Evolutionarily Conserved, Multitasking TRP Channels: Lessons from Worms and Flies

PubMed Central

Venkatachalam, Kartik; Luo, Junjie; Montell, Craig

2015-01-01

The Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channel family is comprised of a large group of cation-permeable channels, which display an extraordinary diversity of roles in sensory signaling. TRPs allow animals to detect chemicals, mechanical force, light, and changes in temperature. Consequently, these channels control a plethora of animal behaviors. Moreover, their functions are not limited to the classical senses, as they are cellular sensors, which are critical for ionic homeostasis and metabolism. Two genetically tractable invertebrate model organisms, Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster, have led the way in revealing a wide array of sensory roles and behaviors that depend on TRP channels. Two overriding themes have emerged from these studies. First, TRPs are multitasking proteins, and second, many functions and modes of activation of these channels are evolutionarily conserved, including some that were formerly thought to be unique to invertebrates, such as phototransduction. Thus, worms and flies offer the potential to decipher roles for mammalian TRPs, which would otherwise not be suspected. PMID:24961975

A comparison of three approaches for simulating fine-scale surface winds in support of wildland fire management. Part II. An exploratory study of the effect of simulated winds on fire growth simulations

Treesearch

Jason M. Forthofer; Bret W. Butler; Charles W. McHugh; Mark A. Finney; Larry S. Bradshaw; Richard D. Stratton; Kyle S. Shannon; Natalie S. Wagenbrenner

2014-01-01

The effect of fine-resolution wind simulations on fire growth simulations is explored. The wind models are (1) a wind field consisting of constant speed and direction applied everywhere over the area of interest; (2) a tool based on the solution of the conservation of mass only (termed mass-conserving model) and (3) a tool based on a solution of conservation of mass...

Scientific and social challenges for the management of fire-prone wildland-urban interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gill, A. Malcolm; Stephens, Scott L.

2009-09-01

At their worst, fires at the rural-urban or wildland-urban interface cause tragic loss of human lives and homes, but mitigating these fire effects through management elicits many social and scientific challenges. This paper addresses four interconnected management challenges posed by socially disastrous landscape fires. The issues concern various assets (particularly houses, human life and biodiversity), fuel treatments, and fire and human behaviours. The topics considered are: 'asset protection zones'; 'defensible space' and urban fire spread in relation to house ignition and loss; 'stay-or-go' policy and the prediction of time available for safe egress and the possible conflict between the creation of defensible space and wildland management objectives. The first scientific challenge is to model the effective width of an asset protection zone of an urban area. The second is to consider the effect of vegetation around a house, potentially defensible space, on fire arrival at the structure. The third scientific challenge is to present stakeholders with accurate information on rates of spread, and where the fire front is located, so as to allow them to plan safe egress or preparation time in their particular circumstances. The fourth scientific challenge is to be able to predict the effects of fires on wildland species composition. Associated with each scientific challenge is a social challenge: for the first two scientific challenges the social challenge is to co-ordinate fuel management within and between the urban and rural or wildland sides of the interface. For the third scientific challenge, the social challenge is to be aware of, and appropriately use, fire danger information so that the potential for safe egress from a home can be estimated most accurately. Finally, the fourth social challenge is to for local residents of wildland-urban interfaces with an interest in biodiversity conservation to understand the effects of fire regimes on biodiversity, thereby assisting hard-pressed wildland managers to make informed choices.

The effects of urbanization on population density, occupancy, and detection probability of wild felids.

PubMed

Lewis, Jesse S; Logan, Kenneth A; Alldredge, Mat W; Bailey, Larissa L; VandeWoude, Sue; Crooks, Kevin R

2015-10-01

Urbanization is a primary driver of landscape conversion, with far-reaching effects on landscape pattern and process, particularly related to the population characteristics of animals. Urbanization can alter animal movement and habitat quality, both of which can influence population abundance and persistence. We evaluated three important population characteristics (population density, site occupancy, and species detection probability) of a medium-sized and a large carnivore across varying levels of urbanization. Specifically, we studied bobcat and puma populations across wildland, exurban development, and wildland-urban interface (WUI) sampling grids to test hypotheses evaluating how urbanization affects wild felid populations and their prey. Exurban development appeared to have a greater impact on felid populations than did habitat adjacent to a major urban area (i.e., WUI); estimates of population density for both bobcats and pumas were lower in areas of exurban development compared to wildland areas, whereas population density was similar between WUI and wildland habitat. Bobcats and pumas were less likely to be detected in habitat as the amount of human disturbance associated with residential development increased at a site, which was potentially related to reduced habitat quality resulting from urbanization. However, occupancy of both felids was similar between grids in both study areas, indicating that this population metric was less sensitive than density. At the scale of the sampling grid, detection probability for bobcats in urbanized habitat was greater than in wildland areas, potentially due to restrictive movement corridors and funneling of animal movements in landscapes influenced by urbanization. Occupancy of important felid prey (cottontail rabbits and mule deer) was similar across levels of urbanization, although elk occupancy was lower in urbanized areas. Our study indicates that the conservation of medium- and large-sized felids associated with urbanization likely will be most successful if large areas of wildland habitat are maintained, even in close proximity to urban areas, and wildland habitat is not converted to low-density residential development.

Cougar space use and movements in the wildland-urban landscape of western Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kertson, B.N.; Spencer, R.D.; Marzluff, J.M.; Hepinstall-Cymerman, Jeffrey; Grue, C.E.

2011-01-01

The wildland-urban interface lies at the confluence of human-dominated and wild landscapes, creating a number of management and conservation challenges. Because wildlife ecology, behavior, and evolution at this interface are shaped by both natural and human phenomena, this requires greater understanding of how diverse factors affect ecosystem and population processes. We illustrate the challenge of understanding and managing a frequent and often undesired inhabitant of the wildland-urban landscape, the cougar (Puma concolor). In wildland and residential areas of western Washington State, USA, we captured and radiotracked 27 cougars to model space use and understand the role of landscape features in interactions (sightings, encounters, and depredations) between cougars and humans. Resource utilization functions (RUFs) identified cougar use of areas with features that were probably attractive to prey, influential on prey vulnerability, and associated with limited or no residential development. Early-successional forest (+), conifer forest (+), distance to road (-), residential density (-), and elevation (-) were significant positive and negative predictors of use for the population, whereas use of other landscape features was highly variable. Space use and movement rates in wildland and residential areas were similar because cougars used wildland-like forest patches, reserves, and corridors in residential portions of their home range. The population RUF was a good predictor of confirmed cougar interactions, with 72% of confirmed reports occurring in the 50% of the landscape predicted to be medium-high and high cougar use areas. We believe that there is a threshold residential density at which the level of development modifies the habitat but maintains enough wildland characteristics to encourage moderate levels of cougar use and maximize the probability of interaction. Wildlife managers trying to reduce interactions between cougars and people should incorporate information on spatial ecology and landscape characteristics to identify areas with the highest overlap of human and cougar use to focus management, education, and landscape planning. Resource utilization functions provide a proactive tool to guide these activities for improved coexistence with wildlife using both wildland and residential portions of the landscape. ??2011 by the Ecological Society of America.

Forks in the road: choices in procedures for designing wildland linkages.

PubMed

Beier, Paul; Majka, Daniel R; Spencer, Wayne D

2008-08-01

Models are commonly used to identify lands that will best maintain the ability of wildlife to move between wildland blocks through matrix lands after the remaining matrix has become incompatible with wildlife movement. We offer a roadmap of 16 choices and assumptions that arise in designing linkages to facilitate movement or gene flow of focal species between 2 or more predefined wildland blocks. We recommend designing linkages to serve multiple (rather than one) focal species likely to serve as a collective umbrella for all native species and ecological processes, explicitly acknowledging untested assumptions, and using uncertainty analysis to illustrate potential effects of model uncertainty. Such uncertainty is best displayed to stakeholders as maps of modeled linkages under different assumptions. We also recommend modeling corridor dwellers (species that require more than one generation to move their genes between wildland blocks) differently from passage species (for which an individual can move between wildland blocks within a few weeks). We identify a problem, which we call the subjective translation problem, that arises because the analyst must subjectively decide how to translate measurements of resource selection into resistance. This problem can be overcome by estimating resistance from observations of animal movement, genetic distances, or interpatch movements. There is room for substantial improvement in the procedures used to design linkages robust to climate change and in tools that allow stakeholders to compare an optimal linkage design to alternative designs that minimize costs or achieve other conservation goals.

The importance of resident environmental awareness in conservation of urban wildlife populations

EPA Science Inventory

The proximity of humans and wildlife to each other along the wildland-urban interface results in constant potential conflict between human activity and wildlife populations. Since 2002, California biologists have observed a drastic increase in carnivore mortalities that are asso...

Media multitasking and implicit learning.

PubMed

Edwards, Kathleen S; Shin, Myoungju

2017-07-01

Media multitasking refers to the simultaneous use of different forms of media. Previous research comparing heavy media multitaskers and light media multitaskers suggests that heavy media multitaskers have a broader scope of attention. The present study explored whether these differences in attentional scope would lead to a greater degree of implicit learning for heavy media multitaskers. The study also examined whether media multitasking behaviour is associated with differences in visual working memory, and whether visual working memory differentially affects the ability to process contextual information. In addition to comparing extreme groups (heavy and light media multitaskers) the study included analysis of people who media multitask in moderation (intermediate media multitaskers). Ninety-four participants were divided into groups based on responses to the media use questionnaire, and completed the contextual cueing and n-back tasks. Results indicated that the speed at which implicit learning occurred was slower in heavy media multitaskers relative to both light and intermediate media multitaskers. There was no relationship between working memory performance and media multitasking group, and no relationship between working memory and implicit learning. There was also no evidence for superior performance of intermediate media multitaskers. A deficit in implicit learning observed in heavy media multitaskers is consistent with previous literature, which suggests that heavy media multitaskers perform more poorly than light media multitaskers in attentional tasks due to their wider attentional scope.

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

PubMed

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 Multitasks on Smartphones? Smartphone Multitaskers' Motivations and Personality Traits.

PubMed

Lim, Sohye; Shim, Hongjin

2016-03-01

This study aimed to explore the psychological determinants of smartphone multitasking. Smartphone multitasking comprises the following three different subtypes: multitasking with nonmedia activities, cross-media multitasking with nonsmartphone media, and single-device multitasking within the smartphone. The primary motivations for smartphone multitasking were first identified--efficiency, utility, and positive affect--and the ways in which they are associated with the three subtypes were examined; among the primary motivations, efficiency and positive affect predicted the degree of total smartphone-multitasking behavior. The personality traits that are pertinent to all of the primary motivations--need for cognition (NFC) and sensation seeking (SS)--were also investigated. Further analyses revealed that the motivations for and the extent of smartphone multitasking can vary as functions of a user's NFC and SS. In this study, NFC was not only a meaningful predictor of the cognitive needs that drive smartphone multitasking but also increased the likelihood of multitasking through its interaction with SS.

Leisure Today: Equity Issues in Leisure Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dustin, Daniel L., Ed.; And Others

1990-01-01

Seven articles on equity issues in leisure services focus on conservation for the future, resource allocation inequities in wildland recreation, leisure services for people of color and people with disabilities, serving all children in community recreation, women and leisure services, and equity in public sector resource allocations. (JD)

Landscape-level changes

Treesearch

A. Joel Frandsen

2008-01-01

Since European settlement, Utah?s vegetative landscapes have changed. Like other arid states, these wildland systems were depleted and altered. Certain steps were taken through private, community, and finally public efforts, such as establishment of Forest Reserves (National Forests), to stop the slide. Conservation and management actions were taken to restore,...

76 FR 21272 - Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; Applicability to the National Forests in Colorado

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-15

... roads for fuels treatment and for ecosystem maintenance and restoration, but these are restricted to..., the tree cutting exceptions for fuel treatment and ecosystem maintenance and restoration are... term hazardous fuels has been added. Hazardous fuels are defined as excessive live or dead wildland...

Cognitive predictors of a common multitasking ability: Contributions from working memory, attention control, and fluid intelligence.

PubMed

Redick, Thomas S; Shipstead, Zach; Meier, Matthew E; Montroy, Janelle J; Hicks, Kenny L; Unsworth, Nash; Kane, Michael J; Hambrick, D Zachary; Engle, Randall W

2016-11-01

Previous research has identified several cognitive abilities that are important for multitasking, but few studies have attempted to measure a general multitasking ability using a diverse set of multitasks. In the final dataset, 534 young adult subjects completed measures of working memory (WM), attention control, fluid intelligence, and multitasking. Correlations, hierarchical regression analyses, confirmatory factor analyses, structural equation models, and relative weight analyses revealed several key findings. First, although the complex tasks used to assess multitasking differed greatly in their task characteristics and demands, a coherent construct specific to multitasking ability was identified. Second, the cognitive ability predictors accounted for substantial variance in the general multitasking construct, with WM and fluid intelligence accounting for the most multitasking variance compared to attention control. Third, the magnitude of the relationships among the cognitive abilities and multitasking varied as a function of the complexity and structure of the various multitasks assessed. Finally, structural equation models based on a multifaceted model of WM indicated that attention control and capacity fully mediated the WM and multitasking relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Modeling the effects of vegetation heterogeneity on wildland fire behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atchley, A. L.; Linn, R.; Sieg, C.; Middleton, R. S.

2017-12-01

Vegetation structure and densities are known to drive fire-spread rate and burn severity. Many fire-spread models incorporate an average, homogenous fuel density in the model domain to drive fire behavior. However, vegetation communities are rarely homogenous and instead present significant heterogeneous structure and fuel densities in the fires path. This results in observed patches of varied burn severities and mosaics of disturbed conditions that affect ecological recovery and hydrologic response. Consequently, to understand the interactions of fire and ecosystem functions, representations of spatially heterogeneous conditions need to be incorporated into fire models. Mechanistic models of fire disturbance offer insight into how fuel load characterization and distribution result in varied fire behavior. Here we use a physically-based 3D combustion model—FIRETEC—that solves conservation of mass, momentum, energy, and chemical species to compare fire behavior on homogenous representations to a heterogeneous vegetation distribution. Results demonstrate the impact vegetation heterogeneity has on the spread rate, intensity, and extent of simulated wildfires thus providing valuable insight in predicted wildland fire evolution and enhanced ability to estimate wildland fire inputs into regional and global climate models.

Multitasking simulation: Present application and future directions.

PubMed

Adams, Traci Nicole; Rho, Jason C

2017-02-01

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education lists multi-tasking as a core competency in several medical specialties due to increasing demands on providers to manage the care of multiple patients simultaneously. Trainees often learn multitasking on the job without any formal curriculum, leading to high error rates. Multitasking simulation training has demonstrated success in reducing error rates among trainees. Studies of multitasking simulation demonstrate that this type of simulation is feasible, does not hinder the acquisition of procedural skill, and leads to better performance during subsequent periods of multitasking. Although some healthcare agencies have discouraged multitasking due to higher error rates among multitasking providers, it cannot be eliminated entirely in settings such as the emergency department in which providers care for more than one patient simultaneously. Simulation can help trainees to identify situations in which multitasking is inappropriate, while preparing them for situations in which multitasking is inevitable.

An Ozark fire history

Treesearch

Richard Guyette; Mavis Dey; Dan Dey

1999-01-01

Missouri's natural communities have been shaped by humans and wildland fires for thousands of years. In many ways, the history of fire in Missouri also is a history of human population, culture and migration. Fires caused by natural ignition, like lightning, are rare. Despite as many as 50 to 70 thunderstorm days per year, Conservation Department studies indicate...

The Golden Gate National Parks Phytophthora response plan

Treesearch

Alisa Shor; John Doyle; Sharon Farrell; Alison Forrestel; Christa Conforti; Lew Stringer; Terri Thomas; Laura Lee Sims

2017-01-01

In partnership with the California Native Nursery Network, the three agencies of the Golden Gate National Parks (National Park Service, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and Presidio Trust) hosted the Symposium, “Responding to an Expanding Threat: Exotic Phytophthora Species in Native Plant Nurseries, Restoration Plantings, and Wildlands” in...

Teaching and evaluating multitasking ability in emergency medicine residents - what is the best practice?

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Multitasking is an essential skill to develop during Emergency Medicine (EM) residency. Residents who struggle to cope in a multitasking environment risk fatigue, stress, and burnout. Improper management of interruption has been causally linked with medical errors. Formal teaching and evaluation of multitasking is often lacking in EM residency programs. This article reviewed the literature on multitasking in EM to identify best practices for teaching and evaluating multitasking amongst EM residents. With the advancement in understanding of what multitasking is, deliberate attempts should be made to teach residents pitfalls and coping strategies. This can be taught through a formal curriculum, role modeling by faculty, and simulation training. The best way to evaluate multitasking ability in residents is by direct observation. The EM Milestone Project provides a framework by which multitasking can be evaluated. EM residents should be deployed in work environments commiserate with their multitasking ability and their progress should be graduated after identified deficiencies are remediated. PMID:25635201

Teaching and evaluating multitasking ability in emergency medicine residents - what is the best practice?

PubMed

Heng, Kenneth Wj

2014-01-01

Multitasking is an essential skill to develop during Emergency Medicine (EM) residency. Residents who struggle to cope in a multitasking environment risk fatigue, stress, and burnout. Improper management of interruption has been causally linked with medical errors. Formal teaching and evaluation of multitasking is often lacking in EM residency programs. This article reviewed the literature on multitasking in EM to identify best practices for teaching and evaluating multitasking amongst EM residents. With the advancement in understanding of what multitasking is, deliberate attempts should be made to teach residents pitfalls and coping strategies. This can be taught through a formal curriculum, role modeling by faculty, and simulation training. The best way to evaluate multitasking ability in residents is by direct observation. The EM Milestone Project provides a framework by which multitasking can be evaluated. EM residents should be deployed in work environments commiserate with their multitasking ability and their progress should be graduated after identified deficiencies are remediated.

Assessment of carbon in woody plants and soil across a vineyard-woodland landscape

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Quantification of ecosystem services, such as carbon (C) storage, can demonstrate the benefits of managing for both production and habitat conservation in agricultural landscapes. In this study, we evaluated C stocks and woody plant diversity across vineyard blocks and adjoining woodland ecosystems (wildlands) for an organic vineyard in northern California. Carbon was measured in soil from 44 one m deep pits, and in aboveground woody biomass from 93 vegetation plots. These data were combined with physical landscape variables to model C stocks using a geographic information system and multivariate linear regression. Results Field data showed wildlands to be heterogeneous in both C stocks and woody tree diversity, reflecting the mosaic of several different vegetation types, and storing on average 36.8 Mg C/ha in aboveground woody biomass and 89.3 Mg C/ha in soil. Not surprisingly, vineyard blocks showed less variation in above- and belowground C, with an average of 3.0 and 84.1 Mg C/ha, respectively. Conclusions This research demonstrates that vineyards managed with practices that conserve some fraction of adjoining wildlands yield benefits for increasing overall C stocks and species and habitat diversity in integrated agricultural landscapes. For such complex landscapes, high resolution spatial modeling is challenging and requires accurate characterization of the landscape by vegetation type, physical structure, sufficient sampling, and allometric equations that relate tree species to each landscape. Geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques are useful for integrating the above variables into an analysis platform to estimate C stocks in these working landscapes, thereby helping land managers qualify for greenhouse gas mitigation credits. Carbon policy in California, however, shows a lack of focus on C stocks compared to emissions, and on agriculture compared to other sectors. Correcting these policy shortcomings could create incentives for ecosystem service provision, including C storage, as well as encourage better farm stewardship and habitat conservation. PMID:22070870

Task Speed and Accuracy Decrease When Multitasking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Lin; Cockerham, Deborah; Chang, Zhengsi; Natividad, Gloria

2016-01-01

As new technologies increase the opportunities for multitasking, the need to understand human capacities for multitasking continues to grow stronger. Is multitasking helping us to be more efficient? This study investigated the multitasking abilities of 168 participants, ages 6-72, by measuring their task accuracy and completion time when they…

Multitasking With Television Among Adolescents

PubMed Central

Christensen, Claire G.; Bickham, David; Ross, Craig S.; Rich, Michael

2015-01-01

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, we explored predictors of adolescents’ television (TV) multitasking behaviors. We investigated whether demographic characteristics (age, gender, race/ethnicity, and maternal education) predict adolescents’ likelihood of multitasking with TV. We also explored whether characteristics of the TV-multitasking moment (affect, TV genre, attention to people, and media multitasking) predict adolescents’ likelihood of paying primary versus secondary attention to TV. Demographic characteristics do not predict TV multitasking. In TV-multitasking moments, primary attention to TV was more likely if adolescents experienced negative affect, watched a drama, or attended to people; it was less likely if they used computers or video games. PMID:26549930

Multitasking With Television Among Adolescents.

PubMed

Christensen, Claire G; Bickham, David; Ross, Craig S; Rich, Michael

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, we explored predictors of adolescents' television (TV) multitasking behaviors. We investigated whether demographic characteristics (age, gender, race/ethnicity, and maternal education) predict adolescents' likelihood of multitasking with TV. We also explored whether characteristics of the TV-multitasking moment (affect, TV genre, attention to people, and media multitasking) predict adolescents' likelihood of paying primary versus secondary attention to TV. Demographic characteristics do not predict TV multitasking. In TV-multitasking moments, primary attention to TV was more likely if adolescents experienced negative affect, watched a drama, or attended to people; it was less likely if they used computers or video games.

Multitasking Web Searching and Implications for Design.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozmutlu, Seda; Ozmutlu, H. C.; Spink, Amanda

2003-01-01

Findings from a study of users' multitasking searches on Web search engines include: multitasking searches are a noticeable user behavior; multitasking search sessions are longer than regular search sessions in terms of queries per session and duration; both Excite and AlltheWeb.com users search for about three topics per multitasking session and…

Conservation of avian diversity in the Sierra Nevada: Moving beyond a single-species management focus

Treesearch

Angela M. White; Elise F. Zipkin; Patricia N. Manley; Matthew D. Schlesinger

2013-01-01

Background: As a result of past practices, many of the dry coniferous forests of the western United States contain dense, even-aged stands with uncharacteristically high levels of litter and downed woody debris. These changes to the forest have received considerable attention as they elevate concerns regarding the outcome of wildland fire...

Genetic management of plants in the California state parks: A primer

Treesearch

Deborah L. Rogers; Connie (editor) Millar

1992-01-01

Conservation biology, of which genetics is a major component, is receiving unprecedented attention in the management of natural resources. National fora on biological diversity, adoption by the World Bank of a strong wildland policy, and creation of new management strategies for species protection in our national parks all attest to the growing acceptance and...

Media multitasking and failures of attention in everyday life.

PubMed

Ralph, Brandon C W; Thomson, David R; Cheyne, James Allan; Smilek, Daniel

2014-09-01

Using a series of online self-report measures, we examine media multitasking, a particularly pervasive form of multitasking, and its relations to three aspects of everyday attention: (1) failures of attention and cognitive errors (2) mind wandering, and (3) attentional control with an emphasis on attentional switching and distractibility. We observed a positive correlation between levels of media multitasking and self-reports of attentional failures, as well as with reports of both spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering. No correlation was observed between media multitasking and self-reported memory failures, lending credence to the hypothesis that media multitasking may be specifically related to problems of inattention, rather than cognitive errors in general. Furthermore, media multitasking was not related with self-reports of difficulties in attention switching or distractibility. We offer a plausible causal structural model assessing both direct and indirect effects among media multitasking, attentional failures, mind wandering, and cognitive errors, with the heuristic goal of constraining and motivating theories of the effects of media multitasking on inattention.

Cognitive control in media multitaskers

PubMed Central

Ophir, Eyal; Nass, Clifford; Wagner, Anthony D.

2009-01-01

Chronic media multitasking is quickly becoming ubiquitous, although processing multiple incoming streams of information is considered a challenge for human cognition. A series of experiments addressed whether there are systematic differences in information processing styles between chronically heavy and light media multitaskers. A trait media multitasking index was developed to identify groups of heavy and light media multitaskers. These two groups were then compared along established cognitive control dimensions. Results showed that heavy media multitaskers are more susceptible to interference from irrelevant environmental stimuli and from irrelevant representations in memory. This led to the surprising result that heavy media multitaskers performed worse on a test of task-switching ability, likely due to reduced ability to filter out interference from the irrelevant task set. These results demonstrate that media multitasking, a rapidly growing societal trend, is associated with a distinct approach to fundamental information processing. PMID:19706386

Take a Break: Examining College Students' Media Multitasking Activities and Motivations during Study- or Work-Related Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kononova, Anastasia G.; Yuan, Shupei

2017-01-01

A survey (N = 524) examined how frequently college students engage in multitasking with social media, texting/instant messaging (IM), and music while studying/working and what motivates them to multitask with each medium. Four out of five participants multitasked with Facebook and texting/IM, and two out of three multitasked with music. Habit was…

Structural neural correlates of multitasking: A voxel-based morphometry study.

PubMed

Zhang, Rui-Ting; Yang, Tian-Xiao; Wang, Yi; Sui, Yuxiu; Yao, Jingjing; Zhang, Chen-Yuan; Cheung, Eric F C; Chan, Raymond C K

2016-12-01

Multitasking refers to the ability to organize assorted tasks efficiently in a short period of time, which plays an important role in daily life. However, the structural neural correlates of multitasking performance remain unclear. The present study aimed at exploring the brain regions associated with multitasking performance using global correlation analysis. Twenty-six healthy participants first underwent structural brain scans and then performed the modified Six Element Test, which required participants to attempt six subtasks in 10 min while obeying a specific rule. Voxel-based morphometry of the whole brain was used to detect the structural correlates of multitasking ability. Grey matter volume of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was positively correlated with the overall performance and time monitoring in multitasking. In addition, white matter volume of the anterior thalamic radiation (ATR) was also positively correlated with time monitoring during multitasking. Other related brain regions associated with multitasking included the superior frontal gyrus, the inferior occipital gyrus, the lingual gyrus, and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus. No significant correlation was found between grey matter volume of the prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 10) and multitasking performance. Using a global correlation analysis to examine various aspects of multitasking performance, this study provided new insights into the structural neural correlates of multitasking ability. In particular, the ACC was identified as an important brain region that played both a general and a specific time-monitoring role in multitasking, extending the role of the ACC from lesioned populations to healthy populations. The present findings also support the view that the ATR may influence multitasking performance by affecting time-monitoring abilities. © 2016 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

FORTRAN multitasking library for use on the ELXSI 6400 and the CRAY XMP

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Montry, G.R.

1985-07-16

A library of FORTRAN-based multitasking routines has been written for the ELXSI 6400 and the CRAY XMP. This library is designed to make multitasking codes easily transportable between machines with different hardware configurations. The library provides enhanced error checking and diagnostics over vendor-supplied multitasking intrinsics. The library also contains multitasking control structures not normally supplied by the vendor.

I want to media multitask and I want to do it now: Individual differences in media multitasking predict delay of gratification and system-1 thinking.

PubMed

Schutten, Dan; Stokes, Kirk A; Arnell, Karen M

2017-01-01

Media multitasking, the concurrent use of multiple media forms, has been shown to be related to greater self-reported impulsivity and less self-control. These measures are both hallmarks of the need for immediate gratification which has been associated with fast, intuitive 'system-1' decision making, as opposed to more deliberate and effortful 'system-2' decision making. In Study 1, we used the Cognitive Reflection Task (CRT) to examine whether individuals who engage heavily in media multitasking differ from those who are light media multitaskers in their degree of system-1 versus system-2 thinking. In Study 2 we examined whether heavy and light media multitaskers differ in delay of gratification, using the delay discounting measure which estimates the preference for smaller immediate rewards, relative to larger delayed rewards in a hypothetical monetary choice task. We found that heavy media multitaskers were more likely than light media multitaskers to endorse intuitive, but wrong, decisions on the CRT indicating a greater reliance on 'system-1' thinking. Heavy media multitaskers were also willing to settle for less money immediately relative to light media multitaskers who were more willing to wait for the larger delayed reward. These results suggest that heavy media multitaskers have a reactive decision-making style that promotes current desires (money, ease of processing) at the expense of accuracy and future rewards. These findings highlight the potential for heavy media multitaskers to be at risk for problematic behaviors associated with delay discounting - behaviors such as substance abuse, overeating, problematic gambling, and poor financial management.

Predictors of media multitasking in Chinese adolescents.

PubMed

Yang, Xiaohui; Zhu, Liqi

2016-12-01

We examined predictors of media multitasking in Chinese adolescents from 3 contexts: characteristics of the media user, types of media use and family media contexts. Three hundred and twenty adolescents, 11-18 years of age, completed questionnaires to measure media use, impulsivity, sensation seeking, time management disposition and family media environment. The results showed that media multitasking was positively correlated with age and total media use time. Participants with high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking reported more multitasking behaviour. Multitasking was negatively correlated with time management. Children from media-oriented families often engage in more multitasking. What's more, social networking sites use and music use can mediate the effect of individual and family factors on media multitasking. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Prescribed fire applications in Forest and Woodlands: Integration of models and field studies to guide fire use

Treesearch

Kevin C. Ryan; Eric Rigolot; Francisco C. Rego; Herminio Botelho; Jose A. Vega; Paulo M. Fernandes; Tatiana M. Sofronova

2010-01-01

Globally prescribed burning is widely used for agro-forestry, restoration, and conservation to modify species composition and stand structure. Commonly stated goals of prescribed burns include to reduce hazardous fuels, improve species’ habitat, reduce the potential for severe fires in the wildland urban interface or protect municipal watersheds. Treatments may focus...

FireSmart®-ForestWise: Managing Wildlife and Wildfire Risk in the Wildland/Urban Interface-a Canadian Case Study

Treesearch

Alan Westhaver; Richard D. Revel; Brad C. Hawkes

2007-01-01

Reducing the risk of losses from wildfires that threaten homes and communities is a growing priority in Canada. To reduce risk, “FireSmart®” standards have been adopted nationwide for managing forest fuel. However, these standards largely disregard interests of wildlife and conservation of wildlife habitat – thus raising concerns...

The Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program: Education and Research as a Conservation Strategy

Treesearch

Richard B. Standiford; James W. Bartolome

1997-01-01

California’s hardwood rangelands cover 10 million acres, providing wildlife habitat, esthetics, recreation, and watershed protection. About 85 percent of the area is privately owned, and private ranchers supply most of these open space values. The important public values from these privately-owned wildlands has created pressure for the state to regulate oak harvest and...

Managing for ecological integrity in protected wildlands: Key management challenges and research priorities in British Columbia

Treesearch

Pamela A. Wright

2007-01-01

Protected areas have long served two masters: providing recreation, tourism and economic opportunities while conserving resources. As wild lands have become more scarce, there has been increasing realization that recreational use of protected areas is not benign. Consequently, there has been growing discussion and debate about how to reconcile human use with...

Media multitasking and behavioral measures of sustained attention.

PubMed

Ralph, Brandon C W; Thomson, David R; Seli, Paul; Carriere, Jonathan S A; Smilek, Daniel

2015-02-01

In a series of four studies, self-reported media multitasking (using the media multitasking index; MMI) and general sustained-attention ability, through performance on three sustained-attention tasks: the metronome response task (MRT), the sustained-attention-to-response task (SART), and a vigilance task (here, a modified version of the SART). In Study 1, we found that higher reports of media multitasking were associated with increased response variability (i.e., poor performance) on the MRT. However, in Study 2, no association between reported media multitasking and performance on the SART was observed. These findings were replicated in Studies 3a and 3b, in which we again assessed the relation between media multitasking and performance on both the MRT and SART in two large online samples. Finally, in Study 4, using a large online sample, we tested whether media multitasking was associated with performance on a vigilance task. Although standard vigilance decrements were observed in both sensitivity (A') and response times, media multitasking was not associated with the size of these decrements, nor was media multitasking associated with overall performance, in terms of either sensitivity or response times. Taken together, the results of the studies reported here failed to demonstrate a relation between habitual engagement in media multitasking in everyday life and a general deficit in sustained-attention processes.

Nurses' perceptions of multitasking in the emergency department: effective, fun and unproblematic (at least for me) – a qualitative study.

PubMed

Forsberg, Helena Hvitfeldt; Muntlin Athlin, Åsa; von Thiele Schwarz, Ulrica

2015-04-01

The aim was to understand how multitasking is experienced by registered nurses and how it relates to their everyday practice in the emergency department. Interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with registered nurses (n = 9) working in one of two included emergency departments in Sweden. Data were analyzed using Schilling's structured model for qualitative content analysis. Three core concepts related to multitasking emerged from the interviews: 'multitasking - an attractive prerequisite for ED care'; 'multitasking implies efficiency' and 'multitasking is not stressful'. From these core concepts an additional theme emerged: '… and does not cause errors – at least for me', related to patient safety. This study shows how the patient load and the unreflected multitasking that follows relate to nurses' perceived efficiency and job satisfaction. It also shows that the relationship between multitasking and errors is perceived to be mediated by whom the actor is, and his or her level of experience. Findings from this study add value to the discourse on multitasking and the emergency department context, as few studies go beyond examining the quantitative aspect of interruptions and multitasking and how it is experienced by the staff in their everyday practice. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Media multitasking and memory: Differences in working memory and long-term memory

PubMed Central

Thieu, Monica K.; Wagner, Anthony D.

2015-01-01

Increasing access to media in the 21st century has led to a rapid rise in the prevalence of media multitasking (simultaneous use of multiple media streams). Such behavior is associated with various cognitive differences, such as difficulty filtering distracting information and increased trait impulsivity. Given the rise in media multitasking by children, adolescents, and adults, a full understanding of the cognitive profile of media multitaskers is imperative. Here we investigated the relationship between chronic media multitasking and working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM) performance. Four key findings are reported (1) heavy media multitaskers (HMMs) exhibited lower WM performance, regardless of whether external distraction was present or absent; (2) lower performance on multiple WM tasks predicted lower LTM performance; (3) media multitasking-related differences in memory reflected differences in discriminability rather than decision bias; and (4) attentional impulsivity correlated with media multitasking behavior and reduced WM performance. These findings suggest that chronic media multitasking is associated with a wider attentional scope/higher attentional impulsivity, which may allow goal-irrelevant information to compete with goal-relevant information. As a consequence, heavy media multitaskers are able to hold fewer or less precise goal-relevant representations in WM. HMMs’ wider attentional scope, combined with their diminished WM performance, propagates forward to yield lower LTM performance. As such, chronic media multitasking is associated with a reduced ability to draw on the past—be it very recent or more remote—to inform present behavior. PMID:26223469

Individual differences in multitasking ability and adaptability.

PubMed

Morgan, Brent; D'Mello, Sidney; Abbott, Robert; Radvansky, Gabriel; Haass, Michael; Tamplin, Andrea

2013-08-01

The aim of this study was to identify the cognitive factors that predictability and adaptability during multitasking with a flight simulator. Multitasking has become increasingly prevalent as most professions require individuals to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Considerable research has been undertaken to identify the characteristics of people (i.e., individual differences) that predict multitasking ability. Although working memory is a reliable predictor of general multitasking ability (i.e., performance in normal conditions), there is the question of whether different cognitive faculties are needed to rapidly respond to changing task demands (adaptability). Participants first completed a battery of cognitive individual differences tests followed by multitasking sessions with a flight simulator. After a baseline condition, difficulty of the flight simulator was incrementally increased via four experimental manipulations, and performance metrics were collected to assess multitasking ability and adaptability. Scholastic aptitude and working memory predicted general multitasking ability (i.e., performance at baseline difficulty), but spatial manipulation (in conjunction with working memory) was a major predictor of adaptability (performance in difficult conditions after accounting for baseline performance). Multitasking ability and adaptability may be overlapping but separate constructs that draw on overlapping (but not identical) sets of cognitive abilities. The results of this study are applicable to practitioners and researchers in human factors to assess multitasking performance in real-world contexts and with realistic task constraints. We also present a framework for conceptualizing multitasking adaptability on the basis of five adaptability profiles derived from performance on tasks with consistent versus increased difficulty.

Media multitasking and memory: Differences in working memory and long-term memory.

PubMed

Uncapher, Melina R; K Thieu, Monica; Wagner, Anthony D

2016-04-01

Increasing access to media in the 21st century has led to a rapid rise in the prevalence of media multitasking (simultaneous use of multiple media streams). Such behavior is associated with various cognitive differences, such as difficulty filtering distracting information and increased trait impulsivity. Given the rise in media multitasking by children, adolescents, and adults, a full understanding of the cognitive profile of media multitaskers is imperative. Here we investigated the relationship between chronic media multitasking and working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM) performance. Four key findings are reported (1) heavy media multitaskers (HMMs) exhibited lower WM performance, regardless of whether external distraction was present or absent; (2) lower performance on multiple WM tasks predicted lower LTM performance; (3) media multitasking-related differences in memory reflected differences in discriminability rather than decision bias; and (4) attentional impulsivity correlated with media multitasking behavior and reduced WM performance. These findings suggest that chronic media multitasking is associated with a wider attentional scope/higher attentional impulsivity, which may allow goal-irrelevant information to compete with goal-relevant information. As a consequence, heavy media multitaskers are able to hold fewer or less precise goal-relevant representations in WM. HMMs' wider attentional scope, combined with their diminished WM performance, propagates forward to yield lower LTM performance. As such, chronic media multitasking is associated with a reduced ability to draw on the past--be it very recent or more remote--to inform present behavior.

Neural sources of performance decline during continuous multitasking

PubMed Central

Al-Hashimi, Omar; Zanto, Theodore P.; Gazzaley, Adam

2018-01-01

Multitasking performance costs have largely been characterized by experiments that involve two overlapping and punctuated perceptual stimuli, as well as punctuated responses to each task. Here, participants engaged in a continuous performance paradigm during fMRI recording to identify neural signatures associated with multitasking costs under more natural conditions. Our results demonstrated that only a single brain region, the superior parietal lobule (SPL), exhibited a significant relationship with multitasking performance, such that increased activation in the multitasking condition versus the singletasking condition was associated with higher task performance (i.e., least multitasking cost). Together, these results support previous research indicating that parietal regions underlie multitasking abilities and that performance costs are related to a bottleneck in control processes involving the SPL that serves to divide attention between two tasks. PMID:26159323

Does media multitasking always hurt? A positive correlation between multitasking and multisensory integration.

PubMed

Lui, Kelvin F H; Wong, Alan C-N

2012-08-01

Heavy media multitaskers have been found to perform poorly in certain cognitive tasks involving task switching, selective attention, and working memory. An account for this is that with a breadth-biased style of cognitive control, multitaskers tend to pay attention to various information available in the environment, without sufficient focus on the information most relevant to the task at hand. This cognitive style, however, may not cause a general deficit in all kinds of tasks. We tested the hypothesis that heavy media multitaskers would perform better in a multisensory integration task than would others, due to their extensive experience in integrating information from different modalities. Sixty-three participants filled out a questionnaire about their media usage and completed a visual search task with and without synchronous tones (pip-and-pop paradigm). It was found that a higher degree of media multitasking was correlated with better multisensory integration. The fact that heavy media multitaskers are not deficient in all kinds of cognitive tasks suggests that media multitasking does not always hurt.

Improving our understanding of multi-tasking in healthcare: Drawing together the cognitive psychology and healthcare literature.

PubMed

Douglas, Heather E; Raban, Magdalena Z; Walter, Scott R; Westbrook, Johanna I

2017-03-01

Multi-tasking is an important skill for clinical work which has received limited research attention. Its impacts on clinical work are poorly understood. In contrast, there is substantial multi-tasking research in cognitive psychology, driver distraction, and human-computer interaction. This review synthesises evidence of the extent and impacts of multi-tasking on efficiency and task performance from health and non-healthcare literature, to compare and contrast approaches, identify implications for clinical work, and to develop an evidence-informed framework for guiding the measurement of multi-tasking in future healthcare studies. The results showed healthcare studies using direct observation have focused on descriptive studies to quantify concurrent multi-tasking and its frequency in different contexts, with limited study of impact. In comparison, non-healthcare studies have applied predominantly experimental and simulation designs, focusing on interleaved and concurrent multi-tasking, and testing theories of the mechanisms by which multi-tasking impacts task efficiency and performance. We propose a framework to guide the measurement of multi-tasking in clinical settings that draws together lessons from these siloed research efforts. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Is Multitask Deep Learning Practical for Pharma?

PubMed

Ramsundar, Bharath; Liu, Bowen; Wu, Zhenqin; Verras, Andreas; Tudor, Matthew; Sheridan, Robert P; Pande, Vijay

2017-08-28

Multitask deep learning has emerged as a powerful tool for computational drug discovery. However, despite a number of preliminary studies, multitask deep networks have yet to be widely deployed in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. This lack of acceptance stems from both software difficulties and lack of understanding of the robustness of multitask deep networks. Our work aims to resolve both of these barriers to adoption. We introduce a high-quality open-source implementation of multitask deep networks as part of the DeepChem open-source platform. Our implementation enables simple python scripts to construct, fit, and evaluate sophisticated deep models. We use our implementation to analyze the performance of multitask deep networks and related deep models on four collections of pharmaceutical data (three of which have not previously been analyzed in the literature). We split these data sets into train/valid/test using time and neighbor splits to test multitask deep learning performance under challenging conditions. Our results demonstrate that multitask deep networks are surprisingly robust and can offer strong improvement over random forests. Our analysis and open-source implementation in DeepChem provide an argument that multitask deep networks are ready for widespread use in commercial drug discovery.

Allocating fuel breaks to optimally protect structures in the wildland-urban interface

Treesearch

Avi Bar-Massada; Volker C. Radeloff; Susan I. Stewart

2011-01-01

Wildland fire is a major concern in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where human structures intermingle with wildland vegetation. Reducing wildfire risk in the WUI is more complicated than in wildland areas, owing to interactions between spatial patterns of housing and wildland fuels. Fuel treatments are commonly applied in wildlands surrounding WUI communities....

Neural sources of performance decline during continuous multitasking.

PubMed

Al-Hashimi, Omar; Zanto, Theodore P; Gazzaley, Adam

2015-10-01

Multitasking performance costs have largely been characterized by experiments that involve two overlapping and punctuated perceptual stimuli, as well as punctuated responses to each task. Here, participants engaged in a continuous performance paradigm during fMRI recording to identify neural signatures associated with multitasking costs under more natural conditions. Our results demonstrated that only a single brain region, the superior parietal lobule (SPL), exhibited a significant relationship with multitasking performance, such that increased activation in the multitasking condition versus the singletasking condition was associated with higher task performance (i.e., least multitasking cost). Together, these results support previous research indicating that parietal regions underlie multitasking abilities and that performance costs are related to a bottleneck in control processes involving the SPL that serves to divide attention between two tasks. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Evaluation of wildfire patterns at the wildland-urban fringe across the continental U.S.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kinoshita, A. M.; Hogue, T. S.

2014-12-01

Wildfires threaten ecosystems and urban development across the United States, posing significant implications for land management and natural processes such as watershed hydrology. This study investigates the spatial association between large wildfires and urbanization. Several geospatial dataset are combined to map wildfires (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity for 1984 to 2012) and housing density (SILVIS Lab Spatial Analysis for Conservation and Sustainability decadal housing density for 1940 to 2030) relative to natural wildlands across the contiguous U.S. Several buffers (i.e. 25 km) are developed around wildlands (Protected Areas Database of the United States) to quantify the change and relationship in spatial fire and housing density patterns. Since 1984, wildfire behavior is cyclical and follows general climatology, where warmer years have more and larger fires. Ignition locations also follow transportation corridors and development which provide easy accessibility to wildlands. In California, both fire frequency and total acres burned exhibit increasing trends (statistically significant at 95%). The 1980s average wildfire frequency and total acres burned was 3100 fires and approximately 1200 km2, respectively. These numbers have increased to 2200 fires and over 1500 km2 in the 2010 to 2012 period alone. Initial observations also show that decennial population and area burned for four major Californian counties (Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Shasta) show strong correlation between the last decade of burned area, urban-fringe proximity, and urbanization trends. Improving our understanding of human induced wildfire regimes provides key information on urban fringe communities most vulnerable to the wildfire risks and can help inform regional development planning.

Intelligence, Working Memory, and Multitasking Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colom, Roberto; Martinez-Molina, Agustin; Shih, Pei Chun; Santacreu, Jose

2010-01-01

Multitasking performance is relevant in everyday life and job analyses highlight the influence of multitasking over several diverse occupations. Intelligence is the best single predictor of overall job performance and it is also related to individual differences in multitasking. However, it has been shown that working memory capacity (WMC) is…

A prescription for controlling the air pollution resulting from the use of prescribed biomass fire: clouds

Treesearch

L.F. Radke; D.E. Ward; P.J. Riggan

2001-01-01

Forestry, conservation, wildfire risk reduction, and agricultural uses of planned or prescribed fires as a tool for meeting the needs of wildland managers are increasingly in collision at the air pollution control and climate change cross-roads. The inevitable conflict resulting from the disparate goals of users has long been the subject of a combination of both...

Multitasking Abilities in Adolescents With 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: Results From an Experimental Ecological Paradigm.

PubMed

Schneider, Maude; Eliez, Stephan; Birr, Julie; Menghetti, Sarah; Debbané, Martin; Van der Linden, Martial

2016-03-01

The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is associated with cognitive and functional impairments and increased risk for schizophrenia. We characterized multitasking abilities of adolescents with 22q11.2DS using an experimental naturalistic setting and examined whether multitasking impairments were associated with real-world functioning and negative symptoms. Thirty-nine adolescents (19 with 22q11.2DS and 20 controls) underwent the Multitasking Evaluation for Adolescents. Real-world functioning and clinical symptoms were assessed in participants with 22q11.2DS. Adolescents with 22q11.2DS performed poorly in the multitasking evaluation. Our data also suggest that multitasking abilities are related to adaptive functioning in the practical domain and negative symptoms. This study shows that adolescents with 22q11.2DS are characterized by multitasking impairments, which may be relevant for several aspects of the clinical phenotype.

Training conquers multitasking costs by dividing task representations in the frontoparietal-subcortical system

PubMed Central

Garner, K. G.; Dux, Paul E.

2015-01-01

Negotiating the information-rich sensory world often requires the concurrent management of multiple tasks. Despite this requirement, humans are thought to be poor at multitasking because of the processing limitations of frontoparietal and subcortical (FP-SC) brain regions. Although training is known to improve multitasking performance, it is unknown how the FP-SC system functionally changes to support improved multitasking. To address this question, we characterized the FP-SC changes that predict training outcomes using an individual differences approach. Participants (n = 100) performed single and multiple tasks in pre- and posttraining magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions interspersed by either a multitasking or an active-control training regimen. Multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPA) revealed that training induced multitasking improvements were predicted by divergence in the FP-SC blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response patterns to the trained tasks. Importantly, this finding was only observed for participants who completed training on the component (single) tasks and their combination (multitask) and not for the control group. Therefore, the FP-SC system supports multitasking behavior by segregating constituent task representations. PMID:26460014

“Women Are Better Than Men”–Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking

PubMed Central

Szameitat, André J.; Hamaida, Yasmin; Tulley, Rebecca S.; Saylik, Rahmi; Otermans, Pauldy C. J.

2015-01-01

Reports in public media suggest the existence of a stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. The present online survey aimed at supporting this incidental observation by empirical data. For this, 488 participants from various ethnic backgrounds (US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and others) filled out a self-developed online-questionnaire. Results showed that overall more than 50% of the participants believed in gender differences in multitasking abilities. Of those who believed in gender differences, a majority of 80% believed that women were better at multitasking. The main reasons for this were believed to be an evolutionary advantage and more multitasking practice in women, mainly due to managing children and household and/or family and job. Findings were consistent across the different countries, thus supporting the existence of a widespread gender stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. Further questionnaire results provided information about the participants’ self-rated own multitasking abilities, and how they conceived multitasking activities such as childcare, phoning while driving, and office work. PMID:26479359

Training conquers multitasking costs by dividing task representations in the frontoparietal-subcortical system.

PubMed

Garner, K G; Dux, Paul E

2015-11-17

Negotiating the information-rich sensory world often requires the concurrent management of multiple tasks. Despite this requirement, humans are thought to be poor at multitasking because of the processing limitations of frontoparietal and subcortical (FP-SC) brain regions. Although training is known to improve multitasking performance, it is unknown how the FP-SC system functionally changes to support improved multitasking. To address this question, we characterized the FP-SC changes that predict training outcomes using an individual differences approach. Participants (n = 100) performed single and multiple tasks in pre- and posttraining magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions interspersed by either a multitasking or an active-control training regimen. Multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPA) revealed that training induced multitasking improvements were predicted by divergence in the FP-SC blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response patterns to the trained tasks. Importantly, this finding was only observed for participants who completed training on the component (single) tasks and their combination (multitask) and not for the control group. Therefore, the FP-SC system supports multitasking behavior by segregating constituent task representations.

"Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking.

PubMed

Szameitat, André J; Hamaida, Yasmin; Tulley, Rebecca S; Saylik, Rahmi; Otermans, Pauldy C J

2015-01-01

Reports in public media suggest the existence of a stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. The present online survey aimed at supporting this incidental observation by empirical data. For this, 488 participants from various ethnic backgrounds (US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and others) filled out a self-developed online-questionnaire. Results showed that overall more than 50% of the participants believed in gender differences in multitasking abilities. Of those who believed in gender differences, a majority of 80% believed that women were better at multitasking. The main reasons for this were believed to be an evolutionary advantage and more multitasking practice in women, mainly due to managing children and household and/or family and job. Findings were consistent across the different countries, thus supporting the existence of a widespread gender stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. Further questionnaire results provided information about the participants' self-rated own multitasking abilities, and how they conceived multitasking activities such as childcare, phoning while driving, and office work.

Intimacy and Smartphone Multitasking-A New Oxymoron?

PubMed

Amichai-Hamburger, Yair; Etgar, Shir

2016-12-01

This study investigated the relationship between smartphone multitasking and romantic intimacy. Participants currently in a romantic relationship (N = 128; 98 women; M age = 26.7 years, SD = 4.3) filled out two sets of questionnaires: The Emotional Intimacy Scale, measuring romantic intimacy, and the mobile phone interference in life scale, measuring multitasking on a smartphone. Participants filled out each questionnaire twice, once in relation to themselves and once in relation to their partner (for the partner questionnaire, statements were altered from the first person to the third person singular, he/she instead of I). Results suggested that only the partners' smartphone multitasking scores were negatively related to ratings of romantic intimacy, whereas participants' own smartphone multitasking scores were not related to ratings of romantic intimacy. These results can be explained by the actor-observer asymmetry, suggesting that participants attributed their multitasking behaviors to situations, but attributed their partners multitasking behaviors to behavior patterns or intentionality. This research suggests that smartphone multitasking has a negative association with face-to-face interactions. People should attend to the costs of smartphone use during face-to-face interactions. © The Author(s) 2016.

Higher Media Multi-Tasking Activity Is Associated with Smaller Gray-Matter Density in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

PubMed Central

Loh, Kep Kee; Kanai, Ryota

2014-01-01

Media multitasking, or the concurrent consumption of multiple media forms, is increasingly prevalent in today’s society and has been associated with negative psychosocial and cognitive impacts. Individuals who engage in heavier media-multitasking are found to perform worse on cognitive control tasks and exhibit more socio-emotional difficulties. However, the neural processes associated with media multi-tasking remain unexplored. The present study investigated relationships between media multitasking activity and brain structure. Research has demonstrated that brain structure can be altered upon prolonged exposure to novel environments and experience. Thus, we expected differential engagements in media multitasking to correlate with brain structure variability. This was confirmed via Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) analyses: Individuals with higher Media Multitasking Index (MMI) scores had smaller gray matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Functional connectivity between this ACC region and the precuneus was negatively associated with MMI. Our findings suggest a possible structural correlate for the observed decreased cognitive control performance and socio-emotional regulation in heavy media-multitaskers. While the cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow us to specify the direction of causality, our results brought to light novel associations between individual media multitasking behaviors and ACC structure differences. PMID:25250778

Individual differences in media multitasking and performance on the n-back.

PubMed

Ralph, Brandon C W; Smilek, Daniel

2017-02-01

A number of studies have recently examined the link between individual differences in media multitasking (using the MMI) and performance on working memory paradigms. However, these studies have yielded mixed results. Here we examine the relation between media multitasking and one particular working memory paradigm-the n-back (2- and 3-back)-improving upon previous research by (a) treating media multitasking as a continuous variable and adopting a correlational approach as well as (b) using a large sample of participants. First, we found that higher scores on the MMI were associated with a greater proportion of omitted trials on both the 2-back and 3-back, indicating that heavier media multitaskers were more disengaged during the n-back. In line with such a claim, heavier media multitaskers were also more likely to confess to responding randomly during various portions of the experiment, and to report media multitasking during the experiment itself. Importantly, when controlling for the relation between MMI scores and omissions, higher scores on the MMI were associated with an increase in false alarms, but not with a change in hits. These findings refine the extant literature on media multitasking and working memory performance (specifically, performance on the n-back), and suggest that media multitasking may be related to the propensity to disengage from ongoing tasks.

[Multitasking: An Asset or a “Time Trap”? Overview of Media Multitasking in Children and Adolescents].

PubMed

Frölich, Jan; Lehmkuhl, Gerd

2018-03-05

The development of modern digital media, especially smartphones, has contributed to a fundamental change in the leisure activities and communication practices of adolescents. Besides the technical possibilities, the amount of multitasking, i.e., the parallel use of several media alone or in combination with nonmedia activities, has gained in importance. This article addresses the bidirectional relationships between multitasking and cognitive processes, consequences for performance, and the potentially negative effects on psychosocial health. This review article is based on a Medline research involving studies and reviews published on multitasking in digital media since 2000 concerning adolescents and adults. Multitasking is involved in specific neuropsychological processes of the frontal cortex and, in part, the corpus striatum. Up to an individually defined level and an objectively defined performance capacity, multitasking does not necessarily haven a negative impact on the quality of work. However, if excessive individual or objective stress occurs, especially in very young children, respective reactions and negative consequences for psychosocial health occur. According to present research results, multitasking should not be exercised in tasks requiring complex cognitive conditions. Many further studies will be required to assess the relationship between multitasking and specific psychiatric diseases, especially addictive disorders and ADHD, but also its useful implementation in educational settings has to be explored.

Multitasking behaviors of osteopathic medical students.

PubMed

Shah, Ankit V; Mullens, Dustin J; Van Duyn, Lindsey J; Januchowski, Ronald P

2014-08-01

To the authors' knowledge, few studies have investigated the relationship between electronic media multitasking by undergraduate and graduate students during lecture and their academic performance, and reports that have looked into this behavior have neglected to investigate factors that may influence students' multitasking during lecture. To determine the extent to which medical students multitask during lecture; the types of multitasking; the frequency of multitasking and factors that influence frequency; and the correlation between multitasking and knowledge acquisition as assessed by a postlecture quiz. A 1-page survey assessing students' multitasking behavior was administered to 125 second-year students at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine and collected at the onset of a standard 50-minute lecture. On completion of the 50-minute lecture, an unannounced 10-question multiple-choice quiz was given to assess knowledge acquisition during those lectures. On a separate date, after a standard 50-minute lecture, a second quiz was administered. The 1-page survey revealed that 98% of students check e-mail, 81% use social media, and 74% study for another class. Students spent the most time studying for another class (23 minutes) followed by using social media (13 minutes) and checking e-mail (7 minutes). The most influential factors behind multitasking were examination schedule (91%), lecturer (90%), and the number of lectures in the day (65%). The mean score for quiz 1 (the day after an examination) was 75%, and the mean score for quiz 2 (the day before an examination) was 60%. Multitasking during lecture is prominent among medical students, and examination schedule is the most influential factor. Although a robust drop in mean score on a lecture-based, unannounced quiz was identified 1 day before a scheduled examination, the effect from multitasking on this process remains unclear. © 2014 The American Osteopathic Association.

Multitasking Information Behaviour in Public Libraries: A Survey Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spink, Amanda; Alvarado-Albertorio, Frances; Narayan, Bhuva; Brumfield, Jean; Park, Minsoo

2007-01-01

Multitasking information behaviour is the human ability to handle the demands of multiple information tasks concurrently. When we multitask, we work on two or more tasks and switch between those tasks. Multitasking is the way most of us deal with the complex environment we all live in, and recent studies show that people often engage in…

Multitasking in a data acquisition system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Larsen, J.E.

1980-01-01

Microprocessors and microcomputers have been employed widely in data acquisition applications due to low cost and the ease of adapting the microcomputer to changing or altered requirements. Multitasking offers ways of getting more performance from a microcomputer and also a means of designing a system which by its nature is easily changed to meet new requirements. The term multitasking is used to include definitions of multitasking and multiprogramming: multitasking-performing various related functions of the same job, e.g. data acquisition and data logging (recording); multiprogramming-performing possibly unrelated jobs concurrently.

Technology consumption and cognitive control: Contrasting action video game experience with media multitasking.

PubMed

Cardoso-Leite, Pedro; Kludt, Rachel; Vignola, Gianluca; Ma, Wei Ji; Green, C Shawn; Bavelier, Daphne

2016-01-01

Technology has the potential to impact cognition in many ways. Here we contrast two forms of technology usage: (1) media multitasking (i.e., the simultaneous consumption of multiple streams of media, such a texting while watching TV) and (2) playing action video games (a particular subtype of video games). Previous work has outlined an association between high levels of media multitasking and specific deficits in handling distracting information, whereas playing action video games has been associated with enhanced attentional control. Because these two factors are linked with reasonably opposing effects, failing to take them jointly into account may result in inappropriate conclusions as to the impacts of technology use on attention. Across four tasks (AX-continuous performance, N-back, task-switching, and filter tasks), testing different aspects of attention and cognition, we showed that heavy media multitaskers perform worse than light media multitaskers. Contrary to previous reports, though, the performance deficit was not specifically tied to distractors, but was instead more global in nature. Interestingly, participants with intermediate levels of media multitasking sometimes performed better than both light and heavy media multitaskers, suggesting that the effects of increasing media multitasking are not monotonic. Action video game players, as expected, outperformed non-video-game players on all tasks. However, surprisingly, this was true only for participants with intermediate levels of media multitasking, suggesting that playing action video games does not protect against the deleterious effect of heavy media multitasking. Taken together, these findings show that media consumption can have complex and counterintuitive effects on attentional control.

Technology consumption and cognitive control: Contrasting action video game experience with media multitasking

PubMed Central

Cardoso-Leite, Pedro; Kludt, Rachel; Vignola, Gianluca; Ma, Wei Ji; Green, C. Shawn; Bavelier, Daphne

2015-01-01

Technology has the potential to impact cognition in many ways. Here we contrast two forms of technology usage: 1) media multitasking (i.e., the simultaneous consumption of multiple streams of media, such a texting while watching TV) and 2) playing action video games (a particular sub-type of video game). Previous work has outlined an association between high levels of media multitasking and specific deficits in handling distracting information, while playing action video games has been associated with enhanced attentional control. As these two factors are linked with reasonably opposing effects, failing to take them jointly into account may result in inappropriate conclusions as to the impact of technology use on attention. Across four experiments (AX-CPT, N-back, Task-switching and Filter task), testing different aspects of attention and cognition, we show that heavy media multitaskers perform worse than light media multitaskers. Contrary to previous reports though, the performance deficit was not specifically tied to distractors, but was instead more global in nature. Interestingly, participants with intermediate levels of media multitasking occasionally performed better than both light and heavy media multitaskers suggesting that the effects of increasing media multitasking are not monotonic. Action video game players, as expected, outperformed non-video game players on all tasks. However, surprisingly this was true only for participants with intermediate levels of media multitasking, suggesting that playing action video games does not protect against the deleterious effect of heavy media multitasking. Taken together this study shows that media consumption can have complex and counter-intuitive effects on attentional control. PMID:26474982

Media Multitasking among American Youth: Prevalence, Predictors and Pairings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foehr, Ulla G.

2006-01-01

In the past, multitasking was a juggling act performed by busy adults, as they tried to manage jobs, chores, carpools, and PTA meetings. But recently, teens and tweens have turned into the real experts at multitasking, as their lives become chock-full of organized activities. For them, multitasking has simply become a way of life: "If I couldn't…

Media multitasking in adolescence.

PubMed

Cain, Matthew S; Leonard, Julia A; Gabrieli, John D E; Finn, Amy S

2016-12-01

Media use has been on the rise in adolescents overall, and in particular, the amount of media multitasking-multiple media consumed simultaneously, such as having a text message conversation while watching TV-has been increasing. In adults, heavy media multitasking has been linked with poorer performance on a number of laboratory measures of cognition, but no relationship has yet been established between media-multitasking behavior and real-world outcomes. Examining individual differences across a group of adolescents, we found that more frequent media multitasking in daily life was associated with poorer performance on statewide standardized achievement tests of math and English in the classroom, poorer performance on behavioral measures of executive function (working memory capacity) in the laboratory, and traits of greater impulsivity and lesser growth mindset. Greater media multitasking had a relatively circumscribed set of associations, and was not related to behavioral measures of cognitive processing speed, implicit learning, or manual dexterity, or to traits of grit and conscientiousness. Thus, individual differences in adolescent media multitasking were related to specific differences in executive function and in performance on real-world academic achievement measures: More media multitasking was associated with poorer executive function ability, worse academic achievement, and a reduced growth mindset.

The development of multitasking in children aged 7-12years: Evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal data.

PubMed

Yang, Tian-Xiao; Xie, Weizhen; Chen, Chu-Sheng; Altgassen, Mareike; Wang, Ya; Cheung, Eric F C; Chan, Raymond C K

2017-09-01

This study investigated the development of multitasking ability across childhood. A sample of 65 typically developing children aged 7, 9, and 11years completed two multitasking tests across three time points within a year. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data consistently indicated continuous linear growth in children's multitasking ability. By the age of 12years, children could effectively perform a simple multitasking scenario comprising six equally important tasks, although their ability to strategically organize assorted tasks with varied values and priorities in a complex multitasking setting had not reached proficiency yet. Cognitive functions underlying a complex multitasking scenario varied in their developmental trajectories. Retrospective memory developed continuously from 7 to 12years of age, suggesting its supporting role in the development of multitasking. Planning skills developed slowly and showed practice effects for older children but not for younger children. The ability to adhere to plans also developed slowly, and children of all age groups benefited from practice. This study offers a preliminary benchmark for future comparison with clinical populations and may help to inform the development of targeted interventions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multitasking runtime systems for the Cedar Multiprocessor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guzzi, M.D.

1986-07-01

The programming of a MIMD machine is more complex than for SISD and SIMD machines. The multiple computational resources of the machine must be made available to the programming language compiler and to the programmer so that multitasking programs may be written. This thesis will explore the additional complexity of programming a MIMD machine, the Cedar Multiprocessor specifically, and the multitasking runtime system necessary to provide multitasking resources to the user. First, the problem will be well defined: the Cedar machine, its operating system, the programming language, and multitasking concepts will be described. Second, a solution to the problem, calledmore » macrotasking, will be proposed. This solution provides multitasking facilities to the programmer at a very coarse level with many visible machine dependencies. Third, an alternate solution, called microtasking, will be proposed. This solution provides multitasking facilities of a much finer grain. This solution does not depend so rigidly on the specific architecture of the machine. Finally, the two solutions will be compared for effectiveness. 12 refs., 16 figs.« less

Efficient multitasking: parallel versus serial processing of multiple tasks

PubMed Central

Fischer, Rico; Plessow, Franziska

2015-01-01

In the context of performance optimizations in multitasking, a central debate has unfolded in multitasking research around whether cognitive processes related to different tasks proceed only sequentially (one at a time), or can operate in parallel (simultaneously). This review features a discussion of theoretical considerations and empirical evidence regarding parallel versus serial task processing in multitasking. In addition, we highlight how methodological differences and theoretical conceptions determine the extent to which parallel processing in multitasking can be detected, to guide their employment in future research. Parallel and serial processing of multiple tasks are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, questions focusing exclusively on either task-processing mode are too simplified. We review empirical evidence and demonstrate that shifting between more parallel and more serial task processing critically depends on the conditions under which multiple tasks are performed. We conclude that efficient multitasking is reflected by the ability of individuals to adjust multitasking performance to environmental demands by flexibly shifting between different processing strategies of multiple task-component scheduling. PMID:26441742

Gender differences in multitasking reflect spatial ability.

PubMed

Mäntylä, Timo

2013-04-01

Demands involving the scheduling and interleaving of multiple activities have become increasingly prevalent, especially for women in both their paid and unpaid work hours. Despite the ubiquity of everyday requirements to multitask, individual and gender-related differences in multitasking have gained minimal attention in past research. In two experiments, participants completed a multitasking session with four gender-fair monitoring tasks and separate tasks measuring executive functioning (working memory updating) and spatial ability (mental rotation). In both experiments, males outperformed females in monitoring accuracy. Individual differences in executive functioning and spatial ability were independent predictors of monitoring accuracy, but only spatial ability mediated gender differences in multitasking. Menstrual changes accentuated these effects, such that gender differences in multitasking (and spatial ability) were eliminated between males and females who were in the menstrual phase of the menstrual cycle but not between males and females who were in the luteal phase. These findings suggest that multitasking involves spatiotemporal task coordination and that gender differences in multiple-task performance reflect differences in spatial ability.

Short-term mindfulness intervention reduces the negative attentional effects associated with heavy media multitasking.

PubMed

Gorman, Thomas E; Green, C Shawn

2016-04-18

Recent research suggests that frequently switching between various forms of media (i.e. 'media multitasking') is associated with diminished attentional abilities, a disconcerting result given the prevalence of media multitasking in today's society. In the present study, we sought to investigate the extent to which the deficits associated with frequent media multitasking can be temporarily ameliorated via a short-term mindfulness intervention previously shown to produce beneficial effects on the attentional abilities of normally functioning individuals. Consistent with previous work, we found: (1) that heavy media multitaskers showed generally poorer attentional abilities than light media multitaskers and (2) that all participants showed benefits from the short-term mindfulness intervention. Furthermore, we found that the benefits of the short-term mindfulness intervention were not equivalently large across participants. Instead, these benefits were disproportionately large in the heavy media multitaskers. While the positive outcomes were short-lived, this opens the possibility of performing long-term interventions with the goal of realizing lasting gains in this population.

Efficient multitasking: parallel versus serial processing of multiple tasks.

PubMed

Fischer, Rico; Plessow, Franziska

2015-01-01

In the context of performance optimizations in multitasking, a central debate has unfolded in multitasking research around whether cognitive processes related to different tasks proceed only sequentially (one at a time), or can operate in parallel (simultaneously). This review features a discussion of theoretical considerations and empirical evidence regarding parallel versus serial task processing in multitasking. In addition, we highlight how methodological differences and theoretical conceptions determine the extent to which parallel processing in multitasking can be detected, to guide their employment in future research. Parallel and serial processing of multiple tasks are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, questions focusing exclusively on either task-processing mode are too simplified. We review empirical evidence and demonstrate that shifting between more parallel and more serial task processing critically depends on the conditions under which multiple tasks are performed. We conclude that efficient multitasking is reflected by the ability of individuals to adjust multitasking performance to environmental demands by flexibly shifting between different processing strategies of multiple task-component scheduling.

Doing many things at a time: Lack of power decreases the ability to multitask.

PubMed

Cai, Ran Alice; Guinote, Ana

2017-09-01

Three studies investigated the effects of power on the ability to pursue multiple, concomitant goals, also known as multitasking. It was predicted that powerless participants will show lower multitasking ability than control and powerful participants. Study 1 focused on self-reported ability to multitask in a sample of executives and subordinate employees. Studies 2 and 3 investigated the ability to dual-task and to switch between tasks, respectively, using dual-task and task-switching paradigms. Across the studies, powerless individuals were less able to effectively multitask compared with control and powerful participants, suggesting that the detrimental effects of lack of power extend beyond single-task environments, shown in past research, into multitasking environments. Underlying mechanisms are discussed. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Media multitasking is associated with symptoms of depression and social anxiety.

PubMed

Becker, Mark W; Alzahabi, Reem; Hopwood, Christopher J

2013-02-01

We investigated whether multitasking with media was a unique predictor of depression and social anxiety symptoms. Participants (N=318) completed measures of their media use, personality characteristics, depression, and social anxiety. Regression analyses revealed that increased media multitasking was associated with higher depression and social anxiety symptoms, even after controlling for overall media use and the personality traits of neuroticism and extraversion. The unique association between media multitasking and these measures of psychosocial dysfunction suggests that the growing trend of multitasking with media may represent a unique risk factor for mental health problems related to mood and anxiety. Further, the results strongly suggest that future research investigating the impact of media use on mental health needs to consider the role that multitasking with media plays in the relationship.

Occupational Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon of Wildland Firefighters at Prescribed and Wildland Fires.

PubMed

Navarro, Kathleen M; Cisneros, Ricardo; Noth, Elizabeth M; Balmes, John R; Hammond, S Katharine

2017-06-06

Wildland firefighters suppressing wildland fires or conducting prescribed fires work long shifts during which they are exposed to high levels of wood smoke with no respiratory protection. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are hazardous air pollutants formed during incomplete combustion. Exposure to PAHs was measured for 21 wildland firefighters suppressing two wildland fires and 4 wildland firefighters conducting prescribed burns in California. Personal air samples were actively collected using XAD4-coated quartz fiber filters and XAD2 sorbent tubes. Samples were analyzed for 17 individual PAHs through extraction with dichloromethane and gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer analysis. Naphthalene, retene, and phenanthrene were consistently the highest measured PAHs. PAH concentrations were higher at wildland fires compared to prescribed fires and were highest for firefighters during job tasks that involve the most direct contact with smoke near an actively burning wildland fire. Although concentrations did not exceed current occupational exposure limits, wildland firefighters are exposed to PAHs not only on the fire line at wildland fires, but also while working prescribed burns and while off-duty. Characterization of occupational exposures from wildland firefighting is important to understand better any potential long-term health effects.

Dynamic Multitasking Countermeasures to Improve Sustained Attention

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-12

Apr-2012 31-Dec-2012 Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited Final Report: Dynamic multitasking countermeasures to improve sustained...ES) U.S. Army Research Office P.O. Box 12211 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211 vigilance, multitasking REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE 11. SPONSOR... multitasking countermeasures to improve sustained attention while driving Report Title The unknown at the outset of this work was if high cognitive load

Neuroticism Negatively Affects Multitasking Performance through State Anxiety

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-02-01

threshold for performance (e.g., Eysenck, 1982; Humphreys & Revelle, 1984). As was noted above, multitasking is generally viewed as being a highly...2001) focused on introversion in the context of interpersonal communication, which is viewed as a type of multitasking due to the need for...authors concluded that introversion was related to poorer 2 nonverbal decoding due to deficits in multitasking ability—but only when the

Multitasking in older adults with type 2 diabetes: A cross-sectional analysis

PubMed Central

McDowd, Joan M.; Mahnken, Jonathan D.; Burns, Jeffrey M.; Sabus, Carla H.; Britton-Carpenter, Amanda J.; Utech, Nora B.; Kluding, Patricia M.

2017-01-01

Background and purpose Deficits in the ability to multitask contribute to gait abnormalities and falls in many at-risk populations. However, it is unclear whether older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) also demonstrate impairments in multitasking. The purpose of this study was to compare multitasking performance in cognitively intact older adults with and without DM and explore its relationship to measures of gait and functional ability. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 40 individuals aged 60 and older with type 2 DM and a matched group of 40 cognitively intact older adults without DM. Multitasking was examined via the ambulatory Walking and Remembering Test (WART) and seated Pursuit Rotor Test (PRT). Self-selected normal and fast walking speed and stride length variability were quantitatively measured, and self-reported functional ability was assessed via the Late Life Function and Disability Index (LLFDI). Results Participants with DM walked slower and took more steps off path when multitasking during the WART. No between-group differences in multitasking performance were observed on the PRT. Multitasking performance demonstrated little correlation with gait and functional ability in either group. Discussion and conclusions Older adults with DM appear to perform poorly on an ambulatory measure of multitasking. However, we analyzed a relatively small, homogenous sample of older adults with and without type 2 DM and factors such as peripheral neuropathy and the use of multiple comparisons complicate interpretation of the data. Future research should explore the interactions between multitasking and safety, fall risk, and function in this vulnerable population. Clinicians should recognize that an array of factors may contribute to gait and physical dysfunction in older adults with type 2 diabetes, and be prepared to assess and intervene appropriately. PMID:29045492

Multitasking in older adults with type 2 diabetes: A cross-sectional analysis.

PubMed

Rucker, Jason L; McDowd, Joan M; Mahnken, Jonathan D; Burns, Jeffrey M; Sabus, Carla H; Britton-Carpenter, Amanda J; Utech, Nora B; Kluding, Patricia M

2017-01-01

Deficits in the ability to multitask contribute to gait abnormalities and falls in many at-risk populations. However, it is unclear whether older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) also demonstrate impairments in multitasking. The purpose of this study was to compare multitasking performance in cognitively intact older adults with and without DM and explore its relationship to measures of gait and functional ability. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 40 individuals aged 60 and older with type 2 DM and a matched group of 40 cognitively intact older adults without DM. Multitasking was examined via the ambulatory Walking and Remembering Test (WART) and seated Pursuit Rotor Test (PRT). Self-selected normal and fast walking speed and stride length variability were quantitatively measured, and self-reported functional ability was assessed via the Late Life Function and Disability Index (LLFDI). Participants with DM walked slower and took more steps off path when multitasking during the WART. No between-group differences in multitasking performance were observed on the PRT. Multitasking performance demonstrated little correlation with gait and functional ability in either group. Older adults with DM appear to perform poorly on an ambulatory measure of multitasking. However, we analyzed a relatively small, homogenous sample of older adults with and without type 2 DM and factors such as peripheral neuropathy and the use of multiple comparisons complicate interpretation of the data. Future research should explore the interactions between multitasking and safety, fall risk, and function in this vulnerable population. Clinicians should recognize that an array of factors may contribute to gait and physical dysfunction in older adults with type 2 diabetes, and be prepared to assess and intervene appropriately.

Impairments of Motor Function While Multitasking in HIV

PubMed Central

Kronemer, Sharif I.; Mandel, Jordan A.; Sacktor, Ned C.; Marvel, Cherie L.

2017-01-01

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) became a treatable illness with the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (CART). As a result, patients with regular access to CART are expected to live decades with HIV. Long-term HIV infection presents unique challenges, including neurocognitive impairments defined by three major stages of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The current investigation aimed to study cognitive and motor impairments in HIV using a novel multitasking paradigm. Unlike current standard measures of cognitive and motor performance in HIV, multitasking increases real-world validity by mimicking the dual motor and cognitive demands that are part of daily professional and personal settings (e.g., driving, typing and writing). Moreover, multitask assessments can unmask compensatory mechanisms, normally used under single task conditions, to maintain performance. This investigation revealed that HIV+ participants were impaired on the motor component of the multitask, while cognitive performance was spared. A patient-specific positive interaction between motor performance and working memory recall was driven by poor HIV+ multitaskers. Surprisingly, HAND stage did not correspond with multitask performance and a variety of commonly used assessments indicated normal motor function among HIV+ participants with poor motor performance during the experimental task. These results support the use of multitasks to reveal otherwise hidden impairment in chronic HIV by expanding the sensitivity of clinical assessments used to determine HAND stage. Future studies should examine the capability of multitasks to predict performance in personal, professional and health-related behaviors and prognosis of patients living with chronic HIV. PMID:28503143

Impairments of Motor Function While Multitasking in HIV.

PubMed

Kronemer, Sharif I; Mandel, Jordan A; Sacktor, Ned C; Marvel, Cherie L

2017-01-01

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) became a treatable illness with the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (CART). As a result, patients with regular access to CART are expected to live decades with HIV. Long-term HIV infection presents unique challenges, including neurocognitive impairments defined by three major stages of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The current investigation aimed to study cognitive and motor impairments in HIV using a novel multitasking paradigm. Unlike current standard measures of cognitive and motor performance in HIV, multitasking increases real-world validity by mimicking the dual motor and cognitive demands that are part of daily professional and personal settings (e.g., driving, typing and writing). Moreover, multitask assessments can unmask compensatory mechanisms, normally used under single task conditions, to maintain performance. This investigation revealed that HIV+ participants were impaired on the motor component of the multitask, while cognitive performance was spared. A patient-specific positive interaction between motor performance and working memory recall was driven by poor HIV+ multitaskers. Surprisingly, HAND stage did not correspond with multitask performance and a variety of commonly used assessments indicated normal motor function among HIV+ participants with poor motor performance during the experimental task. These results support the use of multitasks to reveal otherwise hidden impairment in chronic HIV by expanding the sensitivity of clinical assessments used to determine HAND stage. Future studies should examine the capability of multitasks to predict performance in personal, professional and health-related behaviors and prognosis of patients living with chronic HIV.

Deadlines in space: Selective effects of coordinate spatial processing in multitasking.

PubMed

Todorov, Ivo; Del Missier, Fabio; Konke, Linn Andersson; Mäntylä, Timo

2015-11-01

Many everyday activities require coordination and monitoring of multiple deadlines. One way to handle these temporal demands might be to represent future goals and deadlines as a pattern of spatial relations. We examined the hypothesis that spatial ability, in addition to executive functioning, contributes to individual differences in multitasking. In two studies, participants completed a multitasking session in which they monitored four digital clocks running at different rates. In Study 1, we found that individual differences in spatial ability and executive functions were independent predictors of multiple-task performance. In Study 2, we found that individual differences in specific spatial abilities were selectively related to multiple-task performance, as only coordinate spatial processing, but not categorical, predicted multitasking, even beyond executive functioning and numeracy. In both studies, males outperformed females in spatial ability and multitasking and in Study 2 these sex differences generalized to a simulation of everyday multitasking. Menstrual changes moderated the effects on multitasking, in that sex differences in coordinate spatial processing and multitasking were observed between males and females in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, but not between males and females at menses. Overall, these findings suggest that multiple-task performance reflects independent contributions of spatial ability and executive functioning. Furthermore, our results support the distinction of categorical versus coordinate spatial processing, and suggest that these two basic relational processes are selectively affected by female sex hormones and differentially effective in transforming and handling temporal patterns as spatial relations in the context of multitasking.

76 FR 59418 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-26

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction, and program oversight in support of the Wildland...

Flexible Modeling of Latent Task Structures in Multitask Learning

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-26

Flexible Modeling of Latent Task Structures in Multitask Learning Alexandre Passos† apassos@cs.umass.edu Computer Science Department, University of...of Maryland, College Park, MD USA Abstract Multitask learning algorithms are typically designed assuming some fixed, a priori known latent structure...shared by all the tasks. However, it is usually unclear what type of latent task structure is the most ap- propriate for a given multitask learning prob

The relationship between internet-gaming experience and executive functions measured by virtual environment compared with conventional laboratory multitasks.

PubMed

Chen, Yong-Quan; Hsieh, Shulan

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate if individuals with frequent internet gaming (IG) experience exhibited better or worse multitasking ability compared with those with infrequent IG experience. The individuals' multitasking abilities were measured using virtual environment multitasks, such as Edinburgh Virtual Errands Test (EVET), and conventional laboratory multitasks, such as the dual task and task switching. Seventy-two young healthy college students participated in this study. They were split into two groups based on the time spent on playing online games, as evaluated using the Internet Use Questionnaire. Each participant performed EVET, dual-task, and task-switching paradigms on a computer. The current results showed that the frequent IG group performed better on EVET compared with the infrequent IG group, but their performance on the dual-task and task-switching paradigms did not differ significantly. The results suggest that the frequent IG group exhibited better multitasking efficacy if measured using a more ecologically valid task, but not when measured using a conventional laboratory multitasking task. The differences in terms of the subcomponents of executive function measured by these task paradigms were discussed. The current results show the importance of the task effect while evaluating frequent internet gamers' multitasking ability.

Multitasking as a choice: a perspective.

PubMed

Broeker, Laura; Liepelt, Roman; Poljac, Edita; Künzell, Stefan; Ewolds, Harald; de Oliveira, Rita F; Raab, Markus

2018-01-01

Performance decrements in multitasking have been explained by limitations in cognitive capacity, either modelled as static structural bottlenecks or as the scarcity of overall cognitive resources that prevent humans, or at least restrict them, from processing two tasks at the same time. However, recent research has shown that individual differences, flexible resource allocation, and prioritization of tasks cannot be fully explained by these accounts. We argue that understanding human multitasking as a choice and examining multitasking performance from the perspective of judgment and decision-making (JDM), may complement current dual-task theories. We outline two prominent theories from the area of JDM, namely Simple Heuristics and the Decision Field Theory, and adapt these theories to multitasking research. Here, we explain how computational modelling techniques and decision-making parameters used in JDM may provide a benefit to understanding multitasking costs and argue that these techniques and parameters have the potential to predict multitasking behavior in general, and also individual differences in behavior. Finally, we present the one-reason choice metaphor to explain a flexible use of limited capacity as well as changes in serial and parallel task processing. Based on this newly combined approach, we outline a concrete interdisciplinary future research program that we think will help to further develop multitasking research.

The relationship between internet-gaming experience and executive functions measured by virtual environment compared with conventional laboratory multitasks

PubMed Central

Chen, Yong-Quan

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate if individuals with frequent internet gaming (IG) experience exhibited better or worse multitasking ability compared with those with infrequent IG experience. The individuals’ multitasking abilities were measured using virtual environment multitasks, such as Edinburgh Virtual Errands Test (EVET), and conventional laboratory multitasks, such as the dual task and task switching. Seventy-two young healthy college students participated in this study. They were split into two groups based on the time spent on playing online games, as evaluated using the Internet Use Questionnaire. Each participant performed EVET, dual-task, and task-switching paradigms on a computer. The current results showed that the frequent IG group performed better on EVET compared with the infrequent IG group, but their performance on the dual-task and task-switching paradigms did not differ significantly. The results suggest that the frequent IG group exhibited better multitasking efficacy if measured using a more ecologically valid task, but not when measured using a conventional laboratory multitasking task. The differences in terms of the subcomponents of executive function measured by these task paradigms were discussed. The current results show the importance of the task effect while evaluating frequent internet gamers’ multitasking ability. PMID:29879150

Mental juggling: when does multitasking impair reading comprehension?

PubMed

Cho, Kit W; Altarriba, Jeanette; Popiel, Maximilian

2015-01-01

The present study investigated the conditions under which multitasking impairs reading comprehension. Participants read prose passages (the primary task), some of which required them to perform a secondary task. In Experiment 1, we compared two different types of secondary tasks (answering trivia questions and solving math problems). Reading comprehension was assessed using a multiple-choice test that measured both factual and conceptual knowledge. The results showed no observable detrimental effects associated with multitasking. In Experiment 2, the secondary task was a cognitive load task that required participants to remember a string of numbers while reading the passages. Performance on the reading comprehension test was lower in the cognitive load conditions relative to the no-load condition. The present study delineates the conditions under which multitasking can impair or have no effect on reading comprehension. These results further our understanding of our capacity to multitask and have practical implications in our technologically advanced society in which multitasking has become commonplace.

An Exploratory Study to Measure Excessive Involvement in Multitasking Interaction with Smart Devices.

PubMed

Zhang, Yubo; Rau, Pei-Luen Patrick

2016-06-01

This study developed a scale measuring excessive involvement in multitasking interaction with smart devices. An online questionnaire was designed and surveyed in a sample of 380 respondents. The sample was split into two groups for exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, respectively. A four-factor structure was identified with an acceptable goodness of fit. The first two factors, "Obsession and neglect" and "Problematic control," described the obsessive feelings, neglect behaviors, and behavior control problems accompanied by excessive multitasking interaction with smart devices. The latter two factors, "Multitasking preference" and "Polychronic orientation," referred to multitaskers' preference of engaging in multiple media use or interaction tasks rather than a single task from the time orientation perspective. The four-factor structure indicates that excessive involvement in multitasking interaction with smart devices shares some similarities with other behavioral addiction types, but demonstrates uniqueness compared with excessive engagement in single media use.

Single-task fMRI overlap predicts concurrent multitasking interference.

PubMed

Nijboer, Menno; Borst, Jelmer; van Rijn, Hedderik; Taatgen, Niels

2014-10-15

There is no consensus regarding the origin of behavioral interference that occurs during concurrent multitasking. Some evidence points toward a multitasking locus in the brain, while other results imply that interference is the consequence of task interactions in several brain regions. To investigate this issue, we conducted a functional MRI (fMRI) study consisting of three component tasks, which were performed both separately and in combination. The results indicated that no specific multitasking area exists. Instead, different patterns of activation across conditions could be explained by assuming that the interference is a result of task interactions. Additionally, similarity in single-task activation patterns correlated with a decrease in accuracy during dual-task conditions. Taken together, these results support the view that multitasking interference is not due to a bottleneck in a single "multitasking" brain region, but is a result of interactions between concurrently running processes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Local Planning Considerations for the Wildland-Structural Intermix in the Year 2000

Treesearch

Robert L. Irwin

1987-01-01

California's foothill counties are the scene of rapid development. All types of construction in former wildlands is creating an intermix of wildland-structures-wildland that is different from the traditional "urban-wildland interface." The fire and structural environment for seven counties is described. Fire statistics are compared with growth patterns...

Structured box training improves stability of retraction while multitasking in colorectal surgery simulation.

PubMed

Kobiela, Jarek; Spychalski, Piotr; Łaski, Dariusz; Błażyńska-Spychalska, Agata; Łachiński, Andrzej J; Śledziński, Zbigniew; Hull, Tracy

2018-09-01

Laparoscopic colorectal surgery has an established role. The ability to multitask (use a retraction tool with one hand and navigate a laparoscopic camera with the other) is desired for efficient laparoscopic surgery. Surgical trainees must learn this skill to perform advanced laparoscopic tasks. The aim was to determine whether a box-training protocol improves the stability of retraction while multitasking in colorectal surgery simulation. Fifty-eight medical students were recruited to attend a basic laparoscopic box-training course. Ability to perform steady retraction with and without multitasking was measured initially and at the conclusion of the course. Before training, students demonstrated a decrease in performance while multitasking with a greater maximal exerted force, a greater range of force, and a greater standard deviation for traction and minimal exerted force, range of force and a greater standard deviation for countertraction. Statistically significant improvement (lower maximal exerted force and lower range of force) was observed for traction while multitasking after training. After the training, no statistically significant differences were found when the student performed a single task versus multitasking, both for traction and countertraction. A structured box-training curriculum improved the stability of retraction while multitasking in this colorectal surgery simulation. Although it did not improve stability of retraction as a single task, it did improve stability of retraction while multitasking. After training, this enables the trainee to retract as efficiently while operating the camera as they retract when only focusing on retraction as a single task. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multitasking domain decomposition fast Poisson solvers on the Cray Y-MP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, Tony F.; Fatoohi, Rod A.

1990-01-01

The results of multitasking implementation of a domain decomposition fast Poisson solver on eight processors of the Cray Y-MP are presented. The object of this research is to study the performance of domain decomposition methods on a Cray supercomputer and to analyze the performance of different multitasking techniques using highly parallel algorithms. Two implementations of multitasking are considered: macrotasking (parallelism at the subroutine level) and microtasking (parallelism at the do-loop level). A conventional FFT-based fast Poisson solver is also multitasked. The results of different implementations are compared and analyzed. A speedup of over 7.4 on the Cray Y-MP running in a dedicated environment is achieved for all cases.

Investigating the relationship between media multitasking and processes involved in task-switching.

PubMed

Alzahabi, Reem; Becker, Mark W; Hambrick, David Z

2017-11-01

Although multitasking with media has increased dramatically in recent years (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010), the association between media multitasking and cognitive performance is poorly understood. In addition, the literature on the relationship between media multitasking and task-switching, one measure of cognitive control, has produced mixed results (Alzahabi & Becker, 2013; Minear et al., 2013; Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009). Here we use an individual differences approach to investigate the relationship between media multitasking and task-switching performance by first examining the structure of task-switching and identifying the latent factors that contribute to switch costs. Participants performed a series of 3 different task-switching paradigms, each designed to isolate the effects of a specific putative mechanism (e.g., advanced preparation) related to task-switching performance, as well as a series of surveys to measure media multitasking and intelligence. The results suggest that task-switching performance is related to 2 somewhat independent factors, namely an advanced preparation factor and passive decay factor. In addition, multitasking with media was related to a faster ability to prepare for tasks, resulting in faster task-switching performance without a cost to accuracy. Media multitasking and intelligence were both unrelated to passive decay factors. These findings are consistent with a 2-component model of task-switching (Sohn & Anderson, 2001), as well as an automatic/executive framework of cognitive control (Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Multitasking Operating Systems for the IBM PC.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owen, G. Scott

1985-01-01

The ability of a microcomputer to execute several programs at the same time is called "multitasking." The nature and use of one multitasking operating system Concurrent PC-DOS from Digital Research (the developers of the CP/M operating system) are discussed. (JN)

Between Domain Cognitive Dispersion and Functional Abilities in Older Adults

PubMed Central

Fellows, Robert P.; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen

2016-01-01

Objective Within-person variability in cognitive performance is related to neurological integrity, but the association with functional abilities is less clear. The primary aim of this study was to examine the association between cognitive dispersion, or within-person variability, and everyday multitasking and the way in which these variables may influence performance on a naturalistic assessment of functional abilities. Method Participants were 156 community-dwelling adults, age 50 or older. Cognitive dispersion was calculated by measuring within-person variability in cognitive domains, established through principal components analysis. Path analysis was used to determine the independent contribution of cognitive dispersion to functional ability, mediated by multitasking. Results Results of the path analysis revealed that the number of subtasks interweaved (i.e., multitasked) mediated the association between cognitive dispersion and task sequencing and accuracy. Although increased multitasking was associated with worse task performance in the path model, secondary analyses revealed that for individuals with low cognitive dispersion, increased multitasking was associated with better task performance, whereas for those with higher levels of dispersion multitasking was negatively correlated with task performance. Conclusion These results suggest that cognitive dispersion between domains may be a useful indicator of multitasking and daily living skills among older adults. PMID:26300441

The influence of positive vs. negative affect on multitasking.

PubMed

Morgan, Brent; D'Mello, Sidney K

2016-10-01

Considerable research has investigated how affect influences performance on a single task; however, little is known about the role of affect in complex multitasking environments. In this paper, 178 participants multitasked in a synthetic work environment (SYNWORK) consisting of memory, visual monitoring, auditory monitoring, and math tasks. Participants multitasked for a 3-min baseline phase (MT1), following which they were randomly assigned to watch one of three affect-induction videos: positive, neutral, or negative. Participants then resumed multitasking for two additional critical phases (MT2, MT3; 3min each). In MT2, performance of the positive and neutral conditions was statistically equivalent and higher than the negative condition. In MT3, the positive condition performed better than the negative condition, with the neutral condition not significantly different from the other two. The differences in overall multitasking scores were largely driven by errors in the Math task (the most cognitively demanding task) in MT2 and the Memory task in MT3. These findings have implications for how positive and negative affective states influence processing in a cognitively demanding multitasking environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anodal tDCS applied during multitasking training leads to transferable performance gains.

PubMed

Filmer, Hannah L; Lyons, Maxwell; Mattingley, Jason B; Dux, Paul E

2017-10-11

Cognitive training can lead to performance improvements that are specific to the tasks trained. Recent research has suggested that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied during training of a simple response-selection paradigm can broaden performance benefits to an untrained task. Here we assessed the impact of combined tDCS and training on multitasking, stimulus-response mapping specificity, response-inhibition, and spatial attention performance in a cohort of healthy adults. Participants trained over four days with concurrent tDCS - anodal, cathodal, or sham - applied to the left prefrontal cortex. Immediately prior to, 1 day after, and 2 weeks after training, performance was assessed on the trained multitasking paradigm, an untrained multitasking paradigm, a go/no-go inhibition task, and a visual search task. Training combined with anodal tDCS, compared with training plus cathodal or sham stimulation, enhanced performance for the untrained multitasking paradigm and visual search tasks. By contrast, there were no training benefits for the go/no-go task. Our findings demonstrate that anodal tDCS combined with multitasking training can extend to untrained multitasking paradigms as well as spatial attention, but with no extension to the domain of response inhibition.

Multitasking in the University Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burak, Lydia

2012-01-01

Although research evidence indicates that multitasking results in poorer learning and poorer performance, many students engage with text messaging, Facebook, internet searching, emailing, and instant messaging, while sitting in university classrooms. Research also suggests that multitasking may be related to risk behaviors. This study's purpose…

Unravelling the Complexity of Teams via a Thermodynamics Perspective

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

potentially irrational behaviors. Multitasking (MT) is an unsolved but key theoretical problem for organizing teams, organizations and systems...While individuals multitask (MT) poorly (Wickens, 1992), multitasking is the function of groups as they pool skills to accomplish goals they are unable

Delayed enhancement of multitasking performance: Effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on the prefrontal cortex

PubMed Central

Hsu, Wan-Yu; Zanto, Theodore P.; Anguera, Joaquin A.; Lin, Yung-Yang; Gazzaley, Adam

2015-01-01

Background The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been proposed to play an important role in neural processes that underlie multitasking performance. However, this claim is underexplored in terms of direct causal evidence. Objective The current study aimed to delineate the causal involvement of the DLPFC during multitasking by modulating neural activity with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) prior to engagement in a demanding multitasking paradigm. Methods The study is a single-blind, crossover, sham-controlled experiment. Anodal tDCS or sham tDCS was applied over left DLPFC in forty-one healthy young adults (aged 18–35 years) immediately before they engaged in a 3-D video game designed to assess multitasking performance. Participants were separated into three subgroups: real-sham (i.e., real tDCS in the first session, followed by sham tDCS in the second session one hour later), sham-real (sham tDCS first session, real tDCS second session), and sham-sham (sham tDCS in both sessions). Results The real-sham group showed enhanced multitasking performance and decreased multitasking cost during the second session, compared to first session, suggesting delayed cognitive benefits of tDCS. Interestingly, performance benefits were observed only for multitasking and not on a single-task version of the game. No significant changes were found between the first and second sessions for either the sham-real or the sham-sham groups. Conclusions These results suggest a causal role of left prefrontal cortex in facilitating the simultaneous performance of more than one task, or multitasking. Moreover, these findings reveal that anodal tDCS may have delayed benefits that reflect an enhanced rate of learning. PMID:26073148

Delayed enhancement of multitasking performance: Effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on the prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Hsu, Wan-Yu; Zanto, Theodore P; Anguera, Joaquin A; Lin, Yung-Yang; Gazzaley, Adam

2015-08-01

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been proposed to play an important role in neural processes that underlie multitasking performance. However, this claim is underexplored in terms of direct causal evidence. The current study aimed to delineate the causal involvement of the DLPFC during multitasking by modulating neural activity with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) prior to engagement in a demanding multitasking paradigm. The study is a single-blind, crossover, sham-controlled experiment. Anodal tDCS or sham tDCS was applied over left DLPFC in forty-one healthy young adults (aged 18-35 years) immediately before they engaged in a 3-D video game designed to assess multitasking performance. Participants were separated into three subgroups: real-sham (i.e., real tDCS in the first session, followed by sham tDCS in the second session 1 h later), sham-real (sham tDCS first session, real tDCS second session), and sham-sham (sham tDCS in both sessions). The real-sham group showed enhanced multitasking performance and decreased multitasking cost during the second session, compared to first session, suggesting delayed cognitive benefits of tDCS. Interestingly, performance benefits were observed only for multitasking and not on a single-task version of the game. No significant changes were found between the first and second sessions for either the sham-real or the sham-sham groups. These results suggest a causal role of left prefrontal cortex in facilitating the simultaneous performance of more than one task, or multitasking. Moreover, these findings reveal that anodal tDCS may have delayed benefits that reflect an enhanced rate of learning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multitasking Teachers: Mistake or Missing Link?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eisenwine, Marilyn J.; Hadley, Nancy J.

2011-01-01

This article presents case studies involving graduate students who exhibited multitasking behaviors during their university courses, and explores how those behaviors functioned in their own classrooms. Though these university students appeared to be inattentive, their multitasking proved to be indicative of creativity and flexibility in their…

Small Group Multitasking in Literature Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baurain, Bradley

2007-01-01

Faced with the challenge of teaching American literature to large, multilevel classes in Vietnam, the writer developed a flexible small group framework called "multitasking". "Multitasking" sets up stable task categories which rotate among small groups from lesson to lesson. This framework enabled students to work cooperatively…

Understanding and Visualizing Multitasking and Task Switching Activities: A Time Motion Study to Capture Nursing Workflow

PubMed Central

Yen, Po-Yin; Kelley, Marjorie; Lopetegui, Marcelo; Rosado, Amber L.; Migliore, Elaina M.; Chipps, Esther M.; Buck, Jacalyn

2016-01-01

A fundamental understanding of multitasking within nursing workflow is important in today’s dynamic and complex healthcare environment. We conducted a time motion study to understand nursing workflow, specifically multitasking and task switching activities. We used TimeCaT, a comprehensive electronic time capture tool, to capture observational data. We established inter-observer reliability prior to data collection. We completed 56 hours of observation of 10 registered nurses. We found, on average, nurses had 124 communications and 208 hands-on tasks per 4-hour block of time. They multitasked (having communication and hands-on tasks simultaneously) 131 times, representing 39.48% of all times; the total multitasking duration ranges from 14.6 minutes to 109 minutes, 44.98 minutes (18.63%) on average. We also reviewed workflow visualization to uncover the multitasking events. Our study design and methods provide a practical and reliable approach to conducting and analyzing time motion studies from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. PMID:28269924

Short-term mindfulness intervention reduces the negative attentional effects associated with heavy media multitasking

PubMed Central

Gorman, Thomas E.; Green, C. Shawn

2016-01-01

Recent research suggests that frequently switching between various forms of media (i.e. ‘media multitasking’) is associated with diminished attentional abilities, a disconcerting result given the prevalence of media multitasking in today’s society. In the present study, we sought to investigate the extent to which the deficits associated with frequent media multitasking can be temporarily ameliorated via a short-term mindfulness intervention previously shown to produce beneficial effects on the attentional abilities of normally functioning individuals. Consistent with previous work, we found: (1) that heavy media multitaskers showed generally poorer attentional abilities than light media multitaskers and (2) that all participants showed benefits from the short-term mindfulness intervention. Furthermore, we found that the benefits of the short-term mindfulness intervention were not equivalently large across participants. Instead, these benefits were disproportionately large in the heavy media multitaskers. While the positive outcomes were short-lived, this opens the possibility of performing long-term interventions with the goal of realizing lasting gains in this population. PMID:27086504

Multitasking the three-dimensional shock wave code CTH on the Cray X-MP/416

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McGlaun, J.M.; Thompson, S.L.

1988-01-01

CTH is a software system under development at Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque that models multidimensional, multi-material, large-deformation, strong shock wave physics. CTH was carefully designed to both vectorize and multitask on the Cray X-MP/416. All of the physics routines are vectorized except the thermodynamics and the interface tracer. All of the physics routines are multitasked except the boundary conditions. The Los Alamos National Laboratory multitasking library was used for the multitasking. The resulting code is easy to maintain, easy to understand, gives the same answers as the unitasked code, and achieves a measured speedup of approximately 3.5 on the fourmore » cpu Cray. This document discusses the design, prototyping, development, and debugging of CTH. It also covers the architecture features of CTH that enhances multitasking, granularity of the tasks, and synchronization of tasks. The utility of system software and utilities such as simulators and interactive debuggers are also discussed. 5 refs., 7 tabs.« less

Understanding and Visualizing Multitasking and Task Switching Activities: A Time Motion Study to Capture Nursing Workflow.

PubMed

Yen, Po-Yin; Kelley, Marjorie; Lopetegui, Marcelo; Rosado, Amber L; Migliore, Elaina M; Chipps, Esther M; Buck, Jacalyn

2016-01-01

A fundamental understanding of multitasking within nursing workflow is important in today's dynamic and complex healthcare environment. We conducted a time motion study to understand nursing workflow, specifically multitasking and task switching activities. We used TimeCaT, a comprehensive electronic time capture tool, to capture observational data. We established inter-observer reliability prior to data collection. We completed 56 hours of observation of 10 registered nurses. We found, on average, nurses had 124 communications and 208 hands-on tasks per 4-hour block of time. They multitasked (having communication and hands-on tasks simultaneously) 131 times, representing 39.48% of all times; the total multitasking duration ranges from 14.6 minutes to 109 minutes, 44.98 minutes (18.63%) on average. We also reviewed workflow visualization to uncover the multitasking events. Our study design and methods provide a practical and reliable approach to conducting and analyzing time motion studies from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives.

Improving multitasking assessment in healthy older adults using a prop-based version of the Breakfast task.

PubMed

Kosowicz, Maria; MacPherson, Sarah E

2017-01-01

Computerized cognitive assessment is becoming increasingly more common in clinical neuropsychological assessment and cognitive neuropsychological research. A number of computerized tasks now exist to assess multitasking abilities that are essential for everyday tasks such as cooking, shopping, or driving, but little is known about whether these tasks are appropriate for assessing older adults' multitasking. The present study directly compared age effects on multitasking when assessed using a computerized and a prop-based version of Craik and Bialystok's ( 2006 ) Breakfast task. Twenty participants aged 18 to 24 years and 20 participants aged 60 to 79 years were assessed on both versions of the Breakfast task. While age-related decrements in multitasking performance were found using the computerized task, significant age differences were not found on the majority of measures when the prop-based version was administered. The results suggest that age-related deficits in multitasking will be less when more contextualized, noncomputer based tasks are used.

On supertaskers and the neural basis of efficient multitasking.

PubMed

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

2015-06-01

The present study used brain imaging to determine the neural basis of individual differences in multitasking, the ability to successfully perform at least two attention-demanding tasks at once. Multitasking is mentally taxing and, therefore, should recruit the prefrontal cortex to maintain task goals when coordinating attentional control and managing the cognitive load. To investigate this possibility, we used functional neuroimaging to assess neural activity in both extraordinary multitaskers (Supertaskers) and control subjects who were matched on working memory capacity. Participants performed a challenging dual N-back task in which auditory and visual stimuli were presented simultaneously, requiring independent and continuous maintenance, updating, and verification of the contents of verbal and spatial working memory. With the task requirements and considerable cognitive load that accompanied increasing N-back, relative to the controls, the multitasking of Supertaskers was characterized by more efficient recruitment of anterior cingulate and posterior frontopolar prefrontal cortices. Results are interpreted using neuropsychological and evolutionary perspectives on individual differences in multitasking ability and the neural correlates of attentional control.

Can You Multitask? Evidence and Limitations of Task Switching and Multitasking in Emergency Medicine.

PubMed

Skaugset, L Melissa; Farrell, Susan; Carney, Michele; Wolff, Margaret; Santen, Sally A; Perry, Marcia; Cico, Stephen John

2016-08-01

Emergency physicians work in a fast-paced environment that is characterized by frequent interruptions and the expectation that they will perform multiple tasks efficiently and without error while maintaining oversight of the entire emergency department. However, there is a lack of definition and understanding of the behaviors that constitute effective task switching and multitasking, as well as how to improve these skills. This article reviews the literature on task switching and multitasking in a variety of disciplines-including cognitive science, human factors engineering, business, and medicine-to define and describe the successful performance of task switching and multitasking in emergency medicine. Multitasking, defined as the performance of two tasks simultaneously, is not possible except when behaviors become completely automatic; instead, physicians rapidly switch between small tasks. This task switching causes disruption in the primary task and may contribute to error. A framework is described to enhance the understanding and practice of these behaviors. Copyright © 2015 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Does multitasking mediate the relationships between episodic memory, attention, executive functions and apathetic manifestations in traumatic brain injury?

PubMed

Arnould, Annabelle; Rochat, Lucien; Dromer, Emilie; Azouvi, Philippe; Van der Linden, Martial

2018-03-01

Apathy is frequently described in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI); its negative consequences particularly affect functional independence. Among apathetic manifestations, lack of initiative and lack of interest have mainly been associated with cognitive impairments. However, few studies have been conducted to precisely identify the underlying cognitive processes. Our aims were (1) to determine the best predictor of apathy from among several cognitive processes, including episodic memory and attention/executive mechanisms and multitasking, and (2) to examine to what extent multitasking could mediate the relationships between specific cognitive processes and lack of initiative/interest. Seventy participants (34 patients with TBI matched with 36 control participants) were given a questionnaire to assess anxio-depressive symptoms, four tasks to assess specific cognitive processes, and one task to assess real-life multitasking. Participants' relatives completed an apathy questionnaire. Multitasking, as assessed by the number of goals not achieved, was the only significant predictor of apathetic manifestations. In addition, the mediation analyses revealed that multitasking performance mediated the relationships between verbal episodic memory and lack of initiative/interest, whereas executive and attentional functions were only indirectly related to lack of initiative/interest due to their significant impacts on multitasking. These results shed new light on the aetiology of apathetic manifestations in patients with TBI, indicating how specific cognitive deficits are expressed in real-life multitasking, and consequently, how they may lead to the development and/or maintenance of apathetic manifestations. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Relationships of multitasking, physicians' strain, and performance: an observational study in ward physicians.

PubMed

Weigl, Matthias; Müller, Andreas; Sevdalis, Nick; Angerer, Peter

2013-03-01

Simultaneous task performance ("multitasking") is common in hospital physicians' work and is implicated as a major determinant for enhanced strain and detrimental performance. The aim was to determine the impact of multitasking by hospital physicians on their self reported strain and performance. A prospective observational time-and-motion study in a Community Hospital was conducted. Twenty-seven hospital physicians (surgical and internal specialties) were observed in 40 full-shift observations. Observed physicians reported twice on their self-monitored strain and performance during the observation time. Associations of observed multitasking events and subsequent strain and performance appraisals were calculated. About 21% of the working time physicians were engaged in simultaneous activities. The average time spent in multitasking activities correlated significantly with subsequently reported strain (r = 0.27, P = 0.018). The number of instances of multitasking activities correlated with self-monitored performance to a marginally significant level (r = 0.19, P = 0.098). Physicians who engage in multitasking activities tend to self-report better performance but at the cost of enhanced psychophysical strain. Hence, physicians do not perceive their own multitasking activities as a source for deficient performance, for example, medical errors. Readjustment of workload, improved organization of work for hospital physicians, and training programs to improve physicians' skills in dealing with multiple clinical demands, prioritization, and efficient task allocation may be useful avenues to explore to reduce the potentially negative impact of simultaneous task performance in clinical settings.

Student Off-Task Electronic Multitasking Predictors: Scale Development and Validation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qian, Yuxia; Li, Li

2017-01-01

In an attempt to better understand factors contributing to students' off-task electronic multitasking behavior in class, the research included two studies that developed a scale of students' off-task electronic multitasking predictors (the SOTEMP scale), and explored relationships between the scale and various classroom communication processes and…

A Multitasking General Executive for Compound Continuous Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salvucci, Dario D.

2005-01-01

As cognitive architectures move to account for increasingly complex real-world tasks, one of the most pressing challenges involves understanding and modeling human multitasking. Although a number of existing models now perform multitasking in real-world scenarios, these models typically employ customized executives that schedule tasks for the…

The Effect of Multitasking to Faculty Members' Academic Works

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baran, Bahar

2013-01-01

Faculty members in higher education institutions which technology produced in and used actively try to overcome simultaneous one more works because of their intensive works and responsibilities. This study associated simultaneously doing one more academic works to multitasking. Multitasking may have a detrimental effect on academic works since it…

Multitasking with Smartphones in the College Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grinols, Anne Bradstreet; Rajesh, Rishi

2014-01-01

Although the concept of multitasking itself is under debate, smartphones do enable users to divert attention from the task at hand to nongermane matters. As smartphone use becomes pervasive, extending into our classrooms, educators are concerned that they are becoming a major distraction. Does multitasking with smartphones impede learning? Can…

Connectivity patterns in cognitive control networks predict naturalistic multitasking ability.

PubMed

Wen, Tanya; Liu, De-Cyuan; Hsieh, Shulan

2018-06-01

Multitasking is a fundamental aspect of everyday life activities. To achieve a complex, multi-component goal, the tasks must be subdivided into sub-tasks and component steps, a critical function of prefrontal networks. The prefrontal cortex is considered to be organized in a cascade of executive processes from the sensorimotor to anterior prefrontal cortex, which includes execution of specific goal-directed action, to encoding and maintaining task rules, and finally monitoring distal goals. In the current study, we used a virtual multitasking paradigm to tap into real-world performance and relate it to each individual's resting-state functional connectivity in fMRI. While did not find any correlation between global connectivity of any of the major networks with multitasking ability, global connectivity of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) was predictive of multitasking ability. Further analysis showed that multivariate connectivity patterns within the sensorimotor network (SMN), and between-network connectivity of the frontoparietal network (FPN) and dorsal attention network (DAN), predicted individual multitasking ability and could be generalized to novel individuals. Together, these results support previous research that prefrontal networks underlie multitasking abilities and show that connectivity patterns in the cascade of prefrontal networks may explain individual differences in performance. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Enhancement of multitasking performance and neural oscillations by transcranial alternating current stimulation

PubMed Central

Zanto, Theodore P.; van Schouwenburg, Martine R.; Gazzaley, Adam

2017-01-01

Multitasking is associated with the generation of stimulus-locked theta (4–7 Hz) oscillations arising from prefrontal cortex (PFC). Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that influences endogenous brain oscillations. Here, we investigate whether applying alternating current stimulation within the theta frequency band would affect multitasking performance, and explore tACS effects on neurophysiological measures. Brief runs of bilateral PFC theta-tACS were applied while participants were engaged in a multitasking paradigm accompanied by electroencephalography (EEG) data collection. Unlike an active control group, a tACS stimulation group showed enhancement of multitasking performance after a 90-minute session (F1,35 = 6.63, p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.16; effect size = 0.96), coupled with significant modulation of posterior beta (13–30 Hz) activities (F1,32 = 7.66, p = 0.009, ηp2 = 0.19; effect size = 0.96). Across participant regression analyses indicated that those participants with greater increases in frontal theta, alpha and beta oscillations exhibited greater multitasking performance improvements. These results indicate frontal theta-tACS generates benefits on multitasking performance accompanied by widespread neuronal oscillatory changes, and suggests that future tACS studies with extended treatments are worth exploring as promising tools for cognitive enhancement. PMID:28562642

Enhancement of multitasking performance and neural oscillations by transcranial alternating current stimulation.

PubMed

Hsu, Wan-Yu; Zanto, Theodore P; van Schouwenburg, Martine R; Gazzaley, Adam

2017-01-01

Multitasking is associated with the generation of stimulus-locked theta (4-7 Hz) oscillations arising from prefrontal cortex (PFC). Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that influences endogenous brain oscillations. Here, we investigate whether applying alternating current stimulation within the theta frequency band would affect multitasking performance, and explore tACS effects on neurophysiological measures. Brief runs of bilateral PFC theta-tACS were applied while participants were engaged in a multitasking paradigm accompanied by electroencephalography (EEG) data collection. Unlike an active control group, a tACS stimulation group showed enhancement of multitasking performance after a 90-minute session (F1,35 = 6.63, p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.16; effect size = 0.96), coupled with significant modulation of posterior beta (13-30 Hz) activities (F1,32 = 7.66, p = 0.009, ηp2 = 0.19; effect size = 0.96). Across participant regression analyses indicated that those participants with greater increases in frontal theta, alpha and beta oscillations exhibited greater multitasking performance improvements. These results indicate frontal theta-tACS generates benefits on multitasking performance accompanied by widespread neuronal oscillatory changes, and suggests that future tACS studies with extended treatments are worth exploring as promising tools for cognitive enhancement.

78 FR 45948 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-30

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction...

78 FR 65698 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-01

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction...

78 FR 15033 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-08

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as... provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction...

78 FR 45949 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-30

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction...

76 FR 22130 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-20

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction...

75 FR 58347 - Information Collection; Overcoming Barriers to Wildland Fire Defensible Space Behaviors

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-24

... Information Collection; Overcoming Barriers to Wildland Fire Defensible Space Behaviors AGENCY: Forest Service... new information collection, Overcoming Barriers to Wildland Fire Defensible Space Behaviors. DATES... time, Monday through Friday. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Overcoming Barriers to Wildland Fire...

Wildland Fire Management Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schwager, K.

The Wildland Fire Management Plan (FMP) for Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) is written to comply with Department of Energy (DOE) Integrated Safety Management Policy; Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and Program Review; and Wildland and Prescribed Fire Management Policy and Implementation Procedures Reference Guide. This current plan incorporates changes resulting from new policies on the national level as well as significant changes to available resources and other emerging issues, and replaces BNL's Wildland FMP dated 2014.

A new virtual-reality training module for laparoscopic surgical skills and equipment handling: can multitasking be trained? A randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Bongers, Pim J; Diederick van Hove, P; Stassen, Laurents P S; Dankelman, Jenny; Schreuder, Henk W R

2015-01-01

During laparoscopic surgery distractions often occur and multitasking between surgery and other tasks, such as technical equipment handling, is a necessary competence. In psychological research, reduction of adverse effects of distraction is demonstrated when specifically multitasking is trained. The aim of this study was to examine whether multitasking and more specifically task-switching can be trained in a virtual-reality (VR) laparoscopic skills simulator. After randomization, the control group trained separately with an insufflator simulation module and a laparoscopic skills exercise module on a VR simulator. In the intervention group, insufflator module and VR skills exercises were combined to develop a new integrated training in which multitasking was a required competence. At random moments, problems with the insufflator appeared and forced the trainee to multitask. During several repetitions of a different multitask VR skills exercise as posttest, performance parameters (laparoscopy time, insufflator time, and errors) were measured and compared between both the groups as well with a pretest exercise to establish the learning effect. A face-validity questionnaire was filled afterward. University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands. Medical and PhD students (n = 42) from University Medical Centre Utrecht, without previous experience in laparoscopic simulation, were randomly assigned to either intervention (n = 21) or control group (n = 21). All participants performed better in the posttest exercises without distraction of the insufflator compared with the exercises in which multitasking was necessary to solve the insufflator problems. After training, the intervention group was significantly quicker in solving the insufflator problems (mean = 1.60Log(s) vs 1.70Log(s), p = 0.02). No significant differences between both the groups were seen in laparoscopy time and errors. Multitasking has negative effects on the laparoscopic performance. This study suggests an additional learning effect of training multitasking in VR laparoscopy simulation, because the trainees are able to handle a secondary task (solving insufflator problems) quicker. These results may aid the development of laparoscopy VR training programs in approximating real-life laparoscopic surgery. Copyright © 2014 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

78 FR 59949 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-30

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting.... Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as... provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction...

76 FR 28445 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-17

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below...-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction, and program oversight in support of the...

77 FR 63326 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-16

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below...-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction, and program oversight in support of the...

76 FR 15332 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-21

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below...-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership, direction, and program oversight in support of the...

78 FR 15032 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-08

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... is to provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide leadership...

A Naturalistic Investigation of Media Multitasking While Studying and the Effects on Exam Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patterson, Michael C.

2017-01-01

The present study investigated the use of multiple digital media technologies, including social networking platforms, by students while preparing for an examination (media multitasking) and the subsequent effects on exam performance. The level of media multitasking (number of simultaneous media technologies) and duration of study were used as…

The Relationship between Media Multitasking and Executive Function in Early Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baumgartner, Susanne E.; Weeda, Wouter D.; van der Heijden, Lisa L.; Huizinga, Mariëtte

2014-01-01

The increasing prevalence of media multitasking among adolescents is concerning because it may be negatively related to goal-directed behavior. This study investigated the relationship between media multitasking and executive function in 523 early adolescents (aged 11-15; 48% girls). The three central components of executive functions (i.e.,…

Reading while Watching Video: The Effect of Video Content on Reading Comprehension and Media Multitasking Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Lin; Lee, Jennifer; Robertson, Tip

2011-01-01

Media multitasking, or engaging in multiple media and tasks simultaneously, is becoming an increasingly popular phenomenon with the development and engagement in social media. This study examines to what extent video content affects students' reading comprehension in media multitasking environments. One hundred and thirty university students were…

You Say Multitasking Like It's a Good Thing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abaté, Charles J.

2008-01-01

"Multitasking" has developed a certain mantra in our culture, and according to this widely held axiom, people in general and students in particular, can and do function productively and learn efficiently doing several things at once. There also seems to be an unshakable conviction that young students excel in a multitasking environment.…

The Impact of Media Multitasking on Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jennifer; Lin, Lin; Robertson, Tip

2012-01-01

While multitasking is not a new concept, it has received increasing attention in recent years with the development of new media and technologies. Recent trends appear to suggest that multitasking is on the rise among the younger generation. The purpose of the study is to determine if students obtain more or less information in multitasking…

Is Media Multitasking Good for Cybersecurity? Exploring the Relationship Between Media Multitasking and Everyday Cognitive Failures on Self-Reported Risky Cybersecurity Behaviors.

PubMed

Hadlington, Lee; Murphy, Karen

2018-03-01

The current study focused on how engaging in media multitasking (MMT) and the experience of everyday cognitive failures impact on the individual's engagement in risky cybersecurity behaviors (RCsB). In total, 144 participants (32 males, 112 females) completed an online survey. The age range for participants was 18 to 43 years (M = 20.63, SD = 4.04). Participants completed three scales which included an inventory of weekly MMT, a measure of everyday cognitive failures, and RCsB. There was a significant difference between heavy media multitaskers (HMM), average media multitaskers (AMM), and light media multitaskers (LMM) in terms of RCsB, with HMM demonstrating more frequent risky behaviors than LMM or AMM. The HMM group also reported more cognitive failures in everyday life than the LMM group. A regression analysis showed that everyday cognitive failures and MMT acted as significant predictors for RCsB. These results expand our current understanding of the relationship between human factors and cybersecurity behaviors, which are useful to inform the design of training and intervention packages to mitigate RCsB.

78 FR 14351 - Wildland Fire Executive Council; Renewal

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-05

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council; Renewal AGENCY: Department of the Interior. ACTION: Renewal of the Wildland Fire Executive Council. SUMMARY: In accordance... Department of Agriculture are renewing the Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC). The purpose of the WFEC is...

77 FR 35420 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-13

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... purpose of the WFEC is to provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide...

76 FR 8768 - Establishment of the Wildland Fire Executive Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-15

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Establishment of the Wildland Fire Executive... are announcing the establishment of the Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC). The purpose of the WFEC is to provide advice on the coordinated national level wildland fire policy leadership, direction...

77 FR 18851 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-28

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... purpose of the WFEC is to provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide...

76 FR 79205 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-21

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting... Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as indicated below... purpose of the WFEC is to provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide...

Time takes space: selective effects of multitasking on concurrent spatial processing.

PubMed

Mäntylä, Timo; Coni, Valentina; Kubik, Veit; Todorov, Ivo; Del Missier, Fabio

2017-08-01

Many everyday activities require coordination and monitoring of complex relations of future goals and deadlines. Cognitive offloading may provide an efficient strategy for reducing control demands by representing future goals and deadlines as a pattern of spatial relations. We tested the hypothesis that multiple-task monitoring involves time-to-space transformational processes, and that these spatial effects are selective with greater demands on coordinate (metric) than categorical (nonmetric) spatial relation processing. Participants completed a multitasking session in which they monitored four series of deadlines, running on different time scales, while making concurrent coordinate or categorical spatial judgments. We expected and found that multitasking taxes concurrent coordinate, but not categorical, spatial processing. Furthermore, males showed a better multitasking performance than females. These findings provide novel experimental evidence for the hypothesis that efficient multitasking involves metric relational processing.

Chapter 7. Assessing soil factors in wildland improvement programs

Treesearch

Arthur R. Tiedemann; Carlos F. Lopez

2004-01-01

Soil factors are an important consideration for successful wildland range development or improvement programs. Even though many soil improvement and amelioration practices are not realistic for wildlands, their evaluation is an important step in selection of adapted plant materials for revegetation. This chapter presents information for wildland managers on: the...

Spatio-temporal wildland arson crime functions

Treesearch

David T. Butry; Jeffrey P. Prestemon

2005-01-01

Wildland arson creates damages to structures and timber and affects the health and safety of people living in rural and wildland urban interface areas. We develop a model that incorporates temporal autocorrelations and spatial correlations in wildland arson ignitions in Florida. A Poisson autoregressive model of order p, or PAR(p)...

78 FR 33432 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-04

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting.... Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, Wildland Fire Executive Council (WFEC) will meet as... purpose of the WFEC is to provide advice on coordinated national-level wildland fire policy and to provide...

Prediction errors in wildland fire situation analyses.

Treesearch

Geoffrey H. Donovan; Peter Noordijk

2005-01-01

Wildfires consume budgets and put the heat on fire managers to justify and control suppression costs. To determine the appropriate suppression strategy, land managers must conduct a wildland fire situation analysis (WFSA) when:A wildland fire is expected to or does escape initial attack,A wildland fire managed for resource benefits...

Multitasking kernel for the C and Fortran programming languages

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brooks, E.D. III

1984-09-01

A multitasking kernel for the C and Fortran programming languages which runs on the Unix operating system is presented. The kernel provides a multitasking environment which serves two purposes. The first is to provide an efficient portable environment for the coding, debugging and execution of production multiprocessor programs. The second is to provide a means of evaluating the performance of a multitasking program on model multiprocessors. The performance evaluation features require no changes in the source code of the application and are implemented as a set of compile and run time options in the kernel.

Comparing host and target environments for distributed Ada programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paulk, Mark C.

1986-01-01

The Ada programming language provides a means of specifying logical concurrency by using multitasking. Extending the Ada multitasking concurrency mechanism into a physically concurrent distributed environment which imposes its own requirements can lead to incompatibilities. These problems are discussed. Using distributed Ada for a target system may be appropriate, but when using the Ada language in a host environment, a multiprocessing model may be more suitable than retargeting an Ada compiler for the distributed environment. The tradeoffs between multitasking on distributed targets and multiprocessing on distributed hosts are discussed. Comparisons of the multitasking and multiprocessing models indicate different areas of application.

MultitaskProtDB-II: an update of a database of multitasking/moonlighting proteins

PubMed Central

Franco-Serrano, Luís; Hernández, Sergio; Calvo, Alejandra; Severi, María A; Ferragut, Gabriela; Pérez-Pons, JosepAntoni; Piñol, Jaume; Pich, Òscar; Mozo-Villarias, Ángel; Amela, Isaac

2018-01-01

Abstract Multitasking, or moonlighting, is the capability of some proteins to execute two or more biological functions. MultitaskProtDB-II is a database of multifunctional proteins that has been updated. In the previous version, the information contained was: NCBI and UniProt accession numbers, canonical and additional biological functions, organism, monomeric/oligomeric states, PDB codes and bibliographic references. In the present update, the number of entries has been increased from 288 to 694 moonlighting proteins. MultitaskProtDB-II is continually being curated and updated. The new database also contains the following information: GO descriptors for the canonical and moonlighting functions, three-dimensional structure (for those proteins lacking PDB structure, a model was made using Itasser and Phyre), the involvement of the proteins in human diseases (78% of human moonlighting proteins) and whether the protein is a target of a current drug (48% of human moonlighting proteins). These numbers highlight the importance of these proteins for the analysis and explanation of human diseases and target-directed drug design. Moreover, 25% of the proteins of the database are involved in virulence of pathogenic microorganisms, largely in the mechanism of adhesion to the host. This highlights their importance for the mechanism of microorganism infection and vaccine design. MultitaskProtDB-II is available at http://wallace.uab.es/multitaskII. PMID:29136215

Media multitasking is associated with distractibility and increased prefrontal activity in adolescents and young adults.

PubMed

Moisala, M; Salmela, V; Hietajärvi, L; Salo, E; Carlson, S; Salonen, O; Lonka, K; Hakkarainen, K; Salmela-Aro, K; Alho, K

2016-07-01

The current generation of young people indulges in more media multitasking behavior (e.g., instant messaging while watching videos) in their everyday lives than older generations. Concerns have been raised about how this might affect their attentional functioning, as previous studies have indicated that extensive media multitasking in everyday life may be associated with decreased attentional control. In the current study, 149 adolescents and young adults (aged 13-24years) performed speech-listening and reading tasks that required maintaining attention in the presence of distractor stimuli in the other modality or dividing attention between two concurrent tasks. Brain activity during task performance was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We studied the relationship between self-reported daily media multitasking (MMT), task performance and brain activity during task performance. The results showed that in the presence of distractor stimuli, a higher MMT score was associated with worse performance and increased brain activity in right prefrontal regions. The level of performance during divided attention did not depend on MMT. This suggests that daily media multitasking is associated with behavioral distractibility and increased recruitment of brain areas involved in attentional and inhibitory control, and that media multitasking in everyday life does not translate to performance benefits in multitasking in laboratory settings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multitasking in multiple sclerosis: can it inform vocational functioning?

PubMed

Morse, Chelsea L; Schultheis, Maria T; McKeever, Joshua D; Leist, Thomas

2013-12-01

To examine associations between multitasking ability defined by performance on a complex task integrating multiple cognitive domains and vocational functioning in multiple sclerosis (MS). Survey data collection. Laboratory with referrals from an outpatient clinic. Community-dwelling individuals with MS (N=30) referred between October 2011 and June 2012. Not applicable. The modified Six Elements Test (SET) to measure multitasking ability, Fatigue Severity Scale to measure fatigue, several neuropsychological measures of executive functioning, and vocational status. Among the sample, 60% of individuals have reduced their work hours because of MS symptoms (cutback employment group) and 40% had maintained their work hours. Among both groups, SET performance was significantly associated with performance on several measures of neuropsychological functioning. Individuals in the cutback employment group demonstrated significantly worse overall performance on the SET (P=.041). Logistic regression was used to evaluate associations between SET performance and vocational status, while accounting for neuropsychological performance and fatigue. The overall model was significant (χ(2)3=8.65, P=.032), with fatigue [Exp(B)=.83, P=.01] and multitasking ability [Exp(B)=.60, P=.043] retained as significant predictors. Multitasking ability may play an important role in performance at work for individuals with MS. Given that multitasking was associated with vocational functioning, future efforts should assess the usefulness of incorporating multitasking ability into rehabilitation planning. Copyright © 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multitasking scheduler works without OS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Howard, D.M.

1982-09-15

Z80 control applications requiring parallel execution of multiple software tasks can use the executive routine described and listed in this article when multitasking is not available via an operating system (OS). Although the routine is not as capable or as transparent to software as the multitasking in a full-scale OS, it is simple to understand and use.

Laptop Multitasking Hinders Classroom Learning for Both Users and Nearby Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sana, Faria; Weston, Tina; Cepeda, Nicholas J.

2013-01-01

Laptops are commonplace in university classrooms. In light of cognitive psychology theory on costs associated with multitasking, we examined the effects of in-class laptop use on student learning in a simulated classroom. We found that participants who multitasked on a laptop during a lecture scored lower on a test compared to those who did not…

Can Students Really Multitask? An Experimental Study of Instant Messaging while Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowman, Laura L.; Levine, Laura E.; Waite, Bradley M.; Gendron, Michael

2010-01-01

Students often "multitask" with electronic media while doing schoolwork. We examined the effects of one form of media often used in such multitasking, instant messaging (IM). We predicted that students who engaged in IMing while reading a typical academic psychology passage online would take longer to read the passage and would perform more poorly…

The Impact of Multitasking Learning Environments in the Middle Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drinkwine, Timothy

2013-01-01

This research study considers the status of middle school students in the 21st century in terms of their tendency to multitask in their daily lives and the overall influence this multitasking has on teaching and learning environments. Student engagement in the learning environment and students' various learning styles are discussed as primary…

Multitasking and microtasking experience on the NA S Cray-2 and ACF Cray X-MP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raiszadeh, Farhad

1987-01-01

The fast Fourier transform (FFT) kernel of the NAS benchmark program has been utilized to experiment with the multitasking library on the Cray-2 and Cray X-MP/48, and microtasking directives on the Cray X-MP. Some performance figures are shown, and the state of multitasking software is described.

Rewarding Multitasking: Negative Effects of an Incentive on Problem Solving under Divided Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wieth, Mareike B.; Burns, Bruce D.

2014-01-01

Research has consistently shown negative effects of multitasking on tasks such as problem solving. This study was designed to investigate the impact of an incentive when solving problems in a multitasking situation. Incentives have generally been shown to increase problem solving (e.g., Wieth & Burns, 2006), however, it is unclear whether an…

Facilitating Backcountry Use of Bureau of Land Management Wildlands

Treesearch

R. Steve Smith

1992-01-01

BLM wildlands are extensive areas which offer opportunities for increased backcountry use. Many BLM wildland areas are not currently receiving much backcountry use due to their unfamiliarity by the public and lack of facilities. Increased urban/BLM wildland interfacing can produce important benefits for both individuals and our society. Using various informational...

Effect of suppression strategies on federal wildland fire expenditures

Treesearch

Krista M. Gebert; Anne E. Black

2012-01-01

Policymakers and decisionmakers alike have suggested that the use of less aggressive suppression strategies for wildland fires might help stem the tide of rising emergency wildland fire expenditures. However, the interplay of wildland fire management decisions and expenditures is not well understood. In this study, we assess the effect of different fire management...

Structural wildland intermix

Treesearch

Ronny J. Coleman

1995-01-01

Because many major population centers are located in wildland areas, many structures have been destroyed by increasingly more costly wildland fires. The structure and jurisdiction of the fire service in California are complex, and a uniform approach to fire prevention is lacking. A description of many of the fire issues in the wildland-urban intermix is provided. The...

Wildland fire limits subsequent fire occurrence

Treesearch

Sean A. Parks; Carol Miller; Lisa M. Holsinger; Scott Baggett; Benjamin J. Bird

2016-01-01

Several aspects of wildland fire are moderated by site- and landscape-level vegetation changes caused by previous fire, thereby creating a dynamic where one fire exerts a regulatory control on subsequent fire. For example, wildland fire has been shown to regulate the size and severity of subsequent fire. However, wildland fire has the potential to influence...

Prediction of Human Cytochrome P450 Inhibition Using a Multitask Deep Autoencoder Neural Network.

PubMed

Li, Xiang; Xu, Youjun; Lai, Luhua; Pei, Jianfeng

2018-05-30

Adverse side effects of drug-drug interactions induced by human cytochrome P450 (CYP450) inhibition is an important consideration in drug discovery. It is highly desirable to develop computational models that can predict the inhibitive effect of a compound against a specific CYP450 isoform. In this study, we developed a multitask model for concurrent inhibition prediction of five major CYP450 isoforms, namely, 1A2, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, and 3A4. The model was built by training a multitask autoencoder deep neural network (DNN) on a large dataset containing more than 13 000 compounds, extracted from the PubChem BioAssay Database. We demonstrate that the multitask model gave better prediction results than that of single-task models, previous reported classifiers, and traditional machine learning methods on an average of five prediction tasks. Our multitask DNN model gave average prediction accuracies of 86.4% for the 10-fold cross-validation and 88.7% for the external test datasets. In addition, we built linear regression models to quantify how the other tasks contributed to the prediction difference of a given task between single-task and multitask models, and we explained under what conditions the multitask model will outperform the single-task model, which suggested how to use multitask DNN models more effectively. We applied sensitivity analysis to extract useful knowledge about CYP450 inhibition, which may shed light on the structural features of these isoforms and give hints about how to avoid side effects during drug development. Our models are freely available at http://repharma.pku.edu.cn/deepcyp/home.php or http://www.pkumdl.cn/deepcyp/home.php .

Older Adult Multitasking Performance Using a Gaze-Contingent Useful Field of View.

PubMed

Ward, Nathan; Gaspar, John G; Neider, Mark B; Crowell, James; Carbonari, Ronald; Kaczmarski, Hank; Ringer, Ryan V; Johnson, Aaron P; Loschky, Lester C; Kramer, Arthur F

2018-03-01

Objective We implemented a gaze-contingent useful field of view paradigm to examine older adult multitasking performance in a simulated driving environment. Background Multitasking refers to the ability to manage multiple simultaneous streams of information. Recent work suggests that multitasking declines with age, yet the mechanisms supporting these declines are still debated. One possible framework to better understand this phenomenon is the useful field of view, or the area in the visual field where information can be attended and processed. In particular, the useful field of view allows for the discrimination of two competing theories of real-time multitasking, a general interference account and a tunneling account. Methods Twenty-five older adult subjects completed a useful field of view task that involved discriminating the orientation of lines in gaze-contingent Gabor patches appearing at varying eccentricities (based on distance from the fovea) as they operated a vehicle in a driving simulator. In half of the driving scenarios, subjects also completed an auditory two-back task to manipulate cognitive workload, and during some trials, wind was introduced as a means to alter general driving difficulty. Results Consistent with prior work, indices of driving performance were sensitive to both wind and workload. Interestingly, we also observed a decline in Gabor patch discrimination accuracy under high cognitive workload regardless of eccentricity, which provides support for a general interference account of multitasking. Conclusion The results showed that our gaze-contingent useful field of view paradigm was able to successfully examine older adult multitasking performance in a simulated driving environment. Application This study represents the first attempt to successfully measure dynamic changes in the useful field of view for older adults completing a multitasking scenario involving driving.

Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults.

PubMed

Anguera, J A; Boccanfuso, J; Rintoul, J L; Al-Hashimi, O; Faraji, F; Janowich, J; Kong, E; Larraburo, Y; Rolle, C; Johnston, E; Gazzaley, A

2013-09-05

Cognitive control is defined by a set of neural processes that allow us to interact with our complex environment in a goal-directed manner. Humans regularly challenge these control processes when attempting to simultaneously accomplish multiple goals (multitasking), generating interference as the result of fundamental information processing limitations. It is clear that multitasking behaviour has become ubiquitous in today's technologically dense world, and substantial evidence has accrued regarding multitasking difficulties and cognitive control deficits in our ageing population. Here we show that multitasking performance, as assessed with a custom-designed three-dimensional video game (NeuroRacer), exhibits a linear age-related decline from 20 to 79 years of age. By playing an adaptive version of NeuroRacer in multitasking training mode, older adults (60 to 85 years old) reduced multitasking costs compared to both an active control group and a no-contact control group, attaining levels beyond those achieved by untrained 20-year-old participants, with gains persisting for 6 months. Furthermore, age-related deficits in neural signatures of cognitive control, as measured with electroencephalography, were remediated by multitasking training (enhanced midline frontal theta power and frontal-posterior theta coherence). Critically, this training resulted in performance benefits that extended to untrained cognitive control abilities (enhanced sustained attention and working memory), with an increase in midline frontal theta power predicting the training-induced boost in sustained attention and preservation of multitasking improvement 6 months later. These findings highlight the robust plasticity of the prefrontal cognitive control system in the ageing brain, and provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, of how a custom-designed video game can be used to assess cognitive abilities across the lifespan, evaluate underlying neural mechanisms, and serve as a powerful tool for cognitive enhancement.

Structure-activity models of oral clearance, cytotoxicity, and LD50: a screen for promising anticancer compounds

PubMed Central

Boik, John C; Newman, Robert A

2008-01-01

Background Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models have become popular tools to help identify promising lead compounds in anticancer drug development. Few QSAR studies have investigated multitask learning, however. Multitask learning is an approach that allows distinct but related data sets to be used in training. In this paper, a suite of three QSAR models is developed to identify compounds that are likely to (a) exhibit cytotoxic behavior against cancer cells, (b) exhibit high rat LD50 values (low systemic toxicity), and (c) exhibit low to modest human oral clearance (favorable pharmacokinetic characteristics). Models were constructed using Kernel Multitask Latent Analysis (KMLA), an approach that can effectively handle a large number of correlated data features, nonlinear relationships between features and responses, and multitask learning. Multitask learning is particularly useful when the number of available training records is small relative to the number of features, as was the case with the oral clearance data. Results Multitask learning modestly but significantly improved the classification precision for the oral clearance model. For the cytotoxicity model, which was constructed using a large number of records, multitask learning did not affect precision but did reduce computation time. The models developed here were used to predict activities for 115,000 natural compounds. Hundreds of natural compounds, particularly in the anthraquinone and flavonoids groups, were predicted to be cytotoxic, have high LD50 values, and have low to moderate oral clearance. Conclusion Multitask learning can be useful in some QSAR models. A suite of QSAR models was constructed and used to screen a large drug library for compounds likely to be cytotoxic to multiple cancer cell lines in vitro, have low systemic toxicity in rats, and have favorable pharmacokinetic properties in humans. PMID:18554402

Structure-activity models of oral clearance, cytotoxicity, and LD50: a screen for promising anticancer compounds.

PubMed

Boik, John C; Newman, Robert A

2008-06-13

Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models have become popular tools to help identify promising lead compounds in anticancer drug development. Few QSAR studies have investigated multitask learning, however. Multitask learning is an approach that allows distinct but related data sets to be used in training. In this paper, a suite of three QSAR models is developed to identify compounds that are likely to (a) exhibit cytotoxic behavior against cancer cells, (b) exhibit high rat LD50 values (low systemic toxicity), and (c) exhibit low to modest human oral clearance (favorable pharmacokinetic characteristics). Models were constructed using Kernel Multitask Latent Analysis (KMLA), an approach that can effectively handle a large number of correlated data features, nonlinear relationships between features and responses, and multitask learning. Multitask learning is particularly useful when the number of available training records is small relative to the number of features, as was the case with the oral clearance data. Multitask learning modestly but significantly improved the classification precision for the oral clearance model. For the cytotoxicity model, which was constructed using a large number of records, multitask learning did not affect precision but did reduce computation time. The models developed here were used to predict activities for 115,000 natural compounds. Hundreds of natural compounds, particularly in the anthraquinone and flavonoids groups, were predicted to be cytotoxic, have high LD50 values, and have low to moderate oral clearance. Multitask learning can be useful in some QSAR models. A suite of QSAR models was constructed and used to screen a large drug library for compounds likely to be cytotoxic to multiple cancer cell lines in vitro, have low systemic toxicity in rats, and have favorable pharmacokinetic properties in humans.

Wildland fire decision support system air quality tools

Treesearch

Sim Larkin; Tim Brown; Pete Lahm; Tom Zimmerman

2010-01-01

Smoke and air quality information have an important role in wildland fire decisionmaking that is reinforced in the 2009 "Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy." A key intent of the guidance is to allow consideration and use of the full range of strategic and tactical options that are available in the response to every wildland...

Land-use planning may reduce fire damage in the urban-wildland intermix

Treesearch

Carol L. Rice; James B. Davis

1991-01-01

The risk of wildfire associated with development in the urban-wildland intermix is nationwide. To wildland fire agencies, providing fire protection for wildland residential development can be an exercise in frustration. Much of the problem is that few convincing ties have been made between community planning and wildfire. For three counties in California, the following...

Race, Rural Residence, and Wildland Visitation: Examining the Influence of Sociocultural Meaning

Treesearch

Cassandra Y. Johnson; Patrick M. Horan; William Pepper

1997-01-01

Previous studies have shown that African Americans have less favorable impressions about wildlands and recreate on wildland areas less frequently than do whites. However, most of these investigations have been conducted on non-rural populations. Rural perceptions of wildlands and visitation to such areas have received relatively little attention. In this exploratory...

Reducing the wildland fire threat to homes: Where and how much?

Treesearch

Jack D. Cohen

1999-01-01

Understanding how ignitions occur is critical for effectively mitigating home fire losses during wildland fires. The threat of life and property losses during wildland fires is a significant issue for Federal, State, and local agencies that have responsibilities involving homes within and adjacent to wildlands. Agencies have shifted attention to communities adjacent to...

What is the wildland fire threat to homes?

Treesearch

Jack D. Cohen

2000-01-01

The threat of life and property losses related to wildfires is a significant issue for federal, state, and local fire and planning agencies who consider the mix of residential areas and wildlands. The wildland fire threat is part of the more general consideration of human development encroaching wildlands. The March, 2000 edition of the Journal of Forestry reflects...

Wildfires and Forest Development in Tropical and Subtropical Asia: Outlook for the Year 2000

Treesearch

Johann G. Goldammer

1987-01-01

California's foothill counties are the scene of rapid development. All types of construction in former wildlands is creating an intermix of wildland-structures-wildland that is different from the traditional "urban-wildland interface." The fire and structural environment for seven counties is described. Fire statistics are compared with growth patterns...

Wildland fire: Nature’s fuel treatment

Treesearch

Brian Cooke; Sean Parks; Carol Miller; Lisa Holsinger; Cara Nelson; Zack Holden; Scott Baggett; Benjamin Bird

2016-01-01

Every year wildland fires affect much more acreage in the United States compared to controlled burns. Like controlled burns, wildland fire can help promote biological diversity and healthy ecosystems. But despite these facts, wildland fire is not often considered as a fuel treatment in the United States. Scientists working with the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain...

Reducing fuels in the wildland urban interface: Community perceptions of agency fuels treatments

Treesearch

Eric Toman; Melanie Stidham; Bruce Shindler; Sarah McCaffrey

2011-01-01

Wildland fires and resulting effects have increased in recent years. Efforts are under way nationwide to proactively manage vegetative conditions to reduce the threat of wildland fires. Public support is critical to the successful implementation of fuels reduction programs, particularly at the wildland-urban interface. This study examines public acceptance of fuels...

Using an Activity to Simulate the Dangers of Multitasking with Technology while Walking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazaros, Edward J.; Xu, Renmei; Londt, Susan

2012-01-01

People are increasingly trying to multitask while walking. Text messaging while walking is a significant area for concern. The number of text messages sent is expected to be more than 8 trillion in 2012. Texting is becoming so commonplace that people use this technology while engaged in other activities. The dangers of multitasking have hit the…

Examining the Impact of Off-Task Multi-Tasking with Technology on Real-Time Classroom Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Eileen; Zivcakova, Lucia; Gentile, Petrice; Archer, Karin; De Pasquale, Domenica; Nosko, Amanda

2012-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of multi-tasking with digital technologies while attempting to learn from real-time classroom lectures in a university setting. Four digitally-based multi-tasking activities (texting using a cell-phone, emailing, MSN messaging and Facebook[TM]) were compared to 3 control groups…

Measurement and Evidence of Computer-Based Task Switching and Multitasking by "Net Generation" Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Judd, Terry; Kennedy, Gregor

2011-01-01

Logs of on-campus computer and Internet usage were used to conduct a study of computer-based task switching and multitasking by undergraduate medical students. A detailed analysis of over 6000 individual sessions revealed that while a majority of students engaged in both task switching and multitasking behaviours, they did so less frequently than…

Can Teens Really Do It All?: Techno-Multitasking, Learning, and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradley, Karen

2011-01-01

Many adults and students today think of themselves as excellent multitaskers--switching from task to task or from task to play in a nanosecond. Yet the pings and tweets their devices emit interrupt them in ways that are more problematic than they think. One of the powerful myths in the culture today is that multitasking is efficient for work or…

Multitasking the code ARC3D. [for computational fluid dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barton, John T.; Hsiung, Christopher C.

1986-01-01

The CRAY multitasking system was developed in order to utilize all four processors and sharply reduce the wall clock run time. This paper describes the techniques used to modify the computational fluid dynamics code ARC3D for this run and analyzes the achieved speedup. The ARC3D code solves either the Euler or thin-layer N-S equations using an implicit approximate factorization scheme. Results indicate that multitask processing can be used to achieve wall clock speedup factors of over three times, depending on the nature of the program code being used. Multitasking appears to be particularly advantageous for large-memory problems running on multiple CPU computers.

Clustered Multi-Task Learning for Automatic Radar Target Recognition

PubMed Central

Li, Cong; Bao, Weimin; Xu, Luping; Zhang, Hua

2017-01-01

Model training is a key technique for radar target recognition. Traditional model training algorithms in the framework of single task leaning ignore the relationships among multiple tasks, which degrades the recognition performance. In this paper, we propose a clustered multi-task learning, which can reveal and share the multi-task relationships for radar target recognition. To further make full use of these relationships, the latent multi-task relationships in the projection space are taken into consideration. Specifically, a constraint term in the projection space is proposed, the main idea of which is that multiple tasks within a close cluster should be close to each other in the projection space. In the proposed method, the cluster structures and multi-task relationships can be autonomously learned and utilized in both of the original and projected space. In view of the nonlinear characteristics of radar targets, the proposed method is extended to a non-linear kernel version and the corresponding non-linear multi-task solving method is proposed. Comprehensive experimental studies on simulated high-resolution range profile dataset and MSTAR SAR public database verify the superiority of the proposed method to some related algorithms. PMID:28953267

Is Media Multitasking Good for Cybersecurity? Exploring the Relationship Between Media Multitasking and Everyday Cognitive Failures on Self-Reported Risky Cybersecurity Behaviors

PubMed Central

Murphy, Karen

2018-01-01

Abstract The current study focused on how engaging in media multitasking (MMT) and the experience of everyday cognitive failures impact on the individual's engagement in risky cybersecurity behaviors (RCsB). In total, 144 participants (32 males, 112 females) completed an online survey. The age range for participants was 18 to 43 years (M = 20.63, SD = 4.04). Participants completed three scales which included an inventory of weekly MMT, a measure of everyday cognitive failures, and RCsB. There was a significant difference between heavy media multitaskers (HMM), average media multitaskers (AMM), and light media multitaskers (LMM) in terms of RCsB, with HMM demonstrating more frequent risky behaviors than LMM or AMM. The HMM group also reported more cognitive failures in everyday life than the LMM group. A regression analysis showed that everyday cognitive failures and MMT acted as significant predictors for RCsB. These results expand our current understanding of the relationship between human factors and cybersecurity behaviors, which are useful to inform the design of training and intervention packages to mitigate RCsB. PMID:29638157

Demystifying Multitask Deep Neural Networks for Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships.

PubMed

Xu, Yuting; Ma, Junshui; Liaw, Andy; Sheridan, Robert P; Svetnik, Vladimir

2017-10-23

Deep neural networks (DNNs) are complex computational models that have found great success in many artificial intelligence applications, such as computer vision1,2 and natural language processing.3,4 In the past four years, DNNs have also generated promising results for quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) tasks.5,6 Previous work showed that DNNs can routinely make better predictions than traditional methods, such as random forests, on a diverse collection of QSAR data sets. It was also found that multitask DNN models-those trained on and predicting multiple QSAR properties simultaneously-outperform DNNs trained separately on the individual data sets in many, but not all, tasks. To date there has been no satisfactory explanation of why the QSAR of one task embedded in a multitask DNN can borrow information from other unrelated QSAR tasks. Thus, using multitask DNNs in a way that consistently provides a predictive advantage becomes a challenge. In this work, we explored why multitask DNNs make a difference in predictive performance. Our results show that during prediction a multitask DNN does borrow "signal" from molecules with similar structures in the training sets of the other tasks. However, whether this borrowing leads to better or worse predictive performance depends on whether the activities are correlated. On the basis of this, we have developed a strategy to use multitask DNNs that incorporate prior domain knowledge to select training sets with correlated activities, and we demonstrate its effectiveness on several examples.

Media multitasking behavior: concurrent television and computer usage.

PubMed

Brasel, S Adam; Gips, James

2011-09-01

Changes in the media landscape have made simultaneous usage of the computer and television increasingly commonplace, but little research has explored how individuals navigate this media multitasking environment. Prior work suggests that self-insight may be limited in media consumption and multitasking environments, reinforcing a rising need for direct observational research. A laboratory experiment recorded both younger and older individuals as they used a computer and television concurrently, multitasking across television and Internet content. Results show that individuals are attending primarily to the computer during media multitasking. Although gazes last longer on the computer when compared to the television, the overall distribution of gazes is strongly skewed toward very short gazes only a few seconds in duration. People switched between media at an extreme rate, averaging more than 4 switches per min and 120 switches over the 27.5-minute study exposure. Participants had little insight into their switching activity and recalled their switching behavior at an average of only 12 percent of their actual switching rate revealed in the objective data. Younger individuals switched more often than older individuals, but other individual differences such as stated multitasking preference and polychronicity had little effect on switching patterns or gaze duration. This overall pattern of results highlights the importance of exploring new media environments, such as the current drive toward media multitasking, and reinforces that self-monitoring, post hoc surveying, and lay theory may offer only limited insight into how individuals interact with media.

Media Multitasking Behavior: Concurrent Television and Computer Usage

PubMed Central

Gips, James

2011-01-01

Abstract Changes in the media landscape have made simultaneous usage of the computer and television increasingly commonplace, but little research has explored how individuals navigate this media multitasking environment. Prior work suggests that self-insight may be limited in media consumption and multitasking environments, reinforcing a rising need for direct observational research. A laboratory experiment recorded both younger and older individuals as they used a computer and television concurrently, multitasking across television and Internet content. Results show that individuals are attending primarily to the computer during media multitasking. Although gazes last longer on the computer when compared to the television, the overall distribution of gazes is strongly skewed toward very short gazes only a few seconds in duration. People switched between media at an extreme rate, averaging more than 4 switches per min and 120 switches over the 27.5-minute study exposure. Participants had little insight into their switching activity and recalled their switching behavior at an average of only 12 percent of their actual switching rate revealed in the objective data. Younger individuals switched more often than older individuals, but other individual differences such as stated multitasking preference and polychronicity had little effect on switching patterns or gaze duration. This overall pattern of results highlights the importance of exploring new media environments, such as the current drive toward media multitasking, and reinforces that self-monitoring, post hoc surveying, and lay theory may offer only limited insight into how individuals interact with media. PMID:21381969

The effect of mild motion sickness and sopite syndrome on multitasking cognitive performance.

PubMed

Matsangas, Panagiotis; McCauley, Michael E; Becker, William

2014-09-01

In this study, we investigated the effects of mild motion sickness and sopite syndrome on multitasking cognitive performance. Despite knowledge on general motion sickness, little is known about the effect of motion sickness and sopite syndrome on multitasking cognitive performance. Specifically, there is a gap in existing knowledge in the gray area of mild motion sickness. Fifty-one healthy individuals performed a multitasking battery. Three independent groups of participants were exposed to two experimental sessions. Two groups received motion only in the first or the second session, whereas the control group did not receive motion. Measurements of motion sickness, sopite syndrome, alertness, and performance were collected during the experiment Only during the second session, motion sickness and sopite syndrome had a significant negative association with cognitive performance. Significant performance differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic participants in the second session were identified in composite (9.43%), memory (31.7%), and arithmetic (14.7%) task scores. The results suggest that performance retention between sessions was not affected by mild motion sickness. Multitasking cognitive performance declined even when motion sickness and soporific symptoms were mild. The results also show an order effect. We postulate that the differential effect of session on the association between symptomatology and multitasking performance may be related to the attentional resources allocated to performing the multiple tasks. Results suggest an inverse relationship between motion sickness effects on performance and the cognitive effort focused on performing a task. Even mild motion sickness has potential implications for multitasking operational performance.

Review of the health effects of wildland fire smoke on wildland firefighters and the public.

PubMed

Adetona, Olorunfemi; Reinhardt, Timothy E; Domitrovich, Joe; Broyles, George; Adetona, Anna M; Kleinman, Michael T; Ottmar, Roger D; Naeher, Luke P

2016-01-01

Each year, the general public and wildland firefighters in the US are exposed to smoke from wildland fires. As part of an effort to characterize health risks of breathing this smoke, a review of the literature was conducted using five major databases, including PubMed and MEDLINE Web of Knowledge, to identify smoke components that present the highest hazard potential, the mechanisms of toxicity, review epidemiological studies for health effects and identify the current gap in knowledge on the health impacts of wildland fire smoke exposure. Respiratory events measured in time series studies as incidences of disease-caused mortality, hospital admissions, emergency room visits and symptoms in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients are the health effects that are most commonly associated with community level exposure to wildland fire smoke. A few recent studies have also determined associations between acute wildland fire smoke exposure and cardiovascular health end-points. These cardiopulmonary effects were mostly observed in association with ambient air concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). However, research on the health effects of this mixture is currently limited. The health effects of acute exposures beyond susceptible populations and the effects of chronic exposures experienced by the wildland firefighter are largely unknown. Longitudinal studies of wildland firefighters during and/or after the firefighting career could help elucidate some of the unknown health impacts of cumulative exposure to wildland fire smoke, establish occupational exposure limits and help determine the types of exposure controls that may be applicable to the occupation.

Wildland fire management. Volume 2: Wildland fire control 1985-1995. [satellite information system for California fire problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saveker, D. R. (Editor)

1973-01-01

The preliminary design of a satellite plus computer earth resources information system is proposed for potential uses in fire prevention and control in the wildland fire community. Suggested are satellite characteristics, sensor characteristics, discrimination algorithms, data communication techniques, data processing requirements, display characteristics, and costs in achieving the integrated wildland fire information system.

Symbolic meanings of wildland fire: A study of residents in the U.S

Treesearch

Travis B. Paveglio; Matthew S. Carroll; James D. Absher; William Robinson

2010-01-01

This study uses symbolic interactionism as a basis for understanding the salience and fundamental meanings of wildland fire to wildland–urban interface (WUI) residents. It contributes to an understanding of how WUI residents actually view wildland fire, its role in forest ecosystems, and its attendant risks for human settlements. Three focus groups were conducted with...

Wildland Fire Use - Challenges Associated With Program Management Across Multiple Ownerships and Land Use Situations

Treesearch

Thomas Zimmerman; Michael Frary; Shelly Crook; Brett Fay; Patricia Koppenol; Richard Lasko

2006-01-01

The application and use of wildland fire for a range of beneficial ecological objectives is rapidly expanding across landscapes supporting diverse vegetative complexes and subject to multiple societal uses. Wildland fire use originated in wilderness and has become a proven practice successful in meeting ecological needs. The use of wildland fire in non-wilderness is...

A consideration of collective memory in African American attachment to wildland recreation places

Treesearch

Cassandra Y. Johnson

1998-01-01

This study examines the effect of race on place attachment to wildland areas. It is generally assumed that African Americans have a more negative impression of wildlands, compared to white ethnic groups. Studies from past decades report that blacks show less aesthetic preference for wildland, unstructured environments and are also less environmentally aware than whites...

Wildland fire and organic discourse: Negotiating place and leisure identity in a changing wildland urban inteface

Treesearch

Joseph G. Champ; Daniel R. Williams; Katie Knotek

2009-01-01

A lack of research on the conceptual intersection of leisure, place and wildland fire and its role in identity prompted this exploratory study. The purpose of this research was to gather evidence regarding how people negotiate identities under the threat of wildland fire. Qualitative interviews with 16 homeowners and recreationists who value leisure activities in...

Evaluating risks and benefits of wildland fire at landscape scales

Treesearch

Carol Miller; Peter B. Landres; Paul B. Alaback

2000-01-01

Fire suppression has resulted in severe management challenges, especially in the wildland-urban interface zone. Fire managers seek to reduce fuels and risks in the interface zone, while striving to return the natural role of fire to wildland ecosystems. Managers must balance the benefits of wildland fire on ecosystem health against the values that need to be protected...

Thermal Analysis for Monitoring Effects of Shock-Induced Physical, Mechanical, and Chemical Changes in Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-19

MS WINDOWS platform, which enables multitasking with simultaneous evaluation and operation 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 13...measurement and analysis software for data acquisition, storage and evaluation with MS WINDOWS platform, which enables multitasking with simultaneous...Proteus measurement and analysis software for data acquisition, storage and evaluation with MS WINDOWS platform, which enables multitasking with

Investigating Multitasking in High-Functioning Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders Using the Virtual Errands Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajendran, Gnanathusharan; Law, Anna S.; Logie, Robert H.; van der Meulen, Marian; Fraser, Diane; Corley, Martin

2011-01-01

Using a modified version of the Virtual Errands Task (VET; McGeorge et al. in "Presence-Teleop Virtual Environ" 10(4):375-383, 2001), we investigated the executive ability of multitasking in 18 high-functioning adolescents with ASD and 18 typically developing adolescents. The VET requires multitasking (Law et al. in "Acta Psychol" 122(1):27-44,…

Task errors by emergency physicians are associated with interruptions, multitasking, fatigue and working memory capacity: a prospective, direct observation study.

PubMed

Westbrook, Johanna I; Raban, Magdalena Z; Walter, Scott R; Douglas, Heather

2018-01-09

Interruptions and multitasking have been demonstrated in experimental studies to reduce individuals' task performance. These behaviours are frequently used by clinicians in high-workload, dynamic clinical environments, yet their effects have rarely been studied. To assess the relative contributions of interruptions and multitasking by emergency physicians to prescribing errors. 36 emergency physicians were shadowed over 120 hours. All tasks, interruptions and instances of multitasking were recorded. Physicians' working memory capacity (WMC) and preference for multitasking were assessed using the Operation Span Task (OSPAN) and Inventory of Polychronic Values. Following observation, physicians were asked about their sleep in the previous 24 hours. Prescribing errors were used as a measure of task performance. We performed multivariate analysis of prescribing error rates to determine associations with interruptions and multitasking, also considering physician seniority, age, psychometric measures, workload and sleep. Physicians experienced 7.9 interruptions/hour. 28 clinicians were observed prescribing 239 medication orders which contained 208 prescribing errors. While prescribing, clinicians were interrupted 9.4 times/hour. Error rates increased significantly if physicians were interrupted (rate ratio (RR) 2.82; 95% CI 1.23 to 6.49) or multitasked (RR 1.86; 95% CI 1.35 to 2.56) while prescribing. Having below-average sleep showed a >15-fold increase in clinical error rate (RR 16.44; 95% CI 4.84 to 55.81). WMC was protective against errors; for every 10-point increase on the 75-point OSPAN, a 19% decrease in prescribing errors was observed. There was no effect of polychronicity, workload, physician gender or above-average sleep on error rates. Interruptions, multitasking and poor sleep were associated with significantly increased rates of prescribing errors among emergency physicians. WMC mitigated the negative influence of these factors to an extent. These results confirm experimental findings in other fields and raise questions about the acceptability of the high rates of multitasking and interruption in clinical environments. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

An Implementing Strategy for Improving Wildland Fire Environmental Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCalla, M. R.; Andrus, D.; Barnett, K.

2007-12-01

Wildland fire is any planned or unplanned fire which occurs in wildland ecosystems. Wildland fires affect millions of acres annually in the U.S. An average of 5.4 million acres a year were burned in the U.S. between 1995 and 2004, approximately 142 percent of the average burned area between 1984 and 1994. In 2005 alone, Federal agencies spent nearly $1 billion on fire suppression and state and local agencies contributed millions more. Many Americans prefer to live and vacation in relatively remote surroundings, (i.e., woods and rangelands). These choices offer many benefits, but they also present significant risks. Most of North America is fire-prone and every day developed areas and home sites are extending further into natural wildlands, which increases the chances of catastrophic fire. In addition, an abundance of accumulated biomass in forests and rangelands and persistent drought conditions are contributing to larger, costlier wildland fires. To effectively prevent, manage, suppress, respond to, and recover from wildland fires, fire managers, and other communities which are impacted by wildland fires (e.g., the business community; healthcare providers; federal, state, and local policymakers; the media; the public, etc.) need timely, accurate, and detailed wildland fire weather and climate information to support their decision-making activities. But what are the wildland fire weather and climate data, products, and information, as well as information dissemination technologies, needed to reach out and promote wildland fire environmental literacy in these communities? The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM) conducted a comprehensive review and assessment of weather and climate needs of providers and users in their wildland fire and fuels management activities. The assessment has nine focus areas, one of which is environmental literacy (e.g., education, training, outreach, partnering, and collaboration). The OFCM model for promoting wildland fire environmental literacy, the model's component parts, as well as an implementing strategy to execute the model will be presented. That is, the presentation will lay out the framework and methodology which the OFCM used to systematically define the wildland fire weather and climate education and outreach needs through interdepartmental collaboration within the OFCM coordinating infrastructure. A key element of the methodology is to improve the overall understanding and use of wildland fire forecast and warning climate and weather products and to exploit current and emerging technologies to improve the dissemination of customer-tailored forecast and warning information and products to stakeholders and users. Thus, the framework and methodology define the method used to determine the target public, private, and academic sector audiences. The methodology also identifies the means for determining the optimal channels, formats, and content for informing end users in time for effective action to be taken.

Online Multitasking Line-Scan Imaging Techniques for Simultaneous Safety and Quality Evaluation of Apples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Moon Sung; Lee, Kangjin; Chao, Kaunglin; Lefcourt, Alan; Cho, Byung-Kwan; Jun, Won

We developed a push-broom, line-scan imaging system capable of simultaneous measurements of reflectance and fluorescence. The system allows multitasking inspections for quality and safety attributes of apples due to its dynamic capabilities in simultaneously capturing fluorescence and reflectance, and selectivity in multispectral bands. A multitasking image-based inspection system for online applications has been suggested in that a single imaging device that could perform a multitude of both safety and quality inspection needs. The presented multitask inspection approach in online applications may provide an economically viable means for a number of food processing industries being able to adapt to operate and meet the dynamic and specific inspection and sorting needs.

Review of the health effects of wildland fire smoke on wildland firefighters and the public

Treesearch

Olorunfemi Adetona; Timothy E. Reinhardt; Joe Domitrovich; George Broyles; Anna M. Adetona; Michael T. Kleinman; Roger D. Ottmar; Luke P. Naeher

2016-01-01

Each year, the general public and wildland firefighters in the US are exposed to smoke from wildland fires. As part of an effort to characterize health risks of breathing this smoke, a review of the literature was conducted using five major databases, including PubMed and MEDLINE Web of Knowledge, to identify smoke components that present the highest hazard potential,...

Wildfire, wildlands, and people: understanding and preparing for wildfire in the wildland-urban interface - a Forests on the Edge report

Treesearch

S. M. Stein; J. Menakis; M. A. Carr; S. J. Comas; S. I. Stewart; H. Cleveland; L. Bramwell; V. C. Radeloff

2013-01-01

Fire has historically played a fundamental ecological role in many of America's wildland areas. However, the rising number of homes in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), associated impacts on lives and property from wildfire, and escalating costs of wildfire management have led to an urgent need for communities to become "fire-adapted." We present maps...

On-site wildland activity choices among African Americans and White Americans in the rural south: implications for management

Treesearch

Cassandra Y. Johnson; J. Michael Bowker

1999-01-01

Johnson and Bowker compare wildland activity choices for a sample of rural African Americans and Whites who visited wildland settings in and around the Apalachicola National Forest. The authors also look at intra-racial (same race, different gender) variations for activity participation. This research extends previous research focused on the visit/not visit wildland...

Simulation of the consequences of different fire regimes to support wildland fire use decisions

Treesearch

Carol Miller

2007-01-01

The strategy known as wildland fire use, in which lightning-ignited fires are allowed to burn, is rapidly gaining momentum in the fire management community. Managers need to know the consequences of an increase in area burned that might result from an increase in wildland fire use. One concern of land managers as they consider implementing wildland fire use is whether...

Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy: A vision for an innovative and integrated approach to managing the risks

Treesearch

Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy Project Management Team

2006-01-01

The Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy (CWFS) provides a vision for a new, innovative, and integrated approach to wildland fire management in Canada. It was developed under the auspices of the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers and seeks to balance the social, ecological, and economic aspects of wildland fire through a risk management framework that emphasizes hazard...

A landscape-scale wildland fire study using coupled weather-wildland fire model and airborne remote sensing

Treesearch

J.L. Coen; Philip Riggan

2011-01-01

We examine the Esperanza fire, a Santa Ana-driven wildland fire that occurred in complex terrain in spatially heterogeneous chaparral fuels, using airborne remote sensing imagery from the FireMapper thermal-imaging radiometer and a coupled weather-wildland fire model. The radiometer data maps fire intensity and is used to evaluate the error in the extent of the...

Domestic outsourcing and multitasking: How much do they really contribute?

PubMed

Sullivan, Oriel; Gershuny, Jonathan

2013-09-01

The bulk of responsibility for domestic work and childcare in heterosexual couples falls on women. But the means they find to cope with this load, and how these means relate to the factors underpinning the division of labor are not often studied. Two much-cited ways of reducing overall work time are purchasing domestic assistance (outsourcing) and the multitasking of domestic/caring tasks. Using UK 2000/2001 time-use data (N=4196 couples), we find domestic outsourcing is related to having dependent children and to partners' resources, but has little impact on the total domestic/caring workload of either partner. Nor can outsourcing account for the reduction in women's unpaid labor with increasing economic resources. Wives spend more time multitasking than husbands, but their proportion of multitasked domestic time is similar, and is not affected by resources or dependent children. Domestic multitasking seems to be more related to opportunity (time at home) than to time pressure. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

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.

Multitasking 3-D forward modeling using high-order finite difference methods on the Cray X-MP/416

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Terki-Hassaine, O.; Leiss, E.L.

1988-01-01

The CRAY X-MP/416 was used to multitask 3-D forward modeling by the high-order finite difference method. Flowtrace analysis reveals that the most expensive operation in the unitasked program is a matrix vector multiplication. The in-core and out-of-core versions of a reentrant subroutine can perform any fraction of the matrix vector multiplication independently, a pattern compatible with multitasking. The matrix vector multiplication routine can be distributed over two to four processors. The rest of the program utilizes the microtasking feature that lets the system treat independent iterations of DO-loops as subtasks to be performed by any available processor. The availability ofmore » the Solid-State Storage Device (SSD) meant the I/O wait time was virtually zero. A performance study determined a theoretical speedup, taking into account the multitasking overhead. Multitasking programs utilizing both macrotasking and microtasking features obtained actual speedups that were approximately 80% of the ideal speedup.« less

Parallel processing a three-dimensional free-lagrange code

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mandell, D.A.; Trease, H.E.

1989-01-01

A three-dimensional, time-dependent free-Lagrange hydrodynamics code has been multitasked and autotasked on a CRAY X-MP/416. The multitasking was done by using the Los Alamos Multitasking Control Library, which is a superset of the CRAY multitasking library. Autotasking is done by using constructs which are only comment cards if the source code is not run through a preprocessor. The three-dimensional algorithm has presented a number of problems that simpler algorithms, such as those for one-dimensional hydrodynamics, did not exhibit. Problems in converting the serial code, originally written for a CRAY-1, to a multitasking code are discussed. Autotasking of a rewritten versionmore » of the code is discussed. Timing results for subroutines and hot spots in the serial code are presented and suggestions for additional tools and debugging aids are given. Theoretical speedup results obtained from Amdahl's law and actual speedup results obtained on a dedicated machine are presented. Suggestions for designing large parallel codes are given.« less

Parallel processing a real code: A case history

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mandell, D.A.; Trease, H.E.

1988-01-01

A three-dimensional, time-dependent Free-Lagrange hydrodynamics code has been multitasked and autotasked on a Cray X-MP/416. The multitasking was done by using the Los Alamos Multitasking Control Library, which is a superset of the Cray multitasking library. Autotasking is done by using constructs which are only comment cards if the source code is not run through a preprocessor. The 3-D algorithm has presented a number of problems that simpler algorithms, such as 1-D hydrodynamics, did not exhibit. Problems in converting the serial code, originally written for a Cray 1, to a multitasking code are discussed, Autotasking of a rewritten version ofmore » the code is discussed. Timing results for subroutines and hot spots in the serial code are presented and suggestions for additional tools and debugging aids are given. Theoretical speedup results obtained from Amdahl's law and actual speedup results obtained on a dedicated machine are presented. Suggestions for designing large parallel codes are given. 8 refs., 13 figs.« less

Wildland Fire Induced Heating of Dome 375 Perma-Con®

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Flores, Eugene Michael

AET-1 was tasked by ADEM with determining the temperature rise in the drum contents of drums stored in the Dome 375 Perma-Con® at TA-54 given a wildland fire. The wildland fire causes radiative and convective heating on the Perma-Con® exterior. The wildland fire time histories for the radiative and convective heating environment were provided to AET-1 by EES-16. If the calculated temperature rise results in a drum content temperature over 40 °C, then ADEM desires a design solution to ensure the peak temperature remains below 40 °C. An axi-symmetric FE simulation was completed to determine the peak temperature of themore » contents of a drum stored in the Dome 375 Perma-Con® during a wildland fire event. Three wildland fire time histories for the radiative and convective heat transfer were provided by EES-16 and were inputs for the FE simulation. The maximum drum content temperature reached was found to be 110 °C while using inputs from the SiteG_2ms_4ign_wind_from_west.xlsx time history input and not including the SWB in the model. Including the SWB in the results in a peak drum content temperature of 61 °C for the SiteG_2ms_4ign_wind_from_west.xlsx inputs. EES-16 decided that by using fuel mitigation efforts, such as mowing the grass and shrubs near the Perma-Con® they could reduce the shrub/grass fuel loading near the Perma-Con® from 1.46 kg/m 2 to 0.146 kg/m 2 and by using a less conservative fuel loading for the debris field inside the Dome 375 perimeter, reducing it from 0.58 kg/m2 to 0.058 kg/m 2 in their model. They also greatly increased the resolution of their radiation model and increased the accuracy of their model’s required convergence value. Using this refined input the maximum drum content temperature was found to be 28 °C with no SWB present in the model. Additionally, this refined input model was modified to include worst case emissivity values for the concrete, drum and Perma-Con® interior, along with adding a 91 second long residual radiative heat flux of 2,000 W/m2 to the end of the refined wildland fire input. For this case the maximum drum content temperature was found to be 32 °C. For Rev. 2 of this calculation and additional simulation was run that included a cable fire heat flux on the exterior of the Perma-Con® that was calculated by FP-DO. Including the cable fire heat flux in the model without the SWB resulted in a peak drum content temperature over time of 43 °C. Including the SWB in the simulation with the cable fire heat flux resulted in a peak drum content temperature over time of 35 °C.« less

An Updated Version of the U.S. Air Force Multi-Attribute Task Battery (AF-MATB)

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-08-01

assessing human performance in a controlled multitask environment. The most recent release of AF-MATB contains numerous improvements and additions...Strategic Behavior, MATB, Multitasking , Task Battery, Simulator, Multi-Attribute Task Battery, Automation 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF...performance and multitasking strategy. As a result, a specific Information Throughput (IT) Mode was designed to customize the task to fit the Human

Identifying Knowledge, Skill, and Ability Requirements for Contracting Officer Representatives in Deployed Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-19

field, able to operate independently (self-tasked) and are able to multitask . 4 CORs comprehend the processes for coordinating, inspecting, and... multitask . 9.) They understand the duties and responsibilities set forth in the COR delegation letter and ensure the COR file is documented...to multitask . CORs comprehend the processes for coordinating, inspecting, and accepting deliveries (and/or services) and the procedures to pay

Multitasking during social interactions in adolescence and early adulthood

PubMed Central

Mills, Kathryn L.; Dumontheil, Iroise; Speekenbrink, Maarten; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne

2015-01-01

Multitasking is part of the everyday lives of both adolescents and adults. We often multitask during social interactions by simultaneously keeping track of other non-social information. Here, we examined how keeping track of non-social information impacts the ability to navigate social interactions in adolescents and adults. Participants aged 11–17 and 22–30 years old were instructed to carry out two tasks, one social and one non-social, within each trial. The social task involved referential communication, requiring participants to use social cues to guide their decisions, which sometimes required taking a different perspective. The non-social task manipulated cognitive load by requiring participants to remember non-social information in the form of one two-digit number (low load) or three two-digit numbers (high load) presented before each social task stimulus. Participants showed performance deficits when under high cognitive load and when the social task involved taking a different perspective, and individual differences in both trait perspective taking and working memory capacity predicted performance. Overall, adolescents were less adept at multitasking than adults when under high cognitive load. These results suggest that multitasking during social interactions incurs performance deficits, and that adolescents are more sensitive than adults to the effects of cognitive load while multitasking. PMID:26715991

Multitasking during social interactions in adolescence and early adulthood.

PubMed

Mills, Kathryn L; Dumontheil, Iroise; Speekenbrink, Maarten; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne

2015-11-01

Multitasking is part of the everyday lives of both adolescents and adults. We often multitask during social interactions by simultaneously keeping track of other non-social information. Here, we examined how keeping track of non-social information impacts the ability to navigate social interactions in adolescents and adults. Participants aged 11-17 and 22-30 years old were instructed to carry out two tasks, one social and one non-social, within each trial. The social task involved referential communication, requiring participants to use social cues to guide their decisions, which sometimes required taking a different perspective. The non-social task manipulated cognitive load by requiring participants to remember non-social information in the form of one two-digit number (low load) or three two-digit numbers (high load) presented before each social task stimulus. Participants showed performance deficits when under high cognitive load and when the social task involved taking a different perspective, and individual differences in both trait perspective taking and working memory capacity predicted performance. Overall, adolescents were less adept at multitasking than adults when under high cognitive load. These results suggest that multitasking during social interactions incurs performance deficits, and that adolescents are more sensitive than adults to the effects of cognitive load while multitasking.

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

PubMed

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

2018-06-01

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

Status of wildland fire prevention evaluation in the United States.

Treesearch

Larry Doolittle; Linda R. Donoghue

1991-01-01

Presents findings of an assessment of the evaluation of wildland prevention efforts by all U.S. Wildland fire management agencies, and offers recommendations for improvements in prevention valuation techniques and procedures.

A neuropsychological investigation of multitasking in HIV infection: implications for everyday functioning.

PubMed

Scott, J Cobb; Woods, Steven Paul; Vigil, Ofilio; Heaton, Robert K; Schweinsburg, Brian C; Ellis, Ronald J; Grant, Igor; Marcotte, Thomas D

2011-07-01

A subset of individuals with HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment experience related deficits in "real world" functioning (i.e., independently performing instrumental activities of daily living [IADL]). While performance-based tests of everyday functioning are reasonably sensitive to HIV-associated IADL declines, questions remain regarding the extent to which these tests' highly structured nature fully captures the inherent complexities of daily life. The aim of this study was to assess the predictive and ecological validity of a novel multitasking measure in HIV infection. Participants included 60 individuals with HIV infection (HIV+) and 25 demographically comparable seronegative adults (HIV-). Participants were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, questionnaires assessing mood and everyday functioning, and a novel standardized test of multitasking, which involved balancing the demands of four interconnected performance-based functional tasks (i.e., financial management, cooking, medication management, and telephone communication). HIV+ individuals demonstrated significantly worse overall performance, fewer simultaneous task attempts, and increased errors on the multitasking test as compared to the HIV- group. Within the HIV+ sample, multitasking impairments were modestly associated with deficits on standard neuropsychological measures of executive functions, episodic memory, attention/working memory, and information processing speed, providing preliminary evidence for convergent validity. More importantly, multivariate prediction models revealed that multitasking deficits were uniquely predictive of IADL dependence beyond the effects of depression and global neurocognitive impairment, with excellent sensitivity (86%), but modest specificity (57%). Taken together, these data indicate that multitasking ability may play an important role in successful everyday functioning in HIV+ individuals. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

A Neuropsychological Investigation of Multitasking in HIV Infection: Implications for Everyday Functioning

PubMed Central

Scott, J. Cobb; Woods, Steven Paul; Vigil, Ofilio; Heaton, Robert K.; Schweinsburg, Brian C.; Ellis, Ronald J.; Grant, Igor; Marcotte, Thomas D.

2010-01-01

Objective A subset of individuals with HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment experience related deficits in “real world” functioning (i.e., independently performing instrumental activities of daily living [IADL]). While performance-based tests of everyday functioning are reasonably sensitive to HIV-associated IADL declines, questions remain regarding the extent to which these tests’ highly structured nature fully captures the inherent complexities of daily life. The aim of this study was to assess the predictive and ecological validity of a novel multitasking measure in HIV infection. Method Participants included 60 individuals with HIV infection (HIV+) and 25 demographically comparable seronegative adults (HIV−). Participants were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, questionnaires assessing mood and everyday functioning, and a novel standardized test of multitasking, which involved balancing the demands of four interconnected performance-based functional tasks (i.e., financial management, cooking, medication management, and telephone communication). Results HIV+ individuals demonstrated significantly worse overall performance, fewer simultaneous task attempts, and increased errors on the multitasking test as compared to the HIV− sample. Within the HIV+ sample, multitasking impairments were modestly associated with deficits on standard neuropsychological measures of executive functions, episodic memory, attention/working memory, and information processing speed, providing preliminary evidence for convergent validity. More importantly, multivariate prediction models revealed that multitasking deficits were uniquely predictive of IADL dependence beyond the effects of depression and global neurocognitive impairment, with excellent sensitivity (86%), but modest specificity (57%). Conclusions Taken together, these data indicate that multitasking ability may play an important role in successful everyday functioning in HIV+ individuals. PMID:21401259

Development and demonstration of smoke plume, fire emissions, and pre- and postprescribed fire fuel models on North Carolina Coastal Plain forest ecosystems

Treesearch

Robert A. Mickler; Miriam Rorig; Christopher D. Geron; Gary L. Achtemier; Andrew D. Bailey; Candice Krull; David Brownlie

2007-01-01

Wildland fuels have been accumulating in the United States during at least the past half-century due to wildland fire management practices and policies. The additional fuels contribute to intense fire behavior, increase the costs of wildland fire control, and contribute to the degradation of local and regional air quality. The management of prescribed and wildland fire...

Wildland fire risk and social vulnerability in the Southeastern United States: An exploratory spatial data analysis approach

Treesearch

Cassandra Johnson Gaither; N.C. Poudyal; S. Goodrick; J.M. Bowker; S. Malone; J. Gan

2011-01-01

The southeastern U.S. is one of the more wildland fire prone areas of the country and also contains some of the poorest or most socially vulnerable rural communities. Our project addresses wildland fire risk in this part of the U.S and its intersection with social vulnerability. We examine spatial association between high wildland fire prone areas which also rank high...

More Time Management Tips for Busy People

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

finally get you through some of your most important reading, and make you smarter in the process. Stop Trying to Multitask More and more evidence...is emerging from neuroscience that the brain simply doesn’t multitask well. In fact, trying to mul- titask introduces massive inefficiencies and...actually wastes time. So, how do busy executive types like you avoid multitask - ing as part of the job description? First, recognize when you are trying

Finding Meaning in Medication Reconciliation Using Electronic Health Records: Qualitative Analysis in Safety Net Primary and Specialty Care

PubMed Central

Matta, George Yaccoub; Khoong, Elaine C; Lyles, Courtney R; Schillinger, Dean

2018-01-01

Background Safety net health systems face barriers to effective ambulatory medication reconciliation for vulnerable populations. Although some electronic health record (EHR) systems offer safety advantages, EHR use may affect the quality of patient-provider communication. Objective This mixed-methods observational study aimed to develop a conceptual framework of how clinicians balance the demands and risks of EHR and communication tasks during medication reconciliation discussions in a safety net system. Methods This study occurred 3 to 16 (median 9) months after new EHR implementation in five academic public hospital clinics. We video recorded visits between English-/Spanish-speaking patients and their primary/specialty care clinicians. We analyzed the proportion of medications addressed and coded time spent on nonverbal tasks during medication reconciliation as “multitasking EHR use,” “silent EHR use,” “non-EHR multitasking,” and “focused patient-clinician talk.” Finally, we analyzed communication patterns to develop a conceptual framework. Results We examined 35 visits (17%, 6/35 Spanish) between 25 patients (mean age 57, SD 11 years; 44%, 11/25 women; 48%, 12/25 Hispanic; and 20%, 5/25 with limited health literacy) and 25 clinicians (48%, 12/25 primary care). Patients had listed a median of 7 (IQR 5-12) relevant medications, and clinicians addressed a median of 3 (interquartile range [IQR] 1-5) medications. The median duration of medication reconciliation was 2.1 (IQR 1.0-4.2) minutes, comprising a median of 10% (IQR 3%-17%) of visit time. Multitasking EHR use occurred in 47% (IQR 26%-70%) of the medication reconciliation time. Silent EHR use and non-EHR multitasking occurred a smaller proportion of medication reconciliation time, with a median of 0% for both. Focused clinician-patient talk occurred a median of 24% (IQR 0-39%) of medication reconciliation time. Five communication patterns with EHR medication reconciliation were observed: (1) typical EHR multitasking for medication reconciliation, (2) dynamic EHR use to negotiate medication discrepancies, (3) focused patient-clinician talk for medication counseling and addressing patient concerns, (4) responding to patient concerns while maintaining EHR use, and (5) using EHRs to engage patients during medication reconciliation. We developed a conceptual diagram representing the dilemma of the multitasking clinician during medication reconciliation. Conclusions Safety net visits involve multitasking EHR use during almost half of medication reconciliation time. The multitasking clinician balances the cognitive and emotional demands posed by incoming information from multiple sources, attempts to synthesize and act on this information through EHR and communication tasks, and adopts strategies of silent EHR use and focused patient-clinician talk that may help mitigate the risks of multitasking. Future studies should explore diverse patient perspectives about clinician EHR multitasking, clinical outcomes related to EHR multitasking, and human factors and systems engineering interventions to improve the safety of EHR use during the complex process of medication reconciliation. PMID:29735477

The Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Multitasking Throughput Capacity

PubMed Central

Nelson, Justin; McKinley, Richard A.; Phillips, Chandler; McIntire, Lindsey; Goodyear, Chuck; Kreiner, Aerial; Monforton, Lanie

2016-01-01

Background: Multitasking has become an integral attribute associated with military operations within the past several decades. As the amount of information that needs to be processed during these high level multitasking environments exceeds the human operators' capabilities, the information throughput capacity reaches an asymptotic limit. At this point, the human operator can no longer effectively process and respond to the incoming information resulting in a plateau or decline in performance. The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of a non-invasive brain stimulation technique known as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to a scalp location over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) to improve information processing capabilities during a multitasking environment. Methods: The study consisted of 20 participants from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (16 male and 4 female) with an average age of 31.1 (SD = 4.5). Participants were randomly assigned into two groups, each consisting of eight males and two females. Group one received 2 mA of anodal tDCS and group two received sham tDCS over the lDLPFC on their testing day. Results: The findings indicate that anodal tDCS significantly improves the participants' information processing capability resulting in improved performance compared to sham tDCS. For example, the multitasking throughput capacity for the sham tDCS group plateaued near 1.0 bits/s at the higher baud input (2.0 bits/s) whereas the anodal tDCS group plateaued near 1.3 bits/s. Conclusion: The findings provided new evidence that tDCS has the ability to augment and enhance multitasking capability in a human operator. Future research should be conducted to determine the longevity of the enhancement of transcranial direct current stimulation on multitasking performance, which has yet to be accomplished. PMID:27965553

Everyday Multitasking Abilities in Older HIV+ Adults: Neurobehavioral Correlates and the Mediating Role of Metacognition.

PubMed

Fazeli, P L; Casaletto, K B; Woods, S P; Umlauf, A; Scott, J C; Moore, D J

2017-12-01

The prevalence of older adults living with HIV is rising, as is their risk for everyday functioning problems associated with neurocognitive dysfunction. Multitasking, the ability to maintain and carry out subgoals in support of a larger goal, is a multidimensional skill ubiquitous during most real-life tasks and associated with prefrontal networks that are vulnerable in HIV. Understanding factors associated with multitasking will improve characterization of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. Metacognition is also associated with frontal systems, is impaired among individuals with HIV, and may contribute to multitasking. Ninety-nine older (≥50 years) adults with HIV completed: the Everyday Multitasking Test (MT), a performance-based measure during which participants concurrently attempt four everyday tasks (e.g., medication management) within a time limit; a comprehensive neuropsychological battery; measures of metacognition regarding their MT performance (e.g., metacognitive knowledge and online awareness). Better global neuropsychological performance (i.e., average T-score across all domains) was associated with better Everyday MT total scores (rho = 0.34; p < .001), as was global metacognition (rho = 0.37, p < .01). Bootstrapping mediation analysis revealed global metacognition was a significant partial mediator between neurocognition and Everyday MT (b = 0.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.01, 0.25). Specifically, metacognitive knowledge (but not online awareness) drove this mediation (b = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.27). Consistent with findings among younger persons with HIV, neuropsychological performance is strongly associated with a complex, laboratory-based test of everyday multitasking, and metacognition of task performance was a pathway through which successful multitasking occurred. Interventions aimed at modifying metacognition to improve daily functioning may be warranted among older adults with HIV. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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

PubMed

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

2013-09-01

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

The Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Multitasking Throughput Capacity.

PubMed

Nelson, Justin; McKinley, Richard A; Phillips, Chandler; McIntire, Lindsey; Goodyear, Chuck; Kreiner, Aerial; Monforton, Lanie

2016-01-01

Background: Multitasking has become an integral attribute associated with military operations within the past several decades. As the amount of information that needs to be processed during these high level multitasking environments exceeds the human operators' capabilities, the information throughput capacity reaches an asymptotic limit. At this point, the human operator can no longer effectively process and respond to the incoming information resulting in a plateau or decline in performance. The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of a non-invasive brain stimulation technique known as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to a scalp location over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) to improve information processing capabilities during a multitasking environment. Methods: The study consisted of 20 participants from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (16 male and 4 female) with an average age of 31.1 (SD = 4.5). Participants were randomly assigned into two groups, each consisting of eight males and two females. Group one received 2 mA of anodal tDCS and group two received sham tDCS over the lDLPFC on their testing day. Results: The findings indicate that anodal tDCS significantly improves the participants' information processing capability resulting in improved performance compared to sham tDCS. For example, the multitasking throughput capacity for the sham tDCS group plateaued near 1.0 bits/s at the higher baud input (2.0 bits/s) whereas the anodal tDCS group plateaued near 1.3 bits/s. Conclusion: The findings provided new evidence that tDCS has the ability to augment and enhance multitasking capability in a human operator. Future research should be conducted to determine the longevity of the enhancement of transcranial direct current stimulation on multitasking performance, which has yet to be accomplished.

Reading About the Flu Online: How Health-Protective Behavioral Intentions Are Influenced by Media Multitasking, Polychronicity, and Strength of Health-Related Arguments.

PubMed

Kononova, Anastasia; Yuan, Shupei; Joo, Eunsin

2017-06-01

As health organizations increasingly use the Internet to communicate medical information and advice (Shortliffe et al., 2000; World Health Organization, 2013), studying factors that affect health information processing and health-protective behaviors becomes extremely important. The present research applied the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion to explore the effects of media multitasking, polychronicity (preference for multitasking), and strength of health-related arguments on health-protective behavioral intentions. Participants read an online article about influenza that included strong and weak suggestions to engage in flu-preventive behaviors. In one condition, participants read the article and checked Facebook; in another condition, they were exposed only to the article. Participants expressed greater health-protective behavioral intentions in the media multitasking condition than in the control condition. Strong arguments were found to elicit more positive behavioral intentions than weak arguments. Moderate and high polychronics showed greater behavioral intentions than low polychronics when they read the article in the multitasking condition. The difference in intentions to follow strong and weak arguments decreased for moderate and high polychronics. The results of the present study suggest that health communication practitioners should account for not only media use situations in which individuals typically read about health online but also individual differences in information processing, which puts more emphasis on the strength of health-protective suggestions when targeting light multitaskers.

Multitasking capacities in persons diagnosed with schizophrenia: a preliminary examination of their neurocognitive underpinnings and ability to predict real world functioning.

PubMed

Laloyaux, Julien; Van der Linden, Martial; Levaux, Marie-Noëlle; Mourad, Haitham; Pirri, Anthony; Bertrand, Hervé; Domken, Marc-André; Adam, Stéphane; Larøi, Frank

2014-07-30

Difficulties in everyday life activities are core features of persons diagnosed with schizophrenia and in particular during multitasking activities. However, at present, patients׳ multitasking capacities have not been adequately examined in the literature due to the absence of suitable assessment strategies. We thus recently developed a computerized real-life activity task designed to take into account the complex and multitasking nature of certain everyday life activities where participants are required to prepare a room for a meeting. Twenty-one individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and 20 matched healthy controls completed the computerized task. Patients were also evaluated with a cognitive battery, measures of symptomatology and real world functioning. To examine the ecological validity, 14 other patients were recruited and were given the computerized version and a real version of the meeting preparation task. Results showed that performance on the computerized task was significantly correlated with executive functioning, pointing to the major implication of these cognitive processes in multitasking situations. Performance on the computerized task also significantly predicted up to 50% of real world functioning. Moreover, the computerized task demonstrated good ecological validity. These findings suggest the importance of evaluating multitasking capacities in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in order to predict real world functioning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of missing data on multitask prediction methods.

PubMed

de la Vega de León, Antonio; Chen, Beining; Gillet, Valerie J

2018-05-22

There has been a growing interest in multitask prediction in chemoinformatics, helped by the increasing use of deep neural networks in this field. This technique is applied to multitarget data sets, where compounds have been tested against different targets, with the aim of developing models to predict a profile of biological activities for a given compound. However, multitarget data sets tend to be sparse; i.e., not all compound-target combinations have experimental values. There has been little research on the effect of missing data on the performance of multitask methods. We have used two complete data sets to simulate sparseness by removing data from the training set. Different models to remove the data were compared. These sparse sets were used to train two different multitask methods, deep neural networks and Macau, which is a Bayesian probabilistic matrix factorization technique. Results from both methods were remarkably similar and showed that the performance decrease because of missing data is at first small before accelerating after large amounts of data are removed. This work provides a first approximation to assess how much data is required to produce good performance in multitask prediction exercises.

Motivation to comply with task rules and multitasking performance: The role of need for cognitive closure and goal importance.

PubMed

Szumowska, Ewa; Kossowska, Małgorzata; Roets, Arne

2018-01-01

In three studies, we examined the role task rules play in multitasking performance. We postulated that rules should be especially important for individuals highly motivated to have structure and clear answers, i.e., those high on need for cognitive closure (NFC). High NFC should thus be related to greater compliance with task rules. Specifically, given high goal importance, NFC should be more strongly related to a multitasking strategy when multitasking is imposed by the rules, and to a mono-tasking strategy when monotasking is imposed by the rules. This should translate into better multitasking or mono-tasking performance, depending on condition. Overall, the results were supportive as NFC was related to a more mono-tasking strategy in the mono-tasking condition (Studies 1 and 2 only) and more dual-tasking strategy in the dual-tasking condition (Studies 1-3). This translated into respective differences in performance. The effects were significant only when goal importance was high (Study 1) and held when cognitive ability was controlled for (Study 2).

Wildland firefighter deaths in the United States: A comparison of existing surveillance systems

PubMed Central

Butler, Corey; Marsh, Suzanne; Domitrovich, Joseph W.; Helmkamp, Jim

2017-01-01

Wildland fire fighting is a high-risk occupation requiring considerable physical and psychological demands. Multiple agencies publish fatality summaries for wildland firefighters; however, the reported number and types vary. At least five different surveillance systems capture deaths, each with varying case definitions and case inclusion/exclusion criteria. Four are population-level systems and one is case-based. System differences create challenges to accurately characterize fatalities. Data within each of the five surveillance systems were examined to better understand the types of wildland firefighter data collected, to assess each system’s utility in characterizing wildland firefighter fatalities, and to determine each system’s potential to inform prevention strategies. To describe similarities and differences in how data were recorded and characterized, wildland fire deaths for three of the population-based systems were matched and individual fatalities across systems were compared. Between 2001 and 2012, 247 unique deaths were captured among the systems; 73% of these were captured in all three systems. Most common causes of death in all systems were associated with aviation, vehicles, medical events, and entrapments/burnovers. The data show that, although the three systems often report similar annual summary statistics, events captured in each system vary each year depending on the types of events that the system is designed to track, such as inclusion/exclusion of fatalities associated with the Hometown Heroes Survivor Benefits Act of 2003. The overarching and central goal of each system is to collect accurate and timely information to improve wildland firefighter safety and health. Each system is unique and has varying inclusion and exclusion criteria for capturing and tracking different subsets of wildland firefighter tasks and duties. Use of a common case definition and better descriptions and interpretations of the data and the results would help to more accurately characterize wildland firefighter traumatic injuries and illnesses, lessen the likelihood for misinterpretation of wildland firefighter fatality data, and assist with defining the true occupational injury burden within this high-risk population. PMID:27754819

Wildland firefighter deaths in the United States: A comparison of existing surveillance systems.

PubMed

Butler, Corey; Marsh, Suzanne; Domitrovich, Joseph W; Helmkamp, Jim

2017-04-01

Wildland fire fighting is a high-risk occupation requiring considerable physical and psychological demands. Multiple agencies publish fatality summaries for wildland firefighters; however, the reported number and types vary. At least five different surveillance systems capture deaths, each with varying case definitions and case inclusion/exclusion criteria. Four are population-level systems and one is case-based. System differences create challenges to accurately characterize fatalities. Data within each of the five surveillance systems were examined to better understand the types of wildland firefighter data collected, to assess each system's utility in characterizing wildland firefighter fatalities, and to determine each system's potential to inform prevention strategies. To describe similarities and differences in how data were recorded and characterized, wildland fire deaths for three of the population-based systems were matched and individual fatalities across systems were compared. Between 2001 and 2012, 247 unique deaths were captured among the systems; 73% of these were captured in all three systems. Most common causes of death in all systems were associated with aviation, vehicles, medical events, and entrapments/burnovers. The data show that, although the three systems often report similar annual summary statistics, events captured in each system vary each year depending on the types of events that the system is designed to track, such as inclusion/exclusion of fatalities associated with the Hometown Heroes Survivor Benefits Act of 2003. The overarching and central goal of each system is to collect accurate and timely information to improve wildland firefighter safety and health. Each system is unique and has varying inclusion and exclusion criteria for capturing and tracking different subsets of wildland firefighter tasks and duties. Use of a common case definition and better descriptions and interpretations of the data and the results would help to more accurately characterize wildland firefighter traumatic injuries and illnesses, lessen the likelihood for misinterpretation of wildland firefighter fatality data, and assist with defining the true occupational injury burden within this high-risk population.

Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination (GeoMAC) wildland fire perimeters, 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Walters, Sandra P.; Schneider, Norma J.; Guthrie, John D.

2011-01-01

The Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination (GeoMAC) has been collecting and storing data on wildland fire perimeters since August 2000. The dataset presented via this U.S. Geological Survey Data Series product contains the GeoMAC wildland fire perimeter data for the calendar year 2008, which are based upon input from incident intelligence sources, Global Positioning System (GPS) data, and infrared (IR) imagery. Wildland fire perimeter data are obtained from the incidents, evaluated for completeness and accuracy, and processed to reflect consistent field names and attributes. After a quality check, the perimeters are loaded to GeoMAC databases, which support the GeoMAC Web application for access by wildland fire managers and the public. The wildland fire perimeters are viewed through the Web application. The data are subsequently archived according to year and state and are made available for downloading through the Internet in shapefile and Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format. These wildland fire perimeter data are also retained for historical, planning, and research purposes. The datasets that pertain to this report can be found on the Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center HTTP site at http://rmgsc.cr.usgs.gov/outgoing/GeoMAC/historic_fire_data/. The links are also provided on the sidebar.

Experiences and results multitasking a hydrodynamics code on global and local memory machines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mandell, D.

1987-01-01

A one-dimensional, time-dependent Lagrangian hydrodynamics code using a Godunov solution method has been multitasked for the Cray X-MP/48, the Intel iPSC hypercube, the Alliant FX series and the IBM RP3 computers. Actual multitasking results have been obtained for the Cray, Intel and Alliant computers and simulated results were obtained for the Cray and RP3 machines. The differences in the methods required to multitask on each of the machines is discussed. Results are presented for a sample problem involving a shock wave moving down a channel. Comparisons are made between theoretical speedups, predicted by Amdahl's law, and the actual speedups obtained.more » The problems of debugging on the different machines are also described.« less

Marketing Nature-Oriented Tourism or Rural Development and Wildlands Management in Developing Countries: A Bibliography

Treesearch

C. Denise Ingram; Patrick B. Durst

1987-01-01

Annotated bibliography that specifically links tourism marketing and wildlands management. The bibliography is divided into five sections: Information Sources, Wildlands Management, Planning and Development, Tourism Impacts, Marketing and Promotion.Indexed by author and geographical location.

76 FR 62755 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-11

... wild land urban interface homeowners. The information collected will help wildland fire managers and... a currently valid OMB control number. Forest Service Title: Overcoming Barriers to Wildland Fire... information regarding barriers to participating in fire hazard reduction programs in the wildland urban...

Human influence on California fire regimes.

PubMed

Syphard, Alexandra D; Radeloff, Volker C; Keeley, Jon E; Hawbaker, Todd J; Clayton, Murray K; Stewart, Susan I; Hammer, Roger B

2007-07-01

Periodic wildfire maintains the integrity and species composition of many ecosystems, including the mediterranean-climate shrublands of California. However, human activities alter natural fire regimes, which can lead to cascading ecological effects. Increased human ignitions at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) have recently gained attention, but fire activity and risk are typically estimated using only biophysical variables. Our goal was to determine how humans influence fire in California and to examine whether this influence was linear, by relating contemporary (2000) and historic (1960-2000) fire data to both human and biophysical variables. Data for the human variables included fine-resolution maps of the WUI produced using housing density and land cover data. Interface WUI, where development abuts wildland vegetation, was differentiated from intermix WUI, where development intermingles with wildland vegetation. Additional explanatory variables included distance to WUI, population density, road density, vegetation type, and ecoregion. All data were summarized at the county level and analyzed using bivariate and multiple regression methods. We found highly significant relationships between humans and fire on the contemporary landscape, and our models explained fire frequency (R2 = 0.72) better than area burned (R2 = 0.50). Population density, intermix WUI, and distance to WUI explained the most variability in fire frequency, suggesting that the spatial pattern of development may be an important variable to consider when estimating fire risk. We found nonlinear effects such that fire frequency and area burned were highest at intermediate levels of human activity, but declined beyond certain thresholds. Human activities also explained change in fire frequency and area burned (1960-2000), but our models had greater explanatory power during the years 1960-1980, when there was more dramatic change in fire frequency. Understanding wildfire as a function of the spatial arrangement of ignitions and fuels on the landscape, in addition to nonlinear relationships, will be important to fire managers and conservation planners because fire risk may be related to specific levels of housing density that can be accounted for in land use planning. With more fires occurring in close proximity to human infrastructure, there may also be devastating ecological impacts if development continues to grow farther into wildland vegetation.

Human influence on California fire regimes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Syphard, A.D.; Radeloff, V.C.; Keeley, J.E.; Hawbaker, T.J.; Clayton, M.K.; Stewart, S.I.; Hammer, R.B.

2007-01-01

Periodic wildfire maintains the integrity and species composition of many ecosystems, including the mediterranean-climate shrublands of California. However, human activities alter natural fire regimes, which can lead to cascading ecological effects. Increased human ignitions at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) have recently gained attention, but fire activity and risk are typically estimated using only biophysical variables. Our goal was to determine how humans influence fire in California and to examine whether this influence was linear, by relating contemporary (2000) and historic (1960-2000) fire data to both human and biophysical variables. Data for the human variables included fine-resolution maps of the WUI produced using housing density and land cover data. Interface WUI, where development abuts wildland vegetation, was differentiated from intermix WUI, where development intermingles with wildland vegetation. Additional explanatory variables included distance to WUI, population density, road density, vegetation type, and ecoregion. All data were summarized at the county level and analyzed using bivariate and multiple regression methods. We found highly significant relationships between humans and fire on the contemporary landscape, and our models explained fire frequency (R2 = 0.72) better than area burned (R2 = 0.50). Population density, intermix WUI, and distance to WUI explained the most variability in fire frequency, suggesting that the spatial pattern of development may be an important variable to consider when estimating fire risk. We found nonlinear effects such that fire frequency and area burned were highest at intermediate levels of human activity, but declined beyond certain thresholds. Human activities also explained change in fire frequency and area burned (1960-2000), but our models had greater explanatory power during the years 1960-1980, when there was more dramatic change in fire frequency. Understanding wildfire as a function of the spatial arrangement of ignitions and fuels on the landscape, in addition to nonlinear relationships, will be important to fire managers and conservation planners because fire risk may be related to specific levels of housing density that can be accounted for in land use planning. With more fires occurring in close proximity to human infrastructure, there may also be devastating ecological impacts if development continues to grow farther into wildland vegetation. ?? 2007 by the Ecological Society of America.

76 FR 58462 - Information Collection; Qualified Products List for Water Enhancers (Gels) for Wildland Firefighting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-21

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Information Collection; Qualified Products List for Water... approved information collection, Qualified Products List for Water Enhancers (Gels) for Wildland... Water Enhancers (Gels) for Wildland Firefighting. OMB Number: 0596-0182. Expiration Date of Approval...

Climate Change, Wildland Fires and Public Health

EPA Science Inventory

Climate change is contributing to an increase in the severity of wildland fires. The annual acreage burned in the U.S. has risen steadily since 1985, and the fire season has lengthened. Wildland fires impair air quality by producing massive quantities of particulate air polluta...

WILDLAND FIRE EMISSION MODELING: INTEGRATING BLUESKY AND SMOKE

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation is a summary of an improved method to estimate emissions from wildland fires. An interagency agreement between the US Forest Service and the US EPA has made it possible for these two agencies to collaborate in the study of wildland fires.

Economics of wildland fire management

Treesearch

David Calkin; Krista Gebert

2009-01-01

Increased wildland fire activity and associated suppression costs over the last decade have significantly challenged federal agencies' ability to manage the nation's lands and meet public expectations. Three common factors have typically been identified to explain this increasing cost trend: 1) increased development within the wildland urban interface...

Wildland arson management

Treesearch

Jeffrey P. Prestemon; David T. Butry

2008-01-01

Wildland arson has received scant attention in the resource economics literature, yet is the cause of many large and damaging wildland fires. Research into wildfire management and policy in the United States has been principally concerned with wildfire suppression, fuels treatments, fire science (behavior), and economic efficiency questions. This is unfortunate,...

Full speed ahead for software

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wolfe, A.

1986-03-10

Supercomputing software is moving into high gear, spurred by the rapid spread of supercomputers into new applications. The critical challenge is how to develop tools that will make it easier for programmers to write applications that take advantage of vectorizing in the classical supercomputer and the parallelism that is emerging in supercomputers and minisupercomputers. Writing parallel software is a challenge that every programmer must face because parallel architectures are springing up across the range of computing. Cray is developing a host of tools for programmers. Tools to support multitasking (in supercomputer parlance, multitasking means dividing up a single program tomore » run on multiple processors) are high on Cray's agenda. On tap for multitasking is Premult, dubbed a microtasking tool. As a preprocessor for Cray's CFT77 FORTRAN compiler, Premult will provide fine-grain multitasking.« less

Differences in Multitask Resource Reallocation After Change in Task Values.

PubMed

Matton, Nadine; Paubel, Pierre; Cegarra, Julien; Raufaste, Eric

2016-12-01

The objective was to characterize multitask resource reallocation strategies when managing subtasks with various assigned values. When solving a resource conflict in multitasking, Salvucci and Taatgen predict a globally rational strategy will be followed that favors the most urgent subtask and optimizes global performance. However, Katidioti and Taatgen identified a locally rational strategy that optimizes only a subcomponent of the whole task, leading to detrimental consequences on global performance. Moreover, the question remains open whether expertise would have an impact on the choice of the strategy. We adopted a multitask environment used for pilot selection with a change in emphasis on two out of four subtasks while all subtasks had to be maintained over a minimum performance. A laboratory eye-tracking study contrasted 20 recently selected pilot students considered as experienced with this task and 15 university students considered as novices. When two subtasks were emphasized, novices focused their resources particularly on one high-value subtask and failed to prevent both low-value subtasks falling below minimum performance. On the contrary, experienced people delayed the processing of one low-value subtask but managed to optimize global performance. In a multitasking environment where some subtasks are emphasized, novices follow a locally rational strategy whereas experienced participants follow a globally rational strategy. During complex training, trainees are only able to adjust their resource allocation strategy to subtask emphasis changes once they are familiar with the multitasking environment. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Chapter 15. Plant pathology and managing wildland plant disease systems

Treesearch

David L. Nelson

2004-01-01

Obtaining specific, reliable knowledge on plant diseases is essential in wildland shrub resource management. However, plant disease is one of the most neglected areas of wildland resources experimental research. This section is a discussion of plant pathology and how to use it in managing plant disease systems.

76 FR 58461 - Information Collection; Qualified Products List for Class A Foams for Wildland Firefighting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-21

... A Foams for Wildland Firefighting AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice; request for comment... approved information collection, Qualified Products List for Class A Foams for Wildland Firefighting. DATES... year, including holidays. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Qualified Products List for Class A Foam...

Chemical composition of wildland fire emissions

Treesearch

Shawn P. Urbanski; Wei Min Hao; Stephen Baker

2009-01-01

Wildland fires are major sources of trace gases and aerosol, and these emissions are believed to significantly influence the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the earth's climate system. The wide variety of pollutants released by wildland fire include greenhouse gases, photochemically reactive compounds, and fine and coarse particulate matter. Through...

The costs of climate change: ecosystem services and wildland fires

EPA Science Inventory

In this paper we use Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) to monetize the avoided ecosystem services losses due to climate change-induced wildland fires in the U.S. Specifically, we use the U.S. Forest Service’s MC1 dynamic global vegetation model to forecast changes in wildland fi...

Built structure identification in wildland fire decision support

Treesearch

David E. Calkin; Jon D. Rieck; Kevin D. Hyde; Jeffrey D. Kaiden

2011-01-01

Recent ex-urban development within the wildland interface has significantly increased the complexity and associated cost of federal wildland fire management in the United States. Rapid identification of built structures relative to probable fire spread can help to reduce that complexity and improve the performance of incident management teams. Approximate structure...

Glossary of Fire Terms

Science.gov Websites

a slope faces. Backfiring When attacking a wildland fire using the indirect attack method convective column. Black Line When putting in control lines, the process of burning out any pockets of small wildland fire. Burning Out When attack on the wildland fire is direct, or parallel with the

Inviting other professions to help reduce wildfire property losses

Treesearch

A. Fege; J. Absher

2007-01-01

Preventing structure loss has become a major focal point of wildland firefighting. Most days it feels like wildland fire professionals and land managers are become more and more responsible for reducing property losses in the wildland/urban interface (WUI).What if this impression-and reality-could change?

Wildland fire and the wilderness visitor experience

Treesearch

Sierra L. Schroeder; Ingrid E. Schneider

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to understand wilderness visitors' perceptions of wildland fire and describe visitors' wilderness recreational experience following wildland fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Qualitative interviews revealed visitors' perceptions of burned areas as well as if and how activities and behaviors were...

The economic dimension of wildland fires

Treesearch

Armando Gonzalez-Caban

2013-01-01

The economic relevance of wildland fire management and protection programs is ever growing, particularly considering mounting wildfire costs and losses globally, and the justifications required for budget allocations to management and protection of forest ecosystems. However, there are major difficulties in grappling with the problem of rapidly increasing wildland fire...

Mulch flammability

Treesearch

Wayne Zipperer; Alan Long; Brian Hnton; Alexander Maranghides; William Mell

2007-01-01

Regardless of how horrible and devastating wildland fires are portrayed by the media, they are a natural disturbance that many native ecosystems depend on for regeneration. As the population of the United States increases, more individuals are building their homes in wildlands rather than urban landscapes. Homes built in undeveloped wildland vegetation create areas...

The federal wildland policy: opportunities for wilderness fire management

Treesearch

G. Thomas Zimmerman; David L. Bunnell

2000-01-01

The Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and Program Review represents the latest stage in the evolution of wildland fire management. This policy directs changes that consolidate past fire management practices into a single direction to achieve multidimensional objectives and creates increased opportunities for wilderness fire management. Objectives previously...

Wildland Fire: Health Effects and Public Health Outreach: Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability (SERPPAS) Webinar

EPA Science Inventory

The expanding wildland-urban interface and the proximity of prescribed fires undertaken by the Department of Defense is bringing the source of wildland fires close to densely populated areas in the Southeast. The presentation is an informational webinar to representatives of SERP...

Assessing CMAQ's contribution to Ozone and PM 2.5 from Wildland Fire Emissions

EPA Science Inventory

This poster to be delivered at the International Association of Wildland Fire Conference highlights modeling efforts that have been made to assess the impact of wildland fires on atmospheric pollution and human health. It points out the need to perform additional evaluation and m...

Leveraging the geospatial advantage

Treesearch

Ben Butler; Andrew Bailey

2013-01-01

The Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) web-based application leverages geospatial data to inform strategic decisions on wildland fires. A specialized data team, working within the Wildland Fire Management Research Development and Application group (WFM RD&A), assembles authoritative national-level data sets defining values to be protected. The use of...

Modelling public support for wildland fire policy

Treesearch

J.D. Absher; J.J. Vaske

2007-01-01

Theoretically grounded explanations of wildland fire policy can be improved by empirically documenting the causal influences of support for (or opposition to) management alternatives. This chapter proposes a model based on the specificity principle (i.e. correspondence between measured variables to empirically examine four common wildland fire policies in relation to...

Public perspectives on the "wildfire problem."

Treesearch

Antony S. Cheng; Dennis R. Becker

2005-01-01

Just as wildland fire managers must have a working knowledge of fire behavior, they must also understand the social dimensions of wildland fire in order to effectively engage the public.Social scientists are therefore gathering information about public attitudes toward wildland fire and wildfire mitigation. How do people see the "wildfire problem"? What...

The multitasking framework: the effects of increasing workload on acute psychobiological stress reactivity.

PubMed

Wetherell, Mark A; Carter, Kirsty

2014-04-01

A variety of techniques exist for eliciting acute psychological stress in the laboratory; however, they vary in terms of their ease of use, reliability to elicit consistent responses and the extent to which they represent the stressors encountered in everyday life. There is, therefore, a need to develop simple laboratory techniques that reliably elicit psychobiological stress reactivity that are representative of the types of stressors encountered in everyday life. The multitasking framework is a performance-based, cognitively demanding stressor, representative of environments where individuals are required to attend and respond to several different stimuli simultaneously with varying levels of workload. Psychological (mood and perceived workload) and physiological (heart rate and blood pressure) stress reactivity was observed in response to a 15-min period of multitasking at different levels of workload intensity in a sample of 20 healthy participants. Multitasking stress elicited increases in heart rate and blood pressure, and increased workload intensity elicited dose-response increases in levels of perceived workload and mood. As individuals rarely attend to single tasks in real life, the multitasking framework provides an alternative technique for modelling acute stress and workload in the laboratory. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A manipulative instrument with simultaneous gesture and end-effector trajectory planning and controlling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Hsien-I.; Nguyen, Xuan-Anh

2017-05-01

To operate a redundant manipulator to accomplish the end-effector trajectory planning and simultaneously control its gesture in online programming, incorporating the human motion is a useful and flexible option. This paper focuses on a manipulative instrument that can simultaneously control its arm gesture and end-effector trajectory via human teleoperation. The instrument can be classified by two parts; first, for the human motion capture and data processing, marker systems are proposed to capture human gesture. Second, the manipulator kinematics control is implemented by an augmented multi-tasking method, and forward and backward reaching inverse kinematics, respectively. Especially, the local-solution and divergence problems of a multi-tasking method are resolved by the proposed augmented multi-tasking method. Computer simulations and experiments with a 7-DOF (degree of freedom) redundant manipulator were used to validate the proposed method. Comparison among the single-tasking, original multi-tasking, and augmented multi-tasking algorithms were performed and the result showed that the proposed augmented method had a good end-effector position accuracy and the most similar gesture to the human gesture. Additionally, the experimental results showed that the proposed instrument was realized online.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

ENVIRONMENTAL AND WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICES DIVISION

This Wildland Fire Management Plan (FMP) for Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) and the Upton Ecological and Research Reserve (Upton Reserve) is based on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) fire management planning procedures and was developed in cooperation with the Department of Energy (DOE) by Brookhaven Science Associates. As the Upton Reserve is contained within the BNL 5,265-acre site, it is logical that the plan applies to both the Upton Reserve and BNL. The Department of the Interior policy for managing wildland fires requires that all areas managed by FWS that can sustain fire must have an FMP thatmore » details fire management guidelines for operational procedures and specifies values to be protected or enhanced. Fire management plans provide guidance on fire preparedness, fire prevention, wildfire suppression, and the use of controlled, ''prescribed'' fires and mechanical means to control the amount of available combustible material. Values reflected in the BNL/Upton Reserve Wildland FMP include protecting life and public safety; Lab properties, structures and improvements; cultural and historical sites; neighboring private and public properties; and endangered and threatened species and species of concern. Other values supported by the plan include the enhancement of fire-dependent ecosystems at BNL and the Upton Reserve. This FMP will be reviewed periodically to ensure the fire program advances and evolves with the missions of FWS, BNL, and the Upton Reserve. This Fire Management Plan is a modified version of the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex Fire plan (updated in 2000), which contains all FWS fire plan requirements and is presented in the format specified by the national template for fire management plans adopted under the National Fire Plan. The DOE is one of the signatory agencies on the National Fire Plan. FWS shall be, through an Interagency Agreement dated November 2000 (Appendix C), responsible for coordinating and implementing prescribed burns and fuel reduction projects in the Upton Reserve. Prescribed fire and fuel reduction in locations outside the Upton Reserve will be coordinated through the Natural Resource Management Program at BNL, and done in consultation with FWS. This FMP is to be used and implemented for the entire BNL site including the Upton Reserve and has been reviewed by FWS, The Nature Conservancy, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers, and DOE, as well as appropriate BNL emergency services personnel.« less

A personal computer-based, multitasking data acquisition system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, Steven A.

1990-01-01

A multitasking, data acquisition system was written to simultaneously collect meteorological radar and telemetry data from two sources. This system is based on the personal computer architecture. Data is collected via two asynchronous serial ports and is deposited to disk. The system is written in both the C programming language and assembler. It consists of three parts: a multitasking kernel for data collection, a shell with pull down windows as user interface, and a graphics processor for editing data and creating coded messages. An explanation of both system principles and program structure is presented.

Risk assessments using the Strain Index and the TLV for HAL, Part II: Multi-task jobs and prevalence of CTS.

PubMed

Kapellusch, Jay M; Silverstein, Barbara A; Bao, Stephen S; Thiese, Mathew S; Merryweather, Andrew S; Hegmann, Kurt T; Garg, Arun

2018-02-01

The Strain Index (SI) and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) threshold limit value for hand activity level (TLV for HAL) have been shown to be associated with prevalence of distal upper-limb musculoskeletal disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The SI and TLV for HAL disagree on more than half of task exposure classifications. Similarly, time-weighted average (TWA), peak, and typical exposure techniques used to quantity physical exposure from multi-task jobs have shown between-technique agreement ranging from 61% to 93%, depending upon whether the SI or TLV for HAL model was used. This study compared exposure-response relationships between each model-technique combination and prevalence of CTS. Physical exposure data from 1,834 workers (710 with multi-task jobs) were analyzed using the SI and TLV for HAL and the TWA, typical, and peak multi-task job exposure techniques. Additionally, exposure classifications from the SI and TLV for HAL were combined into a single measure and evaluated. Prevalent CTS cases were identified using symptoms and nerve-conduction studies. Mixed effects logistic regression was used to quantify exposure-response relationships between categorized (i.e., low, medium, and high) physical exposure and CTS prevalence for all model-technique combinations, and for multi-task workers, mono-task workers, and all workers combined. Except for TWA TLV for HAL, all model-technique combinations showed monotonic increases in risk of CTS with increased physical exposure. The combined-models approach showed stronger association than the SI or TLV for HAL for multi-task workers. Despite differences in exposure classifications, nearly all model-technique combinations showed exposure-response relationships with prevalence of CTS for the combined sample of mono-task and multi-task workers. Both the TLV for HAL and the SI, with the TWA or typical techniques, appear useful for epidemiological studies and surveillance. However, the utility of TWA, typical, and peak techniques for job design and intervention is dubious.

Quantifying physical characteristics of wildland fuels using the fuel characteristic classification system.

Treesearch

Cynthia L. Riccardi; Susan J. Prichard; David V. Sandberg; Roger D. Ottmar

2007-01-01

Wildland fuel characteristics are used in many applications of operational fire predictions and to understand fire effects and behaviour. Even so, there is a shortage of information on basic fuel properties and the physical characteristics of wildland fuels. The Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) builds and catalogues fuelbed descriptions based on...

Burned forests impact water supplies

Treesearch

Dennis W. Hallema; Ge Sun; Peter V. Caldwell; Steven P. Norman; Erika C. Cohen; Yongqiang Liu; Kevin D. Bladon; Steven G. McNulty

2018-01-01

Wildland fire impacts on surface freshwater resources have not previously been measured, nor factored into regional water management strategies. But, large wildland fires are increasing and raise concerns about fire impacts on potable water. Here we synthesize longterm records of wildland fire, climate, and river flow for 168 locations across the United States. We show...

Wildland fire management futures: insights from a foresight panel

Treesearch

Robert L. Olson; David N. Bengston; Leif A. DeVaney; Trevor A.C. Thompson

2015-01-01

Wildland fire management faces unprecedented challenges in the 21st century: the increasingly apparent effects of climate change, more people and structures in the wildland-urban interface, growing costs associated with wildfire management, and the rise of high-impact fires, to name a few. Given these significant and growing challenges, conventional fire management...

Characterizing sources of emissions from wildland fires

Treesearch

Roger D. Ottmar; Ana Isabel Miranda; David V. Sandberg

2009-01-01

Smoke emissions from wildland fire can be harmful to human health and welfare, impair visibility, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The generation of emissions and heat release need to be characterized to estimate the potential impacts of wildland fire smoke. This requires explicit knowledge of the source, including size of the area burned, burn period,...

Chemical composition of wildland fire emissions

Treesearch

Shawn P. Urbanski; Wei Min Hao; Stephen Baker

2009-01-01

Wildland fires are major sources of trace gases and aerosol, and these emissions are believed to significantly influence the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the earth’s climate system. The wide variety of pollutants released by wildland fire include greenhouse gases, photochemically reactive compounds, and fine and coarse particulate matter. Through direct...

Preventing disaster: Home ignitability in the wildland-urban interface

Treesearch

Jack D. Cohen

2000-01-01

Wildland-urban interface (W-UI) fires are a significant concern for federal, state, and local land management and fire agencies. Research using modeling, experiments, and W-UI case studies indicates that home ignitability during wildland fires depends on the characteristics of the home and its immediate surroundings. These findings have implications for hazard...

The Wildland Fire Decision Support System: Integrating science, technology, and fire management

Treesearch

Morgan Pence; Tom Zimmerman

2011-01-01

Federal agency policy requires documentation and analysis of all wildland fire response decisions. In the past, planning and decision documentation for fires were completed using multiple unconnected processes, yielding many limitations. In response, interagency fire management executives chartered the development of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS)....

Climatic and weather factors affecting fire occurrence and behavior

Treesearch

Randall P. Benson; John O. Roads; David R. Weise

2009-01-01

Weather and climate have a profound influence on wildland fire ignition potential, fire behavior, and fire severity. Local weather and climate are affected by large-scale patterns of winds over the hemispheres that predispose wildland fuels to fire. The characteristics of wildland fuels, especially the moisture content, ultimately determine fire behavior and the impact...

Natural resource managers: their role in international tourism and rural development

Treesearch

Arthur W. Magill

1995-01-01

Though our wildlands are important destinations for international visitors, little is known about their activities or influence on local economies. This paper encourages resource managers to assume leadership for developing an international tourism strategy for our wildlands by packaging lesser known wildland attractions as regional complexes to attract tourists.

Examining the sources of public support for wildland fire policies

Treesearch

J.D. Absher; J.J. Vaske

2007-01-01

Recent severe wildfires have reinforced the need for successful mitigation strategies to be coordinated across all levels of government that address the needs and concerns of homeowners who live in the wildland/urban interface (WUI). Despite the growing body of social science literature on agency-initiated wildland fire policies and homeowner mitigation strategies,...

Structure ignition assessment model (SIAM)\\t

Treesearch

Jack D. Cohen

1995-01-01

Major wildland/urban interface fire losses, principally residences, continue to occur. Although the problem is not new, the specific mechanisms are not well known on how structures ignite in association with wildland fires. In response to the need for a better understanding of wildland/urban interface ignition mechanisms and a method of assessing the ignition risk,...

African-American wildland memories

Treesearch

Cassandra Y. Johnson; J. Michael Bowker

2004-01-01

Collective memory can be used conceptually to examine African-American perceptions of wildlands and black interaction with such places. The middle--American view of wildlands frames these terrains as refuges--pure and simple, sanctified places distinct from the profanity of human modification. However, wild, primitive areas do not exist in the minds of all Americans as...

Guidance on spatial wildland fire analysis: models, tools, and techniques

Treesearch

Richard D. Stratton

2006-01-01

There is an increasing need for spatial wildland fire analysis in support of incident management, fuel treatment planning, wildland-urban assessment, and land management plan development. However, little guidance has been provided to the field in the form of training, support, or research examples. This paper provides guidance to fire managers, planners, specialists,...

Preface: Special issue on wildland fires

Treesearch

Alistair M. S. Smith; James A. Lutz; Chad M. Hoffman; Grant J. Williamson; Andrew T. Hudak

2018-01-01

Wildland fires are a critical Earth-system process that impacts human populations in each settled continent [1,2]. Wildland fires have often been stated as being essential to human life and civilization through the impacts on land clearance, agriculture, and hunting, with fire as a phenomenon serving a key role in the development of agricultural and industrial...

Production and efficiency of large wildland fire suppression effort: A stochastic frontier analysis

Treesearch

Hari Katuwal; Dave Calkin; Michael S. Hand

2016-01-01

This study examines the production and efficiency of wildland fire suppression effort. We estimate the effectiveness of suppression resource inputs to produce controlled fire lines that contain large wildland fires using stochastic frontier analysis. Determinants of inefficiency are identified and the effects of these determinants on the daily production of...

A multitasking general executive for compound continuous tasks.

PubMed

Salvucci, Dario D

2005-05-06

As cognitive architectures move to account for increasingly complex real-world tasks, one of the most pressing challenges involves understanding and modeling human multitasking. Although a number of existing models now perform multitasking in real-world scenarios, these models typically employ customized executives that schedule tasks for the particular domain but do not generalize easily to other domains. This article outlines a general executive for the Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) cognitive architecture that, given independent models of individual tasks, schedules and interleaves the models' behavior into integrated multitasking behavior. To demonstrate the power of the proposed approach, the article describes an application to the domain of driving, showing how the general executive can interleave component subtasks of the driving task (namely, control and monitoring) and interleave driving with in-vehicle secondary tasks (radio tuning and phone dialing). 2005 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Training multitasking in a virtual supermarket: a novel intervention after stroke.

PubMed

Rand, Debbie; Weiss, Patrice L Tamar; Katz, Noomi

2009-01-01

To explore the potential of the VMall, a virtual supermarket running on a video-capture virtual reality system, as an intervention tool for people who have multitasking deficits after stroke. Poststroke, 4 participants received ten 60-min sessions over 3 weeks using the VMall. The intervention focused on improving multitasking while the participant was engaged in a virtual shopping task. Instruments included the Multiple Errands Test-Hospital Version (MET-HV) in a real mall and in the VMall. Participants achieved improvements ranging from 20.5% to 51.2% for most of the MET-HV measures performed in a real shopping mall and in the VMall. The data support the VMall's potential as a motivating and effective intervention tool for the rehabilitation of people poststroke who have multitasking deficits during the performance of daily tasks. However, because the sample was small, additional intervention studies with the VMall should be conducted.

One set of pliers for more tasks in installation work: the effects on (dis)comfort and productivity.

PubMed

Groenesteijn, Liesbeth; Eikhout, Sandra M; Vink, Peter

2004-09-01

In installation work, the physical workload is high. Awkward postures, heavy lifting and repetitive movements are often seen. To improve aspects of the work situation, frequently used pliers were redesigned to make them suitable for more cutting tasks. In this study these multitask pliers are evaluated in comparison to the originally used pliers in a field study and a laboratory study. For the field study 26 subjects participated divided into two groups according to their type of work. Ten subjects participated in the laboratory study. The multitask plier appeared to result in more comfort during working, more relaxed working and more satisfaction. No differences in productivity were found. In conclusion, the multitask pliers can replace the originally used pliers and are suitable for more tasks than the original pliers. The installation workers have to carry less pliers by using the multitask pliers.

Crack Damage Detection Method via Multiple Visual Features and Efficient Multi-Task Learning Model.

PubMed

Wang, Baoxian; Zhao, Weigang; Gao, Po; Zhang, Yufeng; Wang, Zhe

2018-06-02

This paper proposes an effective and efficient model for concrete crack detection. The presented work consists of two modules: multi-view image feature extraction and multi-task crack region detection. Specifically, multiple visual features (such as texture, edge, etc.) of image regions are calculated, which can suppress various background noises (such as illumination, pockmark, stripe, blurring, etc.). With the computed multiple visual features, a novel crack region detector is advocated using a multi-task learning framework, which involves restraining the variability for different crack region features and emphasizing the separability between crack region features and complex background ones. Furthermore, the extreme learning machine is utilized to construct this multi-task learning model, thereby leading to high computing efficiency and good generalization. Experimental results of the practical concrete images demonstrate that the developed algorithm can achieve favorable crack detection performance compared with traditional crack detectors.

Dynamic, continuous multitasking training leads to task-specific improvements but does not transfer across action selection tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bender, Angela D.; Filmer, Hannah L.; Naughtin, Claire K.; Dux, Paul E.

2017-12-01

The ability to perform multiple tasks concurrently is an ever-increasing requirement in our information-rich world. Despite this, multitasking typically compromises performance due to the processing limitations associated with cognitive control and decision-making. While intensive dual-task training is known to improve multitasking performance, only limited evidence suggests that training-related performance benefits can transfer to untrained tasks that share overlapping processes. In the real world, however, coordinating and selecting several responses within close temporal proximity will often occur in high-interference environments. Over the last decade, there have been notable reports that training on video action games that require dynamic multitasking in a demanding environment can lead to transfer effects on aspects of cognition such as attention and working memory. Here, we asked whether continuous and dynamic multitasking training extends benefits to tasks that are theoretically related to the trained tasks. To examine this issue, we asked a group of participants to train on a combined continuous visuomotor tracking task and a perceptual discrimination task for six sessions, while an active control group practiced the component tasks in isolation. A battery of tests measuring response selection, response inhibition, and spatial attention was administered before and immediately after training to investigate transfer. Multitasking training resulted in substantial, task-specific gains in dual-task ability, but there was no evidence that these benefits generalized to other action control tasks. The findings suggest that training on a combined visuomotor tracking and discrimination task results in task-specific benefits but provides no additional value for untrained action selection tasks.

The role of Area 10 (BA10) in human multitasking and in social cognition: a lesion study.

PubMed

Roca, María; Torralva, Teresa; Gleichgerrcht, Ezequiel; Woolgar, Alexandra; Thompson, Russell; Duncan, John; Manes, Facundo

2011-11-01

A role for rostral prefrontal cortex (BA10) has been proposed in multitasking, in particular, the selection and maintenance of higher order internal goals while other sub-goals are being performed. BA10 has also been implicated in the ability to infer someone else's feelings and thoughts, often referred to as theory of mind. While most of the data to support these views come from functional neuroimaging studies, lesion studies are scant. In the present study, we compared the performance of a group of frontal patients whose lesions involved BA10, a group of frontal patients whose lesions did not affect this area (nonBA10), and a group of healthy controls on tests requiring multitasking and complex theory of mind judgments. Only the group with lesions involving BA10 showed deficits on multitasking and theory of mind tasks when compared with control subjects. NonBA10 patients performed more poorly than controls on an executive function screening tool, particularly on measures of response inhibition and abstract reasoning, suggesting that theory of mind and multitasking deficits following lesions to BA10 cannot be explained by a general worsening of executive function. In addition, we searched for correlations between performance and volume of damage within different subregions of BA10. Significant correlations were found between multitasking performance and volume of damage in right lateral BA10, and between theory of mind and total BA10 lesion volume. These findings stress the potential pivotal role of BA10 in higher order cognitive functions. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Media Multitasking and Cognitive, Psychological, Neural, and Learning Differences.

PubMed

Uncapher, Melina R; Lin, Lin; Rosen, Larry D; Kirkorian, Heather L; Baron, Naomi S; Bailey, Kira; Cantor, Joanne; Strayer, David L; Parsons, Thomas D; Wagner, Anthony D

2017-11-01

American youth spend more time with media than any other waking activity: an average of 7.5 hours per day, every day. On average, 29% of that time is spent juggling multiple media streams simultaneously (ie, media multitasking). This phenomenon is not limited to American youth but is paralleled across the globe. Given that a large number of media multitaskers (MMTs) are children and young adults whose brains are still developing, there is great urgency to understand the neurocognitive profiles of MMTs. It is critical to understand the relation between the relevant cognitive domains and underlying neural structure and function. Of equal importance is understanding the types of information processing that are necessary in 21st century learning environments. The present review surveys the growing body of evidence demonstrating that heavy MMTs show differences in cognition (eg, poorer memory), psychosocial behavior (eg, increased impulsivity), and neural structure (eg, reduced volume in anterior cingulate cortex). Furthermore, research indicates that multitasking with media during learning (in class or at home) can negatively affect academic outcomes. Until the direction of causality is understood (whether media multitasking causes such behavioral and neural differences or whether individuals with such differences tend to multitask with media more often), the data suggest that engagement with concurrent media streams should be thoughtfully considered. Findings from such research promise to inform policy and practice on an increasingly urgent societal issue while significantly advancing our understanding of the intersections between cognitive, psychosocial, neural, and academic factors. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Review of vortices in wildland fire

Treesearch

Jason M. Forthofer; Scott L. Goodrick

2011-01-01

Vortices are almost always present in the wildland fire environment and can sometimes interact with the fire in unpredictable ways, causing extreme fire behavior and safety concerns. In this paper, the current state of knowledge of the interaction of wildland fire and vortices is examined and reviewed. A basic introduction to vorticity is given, and the two common...

Hands-on learning: Its effectiveness in teaching the public about wildland fire

Treesearch

Tamara M. Parkinson; Jo Ellen Force; Jane Kapler Smith

2003-01-01

This study evaluated workshops for the adult public featuring experiential learning about wildland fire. Participants used hands-on activities to investigate fire behavior and ecology and to assess hazards in the wildland-urban interface. Effectiveness was examined using a pretest, a posttest following the program, and another posttest 30 days later. Participants’...

Manitoba Health's emerging work on wildland fire smoke

Treesearch

Jeffrey Joaquin; Darlene Oshanski

2015-01-01

Smoke caused by wildland fire events is an important public health issue, involving major risks to the health of people and the environment. Smoke from wildland fires can travel hundreds of kilometers, affecting air quality far from the flames. Through a partnership with Health Canada, Manitoba Health's Office of Disaster Management (ODM) has undertaken a number...

Visual impacts in the urban-wildland interface

Treesearch

Arthur W. Magill; Rowan A. Rowntree; Robert O. Brush

1979-01-01

The urban-wildland interface is treated as a place where extremes meet--where it is difficult to maintain a visually appealing transition from country to city. Problems are identified in relation to stable cities, urbanizing areas, and developing resorts in the wildlands. The visual problems of urbanization are also discussed in relation to physical impacts such as...

Wildfire smoke exposure and cardiopulmonary hospitalizations among those over age 65 in the United States

EPA Science Inventory

Background: The health implications of excess PM2.5 due to wildland fire smoke are not well understood. Very few studies have assessed the effect of wildland fire smoke from multiple fires across the US. Methods: We estimated daily concentrations of PM2.5 due to wildland fire smo...

Research and Development wildland fire and fuels accomplishments and outcomes

Treesearch

Matthew Rollins; Carlos Rodriguez-Franco; Tara Haan; Susan Conard

2017-01-01

The Research and Development (R&D) Wildland Fire and Fuels program at the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, continues to be an internationally renowned program for generating critical and essential data, knowledge, and applications for all phases of wildland fire management and response. This report provides a primer on the...

Analysing initial attack on wildland fires using stochastic simulation.

Treesearch

Jeremy S. Fried; J. Keith Gilless; James Spero

2006-01-01

Stochastic simulation models of initial attack on wildland fire can be designed to reflect the complexity of the environmental, administrative, and institutional context in which wildland fire protection agencies operate, but such complexity may come at the cost of a considerable investment in data acquisition and management. This cost may be well justified when it...

Demography: a tool for understanding the wildland-urban interface fire problems

Treesearch

James B. Davis

1989-01-01

Fire managers across the nation are confronting the rapidly developing problem created by movement of people into wildland areas, increasing what has been termed the wildland-urban interface. The problem is very complex from the standpoint of fire planning and management. To plan and manage more effectively, fire managers should identify three types of interface areas...

The wildland-urban interface in the United States.

Treesearch

V.C. Radeloff; R.B. Hammer; I. Stewart; J.S. Fried; S.S. Holcomb; J.F. McKeefry

2005-01-01

The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where houses meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland vegetation. The WUI is thus a focal area for human-environment conflicts, such as the destruction of homes by wildfires, habitat fragmentation, introduction of exotic species, and biodiversity decline. Our goal was to conduct a spatially detailed assessment of the...

A national cohesive wildland fire management strategy

Treesearch

Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture; Office of Wildland Fire Coordination Department of the Interior

2011-01-01

Addressing wildfire is not simply a fire management, fire operations, or wildland-urban interface problem - it is a larger, more complex land management and societal issue. The vision for the next century is to: Safely and effectively extinguish fire, when needed; use fire where allowable; manage our natural resources; and as a Nation, live with wildland fire. Three...

Human influences on forest ecosystems: the southern wildland-urban interface assessment: summary report

Treesearch

Edward A. Macie; L. Annie Hermansen

2003-01-01

This summary report synthesizes the findings contained in the Southern Wildland-Urban Interface Assessment (General Technical Report SRS-55). The Assessment provides a review of critical wildland-urban interface issues, challenges, and needs for the Southern United States. Topics include population and demographic trends, economic and tax issues, land use planning and...

The wildland-urban interface in the United States

Treesearch

V.C. Radeloff; R.B. Hammer; S.I. Stewart; J.S. Fried; S.S. Holcomb; J.F. McKeefry

2005-01-01

The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where houses meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland vegetation. The WUI is thus a focal area for human-environment conflicts, such as the destruction of homes by wildfires, habitat fragmentation, introduction of exotic species, and biodiversity decline. Our goal was to conduct a spatially detailed assessment of the...

Modeling regional-scale wildland fire emissions with the wildland fire emissions information system

Treesearch

Nancy H.F. French; Donald McKenzie; Tyler Erickson; Benjamin Koziol; Michael Billmire; K. Endsley; Naomi K.Y. Scheinerman; Liza Jenkins; Mary E. Miller; Roger Ottmar; Susan Prichard

2014-01-01

As carbon modeling tools become more comprehensive, spatial data are needed to improve quantitative maps of carbon emissions from fire. The Wildland Fire Emissions Information System (WFEIS) provides mapped estimates of carbon emissions from historical forest fires in the United States through a web browser. WFEIS improves access to data and provides a consistent...

Public acceptance of wildland fire and fuel management: Panel responses in seven locations

Treesearch

Eric Toman; Bruce Shindler; Sarah McCaffrey; James Bennett

2014-01-01

Wildland fire affects both public and private resources throughout the United States. A century of fire suppression has contributed to changing ecological conditions and accumulated fuel loads. Managers have used a variety of approaches to address these conditions and reduce the likelihood of wildland fires that may result in adverse ecological impacts and threaten...

Model comparisons for estimating carbon emissions from North American wildland fire

Treesearch

Nancy H.F. French; William J. de Groot; Liza K. Jenkins; Brendan M. Rogers; Ernesto Alvarado; Brian Amiro; Bernardus De Jong; Scott Goetz; Elizabeth Hoy; Edward Hyer; Robert Keane; B.E. Law; Donald McKenzie; Steven G. McNulty; Roger Ottmar; Diego R. Perez-Salicrup; James Randerson; Kevin M. Robertson; Merritt Turetsky

2011-01-01

Research activities focused on estimating the direct emissions of carbon from wildland fires across North America are reviewed as part of the North American Carbon Program disturbance synthesis. A comparison of methods to estimate the loss of carbon from the terrestrial biosphere to the atmosphere from wildland fires is presented. Published studies on emissions from...

Influences on USFS District Rangers' Decision to Authorize Wildland Fire Use

Treesearch

Martha A. Williamson

2006-01-01

United States wildland fire policy and program reviews in 1995 and 2000 required reduction of hazardous fuel and recognition of fire as a natural process. Although an existing policy, Wildland Fire Use (WFU), permitted managing natural ignitions to meet resource benefits, most fuel reduction is still achieved through mechanical treatments and prescribed burning....

Integrating polarimetric synthetic aperture radar and imaging spectrometry for wildland fuel mapping in southern California

Treesearch

P.E. Dennison; D.A. Roberts; J. Regelbrugge; S.L. Ustin

2000-01-01

Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and imaging spectrometry exemplify advanced technologies for mapping wildland fuels in chaparral ecosystems. In this study, we explore the potential of integrating polarimetric SAR and imaging spectrometry for mapping wildland fuels. P-band SAR and ratios containing P-band polarizations are sensitive to variations in stand...

Climate Change, Wildland Fires and Public Health

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cascio, W. E.

2016-12-01

Climate change is contributing to an increase in the severity of wildland fires. The annual acreage burned in the U.S. has risen steadily since 1985, and the fire season has lengthened. Wildland fires impair air quality by producing massive quantities of particulate air pollutants and ozone precursors. Together particles and ozone exposures increase the risk of premature death and acute and chronic cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity among vulnerable individuals. Future wildfires are predicted to be larger, more severe and more frequent in some regions of the U.S and will contribute to an even greater proportion of the ambient air pollution, the disease burden and healthcare costs.While the projected magnitude of the public health impact of climate change-related wildfire events is uncertain, it is clear that the proportion of the U.S. population vulnerable to the adverse health effects of wildland fire and its smoke is increasing. An aging population with chronic respiratory diseases and increasing obesity and diabetes that heralds more cardiovascular disease will increase the vulnerability of the population to the adverse effects of wildfire smoke and associated stressors. Additionally, physiological changes attendant to aging decrease the capacity of aged-adults to tolerate wildfire smoke, heat, humidity, evacuation and recovery. Expansion of our cities into the wildland-urban interface is also placing a greater proportion of the population in closer proximity to wildland fire emissions with its associated health risks. The public health community has an opportunity to contribute to the broader national effort to mitigate climate change and wildland fire risk by working closely with the healthcare community to facilitate adaptive responses to climate change. Adaptation will increase the resilience of individuals and their communities and is anticipated to help mitigate the adverse health effects of wildland fire. This abstract does not reflect USEPA policy.

Burned forests impact water supplies.

PubMed

Hallema, Dennis W; Sun, Ge; Caldwell, Peter V; Norman, Steven P; Cohen, Erika C; Liu, Yongqiang; Bladon, Kevin D; McNulty, Steven G

2018-04-10

Wildland fire impacts on surface freshwater resources have not previously been measured, nor factored into regional water management strategies. But, large wildland fires are increasing and raise concerns about fire impacts on potable water. Here we synthesize long-term records of wildland fire, climate, and river flow for 168 locations across the United States. We show that annual river flow changed in 32 locations, where more than 19% of the basin area was burned. Wildland fires enhanced annual river flow in the western regions with a warm temperate or humid continental climate. Wildland fires increased annual river flow most in the semi-arid Lower Colorado region, in spite of frequent droughts in this region. In contrast, prescribed burns in the subtropical Southeast did not significantly alter river flow. These extremely variable outcomes offer new insights into the potential role of wildfire and prescribed fire in regional water resource management, under a changing climate.

Operationalizing ecological resilience at a landscape scale: A framework and case study from Silicon Valley

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beller, E.; Robinson, A.; Grossinger, R.; Grenier, L.; Davenport, A.

2015-12-01

Adaptation to climate change requires redesigning our landscapes and watersheds to maximize ecological resilience at large scales and integrated across urban areas, wildlands, and a diversity of ecosystem types. However, it can be difficult for environmental managers and designers to access, interpret, and apply resilience concepts at meaningful scales and across a range of settings. To address this gap, we produced a Landscape Resilience Framework that synthesizes the latest science on the qualitative mechanisms that drive resilience of ecological functions to climate change and other large-scale stressors. The framework is designed to help translate resilience science into actionable ecosystem conservation and restoration recommendations and adaptation strategies by providing a concise but comprehensive list of considerations that will help integrate resilience concepts into urban design, conservation planning, and natural resource management. The framework is composed of seven principles that represent core attributes which determine the resilience of ecological functions within a landscape. These principles are: setting, process, connectivity, redundancy, diversity/complexity, scale, and people. For each principle we identify several key operationalizable components that help illuminate specific recommendations and actions that are likely to contribute to landscape resilience for locally appropriate species, habitats, and biological processes. We are currently using the framework to develop landscape-scale recommendations for ecological resilience in the heavily urbanized Silicon Valley, California, in collaboration with local agencies, companies, and regional experts. The resilience framework is being applied across the valley, including urban, suburban, and wildland areas and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ultimately, the framework will underpin the development of strategies that can be implemented to bolster ecological resilience from a site to landscape scale.

A Near Real-time Decision Support System Improving Forest Management in the Tropics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabor, K.; Musinsky, J.; Ledezma, J.; Rasolohery, A.; Mendoza, E.; Kistler, H.; Steininger, M.; Morton, D. C.; Melton, F. S.; Manwell, J.; Koenig, K.

2013-12-01

Conservation International (CI) has a decade of experience developing near real-time fire and deforestation monitoring and forecasting systems that channel monitoring information from satellite observations directly to national and sub-national government agencies, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), and local communities. These systems are used to strengthen forest surveillance and monitoring, fire management and prevention, protected areas management and sustainable land use planning. With support from a NASA Wildland Fires grant, in September 2013 CI will launch a brand new near real-time alert system (FIRECAST) to better meet the outstanding needs and challenges users face in addressing ecosystem degradation from wildland fire and illegal forest activities. Outreach efforts and user feedback have indicated the need for seasonal fire forecasts for effective land use planning, faster alert delivery to enhance response to illegal forest activities, and expanded forest monitoring capabilities that enable proactive responses and that strengthen forest conservation and sustainable development actions. The new FIRECAST system addresses these challenges by integrating the current fire alert and deforestation systems and adding improved ecological forecasting of fire risk; expanding data exchange capabilities with mobile technologies; and delivering a deforestation alert product that can inform policies related to land use management and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). In addition to demonstrating the capabilities of this new real-time alert system, we also highlight how coordination with host-country institutions enhances the system's capacity to address the implementation needs of REDD+ forest carbon projects, improve tropical forest management, strengthen environmental law enforcement, and facilitate the uptake of near real-time satellite monitoring data into business practices of these national/sub-national institutions.

Investigating the roles of touchscreen and physical control interface characteristics on driver distraction and multitasking performance.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-01-01

This study aimed to assess the potential of driver distraction, task performance, orientation of : attention, and perceived workload in a multitasking situation involving interaction with touchscreen : interface, compared to physical interface. Autho...

Human-computer interaction in multitask situations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rouse, W. B.

1977-01-01

Human-computer interaction in multitask decisionmaking situations is considered, and it is proposed that humans and computers have overlapping responsibilities. Queueing theory is employed to model this dynamic approach to the allocation of responsibility between human and computer. Results of simulation experiments are used to illustrate the effects of several system variables including number of tasks, mean time between arrivals of action-evoking events, human-computer speed mismatch, probability of computer error, probability of human error, and the level of feedback between human and computer. Current experimental efforts are discussed and the practical issues involved in designing human-computer systems for multitask situations are considered.

Multi-task feature learning by using trace norm regularization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiangmei, Zhang; Binfeng, Yu; Haibo, Ji; Wang, Kunpeng

2017-11-01

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.

Choice in multitasking: how delays in the primary task turn a rational into an irrational multitasker.

PubMed

Katidioti, Ioanna; Taatgen, Niels A

2014-06-01

The objective was to establish the nature of choice in cognitive multitasking. Laboratory studies of multitasking suggest people are rational in their switch choices regarding multitasking, whereas observational studies suggest they are not. Threaded cognition theory predicts that switching is opportunistic and depends on availability of cognitive resources. A total of 21 participants answered e-mails by looking up information (similar to customer service employees) while being interrupted by chat messages. They were free to choose when to switch to the chat message. We analyzed the switching behavior and the time they needed to complete the primary mail task. When participants are faced with a delay in the e-mail task, they switch more often to the chat task at high-workload points. Choosing to switch to the secondary task instead of waiting makes them slower. It also makes them forget the information in the e-mail task half of the time, which slows them down even more. When many cognitive resources are available, the probability of switching from one task to another is high. This does not necessarily lead to optimal switching behavior. Potential applications of this research include the minimization of delays in task design and the inability or discouragement of switching in high-workload moments.

Comparing capacity coefficient and dual task assessment of visual multitasking workload

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blaha, Leslie M.

Capacity coefficient analysis could offer a theoretically grounded alternative approach to subjective measures and dual task assessment of cognitive workload. Workload capacity or workload efficiency is a human information processing modeling construct defined as the amount of information that can be processed by the visual cognitive system given a specified of amount of time. In this paper, I explore the relationship between capacity coefficient analysis of workload efficiency and dual task response time measures. To capture multitasking performance, I examine how the relatively simple assumptions underlying the capacity construct generalize beyond the single visual decision making tasks. The fundamental toolsmore » for measuring workload efficiency are the integrated hazard and reverse hazard functions of response times, which are defined by log transforms of the response time distribution. These functions are used in the capacity coefficient analysis to provide a functional assessment of the amount of work completed by the cognitive system over the entire range of response times. For the study of visual multitasking, capacity coefficient analysis enables a comparison of visual information throughput as the number of tasks increases from one to two to any number of simultaneous tasks. I illustrate the use of capacity coefficients for visual multitasking on sample data from dynamic multitasking in the modified Multi-attribute Task Battery.« less

The Colorado Plateau IV: shaping conservation through science and management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wakeling, Brian F.; Sisk, Thomas D.; van Riper, Charles

2010-01-01

Roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States, the Colorado Plateau covers some 130,000 square miles of sparsely vegetated plateaus, mesas, canyons, arches, and cliffs in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. With elevations ranging from 3,000 to 14,000 feet, the natural systems found within the plateau are dramatically varied, from desert to alpine conditions. This book focuses on the integration of science and resource management issues in this unique and highly varied environment. Broken into three subsections, this volume addresses conservation biology, biophysical resources, and inventory and monitoring concerns. The chapters range in content, addressing conservation issues–past, present, and future–on the Colorado Plateau, measurement of human impacts on resources, grazing and wildland-urban interfaces, and tools and methods for monitoring habitats and species. An informative read for people interested in the conservation and natural history of the region, the book will also serve as a valuable reference for those people engaged in the management of cultural and biological resources of the Colorado Plateau, as well as scientists interested in methods and tools for land and resource management throughout the West.

The Moving Edge: Perspectives on the Southern Wildland-Urban Interface

Treesearch

Martha C. Monroe; Alison W. Bowers; L. Annie Hermansen

2003-01-01

To better understand the wildland-urban interface across the 13 Southern States and to identify issues to be covered in the USDA Forest Service report, "Human Influences on Forest Ecosystems: The Southern Wildland-Urban Interface Assessment," 12 focus groups were conducted in 6 of the Southern States in May and June 2000. The groups were guided through a...

Residents' responses to wildland fire programs: a review of cognitive and behavioral studies

Treesearch

James D. Absher; Jerry J. Vaske; Lori B. Shelby

2009-01-01

A compilation and summary of four research studies is presented. They were aimed at developing a theoretical and practical understanding of homeowners’ attitudes and behaviors in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) in relation to the threat from wildland fires. Individual studies focused on models and methods that measured (1) value orientations (patterns of basic...

Describing wildland surface fuel loading for fire management: A review of approaches, methods and systems

Treesearch

Robert E. Keane

2013-01-01

Wildland fuelbeds are exceptionally complex, consisting of diverse particles of many sizes, types and shapes with abundances and properties that are highly variable in time and space. This complexity makes it difficult to accurately describe, classify, sample and map fuels for wildland fire research and management. As a result, many fire behaviour and effects software...

Impact of Research and Technical Change in Wildland Recreation: Evaluation Issues and Approaches

Treesearch

David N. Bengston; Zhi Xu

1993-01-01

The development and diffusion of new technologies have had tremendous impacts on wildland recreation in recent decades. This article examines the potential economic impacts of research and technical change in wildland recreation. Two evaluation models are presented, a cost-price approach and a research intensity model, which are intended to shed some light on the...

Wildland fire emissions, carbon, and climate: U.S. emissions inventories

Treesearch

Narasimhan K. Larkin; Sean M. Raffuse; Tara M. Strand

2014-01-01

Emissions from wildland fire are both highly variable and highly uncertain over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Wildland fire emissions change considerably due to fluctuations from year to year with overall fire season severity, from season to season as different regions pass in and out of wildfire and prescribed fire periods, and from day to day as...

Measuring wildland fire leadership: the crewmember perceived leadership scale

Treesearch

Alexis L. Waldron; David P. Schary; Bradley J. Cardinal

2015-01-01

The aims of this research were to develop and test a scale used to measure leadership in wildland firefighting using two samples of USA wildland firefighters. The first collection of data occurred in the spring and early summer and consisted of an online survey. The second set of data was collected towards late summer and early fall (autumn). The second set of...

Using social science to understand and improve wildland fire organizations: an annotated reading list

Treesearch

Gregory Larson; Vita Wright; Cade Spaulding; Kelly Rossetto; Georgi Rausch; Andrea Richards; Stephanie Durnford

2007-01-01

The wildland fire community has spent the past decade trying to understand and account for the role of human factors in wildland fire organizations. Social research that is relevant to managing fire organizations can be found in disciplines such as social psychology, management, and communication. However, such research has been published primarily for scientific and...

Assessing high reliability practices in the wildland fire community

Treesearch

Anne E. Black; Kathleen Sutcliffe; Michelle Barton; Deirdre Dether

2008-01-01

The Office of Inspector General's 2006 audit of Forest Service fire management operations added yet another voice to the growing chorus calling on the Federal wildland fire community to get more fire on the ground (OIG 2006). The 1995 National Fire Plan and the 2001 Implementation Plan identify the critical role of wildland fire use in reducing hazardous fuels...

Exploring information needs for wildland fire and fuels management

Treesearch

Carol Miller; Peter Landres

2004-01-01

We report the results of a questionnaire and workshop that sought to gain a better and deeper understanding of the contemporary information needs of wildland fire and fuels managers. Results from the questionnaire indicated that the decision to suppress a wildland fire was most often influenced by factors related to safety and that the decision to allow a fire to burn...

Locating spatial variation in the association between wildland fire risk and social vulnerability across six southern states

Treesearch

Neelam Poudyal; Cassandra Johnson Gaither; Scott Goodrick; J.M. Bowker; Jianbang Gan

2012-01-01

Wildland fire in the South commands considerable attention, given the expanding wildland urban interface (WUI) across the region. Much of this growth is propelled by higher income retirees and others desiring natural amenity residential settings. However, population growth in the WUI increases the likelihood of wildfire fire ignition caused by people, as humans account...

A model-based framework to evaluate alternative wildfire suppression strategies

Treesearch

Karin L. Riley; Matthew P. Thompson; Joe H. Scott; Julie W. Gilbertson-Day

2018-01-01

The complexity and demands of wildland firefighting in the western U.S. have increased over recent decades due to factors including the expansion of the wildland-urban interface, lengthening fire seasons associated with climate change, and changes in vegetation due to past fire suppression and timber harvest. In light of these changes, the use of more wildland fire on...

Burning rates of wood cribs with implications for wildland fires

Treesearch

Sara McAllister; Mark Finney

2016-01-01

Wood cribs are often used as ignition sources for room fire tests and the well characterized burning rates may also have applications to wildland fires. The burning rate of wildland fuel structures, whether the needle layer on the ground or trees and shrubs themselves, is not addressed in any operational fire model and no simple model exists. Several relations...

Proceedings of the second conference on the human dimensions of wildland fire

Treesearch

Sarah M. McCaffrey; Cherie LeBlanc, eds. Fisher

2011-01-01

This proceedings contains articles, posters, and abstracts of presentations from the second Human Dimensions of Wildland Fire Conference held 27-29 April 2010 in San Antonio, Texas. The conference covered the social issues at the root of wildland fire management’s most serious challenges. Specific topics included: firefighter and public safety; social acceptance of...

The effect of wind on burning rate of wood cribs

Treesearch

Sara McAllister; Mark Finney

2016-01-01

Wood cribs are often used as ignition sources for room fire tests. A wood crib may also apply to studies of burning rate in wildland fires, because wildland fuel beds are porous and three dimensional. A unique aspect of wildland fires is the ubiquitous presence of wind. However, very little is known about what effect the increased ventilation has on the...

The 2010 wildland-urban interface of the conterminous United States

Treesearch

Sebasti& #237; n Martinuzzi; Susan I. Stewart; David P. Helmers; Miranda H. Mockrin; Roger B. Hammer; Volker C. Radeloff

2015-01-01

The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland, and it is where wildfires have their greatest impacts on people. Hence the WUI is important for wildfire management. This document and associated maps summarize the extent of the WUI in the conterminous United States in 2010. The...

Understanding social complexity within the wildland urban interface: A new species of human habitation? Environmental Management

Treesearch

Travis B. Paveglio; Pamela J. Jakes; Matthew S. Carroll; Daniel R. Williams

2009-01-01

The lack of knowledge regarding social diversity in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) or an in-depth understanding of the ways people living there interact to address common problems is concerning, perhaps even dangerous, given that community action is necessary for successful wildland fire preparedness and natural resource management activities. In this article, we...

Personal PM2.5 exposure among wildland firefighters working at prescribed forest burns in southeastern United States

Treesearch

O Adetona; K Dunn; Gary Achtemeier; A Stock; L Naeher

2011-01-01

Wildland firefighters are primarily responsible forwildfire suppression in wildlands, including forests, grasslands, and brush, but also engage in prescribed burning. Prescribed burns, as opposed to wildfires, are intentionally set by firefighters and are used as a land management tool for improving forage value of the forests, and reducing wildfire hazard and...

A model of gas mixing into single-entrance tree cavities during wildland fires

Treesearch

A.S. Bova; G. Bohrer; Matthew Dickinson

2011-01-01

The level of protection to fauna provided by tree cavities during wildland fires is not well understood. Here we present a model for estimating the transport of combustion gases into cylindrical, single-entrance cavities during exposures caused by different wildland fire scenarios. In these shelters, the entrance occurs near the top of the cavity. This empirical model...

Best practices for interacting with the public about wildland fire: Key findings from interviews

Treesearch

Daniel Berkman

2012-01-01

Interviews were conducted with public information and line officers about wildland fire communications with the public. The goal of these interviews was to determine the best practices and most useful content and format for an annotated bibliography about external wildland fire communications, i.e., does the current literature reviewed address the issues of greatest...

Implications of burned area approaches in emission inventories for modeling wildland fire pollution in the contiguous U.S.

EPA Science Inventory

Wildland fires are a major source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), one of the most harmful ambient pollutants for human health globally. Within the U.S., wildland fires can account for more than 30% of total annual PM2.5 emissions. In order to represent the influence of fire e...

Implications of burned area approaches in emission inventories for modeling wildland fire pollution in the contiguous U.S

EPA Science Inventory

Wildland fires are a major source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), one of the most harmful ambient pollutants for human health globally. Within the U.S., wildland fires can account for more than 30% of total annual PM2.5 emissions. In order to represent the influence of fire e...

Residents warming up to fuels management: homeowners? acceptance of wildfire and fuels management in the wildland-urban interface

Treesearch

Greg Winter; Christine Vogt; Sarah McCaffrey

2006-01-01

Many wildland fire managers, concerned about public acceptance of local fuels management programs, want to better communicate with local residents about these programs. Research at diverse study sites shows wildland-urban interface (WUI) residents rely on common factors to decide whether or not to support particular fuels management approaches such as prescribed...

Using structure locations as a basis for mapping the wildland urban interface

Treesearch

Avi Bar-Massada; Susan I. Stewart; Roger B. Hammer; Miranda H. Mockrin; Volker C. Radeloff

2013-01-01

The wildland urban interface (WUI) delineates the areas where wildland fire hazard most directly impacts human communities and threatens lives and property, and where houses exert the strongest influence on the natural environment. Housing data are a major problem for WUI mapping. When housing data are zonal, the concept of a WUI neighborhood can be captured easily in...

Allowing a wildfire to burn: estimating the effect on future fire suppression costs

Treesearch

Rachel M. Houtman; Claire A. Montgomery; Aaron R. Gagnon; David E. Calkin; Thomas G. Dietterich; Sean McGregor; Mark Crowley

2013-01-01

Where a legacy of aggressive wildland fire suppression has left forests in need of fuel reduction, allowing wildland fire to burn may provide fuel treatment benefits, thereby reducing suppression costs from subsequent fires. The least-cost-plus-net-value-change model of wildland fire economics includes benefits of wildfire in a framework for evaluating suppression...

Chapter 3 - Large-scale patterns of forest fire occurrence in the conterminous United States, Alaska and Hawaii, 2016

Treesearch

Kevin M. Potter

2018-01-01

As a pervasive disturbance agent operating at many spatial and temporal scales, wildland fire is a key abiotic factor affecting forest health both positively and negatively. In some ecosystems, for example, wildland fires have been essential for regulating processes that maintain forest health (Lundquist and others 2011). Wildland fire is an important ecological...

Use of class a foams on structures and wildlands

Treesearch

Paul Schlobohm

1995-01-01

The increase of homes in wildlands indicates a significant change. The build-up of fuels around homes and in wildlands over time also indicates change. Resistance to change, however, remains the norm. Fires get worse, but plain water continues to be used for fire suppression and property protection. With Class A foam, the objectives of protection are to wet the...

Collaborative capacity, problem framing, and mutual trust in addressing the wildland fire social problem: An annotated reading list

Treesearch

Jeffrey J. Brooks; Alexander N. Bujak; Joseph G. Champ; Daniel R. Williams

2006-01-01

We reviewed, annotated, and organized recent social science research and developed a framework for addressing the wildland fire social problem. We annotated articles related to three topic areas or factors, which are critical for understanding collective action, particularly in the wildland-urban interface. These factors are collaborative capacity, problem framing, and...

The Evolution of Wildland Fire Management Policy in the USA: Successes and Failures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzalez-Caban, A.

2015-12-01

Wildfires have been suppressed over the last 100 years in forest and brush landscapes. For the last three decades, fires occurrence and severity have significantly increased when compared to historical levels causing economic damage and suppression costs never experienced before in the US or globally. As the wildland fire problem evolved so did the public response through a wildland fire management policy guided by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management understanding of the problem. Globally it is estimated that more 350 million hectares of wildland burn annually. They oxidize approximately 3-8% of the total terrestrial net primary productivity. The economic and physical relevance of wildland fire management and protection programs is ever growing, particularly considering mounting wildfire costs and losses globally. In the US alone, from 2000 to 2013 more than 37 million hectares of wildland has been affected at a cost of over $21 billion. The increase in siege-like fires can be explained in part by increasing population, particularly in the wildland-urban interface and the accumulation of biomass fuel due to over a century of fire exclusion. Recent developments demonstrate a strong relationship between fire and weather and climate variations. How the wildland fire management policy has evolved through time? The development can be divided in three stages: the formative years between 1905 and 1911; the consolidation years from 1911 through 1968; and the modern era from 1995 to present. Each stage is characterized by a series of significant events that caused changes on how the problem was approached. For example, the establishment of the Forest Service in 1905 and the rash of large wildfires in the western USA set the base for the wildfire suppression of all wildfires in 1911. During the second stage we see the 1935 policy of suppressing all wildfires by 10-am next-day. By 1968 the policy has evolved to include the use of prescribed burning and the elimination of the 10-am next-day policy. In the modern era, by 1995 the wildland fire management policy changed to require the use of economic efficiency analysis in fire suppression actions. The recently passed FLAME Act and establishment of the FS Cohesive Strategy have been in response to increases in the wildland-urban interface problem and climate change challenges.

Multitasking Information Seeking and Searching Processes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spink, Amanda; Ozmutlu, H. Cenk; Ozmutlu, Seda

2002-01-01

Presents findings from four studies of the prevalence of multitasking information seeking and searching by Web (via the Excite search engine), information retrieval system (mediated online database searching), and academic library users. Highlights include human information coordinating behavior (HICB); and implications for models of information…

Proposed wildland fire amendment to the Coronado National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan

Treesearch

Sherry A. Tune; Erin M. Boyle

2005-01-01

The Coronado National Forest proposed amending its 1986 Land and Resource Management Plan to conform to the 2001 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy. This Policy emphasizes fire’s essential role in maintaining natural ecosystems and allows a broader range of management options for wildland fires. Under the current Forest Plan, fires must be suppressed in areas...

The global wilderness seminar for government agencies: a meeting at the crossroads of wildlands stewardship

Treesearch

Nancy Roeper; Peter Landres; Don Fisher

2006-01-01

Two days before the 8th World Wilderness Congress began in Alaska, nearly 200 government wildlands managers from 17 countries met to share ideas about common challenges and to explore ways to improve wildland stewardship globally. The goal for this Global Wilderness Seminar for Government Agencies was to lay the foundation for an operating peer network of government...

Wildland fire emissions, carbon, and climate: Emission factors

Treesearch

Shawn Urbanski

2014-01-01

While the vast majority of carbon emitted by wildland fires is released as CO2, CO, and CH4, wildland fire smoke is nonetheless a rich and complex mixture of gases and aerosols. Primary emissions include significant amounts of CH4 and aerosol (organic aerosol and black carbon), which are short-lived climate forcers. In addition to CO2 and short-lived climate forcers,...

The Howling Prescribed Natural Fire - long-term effects on the modernization of planning and implementation of wildland fire management

Treesearch

Tom Zimmerman; Laurie Kurth; Mitchell Burgard

2011-01-01

Wildland fire management policy and practices have long been driven by the occurrence of significant events. The Howling Prescribed Natural Fire in Glacier National Park in 1994 is a prime example of a significant historical fire event that provided the impetus for program changes and modifications that modernized wildland fire management at the local, regional, and...

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration: social issues fact sheet 19: Impacts of wildland fire on communities

Treesearch

Rocky Mountain Research Station USDA Forest Service

2007-01-01

Large fires can result in a series of disasters for individuals and communities in the wildland-urban interface. They create significant disruptions to ongoing social processes, result in large financial losses, and lead to expensive restoration activities. By being aware of the impacts of wildland fire on local residents, fire managers can bring added value to them...

Wildland fire management policy: Learning from the past and present and responding to future challenges

Treesearch

Tom Zimmerman

2009-01-01

Wildland fire is one of the most important vegetation- shaping factors that land managers deal with. It is our highest risk, most complex, and potentially highest consequence program. Wildland fire management policy is the most important element in defining the direction, scope, and focus of the program. What is policy? If we look it up in Merriam-Webster's...

Resource allocation for wildland fire suppression planning using a stochastic program

Treesearch

Alex Taylor Masarie

2011-01-01

Resource allocation for wildland fire suppression problems, referred to here as Fire-S problems, have been studied for over a century. Not only have the many variants of the base Fire-S problem made it such a durable one to study, but advances in suppression technology and our ever-expanding knowledge of and experience with wildland fire behavior have required almost...

What Will the Western Wildlands Be Like in the Year 2000...Future Perfect or Future Imperfect?

Treesearch

Carol L. Rice

1987-01-01

Profound changes have taken place in the western wildlands during the 20th century that will have great impact on land management policy and operations. Wildlands are being developed. Reduction of fire has altered plant species relationships in terms of dominance and density. The number of ignitions will continue to increase. The trends unchanged will result in greater...

Wildland-urban interface housing growth during the 1990s in California, Oregon, and Washington.

Treesearch

R.B. Hammer; V.C. Radeloff; J.S. Fried; S.I. Stewart

2007-01-01

In the present study, we examine housing growth in California, Oregon, and Washington in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the area where homes and other structures abut or intermingle with wildland vegetation. We combine housing density information from the 1990 and 2000 USA censuses with land cover information from the 1992/93 National Land Cover data set to...

A site-specific approach for assessing the fire risk to structures at the wildland/urban interface

Treesearch

Jack Cohen

1991-01-01

The essence of the wildland/urban interface fire problem is the loss of homes. The problem is not new, but is becoming increasingly important as more homes with inadequate adherence to safety codes are built at the wildland/urban interface. Current regulatory codes are inflexible. Specifications for building and site characteristics cannot be adjusted to accommodate...

Residents' responses to wildland fire programs: a review of cognitive and behavioral studies

Treesearch

James D. Absher; Jerry J. Vaske; Lori B. Shelby

2009-01-01

During the past 8 years the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station, in cooperation with Colorado State University has conducted 4 research projects aimed at developing a theoretical and practical understanding of homeowners’ attitudes and behaviors in the Wildland Urban Interface in relation to the threat from wildland fires. Initial work focused on...

A changing landscape in the wildland-urban interface: permanent and seasonal home owners, recreation and fuel management

Treesearch

Christine A. Vogt; Stanley J. Cindrity

2003-01-01

This paper reports research completed in the fall/winter seasons of 2001/2002 on home owners living in the wildland urban interface for the USDA Forest Service. The primary research focus was to understand human dimensions of wildland fire, particularly attitudes toward and approval of three fuel treatment types (prescribed burning, mechanical thinning, and defensible...

An analytical framework for quantifying wildland fire risk and fuel treatment benefit

Treesearch

Joe H. Scott

2006-01-01

Federal wildland fire management programs have readily embraced the practice of fuel treatment. Wildland fire risk is quantified as expected annual loss ($ yr –1 or $ yr –1 ac –1). Fire risk at a point on the landscape is a function of the probability of burning at that point, the relative frequency...

Adaptive allocation of decisionmaking responsibility between human and computer in multitask situations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chu, Y.-Y.; Rouse, W. B.

1979-01-01

As human and computer come to have overlapping decisionmaking abilities, a dynamic or adaptive allocation of responsibilities may be the best mode of human-computer interaction. It is suggested that the computer serve as a backup decisionmaker, accepting responsibility when human workload becomes excessive and relinquishing responsibility when workload becomes acceptable. A queueing theory formulation of multitask decisionmaking is used and a threshold policy for turning the computer on/off is proposed. This policy minimizes event-waiting cost subject to human workload constraints. An experiment was conducted with a balanced design of several subject runs within a computer-aided multitask flight management situation with different task demand levels. It was found that computer aiding enhanced subsystem performance as well as subjective ratings. The queueing model appears to be an adequate representation of the multitask decisionmaking situation, and to be capable of predicting system performance in terms of average waiting time and server occupancy. Server occupancy was further found to correlate highly with the subjective effort ratings.

Multitasking a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes algorithm on the Cray-2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swisshelm, Julie M.

1989-01-01

A three-dimensional computational aerodynamics algorithm has been multitasked for efficient parallel execution on the Cray-2. It provides a means for examining the multitasking performance of a complete CFD application code. An embedded zonal multigrid scheme is used to solve the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for an internal flow model problem. The explicit nature of each component of the method allows a spatial partitioning of the computational domain to achieve a well-balanced task load for MIMD computers with vector-processing capability. Experiments have been conducted with both two- and three-dimensional multitasked cases. The best speedup attained by an individual task group was 3.54 on four processors of the Cray-2, while the entire solver yielded a speedup of 2.67 on four processors for the three-dimensional case. The multiprocessing efficiency of various types of computational tasks is examined, performance on two Cray-2s with different memory access speeds is compared, and extrapolation to larger problems is discussed.

Naturalistic Assessment of Executive Function and Everyday Multitasking in Healthy Older Adults

PubMed Central

McAlister, Courtney; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen

2013-01-01

Everyday multitasking and its cognitive correlates were investigated in an older adult population using a naturalistic task, the Day Out Task. Fifty older adults and 50 younger adults prioritized, organized, initiated and completed a number of subtasks in a campus apartment to prepare for a day out (e.g., gather ingredients for a recipe, collect change for a bus ride). Participants also completed tests assessing cognitive constructs important in multitasking. Compared to younger adults, the older adults took longer to complete the everyday tasks and more poorly sequenced the subtasks. Although they initiated, completed, and interweaved a similar number of subtasks, the older adults demonstrated poorer task quality and accuracy, completing more subtasks inefficiently. For the older adults, reduced prospective memory abilities were predictive of poorer task sequencing, while executive processes and prospective memory were predictive of inefficiently completed subtasks. The findings suggest that executive dysfunction and prospective memory difficulties may contribute to the age-related decline of everyday multitasking abilities in healthy older adults. PMID:23557096

Algorithm Design of CPCI Backboard's Interrupts Management Based on VxWorks' Multi-Tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Jingyuan; An, Qi; Yang, Junfeng

2006-09-01

This paper begins with a brief introduction of the embedded real-time operating system VxWorks and CompactPCI standard, then gives the programming interfaces of Peripheral Controller Interface (PCI) configuring, interrupts handling and multi-tasks programming interface under VxWorks, and then emphasis is placed on the software frameworks of CPCI interrupt management based on multi-tasks. This method is sound in design and easy to adapt, ensures that all possible interrupts are handled in time, which makes it suitable for data acquisition systems with multi-channels, a high data rate, and hard real-time high energy physics.

High Assurance Human-Centric Decision Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-01

of the human operator who is multitasking in this situation. 38 Crandall, Cummings, and Mitchell [7], [8] have introduced “fan-out” models to estimate...planning in multitasking contexts. In the future, we will study extensions of our cog- nitive model. Currently, the cognitive model is focused solely

The effects of multitasking on psychological stress reactivity in recreational users of cannabis and MDMA.

PubMed

Wetherell, Mark A; Atherton, Katie; Grainger, Jessica; Brosnan, Robert; Scholey, Andrew B

2012-03-01

Cannabis and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) use is associated with psychobiological and neurocognitive deficits. Assessments of the latter typically include tests of memory and everyday cognitive functioning. However, to date, little attention has been paid to effects of drug use on psychological stress reactivity. We report three studies examining the effects of recreational use of cannabis and MDMA on mood and psychological responses to multitasking using a cognitively demanding laboratory stressor that provides an analogue for everyday situations involving responses to multiple stimuli. The effects of the multitasking framework on mood and perceived workload were assessed in cannabis (N=25), younger (N=18) and older (N=20) MDMA users and compared with non-target drug controls. Compared with respective control groups, cannabis users became less alert and content, and both MDMA groups became less calm following acute stress. Unexpectedly, the stressor increased ratings of calm in cannabis users. Users also scored higher than their controls with respect to ratings of resources needed to complete the multitasking framework. These findings show, for the first time, that recreational use of cannabis and MDMA, beyond the period of intoxication, can negatively influence psychological responses to a multitasking stressor, and this may have implications for real-life situations which place high demands on cognitive resources. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effects of two doses of glucose and a caffeine-glucose combination on cognitive performance and mood during multi-tasking.

PubMed

Scholey, Andrew; Savage, Karen; O'Neill, Barry V; Owen, Lauren; Stough, Con; Priestley, Caroline; Wetherell, Mark

2014-09-01

This study assessed the effects of two doses of glucose and a caffeine-glucose combination on mood and performance of an ecologically valid, computerised multi-tasking platform. Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, parallel-groups design, 150 healthy adults (mean age 34.78 years) consumed drinks containing placebo, 25 g glucose, 60 g glucose or 60 g glucose with 40 mg caffeine. They completed a multi-tasking framework at baseline and then 30 min following drink consumption with mood assessments immediately before and after the multi-tasking framework. Blood glucose and salivary caffeine were co-monitored. The caffeine-glucose group had significantly better total multi-tasking scores than the placebo or 60 g glucose groups and were significantly faster at mental arithmetic tasks than either glucose drink group. There were no significant treatment effects on mood. Caffeine and glucose levels confirmed compliance with overnight abstinence/fasting, respectively, and followed the predicted post-drink patterns. These data suggest that co-administration of glucose and caffeine allows greater allocation of attentional resources than placebo or glucose alone. At present, we cannot rule out the possibility that the effects are due to caffeine alone Future studies should aim at disentangling caffeine and glucose effects. © 2014 The Authors. Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effects of two doses of glucose and a caffeine–glucose combination on cognitive performance and mood during multi-tasking

PubMed Central

Scholey, Andrew; Savage, Karen; O'Neill, Barry V; Owen, Lauren; Stough, Con; Priestley, Caroline; Wetherell, Mark

2014-01-01

Background This study assessed the effects of two doses of glucose and a caffeine–glucose combination on mood and performance of an ecologically valid, computerised multi-tasking platform. Materials and methods Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, parallel-groups design, 150 healthy adults (mean age 34.78 years) consumed drinks containing placebo, 25 g glucose, 60 g glucose or 60 g glucose with 40 mg caffeine. They completed a multi-tasking framework at baseline and then 30 min following drink consumption with mood assessments immediately before and after the multi-tasking framework. Blood glucose and salivary caffeine were co-monitored. Results The caffeine–glucose group had significantly better total multi-tasking scores than the placebo or 60 g glucose groups and were significantly faster at mental arithmetic tasks than either glucose drink group. There were no significant treatment effects on mood. Caffeine and glucose levels confirmed compliance with overnight abstinence/fasting, respectively, and followed the predicted post-drink patterns. Conclusion These data suggest that co-administration of glucose and caffeine allows greater allocation of attentional resources than placebo or glucose alone. At present, we cannot rule out the possibility that the effects are due to caffeine alone Future studies should aim at disentangling caffeine and glucose effects. PMID:25196040

Multitask TSK fuzzy system modeling by mining intertask common hidden structure.

PubMed

Jiang, Yizhang; Chung, Fu-Lai; Ishibuchi, Hisao; Deng, Zhaohong; Wang, Shitong

2015-03-01

The classical fuzzy system modeling methods implicitly assume data generated from a single task, which is essentially not in accordance with many practical scenarios where data can be acquired from the perspective of multiple tasks. Although one can build an individual fuzzy system model for each task, the result indeed tells us that the individual modeling approach will get poor generalization ability due to ignoring the intertask hidden correlation. In order to circumvent this shortcoming, we consider a general framework for preserving the independent information among different tasks and mining hidden correlation information among all tasks in multitask fuzzy modeling. In this framework, a low-dimensional subspace (structure) is assumed to be shared among all tasks and hence be the hidden correlation information among all tasks. Under this framework, a multitask Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy system model called MTCS-TSK-FS (TSK-FS for multiple tasks with common hidden structure), based on the classical L2-norm TSK fuzzy system, is proposed in this paper. The proposed model can not only take advantage of independent sample information from the original space for each task, but also effectively use the intertask common hidden structure among multiple tasks to enhance the generalization performance of the built fuzzy systems. Experiments on synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate the applicability and distinctive performance of the proposed multitask fuzzy system model in multitask regression learning scenarios.

Should I Text or Call Here? A Situation-Based Analysis of Drivers' Perceived Likelihood of Engaging in Mobile Phone Multitasking.

PubMed

Oviedo-Trespalacios, Oscar; Haque, Md Mazharul; King, Mark; Washington, Simon

2018-05-29

This study investigated how situational characteristics typically encountered in the transport system influence drivers' perceived likelihood of engaging in mobile phone multitasking. The impacts of mobile phone tasks, perceived environmental complexity/risk, and drivers' individual differences were evaluated as relevant individual predictors within the behavioral adaptation framework. An innovative questionnaire, which includes randomized textual and visual scenarios, was administered to collect data from a sample of 447 drivers in South East Queensland-Australia (66% females; n = 296). The likelihood of engaging in a mobile phone task across various scenarios was modeled by a random parameters ordered probit model. Results indicated that drivers who are female, are frequent users of phones for texting/answering calls, have less favorable attitudes towards safety, and are highly disinhibited were more likely to report stronger intentions of engaging in mobile phone multitasking. However, more years with a valid driving license, self-efficacy toward self-regulation in demanding traffic conditions and police enforcement, texting tasks, and demanding traffic conditions were negatively related to self-reported likelihood of mobile phone multitasking. The unobserved heterogeneity warned of riskier groups among female drivers and participants who need a lot of convincing to believe that multitasking while driving is dangerous. This research concludes that behavioral adaptation theory is a robust framework explaining self-regulation of distracted drivers. © 2018 Society for Risk Analysis.

A numerical study of atmospheric perturbations induced by heat from a wildland fire: sensitivity to vertical canopy structure and heat source strength

Treesearch

Michael T. Kiefer; Shiyuan Zhong; Warren E. Heilman; Joseph J. Charney; Xindi Bian

2018-01-01

An improved understanding of atmospheric perturbations within and above a forest during a wildland fire has relevance to many aspects of wildland fires including fire spread, smoke transport and dispersion, and tree mortality. In this study, the ARPS-CANOPY model, a version of the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) model with a canopy parameterization, is...

Rapid growth of the US wildland-urban interface raises wildfire risk

Treesearch

Volker C. Radeloff; David P. Helmers; H. Anu Kramer; Miranda H. Mockrin; Patricia M. Alexandre; Avi Bar-Massada; Van Butsic; Todd J. Hawbaker; Sebastián Martinuzzi; Alexandra D. Syphard; Susan I. Stewart

2018-01-01

The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where houses and wildland vegetation meet or intermingle, and where wildfire problems are most pronounced. Here we report that the WUI in the United States grew rapidly from 1990 to 2010 in terms of both number of new houses (from 30.8 to 43.4 million; 41% growth) and land area (from 581,000 to 770,000 km2...

The Biswell symposium: fire issues and solutions in urban interface and wildland ecosystems; February 15-17, 1994; Walnut Creek, California

Treesearch

David R. Weise; Robert E. Martin

1995-01-01

These proceedings summarize the results of a symposium designed to address current issues about wildfire and prescribed fire in both the wildland-urban interface and in wildlands. Thirty-eight invited oral papers and 23 poster papers describing the issues and state-of-the-art solutions to technical, biological, and social challenges currently facing land and fire...

Laboratory investigation of fire transfer from exterior wood decks to buildings in the wildland-urban interface

Treesearch

Laura E. Hasburgh; Donald S. Stone; Samuel L. Zelinka

2017-01-01

In the wildland-urban interface, wood decks are a target for wildfire and may be ignited by firebrands or flaming debris. Wood decks also present a potential source for ignition of structures in the wildland-urban interface. However, their role in ignition of the adjacent structure is unclear and current regulation is based in part on anecdotal evidence. This paper...

Fuel treatment prescriptions alter spatial patterns of fire severity around the wildland-urban interface during the Wallow Fire, Arizona, USA

Treesearch

Maureen C. Kennedy; Morris C. Johnson

2014-01-01

Fuel reduction treatments are implemented in the forest surrounding the wildland–urban interface (WUI) to provide defensible space and safe opportunity for the protection of homes during a wildfire. The 2011 Wallow Fire in Arizona USA burned through recently implemented fuel treatments in the wildland surrounding residential communities in the WUI, and those fuel...

Spatial products available for identifying areas of likely wildfire ignitions using lightning location data-Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS)

Treesearch

Paul Sopko; Larry Bradshaw; Matt Jolly

2016-01-01

The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS, www.wfas.net) is a one-stop-shop giving wildland fire managers the ability to assess fire potential ranging in scale from national to regional and temporally from 1 to 5 days. Each day, broad-area maps are produced from fire weather station and lightning location networks. Three products are created using 24 hour...

Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research on the impacts of wildland fires on communities

Treesearch

Stephen F. McCool; James Burchfield; Daniel R. Williams; Matt Carroll; Patricia Cohn; Yoshitaka Kumagai; Tam Ubben

2007-01-01

A series of syntheses were commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service to aid in fuels mitigation project planning. Focusing on research on the social impacts of wildland fire, this synthesis explores decisions and actions taken by communities before, during, and after a wildland fire to minimize its impacts. It then synthesizes the research studying (1) the consequences...

Effects of season on ignition of live wildland fuels using the forced ignition and flame spread test apparatus

Treesearch

S. McAllister; D. R. Weise

2017-01-01

An understanding of what variables affect the ignition of live wildland fuels is crucial to predicting crown fire spread, the most poorly understood type of wildland fire. Ignition tests were performed over the course of an entire year for ten species (three species in year one, seven in year two) to evaluate seasonal changes in flammability. Ignition delay and mass...

Taking on Multitasking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rekart, Jerome L.

2011-01-01

Multitasking impedes learning and performance in the short-term and may affect long-term memory and retention. The implications of these findings make it critical that educators and parents impress upon students the need to focus and reduce extraneous stimuli while studying or reading. Course-based quizzes and tests can be used for more than…

Examining the Effects of Distractive Multitasking with Peripheral Computing in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puente, Jaime E.

2017-01-01

The growing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in college campuses has dramatically increased the potential for multitasking among students who have to juggle classes, school assignments, work, and recreational activities. These students believe that they have become more efficient by performing two or more tasks…

Connected yet Distracted: Multitasking among College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mokhtari, Kouider; Delello, Julie; Reichard, Carla

2015-01-01

In this study, 935 undergraduate college students from a regional four-year university responded to an online time-diary survey asking them to report their multitasking habits and practices while engaged in four main activities: reading voluntarily for fun, reading for academic purposes, watching television (TV), and using the Internet. Results…

Perceived Academic Effects of Instant Messaging Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Junco, Reynol; Cotten, Shelia R.

2011-01-01

College students use information and communication technologies at much higher levels and in different ways than prior generations. They are also more likely to multitask while using information and communication technologies. However, few studies have examined the impacts of multitasking on educational outcomes among students. This study fills a…

Making Sense of Multitasking: Key Behaviours

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Judd, Terry

2013-01-01

Traditionally viewed as a positive characteristic, there is mounting evidence that multitasking using digital devices can have a range of negative impacts on task performance and learning. While the cognitive processes that cause these impacts are starting to be understood and the evidence that they occur in real learning contexts is mounting, the…

Reading Performances between Novices and Experts in Different Media Multitasking Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Lin; Robertson, Tip; Lee, Jennifer

2009-01-01

This experimental study investigated connections between subject expertise and multitasking ability among college students. One hundred thirty college students participated in the study. Participants were assessed on their subject expertise and reading tasks under three conditions: (a) reading only (silence condition), (b) reading with a video…

Genesis Pilot Human Factors Test, Human Factors Evaluation Of Driver Multitasking And Message Formats, Final Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-02-01

THE WORK REPORTED HERE WAS ON TWO SEPARATE TOPICS. THE FIRST OF THESE WAS THE MULTITASKING EFFECTS ON DRIVING PERFORMANCE OF USING PAGERS OR PDAS WHILE DRIVING. THE LITERATURE SHOWED THAT SUCH EFFECTS CAN OCCUR BUT THAT THEY ARE TASK SPECIFIC. FINDIN...

Bridging the divide between fire safety research and fighting fire safely: How do we convey research innovation to contribute more effectively to wildland firefighter safety?

Treesearch

Theodore Ted Adams; Bret W. Butler; Sara Brown; Vita Wright; Anne Black

2017-01-01

Creating a safe workplace for wildland firefighters has long been at the centre of discussion for researchers and practitioners. The goal of wildland fire safety research has been to protect operational firefighters, yet its contributions often fall short of potential because much is getting lost in the translation of peer-reviewed results to potential and intended...

Communication Tools for the Wildland-Urban Interface

Treesearch

Martha C. Monroe

2003-01-01

Effective communication tools can help resource managers address wildland-urban interface issues by reducing conflict, raising awareness, and motivating behavior change among the visitors and residents.

Multitasking for flows about multiple body configurations using the chimera grid scheme

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dougherty, F. C.; Morgan, R. L.

1987-01-01

The multitasking of a finite-difference scheme using multiple overset meshes is described. In this chimera, or multiple overset mesh approach, a multiple body configuration is mapped using a major grid about the main component of the configuration, with minor overset meshes used to map each additional component. This type of code is well suited to multitasking. Both steady and unsteady two dimensional computations are run on parallel processors on a CRAY-X/MP 48, usually with one mesh per processor. Flow field results are compared with single processor results to demonstrate the feasibility of running multiple mesh codes on parallel processors and to show the increase in efficiency.

Research on rapid agile metrology for manufacturing based on real-time multitask operating system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jihong; Song, Zhen; Yang, Daoshan; Zhou, Ji; Buckley, Shawn

1996-10-01

Rapid agile metrology for manufacturing (RAMM) using multiple non-contact sensors is likely to remain a growing trend in manufacturing. High speed inspecting systems for manufacturing is characterized by multitasks implemented in parallel and real-time events which occur simultaneously. In this paper, we introduce a real-time operating system into RAMM research. A general task model of a class-based object- oriented technology is proposed. A general multitask frame of a typical RAMM system using OPNet is discussed. Finally, an application example of a machine which inspects parts held on a carrier strip is described. With RTOS and OPNet, this machine can measure two dimensions of the contacts at 300 parts/second.

The Simulations of Wildland Fire Smoke PM25 in the NWS Air Quality Forecasting Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, H. C.; Pan, L.; McQueen, J.; Lee, P.; ONeill, S. M.; Ruminski, M.; Shafran, P.; Huang, J.; Stajner, I.; Upadhayay, S.; Larkin, N. K.

2017-12-01

The increase of wildland fire intensity and frequency in the United States (U.S.) has led to property loss, human fatality, and poor air quality due to elevated particulate matters and surface ozone concentrations. The NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) built the National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) Modeling System driven by the NCEP North American Mesoscale Forecast System meteorology to provide ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) forecast guidance publicly. State and local forecasters use the NWS air quality forecast guidance to issue air quality alerts in their area. The NAQFC PM2.5 predictions include emissions from anthropogenic and biogenic sources, as well as natural sources such as dust storms and wildland fires. The wildland fire emission inputs to the NAQFC is derived from the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Hazard Mapping System fire and smoke detection product and the emission module of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) BlueSky Smoke Modeling Framework. Wildland fires are unpredictable and can be ignited by natural causes such as lightning or be human-caused. It is extremely difficult to predict future occurrences and behavior of wildland fires, as is the available bio-fuel to be burned for real-time air quality predictions. Assumptions of future day's wildland fire behavior often have to be made from older observed wildland fire information. The comparisons between the NAQFC modeled PM2.5 and the EPA AirNow surface observation show that large errors in PM2.5 prediction can occur if fire smoke emissions are sometimes placed at the wrong location and/or time. A configuration of NAQFC CMAQ-system to re-run previous 24 hours, during which wildland fires were observed from satellites has been included recently. This study focuses on the effort performed to minimize the error in NAQFC PM2.5 predictions resulting from incorporating fire smoke emissions into the NAQFC from a recently updated newer version of USFS BlueSky system. This study will show how new approaches has improved the PM2.5 predictions at both nearby and downstream areas from fire sources. Furthermore, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) fire emissions data are being tested.

Mobile Learning: Can Students Really Multitask?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coens, Joke; Reynvoet, Bert; Clarebout, Geraldine

2011-01-01

The advent of mobile learning offers opportunities for students to do two things at once in an educational context: learning while performing another activity. The main aim of the reported studies is to address the effect of multitasking on learning with a mobile device. Two experiments were set up to examine the effect of performing a secondary…

Threaded Cognition: An Integrated Theory of Concurrent Multitasking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salvucci, Dario D.; Taatgen, Niels A.

2008-01-01

The authors propose the idea of threaded cognition, an integrated theory of concurrent multitasking--that is, performing 2 or more tasks at once. Threaded cognition posits that streams of thought can be represented as threads of processing coordinated by a serial procedural resource and executed across other available resources (e.g., perceptual…

No A 4 U: The Relationship between Multitasking and Academic Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Junco, Reynol; Cotten, Shelia R.

2012-01-01

The proliferation and ease of access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as Facebook, text messaging, and instant messaging has resulted in ICT users being presented with more real-time streaming data than ever before. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in individuals increasingly engaging in multitasking as an information…

High Functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Novel Test of Multitasking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mackinlay, Rachael; Charman, Tony; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette

2006-01-01

High functioning children with a diagnosis of autism or Asperger's syndrome (HF-ASD) often experience difficulties organising goal-directed actions in their day-to-day lives, requiring support to schedule daily activities. This study aimed to capture these everyday difficulties experimentally using multitasking, a methodology that taps into the…

Collaboration, Multi-Tasking and Problem Solving Performance in Shared Virtual Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Lin; Mills, Leila A.; Ifenthaler, Dirk

2016-01-01

Collaborative problem-solving is often not a sequential process; instead, it can involve tasking switching or dual tasking (i.e., multitasking) activities in that the collaborators need to shift their attention between the targeted problems and the conversations they carry on with their collaborators. It is not known to what extent the…

Adaptive Allocation of Decision Making Responsibility Between Human and Computer in Multi-Task Situations. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chu, Y. Y.

1978-01-01

A unified formulation of computer-aided, multi-task, decision making is presented. Strategy for the allocation of decision making responsibility between human and computer is developed. The plans of a flight management systems are studied. A model based on the queueing theory was implemented.

The Problem State: A Cognitive Bottleneck in Multitasking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borst, Jelmer P.; Taatgen, Niels A.; van Rijn, Hedderik

2010-01-01

The main challenge for theories of multitasking is to predict when and how tasks interfere. Here, we focus on interference related to the problem state, a directly accessible intermediate representation of the current state of a task. On the basis of Salvucci and Taatgen's (2008) threaded cognition theory, we predict interference if 2 or more…

Bilingualism as a Model for Multitasking

PubMed Central

Poarch, Gregory J.; Bialystok, Ellen

2015-01-01

Because both languages of bilinguals are constantly active, bilinguals need to manage attention to the target language and avoid interference from the non-target language. This process is likely carried out by recruiting the executive function (EF) system, a system that is also the basis for multitasking. In previous research, bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals on tasks requiring EF, suggesting that the practice using EF for language management benefits performance in other tasks as well. The present study examined 203 children, 8-11 years old, who were monolingual, partially bilingual, bilingual, or trilingual performing a flanker task. Two results support the interpretation that bilingualism is related to multitasking. First, bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on the conflict trials in the flanker task, confirming previous results for a bilingual advantage in EF. Second, the inclusion of partial bilinguals and trilinguals set limits on the role of experience: partial bilingual performed similarly to monolinguals and trilinguals performed similarly to bilinguals, suggesting that degrees of experience are not well-calibrated to improvements in EF. Our conclusion is that the involvement of EF in bilingual language processing makes bilingualism a form of linguistic multitasking. PMID:25821336

The developing brain in a multitasking world

PubMed Central

Rothbart, Mary K.; Posner, Michael I.

2015-01-01

To understand the problem of multitasking, it is necessary to examine the brain’s attention networks that underlie the ability to switch attention between stimuli and tasks and to maintain a single focus among distractors. In this paper we discuss the development of brain networks related to the functions of achieving the alert state, orienting to sensory events, and developing self-control. These brain networks are common to everyone, but their efficiency varies among individuals and reflects both genes and experience. Training can alter brain networks. We consider two forms of training: (1) practice in tasks that involve particular networks, and (2) changes in brain state through such practices as meditation that may influence many networks. Playing action video games and multitasking are themselves methods of training the brain that can lead to improved performance but also to overdependence on media activity. We consider both of these outcomes and ideas about how to resist overdependence on media. Overall, our paper seeks to inform the reader about what has been learned about attention that can influence multitasking over the course of development. PMID:25821335

Multitasking During Degraded Speech Recognition in School-Age Children

PubMed Central

Ward, Kristina M.; Brehm, Laurel

2017-01-01

Multitasking requires individuals to allocate their cognitive resources across different tasks. The purpose of the current study was to assess school-age children’s multitasking abilities during degraded speech recognition. Children (8 to 12 years old) completed a dual-task paradigm including a sentence recognition (primary) task containing speech that was either unprocessed or noise-band vocoded with 8, 6, or 4 spectral channels and a visual monitoring (secondary) task. Children’s accuracy and reaction time on the visual monitoring task was quantified during the dual-task paradigm in each condition of the primary task and compared with single-task performance. Children experienced dual-task costs in the 6- and 4-channel conditions of the primary speech recognition task with decreased accuracy on the visual monitoring task relative to baseline performance. In all conditions, children’s dual-task performance on the visual monitoring task was strongly predicted by their single-task (baseline) performance on the task. Results suggest that children’s proficiency with the secondary task contributes to the magnitude of dual-task costs while multitasking during degraded speech recognition. PMID:28105890

Multitasking operating systems for microprocessors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cramer, T.

1981-01-01

Microprocessors, because of their low cost, low power consumption, and small size, have caused an explosion in the number of innovative computer applications. Although there is a great deal of variation in microprocessor applications software, there is relatively little variation in the operating-system-level software from one application to the next. Nonetheless, operating system software, especially when multitasking is involved, can be very time consuming and expensive to develop. The major microprocessor manufacturers have acknowledged the need for operating systems in microprocessor applications and are now supplying real-time multitasking operating system software that is adaptable to a wide variety of usermore » systems. Use of this existing operating system software will decrease the number of redundant operating system development efforts, thus freeing programmers to work on more creative and productive problems. This paper discusses the basic terminology and concepts involved with multitasking operating systems. It is intended to provide a general understanding of the subject, so that the reader will be prepared to evaluate specific operating system software according to his or her needs. 2 references.« less

Automation trust and attention allocation in multitasking workspace.

PubMed

Karpinsky, Nicole D; Chancey, Eric T; Palmer, Dakota B; Yamani, Yusuke

2018-07-01

Previous research suggests that operators with high workload can distrust and then poorly monitor automation, which has been generally inferred from automation dependence behaviors. To test automation monitoring more directly, the current study measured operators' visual attention allocation, workload, and trust toward imperfect automation in a dynamic multitasking environment. Participants concurrently performed a manual tracking task with two levels of difficulty and a system monitoring task assisted by an unreliable signaling system. Eye movement data indicate that operators allocate less visual attention to monitor automation when the tracking task is more difficult. Participants reported reduced levels of trust toward the signaling system when the tracking task demanded more focused visual attention. Analyses revealed that trust mediated the relationship between the load of the tracking task and attention allocation in Experiment 1, an effect that was not replicated in Experiment 2. Results imply a complex process underlying task load, visual attention allocation, and automation trust during multitasking. Automation designers should consider operators' task load in multitasking workspaces to avoid reduced automation monitoring and distrust toward imperfect signaling systems. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Multitasking During Degraded Speech Recognition in School-Age Children.

PubMed

Grieco-Calub, Tina M; Ward, Kristina M; Brehm, Laurel

2017-01-01

Multitasking requires individuals to allocate their cognitive resources across different tasks. The purpose of the current study was to assess school-age children's multitasking abilities during degraded speech recognition. Children (8 to 12 years old) completed a dual-task paradigm including a sentence recognition (primary) task containing speech that was either unprocessed or noise-band vocoded with 8, 6, or 4 spectral channels and a visual monitoring (secondary) task. Children's accuracy and reaction time on the visual monitoring task was quantified during the dual-task paradigm in each condition of the primary task and compared with single-task performance. Children experienced dual-task costs in the 6- and 4-channel conditions of the primary speech recognition task with decreased accuracy on the visual monitoring task relative to baseline performance. In all conditions, children's dual-task performance on the visual monitoring task was strongly predicted by their single-task (baseline) performance on the task. Results suggest that children's proficiency with the secondary task contributes to the magnitude of dual-task costs while multitasking during degraded speech recognition.

The developing brain in a multitasking world.

PubMed

Rothbart, Mary K; Posner, Michael I

2015-03-01

To understand the problem of multitasking, it is necessary to examine the brain's attention networks that underlie the ability to switch attention between stimuli and tasks and to maintain a single focus among distractors. In this paper we discuss the development of brain networks related to the functions of achieving the alert state, orienting to sensory events, and developing self-control. These brain networks are common to everyone, but their efficiency varies among individuals and reflects both genes and experience. Training can alter brain networks. We consider two forms of training: (1) practice in tasks that involve particular networks, and (2) changes in brain state through such practices as meditation that may influence many networks. Playing action video games and multitasking are themselves methods of training the brain that can lead to improved performance but also to overdependence on media activity. We consider both of these outcomes and ideas about how to resist overdependence on media. Overall, our paper seeks to inform the reader about what has been learned about attention that can influence multitasking over the course of development.

Bilingualism as a Model for Multitasking.

PubMed

Poarch, Gregory J; Bialystok, Ellen

2015-03-01

Because both languages of bilinguals are constantly active, bilinguals need to manage attention to the target language and avoid interference from the non-target language. This process is likely carried out by recruiting the executive function (EF) system, a system that is also the basis for multitasking. In previous research, bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals on tasks requiring EF, suggesting that the practice using EF for language management benefits performance in other tasks as well. The present study examined 203 children, 8-11 years old, who were monolingual, partially bilingual, bilingual, or trilingual performing a flanker task. Two results support the interpretation that bilingualism is related to multitasking. First, bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on the conflict trials in the flanker task, confirming previous results for a bilingual advantage in EF. Second, the inclusion of partial bilinguals and trilinguals set limits on the role of experience: partial bilingual performed similarly to monolinguals and trilinguals performed similarly to bilinguals, suggesting that degrees of experience are not well-calibrated to improvements in EF. Our conclusion is that the involvement of EF in bilingual language processing makes bilingualism a form of linguistic multitasking.

"Surgery interrupted": The effect of multitasking on cognitive and technical tasks in medical students.

PubMed

Evans, C H; Schneider, E; Shostrom, V; Schenarts, P J

2017-02-01

Today's medical learners are Millennials, and reportedly, multitasking pros. We aim to evaluate effect of multitasking on cognitive and technical skills. 16 medical students completed a mock page and laceration closure separately on day 1 and day 13, and in parallel on day 14. Suturing was graded using GRS and mock pages scored. Total time, suturing and loading times, and percent correct on mock page were compared. Percent correct on mock page improved from days 1-13 and 14 (p < 0.01 and 0.04). GRS improved from days 1-13 and 14 (p = 0.04 and <0.01). Total time suturing was similar on all days. However, time suturing during the mock page on day 14 was prolonged compared to before mock page (p = 0.01). Medical students can complete cognitive and technical tasks in parallel, without compromising acceptability. However, multitasking results in longer times to complete the complex component of the technical task. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Relationship Between Trait Procrastination, Internet Use, and Psychological Functioning: Results From a Community Sample of German Adolescents.

PubMed

Reinecke, Leonard; Meier, Adrian; Beutel, Manfred E; Schemer, Christian; Stark, Birgit; Wölfling, Klaus; Müller, Kai W

2018-01-01

Adolescents with a strong tendency for irrational task delay (i.e., high trait procrastination) may be particularly prone to use Internet applications simultaneously to other tasks (e.g., during homework) and in an insufficiently controlled fashion. Both Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet usage may thus amplify the negative mental health implications that have frequently been associated with trait procrastination. The present study explored this role of Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet use for the relationship between trait procrastination and impaired psychological functioning in a community sample of N = 818 early and middle adolescents. Results from multiple regression analyses indicate that trait procrastination was positively related to Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet use. Insufficiently controlled Internet use, but not Internet multitasking, was found to partially statistically mediate the association between trait procrastination and adolescents' psychological functioning (i.e., stress, sleep quality, and relationship satisfaction with parents). The study underlines that adolescents with high levels of trait procrastination may have an increased risk for negative outcomes of insufficiently controlled Internet use.

The Relationship Between Trait Procrastination, Internet Use, and Psychological Functioning: Results From a Community Sample of German Adolescents

PubMed Central

Reinecke, Leonard; Meier, Adrian; Beutel, Manfred E.; Schemer, Christian; Stark, Birgit; Wölfling, Klaus; Müller, Kai W.

2018-01-01

Adolescents with a strong tendency for irrational task delay (i.e., high trait procrastination) may be particularly prone to use Internet applications simultaneously to other tasks (e.g., during homework) and in an insufficiently controlled fashion. Both Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet usage may thus amplify the negative mental health implications that have frequently been associated with trait procrastination. The present study explored this role of Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet use for the relationship between trait procrastination and impaired psychological functioning in a community sample of N = 818 early and middle adolescents. Results from multiple regression analyses indicate that trait procrastination was positively related to Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet use. Insufficiently controlled Internet use, but not Internet multitasking, was found to partially statistically mediate the association between trait procrastination and adolescents’ psychological functioning (i.e., stress, sleep quality, and relationship satisfaction with parents). The study underlines that adolescents with high levels of trait procrastination may have an increased risk for negative outcomes of insufficiently controlled Internet use. PMID:29942268

The health impacts and economic value of wildland fire ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Introduction: Wildland fires degrade regional air quality and adversely affect human health. A growing body of epidemiology literature report increased rates of emergency department, hospital admission and premature deaths from wildfire smoke exposure. Objective: Our research aimed to characterized excess mortality and morbidity events, and the economic value of these impacts, from wildland fire smoke exposure in the U.S over a multi-year period; to date no other burden assessment has done this. Methods: We first completed a systematic review of the epidemiologic literature and then performed photochemical air quality modeling for the years 2008 to 2012 in the Continental U.S. Finally, we estimated the morbidity, mortality, and economic burden of wildland fires. Results: Our models suggest that areas including northern California, Oregon and Idaho in the West, and Florida, Louisiana and Georgia in the East were most affected by wildland fire events in the form of additional premature deaths and respiratory hospital admissions. We estimated the economic value of these cases due to short term exposures as being between $11 and $20B (2010$) per year, with a net present value of $63B (95% confidence intervals $6-$170); we estimate the value of long- term exposures as being between $76 and $130B (2010$) per year, with a net present value of $450B (95% confidence intervals $42-$1,200). Conclusion: The public health burden of wildland fires-in terms of the number and

Using resilience and resistance concepts to manage persistent threats to sagebrush ecosystems and greater sage-grouse

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chambers, Jeanne C.; Maestas, Jeremy D.; Pyke, David A.; Boyd, Chad S.; Pellant, Mike; Wuenschel, Amarina

2017-01-01

Conservation of imperiled species often demands addressing a complex suite of threats that undermine species viability. Regulatory approaches, such as the US Endangered Species Act (1973), tend to focus on anthropogenic threats through adoption of policies and regulatory mechanisms. However, persistent ecosystem-based threats, such as invasive species and altered disturbance regimes, remain critical issues for most at-risk species considered to be conservation-reliant. We describe an approach for addressing persistent ecosystem threats to at-risk species based on ecological resilience and resistance concepts that is currently being used to conserve greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)and sagebrush ecosystems. The approach links biophysical indicators of ecosystem resilience and resistance with species-specific population and habitat requisites in a risk-based framework to identify priority areas for management and guide allocation of resources to manage persistent ecosystem-based threats. US federal land management and natural resource agencies have adopted this framework as a foundation for prioritizing sage-grouse conservation resources and determining effective restoration and management strategies. Because threats and strategies to address them cross-cut program areas, an integrated approach that includes wildland fire operations, postfire rehabilitation, fuels management, and habitat restoration is being used. We believe this approach is applicable to species conservation in other largely intact ecosystems with persistent, ecosystem-based threats.

Multitasking information behavior, information task switching and anxiety: An exploratory study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alexopoulou, Peggy, E-mail: p.alexopoulou@lboro.ac.uk, E-mail: an-kotsopoulou@yahoo.com; Kotsopoulou, Anastasia, E-mail: p.alexopoulou@lboro.ac.uk, E-mail: an-kotsopoulou@yahoo.com

Multitasking information behavior involves multiple forms of information searching such as library and Web search. Few researchers, however, have explored multitasking information behavior and information task switching in libraries in conjunction with psychological variables. This study explored this behavior in terms of anxiety under time pressure. This was an exploratory case study. Participant searched information for three unrelated everyday life information topics during a library visit, in a timeframe of one hour. The data collection tools used were: diary, observation, interview, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory test. Participant took the Trait-anxiety test before the library visit to measure anxiety levelmore » as a personal characteristic. She also took State-anxiety test before, during and after the library visit to measure anxiety levels regarding the information seeking behavior. The results suggested that participant had high levels of anxiety at the beginning of the multitasking information behavior. The reason for that was the concern about the performance as well as the identification of the right resources. During the multitasking information behavior, participant still had anxiety to find the right information. The levels of anxiety, however, were less due to library’s good organized structure. At the end of the information seeking process, the levels of anxiety dropped significant and therefore calm and safety returned. Finally, participant searched information for topics that were more important and for which she had prior knowledge When people, under time pressure, have access to well organized information, the levels of anxiety might decrease.« less

Multitasking information behavior, information task switching and anxiety: An exploratory study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexopoulou, Peggy; Kotsopoulou, Anastasia

2015-02-01

Multitasking information behavior involves multiple forms of information searching such as library and Web search. Few researchers, however, have explored multitasking information behavior and information task switching in libraries in conjunction with psychological variables. This study explored this behavior in terms of anxiety under time pressure. This was an exploratory case study. Participant searched information for three unrelated everyday life information topics during a library visit, in a timeframe of one hour. The data collection tools used were: diary, observation, interview, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory test. Participant took the Trait-anxiety test before the library visit to measure anxiety level as a personal characteristic. She also took State-anxiety test before, during and after the library visit to measure anxiety levels regarding the information seeking behavior. The results suggested that participant had high levels of anxiety at the beginning of the multitasking information behavior. The reason for that was the concern about the performance as well as the identification of the right resources. During the multitasking information behavior, participant still had anxiety to find the right information. The levels of anxiety, however, were less due to library's good organized structure. At the end of the information seeking process, the levels of anxiety dropped significant and therefore calm and safety returned. Finally, participant searched information for topics that were more important and for which she had prior knowledge When people, under time pressure, have access to well organized information, the levels of anxiety might decrease.

Multi-task transfer learning deep convolutional neural network: application to computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer on mammograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samala, Ravi K.; Chan, Heang-Ping; Hadjiiski, Lubomir M.; Helvie, Mark A.; Cha, Kenny H.; Richter, Caleb D.

2017-12-01

Transfer learning in deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) is an important step in its application to medical imaging tasks. We propose a multi-task transfer learning DCNN with the aim of translating the ‘knowledge’ learned from non-medical images to medical diagnostic tasks through supervised training and increasing the generalization capabilities of DCNNs by simultaneously learning auxiliary tasks. We studied this approach in an important application: classification of malignant and benign breast masses. With Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, digitized screen-film mammograms (SFMs) and digital mammograms (DMs) were collected from our patient files and additional SFMs were obtained from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography. The data set consisted of 2242 views with 2454 masses (1057 malignant, 1397 benign). In single-task transfer learning, the DCNN was trained and tested on SFMs. In multi-task transfer learning, SFMs and DMs were used to train the DCNN, which was then tested on SFMs. N-fold cross-validation with the training set was used for training and parameter optimization. On the independent test set, the multi-task transfer learning DCNN was found to have significantly (p  =  0.007) higher performance compared to the single-task transfer learning DCNN. This study demonstrates that multi-task transfer learning may be an effective approach for training DCNN in medical imaging applications when training samples from a single modality are limited.

Multi-task learning for cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction: an in-silico study

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Gene silencing using exogenous small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) is now a widespread molecular tool for gene functional study and new-drug target identification. The key mechanism in this technique is to design efficient siRNAs that incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISC) to bind and interact with the mRNA targets to repress their translations to proteins. Although considerable progress has been made in the computational analysis of siRNA binding efficacy, few joint analysis of different RNAi experiments conducted under different experimental scenarios has been done in research so far, while the joint analysis is an important issue in cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction. A collective analysis of RNAi mechanisms for different datasets and experimental conditions can often provide new clues on the design of potent siRNAs. Results An elegant multi-task learning paradigm for cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction is proposed. Experimental studies were performed on a large dataset of siRNA sequences which encompass several RNAi experiments recently conducted by different research groups. By using our multi-task learning method, the synergy among different experiments is exploited and an efficient multi-task predictor for siRNA efficacy prediction is obtained. The 19 most popular biological features for siRNA according to their jointly importance in multi-task learning were ranked. Furthermore, the hypothesis is validated out that the siRNA binding efficacy on different messenger RNAs(mRNAs) have different conditional distribution, thus the multi-task learning can be conducted by viewing tasks at an "mRNA"-level rather than at the "experiment"-level. Such distribution diversity derived from siRNAs bound to different mRNAs help indicate that the properties of target mRNA have important implications on the siRNA binding efficacy. Conclusions The knowledge gained from our study provides useful insights on how to analyze various cross-platform RNAi data for uncovering of their complex mechanism. PMID:20380733

Multi-task learning for cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction: an in-silico study.

PubMed

Liu, Qi; Xu, Qian; Zheng, Vincent W; Xue, Hong; Cao, Zhiwei; Yang, Qiang

2010-04-10

Gene silencing using exogenous small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) is now a widespread molecular tool for gene functional study and new-drug target identification. The key mechanism in this technique is to design efficient siRNAs that incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISC) to bind and interact with the mRNA targets to repress their translations to proteins. Although considerable progress has been made in the computational analysis of siRNA binding efficacy, few joint analysis of different RNAi experiments conducted under different experimental scenarios has been done in research so far, while the joint analysis is an important issue in cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction. A collective analysis of RNAi mechanisms for different datasets and experimental conditions can often provide new clues on the design of potent siRNAs. An elegant multi-task learning paradigm for cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction is proposed. Experimental studies were performed on a large dataset of siRNA sequences which encompass several RNAi experiments recently conducted by different research groups. By using our multi-task learning method, the synergy among different experiments is exploited and an efficient multi-task predictor for siRNA efficacy prediction is obtained. The 19 most popular biological features for siRNA according to their jointly importance in multi-task learning were ranked. Furthermore, the hypothesis is validated out that the siRNA binding efficacy on different messenger RNAs(mRNAs) have different conditional distribution, thus the multi-task learning can be conducted by viewing tasks at an "mRNA"-level rather than at the "experiment"-level. Such distribution diversity derived from siRNAs bound to different mRNAs help indicate that the properties of target mRNA have important implications on the siRNA binding efficacy. The knowledge gained from our study provides useful insights on how to analyze various cross-platform RNAi data for uncovering of their complex mechanism.

Reducing Misses and Near Misses Related to Multitasking on the Electronic Health Record: Observational Study and Qualitative Analysis

PubMed Central

Matta, George Y; Bohsali, Fuad B; Chisolm, Margaret S

2018-01-01

Background Clinicians’ use of electronic health record (EHR) systems while multitasking may increase the risk of making errors, but silent EHR system use may lower patient satisfaction. Delaying EHR system use until after patient visits may increase clinicians’ EHR workload, stress, and burnout. Objective We aimed to describe the perspectives of clinicians, educators, administrators, and researchers about misses and near misses that they felt were related to clinician multitasking while using EHR systems. Methods This observational study was a thematic analysis of perspectives elicited from 63 continuing medical education (CME) participants during 2 workshops and 1 interactive lecture about challenges and strategies for relationship-centered communication during clinician EHR system use. The workshop elicited reflection about memorable times when multitasking EHR use was associated with “misses” (errors that were not caught at the time) or “near misses” (mistakes that were caught before leading to errors). We conducted qualitative analysis using an editing analysis style to identify codes and then select representative themes and quotes. Results All workshop participants shared stories of misses or near misses in EHR system ordering and documentation or patient-clinician communication, wondering about “misses we don’t even know about.” Risk factors included the computer’s position, EHR system usability, note content and style, information overload, problematic workflows, systems issues, and provider and patient communication behaviors and expectations. Strategies to reduce multitasking EHR system misses included clinician transparency when needing silent EHR system use (eg, for prescribing), narrating EHR system use, patient activation during EHR system use, adapting visit organization and workflow, improving EHR system design, and improving team support and systems. Conclusions CME participants shared numerous stories of errors and near misses in EHR tasks and communication that they felt related to EHR multitasking. However, they brainstormed diverse strategies for using EHR systems safely while preserving patient relationships. PMID:29410388

Measuring the relationship between interruptions, multitasking and prescribing errors in an emergency department: a study protocol

PubMed Central

Raban, Magdalena Z; Walter, Scott R; Douglas, Heather E; Strumpman, Dana; Mackenzie, John; Westbrook, Johanna I

2015-01-01

Introduction Interruptions and multitasking are frequent in clinical settings, and have been shown in the cognitive psychology literature to affect performance, increasing the risk of error. However, comparatively less is known about their impact on errors in clinical work. This study will assess the relationship between prescribing errors, interruptions and multitasking in an emergency department (ED) using direct observations and chart review. Methods and analysis The study will be conducted in an ED of a 440-bed teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia. Doctors will be shadowed at proximity by observers for 2 h time intervals while they are working on day shift (between 0800 and 1800). Time stamped data on tasks, interruptions and multitasking will be recorded on a handheld computer using the validated Work Observation Method by Activity Timing (WOMBAT) tool. The prompts leading to interruptions and multitasking will also be recorded. When doctors prescribe medication, type of chart and chart sections written on, along with the patient's medical record number (MRN) will be recorded. A clinical pharmacist will access patient records and assess the medication orders for prescribing errors. The prescribing error rate will be calculated per prescribing task and is defined as the number of errors divided by the number of medication orders written during the prescribing task. The association between prescribing error rates, and rates of prompts, interruptions and multitasking will be assessed using statistical modelling. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval has been obtained from the hospital research ethics committee. Eligible doctors will be provided with written information sheets and written consent will be obtained if they agree to participate. Doctor details and MRNs will be kept separate from the data on prescribing errors, and will not appear in the final data set for analysis. Study results will be disseminated in publications and feedback to the ED. PMID:26463224

A technical review of flexible endoscopic multitasking platforms.

PubMed

Yeung, Baldwin Po Man; Gourlay, Terence

2012-01-01

Further development of advanced therapeutic endoscopic techniques and natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) requires a powerful flexible endoscopic multitasking platform. Medline search was performed to identify literature relating to flexible endoscopic multitasking platform from year 2004-2011 using keywords: Flexible endoscopic multitasking platform, NOTES, Instrumentation, Endoscopic robotic surgery, and specific names of various endoscopic multitasking platforms. Key articles from articles references were reviewed. Flexible multitasking platforms can be classified as either mechanical or robotic. Purely mechanical systems include the dual channel endoscope (DCE) (Olympus), R-Scope (Olympus), the EndoSamurai (Olympus), the ANUBIScope (Karl-Storz), Incisionless Operating Platform (IOP) (USGI), and DDES system (Boston Scientific). Robotic systems include the MASTER system (Nanyang University, Singapore) and the Viacath (Hansen Medical). The DCE, the R-Scope, the EndoSamurai and the ANUBIScope have integrated visual function and instrument manipulation function. The IOP and DDES systems rely on the conventional flexible endoscope for visualization, and instrument manipulation is integrated through the use of a flexible, often lockable, multichannel access device. The advantage of the access device concept is that it allows optics and instrument dissociation. Due to the anatomical constrains of the pharynx, systems are designed to have a diameter of less than 20 mm. All systems are controlled by traction cable system actuated either by hand or by robotic machinery. In a flexible system, this method of actuation inevitably leads to significant hysteresis. This problem will be accentuated with a long endoscope such as that required in performing colonic procedures. Systems often require multiple operators. To date, the DCE, the R-Scope, the IOP, and the Viacath system have data published relating to their application in human. Alternative forms of instrument actuation, camera control and master console ergonomics should be explored to improve instrument precision, sphere of action, size and minimize assistance required. Copyright © 2012 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring the relationship between interruptions, multitasking and prescribing errors in an emergency department: a study protocol.

PubMed

Raban, Magdalena Z; Walter, Scott R; Douglas, Heather E; Strumpman, Dana; Mackenzie, John; Westbrook, Johanna I

2015-10-13

Interruptions and multitasking are frequent in clinical settings, and have been shown in the cognitive psychology literature to affect performance, increasing the risk of error. However, comparatively less is known about their impact on errors in clinical work. This study will assess the relationship between prescribing errors, interruptions and multitasking in an emergency department (ED) using direct observations and chart review. The study will be conducted in an ED of a 440-bed teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia. Doctors will be shadowed at proximity by observers for 2 h time intervals while they are working on day shift (between 0800 and 1800). Time stamped data on tasks, interruptions and multitasking will be recorded on a handheld computer using the validated Work Observation Method by Activity Timing (WOMBAT) tool. The prompts leading to interruptions and multitasking will also be recorded. When doctors prescribe medication, type of chart and chart sections written on, along with the patient's medical record number (MRN) will be recorded. A clinical pharmacist will access patient records and assess the medication orders for prescribing errors. The prescribing error rate will be calculated per prescribing task and is defined as the number of errors divided by the number of medication orders written during the prescribing task. The association between prescribing error rates, and rates of prompts, interruptions and multitasking will be assessed using statistical modelling. Ethics approval has been obtained from the hospital research ethics committee. Eligible doctors will be provided with written information sheets and written consent will be obtained if they agree to participate. Doctor details and MRNs will be kept separate from the data on prescribing errors, and will not appear in the final data set for analysis. Study results will be disseminated in publications and feedback to the ED. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Reducing Misses and Near Misses Related to Multitasking on the Electronic Health Record: Observational Study and Qualitative Analysis.

PubMed

Ratanawongsa, Neda; Matta, George Y; Bohsali, Fuad B; Chisolm, Margaret S

2018-02-06

Clinicians' use of electronic health record (EHR) systems while multitasking may increase the risk of making errors, but silent EHR system use may lower patient satisfaction. Delaying EHR system use until after patient visits may increase clinicians' EHR workload, stress, and burnout. We aimed to describe the perspectives of clinicians, educators, administrators, and researchers about misses and near misses that they felt were related to clinician multitasking while using EHR systems. This observational study was a thematic analysis of perspectives elicited from 63 continuing medical education (CME) participants during 2 workshops and 1 interactive lecture about challenges and strategies for relationship-centered communication during clinician EHR system use. The workshop elicited reflection about memorable times when multitasking EHR use was associated with "misses" (errors that were not caught at the time) or "near misses" (mistakes that were caught before leading to errors). We conducted qualitative analysis using an editing analysis style to identify codes and then select representative themes and quotes. All workshop participants shared stories of misses or near misses in EHR system ordering and documentation or patient-clinician communication, wondering about "misses we don't even know about." Risk factors included the computer's position, EHR system usability, note content and style, information overload, problematic workflows, systems issues, and provider and patient communication behaviors and expectations. Strategies to reduce multitasking EHR system misses included clinician transparency when needing silent EHR system use (eg, for prescribing), narrating EHR system use, patient activation during EHR system use, adapting visit organization and workflow, improving EHR system design, and improving team support and systems. CME participants shared numerous stories of errors and near misses in EHR tasks and communication that they felt related to EHR multitasking. However, they brainstormed diverse strategies for using EHR systems safely while preserving patient relationships. ©Neda Ratanawongsa, George Y Matta, Fuad B Bohsali, Margaret S Chisolm. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (http://humanfactors.jmir.org), 06.02.2018.

Work conditions, mental workload and patient care quality: a multisource study in the emergency department.

PubMed

Weigl, Matthias; Müller, Andreas; Holland, Stephan; Wedel, Susanne; Woloshynowych, Maria

2016-07-01

Workflow interruptions, multitasking and workload demands are inherent to emergency departments (ED) work systems. Potential effects of ED providers' work on care quality and patient safety have, however, been rarely addressed. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and associations of ED staff's workflow interruptions, multitasking and workload with patient care quality outcomes. We applied a mixed-methods design in a two-step procedure. First, we conducted a time-motion study to observe the rate of interruptions and multitasking activities. Second, during 20-day shifts we assessed ED staff's reports on workflow interruptions, multitasking activities and mental workload. Additionally, we assessed two care quality indicators with standardised questionnaires: first, ED patients' evaluations of perceived care quality; second, patient intrahospital transfers evaluated by ward staff. The study was conducted in a medium-sized community ED (16 600 annual visits). ED personnel's workflow was disrupted on average 5.63 times per hour. 30% of time was spent on multitasking activities. During 20 observations days, data were gathered from 76 ED professionals, 239 patients and 205 patient transfers. After aggregating daywise data and controlling for staffing levels, prospective associations revealed significant negative associations between ED personnel's mental workload and patients' perceived quality of care. Conversely, workflow interruptions were positively associated with patient-related information on discharge and overall quality of transfer. Our investigation indicated that ED staff's capability to cope with demanding work conditions was associated with patient care quality. Our findings contribute to an improved understanding of the complex effects of interruptions and multitasking in the ED environment for creating safe and efficient ED work and care systems. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Understanding public perceptions of risk regarding outdoor pet cats to inform conservation action.

PubMed

Gramza, Ashley; Teel, Tara; VandeWoude, Susan; Crooks, Kevin

2016-04-01

Free-ranging domestic cats (Felis catus) incur and impose risks on ecosystems and represent a complex issue of critical importance to biodiversity conservation and cat and human health globally. Prior social science research on this topic is limited and has emphasized feral cats even though owned cats often comprise a large proportion of the outdoor cat population, particularly in urban areas. To address this gap, we examined public risk perceptions and attitudes toward outdoor pet cats across varying levels of urbanization, including along the wildland-urban interface, in Colorado (U.S.A.), through a mail survey of 1397 residents. Residents did not view all types of risks uniformly. They viewed risks of cat predation on wildlife and carnivore predation on cats as more likely than disease-related risks. Additionally, risk perceptions were related to attitudes, prior experiences with cats and cat-wildlife interactions, and cat-owner behavior. Our findings suggest that changes in risk perceptions may result in behavior change. Therefore, knowledge of cat-related risk perceptions and attitudes could be used to develop communication programs aimed at promoting risk-aversive behaviors among cat owners and cat-management strategies that are acceptable to the public and that directly advance the conservation of native species. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Locomotor Adaptation Improves Balance Control, Multitasking Ability and Reduces the Metabolic Cost of Postural Instability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bloomberg, J. J.; Peters, B. T.; Mulavara, A. P.; Brady, R. A.; Batson, C. D.; Miller, C. A.; Ploutz-Snyder, R. J.; Guined, J. R.; Buxton, R. E.; Cohen, H. S.

2011-01-01

During exploration-class missions, sensorimotor disturbances may lead to disruption in the ability to ambulate and perform functional tasks during the initial introduction to a novel gravitational environment following a landing on a planetary surface. The overall goal of our current project is to develop a sensorimotor adaptability training program to facilitate rapid adaptation to these environments. We have developed a unique training system comprised of a treadmill placed on a motion-base facing a virtual visual scene. It provides an unstable walking surface combined with incongruent visual flow designed to enhance sensorimotor adaptability. Greater metabolic cost incurred during balance instability means more physical work is required during adaptation to new environments possibly affecting crewmembers? ability to perform mission critical tasks during early surface operations on planetary expeditions. The goal of this study was to characterize adaptation to a discordant sensory challenge across a number of performance modalities including locomotor stability, multi-tasking ability and metabolic cost. METHODS: Subjects (n=15) walked (4.0 km/h) on a treadmill for an 8 -minute baseline walking period followed by 20-minutes of walking (4.0 km/h) with support surface motion (0.3 Hz, sinusoidal lateral motion, peak amplitude 25.4 cm) provided by the treadmill/motion-base system. Stride frequency and auditory reaction time were collected as measures of locomotor stability and multi-tasking ability, respectively. Metabolic data (VO2) were collected via a portable metabolic gas analysis system. RESULTS: At the onset of lateral support surface motion, subj ects walking on our treadmill showed an increase in stride frequency and auditory reaction time indicating initial balance and multi-tasking disturbances. During the 20-minute adaptation period, balance control and multi-tasking performance improved. Similarly, throughout the 20-minute adaptation period, VO2 gradually decreased following an initial increase after the onset of support surface motion. DISCUSSION: Resu lts confirmed that walking in discordant conditions not only compromises locomotor stability and the ability to multi-task, but comes at a quantifiable metabolic cost. Importantly, like locomotor stability and multi-tasking ability, metabolic expenditure while walking in discordant sensory conditions improved during adaptation. This confirms that sensorimotor adaptability training can benefit multiple performance parameters central to the successful completion of critical mission tasks.

78 FR 13372 - Wildland Fire Executive Council Meeting Schedule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-27

... leadership, direction, and program oversight in support of the Wildland Fire Leadership Council. Questions... Governance; (3) Barriers and Critical Success Factors related to the Cohesive Strategy; (4) Regional Action...

Third U.S. Geological Survey Wildland Fire-Science Workshop : Denver, Colorado, November 12-15, 2002

USGS Publications Warehouse

Livingston, Russell K.

2004-01-01

Executive Summary -- The historically significant wildland fire events that occurred in the United States during 2000 and 2002, together with the associated recognition of the need for a different national policy of forest management, has led to an increased awareness of the need for cooperative effort among all Federal agencies in planning for and managing the risks and consequences of wildland fire. The expertise and capabilities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are significant resources in this regard, and the agency is becoming increasingly involved in fire-science activities in support of the various land-management agencies that are dealing directly with this issue. The First USGS Wildland Fire Workshop was held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1997 and helped to establish the direction of USGS in sharing its expertise with the fire-management agencies. The Second USGS Wildland Fire Workshop was held in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 2000 and brought together all the agencies involved in the management of wildland fires in order to determine their needs, to demonstrate USGS capabilities to meet those needs, and to establish methods for the USGS to distribute data and tools useful in fire management. It enhanced the relationships developed during the 1997 workshop and helped to define USGS' role in the fire-management community. The Third USGS Wildland Fire-Science Workshop, held in Denver, Colorado, November 12?15, 2002, was an opportunity for exchange of information on recent progress in the area of fire science and to determine the gaps in fire-science research that could be addressed by the USGS. In addition to more than 90 USGS scientists engaged in fire-related research and managers of organizational units involved in some aspect of wildland fire activities, the workshop was attended by about 30 representatives of 11 other Federal agencies. There also were a number of attendees affiliated with several universities, private companies, and State and local agencies. The 4-day meeting consisted of a pre-workshop field trip to the Hayman Fire area, several keynote presentations, five panel discussions, presentation and 'breakout' discussion of four 'white paper' topics, and a poster session with more than 30 presentations.

Effects of cacheing on multitasking efficiency and programming strategy on an ELXSI 6400

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Montry, G.R.; Benner, R.E.

1985-12-01

The impact of a cache/shared memory architecture, and, in particular, the cache coherency problem, upon concurrent algorithm and program development is discussed. In this context, a simple set of programming strategies are proposed which streamline code development and improve code performance when multitasking in a cache/shared memory or distributed memory environment.

New Research on Multitasking Points to Role of Self-Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sparks, Sarah D.

2012-01-01

For a generation of children immersed in technology, emerging research suggests that while the temptation to multitask may be pervasive, the ability to control it could be the real bellwether of academic success. The pervasiveness of technology and social media, coupled with a fear of missing out on something important, has led students to pay…

A Mixed-Methods Study Investigating the Relationship between Media Multitasking Orientation and Grade Point Average

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jennifer

2012-01-01

The intent of this study was to examine the relationship between media multitasking orientation and grade point average. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach to investigate the research questions. In the quantitative section of the study, the primary method of statistical analyses was multiple regression. The independent variables for the…

Multi-task learning with group information for human action recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Programmable DNA-Mediated Multitasking Processor.

PubMed

Shu, Jian-Jun; Wang, Qi-Wen; Yong, Kian-Yan; Shao, Fangwei; Lee, Kee Jin

2015-04-30

Because of DNA appealing features as perfect material, including minuscule size, defined structural repeat and rigidity, programmable DNA-mediated processing is a promising computing paradigm, which employs DNAs as information storing and processing substrates to tackle the computational problems. The massive parallelism of DNA hybridization exhibits transcendent potential to improve multitasking capabilities and yield a tremendous speed-up over the conventional electronic processors with stepwise signal cascade. As an example of multitasking capability, we present an in vitro programmable DNA-mediated optimal route planning processor as a functional unit embedded in contemporary navigation systems. The novel programmable DNA-mediated processor has several advantages over the existing silicon-mediated methods, such as conducting massive data storage and simultaneous processing via much fewer materials than conventional silicon devices.

Multitask visual learning using genetic programming.

PubMed

Jaśkowski, Wojciech; Krawiec, Krzysztof; Wieloch, Bartosz

2008-01-01

We propose a multitask learning method of visual concepts within the genetic programming (GP) framework. Each GP individual is composed of several trees that process visual primitives derived from input images. Two trees solve two different visual tasks and are allowed to share knowledge with each other by commonly calling the remaining GP trees (subfunctions) included in the same individual. The performance of a particular tree is measured by its ability to reproduce the shapes contained in the training images. We apply this method to visual learning tasks of recognizing simple shapes and compare it to a reference method. The experimental verification demonstrates that such multitask learning often leads to performance improvements in one or both solved tasks, without extra computational effort.

Proceedings: Wildland Shrub and Arid Land Restoration Symposium

Treesearch

Bruce A. Roundy; E. Durant McArthur; Jennifer S. Haley; David K. Mann

1995-01-01

Includes 62 papers dealing with wildland shrubs and restoration of arid lands. The key topics include: overview, restoration and revegetation, ecology, genetic integrity, management options, and field trip.Individual papers from this publication

Los Alamos National Laboratory Prepares for Fire Season

ScienceCinema

L’Esperance, Manny

2018-01-16

Through the establishment of a Wildland Fire Program Office, and the Interagency Fire Base located on Laboratory property, Los Alamos National Laboratory is continuing and improving a program to prepare for wildland fire.

Los Alamos National Laboratory Prepares for Fire Season

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

L’Esperance, Manny

Through the establishment of a Wildland Fire Program Office, and the Interagency Fire Base located on Laboratory property, Los Alamos National Laboratory is continuing and improving a program to prepare for wildland fire.

The health impacts and economic value of wildland fire episodes in the U.S.: 2008-2012.

PubMed

Fann, Neal; Alman, Breanna; Broome, Richard A; Morgan, Geoffrey G; Johnston, Fay H; Pouliot, George; Rappold, Ana G

2018-01-01

Wildland fires degrade air quality and adversely affect human health. A growing body of epidemiology literature reports increased rates of emergency departments, hospital admissions and premature deaths from wildfire smoke exposure. Our research aimed to characterize excess mortality and morbidity events, and the economic value of these impacts, from wildland fire smoke exposure in the U.S. over a multi-year period; to date no other burden assessment has done this. We first completed a systematic review of the epidemiologic literature and then performed photochemical air quality modeling for the years 2008 to 2012 in the continental U.S. Finally, we estimated the morbidity, mortality, and economic burden of wildland fires. Our models suggest that areas including northern California, Oregon and Idaho in the West, and Florida, Louisiana and Georgia in the East were most affected by wildland fire events in the form of additional premature deaths and respiratory hospital admissions. We estimated the economic value of these cases due to short term exposures as being between $11 and $20B (2010$) per year, with a net present value of $63B (95% confidence intervals $6-$170); we estimate the value of long-term exposures as being between $76 and $130B (2010$) per year, with a net present value of $450B (95% confidence intervals $42-$1200). The public health burden of wildland fires-in terms of the number and economic value of deaths and illnesses-is considerable. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Examination of Wildland Fire Spread at Small Scales Using Direct Numerical Simulations and High-Speed Laser Diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wimer, N. T.; Mackoweicki, A. S.; Poludnenko, A. Y.; Hoffman, C.; Daily, J. W.; Rieker, G. B.; Hamlington, P.

2017-12-01

Results are presented from a joint computational and experimental research effort focused on understanding and characterizing wildland fire spread at small scales (roughly 1m-1mm) using direct numerical simulations (DNS) with chemical kinetics mechanisms that have been calibrated using data from high-speed laser diagnostics. The simulations are intended to directly resolve, with high physical accuracy, all small-scale fluid dynamic and chemical processes relevant to wildland fire spread. The high fidelity of the simulations is enabled by the calibration and validation of DNS sub-models using data from high-speed laser diagnostics. These diagnostics have the capability to measure temperature and chemical species concentrations, and are used here to characterize evaporation and pyrolysis processes in wildland fuels subjected to an external radiation source. The chemical kinetics code CHEMKIN-PRO is used to study and reduce complex reaction mechanisms for water removal, pyrolysis, and gas phase combustion during solid biomass burning. Simulations are then presented for a gaseous pool fire coupled with the resulting multi-step chemical reaction mechanisms, and the results are connected to the fundamental structure and spread of wildland fires. It is anticipated that the combined computational and experimental approach of this research effort will provide unprecedented access to information about chemical species, temperature, and turbulence during the entire pyrolysis, evaporation, ignition, and combustion process, thereby permitting more complete understanding of the physics that must be represented by coarse-scale numerical models of wildland fire spread.

Further Development of the Assessment of Military Multitasking Performance: Iterative Reliability Testing

PubMed Central

McCulloch, Karen L.; Radomski, Mary V.; Finkelstein, Marsha; Cecchini, Amy S.; Davidson, Leslie F.; Heaton, Kristin J.; Smith, Laurel B.; Scherer, Matthew R.

2017-01-01

The Assessment of Military Multitasking Performance (AMMP) is a battery of functional dual-tasks and multitasks based on military activities that target known sensorimotor, cognitive, and exertional vulnerabilities after concussion/mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The AMMP was developed to help address known limitations in post concussive return to duty assessment and decision making. Once validated, the AMMP is intended for use in combination with other metrics to inform duty-readiness decisions in Active Duty Service Members following concussion. This study used an iterative process of repeated interrater reliability testing and feasibility feedback to drive modifications to the 9 tasks of the original AMMP which resulted in a final version of 6 tasks with metrics that demonstrated clinically acceptable ICCs of > 0.92 (range of 0.92–1.0) for the 3 dual tasks and > 0.87 (range 0.87–1.0) for the metrics of the 3 multitasks. Three metrics involved in recording subject errors across 2 tasks did not achieve ICCs above 0.85 set apriori for multitasks (0.64) and above 0.90 set for dual-tasks (0.77 and 0.86) and were not used for further analysis. This iterative process involved 3 phases of testing with between 13 and 26 subjects, ages 18–42 years, tested in each phase from a combined cohort of healthy controls and Service Members with mTBI. Study findings support continued validation of this assessment tool to provide rehabilitation clinicians further return to duty assessment methods robust to ceiling effects with strong face validity to injured Warriors and their leaders. PMID:28056045

Lung nodule malignancy prediction using multi-task convolutional neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiuli; Kao, Yueying; Shen, Wei; Li, Xiang; Xie, Guotong

2017-03-01

In this paper, we investigated the problem of diagnostic lung nodule malignancy prediction using thoracic Computed Tomography (CT) screening. Unlike most existing studies classify the nodules into two types benign and malignancy, we interpreted the nodule malignancy prediction as a regression problem to predict continuous malignancy level. We proposed a joint multi-task learning algorithm using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to capture nodule heterogeneity by extracting discriminative features from alternatingly stacked layers. We trained a CNN regression model to predict the nodule malignancy, and designed a multi-task learning mechanism to simultaneously share knowledge among 9 different nodule characteristics (Subtlety, Calcification, Sphericity, Margin, Lobulation, Spiculation, Texture, Diameter and Malignancy), and improved the final prediction result. Each CNN would generate characteristic-specific feature representations, and then we applied multi-task learning on the features to predict the corresponding likelihood for that characteristic. We evaluated the proposed method on 2620 nodules CT scans from LIDC-IDRI dataset with the 5-fold cross validation strategy. The multitask CNN regression result for regression RMSE and mapped classification ACC were 0.830 and 83.03%, while the results for single task regression RMSE 0.894 and mapped classification ACC 74.9%. Experiments show that the proposed method could predict the lung nodule malignancy likelihood effectively and outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. The learning framework could easily be applied in other anomaly likelihood prediction problem, such as skin cancer and breast cancer. It demonstrated the possibility of our method facilitating the radiologists for nodule staging assessment and individual therapeutic planning.

Automated Pathogenesis-Based Diagnosis of Lumbar Neural Foraminal Stenosis via Deep Multiscale Multitask Learning.

PubMed

Han, Zhongyi; Wei, Benzheng; Leung, Stephanie; Nachum, Ilanit Ben; Laidley, David; Li, Shuo

2018-02-15

Pathogenesis-based diagnosis is a key step to prevent and control lumbar neural foraminal stenosis (LNFS). It conducts both early diagnosis and comprehensive assessment by drawing crucial pathological links between pathogenic factors and LNFS. Automated pathogenesis-based diagnosis would simultaneously localize and grade multiple spinal organs (neural foramina, vertebrae, intervertebral discs) to diagnose LNFS and discover pathogenic factors. The automated way facilitates planning optimal therapeutic schedules and relieving clinicians from laborious workloads. However, no successful work has been achieved yet due to its extreme challenges since 1) multiple targets: each lumbar spine has at least 17 target organs, 2) multiple scales: each type of target organ has structural complexity and various scales across subjects, and 3) multiple tasks, i.e., simultaneous localization and diagnosis of all lumbar organs, are extremely difficult than individual tasks. To address these huge challenges, we propose a deep multiscale multitask learning network (DMML-Net) integrating a multiscale multi-output learning and a multitask regression learning into a fully convolutional network. 1) DMML-Net merges semantic representations to reinforce the salience of numerous target organs. 2) DMML-Net extends multiscale convolutional layers as multiple output layers to boost the scale-invariance for various organs. 3) DMML-Net joins a multitask regression module and a multitask loss module to prompt the mutual benefit between tasks. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that DMML-Net achieves high performance (0.845 mean average precision) on T1/T2-weighted MRI scans from 200 subjects. This endows our method an efficient tool for clinical LNFS diagnosis.

The Wildland-Urban Interface in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Treesearch

Susan I. Stewart; Volker C. Radeloff; Roger Hammer

2003-01-01

Wildland urban interface (WUI) issues are significant for urban foresters. An analysis of 12 metropolitan areas shows that The WUI is concentrated in these metro areas relative to the rest of their respective states.

Research Shows Health Impacts and Economic Costs of Wildland Fires

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Researchers at EPA and colleagues at NC State University, the University of Sydney and the University of Tasmania are advancing the science of understanding the public health burden associated with wildland fires.

Synoptic circulation and temperature pattern during severe wildland fires

Treesearch

Warren E. Heilman

1996-01-01

Large-scale changes in the atmosphere associated with a globally changed climate and changes in climatic variability may have important regional impacts on the frequency and severity of wildland fires in the future.

Multitask Agents and Incentives: The Case of Teaching and Research for University Professors. CEP Discussion Paper No. 1386

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Philippis, Marta

2015-01-01

This paper evaluates the behavioural responses of multitask agents to the provision of incentives skewed towards one task only. In particular it studies the case of strong research incentives for university professors and it analyzes their effects on the way university faculty members allocate effort between teaching and quantity and quality of…

Parallel processing on the Livermore VAX 11/780-4 parallel processor system with compatibility to Cray Research, Inc. (CRI) multitasking. Version 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Werner, N.E.; Van Matre, S.W.

1985-05-01

This manual describes the CRI Subroutine Library and Utility Package. The CRI library provides Cray multitasking functionality on the four-processor shared memory VAX 11/780-4. Additional functionality has been added for more flexibility. A discussion of the library, utilities, error messages, and example programs is provided.

Implementing dense linear algebra algorithms using multitasking on the CRAY X-MP-4 (or approaching the gigaflop)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dongarra, J.J.; Hewitt, T.

1985-08-01

This note describes some experiments on simple, dense linear algebra algorithms. These experiments show that the CRAY X-MP is capable of small-grain multitasking arising from standard implementations of LU and Cholesky decomposition. The implementation described here provides the ''fastest'' execution rate for LU decomposition, 718 MFLOPS for a matrix of order 1000.

Synthetic Synchronisation: From Attention and Multi-Tasking to Negative Capability and Judgment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stables, Andrew

2013-01-01

Educational literature has tended to focus, explicitly and implicitly, on two kinds of task orientation: the ability either to focus on a single task, or to multi-task. A third form of orientation characterises many highly successful people. This is the ability to combine several tasks into one: to "kill two (or more) birds with one…

An Introduction to Multitasking and Texting: Prevalence and Impact on Grades and GPA in Marketing Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clayson, Dennis E.; Haley, Debra A.

2013-01-01

This exploratory study looks at the phenomena of texting in a marketing education context. It outlines the difficulties of multitasking within two metacognitive models of learning and sets the stage for further research on the effects of texting within class. Students in marketing classes in two different universities were surveyed. They received…

Decision Making in Concurrent Multitasking: Do People Adapt to Task Interference?

PubMed Central

Nijboer, Menno; Taatgen, Niels A.; Brands, Annelies; Borst, Jelmer P.; van Rijn, Hedderik

2013-01-01

While multitasking has received a great deal of attention from researchers, we still know little about how well people adapt their behavior to multitasking demands. In three experiments, participants were presented with a multicolumn subtraction task, which required working memory in half of the trials. This primary task had to be combined with a secondary task requiring either working memory or visual attention, resulting in different types of interference. Before each trial, participants were asked to choose which secondary task they wanted to perform concurrently with the primary task. We predicted that if people seek to maximize performance or minimize effort required to perform the dual task, they choose task combinations that minimize interference. While performance data showed that the predicted optimal task combinations indeed resulted in minimal interference between tasks, the preferential choice data showed that a third of participants did not show any adaptation, and for the remainder it took a considerable number of trials before the optimal task combinations were chosen consistently. On the basis of these results we argue that, while in principle people are able to adapt their behavior according to multitasking demands, selection of the most efficient combination of strategies is not an automatic process. PMID:24244527

Negativity Bias in Media Multitasking: The Effects of Negative Social Media Messages on Attention to Television News Broadcasts.

PubMed

Kätsyri, Jari; Kinnunen, Teemu; Kusumoto, Kenta; Oittinen, Pirkko; Ravaja, Niklas

2016-01-01

Television viewers' attention is increasingly more often divided between television and "second screens", for example when viewing television broadcasts and following their related social media discussion on a tablet computer. The attentional costs of such multitasking may vary depending on the ebb and flow of the social media channel, such as its emotional contents. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that negative social media messages would draw more attention than similar positive messages. Specifically, news broadcasts were presented in isolation and with simultaneous positive or negative Twitter messages on a tablet to 38 participants in a controlled experiment. Recognition memory, gaze tracking, cardiac responses, and self-reports were used as attentional indices. The presence of any tweets on the tablet decreased attention to the news broadcasts. As expected, negative tweets drew longer viewing times and elicited more attention to themselves than positive tweets. Negative tweets did not, however, decrease attention to the news broadcasts. Taken together, the present results demonstrate a negativity bias exists for social media messages in media multitasking; however, this effect does not amplify the overall detrimental effects of media multitasking.

Negativity Bias in Media Multitasking: The Effects of Negative Social Media Messages on Attention to Television News Broadcasts

PubMed Central

Kätsyri, Jari; Kinnunen, Teemu; Kusumoto, Kenta; Oittinen, Pirkko; Ravaja, Niklas

2016-01-01

Television viewers’ attention is increasingly more often divided between television and “second screens”, for example when viewing television broadcasts and following their related social media discussion on a tablet computer. The attentional costs of such multitasking may vary depending on the ebb and flow of the social media channel, such as its emotional contents. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that negative social media messages would draw more attention than similar positive messages. Specifically, news broadcasts were presented in isolation and with simultaneous positive or negative Twitter messages on a tablet to 38 participants in a controlled experiment. Recognition memory, gaze tracking, cardiac responses, and self-reports were used as attentional indices. The presence of any tweets on the tablet decreased attention to the news broadcasts. As expected, negative tweets drew longer viewing times and elicited more attention to themselves than positive tweets. Negative tweets did not, however, decrease attention to the news broadcasts. Taken together, the present results demonstrate a negativity bias exists for social media messages in media multitasking; however, this effect does not amplify the overall detrimental effects of media multitasking. PMID:27144385

Ecological Relevance Determines Task Priority in Older Adults' Multitasking.

PubMed

Doumas, Michail; Krampe, Ralf Th

2015-05-01

Multitasking is a challenging aspect of human behavior, especially if the concurrently performed tasks are different in nature. Several studies demonstrated pronounced performance decrements (dual-task costs) in older adults for combinations of cognitive and motor tasks. However, patterns of costs among component tasks differed across studies and reasons for participants' resource allocation strategies remained elusive. We investigated young and older adults' multitasking of a working memory task and two sensorimotor tasks, one with low (finger force control) and one with high ecological relevance (postural control). The tasks were performed in single-, dual-, and triple-task contexts. Working memory accuracy was reduced in dual-task contexts with either sensorimotor task and deteriorated further under triple-task conditions. Postural and force performance deteriorated with age and task difficulty in dual-task contexts. However, in the triple-task context with its maximum resource demands, older adults prioritized postural control over both force control and memory. Our results identify ecological relevance as the key factor in older adults' multitasking. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Egocentric daily activity recognition via multitask clustering.

PubMed

Yan, Yan; Ricci, Elisa; Liu, Gaowen; Sebe, Nicu

2015-10-01

Recognizing human activities from videos is a fundamental research problem in computer vision. Recently, there has been a growing interest in analyzing human behavior from data collected with wearable cameras. First-person cameras continuously record several hours of their wearers' life. To cope with this vast amount of unlabeled and heterogeneous data, novel algorithmic solutions are required. In this paper, we propose a multitask clustering framework for activity of daily living analysis from visual data gathered from wearable cameras. Our intuition is that, even if the data are not annotated, it is possible to exploit the fact that the tasks of recognizing everyday activities of multiple individuals are related, since typically people perform the same actions in similar environments, e.g., people working in an office often read and write documents). In our framework, rather than clustering data from different users separately, we propose to look for clustering partitions which are coherent among related tasks. In particular, two novel multitask clustering algorithms, derived from a common optimization problem, are introduced. Our experimental evaluation, conducted both on synthetic data and on publicly available first-person vision data sets, shows that the proposed approach outperforms several single-task and multitask learning methods.

Multiobjective Multifactorial Optimization in Evolutionary Multitasking.

PubMed

Gupta, Abhishek; Ong, Yew-Soon; Feng, Liang; Tan, Kay Chen

2016-05-03

In recent decades, the field of multiobjective optimization has attracted considerable interest among evolutionary computation researchers. One of the main features that makes evolutionary methods particularly appealing for multiobjective problems is the implicit parallelism offered by a population, which enables simultaneous convergence toward the entire Pareto front. While a plethora of related algorithms have been proposed till date, a common attribute among them is that they focus on efficiently solving only a single optimization problem at a time. Despite the known power of implicit parallelism, seldom has an attempt been made to multitask, i.e., to solve multiple optimization problems simultaneously. It is contended that the notion of evolutionary multitasking leads to the possibility of automated transfer of information across different optimization exercises that may share underlying similarities, thereby facilitating improved convergence characteristics. In particular, the potential for automated transfer is deemed invaluable from the standpoint of engineering design exercises where manual knowledge adaptation and reuse are routine. Accordingly, in this paper, we present a realization of the evolutionary multitasking paradigm within the domain of multiobjective optimization. The efficacy of the associated evolutionary algorithm is demonstrated on some benchmark test functions as well as on a real-world manufacturing process design problem from the composites industry.

A feasibility study: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection utilization of infrared technologies for wildland fire suppression and management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nichols, J. D.; Britten, R. A.; Parks, G. S.; Voss, J. M.

1990-01-01

NASA's JPL has completed a feasibility study using infrared technologies for wildland fire suppression and management. The study surveyed user needs, examined available technologies, matched the user needs with technologies, and defined an integrated infrared wildland fire mapping concept system configuration. System component trade-offs were presented for evaluation in the concept system configuration. The economic benefits of using infrared technologies in fire suppression and management were examined. Follow-on concept system configuration development and implementation were proposed.

A Systematic Approach for Engagement Analysis Under Multitasking Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Guangfan; Leddo, John; Xu, Roger; Richey, Carl; Schnell, Tom; McKenzie, Frederick; Li, Jiang

2011-01-01

An overload condition can lead to high stress for an operator and further cause substantial drops in performance. On the other extreme, in automated systems, an operator may become underloaded; in which case, it is difficult for the operator to maintain sustained attention. When an unexpected event occurs, either internal or external to the automated system, a disengaged operation may neglect, misunderstand, or respond slowly/inappropriately to the situation. In this paper, we discuss a systematic approach monitor for extremes of cognitive workload and engagement in multitasking environments. Inferences of cognitive workload ar engagement are based on subjective evaluations, objective performance measures, physiological signals, and task analysis results. The systematic approach developed In this paper aggregates these types of information collected under the multitasking environment and can provide a real-time assessment or engagement.

A multitasking behavioral control system for the Robotic All-Terrain Lunar Exploration Rover (RATLER)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klarer, Paul

1993-01-01

An approach for a robotic control system which implements so called 'behavioral' control within a realtime multitasking architecture is proposed. The proposed system would attempt to ameliorate some of the problems noted by some researchers when implementing subsumptive or behavioral control systems, particularly with regard to multiple processor systems and realtime operations. The architecture is designed to allow synchronous operations between various behavior modules by taking advantage of a realtime multitasking system's intertask communications channels, and by implementing each behavior module and each interconnection node as a stand-alone task. The potential advantages of this approach over those previously described in the field are discussed. An implementation of the architecture is planned for a prototype Robotic All Terrain Lunar Exploration Rover (RATLER) currently under development and is briefly described.

Assessing the Role and Impact of Geospatial Data for Wildland Fire Management Decisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, E. A.; Lev, S. M.

2016-12-01

The 2015 Wildland and Fire Science and Technology Task Force Final Report, produced by the National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability, Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, highlighted the increasing frequency of large wildfires and the growing demand for science to inform critical resource decisions to manage, mitigate, respond to, and recover from wildland fires. Federal spending on fire suppression from 2005-2015 has more than doubled despite policy changes that prioritize the mitigation of fire risks through the use of fuel treatments, prescribed fire, and management of naturally occurring wildfires to protect life and property. Fire suppression policies over the last century have created forests primed for severe fire, and in the face of a changing climate, the benefits of re-introducing fire into once fire-resilient ecosystems are clear. There are a range of complex factors and regional variation associated with wildland fire risk that complicate our understanding and effective management of this hazard. Data derived from Earth-observing (EO) systems and networks are a crucial input for managers when making decisions about fire suppression and fuel management. EO data can also be used to develop pre- and post-fire metrics that can aid in the evaluating the effectiveness of wildland fire management decisions. A value-tree method for mapping the role of EO systems and networks in delivering societal benefit through key Federal objectives related to wildland fire management will be presented. The value-tree methodology utilizes input from subject matter experts to assess the availability and usability of data and data products and to evaluate the impact of individual EO data inputs for achieving wildland fire management objectives. The results provide a qualitative assessment of the value of the data for the objectives described and identify critical gaps and continuity issues associated with improvements to and continuous delivery of societal benefit.

Evaluating the impacts of wildland fires on caribou in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Joly, Kyle; Adams, Layne G.; Dale, Bruce W.; Collins, William

2002-01-01

Caribou are found throughout the boreal forests of interior Alaska, a region subject to chronic and expansive wildland fires. Fruticose lichens, if available, constitute the majority of the winter diet of caribou throughout their range and are common in mature boreal forests but largely absent from early successional stages. Fire, the dominant ecological driving force, increases vegetative diversity and productivity across the landscape but may reduce the availability of caribou winter forage for decades.Increasingly, wildland fire regimes are influenced by humans seeking to reduce fire hazards or mitigate the effects of years of fire suppression. Consequently, biologists have debated the importance of forage lichens to the dynamics of caribou populations, and land managers have questioned the importance of fire regime to wintering caribou. To better understand the impacts of wildland fire on caribou, we are simultaneously investigating the relationships between fire history, caribou movements, forage lichen availability, and caribou nutritional performance on their winter range.

Rapid growth of the US wildland-urban interface raises wildfire risk.

PubMed

Radeloff, Volker C; Helmers, David P; Kramer, H Anu; Mockrin, Miranda H; Alexandre, Patricia M; Bar-Massada, Avi; Butsic, Van; Hawbaker, Todd J; Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Syphard, Alexandra D; Stewart, Susan I

2018-03-27

The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where houses and wildland vegetation meet or intermingle, and where wildfire problems are most pronounced. Here we report that the WUI in the United States grew rapidly from 1990 to 2010 in terms of both number of new houses (from 30.8 to 43.4 million; 41% growth) and land area (from 581,000 to 770,000 km 2 ; 33% growth), making it the fastest-growing land use type in the conterminous United States. The vast majority of new WUI areas were the result of new housing (97%), not related to an increase in wildland vegetation. Within the perimeter of recent wildfires (1990-2015), there were 286,000 houses in 2010, compared with 177,000 in 1990. Furthermore, WUI growth often results in more wildfire ignitions, putting more lives and houses at risk. Wildfire problems will not abate if recent housing growth trends continue.

A cross-sectional survey of occupational history as a wildland firefighter and health.

PubMed

Semmens, Erin O; Domitrovich, Joseph; Conway, Kathrene; Noonan, Curtis W

2016-04-01

Little is known regarding the impact of long-term wildland firefighting on health. Our objective was to investigate associations between duration of wildland firefighting experience and the prevalence of self-reported health outcomes. We ascertained employment, health, and demographic information on 499 current wildland firefighters (WLFFs) via questionnaire. Relative to those with less than 10 years of experience as a WLFF, those with 10-19 years of experience had significantly greater odds of having ever been diagnosed with hypertension, as did those with 20 or more years of experience. Significant associations were observed for report of physician-diagnosed heart arrhythmia and previous knee surgery. We observed significant links between a greater number of years as a WLFF and self-report of two subclinical cardiovascular risk factors as well as markers of musculoskeletal health. Additional studies are needed to determine if findings can be generalized to all WLFFs. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Automated integration of lidar into the LANDFIRE product suite

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peterson, Birgit; Nelson, Kurtis; Seielstad, Carl; Stoker, Jason M.; Jolly, W. Matt; Parsons, Russell

2015-01-01

Accurate information about three-dimensional canopy structure and wildland fuel across the landscape is necessary for fire behaviour modelling system predictions. Remotely sensed data are invaluable for assessing these canopy characteristics over large areas; lidar data, in particular, are uniquely suited for quantifying three-dimensional canopy structure. Although lidar data are increasingly available, they have rarely been applied to wildland fuels mapping efforts, mostly due to two issues. First, the Landscape Fire and Resource Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) program, which has become the default source of large-scale fire behaviour modelling inputs for the US, does not currently incorporate lidar data into the vegetation and fuel mapping process because spatially continuous lidar data are not available at the national scale. Second, while lidar data are available for many land management units across the US, these data are underutilized for fire behaviour applications. This is partly due to a lack of local personnel trained to process and analyse lidar data. This investigation addresses these issues by developing the Creating Hybrid Structure from LANDFIRE/lidar Combinations (CHISLIC) tool. CHISLIC allows individuals to automatically generate a suite of vegetation structure and wildland fuel parameters from lidar data and infuse them into existing LANDFIRE data sets. CHISLIC will become available for wider distribution to the public through a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service’s Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) and may be incorporated into the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) with additional design and testing. WFAS and WFDSS are the primary systems used to support tactical and strategic wildland fire management decisions.

The Impact of Motion Induced Interruptions on Cognitive Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-23

found that even participants presenting with minor physiological effects of motion experienced a decline in multitasking performance. Further, Yu...literature has investigated the impact of task based interruptions such as being inter- rupted by a phone call or writing an email . In these...Engineers Journal. 102 (2) 65-72. Matsangas, P. (2013). The Effect of Mild Motion Sickness and Sopite Syndrome on Multitasking Cognitive Performance

Brain Imaging and rTMS Studies of Individual Differences in Cognitive Processing

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-09

Institution: Address: Phone: Fax: Email : Web Page: Contract: Project Title: Program Officer: Dr. Marcel Adam Just Carnegie Mellon University...and multitasking ) are included in the progress report using well established sets of materials. In the sentence and discourse tasks, participants...compensatory partnerships and the re-emergence of the primary regions. 3. Cortical reorganization induced by rTMS during multitasking (listening to

A queueing model of pilot decision making in a multi-task flight management situation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walden, R. S.; Rouse, W. B.

1977-01-01

Allocation of decision making responsibility between pilot and computer is considered and a flight management task, designed for the study of pilot-computer interaction, is discussed. A queueing theory model of pilot decision making in this multi-task, control and monitoring situation is presented. An experimental investigation of pilot decision making and the resulting model parameters are discussed.

Public webinar: Wildland Fire Sensors Challenge

EPA Science Inventory

This multi-agency challenge seeks a field-ready prototype system capable of measuring constituents of smoke, including particulates, carbon monoxide, ozone, and carbon dioxide, over the wide range of levels expected during wildland fires. The prototype system should be accurate, ...

Integrating research on wildland fires and air quality: needs and recommendations

Treesearch

Andrzej Bytnerowicz; Michael J. Arbaugh; Christian Andersen; Allen R. Riebau

2009-01-01

A summary is presented that integrates general information on the causes and effects of wildland fires and emissions with various ecological impacts of forest fires and air pollution in forests and other ecosystems. We also...

Setting priorities for private land conservation in fire-prone landscapes: Are fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation competing or compatible objectives?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Syphard, Alexandra D.; Butsic, Van; Bar-Massada, Avi; Keeley, Jon E.; Tracey, Jeff A.; Fisher, Robert N.

2016-01-01

Although wildfire plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity in many ecosystems, fire management to protect human assets is often carried out by different agencies than those tasked for conserving biodiversity. In fact, fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation are often viewed as competing objectives. Here we explored the role of management through private land conservation and asked whether we could identify private land acquisition strategies that fulfill the mutual objectives of biodiversity conservation and fire risk reduction, or whether the maximization of one objective comes at a detriment to the other. Using a fixed budget and number of homes slated for development, we simulated 20 years of housing growth under alternative conservation selection strategies, and then projected the mean risk of fires destroying structures and the area and configuration of important habitat types in San Diego County, California, USA. We found clear differences in both fire risk projections and biodiversity impacts based on the way conservation lands are prioritized for selection, but these differences were split between two distinct groupings. If no conservation lands were purchased, or if purchases were prioritized based on cost or likelihood of development, both the projected fire risk and biodiversity impacts were much higher than if conservation lands were purchased in areas with high fire hazard or high species richness. Thus, conserving land focused on either of the two objectives resulted in nearly equivalent mutual benefits for both. These benefits not only resulted from preventing development in sensitive areas, but they were also due to the different housing patterns and arrangements that occurred as development was displaced from those areas. Although biodiversity conflicts may still arise using other fire management strategies, this study shows that mutual objectives can be attained through land-use planning in this region. These results likely generalize to any place where high species richness overlaps with hazardous wildland vegetation.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Environment Can Enhance Brain Activity and Multitasking Performance

PubMed Central

Vadas, Dor; Kalichman, Leonid; Hadanny, Amir; Efrati, Shai

2017-01-01

Background: The Brain uses 20% of the total oxygen supply consumed by the entire body. Even though, <10% of the brain is active at any given time, it utilizes almost all the oxygen delivered. In order to perform complex tasks or more than one task (multitasking), the oxygen supply is shifted from one brain region to another, via blood perfusion modulation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) environment, with increased oxygen supply to the brain, will enhance the performance of complex and/or multiple activities. Methods: A prospective, double-blind randomized control, crossover trial including 22 healthy volunteers. Participants were asked to perform a cognitive task, a motor task and a simultaneous cognitive-motor task (multitasking). Participants were randomized to perform the tasks in two environments: (a) normobaric air (1 ATA 21% oxygen) (b) HBO (2 ATA 100% oxygen). Two weeks later participants were crossed to the alternative environment. Blinding of the normobaric environment was achieved in the same chamber with masks on while hyperbaric sensation was simulated by increasing pressure in the first minute and gradually decreasing to normobaric environment prior to tasks performance. Results: Compared to the performance at normobaric conditions, both cognitive and motor single tasks scores were significantly enhanced by HBO environment (p < 0.001 for both). Multitasking performance was also significantly enhanced in HBO environment (p = 0.006 for the cognitive part and p = 0.02 for the motor part). Conclusions: The improvement in performance of both single and multi-tasking while in an HBO environment supports the hypothesis which according to, oxygen is indeed a rate limiting factor for brain activity. Hyperbaric oxygenation can serve as an environment for brain performance. Further studies are needed to evaluate the optimal oxygen levels for maximal brain performance. PMID:29021747

Hyperbaric Oxygen Environment Can Enhance Brain Activity and Multitasking Performance.

PubMed

Vadas, Dor; Kalichman, Leonid; Hadanny, Amir; Efrati, Shai

2017-01-01

Background: The Brain uses 20% of the total oxygen supply consumed by the entire body. Even though, <10% of the brain is active at any given time, it utilizes almost all the oxygen delivered. In order to perform complex tasks or more than one task (multitasking), the oxygen supply is shifted from one brain region to another, via blood perfusion modulation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) environment, with increased oxygen supply to the brain, will enhance the performance of complex and/or multiple activities. Methods: A prospective, double-blind randomized control, crossover trial including 22 healthy volunteers. Participants were asked to perform a cognitive task, a motor task and a simultaneous cognitive-motor task (multitasking). Participants were randomized to perform the tasks in two environments: (a) normobaric air (1 ATA 21% oxygen) (b) HBO (2 ATA 100% oxygen). Two weeks later participants were crossed to the alternative environment. Blinding of the normobaric environment was achieved in the same chamber with masks on while hyperbaric sensation was simulated by increasing pressure in the first minute and gradually decreasing to normobaric environment prior to tasks performance. Results: Compared to the performance at normobaric conditions, both cognitive and motor single tasks scores were significantly enhanced by HBO environment ( p < 0.001 for both). Multitasking performance was also significantly enhanced in HBO environment ( p = 0.006 for the cognitive part and p = 0.02 for the motor part). Conclusions: The improvement in performance of both single and multi-tasking while in an HBO environment supports the hypothesis which according to, oxygen is indeed a rate limiting factor for brain activity. Hyperbaric oxygenation can serve as an environment for brain performance. Further studies are needed to evaluate the optimal oxygen levels for maximal brain performance.

Memory and multitasking performance during acute allergic inflammation in seasonal allergic rhinitis.

PubMed

Trikojat, K; Buske-Kirschbaum, A; Plessow, F; Schmitt, J; Fischer, R

2017-04-01

In previous research, patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) showed poorer school and work performance during periods of acute allergic inflammation, supporting the idea of an impact of SAR on cognitive functions. However, the specific cognitive domains particularly vulnerable to inflammatory processes are unclear. In this study, the influence of SAR on memory and multitasking performance, as two potentially vulnerable cognitive domains essential in everyday life functioning, was investigated in patients with SAR. Non-medicated patients with SAR (n = 41) and healthy non-allergic controls (n = 42) performed a dual-task paradigm and a verbal learning and memory test during and out of symptomatic allergy periods (pollen vs. non-pollen season). Disease-related factors (e.g. symptom severity, duration of symptoms, duration of disease) and allergy-related quality of life were evaluated as potential influences of cognitive performance. During the symptomatic allergy period, patients showed (1) poorer performance in word list-based learning (P = 0.028) and (2) a general slowing in processing speed (P < 0.001) and a shift in processing strategy (P < 0.001) in multitasking. Yet, typical parameters indicating specific multitasking costs were not affected. A significant negative association was found between learning performance and duration of disease (r = -0.451, P = 0.004), whereas symptom severity (r = 0.326; P = 0.037) and quality of life (r = 0.379; P = 0.015) were positively associated with multitasking strategy. Our findings suggest that SAR has a differentiated and complex impact on cognitive functions, which should be considered in the management of SAR symptoms. They also call attention to the importance of selecting sensitive measures and carefully interpreting cognitive outcomes. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prefrontal Cortex Structure Predicts Training-Induced Improvements in Multitasking Performance.

PubMed

Verghese, Ashika; Garner, K G; Mattingley, Jason B; Dux, Paul E

2016-03-02

The ability to perform multiple, concurrent tasks efficiently is a much-desired cognitive skill, but one that remains elusive due to the brain's inherent information-processing limitations. Multitasking performance can, however, be greatly improved through cognitive training (Van Selst et al., 1999, Dux et al., 2009). Previous studies have examined how patterns of brain activity change following training (for review, see Kelly and Garavan, 2005). Here, in a large-scale human behavioral and imaging study of 100 healthy adults, we tested whether multitasking training benefits, assessed using a standard dual-task paradigm, are associated with variability in brain structure. We found that the volume of the rostral part of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) predicted an individual's response to training. Critically, this association was observed exclusively in a task-specific training group, and not in an active-training control group. Our findings reveal a link between DLPFC structure and an individual's propensity to gain from training on a task that taps the limits of cognitive control. Cognitive "brain" training is a rapidly growing, multibillion dollar industry (Hayden, 2012) that has been touted as the panacea for a variety of disorders that result in cognitive decline. A key process targeted by such training is "cognitive control." Here, we combined an established cognitive control measure, multitasking ability, with structural brain imaging in a sample of 100 participants. Our goal was to determine whether individual differences in brain structure predict the extent to which people derive measurable benefits from a cognitive training regime. Ours is the first study to identify a structural brain marker-volume of left hemisphere dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-associated with the magnitude of multitasking performance benefits induced by training at an individual level. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/362638-08$15.00/0.

Multi-tasking uncovers right spatial neglect and extinction in chronic left-hemisphere stroke patients.

PubMed

Blini, Elvio; Romeo, Zaira; Spironelli, Chiara; Pitteri, Marco; Meneghello, Francesca; Bonato, Mario; Zorzi, Marco

2016-11-01

Unilateral Spatial Neglect, the most dramatic manifestation of contralesional space unawareness, is a highly heterogeneous syndrome. The presence of neglect is related to core spatially lateralized deficits, but its severity is also modulated by several domain-general factors (such as alertness or sustained attention) and by task demands. We previously showed that a computer-based dual-task paradigm exploiting both lateralized and non-lateralized factors (i.e., attentional load/multitasking) better captures this complex scenario and exacerbates deficits for the contralesional space after right hemisphere damage. Here we asked whether multitasking would reveal contralesional spatial disorders in chronic left-hemisphere damaged (LHD) stroke patients, a population in which impaired spatial processing is thought to be uncommon. Ten consecutive LHD patients with no signs of right-sided neglect at standard neuropsychological testing performed a computerized spatial monitoring task with and without concurrent secondary tasks (i.e., multitasking). Severe contralesional (right) space unawareness emerged in most patients under attentional load in both the visual and auditory modalities. Multitasking affected the detection of contralesional stimuli both when presented concurrently with an ipsilesional one (i.e., extinction for bilateral targets) and when presented in isolation (i.e., left neglect for right-sided targets). No spatial bias emerged in a control group of healthy elderly participants, who performed at ceiling, as well as in a second control group composed of patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment. We conclude that the pathological spatial asymmetry in LHD patients cannot be attributed to a global reduction of cognitive resources but it is the consequence of unilateral brain damage. Clinical and theoretical implications of the load-dependent lack of awareness for contralesional hemispace following LHD are discussed. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Cross-domain and multi-task transfer learning of deep convolutional neural network for breast cancer diagnosis in digital breast tomosynthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samala, Ravi K.; Chan, Heang-Ping; Hadjiiski, Lubomir; Helvie, Mark A.; Richter, Caleb; Cha, Kenny

2018-02-01

We propose a cross-domain, multi-task transfer learning framework to transfer knowledge learned from non-medical images by a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to medical image recognition task while improving the generalization by multi-task learning of auxiliary tasks. A first stage cross-domain transfer learning was initiated from ImageNet trained DCNN to mammography trained DCNN. 19,632 regions-of-interest (ROI) from 2,454 mass lesions were collected from two imaging modalities: digitized-screen film mammography (SFM) and full-field digital mammography (DM), and split into training and test sets. In the multi-task transfer learning, the DCNN learned the mass classification task simultaneously from the training set of SFM and DM. The best transfer network for mammography was selected from three transfer networks with different number of convolutional layers frozen. The performance of single-task and multitask transfer learning on an independent SFM test set in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.78+/-0.02 and 0.82+/-0.02, respectively. In the second stage cross-domain transfer learning, a set of 12,680 ROIs from 317 mass lesions on DBT were split into validation and independent test sets. We first studied the data requirements for the first stage mammography trained DCNN by varying the mammography training data from 1% to 100% and evaluated its learning on the DBT validation set in inference mode. We found that the entire available mammography set provided the best generalization. The DBT validation set was then used to train only the last four fully connected layers, resulting in an AUC of 0.90+/-0.04 on the independent DBT test set.

Transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates cognitive multi-task performance differentially depending on anode location and subtask

PubMed Central

Scheldrup, Melissa; Greenwood, Pamela M.; McKendrick, Ryan; Strohl, Jon; Bikson, Marom; Alam, Mahtab; McKinley, R. Andy; Parasuraman, Raja

2014-01-01

There is a need to facilitate acquisition of real world cognitive multi-tasks that require long periods of training (e.g., air traffic control, intelligence analysis, medicine). Non-invasive brain stimulation—specifically transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)—has promise as a method to speed multi-task training. We hypothesized that during acquisition of the complex multi-task Space Fortress, subtasks that require focused attention on ship control would benefit from tDCS aimed at the dorsal attention network while subtasks that require redirection of attention would benefit from tDCS aimed at the right hemisphere ventral attention network. We compared effects of 30 min prefrontal and parietal stimulation to right and left hemispheres on subtask performance during the first 45 min of training. The strongest effects both overall and for ship flying (control and velocity subtasks) were seen with a right parietal (C4, reference to left shoulder) montage, shown by modeling to induce an electric field that includes nodes in both dorsal and ventral attention networks. This is consistent with the re-orienting hypothesis that the ventral attention network is activated along with the dorsal attention network if a new, task-relevant event occurs while visuospatial attention is focused (Corbetta et al., 2008). No effects were seen with anodes over sites that stimulated only dorsal (C3) or only ventral (F10) attention networks. The speed subtask (update memory for symbols) benefited from an F9 anode over left prefrontal cortex. These results argue for development of tDCS as a training aid in real world settings where multi-tasking is critical. PMID:25249958

Transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates cognitive multi-task performance differentially depending on anode location and subtask.

PubMed

Scheldrup, Melissa; Greenwood, Pamela M; McKendrick, Ryan; Strohl, Jon; Bikson, Marom; Alam, Mahtab; McKinley, R Andy; Parasuraman, Raja

2014-01-01

There is a need to facilitate acquisition of real world cognitive multi-tasks that require long periods of training (e.g., air traffic control, intelligence analysis, medicine). Non-invasive brain stimulation-specifically transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)-has promise as a method to speed multi-task training. We hypothesized that during acquisition of the complex multi-task Space Fortress, subtasks that require focused attention on ship control would benefit from tDCS aimed at the dorsal attention network while subtasks that require redirection of attention would benefit from tDCS aimed at the right hemisphere ventral attention network. We compared effects of 30 min prefrontal and parietal stimulation to right and left hemispheres on subtask performance during the first 45 min of training. The strongest effects both overall and for ship flying (control and velocity subtasks) were seen with a right parietal (C4, reference to left shoulder) montage, shown by modeling to induce an electric field that includes nodes in both dorsal and ventral attention networks. This is consistent with the re-orienting hypothesis that the ventral attention network is activated along with the dorsal attention network if a new, task-relevant event occurs while visuospatial attention is focused (Corbetta et al., 2008). No effects were seen with anodes over sites that stimulated only dorsal (C3) or only ventral (F10) attention networks. The speed subtask (update memory for symbols) benefited from an F9 anode over left prefrontal cortex. These results argue for development of tDCS as a training aid in real world settings where multi-tasking is critical.

Science Matters Special Edition: Wildland Fire Science

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is applying its extensive expertise in air quality science to the study of wildland fires to help states and communities that are impacted. This issue of Science Matters newsletter highlights some of the research projects under way by EPA and partners.

The bay area wildfire forum

Treesearch

Todd E. Bruce

1995-01-01

Fire agencies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area formed a grassroots organization to influence a firesafe environment. The Bay Area Wildfire Forum (BAWF) was organized in 1992 to coordinate wildland fire training while promoting and encouraging further activities regarding wildland firefighting and fire prevention.

From leaves to landscape: A multiscale approach to assess fire hazard in wildland-urban interface areas.

PubMed

Ghermandi, Luciana; Beletzky, Natacha A; de Torres Curth, Mónica I; Oddi, Facundo J

2016-12-01

The overlapping zone between urbanization and wildland vegetation, known as the wildland urban interface (WUI), is often at high risk of wildfire. Human activities increase the likelihood of wildfires, which can have disastrous consequences for property and land use, and can pose a serious threat to lives. Fire hazard assessments depend strongly on the spatial scale of analysis. We assessed the fire hazard in a WUI area of a Patagonian city by working at three scales: landscape, community and species. Fire is a complex phenomenon, so we used a large number of variables that correlate a priori with the fire hazard. Consequently, we analyzed environmental variables together with fuel load and leaf flammability variables and integrated all the information in a fire hazard map with four fire hazard categories. The Nothofagus dombeyi forest had the highest fire hazard while grasslands had the lowest. Our work highlights the vulnerability of the wildland-urban interface to fire in this region and our suggested methodology could be applied in other wildland-urban interface areas. Particularly in high hazard areas, our work could help in spatial delimitation policies, urban planning and development of plans for the protection of human lives and assets. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experiences with Cray multi-tasking

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miya, E. N.

1985-01-01

The issues involved in modifying an existing code for multitasking is explored. They include Cray extensions to FORTRAN, an examination of the application code under study, designing workable modifications, specific code modifications to the VAX and Cray versions, performance, and efficiency results. The finished product is a faster, fully synchronous, parallel version of the original program. A production program is partitioned by hand to run on two CPUs. Loop splitting multitasks three key subroutines. Simply dividing subroutine data and control structure down the middle of a subroutine is not safe. Simple division produces results that are inconsistent with uniprocessor runs. The safest way to partition the code is to transfer one block of loops at a time and check the results of each on a test case. Other issues include debugging and performance. Task startup and maintenance (e.g., synchronization) are potentially expensive.