Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

PubMed Central

Cheetham, Marcus; Jancke, Lutz

2013-01-01

Mori's Uncanny Valley Hypothesis1,2 proposes that the perception of humanlike characters such as robots and, by extension, avatars (computer-generated characters) can evoke negative or positive affect (valence) depending on the object's degree of visual and behavioral realism along a dimension of human likeness (DHL) (Figure 1). But studies of affective valence of subjective responses to variously realistic non-human characters have produced inconsistent findings 3, 4, 5, 6. One of a number of reasons for this is that human likeness is not perceived as the hypothesis assumes. While the DHL can be defined following Mori's description as a smooth linear change in the degree of physical humanlike similarity, subjective perception of objects along the DHL can be understood in terms of the psychological effects of categorical perception (CP) 7. Further behavioral and neuroimaging investigations of category processing and CP along the DHL and of the potential influence of the dimension's underlying category structure on affective experience are needed. This protocol therefore focuses on the DHL and allows examination of CP. Based on the protocol presented in the video as an example, issues surrounding the methodology in the protocol and the use in "uncanny" research of stimuli drawn from morph continua to represent the DHL are discussed in the article that accompanies the video. The use of neuroimaging and morph stimuli to represent the DHL in order to disentangle brain regions neurally responsive to physical human-like similarity from those responsive to category change and category processing is briefly illustrated. PMID:23770728

The analysis of senior high school students' physics HOTS in Bantul District measured using PhysReMChoTHOTS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Istiyono, Edi

2017-08-01

The purpose of this research is to describe the results of higher order thinking skills in physics (PhysHOTS) measurement including: (1) percentage of PhysHOTS level and (2) percentage of the domination of response in the category of students in each analyzing, evaluating, and creating skill. There were 404 10th grade students in Bantul District as the respondents of this research. The instrument used for measurement was PhysReMChoTHOTS. It was divided into two sets consisting of 44 items and including 8 anchor items stated valid by a Physicist, Physics Education Expert, and Physics Education Measurement Expert. The instrument was fit to PCM. The reliability coefficient of this test is 0.71, while the difficulty index of the items ranges from -0.61 to 0.51. The results of the measurement show that: (1) The percentage of each category of PhysHOTS for the 10th grade students in Bantul District for the very low, low, medium, high, and very high category is 4.75 %, 40.30 %, 33.45 %, 19.50 %, and 2.00 %, respectively; and (2) The order in analyzing skills, starts from the weakest, is attributing, differentiating and organizing. The order in evaluating skills, starts from the weakest, is critiquing and checking. Meanwhile, the order in creating skills, starts from the weakest, is producing, planning, and generating.

Introduction to Latent Class Analysis with Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porcu, Mariano; Giambona, Francesca

2017-01-01

Latent class analysis (LCA) is a statistical method used to group individuals (cases, units) into classes (categories) of an unobserved (latent) variable on the basis of the responses made on a set of nominal, ordinal, or continuous observed variables. In this article, we introduce LCA in order to demonstrate its usefulness to early adolescence…

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Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-15

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A Common Approach for the Certifying of International Space Station (ISS) Basic Hardware for Ground Safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirkpatrick, Paul D.; Trinchero, Jean-Pierre

2005-01-01

In order to support the International Space Station, as well as any future long term human missions, vast amounts of logistical-type hardware is required to be processed through the various launch sites. This category consists of such hardware as spare parts, replacement items, and upgraded hardware. The category also includes samples for experiments and consumables. One attribute that all these items have is they are generally non-hazardous, at least to ground personnel. Even though the items are non-hazardous, launch site ground safety has a responsibility for the protection of personnel, the flight hardware, and launch site resources. In order to fulfill this responsibility, the safety organization must have knowledge of the hardware and its operations. Conversely, the hardware providers are entitled to a process that is commensurate with the hazard. Additionally, a common system should be in place that is flexible enough to account for the requirements at all launch sites, so that, the hardware provider need only complete one process for ground safety regardless of the launch site.

Creating a spatially-explicit index: a method for assessing the global wildfire-water risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinne, François-Nicolas; Parisien, Marc-André; Flannigan, Mike; Miller, Carol; Bladon, Kevin D.

2017-04-01

The wildfire-water risk (WWR) has been defined as the potential for wildfires to adversely affect water resources that are important for downstream ecosystems and human water needs for adequate water quantity and quality, therefore compromising the security of their water supply. While tools and methods are numerous for watershed-scale risk analysis, the development of a toolbox for the large-scale evaluation of the wildfire risk to water security has only started recently. In order to provide managers and policy-makers with an adequate tool, we implemented a method for the spatial analysis of the global WWR based on the Driving forces-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework. This framework relies on the cause-and-effect relationships existing between the five categories of the DPSIR chain. As this approach heavily relies on data, we gathered an extensive set of spatial indicators relevant to fire-induced hydrological hazards and water consumption patterns by human and natural communities. When appropriate, we applied a hydrological routing function to our indicators in order to simulate downstream accumulation of potentially harmful material. Each indicator was then assigned a DPSIR category. We collapsed the information in each category using a principal component analysis in order to extract the most relevant pixel-based information provided by each spatial indicator. Finally, we compiled our five categories using an additive indexation process to produce a spatially-explicit index of the WWR. A thorough sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to understand the relationship between the final risk values and the spatial pattern of each category used during the indexation. For comparison purposes, we aggregated index scores by global hydrological regions, or hydrobelts, to get a sense of regional DPSIR specificities. This rather simple method does not necessitate the use of complex physical models and provides a scalable and efficient tool for the analysis of global water security issues.

Assessing items on the SF-8 Japanese version for health-related quality of life: a psychometric analysis based on the nominal categories model of item response theory.

PubMed

Tokuda, Yasuharu; Okubo, Tomoya; Ohde, Sachiko; Jacobs, Joshua; Takahashi, Osamu; Omata, Fumio; Yanai, Haruo; Hinohara, Shigeaki; Fukui, Tsuguya

2009-06-01

The Short Form-8 (SF-8) questionnaire is a commonly used 8-item instrument of health-related quality of life (QOL) and provides a health profile of eight subdimensions. Our aim was to examine the psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the SF-8 instrument using methodology based on nominal categories model. Using data from an adjusted random sample from a nationally representative panel, the nominal categories modeling was applied to SF-8 items to characterize coverage of the latent trait (theta). Probabilities for response choices were described as functions on the latent trait. Information functions were generated based on the estimated item parameters. A total of 3344 participants (53%, women; median age, 35 years) provided responses. One factor was retained (eigenvalue, 4.65; variance proportion of 0.58) and used as theta. All item response category characteristic curves satisfied the monotonicity assumption in accurate order with corresponding ordinal responses. Four items (general health, bodily pain, vitality, and mental health) cover most of the spectrum of theta, while the other four items (physical function, role physical [role limitations because of physical health], social functioning, and role emotional [role limitations because of emotional problems] ) cover most of the negative range of theta. Information function for all items combined peaked at -0.7 of theta (information = 18.5) and decreased with increasing theta. The SF-8 instrument performs well among those with poor QOL across the continuum of the latent trait and thus can recognize more effectively persons with relatively poorer QOL than those with relatively better QOL.

The Effect of Response Scale, Administration Mode, and Format on Responses to the CAHPS Clinician and Group Survey

PubMed Central

Drake, Keith M; Hargraves, J Lee; Lloyd, Stephanie; Gallagher, Patricia M; Cleary, Paul D

2014-01-01

Objective To examine how different response scales, methods of survey administration, and survey format affect responses to the CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Clinician and Group (CG-CAHPS) survey. Study Design A total of 6,500 patients from a university health center were randomly assigned to receive the following: standard 12-page mail surveys using 4-category or 6-category response scales (on CG-CAHPS composite items), telephone surveys using 4-category or 6-category response scales, or four-page mail surveys. Principal Findings A total of 3,538 patients completed surveys. Composite score means and provider-level reliabilities did not differ between respondents receiving 4-category or 6-category response scale surveys or between 12-page and four-page mail surveys. Telephone respondents gave more positive responses than mail respondents. Conclusions We recommend using 4-category response scales and the four-page mail CG-CAHPS survey. PMID:24471975

The effect of response scale, administration mode, and format on responses to the CAHPS Clinician and Group survey.

PubMed

Drake, Keith M; Hargraves, J Lee; Lloyd, Stephanie; Gallagher, Patricia M; Cleary, Paul D

2014-08-01

To examine how different response scales, methods of survey administration, and survey format affect responses to the CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Clinician and Group (CG-CAHPS) survey. A total of 6,500 patients from a university health center were randomly assigned to receive the following: standard 12-page mail surveys using 4-category or 6-category response scales (on CG-CAHPS composite items), telephone surveys using 4-category or 6-category response scales, or four-page mail surveys. A total of 3,538 patients completed surveys. Composite score means and provider-level reliabilities did not differ between respondents receiving 4-category or 6-category response scale surveys or between 12-page and four-page mail surveys. Telephone respondents gave more positive responses than mail respondents. We recommend using 4-category response scales and the four-page mail CG-CAHPS survey. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

The development of automaticity in short-term memory search: Item-response learning and category learning.

PubMed

Cao, Rui; Nosofsky, Robert M; Shiffrin, Richard M

2017-05-01

In short-term-memory (STM)-search tasks, observers judge whether a test probe was present in a short list of study items. Here we investigated the long-term learning mechanisms that lead to the highly efficient STM-search performance observed under conditions of consistent-mapping (CM) training, in which targets and foils never switch roles across trials. In item-response learning, subjects learn long-term mappings between individual items and target versus foil responses. In category learning, subjects learn high-level codes corresponding to separate sets of items and learn to attach old versus new responses to these category codes. To distinguish between these 2 forms of learning, we tested subjects in categorized varied mapping (CV) conditions: There were 2 distinct categories of items, but the assignment of categories to target versus foil responses varied across trials. In cases involving arbitrary categories, CV performance closely resembled standard varied-mapping performance without categories and departed dramatically from CM performance, supporting the item-response-learning hypothesis. In cases involving prelearned categories, CV performance resembled CM performance, as long as there was sufficient practice or steps taken to reduce trial-to-trial category-switching costs. This pattern of results supports the category-coding hypothesis for sufficiently well-learned categories. Thus, item-response learning occurs rapidly and is used early in CM training; category learning is much slower but is eventually adopted and is used to increase the efficiency of search beyond that available from item-response learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality as a Determinate of Response Dimension Scaling for Likert Rating Categories.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hensley, Wayne E.; Sanford, David L.

A study was designed to evaluate the use of summated rating (Likert) scales of agreement, evaluation, and frequency. The subjects, 58 female and 45 male college students, rank ordered the descriptive adjectives for the areas of agreement, evaluation, and frequency on a scale of 1 to 100. They also completed the Personal Report of Communication…

The semantic origin of unconscious priming: Behavioral and event-related potential evidence during category congruency priming from strongly and weakly related masked words.

PubMed

Ortells, Juan J; Kiefer, Markus; Castillo, Alejandro; Megías, Montserrat; Morillas, Alejandro

2016-01-01

The mechanisms underlying masked congruency priming, semantic mechanisms such as semantic activation or non-semantic mechanisms, for example response activation, remain a matter of debate. In order to decide between these alternatives, reaction times (RTs) and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in the present study, while participants performed a semantic categorization task on visible word targets that were preceded either 167 ms (Experiment 1) or 34 ms before (Experiment 2) by briefly presented (33 ms) novel (unpracticed) masked prime words. The primes and targets belonged to different categories (unrelated), or they were either strongly or weakly semantically related category co-exemplars. Behavioral (RT) and electrophysiological masked congruency priming effects were significantly greater for strongly related pairs than for weakly related pairs, indicating a semantic origin of effects. Priming in the latter condition was not statistically reliable. Furthermore, priming effects modulated the N400 event-related potential (ERP) component, an electrophysiological index of semantic processing, but not ERPs in the time range of the N200 component, associated with response conflict and visuo-motor response priming. The present results demonstrate that masked congruency priming from novel prime words also depends on semantic processing of the primes and is not exclusively driven by non-semantic mechanisms such as response activation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Interest Checklist: a factor analysis.

PubMed

Klyczek, J P; Bauer-Yox, N; Fiedler, R C

1997-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the 80 items on the Interest Checklist empirically cluster into the five categories of interests described by Matsutsuyu, the developer of the tool. The Interest Checklist was administered to 367 subjects classified in three subgroups: students, working adults, and retired elderly persons. An 80-item correlation matrix was formed from the responses to the Interest Checklist for each subgroup and then used in a factor analysis model to identify the underlying structure or domains of interest. Results indicated that the Social Recreation theoretical category was empirically independent for all three subgroups; the Physical Sports and Cultural/Educational theoretical categories were empirically independent for only the college students and working adults; and the Manual Skills theoretical category was empirically independent for only the working adults. Although therapists should continue to be cautious in their interpretation of patients' Interest Checklist scores, the tool is useful for identifying patients' interests in order to choose meaningful activities for therapy.

Footwear Experiences of People With Chronic Musculoskeletal Diseases.

PubMed

Hendry, Gordon J; Brenton-Rule, Angela; Barr, Georgina; Rome, Keith

2015-08-01

Foot pain and deformities are frequently reported by people with chronic musculoskeletal diseases, but only limited research has been conducted to explore the key issues concerning footwear difficulties in this population. The aim of this study is to explore, identify, and describe the main issues surrounding the footwear experiences of people with chronic musculoskeletal diseases. A qualitative manifest content analysis of open-ended survey responses concerning footwear experiences was conducted from a national footwear survey of people with chronic musculoskeletal diseases in New Zealand. Eighty-five respondents submitted usable responses. Specific statements in the text were identified as units of analysis prior to coding and organizing these units into emerging mutually exclusive categories. Content analysis was independently undertaken by 3 researchers, and the final categories and coding were achieved through consensus. Frequencies of assigned units of analysis were calculated in order to obtain a quantitative description for each category. Four categories encompassing a total of 9 subcategories related to the footwear experiences of respondents emerged from the qualitative data content analysis: difficulty finding appropriate footwear; dissatisfaction with therapeutic footwear provision and foot care access; high costs of footwear, foot care, and self-care; and satisfaction with therapeutic footwear and foot care. Key categories describing the important issues surrounding the footwear experiences of respondents with chronic musculoskeletal diseases were identified, which may provide important targets for improving footwear and foot care services and self-management strategies. © 2015, American College of Rheumatology.

More than words: Adults learn probabilities over categories and relationships between them.

PubMed

Hudson Kam, Carla L

2009-04-01

This study examines whether human learners can acquire statistics over abstract categories and their relationships to each other. Adult learners were exposed to miniature artificial languages containing variation in the ordering of the Subject, Object, and Verb constituents. Different orders (e.g. SOV, VSO) occurred in the input with different frequencies, but the occurrence of one order versus another was not predictable. Importantly, the language was constructed such that participants could only match the overall input probabilities if they were tracking statistics over abstract categories, not over individual words. At test, participants reproduced the probabilities present in the input with a high degree of accuracy. Closer examination revealed that learner's were matching the probabilities associated with individual verbs rather than the category as a whole. However, individual nouns had no impact on word orders produced. Thus, participants learned the probabilities of a particular ordering of the abstract grammatical categories Subject and Object associated with each verb. Results suggest that statistical learning mechanisms are capable of tracking relationships between abstract linguistic categories in addition to individual items.

Nonparametric Hierarchical Bayesian Model for Functional Brain Parcellation

PubMed Central

Lashkari, Danial; Sridharan, Ramesh; Vul, Edward; Hsieh, Po-Jang; Kanwisher, Nancy; Golland, Polina

2011-01-01

We develop a method for unsupervised analysis of functional brain images that learns group-level patterns of functional response. Our algorithm is based on a generative model that comprises two main layers. At the lower level, we express the functional brain response to each stimulus as a binary activation variable. At the next level, we define a prior over the sets of activation variables in all subjects. We use a Hierarchical Dirichlet Process as the prior in order to simultaneously learn the patterns of response that are shared across the group, and to estimate the number of these patterns supported by data. Inference based on this model enables automatic discovery and characterization of salient and consistent patterns in functional signals. We apply our method to data from a study that explores the response of the visual cortex to a collection of images. The discovered profiles of activation correspond to selectivity to a number of image categories such as faces, bodies, and scenes. More generally, our results appear superior to the results of alternative data-driven methods in capturing the category structure in the space of stimuli. PMID:21841977

The Clinical Use of Robots for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Critical Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diehl, Joshua J.; Schmitt, Lauren M.; Villano, Michael; Crowell, Charles R.

2012-01-01

We examined peer-reviewed studies in order to understand the current status of empirically based evidence on the clinical applications of robots in the diagnosis and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Studies are organized into four broad categories: (a) the response of individuals with ASD to robots or robot-like behavior in comparison…

Validation of the Spanish Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSSRQ) through Rasch Analysis.

PubMed

Garzón Umerenkova, Angélica; de la Fuente Arias, Jesús; Martínez-Vicente, José Manuel; Zapata Sevillano, Lucía; Pichardo, Mari Carmen; García-Berbén, Ana Belén

2017-01-01

Background: The aim of the study was to psychometrically characterize the Spanish Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSSRQ) through Rasch analysis. Materials and Methods: 831 Spaniard university students (262 men), between 17 and 39 years of age and ranging from the first to the 5th year of studies, completed the SSSRQ questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out in order to establish structural adequacy. Afterward, by means of the Rasch model, a study of each sub scale was conducted to test for dimensionality, fit of the sample questions, functionality of the response categories, reliability and estimation of Differential Item Functioning by gender and course. Results: The four sub-scales comply with the unidimensionality criteria, the questions are in line with the model, the response categories operate properly and the reliability of the sample is acceptable. Nonetheless, the test could benefit from the inclusion of additional items of both high and low difficulty in order to increase construct validity, discrimination and reliability for the respondents. Several items with differences in gender and course were also identified. Discussion: The results evidence the need and adequacy of this complementary psychometric analysis strategy, in relation to the CFA to enhance the instrument.

Validation of the Spanish Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSSRQ) through Rasch Analysis

PubMed Central

Garzón Umerenkova, Angélica; de la Fuente Arias, Jesús; Martínez-Vicente, José Manuel; Zapata Sevillano, Lucía; Pichardo, Mari Carmen; García-Berbén, Ana Belén

2017-01-01

Background: The aim of the study was to psychometrically characterize the Spanish Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSSRQ) through Rasch analysis. Materials and Methods: 831 Spaniard university students (262 men), between 17 and 39 years of age and ranging from the first to the 5th year of studies, completed the SSSRQ questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out in order to establish structural adequacy. Afterward, by means of the Rasch model, a study of each sub scale was conducted to test for dimensionality, fit of the sample questions, functionality of the response categories, reliability and estimation of Differential Item Functioning by gender and course. Results: The four sub-scales comply with the unidimensionality criteria, the questions are in line with the model, the response categories operate properly and the reliability of the sample is acceptable. Nonetheless, the test could benefit from the inclusion of additional items of both high and low difficulty in order to increase construct validity, discrimination and reliability for the respondents. Several items with differences in gender and course were also identified. Discussion: The results evidence the need and adequacy of this complementary psychometric analysis strategy, in relation to the CFA to enhance the instrument. PMID:28298898

Categories and continua of destructive and constructive marital conflict tactics from the perspective of U.S. and Welsh children.

PubMed

Goeke-Morey, Marcie C; Cummings, E Mark; Harold, Gordon T; Shelton, Katherine H

2003-09-01

Categories and continua of parents' marital conflict tactics based on multiple, conceptually grounded criteria were tested. Participants were 175 U.S. children, ages 8-16 years (88 boys, 87 girls) and 327 Welsh children, ages 11-12 years (159 boys, 168 girls). Children's responses (affective, cognitive, behavioral) to analog presentations of 10 everyday marital conflict tactics enacted by fathers or mothers showed substantial variation as a function of tactic used. Orderings of conflict tactics on the various response criteria varied as a function of moderators, particularly the gender of the parent expressing the conflict tactic. Conflict tactics were classified as either constructive or destructive according to criteria derived from the emotional security hypothesis. Except for calm discussion, classifications did not change regardless of cultural group, parent gender, or child age or gender. Recommendations for negotiating everyday marital conflict for the children's sake are discussed.

Cortical Representations of Symbols, Objects, and Faces Are Pruned Back during Early Childhood

PubMed Central

Pinel, Philippe; Dehaene, Stanislas; Pelphrey, Kevin A.

2011-01-01

Regions of human ventral extrastriate visual cortex develop specializations for natural categories (e.g., faces) and cultural artifacts (e.g., words). In adults, category-based specializations manifest as greater neural responses in visual regions of the brain (e.g., fusiform gyrus) to some categories over others. However, few studies have examined how these specializations originate in the brains of children. Moreover, it is as yet unknown whether the development of visual specializations hinges on “increases” in the response to the preferred categories, “decreases” in the responses to nonpreferred categories, or “both.” This question is relevant to a long-standing debate concerning whether neural development is driven by building up or pruning back representations. To explore these questions, we measured patterns of visual activity in 4-year-old children for 4 categories (faces, letters, numbers, and shoes) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We report 2 key findings regarding the development of visual categories in the brain: 1) the categories “faces” and “symbols” doubly dissociate in the fusiform gyrus before children can read and 2) the development of category-specific responses in young children depends on cortical responses to nonpreferred categories that decrease as preferred category knowledge is acquired. PMID:20457691

Waiting lists and elective surgery: ordering the queue.

PubMed

Curtis, Andrea J; Russell, Colin O H; Stoelwinder, Johannes U; McNeil, John J

2010-02-15

In the Australian public health system, access to elective surgery is rationed through the use of waiting lists in which patients are assigned to broad urgency categories. Surgeons are principally responsible for referring patients to waiting lists, deciding on the appropriate urgency category, and selecting patients from the waiting list to receive surgery. There are few agreed-upon criteria to help surgeons make these decisions, leading to striking differences between institutions in proportions of patients allocated to urgency categories. In other countries with publicly funded health systems, programs have been developed that aim to make prioritisation more consistent and access to surgery more equitable. As demand for health care increases, similar programs should be established in Australia using relevant clinical and psychosocial factors. Prioritisation methodology adapted for elective surgery may have a role in prioritising high-demand procedures in other areas of health care.

Reclaiming the person: intersectionality and dynamic social categories through a psychological lens.

PubMed

Frazier, Kathryn E

2012-09-01

Psychology's conventionally treatment of individuals' engagement with and resistance to the societal processes in which they are embedded has come under scrutiny amid the rise of postmodernist and critical feminist perspectives (among many others) in the social sciences. A sample of social psychology's responses to these critiques is presented in the recently published book, Social Categories in Everyday Experience edited by Shaun Wiley et al. (2011). In this essay, the challenges of seriously addressing the critiques of psychology's conventional treatment of social categories, which implicate fundamental assumptions of the discipline, are discussed. Further, it is argued that in order to effectively construct psychological accounts of political activism and social change amid theories that are increasingly cognizant of the complexities and contingencies of social embeddiness, the person must be reclaimed and revisioned. Notions of agency that complement an intersectional and systemic vision of the social world are discussed.

Response Styles in Rating Scales: Simultaneous Modeling of Content-Related Effects and the Tendency to Middle or Extreme Categories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tutz, Gerhard; Berger, Moritz

2016-01-01

Heterogeneity in response styles can affect the conclusions drawn from rating scale data. In particular, biased estimates can be expected if one ignores a tendency to middle categories or to extreme categories. An adjacent categories model is proposed that simultaneously models the content-related effects and the heterogeneity in response styles.…

Testing the hypothesis of hierarchical predictability in ecological restoration and succession.

PubMed

Abella, Scott R; Schetter, Timothy A; Walters, Timothy L

2018-02-01

To advance predictive ecology, the hypothesis of hierarchical predictability proposes that community measures for which species are interchangeable (e.g., structure and species richness) are more predictable than measures for which species identity matters (e.g., community composition). Predictability is hypothesized to decrease for response measures in order of the following categories: structure, species richness, function, and species composition. We tested this hypothesis using a 14-year, oak savanna-prairie restoration experiment that removed non-native pine plantations at 24 sites in northwestern Ohio, USA. Based on 24 response measures, the data showed minimal support for the hypothesis, because response measures varied in predictability within categories. Half of response measures had over half their variability modeled using fixed (restoration treatment and year) and random plot effects, and these "predictable" measures occurred in all four categories. Pine basal area, environment (e.g., soil texture), and antecedent vegetation accounted for over half the variation in change within the first three post-restoration years for 77% of response measures. Change between the 3rd and 14th years was less predictable, but most restoration measures increased favorably via sites achieving them in unique ways. We propose that variation will not conform with the hypothesis of hierarchical predictability in ecosystems with vegetation dynamics driven by stochastic processes such as seed dispersal, or where vegetation structure and species richness are influenced by species composition. The ability to predict a community measure may be more driven by the number of combinations of casual factors affecting a measure than by the number of values it can have.

Task alters category representations in prefrontal but not high-level visual cortex.

PubMed

Bugatus, Lior; Weiner, Kevin S; Grill-Spector, Kalanit

2017-07-15

A central question in neuroscience is how cognitive tasks affect category representations across the human brain. Regions in lateral occipito-temporal cortex (LOTC), ventral temporal cortex (VTC), and ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex (VLFPC) constitute the extended "what" pathway, which is considered instrumental for visual category processing. However, it is unknown (1) whether distributed responses across LOTC, VTC, and VLPFC explicitly represent category, task, or some combination of both, and (2) in what way representations across these subdivisions of the extended 'what' pathway may differ. To fill these gaps in knowledge, we scanned 12 participants using fMRI to test the effect of category and task on distributed responses across LOTC, VTC, and VLPFC. Results reveal that task and category modulate responses in both high-level visual regions, as well as prefrontal cortex. However, we found fundamentally different types of representations across the brain. Distributed responses in high-level visual regions are more strongly driven by category than task, and exhibit task-independent category representations. In contrast, distributed responses in prefrontal cortex are more strongly driven by task than category, and contain task-dependent category representations. Together, these findings of differential representations across the brain support a new idea that LOTC and VTC maintain stable category representations allowing efficient processing of visual information, while prefrontal cortex contains flexible representations in which category information may emerge only when relevant to the task. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Behavioral demand modulates object category representation in the inferior temporal cortex

PubMed Central

Emadi, Nazli

2014-01-01

Visual object categorization is a critical task in our daily life. Many studies have explored category representation in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex at the level of single neurons and population. However, it is not clear how behavioral demands modulate this category representation. Here, we recorded from the IT single neurons in monkeys performing two different tasks with identical visual stimuli: passive fixation and body/object categorization. We found that category selectivity of the IT neurons was improved in the categorization compared with the passive task where reward was not contingent on image category. The category improvement was the result of larger rate enhancement for the preferred category and smaller response variability for both preferred and nonpreferred categories. These specific modulations in the responses of IT category neurons enhanced signal-to-noise ratio of the neural responses to discriminate better between the preferred and nonpreferred categories. Our results provide new insight into the adaptable category representation in the IT cortex, which depends on behavioral demands. PMID:25080572

Women's sexual responses to heterosexual and lesbian erotica: the role of stimulus intensity, affective reaction, and sexual history.

PubMed

Peterson, Zoë D; Janssen, Erick; Laan, Ellen

2010-08-01

Past research has demonstrated that women do not show a "category-specific" genital response to erotic stimuli. That is, on average, heterosexual and lesbian women are indistinguishable in terms of their physiological genital responses to heterosexual versus lesbian erotica. In two studies with heterosexual women (n = 28 for Study 1; n = 30 for Study 2) and lesbians (n = 24 for Study 1; n = 25 for Study 2), results confirmed that, on average, women did not show category-specific genital responses or category-specific subjective sexual arousal. However, there was evidence of notable within-group variability; many women did respond to the stimuli in a category-specific manner. Heterosexual women were more likely than lesbian women to demonstrate category-specificity. Findings also revealed that category-specificity was associated with multiple factors, including affective responses to the erotic stimuli and sexual history. Results of this study highlight the complexity of women's sexual identities and sexual responses.

What is automatized during perceptual categorization?

PubMed Central

Roeder, Jessica L.; Ashby, F. Gregory

2016-01-01

An experiment is described that tested whether stimulus-response associations or an abstract rule are automatized during extensive practice at perceptual categorization. Twenty-seven participants each completed 12,300 trials of perceptual categorization, either on rule-based (RB) categories that could be learned explicitly or information-integration (II) categories that required procedural learning. Each participant practiced predominantly on a primary category structure, but every third session they switched to a secondary structure that used the same stimuli and responses. Half the stimuli retained their same response on the primary and secondary categories (the congruent stimuli) and half switched responses (the incongruent stimuli). Several results stood out. First, performance on the primary categories met the standard criteria of automaticity by the end of training. Second, for the primary categories in the RB condition, accuracy and response time (RT) were identical on congruent and incongruent stimuli. In contrast, for the primary II categories, accuracy was higher and RT was lower for congruent than for incongruent stimuli. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that rules are automatized in RB tasks, whereas stimulus-response associations are automatized in II tasks. A cognitive neuroscience theory is proposed that accounts for these results. PMID:27232521

Categorical discrimination of human body parts by magnetoencephalography

PubMed Central

Nakamura, Misaki; Yanagisawa, Takufumi; Okamura, Yumiko; Fukuma, Ryohei; Hirata, Masayuki; Araki, Toshihiko; Kamitani, Yukiyasu; Yorifuji, Shiro

2015-01-01

Humans recognize body parts in categories. Previous studies have shown that responses in the fusiform body area (FBA) and extrastriate body area (EBA) are evoked by the perception of the human body, when presented either as whole or as isolated parts. These responses occur approximately 190 ms after body images are visualized. The extent to which body-sensitive responses show specificity for different body part categories remains to be largely clarified. We used a decoding method to quantify neural responses associated with the perception of different categories of body parts. Nine subjects underwent measurements of their brain activities by magnetoencephalography (MEG) while viewing 14 images of feet, hands, mouths, and objects. We decoded categories of the presented images from the MEG signals using a support vector machine (SVM) and calculated their accuracy by 10-fold cross-validation. For each subject, a response that appeared to be a body-sensitive response was observed and the MEG signals corresponding to the three types of body categories were classified based on the signals in the occipitotemporal cortex. The accuracy in decoding body-part categories (with a peak at approximately 48%) was above chance (33.3%) and significantly higher than that for random categories. According to the time course and location, the responses are suggested to be body-sensitive and to include information regarding the body-part category. Finally, this non-invasive method can decode category information of a visual object with high temporal and spatial resolution and this result may have a significant impact in the field of brain–machine interface research. PMID:26582986

Categorical discrimination of human body parts by magnetoencephalography.

PubMed

Nakamura, Misaki; Yanagisawa, Takufumi; Okamura, Yumiko; Fukuma, Ryohei; Hirata, Masayuki; Araki, Toshihiko; Kamitani, Yukiyasu; Yorifuji, Shiro

2015-01-01

Humans recognize body parts in categories. Previous studies have shown that responses in the fusiform body area (FBA) and extrastriate body area (EBA) are evoked by the perception of the human body, when presented either as whole or as isolated parts. These responses occur approximately 190 ms after body images are visualized. The extent to which body-sensitive responses show specificity for different body part categories remains to be largely clarified. We used a decoding method to quantify neural responses associated with the perception of different categories of body parts. Nine subjects underwent measurements of their brain activities by magnetoencephalography (MEG) while viewing 14 images of feet, hands, mouths, and objects. We decoded categories of the presented images from the MEG signals using a support vector machine (SVM) and calculated their accuracy by 10-fold cross-validation. For each subject, a response that appeared to be a body-sensitive response was observed and the MEG signals corresponding to the three types of body categories were classified based on the signals in the occipitotemporal cortex. The accuracy in decoding body-part categories (with a peak at approximately 48%) was above chance (33.3%) and significantly higher than that for random categories. According to the time course and location, the responses are suggested to be body-sensitive and to include information regarding the body-part category. Finally, this non-invasive method can decode category information of a visual object with high temporal and spatial resolution and this result may have a significant impact in the field of brain-machine interface research.

The development of a model of culturally responsive science and mathematics teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez, Cecilia M.; Morales, Amanda R.; Shroyer, M. Gail

2013-12-01

This qualitative theoretical study was conducted in response to the current need for an inclusive and comprehensive model to guide the preparation and assessment of teacher candidates for culturally responsive teaching. The process of developing a model of culturally responsive teaching involved three steps: a comprehensive review of the literature; a synthesis of the literature into thematic categories to capture the dispositions and behaviors of culturally responsive teaching; and the piloting of these thematic categories with teacher candidates to validate the usefulness of the categories and to generate specific exemplars of behavior to represent each category. The model of culturally responsive teaching contains five thematic categories: (1) content integration, (2) facilitating knowledge construction, (3) prejudice reduction, (4) social justice, and (5) academic development. The current model is a promising tool for comprehensively defining culturally responsive teaching in the context of teacher education as well as to guide curriculum and assessment changes aimed to increase candidates' culturally responsive knowledge and skills in science and mathematics teaching.

Perceived Challenges in Primary Literature in a Master’s Class: Effects of Experience and Instruction

PubMed Central

Lie, Richard; Abdullah, Christopher; He, Wenliang; Tour, Ella

2016-01-01

Primary literature offers rich opportunities to teach students how to “think like a scientist,” but the challenges students face when they attempt to read research articles are not well understood. Here, we present an analysis of what master’s students perceive as the most challenging aspects of engaging with primary literature. We examined 69 pairs of pre- and postcourse responses from students enrolled in a master’s-level course that offered a structured analysis of primary literature. On the basis of these responses, we identified six categories of challenges. Before instruction, “techniques” and “experimental data” were the most frequently identified categories of challenges. The majority of difficulties students perceived in the primary literature corresponded to Bloom’s lower-order cognitive skills. After instruction, “conclusions” were identified as the most difficult aspect of primary literature, and the frequency of challenges that corresponded to higher-order cognitive skills increased significantly among students who reported less experience with primary literature. These changes are consistent with a more competent perception of the primary literature, in which these students increasingly focus on challenges requiring critical thinking. Students’ difficulties identified here can inform the design of instructional approaches aimed to teach students how to critically read scientific papers. PMID:27909027

Laboratory Activity Worksheet to Train High Order Thinking Skill of Student on Surface Chemistry Lecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yonata, B.; Nasrudin, H.

2018-01-01

A worksheet has to be a set with activity which is help students to arrange their own experiments. For this reason, this research is focused on how to train students’ higher order thinking skills in laboratory activity by developing laboratory activity worksheet on surface chemistry lecture. To ensure that the laboratory activity worksheet already contains aspects of the higher order thinking skill, it requires theoretical and empirical validation. From the data analysis results, it shows that the developed worksheet worth to use. The worksheet is worthy of theoretical and empirical feasibility. This conclusion is based on the findings: 1) Assessment from the validators about the theoretical feasibility aspects in the category is very feasible with an assessment range of 95.24% to 97.92%. 2) students’ higher thinking skill from N Gain values ranges from 0.50 (enough) to 1.00 (high) so it can be concluded that the laboratory activity worksheet on surface chemistry lecture is empirical in terms of worth. The empirical feasibility is supported by the responses of the students in very reasonable categories. It is expected that the laboratory activity worksheet on surface chemistry lecture can train students’ high order thinking skills for students who program surface chemistry lecture.

Evaluation of a Lag Schedule of Reinforcement in a Group Contingency to Promote Varied Naming of Categories Items with Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiskow, Katie M.; Donaldson, Jeanne M.

2016-01-01

We compared the effects of Lag 0 and Lag 1 schedules of reinforcement on children's responses naming category items in a group context and subsequent responses emitted during individual testing in which the schedule of reinforcement remained Lag 0. Specifically, we measured response variability and novel responses to categories for 3 children who…

ERP Responses to Violations in the Hierarchical Structure of Functional Categories in Japanese Verb Conjugation.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Yuki; Sugioka, Yoko; Ito, Takane

2018-02-01

An event-related potential experiment was conducted in order to investigate readers' response to violations in the hierarchical structure of functional categories in Japanese, an agglutinative language where functional heads like Negation (Neg) as well as Tense (Tns) are realized as suffixes. A left-lateralized negativity followed by a P600 was elicited for the anomaly of attaching a Neg morpheme outside a Tns-marking suffix (i.e., syntactic violation of the form *[[V - Tns] - Neg]), while only P600 was observed for the anomalous form with a purely morphological/morpho-phonological violation, i.e., a Neg morpheme attached to ren'yo form instead of Neg-selecting form. The findings suggest that the syntactic structure involving Tns and Neg in Japanese, realized within a word as a sequence of suffixes, is processed in a similar manner to the syntactic structures that are phrasally realized in well-studied European languages like English.

Explicit Instructions Increase Cognitive Costs of Deception in Predictable Social Context

PubMed Central

Falkiewicz, Marcel; Sarzyńska, Justyna; Babula, Justyna; Szatkowska, Iwona; Grabowska, Anna; Nęcka, Edward

2015-01-01

Convincing participants to deceive remains one of the biggest and most important challenges of laboratory-based deception research. The simplest and most prevalent method involves explicitly instructing participants to lie or tell the truth before presenting each task item. The usual finding of such experiments is increased cognitive load associated with deceptive responses, explained by necessity to inhibit default and automatic honest responses. However, explicit instructions are usually coupled with the absence of social context in the experimental task. Context plays a key role in social cognition by activating prior knowledge, which facilitates behaviors consistent with the latter. We hypothesized that in the presence of social context, both honest and deceptive responses can be produced on the basis of prior knowledge, without reliance on truth and without additional cognitive load during deceptive responses. In order to test the hypothesis, we have developed Speed-Dating Task (SDT), which is based on a real-life social event. In SDT, participants respond both honestly and deceptively to questions in order to appear similar to each of the dates. The dates are predictable and represent well-known categories (i.e., atheist or conservative). In one condition participants rely on explicit instructions preceding each question (external cue). In the second condition no explicit instructions are present, so the participants need to adapt based on prior knowledge about the category the dates belong to (internal cue). With internal cues, reaction times (RTs) are similar for both honest and deceptive responses. However, in the presence of external cues (EC), RTs are longer for deceptive than honest responses, suggesting that deceptive responses are associated with increased cognitive load. Compared to internal cues, deception costs were higher when EC were present. However, the effect was limited to the first part of the experiment, only partially confirming our initial hypothesis. The results suggest that the presence of social context in deception tasks might have a significant influence on cognitive processes associated with deception. PMID:26696929

Audit of the effectiveness of command and control arrangements for medical evacuation of seriously ill or injured casualties in southern Afghanistan 2007.

PubMed

Cordell, R F; Cooney, M S; Beijer, D

2008-12-01

The effectiveness of the command and control of medical evacuation by helicopter (MEDEVAC) of casualties sustained in southern Afghanistan each month from 1 May to 31 July 2007 was audited. In this period 762 casualties of all categories were evacuated to International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) field hospital facilities under the direction of Operations and medical staff of NATO Regional Command (South) (RC-S). The criterion for the audit was the time taken from notification in the RC-S Combined Joint Operations Centre (CJOC) until the helicopter landed ("Wheels Down") at the destination field hospital's helicopter landing site. The standard to be met was 90 minutes for all "9-liner" Category A (URGENT) and Category B (URGENT - surgical) cases (in hospital within 2 hours of wounding) allowing for time from injury to first notification in the CJOC, and time from landing to transfer to the Emergency Department (30 minutes together) at the designated destination hospital. Those that did not meet this target were assessed in order to review their outcome and to identify means for improving performance. Analysis of evacuation times for all missions each month from May to July revealed that three quarters of A and B category missions met the 90 minute target. No adverse outcome resulted from those which did not meet this target, reasons for which included distance (more than 30 minutes flying time each way), delay in securing a hostile landing site, delay in obtaining sufficient information, incorrect categorization of the casualty's priority, and on one occasion, an overmatch of assets available at that time. No casualties died who were recoverable. Comparison with data from the two previous RC-S rotations (prior to 1 May 07) showed an improvement in mean response time, but little change in median response on the rotation of RC-S staff on 1 May 07. The major change that had occurred on this rotation was to move the medical operations staff into the CJOC. The convergence of median and mean at this time indicates a reduction in "outliers", providing evidence that collocation of medical and operations staff improves incident response and should be the "default setting" in deployed tactical formation headquarters. Regular audit of MEDEVAC response should be routine for Medical Operations staff, in order to ensure the optimal casualty care pathway from point of wounding to field hospital.

Segmentation precedes face categorization under suboptimal conditions.

PubMed

Van Den Boomen, Carlijn; Fahrenfort, Johannes J; Snijders, Tineke M; Kemner, Chantal

2015-01-01

Both categorization and segmentation processes play a crucial role in face perception. However, the functional relation between these subprocesses is currently unclear. The present study investigates the temporal relation between segmentation-related and category-selective responses in the brain, using electroencephalography (EEG). Surface segmentation and category content were both manipulated using texture-defined objects, including faces. This allowed us to study brain activity related to segmentation and to categorization. In the main experiment, participants viewed texture-defined objects for a duration of 800 ms. EEG results revealed that segmentation-related responses precede category-selective responses. Three additional experiments revealed that the presence and timing of categorization depends on stimulus properties and presentation duration. Photographic objects were presented for a long and short (92 ms) duration and evoked fast category-selective responses in both cases. On the other hand, presentation of texture-defined objects for a short duration only evoked segmentation-related but no category-selective responses. Category-selective responses were much slower when evoked by texture-defined than by photographic objects. We suggest that in case of categorization of objects under suboptimal conditions, such as when low-level stimulus properties are not sufficient for fast object categorization, segmentation facilitates the slower categorization process.

Segmentation precedes face categorization under suboptimal conditions

PubMed Central

Van Den Boomen, Carlijn; Fahrenfort, Johannes J.; Snijders, Tineke M.; Kemner, Chantal

2015-01-01

Both categorization and segmentation processes play a crucial role in face perception. However, the functional relation between these subprocesses is currently unclear. The present study investigates the temporal relation between segmentation-related and category-selective responses in the brain, using electroencephalography (EEG). Surface segmentation and category content were both manipulated using texture-defined objects, including faces. This allowed us to study brain activity related to segmentation and to categorization. In the main experiment, participants viewed texture-defined objects for a duration of 800 ms. EEG results revealed that segmentation-related responses precede category-selective responses. Three additional experiments revealed that the presence and timing of categorization depends on stimulus properties and presentation duration. Photographic objects were presented for a long and short (92 ms) duration and evoked fast category-selective responses in both cases. On the other hand, presentation of texture-defined objects for a short duration only evoked segmentation-related but no category-selective responses. Category-selective responses were much slower when evoked by texture-defined than by photographic objects. We suggest that in case of categorization of objects under suboptimal conditions, such as when low-level stimulus properties are not sufficient for fast object categorization, segmentation facilitates the slower categorization process. PMID:26074838

In Her Own Words: Women Describe Their Use of Force Resulting in Court-Ordered Intervention.

PubMed

Larance, Lisa Young; Miller, Susan L

2016-09-13

Although researchers and practitioners have established that men and women use force in their intimate heterosexual relationships for very different reasons, there is a dearth of information regarding the events surrounds women's arrests and subsequent court orders to anti-violence intervention programming. This information is fundamental to improving Criminal Legal System (CLS) and community-partner understanding of and response to intimate partner violence (IPV). The authors meet this need by analyzing 208 women's descriptions of their arrests and subsequent court order to intervention programs for using force. From these, the authors frame nine categorical descriptions of women's actions. The descriptions and categories highlight areas for CLS and community-partners' growing understanding of this complex issue. © The Author(s) 2016.

When will bigger be (recalled) better? The influence of category size on JOLs depends on test format.

PubMed

Hourihan, Kathleen L; Tullis, Jonathan G

2015-08-01

Although it is well known that organized lists of words (e.g., categories) are recalled better than unrelated lists, little research has examined whether participants can predict how categorical relatedness influences recall. In two experiments, participants studied lists of words that included items from big categories (12 items), small categories (4 items), and unrelated items, and provided immediate JOLs. In Experiment 1, free recall was highest for items from large categories and lowest for unrelated items. Importantly, participants were sensitive to the effects of category size on recall, with JOLs to items from big categories actually increasing over the study list. In Experiment 2, one group of participants was cued to recall all exemplars from the categories in a blocked manner, whereas the other group was cued in a random order. As expected, the random group did not show the recall benefit for big categories over small categories observed in free recall, while the blocked group did. Critically, the pattern of metacognitive judgments closely matched actual cued recall performance. Participants' JOLs were sensitive to the interaction between category size and output order, demonstrating a relatively sophisticated strategy that incorporates the interaction of multiple extrinsic cues in predicting recall.

Algorithmic, LOCS and HOCS (chemistry) exam questions: performance and attitudes of college students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoller, Uri

2002-02-01

The performance of freshmen biology and physics-mathematics majors and chemistry majors as well as pre- and in-service chemistry teachers in two Israeli universities on algorithmic (ALG), lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS), and higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) chemistry exam questions were studied. The driving force for the study was an interest in moving science and chemistry instruction from an algorithmic and factual recall orientation dominated by LOCS, to a decision-making, problem-solving and critical system thinking approach, dominated by HOCS. College students' responses to the specially designed ALG, LOCS and HOCS chemistry exam questions were scored and analysed for differences and correlation between the performance means within and across universities by the questions' category. This was followed by a combined student interview - 'speaking aloud' problem solving session for assessing the thinking processes involved in solving these types of questions and the students' attitudes towards them. The main findings were: (1) students in both universities performed consistently in each of the three categories in the order of ALG > LOCS > HOCS; their 'ideological' preference, was HOCS > algorithmic/LOCS, - referred to as 'computational questions', but their pragmatic preference was the reverse; (2) success on algorithmic/LOCS does not imply success on HOCS questions; algorithmic questions constitute a category on its own as far as students success in solving them is concerned. Our study and its results support the effort being made, worldwide, to integrate HOCS-fostering teaching and assessment strategies and, to develop HOCS-oriented science-technology-environment-society (STES)-type curricula within science and chemistry education.

Characteristics of Effective Simulation (Preclinical) Teachers as Identified by Dental Students: A Qualitative Study.

PubMed

McAndrew, Maureen; Mucciolo, Thomas W; Jahangiri, Leila

2016-11-01

The aim of this qualitative research study was to identify and categorize criteria for simulation teacher quality preferences as reported by dental students. Second-year dental students at New York University College of Dentistry in 2015 were given a two-question, open-ended survey asking what qualities they liked most and least in a simulation or preclinical teacher. Responses were collected until data saturation was reached. Key words in the responses were identified and coded based on similar relationships and then were grouped into defined categories. A total of 168 respondents out of the target group of 363 students (46.3%) provided 1,062 written comments. Three core themes-character, competence, and communication-emerged from 16 defined categories, which were validated using references from the educational literature. The theme of character encompassed eight of the defined categories (motivation, available, caring, patience, professionalism, empathy, fairness, and happiness) and accounted for 50% of the total student responses. The theme of competence comprised five categories (expertise, knowledgeable, efficient, skillful, and effective) and represented 34% of all responses. The communication theme covered the remaining three categories (feedback, approachable, and interpersonal communication) and contained 17% of the responses. Positive and negative comments in the category of motivation accounted for 11.2% of all student responses. Expertise was the next highest category with 9.3% of the responses, followed closely by 9.1% in the category of available. Among these students, the top five attributes of simulation teachers were motivation, expertise, available, caring, and feedback. While the study did not attempt to correlate these findings with improved student performance, the results can be used in the development of assessment tools for faculty and targeted faculty development programs.

Supervised learning with decision margins in pools of spiking neurons.

PubMed

Le Mouel, Charlotte; Harris, Kenneth D; Yger, Pierre

2014-10-01

Learning to categorise sensory inputs by generalising from a few examples whose category is precisely known is a crucial step for the brain to produce appropriate behavioural responses. At the neuronal level, this may be performed by adaptation of synaptic weights under the influence of a training signal, in order to group spiking patterns impinging on the neuron. Here we describe a framework that allows spiking neurons to perform such "supervised learning", using principles similar to the Support Vector Machine, a well-established and robust classifier. Using a hinge-loss error function, we show that requesting a margin similar to that of the SVM improves performance on linearly non-separable problems. Moreover, we show that using pools of neurons to discriminate categories can also increase the performance by sharing the load among neurons.

Category 3: Sound Generation by Interacting with a Gust

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scott, James R.

2004-01-01

The cascade-gust interaction problem is solved employing a time-domain approach. The purpose of this problem is to test the ability of a CFD/CAA code to accurately predict the unsteady aerodynamic and aeroacoustic response of a single airfoil to a two-dimensional, periodic vortical gust.Nonlinear time dependent Euler equations are solved using higher order spatial differencing and time marching techniques. The solutions indicate the generation and propagation of expected mode orders for the given configuration and flow conditions. The blade passing frequency (BPF) is cut off for this cascade while higher harmonic, 2BPF and 3BPF, modes are cut on.

Dynamic Snap-Through of Thin-Walled Structures by a Reduced Order Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Przekop, Adam; Rizzi, Stephen A.

2006-01-01

The goal of this investigation is to further develop nonlinear modal numerical simulation methods for application to geometrically nonlinear response of structures exposed to combined high intensity random pressure fluctuations and thermal loadings. The study is conducted on a flat aluminum beam, which permits a comparison of results obtained by a reduced-order analysis with those obtained from a numerically intensive simulation in physical degrees-of-freedom. A uniformly distributed thermal loading is first applied to investigate the dynamic instability associated with thermal buckling. A uniformly distributed random loading is added to investigate the combined thermal-acoustic response. In the latter case, three types of response characteristics are considered, namely: (i) small amplitude vibration around one of the two stable buckling equilibrium positions, (ii) intermittent snap-through response between the two equilibrium positions, and (iii) persistent snap-through response between the two equilibrium positions. For the reduced order analysis, four categories of modal basis functions are identified including those having symmetric transverse (ST), anti-symmetric transverse (AT), symmetric in-plane (SI), and anti-symmetric in-plane (AI) displacements. The effect of basis selection on the quality of results is investigated for the dynamic thermal buckling and combined thermal-acoustic response. It is found that despite symmetric geometry, loading, and boundary conditions, the AT and SI modes must be included in the basis as they participate in the snap-through behavior.

Dynamic Snap-Through of Thermally Buckled Structures by a Reduced Order Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Przekop, Adam; Rizzi, Stephen A.

2007-01-01

The goal of this investigation is to further develop nonlinear modal numerical simulation methods for application to geometrically nonlinear response of structures exposed to combined high intensity random pressure fluctuations and thermal loadings. The study is conducted on a flat aluminum beam, which permits a comparison of results obtained by a reduced-order analysis with those obtained from a numerically intensive simulation in physical degrees-of-freedom. A uniformly distributed thermal loading is first applied to investigate the dynamic instability associated with thermal buckling. A uniformly distributed random loading is added to investigate the combined thermal-acoustic response. In the latter case, three types of response characteristics are considered, namely: (i) small amplitude vibration around one of the two stable buckling equilibrium positions, (ii) intermittent snap-through response between the two equilibrium positions, and (iii) persistent snap-through response between the two equilibrium positions. For the reduced-order analysis, four categories of modal basis functions are identified including those having symmetric transverse, anti-symmetric transverse, symmetric in-plane, and anti-symmetric in-plane displacements. The effect of basis selection on the quality of results is investigated for the dynamic thermal buckling and combined thermal-acoustic response. It is found that despite symmetric geometry, loading, and boundary conditions, the anti-symmetric transverse and symmetric in-plane modes must be included in the basis as they participate in the snap-through behavior.

Simplified Predictive Models for CO2 Sequestration Performance Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Srikanta; RaviGanesh, Priya; Schuetter, Jared; Mooney, Douglas; He, Jincong; Durlofsky, Louis

2014-05-01

We present results from an ongoing research project that seeks to develop and validate a portfolio of simplified modeling approaches that will enable rapid feasibility and risk assessment for CO2 sequestration in deep saline formation. The overall research goal is to provide tools for predicting: (a) injection well and formation pressure buildup, and (b) lateral and vertical CO2 plume migration. Simplified modeling approaches that are being developed in this research fall under three categories: (1) Simplified physics-based modeling (SPM), where only the most relevant physical processes are modeled, (2) Statistical-learning based modeling (SLM), where the simulator is replaced with a "response surface", and (3) Reduced-order method based modeling (RMM), where mathematical approximations reduce the computational burden. The system of interest is a single vertical well injecting supercritical CO2 into a 2-D layered reservoir-caprock system with variable layer permeabilities. In the first category (SPM), we use a set of well-designed full-physics compositional simulations to understand key processes and parameters affecting pressure propagation and buoyant plume migration. Based on these simulations, we have developed correlations for dimensionless injectivity as a function of the slope of fractional-flow curve, variance of layer permeability values, and the nature of vertical permeability arrangement. The same variables, along with a modified gravity number, can be used to develop a correlation for the total storage efficiency within the CO2 plume footprint. In the second category (SLM), we develop statistical "proxy models" using the simulation domain described previously with two different approaches: (a) classical Box-Behnken experimental design with a quadratic response surface fit, and (b) maximin Latin Hypercube sampling (LHS) based design with a Kriging metamodel fit using a quadratic trend and Gaussian correlation structure. For roughly the same number of simulations, the LHS-based meta-model yields a more robust predictive model, as verified by a k-fold cross-validation approach. In the third category (RMM), we use a reduced-order modeling procedure that combines proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) for reducing problem dimensionality with trajectory-piecewise linearization (TPWL) for extrapolating system response at new control points from a limited number of trial runs ("snapshots"). We observe significant savings in computational time with very good accuracy from the POD-TPWL reduced order model - which could be important in the context of history matching, uncertainty quantification and optimization problems. The paper will present results from our ongoing investigations, and also discuss future research directions and likely outcomes. This work was supported by U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory award DE-FE0009051 and Ohio Department of Development grant D-13-02.

Training and generalization of affective behavior displayed by youth with autism.

PubMed Central

Gena, A; Krantz, P J; McClannahan, L E; Poulson, C L

1996-01-01

The purpose of this study was to teach contextually appropriate affective behavior to 4 youths with autism. Treatment consisted of modeling, prompting, and reinforcement introduced in a multiple baseline design across response categories of affective behavior. During treatment, verbal praise and tokens were delivered contingent on appropriate affective responding during training trials. Modeling and verbal prompting were used as correction procedures. Each youth received treatment in either three or four response categories. Treatment systematically increased responding within the response categories for all 4 participants, with effects being specific to the affective response categories under treatment. Treatment effects occurred across untrained scenarios, therapists, time, and settings, suggesting that generalization had occurred. PMID:8926222

The effect of verbal context on olfactory neural responses.

PubMed

Bensafi, Moustafa; Croy, Ilona; Phillips, Nicola; Rouby, Catherine; Sezille, Caroline; Gerber, Johannes; Small, Dana M; Hummel, Thomas

2014-03-01

Odor names refer usually to "source" object categories. For example, the smell of rose is often described with its source category (flower). However, linguistic studies suggest that odors can also be named with labels referring to categories of "practices". This is the case when rose odor is described with a verbal label referring to its use in fragrance practices ("body lotion," cosmetic for example). It remains unknown whether naming an odor by its practice category influences olfactory neural responses differently than that observed when named with its source category. The aim of this study was to investigate this question. To this end, functional MRI was used in a within-subjects design comparing brain responses to four different odors (peach, chocolate, linden blossom, and rose) under two conditions whereby smells were described either (1) with their source category label (food and flower) or (2) with a practice category label (body lotion). Both types of labels induced activations in secondary olfactory areas (orbitofrontal cortex), whereas only the source label condition induced activation in the cingulate cortex and the insula. In summary, our findings offer a new look at olfactory perception by indicating differential brain responses depending on whether odors are named according to their source or practice category. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Case Study On Human Capital Mismanagement In The United States Air Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-08

author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of the US government or the Department of Defense. In accordance with Air Force Instruction...The final category for this analysis encompasses the 2 Acquisition Managers (63A).3 These individuals do not necessarily hold technical degrees...orders of magnitude more engineers than they do rated officers, and are responsible for the institutional leadership and the management of the test

Cognitive Analysis of Decision Support for Antibiotic Prescribing at the Point of Ordering in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

PubMed Central

Sheehan, Barbara; Kaufman, David; Stetson, Peter; Currie, Leanne M.

2009-01-01

Computerized decision support systems have been used to help ensure safe medication prescribing. However, the acceptance of these types of decision support has been reported to be low. It has been suggested that decreased acceptance may be due to lack of clinical relevance. Additionally, cognitive fit between the user interface and clinical task may impact the response of clinicians as they interact with the system. In order to better understand clinician responses to such decision support, we used cognitive task analysis methods to evaluate clinical alerts for antibiotic prescribing in a neonatal intensive care unit. Two methods were used: 1) a cognitive walkthrough; and 2) usability testing with a ‘think-aloud’ protocol. Data were analyzed for impact on cognitive effort according to categories of cognitive distance. We found that responses to alerts may be context specific and that lack of screen cues often increases cognitive effort required to use a system. PMID:20351922

Alternating Incubation Effects in the Generation of Category Exemplars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Steven M.; Gerkens, David R.; Angello, Genna

2017-01-01

Four experiments tested the forgetting fixation hypothesis of incubation effects, comparing continuous vs. alternating generation of exemplars from three different types of categories. In two experiments, participants who listed as many members as possible from two different categories produced more responses, and more novel responses, when they…

The first encounter with Norwegian psychomotor physiotherapy: patients' experiences, a basis for knowledge.

PubMed

Ekerholt, Kirsten; Bergland, Astrid

2004-01-01

The intention of this study was to elucidate patients' experiences of the examination of the body given in Norwegian Psychomotor Physiotherapy. A qualitative approach was used, based on interviews with nine women and one man aged between 41 and 65 years. The data were analysed with the aid of grounded theory, using the first two steps: open and axial coding. Three categories were identified from the patients' experiences. The first category "The Situation before Treatment", emerged from the subcategories "Prejudice concerning the prefix 'psycho"', "Difficulties in recognizing the body's information", and "The body is ambiguous". The second category, "Establishing the Relationship", emerged from the subcategories "Getting to know the therapist as an empathic person" and "Discovering professional skills". The third category, "Examination is Interaction", emerged from the subcategories "Dialogues--room for reflection", "Undress, the feeling of disclosure", and "Personal boundaries--good to be seen". These three categories emphasize the importance of cooperation between the physiotherapist and the patient in exploring the social and emotional context in order to understand the meaning of the body's symptoms. There must be no doubt about the skill and competence of the therapists, including their insight, personal responsibility, engagement, attentiveness, and awareness. Our material reflects the great impact the body examination had on the informants. Examination requires mutual interpretation. The patients' knowledge represents a significant potential for understanding of their own situation.

Sodium Reduction in Processed Foods in Brazil: Analysis of Food Categories and Voluntary Targets from 2011 to 2017

PubMed Central

Silva, Sara A.; L’Abbé, Mary; Jaime, Patricia C.

2017-01-01

Non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, are responsible for over 70% of deaths in Brazil. Currently, over 25% of Brazilian adults are diagnosed as hypertensive; overall, current dietary sodium intake in Brazil (4700 mg/person) is over twice the international recommendations, and 70–90% of adolescents and adults consume excessive sodium. National sodium reduction strategies consider the main dietary sources of sodium to be added salt to foods, foods consumed outside of the household, and sodium in processed foods. The national voluntary strategy for sodium reduction in priority food categories has been continuously monitored over a 6-year period (2011–2017) and there was a significant 8–34% reduction in the average sodium content of over half food categories. Different food categories have undergone differing reductions in sodium over time, aiding gradual biannual targets to allow industries to develop new technologies and consumers to adapt to foods with less salt. By 2017, most products of all food categories had met the regional targets proposed by the Pan American Health Organization, showing that voluntary sodium reduction strategies can potentially contribute to food reformulation. Nevertheless, regulatory approaches may still be necessary in the future in order to reach all food producers and to allow stronger enforcement to meet more stringent regional targets. PMID:28704932

The Role of Corticostriatal Systems in Speech Category Learning

PubMed Central

Yi, Han-Gyol; Maddox, W. Todd; Mumford, Jeanette A.; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

2016-01-01

One of the most difficult category learning problems for humans is learning nonnative speech categories. While feedback-based category training can enhance speech learning, the mechanisms underlying these benefits are unclear. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated neural and computational mechanisms underlying feedback-dependent speech category learning in adults. Positive feedback activated a large corticostriatal network including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus, caudate, putamen, and the ventral striatum. Successful learning was contingent upon the activity of domain-general category learning systems: the fast-learning reflective system, involving the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that develops and tests explicit rules based on the feedback content, and the slow-learning reflexive system, involving the putamen in which the stimuli are implicitly associated with category responses based on the reward value in feedback. Computational modeling of response strategies revealed significant use of reflective strategies early in training and greater use of reflexive strategies later in training. Reflexive strategy use was associated with increased activation in the putamen. Our results demonstrate a critical role for the reflexive corticostriatal learning system as a function of response strategy and proficiency during speech category learning. Keywords: category learning, fMRI, corticostriatal systems, speech, putamen PMID:25331600

Examining care navigation: librarian participation in a team-based approach?

PubMed

Nix, A Tyler; Huber, Jeffrey T; Shapiro, Robert M; Pfeifle, Andrea

2016-04-01

This study investigated responsibilities, skill sets, degrees, and certifications required of health care navigators in order to identify areas of potential overlap with health sciences librarianship. The authors conducted a content analysis of health care navigator position announcements and developed and assigned forty-eight category terms to represent the sample's responsibilities and skill sets. Coordination of patient care and a bachelor's degree were the most common responsibility and degree requirements, respectively. Results also suggest that managing and providing health information resources is an area of overlap between health care navigators and health sciences librarians, and that librarians are well suited to serve on navigation teams. Such overlap may provide an avenue for collaboration between navigators and health sciences librarians.

15 CFR 738.2 - Commerce Control List (CCL) structure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 1: Missile Technology reasons 2: Nuclear Nonproliferation reasons 3: Chemical & Biological Weapons...) Categories. The CCL is divided into 10 categories, numbered as follows: 0—Nuclear Materials, Facilities and... and Production Equipment C—Materials D—Software E—Technology (c) Order of review. In order to classify...

15 CFR 738.2 - Commerce Control List (CCL) structure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 1: Missile Technology reasons 2: Nuclear Nonproliferation reasons 3: Chemical & Biological Weapons...) Categories. The CCL is divided into 10 categories, numbered as follows: 0—Nuclear Materials, Facilities and... and Production Equipment C—Materials D—Software E—Technology (c) Order of review. In order to classify...

On the Question of an Identity Status Category Order: Rasch Model Step and Scale Statistics Used to Identify Category Order

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Owidha, Amjed; Green, Kathy E.; Kroger, Jane

2009-01-01

The question of whether or not a developmental continuum underlies James Marcia's identity statuses has been a topic of debate among identity researchers for nearly 20 years. This study addressed the prefatory question of whether the identity statuses can be empirically ordered in a theoretically optimal way. This question was addressed via use of…

24 CFR 599.405 - Selection of Renewal Communities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... will then select the highest ranking Category 1 urban area nominations, but will not exceed a total of... will then select, in rank order, the highest ranking Category 1 area nominations, whether urban or... Category 1 is less than six, HUD will select the highest ranking rural area applications in Category 2...

Transcriptomic Changes Drive Physiological Responses to Progressive Drought Stress and Rehydration in Tomato

PubMed Central

Iovieno, Paolo; Punzo, Paola; Guida, Gianpiero; Mistretta, Carmela; Van Oosten, Michael J.; Nurcato, Roberta; Bostan, Hamed; Colantuono, Chiara; Costa, Antonello; Bagnaresi, Paolo; Chiusano, Maria L.; Albrizio, Rossella; Giorio, Pasquale; Batelli, Giorgia; Grillo, Stefania

2016-01-01

Tomato is a major crop in the Mediterranean basin, where the cultivation in the open field is often vulnerable to drought. In order to adapt and survive to naturally occurring cycles of drought stress and recovery, plants employ a coordinated array of physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses. Transcriptomic studies on tomato responses to drought and subsequent recovery are few in number. As the search for novel traits to improve the genetic tolerance to drought increases, a better understanding of these responses is required. To address this need we designed a study in which we induced two cycles of prolonged drought stress and a single recovery by rewatering in tomato. In order to dissect the complexity of plant responses to drought, we analyzed the physiological responses (stomatal conductance, CO2 assimilation, and chlorophyll fluorescence), abscisic acid (ABA), and proline contents. In addition to the physiological and metabolite assays, we generated transcriptomes for multiple points during the stress and recovery cycles. Cluster analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the conditions has revealed potential novel components in stress response. The observed reduction in leaf gas exchanges and efficiency of the photosystem PSII was concomitant with a general down-regulation of genes belonging to the photosynthesis, light harvesting, and photosystem I and II category induced by drought stress. Gene ontology (GO) categories such as cell proliferation and cell cycle were also significantly enriched in the down-regulated fraction of genes upon drought stress, which may contribute to explain the observed growth reduction. Several histone variants were also repressed during drought stress, indicating that chromatin associated processes are also affected by drought. As expected, ABA accumulated after prolonged water deficit, driving the observed enrichment of stress related GOs in the up-regulated gene fractions, which included transcripts putatively involved in stomatal movements. This transcriptomic study has yielded promising candidate genes that merit further functional studies to confirm their involvement in drought tolerance and recovery. Together, our results contribute to a better understanding of the coordinated responses taking place under drought stress and recovery in adult plants of tomato. PMID:27066027

Bayesian Inference for the Stereotype Regression Model: Application to a Case-control Study of Prostate Cancer

PubMed Central

Ahn, Jaeil; Mukherjee, Bhramar; Banerjee, Mousumi; Cooney, Kathleen A.

2011-01-01

Summary The stereotype regression model for categorical outcomes, proposed by Anderson (1984) is nested between the baseline category logits and adjacent category logits model with proportional odds structure. The stereotype model is more parsimonious than the ordinary baseline-category (or multinomial logistic) model due to a product representation of the log odds-ratios in terms of a common parameter corresponding to each predictor and category specific scores. The model could be used for both ordered and unordered outcomes. For ordered outcomes, the stereotype model allows more flexibility than the popular proportional odds model in capturing highly subjective ordinal scaling which does not result from categorization of a single latent variable, but are inherently multidimensional in nature. As pointed out by Greenland (1994), an additional advantage of the stereotype model is that it provides unbiased and valid inference under outcome-stratified sampling as in case-control studies. In addition, for matched case-control studies, the stereotype model is amenable to classical conditional likelihood principle, whereas there is no reduction due to sufficiency under the proportional odds model. In spite of these attractive features, the model has been applied less, as there are issues with maximum likelihood estimation and likelihood based testing approaches due to non-linearity and lack of identifiability of the parameters. We present comprehensive Bayesian inference and model comparison procedure for this class of models as an alternative to the classical frequentist approach. We illustrate our methodology by analyzing data from The Flint Men’s Health Study, a case-control study of prostate cancer in African-American men aged 40 to 79 years. We use clinical staging of prostate cancer in terms of Tumors, Nodes and Metastatsis (TNM) as the categorical response of interest. PMID:19731262

Stress modulation of drug self-administration: implications for addiction comorbidity with post-traumatic stress disorder

PubMed Central

Logrip, Marian L.; Zorrilla, Eric P.; Koob, George F.

2011-01-01

Drug abuse and dependence present significant health burdens for our society, affecting roughly 10% of the population. Stress likely contributes to the development and persistence of drug use; for example, rates of substance dependence are elevated among individuals diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Thus, understanding the interaction between stress and drug use, and associated neuroadaptations, is key for developing therapies to combat substance use disorders. For this purpose, many rodent models of the effects of stress exposure on substance use have been developed; the models can be classified according to three categories of stress exposure: developmental, adult nonsocial, and adult social. The present review addresses preclinical findings on the effect of each type of trauma on responses to and self-administration of drugs of abuse by focusing on a key exemplar for each category. In addition, the potential efficacy of targeting neuropeptide systems that have been implicated in stress responses and stress system neuroadaptation in order to treat comorbid PTSD and substance abuse will be discussed. PMID:21782834

U.S. Progress Reports for the Vietnam War, 1967-68. A Study of the Hamlet Evaluation System and the Enemy Order of Battle

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-08-01

foreign policy. The physical and emotional toll of executive responsibility in State, the Pentagon, the White House, and other executive agencies is...enormousl that toll is...compounded by extended service...Complaints may be few, and physical health may remain unimpaired, though emotional health is far...Category V. The enemy are reported to be in physical control of the hamlet. 2 .cV.C supremacy, except for occasional allied forays) 40 specially

Relationship of maternal parenting behaviors to preschool children's temperament.

PubMed

Simonds, M P; Simonds, J F

1981-01-01

Mothers of 182 preschool nursery school children rated their own parenting responses on a "Parent's Report" questionnaire. At the same time the mothers responded to the "Behavior Style Questionnaire" (BSQ) from which scores were determined for nine categories of temperament. On the basis of category scores the children were grouped into one of five temperament clusters i.e. easy, difficult, slow to warm up, high intermediate, low intermediate. The children's membership in BSQ clusters was independent of sex, age, birth order, and mothers employment status but there was a significantly higher ratio of "easy" children from higher socioeconomic classes I and II. Mothers of children grouped in either the "difficult" or "slow to warmup"clusters were more likely to use "guilt inducing" and "temper-detachment" parenting styles than mothers of children grouped in the "easy" cluster.

The Task-Relevant Attribute Representation Can Mediate the Simon Effect

PubMed Central

Chen, Antao

2014-01-01

Researchers have previously suggested a working memory (WM) account of spatial codes, and based on this suggestion, the present study carries out three experiments to investigate how the task-relevant attribute representation (verbal or visual) in the typical Simon task affects the Simon effect. Experiment 1 compared the Simon effect between the between- and within-category color conditions, which required subjects to discriminate between red and blue stimuli (presumed to be represented by verbal WM codes because it was easy and fast to name the colors verbally) and to discriminate between two similar green stimuli (presumed to be represented by visual WM codes because it was hard and time-consuming to name the colors verbally), respectively. The results revealed a reliable Simon effect that only occurs in the between-category condition. Experiment 2 assessed the Simon effect by requiring subjects to discriminate between two different isosceles trapezoids (within-category shapes) and to discriminate isosceles trapezoid from rectangle (between-category shapes), and the results replicated and expanded the findings of Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, subjects were required to perform both tasks from Experiment 1. Wherein, in Experiment 3A, the between-category task preceded the within-category task; in Experiment 3B, the task order was opposite. The results showed the reliable Simon effect when subjects represented the task-relevant stimulus attributes by verbal WM encoding. In addition, the response times (RTs) distribution analysis for both the between- and within-category conditions of Experiments 3A and 3B showed decreased Simon effect with the RTs lengthened. Altogether, although the present results are consistent with the temporal coding account, we put forth that the Simon effect also depends on the verbal WM representation of task-relevant stimulus attribute. PMID:24618692

Nonlinear Reduced Order Random Response Analysis of Structures with Shallow Curvature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Przekop, Adam; Rizzi, Stephen A.

2006-01-01

The goal of this investigation is to further develop nonlinear modal numerical simulation methods for application to geometrically nonlinear response of structures with shallow curvature under random loadings. For reduced order analysis, the modal basis selection must be capable of reflecting the coupling in both the linear and nonlinear stiffness. For the symmetric shallow arch under consideration, four categories of modal basis functions are defined. Those having symmetric transverse displacements (ST modes) can be designated as transverse dominated (ST-T) modes and in-plane dominated (ST-I) modes. Those having anti-symmetric transverse displacements (AT modes) can similarly be designated as transverse dominated (AT-T) modes and in-plane dominated (AT-I) modes. The response of an aluminum arch under a uniformly distributed transverse random loading is investigated. Results from nonlinear modal simulations made using various modal bases are compared with those obtained from a numerical simulation in physical degrees-of-freedom. While inclusion of ST-T modes is important for all response regimes, it is found that the ST-I modes become increasingly important in the nonlinear response regime, and that AT-T and AT-I modes are critical in the autoparametric regime.

Nonlinear Reduced Order Random Response Analysis of Structures With Shallow Curvature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Przekop, Adam; Rizzi, Stephen A.

2005-01-01

The goal of this investigation is to further develop nonlinear modal numerical simulation methods for application to geometrically nonlinear response of structures with shallow curvature under random loadings. For reduced order analysis, the modal basis selection must be capable of reflecting the coupling in both the linear and nonlinear stiffness. For the symmetric shallow arch under consideration, four categories of modal basis functions are defined. Those having symmetric transverse displacements (ST modes) can be designated as transverse dominated (ST-T) modes and in-plane dominated (ST-I) modes. Those having anti-symmetric transverse displacements (AT modes) can similarly be designated as transverse dominated (AT-T) modes and in-plane dominated (AT-I) modes. The response of an aluminum arch under a uniformly distributed transverse random loading is investigated. Results from nonlinear modal simulations made using various modal bases are compared with those obtained from a numerical simulation in physical degrees-of-freedom. While inclusion of ST-T modes is important for all response regimes, it is found that the ST-I modes become increasingly important in the nonlinear response regime, and that AT-T and AT-I modes are critical in the autoparametric regime.

A reappraisal of the uncanny valley: categorical perception or frequency-based sensitization?

PubMed Central

Burleigh, Tyler J.; Schoenherr, Jordan R.

2015-01-01

The uncanny valley (UCV) hypothesis describes a non-linear relationship between perceived human-likeness and affective response. The “uncanny valley” refers to an intermediate level of human-likeness that is associated with strong negative affect. Recent studies have suggested that the uncanny valley might result from the categorical perception of human-like stimuli during identification. When presented with stimuli sharing human-like traits, participants attempt to segment the continuum in “human” and “non-human” categories. Due to the ambiguity of stimuli located at a category boundary, categorization difficulty gives rise to a strong, negative affective response. Importantly, researchers who have studied the UCV in terms of categorical perception have focused on categorization responses rather than affective ratings. In the present study, we examined whether the negative affect associated with the UCV might be explained in terms of an individual's degree of exposure to stimuli. In two experiments, we tested a frequency-based model against a categorical perception model using a category-learning paradigm. We manipulated the frequency of exemplars that were presented to participants from two categories during a training phase. We then examined categorization and affective responses functions, as well as the relationship between categorization and affective responses. Supporting previous findings, categorization responses suggested that participants acquired novel category structures that reflected a category boundary. These category structures appeared to influence affective ratings of eeriness. Crucially, participants' ratings of eeriness were additionally affected by exemplar frequency. Taken together, these findings suggest that the UCV is determined by both categorical properties as well as the frequency of individual exemplars retained in memory. PMID:25653623

77 FR 39388 - Removal of Category IIIa, IIIb, and IIIc Definitions; Confirmation of Effective Date and Response...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-03

...- AK03 Removal of Category IIIa, IIIb, and IIIc Definitions; Confirmation of Effective Date and Response... received on that direct final rule. In that document, the FAA proposed to remove the definitions of Category IIIa, IIIb, and IIIc operations because the definitions are outdated and no longer used for...

1988 Delphi survey of nursing research priorities for New York State.

PubMed

Shortridge, L; Doswell, W; Evans, M E; Levin, R F; Millor, G K; Carter, E

1989-09-01

In order to inform decisions about nursing research and health care policy, the Council on Nursing Research of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) conducted a Delphi survey to identify the priorities for nursing research in New York state. The Delphi technique is a method of eliciting judgements from experts for the purpose of short-term forecasting and planning. The survey was conducted by mail in three rounds during 1988. Round I required participants to identify three primary research priorities for the nursing profession. In Round II participants ranked the 37 most frequently identified categories from Round I. The highest 16 categories from Round II were ranked by participants in Round III to provide the final 10 nursing research priority categories for New York state. All members of the New York State Nurses Association holding a minimum of a master's degree in nursing were invited to participate. The response rates were: Round I, 34% (N = 872); Round II, 38% (N = 985); Round III 37% (N = 974). Of the 10 nursing research priority categories identified in the final round, 5 relate to nurses, 2 relate to nursing, and 3 relate to clients. None of the high-risk conditions or populations with whom nurses work appear in the top 10, and only 2 of these are ranked in the top 15 priority categories. These priority categories will be used by the NYSNA Council on Nursing Research to influence its future agenda and activities. They can be used by the nursing profession and others for planning, policy making, and establishing nursing research funding priorities.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A Model-Based Approach for Visualizing the Dimensional Structure of Ordered Successive Categories Preference Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeSarbo, Wayne S.; Park, Joonwook; Scott, Crystal J.

2008-01-01

A cyclical conditional maximum likelihood estimation procedure is developed for the multidimensional unfolding of two- or three-way dominance data (e.g., preference, choice, consideration) measured on ordered successive category rating scales. The technical description of the proposed model and estimation procedure are discussed, as well as the…

Looking the part (to me): effects of racial prototypicality on race perception vary by prejudice

PubMed Central

Sprout, Gregory T.; Freeman, Jonathan B.; Krendl, Anne C.

2017-01-01

Abstract Less racially prototypic faces elicit more category competition during race categorization. Top-down factors (e.g. stereotypes), however, affect categorizations, suggesting racial prototypicality may enhance category competition in certain perceivers. Here, we examined how prejudice affects race category competition and stabilization when perceiving faces varying in racial prototypicality. Prototypically low vs high Black relative to White faces elicited more category competition and slower response latencies during categorization (Experiment 1), suggesting a pronounced racial prototypicality effect on minority race categorization. However, prejudice predicted the extent of category competition between prototypically low vs high Black faces. Suggesting more response conflict toward less prototypic Black vs White faces, anterior cingulate cortex activity increased toward Black vs White faces as they decreased in racial prototypicality, with prejudice positively predicting this difference (Experiment 2). These findings extend the literature on racial prototypicality and categorization by showing that relative prejudice tempers the extent of category competition and response conflict engaged when initially perceiving faces. PMID:28077728

A note on monotonicity of item response functions for ordered polytomous item response theory models.

PubMed

Kang, Hyeon-Ah; Su, Ya-Hui; Chang, Hua-Hua

2018-03-08

A monotone relationship between a true score (τ) and a latent trait level (θ) has been a key assumption for many psychometric applications. The monotonicity property in dichotomous response models is evident as a result of a transformation via a test characteristic curve. Monotonicity in polytomous models, in contrast, is not immediately obvious because item response functions are determined by a set of response category curves, which are conceivably non-monotonic in θ. The purpose of the present note is to demonstrate strict monotonicity in ordered polytomous item response models. Five models that are widely used in operational assessments are considered for proof: the generalized partial credit model (Muraki, 1992, Applied Psychological Measurement, 16, 159), the nominal model (Bock, 1972, Psychometrika, 37, 29), the partial credit model (Masters, 1982, Psychometrika, 47, 147), the rating scale model (Andrich, 1978, Psychometrika, 43, 561), and the graded response model (Samejima, 1972, A general model for free-response data (Psychometric Monograph no. 18). Psychometric Society, Richmond). The study asserts that the item response functions in these models strictly increase in θ and thus there exists strict monotonicity between τ and θ under certain specified conditions. This conclusion validates the practice of customarily using τ in place of θ in applied settings and provides theoretical grounds for one-to-one transformations between the two scales. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

Spatially Pooled Contrast Responses Predict Neural and Perceptual Similarity of Naturalistic Image Categories

PubMed Central

Groen, Iris I. A.; Ghebreab, Sennay; Lamme, Victor A. F.; Scholte, H. Steven

2012-01-01

The visual world is complex and continuously changing. Yet, our brain transforms patterns of light falling on our retina into a coherent percept within a few hundred milliseconds. Possibly, low-level neural responses already carry substantial information to facilitate rapid characterization of the visual input. Here, we computationally estimated low-level contrast responses to computer-generated naturalistic images, and tested whether spatial pooling of these responses could predict image similarity at the neural and behavioral level. Using EEG, we show that statistics derived from pooled responses explain a large amount of variance between single-image evoked potentials (ERPs) in individual subjects. Dissimilarity analysis on multi-electrode ERPs demonstrated that large differences between images in pooled response statistics are predictive of more dissimilar patterns of evoked activity, whereas images with little difference in statistics give rise to highly similar evoked activity patterns. In a separate behavioral experiment, images with large differences in statistics were judged as different categories, whereas images with little differences were confused. These findings suggest that statistics derived from low-level contrast responses can be extracted in early visual processing and can be relevant for rapid judgment of visual similarity. We compared our results with two other, well- known contrast statistics: Fourier power spectra and higher-order properties of contrast distributions (skewness and kurtosis). Interestingly, whereas these statistics allow for accurate image categorization, they do not predict ERP response patterns or behavioral categorization confusions. These converging computational, neural and behavioral results suggest that statistics of pooled contrast responses contain information that corresponds with perceived visual similarity in a rapid, low-level categorization task. PMID:23093921

41 CFR 105-62.101 - Security classification categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Security classification... classification categories. As set forth in Executive Order 12065, official information or material which requires... three categories: Namely, Top Secret, Secret, or Confidential, depending on its degree of significance...

41 CFR 105-62.101 - Security classification categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Security classification... classification categories. As set forth in Executive Order 12065, official information or material which requires... three categories: Namely, Top Secret, Secret, or Confidential, depending on its degree of significance...

41 CFR 105-62.101 - Security classification categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Security classification... classification categories. As set forth in Executive Order 12065, official information or material which requires... three categories: Namely, Top Secret, Secret, or Confidential, depending on its degree of significance...

Cue Set Stimulation as a Factor in Human Response Generation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petelle, John L.

The hypotheses that there will be a significant difference (1) in the number of responses generated according to economic issues, (2) in the number of responses generated according to social issues, (3) in the number of responses generated between the category of economic issues and the category of social issues, (4) in cue ranking by response…

Emergent intraverbal responses via tact and match-to-sample instruction.

PubMed

Grannan, Leigh; Rehfeldt, Ruth Anne

2012-01-01

The present investigation evaluated the effectiveness of category tact and match-to-sample instruction in facilitating the emergence of intraverbal responses (i.e., naming several items belonging to a specific category) for 2 children with autism. Results demonstrated the emergence of untaught responses, suggesting an effective instructional protocol for establishing intraverbal responses without direct instruction.

Congruence Effect in Semantic Categorization with Masked Primes with Narrow and Broad Categories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinn, Wendy Maree; Kinoshita, Sachiko

2008-01-01

In semantic categorization, masked primes that are category-congruent with the target (e.g., "Planets: mars-VENUS") facilitate responses relative to category-incongruent primes (e.g., "tree-VENUS"). The present study investigated why this category congruence effect is more consistently found with narrow categories (e.g., "Numbers larger/smaller…

Self-efficacy in managing chronic respiratory disease: parents' experiences.

PubMed

Jones, Virginia; Whitehead, Lisa; Crowe, Marie Therese

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore parent's sense of self-efficacy and the experiences that impact on this in relation to the management of their child's chronic respiratory disease. A qualitative study using a general inductive approach was taken. Semi-structured interviews with 23 parents were completed and thematic analysis employed to generate categories and themes. Parents described self-efficacy as important in their ability to maintain daily management of their child's health. The greatest impact on self-efficacy was an overwhelming sense of responsibility. Parents described an enduring sense of responsibility through ongoing vigilance and adherence to medical regimes. In order for parents to maintain self-efficacy in their care giving role, health professionals need an understanding of how best to support them to manage the sense of responsibility they experience.

The Role of Corticostriatal Systems in Speech Category Learning.

PubMed

Yi, Han-Gyol; Maddox, W Todd; Mumford, Jeanette A; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

2016-04-01

One of the most difficult category learning problems for humans is learning nonnative speech categories. While feedback-based category training can enhance speech learning, the mechanisms underlying these benefits are unclear. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated neural and computational mechanisms underlying feedback-dependent speech category learning in adults. Positive feedback activated a large corticostriatal network including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus, caudate, putamen, and the ventral striatum. Successful learning was contingent upon the activity of domain-general category learning systems: the fast-learning reflective system, involving the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that develops and tests explicit rules based on the feedback content, and the slow-learning reflexive system, involving the putamen in which the stimuli are implicitly associated with category responses based on the reward value in feedback. Computational modeling of response strategies revealed significant use of reflective strategies early in training and greater use of reflexive strategies later in training. Reflexive strategy use was associated with increased activation in the putamen. Our results demonstrate a critical role for the reflexive corticostriatal learning system as a function of response strategy and proficiency during speech category learning. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

41 CFR 105-62.101 - Security classification categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... provided by statute. The three classification categories are defined as follows: (a) Top Secret. Top Secret... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Security classification... classification categories. As set forth in Executive Order 12065, official information or material which requires...

When more is less: Feedback effects in perceptual category learning ☆

PubMed Central

Maddox, W. Todd; Love, Bradley C.; Glass, Brian D.; Filoteo, J. Vincent

2008-01-01

Rule-based and information-integration category learning were compared under minimal and full feedback conditions. Rule-based category structures are those for which the optimal rule is verbalizable. Information-integration category structures are those for which the optimal rule is not verbalizable. With minimal feedback subjects are told whether their response was correct or incorrect, but are not informed of the correct category assignment. With full feedback subjects are informed of the correctness of their response and are also informed of the correct category assignment. An examination of the distinct neural circuits that subserve rule-based and information-integration category learning leads to the counterintuitive prediction that full feedback should facilitate rule-based learning but should also hinder information-integration learning. This prediction was supported in the experiment reported below. The implications of these results for theories of learning are discussed. PMID:18455155

[Attitudes towards professional euthanasia in the range between grement in the society and personal preferences--results of a representative examination of the German general population].

PubMed

Schröder, Christina; Schmutzer, Gabriele; Klaiberg, Antje; Brähler, Elmar

2003-08-01

Several surveys of the German population concerning the attitude towards euthanasia in patients with terminal illness yielded contradictory results, ranging from high acquisition to high refusal rates. After a critical discussion of the methodological concepts of these investigations, we present the results of a representative study of 1957 German persons (age range: 14 - 96 years) which was performed by the institute USUMA in February 2001. Four different types of euthanasia were included in the study: active, passive, and indirect euthanasia as well as physician's assisted suicide. The affirmative response categories were "declared will and unbearable pain", "declared will", "referred will", and "in the responsibility of the physician". Additionally, we asked to state the personal preference in the case of an own incurable illness. The resulting frequency distributions stress the autonomy of the patients (declared will) and the legal forms of professional euthanasia (passive and indirect euthanasia), independent from the degree of pain. The rank order of the hypothetic personal preferences was: passive euthanasia (26.1 %), active euthanasia (21.1 %), indirect euthanasia (13.1 %) and assisted suicide (6.2 %). For each category the hypothetic personal will to utilize euthanasia personally is markedly lower than the consent to legalize euthanasia in the society. This points to a diminished readiness of the population to seek for euthanasia. Persons aged 60 years and above deny all types of euthanasia significantly more often than younger persons. Persons with subjectively bad health status prefer the category "in the responsibility of the physician" more often than healthy subjects. The representative study proves that there is no polarized public opinion concerning euthanasia, rather there is a picture of high complexity.

Gambling Disorder and Other Behavioral Addictions: Recognition and Treatment

PubMed Central

Yau, Yvonne H. C.; Potenza, Marc N.

2015-01-01

Addiction professionals and the public are recognizing that certain nonsubstance behaviors—such as gambling, Internet use, video-game playing, sex, eating, and shopping—bear resemblance to alcohol and drug dependence. Growing evidence suggests that these behaviors warrant consideration as nonsubstance or “behavioral” addictions and has led to the newly introduced diagnostic category “Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders” in DSM-5. At present, only gambling disorder has been placed in this category, with insufficient data for other proposed behavioral addictions to justify their inclusion. This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of behavioral addictions, describes treatment considerations, and addresses future directions. Current evidence points to overlaps between behavioral and substance-related addictions in phenomenology, epidemiology, comorbidity, neurobiological mechanisms, genetic contributions, responses to treatments, and prevention efforts. Differences also exist. Recognizing behavioral addictions and developing appropriate diagnostic criteria are important in order to increase awareness of these disorders and to further prevention and treatment strategies. PMID:25747926

An Italian battery for the assessment of semantic memory disorders.

PubMed

Catricalà, Eleonora; Della Rosa, Pasquale A; Ginex, Valeria; Mussetti, Zoe; Plebani, Valentina; Cappa, Stefano F

2013-06-01

We report the construction and standardization of a new comprehensive battery of tests for the assessment of semantic memory disorders. The battery is constructed on a common set of 48 stimuli, belonging to both living and non-living categories, rigidly controlled for several confounding variables, and is based on an empirically derived corpus of semantic features. It includes six tasks, in order to assess semantic memory through different modalities of input and output: two naming tasks, one with colored pictures and the other in response to an oral description, a word-picture matching task, a picture sorting task, a free generation of features task and a sentence verification task. Normative data on 106 Italian subjects pooled across homogenous subgroups for age, sex and education are reported. The new battery allows an in-depth investigation of category-specific disorders and of progressive semantic memory deficits at features level, overcoming some of the limitations of existing tests.

[Construction-cost assessment of a program designed to promote physical and sports activities and prevent doping behaviors: PN-APSD - on 2002-2007].

PubMed

Bérard, A; Bréchat, P-H; Rymer, R; Londsdorfer, J

2009-02-01

According to the framework legislation promulgated as part of the reform of finance laws in France, quality is a mandatory feature of all governmental actions. In this context, this work was conducted to assess the construction cost of a national health program designed to promote physical and sports activities and prevent doping behaviors. This program was considered to have the characteristic features of a successful governmental health intervention. Four cost categories were evaluated: cost of the activity itself, transportation costs, communication costs and promotion costs. It was found that the program costs for 2002-2007 were 100,000 euro, with 15% of the costs in the communication category. Economic elements could be associated with factors of successful health service interventions in order to help decision makers responsible for the public interest and the consistency of public health actions.

76 FR 12141 - New Postal Product and New Price Category

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-04

... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket Nos. MC2011-23 and CP2011-62; Order No. 683] New Postal Product and New Price Category AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The... competitive product list. The Postal Service also states that it has established a new price category under...

The known unknowns: neural representation of second-order uncertainty, and ambiguity

PubMed Central

Bach, Dominik R.; Hulme, Oliver; Penny, William D.; Dolan, Raymond J.

2011-01-01

Predictions provided by action-outcome probabilities entail a degree of (first-order) uncertainty. However, these probabilities themselves can be imprecise and embody second-order uncertainty. Tracking second-order uncertainty is important for optimal decision making and reinforcement learning. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging investigations of second-order uncertainty in humans have drawn on an economic concept of ambiguity, where action-outcome associations in a gamble are either known (unambiguous) or completely unknown (ambiguous). Here, we relaxed the constraints associated with a purely categorical concept of ambiguity and varied the second-order uncertainty of gambles continuously, quantified as entropy over second-order probabilities. We show that second-order uncertainty influences decisions in a pessimistic way by biasing second-order probabilities, and that second-order uncertainty is negatively correlated with posterior cingulate cortex activity. The category of ambiguous (compared to non-ambiguous) gambles also biased choice in a similar direction, but was associated with distinct activation of a posterior parietal cortical area; an activation that we show reflects a different computational mechanism. Our findings indicate that behavioural and neural responses to second-order uncertainty are distinct from those associated with ambiguity and may call for a reappraisal of previous data. PMID:21451019

Looking the part (to me): effects of racial prototypicality on race perception vary by prejudice.

PubMed

Cassidy, Brittany S; Sprout, Gregory T; Freeman, Jonathan B; Krendl, Anne C

2017-04-01

Less racially prototypic faces elicit more category competition during race categorization. Top-down factors (e.g. stereotypes), however, affect categorizations, suggesting racial prototypicality may enhance category competition in certain perceivers. Here, we examined how prejudice affects race category competition and stabilization when perceiving faces varying in racial prototypicality. Prototypically low vs high Black relative to White faces elicited more category competition and slower response latencies during categorization (Experiment 1), suggesting a pronounced racial prototypicality effect on minority race categorization. However, prejudice predicted the extent of category competition between prototypically low vs high Black faces. Suggesting more response conflict toward less prototypic Black vs White faces, anterior cingulate cortex activity increased toward Black vs White faces as they decreased in racial prototypicality, with prejudice positively predicting this difference (Experiment 2). These findings extend the literature on racial prototypicality and categorization by showing that relative prejudice tempers the extent of category competition and response conflict engaged when initially perceiving faces. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Higher order thinking skills: using e-portfolio in project-based learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukitasari, M.; Handhika, J.; Murtafiah, W.

2018-03-01

The purpose of this research is to describe students' higher-order thinking skills through project-based learning using e-portfolio. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method. The research instruments used were test, unstructured interview, and documentation. Research subjects were students of mathematics, physics and biology education department who take the Basics Physics course. The result shows that through project-based learning using e-portfolio the students’ ability to: analyze (medium category, N-Gain 0.67), evaluate (medium category, N-Gain 0.51), and create (medium Category, N-Gain 0.44) are improved.

Categorization and Analysis of Disaster Health Publications: An Inventory.

PubMed

Birnbaum, Marvin L; Adibhatla, Sowmya; Dudek, Olivia; Ramsel-Miller, Jessica

2017-10-01

Disaster Medicine is a relatively new discipline. Understanding of the current status of its science is needed in order to develop a roadmap for the direction and structure of future studies that will contribute to building the science of the health aspects of disasters (HADs). The objective of this study was to examine the existing, peer-reviewed literature relevant to the HADs to determine the status of the currently available literature underlying the science of the HADs. A total of 709 consecutive, peer-reviewed articles published from 2009-2014 in two disaster-health-related medical journals, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine (PDM) and Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness (DMPHP), were examined. Of these, 495 were disaster-related (PDM, 248; DMPHP, 247). Three major categories defined these disaster-related research articles: (1) Epidemiological studies comprised 50.5%; (2) Interventional, 20.3%; and (3) Syntheses, 26.9%. Interventional studies were sub-categorized into: (a) Relief Responses, 23.0%; (b) Recovery Responses, 2.0%; or (c) Risk-Reduction Interventions, 75.0%. Basically, the inventories were consistent within the two journals. Reported indicators of outcomes related to the responses were constrained to achievement indicators (numbers accomplished). Syntheses articles were sub-categorized into: (a) Literature Reviews, 17.6%; (b) Opinions, 25.2%; (c) Models, 24.4%; (d) Frameworks, 6.9%; (e) Guidelines, 13.0%; (f) Tools, 3.0%; (g) Protocols, Policies, or Criteria, 2.3%; or (h) Conference Summaries, 7.6%. Trend analyses indicated that the relative proportions of articles in each category and sub-category remained relatively constant over the five years. No randomized controlled trials (RTCs), non-randomized, comparative controlled trials (CCTs), or systematic reviews were published in these journals during the period examined. Each article also was examined qualitatively for objectives, study type, content, language, and structure. There was no common structure used for any category or sub-categories. In addition, the terminology used was inconsistent and often confusing. This categorization process should be applied to other peer-reviewed journals that publish research related to HADs. As evidenced in the current study, the evidence base for HADs is far from robust and is disorganized, making the development of scientific evidence on which to base best practices difficult. A stronger evidence base is needed to develop the science associated with the HADs. This will require a common structure and terminology to facilitate comparisons. Greater depth of reporting is needed in order to render the Epidemiological studies more useful in mitigating the negative health impacts of hazard-related events. Interventional studies must be structured and include outcomes, impacts, benefits, and costs with robust indicators. The outcomes and impacts of Risk-Reduction Interventions will require the evaluation of changes in the epidemiology documented in future events or exercises. Birnbaum ML , Adibhatla S , Dudek O , Ramsel-Miller J . Categorization and analysis of disaster health publications: an inventory. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(5):473-482 .

Application of Graph Theory in an Intelligent Tutoring System for Solving Mathematical Word Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nabiyev, Vasif V.; Çakiroglu, Ünal; Karal, Hasan; Erümit, Ali K.; Çebi, Ayça

2016-01-01

This study is aimed to construct a model to transform word "motion problems" in to an algorithmic form in order to be processed by an intelligent tutoring system (ITS). First; categorizing the characteristics of motion problems, second; suggesting a model for the categories were carried out. In order to solve all categories of the…

Functional MRI mapping of category-specific sites associated with naming of famous faces, animals and man-made objects.

PubMed

Bai, Hong-Min; Jiang, Tao; Wang, Wei-Min; Li, Tian-Dong; Liu, Yan; Lu, Yi-Cheng

2011-10-01

Category-specific recognition and naming deficits have been observed in a variety of patient populations. However, the category-specific cortices for naming famous faces, animals and man-made objects remain controversial. The present study aimed to study the specific areas involved in naming pictures of these 3 categories using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Functional images were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping and the 3 different contrasts were evaluated using t statistics by comparing the naming tasks to their baselines. The contrast images were entered into a random-effects group level analysis. The results were reported in Montreal Neurological Institute coordinates, and anatomical regions were identified using an automated anatomical labeling method with XJview 8. Naming famous faces caused more activation in the bilateral head of the hippocampus and amygdala with significant left dominance. Bilateral activation of pars triangularis and pars opercularis in the naming of famous faces was also revealed. Naming animals evoked greater responses in the left supplementary motor area, while naming man-made objects evoked more in the left premotor area, left pars orbitalis and right supplementary motor area. The extent of bilateral fusiform gyri activation by naming man-made objects was much larger than that by naming of famous faces or animals. Even in the overlapping sites of activation, some differences among the categories were found for activation in the fusiform gyri. The cortices involved in the naming process vary with the naming of famous faces, animals and man-made objects. This finding suggests that different categories of pictures should be used during intra-operative language mapping to generate a broader map of language function, in order to minimize the incidence of false-negative stimulation and permanent post-operative deficits.

Demonstration of Advanced Geophysics and Classification Technologies on Munitions Response Sites, Pole Mountain Target and Maneuver Area, Wyoming

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

both a transmitter and receiver antenna. The lower coil was located 42 cm above the ground surface for optimal data collection using the standard wheel ... eccentricity . Over 54% (26 of the 46) had P0x parameter values below the 4,500 Category 3 threshold in order to reduce the risk of missing TOI smaller...it is not uncommon to have a large eccentricity for an ordnance item. As previously stated, URS used LM as secondary, in that it served to override

A category-specific top-down attentional set can affect the neural responses outside the current focus of attention.

PubMed

Jiang, Yunpeng; Wu, Xia; Gao, Xiaorong

2017-10-17

A top-down set can guide attention to enhance the processing of task-relevant objects. Many studies have found that the top-down set can be tuned to a category level. However, it is unclear whether the category-specific top-down set involving a central search task can exist outside the current area of attentional focus. To directly probe the neural responses inside and outside the current focus of attention, we recorded continuous EEG to measure the contralateral ERP components for central targets and the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) oscillations associated with a flickering checkerboard placed on the visual periphery. The relationship of color categories between targets and non-targets was manipulated to investigate the effect of category-specific top-down set. Results showed that when the color categories of targets and non-targets in the central search arrays were the same, larger SSVEP oscillations were evoked by target color peripheral checkerboards relative to the non-target color ones outside the current attentional focus. However, when the color categories of targets and non-targets were different, the peripheral checkerboards in two different colors of the same category evoked similar SSVEP oscillations, indicating the effects of category-specific top-down set. These results firstly demonstrate that the category-specific top-down set can affect the neural responses of peripheral distractors. The results could support the idea of a global selection account and challenge the attentional window account in selective attention. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Person- and place-selective neural substrates for entity-specific semantic access.

PubMed

Fairhall, Scott L; Anzellotti, Stefano; Ubaldi, Silvia; Caramazza, Alfonso

2014-07-01

Object-category has a pronounced effect on the representation of objects in higher level visual cortex. However, the influence of category on semantic/conceptual processes is less well characterized. In the present study, we conduct 2 fMRI experiments to investigate the semantic processing of information specific to individual people and places (entities). First, during picture presentation, we determined which brain regions show category-selective increases during access to entity-specific semantic information (i.e., nationality) in comparison to general-category discrimination (person vs. place). In the second experiment, we presented either words or pictures to assess the independence of entity-specific category-selective semantic representations from the processes used to access those representations. Convergent results from these 2 experiments show that brain regions exhibiting a category-selective increase during entity-specific semantic access are the same as those that show a supramodal (word/picture) category-selective response during the same task. These responses were different from classical "perceptual" category-selective responses and were evident in the medial precuneus for people and in the retrosplenial complex as well as anterior/superior sections of the transverse occipital sulcus and parahippocampal gyrus for places. These results reveal the pervasive influence of object-category in cortical organization, which extends to aspects of semantic knowledge arbitrarily related to physical/perceptual properties. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

First-pass selectivity for semantic categories in human anteroventral temporal lobe

PubMed Central

Chan, Alexander M.; Baker, Janet M.; Eskandar, Emad; Schomer, Donald; Ulbert, Istvan; Marinkovic, Ksenija; Cash, Sydney S.; Halgren, Eric

2012-01-01

How the brain encodes the semantic concepts represented by words is a fundamental question in cognitive neuroscience. Hemodynamic neuroimaging studies have robustly shown that different areas of posteroventral temporal lobe are selectively activated by images of animals versus manmade objects. Selective responses in these areas to words representing animals versus objects are sometimes also seen, but they are task-dependent, suggesting that posteroventral temporal cortex may encode visual categories, while more anterior areas encode semantic categories. Here, using the spatiotemporal resolution provided by intracranial macroelectrode and microelectrode arrays, we report category-selective responses to words representing animals and objects in human anteroventral temporal areas including inferotemporal, perirhinal and entorhinal cortices. This selectivity generalizes across tasks and sensory modalities, suggesting that it represents abstract lexico-semantic categories. Significant category-specific responses are found in measures sensitive to synaptic activity (local field potentials, high gamma power, current sources and sinks) and unit-firing (multi- and single-unit activity). Category-selective responses can occur at short latency, as early as 130ms, in middle cortical layers and thus are extracted in the first-pass of activity through the anteroventral temporal lobe. This activation may provide input to posterior areas for iconic representations when required by the task, as well as to the hippocampal formation for categorical encoding and retrieval of memories, and to the amygdala for emotional associations. More generally, these results support models in which the anteroventral temporal lobe plays a primary role in the semantic representation of words. PMID:22159123

Category Induction via Distributional Analysis: Evidence from a Serial Reaction Time Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, Ruskin H.; Aslin, Richard N.

2010-01-01

Category formation lies at the heart of a number of higher-order behaviors, including language. We assessed the ability of human adults to learn, from distributional information alone, categories embedded in a sequence of input stimuli using a serial reaction time task. Artificial grammars generated corpora of input strings containing a…

You’re a good structure, Charlie Brown: The distribution of narrative categories in comic strips

PubMed Central

Cohn, Neil

2014-01-01

Cohn’s (2013) theory of “Visual Narrative Grammar” argues that sequential images take on categorical roles in a narrative structure, which organizes them into hierarchic constituents analogous to the organization of syntactic categories in sentences. This theory proposes that narrative categories, like syntactic categories, can be identified through diagnostic tests that reveal tendencies for their distribution throughout a sequence. This paper describes four experiments testing these diagnostics to provide support for the validity of these narrative categories. In Experiment 1, participants reconstructed unordered panels of a comic strip into an order that makes sense. Experiment 2 measured viewing times to panels in sequences where the order of panels was reversed. In Experiment 3 participants again reconstructed strips, but also deleted a panel from the sequence. Finally, in Experiment 4 participants identified where a panel had been deleted from a comic strip, and rated that strip’s coherence. Overall, categories had consistent distributional tendencies within experiments and complementary tendencies across experiments. These results point toward an interaction between categorical roles and a global narrative structure. PMID:24646175

You're a good structure, Charlie Brown: the distribution of narrative categories in comic strips.

PubMed

Cohn, Neil

2014-01-01

Cohn's (2013) theory of "Visual Narrative Grammar" argues that sequential images take on categorical roles in a narrative structure, which organizes them into hierarchic constituents analogous to the organization of syntactic categories in sentences. This theory proposes that narrative categories, like syntactic categories, can be identified through diagnostic tests that reveal tendencies for their distribution throughout a sequence. This paper describes four experiments testing these diagnostics to provide support for the validity of these narrative categories. In Experiment 1, participants reconstructed unordered panels of a comic strip into an order that makes sense. Experiment 2 measured viewing times to panels in sequences where the order of panels was reversed. In Experiment 3, participants again reconstructed strips but also deleted a panel from the sequence. Finally, in Experiment 4 participants identified where a panel had been deleted from a comic strip and rated that strip's coherence. Overall, categories had consistent distributional tendencies within experiments and complementary tendencies across experiments. These results point toward an interaction between categorical roles and a global narrative structure. © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Sales promotion by wholesalers affects general practitioners' prescription behaviours in Japan.

PubMed

Shimura, Hirohisa

2018-01-01

Background : One method for promoting drugs in Japan has been utilizing wholesalers for promotion; however, the effectiveness of the sales promotion has been brought into question. Methods : A total of 74,552 responses were collected from an internet survey of 511 prescribing doctors in hospitals with less than 19 beds, which recalled the visits by wholesalers' sales representatives (MS) in 2014. Each assessed the degree to which MS and/or sales representatives from a pharmaceutical company (MR) influenced a decision to prescribe each drug. The responses were analysed using the chi-square test and Goodman-Kruskal's gamma to evaluate the association between MS calls and doctors' prescription orders. Results : Results showed a significant effect of the MS calls on doctors' behaviours in terms of new drug prescriptions and subsequent behaviours. The results by therapeutic category showed a similar strong influence of the joint calls on new prescriptions on some therapeutic classes. The MS calls significantly influenced doctors to maintain and increase the prescription volume (p < 0.01). Conclusion : This paper demonstrates that sales promotion on the part of MSs and MRs adds value to the prescription decisions. Moreover, results suggest that MSs enhance prescription outcomes in competitive therapeutic categories.

Rapid Categorization of Human and Ape Faces in 9-Month-Old Infants Revealed by Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation.

PubMed

Peykarjou, Stefanie; Hoehl, Stefanie; Pauen, Sabina; Rossion, Bruno

2017-10-02

This study investigates categorization of human and ape faces in 9-month-olds using a Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation (FPVS) paradigm while measuring EEG. Categorization responses are elicited only if infants discriminate between different categories and generalize across exemplars within each category. In study 1, human or ape faces were presented as standard and deviant stimuli in upright and inverted trials. Upright ape faces presented among humans elicited strong categorization responses, whereas responses for upright human faces and for inverted ape faces were smaller. Deviant inverted human faces did not elicit categorization. Data were best explained by a model with main effects of species and orientation. However, variance of low-level image characteristics was higher for the ape than the human category. Variance was matched to replicate this finding in an independent sample (study 2). Both human and ape faces elicited categorization in upright and inverted conditions, but upright ape faces elicited the strongest responses. Again, data were best explained by a model of two main effects. These experiments demonstrate that 9-month-olds rapidly categorize faces, and unfamiliar faces presented among human faces elicit increased categorization responses. This likely reflects habituation for the familiar standard category, and stronger release for the unfamiliar category deviants.

Using item response theory to address vulnerabilities in FFQ.

PubMed

Kazman, Josh B; Scott, Jonathan M; Deuster, Patricia A

2017-09-01

The limitations for self-reporting of dietary patterns are widely recognised as a major vulnerability of FFQ and the dietary screeners/scales derived from FFQ. Such instruments can yield inconsistent results to produce questionable interpretations. The present article discusses the value of psychometric approaches and standards in addressing these drawbacks for instruments used to estimate dietary habits and nutrient intake. We argue that a FFQ or screener that treats diet as a 'latent construct' can be optimised for both internal consistency and the value of the research results. Latent constructs, a foundation for item response theory (IRT)-based scales (e.g. Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) are typically introduced in the design stage of an instrument to elicit critical factors that cannot be observed or measured directly. We propose an iterative approach that uses such modelling to refine FFQ and similar instruments. To that end, we illustrate the benefits of psychometric modelling by using items and data from a sample of 12 370 Soldiers who completed the 2012 US Army Global Assessment Tool (GAT). We used factor analysis to build the scale incorporating five out of eleven survey items. An IRT-driven assessment of response category properties indicates likely problems in the ordering or wording of several response categories. Group comparisons, examined with differential item functioning (DIF), provided evidence of scale validity across each Army sub-population (sex, service component and officer status). Such an approach holds promise for future FFQ.

Numeric score-based conditional and overall change-in-status indices for ordered categorical data.

PubMed

Lyles, Robert H; Kupper, Lawrence L; Barnhart, Huiman X; Martin, Sandra L

2015-11-30

Planned interventions and/or natural conditions often effect change on an ordinal categorical outcome (e.g., symptom severity). In such scenarios, it is sometimes desirable to assign a priori scores to observed changes in status, typically giving higher weight to changes of greater magnitude. We define change indices for such data based upon a multinomial model for each row of a c × c table, where the rows represent the baseline status categories. We distinguish an index designed to assess conditional changes within each baseline category from two others designed to capture overall change. One of these overall indices measures expected change across a target population. The other is scaled to capture the proportion of total possible change in the direction indicated by the data, so that it ranges from -1 (when all subjects finish in the least favorable category) to +1 (when all finish in the most favorable category). The conditional assessment of change can be informative regardless of how subjects are sampled into the baseline categories. In contrast, the overall indices become relevant when subjects are randomly sampled at baseline from the target population of interest, or when the investigator is able to make certain assumptions about the baseline status distribution in that population. We use a Dirichlet-multinomial model to obtain Bayesian credible intervals for the conditional change index that exhibit favorable small-sample frequentist properties. Simulation studies illustrate the methods, and we apply them to examples involving changes in ordinal responses for studies of sleep deprivation and activities of daily living. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A standard methodology for the analysis, recording, and control of verbal behavior

PubMed Central

Drash, Philip W.; Tudor, Roger M.

1991-01-01

Lack of a standard methodology has been one of the major obstacles preventing advancement of behavior analytic research in verbal behavior. This article presents a standard method for the analysis, recording, and control of verbal behavior that overcomes several major methodological problems that have hindered operant research in verbal behavior. The system divides all verbal behavior into four functional response classes, correct, error, no response, and inappropriate behavior, from which all vocal responses of a subject may be classified and consequated. The effects of contingencies of reinforcement on verbal operants within each category are made immediately visible to the researcher as changes in frequency of response. Incorporating frequency of response within each category as the unit of response allows both rate and probability of verbal response to be utilized as basic dependent variables. This method makes it possible to record and consequate verbal behavior in essentially the same way as any other operant response. It may also facilitate an experimental investigation of Skinner's verbal response categories. PMID:22477629

Cerebral responses to across- and within-category change of vowel durations measured by near-infrared spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minagawa-Kawai, Yasuyo; Mori, Koichi; Furuya, Izumi; Hayashi, Ryoko; Sato, Yutaka

2002-05-01

The present study examined cerebral responses to phoneme categories, using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) by measuring the concentration and oxygenation of hemoglobin accompanying local brain activities. Targeted phonemes used here are Japanese long and short vowel categories realized only by durational differences. Results of NIRS and behavioral test revealed NIRS could capture phoneme-specific information. The left side of the auditory area showed large hemodynamic changes only for contrasting stimuli between which phonemic boundary was estimated (across-category condition), but not for stimuli differing by an equal duration but belonging to the same phoneme category (within-category condition). Left dominance in phoneme processing was also confirmed for the across-category stimuli. These findings indicate that the Japanese vowel contrast based only on duration is dealt with in the same language-dominant hemisphere as the other phonemic categories as studied with MEG and PET, and that the cortical activities related to its processing can be detected with NIRS. [Work supported by Japan Society for Promotion of Science (No. 8484) and a grant from Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan.

Comparative study of numerical schemes of TVD3, UNO3-ACM and optimized compact scheme

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Duck-Joo; Hwang, Chang-Jeon; Ko, Duck-Kon; Kim, Jae-Wook

1995-01-01

Three different schemes are employed to solve the benchmark problem. The first one is a conventional TVD-MUSCL (Monotone Upwind Schemes for Conservation Laws) scheme. The second scheme is a UNO3-ACM (Uniformly Non-Oscillatory Artificial Compression Method) scheme. The third scheme is an optimized compact finite difference scheme modified by us: the 4th order Runge Kutta time stepping, the 4th order pentadiagonal compact spatial discretization with the maximum resolution characteristics. The problems of category 1 are solved by using the second (UNO3-ACM) and third (Optimized Compact) schemes. The problems of category 2 are solved by using the first (TVD3) and second (UNO3-ACM) schemes. The problem of category 5 is solved by using the first (TVD3) scheme. It can be concluded from the present calculations that the Optimized Compact scheme and the UN03-ACM show good resolutions for category 1 and category 2 respectively.

Application of a Taxonomy to Characterize the Public Health Workforce.

PubMed

Beck, Angela J; Meit, Michael; Heffernan, Megan; Boulton, Matthew L

2015-01-01

A public health workforce taxonomy was published in 2014 to provide a standardized mechanism for describing public health worker characteristics. The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) used 7 of the taxonomy's 12 axes as a basis for its survey response choices, 3 of which are the focus of this analysis. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative utility, reliability, and accuracy of the public health workforce taxonomy in categorizing local and state public health workers using a survey tool. This specifically included the goal of reducing the number of responses classified as "other" occupation, certification, or program area by recoding responses into taxonomy categories and determining potential missing categories for recommendation to the advisory committee that developed the taxonomy. Survey questions associated with the occupation, certification, and program area taxonomy axes yielded qualitative data from respondents who selected "other." The "other" responses were coded by 2 separate research teams at the University of Michigan Center of Excellence in Public Health Workforce Studies and NORC at the University of Chicago. Researchers assigned taxonomy categories to all analyzable qualitative responses and assessed the percentage of PH WINS responses that could be successfully mapped to taxonomy categories. Between respondent self-selection and research team recoding, the public health workforce taxonomy successfully categorized 95% of occupation responses, 75% of credential responses, and 83% of program area responses. Occupational categories that may be considered for inclusion in the taxonomy in the future include disease intervention specialists and occupations associated with regulation, certification, and licensing. The public health workforce taxonomy performed remarkably well in categorizing worker characteristics in its first use in a national survey. The analysis provides some recommendations for future taxonomy refinement.

FY2007 Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report

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

Craig, W W; Sketchley, J A; Kotta, P R

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) annual report for fiscal year 2007 (FY07) provides a summary of LDRD-funded projects for the fiscal year and consists of two parts: An introduction to the LDRD Program, the LDRD portfolio-management process, program statistics for the year, and highlights of accomplishments for the year. A summary of each project, submitted by the principal investigator. Project summaries include the scope, motivation, goals, relevance to Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) mission areas, the technical progress achieved in FY07, and a list of publications that resulted frommore » the research in FY07. Summaries are organized in sections by research category (in alphabetical order). Within each research category, the projects are listed in order of their LDRD project category: Strategic Initiative (SI), Exploratory Research (ER), Laboratory-Wide Competition (LW), and Feasibility Study (FS). Within each project category, the individual project summaries appear in order of their project tracking code, a unique identifier that consists of three elements. The first is the fiscal year the project began, the second represents the project category, and the third identifies the serial number of the proposal for that fiscal year.« less

Development of visual category selectivity in ventral visual cortex does not require visual experience

PubMed Central

van den Hurk, Job; Van Baelen, Marc; Op de Beeck, Hans P.

2017-01-01

To what extent does functional brain organization rely on sensory input? Here, we show that for the penultimate visual-processing region, ventral-temporal cortex (VTC), visual experience is not the origin of its fundamental organizational property, category selectivity. In the fMRI study reported here, we presented 14 congenitally blind participants with face-, body-, scene-, and object-related natural sounds and presented 20 healthy controls with both auditory and visual stimuli from these categories. Using macroanatomical alignment, response mapping, and surface-based multivoxel pattern analysis, we demonstrated that VTC in blind individuals shows robust discriminatory responses elicited by the four categories and that these patterns of activity in blind subjects could successfully predict the visual categories in sighted controls. These findings were confirmed in a subset of blind participants born without eyes and thus deprived from all light perception since conception. The sounds also could be decoded in primary visual and primary auditory cortex, but these regions did not sustain generalization across modalities. Surprisingly, although not as strong as visual responses, selectivity for auditory stimulation in visual cortex was stronger in blind individuals than in controls. The opposite was observed in primary auditory cortex. Overall, we demonstrated a striking similarity in the cortical response layout of VTC in blind individuals and sighted controls, demonstrating that the overall category-selective map in extrastriate cortex develops independently from visual experience. PMID:28507127

Pigeons acquire multiple categories in parallel via associative learning: A parallel to human word learning?

PubMed Central

Wasserman, Edward A.; Brooks, Daniel I.; McMurray, Bob

2014-01-01

Might there be parallels between category learning in animals and word learning in children? To examine this possibility, we devised a new associative learning technique for teaching pigeons to sort 128 photographs of objects into 16 human language categories. We found that pigeons learned all 16 categories in parallel, they perceived the perceptual coherence of the different object categories, and they generalized their categorization behavior to novel photographs from the training categories. More detailed analyses of the factors that predict trial-by-trial learning implicated a number of factors that may shape learning. First, we found considerable trial-by-trial dependency of pigeons’ categorization responses, consistent with several recent studies that invoke this dependency to claim that humans acquire words via symbolic or inferential mechanisms; this finding suggests that such dependencies may also arise in associative systems. Second, our trial-by-trial analyses divulged seemingly irrelevant aspects of the categorization task, like the spatial location of the report responses, which influenced learning. Third, those trial-by-trial analyses also supported the possibility that learning may be determined both by strengthening correct stimulus-response associations and by weakening incorrect stimulus-response associations. The parallel between all these findings and important aspects of human word learning suggests that associative learning mechanisms may play a much stronger part in complex human behavior than is commonly believed. PMID:25497520

Self-service kiosk for testing sunglasses.

PubMed

Mello, Marcio M; Lincoln, Victor A C; Ventura, Liliane

2014-04-25

Sunglasses users may only be assured on their ultraviolet protection by purchasing certified products, however they are not able to check if sunglasses are still ultraviolet (UV) protected as they age, unless they resort themselves to a professional who is qualified for using a spectrophotometer and is acknowledged on the standards for providing a report for the user. Current literature establishes safe limits on the exposure of the eyes relatively to the ultraviolet radiation exposure for the UVA and UVB ranges (280 nm - 400 nm). The UV protection is category dependent. Sunglasses are categorized from 0 to 4 and the categories are determined by the lenses transmission's percentage on the visible range (380 nm - 780 nm). In order to overcome inaccessibility of such measurements on sunglasses, a prototype for testing ultraviolet protection on sunglasses, according to Brazilian Standards, has been developed for amateur use. The system consists of assembling UVA and UVB light sources and two UV responsive photodiode sensors, with Erythema action response for measuring UV protection; for categories measurements, combination of white light and LEDs were used for the visible range, as well as a light sensor having spectral response similar to the human eye. Electronics has been developed for controlling the measurements and software has been implemented for providing the report as well as for the user's interface. All the system was embedded as a self-service touch screen kiosk and provides transmittance measurements that are within the deviation limit required by NBR15111, i.e., 0.25%. Measurements were performed in over 45 sunglasses and compared to CARY 5000 - VARIAN spectrophotometer and present a good correlation for the measurements of transmittance in the visible spectral range (r2 = 0.9999) and in the ultraviolet range (r2 = 0.9997). The prototype identifies the UV protection, for non-corrective sunglasses, according to category of the lens and is available for the public. In addition to educating the population about the importance of wearing protected sunglasses, the prototype has also allowed the public to have access to information about the quality of protection of their own sunglasses in an easy and free testing method.

EEG Decoding of Semantic Category Reveals Distributed Representations for Single Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Brian; Poesio, Massimo; Bovolo, Francesca; Bruzzone, Lorenzo; Dalponte, Michele; Lakany, Heba

2011-01-01

Achieving a clearer picture of categorial distinctions in the brain is essential for our understanding of the conceptual lexicon, but much more fine-grained investigations are required in order for this evidence to contribute to lexical research. Here we present a collection of advanced data-mining techniques that allows the category of individual…

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staples, Megan E.; Truxaw, Mary P.

2012-09-01

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

Perceived Challenges in Primary Literature in a Master's Class: Effects of Experience and Instruction.

PubMed

Lie, Richard; Abdullah, Christopher; He, Wenliang; Tour, Ella

Primary literature offers rich opportunities to teach students how to "think like a scientist," but the challenges students face when they attempt to read research articles are not well understood. Here, we present an analysis of what master's students perceive as the most challenging aspects of engaging with primary literature. We examined 69 pairs of pre- and postcourse responses from students enrolled in a master's-level course that offered a structured analysis of primary literature. On the basis of these responses, we identified six categories of challenges. Before instruction, "techniques" and "experimental data" were the most frequently identified categories of challenges. The majority of difficulties students perceived in the primary literature corresponded to Bloom's lower-order cognitive skills. After instruction, "conclusions" were identified as the most difficult aspect of primary literature, and the frequency of challenges that corresponded to higher-order cognitive skills increased significantly among students who reported less experience with primary literature. These changes are consistent with a more competent perception of the primary literature, in which these students increasingly focus on challenges requiring critical thinking. Students' difficulties identified here can inform the design of instructional approaches aimed to teach students how to critically read scientific papers. © 2016 R. Lie, C. Abdullah, et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Counselor Responsiveness to Client Religiousness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Eugene W., Jr.

1990-01-01

Presents eight categories of client attitudes toward religion and suggests opportunities for religiously oriented counselor responses. Uses four categories to describes how religion may be associated with specific client issues. Contends that an informed appreciation of clients' religiousness and the religious dimensions of many client issues can…

A System for Rapidly and Accurately Collecting Patients’ Race and Ethnicity

PubMed Central

Baker, David W.; Cameron, Kenzie A.; Feinglass, Joseph; Thompson, Jason A.; Georgas, Patricia; Foster, Shawn; Pierce, Deborah; Hasnain-Wynia, Romana

2006-01-01

Objectives. We assessed the feasibility of collecting race/ethnicity data from patients using their own preferred racial/ethnic terms. Methods. The 424 patients described their race/ethnicity using their own categories, and we compared their descriptions with their responses to the questions (1) “Do you consider yourself Latino or Hispanic?” and (2) “Which category best describes your race?” (7 response options in our computer interview). We also determined patients’ preferences between the 2 approaches. Results.seconds. Rates of missing values and categorization as “other” race were lower than with the closed questions. Agreement between racial/ethnic categorization with open-ended and closed responses was 93% (κ =0.88). Latino/Hispanic and multiracial/multiethnic individuals were more likely to prefer using their own categories to describe their race/ethnicity. Conclusions. Collecting race/ethnicity data using patients’ own racial/ethnic categories is feasible with the use of computerized systems to capture verbatim responses and results in lower rates of missing and unusable data than do standard questions. PMID:16449590

A global assessment of wildfire risks to human and environmental water security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinne, François-Nicolas; Parisien, Marc-André; Flannigan, Mike; Miller, Carol; Bladon, Kevin D.

2017-04-01

Extreme wildfire events extensively affect hydrosystem stability and generate an important threat to the reliability of the water supply for human and natural communities. While actively studied at the watershed scale, the development of a global vision of wildfire risk to water security has only been undertaken recently, pointing at potential water security concerns in an era of global changes. In order to address this concern, we propose a global-scale analysis of the wildfire risk to surface water supplies based on the Driving forces-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework. This framework relies on the cause-and-effect relationships existing between the five categories of the DPSIR chain. Based on the literature, we gathered an extensive set of spatial indicators relevant to fire-induced hydrological hazards and water consumption patterns by human and natural communities. Each indicator was assigned a DPSIR category. Then, we collapsed the information in each category using a principal component analysis in order to extract the most relevant pixel-based information provided by each spatial indicator. Finally, we compiled our five categories using an additive indexation process to produce a spatially-explicit index of the wildfire-water risk (WWR). For comparison purposes, we aggregated index scores by global hydrological regions, or hydrobelts, for analysis. Overall, our results show a distinct pattern of medium-to-high risk levels in areas where sizeable wildfire activity, water resources, and water consumption are concomitant, which mainly encompasses temperate and sub-tropical zones. A closer look at hydrobelts reveals differences in the factors driving the risk, with fire activity being the primary factor of risk in the circumboreal forest, and freshwater resource density being prevalent in tropical areas. We also identified major urban areas across the world whose source waters should be protected from extreme fire events, particularly when they are dependent on mountainous headwaters. This study offers new insights towards a better understanding of global water security issues that can inform and help guide international water governance.

Neural correlates of the affective properties of spontaneous and volitional laughter types.

PubMed

Lavan, Nadine; Rankin, Georgia; Lorking, Nicole; Scott, Sophie; McGettigan, Carolyn

2017-01-27

Previous investigations of vocal expressions of emotion have identified acoustic and perceptual distinctions between expressions of different emotion categories, and between spontaneous and volitional (or acted) variants of a given category. Recent work on laughter has identified relationships between acoustic properties of laughs and their perceived affective properties (arousal and valence) that are similar across spontaneous and volitional types (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014; Lavan et al., 2016). In the current study, we explored the neural correlates of such relationships by measuring modulations of the BOLD response in the presence of itemwise variability in the subjective affective properties of spontaneous and volitional laughter. Across all laughs, and within spontaneous and volitional sets, we consistently observed linear increases in the response of bilateral auditory cortices (including Heschl's gyrus and superior temporal gyrus [STG]) associated with higher ratings of perceived arousal, valence and authenticity. Areas in the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (amPFC) showed negative linear correlations with valence and authenticity ratings across the full set of spontaneous and volitional laughs; in line with previous research (McGettigan et al., 2015; Szameitat et al., 2010), we suggest that this reflects increased engagement of these regions in response to laughter of greater social ambiguity. Strikingly, an investigation of higher-order relationships between the entire laughter set and the neural response revealed a positive quadratic profile of the BOLD response in right-dominant STG (extending onto the dorsal bank of the STS), where this region responded most strongly to laughs rated at the extremes of the authenticity scale. While previous studies claimed a role for right STG in bipolar representation of emotional valence, we instead argue that this may in fact exhibit a relatively categorical response to emotional signals, whether positive or negative. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of the affective properties of spontaneous and volitional laughter types

PubMed Central

Lavan, Nadine; Rankin, Georgia; Lorking, Nicole; Scott, Sophie; McGettigan, Carolyn

2018-01-01

Previous investigations of vocal expressions of emotion have identified acoustic and perceptual distinctions between expressions of different emotion categories, and between spontaneous and volitional (or acted) variants of a given category. Recent work on laughter has identified relationships between acoustic properties of laughs and their perceived affective properties (arousal and valence) that are similar across spontaneous and volitional types (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014; Lavan et al., 2016). In the current study, we explored the neural correlates of such relationships by measuring modulations of the BOLD response in the presence of itemwise variability in the subjective affective properties of spontaneous and volitional laughter. Across all laughs, and within spontaneous and volitional sets, we consistently observed linear increases in the response of bilateral auditory cortices (including Heschl’s gyrus and superior temporal gyrus [STG]) associated with higher ratings of perceived arousal, valence and authenticity. Areas in the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (amPFC) showed negative linear correlations with valence and authenticity ratings across the full set of spontaneous and volitional laughs; in line with previous research (McGettigan et al., 2015; Szameitat et al., 2010), we suggest that this reflects increased engagement of these regions in response to laughter of greater social ambiguity. Strikingly, an investigation of higher-order relationships between the entire laughter set and the neural response revealed a positive quadratic profile of the BOLD response in right-dominant STG (extending onto the dorsal bank of the STS), where this region responded most strongly to laughs rated at the extremes of the authenticity scale. While previous studies claimed a role for right STG in bipolar representation of emotional valence, we instead argue that this may in fact exhibit a relatively categorical response to emotional signals, whether positive or negative. PMID:27940151

A two-step hierarchical hypothesis set testing framework, with applications to gene expression data on ordered categories

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background In complex large-scale experiments, in addition to simultaneously considering a large number of features, multiple hypotheses are often being tested for each feature. This leads to a problem of multi-dimensional multiple testing. For example, in gene expression studies over ordered categories (such as time-course or dose-response experiments), interest is often in testing differential expression across several categories for each gene. In this paper, we consider a framework for testing multiple sets of hypothesis, which can be applied to a wide range of problems. Results We adopt the concept of the overall false discovery rate (OFDR) for controlling false discoveries on the hypothesis set level. Based on an existing procedure for identifying differentially expressed gene sets, we discuss a general two-step hierarchical hypothesis set testing procedure, which controls the overall false discovery rate under independence across hypothesis sets. In addition, we discuss the concept of the mixed-directional false discovery rate (mdFDR), and extend the general procedure to enable directional decisions for two-sided alternatives. We applied the framework to the case of microarray time-course/dose-response experiments, and proposed three procedures for testing differential expression and making multiple directional decisions for each gene. Simulation studies confirm the control of the OFDR and mdFDR by the proposed procedures under independence and positive correlations across genes. Simulation results also show that two of our new procedures achieve higher power than previous methods. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to a microarray dose-response study, to identify 17 β-estradiol sensitive genes in breast cancer cells that are induced at low concentrations. Conclusions The framework we discuss provides a platform for multiple testing procedures covering situations involving two (or potentially more) sources of multiplicity. The framework is easy to use and adaptable to various practical settings that frequently occur in large-scale experiments. Procedures generated from the framework are shown to maintain control of the OFDR and mdFDR, quantities that are especially relevant in the case of multiple hypothesis set testing. The procedures work well in both simulations and real datasets, and are shown to have better power than existing methods. PMID:24731138

Consumers' various and surprising responses to direct-to-consumer advertisements in magazine print.

PubMed

Arney, Jennifer; Street, Richard L; Naik, Aanand D

2013-01-01

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is ubiquitous in media outlets, but little is known about the ways in which consumers' values, needs, beliefs, and biases influence the perceived meaning and value of DTCA. This article aims to identify the taxonomy of readership categories that reflect the complexity of how health care consumers interact with DTCA, with particular focus on individuals' perceptions of print DTCA in popular magazines. Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit 18 male and female magazine readers and 18 male and female prescription medication users aged 18-71 years. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with consumers about their attentiveness, motivations, perceived value, and behavioral responses to DTCA were conducted. The analyses were guided by principles of grounded theory analysis; four categories that vary in consumers' attentiveness, motivations, perceived value, and behavioral responses to DTCA were identified. Two categories - the lay physician and the informed shopper - see value in information from DTCA and are likely to seek medical care based on the information. One category - the voyeur - reads DTCA, but is not likely to approach a clinician regarding advertised information. The fourth category - the evader - ignores DTCA and is not likely to approach a clinician with DTCA information. Responses to DTCA vary considerably among consumers, and physicians should view patients' understanding and response to DTCA within the context of their health-related needs. Patients' comments related to DTCA may be used as an opportunity to engage and understand patients' perspectives about illness and medication use. Clinicians may use information about these categories to facilitate shared understanding and improve communication within the doctor-patient relationship.

Time and Category Information in Pattern-Based Codes

PubMed Central

Eyherabide, Hugo Gabriel; Samengo, Inés

2010-01-01

Sensory stimuli are usually composed of different features (the what) appearing at irregular times (the when). Neural responses often use spike patterns to represent sensory information. The what is hypothesized to be encoded in the identity of the elicited patterns (the pattern categories), and the when, in the time positions of patterns (the pattern timing). However, this standard view is oversimplified. In the real world, the what and the when might not be separable concepts, for instance, if they are correlated in the stimulus. In addition, neuronal dynamics can condition the pattern timing to be correlated with the pattern categories. Hence, timing and categories of patterns may not constitute independent channels of information. In this paper, we assess the role of spike patterns in the neural code, irrespective of the nature of the patterns. We first define information-theoretical quantities that allow us to quantify the information encoded by different aspects of the neural response. We also introduce the notion of synergy/redundancy between time positions and categories of patterns. We subsequently establish the relation between the what and the when in the stimulus with the timing and the categories of patterns. To that aim, we quantify the mutual information between different aspects of the stimulus and different aspects of the response. This formal framework allows us to determine the precise conditions under which the standard view holds, as well as the departures from this simple case. Finally, we study the capability of different response aspects to represent the what and the when in the neural response. PMID:21151371

Shindigs, brunches, and rodeos: the neural basis of event words.

PubMed

Bedny, Marina; Dravida, Swethasri; Saxe, Rebecca

2014-09-01

Events (e.g., "running" or "eating") constitute a basic type within human cognition and human language. We asked whether thinking about events, as compared to other conceptual categories, depends on partially independent neural circuits. Indirect evidence for this hypothesis comes from previous studies showing elevated posterior temporal responses to verbs, which typically label events. Neural responses to verbs could, however, be driven either by their grammatical or by their semantic properties. In the present experiment, we separated the effects of grammatical class (verb vs. noun) and semantic category (event vs. object) by measuring neural responses to event nouns (e.g., "the hurricane"). Participants rated the semantic relatedness of event nouns, as well as of two categories of object nouns-animals (e.g., "the alligator") and plants (e.g., "the acorn")-and three categories of verbs-manner of motion (e.g., "to roll"), emission (e.g., "to sparkle"), and perception (e.g., "to gaze"). As has previously been observed, we found larger responses to verbs than to object nouns in the left posterior middle (LMTG) and superior (LSTG) temporal gyri. Crucially, we also found that the LMTG responds more to event than to object nouns. These data suggest that part of the posterior lateral temporal response to verbs is driven by their semantic properties. By contrast, a more superior region, at the junction of the temporal and parietal cortices, responded more to verbs than to all nouns, irrespective of their semantic category. We concluded that the neural mechanisms engaged when thinking about event and object categories are partially dissociable.

77 FR 40478 - Removal of Category IIIa, IIIb, and IIIc Definitions; Confirmation of Effective Date and Response...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-10

...-0019; Amdt. No. 1-67] RIN 2120- AK03 Removal of Category IIIa, IIIb, and IIIc Definitions; Confirmation... remove the definitions of Category IIIa, IIIb, and IIIc operations because the definitions are outdated..., entitled ``Removal of Category IIIa, IIIb, and IIIc Definitions'' (77 FR 9163). The direct final rule...

'Foreigners', 'ethnic minorities', and 'non-Western allochtoons': an analysis of the development of 'ethnicity' in health policy in the Netherlands from 1970 to 2015.

PubMed

Helberg-Proctor, Alana; Meershoek, Agnes; Krumeich, Anja; Horstman, Klasien

2017-01-31

The Netherlands, because of the sustained and systematic attention it paid to migrant and minority health issues during the last quarter of the twentieth century, has been depicted as being progressive in its approach to healthcare for migrants and minorities. Recently, however, these progressive policies have changed, reflecting a trend towards problematising issues of integration in order to focus on the responsibilities that migrants and ethnic minorities bear in terms of their health. This article explores these shifts and specifically the development of particular categories of ethnicity, and examines the wider consequences that have arisen as a result. The analysis presented here entailed a qualitative content analysis of health policies for migrants and ethnic minorities from 1970 to 2015, and examined various documents and materials produced by the institutions and organisations responsible for implementing these healthcare policies during the period from 1970 to 2015. Four distinct periods of political discourse related to health policy for migrants and ethnic minorities were identified. These periods of political discourse were found to shape the manner in which ethnicity and various categories and representation of foreigners, later ethnic minorities, and at present non-Western allochtoons are constructed in health policy and the implantation practices that follow. At present, in the Netherlands the term allochtoon is used to describe people who are considered of foreign heritage, and its antonym autochtoon is used for those who are considered native to the Netherlands. We discuss the scientific reproduction and even geneticisation of these politically produced categories of autochtoon, Western allochtoon, and non-Western allochtoon-a phenomenon that occurs when politically produced categories are prescribed or taken up by other health sectors. The categories of autochtoon, Western allochtoon, and non-Western allochtoon in the health sciences and the field of ethnicity and health in the Netherlands today have been co-produced by society and science. Policy formulated on the basis of specific political discourse informs the conceptualisations about groups and categories, issues, and solutions, and when these are institutionalised in subsequent health policy, databases, research, and care practices, these ethnic categorisations are replicated in a manner that renders them 'real' and enables them to be applied both socially and scientifically, culminating in pronouncements as to who is the same and who is different in Dutch society and science.

New Turaev braided group categories and weak (co)quasi-Turaev group coalgebras

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

Zhang, Xiaohui, E-mail: zxhhhhh@gmail.com; Wang, Shuanhong, E-mail: shuanhwang2002@yahoo.com

In order to construct a class of new braided crossed G-categories with nontrivial associativity and unit constraints, we study the G-graded monoidal category over a family of algebras (H{sub α}){sub α∈G} and introduce the notion of a weak (co)quasi-Turaev G-(co)algebra. Then we prove that the category of (co)representations of (co)quasitriangular weak (co)quasi-Turaev π-(co)algebras is exactly a braided crossed G-category. In fact, this (co)quasitriangular structure provides a solution to a generalized quantum Yang-Baxter type equation.

Comparison through a prospective and randomized study of two replenishment methods at polyvalent hospitalization units with two-bin storage systems

PubMed

Bernal, José Luis; Mera-Flores, Ana María; Baena Lázaro, Pedro Pablo; Sebastián Viana, Tomás

2017-11-27

Two-bin storage systems increase nursing staff satisfaction and decrease inventories, but the implications that logistic staff would determine the needs of replenishment are unknown. This study aimed to evaluate whether entrust to logistics staff this responsibility at the polyvalent hospitalization units with two-bin storage is associated with higher risk of outstanding orders. This was a prospective randomized experiment whit masking. Outstanding orders were considered variable response, those corresponding to assessments of the logistics staff were included in the control group and those corresponding to the nursing staff in the control group. Concordance between observers was analyzed using the Bland-Altman method; the difference between groups, with the U of Mann-Whitney and the cumulative incidence of outstanding orders and their relative risk was calculated. The mean amount requested by the logistic and nursing staff was 29.9 (SD:167.4) and 36 (SD:190) units respectively, the mean difference between observers was 6.11 (SD:128.95) units and no significant differences were found between groups (p = 0.430). The incidence of outstanding orders was 0.64% in the intervention group and 0.15% in the control group; the relative risk, 2.31 (0.83 - 6.48) and the number of cases required for an outstanding order, 516. Outstanding order relative risk is not associated with the category of the staff that identifies the replenishment needs at the polyvalent hospitalization units.

Comparison of Rogers, Perls, and Ellis on the Hill Counselor Verbal Response Category System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Clara E.; And Others

1979-01-01

Analyzes transcripts of films of Rogers, Perls, and Ellis counseling the same client, according to the Hill Counselor Verbal Response Category System. The system described verbal behaviors of the three counselors and detected behavioral differences reflective of their differing theoretical orientations. (Author)

Categorising intersectional targets: An "either/and" approach to race- and gender-emotion congruity.

PubMed

Smith, Jacqueline S; LaFrance, Marianne; Dovidio, John F

2017-01-01

Research on the interaction of emotional expressions with social category cues in face processing has focused on whether specific emotions are associated with single-category identities, thus overlooking the influence of intersectional identities. Instead, we examined how quickly people categorise intersectional targets by their race, gender, or emotional expression. In Experiment 1, participants categorised Black and White faces displaying angry, happy, or neutral expressions by either race or gender. Emotion influenced responses to men versus women only when gender was made salient by the task. Similarly, emotion influenced responses to Black versus White targets only when participants categorised by race. In Experiment 2, participants categorised faces by emotion so that neither category was more salient. As predicted, responses to Black women differed from those to both Black men and White women. Thus, examining race and gender separately is insufficient to understanding how emotion and social category cues are processed.

Medical misconduct in Hong Kong: implications for medical education around the world.

PubMed

Chan, Zenobia C Y

2012-10-01

Medical educators emphasise responses to medical misconduct, but little is known about medical misconduct and its implications for medical education. This article investigates the nature of medical malpractice in Hong Kong and offers guidance for the inclusion of a curriculum to prevent the occurrence of medical misconduct in medical education around the world. A comprehensive review of judgements made by the Medical Council of Hong Kong during the period from July 2008 to December 2010 was conducted. Each of the 40 cases of inquiry related to medical misconduct were summarised and analysed according to 14 factors. Of the 40 cases, nearly half involved only one or two charges. The Council found the defendants guilty of professional misconduct on 148 of 169 charges, and ordered the following four types of penalty: removal order, suspension, warning letter, and reprimand. Cases are grouped into three categories involving: improper documentation, inappropriate management or prescription of drugs, and failure to interact appropriately with patients. The relevant ethical codes or legislation for each category are illustrated. Various types of medical misconduct unquestionably caused suffering to the patients involved, their families and society. Hence, it is crucial for medical educators to teach students about the importance of medical ethics and the prevention of misconduct. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012.

Category learning in the color-word contingency learning paradigm.

PubMed

Schmidt, James R; Augustinova, Maria; De Houwer, Jan

2018-04-01

In the typical color-word contingency learning paradigm, participants respond to the print color of words where each word is presented most often in one color. Learning is indicated by faster and more accurate responses when a word is presented in its usual color, relative to another color. To eliminate the possibility that this effect is driven exclusively by the familiarity of item-specific word-color pairings, we examine whether contingency learning effects can be observed also when colors are related to categories of words rather than to individual words. To this end, the reported experiments used three categories of words (animals, verbs, and professions) that were each predictive of one color. Importantly, each individual word was presented only once, thus eliminating individual color-word contingencies. Nevertheless, for the first time, a category-based contingency effect was observed, with faster and more accurate responses when a category item was presented in the color in which most of the other items of that category were presented. This finding helps to constrain episodic learning models and sets the stage for new research on category-based contingency learning.

When bad stress goes good: increased threat reactivity predicts improved category learning performance.

PubMed

Ell, Shawn W; Cosley, Brandon; McCoy, Shannon K

2011-02-01

The way in which we respond to everyday stressors can have a profound impact on cognitive functioning. Maladaptive stress responses in particular are generally associated with impaired cognitive performance. We argue, however, that the cognitive system mediating task performance is also a critical determinant of the stress-cognition relationship. Consistent with this prediction, we observed that stress reactivity consistent with a maladaptive, threat response differentially predicted performance on two categorization tasks. Increased threat reactivity predicted enhanced performance on an information-integration task (i.e., learning is thought to depend upon a procedural-based memory system), and a (nonsignificant) trend for impaired performance on a rule-based task (i.e., learning is thought to depend upon a hypothesis-testing system). These data suggest that it is critical to consider both variability in the stress response and variability in the cognitive system mediating task performance in order to fully understand the stress-cognition relationship.

Critical incidents in nursing academics: discovering a new identity.

PubMed

Aguayo-González, Mariela; Castelló-Badía, Montserrat; Monereo-Font, Carles

2015-01-01

a qualitative study that followed the principles of the grounded theory in order to analyze the professional identity of nursing academics through the analysis of the most disturbing critical incidents. semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven nurses who worked as professors and researchers in a private university in Barcelona. the resulting empirical material was organized into two categories: characterization of critical incidents and responsiveness to the incident. the professional identity of nurses regarding the academic area is still under construction and inexperience is the major obstacle in the management of critical incidents in the teaching career.

[Ecological memory and its potential applications in ecology: a review].

PubMed

Sun, Zhong-yu; Ren, Hai

2011-03-01

Ecological memory (EM) is defined as the capability of the past states or experiences of a community to influence the present or future ecological responses of the community. As a relatively new concept, EM has received considerable attention in the study of ecosystem structure and function, such as community succession, ecological restoration, biological invasion, and natural resource management. This review summarized the definition, components, and categories of EM, and discussed the possible mechanisms and affecting factors of EM. Also, the potential applications of EM were proposed, in order to further understand the mechanisms of community succession and to guide ecological restoration.

Characteristics of effective clinical teachers identified by dental students: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Jahangiri, L; McAndrew, M; Muzaffar, A; Mucciolo, T W

2013-02-01

This qualitative research study identified criteria for clinical teacher quality preferences as perceived by dental students. Third and fourth year dental students at New York University College of Dentistry were given a two question, open-ended survey asking what qualities they liked most and least in a clinical teacher. Responses were collected until data saturation was achieved. A total of 157 respondents provided a total of 995 written comments. Descriptive words within the responses were coded and grouped into key words, according to similar relationships, and further refined into 17 defined categories. Three core themes, Character, Competence and Communication, emerged from these 17 categories, which were validated according to specific references found in the existing educational literature. 'Character' comprised nine of the 17 defined categories: (caring, motivation, empathy, patience, professionalism, available, fairness, happiness, patient-centred) and yielded 59.1% of total student responses; 'Competence' consisted of five categories: knowledgeable, expertise, efficient, skilful, effective (29.2%); and 'Communication' represented the remaining three categories: feedback, approachable and interpersonal communication (11.7%). Positive and negative responses related to the defined category of caring were cited by 59.2% of all students. Motivation was the next highest category, cited by 45.9% of students. Non-cognitive attributes, especially those in the Character theme, comprised the majority of student comments. Because students' perceptions are so critical to understanding clinical teaching effectiveness in dental education, these findings can be used to develop assessments to measure clinical teaching effectiveness, to create criteria for the hiring and promotion of clinical faculty and to plan faculty development programming. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

How learning one category influences the learning of another: intercategory generalization based on analogy and specific stimulus information.

PubMed

Nahinsky, Irwin D; Lucas, Barbara A; Edgell, Stephen E; Overfelt, Joseph; Loeb, Richard

2004-01-01

We investigated the effect of learning one category structure on the learning of a related category structure. Photograph-name combinations, called identifiers, were associated with values of four demographic attributes. Two problems were related by analogous demographic attributes, common identifiers, or both to examine the impact of common identifier, related general characteristics, and the interaction of the two variables in mediating learning transfer from one category structure to another. Problems sharing the same identifier information prompted greater positive transfer than those not sharing the same identifier information. In contrast, analogous defining characteristics in the two problems did not facilitate transfer. We computed correlations between responses to first-problem stimuli and responses to analogous second-problem stimuli for each participant. The analogous characteristics produced a tendency to respond in the same way to corresponding stimuli in the two problems. The results support an alignment between category structures related by analogous defining characteristics, which is facilitated by specific identifier information shared by two category structures.

Neuronal integration in visual cortex elevates face category tuning to conscious face perception

PubMed Central

Fahrenfort, Johannes J.; Snijders, Tineke M.; Heinen, Klaartje; van Gaal, Simon; Scholte, H. Steven; Lamme, Victor A. F.

2012-01-01

The human brain has the extraordinary capability to transform cluttered sensory input into distinct object representations. For example, it is able to rapidly and seemingly without effort detect object categories in complex natural scenes. Surprisingly, category tuning is not sufficient to achieve conscious recognition of objects. What neural process beyond category extraction might elevate neural representations to the level where objects are consciously perceived? Here we show that visible and invisible faces produce similar category-selective responses in the ventral visual cortex. The pattern of neural activity evoked by visible faces could be used to decode the presence of invisible faces and vice versa. However, only visible faces caused extensive response enhancements and changes in neural oscillatory synchronization, as well as increased functional connectivity between higher and lower visual areas. We conclude that conscious face perception is more tightly linked to neural processes of sustained information integration and binding than to processes accommodating face category tuning. PMID:23236162

Consumers’ various and surprising responses to direct-to-consumer advertisements in magazine print

PubMed Central

Arney, Jennifer; Street, Richard L; Naik, Aanand D

2013-01-01

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is ubiquitous in media outlets, but little is known about the ways in which consumers’ values, needs, beliefs, and biases influence the perceived meaning and value of DTCA. This article aims to identify the taxonomy of readership categories that reflect the complexity of how health care consumers interact with DTCA, with particular focus on individuals’ perceptions of print DTCA in popular magazines. Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit 18 male and female magazine readers and 18 male and female prescription medication users aged 18–71 years. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with consumers about their attentiveness, motivations, perceived value, and behavioral responses to DTCA were conducted. The analyses were guided by principles of grounded theory analysis; four categories that vary in consumers’ attentiveness, motivations, perceived value, and behavioral responses to DTCA were identified. Two categories – the lay physician and the informed shopper – see value in information from DTCA and are likely to seek medical care based on the information. One category – the voyeur – reads DTCA, but is not likely to approach a clinician regarding advertised information. The fourth category – the evader – ignores DTCA and is not likely to approach a clinician with DTCA information. Responses to DTCA vary considerably among consumers, and physicians should view patients’ understanding and response to DTCA within the context of their health-related needs. Patients’ comments related to DTCA may be used as an opportunity to engage and understand patients’ perspectives about illness and medication use. Clinicians may use information about these categories to facilitate shared understanding and improve communication within the doctor–patient relationship. PMID:23378746

Low doses of ionizing radiation to mammalian cells may rather control than cause DNA damage

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

Feinendegen, L.E.; Bond, V.P.; Sondhaus, C.A.

This report examines the origin of tissue effects that may follow from different cellular responses to low-dose irradiation, using published data. Two principal categories of cellular responses are considered. One response category relates to the probability of radiation-induced DNA damage. The other category consists of low-dose induced metabolic changes that induce mechanisms of DNA damage mitigation, which do not operate at high levels of exposure. Modeled in this way, tissue is treated as a complex adaptive system. The interaction of the various cellular responses results in a net tissue dose-effect relation that is likely to deviate from linearity in themore » low-dose region. This suggests that the LNT hypothesis should be reexamined. This paper aims at demonstrating tissue effects as an expression of cellular responses, both damaging and defensive, in relation to the energy deposited in cell mass, by use of microdosimetric concepts.« less

A general theoretical framework for interpreting patient-reported outcomes estimated from ordinally scaled item responses.

PubMed

Massof, Robert W

2014-10-01

A simple theoretical framework explains patient responses to items in rating scale questionnaires. Fixed latent variables position each patient and each item on the same linear scale. Item responses are governed by a set of fixed category thresholds, one for each ordinal response category. A patient's item responses are magnitude estimates of the difference between the patient variable and the patient's estimate of the item variable, relative to his/her personally defined response category thresholds. Differences between patients in their personal estimates of the item variable and in their personal choices of category thresholds are represented by random variables added to the corresponding fixed variables. Effects of intervention correspond to changes in the patient variable, the patient's response bias, and/or latent item variables for a subset of items. Intervention effects on patients' item responses were simulated by assuming the random variables are normally distributed with a constant scalar covariance matrix. Rasch analysis was used to estimate latent variables from the simulated responses. The simulations demonstrate that changes in the patient variable and changes in response bias produce indistinguishable effects on item responses and manifest as changes only in the estimated patient variable. Changes in a subset of item variables manifest as intervention-specific differential item functioning and as changes in the estimated person variable that equals the average of changes in the item variables. Simulations demonstrate that intervention-specific differential item functioning produces inefficiencies and inaccuracies in computer adaptive testing. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Memory color assisted illuminant estimation through pixel clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Heng; Quan, Shuxue

2010-01-01

The under constrained nature of illuminant estimation determines that in order to resolve the problem, certain assumptions are needed, such as the gray world theory. Including more constraints in this process may help explore the useful information in an image and improve the accuracy of the estimated illuminant, providing that the constraints hold. Based on the observation that most personal images have contents of one or more of the following categories: neutral objects, human beings, sky, and plants, we propose a method for illuminant estimation through the clustering of pixels of gray and three dominant memory colors: skin tone, sky blue, and foliage green. Analysis shows that samples of the above colors cluster around small areas under different illuminants and their characteristics can be used to effectively detect pixels falling into each of the categories. The algorithm requires the knowledge of the spectral sensitivity response of the camera, and a spectral database consisted of the CIE standard illuminants and reflectance or radiance database of samples of the above colors.

Classification of occupational activity categories using accelerometry: NHANES 2003-2004.

PubMed

Steeves, Jeremy A; Tudor-Locke, Catrine; Murphy, Rachel A; King, George A; Fitzhugh, Eugene C; Harris, Tamara B

2015-06-30

An individual's occupational activity (OA) may contribute significantly to daily physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB). However, there is little consensus about which occupational categories involve high OA or low OA, and the majority of categories are unclassifiable with current methods. The purpose of this study was to present population estimates of accelerometer-derived PA and SB variables for adults (n = 1112, 20-60 years) working the 40 occupational categories collected during the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). ActiGraph accelerometer-derived total activity counts/day (TAC), activity counts/minute, and proportion of wear time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA], lifestyle, and light PA organized by occupational category were ranked in ascending order and SB was ranked in descending order. Summing the ranks of the six accelerometer-derived variables generated a summary score for each occupational category, which was re-ranked in ascending order. Higher rankings indicated higher levels of OA, lower rankings indicated lower levels of OA. Tertiles of the summary score were used to establish three mutually exclusive accelerometer-determined OA groupings: high OA, intermediate OA, and low OA. According to their summary score, 'farm and nursery workers' were classified as high OA and 'secretaries, stenographers, and typists' were classified as low OA. Consistent with previous research, some low OA occupational categories (e.g., 'engineers, architects, and scientists', 'technicians and related support occupations', 'management related occupations', 'executives, administrators, and managers', 'protective services', and 'writers, artists, entertainers, and athletes') associated with higher education and income had relatively greater amounts of MVPA compared to other low OA occupational categories, likely due to the greater percentage of men in those occupations and/or the influence of higher levels of leisure time PA. Men had more TAC, activity counts/minute and time in MVPA, but similar proportions of SB compared to women in all three OA groupings. Objectively measured PA allowed for a more precise estimate of the amount of PA and SB associated with different occupations and facilitated systematic classification of the 40 different occupational categories into three distinct OA groupings. This information provides new opportunities to explore the relationship between OA and health outcomes.

Functional organization of the face-sensitive areas in human occipital-temporal cortex.

PubMed

Shao, Hanyu; Weng, Xuchu; He, Sheng

2017-08-15

Human occipital-temporal cortex features several areas sensitive to faces, presumably forming the biological substrate for face perception. To date, there are piecemeal insights regarding the functional organization of these regions. They have come, however, from studies that are far from homogeneous with regard to the regions involved, the experimental design, and the data analysis approach. In order to provide an overall view of the functional organization of the face-sensitive areas, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive study that taps into the pivotal functional properties of all the face-sensitive areas, within the context of the same experimental design, and uses multiple data analysis approaches. In this study, we identified the most robustly activated face-sensitive areas in bilateral occipital-temporal cortices (i.e., AFP, aFFA, pFFA, OFA, pcSTS, pSTS) and systemically compared their regionally averaged activation and multivoxel activation patterns to 96 images from 16 object categories, including faces and non-faces. This condition-rich and single-image analysis approach critically samples the functional properties of a brain region, allowing us to test how two basic functional properties, namely face-category selectivity and face-exemplar sensitivity are distributed among these regions. Moreover, by examining the correlational structure of neural responses to the 96 images, we characterize their interactions in the greater face-processing network. We found that (1) r-pFFA showed the highest face-category selectivity, followed by l-pFFA, bilateral aFFA and OFA, and then bilateral pcSTS. In contrast, bilateral AFP and pSTS showed low face-category selectivity; (2) l-aFFA, l-pcSTS and bilateral AFP showed evidence of face-exemplar sensitivity; (3) r-OFA showed high overall response similarities with bilateral LOC and r-pFFA, suggesting it might be a transitional stage between general and face-selective information processing; (4) r-aFFA showed high face-selective response similarity with r-pFFA and r-OFA, indicating it was specifically involved in processing face information. Results also reveal two properties of these face sensitive regions across the two hemispheres: (1) the averaged left intra-hemispheric response similarity for the images was lower than the averaged right intra-hemispheric and the inter-hemispheric response similarity, implying convergence of face processing towards the right hemisphere, and (2) the response similarities between homologous regions in the two hemispheres decreased as information processing proceeded from the early, more posterior, processing stage (OFA), indicating an increasing degree of hemispheric specialization and right hemisphere bias for face information processing. This study contributes to an emerging picture of how faces are processed within the occipital and temporal cortex. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The analytical design of spectral measurements for multispectral remote sensor systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiersma, D. J.; Landgrebe, D. A. (Principal Investigator)

1979-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. In order to choose a design which will be optimal for the largest class of remote sensing problems, a method was developed which attempted to represent the spectral response function from a scene as accurately as possible. The performance of the overall recognition system was studied relative to the accuracy of the spectral representation. The spectral representation was only one of a set of five interrelated parameter categories which also included the spatial representation parameter, the signal to noise ratio, ancillary data, and information classes. The spectral response functions observed from a stratum were modeled as a stochastic process with a Gaussian probability measure. The criterion for spectral representation was defined by the minimum expected mean-square error.

Discrimination of Venezuelan spirituous beverages by a trace element-radial basis neural network approach.

PubMed

Hernández-Caraballo, Edwin A; Avila de Hernández, Rita M; Rivas-Echeverría, Francklin; Capote-Luna, Tarcisio

2008-01-15

Radial basis neural networks (RBNNs) were developed and evaluated for discrimination of specimens of 'aguardiente de Cocuy', a spirituous beverage produced in the northwestern region of Venezuela. The beverage is distilled from the must of Agave cocui Trelease in an artisanship fashion with little quality control. Forty specimens, with known concentrations of copper, iron, and zinc, were used in this study. The specimens were previously collected in various locations around Sucre Municipality (Falcón State) and Urdaneta Municipality (Lara State). The normalized concentrations of these elements served as indirect descriptors of origin (input data). They were presented to the neural networks through 1-3 input nodes in seven different combinations. In addition, two categories (two collection sites) and four categories (two collection sites+two manufacturing conditions) were designated as output data, in order to assess the impact of such selection on the discrimination performance. The overall performance of the four-category RBNNs was as follows (the input data is indicated in parentheses): (Cu-Fe)>(Cu-Zn)>(Cu)>(Zn)>(Fe-Zn)>(Cu-Fe-Zn)>(Fe). In this case, the highest percentage of correct hits was 82.5%. For the two-category RBNNs, the performance decreased as indicated below: (Cu)>(Cu-Fe)>(Cu-Zn)>(Fe-Zn)>(Zn) approximately (Cu-Fe-Zn)>(Fe). The reduction in the number of categories led to an increase in the discrimination performance of all the RBNNs, the best of which was 90.0%. The possibility of discriminating specimens of 'aguardiente de Cocuy' with such an accuracy, based on a single-element determination, is particularly attractive as it would result in a reduction of analysis' costs and laboratory's response time.

Is Social Categorization Spatially Organized in a "Mental Line"? Empirical Evidences for Spatial Bias in Intergroup Differentiation.

PubMed

Presaghi, Fabio; Rullo, Marika

2018-01-01

Social categorization is the differentiation between the self and others and between one's own group and other groups and it is such a natural and spontaneous process that often we are not aware of it. The way in which the brain organizes social categorization remains an unresolved issue. We present three experiments investigating the hypothesis that social categories are mentally ordered from left to right on an ingroup-outgroup continuum when membership is salient. To substantiate our hypothesis, we consider empirical evidence from two areas of psychology: research on differences in processing of ingroups and outgroups and research on the effects of spatial biases on processing of quantitative information (e.g., time; numbers) which appears to be arranged from left to right on a small-large continuum, an effect known as the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC). In Experiments 1 and 2 we tested the hypothesis that when membership of a social category is activated, people implicitly locate ingroup categories to the left of a mental line whereas outgroup categories are located on the far right of the same mental line. This spatial organization persists even when stimuli are presented on one of the two sides of the screen and their (explicit) position is spatially incompatible with the implicit mental spatial organization of social categories (Experiment 3). Overall the results indicate that ingroups and outgroups are processed differently. The results are discussed with respect to social categorization theory, spatial agency bias, i.e., the effect observed in Western cultures whereby the agent of an action is mentally represented on the left and the recipient on the right, and the SNARC effect.

Is Social Categorization Spatially Organized in a “Mental Line”? Empirical Evidences for Spatial Bias in Intergroup Differentiation

PubMed Central

Presaghi, Fabio; Rullo, Marika

2018-01-01

Social categorization is the differentiation between the self and others and between one’s own group and other groups and it is such a natural and spontaneous process that often we are not aware of it. The way in which the brain organizes social categorization remains an unresolved issue. We present three experiments investigating the hypothesis that social categories are mentally ordered from left to right on an ingroup–outgroup continuum when membership is salient. To substantiate our hypothesis, we consider empirical evidence from two areas of psychology: research on differences in processing of ingroups and outgroups and research on the effects of spatial biases on processing of quantitative information (e.g., time; numbers) which appears to be arranged from left to right on a small–large continuum, an effect known as the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC). In Experiments 1 and 2 we tested the hypothesis that when membership of a social category is activated, people implicitly locate ingroup categories to the left of a mental line whereas outgroup categories are located on the far right of the same mental line. This spatial organization persists even when stimuli are presented on one of the two sides of the screen and their (explicit) position is spatially incompatible with the implicit mental spatial organization of social categories (Experiment 3). Overall the results indicate that ingroups and outgroups are processed differently. The results are discussed with respect to social categorization theory, spatial agency bias, i.e., the effect observed in Western cultures whereby the agent of an action is mentally represented on the left and the recipient on the right, and the SNARC effect. PMID:29497393

A consensus-based gold standard for the evaluation of mass casualty triage systems.

PubMed

Lerner, E Brooke; McKee, Courtney H; Cady, Charles E; Cone, David C; Colella, M Riccardo; Cooper, Arthur; Coule, Phillip L; Lairet, Julio R; Liu, J Marc; Pirrallo, Ronald G; Sasser, Scott M; Schwartz, Richard; Shepherd, Greene; Swienton, Raymond E

2015-01-01

Accuracy and effectiveness analyses of mass casualty triage systems are limited because there are no gold standard definitions for each of the triage categories. Until there is agreement on which patients should be identified by each triage category, it will be impossible to calculate sensitivity and specificity or to compare accuracy between triage systems. To develop a consensus-based, functional gold standard definition for each mass casualty triage category. National experts were recruited through the lead investigators' contacts and their suggested contacts. Key informant interviews were conducted to develop a list of potential criteria for defining each triage category. Panelists were interviewed in order of their availability until redundancy of themes was achieved. Panelists were blinded to each other's responses during the interviews. A modified Delphi survey was developed with the potential criteria identified during the interview and delivered to all recruited experts. In the early rounds, panelists could add, remove, or modify criteria. In the final rounds edits were made to the criteria until at least 80% agreement was achieved. Thirteen national and local experts were recruited to participate in the project. Six interviews were conducted. Three rounds of voting were performed, with 12 panelists participating in the first round, 12 in the second round, and 13 in the third round. After the first two rounds, the criteria were modified according to respondent suggestions. In the final round, over 90% agreement was achieved for all but one criterion. A single e-mail vote was conducted on edits to the final criterion and consensus was achieved. A consensus-based, functional gold standard definition for each mass casualty triage category was developed. These gold standard definitions can be used to evaluate the accuracy of mass casualty triage systems after an actual incident, during training, or for research.

Beyond sensory images: Object-based representation in the human ventral pathway

PubMed Central

Pietrini, Pietro; Furey, Maura L.; Ricciardi, Emiliano; Gobbini, M. Ida; Wu, W.-H. Carolyn; Cohen, Leonardo; Guazzelli, Mario; Haxby, James V.

2004-01-01

We investigated whether the topographically organized, category-related patterns of neural response in the ventral visual pathway are a representation of sensory images or a more abstract representation of object form that is not dependent on sensory modality. We used functional MRI to measure patterns of response evoked during visual and tactile recognition of faces and manmade objects in sighted subjects and during tactile recognition in blind subjects. Results showed that visual and tactile recognition evoked category-related patterns of response in a ventral extrastriate visual area in the inferior temporal gyrus that were correlated across modality for manmade objects. Blind subjects also demonstrated category-related patterns of response in this “visual” area, and in more ventral cortical regions in the fusiform gyrus, indicating that these patterns are not due to visual imagery and, furthermore, that visual experience is not necessary for category-related representations to develop in these cortices. These results demonstrate that the representation of objects in the ventral visual pathway is not simply a representation of visual images but, rather, is a representation of more abstract features of object form. PMID:15064396

NASA Data Archive Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holley, Daniel C.; Haight, Kyle G.; Lindstrom, Ted

1997-01-01

The purpose of this study was to expose a range of naive individuals to the NASA Data Archive and to obtain feedback from them, with the goal of learning how useful people with varied backgrounds would find the Archive for research and other purposes. We processed 36 subjects in four experimental categories, designated in this report as C+R+, C+R-, C-R+ and C-R-, for computer experienced researchers, computer experienced non-researchers, non-computer experienced researchers, and non-computer experienced non-researchers, respectively. This report includes an assessment of general patterns of subject responses to the various aspects of the NASA Data Archive. Some of the aspects examined were interface-oriented, addressing such issues as whether the subject was able to locate information, figure out how to perform desired information retrieval tasks, etc. Other aspects were content-related. In doing these assessments, answers given to different questions were sometimes combined. This practice reflects the tendency of the subjects to provide answers expressing their experiences across question boundaries. Patterns of response are cross-examined by subject category in order to bring out deeper understandings of why subjects reacted the way they did to the archive. After the general assessment, there will be a more extensive summary of the replies received from the test subjects.

Application of multiattribute decision-making methods for the determination of relative significance factor of impact categories.

PubMed

Noh, Jaesung; Lee, Kun Mo

2003-05-01

A relative significance factor (f(i)) of an impact category is the external weight of the impact category. The objective of this study is to propose a systematic and easy-to-use method for the determination of f(i). Multiattribute decision-making (MADM) methods including the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), the rank-order centroid method, and the fuzzy method were evaluated for this purpose. The results and practical aspects of using the three methods are compared. Each method shows the same trend, with minor differences in the value of f(i). Thus, all three methods can be applied to the determination of f(i). The rank order centroid method reduces the number of pairwise comparisons by placing the alternatives in order, although it has inherent weakness over the fuzzy method in expressing the degree of vagueness associated with assigning weights to criteria and alternatives. The rank order centroid method is considered a practical method for the determination of f(i) because it is easier and simpler to use compared to the AHP and the fuzzy method.

7 CFR 993.503 - Size category.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Size category. 993.503 Section 993.503 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; FRUITS, VEGETABLES, NUTS), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DRIED PRUNES PRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA...

7 CFR 993.515 - Size categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Size categories. 993.515 Section 993.515 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements and Orders; Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DRIED PRUNES PRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA...

7 CFR 993.515 - Size categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Size categories. 993.515 Section 993.515 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; FRUITS, VEGETABLES, NUTS), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DRIED PRUNES PRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA...

7 CFR 993.515 - Size categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Size categories. 993.515 Section 993.515 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; FRUITS, VEGETABLES, NUTS), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DRIED PRUNES PRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA...

7 CFR 993.515 - Size categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Size categories. 993.515 Section 993.515 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements and Orders; Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DRIED PRUNES PRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA...

7 CFR 993.515 - Size categories.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Size categories. 993.515 Section 993.515 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing Agreements and Orders; Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DRIED PRUNES PRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA...

The Specificity of Women's Sexual Response and Its Relationship with Sexual Orientations: A Review and Ten Hypotheses.

PubMed

Chivers, Meredith L

2017-07-01

Category-specific sexual response describes a pattern wherein the individual shows significantly greater responses to preferred versus nonpreferred categories of sexual stimuli; this pattern is described as gender specific for sexual orientation to gender, or gender nonspecific if lacking response differentiation by gender cues. Research on the gender specificity of women's sexual response has consistently produced sexual orientation effects, such that androphilic women (sexually attracted to adult males) typically show gender-nonspecific patterns of genital response and gynephilic women (sexually attracted to adult females) show more gender-specific responses. As research on the category specificity of sexual response has grown, this pattern has also been observed for other measures of sexual response. In this review, I use the Incentive Motivation and Information Processing Models as complementary frameworks to organize the empirical literature examining the gender specificity of women's sexual response at each stage of sexual stimulus processing and response. Collectively, these data disconfirm models of sexual orientation that equate androphilic women's sexual attractions with their sexual responses to sexual stimuli. I then discuss 10 hypotheses that might explain variability in the specificity of sexual response among androphilic and gynephilic women, and conclude with recommendations for future research on the (non)specificity of sexual response.

What Does the Right Hemisphere Know about Phoneme Categories?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolmetz, Michael; Poeppel, David; Rapp, Brenda

2011-01-01

Innate auditory sensitivities and familiarity with the sounds of language give rise to clear influences of phonemic categories on adult perception of speech. With few exceptions, current models endorse highly left-hemisphere-lateralized mechanisms responsible for the influence of phonemic category on speech perception, based primarily on results…

Developing Foram-AMBI for biomonitoring in the Mediterranean: Species assignments to ecological categories

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jorissen, Frans; Nardelli, Maria P.; Almogi-Labin, Ahuva; Barras, Christine; Bergamin, Luisa; Bicchi, Erica; El Kateb, Akram; Ferraro, Luciana; McGann, Mary; Morigi, Caterina; Romano, Elena; Sabattini, Anna; Schweizer, Magali; Spezzaferri, Silvia

2018-01-01

Most environmental bio-monitoring methods using the species composition of marine faunas define the Ecological Quality Status of soft bottom ecosystems based on the relative proportions of species assigned to a limited number of ecological categories. In this study we analyse the distribution patterns of benthic foraminifera in the Mediterranean as a function of organic carbon gradients on the basis of 15 publications and assign the individual species to five ecological categories. Our categories (of sensitive, indifferent and 3rd, 2nd and 1st order opportunists) are very similar to the ecological categories commonly used for macrofauna, but show some minor differences. In the 15 analysed publications, we considered the numerical data of 493 taxa, of which 199 could be assigned. In all 79 taxa were classified as sensitive, 60 as indifferent, 46 as 3rd order, 12 as 2nd order and 2 as 1st order opportunists. The remaining 294 taxa are all accessory, and will only marginally contribute to biotic indices based on relative species proportions. In this paper we wanted also to explain the methodology we used for these species assignments, paying particular attention to all complications and problems encountered. We think that the species list proposed here will constitute a highly useful tool for foraminiferal bio-monitoring of soft bottoms in the Mediterranean Sea, which can be used in different ecological indices (Foram-AMBI and similar methods). With additional information becoming available in the next few years, it will be possible to expand the list, and, if necessary, to apply some minor corrections. As a next step, we intend to test this species list using several biotic indices, in a number of independent data sets, as soon as these will become available.

Effects of childhood hearing loss on organization of semantic memory: typicality and relatedness.

PubMed

Jerger, Susan; Damian, Markus F; Tye-Murray, Nancy; Dougherty, Meaghan; Mehta, Jyutika; Spence, Melanie

2006-12-01

The purpose of this research was to study how early childhood hearing loss affects development of concepts and categories, aspects of semantic knowledge that allow us to group and make inferences about objects with common properties, such as dogs versus cats. We assessed category typicality and out-of-category relatedness effects. The typicality effect refers to performance advantage (faster reaction times, fewer errors) for objects with a higher number of a category's characteristic properties; the out-of-category relatedness effect refers to performance disadvantage (slower reaction times and more errors) for out-of-category objects that share some properties with category members. We applied a new children's speeded category-verification task (vote "yes" if the pictured object is clothing). Stimuli were pictures of typical and atypical category objects (e.g., pants, glove) and related and unrelated out-of-category objects (e.g., necklace, soup). Participants were 30 children with hearing impairment (HI) who were considered successful hearing aid users and who attended regular classes (mainstreamed) with some support services. Ages ranged from 5 to 15 yr (mean = 10 yr 8 mo). Results were related to normative data from . Typical objects consistently showed preferential processing (faster reaction times, fewer errors), and related out-of-category objects consistently showed the converse. Overall, results between HI and normative groups exhibited striking similarity. Variation in speed of classification was influenced primarily by age and age-related competencies, such as vocabulary skill. Audiological status, however, independently influenced performance to a lesser extent, with positive responses becoming faster as degree of hearing loss decreased and negative responses becoming faster as age of identification/amplification/education decreased. There were few errors overall. The presence of a typicality effect indicates that 1) the structure of conceptual representations for at least one category in the HI group was based on characteristic properties with an uneven distribution among members, and 2) typical objects with a higher number of characteristic properties were more easily accessed and/or retrieved. The presence of a relatedness effect indicates that the structure of representational knowledge in the HI group allowed them to appreciate semantic properties and understand that properties may be shared between categories. Speculations linked the association 1) between positive responses and degree of hearing loss to an increase in the quality, accessibility, and retrievability of conceptual representations with better hearing; and 2) between negative responses and age of identification/amplification/education to an improvement in effortful, postretrieval decision-making proficiencies with more schooling and amplified auditory experience. This research establishes the value of our new approach to assessing the organization of semantic memory in children with HI.

"What" precedes "which": developmental neural tuning in face- and place-related cortex.

PubMed

Scherf, K Suzanne; Luna, Beatriz; Avidan, Galia; Behrmann, Marlene

2011-09-01

Although category-specific activation for faces in the ventral visual pathway appears adult-like in adolescence, recognition abilities for individual faces are still immature. We investigated how the ability to represent "individual" faces and houses develops at the neural level. Category-selective regions of interest (ROIs) for faces in the fusiform gyrus (FG) and for places in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) were identified individually in children, adolescents, and adults. Then, using an functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation paradigm, we measured category selectivity and individual-level adaptation for faces and houses in each ROI. Only adults exhibited both category selectivity and individual-level adaptation bilaterally for faces in the FG and for houses in the PPA. Adolescents showed category selectivity bilaterally for faces in the FG and houses in the PPA. Despite this profile of category selectivity, adolescents only exhibited individual-level adaptation for houses bilaterally in the PPA and for faces in the "left" FG. Children only showed category-selective responses for houses in the PPA, and they failed to exhibit category-selective responses for faces in the FG and individual-level adaptation effects anywhere in the brain. These results indicate that category-level neural tuning develops prior to individual-level neural tuning and that face-related cortex is disproportionately slower in this developmental transition than is place-related cortex.

“What” Precedes “Which”: Developmental Neural Tuning in Face- and Place-Related Cortex

PubMed Central

Luna, Beatriz; Avidan, Galia; Behrmann, Marlene

2011-01-01

Although category-specific activation for faces in the ventral visual pathway appears adult-like in adolescence, recognition abilities for individual faces are still immature. We investigated how the ability to represent “individual” faces and houses develops at the neural level. Category-selective regions of interest (ROIs) for faces in the fusiform gyrus (FG) and for places in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) were identified individually in children, adolescents, and adults. Then, using an functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation paradigm, we measured category selectivity and individual-level adaptation for faces and houses in each ROI. Only adults exhibited both category selectivity and individual-level adaptation bilaterally for faces in the FG and for houses in the PPA. Adolescents showed category selectivity bilaterally for faces in the FG and houses in the PPA. Despite this profile of category selectivity, adolescents only exhibited individual-level adaptation for houses bilaterally in the PPA and for faces in the “left” FG. Children only showed category-selective responses for houses in the PPA, and they failed to exhibit category-selective responses for faces in the FG and individual-level adaptation effects anywhere in the brain. These results indicate that category-level neural tuning develops prior to individual-level neural tuning and that face-related cortex is disproportionately slower in this developmental transition than is place-related cortex. PMID:21257673

76 FR 31320 - Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725B); Comment Request; Submitted for OMB Review

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-31

... respondent response \\7\\ hours (1) (2) (3) (1) x (2) x (3) FERC-725B: Category 1--Estimate of U.S. 345 1 1,920... 138,720 Entities that have not identified Critical Cyber Assets. Category 3--New U.S. Entities 6 1 3... longer required Category 1: -2...... 1 Category 1 (2 -3,840 to comply with CIP Standards respondents...

Higher-Order Containers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altenkirch, Thorsten; Levy, Paul; Staton, Sam

Containers are a semantic way to talk about strictly positive types. In previous work it was shown that containers are closed under various constructions including products, coproducts, initial algebras and terminal coalgebras. In the present paper we show that, surprisingly, the category of containers is cartesian closed, giving rise to a full cartesian closed subcategory of endofunctors. The result has interesting applications in generic programming and representation of higher order abstract syntax. We also show that the category of containers has finite limits, but it is not locally cartesian closed.

Category specific dysnomia after thalamic infarction: a case-control study.

PubMed

Levin, Netta; Ben-Hur, Tamir; Biran, Iftah; Wertman, Eli

2005-01-01

Category specific naming impairment was described mainly after cortical lesions. It is thought to result from a lesion in a specific network, reflecting the organization of our semantic knowledge. The deficit usually involves multiple semantic categories whose profile of naming deficit generally obeys the animate/inanimate dichotomy. Thalamic lesions cause general semantic naming deficit, and only rarely a category specific semantic deficit for very limited and highly specific categories. We performed a case-control study on a 56-year-old right-handed man who presented with language impairment following a left anterior thalamic infarction. His naming ability and semantic knowledge were evaluated in the visual, tactile and auditory modalities for stimuli from 11 different categories, and compared to that of five controls. In naming to visual stimuli the patient performed poorly (error rate>50%) in four categories: vegetables, toys, animals and body parts (average 70.31+/-15%). In each category there was a different dominating error type. He performed better in the other seven categories (tools, clothes, transportation, fruits, electric, furniture, kitchen utensils), averaging 14.28+/-9% errors. Further analysis revealed a dichotomy between naming in animate and inanimate categories in the visual and tactile modalities but not in response to auditory stimuli. Thus, a unique category specific profile of response and naming errors to visual and tactile, but not auditory stimuli was found after a left anterior thalamic infarction. This might reflect the role of the thalamus not only as a relay station but further as a central integrator of different stages of perceptual and semantic processing.

Emotion words and categories: evidence from lexical decision.

PubMed

Scott, Graham G; O'Donnell, Patrick J; Sereno, Sara C

2014-05-01

We examined the categorical nature of emotion word recognition. Positive, negative, and neutral words were presented in lexical decision tasks. Word frequency was additionally manipulated. In Experiment 1, "positive" and "negative" categories of words were implicitly indicated by the blocked design employed. A significant emotion-frequency interaction was obtained, replicating past research. While positive words consistently elicited faster responses than neutral words, only low frequency negative words demonstrated a similar advantage. In Experiments 2a and 2b, explicit categories ("positive," "negative," and "household" items) were specified to participants. Positive words again elicited faster responses than did neutral words. Responses to negative words, however, were no different than those to neutral words, regardless of their frequency. The overall pattern of effects indicates that positive words are always facilitated, frequency plays a greater role in the recognition of negative words, and a "negative" category represents a somewhat disparate set of emotions. These results support the notion that emotion word processing may be moderated by distinct systems.

Exploring students' patterns of reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matloob Haghanikar, Mojgan

As part of a collaborative study of the science preparation of elementary school teachers, we investigated the quality of students' reasoning and explored the relationship between sophistication of reasoning and the degree to which the courses were considered inquiry oriented. To probe students' reasoning, we developed open-ended written content questions with the distinguishing feature of applying recently learned concepts in a new context. We devised a protocol for developing written content questions that provided a common structure for probing and classifying students' sophistication level of reasoning. In designing our protocol, we considered several distinct criteria, and classified students' responses based on their performance for each criterion. First, we classified concepts into three types: Descriptive, Hypothetical, and Theoretical and categorized the abstraction levels of the responses in terms of the types of concepts and the inter-relationship between the concepts. Second, we devised a rubric based on Bloom's revised taxonomy with seven traits (both knowledge types and cognitive processes) and a defined set of criteria to evaluate each trait. Along with analyzing students' reasoning, we visited universities and observed the courses in which the students were enrolled. We used the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to rank the courses with respect to characteristics that are valued for the inquiry courses. We conducted logistic regression for a sample of 18courses with about 900 students and reported the results for performing logistic regression to estimate the relationship between traits of reasoning and RTOP score. In addition, we analyzed conceptual structure of students' responses, based on conceptual classification schemes, and clustered students' responses into six categories. We derived regression model, to estimate the relationship between the sophistication of the categories of conceptual structure and RTOP scores. However, the outcome variable with six categories required a more complicated regression model, known as multinomial logistic regression, generalized from binary logistic regression. With the large amount of collected data, we found that the likelihood of the higher cognitive processes were in favor of classes with higher measures on inquiry. However, the usage of more abstract concepts with higher order conceptual structures was less prevalent in higher RTOP courses.

40 CFR 205.168-11 - Order to cease distribution.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... order will not be issued if the manufacturer has made a good faith attempt to properly production verify the category and can establish such good faith. (b) Any such order shall be issued after notice and...

Are We Afraid of Different Categories of Stimuli in Identical Ways? Evidence from Skin Conductance Responses

PubMed Central

Yang, Jiongjiong

2013-01-01

Studies have shown that emotional pictures attract more attention than neutral pictures, and pictures of living stimuli have similar advantage in driving attention (vs. nonliving). However, factors of emotion, category and picture context are usually mixed so that whether living and nonliving categories elicit different skin conductance (SC) responses, in both conscious and unconscious conditions, remains to be clarified. In this study, participants were presented with negative and neutral pictures denoting different living and nonliving concepts in conscious (Experiments 1 and 2) and unconscious conditions (40ms, Experiment 3) when their SC responses were measured. The picture context was manipulated in Experiments 2 and 3 as half including human-related information. In three experiments, the emotional levels of different categories were matched in different and identical cohorts of participants. The results showed that living pictures in a negative, high-arousing dimension elicited stronger SC responses than nonliving pictures. When nonhuman animals and inanimate objects were compared, the increased SC responses to animals was obtained only for negative pictures without human contexts in the conscious condition, but regardless of human context in the unconscious condition. These results suggested that contextual information and level of conscious awareness are important to modulate the animate advantage in emotional processing. PMID:24039879

General mixture item response models with different item response structures: Exposition with an application to Likert scales.

PubMed

Tijmstra, Jesper; Bolsinova, Maria; Jeon, Minjeong

2018-01-10

This article proposes a general mixture item response theory (IRT) framework that allows for classes of persons to differ with respect to the type of processes underlying the item responses. Through the use of mixture models, nonnested IRT models with different structures can be estimated for different classes, and class membership can be estimated for each person in the sample. If researchers are able to provide competing measurement models, this mixture IRT framework may help them deal with some violations of measurement invariance. To illustrate this approach, we consider a two-class mixture model, where a person's responses to Likert-scale items containing a neutral middle category are either modeled using a generalized partial credit model, or through an IRTree model. In the first model, the middle category ("neither agree nor disagree") is taken to be qualitatively similar to the other categories, and is taken to provide information about the person's endorsement. In the second model, the middle category is taken to be qualitatively different and to reflect a nonresponse choice, which is modeled using an additional latent variable that captures a person's willingness to respond. The mixture model is studied using simulation studies and is applied to an empirical example.

Gapless edges of 2d topological orders and enriched monoidal categories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Liang; Zheng, Hao

2018-02-01

In this work, we give a mathematical description of a chiral gapless edge of a 2d topological order (without symmetry). We show that the observables on the 1+1D world sheet of such an edge consist of a family of topological edge excitations, boundary CFT's and walls between boundary CFT's. These observables can be described by a chiral algebra and an enriched monoidal category. This mathematical description automatically includes that of gapped edges as special cases. Therefore, it gives a unified framework to study both gapped and gapless edges. Moreover, the boundary-bulk duality also holds for gapless edges. More precisely, the unitary modular tensor category that describes the 2d bulk phase is exactly the Drinfeld center of the enriched monoidal category that describes the gapless/gapped edge. We propose a classification of all gapped and chiral gapless edges of a given bulk phase. In the end, we explain how modular-invariant bulk rational conformal field theories naturally emerge on certain gapless walls between two trivial phases.

Taboo thoughts and doubt/checking

PubMed Central

Pinto, Anthony; Eisen, Jane L.; Mancebo, Maria C.; Greenberg, Benjamin D.; Stout, Robert L.; Rasmussen, Steven A.

2007-01-01

The purpose of this report was to improve upon earlier factor analyses of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom categories by minimizing the heterogeneity in the aggressive obsessions category. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on data from 293 adults with primary OCD. The resulting five factors (Symmetry/Ordering, Hoarding, Doubt/Checking, Contamination/Cleaning, and Taboo Thoughts) are phenomenologically more homogeneous than prior category-based factors and are consistent with those derived in previous item-level analyses. PMID:17368563

Ideas for clear technical writing

USGS Publications Warehouse

Robinson, B.P.

1984-01-01

The three greatest obstacles to clear technical-report writing are probably (1) imprecise words, (2) wordiness, and (3) poorly constructed sentences. Examples of category 1 include abstract words, jargon, and vogue words; of category 2, sentences containing impersonal construction superfluous words; and of category 3, sentences lacking parallel construction and proper order of related words and phrases. These examples and other writing-related subjects are discussed in the report, which contains a cross-referenced index and 24 references.

A Novel Clustering Method Curbing the Number of States in Reinforcement Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotani, Naoki; Nunobiki, Masayuki; Taniguchi, Kenji

We propose an efficient state-space construction method for a reinforcement learning. Our method controls the number of categories with improving the clustering method of Fuzzy ART which is an autonomous state-space construction method. The proposed method represents weight vector as the mean value of input vectors in order to curb the number of new categories and eliminates categories whose state values are low to curb the total number of categories. As the state value is updated, the size of category becomes small to learn policy strictly. We verified the effectiveness of the proposed method with simulations of a reaching problem for a two-link robot arm. We confirmed that the number of categories was reduced and the agent achieved the complex task quickly.

Self-service kiosk for testing sunglasses

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Sunglasses users may only be assured on their ultraviolet protection by purchasing certified products, however they are not able to check if sunglasses are still ultraviolet (UV) protected as they age, unless they resort themselves to a professional who is qualified for using a spectrophotometer and is acknowledged on the standards for providing a report for the user. Current literature establishes safe limits on the exposure of the eyes relatively to the ultraviolet radiation exposure for the UVA and UVB ranges (280 nm – 400 nm). The UV protection is category dependent. Sunglasses are categorized from 0 to 4 and the categories are determined by the lenses transmission’s percentage on the visible range (380 nm – 780 nm). Methods In order to overcome inaccessibility of such measurements on sunglasses, a prototype for testing ultraviolet protection on sunglasses, according to Brazilian Standards, has been developed for amateur use. The system consists of assembling UVA and UVB light sources and two UV responsive photodiode sensors, with Erythema action response for measuring UV protection; for categories measurements, combination of white light and LEDs were used for the visible range, as well as a light sensor having spectral response similar to the human eye. Electronics has been developed for controlling the measurements and software has been implemented for providing the report as well as for the user’s interface. Results All the system was embedded as a self-service touch screen kiosk and provides transmittance measurements that are within the deviation limit required by NBR15111, i.e., 0.25%. Measurements were performed in over 45 sunglasses and compared to CARY 5000 – VARIAN spectrophotometer and present a good correlation for the measurements of transmittance in the visible spectral range (r2 = 0.9999) and in the ultraviolet range (r2 = 0.9997). Conclusions The prototype identifies the UV protection, for non-corrective sunglasses, according to category of the lens and is available for the public. In addition to educating the population about the importance of wearing protected sunglasses, the prototype has also allowed the public to have access to information about the quality of protection of their own sunglasses in an easy and free testing method. PMID:24761766

Kid Categories: A Comparison of the Category Productions of LSES and MSES Elementary School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Rihana S.; Terry, Nicole Patton; Metzger, Isha

2013-01-01

The current study compares the productivity (number of responses) and the typical responses to taxonomic and slot-filler prompts in 39 African American children from low-income backgrounds and a diverse group of 21 children from middle-income backgrounds. The authors tested the hypothesis that socioeconomic status would exert a global influence on…

The Contribution of Two Categories of Parent Verbal Responsiveness to Later Language for Toddlers and Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haebig, Eileen; McDuffie, Andrea; Weismer, Susan Ellis

2013-01-01

Purpose: The authors examined longitudinal associations between 2 categories of parent verbal responsiveness and language comprehension and production 1 year later in 40 toddlers and preschoolers with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method: Parent-child play samples using a standard toy set were digitally captured and coded for…

Social representation of "music" in young adults: a cross-cultural study.

PubMed

Manchaiah, Vinaya; Zhao, Fei; Widén, Stephen; Auzenne, Jasmin; Beukes, Eldré W; Ahmadi, Tayebeh; Tomé, David; Mahadeva, Deepthi; Krishna, Rajalakshmi; Germundsson, Per

2017-01-01

This study was aimed to explore perceptions of and reactions to music in young adults (18-25 years) using the theory of social representations (TSR). The study used a cross-sectional survey design and included participants from India, Iran, Portugal, USA and UK. Data were analysed using various qualitative and quantitative methods. The study sample included 534 young adults. The Chi-square analysis showed significant differences between the countries regarding the informants' perception of music. The most positive connotations about music were found in the responses obtained from Iranian participants (82.2%), followed by Portuguese participants (80.6%), while the most negative connotations about music were found in the responses obtained from Indian participants (18.2%), followed by Iranian participants (7.3%). The participants' responses fell into 19 main categories based on their meaning; however, not all categories were found in all five countries. The co-occurrence analysis results generally indicate that the category "positive emotions or actions" was the most frequent category occurring in all five countries. The results indicate that music is generally considered to bring positive emotions for people within these societies, although a small percentage of responses indicate some negative consequences of music.

Materiality, Technology, and Constructing Social Knowledge through Bodily Representation: A View from Prehistoric Guernsey, Channel Islands.

PubMed

Kohring, Sheila

2015-04-22

The role of the human body in the creation of social knowledge-as an ontological and/or aesthetic category-has been applied across social theory. In all these approaches, the body is viewed as a locus for experience and knowledge. If the body is a source of subjective knowledge, then it can also become an important means of creating ontological categories of self and society. The materiality of human representations within art traditions, then, can be interpreted as providing a means for contextualizing and aestheticizing the body in order to produce a symbolic and structural knowledge category. This paper explores the effect of material choices and techniques of production when representing the human body on how societies order and categorize the world.

NASA Video Catalog. Supplement 15

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

This issue of the NASA Video Catalog cites video productions listed in the NASA STI Database. The videos listed have been developed by the NASA centers, covering Shuttle mission press conferences; fly-bys of planets; aircraft design, testing and performance; environmental pollution; lunar and planetary exploration; and many other categories related to manned and unmanned space exploration. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied by an abstract. The Table of Contents shows how the entries are arranged by divisions and categories according to the NASA Scope and Coverage Category Guide. For users with specific information, a Title Index is available. A Subject Term Index, based on the NASA Thesaurus, is also included. Guidelines for usage of NASA audio/visual material, ordering information, and order forms are also available.

NASA Video Catalog. Supplement 13

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

This issue of the NASA Video Catalog cites video productions listed in the NASA STI Database. The videos listed have been developed by the NASA centers, covering Shuttle mission press conferences; fly-bys of planets; aircraft design, testing and performance; environmental pollution; lunar and planetary exploration; and many other categories related to manned and unmanned space exploration. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied by an abstract. The Table of Contents shows how the entries are arranged by divisions and categories according to the NASA Scope and Coverage Category Guide. For users with specific information, a Title Index is available. A Subject Term Index, based on the NASA Thesaurus, is also included. Guidelines for usage of NASA audio/visual material, ordering information, and order forms are also available.

NASA Video Catalog. Supplement 14

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

This issue of the NASA Video Catalog cites video productions listed in the NASA STI Database. The videos listed have been developed by the NASA centers, covering Shuttle mission press conferences; fly-bys of planets; aircraft design, testing and performance; environmental pollution; lunar and planetary exploration; and many other categories related to manned and unmanned space exploration. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied by an abstract. The Table of Contents shows how the entries are arranged by divisions and categories according to the NASA Scope and Coverage Category Guide. For users with specific information, a Title Index is available. A Subject Term Index, based on the NASA Thesaurus, is also included. Guidelines for usage of NASA audio/visual material, ordering information, and order forms are also available.

NASA Video Catalog

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

This issue of the NASA Video Catalog cites video productions listed in the NASA STI database. The videos listed have been developed by the NASA centers, covering Shuttle mission press conferences; fly-bys of planets; aircraft design, testing and performance; environmental pollution; lunar and planetary exploration; and many other categories related to manned and unmanned space exploration. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied by an abstract. The Table of Contents shows how the entries are arranged by divisions and categories according to the NASA Scope and Subject Category Guide. For users with specific information, a Title Index is available. A Subject Term Index, based on the NASA Thesaurus, is also included. Guidelines for usage of NASA audio/visual material, ordering information, and order forms are also available.

Two-to-one color-response mapping and the presence of semantic conflict in the Stroop task.

PubMed

Hasshim, Nabil; Parris, Benjamin A

2014-01-01

A series of recent studies have utilized the two-to-one mapping paradigm in the Stroop task. In this paradigm, the word red might be presented in blue when both red and blue share the same-response key (same-response trials). This manipulation has been used to show the separate contributions of (within) semantic category conflict and response conflict to Stroop interference. Such results evidencing semantic category conflict are incompatible with models of the Stroop task that are based on response conflict only. However, the nature of same-response trials is unclear since they are also likely to involve response facilitation given that both dimensions of the stimulus provide evidence toward the same-response. In this study we explored this possibility by comparing them with three other trial types. We report strong (Bayesian) evidence for no statistical difference between same-response and non-color word neutral trials, faster responses to same-response trials than to non-response set incongruent trials, and no differences between same-response vs. congruent trials when contingency is controlled. Our results suggest that same-response trials are not different from neutral trials indicating that they cannot be used reliably to determine the presence or absence of semantic category conflict. In light of these results, the interpretation of a series of recent studies might have to be reassessed.

Physiological responses to taste signals of functional food components.

PubMed

Narukawa, Masataka

2018-02-01

The functions of food have three categories: nutrition, palatability, and bioregulation. As the onset of lifestyle-related diseases has increased, many people have shown interest in functional foods that are beneficial to bioregulation. We believe that functional foods should be highly palatable for increased acceptance from consumers. In order to design functional foods with a high palatability, we have investigated about the palatability, especially in relation to the taste of food. In this review, we discuss (1) the identification of taste receptors that respond to functional food components; (2) an analysis of the peripheral taste transduction system; and (3) the investigation of the relationship between physiological functions and taste signals.

Serial Position Functions in General Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelley, Matthew R.; Neath, Ian; Surprenant, Aimée M.

2015-01-01

Serial position functions with marked primacy and recency effects are ubiquitous in episodic memory tasks. The demonstrations reported here explored whether bow-shaped serial position functions would be observed when people ordered exemplars from various categories along a specified dimension. The categories and dimensions were: actors and age;…

A qualitative investigation of specialist orthodontists in New Zealand. Part 1. Orthodontists and orthodontic practice.

PubMed

Soma, Kieran J; Thomson, W Murray; Morgaine, Kate C; Harding, Winifred J

2012-05-01

Current knowledge of orthodontic practice is largely anecdotal and the lack of systematic knowledge can create barriers to better identifying the factors that make a successful orthodontist. The aim of this study was to investigate the routine practising lives of New Zealand orthodontists in order to generate an understanding of the reality of orthodontic specialist practice and its effects on their professional and personal lives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted involving 19 practising orthodontists (four females, 15 males; mean age 50 years) throughout New Zealand.Transcribed interviews were analysed for themes using an applied grounded theory approach. A core category of 'practising orthodontists' was derived, and related themes were grouped under the sub-categories of: (a) NZ orthodontic specialist practice; (b) NZ specialist orthodontists; and (c) work-life balance. The present paper reports on the first two subcategories. Themes elucidated under the specialist practice sub-category included modernisation, changing social norms, practice arrangement, branch practice, staffing, competition, legislation, advertising, the future and the provision of orthodontics by non-specialists. Themes in the orthodontic specialist sub-category were prior experience, postgraduate training, recent graduates, reasons for specialising, generational differences, females in orthodontics, NZ and overseas practice, the ageing profession and the prospect of an orthodontist shortage. This investigation has shed light on orthodontists and the practice of orthodontics in New Zealand and determined aspects rarely discussed in the current or previous literature. It will be valuable to observe how orthodontists and orthodontic practice continue to evolve in response to changes in NZ society.

The emergence of the visual word form: Longitudinal evolution of category-specific ventral visual areas during reading acquisition

PubMed Central

Monzalvo, Karla; Dehaene, Stanislas

2018-01-01

How does education affect cortical organization? All literate adults possess a region specialized for letter strings, the visual word form area (VWFA), within the mosaic of ventral regions involved in processing other visual categories such as objects, places, faces, or body parts. Therefore, the acquisition of literacy may induce a reorientation of cortical maps towards letters at the expense of other categories such as faces. To test this cortical recycling hypothesis, we studied how the visual cortex of individual children changes during the first months of reading acquisition. Ten 6-year-old children were scanned longitudinally 6 or 7 times with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and throughout the first year of school. Subjects were exposed to a variety of pictures (words, numbers, tools, houses, faces, and bodies) while performing an unrelated target-detection task. Behavioral assessment indicated a sharp rise in grapheme–phoneme knowledge and reading speed in the first trimester of school. Concurrently, voxels specific to written words and digits emerged at the VWFA location. The responses to other categories remained largely stable, although right-hemispheric face-related activity increased in proportion to reading scores. Retrospective examination of the VWFA voxels prior to reading acquisition showed that reading encroaches on voxels that are initially weakly specialized for tools and close to but distinct from those responsive to faces. Remarkably, those voxels appear to keep their initial category selectivity while acquiring an additional and stronger responsivity to words. We propose a revised model of the neuronal recycling process in which new visual categories invade weakly specified cortex while leaving previously stabilized cortical responses unchanged. PMID:29509766

The emergence of the visual word form: Longitudinal evolution of category-specific ventral visual areas during reading acquisition.

PubMed

Dehaene-Lambertz, Ghislaine; Monzalvo, Karla; Dehaene, Stanislas

2018-03-01

How does education affect cortical organization? All literate adults possess a region specialized for letter strings, the visual word form area (VWFA), within the mosaic of ventral regions involved in processing other visual categories such as objects, places, faces, or body parts. Therefore, the acquisition of literacy may induce a reorientation of cortical maps towards letters at the expense of other categories such as faces. To test this cortical recycling hypothesis, we studied how the visual cortex of individual children changes during the first months of reading acquisition. Ten 6-year-old children were scanned longitudinally 6 or 7 times with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and throughout the first year of school. Subjects were exposed to a variety of pictures (words, numbers, tools, houses, faces, and bodies) while performing an unrelated target-detection task. Behavioral assessment indicated a sharp rise in grapheme-phoneme knowledge and reading speed in the first trimester of school. Concurrently, voxels specific to written words and digits emerged at the VWFA location. The responses to other categories remained largely stable, although right-hemispheric face-related activity increased in proportion to reading scores. Retrospective examination of the VWFA voxels prior to reading acquisition showed that reading encroaches on voxels that are initially weakly specialized for tools and close to but distinct from those responsive to faces. Remarkably, those voxels appear to keep their initial category selectivity while acquiring an additional and stronger responsivity to words. We propose a revised model of the neuronal recycling process in which new visual categories invade weakly specified cortex while leaving previously stabilized cortical responses unchanged.

Category search speeds up face-selective fMRI responses in a non-hierarchical cortical face network.

PubMed

Jiang, Fang; Badler, Jeremy B; Righi, Giulia; Rossion, Bruno

2015-05-01

The human brain is extremely efficient at detecting faces in complex visual scenes, but the spatio-temporal dynamics of this remarkable ability, and how it is influenced by category-search, remain largely unknown. In the present study, human subjects were shown gradually-emerging images of faces or cars in visual scenes, while neural activity was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Category search was manipulated by the instruction to indicate the presence of either a face or a car, in different blocks, as soon as an exemplar of the target category was detected in the visual scene. The category selectivity of most face-selective areas was enhanced when participants were instructed to report the presence of faces in gradually decreasing noise stimuli. Conversely, the same regions showed much less selectivity when participants were instructed instead to detect cars. When "face" was the target category, the fusiform face area (FFA) showed consistently earlier differentiation of face versus car stimuli than did the "occipital face area" (OFA). When "car" was the target category, only the FFA showed differentiation of face versus car stimuli. These observations provide further challenges for hierarchical models of cortical face processing and show that during gradual revealing of information, selective category-search may decrease the required amount of information, enhancing and speeding up category-selective responses in the human brain. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contextual memory and skill transfer in category search.

PubMed

Kole, James A; Healy, Alice F; Fierman, Deanna M; Bourne, Lyle E

2010-01-01

In three experiments, we examined transfer and contextual memory in a category search task. Each experiment included two phases (training and test), during which participants searched through category and exemplar menus for targets. In Experiment 1, the targets were from one of two domains during training (grocery store or department store); the domain was either the same or changed at test. Also, the categories were organized in one of two ways (alphabetically or semantically); the organization either remained the same or changed at test. In Experiments 2 and 3, domain and organization were held constant; however, categories or exemplars were the same, partially replaced, or entirely replaced across phases in order to simulate the dynamic nature of category search in everyday situations. Transfer occurred at test when the category organization or domain was maintained and when the categories or exemplars matched (partially or entirely) those at training. These results demonstrate that transfer is facilitated by overlap in training and testing contexts.

Prototypes and particulars: geometric and experience-dependent spatial categories.

PubMed

Spencer, John P; Hund, Alycia M

2002-03-01

People use geometric cues to form spatial categories. This study investigated whether people also use the spatial distribution of exemplars. Adults pointed to remembered locations on a tabletop. In Experiment 1, a target was placed in each geometric category, and the location of targets was varied. Adults' responses were biased away from a midline category boundary toward geometric prototypes located at the centers of left and right categories. Experiment 2 showed that prototype effects were not influenced by cross-category interactions. In Experiment 3, subsets of targets were positioned at different locations within each category. When prototype effects were removed, there was a bias toward the center of the exemplar distribution, suggesting that common categorization processes operate across spatial and object domains.

Is Statistical Learning Constrained by Lower Level Perceptual Organization?

PubMed Central

Emberson, Lauren L.; Liu, Ran; Zevin, Jason D.

2013-01-01

In order for statistical information to aid in complex developmental processes such as language acquisition, learning from higher-order statistics (e.g. across successive syllables in a speech stream to support segmentation) must be possible while perceptual abilities (e.g. speech categorization) are still developing. The current study examines how perceptual organization interacts with statistical learning. Adult participants were presented with multiple exemplars from novel, complex sound categories designed to reflect some of the spectral complexity and variability of speech. These categories were organized into sequential pairs and presented such that higher-order statistics, defined based on sound categories, could support stream segmentation. Perceptual similarity judgments and multi-dimensional scaling revealed that participants only perceived three perceptual clusters of sounds and thus did not distinguish the four experimenter-defined categories, creating a tension between lower level perceptual organization and higher-order statistical information. We examined whether the resulting pattern of learning is more consistent with statistical learning being “bottom-up,” constrained by the lower levels of organization, or “top-down,” such that higher-order statistical information of the stimulus stream takes priority over the perceptual organization, and perhaps influences perceptual organization. We consistently find evidence that learning is constrained by perceptual organization. Moreover, participants generalize their learning to novel sounds that occupy a similar perceptual space, suggesting that statistical learning occurs based on regions of or clusters in perceptual space. Overall, these results reveal a constraint on learning of sound sequences, such that statistical information is determined based on lower level organization. These findings have important implications for the role of statistical learning in language acquisition. PMID:23618755

Microcircuit Reliability Bibliography. Volume 3. 1975 Annual Reference Supplement (Document Numbers 10417-11044)

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-04-01

to 2-16 Category 3: Fabrie’ition Methods and Techniques 3-01 to 3-21 Category 4: ReliabiLity Studies 4-01 to 4-15 Category 5: C,,rputeiized Analysis...RAC icrodrcuit Thesaurus. The ternis are arranged in alphabetical order with sub-term description followinti each main term. Cosvreferencing is...Reliability aspects of vrocircuit manufacturi’. 4. Reliability Studies : Technics) reports !:datig to ;ormal ve isbbty studies and investi- sations

Categories of Large Numbers in Line Estimation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landy, David; Charlesworth, Arthur; Ottmar, Erin

2017-01-01

How do people stretch their understanding of magnitude from the experiential range to the very large quantities and ranges important in science, geopolitics, and mathematics? This paper empirically evaluates how and whether people make use of numerical categories when estimating relative magnitudes of numbers across many orders of magnitude. We…

38 CFR 61.44 - Awarding special needs grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) Applicants will first be grouped in categories according to the funding priorities set forth in the NOFA, if... highest-ranked applications for which funding is available, within highest priority funding category if... order, as determined under § 61.43 of this part. If funding priorities have been established and funds...

38 CFR 61.32 - Ranking non-capital grant recipients for per diem.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Availability will be reviewed and grouped in categories according to the funding priorities set forth in the... available, within highest priority funding category if applicable, will be conditionally selected for eligibility to receive per diem payments in accordance with their ranked order. If funding priorities have...

38 CFR 61.54 - Awarding technical assistance grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) Applicants will first be grouped in categories according to the funding priorities set forth in the NOFA, if... highest-ranked applications for which funding is available, within highest priority funding category if... ranked order, as determined under § 61.53 of this part. If funding priorities have been established and...

Genomic analysis of human lung fibroblasts exposed to vanadium pentoxide to identify candidate genes for occupational bronchitis

PubMed Central

Ingram, Jennifer L; Antao-Menezes, Aurita; Turpin, Elizabeth A; Wallace, Duncan G; Mangum, James B; Pluta, Linda J; Thomas, Russell S; Bonner, James C

2007-01-01

Background Exposure to vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) is a cause of occupational bronchitis. We evaluated gene expression profiles in cultured human lung fibroblasts exposed to V2O5 in vitro in order to identify candidate genes that could play a role in inflammation, fibrosis, and repair during the pathogenesis of V2O5-induced bronchitis. Methods Normal human lung fibroblasts were exposed to V2O5 in a time course experiment. Gene expression was measured at various time points over a 24 hr period using the Affymetrix Human Genome U133A 2.0 Array. Selected genes that were significantly changed in the microarray experiment were validated by RT-PCR. Results V2O5 altered more than 1,400 genes, of which ~300 were induced while >1,100 genes were suppressed. Gene ontology categories (GO) categories unique to induced genes included inflammatory response and immune response, while GO catogories unique to suppressed genes included ubiquitin cycle and cell cycle. A dozen genes were validated by RT-PCR, including growth factors (HBEGF, VEGF, CTGF), chemokines (IL8, CXCL9, CXCL10), oxidative stress response genes (SOD2, PIPOX, OXR1), and DNA-binding proteins (GAS1, STAT1). Conclusion Our study identified a variety of genes that could play pivotal roles in inflammation, fibrosis and repair during V2O5-induced bronchitis. The induction of genes that mediate inflammation and immune responses, as well as suppression of genes involved in growth arrest appear to be important to the lung fibrotic reaction to V2O5. PMID:17459161

Visual mismatch negativity and categorization.

PubMed

Czigler, István

2014-07-01

Visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component of event-related potentials is elicited by stimuli violating the category rule of stimulus sequences, even if such stimuli are outside the focus of attention. Category-related vMMN emerges to colors, and color-related vMMN is sensitive to language-related effects. A higher-order perceptual category, bilateral symmetry is also represented in the memory processes underlying vMMN. As a relatively large body of research shows, violating the emotional category of human faces elicits vMMN. Another face-related category sensitive to the violation of regular presentation is gender. Finally, vMMN was elicited to the laterality of hands. As results on category-related vMMN show, stimulus representation in the non-conscious change detection system is fairly complex, and it is not restricted to the registration of elementary perceptual regularities.

Orders and dimensions for sl(2) or sl(3) module categories and boundary conformal field theories on a torus

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

Coquereaux, R.; Schieber, G.; Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas

2007-04-15

After giving a short description, in terms of action of categories, of some of the structures associated with sl(2) and sl(3) boundary conformal field theories on a torus, we provide tables of dimensions describing the semisimple and cosemisimple blocks of the corresponding weak bialgebras (quantum groupoids), tables of quantum dimensions and orders, and tables describing induction-restriction. For reasons of size, the sl(3) tables of induction are only given for theories with self-fusion (existence of a monoidal structure)

Standard classification of software documentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tausworthe, R. C.

1976-01-01

General conceptual requirements for standard levels of documentation and for application of these requirements to intended usages. These standards encourage the policy to produce only those forms of documentation that are needed and adequate for the purpose. Documentation standards are defined with respect to detail and format quality. Classes A through D range, in order, from the most definitive down to the least definitive, and categories 1 through 4 range, in order, from high-quality typeset down to handwritten material. Criteria for each of the classes and categories, as well as suggested selection guidelines for each are given.

Using contingent valuation to value a noxious weeds control program: the effects of including an unsure response category

Treesearch

Patricia A. Champ; Anna Alberini; Ignacio Correas

2005-01-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Contingent Valuation panel recommended that a response category be included along with the vote in favor and vote against options associated with a referendum contingent valuation question that allows individuals to express lack of a well defined opinion. However, the recommendation did not include guidance on how to...

Picturing space for lesbian nonsexualities: rethinking sex-normative commitments through The Kids Are All Right (2010).

PubMed

Gupta, Kristina

2013-01-01

This article examines representations of lesbian nonsexuality in the film The Kids Are All Right and in responses to the film by feminist and queer scholars. In some moments, the film offers a limited endorsement of lesbian nonsexuality, placing pressure on the category lesbian to include nonsexuality and asexuality. However, in their responses to the film, many feminist and queer scholars rejected nonsexuality as an aspect of lesbian experience, placing pressure on the category lesbian to exclude nonsexual and asexual women. Asexual activism challenges scholars to question their sex-normative commitments and to keep the category lesbian open and flexible.

Nonintrusive biological signal monitoring in a car to evaluate a driver's stress and health state.

PubMed

Baek, Hyun Jae; Lee, Haet Bit; Kim, Jung Soo; Choi, Jong Min; Kim, Ko Keun; Park, Kwang Suk

2009-03-01

Nonintrusive monitoring of a driver's physiological signals was introduced and evaluated in a car as a test of extending the concept of ubiquitous healthcare to vehicles. Electrocardiogram, photoplethysmogram, galvanic skin response, and respiration were measured in the ubiquitous healthcare car (U-car) using nonintrusively installed sensors on the steering wheel, driver's seat, and seat belt. Measured signals were transmitted to the embedded computer via Bluetooth(R) communication and processed. We collected and analyzed physiological signals during driving in order to estimate a driver's stress state while using this system. In order to compare the effect of stress on physical and mental conditions, two categories of stresses were defined. Experimental results show that a driver's physiological signals were measured with acceptable quality for analysis without interrupting driving, and they were changed meaningfully due to elicited stress. This nonintrusive monitoring can be used to evaluate a driver's state of health and stress.

The National Response Plan and the Problems in the Evaluation and Assessment of the Unconventional Modes of Terrorism

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

LeMone, David V.; Gibbs, Shawn G.; Winston, John W. Jr.

In the wake of the events of 9/11, a presidential mandate ordered the development of a master plan to enable governmental agencies to not only seamlessly cooperate but also rapidly react to disasters. The National Response Plan (NRP) is the document in force (December 2004). It was developed to provide a framework for response to catastrophic events whether those events are natural or man-made. Homeland Security, the coordinating entity, is an integral and critical part of that plan. The NRP is a direct outgrowth of the Initial National Response Plan and operates in tandem with the National Incident Management Systemmore » (NIMS). NIMS was the first real attempt to amalgamate the capabilities and resources of some 22 governmental entities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector. The effectiveness of this system's response to natural disasters has been tested with reference to its performance during the 2005 late summer-early fall series of catastrophic hurricanes (Katrina, Rita, and Wilma). Ongoing evaluation of the response by the system indicates that there are significant lessons to be learned from system errors that occurred from the federal to local levels of government. Nevertheless, the conclusion would seem to be that Homeland Security's organizational structure of NIMS combined with protocols developed in the NRP represents an excellent response to both natural and man-made catastrophes. The lessons learned in these natural occurrences (chain of command failures and missteps from first responders to national level, periodic inaccurate and irresponsible news reporting, evacuation capabilities, quarantine problems, etc.) are directly applicable to potential man-made disaster events. In the yet largely untested areas of man-made disasters, the NRP document forms the basis for responding to terrorism as well as accidental man-made related incidents. There are two major categories of terrorism: conventional and unconventional. Conventional terrorism would include such acts as: assassination, kidnapping, hostage taking, non-nuclear explosive devices, etc. The two NRP categories of catastrophic events and oil and hazardous materials contain sections considered to be in the area of conventional terrorism. Of potentially greater immediate concern are the four major modes of unconventional terrorism that are recognized: cyber-, biological (including agro-), chemical, and nuclear. The problem is to arrive at a mutually agreed upon order of importance of both conventional and unconventional terrorism categories. Consequent ranking of these modes enables the prioritization of those areas in which our limited national human and financial resources are to be expended and allocated (funding of research and development, commitment and selection of personnel, costs distribution, operational time-frame, information distribution level, etc.). Ranking of the terror modes will at best be difficult because of a lack of understanding of the potential impacts of each mode as well as the inherent vested bureaucratic and non-bureaucratic interests and biases. All cases of radiation-related incidents may be considered to be manmade with a potentially significant majority of those incidents assigned to a terrorism origin. Man-made accidental occurrences would be handled with a similar NRP response as would be expected in the case of a terrorist event. Radiation-related devices include the RDDs (Radioactive Dispersal Devices) and nuclear fission and fusion weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Pragmatically, the most likely scenario to develop would involve RDD utilization. This conclusion would seem to be reasonable in view of the current apparent capabilities and sophistication required to construct, transport, and deliver a nuclear WMD. (authors)« less

Time course of the influence of musical expertise on the processing of vocal and musical sounds.

PubMed

Rigoulot, S; Pell, M D; Armony, J L

2015-04-02

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have suggested that different cerebral regions preferentially process human voice and music. Yet, little is known on the temporal course of the brain processes that decode the category of sounds and how the expertise in one sound category can impact these processes. To address this question, we recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) of 15 musicians and 18 non-musicians while they were listening to short musical excerpts (piano and violin) and vocal stimuli (speech and non-linguistic vocalizations). The task of the participants was to detect noise targets embedded within the stream of sounds. Event-related potentials revealed an early differentiation of sound category, within the first 100 ms after the onset of the sound, with mostly increased responses to musical sounds. Importantly, this effect was modulated by the musical background of participants, as musicians were more responsive to music sounds than non-musicians, consistent with the notion that musical training increases sensitivity to music. In late temporal windows, brain responses were enhanced in response to vocal stimuli, but musicians were still more responsive to music. These results shed new light on the temporal course of neural dynamics of auditory processing and reveal how it is impacted by the stimulus category and the expertise of participants. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of rotor blade tip-vortex aerodynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewellen, W. S.

1971-01-01

Several aspects of the aerodynamics of rotor blade tip vortices are examined. Two particular categories are dealt with; (1) dynamic loads on a blade passing close to or intersecting a trailing vortex, and (2) the response of the trailing vortex core to changes in the flow. Results for both categories are in reasonable agreement with existing data, although lower pressure gradients were obtained than anticipated for category one. A correlation between trailing edge sweep angle at the tip and vortex core size was noted for category two.

Sexual attraction to others: a comparison of two models of alloerotic responding in men.

PubMed

Blanchard, Ray; Kuban, Michael E; Blak, Thomas; Klassen, Philip E; Dickey, Robert; Cantor, James M

2012-02-01

The penile response profiles of homosexual and heterosexual pedophiles, hebephiles, and teleiophiles to laboratory stimuli depicting male and female children and adults may be conceptualized as a series of overlapping stimulus generalization gradients. This study used such profile data to compare two models of alloerotic responding (sexual responding to other people) in men. The first model was based on the notion that men respond to a potential sexual object as a compound stimulus made up of an age component and a gender component. The second model was based on the notion that men respond to a potential sexual object as a gestalt, which they evaluate in terms of global similarity to other potential sexual objects. The analytic strategy was to compare the accuracy of these models in predicting a man's penile response to each of his less arousing (nonpreferred) stimulus categories from his response to his most arousing (preferred) stimulus category. Both models based their predictions on the degree of dissimilarity between the preferred stimulus category and a given nonpreferred stimulus category, but each model used its own measure of dissimilarity. According to the first model ("summation model"), penile response should vary inversely as the sum of stimulus differences on separate dimensions of age and gender. According to the second model ("bipolar model"), penile response should vary inversely as the distance between stimulus categories on a single, bipolar dimension of morphological similarity-a dimension on which children are located near the middle, and adult men and women are located at opposite ends. The subjects were 2,278 male patients referred to a specialty clinic for phallometric assessment of their erotic preferences. Comparisons of goodness of fit to the observed data favored the unidimensional bipolar model.

Item response theory analysis of the life orientation test-revised: age and gender differential item functioning analyses.

PubMed

Steca, Patrizia; Monzani, Dario; Greco, Andrea; Chiesi, Francesca; Primi, Caterina

2015-06-01

This study is aimed at testing the measurement properties of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) for the assessment of dispositional optimism by employing item response theory (IRT) analyses. The LOT-R was administered to a large sample of 2,862 Italian adults. First, confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the theoretical conceptualization of the construct measured by the LOT-R as a single bipolar dimension. Subsequently, IRT analyses for polytomous, ordered response category data were applied to investigate the items' properties. The equivalence of the items across gender and age was assessed by analyzing differential item functioning. Discrimination and severity parameters indicated that all items were able to distinguish people with different levels of optimism and adequately covered the spectrum of the latent trait. Additionally, the LOT-R appears to be gender invariant and, with minor exceptions, age invariant. Results provided evidence that the LOT-R is a reliable and valid measure of dispositional optimism. © The Author(s) 2014.

[Employment "survival" among nursing workers at a public hospital].

PubMed

Anselmi, M L; Duarte, G G; Angerami, E L

2001-07-01

This study aimed at estimating the employment "survival" time of nursing workers after their admission to a public hospital as a turnover index. The Life Table method was used in order to calculate the employment survival probability by X years for each one of the categories of workers. The results showed an accentuated turnover of the work force in the studied period. The categories nursing auxiliary and nurse presented low stability in employment while the category nursing technician was more stable.

Taboo thoughts and doubt/checking: a refinement of the factor structure for obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms.

PubMed

Pinto, Anthony; Eisen, Jane L; Mancebo, Maria C; Greenberg, Benjamin D; Stout, Robert L; Rasmussen, Steven A

2007-06-30

The purpose of this report was to improve upon earlier factor analyses of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom categories by minimizing the heterogeneity in the aggressive obsessions category. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on data from 293 adults with primary OCD. The resulting five factors (Symmetry/Ordering, Hoarding, Doubt/Checking, Contamination/Cleaning, and Taboo Thoughts) are phenomenologically more homogeneous than prior category-based factors and are consistent with those derived in previous item-level analyses.

NASA Video Catalog. Supplement 12

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

This report lists 1878 video productions from the NASA STI Database. This issue of the NASA Video Catalog cites video productions listed in the NASA STI Database. The videos listed have been developed by the NASA centers, covering Shuttle mission press conferences; fly-bys of planets; aircraft design, testing and performance; environmental pollution; lunar and planetary exploration; and many other categories related to manned and unmanned space exploration. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied by an abstract. The listing of the entries is arranged by STAR categories. A complete Table of Contents describes the scope of each category. For users with specific information, a Title Index is available. A Subject Term Index, based on the NASA Thesaurus, is also included. Guidelines for usage of NASA audio/visual material, ordering information, and order forms are also available.

A survey and analysis of commercially available hydrogen sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunter, Gary W.

1992-01-01

The performance requirements for hydrogen detection in aerospace applications often exceed those of more traditional applications. In order to ascertain the applicability of existing hydrogen sensors to aerospace applications, a survey was conducted of commercially available point-contact hydrogen sensors, and their operation was analyzed. The operation of the majority of commercial hydrogen sensors falls into four main categories: catalytic combustion, electrochemical, semiconducting oxide sensors, and thermal conductivity detectors. The physical mechanism involved in hydrogen detection for each main category is discussed in detail. From an understanding of the detection mechanism, each category of sensor is evaluated for use in a variety of space and propulsion environments. In order to meet the needs of aerospace applications, the development of point-contact hydrogen sensors that are based on concepts beyond those used in commercial sensors is necessary.

The Tightness of the Kesten-Stigum Reconstruction Bound of Symmetric Model with Multiple Mutations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Wenjian; Jammalamadaka, Sreenivasa Rao; Ning, Ning

2018-02-01

It is well known that reconstruction problems, as the interdisciplinary subject, have been studied in numerous contexts including statistical physics, information theory and computational biology, to name a few. We consider a 2 q-state symmetric model, with two categories of q states in each category, and 3 transition probabilities: the probability to remain in the same state, the probability to change states but remain in the same category, and the probability to change categories. We construct a nonlinear second-order dynamical system based on this model and show that the Kesten-Stigum reconstruction bound is not tight when q ≥ 4.

Category labels versus feature labels: category labels polarize inferential predictions.

PubMed

Yamauchi, Takashi; Yu, Na-Yung

2008-04-01

What makes category labels different from feature labels in predictive inference? This study suggests that category labels tend to make inductive reasoning polarized and homogeneous. In two experiments, participants were shown two schematic pictures of insects side by side and predicted the value of a hidden feature of one insect on the basis of the other insect. Arbitrary verbal labels were shown above the two pictures, and the meanings of the labels were manipulated in the instructions. In one condition, the labels represented the category membership of the insects, and in the other conditions, the same labels represented attributes of the insects. When the labels represented category membership, participants' responses became substantially polarized and homogeneous, indicating that the mere reference to category membership can modify reasoning processes.

"… Trial and error …": Speech-language pathologists' perspectives of working with Indigenous Australian adults with acquired communication disorders.

PubMed

Cochrane, Frances Clare; Brown, Louise; Siyambalapitiya, Samantha; Plant, Christopher

2016-10-01

This study explored speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) perspectives about factors that influence clinical management of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults with acquired communication disorders (e.g. aphasia, motor speech disorders). Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, seven SLPs working in North Queensland, Australia with experience working with this population participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify categories and overarching themes within the data. Four categories, in relation to barriers and facilitators, were identified from participants' responses: (1) The Practice Context; (2) Working Together; (3) Client Factors; and (4) Speech-Language Pathologist Factors. Three overarching themes were also found to influence effective speech pathology services: (1) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Practices; (2) Information and Communication; and (3) Time. This study identified many complex and inter-related factors which influenced SLPs' effective clinical management of this caseload. The findings suggest that SLPs should employ a flexible, holistic and collaborative approach in order to facilitate effective clinical management with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with acquired communication disorders.

The pain experience of Hispanic Americans: A critical literature review and conceptual model

PubMed Central

Hollingshead, Nicole A.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Stewart, Jesse C.; Hirsh, Adam T.

2015-01-01

Although Hispanics are a burgeoning ethnic group in the United States, little is known about their pain-related experience. In order to address this gap, we critically reviewed the existing literature on the pain experience and management among Hispanic Americans (HAs). We focused our review to the literature on non-malignant pain, pain behaviors, and pain treatment seeking among HAs. Pain management experiences were examined from HA patients’ and healthcare providers’ perspectives. Our literature search included variations of the term “Hispanic” with “AND pain” in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and PsycINFO databases. A total of 117 studies met our inclusion criteria. We organized the results into a conceptual model with separate categories for biological/psychological and sociocultural/systems-level influences on HAs’ pain experience, response to pain, and seeking and receiving pain care. We also included information on healthcare providers’ experience of treating HA patients with pain. For each category, we identified future areas of research. We conclude with a discussion of limitations and clinical implications. PMID:26831836

75 FR 73140 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NASDAQ OMX PHLX, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-29

... categories of participants: Customers, broker-dealers, market makers (including specialists, Registered... respect to all-or-none orders, which will be treated like customer orders), 1033(e), 1064.02 (except professional orders will be considered customer orders subject to facilitation), and 1080.08 as well as Options...

Information Status and Word Order in Croatian Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milkovic, Marina; Bradaric-Joncic, Sandra; Wilbur, Ronnie B.

2007-01-01

This paper presents the results of research on information structure and word order in narrative sentences taken from signed short stories in Croatian Sign Language (HZJ). The basic word order in HZJ is SVO. Factors that result in other word orders include: reversible arguments, verb categories, locative constructions, contrastive focus, and prior…

78 FR 28671 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-15

... Exchange also proposes to make corresponding grammatical amendments and technical amendments to improve... categories, as proposed paragraphs (a)-(g): (a) General Order Types; (b) Order Execution Modifiers; (c) Order... grammatical amendments. The purpose of this amendment is to clarify that an order execution modifier is not a...

A conflict-based model of color categorical perception: evidence from a priming study.

PubMed

Hu, Zhonghua; Hanley, J Richard; Zhang, Ruiling; Liu, Qiang; Roberson, Debi

2014-10-01

Categorical perception (CP) of color manifests as faster or more accurate discrimination of two shades of color that straddle a category boundary (e.g., one blue and one green) than of two shades from within the same category (e.g., two different shades of green), even when the differences between the pairs of colors are equated according to some objective metric. The results of two experiments provide new evidence for a conflict-based account of this effect, in which CP is caused by competition between visual and verbal/categorical codes on within-category trials. According to this view, conflict arises because the verbal code indicates that the two colors are the same, whereas the visual code indicates that they are different. In Experiment 1, two shades from the same color category were discriminated significantly faster when the previous trial also comprised a pair of within-category colors than when the previous trial comprised a pair from two different color categories. Under the former circumstances, the CP effect disappeared. According to the conflict-based model, response conflict between visual and categorical codes during discrimination of within-category pairs produced an adjustment of cognitive control that reduced the weight given to the categorical code relative to the visual code on the subsequent trial. Consequently, responses on within-category trials were facilitated, and CP effects were reduced. The effectiveness of this conflict-based account was evaluated in comparison with an alternative view that CP reflects temporary warping of perceptual space at the boundaries between color categories.

Process and domain specificity in regions engaged for face processing: an fMRI study of perceptual differentiation.

PubMed

Collins, Heather R; Zhu, Xun; Bhatt, Ramesh S; Clark, Jonathan D; Joseph, Jane E

2012-12-01

The degree to which face-specific brain regions are specialized for different kinds of perceptual processing is debated. This study parametrically varied demands on featural, first-order configural, or second-order configural processing of faces and houses in a perceptual matching task to determine the extent to which the process of perceptual differentiation was selective for faces regardless of processing type (domain-specific account), specialized for specific types of perceptual processing regardless of category (process-specific account), engaged in category-optimized processing (i.e., configural face processing or featural house processing), or reflected generalized perceptual differentiation (i.e., differentiation that crosses category and processing type boundaries). ROIs were identified in a separate localizer run or with a similarity regressor in the face-matching runs. The predominant principle accounting for fMRI signal modulation in most regions was generalized perceptual differentiation. Nearly all regions showed perceptual differentiation for both faces and houses for more than one processing type, even if the region was identified as face-preferential in the localizer run. Consistent with process specificity, some regions showed perceptual differentiation for first-order processing of faces and houses (right fusiform face area and occipito-temporal cortex and right lateral occipital complex), but not for featural or second-order processing. Somewhat consistent with domain specificity, the right inferior frontal gyrus showed perceptual differentiation only for faces in the featural matching task. The present findings demonstrate that the majority of regions involved in perceptual differentiation of faces are also involved in differentiation of other visually homogenous categories.

Process- and Domain-Specificity in Regions Engaged for Face Processing: An fMRI Study of Perceptual Differentiation

PubMed Central

Collins, Heather R.; Zhu, Xun; Bhatt, Ramesh S.; Clark, Jonathan D.; Joseph, Jane E.

2015-01-01

The degree to which face-specific brain regions are specialized for different kinds of perceptual processing is debated. The present study parametrically varied demands on featural, first-order configural or second-order configural processing of faces and houses in a perceptual matching task to determine the extent to which the process of perceptual differentiation was selective for faces regardless of processing type (domain-specific account), specialized for specific types of perceptual processing regardless of category (process-specific account), engaged in category-optimized processing (i.e., configural face processing or featural house processing) or reflected generalized perceptual differentiation (i.e. differentiation that crosses category and processing type boundaries). Regions of interest were identified in a separate localizer run or with a similarity regressor in the face-matching runs. The predominant principle accounting for fMRI signal modulation in most regions was generalized perceptual differentiation. Nearly all regions showed perceptual differentiation for both faces and houses for more than one processing type, even if the region was identified as face-preferential in the localizer run. Consistent with process-specificity, some regions showed perceptual differentiation for first-order processing of faces and houses (right fusiform face area and occipito-temporal cortex, and right lateral occipital complex), but not for featural or second-order processing. Somewhat consistent with domain-specificity, the right inferior frontal gyrus showed perceptual differentiation only for faces in the featural matching task. The present findings demonstrate that the majority of regions involved in perceptual differentiation of faces are also involved in differentiation of other visually homogenous categories. PMID:22849402

The Role of Educational Technology Professionals as Perceived by Building Administrators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Cheryl A.; Allred, Jonathan B.; Brescia, William F.

2018-01-01

Educational Technology (ETEC) professionals in the United States (US) fill multiple roles in public school systems. While these roles can be classified into broad categories, what remains unclear are the expectations and priorities for the completion of these roles and the tasks associated within each role category. In order for ETEC professionals…

Estimating Achievement Gaps from Test Scores Reported in Ordinal "Proficiency" Categories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Andrew D.; Reardon, Sean F.

2012-01-01

Test scores are commonly reported in a small number of ordered categories. Examples of such reporting include state accountability testing, Advanced Placement tests, and English proficiency tests. This paper introduces and evaluates methods for estimating achievement gaps on a familiar standard-deviation-unit metric using data from these ordered…

75 FR 56513 - Orders Regarding the Treatment of Petitions Seeking Grandfather Relief for Exempt Commercial...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-16

... for relief, identified with ``ECM/EBOT Grandfather Relief'' in the subject line, whichever is... exempt market categories--exempt commercial markets (``ECMs'') and exempt boards of trade (``EBOTs... strike CEA Section 2(h)(3)-(7) and, thus, eliminate the ECM category.\\6\\ Similarly, Section 734 of the...

Assessment of Global Psychiatric Categories: The PSI/PSI-2 and the MMPI-2-RF

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lanyon, Richard I.; Thomas, Michael L.

2013-01-01

The 3 Higher Order (HO) scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form and the 3 core clinical scales of the Psychological Screening Inventory/Psychological Screening Inventory-2 were developed to broadly represent the 3 traditional psychiatric categories of mental disorder: major psychiatric disorder…

Perception and Production of Thai Learners on English Prepositions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruangjaroon, Sugunya

2015-01-01

In this paper, I adopt Best's (2001) Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) to account for how Thai learners acquire English prepositions in prepositional phrases and propose the ranking order of English preposition acquisition into three different categories. The ranking is as follows: Category A is a one-to-one semantic mapping between English and…

A two-question method for assessing gender categories in the social and medical sciences.

PubMed

Tate, Charlotte Chuck; Ledbetter, Jay N; Youssef, Cris P

2013-01-01

Three studies (N = 990) assessed the statistical reliability of two methods of determining gender identity that can capture transgender spectrum identities (i.e., current gender identities different from birth-assigned gender categories). Study 1 evaluated a single question with four response options (female, male, transgender, other) on university students. The missing data rate was higher than the valid response rates for transgender and other options using this method. Study 2 evaluated a method of asking two separate questions (i.e., one for current identity and another for birth-assigned category), with response options specific to each. Results showed no missing data and two times the transgender spectrum response rate compared to Study 1. Study 3 showed that the two-question method also worked in community samples, producing near-zero missing data. The two-question method also identified cisgender identities (same birth-assigned and current gender identity), making it a dynamic and desirable measurement tool for the social and medical sciences.

Different neural systems contribute to semantic bias and conflict detection in the inclusion fallacy task.

PubMed

Liang, Peipeng; Goel, Vinod; Jia, Xiuqin; Li, Kuncheng

2014-01-01

The inclusion fallacy is a phenomenon in which generalization from a specific premise category to a more general conclusion category is considered stronger than a generalization to a specific conclusion category nested within the more general set. Such inferences violate rational norms and are part of the reasoning fallacy literature that provides interesting tasks to explore cognitive and neural basis of reasoning. To explore the functional neuroanatomy of the inclusion fallacy, we used a 2 × 2 factorial design, with factors for quantification (explicit and implicit) and response (fallacious and non-fallacious). It was found that a left fronto-temporal system, along with a superior medial frontal system, was specifically activated in response to fallacious responses consistent with a semantic biasing of judgment explanation. A right fronto-parietal system was specifically recruited in response to detecting conflict associated with the heightened fallacy condition. These results are largely consistent with previous studies of reasoning fallacy and support a multiple systems model of reasoning.

Fashion advertisements: a comparison of viewers' perceptual and affective responses to illustrated and photographed stimuli.

PubMed

Kimle, P A; Fiore, A M

1992-12-01

The perceptual and affective responses of 44 women to actual illustrated and photographed fashion advertisements during focused interviews were explored. Content analysis methods identified categories of response; frequency of response categories for the two media were compared using Fisher's z tests. Significant differences in perceptual responses included greater visual interest created by the use of color in photographs, greater interest in layout and design features of the illustrations, and interest in characteristics of the models in the photographs. Affective response differences included greater preference for photographic advertisements and the garments in them. Contrary to suggestions from professionals in fashion advertising, no significant differences were found in viewers' perceptions of information about the products in the advertisements or perceptions of meaning and aesthetic response.

Radiology medical student education: an outcome-based survey of PGY-1 residents.

PubMed

Saha, Arnold; Roland, R Andrew; Hartman, Matthew S; Daffner, Richard H

2013-03-01

Postgraduate year (PGY)-1 residents are frequently required to order imaging studies and make preliminary interpretations on them. This study determines whether PGY-1 residents feel their radiology education in medical school sufficiently trained them for the clinical responsibilities of internship. This multicenter, institutional review board-approved survey asked PGY-1 trainees three categories of questions: 1) extent of medical school training for ordering and interpreting imaging studies, 2) confidence levels in ordering appropriate imaging studies and making common/emergent diagnoses, and 3) rating the importance of radiologic interpretation by interns. Respondents also submitted ideas for medical school teaching topics deemed most useful for interns. A total of 175 questionnaires were returned with good representation across specialties. Although 63.7% of interns were frequently asked to independently preview radiology studies, 12.6% received no formal radiology training in medical school. Participants rated chest radiographs as the most important study for interns to competently interpret (93.4% reporting very or extremely important). However, only 60.2% of interns reported high confidence in recognizing common/emergent pulmonary findings, and 56.3% for evaluating line and tube position. With regard to ordering imaging studies, 81.0% had never used or never heard of the American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria®. Only 33.1% had high confidence in knowing when to order oral/intravenous contrast. Similar low percentages had high confidence identifying and premedicating contrast allergies (36.4%) and knowing risk factors of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (13.2%). PGY-1 residents feel that medical school curriculum emphasizing interpretation of chest radiographs and ordering appropriate imaging studies would better prepare students for the responsibilities of internship. Copyright © 2013 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The transfer of category knowledge by macaques (Macaca mulatta) and humans (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Zakrzewski, Alexandria C; Church, Barbara A; Smith, J David

2018-02-01

Cognitive psychologists distinguish implicit, procedural category learning (stimulus-response associations learned outside declarative cognition) from explicit-declarative category learning (conscious category rules). These systems are dissociated by category learning tasks with either a multidimensional, information-integration (II) solution or a unidimensional, rule-based (RB) solution. In the present experiments, humans and two monkeys learned II and RB category tasks fostering implicit and explicit learning, respectively. Then they received occasional transfer trials-never directly reinforced-drawn from untrained regions of the stimulus space. We hypothesized that implicit-procedural category learning-allied to associative learning-would transfer weakly because it is yoked to the training stimuli. This result was confirmed for humans and monkeys. We hypothesized that explicit category learning-allied to abstract category rules-would transfer robustly. This result was confirmed only for humans. That is, humans displayed explicit category knowledge that transferred flawlessly. Monkeys did not. This result illuminates the distinctive abstractness, stimulus independence, and representational portability of humans' explicit category rules. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adolescents' Processing of Pictures and Written Words for Taxonomic Categories in a Priming Task of Semantic Categorization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Degao; Gao, Kejuan; Wu, Xueyun; Chen, Xiaojun; Zhang, Xiaona; Li, Ling; He, Weiwei

2013-01-01

Inspired by research by Li, Yi, and Kim (2011), the authors examined Chinese deaf and hard of hearing adolescents' responses to pictures for taxonomic categories of basic level (exemplar pictures) preceded by exemplar pictures, and to written words for taxonomic categories of basic level (exemplar words) preceded by exemplar words or by written…

42 CFR 414.402 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... as part of an original bid submission under a competitive acquisition program in order to meet the... competitive bidding (for example, a product when it is furnished through mail order), or a combination of... other items in the same product category. Mail order contract supplier is a contract supplier that...

Development of website for studying modern physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saehana, S.; Wahyono, U.; Darmadi, I. W.; Kendek, Y.; Widyawati, W.

2018-03-01

The purpose of this study is to produce a website in modern physics courses in order to increase student interest in physics learning. To determine the feasibility level of learning media then feasibility test to the product. The feasibility test carried out on the product is divided into three parts: material feasibility test, media feasibility test, and student response test. Based on the results of the test conducted the material obtained an average score of 3.72 and categorized very well. The result of media test that was obtained got the average score of 3.25 and categorized well. The result of the analysis of student's response to the twenty students of class A (fifth semester) of physics education program FKIP UniversitasTadulako obtained an average score of 3.16 with the good category. The results showed that the website developed can be used as one of the learning media that can support the learning process of students.

Reducing impacts from ammunitions: A comparative life-cycle assessment of four types of 9mm ammunitions.

PubMed

Ferreira, Carlos; Ribeiro, José; Almada, Sara; Rotariu, Traian; Freire, Fausto

2016-10-01

Increase of environmental awareness of the population has pressured research activities in the defence area to cover environment and toxicity issues, where have been considered appropriate manners to reduce the environmental and toxicological impacts of ammunition. One of the adopted approaches to achieve such goal involves the replacement of lead and other heavy metals by alternative materials. However, the consequences of using alternative materials in ammunitions manufacturing are uncertain for the other life-cycle phases and trade-offs can occur. The present paper describes the potential benefits from the replacement of lead in the primer and in the projectile of a 9mm calibre ammunition. For that purpose, it is assessed and compared the environmental and toxicological impacts associated with the life-cycle of four ammunitions: combination of two types of projectiles (steel jacket and lead core; copper and nylon composite) with two types of primers (lead primer; non-lead primer). In addition, some potential improvements for the environmental performance of small calibre ammunition are also presented. To assess the impacts two Life-Cycle Impact Assessment methods are applied: CML for six environmental categories and USEtox to three toxicity categories. Results showed that the conclusion drawn for environmental and toxicological impact categories are distinct. In fact, ammunition production phase presents higher impacts for the environmental categories, whilst the operation phase has a higher impact to the toxicity categories. The substitution of lead in the primer and in the projectile provides a suitable alternative from a toxicology perspective; however, the composite projectile still presents some environmental concerns. The conclusions drawn are important for the procurement (and design) of environmental responsible ammunitions, in order to avoid (or decrease) the impacts for their manufacture and the effects on human health (e.g. shooters) and ecosystems near shooting ranges or hunting areas. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Association of MYCN copy number with clinical features, tumor biology, and outcomes in neuroblastoma: A report from the Children's Oncology Group.

PubMed

Campbell, Kevin; Gastier-Foster, Julie M; Mann, Meegan; Naranjo, Arlene H; Van Ryn, Collin; Bagatell, Rochelle; Matthay, Katherine K; London, Wendy B; Irwin, Meredith S; Shimada, Hiroyuki; Granger, M Meaghan; Hogarty, Michael D; Park, Julie R; DuBois, Steven G

2017-11-01

High-level MYCN amplification (MNA) is associated with poor outcome and unfavorable clinical and biological features in patients with neuroblastoma. To the authors' knowledge, less is known regarding these associations in patients with low-level MYCN copy number increases. In this retrospective study, the authors classified patients has having tumors with MYCN wild-type tumors, MYCN gain (2-4-fold increase in MYCN signal compared with the reference probe), or MNA (>4-fold increase). Tests of trend were used to investigate ordered associations between MYCN copy number category and features of interest. Log-rank tests and Cox models compared event-free survival and overall survival by subgroup. Among 4672 patients, 3694 (79.1%) had MYCN wild-type tumors, 133 (2.8%) had MYCN gain, and 845 (18.1%) had MNA. For each clinical/biological feature, the percentage of patients with an unfavorable feature was lowest in the MYCN wild-type category, intermediate in the MYCN gain category, and highest in the MNA category (P<.0001), except for 11q aberration, for which the highest rates were in the MYCN gain category. Patients with MYCN gain had inferior event-free survival and overall survival compared with those with MYCN wild-type. Among patients with high-risk disease, MYCN gain was associated with the lowest response rate after chemotherapy. Patients with non-stage 4 disease (according to the International Neuroblastoma Staging System) and patients with non-high-risk disease with MYCN gain had a significantly increased risk for death, a finding confirmed on multivariable testing. Increasing MYCN copy number is associated with an increasingly higher rate of unfavorable clinical/biological features, with 11q aberration being an exception. Patients with MYCN gain appear to have inferior outcomes, especially in otherwise more favorable groups. Cancer 2017;123:4224-4235. © 2017 American Cancer Society. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Robust expertise effects in right FFA

PubMed Central

McGugin, Rankin Williams; Newton, Allen T; Gore, John C; Gauthier, Isabel

2015-01-01

The fusiform face area (FFA) is one of several areas in occipito-temporal cortex whose activity is correlated with perceptual expertise for objects. Here, we investigate the robustness of expertise effects in FFA and other areas to a strong task manipulation that increases both perceptual and attentional demands. With high-resolution fMRI at 7Telsa, we measured responses to images of cars, faces and a category globally visually similar to cars (sofas) in 26 subjects who varied in expertise with cars, in (a) a low load 1-back task with a single object category and (b) a high load task in which objects from two categories rapidly alternated and attention was required to both categories. The low load condition revealed several areas more active as a function of expertise, including both posterior and anterior portions of FFA bilaterally (FFA1/FFA2 respectively). Under high load, fewer areas were positively correlated with expertise and several areas were even negatively correlated, but the expertise effect in face-selective voxels in the anterior portion of FFA (FFA2) remained robust. Finally, we found that behavioral car expertise also predicted increased responses to sofa images but no behavioral advantages in sofa discrimination, suggesting that global shape similarity to a category of expertise is enough to elicit a response in FFA and other areas sensitive to experience, even when the category itself is not of special interest. The robustness of expertise effects in right FFA2 and the expertise effects driven by visual similarity both argue against attention being the sole determinant of expertise effects in extrastriate areas. PMID:25192631

Compensatory processing during rule-based category learning in older adults.

PubMed

Bharani, Krishna L; Paller, Ken A; Reber, Paul J; Weintraub, Sandra; Yanar, Jorge; Morrison, Robert G

2016-01-01

Healthy older adults typically perform worse than younger adults at rule-based category learning, but better than patients with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. To further investigate aging's effect on rule-based category learning, we monitored event-related potentials (ERPs) while younger and neuropsychologically typical older adults performed a visual category-learning task with a rule-based category structure and trial-by-trial feedback. Using these procedures, we previously identified ERPs sensitive to categorization strategy and accuracy in young participants. In addition, previous studies have demonstrated the importance of neural processing in the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe for this task. In this study, older adults showed lower accuracy and longer response times than younger adults, but there were two distinct subgroups of older adults. One subgroup showed near-chance performance throughout the procedure, never categorizing accurately. The other subgroup reached asymptotic accuracy that was equivalent to that in younger adults, although they categorized more slowly. These two subgroups were further distinguished via ERPs. Consistent with the compensation theory of cognitive aging, older adults who successfully learned showed larger frontal ERPs when compared with younger adults. Recruitment of prefrontal resources may have improved performance while slowing response times. Additionally, correlations of feedback-locked P300 amplitudes with category-learning accuracy differentiated successful younger and older adults. Overall, the results suggest that the ability to adapt one's behavior in response to feedback during learning varies across older individuals, and that the failure of some to adapt their behavior may reflect inadequate engagement of prefrontal cortex.

Compensatory Processing During Rule-Based Category Learning in Older Adults

PubMed Central

Bharani, Krishna L.; Paller, Ken A.; Reber, Paul J.; Weintraub, Sandra; Yanar, Jorge; Morrison, Robert G.

2016-01-01

Healthy older adults typically perform worse than younger adults at rule-based category learning, but better than patients with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. To further investigate aging's effect on rule-based category learning, we monitored event-related potentials (ERPs) while younger and neuropsychologically typical older adults performed a visual category-learning task with a rule-based category structure and trial-by-trial feedback. Using these procedures, we previously identified ERPs sensitive to categorization strategy and accuracy in young participants. In addition, previous studies have demonstrated the importance of neural processing in the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe for this task. In this study, older adults showed lower accuracy and longer response times than younger adults, but there were two distinct subgroups of older adults. One subgroup showed near-chance performance throughout the procedure, never categorizing accurately. The other subgroup reached asymptotic accuracy that was equivalent to that in younger adults, although they categorized more slowly. These two subgroups were further distinguished via ERPs. Consistent with the compensation theory of cognitive aging, older adults who successfully learned showed larger frontal ERPs when compared with younger adults. Recruitment of prefrontal resources may have improved performance while slowing response times. Additionally, correlations of feedback-locked P300 amplitudes with category-learning accuracy differentiated successful younger and older adults. Overall, the results suggest that the ability to adapt one's behavior in response to feedback during learning varies across older individuals, and that the failure of some to adapt their behavior may reflect inadequate engagement of prefrontal cortex. PMID:26422522

How income and food prices influence global dietary intakes by age and sex: evidence from 164 countries

PubMed Central

Muhammad, Andrew; D’Souza, Anna; Meade, Birgit; Micha, Renata; Mozaffarian, Dariush

2017-01-01

Background While income and prices are key drivers of dietary choices, how their influence varies by food category, nation, and demographics is not well established. Based on intake data for 164 countries and 11 food categories, we examined how income and food prices relate to food intake globally, including by world region, age, and sex. Methods We used 2010 intake data from the Global Dietary Database, the first database of consumption estimates for major food categories by country, age, and sex. We combined these data with national per capita GDP and food price data. We estimated intake responsiveness to income and prices for each food category, accounting for differences by national income, world region, age, and sex. Results We identified several differences in intake responsiveness. For example, rising income was estimated to increase milk intake most strongly in Sub-Saharan Africa and fruit intake most strongly among older women globally. Comparing our intake results to previous findings based on expenditure data, we found more goods that exhibited declining intake in response to rising incomes, fewer significant relationships for a number of food categories, particularly for higher income regions, and whereas in prior studies, elasticities mostly decrease with national income, we identified food categories where this was not the case. Conclusion The results of this study show heterogeneous associations among income, prices, and food intakes. Policymakers should consider the price and income elasticities of certain foods, as well as the role of demographics within and across countries, as they address global nutrition and health challenges. PMID:29225943

Psychological responses to terminal illness and eventual death in Koreans with cancer.

PubMed

Kang, Kyung-Ah; Miller, Jean R; Lee, Won-Hee

2006-01-01

This qualitative study describes the psychological responses of Korean participants with terminal cancer (stages III-IV) from time of diagnosis to death. Eighteen participants, ages 48 to 73, were interviewed at various phases of dying. Using analytic induction, three categories (nonacceptance, resignation, submission), characteristic patterns of responses over the course of illness and typical responses within categories were generated. Nonaccepters denied the possibility of death while struggling to live; their typical response was resistance. Resigners displayed sorrow, thoughts about their destiny, and growing acceptance of their fate. Their typical response was nonresistance. Submitters were shocked initially, searched for God's will, and prepared for death with hope. Their typical response was hopeful that God would care for them and their families. Participants' ages, physical pain, burden to family, and beliefs played important roles in the patterns of responses.

Individual differences in emotion processing: how similar are diffusion model parameters across tasks?

PubMed

Mueller, Christina J; White, Corey N; Kuchinke, Lars

2017-11-27

The goal of this study was to replicate findings of diffusion model parameters capturing emotion effects in a lexical decision task and investigating whether these findings extend to other tasks of implicit emotion processing. Additionally, we were interested in the stability of diffusion model parameters across emotional stimuli and tasks for individual subjects. Responses to words in a lexical decision task were compared with responses to faces in a gender categorization task for stimuli of the emotion categories: happy, neutral and fear. Main effects of emotion as well as stability of emerging response style patterns as evident in diffusion model parameters across these tasks were analyzed. Based on earlier findings, drift rates were assumed to be more similar in response to stimuli of the same emotion category compared to stimuli of a different emotion category. Results showed that emotion effects of the tasks differed with a processing advantage for happy followed by neutral and fear-related words in the lexical decision task and a processing advantage for neutral followed by happy and fearful faces in the gender categorization task. Both emotion effects were captured in estimated drift rate parameters-and in case of the lexical decision task also in the non-decision time parameters. A principal component analysis showed that contrary to our hypothesis drift rates were more similar within a specific task context than within a specific emotion category. Individual response patterns of subjects across tasks were evident in significant correlations regarding diffusion model parameters including response styles, non-decision times and information accumulation.

[Vaccines: history and stories between reality and imagination].

PubMed

Terracciano, Elisa; Zorzoli, Ermanno; D'Alò, Gian Loreto; Zaratti, Laura; Franco, Elisabetta

2016-01-01

Vaccinations and the controversy around them always go in parallel. We identified four categories blending in various amounts of truth and imagination: history, myths, shams and frauds. Over the years, they have alternated and sometimes transformed into one another. This sharp separation into categories is certainly academic and forced. In fact, the line between these aspects is not clear enough to allow a rigid and well-defined division. Our work starts from the category containing the most truthfulness: history, and goes on to analyze two categories that add fantasy to facts: myths and shams (or better, "old wives' tales"). The history deals with the topics of variolation and the first anti-vaccine activists' disputes. Myths that arose around immunization include immune overload, homeoprophylaxis, and excessive hygiene. In this context, immunization itself risked becoming a myth, being considered not amenable to improvements. In the category of old wives' tales we find rumors about the presence in the vaccines of considerable quantities of supposedly toxic components such as aluminum, squalene, Thimerosal and nanoparticles, as well as the existence of secret techniques of vaccine preparation that involve unethical procedures. The last category, fraud, is the poorest in both truth and fantasy but it is still hard to confront. The most famous fraud is the supposed link between vaccines and autism. In this frame, disinformation is certainly a fertile substrate for the emergence both of elements close to reality and of very imaginative ones. Vaccine hesitancy is believed to be responsible for decreasing vaccine coverage and increasing the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks and epidemics. The role of communication in immunization is essential to its success, especially taking into account the deep transformations the world of information is going through. The great multitude of voices seem to carry the same weight, but it is not so in science. Web searches are influenced by the filter bubble phenomenon, which contributes to the radicalization of people's opinion through cognitive isolation. A new, more effective strategy of communication is required in order to regain the trust of populations in immunization in a context characterized by the presence of groups impervious to scientific evidence.

Prototypicality in Sentence Production

PubMed Central

Onishi, Kristine H.; Murphy, Gregory L.; Bock, Kathryn

2008-01-01

Three cued-recall experiments examined the effect of category typicality on the ordering of words in sentence production. Past research has found that typical items tend to be mentioned before atypical items in a phrase—a pattern usually associated with lexical variables (like word frequency), and yet typicality is a conceptual variable. Experiment 1 revealed that an appropriate conceptual framework was necessary to yield the typicality effect. Experiment 2 tested ad-hoc categories that do not have prior representations in long-term memory and yielded no typicality effect. Experiment 3 used carefully matched sentences in which two category members appeared in the same or in different phrases. Typicality affected word order only when the two words appeared in the same phrase. These results are consistent with an account in which typicality has its origin in conceptual structure, which leads to differences in lexical accessibility in appropriate contexts. PMID:17631877

An ordinal classification approach for CTG categorization.

PubMed

Georgoulas, George; Karvelis, Petros; Gavrilis, Dimitris; Stylios, Chrysostomos D; Nikolakopoulos, George

2017-07-01

Evaluation of cardiotocogram (CTG) is a standard approach employed during pregnancy and delivery. But, its interpretation requires high level expertise to decide whether the recording is Normal, Suspicious or Pathological. Therefore, a number of attempts have been carried out over the past three decades for development automated sophisticated systems. These systems are usually (multiclass) classification systems that assign a category to the respective CTG. However most of these systems usually do not take into consideration the natural ordering of the categories associated with CTG recordings. In this work, an algorithm that explicitly takes into consideration the ordering of CTG categories, based on binary decomposition method, is investigated. Achieved results, using as a base classifier the C4.5 decision tree classifier, prove that the ordinal classification approach is marginally better than the traditional multiclass classification approach, which utilizes the standard C4.5 algorithm for several performance criteria.

The cost of selective attention in category learning: Developmental differences between adults and infants

PubMed Central

Best, Catherine A.; Yim, Hyungwook; Sloutsky, Vladimir M.

2013-01-01

Selective attention plays an important role in category learning. However, immaturities of top-down attentional control during infancy coupled with successful category learning suggest that early category learning is achieved without attending selectively. Research presented here examines this possibility by focusing on category learning in infants (6–8 months old) and adults. Participants were trained on a novel visual category. Halfway through the experiment, unbeknownst to participants, the to-be-learned category switched to another category, where previously relevant features became irrelevant and previously irrelevant features became relevant. If participants attend selectively to the relevant features of the first category, they should incur a cost of selective attention immediately after the unknown category switch. Results revealed that adults demonstrated a cost, as evidenced by a decrease in accuracy and response time on test trials as well as a decrease in visual attention to newly relevant features. In contrast, infants did not demonstrate a similar cost of selective attention as adults despite evidence of learning both to-be-learned categories. Findings are discussed as supporting multiple systems of category learning and as suggesting that learning mechanisms engaged by adults may be different from those engaged by infants. PMID:23773914

Quality of volatile organic compound data from groundwater and surface water for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program, October 1996–December 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bender, David A.; Zogorski, John S.; Mueller, David K.; Rose, Donna L.; Martin, Jeffrey D.; Brenner, Cassandra K.

2011-01-01

This report describes the quality of volatile organic compound (VOC) data collected from October 1996 to December 2008 from groundwater and surface-water sites for the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The VOC data described were collected for three NAWQA site types: (1) domestic and public-supply wells, (2) monitoring wells, and (3) surface-water sites. Contamination bias, based on the 90-percent upper confidence limit (UCL) for the 90th percentile of concentrations in field blanks, was determined for VOC samples from the three site types. A way to express this bias is that there is 90-percent confidence that this amount of contamination would be exceeded in no more than 10 percent of all samples (including environmental samples) that were collected, processed, shipped, and analyzed in the same manner as the blank samples. This report also describes how important native water rinsing may be in decreasing carryover contamination, which could be affecting field blanks. The VOCs can be classified into four contamination categories on the basis of the 90-percent upper confidence limit (90-percent UCL) concentration distribution in field blanks. Contamination category 1 includes compounds that were not detected in any field blanks. Contamination category 2 includes VOCs that have a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in field blanks that is about an order of magnitude lower than the concentration distribution of the environmental samples. Contamination category 3 includes VOCs that have a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in field blanks that is within an order of magnitude of the distribution in environmental samples. Contamination category 4 includes VOCs that have a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in field blanks that is at least an order of magnitude larger than the concentration distribution of the environmental samples. Fifty-four of the 87 VOCs analyzed in samples from domestic and public-supply wells were not detected in field blanks (contamination category 1), and 33 VOC were detected in field blanks. Ten of the 33 VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in field blanks that was at least an order of magnitude lower than the concentration distribution in environmental samples (contamination category 2). These 10 VOCs may have had some contamination bias associated with the environmental samples, but the potential contamination bias was negligible in comparison to the environmental data; therefore, the field blanks were assumed to be representative of the sources of contamination bias affecting the environmental samples for these 10 VOCs. Seven VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution of the field blanks that was within an order of magnitude of the concentration distribution of the environmental samples (contamination category 3). Sixteen VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in the field blanks that was at least an order of magnitude greater than the concentration distribution of the environmental samples (contamination category 4). Field blanks for these 16 VOCs appear to be nonrepresentative of the sources of contamination bias affecting the environmental samples because of the larger concentration distributions (and sometimes higher frequency of detection) in field blanks than in environmental samples. Forty-three of the 87 VOCs analyzed in samples from monitoring wells were not detected in field blanks (contamination category 1), and 44 VOCs were detected in field blanks. Eight of the 44 VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in field blanks that was at least an order of magnitude lower than concentrations in environmental samples (contamination category 2). These eight VOCs may have had some contamination bias associated with the environmental samples, but the potential contamination bias was negligible in comparison to the environmental data; therefore, the field blanks were assumed to be representative. Seven VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in field blanks that was of the same order of magnitude as the concentration distribution of the environmental samples (contamination category 3). Twenty-nine VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in the field blanks that was an order of magnitude greater than the distribution of the environmental samples (contamination category 4). Field blanks for these 29 VOCs appear to be nonrepresentative of the sources of contamination bias to the environmental samples. Fifty-four of the 87 VOCs analyzed in surface-water samples were not detected in field blanks (category 1), and 33 VOC were detected in field blanks. Sixteen of the 33 VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in field blanks that was at least an order of magnitude lower than the concentration distribution in environmental samples (contamination category 2). These 16 VOCs may have had some contamination bias associated with the environmental samples, but the potential contamination bias was negligible in comparison to the environmental data; therefore, the field blanks were assumed to be representative. Ten VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in field blanks that was similar to the concentration distribution of environmental samples (contamination category 3). Seven VOCs had a 90-percent UCL concentration distribution in the field blanks that was greater than the concentration distribution in environmental samples (contamination category 4). Field-blank samples for these seven VOCs appear to be nonrepresentative of the sources of contamination bias to the environmental samples. The relation between the detection of a compound in field blanks and the detection in subsequent environmental samples appears to be minimal. The median minimum percent effectiveness of native water rinsing is about 79 percent for the 19 VOCs detected in more than 5 percent of field blanks from all three site types. The minimum percent effectiveness of native water rinsing (10 percent) was for toluene in surface-water samples, likely because of the large detection frequency of toluene in surface-water samples (about 79 percent) and in the associated field-blank samples (46.5 percent). The VOCs that were not detected in field blanks (contamination category 1) from the three site types can be considered free of contamination bias, and various interpretations for environmental samples, such as VOC detection frequency at multiple assessment levels and comparisons of concentrations to benchmarks, are not limited for these VOCs. A censoring level for making comparisons at different assessment levels among environmental samples could be applied to concentrations of 9 VOCs in samples from domestic and public-supply wells, 16 VOCs in samples from monitoring wells, and 9 VOCs in surface-water samples to account for potential low-level contamination bias associated with these selected VOCs. Bracketing the potential contamination by comparing the detection and concentration statistics with no censoring applied to the potential for contamination bias on the basis of the 90-percent UCL for the 90th-percentile concentrations in field blanks may be useful when comparisons to benchmarks are done in a study. The VOCs that were not detected in field blanks (contamination category 1) from the three site types can be considered free of contamination bias, and various interpretations for environmental samples, such as VOC detection frequency at multiple assessment levels and comparisons of concentrations to benchmarks, are not limited for these VOCs. A censoring level for making comparisons at different assessment levels among environmental samples could be applied to concentrations of 9 VOCs in samples from domestic and public-supply wells, 16 VOCs in samples from monitoring wells, and 9 VOCs in surface-water samples to account for potential low-level contamination bias associated with these selected VOCs. Bracketing the potential contamination by comparing the detection and concentration statistics with no censoring applied to the potential for contamination bias on the basis of the 90-percent UCL for the 90th-percentile concentrations in field blanks may be useful when comparisons to benchmarks are done in a study.

Kids, Crops, & Critters in the Classroom: An Agricultural Literacy Resource Guide for Grades 4-6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois Farm Bureau, Bloomington.

This resource guide provides teachers of grades 4-6 with ideas and materials to integrate agricultural concepts into classroom activities. The guide is organized into six categories: math, science, language arts, social studies, fine arts, and health/nutrition/safety. Each category contains 10 lessons organized in the following topic order:…

Can we compare the environmental performance of this product to that one? An update on the development of product category rules and future challenges toward alignment

EPA Science Inventory

When used to compare the relative environmental benefits of different products, life cycle-based, quantitative environmental claims, such as carbon footprints and environmental product declarations require common rules in order for claims to be comparable within a category. Produ...

Verifiability of diagnostic categories and work ability in the context of disability pension award: A survey on "gatekeeping" among general practitioners in Norway

PubMed Central

Overland, Rein; Overland, Simon; Johansen, Kristian Nyborg; Mykletun, Arnstein

2008-01-01

Background Disability benefits exist to redeem social and financial consequences of reduced work ability from medical conditions. Physicians are responsible for identifying the medical grounds for benefit claims. The aim of this study was to explore physicians' views on verifiability of medical conditions and related work ability in this context. Methods Information on verifiability of diagnostic categories and work ability was obtained from a survey among a representative sample of general practitioners (GPs) in Norway (n = 500, 25.2% response rate). Verifiability was defined as to what extent the assessment is based on objective criteria versus on information from the patient. We enquired about the diagnostic categories used in official statistics on main disability benefit causes in Norway and elsewhere. Results On a scale from 0 (low verifiability) to 5 (high verifiability), the mean level of verifiability across all diagnostic categories was 3.7 (SD = 0.42). Degree of verifiability varied much between diagnostic categories, and was low in e.g. unspecified rheumatism/myalgia and dorsopathies, and high in neoplasms and congenital malformations, deformation and chromosomal abnormalities. Verifiability of work ability was reported to be more problematic than that of diagnostic categories. The diagnostic categories rated as the least verifiable, are also the most common in disability pension awards. Conclusion Verifiability of both diagnostic categories and work ability in disability assessments are reported to be moderate by GPs. We suggest that the low verifiability of diagnostic categories and related work ability assessments in the majority of disability pension awards is important in explaining why GPs find the gatekeeping-function problematic. PMID:18439251

The Michigan data needs questionnaire

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill-Rowley, R.

1981-01-01

The data needs questionnaire is an element in the project design study for the Michigan Resource Inventory Act and is aimed at gathering information on what inventory information is required by land use planners throughout the state. Analysis of questionnaire responses is discussed. Some information on current use categories was tabulated. The respondents selected a broad range of categories at all levels of detail. Those most frequently indicated were urban categories.

A prospective study to select and evaluate anesthesiology residents: phase I, the critical incident technique.

PubMed

Altmaier, E M; From, R P; Pearson, K S; Gorbatenko-Roth, K G; Ugolini, K A

1997-12-01

To develop categories of behavior that define an applicant's aptitude for anesthesia, and to attempt to determine the relative importance of these behaviors to successful residency performance. Prospective open study. Anesthesia residencies at three midwest university teaching hospitals. Using a structured interview format known as the critical incident technique, faculty anesthesiologists were asked to describe examples of effective and ineffective behaviors observed among anesthesia residents during the twelve months prior to the interview. Interviews initially held with 34 anesthesiologists generated 172 incidents. These incidents formed the basis for a categorization analysis performed by two anesthesiologists. Six categories were developed: preparedness, interpersonal skills, response to teaching, data monitoring, technical skills, and emergency situations. Validation of these categories was confirmed with three subsequent interviews, in which 92 anesthesiologists generated 475 incidents. Most incidents were found to conform to the previously defined categories using a reallocation index with a range of 0.70 to 0.80. The category "technical skills" fell below the defined range. Over 60 percent of the incidents involved noncognitive personal attributes: preparedness, interpersonal skills, and response to teaching. Effective behavior in six categories identifies an applicant's aptitude for anesthesia. Selection of residents may be enhanced by routinely assessing noncognitive characteristics.

Recognition memory for hue: Prototypical bias and the role of labeling.

PubMed

Kelly, Laura Jane; Heit, Evan

2017-06-01

How does the concurrent use of language affect perception and memory for exemplars? Labels cue more general category information than a specific exemplar. Applying labels can affect the resulting memory for an exemplar. Here 3 alternative hypotheses are proposed for the role of labeling an exemplar at encoding: (a) labels distort memory toward the label prototype, (b) labels guide the level of specificity needed in the current context, and (c) labels direct attention to the label's referent among all possible features within a visual scene. University students were shown hues on object silhouettes that they either labeled with basic color categories, made preference judgments about, or indicated the animacy of its category. Experiments 1 and 2 established that there are response shifts toward the category prototype regardless of labeling, showing a pervasive influence of category knowledge on response bias. They also established an effect of labeling whereby labeling decreases the magnitude of shifts. Experiments 3 and 4 investigated the uniqueness and necessity of language in causing the decreased shift-neither of which proved to be the case. Overall, category-relative bias was pervasive and labeling appears to direct attention to the feature resulting in less biased memory. The results highlight that the context at encoding affects how memory is formed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Materials requirements for optical processing and computing devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tanguay, A. R., Jr.

1985-01-01

Devices for optical processing and computing systems are discussed, with emphasis on the materials requirements imposed by functional constraints. Generalized optical processing and computing systems are described in order to identify principal categories of requisite components for complete system implementation. Three principal device categories are selected for analysis in some detail: spatial light modulators, volume holographic optical elements, and bistable optical devices. The implications for optical processing and computing systems of the materials requirements identified for these device categories are described, and directions for future research are proposed.

PREFACE: International Symposium "Nanoscience and Quantum Physics 2011" (nanoPHYS'11)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saito, Susumu; Tanaka, Hidekazu; Nakamura, Takashi; Nakamura, Masaaki

2011-07-01

Quantum physics has developed modern views of nature for more than a century. In addition to this traditional role, quantum physics has acquired new significance in the 21st century as the field responsible for driving and supporting nanoscience research, which will have even greater importance in the future because nanoscience will be the academic foundation for new technologies. The Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, are now conducting a "Nanoscience and Quantum Physics" project (Physics G-COE project) supported by the Global Center of Excellence Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) in order to promote research and education in these important academic fields. The International Symposium on Nanoscience and Quantum Physics, held in Tokyo, Japan, 26-28 January 2011 (nanoPHYS'11) was organized by the Physics G-COE project of the Tokyo Institute of Technology to provide an international forum for the open exchange of topical information and for stimulating discussion on novel concepts and future prospects of nanoscience and quantum physics. There were a total of 118 papers including 34 invited papers. This nanoPHYS'11 is the fourth symposium of this kind organized by the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Topics focused on in the symposium included: Category 1: Novel nanostructure (Nanowires, Nanotubes, Spin-related structure, etc) Category 2: Novel transport and electronic properties (Graphene, Topological insulators, Coherent control, etc) Category 3: Electronic and optical properties of nanostructure Category 4: Fundamental physics and new concept in quantum physics Category 5: Quantum Physics - Quantum information Category 6: Quantum Physics - Nuclear and Hadron Physics Category 7: Quantum Physics - Astrophysics, etc All the papers submitted to this issue have been reviewed under a stringent refereeing process, according to the normal rules of this Journal. The editors are grateful to all the authors, the referees, and all the individuals involved in the symposium organization, in particular, all the committee members and secretaries who helped to make this symposium so successful. The organizing committee would like to take this opportunity to thank the invited speakers, the session chairs, and all the attendees for their contribution to the symposium. Susumu Saito, Hidekazu Tanaka, Takashi Nakamura and Masaaki Nakamura, Editors Conference photograph

Qualifying instrument for evaluation of food and nutritional care in hospital.

PubMed

Díez García, R W; Souza, A A; Proença, R P C

2012-01-01

Establishing criteria for hospital nutrition care ensures that quality care is delivered to patients. The responsibility of the Hospital Food and Nutrition Service (HFNS) is not always well defined, despite efforts to establish guidelines for patient clinical nutrition practice. This study describes the elaboration of an Instrument for Evaluation of Food and Nutritional Care (IEFNC) aimed at directing the actions of the Hospital Food and Nutrition Service. This instrument was qualified by means of a comparative analysis of the categories related to hospital food and nutritional care, published in the literature. Elaboration of the IEFNC comprised the following stages: (a) a survey of databases and documents for selection of the categories to be used in nutrition care evaluation, (b) a study of the institutional procedures for nutrition practice at two Brazilian hospitals, in order to provide a description of the sequence of actions that should be taken by the HFNS as well as other services participating in nutrition care, (c) design of the IEFNC based on the categories published in the literature, adapted to the sequence of actions observed in the routines of the hospitals under study, (d) application of the questionnaire at two different hospitals that was mentioned in the item (b), in order to assess the time spent on its application, the difficulties in phrasing the questions, and the coverage of the instrument, and (e) finalization of the instrument. The IEFNC consists of 50 open and closed questions on two areas of food and nutritional care in hospital: inpatient nutritional care and food service quality. It deals with the characterization and structure of hospitals and their HFNS, the actions concerning the patients' nutritional evaluation and monitoring, the meal production system, and the hospital diets. "This questionnaire is a tool that can be seen as a portrait of the structure and characteristics of the HFNS and its performance in clinical and meal management dietitian activities."

Oculo-vestibular recoupling using galvanic vestibular stimulation to mitigate simulator sickness.

PubMed

Cevette, Michael J; Stepanek, Jan; Cocco, Daniela; Galea, Anna M; Pradhan, Gaurav N; Wagner, Linsey S; Oakley, Sarah R; Smith, Benn E; Zapala, David A; Brookler, Kenneth H

2012-06-01

Despite improvement in the computational capabilities of visual displays in flight simulators, intersensory visual-vestibular conflict remains the leading cause of simulator sickness (SS). By using galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS), the vestibular system can be synchronized with a moving visual field in order to lessen the mismatch of sensory inputs thought to result in SS. A multisite electrode array was used to deliver combinations of GVS in 21 normal subjects. Optimal electrode combinations were identified and used to establish GVS dose-response predictions for the perception of roll, pitch, and yaw. Based on these data, an algorithm was then implemented in flight simulator hardware in order to synchronize visual and GVS-induced vestibular sensations (oculo-vestibular-recoupled or OVR simulation). Subjects were then randomly exposed to flight simulation either with or without OVR simulation. A self-report SS checklist was administered to all subjects after each session. An overall SS score was calculated for each category of symptoms for both groups. The analysis of GVS stimulation data yielded six unique combinations of electrode positions inducing motion perceptions in the three rotational axes. This provided the algorithm used for OVR simulation. The overall SS scores for gastrointestinal, central, and peripheral categories were 17%, 22.4%, and 20% for the Control group and 6.3%, 20%, and 8% for the OVR group, respectively. When virtual head signals produced by GVS are synchronized to the speed and direction of a moving visual field, manifestations of induced SS in a cockpit flight simulator are significantly reduced.

Relationship between the Onset of Depression and Stress Response Measured by the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire among Japanese Employees: A Cohort Study

PubMed Central

Wada, Keiko; Sairenchi, Toshimi; Haruyama, Yasuo; Taneichi, Hiromi; Ishikawa, Yumiko; Muto, Takashi

2013-01-01

Background The proportion of Japanese workers experiencing intense worry or stress during working life is in excess of 60%, and the incidence of psychiatric disorders and suicide due to psychological burden from work duties is increasing. To confirm whether the stress response measured by the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) can identify risk for depression, a cohort study was conducted to evaluate whether the stress response measured by BJSQ was associated with the onset of depression. Methods A total of 1,810 participants aged 20–70 years in 2005 completed the stress response of the BJSQ and were followed-up until August, 2007 by examining sick pay records. Depression was defined by a description in sick pay records that included “depression” or “depressive symptoms” as a reason for sick leave according to a physician's medical certificate. The participants were divided into quartiles (Ql, Q2, Q3, and Q4) according to the total stress response score of BJSQ at baseline. Furthermore, the participants were divided into a higher score category (Q4) and a lower score category (Q1–Q3). Risk ratios of the stress response of the BJSQ for onset of depression were calculated using a multivariable Cox proportional hazard model. Results Among 1,810 participants, 14 developed depression during a mean of 1.8 years of follow-up. The risk ratio was 2.96 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04–8.42, p for trend = 0.002) when the higher stress response score category of BJSQ was compared with the low stress response score category for sick leave due to depression. After adjusting for gender, age, marital status, and having children, the risk ratios were similar to no adjustment. Conclusions These findings suggest that the stress response measured by the BJSQ can demonstrate risk for the onset of depression. PMID:23424656

Exploring Missing Values on Responses to Experienced and Labeled Event as Harassment in 2004 Reserves Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-07-01

Personal Experiences of Sexual Harassment and Missing Values on Sexual Harassment Questions by Perceptions of Sexism in a Unit (Quartiles... sexism in a unit). The “worst” category indicates units with the highest levels of reported sexist behavior, and the “best” category indicates the...Education and Prevention, 19 (6), 519–530. Harris, R. J., & Firestone, J. M., (1997). Subtle sexism in the U.S. Military: Individual responses to

Semantics bias in cross-national comparative analyses: is it good or bad to have "fair" health?

PubMed

Schnohr, Christina W; Gobina, Inese; Santos, Teresa; Mazur, Joanna; Alikasifuglu, Mujgan; Välimaa, Raili; Corell, Maria; Hagquist, Curt; Dalmasso, Paola; Movseyan, Yeva; Cavallo, Franco; van Dorsselaer, Saskia; Torsheim, Torbjørn

2016-05-04

The Health Behavior in School-aged Children is a cross-national study collecting data on social and health indicators on adolescents in 43 countries. The study provides comparable data on health behaviors and health outcomes through the use of a common protocol, which have been a back bone of the study sine its initiation in 1983. Recent years, researchers within the study have noticed a questionable comparability on the widely used item on self-rated health. One of the four response categories to the item "Would you say your health is….?" showed particular variation, as the response category "Fair" varied from 20 % in Latvia and Moldova to 3-4 % in Bulgaria and Macedonia. A qualitative mini-survey of the back-translations showed that the response category "Fair" had a negative slant in 25 countries, a positive slant in 10 countries and was considered neutral in 9 countries. This finding indicates that there are what may be called semantic issues affecting comparability in international studies, since the same original word (in an English original) is interpreted differently across countries and cultures. The paper test and discuss a few possible explanations to this, however, only leaving to future studies to hold a cautious approach to international comparisons if working with the self-rated health item with four response categories.

Category-Specific Neural Oscillations Predict Recall Organization During Memory Search

PubMed Central

Morton, Neal W.; Kahana, Michael J.; Rosenberg, Emily A.; Baltuch, Gordon H.; Litt, Brian; Sharan, Ashwini D.; Sperling, Michael R.; Polyn, Sean M.

2013-01-01

Retrieved-context models of human memory propose that as material is studied, retrieval cues are constructed that allow one to target particular aspects of past experience. We examined the neural predictions of these models by using electrocorticographic/depth recordings and scalp electroencephalography (EEG) to characterize category-specific oscillatory activity, while participants studied and recalled items from distinct, neurally discriminable categories. During study, these category-specific patterns predict whether a studied item will be recalled. In the scalp EEG experiment, category-specific activity during study also predicts whether a given item will be recalled adjacent to other same-category items, consistent with the proposal that a category-specific retrieval cue is used to guide memory search. Retrieved-context models suggest that integrative neural circuitry is involved in the construction and maintenance of the retrieval cue. Consistent with this hypothesis, we observe category-specific patterns that rise in strength as multiple same-category items are studied sequentially, and find that individual differences in this category-specific neural integration during study predict the degree to which a participant will use category information to organize memory search. Finally, we track the deployment of this retrieval cue during memory search: Category-specific patterns are stronger when participants organize their responses according to the category of the studied material. PMID:22875859

Retrospective analysis of the recovery of orientation and memory during posttraumatic amnesia.

PubMed

Roberts, Caroline M; Spitz, Gershon; Ponsford, Jennie L

2015-07-01

Prospective monitoring of posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) is recommended following moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, few studies have examined the typical order in which items recover on PTA scales. Different methods have been used to define recovery, and the order reported is not consistent across the literature. The purpose of this study was to improve understanding of the progression of PTA by reporting the duration to recovery of items and categories on the Westmead Post-Traumatic Amnesia Scale (WPTAS) according to different criteria. A retrospective analysis was conducted of 66 patients with TBI who were administered the WPTAS during hospital admission. The duration to recovery of items and categories was determined according to 3 criteria: first correct, correct 3 times in a row, and consistently correct. On the basis of the sample mean, date of birth (DOB), year, age, place, month, day, name, and memory for the 3 pictures recovered in this order according to all 3 criteria. However, the significance of differences between items and the order of recovery of categories depended on the criterion adopted. Although DOB recovered first in 74% of cases and the 3 pictures last in 63% of cases, there was a high degree of individual variability in the precise sequence of recovery. The traditional view of PTA recovering in the order of person, place, time, and memory does not adequately describe the profile of recovery on the WPTAS. Considering the recovery of individual items is necessary to understand and account for individuals differences in the order of recovery. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

26 CFR 53.4958-3 - Definition of disqualified person.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...) Treasurers and chief financial officers. This category includes any person who, regardless of title, has... chief financial officer has this ultimate responsibility unless the person demonstrates otherwise. If.... (2) Presidents, chief executive officers, or chief operating officers. This category includes any...

A typology and analysis of drug resistance strategies of rural Native Hawaiian youth.

PubMed

Okamoto, Scott K; Helm, Susana; Giroux, Danielle; Kaliades, Alexis; Kawano, Kaycee Nahe; Kulis, Stephen

2010-12-01

This study examines the drug resistance strategies described by Native Hawaiian youth residing in rural communities. Sixty-four youth from 7 middle and intermediate schools on the Island of Hawai'i participated in a series of gender-specific focus groups. Youth responded to 15 drug-related problem situations developed and validated from prior research. A total of 509 responses reflecting primary or secondary drug resistance strategies were identified by the youth, which were qualitatively collapsed into 16 different categories. Primary drug resistance strategies were those that participants listed as a single response, or the first part of a two-part response, while secondary drug resistance strategies were those that were used in tandem with primary drug resistance strategies. Over half of the responses reflecting primary drug resistance strategies fell into three different categories ("refuse," "explain," or "angry refusal"), whereas over half of the responses reflecting secondary drug resistance strategies represented one category ("explain"). Significant gender differences were found in the frequency of using different strategies as well as variations in the frequency of using different strategies based on the type of drug offerer (family versus friends/peers). Implications for prevention practice are discussed.

Cue-type manipulation dissociates two types of task set inhibition: backward inhibition and competitor rule suppression.

PubMed

Regev, Shirley; Meiran, Nachshon

2016-07-01

Backward inhibition (BI) reflects the suppression of a recently abandoned task set to allow for smooth transition to a new task even when the rules do not generate a response conflict. Competitor rule suppression (CRS) reflects the inhibition/suppression of irrelevant task rules when these rules generate a response conflict even if they have not recently been abandoned. We assessed whether BI and CRS are differentially affected by the difficulty in retrieving category-response mappings from memory. Retrieval demands were manipulated via the information provided by the task cues, which either indicated the relevant dimension (dimension cues; "color") or the relevant dimension with its category-to-key mapping (mapping cues; "red green", indicating that "red" and "green" go with the left/right responses, respectively). CRS was larger with dimension compared to mapping cues when cue-type varied between groups and was larger after trials involving dimension cues when cue-type varied on a trial-by-trial basis. In contrast, BI was not influenced by cue-type. These results suggest that task switching involve at least two distinct inhibitory processes, with CRS being related to the ease of retrieval of category-response mappings from memory.

Random local temporal structure of category fluency responses.

PubMed

Meyer, David J; Messer, Jason; Singh, Tanya; Thomas, Peter J; Woyczynski, Wojbor A; Kaye, Jeffrey; Lerner, Alan J

2012-04-01

The Category Fluency Test (CFT) provides a sensitive measurement of cognitive capabilities in humans related to retrieval from semantic memory. In particular, it is widely used to assess progress of cognitive impairment in patients with dementia. Previous research shows that, in the first approximation, the intensity of tested individuals' responses within a standard 60-s test period decays exponentially with time, with faster decay rates for more cognitively impaired patients. Such decay rate can then be viewed as a global (macro) diagnostic parameter of each test. In the present paper we focus on the statistical properties of the properly de-trended time intervals between consecutive responses (inter-call times) in the Category Fluency Test. In a sense, those properties reflect the local (micro) structure of the response generation process. We find that a good approximation for the distribution of the de-trended inter-call times is provided by the Weibull Distribution, a probability distribution that appears naturally in this context as a distribution of a minimum of independent random quantities and is the standard tool in industrial reliability theory. This insight leads us to a new interpretation of the concept of "navigating a semantic space" via patient responses.

Discontinuous categories affect information-integration but not rule-based category learning.

PubMed

Maddox, W Todd; Filoteo, J Vincent; Lauritzen, J Scott; Connally, Emily; Hejl, Kelli D

2005-07-01

Three experiments were conducted that provide a direct examination of within-category discontinuity manipulations on the implicit, procedural-based learning and the explicit, hypothesis-testing systems proposed in F. G. Ashby, L. A. Alfonso-Reese, A. U. Turken, and E. M. Waldron's (1998) competition between verbal and implicit systems model. Discontinuous categories adversely affected information-integration but not rule-based category learning. Increasing the magnitude of the discontinuity did not lead to a significant decline in performance. The distance to the bound provides a reasonable description of the generalization profile associated with the hypothesis-testing system, whereas the distance to the bound plus the distance to the trained response region provides a reasonable description of the generalization profile associated with the procedural-based learning system. These results suggest that within-category discontinuity differentially impacts information-integration but not rule-based category learning and provides information regarding the detailed processing characteristics of each category learning system. ((c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).

Society's symbolic order and political trials: toward sacrificing the self for the "Big Other".

PubMed

Lubin, Avi

2005-12-01

The need to establish a borderline between legitimate and illegitimate political trial is one of the central societal discourses. In this paper the author claims that the issues are complex and that a political trial can remain legitimate as long as it is not dealing with a confrontation with the symbolic order on which the society (and the court itself) is founded and as long as the subject (or action) it is dealing with does not threaten the symbolic order's (or the "Big Other") existence. When the symbolic order's existence is in danger, the court is bound to participate in an act of "sacrifice" that is intended to protect the "order." The author uses Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theory of the "Big Other" (and its development to ideological-political terms) in examining three categories of sacrifice. Through these categories the author claims that in extreme cases of confrontation with the existence of the symbolic order, the court cannot remain objective and it would be difficult to justify the trial as legitimate (especially in historical perspective).

A Rasch measure of teachers' views of teacher-student relationships in the primary school.

PubMed

Leitao, Natalie; Waugh, Russell F

2012-01-01

This study investigated teacher-student relationships from the teachers' point of view at Perth metropolitan schools in Western Australia. The study identified three key social and emotional aspects that affect teacher-student relationships, namely, Connectedness, Availability and Communication. Data were collected by questionnaire (N = 139) with stem-items answered in three perspectives: (1) Idealistic: this is what I would like to happen; (2) Capability: this is what I am capable of; and (3) Behaviour: this is what actually happens, using four ordered response categories: not at all (score 1), some of the time (score 2), most of the time (score 3), and almost always (score 4). Data were analysed with a Rasch measurement model and a uni-dimensional, linear scale with 24 items, ordered from easy to hard, was created. The data were shown to be highly reliable, so that valid inferences could be made from the scale. The Person Separation Index (akin to a reliability index) was 0.93; there was good global teacher and item fit to the measurement model; there was good item fit; the targeting of the item difficulties against the teacher measures was good, and the response categories were answered consistently and logically. Teachers said that the ideal items were all easier than their corresponding capability items which were in turn easier than the behaviour items (where the items fitted the model), as conceptualized. The easiest ideal items were: I like this child and This child and I get along well together. The hardest ideal item (but still easy) was: I am available for this child. The easiest behaviour item (but still hard) was: This child and I get along well together. The hardest behaviour item (and very hard) was: I am interested to learn about this child's personal thoughts, feelings and experiences. The difficulties of the items supported the conceptual structure of the variable.

Chromatic Perceptual Learning but No Category Effects without Linguistic Input.

PubMed

Grandison, Alexandra; Sowden, Paul T; Drivonikou, Vicky G; Notman, Leslie A; Alexander, Iona; Davies, Ian R L

2016-01-01

Perceptual learning involves an improvement in perceptual judgment with practice, which is often specific to stimulus or task factors. Perceptual learning has been shown on a range of visual tasks but very little research has explored chromatic perceptual learning. Here, we use two low level perceptual threshold tasks and a supra-threshold target detection task to assess chromatic perceptual learning and category effects. Experiment 1 investigates whether chromatic thresholds reduce as a result of training and at what level of analysis learning effects occur. Experiment 2 explores the effect of category training on chromatic thresholds, whether training of this nature is category specific and whether it can induce categorical responding. Experiment 3 investigates the effect of category training on a higher level, lateralized target detection task, previously found to be sensitive to category effects. The findings indicate that performance on a perceptual threshold task improves following training but improvements do not transfer across retinal location or hue. Therefore, chromatic perceptual learning is category specific and can occur at relatively early stages of visual analysis. Additionally, category training does not induce category effects on a low level perceptual threshold task, as indicated by comparable discrimination thresholds at the newly learned hue boundary and adjacent test points. However, category training does induce emerging category effects on a supra-threshold target detection task. Whilst chromatic perceptual learning is possible, learnt category effects appear to be a product of left hemisphere processing, and may require the input of higher level linguistic coding processes in order to manifest.

What Counts as Knowledge: Learning to Use Categories in Computer Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ludvigsen, Sten R.

2012-01-01

In this article, I develop a perspective on learning as multilayered phenomena. I take a socio-genetic approach in order to understand human activity and to show how categories are a fundamental part of learning in a specific type of institutional practice. In the empirical section, student dialogue is analysed in relation to a set of categories…

75 FR 23718 - Orders Finding That the Henry Financial Basis Contract, Henry Financial Index Contract and Henry...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-04

... exempt commercial market (``ECM'') under sections 2(h)(3)-(5) of the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'' or... with respect to ECMs by creating, in section 2(h)(7) of the CEA, a new regulatory category--ECMs on which significant price discovery contracts (``SPDCs'') are traded--and treating ECMs in that category...

76 FR 18587 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-04

... purpose of Exchange Rule 1090. Pursuant to By-Law Article X, Section 12-10, to be eligible as an Inactive... purposes of Exchange Rule 1090.\\6\\ Rule 1090 was enacted to identify categories of persons that are not... trading floor. In order for Rule 1090 to apply to all categories of registered persons located on the...

A summary of major NASA launches, 1 October 1958 - 31 December 1979

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jarrett, F.

1980-01-01

Major NASA launches conducted under the direction of the John F. Kennedy Space Center (or its precursors) are listed within broad categories. Individual launches are summarized in chronological order under each category. The mission name, launch date/time, launch vehicle, NASA code, and site/pad are identified as well as the degree of success of the mission.

Effect of olympic weight category on performance in the roundhouse kick to the head in taekwondo.

PubMed

Estevan, Isaac; Falco, Coral; Alvarez, Octavio; Molina-García, Javier

2012-03-01

In taekwondo, kick performance is generally measured using impact force and time. This study aimed to analyse performance in the roundhouse kick to the head according to execution distance between and within Olympic weight categories. The participants were 36 male athletes divided into three categories: featherweight (n = 10), welterweight (n = 15) and heavyweight (n = 11). Our results show that taekwondo athletes in all weight categories generate a similar relative impact force. However, the results indicate that weight has a large impact on kick performance, particularly in relation to total response time.

Effect of Olympic Weight Category on Performance in the Roundhouse Kick to the Head in Taekwondo

PubMed Central

Estevan, Isaac; Falco, Coral; Álvarez, Octavio; Molina-García, Javier

2012-01-01

In taekwondo, kick performance is generally measured using impact force and time. This study aimed to analyse performance in the roundhouse kick to the head according to execution distance between and within Olympic weight categories. The participants were 36 male athletes divided into three categories: featherweight (n = 10), welterweight (n = 15) and heavyweight (n = 11). Our results show that taekwondo athletes in all weight categories generate a similar relative impact force. However, the results indicate that weight has a large impact on kick performance, particularly in relation to total response time. PMID:23486074

Semiquantitative visual approach to scoring lung cancer treatment response using computed tomography: a pilot study.

PubMed

Gottlieb, Ronald H; Kumar, Prasanna; Loud, Peter; Klippenstein, Donald; Raczyk, Cheryl; Tan, Wei; Lu, Jenny; Ramnath, Nithya

2009-01-01

Our objective was to compare a newly developed semiquantitative visual scoring (SVS) method with the current standard, the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) method, in the categorization of treatment response and reader agreement for patients with metastatic lung cancer followed by computed tomography. The 18 subjects (5 women and 13 men; mean age, 62.8 years) were from an institutional review board-approved phase 2 study that evaluated a second-line chemotherapy regimen for metastatic (stages III and IV) non-small cell lung cancer. Four radiologists, blinded to the patient outcome and each other's reads, evaluated the change in the patients' tumor burden from the baseline to the first restaging computed tomographic scan using either the RECIST or the SVS method. We compared the numbers of patients placed into the partial response, the stable disease (SD), and the progressive disease (PD) categories (Fisher exact test) and observer agreement (kappa statistic). Requiring the concordance of 3 of the 4 readers resulted in the RECIST placing 17 (100%) of 17 patients in the SD category compared with the SVS placing 9 (60%) of 15 patients in the partial response, 5 (33%) of the 15 patients in the SD, and 1 (6.7%) of the 15 patients in the PD categories (P < 0.0001). Interobserver agreement was higher among the readers using the SVS method (kappa, 0.54; P < 0.0001) compared with that of the readers using the RECIST method (kappa, -0.01; P = 0.5378). Using the SVS method, the readers more finely discriminated between the patient response categories with superior agreement compared with the RECIST method, which could potentially result in large differences in early treatment decisions for advanced lung cancer.

Measuring health system responsiveness at facility level in Ethiopia: performance, correlates and implications.

PubMed

Yakob, Bereket; Ncama, Busisiwe Purity

2017-04-11

Health system responsiveness measures (HSR) the non-health aspect of care relating to the environment and the way healthcare is provided to clients. The study measured the HSR performance and correlates of HIV/AIDS treatment and care services in the Wolaita Zone of Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey across seven responsiveness domains (attention, autonomy, amenities of care, choice, communication, confidentiality and respect) was conducted on 492 people using pre-ART and ART care. The Likert scale categories were allocated percentages for analysis, being classified as unacceptable (Fail) and acceptable (Good and Very Good) performance. Of the 452 (91.9%) participants, 205 (45.4%) and 247 (54.6%) were from health centers and a hospital respectively. 375 (83.0%) and 77 (17.0%) were on ART and pre-ART care respectively. A range of response classifications was reported for each domain, with Fail performance being higher for choice (48.4%), attention (45.5%) and autonomy (22.7%) domains. Communication (64.2%), amenities (61.4%), attention (51.4%) and confidentiality (50.1%) domains had higher scores in the 'Good' performance category. On the other hand, 'only respect (54.0%) domain had higher score in the 'Very Good' performance category while attention (3.1%), amenities (4.7%) and choice (12.4%) domains had very low scores. Respect (5.1%), confidentiality (7.6%) and communication (14.7%) showed low proportion in the Fail performance. 10.4 and 6.9% of the responsiveness percent score (RPS) were in 'Fail' and Very Good categories respectively while the rest (82.7%) were in Good performance category. In the multivariate analysis, a unit increase in the perceived quality of care, satisfaction with the services and financial fairness scores respectively resulted in 0.27% (p < 0.001), 0.48% (p < 0.001) and 0.48% (p < 0.001) increase in the RPS. On the contrary, visiting traditional medicine practitioner before formal HIV care was associated with 2.1% decrease in the RPS. The health facilities performed low on the autonomy, choice, attention and amenities domains while the overall RPS masked the weaknesses and strengths and showed an overall good performance. The domain specific responsiveness scores are better ways of measuring responsiveness. Improving quality of care, client satisfaction and financial fairness will be important interventions to improve responsiveness performance.

Measurement of sexual identity in surveys: implications for substance abuse research.

PubMed

McCabe, Sean Esteban; Hughes, Tonda L; Bostwick, Wendy; Morales, Michele; Boyd, Carol J

2012-06-01

Researchers are increasingly recognizing the need to include measures of sexual orientation in health studies. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how sexual identity, the cognitive aspect of sexual orientation, is defined and measured. Our study examined the impact of using two separate sexual identity question formats: a three-category question (response options included heterosexual, bisexual, or lesbian/gay), and a similar question with five response options (only lesbian/gay, mostly lesbian/gay, bisexual, mostly heterosexual, only heterosexual). A large probability-based sample of undergraduate university students was surveyed and a randomly selected subsample of participants was asked both sexual identity questions. Approximately one-third of students who identified as bisexual based on the three-category sexual identity measure chose "mostly heterosexual" or "mostly lesbian/gay" on the five-category measure. In addition to comparing sample proportions of lesbian/gay, bisexual, or heterosexual participants based on the two question formats, rates of alcohol and other drug use were also examined among the participants. Substance use outcomes among the sexual minority subgroups differed based on the sexual identity question format used: bisexual participants showed greater risk of substance use in analyses using the three-category measure whereas "mostly heterosexual" participants were at greater risk when data were analyzed using the five-category measure. Study results have important implications for the study of sexual identity, as well as whether and how to recode responses to questions related to sexual identity.

Radioactive waste management in France and international cooperation

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

Marque, Y.

1991-01-01

Long-term industrial management of radioactive waste in France is carried out by the Agence Nationale pour la gestion des Dechets Radioactifs. (ANDRA), which is a public body responsible mainly for siting, design, construction, and operation of the disposal facilities for every kind of radioactive waste produced in the country. Furthermore, ANDRA has to define and control the required quality of waste packages delivered for disposal. As far as disposal is concerned, it is customary in France to classify waste in two main categories. The first category includes all the so-called short-lived low-level waste (LLW) containing mainly radioactive substances have

Modular Extensions of Unitary Braided Fusion Categories and 2+1D Topological/SPT Orders with Symmetries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lan, Tian; Kong, Liang; Wen, Xiao-Gang

2017-04-01

A finite bosonic or fermionic symmetry can be described uniquely by a symmetric fusion category E. In this work, we propose that 2+1D topological/SPT orders with a fixed finite symmetry E are classified, up to {E_8} quantum Hall states, by the unitary modular tensor categories C over E and the modular extensions of each C. In the case C=E, we prove that the set M_{ext}(E) of all modular extensions of E has a natural structure of a finite abelian group. We also prove that the set M_{ext}(C) of all modular extensions of E, if not empty, is equipped with a natural M_{ext}(C)-action that is free and transitive. Namely, the set M_{ext}(C) is an M_{ext}(E)-torsor. As special cases, we explain in detail how the group M_{ext}(E) recovers the well-known group-cohomology classification of the 2+1D bosonic SPT orders and Kitaev's 16 fold ways. We also discuss briefly the behavior of the group M_{ext}(E) under the symmetry-breaking processes and its relation to Witt groups.

The cost of selective attention in category learning: developmental differences between adults and infants.

PubMed

Best, Catherine A; Yim, Hyungwook; Sloutsky, Vladimir M

2013-10-01

Selective attention plays an important role in category learning. However, immaturities of top-down attentional control during infancy coupled with successful category learning suggest that early category learning is achieved without attending selectively. Research presented here examines this possibility by focusing on category learning in infants (6-8months old) and adults. Participants were trained on a novel visual category. Halfway through the experiment, unbeknownst to participants, the to-be-learned category switched to another category, where previously relevant features became irrelevant and previously irrelevant features became relevant. If participants attend selectively to the relevant features of the first category, they should incur a cost of selective attention immediately after the unknown category switch. Results revealed that adults demonstrated a cost, as evidenced by a decrease in accuracy and response time on test trials as well as a decrease in visual attention to newly relevant features. In contrast, infants did not demonstrate a similar cost of selective attention as adults despite evidence of learning both to-be-learned categories. Findings are discussed as supporting multiple systems of category learning and as suggesting that learning mechanisms engaged by adults may be different from those engaged by infants. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Processing Speed of Scene Categorization at Multiple Levels of Description: The Superordinate Advantage Revisited.

PubMed

Banno, Hayaki; Saiki, Jun

2015-03-01

Recent studies have sought to determine which levels of categories are processed first in visual scene categorization and have shown that the natural and man-made superordinate-level categories are understood faster than are basic-level categories. The current study examined the robustness of the superordinate-level advantage in a visual scene categorization task. A go/no-go categorization task was evaluated with response time distribution analysis using an ex-Gaussian template. A visual scene was categorized as either superordinate or basic level, and two basic-level categories forming a superordinate category were judged as either similar or dissimilar to each other. First, outdoor/ indoor groups and natural/man-made were used as superordinate categories to investigate whether the advantage could be generalized beyond the natural/man-made boundary. Second, a set of images forming a superordinate category was manipulated. We predicted that decreasing image set similarity within the superordinate-level category would work against the speed advantage. We found that basic-level categorization was faster than outdoor/indoor categorization when the outdoor category comprised dissimilar basic-level categories. Our results indicate that the superordinate-level advantage in visual scene categorization is labile across different categories and category structures. © 2015 SAGE Publications.

Association of HIV transmission categories with sociodemographic, viroimmunological and clinical parameters of HIV-infected patients.

PubMed

Collazos, J; Asensi, V; Carton, J A

2010-07-01

To analyse sociodemographic, viroimmunological and clinical parameters in different HIV-transmission categories at baseline and during treatment, 3039 patients were followed up for 12 months after the initiation of a nelfinavir-based regimen. Multiple baseline parameters were significantly different in the diverse categories, including CD4 counts (P<0.0001) and viral load (P=0.02). There were differences in the groups regarding the CD4 response (P=0.01), but not the virological response (P=0.4), to therapy over time. Multivariate analyses revealed that transmission categories were significantly related to baseline CD4 counts (P=0.01), viral load at 12 months (P=0.0006), poorer adherence to therapy of injecting drug users (IDUs) vs. each of the other groups (P<0.001) and failure to complete the 12-month evaluation of IDU vs. heterosexual (P=0.003) and men who have sex with men (MSM) groups (P=0.02). We conclude that transmission categories had a significant influence on several baseline parameters and viroimmunological outcomes following highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), as well as on adherence to therapy and to medical appointments.

Genetic adaptations of the plateau zokor in high-elevation burrows.

PubMed

Shao, Yong; Li, Jin-Xiu; Ge, Ri-Li; Zhong, Li; Irwin, David M; Murphy, Robert W; Zhang, Ya-Ping

2015-11-25

The plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) spends its entire life underground in sealed burrows. Confronting limited oxygen and high carbon dioxide concentrations, and complete darkness, they epitomize a successful physiological adaptation. Here, we employ transcriptome sequencing to explore the genetic underpinnings of their adaptations to this unique habitat. Compared to Rattus norvegicus, genes belonging to GO categories related to energy metabolism (e.g. mitochondrion and fatty acid beta-oxidation) underwent accelerated evolution in the plateau zokor. Furthermore, the numbers of positively selected genes were significantly enriched in the gene categories involved in ATPase activity, blood vessel development and respiratory gaseous exchange, functional categories that are relevant to adaptation to high altitudes. Among the 787 genes with evidence of parallel evolution, and thus identified as candidate genes, several GO categories (e.g. response to hypoxia, oxygen homeostasis and erythrocyte homeostasis) are significantly enriched, are two genes, EPAS1 and AJUBA, involved in the response to hypoxia, where the parallel evolved sites are at positions that are highly conserved in sequence alignments from multiple species. Thus, accelerated evolution of GO categories, positive selection and parallel evolution at the molecular level provide evidences to parse the genetic adaptations of the plateau zokor for living in high-elevation burrows.

Feedback-based probabilistic category learning is selectively impaired in attention/hyperactivity deficit disorder.

PubMed

Gabay, Yafit; Goldfarb, Liat

2017-07-01

Although Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is closely linked to executive function deficits, it has recently been attributed to procedural learning impairments that are quite distinct from the former. These observations challenge the ability of the executive function framework solely to account for the diverse range of symptoms observed in ADHD. A recent neurocomputational model emphasizes the role of striatal dopamine (DA) in explaining ADHD's broad range of deficits, but the link between this model and procedural learning impairments remains unclear. Significantly, feedback-based procedural learning is hypothesized to be disrupted in ADHD because of the involvement of striatal DA in this type of learning. In order to test this assumption, we employed two variants of a probabilistic category learning task known from the neuropsychological literature. Feedback-based (FB) and paired associate-based (PA) probabilistic category learning were employed in a non-medicated sample of ADHD participants and neurotypical participants. In the FB task, participants learned associations between cues and outcomes initially by guessing and subsequently through feedback indicating the correctness of the response. In the PA learning task, participants viewed the cue and its associated outcome simultaneously without receiving an overt response or corrective feedback. In both tasks, participants were trained across 150 trials. Learning was assessed in a subsequent test without a presentation of the outcome or corrective feedback. Results revealed an interesting disassociation in which ADHD participants performed as well as control participants in the PA task, but were impaired compared with the controls in the FB task. The learning curve during FB training differed between the two groups. Taken together, these results suggest that the ability to incrementally learn by feedback is selectively disrupted in ADHD participants. These results are discussed in relation to both the ADHD dopaminergic dysfunction model and recent findings implicating procedural learning impairments in those with ADHD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatial and temporal features of superordinate semantic processing studied with fMRI and EEG.

PubMed

Costanzo, Michelle E; McArdle, Joseph J; Swett, Bruce; Nechaev, Vladimir; Kemeny, Stefan; Xu, Jiang; Braun, Allen R

2013-01-01

The relationships between the anatomical representation of semantic knowledge in the human brain and the timing of neurophysiological mechanisms involved in manipulating such information remain unclear. This is the case for superordinate semantic categorization-the extraction of general features shared by broad classes of exemplars (e.g., living vs. non-living semantic categories). We proposed that, because of the abstract nature of this information, input from diverse input modalities (visual or auditory, lexical or non-lexical) should converge and be processed in the same regions of the brain, at similar time scales during superordinate categorization-specifically in a network of heteromodal regions, and late in the course of the categorization process. In order to test this hypothesis, we utilized electroencephalography and event related potentials (EEG/ERP) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize subjects' responses as they made superordinate categorical decisions (living vs. non-living) about objects presented as visual pictures or auditory words. Our results reveal that, consistent with our hypothesis, during the course of superordinate categorization, information provided by these diverse inputs appears to converge in both time and space: fMRI showed that heteromodal areas of the parietal and temporal cortices are active during categorization of both classes of stimuli. The ERP results suggest that superordinate categorization is reflected as a late positive component (LPC) with a parietal distribution and long latencies for both stimulus types. Within the areas and times in which modality independent responses were identified, some differences between living and non-living categories were observed, with a more widespread spatial extent and longer latency responses for categorization of non-living items.

Spatial and temporal features of superordinate semantic processing studied with fMRI and EEG

PubMed Central

Costanzo, Michelle E.; McArdle, Joseph J.; Swett, Bruce; Nechaev, Vladimir; Kemeny, Stefan; Xu, Jiang; Braun, Allen R.

2013-01-01

The relationships between the anatomical representation of semantic knowledge in the human brain and the timing of neurophysiological mechanisms involved in manipulating such information remain unclear. This is the case for superordinate semantic categorization—the extraction of general features shared by broad classes of exemplars (e.g., living vs. non-living semantic categories). We proposed that, because of the abstract nature of this information, input from diverse input modalities (visual or auditory, lexical or non-lexical) should converge and be processed in the same regions of the brain, at similar time scales during superordinate categorization—specifically in a network of heteromodal regions, and late in the course of the categorization process. In order to test this hypothesis, we utilized electroencephalography and event related potentials (EEG/ERP) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize subjects' responses as they made superordinate categorical decisions (living vs. non-living) about objects presented as visual pictures or auditory words. Our results reveal that, consistent with our hypothesis, during the course of superordinate categorization, information provided by these diverse inputs appears to converge in both time and space: fMRI showed that heteromodal areas of the parietal and temporal cortices are active during categorization of both classes of stimuli. The ERP results suggest that superordinate categorization is reflected as a late positive component (LPC) with a parietal distribution and long latencies for both stimulus types. Within the areas and times in which modality independent responses were identified, some differences between living and non-living categories were observed, with a more widespread spatial extent and longer latency responses for categorization of non-living items. PMID:23847490

Overview of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory for Quantitative Assessment of Items in Developing Patient-Reported Outcome Measures

PubMed Central

Cappelleri, Joseph C.; Lundy, J. Jason; Hays, Ron D.

2014-01-01

Introduction The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s patient-reported outcome (PRO) guidance document defines content validity as “the extent to which the instrument measures the concept of interest” (FDA, 2009, p. 12). “Construct validity is now generally viewed as a unifying form of validity for psychological measurements, subsuming both content and criterion validity” (Strauss & Smith, 2009, p. 7). Hence both qualitative and quantitative information are essential in evaluating the validity of measures. Methods We review classical test theory and item response theory approaches to evaluating PRO measures including frequency of responses to each category of the items in a multi-item scale, the distribution of scale scores, floor and ceiling effects, the relationship between item response options and the total score, and the extent to which hypothesized “difficulty” (severity) order of items is represented by observed responses. Conclusion Classical test theory and item response theory can be useful in providing a quantitative assessment of items and scales during the content validity phase of patient-reported outcome measures. Depending on the particular type of measure and the specific circumstances, either one or both approaches should be considered to help maximize the content validity of PRO measures. PMID:24811753

Shifting categories of the social harms associated with alcohol: examples from late medieval and early modern England.

PubMed Central

Warner, J

1997-01-01

This paper offers a historical perspective on our own attempts to define the social harms associated with the abuse of alcohol. Challenging the notion that categories are necessarily objective and constant, it instead emphasizes the extent to which even harms that are visible and thus susceptible to measurement are in fact socially constructed. English sources from the preindustrial era revealed six broad categories of social harms associated with the abuse of alcohol. Four of the categories consisted of visible harms in the form of income lost, domestic violence, brawling, and accidents, all of which are still recognized as social harms associated with the abuse of alcohol. The other two categories, reversal of the established moral order and susceptibility to trickery, were of an essentially intrinsic or subjective nature and have since dropped from the lexicon of social harms. Images FIGURE 1 FIGURE 3 PMID:9366636

When It Hurts (and Helps) to Try: The Role of Effort in Language Learning

PubMed Central

Finn, Amy S.; Lee, Taraz; Kraus, Allison; Hudson Kam, Carla L.

2014-01-01

Compared to children, adults are bad at learning language. This is counterintuitive; adults outperform children on most measures of cognition, especially those that involve effort (which continue to mature into early adulthood). The present study asks whether these mature effortful abilities interfere with language learning in adults and further, whether interference occurs equally for aspects of language that adults are good (word-segmentation) versus bad (grammar) at learning. Learners were exposed to an artificial language comprised of statistically defined words that belong to phonologically defined categories (grammar). Exposure occurred under passive or effortful conditions. Passive learners were told to listen while effortful learners were instructed to try to 1) learn the words, 2) learn the categories, or 3) learn the category-order. Effortful learners showed an advantage for learning words while passive learners showed an advantage for learning the categories. Effort can therefore hurt the learning of categories. PMID:25047901

When it hurts (and helps) to try: the role of effort in language learning.

PubMed

Finn, Amy S; Lee, Taraz; Kraus, Allison; Hudson Kam, Carla L

2014-01-01

Compared to children, adults are bad at learning language. This is counterintuitive; adults outperform children on most measures of cognition, especially those that involve effort (which continue to mature into early adulthood). The present study asks whether these mature effortful abilities interfere with language learning in adults and further, whether interference occurs equally for aspects of language that adults are good (word-segmentation) versus bad (grammar) at learning. Learners were exposed to an artificial language comprised of statistically defined words that belong to phonologically defined categories (grammar). Exposure occurred under passive or effortful conditions. Passive learners were told to listen while effortful learners were instructed to try to 1) learn the words, 2) learn the categories, or 3) learn the category-order. Effortful learners showed an advantage for learning words while passive learners showed an advantage for learning the categories. Effort can therefore hurt the learning of categories.

[Preliminarily application of content analysis to qualitative nursing data].

PubMed

Liang, Shu-Yuan; Chuang, Yeu-Hui; Wu, Shu-Fang

2012-10-01

Content analysis is a methodology for objectively and systematically studying the content of communication in various formats. Content analysis in nursing research and nursing education is called qualitative content analysis. Qualitative content analysis is frequently applied to nursing research, as it allows researchers to determine categories inductively and deductively. This article examines qualitative content analysis in nursing research from theoretical and practical perspectives. We first describe how content analysis concepts such as unit of analysis, meaning unit, code, category, and theme are used. Next, we describe the basic steps involved in using content analysis, including data preparation, data familiarization, analysis unit identification, creating tentative coding categories, category refinement, and establishing category integrity. Finally, this paper introduces the concept of content analysis rigor, including dependability, confirmability, credibility, and transferability. This article elucidates the content analysis method in order to help professionals conduct systematic research that generates data that are informative and useful in practical application.

Perceptual category learning of photographic and painterly stimuli in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and humans

PubMed Central

Jensen, Greg; Terrace, Herbert

2017-01-01

Humans are highly adept at categorizing visual stimuli, but studies of human categorization are typically validated by verbal reports. This makes it difficult to perform comparative studies of categorization using non-human animals. Interpretation of comparative studies is further complicated by the possibility that animal performance may merely reflect reinforcement learning, whereby discrete features act as discriminative cues for categorization. To assess and compare how humans and monkeys classified visual stimuli, we trained 7 rhesus macaques and 41 human volunteers to respond, in a specific order, to four simultaneously presented stimuli at a time, each belonging to a different perceptual category. These exemplars were drawn at random from large banks of images, such that the stimuli presented changed on every trial. Subjects nevertheless identified and ordered these changing stimuli correctly. Three monkeys learned to order naturalistic photographs; four others, close-up sections of paintings with distinctive styles. Humans learned to order both types of stimuli. All subjects classified stimuli at levels substantially greater than that predicted by chance or by feature-driven learning alone, even when stimuli changed on every trial. However, humans more closely resembled monkeys when classifying the more abstract painting stimuli than the photographic stimuli. This points to a common classification strategy in both species, one that humans can rely on in the absence of linguistic labels for categories. PMID:28961270

The helpfulness of category labels in semi-supervised learning depends on category structure.

PubMed

Vong, Wai Keen; Navarro, Daniel J; Perfors, Amy

2016-02-01

The study of semi-supervised category learning has generally focused on how additional unlabeled information with given labeled information might benefit category learning. The literature is also somewhat contradictory, sometimes appearing to show a benefit to unlabeled information and sometimes not. In this paper, we frame the problem differently, focusing on when labels might be helpful to a learner who has access to lots of unlabeled information. Using an unconstrained free-sorting categorization experiment, we show that labels are useful to participants only when the category structure is ambiguous and that people's responses are driven by the specific set of labels they see. We present an extension of Anderson's Rational Model of Categorization that captures this effect.

A systematic review of the effectiveness of interruptive medication prescribing alerts in hospital CPOE systems to change prescriber behavior and improve patient safety.

PubMed

Page, N; Baysari, M T; Westbrook, J I

2017-09-01

To assess the evidence of the effectiveness of different categories of interruptive medication prescribing alerts to change prescriber behavior and/or improve patient outcomes in hospital computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library were searched for relevant articles published between January 2000 and February 2016. Studies were included if they compared the outcomes of automatic, interruptive medication prescribing alert/s to a control/comparison group to determine alert effectiveness. Twenty-three studies describing 32 alerts classified into 11 alert categories were identified. The most common alert categories studied were drug-condition interaction (n=6), drug-drug interaction alerts (n=6) and corollary order alerts (n=6). All 23 papers investigated the effect of the intervention alert on at least one outcome measure of prescriber behavior. Just over half of the studies (53%, n=17) reported a statistically significant beneficial effect from the intervention alert; 34% (n=11) reported no statistically significant effect, and 6% (n=2) reported a significant detrimental effect. Two studies also evaluated the effect of alerts on patient outcome measures; neither finding that patient outcomes significantly improved following alert implementation (6%, n=2). The greatest volume of evidence relates to three alert categories: drug-condition, drug-drug and corollary order alerts. Of these, drug-condition alerts had the greatest number of studies reporting positive effects (five out of six studies). Only two of six studies of drug-drug interaction and one of six of corollary alerts reported positive benefits. The current evidence-base does not show a clear indication that particular categories of alerts are more effective than others. While the majority of alert categories were shown to improve outcomes in some studies, there were also many cases where outcomes did not improve. This lack of evidence hinders decisions about the amount and type of decision support that should be integrated into CPOE systems to increase safety while reducing the risk of alert fatigue. Virtually no studies have sought to investigate the impact on changes to prescriber behavior and outcomes overall when alerts from multiple categories are incorporated within the same system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cognitive changes in conjunctive rule-based category learning: An ERP approach.

PubMed

Rabi, Rahel; Joanisse, Marc F; Zhu, Tianshu; Minda, John Paul

2018-06-25

When learning rule-based categories, sufficient cognitive resources are needed to test hypotheses, maintain the currently active rule in working memory, update rules after feedback, and to select a new rule if necessary. Prior research has demonstrated that conjunctive rules are more complex than unidimensional rules and place greater demands on executive functions like working memory. In our study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performed a conjunctive rule-based category learning task with trial-by-trial feedback. In line with prior research, correct categorization responses resulted in a larger stimulus-locked late positive complex compared to incorrect responses, possibly indexing the updating of rule information in memory. Incorrect trials elicited a pronounced feedback-locked P300 elicited which suggested a disconnect between perception, and the rule-based strategy. We also examined the differential processing of stimuli that were able to be correctly classified by the suboptimal single-dimensional rule ("easy" stimuli) versus those that could only be correctly classified by the optimal, conjunctive rule ("difficult" stimuli). Among strong learners, a larger, late positive slow wave emerged for difficult compared with easy stimuli, suggesting differential processing of category items even though strong learners performed well on the conjunctive category set. Overall, the findings suggest that ERP combined with computational modelling can be used to better understand the cognitive processes involved in rule-based category learning.

Why Compare? A Response to Stephen Lawton.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Liz; Pearce, Diane

1993-01-01

Aims to stimulate interest in comparative education policy analysis by critiquing a paper by Stephen Lawton. Such comparative analysis is important in understanding neoliberal education reforms, but more work is needed to provide adequate categories for analysis. Lawton's categories, reformulated here as efficiency, managing and provider capture,…

10 CFR 72.184 - Safeguards contingency plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... contingency plan for responding to threats and radiological sabotage must be as defined in appendix C to part..., and Responsibility Matrix, the first four categories of information relating to nuclear facilities licensed under part 50 of this chapter. (The fifth and last category of information, Procedures, does not...

The selection of core International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) categories for patient-reported outcome measurement in spine trauma patients-results of an international consensus process.

PubMed

Sadiqi, Said; Lehr, A Mechteld; Post, Marcel W; Jacobs, Wilco C H; Aarabi, Bizhan; Chapman, Jens R; Dunn, Robert N; Dvorak, Marcel F; Fehlings, Michael G; Rajasekaran, S; Vialle, Luiz R; Vaccaro, Alexander R; Oner, F Cumhur

2016-08-01

There is no outcome instrument specifically designed and validated for spine trauma patients without complete paralysis, which makes it difficult to compare outcomes of different treatments of the spinal column injury within and between studies. The paper aimed to report on the evidence-based consensus process that resulted in the selection of core International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) categories, as well as the response scale for use in a universal patient-reported outcome measure for patients with traumatic spinal column injury. The study used a formal decision-making and consensus process. The sample includes patients with a primary diagnosis of traumatic spinal column injury, excluding completely paralyzed and polytrauma patients. The wide array of function and health status of patients with traumatic spinal column injury was explored through the identification of all potentially meaningful ICF categories. A formal decision-making and consensus process integrated evidence from four preparatory studies. Three studies aimed to identify relevant ICF categories from three different perspectives. The research perspective was covered by a systematic literature review identifying outcome measures focusing on the functioning and health of spine trauma patients. The expert perspective was explored through an international web-based survey among spine surgeons from the five AOSpine International world regions. The patient perspective was investigated in an international empirical study. A fourth study investigated various response scales for their potential use in the future universal outcome instrument. This work was supported by AOSpine. AOSpine is a clinical division of the AO Foundation, an independent medically guided non-profit organization. The AOSpine Knowledge Forums are pathology-focused working groups acting on behalf of AOSpine in their domain of scientific expertise. Combining the results of the preparatory studies, the list of ICF categories presented at the consensus conference included 159 different ICF categories. Based on voting and discussion, 11 experts from 6 countries selected a total of 25 ICF categories as core categories for patient-reported outcome measurement in adult traumatic spinal column injury patients (9 body functions, 14 activities and participation, and 2 environmental factors). The experts also agreed to use the Numeric Rating Scale 0-100 as response scale in the future universal outcome instrument. A formal consensus process integrating evidence and expert opinion led to a set of 25 core ICF categories for patient-reported outcome measurement in adult traumatic spinal column injury patients, as well as the response scale for use in the future universal disease-specific outcome instrument. The adopted core ICF categories could also serve as a benchmark for assessing the content validity of existing and future outcome instruments used in this specific patient population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Movement as a Musical Response among Preschool Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metz, Elayne

1989-01-01

Explores preschool children's movement responses to music. Using naturalistic procedures Metz generates three substantive core categories regarding the nature of movement response: conditions, interactions, and outcomes. Provides seven propositions for early childhood music education. (LS)

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha and nitric oxide response in different categories of tuberculosis patients.

PubMed

Chakraborty, U; Goswami, A; Saha, S; Mukherjee, T; Dey, S K; Majumdar, S; Pal, N K

2013-04-01

To compare the magnitude of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO) response in different categories of active tuberculosis (TB) patients by ex vivo experiment. New, relapsed (recurrent), miliary and pleural effusion TB cases were recruited with matched healthy controls. TNF-α and NO were measured from the culture supernatant of peripheral blood monocytes derived from cases and controls with and without challenge with live Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. TNF-α and NO production varied significantly among the different categories of TB patients. The magnitude was highest among patients with pleural effusion and lowest in miliary TB cases. In between, progressive decreases in response were noted in new and relapse cases. Overall, positive correlations between TNF-α and NO were noted among the diseased and healthy groups. Distinct TNF-α and NO levels appear to be associated with different clinical forms of TB and might help to assess prognosis and contribute to a better understanding of underlying immunopathological mechanisms.

48 CFR 538.272 - MAS price reductions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... maintain during the contract period the negotiated price/discount relationship (and/or term and condition relationship) between the eligible ordering activities and the offeror's customer or category of customers on... customers) that results in a less advantageous relationship between the eligible ordering activities and...

Patients' 'thingification', unexplained symptoms and response-ability in the clinical context: in response to 'Patients' substantialization of disease, the hybrid symptom and the metaphysical care', by Alexandra Parvan.

PubMed

Eriksen, Thor Eirik; Kirkengen, Anna Luise

2016-08-01

The types of diseases, or categories of suffering, referred to as medically unexplained symptoms or syndromes (MUS) are the focus for the following commentary. Such cases seem to invite reflection. The very nature of such complex patterns of disease and suffering raises a number of fundamental epistemological and ontological issues. Furthermore, such health challenges can serve as the basis for an exploration of how the suffering person as well as the medical caretaker comes to grip with disease, incapacitation or suffering. We have structured our comments into two parts: first, we will describe medically unexplained health problems as the background for an inquiry into a process wherein patients reify their suffering in order to meet their doctors on equal terms, which carries a potential for alienation. Second, we will reflect on Alexandra Parvan's text as regards patients' 'substantialization' of their disease, the resulting 'hybrid symptom' and a proposed model for care and healing. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Quantum descriptors for predictive toxicology of halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons.

PubMed

Trohalaki, S; Pachter, R

2003-04-01

In order to improve Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSARs) for halogenated aliphatics (HA) and to better understand the biophysical mechanism of toxic response to these ubiquitous chemicals, we employ improved quantum-mechanical descriptors to account for HA electrophilicity. We demonstrate that, unlike the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy, ELUMO, which was previously used as a descriptor, the electron affinity can be systematically improved by application of higher levels of theory. We also show that employing the reciprocal of ELUMO, which is more consistent with frontier molecular orbital (FMO) theory, improves the correlations with in vitro toxicity data. We offer explanations based on FMO theory for a result from our previous work, in which the LUMO energies of HA anions correlated surprisingly well with in vitro toxicity data. Additional descriptors are also suggested and interpreted in terms of the accepted biophysical mechanism of toxic response to HAs and new QSARs are derived for various chemical categories that compose the data set employed. These alternate descriptors provide important insight and could benefit other classes of compounds where the biophysical mechanism of toxic response involves dissociative attachment.

Using Heteroskedastic Ordered Probit Models to Recover Moments of Continuous Test Score Distributions from Coarsened Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reardon, Sean F.; Shear, Benjamin R.; Castellano, Katherine E.; Ho, Andrew D.

2017-01-01

Test score distributions of schools or demographic groups are often summarized by frequencies of students scoring in a small number of ordered proficiency categories. We show that heteroskedastic ordered probit (HETOP) models can be used to estimate means and standard deviations of multiple groups' test score distributions from such data. Because…

[The Role of Certified Nurse in Palliative Care to Promote the Discharge Support and Regional Cooperation for Cancer Patients].

PubMed

Matsumoto, Mina; Abe, Yasushi; Tanaka, Yukie; Ino, Akiko; Yamazaki, Yoshie

2015-12-01

The objective of this study is to understand the issues and solutions considered by certified nurses(CN)in palliative care (hereinafter referred to as"palliative care CN)regarding discharge support and regional cooperation for cancer patients, and to discover the roles and responsibilities of palliative care CN. Data obtained from training sessions for 22 palliative care CNs was reconfigured and analyzed. As a result, problems related to discharge support and regional cooperation for cancer patients were classified into 13 categories and 3 core categories. The following roles for palliative care CN were proposed to promote discharge support and regional cooperation for cancer patients: (1) Inter-professional sharing of knowledge about patients and their families to reconcile the intentions of the patient and family members with predictions of progression of the illness; (2) Enable hospital nurses to obtain information about patients after discharge in order to establish a clear image for medical treatment; and(3) Support for ward nurses regarding cooperation to alleviate symptoms and offer medical care to patients who are highly dependent on medical care, and to become a point of contact for cooperation with visiting nurses.

Neurophysiological tools to investigate consumer's gender differences during the observation of TV commercials.

PubMed

Vecchiato, Giovanni; Maglione, Anton Giulio; Cherubino, Patrizia; Wasikowska, Barbara; Wawrzyniak, Agata; Latuszynska, Anna; Latuszynska, Malgorzata; Nermend, Kesra; Graziani, Ilenia; Leucci, Maria Rita; Trettel, Arianna; Babiloni, Fabio

2014-01-01

Neuromarketing is a multidisciplinary field of research whose aim is to investigate the consumers' reaction to advertisements from a neuroscientific perspective. In particular, the neuroscience field is thought to be able to reveal information about consumer preferences which are unobtainable through conventional methods, including submitting questionnaires to large samples of consumers or performing psychological personal or group interviews. In this scenario, we performed an experiment in order to investigate cognitive and emotional changes of cerebral activity evaluated by neurophysiologic indices during the observation of TV commercials. In particular, we recorded the electroencephalographic (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and heart rate (HR) in a group of 28 healthy subjects during the observation of a series of TV advertisements that have been grouped by commercial categories. Comparisons of cerebral indices have been performed to highlight gender differences between commercial categories and scenes of interest of two specific commercials. Findings show how EEG methodologies, along with the measurements of autonomic variables, could be used to obtain hidden information to marketers not obtainable otherwise. Most importantly, it was suggested how these tools could help to analyse the perception of TV advertisements and differentiate their production according to the consumer's gender.

Neurophysiological Tools to Investigate Consumer's Gender Differences during the Observation of TV Commercials

PubMed Central

Maglione, Anton Giulio; Wasikowska, Barbara; Wawrzyniak, Agata; Graziani, Ilenia; Trettel, Arianna

2014-01-01

Neuromarketing is a multidisciplinary field of research whose aim is to investigate the consumers' reaction to advertisements from a neuroscientific perspective. In particular, the neuroscience field is thought to be able to reveal information about consumer preferences which are unobtainable through conventional methods, including submitting questionnaires to large samples of consumers or performing psychological personal or group interviews. In this scenario, we performed an experiment in order to investigate cognitive and emotional changes of cerebral activity evaluated by neurophysiologic indices during the observation of TV commercials. In particular, we recorded the electroencephalographic (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and heart rate (HR) in a group of 28 healthy subjects during the observation of a series of TV advertisements that have been grouped by commercial categories. Comparisons of cerebral indices have been performed to highlight gender differences between commercial categories and scenes of interest of two specific commercials. Findings show how EEG methodologies, along with the measurements of autonomic variables, could be used to obtain hidden information to marketers not obtainable otherwise. Most importantly, it was suggested how these tools could help to analyse the perception of TV advertisements and differentiate their production according to the consumer's gender. PMID:25147579

Lianas, tree ferns and understory species: indicators of conservation status in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest remnants, southeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Castello, A C D; Coelho, S; Cardoso-Leite, E

2017-01-01

Indicators are applied faster and at lower costs than conventional surveys, providing quick and efficient responses that can facilitate protected areas management. Our aim was to select indicators from vegetation to monitor protected areas. For this purpose, we analyzed understory and quantified lianas and tree ferns in protected and non-protected areas, in order to find indicator species. Our study areas are located in Vale do Ribeira, southeastern São Paulo state, Brazil. One of the areas is under two protection categories (IUCN's categories II and V), and the other is a privately owned farm. Lianas with large diameters (> 13 cm) and tree ferns with great heights (> 19 m) were considered indicators of undisturbed areas (protected areas) because their growth is directly related to forest successional stage. Indicator species within the protected area were shade tolerant species, such as Bathysa australis (A.St.-Hil.) K.Schum., whereas outside the protected area were pioneer species, such as Pera glabrata (Schott) Poepp. ex Baill. e Nectandra oppositifolia Ness. All of the suggested indicators can be used in management actions, especially in protected areas, to guarantee forest maintenance and ensure fulfillment of the conservation objectives of these areas.

75 FR 42390 - Orders Finding That the PJM WH Real Time Peak Contract and PJM WH Real Time Off-Peak Contract...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-21

... commercial market (``ECM'') under sections 2(h)(3)-(5) of the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'' or the ``Act... with respect to ECMs by creating, in section 2(h)(7) of the CEA, a new regulatory category--ECMs on which significant price discovery contracts (``SPDCs'') are traded--and treating ECMs in that category...

75 FR 42380 - Orders Finding That the SP-15 Financial Day-Ahead LMP Peak Contract and SP-15 Financial Day-Ahead...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-21

...Exchange, Inc. (``ICE''), an exempt commercial market (``ECM'') under sections 2(h)(3)-(5) of the Commodity... with respect to ECMs by creating, in section 2(h)(7) of the CEA, a new regulatory category--ECMs on which significant price discovery contracts (``SPDCs'') are traded--and treating ECMs in that category...

Face adaptation aftereffects reveal anterior medial temporal cortex role in high level category representation.

PubMed

Furl, N; van Rijsbergen, N J; Treves, A; Dolan, R J

2007-08-01

Previous studies have shown reductions of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal in response to repetition of specific visual stimuli. We examined how adaptation affects the neural responses associated with categorization behavior, using face adaptation aftereffects. Adaptation to a given facial category biases categorization towards non-adapted facial categories in response to presentation of ambiguous morphs. We explored a hypothesis, posed by recent psychophysical studies, that these adaptation-induced categorizations are mediated by activity in relatively advanced stages within the occipitotemporal visual processing stream. Replicating these studies, we find that adaptation to a facial expression heightens perception of non-adapted expressions. Using comparable behavioral methods, we also show that adaptation to a specific identity heightens perception of a second identity in morph faces. We show both expression and identity effects to be associated with heightened anterior medial temporal lobe activity, specifically when perceiving the non-adapted category. These regions, incorporating bilateral anterior ventral rhinal cortices, perirhinal cortex and left anterior hippocampus are regions previously implicated in high-level visual perception. These categorization effects were not evident in fusiform or occipital gyri, although activity in these regions was reduced to repeated faces. The findings suggest that adaptation-induced perception is mediated by activity in regions downstream to those showing reductions due to stimulus repetition.

Influence of social dominance on production, welfare and the quality of meat from beef bulls.

PubMed

Miranda-de la Lama, G C; Pascual-Alonso, M; Guerrero, A; Alberti, P; Alierta, S; Sans, P; Gajan, J P; Villarroel, M; Dalmau, A; Velarde, A; Campo, M M; Galindo, F; Santolaria, M P; Sañudo, C; María, G A

2013-08-01

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of social dominance on some indicators of welfare, production and meat quality of young bulls. A total of 60 bulls of the Gasconne breed, 9 months old, housed indoors were used. Indices of success order were calculated to reflect social dominance of each bull into three ranking categories (low, middle and high). Blood samples were taken to measure cortisol, lactate, glucose, creatine kinase, non-esterified fatty acid and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (N/L). M. longissimus samples were analysed in terms of pH, water holding capacity (WHC), texture, colour and sensorial attributes. Social rank influenced cattle stress response, which had an effect on productive performance but not on meat quality traits, with the exception of the sensory traits. These results emphasize the importance of implementing best management practices during pre-harvest handling of cattle in order to modulate any possible risk factor for social stress. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Another look at category effects on colour perception and their left hemispheric lateralisation: no evidence from a colour identification task.

PubMed

Suegami, Takashi; Aminihajibashi, Samira; Laeng, Bruno

2014-05-01

The present study aimed to replicate category effects on colour perception and their lateralisation to the left cerebral hemisphere (LH). Previous evidence for lateralisation of colour category effects has been obtained with tasks where a differently coloured target was searched within a display and participants reported the lateral location of the target. However, a left/right spatial judgment may yield LH-laterality effects per se. Thus, we employed an identification task that does not require a spatial judgment and used the same colour set that previously revealed LH-lateralised category effects. The identification task was better performed with between-category colours than with within-category task both in terms of accuracy and latency, but such category effects were bilateral or RH-lateralised, and no evidence was found for LH-laterality effects. The accuracy scores, moreover, indicated that the category effects derived from low sensitivities for within-blue colours and did not reflect the effects of categorical structures on colour perception. Furthermore, the classic "category effects" were observed in participants' response biases, instead of sensitivities. The present results argue against both the LH-lateralised category effects on colour perception and the existence of colour category effects per se.

[A participating study on the didactic-pedagogical education of nursing teachers].

PubMed

Guariente, M H; Berbel, N A

2000-04-01

Through the participant-research framework, this collective study was carried out by a group of faculty nurses responsible for the course of Nursing Fundamentals at Londrina State University. Considering the discussion that emerged from the participative process and based on the Historical-Critical Pedagogy, the most relevant concepts and pedagogic practices were selected, through the presentation and discussion of the following categories: Goals, Contents, Methodology and Evaluation. Authors concluded that the reflections emerged by and with the group about pedagogic aspects effected the performance of the involved faculty as well as that the collective process must be continuous in order to support the pedagogic development of these professionals, who are educational agents concerned with the improvement of nurses' formation.

Examination of an eHealth literacy scale and a health literacy scale in a population with moderate to high cardiovascular risk: Rasch analyses.

PubMed

Richtering, Sarah S; Morris, Rebecca; Soh, Sze-Ee; Barker, Anna; Bampi, Fiona; Neubeck, Lis; Coorey, Genevieve; Mulley, John; Chalmers, John; Usherwood, Tim; Peiris, David; Chow, Clara K; Redfern, Julie

2017-01-01

Electronic health (eHealth) strategies are evolving making it important to have valid scales to assess eHealth and health literacy. Item response theory methods, such as the Rasch measurement model, are increasingly used for the psychometric evaluation of scales. This paper aims to examine the internal construct validity of an eHealth and health literacy scale using Rasch analysis in a population with moderate to high cardiovascular disease risk. The first 397 participants of the CONNECT study completed the electronic health Literacy Scale (eHEALS) and the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Overall Rasch model fit as well as five key psychometric properties were analysed: unidimensionality, response thresholds, targeting, differential item functioning and internal consistency. The eHEALS had good overall model fit (χ2 = 54.8, p = 0.06), ordered response thresholds, reasonable targeting and good internal consistency (person separation index (PSI) 0.90). It did, however, appear to measure two constructs of eHealth literacy. The HLQ subscales (except subscale 5) did not fit the Rasch model (χ2: 18.18-60.60, p: 0.00-0.58) and had suboptimal targeting for most subscales. Subscales 6 to 9 displayed disordered thresholds indicating participants had difficulty distinguishing between response options. All subscales did, nonetheless, demonstrate moderate to good internal consistency (PSI: 0.62-0.82). Rasch analyses demonstrated that the eHEALS has good measures of internal construct validity although it appears to capture different aspects of eHealth literacy (e.g. using eHealth and understanding eHealth). Whilst further studies are required to confirm this finding, it may be necessary for these constructs of the eHEALS to be scored separately. The nine HLQ subscales were shown to measure a single construct of health literacy. However, participants' scores may not represent their actual level of ability, as distinction between response categories was unclear for the last four subscales. Reducing the response categories of these subscales may improve the ability of the HLQ to distinguish between different levels of health literacy.

Artificial neural networks for modeling time series of beach litter in the southern North Sea.

PubMed

Schulz, Marcus; Matthies, Michael

2014-07-01

In European marine waters, existing monitoring programs of beach litter need to be improved concerning litter items used as indicators of pollution levels, efficiency, and effectiveness. In order to ease and focus future monitoring of beach litter on few important litter items, feed-forward neural networks consisting of three layers were developed to relate single litter items to general categories of marine litter. The neural networks developed were applied to seven beaches in the southern North Sea and modeled time series of five general categories of marine litter, such as litter from fishing, shipping, and tourism. Results of regression analyses show that general categories were predicted significantly moderately to well. Measured and modeled data were in the same order of magnitude, and minima and maxima overlapped well. Neural networks were found to be eligible tools to deliver reliable predictions of marine litter with low computational effort and little input of information. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From Cultural Distance to Skills Deficits: "Expatriates," "Migrants" and Swiss Integration Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeung, Shirley

2016-01-01

This article examines two social categories brought into being by recent migration policies in Switzerland: the expatriate (or "expat") and the migrant. Treating these categories as relationally constituted, the article explores how this distinction was constructed and managed in response to processes of European harmonization in the…

Chromatic Perceptual Learning but No Category Effects without Linguistic Input

PubMed Central

Grandison, Alexandra; Sowden, Paul T.; Drivonikou, Vicky G.; Notman, Leslie A.; Alexander, Iona; Davies, Ian R. L.

2016-01-01

Perceptual learning involves an improvement in perceptual judgment with practice, which is often specific to stimulus or task factors. Perceptual learning has been shown on a range of visual tasks but very little research has explored chromatic perceptual learning. Here, we use two low level perceptual threshold tasks and a supra-threshold target detection task to assess chromatic perceptual learning and category effects. Experiment 1 investigates whether chromatic thresholds reduce as a result of training and at what level of analysis learning effects occur. Experiment 2 explores the effect of category training on chromatic thresholds, whether training of this nature is category specific and whether it can induce categorical responding. Experiment 3 investigates the effect of category training on a higher level, lateralized target detection task, previously found to be sensitive to category effects. The findings indicate that performance on a perceptual threshold task improves following training but improvements do not transfer across retinal location or hue. Therefore, chromatic perceptual learning is category specific and can occur at relatively early stages of visual analysis. Additionally, category training does not induce category effects on a low level perceptual threshold task, as indicated by comparable discrimination thresholds at the newly learned hue boundary and adjacent test points. However, category training does induce emerging category effects on a supra-threshold target detection task. Whilst chromatic perceptual learning is possible, learnt category effects appear to be a product of left hemisphere processing, and may require the input of higher level linguistic coding processes in order to manifest. PMID:27252669

Information-integration category learning and the human uncertainty response.

PubMed

Paul, Erick J; Boomer, Joseph; Smith, J David; Ashby, F Gregory

2011-04-01

The human response to uncertainty has been well studied in tasks requiring attention and declarative memory systems. However, uncertainty monitoring and control have not been studied in multi-dimensional, information-integration categorization tasks that rely on non-declarative procedural memory. Three experiments are described that investigated the human uncertainty response in such tasks. Experiment 1 showed that following standard categorization training, uncertainty responding was similar in information-integration tasks and rule-based tasks requiring declarative memory. In Experiment 2, however, uncertainty responding in untrained information-integration tasks impaired the ability of many participants to master those tasks. Finally, Experiment 3 showed that the deficit observed in Experiment 2 was not because of the uncertainty response option per se, but rather because the uncertainty response provided participants a mechanism via which to eliminate stimuli that were inconsistent with a simple declarative response strategy. These results are considered in the light of recent models of category learning and metacognition.

Differential impact of relevant and irrelevant dimension primes on rule-based and information-integration category learning.

PubMed

Grimm, Lisa R; Maddox, W Todd

2013-11-01

Research has identified multiple category-learning systems with each being "tuned" for learning categories with different task demands and each governed by different neurobiological systems. Rule-based (RB) classification involves testing verbalizable rules for category membership while information-integration (II) classification requires the implicit learning of stimulus-response mappings. In the first study to directly test rule priming with RB and II category learning, we investigated the influence of the availability of information presented at the beginning of the task. Participants viewed lines that varied in length, orientation, and position on the screen, and were primed to focus on stimulus dimensions that were relevant or irrelevant to the correct classification rule. In Experiment 1, we used an RB category structure, and in Experiment 2, we used an II category structure. Accuracy and model-based analyses suggested that a focus on relevant dimensions improves RB task performance later in learning while a focus on an irrelevant dimension improves II task performance early in learning. © 2013.

Deaf and hard of hearing adolescents' processing of pictures and written words for taxonomic categories in a priming task of semantic categorization.

PubMed

Li, Degao; Gao, Kejuan; Wu, Xueyun; Chen, Xiaojun; Zhang, Xiaona; Li, Ling; He, Weiwei

2013-01-01

Inspired by research by Li, Yi, and Kim (2011), the authors examined Chinese deaf and hard of hearing adolescents' responses to pictures for taxonomic categories of basic level (exemplar pictures) preceded by exemplar pictures, and to written words for taxonomic categories of basic level (exemplar words) preceded by exemplar words or by written words for those of superordinate level (category names), in a priming task of semantic categorization. Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was manipulated. The adolescents were less aware of taxonomic relations and were more likely to show the advantage of pictures over written words than their hearing counterparts. Their processing of exemplar primes steadily deepened as SOA increased, reaching its deepest level when SOA was 237 ms. Their processing of category names seemed immune to changes in SOA, probably because of their fuzzy representations of taxonomic categories of superordinate level.

Determining optimal gestational weight gain in the Korean population: a retrospective cohort study.

PubMed

Choi, Sae Kyung; Lee, Guisera; Kim, Yeon Hee; Park, In Yang; Ko, Hyun Sun; Shin, Jong Chul

2017-08-22

The World Health Organization (WHO) international body mass index (BMI) cut-off points defining pre-pregnancy BMI categories in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines are not directly applicable to Asians. We aimed to define the optimal gestational weight gain (GWG) for the Korean population based on Asia-specific BMI categories. Data from 2702 live singleton deliveries in three tertiary centers between 2010 and 2011 were analyzed retrospectively. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the lowest aggregated risk of composite perinatal outcomes based on Asia-specific BMI categories. The perinatal outcomes included gestational hypertensive disorder, emergency cesarean section, and fetal size for gestational age. In each BMI category, the GWG value corresponding to the lowest aggregated risk was defined as the optimal GWG. Among the study population, 440 (16.3%) were underweight (BMI < 18.5), 1459 (54.0%) were normal weight (18.5 ≤ BMI < 23), 392 (14.5%) were overweight (23 ≤ BMI < 25) and 411 (15.2%) were obese (BMI ≥ 25). The optimal GWG by Asia-specific BMI category was 20.8 kg (range, 16.7 to 24.7) for underweight, 16.6 kg (11.5 to 21.5) for normal weight, 13.1 kg (8.0 to 17.7) for overweight, and 14.4 kg (7.5 to 21.9) for obese. Considerably higher and wider optimal GWG ranges than recommended by IOM are found in our study in order to avoid adverse perinatal outcomes. Revised IOM recommendations for GWG could be considered for Korean women according to Asian BMI categories. Further prospective studies are needed in order to determine the optimal GWG for the Korean population.

A framework for current public mental health care practice in South Africa.

PubMed

Janse Van Rensburg, A B

2007-11-01

One of the main aims of the new Mental Health Care Act, Act No. 17 of 2002 (MHCA) is to promote the human rights of people with mental disabilities in South Africa. However, the upholding of these rights seems to be subject to the availability of resources. Chapter 2 of the MHCA clarifies the responsibility of the State to provide infrastructure and systems. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Act define and regulate the different categories of mental health care users, clarify the procedures around these categories and spell out mental health practitioners' roles and responsibilities in this regard. Also according to the National Health Act No. 61 of 2003, the State remains the key role player in mental health care provision, being responsible for adequate mental health infrastructure and resource allocation. Due to "limited resources" practitioners however often work in environments where staff ratios may be fractional of what should be expected and in units of which the physical structure and security is totally inadequate. The interface between professional responsibility of clinical workers versus the inadequacy of clinical interventions resulting from infrastructure and staffing constraints needs to be defined. This paper considered recent legislation currently relevant to mental health care practice in order to delineate the legal, ethical and labour framework in which public sector mental health practitioners operate as state employees. These included the Mental Health Care Act, No.17 of 2002; the National Health Act, No. 61 of 2003 and the proposed Traditional Health Practitioners Act, No. 35 of 2004. Formal legal review of and advice on this legislation as it pertains to public sector mental health practitioners as state employees, is necessary and should form the basis of the principles and standards for care endorsed by organized mental health care practitioner groups such as the South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP).

Right away: A late, right-lateralized category effect complements an early, left-lateralized category effect in visual search.

PubMed

Constable, Merryn D; Becker, Stefanie I

2017-10-01

According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, learned semantic categories can influence early perceptual processes. A central finding in support of this view is the lateralized category effect-namely, the finding that categorically different colors (e.g., blue and green hues) can be discriminated faster than colors within the same color category (e.g., different hues of green), especially when they are presented in the right visual field. Because the right visual field projects to the left hemisphere, this finding has been popularly couched in terms of the left-lateralization of language. However, other studies have reported bilateral category effects, which has led some researchers to question the linguistic origins of the effect. Here we examined the time course of lateralized and bilateral category effects in the classical visual search paradigm by means of eyetracking and RT distribution analyses. Our results show a bilateral category effect in the manual responses, which is combined of an early, left-lateralized category effect and a later, right-lateralized category effect. The newly discovered late, right-lateralized category effect occurred only when observers had difficulty locating the target, indicating a specialization of the right hemisphere to find categorically different targets after an initial error. The finding that early and late stages of visual search show different lateralized category effects can explain a wide range of previously discrepant findings.

Development of Open-Ended Problems for Measuring The Higher-Order-Thinking-Skills of High School Students on Global Warming Phenomenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fianti; Najwa, F. L.; Linuwih, S.

2017-04-01

Higher-order-thinking-skills can not be developed directly, except by training which is employing open-ended problems for measuring and developing critics, creativeness, and problem-solving thinking-skills of students. This study is a research and development producing open-ended problems. The purpose of this study is to measure the properness and effectiveness of the developed product and to observe the profile of higher-order-thinking-skills of students on global warming phenomenon. The result of properness test of open-ended problems according to the experts is 92,59% on the first stage and 97,53% on the second stage, so we can assume that the product isvery proper. The result of effectiveness test shows the coefficient of correlation between student’s midterm test scores and open-ended questions is 0,634 which is in the category of strong. Higher-order-thinking-skills of SMA Negeri 1 Salatiga students is in the category of good with the average achievement scores 61,28.

Simplified predictive models for CO 2 sequestration performance assessment

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

Mishra, Srikanta; Ganesh, Priya; Schuetter, Jared

CO2 sequestration in deep saline formations is increasingly being considered as a viable strategy for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from anthropogenic sources. In this context, detailed numerical simulation based models are routinely used to understand key processes and parameters affecting pressure propagation and buoyant plume migration following CO2 injection into the subsurface. As these models are data and computation intensive, the development of computationally-efficient alternatives to conventional numerical simulators has become an active area of research. Such simplified models can be valuable assets during preliminary CO2 injection project screening, serve as a key element of probabilistic system assessmentmore » modeling tools, and assist regulators in quickly evaluating geological storage projects. We present three strategies for the development and validation of simplified modeling approaches for CO2 sequestration in deep saline formations: (1) simplified physics-based modeling, (2) statisticallearning based modeling, and (3) reduced-order method based modeling. In the first category, a set of full-physics compositional simulations is used to develop correlations for dimensionless injectivity as a function of the slope of the CO2 fractional-flow curve, variance of layer permeability values, and the nature of vertical permeability arrangement. The same variables, along with a modified gravity number, can be used to develop a correlation for the total storage efficiency within the CO2 plume footprint. Furthermore, the dimensionless average pressure buildup after the onset of boundary effects can be correlated to dimensionless time, CO2 plume footprint, and storativity contrast between the reservoir and caprock. In the second category, statistical “proxy models” are developed using the simulation domain described previously with two approaches: (a) classical Box-Behnken experimental design with a quadratic response surface, and (b) maximin Latin Hypercube sampling (LHS) based design with a multidimensional kriging metamodel fit. For roughly the same number of simulations, the LHS-based metamodel yields a more robust predictive model, as verified by a k-fold cross-validation approach (with data split into training and test sets) as well by validation with an independent dataset. In the third category, a reduced-order modeling procedure is utilized that combines proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) for reducing problem dimensionality with trajectory-piecewise linearization (TPWL) in order to represent system response at new control settings from a limited number of training runs. Significant savings in computational time are observed with reasonable accuracy from the PODTPWL reduced-order model for both vertical and horizontal well problems – which could be important in the context of history matching, uncertainty quantification and optimization problems. The simplified physics and statistical learning based models are also validated using an uncertainty analysis framework. Reference cumulative distribution functions of key model outcomes (i.e., plume radius and reservoir pressure buildup) generated using a 97-run full-physics simulation are successfully validated against the CDF from 10,000 sample probabilistic simulations using the simplified models. The main contribution of this research project is the development and validation of a portfolio of simplified modeling approaches that will enable rapid feasibility and risk assessment for CO2 sequestration in deep saline formations.« less

Young women's perspective of the pros and cons to seeking screening for chlamydia and gonorrhea: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Chacko, Mariam R; von Sternberg, Kirk; Velasquez, Mary M; Wiemann, Constance M; Smith, Peggy B; DiClemente, Ralph

2008-08-01

To identify young women's pros and cons (decisional balance) to seeking chlamydia (CT) and gonorrhea (NGC) screening. Prospective, cross sectional study Community-based reproductive health clinic 192 young women (66% African American; mean age 18.9 years). Content analysis of responses obtained during a decisional balance exercise (pros and cons) promoting CT and NGC screening was conducted. Thematic categories were developed through a coding process, and each response was assigned to one thematic category. The frequency of pros and cons responses for each category and the frequency of participants endorsing each category were calculated. Ten thematic categories in relation to pros and cons of seeking CT and NGC screening were: being healthy; awareness of the body; systemic factors around the clinic visit and testing procedures; benefits and aversions around treatment; partner trust issues; confidentiality; prevention of long term adverse effects, protection of the body; concern for others; fear of results/aversion to testing; and logistical barriers. The three most often cited pros were awareness of the body, being healthy and treatment issues; and the three most often cited cons were logistical barriers (time/transportation), fear/aversion to testing, and systemic factors. A variety of pros and cons to seeking CT and NGC screening were identified at a community-based clinic. Providers in clinical settings can utilize this information when encouraging patients to seek regular STI screening by elucidating and emphasizing those pros and cons that have the most influence on a young woman's decision-making to seek screening.

YOUNG WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVE OF THE PROS AND CONS TO SEEKING SCREENING FOR CHLAMYDIA AND GONORRHEA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

PubMed Central

Chacko, Mariam R.; von Sternberg, Kirk; Velasquez, Mary M.; Wiemann, Constance M.; Smith, Peggy B.; DiClemente, Ralph

2008-01-01

Study Objective To identify young women’s pros and cons (decisional balance) to seeking chlamydia (CT) and gonorrhea (NGC) screening. Design Prospective, cross sectional study Setting Community-based reproductive health clinic Participants 192 young women (66% African American; mean age 18.9 years). Main Outcome Measure(s) Content analysis of responses obtained during a decisional balance exercise (pros and cons) promoting CT and NGC screening was conducted. Thematic categories were developed through a coding process, and each response was assigned to one thematic category. The frequency of pros and cons responses for each category and the frequency of participants endorsing each category were calculated. Results Ten thematic categories in relation to pros and cons of seeking CT and NGC screening were: being healthy; awareness of knowing the body; systemic factors around the clinic visit and testing procedures; benefits and aversions around treatment; partner relationship issues; confidentiality; prevention of long term adverse effects, protection of the body; concern for others; fear of results/aversion to testing; and logistical barriers. The three most often cited pros were awareness, healthy and treatment issues; and the three most often cited cons were logistical barriers (time/transportation), fear/aversion to testing, and systemic issues. Conclusions A variety of pros and cons to seeking CT and NGC screening were identified at a community-based clinic. Providers in clinical settings can utilize this information when encouraging patients to seek regular STI screening by elucidating and emphasizing those pros and cons that have the most influence on a young woman’s decision-making to seek screening. PMID:18656072

Stories from the field: students' descriptions of gender discrimination and sexual harassment during medical school.

PubMed

Witte, Florence M; Stratton, Terry D; Nora, Lois Margaret

2006-07-01

Previous studies have documented the prevalence of gender discrimination and sexual harassment during medical training, but very few have examined the behaviors that students perceive as discriminatory or harassing. The authors addressed this lack of information by examining graduating medical students' written descriptions of personal experiences with such behaviors during medical school. The authors reviewed the responses of graduating seniors at 12 U.S. medical schools to a questionnaire, administered in 2001-02, that asked them to provide written descriptions of their personal experiences with gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Seven response categories were created on the basis of recurring themes: educational inequalities; stereotypical comments; sexual overtures; offensive, embarrassing, or sexually explicit comments; inappropriate touching; sexist remarks; and not classifiable. The three authors examined the students' written accounts and placed each into one or more of the categories. Of the students' responses, 290 (36.6%) contained 313 written descriptions of personal experiences that the students perceived as either discriminatory or harassing. The most frequently reported experiences involved educational inequalities; experiences in this category were reported more frequently by men than by women. All other categories of experiences were reported more frequently by women. The results support earlier findings of the prevalence of gender discrimination and sexual harassment during undergraduate medical education. Perhaps formal antiharassment policies should provide examples of unacceptable behavior that are based on categories such as those revealed by this analysis. Perhaps, too, medical students' comments could be used to develop educational interventions for physicians in supervisory positions.

Autonomic responses to social and nonsocial pictures in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Louwerse, Anneke; Tulen, Joke H M; van der Geest, Jos N; van der Ende, Jan; Verhulst, Frank C; Greaves-Lord, Kirstin

2014-02-01

It remains unclear why individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to respond in an atypical manner in social situations. Investigating autonomic and subjective responses to social vs. nonsocial stimuli may help to reveal underlying mechanisms of these atypical responses. This study examined autonomic responses (skin conductance level and heart rate) and subjective responses to social vs. nonsocial pictures in 37 adolescents with an ASD and 36 typically developing (TD) adolescents. Thirty-six pictures from the International Affective Picture System were presented, divided into six categories based on social content (social vs. nonsocial) and pleasantness (pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant). Both in adolescents with ASD as well as TD adolescents, pictures with a social content resulted in higher skin conductance responses (SCRs) for pleasant and unpleasant pictures than for neutral pictures. No differences in SCRs were found for the three nonsocial picture categories. Unpleasant pictures, both with and without a social content, showed more heart rate deceleration than neutral pictures. Self-reported arousal ratings were influenced by the social and affective content of a picture. No differences were found between individuals with ASD and TD individuals in their autonomic and subjective responses to the picture categories. These results suggest that adolescents with ASD do not show atypical autonomic or subjective responses to pictures with and without a social content. These findings make it less likely that impairments in social information processing in individuals with ASD can be explained by atypical autonomic responses to social stimuli. © 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The influence of question type, reasoning level, and wait time on student participation rates when using clicker questions with large classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartman, K.; Koh, J.; Murty, S. A.; Ramos, R. D. P.; Goodkin, N.

2017-12-01

"Wait time" is defined as the length of the pause between an instructor initiating a question and either the student answering it or the instructor interjecting (Rowe, 1974). However, the nature of the question-answer dynamic changes with student response systems that allow hundreds of students to answer the same question simultaneously before displaying the results to the class. In this study, we looked at 129 student response questions asked across 240 minutes of class lectures to determine if longer wait times were associated with higher student response rates. We also examined whether the type and reasoning level of the questions were diagnostic of their response rates. 644 undergraduate science students enrolled in an interdisciplinary environmental science course. During each of the course's lessons, the instructor presented a mix of lecture content, short student response activities (clicker questions), and small group discussion opportunities. Using the recorded videos, we coded each student response question for its question type and reasoning level. We divided the question types into three categories: yes/no questions, yes/no/maybe questions, and other questions. To code for the reasoning level necessary to answer each question, we used a collapsed version of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy (Krathwohl, 2002). Questions that had a definite answer and relied on recalling facts or paraphrasing the lecture content were coded as "knowledge" questions. Questions that required students to apply what they had learned to analyze a new scenario, or come to a judgement were coded as "higher order" questions. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the question type and reasoning level as fixed factors and wait time as a covariate to predict student response rate indicated a strong interaction between question type and reasoning level F(6, 94) = 4.53, p<.01. In general, knowledge questions were answered by a higher percentage (M=91%) of students than higher order questions (M=85%). In particular, yes/no/maybe questions targeting higher order reasoning were the least answered (M=71%). Interestingly, wait time was not associated with increased response rates. The implication is certain types of yes/no/maybe questions may lend themselves to lower response rates due to the introduction of ambiguity into the question.

Data categories for marine planning

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lightsom, Frances L.; Cicchetti, Giancarlo; Wahle, Charles M.

2015-01-01

The U.S. National Ocean Policy calls for a science- and ecosystem-based approach to comprehensive planning and management of human activities and their impacts on America’s oceans. The Ocean Community in Data.gov is an outcome of 2010–2011 work by an interagency working group charged with designing a national information management system to support ocean planning. Within the working group, a smaller team developed a list of the data categories specifically relevant to marine planning. This set of categories is an important consensus statement of the breadth of information types required for ocean planning from a national, multidisciplinary perspective. Although the categories were described in a working document in 2011, they have not yet been fully implemented explicitly in online services or geospatial metadata, in part because authoritative definitions were not created formally. This document describes the purpose of the data categories, provides definitions, and identifies relations among the categories and between the categories and external standards. It is intended to be used by ocean data providers, managers, and users in order to provide a transparent and consistent framework for organizing and describing complex information about marine ecosystems and their connections to humans.

48 CFR 234.003 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Responsibilities. 234.003 Section 234.003 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE ACQUISITION REGULATIONS SYSTEM, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION 234.003 Responsibilities. DoDD...

Improving Long-Term Care Facility Disaster Preparedness and Response: A Literature Review.

PubMed

Pierce, J Rush; Morley, Sarah K; West, Theresa A; Pentecost, Percy; Upton, Lori A; Banks, Laura

2017-02-01

Long-term care facilities (LTCFs) and their residents are especially susceptible to disruptions associated with natural disasters and often have limited experience and resources for disaster planning and response. Previous reports have offered disaster planning and response recommendations. We could not find a comprehensive review of studied interventions or facility attributes that affect disaster outcomes in LTCFs and their residents. We reviewed articles published from 1974 through September 30, 2015, that studied disaster characteristics, facility characteristics, patient characteristics, or an intervention that affected outcomes for LTCFs experiencing or preparing for a disaster. Twenty-one articles were included in the review. All of the articles fell into 1 of the following categories: facility or disaster characteristics that predicted preparedness or response, interventions to improve preparedness, and health effects of disaster response, most often related to facility evacuation. All of the articles described observational studies that were heterogeneous in design and metrics. We believe that the evidence-based literature supports 6 specific recommendations for facilities, governmental agencies, health care communities and academia. These include integrated and coordinated disaster planning, staff training, careful consideration before governments order mandatory evacuations, anticipation of the increased medical needs of LTCF residents following a disaster, and the need for more outcomes research. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:140-149).

Birth Order: A Phenomenon in Search of an Explanation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGurk, Harry; Lewis, Michael

Fifty-two 44-month-old children were observed in a nursery school over a period of two weeks with peer and adult oriented behaviors recorded, and data analyzed in terms of the subjects' sex and birth order. Sex effects were as expected, but birth-order effects highlighted the second-born child as representing a distinct category. In particular,…

Cohen's Linearly Weighted Kappa Is a Weighted Average of 2 x 2 Kappas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warrens, Matthijs J.

2011-01-01

An agreement table with [n as an element of N is greater than or equal to] 3 ordered categories can be collapsed into n - 1 distinct 2 x 2 tables by combining adjacent categories. Vanbelle and Albert ("Stat. Methodol." 6:157-163, 2009c) showed that the components of Cohen's weighted kappa with linear weights can be obtained from these n - 1…

Category Accessibility and Recall Accuracy: The Impact of Exposure to Mass Media in Witness Recall Situations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tamborini, Ron; And Others

The R.S. Wyer and T.K. Srull model suggests that when humans process information and store it in memory they create construct categories that are somewhat like storage bins. According to this model, when information is placed in these bins, it is stored in the order that it is received or used, with the most recently processed information always…

Categorial Compositionality: A Category Theory Explanation for the Systematicity of Human Cognition

PubMed Central

Phillips, Steven; Wilson, William H.

2010-01-01

Classical and Connectionist theories of cognitive architecture seek to explain systematicity (i.e., the property of human cognition whereby cognitive capacity comes in groups of related behaviours) as a consequence of syntactically and functionally compositional representations, respectively. However, both theories depend on ad hoc assumptions to exclude specific instances of these forms of compositionality (e.g. grammars, networks) that do not account for systematicity. By analogy with the Ptolemaic (i.e. geocentric) theory of planetary motion, although either theory can be made to be consistent with the data, both nonetheless fail to fully explain it. Category theory, a branch of mathematics, provides an alternative explanation based on the formal concept of adjunction, which relates a pair of structure-preserving maps, called functors. A functor generalizes the notion of a map between representational states to include a map between state transformations (or processes). In a formal sense, systematicity is a necessary consequence of a higher-order theory of cognitive architecture, in contrast to the first-order theories derived from Classicism or Connectionism. Category theory offers a re-conceptualization for cognitive science, analogous to the one that Copernicus provided for astronomy, where representational states are no longer the center of the cognitive universe—replaced by the relationships between the maps that transform them. PMID:20661306

Categorial compositionality: a category theory explanation for the systematicity of human cognition.

PubMed

Phillips, Steven; Wilson, William H

2010-07-22

Classical and Connectionist theories of cognitive architecture seek to explain systematicity (i.e., the property of human cognition whereby cognitive capacity comes in groups of related behaviours) as a consequence of syntactically and functionally compositional representations, respectively. However, both theories depend on ad hoc assumptions to exclude specific instances of these forms of compositionality (e.g. grammars, networks) that do not account for systematicity. By analogy with the Ptolemaic (i.e. geocentric) theory of planetary motion, although either theory can be made to be consistent with the data, both nonetheless fail to fully explain it. Category theory, a branch of mathematics, provides an alternative explanation based on the formal concept of adjunction, which relates a pair of structure-preserving maps, called functors. A functor generalizes the notion of a map between representational states to include a map between state transformations (or processes). In a formal sense, systematicity is a necessary consequence of a higher-order theory of cognitive architecture, in contrast to the first-order theories derived from Classicism or Connectionism. Category theory offers a re-conceptualization for cognitive science, analogous to the one that Copernicus provided for astronomy, where representational states are no longer the center of the cognitive universe--replaced by the relationships between the maps that transform them.

The Physiological Profile of Junior Soccer Players at SSBB Surabaya Bhakti

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nashirudin, M.; Kusnanik, N. W.

2018-01-01

Soccer players are required to have good physical fitness in order to achieve optimum accomplishment; physical fitness stands as the foundation of technical and tactical proficiency as well as the mental maturity during the matches. The purpose of this study was to identify the physiological profile of junior soccer players of SSB Surabaya Bhakti age 16-17. The research was conducted at 20 junior soccer players. This research was quantitative with descriptive analysis. Data were collected by testing of physiological (anaerobic power and capacity including explosive leg power, speed, agility; aerobic capacity: cardiovascular endurance). Data was analyzed using percentage. The result showed that the percentage of explosive leg power of junior soccer players were 30% (good category), speed was 85% (average category), right agility was 90% (average category), left agility was 75% (average category). On the other hand, the aerobic power and capacity of the junior soccer players in this study was 50% (average category). The conclusion of this research is that the physiological profile of junior soccer players at SSB Surabaya Bhakti age 16-17 was majority in average category.

A modified fetal heart rate tracing interpretation system for prediction of cesarean section

PubMed Central

Schnettler, William T.; Rogers, Jennifer; Barber, Rachel E.; Hacker, Michele R.

2013-01-01

Objective To investigate whether a modified version of the 2008 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) interpretation system upon admission decreases cesarean delivery risk. Methods This retrospective cohort study ascribed a modified category to the first 30 min of fetal heart rate (FHR) tracings in labor. Category I was divided into two subsets (Ia and Ib) by the presence of accelerations. Category II was divided into four subsets (IIa–IId) based on baseline FHR, variability, response to stimulation and decelerations. Log-binomial regression was used to calculate risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results A category was ascribed to 910 women. Most FHR tracings were Category Ia (65.8%), Ib (7.7%), IIb (11.8%) and IId (14.0%). Category Ib tracings (fewer than two accelerations) were 2.26 (95% CI: 1.13–4.52) times more likely to result in cesarean delivery for abnormal FHR tracing than Category Ia tracings. A similar increase in risk was seen when comparing Category IIb and Category IId with Category Ia. Conclusion Application of a modified version of the 2008 NICHD FHR interpretation system to the initial 30 min of labor can identify women at increased risk of cesarean delivery for abnormal FHR tracing. PMID:21942513

[Structure and characteristics of technical support that psychiatric social workers of prefectural governments provide for municipalities].

PubMed

Okada, Takashi

2017-01-01

Objectives　The support to municipalities by prefectural governments has become necessary in the fields of mental health and welfare. Therefore, psychiatric social workers (PSW) ordered from the prefectural governor has been providing technical support (TS) that promote community activities of the municipality and improve staff support for persons with mental disabilities. The purpose of this study was to identify empirical structure and characteristics of TS that PSW provide for municipality staff.Method　Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven certified PSW randomly selected from the membership list of the National Psychiatric Social Worker Organization. Inclusion criteria required participants to have more than 10 years of experience at the prefectural government and experience providing TS in the last five years. Interviews focused on two situations: a casework and a project related to mental health. Interview data were analyzed using a qualitative content method, setting a framework for the consultation process.Results　The analysis included five categories < > and 15 subcategories [ ], which consisted of 37 concepts. In category with municipalities consisted of [complementary relationship] and [partnership]. The category included two subcategories, [analyze/judgment from the conditions spread in front of] and [analyze/judgment be the accumulated skills and knowledge in person]. In category , six policies were considered as important, including [problem solving and promoting action], [fostering person centered care perspective], [promoting the understanding of residents], [provide psychological support to the staff], [clarify responsibility as the municipal officials], and [coordinate to improve the environment]. Category consisted of both [support indirectly] and [support cooperatively]. The last category, included three subcategories, [lead to the maintenance and improvement of the system], [have the staff pleasure/contribute to the community], and [consider whether it can be applied to other regions]. The results showed that the characteristics of TS had a consultation function, and the support function utilized complementarity and collaboration between prefecture and municipality providing services to residents.Conclusion　This study has clarified the characteristics of TS, which have not been clarified in previous research. We should accumulate the knowledge and establish a method for spreading through various regions.

Development of STS/Centaur failure probabilities liftoff to Centaur separation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hudson, J. M.

1982-01-01

The results of an analysis to determine STS/Centaur catastrophic vehicle response probabilities for the phases of vehicle flight from STS liftoff to Centaur separation from the Orbiter are presented. The analysis considers only category one component failure modes as contributors to the vehicle response mode probabilities. The relevant component failure modes are grouped into one of fourteen categories of potential vehicle behavior. By assigning failure rates to each component, for each of its failure modes, the STS/Centaur vehicle response probabilities in each phase of flight can be calculated. The results of this study will be used in a DOE analysis to ascertain the hazard from carrying a nuclear payload on the STS.

Measuring pregnancy planning: An assessment of the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy among urban, south Indian women

PubMed Central

Rocca, Corinne H.; Krishnan, Suneeta; Barrett, Geraldine; Wilson, Mark

2010-01-01

We evaluated the psychometric properties of the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy among Indian women using classical methods and Item Response Modeling. The scale exhibited good internal consistency and internal structure, with overall scores correlating well with each item’s response categories. Items performed similarly for pregnant and non-pregnant women, and scores decreased with increasing parity, providing evidence for validity. Analyses also detected limitations, including infrequent selection of middle response categories and some evidence of differential item functioning by parity. We conclude that the LMUP represents an improvement over existing measures but recommend steps for enhancing scale performance for this cultural context. PMID:21170147

Coping with the Green-Eyed Monster: Conceptualizing and Measuring Communicative Responses to Romantic Jealousy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guerrero, Laura K.; And Others

1995-01-01

Examines communicative responses to romantic jealousy. Finds 12 superordinate categories and 67 tactics in communicative responses to jealousy. Develops measures for six types of interactive responses (integrative communication, distributive communication, active distancing, general avoidance/denial, expression of negative affect, and violent…

Canadian Military Nurse Deaths in the First World War.

PubMed

Dodd, Dianne

2017-01-01

This paper examines the lives of sixty-one Canadian Nursing Sisters who served during the First World War, and whose deaths were attributed, more or less equally, to three categories: general illness, Spanish Influenza, and killed in action. The response by Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC) physicians to the loss of these early female officers who were, in fact, Canada's first female war casualties, suggests a gendered construction of illness at work in the CAMC. While nurses tried to prove themselves good soldiers, military physicians were quick to attribute their illnesses and deaths to horrific war conditions deemed unsuitable for women. This gendered response is particularly evident in how CAMC physicians invoked a causal role for neurasthenia or shell shock for the nurses' poor health. The health profile of these women also suggests that some of these deaths might have occurred had these women stayed in Canada, and it encourages future comparative research into death rates among physicians and orderlies.

Exploring the Arabidopsis proteome: influence of protein solubilization buffers on proteome coverage.

PubMed

Marondedze, Claudius; Wong, Aloysius; Groen, Arnoud; Serrano, Natalia; Jankovic, Boris; Lilley, Kathryn; Gehring, Christoph; Thomas, Ludivine

2014-12-31

The study of proteomes provides new insights into stimulus-specific responses of protein synthesis and turnover, and the role of post-translational modifications at the systems level. Due to the diverse chemical nature of proteins and shortcomings in the analytical techniques used in their study, only a partial display of the proteome is achieved in any study, and this holds particularly true for plant proteomes. Here we show that different solubilization and separation methods have profound effects on the resulting proteome. In particular, we observed that the type of detergents employed in the solubilization buffer preferentially enriches proteins in different functional categories. These include proteins with a role in signaling, transport, response to temperature stimuli and metabolism. This data may offer a functional bias on comparative analysis studies. In order to obtain a broader coverage, we propose a two-step solubilization protocol with first a detergent-free buffer and then a second step utilizing a combination of two detergents to solubilize proteins.

Exploring the Arabidopsis Proteome: Influence of Protein Solubilization Buffers on Proteome Coverage

PubMed Central

Marondedze, Claudius; Wong, Aloysius; Groen, Arnoud; Serrano, Natalia; Jankovic, Boris; Lilley, Kathryn; Gehring, Christoph; Thomas, Ludivine

2014-01-01

The study of proteomes provides new insights into stimulus-specific responses of protein synthesis and turnover, and the role of post-translational modifications at the systems level. Due to the diverse chemical nature of proteins and shortcomings in the analytical techniques used in their study, only a partial display of the proteome is achieved in any study, and this holds particularly true for plant proteomes. Here we show that different solubilization and separation methods have profound effects on the resulting proteome. In particular, we observed that the type of detergents employed in the solubilization buffer preferentially enriches proteins in different functional categories. These include proteins with a role in signaling, transport, response to temperature stimuli and metabolism. This data may offer a functional bias on comparative analysis studies. In order to obtain a broader coverage, we propose a two-step solubilization protocol with first a detergent-free buffer and then a second step utilizing a combination of two detergents to solubilize proteins. PMID:25561235

Identifying bioindicators across trait-taxon space for assessing water quality in marine environments.

PubMed

Xu, Guangjian; Zhong, Xiaoxiao; Al, Mamun Abdullah; Warren, Alan; Xu, Henglong

2018-06-01

The response units of protozoan communities, based on a community-weighted mean (CWM) dataset across trait-taxon space, were investigated in order to determine their utility as bioindicators of marine water quality. From a total of 17 functional categories of seven biological traits, three functional response units (FRUs) were identified at correlation levels of >0.75. FRUs 1 and 3 generally dominated the communities in more polluted areas during warm seasons, while FRU2 appeared to prefer less polluted waters and dominated the communities in spring and winter. Correlation analysis demonstrated that the CWM values of FRUs 1 and 3 were significantly positively correlated to the concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD), whereas those of FRU2 were negatively correlated to COD. Across taxon-function space, 16 species were identified as potential bioindicators of water quality. These results suggest that redundancy analysis across trait-taxon space is a useful tool for identifying indicators of environmental quality. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bogus Concerns about the False Prototype Enhancement Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Homa, Donald; Hout, Michael C.; Milliken, Laura; Milliken, Ann Marie

2011-01-01

Two experiments addressed the mechanism responsible for the false prototype effect, the phenomenon in which a prototype gradient can be obtained in the absence of learning. Previous demonstrations of this effect have occurred solely in a single-category paradigm in which transfer patterns are assigned or not to the learning category. We tested the…

10 CFR 37.77 - Advance notification of shipment of category 1 quantities of radioactive material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Policy, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington... 10 Energy 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Advance notification of shipment of category 1 quantities of radioactive material. 37.77 Section 37.77 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION PHYSICAL PROTECTION...

The Role of Experience in Location Estimation: Target Distributions Shift Location Memory Biases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lipinski, John; Simmering, Vanessa R.; Johnson, Jeffrey S.; Spencer, John P.

2010-01-01

Research based on the Category Adjustment model concluded that the spatial distribution of target locations does not influence location estimation responses [Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L., Corrigan, B., & Crawford, L. E. (2004). Spatial categories and the estimation of location. "Cognition, 93", 75-97]. This conflicts with earlier results showing…

Drift in Children's Categories: When Experienced Distributions Conflict with Prior Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalish, Charles W.; Zhu, XiaoJin; Rogers, Timothy T.

2015-01-01

Psychological intuitions about natural category structure do not always correspond to the true structure of the world. The current study explores young children's responses to conflict between intuitive structure and authoritative feedback using a semi-supervised learning (Zhu et al., 2007) paradigm. In three experiments, 160 children between the…

On Determinatives and the Category-Function Distinction: A Reply to Brett Reynolds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lenchuk, Iryna; Ahmed, Amer

2014-01-01

This article examines the arguments made in the article "Determiners, Feline Marsupials, and the Category-Function Distinction: A Critique of ELT Grammars" by Brett Reynolds recently published in the "TESL Canada Journal" (2013). In our response, we demonstrate that the author's arguments are problematic on both…

Effects of Estimation Bias on Multiple-Category Classification with an IRT-Based Adaptive Classification Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Xiangdong; Poggio, John C.; Glasnapp, Douglas R.

2006-01-01

The effects of five ability estimators, that is, maximum likelihood estimator, weighted likelihood estimator, maximum a posteriori, expected a posteriori, and Owen's sequential estimator, on the performances of the item response theory-based adaptive classification procedure on multiple categories were studied via simulations. The following…

The Functions of Immediate Echolalia in Autistic Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prizant, Barry M.; Duchan, Judith F.

1981-01-01

A multilevel analysis of verbal and nonverbal factors, response latency, and intonation, in four autistic boys (4 to 9 years old) revealed that immediate echolalia is far more than a meaningless behavior. Seven functional categories of echolalia were discovered and are discussed in reference to behavioral and linguistic features of each category.…

A Failing Grade for WEEE Take-Back Programs for Information Technology Equipment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakajima, Nina; Vanderburg, Willem H.

2005-01-01

Product take-back (also called extended producer responsibility) has become a trend for dealing with the garbage resulting from categories of problematic products. Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one such category with computer equipment being of particular significance. This article provides a description of the European…

Comparison promotes learning and transfer of relational categories.

PubMed

Kurtz, Kenneth J; Boukrina, Olga; Gentner, Dedre

2013-07-01

We investigated the effect of co-presenting training items during supervised classification learning of novel relational categories. Strong evidence exists that comparison induces a structural alignment process that renders common relational structure more salient. We hypothesized that comparisons between exemplars would facilitate learning and transfer of categories that cohere around a common relational property. The effect of comparison was investigated using learning trials that elicited a separate classification response for each item in presentation pairs that could be drawn from the same or different categories. This methodology ensures consideration of both items and invites comparison through an implicit same-different judgment inherent in making the two responses. In a test phase measuring learning and transfer, the comparison group significantly outperformed a control group receiving an equivalent training session of single-item classification learning. Comparison-based learners also outperformed the control group on a test of far transfer, that is, the ability to accurately classify items from a novel domain that was relationally alike, but surface-dissimilar, to the training materials. Theoretical and applied implications of this comparison advantage are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Science educators' perceptions of problems facing science education: A report of five surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallagher, James Joseph; Yager, Robert E.

Five groups of science educators representing faculty at graduate institutions, graduate students, teachers, supervisors, and leadership conferees were surveyed concerning their perceptions of current problems facing science education. A total of 144 participants provided an average of 4.7 responses. The responses were tabulated using an emergent set of categories that resulted in six major groupings, i.e. conceptual, organizational, teacher; related, student-related, university, and societal. The category with the most problems identified was in the area of conceptual problems. University related problems and organizational problems were the next two most frequently mentioned categories for problems. Specific problems in all categories most often cited include the following:1confusion and uncertainty in goals and objectives;2lack of vision and leadership in schools and universities;3absence of a theoretical base for science education;4poor quality teacher education programs;5inappropriate avenues for continuing education of teachers; limited dialogue between researchers and practitioners; declining enrollments; poor quality teaching and counseling; insufficient programs in science for the wide spectrum of students; and public and parental apathy towards science.

The influence of tone inventory on ERP without focal attention: a cross-language study.

PubMed

Zheng, Hong-Ying; Peng, Gang; Chen, Jian-Yong; Zhang, Caicai; Minett, James W; Wang, William S-Y

2014-01-01

This study investigates the effect of tone inventories on brain activities underlying pitch without focal attention. We find that the electrophysiological responses to across-category stimuli are larger than those to within-category stimuli when the pitch contours are superimposed on nonspeech stimuli; however, there is no electrophysiological response difference associated with category status in speech stimuli. Moreover, this category effect in nonspeech stimuli is stronger for Cantonese speakers. Results of previous and present studies lead us to conclude that brain activities to the same native lexical tone contrasts are modulated by speakers' language experiences not only in active phonological processing but also in automatic feature detection without focal attention. In contrast to the condition with focal attention, where phonological processing is stronger for speech stimuli, the feature detection (pitch contours in this study) without focal attention as shaped by language background is superior in relatively regular stimuli, that is, the nonspeech stimuli. The results suggest that Cantonese listeners outperform Mandarin listeners in automatic detection of pitch features because of the denser Cantonese tone system.

The trouble with 'Categories': Rethinking men who have sex with men, transgender and their equivalents in HIV prevention and health promotion.

PubMed

Parker, Richard; Aggleton, Peter; Perez-Brumer, Amaya G

2016-01-01

This double Special Issue of Global Public Health presents a collection of articles that seek more adequately to represent sexual and gender diversities and to begin to rethink the relationship to HIV prevention and health promotion - in both the resource rich nations of the global North, as well as in the more resource constrained nations of the global South. Reckoning with the reality that today the global response to HIV has failed to respond to the needs of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, and transgender persons, we turn our attention to processes and practices of categorisation and classification, and the entanglement of the multiple social worlds that constitute our understanding of each of these categories and people within the categories. Jointly, these articles provide critical perspectives on how defining and redefining categories may impact the conceptual frameworks and empirical evidence that inform global understandings of HIV infection, those communities most vulnerable, and our collective response to the evolving HIV epidemic.

Innovative system to improve use of patient education materials.

PubMed Central

Smith, J. L.; Levitt, C.; Franco, E. D.

1997-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a new storage system for patient education materials. DESIGN: Anonymous surveys before and after implementation of new storage system. SETTING: Family medicine residency teaching centre. PARTICIPANTS: All nurses, staff doctors, and first- and second-year residents in the unit. INTERVENTIONS: Implementation of a new storage system for patient education materials, orientation of all health professionals in the unit to the new system, and periodic distribution of patient education newsletters. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported use of patient education materials. RESULTS: Response rates were 73% (30 of 41 health professionals) in 1990 and 86% (36 of 42) in 1992. Responses to the first survey on use of 20 categories of patient education materials showed materials were seldom used by most respondents. Back Care, Nutrition, Diabetes, VD/Birth Control, and Pregnancy categories were the most frequently used. In the second survey, more respondents reported using these five categories of pamphlets. Rates of use varied only slightly for the remaining 15 categories. CONCLUSIONS: Health professionals reported more frequent use of certain patient education materials following implementation of a new storage system. PMID:9626424

Implementation of parallel transmit beamforming using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing--achievable resolution and interbeam interference.

PubMed

Demi, Libertario; Viti, Jacopo; Kusters, Lieneke; Guidi, Francesco; Tortoli, Piero; Mischi, Massimo

2013-11-01

The speed of sound in the human body limits the achievable data acquisition rate of pulsed ultrasound scanners. To overcome this limitation, parallel beamforming techniques are used in ultrasound 2-D and 3-D imaging systems. Different parallel beamforming approaches have been proposed. They may be grouped into two major categories: parallel beamforming in reception and parallel beamforming in transmission. The first category is not optimal for harmonic imaging; the second category may be more easily applied to harmonic imaging. However, inter-beam interference represents an issue. To overcome these shortcomings and exploit the benefit of combining harmonic imaging and high data acquisition rate, a new approach has been recently presented which relies on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to perform parallel beamforming in transmission. In this paper, parallel transmit beamforming using OFDM is implemented for the first time on an ultrasound scanner. An advanced open platform for ultrasound research is used to investigate the axial resolution and interbeam interference achievable with parallel transmit beamforming using OFDM. Both fundamental and second-harmonic imaging modalities have been considered. Results show that, for fundamental imaging, axial resolution in the order of 2 mm can be achieved in combination with interbeam interference in the order of -30 dB. For second-harmonic imaging, axial resolution in the order of 1 mm can be achieved in combination with interbeam interference in the order of -35 dB.

Price promotions on healthier compared with less healthy foods: a hierarchical regression analysis of the impact on sales and social patterning of responses to promotions in Great Britain.

PubMed

Nakamura, Ryota; Suhrcke, Marc; Jebb, Susan A; Pechey, Rachel; Almiron-Roig, Eva; Marteau, Theresa M

2015-04-01

There is a growing concern, but limited evidence, that price promotions contribute to a poor diet and the social patterning of diet-related disease. We examined the following questions: 1) Are less-healthy foods more likely to be promoted than healthier foods? 2) Are consumers more responsive to promotions on less-healthy products? 3) Are there socioeconomic differences in food purchases in response to price promotions? With the use of hierarchical regression, we analyzed data on purchases of 11,323 products within 135 food and beverage categories from 26,986 households in Great Britain during 2010. Major supermarkets operated the same price promotions in all branches. The number of stores that offered price promotions on each product for each week was used to measure the frequency of price promotions. We assessed the healthiness of each product by using a nutrient profiling (NP) model. A total of 6788 products (60%) were in healthier categories and 4535 products (40%) were in less-healthy categories. There was no significant gap in the frequency of promotion by the healthiness of products neither within nor between categories. However, after we controlled for the reference price, price discount rate, and brand-specific effects, the sales uplift arising from price promotions was larger in less-healthy than in healthier categories; a 1-SD point increase in the category mean NP score, implying the category becomes less healthy, was associated with an additional 7.7-percentage point increase in sales (from 27.3% to 35.0%; P < 0.01). The magnitude of the sales uplift from promotions was larger for higher-socioeconomic status (SES) groups than for lower ones (34.6% for the high-SES group, 28.1% for the middle-SES group, and 23.1% for the low-SES group). Finally, there was no significant SES gap in the absolute volume of purchases of less-healthy foods made on promotion. Attempts to limit promotions on less-healthy foods could improve the population diet but would be unlikely to reduce health inequalities arising from poorer diets in low-socioeconomic groups.

The influence of trial order on learning from reward vs. punishment in a probabilistic categorization task: experimental and computational analyses.

PubMed

Moustafa, Ahmed A; Gluck, Mark A; Herzallah, Mohammad M; Myers, Catherine E

2015-01-01

Previous research has shown that trial ordering affects cognitive performance, but this has not been tested using category-learning tasks that differentiate learning from reward and punishment. Here, we tested two groups of healthy young adults using a probabilistic category learning task of reward and punishment in which there are two types of trials (reward, punishment) and three possible outcomes: (1) positive feedback for correct responses in reward trials; (2) negative feedback for incorrect responses in punishment trials; and (3) no feedback for incorrect answers in reward trials and correct answers in punishment trials. Hence, trials without feedback are ambiguous, and may represent either successful avoidance of punishment or failure to obtain reward. In Experiment 1, the first group of subjects received an intermixed task in which reward and punishment trials were presented in the same block, as a standard baseline task. In Experiment 2, a second group completed the separated task, in which reward and punishment trials were presented in separate blocks. Additionally, in order to understand the mechanisms underlying performance in the experimental conditions, we fit individual data using a Q-learning model. Results from Experiment 1 show that subjects who completed the intermixed task paradoxically valued the no-feedback outcome as a reinforcer when it occurred on reinforcement-based trials, and as a punisher when it occurred on punishment-based trials. This is supported by patterns of empirical responding, where subjects showed more win-stay behavior following an explicit reward than following an omission of punishment, and more lose-shift behavior following an explicit punisher than following an omission of reward. In Experiment 2, results showed similar performance whether subjects received reward-based or punishment-based trials first. However, when the Q-learning model was applied to these data, there were differences between subjects in the reward-first and punishment-first conditions on the relative weighting of neutral feedback. Specifically, early training on reward-based trials led to omission of reward being treated as similar to punishment, but prior training on punishment-based trials led to omission of reward being treated more neutrally. This suggests that early training on one type of trials, specifically reward-based trials, can create a bias in how neutral feedback is processed, relative to those receiving early punishment-based training or training that mixes positive and negative outcomes.

Persuading girls to take elective physical science courses in high school: Who are the credible communicators?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koballa, Thomas R., Jr.

Eighth-grade girls (N=257) randomly selected from nine different public junior high schools in central Texas were questioned in order to identify the communicators whom they perceive as highly credible regarding reasons for taking elective physical science courses in high school and the attributes associated with these communicators. Four persons were each identified by better than 10 percent of the sample as the best person to try to convince junior high school girls to take elective physical science courses in high school. In order of perceived credibility, these persons are father, woman science teacher, mother, and boy high school student. Slight variations in the order of perceived credibility were found when the responses from girls of the different ethnic groups represented in the sample (Caucasian, Hispanic, Black, and Asian) were examined separately. Attributes listed by the respondents for father, woman science teacher, mother, and boy high school student were examined and classified into the categories of prestige, trustworthiness, similarity, attractiveness, and power. Prestige and trustworthiness are the attributes associates most frequently with communicators identified as highly credible. Implications of the present study and suggestions for further research are discussed.

48 CFR 1334.003 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Responsibilities. 1334.003 Section 1334.003 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION General 1334.003 Responsibilities. (a) The designee authorized to carry...

48 CFR 1334.003 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Responsibilities. 1334.003 Section 1334.003 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION General 1334.003 Responsibilities. (a) The designee authorized to carry...

48 CFR 1334.003 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Responsibilities. 1334.003 Section 1334.003 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION General 1334.003 Responsibilities. (a) The designee authorized to carry...

48 CFR 1334.003 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Responsibilities. 1334.003 Section 1334.003 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION General 1334.003 Responsibilities. (a) The designee authorized to carry...

48 CFR 1334.003 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Responsibilities. 1334.003 Section 1334.003 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION General 1334.003 Responsibilities. (a) The designee authorized to carry...

Taxonomy for Modeling Demand Response Resources

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

Olsen, Daniel; Kiliccote, Sila; Sohn, Michael

2014-08-01

Demand response resources are an important component of modern grid management strategies. Accurate characterizations of DR resources are needed to develop systems of optimally managed grid operations and to plan future investments in generation, transmission, and distribution. The DOE Demand Response and Energy Storage Integration Study (DRESIS) project researched the degree to which demand response (DR) and energy storage can provide grid flexibility and stability in the Western Interconnection. In this work, DR resources were integrated with traditional generators in grid forecasting tools, specifically a production cost model of the Western Interconnection. As part of this study, LBNL developed amore » modeling framework for characterizing resource availability and response attributes of DR resources consistent with the governing architecture of the simulation modeling platform. In this report, we identify and describe the following response attributes required to accurately characterize DR resources: allowable response frequency, maximum response duration, minimum time needed to achieve load changes, necessary pre- or re-charging of integrated energy storage, costs of enablement, magnitude of controlled resources, and alignment of availability. We describe a framework for modeling these response attributes, and apply this framework to characterize 13 DR resources including residential, commercial, and industrial end-uses. We group these end-uses into three broad categories based on their response capabilities, and define a taxonomy for classifying DR resources within these categories. The three categories of resources exhibit different capabilities and differ in value to the grid. Results from the production cost model of the Western Interconnection illustrate that minor differences in resource attributes can have significant impact on grid utilization of DR resources. The implications of these findings will be explored in future DR valuation studies.« less

The Role of Visual and Semantic Properties in the Emergence of Category-Specific Patterns of Neural Response in the Human Brain.

PubMed

Coggan, David D; Baker, Daniel H; Andrews, Timothy J

2016-01-01

Brain-imaging studies have found distinct spatial and temporal patterns of response to different object categories across the brain. However, the extent to which these categorical patterns of response reflect higher-level semantic or lower-level visual properties of the stimulus remains unclear. To address this question, we measured patterns of EEG response to intact and scrambled images in the human brain. Our rationale for using scrambled images is that they have many of the visual properties found in intact images, but do not convey any semantic information. Images from different object categories (bottle, face, house) were briefly presented (400 ms) in an event-related design. A multivariate pattern analysis revealed categorical patterns of response to intact images emerged ∼80-100 ms after stimulus onset and were still evident when the stimulus was no longer present (∼800 ms). Next, we measured the patterns of response to scrambled images. Categorical patterns of response to scrambled images also emerged ∼80-100 ms after stimulus onset. However, in contrast to the intact images, distinct patterns of response to scrambled images were mostly evident while the stimulus was present (∼400 ms). Moreover, scrambled images were able to account only for all the variance in the intact images at early stages of processing. This direct manipulation of visual and semantic content provides new insights into the temporal dynamics of object perception and the extent to which different stages of processing are dependent on lower-level or higher-level properties of the image.

Visual search for object categories is predicted by the representational architecture of high-level visual cortex

PubMed Central

Alvarez, George A.; Nakayama, Ken; Konkle, Talia

2016-01-01

Visual search is a ubiquitous visual behavior, and efficient search is essential for survival. Different cognitive models have explained the speed and accuracy of search based either on the dynamics of attention or on similarity of item representations. Here, we examined the extent to which performance on a visual search task can be predicted from the stable representational architecture of the visual system, independent of attentional dynamics. Participants performed a visual search task with 28 conditions reflecting different pairs of categories (e.g., searching for a face among cars, body among hammers, etc.). The time it took participants to find the target item varied as a function of category combination. In a separate group of participants, we measured the neural responses to these object categories when items were presented in isolation. Using representational similarity analysis, we then examined whether the similarity of neural responses across different subdivisions of the visual system had the requisite structure needed to predict visual search performance. Overall, we found strong brain/behavior correlations across most of the higher-level visual system, including both the ventral and dorsal pathways when considering both macroscale sectors as well as smaller mesoscale regions. These results suggest that visual search for real-world object categories is well predicted by the stable, task-independent architecture of the visual system. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Here, we ask which neural regions have neural response patterns that correlate with behavioral performance in a visual processing task. We found that the representational structure across all of high-level visual cortex has the requisite structure to predict behavior. Furthermore, when directly comparing different neural regions, we found that they all had highly similar category-level representational structures. These results point to a ubiquitous and uniform representational structure in high-level visual cortex underlying visual object processing. PMID:27832600

Modelling Mathematics Problem Solving Item Responses Using a Multidimensional IRT Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Margaret; Adams, Raymond

2006-01-01

This research examined students' responses to mathematics problem-solving tasks and applied a general multidimensional IRT model at the response category level. In doing so, cognitive processes were identified and modelled through item response modelling to extract more information than would be provided using conventional practices in scoring…

Allodynia Is Associated With Initial and Sustained Response to Acute Migraine Treatment: Results from the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study.

PubMed

Lipton, Richard B; Munjal, Sagar; Buse, Dawn C; Bennett, Alix; Fanning, Kristina M; Burstein, Rami; Reed, Michael L

2017-07-01

In a population sample of persons with migraine treating with a single category of acute migraine medication, to identify rates and factors associated with acute treatment outcomes, including 2-hour pain freedom (2hPF), 24-hour pain response (24hPR), and 24-hour sustained pain response (24hSPR). Key predictors include acute treatment type (triptans and other medication categories), the influence of allodynia on response to medication, and the interaction between medication category and presence of allodynia in response to treatment among people with migraine. Cutaneous allodynia was previously associated with inadequate 2hPF, 24hPR, and 24hSPR (sustained response at 24 hours among those with adequate 2hPF) among people with migraine in the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention (AMPP) Study. The AMPP Study obtained data from a representative US sample of persons with migraine by mailed questionnaire. The 2006 survey included 8233 people with migraine aged 18 or over who completed the Migraine Treatment Optimization Questionnaire (mTOQ). mTOQ was used to assess acute treatment outcomes including 2hPF, 24hPR, and 24hSPR. Eligible individuals used only a single category of acute prescription migraine treatments (n  =  5236, 63.6%). This sample was stratified into 5 categories of type of acute prescription headache medication used (triptans, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, barbiturate-combinations, opioids, and opioid combinations and ergot alkaloids). Separate binary logistic regression models evaluated: (1) triptans vs other medication types; (2) presence of allodynia vs no allodynia; and (3) the interaction of medication category with allodynia. Sociodemographic variables, health insurance status, over-the-counter and preventive medication use were included as covariates. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were generated for each acute treatment outcome. Among eligible participants, the mean age was 46 years, and 82.5% were women. The triptan use group had better outcomes than other medication groups for 2hPF (OR range: 2.00-2.63, all significant except ergot alkaloids) and 24hPR (OR range: 2.10-6.22, all significant). No significant medication effects were found for the 24hSPR outcome. The presence of allodynia was associated with significantly worse outcomes for both 2hPF (OR range: 1.42-1.55, all significant) and 24hPR (OR range: 1.30-1.32, all significant, except for ergot alkaloids, P  =  .051). Allodynia effects were not significant for the 24hSPR. The interaction between medication and allodynia was also not significant (OR range for 2hPF: .68-2.02; OR range for 2hPR: .35-1.34; OR range for 24hSPR: 1.21-2.72) in any of the models, suggesting allodynia is an important predictor of treatment response regardless of the medication group prescribed. The use of triptan medication was associated with significantly better 2hPF (except vs ergot alkaloids) and significantly better 24hPR outcomes compared with other acute medication categories. The presence of allodynia significantly increased the likelihood of an inadequate treatment response for both of these outcomes. Triptan use was generally associated with the best outcomes. Because allodynia was associated with inadequate outcomes for all medication groups, we suggest that allodynia is an area of unmet treatment need. © 2017 American Headache Society.

Canada's international response to HIV during times of global transition: a qualitative inquiry.

PubMed

Nixon, Stephanie

2011-04-01

Canada's international response to HIV may be under threat given CIDA's new aid priorities that appear to exclude health. Drivers of this recent priority shift have been the influence of global aid trends among public sector donors and changes within the global HIV milieu itself. However, this is not the first time Canada has shifted in response to these two global trends. The era from 2000-2004 also witnessed dramatic changes in both the HIV field and in global thinking around international aid. As such, this article presents an evaluation of the Government of Canada's international response to HIV during the first era of transition (2000-2004) in order to derive lessons for decision-making around HIV in the current climate of change. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 key informants with expertise regarding Canada's international response to HIV over time. Analysis involved multiple readings of transcripts to identify descriptive codes and establish intimacy with the data. Descriptive codes were then collapsed into thematic categories using a process of inductive reasoning. Canada's international response to HIV was perceived to be exemplary at times (e.g. seminal funding to WHO's "3-by-5" strategy), but also inconsistent (e.g., underutilized technical assistance capacity) and non-strategic (e.g., contradiction between investing in training health providers while poaching professionals to bolster Canada's workforce). Lessons from the 2000-2004 era of transition focus on strategic investments, the inextricable connection between HIV and development and strategy coherence. These results highlight that it is more constructive to ensure that Canadian development responses in all areas engage with both the upstream drivers of HIV as well as the impacts of the epidemic itself in order to achieve the greatest results from international investment and the most effective contributions to the lives of the people that these endeavours seek to support.

A Model of Consumer Response to Over-the-Counter Drug Advertising: Antecedents and Influencing Factors.

PubMed

Huh, Jisu; Delorme, Denise E; Reid, Leonard N

2016-01-01

Given the importance of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in the health care marketplace and lack of systematic research on OTC drug advertising (OTCA) effects, this study tested a theory-based, product category-specific OTCA effects model. Structural equation modeling analysis of data for 1 OTC drug category, analgesics, supported the proposed model, explaining the OTCA effect process from key consumer antecedents to ad involvement, from ad involvement to ad attention, from ad attention to cognitive responses, then to affective/evaluative responses, leading to the final behavioral outcome. Several noteworthy patterns also emerged: (a) Product involvement was directly linked to ad attention, rather than exerting an indirect influence through ad involvement; (b) ad attention was significantly related to both cognitive and affective/evaluative responses to different degrees, with stronger links to cognitive responses; and (c) ad-prompted actions were influenced by both ad trust and ad attitude.

The role of semantic complexity in treatment of naming deficits: training semantic categories in fluent aphasia by controlling exemplar typicality.

PubMed

Kiran, Swathi; Thompson, Cynthia K

2003-06-01

The effect of typicality of category exemplars on naming was investigated using a single subject experimental design across participants and behaviors in 4 patients with fluent aphasia. Participants received a semantic feature treatment to improve naming of either typical or atypical items within semantic categories, while generalization was tested to untrained items of the category. The order of typicality and category trained was counterbalanced across participants. Results indicated that patients trained on naming of atypical exemplars demonstrated generalization to naming of intermediate and typical items. However, patients trained on typical items demonstrated no generalized naming effect to intermediate or atypical examples. Furthermore, analysis of errors indicated an evolution of errors throughout training, from those with no apparent relationship to the target to primarily semantic and phonemic paraphasias. Performance on standardized language tests also showed changes as a function of treatment. Theoretical and clinical implications regarding the impact of considering semantic complexity on rehabilitation of naming deficits in aphasia are discussed.

The role of semantic complexity in treatment of naming deficits: training semantic categories in fluent aphasia by controlling exemplar typicality.

PubMed

Kiran, Swathi; Thompson, Cynthia K

2003-08-01

The effect of typicality of category exemplars on naming was investigated using a single subject experimental design across participants and behaviors in 4 patients with fluent aphasia. Participants received a semantic feature treatment to improve naming of either typical or atypical items within semantic categories, while generalization was tested to untrained items of the category. The order of typicality and category trained was counterbalanced across participants. Results indicated that patients trained on naming of atypical exemplars demonstrated generalization to naming of intermediate and typical items. However, patients trained on typical items demonstrated no generalized naming effect to intermediate or atypical examples. Furthermore, analysis of errors indicated an evolution of errors throughout training, from those with no apparent relationship to the target to primarily semantic and phonemic paraphasias. Performance on standardized language tests also showed changes as a function of treatment. Theoretical and clinical implications regarding the impact of considering semantic complexity on rehabilitation of naming deficits in aphasia are discussed.

Reasons for withdrawing belief in vivid autobiographical memories.

PubMed

Scoboria, Alan; Boucher, Chantal; Mazzoni, Giuliana

2015-01-01

Previous studies have shown that many people hold personal memories for events that they no longer believe occurred. This study examines the reasons that people provide for choosing to reduce autobiographical belief in vividly recollected autobiographical memories. A body of non-believed memories provided by 374 individuals was reviewed to develop a qualitatively derived categorisation system. The final scheme consisted of 8 major categories (in descending order of mention): social feedback, event plausibility, alternative attributions, general memory beliefs, internal event features, consistency with external evidence, views of self/others, personal motivation and numerous sub-categories. Independent raters coded the reports and judged the primary reason that each person provided for withdrawing belief. The nature of each category, frequency of category endorsement, category overlap and phenomenological ratings are presented, following which links to related literature and implications are discussed. This study documents that a wide variety of recollective and non-recollective sources of information influence decision-making about the occurrence of autobiographical events.

Building online learning communities in a graduate dental hygiene program.

PubMed

Rogo, Ellen J; Portillo, Karen M

2014-08-01

The literature abounds with research related to building online communities in a single course; however, limited evidence is available on this phenomenon from a program perspective. The intent of this qualitative case study inquiry was to explore student experiences in a graduate dental hygiene program contributing or impeding the development and sustainability of online learning communities. Approval from the IRB was received. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants from a stratification of students and graduates. A total of 17 participants completed semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was completed through 2 rounds - 1 for coding responses and 1 to construct categories of experiences. The participants' collective definition of an online learning community was a complex synergistic network of interconnected people who create positive energy. The findings indicated the development of this network began during the program orientation and was beneficial for building a foundation for the community. Students felt socially connected and supported by the network. Course design was another important category for participation in weekly discussions and group activities. Instructors were viewed as active participants in the community, offering helpful feedback and being a facilitator in discussions. Experiences impeding the development of online learning communities related to the poor performance of peers and instructors. Specific categories of experiences supported and impeded the development of online learning communities related to the program itself, course design, students and faculty. These factors are important to consider in order to maximize student learning potential in this environment. Copyright © 2014 The American Dental Hygienists’ Association.

Search for Patterns of Functional Specificity in the Brain: A Nonparametric Hierarchical Bayesian Model for Group fMRI Data

PubMed Central

Sridharan, Ramesh; Vul, Edward; Hsieh, Po-Jang; Kanwisher, Nancy; Golland, Polina

2012-01-01

Functional MRI studies have uncovered a number of brain areas that demonstrate highly specific functional patterns. In the case of visual object recognition, small, focal regions have been characterized with selectivity for visual categories such as human faces. In this paper, we develop an algorithm that automatically learns patterns of functional specificity from fMRI data in a group of subjects. The method does not require spatial alignment of functional images from different subjects. The algorithm is based on a generative model that comprises two main layers. At the lower level, we express the functional brain response to each stimulus as a binary activation variable. At the next level, we define a prior over sets of activation variables in all subjects. We use a Hierarchical Dirichlet Process as the prior in order to learn the patterns of functional specificity shared across the group, which we call functional systems, and estimate the number of these systems. Inference based on our model enables automatic discovery and characterization of dominant and consistent functional systems. We apply the method to data from a visual fMRI study comprised of 69 distinct stimulus images. The discovered system activation profiles correspond to selectivity for a number of image categories such as faces, bodies, and scenes. Among systems found by our method, we identify new areas that are deactivated by face stimuli. In empirical comparisons with perviously proposed exploratory methods, our results appear superior in capturing the structure in the space of visual categories of stimuli. PMID:21884803

Prior probability modulates anticipatory activity in category-specific areas.

PubMed

Trapp, Sabrina; Lepsien, Jöran; Kotz, Sonja A; Bar, Moshe

2016-02-01

Bayesian models are currently a dominant framework for describing human information processing. However, it is not clear yet how major tenets of this framework can be translated to brain processes. In this study, we addressed the neural underpinning of prior probability and its effect on anticipatory activity in category-specific areas. Before fMRI scanning, participants were trained in two behavioral sessions to learn the prior probability and correct order of visual events within a sequence. The events of each sequence included two different presentations of a geometric shape and one picture of either a house or a face, which appeared with either a high or a low likelihood. Each sequence was preceded by a cue that gave participants probabilistic information about which items to expect next. This allowed examining cue-related anticipatory modulation of activity as a function of prior probability in category-specific areas (fusiform face area and parahippocampal place area). Our findings show that activity in the fusiform face area was higher when faces had a higher prior probability. The finding of a difference between levels of expectations is consistent with graded, probabilistically modulated activity, but the data do not rule out the alternative explanation of a categorical neural response. Importantly, these differences were only visible during anticipation, and vanished at the time of stimulus presentation, calling for a functional distinction when considering the effects of prior probability. Finally, there were no anticipatory effects for houses in the parahippocampal place area, suggesting sensitivity to stimulus material when looking at effects of prediction.

An Isotonic Partial Credit Model for Ordering Subjects on the Basis of Their Sum Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ligtvoet, Rudy

2012-01-01

In practice, the sum of the item scores is often used as a basis for comparing subjects. For items that have more than two ordered score categories, only the partial credit model (PCM) and special cases of this model imply that the subjects are stochastically ordered on the common latent variable. However, the PCM is very restrictive with respect…

Latino Immigrants and the U.S. Racial Order: How and where Do They Fit In?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frank, Reanne; Redstone Akresh, Ilana; Bo Lu,

2010-01-01

How do Latino immigrants in the United States understand existing racial categories? And how does the existing U.S. racial order influence this understanding? Using data from the New Immigrant Survey (NIS), our analysis points to changes in how the U.S. racial order might operate in the future. We find that most Latino immigrants recognize the…

Measurement of habituation to noise using the method of continuous judgment by category

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Namba, S.; Kuwano, S.

1988-12-01

Using "the method of continuous judgment by category", we examined the noisiness of sounds from public loudspeakers, and habituation to them. Subjects judged the noisiness of the sound at any moment of their choice by touching one of seven numbered keys on a computer keyboard, each corresponding to a noisiness category. At the same time, the subjects were required to complete a task as carefully and rapidly as possible. The duration of "no response" to sounds was an index of habituation. Both personality factors and physical factors were analyzed. It was found that the duration of "no response" is a good index to habituation to noise, and that there were wide differences in the "no response" time of different subjects. The reactions of individual subjects in sessions 1 and 2 and the questionnaire survey were, however, consistent. This suggests that there is a group that is relatively sensitive to noise and a group that is less sensitive to noise. It was also found that subjects had difficulty in becoming accustomed to intense noise.

Kinematics and dynamics of robotic systems with multiple closed loops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chang-De

The kinematics and dynamics of robotic systems with multiple closed loops, such as Stewart platforms, walking machines, and hybrid manipulators, are studied. In the study of kinematics, focus is on the closed-form solutions of the forward position analysis of different parallel systems. A closed-form solution means that the solution is expressed as a polynomial in one variable. If the order of the polynomial is less than or equal to four, the solution has analytical closed-form. First, the conditions of obtaining analytical closed-form solutions are studied. For a Stewart platform, the condition is found to be that one rotational degree of freedom of the output link is decoupled from the other five. Based on this condition, a class of Stewart platforms which has analytical closed-form solution is formulated. Conditions of analytical closed-form solution for other parallel systems are also studied. Closed-form solutions of forward kinematics for walking machines and multi-fingered grippers are then studied. For a parallel system with three three-degree-of-freedom subchains, there are 84 possible ways to select six independent joints among nine joints. These 84 ways can be classified into three categories: Category 3:3:0, Category 3:2:1, and Category 2:2:2. It is shown that the first category has no solutions; the solutions of the second category have analytical closed-form; and the solutions of the last category are higher order polynomials. The study is then extended to a nearly general Stewart platform. The solution is a 20th order polynomial and the Stewart platform has a maximum of 40 possible configurations. Also, the study is extended to a new class of hybrid manipulators which consists of two serially connected parallel mechanisms. In the study of dynamics, a computationally efficient method for inverse dynamics of manipulators based on the virtual work principle is developed. Although this method is comparable with the recursive Newton-Euler method for serial manipulators, its advantage is more noteworthy when applied to parallel systems. An approach of inverse dynamics of a walking machine is also developed, which includes inverse dynamic modeling, foot force distribution, and joint force/torque allocation.

A Neural Mechanism of Social Categorization.

PubMed

Stolier, Ryan M; Freeman, Jonathan B

2017-06-07

Humans readily sort one another into multiple social categories from mere facial features. However, the facial features used to do so are not always clear-cut because they can be associated with opponent categories (e.g., feminine male face). Recently, computational models and behavioral studies have provided indirect evidence that categorizing such faces is accomplished through dynamic competition between parallel, coactivated social categories that resolve into a stable categorical percept. Using a novel paradigm combining fMRI with real-time hand tracking, the present study examined how the brain translates diverse social cues into categorical percepts. Participants (male and female) categorized faces varying in gender and racial typicality. When categorizing atypical faces, participants' hand movements were simultaneously attracted toward the unselected category response, indexing the degree to which such faces activated the opposite category in parallel. Multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPAs) provided evidence that such social category coactivation manifested in neural patterns of the right fusiform cortex. The extent to which the hand was simultaneously attracted to the opposite gender or race category response option corresponded to increased neural pattern similarity with the average pattern associated with that category, which in turn associated with stronger engagement of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The findings point to a model of social categorization in which occasionally conflicting facial features are resolved through competition between coactivated ventral-temporal cortical representations with the assistance of conflict-monitoring regions. More broadly, the results offer a promising multimodal paradigm to investigate the neural basis of "hidden", temporarily active representations in the service of a broad range of cognitive processes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Individuals readily sort one another into social categories (e.g., sex, race), which have important consequences for a variety of interpersonal behaviors. However, individuals routinely encounter faces that contain diverse features associated with multiple categories (e.g., feminine male face). Using a novel paradigm combining neuroimaging with hand tracking, the present research sought to address how the brain comes to arrive at stable social categorizations from multiple social cues. The results provide evidence that opponent social categories coactivate in face-processing regions, which compete and may resolve into an eventual stable categorization with the assistance of conflict-monitoring regions. Therefore, the findings provide a neural mechanism through which the brain may translate inherently diverse social cues into coherent categorizations of other people. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/375711-11$15.00/0.

Outcomes of organ donation in brain-dead patient's families: Ethical perspective.

PubMed

Ahmadian, Shamsi; Rahimi, Abolfazl; Khaleghi, Ebrahim

2017-01-01

The families of brain-dead patients have a significant role in the process of decision making for organ donation. Organ donation is a traumatic experience. The ethical responsibility of healthcare systems respecting organ donation is far beyond the phase of decision making for donation. The principles of donation-related ethics require healthcare providers and organ procurement organizations to respect donor families and protect them against any probable harm. Given the difficult and traumatic nature of donation-related experience, understanding the outcomes of donation appears crucial. The aim of this study was to explore the outcomes of organ donation for the families of brain-dead patients. This was a qualitative descriptive study to which a purposeful sample of 19 donor family members were recruited. Data were collected through holding in-depth semi-structured interviews with the participants. Data analysis was performed by following the qualitative content analysis approach developed by Elo and Kyngäs. The main category of the data was "Decision to organ donation: a challenge from conflict to transcendence." This main category consisted of 10 subcategories and 3 general categories. The general categories were "challenging outcomes," "reassuring outcomes," and "transcending outcomes." Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the regional ethical review board. The ethical principles of informed consent, confidentiality, and non-identification were used. Donor families experience different challenges which range from conflict and doubtfulness to confidence, satisfaction, and transcendence. Healthcare providers and organ procurers should not discontinue care and support provision to donor families after obtaining their consent to donate because the post-decision phase is also associated with different complexities and difficulties with which donor families may not be able to cope effectively. In order to help donor families achieve positive outcomes from the tragedy of significant loss, healthcare professionals need to facilitate the process of achieving confidence and transcendence by them.

Off the top of my head: Malleability and stability in natural categories.

PubMed

Palma, Tomás A; Santos, Ana Sofia; Garcia-Marques, Leonel

2018-04-01

Previous research has found that category representations are highly malleable knowledge structures, varying widely across different contexts and individuals. However, it has also been found that such malleability does not apply equally to all types of category information. The present research further investigates the representational malleability versus stability of natural taxonomic categories. Using perceptual fluency as means to induce malleability, we explored whether malleability is moderated by the degree of typicality of category information. In the first experiment, we found that fluency-based malleability only occurs for non-typical category information. In follow-up experiments, we investigated the boundary conditions under which such fluency-based malleability occurs. Namely, in Experiment 2, we showed that the effect of fluency on non-typical features disappeared when there is a sensory modality mismatch between study and test phases. Finally, in Experiment 3, we demonstrated that this effect reappears in the modality mismatch condition when participants are given a response deadline. The implications of these findings to current theories of category representation and the perceptual fluency literature are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

De novo assembly and characterization of the transcriptome of the parasitic weed dodder identifies genes associated with plant parasitism.

PubMed

Ranjan, Aashish; Ichihashi, Yasunori; Farhi, Moran; Zumstein, Kristina; Townsley, Brad; David-Schwartz, Rakefet; Sinha, Neelima R

2014-11-01

Parasitic flowering plants are one of the most destructive agricultural pests and have major impact on crop yields throughout the world. Being dependent on finding a host plant for growth, parasitic plants penetrate their host using specialized organs called haustoria. Haustoria establish vascular connections with the host, which enable the parasite to steal nutrients and water. The underlying molecular and developmental basis of parasitism by plants is largely unknown. In order to investigate the process of parasitism, RNAs from different stages (i.e. seed, seedling, vegetative strand, prehaustoria, haustoria, and flower) were used to de novo assemble and annotate the transcriptome of the obligate plant stem parasite dodder (Cuscuta pentagona). The assembled transcriptome was used to dissect transcriptional dynamics during dodder development and parasitism and identified key gene categories involved in the process of plant parasitism. Host plant infection is accompanied by increased expression of parasite genes underlying transport and transporter categories, response to stress and stimuli, as well as genes encoding enzymes involved in cell wall modifications. By contrast, expression of photosynthetic genes is decreased in the dodder infective stages compared with normal stem. In addition, genes relating to biosynthesis, transport, and response of phytohormones, such as auxin, gibberellins, and strigolactone, were differentially expressed in the dodder infective stages compared with stems and seedlings. This analysis sheds light on the transcriptional changes that accompany plant parasitism and will aid in identifying potential gene targets for use in controlling the infestation of crops by parasitic weeds. © 2014 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

De Novo Assembly and Characterization of the Transcriptome of the Parasitic Weed Dodder Identifies Genes Associated with Plant Parasitism1[C][W][OPEN

PubMed Central

Ranjan, Aashish; Ichihashi, Yasunori; Farhi, Moran; Zumstein, Kristina; Townsley, Brad; David-Schwartz, Rakefet; Sinha, Neelima R.

2014-01-01

Parasitic flowering plants are one of the most destructive agricultural pests and have major impact on crop yields throughout the world. Being dependent on finding a host plant for growth, parasitic plants penetrate their host using specialized organs called haustoria. Haustoria establish vascular connections with the host, which enable the parasite to steal nutrients and water. The underlying molecular and developmental basis of parasitism by plants is largely unknown. In order to investigate the process of parasitism, RNAs from different stages (i.e. seed, seedling, vegetative strand, prehaustoria, haustoria, and flower) were used to de novo assemble and annotate the transcriptome of the obligate plant stem parasite dodder (Cuscuta pentagona). The assembled transcriptome was used to dissect transcriptional dynamics during dodder development and parasitism and identified key gene categories involved in the process of plant parasitism. Host plant infection is accompanied by increased expression of parasite genes underlying transport and transporter categories, response to stress and stimuli, as well as genes encoding enzymes involved in cell wall modifications. By contrast, expression of photosynthetic genes is decreased in the dodder infective stages compared with normal stem. In addition, genes relating to biosynthesis, transport, and response of phytohormones, such as auxin, gibberellins, and strigolactone, were differentially expressed in the dodder infective stages compared with stems and seedlings. This analysis sheds light on the transcriptional changes that accompany plant parasitism and will aid in identifying potential gene targets for use in controlling the infestation of crops by parasitic weeds. PMID:24399359

The construct validity of the Major Depression Inventory: A Rasch analysis of a self-rating scale in primary care.

PubMed

Nielsen, Marie Germund; Ørnbøl, Eva; Vestergaard, Mogens; Bech, Per; Christensen, Kaj Sparle

2017-06-01

We aimed to assess the measurement properties of the ten-item Major Depression Inventory when used on clinical suspicion in general practice by performing a Rasch analysis. General practitioners asked consecutive persons to respond to the web-based Major Depression Inventory on clinical suspicion of depression. We included 22 practices and 245 persons. Rasch analysis was performed using RUMM2030 software. The Rasch model fit suggests that all items contribute to a single underlying trait (defined as internal construct validity). Mokken analysis was used to test dimensionality and scalability. Our Rasch analysis showed misfit concerning the sleep and appetite items (items 9 and 10). The response categories were disordered for eight items. After modifying the original six-point to a four-point scoring system for all items, we achieved ordered response categories for all ten items. The person separation reliability was acceptable (0.82) for the initial model. Dimensionality testing did not support combining the ten items to create a total score. The scale appeared to be well targeted to this clinical sample. No significant differential item functioning was observed for gender, age, work status and education. The Rasch and Mokken analyses revealed two dimensions, but the Major Depression Inventory showed fit to one scale if items 9 and 10 were excluded. Our study indicated scalability problems in the current version of the Major Depression Inventory. The conducted analysis revealed better statistical fit when items 9 and 10 were excluded. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On Anthologies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Nick

1983-01-01

Discusses the form and function of anthologies by distinguishing three "orders" of anthology, together with a fourth, or preliminary category, within a broadly simplified model of the anthological process. (HOD)

How 7-Month-Olds Interpret Ambiguous Motion Events: Category-Based Reasoning in Infancy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pauen, Sabina; Trauble, Birgit

2009-01-01

This paper investigates the role of static and dynamic attributes for the animate-inanimate distinction in category-based reasoning of 7-month-olds. Three experiments tested infants' responses to movement events involving an unfamiliar animal and a ball. When either the animal or the ball showed self-initiated irregular movements (Experiment 1),…

Incentives and Barriers to OER Adoption: A Qualitative Analysis of Faculty Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belikov, Olga Maria; Bodily, Robert

2016-01-01

In this paper, 218 U.S. faculty responses regarding Open Educational Resources (OER) were qualitatively analyzed. Ten categories emerged in the coding process. The top three categories that indicated barriers to the adoption of OER were "need more information" (faculty wanted more information before they would be willing to adopt OER),…

Comparison of outcomes of two skills-teaching methods on lay-rescuers' acquisition of infant basic life support skills.

PubMed

Shavit, Itai; Peled, Shuny; Steiner, Ivan P; Harley, Dwight D; Ross, Shelley; Tal-Or, Eran; Lemire, April

2010-09-01

The objective was to determine if lay-rescuers' acquisition of infant basic life support (BLS) skills would be better when skills teaching consisted of videotaping practice and providing feedback on performances, compared to conventional skills-teaching and feedback methods.   This pilot-exploratory, single-blind, prospective, controlled, randomized study was conducted on November 12, 2007, at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. The population under study consisted of all first-year medical students enrolled in the 2007-2008 year. BLS training is part of their mandatory introductory course in emergency medicine. Twenty-three students with previous BLS training were excluded. The remaining 71 were randomized into four and then two groups, with final allocation to an intervention and control group of 18 and 16 students, respectively. All the students participated in infant BLS classroom teaching. Those in the intervention group practiced skills acquisition independently, and four were videotaped while practicing. Tapes were reviewed by the group and feedback was provided. Controls practiced using conventional teaching and feedback methods. After 3 hours, all subjects were videotaped performing an unassisted, lone-rescuer, infant BLS resuscitation scenario. A skills assessment tool was developed. It consisted of 25 checklist items, grouped into four sections: 6 points for "categories" (with specific actions in six categories), 14 points for "scoring" (of accuracy of performance of each action), 4 points for "sequence" (of actions within a category), and 1 point for "order" of resuscitation (complete and well-sequenced categories). Two blinded expert raters were given a workshop on the use of the scoring tool. They further refined it to increase scoring consistency. The main outcome of the study was defined as evidence of better skills acquisition in overall skills in the four sections and in the specific skills sets for actions in any individual category. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics. Means and mean percentages were greater in the intervention group in all four sections compared to controls: categories (5.72 [95.33%] and 4.69 [92.66%]), scoring (10.57 [75.50%] and 7.41 [43.59%]), sequence (2.28 [57.00%] and 1.66 [41.50%]), and order of resuscitation (0.96 [96.00%] and 0.19 [19.00%]). The means and mean percentages of the actions (skill sets) in the intervention group were also larger than those of controls in five out of six categories: assessing responsiveness (1.69 [84.50%] and 1.13 [56.50%]), breathing technique (1.69 [93.00%] and 1.13 [47.20%]), chest compression technique (3.19 [77.50%] and 1.84 [46.00%]), activating emergency medical services (EMS) (3.00 [100.00%] and 2.81 [84.50%]), and resuming cardiopulmonary resuscitation (0.97 [97.00%] and 0.47 [47.00%]). These results demonstrate better performance in the intervention group. The use of videotaped practice and feedback for the acquisition of overall infant BLS skills and of specific skill sets is effective. Observation and participation in the feedback and assessment of nonexperts attempting infant BLS skills appeared to improve the ability of this group of students to perform the task. 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Ataques de nervios in the Puerto Rican Diagnostic Interview Schedule: the impact of cultural categories on psychiatric epidemiology.

PubMed

Guarnaccia, P J; Rubio-Stipec, M; Canino, G

1989-09-01

This paper examines the effect of the cultural category ataques de nervios on responses to the Puerto Rican Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), a Spanish version of structured psychiatric diagnostic interview developed for the NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area study. An ataque de nervios scale was created from the Somatization items of the DIS to explore the effect of this culturally meaningful category of distress on responses to a standard psychiatric interview. Analysis of 1,513 cases from a representative sample of the island of Puerto Rico indicated that people reporting ataque symptoms fit the social characteristics described for ataques sufferers in the ethnographic literature. Qualitative data indicated that Puerto Ricans were reporting ataques de nervios in the panic section of the DIS. Questions are raised about the validity of the somatization and panic sections of the DIS in cross-cultural research with Hispanics.

Application of Multiple Categories of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (uas) in Different Airspaces for Bushfire Monitoring and Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Homainejad, N.; Rizos, C.

2015-08-01

Demand and interest in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for civilian applications, and advances in technology such as development of sense-and-avoid systems, will soon allow UAS to be flown alongside manned aircrafts in non-segregated airspace. An area that can benefit from the application of UAS is the bushfire services sector. Currently such services rely on watchtowers, fixed-wing manned aircrafts and satellite data for reliable information. UAS are a promising alternative to traditional methods of collecting bushfire data. There are several varieties of UAS and each category has certain limitations, hence a combination of multiple UAS with features appropriate for bushfire emergencies can be used simultaneously for collecting valuable data. This paper will describe the general UAS categories, some characteristics of Australian bushfires, and speculate on how a combination of several UAS operating in different airspaces can be of benefit for bushfire response personnel and firefighters.

The historical development and basis of human factors guidelines for automated systems in aeronautical operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ciciora, J. A.; Leonard, S. D.; Johnson, N.; Amell, J.

1984-01-01

In order to derive general design guidelines for automated systems a study was conducted on the utilization and acceptance of existing automated systems as currently employed in several commercial fields. Four principal study area were investigated by means of structured interviews, and in some cases questionnaires. The study areas were aviation, a both scheduled airline and general commercial aviation; process control and factory applications; office automation; and automation in the power industry. The results of over eighty structured interviews were analyzed and responses categoried as various human factors issues for use by both designers and users of automated equipment. These guidelines address such items as general physical features of automated equipment; personnel orientation, acceptance, and training; and both personnel and system reliability.

Rasch analysis of the Trypophobia Questionnaire.

PubMed

Imaizumi, Shu; Tanno, Yoshihiko

2018-02-14

This study aimed to assess Rasch-based psychometric properties of the Trypophobia Questionnaire measuring proneness to trypophobia, which refers to disgust and unpleasantness induced by the observation of clusters of objects (e.g., lotus seed pods). Rasch analysis was performed on data from 582 healthy Japanese adults. The results suggested that Trypophobia Questionnaire has a unidimensional structure with ordered response categories and sufficient person and item reliabilities, and that it does not have differential item functioning across sexes and age groups, whereas the targeting of the scale leaves room for improvements. When items that did not fit the Rasch model were removed, the shortened version showed slightly improved psychometric properties. However, results were not conclusive in determining whether the full or shortened version is better for practical use. Further assessment and validation are needed.

LGBTQs and the DSM-5: a critical queer response.

PubMed

Daley, Andrea; Mulé, Nick J

2014-01-01

This article outlines a community-based collaboration in Toronto, Canada that led to an official response to the APA's call for comments and suggestions regarding diagnostic criteria revisions for the DSM-5 with a focus on disorders that have or may have an impact on the lives of LGBTQ people. We identified two diagnostic categories: gender dysphoria and paraphilias. The diagnostic categories and their respective disorders are deconstructed utilizing a critical queer analysis with recommendations for change. In addition, we explore the limitations of the APA review process itself and politics within the APA and the LGBTQ communities.

Brain responses to filled gaps.

PubMed

Hestvik, Arild; Maxfield, Nathan; Schwartz, Richard G; Shafer, Valerie

2007-03-01

An unresolved issue in the study of sentence comprehension is whether the process of gap-filling is mediated by the construction of empty categories (traces), or whether the parser relates fillers directly to the associated verb's argument structure. We conducted an event-related potentials (ERP) study that used the violation paradigm to examine the time course and spatial distribution of brain responses to ungrammatically filled gaps. The results indicate that the earliest brain response to the violation is an early left anterior negativity (eLAN). This ERP indexes an early phase of pure syntactic structure building, temporally preceding ERPs that reflect semantic integration and argument structure satisfaction. The finding is interpreted as evidence that gap-filling is mediated by structurally predicted empty categories, rather than directly by argument structure operations.

Client Resistance in Counseling: Its Theoretical Rationale and Taxonomic Classification.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Otani, Akira

1989-01-01

Reviews 3 theoretical models of client resistance in counseling: anxiety control, noncompliance, and negative social influence. Describes 22 commonly observed client resistance behaviors in 4 separate categories: response quantity resistance, response content resistance, response style resistance, and logistic management resistance. (Author/ABL)

Development of ethical practices and social responsibility in dental education at the university of Chile: student and faculty perceptions.

PubMed

Alcota, M; Ruiz de Gauna, P; González, F E

2013-02-01

The authors argue that dental curricula in Latin America are noted for providing highly technical and individualistic training that may fail to address society's problems or instil in the dentist the idea that he/she has a social responsibility to contribute to his/her community. This study's main objectives were to determine whether the curriculum and the faculty teaching practices of the School of Dentistry at the University of Chile contribute to its students' commitment to ethical and social responsibility. This was a qualitative study that investigated the perceptions of sixteen subjects (eight students and eight faculty members). Data were collected in thorough deep interviews. The interview process model conceptualised and organised the information into sets of dimensions and categories. The dimensions studied were ethical commitment and social responsibility. The categories assessed within ethical commitment were honesty, tolerance, responsibility and respect. In the social responsibility dimension, the categories were solidarity, teamwork and concern for and communication with the patient. Analysis of the textual data was performed using a method of content analysis based upon constructed qualitative matrices. Our results show that students and scholars alike realise that ethical commitment and a sense of social responsibility are not promoted in the curriculum. They do, however, recognise the importance of these qualities in dental practitioners. These results indicate that the current curriculum and teaching practices used in our School of Dentistry need to be reviewed and that programmes promoting professionals' commitment to their role in society need to be implemented. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

You Have the Right If You Know It: A Rights and Responsibilities Handbook for Virginia Teenagers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Virginia State Dept. for Children, Richmond.

Two hundred and sixty questions and answers on the rights and responsibilities of Virginia youth are presented in this document. Questions and answers are presented in these 12 categories: transportation; juvenile justice; drugs; education; employment; financial responsibility; sexual conduct; health; parental responsibilities; family planning;…

Whole-Exome Sequencing of Metastatic Cancer and Biomarkers of Treatment Response.

PubMed

Beltran, Himisha; Eng, Kenneth; Mosquera, Juan Miguel; Sigaras, Alexandros; Romanel, Alessandro; Rennert, Hanna; Kossai, Myriam; Pauli, Chantal; Faltas, Bishoy; Fontugne, Jacqueline; Park, Kyung; Banfelder, Jason; Prandi, Davide; Madhukar, Neel; Zhang, Tuo; Padilla, Jessica; Greco, Noah; McNary, Terra J; Herrscher, Erick; Wilkes, David; MacDonald, Theresa Y; Xue, Hui; Vacic, Vladimir; Emde, Anne-Katrin; Oschwald, Dayna; Tan, Adrian Y; Chen, Zhengming; Collins, Colin; Gleave, Martin E; Wang, Yuzhuo; Chakravarty, Dimple; Schiffman, Marc; Kim, Robert; Campagne, Fabien; Robinson, Brian D; Nanus, David M; Tagawa, Scott T; Xiang, Jenny Z; Smogorzewska, Agata; Demichelis, Francesca; Rickman, David S; Sboner, Andrea; Elemento, Olivier; Rubin, Mark A

2015-07-01

Understanding molecular mechanisms of response and resistance to anticancer therapies requires prospective patient follow-up and clinical and functional validation of both common and low-frequency mutations. We describe a whole-exome sequencing (WES) precision medicine trial focused on patients with advanced cancer. To understand how WES data affect therapeutic decision making in patients with advanced cancer and to identify novel biomarkers of response. Patients with metastatic and treatment-resistant cancer were prospectively enrolled at a single academic center for paired metastatic tumor and normal tissue WES during a 19-month period (February 2013 through September 2014). A comprehensive computational pipeline was used to detect point mutations, indels, and copy number alterations. Mutations were categorized as category 1, 2, or 3 on the basis of actionability; clinical reports were generated and discussed in precision tumor board. Patients were observed for 7 to 25 months for correlation of molecular information with clinical response. Feasibility, use of WES for decision making, and identification of novel biomarkers. A total of 154 tumor-normal pairs from 97 patients with a range of metastatic cancers were sequenced, with a mean coverage of 95X and 16 somatic alterations detected per patient. In total, 16 mutations were category 1 (targeted therapy available), 98 were category 2 (biologically relevant), and 1474 were category 3 (unknown significance). Overall, WES provided informative results in 91 cases (94%), including alterations for which there is an approved drug, there are therapies in clinical or preclinical development, or they are considered drivers and potentially actionable (category 1-2); however, treatment was guided in only 5 patients (5%) on the basis of these recommendations because of access to clinical trials and/or off-label use of drugs. Among unexpected findings, a patient with prostate cancer with exceptional response to treatment was identified who harbored a somatic hemizygous deletion of the DNA repair gene FANCA and putative partial loss of function of the second allele through germline missense variant. Follow-up experiments established that loss of FANCA function was associated with platinum hypersensitivity both in vitro and in patient-derived xenografts, thus providing biologic rationale and functional evidence for his extreme clinical response. The majority of advanced, treatment-resistant tumors across tumor types harbor biologically informative alterations. The establishment of a clinical trial for WES of metastatic tumors with prospective follow-up of patients can help identify candidate predictive biomarkers of response.

When Middle Really Means "Top" or "Bottom": An Analysis of the 16PF5 Using Bock's Nominal Response Model.

PubMed

Murray, Aja Louise; Booth, Tom; Molenaar, Dylan

2016-01-01

When self-report items with a Likert-type scale include a middle response option (e.g., Unsure, Neither agree nor disagree, or ?), this middle option is assumed to measure a level of the trait intermediate between the high and low response categories. In this study, we tested this assumption in the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, Version 5 (16PF5) by fitting Bock's nominal response model in the U.S. and UK standardization samples of the 16PF5. We found that in many cases, the middle option was indicative of higher levels of the latent trait than the ostensibly highest response option. In certain other cases, it was indicative of lower levels of the latent trait than the ostensibly lowest response option. This undermines the use of a simple successive integer scoring scheme where responses in adjacent response categories are assigned scores of 0, 1, and 2. Recommendations for alternative scoring schemes are provided. Results also suggested that certain personality traits, especially neurotic traits, are associated with a tendency toward selecting the middle option.

Effect of shales on tidal response of water level to large earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y.; Wang, C. Y.; Fu, L. Y.

2017-12-01

Tidal response of water level in wells has been widely used to study properties of aquifers and, in particular, the response of groundwater to earthquakes. The affect of lithology on such response has not received deserved attention. Using data from selected wells in the intermediate and far fields of the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan and the 2011 Mw 9.1 Tohoku earthquakes, we examine how the presence of shales affects the tidal response of water level. Three categories of responses are recognized: horizontal flow, vertical flow and combined horizontal and vertical flow, with most wells with shales in the last category. We found that wells with shales are significantly influenced by fractures, leading semi-confined condition and vertical drainage, poorer well bore storage and decreased or unchanged co-seismic phase shifts. We also found a strong correlation between the shale content in the aquifer and the amplitude of tidal response, with higher shale content correlated with lower amplitude response, which we attribute to the compact structure (low porosity/low permeability) of shales.

NASA Patent Abstracts: A Continuing Bibliography. Supplement 54

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The NASA Patent Abstracts Bibliography is a semiannual NASA publication containing comprehensive abstracts of NASA owned inventions covered by U.S. patents and applications for patent. The citations included in the bibliography arrangement of citations were originally published in NASA's Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR) and cover STAR announcements made since May 1969. The citations published in this issue cover the period June 1998 through December 1998. This issue includes 10 major subject divisions separated into 76 specific categories and one general category/division. Each entry consists of a STAR citation accompanied by an abstract and, when appropriate, a key illustration taken from the patent or application for patent. Entries are arranged by subject category in ascending order.

Balancing intertwined responsibilities: A grounded theory study of teamwork in everyday intensive care unit practice.

PubMed

Bjurling-Sjöberg, Petronella; Wadensten, Barbro; Pöder, Ulrika; Jansson, Inger; Nordgren, Lena

2017-03-01

This study aimed to describe and explain teamwork and factors that influence team processes in everyday practice in an intensive care unit (ICU) from a staff perspective. The setting was a Swedish ICU. Data were collected from 38 ICU staff in focus groups with registered nurses, assistant nurses, and anaesthetists, and in one individual interview with a physiotherapist. Constant comparative analysis according to grounded theory was conducted, and to identify the relations between the emerged categories, the paradigm model was applied. The core category to emerge from the data was "balancing intertwined responsibilities." In addition, eleven categories that related to the core category emerged. These categories described and explained the phenomenon's contextual conditions, causal conditions, and intervening conditions, as well as the staff actions/interactions and the consequences that arose. The findings indicated that the type of teamwork fluctuated due to circumstantial factors. Based on the findings and on current literature, strategies that can optimise interprofessional teamwork are presented. The analysis generated a conceptual model, which aims to contribute to existing frameworks by adding new dimensions about perceptions of team processes within an ICU related to staff actions/interactions. This model may be utilised to enhance the understanding of existing contexts and processes when designing and implementing interventions to facilitate teamwork in the pursuit of improving healthcare quality and patient safety.

World Health Assembly agendas and trends of international health issues for the last 43 years: analysis of World Health Assembly agendas between 1970 and 2012.

PubMed

Kitamura, Tomomi; Obara, Hiromi; Takashima, Yoshihiro; Takahashi, Kenzo; Inaoka, Kimiko; Nagai, Mari; Endo, Hiroyoshi; Jimba, Masamine; Sugiura, Yasuo

2013-05-01

To analyse the trends and characteristics of international health issues through agenda items of the World Health Assembly (WHA) from 1970 to 2012. Agendas in Committees A/B of the WHA were classified as Administrative or Technical and Health Matters. Agenda items of Health Matters were sorted into five categories by the WHO reform in the 65th WHA. The agenda items in each category and sub-category were counted. There were 1647 agenda items including 423 Health Matters, which were sorted into five categories: communicable diseases (107, 25.3%), health systems (81, 19.1%), noncommunicable diseases (59, 13.9%), preparedness surveillance and response (58, 13.7%), and health through the life course (36, 8.5%). Among the sub-categories, HIV/AIDS, noncommunicable diseases in general, health for all, millennium development goals, influenza, and international health regulations, were discussed frequently and appeared associated with the public health milestones, but maternal and child health were discussed three times. The number of the agenda items differed for each Director-General's term of office. The WHA agendas cover a variety of items, but not always reflect international health issues in terms of disease burden. The Member States of WHO should take their responsive roles in proposing more balanced agenda items. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

SECOND-ORDER PROBLEMS IN STUDIES OF PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

WHITE, BURTON L.

RECENT RESEARCH FINDINGS ON THE PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG INFANTS WERE SURVEYED, AND THE NEED FOR SYNTHESIZING THESE NEW FINDINGS INTO WORKABLE CONCEPTS WAS SUGGESTED FOR THE FRUITFUL STUDY OF HIGHER ORDER CONSIDERATIONS IN THE FUTURE. A DISCUSSION WAS MADE ON THE DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES OF--(1) SUPERORDINATE CATEGORIES OF PERCEPTUAL FUNCTION,…

78 FR 31623 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca Inc.; Order Granting Approval of Proposed Rule Change...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-24

.... 1, NYSE Arca deleted an erroneous reference to ``Professional Customers'' in the proposal because the Exchange's rules do not include ``Professional Customer'' as a defined category. The Commission... agent for Customer orders have to notify the Exchange of a potential error from twenty minutes to thirty...

Context Effects in the Processing of Phonolexical Ambiguity in L2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chrabaszcz, Anna; Gor, Kira

2014-01-01

In order to comprehend speech, listeners have to combine low-level phonetic information about the incoming auditory signal with higher-order contextual information to make a lexical selection. This requires stable phonological categories and unambiguous representations of words in the mental lexicon. Unlike native speakers, second language (L2)…

Spatial interferometry in optical astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gezari, Daniel Y.; Roddier, Francois; Roddier, Claude

1990-01-01

A bibliographic guide is presented to publications of spatial interferometry techniques applied to optical astronomy. Listings appear in alphabetical order, by first author, as well as in specific subject categories listed in chronological order, including imaging theory and speckle interferometry, experimental techniques, and observational results of astronomical studies of stars, the Sun, and the solar system.

Uncertainty and Risk Assessment in the Design Process for Wind

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

Damiani, Rick R.

This report summarizes the concepts and opinions that emerged from an initial study on the subject of uncertainty in wind design that included expert elicitation during a workshop held at the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory July 12-13, 2016. In this paper, five major categories of uncertainties are identified. The first category is associated with direct impacts on turbine loads, (i.e., the inflow including extreme events, aero-hydro-servo-elastic response, soil-structure inter- action, and load extrapolation). The second category encompasses material behavior and strength. Site suitability and due-diligence aspects pertain to the third category. Calibration of partialmore » safety factors and optimal reliability levels make up the fourth one. And last but not least, is the category associated with uncertainties in computational modeling. The main sections of this paper follow this organization.« less

Using spoken words to guide open-ended category formation.

PubMed

Chauhan, Aneesh; Seabra Lopes, Luís

2011-11-01

Naming is a powerful cognitive tool that facilitates categorization by forming an association between words and their referents. There is evidence in child development literature that strong links exist between early word-learning and conceptual development. A growing view is also emerging that language is a cultural product created and acquired through social interactions. Inspired by these studies, this paper presents a novel learning architecture for category formation and vocabulary acquisition in robots through active interaction with humans. This architecture is open-ended and is capable of acquiring new categories and category names incrementally. The process can be compared to language grounding in children at single-word stage. The robot is embodied with visual and auditory sensors for world perception. A human instructor uses speech to teach the robot the names of the objects present in a visually shared environment. The robot uses its perceptual input to ground these spoken words and dynamically form/organize category descriptions in order to achieve better categorization. To evaluate the learning system at word-learning and category formation tasks, two experiments were conducted using a simple language game involving naming and corrective feedback actions from the human user. The obtained results are presented and discussed in detail.

Unconscious symmetrical inferences: A role of consciousness in event integration.

PubMed

Alonso, Diego; Fuentes, Luis J; Hommel, Bernhard

2006-06-01

Explicit and implicit learning have been attributed to different learning processes that create different types of knowledge structures. Consistent with that claim, our study provides evidence that people integrate stimulus events differently when consciously aware versus unaware of the relationship between the events. In a first, acquisition phase participants sorted words into two categories (A and B), which were fully predicted by task-irrelevant primes-the labels of two other, semantically unrelated categories (C and D). In a second, test phase participants performed a lexical decision task, in which all word stimuli stemmed from the previous prime categories (C and D) and the (now nonpredictive) primes were the labels of the previous target categories (A and B). Reliable priming effects in the second phase demonstrated that bidirectional associations between the respective categories had been formed in the acquisition phase (A<-->C and B<-->D), but these effects were found only in participants that were unaware of the relationship between the categories! We suggest that unconscious, implicit learning of event relationships results in the rather unsophisticated integration (i.e., bidirectional association) of the underlying event representations, whereas explicit learning takes the meaning of the order of the events into account, and thus creates unidirectional associations.

Association between aerobic fitness and indices of autonomic regulation: cardiovascular risk implications.

PubMed

Sala, Roberto; Malacarne, Mara; Pagani, Massimo; Lucini, Daniela

2016-06-01

In the general population higher levels of exercise capacity seem to protect the cardiovascular system with effects well beyond traditional risk factors. We hypothesize that this phenomenon, called "risk factor gap", could be ascribed to functional components, such as autonomic adaptation to aerobic training. In 257 subjects (age 36.2±0.8 years) we measured VO2peak (incremental cycling exercise), together with arterial pressure and autonomic proxies (baroreflex gain, R-R variance and standing induced increase in marker of excitatory oscillatory regulation of the SA node, ∆LFRRnu). Autonomic proxies appeared significantly correlated with indicators of aerobic fitness (age and gender corrected correlation between VO2peak, baroreflex gain: r=0.277, P<0.001, and DAP r=-0.228, P<0.001). Subsequently, subjects were subdivided in three age and gender adjusted categories of VO2peak (poor, medium and good). Autonomic indices and arterial pressure appeared significantly ordered with categories of VO2peak (P<0.006). In addition, within these categories the proportion of subjects with a desirable autonomic and pressure profile becomes significantly greater with better fitness levels. The strong ordered relationship between categories of aerobic fitness and autonomic proxies speaks in favor of a complementary role of the autonomic nervous system in the management of cardiovascular risk factor gap at a population level.

Emotion and attention interaction studied through event-related potentials.

PubMed

Carretié, L; Martín-Loeches, M; Hinojosa, J A; Mercado, F

2001-11-15

Several studies on hemodynamic brain activity indicate that emotional visual stimuli elicit greater activation than neutral stimuli in attention-related areas such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the visual association cortex (VAC). In order to explore the temporo-spatial characteristics of the interaction between attention and emotion, two processes characterized by involving short and rapid phases, event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured in 29 subjects using a 60-electrode array and the LORETA source localization software. A cue/target paradigm was employed in order to investigate both expectancy-related and input processing-related attention. Four categories of stimuli were presented to subjects: positive arousing, negative arousing, relaxing, and neutral. Three attention-related components were finally analyzed: N280pre (from pretarget ERPs), P200post and P340post (both from posttarget ERPs). N280pre had a prefrontal focus (ACC and/or medial prefrontal cortex) and presented significantly lower amplitudes in response to cues announcing negative targets. This result suggests a greater capacity of nonaversive stimuli to generate expectancy-related attention. P200post and P340post were both elicited in the VAC, and showed their highest amplitudes in response to negative- and to positive-arousing stimuli, respectively. The origin of P200post appears to be located dorsally with respect to the clear ventral-stream origin of P340post. The conjunction of temporal and spatial characteristics of P200post and P340post leads to the deduction that input processing-related attention associated with emotional visual stimulation involves an initial, rapid, and brief "early" attentional response oriented to rapid motor action, being more prominent towards negative stimulation. This is followed by a slower but longer "late" attentional response oriented to deeper processing, elicited to a greater extent by appetitive stimulation.

Neural Responses to Central and Peripheral Objects in the Lateral Occipital Cortex

PubMed Central

Wang, Bin; Guo, Jiayue; Yan, Tianyi; Ohno, Seiichiro; Kanazawa, Susumu; Huang, Qiang; Wu, Jinglong

2016-01-01

Human object recognition and classification depend on the retinal location where the object is presented and decrease as eccentricity increases. The lateral occipital complex (LOC) is thought to be preferentially involved in the processing of objects, and its neural responses exhibit category biases to objects presented in the central visual field. However, the nature of LOC neural responses to central and peripheral objects remains largely unclear. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a wide-view presentation system to investigate neural responses to four categories of objects (faces, houses, animals, and cars) in the primary visual cortex (V1) and the lateral visual cortex, including the LOC and the retinotopic areas LO-1 and LO-2. In these regions, the neural responses to objects decreased as the distance between the location of presentation and center fixation increased, which is consistent with the diminished perceptual ability that was found for peripherally presented images. The LOC and LO-2 exhibited significantly positive neural responses to all eccentricities (0–55°), but LO-1 exhibited significantly positive responses only to central eccentricities (0–22°). By measuring the ratio relative to V1 (RRV1), we further demonstrated that eccentricity, category and the interaction between them significantly affected neural processing in these regions. LOC, LO-1, and LO-2 exhibited larger RRV1s when stimuli were presented at an eccentricity of 0° compared to when they were presented at the greater eccentricities. In LOC and LO-2, the RRV1s for images of faces, animals and cars showed an increasing trend when the images were presented at eccentricities of 11 to 33°. However, the RRV1s for houses showed a decreasing trend in LO-1 and no difference in the LOC and LO-2. We hypothesize, that when houses and the images in the other categories were presented in the peripheral visual field, they were processed via different strategies in the lateral visual cortex. PMID:26924972

Benchmark matrix and guide: Part III.

PubMed

1992-01-01

The final article in the "Benchmark Matrix and Guide" series developed by Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command completes the discussion of the last three categories that are essential ingredients of a successful total quality management (TQM) program. Detailed behavioral objectives are listed in the areas of recognition, process improvement, and customer focus. These vertical categories are meant to be applied to the levels of the matrix that define the progressive stages of the TQM: business as usual, initiation, implementation, expansion, and integration. By charting the horizontal progress level and the vertical TQM category, the quality management professional can evaluate the current state of TQM in any given organization. As each category is completed, new goals can be defined in order to advance to a higher level. The benchmarking process is integral to quality improvement efforts because it focuses on the highest possible standards to evaluate quality programs.

Development and Application of a Category System to Describe Pre-Service Science Teachers' Activities in the Process of Scientific Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krell, Moritz; Walzer, Christine; Hergert, Susann; Krüger, Dirk

2017-09-01

As part of their professional competencies, science teachers need an elaborate meta-modelling knowledge as well as modelling skills in order to guide and monitor modelling practices of their students. However, qualitative studies about (pre-service) science teachers' modelling practices are rare. This study provides a category system which is suitable to analyse and to describe pre-service science teachers' modelling activities and to infer modelling strategies. The category system was developed based on theoretical considerations and was inductively refined within the methodological frame of qualitative content analysis. For the inductive refinement, modelling practices of pre-service teachers (n = 4) have been video-taped and analysed. In this study, one case was selected to demonstrate the application of the category system to infer modelling strategies. The contribution of this study for science education research and science teacher education is discussed.

Youth Exposed to Terrorism: the Moderating Role of Ideology.

PubMed

Slone, Michelle; Shur, Lia; Gilady, Ayelet

2016-05-01

The present review examines the moderating role of ideology on the effects of war, armed conflict, and terrorism on youth. Ideology is an important factor given the central role played by religio-political ideology and nationalism in present-day conflicts. Ideologies or worldviews represent cognitive frameworks that imbue the traumatic situation with meaning and order. Analysis of the pool of studies identified three categories of ideologically based moderating factors, each representing an aspect of social construction of traumatic events, namely, religion, political ideology, and self-concept. The two closely related categories of religion and politico-religious beliefs showed both positive and negative effects on psychological and psychiatric outcomes among youth. The third category of different aspects of self-concept yielded consistently positive moderating effects. The mechanisms by which each category of ideology moderates effects of exposure to war, armed conflict, and terrorism are discussed, and research and clinical implications are presented.

77 FR 29935 - 2012 Technical Corrections, Clarifying and Other Amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-21

...The EPA is proposing to amend specific provisions of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule to provide greater clarity and flexibility to facilities subject to reporting emissions from certain source categories. These source categories will report greenhouse gas (GHG) data for the first time in September of 2012. The proposed changes are not expected to significantly change the overall calculation and monitoring requirements of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule or add additional requirements for reporters, but are expected to correct errors and clarify existing requirements in order to facilitate accurate and timely reporting. The EPA is also proposing confidentiality determinations for four new data elements for the fluorinated gas production source category of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. Lastly, we are proposing an amendment to Table A-7 of the general provisions to add a data element used as an input to an emission equation in the fluorinated gas production source category.

Functions of the gene products of Escherichia coli.

PubMed Central

Riley, M

1993-01-01

A list of currently identified gene products of Escherichia coli is given, together with a bibliography that provides pointers to the literature on each gene product. A scheme to categorize cellular functions is used to classify the gene products of E. coli so far identified. A count shows that the numbers of genes concerned with small-molecule metabolism are on the same order as the numbers concerned with macromolecule biosynthesis and degradation. One large category is the category of tRNAs and their synthetases. Another is the category of transport elements. The categories of cell structure and cellular processes other than metabolism are smaller. Other subjects discussed are the occurrence in the E. coli genome of redundant pairs and groups of genes of identical or closely similar function, as well as variation in the degree of density of genetic information in different parts of the genome. PMID:7508076

[Nurses' professional prestige: estimate of magnitudes and expanded categories].

PubMed

Sousa, F A; da Silva, J A

2001-01-01

The prestige of professionals such as social workers, biologists, dentists, nurses, engineers, pharmacists, physicists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, physicians, psychologists, chemists and sociologists was scaled by the psychophysical methods of estimation of magnitudes and expanded categories. Results showed that: 1) when we increase the limited amplitude of categories, this method has the same characteristics as those of the estimation of magnitudes. 2) the relationship between the estimations of magnitudes and estimations of expanded categories is a power function with an exponent that is not significantly different from 1.0. These data enabled the following conclusions: 1--The nursing profession is in the seventh or eighth position regarding the prestige of the 13 professions whereas physicians are in the first position in the scale obtained by the used methods; 2--the orders resulting from the methods produce positions of prestige that highly agree for the different professions.

Grammatical category dissociation in multilingual aphasia.

PubMed

Faroqi-Shah, Yasmeen; Waked, Arifi N

2010-03-01

Word retrieval deficits for specific grammatical categories, such as verbs versus nouns, occur as a consequence of brain damage. Such deficits are informative about the nature of lexical organization in the human brain. This study examined retrieval of grammatical categories across three languages in a trilingual person with aphasia who spoke Arabic, French, and English. In order to delineate the nature of word production difficulty, comprehension was tested, and a variety of concomitant lexical-semantic variables were analysed. The patient demonstrated a consistent noun-verb dissociation in picture naming and narrative speech, with severely impaired production of verbs across all three languages. The cross-linguistically similar noun-verb dissociation, coupled with little evidence of semantic impairment, suggests that (a) the patient has a true "nonsemantic" grammatical category specific deficit, and (b) lexical organization in multilingual speakers shares grammatical class information between languages. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the architecture of lexical organization in bilinguals.

Variation in the suppression or enhancement of responses related to drug habits as a function of stimulus classes and competing response categories.

PubMed

Haertzen, C A; Ross, F E

1980-08-01

Male prisoners who were opiate addicts (N = 47) were given three Process Association Tests of Addiction containing stimuli which evoked responses characteristic of three levels of drug habits: beginning and ending stage of addiction, intermediate stage of addiction, and an advanced level of addiction. Each test required subjects to associate 278 word stimuli with one of five options which were randomly selected from among 20 options covering the stages of addiction, steps in drug taking, and drug effects. The purpose of the study was to determine whether responses to particular options suppressed or enhanced responses to other options. A strong interaction was found between the classes of stimuli and the response options which produced suppression or enhancement. This interaction made it possible to develop a suppression scale to measure the effect of each class of stimulus. Popular responses most frequently suppressed responses of other options. Thus, when the stimuli were clean, responses of "to be clean" and "to live a normal life," which are sensitive indicators of the beginning or ending stages of addiction , suppressed responses of other stages. The response of "to be high," a prime indicator of an intermediate habit, suppressed responses of other options when the stimuli were drug names. Responses of "to be hooked" and "to fix," which are specific indicators of a strong habit, and "to be high," which is a nonspecific indicator of a strong habit, suppressed responses of many other options. In the development of new association tests the analysis of suppression could provide a basis for selectively varying option groupings in order to increase or decrease the frequently of certain responses.

Estimating the Nominal Response Model under Nonnormal Conditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preston, Kathleen Suzanne Johnson; Reise, Steven Paul

2014-01-01

The nominal response model (NRM), a much understudied polytomous item response theory (IRT) model, provides researchers the unique opportunity to evaluate within-item category distinctions. Polytomous IRT models, such as the NRM, are frequently applied to psychological assessments representing constructs that are unlikely to be normally…

Building Assets in the Classroom through Creative Response. Research into Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Karen D.; Fisher, Christopher P.

2000-01-01

Discusses ways to nurture students' creative responses for building four categories of external assets for their education: supportive environment, student empowerment, boundaries and expectations, and constructive time use. Describes three strategies for promoting creative response: InQuest procedure, RAFT technique, and simulated journals. (JPB)

The specificity of neural responses to music and their relation to voice processing: an fMRI-adaptation study.

PubMed

Armony, Jorge L; Aubé, William; Angulo-Perkins, Arafat; Peretz, Isabelle; Concha, Luis

2015-04-23

Several studies have identified, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a region within the superior temporal gyrus that preferentially responds to musical stimuli. However, in most cases, significant responses to other complex stimuli, particularly human voice, were also observed. Thus, it remains unknown if the same neurons respond to both stimulus types, albeit with different strengths, or whether the responses observed with fMRI are generated by distinct, overlapping neural populations. To address this question, we conducted an fMRI experiment in which short music excerpts and human vocalizations were presented in a pseudo-random order. Critically, we performed an adaptation-based analysis in which responses to the stimuli were analyzed taking into account the category of the preceding stimulus. Our results confirm the presence of a region in the anterior STG that responds more strongly to music than voice. Moreover, we found a music-specific adaptation effect in this area, consistent with the existence of music-preferred neurons. Lack of differences between musicians and non-musicians argues against an expertise effect. These findings provide further support for neural separability between music and speech within the temporal lobe. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Overview of Modifications Applied to a Turbulence Response Analysis Method for Flexible Aircraft Configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Funk, Christie J.

2013-01-01

A software program and associated methodology to study gust loading on aircraft exists for a classification of geometrically simplified flexible configurations. This program consists of a simple aircraft response model with two rigid and three flexible symmetric degrees of freedom and allows for the calculation of various airplane responses due to a discrete one-minus-cosine gust as well as continuous turbulence. Simplifications, assumptions, and opportunities for potential improvements pertaining to the existing software program are first identified, then a revised version of the original software tool is developed with improved methodology to include more complex geometries, additional excitation cases, and output data so as to provide a more useful and accurate tool for gust load analysis. Revisions are made in the categories of aircraft geometry, computation of aerodynamic forces and moments, and implementation of horizontal tail mode shapes. In order to improve the original software program to enhance usefulness, a wing control surface and horizontal tail control surface is added, an extended application of the discrete one-minus-cosine gust input is employed, a supplemental continuous turbulence spectrum is implemented, and a capability to animate the total vehicle deformation response to gust inputs in included. These revisions and enhancements are implemented and an analysis of the results is used to validate the modifications.

Memory Meets Control in Hippocampal and Striatal Binding of Stimuli, Responses, and Attentional Control States

PubMed Central

Brashier, Nadia M.

2015-01-01

The human brain encodes experience in an integrative fashion by binding together the various features of an event (i.e., stimuli and responses) into memory “event files.” A subsequent reoccurrence of an event feature can then cue the retrieval of the memory file to “prime” cognition and action. Intriguingly, recent behavioral studies indicate that, in addition to linking concrete stimulus and response features, event coding may also incorporate more abstract, “internal” event features such as attentional control states. In the present study, we used fMRI in healthy human volunteers to determine the neural mechanisms supporting this type of holistic event binding. Specifically, we combined fMRI with a task protocol that dissociated the expression of event feature-binding effects pertaining to concrete stimulus and response features, stimulus categories, and attentional control demands. Using multivariate neural pattern classification, we show that the hippocampus and putamen integrate event attributes across all of these levels in conjunction with other regions representing concrete-feature-selective (primarily visual cortex), category-selective (posterior frontal cortex), and control demand-selective (insula, caudate, anterior cingulate, and parietal cortex) event information. Together, these results suggest that the hippocampus and putamen are involved in binding together holistic event memories that link physical stimulus and response characteristics with internal representations of stimulus categories and attentional control states. These bindings then presumably afford shortcuts to adaptive information processing and response selection in the face of recurring events. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Memory binds together the different features of our experience, such as an observed stimulus and concurrent motor responses, into so-called event files. Recent behavioral studies suggest that the observer's internal attentional state might also become integrated into the event memory. Here, we used fMRI to determine the brain areas responsible for binding together event information pertaining to concrete stimulus and response features, stimulus categories, and internal attentional control states. We found that neural signals in the hippocampus and putamen contained information about all of these event attributes and could predict behavioral priming effects stemming from these features. Therefore, medial temporal lobe and dorsal striatum structures appear to be involved in binding internal control states to event memories. PMID:26538657

[Effect of development and aging on the modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in normal subjects].

PubMed

Kado, Yoko; Sanada, Satoshi; Yanagihara, Masafumi; Ogino, Tatsuya; Abiru, Kiyoko; Nakano, Kousuke

2004-11-01

The Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) is applied to various types of neurological disorders. Since WCST requires the examinee's sustained efforts, it is not readily applicable to children with developmental disorders. In order to overcome this weakness, Keio version WCST (KWCST) was developed by reducing the number of cards from 128 to 48 and presenting them in two steps separated by a short pause. During which a brief instruction was given. This study was performed to clarify the changes with age in indices of KWCST and to obtain the normative value. Three hundred thirty five normal subjects, ranging from 5 to 82 years of age were examined. A simple regression analysis showed a significant age-related changes. Subjects between the middle thirties and the middle forties showed the best score in such indices as the categories achieved, perseverative errors of Nelson, difficulties of maintaining set, numbers of response cards until the first category achieved, and total errors. Most of the scores were improved in the second step across the all age groups, which might have resulted from learning during the first step and the instruction provided before the second step. KWCST can be performed briefly, and is suitable for cases with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and pervasive developmental disorder.

Functional network connectivity underlying food processing: disturbed salience and visual processing in overweight and obese adults.

PubMed

Kullmann, Stephanie; Pape, Anna-Antonia; Heni, Martin; Ketterer, Caroline; Schick, Fritz; Häring, Hans-Ulrich; Fritsche, Andreas; Preissl, Hubert; Veit, Ralf

2013-05-01

In order to adequately explore the neurobiological basis of eating behavior of humans and their changes with body weight, interactions between brain areas or networks need to be investigated. In the current functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined the modulating effects of stimulus category (food vs. nonfood), caloric content of food, and body weight on the time course and functional connectivity of 5 brain networks by means of independent component analysis in healthy lean and overweight/obese adults. These functional networks included motor sensory, default-mode, extrastriate visual, temporal visual association, and salience networks. We found an extensive modulation elicited by food stimuli in the 2 visual and salience networks, with a dissociable pattern in the time course and functional connectivity between lean and overweight/obese subjects. Specifically, only in lean subjects, the temporal visual association network was modulated by the stimulus category and the salience network by caloric content, whereas overweight and obese subjects showed a generalized augmented response in the salience network. Furthermore, overweight/obese subjects showed changes in functional connectivity in networks important for object recognition, motivational salience, and executive control. These alterations could potentially lead to top-down deficiencies driving the overconsumption of food in the obese population.

Can we better predict the biologic behavior of incidental IPMN? A comprehensive analysis of molecular diagnostics and biomarkers in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas.

PubMed

Tulla, Kiara A; Maker, Ajay V

2018-03-01

Predicting the biologic behavior of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) remains challenging. Current guidelines utilize patient symptoms and imaging characteristics to determine appropriate surgical candidates. However, the majority of resected cysts remain low-risk lesions, many of which may be feasible to have under surveillance. We herein characterize the most promising and up-to-date molecular diagnostics in order to identify optimal components of a molecular signature to distinguish levels of IPMN dysplasia. A comprehensive systematic review of pertinent literature, including our own experience, was conducted based on the PRISMA guidelines. Molecular diagnostics in IPMN patient tissue, duodenal secretions, cyst fluid, saliva, and serum were evaluated and organized into the following categories: oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, glycoproteins, markers of the immune response, proteomics, DNA/RNA mutations, and next-generation sequencing/microRNA. Specific targets in each of these categories, and in aggregate, were identified by their ability to both characterize a cyst as an IPMN and determine the level of cyst dysplasia. Combining molecular signatures with clinical and imaging features in this era of next-generation sequencing and advanced computational analysis will enable enhanced sensitivity and specificity of current models to predict the biologic behavior of IPMN.

Are judgments a form of data clustering? Reexamining contrast effects with the k-means algorithm.

PubMed

Boillaud, Eric; Molina, Guylaine

2015-04-01

A number of theories have been proposed to explain in precise mathematical terms how statistical parameters and sequential properties of stimulus distributions affect category ratings. Various contextual factors such as the mean, the midrange, and the median of the stimuli; the stimulus range; the percentile rank of each stimulus; and the order of appearance have been assumed to influence judgmental contrast. A data clustering reinterpretation of judgmental relativity is offered wherein the influence of the initial choice of centroids on judgmental contrast involves 2 combined frequency and consistency tendencies. Accounts of the k-means algorithm are provided, showing good agreement with effects observed on multiple distribution shapes and with a variety of interaction effects relating to the number of stimuli, the number of response categories, and the method of skewing. Experiment 1 demonstrates that centroid initialization accounts for contrast effects obtained with stretched distributions. Experiment 2 demonstrates that the iterative convergence inherent to the k-means algorithm accounts for the contrast reduction observed across repeated blocks of trials. The concept of within-cluster variance minimization is discussed, as is the applicability of a backward k-means calculation method for inferring, from empirical data, the values of the centroids that would serve as a representation of the judgmental context. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Biomarkers in Multiple Sclerosis: An Up-to-Date Overview

PubMed Central

Katsavos, Serafeim; Anagnostouli, Maria

2013-01-01

During the last decades, the effort of establishing satisfactory biomarkers for multiple sclerosis has been proven to be very difficult, due to the clinical and pathophysiological complexities of the disease. Recent knowledge acquired in the domains of genomics-immunogenetics and neuroimmunology, as well as the evolution in neuroimaging, has provided a whole new list of biomarkers. This variety, though, leads inevitably to confusion in the effort of decision making concerning strategic and individualized therapeutics. In this paper, our primary goal is to provide the reader with a list of the most important characteristics that a biomarker must possess in order to be considered as reliable. Additionally, up-to-date biomarkers are further divided into three subgroups, genetic-immunogenetic, laboratorial, and imaging. The most important representatives of each category are presented in the text and for the first time in a summarizing workable table, in a critical way, estimating their diagnostic potential and their efficacy to correlate with phenotypical expression, neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, disability, and therapeutical response. Special attention is given to the “gold standards” of each category, like HLA-DRB1∗ polymorphisms, oligoclonal bands, vitamin D, and conventional and nonconventional imaging techniques. Moreover, not adequately established but quite promising, recently characterized biomarkers, like TOB-1 polymorphisms, are further discussed. PMID:23401777

Women's work, worry and fear: the portrayal of sexuality and sexual health in US magazines for teenage and middle-aged women, 2000-2007.

PubMed

Clarke, Juanne

2009-05-01

The purpose of this paper is to report on an exploratory content analysis of the portrayal of sexuality, sexual health and disease in select magazines designed for two groups of women: teenagers and women in the 40-50-year-old age category in the USA. The analysis found that magazine portrayal was both similar for the two groups of women and distinctly different. Neither group of magazines focused on women's sexual desire. Both kinds of magazines emphasized that it was women's work and worry to control sexual expression. Teenagers were described as responsible for avoiding sex in order to prevent pregnancy, fearsomely described STIs and untrustworthy male sexual partners. Abstinence was presented as the only viable option for young women. Women in the 40-50-year-old age group were portrayed as responsible for the emotion work and sexual relations linked to their responsibility for maintaining their marriages and fulfilling their tasks of motherhood, especially through the monitoring of the sexuality of their female children. Sex was characterized in terms akin to women's work within the home. Possible explanations for, and consequences of, these presentations of sexuality are discussed.

Understanding adolescent mental health: the influence of social processes, doing gender and gendered power relations.

PubMed

Landstedt, Evelina; Asplund, Kenneth; Gillander Gådin, Katja

2009-11-01

Despite a well-documented gender pattern in adolescent mental health, research investigating possible explanatory factors from a gender-theoretical approach is scarce. This paper reports a grounded theory study based on 29 focus groups. The aim was to explore 16- to 19-year-old students' perceptions of what is significant for mental health, and to apply a gender analysis to the findings in order to advance understanding of the gender pattern in adolescent mental health. Significant factors were identified in three social processes categories, including both positive and negative aspects: (1) social interactions, (2) performance and (3) responsibility. Girls more often experienced negative aspects of these processes, placing them at greater risk for mental health problems. Boys' more positive mental health appeared to be associated with their low degree of responsibility-taking and beneficial positions relative to girls. Negotiating cultural norms of femininity and masculinity seemed to be more strenuous for girls, which could place them at a disadvantage with regard to mental health. Social factors and processes (particularly responsibility), gendered power relations and constructions of masculinities and femininities should be acknowledged as important for adolescent mental health.

Assessing the Neural Basis of Uncertainty in Perceptual Category Learning through Varying Levels of Distortion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniel, Reka; Wagner, Gerd; Koch, Kathrin; Reichenbach, Jurgen R.; Sauer, Heinrich; Schlosser, Ralf G. M.

2011-01-01

The formation of new perceptual categories involves learning to extract that information from a wide range of often noisy sensory inputs, which is critical for selecting between a limited number of responses. To identify brain regions involved in visual classification learning under noisy conditions, we developed a task on the basis of the…

Transfer from Audiovisual Pretraining to a Continuous Perceptual Motor Task. Final Report for Period June 1972 - August 1973.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Milton E.; Gerlach, Vernon S.

A technique was developed for providing transfer-of-training from a form of audiovisual pretraining to an instrument flight task. The continuous flight task was broken into discrete categories of flight; each category combined an instrument configuration with a return-to-criterion aircraft control response. Three methods of sequencing categories…

An Analysis of Document Category Prediction Responses to Classifier Model Parameter Treatment Permutations within the Software Design Patterns Subject Domain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pankau, Brian L.

2009-01-01

This empirical study evaluates the document category prediction effectiveness of Naive Bayes (NB) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classifier treatments built from different feature selection and machine learning settings and trained and tested against textual corpora of 2300 Gang-Of-Four (GOF) design pattern documents. Analysis of the experiment's…

The Effect of Feedback Delay and Feedback Type on Perceptual Category Learning: The Limits of Multiple Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, John C.; Newell, Ben R.; Kalish, Michael L.

2012-01-01

Evidence that learning rule-based (RB) and information-integration (II) category structures can be dissociated across different experimental variables has been used to support the view that such learning is supported by multiple learning systems. Across 4 experiments, we examined the effects of 2 variables, the delay between response and feedback…

Do Object-Category Selective Regions in the Ventral Visual Stream Represent Perceived Distance Information?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amit, Elinor; Mehoudar, Eyal; Trope, Yaacov; Yovel, Galit

2012-01-01

It is well established that scenes and objects elicit a highly selective response in specific brain regions in the ventral visual cortex. An inherent difference between these categories that has not been explored yet is their perceived distance from the observer (i.e. scenes are distal whereas objects are proximal). The current study aimed to test…

Drug Intoxicated Irregular Fighters: Complications, Dangers, and Responses

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

manufactured . The result is the use of marijuana, khat, hallucinogenic mush- rooms, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and looted pharmaceuticals to...drugs in today’s wars falls into at least one of four categories: traditional, transshipped, looted, and manufactured . These categories are not...also be attained by looting them from pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals. These are prescrip- tion drugs manufactured by pharmaceutical companies 10

First-Pass Processing of Value Cues in the Ventral Visual Pathway.

PubMed

Sasikumar, Dennis; Emeric, Erik; Stuphorn, Veit; Connor, Charles E

2018-02-19

Real-world value often depends on subtle, continuously variable visual cues specific to particular object categories, like the tailoring of a suit, the condition of an automobile, or the construction of a house. Here, we used microelectrode recording in behaving monkeys to test two possible mechanisms for category-specific value-cue processing: (1) previous findings suggest that prefrontal cortex (PFC) identifies object categories, and based on category identity, PFC could use top-down attentional modulation to enhance visual processing of category-specific value cues, providing signals to PFC for calculating value, and (2) a faster mechanism would be first-pass visual processing of category-specific value cues, immediately providing the necessary visual information to PFC. This, however, would require learned mechanisms for processing the appropriate cues in a given object category. To test these hypotheses, we trained monkeys to discriminate value in four letter-like stimulus categories. Each category had a different, continuously variable shape cue that signified value (liquid reward amount) as well as other cues that were irrelevant. Monkeys chose between stimuli of different reward values. Consistent with the first-pass hypothesis, we found early signals for category-specific value cues in area TE (the final stage in monkey ventral visual pathway) beginning 81 ms after stimulus onset-essentially at the start of TE responses. Task-related activity emerged in lateral PFC approximately 40 ms later and consisted mainly of category-invariant value tuning. Our results show that, for familiar, behaviorally relevant object categories, high-level ventral pathway cortex can implement rapid, first-pass processing of category-specific value cues. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Between unemployment and employment: experience of unemployed long-term pain sufferers.

PubMed

Glavare, Maria; Löfgren, Monika; Schult, Marie-Louise

2012-01-01

This study explored and analysed how patients experienced possibilities for, and barriers to, work return after participation in a multi-professional pain-rehabilitation program followed by a coached work-training program (CWT). Eleven informants (8 women/3 men) with long-term musculoskeletal pain who had participated in the CWT program for 4-21 months (mean=11) comprised the study. A qualitative emergent design was used. Data collected with interviews were analysed using the constant comparison method of grounded theory. Triangulation in researchers were used. The analyses of the interviews resulted in the development of a three-category theoretical model, which was named "a way back to work". The main category "Experience of a way back to work" consisted of the informants' experience during the process between unemployment and employment. The category "Support" describes the help the informants received from various actors, and the category "Negative response" describes negative responses from the actors involved, which was an important barrier in the process between unemployment and employment. Professional individualised support, participants feeling involved in their rehabilitation process, coaching at real workplaces and multi-professional team including health care personnel, were valuable during the process towards work.

'This is ordinary behaviour': categorization and culpability in Hamas leaders' accounts of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

PubMed

McKinlay, Andy; McVittie, Chris; Sambaraju, Rahul

2012-12-01

The present paper examines the talk of three senior figures from the Palestinian Hamas political movement. Data are drawn from a series of journalistic interviews that were conducted in the months leading up to the invasion of Gaza by Israel in December 2007. Using membership categorization analysis, we explore the membership categories and category-bound attributes that interviewers use in questions about responsibility for potentially culpable actions and the ways that these are taken up, challenged, or reworked by interviewees in presenting their own versions. The analytic findings show that interviewers deploy categories bound up with terrorism while interviewees develop alternative categorizations of resistance. Interviewers construct Palestinians as victims of Hamas' actions while interviewees construct them as victims of Israeli aggression and international indifference. In warranting these alternative constructions, the interviewees contrast current behaviours of the international community with those of the past and align current Palestinian actions with those previously taken by Western nations in resisting illegitimate occupations. Through these descriptions of categories and actions, the interviewees attribute to the wider international community responsibility for addressing the events of the ongoing conflict. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

A method to derive vegetation distribution maps for pollen dispersion models using birch as an example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pauling, A.; Rotach, M. W.; Gehrig, R.; Clot, B.

2012-09-01

Detailed knowledge of the spatial distribution of sources is a crucial prerequisite for the application of pollen dispersion models such as, for example, COSMO-ART (COnsortium for Small-scale MOdeling - Aerosols and Reactive Trace gases). However, this input is not available for the allergy-relevant species such as hazel, alder, birch, grass or ragweed. Hence, plant distribution datasets need to be derived from suitable sources. We present an approach to produce such a dataset from existing sources using birch as an example. The basic idea is to construct a birch dataset using a region with good data coverage for calibration and then to extrapolate this relationship to a larger area by using land use classes. We use the Swiss forest inventory (1 km resolution) in combination with a 74-category land use dataset that covers the non-forested areas of Switzerland as well (resolution 100 m). Then we assign birch density categories of 0%, 0.1%, 0.5% and 2.5% to each of the 74 land use categories. The combination of this derived dataset with the birch distribution from the forest inventory yields a fairly accurate birch distribution encompassing entire Switzerland. The land use categories of the Global Land Cover 2000 (GLC2000; Global Land Cover 2000 database, 2003, European Commission, Joint Research Centre; resolution 1 km) are then calibrated with the Swiss dataset in order to derive a Europe-wide birch distribution dataset and aggregated onto the 7 km COSMO-ART grid. This procedure thus assumes that a certain GLC2000 land use category has the same birch density wherever it may occur in Europe. In order to reduce the strict application of this crucial assumption, the birch density distribution as obtained from the previous steps is weighted using the mean Seasonal Pollen Index (SPI; yearly sums of daily pollen concentrations). For future improvement, region-specific birch densities for the GLC2000 categories could be integrated into the mapping procedure.

48 CFR 434.003 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Section 434.003 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION General 434.003 Responsibilities. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture or... (CIO) is the Major Information Technology Systems Executive. For acquisitions of information technology...

Team communication patterns in emergency resuscitation: a mixed methods qualitative analysis.

PubMed

Calder, Lisa Anne; Mastoras, George; Rahimpour, Mitra; Sohmer, Benjamin; Weitzman, Brian; Cwinn, A Adam; Hobin, Tara; Parush, Avi

2017-12-01

In order to enhance patient safety during resuscitation of critically ill patients, we need to optimize team communication and enhance team situational awareness but little is known about resuscitation team communication patterns. The objective of this study is to understand how teams communicate during resuscitation; specifically to assess for a shared mental model (organized understanding of a team's relationships) and information needs. We triangulated 3 methods to evaluate resuscitation team communication at a tertiary care academic trauma center: (1) interviews; (2) simulated resuscitation observations; (3) live resuscitation observations. We interviewed 18 resuscitation team members about shared mental models, roles and goals of team members and procedural expectations. We observed 30 simulated resuscitation video recordings and documented the timing, source and destination of communication and the information category. We observed 12 live resuscitations in the emergency department and recorded baseline characteristics of the type of resuscitations, nature of teams present and type and content of information exchanges. The data were analyzed using a qualitative communication analysis method. We found that resuscitation team members described a shared mental model. Respondents understood the roles and goals of each team member in order to provide rapid, efficient and life-saving care with an overall need for situational awareness. The information flow described in the interviews was reflected during the simulated and live resuscitations with the most responsible physician and charting nurse being central to team communication. We consolidated communicated information into six categories: (1) time; (2) patient status; (3) patient history; (4) interventions; (5) assistance and consultations; 6) team members present. Resuscitation team members expressed a shared mental model and prioritized situational awareness. Our findings support a need for cognitive aids to enhance team communication during resuscitations.

Diatom species abundance and morphologically-based dissolution proxies in coastal Southern Ocean assemblages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warnock, Jonathan P.; Scherer, Reed P.

2015-07-01

Taphonomic processes alter diatom assemblages in sediments, thus potentially negatively impacting paleoclimate records at various rates across space, time, and taxa. However, quantitative taphonomic data is rarely included in diatom-based paleoenvironmental reconstructions and no objective standard exists for comparing diatom dissolution in sediments recovered from marine depositional settings, including the Southern Ocean's opal belt. Furthermore, identifying changes to diatom dissolution through time can provide insight into the efficiency of both upper water column nutrient recycling and the biological pump. This is significant in that reactive metal proxies (e.g. Al, Ti) in the sediments only account for post-depositional dissolution, not the water column where the majority of dissolution occurs. In order to assess the range of variability of responses to dissolution in a typical Southern Ocean diatom community and provide a quantitative guideline for assessing taphonomic variability in diatoms recovered from core material, a sediment trap sample was subjected to controlled, serial dissolution. By evaluating dissolution-induced changes to diatom species' relative abundance, three preservational categories of diatoms have been identified: gracile, intermediate, and robust. The relative abundances of these categories can be used to establish a preservation grade for diatom assemblages. However, changes to the relative abundances of diatom species in sediment samples may reflect taphonomic or ecological factors. In order to address this complication, relative abundance changes have been tied to dissolution-induced morphological change to the areolae of Fragilariopsis curta, a significant sea-ice indicator in Southern Ocean sediments. This correlation allows differentiation between gracile species loss to dissolution versus ecological factors or sediment winnowing. These results mirror a similar morphological dissolution index from a parallel study utilizing Fragilariopsis kerguelensis, suggesting that results are applicable to a broad spectrum of diatoms typically preserved in the sediments.

Handbook of Polytomous Item Response Theory Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nering, Michael L., Ed.; Ostini, Remo, Ed.

2010-01-01

This comprehensive "Handbook" focuses on the most used polytomous item response theory (IRT) models. These models help us understand the interaction between examinees and test questions where the questions have various response categories. The book reviews all of the major models and includes discussions about how and where the models…

41 CFR 101-42.302 - Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... donation of hazardous materials. 101-42.302 Section 101-42.302 Public Contracts and Property Management...-Donation of Hazardous Materials and Certain Categories of Property § 101-42.302 Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials. (a) Holding agencies. Holding agencies shall be responsible for the...

41 CFR 101-42.302 - Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... donation of hazardous materials. 101-42.302 Section 101-42.302 Public Contracts and Property Management...-Donation of Hazardous Materials and Certain Categories of Property § 101-42.302 Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials. (a) Holding agencies. Holding agencies shall be responsible for the...

41 CFR 101-42.302 - Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... donation of hazardous materials. 101-42.302 Section 101-42.302 Public Contracts and Property Management...-Donation of Hazardous Materials and Certain Categories of Property § 101-42.302 Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials. (a) Holding agencies. Holding agencies shall be responsible for the...

41 CFR 101-42.302 - Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... donation of hazardous materials. 101-42.302 Section 101-42.302 Public Contracts and Property Management...-Donation of Hazardous Materials and Certain Categories of Property § 101-42.302 Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials. (a) Holding agencies. Holding agencies shall be responsible for the...

41 CFR 101-42.302 - Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... donation of hazardous materials. 101-42.302 Section 101-42.302 Public Contracts and Property Management...-Donation of Hazardous Materials and Certain Categories of Property § 101-42.302 Responsibilities for donation of hazardous materials. (a) Holding agencies. Holding agencies shall be responsible for the...

Non-Western students' causal reasoning about biologically adaptive changes in humans, other animals and plants: instructional and curricular implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mbajiorgu, Ngozika; Anidu, Innocent

2017-06-01

Senior secondary school students (N = 360), 14- to 18-year-olds, from the Igbo culture of eastern Nigeria responded to a questionnaire requiring them to give causal explanations of biologically adaptive changes in humans, other animals and plants. A student subsample (n = 36) was, subsequently, selected for in-depth interviews. Significant differences were found between prompts within the prompt categories, suggesting item feature effects. However, the most coherent pattern was found within the plant category as patterns differed for the mechanistic proximate (MP) reasoning category only. Patterns also differed highly significantly between the prompt categories, with patterns for teleology, MP, mechanistic ultimate and don't know categories similar for plants and other animals but different for the human category. Both urban and rural students recognise commonalities in causality between the three prompt categories, in that their preferences for causal explanations were similar across four reasoning categories. The rural students, however, were more likely than their urban counterparts to give multiple causal explanations in the span of a single response and less likely to attribute causal agency to God. Two factors, religious belief and language, for all the students; and one factor, ecological closeness to nature, for rural students were suspected to have produced these patterns.

[Expectations toward the care service and the medical service for elderly in Japan].

PubMed

Takasaki, Masaru; Tsurumi, Nobuo; Sakurai, Hirofumi; Kanetaka, Hidekazu; Sato, Tomohiko; Onuma, Takeshi; Fukasawa, Raita; Takasaki, Akira; Hanyu, Haruo; Iwamoto, Toshihiko

2012-01-01

With the purpose of gathering basic data in order to prompte various research toward the realization of a vibrant aging society, we performed a nationwide 'Survey on life' intended for citizens over 60 years old who engage in independent living, preserving their state of health even after retirement. We created a survey form consisting of 14 question items. Processing 4,000 persons surveyed from 100 locations chosen nationwide, we obtained a total of 2,370 answers from both male and female subjects, with an effective recovery rate of 59.3%. We divided the respondents according to their age into four groups (group 1: 60-64 years; group 2: 65-69 years; group 3: 70-74 years; group 4: over 75 years), examined and analyzed them using multivariate statistical analysis followed by a summary of each response item. In the main aggregate results, the percentage living with a spouse indicated a double decrease in the 4th group of female respondents in comparison with male respondents, and together with that an increase of the living alone percentage identical with the one above could be seen. The subjective sense of health has gradually declined after peaking in group 1, while the number of persons complaining of poor health doubled as we moved to group 3 and group 4. Analysis of the factors that contribute to discrimination in each age category showed that health and economic items together with social participation items were extracted as the main determining factors. Economic anxiety is strong in group 1 and group 2, in particular, anxiety about the future life showed a tendency about two times higher in the female group rather than the male group of the same age category. The eagerness to contribute to society indicated a high tendency within the female group 1 and group 2. In the canonical correlation analysis of all age categories, the weight coefficient of physical anxiety and health anxiety within the male groups showed 1.95, respectively 2.52. On the other hand, economic anxiety and anxiety about future life indicated -1.97, respectively -1.70, showing large fluctuations on these four items. The female groups presented the same tendency. Items showing a high correlation with individual respondents, showed an increase of the wieght coefficients, starting with younger age, in the following order: 'state of health', 'mental and physical energy', 'desire to contribute to society', 'state of sleep', 'leasure activity', 'living with family', 'health anxiety', 'physical anxiety'. There was no distinction between male and female. Observing the aspects of the relative changes represented in the graphic in the order of the age category, searching for the avarage value of the weight coefficient of all individual respondents considering the four items that registered high fluctuations, within group 1 and group 2 under 70 years, the economic anxiety and anxiety about future life are strong, so that as we move to groups over 70 years, health and physical anxieties tend to emerge slowly. The result of this survey suggested that for senior citizens, through all age categories, economic and health anxieties existing at various levels and under different aspects, will soon bring a large strain upon the mind of the elderly, turning into the main negative background factor which leads to a general decline of the mental health and the body, and what is more, the willingness to be active.

Whose job is it anyway? Swedish general practitioners' perception of their responsibility for the patient's drug list.

PubMed

Rahmner, Pia Bastholm; Gustafsson, Lars L; Holmström, Inger; Rosenqvist, Urban; Tomson, Göran

2010-01-01

Information about the patient's current drug list is a prerequisite for safe drug prescribing. The aim of this study was to explore general practitioners' (GPs) understandings of who is responsible for the patient's drug list so that drugs prescribed by different physicians do not interact negatively or even cause harm. The study also sought to clarify how this responsibility was managed. We conducted a descriptive qualitative study among 20 Swedish physicians. We recruited the informants purposively and captured their view on responsibility by semistructured interviews. Data were analyzed using a phenomenographic approach. We found variation in understandings about who is responsible for the patient's drug list and, in particular, how the GPs use different strategies to manage this responsibility. Five categories emerged: (1) imposed responsibility, (2) responsible for own prescriptions, (3) responsible for all drugs, (4) different but shared responsibility, and (5) patient responsible for transferring drug information. The relation between categories is illustrated in an outcome space, which displays how the GPs reason in relation to managing drug lists. The understanding of the GP's responsibility for the patient's drug list varied, which may be a threat to safe patient care. We propose that GPs are made aware of variations in understanding responsibility so that health care quality can be improved.

Materiality, Technology, and Constructing Social Knowledge through Bodily Representation: A View from Prehistoric Guernsey, Channel Islands

PubMed Central

Kohring, Sheila

2015-01-01

The role of the human body in the creation of social knowledge—as an ontological and/or aesthetic category—has been applied across social theory. In all these approaches, the body is viewed as a locus for experience and knowledge. If the body is a source of subjective knowledge, then it can also become an important means of creating ontological categories of self and society. The materiality of human representations within art traditions, then, can be interpreted as providing a means for contextualizing and aestheticizing the body in order to produce a symbolic and structural knowledge category. This paper explores the effect of material choices and techniques of production when representing the human body on how societies order and categorize the world. PMID:26290654

Mapping of the WHO-ART terminology on Snomed CT to improve grouping of related adverse drug reactions.

PubMed

Alecu, Iulian; Bousquet, Cedric; Mougin, Fleur; Jaulent, Marie-Christine

2006-01-01

The WHO-ART and MedDRA terminologies used for coding adverse drug reactions (ADR) do not provide formal definitions of terms. In order to improve groupings, we propose to map ADR terms to equivalent Snomed CT concepts through UMLS Metathesaurus. We performed such mappings on WHO-ART terms and can automatically classify them using a description logic definition expressing their synonymies. Our gold standard was a set of 13 MedDRA special search categories restricted to ADR terms available in WHO-ART. The overlapping of the groupings within the new structure of WHO-ART on the manually built MedDRA search categories showed a 71% success rate. We plan to improve our method in order to retrieve associative relations between WHO-ART terms.

An alternative to Rasch analysis using triadic comparisons and multi-dimensional scaling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bradley, C.; Massof, R. W.

2016-11-01

Rasch analysis is a principled approach for estimating the magnitude of some shared property of a set of items when a group of people assign ordinal ratings to them. In the general case, Rasch analysis not only estimates person and item measures on the same invariant scale, but also estimates the average thresholds used by the population to define rating categories. However, Rasch analysis fails when there is insufficient variance in the observed responses because it assumes a probabilistic relationship between person measures, item measures and the rating assigned by a person to an item. When only a single person is rating all items, there may be cases where the person assigns the same rating to many items no matter how many times he rates them. We introduce an alternative to Rasch analysis for precisely these situations. Our approach leverages multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) and requires only rank orderings of items and rank orderings of pairs of distances between items to work. Simulations show one variant of this approach - triadic comparisons with non-metric MDS - provides highly accurate estimates of item measures in realistic situations.