by a two-week interval. Patients with schizophrenia opted to expend greater effort for trials with higher reward value and greater likelihood of reward receipt. Patients did not find the task overly difficult and reported being motivated to perform well, underscoring the tolerability of the task for patients. Test-retest consistency was good and there was only minimal change in scores over time. Effort performance was not related to sociodemographic or clinical variables (e.g., positive symptoms); however, deficit syndrome patients exerted effort for reward at a significantly lower rate than nondeficit patients. The effort-based decision making task used in the present study represents an objective paradigm that can be used to evaluate motivational impairments in patients with schizophrenia. Such performance-based measures of motivation may also serve as viable endpoints in clinical trials. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Utility of the Hebb–Williams Maze Paradigm for Translational Research in Fragile X Syndrome: A Direct Comparison of Mice and Humans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boutet, Isabelle; Collin, Charles A.; MacLeod, Lindsey S.; Messier, Claude; Holahan, Matthew R.; Berry-Kravis, Elizabeth; Gandhi, Reno M.; Kogan, Cary S.

    2018-01-01

    To generate meaningful information, translational research must employ paradigms that allow extrapolation from animal models to humans. However, few studies have evaluated translational paradigms on the basis of defined validation criteria. We outline three criteria for validating translational paradigms. We then evaluate the Hebb–Williams maze paradigm (Hebb and Williams, 1946; Rabinovitch and Rosvold, 1951) on the basis of these criteria using Fragile X syndrome (FXS) as model disease. We focused on this paradigm because it allows direct comparison of humans and animals on tasks that are behaviorally equivalent (criterion #1) and because it measures spatial information processing, a cognitive domain for which FXS individuals and mice show impairments as compared to controls (criterion #2). We directly compared the performance of affected humans and mice across different experimental conditions and measures of behavior to identify which conditions produce comparable patterns of results in both species. Species differences were negligible for Mazes 2, 4, and 5 irrespective of the presence of visual cues, suggesting that these mazes could be used to measure spatial learning in both species. With regards to performance on the first trial, which reflects visuo-spatial problem solving, Mazes 5 and 9 without visual cues produced the most consistent results. We conclude that the Hebb–Williams mazes paradigm has the potential to be utilized in translational research to measure comparable cognitive functions in FXS humans and animals (criterion #3). PMID:29643767

  19. A Paradigm to Assess Implicit Attitudes towards God: The Positive/Negative God Associations Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pirutinsky, Steven; Carp, Sean; Rosmarin, David H

    2017-02-01

    Psychological research on the relationship between spirituality/religion and mental health has grown considerably over the past several decades and now constitutes a sizable body of scholarship. Among dimensions of S/R, positive beliefs about God have been significantly related to better mental health outcomes, and conversely negative beliefs about God are generally associated with more distress. However, prior research on this topic has relied heavily upon self-report Likert-type scales, which are vulnerable to self-report biases and measure only explicit cognitive processes. In this study, we developed and validated an implicit social cognition task, the Positive/Negative God Go/No-go Association Task (PNG-GNAT), for use in psychological research on spirituality and religion (S/R). Preliminary evidence in a large sample (N = 381) suggests that the PNG-GNAT demonstrates internal consistency, test-retest and split-half reliability, and concurrent evidence of validity. Further, our results suggest that PNG-GNAT scores represent different underlying dimensions of S/R than explicit self-report measures, and incrementally predict mental health above and beyond self-report assessment. The PNG-GNAT appears to be an effective tool for measuring implicit positive/negative beliefs about God.

  20. Information processing as a paradigm for decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oppenheimer, Daniel M; Kelso, Evan

    2015-01-03

    For decades, the dominant paradigm for studying decision making--the expected utility framework--has been burdened by an increasing number of empirical findings that question its validity as a model of human cognition and behavior. However, as Kuhn (1962) argued in his seminal discussion of paradigm shifts, an old paradigm cannot be abandoned until a new paradigm emerges to replace it. In this article, we argue that the recent shift in researcher attention toward basic cognitive processes that give rise to decision phenomena constitutes the beginning of that replacement paradigm. Models grounded in basic perceptual, attentional, memory, and aggregation processes have begun to proliferate. The development of this new approach closely aligns with Kuhn's notion of paradigm shift, suggesting that this is a particularly generative and revolutionary time to be studying decision science.

  1. Magnetooptical studies on spin-reorientation in rare earth orthoferrites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koshizuka, N.; Hayashi, K.; Suzuki, M.; Tsushima, T.

    1976-01-01

    Several types of spin-reorientation (SR) in some of the RFeO 3 are studied by Faraday rotation measurements; rotational SR of GAMMA 4 → GAMMA 2 type in (ErSm)FeO 3 , (Co 2+ , Ti 4+ ) doped YFeO 3 , and abrupt SR of GAMMA 4 → GAMMA 1 type in DyFeO 3 . Observations of SR by Faraday rotation were made in these crystals with incident light parallel to the optical axis. In relation with the decrease of Fe 3+ ion's anisotropy at T/sub SR/, an abrupt decrease of the coercive force are found in these systems. In general, Faraday rotation in RFeO 3 originates from Fe 3+ ions in the visible and near IR regions, while R 3+ ion's contribution to the Faraday rotation was observed for the wavelengths corresponding to the electronic transitions of R 3+ ions in ErFeO 3 and DyFeO 3 at low temperatures. In DyFeO 3 , a large contribution of Dy 3+ ions was observed at approximately 1.2 μm in the Faraday spectrum, and it is confirmed that the Dy 3+ moments are polarized along the c-axis in zero applied field above T/sub SR/. Magnetic field induced SR was also observed in DyFeO 3 , and the temperature dependence of the critical field was obtained as H/sub SR/ varies as absolute value T - T/sub SR/3/4

  2. Long term exposure to combination paradigm of environmental enrichment, physical exercise and diet reverses the spatial memory deficits and restores hippocampal neurogenesis in ventral subicular lesioned rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapgal, Vijayakumar; Prem, Neethi; Hegde, Preethi; Laxmi, T R; Kutty, Bindu M

    2016-04-01

    Subiculum is an important structure of the hippocampal formation and plays an imperative role in spatial learning and memory functions. We have demonstrated earlier the cognitive impairment following bilateral ventral subicular lesion (VSL) in rats. We found that short term exposure to enriched environment (EE) did not help to reverse the spatial memory deficits in water maze task suggesting the need for an appropriate enriched paradigm towards the recovery of spatial memory. In the present study, the efficacy of long term exposure of VSL rats to combination paradigm of environmental enrichment (EE), physical exercise and 18 C.W. diet (Combination Therapy - CT) in reversing the spatial memory deficits in Morris water maze task has been studied. Ibotenate lesioning of ventral subiculum produced significant impairment of performance in the Morris water maze and reduced the hippocampal neurogenesis in rats. Post lesion exposure to C.T. restored the hippocampal neurogenesis and improved the spatial memory functions in VSL rats. Our study supports the hypothesis that the combination paradigm is critical towards the development of an enhanced behavioral and cognitive experience especially in conditions of CNS insults and the associated cognitive dysfunctions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Left Posterior Parietal Cortex Participates in Both Task Preparation and Episodic Retrieval

    OpenAIRE

    Phillips, Jeffrey S.; Velanova, Katerina; Wolk, David A.; Wheeler, Mark E.

    2009-01-01

    Optimal memory retrieval depends not only on the fidelity of stored information, but also on the attentional state of the subject. Factors such as mental preparedness to engage in stimulus processing can facilitate or hinder memory retrieval. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to distinguish preparatory brain activity before episodic and semantic retrieval tasks from activity associated with retrieval itself. A catch-trial imaging paradigm permitted separation...

  4. Ferroelectricity and magnetoelectric coupling in h-YbMnO{sub 3}: Spin reorientation and defect effect

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Qiang, Gang; Fang, Yifei; Lu, Xiaowen; Cao, Shixun; Zhang, Jincang, E-mail: jczhang@shu.edu.cn [Materials Genome Institute and Department of Physics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China)

    2016-01-11

    Low-temperature magnetic and electric properties in hexagonal multiferroic compound YbMnO{sub 3} were studied. The Mn{sup 3+} spin moments order at T{sub N} = 85 K and reoriented around 43.5 K, leading to the magnetic phase transition from B{sub 2}(P6{sub 3}cm) → A{sub 2}(P6{sub 3}cm). The concomitant ferroelectric polarization is observed and explained microscopically by the destruction of initial symmetric relationship of the polarization between the upper and lower half of the magnetic unit cell. The asymmetry of the polarization vs temperature curves under opposite poling voltage revealed the pinning effect of the defects on the electrical polarization.

  5. Spacecraft reorientation control in presence of attitude constraint considering input saturation and stochastic disturbance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Yu; Ye, Dong; Sun, Zhaowei; Zhang, Shijie

    2018-03-01

    This paper proposes a novel feedback control law for spacecraft to deal with attitude constraint, input saturation, and stochastic disturbance during the attitude reorientation maneuver process. Applying the parameter selection method to improving the existence conditions for the repulsive potential function, the universality of the potential-function-based algorithm is enhanced. Moreover, utilizing the auxiliary system driven by the difference between saturated torque and command torque, a backstepping control law, which satisfies the input saturation constraint and guarantees the spacecraft stability, is presented. Unlike some methods that passively rely on the inherent characteristic of the existing controller to stabilize the adverse effects of external stochastic disturbance, this paper puts forward a nonlinear disturbance observer to compensate the disturbance in real-time, which achieves a better performance of robustness. The simulation results validate the effectiveness, reliability, and universality of the proposed control law.

  6. Mismatch negativity and P3a amplitude in young adolescents with first-episode psychosis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rydkjær, J.; Møllegaard Jepsen, J. R.; Pagsberg, A. K.

    2017-01-01

    Background Deficient mismatch negativity (MMN) has been proposed as a candidate biomarker in schizophrenia and may therefore be potentially useful in early identification and intervention in early onset psychosis. In this study we explored whether deficits in the automatic orienting and reorienting...... responses, measured as MMN and P3a amplitude, are present in young adolescents with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and whether findings are specific to psychosis compared to young adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method MMN and P3a amplitude were assessed in young adolescents...... (age 12-17 years) with either FEP (N = 27) or ADHD (N = 28) and age- and gender-matched healthy controls (N = 43). The MMN paradigm consisted of a four-tone auditory oddball task with deviant stimuli based on frequency, duration and their combination. Results Significantly less MMN was found...

  7. Adaptation of the Aesop's Fable paradigm for use with raccoons (Procyon lotor): considerations for future application in non-avian and non-primate species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanton, Lauren; Davis, Emily; Johnson, Shylo; Gilbert, Amy; Benson-Amram, Sarah

    2017-11-01

    To gain a better understanding of the evolution of animal cognition, it is necessary to test and compare the cognitive abilities of a broad array of taxa. Meaningful inter-species comparisons are best achieved by employing universal paradigms that standardize testing among species. Many cognitive paradigms, however, have been tested in only a few taxa, mostly birds and primates. One such example, known as the Aesop's Fable paradigm, is designed to assess causal understanding in animals using water displacement. To evaluate the universal effectiveness of the Aesop's Fable paradigm, we applied this paradigm to a previously untested taxon, the raccoon (Procyon lotor). We first trained captive raccoons to drop stones into a tube of water to retrieve a floating food reward. Next, we presented successful raccoons with objects that differed in the amount of water they displaced to determine whether raccoons could select the most functional option. Raccoons performed differently than corvids and human children did in previous studies of Aesop's Fable, and we found raccoons to be innovative in many aspects of this task. We suggest that raccoon performance in this paradigm reflected differences in tangential factors, such as behavior, morphology, and testing procedures, rather than cognitive deficiencies. We also present insight into previously undocumented challenges that should better inform future Aesop's Fable studies incorporating more diverse taxa.

  8. Color-word matching stroop task: separating interference and response conflict.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zysset, S; Müller, K; Lohmann, G; von Cramon , D Y

    2001-01-01

    The Stroop interference task requires a person to respond to a specific dimension of a stimulus while suppressing a competing stimulus dimension. Previous PET and fMRI studies using the Color Stroop paradigm have shown increased activity in the "cognitive division" of the cingulate cortex. In our fMRI study with nine subjects, we used a Color-Word Matching Stroop task. A frontoparietal network, including structures in the lateral prefrontal cortex, the frontopolar region, the intraparietal sulcus, as well as the lateral occipitotemporal gyrus, was activated when contrasting the incongruent vs the neutral condition. However, no substantial activation in either the right or left hemisphere of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was detected. In accordance with a series of recent articles, we argue that the ACC is not specifically involved in interference processes. The ACC seems rather involved in motor preparation processes which were controlled in the present Color-Word Matching Stroop task. We argue that the region around the banks of the inferior frontal sulcus is required to solve interference problems, a concept which can also be seen as a component of task set management. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

  9. A Novel Eye-Tracking Method to Assess Attention Allocation in Individuals with and without Aphasia Using a Dual-Task Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heuer, Sabine; Hallowell, Brooke

    2015-01-01

    Numerous authors report that people with aphasia have greater difficulty allocating attention than people without neurological disorders. Studying how attention deficits contribute to language deficits is important. However, existing methods for indexing attention allocation in people with aphasia pose serious methodological challenges. Eye-tracking methods have great potential to address such challenges. We developed and assessed the validity of a new dual-task method incorporating eye tracking to assess attention allocation. Twenty-six adults with aphasia and 33 control participants completed auditory sentence comprehension and visual search tasks. To test whether the new method validly indexes well-documented patterns in attention allocation, demands were manipulated by varying task complexity in single- and dual-task conditions. Differences in attention allocation were indexed via eye-tracking measures. For all participants significant increases in attention allocation demands were observed from single- to dual-task conditions and from simple to complex stimuli. Individuals with aphasia had greater difficulty allocating attention with greater task demands. Relationships between eye-tracking indices of comprehension during single and dual tasks and standardized testing were examined. Results support the validity of the novel eye-tracking method for assessing attention allocation in people with and without aphasia. Clinical and research implications are discussed. PMID:25913549

  10. Centrosome polarization in T cells: a task for formins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura eAndrés-Delgado

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available T-cell antigen receptor (TCR engagement triggers the rapid reorientation of the centrosome, which is associated with the secretory machinery, towards the immunological synapse (IS for polarized protein trafficking. Recent evidence indicates that upon TCR triggering the INF2 formin, together with the formins DIA1 and FMNL1, promotes the formation of a specialized array of stable detyrosinated MTs that breaks the symmetrical organization of the T-cell microtubule (MT cytoskeleton. The detyrosinated MT array and TCR-induced tyrosine phosphorylation should coincide for centrosome polarization. We propose that the pushing forces produced by the detyrosinated MT array, which modify the position of the centrosome, in concert with Src kinase dependent TCR signaling, which provide the reference frame with respect to which the centrosome reorients, result in the repositioning of the centrosome to the IS.

  11. Elucidating the role of D4 receptors in mediating attributions of salience to incentive stimuli on Pavlovian conditioned approach and conditioned reinforcement paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cocker, P J; Vonder Haar, C; Winstanley, C A

    2016-10-01

    The power of drug-associated cues to instigate drug 'wanting' and consequently promote drug seeking is a corner stone of contemporary theories of addiction. Gambling disorder has recently been added to the pantheon of addictive disorders due to the phenomenological similarities between the diseases. However, the neurobiological mechanism that may mediate increased sensitivity towards conditioned stimuli in addictive disorders is unclear. We have previously demonstrated using a rodent analogue of a simple slot machine that the dopamine D4 receptor is critically engaged in controlling animals' attribution of salience to stimuli associated with reward in this paradigm, and consequently may represent a target for the treatment of gambling disorder. Here, we investigated the role of acute administration of a D4 receptor agonist on animals' responsivity to conditioned stimuli on both a Pavlovian conditioned approach (autoshaping) and a conditioned reinforcement paradigm. Following training on one of the two tasks, separate cohorts of rats (male and female) were administered a dose of PD168077 shown to be maximally effective at precipitating errors in reward expectancy on the rat slot machine task (10mg/kg). However, augmenting the activity of the D4 receptors in this manner did not alter behaviour on either task. These data therefore provide novel evidence that the D4 receptor does not alter incentive motivation in response to cues on simple behavioural tasks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Phonological recovery in Spanish developmental dyslexics through the tip-of-the-tongue paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suárez-Coalla, Paz; Collazo Alonso, Aida; González-Nosti, María

    2013-01-01

    Developmental dyslexics have difficulties accessing and retrieving the phonological form of words, in the absence of a deficit at the semantic level. The aim of this work was to study, through the Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) paradigm, the problems of lexical access in Spanish-speaking developmental dyslexics and the relationship with their phonological awareness. A group of developmental dyslexics (14) and other children without reading difficulties (14), aged 7 to 12, performed a picture naming task of medium and low frequency and a task of phonological awareness. The results indicated that dyslexic children generally show a greater number of TOT phenomena than the control group. Despite being able to provide semantic information of the drawing, they had difficulties retrieving partial phonological information. These results indicate that developmental dyslexic children have particular difficulty in accessing the phonological form of words, which may be interesting for the development of intervention programs for these children.

  13. Three paradigms of horror

    OpenAIRE

    Dejan Ognjanović

    2016-01-01

    Starting with the definition of horror as a literary genre the core story of which is based on a meeting with threatening Otherness whose influx into consensual reality and it’s tacit normality creates unrest and awakens fear in the protagonists and the audience, this paper defines the three key paradigms of the horror genre, based on the causes of fear, or rather the “monstrous” Otherness in them. Paradigm 1 concerns the “fear of one’s own self”: the root of the fear is inside, in the indivi...

  14. ENVIRONMENTALISM AND CLASSIC PARADIGMS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

    OpenAIRE

    D. D. Miniaeva

    2014-01-01

    This article examines an environmentalism integration process into Three classical paradigms of international relations theory (Liberalism, Realism and Marxism) into Three classical paradigms of international relations theory (Liberalism, Realism and Marxism). The main purpose of this study is to reveal the result of this integration. Methods used in this article include analysis and comparison of "ecological" paradigms on selected parameters (the nature of international relations, actors, ta...

  15. A general formula for computing maximum proportion correct scores in various psychophysical paradigms with arbitrary probability distributions of stimulus observations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Huanping; Micheyl, Christophe

    2015-05-01

    Proportion correct (Pc) is a fundamental measure of task performance in psychophysics. The maximum Pc score that can be achieved by an optimal (maximum-likelihood) observer in a given task is of both theoretical and practical importance, because it sets an upper limit on human performance. Within the framework of signal detection theory, analytical solutions for computing the maximum Pc score have been established for several common experimental paradigms under the assumption of Gaussian additive internal noise. However, as the scope of applications of psychophysical signal detection theory expands, the need is growing for psychophysicists to compute maximum Pc scores for situations involving non-Gaussian (internal or stimulus-induced) noise. In this article, we provide a general formula for computing the maximum Pc in various psychophysical experimental paradigms for arbitrary probability distributions of sensory activity. Moreover, easy-to-use MATLAB code implementing the formula is provided. Practical applications of the formula are illustrated, and its accuracy is evaluated, for two paradigms and two types of probability distributions (uniform and Gaussian). The results demonstrate that Pc scores computed using the formula remain accurate even for continuous probability distributions, as long as the conversion from continuous probability density functions to discrete probability mass functions is supported by a sufficiently high sampling resolution. We hope that the exposition in this article, and the freely available MATLAB code, facilitates calculations of maximum performance for a wider range of experimental situations, as well as explorations of the impact of different assumptions concerning internal-noise distributions on maximum performance in psychophysical experiments.

  16. Characteristics of hydride precipitation and reorientation in spent-fuel cladding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, H.M.; Daum, R.S.; Hiller, J.M.; Billone, M.C.

    2002-01-01

    Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to examine Zircaloy fuel cladding, either discharged from several PWRs and a BWR after irradiation to fluence levels of 3.3 to 8.6 X 10 21 n cm -2 (E > 1 MeV) or hydrogen-charged and heat-treated under stress to produce radial hydrides; the goal was to determine the microstructural and crystallographic characteristics of hydride precipitation. Morphologies, distributions, and habit planes of various types of hydrides were determined by stereo-TEM. In addition to the normal macroscopic hydrides commonly observed by optical microscopy, small 'microscopic' hydrides are present in spent-fuel cladding in number densities at least a few orders of magnitude greater than that of macroscopic hydrides. The microscopic hydrides, observed to be stable at least up to 333 deg C, precipitate in association with -type dislocations. While the habit plane of macroscopic tangential hydrides in the spent-fuel cladding is essentially the same as that of unirradiated unstressed Zircaloys, i.e., the [107] Zr plane, the habit plane of tangential hydrides that precipitate under high tangential stress is the [104] Zr plane. The habit plane of radial hydrides that precipitate under tangential stress is the [011] Zr pyramidal plane, a naturally preferred plane for a cladding that has 30 basal-pole texture. Effects of texture on the habit plane and the threshold stress for hydride reorientation are also discussed. (authors)

  17. Task-Management Method Using R-Tree Spatial Cloaking for Large-Scale Crowdsourcing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yan Li

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available With the development of sensor technology and the popularization of the data-driven service paradigm, spatial crowdsourcing systems have become an important way of collecting map-based location data. However, large-scale task management and location privacy are important factors for participants in spatial crowdsourcing. In this paper, we propose the use of an R-tree spatial cloaking-based task-assignment method for large-scale spatial crowdsourcing. We use an estimated R-tree based on the requested crowdsourcing tasks to reduce the crowdsourcing server-side inserting cost and enable the scalability. By using Minimum Bounding Rectangle (MBR-based spatial anonymous data without exact position data, this method preserves the location privacy of participants in a simple way. In our experiment, we showed that our proposed method is faster than the current method, and is very efficient when the scale is increased.

  18. The safety implications of emerging software paradigms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suski, G.J.; Persons, W.L.; Johnson, G.L.

    1994-10-01

    This paper addresses some of the emerging software paradigms that may be used in developing safety-critical software applications. Paradigms considered in this paper include knowledge-based systems, neural networks, genetic algorithms, and fuzzy systems. It presents one view of the software verification and validation activities that should be associated with each paradigm. The paper begins with a discussion of the historical evolution of software verification and validation. Next, a comparison is made between the verification and validation processes used for conventional and emerging software systems. Several verification and validation issues for the emerging paradigms are discussed and some specific research topics are identified. This work is relevant for monitoring and control at nuclear power plants

  19. Morally-Relevant Similarities and Differences Between Assisted Dying Practices in Paradigm and Non-Paradigm Circumstances: Could They Inform Regulatory Decisions?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirby, Jeffrey

    2017-12-01

    There has been contentious debate over the years about whether there are morally relevant similarities and differences between the three practices of continuous deep sedation until death, physician-assisted suicide, and voluntary euthanasia. Surprisingly little academic attention has been paid to a comparison of the uses of these practices in the two types of circumstances in which they are typically performed. A comparative domains of ethics analysis methodological approach is used in the paper to compare 1) the use of the three practices in paradigm circumstances, and 2) the use of the practices in paradigm circumstances to their use in non-paradigm circumstances. The analytical outcomes suggest that a bright moral line cannot be demonstrated between any two of the practices in paradigm circumstances, and that there are significant, morally-relevant distinctions between their use in paradigm and non-paradigm circumstances. A thought experiment is employed to illustrate how these outcomes could possibly inform the decisions of hypothetical deliberators who are engaged in the collaborative development of assisted dying regulatory frameworks.

  20. Transfer of skill engendered by complex task training under conditions of variable priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boot, Walter R; Basak, Chandramallika; Erickson, Kirk I; Neider, Mark; Simons, Daniel J; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele; Voss, Michelle W; Prakash, Ruchika; Lee, HyunKyu; Low, Kathy A; Kramer, Arthur F

    2010-11-01

    We explored the theoretical underpinnings of a commonly used training strategy by examining issues of training and transfer of skill in the context of a complex video game (Space Fortress, Donchin, 1989). Participants trained using one of two training regimens: Full Emphasis Training (FET) or Variable Priority Training (VPT). Transfer of training was assessed with a large battery of cognitive and psychomotor tasks ranging from basic laboratory paradigms measuring reasoning, memory, and attention to complex real-world simulations. Consistent with previous studies, VPT accelerated learning and maximized task mastery. However, the hypothesis that VPT would result in broader transfer of training received limited support. Rather, transfer was most evident in tasks that were most similar to the Space Fortress game itself. Results are discussed in terms of potential limitations of the VPT approach. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Project management: a new service delivery paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. van der Walt

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available In line with international trends in governance, the South African Government’s initial focus on the development of policy frameworks, structures and systems in order to give effect to the values and principles of the Constitution, shifted to the most critical issue, namely service delivery. The Government became increasingly aware that a significant expansion in the scope and quality of service provision was not possible with traditional delivery settings and approaches. There is growing evidence that there is a need for a significant departure from conventional approaches and that a leap into a new service delivery paradigm is necessary. Increasingly this new paradigm highlights the need to further develop the government’s project management skills and applications with a view to achieving improved delivery capability. In this article the focus will be placed on the changing service delivery paradigm – from an “old” traditional model through the transition to a “new” paradigm. This paradigm is shaped by international and national trends and events in government. The contribution and advantages of project management applications for effective governance are highlighted and the article concludes with an explanation of project management organisational arrangements necessary to support the new paradigm.

  2. The SocioBox: A novel paradigm to assess complex social recognition in male mice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dilja Krueger-Burg

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Impairments in social skills are central to mental disease, and developing tools for their assessment in mouse models is essential. Here we present the SocioBox, a new behavioral paradigm to measure social recognition memory. Using this paradigm, we show that male wildtype mice of different strains can readily identify an unfamiliar mouse among 5 newly acquainted animals. In contrast, female mice exhibit lower locomotor activity during social exploration in the SocioBox compared to males and do not seem to discriminate between acquainted and unfamiliar mice, likely reflecting inherent differences in gender-specific territorial tasks. In addition to a simple quantification of social interaction time of mice grounded on predefined spatial zones (zone-based method, we developed a set of unbiased, data-driven analysis tools based on heat map representations and characterized by greater sensitivity. First proof-of-principle that the SocioBox allows diagnosis of social recognition memory deficits is provided using male PSD-95 heterozygous knockout mice, a mouse model related to psychiatric pathophysiology.

  3. Changes in Standing and Walking Performance Under Dual-Task Conditions Across the Lifespan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruffieux, Jan; Keller, Martin; Lauber, Benedikt; Taube, Wolfgang

    2015-12-01

    Simultaneous performance of a postural and a concurrent task is rather unproblematic as long as the postural task is executed in an automatic way. However, in situations where postural control requires more central processing, cognitive resources may be exceeded by the addition of an attentionally demanding task. This may lead to interference between the two tasks, manifested in a decreased performance in one or both tasks (dual-task costs). Owing to changes in attentional demands of postural tasks as well as processing capacities across the lifespan, it might be assumed that dual-task costs are particularly pronounced in children and older adults probably leading to a U-shaped pattern for dual-task costs as a function of age. However, these changes in the ability of dual-tasking posture from childhood to old age have not yet been systematically reviewed. Therefore, Web of Science and PubMed databases were searched for studies comparing dual-task performance with one task being standing or walking in healthy groups of young adults and either children or older adults. Seventy-nine studies met inclusion criteria. For older adults, the expected increase in dual-task costs could be confirmed. In contrast, in children there was only feeble evidence for a trend towards enlarged dual-task costs. More good-quality studies comparing dual-task ability in children, young, and, ideally, also older adults within the same paradigm are needed to draw unambiguous conclusions about lifespan development of dual-task performance in postural tasks. There is evidence that, in older adults, dual-task performance can be improved by training. For the other age groups, these effects have yet to be investigated.

  4. Testing the membrane paradigm with holography

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Boer, J.; Heller, M.P.; Pinzani-Fokeeva, N.

    2015-01-01

    One version of the membrane paradigm states that, as far as outside observers are concerned, black holes can be replaced by a dissipative membrane with simple physical properties located at the stretched horizon. We demonstrate that such a membrane paradigm is incomplete in several aspects. We argue

  5. Autonomous vehicles: from paradigms to technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ionita, Silviu

    2017-10-01

    Mobility is a basic necessity of contemporary society and it is a key factor in global economic development. The basic requirements for the transport of people and goods are: safety and duration of travel, but also a number of additional criteria are very important: energy saving, pollution, passenger comfort. Due to advances in hardware and software, automation has penetrated massively in transport systems both on infrastructure and on vehicles, but man is still the key element in vehicle driving. However, the classic concept of ‘human-in-the-loop’ in terms of ‘hands on’ in driving the cars is competing aside from the self-driving startups working towards so-called ‘Level 4 autonomy’, which is defined as “a self-driving system that does not requires human intervention in most scenarios”. In this paper, a conceptual synthesis of the autonomous vehicle issue is made in connection with the artificial intelligence paradigm. It presents a classification of the tasks that take place during the driving of the vehicle and its modeling from the perspective of traditional control engineering and artificial intelligence. The issue of autonomous vehicle management is addressed on three levels: navigation, movement in traffic, respectively effective maneuver and vehicle dynamics control. Each level is then described in terms of specific tasks, such as: route selection, planning and reconfiguration, recognition of traffic signs and reaction to signaling and traffic events, as well as control of effective speed, distance and direction. The approach will lead to a better understanding of the way technology is moving when talking about autonomous cars, smart/intelligent cars or intelligent transport systems. Keywords: self-driving vehicle, artificial intelligence, deep learning, intelligent transport systems.

  6. Investigating the relationship between media multitasking and processes involved in task-switching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alzahabi, Reem; Becker, Mark W; Hambrick, David Z

    2017-11-01

    Although multitasking with media has increased dramatically in recent years (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010), the association between media multitasking and cognitive performance is poorly understood. In addition, the literature on the relationship between media multitasking and task-switching, one measure of cognitive control, has produced mixed results (Alzahabi & Becker, 2013; Minear et al., 2013; Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009). Here we use an individual differences approach to investigate the relationship between media multitasking and task-switching performance by first examining the structure of task-switching and identifying the latent factors that contribute to switch costs. Participants performed a series of 3 different task-switching paradigms, each designed to isolate the effects of a specific putative mechanism (e.g., advanced preparation) related to task-switching performance, as well as a series of surveys to measure media multitasking and intelligence. The results suggest that task-switching performance is related to 2 somewhat independent factors, namely an advanced preparation factor and passive decay factor. In addition, multitasking with media was related to a faster ability to prepare for tasks, resulting in faster task-switching performance without a cost to accuracy. Media multitasking and intelligence were both unrelated to passive decay factors. These findings are consistent with a 2-component model of task-switching (Sohn & Anderson, 2001), as well as an automatic/executive framework of cognitive control (Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  7. The Attentional Dependence of Emotion Cognition is Variable with the Competing Task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng Chen

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between emotion and attention has fascinated researchers for decades. Many previous studies have used eye-tracking, ERP, MEG and fMRI to explore this issue but have reached different conclusions: some researchers hold that emotion cognition is an automatic process and independent of attention, while some others believed that emotion cognition is modulated by attentional resources and is a type of controlled processing. The present research aimed to investigate this controversy, and we hypothesized that the attentional dependence of emotion cognition is variable with the competing task. Eye-tracking technology and a dual-task paradigm were adopted, and subjects’ attention was manipulated to fixate at the central task to investigate whether subjects could detect the emotional faces presented in the peripheral area with a decrease or near-absence of attention. The results revealed that when the peripheral task was emotional face discrimination but the central attention-demanding task was different, subjects performed well in the peripheral task, which means that emotional information can be processed in parallel with other stimuli, and there may be a specific channel in the human brain for processing emotional information. However, when the central and peripheral tasks were both emotional face discrimination, subjects could not perform well in the peripheral task, indicating that the processing of emotional information required attentional resources and that it is a type of controlled processing. Therefore, we concluded that the attentional dependence of emotion cognition varied with the competing task.

  8. The Consumption Paradigm in Marketing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eka Ardianto

    2003-08-01

    Full Text Available This article elaborates consumption paradigm in marketing. In background, this paper reviews different perspectives of consumption: economic perspective and marketing perspective. In ontology, this work describes various issues regarding consumption view. In epistemology, this article demonstrates how marketers especially researches explore the consumption phenomena. In methodology, the article describes experiential marketing –one of applied consumption paradigm in marketing, which could be an alternative choice of marketing practices.

  9. Dissociable processes underlying decisions in the Iowa Gambling Task: a new integrative framework

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Napoli Antonio

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT is a common paradigm used to study the interactions between emotions and decision making, yet little consensus exists on the cognitive process determining participants' decisions, what affects them, and how these processes interact with each other. A novel conceptual framework is proposed according to which behavior in the IGT reflects a balance between two dissociable processes; a cognitively demanding process that tracks each option's long-term payoff, and a lower-level, automatic process that is primarily sensitive to loss frequency and magnitude. Methods A behavioral experiment was carried out with a modified version of IGT. In this modified version, participants went through an additional phase of interaction, designed to measure performance without further learning, in which no feedback on individual decisions was given. A secondary distractor task was presented in either the first or the second phase of the experiment. Behavioral measures of performance tracking both payoff and frequency sensitivity in choices were collected throughout the experiment. Results Consistent with our framework, the results confirmed that: (a the two competing cognitive processes can be dissociated; (b that learning from decision outcomes requires central cognitive resources to estimate long-term payoff; and (c that the decision phase itself can be carried out during an interfering task once learning has occurred. Conclusion The experimental results support our novel description of the cognitive processes underlying performance in the Iowa Gambling Task. They also suggest that patients' impairments in this and other gambling paradigms can originate from a number of different causes, including a failure in allocating resources among cognitive strategies. This latter interpretation might be particularly useful in explaining the impairments of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions and, by extension

  10. Inferior parietal and right frontal contributions to trial-by-trial adaptations of attention to memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kizilirmak, Jasmin M; Rösler, Frank; Bien, Siegfried; Khader, Patrick H

    2015-07-21

    The attention to memory theory (AtoM) proposes that the same brain regions might be involved in selective processing of perceived stimuli (selective attention) and memory representations (selective retrieval). Although this idea is compelling, given consistently found neural overlap between perceiving and remembering stimuli, recent comparisons brought evidence for overlap as well as considerable differences. Here, we present a paradigm that enables the investigation of the AtoM hypothesis from a novel perspective to gain further insight into the neural resources involved in AtoM. Selective attention in perception is often investigated as a control process that shows lingering effects on immediately following trials. Here, we employed a paradigm capable of modulating selective retrieval in a similarly dynamic manner as in such selective-attention paradigms by inducing trial-to-trial shifts between relevant and irrelevant memory representations as well as changes of the width of the internal focus on memory. We found evidence for an involvement of bilateral inferior parietal lobe and right inferior frontal gyrus in reorienting the attentional focus on previously accessed memory representations. Moreover, we could dissociate the right inferior from the parietal activation in separate contrasts, suggesting that the right inferior frontal gyrus plays a role in facilitating attentional reorienting to memory representations when competing representations have been activated in the preceding trial, potentially by resolving this competition. Our results support the AtoM theory, i.e. that ventral frontal and parietal regions are involved in automatic attentional reorienting in memory, and highlight the importance of further investigations of the overlap and differences between regions involved in internal (memory) and external (perceptual) attentional selection. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Persistence motives in irrational decisions to complete a boring task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halkjelsvik, Torleif; Rise, Jostein

    2015-01-01

    We explored a novel task paradigm where participants from the online work marketplace Amazon Mechanical Turk were given the choice to quit or continue an unfinished boring task for identical economic rewards. In Studies 1a and 1b, about half the participants chose to continue (corresponding to an average of 55 and 35 cents in foregone earnings). Participants' self-reported reasons for continuing involved various types of persistence motives, reflecting a desire to persist or complete per se. Studies 2, 3a, 3b, and 3c ruled out the possibility that people continued because they enjoyed the task or believed there were additional rewards for continuing. Study 4 showed that the choice to quit/continue was associated with the manner in which the choice was presented (persistence test vs. decision-making test) and individual differences in dispositional persistence motives. The present data indicate that motivational forces independent of the focal reward may affect intertemporal decisions. © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

  12. A Male Advantage for Spatial and Object but Not Verbal Working Memory Using the N-Back Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lejbak, Lisa; Crossley, Margaret; Vrbancic, Mirna

    2011-01-01

    Sex-related differences have been reported for performance and neural substrates on some working memory measures that carry a high cognitive load, including the popular n-back neuroimaging paradigm. Despite some evidence of a sex effect on the task, the influence of sex on performance represents a potential confound in neuroimaging research. The…

  13. Ontogenetic effects on gazing behaviour: a case study of kennel dogs (Labrador Retrievers) in the impossible task paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Aniello, Biagio; Scandurra, Anna

    2016-05-01

    Life experiences and living conditions can influence the problem-solving strategies and the communicative abilities of dogs with humans. The goals of this study were to determine any behavioural differences between Labrador Retrievers living in a kennel and those living in a house as pets and to assess whether kennel dogs show preferences in social behaviours for their caretaker relative to a stranger when they are faced with an unsolvable task. Nine Labrador Retrievers living in a kennel from birth and ten Labrador Retrievers living in a family as pets were tested. The experimental procedure consisted of three "solvable" tasks in which the dogs could easily retrieve food from a container followed by an "unsolvable" task in which the container was hermetically locked. Dogs of both groups spent the same amount of time interacting with the experimental apparatus. Kennel dogs gazed towards people for less time and with higher latency than pet dogs; however, there were no significant preferences in gazing towards the stranger versus the caretaker in both groups. These findings demonstrated that kennel dogs are less prone to use human-directed gazing behaviour when they are faced with an unsolvable problem, taking the humans into account to solve a task less than do the pet dogs.

  14. The role of motivation, glucose and self-control in the antisaccade task.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claire L Kelly

    Full Text Available Research shows that self-control is resource limited and there is a gradual weakening in consecutive self-control task performance akin to muscle fatigue. A body of evidence suggests that the resource is glucose and consuming glucose reduces this effect. This study examined the effect of glucose on performance in the antisaccade task - which requires self-control through generating a voluntary eye movement away from a target - following self-control exertion in the Stroop task. The effects of motivation and individual differences in self-control were also explored. In a double-blind design, 67 young healthy adults received a 25g glucose or inert placebo drink. Glucose did not enhance antisaccade performance following self-control exertion in the Stroop task. Motivation however, predicted performance on the antisaccade task; more specifically high motivation ameliorated performance decrements observed after initial self-control exertion. In addition, individuals with high levels of self-control performed better on certain aspects of the antisaccade task after administration of a glucose drink. The results of this study suggest that the antisaccade task might be a powerful paradigm, which could be used as a more objective measure of self-control. Moreover, the results indicate that level of motivation and individual differences in self-control should be taken into account when investigating deficiencies in self-control following prior exertion.

  15. The anger-infused Ultimatum Game: A reliable and valid paradigm to induce and assess anger.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilam, Gadi; Abend, Rany; Shani, Hagai; Ben-Zion, Ziv; Hendler, Talma

    2018-03-22

    The Ultimatum Game (UG) is a canonical social decision-making task whereby a proposer divides a sum of money between himself and a responder who accepts or rejects the offer. Studies consistently demonstrate that unfair offers induce anger, and that rejecting such offers relates to aggression. Nevertheless, the UG is limited in interpersonal provocations common to real-life experiences of anger. Moreover, the psychometric properties of the UG as an anger-induction paradigm have yet to be evaluated. Here, to induce a more intense and genuine anger experience, we implemented a modified UG whereby short written provocations congruent with unfairness levels accompanied each offer. We aimed to test whether this anger-infused UG led to more anger and aggressive responses relative to the standard UG and to establish the reliability and validity of both versions. Participants performed either the anger-infused UG or a standard version, repeated twice, a week apart. They also performed the Taylor Aggression Paradigm, a reactive aggression paradigm, and completed emotion ratings and a trait anger inventory. Results indicate similar decreases in acceptance rates with increase in offer unfairness, and increases in reported anger, across both UG versions. Both versions demonstrated strong test-retest reliability. However, the anger-infused UG led to significantly stronger relations with reactive aggression and trait anger compared to the standard UG, providing evidence for better validity. The development of the anger-infused UG as a reliable and valid paradigm is pivotal for the induction and assessment of interpersonal anger and its aggressive expression in basic and clinical research settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  16. X-ray circular magnetic dichroism as a probe of spin reorientation transitions in Nd2Fe14B and Er2Fe14B systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaboy, J.; Marcelli, A.; Garcia, L.M.; Bartolome, J.; Kuz'min, M.D.; Maruyama, H.; Kobayashi, K.; Kawata, H.; Iwazumi, T.

    1995-01-01

    We present the first experimental observation of spin reorientation phase transitions (SRT) with the X-Ray circular magnetic dichroism (XCMD) technique. Both the first-order SRT in Er 2 Fe 14 B and the second-order one in Nd 2 Fe 14 B have been clearly detected, demonstrating the feasibility of this technique for studying SRTs. ((orig.))

  17. The scopolamine-reversal paradigm in rats and monkeys: the importance of computer-assisted operant-conditioning memory tasks for screening drug candidates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buccafusco, Jerry J; Terry, Alvin V; Webster, Scott J; Martin, Daniel; Hohnadel, Elizabeth J; Bouchard, Kristy A; Warner, Samantha E

    2008-08-01

    The scopolamine-reversal model is enjoying a resurgence of interest in clinical studies as a reversible pharmacological model for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The cognitive impairment associated with scopolamine is similar to that in AD. The scopolamine model is not simply a cholinergic model, as it can be reversed by drugs that are noncholinergic cognition-enhancing agents. The objective of the study was to determine relevance of computer-assisted operant-conditioning tasks in the scopolamine-reversal model in rats and monkeys. Rats were evaluated for their acquisition of a spatial reference memory task in the Morris water maze. A separate cohort was proficient in performance of an automated delayed stimulus discrimination task (DSDT). Rhesus monkeys were proficient in the performance of an automated delayed matching-to-sample task (DMTS). The AD drug donepezil was evaluated for its ability to reverse the decrements in accuracy induced by scopolamine administration in all three tasks. In the DSDT and DMTS tasks, the effects of donepezil were delay (retention interval)-dependent, affecting primarily short delay trials. Donepezil produced significant but partial reversals of the scopolamine-induced impairment in task accuracies after 2 mg/kg in the water maze, after 1 mg/kg in the DSDT, and after 50 microg/kg in the DMTS task. The two operant-conditioning tasks (DSDT and DMTS) provided data most in keeping with those reported in clinical studies with these drugs. The model applied to nonhuman primates provides an excellent transitional model for new cognition-enhancing drugs before clinical trials.

  18. Composite paradigms in medicine: analysing Gillies' claim of reclassification of disease without paradigm shift in the case of Helicobacter pylori.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutton, Joseph

    2012-09-01

    Since the publication of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1962, the notion of paradigms has shaped the way that philosophy views scientific discovery and how changes in what is regarded as empirical fact occur. This drew heavily on examples from the history of the natural sciences to support Kuhn's hypothesis. However, some argue that medicine is different from the natural sciences. Gillies has proposed another theory of how paradigms apply to medicine; that of composite paradigms. In doing so, Gillies uses the example of Helicobacter pylori and the shift from the excess-acid theory to the current bacterial-infection theory of gastric ulcers to illustrate these fundamental differences between medicine and the natural sciences. Upon analysis of Gillies' claim, it is evident that traditional Kuhnian paradigms are also composite and that the manner in which Gillies proposes disease is classified is insufficient in describing medicine. Furthermore, new local paradigms are demonstrably introduced and the change was accompanied by many of the markers of paradigmatic change including changes in worldview, resistance, incommensurability and the introduction of new questions that could not have existed under the previous paradigm. Whilst this change may not be on the scale of the Chemical revolution, it can still be considered paradigm shift. Thagard also proposes an alternate view of discovery using the case of H. pylori. This has much in common with Kuhnian paradigms but Thagard's theory offers further elucidation and refinement. This allows it to better characterise all of the associated features of discovery relevant in the case of H. pylori, thus provides a preferable tool for examination of this important recent discovery. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Transport Task Force workshop: basic experiments highlights

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linford, R.K. (Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)); Luckhardt, S. (Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (USA)); Lyon, J.F. (Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)); Navratil, G.A. (Columbia Univ., New York, NY (USA)); Schoenberg, K.F. (Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA))

    1990-01-01

    Selected topics are summarized from the Basic Experiments session of the Transport Task Force Workshop held August 21-24, 1989, in San Diego, California. This session included presentations on paradigm experiments, stellarators, reversed-field pinches, and advanced tokamaks. Recent advances in all of these areas illustrate the importance of these experiments in advancing our understanding of toroidal transport. Progress has been made in measuring the details of particle diffusion, isolating specific modes, measuring fluctuation variations with field geometry and beta, and comparing all these with theoretical predictions. The development of experimental tools for determining which fluctuations dominate transport are also reported. Continued significant advances are anticipated in a number of areas highlighted. (author).

  20. Transport Task Force workshop: basic experiments highlights

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Linford, R.K.; Luckhardt, S.; Lyon, J.F.; Navratil, G.A.; Schoenberg, K.F.

    1990-01-01

    Selected topics are summarized from the Basic Experiments session of the Transport Task Force Workshop held August 21-24, 1989, in San Diego, California. This session included presentations on paradigm experiments, stellarators, reversed-field pinches, and advanced tokamaks. Recent advances in all of these areas illustrate the importance of these experiments in advancing our understanding of toroidal transport. Progress has been made in measuring the details of particle diffusion, isolating specific modes, measuring fluctuation variations with field geometry and beta, and comparing all these with theoretical predictions. The development of experimental tools for determining which fluctuations dominate transport are also reported. Continued significant advances are anticipated in a number of areas highlighted. (author)

  1. Singing numbers…in cognitive space--a dual-task study of the link between pitch, space, and numbers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Martin H; Riello, Marianna; Giordano, Bruno L; Rusconi, Elena

    2013-04-01

    We assessed the automaticity of spatial-numerical and spatial-musical associations by testing their intentionality and load sensitivity in a dual-task paradigm. In separate sessions, 16 healthy adults performed magnitude and pitch comparisons on sung numbers with variable pitch. Stimuli and response alternatives were identical, but the relevant stimulus attribute (pitch or number) differed between tasks. Concomitant tasks required retention of either color or location information. Results show that spatial associations of both magnitude and pitch are load sensitive and that the spatial association for pitch is more powerful than that for magnitude. These findings argue against the automaticity of spatial mappings in either stimulus dimension. Copyright © 2013 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  2. Innovative technological paradigm-based approach towards biofuel feedstock

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Jiuping; Li, Meihui

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • DAS was developed through an innovative approach towards literature mining and technological paradigm theory. • A novel concept of biofuel feedstock development paradigm (BFDP) is proposed. • The biofuel production diffusion velocity model gives predictions for the future. • Soft path appears to be the driving force for the new paradigm shift. • An integrated biofuel production feedstock system is expected to play a significant role in a low-carbon sustainable future. - Abstract: Biofuels produced from renewable energy biomass are playing a more significant role because of the environmental problems resulting from the use of fossil fuels. However, a major problem with biofuel production is that despite the range of feedstock that can be used, raw material availability varies considerably. By combining a series of theories and methods, the research objective of this study is to determine the current developments and the future trends in biofuel feedstock. By combining technological paradigm theory with literature mining, it was found that biofuel feedstock production development followed a three-stage trajectory, which was in accordance with the traditional technological paradigm – the S-curve. This new curve can be divided into BFDP (biofuel feedstock development paradigm) competition, BFDP diffusion, and BFDP shift. The biofuel production diffusion velocity model showed that there has been constant growth from 2000, with the growth rate reaching a peak in 2008, after which time it began to drop. Biofuel production worldwide is expected to remain unchanged until 2030 when a paradigm shift is expected. This study also illustrates the results of our innovative procedure – a combination of the data analysis system and the technological paradigm theory – for the present biofuel feedstock soft path that will lead to this paradigm shift, with integrated biofuel production feedstock systems expected to be a significant new trend.

  3. Hit or Run: Exploring Aggressive and Avoidant Reactions to Interpersonal Provocation Using a Novel Fight-or-Escape Paradigm (FOE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frederike Beyer

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Interpersonal provocation presents an approach-avoidance conflict to the provoked person: responding aggressively might yield the joy of retribution, whereas withdrawal can provide safety. Experimental aggression studies typically measure only retaliation intensity, neglecting whether individuals want to confront the provocateur at all. To overcome this shortcoming of previous measures, we developed and validated the Fight-or-Escape paradigm (FOE. The FOE is a competitive reaction time (RT task in which the winner can choose the volume of a sound blast to be directed at his/her opponent. Participants face two ostensible opponents who consistently select either high or low punishments. At the beginning of each trial, subjects are given the chance to avoid the encounter for a limited number of times. In a first experiment (n = 27, all women, we found that fear potentiation (FP of the startle response was related to lower scores in a composite measure of aggression and avoidance against the provoking opponent. In a second experiment (n = 34, 13 men, we altered the paradigm such that participants faced the opponents in alternating rather than in random order. Participants completed the FOE as well as the Dot-Probe Task (DPT and the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT. Subjects with higher approach bias scores in the AAT avoided the provoking opponent less frequently. Hence, individuals with high threat reactivity and low approach motivation displayed more avoidant responses to provocation, whereas participants high in approach motivation were more likely to engage in aggressive interactions when provoked. The FOE is thus a promising laboratory measure of avoidance and aggression.

  4. Hit or Run: Exploring Aggressive and Avoidant Reactions to Interpersonal Provocation Using a Novel Fight-or-Escape Paradigm (FOE).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beyer, Frederike; Buades-Rotger, Macià; Claes, Marie; Krämer, Ulrike M

    2017-01-01

    Interpersonal provocation presents an approach-avoidance conflict to the provoked person: responding aggressively might yield the joy of retribution, whereas withdrawal can provide safety. Experimental aggression studies typically measure only retaliation intensity, neglecting whether individuals want to confront the provocateur at all. To overcome this shortcoming of previous measures, we developed and validated the Fight-or-Escape paradigm (FOE). The FOE is a competitive reaction time (RT) task in which the winner can choose the volume of a sound blast to be directed at his/her opponent. Participants face two ostensible opponents who consistently select either high or low punishments. At the beginning of each trial, subjects are given the chance to avoid the encounter for a limited number of times. In a first experiment ( n = 27, all women), we found that fear potentiation (FP) of the startle response was related to lower scores in a composite measure of aggression and avoidance against the provoking opponent. In a second experiment ( n = 34, 13 men), we altered the paradigm such that participants faced the opponents in alternating rather than in random order. Participants completed the FOE as well as the Dot-Probe Task (DPT) and the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). Subjects with higher approach bias scores in the AAT avoided the provoking opponent less frequently. Hence, individuals with high threat reactivity and low approach motivation displayed more avoidant responses to provocation, whereas participants high in approach motivation were more likely to engage in aggressive interactions when provoked. The FOE is thus a promising laboratory measure of avoidance and aggression.

  5. Strain differences in ethanol preference and reinforced behaviour: a comparison of two-bottle choice and operant self-administration paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, A W; Neill, J C; Costall, B

    1997-02-01

    An animal's volitional consumption of ethanol may be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. In addition, genetic control of ethanol intake may depend on the test paradigm used. In the present study, performance for, and intake of ethanol in a limited access oral operant paradigm, and preference for ethanol in a two-bottle free choice test in the home-cage were compared in female rats of the heterogeneous Sprague Dawley (SD) and inbred Lewis strains. A smaller proportion of SD rats reached criterion on the self-administration task (four of 10 SD vs eight of 10 Lewis), but those SD rats that did achieve criterion maintained higher levels of responding and greater ethanol intake, relative to the Lewis strain, in the operant self-administration paradigm. Additionally, SD but not Lewis rats exhibited increased locomotor activity and an increase in performance for ethanol compared with water. In marked contrast, Lewis rats exhibited a greater preference for 10% ethanol over water in the two-bottle choice test compared with the SD strain, which preferred water to ethanol. These results suggest that both genotype and test paradigm are involved in the extent to which ethanol serves as a positive reinforcer and that unlike two-bottle choice preference tests, self-administration studies are more highly predictive of the reinforcing properties of ethanol.

  6. The Underlying Social Dynamics of Paradigm Shifts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez-Sickert, Carlos; Cosmelli, Diego; Claro, Francisco; Fuentes, Miguel Angel

    2015-01-01

    We develop here a multi-agent model of the creation of knowledge (scientific progress or technological evolution) within a community of researchers devoted to such endeavors. In the proposed model, agents learn in a physical-technological landscape, and weight is attached to both individual search and social influence. We find that the combination of these two forces together with random experimentation can account for both i) marginal change, that is, periods of normal science or refinements on the performance of a given technology (and in which the community stays in the neighborhood of the current paradigm); and ii) radical change, which takes the form of scientific paradigm shifts (or discontinuities in the structure of performance of a technology) that is observed as a swift migration of the knowledge community towards the new and superior paradigm. The efficiency of the search process is heavily dependent on the weight that agents posit on social influence. The occurrence of a paradigm shift becomes more likely when each member of the community attaches a small but positive weight to the experience of his/her peers. For this parameter region, nevertheless, a conservative force is exerted by the representatives of the current paradigm. However, social influence is not strong enough to seriously hamper individual discovery, and can act so as to empower successful individual pioneers who have conquered the new and superior paradigm.

  7. The string-pulling paradigm in comparative psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Ivo F; Osvath, Mathias

    2015-05-01

    String pulling is one of the most widely used paradigms in comparative psychology. First documented 2 millennia ago, it has been a well-established scientific paradigm for a century. More than 160 bird and mammal species have been tested in over 200 studies with countless methodological variations. The paradigm can be used to address a wide variety of issues on animal cognition; for example, what animals understand about contact and connection as well as whether they rely on perceptual feedback, grasp the functionality of strings, generalize across conditions, apply their knowledge flexibly, and possess insight. Mammals are typically tested on a horizontal configuration, birds on a vertical one, making the studies difficult to compare; in particular, pulling a string vertically requires better coordination and attention. A species' performance on the paradigm is often influenced by its ecology, especially concerning whether limbs are used for foraging. Many other factors can be of importance and should be considered. The string-pulling paradigm is easy to administer, vary, and apply to investigate a wide array of cognitive abilities. Although it can be and has been used to compare species, divergent methods and unclear reporting have limited its comparative utility. With increasing research standards, the paradigm is expected to become an even more fundamental tool in comparative psychology. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  8. The Underlying Social Dynamics of Paradigm Shifts.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Rodriguez-Sickert

    Full Text Available We develop here a multi-agent model of the creation of knowledge (scientific progress or technological evolution within a community of researchers devoted to such endeavors. In the proposed model, agents learn in a physical-technological landscape, and weight is attached to both individual search and social influence. We find that the combination of these two forces together with random experimentation can account for both i marginal change, that is, periods of normal science or refinements on the performance of a given technology (and in which the community stays in the neighborhood of the current paradigm; and ii radical change, which takes the form of scientific paradigm shifts (or discontinuities in the structure of performance of a technology that is observed as a swift migration of the knowledge community towards the new and superior paradigm. The efficiency of the search process is heavily dependent on the weight that agents posit on social influence. The occurrence of a paradigm shift becomes more likely when each member of the community attaches a small but positive weight to the experience of his/her peers. For this parameter region, nevertheless, a conservative force is exerted by the representatives of the current paradigm. However, social influence is not strong enough to seriously hamper individual discovery, and can act so as to empower successful individual pioneers who have conquered the new and superior paradigm.

  9. A knowledge-centered paradigm for operations and design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perin, C.

    2005-01-01

    A paradigm premised on the reactor design basis and on its systems, structures, and components also governs nuclear power plant operations. This machine-centered paradigm emphasizes a functional and discipline-based division of responsibilities, which can create hierarchical 'silos' and 'stovepipes' inhibiting the development and lateral exchange of knowledge about safety-critical system interactions. A knowledge-centered paradigm instead encourages the timely development, analysis, and exchange of information about system conditions and their likely consequences. This new paradigm puts operational focus on the importance of operating experience, informative root cause analyses, effective corrective actions, and cross-discipline exchange and cooperation. Although the knowledge-centered paradigm is already central to three main strategies of risk reduction, it is less likely to be recognized as such in terms of priorities, resources, and training: configuration control, control room operations, and root cause analysis. To maintain the capacity for safe shutdown and to preserve public trust, the knowledge-centered paradigm places as high a priority on interactions of safety-critical knowledge as it does on interactions of safety-critical systems, structures, and components. (author)

  10. Active training paradigm for motor imagery BCI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Junhua; Zhang, Liqing

    2012-06-01

    Brain-computer interface (BCI) allows the use of brain activities for people to directly communicate with the external world or to control external devices without participation of any peripheral nerves and muscles. Motor imagery is one of the most popular modes in the research field of brain-computer interface. Although motor imagery BCI has some advantages compared with other modes of BCI, such as asynchronization, it is necessary to require training sessions before using it. The performance of trained BCI system depends on the quality of training samples or the subject engagement. In order to improve training effect and decrease training time, we proposed a new paradigm where subjects participated in training more actively than in the traditional paradigm. In the traditional paradigm, a cue (to indicate what kind of motor imagery should be imagined during the current trial) is given to the subject at the beginning of a trial or during a trial, and this cue is also used as a label for this trial. It is usually assumed that labels for trials are accurate in the traditional paradigm, although subjects may not have performed the required or correct kind of motor imagery, and trials may thus be mislabeled. And then those mislabeled trials give rise to interference during model training. In our proposed paradigm, the subject is required to reconfirm the label and can correct the label when necessary. This active training paradigm may generate better training samples with fewer inconsistent labels because it overcomes mistakes when subject's motor imagination does not match the given cues. The experiments confirm that our proposed paradigm achieves better performance; the improvement is significant according to statistical analysis.

  11. Paradigm Shift in Language Teaching and Language Teacher Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elaine Ferreira do Vale Borges

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In this article, I intend to conduct a short literature review and discussion about paradigm shift in language teaching and language teacher education from Cartesian to the complexity paradigm. For that, I use the Kuhnian notion of scientific revolution to present a short compilation of works related to paradigm shift in different sciences, including psychology, linguistics and, more emphatically, applied linguistics. The main proposal is to show the evolutions of paradigm shift in language and social sciences and its impact on the emergence of the complexity paradigm in language teaching and language teacher education fields.

  12. The effect of NMDA-NR2B receptor subunit over-expression on olfactory memory task performance in the mouse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Theresa L; Youngentob, Steven L

    2004-09-17

    The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in the forebrain is thought to modulate some forms of memory formation, with the NR2B subunit being particularly relevant to this process. Relative to wild-type mice, transgenic animals in which the NR2B subunit was over-expressed demonstrate superior memory in a number of behavioral tasks, including object recognition [Nature 401 (1999) 63]. The purpose of the present study was to explore the generality of such phenomena, interpreted as the effect of increasing NR2B expression on the retention of other types of sensory-related information. To accomplish this, we focused our evaluation on the highly salient sensory modality of olfaction. In the first experiment, mice performed both a novel-object-recognition task identical to that performed by Tang et al. [Nature 401 (1999) 63] and a novel-odor-recognition task analogously constructed. Although the results of the object recognition task were consistent with the previous literature, there was no evidence of an effect of NR2B over-expression on the retention of odor recognition memory in the specific task performed. As it was possible that, unlike object recognition memory, novel odor recognition is not NMDA-receptor-dependent, a second task was designed using the social transmission of food preference paradigm. In contrast to the foregoing olfactory task, there is evidence that the latter procedure is, indeed, NMDA-dependent. The results of the second study demonstrated that transgenic mice with NR2B over-expression had a clear memory advantage in this alternative odor memory paradigm. Taken together, these results suggest the NR2B subunit is an important component in some but not all forms of olfactory memory organization. Moreover, for those functions that are NMDA-receptor-dependent, these data support the growing literature demonstrating the importance of the NR2B subunit.

  13. The corrective effects of warning on false memories in the DRM paradigm are limited to full attention conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters, Maarten J V; Jelicic, Marko; Gorski, Benny; Sijstermans, Kevin; Giesbrecht, Timo; Merckelbach, Harald

    2008-10-01

    Effects of attention control and forewarning on the activation and monitoring of experimentally induced false memories in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm were investigated in a young adult sample (N=77). We found that reducing the degree of attention during encoding led to a decrease in veridical recall and an increase in non-presented critical lure intrusions. This effect could not be counteracted by a forewarning instruction. However, these findings did not emerge in a (retrieval supportive) recognition task. It seems that divided attention increases false recall when attention control and forewarning have to compete for limited cognitive resources in a generative free recall as opposed to a retrieval supportive recognition task. Forewarning instructions do not always protect young adults against experimentally induced false memories.

  14. What Is Game-Based Learning? Past, Present, and Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jan, Mingfong; Gaydos, Matthew

    2016-01-01

    This article aims at clarifying and conceptualizing game-based learning (GBL) in order to pinpoint directions for practices and research. The authors maintain that GBL should be conceptualized toward the transformation of a textbook-learning culture. The authors emphasize the importance of a paradigm shift in learning and a reorientation in…

  15. About hypotheses and paradigms: exploring the Discreetness-Chance Paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaellis, Eugene

    2006-01-01

    Hypotheses generally conform to paradigms which, over time, change, usually tardily, after they have become increasingly difficult to sustain under the impact of non-conforming evidence and alternative hypotheses, but more important, when they no longer are comfortably ensconced in the surrounding social-economic-political-cultural milieu. It is asserted that this milieu is the most important factor in shaping scientific theorizing. Some examples are cited: the rejection of the evidence that the world orbits around the sun (suspected by Pythagoras) in favor of centuries-long firm adherence to the Ptolemaic geocentric system; the early acceptance of Natural Selection in spite of its tautological essence and only conjectural supporting evidence, because it justified contemporaneous social-political ideologies as typified by, e.g., Spencer and Malthus. Economic, social, and cultural factors are cited as providing the ground, i.e., ideational substrate, for what is cited as the Discreetness-Chance Paradigm (DCP), that has increasingly dominated physics, biology, and medicine for over a century and which invokes small, discrete packets of energy/matter (quanta, genes, microorganisms, aberrant cells) functioning within an environment of statistical, not determined, causality. There is speculation on a possible paradigmatic shift from the DCP, which has fostered the proliferation, parallel with ("splitting") taxonomy, of alleged individual disease entities, their diagnoses, and, when available, their specific remedies, something particularly prominent in, e.g., psychiatry's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, a codified compendium of alleged mental and behavioral disorders, but evident in any textbook of diagnosis and treatment of physical ailments. This presumed paradigm shift may be reflected in Western medicine, presently increasingly empirical and atomized, towards a growing acceptance of a more generalized, subject-oriented, approach to health and disease, a non

  16. The emotional and attitudinal consequences of religious hypocrisy: experimental evidence using a cognitive dissonance paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yousaf, Omar; Gobet, Fernand

    2013-01-01

    We explored the emotional and attitudinal consequences of personal attitude-behavior discrepancies using a religious version of the hypocrisy paradigm. We induced cognitive dissonance in participants (n = 206) by making them feel hypocritical for advocating certain religious behaviors that they had not recently engaged in to their own satisfaction. In Experiment 1, this resulted in higher levels of self-reported guilt and shame compared to the control condition. Experiment 2 further showed that a religious self-affirmation task eliminated the guilt and shame. In Experiment 3, participants boosted their religious attitudes as a result of dissonance, and both religious and non-religious self-affirmation tasks eliminated this effect. The findings provide evidence that dissonance induced through religious hypocrisy can result in guilt and shame as well as an attitude bolstering effect, as opposed to the attitude reconciliation effect that is prevalent in previous dissonance research.

  17. Revisiting System Paradigms from the Viewpoint of Manufacturing Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhuming Bi

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available A system paradigm is an abstract representation of system; it includes system architecture used to determine the types and numbers of components and their relations in the system. The design of system paradigm relies on customers’ requirements and the characteristics of the manufacturing environment. Many system paradigms and design guidelines have been proposed for a variety of customers’ needs including functions, cost, quality, personalization, and lead time of products. However, the consideration of sustainability becomes essential to today’s manufacturing systems; a new challenge is how to evolve existing paradigms to accommodate the requirements of sustainability. In contrast to ample research activities on system paradigms in past decades, recent studies on system paradigms have been restricted, partially due to unclear research directions. Limited works can be found on conceiving new manufacturing system paradigms from the perspective of sustainability; most of the related literature concerns the new requirements of sustainability. The objectives of this work are (i to examine the requirements of manufacturing systems in a wider scope; (ii to revisit existing paradigms to clarify their limitations and bottlenecks; and eventually (iii to identify some research directions, which will lead to a solution of sustainable manufacturing. To achieve these objectives, firstly, a brief description of today’s manufacturing environment is provided. Secondly, the requirements of sustainability are discussed, and the relevant researches on system sustainability are surveyed. Thirdly, the reconfigurable system paradigm is focused, and the gaps between a reconfigurable manufacturing system and a sustainable manufacturing system are discussed. Finally, the future endeavors towards to the next-generation manufacturing system paradigms are discussed.

  18. Vascular access surveillance: case study of a false paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paulson, William D; Moist, Louise; Lok, Charmaine E

    2013-01-01

    The hemodialysis vascular access surveillance controversy provides a case study of how enthusiasm for a new test or treatment can lead to adoption of a false paradigm. Paradigms are the beliefs and assumptions shared by those in a field of knowledge, and are commonly included in clinical practice guidelines. The guidelines of the National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative recommend that arteriovenous vascular accesses undergo routine surveillance for detection and correction of stenosis. This recommendation is based on the paradigm that surveillance of access blood flow or dialysis venous pressure combined with correction of stenosis improves access outcomes. However, the quality of evidence that supports this paradigm has been widely criticized. We tested the validity of the surveillance paradigm by applying World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for evaluating screening tests to a literature review of published vascular access studies. These criteria include four components: undesired condition, screening test, intervention, and desired outcome. The WHO criteria show that surveillance as currently practiced fails all four components and provides little or no significant benefit, suggesting that surveillance is a false paradigm. Once a paradigm is established, however, challenges to its validity are usually resisted even as new evidence indicates the paradigm is not valid. Thus, it is paramount to apply rigorous criteria when developing guidelines. Regulators may help promote needed changes in paradigms when cost and safety considerations coincide. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Effective teamwork and communication mitigate task saturation in simulated critical care air transport team missions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Bradley; Welch, Katherine; Walsh-Hart, Sharon; Hanseman, Dennis; Petro, Michael; Gerlach, Travis; Dorlac, Warren; Collins, Jocelyn; Pritts, Timothy

    2014-08-01

    Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATTs) are a critical component of the United States Air Force evacuation paradigm. This study was conducted to assess the incidence of task saturation in simulated CCATT missions and to determine if there are predictable performance domains. Sixteen CCATTs were studied over a 6-month period. Performance was scored using a tool assessing eight domains of performance. Teams were also assessed during critical events to determine the presence or absence of task saturation and its impact on patient care. Sixteen simulated missions were reviewed and 45 crisis events identified. Task saturation was present in 22/45 (49%) of crisis events. Scoring demonstrated that task saturation was associated with poor performance in teamwork (odds ratio [OR] = 1.96), communication (OR = 2.08), and mutual performance monitoring (OR = 1.9), but not maintenance of guidelines, task management, procedural skill, and equipment management. We analyzed the effect of task saturation on adverse patient outcomes during crisis events. Adverse outcomes occurred more often when teams were task saturated as compared to non-task-saturated teams (91% vs. 23%; RR 4.1, p < 0.0001). Task saturation is observed in simulated CCATT missions. Nontechnical skills correlate with task saturation. Task saturation is associated with worsening physiologic derangements in simulated patients. Reprint & Copyright © 2014 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

  20. A flow paradigm in heavy-ion collisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Li

    2018-04-01

    The success of hydrodynamics in high energy heavy-ion collisions leads to a flow paradigm, to understand the observed features of harmonic flow in terms of the medium collective expansion with respect to initial state geometrical properties. In this review, we present some essential ingredients in the flow paradigm, including the hydrodynamic modeling, the characterization of initial state geometry and the medium response relations. The extension of the flow paradigm to small colliding systems is also discussed. Supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada