The Amazing Animal Activity Book: Dozens of Hands-on Projects That Teach across the Curriculum. Grades 1-3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernard, Robin

The activities in this book are designed to encourage children's scientific curiosity as well as their creativity. Activities include puppet making, word scrambles, matching exercises, crossword and jigsaw puzzles, mobiles, games, mini books, coloring activities, Venn diagrams, and plays. These activities are intended as a foundation for children…

Crossword Puzzles as a Learning Tool for Vocabulary Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orawiwatnakul, Wiwat

2013-01-01

Introduction: Since vocabulary is a key basis on which reading achievement depends, various vocabulary acquisition techniques have become pivotal. Among the many teaching approaches, traditional or otherwise, the use of crossword puzzles seems to offer potential and a solution for the problem of learning vocabulary. Method: This study was…

The Crossword Puzzle as a Teaching Tool.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossman, Edward K.

1983-01-01

In courses such as the history of psychology, it is necessary to learn a variety of relationships, events, and sequences, in addition to the task of having to pair certain key concepts with related names, e.g., phrenology--Hall. One tool useful in this type of learning is the crossword puzzle. (RM)

Fiches Pratiques: Mots...a croiser; Profitons du cinema; Le discours rapporte; Cent ans (Practical Ideas: Words...to Cross; Let's Take Advantage of the Movies; Relating Others' Discourse; One Hundred Years).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vever, Daniel; And Others

1991-01-01

Four class activities for French language instruction are described, including a crossword puzzle exercise emphasizing French culture, use of films for developing a variety of language skills, techniques for helping students discuss others' ideas, and an exercise promoting discussion through photographs of older adults engaged in various…

An Effective Method of Introducing the Periodic Table as a Crossword Puzzle at the High School Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joag, Sushama D.

2014-01-01

A simple method to introduce the modern periodic table of elements at the high school level as a game of solving a crossword puzzle is presented here. A survey to test the effectiveness of this new method relative to the conventional method, involving use of a wall-mounted chart of the periodic table, was conducted on a convenience sample. This…

Sleep for Kids: Games and Puzzles

MedlinePlus

Games and Puzzles These games and puzzles can help you learn more about sleep! Learn about sleep with this fun crossword puzzle! Test your memory ... can't sleep? • dreams • • bring out the stars • games and puzzles • pj bear booklet • • home • about us • ...

Puzzling Ways to Learn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

School Shop, 1975

1975-01-01

Four authors present crossword and wordfind puzzles developed for students in the areas of electricity, principles of hydraulics, finishing, construction, thermoplastic materials, patternmaking, wood, occupations, and drafting. (BP)

Pathology crossword competition: an active and easy way of learning pathology in undergraduate medical education.

PubMed

Htwe, T T; Sabaridah, I; Rajyaguru, K M; Mazidah, A M

2012-02-01

In line with the trend to engage students in active learning, it is imperative to introduce new strategies that make learning more interesting, especially in undergraduate curricula. This study aimed to determine students' performance and perception in pathology crosswords as an active way of learning and to assess their ability to memorise difficult terms in pathology. A crossword competition in pathology was conducted for two batches (year 2009 and 2010) of Phase 2 medical students in Malaysia. Crossword puzzles were prepared using an online application. Two sets of puzzles were prepared, with 20 questions for the assessment of general pathology and 20 for systemic pathology. The purpose was to compare the students' recent and remote memorising abilities, as general pathology was taught a year before proceeding to systemic pathology teaching. There were 12 groups per batch, with 8-10 students in a group. Survey questionnaires were used to assess the students' perception of the competition. Descriptive analysis was performed for comparison of performance. The mean score of correctly answered questions in general pathology was 12.75 and 11.50 in batch 2009 and 2010, respectively. The mean score for systemic pathology was 14.50 in 2009 and 13.83 in 2010. Students in the 2009 batch performed better, but this was not statistically significant (p-value > 0.05). A positive response was observed from the questionnaires. Applying crossword puzzles as a new strategy is a useful and easy way for undergraduate medical students to learn pathology.

Three Modes of Hydrogeophysical Investigation: Puzzles, Mysteries, and Conundrums

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferre, P. A.

2011-12-01

In an article in the New Yorker in 2007, Malcolm Gladwell discussed the distinction that national security expert Gregory Treverton has made between puzzles and mysteries. Specifically, puzzles are problems that we understand and that will eventually be solved when we amass enough information. (Think crossword puzzles.) Mysteries are problems for which we have the necessary information, but it is often overwhelmed by irrelevant or misleading input. To solve a mystery, we require improved analysis. (Think find-a-word.) Gladwell goes on to explain that, in the national security realm, the Cold War was a puzzle while the current national security condition is a mystery. I will discuss the past, current, and future trajectories of hydrogeophysics in terms of puzzles and mysteries. I will also add a third class of problem: conundrums - those for which we lack sufficient information about their structure to know how to solve them. A conundrum is a mystery with an unexpected twist. I hope to make the case that the future growth of hydrogeophysics lies in our ability to address this more challenging and more interesting class of problem.

Decoding Codewords: Statistical Analysis of a Newspaper Puzzle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meacock, Susan; Meacock, Geoff

2012-01-01

In recent years English newspapers have started featuring a number of puzzles other than the ubiquitous crossword. Many of the puzzles are of Japanese origin such as Sudoku, Kakuro or Hidato. However, one recent one is very English and is called variously Cross-code, Alphapuzzle or some other name. In this article, it will be known as Codeword.…

Math Mind Benders Warm Up: Deductive Reasoning Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harnadek, Anita

This book contains "math mind benders," puzzles that are worked like crossword puzzles except that each square is filled with a digit rather than a letter. Clues to the puzzles are interrelated with each other and a given story. Clear thinking and deductive reasoning must be used to find potential answers and eliminate those that fail to meet all…

To Txt or Not to Txt: That's the Puzzle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goh, Tiong-Thye; Hooper, Val

2007-01-01

This paper describes the potential use of a mobile phone Short Message Service (SMS) crossword puzzle system to promote interaction through learning activities in a large classroom environment. While personal response systems (PRS) have been used in the classroom environment to foster interaction, it is not an ideal tool with respect to cost and…

Enhancing the Understanding of Government and Nonprofit Accounting with THE PUZZLE GAME: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elson, Raymond J.; Ostapski, S. Andrew; O'Callaghan, Susanne; Walker, John P.

2012-01-01

Nontraditional teaching aids such as crossword puzzles have been successfully used in the classroom to enhance student learning. Government and nonprofit accounting is a confusing course for students since it has strange terminologies and contradicts the accounting concepts learned in other courses. As such, it is an ideal course for a…

Biology Notes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

School Science Review, 1976

1976-01-01

Describes nine biology experiments, including osmosis, genetics; oxygen content of blood, enzymes in bean seedlings, preparation of bird skins, vascularization in bean seedlings, a game called "sequences" (applied to review situations), crossword puzzle for human respiration, and physiology of the woodlouse. (CS)

Monster Math.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Mary Jane

Using drawings of various monsters to explain and enhance the learning activities, this arithmetic/mathematics curriculum guide begins with exercises requiring basic number identification. The remainder of the guide includes over one hundred addition and subtraction activities including crossword puzzles, maps, and number matching. (SH)

PLATO Esperanto Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherwood, Judith

1981-01-01

A summary is presented of types of Esperanto materials available on PLATO--a general overview section, a picture introduction, lessons that accompany a textbook, vocabulary drills, crossword puzzles, dictation drills, reading practice, and a concentration game. The general overview lesson gives a comprehensive summary of the history and…

Excerpt from a Forthcoming Book. The Ocean Book: Dive In--The Beginning of Your Ocean Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Science Activities, 1989

1989-01-01

Six activities complete with reproducible worksheets are presented. Materials and procedures for each are listed. Answers to the quiz and crossword puzzle are included. Topics include the water cycle, the world's oceans, the ocean floor, and fish. (CW)

Forestry Activities. A Guide for Youth Group Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forest Service (USDA), Washington, DC.

Twenty-six activities related to forestry, conservation, and outdoor education comprise the content of this leader's guide. Designed for use with youth groups, ideas and techniques range from forest conservation mobiles, locating forest fires, and Christmas tree uses to litterbug campaigns, watershed experiments, and crossword puzzles. Activities…

Using the Student Edition of Update on Law-Related Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banaszak, Ronald A.

1997-01-01

Provides accompanying learning activities for each of the articles in the same issue. The brief articles address a number of legal issues concerning young people including dress codes, teen smoking, curfews, restricted areas (such as the mall), and child labor. Includes a law term crossword puzzle. (MJP)

Non-Traditional Interventions To Stimulate Discussion: The Use of Games and Puzzles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, Sue; Peat, Mary; Lewis, Alison

2003-01-01

Outlines the results of an investigation into whether first year biology students used card game discussions and crosswords provided to help them learn and how useful these resources were perceived to be. Evaluates teaching staff's perceptions with regard to the resources. (Contains 23 references.) (Author/YDS)

Creative Activities for Teaching about the Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, Lawrence

This unit contains activities dealing with wastes, the Greenhouse Effect, ozone depletion, energy, deforestation, and species extinction. Each section has a text to explain the issues and a crossword puzzle to reinforce the vocabulary. There are diagrams with questions that can be used as handouts or as transparency masters. (EH)

Learning to Read and Write the Drafting Way. Field Test Copy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento. Div. of Vocational Education.

This volume comprises instructional techniques that are designed for use with drafting students who demonstrate a need for additional instruction in the areas of reading, writing, math, and verbal and visual communication. Included in the guide are the following teacher-developed instructional techniques: a drafting crossword puzzle, tool bingo, a…

Snakes! Snakes! Snakes!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nature Naturally, 1983

1983-01-01

Designed for students in grades 4-6, the teaching unit presents illustrations and facts about snakes. Topics include common snakes found in the United States, how snakes eat, how snakes shed their skin, poisonous snakes, the Eastern Indigo snake, and the anatomy of a snake. A student page includes a crossword puzzle and surprising snake facts. A…

Crossword Puzzles for Chemistry Education: Learning Goals beyond Vocabulary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuriev, Elizabeth; Capuano, Ben; Short, Jennifer L.

2016-01-01

Chemistry is a technical scientific discipline strongly underpinned by its own complex and diverse language. To be successful in the problem-solving aspects of chemistry, students must master the language of chemistry, and in particular, the definition of terms and concepts. To assist students in this challenging task, a variety of instructional…

Human Spaceflight: Activities for the Intermediate and Junior High Student.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartsfield, John W.; Hartsfield, Kendra J.

Since its beginning, space science has created high interest and continues to prod the imagination of students. This activity packet, which has been designed to enhance the curriculum and challenge gifted students, contains background information on spaceflight as well as 24 interdisciplinary classroom activities, 3 crossword puzzles, and 3 word…

Amino Acid Crossword Puzzle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sims, Paul A.

2011-01-01

Learning the 20 standard amino acids is an essential component of an introductory course in biochemistry. Later in the course, the students study metabolism and learn about various catabolic and anabolic pathways involving amino acids. Learning new material or concepts often is easier if one can connect the new material to what one already knows;…

Outline of the Solar System: Activities for elementary students

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartsfield, J.; Sellers, M.

1990-01-01

An introduction to the solar system for the elementary school student is given. The introduction contains historical background, facts, and pertinent symbols concerning the sun, the nine major planets and their moons, and information about comets and asteroids. Aids to teaching are given, including a solar system crossword puzzle with answers.

Federal Budget: Spending Out of Control? Today's Issues/Tomorrow's America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

U.S. News & World Report, Inc., Washington, DC. Education Div.

Intended to provide secondary students with information on the federal budget, this kit provides a teacher's guide, a test, a crossword puzzle, and a series of reproducible graphs and handouts focusing on budget deficits and the national debt. Study materials and graphics are based almost entirely on articles and graphics found in "U.S. News…

Viva Nuestra Amistad IV: Spanish Activity Packet (Long Live our Friendship).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cobb, Hubert

This Spanish activity packet was designed to be used with the map study portion of each of twelve units in a second year course in Spanish. Each unit deals with a different Spanish-speaking country or place, such as Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, or Peru. Included here are worksheets, games, map outlines, crossword puzzles, skits, and cultural…

The Effect of a Case-Based Reasoning Instructional Model on Korean High School Students' Awareness in Climate Change Unit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeong, Jinwoo; Kim, Hyoungbum; Chae, Dong-hyun; Kim, Eunjeong

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the case-based reasoning instructional model on learning about climate change unit. Results suggest that students showed interest because it allowed them to find the solution to the problem and solve the problem for themselves by analogy from other cases such as crossword puzzles in an…

La Palabra es Nuestra: Primaria para Adultos. Primera Parte, Volumen 1-2. Edicion Experimental. (The Language Is Ours: Primer for Adults. Part One, Volumes 1-2. Experimental Edition).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos, Mexico City (Mexico).

These workbooks are part of a Mexican series of instructional materials designed for Spanish speaking adults who are in the process of becoming literate or have recently become literate in their native language. These workbooks, designed to continue developing literacy skills, include pictures, dialogues, crossword puzzles, and fill-in-the blank…

Crossword Puzzles and Conversation: An Approach to Teaching Pre-Employment and On-the-Job Communication Skills to Adult (Refugee) ESL Students. Special Experimental Demonstration Project--Adult Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larsen, R. Ann

This curriculum guide is intended to help high school and adult refugees master the preemployment and on-the-job English as a Second Language (ESL) communication skills that are essential to survival in the workplace. The following topics are covered in the individual lessons: job application, occupations and duties, help wanted ads, job…

Especially for High School Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howell, J. Emory

1999-04-01

Secondary School Feature Articles * Amino Acid Wordsearch, by Terry L. Helser, p 495. Games, Puzzles, and Humor In honor of April Fools' Day this issue contains 22 pages devoted to games and puzzles that can be used to teach aspects of chemistry. Most are designed for high school and first-year college students. The lead article, p 481, contains an annotated bibliography of chemistry games, complete with a vendor list. Many of the annotated games must be purchased, but the other articles that follow in this issue describe some games and puzzles that require minimal preparation using a word processor and readily available materials. Actually, JCE has a long tradition of publishing games and puzzles for chemistry teachers and their students. Read the letter by Helser and the Editor's response, p 468, for some recent background. Not having counted articles over past years, I became curious and turned to the online index, accessed by way of http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/. Because I wanted to search the entire 75-year life of the Journal, I searched titles for the words "game", "puzzle", and "humor" and obtained a total of 85 hits from the three searches. After eliminating titles of articles that were not applicable, I found that at least 25 games, 48 puzzles, and 5 humor articles have appeared during the past 75 years. At an average of one per year, the JCE editors hardly can be accused of frivolity, but game, puzzle, and humor articles have been published. The term "game" did not appear in any titles during 1945-1970, "puzzle" did not appear from 1927 to 1953, and there was no mention of humor (in the titles) prior to 1974. What appears to be the earliest article (1929) about a game was authored by an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado (1). It was titled "Chemical Bank", and the game pieces were tokens cut from cork stoppers. Wire hooks were inserted in the side of the token to represent valence electrons available for bonding. Carbon contained 4 hooks at 90° relative to each other, nitrogen contained three hooks at 120°, etc. The wires were sufficiently long and flexible that multiple bonding could be represented. Each player was dealt several game pieces and the first player received an extra carbon. The objective was to hook pieces together to make an acceptable molecule. Players took turns and the first player to use all his or her pieces was declared the winner. The first crossword puzzle to appear in JCE was written by a high school teacher from Hollywood, California (2). Ruth Van Vleet had observed that her students were caught up in the popularity of crossword puzzles of the time (1925) and used that interest to help students learn chemical facts. The puzzle published in the article was submitted by one of her students after completing one year of chemistry. The first article which carried the term "humor" in the title was published in 1974 (3). To meet the requirements of a class assignment to compare two elements, one student wrote an imaginary dialog between ytterbium and lutetium. Word play and puns were used to described similar and differing properties of the two elements. This article, however, was not the first account of using humor as a vehicle for stimulating student interest. Games, puzzles, and humor certainly can be overused. Usually they do not lead to the development of conceptual understanding. However, appropriate use, as many JCE readers have discovered, can stimulate student interest and reinforce factual knowledge. Some strategy games may help develop problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The games, humor, and puzzles published in JCE are peer-reviewed so that inaccuracies and errors are not perpetuated. So why not take advantage of this resource? And look forward to next April, or whenever, for more games, puzzles, and humor. Feedback Requested for View from My Classroom Feature David Byrum, editor of the View From My Classroom feature, requests the assistance of readers. During a recent conference on the preparation of new teachers, a question was asked about what specific ideas, procedures, concepts, and skills teachers wished that they had known more about as they started their first job. Some of the responses at the conference were:

• How to choose which concepts/ideas/skills to teach
• How to justify which concepts/ideas/skills to leave out
• How to set up the equipment and supplies needed for common experiments
• How to choose, set up, and perform useful demonstrations
• How to order materials and supplies for the classroom and laboratory
• How district, school, and department budgets work and how to order for the classroom or laboratory

Research Operations for Advanced Warfighter Interface Technologies

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

tk.sourceforge.net 11 Available at http://www.speech.kth.se/ snack 17 Cross-word triphone Multi-Space probability Distribution (MSD)-HMMs [23...prepared and delivered for shipment as part of on-going coating evaluations. 6) The IR terrain board was mounted to an extruded aluminum frame for ease of

Boggle Logic Puzzles: Minimal Solutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Needleman, Jonathan

2013-01-01

Boggle logic puzzles are based on the popular word game Boggle played backwards. Given a list of words, the problem is to recreate the board. We explore these puzzles on a 3 x 3 board and find the minimum number of three-letter words needed to create a puzzle with a unique solution. We conclude with a series of open questions.

Psychological and Physical Performance Factors Associated with Attrition in Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-03-10

S55aI61t;YCSGFICATIO" of "Igs P#.G! (Man VMS. antopao__________ REPOT DOUMETATIN P E AD INSýUCTIOKSREPOR OOCM~l4ATI~4 PAE UgORK COMPLSIT01 PORN 1...public events (rock concerts, sports events) are very exciting. 2. As a child , I was always reading. 3. Happirass Is more important than fame. 4. I e...to talk to people. 21. As a child , school was easy for me. 22. 1 enjoy working crossword puzzles. 23. 1 was a slow learner in school. 24. 1 have a

A Play on Words: Using Cognitive Computing as a Basis for AI Solvers in Word Puzzles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manzini, Thomas; Ellis, Simon; Hendler, James

2015-12-01

In this paper we offer a model, drawing inspiration from human cognition and based upon the pipeline developed for IBM's Watson, which solves clues in a type of word puzzle called syllacrostics. We briefly discuss its situation with respect to the greater field of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and how this process and model might be applied to other types of word puzzles. We present an overview of a system that has been developed to solve syllacrostics.

Can an old dog learn (and want to experience) new tricks? Cognitive training increases openness to experience in older adults

PubMed Central

Jackson, Joshua J.; Hill, Patrick L.; Payne, Brennan R.; Roberts, Brent W.; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A. L.

2012-01-01

The present study investigated whether an intervention aimed to increase cognitive ability in older adults also changes the personality trait of openness to experience. Older adults completed a 16-week program in inductive reasoning training supplemented by weekly crossword and Sudoku puzzles. Changes in openness to experience were modeled across four assessments over 30 weeks using latent growth curve models. Results indicate that participants in the intervention condition increased in the trait of openness compared to a waitlist control group. The study is one of the first to demonstrate that personality traits can change through non-psychopharmocological interventions. PMID:22251379

Obsolete English names of North American birds and their modern equivalents

USGS Publications Warehouse

Banks, Richard C.

1988-01-01

This index should also be useful to other workers and for other purposes. Ornithologists not well versed in taxonomic matters might save valuable research time if they could immediately relate a bit of information recorded in the older literature to the name of a species with which they are familiar. Law enforcement personnel might find some support in convincing a gunner (or judge) that the old or colloquial name of a bird shot is the same as the name in the list of species protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Serious birders, historians, collectors of natural history books—even crossword puzzle fans and trivialists—might find something of use or interest.

Word Search Packet: Climbing the Hills of Math Skills. California Demonstration Mathematics Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ontario-Montclair School District, Ontario, CA.

Thirty word-search puzzles on mathematics and mathematicians are presented. The puzzles are used periodically as homework assignments in a self-paced, individualized mathematics program which is designed to improve the achievement of junior high school students. Answers to the puzzles are not included. (DC)

Puzzles, Pastimes, Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eperson, D. B.

1985-01-01

Presents six mathematical problems (with answers) which focus on: (1) chess moves; (2) patterned numbers; (3) quadratics with rational roots; (4) number puzzles; (5) Euclidean geometry; and (6) Carrollian word puzzles. (JN)

Activities U.S.A.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolger, Charlene

A compilation of over 50 elementary school activities focuses on developing students' familiarity with the 50 states. Exercises such as word searches, scrambled word puzzles, shape puzzles, spelling bees, match games, and atlas games introduce students to the capitals, major cities, main characteristics, and location of each state. The document is…

A Personal Intelligent Mentor for Promoting Metacognition in Solving Logic Word Puzzles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baylor, Amy L.; Kozbe, Barcin

This paper describes a Personal Intelligent Mentor (PIM) that facilitates metacognitive development in the domain of solving logic word puzzles. Metacognition is an important aspect for critical thinking skills. High school students must develop logical and critical thinking abilities as a prerequisite for higher-level math and computer…

Versatile logic devices based on programmable DNA-regulated silver-nanocluster signal transducers.

PubMed

Huang, Zhenzhen; Tao, Yu; Pu, Fang; Ren, Jinsong; Qu, Xiaogang

2012-05-21

A DNA-encoding strategy is reported for the programmable regulation of the fluorescence properties of silver nanoclusters (AgNCs). By taking advantage of the DNA-encoding strategy, aqueous AgNCs were used as signal transducers to convert DNA inputs into fluorescence outputs for the construction of various DNA-based logic gates (AND, OR, INHIBIT, XOR, NOR, XNOR, NAND, and a sequential logic gate). Moreover, a biomolecular keypad that was capable of constructing crossword puzzles was also fabricated. These AgNC-based logic systems showed several advantages, including a simple transducer-introduction strategy, universal design, and biocompatible operation. In addition, this proof of concept opens the door to a new generation of signal transducer materials and provides a general route to versatile biomolecular logic devices for practical applications. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

On the validity of Freud's dream interpretations.

PubMed

Michael, Michael

2008-03-01

In this article I defend Freud's method of dream interpretation against those who criticize it as involving a fallacy-namely, the reverse causal fallacy-and those who criticize it as permitting many interpretations, indeed any that the interpreter wants to put on the dream. The first criticism misconstrues the logic of the interpretative process: it does not involve an unjustified reversal of causal relations, but rather a legitimate attempt at an inference to the best explanation. The judgement of whether or not a particular interpretation is the best explanation depends on the details of the case in question. I outline the kinds of probabilities involved in making the judgement. My account also helps to cash out the metaphors of the jigsaw and crossword puzzles that Freudians have used in response to the 'many interpretations' objection. However, in defending Freud's method of dream interpretation, I do not thereby defend his theory of dreams, which cannot be justified by his interpretations alone.

[Reflex epilepsy evoked by decision making: report of a case (author's transl)].

PubMed

Mutani, R; Ganga, A; Agnetti, V

1980-01-01

A 17-year-old girl with a story of Gran Mal attacks occurring during lessons of mathematics or solving mathematical problems, was investigated with prolonged EEG recordings. During the sessions, relax periods were alternated with arithmetical or mathematical testing, with card or checkers games and solution of puzzles and crossword problems, and with different neuropsychological tests. EGG recordings were characterized by the appearance, on a normal background, of bilaterally synchronous and symmetrical spike-and-wave and polispike-and-wave discharges, associated with loss of consciousness. During relax their mean frequency was one/54 min., it doubled during execution of tests involved with nonsequential decision making, and was eight times as high (one/7 min.) during tests involving sequential decision making. Some tension, challenge and complexity of the performance were also important as precipitating factors. Their lack deprived sequential tests of their efficacy, while on the contrary their presence sometimes gave nonsequential tests full efficacy.

GAMES AND PUZZLES FOR THE MORE ABLE STUDENT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

GOLDSMITH, JOHN

SUCH MATHEMATICAL GAMES AS DOMINOES FOR PRIMARY NUMBER RECOGNITION AND AS MILK BOTTLE TOPS FOR ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION ARE LISTED. A LIST OF SEVERAL MATH PROBLEMS, PUZZLES AND BRAIN TEASERS FOLLOW. QUIET GAMES OF PAPER CUTTING AND CROSS WORD PUZZLES FOR MATH VOCABULARY ARE INCLUDED. THE NEXT SECTION OF GAMES CONCERNS LANGUAGE. THESE INCLUDE…

River and Stream Pollution

MedlinePlus

... downstream clean, too. Other stuff you might like ... Games & Puzzles Games galore! Piles of Puzzles! Go! What's That Word ... and classroom materials. Back to Top Check out games and songs for little kids! Topics Games Activities ...

Musings on the puzzle piece.

PubMed

Goin-Kochel, Robin P

2016-02-01

Following is a brief musing on Roy Grinker's discussion of what the puzzle piece symbolizes for autism during his presentation at the 2015 International Meeting for Autism Research. In his words, "The puzzle piece is ubiquitous." It likely holds a different meaning for each of us, and this is how one autism researcher sees it. © The Author(s) 2015.

The King and Prisoner Puzzle: A Way of Introducing the Components of Logical Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roh, Kyeong Hah; Lee, Yong Hah; Tanner, Austin

2016-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to provide issues related to student understanding of logical components that arise when solving word problems. We designed a logic problem called the King and Prisoner Puzzle--a linguistically simple, yet logically challenging problem. In this paper, we describe various student solutions to the puzzle and discuss the…

Children value informativity over logic in word learning.

PubMed

Ramscar, Michael; Dye, Melody; Klein, Joseph

2013-06-01

The question of how children learn the meanings of words has long puzzled philosophers and psychologists. As Quine famously pointed out, simply hearing a word in context reveals next to nothing about its meaning. How then do children learn to understand and use words correctly? Here, we show how learning theory can offer an elegant solution to this seemingly intractable puzzle in language acquisition. From it, we derived formal predictions about word learning in situations of Quinean ambiguity, and subsequently tested our predictions on toddlers, undergraduates, and developmental psychologists. The toddlers' performance was consistent both with our predictions and with the workings of implicit mechanisms that can facilitate the learning of meaningful lexical systems. Adults adopted a markedly different and likely suboptimal strategy. These results suggest one explanation for why early word learning can appear baffling: Adult intuitions may be a poor source of insight into how children learn.

Opportunities in Participatory Science and Citizen Science with MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment: A Virtual Science Team Experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulick, Ginny

2009-09-01

We report on the accomplishments of the HiRISE EPO program over the last two and a half years of science operations. We have focused primarily on delivering high impact science opportunities through our various participatory science and citizen science websites. Uniquely, we have invited students from around the world to become virtual HiRISE team members by submitting target suggestions via our HiRISE Quest Image challenges using HiWeb the team's image suggestion facility web tools. When images are acquired, students analyze their returned images, write a report and work with a HiRISE team member to write a image caption for release on the HiRISE website (http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu). Another E/PO highlight has been our citizen scientist effort, HiRISE Clickworkers (http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/hirise). Clickworkers enlists volunteers to identify geologic features (e.g., dunes, craters, wind streaks, gullies, etc.) in the HiRISE images and help generate searchable image databases. In addition, the large image sizes and incredible spatial resolution of the HiRISE camera can tax the capabilities of the most capable computers, so we have also focused on enabling typical users to browse, pan and zoom the HiRISE images using our HiRISE online image viewer (http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/HiRISE/hirise_images/). Our educational materials available on the HiRISE EPO web site (http://hirise.seti.org/epo) include an assortment of K through college level, standards-based activity books, a K through 3 coloring/story book, a middle school level comic book, and several interactive educational games, including Mars jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, word searches and flash cards.

The effects of supplemental online learning aids on student performance and student engagement in Medical Microbiology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, Kimberly

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of online learning aids on student performance and engagement. The thirty-five participants of the current study were students enrolled in two sections of a junior level Medical Microbiology laboratory. The experimental section was required to spend ten minutes each week on an online learning aid. The online program, StudyMate(TM), was used to present text and images in the form of flash cards, multiple choice questions, matching, and crossword puzzles. Both groups completed the Index of Learning Style survey, an initial engagement survey at the start of the course, and a final engagement survey at the end of the course. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences between the groups at the start of the course or after the course was completed for learning style, science grade point average, overall grade point average, initial engagement or final engagement. A moderate correlation was found between microbiology course and laboratory grades and a reflective learning style.

Alphabet Avenue: Wordplay in the Fast Lane.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morice, Dave

This collection of palindromes, pangrams, acrostics, word squares and word ladders, visual and numerical puzzles, silly names, and much more is designed to delight, surprise, and challenge both the novice and the expert player of word games. It uses the metaphor of a busy, cosmopolitan city to showcase three facets of words: forms of letters,…

Classroom Ideas for April 1980.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Bakersfield, Ca. Div. of Instructional Services.

One of a series of activity guides, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials for elementary school students. The activities and resources include: poems; word puzzles and other puzzles; arts and crafts activities; facts and activities about Easter; language arts activities; facts and activities about animals;…

Minimal groups increase young children's motivation and learning on group-relevant tasks.

PubMed

Master, Allison; Walton, Gregory M

2013-01-01

Three experiments (N = 130) used a minimal group manipulation to show that just perceived membership in a social group boosts young children's motivation for and learning from group-relevant tasks. In Experiment 1, 4-year-old children assigned to a minimal "puzzles group" persisted longer on a challenging puzzle than children identified as the "puzzles child" or children in a control condition. Experiment 2 showed that this boost in motivation occurred only when the group was associated with the task. In Experiment 3, children assigned to a minimal group associated with word learning learned more words than children assigned an analogous individual identity. The studies demonstrate that fostering shared motivations may be a powerful means by which to shape young children's academic outcomes. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Classroom Ideas-Winter 1983. Focus on Geology: Rocks, Sand and Crystals. Primary Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Bakersfield, Ca. Div. of Instructional Services.

One of a series of activity guides, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials for primary grade students. The activities and resources include: science activities (especially dealing with soil and rocks); word puzzles and other puzzles; arts and crafts activities (including Christmas tree ornaments);…

Classroom Ideas-Spring 1983. Intermediate Edition. Volume 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Bakersfield, Ca. Div. of Instructional Services.

One of a series of activity guides, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials for intermediate grade students. The activities and resources include: a calendar which lists important days and birthdays in March, April, and May; poems; word puzzles and other puzzles; science activities; language arts activities;…

Why the Body Comes First: Effects of Experimenter Touch on Infants' Word Finding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seidl, Amanda; Tincoff, Ruth; Baker, Christopher; Cristia, Alejandrina

2015-01-01

The lexicon of 6-month-olds is comprised of names and body part words. Unlike names, body part words do not often occur in isolation in the input. This presents a puzzle: How have infants been able to pull out these words from the continuous stream of speech at such a young age? We hypothesize that caregivers' interactions directed at and on…

Technology in the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gladhart, Marsha A.

1994-01-01

Reviews two computer software programs for children: (1) "Ready, Set, Read with Bananas and Jack" (Sierra Discovery Series), available for Windows or Macintosh systems, which uses animation and sound to teach early reading skills; and (2) "Word Connection" (Action Software), a Macintosh program that creates word puzzles. (MDM)

Early Puzzle Play: A predictor of preschoolers’ spatial transformation skill

PubMed Central

Levine, S.C.; Ratliff, K.R.; Huttenlocher, J.; Cannon, J.

2011-01-01

Individual differences in spatial skill emerge prior to kindergarten entry. However, little is known about the early experiences that may contribute to these differences. The current study examines the relation between children’s early puzzle play and their spatial skill. Children and parents (n = 53) were observed at home for 90 minutes every four months (six times) between 2 and 4 years of age (26 to 46 months). When children were 4 years 6 months old, they completed a spatial task involving mental transformations of 2D shapes. Children who were observed playing with puzzles performed better on this task than those who did not, controlling for parent education, income, and overall parent word types. Moreover, among those children who played with puzzles, frequency of puzzle play predicted performance on the spatial transformation task. Although the frequency of puzzle play did not differ for boys and girls, the quality of puzzle play (a composite of puzzle difficulty, parent engagement, and parent spatial language) was higher for boys than girls. In addition, variation in puzzle play quality predicted performance on the spatial transformation task for girls but not boys. Implications of these findings as well as future directions for research on the role of the role of puzzle play in the development of spatial skill are discussed. PMID:22040312

Student Project in Anatomy (SPA) - Making the First Year Medical Students Responsible and Creative.

PubMed

Nayak, Satheesha B; Mishra, Snigdha; George, Bincy M; Kumar, Naveen

2016-09-01

Creativity is a combination of ones' capacity to think outside the box, the gained knowledge and the passion for creating something. It very easily and effectively provides the creator a chance to be responsible for his/her creation and acts as a confidence booster for him/her. Creativity is inherent, but needs to be polished and nurtured. If nurtured well through proper motivation, the creator excels leaps and bounds. It develops an empathetic behaviour in the creator, when he allows his creations to be used by others. The study was done to generate learning resources through academically good students and make them available for the entire class. Academically, top 16 students were involved in a project of their choice. The projects included preparation of question answers, powerpoint presentations, cross-word puzzles, videos, models, atlases and wall hangers etc., ten weeks were given to finish the project. The project was guided and monitored by teachers. The end product of the project was given to the entire class for use. The perception of users of the end products of the projects was recorded through mini interviews. All the students who took part in the project liked working on the project. They felt motivated, rewarded and had mastery on the topic which they used in the project. The students who did not do the project but used the end product of the project also liked the project work. They felt that the end products of the projects were simple, informative and creative. By participating in Student Project in Anatomy (SPA), the students get to show their total potential through these creative ways. It provides a fresh and welcome change from the common routine followed otherwise in medical schools. The outcome of the projects can help the entire class. This type of projects can be easily tailored into existing curriculum and in disciplines other than anatomy too.

Early puzzle play: a predictor of preschoolers' spatial transformation skill.

PubMed

Levine, Susan C; Ratliff, Kristin R; Huttenlocher, Janellen; Cannon, Joanna

2012-03-01

Individual differences in spatial skill emerge prior to kindergarten entry. However, little is known about the early experiences that may contribute to these differences. The current study examined the relation between children's early puzzle play and their spatial skill. Children and parents (n = 53) were observed at home for 90 min every 4 months (6 times) between 2 and 4 years of age (26 to 46 months). When children were 4 years 6 months old, they completed a spatial task involving mental transformations of 2-dimensional shapes. Children who were observed playing with puzzles performed better on this task than those who did not, controlling for parent education, income, and overall parent word types. Moreover, among those children who played with puzzles, frequency of puzzle play predicted performance on the spatial transformation task. Although the frequency of puzzle play did not differ for boys and girls, the quality of puzzle play (a composite of puzzle difficulty, parent engagement, and parent spatial language) was higher for boys than for girls. In addition, variation in puzzle play quality predicted performance on the spatial transformation task for girls but not for boys. Implications of these findings as well as future directions for research on the role of puzzle play in the development of spatial skill are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Otros amigos, otras culturas: Libro de actividades, 2 (Other Friends, Other Cultures: Workbook 2).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This workbook was designed for use with the textbook of the same name. It contains exercises for the recognition of sounds and letters, reading comprehension, oral expression, and the use of diphthongs, compound words, idioms, synonyms and antonyms, word families, and dictionaries. The presentation includes drawings, puzzles, and games with color…

Assessment of educational games for health professions: a systematic review of trends and outcomes.

PubMed

Abdulmajed, Hind; Park, Yoon Soo; Tekian, Ara

2015-04-01

Traditional lecturing used in teaching has the lowest retention rate; the use of games as part of an instruction method may enhance retention and reinforce learning by creating a dynamic educational environment. This study aims to systematically review the literature on educational games for the health professions to identify trends and investigate assessment tools used to measure its learning outcomes. Seven databases were used in the search: ERIC, Education Research Complete, Medline, Medline Complete, Academic Search Complete, The Cochrane Library and PubMed. The search identified 2865 papers; among them, 1259 were excluded and 22 were evaluated. The selection incorporated five full papers which focused directly on the health professionals. Two studies involved the use of board games and two studies involved card games, crossword puzzles and one study involved a team quiz competition. Overall, studies lacked a strong link between the use of games for both instructional and assessment purposes. Gaming makes a positive impact on the teaching/learning process. However, existing assessment methodologies have been not fully captured the learning that may occur in these games. Robust research is needed to address the use of games that have been assessed objectively.

A Creative Teacher's Innovative-Mind-Expanding Vertebrate Project Ideas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winters, Faye H.

1981-01-01

The article provides a collection of teaching ideas about vertebrate animals. Ideas include making a poem book about a group of animals, rhyming words with animal names, and finding animal names in a puzzle. (DB)

Effects of Different Types of Cognitive Training on Cognitive Function, Brain Structure, and Driving Safety in Senior Daily Drivers: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Nozawa, Takayuki; Taki, Yasuyuki; Kanno, Akitake; Akimoto, Yoritaka; Ihara, Mizuki; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Nouchi, Rui; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Ogawa, Takeshi; Goto, Takakuni; Sunda, Takashi; Shimizu, Toshiyuki; Tozuka, Eiji; Hirose, Satoru; Nanbu, Tatsuyoshi; Kawashima, Ryuta

2015-01-01

Increasing proportion of the elderly in the driving population raises the importance of assuring their safety. We explored the effects of three different types of cognitive training on the cognitive function, brain structure, and driving safety of the elderly. Thirty-seven healthy elderly daily drivers were randomly assigned to one of three training groups: Group V trained in a vehicle with a newly developed onboard cognitive training program, Group P trained with a similar program but on a personal computer, and Group C trained to solve a crossword puzzle. Before and after the 8-week training period, they underwent neuropsychological tests, structural brain magnetic resonance imaging, and driving safety tests. For cognitive function, only Group V showed significant improvements in processing speed and working memory. For driving safety, Group V showed significant improvements both in the driving aptitude test and in the on-road evaluations. Group P showed no significant improvements in either test, and Group C showed significant improvements in the driving aptitude but not in the on-road evaluations. The results support the effectiveness of the onboard training program in enhancing the elderly's abilities to drive safely and the potential advantages of a multimodal training approach.

Effects of Different Types of Cognitive Training on Cognitive Function, Brain Structure, and Driving Safety in Senior Daily Drivers: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Taki, Yasuyuki; Kanno, Akitake; Akimoto, Yoritaka; Ihara, Mizuki; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Ogawa, Takeshi; Goto, Takakuni; Sunda, Takashi; Shimizu, Toshiyuki; Tozuka, Eiji; Hirose, Satoru; Nanbu, Tatsuyoshi; Kawashima, Ryuta

2015-01-01

Background. Increasing proportion of the elderly in the driving population raises the importance of assuring their safety. We explored the effects of three different types of cognitive training on the cognitive function, brain structure, and driving safety of the elderly. Methods. Thirty-seven healthy elderly daily drivers were randomly assigned to one of three training groups: Group V trained in a vehicle with a newly developed onboard cognitive training program, Group P trained with a similar program but on a personal computer, and Group C trained to solve a crossword puzzle. Before and after the 8-week training period, they underwent neuropsychological tests, structural brain magnetic resonance imaging, and driving safety tests. Results. For cognitive function, only Group V showed significant improvements in processing speed and working memory. For driving safety, Group V showed significant improvements both in the driving aptitude test and in the on-road evaluations. Group P showed no significant improvements in either test, and Group C showed significant improvements in the driving aptitude but not in the on-road evaluations. Conclusion. The results support the effectiveness of the onboard training program in enhancing the elderly's abilities to drive safely and the potential advantages of a multimodal training approach. PMID:26161000

Mental Aerobics: Exercises for the Mind in Later Life.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paggi, Kay; Hayslip, Bert, Jr.

1999-01-01

Reports observations of the use of mental aerobics with 48 adults whose median age was 70. Provides examples of the group puzzles and logic, math, and word problems used to enhance cognitive functioning and creative thinking. (SK)

Railroads and Riddles Highlight New Software.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinnamon, J. C.

1988-01-01

Six software products are reviewed including multimedia packages for history/geography and science. Other products include a coloring program, riddle-maker, word puzzle generator, a lesson on counting money, and a math game equipped with animation and sound effects. (IAH)

Dynamic cerebral autoregulation during brain activation paradigms.

PubMed

Panerai, Ronney B; Moody, Michelle; Eames, Penelope J; Potter, John F

2005-09-01

Dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA) describes the transient response of cerebral blood flow (CBF) to rapid changes in arterial blood pressure (ABP). We tested the hypothesis that the efficiency of dynamic CA is increased by brain activation paradigms designed to induce hemispheric lateralization. CBF velocity [CBFV; bilateral, middle cerebral artery (MCA)], ABP, ECG, and end-tidal Pco(2) were continuously recorded in 14 right-handed healthy subjects (21-43 yr of age), in the seated position, at rest and during 10 repeated presentations (30 s on-off) of a word generation test and a constructional puzzle. Nonstationarities were not found during rest or activation. Transfer function analysis of the ABP-CBFV (i.e., input-output) relation was performed for the 10 separate 51.2-s segments of data during activation and compared with baseline data. During activation, the coherence function below 0.05 Hz was significantly increased for the right MCA recordings for the puzzle tasks compared with baseline values (0.36 +/- 0.16 vs. 0.26 +/- 0.13, P < 0.05) and for the left MCA recordings for the word paradigm (0.48 +/- 0.23 vs. 0.29 +/- 0.16, P < 0.05). In the same frequency range, significant increases in gain were observed during the puzzle paradigm for the right (0.69 +/- 0.37 vs. 0.46 +/- 0.32 cm.s(-1).mmHg(-1), P < 0.05) and left (0.61 +/- 0.29 vs. 0.45 +/- 0.24 cm.s(-1).mmHg(-1), P < 0.05) hemispheres and during the word tasks for the left hemisphere (0.66 +/- 0.31 vs. 0.39 +/- 0.15 cm.s(-1).mmHg(-1), P < 0.01). Significant reductions in phase were observed during activation with the puzzle task for the right (-0.04 +/- 1.01 vs. 0.80 +/- 0.86 rad, P < 0.01) and left (0.11 +/- 0.81 vs. 0.57 +/- 0.51 rad, P < 0.05) hemispheres and with the word paradigm for the right hemisphere (0.05 +/- 0.87 vs. 0.64 +/- 0.59 rad, P < 0.05). Brain activation also led to changes in the temporal pattern of the CBFV step response. We conclude that transfer function analysis suggests important changes in dynamic CA during mental activation tasks.

Information Foraging Across the Life Span: Search and Switch in Unknown Patches.

PubMed

Chin, Jessie; Payne, Brennan R; Fu, Wai-Tat; Morrow, Daniel G; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A L

2015-07-01

In this study, we used a word search puzzle paradigm to investigate age differences in the rate of information gain (RG; i.e., word gain as a function of time) and the cues used to make patch-departure decisions in information foraging. The likelihood of patch departure increased as the profitability of the patch decreased generally. Both younger and older adults persisted past the point of optimality as defined by the marginal value theorem (Charnov, 1976), which assumes perfect knowledge of the foraging ecology. Nevertheless, there was evidence that adults were rational in terms of being sensitive to the change in RG for making the patch-departure decisions. However, given the limitations in cognitive resources and knowledge about the ecology, the estimation of RG may not be accurate. Younger adults were more likely to leave the puzzle as the long-term RG incrementally decreased, whereas older adults were more likely to leave the puzzle as the local RG decreased. However, older adults with better executive control were more likely to adjust their likelihood of patch-departure decisions to the long-term change in RG. Thus, age-dependent reliance on the long-term or local change in RG to make patch-departure decisions might be due to individual differences in executive control. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Crossword: A Fully Automated Algorithm for the Segmentation and Quality Control of Protein Microarray Images

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Biological assays formatted as microarrays have become a critical tool for the generation of the comprehensive data sets required for systems-level understanding of biological processes. Manual annotation of data extracted from images of microarrays, however, remains a significant bottleneck, particularly for protein microarrays due to the sensitivity of this technology to weak artifact signal. In order to automate the extraction and curation of data from protein microarrays, we describe an algorithm called Crossword that logically combines information from multiple approaches to fully automate microarray segmentation. Automated artifact removal is also accomplished by segregating structured pixels from the background noise using iterative clustering and pixel connectivity. Correlation of the location of structured pixels across image channels is used to identify and remove artifact pixels from the image prior to data extraction. This component improves the accuracy of data sets while reducing the requirement for time-consuming visual inspection of the data. Crossword enables a fully automated protocol that is robust to significant spatial and intensity aberrations. Overall, the average amount of user intervention is reduced by an order of magnitude and the data quality is increased through artifact removal and reduced user variability. The increase in throughput should aid the further implementation of microarray technologies in clinical studies. PMID:24417579

Brain Stretchers Book 4--Advanced.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Carolyn

This book provides puzzles, games, and mathematical activities for students in elementary grades. Number concepts and arithmetic are common topics. These classic math, logic, and word-problem activities encourage students to become flexible, creative thinkers while teaching them to draw valid conclusions based on logic and evidence. Each activity…

May/June Activity Notebook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarke, Jacqueline, Ed.

1999-01-01

Presents hand-on, standards-based activities in language arts, math, science, and social studies, including a daily almanac; bookmark buddies; word palettes; bowling for numbers; math thought teasers; plant puzzles; fingerprint fun; a travel bureau; and an end-of-the-year bulletin board of people involved in interesting activities. Reproducible…

Enhancing Verbal Creativity via Brief Interventions during an Incubation Interval

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hao, Ning; Ku, Yixuan; Liu, Meigui; Hu, Yi; Grabner, Roland H.; Fink, Andreas

2014-01-01

Previous studies revealed inconsistent findings about the effects of cognitively low or high demanding interpolated tasks during incubation period on post-incubation creative performance. To explain this contradiction, two intervention tasks were administered (Reflecting on the generated ideas [RF] and the Word puzzle task [WP]), which are…

Synonym Success--Thanks to the Thesaurus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mountain, Lee

2007-01-01

After a class of ninth graders discovered the helpfulness of the thesaurus in such synonym activities as Synonym Tic-Tac-Toe and Cross-Synonym Puzzles, they started using the thesaurus to locate "the exactly right word" while drafting compositions. They also enriched their oral vocabularies during these activities by discussing synonyms from the…

Do You Read Me? Industrial Supplement: Reading Development Activities Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kendall, Elizabeth L.; Chenoweth, Roberta

This activity guide is one of four supplements to be used with "Do You Read Me? Prevocational-Vocational Reading Development Activities" (ED 210 454). Each supplement deals with a different occupational category. Games, puzzles, and other activities are offered to aid in developing the word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension…

Do You Read Me? Environmental Supplement: Reading Development Activities Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kendall, Elizabeth L.; Chenoweth, Roberta

This activity guide is one of four supplements to be used with "Do You Read Me? Prevocational-Vocational Reading Development Activities" (ED 210 454). Each supplement deals with a different occupational category. Games, puzzles, and other activities are offered to aid in developing the word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension…

Classroom Ideas-March 1982. Primary Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Bakersfield, Ca. Div. of Instructional Services.

One of a series of activity guides designed to aid teachers in developing the thinking skills of primary grade students, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials. The activities and resources include: a calendar which lists important days and birthdays in March; poems; a flannelboard story; word puzzles and…

Classroom Ideas-May 1982. Primary Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Bakersfield, Ca. Div. of Instructional Services.

One of a series of activity guides designed to aid teachers in developing the thinking skills of primary grade students, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials. The activities and resources include: a calendar which lists important days and birthdays in May; poems; a flannelboard story; word puzzles and…

Eat Wheat!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Idaho Wheat Commission, Boise.

This pamphlet contains puzzles, games, and a recipe designed to teach elementary school pupils about wheat. It includes word games based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Guide Pyramid and on foods made from wheat. The Food Guide Pyramid can be cut out of the pamphlet and assembled as a three-dimensional information source and food guide.…

Classroom Ideas-Spring 1982. Intermediate Edition. Volume 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Bakersfield, Ca. Div. of Instructional Services.

One of a series of activity guides designed to aid teachers in developing the thinking skills of intermediate grade students, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials. The activities and resources include: a calendar which lists important days and birthdays in March, April, and May; poems; word puzzles and…

Failure to learn from feedback underlies word learning difficulties in toddlers at risk for autism.

PubMed

Bedford, R; Gliga, T; Frame, K; Hudry, K; Chandler, S; Johnson, M H; Charman, T

2013-01-01

Children's assignment of novel words to nameless objects, over objects whose names they know (mutual exclusivity; ME) has been described as a driving force for vocabulary acquisition. Despite their ability to use ME to fast-map words (Preissler & Carey, 2005), children with autism show impaired language acquisition. We aimed to address this puzzle by building on studies showing that correct referent selection using ME does not lead to word learning unless ostensive feedback is provided on the child's object choice (Horst & Samuelson, 2008). We found that although toddlers aged 2;0 at risk for autism can use ME to choose the correct referent of a word, they do not benefit from feedback for long-term retention of the word-object mapping. Further, their difficulty using feedback is associated with their smaller receptive vocabularies. We propose that difficulties learning from social feedback, not lexical principles, limits vocabulary building during development in children at risk for autism.

Forward Association, Backward Association, and the False-Memory Illusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brainerd, C. J.; Wright, Ron

2005-01-01

In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false-memory illusion, forward associative strength (FAS) is unrelated to the strength of the illusion; this is puzzling, because high-FAS lists ought to share more semantic features with critical unpresented words than should low-FAS lists. The authors show that this null result is probably a truncated range…

Mahlzeit! (Enjoy Your Meal!) German Table Manners, Menus, and Eating Establishments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singer, Debbie

A series of short texts focus on German eating habits and types of eating establishments. Vocabulary is glossed in the margin and each text is followed by comprehension questions. Menus from a restaurant, an inn, and a fast-food restaurant; vocabulary exercises; a word search puzzle and its solution; and directions in English for conversational…

Trabaja y aprende: Libro de actividades, 3 (Work and Learn: Workbook 3).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This workbook, designed to be used with the textbook of the same title (FL 004 273), contains exercises, riddles, puzzles, coloring activities, and reinforcement of various word-perception skills and sentences. Included is a step-by-step procedure of phonetic analysis. The intention of the workbook is to enable students to increase their ability…

Lee y trabaja: Libro de actividades, 2 (Read and Work: Workbook 2).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This workbook, designed to be used with the textbook of the same title (FL 004 272), contains exercises, riddles, puzzles, coloring activities, and reinforcement of various word-perception skills and sentences. Included is a step-by-step procedure of phonetic analysis. The intention of the workbook is to enable students to increase their ability…

Mira y lee: Libro de actividades, 1 (Look and Read: Workbook 1).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This workbook, designed to be used with the textbook of the same title (FL 004 271), contains exercises, riddles, puzzles, coloring activities, and reinforcement of various word-perception skills and sentences. Included is a step-by-step procedure of phonetic analysis. The intention of the workbook is to enable students to increase their ability…

La ciudad: Libro de actividades, 1 (The City: Workbook 1).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This workbook, designed to be used with a textbook of the same title, contains exercises, riddles, puzzles, coloring activities, and reinforcement of various word-perception skills and sentences. Included is a step-by-step procedure of phonetic analysis. The intention of the workbook is to enable students to apply their ability to get meaning from…

Design and Rationale of the Cognitive Intervention to Improve Memory in Heart Failure Patients Study.

PubMed

Pressler, Susan J; Giordani, Bruno; Titler, Marita; Gradus-Pizlo, Irmina; Smith, Dean; Dorsey, Susan G; Gao, Sujuan; Jung, Miyeon

Memory loss is an independent predictor of mortality among heart failure patients. Twenty-three percent to 50% of heart failure patients have comorbid memory loss, but few interventions are available to treat the memory loss. The aims of this 3-arm randomized controlled trial were to (1) evaluate efficacy of computerized cognitive training intervention using BrainHQ to improve primary outcomes of memory and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and secondary outcomes of working memory, instrumental activities of daily living, and health-related quality of life among heart failure patients; (2) evaluate incremental cost-effectiveness of BrainHQ; and (3) examine depressive symptoms and genomic moderators of BrainHQ effect. A sample of 264 heart failure patients within 4 equal-sized blocks (normal/low baseline cognitive function and gender) will be randomly assigned to (1) BrainHQ, (2) active control computer-based crossword puzzles, and (3) usual care control groups. BrainHQ is an 8-week, 40-hour program individualized to each patient's performance. Data collection will be completed at baseline and at 10 weeks and 4 and 8 months. Descriptive statistics, mixed model analyses, and cost-utility analysis using intent-to-treat approach will be computed. This research will provide new knowledge about the efficacy of BrainHQ to improve memory and increase serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in heart failure. If efficacious, the intervention will provide a new therapeutic approach that is easy to disseminate to treat a serious comorbid condition of heart failure.

Toxics in My Home? You Bet! Curriculum on Household Toxics for Grades K-3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purin, Gina; And Others

This curriculum consists of a one-week course of study designed to introduce K-3 students to (or increase their awareness of) toxic substances commonly found in the home. It includes an introduction/conceptual framework and four learning activities for four concept areas (and an optional word puzzle). Each activity includes a statement of purpose,…

An L2 Reader's Word-Recognition Strategies: Transferred or Developed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alco, Bonnie

2010-01-01

Transfer of reading strategies from the first language (L1) to the second language (L2) has long puzzled educators, but what happens if the L1 is an alphabet language and the second is not, or if there is a mismatch in the languages' grapheme-phoneme connection? Although some students readily adjust to reading and writing in their second language,…

A Valentine's Day bouquet for Temperature readers: pleasing with prizes, searching for the right words, and keeping things mysterious.

PubMed

Romanovsky, Andrej A

2015-01-01

This editorial tells its readers that the journal Temperature awards its first prizes for best papers to Boris Kingma and Assaf Yacobi. It also discusses the use of several thermoregulation-related terms and expressions, including "cold temperature," "thermoneutral temperature," and "warm-sensitive" and offers, arguably, better alternatives. The editorial also contains a new puzzle: how can color affect temperature perception?

The Education Game.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lubar, David

1982-01-01

Four programs are reviewed: Crossword Magic, Master Type, The Vocabulary Baseball Game, and Meet the Presidents. The major innovations highlighted by the products selected are the ways the creators turned learning into a game. It is noted that whether this approach is desirable is for the individual teacher to decide. (MP)

The brain correlates of the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation.

PubMed

Albrecht, Konstanze; Abeler, Johannes; Weber, Bernd; Falk, Armin

2014-01-01

Apart from everyday duties, such as doing the laundry or cleaning the house, there are tasks we do for pleasure and enjoyment. We do such tasks, like solving crossword puzzles or reading novels, without any external pressure or force; instead, we are intrinsically motivated: we do the tasks because we enjoy doing them. Previous studies suggest that external rewards, i.e., rewards from the outside, affect the intrinsic motivation to engage in a task: while performance-based monetary rewards are perceived as controlling and induce a business-contract framing, verbal rewards praising one's competence can enhance the perceived self-determination. Accordingly, the former have been shown to decrease intrinsic motivation, whereas the latter have been shown to increase intrinsic motivation. The present study investigated the neural processes underlying the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation in a group of 64 subjects applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that, when participants received positive performance feedback, activation in the anterior striatum and midbrain was affected by the nature of the reward; compared to a non-rewarded control group, activation was higher while monetary rewards were administered. However, we did not find a decrease in activation after reward withdrawal. In contrast, we found an increase in activation for verbal rewards: after verbal rewards had been withdrawn, participants showed a higher activation in the aforementioned brain areas when they received success compared to failure feedback. We further found that, while participants worked on the task, activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex was enhanced after the verbal rewards were administered and withdrawn.

The brain correlates of the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation

PubMed Central

Albrecht, Konstanze; Abeler, Johannes; Weber, Bernd; Falk, Armin

2014-01-01

Apart from everyday duties, such as doing the laundry or cleaning the house, there are tasks we do for pleasure and enjoyment. We do such tasks, like solving crossword puzzles or reading novels, without any external pressure or force; instead, we are intrinsically motivated: we do the tasks because we enjoy doing them. Previous studies suggest that external rewards, i.e., rewards from the outside, affect the intrinsic motivation to engage in a task: while performance-based monetary rewards are perceived as controlling and induce a business-contract framing, verbal rewards praising one's competence can enhance the perceived self-determination. Accordingly, the former have been shown to decrease intrinsic motivation, whereas the latter have been shown to increase intrinsic motivation. The present study investigated the neural processes underlying the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation in a group of 64 subjects applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that, when participants received positive performance feedback, activation in the anterior striatum and midbrain was affected by the nature of the reward; compared to a non-rewarded control group, activation was higher while monetary rewards were administered. However, we did not find a decrease in activation after reward withdrawal. In contrast, we found an increase in activation for verbal rewards: after verbal rewards had been withdrawn, participants showed a higher activation in the aforementioned brain areas when they received success compared to failure feedback. We further found that, while participants worked on the task, activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex was enhanced after the verbal rewards were administered and withdrawn. PMID:25278834

Whale Teaching Unit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peninsula Humane Society, San Mateo, CA.

Materials in this teaching unit are designed to foster an interest in whale preservation among intermediate grade and junior high school students. Several readings provide background information on various types of whales and the economic value of whales. Student activities include a true and false game, a crossword, and a mobile. A resource list…

Tips from the Classroom: Word Building [and] Can't Say "Yes" or "No" [and] Three-Peat or How to Engage Students in Revising Their Oral Presentations [and] Taking the Minutes Is Time Well Spent [and] Puzzles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicklous, Nan G.; And Others

1997-01-01

Presents useful tips for improving classroom learning. These include inviting native- and nonnative-English-speaking students to engage in world building while improving their language and cultural knowledge; highly motivated conversational activities; students' revision of their oral presentations; having students record classroom activities; and…

Emmert's Law and the moon illusion.

PubMed

Gregory, Richard L

2008-01-01

A cognitive account is offered of puzzling, though well known phenomena, including increased size of afterimages with greater distance (Emmert's Law) and increased size of the moon near the horizon (the Moon Illusion). Various classical distortion illusions are explained by Size Scaling when inappropriate to distance, 'flipping' depth ambiguity being used to separate botton-up and top-down visual scaling. Helmholtz's general Principle is discussed with simpler wording - that retinal images are attributed to objects - for object recognition and spatial vision.

A Valentine's Day bouquet for Temperature readers: pleasing with prizes, searching for the right words, and keeping things mysterious

PubMed Central

Romanovsky, Andrej A

2015-01-01

This editorial tells its readers that the journal Temperature awards its first prizes for best papers to Boris Kingma and Assaf Yacobi. It also discusses the use of several thermoregulation-related terms and expressions, including “cold temperature,” “thermoneutral temperature,” and “warm-sensitive” and offers, arguably, better alternatives. The editorial also contains a new puzzle: how can color affect temperature perception? PMID:27226997

Interference between a fast-paced spatial puzzle task and verbal memory demands.

PubMed

Epling, Samantha L; Blakely, Megan J; Russell, Paul N; Helton, William S

2017-06-01

Research continues to provide evidence that people are poor multi-taskers. Cognitive resource theory is a common explanation for the inability to efficiently perform multiple tasks at the same time. This theory proposes that one's limited supply of cognitive resources can be utilized faster than it is replenished, which results in a performance decline, particularly when these limited resources must be allocated among multiple tasks. Researchers have proposed both domain-specific, for example, spatial versus verbal processing resources, and domain general cognitive resources. In the present research, we investigated whether a spatial puzzle task performed simultaneously with a verbal recall task would impair performance in either task or both tasks, compared to performance on the tasks individually. As hypothesized, a reduction in word recall was found when dual-tasking, though performance on the puzzle task did not significantly differ between the single- and dual-task conditions. This is consistent, in part, with both a general resource theory and a Multiple Resource Theory, but further work is required to better understand the cognitive processing system. The employment of the recall task in the dual-task paradigm with a variety of secondary tasks will help to continue mapping out the specificity (or lack thereof) of cognitive resources utilized in various mental and physical tasks.

A Low Vision Rehabilitation Program for Patients with Mild Cognitive Deficits

PubMed Central

Whitson, Heather E.; Whitaker, Diane; Potter, Guy; McConnell, Eleanor; Tripp, Fay; Sanders, Linda L.; Muir, Kelly W.; Cohen, Harvey J.; Cousins, Scott W.

2012-01-01

Objective To design and pilot test a low vision rehabilitation program for patients with macular disease and cognitive deficits. Methods The Memory or Reasoning Enhanced Low Vision Rehabilitation (MORE-LVR) program was created by a team representing optometry, occupational therapy, ophthalmology, neuropsychology, and geriatrics. Key components of MORE-LVR are: 1) repetitive training with a therapist twice weekly over a 6-week period, 2) simplified training experience addressing no more than three individualized goals in a minimally distracting environment, 3) involvement of an informal companion (friend or family member). Eligible patients were recruited from an LVR clinic; measures were compared before and after the 6 week program. Results Twelve non-demented patients (mean age 84.5 years, 75% female) who screened positive for cognitive deficits completed the MORE-LVR intervention. Participants demonstrated improved scores on the National Eye Institute’s Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) composite score (47.2±16.3 to 54.8±13.8, p=0.01) and near activities score (21.5±14.0 to 41.0±23.1, p=0.02), timed performance measures (writing a grocery list [p=0.03], filling in a crossword puzzle answer [p=0.003]), a score indicating satisfaction with independence (p=0.05), and logical memory (p=0.02). All patients and companions reported progress toward at least one individualized goal; >70% reported progress toward all three goals. Conclusions This pilot study demonstrates feasibility of an LVR program for macular disease patients with mild cognitive deficits. Participants demonstrated improvements in vision-related function and cognitive measures and expressed high satisfaction. Future work is needed to determine if MORE-LVR is superior to usual outpatient LVR for persons with co-existing visual and cognitive impairments. PMID:23619914

EEG source reconstruction evidence for the noun-verb neural dissociation along semantic dimensions.

PubMed

Zhao, Bin; Dang, Jianwu; Zhang, Gaoyan

2017-09-17

One of the long-standing issues in neurolinguistic research is about the neural basis of word representation, concerning whether grammatical classification or semantic difference causes the neural dissociation of brain activity patterns when processing different word categories, especially nouns and verbs. To disentangle this puzzle, four orthogonalized word categories in Chinese: unambiguous nouns (UN), unambiguous verbs (UV), ambiguous words with noun-biased semantics (AN), and ambiguous words with verb-biased semantics (AV) were adopted in an auditory task for recording electroencephalographic (EEG) signals from 128 electrodes on the scalps of twenty-two subjects. With the advanced current density reconstruction (CDR) algorithm and the constraint of standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography, the spatiotemporal brain dynamics of word processing were explored with the results that in multiple time periods including P1 (60-90ms), N1 (100-140ms), P200 (150-250ms) and N400 (350-450ms), noun-verb dissociation over the parietal-occipital and frontal-central cortices appeared not only between the UN-UV grammatical classes but also between the grammatically identical but semantically different AN-AV pairs. The apparent semantic dissociation within one grammatical class strongly suggests that the semantic difference rather than grammatical classification could be interpreted as the origin of the noun-verb neural dissociation. Our results also revealed that semantic dissociation occurs from an early stage and repeats in multiple phases, thus supporting a functionally hierarchical word processing mechanism. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geoscience Data Puzzles: Developing Students' Ability to Make Meaning from Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kastens, K. A.; Turrin, M.

2010-12-01

One of the most fundamental aspects of geoscience expertise is the ability to extract insights from observational earth data. Where an expert might see trends, patterns, processes, and candidate causal relationships, a novice could look at the same data representation and see dots, wiggles and blotches of color. The problem is compounded when the student was not personally involved in collecting the data or samples and thus has no experiential knowledge of the Earth setting that the data represent. In other words, the problem is especially severe when students tap into the vast archives of professionally-collected data that the geoscience community has worked so hard to make available for instructional use over the internet. Moreover, most high school and middle school teachers did not themselves learn Earth Science through analyzing data, and they may lack skills and/or confidence needed to scaffold students through the process of learning to interpret realistically-complex data sets. We have developed “Geoscience Data Puzzles” with the paired goals of (a) helping students learn about the earth from data, and (b) helping teachers learn to teach with data. Geoscience Data Puzzles are data-using activities that purposefully present a low barrier-to-entry for teachers and a high ratio of insight-to-effort for students. Each Puzzle uses authentic geoscience data, but the data are carefully pre-selected in order to illuminate a fundamental Earth process within tractable snippets of data. Every Puzzle offers "Aha" moments, when the connection between data and process comes clear in a rewarding burst of insight. Every Puzzle is accompanied by a Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) guide, which explicates the chain of reasoning by which the puzzle-solver can use the evidence provided by the data to construct scientific claims. Four types of reasoning are stressed: spatial reasoning, in which students make inferences from observations about location, orientation, shape, configuration or trajectory of objects or phenomena; temporal reasoning, in which students make inferences from observations of timing, rates and sequence of Earth events and processes; quantitative reasoning, which makes use of numerical information; and concept-based reasoning, in which students must tap into their knowledge of Earth Science concepts. A book of classroom-tested Data Puzzles and accompanying PCK guides is scheduled for late 2010 publication by the National Science Teachers Association. Topics (with data types) include paleoclimate (lithology and pollen taxa), weather (precipitation, air temperature, air pressure, wind direction), historic earthquake (eye witness accounts), estuary (salinity and precipitation), watershed (precipitation and streamflow), and hydrothermal vents (water temperature).

The variability puzzle in human memory.

PubMed

Kahana, Michael J; Aggarwal, Eash V; Phan, Tung D

2018-04-26

Memory performance exhibits a high level of variability from moment to moment. Much of this variability may reflect inadequately controlled experimental variables, such as word memorability, past practice and subject fatigue. Alternatively, stochastic variability in performance may largely reflect the efficiency of endogenous neural processes that govern memory function. To help adjudicate between these competing views, the authors conducted a multisession study in which subjects completed 552 trials of a delayed free-recall task. Applying a statistical model to predict variability in each subject's recall performance uncovered modest effects of word memorability, proactive interference, and other variables. In contrast to the limited explanatory power of these experimental variables, performance on the prior list strongly predicted current list recall. These findings suggest that endogenous factors underlying successful encoding and retrieval drive variability in performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Academic Deanship: Individual Careers and Institutional Roles. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bright, David F.; Richards, Mary P.

This book provides new and aspiring academic deans with a guide to the complex tasks of assuming and managing the role of dean. The guide contains information on approaching the new job and outlines the skills and duties required of a dean. The chapters are: (1) "The Map and the Crossword: Ways To Think about Being a Dean"; (2) "What IT Takes To…

Some Implications of a Behavioral Analysis of Verbal Behavior for Logic and Mathematics

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The evident power and utility of the formal models of logic and mathematics pose a puzzle: Although such models are instances of verbal behavior, they are also essentialistic. But behavioral terms, and indeed all products of selection contingencies, are intrinsically variable and in this respect appear to be incommensurate with essentialism. A distinctive feature of verbal contingencies resolves this puzzle: The control of behavior by the nonverbal environment is often mediated by the verbal behavior of others, and behavior under control of verbal stimuli is blind to the intrinsic variability of the stimulating environment. Thus, words and sentences serve as filters of variability and thereby facilitate essentialistic model building and the formal structures of logic, mathematics, and science. Autoclitic frames, verbal chains interrupted by interchangeable variable terms, are ubiquitous in verbal behavior. Variable terms can be substituted in such frames almost without limit, a feature fundamental to formal models. Consequently, our fluency with autoclitic frames fosters generalization to formal models, which in turn permit deduction and other kinds of logical and mathematical inference. PMID:28018038

Protective Isolation for Patients with Haematological Malignancies: A Pilot Study Investigating Patients' Distress and Use of Time.

PubMed

Annibali, O; Pensieri, C; Tomarchio, V; Biagioli, V; Pennacchini, M; Tendas, A; Tambone, V; Tirindelli, M C

2017-10-01

Background: Patients with haematological malignancies are often hospitalized in protective isolation until full neutrophil recovery in order to prevent infections. This descriptive pilot study evaluate the level of isolation-related distress and the use of free time in a sample of Italian onco-haematological patients who were hospitalized in protective isolation. Materials and Methods: Participants were 18 patients hospitalized in hematologic ward to receive induction therapy (n=12) or autologous stem cell transplant (n=6). They completed a self-report questionnaire before discharge. Results: Participants reported a moderate level of isolation-related distress, anxiety, and boredom: the more the anxiety and the boredom, the more the distress (r=.77; P<.001), (r=.79; P<.001), respectively. The activities performed during isolation were: watching TV (72.2%), reading (55.6%), thinking (33.3%), surfing in Internet or using PC (33.3%), and playing games or making cross-words (16.7%). Participants who reported pessimistic thinking had higher isolation-related distress (P=.004) as well as anxiety (P<.001) and boredom (P=.001). Conclusion: Haematology Units should support isolated patients in spending their time in recreational activities, allowing more contacts with immediate relatives and friends, providing free TV and Wi-Fi connection inside the room. In addition, patients should have to keep themselves physically active. Isolation-related distress could also be reduced by providing psychological support.

Protective Isolation for Patients with Haematological Malignancies: A Pilot Study Investigating Patients’ Distress and Use of Time

PubMed Central

Annibali, O.; Pensieri, C.; Tomarchio, V.; Biagioli, V.; Pennacchini, M.; Tendas, A.; Tambone, V.; Tirindelli, M.C.

2017-01-01

Background: Patients with haematological malignancies are often hospitalized in protective isolation until full neutrophil recovery in order to prevent infections. This descriptive pilot study evaluate the level of isolation-related distress and the use of free time in a sample of Italian onco-haematological patients who were hospitalized in protective isolation. Materials and Methods: Participants were 18 patients hospitalized in hematologic ward to receive induction therapy (n=12) or autologous stem cell transplant (n=6). They completed a self-report questionnaire before discharge. Results: Participants reported a moderate level of isolation-related distress, anxiety, and boredom: the more the anxiety and the boredom, the more the distress (r=.77; P<.001), (r=.79; P<.001), respectively. The activities performed during isolation were: watching TV (72.2%), reading (55.6%), thinking (33.3%), surfing in Internet or using PC (33.3%), and playing games or making cross-words (16.7%). Participants who reported pessimistic thinking had higher isolation-related distress (P=.004) as well as anxiety (P<.001) and boredom (P=.001). Conclusion: Haematology Units should support isolated patients in spending their time in recreational activities, allowing more contacts with immediate relatives and friends, providing free TV and Wi-Fi connection inside the room. In addition, patients should have to keep themselves physically active. Isolation-related distress could also be reduced by providing psychological support. PMID:29340129

Morphological and syntactic awareness in poor comprehenders: another piece of the puzzle.

PubMed

Tong, Xiuli; Deacon, S Hélène; Cain, Kate

2014-01-01

Poor comprehenders have intact word-reading skills but struggle specifically with understanding what they read. We investigated whether two metalinguistic skills, morphological and syntactic awareness, are specifically related to poor reading comprehension by including separate and combined measures of each. We identified poor comprehenders (n = 15) and average comprehenders (n = 15) in Grade 4 who were matched on word-reading accuracy and speed, vocabulary, nonverbal cognitive ability, and age. The two groups performed comparably on a morphological awareness task that involved both morphological and syntactic cues. However, poor comprehenders performed less well than average comprehenders on a derivational word analogy task in which there was no additional syntactic information, thus tapping only morphological awareness, and also less well on a syntactic awareness task, in which there were no morphological manipulations. Our task and participant-selection process ruled out key nonmetalinguistic sources of influence on these tasks. These findings suggest that the relationships among reading comprehension, morphological awareness, and syntactic awareness depend on the tasks used to measure the latter two. Future research needs to identify precisely in which ways these metalinguistic difficulties connect to challenges with reading comprehension.

Enhancing Cognitive Abilities with Comprehensive Training: A Large, Online, Randomized, Active-Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Hardy, Joseph L.; Nelson, Rolf A.; Thomason, Moriah E.; Sternberg, Daniel A.; Katovich, Kiefer; Farzin, Faraz; Scanlon, Michael

2015-01-01

Background A variety of studies have demonstrated gains in cognitive ability following cognitive training interventions. However, other studies have not shown such gains, and questions remain regarding the efficacy of specific cognitive training interventions. Cognitive training research often involves programs made up of just one or a few exercises, targeting limited and specific cognitive endpoints. In addition, cognitive training studies typically involve small samples that may be insufficient for reliable measurement of change. Other studies have utilized training periods that were too short to generate reliable gains in cognitive performance. Methods The present study evaluated an online cognitive training program comprised of 49 exercises targeting a variety of cognitive capacities. The cognitive training program was compared to an active control condition in which participants completed crossword puzzles. All participants were recruited, trained, and tested online (N = 4,715 fully evaluable participants). Participants in both groups were instructed to complete one approximately 15-minute session at least 5 days per week for 10 weeks. Results Participants randomly assigned to the treatment group improved significantly more on the primary outcome measure, an aggregate measure of neuropsychological performance, than did the active control group (Cohen’s d effect size = 0.255; 95% confidence interval = [0.198, 0.312]). Treatment participants showed greater improvements than controls on speed of processing, short-term memory, working memory, problem solving, and fluid reasoning assessments. Participants in the treatment group also showed greater improvements on self-reported measures of cognitive functioning, particularly on those items related to concentration compared to the control group (Cohen’s d = 0.249; 95% confidence interval = [0.191, 0.306]). Conclusion Taken together, these results indicate that a varied training program composed of a number of tasks targeted to different cognitive functions can show transfer to a wide range of untrained measures of cognitive performance. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT-02367898 PMID:26333022

Learning and Memory Processes Following Cochlear Implantation: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle.

PubMed

Pisoni, David B; Kronenberger, William G; Chandramouli, Suyog H; Conway, Christopher M

2016-01-01

At the present time, there is no question that cochlear implants (CIs) work and often work very well in quiet listening conditions for many profoundly deaf children and adults. The speech and language outcomes data published over the last two decades document quite extensively the clinically significant benefits of CIs. Although there now is a large body of evidence supporting the "efficacy" of CIs as a medical intervention for profound hearing loss in both children and adults, there still remain a number of challenging unresolved clinical and theoretical issues that deal with the "effectiveness" of CIs in individual patients that have not yet been successfully resolved. In this paper, we review recent findings on learning and memory, two central topics in the field of cognition that have been seriously neglected in research on CIs. Our research findings on sequence learning, memory and organization processes, and retrieval strategies used in verbal learning and memory of categorized word lists suggests that basic domain-general learning abilities may be the missing piece of the puzzle in terms of understanding the cognitive factors that underlie the enormous individual differences and variability routinely observed in speech and language outcomes following cochlear implantation.

Learning and Memory Processes Following Cochlear Implantation: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

PubMed Central

Pisoni, David B.; Kronenberger, William G.; Chandramouli, Suyog H.; Conway, Christopher M.

2016-01-01

At the present time, there is no question that cochlear implants (CIs) work and often work very well in quiet listening conditions for many profoundly deaf children and adults. The speech and language outcomes data published over the last two decades document quite extensively the clinically significant benefits of CIs. Although there now is a large body of evidence supporting the “efficacy” of CIs as a medical intervention for profound hearing loss in both children and adults, there still remain a number of challenging unresolved clinical and theoretical issues that deal with the “effectiveness” of CIs in individual patients that have not yet been successfully resolved. In this paper, we review recent findings on learning and memory, two central topics in the field of cognition that have been seriously neglected in research on CIs. Our research findings on sequence learning, memory and organization processes, and retrieval strategies used in verbal learning and memory of categorized word lists suggests that basic domain-general learning abilities may be the missing piece of the puzzle in terms of understanding the cognitive factors that underlie the enormous individual differences and variability routinely observed in speech and language outcomes following cochlear implantation. PMID:27092098

Extended Wordsearches in Chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cotton, Simon

1998-04-01

Students can be encouraged to develop their factual knowledge by use of puzzles. One strategy described here is the extended wordsearch, where the wordsearch element generates a number of words or phrases from which the answers to a series of questions are selected. The wordsearch can be generated with the aid of computer programs, though in order to make them suitable for students with dyslexia or other learning difficulties, a simpler form is more appropriate. These problems can be employed in a variety of contexts, for example, as topic tests and classroom end-of-lesson fillers. An example is provided in the area of calcium chemistry. Sources of suitable software are listed.

A Puzzle Unsolved: Failure to Observe Different Effects of God and Religion Primes on Intergroup Attitudes

PubMed Central

Ramsay, Jonathan E.; Tong, Eddie M. W.; Pang, Joyce S.; Chowdhury, Avijit

2016-01-01

Religious priming has been found to have both positive and negative consequences, and recent research suggests that the activation of God-related and community-related religious cognitions may cause outgroup prosociality and outgroup derogation respectively. The present research sought to examine whether reminders of God and religion have different effects on attitudes towards ingroup and outgroup members. Over two studies, little evidence was found for different effects of these two types of religious primes. In study 1, individuals primed with the words “religion”, “God” and a neutral control word evaluated both ingroup and outgroup members similarly, although a marginal tendency towards more negative evaluations of outgroup members by females exposed to religion primes was observed. In study 2, no significant differences in attitudes towards an outgroup member were observed between the God, religion, and neutral priming conditions. Furthermore, the gender effect observed in study 1 did not replicate in this second study. Possible explanations for these null effects are discussed. PMID:26812526

A Puzzle Unsolved: Failure to Observe Different Effects of God and Religion Primes on Intergroup Attitudes.

PubMed

Ramsay, Jonathan E; Tong, Eddie M W; Pang, Joyce S; Chowdhury, Avijit

2016-01-01

Religious priming has been found to have both positive and negative consequences, and recent research suggests that the activation of God-related and community-related religious cognitions may cause outgroup prosociality and outgroup derogation respectively. The present research sought to examine whether reminders of God and religion have different effects on attitudes towards ingroup and outgroup members. Over two studies, little evidence was found for different effects of these two types of religious primes. In study 1, individuals primed with the words "religion", "God" and a neutral control word evaluated both ingroup and outgroup members similarly, although a marginal tendency towards more negative evaluations of outgroup members by females exposed to religion primes was observed. In study 2, no significant differences in attitudes towards an outgroup member were observed between the God, religion, and neutral priming conditions. Furthermore, the gender effect observed in study 1 did not replicate in this second study. Possible explanations for these null effects are discussed.

The Coast Artillery Journal. Volume 63, Number 1, July 1925

DTIC Science & Technology

1925-07-01

he won. (N 0, Gentle Reader, I made no mention of my own winnings; please don’t interrupt). It worked out some- thing like this: Suppose Tommy Jones...erroneous judgment the latter would pay Tommy five (count them) five marbles. 1Vhereupon Tommy would start the game anew by con- cealing another covey of...marbles-and right here is where the brains came in. Tommy would size up his opponent in a fashion roughly as follows: "Bill is what the crossword

Preschoolers’ Novel Noun Extensions: Shape in Spite of Knowing Better

PubMed Central

Saalbach, Henrik; Schalk, Lennart

2011-01-01

We examined the puzzling research findings that when extending novel nouns, preschoolers rely on shape similarity (rather than categorical relations) while in other task contexts (e.g., property induction) they rely on categorical relations. Taking into account research on children’s word learning, categorization, and inductive inference we assume that preschoolers have both a shape-based and a category-based word extension strategy available and can switch between these two depending on which information is easily available. To this end, we tested preschoolers on two versions of a novel-noun label extension task. First, we paralleled the standard extension task commonly used by previous research. In this case, as expected, preschoolers predominantly selected same-shape items. Second, we supported preschoolers’ retrieval of item-related information from memory by asking them simple questions about each item prior to the label extension task. Here, they switched to a category-based strategy, thus, predominantly selecting same-category items. Finally, we revealed that this shape-to-category shift is specific to the word learning context as we did not find it in a non-lexical classification task. These findings support our assumption that preschoolers’ decision about word extension change in accordance with the availability of information (from task context or by memory retrieval). We conclude by suggesting that preschoolers’ noun extensions can be conceptualized within the framework of heuristic decision-making. This provides an ecologically plausible processing account with respect to which information is selected and how this information is integrated to act as a guideline for decision-making when novel words have to be generalized. PMID:22073036

Puzzling Mechanisms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Deventer, M. Oskar

2009-01-01

The basis of a good mechanical puzzle is often a puzzling mechanism. This article will introduce some new puzzling mechanisms, like two knots that engage like gears, a chain whose links can be interchanged, and flat gears that do not come apart. It illustrates how puzzling mechanisms can be transformed into real mechanical puzzles, e.g., by…

Do Puzzle Pieces and Autism Puzzle Piece Logos Evoke Negative Associations?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gernsbacher, Morton Ann; Raimond, Adam R.; Stevenson, Jennifer L.; Boston, Jilana S.; Harp, Bev

2018-01-01

Puzzle pieces have become ubiquitous symbols for autism. However, puzzle-piece imagery stirs debate between those who support and those who object to its use because they believe puzzle-piece imagery evokes negative associations. Our study empirically investigated whether puzzle pieces evoke negative associations in the general public.…

Alliteration in medicine: a puzzling profusion of p's

PubMed Central

Hayden, Gregory F

1999-01-01

Problem Puzzling, progressive profusion of alliterative “p's” in published papers. Purpose To depict this particular “p” predominance with pinpoint precision. Plan Periodic, painstaking perusal of periodicals by a professor of paediatrics. Proposal The “p” plethora is positively perplexing and potentially perturbing. Alliteration is a literary device consisting of repetition of the same starting sound in several words in a sentence.1 Consider, for example, Shakespeare's playful parody of alliteration in Peter Quince's prologue in A Midsummer Night's Dream: “Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast.” Alliteration has appeared frequently in the medical literature—for example: “Respiratory syncytial virus—from chimps with colds to conundrums and cures;”2 “The choreas: of faints, fevers, and families;”3 “Coronary artery stents—gauging, gorging, and gouging;”4 “Moschcowitz, multimers, and metalloprotease;”5 “Alagille syndrome: a nutritional niche for Notch;”6 “Theodor Billroth: success with sutures and strings.”7 Perusing the medical literature with alliteration in mind, I have become perplexed by a peculiar propensity for the letter “p” to be placed in prominent positions. Consider for a moment the alliterative content of the BMJ, a prestigious periodical also published in Pakistani, Polish, and Portuguese. Perhaps the prime example is a piece entitled “A potpourri of parasites in poetry and proverb,”8 but the journal has presented articles addressing such topics as paracetamol poisoning,9 practitioners' pressure to prescribe,10 physicians' partnerships with patients,11 partnerships for prevention in public playgrounds,12 and pregnancy outcomes which have been persistently poor.13 Other topics have included patients' priorities,14 the political process of puzzling out private versus public priorities,15 and the ponderous problem of whether the priorities in apportioning resources should be primarily pragmatic or principally principled.16 In pursuing this plethora of “p” further, it becomes apparent that this predominance extends past paper titles to many other aspects of medicine. The purpose of this paper is to point this puzzling phenomenon of “p” profusion to the attention of practising physicians. PMID:10600957

Handwriting in healthy people aged 65 years and over.

PubMed

van Drempt, Nadege; McCluskey, Annie; Lannin, Natasha A

2011-08-01

Handwriting is an important activity that is commonly affected by neurological and orthopaedic conditions. Handwriting research has predominantly involved children. Little is known about handwriting behaviour in healthy older adults. This study aims to describe the handwriting practices of 30 unimpaired adults aged 65 years and over. In this cross-sectional observational study, data were collected from 30 older adults using a self-report questionnaire, digital pen recordings over three days and a handwriting log. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The mean age of participants was 75.1 years (standard deviation=6.9). Variations in handwriting were evident in letter size, slant and spacing. Participants wrote very little--a median of 18 words per occasion (interquartile range=10.5-26.9 words). Most handwriting involved self-generated text (85%), not copied or transcribed text. Participants stood while writing for 17% of handwriting occasions. The most common reasons for handwriting were note taking (23%) and puzzles (22%). Legibility may not depend exclusively on the handwriting script that a beginning writer is taught, but may be a result of other factors as the person ages. A comprehensive adult handwriting assessment and retraining programme should be relevant to older adults, including common handwriting activities, involving self-generated text and few words. © 2011 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2011 Occupational Therapy Australia.

Experimentally induced distraction impacts cognitive but not emotional processes in think-aloud cognitive assessment

PubMed Central

Hsu, Kean J.; Babeva, Kalina N.; Feng, Michelle C.; Hummer, Justin F.; Davison, Gerald C.

2014-01-01

Studies have examined the impact of distraction on basic task performance (e.g., working memory, motor responses), yet research is lacking regarding its impact in the domain of think-aloud cognitive assessment, where the threat to assessment validity is high. The Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations think-aloud cognitive assessment paradigm was employed to address this issue. Participants listened to scenarios under three conditions (i.e., while answering trivia questions, playing a visual puzzle game, or with no experimental distractor). Their articulated thoughts were then content-analyzed both by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program and by content analysis of emotion and cognitive processes conducted by trained coders. Distraction did not impact indices of emotion but did affect cognitive processes. Specifically, with the LIWC system, the trivia questions distraction condition resulted in significantly higher proportions of insight and causal words, and higher frequencies of non-fluencies (e.g., “uh” or “umm”) and filler words (e.g., “like” or “you know”). Coder-rated content analysis found more disengagement and more misunderstanding particularly in the trivia questions distraction condition. A better understanding of how distraction disrupts the amount and type of cognitive engagement holds important implications for future studies employing cognitive assessment methods. PMID:24904488

Do puzzle pieces and autism puzzle piece logos evoke negative associations?

PubMed

Gernsbacher, Morton Ann; Raimond, Adam R; Stevenson, Jennifer L; Boston, Jilana S; Harp, Bev

2018-02-01

Puzzle pieces have become ubiquitous symbols for autism. However, puzzle-piece imagery stirs debate between those who support and those who object to its use because they believe puzzle-piece imagery evokes negative associations. Our study empirically investigated whether puzzle pieces evoke negative associations in the general public. Participants' ( N = 400) implicit negative associations were measured with an Implicit Association Task, which is a speeded categorization task, and participants' explicit associations were measured with an Explicit Association Task, which is a standard task for assessing consumers' explicit associations with brands (and images of those brands). Puzzle pieces, both those used as autism logos and those used more generically, evoked negative implicit associations ( t(399) = -5.357, p < 0.001) and negative explicit associations ( z = 4.693, p < 0.001, d = 0.491). Participants explicitly associated puzzle pieces, even generic puzzle pieces, with incompleteness, imperfection, and oddity. Our results bear public policy implications. If an organization's intention for using puzzle-piece imagery is to evoke negative associations, our results suggest the organization's use of puzzle-piece imagery is apt. However, if the organization's intention is to evoke positive associations, our results suggest that puzzle-piece imagery should probably be avoided.

Robust Sex Differences in Jigsaw Puzzle Solving—Are Boys Really Better in Most Visuospatial Tasks?

PubMed Central

Kocijan, Vid; Horvat, Marina; Majdic, Gregor

2017-01-01

Sex differences are consistently reported in different visuospatial tasks with men usually performing better in mental rotation tests while women are better on tests for memory of object locations. In the present study, we investigated sex differences in solving jigsaw puzzles in children. In total 22 boys and 24 girls were tested using custom build tablet application representing a jigsaw puzzle consisting of 25 pieces and featuring three different pictures. Girls outperformed boys in solving jigsaw puzzles regardless of the picture. Girls were faster than boys in solving the puzzle, made less incorrect moves with the pieces of the puzzle, and spent less time moving the pieces around the tablet. It appears that the strategy of solving the jigsaw puzzle was the main factor affecting differences in success, as girls tend to solve the puzzle more systematically while boys performed more trial and error attempts, thus having more incorrect moves with the puzzle pieces. Results of this study suggest a very robust sex difference in solving the jigsaw puzzle with girls outperforming boys by a large margin. PMID:29109682

Robust Sex Differences in Jigsaw Puzzle Solving-Are Boys Really Better in Most Visuospatial Tasks?

PubMed

Kocijan, Vid; Horvat, Marina; Majdic, Gregor

2017-01-01

Sex differences are consistently reported in different visuospatial tasks with men usually performing better in mental rotation tests while women are better on tests for memory of object locations. In the present study, we investigated sex differences in solving jigsaw puzzles in children. In total 22 boys and 24 girls were tested using custom build tablet application representing a jigsaw puzzle consisting of 25 pieces and featuring three different pictures. Girls outperformed boys in solving jigsaw puzzles regardless of the picture. Girls were faster than boys in solving the puzzle, made less incorrect moves with the pieces of the puzzle, and spent less time moving the pieces around the tablet. It appears that the strategy of solving the jigsaw puzzle was the main factor affecting differences in success, as girls tend to solve the puzzle more systematically while boys performed more trial and error attempts, thus having more incorrect moves with the puzzle pieces. Results of this study suggest a very robust sex difference in solving the jigsaw puzzle with girls outperforming boys by a large margin.

Teaching the Blue-Eyed Islanders Puzzle in a Liberal Arts Mathematics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shea, Stephen

2012-01-01

The blue-eyed islanders puzzle is an old and challenging logic puzzle. This is a narrative of an experience introducing a variation of this puzzle on the first day of classes in a liberal arts mathematics course for non-majors. I describe an exercise that was used to facilitate the class's understanding of the puzzle.

Exact and conceptual repetition dissociate conceptual memory tests: problems for transfer appropriate processing theory.

PubMed

McDermott, K B; Roediger, H L

1996-03-01

Three experiments examined whether a conceptual implicit memory test (specifically, category instance generation) would exhibit repetition effects similar to those found in free recall. The transfer appropriate processing account of dissociations among memory tests led us to predict that the tests would show parallel effects; this prediction was based upon the theory's assumption that conceptual tests will behave similarly as a function of various independent variables. In Experiment 1, conceptual repetition (i.e., following a target word [e.g., puzzles] with an associate [e.g., jigsaw]) did not enhance priming on the instance generation test relative to the condition of simply presenting the target word once, although this manipulation did affect free recall. In Experiment 2, conceptual repetition was achieved by following a picture with its corresponding word (or vice versa). In this case, there was an effect of conceptual repetition on free recall but no reliable effect on category instance generation or category cued recall. In addition, we obtained a picture superiority effect in free recall but not in category instance generation. In the third experiment, when the same study sequence was used as in Experiment 1, but with instructions that encouraged relational processing, priming on the category instance generation task was enhanced by conceptual repetition. Results demonstrate that conceptual memory tests can be dissociated and present problems for Roediger's (1990) transfer appropriate processing account of dissociations between explicit and implicit tests.

Solar System Puzzle Kit: An Activity for Earth and Space Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogt, Gregory L.; Rosenberg, Carla B.

This Solar System Puzzle Kit for grades 5-8, allows students to create an eight-cube paper puzzle of the solar system and may be duplicated for classroom use or used as a take home activity for children and parents. By assembling the puzzle, hand-coloring the bodies of the solar system, and viewing the puzzle's 12 sides, students can reinforce…

A new technique for solving puzzles.

PubMed

Makridis, Michael; Papamarkos, Nikos

2010-06-01

This paper proposes a new technique for solving jigsaw puzzles. The novelty of the proposed technique is that it provides an automatic jigsaw puzzle solution without any initial restriction about the shape of pieces, the number of neighbor pieces, etc. The proposed technique uses both curve- and color-matching similarity features. A recurrent procedure is applied, which compares and merges puzzle pieces in pairs, until the original puzzle image is reformed. Geometrical and color features are extracted on the characteristic points (CPs) of the puzzle pieces. CPs, which can be considered as high curvature points, are detected by a rotationally invariant corner detection algorithm. The features which are associated with color are provided by applying a color reduction technique using the Kohonen self-organized feature map. Finally, a postprocessing stage checks and corrects the relative position between puzzle pieces to improve the quality of the resulting image. Experimental results prove the efficiency of the proposed technique, which can be further extended to deal with even more complex jigsaw puzzle problems.

Puzzling practice: a strategy for working with clinical practice issues.

PubMed

Walsh, Kenneth; Moss, Cheryle; Lawless, Jane; McKelvie, Rhonda; Duncan, Lindsay

2008-04-01

In this paper we aim to share the evolution of innovative ways to explore, 'unpack' and reframe clinical issues that exist in everyday practice. The elements of these processes, which we call 'puzzling practice', and the techniques associated with them, were delineated over a two year period by the four authors using action theory based processes. The authors have evolved several different frameworks for 'puzzling practice' which we draw on and use in our practice development work and in our research practice. This paper pays attention to a particular form of puzzling practice that we have found to be useful in assisting individual clinicians and teams to explore and find workable solutions to practice issues. The paper uses a semi-fictitious example of 'Puzzling Practice' gleaned from our experience as practice development facilitators. In this example 'puzzling practice' uses seven different elements; naming the issue; puzzling the issue; testing the puzzle exploring the heart of out practice; formulating the puzzle question; visualizing the future; and generating new strategies for action. Each of the elements is illustrated by the story and the key foundations and ideas behind each element is explored.

Sudoku Puzzles as Chemistry Learning Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crute, Thomas D.; Myers, Stephanie A.

2007-01-01

A sudoku puzzle was designed that incorporated lists of chemistry terms like polyatomic ions, organic functional groups or strong nucleophiles that students need to learn. It was found that students enjoyed solving such puzzles and also such puzzles made the boring tasks of memorizing basic chemical terms an exciting one.

Teaching Proofs and Algorithms in Discrete Mathematics with Online Visual Logic Puzzles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cigas, John; Hsin, Wen-Jung

2005-01-01

Visual logic puzzles provide a fertile environment for teaching multiple topics in discrete mathematics. Many puzzles can be solved by the repeated application of a small, finite set of strategies. Explicitly reasoning from a strategy to a new puzzle state illustrates theorems, proofs, and logic principles. These provide valuable, concrete…

Algorithmic Puzzles: History, Taxonomies, and Applications in Human Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levitin, Anany

2017-01-01

The paper concerns an important but underappreciated genre of algorithmic puzzles, explaining what these puzzles are, reviewing milestones in their long history, and giving two different ways to classify them. Also covered are major applications of algorithmic puzzles in cognitive science research, with an emphasis on insight problem solving, and…

A puzzle form of a non-verbal intelligence test gives significantly higher performance measures in children with severe intellectual disability

PubMed Central

Bello, Katrina D; Goharpey, Nahal; Crewther, Sheila G; Crewther, David P

2008-01-01

Background Assessment of 'potential intellectual ability' of children with severe intellectual disability (ID) is limited, as current tests designed for normal children do not maintain their interest. Thus a manual puzzle version of the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) was devised to appeal to the attentional and sensory preferences and language limitations of children with ID. It was hypothesized that performance on the book and manual puzzle forms would not differ for typically developing children but that children with ID would perform better on the puzzle form. Methods The first study assessed the validity of this puzzle form of the RCPM for 76 typically developing children in a test-retest crossover design, with a 3 week interval between tests. A second study tested performance and completion rate for the puzzle form compared to the book form in a sample of 164 children with ID. Results In the first study, no significant difference was found between performance on the puzzle and book forms in typically developing children, irrespective of the order of completion. The second study demonstrated a significantly higher performance and completion rate for the puzzle form compared to the book form in the ID population. Conclusion Similar performance on book and puzzle forms of the RCPM by typically developing children suggests that both forms measure the same construct. These findings suggest that the puzzle form does not require greater cognitive ability but demands sensory-motor attention and limits distraction in children with severe ID. Thus, we suggest the puzzle form of the RCPM is a more reliable measure of the non-verbal mentation of children with severe ID than the book form. PMID:18671882

A puzzle form of a non-verbal intelligence test gives significantly higher performance measures in children with severe intellectual disability.

PubMed

Bello, Katrina D; Goharpey, Nahal; Crewther, Sheila G; Crewther, David P

2008-08-01

Assessment of 'potential intellectual ability' of children with severe intellectual disability (ID) is limited, as current tests designed for normal children do not maintain their interest. Thus a manual puzzle version of the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) was devised to appeal to the attentional and sensory preferences and language limitations of children with ID. It was hypothesized that performance on the book and manual puzzle forms would not differ for typically developing children but that children with ID would perform better on the puzzle form. The first study assessed the validity of this puzzle form of the RCPM for 76 typically developing children in a test-retest crossover design, with a 3 week interval between tests. A second study tested performance and completion rate for the puzzle form compared to the book form in a sample of 164 children with ID. In the first study, no significant difference was found between performance on the puzzle and book forms in typically developing children, irrespective of the order of completion. The second study demonstrated a significantly higher performance and completion rate for the puzzle form compared to the book form in the ID population. Similar performance on book and puzzle forms of the RCPM by typically developing children suggests that both forms measure the same construct. These findings suggest that the puzzle form does not require greater cognitive ability but demands sensory-motor attention and limits distraction in children with severe ID. Thus, we suggest the puzzle form of the RCPM is a more reliable measure of the non-verbal mentation of children with severe ID than the book form.

Symbolic play of preschoolers with severe communication impairments with autism and other developmental delays: more similarities than differences.

PubMed

Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy S; Brady, Nancy C; Fleming, Kandace K

2012-05-01

Children with autism are often described as having deficient play skills, particularly symbolic play. We compared the play of 35 children with autism to 38 children with other developmental delays. All children were preschool-age and produced less than 20 different words. Results indicated no significant differences across the two groups in their play. Children with autism engaged in more conventional play, that is, putting objects together according to how the toys were constructed (e.g., pieces in a puzzle, lid on a teapot). Results also indicated high correlations between play, language, and cognitive measures. Findings indicate that play relates to language and cognitive levels yet may not discriminate children with autism and children with other developmental delays early in their development.

Symbolic Play of Preschoolers with Severe Communication Impairments with Autism and Other Developmental Delays: More Similarities than Differences

PubMed Central

Brady, Nancy C.; Fleming, Kandace K.

2011-01-01

Children with autism are often described as having deficient play skills, particularly symbolic play. We compared the play of 35 children with autism to 38 children with other developmental delays. All children were preschool-age and produced less than 20 different words. Results indicated no significant differences across the two groups in their play. Children with autism engaged in more conventional play, that is, putting objects together according to how the toys were constructed (e.g., pieces in a puzzle, lid on a teapot). Results also indicated high correlations between play, language, and cognitive measures. Findings indicate that play relates to language and cognitive levels yet may not discriminate children with autism and children with other developmental delays early in their development. PMID:21720725

Effects of methylphenidate on the persistence of ADHD boys following failure experiences.

PubMed

Milich, R; Carlson, C L; Pelham, W E; Licht, B G

1991-10-01

We examined the effects of methylphenidate on the task persistence of 21 boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), after they had been exposed to both solvable and insolvable problems. The boys attempted to solve 10 different find-a-word puzzles on each of 4 days, involving the crossing of medication (placebo vs. 0.3 mg/kg) and prior task difficulty (solvable vs. insolvable). The results revealed that medication prevented the decrement in performance following the insolvable problems that was evident with the placebo days. In addition, on medication compared with placebo, the boys were more likely to make external attributions for failure and internal attributions for success. The results are discussed in terms of the impact of medication on ADHD boys' performance as mediated by cognitive-motivational state mechanisms.

Instabilities in large economies: aggregate volatility without idiosyncratic shocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonart, Julius; Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe; Landier, Augustin; Thesmar, David

2014-10-01

We study a dynamical model of interconnected firms which allows for certain market imperfections and frictions, restricted here to be myopic price forecasts and slow adjustment of production. Whereas the standard rational equilibrium is still formally a stationary solution of the dynamics, we show that this equilibrium becomes linearly unstable in a whole region of parameter space. When agents attempt to reach the optimal production target too quickly, coordination breaks down and the dynamics becomes chaotic. In the unstable, ‘turbulent’ phase, the aggregate volatility of the total output remains substantial even when the amplitude of idiosyncratic shocks goes to zero or when the size of the economy becomes large. In other words, crises become endogenous. This suggests an interesting resolution of the ‘small shocks, large business cycles’ puzzle.

An Empirical Evaluation of Puzzle-Based Learning as an Interest Approach for Teaching Introductory Computer Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merrick, K. E.

2010-01-01

This correspondence describes an adaptation of puzzle-based learning to teaching an introductory computer programming course. Students from two offerings of the course--with and without the puzzle-based learning--were surveyed over a two-year period. Empirical results show that the synthesis of puzzle-based learning concepts with existing course…

Puzzle Pedagogy: A Use of Riddles in Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farnell, Elin

2017-01-01

In this article, I present a collection of puzzles appropriate for use in a variety of undergraduate courses, along with suggestions for relevant discussion. Logic puzzles and riddles have long been sources of amusement for mathematicians and the general public alike. I describe the use of puzzles in a classroom setting, and argue for their use as…

Puzzles in modern biology. I. Male sterility, failure reveals design

PubMed Central

Frank, Steven A.

2016-01-01

Many human males produce dysfunctional sperm. Various plants frequently abort pollen. Hybrid matings often produce sterile males. Widespread male sterility is puzzling. Natural selection prunes reproductive failure. Puzzling failure implies something that we do not understand about how organisms are designed. Solving the puzzle reveals the hidden processes of design. PMID:28004842

Puzzles, Pastimes, Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eperson, D. B.

1987-01-01

Presents five puzzles or problems that may be used for mathematics enrichment. Ideas include magic squares, tests for divisibility, geometry, palindromic numbers, and a jigsaw puzzle. Solutions are included. (PK)

The impact of memory load and perceptual cues on puzzle learning by 24-month olds.

PubMed

Barr, Rachel; Moser, Alecia; Rusnak, Sylvia; Zimmermann, Laura; Dickerson, Kelly; Lee, Herietta; Gerhardstein, Peter

2016-11-01

Early childhood is characterized by memory capacity limitations and rapid perceptual and motor development [Rovee-Collier (1996). Infant Behavior & Development, 19, 385-400]. The present study examined 2-year olds' reproduction of a sliding action to complete an abstract fish puzzle under different levels of memory load and perceptual feature support. Experimental groups were compared to baseline controls to assess spontaneous rates of production of the target actions; baseline production was low across all experiments. Memory load was manipulated in Exp. 1 by adding pieces to the puzzle, increasing sequence length from 2 to 3 items, and to 3 items plus a distractor. Although memory load did not influence how toddlers learned to manipulate the puzzle pieces, it did influence toddlers' achievement of the goal-constructing the fish. Overall, girls were better at constructing the puzzle than boys. In Exp. 2, the perceptual features of the puzzle were altered by changing shape boundaries to create a two-piece horizontally cut puzzle (displaying bilateral symmetry), and by adding a semantically supportive context to the vertically cut puzzle (iconic). Toddlers were able to achieve the goal of building the fish equally well across the 2-item puzzle types (bilateral symmetry, vertical, iconic), but how they learned to manipulate the puzzle pieces varied as a function of the perceptual features. Here, as in Exp. 1, girls showed a different pattern of performance from the boys. This study demonstrates that changes in memory capacity and perceptual processing influence both goal-directed imitation learning and motoric performance. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) Education And Public Outreach program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulick, V. C.; Davatzes, A.; McEwen, A.

2006-12-01

HiRISE provides an innovative education and public outreach program with a variety of formal and informal educational activities. The centerpiece of HiRISE's E/PO program is it's interactive website called HiWeb (http://marsoweb.nasa.nasa.gov/hirise and http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu). HiWeb provides an image suggestion facility where the public can submit suggestions for HiRISE images and view HiRISE images in context with other available Mars data. HiRISE EPO has developed K-14 educational materials including activity, coloring and comic books that focus on Mars geology, the image suggestion process, understanding the HiRISE camera and working with digital image data. In addition, we have developed interactive educational games including Mars crosswords, jigsaws, word searches, and flash cards to provide fun ways for students to learn more about Mars. All educational materials and games are aligned with the National Science Standards. HiRISE Clickworkers will provide online opportunities for the public to assist the team in creating geologic feature databases (gullies, boulders, craters, wind streaks, etc.) present in the HiRISE images in addition to other innovative opportunities. Web events (including web chats, casts and forums) with HiRISE team members, will help guide students and educators of HiRISE capabilities and science goals and provide support for submitting good image suggestions. Educator workshops will be held each year at or near the institution of HiRISE team members. Workshop support materials and instructions for all hands-on activities will be placed on HiWeb to facilitate sharing of information with other educators and the general public. Large-scale displays of HiRISE images will be available at several at museums and planetariums.

Pebble Puzzles. A Source Book of Simple Puzzles and Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibbs, William M.

This booklet is a collection of puzzles, games, and investigations. All that children need are some stones or shells, on some of which they must write numerals. For playing with the whole class, the game or puzzles may be marked out on the floor or in sand; in that case, larger objects such as small rocks and empty tins may be used. Children are…

Puzzle based teaching versus traditional instruction in electrocardiogram interpretation for medical students--a pilot study.

PubMed

Rubinstein, Jack; Dhoble, Abhijeet; Ferenchick, Gary

2009-01-13

Most medical professionals are expected to possess basic electrocardiogram (EKG) interpretation skills. But, published data suggests that residents' and physicians' EKG interpretation skills are suboptimal. Learning styles differ among medical students; individualization of teaching methods has been shown to be viable and may result in improved learning. Puzzles have been shown to facilitate learning in a relaxed environment. The objective of this study was to assess efficacy of teaching puzzle in EKG interpretation skills among medical students. This is a reader blinded crossover trial. Third year medical students from College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University participated in this study. Two groups (n = 9) received two traditional EKG interpretation skills lectures followed by a standardized exam and two extra sessions with the teaching puzzle and a different exam. Two other groups (n = 6) received identical courses and exams with the puzzle session first followed by the traditional teaching. EKG interpretation scores on final test were used as main outcome measure. The average score after only traditional teaching was 4.07 +/- 2.08 while after only the puzzle session was 4.04 +/- 2.36 (p = 0.97). The average improvement after the traditional session was followed up with a puzzle session was 2.53 +/- 1.94 while the average improvement after the puzzle session was followed with the traditional session was 2.08 +/- 1.73 (p = 0.67). The final EKG exam score for this cohort (n = 15) was 84.1 compared to 86.6 (p = 0.22) for a comparable sample of medical students (n = 15) at a different campus. Teaching EKG interpretation with puzzles is comparable to traditional teaching and may be particularly useful for certain subgroups of students. Puzzle session are more interactive and relaxing, and warrant further investigations on larger scale.

Children with Prader-Willi syndrome vs. Williams syndrome: indirect effects on parents during a jigsaw puzzle task.

PubMed

Ly, T M; Hodapp, R M

2005-12-01

Genetic disorders predispose individuals to exhibit characteristic behaviours, which in turn elicit particular behaviours from others. In response to the strength of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and weakness of Williams syndrome (WS) in visual-spatial tasks such as jigsaw puzzles, parents' behaviours can be affected by their child's level of puzzle ability or syndrome diagnosis. Children were asked to complete two jigsaw puzzles (one with the experimenter and the other with the parent) for 5 min each. Frequencies of parental helping and reinforcement behaviours, along with ratings of parental directiveness, were examined as parents interacted with their children on a jigsaw puzzle task. Within each aetiological group, correlates of parental behaviours with child characteristics were also examined. Compared to parents of children with PWS, parents of children with WS engaged in a more directive style of interaction, and provided more help and reinforcement. Relative to parents of children with higher puzzle abilities (from both aetiologies), parents of children with lower abilities also showed the same pattern. Both the child's aetiology and puzzle abilities were important in predicting parents' directiveness and helping and reinforcement behaviours. Within the PWS group, parents' behaviours correlated negatively with the child's puzzle abilities and general cognitive functioning; no such relations occurred in the WS group. Parents' behaviours were affected by both the child's diagnosis and actual puzzle abilities, suggesting important implications for understanding and intervening with parents and children with different genetic syndromes.

Economics, human biology and inequality: A review of "puzzles" and recent contributions from a Deatonian perspective.

PubMed

Baten, Joerg

2017-05-01

The Nobel laureate Angus Deaton concentrated his work on puzzling developments and phenomena in economics. Puzzles are exciting elements in economics, because readers feel challenged by the question of how they can be solved. Among the puzzles analyzed by Deaton are: (1) Mortality increase of white, U.S. non-Hispanic men (2000 to today); (2) Why are height and income sometimes closely correlated, but not always?; (3) Height inequality among males and females; and (4) The Indian puzzle of declining consumption of calories during overall expenditure growth. This article reviews these "puzzles" and the main insights that Deaton derived from their discussion insofar as they pertain to the biological aspects of human development. I will focus on the field of this journal, Economics and Human Biology, in which Deaton has been very active over the last two decades. I will also document some of the responses by other scholars and their contributions to these puzzles, as they relate to the field of economics and human biology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Making Peer-Assisted Content Distribution Robust to Collusion Using Bandwidth Puzzles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reiter, Michael K.; Sekar, Vyas; Spensky, Chad; Zhang, Zhenghao

Many peer-assisted content-distribution systems reward a peer based on the amount of data that this peer serves to others. However, validating that a peer did so is, to our knowledge, an open problem; e.g., a group of colluding attackers can earn rewards by claiming to have served content to one another, when they have not. We propose a puzzle mechanism to make contribution-aware peer-assisted content distribution robust to such collusion. Our construction ties solving the puzzle to possession of specific content and, by issuing puzzle challenges simultaneously to all parties claiming to have that content, our mechanism prevents one content-holder from solving many others' puzzles. We prove (in the random oracle model) the security of our scheme, describe our integration of bandwidth puzzles into a media streaming system, and demonstrate the resulting attack resilience via simulations.

MRO's HiRISE Education and Public Outreach during the Primary Science Phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulick, V. C.; Davatzes, A. K.; Deardorff, G.; Kanefsky, B.; Conrad, L. B.; HiRISE Team

2008-12-01

Looking back over one Mars year, we report on the accomplishments of the HiRISE EPO program during the primary science phase of MRO. A highlight has been our student image suggestion program, conducted in association with NASA Quest as HiRISE Image Challenges (http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/challenges/hirise/). During challenges, students, either individually or as part of a collaborative classroom or group, learn about Mars through our webcasts, web chats and our educational material. They use HiWeb, HiRISE's image suggestion facility, to submit image suggestions and include a short rationale for why their target is scientifically interesting. The HiRISE team gives priority to obtaining a sampling of these suggestions as quickly as possible so that the acquired images can be examined by the students. During the challenge, a special password-protected web site allows participants to view their returned images before they are released to the public (http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/hirise/quest/). Students are encouraged to write captions for the returned images. Finished captions are then posted and highlighted on the HiRISE web site (http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu) along with their class, teacher's name and the name of their school. Through these HiRISE challenges, students and teachers become virtual science team members, participating in the same process (selecting and justifying targets, analyzing and writing captions for acquired images), and using the same software tools as the HiRISE team. Such an experience is unique among planetary exploration EPO programs. To date, we have completed three HiRISE challenges and a fourth is currently ongoing. More than 200 image suggestions were submitted during the previous challenges and over 85 of these image requests have been acquired so far. Over 675 participants from 45 states and 42 countries have registered for the previous challenges. These participants represent over 8000 students in grades 2 through 14 and consist primarily of teachers, parents of homeschoolers and student clubs, college students, and life-long learners. HiRISE Clickworkers (http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/hirise), a citizen science effort is also part of our EPO where volunteers identify geologic features (e.g., dunes, craters, wind streaks, gullies, etc.) in the HiRISE images and help generate searchable image databases. We've also developed the HiRISE online image viewer (http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/HiRISE/hirise_images/) where users can browse, pan and zoom through the very large HiRISE images from within their web browser. Educational materials include an assortment of K through college level, standards-based activity books, a K through 3 coloring/story book, a middle school level comic book, and several interactive educational games, including Mars jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, word searches and flash cards (http://hirise.seti.org/epo). HiRISE team members have given numerous classroom presentations and participated in many other informal educational and public events (e.g., Sally Ride Science Festivals, CA Science teachers conference workshops, NASA's Yuri's Night, Xprize events, University of Arizona's Mars Mania and Phoenix public events). The HiRISE operations team maintains a blog (HiBlog) (http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/HiBlog/) providing insights to the pulse of daily activities within the operations center as well as useful information about HiRISE.

Chemistry of Art and Color Sudoku Puzzles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welsh, Michael J.

2007-01-01

Sudoku puzzle format was used to teach light science and chemistry terms to students of Chemistry of Art and Color. The puzzles were used to motivate and encourage students to learn chemistry in an easier and in friendly fashion.

A puzzle used to teach the cardiac cycle.

PubMed

Marcondes, Fernanda K; Moura, Maria J C S; Sanches, Andrea; Costa, Rafaela; de Lima, Patricia Oliveira; Groppo, Francisco Carlos; Amaral, Maria E C; Zeni, Paula; Gaviao, Kelly Cristina; Montrezor, Luís H

2015-03-01

The aim of the present article is to describe a puzzle developed for use in teaching cardiac physiology classes. The puzzle presents figures of phases of the cardiac cycle and a table with five columns: phases of cardiac cycle, atrial state, ventricular state, state of atrioventricular valves, and pulmonary and aortic valves. Chips are provided for use to complete the table. Students are requested to discuss which is the correct sequence of figures indicating the phases of cardiac cycle. Afterward, they should complete the table with the chips. Students of biology, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, and nursing graduation courses from seven institutions performed the puzzle evaluation. They were invited to indicate whether the puzzle had been useful for learning about the subject by filling one of four alternatives. Of the students, 4.6% answered that it was not necessary but helped them to confirm what they had learned, 64.5% reported that although they had previously understood the cardiac cycle, the puzzle helped them to solve doubts and promoted a better understanding of it, and 30.9% said that they needed the puzzle to understand the cardiac cycle, without differences among courses, institutions, and course semesters. The results of the present study suggest that a simple and inexpensive puzzle may be useful as an active learning methodology applied after the theoretical lecture, as a complementary tool for studying cardiac cycle physiology. Copyright © 2015 The American Physiological Society.

Puzzle based teaching versus traditional instruction in electrocardiogram interpretation for medical students – a pilot study

PubMed Central

Rubinstein, Jack; Dhoble, Abhijeet; Ferenchick, Gary

2009-01-01

Background Most medical professionals are expected to possess basic electrocardiogram (EKG) interpretation skills. But, published data suggests that residents' and physicians' EKG interpretation skills are suboptimal. Learning styles differ among medical students; individualization of teaching methods has been shown to be viable and may result in improved learning. Puzzles have been shown to facilitate learning in a relaxed environment. The objective of this study was to assess efficacy of teaching puzzle in EKG interpretation skills among medical students. Methods This is a reader blinded crossover trial. Third year medical students from College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University participated in this study. Two groups (n = 9) received two traditional EKG interpretation skills lectures followed by a standardized exam and two extra sessions with the teaching puzzle and a different exam. Two other groups (n = 6) received identical courses and exams with the puzzle session first followed by the traditional teaching. EKG interpretation scores on final test were used as main outcome measure. Results The average score after only traditional teaching was 4.07 ± 2.08 while after only the puzzle session was 4.04 ± 2.36 (p = 0.97). The average improvement after the traditional session was followed up with a puzzle session was 2.53 ± 1.94 while the average improvement after the puzzle session was followed with the traditional session was 2.08 ± 1.73 (p = 0.67). The final EKG exam score for this cohort (n = 15) was 84.1 compared to 86.6 (p = 0.22) for a comparable sample of medical students (n = 15) at a different campus. Conclusion Teaching EKG interpretation with puzzles is comparable to traditional teaching and may be particularly useful for certain subgroups of students. Puzzle session are more interactive and relaxing, and warrant further investigations on larger scale. PMID:19144134

Sudoku Puzzles for First-Year Organic Chemistry Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez, Alice L.; Lamoureux, G.

2007-01-01

Sudoku puzzle was designed to teach about amino acids and functional groups to the students of undergraduate organic chemistry students. The puzzles focus on helping the student learn the name, 3-letter code and 1-letter code of common amino acids and functional groups.

Pythagoras and Four Colours

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unal, Hasan

2008-01-01

One way to teach Pythagoras' Theorem is through use of puzzles. Marshall (2004:1) points out that, "in creating their individual solutions to puzzles, students may reveal mathematical thinking on which approaches to the standard curriculum could be based." This article describes a puzzle-like spatial structuring activity related to…

Changes in food intake and abnormal behavior using a puzzle feeder in newly acquired sub-adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): a short term study.

PubMed

Lee, Jae-Il; Lee, Chi-Woo; Kwon, Hyouk-Sang; Kim, Young-Tae; Park, Chung-Gyu; Kim, Sang-Joon; Kang, Byeong-Cheol

2008-10-01

The majority of newly acquired nonhuman primates encounter serious problems adapting themselves to new environments or facilities. In particular, loss of appetite and abnormal behavior can occur in response to environmental stresses. These adaptation abnormalities can ultimately have an affect on the animal's growth and well-being. In this study, we evaluated the affects of a puzzle feeder on the food intake and abnormal behavior of newly acquired rhesus monkeys for a short period. The puzzle feeder was applied to 47- to 58-month-old animals that had never previously encountered one. We found that there was no difference in the change of food intake between the bucket condition and the puzzle feeder condition. In contrast, the time spent for consumption of food was three times longer in the puzzle feeder condition than in the bucket condition. Two monkeys initially exhibited stereotypic behavior. One showed a decreasing, and the other an increasing pattern of abnormal behavior after introduction of the puzzle feeder. In conclusion, this result suggests that over a short period, the puzzle feeder can only affect the time for food consumption since it failed to affect the food intake and did not consistently influence stereotypic behaviors in newly acquired rhesus monkeys.

Tangrams: Puzzles of Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fee, Brenda

2009-01-01

Challenging one's brain is the beginning of making great art. Tangrams are a great way to keep students thinking about their latest art project long after leaving the classroom. A tangram is a Chinese puzzle. The earliest known reference to tangrams appears in a Chinese book dated 1813, but the puzzles existed long before that date. The puzzle…

Enumerating Small Sudoku Puzzles in a First Abstract Algebra Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lorch, Crystal; Lorch, John

2008-01-01

Two methods are presented for counting small "essentially different" sudoku puzzles using elementary group theory: one method (due to Jarvis and Russell) uses Burnside's counting formula, while the other employs an invariant property of sudoku puzzles. Ideas are included for incorporating this material into an introductory abstract algebra course.…

The Clock Is Ticking: Library Orientation as Puzzle Room

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reade, Tripp

2017-01-01

Tripp Reade is the school librarian at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. This article describes how he redesigned his school's library orientation program after learning about escape rooms and a variant known as puzzle rooms. Puzzle rooms present players with a set of challenges to solve; they require "teamwork,…

Economics - A Puzzle: The People Power Solution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bartlett, Glenda; Price, Marlene H.

A third-grade class and fifth-grade remedial reading students gained a positive attitude toward contemporary economic problems by studying economics as a puzzle in this award-winning project. The following concepts were each approached as pieces of the puzzle to be solved: money, wants and needs, income, goods and services, scarcity, consumption…

A Puzzle Used to Teach the Cardiac Cycle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcondes, Fernanda K.; Moura, Maria J. C. S.; Sanches, Andrea; Costa, Rafaela; Oliveira de Lima, Patricia; Groppo, Francisco Carlos; Amaral, Maria E. C.; Zeni, Paula; Gaviao, Kelly Cristina; Montrezor, Luís H.

2015-01-01

The aim of the present article is to describe a puzzle developed for use in teaching cardiac physiology classes. The puzzle presents figures of phases of the cardiac cycle and a table with five columns: phases of cardiac cycle, atrial state, ventricular state, state of atrioventricular valves, and pulmonary and aortic valves. Chips are provided…

What Puzzles Teachers in Rio de janeiro, and What Keeps Them Going?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyra, Isolina; Fish, Solange; Braga, Walewska Gomes

2003-01-01

Focuses on the key mechanism of "puzzling" in Exploratory Practice (EP), a form of practitioner research, and the critical issue of sustainability in the context of volunteer teacher development work in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Investigated puzzles (concerns) of language teachers and grouped them into six categories; motivation, anxiety,…

The channels of Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, V. R.

1982-01-01

Early observations of Mars conducted by means of telescopes are considered. Secchi introduced the Italian word 'canale' ('channel') in 1869 to describe apparent lines on the planet's surface. Between 1877 and 1888 Schiaparelli mapped a profusion of 'canali'. Schiaparelli's work led to famous controversies about Mars. This book attempts to investigate the puzzle posed by the Martian channels, taking into account also the results of the studies conducted with the aid of the two orbiting Viking spacecraft which have produced a total number of nearly 60,000 pictures. The channel types are discussed along with questions regarding the distribution, the ages, and the proposed origins of the channels. Attention is given to the geomorphology of Mars, the patterns and networks of Martian valleys, ice and the Martian surface, the outflow channels, catastrophic flood processes, questions of analogy between terrestrial and Martian geographic features, and Martian phenomena associated with water liquid or water ice.

The chaos within Sudoku.

PubMed

Ercsey-Ravasz, Mária; Toroczkai, Zoltán

2012-01-01

The mathematical structure of Sudoku puzzles is akin to hard constraint satisfaction problems lying at the basis of many applications, including protein folding and the ground-state problem of glassy spin systems. Via an exact mapping of Sudoku into a deterministic, continuous-time dynamical system, here we show that the difficulty of Sudoku translates into transient chaotic behavior exhibited by this system. We also show that the escape rate κ, an invariant of transient chaos, provides a scalar measure of the puzzle's hardness that correlates well with human difficulty ratings. Accordingly, η = -log₁₀κ can be used to define a "Richter"-type scale for puzzle hardness, with easy puzzles having 0 < η ≤ 1, medium ones 1 < η ≤ 2, hard with 2 < η ≤ 3 and ultra-hard with η > 3. To our best knowledge, there are no known puzzles with η > 4.

The Chaos Within Sudoku

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ercsey-Ravasz, Mária; Toroczkai, Zoltán

2012-10-01

The mathematical structure of Sudoku puzzles is akin to hard constraint satisfaction problems lying at the basis of many applications, including protein folding and the ground-state problem of glassy spin systems. Via an exact mapping of Sudoku into a deterministic, continuous-time dynamical system, here we show that the difficulty of Sudoku translates into transient chaotic behavior exhibited by this system. We also show that the escape rate κ, an invariant of transient chaos, provides a scalar measure of the puzzle's hardness that correlates well with human difficulty ratings. Accordingly, η = -log10 κ can be used to define a ``Richter''-type scale for puzzle hardness, with easy puzzles having 0 < η <= 1, medium ones 1 < η <= 2, hard with 2 < η <= 3 and ultra-hard with η > 3. To our best knowledge, there are no known puzzles with η > 4.

Strategies and Correlates of Jigsaw Puzzle and Visuospatial Performance by Persons with Prader-Willi Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verdine, Brian N.; Troseth, Georgene L.; Hodapp, Robert M.; Dykens, Elisabeth M.

2008-01-01

Some individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome exhibit strengths in solving jigsaw puzzles. We compared visuospatial ability and jigsaw puzzle performance and strategies of 26 persons with Prader-Willi syndrome and 26 MA-matched typically developing controls. Individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome relied on piece shape. Those in the control group…

An Alternative Evaluation: Online Puzzle as a Course-End Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Genç, Zülfü; Aydemir, Emrah

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine whether the use of online puzzles in the instructional process has an effect on student achievement and learning retention. This study examined students ' perception and experiences on use of puzzle as an alternative evaluation tool. To achieve this aim, the following hypotheses were tested: using…

Lockean Puzzles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milligan, Tony

2007-01-01

In analytic moral philosophy it is standard to use unrealistic puzzles to set up moral dilemmas of a sort that I will call Lockean Puzzles. This paper will try to pinpoint just what is and what is not problematic about their use as a teaching tool or component part of philosophical arguments. I will try to flesh out the claim that what may be lost…

Su Doku and Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macintyre, Tom

2006-01-01

A lot has been made of the topical puzzle Su Doku, with various claims that it can support development of mathematical abilities. The latest, in March this year, came from the Training and Development Agency when a giant puzzle was used to attract graduates into a career of maths teaching. A giant Su Doku puzzle toured busy city centres with the…

Puzzle-Based Learning in Engineering Mathematics: Students' Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klymchuk, Sergiy

2017-01-01

The article reports on the results of two case studies on the impact of the regular use of puzzles as a pedagogical strategy in the teaching and learning of engineering mathematics. The intention of using puzzles is to engage students' emotions, creativity and curiosity and also to enhance their generic thinking skills and lateral thinking…

Using the Tower of Hanoi Puzzle to Infuse Your Mathematics Classroom with Computer Science Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marzocchi, Alison S.

2016-01-01

This article suggests that logic puzzles, such as the well-known Tower of Hanoi puzzle, can be used to introduce computer science concepts to mathematics students of all ages. Mathematics teachers introduce their students to computer science concepts that are enacted spontaneously and subconsciously throughout the solution to the Tower of Hanoi…

Paramagnetic and glass transitions in sudoku

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, A.; Ackland, G. J.

2012-09-01

We study the statistical mechanics of a model glassy system based on sudoku, a familiar and popular mathematical puzzle. Sudoku puzzles provide a very rare example of a class of frustrated systems with a unique ground state without symmetry. Here, the puzzle is recast as a thermodynamic system where the number of violated rules defines the energy. We use Monte Carlo simulation to show that the “sudoku Hamiltonian” exhibits two transitions as a function of temperature, a paramagnetic, and a glass transition. Of these, the intermediate condensed phase is the only one that visits the ground state (i.e., it solves the puzzle, though this is not the purpose of the study). Both transitions are associated with an entropy change, paramagnetism measured from the dynamics of the Monte Carlo run, showing a peak in specific heat, while the residual glass entropy is determined by finding multiple instances of the glass by repeated annealing. There are relatively few such simple models for frustrated or glassy systems that exhibit both ordering and glass transitions; sudoku puzzles are unique for the ease with which they can be obtained, with the proof of the existence of a unique ground state via the satisfiability of all constraints. Simulations suggest that in the glass phase there is an increase in information entropy with lowering temperature. In fact, we have shown that sudoku puzzles have the type of rugged energy landscape with multiple minima that typifies glasses in many physical systems. This puzzling result is a manifestation of the paradox of the residual glass entropy. These readily available puzzles can now be used as solvable model Hamiltonian systems for studying the glass transition.

The Chaos Within Sudoku

PubMed Central

Ercsey-Ravasz, Mária; Toroczkai, Zoltán

2012-01-01

The mathematical structure of Sudoku puzzles is akin to hard constraint satisfaction problems lying at the basis of many applications, including protein folding and the ground-state problem of glassy spin systems. Via an exact mapping of Sudoku into a deterministic, continuous-time dynamical system, here we show that the difficulty of Sudoku translates into transient chaotic behavior exhibited by this system. We also show that the escape rate κ, an invariant of transient chaos, provides a scalar measure of the puzzle's hardness that correlates well with human difficulty ratings. Accordingly, η = −log10 κ can be used to define a “Richter”-type scale for puzzle hardness, with easy puzzles having 0 < η ≤ 1, medium ones 1 < η ≤ 2, hard with 2 < η ≤ 3 and ultra-hard with η > 3. To our best knowledge, there are no known puzzles with η > 4. PMID:23061008

Using Simplified Sudoku to Promote and Improve Pattern Discovery Skills among School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tengah, Khairul A.

2011-01-01

As part of promoting and improving pattern discovery skills among school children, a Sudoku puzzle can be used as example of a problem solving task. A simplified version of the puzzle will be used first to explain the aim and reinforce the rules of solving the puzzle. Three strategies--"Strategy of Obvious Missing Number, Strategy of…

Two-Dimensional Parson's Puzzles: The Concept, Tools, and First Observations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ihantola, Petri; Karavirta, Ville

2011-01-01

Parson's programming puzzles are a family of code construction assignments where lines of code are given, and the task is to form the solution by sorting and possibly selecting the correct code lines. We introduce a novel family of Parson's puzzles where the lines of code need to be sorted in two dimensions. The vertical dimension is used to order…

Math Puzzlers: 25 Reproducible Puzzles, Games, and Activities that Boost the Math Skills and Up the Fun! Grades 2-5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kimble-Ellis, Sonya

Puzzles, games, and activities provide perfect opportunities for students to work in groups, interact, communicate with each other, and discuss strategies. The activities, games, and puzzles contained in this book are designed to help students learn mathematics in a fun yet challenging way. The activities are designed to encourage students to…

Factors influencing the academic motivation of individual college students.

PubMed

Yoshida, Masahiro; Tanaka, Masaaki; Mizuno, Kei; Ishii, Akira; Nozaki, Kumi; Urakawa, Ayako; Cho, Yuki; Kataoka, Yosky; Watanabe, Yasuyoshi

2008-10-01

Motivation is an important psychological concept in academic learning. Subjects performed jigsaw puzzle and square puzzle sessions (as difficulty variant task) and 80%, 50%, and 20% completion sessions (as completion variant task). After square puzzle or 20% completion sessions, subjective motivation decreased. Although baseline scores on an academic motivation scale were negatively correlated with changes in subjective motivation for the square puzzle session, a positive correlation was observed for the 20% completion session. These suggest that while continual completion of facile task trials may support the motivation of college students with lower academic motivation, attempting difficult task trials may sustain that of those with higher academic motivation.

PSQP: Puzzle Solving by Quadratic Programming.

PubMed

Andalo, Fernanda A; Taubin, Gabriel; Goldenstein, Siome

2017-02-01

In this article we present the first effective method based on global optimization for the reconstruction of image puzzles comprising rectangle pieces-Puzzle Solving by Quadratic Programming (PSQP). The proposed novel mathematical formulation reduces the problem to the maximization of a constrained quadratic function, which is solved via a gradient ascent approach. The proposed method is deterministic and can deal with arbitrary identical rectangular pieces. We provide experimental results showing its effectiveness when compared to state-of-the-art approaches. Although the method was developed to solve image puzzles, we also show how to apply it to the reconstruction of simulated strip-shredded documents, broadening its applicability.

Satisfiability modulo theory and binary puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Utomo, Putranto

2017-06-01

The binary puzzle is a sudoku-like puzzle with values in each cell taken from the set {0, 1}. We look at the mathematical theory behind it. A solved binary puzzle is an n × n binary array where n is even that satisfies the following conditions: (1) No three consecutive ones and no three consecutive zeros in each row and each column, (2) Every row and column is balanced, that is the number of ones and zeros must be equal in each row and in each column, (3) Every two rows and every two columns must be distinct. The binary puzzle had been proven to be an NP-complete problem [5]. Research concerning the satisfiability of formulas with respect to some background theory is called satisfiability modulo theory (SMT). An SMT solver is an extension of a satisfiability (SAT) solver. The notion of SMT can be used for solving various problem in mathematics and industries such as formula verification and operation research [1, 7]. In this paper we apply SMT to solve binary puzzles. In addition, we do an experiment in solving different sizes and different number of blanks. We also made comparison with two other approaches, namely by a SAT solver and exhaustive search.

Jigsaw Puzzles As Cognitive Enrichment (PACE) - the effect of solving jigsaw puzzles on global visuospatial cognition in adults 50 years of age and older: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Fissler, Patrick; Küster, Olivia C; Loy, Laura S; Laptinskaya, Daria; Rosenfelder, Martin J; von Arnim, Christine A F; Kolassa, Iris-Tatjana

2017-09-06

Neurocognitive disorders are an important societal challenge and the need for early prevention is increasingly recognized. Meta-analyses show beneficial effects of cognitive activities on cognition. However, high financial costs, low intrinsic motivation, logistic challenges of group-based activities, or the need to operate digital devices prevent their widespread application in clinical practice. Solving jigsaw puzzles is a cognitive activity without these hindering characteristics, but cognitive effects have not been investigated yet. With this study, we aim to evaluate the effect of solving jigsaw puzzles on visuospatial cognition, daily functioning, and psychological outcomes. The pre-posttest, assessor-blinded study will include 100 cognitively healthy adults 50 years of age or older, who will be randomly assigned to a jigsaw puzzle group or a cognitive health counseling group. Within the 5-week intervention period, participants in the jigsaw puzzle group will engage in 30 days of solving jigsaw puzzles for at least 1 h per day and additionally receive cognitive health counseling. The cognitive health counseling group will receive the same counseling intervention but no jigsaw puzzles. The primary outcome, global visuospatial cognition, will depict the average of the z-standardized performance scores in visuospatial tests of perception, constructional praxis, mental rotation, processing speed, flexibility, working memory, reasoning, and episodic memory. As secondary outcomes, we will assess the eight cognitive abilities, objective and subjective visuospatial daily functioning, psychological well-being, general self-efficacy, and perceived stress. The primary data analysis will be based on mixed-effects models in an intention-to-treat approach. Solving jigsaw puzzles is a low-cost, intrinsically motivating, cognitive leisure activity, which can be executed alone or with others and without the need to operate a digital device. In the case of positive results, these characteristics allow an easy implementation of solving jigsaw puzzles in clinical practice as a way to improve visuospatial functioning. Whether cognitive impairment and loss of independence in everyday functioning might be prevented or delayed in the long run has to be examined in future studies. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02667314 . Registered on 27 January 2016.

Having Fun and Accepting Challenges Are Natural Instincts: Jigsaw Puzzles to Challenge Students and Test Their Abilities While Having Fun!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodenbaugh, Hanna R.; Lujan, Heidi L.; Rodenbaugh, David W.; DiCarlo, Stephen E.

2014-01-01

Because jigsaw puzzles are fun, and challenging, students will endure and discover that persistence and grit are rewarded. Importantly, play and fun have a biological place just like sleep and dreams. Students also feel a sense of accomplishment when they have completed a puzzle. Importantly, the reward of mastering a challenge builds confidence…

Why do dementia patients become unable to lead a daily life with decreasing cognitive function?

PubMed

Yokoi, Teruo; Okamura, Hitoshi

2013-09-01

In order to understand the words and deeds of dementia patients that we find very hard to explain or understand, we have paid attention to the self-awareness ability of dementia patients, the intellectual subject that integrates their own intellectual functions, and created 'a model for interpreting puzzling words and deeds of dementia patients from the viewpoint of self-awareness'. The purpose of this study is to explain the reasons why dementia patients become unable to successfully perform activities of daily living (ADL) with advancement of dementia, using our model to present viewpoints understandable to caregivers. We classified dementia inpatients of a geriatric health services facility into four stages, using the model of self-awareness ability (consisting of 'theory of mind', 'self-evaluation' and 'self-consciousness') that was constructed by combining 'theory of mind' and Lewis's developmental model of cognition and emotion. Furthermore, we observed and documented scenes from daily life, and we interpreted the reasons why patients become unable to seek assistance from others for ADL, based on the model. We came to understand why the patients could not seek assistance from others, because the patients who failed in the task of 'theory of mind' were unable to self-assess their own mind and the minds of others, and those having failed in the task of 'self-evaluation' could not evaluate their own situation.

Family caregivers of palliative cancer patients at home: the puzzle of pain management.

PubMed

Mehta, Anita; Cohen, S Robin; Carnevale, Franco A; Ezer, Hélène; Ducharme, Francine

2010-01-01

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand the processes used by family caregivers to manage the pain of cancer patients at home. A total of 24 family caregivers participated. They were recruited using purposeful then theoretical sampling. The data sources were taped, transcribed (semi-structured) interviews and field notes. Data analysis was based on Strauss and Corbin's (1998) requirements for open, axial, and selective coding. The result was an explanatory model titled "the puzzle of pain management," which includes four main processes: "drawing on past experiences"; "strategizing a game plan"; "striving to respond to pain"; and "gauging the best fit," a decision-making process that joins the puzzle pieces. Understanding how family caregivers assemble their puzzle pieces can help health care professionals make decisions related to the care plans they create for pain control and help them to recognize the importance of providing information as part of resolving the puzzle of pain management.

The odd-even effect in Sudoku puzzles: effects of working memory, aging, and experience.

PubMed

Chang, Hye-Sang; Gibson, Janet M

2011-01-01

The odd-even effect in numerical processing has been explained as the easier processing of even numbers compared with odd numbers. We investigated this effect in Sudoku puzzles, a reasoning problem that uses numbers but does not require arithmetic operations. Specifically, we asked whether the odd-even effect occurred with Sudoku puzzles and whether individual differences in working memory (WM), aging, and experience with Sudoku modulated this effect. We manipulated the presence of odd and even numbers in Sudoku puzzles, measured WM with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and backward digit span task, tested older and younger adults, and collected Sudoku experience frequency. Performance on Sudoku was more accurate for even puzzles than odd ones. Younger, experienced, and higher-WM participants were more accurate on Sudoku, but these individual difference variables did not interact with the odd-even effect. Odd numbers may impose more cognitive load than even numbers, but future research is needed to examine how age, experience, or WM may influence the odd-even effect.

Training Methods and Tactical Decision-Making Simulations

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

TDS TDG ALL Standard Deviation 100.60 14.85 87.40 Puzzle, Card , Board Subjects Responding 5 3 8 Total # of Hours/Year 805 774 1579 Minimum...Table 7 shows that participants had the most commercial game experience with puzzle, card , board, and adventure/fantasy type games. Participants...circle all that apply) 1. first person shooter 2. flight simulations 3. racing 4. other sports 5. puzzle, strategy, card , board

RNA-Puzzles Round III: 3D RNA structure prediction of five riboswitches and one ribozyme

PubMed Central

Biesiada, Marcin; Boniecki, Michał J.; Chou, Fang-Chieh; Ferré-D'Amaré, Adrian R.; Das, Rhiju; Dunin-Horkawicz, Stanisław; Geniesse, Caleb; Kappel, Kalli; Kladwang, Wipapat; Krokhotin, Andrey; Łach, Grzegorz E.; Major, François; Mann, Thomas H.; Pachulska-Wieczorek, Katarzyna; Patel, Dinshaw J.; Piccirilli, Joseph A.; Popenda, Mariusz; Purzycka, Katarzyna J.; Ren, Aiming; Rice, Greggory M.; Santalucia, John; Tandon, Arpit; Trausch, Jeremiah J.; Wang, Jian; Weeks, Kevin M.; Williams, Benfeard; Xiao, Yi; Zhang, Dong; Zok, Tomasz

2017-01-01

RNA-Puzzles is a collective experiment in blind 3D RNA structure prediction. We report here a third round of RNA-Puzzles. Five puzzles, 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, all structures of riboswitch aptamers and puzzle 7, a ribozyme structure, are included in this round of the experiment. The riboswitch structures include biological binding sites for small molecules (S-adenosyl methionine, cyclic diadenosine monophosphate, 5-amino 4-imidazole carboxamide riboside 5′-triphosphate, glutamine) and proteins (YbxF), and one set describes large conformational changes between ligand-free and ligand-bound states. The Varkud satellite ribozyme is the most recently solved structure of a known large ribozyme. All puzzles have established biological functions and require structural understanding to appreciate their molecular mechanisms. Through the use of fast-track experimental data, including multidimensional chemical mapping, and accurate prediction of RNA secondary structure, a large portion of the contacts in 3D have been predicted correctly leading to similar topologies for the top ranking predictions. Template-based and homology-derived predictions could predict structures to particularly high accuracies. However, achieving biological insights from de novo prediction of RNA 3D structures still depends on the size and complexity of the RNA. Blind computational predictions of RNA structures already appear to provide useful structural information in many cases. Similar to the previous RNA-Puzzles Round II experiment, the prediction of non-Watson–Crick interactions and the observed high atomic clash scores reveal a notable need for an algorithm of improvement. All prediction models and assessment results are available at http://ahsoka.u-strasbg.fr/rnapuzzles/. PMID:28138060

Effect of a puzzle on the process of students' learning about cardiac physiology.

PubMed

Cardozo, Lais Tono; Miranda, Aline Soares; Moura, Maria José Costa Sampaio; Marcondes, Fernanda Klein

2016-09-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of using a puzzle to learn about cardiac physiology. Students were divided into control and game groups. In class 1, the control group had a 2-h theoretical class about cardiac physiology, including a detailed description of the phases of the cardiac cycle, whereas the game group had a 50-min theoretical class without the description of the cardiac cycle. In class 2, the control group did an assessment exercise before an activity with the cardiac puzzle and the game group answered questions after the above-mentioned activity. While solving the puzzle, the students had to describe the cardiac cycle by relating the concepts of heart morphology and physiology. To evaluate short-term learning, the number of wrong answers and grades in the assessment exercise were compared between the control and game groups. To evaluate medium-term learning, we compared the grades obtained by students of the control and game groups in questions about cardiac physiology that formed part of the academic exam. In the assessment exercise, the game group presented a lower number of errors and higher score compared with the control group. In the academic exam, applied after both groups had used the puzzle, there was no difference in the scores obtained by the control and game groups in questions about cardiac physiology. These results showed a positive effect of the puzzle on students' learning about cardiac physiology compared with those not using the puzzle. Copyright © 2016 The American Physiological Society.

The dynamic basis of energy transduction in enzymes.

PubMed

Somogyi, B; Welch, G R; Damjanovich, S

1984-09-06

The most important idea underlying our treatment herein is the unity of the enzyme molecule and the medium. Appreciation of this relationship is vital, if enzymology is to graduate from its present reductionistic status to a more holistic posture. Enzymes are biological entities firstly, and isolated objects of physicochemical analysis secondly. Perhaps the most crucial 'biological lesson', particularly apropos of enzymes in intermediary metabolism, concerns the 'cytosociology' of enzyme action in vivo [94,128]. The natural habitat of many enzymes in the living cell is far different from that in bulk aqueous solution in vitro. In order to obtain a real grasp of the nature of enzyme function, one must ultimately couch enzymology in concepts emerging from contemporary cell biology [95]. Notwithstanding, analysis precedes synthesis; and one must needs begin with the individual enzyme molecule. The trenchant efforts of the physical chemist and the organic chemist have produced a wealth of information on the nature of the binding and catalytic events at the enzyme active site. While it is not yet possible to explain precisely the complete sequence of events in the catalytic process, nevertheless, the basic mechanisms by which enzymes effect catalysis (i.e., reduce activation energy) now seem apparent [81,129]. The new frontier is to be found, in exploring the dynamic role of the protein matrix [17]. Not only does the protein provide the 3-D scaffolding for active-site processes, but, more importantly, it serves as the local solvent for the bound chemical subsystem. Thus, the dynamical aspects of enzyme catalysis (for thermally based systems) must arise from the fluctuational properties of the protein molecule. This notion is the common denominator in all of the models in subsection IIC. It is the anisotropic nature of this fluctuational behavior, which would characterize the energy-transduction phenomenon leading to localized catalytic events at the active-site. In Section III we attempted to show that all of the various enzyme models contribute pieces to a single, all-embracing jig-saw puzzle. Some models focus on the dynamical properties of the protein per se, whereas others deal with the stochastic aspects of protein-solvent interaction. The two approaches are complementary, as are mutually interlocking pieces of a puzzle. The ultimate picture depicted by this 'jig-saw puzzle' is still somewhat vague--owing to the present paucity of empirical information on protein motions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Counting Knights and Knaves

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin,Oscar; Roberts, Gerri M.

2013-01-01

To understand better some of the classic knights and knaves puzzles, we count them. Doing so reveals a surprising connection between puzzles and solutions, and highlights some beautiful combinatorial identities.

A Puzzling Alcohol Dehydration Reaction Solved by GC-MS Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelter, Michael W.; Macudzinski, Rebecca M.

1999-06-01

We have adapted the dehydration of 2-methyl-2-propanol to a "puzzle" approach for use in our second-semester chemistry major organic laboratory. The reaction of 2-methyl-2-propanol with ~50% sulfuric acid at 100 °C yields isobutylene, which reacts further by a "puzzling" reaction. By coupling the GC/MS analysis of the product mixture with their knowledge of the mechanism of alcohol dehydration and alkene reactivity, students are able to identify the major products of this reaction.

Law, Responsibility, and the Brain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mobbs, Dean; Lau, Hakwan C.; Jones, Owen D.; Frith, Chris D.

In perhaps the first attempt to link the brain to mental illness, Hippocrates elegantly wrote that it is the brain that makes us mad or delirious. Epitomizing one of the fundamental assumptions of contemporary neuroscience, Hippocrates' words resonate far beyond the classic philosophical puzzle of mind and body and posit that our behavior, no matter how monstrous, lies at the mercy of our brain's integrity. While clinicopathological observations have long pointed to several putative neurobiological systems as important in antisocial and violent criminal behavior, recent advances in brain-imaging have the potential to provide unparalleled insight. Consequently, brain-imaging studies have reinvigorated the neurophilosophical and legal debate of whether we are free agents in control of our own actions or mere prisoners of a biologically determined brain. In this chapter, we review studies pointing to brain dysfunction in criminally violent individuals and address a range of philosophical and practical issues concerning the use of brainimaging in court. We finally lay out several guidelines for its use in the legal system.

Feeling close and doing well: the prevalence and motivational effects of interpersonally engaging emotions in Mexican and European American cultural contexts.

PubMed

Savani, Krishna; Alvarez, Ayme; Mesquita, Batja; Markus, Hazel Rose

2013-01-01

Two studies investigate whether interpersonally engaging emotions--those that bring the self closer to others (e.g., affection, shame)--are central to the model of self and relationships prevalent in Mexican cultural contexts. Study 1 demonstrated that compared to people in European American contexts, people in Mexican contexts were more likely to report experiencing interpersonally engaging emotions and less likely to report experiencing interpersonally disengaging emotions. Study 2 found that interpersonally engaging emotions had a substantial influence on performance motivation in Mexican contexts--Mexican participants solved more word search puzzles after recalling instances in which they experienced positive interpersonally engaging emotions, and fewer after recalling negative interpersonally disengaging emotions; in contrast, there were no differences by condition for European Americans. These findings significantly extend previous research by documenting the implications of relational concerns (e.g., simpatia, personalismo) for emotion and motivation in Mexican contexts, and are the first to demonstrate the motivational effects of interpersonally engaging emotions.

Enlarging the bounds of moral philosophy: Why did Isaac Newton conclude the Opticks the way he did?

PubMed Central

Henry, John

2017-01-01

This paper draws attention to the remarkable closing words of Isaac Newton's Optice (1706) and subsequent editions of the Opticks (1718, 1721), and tries to suggest why Newton chose to conclude his book with a puzzling allusion to his own unpublished conclusions about the history of religion. Newton suggests in this concluding passage that the bounds of moral philosophy will be enlarged as natural philosophy is ‘perfected’. Asking what Newton might have had in mind, the paper first considers the idea that he was foreshadowing the ‘moral Newtonianism’ developed later in the eighteenth century; then it considers the idea that he was perhaps pointing to developments in natural theology. Finally, the paper suggests that Newton wanted to at least signal the importance of attempting to recover the true original religion, and perhaps was hinting at his intention to publish his own extensive research on the history of the Church.

Spreading Activation in an Attractor Network with Latching Dynamics: Automatic Semantic Priming Revisited

PubMed Central

Lerner, Itamar; Bentin, Shlomo; Shriki, Oren

2012-01-01

Localist models of spreading activation (SA) and models assuming distributed-representations offer very different takes on semantic priming, a widely investigated paradigm in word recognition and semantic memory research. In the present study we implemented SA in an attractor neural network model with distributed representations and created a unified framework for the two approaches. Our models assumes a synaptic depression mechanism leading to autonomous transitions between encoded memory patterns (latching dynamics), which account for the major characteristics of automatic semantic priming in humans. Using computer simulations we demonstrated how findings that challenged attractor-based networks in the past, such as mediated and asymmetric priming, are a natural consequence of our present model’s dynamics. Puzzling results regarding backward priming were also given a straightforward explanation. In addition, the current model addresses some of the differences between semantic and associative relatedness and explains how these differences interact with stimulus onset asynchrony in priming experiments. PMID:23094718

Healthy Living

MedlinePlus

... Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Science – How It Works The Natural World Games Brainteasers Puzzles Riddles Songs Activities Be a ... Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Science – How It Works The Natural World Games Expand Brainteasers Puzzles Riddles Songs Activities Expand ...

Puzzle Imaging: Using Large-Scale Dimensionality Reduction Algorithms for Localization.

PubMed

Glaser, Joshua I; Zamft, Bradley M; Church, George M; Kording, Konrad P

2015-01-01

Current high-resolution imaging techniques require an intact sample that preserves spatial relationships. We here present a novel approach, "puzzle imaging," that allows imaging a spatially scrambled sample. This technique takes many spatially disordered samples, and then pieces them back together using local properties embedded within the sample. We show that puzzle imaging can efficiently produce high-resolution images using dimensionality reduction algorithms. We demonstrate the theoretical capabilities of puzzle imaging in three biological scenarios, showing that (1) relatively precise 3-dimensional brain imaging is possible; (2) the physical structure of a neural network can often be recovered based only on the neural connectivity matrix; and (3) a chemical map could be reproduced using bacteria with chemosensitive DNA and conjugative transfer. The ability to reconstruct scrambled images promises to enable imaging based on DNA sequencing of homogenized tissue samples.

The Puzzle of Science; Making Sense of Incomplete Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shorey, B. U.

2015-12-01

There are many topics within Earth science including evolution, historical geology, and climate change, which have gained the status of theory becuse they have overwhelming evidence, yet there is still fragmentary information which can frustrate a student from coming to solid conclusions. Using a jigsaw puzzle whose image has been hidden, and the pieces only given out sparingly, students go though the process of getting more information. How does one get more puzzle pieces and what is the interpretive process? Experience with this exercise demonstrates how students can sketch out an incredibly accurate conception of the "big picture", despite not having all the puzzle pieces. The goal of this talk is to give a complete tool kit to perform as a comprehensive lesson plan. Guiding questions and copies of lesson plans and materials are supplied for this exercise.

International trade network: fractal properties and globalization puzzle.

PubMed

Karpiarz, Mariusz; Fronczak, Piotr; Fronczak, Agata

2014-12-12

Globalization is one of the central concepts of our age. The common perception of the process is that, due to declining communication and transport costs, distance becomes less and less important. However, the distance coefficient in the gravity model of trade, which grows in time, indicates that the role of distance increases rather than decreases. This, in essence, captures the notion of the globalization puzzle. Here, we show that the fractality of the international trade system (ITS) provides a simple solution for the puzzle. We argue that the distance coefficient corresponds to the fractal dimension of ITS. We provide two independent methods, the box counting method and spatial choice model, which confirm this statement. Our results allow us to conclude that the previous approaches to solving the puzzle misinterpreted the meaning of the distance coefficient in the gravity model of trade.

International Trade Network: Fractal Properties and Globalization Puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karpiarz, Mariusz; Fronczak, Piotr; Fronczak, Agata

2014-12-01

Globalization is one of the central concepts of our age. The common perception of the process is that, due to declining communication and transport costs, distance becomes less and less important. However, the distance coefficient in the gravity model of trade, which grows in time, indicates that the role of distance increases rather than decreases. This, in essence, captures the notion of the globalization puzzle. Here, we show that the fractality of the international trade system (ITS) provides a simple solution for the puzzle. We argue that the distance coefficient corresponds to the fractal dimension of ITS. We provide two independent methods, the box counting method and spatial choice model, which confirm this statement. Our results allow us to conclude that the previous approaches to solving the puzzle misinterpreted the meaning of the distance coefficient in the gravity model of trade.

The B → π K puzzle revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beaudry, Nicolas Boisvert; Datta, Alakabha; London, David; Rashed, Ahmed; Roux, Jean-Samuel

2018-01-01

For a number of years, there has been a certain inconsistency among the measurements of the branching ratios and CP asymmetries of the four B → π K decays ( B + → π+ K 0, B + → π0 K +, B d 0 → π - K +, B d 0 → π 0 K 0). In this paper, we re-examine this B → π K puzzle. We find that the key unknown parameter is | C ' /T '|, the ratio of color-suppressed and color-allowed tree amplitudes. If this ratio is large, | C ' /T '| = 0 .5, the SM can explain the data. But if it is small, | C ' /T '| = 0 .2, the SM cannot explain the B → π K puzzle —new physics (NP) is needed. The two types of NP that can contribute to B → π K at tree level are Z ' bosons and diquarks. Z ' models can explain the puzzle if the Z ' couples to right-handed uū and/or d\\overline{d} , with g R dd ≠ g R uu . Interestingly, half of the many Z ' models proposed to explain the present anomalies in b → sμ + μ - decays have the required Z ' couplings to uū and/or d\\overline{d} . Such models could potentially explain both the b → sμ + μ - anomalies and the B → π K puzzle. The addition of a color sextet diquark that couples to ud can also explain the puzzle.

High-mass twins & resolution of the reconfinement, masquerade and hyperon puzzles of compact star interiors

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

Blaschke, David; Instytut Fizyki Teoretycznej, Uniwersytet Wroclawski, 50-204 Wroclaw; Alvarez-Castillo, David E.

2016-01-22

We aim at contributing to the resolution of three of the fundamental puzzles related to the still unsolved problem of the structure of the dense core of compact stars (CS): (i) the hyperon puzzle: how to reconcile pulsar masses of 2 M{sub ⊙} with the hyperon softening of the equation of state (EoS); (ii) the masquerade problem: modern EoS for cold, high density hadronic and quark matter are almost identical; and (iii) the reconfinement puzzle: what to do when after a deconfinement transition the hadronic EoS becomes favorable again? We show that taking into account the compositeness of baryons (bymore » excluded volume and/or quark Pauli blocking) on the hadronic side and confining and stiffening effects on the quark matter side results in an early phase transition to quark matter with sufficient stiffening at high densities which removes all three present-day puzzles of CS interiors. Moreover, in this new class of EoS for hybrid CS falls the interesting case of a strong first order phase transition which results in the observable high mass twin star phenomenon, an astrophysical observation of a critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram.« less

Formative Assessment Probes: Mountaintop Fossil: A Puzzling Phenomenon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keeley, Page

2015-01-01

This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. This month's issue describes using formative assessment probes to uncover several ways of thinking about the puzzling discovery of a marine fossil on top of a mountain.

Jigsaw: Because Reading Your Math Book Shouldn't Be a Puzzle.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Draper, Roni Jo

1997-01-01

Describes a jigsaw puzzle activity, a two-part cooperative learning activity useful at any level of mathematics instruction, intended to teach students to become "strategic readers" of their mathematics textbooks. (SR)

What Is the Difference between a Puzzle and a Maths Question?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eastaway, Robert

1997-01-01

Discusses the differences between puzzles and mathematics questions. Argues that mathematics teachers need to be thoroughly grounded in the well-documented recreational side of mathematics and be encouraged to use it. (JRH)

Comparing Efficacy of Online and In-Person Versions of a Training on U.S. Federal Wage and Hour, Child Labor Laws, and Hazardous Occupations Orders for Secondary School Professionals.

PubMed

Shendell, Derek G; Apostolico, Alexsandra A; Milich, Lindsey J; Patti, Alexa A; Kelly, Sarah W

2016-01-01

The New Jersey Safe Schools Program (NJSS) offers courses required for secondary school vocational-career-technical education teachers to become school-sponsored structured learning experience supervisors. The "Federal Wage and Hour and Child Labor Laws, Regulations and Hazardous Order Course" (FWH) was originally conducted in-person by U.S. Department of Labor-Wage and Hour Division from 2005 to Summer 2013, and then NJSS began conducting this course in-person (October 2013-April 2015). Staring in March 2015, this course was conducted online; beta-/pilot tests were conducted in Winter 2014-2015. Starting in May 2015, this course was offered exclusively online. This paper analyzes data from the in-person and online versions of the FWH, including overall course evaluation data comparing two versions with similar questions/constructs. The New Jersey Safe Schools Program modifications to FWH included adding information regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act's Section 14(c) and supplemental case studies. The online version included information/resources provided during the in-person training plus assessments to supplement each module; the online version was split into modules to allow participants scheduling flexibility. Participants were given multiple possible attempts to achieve a minimum passing grade of 70%, excluding two ungraded activities (crossword puzzles simply completed). Descriptive statistics evaluated user satisfaction online compared to the in-person version of FWH and performance on aforementioned online assessments replacing in-person discussions/interactions. Between October 2013 and April 2015, 160 participants completed the training in person; 156 had complete data. Between April and November 2015, 78 participants completed the training online; 74 participants had complete data. Other enrolled participants were in progress (not done as of 12/23/2015). Overall satisfaction was similarly high for in-person and online versions of FWH; over 95% of responding participants recommended this course to colleagues. Course evaluations for in-person participants indicated 83% felt the course objectives were completely met, whereas 95% of the responding online cohort felt course objectives were completely met. Further analyses examined performance of online assessments regarding number of attempts and scores achieved and performance on highlighted questions in certain module lessons. Data suggested the online format as a viable alternative to an in-person version of this training and provided NJSS and agency partners with ideas on how modifications/improvements can be made.

Puzzle-based learning in engineering mathematics: students' attitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klymchuk, Sergiy

2017-11-01

The article reports on the results of two case studies on the impact of the regular use of puzzles as a pedagogical strategy in the teaching and learning of engineering mathematics. The intention of using puzzles is to engage students' emotions, creativity and curiosity and also to enhance their generic thinking skills and lateral thinking 'outside the box'. Students' attitudes towards this pedagogical strategy are evaluated via short questionnaires with two groups of university students taking a second-year engineering mathematics course. Students' responses to the questionnaire are presented and analyzed in the paper.

Using the Tower of Hanoi puzzle to infuse your mathematics classroom with computer science concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marzocchi, Alison S.

2016-07-01

This article suggests that logic puzzles, such as the well-known Tower of Hanoi puzzle, can be used to introduce computer science concepts to mathematics students of all ages. Mathematics teachers introduce their students to computer science concepts that are enacted spontaneously and subconsciously throughout the solution to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. These concepts include, but are not limited to, conditionals, iteration, and recursion. Lessons, such as the one proposed in this article, are easily implementable in mathematics classrooms and extracurricular programmes as they are good candidates for 'drop in' lessons that do not need to fit into any particular place in the typical curriculum sequence. As an example for readers, the author describes how she used the puzzle in her own Number Sense and Logic course during the federally funded Upward Bound Math/Science summer programme for college-intending low-income high school students. The article explains each computer science term with real-life and mathematical examples, applies each term to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle solution, and describes how students connected the terms to their own solutions of the puzzle. It is timely and important to expose mathematics students to computer science concepts. Given the rate at which technology is currently advancing, and our increased dependence on technology in our daily lives, it has become more important than ever for children to be exposed to computer science. Yet, despite the importance of exposing today's children to computer science, many children are not given adequate opportunity to learn computer science in schools. In the United States, for example, most students finish high school without ever taking a computing course. Mathematics lessons, such as the one described in this article, can help to make computer science more accessible to students who may have otherwise had little opportunity to be introduced to these increasingly important concepts.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Kids' Pages

MedlinePlus

... Recycle Science – How It Works The Natural World Games Brainteasers Puzzles Riddles Songs Activities Be a Scientist ... Recycle Science – How It Works The Natural World Games Expand Brainteasers Puzzles Riddles Songs Activities Expand Be ...

Investigating the Human Skeleton.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slesnick, Irwin L.

1982-01-01

Instructions are provided for assembly of a pull-out, two-sided picture puzzle of the skeleton of a seven-year-old girl. Suggestions for activities using the assembled puzzle and comments on bones and bone morphology are also provided. (Author/JN)

Do semantic contextual cues facilitate transfer learning from video in toddlers?

PubMed Central

Zimmermann, Laura; Moser, Alecia; Grenell, Amanda; Dickerson, Kelly; Yao, Qianwen; Gerhardstein, Peter; Barr, Rachel

2015-01-01

Young children typically demonstrate a transfer deficit, learning less from video than live presentations. Semantically meaningful context has been demonstrated to enhance learning in young children. We examined the effect of a semantically meaningful context on toddlers’ imitation performance. Two- and 2.5-year-olds participated in a puzzle imitation task to examine learning from either a live or televised model. The model demonstrated how to assemble a three-piece puzzle to make a fish or a boat, with the puzzle demonstration occurring against a semantically meaningful background context (ocean) or a yellow background (no context). Participants in the video condition performed significantly worse than participants in the live condition, demonstrating the typical transfer deficit effect. While the context helped improve overall levels of imitation, especially for the boat puzzle, only individual differences in the ability to self-generate a stimulus label were associated with a reduction in the transfer deficit. PMID:26029131

Puzzle Imaging: Using Large-Scale Dimensionality Reduction Algorithms for Localization

PubMed Central

Glaser, Joshua I.; Zamft, Bradley M.; Church, George M.; Kording, Konrad P.

2015-01-01

Current high-resolution imaging techniques require an intact sample that preserves spatial relationships. We here present a novel approach, “puzzle imaging,” that allows imaging a spatially scrambled sample. This technique takes many spatially disordered samples, and then pieces them back together using local properties embedded within the sample. We show that puzzle imaging can efficiently produce high-resolution images using dimensionality reduction algorithms. We demonstrate the theoretical capabilities of puzzle imaging in three biological scenarios, showing that (1) relatively precise 3-dimensional brain imaging is possible; (2) the physical structure of a neural network can often be recovered based only on the neural connectivity matrix; and (3) a chemical map could be reproduced using bacteria with chemosensitive DNA and conjugative transfer. The ability to reconstruct scrambled images promises to enable imaging based on DNA sequencing of homogenized tissue samples. PMID:26192446

Bistability of Hydrogen in ZnO: Origin of Doping Limit and Persistent Photoconductivity

PubMed Central

Nahm, Ho-Hyun; Park, C. H.; Kim, Yong-Sung

2014-01-01

Substitutional hydrogen at oxygen site (HO) is well-known to be a robust source of n-type conductivity in ZnO, but a puzzling aspect is that the doping limit by hydrogen is only about 1018 cm−3, even if solubility limit is much higher. Another puzzling aspect of ZnO is persistent photoconductivity, which prevents the wide applications of the ZnO-based thin film transistor. Up to now, there is no satisfactory theory about two puzzles. We report the bistability of HO in ZnO through first-principles electronic structure calculations. We find that as Fermi level is close to conduction bands, the HO can undergo a large lattice relaxation, through which a deep level can be induced, capturing electrons and the deep state can be transformed into shallow donor state by a photon absorption. We suggest that the bistability can give explanations to two puzzling aspects. PMID:24535157

Bistability of hydrogen in ZnO: origin of doping limit and persistent photoconductivity.

PubMed

Nahm, Ho-Hyun; Park, C H; Kim, Yong-Sung

2014-02-18

Substitutional hydrogen at oxygen site (HO) is well-known to be a robust source of n-type conductivity in ZnO, but a puzzling aspect is that the doping limit by hydrogen is only about 10(18) cm(-3), even if solubility limit is much higher. Another puzzling aspect of ZnO is persistent photoconductivity, which prevents the wide applications of the ZnO-based thin film transistor. Up to now, there is no satisfactory theory about two puzzles. We report the bistability of HO in ZnO through first-principles electronic structure calculations. We find that as Fermi level is close to conduction bands, the HO can undergo a large lattice relaxation, through which a deep level can be induced, capturing electrons and the deep state can be transformed into shallow donor state by a photon absorption. We suggest that the bistability can give explanations to two puzzling aspects.

Piecing It Together: The Effect of Background Music on Children's Puzzle Assembly.

PubMed

Koolidge, Louis; Holmes, Robyn M

2018-04-01

This study explored the effects of background music on cognitive (puzzle assembly) task performance in young children. Participants were 87 primarily European-American children (38 boys, 49 girls; mean age = 4.77 years) enrolled in early childhood classes in the northeastern United States. Children were given one minute to complete a 12-piece puzzle task in one of three background music conditions: music with lyrics, music without lyrics, and no music. The music selection was "You're Welcome" from the Disney movie "Moana." Results revealed that children who heard the music without lyrics completed more puzzle pieces than children in either the music with lyrics or no music condition. Background music without distracting lyrics may be beneficial and superior to background music with lyrics for young children's cognitive performance even when they are engaged independently in a nonverbal task.

Do semantic contextual cues facilitate transfer learning from video in toddlers?

PubMed

Zimmermann, Laura; Moser, Alecia; Grenell, Amanda; Dickerson, Kelly; Yao, Qianwen; Gerhardstein, Peter; Barr, Rachel

2015-01-01

Young children typically demonstrate a transfer deficit, learning less from video than live presentations. Semantically meaningful context has been demonstrated to enhance learning in young children. We examined the effect of a semantically meaningful context on toddlers' imitation performance. Two- and 2.5-year-olds participated in a puzzle imitation task to examine learning from either a live or televised model. The model demonstrated how to assemble a three-piece puzzle to make a fish or a boat, with the puzzle demonstration occurring against a semantically meaningful background context (ocean) or a yellow background (no context). Participants in the video condition performed significantly worse than participants in the live condition, demonstrating the typical transfer deficit effect. While the context helped improve overall levels of imitation, especially for the boat puzzle, only individual differences in the ability to self-generate a stimulus label were associated with a reduction in the transfer deficit.

Piecing together stakeholder puzzles-puzzling about (opioid substitute treatment---OST) stakeholders and their pieces: a rambling point-of-view.

PubMed

Einstein, Stan

2013-08-01

This point-of-view presentation explores "stakeholders" and "opioid substitute treatment," their dimensions, selected enabling necessary conditions to operate, or not, implications, and consequences from a range of selected perspectives.

The Retrofit Puzzle Extended: Optimal Fleet Owner Behavior over Multiple Time Periods

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-08-04

In "The Retrofit Puzzle: Optimal Fleet Owner Behavior in the Context of Diesel Retrofit Incentive Programs" (1) an integer program was developed to model profit-maximizing diesel fleet owner behavior when selecting pollution reduction retrofits. Flee...

Classroom Proven Motivational Mathematics Games, Monograph No. 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

This collection includes 50 mathematical games and puzzles for classroom use at all grade levels. Also included is a wide variety of activities with cubes, flash cards, graphs, dots, number patterns, geometric shapes, cross-number puzzles, and magic squares. (MM)

Jigsaw puzzle metasurface for multiple functions: polarization conversion, anomalous reflection and diffusion.

PubMed

Zhao, Yi; Cao, Xiangyu; Gao, Jun; Liu, Xiao; Li, Sijia

2016-05-16

We demonstrate a simple reconfigurable metasurface with multiple functions. Anisotropic tiles are investigated and manufactured as fundamental elements. Then, the tiles are combined in a certain sequence to construct a metasurface. Each of the tiles can be adjusted independently which is like a jigsaw puzzle and the whole metasurface can achieve diverse functions by different layouts. For demonstration purposes, we realize polarization conversion, anomalous reflection and diffusion by a jigsaw puzzle metasurface with 6 × 6 pieces of anisotropic tile. Simulated and measured results prove that our method offers a simple and effective strategy for metasurface design.

Early predictors of helpless thoughts and behaviors in children: developmental precursors to depressive cognitions.

PubMed

Cole, David A; Warren, Dana E; Dallaire, Danielle H; Lagrange, Beth; Travis, Rebekah; Ciesla, Jeffrey A

2007-04-01

Learned helplessness behavior and cognitions were assessed in 95 kindergarten-age children during a series of impossible puzzle trials followed by a solvable puzzle trial. Latent growth curve analysis revealed reliable individual differences in the trajectories of children's affect, motivation, and self-cognitions over time. Parents' reports of negative life events, harsh/negative parenting, and warm/positive parenting were associated with their children's learned helplessness behavioral trajectories and outcomes over the course of the puzzle trials. Results support speculations about the developmental origins of depressive explanatory or attributional style in children.

The Computational Complexity of the Kakuro Puzzle, Revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruepp, Oliver; Holzer, Markus

We present a new proof of NP-completeness for the problem of solving instances of the Japanese pencil puzzle Kakuro (also known as Cross-Sum). While the NP-completeness of Kakuro puzzles has been shown before [T. Seta. The complexity of CROSS SUM. IPSJ SIG Notes, AL-84:51-58, 2002], there are still two interesting aspects to our proof: we show NP-completeness for a new variant of Kakuro that has not been investigated before and thus improves the aforementioned result. Moreover some parts of the proof have been generated automatically, using an interesting technique involving SAT solvers.

Free-style puzzle flap: the concept of recycling a perforator flap.

PubMed

Feng, Kuan-Ming; Hsieh, Ching-Hua; Jeng, Seng-Feng

2013-02-01

Theoretically, a flap can be supplied by any perforator based on the angiosome theory. In this study, the technique of free-style perforator flap dissection was used to harvest a pedicled or free skin flap from a previous free flap for a second difficult reconstruction. The authors call this a free-style puzzle flap. For the past 3 years, the authors treated 13 patients in whom 12 pedicled free-style puzzle flaps were harvested from previous redundant free flaps and recycled to reconstruct soft-tissue defects at various anatomical locations. One free-style free puzzle flap was harvested from a previous anterolateral thigh flap for buccal cancer to reconstruct a foot defect. Total flap survival was attained in 12 of 13 flaps. One transferred flap failed completely. This patient had received postoperative radiotherapy after the initial cancer ablation and free anterolateral thigh flap reconstruction. Another free flap was used to close and reconstruct the wound. All the donor sites could be closed primarily. The free-style puzzle flap, harvested from a previous redundant free flap and used as a perforator flap to reconstruct a new defect, has proven to be versatile and reliable. When indicated, it is an alternative donor site for further reconstruction of soft-tissue defects.

Easy Toys for Infants and Toddlers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas Child Care, 2002

2002-01-01

Provides instructions for creating inexpensive activities and toys for infants and toddlers to supplement major toy purchases in early care programs. Includes instructions for making bean bags, cellophane snakes, sock bracelets, one-piece puzzles, milk carton blocks, a pounding bench, paint gloves, and people puzzles. (KB)

Teaching Inductive Reasoning with Puzzles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanko, Jeffrey J.

2017-01-01

Working with language-independent logic structures can help students develop both inductive and deductive reasoning skills. The Japanese publisher Nikoli (with resources available both in print and online) produces a treasure trove of language-independent logic puzzles. The Nikoli print resources are mostly in Japanese, creating the extra…

Exploring Organic Mechanistic Puzzles with Molecular Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horowitz, Gail; Schwartz, Gary

2004-01-01

The molecular modeling was used to reinforce more general skills such as deducing and drawing reaction mechanisms, analyzing reaction kinetics and thermodynamics and drawing reaction coordinate energy diagrams. This modeling was done through the design of mechanistic puzzles, involving reactions not familiar to the students.

Effects of age and type of picture on visuospatial working memory assessed with a computerized jigsaw-puzzle task.

PubMed

Toril, Pilar; Reales, José M; Mayas, Julia; Ballesteros, Soledad

2017-09-15

We investigated the effect of age and color in a computerized version of the jigsaw-puzzle task. In Experiment 1, young and older adults were presented with puzzles in color and black-and-white line drawings, varying in difficulty from 4 to 9 pieces. Older adults performed the task better with the black-and-white stimuli and younger adults performed better with the color ones. In Experiment 2, new older and young adults identified the same fragmented pictures as fast and accurately as possible. The older group identified the black-and-white stimuli faster than those presented in color, while the younger adults identified both similarly. In Experiment 3A, new older and young groups performed the puzzle task with the same color pictures and their monochrome versions. In Experiment 3B, participants performed a speeded identification task with the two sets. The findings of these experiments showed that older adults have a memory not a perceptual difficulty.

Parenting and Independent Problem-Solving in Preschool Children With Food Allergy

PubMed Central

Power, Thomas G.; Hahn, Amy L.; Hoehn, Jessica L.; Thompson, Caitlin C.; Herbert, Linda J.; Law, Emily F.; Bollinger, Mary Elizabeth

2015-01-01

Objective To examine autonomy-promoting parenting and independent problem-solving in children with food allergy. Methods 66 children with food allergy, aged 3–6 years, and 67 age-matched healthy peers and their mothers were videotaped while completing easy and difficult puzzles. Coders recorded time to puzzle completion, children’s direct and indirect requests for help, and maternal help-giving behaviors. Results Compared with healthy peers, younger (3- to 4-year-old) children with food allergy made more indirect requests for help during the easy puzzle, and their mothers were more likely to provide unnecessary help (i.e., explain where to place a puzzle piece). Differences were not found for older children. Conclusions The results suggest that highly involved parenting practices that are medically necessary to manage food allergy may spill over into settings where high levels of involvement are not needed, and that young children with food allergy may be at increased risk for difficulties in autonomy development. PMID:25326001

Deductive Puzzling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanko, Jeffrey J.

2010-01-01

To help fifth- through eighth-grade students develop their deductive reasoning skills, the author used a ten-week supplementary curriculum so that students could answer logic questions. The curriculum, a series of lessons built around language-independent logic puzzles, has been used in classrooms of fifth through eighth grades. In most cases,…

New Light on Autism and Other Puzzling Disorders of Childhood. Science Reports.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yahraes, Herbert

The pamphlet discusses several puzzling disorders of childhood, including autism, atypical personality development (childhood psychosis), psychosocial dwarfism, and Tourette's syndrome. Psychosocial dwarfism is said to be characterized by a marked reduction in physical development and by immaturity in behavior, while Tourette's syndrome involves…

Instant Insanity II

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richmond, Tom; Young, Aaron

2013-01-01

"Instant Insanity II" is a sliding mechanical puzzle whose solution requires the special alignment of 16 colored tiles. We count the number of solutions of the puzzle's classic challenge and show that the more difficult ultimate challenge has, up to row permutation, exactly two solutions, and further show that no…

Sequential Monte Carlo for Maximum Weight Subgraphs with Application to Solving Image Jigsaw Puzzles.

PubMed

Adluru, Nagesh; Yang, Xingwei; Latecki, Longin Jan

2015-05-01

We consider a problem of finding maximum weight subgraphs (MWS) that satisfy hard constraints in a weighted graph. The constraints specify the graph nodes that must belong to the solution as well as mutual exclusions of graph nodes, i.e., pairs of nodes that cannot belong to the same solution. Our main contribution is a novel inference approach for solving this problem in a sequential monte carlo (SMC) sampling framework. Usually in an SMC framework there is a natural ordering of the states of the samples. The order typically depends on observations about the states or on the annealing setup used. In many applications (e.g., image jigsaw puzzle problems), all observations (e.g., puzzle pieces) are given at once and it is hard to define a natural ordering. Therefore, we relax the assumption of having ordered observations about states and propose a novel SMC algorithm for obtaining maximum a posteriori estimate of a high-dimensional posterior distribution. This is achieved by exploring different orders of states and selecting the most informative permutations in each step of the sampling. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed inference framework significantly outperforms loopy belief propagation in solving the image jigsaw puzzle problem. In particular, our inference quadruples the accuracy of the puzzle assembly compared to that of loopy belief propagation.

Sequential Monte Carlo for Maximum Weight Subgraphs with Application to Solving Image Jigsaw Puzzles

PubMed Central

Adluru, Nagesh; Yang, Xingwei; Latecki, Longin Jan

2015-01-01

We consider a problem of finding maximum weight subgraphs (MWS) that satisfy hard constraints in a weighted graph. The constraints specify the graph nodes that must belong to the solution as well as mutual exclusions of graph nodes, i.e., pairs of nodes that cannot belong to the same solution. Our main contribution is a novel inference approach for solving this problem in a sequential monte carlo (SMC) sampling framework. Usually in an SMC framework there is a natural ordering of the states of the samples. The order typically depends on observations about the states or on the annealing setup used. In many applications (e.g., image jigsaw puzzle problems), all observations (e.g., puzzle pieces) are given at once and it is hard to define a natural ordering. Therefore, we relax the assumption of having ordered observations about states and propose a novel SMC algorithm for obtaining maximum a posteriori estimate of a high-dimensional posterior distribution. This is achieved by exploring different orders of states and selecting the most informative permutations in each step of the sampling. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed inference framework significantly outperforms loopy belief propagation in solving the image jigsaw puzzle problem. In particular, our inference quadruples the accuracy of the puzzle assembly compared to that of loopy belief propagation. PMID:26052182

Polyomino Dissections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hohn, Tiina; Liu, Andy

2012-01-01

One of Gardner's passions was to introduce puzzles into the classroom. From this point of view, polyomino dissections are an excellent topic. They require little background, provide training in geometric visualization, and mostly they are fun. In this article, we put together a large collection of such puzzles, introduce a new approach in solving…

Japanese Logic Puzzles and Proof

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanko, Jeffrey J.

2009-01-01

An understanding of proof does not start in a high school geometry course. Rather, attention to logical reasoning throughout a student's school experience can help the development of proof readiness. In the spirit of problem solving, the author has begun to use some Japanese logic puzzles other than sudoku to help students develop additional…

Building a Peaceable Kingdom Piece by Piece.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawlor, Antoine T.

2000-01-01

Reports on New Jersey Catholic schools celebrating and demonstrating the meaning of the Gospel. States that each Catholic school in New Jersey made an 8.5"x11" puzzle showcasing current outreach service activities, and that each diocese displayed the puzzles for Catholic Schools Week. Lists outreach activities being performed by the…

More Pebble Puzzles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibbs, William M.

This booklet is a collection of puzzles, investigations, and games. They are designed to be used with large objects such as tins or stones and diagrams marked on the ground. The children are to be encouraged to use an experimental, trial-and-error approach at first, and then develop methods of solution. (MNS)

Cles: Etes-vous bon detective?; Enigmes grammaticales; Problemes policiers; Kidnapping (Keys: Are You a Good Detective?; Grammatical Puzzles; Detective Mysteries; Kidnapping).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Debyser, Francis; And Others

1984-01-01

Four sets of French classroom activities are presented: a mystery whose clues include two postcard messages; three puzzles with grammar-related clues; a mystery contained in three comic strip frames; and the solving of a kidnapping mystery. (MSE)

(Mis)perception of Sleep in Insomnia: A Puzzle and a Resolution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, Allison G.; Tang, Nicole K. Y.

2012-01-01

Insomnia is prevalent, causing severe distress and impairment. This review focuses on illuminating the puzzling finding that many insomnia patients misperceive their sleep. They overestimate their sleep onset latency (SOL) and underestimate their total sleep time (TST), relative to objective measures. This tendency is ubiquitous (although not…

Brain Stretchers, Book 3 - Advanced.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stickels, Terry H.

Current thinking suggests that solving brainteasing puzzles uses the same critical thinking skills needed to solve difficult math, science, and business problems. This book is a non-intimidating exploration of the wonderful powers of the mind with an emphasis on the joy of thinking and learning. It contains 100 puzzles, presented in order of…

Threshold Concepts in the Development of Problem-Solving Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wismath, Shelly; Orr, Doug; MacKay, Bruce

2015-01-01

Problem-solving skills are often identified as a key component of 21st century education. This study collected data from students enrolled in a university-level Liberal Education science course called "Problems and Puzzles," which introduced students to the theory and practice of problem solving via puzzles. Based on classroom…

[Educational Therapy Using Games and Puzzles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Locker, Chava

Ways in which games can be used as tools in observing, diagnosing, and providing educational therapy for learning dysfunctions are listed and described in a series of four related papers: (a) "Educational Therapy for Learning Dysfunctions"; (2) "Educational Therapy and Puzzles"; (3) "Educational Therapy and Reading Fluency"; and (4) "Spelling…

Children's Task Engagement during Challenging Puzzle Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2017-01-01

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

Chinese American and Caucasian American Family Interaction Patterns in Spatial Rotation Puzzle Solutions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutsinger, Carol S.; Jose, Paul E.

1995-01-01

Examined sociocultural influences on mathematics achievement. First generation Chinese American and Caucasian American mother-father-daughter triads were audiotaped as the fifth- and sixth-grade girls solved a spatial puzzle. Chinese American triads were quieter, more respectful, more serious, and more orderly, whereas Caucasian American triads…

Intellectual Development Beyond Elementary School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karplus, Elizabeth F.; Karplus, Robert

A Piagetian type task, The Island Puzzle, was administered to children grades 5 to 12, to science teachers attending a National Science Teachers Association Convention, and to college physics teachers attending a regional meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers. The procedures differed from those of Piaget in that the puzzle was…

Correlation based system to assess the completeness and correctness of cognitive stimulation activities of elders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González-Fraga, J. A.; Morán, A. L.; Meza-Kubo, V.; Tentori, M.; Santiago, E.

2009-08-01

During a cognitive stimulation session where elders with cognitive decline perform stimulation activities, such as solving puzzles, we observed that they require constant supervision and support from their caregivers, and caregivers must be able to monitor the stimulation activity of more than one patient at a time. In this paper, aiming at providing support for the caregiver, we developed a vision-based system using an Phase-SDF filter that generates a composite reference image which is correlated to a captured wooden-puzzle image. The output correlation value allows to automatically verify the progress on the puzzle solving task, and to assess its completeness and correctness.

Applying Neurological Learning Research to an Online Undergraduate Science Laboratory Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrd, Dana; Byrd, Gene

2013-01-01

Neurological research has demonstrated that pre-test verbal preparation improves performance. The well-tested Tower of London puzzle can assess cognitive skills of a wide age range of participants. Preschoolers who talked to themselves about future puzzle moves had greatly improved Tower of London performance over those without such preparation.…

Grobner Basis Representations of Sudoku

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taalman, Laura; Arnold, Elizabeth; Lucas, Stephen

2010-01-01

This paper uses Grobner bases to explore the inherent structure of Sudoku puzzles and boards. In particular, we develop three different ways of representing the constraints of Sudoku puzzles with a system of polynomial equations. In one case, we explicitly show how a Grobner basis can be used to obtain a more meaningful representation of the…

Reinforcing Geometric Properties with Shapedoku Puzzles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanko, Jeffrey J.; Nickell, Jennifer V.

2013-01-01

Shapedoku is a new type of puzzle that combines logic and spatial reasoning with understanding of basic geometric concepts such as slope, parallelism, perpendicularity, and properties of shapes. Shapedoku can be solved by individuals and, as demonstrated here, can form the basis of a review for geometry students as they create their own. In this…

Using Sudoku to Introduce Proof Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snyder, Brian A.

2010-01-01

In this article we show how the Sudoku puzzle and the three simple rules determining its solution can be used as an introduction to proof-based mathematics. In the completion of the puzzle, students can construct multi-step solutions that involve sequencing of steps, use methods such as backtracking and proof by cases, and proof by contradiction…

The Relations of Parental Affect and Encouragement to Children's Moral Emotions and Behaviour.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spinrad, Tracy L.; Losoya, Sandra H.; Eisenburg, Nancy; Fabes, Richard A.; Shepard, Stephanie A.; Cumberland, Amanda; Guthrie, Ivanna K.; Murphy, Bridget C.

1999-01-01

Explores the role of observed parental affect and encouragement in children's empathy-related responding and moral behavior, specifically cheating on a puzzle activity. Finds that (1) parents' affect and encouragement positively related to children's sympathy (not empathy) and (2) boys' cheating on the puzzle correlated to parents' affect and…

Asian American Parents' Attributions of Children with Down Syndrome: Connections with Child Characteristics and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ly, Tran M.

2008-01-01

This study explores cultural differences between European American (n = 26) and Asian American (n = 17) parents' attributional ratings of children with Down syndrome. Links were examined among parents' attributions, reactions, and behaviors regarding their child's jigsaw-puzzle performance. Although the children's puzzle abilities did not differ,…

Think Inside the Box. Integrating Math in Your Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naylor, Michael

2005-01-01

This brief article describes a few entertaining math "puzzles" that are easy to use with students at any grade level and with any operation. Not only do these puzzles help provide practice with facts and operations, they are also self-checking and may lead to some interesting big ideas in algebra.

A Geometric Puzzle That Leads To Fibonacci Sequences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rulf, Benjamin

1998-01-01

Illustrates how mathematicians work and do mathematical research through the use of a puzzle. Demonstrates how general rules, then theorems develop from special cases. This approach may be used as a research project in high school classrooms or math club settings with the teacher helping to formulate questions, set goals, and avoid becoming…

Mathematical History: Activities, Puzzles, Stories, and Games.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, Merle

Based on the history of mathematics, these materials have been planned to enrich the teaching of mathematics in grades four, five, and six. Puzzles and games are based on stories about topics such as famous mathematicians, numerals of ancient peoples, and numerology. The sheets are arranged by grade level and are designed for easy duplication.…

"Pieces of a Puzzle": Seeing the Light in a Darkened Room.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lang, Frederick K.

The film "Pieces of a Puzzle" (part of the series "Writers Writing" that was coproduced by WNET and Learning Designs and televised by WNET in 1985), helped students become better writers and facilitated the discovery of material and techniques appropriate to academic writing. First, students were introduced to reader response…

A solution to B → ππ puzzle and B → KK

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baek, Seungwon

2008-01-01

The large ratio of color-suppressed tree amplitude to color-allowed one in B → ππ decays is difficult to understand within the Standard Model, which is known as the " B → ππ puzzle". The two tree diagrams contain the up- and charm-quark component of penguin amplitude, Puc, which cannot be separated by measuring B → ππ decays alone. We show that the measurements of the branching ratio and direct CP asymmetry of B+ →K+K0 bar decay enable one to disentangle the Puc with two-fold ambiguity. One of the two degenerate solutions of the Puc can solve the B → ππ puzzle by giving | C / T | ∼ 0.3 which is consistent with the expectation in the Standard Model. We also show that the two solutions can be discriminated by the measurement of the indirect CP asymmetry of B0 →K0K0 bar. We point out that the corresponding puzzle in B → πK decays is not solved in this way.

Parenting and independent problem-solving in preschool children with food allergy.

PubMed

Dahlquist, Lynnda M; Power, Thomas G; Hahn, Amy L; Hoehn, Jessica L; Thompson, Caitlin C; Herbert, Linda J; Law, Emily F; Bollinger, Mary Elizabeth

2015-01-01

To examine autonomy-promoting parenting and independent problem-solving in children with food allergy. 66 children with food allergy, aged 3-6 years, and 67 age-matched healthy peers and their mothers were videotaped while completing easy and difficult puzzles. Coders recorded time to puzzle completion, children's direct and indirect requests for help, and maternal help-giving behaviors. Compared with healthy peers, younger (3- to 4-year-old) children with food allergy made more indirect requests for help during the easy puzzle, and their mothers were more likely to provide unnecessary help (i.e., explain where to place a puzzle piece). Differences were not found for older children. The results suggest that highly involved parenting practices that are medically necessary to manage food allergy may spill over into settings where high levels of involvement are not needed, and that young children with food allergy may be at increased risk for difficulties in autonomy development. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The puzzle box as a simple and efficient behavioral test for exploring impairments of general cognition and executive functions in mouse models of schizophrenia.

PubMed

Ben Abdallah, Nada M-B; Fuss, Johannes; Trusel, Massimo; Galsworthy, Michael J; Bobsin, Kristin; Colacicco, Giovanni; Deacon, Robert M J; Riva, Marco A; Kellendonk, Christoph; Sprengel, Rolf; Lipp, Hans-Peter; Gass, Peter

2011-01-01

Deficits in executive functions are key features of schizophrenia. Rodent behavioral paradigms used so far to find animal correlates of such deficits require extensive effort and time. The puzzle box is a problem-solving test in which mice are required to complete escape tasks of increasing difficulty within a limited amount of time. Previous data have indicated that it is a quick but highly reliable test of higher-order cognitive functioning. We evaluated the use of the puzzle box to explore executive functioning in five different mouse models of schizophrenia: mice with prefrontal cortex and hippocampus lesions, mice treated sub-chronically with the NMDA-receptor antagonist MK-801, mice constitutively lacking the GluA1 subunit of AMPA-receptors, and mice over-expressing dopamine D2 receptors in the striatum. All mice displayed altered executive functions in the puzzle box, although the nature and extent of the deficits varied between the different models. Deficits were strongest in hippocampus-lesioned and GluA1 knockout mice, while more subtle deficits but specific to problem solving were found in the medial prefrontal-lesioned mice, MK-801-treated mice, and in mice with striatal overexpression of D2 receptors. Data from this study demonstrate the utility of the puzzle box as an effective screening tool for executive functions in general and for schizophrenia mouse models in particular. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Puzzle-based versus traditional lecture: comparing the effects of pedagogy on academic performance in an undergraduate human anatomy and physiology II lab.

PubMed

Stetzik, Lucas; Deeter, Anthony; Parker, Jamie; Yukech, Christine

2015-06-23

A traditional lecture-based pedagogy conveys information and content while lacking sufficient development of critical thinking skills and problem solving. A puzzle-based pedagogy creates a broader contextual framework, and fosters critical thinking as well as logical reasoning skills that can then be used to improve a student's performance on content specific assessments. This paper describes a pedagogical comparison of traditional lecture-based teaching and puzzle-based teaching in a Human Anatomy and Physiology II Lab. Using a single subject/cross-over design half of the students from seven sections of the course were taught using one type of pedagogy for the first half of the semester, and then taught with a different pedagogy for the second half of the semester. The other half of the students were taught the same material but with the order of the pedagogies reversed. Students' performance on quizzes and exams specific to the course, and in-class assignments specific to this study were assessed for: learning outcomes (the ability to form the correct conclusion or recall specific information), and authentic academic performance as described by (Am J Educ 104:280-312, 1996). Our findings suggest a significant improvement in students' performance on standard course specific assessments using a puzzle-based pedagogy versus a traditional lecture-based teaching style. Quiz and test scores for students improved by 2.1 and 0.4% respectively in the puzzle-based pedagogy, versus the traditional lecture-based teaching. Additionally, the assessments of authentic academic performance may only effectively measure a broader conceptual understanding in a limited set of contexts, and not in the context of a Human Anatomy and Physiology II Lab. In conclusion, a puzzle-based pedagogy, when compared to traditional lecture-based teaching, can effectively enhance the performance of students on standard course specific assessments, even when the assessments only test a limited conceptual understanding of the material.

Why Is the Sky Dark at Night?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stinner, Arthur

2014-01-01

The puzzle as to just why the sky is dark at night, given that there are so many stars, has been around at least since Newton. This article summarizes six cosmological models that have been used to attempt to give an account of this puzzle including the Copernican universe, the Newton-Halley universe, the nineteenth century "one galaxy"…

Creating Engaging Escape Rooms for the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholson, Scott

2018-01-01

Escape rooms are "live-action team-based games where players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal (usually escaping from the room) in a limited amount of time." Escape Rooms are one type of Escape Game, which are narrative-based challenges that use puzzles, tasks,…

Gardner's Two Children Problems and Variations: Puzzles with Conditional Probability and Sample Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Wendy; Stacey, Kaye

2014-01-01

This article presents "The Two Children Problem," published by Martin Gardner, who wrote a famous and widely-read math puzzle column in the magazine "Scientific American," and a problem presented by puzzler Gary Foshee. This paper explains the paradox of Problems 2 and 3 and many other variations of the theme. Then the authors…

The Role of Inhibitory Control in Children's Cooperative Behaviors during a Structured Puzzle Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giannotta, Fabrizia; Burk, William J.; Ciairano, Silvia

2011-01-01

This study examined the role of inhibitory control (measured by Stroop interference) in children's cooperative behaviors during a structured puzzle task. The sample consisted of 250 8-, 10-, and 12-year-olds (117 girls and 133 boys) attending classrooms in three primary schools in Northern Italy. Children individually completed an elaborated…

Explorers, Detectives, Matchmakers, and Lion Tamers: Understanding Jigsaw Puzzlers' Techniques and Motivations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia, Angela Cora

2013-01-01

Why do people enjoy jigsaw puzzles, which--challenging and time-consuming as they are--might be considered more like work than play? The author investigates the motivations, preferences, and satisfactions of individuals working on jigsaw puzzles, and she explores how these elements of play relate to the procedures and strategies puzzlers use to…

Triangular Numbers, Gaussian Integers, and KenKen

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, John J.

2012-01-01

Latin squares form the basis for the recreational puzzles sudoku and KenKen. In this article we show how useful several ideas from number theory are in solving a KenKen puzzle. For example, the simple notion of triangular number is surprisingly effective. We also introduce a variation of KenKen that uses the Gaussian integers in order to…

Construction-Paper Puzzle Masterpieces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vance, Shelly

2010-01-01

Creating an appreciation of art history in her junior-high students has always been one of the author's greatest challenges as an art teacher. In this article, the author describes how her eighth-grade students re-created a famous work of art--piece by piece, like a puzzle or a stained-glass window--out of construction paper. (Contains 1 resource.)

Engaging Reluctant Readers in a French Immersion Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Capina, Amanda Borton; Bryan, Gregory

2017-01-01

Reading engagement is like a puzzle consisting of many pieces to emplace for successful engagement to occur. The author, a French Immersion teacher/researcher, found that many of her grade one reluctant readers--those students who could read but chose not to--approached reading with some pieces of the puzzle. They had strategies and knowledge but…

A Public-Key Based Authentication and Key Establishment Protocol Coupled with a Client Puzzle.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, M. C.; Fung, Chun-Kan

2003-01-01

Discusses network denial-of-service attacks which have become a security threat to the Internet community and suggests the need for reliable authentication protocols in client-server applications. Presents a public-key based authentication and key establishment protocol coupled with a client puzzle protocol and validates it through formal logic…

Unraveling "Braid": Puzzle Games and Storytelling in the Imperative Mood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnott, Luke

2012-01-01

"Unraveling Braid" analyzes how unconventional, non-linear narrative fiction can help explain the ways in which video games signify. Specifically, this essay looks at the links between the semiotic features of Jonathan Blow's 2008 puzzle-platform video game Braid and similar elements in Georges Perec's 1978 novel "Life A User's Manual," as well as…

Studies in Mathematics, Volume XVIII: Puzzle Problems and Games Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dilworth, R. P.; And Others

This is a self-contained manual for use by teachers in preparation for classroom presentations. One of the goals of the report is to show how games and puzzles can provide effective means for developing mathematical understanding and skills. The authors indicate that this type of activity is well adapted for discovery teaching techniques. The…

The Retention Puzzle Reconsidered: Second Year Student Attitudes and Experiences with Advising

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Michael Edward

2013-01-01

College student retention has been described as a puzzle because retention rates have stagnated, and in some cases declined, despite over seventy years of research into the problem. The magnitude of the problem is that 50 percent of college students will leave their institution before obtaining a degree (Braxton, Hirschy, & McClendon, 2011).…

Puzzling Science: Using the Rubik's Cube to Teach Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rohrig, Brian

2010-01-01

A major goal of education is to help learners store information in long-term memory and use that information on later occasions to effectively solve problems (Vockell 2010). Therefore, this author began to use the Rubik's cube to help students learn to problem solve. There is something special about this colorful three-dimensional puzzle that…

Schooling, Cognitive Skills, and the Latin American Growth Puzzle. NBER Working Paper No. 15066

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanushek, Eric A.; Woessmann, Ludger

2009-01-01

Economic development in Latin America has trailed most other world regions over the past four decades despite its relatively high initial development and school attainment levels. This puzzle can be resolved by considering the actual learning as expressed in tests of cognitive skills, on which Latin American countries consistently perform at the…

Bullet-Block Science Video Puzzle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shakur, Asif

2015-01-01

A science video blog, which has gone viral, shows a wooden block shot by a vertically aimed rifle. The video shows that the block hit dead center goes exactly as high as the one shot off-center. (Fig. 1). The puzzle is that the block shot off-center carries rotational kinetic energy in addition to the gravitational potential energy. This leads a…

Children with Praderwilli Syndrome Vs. Williams Syndrome: Indirect Effects on Parents during a Jigsaw Puzzle Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ly, T. M.; Hodapp, R. M.

2005-01-01

Background: Genetic disorders predispose individuals to exhibit characteristic behaviours, which in turn elicit particular behaviours from others. In response to the strength of Prader?Willi syndrome (PWS) and weakness of Williams syndrome (WS) in visual-spatial tasks such as jigsaw puzzles, parents' behaviours can be affected by their child's…

Understanding flavour at the LHC

ScienceCinema

Nir, Yosef

2018-05-22

Huge progress in flavour physics has been achieved by the two B-factories and the Tevatron experiments. This progress has, however, deepened the new physics flavour puzzle: If there is new physics at the TeV scale, why aren't flavour changing neutral current processes enhanced by orders of magnitude compared to the standard model predictions? The forthcoming ATLAS and CMS experiments can potentially solve this puzzle. Perhaps even more surprisingly, these experiments can potentially lead to progress in understanding the standard model flavour puzzle: Why is there smallness and hierarchy in the flavour parameters? Thus, a rich and informative flavour program is awaiting us not only in the flavour-dedicated LHCb experiment, but also in the high-pT ATLAS and CMS experiments.

(Mis)perception of sleep in insomnia: a puzzle and a resolution.

PubMed

Harvey, Allison G; Tang, Nicole K Y

2012-01-01

Insomnia is prevalent, causing severe distress and impairment. This review focuses on illuminating the puzzling finding that many insomnia patients misperceive their sleep. They overestimate their sleep onset latency (SOL) and underestimate their total sleep time (TST), relative to objective measures. This tendency is ubiquitous (although not universal). Resolving this puzzle has clinical, theoretical, and public health importance. There are implications for assessment, definition, and treatment. Moreover, solving the puzzle creates an opportunity for real-world applications of theories from clinical, perceptual, and social psychology as well as neuroscience. Herein we evaluate 13 possible resolutions to the puzzle. Specifically, we consider the possible contribution, to misperception, of (1) features inherent to the context of sleep (e.g., darkness); (2) the definition of sleep onset, which may lack sensitivity for insomnia patients; (3) insomnia being an exaggerated sleep complaint; (4) psychological distress causing magnification; (5) a deficit in time estimation ability; (6) sleep being misperceived as wake; (7) worry and selective attention toward sleep-related threats; (8) a memory bias influenced by current symptoms and emotions, a confirmation bias/belief bias, or a recall bias linked to the intensity/recency of symptoms; (9) heightened physiological arousal; (10) elevated cortical arousal; (11) the presence of brief awakenings; (12) a fault in neuronal circuitry; and (13) there being 2 insomnia subtypes (one with and one without misperception). The best supported resolutions were misperception of sleep as wake, worry, and brief awakenings. A deficit in time estimation ability was not supported. We conclude by proposing several integrative solutions.

(Mis)Perception of Sleep in Insomnia: A puzzle and a resolution

PubMed Central

Harvey, Allison G.; Tang, Nicole

2011-01-01

Insomnia is prevalent, causing severe distress and impairment. This review focuses on illuminating the puzzling finding that many insomnia patients misperceive their sleep. They overestimate their sleep onset latency (SOL) and underestimate their total sleep time (TST), relative to objective measures. This tendency is ubiquitous (although not universal). Resolving this puzzle has clinical, theoretical, and public health importance. There are implications for assessment, definition, and treatment. Moreover, solving the puzzle creates an opportunity for "real world" applications of theories from clinical, perceptual, and social psychology as well as neuroscience. Herein we evaluate thirteen possible resolutions to the puzzle. Specifically, we consider the possible contribution, to misperception, of: (1) features inherent to the context of sleep (e.g., darkness); (2) the definition of sleep onset which may lack sensitivity for insomnia patients; (3) insomnia being an exaggerated sleep complaint; (4) psychological distress causing magnification; (5) a deficit in time estimation ability; (6) sleep being misperceived as wake; (7) worry and selective attention toward sleep-related threats; (8) a memory bias influenced by current symptoms and emotions, a confirmation bias/belief bias or a recall bias linked to the intensity/recency of symptoms; (9) heightened physiological arousal; (10) elevated cortical arousal; (11) the presence of brief awakenings; (12) a fault in neuronal circuitry; and (13) there being two insomnia subtypes (one with and one without misperception). The best supported resolutions were misperception of sleep as wake, worry, and brief awakenings. A deficit in time estimation ability was not supported. We conclude by proposing several integrative solutions. PMID:21967449

Particle Filter with State Permutations for Solving Image Jigsaw Puzzles

PubMed Central

Yang, Xingwei; Adluru, Nagesh; Latecki, Longin Jan

2016-01-01

We deal with an image jigsaw puzzle problem, which is defined as reconstructing an image from a set of square and non-overlapping image patches. It is known that a general instance of this problem is NP-complete, and it is also challenging for humans, since in the considered setting the original image is not given. Recently a graphical model has been proposed to solve this and related problems. The target label probability function is then maximized using loopy belief propagation. We also formulate the problem as maximizing a label probability function and use exactly the same pairwise potentials. Our main contribution is a novel inference approach in the sampling framework of Particle Filter (PF). Usually in the PF framework it is assumed that the observations arrive sequentially, e.g., the observations are naturally ordered by their time stamps in the tracking scenario. Based on this assumption, the posterior density over the corresponding hidden states is estimated. In the jigsaw puzzle problem all observations (puzzle pieces) are given at once without any particular order. Therefore, we relax the assumption of having ordered observations and extend the PF framework to estimate the posterior density by exploring different orders of observations and selecting the most informative permutations of observations. This significantly broadens the scope of applications of the PF inference. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed inference framework significantly outperforms the loopy belief propagation in solving the image jigsaw puzzle problem. In particular, the extended PF inference triples the accuracy of the label assignment compared to that using loopy belief propagation. PMID:27795660

To enforce or not to enforce? The use of collaborative interfaces to promote social skills in children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Ben-Sasson, Ayelet; Lamash, Liron; Gal, Eynat

2013-09-01

The goal of this stud was to examine whether a technological touch activated Collaborative Puzzle Game (CPG) increased positive social behaviors in children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). The CPG involved construction of a virtual puzzle by selecting and dragging pieces into the solution area on a touch screen table. The target picture was presented on the top of the screen. Six dyads of children with HFASD (aged 8-11 years) engaged in the CPG in a Free Play (FP) mode in which partners could independently move puzzle pieces versus in an Enforced Collaboration (EC) mode in which partners could only move puzzle pieces together. Videos of the dames were coded for the frequencies of positive and negative social interaction, affect, play, and autistic behaviors. Parents completed the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Wilcoxon Signed-ranks tests indicated that children with HFASD showed significantly higher frequencies of positive social interaction and collaborative play in the EC versus FP modes but there were no differences in negative social behaviors. Differences in social behaviors between partners during the puzzle games were not significant; however there were differences within pair in the severity of social deficits as assessed by the SRS questionnaire. The CPG in an EC mode was effective in promoting positive social interaction by requiring children to work together towards a mutual goal. However, the increased challenge in this mode, particularly for children with lower social-communication skills, suggests the need for establishing selection criteria and mediation steps for such interventions.

Adding a Piece to the Leaf Epidermal Cell Shape Puzzle.

PubMed

von Wangenheim, Daniel; Wells, Darren M; Bennett, Malcolm J

2017-11-06

The jigsaw puzzle-shaped pavement cells in the leaf epidermis collectively function as a load-bearing tissue that controls organ growth. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Majda et al. (2017) shed light on how the jigsaw shape can arise from localized variations in wall stiffness between adjacent epidermal cells. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

General intelligence is an emerging property, not an evolutionary puzzle.

PubMed

Ramus, Franck

2017-01-01

Burkart et al. contend that general intelligence poses a major evolutionary puzzle. This assertion presupposes a reification of general intelligence - that is, assuming that it is one "thing" that must have been selected as such. However, viewing general intelligence as an emerging property of multiple cognitive abilities (each with their own selective advantage) requires no additional evolutionary explanation.

Minimal Groups Increase Young Children's Motivation and Learning on Group-Relevant Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Master, Allison; Walton, Gregory M.

2013-01-01

Three experiments ("N" = 130) used a minimal group manipulation to show that just perceived membership in a social group boosts young children's motivation for and learning from group-relevant tasks. In Experiment 1, 4-year-old children assigned to a minimal "puzzles group" persisted longer on a challenging puzzle than children identified as the…

Instructional Media Production for Early Childhood Education: A. B. C. Jig-Saw Puzzle, a Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yusuf, Mudashiru Olalere; Olanrewaju, Olatayo Solomon; Soetan, Aderonke K.

2015-01-01

In this paper, a. b. c. jig-saw puzzle was produced for early childhood education using local materials. This study was a production based type of research, to serve as a supplemental or total learning resource. Its production followed four phases of development referred to as information, design, production and evaluation. The storyboard cards,…

Pedagogy Corner: The Architect's Puzzle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovitt, Charles

2017-01-01

Some years back, the author found the following problem in a spatial puzzle book: how many ways can you put four blocks together, face to face (with no vertical rotation symmetry)? He gave each student just four blocks and they collectively tried combinations to eventually agree on the answer of 15. He used to think it was a halfway decent task,…

Why Face a Challenge? The Reason behind Intrinsically Motivated Students' Spontaneous Choice of Challenging Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inoue, Noriyuki

2007-01-01

In a task choice situation, why do some students spontaneously choose challenging tasks while others do not? In the study, 114 undergraduate students were first asked of their perceived competence and interest in solving number puzzles at both individual and situational levels, and then asked to choose one puzzle from four difficulty levels. They…

The Quark Puzzle: A Novel Approach to Visualizing the Color Symmetries of Quarks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gettrust, Eric

2010-01-01

This paper describes a simple hands-on and visual-method designed to introduce physics students of many age groups to the topic of quarks and their role in forming composite particles (baryons and mesons). A set of puzzle pieces representing individual quarks that fit together in ways consistent with known restrictions of flavor, color, and charge…

Toward a virtual reconstruction of an antique three-dimensional marble puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benamar, Fatima Zahra; Fauvet, Eric; Hostein, Antony; Laligant, Olivier; Truchetet, Frederic

2017-01-01

The reconstruction of broken objects is an important field of research for many applications, such as art restoration, surgery, forensics, and solving puzzles. In archaeology, the reconstruction of broken artifacts is a very time-consuming task due to the handling of fractured objects, which are generally fragile. However, it can now be supported by three-dimensional (3-D) data acquisition devices and computer processing. Those techniques are very useful in this domain because they allow the remote handling of very accurate models of fragile parts, they permit the extensive testing of reconstruction solutions, and they provide access to the parts for the entire research community. An interesting problem has recently been proposed by archaeologists in the form of a huge puzzle composed of a thousand fragments of Pentelic marble of different sizes found in Autun (France), and all attempts to reconstruct the puzzle during the last two centuries have failed. Archaeologists are sure that some fragments are missing and that some of the ones we have come from different slabs. We propose an inexpensive transportable system for 3-D acquisition setup and a 3-D reconstruction method that is applied to this Roman inscription but is also relevant to other applications.

A puzzle assembly strategy for fabrication of large engineered cartilage tissue constructs.

PubMed

Nover, Adam B; Jones, Brian K; Yu, William T; Donovan, Daniel S; Podolnick, Jeremy D; Cook, James L; Ateshian, Gerard A; Hung, Clark T

2016-03-21

Engineering of large articular cartilage tissue constructs remains a challenge as tissue growth is limited by nutrient diffusion. Here, a novel strategy is investigated, generating large constructs through the assembly of individually cultured, interlocking, smaller puzzle-shaped subunits. These constructs can be engineered consistently with more desirable mechanical and biochemical properties than larger constructs (~4-fold greater Young׳s modulus). A failure testing technique was developed to evaluate the physiologic functionality of constructs, which were cultured as individual subunits for 28 days, then assembled and cultured for an additional 21-35 days. Assembled puzzle constructs withstood large deformations (40-50% compressive strain) prior to failure. Their ability to withstand physiologic loads may be enhanced by increases in subunit strength and assembled culture time. A nude mouse model was utilized to show biocompatibility and fusion of assembled puzzle pieces in vivo. Overall, the technique offers a novel, effective approach to scaling up engineered tissues and may be combined with other techniques and/or applied to the engineering of other tissues. Future studies will aim to optimize this system in an effort to engineer and integrate robust subunits to fill large defects. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Right frontal gamma and beta band enhancement while solving a spatial puzzle with insight.

PubMed

Rosen, A; Reiner, M

2017-12-01

Solving a problem with an "a-ha" effect is known as insight. Unlike incremental problem solving, insight is sudden and unique, and the question about its distinct brain activity, intrigues many researchers. In this study, electroencephalogram signals were recorded from 12 right handed, human participants before (baseline) and while they solved a spatial puzzle known as the '10 coin puzzle' that could be solved incrementally or by insight. Participants responded as soon as they reached a solution and reported whether the process was incremental or by sudden insight. EEG activity was recorded from 19 scalp locations. We found significant differences between insight and incremental solvers in the Gamma and Beta 2 bands in frontal areas (F8) and in the alpha band in right temporal areas (T6). The right-frontal gamma indicates a process of restructuring which leads to an insight solution, in spatial problems, further suggesting a universal role of gamma in restructuring. These results further suggest that solving a spatial puzzle via insight requires exclusive brain areas and neurological-cognitive processes which may be important for meta-cognitive components of insight solutions, including attention and monitoring of the solution. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Puzzle Assembly Strategy for Fabrication of Large Engineered Cartilage Tissue Constructs

PubMed Central

Nover, Adam B.; Jones, Brian K.; Yu, William T.; Donovan, Daniel S.; Podolnick, Jeremy D.; Cook, James L.; Ateshian, Gerard A.; Hung, Clark T.

2016-01-01

Engineering of large articular cartilage tissue constructs remains a challenge as tissue growth is limited by nutrient diffusion. Here, a novel strategy is investigated, generating large constructs through the assembly of individually cultured, interlocking, smaller puzzle-shaped subunits. These constructs can be engineered consistently with more desirable mechanical and biochemical properties than larger constructs (~4-fold greater Young's modulus). A failure testing technique was developed to evaluate the physiologic functionality of constructs, which were cultured as individual subunits for 28 days, then assembled and cultured for an additional 21-35 days. Assembled puzzle constructs withstood large deformations (40-50% compressive strain) prior to failure. Their ability to withstand physiologic loads may be enhanced by increases in subunit strength and assembled culture time. A nude mouse model was utilized to show biocompatibility and fusion of assembled puzzle pieces in vivo. Overall, the technique offers a novel, effective approach to scaling up engineered tissues and may be combined with other techniques and/or applied to the engineering of other tissues. Future studies will aim to optimize this system in an effort to engineer and integrate robust subunits to fill large defects. PMID:26895780

Food puzzles for cats: Feeding for physical and emotional wellbeing.

PubMed

Dantas, Leticia Ms; Delgado, Mikel M; Johnson, Ingrid; Buffington, Ca Tony

2016-09-01

Many pet cats are kept indoors for a variety of reasons (eg, safety, health, avoidance of wildlife predation) in conditions that are perhaps the least natural to them. Indoor housing has been associated with health issues, such as chronic lower urinary tract signs, and development of problem behaviors, which can cause weakening of the human-animal bond and lead to euthanasia of the cat. Environmental enrichment may mitigate the effects of these problems and one approach is to take advantage of cats' natural instinct to work for their food. In this article we aim to equip veterinary professionals with the tools to assist clients in the use of food puzzles for their cats as a way to support feline physical health and emotional wellbeing. We outline different types of food puzzles, and explain how to introduce them to cats and how to troubleshoot challenges with their use. The effect of food puzzles on cats is a relatively new area of study, so as well as reviewing the existing empirical evidence, we provide case studies from our veterinary and behavioral practices showing health and behavioral benefits resulting from their use. © The Author(s) 2016.

Lorentz violation in the gravity sector: The t puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonder, Yuri

2015-06-01

Lorentz violation is a candidate quantum-gravity signal, and the Standard-Model Extension (SME) is a widely used parametrization of such a violation. In the gravitational SME sector, there is an elusive coefficient for which no effects have been found. This is known as the t puzzle and, to date, it has no compelling explanation. This paper analyzes whether there is a fundamental explanation for the t puzzle. To tackle this question, several approaches are followed. Mainly, redefinitions of the dynamical fields are studied, showing that other SME coefficients can be moved to nongravitational sectors. It is also found that the gravity SME sector can be consistently treated à la Palatini, and that, in the presence of spacetime boundaries, it is possible to correct its action to get the desired equations of motion. Moreover, through a reformulation as a Lanczos-type tensor, some problematic features of the t term, which should arise at the phenomenological level, are revealed. The most important conclusion of the paper is that there is no evidence of a fundamental explanation for the t puzzle, suggesting that it may be linked to the approximations taken at the phenomenological level.

EFFECTS OF BIASES IN VIRIAL MASS ESTIMATION ON COSMIC SYNCHRONIZATION OF QUASAR ACCRETION

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

Steinhardt, Charles L.

2011-09-01

Recent work using virial mass estimates and the quasar mass-luminosity plane has yielded several new puzzles regarding quasar accretion, including a sub-Eddington boundary (SEB) on most quasar accretion, near-independence of the accretion rate from properties of the host galaxy, and a cosmic synchronization of accretion among black holes of a common mass. We consider how these puzzles might change if virial mass estimation turns out to have a systematic bias. As examples, we consider two recent claims of mass-dependent biases in Mg II masses. Under any such correction, the surprising cosmic synchronization of quasar accretion rates and independence from themore » host galaxy remain. The slope and location of the SEB are very sensitive to biases in virial mass estimation, and various mass calibrations appear to favor different possible physical explanations for feedback between the central black hole and its environment. The alternative mass estimators considered do not simply remove puzzling quasar behavior, but rather replace it with new puzzles that may be more difficult to solve than those using current virial mass estimators and the Shen et al. catalog.« less

Puzzle maker in SmB6: accompany-type valence fluctuation state

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Qi; Sun, Liling

2017-11-01

In recent years, studying the Kondo insulator SmB6, a strongly correlated electron material that has been puzzling the community for decades, has again become an attractive topic due to the discovery of its unusual metallic surface state coexisting with the bulk insulating state. Many efforts have been made to understand the microphysics in SmB6, but some puzzles that have been hotly debated and argued have not been solved. In this article, based on the latest progress made in our high-pressure studies on SmB6 and the accumulating results reported by other groups, we propose a notion named the ‘accompany-type valence fluctuation state’, which possibly coexists with the bulk Kondo insulating ground state of SmB6. We expect that this notion could be taken as a common starting point for understanding in a unified way most of the low-temperature phenomena observed by different experimental investigations on SmB6, thus promoting the deciphering of the puzzles. We also expect that this notion could attract rigorous theoretical interpretation and further experimental investigation, or stimulate better thinking on the physics in SmB6.

Extending theories on muon-specific interactions

DOE PAGES

Carlson, Carl E.; Freid, Michael C.

2015-11-23

The proton radius puzzle, the discrepancy between the proton radius measured in muonic hydrogen and electronic hydrogen, has yet to be resolved. There are suggestions that beyond the standard model (BSM) physics could resolve both this puzzle and the muon anomalous magnetic moment discrepancy. Karshenboim et al. point out that simple, nonrenormalizable, models in this direction involving new vector bosons have serious problems when confronting high energy data. The prime example is radiative corrections to W to μν decay which exceed experimental bounds. We show how embedding the model in a larger and arguably renormalizable theory restores gauge invariance ofmore » the vector particle interactions and controls the high energy behavior of decay and scattering amplitudes. Thus BSM explanations of the proton radius puzzle can still be viable.« less

Spectroscopy of muonic atoms and the proton radius puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antognini, Aldo

2017-09-01

We have measured several 2 S -2 P transitions in muonic hydrogen (μp), muonic deuterium (μd) and muonic helium ions (μ3He, μ4He). From muonic hydrogen we extracted a proton charge radius 20 times more precise than obtained from electron-proton scattering and hydrogen high-precision laser spectroscopy but at a variance of 7 σ from these values. This discrepancy is nowadays referred to as the proton radius puzzle. New insight has been recently provided by the first determination of the deuteron charge radius from laser spectroscopy of μd. The status of the proton charge radius puzzle including the new insights obtained by μd spectroscopy will be discussed. Work supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF-200021-165854 and the ERC CoG. #725039.

Extending theories on muon-specific interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlson, Carl E.; Freid, Michael

2015-11-01

The proton radius puzzle, the discrepancy between the proton radius measured in muonic hydrogen and electronic hydrogen, has yet to be resolved. There are suggestions that beyond-the-standard-model physics could resolve both this puzzle and the muon anomalous magnetic moment discrepancy. Karshenboim et al. point out that simple, nonrenormalizable, models in this direction involving new vector bosons have serious problems when confronting high energy data. The prime example is radiative corrections to W →μ ν decay which exceed experimental bounds. We show how embedding the model in a larger and arguably renormalizable theory restores gauge invariance of the vector particle interactions and controls the high energy behavior of decay and scattering amplitudes. Thus, beyond-the-standard-model explanations of the proton radius puzzle can still be viable.

Health inequalities and welfare state regimes: theoretical insights on a public health 'puzzle'.

PubMed

Bambra, Clare

2011-09-01

Welfare states are important determinants of health. Comparative social epidemiology has almost invariably concluded that population health is enhanced by the relatively generous and universal welfare provision of the Scandinavian countries. However, most international studies of socioeconomic inequalities in health have thrown up something of a public health 'puzzle' as the Scandinavian welfare states do not, as would generally be expected, have the smallest health inequalities. This essay outlines and interrogates this puzzle by drawing upon existing theories of health inequalities--artefact, selection, cultural--behavioural, materialist, psychosocial and life course--to generate some theoretical insights. It discusses the limits of these theories in respect to cross-national research; it questions the focus and normative paradigm underpinning contemporary comparative health inequalities research; and it considers the future of comparative social epidemiology.

Clinical and cost effectiveness of computer treatment for aphasia post stroke (Big CACTUS): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Palmer, Rebecca; Cooper, Cindy; Enderby, Pam; Brady, Marian; Julious, Steven; Bowen, Audrey; Latimer, Nicholas

2015-01-27

Aphasia affects the ability to speak, comprehend spoken language, read and write. One third of stroke survivors experience aphasia. Evidence suggests that aphasia can continue to improve after the first few months with intensive speech and language therapy, which is frequently beyond what resources allow. The development of computer software for language practice provides an opportunity for self-managed therapy. This pragmatic randomised controlled trial will investigate the clinical and cost effectiveness of a computerised approach to long-term aphasia therapy post stroke. A total of 285 adults with aphasia at least four months post stroke will be randomly allocated to either usual care, computerised intervention in addition to usual care or attention and activity control in addition to usual care. Those in the intervention group will receive six months of self-managed word finding practice on their home computer with monthly face-to-face support from a volunteer/assistant. Those in the attention control group will receive puzzle activities, supplemented by monthly telephone calls. Study delivery will be coordinated by 20 speech and language therapy departments across the United Kingdom. Outcome measures will be made at baseline, six, nine and 12 months after randomisation by blinded speech and language therapist assessors. Primary outcomes are the change in number of words (of personal relevance) named correctly at six months and improvement in functional conversation. Primary outcomes will be analysed using a Hochberg testing procedure. Significance will be declared if differences in both word retrieval and functional conversation at six months are significant at the 5% level, or if either comparison is significant at 2.5%. A cost utility analysis will be undertaken from the NHS and personal social service perspective. Differences between costs and quality-adjusted life years in the three groups will be described and the incremental cost effectiveness ratio will be calculated. Treatment fidelity will be monitored. This is the first fully powered trial of the clinical and cost effectiveness of computerised aphasia therapy. Specific challenges in designing the protocol are considered. Registered with Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN68798818 on 18 February 2014.

A light Z' for the R K puzzle and nonstandard neutrino interactions

DOE PAGES

Datta, Alakabha; Liao, Jiajun; Marfatia, Danny

2017-03-01

We show that the R K puzzle in LHCb data and the discrepancy in the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon can be simultaneously explained if a 10 MeV mass Z' boson couples to the muon but not the electron, and that clear evidence of the nonstandard matter interactions of neutrinos induced by this coupling may be found at DUNE.

Tracking the Footprints Puzzle: The Problematic Persistence of Science-as-Process in Teaching the Nature and Culture of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ault, Charles R., Jr.; Dodick, Jeff

2010-01-01

For many decades, science educators have asked, "In what ways should learning the content of traditional subjects serve as the means to more general ends, such as understanding the nature of science or the processes of scientific inquiry?" Acceptance of these ends reduces the role of disciplinary context; the "Footprints Puzzle" and Oregon's…

Jigsaw Puzzles and River Banks: Two Ways of Picturing Our Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kretchmar, R. Scott

2005-01-01

The papers presented at the 2004 Academy meetings can be thought of as pieces from jigsaw puzzles. While the employment of this metaphor over the years has been useful, we may be ready for a new image, one that is both more accurate and inspiring. We can picture ourselves working at different locations along a river bank. Some of us work upstream,…

Engaging Students in a Large Lecture: An Experiment Using Sudoku Puzzles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brophy, Caroline; Hahn, Lukas

2014-01-01

In this paper, we describe an in-class experiment that is easy to implement with large groups of students. The experiment takes approximately 15-20 minutes to run and involves each student completing one of four types of Sudoku puzzles and recording the time it takes to completion. The resulting data set can be used as a teaching tool at an…

KnowledgePuzzle: A Browsing Tool to Adapt the Web Navigation Process to the Learner's Mental Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AlAgha, Iyad

2012-01-01

This article presents KnowledgePuzzle, a browsing tool for knowledge construction from the web. It aims to adapt the structure of web content to the learner's information needs regardless of how the web content is originally delivered. Learners are provided with a meta-cognitive space (e.g., a concept mapping tool) that enables them to plan…

Pieces of the Puzzle: Factors in the Improvement of Urban School Districts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Abstract

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Casserly, Michael; Price-Baugh, Ricki; Corcoran, Amanda; Lewis, Sharon; Uzzell, Renata; Simon, Candace; Heppen, Jessica; Leinwand, Steve; Salinger, Terry; de Mello, Victor Bandeira; Dogan, Enis; Novotny, Laura

2011-01-01

This is an abridged, summary report of selected findings from "Pieces of the Puzzle: Factors in the Improvement of Urban School Districts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress"--a comprehensive study prepared by the Council of the Great City Schools in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and with…

Variation on the similar-size disk tower of hanoi puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuchri, S.

2017-02-01

The famous Tower of Hanoi puzzle was invented by Edouard Lucas in 1883. This puzzle proposed three pegs, and the number of disks with different size. The puzzle starts with the disks in a neat stack in ascending order of size on one peg, the smallest at the top. The objective of the puzzle is to move the entire stack to another peg, by following these simple rules: (1) only one disk can be moved at a time; (2) Each move consists of taking the upper disk from one of the stacks and placing it on top of another stack; (2) No disk is placed on the top of a smaller disk and the minimum number of move is the goal of this puzzle. Many variations have been proposed as exercises and challenges. Some have more than three pegs and some with colours. This paper poses a new variation. There are two or more disks with similar size. The goal is to move each stack of the disk from its initial location to its final location. As usual, disk must be moved one at a time and a disk can never sit above a disk of smaller. Let n be a number of disks and there are p similar size disks. The disks are labelled from 1 to n - p + 1 in increasing order of size so the disk with similar size has the same label. If m is the label of the similar disks, so Mp(n; m) is the minimum number moves needed to move all the disks in original peg to destination peg. We have, M2(n; m) = 2n-1 + 2n-m-1 - 1 M3(n; m) = 2n-2 + 2n-m-1 - 1 The number moves needed to move if there are p1 similar size disks m1 and p2 similar size disks m2 is Mp1,p2 (n; m1, m2) = 2n-p1-p2 + 2[(p12-m1 + p22-m2 ) - (2-m1 + 2-m2 + 1] - 1

3D satellite puzzles for young and old kids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biondi, Riccardo; Galoforo, Germana

2017-04-01

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) is active in outreach willing to increase the interest of young generations and general public toward the space activities. ASI proposes educational programmes for supporting and encouraging the development of European society based on knowledge, inspiring and motivating the young generations. One of the initiatives promoted by ASI on this regards is the 3D satellite puzzles. The idea was born in 2007 from the will to conceive an educational product for promoting and explaining to students the small all-Italian mission AGILE (Astrorivelatore Gamma ad Immagini ultra Leggero) thought as a tool for students aged 8-13. Working with this slot of students is very productive in terms of the imprints left on the kids, in fact it is useful to produce things they can use, touch and play with, with an active approach instead of a passive one. Therefore it was decided to produce something that kids could build and use at home with their parents or friends, or all together at school with teachers and mates. Other puzzles followed AGILE, one about the COSMO-SkyMED satellites about Earth Observation and also a broader one of the International Space Station. During these 10 years the puzzles were mostly used as outreach tools for school children, but they surprisingly received a great success also within older generations. So far the 3D puzzles have been printed in more than 10 thousand copies and distributed for free to students of hundreds of schools in Italy, and to the general public through science associations, planetaria and museums. Recently they have been used also during special events such as the international Geoscience Communication School (as best practice outreach tool), the EXPO 2015 and the European Researcheŕs Night at the Parlamentarium in Brussels 2016. While the students are building the puzzles, the tutor explains them the different components that they are assembling, what the importance of the satellite is and how it works. It is interesting to see how the students can spend hours building their own satellite and how passionate they are for this type of tool.

The Incomplete Glutathione Puzzle: Just Guessing at Numbers and Figures?

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Abstract Significance: Glutathione metabolism is comparable to a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces. It is supposed to comprise (i) the reduction of disulfides, hydroperoxides, sulfenic acids, and nitrosothiols, (ii) the detoxification of aldehydes, xenobiotics, and heavy metals, and (iii) the synthesis of eicosanoids, steroids, and iron–sulfur clusters. In addition, glutathione affects oxidative protein folding and redox signaling. Here, I try to provide an overview on the relevance of glutathione-dependent pathways with an emphasis on quantitative data. Recent Advances: Intracellular redox measurements reveal that the cytosol, the nucleus, and mitochondria contain very little glutathione disulfide and that oxidative challenges are rapidly counterbalanced. Genetic approaches suggest that iron metabolism is the centerpiece of the glutathione puzzle in yeast. Furthermore, recent biochemical studies provide novel insights on glutathione transport processes and uncoupling mechanisms. Critical Issues: Which parts of the glutathione puzzle are most relevant? Does this explain the high intracellular concentrations of reduced glutathione? How can iron–sulfur cluster biogenesis, oxidative protein folding, or redox signaling occur at high glutathione concentrations? Answers to these questions not only seem to depend on the organism, cell type, and subcellular compartment but also on different ideologies among researchers. Future Directions: A rational approach to compare the relevance of glutathione-dependent pathways is to combine genetic and quantitative kinetic data. However, there are still many missing pieces and too little is known about the compartment-specific repertoire and concentration of numerous metabolites, substrates, enzymes, and transporters as well as rate constants and enzyme kinetic patterns. Gathering this information might require the development of novel tools but is crucial to address potential kinetic competitions and to decipher uncoupling mechanisms to solve the glutathione puzzle. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 27, 1130–1161. PMID:28540740

The Incomplete Glutathione Puzzle: Just Guessing at Numbers and Figures?

PubMed

Deponte, Marcel

2017-11-20

Glutathione metabolism is comparable to a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces. It is supposed to comprise (i) the reduction of disulfides, hydroperoxides, sulfenic acids, and nitrosothiols, (ii) the detoxification of aldehydes, xenobiotics, and heavy metals, and (iii) the synthesis of eicosanoids, steroids, and iron-sulfur clusters. In addition, glutathione affects oxidative protein folding and redox signaling. Here, I try to provide an overview on the relevance of glutathione-dependent pathways with an emphasis on quantitative data. Recent Advances: Intracellular redox measurements reveal that the cytosol, the nucleus, and mitochondria contain very little glutathione disulfide and that oxidative challenges are rapidly counterbalanced. Genetic approaches suggest that iron metabolism is the centerpiece of the glutathione puzzle in yeast. Furthermore, recent biochemical studies provide novel insights on glutathione transport processes and uncoupling mechanisms. Which parts of the glutathione puzzle are most relevant? Does this explain the high intracellular concentrations of reduced glutathione? How can iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis, oxidative protein folding, or redox signaling occur at high glutathione concentrations? Answers to these questions not only seem to depend on the organism, cell type, and subcellular compartment but also on different ideologies among researchers. A rational approach to compare the relevance of glutathione-dependent pathways is to combine genetic and quantitative kinetic data. However, there are still many missing pieces and too little is known about the compartment-specific repertoire and concentration of numerous metabolites, substrates, enzymes, and transporters as well as rate constants and enzyme kinetic patterns. Gathering this information might require the development of novel tools but is crucial to address potential kinetic competitions and to decipher uncoupling mechanisms to solve the glutathione puzzle. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 27, 1130-1161.

Action and puzzle video games prime different speed/accuracy tradeoffs.

PubMed

Nelson, Rolf A; Strachan, Ian

2009-01-01

To understand the way in which video-game play affects subsequent perception and cognitive strategy, two experiments were performed in which participants played either a fast-action game or a puzzle-solving game. Before and after video-game play, participants performed a task in which both speed and accuracy were emphasized. In experiment 1 participants engaged in a location task in which they clicked a mouse on the spot where a target had appeared, and in experiment 2 they were asked to judge which of four shapes was most similar to a target shape. In both experiments, participants were much faster but less accurate after playing the action game, while they were slower but more accurate after playing the puzzle game. Results are discussed in terms of a taxonomy of video games by their cognitive and perceptual demands.

Track Reconstruction and the Proton Radius Puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, Steven; Cline, Ethan; Gilman, Ron; MUSE Collaboration

2017-09-01

In 2010, Pohl et al. measured the proton charge radius to be 0.84184(67) fm using muonic hydrogen spectroscopy. This value differs about 5 σ from the CODATA proton radius from measurements with electrons. Other experiments with muons and electrons have confirmed the difference and the discrepancy has been termed the `Proton Radius Puzzle.' Currently there are no explanations for the puzzle. The MUon proton Scattering Experiment (MUSE) will make a significant measurement of the proton radius with muon scattering for the first time. The experiment tracks elastic scattering of electrons and muons off of liquid hydrogen. Particle tracks are reconstructed with track fitting software GenFit. Using a simulation of MUSE, GenFit has been determined to be proficient at track reconstruction. This project has been supported by funding from National Science Foundation Grant PHY-1560077.

Language of Interview, Self-Rated Health, and the Other Latino Health Puzzle

PubMed Central

Morenoff, Jeffrey D.; Williams, David R.; House, James S.

2011-01-01

Objectives. We investigated whether the conventional Spanish translation of the self-rated health survey question helps explain why Latinos' self-rated health is worse than Whites' despite more objective health measures showing them to be as healthy as or healthier than are Whites. Methods. We analyzed the relationship between language of interview and self-rated health in the Chicago Community Adult Health Study (2001–2003) and the 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Results. Being interviewed in Spanish was associated with significantly higher odds of rating health as fair or poor in both data sets. Moreover, adjusting for language of interview substantially reduced the gap between Whites and Latinos. Spanish-language interviewees were more likely to rate their health as fair (regular in Spanish) than as any other choice, and this preference was strongest when compared with categories representing better health (good, very good, and excellent). Conclusions. Our findings suggest that translation of the English word “fair” to regular induces Spanish-language respondents to report poorer health than they would in English. Self-rated health should be interpreted with caution, especially in racial/ethnic comparisons, and research should explore alternative translations. PMID:21164101

Background music as a quasi clock in retrospective duration judgments.

PubMed

Bailey, Nicole; Areni, Charles S

2006-04-01

The segmentation-change model of time perception proposes that individuals engaged in cognitive tasks during a given interval of time retrospectively estimate duration by recalling events that occurred during the interval and inferring each event's duration. Previous research suggests that individuals can recall the number of songs heard during an interval and infer the length of each song, exactly the conditions that foster estimates of duration based on the segmentation-change model. The results of a laboratory experiment indicated that subjects who solved word-search puzzles for 20 min. estimated the duration of the interval to be longer when 8 short songs (<3 min.) as opposed to 4 long songs (6+ min.) were played in the background, regardless of whether the musical format was Contemporary Dance or New Age. Assuming each song represented a distinct segment in memory, these results are consistent with the segmentation-change model. These results suggest that background music may not always reduce estimates of duration by drawing attention away from the passage of time. Instead, background music may actually expand the subjective length of an interval by creating accessible traces in memory, which are retrospectively used to infer duration.

To Enforce or Not to Enforce? The Use of Collaborative Interfaces to Promote Social Skills in Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ben-Sasson, Ayelet; Lamash, Liron; Gal, Eynat

2013-01-01

The goal of this study was to examine whether a technological touch activated Collaborative Puzzle Game (CPG) increased positive social behaviors in children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). The CPG involved construction of a virtual puzzle by selecting and dragging pieces into the solution area on a touch screen table. The…

Neutron star news and puzzles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prakash, Madappa

2014-08-01

Gerry Brown has had the most influence on my career in Physics, and my life after graduate studies. This article gives a brief account of some of the many ways in which Gerry shaped my research. Focus is placed on the significant strides on neutron star research made by the group at Stony Brook, which Gerry built from scratch. Selected puzzles about neutron stars that remain to be solved are noted.

How Peripheral a Phenomenon Is It?: On the Interaction of DP-Internal Ellipsis, Degree Inversion, and Islands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manlove, Kathleen

2016-01-01

In this dissertation I set out to solve a series of puzzles related to the notion of a DP periphery, defined as an area around the edge of a given domain targeted by operations such as movement and agreement. In solving these puzzles, I argue for a peripheral area in the nominal domain. Early arguments for a peripheral boundary in the nominal…

Russian Culture and Soviet Science.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-03-01

scientist the nature of the puzzles, but also provide him with a framework for their solutions by generating a web of expectations. The power of this...provide the scientist with both t’- puzzles and some expectation of the nature of their solutions . The web of expectations serves as a frame of...student to a paradigm 0 method of problem solution , the scientific community ensures the continuation of a strong consensus. After admitting new

Decodoku: Quantum error rorrection as a simple puzzle game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wootton, James

To build quantum computers, we need to detect and manage any noise that occurs. This will be done using quantum error correction. At the hardware level, QEC is a multipartite system that stores information non-locally. Certain measurements are made which do not disturb the stored information, but which do allow signatures of errors to be detected. Then there is a software problem. How to take these measurement outcomes and determine: a) The errors that caused them, and (b) how to remove their effects. For qubit error correction, the algorithms required to do this are well known. For qudits, however, current methods are far from optimal. We consider the error correction problem of qubit surface codes. At the most basic level, this is a problem that can be expressed in terms of a grid of numbers. Using this fact, we take the inherent problem at the heart of quantum error correction, remove it from its quantum context, and presented in terms of simple grid based puzzle games. We have developed three versions of these puzzle games, focussing on different aspects of the required algorithms. These have been presented and iOS and Android apps, allowing the public to try their hand at developing good algorithms to solve the puzzles. For more information, see www.decodoku.com. Funding from the NCCR QSIT.

Developmental parallels in understanding minds and bodies.

PubMed

Leslie, Alan M

2005-10-01

A recent article by Onishi and Baillargeon presents evidence that 15-month-old infants attribute false beliefs (FBs) to other people. If correct, it lends dramatic new support to the idea that mental state concepts ("theory of mind") emerge from a specialized neurocognitive mechanism that matures during the second year of life. But it also raises new puzzles concerning the FB task--puzzles that have intriguing parallels in results from infants' reasoning about solid bodies.

Nature's Greatest Puzzles

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

Quigg, Chris; /Fermilab

2005-02-01

It is a pleasure to be part of the SLAC Summer Institute again, not simply because it is one of the great traditions in our field, but because this is a moment of great promise for particle physics. I look forward to exploring many opportunities with you over the course of our two weeks together. My first task in talking about Nature's Greatest Puzzles, the title of this year's Summer Institute, is to deconstruct the premise a little bit.

Set selection dynamical system neural networks with partial memories, with applications to Sudoku and KenKen puzzles.

PubMed

Boreland, B; Clement, G; Kunze, H

2015-08-01

After reviewing set selection and memory model dynamical system neural networks, we introduce a neural network model that combines set selection with partial memories (stored memories on subsets of states in the network). We establish that feasible equilibria with all states equal to ± 1 correspond to answers to a particular set theoretic problem. We show that KenKen puzzles can be formulated as a particular case of this set theoretic problem and use the neural network model to solve them; in addition, we use a similar approach to solve Sudoku. We illustrate the approach in examples. As a heuristic experiment, we use online or print resources to identify the difficulty of the puzzles and compare these difficulties to the number of iterations used by the appropriate neural network solver, finding a strong relationship. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applicability, Indispensability, and Underdetermination: Puzzling Over Wigner's `Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gelfert, Axel

2014-05-01

In his influential 1960 paper `The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences', Eugene P. Wigner raises the question of why something that was developed without concern for empirical facts—mathematics—should turn out to be so powerful in explaining facts about the natural world. Recent philosophy of science has developed `Wigner's puzzle' in two different directions: First, in relation to the supposed indispensability of mathematical facts to particular scientific explanations and, secondly, in connection with the idea that aesthetic criteria track theoretical desiderata such as empirical success. An important aspect of Wigner's article has, however, been overlooked in these debates: his worries about the underdetermination of physical theories by mathematical frameworks. The present paper argues that, by restoring this aspect of Wigner's argument to its proper place, Wigner's puzzle may become an instructive case study for the teaching of core issues in the philosophy of science and its history.

Incomplete Puzzle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

15 April 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a mid-summer view of a portion of the south polar residual cap of Mars. The large, relatively flat-lying, puzzle-like pieces in this scene are mesas composed largely of solid carbon dioxide.

Location near: 85.5oS, 76.8oW Image width: 3 km (1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Summer

Dissolving the Puzzle of Resultant Moral Luck.

PubMed

Levy, Neil

The puzzle of resultant moral luck arises when we are disposed to think that an agent who caused a harm deserves to be blamed more than an otherwise identical agent who did not. One popular (but controversial) perspective on resultant moral luck explains our dispositions to produce different judgments with regard to the agents who feature in these cases as a product not of what they genuinely deserve but of our epistemic situation. On this account, there is no genuine resultant moral luck; there is only luck in what evidence becomes available to observers. In this paper, I develop an evolutionary account of our inclination to take the results of actions as evidence for the mental states of agents, thereby explaining why the resulting intuitions are recalcitrant to correction. The account explains why the puzzle of resultant moral luck arises: because our disposition to take the harms agents cause as evidence of their mental states can produce intuitions which conflict with those that arise when we examine agents' mental states without reference to the results of their actions. The account also helps to solve the puzzle of resultant moral luck, by providing a strong reason to ignore the intuitions caused by our disposition to regard actual harms as evidence of mental states. Since these intuitions arise using an unreliable proxy for agents' mental states, they ought to be trumped by more reliable evidence.

Solving the Puzzle of Metastasis: The Evolution of Cell Migration in Neoplasms

PubMed Central

Chen, Jun; Sprouffske, Kathleen; Huang, Qihong; Maley, Carlo C.

2011-01-01

Background Metastasis represents one of the most clinically important transitions in neoplastic progression. The evolution of metastasis is a puzzle because a metastatic clone is at a disadvantage in competition for space and resources with non-metastatic clones in the primary tumor. Metastatic clones waste some of their reproductive potential on emigrating cells with little chance of establishing metastases. We suggest that resource heterogeneity within primary tumors selects for cell migration, and that cell emigration is a by-product of that selection. Methods and Findings We developed an agent-based model to simulate the evolution of neoplastic cell migration. We simulated the essential dynamics of neoangiogenesis and blood vessel occlusion that lead to resource heterogeneity in neoplasms. We observed the probability and speed of cell migration that evolves with changes in parameters that control the degree of spatial and temporal resource heterogeneity. Across a broad range of realistic parameter values, increasing degrees of spatial and temporal heterogeneity select for the evolution of increased cell migration and emigration. Conclusions We showed that variability in resources within a neoplasm (e.g. oxygen and nutrients provided by angiogenesis) is sufficient to select for cells with high motility. These cells are also more likely to emigrate from the tumor, which is the first step in metastasis and the key to the puzzle of metastasis. Thus, we have identified a novel potential solution to the puzzle of metastasis. PMID:21556134

Visual Puzzles, Figure Weights, and Cancellation: Some Preliminary Hypotheses on the Functional and Neural Substrates of These Three New WAIS-IV Subtests

PubMed Central

McCrea, Simon M.; Robinson, Thomas P.

2011-01-01

In this study, five consecutive patients with focal strokes and/or cortical excisions were examined with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Wechsler Memory Scale—Fourth Editions along with a comprehensive battery of other neuropsychological tasks. All five of the lesions were large and typically involved frontal, temporal, and/or parietal lobes and were lateralized to one hemisphere. The clinical case method was used to determine the cognitive neuropsychological correlates of mental rotation (Visual Puzzles), Piagetian balance beam (Figure Weights), and visual search (Cancellation) tasks. The pattern of results on Visual Puzzles and Figure Weights suggested that both subtests involve predominately right frontoparietal networks involved in visual working memory. It appeared that Visual Puzzles could also critically rely on the integrity of the left temporoparietal junction. The left temporoparietal junction could be involved in temporal ordering and integration of local elements into a nonverbal gestalt. In contrast, the Figure Weights task appears to critically involve the right temporoparietal junction involved in numerical magnitude estimation. Cancellation was sensitive to left frontotemporal lesions and not right posterior parietal lesions typical of other visual search tasks. In addition, the Cancellation subtest was sensitive to verbal search strategies and perhaps object-based attention demands, thereby constituting a unique task in comparison with previous visual search tasks. PMID:22389807

The Matter-Gravity Entanglement Hypothesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kay, Bernard S.

2018-03-01

I outline some of my work and results (some dating back to 1998, some more recent) on my matter-gravity entanglement hypothesis, according to which the entropy of a closed quantum gravitational system is equal to the system's matter-gravity entanglement entropy. The main arguments presented are: (1) that this hypothesis is capable of resolving what I call the second-law puzzle, i.e. the puzzle as to how the entropy increase of a closed system can be reconciled with the asssumption of unitary time-evolution; (2) that the black hole information loss puzzle may be regarded as a special case of this second law puzzle and that therefore the same resolution applies to it; (3) that the black hole thermal atmosphere puzzle (which I recall) can be resolved by adopting a radically different-from-usual description of quantum black hole equilibrium states, according to which they are total pure states, entangled between matter and gravity in such a way that the partial states of matter and gravity are each approximately thermal equilibrium states (at the Hawking temperature); (4) that the Susskind-Horowitz-Polchinski string-theoretic understanding of black hole entropy as the logarithm of the degeneracy of a long string (which is the weak string coupling limit of a black hole) cannot be quite correct but should be replaced by a modified understanding according to which it is the entanglement entropy between a long string and its stringy atmosphere, when in a total pure equilibrium state in a suitable box, which (in line with (3)) goes over, at strong-coupling, to a black hole in equilibrium with its thermal atmosphere. The modified understanding in (4) is based on a general result, which I also describe, which concerns the likely state of a quantum system when it is weakly coupled to an energy-bath and the total state is a random pure state with a given energy. This result generalizes Goldstein et al.'s `canonical typicality' result to systems which are not necessarily small.

The Matter-Gravity Entanglement Hypothesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kay, Bernard S.

2018-05-01

I outline some of my work and results (some dating back to 1998, some more recent) on my matter-gravity entanglement hypothesis, according to which the entropy of a closed quantum gravitational system is equal to the system's matter-gravity entanglement entropy. The main arguments presented are: (1) that this hypothesis is capable of resolving what I call the second-law puzzle, i.e. the puzzle as to how the entropy increase of a closed system can be reconciled with the asssumption of unitary time-evolution; (2) that the black hole information loss puzzle may be regarded as a special case of this second law puzzle and that therefore the same resolution applies to it; (3) that the black hole thermal atmosphere puzzle (which I recall) can be resolved by adopting a radically different-from-usual description of quantum black hole equilibrium states, according to which they are total pure states, entangled between matter and gravity in such a way that the partial states of matter and gravity are each approximately thermal equilibrium states (at the Hawking temperature); (4) that the Susskind-Horowitz-Polchinski string-theoretic understanding of black hole entropy as the logarithm of the degeneracy of a long string (which is the weak string coupling limit of a black hole) cannot be quite correct but should be replaced by a modified understanding according to which it is the entanglement entropy between a long string and its stringy atmosphere, when in a total pure equilibrium state in a suitable box, which (in line with (3)) goes over, at strong-coupling, to a black hole in equilibrium with its thermal atmosphere. The modified understanding in (4) is based on a general result, which I also describe, which concerns the likely state of a quantum system when it is weakly coupled to an energy-bath and the total state is a random pure state with a given energy. This result generalizes Goldstein et al.'s `canonical typicality' result to systems which are not necessarily small.

SCIGN; new Southern California GPS network advances the study of earthquakes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hudnut, Ken; King, Nancy

2001-01-01

Southern California is a giant jigsaw puzzle, and scientists are now using GPS satellites to track the pieces. These puzzle pieces are continuously moving, slowly straining the faults in between. That strain is then eventually released in earthquakes. The innovative Southern California Integrated GPS Network (SCIGN) tracks the motions of these pieces over most of southern California with unprecedented precision. This new network greatly improves the ability to assess seismic hazards and quickly measure the larger displacements that occur during and immediatelyafter earthquakes.

Making sense of early false-belief understanding.

PubMed

Helming, Katharina A; Strickland, Brent; Jacob, Pierre

2014-04-01

We address the puzzle about early belief ascription: young children fail elicited-response false-belief tasks, but they demonstrate spontaneous false-belief understanding. Based on recent converging evidence, we articulate a pragmatic framework to solve this puzzle. Young children do understand the contents of others' false belief, but they are overwhelmed when they must simultaneously make sense of two distinct actions: the instrumental action of a mistaken agent and the experimenter's communicative action. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Puzzle of a Marble in a Spinning Pipe

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-01

MAY 2015 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2015 to 00-00-2015 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE The Puzzle of a Marble in a Spinning Pipe 5a. CONTRACT...Approved for public release; distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT What trajectory does a marble follow if it is held...298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 Physics Education 50 (3) 279 1. Problem statement A marble is placed one-third of the length along a

Generating Sudoku puzzles and its applications in teaching mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Ryan; Lindner, Brett; Shi, Yixun

2011-07-01

This article presents a few methods for generating Sudoku puzzles. These methods are developed based on the concepts of matrix, permutation, and modular functions, and therefore can be used to form application examples or student projects when teaching various mathematics courses. Mathematical properties of these methods are studied, connections between the methods are investigated, and student projects are suggested. Since most students tend to enjoy games, studies like this may help raising students' interests and enhance their problem-solving skills.

What Older People Like to Play: Genre Preferences and Acceptance of Casual Games.

PubMed

Chesham, Alvin; Wyss, Patric; Müri, René Martin; Mosimann, Urs Peter; Nef, Tobias

2017-04-18

In recent computerized cognitive training studies, video games have emerged as a promising tool that can benefit cognitive function and well-being. Whereas most video game training studies have used first-person shooter (FPS) action video games, subsequent studies found that older adults dislike this type of game and generally prefer casual video games (CVGs), which are a subtype of video games that are easy to learn and use simple rules and interfaces. Like other video games, CVGs are organized into genres (eg, puzzle games) based on the rule-directed interaction with the game. Importantly, game genre not only influences the ease of interaction and cognitive abilities CVGs demand, but also affects whether older adults are willing to play any particular genre. To date, studies looking at how different CVG genres resonate with older adults are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate how much older adults enjoy different CVG genres and how favorably their CVG characteristics are rated. A total of 16 healthy adults aged 65 years and above playtested 7 CVGs from 4 genres: casual action, puzzle, simulation, and strategy video games. Thereafter, they rated casual game preference and acceptance of casual game characteristics using 4 scales from the Core Elements of the Gaming Experience Questionnaire (CEGEQ). For this, participants rated how much they liked the game (enjoyment), understood the rules of the game (game-play), learned to manipulate the game (control), and make the game their own (ownership). Overall, enjoyment and acceptance of casual game characteristics was high and significantly above the midpoint of the rating scale for all CVG genres. Mixed model analyses revealed that ratings of enjoyment and casual game characteristics were significantly influenced by CVG genre. Participants' mean enjoyment of casual puzzle games (mean 0.95 out of 1.00) was significantly higher than that for casual simulation games (mean 0.75 and 0.73). For casual game characteristics, casual puzzle and simulation games were given significantly higher game-play ratings than casual action games. Similarly, participants' control ratings for casual puzzle games were significantly higher than that for casual action and simulation games. Finally, ownership was rated significantly higher for casual puzzle and strategy games than for casual action games. The findings of this study show that CVGs have characteristics that are suitable and enjoyable for older adults. In addition, genre was found to influence enjoyment and ratings of CVG characteristics, indicating that puzzle games are particularly easy to understand, learn, and play, and are enjoyable. Future studies should continue exploring the potential of CVG interventions for older adults in improving cognitive function, everyday functioning, and well-being. We see particular potential for CVGs in people suffering from cognitive impairment due to dementia or brain injury. ©Alvin Chesham, Patric Wyss, René Martin Müri, Urs Peter Mosimann, Tobias Nef. Originally published in JMIR Serious Games (http://games.jmir.org), 18.04.2017.

What Older People Like to Play: Genre Preferences and Acceptance of Casual Games

PubMed Central

Chesham, Alvin; Wyss, Patric; Müri, René Martin

2017-01-01

Background In recent computerized cognitive training studies, video games have emerged as a promising tool that can benefit cognitive function and well-being. Whereas most video game training studies have used first-person shooter (FPS) action video games, subsequent studies found that older adults dislike this type of game and generally prefer casual video games (CVGs), which are a subtype of video games that are easy to learn and use simple rules and interfaces. Like other video games, CVGs are organized into genres (eg, puzzle games) based on the rule-directed interaction with the game. Importantly, game genre not only influences the ease of interaction and cognitive abilities CVGs demand, but also affects whether older adults are willing to play any particular genre. To date, studies looking at how different CVG genres resonate with older adults are lacking. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate how much older adults enjoy different CVG genres and how favorably their CVG characteristics are rated. Methods A total of 16 healthy adults aged 65 years and above playtested 7 CVGs from 4 genres: casual action, puzzle, simulation, and strategy video games. Thereafter, they rated casual game preference and acceptance of casual game characteristics using 4 scales from the Core Elements of the Gaming Experience Questionnaire (CEGEQ). For this, participants rated how much they liked the game (enjoyment), understood the rules of the game (game-play), learned to manipulate the game (control), and make the game their own (ownership). Results Overall, enjoyment and acceptance of casual game characteristics was high and significantly above the midpoint of the rating scale for all CVG genres. Mixed model analyses revealed that ratings of enjoyment and casual game characteristics were significantly influenced by CVG genre. Participants’ mean enjoyment of casual puzzle games (mean 0.95 out of 1.00) was significantly higher than that for casual simulation games (mean 0.75 and 0.73). For casual game characteristics, casual puzzle and simulation games were given significantly higher game-play ratings than casual action games. Similarly, participants’ control ratings for casual puzzle games were significantly higher than that for casual action and simulation games. Finally, ownership was rated significantly higher for casual puzzle and strategy games than for casual action games. Conclusions The findings of this study show that CVGs have characteristics that are suitable and enjoyable for older adults. In addition, genre was found to influence enjoyment and ratings of CVG characteristics, indicating that puzzle games are particularly easy to understand, learn, and play, and are enjoyable. Future studies should continue exploring the potential of CVG interventions for older adults in improving cognitive function, everyday functioning, and well-being. We see particular potential for CVGs in people suffering from cognitive impairment due to dementia or brain injury. PMID:28420601

Puzzle of magnetic moments of Ni clusters revisited using quantum Monte Carlo method.

PubMed

Lee, Hung-Wen; Chang, Chun-Ming; Hsing, Cheng-Rong

2017-02-28

The puzzle of the magnetic moments of small nickel clusters arises from the discrepancy between values predicted using density functional theory (DFT) and experimental measurements. Traditional DFT approaches underestimate the magnetic moments of nickel clusters. Two fundamental problems are associated with this puzzle, namely, calculating the exchange-correlation interaction accurately and determining the global minimum structures of the clusters. Theoretically, the two problems can be solved using quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations and the ab initio random structure searching (AIRSS) method correspondingly. Therefore, we combined the fixed-moment AIRSS and QMC methods to investigate the magnetic properties of Ni n (n = 5-9) clusters. The spin moments of the diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) ground states are higher than those of the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof ground states and, in the case of Ni 8-9 , two new ground-state structures have been discovered using the DMC calculations. The predicted results are closer to the experimental findings, unlike the results predicted in previous standard DFT studies.

A Computational/Experimental Platform for Investigating Three-Dimensional Puzzle Solving of Comminuted Articular Fractures

PubMed Central

Thomas, Thaddeus P.; Anderson, Donald D.; Willis, Andrew R.; Liu, Pengcheng; Frank, Matthew C.; Marsh, J. Lawrence; Brown, Thomas D.

2011-01-01

Reconstructing highly comminuted articular fractures poses a difficult surgical challenge, akin to solving a complicated three-dimensional (3D) puzzle. Pre-operative planning using CT is critically important, given the desirability of less invasive surgical approaches. The goal of this work is to advance 3D puzzle solving methods toward use as a pre-operative tool for reconstructing these complex fractures. Methodology for generating typical fragmentation/dispersal patterns was developed. Five identical replicas of human distal tibia anatomy, were machined from blocks of high-density polyetherurethane foam (bone fragmentation surrogate), and were fractured using an instrumented drop tower. Pre- and post-fracture geometries were obtained using laser scans and CT. A semi-automatic virtual reconstruction computer program aligned fragment native (non-fracture) surfaces to a pre-fracture template. The tibias were precisely reconstructed with alignment accuracies ranging from 0.03-0.4mm. This novel technology has potential to significantly enhance surgical techniques for reconstructing comminuted intra-articular fractures, as illustrated for a representative clinical case. PMID:20924863

X-ray illumination of globular cluster puzzles. [globular cluster X ray sources as clues to Milky Way Galaxy age and evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lightman, A. P.; Grindlay, J. E.

1982-01-01

Globular clusters are thought to be among the oldest objects in the Galaxy, and provide, in this connection, important clues for determining the age and process of formation of the Galaxy. The present investigation is concerned with puzzles relating to the X-ray emission of globular clusters, taking into account questions regarding the location of X-ray emitting clusters (XEGC) unusually near the galactic plane and/or galactic center. An adopted model is discussed for the nature, formation, and lifetime of X-ray sources in globular clusters. An analysis of the available data is conducted in connection with a search for correlations between binary formation time scales, central relaxation times, galactic locations, and X-ray emission. The positive correlation found between distance from galactic center and two-body binary formation time for globular clusters, explanations for this correlation, and the hypothesis that X-ray sources in globular clusters require binary star systems provide a possible explanation of the considered puzzles.

Heavy flavor puzzle at LHC: a serendipitous interplay of jet suppression and fragmentation.

PubMed

Djordjevic, Magdalena

2014-01-31

Both charged hadrons and D mesons are considered to be excellent probes of QCD matter created in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. Surprisingly, recent experimental observations at LHC show the same jet suppression for these two probes, which--contrary to pQCD expectations--may suggest similar energy losses for light quarks and gluons in the QCD medium. We here use our recently developed energy loss formalism in a finite-size dynamical QCD medium to analyze this phenomenon that we denote as the "heavy flavor puzzle at LHC." We show that this puzzle is a consequence of an unusual combination of the suppression and fragmentation patterns and, in fact, does not require invoking the same energy loss for light partons. Furthermore, we show that this combination leads to a simple relationship between the suppressions of charged hadrons and D mesons and the corresponding bare quark suppressions. Consequently, a coincidental matching of jet suppression and fragmentation allows considerably simplifying the interpretation of the corresponding experimental data.

A Hybrid alldifferent-Tabu Search Algorithm for Solving Sudoku Puzzles

PubMed Central

Crawford, Broderick; Paredes, Fernando; Norero, Enrique

2015-01-01

The Sudoku problem is a well-known logic-based puzzle of combinatorial number-placement. It consists in filling a n 2 × n 2 grid, composed of n columns, n rows, and n subgrids, each one containing distinct integers from 1 to n 2. Such a puzzle belongs to the NP-complete collection of problems, to which there exist diverse exact and approximate methods able to solve it. In this paper, we propose a new hybrid algorithm that smartly combines a classic tabu search procedure with the alldifferent global constraint from the constraint programming world. The alldifferent constraint is known to be efficient for domain filtering in the presence of constraints that must be pairwise different, which are exactly the kind of constraints that Sudokus own. This ability clearly alleviates the work of the tabu search, resulting in a faster and more robust approach for solving Sudokus. We illustrate interesting experimental results where our proposed algorithm outperforms the best results previously reported by hybrids and approximate methods. PMID:26078751

The puzzling unsolved mysteries of liquid water: Some recent progress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanley, H. E.; Kumar, P.; Xu, L.; Yan, Z.; Mazza, M. G.; Buldyrev, S. V.; Chen, S.-H.; Mallamace, F.

2007-12-01

Water is perhaps the most ubiquitous, and the most essential, of any molecule on earth. Indeed, it defies the imagination of even the most creative science fiction writer to picture what life would be like without water. Despite decades of research, however, water's puzzling properties are not understood and 63 anomalies that distinguish water from other liquids remain unsolved. We introduce some of these unsolved mysteries, and demonstrate recent progress in solving them. We present evidence from experiments and computer simulations supporting the hypothesis that water displays a special transition point (which is not unlike the “tipping point” immortalized by Malcolm Gladwell). The general idea is that when the liquid is near this “tipping point,” it suddenly separates into two distinct liquid phases. This concept of a new critical point is finding application to other liquids as well as water, such as silicon and silica. We also discuss related puzzles, such as the mysterious behavior of water near a protein.

A Hybrid alldifferent-Tabu Search Algorithm for Solving Sudoku Puzzles.

PubMed

Soto, Ricardo; Crawford, Broderick; Galleguillos, Cristian; Paredes, Fernando; Norero, Enrique

2015-01-01

The Sudoku problem is a well-known logic-based puzzle of combinatorial number-placement. It consists in filling a n(2) × n(2) grid, composed of n columns, n rows, and n subgrids, each one containing distinct integers from 1 to n(2). Such a puzzle belongs to the NP-complete collection of problems, to which there exist diverse exact and approximate methods able to solve it. In this paper, we propose a new hybrid algorithm that smartly combines a classic tabu search procedure with the alldifferent global constraint from the constraint programming world. The alldifferent constraint is known to be efficient for domain filtering in the presence of constraints that must be pairwise different, which are exactly the kind of constraints that Sudokus own. This ability clearly alleviates the work of the tabu search, resulting in a faster and more robust approach for solving Sudokus. We illustrate interesting experimental results where our proposed algorithm outperforms the best results previously reported by hybrids and approximate methods.

Problem solving in great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo abelii): the effect of visual feedback.

PubMed

Völter, Christoph J; Call, Josep

2012-09-01

What kind of information animals use when solving problems is a controversial topic. Previous research suggests that, in some situations, great apes prefer to use causally relevant cues over arbitrary ones. To further examine to what extent great apes are able to use information about causal relations, we presented three different puzzle box problems to the four nonhuman great ape species. Of primary interest here was a comparison between one group of apes that received visual access to the functional mechanisms of the puzzle boxes and one group that did not. Apes' performance in the first two, less complex puzzle boxes revealed that they are able to solve such problems by means of trial-and-error learning, requiring no information about the causal structure of the problem. However, visual inspection of the functional mechanisms of the puzzle boxes reduced the amount of time needed to solve the problems. In the case of the most complex problem, which required the use of a crank, visual feedback about what happened when the handle of the crank was turned was necessary for the apes to solve the task. Once the solution was acquired, however, visual feedback was no longer required. We conclude that visual feedback about the consequences of their actions helps great apes to solve complex problems. As the crank task matches the basic requirements of vertical string pulling in birds, the present results are discussed in light of recent findings with corvids.

What cognitive strategies do orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) use to solve a trial-unique puzzle-tube task incorporating multiple obstacles?

PubMed

Tecwyn, Emma C; Thorpe, Susannah K S; Chappell, Jackie

2012-01-01

Apparently sophisticated behaviour during problem-solving is often the product of simple underlying mechanisms, such as associative learning or the use of procedural rules. These and other more parsimonious explanations need to be eliminated before higher-level cognitive processes such as causal reasoning or planning can be inferred. We presented three Bornean orangutans with 64 trial-unique configurations of a puzzle-tube to investigate whether they were able to consider multiple obstacles in two alternative paths, and subsequently choose the correct direction in which to move a reward in order to retrieve it. We were particularly interested in how subjects attempted to solve the task, namely which behavioural strategies they could have been using, as this is how we may begin to elucidate the cognitive mechanisms underpinning their choices. To explore this, we simulated performance outcomes across the 64 trials for various procedural rules and rule combinations that subjects may have been using based on the configuration of different obstacles. Two of the three subjects solved the task, suggesting that they were able to consider at least some of the obstacles in the puzzle-tube before executing action to retrieve the reward. This is impressive compared with the past performances of great apes on similar, arguably less complex tasks. Successful subjects may have been using a heuristic rule combination based on what they deemed to be the most relevant cue (the configuration of the puzzle-tube ends), which may be a cognitively economical strategy.

Signal detection with criterion noise: applications to recognition memory.

PubMed

Benjamin, Aaron S; Diaz, Michael; Wee, Serena

2009-01-01

A tacit but fundamental assumption of the theory of signal detection is that criterion placement is a noise-free process. This article challenges that assumption on theoretical and empirical grounds and presents the noisy decision theory of signal detection (ND-TSD). Generalized equations for the isosensitivity function and for measures of discrimination incorporating criterion variability are derived, and the model's relationship with extant models of decision making in discrimination tasks is examined. An experiment evaluating recognition memory for ensembles of word stimuli revealed that criterion noise is not trivial in magnitude and contributes substantially to variance in the slope of the isosensitivity function. The authors discuss how ND-TSD can help explain a number of current and historical puzzles in recognition memory, including the inconsistent relationship between manipulations of learning and the isosensitivity function's slope, the lack of invariance of the slope with manipulations of bias or payoffs, the effects of aging on the decision-making process in recognition, and the nature of responding in remember-know decision tasks. ND-TSD poses novel, theoretically meaningful constraints on theories of recognition and decision making more generally, and provides a mechanism for rapprochement between theories of decision making that employ deterministic response rules and those that postulate probabilistic response rules.

Assessing Biobehavioural Self-Regulation and Coregulation in Early Childhood: The Parent-Child Challenge Task

PubMed Central

Lunkenheimer, Erika; Kemp, Christine J.; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel G.; Cole, Pamela M.; Albrecht, Erin C.

2016-01-01

Researchers have argued for more dynamic and contextually relevant measures of regulatory processes in interpersonal interactions. In response, we introduce and examine the effectiveness of a new task, the Parent-Child Challenge Task, designed to assess the self-regulation and coregulation of affect, goal-directed behavior, and physiology in parents and their preschoolers in response to an experimental perturbation. Concurrent and predictive validity was examined via relations with children’s externalizing behaviors. Mothers used only their words to guide their 3-year-old children to complete increasingly difficult puzzles in order to win a prize (N = 96). A challenge condition was initiated mid-way through the task with a newly introduced time limit. The challenge produced decreases in parental teaching and dyadic behavioral variability and increases in child negative affect and dyadic affective variability, measured by dynamic systems-based methods. Children rated lower on externalizing showed respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) suppression in response to challenge, whereas those rated higher on externalizing showed RSA augmentation. Additionally, select task changes in affect, behavior, and physiology predicted teacher-rated externalizing behaviors four months later. Findings indicate the Parent-Child Challenge Task was effective in producing regulatory changes and suggest its utility in assessing biobehavioral self-regulation and coregulation in parents and their preschoolers. PMID:28458616

Assessing Biobehavioural Self-Regulation and Coregulation in Early Childhood: The Parent-Child Challenge Task.

PubMed

Lunkenheimer, Erika; Kemp, Christine J; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel G; Cole, Pamela M; Albrecht, Erin C

2017-01-01

Researchers have argued for more dynamic and contextually relevant measures of regulatory processes in interpersonal interactions. In response, we introduce and examine the effectiveness of a new task, the Parent-Child Challenge Task, designed to assess the self-regulation and coregulation of affect, goal-directed behavior, and physiology in parents and their preschoolers in response to an experimental perturbation. Concurrent and predictive validity was examined via relations with children's externalizing behaviors. Mothers used only their words to guide their 3-year-old children to complete increasingly difficult puzzles in order to win a prize ( N = 96). A challenge condition was initiated mid-way through the task with a newly introduced time limit. The challenge produced decreases in parental teaching and dyadic behavioral variability and increases in child negative affect and dyadic affective variability, measured by dynamic systems-based methods. Children rated lower on externalizing showed respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) suppression in response to challenge, whereas those rated higher on externalizing showed RSA augmentation. Additionally, select task changes in affect, behavior, and physiology predicted teacher-rated externalizing behaviors four months later. Findings indicate the Parent-Child Challenge Task was effective in producing regulatory changes and suggest its utility in assessing biobehavioral self-regulation and coregulation in parents and their preschoolers.

Two functions of early language experience.

PubMed

Arshavsky, Yuri I

2009-05-01

The unique human ability of linguistic communication, defined as the ability to produce a practically infinite number of meaningful messages using a finite number of lexical items, is determined by an array of "linguistic" genes, which are expressed in neurons forming domain-specific linguistic centers in the brain. In this review, I discuss the idea that infants' early language experience performs two complementary functions. In addition to allowing infants to assimilate the words and grammar rules of their mother language, early language experience initiates genetic programs underlying language production and comprehension. This hypothesis explains many puzzling characteristics of language acquisition, such as the existence of a critical period for acquiring the first language and the absence of a critical period for the acquisition of additional language(s), a similar timetable for language acquisition in children belonging to families of different social and cultural status, the strikingly similar timetables in the acquisition of oral and sign languages, and the surprisingly small correlation between individuals' final linguistic competence and the intensity of their training. Based on the studies of microcephalic individuals, I argue that genetic factors determine not only the number of neurons and organization of interneural connections within linguistic centers, but also the putative internal properties of neurons that are not limited to their electrophysiological and synaptic properties.

Reducing language to rhythm: Amazonian Bora drummed language exploits speech rhythm for long-distance communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seifart, Frank; Meyer, Julien; Grawunder, Sven; Dentel, Laure

2018-04-01

Many drum communication systems around the world transmit information by emulating tonal and rhythmic patterns of spoken languages in sequences of drumbeats. Their rhythmic characteristics, in particular, have not been systematically studied so far, although understanding them represents a rare occasion for providing an original insight into the basic units of speech rhythm as selected by natural speech practices directly based on beats. Here, we analyse a corpus of Bora drum communication from the northwest Amazon, which is nowadays endangered with extinction. We show that four rhythmic units are encoded in the length of pauses between beats. We argue that these units correspond to vowel-to-vowel intervals with different numbers of consonants and vowel lengths. By contrast, aligning beats with syllables, mora or only vowel length yields inconsistent results. Moreover, we also show that Bora drummed messages conventionally select rhythmically distinct markers to further distinguish words. The two phonological tones represented in drummed speech encode only few lexical contrasts. Rhythm thus appears to crucially contribute to the intelligibility of drummed Bora. Our study provides novel evidence for the role of rhythmic structures composed of vowel-to-vowel intervals in the complex puzzle concerning the redundancy and distinctiveness of acoustic features embedded in speech.

Reducing language to rhythm: Amazonian Bora drummed language exploits speech rhythm for long-distance communication

PubMed Central

Grawunder, Sven; Dentel, Laure

2018-01-01

Many drum communication systems around the world transmit information by emulating tonal and rhythmic patterns of spoken languages in sequences of drumbeats. Their rhythmic characteristics, in particular, have not been systematically studied so far, although understanding them represents a rare occasion for providing an original insight into the basic units of speech rhythm as selected by natural speech practices directly based on beats. Here, we analyse a corpus of Bora drum communication from the northwest Amazon, which is nowadays endangered with extinction. We show that four rhythmic units are encoded in the length of pauses between beats. We argue that these units correspond to vowel-to-vowel intervals with different numbers of consonants and vowel lengths. By contrast, aligning beats with syllables, mora or only vowel length yields inconsistent results. Moreover, we also show that Bora drummed messages conventionally select rhythmically distinct markers to further distinguish words. The two phonological tones represented in drummed speech encode only few lexical contrasts. Rhythm thus appears to crucially contribute to the intelligibility of drummed Bora. Our study provides novel evidence for the role of rhythmic structures composed of vowel-to-vowel intervals in the complex puzzle concerning the redundancy and distinctiveness of acoustic features embedded in speech. PMID:29765620

Crosswords to computers: a critical review of popular approaches to cognitive enhancement.

PubMed

Jak, Amy J; Seelye, Adriana M; Jurick, Sarah M

2013-03-01

Cognitive enhancement strategies have gained recent popularity and have the potential to benefit clinical and non-clinical populations. As technology advances and the number of cognitively healthy adults seeking methods of improving or preserving cognitive functioning grows, the role of electronic (e.g., computer and video game based) cognitive training becomes more relevant and warrants greater scientific scrutiny. This paper serves as a critical review of empirical evaluations of publically available electronic cognitive training programs. Many studies have found that electronic training approaches result in significant improvements in trained cognitive tasks. Fewer studies have demonstrated improvements in untrained tasks within the trained cognitive domain, non-trained cognitive domains, or on measures of everyday function. Successful cognitive training programs will elicit effects that generalize to untrained, practical tasks for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, many studies of electronic cognitive training programs are hindered by methodological limitations such as lack of an adequate control group, long-term follow-up and ecologically valid outcome measures. Despite these limitations, evidence suggests that computerized cognitive training has the potential to positively impact one's sense of social connectivity and self-efficacy.

Plausibility and evidence: the case of homeopathy.

PubMed

Rutten, Lex; Mathie, Robert T; Fisher, Peter; Goossens, Maria; van Wassenhoven, Michel

2013-08-01

Homeopathy is controversial and hotly debated. The conclusions of systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials of homeopathy vary from 'comparable to conventional medicine' to 'no evidence of effects beyond placebo'. It is claimed that homeopathy conflicts with scientific laws and that homoeopaths reject the naturalistic outlook, but no evidence has been cited. We are homeopathic physicians and researchers who do not reject the scientific outlook; we believe that examination of the prior beliefs underlying this enduring stand-off can advance the debate. We show that interpretations of the same set of evidence--for homeopathy and for conventional medicine--can diverge. Prior disbelief in homeopathy is rooted in the perceived implausibility of any conceivable mechanism of action. Using the 'crossword analogy', we demonstrate that plausibility bias impedes assessment of the clinical evidence. Sweeping statements about the scientific impossibility of homeopathy are themselves unscientific: scientific statements must be precise and testable. There is growing evidence that homeopathic preparations can exert biological effects; due consideration of such research would reduce the influence of prior beliefs on the assessment of systematic review evidence.

Entanglement entropy of electromagnetic edge modes.

PubMed

Donnelly, William; Wall, Aron C

2015-03-20

The vacuum entanglement entropy of Maxwell theory, when evaluated by standard methods, contains an unexpected term with no known statistical interpretation. We resolve this two-decades old puzzle by showing that this term is the entanglement entropy of edge modes: classical solutions determined by the electric field normal to the entangling surface. We explain how the heat kernel regularization applied to this term leads to the negative divergent expression found by Kabat. This calculation also resolves a recent puzzle concerning the logarithmic divergences of gauge fields in 3+1 dimensions.

Sirtuin activation: a role for plasma membrane in the cell growth puzzle.

PubMed

Crane, Frederick L; Navas, Plácido; Low, Hans; Sun, Iris L; de Cabo, Rafael

2013-04-01

For more than 20 years, the observation that impermeable oxidants can stimulate cell growth has not been satisfactorily explained. The discovery of sirtuins provides a logical answer to the puzzle. The NADH-dependent transplasma membrane electron transport system, which is stimulated by growth factors and interventions such as calorie restriction, can transfer electrons to external acceptors and protect against stress-induced apoptosis. We hypothesize that the activation of plasma membrane electron transport contributes to the cytosolic NAD(+) pool required for sirtuin to activate transcription factors necessary for cell growth and survival.

Solving the puzzle of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte maturation: piece by piece.

PubMed

Lundy, David J; Lee, Desy S; Hsieh, Patrick C H

2017-03-01

There is a growing need for in vitro models which can serve as platforms for drug screening and basic research. Human adult cardiomyocytes cannot be readily obtained or cultured, and so pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes appear to be an attractive option. Unfortunately, these cells are structurally and functionally immature-more comparable to foetal cardiomyocytes than adult. A recent study by Ruan et al ., provides new insights into accelerating the maturation process and takes us a step closer to solving the puzzle of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte maturation.

Reinterpreting Comorbidity: A Model-Based Approach to Understanding and Classifying Psychopathology

PubMed Central

Krueger, Robert F.; Markon, Kristian E.

2008-01-01

Comorbidity has presented a persistent puzzle for psychopathology research. We review recent literature indicating that the puzzle of comorbidity is being solved by research fitting explicit quantitative models to data on comorbidity. We present a meta-analysis of a liability spectrum model of comorbidity, in which specific mental disorders are understood as manifestations of latent liability factors that explain comorbidity by virtue of their impact on multiple disorders. Nosological, structural, etiological, and psychological aspects of this liability spectrum approach to understanding comorbidity are discussed. PMID:17716066

Manchester's Magiscope: An Interesting Optics Puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lancor, Rachael; Lancor, Brian

2017-02-01

The Magiscope was an attraction at Manchester's department store in Madison, WI, in 1939 that allowed children to peek into Santa's workshop (as shown in Fig. 1). The "magiscope" was a telescope-like device that gave children the illusion they were looking at a distant Santa, when in fact they were looking at a fabricated workshop on an upper level of the department store. In this article, we describe how we used the puzzle of the magiscope as a final assessment for our optics unit in an introductory physics course.

Obituary: Rodger Doxsey (1947-2009)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Livio, Mario

2009-12-01

Rodger Doxsey, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, passed away on October 13, 2009, after a prolonged illness. For the past 20 years, Rodger has been known to be truly the go-to guy for making the Hubble Space Telescope perform as it has. I have always argued that no person is truly irreplaceable. I still believe that to be true. However, my colleague and friend Rodger Doxsey came probably as close as anyone ever could to being irreplaceable. I know of no one who had a deeper and more thorough understanding of the workings of HST than Rodger had. In fact, there used to be a joke around the Institute, that when Rodger goes on vacation, the telescope experiences some malfunction. Usually when we retire a computer, we make sure that all the information on it is stored elsewhere. Unfortunately we cannot do the same with the human brain. Rodger was always driven by one passion - the desire to make the Hubble Space Telescope the most productive scientific instrument ever. He has been involved with, and often led, every effort to prolong the life of the telescope, and to make it operate more efficiently. Here is a description by another Hubble pioneer, astronomer John Bahcall, of the birth of the "Hubble Space Telescope Snapshot Program," a wonderful example of one of Rodger's many brainchildren: "The Snapshot program originated in a lunchtime conversation between Rodger Doxsey and myself in the STScI cafeteria sometime in the spring of 1989. We were both late to lunch and probably were the only people in the cafeteria. The principal topic of conversation was the expected low observing efficiency of the HST. Rodger described the extraordinary difficulty in making a schedule that would use a reasonable percentage of the available time for science observations. Slewing was slow and changing instruments or modes of observing was time-consuming. Also, the scheduling software that existed in 1989 was not very powerful. I asked Rodger, without thinking very carefully about what I was saying, if it would be possible for the software he was developing to insert new objects in the holes in the schedule. I wondered aloud if one could improve the efficiency by choosing new objects, close to the directions of the scheduled targets, from a previously prepared list of interesting objects scattered over the sky. I remember that Rodger suddenly became very quiet, thought about the question, and finally replied something like: 'In principle, it is possible.' The Snapshot program was born at that lunch." Rodger Doxsey was born in Schenectady, New York, on March 11, 1947. He is survived by his companion, Vicky Balzano, who also works at STScI; his father, John, of Cleveland, Ohio; and his four siblings, Martha Doxsey of Edmonton, Alberta; Douglas Doxsey of Ironwood, Michigan; Virginia Doxsey of Boston; and Mary Lou Shane of Duxbury, Vermont. As a boy, his sisters described, he used to be absorbed in crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. At MIT, where he studied physics and earned his Ph.D., he became fascinated with rowing, and he kept returning every year to race with his old crewmates in the Head of the Charles Regatta. He was also very fond of the work of the American artist Alexander Calder, and a lithograph of one of his drawings hung on the wall of his office. Very few people know of a ritual Rodger and I have developed over the years. During the first servicing mission and subsequent observatory verification, Rodger and I used to spend nights at the Institute, following all the tests for the instruments. After the performance test of each instrument, we shook hands ceremoniously. This became somewhat of a superstition, and consequently, in all the following servicing missions we continued with the same ritual. During SM4, Rodger was already too weak to attend all the activities continuously. We did meet, however, after the completion of SM4, and performed the ritualistic handshake to celebrate all the instruments. Goodbye friend. Hubble's Guardian. To me, you will always be irreplaceable.

Piecing together the puzzle: Improving event content coverage for real-time sub-event detection using adaptive microblog crawling

PubMed Central

Tokarchuk, Laurissa; Wang, Xinyue; Poslad, Stefan

2017-01-01

In an age when people are predisposed to report real-world events through their social media accounts, many researchers value the benefits of mining user generated content from social media. Compared with the traditional news media, social media services, such as Twitter, can provide more complete and timely information about the real-world events. However events are often like a puzzle and in order to solve the puzzle/understand the event, we must identify all the sub-events or pieces. Existing Twitter event monitoring systems for sub-event detection and summarization currently typically analyse events based on partial data as conventional data collection methodologies are unable to collect comprehensive event data. This results in existing systems often being unable to report sub-events in real-time and often in completely missing sub-events or pieces in the broader event puzzle. This paper proposes a Sub-event detection by real-TIme Microblog monitoring (STRIM) framework that leverages the temporal feature of an expanded set of news-worthy event content. In order to more comprehensively and accurately identify sub-events this framework first proposes the use of adaptive microblog crawling. Our adaptive microblog crawler is capable of increasing the coverage of events while minimizing the amount of non-relevant content. We then propose a stream division methodology that can be accomplished in real time so that the temporal features of the expanded event streams can be analysed by a burst detection algorithm. In the final steps of the framework, the content features are extracted from each divided stream and recombined to provide a final summarization of the sub-events. The proposed framework is evaluated against traditional event detection using event recall and event precision metrics. Results show that improving the quality and coverage of event contents contribute to better event detection by identifying additional valid sub-events. The novel combination of our proposed adaptive crawler and our stream division/recombination technique provides significant gains in event recall (44.44%) and event precision (9.57%). The addition of these sub-events or pieces, allows us to get closer to solving the event puzzle. PMID:29107976

Piecing together the puzzle: Improving event content coverage for real-time sub-event detection using adaptive microblog crawling.

PubMed

Tokarchuk, Laurissa; Wang, Xinyue; Poslad, Stefan

2017-01-01

In an age when people are predisposed to report real-world events through their social media accounts, many researchers value the benefits of mining user generated content from social media. Compared with the traditional news media, social media services, such as Twitter, can provide more complete and timely information about the real-world events. However events are often like a puzzle and in order to solve the puzzle/understand the event, we must identify all the sub-events or pieces. Existing Twitter event monitoring systems for sub-event detection and summarization currently typically analyse events based on partial data as conventional data collection methodologies are unable to collect comprehensive event data. This results in existing systems often being unable to report sub-events in real-time and often in completely missing sub-events or pieces in the broader event puzzle. This paper proposes a Sub-event detection by real-TIme Microblog monitoring (STRIM) framework that leverages the temporal feature of an expanded set of news-worthy event content. In order to more comprehensively and accurately identify sub-events this framework first proposes the use of adaptive microblog crawling. Our adaptive microblog crawler is capable of increasing the coverage of events while minimizing the amount of non-relevant content. We then propose a stream division methodology that can be accomplished in real time so that the temporal features of the expanded event streams can be analysed by a burst detection algorithm. In the final steps of the framework, the content features are extracted from each divided stream and recombined to provide a final summarization of the sub-events. The proposed framework is evaluated against traditional event detection using event recall and event precision metrics. Results show that improving the quality and coverage of event contents contribute to better event detection by identifying additional valid sub-events. The novel combination of our proposed adaptive crawler and our stream division/recombination technique provides significant gains in event recall (44.44%) and event precision (9.57%). The addition of these sub-events or pieces, allows us to get closer to solving the event puzzle.

"It's like a puzzle": Pregnant women's perceptions of professional support in midwifery care.

PubMed

Bäckström, Caroline A; Mårtensson, Lena B; Golsäter, Marie H; Thorstensson, Stina A

2016-12-01

Pregnant women are not always satisfied with the professional support they receive during their midwifery care. More knowledge is needed to understand what professional support pregnant women need for childbirth and parenting. Childbearing and the transition to becoming a parent is a sensitive period in one's life during which one should have the opportunity to receive professional support. Professional support does not always correspond to pregnant women's needs. To understand pregnant women's needs for professional support within midwifery care, it is crucial to further illuminate women's experiences of this support. To explore pregnant women's perceptions of professional support in midwifery care. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Fifteen women were interviewed during gestational weeks 36-38. Data was analysed using phenomenography. The women perceived professional support in midwifery care to be reassuring and emotional, to consist of reliable information, and to be mediated with pedagogical creativity. The professional support facilitated new social contacts, partner involvement and contributed to mental preparedness. The findings of the study were presented in six categories and the category Professional support contributes to mental preparedness was influenced by the five other categories. Pregnant women prepare for childbirth and parenting by using several different types of professional support in midwifery care: a strategy that could be described as piecing together a puzzle. When the women put the puzzle together, each type of professional support works as a valuable piece in the whole puzzle. Through this, professional support could contribute to women's mental preparedness for childbirth and parenting. Copyright © 2016 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Freestyle multiple propeller flap reconstruction (jigsaw puzzle approach) for complicated back defects.

PubMed

Park, Sung Woo; Oh, Tae Suk; Eom, Jin Sup; Sun, Yoon Chi; Suh, Hyun Suk; Hong, Joon Pio

2015-05-01

The reconstruction of the posterior trunk remains to be a challenge as defects can be extensive, with deep dead space, and fixation devices exposed. Our goal was to achieve a tension-free closure for complex defects on the posterior trunk. From August 2006 to May 2013, 18 cases were reconstructed with multiple flaps combining perforator(s) and local skin flaps. The reconstructions were performed using freestyle approach. Starting with propeller flap(s) in single or multilobed design and sequentially in conjunction with adjacent random pattern flaps such as fitting puzzle. All defects achieved tensionless primary closure. The final appearance resembled a jigsaw puzzle-like appearance. The average size of defect was 139.6 cm(2) (range, 36-345 cm(2)). A total of 26 perforator flaps were used in addition to 19 random pattern flaps for 18 cases. In all cases, a single perforator was used for each propeller flap. The defect and the donor site all achieved tension-free closure. The reconstruction was 100% successful without flap loss. One case of late infection was noted at 12 months after surgery. Using multiple lobe designed propeller flaps in conjunction with random pattern flaps in a freestyle approach, resembling putting a jigsaw puzzle together, we can achieve a tension-free closure by distributing the tension to multiple flaps, supplying sufficient volume to obliterate dead space, and have reliable vascularity as the flaps do not need to be oversized. This can be a viable approach to reconstruct extensive defects on the posterior trunk. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Influence of personality, age, sex, and estrous state on chimpanzee problem-solving success

PubMed Central

Hopper, Lydia M.; Price, Sara A.; Freeman, Hani D.; Lambeth, Susan P.; Schapiro, Steven J.

2015-01-01

Despite the importance of individual problem solvers for group- and individual-level fitness, the correlates of individual problem-solving success are still an open topic of investigation. In addition to demographic factors, such as age or sex, certain personality dimensions have also been revealed as reliable correlates of problem-solving by animals. Such correlates, however, have been little-studied in chimpanzees. To empirically test the influence of age, sex, estrous state, and different personality factors on chimpanzee problem-solving, we individually tested 36 captive chimpanzees with two novel foraging puzzles. We included both female (N = 24) and male (N = 12) adult chimpanzees (aged 14–47 years) in our sample. We also controlled for the females’ estrous state—a potential influence on cognitive reasoning—by testing cycling females both when their sexual swelling was maximally tumescent (associated with the luteinizing hormone surge of a female’s estrous cycle) and again when it was detumescent. Although we found no correlation between the chimpanzees’ success with either puzzle and their age or sex, the chimpanzees’ personality ratings did correlate with responses to the novel foraging puzzles. Specifically, male chimpanzees that were rated highly on the factors Methodical, Openness (to experience), and Dominance spent longer interacting with the puzzles. There was also a positive relationship between the latency of females to begin interacting with the two tasks and their rating on the factor Reactivity/Undependability. No other significant correlations were found, but we report tentative evidence for increased problem-solving success by the females when they had detumescent estrous swellings. PMID:24322874

Influence of personality, age, sex, and estrous state on chimpanzee problem-solving success.

PubMed

Hopper, Lydia M; Price, Sara A; Freeman, Hani D; Lambeth, Susan P; Schapiro, Steven J; Kendal, Rachel L

2014-07-01

Despite the importance of individual problem solvers for group- and individual-level fitness, the correlates of individual problem-solving success are still an open topic of investigation. In addition to demographic factors, such as age or sex, certain personality dimensions have also been revealed as reliable correlates of problem-solving by animals. Such correlates, however, have been little-studied in chimpanzees. To empirically test the influence of age, sex, estrous state, and different personality factors on chimpanzee problem-solving, we individually tested 36 captive chimpanzees with two novel foraging puzzles. We included both female (N=24) and male (N=12) adult chimpanzees (aged 14-47 years) in our sample. We also controlled for the females' estrous state-a potential influence on cognitive reasoning-by testing cycling females both when their sexual swelling was maximally tumescent (associated with the luteinizing hormone surge of a female's estrous cycle) and again when it was detumescent. Although we found no correlation between the chimpanzees' success with either puzzle and their age or sex, the chimpanzees' personality ratings did correlate with responses to the novel foraging puzzles. Specifically, male chimpanzees that were rated highly on the factors Methodical, Openness (to experience), and Dominance spent longer interacting with the puzzles. There was also a positive relationship between the latency of females to begin interacting with the two tasks and their rating on the factor Reactivity/Undependability. No other significant correlations were found, but we report tentative evidence for increased problem-solving success by the females when they had detumescent estrous swellings.

RNA-Puzzles Round II: assessment of RNA structure prediction programs applied to three large RNA structures

PubMed Central

Miao, Zhichao; Adamiak, Ryszard W.; Blanchet, Marc-Frédérick; Boniecki, Michal; Bujnicki, Janusz M.; Chen, Shi-Jie; Cheng, Clarence; Chojnowski, Grzegorz; Chou, Fang-Chieh; Cordero, Pablo; Cruz, José Almeida; Ferré-D'Amaré, Adrian R.; Das, Rhiju; Ding, Feng; Dokholyan, Nikolay V.; Dunin-Horkawicz, Stanislaw; Kladwang, Wipapat; Krokhotin, Andrey; Lach, Grzegorz; Magnus, Marcin; Major, François; Mann, Thomas H.; Masquida, Benoît; Matelska, Dorota; Meyer, Mélanie; Peselis, Alla; Popenda, Mariusz; Purzycka, Katarzyna J.; Serganov, Alexander; Stasiewicz, Juliusz; Szachniuk, Marta; Tandon, Arpit; Tian, Siqi; Wang, Jian; Xiao, Yi; Xu, Xiaojun; Zhang, Jinwei; Zhao, Peinan; Zok, Tomasz; Westhof, Eric

2015-01-01

This paper is a report of a second round of RNA-Puzzles, a collective and blind experiment in three-dimensional (3D) RNA structure prediction. Three puzzles, Puzzles 5, 6, and 10, represented sequences of three large RNA structures with limited or no homology with previously solved RNA molecules. A lariat-capping ribozyme, as well as riboswitches complexed to adenosylcobalamin and tRNA, were predicted by seven groups using RNAComposer, ModeRNA/SimRNA, Vfold, Rosetta, DMD, MC-Fold, 3dRNA, and AMBER refinement. Some groups derived models using data from state-of-the-art chemical-mapping methods (SHAPE, DMS, CMCT, and mutate-and-map). The comparisons between the predictions and the three subsequently released crystallographic structures, solved at diffraction resolutions of 2.5–3.2 Å, were carried out automatically using various sets of quality indicators. The comparisons clearly demonstrate the state of present-day de novo prediction abilities as well as the limitations of these state-of-the-art methods. All of the best prediction models have similar topologies to the native structures, which suggests that computational methods for RNA structure prediction can already provide useful structural information for biological problems. However, the prediction accuracy for non-Watson–Crick interactions, key to proper folding of RNAs, is low and some predicted models had high Clash Scores. These two difficulties point to some of the continuing bottlenecks in RNA structure prediction. All submitted models are available for download at http://ahsoka.u-strasbg.fr/rnapuzzles/. PMID:25883046

New Nuclear Magnetic Moment of ^{209}Bi: Resolving the Bismuth Hyperfine Puzzle.

PubMed

Skripnikov, Leonid V; Schmidt, Stefan; Ullmann, Johannes; Geppert, Christopher; Kraus, Florian; Kresse, Benjamin; Nörtershäuser, Wilfried; Privalov, Alexei F; Scheibe, Benjamin; Shabaev, Vladimir M; Vogel, Michael; Volotka, Andrey V

2018-03-02

A recent measurement of the hyperfine splitting in the ground state of Li-like ^{208}Bi^{80+} has established a "hyperfine puzzle"-the experimental result exhibits a 7σ deviation from the theoretical prediction [J. Ullmann et al., Nat. Commun. 8, 15484 (2017)NCAOBW2041-172310.1038/ncomms15484; J. P. Karr, Nat. Phys. 13, 533 (2017)NPAHAX1745-247310.1038/nphys4159]. We provide evidence that the discrepancy is caused by an inaccurate value of the tabulated nuclear magnetic moment (μ_{I}) of ^{209}Bi. We perform relativistic density functional theory and relativistic coupled cluster calculations of the shielding constant that should be used to extract the value of μ_{I}(^{209}Bi) and combine it with nuclear magnetic resonance measurements of Bi(NO_{3})_{3} in nitric acid solutions and of the hexafluoridobismuthate(V) BiF_{6}^{-} ion in acetonitrile. The result clearly reveals that μ_{I}(^{209}Bi) is much smaller than the tabulated value used previously. Applying the new magnetic moment shifts the theoretical prediction into agreement with experiment and resolves the hyperfine puzzle.

Eta Carinae: A Box of Puzzles...Some Solved, Others Await

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gull, Theodore

2010-01-01

In the l840's, Eta Carinae brightened to rival Sirius, then faded. Today we see a marginally naked-eye binary with an expanding, very dusty bipolar Homunculus. The energetics of the ejected mass (>l2 to 40 solar masses at 500-700 km/s plus outer bullets/strings up to 3000 km/s} approach that of a supernova. Extragalactic SN surveys detect near-supernovae thought to be like the Great Eruption of the 1840's. Eta Carinae presents an abundance of puzzles: rich in N, but 1/100th the solar C and O abundances; Ti, V, Sr, Sc persist in atomic states.... yet an abundance of molecules and dust exists in the Homunculus. How did molecules and dust form with low C and O? A near supernova occurred in the l840m, yet both binary companions, with total mass > 120 solar masses, survive in a very eccentric orbit. What is the near future of this system: a GRB? a SN? or just two WR stars that ultimately become two SNs? These and other puzzles will be presented

New Nuclear Magnetic Moment of 209Bi: Resolving the Bismuth Hyperfine Puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skripnikov, Leonid V.; Schmidt, Stefan; Ullmann, Johannes; Geppert, Christopher; Kraus, Florian; Kresse, Benjamin; Nörtershäuser, Wilfried; Privalov, Alexei F.; Scheibe, Benjamin; Shabaev, Vladimir M.; Vogel, Michael; Volotka, Andrey V.

2018-03-01

A recent measurement of the hyperfine splitting in the ground state of Li-like 80+208Bi has established a "hyperfine puzzle"—the experimental result exhibits a 7 σ deviation from the theoretical prediction [J. Ullmann et al., Nat. Commun. 8, 15484 (2017), 10.1038/ncomms15484; J. P. Karr, Nat. Phys. 13, 533 (2017), 10.1038/nphys4159]. We provide evidence that the discrepancy is caused by an inaccurate value of the tabulated nuclear magnetic moment (μI) of 209Bi. We perform relativistic density functional theory and relativistic coupled cluster calculations of the shielding constant that should be used to extract the value of μI(209ipts>) and combine it with nuclear magnetic resonance measurements of Bi (NO3 )3 in nitric acid solutions and of the hexafluoridobismuthate(V) BiF6- ion in acetonitrile. The result clearly reveals that μI(209Bi) is much smaller than the tabulated value used previously. Applying the new magnetic moment shifts the theoretical prediction into agreement with experiment and resolves the hyperfine puzzle.

Cadastral Map Assembling Using Generalized Hough Transformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Fei; Ohyama, Wataru; Wakabayashi, Tetsushi; Kimura, Fumitaka

There are numerous cadastral maps generated by the past land surveying. The raster digitization of these paper maps is in progress. For effective and efficient use of these maps, we have to assemble the set of maps to make them superimposable on other geographic information in a GIS. The problem can be seen as a complex jigsaw puzzle where the pieces are the cadastral sections extracted from the map. We present an automatic solution to this geographic jigsaw puzzle, based on the generalized Hough transformation that detects the longest common boundary between every piece and its neighbors. The experiments have been conducted using the map of Mie Prefecture, Japan and the French cadastral map. The results of the experiments with the French cadastral maps showed that the proposed method, which consists of a flood filling procedure of internal area and detection and normalization of the north arrow direction, is suitable for assembling the cadastral map. The final goal of the process is to integrate every piece of the puzzle into a national geographic reference frame and database.

Evening electronic device use: The effects on alertness, sleep and next-day physical performance in athletes.

PubMed

Jones, Maddison J; Peeling, Peter; Dawson, Brian; Halson, Shona; Miller, Joanna; Dunican, Ian; Clarke, Michael; Goodman, Carmel; Eastwood, Peter

2018-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of different types of tasks performed with or without an electronic device (tablet) on pre-sleep alertness, subsequent sleep quality and next-day athletic performance. Eight highly trained netball players attended a sleep laboratory for pre-sleep testing, polysomnographic sleep monitoring and next-day physical performance testing on 5 separate occasions (1 familiarisation and 4 experimental sessions). For 2 h prior to bedtime, athletes completed cognitively stimulating tasks (puzzles) or passive tasks (reading) with or without a tablet. Sleepiness tended to be greater after reading compared to completing puzzles without a tablet (d = 0.80), but not with a tablet. Melatonin concentration increased more so after reading compared to completing puzzles on a tablet (P = 0.02). There were no significant differences in sleep quality or quantity or next-day athletic performance between any of the conditions. These data suggest that using a tablet for 2 h prior to sleep does not negatively affect subsequent sleep or next-day performance in athletes.

Vector and scalar charmonium resonances with lattice QCD

DOE PAGES

Lang, C. B.; Leskovec, Luka; Mohler, Daniel; ...

2015-09-15

We perform an exploratory lattice QCD simulation of DD¯ scattering, aimed at determining the masses as well as the decay widths of charmonium resonances above open charm threshold. Neglecting coupling to other channels, the resulting phase shift for DD¯ scattering in p-wave yields the well-known vector resonance ψ(3770). For m π = 156 MeV, the extracted resonance mass and the decay width agree with experiment within large statistical uncertainty. The scalar charmonium resonances present a puzzle, since only the ground state Χc0(1P) is well understood, while there is no commonly accepted candidate for its first excitation. We simulate DD¯ scatteringmore » in s-wave in order to shed light on this puzzle. The resulting phase shift supports the existence of a yet-unobserved narrow resonance with a mass slightly below 4 GeV. A scenario with this narrow resonance and a pole at Χc0(1P) agrees with the energy-dependence of our phase shift. In addition, further lattice QCD simulations and experimental efforts are needed to resolve the puzzle of the excited scalar charmonia.« less

A Heuristic Bioinspired for 8-Piece Puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Machado, M. O.; Fabres, P. A.; Melo, J. C. L.

2017-10-01

This paper investigates a mathematical model inspired by nature, and presents a Meta-Heuristic that is efficient in improving the performance of an informed search, when using strategy A * using a General Search Tree as data structure. The work hypothesis suggests that the investigated meta-heuristic is optimal in nature and may be promising in minimizing the computational resources required by an objective-based agent in solving high computational complexity problems (n-part puzzle) as well as In the optimization of objective functions for local search agents. The objective of this work is to describe qualitatively the characteristics and properties of the mathematical model investigated, correlating the main concepts of the A * function with the significant variables of the metaheuristic used. The article shows that the amount of memory required to perform this search when using the metaheuristic is less than using the A * function to evaluate the nodes of a general search tree for the eight-piece puzzle. It is concluded that the meta-heuristic must be parameterized according to the chosen heuristic and the level of the tree that contains the possible solutions to the chosen problem.

Visualization of children's mathematics solving process using near infrared spectroscopic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuroda, Yasufumi; Okamoto, Naoko; Chance, Britton; Nioka, Shoko; Eda, Hideo; Maesako, Takanori

2009-02-01

Over the past decade, the application of results from brain science research to education research has been a controversial topic. A NIRS imaging system shows images of Hb parameters in the brain. Measurements using NIRS are safe, easy and the equipment is portable, allowing subjects to tolerate longer research periods. The purpose of this research is to examine the characteristics of Hb using NIRS at the moment of understanding. We measured Hb in the prefrontal cortex of children while they were solving mathematical problems (tangram puzzles). As a result of the experiment, we were able to classify the children into three groups based on their solution methods. Hb continually increased in a group which could not develop a problem solving strategy for the tangram puzzles. Hb declined steadily for a group which was able to develop a strategy for the tangram puzzles. Hb was steady for a certain group that had already developed a strategy before solving the problems. Our experiments showed that the brain data from NIRS enables the visualization of children's mathematical solution processes.

Tetsuo Nozoe's Autograph Books: poems, puzzles and playfulness.

PubMed

Seeman, Jeffrey I

2015-02-01

The Nozoe Autograph Books contain entries from, literally, around the world of organic chemistry. Many of the inscriptions showed the poetic or even musical side of their signees. This Essay presents a diverse selection of the poetic entries of the autograph books, starting with a musical puzzle. This Essay and the interactive website that accompanies the Nozoe Autograph Book project are available free-access for at least a three-year period at http://www.tcr.wiley-vch.de/nozoe. Copyright © 2015 The Chemical Society of Japan and Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Sirtuin Activation: A Role for Plasma Membrane in the Cell Growth Puzzle

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

For more than 20 years, the observation that impermeable oxidants can stimulate cell growth has not been satisfactorily explained. The discovery of sirtuins provides a logical answer to the puzzle. The NADH-dependent transplasma membrane electron transport system, which is stimulated by growth factors and interventions such as calorie restriction, can transfer electrons to external acceptors and protect against stress-induced apoptosis. We hypothesize that the activation of plasma membrane electron transport contributes to the cytosolic NAD+ pool required for sirtuin to activate transcription factors necessary for cell growth and survival. PMID:23033342

Path integral formulation of the Hodge duality on the brane

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

Hahn, Sang-Ok; Kiem, Youngjai; Kim, Yoonbai

In the warped compactification with a single Randall-Sundrum brane, a puzzling claim has been made that scalar fields can be bound to the brane but their Hodge dual higher-rank antisymmetric tensors cannot. By explicitly requiring the Hodge duality, a prescription to resolve this puzzle was recently proposed by Duff and Liu. In this Brief Report, we implement the Hodge duality via the path integral formulation in the presence of the background gravity fields of warped compactifications. It is shown that the prescription of Duff and Liu can be naturally understood within this framework.

Neutrino oscillation studies with reactors

PubMed Central

Vogel, P.; Wen, L.J.; Zhang, C.

2015-01-01

Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, controllable, cost-effective and well-understood sources of neutrinos. Reactors have played a major role in the study of neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon that indicates that neutrinos have mass and that neutrino flavours are quantum mechanical mixtures. Over the past several decades, reactors were used in the discovery of neutrinos, were crucial in solving the solar neutrino puzzle, and allowed the determination of the smallest mixing angle θ13. In the near future, reactors will help to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to solve the puzzling issue of sterile neutrinos. PMID:25913819

Exchange rate regimes, saving glut and the Feldstein Horioka puzzle: The East Asian experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaya-Bahçe, Seçil; Özmen, Erdal

2008-04-01

This paper investigates whether the recent experience of the emerging East Asian countries with current account surpluses is consistent with the “saving glut” hypothesis and the Feldstein and Horioka puzzle. The evidence suggests that the saving retention coefficients declined substantially in most of the countries after an endogenous break date coinciding with a major exchange rate regime change with the 1997-1998 crisis. Exchange rate flexibility appears to be enhancing financial integration. The results are consistent with an “investment slump” explanation rather than the “saving glut” postulation.

Estimating the dilemma strength for game systems. Comment on "Universal scaling for the dilemma strength in evolutionary games", by Z. Wang et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xiaojie

2015-09-01

The puzzle of cooperation exists widely in the realistic world, including biological, social, and engineering systems. How to solve the cooperation puzzle has received considerable attention in recent years [1]. Evolutionary game theory provides a common mathematical framework to study the problem of cooperation. In principle, these practical biological, social, or engineering systems can be described by complex game models composed of multiple autonomous individuals with mutual interactions. And generally there exists a dilemma for the evolution of cooperation in the game systems.

Nuclear clustering and the electron screening puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertulani, C. A.; Spitaleri, C.

2018-01-01

Electron screening changes appreciably the magnitude of astrophysical nuclear reactions within stars. This effect is also observed in laboratory experiments on Earth, where atomic electrons are present in the nuclear targets. Theoretical models were developed over the past 30 years and experimental measurements have been carried out to study electron screening in thermonuclear reactions. None of the theoretical models were able to explain the high values of the experimentally determined screening potentials. We explore the possibility that the "electron screening puzzle" is due to nuclear clusterization and polarization e_ects in the fusion reactions. We will discuss the supporting arguments for this scenario.

New results on water in bulk, nanoconfined, and biological environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanley, H. E.; Kumar, Pradeep; Xu, Limei; Yan, Zhenyu; Mazza, Marco G.; Buldyrev, S. V.; Chen, S.-H.; Mallamace, F.

2007-12-01

Water is perhaps the most ubiquitous, and the most essential, of any molecule on earth. Despite decades of research, however, water's puzzling properties are not understood and 63 anomalies that distinguish water from other liquids remain unsolved. We present evidence from experiments and computer simulations supporting the hypothesis that water displays polyamorphism, i.e., water separates into two distinct liquid phases. This concept of a new liquid-liquid critical point is finding application to other liquids as well as water, such as silicon and silica. We also discuss related puzzles, such as the mysterious behavior of water near a biomolecule.

Multiple Equilibria and Endogenous Cycles in a Non-Linear Harrodian Growth Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Commendatore, Pasquale; Michetti, Elisabetta; Pinto, Antonio

The standard result of Harrod's growth model is that, because investors react more strongly than savers to a change in income, the long run equilibrium of the economy is unstable. We re-interpret the Harrodian instability puzzle as a local instability problem and integrate his model with a nonlinear investment function. Multiple equilibria and different types of complex behaviour emerge. Moreover, even in the presence of locally unstable equilibria, for a large set of initial conditions the time path of the economy is not diverging, providing a solution to the instability puzzle.

Neutrino oscillation studies with reactors

DOE PAGES

Vogel, P.; Wen, L.J.; Zhang, C.

2015-04-27

Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, controllable, cost-effective and well-understood sources of neutrinos. Reactors have played a major role in the study of neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon that indicates that neutrinos have mass and that neutrino flavours are quantum mechanical mixtures. Over the past several decades, reactors were used in the discovery of neutrinos, were crucial in solving the solar neutrino puzzle, and allowed the determination of the smallest mixing angle θ 13. In the near future, reactors will help to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to solve the puzzling issue of sterile neutrinos.

Neutrino oscillation studies with reactors.

PubMed

Vogel, P; Wen, L J; Zhang, C

2015-04-27

Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, controllable, cost-effective and well-understood sources of neutrinos. Reactors have played a major role in the study of neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon that indicates that neutrinos have mass and that neutrino flavours are quantum mechanical mixtures. Over the past several decades, reactors were used in the discovery of neutrinos, were crucial in solving the solar neutrino puzzle, and allowed the determination of the smallest mixing angle θ13. In the near future, reactors will help to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to solve the puzzling issue of sterile neutrinos.

Validation of social self-esteem and an experimental index of delinquent behavior.

PubMed

Berman, S M

1976-12-01

30 male adolescents were administered a checklist of their delinquent behavior and the measure of social self-esteem designed by Ziller, Hagey, Smith, and Long (1969). A Pearson correlation of --.26 was found between self-esteem and scores on the delinquent behavior checklist. At a later session 18 of the subjects were assigned a puzzle-solving task which served as a measure of cheating. A significant relation between cheating scores and self-reported delinquent behavior indicated that the puzzle-solving task may be useful for measuring level of delinquency in an experimental setting.

Patient-specific puzzle implant preformed with 3D-printed rapid prototype model for combined orbital floor and medial wall fracture.

PubMed

Kim, Young Chul; Min, Kyung Hyun; Choi, Jong Woo; Koh, Kyung S; Oh, Tae Suk; Jeong, Woo Shik

2018-04-01

The management of combined orbital floor and medial wall fractures involving the inferomedial strut is challenging due to absence of stable cornerstone. In this article, we proposed surgical strategies using customized 3D puzzle implant preformed with Rapid Prototype (RP) skull model. Retrospective review was done in 28 patients diagnosed with combined orbital floor and medial wall fracture. Using preoperative CT scans, original and mirror-imaged RP skull models for each patient were prepared and sterilized. In all patients, porous polyethylene-coated titanium mesh was premolded onto RP skull model in two ways; Customized 3D jigsaw puzzle technique was used in 15 patients with comminuted inferomedial strut, whereas individual 3D implant technique was used in each fracture for 13 patients with intact inferomedial strut. Outcomes including enophthalmos, visual acuity, and presence of diplopia were assessed and orbital volume was measured using OsiriX software preoperatively and postoperatively. Satisfactory results were achieved in both groups in terms of clinical improvements. Of 10 patients with preoperative diplopia, 9 improved in 6 months, except one with persistent symptom who underwent extraocular muscle rupture. 18 patients who had moderate to severe enophthalmos preoperatively improved, and one remained with mild degree. Orbital volume ratio, defined as volumetric ratio between affected and control orbit, decreased from 127.6% to 99.79% (p < 0.05) in comminuted group, and that in intact group decreased from 117.03% to 101.3% (p < 0.05). Our surgical strategies using the jigsaw puzzle and individual reconstruction technique provide accurate restoration of combined orbital floor and medial wall fractures. Copyright © 2017 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Interactive 3D Virtual Anatomy Puzzle for Learning and Simulation - Initial Demonstration and Evaluation.

PubMed

Messier, Erik; Wilcox, Jascha; Dawson-Elli, Alexander; Diaz, Gabriel; Linte, Cristian A

2016-01-01

To inspire young students (grades 6-12) to become medical practitioners and biomedical engineers, it is necessary to expose them to key concepts of the field in a way that is both exciting and informative. Recent advances in medical image acquisition, manipulation, processing, visualization, and display have revolutionized the approach in which the human body and internal anatomy can be seen and studied. It is now possible to collect 3D, 4D, and 5D medical images of patient specific data, and display that data to the end user using consumer level 3D stereoscopic display technology. Despite such advancements, traditional 2D modes of content presentation such as textbooks and slides are still the standard didactic equipment used to teach young students anatomy. More sophisticated methods of display can help to elucidate the complex 3D relationships between structures that are so often missed when viewing only 2D media, and can instill in students an appreciation for the interconnection between medicine and technology. Here we describe the design, implementation, and preliminary evaluation of a 3D virtual anatomy puzzle dedicated to helping users learn the anatomy of various organs and systems by manipulating 3D virtual data. The puzzle currently comprises several components of the human anatomy and can be easily extended to include additional organs and systems. The 3D virtual anatomy puzzle game was implemented and piloted using three display paradigms - a traditional 2D monitor, a 3D TV with active shutter glass, and the DK2 version Oculus Rift, as well as two different user interaction devices - a space mouse and traditional keyboard controls.

Why are women slimmer than men in developed countries?

PubMed

Maruyama, Shiko; Nakamura, Sayaka

2018-04-22

Women have a lower BMI than men in developed countries, yet the opposite is true in developing countries. We call this the gender BMI puzzle and investigate its underlying cause. We begin by studying time trends in Japan, where, consistent with the cross-country puzzle, the BMI of adult women has steadily decreased since the 1950s, whereas the BMI of adult men has steadily increased. We study how changes in energy intake and energy expenditure account for the over-time gender BMI puzzle using the Japanese National Nutrition Survey from 1975 to 2010, which provides nurse-measured height and weight and nutritionist-assisted food records. Because long-term data on energy expenditure do not exist, we calculate energy expenditure using a steady-state body weight model. We then conduct cross-country regression analysis to corroborate what we learn from the Japanese data. We find that both energy intake and energy expenditure have significantly decreased for Japanese adult men and women and that a larger reduction in energy expenditure among men than women accounts for the increasing male-to-female BMI gap. Trends in BMI and energy expenditure vary greatly by occupation, suggesting that a relatively large decrease in physical activity in the workplace among men underlies the gender BMI puzzle. The cross-country analysis supports the generalizability of the findings beyond the Japanese data. Furthermore, the analysis suggests the increasing male-to-female BMI gap is driven not only by a reduction in the energy requirements of physically demanding work but also by weakening occupational gender segregation. No support is found for other explanations, such as increasing female labor force participation, greater female susceptibility to malnutrition in utero, and gender inequality in nutrition in early life. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Origin of Systematic Errors in the GCM Simulation of ITCZ Precipitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chao, Winston C.; Suarez, M. J.; Bacmeister, J. T.; Chen, B.; Takacs, L. L.

2006-01-01

Previous GCM studies have found that the systematic errors in the GCM simulation of the seasonal mean ITCZ intensity and location could be substantially corrected by adding suitable amount of rain re-evaporation or cumulus momentum transport. However, the reason(s) for these systematic errors and solutions has remained a puzzle. In this work the knowledge gained from previous studies of the ITCZ in an aqua-planet model with zonally uniform SST is applied to solve this puzzle. The solution is supported by further aqua-planet and full model experiments using the latest version of the Goddard Earth Observing System GCM.

Multiple sclerosis pathogenesis: missing pieces of an old puzzle.

PubMed

Rahmanzadeh, Reza; Brück, Wolfgang; Minagar, Alireza; Sahraian, Mohammad Ali

2018-06-08

Traditionally, multiple sclerosis (MS) was considered to be a CD4 T cell-mediated CNS autoimmunity, compatible with experimental autoimmune encephalitis model, which can be characterized by focal lesions in the white matter. However, studies of recent decades revealed several missing pieces of MS puzzle and showed that MS pathogenesis is more complex than the traditional view and may include the following: a primary degenerative process (e.g. oligodendroglial pathology), generalized abnormality of normal-appearing brain tissue, pronounced gray matter pathology, involvement of innate immunity, and CD8 T cells and B cells. Here, we review these findings and discuss their implications in MS pathogenesis.

Ambiguity aversion and household portfolio choice puzzles: Empirical evidence*

PubMed Central

Dimmock, Stephen G.; Kouwenberg, Roy; Mitchell, Olivia S.; Peijnenburg, Kim

2017-01-01

We test the relation between ambiguity aversion and five household portfolio choice puzzles: nonparticipation in equities, low allocations to equity, home-bias, own-company stock ownership, and portfolio under-diversification. In a representative US household survey, we measure ambiguity preferences using custom-designed questions based on Ellsberg urns. As theory predicts, ambiguity aversion is negatively associated with stock market participation, the fraction of financial assets in stocks, and foreign stock ownership, but it is positively related to own-company stock ownership. Conditional on stock ownership, ambiguity aversion is related to portfolio under-diversification, and during the financial crisis, ambiguity-averse respondents were more likely to sell stocks. PMID:28458446

New Measurement of the 1 S -3 S Transition Frequency of Hydrogen: Contribution to the Proton Charge Radius Puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fleurbaey, Hélène; Galtier, Sandrine; Thomas, Simon; Bonnaud, Marie; Julien, Lucile; Biraben, François; Nez, François; Abgrall, Michel; Guéna, Jocelyne

2018-05-01

We present a new measurement of the 1 S -3 S two-photon transition frequency of hydrogen, realized with a continuous-wave excitation laser at 205 nm on a room-temperature atomic beam, with a relative uncertainty of 9 ×10-13. The proton charge radius deduced from this measurement, rp=0.877 (13 ) fm , is in very good agreement with the current CODATA-recommended value. This result contributes to the ongoing search to solve the proton charge radius puzzle, which arose from a discrepancy between the CODATA value and a more precise determination of rp from muonic hydrogen spectroscopy.

The optimal power puzzle: scrutiny of the monotone likelihood ratio assumption in multiple testing.

PubMed

Cao, Hongyuan; Sun, Wenguang; Kosorok, Michael R

2013-01-01

In single hypothesis testing, power is a non-decreasing function of type I error rate; hence it is desirable to test at the nominal level exactly to achieve optimal power. The puzzle lies in the fact that for multiple testing, under the false discovery rate paradigm, such a monotonic relationship may not hold. In particular, exact false discovery rate control may lead to a less powerful testing procedure if a test statistic fails to fulfil the monotone likelihood ratio condition. In this article, we identify different scenarios wherein the condition fails and give caveats for conducting multiple testing in practical settings.

Ambiguity aversion and household portfolio choice puzzles: Empirical evidence.

PubMed

Dimmock, Stephen G; Kouwenberg, Roy; Mitchell, Olivia S; Peijnenburg, Kim

2016-03-01

We test the relation between ambiguity aversion and five household portfolio choice puzzles: nonparticipation in equities, low allocations to equity, home-bias, own-company stock ownership, and portfolio under-diversification. In a representative US household survey, we measure ambiguity preferences using custom-designed questions based on Ellsberg urns. As theory predicts, ambiguity aversion is negatively associated with stock market participation, the fraction of financial assets in stocks, and foreign stock ownership, but it is positively related to own-company stock ownership. Conditional on stock ownership, ambiguity aversion is related to portfolio under-diversification, and during the financial crisis, ambiguity-averse respondents were more likely to sell stocks.

Puzzling out the proton radius puzzle

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

Mihovilovič, M.; Merkel, H.; Weber, A.

2016-01-22

The discrepancy between the proton charge radius extracted from the muonic hydrogen Lamb shift measurement and the best present value obtained from the elastic scattering experiments, remains unexplained and represents a burning problem of today’s nuclear physics: after more than 50 years of research the radius of a basic constituent of matter is still not understood. This paper presents a summary of the best existing proton radius measurements, followed by an overview of the possible explanations for the observed inconsistency between the hydrogen and the muonic-hydrogen data. In the last part the upcoming experiments, dedicated to remeasuring the proton radius,more » are described.« less

Climate Change in the Arctic, Moving from Acceptance to Adaptation (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinzman, L. D.

2009-12-01

In Alaska, we no longer discuss climate change using words such as “possible” or “potential”. It has arrived. There is ample evidence of impacts from a changing climate in Alaska, primarily due to the predominance of snow, ice and permafrost. The presence or absence of frozen ground or water will dominate the local ecology, hydrology, physical characteristics and surface energy balance. As the soil or ice progresses through thawing, threshold changes occur that may initiate a cascade of events resulting in substantial changes to the regional character. If one examines any individual scientific discipline, evidence of climate change in arctic regions offers only pieces of the puzzle. This presentation will include a broad array of evidence to provide a convincing case of change in the arctic climate and a system-wide response of terrestrial processes. The thermal regime of the Arctic holds unique characteristics and consequently will display marked changes in response to climate warming. In many cases, threshold changes will occur in physical systems proceeding from permanently frozen to periodically thawed. Dramatic changes also accompany biological systems adapting to an evolving environment. It is expected that the effects and consequences of a warming climate will become even more evident within the next 10 to 50 years so our society must now consider actions related to adaptation and preparation for change.

An fMRI Study of the Impact of Block Building and Board Games on Spatial Ability

PubMed Central

Newman, Sharlene D.; Hansen, Mitchell T.; Gutierrez, Arianna

2016-01-01

Previous studies have found that block play, board games, and puzzles result in better spatial ability. This study focused on examining the differential impact of structured block play and board games on spatial processing. Two groups of 8-year-old children were studied. One group participated in a five session block play training paradigm and the second group had a similar training protocol but played a word/spelling board game. A mental rotation task was assessed before and after training. The mental rotation task was performed during fMRI to observe the neural changes associated with the two play protocols. Only the block play group showed effects of training for both behavioral measures and fMRI measured brain activation. Behaviorally, the block play group showed improvements in both reaction time and accuracy. Additionally, the block play group showed increased involvement of regions that have been linked to spatial working memory and spatial processing after training. The board game group showed non-significant improvements in mental rotation performance, likely related to practice effects, and no training related brain activation differences. While the current study is preliminary, it does suggest that different “spatial” play activities have differential impacts on spatial processing with structured block play but not board games showing a significant impact on mental rotation performance. PMID:27621714

A picture tells 1000 words: learning teamwork in primary care.

PubMed

Kelly, Martina; Bennett, Deirdre; O'Flynn, Siun; Foley, Tony

2013-04-01

Teamwork and patient centredness are frequently articulated concepts in medical education, but are not always explicit in the curriculum. In Ireland, recent government policy emphasises the importance of a primary care team approach to health care. We report on an appraisal of a newly introduced community-based student attachment, which focused on teamwork. To review students' experience of teamwork following a community clinical placement by examining student assignments: essays, poetry, music and art. Year-2 graduate-entry students (n = 45) spent 2 weeks with a primary care team. Attachments comprised placements with members of the primary care team, emphasising team dynamics, at the end of which students submitted a representative piece of work, which captured their learning. Essays (n = 22) were analysed using a thematic content analysis. Artwork consisted of painting, collage, photography, poetry and original music (n = 23). These were analysed using Gardner's entry points. Three core themes emerged in both written and visual work: patient centredness; communication; and an improved appreciation of the skills of other health care professionals. Students identified optimal team communication occurring when patient outcomes were prioritised. Metaphors relating to puzzles, hands and inter-connectedness feature strongly. The poems and artwork had a high impact when they were presented to tutors. Primary care team placements focus student attention on teamwork and patient centredness. Student artwork shows potential as a tool to evaluate student learning in medical education. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013.

Contributions to Public Understanding of Science by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (II): Web-Based Projects for Teachers and Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Passow, M. J.; Kastens, K. A.; Goodwillie, A. M.; Brenner, C.

2009-12-01

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (LDEO) continues its long history of contributions to public understanding of Science. Highlights of current efforts are described in paired posters. Part 2 focuses on web-based activities that foster access to LDEO cutting-edge research for worldwide audiences. “Geoscience Data Puzzles" are activities that purposefully present a high ratio of insight-to-effort for students. Each Puzzle uses selected authentic data to illuminate fundamental Earth processes typically taught in Earth Science curricula. Data may be in the form of a graph, table, map, image or combination of the above. Some Puzzles involve downloading a simple Excel file, but most can be worked from paper copies. Questions guide students through the process of data interpretion. Most Puzzles involve calculations, with emphasis on the too-seldom-taught skill of figuring out what math process is useful to answer an unfamiliar question or solve a problem. Every Puzzle offers "Aha" insights, when the connection between data and process or data and problem comes clear in a rewarding burst of illumination. Time needed to solve a Puzzle is between 15 minutes and an hour. “GeoMapApp” is a free, map-based data exploration and visualization application from the LDEO Marine Geoscience Data System group. GeoMapApp provides direct access to hundreds of data sets useful to geoscience educators, including continuously-updated Global Multi-Resolution Topography compilations that incorporates high-resolution bathymetry in the oceans and Space Shuttle elevations over land. A new User Guide, multi-media tutorials and webinar offer follow-along help and examples. “Virtual Ocean” integrates GeoMapApp functionality with NASA World Wind code to provide a powerful new 3-D platform for interdisciplinary geoscience research and education. Both GeoMapApp and Virtual Ocean foster scientific understanding and provide training in new data visualization technologies. LDEO scientists have contributed to the extensive collection of education resources developed by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership’s Deep Earth Academy). As part of the international research effort to interpret Earth's history by retrieving seafloor samples and monitoring subseafloor environments, LDEO's Borehole Research Group deploys downhole tools to acquire a wide variety of situ geophysical measurements. LDEO scientists contribute significantly to the web portal that facilitates communication between the drillship and the public. It features blogs, games, a graphic novel, teacher resources, and integration with Facebook and Twitter social networking sites Participants in LDEO's monthly "Earth2Class Workshops for Teachers" have created one of the most extensive collections of resources available in Earth Science education. These include curriculum units; teacher-developed lessons, activities, and power points; peer-provided tips for effective teaching; review guides to help prepare for standardized tests; selected web links, and more. Thousands of teachers and students around the world access these LDEO-developed resources every month during the school year.

RNA-Puzzles: A CASP-like evaluation of RNA three-dimensional structure prediction

PubMed Central

Cruz, José Almeida; Blanchet, Marc-Frédérick; Boniecki, Michal; Bujnicki, Janusz M.; Chen, Shi-Jie; Cao, Song; Das, Rhiju; Ding, Feng; Dokholyan, Nikolay V.; Flores, Samuel Coulbourn; Huang, Lili; Lavender, Christopher A.; Lisi, Véronique; Major, François; Mikolajczak, Katarzyna; Patel, Dinshaw J.; Philips, Anna; Puton, Tomasz; Santalucia, John; Sijenyi, Fredrick; Hermann, Thomas; Rother, Kristian; Rother, Magdalena; Serganov, Alexander; Skorupski, Marcin; Soltysinski, Tomasz; Sripakdeevong, Parin; Tuszynska, Irina; Weeks, Kevin M.; Waldsich, Christina; Wildauer, Michael; Leontis, Neocles B.; Westhof, Eric

2012-01-01

We report the results of a first, collective, blind experiment in RNA three-dimensional (3D) structure prediction, encompassing three prediction puzzles. The goals are to assess the leading edge of RNA structure prediction techniques; compare existing methods and tools; and evaluate their relative strengths, weaknesses, and limitations in terms of sequence length and structural complexity. The results should give potential users insight into the suitability of available methods for different applications and facilitate efforts in the RNA structure prediction community in ongoing efforts to improve prediction tools. We also report the creation of an automated evaluation pipeline to facilitate the analysis of future RNA structure prediction exercises. PMID:22361291

Definition of a visuospatial dimension as a step forward in the diagnostic puzzle of nonverbal learning disability.

PubMed

Poletti, Michele

2017-01-01

Although clinically recognized for almost 50 years, the categorical distinction of specific learning disabilities due to an impairment of the nonverbal domain (nonverbal learning disability [NLD]) is still debated and controversial. Unsolved issues involve theoretical models, diagnostic criteria, rehabilitative interventions, and moderator factors. These issues are briefly overviewed to sustain the need for a shift toward dimensional approaches, as suggested by research domain criteria, as a step forward in the diagnostic puzzle of NLD. With this aim, a visuospatial dimension, or spectrum, is proposed, and then clinical conditions that may fit with its impaired side are systemized, while specifying in which conditions a visuospatial impairment may be considered an NLD.

Solving the BM Camelopardalis puzzle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teke, Mathias; Busby, Michael R.; Hall, Douglas S.

1989-01-01

BM Camelopardalis (=12 Cam) is a chromospherically active binary star with a relatively large orbital eccentricity. Systems with large eccentricities usually rotate pseudosynchronously. However, BM Cam has been a puzzle since its observed rotation rate is virtually equal to its orbital period indicating synchronization. All available photometry data for BM Cam have been collected and analyzed. Two models of modulated ellipticity effect are proposed, one based on equilibrium tidal deformation of the primary star and the other on a dynamical tidal effect. When the starspot variability is removed from the data, the dynamical tidal model was the better approximation to the real physical situation. The analysis indicates that BM Cam is not rotating pseudosynchronously but rotating in virtual synchronism after all.

New Measurement of the 1S-3S Transition Frequency of Hydrogen: Contribution to the Proton Charge Radius Puzzle.

PubMed

Fleurbaey, Hélène; Galtier, Sandrine; Thomas, Simon; Bonnaud, Marie; Julien, Lucile; Biraben, François; Nez, François; Abgrall, Michel; Guéna, Jocelyne

2018-05-04

We present a new measurement of the 1S-3S two-photon transition frequency of hydrogen, realized with a continuous-wave excitation laser at 205 nm on a room-temperature atomic beam, with a relative uncertainty of 9×10^{-13}. The proton charge radius deduced from this measurement, r_{p}=0.877(13)  fm, is in very good agreement with the current CODATA-recommended value. This result contributes to the ongoing search to solve the proton charge radius puzzle, which arose from a discrepancy between the CODATA value and a more precise determination of r_{p} from muonic hydrogen spectroscopy.

"Lord of the Mirrors" and demon lover.

PubMed

Kavaler, S

1986-01-01

Repeated object loss drove Sylvia Plath to create, and what she created were her greatest, and best-known poems, collected in the book Ariel. Yet the compulsion to create alternated with the compulsion to destroy. Her suicidal impulses were as intense as her poetic impulses (see Bach, 1985, on the "Marquis de Sade"). How these two contrasting impulses counter-balanced each other, until self-destruction took the lead, is the story of Sylvia Plath. What remains with us is the puzzle of her despair. This puzzle can only be pieced together by looking at the internal object relations of the father-daughter bond, which germinated like a ghost and spector within Sylvia Plath's soul.

The deuteron-radius puzzle is alive: A new analysis of nuclear structure uncertainties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez, O. J.; Ekström, A.; Nevo Dinur, N.; Ji, C.; Bacca, S.; Barnea, N.

2018-03-01

To shed light on the deuteron radius puzzle we analyze the theoretical uncertainties of the nuclear structure corrections to the Lamb shift in muonic deuterium. We find that the discrepancy between the calculated two-photon exchange correction and the corresponding experimentally inferred value by Pohl et al. [1] remain. The present result is consistent with our previous estimate, although the discrepancy is reduced from 2.6 σ to about 2 σ. The error analysis includes statistic as well as systematic uncertainties stemming from the use of nucleon-nucleon interactions derived from chiral effective field theory at various orders. We therefore conclude that nuclear theory uncertainty is more likely not the source of the discrepancy.

DNA is structured as a linear "jigsaw puzzle" in the genomes of Arabidopsis, rice, and budding yeast.

PubMed

Liu, Yun-Hua; Zhang, Meiping; Wu, Chengcang; Huang, James J; Zhang, Hong-Bin

2014-01-01

Knowledge of how a genome is structured and organized from its constituent elements is crucial to understanding its biology and evolution. Here, we report the genome structuring and organization pattern as revealed by systems analysis of the sequences of three model species, Arabidopsis, rice and yeast, at the whole-genome and chromosome levels. We found that all fundamental function elements (FFE) constituting the genomes, including genes (GEN), DNA transposable elements (DTE), retrotransposable elements (RTE), simple sequence repeats (SSR), and (or) low complexity repeats (LCR), are structured in a nonrandom and correlative manner, thus leading to a hypothesis that the DNA of the species is structured as a linear "jigsaw puzzle". Furthermore, we showed that different FFE differ in their importance in the formation and evolution of the DNA jigsaw puzzle structure between species. DTE and RTE play more important roles than GEN, LCR, and SSR in Arabidopsis, whereas GEN and RTE play more important roles than LCR, SSR, and DTE in rice. The genes having multiple recognized functions play more important roles than those having single functions. These results provide useful knowledge necessary for better understanding genome biology and evolution of the species and for effective molecular breeding of rice.

William Wales and the 1769 transit of Venus: puzzle solving and the determination of the astronomical unit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metz, Don

2009-05-01

According to Thomas Kuhn, a significant part of “normal science” is the fact gathering, empirical work which is intended to illustrate an existing paradigm. Some of this effort focuses on the determination of physical constants such as the astronomical unit (AU). For Kuhn, normal science is also what prepares students for membership in a particular scientific community and is embodied in some form in our science textbooks. However, neither Kuhn nor the textbook says much about the individuals who practice normal science, especially those who had been relegated to the “hack” duties of long and arduous measurement and calculation. In this paper, to provide a context for students of astronomy, I will outline the story of the determination of the AU and in particular the contribution of William Wales, an obscure British astronomer. Wales, toiling in the shadow of Halley (of Halley’s comet fame), Mason and Dixon (of Mason and Dixon line fame) and the infamous Captain Cook endured a brutal winter in northern Canada for a brief glimpse of the 1769 transit of Venus. In the end, Wales supplied one small piece of the puzzle in the determination of the AU and he exemplified the human spirit and persistence of a Kuhnian “puzzle solver”.

Magic star puzzle for educational mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, Yee Siang; Fong, Wan Heng; Sarmin, Nor Haniza

2013-04-01

One of the interesting fields in recreational mathematics is the magic number arrangement. There are different kinds of arrays in the arrangement for a group of numbers. In particular, one of the arrays in magic number arrangement is called magic star. In fact, magic star involves combinatorics that contributes to geometrical analysis and number theory. Hence, magic star is suitable to be introduced as educational mathematics to cultivate interest in different area of mathematics. To obtain the solutions of normal magic stars of order six, the possible sets of numbers for every line in a magic star have been considered. Previously, the calculation for obtaining the solutions has been done manually which is time-consuming. Therefore, a programming code to generate all the fundamental solutions for normal magic star of order six without including the properties of rotation and reflection has been done. In this puzzle, a magic star puzzle is created by using Matlab software, which enables a user to verify the entries for the cells of magic star of order six. Moreover, it is also user-friendly as it provides interactive commands on the inputs given by the user, which enables the user to detect the incorrect inputs. In addition, user can also choose to view all the fundamental solutions as generated by the programming code.

Darwin's explanation of races by means of sexual selection.

PubMed

Millstein, Roberta L

2012-09-01

In Darwin's Sacred Cause, Adrian Desmond and James Moore contend that "Darwin would put his utmost into sexual selection because the subject intrigued him, no doubt, but also for a deeper reason: the theory vindicated his lifelong commitment to human brotherhood" (2009: p. 360). Without questioning Desmond and Moore's evidence, I will raise some puzzles for their view. I will show that attention to the structure of Darwin's arguments in the Descent of Man shows that they are far from straightforward. As Desmond and Moore note, Darwin seems to have intended sexual selection in non-human animals to serve as evidence for sexual selection in humans. However, Darwin's account of sexual selection in humans was different from the canonical cases that Darwin described at great length. If explaining the origin of human races was the main reason for introducing sexual selection, and if sexual selection was a key piece of Darwin's anti-slavery arguments, then it is puzzling why Darwin would have spent so much time discussing cases that did not really support his argument for the origin of human races, and it is also puzzling that his argument for the origin of human races would be so (atypically) poor. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tiny bubbles challenge giant turbines: Three Gorges puzzle.

PubMed

Li, Shengcai

2015-10-06

Since the birth of the first prototype of the modern reaction turbine, cavitation as conjectured by Euler in 1754 always presents as a challenge. Following his theory, the evolution of modern reaction (Francis and Kaplan) turbines has been completed by adding the final piece of the element 'draft-tube' that enables turbines to explore water energy at efficiencies of almost 100%. However, during the last two and a half centuries, with increasing unit capacity and specific speed, the problem of cavitation has been manifested and complicated by the draft-tube surges rather than being solved. Particularly, during the last 20 years, the fierce competition in the international market for extremely large turbines with compact design has encouraged the development of giant Francis turbines of 700-1000 MW. The first group (24 units) of such giant turbines of 700 MW each was installed in the Three Gorges project. Immediately after commission, a strange erosion phenomenon appeared on the guide vane of the machines that has puzzled professionals. From a multi-disciplinary analysis, this Three Gorges puzzle could reflect an unknown type of cavitation inception presumably triggered by turbulence production from the boundary-layer streak transitional process. It thus presents a fresh challenge not only to this old turbine industry, but also to the fundamental sciences.

Tiny bubbles challenge giant turbines: Three Gorges puzzle

PubMed Central

Li, Shengcai

2015-01-01

Since the birth of the first prototype of the modern reaction turbine, cavitation as conjectured by Euler in 1754 always presents as a challenge. Following his theory, the evolution of modern reaction (Francis and Kaplan) turbines has been completed by adding the final piece of the element ‘draft-tube’ that enables turbines to explore water energy at efficiencies of almost 100%. However, during the last two and a half centuries, with increasing unit capacity and specific speed, the problem of cavitation has been manifested and complicated by the draft-tube surges rather than being solved. Particularly, during the last 20 years, the fierce competition in the international market for extremely large turbines with compact design has encouraged the development of giant Francis turbines of 700–1000 MW. The first group (24 units) of such giant turbines of 700 MW each was installed in the Three Gorges project. Immediately after commission, a strange erosion phenomenon appeared on the guide vane of the machines that has puzzled professionals. From a multi-disciplinary analysis, this Three Gorges puzzle could reflect an unknown type of cavitation inception presumably triggered by turbulence production from the boundary-layer streak transitional process. It thus presents a fresh challenge not only to this old turbine industry, but also to the fundamental sciences. PMID:26442144

A unified model of supernova driven by magnetic monopoles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Qiu-He; Liu, Jing-Jing; Chou, Chih-Kang

2017-12-01

In this paper, we first discuss a series of important but puzzling physical mechanisms concerning the energy source, various kinds of core collapsed supernovae explosion mechanisms during central gravitational collapse in astrophysics. We also discuss the puzzle of possible association of γ -ray burst with gravitational wave perturbation, the heat source for the molten interior of the core of the Earth and finally the puzzling problem of the cooling of white dwarfs. We then make use of the estimations for the space flux of magnetic monopoles (hereafter MMs) and nucleon decay induced by MMs (called the Rubakov-Callen (RC) effect) to obtain the luminosity due to the RC effect. In terms of the formula for this RC luminosity, we present a unified treatment for the heat source of the Earth's core, the energy source for the white dwarf interior, various kinds of core collapsed supernovae (Type II Supernova (SNII), Type Ib Supernova (SNIb), Type Ic Supernova (SNIc), Super luminous supernova (SLSN)), and the production mechanism for γ -ray burst. This unified model can also be used to reasonably explain the possible association of the short γ -ray burst detected by the Fermi γ -ray Burst Monitoring Satellite (GBM) with the LIGO gravitational wave event GW150914 in September 2015.

Validation of an expert system intended for research in distributed artificial intelligence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grossner, C.; Lyons, J.; Radhakrishnan, T.

1991-01-01

The expert system discussed in this paper is designed to function as a testbed for research on cooperating expert systems. Cooperating expert systems are members of an organization which dictates the manner in which the expert systems will interact when solving a problem. The Blackbox Expert described in this paper has been constructed using the C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS), C++, and X windowing environment. CLIPS is embedded in a C++ program which provides objects that are used to maintain the state of the Blackbox puzzle. These objects are accessed by CLIPS rules through user-defined functions calls. The performance of the Blackbox Expert is validated by experimentation. A group of people are asked to solve a set of test cases for the Blackbox puzzle. A metric has been devised which evaluates the 'correctness' of a solution proposed for a test case of Blackbox. Using this metric and the solutions proposed by the humans, each person receives a rating for their ability to solve the Blackbox puzzle. The Blackbox Expert solves the same set of test cases and is assigned a rating for its ability. Then the rating obtained by the Blackbox Expert is compared with the ratings of the people, thus establishing the skill level of our expert system.

Test-Enhanced E-Learning Strategies in Postgraduate Medical Education: A Randomized Cohort Study.

PubMed

DelSignore, Lisa A; Wolbrink, Traci A; Zurakowski, David; Burns, Jeffrey P

2016-11-21

The optimal design of pedagogical strategies for e-learning in graduate and postgraduate medical education remains to be determined. Video-based e-learning use is increasing, with initial research suggesting that taking short breaks while watching videos (independent of answering test questions) may improve learning by focusing attention on the content presented. Interspersed test questions may also improve knowledge acquisition and retention. To examine the effect of interspersed test questions and periodic breaks on immediate knowledge acquisition and retention at 6 months by pediatric residents engaged in video-based e-learning. First- and second-year pediatric residents were randomized to 1 of the following 3 groups: viewing the complete video uninterrupted (full video), viewing the video interrupted with unrelated logic puzzles (logic puzzles), or viewing the video interrupted with brief comprehension test questions (short answer questions). Residents answered pre- and post-tests before and after video viewing, followed by a retention test at 6 months. Primary outcome included comparison of the change in test scores between groups. A total of 49 residents completed the initial testing session. All 3 learning groups had comparable mean increases in immediate knowledge gain, but with no significant differences between groups (F 2,46 =0.35, P=.71). Thirty-five residents completed retention testing with comparable degrees of knowledge retention in the full video and short answer test questions groups (P<.001), but no significant change in the logic puzzles group (F 1,32 =2.44, P=.13). Improved knowledge gain was not demonstrated among residents answering interspersed questions or completing logic puzzles during interrupted online video viewing when compared with residents viewing uninterrupted video content. However, residents who either participated in uninterrupted video viewing or answered interspersed questions during interrupted video viewing demonstrated significant knowledge retention at 6 months. ©Lisa A DelSignore, Traci A Wolbrink, David Zurakowski, Jeffrey P Burns. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 21.11.2016.

Puzzling Facts From Lunar Exploration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Page, Thornton

1973-01-01

Inconsistencies have arisen between earth-bound observations and data collected from space probes. These inconsistencies center on the moon's structure, temperature, magnetization, composition, and origin. (DF)

Economic fluctuations and statistical physics: Quantifying extremely rare and less rare events in finance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanley, H. E.; Gabaix, Xavier; Gopikrishnan, Parameswaran; Plerou, Vasiliki

2007-08-01

One challenge of economics is that the systems treated by these sciences have no perfect metronome in time and no perfect spatial architecture-crystalline or otherwise. Nonetheless, as if by magic, out of nothing but randomness one finds remarkably fine-tuned processes in time. We present an overview of recent research joining practitioners of economic theory and statistical physics to try to better understand puzzles regarding economic fluctuations. One of these puzzles is how to describe outliers, phenomena that lie outside of patterns of statistical regularity. We review evidence consistent with the possibility that such outliers may not exist. This possibility is supported by recent analysis of databases containing information about each trade of every stock.

Resolution to the B→πK puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hsiang-Nan; Mishima, Satoshi; Sanda, A. I.

2005-12-01

We calculate the important next-to-leading-order contributions to the B→πK, ππ decays from the vertex corrections, the quark loops, and the magnetic penguins in the perturbative QCD approach. It is found that the latter two reduce the leading-order penguin amplitudes by about 10% and modify only the B→πK branching ratios. The main effect of the vertex corrections is to increase the small color-suppressed tree amplitude by a factor of 3, which then resolves the large difference between the direct CP asymmetries of the B0→π∓K± and B±→π0K± modes. The puzzle from the large B0→π0π0 branching ratio still remains.

Gaia's view of the λ Boo star puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Simon J.; Paunzen, Ernst

2017-04-01

The evolutionary status of the chemically peculiar class of λ Boo stars has been intensely debated. It is now agreed that the λ Boo phenomenon affects A stars of all ages, from star formation to the terminal age main sequence, but the cause of the chemical peculiarity is still a puzzle. We revisit the debate of their ages and temperatures in order to shed light on the phenomenon, using the new parallaxes in Gaia Data Release 1 with existing Hipparcos parallaxes and multicolour photometry. We find that no single formation mechanism is able to explain all the observations, and suggest that there are multiple channels producing λ Boo spectra. The relative importance of these channels varies with age, temperature and environment.

A tableau approach of the KSS nest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Wenjuan; Qiu, Weiyuan; Roesch, Pascale; Tan, Lei; Yin, Yongcheng

The KSS nest is a sophisticated choice of puzzle pieces given in [Ann. of Math. 165 (2007), 749-841]. This nest, once combined with the KL-Lemma, has proven to be a powerful machinery, leading to several important advancements in the field of holomorphic dynamics. We give here a presentation of the KSS nest in terms of tableau. This is an effective language invented by Branner and Hubbard to deal with the complexity of the dynamics of puzzle pieces. We show, in a typical situation, how to make the combination between the KSS nest and the KL-Lemma. One consequence of this is the recently proved Branner-Hubbard conjecture. Our estimates here can be used to give an alternative proof of the rigidity property.

Dopamine and reward: comment on Hernandez et al. (2006).

PubMed

Gallistel, C R

2006-08-01

Many lines of evidence suggest that the dopaminergic projection from the midbrain tegmentum to the forebrain must play a critical role in mediating the behavioral effects of natural and artificial rewards, with brain stimulation reward and addictive drugs included in the latter category. However, a closer look reveals many incongruities. The work of G. Hernandez et al. (2006) resolves several puzzles. It implies that the dopaminergic projection does not carry the signal that encodes the magnitude of a brain stimulation reward. It suggests that the elevation in the tonic levels of dopamine consequent on brain stimulation reward modulates the registration of the magnitude of the reward. This reconciles the psychophysical evidence with the pharmacological, electrophysiological, and anatomical evidence. However, some serious puzzles do remain.

Summertime Math.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broderick, Kathy

1998-01-01

These new paperbacks and recent paperback reprints present simple and complex math concepts as engaging, challenging puzzles and can make math fun for children from preschool through primary grades. (Author/AEF)

Evidence for Narrow Transfer after Short-Term Cognitive Training in Older Adults.

PubMed

Souders, Dustin J; Boot, Walter R; Blocker, Kenneth; Vitale, Thomas; Roque, Nelson A; Charness, Neil

2017-01-01

The degree to which "brain training" can improve general cognition, resulting in improved performance on tasks dissimilar from the trained tasks (transfer of training), is a controversial topic. Here, we tested the degree to which cognitive training, in the form of gamified training activities that have demonstrated some degree of success in the past, might result in broad transfer. Sixty older adults were randomly assigned to a gamified cognitive training intervention or to an active control condition that involved playing word and number puzzle games. Participants were provided with tablet computers and asked to engage in their assigned training for 30 45-min training sessions over the course of 1 month. Although intervention adherence was acceptable, little evidence for transfer was observed except for the performance of one task that most resembled the gamified cognitive training: There was a trend for greater improvement on a version of the corsi block tapping task for the cognitive training group relative to the control group. This task was very similar to one of the training games. Results suggest that participants were learning specific skills and strategies from game training that influenced their performance on a similar task. However, even this near-transfer effect was weak. Although the results were not positive with respect to broad transfer of training, longer duration studies with larger samples and the addition of a retention period are necessary before the benefit of this specific intervention can be ruled out.

Origin and dynamics of emission line clouds in cooling flow environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loewenstein, Michael

1990-01-01

The author suggests that since clouds are born co-moving in a turbulent intra-cluster medium (ICM), the allowed parameter space can now be opened up to a more acceptable range. Large-scale motions can be driven in the central parts of cooling flows by a number of mechanisms including the motion of the central and other galaxies, and the dissipation of advected, focussed rotational and magnetic energy. In addition to the velocity width paradox, two other paradoxes (Heckman et al. 1989) can be solved if the ICM is turbulent. Firstly, the heating source for the emission line regions has always been puzzling - line luminosities are extremely high for a given (optical or radio) galaxy luminosity compared to those in non-cooling flow galaxies, therefore a mechanism peculiar to cooling flows must be at work. However most, if not all, previously suggested heating mechanisms either fail to provide enough ionization or give the wrong line ratios, or both. The kinetic energy in the turbulence provides a natural energy source if it can be efficiently converted to cloud heat. Researchers suggest that this can be done via magneto-hydrodynamic waves through plasma slip. Secondly, while the x ray observations indicate extended mass deposition, the optical line emission is more centrally concentrated. Since many of the turbulence-inducing mechanisms are strongest in the central regions of the ICM, so is the method of heating. In other words material is dropping out everywhere but only being lit up in the center.

A resolution of the inclusive flavor-breaking τ |Vus| puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudspith, Renwick J.; Lewis, Randy; Maltman, Kim; Zanotti, James

2018-06-01

We revisit the puzzle of |Vus | values obtained from the conventional implementation of hadronic-τ- decay-based flavor-breaking finite-energy sum rules lying > 3 σ below the expectations of three-family unitarity. Significant unphysical dependences of |Vus | on the choice of weight, w, and upper limit, s0, of the experimental spectral integrals entering the analysis are confirmed, and a breakdown of assumptions made in estimating higher dimension, D > 4, OPE contributions identified as the main source of these problems. A combination of continuum and lattice results is shown to suggest a new implementation of the flavor-breaking sum rule approach in which not only |Vus |, but also D > 4 effective condensates, are fit to data. Lattice results are also used to clarify how to reliably treat the slowly converging D = 2 OPE series. The new sum rule implementation is shown to cure the problems of the unphysical w- and s0-dependence of |Vus | and to produce results ∼0.0020 higher than those of the conventional implementation employing the same data. With B-factory input, and using, in addition, dispersively constrained results for the Kπ branching fractions, we find |Vus | = 0.2231(27)exp(4)th, in excellent agreement with the result from Kℓ3, and compatible within errors with the expectations of three-family unitarity, thus resolving the long-standing inclusive τ |Vus | puzzle.

Age-related changes in learning across early childhood: a new imitation task.

PubMed

Dickerson, Kelly; Gerhardstein, Peter; Zack, Elizabeth; Barr, Rachel

2013-11-01

Imitation plays a critical role in social and cognitive development, but the social learning mechanisms contributing to the development of imitation are not well understood. We developed a new imitation task designed to examine social learning mechanisms across the early childhood period. The new task involves assembly of abstract-shaped puzzle pieces in an arbitrary sequence on a magnet board. Additionally, we introduce a new scoring system that extends traditional goal-directed imitation scoring to include measures of both children's success at copying gestures (sliding the puzzle pieces) and goals (connecting the puzzle pieces). In Experiment 1, we demonstrated an age-invariant baseline from 1.5 to 3.5 years of age, accompanied by age-related changes in success at copying goals and gestures from a live demonstrator. In Experiment 2, we applied our new task to learning following a video demonstration. Imitation performance in the video demonstration group lagged behind that of the live demonstration group, showing a protracted video deficit effect. Across both experiments, children were more likely to copy gestures at earlier ages, suggesting mimicry, and only later copy both goals and gestures, suggesting imitation. Taken together, the findings suggest that different social learning strategies may predominate in imitation learning dependent upon the degree of object affordance, task novelty, and task complexity. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A possible solution to the B → π π puzzle using the principle of maximum conformality

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

Qiao, Cong -Feng; Zhu, Rui -Lin; Wu, Xing

2015-07-22

We measured the B d→π 0π 0B d→π 0π 0 branching fraction and found that it deviates significantly from conventional QCD predictions, a puzzle which has persisted for more than 10 years. This may be a hint of new physics beyond the Standard Model; however, as we shall show in this paper, the pQCD prediction is highly sensitive to the choice of the renormalization scales which enter the decay amplitude. In the present paper, we show that the renormalization scale uncertainties for B→ππB→ππ can be greatly reduced by applying the Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC), and more precise predictions formore » CP-averaged branching ratios B(B→ππ)B(B→ππ) can be achieved. Combining the errors in quadrature, we obtain View the MathML sourceB(Bd→π 0π 0)|PMC=(0.98 -0.31 +0.44)×10 -6 by using the light-front holographic low-energy model for the running coupling. All of the CP-averaged B→ππB→ππ branching fractions predicted by the PMC are consistent with the Particle Data Group average values and the recent Belle data. Moreover, the PMC provides a possible solution for the B d→π 0π 0B d→π 0π 0 puzzle.« less

ASB Clinical Biomechanics Award Paper 2010: Virtual Pre-Operative Reconstruction Planning for Comminuted Articular Fractures

PubMed Central

Thomas, Thaddeus P.; Anderson, Donald D.; Willis, Andrew R.; Liu, Pengcheng; Marsh, J. Lawrence; Brown, Thomas D.

2010-01-01

Background Highly comminuted intra-articular fractures are complex and difficult injuries to treat. Once emergent care is rendered, the definitive treatment objective is to restore the original anatomy while minimizing surgically induced trauma. Operations that use limited or percutaneous approaches help preserve tissue vitality, but reduced visibility makes reconstruction more difficult. A pre-operative plan of how comminuted fragments would best be re-positioned to restore anatomy helps in executing a successful reduction. Methods In this study, methods for virtually reconstructing a tibial plafond fracture were developed and applied to clinical cases. Building upon previous benchtop work, novel image analysis techniques and puzzle solving algorithms were developed for clinical application. Specialty image analysis tools were used to segment the fracture fragment geometries from CT data. The original anatomy was then restored by matching fragment native (periosteal and subchondral) bone surfaces to an intact template, generated from the uninjured contralateral limb. Findings Virtual reconstructions obtained for ten tibial plafond fracture cases had average alignment errors of 0.39 (0.5 standard deviation) mm. In addition to precise reduction planning, 3D puzzle solutions can help identify articular deformities and bone loss. Interpretation The results from this study indicate that 3D puzzle solving provides a powerful new tool for planning the surgical reconstruction of comminuted articular fractures. PMID:21215501

J. J. Sakurai Prize: Astrophysics, Cosmology and PQ Symmetry--Linking the Very Small and the Very Large

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinn, Helen

2013-04-01

The symmetry between the laws of physics for matter and those for antimatter (technically known as CP symmetry) is broken in the weak interaction but maintained to a high level of precision in the strong interaction. In the context of the Standard Model theory of particles and their interactions this is a puzzle --what protects the strong interaction from being more ``infected'' by the lack of a symmetry of the weak interaction? I will review the history of the idea we had to solve this puzzle, its consequences, and its evolution into the versions still viable today. Our answer to this puzzle, adding a further symmetry now known as PQ symmetry, arose from thinking about the effects of quark-Higgs couplings as in the early Universe, in the phase transition that gives quarks their masses. Not only did this modification of the Standard Model arise from cosmological thinking, it turns out to have possible cosmological consequences in the form of a light, weakly-coupled particle known as the axion, a possible dark matter candidate. Furthermore astrophysical constraints on such a particle have played a role in the subsequent evolution of theories with PQ symmetry. I will review the early history of this fascinating linkage of large scale and small scale physics, leaving later developments for my collaborator and co-recipient of this prize, Roberto Peccei, to talk about.

The activity of thalamic nucleus reuniens is critical for memory retrieval, but not essential for the early phase of "off-line" consolidation.

PubMed

Mei, Hao; Logothetis, Nikos K; Eschenko, Oxana

2018-03-01

Spatial navigation depends on the hippocampal function, but also requires bidirectional interactions between the hippocampus (HPC) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The cross-regional communication is typically regulated by critical nodes of a distributed brain network. The thalamic nucleus reuniens (RE) is reciprocally connected to both HPC and PFC and may coordinate the information flow within the HPC-PFC pathway. Here we examined if RE activity contributes to the spatial memory consolidation. Rats were trained to find reward following a complex trajectory on a crossword-like maze. Immediately after each of the five daily learning sessions the RE was reversibly inactivated by local injection of muscimol. The post-training RE inactivation affected neither the spatial task acquisition nor the memory retention, which was tested after a 20-d "forgetting" period. In contrast, the RE inactivation in well-trained rats prior to the maze exposure impaired the task performance without affecting locomotion or appetitive motivation. Our results support the role of the RE in memory retrieval and/or "online" processing of spatial information, but do not provide evidence for its engagement in "off-line" processing, at least within a time window immediately following learning experience. © 2018 Mei et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Genetics Home Reference: Barth syndrome

MedlinePlus

... intelligence but often have difficulty performing tasks involving math or visual-spatial skills such as puzzles. Males with Barth syndrome have increased levels of a substance called 3-methylglutaconic acid in ...

New Genetics

MedlinePlus

... Century-Old Evolutionary Puzzle Computing Genetics Model Organisms RNA Interference The New Genetics is a science education ... the basics of DNA and its molecular cousin RNA, and new directions in genetic research. The New ...

Asian American parents' attributions of children with Down syndrome: connections with child characteristics and culture.

PubMed

Ly, Tran M

2008-04-01

This study explores cultural differences between European American (n = 26) and Asian American (n = 17) parents' attributional ratings of children with Down syndrome. Links were examined among parents' attributions, reactions, and behaviors regarding their child's jigsaw-puzzle performance. Although the children's puzzle abilities did not differ, compared with European American parents, Asian American parents judged their child as less successful and had lower expectations for future success. Asian American parents also attributed the child's performance to lower ability and lower effort. Affectively, they indicated less sympathy and more anger and blame toward the child. Despite striking ethnic differences, parents in both groups judged their older children as more successful and reported offering them less encouragement and help. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Probabilistic interpretation of Peelle's pertinent puzzle and its resolution

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

Hanson, Kenneth M.; Kawano, T.; Talou, P.

2004-01-01

Peelle's Pertinent Puzzle (PPP) states a seemingly plausible set of measurements with their covariance matrix, which produce an implausible answer. To answer the PPP question, we describe a reasonable experimental situation that is consistent with the PPP solution. The confusion surrounding the PPP arises in part because of its imprecise statement, which permits to a variety of interpretations and resulting answers, some of which seem implausible. We emphasize the importance of basing the analysis on an unambiguous probabilistic model that reflects the experimental situation. We present several different models of how the measurements quoted in the PPP problem could bemore » obtained, and interpret their solution in terms of a detailed probabilistic analysis. We suggest a probabilistic approach to handling uncertainties about which model to use.« less

Probabilistic Interpretation of Peelle's Pertinent Puzzle and its Resolution

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

Hanson, Kenneth M.; Kawano, Toshihiko; Talou, Patrick

2005-05-24

Peelle's Pertinent Puzzle (PPP) states a seemingly plausible set of measurements with their covariance matrix, which produce an implausible answer. To answer the PPP question, we describe a reasonable experimental situation that is consistent with the PPP solution. The confusion surrounding the PPP arises in part because of its imprecise statement, which permits to a variety of interpretations and resulting answers, some of which seem implausible. We emphasize the importance of basing the analysis on an unambiguous probabilistic model that reflects the experimental situation. We present several different models of how the measurements quoted in the PPP problem could bemore » obtained, and interpret their solution in terms of a detailed probabilistic analysis. We suggest a probabilistic approach to handling uncertainties about which model to use.« less

Lewis Carroll: a study of mathematical inhibition.

PubMed

Keller, E F

1980-01-01

Carroll's mathematical abilities appear to have been severely constrained--subject simultaneously to inhibition and distortion. Through an analysis of his informal commentary on his relation to mathematical puzzles I have attempted to understand and explain the nature of these inhibitions and distortions. Particular attention to his metaphor of the "mental bun," and his use of this metaphor, has led me to conclude that the mathematical puzzle served, for Carroll, distinctly fetishistic functions. This interpretation dovetails with Greenacre's early intuition about the prevalence in his literary work of fantasies and preoccupations reminescent of clinical experience with fetishism. The connection argued here between inhibitions and distortions in the sexual and intellectual realms suggests, as a domain for further inquiry, the possibility of a more general investigation into the role of sexual fantasies in intellectual activities.

Evolutionary robotics simulations help explain why reciprocity is rare in nature

PubMed Central

André, Jean-Baptiste; Nolfi, Stefano

2016-01-01

The relative rarity of reciprocity in nature, contrary to theoretical predictions that it should be widespread, is currently one of the major puzzles in social evolution theory. Here we use evolutionary robotics to solve this puzzle. We show that models based on game theory are misleading because they neglect the mechanics of behavior. In a series of experiments with simulated robots controlled by artificial neural networks, we find that reciprocity does not evolve, and show that this results from a general constraint that likely also prevents it from evolving in the wild. Reciprocity can evolve if it requires very few mutations, as is usually assumed in evolutionary game theoretic models, but not if, more realistically, it requires the accumulation of many adaptive mutations. PMID:27616139

BOUNDS ON LEPTON FLAVOR CHANGING CURRENTS AND THE SOLAR NEUTRINO PUZZLE:. Bounds on Lepton Flavor Changing Currents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

degl'Innocenti, Scilla; Ricci, Barbara

We present a phenomenological analysis of a lepton flavor changing current, considering the case of interactions among leptons which change the neutrino flavor and are diagonal in the charged lepton sector. In the case of νe↔νµ transition, we derive a bound on the vector coupling constant GV≤0.16 GF from experimental data on νµ-e scattering. For a transition νe↔νx, from (anti) νe-e scattering experiments and from the analysis of advanced stellar evolutionary phases, we find GV≤0.55 GF. We discuss the compatibility of these data with a possible explanation of the solar neutrino puzzle. We also analyze how the present bounds can be improved in future long baseline neutrino experiments and atmospheric neutrino detectors.

Statistical physics and economic fluctuations: do outliers exist?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanley, H. Eugene

2003-02-01

We present an overview of recent research applying ideas of statistical physics to try to better understand puzzles regarding economic fluctuations. One of these puzzles is how to describe outliers, phenomena that lie outside of patterns of statistical regularity. We review evidence consistent with the possibility that such outliers may not exist. This possibility is supported by recent analysis by Plerou et al. of a database containing the bid, ask, and sale price of each trade of every stock. Further, the data support the picture of economic fluctuations, due to Plerou et al., in which a financial market alternates between being in an “equilibrium phase” where market behavior is split roughly equally between buying and selling, and an “out-of-equilibrium phase” where the market is mainly either buying or selling.

The puzzle of Muslim advantage in child survival in India.

PubMed

Bhalotra, Sonia; Valente, Christine; van Soest, Arthur

2010-03-01

The socioeconomic status of Indian Muslims is, on average, considerably lower than that of upper-caste Hindus. Muslims nevertheless exhibit substantially higher child survival rates, and have done for decades. This paper analyses this seeming puzzle. A decomposition of the survival differential confirms that some compositional effects favour Muslims but that, overall, differences in characteristics and especially the Muslim deficit in parental education predict a Muslim disadvantage. The results of this study contribute to a recent literature that debates the importance of socioeconomic status (SES) in determining health and survival. They augment a growing literature on the role of religion or culture as encapsulating important unobservable behaviours or endowments that influence health, indeed, enough to reverse the SES gradient that is commonly observed. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KIND Reproducibles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

KIND Teacher, 1990

1990-01-01

Presented are 14 student worksheets for use in teaching about environmental conservation. Topics of these games, puzzles include pollution, rainforests, endangered species, habitat destruction, and solid waste. An answer sheet for teachers is included. (CW)

Sharing Teaching Ideas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isaacs, Carol; Fisher, Julie

1992-01-01

Presents a student project that requires students to create a puzzle involving some form of manipulative and present it to the class with an advertisement. Uses writing to have students report on their progress. (MDH)

The concepts of asymmetric and symmetric power can help resolve the puzzle of altruistic and cooperative behaviour.

PubMed

Phillips, Tim

2018-02-01

Evolutionary theory predicts competition in nature yet altruistic and cooperative behaviour appears to reduce the ability to compete in order to help others compete better. This evolutionary puzzle is usually explained by kin selection where close relatives perform altruistic and cooperative acts to help each other and by reciprocity theory (i.e. direct, indirect and generalized reciprocity) among non-kin. Here, it is proposed that the concepts of asymmetry and symmetry in power and dominance are critical if we are ever to resolve the puzzle of altruism and cooperation towards non-kin. Asymmetry in power and dominance is likely to emerge under competition in nature as individuals strive to gain greater access to the scarce resources needed to survive and reproduce successfully. Yet asymmetric power presents serious problems for reciprocity theory in that a dominant individual faces a temptation to cheat in interactions with subordinates that is likely to far outweigh any individual selective benefits gained through reciprocal mechanisms. Furthermore, action taken by subordinates to deter non-reciprocation by dominants is likely to prove prohibitively costly to their fitness, making successful enforcement of reciprocal mechanisms unlikely. It is also argued here that many apparently puzzling forms of cooperation observed in nature (e.g. cooperative breeding in which unrelated subordinates help dominants to breed) might be best explained by asymmetry in power and dominance. Once it is recognized that individuals in these cooperative interactions are subject to the constraints and opportunities imposed on them by asymmetric power then they can be seen as pursuing a 'least bad' strategy to promote individual fitness - one that is nevertheless consistent with evolutionary theory. The concept of symmetric power also provides important insights. It can inhibit reciprocal mechanisms in the sense that symmetric power makes it easier for a cheat to appropriate common resources while incurring fewer penalties. Nevertheless under certain restrictive conditions, symmetric power is seen as likely to promote direct reciprocity through 'tit for tat'. © 2017 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Student Art for Blind Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vanda, Kay

1982-01-01

Describes a project in which high school student volunteers designed art activities for blind children. Students incorporated the sensation of motion and texture into their designs for toys, puzzles, games, and story illustrations. (AM)

Centering on Sea Life in the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gruendike, Janis L.

1982-01-01

Describes an oceanography learning center for elementary/middle school students, focusing on use of games (review jeopardy), instructional tapes, flash cards, activity felt boards, picture puzzles, reading materials, science displays, and experiment stations. (JN)

Puzzles Pastimes Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eperson, D. B.

1991-01-01

This section includes eight problems to which the journal invites readers to respond. Problem topics include angles in alternate segments, pentominoes, a new triangle of numbers, cricket scores, symmetrical pentagons, inequalities, a pythagorean dissection, and magic squares. (MDH)

Scientific Motivational Techniques Adaptable to Social Studies Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steiner, Robert L.

1975-01-01

Two science classroom techniques that can be used in the social studies classroom to motivate students involve puzzling phenomena and relating science to social issues such as over-population, energy, and pollution. (JR)

Food Labels Tell the Story!

MedlinePlus

... Environment & Health Healthy Living Pollution Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Science – How It Works The Natural World Games Brainteasers Puzzles Riddles Songs Activities Be a Scientist Coloring Science Experiments Stories Lessons Topics Expand Environment & Health Healthy ...

Math.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Learning, 1980

1980-01-01

Classroom games designed to develop mathematics skills in elementary school children are presented. These games involve personalizing metric measurement, telling time by television, creating an all-math newsletter, addition puzzles, subtraction games, division cards, multiplication, fractions, and measurement. (JD)

Math in the Newspaper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

May, Lola J.

1994-01-01

Daily newspapers can be used to teach mathematics skills in a variety of ways. Students can analyze sports scores and averages, practice using the index, assemble imaginary stock portfolios, find numbers in articles, and complete puzzles. (MDM)

Fibromyalgia: A Puzzling and Painful Condition | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

MedlinePlus

... your doctor. Exercise. Research has shown that regular exercise is one of the most effective treatments for fibromyalgia. Try a complementary health approach. Practices such as tai chi, qi gong, ...

A Theoretical Model of Jigsaw-Puzzle Pattern Formation by Plant Leaf Epidermal Cells.

PubMed

Higaki, Takumi; Kutsuna, Natsumaro; Akita, Kae; Takigawa-Imamura, Hisako; Yoshimura, Kenji; Miura, Takashi

2016-04-01

Plant leaf epidermal cells exhibit a jigsaw puzzle-like pattern that is generated by interdigitation of the cell wall during leaf development. The contribution of two ROP GTPases, ROP2 and ROP6, to the cytoskeletal dynamics that regulate epidermal cell wall interdigitation has already been examined; however, how interactions between these molecules result in pattern formation remains to be elucidated. Here, we propose a simple interface equation model that incorporates both the cell wall remodeling activity of ROP GTPases and the diffusible signaling molecules by which they are regulated. This model successfully reproduces pattern formation observed in vivo, and explains the counterintuitive experimental results of decreased cellulose production and increased thickness. Our model also reproduces the dynamics of three-way cell wall junctions. Therefore, this model provides a possible mechanism for cell wall interdigitation formation in vivo.

Puzzle test: A tool for non-analytical clinical reasoning assessment.

PubMed

Monajemi, Alireza; Yaghmaei, Minoo

2016-01-01

Most contemporary clinical reasoning tests typically assess non-automatic thinking. Therefore, a test is needed to measure automatic reasoning or pattern recognition, which has been largely neglected in clinical reasoning tests. The Puzzle Test (PT) is dedicated to assess automatic clinical reasoning in routine situations. This test has been introduced first in 2009 by Monajemi et al in the Olympiad for Medical Sciences Students.PT is an item format that has gained acceptance in medical education, but no detailed guidelines exist for this test's format, construction and scoring. In this article, a format is described and the steps to prepare and administer valid and reliable PTs are presented. PT examines a specific clinical reasoning task: Pattern recognition. PT does not replace other clinical reasoning assessment tools. However, it complements them in strategies for assessing comprehensive clinical reasoning.

The background puzzle: how identical mutations in the same gene lead to different disease symptoms.

PubMed

Kammenga, Jan E

2017-10-01

Identical disease-causing mutations can lead to different symptoms in different people. The reason for this has been a puzzling problem for geneticists. Differential penetrance and expressivity of mutations has been observed within individuals with different and similar genetic backgrounds. Attempts have been made to uncover the underlying mechanisms that determine differential phenotypic effects of identical mutations through studies of model organisms. From these studies evidence is accumulating that to understand disease mechanism or predict disease prevalence, an understanding of the influence of genetic background is as important as the putative disease-causing mutations of relatively large effect. This review highlights current insights into phenotypic variation due to gene interactions, epigenetics and stochasticity in model organisms, and discusses their importance for understanding the mutational effect on disease symptoms. © 2017 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Bird-nest puzzle: can the study of unisexual flowers such as cucumber solve the problem of plant sex determination?

PubMed

Bai, Shu-Nong; Xu, Zhi-Hong

2012-06-01

Unisexual flower development has long been used as a model system to understand the mechanism of plant sex determination. However, based on our investigation of the mechanisms regulating the development of unisexual cucumber flowers, we have realized that understanding how organ development is inhibited may not necessarily reveal how an organ is formed. We refer to this problem as a "bird-nest puzzle," meaning one cannot understand how a bird lays and hatches its eggs by understanding how its nest is ruined. To understand the biological significance of unisexual flowers, we reexamine the original meaning of sex and its application in plants. Additionally, we propose that the fundamental biological advantage for the selection and maintenance of unisexual flowers during evolution is to promote cross pollination.

Doing our best: optimization and the management of risk.

PubMed

Ben-Haim, Yakov

2012-08-01

Tools and concepts of optimization are widespread in decision-making, design, and planning. There is a moral imperative to "do our best." Optimization underlies theories in physics and biology, and economic theories often presume that economic agents are optimizers. We argue that in decisions under uncertainty, what should be optimized is robustness rather than performance. We discuss the equity premium puzzle from financial economics, and explain that the puzzle can be resolved by using the strategy of satisficing rather than optimizing. We discuss design of critical technological infrastructure, showing that satisficing of performance requirements--rather than optimizing them--is a preferable design concept. We explore the need for disaster recovery capability and its methodological dilemma. The disparate domains--economics and engineering--illuminate different aspects of the challenge of uncertainty and of the significance of robust-satisficing. © 2012 Society for Risk Analysis.

Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life

PubMed Central

Andrulis, Erik D.

2011-01-01

Life is an inordinately complex unsolved puzzle. Despite significant theoretical progress, experimental anomalies, paradoxes, and enigmas have revealed paradigmatic limitations. Thus, the advancement of scientific understanding requires new models that resolve fundamental problems. Here, I present a theoretical framework that economically fits evidence accumulated from examinations of life. This theory is based upon a straightforward and non-mathematical core model and proposes unique yet empirically consistent explanations for major phenomena including, but not limited to, quantum gravity, phase transitions of water, why living systems are predominantly CHNOPS (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur), homochirality of sugars and amino acids, homeoviscous adaptation, triplet code, and DNA mutations. The theoretical framework unifies the macrocosmic and microcosmic realms, validates predicted laws of nature, and solves the puzzle of the origin and evolution of cellular life in the universe. PMID:25382118

Gold-nanoparticle-mediated jigsaw-puzzle-like assembly of supersized plasmonic DNA origami.

PubMed

Yao, Guangbao; Li, Jiang; Chao, Jie; Pei, Hao; Liu, Huajie; Zhao, Yun; Shi, Jiye; Huang, Qing; Wang, Lianhui; Huang, Wei; Fan, Chunhai

2015-03-02

DNA origami has rapidly emerged as a powerful and programmable method to construct functional nanostructures. However, the size limitation of approximately 100 nm in classic DNA origami hampers its plasmonic applications. Herein, we report a jigsaw-puzzle-like assembly strategy mediated by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to break the size limitation of DNA origami. We demonstrated that oligonucleotide-functionalized AuNPs function as universal joint units for the one-pot assembly of parent DNA origami of triangular shape to form sub-microscale super-origami nanostructures. AuNPs anchored at predefined positions of the super-origami exhibited strong interparticle plasmonic coupling. This AuNP-mediated strategy offers new opportunities to drive macroscopic self-assembly and to fabricate well-defined nanophotonic materials and devices. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A Solar Cycle Prediction Puzzle's PossibleExplanation?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luhmann, Janet

2007-05-01

A long-standing and intriguing puzzle of the last few decades has been Joan Feynman's (1982) discovery that the solar cycle (sunspot number) maximum trends follow the level of geomagnetic activity during the prior minimum phase. Recently Hathaway (GRL 33, 2006) used this relationship to make a prediction of the size of the next solar maximum. But the physical reason why this should work at all remains a matter of speculation. Although it has been suggested that geomagnetic activity around solar minimum is determined by the terrestrial magnetosphere's response to high speed solar wind streams which seem to often characterize the declining phase of the cycle, why should the occurrence of these streams portend the new solar maximum? Our improving understanding of solar wind sources may hold the key, and also tell us something useful about the solar dynamo.

The electron screening puzzle and nuclear clustering

DOE PAGES

Spitaleri, C.; Bertulani, C. A.; Fortunato, L.; ...

2016-02-12

Accurate measurements of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest within, or close to, the Gamow peak show evidence of an unexpected effect attributed to the presence of atomic electrons in the target. The experiments need to include an effective "screening" potential to explain the enhancement of the cross sections at the lowest measurable energies. Despite various theoretical studies conducted over the past 20 years and numerous experimental measurements, a theory has not yet been found that can explain the cause of the exceedingly high values of the screening potential needed to explain the data. Furthermore, in this letter we show thatmore » instead of an atomic physics solution of the "electron screening puzzle", the reason for the large screening potential values is in fact due to clusterization effects in nuclear reactions, in particular for reaction involving light nuclei.« less

Biodiversity of plankton by species oscillations and chaos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huisman, Jef; Weissing, Franz J.

1999-11-01

Biodiversity has both fascinated and puzzled biologists. In aquatic ecosystems, the biodiversity puzzle is particularly troublesome, and known as the `paradox of the plankton'. Competition theory predicts that, at equilibrium, the number of coexisting species cannot exceed the number of limiting resources. For phytoplankton, only a few resources are potentially limiting: nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon, iron, light, inorganic carbon, and sometimes a few trace metals or vitamins. However, in natural waters dozens of phytoplankton species coexist. Here we offer a solution to the plankton paradox. First, we show that resource competition models can generate oscillations and chaos when species compete for three or more resources. Second, we show that these oscillations and chaotic fluctuations in species abundances allow the coexistence of many species on a handful of resources. This model of planktonic biodiversity may be broadly applicable to the biodiversity of many ecosystems.

Exfoliation syndrome: assembling the puzzle pieces.

PubMed

Pasquale, Louis R; Borrás, Terete; Fingert, John H; Wiggs, Janey L; Ritch, Robert

2016-09-01

To summarize various topics and the cutting edge approaches to refine XFS pathogenesis that were discussed at the 21st annual Glaucoma Foundation Think Tank meeting in New York City, Sept. 19-20, 2014. The highlights of three categories of talks on cutting edge research in the field were summarized. Exfoliation syndrome (XFS) is a systemic disorder with a substantial ocular burden, including high rates of cataract, cataract surgery complications, glaucoma and retinal vein occlusion. New information about XFS is akin to puzzle pieces that do not quite join together to reveal a clear picture regarding how exfoliation material (XFM) forms. Meeting participants concluded that it is unclear how the mild homocysteinemia seen in XFS might contribute to the disarrayed extracellular aggregates characteristic of this syndrome. Lysyl oxidase-like 1 (LOXL1) variants are unequivocally genetic risk factors for XFS but exactly how these variants contribute to the assembly of exfoliation material (XFM) remains unclear. Variants in a new genomic region, CACNA1A associated with XFS, may alter calcium concentrations at the cell surface and facilitate XFM formation but much more work is needed before we can place this new finding in proper context. It is hoped that various animal model and ex vivo systems will emerge that will allow for proper assembly of the puzzle pieces into a coherent picture of XFS pathogenesis. A clear understanding of XFS pathogenesis may lead to 'upstream solutions' to reduce the ocular morbidity produced by XFS. © 2015 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

WAIS-IV subtest covariance structure: conceptual and statistical considerations.

PubMed

Ward, L Charles; Bergman, Maria A; Hebert, Katina R

2012-06-01

D. Wechsler (2008b) reported confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) with standardization data (ages 16-69 years) for 10 core and 5 supplemental subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). Analyses of the 15 subtests supported 4 hypothesized oblique factors (Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Perceptual Reasoning, and Processing Speed) but also revealed unexplained covariance between Block Design and Visual Puzzles (Perceptual Reasoning subtests). That covariance was not included in the final models. Instead, a path was added from Working Memory to Figure Weights (Perceptual Reasoning subtest) to improve fit and achieve a desired factor pattern. The present research with the same data (N = 1,800) showed that the path from Working Memory to Figure Weights increases the association between Working Memory and Matrix Reasoning. Specifying both paths improves model fit and largely eliminates unexplained covariance between Block Design and Visual Puzzles but with the undesirable consequence that Figure Weights and Matrix Reasoning are equally determined by Perceptual Reasoning and Working Memory. An alternative 4-factor model was proposed that explained theory-implied covariance between Block Design and Visual Puzzles and between Arithmetic and Figure Weights while maintaining compatibility with WAIS-IV Index structure. The proposed model compared favorably with a 5-factor model based on Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory. The present findings emphasize that covariance model comparisons should involve considerations of conceptual coherence and theoretical adherence in addition to statistical fit. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Hubble Gazes Into a Black Hole of Puzzling Light

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

The beautiful spiral galaxy visible in the center of the image is known as RX J1140.1+0307, a galaxy in the Virgo constellation imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and it presents an interesting puzzle. At first glance, this galaxy appears to be a normal spiral galaxy, much like the Milky Way, but first appearances can be deceptive! The Milky Way galaxy, like most large galaxies, has a supermassive black hole at its center, but some galaxies are centered on lighter, intermediate-mass black holes. RX J1140.1+0307 is such a galaxy — in fact, it is centered on one of the lowest black hole masses known in any luminous galactic core. What puzzles scientists about this particular galaxy is that the calculations don’t add up. With such a relatively low mass for the central black hole, models for the emission from the object cannot explain the observed spectrum. There must be other mechanisms at play in the interactions between the inner and outer parts of the accretion disk surrounding the black hole. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

School Starts Soon - Is Your Child Fully Vaccinated?

MedlinePlus

... possible. Vaccines for Your Young Children (Newborns through 6 years old) During the early years of life, ... Quiz Watch videos: Childhood Vaccines are a Key Piece of Puzzle and Preteen and Teen Vaccine: Video ...

KIND Reproducibles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

KIND Teacher, 1990

1990-01-01

Presented are 14 student worksheets for use in teaching the care of and humane treatment of animals. Topics of these games and puzzles include state animal trivia, domestic pets and wild animals. An answer sheet for teachers is included. (CW)

Focusing on Fibromyalgia : A Puzzling and Painful Condition

MedlinePlus

... disorder. Researchers have found several genes Stretches of DNA, a substance you inherit from your parents, that ... therapies such as tai chi, yoga, and cognitive behavior therapy can also help to reduce symptoms.” People ...

Reptiles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naturescope, 1987

1987-01-01

Describes some of the characteristics of various reptiles. Contains teaching activities including making reptile number books and identification keys, flip-ups about cobras, puzzles involving graphing, and group presentations. Includes reproducible handouts to be used with some of the activities. (TW)

Special Supplement: School Library Media Month.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

School Library Media Activities Monthly, 1986

1986-01-01

Describes specific activities for promoting the services of the school library during School Library Media Month in April. Illustrations of and instructions for making promotional buttons, bookmarks, book jackets, banners, flags and puzzles are provided. (EM)

Chimpanzees prioritise social information over pre-existing behaviours in a group context but not in dyads.

PubMed

Watson, Stuart K; Lambeth, Susan P; Schapiro, Steven J; Whiten, Andrew

2018-05-01

How animal communities arrive at homogeneous behavioural preferences is a central question for studies of cultural evolution. Here, we investigated whether chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) would relinquish a pre-existing behaviour to adopt an alternative demonstrated by an overwhelming majority of group mates; in other words, whether chimpanzees behave in a conformist manner. In each of five groups of chimpanzees (N = 37), one individual was trained on one method of opening a two-action puzzle box to obtain food, while the remaining individuals learned the alternative method. Over 5 h of open access to the apparatus in a group context, it was found that 4/5 'minority' individuals explored the majority method and three of these used this new method in the majority of trials. Those that switched did so after observing only a small subset of their group, thereby not matching conventional definitions of conformity. In a further 'Dyad' condition, six pairs of chimpanzees were trained on alternative methods and then given access to the task together. Only one of these individuals ever switched method. The number of observations that individuals in the minority and Dyad individuals made of their untrained method was not found to influence whether or not they themselves switched to use it. In a final 'Asocial' condition, individuals (N = 10) did not receive social information and did not deviate from their first-learned method. We argue that these results demonstrate an important influence of social context upon prioritisation of social information over pre-existing methods, which can result in group homogeneity of behaviour.

High quality topic extraction from business news explains abnormal financial market volatility.

PubMed

Hisano, Ryohei; Sornette, Didier; Mizuno, Takayuki; Ohnishi, Takaaki; Watanabe, Tsutomu

2013-01-01

Understanding the mutual relationships between information flows and social activity in society today is one of the cornerstones of the social sciences. In financial economics, the key issue in this regard is understanding and quantifying how news of all possible types (geopolitical, environmental, social, financial, economic, etc.) affects trading and the pricing of firms in organized stock markets. In this article, we seek to address this issue by performing an analysis of more than 24 million news records provided by Thompson Reuters and of their relationship with trading activity for 206 major stocks in the S&P US stock index. We show that the whole landscape of news that affects stock price movements can be automatically summarized via simple regularized regressions between trading activity and news information pieces decomposed, with the help of simple topic modeling techniques, into their "thematic" features. Using these methods, we are able to estimate and quantify the impacts of news on trading. We introduce network-based visualization techniques to represent the whole landscape of news information associated with a basket of stocks. The examination of the words that are representative of the topic distributions confirms that our method is able to extract the significant pieces of information influencing the stock market. Our results show that one of the most puzzling stylized facts in financial economies, namely that at certain times trading volumes appear to be "abnormally large," can be partially explained by the flow of news. In this sense, our results prove that there is no "excess trading," when restricting to times when news is genuinely novel and provides relevant financial information.

Overhauling, updating and augmenting NASA spacelink electronic information system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blake, Jean A.

1991-01-01

NASA/Spacelink is a collection of NASA information and educational materials stored on a computer at the MSFC. It is provided by the NASA Educational Affairs Division and is operated by the Education Branch of the Marshall Center Public Affairs Office. It is designed to communicate with a wide variety of computers and modems, especially those most commonly found in classrooms and homes. It was made available to the public in February, 1988. The system may be accessed by educators and the public over regular telephone lines. NASA/Spacelink is free except for the cost of long distance calls. Overhauling and updating Spacelink was done to refurbish NASA/Spacelink, a very valuable resource medium. Several new classroom activities and miscellaneous topics were edited and entered into Spacelink. One of the areas that received a major overhaul (under the guidance of Amos Crisp) was the SPINOFFS BENEFITS, the great benefits resulting from America's space explorations. The Spinoff Benefits include information on a variety of topics including agriculture, communication, the computer, consumer, energy, equipment and materials, food, health, home, industry, medicine, natural resources, public services, recreation, safety, sports, and transportation. In addition to the Space Program Spinoff Benefits, the following is a partial list of some of the material updated and introduced: Astronaut Biographies, Miscellaneous Aeronautics Classroom Activities, Miscellaneous Astronomy Classroom Activities, Miscellaneous Rocketry Classroom Activities, Miscellaneous Classroom Activities, NASA and Its Center, NASA Areas of Research, NASA Patents, Licensing, NASA Technology Transfer, Pictures from Space Classroom Activities, Status of Current NASA Projects, Using Art to Teach Science, and Word Puzzles for Use in the Classroom.

Reducing uncertainty in sustainable interpersonal service relationships: the role of aesthetics.

PubMed

Xenakis, Ioannis

2018-05-01

Sustainable interpersonal service relationships (SISRs) are the outcome of a design process that supports situated meaningful interactions between those being served and those in service. Service design is not just directed to simply satisfy the ability to perceive the psychological state of others, but more importantly, it should aim at preserving these relationships in relation to the contextual requirements that they functionally need, in order to be or remain sustainable. However, SISRs are uncertain since they have many possibilities to be in error in the sense that the constructed, situated meanings may finally be proven unsuccessful for the anticipations and the goals of those people engaged in a SISR. The endeavor of this paper is to show that aesthetic behavior plays a crucial role in the reduction of the uncertainty that characterizes such relationships. Aesthetic behavior, as an organized network of affective and cognitive processes, has an anticipatory evaluative function with a strong influence on perception by providing significance and value for those aspects in SISRs that exhibit many possibilities to serve goals that correspond to sustainable challenges. Thus, aesthetic behavior plays an important role in the construction of meanings that are related to both empathic and contextual aspects that constitute the entire situation in which a SISR takes place. Aesthetic behavior has a strong influence in meaning-making, motivating the selection of actions that contribute to our initial goal of interacting with uncertainty, to make the world a bit less puzzling and, thus, to improve our lives, or in other words, to design.

Jackson's "The Witch": A Satanic Gem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Robert L.

1971-01-01

Discusses the story, The Witch", and explains that the story is a devilish puzzle which defies rigid interpretation but openly invites complacent students to sift, sort, and contest tidbits of evidence. Suggests how this can be done. (Author/RB)

Views on Science Books.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stubbs, Harry C.

1979-01-01

Reviews six new children's science books. Five of the reviewed books deal separately with the topics of the space shuttle project, cosmology and stellar evolution, space, forest fires, and the electromagnetic spectrum; one is a book of geography puzzles. (GT)

Solving the Undiagnosed Disease Puzzle at NIH | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

MedlinePlus

Skip to main content NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine NIH MedlinePlus Salud Download the Current Issue PDF [2.68 mb] Trusted Health Information from the National Institutes of Health Home Current Issue ...

ScienceCast 117: NASA Mission Seeks Lunar Air

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-29

A NASA spacecraft slated for launch in September will fly to the Moon to investigate the tenuous lunar atmosphere. Researchers hope "LADEE" will solve a mystery that has been puzzling them since the days of Apollo.

Nucleon measurements at the precision frontier

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

Carlson, Carl E.

We comment on nucleon measurements at the precision frontier. As examples of what can be learned, we concentrate on three topics, which are parity violating scattering experiments, the proton radius puzzle, and the symbiosis between nuclear and atomic physics.