Test-retest reliability and task order effects of emotional cognitive tests in healthy subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Thomas; Pounder, Zoe; Preston, Sally; Hanson, Andy; Gallagher, Peter; Harmer, Catherine J; McAllister-Williams, R Hamish

2016-11-01

Little is known of the retest reliability of emotional cognitive tasks or the impact of using different tasks employing similar emotional stimuli within a battery. We investigated this in healthy subjects. We found improved overall performance in an emotional attentional blink task (EABT) with repeat testing at one hour and one week compared to baseline, but the impact of an emotional stimulus on performance was unchanged. Similarly, performance on a facial expression recognition task (FERT) was better one week after a baseline test, though the relative effect of specific emotions was unaltered. There was no effect of repeat testing on an emotional word categorising, recall and recognition task. We found no difference in performance in the FERT and EABT irrespective of task order. We concluded that it is possible to use emotional cognitive tasks in longitudinal studies and combine tasks using emotional facial stimuli in a single battery.

Dual-task interference effects on cross-modal numerical order and sound intensity judgments: the more the louder?

Science.gov (United States)

Alards-Tomalin, Doug; Walker, Alexander C; Nepon, Hillary; Leboe-McGowan, Launa C

2017-09-01

In the current study, cross-task interactions between number order and sound intensity judgments were assessed using a dual-task paradigm. Participants first categorized numerical sequences composed of Arabic digits as either ordered (ascending, descending) or non-ordered. Following each number sequence, participants then had to judge the intensity level of a target sound. Experiment 1 emphasized processing the two tasks independently (serial processing), while Experiments 2 and 3 emphasized processing the two tasks simultaneously (parallel processing). Cross-task interference occurred only when the task required parallel processing and was specific to ascending numerical sequences, which led to a higher proportion of louder sound intensity judgments. In Experiment 4 we examined whether this unidirectional interaction was the result of participants misattributing enhanced processing fluency experienced on ascending sequences as indicating a louder target sound. The unidirectional finding could not be entirely attributed to misattributed processing fluency, and may also be connected to experientially derived conceptual associations between ascending number sequences and greater magnitude, consistent with conceptual mapping theory.

Cognitive task analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schraagen, J.M.C.

2000-01-01

Cognitive task analysis is defined as the extension of traditional task analysis techniques to yield information about the knowledge, thought processes and goal structures that underlie observable task performance. Cognitive task analyses are conducted for a wide variety of purposes, including the

The Link between Higher Order Thinking Skills, Representation and Concepts in Enhancing TIMSS Tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nor’ain Mohd. Tajudin

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Students’ performances in TIMSS have featured strongly in recent discussions and debates about the quality of mathematical learning outcomes both from teachers and policy makers. Findings of TIMSS trends showed that most high school students in Malaysia continue to perform at less than satisfactory levels, particularly, in tasks that are cognitively demanding. In this article, we present a critical analysis of selected TIMSS Tasks and demonstrate how to support students better in the use of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS in making progress with such tasks. In so doing we present analyses of TIMSS tasks and a model of these tasks that relate HOTS, representation and concepts which can be utilised by teachers to understand the role of HOTS better in empowering students shift to higher levels of cognitive funtioning in the context of tackling TIMSS and similarly demanding tasks. Our analyses and model provide an important starting point for the design of future professional development programs for Malaysian mathematics teachers in reconceptualising HOTS and implementing them in regular classrooms.

Rules and more rules: the effects of multiple tasks, extensive training, and aging on task-switching performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchler, Norbou G; Hoyer, William J; Cerella, John

2008-06-01

Task-switching performance was assessed in young and older adults as a function of the number of task sets to be actively maintained in memory (varied from 1 to 4) over the course of extended training (5 days). Each of the four tasks required the execution of a simple computational algorithm, which was instantaneously cued by the color of the two-digit stimulus. Tasks were presented in pure (task set size 1) and mixed blocks (task set sizes 2, 3, 4), and the task sequence was unpredictable. By considering task switching beyond two tasks, we found evidence for a cognitive control system that is not overwhelmed by task set size load manipulations. Extended training eliminated age effects in task-switching performance, even when the participants had to manage the execution of up to four tasks. The results are discussed in terms of current theories of cognitive control, including task set inertia and production system postulates.

Recursive belief manipulation and second-order false-beliefs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Braüner, Torben; Blackburn, Patrick Rowan; Polyanskaya, Irina

2016-01-01

it indicate that a more fundamental *conceptual change* has taken place? In this paper we extend Braüner's hybrid-logical analysis of first-order false-belief tasks to the second-order case, and argue that our analysis supports a version of the conceptual change position.......The literature on first-order false-belief is extensive, but less is known about the second-order case. The ability to handle second-order false-beliefs correctly seems to mark a cognitively significant step, but what is its status? Is it an example of *complexity only* development, or does...

Performance-Based Task Assessment of Higher-Order Proficiencies in Redesigned STEM High Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Ernst, Jeremy V.; Glennie, Elizabeth; Li, Songze

2017-01-01

This study explored student abilities in applying conceptual knowledge when presented with structured performance tasks. Specifically, the study gauged proficiency in higher-order applications of students enrolled in earth and environmental science or biology. The student sample was drawn from a Redesigned STEM high school model where a tested…

78 FR 23883 - Marketing Orders for Fruit Crops; Notice of Request for Extension and Revision of a Currently...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-23

... Extension and Revision of a Currently Approved Information Collection AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service... submitted through the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Marketing... Request: Extension and Revision of a currently approved information collection. Abstract: Marketing orders...

Development of EULAR recommendations for the reporting of clinical trial extension studies in rheumatology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buch, Maya H.; Silva-Fernandez, Lucia; Carmona, Loreto; Aletaha, Daniel; Christensen, Robin; Combe, Bernard; Emery, Paul; Ferraccioli, Gianfranco; Guillemin, Francis; Kvien, Tore K.; Landewe, Robert; Pavelka, Karel; Saag, Kenneth; Smolen, Josef S.; Symmons, Deborah; van der Heijde, Désirée; Welling, Joep; Wells, George; Westhovens, Rene; Zink, Angela; Boers, Maarten

2015-01-01

Our initiative aimed to produce recommendations on post-randomised controlled trial (RCT) trial extension studies (TES) reporting using European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) standard operating procedures in order to achieve more meaningful output and standardisation of reports. We formed a task

Emotional prosody of task-irrelevant speech interferes with the retention of serial order.

Science.gov (United States)

Kattner, Florian; Ellermeier, Wolfgang

2018-04-09

Task-irrelevant speech and other temporally changing sounds are known to interfere with the short-term memorization of ordered verbal materials, as compared to silence or stationary sounds. It has been argued that this disruption of short-term memory (STM) may be due to (a) interference of automatically encoded acoustical fluctuations with the process of serial rehearsal or (b) attentional capture by salient task-irrelevant information. To disentangle the contributions of these 2 processes, the authors investigated whether the disruption of serial recall is due to the semantic or acoustical properties of task-irrelevant speech (Experiment 1). They found that performance was affected by the prosody (emotional intonation), but not by the semantics (word meaning), of irrelevant speech, suggesting that the disruption of serial recall is due to interference of precategorically encoded changing-state sound (with higher fluctuation strength of emotionally intonated speech). The authors further demonstrated a functional distinction between this form of distraction and attentional capture by contrasting the effect of (a) speech prosody and (b) sudden prosody deviations on both serial and nonserial STM tasks (Experiment 2). Although serial recall was again sensitive to the emotional prosody of irrelevant speech, performance on a nonserial missing-item task was unaffected by the presence of neutral or emotionally intonated speech sounds. In contrast, sudden prosody changes tended to impair performance on both tasks, suggesting an independent effect of attentional capture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Working Memory Training Improves Dual-Task Performance on Motor Tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimura, Takehide; Kaneko, Fuminari; Nagahata, Keita; Shibata, Eriko; Aoki, Nobuhiro

2017-01-01

The authors investigated whether working memory training improves motor-motor dual-task performance consisted of upper and lower limb tasks. The upper limb task was a simple reaction task and the lower limb task was an isometric knee extension task. 45 participants (age = 21.8 ± 1.6 years) were classified into a working memory training group (WM-TRG), dual-task training group, or control group. The training duration was 2 weeks (15 min, 4 times/week). Our results indicated that working memory capacity increased significantly only in the WM-TRG. Dual-task performance improved in the WM-TRG and dual-task training group. Our study provides the novel insight that working memory training improves dual-task performance without specific training on the target motor task.

Anatomically ordered tapping interferes more with one-digit addition than two-digit addition: a dual-task fMRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Soylu, Firat; Newman, Sharlene D

2016-02-01

Fingers are used as canonical representations for numbers across cultures. In previous imaging studies, it was shown that arithmetic processing activates neural resources that are known to participate in finger movements. Additionally, in one dual-task study, it was shown that anatomically ordered finger tapping disrupts addition and subtraction more than multiplication, possibly due to a long-lasting effect of early finger counting experiences on the neural correlates and organization of addition and subtraction processes. How arithmetic task difficulty and tapping complexity affect the concurrent performance is still unclear. If early finger counting experiences have bearing on the neural correlates of arithmetic in adults, then one would expect anatomically and non-anatomically ordered tapping to have different interference effects, given that finger counting is usually anatomically ordered. To unravel these issues, we studied how (1) arithmetic task difficulty and (2) the complexity of the finger tapping sequence (anatomical vs. non-anatomical ordering) affect concurrent performance and use of key neural circuits using a mixed block/event-related dual-task fMRI design with adult participants. The results suggest that complexity of the tapping sequence modulates interference on addition, and that one-digit addition (fact retrieval), compared to two-digit addition (calculation), is more affected from anatomically ordered tapping. The region-of-interest analysis showed higher left angular gyrus BOLD response for one-digit compared to two-digit addition, and in no-tapping conditions than dual tapping conditions. The results support a specific association between addition fact retrieval and anatomically ordered finger movements in adults, possibly due to finger counting strategies that deploy anatomically ordered finger movements early in the development.

3 CFR 13519 - Executive Order 13519 of November 17, 2009. Establishment of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

...; (m) the Federal Housing Finance Agency; (n) the Office of Thrift Supervision; (o) the Office of the... outreach with representatives of financial institutions, corporate entities, nonprofit organizations, State... Corporate Fraud Task Force created by Executive Order 13271 of July 9, 2002. Executive Order 13271 is hereby...

Task Order 20: Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle Energy Conversion Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murray, Paul [AREVA Federal Services, LLC, Charlotte, NC (United States); Lindsay, Edward [AREVA Federal Services, LLC, Charlotte, NC (United States); McDowell, Michael [AREVA Federal Services, LLC, Charlotte, NC (United States); Huang, Megan [AREVA Federal Services, LLC, Charlotte, NC (United States)

2015-04-23

AREVA Inc. developed this study for the US Department of Energy (DOE) office of Nuclear Energy (NE) in accordance with Task Order 20 Statement of Work (SOW) covering research and development activities for the Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) Brayton Cycle energy conversion. The study addresses the conversion of sCO2 heat energy to electrical output by use of a Brayton Cycle system and focuses on the potential of a net efficiency increase via cycle recuperation and recompression stages. The study also addresses issues and study needed to advance development and implementation of a 10 MWe sCO2 demonstration project.

Impairment on a self-ordered working memory task in patients with early-acquired hippocampal atrophy.

Science.gov (United States)

Geva, Sharon; Cooper, Janine M; Gadian, David G; Mishkin, Mortimer; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh

2016-08-01

One of the features of both adult-onset and developmental forms of amnesia resulting from bilateral medial temporal lobe damage, or even from relatively selective damage to the hippocampus, is the sparing of working memory. Recently, however, a number of studies have reported deficits on working memory tasks in patients with damage to the hippocampus and in macaque monkeys with neonatal hippocampal lesions. These studies suggest that successful performance on working memory tasks with high memory load require the contribution of the hippocampus. Here we compared performance on a working memory task (the Self-ordered Pointing Task), between patients with early onset hippocampal damage and a group of healthy controls. Consistent with the findings in the monkeys with neonatal lesions, we found that the patients were impaired on the task, but only on blocks of trials with intermediate memory load. Importantly, only intermediate to high memory load blocks yielded significant correlations between task performance and hippocampal volume. Additionally, we found no evidence of proactive interference in either group, and no evidence of an effect of time since injury on performance. We discuss the role of the hippocampus and its interactions with the prefrontal cortex in serving working memory. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Impairment on a self-ordered working memory task in patients with early-acquired hippocampal atrophy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharon Geva

2016-08-01

Full Text Available One of the features of both adult-onset and developmental forms of amnesia resulting from bilateral medial temporal lobe damage, or even from relatively selective damage to the hippocampus, is the sparing of working memory. Recently, however, a number of studies have reported deficits on working memory tasks in patients with damage to the hippocampus and in macaque monkeys with neonatal hippocampal lesions. These studies suggest that successful performance on working memory tasks with high memory load require the contribution of the hippocampus. Here we compared performance on a working memory task (the Self-ordered Pointing Task, between patients with early onset hippocampal damage and a group of healthy controls. Consistent with the findings in the monkeys with neonatal lesions, we found that the patients were impaired on the task, but only on blocks of trials with intermediate memory load. Importantly, only intermediate to high memory load blocks yielded significant correlations between task performance and hippocampal volume. Additionally, we found no evidence of proactive interference in either group, and no evidence of an effect of time since injury on performance. We discuss the role of the hippocampus and its interactions with the prefrontal cortex in serving working memory.

Five-Year-Olds’ Systematic Errors in Second-Order False Belief Tasks Are Due to First-Order Theory of Mind Strategy Selection: A Computational Modeling Study

Science.gov (United States)

Arslan, Burcu; Taatgen, Niels A.; Verbrugge, Rineke

2017-01-01

The focus of studies on second-order false belief reasoning generally was on investigating the roles of executive functions and language with correlational studies. Different from those studies, we focus on the question how 5-year-olds select and revise reasoning strategies in second-order false belief tasks by constructing two computational cognitive models of this process: an instance-based learning model and a reinforcement learning model. Unlike the reinforcement learning model, the instance-based learning model predicted that children who fail second-order false belief tasks would give answers based on first-order theory of mind (ToM) reasoning as opposed to zero-order reasoning. This prediction was confirmed with an empirical study that we conducted with 72 5- to 6-year-old children. The results showed that 17% of the answers were correct and 83% of the answers were wrong. In line with our prediction, 65% of the wrong answers were based on a first-order ToM strategy, while only 29% of them were based on a zero-order strategy (the remaining 6% of subjects did not provide any answer). Based on our instance-based learning model, we propose that when children get feedback “Wrong,” they explicitly revise their strategy to a higher level instead of implicitly selecting one of the available ToM strategies. Moreover, we predict that children’s failures are due to lack of experience and that with exposure to second-order false belief reasoning, children can revise their wrong first-order reasoning strategy to a correct second-order reasoning strategy. PMID:28293206

Five-Year-Olds' Systematic Errors in Second-Order False Belief Tasks Are Due to First-Order Theory of Mind Strategy Selection: A Computational Modeling Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Arslan, Burcu; Taatgen, Niels A; Verbrugge, Rineke

2017-01-01

The focus of studies on second-order false belief reasoning generally was on investigating the roles of executive functions and language with correlational studies. Different from those studies, we focus on the question how 5-year-olds select and revise reasoning strategies in second-order false belief tasks by constructing two computational cognitive models of this process: an instance-based learning model and a reinforcement learning model. Unlike the reinforcement learning model, the instance-based learning model predicted that children who fail second-order false belief tasks would give answers based on first-order theory of mind (ToM) reasoning as opposed to zero-order reasoning. This prediction was confirmed with an empirical study that we conducted with 72 5- to 6-year-old children. The results showed that 17% of the answers were correct and 83% of the answers were wrong. In line with our prediction, 65% of the wrong answers were based on a first-order ToM strategy, while only 29% of them were based on a zero-order strategy (the remaining 6% of subjects did not provide any answer). Based on our instance-based learning model, we propose that when children get feedback "Wrong," they explicitly revise their strategy to a higher level instead of implicitly selecting one of the available ToM strategies. Moreover, we predict that children's failures are due to lack of experience and that with exposure to second-order false belief reasoning, children can revise their wrong first-order reasoning strategy to a correct second-order reasoning strategy.

76 FR 19902 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting 180-Day Extension...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-11

... Furnace Company; (16) New Yorker Residential Heating Boilers; (17) Nordyne; (18) NY Thermal Inc.; (19... Products LLC; (24) Trane; (25) Triangle Tube; (26) US Boiler Company; and (27) Weil-McLain. In the same... Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting 180-Day Extension of Compliance Date...

Basal ganglia and cortical networks for sequential ordering and rhythm of complex movements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffery G. Bednark

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Voluntary actions require the concurrent engagement and coordinated control of complex temporal (e.g. rhythm and ordinal motor processes. Using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI and multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA, we sought to determine the degree to which these complex motor processes are dissociable in basal ganglia and cortical networks. We employed three different finger-tapping tasks that differed in the demand on the sequential temporal rhythm or sequential ordering of submovements. Our results demonstrate that sequential rhythm and sequential order tasks were partially dissociable based on activation differences. The sequential rhythm task activated a widespread network centered around the SMA and basal-ganglia regions including the dorsomedial putamen and caudate nucleus, while the sequential order task preferentially activated a fronto-parietal network. There was also extensive overlap between sequential rhythm and sequential order tasks, with both tasks commonly activating bilateral premotor, supplementary motor, and superior/inferior parietal cortical regions, as well as regions of the caudate/putamen of the basal ganglia and the ventro-lateral thalamus. Importantly, within the cortical regions that were active for both complex movements, MVPA could accurately classify different patterns of activation for the sequential rhythm and sequential order tasks. In the basal ganglia, however, overlapping activation for the sequential rhythm and sequential order tasks, which was found in classic motor circuits of the putamen and ventro-lateral thalamus, could not be accurately differentiated by MVPA. Overall, our results highlight the convergent architecture of the motor system, where complex motor information that is spatially distributed in the cortex converges into a more compact representation in the basal ganglia.

Extension of the chiral perturbation theory meson Lagrangian to order p{sup 6}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fearing, H W; Scherer, S

1994-08-01

We have derived the most general chirally invariant Lagrangian L{sub 6} for the meson sector at order p{sup 6}. The result provides an extension of the standard Gasser-Leutwyler Lagrangian L{sub 4} to one higher order, including as well all the odd intrinsic parity terms in the Lagrangian. The most difficult part of the derivation was developing a systematic strategy so as to get all of the independent terms and eliminate the redundant ones in an efficient way. The equation of motion terms, which are redundant in the sense that they can be transformed away via field transformations, are separated out explicitly. The resulting Lagrangian has been separated into groupings of terms contributing to increasingly more complicated processes, so that one does not have to deal with the full result when calculating p{sup 6} contributions to simple processes. (author). 53 refs., 10 tabs.

A Content Analysis of General Chemistry Laboratory Manuals for Evidence of Higher-Order Cognitive Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Domin, Daniel S.

1999-01-01

The science laboratory instructional environment is ideal for fostering the development of problem-solving, manipulative, and higher-order thinking skills: the skills needed by today's learner to compete in an ever increasing technology-based society. This paper reports the results of a content analysis of ten general chemistry laboratory manuals. Three experiments from each manual were examined for evidence of higher-order cognitive activities. Analysis was based upon the six major cognitive categories of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The results of this study show that the overwhelming majority of general chemistry laboratory manuals provide tasks that require the use of only the lower-order cognitive skills: knowledge, comprehension, and application. Two of the laboratory manuals were disparate in having activities that utilized higher-order cognition. I describe the instructional strategies used within these manuals to foster higher-order cognitive development.

The Effect of "Massed" Task Repetitions on Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency: Does It Transfer to a New Task?

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadian, Mohammad Javad

2011-01-01

To date, research results suggest that task repetition positively affects oral task performance. However, researchers have not yet shown the extension of the benefits of repeating the same task to performance of a new task. This article first provides an overview of the currently available research findings on task repetition and then presents the…

Comparative Analysis of Multiple-Award Task Order Contracting and Its Impacts on Acquisition Reform

Science.gov (United States)

2002-12-01

24 Figure 2. DoD Improperly Directed Task Order Actions..... 49 Figure 3. Overview of the Domestic B2B Market, 1999-2003. 62 Figure 4...year 2000. The technology schedules amassed nearly $8.1 billion in sales with 60.8 percent of all activity. FSS charges agencies a one percent fee...second with $1 billion in sales . GSA manages five of the ten most lucrative contracts. The National Aeronautical Space Administration’s (NASA

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.

Extension of the chiral perturbation theory meson Lagrangian to order p6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fearing, H.W.; Scherer, S.

1996-01-01

We have constructed the most general chirally invariant Lagrangian scrL 6 for the meson sector at order p 6 . The result provides an extension of the standard Gasser-Leutwyler Lagrangian scrL 4 to one higher order, including as well all the odd intrinsic parity terms in the Lagrangian. The most difficult part of the construction was developing a systematic strategy so as to get all of the independent terms and eliminate the redundant ones in an efficient way. The claim to have obtained the most general Lagrangian relies on this systematic construction and on the elimination of redundant quantities using relations of which we are aware, rather than on a general formal proof of either completeness or independence. The open-quote open-quote equation-of-motion close-quote close-quote terms, which are redundant in the sense that they can be transformed away via field transformations, are separated out explicitly. The resulting Lagrangian has been separated into groupings of terms contributing to increasingly more complicated processes, so that one does not have to deal with the full result when calculating p 6 contributions to simple processes. copyright 1995 The American Physical Society

The Possible Role of TASK Channels in Rank-Ordered Recruitment of Motoneurons in the Dorsolateral Part of the Trigeminal Motor Nucleus.

Science.gov (United States)

Okamoto, Keiko; Emura, Norihito; Sato, Hajime; Fukatsu, Yuki; Saito, Mitsuru; Tanaka, Chie; Morita, Yukako; Nishimura, Kayo; Kuramoto, Eriko; Xu Yin, Dong; Furutani, Kazuharu; Okazawa, Makoto; Kurachi, Yoshihisa; Kaneko, Takeshi; Maeda, Yoshinobu; Yamashiro, Takashi; Takada, Kenji; Toyoda, Hiroki; Kang, Youngnam

2016-01-01

Because a rank-ordered recruitment of motor units occurs during isometric contraction of jaw-closing muscles, jaw-closing motoneurons (MNs) may be recruited in a manner dependent on their soma sizes or input resistances (IRs). In the dorsolateral part of the trigeminal motor nucleus (dl-TMN) in rats, MNs abundantly express TWIK (two-pore domain weak inwardly rectifying K channel)-related acid-sensitive-K(+) channel (TASK)-1 and TASK3 channels, which determine the IR and resting membrane potential. Here we examined how TASK channels are involved in IR-dependent activation/recruitment of MNs in the rat dl-TMN by using multiple methods. The real-time PCR study revealed that single large MNs (>35 μm) expressed TASK1 and TASK3 mRNAs more abundantly compared with single small MNs (15-20 μm). The immunohistochemistry revealed that TASK1 and TASK3 channels were complementarily distributed in somata and dendrites of MNs, respectively. The density of TASK1 channels seemed to increase with a decrease in soma diameter while there were inverse relationships between the soma size of MNs and IR, resting membrane potential, or spike threshold. Dual whole-cell recordings obtained from smaller and larger MNs revealed that the recruitment of MNs depends on their IRs in response to repetitive stimulation of the presumed Ia afferents. 8-Bromoguanosine-cGMP decreased IRs in small MNs, while it hardly changed those in large MNs, and subsequently decreased the difference in spike-onset latency between the smaller and larger MNs, causing a synchronous activation of MNs. These results suggest that TASK channels play critical roles in rank-ordered recruitment of MNs in the dl-TMN.

Increasing accuracy in the interval analysis by the improved format of interval extension based on the first order Taylor series

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yi; Xu, Yan Long

2018-05-01

When the dependence of the function on uncertain variables is non-monotonic in interval, the interval of function obtained by the classic interval extension based on the first order Taylor series will exhibit significant errors. In order to reduce theses errors, the improved format of the interval extension with the first order Taylor series is developed here considering the monotonicity of function. Two typical mathematic examples are given to illustrate this methodology. The vibration of a beam with lumped masses is studied to demonstrate the usefulness of this method in the practical application, and the necessary input data of which are only the function value at the central point of interval, sensitivity and deviation of function. The results of above examples show that the interval of function from the method developed by this paper is more accurate than the ones obtained by the classic method.

Who Multi-Tasks and Why? Multi-Tasking Ability, Perceived Multi-Tasking Ability, Impulsivity, and Sensation Seeking

OpenAIRE

Sanbonmatsu, David M.; Strayer, David L.; Medeiros-Ward, Nathan; Watson, Jason M.

2013-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are ...

Renormalization as an extension problem on the Count our ordered formalism in FFTF

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Franco, D.H.T. [Centro de Estudos de Fisica Teorica (CEFT), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Acebal, J.L. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao de Teoria de Campos e Particulas; Grupo de Fisica Teorica Jose Leite Lopes (GFT-JLL), Petropolis, RJ (Brazil)

2003-06-01

From a distributional-theoretical framework, we make efforts in order to fill a gap in the series of studies which discuss the inheritance of the renormalization behaviour of a finite temperature field theory (FTFT) from the analogous version in quantum field theory (QFT) at T=0. Renormalization is treated as a distributional extension problem having the mathematical structure disentangled as much as possible from the physical aspects. The purely technical details essential for the discussion are briefly reviewed in a handle manner for further theoretical physics applications. The analysis elucidates some qualitative and quantitative distinctions concerning the divergences in the perturbation series when it is considered the FTFT version associated to a given QFT. Despite the differences, it turns clear the reason why the leading ultraviolet behaviour keeps unaffected when it is considered the FTFT version associated to a given QFT. The study is model independent and the approach allows one to consider the FTFT both imaginary and real time formalism at once in a unified way in the contour ordered formalism. (author)

Microprocessor multi-task monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ludemann, C.A.

1983-01-01

This paper describes a multi-task monitor program for microprocessors. Although written for the Intel 8085, it incorporates features that would be beneficial for implementation in other microprocessors used in controlling and monitoring experiments and accelerators. The monitor places permanent programs (tasks) arbitrarily located throughout ROM in a priority ordered queue. The programmer is provided with the flexibility to add new tasks or modified versions of existing tasks, without having to comply with previously defined task boundaries or having to reprogram all of ROM. Scheduling of tasks is triggered by timers, outside stimuli (interrupts), or inter-task communications. Context switching time is of the order of tenths of a milllisecond

Muscle Fatigue in the Three Heads of the Triceps Brachii During a Controlled Forceful Hand Grip Task with Full Elbow Extension Using Surface Electromyography.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Asraf; Sundaraj, Kenneth; Badlishah Ahmad, R; Ahamed, Nizam Uddin; Islam, Anamul; Sundaraj, Sebastian

2015-06-27

The objective of the present study was to investigate the time to fatigue and compare the fatiguing condition among the three heads of the triceps brachii muscle using surface electromyography during an isometric contraction of a controlled forceful hand grip task with full elbow extension. Eighteen healthy subjects concurrently performed a single 90 s isometric contraction of a controlled forceful hand grip task and full elbow extension. Surface electromyographic signals from the lateral, long and medial heads of the triceps brachii muscle were recorded during the task for each subject. The changes in muscle activity among the three heads of triceps brachii were measured by the root mean square values for every 5 s period throughout the total contraction period. The root mean square values were then analysed to determine the fatiguing condition for the heads of triceps brachii muscle. Muscle fatigue in the long, lateral, and medial heads of the triceps brachii started at 40 s, 50 s, and 65 s during the prolonged contraction, respectively. The highest fatiguing rate was observed in the long head (slope = -2.863), followed by the medial head (slope = -2.412) and the lateral head (slope = -1.877) of the triceps brachii muscle. The results of the present study concurs with previous findings that the three heads of the triceps brachii muscle do not work as a single unit, and the fiber type/composition is different among the three heads.

Extensive but not Limited Repeated Trials in Passive Avoidance Task Induce Stress-like Symptoms and Affect Memory Function in Rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Tabassum, Saiqa; Haider, Saida

2018-02-10

Stressful and emotionally arousing experiences are remembered, and previous reports show that repeated exposure to stressful condition enhances emotional learning. However, the usefulness of the repeated exposure depends on the intensity and duration. Although repeated training as a strategy to improve memory performance is receiving increased attention from researchers, repeated training may induce stressful effects that have not yet been considered. The present study investigated whether exposure to repetitive learning trials with limited or extensive durations in a passive avoidance task (PAT) would be beneficial or harmful to emotional memory performance in rats. Rats were exposed to repetitive learning trials for two different durations in the limited exposure (exposure to four repetitive trials) and extensive exposure groups (exposure to 16 repetitive trials) in a single day to compare the impact of both conditions on rat emotional memory performance. Alterations in corticosterone content and associated oxidative and neurochemical systems were assessed to explore the underlying mechanism responsible for changes in emotional memory. Following extensive exposure, a negative impact on emotional memory was observed compared with the limited exposure group. A lack of any further improvement in memory function following extensive training exposure was supported by increased corticosterone levels, decreased 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels and abnormal oxidative stress levels, which may induce negative effects on memory consolidation. It is suggested that limited exposure to repetitive learning trials is more useful for studying improvement in emotional memory, whereas extensive exposure may produce chronic stress-like condition that can be detrimental and responsible for compromised memory performance. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automatically ordering events and times in text

CERN Document Server

Derczynski, Leon R A

2017-01-01

The book offers a detailed guide to temporal ordering, exploring open problems in the field and providing solutions and extensive analysis. It addresses the challenge of automatically ordering events and times in text. Aided by TimeML, it also describes and presents concepts relating to time in easy-to-compute terms. Working out the order that events and times happen has proven difficult for computers, since the language used to discuss time can be vague and complex. Mapping out these concepts for a computational system, which does not have its own inherent idea of time, is, unsurprisingly, tough. Solving this problem enables powerful systems that can plan, reason about events, and construct stories of their own accord, as well as understand the complex narratives that humans express and comprehend so naturally. This book presents a theory and data-driven analysis of temporal ordering, leading to the identification of exactly what is difficult about the task. It then proposes and evaluates machine-learning so...

Extensive Reading in Enhancing Lexical Chunks Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Pereyra, Nilsa

2015-01-01

The purpose of this action research was to investigate the effect of extensive reading and related activities on the acquisition of lexical chunks in EFL students. Seven adult EFL learners with an Intermediate level volunteered to take part in the 16 week project following Extensive Reading principles combined with tasks based on the Lexical…

Modality independence of order coding in working memory: Evidence from cross-modal order interference at recall.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandierendonck, André

2016-01-01

Working memory researchers do not agree on whether order in serial recall is encoded by dedicated modality-specific systems or by a more general modality-independent system. Although previous research supports the existence of autonomous modality-specific systems, it has been shown that serial recognition memory is prone to cross-modal order interference by concurrent tasks. The present study used a serial recall task, which was performed in a single-task condition and in a dual-task condition with an embedded memory task in the retention interval. The modality of the serial task was either verbal or visuospatial, and the embedded tasks were in the other modality and required either serial or item recall. Care was taken to avoid modality overlaps during presentation and recall. In Experiment 1, visuospatial but not verbal serial recall was more impaired when the embedded task was an order than when it was an item task. Using a more difficult verbal serial recall task, verbal serial recall was also more impaired by another order recall task in Experiment 2. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis of modality-independent order coding. The implications for views on short-term recall and the multicomponent view of working memory are discussed.

Introduction to stream: An Extensible Framework for Data Stream Clustering Research with R

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Hahsler

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In recent years, data streams have become an increasingly important area of research for the computer science, database and statistics communities. Data streams are ordered and potentially unbounded sequences of data points created by a typically non-stationary data generating process. Common data mining tasks associated with data streams include clustering, classification and frequent pattern mining. New algorithms for these types of data are proposed regularly and it is important to evaluate them thoroughly under standardized conditions. In this paper we introduce stream, a research tool that includes modeling and simulating data streams as well as an extensible framework for implementing, interfacing and experimenting with algorithms for various data stream mining tasks. The main advantage of stream is that it seamlessly integrates with the large existing infrastructure provided by R. In addition to data handling, plotting and easy scripting capabilities, R also provides many existing algorithms and enables users to interface code written in many programming languages popular among data mining researchers (e.g., C/C++, Java and Python. In this paper we describe the architecture of stream and focus on its use for data stream clustering research. stream was implemented with extensibility in mind and will be extended in the future to cover additional data stream mining tasks like classification and frequent pattern mining.

Parallel Task Processing on a Multicore Platform in a PC-based Control System for Parallel Kinematics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harald Michalik

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Multicore platforms are such that have one physical processor chip with multiple cores interconnected via a chip level bus. Because they deliver a greater computing power through concurrency, offer greater system density multicore platforms provide best qualifications to address the performance bottleneck encountered in PC-based control systems for parallel kinematic robots with heavy CPU-load. Heavy load control tasks are generated by new control approaches that include features like singularity prediction, structure control algorithms, vision data integration and similar tasks. In this paper we introduce the parallel task scheduling extension of a communication architecture specially tailored for the development of PC-based control of parallel kinematics. The Sche-duling is specially designed for the processing on a multicore platform. It breaks down the serial task processing of the robot control cycle and extends it with parallel task processing paths in order to enhance the overall control performance.

Extension of relativistic dissipative hydrodynamics to third order

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El, Andrej; Xu Zhe; Greiner, Carsten

2010-01-01

Following the procedure introduced by Israel and Stewart, we expand the entropy current up to the third order in the shear stress tensor π αβ and derive a novel third-order evolution equation for π αβ . This equation is solved for the one-dimensional Bjorken boost-invariant expansion. The scaling solutions for various values of the shear viscosity to the entropy density ratio η/s are shown to be in very good agreement with those obtained from kinetic transport calculations. For the pressure isotropy starting with 1 at τ 0 =0.4 fm/c, the third-order corrections to Israel-Stewart theory are approximately 10% for η/s=0.2 and more than a factor of 2 for η/s=3. We also estimate all higher-order corrections to Israel-Stewart theory and demonstrate their importance in describing highly viscous matters.

76 FR 52346 - Public Land Order No. 7775; Extension of Public Land Order No. 6870; Washington

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-22

... extension is necessary to continue protection of the scientific and ecological research values at the... the scientific and ecological research values at the Steamboat Mountain Research Natural Area. The...

76 FR 28241 - Public Land Order No. 7766; Extension of Public Land Order No. 6856; Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-16

... is necessary to continue protection of the unique natural and ecological research values of the... extension to continue protection of the unique natural and ecological research values at the Abbott Creek...

Who multi-tasks and why? Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanbonmatsu, David M; Strayer, David L; Medeiros-Ward, Nathan; Watson, Jason M

2013-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are not the persons who are most likely to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. To the contrary, multi-tasking activity as measured by the Media Multitasking Inventory and self-reported cell phone usage while driving were negatively correlated with actual multi-tasking ability. Multi-tasking was positively correlated with participants' perceived ability to multi-task ability which was found to be significantly inflated. Participants with a strong approach orientation and a weak avoidance orientation--high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking--reported greater multi-tasking behavior. Finally, the findings suggest that people often engage in multi-tasking because they are less able to block out distractions and focus on a singular task. Participants with less executive control--low scorers on the Operation Span task and persons high in impulsivity--tended to report higher levels of multi-tasking activity.

Who multi-tasks and why? Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David M Sanbonmatsu

Full Text Available The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are not the persons who are most likely to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. To the contrary, multi-tasking activity as measured by the Media Multitasking Inventory and self-reported cell phone usage while driving were negatively correlated with actual multi-tasking ability. Multi-tasking was positively correlated with participants' perceived ability to multi-task ability which was found to be significantly inflated. Participants with a strong approach orientation and a weak avoidance orientation--high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking--reported greater multi-tasking behavior. Finally, the findings suggest that people often engage in multi-tasking because they are less able to block out distractions and focus on a singular task. Participants with less executive control--low scorers on the Operation Span task and persons high in impulsivity--tended to report higher levels of multi-tasking activity.

Who Multi-Tasks and Why? Multi-Tasking Ability, Perceived Multi-Tasking Ability, Impulsivity, and Sensation Seeking

Science.gov (United States)

Sanbonmatsu, David M.; Strayer, David L.; Medeiros-Ward, Nathan; Watson, Jason M.

2013-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are not the persons who are most likely to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. To the contrary, multi-tasking activity as measured by the Media Multitasking Inventory and self-reported cell phone usage while driving were negatively correlated with actual multi-tasking ability. Multi-tasking was positively correlated with participants’ perceived ability to multi-task ability which was found to be significantly inflated. Participants with a strong approach orientation and a weak avoidance orientation – high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking – reported greater multi-tasking behavior. Finally, the findings suggest that people often engage in multi-tasking because they are less able to block out distractions and focus on a singular task. Participants with less executive control - low scorers on the Operation Span task and persons high in impulsivity - tended to report higher levels of multi-tasking activity. PMID:23372720

76 FR 12131 - Public Land Order No. 7759; Extension of Public Land Order No. 6833; Washington

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-04

... extension is necessary to continue to protect the unique natural and ecological research values of the... continue the protection of the unique natural and ecological research values at the Wolf Creek Research...

Automatically Generating a Distributed 3D Battlespace Using USMTF and XML-MTF Air Tasking Order, Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Murray, Mark

2000-01-01

.... To more effectively exchange and share data, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the lead agency for the USMTF, is actively engaged in extending the USMTF standard with a new data sharing technology called Extensible Markup Language (XML...

Evidence for modality-independent order coding in working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Depoorter, Ann; Vandierendonck, André

2009-03-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the representation of serial order in working memory, more specifically whether serial order is coded by means of a modality-dependent or a modality-independent order code. This was investigated by means of a series of four experiments based on a dual-task methodology in which one short-term memory task was embedded between the presentation and recall of another short-term memory task. Two aspects were varied in these memory tasks--namely, the modality of the stimulus materials (verbal or visuo-spatial) and the presence of an order component in the task (an order or an item memory task). The results of this study showed impaired primary-task recognition performance when both the primary and the embedded task included an order component, irrespective of the modality of the stimulus materials. If one or both of the tasks did not contain an order component, less interference was found. The results of this study support the existence of a modality-independent order code.

Controlled Bulk Properties of Composite Polymeric Solutions for Extensive Structural Order of Honeycomb Polysulfone Membranes.

Science.gov (United States)

Gugliuzza, Annarosa; Perrotta, Maria Luisa; Drioli, Enrico

2016-05-16

This work provides additional insights into the identification of operating conditions necessary to overcome a current limitation to the scale-up of the breath figure method, which is regarded as an outstanding manufacturing approach for structurally ordered porous films. The major restriction concerns, indeed, uncontrolled touching droplets at the boundary. Herein, the bulk of polymeric solutions are properly managed to generate honeycomb membranes with a long-range structurally ordered texture. Water uptake and dynamics are explored as chemical environments are changed with the intent to modify the hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance and local water floatation. In this context, a model surfactant such as the polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate is used in combination with alcohols at different chain length extents and a traditional polymer such as the polyethersufone. Changes in the interfacial tension and kinematic viscosity taking place in the bulk of composite solutions are explored and examined in relation to competitive droplet nucleation and growth rate. As a result, extensive structurally ordered honeycomb textures are obtained with the rising content of the surfactant while a broad range of well-sized pores is targeted as a function of the hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance and viscosity of the composite polymeric mixture. The experimental findings confirm the consistency of the approach and are expected to give propulsion to the commercially production of breath figures films shortly.

Controlled Bulk Properties of Composite Polymeric Solutions for Extensive Structural Order of Honeycomb Polysulfone Membranes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annarosa Gugliuzza

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This work provides additional insights into the identification of operating conditions necessary to overcome a current limitation to the scale-up of the breath figure method, which is regarded as an outstanding manufacturing approach for structurally ordered porous films. The major restriction concerns, indeed, uncontrolled touching droplets at the boundary. Herein, the bulk of polymeric solutions are properly managed to generate honeycomb membranes with a long-range structurally ordered texture. Water uptake and dynamics are explored as chemical environments are changed with the intent to modify the hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance and local water floatation. In this context, a model surfactant such as the polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate is used in combination with alcohols at different chain length extents and a traditional polymer such as the polyethersufone. Changes in the interfacial tension and kinematic viscosity taking place in the bulk of composite solutions are explored and examined in relation to competitive droplet nucleation and growth rate. As a result, extensive structurally ordered honeycomb textures are obtained with the rising content of the surfactant while a broad range of well-sized pores is targeted as a function of the hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance and viscosity of the composite polymeric mixture. The experimental findings confirm the consistency of the approach and are expected to give propulsion to the commercially production of breath figures films shortly.

Episodic but not semantic order memory difficulties in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from the Historical Figures Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaigg, Sebastian B; Bowler, Dermot M; Gardiner, John M

2014-01-01

Considerable evidence suggests that the episodic memory system operates abnormally in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) whereas the functions of the semantic memory system are relatively preserved. Here we show that the same dissociation also applies to the domain of order memory. We asked adult participants to order the names of famous historical figures either according to their chronological order in history (probing semantic memory) or according to a random sequence shown once on a screen (probing episodic memory). As predicted, adults with ASD performed less well than age- and IQ-matched comparison individuals only on the episodic task. This observation is of considerable importance in the context of developmental theory because semantic and episodic order memory abilities can be dissociated in typically developing infants before they reach the age at which the behavioural markers associated with ASD are first apparent. This raises the possibility that early emerging memory abnormalities play a role in shaping the developmental trajectory of the disorder. We discuss the broader implications of this possibility and highlight the urgent need for greater scrutiny of memory competences in ASD early in development.

Automatically Generating a Distributed 3D Virtual Battlespace Using USMTF and XML-MTF Air Tasking Orders, Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Murray, Mark

2000-01-01

.... To more effectively exchange and share data, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the lead agency for the USMTF, is actively engaged in extending the USMTF standard with a new data sharing technology called Extensible Markup Language (XML...

Multi-task feature learning by using trace norm regularization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiangmei Zhang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Multi-task learning can extract the correlation of multiple related machine learning problems to improve performance. This paper considers applying the multi-task learning method to learn a single task. We propose a new learning approach, which employs the mixture of expert model to divide a learning task into several related sub-tasks, and then uses the trace norm regularization to extract common feature representation of these sub-tasks. A nonlinear extension of this approach by using kernel is also provided. Experiments conducted on both simulated and real data sets demonstrate the advantage of the proposed approach.

Optimal PID settings for first and second-order processes - Comparison with different controller tuning approaches

OpenAIRE

Pappas, Iosif

2016-01-01

PID controllers are extensively used in industry. Although many tuning methodologies exist, finding good controller settings is not an easy task and frequently optimization-based design is preferred to satisfy more complex criteria. In this thesis, the focus was to find which tuning approaches, if any, present close to optimal behavior. Pareto-optimal controllers were found for different first and second-order processes with time delay. Performance was quantified in terms of the integrat...

Two-stage categorization in brand extension evaluation: electrophysiological time course evidence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qingguo Ma

Full Text Available A brand name can be considered a mental category. Similarity-based categorization theory has been used to explain how consumers judge a new product as a member of a known brand, a process called brand extension evaluation. This study was an event-related potential study conducted in two experiments. The study found a two-stage categorization process reflected by the P2 and N400 components in brand extension evaluation. In experiment 1, a prime-probe paradigm was presented in a pair consisting of a brand name and a product name in three conditions, i.e., in-category extension, similar-category extension, and out-of-category extension. Although the task was unrelated to brand extension evaluation, P2 distinguished out-of-category extensions from similar-category and in-category ones, and N400 distinguished similar-category extensions from in-category ones. In experiment 2, a prime-probe paradigm with a related task was used, in which product names included subcategory and major-category product names. The N400 elicited by subcategory products was more significantly negative than that elicited by major-category products, with no salient difference in P2. We speculated that P2 could reflect the early low-level and similarity-based processing in the first stage, whereas N400 could reflect the late analytic and category-based processing in the second stage.

Order information in verbal working memory shifts the subjective midpoint in both the line bisection and the landmark tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Antoine, Sophie; Ranzini, Mariagrazia; Gebuis, Titia; van Dijck, Jean-Philippe; Gevers, Wim

2017-10-01

A largely substantiated view in the domain of working memory is that the maintenance of serial order is achieved by generating associations of each item with an independent representation of its position, so-called position markers. Recent studies reported that the ordinal position of an item in verbal working memory interacts with spatial processing. This suggests that position markers might be spatial in nature. However, these interactions were so far observed in tasks implying a clear binary categorization of space (i.e., with left and right responses or targets). Such binary categorizations leave room for alternative interpretations, such as congruency between non-spatial categorical codes for ordinal position (e.g., begin and end) and spatial categorical codes for response (e.g., left and right). Here we discard this interpretation by providing evidence that this interaction can also be observed in a task that draws upon a continuous processing of space, the line bisection task. Specifically, bisections are modulated by ordinal position in verbal working memory, with lines bisected more towards the right after retrieving items from the end compared to the beginning of the memorized sequence. This supports the idea that position markers are intrinsically spatial in nature.

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.

When intensions do not map onto extensions: Individual differences in conceptualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Hampton, James A; Passanisi, Alessia

2016-04-01

Concepts are represented in the mind through knowledge of their extensions (the class of items to which the concept applies) and intensions (features that distinguish that class of items). A common assumption among theories of concepts is that the 2 aspects are intimately related. Hence if there is systematic individual variation in concept representation, the variation should correlate between extensional and intensional measures. A pair of individuals with similar extensional beliefs about a given concept should also share similar intensional beliefs. To test this notion, exemplars (extensions) and features (intensions) of common categories were rated for typicality and importance respectively across 2 occasions. Within-subject consistency was greater than between-subjects consensus on each task, providing evidence for systematic individual variation. Furthermore, the similarity structure between individuals for each task was stable across occasions. However, across 5 samples, similarity between individuals for extensional judgments did not map onto similarity between individuals for intensional judgments. The results challenge the assumption common to many theories of conceptual representation that intensions determine extensions and support a hybrid view of concepts where there is a disconnection between the conceptual resources that are used for the 2 tasks. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Novel Hybrid Scheduling Technique for Sensor Nodes with Mixed Criticality Tasks

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Mihai-Victor Micea

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Sensor networks become increasingly a key technology for complex control applications. Their potential use in safety- and time-critical domains has raised the need for task scheduling mechanisms specially adapted to sensor node specific requirements, often materialized in predictable jitter-less execution of tasks characterized by different criticality levels. This paper offers an efficient scheduling solution, named Hybrid Hard Real-Time Scheduling (H2RTS, which combines a static, clock driven method with a dynamic, event driven scheduling technique, in order to provide high execution predictability, while keeping a high node Central Processing Unit (CPU utilization factor. From the detailed, integrated schedulability analysis of the H2RTS, a set of sufficiency tests are introduced and demonstrated based on the processor demand and linear upper bound metrics. The performance and correct behavior of the proposed hybrid scheduling technique have been extensively evaluated and validated both on a simulator and on a sensor mote equipped with ARM7 microcontroller.

Novel Hybrid Scheduling Technique for Sensor Nodes with Mixed Criticality Tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Micea, Mihai-Victor; Stangaciu, Cristina-Sorina; Stangaciu, Valentin; Curiac, Daniel-Ioan

2017-06-26

Sensor networks become increasingly a key technology for complex control applications. Their potential use in safety- and time-critical domains has raised the need for task scheduling mechanisms specially adapted to sensor node specific requirements, often materialized in predictable jitter-less execution of tasks characterized by different criticality levels. This paper offers an efficient scheduling solution, named Hybrid Hard Real-Time Scheduling (H²RTS), which combines a static, clock driven method with a dynamic, event driven scheduling technique, in order to provide high execution predictability, while keeping a high node Central Processing Unit (CPU) utilization factor. From the detailed, integrated schedulability analysis of the H²RTS, a set of sufficiency tests are introduced and demonstrated based on the processor demand and linear upper bound metrics. The performance and correct behavior of the proposed hybrid scheduling technique have been extensively evaluated and validated both on a simulator and on a sensor mote equipped with ARM7 microcontroller.

Learners’ L1 Use in a Task-based Classroom

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bao, Rui; Du, Xiangyun

2015-01-01

, but with only a very small amount oc- curring for off-task talk across tasks. L1 use mainly occurred in learners’ efforts to mediate completion of the tasks. The findings highlight the role of L1 in foreign language learning and suggest that L1 use is associated with a number of factors, such as task types......’ extensive L1 use and off-task talk. Informed by sociocultural theory, this study explored the extent to which L1s and their func- tions were used when performing tasks. The subjects were beginner-level lower-secondary school learners of Chinese. The data shows that learners have a high amount of L1 use...

Spacetime extensions Pt. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Racz, I.

1991-09-01

The problem of the existence of local extensions of spacetime is considered. It is shown that for a spacetime including an incomplete inextendible non-coiling causal geodesic curve there exists a particular C k (resp. C k- ) local extension provided that the curvature and its covariant derivatives are well behaved up to order k + 1 (resp. k) along a family of causal geodetics (around the chosen one). (R.P.) 15 refs

Completing the Task Procedure or Focusing on Form: Contextualizing Grammar Instruction via Task-Based Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Saraç, Hatice Sezgi

2018-01-01

In this study, it was aimed to compare two distinct methodologies of grammar instruction: task-based and form-focused teaching. Within the application procedure, which lasted for one academic term, two groups of tertiary level learners (N = 53) were exposed to the same sequence of target structures, extensive writing activities and evaluation…

The effect of caffeine on cognitive task performance and motor fatigue

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Duinen, Hiske; Lorist, Monicque M.; Zijdewind, Inge

Rationale: In everyday life, people are usually capable of performing two tasks simultaneously. However, in a previous study we showed that during a fatiguing motor task, cognitive performance declined progressively. There is extensive literature on the ( positive) effects of caffeine on cognitive

Second-order motor planning in children: insights from a cup-manipulation-task.

Science.gov (United States)

Wunsch, Kathrin; Weiss, Daniel J; Schack, Thomas; Weigelt, Matthias

2015-07-01

The present study examined the development of anticipatory motor planning in an object manipulation task that has been used to successfully demonstrate motor planning in non-human primates (Weiss et al. in Psychol Sci 18:1063-1068, 2007). Seventy-five participants from four different age groups participated in a cup-manipulation task. One group was preschool children (average age of 5.1 years), two groups were primary school children (7.7 and 9.8 years old respectively) and the final group was comprised of adults. The experimental task entailed reaching for a plastic cup that was vertically suspended in an apparatus in either upright or inverted orientation, removing the cup by its stem and then retrieving a small toy from the inside of the cup. When the cup was inverted in the apparatus, evidence for anticipatory motor planning could be achieved by initially gripping the stem using an inverted (thumb-down) grip posture. We found that when the cup was in upright orientation, all participants reached for the cup using an upright grip (i.e., thumb-up posture). However, when the cup was inverted in the apparatus, only adults consistently used an inverted grasping posture, though the percentage of inverted grips among participants did increase with age. These results suggest a protracted development for anticipatory motor planning abilities in children. Surprisingly, the performance of adults on this task more closely resembles the performance of several nonhuman primate species as opposed to children even at approximately 10 years of age. We discuss how morphological constraints on flexibility may help account for these findings.

The Application of Task- oriented Teaching Approach to Enhancing Communicative Competence of EFL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LI Mingxin

2014-02-01

Full Text Available To communicate is the primary goal of most foreign language learning (EFL. As an important component of the four macro skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing, reading should also serve this purpose. However, traditional methodology still dominates extensive reading teaching in most of the universities. To promote a communicative extensive reading class, we may start by designing various tasks and activities. This paper introduces a task-oriented approach in English extensive reading class. According to Nunan, task-oriented teaching involves learners in the classroom to comprehend, manipulate, produce or interact in the target language, but the focus is on the meaning rather than the form. In light of psycholinguistic model and schema theory model, the methodology covers information-gap activity, opinion-gap activity and reasoning-gap activity which can be run in the class. The task-approaches make the interaction between teacher and students, students and students more active and meaningful. Skills of reading to solve communicative problems are always treated consciously. This approach may hopefully result in some improvement on the teaching of English reading.

Comparison of proximally versus distally placed spatially distributed sequential stimulation electrodes in a dynamic knee extension task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Laubacher

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Spatially distributed sequential stimulation (SDSS has demonstrated substantial power output and fatigue benefits compared to single electrode stimulation (SES in the application of functional electrical stimulation (FES. This asymmetric electrode setup brings new possibilities but also new questions since precise placement of the electrodes is one critical factor for good muscle activation. The aim of this study was to compare the power output, fatigue and activation properties of proximally versus distally placed SDSS electrodes in an isokinetic knee extension task simulating knee movement during recumbent cycling. M. vastus lateralis and medialis of seven able-bodied subjects were stimulated with rectangular bi-phasic pulses of constant amplitude of 40 mA and at an SDSS frequency of 35 Hz for 6 min on both legs with both setups (i.e. n=14. Torque was measured during knee-extension movement by a dynamometer at an angular velocity of 110 deg/s. Mean power, peak power and activation time were calculated and compared for the initial and final stimulation phases, together with an overall fatigue index. Power output values (Pmean, Ppeak were scaled to a standardised reference input pulse width of 100 μs (Pmean,s, Ppeak,s. The initial evaluation phase showed no significant differences between the two setups for all outcome measures. Ppeak and Ppeak,s were both significantly higher in the final phase for the distal setup (25.4 ± 8.1 W vs. 28.2 ± 6.2 W, p=0.0062 and 34.8 ± 9.5 W vs. 38.9 ± 6.7 W, p=0.021, respectively. With distal SDSS, there was modest evidence of higher Pmean and Pmean,s (p=0.071, p=0.14, respectively but of longer activation time (p=0.096. The rate of fatigue was similar for both setups. For practical FES applications, distal placement of the SDSS electrodes is preferable.

Task Shifting Provision of Contraceptive Implants to Community Health Extension Workers: Results of Operations Research in Northern Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Charyeva, Zulfiya; Oguntunde, Olugbenga; Orobaton, Nosa; Otolorin, Emmanuel; Inuwa, Fatima; Alalade, Olubisi; Abegunde, Dele; Danladi, Saba'atu

2015-09-01

Contraceptive use remains low in Nigeria, with only 11% of women reporting use of any modern method. Access to long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) is constrained by a severe shortage of human resources. To assess feasibility of task shifting provision of implants, we trained community health extension workers (CHEWs) to insert and remove contraceptive implants in rural communities of Bauchi and Sokoto states in northern Nigeria. We conducted 2- to 3-week training sessions for 166 selected CHEWs from 82 facilities in Sokoto state (September 2013) and 84 health facilities in Bauchi state (December 2013). To assess feasibility of the task shifting approach, we conducted operations research using a pretest-posttest design using multiple sources of information, including surveys with 151 trained CHEWs (9% were lost to follow-up) and with 150 family planning clients; facility observations using supply checklists (N = 149); direct observation of counseling provided by CHEWs (N = 144) and of their clinical (N = 113) skills; as well as a review of service statistics (N = 151 health facilities). The endline assessment was conducted 6 months after the training in each state. CHEWs inserted a total of 3,588 implants in 151 health facilities over a period of 6 months, generating 10,088 couple-years of protection (CYP). After practicing on anatomic arm models, most CHEWs achieved competency in implant insertions after insertions with 4-5 actual clients. Clinical observations revealed that CHEWs performed implant insertion tasks correctly 90% of the time or more for nearly all checklist items. The amount of information that CHEWs provided clients increased between baseline and endline, and over 95% of surveyed clients reported being satisfied with CHEWs' services in both surveys. The study found that supervisors not only observed and corrected insertion skills, as needed, during supervisory visits but also encouraged CHEWs to conduct more community

Increasing On-Task Behavior in the Classroom: Extension of Self-Monitoring Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Amato-Zech, Natalie A.; Hoff, Kathryn E.; Doepke, Karla J.

2006-01-01

We examined the effectiveness of a tactile self-monitoring prompt to increase on-task behaviors among 3 elementary-aged students in a special education classroom. Students were taught to self-monitor their attention by using the MotivAider (MotivAider, 2000), an electronic beeper that vibrates to provide a tactile cue to self-monitor. An ABAB…

Pseudo Boolean Programming for Partially Ordered Genomes

Science.gov (United States)

Angibaud, Sébastien; Fertin, Guillaume; Thévenin, Annelyse; Vialette, Stéphane

Comparing genomes of different species is a crucial problem in comparative genomics. Different measures have been proposed to compare two genomes: number of common intervals, number of adjacencies, number of reversals, etc. These measures are classically used between two totally ordered genomes. However, genetic mapping techniques often give rise to different maps with some unordered genes. Starting from a partial order between genes of a genome, one method to find a total order consists in optimizing a given measure between a linear extension of this partial order and a given total order of a close and well-known genome. However, for most common measures, the problem turns out to be NP-hard. In this paper, we propose a (0,1)-linear programming approach to compute a linear extension of one genome that maximizes the number of common intervals (resp. the number of adjacencies) between this linear extension and a given total order. Next, we propose an algorithm to find linear extensions of two partial orders that maximize the number of adjacencies.

Standardization of doctoral study in agricultural and extension education: is the field of study mature enough for achievement of the optimum degree of order?

Science.gov (United States)

Briers, G E; Lindner, J R; Shinn, G C; Wingenbach, G W; Baker, M T

2010-01-01

Agricultural and extension education--or some derivative name--is a field of study leading to the doctoral degree in universities around the world. Is there are body of knowledge or a taxonomy of the knowledge--e.g., a knowledge domain--that one should possess with a doctorate in agricultural and extension education? The purpose of this paper was to synthesize the work of researchers who attempted to define the field of study, with a taxonomy comprising the knowledge domains (standards) and knowledge objects--structured interrelated sets of data, knowledge, and wisdom--of the field of study. Doctoral study in agricultural and extension education needs a document that provides for rules and guidelines--rules and guidelines that in turn provide for common and repeated use--all leading to achievement of an optimum degree of order in the context of academic, scholarly, and professional practice in agricultural and extension education. Thus, one would know in broad categories the knowledge, skills, and abilities possessed by one who holds a doctoral degree in agricultural and extension education. That is, there would exist a standard for doctoral degrees in agricultural and extension education. A content analysis of three previous attempts to categorize knowledge in agricultural and extension education served as the primary technique to create a new taxonomy--or to confirm an existing taxonomy--for doctoral study in agricultural and extension education. The following coalesced as nine essential knowledge domains for a doctorate in agricultural and extension education: (1) history, philosophy, ethics, and policy; (2) agricultural/rural development; (3) organizational development and change management; (4) planning, needs assessment, and evaluation; (5) learning theory; (6) curriculum development and instructional design; (7) teaching methods and delivery strategies; (8) research methods and tools; and, (9) scholarship and communications.

Privacy-Preserving Task Assignment in Spatial Crowdsourcing

KAUST Repository

Liu, An; Li, Zhi-Xu; Liu, Guan-Feng; Zheng, Kai; Zhang, Min; Li, Qing; Zhang, Xiangliang

2017-01-01

untrusted SC systems. In this paper, we study the problem of assigning workers to tasks in a way that location privacy for both workers and task requesters is preserved. We first combine the Paillier cryptosystem with Yao’s garbled circuits to construct a secure protocol that assigns the nearest worker to a task. Considering that this protocol cannot scale to a large number of workers, we then make use of Geohash, a hierarchical spatial index to design a more efficient protocol that can securely find approximate nearest workers. We theoretically show that these two protocols are secure against semi-honest adversaries. Through extensive experiments on two real-world datasets, we demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our protocols.

Effects of dual-task conditions on cervical spine movement variability.

Science.gov (United States)

Niederer, Daniel; Vogt, Lutz; Vogel, Johanna; Banzer, Winfried

2017-09-22

The potential to accurately perform cervical movements during more challenging tasks might be of importance to prevent dysfunctional motion characteristics. Although sensorimotor function during dual-task conditions are of increasing interest in biomedical and rehabilitation research, effects of such conditions on movement consistency of the neck have not yet been investigated. In this crossover MiSpEx(Medicine in Spine Exercise)-diagnostic study, we aimed to explore differences between single and dual-task conditions on cervical movement variability. Nineteen healthy participants (9 male; 24.5 ± 3.3 y) performed 10 repetitive maximal cervical movements in (1) flexion/extension and (2) lateral flexion, during one single- and during two dual-task test conditions (cognitive, motor) in a randomised and cross-over sequence. Latter consisted of a working memory n-back task (n= 2) and a repetitive ankle movement task. Range of motion (RoM) was assessed using an external three-dimensional ultrasonic movement analysis system. Coefficient of variation (CV) for repetitive RoM was analysed for differences between conditions and controlled for variances in intra-individual movement characteristics. Friedman and post-hoc Bonferroni-adjusted confidence intervals for differences from single- to dual-task values revealed changes in CV in flexion/extension from single-task to motor dual-task (+0.02 ± 0.02 (97.5%CI: 0.01; 0.03); pdual-task condition (+0.01 ± 0.02 (97.5%CI: 0.003; 0.02)) nor for lateral flexion (p> 0.05). Pearson regression analyses revealed a linear negative (pdual-task (R=2 0.55). Results for lateral flexion are comparable, baseline CV negatively impacts differences to cognitive (R=2 0.2) and motor dual-task performance (R=2 0.76; pdual-task conditions while participants with a higher variability remained almost stable or showed a decrease. The results point toward a complex interrelationship of motion patterns and adaptation processes during challenging tasks

Perception of Extension Specialists about the Role of Extension in the Production and Adoption of the Genetically Modified Crops in Iran

OpenAIRE

Seyed J.F. Hosseini

2008-01-01

Extension specialists were surveyed in order to explore their perception about the role of extension in the production and adoption of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in Iran. The methodology used in this study involved a combination of descriptive and quantitative research. The total population for this study was 120 extension specialists in Iran. Extension specialists believed that the first priority of extension should be to increase the participation of stakeholders in the development of ...

Privacy-Preserving Task Assignment in Spatial Crowdsourcing

KAUST Repository

Liu, An

2017-09-20

With the progress of mobile devices and wireless networks, spatial crowdsourcing (SC) is emerging as a promising approach for problem solving. In SC, spatial tasks are assigned to and performed by a set of human workers. To enable effective task assignment, however, both workers and task requesters are required to disclose their locations to untrusted SC systems. In this paper, we study the problem of assigning workers to tasks in a way that location privacy for both workers and task requesters is preserved. We first combine the Paillier cryptosystem with Yao’s garbled circuits to construct a secure protocol that assigns the nearest worker to a task. Considering that this protocol cannot scale to a large number of workers, we then make use of Geohash, a hierarchical spatial index to design a more efficient protocol that can securely find approximate nearest workers. We theoretically show that these two protocols are secure against semi-honest adversaries. Through extensive experiments on two real-world datasets, we demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our protocols.

Hemispatial neglect and serial order in verbal working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Antoine, Sophie; Ranzini, Mariagrazia; van Dijck, Jean-Philippe; Slama, Hichem; Bonato, Mario; Tousch, Ann; Dewulf, Myrtille; Bier, Jean-Christophe; Gevers, Wim

2018-01-09

Working memory refers to our ability to actively maintain and process a limited amount of information during a brief period of time. Often, not only the information itself but also its serial order is crucial for good task performance. It was recently proposed that serial order is grounded in spatial cognition. Here, we compared performance of a group of right hemisphere-damaged patients with hemispatial neglect to healthy controls in verbal working memory tasks. Participants memorized sequences of consonants at span level and had to judge whether a target consonant belonged to the memorized sequence (item task) or whether a pair of consonants were presented in the same order as in the memorized sequence (order task). In line with this idea that serial order is grounded in spatial cognition, we found that neglect patients made significantly more errors in the order task than in the item task compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, this deficit seemed functionally related to neglect severity and was more frequently observed following right posterior brain damage. Interestingly, this specific impairment for serial order in verbal working memory was not lateralized. We advance the hypotheses of a potential contribution to the deficit of serial order in neglect patients of either or both (1) reduced spatial working memory capacity that enables to keep track of the spatial codes that provide memorized items with a positional context, (2) a spatial compression of these codes in the intact representational space. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

The role of corporate image and extension similarity in service brand extensions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruyter, de J.C.; Wetzels, M.G.M.

2000-01-01

In this article we examine the role of corporate image in extending service brands to new and traditional markets in the telecommunications sector. With regards to corporate image, service brand extensions are primarily associated with innovation-related attributes, such as order of entry (i.e.,

Riemann-Liouville integrals of fractional order and extended KP hierarchy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamata, Masaru; Nakamula, Atsushi

2002-01-01

An attempt to formulate the extensions of the KP hierarchy by introducing fractional-order pseudo-differential operators is given. In the case of the extension with the half-order pseudo-differential operators, a system analogous to the supersymmetric extensions of the KP hierarchy is obtained. Unlike the supersymmetric extensions, no Grassmannian variable appears in the hierarchy considered here. More general hierarchies constructed by the 1/Nth-order pseudo-differential operators, their integrability and the reduction procedure are also investigated. In addition to finding the new extensions of the KP hierarchy, a brief introduction to the Riemann-Liouville integral is provided to yield a candidate for the fractional-order pseudo-differential operators

Effects of language dominance on item and order memory in free recall, serial recall and order reconstruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Francis, Wendy S; Baca, Yuzeth

2014-01-01

Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 144) performed free recall, serial recall and order reconstruction tasks in both English and Spanish. Long-term memory for both item and order information was worse in the less fluent language (L2) than in the more fluent language (L1). Item scores exhibited a stronger disadvantage for the L2 in serial recall than in free recall. Relative order scores were lower in the L2 for all three tasks, but adjusted scores for free and serial recall were equivalent across languages. Performance of English-speaking monolinguals (N = 72) was comparable to bilingual performance in the L1, except that monolinguals had higher adjusted order scores in free recall. Bilingual performance patterns in the L2 were consistent with the established effects of concurrent task performance on these memory tests, suggesting that the cognitive resources required for processing words in the L2 encroach on resources needed to commit item and order information to memory. These findings are also consistent with a model in which item memory is connected to the language system, order information is processed by separate mechanisms and attention can be allocated differentially to these two systems.

Extension Education Symposium: Getting the Most Out of Your Extension Appointment and Still Having a Life

OpenAIRE

Powers, W.; Cockett, Noelle E.; Lardy, Gregory P.

2017-01-01

Managing the demands of an academic appointment in extension can be a challenging task. Demands from constituent groups, expectations of supervisors, and rigors of promotion and tenure processes can create pressures that young faculty did not expect. Throw in spousal and family duties and you have created a situation that many will find hard to navigate. However, there are ways to cope and, even better news, there are ways to excel in meeting the demands of an academic appointment and enjoyin...

Overview of the ID, EPI and REL tasks of BioNLP Shared Task 2011

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pyysalo Sampo

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract We present the preparation, resources, results and analysis of three tasks of the BioNLP Shared Task 2011: the main tasks on Infectious Diseases (ID and Epigenetics and Post-translational Modifications (EPI, and the supporting task on Entity Relations (REL. The two main tasks represent extensions of the event extraction model introduced in the BioNLP Shared Task 2009 (ST'09 to two new areas of biomedical scientific literature, each motivated by the needs of specific biocuration tasks. The ID task concerns the molecular mechanisms of infection, virulence and resistance, focusing in particular on the functions of a class of signaling systems that are ubiquitous in bacteria. The EPI task is dedicated to the extraction of statements regarding chemical modifications of DNA and proteins, with particular emphasis on changes relating to the epigenetic control of gene expression. By contrast to these two application-oriented main tasks, the REL task seeks to support extraction in general by separating challenges relating to part-of relations into a subproblem that can be addressed by independent systems. Seven groups participated in each of the two main tasks and four groups in the supporting task. The participating systems indicated advances in the capability of event extraction methods and demonstrated generalization in many aspects: from abstracts to full texts, from previously considered subdomains to new ones, and from the ST'09 extraction targets to other entities and events. The highest performance achieved in the supporting task REL, 58% F-score, is broadly comparable with levels reported for other relation extraction tasks. For the ID task, the highest-performing system achieved 56% F-score, comparable to the state-of-the-art performance at the established ST'09 task. In the EPI task, the best result was 53% F-score for the full set of extraction targets and 69% F-score for a reduced set of core extraction targets, approaching a level

Extension of the Dytlewski-style dead time correction formalism for neutron multiplicity counting to any order

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Croft, Stephen; Favalli, Andrea

2017-01-01

Here, neutron multiplicity counting using shift-register calculus is an established technique in the science of international nuclear safeguards for the identification, verification, and assay of special nuclear materials. Typically passive counting is used for Pu and mixed Pu-U items and active methods are used for U materials. Three measured counting rates, singles, doubles and triples are measured and, in combination with a simple analytical point-model, are used to calculate characteristics of the measurement item in terms of known detector and nuclear parameters. However, the measurement problem usually involves more than three quantities of interest, but even in cases where the next higher order count rate, quads, is statistically viable, it is not quantitatively applied because corrections for dead time losses are currently not available in the predominant analysis paradigm. In this work we overcome this limitation by extending the commonly used dead time correction method, developed by Dytlewski, to quads. We also give results for pents, which may be of interest for certain special investigations. Extension to still higher orders, may be accomplished by inspection based on the sequence presented. We discuss the foundations of the Dytlewski method, give limiting cases, and highlight the opportunities and implications that these new results expose. In particular there exist a number of ways in which the new results may be combined with other approaches to extract the correlated rates, and this leads to various practical implementations.

Models for Understanding Student Thinking using Data from Complex Computerized Science Tasks

OpenAIRE

LaMar, Michelle

2014-01-01

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) define performance targets which will require assessment tasks that can integrate discipline knowledge and cross-cutting ideas with the practices of science. Complex computerized tasks will likely play a large role in assessing these standards, but many questions remain about how best to make use of such tasks within a psychometric framework (National Research Council, 2014). This dissertation explores the use of a more extensive...

48 CFR 16.505 - Ordering.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... factors in the selection decision. (iii) Orders exceeding $5 million. For task or delivery orders in... procedures in 5.705. (11) When using the Governmentwide commercial purchase card as a method of payment, orders at or below the micro-purchase threshold are exempt from verification in the Central Contractor...

Neonatal Perirhinal Lesions in Rhesus Macaques Alter Performance on Working Memory Tasks with High Proactive Interference.

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Alison R; Nadji, Ryhan; Bachevalier, Jocelyne

2015-01-01

The lateral prefrontal cortex is known for its contribution to working memory (WM) processes in both humans and animals. Yet, recent studies indicate that the prefrontal cortex is part of a broader network of interconnected brain areas involved in WM. Within the medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures, the perirhinal cortex, which has extensive direct interactions with the lateral and orbital prefrontal cortex, is required to form active/flexible representations of familiar objects. However, its participation in WM processes has not be fully explored. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of neonatal perirhinal lesions on maintenance and monitoring WM processes. As adults, animals with neonatal perirhinal lesions and their matched controls were tested in three object-based (non-spatial) WM tasks that tapped different WM processing domains, e.g., maintenance only (Session-unique Delayed-nonmatching-to Sample, SU-DNMS), and maintenance and monitoring (Object-Self-Order, OBJ-SO; Serial Order Memory Task, SOMT). Neonatal perirhinal lesions transiently impaired the acquisition of SU-DNMS at a short (5 s) delay, but not when re-tested with a longer delay (30 s). The same neonatal lesions severely impacted acquisition of OBJ-SO task, and the impairment was characterized by a sharp increase in perseverative errors. By contrast, neonatal perirhinal lesion spared the ability to monitor the temporal order of items in WM as measured by the SOMT. Contrary to the SU-DNMS and OBJ-SO, which re-use the same stimuli across trials and thus produce proactive interference, the SOMT uses novel objects on each trial and is devoid of interference. Therefore, the impairment of monkeys with neonatal perirhinal lesions on SU-DNMS and OBJ-SO tasks is likely to be caused by an inability to solve working memory tasks with high proactive interference. The sparing of performance on the SOMT demonstrates that neonatal perirhinal lesions do not alter working memory processes per se but

Neonatal perirhinal lesions in rhesus macaques alter performance on working memory tasks with high proactive interference

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alison R Weiss

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The lateral prefrontal cortex is known for its contribution to working memory (WM processes in both humans and animals. Yet, recent studies indicate that the prefrontal cortex is part of a broader network of interconnected brain areas involved in WM. Within the medial temporal lobe structures, the perirhinal cortex, which has extensive direct interactions with the lateral and orbital prefrontal cortex, is required to form active/flexible representations of familiar objects. However, its participation in WM processes has not be fully explored. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of neonatal perirhinal lesions on maintenance and monitoring WM processes. As adults, animals with neonatal perirhinal lesions and their matched controls were tested in three object-based (non-spatial WM tasks that tapped different WM processing domains, e.g. maintenance only (Session-unique Delayed-nonmatching-to Sample, SU-DNMS, and maintenance and monitoring (Object-Self-Order, OBJ-SO; Serial Order Memory Task, SOMT. Neonatal perirhinal lesions transiently impaired the acquisition of SU-DNMS at a short (5s delay, but not when re-tested with a longer delay (30s. The same neonatal lesions severely impacted acquisition of OBJ-SO task, and the impairment was characterized by a sharp increase in perseverative errors. By contrast, neonatal perirhinal lesion spared the ability to monitor the temporal order of items in WM as measured by the SOMT. Contrary to the SU-DNMS and OBJ-SO, which re-use the same stimuli across trials and thus produce proactive interference, the SOMT uses novel objects on each trial and is devoid of interference. Therefore, the impairment of monkeys with neonatal perirhinal lesions on SU-DNMS and OBJ-SO tasks is likely to be caused by an inability to solve working memory tasks with high proactive interference. The sparing of performance on the SOMT demonstrates that neonatal perirhinal lesions do not alter working memory processes per se

Life extension economic analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smithling, A.P.

1992-01-01

Life extension economic analyses of fossil fueled power plants need the development of consistent methods which consider the capital costs associated with component replacement or repair and estimates of normal station capital expenditures over the units remaining life. In order to link capital and production costs, Niagra Mohawk Power Corp. develops most and worst cases. A most case includes capital components that would definitely need replacement or modification for life extension. The worst case scenario contains must case capital costs plus various components which may need replacement or modification. In addition, two forecasted conditions are used, base case capacity and low capacity

An individual differences approach to temporal integration and order reversals in the attentional blink task

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willems, Charlotte; Saija, Jefta D.; Akyurek, Elkan G.; Martens, Sander

2016-01-01

Background The reduced ability to identify a second target when it is presented in close temporal succession of a first target is called the attentional blink (AB). Studies have shown large individual differences in AB task performance, where lower task performance has been associated with more

Extensive video-game experience alters cortical networks for complex visuomotor transformations.

Science.gov (United States)

Granek, Joshua A; Gorbet, Diana J; Sergio, Lauren E

2010-10-01

Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the effect of video-game experience on the neural control of increasingly complex visuomotor tasks. Previously, skilled individuals have demonstrated the use of a more efficient movement control brain network, including the prefrontal, premotor, primary sensorimotor and parietal cortices. Our results extend and generalize this finding by documenting additional prefrontal cortex activity in experienced video gamers planning for complex eye-hand coordination tasks that are distinct from actual video-game play. These changes in activation between non-gamers and extensive gamers are putatively related to the increased online control and spatial attention required for complex visually guided reaching. These data suggest that the basic cortical network for processing complex visually guided reaching is altered by extensive video-game play. Crown Copyright © 2009. Published by Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved.

A language for data-parallel and task parallel programming dedicated to multi-SIMD computers. Contributions to hydrodynamic simulation with lattice gases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pic, Marc Michel

1995-01-01

Parallel programming covers task-parallelism and data-parallelism. Many problems need both parallelisms. Multi-SIMD computers allow hierarchical approach of these parallelisms. The T++ language, based on C++, is dedicated to exploit Multi-SIMD computers using a programming paradigm which is an extension of array-programming to tasks managing. Our language introduced array of independent tasks to achieve separately (MIMD), on subsets of processors of identical behaviour (SIMD), in order to translate the hierarchical inclusion of data-parallelism in task-parallelism. To manipulate in a symmetrical way tasks and data we propose meta-operations which have the same behaviour on tasks arrays and on data arrays. We explain how to implement this language on our parallel computer SYMPHONIE in order to profit by the locally-shared memory, by the hardware virtualization, and by the multiplicity of communications networks. We analyse simultaneously a typical application of such architecture. Finite elements scheme for Fluid mechanic needs powerful parallel computers and requires large floating points abilities. Lattice gases is an alternative to such simulations. Boolean lattice bases are simple, stable, modular, need to floating point computation, but include numerical noise. Boltzmann lattice gases present large precision of computation, but needs floating points and are only locally stable. We propose a new scheme, called multi-bit, who keeps the advantages of each boolean model to which it is applied, with large numerical precision and reduced noise. Experiments on viscosity, physical behaviour, noise reduction and spurious invariants are shown and implementation techniques for parallel Multi-SIMD computers detailed. (author) [fr

Fourth-order perturbative extension of the single-double excitation coupled-cluster method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derevianko, Andrei; Emmons, Erik D.

2002-01-01

Fourth-order many-body corrections to matrix elements for atoms with one valence electron are derived. The obtained diagrams are classified using coupled-cluster-inspired separation into contributions from n-particle excitations from the lowest-order wave function. The complete set of fourth-order diagrams involves only connected single, double, and triple excitations and disconnected quadruple excitations. Approximately half of the fourth-order diagrams are not accounted for by the popular coupled-cluster method truncated at single and double excitations (CCSD). Explicit formulas are tabulated for the entire set of fourth-order diagrams missed by the CCSD method and its linearized version, i.e., contributions from connected triple and disconnected quadruple excitations. A partial summation scheme of the derived fourth-order contributions to all orders of perturbation theory is proposed

EFFECTS ON THE PERFORMANCE DURING A MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE TASK DUE TO THE TYPE AND ORDER OF EXPOSITION TO THE TRANSFERENCE TESTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CAMILO HURTADO-PARRADO

2007-08-01

Full Text Available This study evaluated the effects of manipulating the type and order of presentation of transference tests. Twenty eightundergraduate students divided in 4 groups were exposed to a second order matching to sample procedure. Theconditions of exposition were: ascending difficulty/complexity order of the tests, descending order and two randomlyassigned orders. Results are discussed in terms of percentages of effectiveness; additionally, the latency is proposed asan alternative measure sensitive to the level of difficulty of this kind of tasks. Findings showed heterogeneity in thevelocity of acquisition of the conditional discriminations during the training phase, even though the conditions of thetask were equal for all the subjects. The exposition to the ascending and descending order seemed to affect negativelythe effective behavioral adjustment, whereas one of the randomly assigned sequences seemed to be the best condition.The order of exposition to transference tests, in interaction with a history of early acquisition in the training phase,served to understand the findings of this study and to discuss the necessity of a systematical evaluation of the factors implied in the transference tests. It is suggested to assess the validity of different kind of transference tests and theconvenience of some of them to be use in the investigation of the phenomena related to the effective and variablebehavior.

Self-ordered pointing and visual conditional associative learning tasks in drug-free schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Galluzzo Alessandro

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There is evidence of a link between schizophrenia and a deficit of working memory, but this has been derived from tasks not specifically developed to probe working memory per se. Our aim was to investigate whether working memory deficits may be detected across different paradigms using the self-ordered pointing task (SOPT and the visual conditional associative learning task (VCALT in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and healthy controls. The current literature suggests deficits in schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients versus healthy controls but these studies frequently involved small samples, broad diagnostic criteria, inclusion of patients on antipsychotic medications, and were not controlled for symptom domains, severity of the disorder, etc. To overcome some of these limitations, we investigated the self-monitoring and conditional associative learning abilities of a numerically representative sample of healthy controls and a group of non-deteriorated, drug-free patients hospitalized for a schizophrenia spectrum disorder with florid, mainly positive psychotic symptoms. Methods Eighty-five patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia (n = 71 or schizophreniform disorder (n = 14 and 80 healthy controls entered the study. The clinical picture was dominated by positive symptoms. The healthy control group had a negative personal and family history of schizophrenia or mood disorder and satisfied all the inclusion and exclusion criteria other than variables related to schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Results Compared to controls, patients had worse performances on SOPT, VCALT and higher SOPT/VCALT ratios, not affected by demographic or clinical variables. ROC curves showed that SOPT, VCALT, and SOPT/VCALT ratio had good accuracy in discriminating patients from controls. The SOPT and VCALT scores were inter-correlated in controls but not in patients. Conclusion The

Traleika Glacier X-Stack Extension Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fryman, Joshua [Intel Federal LLC, Fairfax, VA (United States)

2017-08-31

The XStack Extension Project continued along the direction of the XStack program in exploring the software tools and frameworks to support a task-based community runtime towards the goal of Exascale programming. The momentum built as part of the XStack project, with the development of the task-based Open Community Runtime (OCR) and related tools, was carried through during the XStack Extension with the focus areas of easing application development, improving performance and supporting more features. The infrastructure set up for a community-driven open-source development continued to be used towards these areas, with continued co-development of runtime and applications. A variety of OCR programming environments were studied, as described in Sections Revolutionary Programming Environments & Applications – to assist with application development on OCR, and we develop OCR Translator, a ROSE-based source-to-source compiler that parses high-level annotations in an MPI program to generate equivalent OCR code. Figure 2 compares the number of OCR objects needed to generate the 2D stencil workload using the translator, against manual approaches based on SPMD library or native coding. The rate of increase with the translator, with an increase in number of ranks, is consistent with other approaches. This is explored further in Section OCR Translator.

Challenges for extension service to render efficient post-transformer ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

LPhidza

production practices and economic viability in order to align extension and farmer ... 1 FSD, Extension and Advisory Services, Central Karoo, Western Cape ..... making, banks, accountants and fellow farmers are playing an important role as.

Cognitive analysis of physicians' medication ordering activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pelayo, Sylvia; Leroy, Nicolas; Guerlinger, Sandra; Degoulet, Patrice; Meaux, Jean-Jacques; Beuscart-Zéphir, Marie-Catherine

2005-01-01

Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) addresses critical functions in healthcare systems. As the name clearly indicates, these systems focus on order entry. With regard to medication orders, such systems generally force physicians to enter exhaustively documented orders. But a cognitive analysis of the physician's medication ordering task shows that order entry is the last (and least) important step of the entire cognitive therapeutic decision making task. We performed a comparative analysis of these complex cognitive tasks in two working environments, computer-based and paper-based. The results showed that information gathering, selection and interpretation are critical cognitive functions to support the therapeutic decision making. Thus the most important requirement from the physician's perspective would be an efficient display of relevant information provided first in the form of a summarized view of the patient's current treatment, followed by in a more detailed focused display of those items pertinent to the current situation. The CPOE system examined obviously failed to provide the physicians this critical summarized view. Following these results, consistent with users' complaints, the Company decided to engage in a significant re-engineering process of their application.

A Task-Content Analysis of an Introductory Entomology Curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandenburg, R.

Described is an analysis of the content, tasks, and strategies needed by students to enable them to identify insects to order by sight and to family by use of a standard dichotomous taxonomic key. Tasks and strategies are broken down and arranged progressively in the approximate order in which students should progress. Included are listings of…

A Second Look at Second-Order Belief Attribution in Autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Sullivan, Kate

1994-01-01

Twelve students with autism and 12 with mental retardation, who had passed a first-order test of false belief, were given a second-order reasoning task. No intergroup performance differences were seen. Findings suggest that the difficulty for both groups with the second-order task lies in information processing demands rather than conceptual…

EXTENSION EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM: Getting the most out of your extension appointment and still having a life.

Science.gov (United States)

Powers, W; Cockett, N; Lardy, G

2017-04-01

Managing the demands of an academic appointment in extension can be a challenging task. Demands from constituent groups, expectations of supervisors, and rigors of promotion and tenure processes can create pressures that young faculty did not expect. Throw in spousal and family duties and you have created a situation that many will find hard to navigate. However, there are ways to cope and, even better news, there are ways to excel in meeting the demands of an academic appointment and enjoying life. Because many new extension faculty members do not have prior experience in extension, best practices in documenting programs and extension scholarship over the pretenure period are provided in this paper. Appointments that include both research and extension are quite common at many land grant universities. The advantages of joint appointments are numerous and include the fact that more and more grant agencies are seeking integrated research, teaching, and/or extension projects. However, the time demands of joint appointments can be challenging. Joint appointments can be designed to help faculty members conduct important translational research and have it be applied in a production setting. By seeking commonalities in research and extension efforts, joint appointments can be very synergistic. Development of highly successful programs requires planning on the front end with an emphasis on an in-depth needs assessment to determine stakeholder needs for both research and extension. Impact assessment should be part of this planning effort. Performing as a successful extension faculty member while maintaining relationships outside of work is challenging and requires deliberate effort on the part of employees and supervisors to realize there is more to life than work. Some authors have referred to this as work-life balance, but it may be more helpful to think of it as work-life effectiveness. To do this, one needs to 1) define what success looks like, 2) set boundaries and

Cloud Computing Task Scheduling Based on Cultural Genetic Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Jian-Wen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The task scheduling strategy based on cultural genetic algorithm(CGA is proposed in order to improve the efficiency of task scheduling in the cloud computing platform, which targets at minimizing the total time and cost of task scheduling. The improved genetic algorithm is used to construct the main population space and knowledge space under cultural framework which get independent parallel evolution, forming a mechanism of mutual promotion to dispatch the cloud task. Simultaneously, in order to prevent the defects of the genetic algorithm which is easy to fall into local optimum, the non-uniform mutation operator is introduced to improve the search performance of the algorithm. The experimental results show that CGA reduces the total time and lowers the cost of the scheduling, which is an effective algorithm for the cloud task scheduling.

Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Automated Task Order Management System (ATOMS) Operation Manual

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Shawn; Fikes, Lou A.

2016-01-01

This document describes operational aspects of the ATOMS system. The information provided is limited to the functionality provided by ATOMS and does not include information provided in the contractor's proprietary financial and task management system.

Algorithm-Dependent Generalization Bounds for Multi-Task Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tongliang; Tao, Dacheng; Song, Mingli; Maybank, Stephen J

2017-02-01

Often, tasks are collected for multi-task learning (MTL) because they share similar feature structures. Based on this observation, in this paper, we present novel algorithm-dependent generalization bounds for MTL by exploiting the notion of algorithmic stability. We focus on the performance of one particular task and the average performance over multiple tasks by analyzing the generalization ability of a common parameter that is shared in MTL. When focusing on one particular task, with the help of a mild assumption on the feature structures, we interpret the function of the other tasks as a regularizer that produces a specific inductive bias. The algorithm for learning the common parameter, as well as the predictor, is thereby uniformly stable with respect to the domain of the particular task and has a generalization bound with a fast convergence rate of order O(1/n), where n is the sample size of the particular task. When focusing on the average performance over multiple tasks, we prove that a similar inductive bias exists under certain conditions on the feature structures. Thus, the corresponding algorithm for learning the common parameter is also uniformly stable with respect to the domains of the multiple tasks, and its generalization bound is of the order O(1/T), where T is the number of tasks. These theoretical analyses naturally show that the similarity of feature structures in MTL will lead to specific regularizations for predicting, which enables the learning algorithms to generalize fast and correctly from a few examples.

Organizational Design within University Extension Units: Some Concepts, Options, and Guidelines

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Harold R.

1976-01-01

Drawing on the behavioral sciences, the author outlines alternative modes of structuring and organizing an extension unit. The advantages and disadvantages of several organizational design options, the purposes and management of the temporary task force, and some general guidelines for making organizational design decisions are discussed.…

Ranking Performance Measures in Multi-Task Agencies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Peter Ove; Sabac, Florin; Tian, Joyce

2010-01-01

We derive sufficient conditions for ranking performance evaluation systems in multi-task agency models (using both optimal and linear contracts) in terms of a second-order stochastic dominance (SSD) condition on the likelihood ratios. The SSD condition can be replaced by a variance-covariance mat......We derive sufficient conditions for ranking performance evaluation systems in multi-task agency models (using both optimal and linear contracts) in terms of a second-order stochastic dominance (SSD) condition on the likelihood ratios. The SSD condition can be replaced by a variance...

Extensive disordering in long-range-ordered Cu3Au induced by severe plastic deformation studied by transmission electron microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rentenberger, C.; Karnthaler, H.P.

2008-01-01

Bulk nanocrystalline materials can be made by severe plastic deformation. In L1 2 long-range-ordered alloys, this leads to extensive disordering which influences the highly improved properties of these nanocrystalline alloys. Transmission electron microscopy methods were applied to Cu 3 Au; both diffraction contrast images and diffraction patterns reveal that disordering takes place locally. It is concluded that in addition to disordering by the refinement of the grown-in antiphase boundary domains, the formation of antiphase boundary tubes is a prominent process of disordering. The latter is facilitated by the fact that, unlike dislocations, antiphase boundary tubes can be stored at a very high density without causing long-range stresses. The local disordering indicates that the nanocrystalline structure nucleates inhomogeneously in the highly strained disordered regions

Response to Vogelstein: How the 2012 AAP Task Force on circumcision went wrong.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Howe, Robert S

2018-01-01

Vogelstein cautions medical organizations against jumping into the fray of controversial issues, yet proffers the 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics' Task Force policy position on infant male circumcision as 'an appropriate use of position-statements.' Only a scratch below the surface of this policy statement uncovers the Task Force's failure to consider Vogelstein's many caveats. The Task Force supported the cultural practice by putting undeserved emphasis on questionable scientific data, while ignoring or underplaying the importance of valid contrary scientific data. Without any effort to quantitatively assess the risk/benefit balance, the Task Force concluded the benefits of circumcision outweighed the risks, while acknowledging that the incidence of risks was unknown. This Task Force differed from other Academy policy-forming panels by ignoring the Academy's standard quality measures and by not appointing members with extensive research experience, extensive publications, or recognized expertise directly related to this topic. Despite nearly 100 publications available at the time addressing the substantial ethical issues associated with infant male circumcision, the Task Force chose to ignore the ethical controversy. They merely stated, with minimal justification, the opinion of one of the Task Force members that the practice of infant male circumcision is morally permissible. The release of the report has fostered an explosion of academic discussion on the ethics of infant male circumcision with a number of national medical organizations now decrying the practice as a human rights violation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Transnational Normative Orders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjaer, Poul F.

2013-01-01

No weakening, but rather an expansion, of statehood can be observed in the contemporary world. This does not, on the other hand, imply that extensive forms of constitutional ordering do not exist outside the realm of states. Instead, the evolution of world society has been characterized by a prot......No weakening, but rather an expansion, of statehood can be observed in the contemporary world. This does not, on the other hand, imply that extensive forms of constitutional ordering do not exist outside the realm of states. Instead, the evolution of world society has been characterized...... as represented by the constitutional subject. Third, constitutionalism denotes the institutionalization of a double function, in the form of a principle-based and legally fortified striving toward universal inclusion, providing a sense of direction in time through an articulated form of constitutional...

Transnational Normative Orders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjær, Poul F.

2017-01-01

No weakening, but rather an expansion, of statehood can be observed in the contemporary world. This does not, on the other hand, imply that extensive forms of constitutional ordering do not exist outside the realm of states. Instead, the evolution of world society has been characterized by a prot......No weakening, but rather an expansion, of statehood can be observed in the contemporary world. This does not, on the other hand, imply that extensive forms of constitutional ordering do not exist outside the realm of states. Instead, the evolution of world society has been characterized...... as represented by the constitutional subject. Third, constitutionalism denotes the institutionalization of a double function, in the form of a principle-based and legally fortified striving toward universal inclusion, providing a sense of direction in time through an articulated form of constitutional...

Physical Education-in-CLIL tasks. Determining tasks characteristics through the analysis of the diaries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josep Coral Mateu

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on the characteristics of Physical Education-in-CLIL (PE-in-CLIL tasks. CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning is a teaching approach which uses foreign language as a tool to enhance the subject learning process. We connect PE-in-CLIL with key competences and we introduce the CLIL 4Cs framework. We establish the aims of the study, that is; to describe the features of tasks which are most suitable to PE-in-CLIL and identify integrated tasks which appeal most to learners. We use Action-Research and we collect data through diaries. The participants of the study were twenty-six learners of 5th grade of primary school. We described the strategies of rigour and quality applied and we analysed data using a qualitative data analysis software programme (NVivo. In the results, we identify both the tasks that appeal to students and the tasks that are developed successfully. In the conclusions, we provide teaching guidelines to plan successful PE-in-CLIL tasks that appeal to students. At this point, we emphasise tasks that combined both cooperative learning and oracy with motor activity and games. We also declare the necessity of incorporating scaffolding strategies in order to accommodate students’ linguistic needs and facilitate tasks development. Future CLIL research possibilities emerge in the Physical Education field of work.

First Order Electroweak Phase Transition from (Non)Conformal Extensions of the Standard Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sannino, Francesco; Virkajärvi, Jussi

2015-01-01

We analyse and compare the finite-temperature electroweak phase transition properties of classically (non)conformal extensions of the Standard Model. In the classically conformal scenarios the breaking of the electroweak symmetry is generated radiatively. The models feature new scalars coupled co...... the associated models are testable at the upcoming Large Hadron Collider run two experiments....

Manifold regularized multi-task feature selection for multi-modality classification in Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Jie, Biao; Zhang, Daoqiang; Cheng, Bo; Shen, Dinggang

2013-01-01

Accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), as well as its prodromal stage (i.e., mild cognitive impairment, MCI), is very important for possible delay and early treatment of the disease. Recently, multi-modality methods have been used for fusing information from multiple different and complementary imaging and non-imaging modalities. Although there are a number of existing multi-modality methods, few of them have addressed the problem of joint identification of disease-related brain regions from multi-modality data for classification. In this paper, we proposed a manifold regularized multi-task learning framework to jointly select features from multi-modality data. Specifically, we formulate the multi-modality classification as a multi-task learning framework, where each task focuses on the classification based on each modality. In order to capture the intrinsic relatedness among multiple tasks (i.e., modalities), we adopted a group sparsity regularizer, which ensures only a small number of features to be selected jointly. In addition, we introduced a new manifold based Laplacian regularization term to preserve the geometric distribution of original data from each task, which can lead to the selection of more discriminative features. Furthermore, we extend our method to the semi-supervised setting, which is very important since the acquisition of a large set of labeled data (i.e., diagnosis of disease) is usually expensive and time-consuming, while the collection of unlabeled data is relatively much easier. To validate our method, we have performed extensive evaluations on the baseline Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) data of Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. Our experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Characterizing and Mitigating Work Time Inflation in Task Parallel Programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen L. Olivier

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Task parallelism raises the level of abstraction in shared memory parallel programming to simplify the development of complex applications. However, task parallel applications can exhibit poor performance due to thread idleness, scheduling overheads, and work time inflation – additional time spent by threads in a multithreaded computation beyond the time required to perform the same work in a sequential computation. We identify the contributions of each factor to lost efficiency in various task parallel OpenMP applications and diagnose the causes of work time inflation in those applications. Increased data access latency can cause significant work time inflation in NUMA systems. Our locality framework for task parallel OpenMP programs mitigates this cause of work time inflation. Our extensions to the Qthreads library demonstrate that locality-aware scheduling can improve performance up to 3X compared to the Intel OpenMP task scheduler.

Non-Mathematics Students' Reasoning in Calculus Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Jukic Matic, Ljerka

2015-01-01

This paper investigates the reasoning of first year non-mathematics students in non-routine calculus tasks. The students in this study were accustomed to imitative reasoning from their primary and secondary education. In order to move from imitative reasoning toward more creative reasoning, non-routine tasks were implemented as an explicit part of…

Set-based Tasks within the Singularity-robust Multiple Task-priority Inverse Kinematics Framework: General Formulation, Stability Analysis and Experimental Results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Signe eMoe

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Inverse kinematics algorithms are commonly used in robotic systems to transform tasks to joint references, and several methods exist to ensure the achievement of several tasks simultaneously. The multiple task-priority inverse kinematicsframework allows tasks to be considered in a prioritized order by projecting task velocities through the nullspaces of higherpriority tasks. This paper extends this framework to handle setbased tasks, i.e. tasks with a range of valid values, in addition to equality tasks, which have a specific desired value. Examples of set-based tasks are joint limit and obstacle avoidance. The proposed method is proven to ensure asymptotic convergence of the equality task errors and the satisfaction of all high-priority set-based tasks. The practical implementation of the proposed algorithm is discussed, and experimental results are presented where a number of both set-based and equality tasks have been implemented on a 6 degree of freedom UR5 which is an industrial robotic arm from Universal Robots. The experiments validate thetheoretical results and confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Recall in extensive form games

OpenAIRE

Klaus Ritzberger

1999-01-01

This paper considers characterizations of perfect recall in extensive form games. It is shown that perfect recall can be expressed in terms of choices without any reference to infomation sets. When information sets are taken into account, it is decomposable into an ordering of information sets and that players do not forget what they knew nor what they did. Thus, if information sets are partially ordered, then perfect recall is implied by the player's inability to refine her information from ...

Biomechanical Analyses of Stair-climbing while Dual-tasking

Science.gov (United States)

Vallabhajosula, Srikant; Tan, Chi Wei; Mukherjee, Mukul; Davidson, Austin J.; Stergiou, Nicholas

2015-01-01

Stair-climbing while doing a concurrent task like talking or holding an object is a common activity of daily living which poses high risk for falls. While biomechanical analyses of overground walking during dual-tasking have been studied extensively, little is known on the biomechanics of stair-climbing while dual-tasking. We sought to determine the impact of performing a concurrent cognitive or motor task during stair-climbing. We hypothesized that a concurrent cognitive task will have a greater impact on stair climbing performance compared to a concurrent motor task and that this impact will be greater on a higher-level step. Ten healthy young adults performed 10 trials of stair-climbing each under four conditions: stair ascending only, stair ascending and performing subtraction of serial sevens from a three-digit number, stair ascending and carrying an empty opaque box and stair ascending, performing subtraction of serial sevens from a random three-digit number and carrying an empty opaque box. Kinematics (lower extremity joint angles and minimum toe clearance) and kinetics (ground reaction forces and joint moments and powers) data were collected. We found that a concurrent cognitive task impacted kinetics but not kinematics of stair-climbing. The effect of dual-tasking during stair ascent also seemed to vary based on the different phases of stair ascent stance and seem to have greater impact as one climbs higher. Overall, the results of the current study suggest that the association between the executive functioning and motor task (like gait) becomes stronger as the level of complexity of the motor task increases. PMID:25773590

Economic modeling for life extension decision making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farber, M.A.; Harrison, D.L.; Carlson, D.D.

1986-01-01

This paper presents a methodology for the economic and financial analysis of nuclear plant life extension under uncertainty and demonstrates its use in a case analysis. While the economic and financial evaluation of life extension does not require new analytical tools, such studies should be based on the following three premises. First, the methodology should examine effects at the level of the company or utility system, because the most important economic implications of life extension relate to the altered generation system expansion plan. Second, it should focus on the implications of uncertainty in order to understand the factors that most affect life extension benefits and identify risk management efforts. Third, the methodology should address multiple objectives, at a minimum, both economic and financial objectives

Functional Task Test: 3. Skeletal Muscle Performance Adaptations to Space Flight

Science.gov (United States)

Ryder, Jeffrey W.; Wickwire, P. J.; Buxton, R. E.; Bloomberg, J. J.; Ploutz-Snyder, L.

2011-01-01

The functional task test is a multi-disciplinary study investigating how space-flight induced changes to physiological systems impacts functional task performance. Impairment of neuromuscular function would be expected to negatively affect functional performance of crewmembers following exposure to microgravity. This presentation reports the results for muscle performance testing in crewmembers. Functional task performance will be presented in the abstract "Functional Task Test 1: sensory motor adaptations associated with postflight alternations in astronaut functional task performance." METHODS: Muscle performance measures were obtained in crewmembers before and after short-duration space flight aboard the Space Shuttle and long-duration International Space Station (ISS) missions. The battery of muscle performance tests included leg press and bench press measures of isometric force, isotonic power and total work. Knee extension was used for the measurement of central activation and maximal isometric force. Upper and lower body force steadiness control were measured on the bench press and knee extension machine, respectively. Tests were implemented 60 and 30 days before launch, on landing day (Shuttle crew only), and 6, 10 and 30 days after landing. Seven Space Shuttle crew and four ISS crew have completed the muscle performance testing to date. RESULTS: Preliminary results for Space Shuttle crew reveal significant reductions in the leg press performance metrics of maximal isometric force, power and total work on R+0 (pperformance metrics were observed in returning Shuttle crew and these adaptations are likely contributors to impaired functional tasks that are ambulatory in nature (See abstract Functional Task Test: 1). Interestingly, no significant changes in central activation capacity were detected. Therefore, impairments in muscle function in response to short-duration space flight are likely myocellular rather than neuromotor in nature.

The effects of voice and manual control mode on dual task performance

Science.gov (United States)

Wickens, C. D.; Zenyuh, J.; Culp, V.; Marshak, W.

1986-01-01

Two fundamental principles of human performance, compatibility and resource competition, are combined with two structural dichotomies in the human information processing system, manual versus voice output, and left versus right cerebral hemisphere, in order to predict the optimum combination of voice and manual control with either hand, for time-sharing performance of a dicrete and continuous task. Eight right handed male subjected performed a discrete first-order tracking task, time-shared with an auditorily presented Sternberg Memory Search Task. Each task could be controlled by voice, or by the left or right hand, in all possible combinations except for a dual voice mode. When performance was analyzed in terms of a dual-task decrement from single task control conditions, the following variables influenced time-sharing efficiency in diminishing order of magnitude, (1) the modality of control, (discrete manual control of tracking was superior to discrete voice control of tracking and the converse was true with the memory search task), (2) response competition, (performance was degraded when both tasks were responded manually), (3) hemispheric competition, (performance degraded whenever two tasks were controlled by the left hemisphere) (i.e., voice or right handed control). The results confirm the value of predictive models invoice control implementation.

76 FR 18244 - Public Land Order No. 7760; Extension of Public Land Order No. 6839; Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-01

... (1991)), which modified Public Land Order No. 2344 (26 FR 3701 (1961)), transferred jurisdiction of... land laws, including the mining and mineral leasing laws, but not disposal of materials under the Act...

Surveillance extension experience at WWER-440 type reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillemot, F.; Uri, G.; Oszwald, F.; Trampus, P.

1993-01-01

In WWER-440 reactors, the surveillance specimens are located in accelerated irradiation positions. After 5 years, all specimens are withdrawn and the operational changes are not monitored. At Paks NPP a new surveillance program extension has been settled in order to avoid these original program disadvantages and generate further data for plant lifetime management. This paper includes: research performed to prepare the surveillance extension programme, the evaluation method for the surveillance extension, and first results (Charpy and tensile tests). (authors). 6 refs., 12 figs., 3 tabs

Surveillance extension experience at WWER-440 type reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gillemot, F; Uri, G [Budapesti Mueszaki Egyetem, Budapest (Hungary); Oszwald, F; Trampus, P

1994-12-31

In WWER-440 reactors, the surveillance specimens are located in accelerated irradiation positions. After 5 years, all specimens are withdrawn and the operational changes are not monitored. At Paks NPP a new surveillance program extension has been settled in order to avoid these original program disadvantages and generate further data for plant lifetime management. This paper includes: research performed to prepare the surveillance extension programme, the evaluation method for the surveillance extension, and first results (Charpy and tensile tests). (authors). 6 refs., 12 figs., 3 tabs.

Pelvic movement strategies and leg extension power in patients with end-stage medial compartment knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kierkegaard, Signe; Jørgensen, Peter Bo; Dalgas, Ulrik; Søballe, Kjeld; Mechlenburg, Inger

2015-09-01

During movement tasks, patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis use compensatory strategies to minimise the joint load of the affected leg. Movement strategies of the knees and trunk have been investigated, but less is known about movement strategies of the pelvis during advancing functional tasks, and how these strategies are associated with leg extension power. The aim of the study was to investigate pelvic movement strategies and leg extension power in patients with end-stage medial compartment knee osteoarthritis compared with controls. 57 patients (mean age 65.6 years) scheduled for medial uni-compartmental knee arthroplasty, and 29 age and gender matched controls were included in this cross-sectional study. Leg extension power was tested with the Nottingham Leg Extension Power-Rig. Pelvic range of motion was derived from an inertia-based measurement unit placed over the sacrum bone during walking, stair climbing and stepping. Patients had lower leg extension power than controls (20-39 %, P 0.06). Furthermore, an inverse association (coefficient: -0.03 to -0.04; R (2) = 13-22 %) between leg extension power and pelvic range of motion during stair and step descending was found in the patients. Compared to controls, patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis use greater pelvic movements during advanced functional performance tests, particularly when these involve descending tasks. Further studies should investigate if it is possible to alter these movement strategies by an intervention aimed at increasing strength and power for the patients.

Ergonomics observation: Harvesting tasks at oil palm plantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Yee Guan; Shamsul Bahri, Mohd Tamrin; Irwan Syah, Md Yusoff; Mori, Ippei; Hashim, Zailina

2014-01-01

Production agriculture is commonly associated with high prevalence of ergonomic injuries, particularly during intensive manual labor and during harvesting. This paper intends to briefly describe an overview of oil palm plantation management highlighting the ergonomics problem each of the breakdown task analysis. Although cross-sectional field visits were conducted in the current study, insight into past and present occupational safety and health concerns particularly regarding the ergonomics of oil palm plantations was further exploited. Besides discussion, video recordings were extensively used for ergonomics analysis. The unique commodity of oil palm plantations presents significantly different ergonomics risk factors for fresh fruit bunch (FFB) cutters during different stages of harvesting. Although the ergonomics risk factors remain the same for FFB collectors, the intensity of manual lifting increases significantly with the age of the oil palm trees-weight of FFB. There is urgent need to establish surveillance in order to determine the current prevalence of ergonomic injuries. Thereafter, ergonomics interventions that are holistic and comprehensive should be conducted and evaluated for their efficacy using approaches that are integrated, participatory and cost-effective.

Development of EULAR recommendations for the reporting of clinical trial extension studies in rheumatology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buch, Maya H; Silva-Fernandez, Lucia; Carmona, Loreto

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVES: Our initiative aimed to produce recommendations on post-randomised controlled trial (RCT) trial extension studies (TES) reporting using European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) standard operating procedures in order to achieve more meaningful output and standardisation of reports....... The resulting set of recommendations was further refined and a final vote taken for task force acceptance. RESULTS: Seven key domains and individual components were evaluated and led to agreed recommendations including definition of a TES (100% agreement), minimal data necessary (100% agreement), method of data...... analysis (agreement mean (SD) scores ranging between 7.9 (0.84) and 9.0 (2.16)) and reporting of results as well as ethical issues. Key recommendations included reporting of absolute numbers at each stage from the RCT to TES with reasons given for drop-out at each stage, and inclusion of a flowchart...

Use of Order Sets in Inpatient Computerized Provider Order Entry Systems: A Comparative Analysis of Usage Patterns at Seven Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Adam; Feblowitz, Joshua C.; Pang, Justine E.; Carpenter, James D.; Krall, Michael A.; Middleton, Blackford; Sittig, Dean F.

2012-01-01

Background Many computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems include the ability to create electronic order sets: collections of clinically-related orders grouped by purpose. Order sets promise to make CPOE systems more efficient, improve care quality and increase adherence to evidence-based guidelines. However, the development and implementation of order sets can be expensive and time-consuming and limited literature exists about their utilization. Methods Based on analysis of order set usage logs from a diverse purposive sample of seven sites with commercially- and internally-developed inpatient CPOE systems, we developed an original order set classification system. Order sets were categorized across seven non-mutually exclusive axes: admission/discharge/transfer (ADT), perioperative, condition-specific, task-specific, service-specific, convenience, and personal. In addition, 731 unique subtypes were identified within five axes: four in ADT (S=4), three in perioperative, 144 in condition-specific, 513 in task-specific, and 67 in service-specific. Results Order sets (n=1,914) were used a total of 676,142 times at the participating sites during a one-year period. ADT and perioperative order sets accounted for 27.6% and 24.2% of usage respectively. Peripartum/labor, chest pain/Acute Coronary Syndrome/Myocardial Infarction and diabetes order sets accounted for 51.6% of condition-specific usage. Insulin, angiography/angioplasty and arthroplasty order sets accounted for 19.4% of task-specific usage. Emergency/trauma, Obstetrics/Gynecology/Labor Delivery and anesthesia accounted for 32.4% of service-specific usage. Overall, the top 20% of order sets accounted for 90.1% of all usage. Additional salient patterns are identified and described. Conclusion We observed recurrent patterns in order set usage across multiple sites as well as meaningful variations between sites. Vendors and institutional developers should identify high-value order set types through concrete

Importance of the temporal structure of movement sequences on the ability of monkeys to use serial order information.

Science.gov (United States)

Deffains, Marc; Legallet, Eric; Apicella, Paul

2011-10-01

The capacity to acquire motor skills through repeated practice of a sequence of movements underlies many everyday activities. Extensive research in humans has dealt with the importance of spatial and temporal factors on motor sequence learning, standing in contrast to the few studies available in animals, particularly in nonhuman primates. In the present experiments, we studied the effect of the serial order of stimuli and associated movements in macaque monkeys overtrained to make arm-reaching movements in response to spatially distinct visual targets. Under different conditions, the temporal structure of the motor sequence was varied by changing the duration of the interval between successive target stimuli or by adding a cue that reliably signaled the onset time of the forthcoming target stimulus. In each condition, the extent to which the monkeys are sensitive to the spatial regularities was assessed by comparing performance when stimulus locations follow a repeating sequence, as opposed to a random sequence. We observed no improvement in task performance on repeated sequence blocks, compared to random sequence blocks, when target stimuli are relatively distant from each other in time. On the other hand, the shortening of the time interval between successive target stimuli or, more efficiently, the addition of a temporal cue before the target stimulus yielded a performance advantage under repeated sequence, reflected in a decrease in the latency of arm and saccadic eye movements accompanied by an increased tendency for eye movements to occur in an anticipatory manner. Contrary to the effects on movement initiation, the serial order of stimuli and movements did not markedly affect the execution of movement. Moreover, the location of a given target in the random sequence influenced task performance based on the location of the preceding target, monkeys being faster in responding as a result of familiarity caused by extensive practice with some target transitions

Teachers' Perspectives on Second Language Task Difficulty: Insights From Think-Alouds and Eye Tracking

OpenAIRE

Révész, A.; Gurzynski-Weiss, L.

2016-01-01

The majority of empirical studies that have so far investigated task features in order to inform task grading and sequencing decisions have been grounded in hypothesis-testing research. Few studies have attempted to adopt a bottom-up approach in order to explore what task factors might contribute to task difficulty. The aim of this study was to help fill this gap by eliciting teachers’ perspectives on sources of task difficulty. We asked 16 English as a second language (ESL) teachers to judge...

Job satisfaction of extension workers in Edo State Agricultural ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Agricultural extension can be said to be germane for any meaningful development in the agricultural sector. Extension personnel that are saddled with this responsibility need to be satisfied with their job in order to perform their duties effectively. Therefore this study examined the factors affecting job performance and level of ...

Manifold Regularized Multi-Task Feature Selection for Multi-Modality Classification in Alzheimer’s Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Jie, Biao; Cheng, Bo

2014-01-01

Accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as well as its pro-dromal stage (i.e., mild cognitive impairment, MCI), is very important for possible delay and early treatment of the disease. Recently, multi-modality methods have been used for fusing information from multiple different and complementary imaging and non-imaging modalities. Although there are a number of existing multi-modality methods, few of them have addressed the problem of joint identification of disease-related brain regions from multi-modality data for classification. In this paper, we proposed a manifold regularized multi-task learning framework to jointly select features from multi-modality data. Specifically, we formulate the multi-modality classification as a multi-task learning framework, where each task focuses on the classification based on each modality. In order to capture the intrinsic relatedness among multiple tasks (i.e., modalities), we adopted a group sparsity regularizer, which ensures only a small number of features to be selected jointly. In addition, we introduced a new manifold based Laplacian regularization term to preserve the geometric distribution of original data from each task, which can lead to the selection of more discriminative features. Furthermore, we extend our method to the semi-supervised setting, which is very important since the acquisition of a large set of labeled data (i.e., diagnosis of disease) is usually expensive and time-consuming, while the collection of unlabeled data is relatively much easier. To validate our method, we have performed extensive evaluations on the baseline Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) data of Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. Our experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. PMID:24505676

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

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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.

Seeing is Believing: Formalising False-Belief Tasks in Dynamic Epistemic Logic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bolander, Thomas

2014-01-01

In this paper we show how to formalise false-belief tasks like the Sally-Anne task and the second-order chocolate task in Dynamic Epistemic Logic (DEL). False-belief tasks are used to test the strength of the Theory of Mind (ToM) of humans, that is, a human’s ability to attribute mental states...

Construction of Tasks in Order to Develop and Promote Classroom Communication in Mathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Olteanu, Lucian

2015-01-01

In this article, the focus is on task construction and the importance of this process to develop and promote classroom communication in mathematics. The students' tests, examination of students' mathematical work, the teachers' lesson plans, and reports of the lessons' instructions are the basic data for this article. The analysis indicated that…

Minimizing Dispersion in FDTD Methods with CFL Limit Extension

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Chen

The CFL extension in FDTD methods is receiving considerable attention in order to reduce the computational effort and save the simulation time. One of the major issues in the CFL extension methods is the increased dispersion. We formulate a decomposition of FDTD equations to study the behaviour of the dispersion. A compensation scheme to reduce the dispersion in CFL extension is constructed and proposed. We further study the CFL extension in a FDTD subgridding case, where we improve the accuracy by acting only on the FDTD equations of the fine grid. Numerical results confirm the efficiency of the proposed method for minimising dispersion.

Toward a Principled Sampling Theory for Quasi-Orders.

Science.gov (United States)

Ünlü, Ali; Schrepp, Martin

2016-01-01

Quasi-orders, that is, reflexive and transitive binary relations, have numerous applications. In educational theories, the dependencies of mastery among the problems of a test can be modeled by quasi-orders. Methods such as item tree or Boolean analysis that mine for quasi-orders in empirical data are sensitive to the underlying quasi-order structure. These data mining techniques have to be compared based on extensive simulation studies, with unbiased samples of randomly generated quasi-orders at their basis. In this paper, we develop techniques that can provide the required quasi-order samples. We introduce a discrete doubly inductive procedure for incrementally constructing the set of all quasi-orders on a finite item set. A randomization of this deterministic procedure allows us to generate representative samples of random quasi-orders. With an outer level inductive algorithm, we consider the uniform random extensions of the trace quasi-orders to higher dimension. This is combined with an inner level inductive algorithm to correct the extensions that violate the transitivity property. The inner level correction step entails sampling biases. We propose three algorithms for bias correction and investigate them in simulation. It is evident that, on even up to 50 items, the new algorithms create close to representative quasi-order samples within acceptable computing time. Hence, the principled approach is a significant improvement to existing methods that are used to draw quasi-orders uniformly at random but cannot cope with reasonably large item sets.

Toward a Principled Sampling Theory for Quasi-Orders

Science.gov (United States)

Ünlü, Ali; Schrepp, Martin

2016-01-01

Quasi-orders, that is, reflexive and transitive binary relations, have numerous applications. In educational theories, the dependencies of mastery among the problems of a test can be modeled by quasi-orders. Methods such as item tree or Boolean analysis that mine for quasi-orders in empirical data are sensitive to the underlying quasi-order structure. These data mining techniques have to be compared based on extensive simulation studies, with unbiased samples of randomly generated quasi-orders at their basis. In this paper, we develop techniques that can provide the required quasi-order samples. We introduce a discrete doubly inductive procedure for incrementally constructing the set of all quasi-orders on a finite item set. A randomization of this deterministic procedure allows us to generate representative samples of random quasi-orders. With an outer level inductive algorithm, we consider the uniform random extensions of the trace quasi-orders to higher dimension. This is combined with an inner level inductive algorithm to correct the extensions that violate the transitivity property. The inner level correction step entails sampling biases. We propose three algorithms for bias correction and investigate them in simulation. It is evident that, on even up to 50 items, the new algorithms create close to representative quasi-order samples within acceptable computing time. Hence, the principled approach is a significant improvement to existing methods that are used to draw quasi-orders uniformly at random but cannot cope with reasonably large item sets. PMID:27965601

Production practices affecting worker task demands in concrete operations: A case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Memarian, Babak; Mitropoulos, Panagiotis

2015-01-01

Construction work involves significant physical, mental, and temporal task demands. Excessive task demands can have negative consequences for safety, errors and production. This exploratory study investigates the magnitude and sources of task demands on a concrete operation, and examines the effect of the production practices on the workers' task demands. The NASA Task Load Index was used to measure the perceived task demands of two work crews. The operation involved the construction of a cast-in-place concrete building under high schedule pressures. Interviews with each crew member were used to identify the main sources of the perceived demands. Extensive field observations and interviews with the supervisors and crews identified the production practices. The workers perceived different level of task demands depending on their role. The production practices influenced the task demands in two ways: (1) practices related to work organization, task design, resource management, and crew management mitigated the task demands; and (2) other practices related to work planning and crew management increased the crew's ability to cope with and adapt to high task demands. The findings identify production practices that regulate the workers' task demands. The effect of task demands on performance is mitigated by the ability to cope with high demands.

Pelvic movement strategies and leg extension power in patients with end-stage medial compartment knee osteoarthritis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kierkegaard, Signe; Jørgensen, Peter Bo; Dalgas, Ulrik

2015-01-01

advancing functional tasks, and how these strategies are associated with leg extension power. The aim of the study was to investigate pelvic movement strategies and leg extension power in patients with end-stage medial compartment knee osteoarthritis compared with controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 57...... patients (mean age 65.6 years) scheduled for medial uni-compartmental knee arthroplasty, and 29 age and gender matched controls were included in this cross-sectional study. Leg extension power was tested with the Nottingham Leg Extension Power-Rig. Pelvic range of motion was derived from an inertia......-based measurement unit placed over the sacrum bone during walking, stair climbing and stepping. RESULTS: Patients had lower leg extension power than controls (20-39 %, P

Safety aspects in life extension of NPPs. Working material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

Due to current social and economical framework, in last years many Member States (MS) started a process of Plant Life Extension (PLEX) for their older nuclear facilities. The process followed many different approaches, being intrinsically dependent on the national regulatory framework and technical tradition. This process has many nuclear safety implications, other than strategic and political ones, and therefore a need for tailoring the available safety assessment tools to such applications has become urgent in recent years. Typical safety assessment processes such as the Periodic Safety Review has been used already and can be used in the future as a framework for a PLEX. Also the review of regular maintenance and ageing management programs and the continuous upgrading of the Safety Analysis Report are tools widely used in a life extension context in many MS. However, recently some MS highlighted the need to identify in a clear way the technical aspects more directly affecting the decision for a long-term operation of a nuclear facility. Many Technical Cooperation projects have been requested for the year 2003-2004 on this subject and a generic task in Nuclear Safety proved necessary as a background activity. Therefore, on May 6-10, 2002, a Consultant Meeting dealing with Safety Aspects of life extension for NPPs was convened at the Nuclear Safety Dept. of the IAEA. It was attended by representatives of Regulatory Bodies and Utilities, both from countries with experience of life extension of NPPs and countries where the process is at the beginning. The main application problems were identified and discussed and a first attempt was carried out to define the key elements of the life extension process, isolating peculiar technical items, LTO related, from generic safety related tasks. The result was a preliminary technical document with a collection of basic experience and information for the implementation of a PLEX program. Therefore the draft document was thought

Temporal-order judgment of visual and auditory stimuli: Modulations in situations with and without stimulus discrimination

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Elisabeth eHendrich

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Temporal-order judgment (TOJ tasks are an important paradigm to investigate processing times of information in different modalities. There are a lot of studies on how temporal order decisions can be influenced by stimuli characteristics. However, so far it has not been investigated whether the addition of a choice reaction time task has an influence on temporal-order judgment. Moreover, it is not known when during processing the decision about the temporal order of two stimuli is made. We investigated the first of these two questions by comparing a regular TOJ task with a dual task. In both tasks, we manipulated different processing stages to investigate whether the manipulations have an influence on temporal-order judgment and to determine thereby the time of processing at which the decision about temporal order is made. The results show that the addition of a choice reaction time task does have an influence on the temporal-order judgment, but the influence seems to be linked to the kind of manipulation of the processing stages that is used. The results of the manipulations indicate that the temporal order decision in the dual task paradigm is made after perceptual processing of the stimuli.

Managing BWR plant life extension

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ianni, P.W.; Kiss, E.

1985-01-01

Recent studies have confirmed that extending the useful life of a large nuclear plant can be justified with very high cost benefit ratio. In turn, experience with large power plant systems and equipment has shown that a well-integrated and -managed plan is essential in order to achieve potential economic benefits. Consequently, General Electric's efforts have been directed at establishing a life extension plan that considers alternative options and cost-effective steps that can be taken in early life, those appropriate during middle life, and those required in late life. This paper briefly describes an approach designed to provide the plant owner a maximum of flexibility in developing a life extension plan

A general conservative extension theorem in process algebras with inequalities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

d' Argenio, P.R.; Verhoef, Chris

1997-01-01

We prove a general conservative extension theorem for transition system based process theories with easy-to-check and reasonable conditions. The core of this result is another general theorem which gives sufficient conditions for a system of operational rules and an extension of it in order to

The effects of nidopallium caudolaterale inactivation on serial-order behaviour in pigeons (Columba livia).

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Melissa Jane; Clarkson, Andrew N; Gowing, Emma K; Scarf, Damian; Colombo, Mike

2018-06-06

Serial-order behaviour is the ability to complete a sequence of responses in a predetermined order to achieve a reward. In birds, serial-order behaviour is thought to be impaired by damage to the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL). In the current study, we examined the role of the NCL in serial-order behaviour by training pigeons on a 4-item serial-order task and a go/no-go discrimination task. Following training, pigeons were received infusions of 1μl of either tetrodotoxin (TTX) or saline. Saline infusions had no impact on serial-order behaviour whereas TTX infusions resulted in a significant decrease in performance. The serial-order impairments, however, were not the results of errors of any specific error at any specific list item. With respect to the go/no-go discrimination task, saline infusions also had no impact on performance whereas TTX infusions impaired pigeons' discrimination abilities. Given the impairments on the go/no-go discrimination task, which does not require processing of serial-order information, we tentatively conclude that damage to the NCL does not impair serial-order behaviour per se, but rather results in a more generalised impairment that may impact performance across a range of tasks.

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.

What Do We Really Know about Cognitive Inhibition? Task Demands and Inhibitory Effects across a Range of Memory and Behavioural Tasks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saima Noreen

Full Text Available Our study explores inhibitory control across a range of widely recognised memory and behavioural tasks. Eighty-seven never-depressed participants completed a series of tasks designed to measure inhibitory control in memory and behaviour. Specifically, a variant of the selective retrieval-practice and the Think/No-Think tasks were employed as measures of memory inhibition. The Stroop-Colour Naming and the Go/No-Go tasks were used as measures of behavioural inhibition. Participants completed all 4 tasks. Task presentation order was counterbalanced across 3 separate testing sessions for each participant. Standard inhibitory forgetting effects emerged on both memory tasks but the extent of forgetting across these tasks was not correlated. Furthermore, there was no relationship between memory inhibition tasks and either of the main behavioural inhibition measures. At a time when cognitive inhibition continues to gain acceptance as an explanatory mechanism, our study raises fundamental questions about what we actually know about inhibition and how it is affected by the processing demands of particular inhibitory tasks.

Better dual-task processing in simultaneous interpreters

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Strobach, Tilo; Becker, Maxi; Schubert, Torsten; Kühn, Simone

2015-01-01

Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a highly complex activity and requires the performance and coordination of multiple, simultaneous tasks: analysis and understanding of the discourse in a first language, reformulating linguistic material, storing of intermediate processing steps, and language production in a second language among others. It is, however, an open issue whether persons with experience in SI possess superior skills in coordination of multiple tasks and whether they are able to transfer these skills to lab-based dual-task situations. Within the present study, we set out to explore whether interpreting experience is associated with related higher-order executive functioning in the context of dual-task situations of the Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) type. In this PRP situation, we found faster reactions times in participants with experience in simultaneous interpretation in contrast to control participants without such experience. Thus, simultaneous interpreters possess superior skills in coordination of multiple tasks in lab-based dual-task situations. PMID:26528232

Generalizing the order and the parameters of macro-operators by explanation-based learning - Extension of Explanation-Based Learning on Partial Order

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Huihua

1992-01-01

The traditional generalization methods such as FIKE's macro-operator learning and Explanation-Based Learning (EBL) deal with totally ordered plans. They generalize only the plan operators and the conditions under which the generalized plan can be applied in its initial total order, but not the partial order among operators in which the generalized plan can be successfully executed. In this paper, we extend the notion of the EBL on the partial order of plans. A new method is presented for learning, from a totally or partially ordered plan, partially ordered macro-operators (generalized plans) each of which requires a set of the weakest conditions for its reuse. It is also valuable for generalizing partially ordered plans. The operators are generalized in the FIKE's triangle table. We introduce the domain axioms to generate the constraints for the consistency of generalized states. After completing the triangle table with the information concerning the operator destructions (interactions), we obtain the global explanation of the partial order on the operators. Then, we represent all the necessary ordering relations by a directed graph. The exploitation of this graph permits to explicate the dependence between the partial orders and the constraints among the parameters of generalized operators, and allows all the solutions to be obtained. (author) [fr

An Extensible Open-Source Compiler Infrastructure for Testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quinlan, D; Ur, S; Vuduc, R

2005-12-09

Testing forms a critical part of the development process for large-scale software, and there is growing need for automated tools that can read, represent, analyze, and transform the application's source code to help carry out testing tasks. However, the support required to compile applications written in common general purpose languages is generally inaccessible to the testing research community. In this paper, we report on an extensible, open-source compiler infrastructure called ROSE, which is currently in development at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. ROSE specifically targets developers who wish to build source-based tools that implement customized analyses and optimizations for large-scale C, C++, and Fortran90 scientific computing applications (on the order of a million lines of code or more). However, much of this infrastructure can also be used to address problems in testing, and ROSE is by design broadly accessible to those without a formal compiler background. This paper details the interactions between testing of applications and the ways in which compiler technology can aid in the understanding of those applications. We emphasize the particular aspects of ROSE, such as support for the general analysis of whole programs, that are particularly well-suited to the testing research community and the scale of the problems that community solves.

Proprioceptive Interaction between the Two Arms in a Single-Arm Pointing Task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kazuyoshi Kigawa

Full Text Available Proprioceptive signals coming from both arms are used to determine the perceived position of one arm in a two-arm matching task. Here, we examined whether the perceived position of one arm is affected by proprioceptive signals from the other arm in a one-arm pointing task in which participants specified the perceived position of an unseen reference arm with an indicator paddle. Both arms were hidden from the participant's view throughout the study. In Experiment 1, with both arms placed in front of the body, the participants received 70-80 Hz vibration to the elbow flexors of the reference arm (= right arm to induce the illusion of elbow extension. This extension illusion was compared with that when the left arm elbow flexors were vibrated or not. The degree of the vibration-induced extension illusion of the right arm was reduced in the presence of left arm vibration. In Experiment 2, we found that this kinesthetic interaction between the two arms did not occur when the left arm was vibrated in an abducted position. In Experiment 3, the vibration-induced extension illusion of one arm was fully developed when this arm was placed at an abducted position, indicating that the brain receives increased proprioceptive input from a vibrated arm even if the arm was abducted. Our results suggest that proprioceptive interaction between the two arms occurs in a one-arm pointing task when the two arms are aligned with one another. The position sense of one arm measured using a pointer appears to include the influences of incoming information from the other arm when both arms were placed in front of the body and parallel to one another.

Task context impacts visual object processing differentially across the cortex

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Harel, Assaf; Kravitz, Dwight J.; Baker, Chris I.

2014-01-01

Perception reflects an integration of “bottom-up” (sensory-driven) and “top-down” (internally generated) signals. Although models of visual processing often emphasize the central role of feed-forward hierarchical processing, less is known about the impact of top-down signals on complex visual representations. Here, we investigated whether and how the observer’s goals modulate object processing across the cortex. We examined responses elicited by a diverse set of objects under six distinct tasks, focusing on either physical (e.g., color) or conceptual properties (e.g., man-made). Critically, the same stimuli were presented in all tasks, allowing us to investigate how task impacts the neural representations of identical visual input. We found that task has an extensive and differential impact on object processing across the cortex. First, we found task-dependent representations in the ventral temporal and prefrontal cortex. In particular, although object identity could be decoded from the multivoxel response within task, there was a significant reduction in decoding across tasks. In contrast, the early visual cortex evidenced equivalent decoding within and across tasks, indicating task-independent representations. Second, task information was pervasive and present from the earliest stages of object processing. However, although the responses of the ventral temporal, prefrontal, and parietal cortex enabled decoding of both the type of task (physical/conceptual) and the specific task (e.g., color), the early visual cortex was not sensitive to type of task and could only be used to decode individual physical tasks. Thus, object processing is highly influenced by the behavioral goal of the observer, highlighting how top-down signals constrain and inform the formation of visual representations. PMID:24567402

A comparison of serial order short-term memory effects across verbal and musical domains.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorin, Simon; Mengal, Pierre; Majerus, Steve

2018-04-01

Recent studies suggest that the mechanisms involved in the short-term retention of serial order information may be shared across short-term memory (STM) domains such as verbal and visuospatial STM. Given the intrinsic sequential organization of musical material, the study of STM for musical information may be particularly informative about serial order retention processes and their domain-generality. The present experiment examined serial order STM for verbal and musical sequences in participants with no advanced musical expertise and experienced musicians. Serial order STM for verbal information was assessed via a serial order reconstruction task for digit sequences. In the musical domain, serial order STM was assessed using a novel melodic sequence reconstruction task maximizing the retention of tone order information. We observed that performance for the verbal and musical tasks was characterized by sequence length as well as primacy and recency effects. Serial order errors in both tasks were characterized by similar transposition gradients and ratios of fill-in:infill errors. These effects were observed for both participant groups, although the transposition gradients and ratios of fill-in:infill errors showed additional specificities for musician participants in the musical task. The data support domain-general serial order STM effects but also suggest the existence of additional domain-specific effects. Implications for models of serial order STM in verbal and musical domains are discussed.

Phonological similarity in working memory span tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Chow, Michael; Macnamara, Brooke N; Conway, Andrew R A

2016-08-01

In a series of four experiments, we explored what conditions are sufficient to produce a phonological similarity facilitation effect in working memory span tasks. By using the same set of memoranda, but differing the secondary-task requirements across experiments, we showed that a phonological similarity facilitation effect is dependent upon the semantic relationship between the memoranda and the secondary-task stimuli, and is robust to changes in the representation, ordering, and pool size of the secondary-task stimuli. These findings are consistent with interference accounts of memory (Brown, Neath, & Chater, Psychological Review, 114, 539-576, 2007; Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Farrell, Jarrold, & Greaves, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 779-819, 2012), whereby rhyming stimuli provide a form of categorical similarity that allows distractors to be excluded from retrieval at recall.

Multi-Task Convolutional Neural Network for Pose-Invariant Face Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Xi; Liu, Xiaoming

2018-02-01

This paper explores multi-task learning (MTL) for face recognition. We answer the questions of how and why MTL can improve the face recognition performance. First, we propose a multi-task Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for face recognition where identity classification is the main task and pose, illumination, and expression estimations are the side tasks. Second, we develop a dynamic-weighting scheme to automatically assign the loss weight to each side task, which is a crucial problem in MTL. Third, we propose a pose-directed multi-task CNN by grouping different poses to learn pose-specific identity features, simultaneously across all poses. Last but not least, we propose an energy-based weight analysis method to explore how CNN-based MTL works. We observe that the side tasks serve as regularizations to disentangle the variations from the learnt identity features. Extensive experiments on the entire Multi-PIE dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work using all data in Multi-PIE for face recognition. Our approach is also applicable to in-the-wild datasets for pose-invariant face recognition and achieves comparable or better performance than state of the art on LFW, CFP, and IJB-A datasets.

Dizocilpine (MK-801) impairs learning in the active place avoidance task but has no effect on the performance during task/context alternation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vojtechova, Iveta; Petrasek, Tomas; Hatalova, Hana; Pistikova, Adela; Vales, Karel; Stuchlik, Ales

2016-05-15

The prevention of engram interference, pattern separation, flexibility, cognitive coordination and spatial navigation are usually studied separately at the behavioral level. Impairment in executive functions is often observed in patients suffering from schizophrenia. We have designed a protocol for assessing these functions all together as behavioral separation. This protocol is based on alternated or sequential training in two tasks testing different hippocampal functions (the Morris water maze and active place avoidance), and alternated or sequential training in two similar environments of the active place avoidance task. In Experiment 1, we tested, in adult rats, whether the performance in two different spatial tasks was affected by their order in sequential learning, or by their day-to-day alternation. In Experiment 2, rats learned to solve the active place avoidance task in two environments either alternately or sequentially. We found that rats are able to acquire both tasks and to discriminate both similar contexts without obvious problems regardless of the order or the alternation. We used two groups of rats, controls and a rat model of psychosis induced by a subchronic intraperitoneal application of 0.08mg/kg of dizocilpine (MK-801), a non-competitive antagonist of NMDA receptors. Dizocilpine had no selective effect on parallel/sequential learning of tasks/contexts. However, it caused hyperlocomotion and a significant deficit in learning in the active place avoidance task regardless of the task alternation. Cognitive coordination tested by this task is probably more sensitive to dizocilpine than spatial orientation because no hyperactivity or learning impairment was observed in the Morris water maze. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Two General Extension Algorithms of Latin Hypercube Sampling

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Zhi-zhao Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available For reserving original sampling points to reduce the simulation runs, two general extension algorithms of Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS are proposed. The extension algorithms start with an original LHS of size m and construct a new LHS of size m+n that contains the original points as many as possible. In order to get a strict LHS of larger size, some original points might be deleted. The relationship of original sampling points in the new LHS structure is shown by a simple undirected acyclic graph. The basic general extension algorithm is proposed to reserve the most original points, but it costs too much time. Therefore, a general extension algorithm based on greedy algorithm is proposed to reduce the extension time, which cannot guarantee to contain the most original points. These algorithms are illustrated by an example and applied to evaluating the sample means to demonstrate the effectiveness.

Report of the Bulletins and Orders Task Force. Volume II. Appendices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

Appendices include: Office of Inspection and Enforcement bulletins; NRR status report on feedwater transients in BWR plants; orders on Babcock and Wilcox Company plants; letters lifting orders; letters issuing auxiliary feedwater system requirements; letter to licensees of all operating reactors, dated October 30, 1979 concerning short-term lessons learned requirements; and letters approving guidelines for preparation of small-break LOCA operating procedures

Characterization of in-containment cables for nuclear plant life extension

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DuCharme, A.R.; Bustard, L.D.

1988-01-01

Electrical cable is made by a large number of manufacturers and used for a variety of applications in nuclear plants. cables have been identified in the Monticello and Surry Pilot Plant life extension studies and the NRC Nuclear Plant Aging Research Program as components important to the economic and safety aspects of life extension. Currently, fitness for service is largely determined by preoperational testing. The US Department of Energy is supporting work at Sandia National Laboratories to assess the technical basis for the life extension of cables found inside containment at US nuclear plants. The work is being performed in coordination with the Nuclear Management and Resource Council's (NUMARC) NUPLEX Working Group. The initial task of this effort is to characterize the design attributes of in-containment cables. This has been completed via development of a data base depicting the manufacturer, type, material composition, use, qualification, and relative popularity of cables installed in containment. Other ongoing work is focused on a review of cable operational experience and assessment of the issues affecting cable life extension. In the long term, the work aims to identify the technical criteria and life extension strategies needed to support continued cable qualification by nuclear plant owner/operators. 7 refs., 4 tabs

Assessment of the willingness of Australian radiographers in mammography to accept new responsibilities in role extension: Part two – qualitative analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moran, S.; Taylor, J.K.; Warren-Forward, H.

2013-01-01

Advanced practice in screening mammography has become widespread in the United Kingdom over the last 20 years, and Australian radiographers working in BreastScreen programs have shown interest in similar developments. Radiographers working in BreastScreen Australia were surveyed in order to capture their thoughts and perceptions on role extension. Questionnaires were circulated to radiographers working in BreastScreen Australia programs. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the open response questions to explore the advantages and disadvantages identified by the participants with respect to role expansion in screening mammography as well as any changes to their duties over the last decade. There were 253 responses to the survey and of those responses, 70% of radiographers shared their thoughts on role extension and 49% provided comments on changes in the workplace. The majority (61%) radiographers responding to the role extension question were concerned about potential problems associated with role extension; the biggest issues were that role extension should not be mandatory and that selection criteria for advanced practitioners should be stringent, with adequate time made available for training and study. The major change in the role of the radiographer has been the increased time dedicated to quality assurance tasks and administrative duties as well as more training required due to technological changes from film-screen to digital mammography. There is high interest in role extension by radiographers working in BreastScreen programs, provided that it is voluntary. The role of the radiographer within breast imaging in Australia is still evolving

DOE high-level waste tank safety program Final report, Task 002

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

The overall objective of the work on Task 002 was to provide LANL with support to the DOE High-Level Waste Tank Safety program. The objective of the work was to develop safety documentation in support of the unsafe tank mitigation activities at Hanford. The work includes the development of safety assessment and an environmental assessment. All tasks which were assigned under this Task Order were completed. Descriptions of the objectives of each task and effort performed to complete each objective are provided. The two tasks were: Task 2.1--safety assessment for instrumentation insertion; and Task 2.2--environmental assessment

Task Modification and Knowledge Utilization by Korean Prospective Mathematics Teachers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyeong-Hwa Lee

2016-11-01

Full Text Available It has been asserted that mathematical tasks play a critical role in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Modification of tasks included in intended curriculum materials, such as textbooks, can be an effective activity for prospective teachers to understand the role of mathematical tasks in the teaching and learning of mathematics; designing of new tasks requires more knowledge and experience. This study aims to identify the patterns that Korean prospective mathematics teachers seem to follow when they modify the mathematical tasks in textbooks. Knowledge utilized by prospective teachers while they modify textbook tasks is identified and characterized in order to understand the possible factors that have an impact on Korean prospective mathematics teachers' modification of tasks.

Life extension of the St. Lucie unit 1 reactor vessel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowan, G.A.; Sun, J.B.; Mott, S.L.

1991-01-01

In late 1989, Florida Power and Light Company (FP and L) established the policy that St. Lucie unit 1 should not be prevented from achieving a 60-yr operating life by reactor vessel embrittlement. A 60-yr operating life means that the plant would be allowed to operate until the year 2036, which is 20 years beyond the current license expiration date of 2016. Since modifications to the reactor vessel and its components are projected to be expensive, the desire of FP and L management was to achieve this lifetime extension through the use of fuel management and proven technology. The following limitations were placed on any acceptable method for achieving this lifetime extension capability: low fuel cycle cost; low impact on safety parameters; very little or no operations impact; and use of normal reactor materials. A task team was formed along with the Advanced Nuclear Fuels Company (ANF) to develop a vessel-life extension program

Dual-Task Interference: The Effects of Verbal Cognitive Tasks on Upright Postural Stability in Parkinson's Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. D. Holmes

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Although dual-task interference has previously been demonstrated to have a significant effect on postural control among individuals with Parkinson's disease, the impact of speech complexity on postural control has not been demonstrated using quantitative biomechanical measures. The postural stability of twelve participants with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and twelve healthy age-matched controls was evaluated under three conditions: (1 without a secondary task, (2 performing a rote repetition task and (3 generating a monologue. Results suggested a significant effect of cognitive load on biomechanical parameters of postural stability. Although both groups increased their postural excursion, individuals with Parkinson's disease demonstrated significantly reduced excursion as compared with that of healthy age-matched controls. This suggests that participants with Parkinson's disease may be overconstraining their postural adjustments in order to focus attention on the cognitive tasks without losing their balance. Ironically, this overconstraint may place the participant at greater risk for a fall.

Extension agents and conflict narratives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bond, Jennifer Lauren

2016-01-01

Purpose: This work investigated the narratives of development extensionists in relation to natural resource conflict, in order to understand the competing discourses surrounding the wicked problems of natural resource management in Laikipia County, Kenya. Methodology: Q methodology was used...... to elicit the conflict narratives present among extension professionals. A concourse of 221 statements were devised from interviews and group discussions with key informants and a final sample of 49 statements was used for the sorting. Thirteen Q-sorts were undertaken with among rural extension...... professionals from government, non-government, faith-based and private organizations. Findings: Four factors were elicited from the data, labelled—A: ‘Improved Leadership’; B: ‘Resource-centred conflict’; C: ‘Improved Governance’; and D: ‘Improved Management’. Practical Implications: Narratives of neo...

Impaired Processing of Serial Order Determines Working Memory Impairments in Alzheimer's Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

De Belder, Maya; Santens, Patrick; Sieben, Anne; Fias, Wim

2017-01-01

Working memory (WM) problems are commonly observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the affected mechanisms leading to impaired WM are still insufficiently understood. The ability to efficiently process serial order in WM has been demonstrated to be fundamental to fluent daily life functioning. The decreased capability to mentally process serial position in WM has been put forward as the underlying explanation for generally compromised WM performance. Determine which mechanisms, such as order processing, are responsible for deficient WM functioning in AD. A group of AD patients (n = 32) and their partners (n = 25), assigned to the control group, were submitted to an extensive battery of neuropsychological and experimental tasks, assessing general cognitive state and functioning of several aspects related to serial order WM. The results revealed an impaired ability to bind item information to serial position within WM in AD patients compared to controls. It was additionally observed that AD patients experienced specific difficulties with directing spatial attention when searching for item information stored in WM. The processing of serial order and the allocation of attentional resources are both disrupted, explaining the generally reduced WM functioning in AD patients. Further studies should now clarify whether this observation could explain disease-related problems for other cognitive functions such as verbal expression, auditory comprehension, or planning.

Extension Master Gardener Intranet: Automating Administration, Motivating Volunteers, Increasing Efficiency, and Facilitating Impact Reporting

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, Lucy K.; Cook, Jonneen; Cook, Chris

2011-01-01

North Carolina State University has incorporated many aspects of volunteer program administration and reporting into an on-line solution that integrates impact reporting into daily program management. The Extension Master Gardener Intranet automates many of the administrative tasks associated with volunteer management, increasing efficiency, and…

Task reports on developing techniques for scattering by 3D composite structures and to generate new solutions in diffraction theory using higher order boundary conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Volakis, John L.

1991-01-01

There are two tasks described in this report. First, an extension of a two dimensional formulation is presented for a three dimensional body of revolution. A Fourier series expansion of the vector electric and magnetic fields is employed to reduce the dimensionality of the system, and an exact boundary condition is employed to terminate the mesh. The mesh termination boundary is chosen such that it leads to convolutional boundary operators for low O(n) memory demand. Second, rigorous uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD) diffraction coefficients are presented for a coated convex cylinder simulated with generalized impedance boundary conditions. Ray solutions are obtained which remain valid in the transition region and reduce uniformly those in the deep lit and shadow regions. A uniform asymptotic solution is also presented for observations in the close vicinity of the cylinder.

Automatic Generation of Safe Handlers for Multi-Task Systems

OpenAIRE

Rutten , Éric; Marchand , Hervé

2004-01-01

We are interested in the programming of real-time control systems, such as in robotic, automotive or avionic systems. They are designed with multiple tasks, each with multiple modes. It is complex to design task handlers that control the switching of activities in order to insure safety properties of the global system. We propose a model of tasks in terms of transition systems, designed especially with the purpose of applying existing discrete controller synthesis techniques. This provides us...

Conceptualizing and Assessing Higher-Order Thinking in Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Afflerbach, Peter; Cho, Byeong-Young; Kim, Jong-Yun

2015-01-01

Students engage in higher-order thinking as they read complex texts and perform complex reading-related tasks. However, the most consequential assessments, high-stakes tests, are currently limited in providing information about students' higher-order thinking. In this article, we describe higher-order thinking in relation to reading. We provide a…

Role of optimization in the human dynamics of task execution

Science.gov (United States)

Cajueiro, Daniel O.; Maldonado, Wilfredo L.

2008-03-01

In order to explain the empirical evidence that the dynamics of human activity may not be well modeled by Poisson processes, a model based on queuing processes was built in the literature [A. L. Barabasi, Nature (London) 435, 207 (2005)]. The main assumption behind that model is that people execute their tasks based on a protocol that first executes the high priority item. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the validity of that hypothesis assuming that people are rational agents that make their decisions in order to minimize the cost of keeping nonexecuted tasks on the list. Therefore, we build and analytically solve a dynamic programming model with two priority types of tasks and show that the validity of this hypothesis depends strongly on the structure of the instantaneous costs that a person has to face if a given task is kept on the list for more than one period. Moreover, one interesting finding is that in one of the situations the protocol used to execute the tasks generates complex one-dimensional dynamics.

Warehouse order-picking process. Order-picker routing problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. V. Korobkov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This article continues “Warehouse order-picking process” cycle and describes order-picker routing sub-problem of a warehouse order-picking process. It draws analogies between the orderpickers’ routing problem and traveling salesman’s problem, shows differences between the standard problem statement of a traveling salesman and routing problem of warehouse orderpickers, and gives the particular Steiner’s problem statement of a traveling salesman.Warehouse layout with a typical order is represented by a graph, with some its vertices corresponding to mandatory order-picker’s visits and some other ones being noncompulsory. The paper describes an optimal Ratliff-Rosenthal algorithm to solve order-picker’s routing problem for the single-block warehouses, i.e. warehouses with only two crossing aisles, defines seven equivalent classes of partial routing sub-graphs and five transitions used to have an optimal routing sub-graph of a order-picker. An extension of optimal Ratliff-Rosenthal order-picker routing algorithm for multi-block warehouses is presented and also reasons for using the routing heuristics instead of exact optimal algorithms are given. The paper offers algorithmic description of the following seven routing heuristics: S-shaped, return, midpoint, largest gap, aisle-by-aisle, composite, and combined as well as modification of combined heuristics. The comparison of orderpicker routing heuristics for one- and two-block warehouses is to be described in the next article of the “Warehouse order-picking process” cycle.

The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate basketball players.

Science.gov (United States)

Mah, Cheri D; Mah, Kenneth E; Kezirian, Eric J; Dement, William C

2011-07-01

To investigate the effects of sleep extension over multiple weeks on specific measures of athletic performance as well as reaction time, mood, and daytime sleepiness. Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory and Maples Pavilion, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Eleven healthy students on the Stanford University men's varsity basketball team (mean age 19.4 ± 1.4 years). Subjects maintained their habitual sleep-wake schedule for a 2-4 week baseline followed by a 5-7 week sleep extension period. Subjects obtained as much nocturnal sleep as possible during sleep extension with a minimum goal of 10 h in bed each night. Measures of athletic performance specific to basketball were recorded after every practice including a timed sprint and shooting accuracy. Reaction time, levels of daytime sleepiness, and mood were monitored via the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and Profile of Mood States (POMS), respectively. Total objective nightly sleep time increased during sleep extension compared to baseline by 110.9 ± 79.7 min (P sleep extension (16.2 ± 0.61 sec at baseline vs. 15.5 ± 0.54 sec at end of sleep extension, P sleep extension (P sleep extension indicate that optimal sleep is likely beneficial in reaching peak athletic performance.

Task-Oriented Spoken Dialog System for Second-Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Oh-Woog; Kim, Young-Kil; Lee, Yunkeun

2016-01-01

This paper introduces a Dialog-Based Computer Assisted second-Language Learning (DB-CALL) system using task-oriented dialogue processing technology. The system promotes dialogue with a second-language learner for a specific task, such as purchasing tour tickets, ordering food, passing through immigration, etc. The dialog system plays a role of a…

Strategic predictors of performance in a divided attention task

Science.gov (United States)

Faragó, Kinga Bettina; Lőrincz, András

2018-01-01

In this study we investigate the strategies of subjects in a complex divided attention task. We conducted a series of experiments with ten participants and evaluated their performance. After an extensive analysis, we identified four strategic measures that justify the achievement of the participants, by highlighting the individual differences and predicting performance in a regression analysis using generalized estimating equations. Selecting the more urgent task and user action between multiple simultaneous possibilities form two of the strategic decisions, respectively. The third one refers to choosing a response within the same task when the opportunity is present. The fourth and most important measure of strategy involves thinking ahead and executing an action before a situation would become critical. This latter one has the effect of reducing later cognitive load or timing constraints and it is shown to explain almost as much variance in performance as the other three, more straightforward predictors together. In addition to determining these strategic predictors, we also show how manipulating task difficulty induces a shift in strategy, thus impairing human performance in the rehearsed task. The results of this study indicate that considerable differences in the divided attention ability of normal subjects can be identified early and with simple measurements. The importance of describing and analyzing strategies is also emphasized, which can substantially influence performance in complex tasks and may serve training needs. PMID:29621292

Strategic predictors of performance in a divided attention task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Róbert Adrian Rill

Full Text Available In this study we investigate the strategies of subjects in a complex divided attention task. We conducted a series of experiments with ten participants and evaluated their performance. After an extensive analysis, we identified four strategic measures that justify the achievement of the participants, by highlighting the individual differences and predicting performance in a regression analysis using generalized estimating equations. Selecting the more urgent task and user action between multiple simultaneous possibilities form two of the strategic decisions, respectively. The third one refers to choosing a response within the same task when the opportunity is present. The fourth and most important measure of strategy involves thinking ahead and executing an action before a situation would become critical. This latter one has the effect of reducing later cognitive load or timing constraints and it is shown to explain almost as much variance in performance as the other three, more straightforward predictors together. In addition to determining these strategic predictors, we also show how manipulating task difficulty induces a shift in strategy, thus impairing human performance in the rehearsed task. The results of this study indicate that considerable differences in the divided attention ability of normal subjects can be identified early and with simple measurements. The importance of describing and analyzing strategies is also emphasized, which can substantially influence performance in complex tasks and may serve training needs.

Strategic predictors of performance in a divided attention task.

Science.gov (United States)

Rill, Róbert Adrian; Faragó, Kinga Bettina; Lőrincz, András

2018-01-01

In this study we investigate the strategies of subjects in a complex divided attention task. We conducted a series of experiments with ten participants and evaluated their performance. After an extensive analysis, we identified four strategic measures that justify the achievement of the participants, by highlighting the individual differences and predicting performance in a regression analysis using generalized estimating equations. Selecting the more urgent task and user action between multiple simultaneous possibilities form two of the strategic decisions, respectively. The third one refers to choosing a response within the same task when the opportunity is present. The fourth and most important measure of strategy involves thinking ahead and executing an action before a situation would become critical. This latter one has the effect of reducing later cognitive load or timing constraints and it is shown to explain almost as much variance in performance as the other three, more straightforward predictors together. In addition to determining these strategic predictors, we also show how manipulating task difficulty induces a shift in strategy, thus impairing human performance in the rehearsed task. The results of this study indicate that considerable differences in the divided attention ability of normal subjects can be identified early and with simple measurements. The importance of describing and analyzing strategies is also emphasized, which can substantially influence performance in complex tasks and may serve training needs.

Sustainable energy for all. Technical report of task force 2 in support of doubling the global rate of energy efficiency improvement and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakicenovic, Nebojsa [International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Vienna University of Technology (Austria); Kammen, Daniel [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Jewell, Jessica [International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Austria)

2012-04-15

The UN Secretary General established the Sustainable Energy for All initiative in order to guide and support efforts to achieve universal access to modern energy, rapidly increase energy efficiency, and expand the use of renewable energies. Task forces were formed involving prominent energy leaders and experts from business, government, academia and civil society worldwide. The goal of the Task Forces is to inform the implementation of the initiative by identifying challenges and opportunities for achieving its objectives. This report contains the findings of Task Force Two which is dedicated energy efficiency and renewable energy objectives. The report shows that doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvements and doubling the share of energy from renewable sources by 2030 is challenging but feasible if sufficient actions are implemented. Strong and well-informed government policies as well as extensive private investment should focus on the high impact areas identified by the task force.

The extension of the protection of the individual person against environmental pollution as a task for public law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breuer, R.

1986-01-01

The author has the opinion that an extension of protection of individuals against environmental pollution is not desirable in the field of fundamental rights. The atomic energy and radiation protection law extends the protection of individuals even further than to warding off a danger. An extension is limited by the structure and complexity of modern environmental pollution. The existing system of individual protection generally is sufficient, the author objects esspecially against the action of an association. (CW) [de

Consumer Attitude Towards to Step-down Extension of Luxury Brand

OpenAIRE

Chen, Hsing-Yu

2010-01-01

70% of revenue for luxury firms come from accessible luxury markets. In order to make luxury brands to be more accessible to wider public clients, many luxury-brand companies apply brand extension to expand to accessible luxury markets. Step-down brand extension is an approach that can minimise damages cause by brand extension, because it can keep attributes of core luxury brands, such as superior quality, design-led and strong emotional engagement. Hence it is curtail to understand the relat...

Experimental evaluation of the influence of various rests on task performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagasaka, Akihiko; Hirose, Ayako

2000-01-01

This report deals with the result of the experiment that 8 subjects had executed adding task and search task. They executed each task in 80 minutes under 5 conditions: (1) with no rest, and with 4 kinds of 20 minutes rests, in which they (2) opened eyes, (3) closed eyes, (4) closed eyes with listening classic music and (5) closed eyes with feet massage, in the middle of the task. The results of analysis of variance with the task performance in the latter half, there were significant differences between each condition with every subject in adding task, and with 6 subjects in search task. However, the orders of the task performance with each condition were not the same by each subject. It was suggested that transition of the arousal levels under the rest was related to the effects of the rest rather than the subjects' taste in rests. In the rest, the percentage of α wave of electroencephalogram and the coefficient of variation of R-R interval (time interval of heart beats) were increased than in executing task. The mean Kendall's rank correlation of coefficient with the order of increase rate of α/β wave and the task performance in the latter half was slightly negative in adding task, but was about 0.4 in search task. From these results, about six requirements for 'an effective rest' were able to be mentioned, for example, 'the devices that raises the arousal levels is carried out just before a rest end'. (author)

Experimental evaluation of the influence of various rests on task performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nagasaka, Akihiko; Hirose, Ayako [Central Research Inst. of Electric Power Industry, Tokyo (Japan)

2000-01-01

This report deals with the result of the experiment that 8 subjects had executed adding task and search task. They executed each task in 80 minutes under 5 conditions: (1) with no rest, and with 4 kinds of 20 minutes rests, in which they (2) opened eyes, (3) closed eyes, (4) closed eyes with listening classic music and (5) closed eyes with feet massage, in the middle of the task. The results of analysis of variance with the task performance in the latter half, there were significant differences between each condition with every subject in adding task, and with 6 subjects in search task. However, the orders of the task performance with each condition were not the same by each subject. It was suggested that transition of the arousal levels under the rest was related to the effects of the rest rather than the subjects' taste in rests. In the rest, the percentage of {alpha} wave of electroencephalogram and the coefficient of variation of R-R interval (time interval of heart beats) were increased than in executing task. The mean Kendall's rank correlation of coefficient with the order of increase rate of {alpha}/{beta} wave and the task performance in the latter half was slightly negative in adding task, but was about 0.4 in search task. From these results, about six requirements for 'an effective rest' were able to be mentioned, for example, 'the devices that raises the arousal levels is carried out just before a rest end'. (author)

Divided-attention task on driving simulator: comparison among three groups of drivers

OpenAIRE

FREYDIER, Chloé; PAXION, Julie; BERTHELON, Catherine; Bastien-Toniazzo, Mireille

2013-01-01

Introduction: Driving is a complex and dynamic task that requires performing simultaneously several sub-tasks, as traffic management and vehicle control. Driving involves both automatic and controlled processing depending on situation met and drivers’ experience. Method: Three groups of drivers with different driving experience were submitted to a divided-attention task in order to assess the interference linked to a secondary task on driving behaviour. The main task was a car-following...

The Link between Higher Order Thinking Skills, Representation and Concepts in Enhancing TIMSS Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Tajudin, Nor'ain Mohd.; Chinnappan, Mohan

2016-01-01

Students' performances in TIMSS have featured strongly in recent discussions and debates about the quality of mathematical learning outcomes both from teachers and policy makers. Findings of TIMSS trends showed that most high school students in Malaysia continue to perform at less than satisfactory levels, particularly, in tasks that are…

Reactor vessel assessment and the development of a reactor vessel life extension program for Calvert Cliffs Units One and Two

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Montgomery, B.; Hijeck, P.J.

1988-01-01

A study has been undertaken to provide a general assessment of the life extension capabilities for the Calvert Cliffs Units One and Two reactor pressure vessels. The purpose of the study is to assess the general life extension capabilities for the Calvert Cliffs reactor pressure vessels based upon an extension and variation of the Surry pilot plant life extension study. This assessment provided a detailed reactor vessel surveillance program for plant life extension along with a hierarchy of specific tasks necessary for attaining maximum useful life. The assessment identified a number of critical issues which may impact life attainment and extension along with potential solutions to address these issues to ensure the life extension option is not precluded

Comparing the subjective task difficulty of human operators with task description levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Jin Kyun; Jung, Won Dea; Yang, Joon Eon

2011-01-01

Without the loss of generality, it is reasonable to say that an operating procedure consists of many steps including detailed descriptions that provide necessary information in conducting the required tasks safely and effectively. In this regard, since it is widely perceived that procedures are effective for reducing the occurrence of human performance related problems, the use of procedures is very popular in large process control systems including nuclear power plants (NPPs), commercial airplanes and railway systems. However, the secure of an operational safety by using an operating procedure can be accomplished only if human operators are able to effectively obtain necessary information from it. In other words, it is hard to expect the reduction of human performance related problems, if task descriptions are so ambiguous or incomplete that human operators feel an undue difficulty in identifying 'what have to be done' and 'how to do it' from procedures. Unfortunately, it seems that a systematic method that can be used to distinguish the proper level of task descriptions is rare. For this reason, Park et al. developed a decision chart that could be helpful for characterizing the level of task descriptions. In this study, in order to ensure the appropriateness of the suggested decision chart, more detailed investigations were conducted with the support of human operators who are working as the operating personnel of NPPs

Establishing Law and Order After Conflict

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Jones, Seth G; Wilson, Jeremy M; Rathmell, Andrew; Riley, K. J

2005-01-01

.... military's Field Manual 3-0731 Peace Ops notes, these tasks are vital to establish "a secure environment" in order to "create the conditions for other political, economic, and humanitarian peace building activities...

Information Search Behaviors of Indian Farmers: Implications for Extension Services

Science.gov (United States)

Glendenning, Claire J.; Babu, Suresh C.; Asenso-Okyere, Kwadwo

2012-01-01

Purpose: In India, a national survey conducted in 2003 showed that only 40% of farmers accessed extension. But little is known of the characteristics of farmers who did not access extension. However, this understanding is needed in order to target approaches to farmers, who differ in their access and use of information, that is their information…

On the structure of order domains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geil, Olav; Pellikaan, Ruud

2002-01-01

The notion of an order domain is generalized. The behaviour of an order domain by taking a subalgebra, the extension of scalars, and the tensor product is studied. The relation of an order domain with valuation theory, Gröbner algebras, and graded structures is given. The theory of Gröbner bases...... for order domains is developed and used to show that the factor ring theorem and its converse, the presentation theorem, hold. The dimension of an order domain is related to the rank of its value semigroup....

Who does the public think should perform health care tasks?

Science.gov (United States)

Koteski, D R; McKinney, S

1988-10-01

The dietitian was identified as the most appropriate provider of such key nutrition services as nutrition assessment, determination of caloric requirements, provision of diet counseling, and prescription of diets. Several tasks fundamental to nutrition services were not viewed as highly suitable tasks for the dietitian, e.g., plan for care at home, monitor client progress, and check laboratory values. Activities that constitute key nutrition services need to be accentuated to clarify the numerous skills and extensive knowledge that dietitians possess. In the health care system of today, the dietetic profession must be associated with a wider range of health-related tasks than the traditional triad of diet, food, and hospital. Public relations and marketing strategies should focus on activities that provide the public with a clearer understanding of how the dietetic profession contributes to patient/client care.

Prior and present evidence: how prior experience interacts with present information in a perceptual decision making task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhsin Karim

Full Text Available Vibrotactile discrimination tasks have been used to examine decision making processes in the presence of perceptual uncertainty, induced by barely discernible frequency differences between paired stimuli or by the presence of embedded noise. One lesser known property of such tasks is that decisions made on a single trial may be biased by information from prior trials. An example is the time-order effect whereby the presentation order of paired stimuli may introduce differences in accuracy. Subjects perform better when the first stimulus lies between the second stimulus and the global mean of all stimuli on the judged dimension ("preferred" time-orders compared to the alternative presentation order ("nonpreferred" time-orders. This has been conceptualised as a "drift" of the first stimulus representation towards the global mean of the stimulus-set (an internal standard. We describe the influence of prior information in relation to the more traditionally studied factors of interest in a classic discrimination task.Sixty subjects performed a vibrotactile discrimination task with different levels of uncertainty parametrically induced by increasing task difficulty, aperiodic stimulus noise, and changing the task instructions whilst maintaining identical stimulus properties (the "context".The time-order effect had a greater influence on task performance than two of the explicit factors-task difficulty and noise-but not context. The influence of prior information increased with the distance of the first stimulus from the global mean, suggesting that the "drift" velocity of the first stimulus towards the global mean representation was greater for these trials.Awareness of the time-order effect and prior information in general is essential when studying perceptual decision making tasks. Implicit mechanisms may have a greater influence than the explicit factors under study. It also affords valuable insights into basic mechanisms of information

21 CFR 1301.36 - Suspension or revocation of registration; suspension of registration pending final order...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 9 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Suspension or revocation of registration; suspension of registration pending final order; extension of registration pending final order. 1301.36... registration pending final order; extension of registration pending final order. (a) For any registration...

A Verification Method of Inter-Task Cooperation in Embedded Real-time Systems and its Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Toshio

In software development process of embedded real-time systems, the design of the task cooperation process is very important. The cooperating process of such tasks is specified by task cooperation patterns. Adoption of unsuitable task cooperation patterns has fatal influence on system performance, quality, and extendibility. In order to prevent repetitive work caused by the shortage of task cooperation performance, it is necessary to verify task cooperation patterns in an early software development stage. However, it is very difficult to verify task cooperation patterns in an early software developing stage where task program codes are not completed yet. Therefore, we propose a verification method using task skeleton program codes and a real-time kernel that has a function of recording all events during software execution such as system calls issued by task program codes, external interrupts, and timer interrupt. In order to evaluate the proposed verification method, we applied it to the software development process of a mechatronics control system.

Fuzzy Reasoning Based on First-Order Modal Logic,

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhang, Xiaoru; Zhang, Z.; Sui, Y.; Huang, Z.

2008-01-01

As an extension of traditional modal logics, this paper proposes a fuzzy first-order modal logic based on believable degree, and gives out a description of the fuzzy first-order modal logic based on constant domain semantics. In order to make the reasoning procedure between the fuzzy assertions

Task-irrelevant auditory feedback facilitates motor performance in musicians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virginia eConde

2012-05-01

Full Text Available An efficient and fast auditory–motor network is a basic resource for trained musicians due to the importance of motor anticipation of sound production in musical performance. When playing an instrument, motor performance always goes along with the production of sounds and the integration between both modalities plays an essential role in the course of musical training. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of task-irrelevant auditory feedback during motor performance in musicians using a serial reaction time task (SRTT. Our hypothesis was that musicians, due to their extensive auditory–motor practice routine during musical training, have a superior performance and learning capabilities when receiving auditory feedback during SRTT relative to musicians performing the SRTT without any auditory feedback. Here we provide novel evidence that task-irrelevant auditory feedback is capable to reinforce SRTT performance but not learning, a finding that might provide further insight into auditory-motor integration in musicians on a behavioral level.

[Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma with orbital extension].

Science.gov (United States)

Hervás Ontiveros, A; España Gregori, E; Climent Vallano, L; Rivas Rodero, S; Alamar Velázquez, A; Simal Julián, J A

2015-01-01

The case is presented of a 21 year-old male with a history of left proptosis and diplopia of two weeks of onset. The MRI showed an ethmoid-orbital vascular lesion with anterior skull base invasion and orbital extension. Biopsy of the ethmoid confirmed fibrovascular tissue, which supported the diagnosis of angiofibroma. It is a benign neoplasm with local characteristics of malignancy due to its ability to invade adjacent areas. In this case, the debut presented with manifestations of orbital extension. A broad and multidisciplinary approach is needed in order to improve prognosis. Copyright © 2013 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Analysis and extension of the Furter equation, and its application in the simulation of saline extractive distillation columns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ernesto O. Timmermann

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Simulation of saline extractive distillation columns is a difficult task owing to the high nonlinearity of the rigorous models that represent these systems. The use of simple models to obtain initial estimates of equilibrium compositions may improve the stability and rate of convergence. One of the simplest models to study the vapor-liquid equilibrium of binary liquid mixtures + salt systems is the Furter equation. This model was analyzed in the present work by means of the incorporation of activity coefficient models in the ratio of relative volatility. This approach allowed systematic extensions of the Furter equation and a brief review of the theoretical basis of the original equation. As a result of these extensions, two simple equations were proposed and tested with experimental data from 20 systems, including binary liquid mixtures + salt systems and binary liquid mixtures + ionic liquid systems. Finally, one of these proposed equations was incorporated into the GKTM software in order to assess the utility of these simple models in the simulation of saline extractive distillation columns. The obtained results showed a significant improvement over the previous algorithm.

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.

Improving Spiking Dynamical Networks: Accurate Delays, Higher-Order Synapses, and Time Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Voelker, Aaron R; Eliasmith, Chris

2018-03-01

Researchers building spiking neural networks face the challenge of improving the biological plausibility of their model networks while maintaining the ability to quantitatively characterize network behavior. In this work, we extend the theory behind the neural engineering framework (NEF), a method of building spiking dynamical networks, to permit the use of a broad class of synapse models while maintaining prescribed dynamics up to a given order. This theory improves our understanding of how low-level synaptic properties alter the accuracy of high-level computations in spiking dynamical networks. For completeness, we provide characterizations for both continuous-time (i.e., analog) and discrete-time (i.e., digital) simulations. We demonstrate the utility of these extensions by mapping an optimal delay line onto various spiking dynamical networks using higher-order models of the synapse. We show that these networks nonlinearly encode rolling windows of input history, using a scale invariant representation, with accuracy depending on the frequency content of the input signal. Finally, we reveal that these methods provide a novel explanation of time cell responses during a delay task, which have been observed throughout hippocampus, striatum, and cortex.

Objective threshold for distinguishing complicated tasks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Jin Kyun; Jung, Won Dea [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-08-15

Estimating the likelihood of human error in a reliable manner is really important for enhancing the safety of a large process control system such as Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). In this regard, from the point of view of Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA), various kinds of Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) methods have been used for several decades in order to systematically evaluate the effect of human error on the safety of NPPs. However, one of the recurrence issues is to determine the level of an important Performance Shaping Factor (PSF) by using a clear and objective manner with respect to the context of a given task. Unfortunately, there is no such criterion for a certain PSF such as the complexity of a task. For this reason, in this study, an objective criterion that is helpful for identifying a complicated task is suggested based on the Task Complexity (TACOM) measure. To this end, subjective difficulty scores rated by high speed train drivers are collected. After that, subjective difficulty scores are compared with the associated TACOM scores being quantified based on tasks to be conducted by high speed train drivers. As a result, it is expected that high speed train drivers feel a significant difficulty when they are faced with tasks of which the TACOM scores are greater than 4.2. Since TACOM measure is a kind of general tool to quantify the complexity of tasks to be done by human operators, it is promising to conclude that this value can be regarded as a common threshold representing what a complicated task is.

Examining Lateralized Lexical Ambiguity Processing Using Dichotic and Cross-Modal Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Atchley, Ruth Ann; Grimshaw, Gina; Schuster, Jonathan; Gibson, Linzi

2011-01-01

The individual roles played by the cerebral hemispheres during the process of language comprehension have been extensively studied in tasks that require individuals to read text (for review see Jung-Beeman, 2005). However, it is not clear whether or not some aspects of the theorized laterality models of semantic comprehension are a result of the…

Maintenance of item and order information in verbal working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Camos, Valérie; Lagner, Prune; Loaiza, Vanessa M

2017-09-01

Although verbal recall of item and order information is well-researched in short-term memory paradigms, there is relatively little research concerning item and order recall from working memory. The following study examined whether manipulating the opportunity for attentional refreshing and articulatory rehearsal in a complex span task differently affected the recall of item- and order-specific information of the memoranda. Five experiments varied the opportunity for articulatory rehearsal and attentional refreshing in a complex span task, but the type of recall was manipulated between experiments (item and order, order only, and item only recall). The results showed that impairing attentional refreshing and articulatory rehearsal similarly affected recall regardless of whether the scoring procedure (Experiments 1 and 4) or recall requirements (Experiments 2, 3, and 5) reflected item- or order-specific recall. This implies that both mechanisms sustain the maintenance of item and order information, and suggests that the common cumulative functioning of these two mechanisms to maintain items could be at the root of order maintenance.

An object-oriented extension for debugging the virtual machine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pizzi, Jr, Robert G. [Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)

1994-12-01

A computer is nothing more then a virtual machine programmed by source code to perform a task. The program`s source code expresses abstract constructs which are compiled into some lower level target language. When a virtual machine breaks, it can be very difficult to debug because typical debuggers provide only low-level target implementation information to the software engineer. We believe that the debugging task can be simplified by introducing aspects of the abstract design and data into the source code. We introduce OODIE, an object-oriented extension to programming languages that allows programmers to specify a virtual environment by describing the meaning of the design and data of a virtual machine. This specification is translated into symbolic information such that an augmented debugger can present engineers with a programmable debugging environment specifically tailored for the virtual machine that is to be debugged.

Nuclear Energy Gradients for Internally Contracted Complete Active Space Second-Order Perturbation Theory: Multistate Extensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Vlaisavljevich, Bess; Shiozaki, Toru

2016-08-09

We report the development of the theory and computer program for analytical nuclear energy gradients for (extended) multistate complete active space perturbation theory (CASPT2) with full internal contraction. The vertical shifts are also considered in this work. This is an extension of the fully internally contracted CASPT2 nuclear gradient program recently developed for a state-specific variant by us [MacLeod and Shiozaki, J. Chem. Phys. 2015, 142, 051103]; in this extension, the so-called λ equation is solved to account for the variation of the multistate CASPT2 energies with respect to the change in the amplitudes obtained in the preceding state-specific CASPT2 calculations, and the Z vector equations are modified accordingly. The program is parallelized using the MPI3 remote memory access protocol that allows us to perform efficient one-sided communication. The optimized geometries of the ground and excited states of a copper corrole and benzophenone are presented as numerical examples. The code is publicly available under the GNU General Public License.

Extension theorems for homogenization on lattice structures

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Robert E.

1992-01-01

When applying homogenization techniques to problems involving lattice structures, it is necessary to extend certain functions defined on a perforated domain to a simply connected domain. This paper provides general extension operators which preserve bounds on derivatives of order l. Only the special case of honeycomb structures is considered.

Particle Swarm Optimisation with Spatial Particle Extension

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krink, Thiemo; Vesterstrøm, Jakob Svaneborg; Riget, Jacques

2002-01-01

In this paper, we introduce spatial extension to particles in the PSO model in order to overcome premature convergence in iterative optimisation. The standard PSO and the new model (SEPSO) are compared w.r.t. performance on well-studied benchmark problems. We show that the SEPSO indeed managed...

Assessing Task Migration Impact on Embedded Soft Real-Time Streaming Multimedia Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alimonda Andrea

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Multiprocessor systems on chips (MPSoCs are envisioned as the future of embedded platforms such as game-engines, smart-phones and palmtop computers. One of the main challenge preventing the widespread diffusion of these systems is the efficient mapping of multitask multimedia applications on processing elements. Dynamic solutions based on task migration has been recently explored to perform run-time reallocation of task to maximize performance and optimize energy consumption. Even if task migration can provide high flexibility, its overhead must be carefully evaluated when applied to soft real-time applications. In fact, these applications impose deadlines that may be missed during the migration process. In this paper we first present a middleware infrastructure supporting dynamic task allocation for NUMA architectures. Then we perform an extensive characterization of its impact on multimedia soft real-time applications using a software FM Radio benchmark.

Assessing Task Migration Impact on Embedded Soft Real-Time Streaming Multimedia Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Acquaviva

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Multiprocessor systems on chips (MPSoCs are envisioned as the future of embedded platforms such as game-engines, smart-phones and palmtop computers. One of the main challenge preventing the widespread diffusion of these systems is the efficient mapping of multitask multimedia applications on processing elements. Dynamic solutions based on task migration has been recently explored to perform run-time reallocation of task to maximize performance and optimize energy consumption. Even if task migration can provide high flexibility, its overhead must be carefully evaluated when applied to soft real-time applications. In fact, these applications impose deadlines that may be missed during the migration process. In this paper we first present a middleware infrastructure supporting dynamic task allocation for NUMA architectures. Then we perform an extensive characterization of its impact on multimedia soft real-time applications using a software FM Radio benchmark.

Autonomous underwater handling system for service, measurement and cutting tasks for the decommissioning of nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahn, M.; Haferkamp, H.; Bach, W.; Rose, N.

1992-01-01

For about 10 years the Institute for Material Science at the Hanover University has worked on projects of underwater cutting and welding. Increasing tasks to be done in nuclear facilities led to the development of special handling systems to support and handle the cutting tools. Also sensors and computers for extensive and complex tasks were integrated. A small sized freediving handling system, equipped with 2 video cameras, ultrasonic and radiation sensors and a plasma cutting torch for inspection and decommissioning tasks in nuclear facilities is described in this paper. (Author)

THE SPECIFIC AND GENERAL NATURE OF LOGISTICS TASKS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beáta Sz. G. Pató

2016-12-01

Full Text Available There are many ways to define and to describe jobs and assigning to people. This is a key issue in both blue collar and in white collar jobs. This analysis focuses on the work content of jobs in logistics. However, the methodology allows the exploration of closely related issues to determine competence requirements as well. Jobs can be seen to have bearing on many areas including effectiveness, efficiency of individual and organizational level, social and political issues. The purpose of the research carried out by authors was to identify the necessary competencies in logistics jobs. It included the analysis of the tasks using company document (job description analysis in order to identify the tasks and required competencies. Researchers extracted and then standardized the verb - noun pairs which described the tasks. The frequency of these pairs gave the weight of the task in a job. This method allowed the researchers to determine the overlapping rate of activities in different fields (trade, transport, comprehensive activities. It was found that the most different/independent field in the terms of similarities is warehousing. Results suggest the rethinking of the training content in order to find the right balance between the general and specific competencies. They also help organizations to optimize the composition of cross-functional staff.

Practice makes perfect: familiarity of task determines success in solvable tasks for free-ranging dogs (Canis lupus familiaris).

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharjee, Debottam; Dasgupta, Sandipan; Biswas, Arpita; Deheria, Jayshree; Gupta, Shreya; Nikhil Dev, N; Udell, Monique; Bhadra, Anindita

2017-07-01

Domestic dogs' (Canis lupus familiaris) socio-cognitive faculties have made them highly sensitive to human social cues. While dogs often excel at understanding human communicative gestures, they perform comparatively poorly in problem-solving and physical reasoning tasks. This difference in their behaviour could be due to the lifestyle and intense socialization, where problem solving and physical cognition are less important than social cognition. Free-ranging dogs live in human-dominated environments, not under human supervision and are less socialized. Being scavengers, they often encounter challenges where problem solving is required in order to get access to food. We tested Indian street dogs in familiar and unfamiliar independent solvable tasks and quantified their persistence and dependence on a novel human experimenter, in addition to their success in solving a task. Our results indicate that free-ranging dogs succeeded and persisted more in the familiar task as compared to the unfamiliar one. They showed negligible amount of human dependence in the familiar task, but showed prolonged gazing and considerable begging behaviour to the human experimenter in the context of the unfamiliar task. Cognitive abilities of free-ranging dogs thus play a pivotal role in determining task-associated behaviours based on familiarity. In addition to that, these dogs inherently tend to socialize with and depend on humans, even if they are strangers. Our results also illustrate free-ranging dogs' low competence at physical cognitive tasks.

The BWR owners' group planning guide for life extension

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, S.K.; Lehnert, D.F.; Locke, R.K.

1991-01-01

Extending the operating life of a commercial nuclear power plant has been shown to be economically beneficial to both the utility and the electric customer. As such, many utilities are planning and implementing plant life extension (PLEX) programs. A document has been developed which provides guidance to utilities in formulating a PLEX program plant for one or more boiling water reactor (BWR) plants. The guide has been developed by the BWR Owners' Group Plant Life Extension Committee. The principal bases for this guide were the BWR Pilot and Lead Plant Programs. These programs were used as models to develop the 'base plan' described in this guide. By formulating their program plant utilizing the base plan, utilities will be able to maximize the use of existing evaluations and results. The utility planner will build upon the base plan by adding any tasks or features that are unique to their programs. (author)

The phonological neighbourhood effect on short-term memory for order.

Science.gov (United States)

Clarkson, L; Roodenrys, S; Miller, L M; Hulme, C

2017-03-01

There is a growing body of literature that suggests that long-term memory (LTM) and short-term memory (STM) structures that were once thought to be distinct are actually co-dependent, and that LTM can aid retrieval from STM. The mechanism behind this effect is commonly argued to act on item memory but not on order memory. The aim of the current study was to examine whether LTM could exert an influence on STM for order by examining an effect attributed to LTM, the phonological neighbourhood effect, in a task that reduced the requirement to retain item information. In Experiment 1, 18 participants completed a serial reconstruction task where neighbourhood density alternated within the lists. In Experiment 2, 22 participants completed a serial reconstruction task using pure lists of dense and sparse neighbourhood words. In Experiment 3, 22 participants completed a reconstruction task with both mixed and pure lists. There was a significant effect of neighbourhood density with better recall for dense than sparse neighbourhood words in pure lists but not in mixed lists. Results suggest that LTM exerts an influence prior to that proposed by many models of memory for order.

Experiences of packaging research outputs into extension materials

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Mo

Research dissemination is one component of research that still faces many hindrances, ... time-frames for dissemination activities going beyond project phase-out in order to maximise ..... Available or upcoming extension materials, with cost and availability ..... Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy, Annual.

JESS: Java extensible snakes system

Science.gov (United States)

McInerney, Tim; Akhavan Sharif, M. Reza; Pashotanizadeh, Nasrin

2005-04-01

Snakes (Active Contour Models) are powerful model-based image segmentation tools. Although researchers have proven them especially useful in medical image analysis over the past decade, Snakes have remained primarily in the academic world and they have not become widely used in clinical practice or widely available in commercial packages. A number of confusing and specialized variants exist and there has been no standard open-source implementation available. To address this problem, we present a Java Extensible Snakes System (JESS) that is general, portable, and extensible. The system uses Java Swing classes to allow for the rapid development of custom graphical user interfaces (GUI's). It also incorporates the Java Advanced Imaging(JAI) class library, which provide custom image preprocessing, image display and general image I/O. The Snakes algorithm itself is written in a hierarchical fashion, consisting of a general Snake class and several subclasses that span the main variants of Snakes including a new, powerful, robust subdivision-curve Snake. These subclasses can be easily and quickly extended and customized for any specific segmentation and analysis task. We demonstrate the utility of these classes for segmenting various anatomical structures from 2D medical images. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of JESS by using it to rapidly build a prototype semi-automatic sperm analysis system. The JESS software will be made publicly available in early 2005.

Shelf-life extension of fresh chicken through radurisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niemand, J.G.; Van der Linde, H.J.

1982-01-01

The article discusses the shelf-life extension of fresh chicken through radurization. In order to assess the potential of this process on the South African market, a detailed investigation was carried out to determine the shelf-life extension under local conditions. The following aspects were investigated; 1) reduction of bacterial numbers at different radurisation doses; 2) influence of storage temperature on shelf-life and 3) the elimination of Salmonella. Organoleptic testing was carried out on poultry radurised to doses of 3, 5, 7,5 and 10 kGy as well as on non-radurised controls

The development of second-order social cognition and its relation with complex language understanding and working memory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arslan, Burcu; Hohenberger, Annette; Verbrugge, Rineke

2012-01-01

In this study, the development of second-order social cognition and its possible relationship with language and memory were investigated. For this reason two second-order false belief tasks (FBT_2), a short term memory task (WST), a complex working memory task (LST), a linguistic perspective-taking

Female and male pigs' performance in a spatial holeboard and judgment bias task

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofs, Sanne; Nordquist, Rebecca E.; van der Staay, Franz Josef

2017-01-01

Studies of the cognitive abilities of pigs are increasing in number, due to their relevance for the fields of animal welfare and biomedical research. While both female and male pigs have been used in cognitive tasks, possible sex differences in performance have not yet received extensive attention.

Concreteness effects in short-term memory: a test of the item-order hypothesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Roche, Jaclynn; Tolan, G Anne; Tehan, Gerald

2011-12-01

The following experiments explore word length and concreteness effects in short-term memory within an item-order processing framework. This framework asserts order memory is better for those items that are relatively easy to process at the item level. However, words that are difficult to process benefit at the item level for increased attention/resources being applied. The prediction of the model is that differential item and order processing can be detected in episodic tasks that differ in the degree to which item or order memory are required by the task. The item-order account has been applied to the word length effect such that there is a short word advantage in serial recall but a long word advantage in item recognition. The current experiment considered the possibility that concreteness effects might be explained within the same framework. In two experiments, word length (Experiment 1) and concreteness (Experiment 2) are examined using forward serial recall, backward serial recall, and item recognition. These results for word length replicate previous studies showing the dissociation in item and order tasks. The same was not true for the concreteness effect. In all three tasks concrete words were better remembered than abstract words. The concreteness effect cannot be explained in terms of an item-order trade off. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Accelerator research studies: Progress report, Task B

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-06-01

The main objectives in Task B of the research program are summarized as follows: (1) studies of the collective acceleration of positive ions from a localized plasma source by an intense relativistic electron beam (IREB), (2) studies of ways in which external control may be achieved over the electron beam front in order to achieve higher ion energies - the Beam Front Accelerator (BFA) concept, and (3) study of electron and ion beam generation in a new kind of compact pulsed accelerator in which energy is stored inductively and switched using a plasma focus opening switch. During the past year, substantial progress was made in each of these areas. Our exploratory research on the collective acceleration of laser-produced ions has confirmed the acceleration of C, Al, and Fe ions to peak energies in excess of 10 MeV/amu. In addition, studies of the relation between collective ion acceleration and electron beam propagation in vacuum have shed new light on the experimental processes that lead to energy transfer from electrons to ions. Meanwhile, extensive progress has been made in our attempts to use analytical theory and numerical simulation to model ion acceleration in these systems. Our resultant improved understanding of the processes that limit the peak ion energy has had a profound impact on our plans for further research in this area. Studies of the Compact Pulsed Accelerator have included both ion and electron beam extraction from the device. Its potential to reduce the volume of pulse power sources by an order of magnitude has already been demonstrated, and plans are currently underway to scale the experiment up to voltages in the 1 MV range

Rostering and Task Scheduling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dohn, Anders Høeg

. The rostering process is non-trivial and especially when service is required around the clock, rostering may involve considerable effort from a designated planner. Therefore, in order to minimize costs and overstaffing, to maximize the utilization of available staff, and to ensure a high level of satisfaction...... as possible to the available staff, while respecting various requirements and rules and while including possible transportation time between tasks. This thesis presents a number of industrial applications in rostering and task scheduling. The applications exist within various contexts in health care....... Mathematical and logic-based models are presented for the problems considered. Novel components are added to existing models and the modeling decisions are justified. In one case, the model is solved by a simple, but efficient greedy construction heuristic. In the remaining cases, column generation is applied...

Birth order has no effect on intelligence: a reply and extension of previous findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Wichman, Aaron L; Rodgers, Joseph Lee; Maccallum, Robert C

2007-09-01

We address points raised by Zajonc and Sulloway, who reject findings showing that birth order has no effect on intelligence. Many objections to findings of null birth-order results seem to stem from a misunderstanding of the difference between study designs where birth order is confounded with true causal influences on intelligence across families and designs that control for some of these influences. We discuss some of the consequences of not appreciating the nature of this difference. When between-family confounds are controlled using appropriate study designs and techniques such as multilevel modeling, birth order is shown not to influence intelligence. We conclude with an empirical investigation of the replicability and generalizability of this approach.

From a WebQuest to a ReadingQuest: learners' reactions in an EFL extensive reading class

OpenAIRE

Barros, Ana Cláudia; Amorim Carvalho, Ana Amélia

2007-01-01

Most students don’t like reading in a foreign language. They find it a difficult task, mainly due to the high number of unknown words they encounter when reading a text. They consider reading classes boring and uninteresting and as a result our students are poor readers. Concerned with this situation, we conducted a study on the impact of a learning environment based on the WebQuest, a ReadingQuest, and on student engagement in an extensive reading task. The results show that the ReadingQuest...

The effects of dual tasking on handwriting in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Broeder, S; Nackaerts, E; Nieuwboer, A; Smits-Engelsman, B C M; Swinnen, S P; Heremans, E

2014-03-28

Previous studies have shown that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience extensive problems during dual tasking. Up to now, dual-task interference in PD has mainly been investigated in the context of gait research. However, the simultaneous performance of two different tasks is also a prerequisite to efficiently perform many other tasks in daily life, including upper limb tasks. To address this issue, this study investigated the effect of a secondary cognitive task on the performance of handwriting in patients with PD. Eighteen PD patients and 11 age-matched controls performed a writing task involving the production of repetitive loops under single- and dual-task conditions. The secondary task consisted of counting high and low tones during writing. The writing tests were performed with two amplitudes (0.6 and 1.0cm) using a writing tablet. Results showed that dual-task performance was affected in PD patients versus controls. Dual tasking reduced writing amplitude in PD patients, but not in healthy controls (p=0.046). Patients' writing size was mainly reduced during the small-amplitude condition (small amplitude p=0.017; large amplitude p=0.310). This suggests that the control of writing at small amplitudes requires more compensational brain-processing recourses in PD and is as such less automatic than writing at large amplitudes. In addition, there was a larger dual-task effect on the secondary task in PD patients than controls (p=0.025). The writing tests on the writing tablet proved highly correlated to daily life writing as measured by the 'Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties' test (SOS-test) and other manual dexterity tasks, particularly during dual-task conditions. Taken together, these results provide additional insights into the motor control of handwriting and the effects of dual tasking during upper limb movements in patients with PD. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring attention in rodents: comparison of a modified signal detection task and the 5-choice serial reaction time task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karly Maree Turner

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Neuropsychiatric research has utilised cognitive testing in rodents to improve our understanding of cognitive deficits and for preclinical drug development. However, more sophisticated cognitive tasks have not been as widely exploited due to low throughput and the extensive training time required. We developed a modified signal detection task (SDT based on the growing body of literature aimed at improving cognitive testing in rodents. This study directly compares performance on the modified SDT with the traditional test for measuring attention, the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on either the 5CSRTT or the SDT. Briefly, the 5CSRTT required rodents to pay attention to a spatial array of 5 apertures and respond with a nose poke when an aperture was illuminated. The SDT required the rat to attend to a light panel and respond either left or right to indicate the presence of a signal. In addition, modifications were made to the reward delivery, timing, control of body positioning and the self-initiation of trials. It was found that less training time was required for the SDT, with both sessions to criteria and daily session duration significantly reduced. Rats performed with a high level of accuracy (>87% on both tasks, however omissions were far more frequent on the 5CSRTT. The signal duration was reduced on both tasks as a manipulation of task difficulty relevant to attention and a similar pattern of decreasing accuracy was observed on both tasks. These results demonstrate some of the advantages of the SDT over the traditional 5CSRTT as being higher throughput with reduced training time, fewer omission responses and their body position at stimulus onset was controlled. In addition, rats performing the SDT had comparable high levels of accuracy. These results highlight the differences and similarities between the 5CSRTT and a modified SDT as tools for assessing attention in preclinical animal

Effects of Multimedia Task-Based Teaching and Learning Approach on EFL Learners' Accuracy, Fluency and Complexity of Oral Production

Science.gov (United States)

Bava Harji, Madhubala; Gheitanchian, Mehrnaz

2017-01-01

Albeit Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has been extensively researched, there appears to be limited studies that focus on the effects of multimedia technology (MT) enhanced TBLT approach on EFL development. A study was conducted to examine the effects of a MT imbued TBLT, i.e. Multimedia Task-Based Teaching and Learning (MMTBLT) approach on…

Representation of Numerical and Non-Numerical Order in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Berteletti, Ilaria; Lucangeli, Daniela; Zorzi, Marco

2012-01-01

The representation of numerical and non-numerical ordered sequences was investigated in children from preschool to grade 3. The child's conception of how sequence items map onto a spatial scale was tested using the Number-to-Position task (Siegler & Opfer, 2003) and new variants of the task designed to probe the representation of the alphabet…

Multi-task pose-invariant face recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Changxing; Xu, Chang; Tao, Dacheng

2015-03-01

Face images captured in unconstrained environments usually contain significant pose variation, which dramatically degrades the performance of algorithms designed to recognize frontal faces. This paper proposes a novel face identification framework capable of handling the full range of pose variations within ±90° of yaw. The proposed framework first transforms the original pose-invariant face recognition problem into a partial frontal face recognition problem. A robust patch-based face representation scheme is then developed to represent the synthesized partial frontal faces. For each patch, a transformation dictionary is learnt under the proposed multi-task learning scheme. The transformation dictionary transforms the features of different poses into a discriminative subspace. Finally, face matching is performed at patch level rather than at the holistic level. Extensive and systematic experimentation on FERET, CMU-PIE, and Multi-PIE databases shows that the proposed method consistently outperforms single-task-based baselines as well as state-of-the-art methods for the pose problem. We further extend the proposed algorithm for the unconstrained face verification problem and achieve top-level performance on the challenging LFW data set.

Teaching Sustainable Process Design Using 12 Systematic Computer-Aided Tasks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Babi, Deenesh K.

2015-01-01

(tasks 4-7) and then sizing, costing and economic analysis of the designed process (tasks 8-9). This produces a base case design. In tasks 10-12, the student explores opportunities for heat and/or mass integration, followed by a sustainability analysis, in order to evaluate the base case design and set......In this paper a task-based approach for teaching (sustainable) process design to students pursuing a degree in chemical and biochemical engineering is presented. In tasks 1-3 the student makes design decisions for product and process selection followed by simple and rigorous model simulations...... targets for further improvement. Finally, a process optimization problem is formulated and solved to obtain the more sustainable process design. The 12 tasks are explained in terms of input and output of each task and examples of application of this approach in an MSclevel course are reported....

Extensive training and hippocampus or striatum lesions: effect on place and response strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Tara K; Gruenbaum, Benjamin F; Markus, Etan J

2012-02-01

The hippocampus has been linked to spatial navigation and the striatum to response learning. The current study focuses on how these brain regions continue to interact when an animal is very familiar with the task and the environment and must continuously switch between navigation strategies. Rats were trained to solve a plus maze using a place or a response strategy on different trials within a testing session. A room cue (illumination) was used to indicate which strategy should be used on a given trial. After extensive training, animals underwent dorsal hippocampus, dorsal lateral striatum or sham lesions. As expected hippocampal lesions predominantly caused impairment on place but not response trials. Striatal lesions increased errors on both place and response trials. Competition between systems was assessed by determining error type. Pre-lesion and sham animals primarily made errors to arms associated with the wrong (alternative) strategy, this was not found after lesions. The data suggest a qualitative change in the relationship between hippocampal and striatal systems as a task is well learned. During acquisition the two systems work in parallel, competing with each other. After task acquisition, the two systems become more integrated and interdependent. The fact that with extensive training (as something becomes a "habit"), behaviors become dependent upon the dorsal lateral striatum has been previously shown. The current findings indicate that dorsal lateral striatum involvement occurs even when the behavior is spatial and continues to require hippocampal processing. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Life extension for fossil power plants: The EPRI [Electric Power Research Institute] strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Byron, J.; Dooley, B.

1988-01-01

Fossil fuel-fired generating plants have traditionally been built under the assumption of an economic life of 20-30 years. Due to low load growth, escalating interest rates and costs of construction, and increasing regulation, great interest is expressed in retaining these units in service for 50-60 years or longer. Life extension activities are part of an ongoing process that continues throughout the extended lives of a utility's units. The process begins with an initial evaluation of life extension as a generation alternative, resulting in a ranking of units for life extension and a prioritization of components for evaluation. As the process continues, more detailed inspection data are created by a three-level approach, as well as a means for collecting, organizing and scheduling the information. This is implemented through the Integrated Life Extension Management (ILEM) model. This model provides information needed for management decision making such as component performance on unit power rating, availability of components on unit availability, component performance on unit availability and overall costs of the life extension tasks. Risks involved in life extension include the initial unavailability of capacity credits, uncertainty as to the level of availability that can be achieved by the life-extended plant, and uncertainties in environmental compliance. 8 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs

Report of the Fermilab ILC Citizens' Task Force

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2008-06-01

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory convened the ILC Citizens' Task Force to provide guidance and advice to the laboratory to ensure that community concerns and ideas are included in all public aspects of planning and design for a proposed future accelerator, the International Linear Collider. In this report, the members of the Task Force describe the process they used to gather and analyze information on all aspects of the proposed accelerator and its potential location at Fermilab in northern Illinois. They present the conclusions and recommendations they reached as a result of the learning process and their subsequent discussions and deliberations. While the Task Force was charged to provide guidance on the ILC, it became clear during the process that the high cost of the proposed accelerator made a near-term start for the project at Fermilab unlikely. Nevertheless, based on a year of extensive learning and dialogue, the Task Force developed a series of recommendations for Fermilab to consider as the laboratory develops all successor projects to the Tevatron. The Task Force recognizes that bringing a next-generation particle physics project to Fermilab will require both a large international effort and the support of the local community. While the Task Force developed its recommendations in response to the parameters of a future ILC, the principles they set forth apply directly to any large project that may be conceived at Fermilab, or at other laboratories, in the future. With this report, the Task Force fulfills its task of guiding Fermilab from the perspective of the local community on how to move forward with a large-scale project while building positive relationships with surrounding communities. The report summarizes the benefits, concerns and potential impacts of bringing a large-scale scientific project to northern Illinois.

Infrared maritime target detection using the high order statistic filtering in fractional Fourier domain

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Anran; Xie, Weixin; Pei, Jihong

2018-06-01

Accurate detection of maritime targets in infrared imagery under various sea clutter conditions is always a challenging task. The fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) is the extension of the Fourier transform in the fractional order, and has richer spatial-frequency information. By combining it with the high order statistic filtering, a new ship detection method is proposed. First, the proper range of angle parameter is determined to make it easier for the ship components and background to be separated. Second, a new high order statistic curve (HOSC) at each fractional frequency point is designed. It is proved that maximal peak interval in HOSC reflects the target information, while the points outside the interval reflect the background. And the value of HOSC relative to the ship is much bigger than that to the sea clutter. Then, search the curve's maximal target peak interval and extract the interval by bandpass filtering in fractional Fourier domain. The value outside the peak interval of HOSC decreases rapidly to 0, so the background is effectively suppressed. Finally, the detection result is obtained by the double threshold segmenting and the target region selection method. The results show the proposed method is excellent for maritime targets detection with high clutters.

Heuristic for Task-Worker Assignment with Varying Learning Slopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wipawee Tharmmaphornphilas

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Fashion industry has variety products, so the multi-skilled workers are required to improve flexibility in production and assignment. Generally the supervisor will assign task to the workers based on skill and skill levels of worker. Since in fashion industry new product styles are launched more frequently and the order size tends to be smaller, the workers always learn when the raw material and the production process changes. Consequently they require less time to produce the succeeding units of a task based on their learning ability. Since the workers have both experience and inexperience workers, so each worker has different skill level and learning ability. Consequently, the assignment which assumed constant skill level is not proper to use. This paper proposes a task-worker assignment considering worker skill levels and learning abilities. Processing time of each worker changes along production period due to a worker learning ability. We focus on a task-worker assignment in a fashion industry where tasks are ordered in series; the number of tasks is greater than the number of workers. Therefore, workers can perform multiple assignments followed the precedence restriction as an assembly line balancing problem. The problem is formulated in an integer linear programming model with objective to minimize makespan. A heuristic is proposed to determine the lower bound (LB and the upper bound (UB of the problem and the best assignment is determined. The performance of the heuristic method is tested by comparing quality of solution and computational time to optimal solutions.

Reorganised force control in elbow pain patients during isometric wrist extension

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mista, Christian Ariel; Monterde, Sonia; Inglés, Montserrat

2018-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Reorganised force control may be an important adaptation following painful traumas. In this study, force control adaptations were assessed in elbow pain patients. Increasing the contraction demand may overcome pain interference on the motor control and as such act as an internal...... voluntary contraction. Pressure pain thresholds were recorded at the lateral epicondyle and tibialis anterior muscle. Contraction force was recorded using a three-directional force transducer. Participants performed contractions according with visual feedback of the task-related force intensity (main...... direction of wrist extension) and another set of contractions with feedback of the three force directions. Going from the simple to the detailed force feedback will increase the demand of the motor task. Force steadiness in all 3 dimensions and force direction was extracted. RESULTS: Compared with controls...

Self-triggered rendezvous of gossiping second-order agents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Persis, Claudio; Frasca, Paolo; Hendrickx, Julien M.

2013-01-01

A recent paper by some of the authors introduced several self-triggered coordination algorithms for first-order continuous-time systems. The extension of these algorithms to second-order agents is relevant in many practical applications but presents some challenges that are tackled in this

A psychophysical investigation of differences between synchrony and temporal order judgments.

Science.gov (United States)

Love, Scott A; Petrini, Karin; Cheng, Adam; Pollick, Frank E

2013-01-01

Synchrony judgments involve deciding whether cues to an event are in synch or out of synch, while temporal order judgments involve deciding which of the cues came first. When the cues come from different sensory modalities these judgments can be used to investigate multisensory integration in the temporal domain. However, evidence indicates that that these two tasks should not be used interchangeably as it is unlikely that they measure the same perceptual mechanism. The current experiment further explores this issue across a variety of different audiovisual stimulus types. Participants were presented with 5 audiovisual stimulus types, each at 11 parametrically manipulated levels of cue asynchrony. During separate blocks, participants had to make synchrony judgments or temporal order judgments. For some stimulus types many participants were unable to successfully make temporal order judgments, but they were able to make synchrony judgments. The mean points of subjective simultaneity for synchrony judgments were all video-leading, while those for temporal order judgments were all audio-leading. In the within participants analyses no correlation was found across the two tasks for either the point of subjective simultaneity or the temporal integration window. Stimulus type influenced how the two tasks differed; nevertheless, consistent differences were found between the two tasks regardless of stimulus type. Therefore, in line with previous work, we conclude that synchrony and temporal order judgments are supported by different perceptual mechanisms and should not be interpreted as being representative of the same perceptual process.

What Is Your Library Worth? Extension Uses Public Value Workshops in Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Haskell, Jane E.; Morse, George W.

2015-01-01

Public libraries are seeing flat or reduced funding even as demands for new services are increasing. Facing an identical problem, Extension developed a program to identify the indirect benefits to non-participants of Extension programs in order to encourage their public funding support. This educational approach was customized to public libraries…

Turning an Extension Aide into an Extension Agent

Science.gov (United States)

Seevers, Brenda; Dormody, Thomas J.

2010-01-01

For any organization to remain sustainable, a renewable source of faculty and staff needs to be available. The Extension Internship Program for Juniors and Seniors in High School is a new tool for recruiting and developing new Extension agents. Students get "hands on" experience working in an Extension office and earn college credit…

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

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

A Novel Extension Decision-Making Method for Selecting Solar Power Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng-Hui Wang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the complex parameters of a solar power system, the designer not only must think about the load demand but also needs to consider the price, weight, and annual power generating capacity (APGC and maximum power of the solar system. It is an important task to find the optimal solar power system with many parameters. Therefore, this paper presents a novel decision-making method based on the extension theory; we call it extension decision-making method (EDMM. Using the EDMM can make it quick to select the optimal solar power system. The paper proposed this method not only to provide a useful estimated tool for the solar system engineers but also to supply the important reference with the installation of solar systems to the consumer.

The effectiveness of Microsoft Project in assessing extension of time under PAM 2006 standard form of contract

Science.gov (United States)

Suhaida, S. K.; Wong, Z. D.

2017-11-01

Time is equal to money; and it is applies in the construction industry where time is very important. Most of the standard form of contracts provide contractual clauses to ascertain time and money related to the scenarios while Extension of Time (EOT) is one of them. Under circumstance and delays, contractor is allow to apply EOT in order to complete the works on a later completion date without Liquidated Damages (LD) imposed to the claimant. However, both claimants and assessors encountered problems in assessing the EOT. The aim of this research is to recommend the usage of Microsoft Project as a tool in assessing EOT associated with the standard form of contract, PAM 2006. A quantitative method is applied towards the respondents that consisted of architects and quantity surveyors (QS) in order to collect data on challenges in assessing EOT claims and the effectiveness of Microsoft Project as a tool. The finding of this research highlighted that Microsoft Project can serve as a basis to perform EOT tasks as this software can be used as a data bank to store handy information which crucial for preparing and evaluating EOT.

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.

Task demand, task management, and teamwork

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Braarud, Per Oeivind; Brendryen, Haavar

2001-03-15

The current approach to mental workload assessment in process control was evaluated in 3 previous HAMMLAB studies, by analysing the relationship between workload related measures and performance. The results showed that subjective task complexity rating was related to team's control room performance, that mental effort (NASA-TLX) was weakly related to performance, and that overall activity level was unrelated to performance. The results support the argument that general cognitive measures, i.e., mental workload, are weakly related to performance in the process control domain. This implies that other workload concepts than general mental workload are needed for valid assessment of human reliability and for valid assessment of control room configurations. An assessment of task load in process control suggested that how effort is used to handle task demand is more important then the level of effort invested to solve the task. The report suggests two main workload related concepts with a potential as performance predictors in process control: task requirements, and the work style describing how effort is invested to solve the task. The task requirements are seen as composed of individual task demand and team demand. In a similar way work style are seen as composed of individual task management and teamwork style. A framework for the development of the concepts is suggested based on a literature review and experiences from HAMMLAB research. It is suggested that operational definitions of workload concepts should be based on observable control room behaviour, to assure a potential for developing performance-shaping factors. Finally an explorative analysis of teamwork measures and performance in one study indicated that teamwork concepts are related to performance. This lends support to the suggested development of team demand and teamwork style as elements of a framework for the analysis of workload in process control. (Author)

Computation Offloading for Frame-Based Real-Time Tasks under Given Server Response Time Guarantees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anas S. M. Toma

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Computation offloading has been adopted to improve the performance of embedded systems by offloading the computation of some tasks, especially computation-intensive tasks, to servers or clouds. This paper explores computation offloading for real-time tasks in embedded systems, provided given response time guarantees from the servers, to decide which tasks should be offloaded to get the results in time. We consider frame-based real-time tasks with the same period and relative deadline. When the execution order of the tasks is given, the problem can be solved in linear time. However, when the execution order is not specified, we prove that the problem is NP-complete. We develop a pseudo-polynomial-time algorithm for deriving feasible schedules, if they exist.  An approximation scheme is also developed to trade the error made from the algorithm and the complexity. Our algorithms are extended to minimize the period/relative deadline of the tasks for performance maximization. The algorithms are evaluated with a case study for a surveillance system and synthesized benchmarks.

The Effects of Sleep Extension on the Athletic Performance of Collegiate Basketball Players

Science.gov (United States)

Mah, Cheri D.; Mah, Kenneth E.; Kezirian, Eric J.; Dement, William C.

2011-01-01

Study Objectives: To investigate the effects of sleep extension over multiple weeks on specific measures of athletic performance as well as reaction time, mood, and daytime sleepiness. Setting: Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory and Maples Pavilion, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Participants: Eleven healthy students on the Stanford University men's varsity basketball team (mean age 19.4 ± 1.4 years). Interventions: Subjects maintained their habitual sleep-wake schedule for a 2–4 week baseline followed by a 5–7 week sleep extension period. Subjects obtained as much nocturnal sleep as possible during sleep extension with a minimum goal of 10 h in bed each night. Measures of athletic performance specific to basketball were recorded after every practice including a timed sprint and shooting accuracy. Reaction time, levels of daytime sleepiness, and mood were monitored via the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and Profile of Mood States (POMS), respectively. Results: Total objective nightly sleep time increased during sleep extension compared to baseline by 110.9 ± 79.7 min (P sleep extension (16.2 ± 0.61 sec at baseline vs. 15.5 ± 0.54 sec at end of sleep extension, P sleep extension (P performance after sleep extension indicate that optimal sleep is likely beneficial in reaching peak athletic performance. Citation: Mah CD; Mah KE; Kezirian EJ; Dement WC. The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate basketball players. SLEEP 2011;34(7):943-950. PMID:21731144

The task-to-task communication between computers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin Shuzi; Zhang Bingyun; Zhao Weiren

1992-01-01

The task-to-task communication is used in the Institute of High Energy Physics. The BES (Beijing Spectrometer) uses the communication mode to take some of the BEPC (Beijing Electron Positron Collider) running parameters needed by BES experiments in a periodic time. The authors describe the principle of transparent task-to-task communication and how to use it in BES on-line data acquisition system

Economic modelling for life extension decision making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farber, M.A.; Harrison, D.L.; Carlson, D.D.

1987-01-01

This paper presents a methodology for the economic and financial analysis of nuclear plant life extension under uncertainty and demonstrates its use in a case analysis. While the economic and financial evaluation of life extension does not require new analytical tools, such studies should be based on the following three premises. First, the methodology should examine effects at the level of the company or utility system, because the most important economic implications of life extension relate to the altered generation system expansion plan. Second, it should focus on the implications of uncertainty in order to understand the factors that most affect life extension benefits and identify risk management efforts. Third, the methodology should address multiple objectives, at a minimum, both economic and financial objectives. An analysis of the role of life extension for Virginia Power's generating system was performed using the MIDAS model, developed by the Electric Power Research Institute. MIDAS is particularly well suited to this type of study because of its decision analysis framework. The model incorporates modules for load analysis, capacity expansion, production costing, financial analysis, and rates. The decision tree structure facilitates the multiple-scenario analysis of uncertainty. The model's output includes many economic and financial measures, including capital expenditures, fuel and purchases power costs, revenue requirements, average rates, external financing requirements, and coverage ratio. Based on findings for Virginia Power's Surry 1 plant, nuclear plant life extension has economic benefits for a utility's customers and financial benefits for the utility's investors. These benefits depend on a number of economic, technical and regulatory factors. The economic analysis presented in this paper identifies many of the key factors and issues relevant to life extension planning

The Project for the Extension of the Continental Shelf - the Portuguese experience

Science.gov (United States)

Madureira, Pedro; Ribeiro, Luísa P.; Roque, Cristina; Henriques, Guida; Brandão, Filipe; Dias, Frederico; Simões, Maria; Neves, Mariana; Conceição, Patricia; Botelho Leal, Isabel; Emepc, Equipa

2017-04-01

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the continental shelf is a juridical term used to define a submarine area that extends throughout the natural prolongation of a land territory, where the coastal State exercises sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources. Article 76 provides a methodology for determining the outer edge of the continental margin and to delineate the outer limits of the continental shelf. The task of preparing the Portuguese submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf was committed to the Task Group for the Extension of the Continental Shelf (EMEPC), which formally began its activity in January 2005. At that time, the existing national capacity to conduct such a task was very limited in its hydrographic, geological and geophysical components. A great effort has been made by Portugal to overcome these weaknesses and develop a strategy to submit the proposal for the extension of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles on 11th May of 2009. The execution of the project involved the implementation of several complementary strategies including: 1) intensive bathymetric, geophysical and, locally, geological data acquisition; 2) acquisition/development of new stand-alone and ship mounted equipment; 3) interactions with universities and research institutes, with emphasis in R&D initiatives; 4) creation of critical mass in deep-sea research by promoting advanced studies on: International Law, Geophysics, Geology, Hydrography, Biology, amongst others; 5) promotion of the sea as a major national goal, coupled with an outreach strategy. Until now, more than 1050 days of surveying have resulted in a large scale seafloor mapping using two EM120 and one EM710 multibeam echosounders from Kongsberg mounted on two hydrographic vessels. The surveys follow IHO Order 2 Standard (SP44, 5th Edition) and cover an area over 2.6 million km2. A multichannel reflection

Pointwise second-order necessary optimality conditions and second-order sensitivity relations in optimal control

Science.gov (United States)

Frankowska, Hélène; Hoehener, Daniel

2017-06-01

This paper is devoted to pointwise second-order necessary optimality conditions for the Mayer problem arising in optimal control theory. We first show that with every optimal trajectory it is possible to associate a solution p (ṡ) of the adjoint system (as in the Pontryagin maximum principle) and a matrix solution W (ṡ) of an adjoint matrix differential equation that satisfy a second-order transversality condition and a second-order maximality condition. These conditions seem to be a natural second-order extension of the maximum principle. We then prove a Jacobson like necessary optimality condition for general control systems and measurable optimal controls that may be only ;partially singular; and may take values on the boundary of control constraints. Finally we investigate the second-order sensitivity relations along optimal trajectories involving both p (ṡ) and W (ṡ).

An initial framework for the language of higher-order thinking mathematics practices

Science.gov (United States)

Staples, Megan E.; Truxaw, Mary P.

2012-09-01

This article presents an examination of the language demands of cognitively demanding tasks and proposes an initial framework for the language demands of higher-order mathematics thinking practices. We articulate four categories for this framework: language of generalisation, language of comparison, language of proportional reasoning, and language of analysing impact. These categories were developed out of our collaborative work to design and implement higher-order thinking tasks with a group of Grade 9 (14- and 15-year-olds) teachers teaching in a linguistically diverse setting; analyses of student work samples on these tasks; and our knowledge of the literature. We describe each type of language demand and then analyse student work in each category to reveal linguistic challenges facing students as they engage these mathematical tasks. Implications for teaching and professional development are discussed.

Spatial Processes in Linear Ordering

Science.gov (United States)

von Hecker, Ulrich; Klauer, Karl Christoph; Wolf, Lukas; Fazilat-Pour, Masoud

2016-01-01

Memory performance in linear order reasoning tasks (A > B, B > C, C > D, etc.) shows quicker, and more accurate responses to queries on wider (AD) than narrower (AB) pairs on a hypothetical linear mental model (A -- B -- C -- D). While indicative of an analogue representation, research so far did not provide positive evidence for spatial…

Experiment design for pilot identification in compensatory tracking tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, W. R.

1976-01-01

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

MLNSC instrument design and simulation package, task order 57 (modified). Final report, September 30, 1997

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seeger, P.A.

1997-01-01

The objectives of this task as described in Statement of Work have been met and the documents required as Deliverables have been prepared and submitted to the requester. Specifically, a document titled ''The MCLIB Library: Monte Carlo Simulation of Neutron Scattering Instruments,'' revised September 23, 1997, includes documentation of new standards, code revisions and additions, and some improved efficiency due to improved optimization strategies. The procedures for user implementation of new optical devices, and information on using the package and reading and viewing the output have also been included. Second, a new document entitled ''MCLIB Element Definitions and Help'' was written and revised through the duration of the task, to supply the needed input to group CIC-15 for the purpose of integrating the MCLIB package with a web-based user interface. Finally, an application of the package was presented and a (successful) demonstration of the new user interface was given at a workshop at Argonne National Laboratory, August 24--26, 1997, as described in the modification to the Statement of Work

Ranking Performance Measures in Multi-Task Agencies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Peter Ove; Sabac, Florin; Tian, Joyce

We derive sufficient conditions for ranking performance evaluation systems in multi-task agency models using both optimal and linear contracts in terms of a second-order stochastic dominance (SSD) condition on the likelihood ratios. The SSD condition can be replaced by a variance-covariance matrix...

Computational tasks in robotics and factory automation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Biemans, Frank P.; Vissers, C.A.

1988-01-01

The design of Manufacturing Planning and Control Systems (MPCSs) — systems that negotiate with Customers and Suppliers to exchange products in return for money in order to generate profit, is discussed. The computational task of MPCS components are systematically specified as a starting point for

Task-based optimization of image reconstruction in breast CT

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez, Adrian A.; Sidky, Emil Y.; Pan, Xiaochuan

2014-03-01

We demonstrate a task-based assessment of image quality in dedicated breast CT in order to optimize the number of projection views acquired. The methodology we employ is based on the Hotelling Observer (HO) and its associated metrics. We consider two tasks: the Rayleigh task of discerning between two resolvable objects and a single larger object, and the signal detection task of classifying an image as belonging to either a signalpresent or signal-absent hypothesis. HO SNR values are computed for 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 projection view images, with the total imaging radiation dose held constant. We use the conventional fan-beam FBP algorithm and investigate the effect of varying the width of a Hanning window used in the reconstruction, since this affects both the noise properties of the image and the under-sampling artifacts which can arise in the case of sparse-view acquisitions. Our results demonstrate that fewer projection views should be used in order to increase HO performance, which in this case constitutes an upper-bound on human observer performance. However, the impact on HO SNR of using fewer projection views, each with a higher dose, is not as significant as the impact of employing regularization in the FBP reconstruction through a Hanning filter.

On the functional integration between postural and supra-postural tasks on the basis of contextual cues and task constraint.

Science.gov (United States)

de Lima, Andrea Cristina; de Azevedo Neto, Raymundo Machado; Teixeira, Luis Augusto

2010-10-01

In order to evaluate the effects of uncertainty about direction of mechanical perturbation and supra-postural task constraint on postural control, young adults had their upright stance perturbed while holding a tray in a horizontal position. Stance was perturbed by moving forward or backward a supporting platform, contrasting situations of certainty versus uncertainty of direction of displacement. Increased constraint on postural stability was imposed by a supra-postural task of equilibrating a cylinder on the tray. Performance was assessed through EMG of anterior leg muscles, angular displacement of the main joints involved in the postural reactions and displacement of the tray. Results showed that both certainty on the direction of perturbation and increased supra-postural task constraint led to decreased angular displacement of the knee and the hip. Furthermore, combination of certainty and high supra-postural task constraint produced shorter latency of muscular activation. Such postural responses were paralleled by decreased displacement of the tray. These results suggest a functional integration between the tasks, with central set priming reactive postural responses from contextual cues and increased stability demand. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cloud computing task scheduling strategy based on improved differential evolution algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Junwei; He, Qian; Fang, Yiqiu

2017-04-01

In order to optimize the cloud computing task scheduling scheme, an improved differential evolution algorithm for cloud computing task scheduling is proposed. Firstly, the cloud computing task scheduling model, according to the model of the fitness function, and then used improved optimization calculation of the fitness function of the evolutionary algorithm, according to the evolution of generation of dynamic selection strategy through dynamic mutation strategy to ensure the global and local search ability. The performance test experiment was carried out in the CloudSim simulation platform, the experimental results show that the improved differential evolution algorithm can reduce the cloud computing task execution time and user cost saving, good implementation of the optimal scheduling of cloud computing tasks.

Conditional High-Order Boltzmann Machines for Supervised Relation Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yan; Wang, Wei; Wang, Liang; Tan, Tieniu

2017-09-01

Relation learning is a fundamental problem in many vision tasks. Recently, high-order Boltzmann machine and its variants have shown their great potentials in learning various types of data relation in a range of tasks. But most of these models are learned in an unsupervised way, i.e., without using relation class labels, which are not very discriminative for some challenging tasks, e.g., face verification. In this paper, with the goal to perform supervised relation learning, we introduce relation class labels into conventional high-order multiplicative interactions with pairwise input samples, and propose a conditional high-order Boltzmann Machine (CHBM), which can learn to classify the data relation in a binary classification way. To be able to deal with more complex data relation, we develop two improved variants of CHBM: 1) latent CHBM, which jointly performs relation feature learning and classification, by using a set of latent variables to block the pathway from pairwise input samples to output relation labels and 2) gated CHBM, which untangles factors of variation in data relation, by exploiting a set of latent variables to multiplicatively gate the classification of CHBM. To reduce the large number of model parameters generated by the multiplicative interactions, we approximately factorize high-order parameter tensors into multiple matrices. Then, we develop efficient supervised learning algorithms, by first pretraining the models using joint likelihood to provide good parameter initialization, and then finetuning them using conditional likelihood to enhance the discriminant ability. We apply the proposed models to a series of tasks including invariant recognition, face verification, and action similarity labeling. Experimental results demonstrate that by exploiting supervised relation labels, our models can greatly improve the performance.

Ordered mesoporous silica materials with complicated structures

KAUST Repository

Han, Yu; Zhang, Daliang

2012-01-01

Periodically ordered mesoporous silicas constitute one of the most important branches of porous materials that are extensively employed in various chemical engineering applications including adsorption, separation and catalysis. This short review

Optimal utilization of outages. The tasks of the OEM and/or service provider

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jakobs, Norbert; Grauf, Eberhard

1998-01-01

The deregulation of Europe's power market on January 1, 1999 will force many electric utilities and especially nuclear power plant operators to introduce extensive cost-cutting measures in order that they can hold their own in the new competitive environment. Existing plants basically have three potential ways of reducing their power generating costs: by increasing availability, reducing fuel costs and cutting back operating costs. Optimizing plant outages provides considerable potential for raising plant availability but can also lower operating costs by reducing expenditure on maintenance. In order to optimize an outage in terms of performance time and cost, there are a number of starting points based on certain key factors: organization, planning, logistics, performance monitoring, plant and equipment enhancements as well as personnel motivation. To reach this goal it is necessary for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and/or service provider to be involved in these activities to a much greater extent than before and for a closer form of partnership to be established with the consumer. For it is only within a team having a common set of goals that the successes of the past have been able to be achieved and new tasks can be efficiently handled in the future. (author)

Human factors evaluation of remote afterloading brachytherapy. Volume 2, Function and task analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Callan, J.R.; Gwynne, J.W. III; Kelly, T.T.; Muckler, F.A. [Pacific Science and Engineering Group, San Diego, CA (United States); Saunders, W.M.; Lepage, R.P.; Chin, E. [University of California San Diego Medical Center, CA (United States). Div. of Radiation Oncology; Schoenfeld, I.; Serig, D.I. [Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Systems Technology

1995-05-01

A human factors project on the use of nuclear by-product material to treat cancer using remotely operated afterloaders was undertaken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The purpose of the project was to identify factors that contribute to human error in the system for remote afterloading brachytherapy (RAB). This report documents the findings from the first phase of the project, which involved an extensive function and task analysis of RAB. This analysis identified the functions and tasks in RAB, made preliminary estimates of the likelihood of human error in each task, and determined the skills needed to perform each RAB task. The findings of the function and task analysis served as the foundation for the remainder of the project, which evaluated four major aspects of the RAB system linked to human error: human-system interfaces; procedures and practices; training and qualifications of RAB staff; and organizational practices and policies. At its completion, the project identified and prioritized areas for recommended NRC and industry attention based on all of the evaluations and analyses.

Human factors evaluation of remote afterloading brachytherapy. Volume 2, Function and task analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Callan, J.R.; Gwynne, J.W. III; Kelly, T.T.; Muckler, F.A.; Saunders, W.M.; Lepage, R.P.; Chin, E.; Schoenfeld, I.; Serig, D.I.

1995-05-01

A human factors project on the use of nuclear by-product material to treat cancer using remotely operated afterloaders was undertaken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The purpose of the project was to identify factors that contribute to human error in the system for remote afterloading brachytherapy (RAB). This report documents the findings from the first phase of the project, which involved an extensive function and task analysis of RAB. This analysis identified the functions and tasks in RAB, made preliminary estimates of the likelihood of human error in each task, and determined the skills needed to perform each RAB task. The findings of the function and task analysis served as the foundation for the remainder of the project, which evaluated four major aspects of the RAB system linked to human error: human-system interfaces; procedures and practices; training and qualifications of RAB staff; and organizational practices and policies. At its completion, the project identified and prioritized areas for recommended NRC and industry attention based on all of the evaluations and analyses

Task analysis and support for problem solving tasks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bainbridge, L.

1987-01-01

This paper is concerned with Task Analysis as the basis for ergonomic design to reduce human error rates, rather than for predicting human error rates. Task Analysis techniques usually provide a set of categories for describing sub tasks, and a framework describing the relations between sub-tasks. Both the task type categories and their organisation have implications for optimum interface and training design. In this paper, the framework needed for considering the most complex tasks faced by operators in process industries is discussed such as fault management in unexpected situations, and what is likely to minimise human error in these circumstances. (author)

Mobile Thread Task Manager

Science.gov (United States)

Clement, Bradley J.; Estlin, Tara A.; Bornstein, Benjamin J.

2013-01-01

The Mobile Thread Task Manager (MTTM) is being applied to parallelizing existing flight software to understand the benefits and to develop new techniques and architectural concepts for adapting software to multicore architectures. It allocates and load-balances tasks for a group of threads that migrate across processors to improve cache performance. In order to balance-load across threads, the MTTM augments a basic map-reduce strategy to draw jobs from a global queue. In a multicore processor, memory may be "homed" to the cache of a specific processor and must be accessed from that processor. The MTTB architecture wraps access to data with thread management to move threads to the home processor for that data so that the computation follows the data in an attempt to avoid L2 cache misses. Cache homing is also handled by a memory manager that translates identifiers to processor IDs where the data will be homed (according to rules defined by the user). The user can also specify the number of threads and processors separately, which is important for tuning performance for different patterns of computation and memory access. MTTM efficiently processes tasks in parallel on a multiprocessor computer. It also provides an interface to make it easier to adapt existing software to a multiprocessor environment.

A framework for cognitive task analysis in systems design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasmussen, J.

1985-08-01

The present rapid development if advanced information technology and its use for support of operators of complex technical systems are changing the content of task analysis towards the analysis of mental activities in decision making. Automation removes the humans from routine tasks, and operators are left with disturbance control and critical diagnostic tasks, for which computers are suitable for support, if it is possible to match the computer strategies and interface formats dynamically to the requirements of the current task by means of an analysis of the cognitive task. Such a cognitive task analysis will not aim at a description of the information processes suited for particular control situations. It will rather aim at an analysis in order to identify the requirements to be considered along various dimensions of the decision tasks, in order to give the user - i.e. a decision maker - the freedom to adapt his performance to system requirements in a way which matches his process resources and subjective preferences. To serve this purpose, a number of analyses at various levels are needed to relate the control requirements of the system to the information processes and to the processing resources offered by computers and humans. The paper discusses the cognitive task analysis in terms of the following domains: The problem domain, which is a representation of the functional properties of the system giving a consistent framework for identification of the control requirements of the system; the decision sequences required for typical situations; the mental strategies and heuristics which are effective and acceptable for the different decision functions; and the cognitive control mechanisms used, depending upon the level of skill which can/will be applied. Finally, the end-users' criteria for choice of mental strategies in the actual situation are considered, and the need for development of criteria for judging the ultimate user acceptance of computer support is

Perceived control in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) - Enhanced video-task performance

Science.gov (United States)

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

1991-01-01

This investigation was designed to determine whether perceived control effects found in humans extend to rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) tested in a video-task format, using a computer-generated menu program, SELECT. Choosing one of the options in SELECT resulted in presentation of five trials of a corresponding task and subsequent return to the menu. In Experiments 1-3, the animals exhibited stable, meaningful response patterns in this task (i.e., they made choices). In Experiment 4, performance on tasks that were selected by the animals significantly exceeded performance on identical tasks when assigned by the experimenter under comparable conditions (e.g., time of day, order, variety). The reliable and significant advantage for performance on selected tasks, typically found in humans, suggests that rhesus monkeys were able to perceive the availability of choices.

The Reduction of Directed Cyclic Graph for Task Assignment Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ariffin W.N.M.

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a directed cyclic graph (DCG is proposed as the task graph. It is undesirable and impossible to complete the task according to the constraints if the cycle exists. Therefore, an effort should be done in order to eliminate the cycle to obtain a directed acyclic graph (DAG, so that the minimum amount of time required for the entire task can be found. The technique of reducing the complexity of the directed cyclic graph to a directed acyclic graph by reversing the orientation of the path is the main contribution of this study. The algorithm was coded using Java programming and consistently produced good assignment and task schedule.

Task effects on BOLD signal correlates of implicit syntactic processing

Science.gov (United States)

Caplan, David

2010-01-01

BOLD signal was measured in sixteen participants who made timed font change detection judgments in visually presented sentences that varied in syntactic structure and the order of animate and inanimate nouns. Behavioral data indicated that sentences were processed to the level of syntactic structure. BOLD signal increased in visual association areas bilaterally and left supramarginal gyrus in the contrast of sentences with object- and subject-extracted relative clauses without font changes in which the animacy order of the nouns biased against the syntactically determined meaning of the sentence. This result differs from the findings in a non-word detection task (Caplan et al, 2008a), in which the same contrast led to increased BOLD signal in the left inferior frontal gyrus. The difference in areas of activation indicates that the sentences were processed differently in the two tasks. These differences were further explored in an eye tracking study using the materials in the two tasks. Issues pertaining to how parsing and interpretive operations are affected by a task that is being performed, and how this might affect BOLD signal correlates of syntactic contrasts, are discussed. PMID:20671983

A shared representation of order between encoding and recognition in visual short-term memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalm, Kristjan; Norris, Dennis

2017-07-15

Many complex tasks require people to bind individual events into a sequence that can be held in short term memory (STM). For this purpose information about the order of the individual events in the sequence needs to be maintained in an active and accessible form in STM over a period of few seconds. Here we investigated how the temporal order information is shared between the presentation and response phases of an STM task. We trained a classification algorithm on the fMRI activity patterns from the presentation phase of the STM task to predict the order of the items during the subsequent recognition phase. While voxels in a number of brain regions represented positional information during either presentation and recognition phases, only voxels in the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) represented position consistently across task phases. A shared positional code in the ATL might reflect verbal recoding of visual sequences to facilitate the maintenance of order information over several seconds. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Psychophysical Investigation of Differences between Synchrony and Temporal Order Judgments

Science.gov (United States)

Love, Scott A.; Petrini, Karin; Cheng, Adam; Pollick, Frank E.

2013-01-01

Background Synchrony judgments involve deciding whether cues to an event are in synch or out of synch, while temporal order judgments involve deciding which of the cues came first. When the cues come from different sensory modalities these judgments can be used to investigate multisensory integration in the temporal domain. However, evidence indicates that that these two tasks should not be used interchangeably as it is unlikely that they measure the same perceptual mechanism. The current experiment further explores this issue across a variety of different audiovisual stimulus types. Methodology/Principal Findings Participants were presented with 5 audiovisual stimulus types, each at 11 parametrically manipulated levels of cue asynchrony. During separate blocks, participants had to make synchrony judgments or temporal order judgments. For some stimulus types many participants were unable to successfully make temporal order judgments, but they were able to make synchrony judgments. The mean points of subjective simultaneity for synchrony judgments were all video-leading, while those for temporal order judgments were all audio-leading. In the within participants analyses no correlation was found across the two tasks for either the point of subjective simultaneity or the temporal integration window. Conclusions Stimulus type influenced how the two tasks differed; nevertheless, consistent differences were found between the two tasks regardless of stimulus type. Therefore, in line with previous work, we conclude that synchrony and temporal order judgments are supported by different perceptual mechanisms and should not be interpreted as being representative of the same perceptual process. PMID:23349971

A psychophysical investigation of differences between synchrony and temporal order judgments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott A Love

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Synchrony judgments involve deciding whether cues to an event are in synch or out of synch, while temporal order judgments involve deciding which of the cues came first. When the cues come from different sensory modalities these judgments can be used to investigate multisensory integration in the temporal domain. However, evidence indicates that that these two tasks should not be used interchangeably as it is unlikely that they measure the same perceptual mechanism. The current experiment further explores this issue across a variety of different audiovisual stimulus types. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Participants were presented with 5 audiovisual stimulus types, each at 11 parametrically manipulated levels of cue asynchrony. During separate blocks, participants had to make synchrony judgments or temporal order judgments. For some stimulus types many participants were unable to successfully make temporal order judgments, but they were able to make synchrony judgments. The mean points of subjective simultaneity for synchrony judgments were all video-leading, while those for temporal order judgments were all audio-leading. In the within participants analyses no correlation was found across the two tasks for either the point of subjective simultaneity or the temporal integration window. CONCLUSIONS: Stimulus type influenced how the two tasks differed; nevertheless, consistent differences were found between the two tasks regardless of stimulus type. Therefore, in line with previous work, we conclude that synchrony and temporal order judgments are supported by different perceptual mechanisms and should not be interpreted as being representative of the same perceptual process.

Testing hypotheses in order

OpenAIRE

Paul R. Rosenbaum

2008-01-01

In certain circumstances, one wishes to test one hypothesis only if certain other hypotheses have been rejected. This ordering of hypotheses simplifies the task of controlling the probability of rejecting any true hypothesis. In an example from an observational study, a treated group is shown to be further from both of two control groups than the two control groups are from each other. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.

A General Cross-Layer Cloud Scheduling Framework for Multiple IoT Computer Tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Guanlin; Bao, Weidong; Zhu, Xiaomin; Zhang, Xiongtao

2018-05-23

The diversity of IoT services and applications brings enormous challenges to improving the performance of multiple computer tasks' scheduling in cross-layer cloud computing systems. Unfortunately, the commonly-employed frameworks fail to adapt to the new patterns on the cross-layer cloud. To solve this issue, we design a new computer task scheduling framework for multiple IoT services in cross-layer cloud computing systems. Specifically, we first analyze the features of the cross-layer cloud and computer tasks. Then, we design the scheduling framework based on the analysis and present detailed models to illustrate the procedures of using the framework. With the proposed framework, the IoT services deployed in cross-layer cloud computing systems can dynamically select suitable algorithms and use resources more effectively to finish computer tasks with different objectives. Finally, the algorithms are given based on the framework, and extensive experiments are also given to validate its effectiveness, as well as its superiority.

Generic cognitive adaptations to task interference in task switching

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poljac, E.; Bekkering, H.

2009-01-01

The present study investigated how the activation of previous tasks interferes with the execution of future tasks as a result of temporal manipulations. Color and shape matching tasks were organized in runs of two trials each. The tasks were specified by a cue presented before a task run, cueing

Task distribution mechanism for effective collaboration in virtual environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khalid, S.; Ullah, S.; Alam, A.

2016-01-01

Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) are computer generated worlds where two or more users can simultaneously interact with synthetic objects to perform a task. User performance is one of the main issues caused by either loose coordination, less awareness or communication among collaborating users. In this paper, a new model for task distribution is proposed, in which task distribution strategy among multiple users in CVEs is defined. The model assigns the task to collaborating users in CVEs either on static or dynamic basis. In static distribution there exists loose dependency and requires less communication during task realization whereas in dynamic distribution users are more dependent on each other and thus require more communication. In order to study the effect of static and dynamic task distribution strategies on user's performance in CVEs, a collaborative virtual environment is developed where twenty four (24) teams (each consists of two users) perform a task in collaboration under both strategies (static and dynamic). Results reveal that static distribution is more effective and increases users performance in CVEs. The outcome of this work will help the development of effective CVEs in the field of virtual assembly, repair, education and entertainment. (author)

Robot Learning from Demonstration: A Task-level Planning Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Staffan Ekvall

2008-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we deal with the problem of learning by demonstration, task level learning and planning for robotic applications that involve object manipulation. Preprogramming robots for execution of complex domestic tasks such as setting a dinner table is of little use, since the same order of subtasks may not be conceivable in the run time due to the changed state of the world. In our approach, we aim to learn the goal of the task and use a task planner to reach the goal given different initial states of the world. For some tasks, there are underlying constraints that must be fulfille, and knowing just the final goal is not sufficient. We propose two techniques for constraint identification. In the first case, the teacher can directly instruct the system about the underlying constraints. In the second case, the constraints are identified by the robot itself based on multiple observations. The constraints are then considered in the planning phase, allowing the task to be executed without violating any of them. We evaluate our work on a real robot performing pick-and-place tasks.

Muscle Activation Pattern during Selected Functional Task in Shoulder Impingement Syndrome vs. Normal Subjects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehrnaz Kajbaf-Vala

2009-10-01

Conclusion: Changes in muscle recruitment pattern are task dependent that this may be due to direction of movement and axial compression loading in subacromial space. Among all selected exercises in D2E (Diagonal 2 Extension minimum changes and in tripod maximum changes (in time domain were seen.

Ionic Liquids for Absorption and Separation of Gases: An Extensive Database and a Systematic Screening Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhao, Yongsheng; Gani, Rafiqul; Afzal, Raja Muhammad

2017-01-01

requirements remains a challenging task. In this study, an extensive database of estimated Henry's law constants of twelve gases in more than ten thousand ILs at 313.15 K is established using the COSMO-RS method. Based on the database, a new systematic and efficient screening method for IL selection...

Baccalaureate nursing education at extension sites: a survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiffany, J C; Burson, J Z

1986-03-01

The use of extension sites in baccalaureate nursing education has increased significantly since 1978. This survey found that the majority of extension sites were developed for RNs although large numbers of generic students are also served. The use of extension sites ranges from delivering selected courses away from the lead campus to delivering an entire program. Extension sites may be located on other university campuses or may be found in a store front setting or other community agency. Administrative control of extension sites emanates from the lead campus. Faculty participation in faculty activities, such as school of nursing or university committees, is expected. The degree to which this is accomplished, however, may vary. In order to maintain program integrity, the curriculum must remain the same regardless of where it is implemented. One of the primary ways of doing this is to use the same syllabi, texts and, in many cases, the same exams. Faculty may be stationary at established extended sites or may travel from the lead campus to teach, carrying with them educational materials. Extension sites are a phenomenon of the here and now. They provide a way of delivering baccalaureate nursing education to students who might otherwise be denied this level of education. Extension sites may be operationally cumbersome, challenging, and costly, but they are meeting a need. With the advent of more sophisticated telecommunications and the continued demand for baccalaureate level education, the possibility exists for even greater variation and potential for this type of program.

Using Performance Task Data to Improve Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Abbott, Amy L.; Wren, Douglas G.

2016-01-01

Two well-accepted ideas among educators are (a) performance assessment is an effective means of assessing higher-order thinking skills and (b) data-driven instruction planning is a valuable tool for optimizing student learning. This article describes a locally developed performance task (LDPT) designed to measure critical thinking, problem…

A dual-task investigation of automaticity in visual word processing

Science.gov (United States)

McCann, R. S.; Remington, R. W.; Van Selst, M.

2000-01-01

An analysis of activation models of visual word processing suggests that frequency-sensitive forms of lexical processing should proceed normally while unattended. This hypothesis was tested by having participants perform a speeded pitch discrimination task followed by lexical decisions or word naming. As the stimulus onset asynchrony between the tasks was reduced, lexical-decision and naming latencies increased dramatically. Word-frequency effects were additive with the increase, indicating that frequency-sensitive processing was subject to postponement while attention was devoted to the other task. Either (a) the same neural hardware shares responsibility for lexical processing and central stages of choice reaction time task processing and cannot perform both computations simultaneously, or (b) lexical processing is blocked in order to optimize performance on the pitch discrimination task. Either way, word processing is not as automatic as activation models suggest.

Memory Asymmetry of Forward and Backward Associations in Recognition Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jiongjiong; Zhu, Zijian; Mecklinger, Axel; Fang, Zhiyong; Li, Han

2013-01-01

There is an intensive debate on whether memory for serial order is symmetric. The objective of this study was to explore whether associative asymmetry is modulated by memory task (recognition vs. cued recall). Participants were asked to memorize word triples (Experiment 1–2) or pairs (Experiment 3–6) during the study phase. They then recalled the word by a cue during a cued recall task (Experiment 1–4), and judged whether the presented two words were in the same or in a different order compared to the study phase during a recognition task (Experiment 1–6). To control for perceptual matching between the study and test phase, participants were presented with vertical test pairs when they made directional judgment in Experiment 5. In Experiment 6, participants also made associative recognition judgments for word pairs presented at the same or the reversed position. The results showed that forward associations were recalled at similar levels as backward associations, and that the correlations between forward and backward associations were high in the cued recall tasks. On the other hand, the direction of forward associations was recognized more accurately (and more quickly) than backward associations, and their correlations were comparable to the control condition in the recognition tasks. This forward advantage was also obtained for the associative recognition task. Diminishing positional information did not change the pattern of associative asymmetry. These results suggest that associative asymmetry is modulated by cued recall and recognition manipulations, and that direction as a constituent part of a memory trace can facilitate associative memory. PMID:22924326

Task Switching in a Hierarchical Task Structure: Evidence for the Fragility of the Task Repetition Benefit

Science.gov (United States)

Lien, Mei-Ching; Ruthruff, Eric

2004-01-01

This study examined how task switching is affected by hierarchical task organization. Traditional task-switching studies, which use a constant temporal and spatial distance between each task element (defined as a stimulus requiring a response), promote a flat task structure. Using this approach, Experiment 1 revealed a large switch cost of 238 ms.…

Fitting model-based psychometric functions to simultaneity and temporal-order judgment data: MATLAB and R routines.

Science.gov (United States)

Alcalá-Quintana, Rocío; García-Pérez, Miguel A

2013-12-01

Research on temporal-order perception uses temporal-order judgment (TOJ) tasks or synchrony judgment (SJ) tasks in their binary SJ2 or ternary SJ3 variants. In all cases, two stimuli are presented with some temporal delay, and observers judge the order of presentation. Arbitrary psychometric functions are typically fitted to obtain performance measures such as sensitivity or the point of subjective simultaneity, but the parameters of these functions are uninterpretable. We describe routines in MATLAB and R that fit model-based functions whose parameters are interpretable in terms of the processes underlying temporal-order and simultaneity judgments and responses. These functions arise from an independent-channels model assuming arrival latencies with exponential distributions and a trichotomous decision space. Different routines fit data separately for SJ2, SJ3, and TOJ tasks, jointly for any two tasks, or also jointly for the three tasks (for common cases in which two or even the three tasks were used with the same stimuli and participants). Additional routines provide bootstrap p-values and confidence intervals for estimated parameters. A further routine is included that obtains performance measures from the fitted functions. An R package for Windows and source code of the MATLAB and R routines are available as Supplementary Files.

CHANGE@CERN:Task Force 1: finding the least painful cuts

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

This week sees the first in our series of reports on the work of the Task Forces By 2004, COMPASS will be the main experiment at the SPS, but the LHC experiments will also be calibrating detectors. 'It was a painful task, with which we had to proceed in the least damaging way', says Dieter Schlatter, Head of the EP Division, when describing his experience as Convenor of Task Force 1. This Task Force was charged with responsibility for advising on how money could be saved within CERN's research programme, in order to help deal with the increased cost to completion of the LHC project. Their role, as with the other Task Forces, was to suggest where savings could be made, and in most cases their suggestions have been incorporated in the Management's draft Long Term Plan. The pain of the task was to some extent alleviated by developments within the LHC project itself. Delays in the delivery of superconducting cable meant that the start up of the LHC would be delayed by a year, to 2007, and this gave Task Force ...

Downward Price-Based Brand Line Extensions Effects on Luxury Brands

OpenAIRE

Royo-Vela, Marcelo; Voss, Eileen

2015-01-01

This study tries to examine the brand concept consistency, the self-concept congruence and the resulting loyalty status of the consumers in order to evaluate whether a downward price-based line extensions in the luxury goods market has any negative or positive effect on them. By conducting focus group and in-depth interviews it was tried to filter out how brand concepts of luxury brands are perceived before and after a line extension. Results revealed that a crucial aspect for the evaluation ...

Higher-order harmonics of general limited diffraction Bessel beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding De-Sheng; Huang Jin-Huang

2016-01-01

In this paper, we extensively study the higher-order harmonic generation of the general limited diffraction m -th-order Bessel beam. The analysis is based on successive approximations of the Khokhlov–Zabolotskaya–Kuznetsov (KZK) equation. Asymptotic expansions are presented for higher-order harmonic Bessel beams in near and far fields. The validity of asymptotic approximation is also analyzed. The higher-order harmonic of the Bessel beam with the lowest zero-order is taken as a special example. (special topic)

Written Corrective Feedback in IELTS Writing Task 2: Teachers' Priorities, Practices, and Beliefs

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, William S.

2018-01-01

Teacher corrective feedback is widely recognised as integral in supporting developing L2 writers. The potentially high pressure IELTS test preparation classroom presents a context where feedback has not yet been extensively studied. Consequently, teachers' approaches to corrective feedback on Writing Task 2, the essay component of IELTS Writing,…

Diffusion in ordered binary solid systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stolwijk, N.A.

1980-01-01

This thesis contains contributions to the field of diffusion in ordered binary solid systems. An extensive experimental investigation of the self diffusion in CoGa is presented. The results of these diffusion measurements strongly suggest that a substantial part of the atomic migration is caused by a new type of defect. A quantitative description of the atomic displacements via this defect is given. Finally computer simulations are presented of diffusion and ordering in binary solid systems. (Auth.)

An initial test of a normative Figure Of Merit for the quality of overall task performance

Science.gov (United States)

Lemay, Moira; Comstock, J. R., Jr.

1990-01-01

An overall indicator, or Figure Of Merit (FOM), of the quality of crew/vehicle system performance is needed to establish the effect of workload on efficiency and to identify overload conditions. A normative FOM is proposed in which performance is measured on a representative task and a normative data base obtained. FOMs for subsequent executions of the task are then reported in terms of weighted deviations from average task performance. Performance of discrete tasks is measured primarily in terms of subtask time and errors. Discrete task performance is then combined with a measure of continuous vehicle control. In order to test the normative FOM procedure, the technique was applied to an existing set of data from a simulated landing task in which standard communications with ATC was compared with a data link communications system. The results indicated that while mean task performance was not affected, task variability, as measured by the FOM, was significantly higher when data link communications were used. In order to establish the sensitivity of the normative FOM method, further testing of the measure is recommended.

Intelligence related upper alpha desynchronization in a semantic memory task.

Science.gov (United States)

Doppelmayr, M; Klimesch, W; Hödlmoser, K; Sauseng, P; Gruber, W

2005-07-30

Recent evidence shows that event-related (upper) alpha desynchronization (ERD) is related to cognitive performance. Several studies observed a positive, some a negative relationship. The latter finding, interpreted in terms of the neural efficiency hypothesis, suggests that good performance is associated with a more 'efficient', smaller extent of cortical activation. Other studies found that ERD increases with semantic processing demands and that this increase is larger for good performers. Studies supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis used tasks that do not specifically require semantic processing. Thus, we assume that the lack of semantic processing demands may at least in part be responsible for the reduced ERD. In the present study we measured ERD during a difficult verbal-semantic task. The findings demonstrate that during semantic processing, more intelligent (as compared to less intelligent) subjects exhibited a significantly larger upper alpha ERD over the left hemisphere. We conclude that more intelligent subjects exhibit a more extensive activation in a semantic processing system and suggest that divergent findings regarding the neural efficiency hypotheses are due to task specific differences in semantic processing demands.

Complete Normal Ordering 1: Foundations

CERN Document Server

Ellis, John; Skliros, Dimitri P.

2016-01-01

We introduce a new prescription for quantising scalar field theories perturbatively around a true minimum of the full quantum effective action, which is to `complete normal order' the bare action of interest. When the true vacuum of the theory is located at zero field value, the key property of this prescription is the automatic cancellation, to any finite order in perturbation theory, of all tadpole and, more generally, all `cephalopod' Feynman diagrams. The latter are connected diagrams that can be disconnected into two pieces by cutting one internal vertex, with either one or both pieces free from external lines. In addition, this procedure of `complete normal ordering' (which is an extension of the standard field theory definition of normal ordering) reduces by a substantial factor the number of Feynman diagrams to be calculated at any given loop order. We illustrate explicitly the complete normal ordering procedure and the cancellation of cephalopod diagrams in scalar field theories with non-derivative i...

Multi-task learning with group information for human action recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Li; Wu, Song; Pu, Nan; Xu, Shulin; Xiao, Guoqiang

2018-04-01

Human action recognition is an important and challenging task in computer vision research, due to the variations in human motion performance, interpersonal differences and recording settings. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-task learning framework with group information (MTL-GI) for accurate and efficient human action recognition. Specifically, we firstly obtain group information through calculating the mutual information according to the latent relationship between Gaussian components and action categories, and clustering similar action categories into the same group by affinity propagation clustering. Additionally, in order to explore the relationships of related tasks, we incorporate group information into multi-task learning. Experimental results evaluated on two popular benchmarks (UCF50 and HMDB51 datasets) demonstrate the superiority of our proposed MTL-GI framework.

Task analysis: a detailed example of stepping up from JSA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banks, W.W.; Paramore, B.A.; Buys, J.R.

1984-10-01

This paper discusses a pilot task analysis of operations in a proposed facility for the cutting and packaging of radioactively contaminated gloveboxes, for long-term storage or burial. The objective was to demonstrate how task analysis may be used as a tool for planning and risk management. Two specific products were generated - preliminary operating procedures and training requirements. The task data base, procedures list and training requirements developed were intended as first order categorizations. The analysis was limited to tasks that will be performed within the boundaries of the operational facility and the associated load-out area. The analysis documents tasks to be performed by D and D (Decontamination and Decommissioning) Workers. However, the analysis included all tasks identified as an integral part of glovebox processing within the facility. Thus tasks involving Radiation Protection Technicians (RPTs) are included. Based on hazard assessments, it is planned that at least two RPTs will be assigned full-time to the facility, so they may be considered part of its crew. Similarly, supervisory/administrative tasks are included where they were determined to be directly part of process sequences, such as obtaining appropriate certification. 11 tables

Task-set inertia and memory-consolidation bottleneck in dual tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Iring; Rumiati, Raffaella I

2006-11-01

Three dual-task experiments examined the influence of processing a briefly presented visual object for deferred verbal report on performance in an unrelated auditory-manual reaction time (RT) task. RT was increased at short stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs) relative to long SOAs, showing that memory consolidation processes can produce a functional processing bottleneck in dual-task performance. In addition, the experiments manipulated the spatial compatibility of the orientation of the visual object and the side of the speeded manual response. This cross-task compatibility produced relative RT benefits only when the instruction for the visual task emphasized overlap at the level of response codes across the task sets (Experiment 1). However, once the effective task set was in place, it continued to produce cross-task compatibility effects even in single-task situations ("ignore" trials in Experiment 2) and when instructions for the visual task did not explicitly require spatial coding of object orientation (Experiment 3). Taken together, the data suggest a considerable degree of task-set inertia in dual-task performance, which is also reinforced by finding costs of switching task sequences (e.g., AC --> BC vs. BC --> BC) in Experiment 3.

Auditory temporal-order processing of vowel sequences by young and elderly listeners.

Science.gov (United States)

Fogerty, Daniel; Humes, Larry E; Kewley-Port, Diane

2010-04-01

This project focused on the individual differences underlying observed variability in temporal processing among older listeners. Four measures of vowel temporal-order identification were completed by young (N=35; 18-31 years) and older (N=151; 60-88 years) listeners. Experiments used forced-choice, constant-stimuli methods to determine the smallest stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between brief (40 or 70 ms) vowels that enabled identification of a stimulus sequence. Four words (pit, pet, pot, and put) spoken by a male talker were processed to serve as vowel stimuli. All listeners identified the vowels in isolation with better than 90% accuracy. Vowel temporal-order tasks included the following: (1) monaural two-item identification, (2) monaural four-item identification, (3) dichotic two-item vowel identification, and (4) dichotic two-item ear identification. Results indicated that older listeners had more variability and performed poorer than young listeners on vowel-identification tasks, although a large overlap in distributions was observed. Both age groups performed similarly on the dichotic ear-identification task. For both groups, the monaural four-item and dichotic two-item tasks were significantly harder than the monaural two-item task. Older listeners' SOA thresholds improved with additional stimulus exposure and shorter dichotic stimulus durations. Individual differences of temporal-order performance among the older listeners demonstrated the influence of cognitive measures, but not audibility or age.

On Separation Axioms in an Ordered Neutrosophic Bitopological Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Narmada Devi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper we introduce the concept of a new class of an ordered neutrosophic bitopological spaces. Besides giving some interesting properties of these spaces. We also prove analogues of Uryshon’s lemma and Tietze extension theorem in an ordered neutrosophic bitopological spaces.

Classroom Interactions in a Cooperative Translation Task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui chuan Wang

2013-03-01

Full Text Available For the past decade, translation learning has become one of the main foci for university language students in Taiwan. However, many studies have shown that translation teachers tend to adopt traditional teaching methods without considering class dynamics and student interactions. This paper therefore looks into the interactions in the researcher’s designed cooperative translation task, the Cooperative Translation Task, to see how these interactions helped or hindered students’ translation learning. A small class of 25 translation students and two translation teachers were participants. Videotaping and interviews were conducted in order to investigate the interaction modes and student participants’ perspectives toward each interaction mode. Six interaction modes were found in this task: within group, between group, translator group and comment-giver group, instructor and students, guest teacher and students, and instructor and guest teacher. Based on the results and participants’ responses, suggested teaching guidelines are provided.

Task Manager: an innovative approach to improving hospital communication after hours.

Science.gov (United States)

Seddon, Mary E; Hay, David

2010-10-15

To improve communication between doctors and nurses after hours, by developing a tool to display ward tasks, allowing staff to prioritise their work, without constant interruption from pagers (beepers). Middlemore Hospital, a large metropolitan 800-bed hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. Introduction of computerised system (Task Manager) to identify, allocate and complete after-hours tasks. In the first 6 months 21,000 tasks have been completed in Task Manager. Paging of junior doctors has decreased by over 30% and there is broad acceptance of the tool by both nursing and medical staff. Task Manager has collected real-time data on the type of after hours tasks (nearly 50% are phlebotomy-related tasks), busy times of the day (1600 hours to 2400 hours) and who is performing most of the tasks. Task Manager is a simple yet powerful tool for prioritising routine tasks after hours. It allows staff to quickly create tasks, and communicate effectively with other members of the team. It has reduced the frequency of junior doctors paging so that they can continue their work with fewer interruptions. Whilst it was introduced to improve effective communication after hours, it has become apparent that there are multiple 'tasks' that are ordered in a multitude of ways in our hospital and many could be served by Task Manager.

An influence of extremal edges on boundary extension.

Science.gov (United States)

Hale, Ralph G; Brown, James M; McDunn, Benjamin A; Siddiqui, Aisha P

2015-08-01

Studies have shown that people consistently remember seeing more of a studied scene than was physically present (e.g., Intraub & Richardson Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15, 179-187, 1989). This scene memory error, known as boundary extension, has been suggested to occur due to an observer's failure to differentiate between the contributing sources of information, including the sensory input, amodal continuation beyond the view boundaries, and contextual associations with the main objects and depicted scene locations (Intraub, 2010). Here, "scenes" made of abstract shapes on random-dot backgrounds, previously shown to elicit boundary extension (McDunn, Siddiqui, & Brown Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21, 370-375, 2014), were compared with versions made with extremal edges (Palmer & Ghose Psychological Science, 19, 77-84, 2008) added to their borders, in order to examine how boundary extension is influenced when amodal continuation at the borders' view boundaries is manipulated in this way. Extremal edges were expected to reduce boundary extension as compared to the same scenes without them, because extremal edge boundaries explicitly indicate an image's end (i.e., they do not continue past the view boundary). A large and a small difference (16 % and 40 %) between the close and wide-angle views shown during the experiment were tested to examine the effects of both boundary extension and normalization with and without extremal edges. Images without extremal edges elicited typical boundary extension for the 16 % size change condition, whereas the 40 % condition showed signs of normalization. With extremal edges, a reduced amount of boundary extension occurred for the 16 % condition, and only normalization was found for the 40 % condition. Our findings support and highlight the importance of amodal continuation at the view boundaries as a component of boundary extension.

Analysis of the resolution processes of three modeling tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cèsar Gallart Palau

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present a comparative analysis of the resolution process of three modeling tasks performed by secondary education students (13-14 years, designed from three different points of view: The Modelling-eliciting Activities, the LEMA project, and the Realistic Mathematical Problems. The purpose of this analysis is to obtain a methodological characterization of them in order to provide to secondary education teachers a proper selection and sequencing of tasks for their implementation in the classroom.

Objectives and tasks for sub-group B: Plutonium management and recycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-01-01

The paper restates the prime objectives of Working Group 4 and explains that in order to accomplish their objectives two sub-groups (A and B) have been established. The Co-Chairmen suggested that sub group B take as their terms of reference those tasks remitted to them by Working Group 4 as a whole. The paper identifies and comments on 11 tasks into which the work of the sub-group is divided. The paper also includes a number of annexes giving the guidelines for data input to each task

An Analytical Reverse Engineering of IELTS Listening Tasks for a Construct Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masood Khalili Sabet

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The study reported here was concerned with the issue of reverse engineering of language test items as it relates to the identification of the language constructs underlying listening tasks of LELTS test. In this regard, the IELTS examination papers, from IELTS 1 to IELTS 10 were compiled as a corpus for the analysis. Tasks were analyzed using a taxonomic frame work adopted from Moore, Morton and price (2012, that was originally adapted from Weir and Urquhart (1998, with a focus on two dimensions of difference: level of engagement, referring to the level of text with which a listener required to engage in order to respond to a task (local vs. global; type of engagement referring to the way (or ways  listeners expected to engage with a text in order to process the material to respond to a task (literal vs. interpretative. Overall, the analysis found evidences of bottom up processing underlying most IELTS listening tasks. The majority of tasks were identified to have a ‘local-literal’ configuration on their orientation, demanding primarily a basic understanding of relatively small textual units of the material. The results of the study were used to suggest the practical implications for the four groups of the people involved in the IELTS educational contexts: participants; teachers; material preparation experts, and curriculum designers.

Effects of knee extension constraint training on knee flexion angle and peak impact ground-reaction force.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hui; Wu, Will; Yao, Wanxiang; Spang, Jeffrey T; Creighton, R Alexander; Garrett, William E; Yu, Bing

2014-04-01

Low compliance with training programs is likely to be one of the major reasons for inconsistency of the data regarding the effectiveness of current anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prevention programs. Training methods that reduce training time and cost could favorably influence the effectiveness of ACL injury prevention programs. A newly designed knee extension constraint training device may serve this purpose. (1) Knee extension constraint training for 4 weeks would significantly increase the knee flexion angle at the time of peak impact posterior ground-reaction force and decrease peak impact ground-reaction forces during landing of a stop-jump task and a side-cutting task, and (2) the training effects would be retained 4 weeks after completion of the training program. Controlled laboratory study. Twenty-four recreational athletes were randomly assigned to group A or B. Participants in group A played sports without wearing a knee extension constraint device for 4 weeks and then played sports while wearing the device for 4 weeks, while participants in group B underwent a reversed protocol. Both groups were tested at the beginning of week 1 and at the ends of weeks 4 and 8 without wearing the device. Knee joint angles were obtained from 3-dimensional videographic data, while ground-reaction forces were measured simultaneously using force plates. Analyses of variance were performed to determine the training effects and the retention of training effects. Participants in group A significantly increased knee flexion angles and decreased ground-reaction forces at the end of week 8 (P ≤ .012). Participants in group B significantly increased knee flexion angles and decreased ground-reaction forces at the ends of weeks 4 and 8 (P ≤ .007). However, participants in group B decreased knee flexion angles and increased ground-reaction forces at the end of week 8 in comparison with the end of week 4 (P ≤ .009). Knee extension constraint training for 4 weeks

Correction to the crack extension direction in numerical modelling of mixed mode crack paths

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lucht, Tore; Aliabadi, M.H.

2007-01-01

In order to avoid introduction of an error when a local crack-growth criterion is used in an incremental crack growth formulation, each straight crack extension would have to be infinitesimal or have its direction corrected. In this paper a new procedure to correct the crack extension direction...

75 FR 15678 - Certain Purified Carboxymethylcellulose from the Netherlands: Extension of Time Limit for...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-30

... Carboxymethylcellulose from the Netherlands: Extension of Time Limit for Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty...) from the Netherlands. The period of review is July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009. This extension is... of the antidumping duty order on purified CMC from the Netherlands. See Initiation of Antidumping and...

Combining environment-driven adaptation and task-driven optimisation in evolutionary robotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Haasdijk, Evert; Bredeche, Nicolas; Eiben, A E

2014-01-01

Embodied evolutionary robotics is a sub-field of evolutionary robotics that employs evolutionary algorithms on the robotic hardware itself, during the operational period, i.e., in an on-line fashion. This enables robotic systems that continuously adapt, and are therefore capable of (re-)adjusting themselves to previously unknown or dynamically changing conditions autonomously, without human oversight. This paper addresses one of the major challenges that such systems face, viz. that the robots must satisfy two sets of requirements. Firstly, they must continue to operate reliably in their environment (viability), and secondly they must competently perform user-specified tasks (usefulness). The solution we propose exploits the fact that evolutionary methods have two basic selection mechanisms-survivor selection and parent selection. This allows evolution to tackle the two sets of requirements separately: survivor selection is driven by the environment and parent selection is based on task-performance. This idea is elaborated in the Multi-Objective aNd open-Ended Evolution (monee) framework, which we experimentally validate. Experiments with robotic swarms of 100 simulated e-pucks show that monee does indeed promote task-driven behaviour without compromising environmental adaptation. We also investigate an extension of the parent selection process with a 'market mechanism' that can ensure equitable distribution of effort over multiple tasks, a particularly pressing issue if the environment promotes specialisation in single tasks.

Combining environment-driven adaptation and task-driven optimisation in evolutionary robotics.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evert Haasdijk

Full Text Available Embodied evolutionary robotics is a sub-field of evolutionary robotics that employs evolutionary algorithms on the robotic hardware itself, during the operational period, i.e., in an on-line fashion. This enables robotic systems that continuously adapt, and are therefore capable of (re-adjusting themselves to previously unknown or dynamically changing conditions autonomously, without human oversight. This paper addresses one of the major challenges that such systems face, viz. that the robots must satisfy two sets of requirements. Firstly, they must continue to operate reliably in their environment (viability, and secondly they must competently perform user-specified tasks (usefulness. The solution we propose exploits the fact that evolutionary methods have two basic selection mechanisms-survivor selection and parent selection. This allows evolution to tackle the two sets of requirements separately: survivor selection is driven by the environment and parent selection is based on task-performance. This idea is elaborated in the Multi-Objective aNd open-Ended Evolution (monee framework, which we experimentally validate. Experiments with robotic swarms of 100 simulated e-pucks show that monee does indeed promote task-driven behaviour without compromising environmental adaptation. We also investigate an extension of the parent selection process with a 'market mechanism' that can ensure equitable distribution of effort over multiple tasks, a particularly pressing issue if the environment promotes specialisation in single tasks.

Expressive map design: OGC SLD/SE++ extension for expressive map styles

Science.gov (United States)

Christophe, Sidonie; Duménieu, Bertrand; Masse, Antoine; Hoarau, Charlotte; Ory, Jérémie; Brédif, Mathieu; Lecordix, François; Mellado, Nicolas; Turbet, Jérémie; Loi, Hugo; Hurtut, Thomas; Vanderhaeghe, David; Vergne, Romain; Thollot, Joëlle

2018-05-01

In the context of custom map design, handling more artistic and expressive tools has been identified as a carto-graphic need, in order to design stylized and expressive maps. Based on previous works on style formalization, an approach for specifying the map style has been proposed and experimented for particular use cases. A first step deals with the analysis of inspiration sources, in order to extract `what does make the style of the source', i.e. the salient visual characteristics to be automatically reproduced (textures, spatial arrangements, linear stylization, etc.). In a second step, in order to mimic and generate those visual characteristics, existing and innovative rendering techniques have been implemented in our GIS engine, thus extending the capabilities to generate expressive renderings. Therefore, an extension of the existing cartographic pipeline has been proposed based on the following aspects: 1- extension of the symbolization specifications OGC SLD/SE in order to provide a formalism to specify and reference expressive rendering methods; 2- separate the specification of each rendering method and its parameterization, as metadata. The main contribution has been described in (Christophe et al. 2016). In this paper, we focus firstly on the extension of the cartographic pipeline (SLD++ and metadata) and secondly on map design capabilities which have been experimented on various topographic styles: old cartographic styles (Cassini), artistic styles (watercolor, impressionism, Japanese print), hybrid topographic styles (ortho-imagery & vector data) and finally abstract and photo-realist styles for the geovisualization of costal area. The genericity and interoperability of our approach are promising and have already been tested for 3D visualization.

High-Order Curvilinear Finite Element Methods for Lagrangian Hydrodynamics [High Order Curvilinear Finite Elements for Lagrangian Hydrodynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dobrev, Veselin A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Kolev, Tzanio V. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Rieben, Robert N. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2012-09-20

The numerical approximation of the Euler equations of gas dynamics in a movingLagrangian frame is at the heart of many multiphysics simulation algorithms. Here, we present a general framework for high-order Lagrangian discretization of these compressible shock hydrodynamics equations using curvilinear finite elements. This method is an extension of the approach outlined in [Dobrev et al., Internat. J. Numer. Methods Fluids, 65 (2010), pp. 1295--1310] and can be formulated for any finite dimensional approximation of the kinematic and thermodynamic fields, including generic finite elements on two- and three-dimensional meshes with triangular, quadrilateral, tetrahedral, or hexahedral zones. We discretize the kinematic variables of position and velocity using a continuous high-order basis function expansion of arbitrary polynomial degree which is obtained via a corresponding high-order parametric mapping from a standard reference element. This enables the use of curvilinear zone geometry, higher-order approximations for fields within a zone, and a pointwise definition of mass conservation which we refer to as strong mass conservation. Moreover, we discretize the internal energy using a piecewise discontinuous high-order basis function expansion which is also of arbitrary polynomial degree. This facilitates multimaterial hydrodynamics by treating material properties, such as equations of state and constitutive models, as piecewise discontinuous functions which vary within a zone. To satisfy the Rankine--Hugoniot jump conditions at a shock boundary and generate the appropriate entropy, we introduce a general tensor artificial viscosity which takes advantage of the high-order kinematic and thermodynamic information available in each zone. Finally, we apply a generic high-order time discretization process to the semidiscrete equations to develop the fully discrete numerical algorithm. Our method can be viewed as the high-order generalization of the so-called staggered

Trajectories of Resilience during Dyadic Task Performance among Children Six to Seven Years of Age

Science.gov (United States)

Mykkänen, Arttu; Kronqvist, Eeva-Liisa; Järvelä, Sanna

2013-01-01

The aim of this study is to analyse resilience displayed by young children in dyadic task performance situations. Data were collected by videotaping children (aged six to seven years; N?=?40) during a geometrical task performance. Results describe ways in which children confronted the challenges during task performance, and the order in which the…

Challenges for extension service to render efficient post-transformer ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

LPhidza

viability of farms and some implications for extension support. Data from ... Stock losses due to problem-animals, together with low reproduction performance ... established and maintained to record physical and financial information in order to .... Farm profit is net farm income less the cost of foreign production factors and.

Structural Design of HRA Database using generic task for Quantitative Analysis of Human Performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Seung Hwan; Kim, Yo Chan; Choi, Sun Yeong; Park, Jin Kyun; Jung Won Dea [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

This paper describes a design of generic task based HRA database for quantitative analysis of human performance in order to estimate the number of task conductions. The estimation method to get the total task conduction number using direct counting is not easy to realize and maintain its data collection framework. To resolve this problem, this paper suggests an indirect method and a database structure using generic task that enables to estimate the total number of conduction based on instructions of operating procedures of nuclear power plants. In order to reduce human errors, therefore, all information on the human errors taken by operators in the power plant should be systematically collected and examined in its management. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is carrying out a research to develop a data collection framework to establish a Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) database that could be employed as technical bases to generate human error probabilities (HEPs) and performance shaping factors (PSFs)]. As a result of the study, the essential table schema was designed to the generic task database which stores generic tasks, procedure lists and task tree structures, and other supporting tables. The number of task conduction based on the operating procedures for HEP estimation was enabled through the generic task database and framework. To verify the framework applicability, case study for the simulated experiments was performed and analyzed using graphic user interfaces developed in this study.

Structural Design of HRA Database using generic task for Quantitative Analysis of Human Performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Seung Hwan; Kim, Yo Chan; Choi, Sun Yeong; Park, Jin Kyun; Jung Won Dea

2016-01-01

This paper describes a design of generic task based HRA database for quantitative analysis of human performance in order to estimate the number of task conductions. The estimation method to get the total task conduction number using direct counting is not easy to realize and maintain its data collection framework. To resolve this problem, this paper suggests an indirect method and a database structure using generic task that enables to estimate the total number of conduction based on instructions of operating procedures of nuclear power plants. In order to reduce human errors, therefore, all information on the human errors taken by operators in the power plant should be systematically collected and examined in its management. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is carrying out a research to develop a data collection framework to establish a Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) database that could be employed as technical bases to generate human error probabilities (HEPs) and performance shaping factors (PSFs)]. As a result of the study, the essential table schema was designed to the generic task database which stores generic tasks, procedure lists and task tree structures, and other supporting tables. The number of task conduction based on the operating procedures for HEP estimation was enabled through the generic task database and framework. To verify the framework applicability, case study for the simulated experiments was performed and analyzed using graphic user interfaces developed in this study.

Resource Allocation of Security-Critical Tasks with Statistically Guaranteed Energy Constraint

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jiang, Wei; Jiang, Ke; Ma, Yue

2012-01-01

In this paper, we are interested in resource allocation for energy constrained and security-critical embedded systems. Tasks in such systems need to be successfully executed under certain energy budget and be robust against serious security threatens. Different to former energy minimal scheduling...... energy slack ratio. The proposed algorithm is very efficient in both time and space dimensions, and achieves good solutions. Extensive simulations demonstrate the superiority of our algorithm over other approaches....

The Matrix Element Method at Next-to-Leading Order

OpenAIRE

Campbell, John M.; Giele, Walter T.; Williams, Ciaran

2012-01-01

This paper presents an extension of the matrix element method to next-to-leading order in perturbation theory. To accomplish this we have developed a method to calculate next-to-leading order weights on an event-by-event basis. This allows for the definition of next-to-leading order likelihoods in exactly the same fashion as at leading order, thus extending the matrix element method to next-to-leading order. A welcome by-product of the method is the straightforward and efficient generation of...

Clinical and laboratorial correlation of postoperative hypocalcemia after extensive thyroidectomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio José Gonçalves

Full Text Available The medical records of 84 patients submitted to extensive thyroidectomy from January 1991 to April 1995 were reviewed and the data was analyzed in order to verify a correlation between postoperative laboratories results and physical findings suggestive of hypocalcemia. It was verified that there was hypocalcemia in 51.2 percent of the patients, of which only 18.6 percent presented symptoms. It was concluded that asymptomatic hypocalcemia is frequent in extensive thyroidectomy and a routine screening for serum calcium in the postoperative period following thyroidectomy and calcium reposition must be systematic.

Exploiting Dynamics in robotic arms with repetitive tasks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Plooij, M.C.

2015-01-01

Since the industrial revolution, machines have taken over many tasks from humans, increasing labor productivity and prosperity. In the 20th century, the introduction of robots created a second wave of automation, increasing the labor productivity even further. In order to create a third wave of

Analyzing Web pages visual scanpaths: between and within tasks variability.

Science.gov (United States)

Drusch, Gautier; Bastien, J M Christian

2012-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new method for comparing scanpaths in a bottom-up approach, and a test of the scanpath theory. To do so, we conducted a laboratory experiment in which 113 participants were invited to accomplish a set of tasks on two different websites. For each site, they had to perform two tasks that had to be repeated ounce. The data were analyzed using a procedure similar to the one used by Duchowski et al. [8]. The first step was to automatically identify, then label, AOIs with the mean-shift clustering procedure [19]. Then, scanpaths were compared two by two with a modified version of the string-edit method, which take into account the order of AOIs visualizations [2]. Our results show that scanpaths variability between tasks but within participants seems to be lower than the variability within task for a given participant. In other words participants seem to be more coherent when they perform different tasks, than when they repeat the same tasks. In addition, participants view more of the same AOI when they perform a different task on the same Web page than when they repeated the same task. These results are quite different from what predicts the scanpath theory.

Higher-Order Components for Grid Programming

CERN Document Server

Dünnweber, Jan

2009-01-01

Higher-Order Components were developed within the CoreGRID European Network of Excellence and have become an optional extension of the popular Globus middleware. This book provides the reader with hands-on experience, describing a collection of example applications from various fields of science and engineering, including biology and physics.

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.

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

A National Assistance Extension Program for Metal Casting: a foundation industry. Final report for the period February 16, 1994 through May 15, 1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-09-01

The TRP award was proposed as an umbrella project to build infrastructure and extract lessons about providing extension-enabling services to the metal casting industry through the national network of Manufacturing Technology Center`s (MTC`s). It targeted four discrete task areas required for the MCC to service the contemplated needs of industry, and in which the MCC had secured substantial involvement of partner organizations. Task areas identified included Counter-Gravitational Casting, Synchronous Manufacturing, Technology Deployment, and Facility and Laboratory Improvements. Each of the task areas includes specific subtasks which are described.

Force-field compensation in a manual tracking task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentina Squeri

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This study addresses force/movement control in a dynamic "hybrid" task: the master sub-task is continuous manual tracking of a target moving along an eight-shaped Lissajous figure, with the tracking error as the primary performance index; the slave sub-task is compensation of a disturbing curl viscous field, compatibly with the primary performance index. The two sub-tasks are correlated because the lateral force the subject must exert on the eight-shape must be proportional to the longitudinal movement speed in order to perform a good tracking. The results confirm that visuo-manual tracking is characterized by an intermittent control mechanism, in agreement with previous work; the novel finding is that the overall control patterns are not altered by the presence of a large deviating force field, if compared with the undisturbed condition. It is also found that the control of interaction-forces is achieved by a combination of arm stiffness properties and direct force control, as suggested by the systematic lateral deviation of the trajectories from the nominal path and the comparison between perturbed trials and catch trials. The coordination of the two sub-tasks is quickly learnt after the activation of the deviating force field and is achieved by a combination of force and the stiffness components (about 80% vs. 20%, which is a function of the implicit accuracy of the tracking task.

The neural network involved in a bimanual tactile-tactile matching discrimination task: a functional imaging study at 3 T

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Habas, Christophe; Cabanis, Emmanuel A. [UPMC Paris 6, Service de NeuroImagerie, Hopital des Quinze-Vingts, Paris (France)

2007-08-15

The cerebral and cerebellar network involved in a bimanual object recognition was studied in blood oxygenation dependent level functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Nine healthy right-handed volunteers were scanned (1) while performing bilateral finger movements (nondiscrimination motor task), and (2) while performing a bimanual tactile-tactile matching discrimination task using small chess pieces (tactile discrimination task). Extensive activations were specifically observed in the parietal (SII, superior lateral lobule), insular, prefrontal, cingulate and neocerebellar cortices (HVIII), with a left predominance in motor areas, during the tactile discrimination task in contrast to the findings during the nondiscrimination motor task. Bimanual tactile-tactile matching discrimination recruits multiple sensorimotor and associative cerebral and neocerebellar networks (including the cerebellar second homunculus, HVIII), comparable to the neural circuits involved in unimanual tactile object recognition. (orig.)

Less head motion during MRI under task than resting-state conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Huijbers, Willem; Van Dijk, Koene R A; Boenniger, Meta M; Stirnberg, Rüdiger; Breteler, Monique M B

2017-02-15

Head motion reduces data quality of neuroimaging data. In three functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiments we demonstrate that people make less head movements under task than resting-state conditions. In Experiment 1, we observed less head motion during a memory encoding task than during the resting-state condition. In Experiment 2, using publicly shared data from the UCLA Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics LA5c Study, we again found less head motion during several active task conditions than during a resting-state condition, although some task conditions also showed comparable motion. In the healthy controls, we found more head motion in men than in women and more motion with increasing age. When comparing clinical groups, we found that patients with a clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, move more compared to healthy controls or patients with ADHD. Both these experiments had a fixed acquisition order across participants, and we could not rule out that a first or last scan during a session might be particularly prone to more head motion. Therefore, we conducted Experiment 3, in which we collected several task and resting-state fMRI runs with an acquisition order counter-balanced. The results of Experiment 3 show again less head motion during several task conditions than during rest. Together these experiments demonstrate that small head motions occur during MRI even with careful instruction to remain still and fixation with foam pillows, but that head motion is lower when participants are engaged in a cognitive task. These finding may inform the choice of functional runs when studying difficult-to-scan populations, such as children or certain patient populations. Our findings also indicate that differences in head motion complicate direct comparisons of measures of functional neuronal networks between task and resting-state fMRI because of potential differences in data quality. In practice, a task to reduce head motion

Multi-task feature selection in microarray data by binary integer programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, Liang; Vucetic, Slobodan

2013-12-20

A major challenge in microarray classification is that the number of features is typically orders of magnitude larger than the number of examples. In this paper, we propose a novel feature filter algorithm to select the feature subset with maximal discriminative power and minimal redundancy by solving a quadratic objective function with binary integer constraints. To improve the computational efficiency, the binary integer constraints are relaxed and a low-rank approximation to the quadratic term is applied. The proposed feature selection algorithm was extended to solve multi-task microarray classification problems. We compared the single-task version of the proposed feature selection algorithm with 9 existing feature selection methods on 4 benchmark microarray data sets. The empirical results show that the proposed method achieved the most accurate predictions overall. We also evaluated the multi-task version of the proposed algorithm on 8 multi-task microarray datasets. The multi-task feature selection algorithm resulted in significantly higher accuracy than when using the single-task feature selection methods.

Preschool children adapt grasping movements to upcoming object manipulations: Evidence from a dial rotation task.

Science.gov (United States)

Herbort, Oliver; Büschelberger, Juliane; Janczyk, Markus

2018-03-01

In adults, the motor plans for object-directed grasping movements reflects the anticipated requirements of intended future object manipulations. This prospective mode of planning has been termed second-order planning. Surprisingly, second-order planning is thought to be fully developed only by 10 years of age, when children master seemingly more complex motor skills. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that already 5- and 6-year-old children consistently use second-order planning but that this ability does not become apparent in tasks that are traditionally used to probe it. We asked 5- and 6-year-olds and adults to grasp and rotate a circular dial in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Although children's grasp selections were less consistent on an intra- and inter-individual level than adults' grasp selections, all children adjusted their grasps to the upcoming dial rotations. By contrast, in an also administered bar rotation task, only a subset of children adjusted their grasps to different bar rotations, thereby replicating previous results. The results indicate that 5- and 6-year-olds consistently use second-order planning in a dial rotation task, although this ability does not become apparent in bar rotation tasks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effects of dual tasking on gait synchronization during over-ground side-by-side walking.

Science.gov (United States)

Zivotofsky, Ari Z; Bernad-Elazari, Hagar; Grossman, Pnina; Hausdorff, Jeffrey M

2018-03-23

Recent studies have shown that gait synchronization during natural walking is not merely anecdotal, but it is a repeatable phenomenon that is quantifiable and is apparently related to available sensory feedback modalities. However, the mechanisms underlying this phase-locking of gait have only recently begun to be investigated. For example, it is not known what role, if any, attention plays. We employed a dual tasking paradigm in order to investigate the role attention plays in gait synchronization. Sixteen pairs of subjects walked under six conditions that manipulated the available sensory feedback and the degree of difficulty of the dual task, i.e., the attention. Movement was quantified using a trunk-mounted tri-axial accelerometer. A gait synchronization index (GSI) was calculated in order to quantify the degree of synchronization of the gait pattern. A simple dual task resulted in an increased level of synchronization, whereas a more complex dual task lead to a reduction in synchronization. Handholding increased synchronization, compared to the same attention condition without handholding. These results indicate that in order for two walkers to synchronize, some level of attention is apparently required, such that a relatively complex dual task utilizes enough attentional resources to reduce the occurrence of synchronization. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Affordances and synchronization in collective creative construction tasks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tylén, Kristian; Fusaroli, Riccardo

What does it mean to cooperate? How do we share meanings and actions in order to reach a common goal? In this paper we explore the relation between cooperative coordination and heart rate. We argue that in cooperative contexts participants synchronize their heart rhythms according to two factors......: the affordances of the task at hand and the gradual consolidation of collaborative practices. Six groups of participants were instructed to construct LEGO models of six abstract notions (“responsibility”, “knowledge”, “justice” etc.), both individually and in groups. We combine video analysis and heart rate...... measurements and employ recurrence analysis techniques to quantify the mutual adaptability of heart rates among the participants in the different tasks. We show that during individual tasks individual heart rates synchronize both within and between groups (but not with controls) plausibly due...

Sociologists in Extension

Science.gov (United States)

Christenson, James A.; And Others

1977-01-01

The article describes the work activities of the extension sociologist, the relative advantage and disadvantage of extension roles in relation to teaching/research roles, and the relevance of sociological training and research for extension work. (NQ)

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.

Cutoff for extensions of massive gravity and bi-gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matas, Andrew

2016-01-01

Recently there has been interest in extending ghost-free massive gravity, bi-gravity, and multi-gravity by including non-standard kinetic terms and matter couplings. We first review recent proposals for this class of extensions, emphasizing how modifications of the kinetic and potential structure of the graviton and modifications of the coupling to matter are related. We then generalize existing no-go arguments in the metric language to the vielbein language in second-order form. We give an ADM argument to show that the most promising extensions to the kinetic term and matter coupling contain a Boulware–Deser ghost. However, as recently emphasized, we may still be able to view these extensions as effective field theories below some cutoff scale. To address this possibility, we show that there is a decoupling limit where a ghost appears for a wide class of matter couplings and kinetic terms. In particular, we show that there is a decoupling limit where the linear effective vielbein matter coupling contains a ghost. Using the insight we gain from this decoupling limit analysis, we place an upper bound on the cutoff for the linear effective vielbein coupling. This result can be generalized to new kinetic interactions in the vielbein language in second-order form. Combined with recent results, this provides a strong uniqueness argument on the form of ghost-free massive gravity, bi-gravity, and multi-gravity. (paper)

Challenges for extension service to render efficient post-transformer ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

LPhidza

generation of knowledge and information to provide back- up service to Extensionists which in turn should help their clients (Arnon, 1989; Bunting, 1986; Van den Ban & Hawkins,. 1990: 293). Furthermore Extensionists are expected to account for their performance in order to justify the investment of public funds in extension ...

Resolving task rule incongruence during task switching by competitor rule suppression.

Science.gov (United States)

Meiran, Nachshon; Hsieh, Shulan; Dimov, Eduard

2010-07-01

Task switching requires maintaining readiness to execute any task of a given set of tasks. However, when tasks switch, the readiness to execute the now-irrelevant task generates interference, as seen in the task rule incongruence effect. Overcoming such interference requires fine-tuned inhibition that impairs task readiness only minimally. In an experiment involving 2 object classification tasks and 2 location classification tasks, the authors show that irrelevant task rules that generate response conflicts are inhibited. This competitor rule suppression (CRS) is seen in response slowing in subsequent trials, when the competing rules become relevant. CRS is shown to operate on specific rules without affecting similar rules. CRS and backward inhibition, which is another inhibitory phenomenon, produced additive effects on reaction time, suggesting their mutual independence. Implications for current formal theories of task switching as well as for conflict monitoring theories are discussed. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved

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

Task Order 22 – Engineering and Technical Support, Deep Borehole Field Test. AREVA Summary Review Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Denton, Mark A. [AREVA Federal Services, Charlotte, NC (United States)

2016-01-19

Under Task Order 22 of the industry Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) Contract to the Department of Energy (DOE) DE-NE0000291, AREVA has been tasked with providing assistance with engineering, analysis, cost estimating, and design support of a system for disposal of radioactive wastes in deep boreholes (without the use of radioactive waste). As part of this task order, AREVA was requested, through a letter of technical direction, to evaluate Sandia National Laboratory’s (SNL’s) waste package borehole emplacement system concept recommendation using input from DOE and SNL. This summary review report (SRR) documents this evaluation, with its focus on the primary input document titled: “Deep Borehole Field Test Specifications/M2FT-15SN0817091” Rev. 1 [1], hereafter referred to as the “M2 report.” The M2 report focuses on the conceptual design development for the Deep Borehole Field Test (DBFT), mainly the test waste packages (WPs) and the system for demonstrating emplacement and retrieval of those packages in the Field Test Borehole (FTB). This SRR follows the same outline as the M2 report, which allows for easy correlation between AREVA’s review comments, discussion, potential proposed alternatives, and path forward with information established in the M2 report. AREVA’s assessment focused on three primary elements of the M2 report: the conceptual design of the WPs proposed for deep borehole disposal (DBD), the mode of emplacement of the WP into DBD, and the conceptual design of the DBFT. AREVA concurs with the M2 report’s selection of the wireline emplacement mode specifically over the drill-string emplacement mode and generically over alternative emplacement modes. Table 5-1 of this SRR compares the pros and cons of each emplacement mode considered viable for DBD. The primary positive characteristics of the wireline emplacement mode include: (1) considered a mature technology; (2) operations are relatively simple; (3) probability of a

An extended integrable fractional-order KP soliton hierarchy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Li

2011-01-01

In this Letter, we consider the modified derivatives and integrals of fractional-order pseudo-differential operators. A sequence of Lax KP equations hierarchy and extended fractional KP (fKP) hierarchy are introduced, and the fKP hierarchy has Lax presentations with the extended Lax operators. In the case of the extension with the half-order pseudo-differential operators, a new integrable fKP hierarchy is obtained. A few particular examples of fractional order will be listed, together with their Lax pairs.

An extended integrable fractional-order KP soliton hierarchy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li Li, E-mail: li07099@163.co [College of Maths and Systematic Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang 110034 (China)

2011-01-17

In this Letter, we consider the modified derivatives and integrals of fractional-order pseudo-differential operators. A sequence of Lax KP equations hierarchy and extended fractional KP (fKP) hierarchy are introduced, and the fKP hierarchy has Lax presentations with the extended Lax operators. In the case of the extension with the half-order pseudo-differential operators, a new integrable fKP hierarchy is obtained. A few particular examples of fractional order will be listed, together with their Lax pairs.

Higher-order harmonics of general limited diffraction Bessel beams

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, De-Sheng; Huang, Jin-Huang

2016-12-01

In this paper, we extensively study the higher-order harmonic generation of the general limited diffraction m-th-order Bessel beam. The analysis is based on successive approximations of the Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov (KZK) equation. Asymptotic expansions are presented for higher-order harmonic Bessel beams in near and far fields. The validity of asymptotic approximation is also analyzed. The higher-order harmonic of the Bessel beam with the lowest zero-order is taken as a special example. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11074038 and 11374051).

Crossing the Undecidability Border with Extensions of Propositional Neighborhood Logic over Natural Numbers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Monica, Dario Della; Goranko, Valentin; Montanari, Angelo

2012-01-01

of PNL extended with modal operators corresponding to Allen's relations begins, begun by, and before/. This paper aims at demonstrating that PNL and its metric version MPNL, interpreted over natural numbers, are indeed very close to the border with undecidability, and even relatively weak extensions...... of them become undecidable. In particular, we show that (i) the addition of binders on integer variables ranging over interval lengths makes the resulting hybrid extension of MPNL undecidable, and (ii) a very weak first-order extension of the future fragment of PNL, obtained by replacing proposition...

Multi-robot task allocation based on two dimensional artificial fish swarm algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Taixiong; Li, Xueqin; Yang, Liangyi

2007-12-01

The problem of task allocation for multiple robots is to allocate more relative-tasks to less relative-robots so as to minimize the processing time of these tasks. In order to get optimal multi-robot task allocation scheme, a twodimensional artificial swarm algorithm based approach is proposed in this paper. In this approach, the normal artificial fish is extended to be two dimension artificial fish. In the two dimension artificial fish, each vector of primary artificial fish is extended to be an m-dimensional vector. Thus, each vector can express a group of tasks. By redefining the distance between artificial fish and the center of artificial fish, the behavior of two dimension fish is designed and the task allocation algorithm based on two dimension artificial swarm algorithm is put forward. At last, the proposed algorithm is applied to the problem of multi-robot task allocation and comparer with GA and SA based algorithm is done. Simulation and compare result shows the proposed algorithm is effective.

San Joaquin River Up-Stream DO TMDL Project Task 4: MonitoringStudy Interim Task Report #3

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stringfellow, William; Borglin, Sharon; Dahlgren, Randy; Hanlon,Jeremy; Graham, Justin; Burks, Remie; Hutchinson, Kathleen

2007-03-30

The purpose of the Dissolved Oxygen Total Maximum Daily LoadProject (DO TMDLProject) is to provide a comprehensive understanding ofthe sources and fate of oxygen consuming materials in the San JoaquinRiver (SJR) watershed between Channel Point and Lander Avenue (upstreamSJR). When completed, this study will provide the stakeholders anunderstanding of the baseline conditions of the basin, provide input foran allocation decision, and provide the stakeholders with a tool formeasuring the impact of any waterquality management program that may beimplemented as part of the DO TMDL process. Previous studies haveidentified algal biomass as the most significant oxygen-demandingsubstance in the DO TMDL Project study-area between of Channel Point andLander Ave onthe SJR. Other oxygen-demanding substances found in theupstream SJR include ammonia and organic carbon from sources other thanalgae. The DO TMDL Project study-area contains municipalities, dairies,wetlands, cattle ranching, irrigated agriculture, and industries thatcould potentially contribute biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) to the SJR.This study is designed to discriminate between algal BOD and othersources of BOD throughout the entire upstream SJR watershed. Algalbiomass is not a conserved substance, but grows and decays in the SJR;hence, characterization of oxygen-demanding substances in the SJR isinherently complicated and requires an integrated effort of extensivemonitoring, scientific study, and modeling. In order to achieve projectobjectives, project activities were divided into a number of Tasks withspecific goals and objectives. In this report, we present the results ofmonitoring and research conducted under Task 4 of the DO TMDL Project.The major objective of Task 4 is to collect sufficient hydrologic (flow)and water quality (WQ) data to characterize the loading of algae, otheroxygen-demanding materials, and nutrients fromindividual tributaries andsub-watersheds of the upstream SJR between Mossdale and

How different types of participant payments alter task performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary L. Brase

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Researchers typically use incentives (such as money or course credit in order to obtain participants who engage in the specific behaviors of interest to the researcher. There is, however, little understanding or agreement on the effects of different types and levels of incentives used. Some results in the domain of statistical reasoning suggest that performance differences --- previously deemed theoretically important --- may actually be due to differences in incentive types across studies. 704 participants completed one of five variants of a statistical reasoning task, for which they received either course credit, flat fee payment, or performance-based payment incentives. Successful task completion was more frequent with performance-based incentives than with either of the other incentive types. Performance on moderately difficult tasks (compared to very easy and very hard tasks was most sensitive to incentives. These results can help resolve existing debates about inconsistent findings, guide more accurate comparisons across studies, and be applied beyond research settings.

Programming real-time executives in higher order language

Science.gov (United States)

Foudriat, E. C.

1982-01-01

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

Economic efficiency of extensive livestock production in the European Union

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nastić Lana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Various types of extensive livestock production are present worldwide, primarily in regions where natural resources such as pastures and meadows could be used. Extensive livestock production is common in the EU, as well. Therefore the goal of this research was to establish economic efficiency of extensive livestock production types and to compare their efficiency with some intensive livestock production types. In order to achieve that goal FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network methodology was used. Source of information was FADN database as well as appropriate sector analysis and publications of European commission. It has been determined that sheep and goat production is competitive with intensive production types (dairy and granivores - pigs and poultry. Cattle production (other than dairy production proved to be economically inefficient due to low output level.

75 FR 37780 - Proposed Waivers and Extensions of Project Periods: Presidential Academies and Congressional...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-30

... the teaching of history. We seek this waiver and extension of project period in order to enable each... or the teaching of history. The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension of project... American History and Civics Education, and 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2), as it applies to the project funded under...

Hybrid Task Design: Connecting Learning Opportunities Related to Critical Thinking and Statistical Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

Kuntze, Sebastian; Aizikovitsh-Udi, Einav; Clarke, David

2017-01-01

Stimulating thinking related to mathematical content is the focus of many tasks in the mathematics classroom. Beyond such content-related thinking, promoting forms of higher order thinking is among the goals of mathematics instruction as well. So-called hybrid tasks focus on combining both goals: they aim at fostering mathematical thinking and…

Symbol Labelling Improves Advantageous Decision-Making on the Iowa Gambling Task in People with Intellectual Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Dymond, Simon; Bailey, Rebecca; Willner, Paul; Parry, Rhonwen

2010-01-01

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities often have difficulties foregoing short-term loss for long-term gain. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been extensively adopted as a laboratory measure of this ability. In the present study, we undertook the first investigation with people with intellectual disabilities using a…

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

A single dose of oxytocin nasal spray improves higher-order social cognition in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Guastella, Adam J; Ward, Philip B; Hickie, Ian B; Shahrestani, Sara; Hodge, Marie Antoinette Redoblado; Scott, Elizabeth M; Langdon, Robyn

2015-11-01

Schizophrenia is associated with significant impairments in both higher and lower order social cognitive performance and these impairments contribute to poor social functioning. People with schizophrenia report poor social functioning to be one of their greatest unmet treatment needs. Recent studies have suggested the potential of oxytocin as such a treatment, but mixed results render it uncertain what aspects of social cognition are improved by oxytocin and, subsequently, how oxytocin might best be applied as a therapeutic. The aim of this study was to determine whether a single dose of oxytocin improved higher-order and lower-order social cognition performance for patients with schizophrenia across a well-established battery of social cognition tests. Twenty-one male patients received both a single dose of oxytocin nasal spray (24IU) and a placebo, two weeks apart in a randomized within-subjects placebo controlled design. Following each administration, participants completed the social cognition tasks, as well as a test of general neurocognition. Results revealed that oxytocin particularly enhanced performance on higher order social cognition tasks, with no effects on general neurocognition. Results for individual tasks showed most improvement on tests measuring appreciation of indirect hints and recognition of social faux pas. These results suggest that oxytocin, if combined to enhance social cognition learning, may be beneficial when targeted at higher order social cognition domains. This study also suggests that these higher order tasks, which assess social cognitive processing in a social communication context, may provide useful markers of response to oxytocin in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Manipulating perceptual parameters in a continuous performance task.

Science.gov (United States)

Shalev, Nir; Humphreys, Glyn; Demeyere, Nele

2018-02-01

Sustained attention (SA) is among the most studied faculties of human cognition, and thought to be crucial for many aspects of behavior. Measuring SA often relies on performance on a continuous, low-demanding task. Such continuous performance tasks (CPTs) have many variations, and sustained attention is typically estimated based on variability in reaction times. While relying on reaction times may be useful in some cases, it can pose a challenge when working with clinical populations. To increase interpersonal variability in task parameters that do not rely on speed, researchers have increased demands for memory and response inhibition. These approaches, however, may be confounded when used to assess populations that suffer from multiple cognitive deficits. In the current study, we propose a new approach for increasing task variability by increasing the attentional demands. In order to do so, we created a new variation of a CPT - a masked version, where inattention is more likely to cause misidentifying a target. After establishing that masking indeed decreases target detection, we further investigated which task parameter may influence response biases. To do so, we contrasted two versions of the CPT with different target/distractor ratio. We then established how perceptual parameters can be controlled independently in a CPT. Following the experimental manipulations, we tested the MCCPT with aging controls and chronic stroke patients to assure the task can be used with target populations. The results confirm the MCCPT as a task providing high sensitivity without relying on reaction speed, and feasible for patients.

Simultaneity and Temporal Order Judgments Are Coded Differently and Change With Age: An Event-Related Potential Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aysha Basharat

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Multisensory integration is required for a number of daily living tasks where the inability to accurately identify simultaneity and temporality of multisensory events results in errors in judgment leading to poor decision-making and dangerous behavior. Previously, our lab discovered that older adults exhibited impaired timing of audiovisual events, particularly when making temporal order judgments (TOJs. Simultaneity judgments (SJs, however, were preserved across the lifespan. Here, we investigate the difference between the TOJ and SJ tasks in younger and older adults to assess neural processing differences between these two tasks and across the lifespan. Event-related potentials (ERPs were studied to determine between-task and between-age differences. Results revealed task specific differences in perceiving simultaneity and temporal order, suggesting that each task may be subserved via different neural mechanisms. Here, auditory N1 and visual P1 ERP amplitudes confirmed that unisensory processing of audiovisual stimuli did not differ between the two tasks within both younger and older groups, indicating that performance differences between tasks arise either from multisensory integration or higher-level decision-making. Compared to younger adults, older adults showed a sustained higher auditory N1 ERP amplitude response across SOAs, suggestive of broader response properties from an extended temporal binding window. Our work provides compelling evidence that different neural mechanisms subserve the SJ and TOJ tasks and that simultaneity and temporal order perception are coded differently and change with age.

Inhibitory control efficiency in a Piaget-like class-inclusion task in school-age children and adults: a developmental negative priming study.

Science.gov (United States)

Borst, G; Poirel, N; Pineau, A; Cassotti, M; Houdé, O

2013-07-01

Most children under 7 years of age presented with 10 daisies and 2 roses fail to indicate that there are more flowers than daisies. Instead of the appropriate comparison of the relative numerosities of the superordinate class (flowers) to its subordinate class (daisies), they perform a direct perceptual comparison of the extensions of the 2 subordinate classes (daisies vs. roses). In our experiment, we investigated whether increasing efficiency in solving the Piagetian class-inclusion task is related to increasing efficiency in the ability to resist (inhibit) this direct comparison of the subordinate classes' extensions. Ten-year-old and young adult participants performed a computerized priming version of a Piaget-like class-inclusion task. The experimental design was such that the misleading perceptual strategy to inhibit on the prime (in which a superordinate class had to be compared with a subordinate class) became a congruent strategy to activate on the probe (in which the two subordinate classes' extensions were directly compared). We found a negative priming effect of 291 ms in children and 129 ms in adults. These results provide evidence for the first time (a) that adults still need to inhibit the comparison of the subordinate classes' extensions in class-inclusion tasks and (b) that the ability to inhibit this heuristic increases with age (resulting in a lower executive cost). Taken together, these findings provide additional support for the neo-Piagetian approach of cognitive development that suggests that the acquisition of increasingly complex knowledge is based on the ability to resist (inhibit) heuristics and previously acquired knowledge.

Competency Modeling in Extension Education: Integrating an Academic Extension Education Model with an Extension Human Resource Management Model

Science.gov (United States)

Scheer, Scott D.; Cochran, Graham R.; Harder, Amy; Place, Nick T.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast an academic extension education model with an Extension human resource management model. The academic model of 19 competencies was similar across the 22 competencies of the Extension human resource management model. There were seven unique competencies for the human resource management model.…

Domain-Generality of Timing-Based Serial Order Processes in Short-Term Memory: New Insights from Musical and Verbal Domains.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon Gorin

Full Text Available Several models in the verbal domain of short-term memory (STM consider a dissociation between item and order processing. This view is supported by data demonstrating that different types of time-based interference have a greater effect on memory for the order of to-be-remembered items than on memory for the items themselves. The present study investigated the domain-generality of the item versus serial order dissociation by comparing the differential effects of time-based interfering tasks, such as rhythmic interference and articulatory suppression, on item and order processing in verbal and musical STM domains. In Experiment 1, participants had to maintain sequences of verbal or musical information in STM, followed by a probe sequence, this under different conditions of interference (no-interference, rhythmic interference, articulatory suppression. They were required to decide whether all items of the probe list matched those of the memory list (item condition or whether the order of the items in the probe sequence matched the order in the memory list (order condition. In Experiment 2, participants performed a serial order probe recognition task for verbal and musical sequences ensuring sequential maintenance processes, under no-interference or rhythmic interference conditions. For Experiment 1, serial order recognition was not significantly more impacted by interfering tasks than was item recognition, this for both verbal and musical domains. For Experiment 2, we observed selective interference of the rhythmic interference condition on both musical and verbal order STM tasks. Overall, the results suggest a similar and selective sensitivity to time-based interference for serial order STM in verbal and musical domains, but only when the STM tasks ensure sequential maintenance processes.

Domain-Generality of Timing-Based Serial Order Processes in Short-Term Memory: New Insights from Musical and Verbal Domains.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorin, Simon; Kowialiewski, Benjamin; Majerus, Steve

2016-01-01

Several models in the verbal domain of short-term memory (STM) consider a dissociation between item and order processing. This view is supported by data demonstrating that different types of time-based interference have a greater effect on memory for the order of to-be-remembered items than on memory for the items themselves. The present study investigated the domain-generality of the item versus serial order dissociation by comparing the differential effects of time-based interfering tasks, such as rhythmic interference and articulatory suppression, on item and order processing in verbal and musical STM domains. In Experiment 1, participants had to maintain sequences of verbal or musical information in STM, followed by a probe sequence, this under different conditions of interference (no-interference, rhythmic interference, articulatory suppression). They were required to decide whether all items of the probe list matched those of the memory list (item condition) or whether the order of the items in the probe sequence matched the order in the memory list (order condition). In Experiment 2, participants performed a serial order probe recognition task for verbal and musical sequences ensuring sequential maintenance processes, under no-interference or rhythmic interference conditions. For Experiment 1, serial order recognition was not significantly more impacted by interfering tasks than was item recognition, this for both verbal and musical domains. For Experiment 2, we observed selective interference of the rhythmic interference condition on both musical and verbal order STM tasks. Overall, the results suggest a similar and selective sensitivity to time-based interference for serial order STM in verbal and musical domains, but only when the STM tasks ensure sequential maintenance processes.

Conditional withholding of proboscis extension in honeybees (Apis mellifera) during discriminative punishment.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, B H; Abramson, C I; Tobin, T R

1991-12-01

Proboscis extension conditioning of honeybee workers was used to test the ability of bees to respond to appetitive and aversive stimuli while restrained in a harness that allows subjects to move their antennae and mouthparts (Kuwabara, 1957; Menzel, Erber, & Masuhr, 1974). Subjects were conditioned to discriminate between two odors, one associated with sucrose feeding and the other associated with a 10 V AC shock if they responded to the sucrose unconditioned stimulus (US) in the context of that odor. Most Ss readily learned to respond to the odor followed by sucrose feeding and not to the odor associated with sucrose stimulation plus shock. Furthermore, in the context of the odor associated with shock, significantly more subjects withheld or delayed proboscis extension on stimulation with the sucrose US than they did in the context of the odor associated with feeding. Thus, restrained honeybees can readily learn to avoid shock according to an odor context by withholding proboscis extension to a normally powerful releaser. Analysis of individual learning curves revealed that subjects differed markedly in performance on this task. Some learn the discrimination quickly, whereas others show different kinds of response patterns.

High order curvilinear finite elements for elastic–plastic Lagrangian dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobrev, Veselin A.; Kolev, Tzanio V.; Rieben, Robert N.

2014-01-01

This paper presents a high-order finite element method for calculating elastic–plastic flow on moving curvilinear meshes and is an extension of our general high-order curvilinear finite element approach for solving the Euler equations of gas dynamics in a Lagrangian frame [1,2]. In order to handle transition to plastic flow, we formulate the stress–strain relation in rate (or incremental) form and augment our semi-discrete equations for Lagrangian hydrodynamics with an additional evolution equation for the deviatoric stress which is valid for arbitrary order spatial discretizations of the kinematic and thermodynamic variables. The semi-discrete equation for the deviatoric stress rate is developed for 2D planar, 2D axisymmetric and full 3D geometries. For each case, the strain rate is approximated via a collocation method at zone quadrature points while the deviatoric stress is approximated using an L 2 projection onto the thermodynamic basis. We apply high order, energy conserving, explicit time stepping methods to the semi-discrete equations to develop the fully discrete method. We conclude with numerical results from an extensive series of verification tests that demonstrate several practical advantages of using high-order finite elements for elastic–plastic flow

Contaminated sediment research task: SHC Task 3.61.3

Science.gov (United States)

A poster presentation for the SHC BOSC review will summarize the research efforts under Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program (SHC) in the Contaminated Sediment Task within the Contaminated Sites Project. For the Task, Problem Summary & Decision Context; Task O...

Learning High-Order Filters for Efficient Blind Deconvolution of Document Photographs

KAUST Repository

Xiao, Lei; Wang, Jue; Heidrich, Wolfgang; Hirsch, Michael

2016-01-01

by small-scale high-order structures, we propose to learn a multi-scale, interleaved cascade of shrinkage fields model, which contains a series of high-order filters to facilitate joint recovery of blur kernel and latent image. With extensive experiments

Research on SaaS and Web Service Based Order Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Jianhua; Sheng, Buyun; Gong, Lixiong; Yang, Mingzhong

To solve the order tracking of across enterprises in Dynamic Virtual Enterprise (DVE), a SaaS and web service based order tracking solution was designed by analyzing the order management process in DVE. To achieve the system, the SaaS based architecture of data management on order tasks manufacturing states was constructed, and the encapsulation method of transforming application system into web service was researched. Then the process of order tracking in the system was given out. Finally, the feasibility of this study was verified by the development of a prototype system.

CMS Dashboard Task Monitoring: A user-centric monitoring view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karavakis, Edward; Khan, Akram; Andreeva, Julia; Maier, Gerhild; Gaidioz, Benjamin

2010-01-01

We are now in a phase change of the CMS experiment where people are turning more intensely to physics analysis and away from construction. This brings a lot of challenging issues with respect to monitoring of the user analysis. The physicists must be able to monitor the execution status, application and grid-level messages of their tasks that may run at any site within the CMS Virtual Organisation. The CMS Dashboard Task Monitoring project provides this information towards individual analysis users by collecting and exposing a user-centric set of information regarding submitted tasks including reason of failure, distribution by site and over time, consumed time and efficiency. The development was user-driven with physicists invited to test the prototype in order to assemble further requirements and identify weaknesses with the application.

A Method for Recognizing State of Finger Flexure and Extension

Science.gov (United States)

Terado, Toshihiko; Fujiwara, Osamu

In our country, the handicapped and the elderly people in bed increase rapidly. In the bedridden person’s daily life, there may be limitations in the physical movement and the means of mutual communication. For the support of their comfortable daily lives, therefore, the development of human interface equipment becomes an important task. The equipment of this kind is being already developed by means of laser beam, eye-tracking, breathing motion and myo-electric signals, while the attachment and handling are normally not so easy. In this study, paying attention to finger motion, we have developed human interface equipment easily attached to the body, which enables one to measure the finger flexure and extension for mutual communication. The state of finger flexure and extension is identified by a threshold level analysis from the 3D-locus data for the finger movement, which can be measured through the infrared rays from the LED markers attached to a glove with the previously developed prototype system. We then have confirmed from an experiment that nearly 100% recognition for the finger movement can be achieved.

Differential effects of emotionally versus neutrally cued autobiographical memories on performance of a subsequent cognitive task: Effects of task difficulty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kymberly eYoung

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Attention is a limited resource, and in order to improve processing of the attended information, competing processes must be suppressed. Although it is well established that an experimentally induced change in mood state comprises one type of competing process that can impair performance on a subsequent task, no study has investigated whether an emotionally valenced autobiographical memory (AM also can alter performance on a subsequent task. We therefore examined the effects of AM recall on cognitive performance. Healthy participants (n=20 per experiment recalled AMs in response to positive, negative, and neutral cue words. Following each AM participants completed a simple perceptual task (Experiment 1 or solved moderately difficult subtraction problems (Experiment 2. In Experiment 1 participants performed less accurately following exposure to positive or negative versus neutral cue words (ps<0.001, and also were less accurate following negative versus positive cue words (p<0.001. In Experiment 2, in contrast, no difference in accuracy or response times reached statistical significance. Performance accuracy even trended towards being higher following exposure to negative versus neutral cue words (p=0.08. The results of Experiment 1 suggested that recalling emotionally salient AMs reduces the attention directed toward a simple continuous performance task administered immediately following the AM task, conceivably due to persistent contemplation of the AM. The negative results of Experiment 2 suggested that the effect of AMs on attention was attenuated, however, by increasing the difficulty of the subsequent task. Our results have implications for patients with MDD, as performing cognitively demanding tasks may allow them to attenuate the impairing effects of negative rumination on cognition.

Multisensory perceptual learning of temporal order: audiovisual learning transfers to vision but not audition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Alais

2010-06-01

Full Text Available An outstanding question in sensory neuroscience is whether the perceived timing of events is mediated by a central supra-modal timing mechanism, or multiple modality-specific systems. We use a perceptual learning paradigm to address this question.Three groups were trained daily for 10 sessions on an auditory, a visual or a combined audiovisual temporal order judgment (TOJ. Groups were pre-tested on a range TOJ tasks within and between their group modality prior to learning so that transfer of any learning from the trained task could be measured by post-testing other tasks. Robust TOJ learning (reduced temporal order discrimination thresholds occurred for all groups, although auditory learning (dichotic 500/2000 Hz tones was slightly weaker than visual learning (lateralised grating patches. Crossmodal TOJs also displayed robust learning. Post-testing revealed that improvements in temporal resolution acquired during visual learning transferred within modality to other retinotopic locations and orientations, but not to auditory or crossmodal tasks. Auditory learning did not transfer to visual or crossmodal tasks, and neither did it transfer within audition to another frequency pair. In an interesting asymmetry, crossmodal learning transferred to all visual tasks but not to auditory tasks. Finally, in all conditions, learning to make TOJs for stimulus onsets did not transfer at all to discriminating temporal offsets. These data present a complex picture of timing processes.The lack of transfer between unimodal groups indicates no central supramodal timing process for this task; however, the audiovisual-to-visual transfer cannot be explained without some form of sensory interaction. We propose that auditory learning occurred in frequency-tuned processes in the periphery, precluding interactions with more central visual and audiovisual timing processes. Functionally the patterns of featural transfer suggest that perceptual learning of temporal order

Multisensory perceptual learning of temporal order: audiovisual learning transfers to vision but not audition.

Science.gov (United States)

Alais, David; Cass, John

2010-06-23

An outstanding question in sensory neuroscience is whether the perceived timing of events is mediated by a central supra-modal timing mechanism, or multiple modality-specific systems. We use a perceptual learning paradigm to address this question. Three groups were trained daily for 10 sessions on an auditory, a visual or a combined audiovisual temporal order judgment (TOJ). Groups were pre-tested on a range TOJ tasks within and between their group modality prior to learning so that transfer of any learning from the trained task could be measured by post-testing other tasks. Robust TOJ learning (reduced temporal order discrimination thresholds) occurred for all groups, although auditory learning (dichotic 500/2000 Hz tones) was slightly weaker than visual learning (lateralised grating patches). Crossmodal TOJs also displayed robust learning. Post-testing revealed that improvements in temporal resolution acquired during visual learning transferred within modality to other retinotopic locations and orientations, but not to auditory or crossmodal tasks. Auditory learning did not transfer to visual or crossmodal tasks, and neither did it transfer within audition to another frequency pair. In an interesting asymmetry, crossmodal learning transferred to all visual tasks but not to auditory tasks. Finally, in all conditions, learning to make TOJs for stimulus onsets did not transfer at all to discriminating temporal offsets. These data present a complex picture of timing processes. The lack of transfer between unimodal groups indicates no central supramodal timing process for this task; however, the audiovisual-to-visual transfer cannot be explained without some form of sensory interaction. We propose that auditory learning occurred in frequency-tuned processes in the periphery, precluding interactions with more central visual and audiovisual timing processes. Functionally the patterns of featural transfer suggest that perceptual learning of temporal order may be

Second-order domain derivative of normal-dependent boundary integrals

KAUST Repository

Balzer, Jonathan

2010-01-01

Numerous reconstruction tasks in (optical) surface metrology allow for a variational formulation. The occurring boundary integrals may be interpreted as shape functions. The paper is concerned with the second-order analysis of such functions. Shape

Asynchronous Task-Based Polar Decomposition on Manycore Architectures

KAUST Repository

Sukkari, Dalal

2016-10-25

This paper introduces the first asynchronous, task-based implementation of the polar decomposition on manycore architectures. Based on a new formulation of the iterative QR dynamically-weighted Halley algorithm (QDWH) for the calculation of the polar decomposition, the proposed implementation replaces the original and hostile LU factorization for the condition number estimator by the more adequate QR factorization to enable software portability across various architectures. Relying on fine-grained computations, the novel task-based implementation is also capable of taking advantage of the identity structure of the matrix involved during the QDWH iterations, which decreases the overall algorithmic complexity. Furthermore, the artifactual synchronization points have been severely weakened compared to previous implementations, unveiling look-ahead opportunities for better hardware occupancy. The overall QDWH-based polar decomposition can then be represented as a directed acyclic graph (DAG), where nodes represent computational tasks and edges define the inter-task data dependencies. The StarPU dynamic runtime system is employed to traverse the DAG, to track the various data dependencies and to asynchronously schedule the computational tasks on the underlying hardware resources, resulting in an out-of-order task scheduling. Benchmarking experiments show significant improvements against existing state-of-the-art high performance implementations (i.e., Intel MKL and Elemental) for the polar decomposition on latest shared-memory vendors\\' systems (i.e., Intel Haswell/Broadwell/Knights Landing, NVIDIA K80/P100 GPUs and IBM Power8), while maintaining high numerical accuracy.

Ordering states with various coherence measures

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Long-Mei; Chen, Bin; Fei, Shao-Ming; Wang, Zhi-Xi

2018-04-01

Quantum coherence is one of the most significant theories in quantum physics. Ordering states with various coherence measures is an intriguing task in quantification theory of coherence. In this paper, we study this problem by use of four important coherence measures—the l_1 norm of coherence, the relative entropy of coherence, the geometric measure of coherence and the modified trace distance measure of coherence. We show that each pair of these measures give a different ordering of qudit states when d≥3. However, for single-qubit states, the l_1 norm of coherence and the geometric coherence provide the same ordering. We also show that the relative entropy of coherence and the geometric coherence give a different ordering for single-qubit states. Then we partially answer the open question proposed in Liu et al. (Quantum Inf Process 15:4189, 2016) whether all the coherence measures give a different ordering of states.

Tampa Bay Extension Agents’ Views of Urban Extension: Philosophy and Program Strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amy Harder

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article was to explore the concept of urban Extension as perceived by Extension agents within the Tampa Bay area, one of Florida’s fastest growing metropolitan areas. From a theoretical perspective, it is critical to understand Extension agents’ beliefs about urban Extension because behaviors are directly related to attitudes (Ajzen, 2012. In 2016, a qualitative investigation was undertaken to explore the perspectives of 23 agents working within the Tampa Bay area. Results showed the majority of agents believed that context and client needs are unique for urban Extension, and that to a lesser extent, unique agent expertise is required. Further, these beliefs impacted how agents reported their approach to programming, with an emphasis on providing convenience and seeking partnerships. Difficulties were identified related to identifying the role of Extension in a resource-rich environment of service providers, which contributed to the existence of a perceived disconnect between urban audiences and Extension. Opportunities exist for Extension leadership to provide strategic organizational support that will enhance agents’ abilities to succeed in the metropolitan environment.

The role of formative feedback in promoting higher order thinking ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The role of formative feedback in promoting higher order thinking skills in ... activities, task characteristics, validating students' thinking, and providing feedback. ... Keywords: classroom environment, formative assessment, formative feedback, ...

Asymptotically Safe Standard Model Extensions arXiv

CERN Document Server

Pelaggi, Giulio Maria; Salvio, Alberto; Sannino, Francesco; Smirnov, Juri; Strumia, Alessandro

We consider theories with a large number NF of charged fermions and compute the renormalisation group equations for the gauge, Yukawa and quartic couplings resummed at leading order in NF. We construct extensions of the Standard Model where SU(2) and/or SU(3) are asymptotically safe. When the same procedure is applied to the Abelian U(1) factor, we find that the Higgs quartic can not be made asymptotically safe and stay perturbative at the same time.

arXiv Asymptotically Safe Standard Model Extensions?

CERN Document Server

Pelaggi, Giulio Maria; Salvio, Alberto; Sannino, Francesco; Smirnov, Juri; Strumia, Alessandro

2018-05-15

We consider theories with a large number NF of charged fermions and compute the renormalization group equations for the gauge, Yukawa and quartic couplings resummed at leading order in 1/NF. We construct extensions of the standard model where SU(2) and/or SU(3) are asymptotically safe. When the same procedure is applied to the Abelian U(1) factor, we find that the Higgs quartic can not be made asymptotically safe and stay perturbative at the same time.

Real-time Planning Support: A Task-technology Fit Perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E. Krauth (Elfriede)

2008-01-01

textabstractPlanning technology by itself is not sufficient to improve planning performance. What are the factors that determine the extent to which the benefits of planning technology are realized? In order to answer this question, this dissertation studies four mechanisms of fit between task and

Extension of the protection of the individual against environmental encroachments - a task for private and public law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ronellenfitsch, M.; Wolf, R.

1986-01-01

In the opinion of the author an substantial extension of the protection of the individual against environmental encroachments is not necessary. In many fields of law, for instance in the atomic law or the law for the protection against nuisance, the protection of the individual can be improved by minor corrections. In civil law the same improvement can be gained by an interpretation of existing provisions taking into account the requirements of environmental protection. (WG) [de

Quantification of crew workload imposed by communications-related tasks in commercial transport aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Acton, W. H.; Crabtree, M. S.; Simons, J. C.; Gomer, F. E.; Eckel, J. S.

1983-01-01

Information theoretic analysis and subjective paired-comparison and task ranking techniques were employed in order to scale the workload of 20 communications-related tasks frequently performed by the captain and first officer of transport category aircraft. Tasks were drawn from taped conversations between aircraft and air traffic controllers (ATC). Twenty crewmembers performed subjective message comparisons and task rankings on the basis of workload. Information theoretic results indicated a broad range of task difficulty levels, and substantial differences between captain and first officer workload levels. Preliminary subjective data tended to corroborate these results. A hybrid scale reflecting the results of both the analytical and the subjective techniques is currently being developed. The findings will be used to select representative sets of communications for use in high fidelity simulation.

TME (Task Mapping Editor): tool for executing distributed parallel computing. TME user's manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takemiya, Hiroshi; Yamagishi, Nobuhiro; Imamura, Toshiyuki

2000-03-01

At the Center for Promotion of Computational Science and Engineering, a software environment PPExe has been developed to support scientific computing on a parallel computer cluster (distributed parallel scientific computing). TME (Task Mapping Editor) is one of components of the PPExe and provides a visual programming environment for distributed parallel scientific computing. Users can specify data dependence among tasks (programs) visually as a data flow diagram and map these tasks onto computers interactively through GUI of TME. The specified tasks are processed by other components of PPExe such as Meta-scheduler, RIM (Resource Information Monitor), and EMS (Execution Management System) according to the execution order of these tasks determined by TME. In this report, we describe the usage of TME. (author)

Task Characteristics and Work Engagement: Exploring Effects of Role Ambiguity and ICT Presenteeism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sang-Hoon Lee

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In order to secure organizational sustainability in a rapidly changing environment, it is necessary to implement a decentralized and flexible work environment. In such work environments, normally individuals are provided with autonomy and independence in performing tasks, thus allowing them to further engage in their given work. This study investigated task antecedents of work engagement, and further explored the process of how task characteristics affect work engagement. It focused on examining the mediating effect of role ambiguity on the task characteristics-work engagement relationship and the moderating effect of information and communication technology (ICT presenteeism on the task characteristics–role ambiguity relationship through multiple regression analyses and a bootstrapping procedure on survey data collected from 202 South Korean employees. It found that task interdependence and autonomy were negatively associated with role ambiguity. Of the two task characteristics, only task interdependence had a negative relationship with role ambiguity, and this relationship was significantly moderated by ICT presenteeism such that the negative association between task interdependence and role ambiguity was more pronounced when ICT presenteeism was high than when it was low.

Nuclear power plant personnel qualifications and training. TSORT: an automated technique to assign tasks to training strategies. Volume 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jorgensen, C.C.

1984-10-01

This report discusses TSORT, a technique to assist the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in evaluating whether training program developers have allocated nuclear power plant tasks to appropriate training strategies. The TSORT structure is presented including training categories selected, dimensions of task information considered, measurement metrics used, and a guide to application. TSORT is implemented as an automated software tool for an IBM-PC. It uses full color graphics and interactive menu selection to provide NRC with a variety of evaluation options including: rank ordering of training strategies reasonable for each task, rank ordering of tasks within strategies, and a variety of special analyses. The program code is also presented along with a comprehensive example of 20 realistic tasks illustrating each of 17 options available

Efficient chaining of seeds in ordered trees

OpenAIRE

Allali, Julien; Chauve, Cédric; Ferraro, Pascal; Gaillard, Anne-Laure

2010-01-01

International audience; We consider here the problem of chaining seeds in ordered trees. Seeds are mappings between two trees Q and T and a chain is a subset of non overlapping seeds that is consistent with respect to postfix order and ancestrality. This problem is a natural extension of a similar problem for sequences, and has applications in computational biology, such as mining a database of RNA secondary structures. For the chaining problem with a set of m constant size seeds, we describe...

The impact of brand extension fit, extension strategy and product exposure on attitudinal responses to brand extensions

OpenAIRE

Farstad, Lena Kvelland; Jabran, Mohammed

2013-01-01

Brand extensions have for decades been one of the most used strategies for growth, but the sad reality is that 8 out of 10 extensions fail, making the likelihood of failure unattractively high. In addition, competition and pressure on margins increases as retailers’ power improves due to proliferation of private labels. As a result, managers are eager for new innovative strategies that can differentiate their extension and improve likelihood of success. The purpose of this paper is therefore ...

Guideline for preparing comprehensive extension of time (EoT claim

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaled Ahmed Ali Alnaas

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Any project faces delays and disruptions especially the mega/complex projects of today, with many interfaces. Proving delay and/or disruption is not an easy task and it is a time consuming process especially in the mega/complex projects with thousands of activities, lots of details and interfaces with the involvement of many stakeholders. The different methods that are used to prove delays, as explained in industry standards and handbooks, are theoretical and could be applied in the small simple projects with few numbers of activities but the same methods cannot easily be applied on mega/complex projects. Proving delays in mega/complex projects, whose schedules contain thousands of activities with many interfaces and lot of causes for delay and disruption is a complicated process and involves lots of details. When any degree of complexity in the project is examined, it becomes more difficult for the project team to record the delays and disruption events properly because they are always busy dealing with the site issues and other project pressures. In order for the contractors to be successful, a time extension claim or disruption claims should adequately establish causation and liability and assist in demonstrating the extend of time-related damages experienced as a direct result of the delay events relied upon. The process of recording the delays and disruption is a dynamic process and needs continuous involvement from the planning team with the support from all other departments.

Identification of Swallowing Tasks from a Modified Barium Swallow Study That Optimize the Detection of Physiological Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Hazelwood, R. Jordan; Armeson, Kent E.; Hill, Elizabeth G.; Bonilha, Heather Shaw; Martin-Harris, Bonnie

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify which swallowing task(s) yielded the worst performance during a standardized modified barium swallow study (MBSS) in order to optimize the detection of swallowing impairment. Method: This secondary data analysis of adult MBSSs estimated the probability of each swallowing task yielding the derived…

Children's Task Engagement during Challenging Puzzle Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Feihong; Algina, James; Snyder, Patricia; Cox, Martha

2017-01-01

We examined children's task engagement during a challenging puzzle task in the presence of their primary caregivers by using a representative sample of rural children from six high-poverty counties across two states. Weighted longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to identify a task engagement factor…

Modularization and nuclear power. Report by the Technology Transfer Modularization Task Team

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-06-01

This report describes the results of the work performed by the Technology Transfer Task Team on Modularization. This work was performed as part of the Technology Transfer work being performed under Department of Energy Contract 54-7WM-335406, between December, 1984 and February, 1985. The purpose of this task team effort was to briefly survey the current use of modularization in the nuclear and non-nuclear industries and to assess and evaluate the techniques available for potential application to nuclear power. A key conclusion of the evaluation was that there was a need for a study to establish guidelines for the future development of Light Water Reactor, High Temperature Gas Reactor and Liquid Metal Reactor plants. The guidelines should identify how modularization can improve construction, maintenance, life extension and decommissioning

Extension of the self-consistent-charge density-functional tight-binding method: third-order expansion of the density functional theory total energy and introduction of a modified effective coulomb interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yang; Yu, Haibo; York, Darrin; Cui, Qiang; Elstner, Marcus

2007-10-25

The standard self-consistent-charge density-functional-tight-binding (SCC-DFTB) method (Phys. Rev. B 1998, 58, 7260) is derived by a second-order expansion of the density functional theory total energy expression, followed by an approximation of the charge density fluctuations by charge monopoles and an effective damped Coulomb interaction between the atomic net charges. The central assumptions behind this effective charge-charge interaction are the inverse relation of atomic size and chemical hardness and the use of a fixed chemical hardness parameter independent of the atomic charge state. While these approximations seem to be unproblematic for many covalently bound systems, they are quantitatively insufficient for hydrogen-bonding interactions and (anionic) molecules with localized net charges. Here, we present an extension of the SCC-DFTB method to incorporate third-order terms in the charge density fluctuations, leading to chemical hardness parameters that are dependent on the atomic charge state and a modification of the Coulomb scaling to improve the electrostatic treatment within the second-order terms. These modifications lead to a significant improvement in the description of hydrogen-bonding interactions and proton affinities of biologically relevant molecules.

Computational issues in alternating projection algorithms for fixed-order control design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beran, Eric Bengt; Grigoriadis, K.

1997-01-01

Alternating projection algorithms have been introduced recently to solve fixed-order controller design problems described by linear matrix inequalities and non-convex coupling rank constraints. In this work, an extensive numerical experimentation using proposed benchmark fixed-order control design...... examples is used to indicate the computational efficiency of the method. These results indicate that the proposed alternating projections are effective in obtaining low-order controllers for small and medium order problems...

Ordered cones and approximation

CERN Document Server

Keimel, Klaus

1992-01-01

This book presents a unified approach to Korovkin-type approximation theorems. It includes classical material on the approximation of real-valuedfunctions as well as recent and new results on set-valued functions and stochastic processes, and on weighted approximation. The results are notonly of qualitative nature, but include quantitative bounds on the order of approximation. The book is addressed to researchers in functional analysis and approximation theory as well as to those that want to applythese methods in other fields. It is largely self- contained, but the readershould have a solid background in abstract functional analysis. The unified approach is based on a new notion of locally convex ordered cones that are not embeddable in vector spaces but allow Hahn-Banach type separation and extension theorems. This concept seems to be of independent interest.

Environmental task for energy utilities. Reporting and supervision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

According to the Dutch Energy Distribution Law one of the tasks of energy distribution companies is to stimulate the efficient and environment-friendly use of energy. In order to be able to carry out this legal environmental task energy distribution companies can make use of a specific percentage of the energy tariff. The conditions are formulated in the so-called Environmental Action Plan (MAP, abbreviated in Dutch). The General Auditor in the Netherlands carried out an investigation into the public reporting activities of energy distribution companies with respect to the fore-mentioned legal task and supervision of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs in 1997. It is concluded that the supervision of the Ministry shows several inadequacies and that other interested parties would benefit from an improved reporting by the energy distribution companies. The first recommendation (to improve the supervision) is adopted by the Ministry. There is disagreement between the General Auditor and the Association of Energy Distribution Companies (EnergieNed) on the second recommendation. 9 refs

Dual-task training effects on motor and cognitive functional abilities in individuals with stroke: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Ying; Yang, Lei; Zhou, Jing; Yao, Liqing; Pang, Marco Yiu Chung

2018-02-01

This systematic review aimed to examine the effects of dual-task balance and mobility training in people with stroke. An extensive electronic databases literature search was conducted using MEDLINE, PubMed, EBSCO, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and Wiley Online Library. Randomized controlled studies that assessed the effects of dual-task training in stroke patients were included for the review (last search in December 2017). The methodological quality was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration recommendation, and level of evidence was determined according to the criteria described by the Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Medicine. About 13 articles involving 457 participants were included in this systematic review. All had substantial risk of bias and thus provided level IIb evidence only. Dual-task mobility training was found to induce more improvement in single-task walking function (standardized effect size = 0.14-2.24), when compared with single-task mobility training. Its effect on dual-task walking function was not consistent. Cognitive-motor balance training was effective in improving single-task balance function (standardized effect size = 0.27-1.82), but its effect on dual-task balance ability was not studied. The beneficial effect of dual-task training on cognitive function was provided by one study only and thus inconclusive. There is some evidence that dual-task training can improve single-task walking and balance function in individuals with stroke. However, any firm recommendation cannot be made due to the weak methodology of the studies reviewed.

Authentic Assessment: An Extensive Literary Review and Recommendations for Administrators.

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Pamela; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

This paper provides an extensive literature review and recommendations for authentic assessment, and then provides recommendations for administrators in order to implement authentic assessment in elementary schools. A lack of comfort, with the way in which standardized tests seems to dictate what teachers teach as part of the curriculum, was a…

DDH-Like Assumptions Based on Extension Rings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cramer, Ronald; Damgård, Ivan Bjerre; Kiltz, Eike

2012-01-01

We introduce and study a new type of DDH-like assumptions based on groups of prime order q. Whereas standard DDH is based on encoding elements of $\\mathbb{F}_{q}$ “in the exponent” of elements in the group, we ask what happens if instead we put in the exponent elements of the extension ring $R_f=......-Reingold style pseudorandom functions, and auxiliary input secure encryption. This can be seen as an alternative to the known family of k-LIN assumptions....

The effects of 2 landing techniques on knee kinematics, kinetics, and performance during stop-jump and side-cutting tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Boyi; Garrett, William E; Gross, Michael T; Padua, Darin A; Queen, Robin M; Yu, Bing

2015-02-01

Anterior cruciate ligament injuries (ACL) commonly occur during jump landing and cutting tasks. Attempts to land softly and land with greater knee flexion are associated with decreased ACL loading. However, their effects on performance are unclear. Attempts to land softly will decrease peak posterior ground-reaction force (PPGRF) and knee extension moment at PPGRF compared with a natural landing during stop-jump and side-cutting tasks. Attempts to land with greater knee flexion at initial ground contact will increase knee flexion at PPGRF compared with a natural landing during both tasks. In addition, both landing techniques will increase stance time and lower extremity mechanical work as well as decrease jump height and movement speed compared with a natural landing during both tasks. Controlled laboratory study. A total of 18 male and 18 female recreational athletes participated in the study. Three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data were collected during stop-jump and side-cutting tasks under 3 conditions: natural landing, soft landing, and landing with greater knee flexion at initial ground contact. Attempts to land softly decreased PPGRF and knee extension moment at PPGRF compared with a natural landing during stop-jump tasks. Attempts to land softly decreased PPGRF compared with a natural landing during side-cutting tasks. Attempts to land with greater knee flexion at initial ground contact increased knee flexion angle at PPGRF compared with a natural landing during both stop-jump and side-cutting tasks. Attempts to land softly and land with greater knee flexion at initial ground contact increased stance time and lower extremity mechanical work, as well as decreased jump height and movement speed during both stop-jump and side-cutting tasks. Although landing softly and landing with greater knee flexion at initial ground contact may reduce ACL loading during stop-jump and side-cutting tasks, the performance of these tasks decreased, as indicated by

Factors Considered by Elementary Teachers When Developing and Modifying Mathematical Tasks to Support Children's Mathematical Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

Fredenberg, Michael Duane

The idea that problems and tasks play a pivotal role in a mathematics lesson has a long standing in mathematics education research. Recent calls for teaching reform appeal for training teachers to better understand how students learn mathematics and to employ students' mathematical thinking as the basis for pedagogy (CCSSM, 2010; NCTM, 2000; NRC 1999). The teaching practices of (a) developing a task for a mathematics lesson and, (b) modifying the task for students while enacting the lesson fit within the scope of supporting students' mathematical thinking. Surprisingly, an extensive search of the literature did not yield any research aimed to identify and refine the constituent parts of the aforementioned teaching practices in the manner called for by Grossman and xiii colleagues (2009). Consequently, my research addresses the two questions: (a) what factors do exemplary elementary teachers consider when developing a task for a mathematics lesson? (b) what factors do they consider when they modify a task for a student when enacting a lesson? I conducted a multiple case study involving three elementary teachers, each with extensive training in the area of Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), as well as several years experience teaching mathematics following the principles of CGI (Carpenter et al., 1999). I recorded video of three mathematics lessons with each participant and after each lesson I conducted a semi-structured stimulated recall interview. A subsequent follow-up clinical interview was conducted soon thereafter to further explore the teacher's thoughts (Ginsberg, 1997). In addition, my methodology included interjecting myself at select times during a lesson to ask the teacher to explain her reasoning. Qualitative analysis led to a framework that identified four categories of influencing factors and seven categories of supporting objectives for the development of a task. Subsets of these factors and objectives emerged as particularly relevant when the

Significant Tasks in Training of Job-Shop Supervisors

Science.gov (United States)

Pederson, Leonard S.; Dresdow, Sally; Benson, Joy

2013-01-01

Purpose: The need for effective training of first-line supervisors is well established. Well-trained supervision is essential to our future as a country. A fundamental step in developing effective training is to develop a jobs needs assessment. In order to develop an effective needs assessment, it is necessary to know what the tasks are of…

Hybrid and dependent task scheduling algorithm for on-board system software

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

魏振华; 洪炳熔; 乔永强; 蔡则苏; 彭俊杰

2003-01-01

In order to solve the hybrid and dependent task scheduling and critical source allocation problems, atask scheduling algorithm has been developed by first presenting the tasks, and then describing the hybrid anddependent scheduling algorithm and deriving the predictable schedulability condition. The performance of thisagorithm was evaluated through simulation, and it is concluded from the evaluation results that the hybrid taskscheduling subalgorithm based on the comparison factor can be used to solve the problem of aperiodic task beingblocked by periodic task in the traditional operating system for a very long time, which results in poor schedu-ling predictability; and the resource allocation subalgorithm based on schedulability analysis can be used tosolve the problems of critical section conflict, ceiling blocking and priority inversion; and the scheduling algo-rithm is nearest optimal when the abortable critical section is 0.6.

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.

Teaching problem solving using non-routine tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Chong, Maureen Siew Fang; Shahrill, Masitah; Putri, Ratu Ilma Indra; Zulkardi

2018-04-01

Non-routine problems are related to real-life context and require some realistic considerations and real-world knowledge in order to resolve them. This study examines several activity tasks incorporated with non-routine problems through the use of an emerging mathematics framework, at two junior colleges in Brunei Darussalam. The three sampled teachers in this study assisted in selecting the topics and the lesson plan designs. They also recommended the development of the four activity tasks: incorporating the use of technology; simulation of a reality television show; designing real-life sized car park spaces for the school; and a classroom activity to design a real-life sized dustpan. Data collected from all four of the activity tasks were analyzed based on the students' group work. The findings revealed that the most effective activity task in teaching problem solving was to design a real-life sized car park. This was because the use of real data gave students the opportunity to explore, gather information and give or receive feedback on the effect of their reasons and proposed solutions. The second most effective activity task was incorporating the use of technology as it enhanced the students' understanding of the concepts learnt in the classroom. This was followed by the classroom activity that used real data as it allowed students to work and assess the results mathematically. The simulation of a television show was found to be the least effective since it was viewed as not sufficiently challenging to the students.

Search-Order Independent State Caching

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Evangelista, Sami; Kristensen, Lars Michael

2009-01-01

State caching is a memory reduction technique used by model checkers to alleviate the state explosion problem. It has traditionally been coupled with a depth-first search to ensure termination.We propose and experimentally evaluate an extension of the state caching method for general state...... exploring algorithms that are independent of the search order (i.e., search algorithms that partition the state space into closed (visited) states, open (to visit) states and unmet states)....

Order short-term memory is not specifically impaired in dyslexia and does not affect orthographic learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva eStaels

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This article reports two studies that investigate short-term memory (STM deficits in dyslexic children and explores the relationship between short-term memory and reading acquisition. In the first experiment, thirty-six dyslexic children and sixty-one control children performed an item STM task and a serial order STM task. The results of this experiment show that dyslexic children do not suffer from a specific serial order STM deficit. In addition, the results demonstrate that phonological processing skills are as closely related to both item STM and serial order STM. However, nonverbal intelligence was more strongly involved in serial order STM than in item STM. In the second experiment, the same two STM tasks were administered and reading acquisition was assessed by measuring orthographic learning in a group of one hundred and eighty-eight children. The results of this study show that orthographic learning is exclusively related to item STM and not to order STM. It is concluded that serial order STM is not the right place to look for a causal explanation of reading disability, nor for differences in word reading acquisition.

Differences in common psychoacoustical tasks by sex, menstrual cycle, and race.

Science.gov (United States)

McFadden, Dennis; Pasanen, Edward G; Maloney, Mindy M; Leshikar, Erin M; Pho, Michelle H

2018-04-01

The psychoacoustical literature contains multiple reports about small differences in performance depending upon the sex and phase of the menstrual cycle of the subjects. In an attempt to verify these past reports, a large-scale study was implemented. After extensive training, the performance of about 75 listeners was measured on seven common psychoacoustical tasks. For most tasks, the signal was a 3.0-kHz tone. The initial data analyses failed to confirm some past outcomes. Additional analyses, incorporating the limited information available about the racial background of the listeners, did confirm some of the past reports, with the direction and magnitude of the differences often diverging for the White and Non-White listeners. Sex differences and race differences interacted for six of the seven tasks studied. These interactions suggest that racial background needs to be considered when making generalizations about human auditory performance, and when considering failures of reproducibility across studies. Menstrual differences were small, but generally larger for Whites than Non-Whites. Hormonal effects may be responsible for the sex and cycle differences that do exist, and differences in intra-cochlear melanocytes may account for the race differences.

Task-related component analysis for functional neuroimaging and application to near-infrared spectroscopy data.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Hirokazu; Katura, Takusige; Sato, Hiroki

2013-01-01

Reproducibility of experimental results lies at the heart of scientific disciplines. Here we propose a signal processing method that extracts task-related components by maximizing the reproducibility during task periods from neuroimaging data. Unlike hypothesis-driven methods such as general linear models, no specific time courses are presumed, and unlike data-driven approaches such as independent component analysis, no arbitrary interpretation of components is needed. Task-related components are constructed by a linear, weighted sum of multiple time courses, and its weights are optimized so as to maximize inter-block correlations (CorrMax) or covariances (CovMax). Our analysis method is referred to as task-related component analysis (TRCA). The covariance maximization is formulated as a Rayleigh-Ritz eigenvalue problem, and corresponding eigenvectors give candidates of task-related components. In addition, a systematic statistical test based on eigenvalues is proposed, so task-related and -unrelated components are classified objectively and automatically. The proposed test of statistical significance is found to be independent of the degree of autocorrelation in data if the task duration is sufficiently longer than the temporal scale of autocorrelation, so TRCA can be applied to data with autocorrelation without any modification. We demonstrate that simple extensions of TRCA can provide most distinctive signals for two tasks and can integrate multiple modalities of information to remove task-unrelated artifacts. TRCA was successfully applied to synthetic data as well as near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) data of finger tapping. There were two statistically significant task-related components; one was a hemodynamic response, and another was a piece-wise linear time course. In summary, we conclude that TRCA has a wide range of applications in multi-channel biophysical and behavioral measurements. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Asynchronous Task-Based Polar Decomposition on Single Node Manycore Architectures

KAUST Repository

Sukkari, Dalal E.; Ltaief, Hatem; Faverge, Mathieu; Keyes, David E.

2017-01-01

This paper introduces the first asynchronous, task-based formulation of the polar decomposition and its corresponding implementation on manycore architectures. Based on a formulation of the iterative QR dynamically-weighted Halley algorithm (QDWH) for the calculation of the polar decomposition, the proposed implementation replaces the original LU factorization for the condition number estimator by the more adequate QR factorization to enable software portability across various architectures. Relying on fine-grained computations, the novel task-based implementation is capable of taking advantage of the identity structure of the matrix involved during the QDWH iterations, which decreases the overall algorithmic complexity. Furthermore, the artifactual synchronization points have been weakened compared to previous implementations, unveiling look-ahead opportunities for better hardware occupancy. The overall QDWH-based polar decomposition can then be represented as a directed acyclic graph (DAG), where nodes represent computational tasks and edges define the inter-task data dependencies. The StarPU dynamic runtime system is employed to traverse the DAG, to track the various data dependencies and to asynchronously schedule the computational tasks on the underlying hardware resources, resulting in an out-of-order task scheduling. Benchmarking experiments show significant improvements against existing state-of-the-art high performance implementations for the polar decomposition on latest shared-memory vendors' systems, while maintaining numerical accuracy.

Asynchronous Task-Based Polar Decomposition on Single Node Manycore Architectures

KAUST Repository

Sukkari, Dalal E.

2017-09-29

This paper introduces the first asynchronous, task-based formulation of the polar decomposition and its corresponding implementation on manycore architectures. Based on a formulation of the iterative QR dynamically-weighted Halley algorithm (QDWH) for the calculation of the polar decomposition, the proposed implementation replaces the original LU factorization for the condition number estimator by the more adequate QR factorization to enable software portability across various architectures. Relying on fine-grained computations, the novel task-based implementation is capable of taking advantage of the identity structure of the matrix involved during the QDWH iterations, which decreases the overall algorithmic complexity. Furthermore, the artifactual synchronization points have been weakened compared to previous implementations, unveiling look-ahead opportunities for better hardware occupancy. The overall QDWH-based polar decomposition can then be represented as a directed acyclic graph (DAG), where nodes represent computational tasks and edges define the inter-task data dependencies. The StarPU dynamic runtime system is employed to traverse the DAG, to track the various data dependencies and to asynchronously schedule the computational tasks on the underlying hardware resources, resulting in an out-of-order task scheduling. Benchmarking experiments show significant improvements against existing state-of-the-art high performance implementations for the polar decomposition on latest shared-memory vendors\\' systems, while maintaining numerical accuracy.

Effects of Task Complexity, Task Conditions, and Task Difficulty on the Grammatical Accuracy of EFL Learners in Written Discourse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeideh Ahangari

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Different methods of language teaching have tried to help EFL learners to develop good language skills based on their various perspectives. Research findings have underscored the effect of using task types in promoting language skills in terms of accuracy in written discourse. Therefore, this study set out to investigate whether there is an evidence of correct use of simple past tense (Accuracy based on Task Complexity (Task type :Here-and now & There-and-then,Task Conditions (Gender: Male & Female, and Task Difficulty (Proficiency: Lower-intermediate & Intermediate. Sixty Iranian English learners in a language institute participated in the study and were assigned to four groups of lower-intermediate male, lower-intermediate female, intermediate male and intermediate female. Initial homogeneity of the groups was verified using two general proficiency tests; KET for lower-intermediate and PET for intermediate. All groups in here-and-now task type were asked to write a story using simple past based on a picture strip while for there-and-then task type the participants were supposed to write about their last birthday. The results from paired samples t-test, independent samples t-test and two-way ANOVA analysis of the written data revealed significant differences in performing task types, at different proficiency levels and interaction between them. The findings have significant pedagogical implications for EFL learners to understand the relationship among Task Complexity,Task Conditions, Task Difficulty and L2 written production leading to various degrees of Accuracy.

Cooperative Extension as a Framework for Health Extension: The Michigan State University Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Dwyer, Jeffrey W; Contreras, Dawn; Eschbach, Cheryl L; Tiret, Holly; Newkirk, Cathy; Carter, Erin; Cronk, Linda

2017-10-01

The Affordable Care Act charged the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to create the Primary Care Extension Program, but did not fund this effort. The idea to work through health extension agents to support health care delivery systems was based on the nationally known Cooperative Extension System (CES). Instead of creating new infrastructure in health care, the CES is an ideal vehicle for increasing health-related research and primary care delivery. The CES, a long-standing component of the land-grant university system, features a sustained infrastructure for providing education to communities. The Michigan State University (MSU) Model of Health Extension offers another means of developing a National Primary Care Extension Program that is replicable in part because of the presence of the CES throughout the United States. A partnership between the MSU College of Human Medicine and MSU Extension formed in 2014, emphasizing the promotion and support of human health research. The MSU Model of Health Extension includes the following strategies: building partnerships, preparing MSU Extension educators for participation in research, increasing primary care patient referrals and enrollment in health programs, and exploring innovative funding. Since the formation of the MSU Model of Health Extension, researchers and extension professionals have made 200+ connections, and grants have afforded savings in salary costs. The MSU College of Human Medicine and MSU Extension partnership can serve as a model to promote health partnerships nationwide between CES services within land-grant universities and academic health centers or community-based medical schools.

A survey on the task analysis methods and techniques for nuclear power plant operators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Yong Heui; Chun, Se Woo; Suh, Sang Moon; Lee, Jung Woon [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1994-04-01

We have surveyed techniques and methods of task analysis from very traditional ones to recently developed ones that are being applicated to various industrial fields. We compare each other and analyse their fundamental characteristics and methodological specification in order to find a proper one enough to apply to nuclear power plant operators tasks. Generally, the fundamental process of task analyses has well been understandable, but its process of application in practice has not been so simple due to the wide and varying range of applications according to specific domain. Operators` tasks in NPPs are supposed to be performed strictly according to operational procedures written in a text and well trained, so the method of task analysis for operators` tasks in NPPs can be established to have its unique characteristics of task analysis based on the operational procedures. 8 figs., 10 tabs., 18 refs. (Author).

A survey on the task analysis methods and techniques for nuclear power plant operators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Yong Heui; Chun, Se Woo; Suh, Sang Moon; Lee, Jung Woon

1994-04-01

We have surveyed techniques and methods of task analysis from very traditional ones to recently developed ones that are being applicated to various industrial fields. We compare each other and analyse their fundamental characteristics and methodological specification in order to find a proper one enough to apply to nuclear power plant operators tasks. Generally, the fundamental process of task analyses has well been understandable, but its process of application in practice has not been so simple due to the wide and varying range of applications according to specific domain. Operators' tasks in NPPs are supposed to be performed strictly according to operational procedures written in a text and well trained, so the method of task analysis for operators' tasks in NPPs can be established to have its unique characteristics of task analysis based on the operational procedures. 8 figs., 10 tabs., 18 refs. (Author)

Learning Task Knowledge from Dialog and Web Access

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vittorio Perera

2015-06-01

Full Text Available We present KnoWDiaL, an approach for Learning and using task-relevant Knowledge from human-robot Dialog and access to the Web. KnoWDiaL assumes that there is an autonomous agent that performs tasks, as requested by humans through speech. The agent needs to “understand” the request, (i.e., to fully ground the task until it can proceed to plan for and execute it. KnoWDiaL contributes such understanding by using and updating a Knowledge Base, by dialoguing with the user, and by accessing the web. We believe that KnoWDiaL, as we present it, can be applied to general autonomous agents. However, we focus on our work with our autonomous collaborative robot, CoBot, which executes service tasks in a building, moving around and transporting objects between locations. Hence, the knowledge acquired and accessed consists of groundings of language to robot actions, and building locations, persons, and objects. KnoWDiaL handles the interpretation of voice commands, is robust regarding speech recognition errors, and is able to learn commands involving referring expressions in an open domain, (i.e., without requiring a lexicon. We present in detail the multiple components of KnoWDiaL, namely a frame-semantic parser, a probabilistic grounding model, a web-based predicate evaluator, a dialog manager, and the weighted predicate-based Knowledge Base. We illustrate the knowledge access and updates from the dialog and Web access, through detailed and complete examples. We further evaluate the correctness of the predicate instances learned into the Knowledge Base, and show the increase in dialog efficiency as a function of the number of interactions. We have extensively and successfully used KnoWDiaL in CoBot dialoguing and accessing the Web, and extract a few corresponding example sequences from captured videos.

The Regulation of Task Performance: A Trans-disciplinary Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian eClark

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Definitions of meta-cognition typically have two components: (1 knowledge about one’s own cognitive functioning; and, (2 control over one’s own cognitive activities. Since Flavell and his colleagues provided the empirical foundation on which to build studies of metacognition and the autonoetic (self knowledge required for effective learning, the intervening years have seen the extensive dissemination of theoretical and empirical research on metacognition, which now encompasses a variety of issues and domains including educational psychology and neuroscience. Nevertheless, the psychological and neural underpinnings of metacognitive predictions and reflections that determine subsequent regulation of task performance remain ill understood. This article provides an outline of metacognition in the science of education with evidence drawn from neuroimaging, psycho-physiological, and psychological literature. We will rigorously explore research that addresses the pivotal role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC in controlling the metacognitive processes that underpin the self-regulated learning (SRL strategies learners employ to regulate task performance. The article delineates what those strategies are, and how the learning environment can facilitate or frustrate strategy use by influencing learners’ self-efficacy.

Walking modality, but not task difficulty, influences the control of dual-task walking.

Science.gov (United States)

Wrightson, J G; Smeeton, N J

2017-10-01

During dual-task gait, changes in the stride-to-stride variability of stride time (STV) are suggested to represent the allocation of cognitive control to walking [1]. However, contrasting effects have been reported for overground and treadmill walking, which may be due to differences in the relative difficulty of the dual task. Here we compared the effect of overground and treadmill dual-task walking on STV in 18 healthy adults. Participants walked overground and on a treadmill for 120s during single-task (walking only) and dual-task (walking whilst performing serial subtractions in sevens) conditions. Dual-task effects on STV, cognitive task (serial subtraction) performance and perceived task difficulty were compared between walking modalities. STV was increased during overground dual-task walking, but was unchanged during treadmill dual-task walking. There were no differences in cognitive task performance or perceived task difficulty. These results show that gait is controlled differently during overground and treadmill dual-task walking. However, these differences are not solely due to differences in task difficulty, and may instead represent modality dependent control strategies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Designing and application of SAN extension interface based on CWDM