Precipitated withdrawal from nicotine reduces reinforcing effects of a visual stimulus for rats.

PubMed

Weaver, Matthew T; Sweitzer, Maggie; Coddington, Sarah; Sheppard, Jaimee; Verdecchia, Nicole; Caggiula, Anthony R; Sved, Alan F; Donny, Eric C

2012-07-01

Research has identified at least two positive reinforcement-related effects of nicotine: (a) primary reinforcement and (b) enhancement of reinforcement from concurrently available stimuli. Prior examples of the reinforcement-enhancing effects with rats showed that repeated, intermittent nicotine exposure increased responding for non-nicotine reinforcers, and this effect remained robust over several weeks. However, the effects of continuous nicotine exposure on responding for a non-nicotine reinforcer are unknown, as are the effects of abruptly withdrawing continuous nicotine on behavior maintained by the same reinforcer. Lever pressing for a visual reinforcer under a fixed ratio schedule was assessed while rats were maintained on a chronic, continuous infusion of nicotine (3.16 mg/kg/day; osmotic minipump). The effects of precipitated withdrawal on responding, following 16 days of continuous nicotine exposure, were assessed by pre-session subcutaneous injections of mecamylamine (1.0 mg/kg). Continuous nicotine initially increased active responding for the visual reinforcer; however, continued exposure resulted in an attenuation of this effect. Precipitated withdrawal from nicotine resulted in a significant decline in active responding. The initial increase in responding for the visual reinforcer with chronic nicotine exposure is consistent with prior research showing that intermittent exposure to nicotine acts as a reinforcement enhancer. However, the attenuation of this enhancement following prolonged nicotine exposure is in contrast with the persistent effects previously reported. Finally, the decrease in visual reinforcers below control levels (nicotine-naive animals) following nicotine withdrawal highlights a potential for affective withdrawal, which may serve as a motive for continued nicotine use.

An overview of changes in pressure values of the middle ear using impedance audiometry among diver candidates in a hyperbaric chamber before and after a pressure test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anoraga, J. S.; Bramantyo, B.; Bardosono, S.; Simanungkalit, S. H.; Basiruddin, J.

2017-08-01

Impedance audiometry is not yet routinely used in pressure tests, especially in Indonesia. Direct exposure to pressure in a hyperbaric chamber is sometimes without any assessment of the middle ear or the Eustachian tube function (ETF) of ventilation. Impedance audiometry examinations are important to assess ETF ventilation. This study determined the middle ear pressure value changes associated with the ETF (ventilation) of prospective divers. This study included 29 prospective divers aged 20-40 years without conductive hearing loss. All subjects underwent a modified diving impedance audiometry examination both before and after the pressure test in a double-lock hyperbaric chamber. Using the Toynbee maneuver, the values obtained for changes of pressure in the middle ear were significant before and after the pressure test in the right and left ears: p < 0.001 and p = 0.018, respectively. The impedance audiometry examination is necessary for the selection of candidate divers undergoing pressure tests within a hyperbaric chamber.

Examining the Reinforcement-Enhancement Effects of Phencyclidine and Its Interactions with Nicotine on Lever-Pressing for a Visual Stimulus

PubMed Central

Swalve, Natashia; Barrett, Scott T.; Bevins, Rick A.; Li, Ming

2015-01-01

Nicotine is a widely-abused drug, yet its primary reinforcing effect does not seem potent as other stimulants such as cocaine. Recent research on the contributing factors toward chronic use of nicotine-containing products has implicated the role of reinforcement-enhancing effects of nicotine. The present study investigates whether phencyclidine (PCP) may also possess a reinforcement-enhancement effect and how this may interact with the reinforcement-enhancement effect of nicotine. PCP was tested for two reasons: 1) it produces discrepant results on overall reward, similar to that seen with nicotine and 2) it may elucidate how other compounds may interact with the reinforcement-enhancement of nicotine. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to lever press for brief visual stimulus presentations under fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement and then were tested with nicotine (0.2 or 0.4 mg/kg) and/or PCP (2.0 mg/kg) over six increasing FR values. A selective increase in active lever-pressing for the visual stimulus with drug treatment was considered evidence of a reinforcement-enhancement effect. PCP and nicotine separately increased active lever pressing for a visual stimulus in a dose-dependent manner and across the different FR schedules. The addition of PCP to nicotine did not increase lever-pressing for the visual stimulus, possibly due to a ceiling effect. The effect of PCP may be driven largely by its locomotor stimulant effects, whereas the effect of nicotine was independent of locomotor stimulation. This dissociation emphasizes that distinct pharmacological properties contribute to the reinforcement-enhancement effects of substances. PMID:26026783

Noise audiometry.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1971-01-01

The displacement of a threshold from its measured-in-the-quiet value to the value it takes in the presence of another sound is masking. Measurement of that displacement is masking audiometry. And the measurement of displacements at a large number of ...

High-frequency Audiometry Hearing on Monitoring of Individuals Exposed to Occupational Noise: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Antonioli, Cleonice Aparecida Silva; Momensohn-Santos, Teresa Maria; Benaglia, Tatiana Aparecida Silva

2016-07-01

The literature reports on high-frequency audiometry as one of the exams used on hearing monitoring of individuals exposed to high sound pressure in their work environment, due to the method́s greater sensitivity in early identification of hearing loss caused by noise. The frequencies that compose the exam are generally between 9 KHz and 20KHz, depending on the equipment. This study aims to perform a retrospective and secondary systematic revision of publications on high-frequency audiometry on hearing monitoring of individuals exposed to occupational noise. This systematic revision followed the methodology proposed in the Cochrane Handbook, focusing on the question: "Is High-frequency Audiometry more sensitive than Conventional Audiometry in the screening of early hearing loss individuals exposed to occupational noise?" The search was based on PubMed data, Base, Web of Science (Capes), Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS), and in the references cited in identified and selected articles. The search resulted in 6059 articles in total. Of these, only six studies were compatible with the criteria proposed in this study. The performed meta-analysis does not definitively answer the study's proposed question. It indicates that the 16 KHz high frequency audiometry (HFA) frequency is sensitive in early identification of hearing loss in the control group (medium difference (MD = 8.33)), as well as the 4 KHz frequency (CA), this one being a little less expressive (MD = 5.72). Thus, others studies are necessary to confirm the HFA importance for the early screening of hearing loss on individuals exposed to noise at the workplace.

Examining the reinforcement-enhancement effects of phencyclidine and its interactions with nicotine on lever-pressing for a visual stimulus.

PubMed

Swalve, Natashia; Barrett, Scott T; Bevins, Rick A; Li, Ming

2015-09-15

Nicotine is a widely-abused drug, yet its primary reinforcing effect does not seem potent as other stimulants such as cocaine. Recent research on the contributing factors toward chronic use of nicotine-containing products has implicated the role of reinforcement-enhancing effects of nicotine. The present study investigates whether phencyclidine (PCP) may also possess a reinforcement-enhancement effect and how this may interact with the reinforcement-enhancement effect of nicotine. PCP was tested for two reasons: (1) it produces discrepant results on overall reward, similar to that seen with nicotine and (2) it may elucidate how other compounds may interact with the reinforcement-enhancement of nicotine. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to lever press for brief visual stimulus presentations under fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement and then were tested with nicotine (0.2 or 0.4 mg/kg) and/or PCP (2.0mg/kg) over six increasing FR values. A selective increase in active lever-pressing for the visual stimulus with drug treatment was considered evidence of a reinforcement-enhancement effect. PCP and nicotine separately increased active lever pressing for a visual stimulus in a dose-dependent manner and across the different FR schedules. The addition of PCP to nicotine did not increase lever-pressing for the visual stimulus, possibly due to a ceiling effect. The effect of PCP may be driven largely by its locomotor stimulant effects, whereas the effect of nicotine was independent of locomotor stimulation. This dissociation emphasizes that distinct pharmacological properties contribute to the reinforcement-enhancement effects of substances. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Auditory processing and high frequency audiometry in students of São Paulo].

PubMed

Ramos, Cristina Silveira; Pereira, Liliane Desgualdo

2005-01-01

Auditory processing and auditory sensibility to high Frequency sounds. To characterize the localization processes, temporal ordering, hearing patterns and detection of high frequency sounds, looking for possible relations between these factors. 32 hearing fourth grade students, born in city of São Paulo, were submitted to: a simplified evaluation of the auditory processing; duration pattern test; high frequency audiometry. Three (9,4%) individuals presented auditory processing disorder (APD) and in one of them there was the coexistence of lower hearing thresholds in high frequency audiometry. APD associated to an auditory sensibility loss in high frequencies should be further investigated.

Accuracy of Mobile-Based Audiometry in the Evaluation of Hearing Loss in Quiet and Noisy Environments.

PubMed

Saliba, Joe; Al-Reefi, Mahmoud; Carriere, Junie S; Verma, Neil; Provencal, Christiane; Rappaport, Jamie M

2017-04-01

Objectives (1) To compare the accuracy of 2 previously validated mobile-based hearing tests in determining pure tone thresholds and screening for hearing loss. (2) To determine the accuracy of mobile audiometry in noisy environments through noise reduction strategies. Study Design Prospective clinical study. Setting Tertiary hospital. Subjects and Methods Thirty-three adults with or without hearing loss were tested (mean age, 49.7 years; women, 42.4%). Air conduction thresholds measured as pure tone average and at individual frequencies were assessed by conventional audiogram and by 2 audiometric applications (consumer and professional) on a tablet device. Mobile audiometry was performed in a quiet sound booth and in a noisy sound booth (50 dB of background noise) through active and passive noise reduction strategies. Results On average, 91.1% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 89.1%-93.2%) and 95.8% (95% CI, 93.5%-97.1%) of the threshold values obtained in a quiet sound booth with the consumer and professional applications, respectively, were within 10 dB of the corresponding audiogram thresholds, as compared with 86.5% (95% CI, 82.6%-88.5%) and 91.3% (95% CI, 88.5%-92.8%) in a noisy sound booth through noise cancellation. When screening for at least moderate hearing loss (pure tone average >40 dB HL), the consumer application showed a sensitivity and specificity of 87.5% and 95.9%, respectively, and the professional application, 100% and 95.9%. Overall, patients preferred mobile audiometry over conventional audiograms. Conclusion Mobile audiometry can correctly estimate pure tone thresholds and screen for moderate hearing loss. Noise reduction strategies in mobile audiometry provide a portable effective solution for hearing assessments outside clinical settings.

High-frequency Audiometry Hearing on Monitoring of Individuals Exposed to Occupational Noise: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Antonioli, Cleonice Aparecida Silva; Momensohn-Santos, Teresa Maria; Benaglia, Tatiana Aparecida Silva

2015-01-01

Introduction  The literature reports on high-frequency audiometry as one of the exams used on hearing monitoring of individuals exposed to high sound pressure in their work environment, due to the method́s greater sensitivity in early identification of hearing loss caused by noise. The frequencies that compose the exam are generally between 9 KHz and 20KHz, depending on the equipment. Objective  This study aims to perform a retrospective and secondary systematic revision of publications on high-frequency audiometry on hearing monitoring of individuals exposed to occupational noise. Data Synthesis  This systematic revision followed the methodology proposed in the Cochrane Handbook, focusing on the question: “Is High-frequency Audiometry more sensitive than Conventional Audiometry in the screening of early hearing loss individuals exposed to occupational noise?” The search was based on PubMed data, Base, Web of Science (Capes), Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS), and in the references cited in identified and selected articles. The search resulted in 6059 articles in total. Of these, only six studies were compatible with the criteria proposed in this study. Conclusion  The performed meta-analysis does not definitively answer the study's proposed question. It indicates that the 16 KHz high frequency audiometry (HFA) frequency is sensitive in early identification of hearing loss in the control group (medium difference (MD = 8.33)), as well as the 4 KHz frequency (CA), this one being a little less expressive (MD = 5.72). Thus, others studies are necessary to confirm the HFA importance for the early screening of hearing loss on individuals exposed to noise at the workplace. PMID:27413413

An Alternative to Impedance Screening: Unoccluded Frontal Bone Conduction Screening.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Square, Regina; And Others

1985-01-01

A bone conduction hearing screening test using frontal bone oscillator placement was compared with pure-tone air-conduction screening and impedance audiometry with 114 preschoolers. Unoccluded frontal bone conduction testing produced screening results not significantly different from results obtained by impedance audiometry. (CL)!

The relationship between tinnitus pitch and parameters of audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions.

PubMed

Keppler, H; Degeest, S; Dhooge, I

2017-11-01

Chronic tinnitus is associated with reduced auditory input, which results in changes in the central auditory system. This study aimed to examine the relationship between tinnitus pitch and parameters of audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions. For audiometry, the parameters represented the edge frequency of hearing loss, the frequency of maximum hearing loss and the frequency range of hearing loss. For distortion product otoacoustic emissions, the parameters were the frequency of lowest distortion product otoacoustic emission amplitudes and the frequency range of reduced distortion product otoacoustic emissions. Sixty-seven patients (45 males, 22 females) with subjective chronic tinnitus, aged 18 to 73 years, were included. No correlation was found between tinnitus pitch and parameters of audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions. However, tinnitus pitch fell mostly within the frequency range of hearing loss. The current study seems to confirm the relationship between tinnitus pitch and the frequency range of hearing loss, thus supporting the homeostatic plasticity model.

[Results of audiometry screening in adolescent workers].

PubMed

Hartmann, B

1990-11-01

Results of screening audiometry of male youths aged 16 to 25 (n = 3969) in occupations from metallurgy, machine-building industry and traffic are demonstrated. Part of persons they have hearing loss between 5 to 10 percent increases from 2.8% of pupils before starting vocational training to 4.5% or 7.1% of apprentices and 9.7% of skilled workers. The incidence of persons with respective without middle ear inflammation in anamnesis only differ in stages about 20 percent hearing loss. It shows sensitivity of screening audiometry nevertheless there are possibilities of mistakes. Adolescents already may show measurable hearing loss in connection with professional and nonprofessional expositions as well as individual dispositions.

Distribution Characteristics of Air-Bone Gaps – Evidence of Bias in Manual Audiometry

PubMed Central

Margolis, Robert H.; Wilson, Richard H.; Popelka, Gerald R.; Eikelboom, Robert H.; Swanepoel, De Wet; Saly, George L.

2015-01-01

Objective Five databases were mined to examine distributions of air-bone gaps obtained by automated and manual audiometry. Differences in distribution characteristics were examined for evidence of influences unrelated to the audibility of test signals. Design The databases provided air- and bone-conduction thresholds that permitted examination of air-bone gap distributions that were free of ceiling and floor effects. Cases with conductive hearing loss were eliminated based on air-bone gaps, tympanometry, and otoscopy, when available. The analysis is based on 2,378,921 threshold determinations from 721,831 subjects from five databases. Results Automated audiometry produced air-bone gaps that were normally distributed suggesting that air- and bone-conduction thresholds are normally distributed. Manual audiometry produced air-bone gaps that were not normally distributed and show evidence of biasing effects of assumptions of expected results. In one database, the form of the distributions showed evidence of inclusion of conductive hearing losses. Conclusions Thresholds obtained by manual audiometry show tester bias effects from assumptions of the patient’s hearing loss characteristics. Tester bias artificially reduces the variance of bone-conduction thresholds and the resulting air-bone gaps. Because the automated method is free of bias from assumptions of expected results, these distributions are hypothesized to reflect the true variability of air- and bone-conduction thresholds and the resulting air-bone gaps. PMID:26627469

Music students: conventional hearing thresholds and at high frequencies.

PubMed

Lüders, Débora; Gonçalves, Cláudia Giglio de Oliveira; Lacerda, Adriana Bender de Moreira; Ribas, Ângela; Conto, Juliana de

2014-01-01

Research has shown that hearing loss in musicians may cause difficulty in timbre recognition and tuning of instruments. To analyze the hearing thresholds from 250 Hz to 16,000 Hz in a group of music students and compare them to a non-musician group in order to determine whether high-frequency audiometry is a useful tool in the early detection of hearing impairment. Study design was a retrospective observational cohort. Conventional and high-frequency audiometry was performed in 42 music students (Madsen Itera II audiometer and TDH39P headphones for conventional audiometry, and HDA 200 headphones for high-frequency audiometry). Of the 42 students, 38.1% were female students and 61.9% were male students, with a mean age of 26 years. At conventional audiometry, 92.85% had hearing thresholds within normal limits; but even within the normal limits, the worst results were observed in the left ear for all frequencies, except for 4000 Hz; compared to the non-musician group, the worst results occurred at 500 Hz in the left ear, and at 250 Hz, 6000 Hz, 9000 Hz, 10,000 Hz, and 11,200 Hz in both the ears. The periodic evaluation of high-frequency thresholds may be useful in the early detection of hearing loss in musicians. Copyright © 2014 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Visual inspection & capacity assessment of earthquake damaged reinforced concrete bridge elements.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-11-01

The overarching objective of this project was to produce standard procedures and associated training materials, for the conduct of post-earthquake visual inspection and capacity assessment of damaged reinforced concrete (RC) bridges where the procedu...

Evaluating Behavioural Observation Audiometry with Handicapped Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flexer, Carol; Gans, Donald P.

1982-01-01

Three observers evaluated the responses to sound with 21 mild to severely handicapped children (7 months to 10 years old) on Behavioural Observation Audiometry, an alternative to conditioning paradigms in audiometric assessment. Results showed that inter-observer agreement was high and that responsitivity was not affected by stimulus presentation…

The RetroX auditory implant for high-frequency hearing loss.

PubMed

Garin, P; Genard, F; Galle, C; Jamart, J

2004-07-01

The objective of this study was to analyze the subjective satisfaction and measure the hearing gain provided by the RetroX (Auric GmbH, Rheine, Germany), an auditory implant of the external ear. We conducted a retrospective case review. We conducted this study at a tertiary referral center at a university hospital. We studied 10 adults with high-frequency sensori-neural hearing loss (ski-slope audiogram). The RetroX consists of an electronic unit sited in the postaural sulcus connected to a titanium tube implanted under the auricle between the sulcus and the entrance of the external auditory canal. Implanting requires only minor surgery under local anesthesia. Main outcome measures were a satisfaction questionnaire, pure-tone audiometry in quiet, speech audiometry in quiet, speech audiometry in noise, and azimuth audiometry (hearing threshold in function of sound source location within the horizontal plane at ear level). : Subjectively, all 10 patients are satisfied or even extremely satisfied with the hearing improvement provided by the RetroX. They wear the implant daily, from morning to evening. We observe a statistically significant improvement of pure-tone thresholds at 1, 2, and 4 kHz. In quiet, the speech reception threshold improves by 9 dB. Speech audiometry in noise shows that intelligibility improves by 26% for a signal-to-noise ratio of -5 dB, by 18% for a signal-to-noise ratio of 0 dB, and by 13% for a signal-to-noise ratio of +5 dB. Localization audiometry indicates that the skull masks sound contralateral to the implanted ear. Of the 10 patients, one had acoustic feedback and one presented with a granulomatous reaction to the foreign body that necessitated removing the implant. The RetroX auditory implant is a semi-implantable hearing aid without occlusion of the external auditory canal. It provides a new therapeutic alternative for managing high-frequency hearing loss.

Measuring Sound-Processor Threshold Levels for Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients Using Conditioned Play Audiometry via Telepractice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goehring, Jenny L.; Hughes, Michelle L.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study evaluated the use of telepractice for measuring cochlear implant (CI) behavioral threshold (T) levels in children using conditioned play audiometry (CPA). The goals were to determine whether (a) T levels measured via telepractice were not significantly different from those obtained in person, (b) response probability differed…

Tiger salamanders' (Ambystoma tigrinum) response learning and usage of visual cues.

PubMed

Kundey, Shannon M A; Millar, Roberto; McPherson, Justin; Gonzalez, Maya; Fitz, Aleyna; Allen, Chadbourne

2016-05-01

We explored tiger salamanders' (Ambystoma tigrinum) learning to execute a response within a maze as proximal visual cue conditions varied. In Experiment 1, salamanders learned to turn consistently in a T-maze for reinforcement before the maze was rotated. All learned the initial task and executed the trained turn during test, suggesting that they learned to demonstrate the reinforced response during training and continued to perform it during test. In a second experiment utilizing a similar procedure, two visual cues were placed consistently at the maze junction. Salamanders were reinforced for turning towards one cue. Cue placement was reversed during test. All learned the initial task, but executed the trained turn rather than turning towards the visual cue during test, evidencing response learning. In Experiment 3, we investigated whether a compound visual cue could control salamanders' behaviour when it was the only cue predictive of reinforcement in a cross-maze by varying start position and cue placement. All learned to turn in the direction indicated by the compound visual cue, indicating that visual cues can come to control their behaviour. Following training, testing revealed that salamanders attended to stimuli foreground over background features. Overall, these results suggest that salamanders learn to execute responses over learning to use visual cues but can use visual cues if required. Our success with this paradigm offers the potential in future studies to explore salamanders' cognition further, as well as to shed light on how features of the tiger salamanders' life history (e.g. hibernation and metamorphosis) impact cognition.

The association of indicators of fetal growth with visual acuity and hearing among conscripts.

PubMed

Olsen, J; Sørensen, H T; Steffensen, F H; Sabroe, S; Gillman, M W; Fischer, P; Rothman, K J

2001-03-01

Impaired fetal growth is associated with increased susceptibility to several chronic diseases. We studied the association between birth weight, indicators of disproportional fetal growth, and impaired visual acuity and hearing in 4,300 conscripts from a well-defined region in Denmark from August 1, 1993, to July 31, 1994. From the standard health examination for conscripts, we obtained data on sight based on the Snellen's chart and data on hearing acuity based on audiometry. By means of record linkage, we obtained data on outcomes for the conscripts at birth from the Medical Birth Registry. From this registry, we have data on birth weight, gestational age, and birth length that were recorded from existing computerized registers based on the records of midwives. A birth weight of less than 3,000 gm and a body mass index at birth of less than 3.4 were associated with reduced visual acuity and impaired hearing. The results could be due to fetal brain programming or due to confounding, by early birth trauma or other factors.

Otoacoustic emissions versus audiometry in monitoring hearing loss after long-term noise exposure - a systematic review.

PubMed

Helleman, Hiske W; Eising, Hilde; Limpens, Jacqueline; Dreschler, Wouter A

2018-03-15

Objectives The objective of this systematic review was to compare otoacoustic emissions (OAE) with audiometry in their effectiveness to monitor effects of long-term noise exposure on hearing. Methods We conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE, Embase and the non-MEDLINE subset of PubMed up to March 2016 to identify longitudinal studies on effects of noise exposure on hearing as determined by both audiometry and OAE. Results This review comprised 13 articles, with 30-350 subjects in the longitudinal analysis. A meta-analysis could not be performed because the studies were very heterogeneous in terms of measurement paradigms, follow-up time, age of included subjects, inclusion of data points, outcome parameters and method of analysis. Overall there seemed to be small changes in both audiometry and OAE over time. Individual shifts were detected by both methods but a congruent pattern could not be observed. Some studies found that initial abnormal or low-level emissions might predict future hearing loss but at the cost of low specificity due to a high number of false positives. Other studies could not find such predictive value. Conclusions The reported heterogeneity in the studies calls for more uniformity in including, reporting and analyzing longitudinal data for audiometry and OAE. For the overall results, both methods showed small changes from baseline towards a deterioration in hearing. OAE could not reliably detect threshold shifts at individual level. With respect to the predictive value of OAE, the evidence was not conclusive and studies were not in agreement. The reported predictors had low specificity.

Sensorineural hearing loss among cerebellopontine-angle tumor patients examined with pure tone audiometry and brainstem-evoked response audiometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rinindra, A. M.; Zizlavsky, S.; Bashiruddin, J.; Aman, R. A.; Wulani, V.; Bardosono, S.

2017-08-01

Tumor in the cerebellopontine angle (CPA) accurs for approximately 5-10% of all intracranial tumors, where unilateral hearing loss and tinnitus are the most frequent symptoms. This study aimed to collect data on sensorineural hearing loss in CPA tumor patients in Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (CMH) using pure tone audiometry and brainstem-evoked response audiometry (BERA). It also aimed to obtaine data on CPA-tumor imaging through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This was a descriptive, analytic, and cross-sectional study. The subjects of this study were gathered using a total sampling method from secondary data between July 2012 and November 2016. From 104 patients, 30 matched the inclusion criteria. The CPA-tumor patients in the ENT CMH outpatient clinic were mostly female, middle-aged patients (41-60 years) whose clinical presentation was mostly tinnitus and severe, asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss in 10 subjects. From 30 subjects, 29 showed ipsilaterally impaired BERA results, and 17 subjects showed contralaterally impaired BERA results. There were 24 subjects who with large-sized tumors and 19 subjects who had intracanal tumors that had spread until they were extracanal in 19 subjects.

Some Tests of Response Membership in Acquired Equivalence Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Urcuioli, Peter J.; Lionello-DeNolf, Karen; Michalek, Sarah; Vasconcelos, Marco

2006-01-01

Pigeons were trained on many-to-one matching in which pairs of samples, each consisting of a visual stimulus and a distinctive pattern of center-key responding, occasioned the same reinforced comparison choice. Acquired equivalence between the visual and response samples then was evaluated by reinforcing new comparison choices to one set of…

Can motivation normalize working memory and task persistence in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder? The effects of money and computer-gaming.

PubMed

Dovis, Sebastiaan; Van der Oord, Saskia; Wiers, Reinout W; Prins, Pier J M

2012-07-01

Visual-spatial Working Memory (WM) is the most impaired executive function in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Some suggest that deficits in executive functioning are caused by motivational deficits. However, there are no studies that investigate the effects of motivation on the visual-spatial WM of children with- and without ADHD. Studies examining this in executive functions other than WM, show inconsistent results. These inconsistencies may be related to differences in the reinforcement used. The effects of different reinforcers on WM performance were investigated in 30 children with ADHD and 31 non-ADHD controls. A visual-spatial WM task was administered in four reinforcement conditions: Feedback-only, 1 euro, 10 euros, and a computer-game version of the task. In the Feedback-only condition, children with ADHD performed worse on the WM measure than controls. Although incentives significantly improved the WM performance of children with ADHD, even the strongest incentives (10 euros and Gaming) were unable to normalize their performance. Feedback-only provided sufficient reinforcement for controls to reach optimal performance, while children with ADHD required extra reinforcement. Only children with ADHD showed a decrease in performance over time. Importantly, the strongest incentives (10 euros and Gaming) normalized persistence of performance in these children, whereas 1 euro had no such effect. Both executive and motivational deficits give rise to visual-spatial WM deficits in ADHD. Problems with task-persistence in ADHD result from motivational deficits. In ADHD-reinforcement studies and clinical practice (e.g., assessment), reinforcement intensity can be a confounding factor and should be taken into account. Gaming can be a cost-effective way to maximize performance in ADHD.

Shaping with Visual Feedback and Token Reinforcement: Effects on Voice Volume Changes in Mentally Retarded Adults.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bieber, Carrie; Gurski, John C.

In an attempt to confirm earlier results with a group of mentally retarded females, 12 mentally retarded institutionalized adults (8 male, 4 female) were trained to either reduce (Loud group) or increase (Soft group) their voice volumes with a combination of visual feedback and token reinforcement. The feedback unit provided a binary light on-off…

Self-Control and Impulsiveness in Nondieting Adult Human Females: Effects of Visual Food Cues and Food Deprivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forzano, Lori-Ann B.; Chelonis, John J.; Casey, Caitlin; Forward, Marion; Stachowiak, Jacqueline A.; Wood, Jennifer

2010-01-01

Self-control can be defined as the choice of a larger, more delayed reinforcer over a smaller, less delayed reinforcer, and impulsiveness as the opposite. Previous research suggests that exposure to visual food cues affects adult humans' self-control. Previous research also suggests that food deprivation decreases adult humans' self-control. The…

Enhancement of a visual reinforcer by D-amphetamine and nicotine in adult rats: relation to habituation and food restriction.

PubMed

Wright, Jennifer M; Ren, Suelynn; Constantin, Annie; Clarke, Paul B S

2018-03-01

Nicotine and D-amphetamine can strengthen reinforcing effects of unconditioned visual stimuli. We investigated whether these reinforcement-enhancing effects reflect a slowing of stimulus habituation and depend on food restriction. Adult male rats pressed an active lever to illuminate a cue light during daily 60-min sessions. Depending on the experiment, rats were challenged with fixed or varying doses of D-amphetamine (0.25-2 mg/kg IP) and nicotine (0.025-0.2 mg/kg SC) or with the tobacco constituent norharman (0.03-10 μg/kg IV). Experiment 1 tested for possible reinforcement-enhancing effects of D-amphetamine and norharman. Experiment 2 investigated whether nicotine and amphetamine inhibited the spontaneous within-session decline in lever pressing. Experiment 3 assessed the effects of food restriction. Amphetamine (0.25-1 mg/kg) and nicotine (0.1 mg/kg) increased active lever pressing specifically (two- to threefold increase). The highest doses of nicotine and amphetamine also affected inactive lever responding (increase and decrease, respectively). With the visual reinforcer omitted, responding was largely extinguished. Neither drug appeared to slow habituation, as assessed by the within-session decline in lever pressing, and reinforcement-enhancing effects still occurred if the drugs were given after this decline had occurred. Food restriction enhanced the reinforcement-enhancing effect of amphetamine but not that of nicotine. Responding remained goal-directed after several weeks of testing. Low doses of D-amphetamine and nicotine produced reinforcement enhancement even in free-feeding subjects, independent of the spontaneous within-session decline in responding. Reinforcement enhancement by amphetamine, but not nicotine, was enhanced by concurrent subchronic food restriction.

Enhancing second-order conditioning with lesions of the basolateral amygdala.

PubMed

Holland, Peter C

2016-04-01

Because the occurrence of primary reinforcers in natural environments is relatively rare, conditioned reinforcement plays an important role in many accounts of behavior, including pathological behaviors such as the abuse of alcohol or drugs. As a result of pairing with natural or drug reinforcers, initially neutral cues acquire the ability to serve as reinforcers for subsequent learning. Accepting a major role for conditioned reinforcement in everyday learning is complicated by the often-evanescent nature of this phenomenon in the laboratory, especially when primary reinforcers are entirely absent from the test situation. Here, I found that under certain conditions, the impact of conditioned reinforcement could be extended by lesions of the basolateral amygdala (BLA). Rats received first-order Pavlovian conditioning pairings of 1 visual conditioned stimulus (CS) with food prior to receiving excitotoxic or sham lesions of the BLA, and first-order pairings of another visual CS with food after that surgery. Finally, each rat received second-order pairings of a different auditory cue with each visual first-order CS. As in prior studies, relative to sham-lesioned control rats, lesioned rats were impaired in their acquisition of second-order conditioning to the auditory cue paired with the first-order CS that was trained after surgery. However, lesioned rats showed enhanced and prolonged second-order conditioning to the auditory cue paired with the first-order CS that was trained before amygdala damage was made. Implications for an enhanced role for conditioned reinforcement by drug-related cues after drug-induced alterations in neural plasticity are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A novel music based tooth brushing system for blind children.

PubMed

Shetty, V; Hegde, A M; Varghese, E; Shetty, V

2013-01-01

To assess the Oral Health Status (OHS) of visually impaired children in South India, to devise and implement a specially designed Oral Health Education (OHE) program for them and to assess its efficacy in improving their OHS. OHS of 98 institutionalized visually impaired children aged 6 to 14 years were evaluated at the start of the study (Pre-OHE level) using the Modified Gingival Index (MGI), the Turesky-Gilmore-Glickman modification of the Quigley Hein Plaque Index (MQHPI) and Streptococcus mutans colony count. Oral Health Education was imparted with the help of specially designed models and tooth-brushing taught with specially formulated music aided instructions in a song format. These parameters were re-evaluated after a period of reinforced (two weeks and one month) and non-reinforced (two months) tooth-brushing. Mean values of MGI and MQHPI showed a statistically very highly significant drop from the Pre-OHE level to the end of both the periods of reinforcement and non-reinforcement. There was a significant decrease in the S. mutans counts from the Pre-OHE levels to the period of non-reinforcement (p < 0.0005). The OHE program specially formulated for the visually impaired children was effective in improving their OHS significantly

Reinforcer devaluation as a consequence of acute nicotine exposure and withdrawal

PubMed Central

Kirshenbaum, Ari; Green, John; Fay, Michael; Parks, Angelique; Phillips, Jesse; Stone, Jason; Roy, Tessa

2014-01-01

RATIONALE Nicotine discontinuation produces behaviors in rats that are congruent with anhedonia, and these symptoms may be related to the devaluation of non-nicotine reinforcers. OBJECTIVE Four separate experiments were performed to explore the parameters surrounding nicotine-induced reinforcer devaluation. METHODS In Experiments 1 and 2, nicotine (0.1 or 0.3 mg/kg) or 0.3 mg/kg nicotine plus 1.0 mg/kg mecamylamine was delivered to rats prior to progressive ratio (PR) schedule sessions in which sucrose was used as a reinforcer. In order to (a) evaluate reinforcer enhancement by nicotine, and (b) reinforcer devaluation in the absence of nicotine, all rats experienced two PR schedule sessions per day for 10 days. Experiment 3 involved nicotine (0.3 mg/kg) and a visual stimulus in place of sucrose reinforcement. In Experiment 4, rats received nicotine (0.3 mg/kg) either before or after a single PR-schedule session for 10 days. RESULTS Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that reinforcer devaluation is related to the occupation of nicotinic-acetylcholine receptors. Results from Experiment 3 provide some evidence that devaluation occurs with either sucrose or visual-stimulus reinforcement. Experiment 4 demonstrates that a necessary condition for reinforcer devaluation to occur is the concurrent exposure to the reinforcer and nicotine. CONCLUSIONS Reinforcer devaluation in rats emerges rapidly in a progressive, orderly fashion that coincides with accumulated exposure to nicotine. These results suggest that reinforcer devaluation may be a feature of nicotine that contributes to the abuse liability of tobacco products. PMID:25401169

Sensory Reinforcement: Effects of Response-Contingent Vestibular Stimulation on Multiply Handicapped Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandler, Allen G.; McLain, Susan C.

1987-01-01

Investigation of the reinforcing properties of vestibular stimulation with five multiply disabled severely retarded young children indicated that vestibular stimulation (10 seconds of swinging) was reinforcing to all subjects and was preferred (over food, praise, visual, and auditory stimulation) by four of the five children. (Author/DB)

Smartphone threshold audiometry in underserved primary health-care contexts.

PubMed

Sandström, Josefin; Swanepoel, De Wet; Carel Myburgh, Hermanus; Laurent, Claude

2016-01-01

To validate a calibrated smartphone-based hearing test in a sound booth environment and in primary health-care clinics. A repeated-measure within-subject study design was employed whereby air-conduction hearing thresholds determined by smartphone-based audiometry was compared to conventional audiometry in a sound booth and a primary health-care clinic environment. A total of 94 subjects (mean age 41 years ± 17.6 SD and range 18-88; 64% female) were assessed of whom 64 were tested in the sound booth and 30 within primary health-care clinics without a booth. In the sound booth 63.4% of conventional and smartphone thresholds indicated normal hearing (≤15 dBHL). Conventional thresholds exceeding 15 dB HL corresponded to smartphone thresholds within ≤10 dB in 80.6% of cases with an average threshold difference of -1.6 dB ± 9.9 SD. In primary health-care clinics 13.7% of conventional and smartphone thresholds indicated normal hearing (≤15 dBHL). Conventional thresholds exceeding 15 dBHL corresponded to smartphone thresholds within ≤10 dB in 92.9% of cases with an average threshold difference of -1.0 dB ± 7.1 SD. Accurate air-conduction audiometry can be conducted in a sound booth and without a sound booth in an underserved community health-care clinic using a smartphone.

Speech-evoked Brainstem Auditory Responses and Auditory Processing Skills: A Correlation in Adults with Hearing Loss

PubMed Central

Sanguebuche, Taissane Rodrigues; Peixe, Bruna Pias; Bruno, Rúbia Soares; Biaggio, Eliara Pinto Vieira; Garcia, Michele Vargas

2018-01-01

Introduction  The auditory system consists of sensory structures and central connections. The evaluation of the auditory pathway at a central level can be performed through behavioral and electrophysiological tests, because they are complementary to each other and provide important information about comprehension. Objective  To correlate the findings of speech brainstem-evoked response audiometry with the behavioral tests Random Gap Detection Test and Masking Level Difference in adults with hearing loss. Methods  All patients were submitted to a basic audiological evaluation, to the aforementioned behavioral tests, and to an electrophysiological assessment, by means of click-evoked and speech-evoked brainstem response audiometry. Results  There were no statistically significant values among the electrophysiological test and the behavioral tests. However, there was a significant correlation between the V and A waves, as well as the D and F waves, of the speech-evoked brainstem response audiometry peaks. Such correlations are positive, indicating that the increase of a variable implies an increase in another and vice versa. Conclusion  It was possible to correlate the findings of the speech-evoked brainstem response audiometry with those of the behavioral tests Random Gap Detection and Masking Level Difference. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between them. This shows that the electrophysiological evaluation does not depend uniquely on the behavioral skills of temporal resolution and selective attention. PMID:29379574

Gaze-contingent reinforcement learning reveals incentive value of social signals in young children and adults

PubMed Central

Smith, Tim J.; Senju, Atsushi

2017-01-01

While numerous studies have demonstrated that infants and adults preferentially orient to social stimuli, it remains unclear as to what drives such preferential orienting. It has been suggested that the learned association between social cues and subsequent reward delivery might shape such social orienting. Using a novel, spontaneous indication of reinforcement learning (with the use of a gaze contingent reward-learning task), we investigated whether children and adults' orienting towards social and non-social visual cues can be elicited by the association between participants' visual attention and a rewarding outcome. Critically, we assessed whether the engaging nature of the social cues influences the process of reinforcement learning. Both children and adults learned to orient more often to the visual cues associated with reward delivery, demonstrating that cue–reward association reinforced visual orienting. More importantly, when the reward-predictive cue was social and engaging, both children and adults learned the cue–reward association faster and more efficiently than when the reward-predictive cue was social but non-engaging. These new findings indicate that social engaging cues have a positive incentive value. This could possibly be because they usually coincide with positive outcomes in real life, which could partly drive the development of social orienting. PMID:28250186

Gaze-contingent reinforcement learning reveals incentive value of social signals in young children and adults.

PubMed

Vernetti, Angélina; Smith, Tim J; Senju, Atsushi

2017-03-15

While numerous studies have demonstrated that infants and adults preferentially orient to social stimuli, it remains unclear as to what drives such preferential orienting. It has been suggested that the learned association between social cues and subsequent reward delivery might shape such social orienting. Using a novel, spontaneous indication of reinforcement learning (with the use of a gaze contingent reward-learning task), we investigated whether children and adults' orienting towards social and non-social visual cues can be elicited by the association between participants' visual attention and a rewarding outcome. Critically, we assessed whether the engaging nature of the social cues influences the process of reinforcement learning. Both children and adults learned to orient more often to the visual cues associated with reward delivery, demonstrating that cue-reward association reinforced visual orienting. More importantly, when the reward-predictive cue was social and engaging, both children and adults learned the cue-reward association faster and more efficiently than when the reward-predictive cue was social but non-engaging. These new findings indicate that social engaging cues have a positive incentive value. This could possibly be because they usually coincide with positive outcomes in real life, which could partly drive the development of social orienting. © 2017 The Authors.

Going wireless and booth-less for hearing testing in industry.

PubMed

Meinke, Deanna K; Norris, Jesse A; Flynn, Brendan P; Clavier, Odile H

2017-01-01

To assess the test-retest variability of hearing thresholds obtained with an innovative, mobile wireless automated hearing-test system (WAHTS) with enhanced sound attenuation to test industrial workers at a worksite as compared to standardised automated hearing thresholds obtained in a mobile trailer sound booth. A within-subject repeated-measures design was used to compare air-conducted threshold tests (500-8000 Hz) measured with the WAHTS in six workplace locations, and a third test using computer-controlled audiometry obtained in a mobile trailer sound booth. Ambient noise levels were measured in all test environments. Twenty workers served as listeners and 20 workers served as operators. On average, the WAHTS resulted in equivalent thresholds as the mobile trailer audiometry at 1000, 2000, 3000 and 8000 Hz and thresholds were within ±5 dB at 500, 4000 and 6000 Hz. Comparable performance may be obtained with the WAHTS in occupational audiometry and valid thresholds may be obtained in diverse test locations without the use of sound-attenuating enclosures.

Clinical Validity of hearScreen™ Smartphone Hearing Screening for School Children.

PubMed

Mahomed-Asmail, Faheema; Swanepoel, De Wet; Eikelboom, Robert H; Myburgh, Hermanus C; Hall, James

2016-01-01

The study aimed to determine the validity of a smartphone hearing screening technology (hearScreen™) compared with conventional screening audiometry in terms of (1) sensitivity and specificity, (2) referral rate, and (3) test time. One thousand and seventy school-age children in grades 1 to 3 (8 ± 1.1 average years) were recruited from five public schools. Children were screened twice, once using conventional audiometry and once with the smartphone hearing screening. Screening was conducted in a counterbalanced sequence, alternating initial screen between conventional or smartphone hearing screening. No statistically significant difference in performance between techniques was noted, with smartphone screening demonstrating equivalent sensitivity (75.0%) and specificity (98.5%) to conventional screening audiometry. While referral rates were lower with the smartphone screening (3.2 vs. 4.6%), it was not significantly different (p > 0.05). Smartphone screening (hearScreen™) was 12.3% faster than conventional screening. Smartphone hearing screening using the hearScreen™ application is accurate and time efficient.

Temporary threshold shift in military pilots measured using conventional and extended high-frequency audiometry after one flight.

PubMed

Kuronen, Pentti; Sorri, Martti J; Pääkkönen, Rauno; Muhli, Arto

2003-01-01

Noise of such a high level that it can result in hearing deterioration is an inherent characteristic of military flying. Susceptibility to hearing impairment was studied using 51 Finnish Air Force military personnel as subjects. The test persons flew missions on a British Aerospace Hawk 51 advanced jet trainer, Boeing F-18 Hornet, Mikoyan & Gurevich MiG-21bis and Saab 35 Draken interceptors, and a Valmet Redigo turboprop liaison aircraft. The duration of noise exposure was one flight mission, which varied from 30 to 60 min. Noise doses and levels were measured using a miniature microphone at the inlet of the ear canal, while a second microphone was located at the level of the subject's shoulder. Hearing thresholds were measured before each flight using conventional (0.125-8 kHz) and extended high-frequency (EHF) (8.20 kHz) audiometry. The measurements were repeated as soon as possible after the flight. The study showed that the pre-flight threshold levels of the subjects were good. Both conventional and EHF audiometry revealed statistically significant temporary threshold shifts (TTS) at several frequencies and with all aircraft types involved. The changes were, however, minor. The risk of noise-induced hearing impairment at the studied exposure levels is, in all probability, rather small. The role of extended high-frequency audiometry would be in research, and it might be performed for flying personnel upon entering service and every fifth year thereafter.

Stimulus change as a factor in response maintenance with free food available.

PubMed Central

Osborne, S R; Shelby, M

1975-01-01

Rats bar pressed for food on a reinforcement schedule in which every response was reinforced, even though a dish of pellets was present. Initially, auditory and visual stimuli accompanied response-produced food presentation. With stimulus feedback as an added consequence of bar pressing, responding was maintained in the presence of free food; without stimulus feedback, responding decreased to a low level. Auditory feedback maintained slightly more responding than did visual feedback, and both together maintained more responding than did either separately. Almost no responding occurred when the only consequence of bar pressing was stimulus feedback. The data indicated conditioned and sensory reinforcement effects of response-produced stimulus feedback. PMID:1202121

Hearing Tests Based on Biologically Calibrated Mobile Devices: Comparison With Pure-Tone Audiometry

PubMed Central

Grysiński, Tomasz; Kręcicki, Tomasz

2018-01-01

Background Hearing screening tests based on pure-tone audiometry may be conducted on mobile devices, provided that the devices are specially calibrated for the purpose. Calibration consists of determining the reference sound level and can be performed in relation to the hearing threshold of normal-hearing persons. In the case of devices provided by the manufacturer, together with bundled headphones, the reference sound level can be calculated once for all devices of the same model. Objective This study aimed to compare the hearing threshold measured by a mobile device that was calibrated using a model-specific, biologically determined reference sound level with the hearing threshold obtained in pure-tone audiometry. Methods Trial participants were recruited offline using face-to-face prompting from among Otolaryngology Clinic patients, who own Android-based mobile devices with bundled headphones. The hearing threshold was obtained on a mobile device by means of an open access app, Hearing Test, with incorporated model-specific reference sound levels. These reference sound levels were previously determined in uncontrolled conditions in relation to the hearing threshold of normal-hearing persons. An audiologist-assisted self-measurement was conducted by the participants in a sound booth, and it involved determining the lowest audible sound generated by the device within the frequency range of 250 Hz to 8 kHz. The results were compared with pure-tone audiometry. Results A total of 70 subjects, 34 men and 36 women, aged 18-71 years (mean 36, standard deviation [SD] 11) participated in the trial. The hearing threshold obtained on mobile devices was significantly different from the one determined by pure-tone audiometry with a mean difference of 2.6 dB (95% CI 2.0-3.1) and SD of 8.3 dB (95% CI 7.9-8.7). The number of differences not greater than 10 dB reached 89% (95% CI 88-91), whereas the mean absolute difference was obtained at 6.5 dB (95% CI 6.2-6.9). Sensitivity and specificity for a mobile-based screening method were calculated at 98% (95% CI 93-100.0) and 79% (95% CI 71-87), respectively. Conclusions The method of hearing self-test carried out on mobile devices with bundled headphones demonstrates high compatibility with pure-tone audiometry, which confirms its potential application in hearing monitoring, screening tests, or epidemiological examinations on a large scale. PMID:29321124

Hearing Tests Based on Biologically Calibrated Mobile Devices: Comparison With Pure-Tone Audiometry.

PubMed

Masalski, Marcin; Grysiński, Tomasz; Kręcicki, Tomasz

2018-01-10

Hearing screening tests based on pure-tone audiometry may be conducted on mobile devices, provided that the devices are specially calibrated for the purpose. Calibration consists of determining the reference sound level and can be performed in relation to the hearing threshold of normal-hearing persons. In the case of devices provided by the manufacturer, together with bundled headphones, the reference sound level can be calculated once for all devices of the same model. This study aimed to compare the hearing threshold measured by a mobile device that was calibrated using a model-specific, biologically determined reference sound level with the hearing threshold obtained in pure-tone audiometry. Trial participants were recruited offline using face-to-face prompting from among Otolaryngology Clinic patients, who own Android-based mobile devices with bundled headphones. The hearing threshold was obtained on a mobile device by means of an open access app, Hearing Test, with incorporated model-specific reference sound levels. These reference sound levels were previously determined in uncontrolled conditions in relation to the hearing threshold of normal-hearing persons. An audiologist-assisted self-measurement was conducted by the participants in a sound booth, and it involved determining the lowest audible sound generated by the device within the frequency range of 250 Hz to 8 kHz. The results were compared with pure-tone audiometry. A total of 70 subjects, 34 men and 36 women, aged 18-71 years (mean 36, standard deviation [SD] 11) participated in the trial. The hearing threshold obtained on mobile devices was significantly different from the one determined by pure-tone audiometry with a mean difference of 2.6 dB (95% CI 2.0-3.1) and SD of 8.3 dB (95% CI 7.9-8.7). The number of differences not greater than 10 dB reached 89% (95% CI 88-91), whereas the mean absolute difference was obtained at 6.5 dB (95% CI 6.2-6.9). Sensitivity and specificity for a mobile-based screening method were calculated at 98% (95% CI 93-100.0) and 79% (95% CI 71-87), respectively. The method of hearing self-test carried out on mobile devices with bundled headphones demonstrates high compatibility with pure-tone audiometry, which confirms its potential application in hearing monitoring, screening tests, or epidemiological examinations on a large scale. ©Marcin Masalski, Tomasz Grysiński, Tomasz Kręcicki. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 10.01.2018.

The Development of a Token Reinforcement System for a Specific Lesson. Technical Report #11.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Au, Kathryn

This paper presents a brief description of a token reinforcement system developed for a kindergarten language class in the Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP). Visual reinforcers (colored plastic tabs) were placed next to the names of individual children (each time they made a correct response) on a large chart in the front of the room. Five…

Auditory and visual health after ten years of exposure to metal-on-metal hip prostheses: a cross-sectional study follow up.

PubMed

Prentice, Jennifer R; Blackwell, Christopher S; Raoof, Naz; Bacon, Paul; Ray, Jaydip; Hickman, Simon J; Wilkinson, J Mark

2014-01-01

Case reports of patients with mal-functioning metal-on-metal hip replacement (MoMHR) prostheses suggest an association of elevated circulating metal levels with visual and auditory dysfunction. However, it is unknown if this is a cumulative exposure effect and the impact of prolonged low level exposure, relevant to the majority of patients with a well-functioning prosthesis, has not been studied. Twenty four male patients with a well-functioning MoMHR and an age and time since surgery matched group of 24 male patients with conventional total hip arthroplasty (THA) underwent clinical and electrophysiological assessment of their visual and auditory health at a mean of ten years after surgery. Median circulating cobalt and chromium concentrations were higher in patients after MoMHR versus those with THA (P<0.0001), but were within the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (UK) investigation threshold. Subjective auditory tests including pure tone audiometric and speech discrimination findings were similar between groups (P>0.05). Objective assessments, including amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio of transient evoked and distortion product oto-acoustic emissions (TEOAE and DPOAE, respectively), were similar for all the frequencies tested (P>0.05). Auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and cortical evoked response audiometry (ACR) were also similar between groups (P>0.05). Ophthalmological evaluations, including self-reported visual function by visual functioning questionnaire, as well as binocular low contrast visual acuity and colour vision were similar between groups (P>0.05). Retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and macular volume measured by optical coherence tomography were also similar between groups (P>0.05). In the presence of moderately elevated metal levels associated with well-functioning implants, MoMHR exposure does not associate with clinically demonstrable visual or auditory dysfunction.

Diagnostic pure-tone audiometry in schools: mobile testing without a sound-treated environment.

PubMed

Swanepoel, De Wet; Maclennan-Smith, Felicity; Hall, James W

2013-01-01

To validate diagnostic pure-tone audiometry in schools without a sound-treated environment using an audiometer that incorporates insert earphones covered by circumaural earcups and real-time environmental noise monitoring. A within-subject repeated measures design was employed to compare air (250 to 8000 Hz) and bone (250 to 4000 Hz) conduction pure-tone thresholds measured in natural school environments with thresholds measured in a sound-treated booth. 149 children (54% female) with an average age of 6.9 yr (SD = 0.6; range = 5-8). Average difference between the booth and natural environment thresholds was 0.0 dB (SD = 3.6) for air conduction and 0.1 dB (SD = 3.1) for bone conduction. Average absolute difference between the booth and natural environment was 2.1 dB (SD = 2.9) for air conduction and 1.6 dB (SD = 2.7) for bone conduction. Almost all air- (96%) and bone-conduction (97%) threshold comparisons between the natural and booth test environments were within 0 to 5 dB. No statistically significant differences between thresholds recorded in the natural and booth environments for air- and bone-conduction audiometry were found (p > 0.01). Diagnostic air- and bone-conduction audiometry in schools, without a sound-treated room, is possible with sufficient earphone attenuation and real-time monitoring of environmental noise. Audiological diagnosis on-site for school screening may address concerns of false-positive referrals and poor follow-up compliance and allow for direct referral to audiological and/or medical intervention. American Academy of Audiology.

Screening protocols for the prevention of occupational noise-induced hearing loss: the role of conventional and extended high frequency audiometry may vary according to the years of employment.

PubMed

Riga, Maria; Korres, George; Balatsouras, Dimitrios; Korres, Stavros

2010-07-01

Although occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has become a major problem in industrialized societies, there is a notable lack of effective screening protocols to ensure its early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to detect a potential role of extended high frequency (EHF) audiometry in industrial hearing screening protocols. The population consisted of 151 persons, working for 8 hours daily in a noisy environment (90-110 dBA). The changes of hearing thresholds in industrial workers were analyzed, not only with respect to their age, as has been presented by previous studies, but also with respect to the duration of their previous employment. During the first 10 years of employment, the frequencies 12500, 14000 and 16000Hz were the only ones significantly affected. For the second decade of employment, thresholds were significantly elevated only at 2000 and 4000Hz. After exceeding 20 years of employment, the affected frequencies were 250, 500 and 1000Hz. The effects of age on hearing acuity were significant at all frequencies for the first 2 groups. EHF audiometry seems able to identify the first signs of NIHL, much earlier than conventional audiometry, and therefore may need to be implemented in the screening examinations especially of workers with less than 1 decade of employment. Hearing screening protocols could become more efficient by adjusting their frequency ranges according to the frequencies "at risk", which correspond to the duration of the workers' previous employment.

Audiologic and subjective evaluation of Baha® Attract device.

PubMed

Pérez-Carbonell, Tomàs; Pla-Gil, Ignacio; Redondo-Martínez, Jaume; Morant-Ventura, Antonio; García-Callejo, Francisco Javier; Marco-Algarra, Jaime

We included 9 patients implanted with Baha ® Attract. All our patients were evaluated by free field tonal audiometry, free field verbal audiometry and free field verbal audiometry with background noise, all the tests were performed with and without the device. To evaluate the subjective component of the implantation, we used the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) and Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB). The auditive assessment with the device showed average auditive thresholds of 35.8dB with improvements of 25.8dB over the previous situation. Speech reception thresholds were 37dB with Baha ® Attract, showing improvements of 23dB. Maximum discrimination thresholds showed an average gain of 60dB with the device. Baha ® Attract achieves auditive improvements in patients for whom it is correctly indicated, with a consequent positive subjective evaluation. This study shows the attenuation effect in transcutaneous transmission, that prevents the device achieving greater improvements. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Cirugía de Cabeza y Cuello. All rights reserved.

Outcome measures in stapes surgery: postoperative results are independent from preoperative parameters.

PubMed

Koopmann, Mario; Weiss, Daniel; Savvas, Eleftherios; Rudack, Claudia; Stenner, Markus

2015-09-01

The aim of this study was to compare audiometric results before and after stapes surgery and identify potential prognostic factors to appropriately select patients with otosclerosis who will most likely benefit from surgery. We enrolled 126 patients with otosclerosis (162 consecutive ears) in our study who underwent stapes surgery between 2007 and 2012 at our institution. Preoperative and postoperative data including pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, stapedial reflex audiometry and surgical data were analyzed. The average preoperative air-bone gap (ABG) was 28.9 ± 8.6 dB. Male patients and patients older than 45 years of age had greater preoperative ABGs in comparison to females and younger patients. Postoperative ABGs were 11.2 ± 7.4 dB. The average ABG gain was 17.7 ± 11.1 dB. Preoperative audiometric data, age, gender and type of surgery did not influence the postoperative results. Stapes surgery offers predictable results independent from disease progression or patient-related factors. While absolute values of hearing improvement are instrumental in reflecting audiometric results of a cohort, relative values better reflect individual's audiometric data resembling the patient's benefit.

Active middle ear implant after lateral petrosectomy and radiotherapy for ear cancer.

PubMed

Cristalli, Giovanni; Sprinzl, Georg M; Wolf-Magele, Astrid; Marchesi, Paolo; Mercante, Giuseppe; Spriano, Giuseppe

2014-04-01

Tumor of the temporal bone is a rare disease with a very poor prognosis. Surgery and postoperative radiotherapy are usually the recommended treatments for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the external and middle ear, which may cause conductive hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the audiologic results and compliance of active middle ear implant (AMEI) and establish the feasibility of the procedure in a patient treated for middle ear cancer. A 73-year-old patient treated with lateral petrosectomy, neck dissection, reconstruction/obliteration by pedicled pectoralis major myocutaneous flap, and postoperative full dose radiotherapy for external and middle ear SCC was selected for AMEI. Preoperative audiometric and speech audiometry tests were performed on both ears before and after the activation. Pure tone free field audiometry. Binaural free field speech audiogram. Aided pure tone free field audiometry AMEI results show an increase in air conduction. Speech audiogram showed better discrimination scores in AMEI-aided situations. No complications were observed. AMEI after surgery followed by radiotherapy for middle ear cancer is feasible. Acoustic results in obliterated ear are satisfactory.

Using the PyMOL Application to Reinforce Visual Understanding of Protein Structure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rigsby, Rachel E.; Parker, Alison B.

2016-01-01

Visualization of chemical concepts can be challenging for many students. This is arguably a critical skill for beginning students of biochemistry to develop, since new information is often presented visually in the form of textbook figures. It is recommended that visual literacy be explicitly taught in the classroom rather than assuming that…

[Health surveillance in a steel making industry with electric arc furnace: 15 years of experience].

PubMed

Corti, P

2012-01-01

This paper analyzes the results of health surveillance carried out in an electric steel mill for 15 years. We have analyzed the trend of audiometry, spirometry and main indicators of exposure to chemical risk: serum lead, urinary OH-pyrene, erythrocyte ZPP, and the results of risk assessment of stress work related. The analyses of the trend of audiometry, spirometry and biological monitoring shows an important improving in the working environment due to the progressive automation of production steps in the course of several years, consistent and correct use of DPI, information and training.

Reinforcement learning in computer vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, A. V.; Burnaev, E. V.

2018-04-01

Nowadays, machine learning has become one of the basic technologies used in solving various computer vision tasks such as feature detection, image segmentation, object recognition and tracking. In many applications, various complex systems such as robots are equipped with visual sensors from which they learn state of surrounding environment by solving corresponding computer vision tasks. Solutions of these tasks are used for making decisions about possible future actions. It is not surprising that when solving computer vision tasks we should take into account special aspects of their subsequent application in model-based predictive control. Reinforcement learning is one of modern machine learning technologies in which learning is carried out through interaction with the environment. In recent years, Reinforcement learning has been used both for solving such applied tasks as processing and analysis of visual information, and for solving specific computer vision problems such as filtering, extracting image features, localizing objects in scenes, and many others. The paper describes shortly the Reinforcement learning technology and its use for solving computer vision problems.

[Investigation of neural stem cell-derived donor contribution in the inner ear following blastocyst injection].

PubMed

Volkenstein, S; Brors, D; Hansen, S; Mlynski, R; Dinger, T C; Müller, A M; Dazert, S

2008-03-01

Utilising the enormous proliferation and multi-lineage differentiation potentials of somatic stem cells represents a possible therapeutical strategy for diseases of non-regenerative tissues like the inner ear. In the current study, the possibility of murine neural stem cells to contribute to the developing inner ear following blastocyst injection was investigated. Fetal brain-derived neural stem cells from the embryonic day 14 cortex of male mice were isolated and expanded for four weeks in neurobasal media supplemented with bFGF and EGF. Neural stem cells of male animals were harvested, injected into blastocysts and the blastocysts were transferred into pseudo-pregnant foster animals. Each blastocyst was injected with 5-15 microspheres growing from single cell suspension from neurospheres dissociated the day before. The resulting mice were investigated six months POST PARTUM for the presence of donor cells. Brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA) was performed in six animals. To visualize donor cells Lac-Z staining was performed on sliced cochleas of two animals. In addition, the cochleas of four female animals were isolated and genomic DNA of the entire cochlea was analyzed for donor contribution by Y-chromosome-specific PCR. All animals had normal thresholds in brainstem evoked response audiometry. The male-specific PCR product indicating the presence of male donor cells were detected in the cochleas of three of the four female animals investigated. In two animals, male donor cells were detected unilateral, in one animal bilateral. The results suggest that descendants of neural stem cells are detectable in the inner ear after injection into blastocysts and possess the ability to integrate into the developing inner ear without obvious loss in hearing function.

The value of ASSR threshold-based bilateral hearing aid fitting in children with difficult or unreliable behavioral audiometry.

PubMed

Vlastarakos, Petros V; Vasileiou, Alexandra; Nikolopoulos, Thomas P

2017-12-01

We conducted an analysis to assess the relative contribution of auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing and auditory steady-state response (ASSR) testing in providing appropriate hearing aid fitting in hearing-impaired children with difficult or unreliable behavioral audiometry. Of 150 infants and children who had been referred to us for hearing assessment as part of a neonatal hearing screening and cochlear implantation program, we identified 5 who exhibited significant discrepancies between click-ABR and ASSR testing results and difficult or unreliable behavioral audiometry. Hearing aid fitting in pediatric cochlear implant candidates for a trial period of 3 to 6 months is a common practice in many implant programs, but monitoring the progress of the amplified infants and providing appropriate hearing aid fitting can be challenging. If we accept the premise that we can assess the linguistic progress of amplified infants with an acceptable degree of certainty, the auditory behavior that we are monitoring presupposes appropriate bilateral hearing aid fitting. This may become very challenging in young children, or even in older children with difficult or unreliable behavioral audiometry results. This challenge can be addressed by using data from both ABR and ASSR testing. Fitting attempts that employ data from only ABR testing provide amplification that involves the range of spoken language but is not frequency-specific. Hearing aid fitting should also incorporate and take into account ASSR data because reliance on ABR testing alone might compromise the validity of the monitoring process. In conclusion, we believe that ASSR threshold-based bilateral hearing aid fitting is necessary to provide frequency-specific amplification of hearing and appropriate propulsion in the prelinguistic vocalizations of monitored infants.

Self-administered hearing loss screening using an interactive, tablet play audiometer with ear bud headphones.

PubMed

Yeung, Jeffrey C; Heley, Sophie; Beauregard, Yves; Champagne, Sandra; Bromwich, Matthew A

2015-08-01

The timely diagnosis and treatment of acquired hearing loss in the pediatric population has significant implications for a child's development. Audiological assessment in children, however, carries both technological and logistical challenges. Typically, specialized methods (such as play audiometry) are required to maintain the child's attention and can be resource intensive. These challenges were previously addressed by a novel, calibrated, interactive play audiometer for Apple(®) iOS(®) called "ShoeBOX Audiometry". This device has potential applications for deployment in environments where traditional clinical audiometry is either unavailable or impractical. The objective of this study was to assess the screening capability of the tablet audiometer in an uncontrolled environment using consumer ear-bud headphones. Consecutive patients presenting to the Audiology Clinic at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (ages 4 and older) were recruited. Participants' hearing was evaluted using the tablet audiometer calibrated to Apple(®) In-Ear headphones. The warble tone thresholds obtained were compared to gold standard measurements taken with a traditional clinical audiometer inside a soundbooth. 80 patients were enrolled. The majority of participants were capable of completing an audiologic assessment using the tablet computer. Due to ambient noise levels outside a soundbooth, thresholds obtained at 500Hz were not consistent with traditional audiometry. Excluding 500Hz threholds, the tablet audiometer demonstrated strong negative predictive value (89.7%) as well as strong sensitivity (91.2%) for hearing loss. Thresholds obtained in an uncontrolled setting are not reflective of diagnostic thresholds due to the uncalibrated nature of the headphones and variability of the setting without a booth. Nevertheless, the tablet audiometer proved to be both a valid and sensitive instrument for unsupervised screening of warble-tone thresholds in children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-test web-based pure-tone audiometry: validity evaluation and measurement error analysis.

PubMed

Masalski, Marcin; Kręcicki, Tomasz

2013-04-12

Potential methods of application of self-administered Web-based pure-tone audiometry conducted at home on a PC with a sound card and ordinary headphones depend on the value of measurement error in such tests. The aim of this research was to determine the measurement error of the hearing threshold determined in the way described above and to identify and analyze factors influencing its value. The evaluation of the hearing threshold was made in three series: (1) tests on a clinical audiometer, (2) self-tests done on a specially calibrated computer under the supervision of an audiologist, and (3) self-tests conducted at home. The research was carried out on the group of 51 participants selected from patients of an audiology outpatient clinic. From the group of 51 patients examined in the first two series, the third series was self-administered at home by 37 subjects (73%). The average difference between the value of the hearing threshold determined in series 1 and in series 2 was -1.54dB with standard deviation of 7.88dB and a Pearson correlation coefficient of .90. Between the first and third series, these values were -1.35dB±10.66dB and .84, respectively. In series 3, the standard deviation was most influenced by the error connected with the procedure of hearing threshold identification (6.64dB), calibration error (6.19dB), and additionally at the frequency of 250Hz by frequency nonlinearity error (7.28dB). The obtained results confirm the possibility of applying Web-based pure-tone audiometry in screening tests. In the future, modifications of the method leading to the decrease in measurement error can broaden the scope of Web-based pure-tone audiometry application.

49 CFR 178.345-7 - Circumferential reinforcements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... stiffeners which prevent visual inspection of the cargo tank shell are prohibited on cargo tank motor... PACKAGINGS Specifications for Containers for Motor Vehicle Transportation § 178.345-7 Circumferential reinforcements. (a) A cargo tank with a shell thickness of less than 3/8 inch must be circumferentially...

49 CFR 178.345-7 - Circumferential reinforcements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... stiffeners which prevent visual inspection of the cargo tank shell are prohibited on cargo tank motor... PACKAGINGS Specifications for Containers for Motor Vehicle Transportation § 178.345-7 Circumferential reinforcements. (a) A cargo tank with a shell thickness of less than 3/8 inch must be circumferentially...

49 CFR 178.345-7 - Circumferential reinforcements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... stiffeners which prevent visual inspection of the cargo tank shell are prohibited on cargo tank motor... PACKAGINGS Specifications for Containers for Motor Vehicle Transportation § 178.345-7 Circumferential reinforcements. (a) A cargo tank with a shell thickness of less than 3/8 inch must be circumferentially...

49 CFR 178.345-7 - Circumferential reinforcements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... stiffeners which prevent visual inspection of the cargo tank shell are prohibited on cargo tank motor... PACKAGINGS Specifications for Containers for Motor Vehicle Transportation § 178.345-7 Circumferential reinforcements. (a) A cargo tank with a shell thickness of less than 3/8 inch must be circumferentially...

49 CFR 178.345-7 - Circumferential reinforcements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... stiffeners which prevent visual inspection of the cargo tank shell are prohibited on cargo tank motor... PACKAGINGS Specifications for Containers for Motor Vehicle Transportation § 178.345-7 Circumferential reinforcements. (a) A cargo tank with a shell thickness of less than 3/8 inch must be circumferentially...

Social Cognition as Reinforcement Learning: Feedback Modulates Emotion Inference.

PubMed

Zaki, Jamil; Kallman, Seth; Wimmer, G Elliott; Ochsner, Kevin; Shohamy, Daphna

2016-09-01

Neuroscientific studies of social cognition typically employ paradigms in which perceivers draw single-shot inferences about the internal states of strangers. Real-world social inference features much different parameters: People often encounter and learn about particular social targets (e.g., friends) over time and receive feedback about whether their inferences are correct or incorrect. Here, we examined this process and, more broadly, the intersection between social cognition and reinforcement learning. Perceivers were scanned using fMRI while repeatedly encountering three social targets who produced conflicting visual and verbal emotional cues. Perceivers guessed how targets felt and received feedback about whether they had guessed correctly. Visual cues reliably predicted one target's emotion, verbal cues predicted a second target's emotion, and neither reliably predicted the third target's emotion. Perceivers successfully used this information to update their judgments over time. Furthermore, trial-by-trial learning signals-estimated using two reinforcement learning models-tracked activity in ventral striatum and ventromedial pFC, structures associated with reinforcement learning, and regions associated with updating social impressions, including TPJ. These data suggest that learning about others' emotions, like other forms of feedback learning, relies on domain-general reinforcement mechanisms as well as domain-specific social information processing.

Kinesthetic Reinforcement-Is It a Boon to Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bohrer, Roxilu K.

1970-01-01

Language instruction, particularly in the elementary school, should be reinforced through the use of visual aids and through associated physical activity. Kinesthetic experiences provide an opportunity to make use of non-verbal cues to meaning, enliven classroom activities, and maximize learning for pupils. The author discusses the educational…

A Simple Visualization of Double Bond Properties: Chemical Reactivity and UV Fluorescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grayson, Scott M.

2012-01-01

A simple, easily visualized thin-layer chromatography (TLC) staining experiment is presented that highlights the difference in reactivity between aromatic double bonds and nonaromatic double bonds. Although the stability of aromatic systems is a major theme in organic chemistry, the concept is rarely reinforced "visually" in the undergraduate…

Caffeine increases the motivation to obtain non-drug reinforcers in rats

PubMed Central

Sheppard, A. Brianna; Gross, Skyler C.; Pavelka, Sarah A.; Hall, Melanie J.; Palmatier, Matthew I.

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND Caffeine is widely considered to be a reinforcer in humans, but this effect is difficult to measure in non-human animals. We hypothesized that caffeine may have dual reinforcing effects comparable to nicotine - limited primary reinforcing effects, but potent reinforcement enhancing effects. The present studies tested this hypothesis by investigating the effect of caffeine on responding for non-drug rewards. METHODS In two experiments, rats were shaped to respond on a progressive ratio (PR) schedule for sucrose solution (20% w/v; Experiment 1) or a fixed ratio 2 (FR2) schedule for a moderately reinforcing visual stimulus (VS; Experiment 2). Pretreatment with various doses of caffeine (0–50 mg/kg, intraperitoneal injection) were administered prior to tests over successive week days (M-F). In Experiment 1, acute administration of low-moderate caffeine doses (6.25–25 mg/kg) increased responding for sucrose under the PR schedule. This effect of caffeine declined over the initial 15 test days. In Experiment 2, only acute pretreatment with 12.5 mg/kg caffeine increased responding for the visual stimulus and complete tolerance to this effect of caffeine was observed over the 15 days of testing. In follow up tests we found that abstinence periods of 4 and 8 days resulted in incomplete recovery of the enhancing effects of caffeine. CONCLUSION The findings suggest that caffeine enhances the reinforcing effects of non-drug stimuli, but that the pharmacological profile of these effects may differ from other psychomotor stimulants. PMID:22336397

Pure-tone Audiometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapul, A. A.; Zubova, E. I.; Torgaev, S. N.; Drobchik, V. V.

2017-08-01

The research focuses on a pure-tone audiometer designing. The relevance of the study is proved by high incidence of an auditory analyser in older people and children. At first, the article provides information about subjective and objective audiometry methods. Secondly, we offer block-diagram and basic-circuit arrangement of device. We decided to base on STM32F407VG microcontroller and use digital pot in the function of attenuator. Third, we implemented microcontroller and PC connection. C programming language is used for microcontroller’s program and PC’s interface. Fourthly, we created the pure-tone audiometer prototype. In the future, we will implement the objective method ASSR in addition to pure-tone audiometry.

Brain stem evoked response audiometry of former drug users.

PubMed

Weich, Tainara Milbradt; Tochetto, Tania Maria; Seligman, Lilian

2012-10-01

Illicit drugs are known for their deleterious effects upon the central nervous system and more specifically for how they adversely affect hearing. This study aims to analyze and compare the hearing complaints and the results of brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA) of former drug user support group goers. This is a cross-sectional non-experimental descriptive quantitative study. The sample consisted of 17 subjects divided by their preferred drug of use. Ten individuals were placed in the marijuana group (G1) and seven in the crack/cocaine group (G2). The subjects were further divided based on how long they had been using drugs: 1 to 5 years, 6 to 10 years, and over 15 years. They were interviewed, and assessed by pure tone audiometry, acoustic impedance tests, and BERA. No statistically significant differences were found between G1 and G2 or time of drug use in absolute latencies and interpeak intervals. However, only five of the 17 individuals had BERA results with adequate results for their ages. Marijuana and crack/cocaine may cause diffuse disorders in the brainstem and compromise the transmission of auditory stimuli regardless of how long these substances are used for.

Development and evaluation of an audiology app for iPhone/iPad mobile devices.

PubMed

Larrosa, Francisco; Rama-Lopez, Julio; Benitez, Jesus; Morales, Jose M; Martinez, Asuncion; Alañon, Miguel A; Arancibia-Tagle, Diego; Batuecas-Caletrio, Angel; Martinez-Lopez, Marta; Perez-Fernandez, Nicolas; Gimeno, Carlos; Ispizua, Angel; Urrutikoetxea, Alberto; Rey-Martinez, Jorge

2015-01-01

The application described in this study appears to be accurate and valid, thus allowing calculation of a hearing handicap and assessment of the pure-tone air conduction threshold with iPhone/iPad devices. To develop and evaluate a newly developed professional, computer-based hearing handicap calculator and a manual hearing sensitivity assessment test for the iPhone and iPad (AudCal). Multi-center prospective non-randomized validation study. One hundred and ten consecutive adult participants underwent two hearing evaluations, a standard audiometry and a pure-tone air conduction test using AudCal with an iOS device. The hearing handicap calculation accuracy was evaluated comparing AudCal vs a web-based calculator. Hearing loss was found in 83 and 84 out of 220 standard audiometries and AudCal hearing tests (Cohen's Kappa = 0.89). The mean difference between AudCal and standard audiogram thresholds was -0.21 ± 6.38 dB HL. Excellent reliability and concordance between standard audiometry and the application's hearing loss assessment test were obtained (Cronbach's alpha = 0.96; intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.93). AudCal vs a web-based calculator were perfectly correlated (Pearson's r = 1).

Goal-Directed and Habit-Like Modulations of Stimulus Processing during Reinforcement Learning.

PubMed

Luque, David; Beesley, Tom; Morris, Richard W; Jack, Bradley N; Griffiths, Oren; Whitford, Thomas J; Le Pelley, Mike E

2017-03-15

Recent research has shown that perceptual processing of stimuli previously associated with high-value rewards is automatically prioritized even when rewards are no longer available. It has been hypothesized that such reward-related modulation of stimulus salience is conceptually similar to an "attentional habit." Recording event-related potentials in humans during a reinforcement learning task, we show strong evidence in favor of this hypothesis. Resistance to outcome devaluation (the defining feature of a habit) was shown by the stimulus-locked P1 component, reflecting activity in the extrastriate visual cortex. Analysis at longer latencies revealed a positive component (corresponding to the P3b, from 550-700 ms) sensitive to outcome devaluation. Therefore, distinct spatiotemporal patterns of brain activity were observed corresponding to habitual and goal-directed processes. These results demonstrate that reinforcement learning engages both attentional habits and goal-directed processes in parallel. Consequences for brain and computational models of reinforcement learning are discussed. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The human attentional network adapts to detect stimuli that predict important rewards. A recent hypothesis suggests that the visual cortex automatically prioritizes reward-related stimuli, driven by cached representations of reward value; that is, stimulus-response habits. Alternatively, the neural system may track the current value of the predicted outcome. Our results demonstrate for the first time that visual cortex activity is increased for reward-related stimuli even when the rewarding event is temporarily devalued. In contrast, longer-latency brain activity was specifically sensitive to transient changes in reward value. Therefore, we show that both habit-like attention and goal-directed processes occur in the same learning episode at different latencies. This result has important consequences for computational models of reinforcement learning. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/373009-09$15.00/0.

Characteristics of implicit chaining in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus).

PubMed

Locurto, Charles; Gagne, Matthew; Nutile, Lauren

2010-07-01

In human cognition there has been considerable interest in observing the conditions under which subjects learn material without explicit instructions to learn. In the present experiments, we adapted this issue to nonhumans by asking what subjects learn in the absence of explicit reinforcement for correct responses. Two experiments examined the acquisition of sequence information by cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) when such learning was not demanded by the experimental contingencies. An implicit chaining procedure was used in which visual stimuli were presented serially on a touchscreen. Subjects were required to touch one stimulus to advance to the next stimulus. Stimulus presentations followed a pattern, but learning the pattern was not necessary for reinforcement. In Experiment 1 the chain consisted of five different visual stimuli that were presented in the same order on each trial. Each stimulus could occur at any one of six touchscreen positions. In Experiment 2 the same visual element was presented serially in the same five locations on each trial, thereby allowing a behavioral pattern to be correlated with the visual pattern. In this experiment two new tests, a Wild-Card test and a Running-Start test, were used to assess what was learned in this procedure. Results from both experiments indicated that tamarins acquired more information from an implicit chain than was required by the contingencies of reinforcement. These results contribute to the developing literature on nonhuman analogs of implicit learning.

Audiovisual Rehabilitation in Hemianopia: A Model-Based Theoretical Investigation

PubMed Central

Magosso, Elisa; Cuppini, Cristiano; Bertini, Caterina

2017-01-01

Hemianopic patients exhibit visual detection improvement in the blind field when audiovisual stimuli are given in spatiotemporally coincidence. Beyond this “online” multisensory improvement, there is evidence of long-lasting, “offline” effects induced by audiovisual training: patients show improved visual detection and orientation after they were trained to detect and saccade toward visual targets given in spatiotemporal proximity with auditory stimuli. These effects are ascribed to the Superior Colliculus (SC), which is spared in these patients and plays a pivotal role in audiovisual integration and oculomotor behavior. Recently, we developed a neural network model of audiovisual cortico-collicular loops, including interconnected areas representing the retina, striate and extrastriate visual cortices, auditory cortex, and SC. The network simulated unilateral V1 lesion with possible spared tissue and reproduced “online” effects. Here, we extend the previous network to shed light on circuits, plastic mechanisms, and synaptic reorganization that can mediate the training effects and functionally implement visual rehabilitation. The network is enriched by the oculomotor SC-brainstem route, and Hebbian mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, and is used to test different training paradigms (audiovisual/visual stimulation in eye-movements/fixed-eyes condition) on simulated patients. Results predict different training effects and associate them to synaptic changes in specific circuits. Thanks to the SC multisensory enhancement, the audiovisual training is able to effectively strengthen the retina-SC route, which in turn can foster reinforcement of the SC-brainstem route (this occurs only in eye-movements condition) and reinforcement of the SC-extrastriate route (this occurs in presence of survived V1 tissue, regardless of eye condition). The retina-SC-brainstem circuit may mediate compensatory effects: the model assumes that reinforcement of this circuit can translate visual stimuli into short-latency saccades, possibly moving the stimuli into visual detection regions. The retina-SC-extrastriate circuit is related to restitutive effects: visual stimuli can directly elicit visual detection with no need for eye movements. Model predictions and assumptions are critically discussed in view of existing behavioral and neurophysiological data, forecasting that other oculomotor compensatory mechanisms, beyond short-latency saccades, are likely involved, and stimulating future experimental and theoretical investigations. PMID:29326578

Audiovisual Rehabilitation in Hemianopia: A Model-Based Theoretical Investigation.

PubMed

Magosso, Elisa; Cuppini, Cristiano; Bertini, Caterina

2017-01-01

Hemianopic patients exhibit visual detection improvement in the blind field when audiovisual stimuli are given in spatiotemporally coincidence. Beyond this "online" multisensory improvement, there is evidence of long-lasting, "offline" effects induced by audiovisual training: patients show improved visual detection and orientation after they were trained to detect and saccade toward visual targets given in spatiotemporal proximity with auditory stimuli. These effects are ascribed to the Superior Colliculus (SC), which is spared in these patients and plays a pivotal role in audiovisual integration and oculomotor behavior. Recently, we developed a neural network model of audiovisual cortico-collicular loops, including interconnected areas representing the retina, striate and extrastriate visual cortices, auditory cortex, and SC. The network simulated unilateral V1 lesion with possible spared tissue and reproduced "online" effects. Here, we extend the previous network to shed light on circuits, plastic mechanisms, and synaptic reorganization that can mediate the training effects and functionally implement visual rehabilitation. The network is enriched by the oculomotor SC-brainstem route, and Hebbian mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, and is used to test different training paradigms (audiovisual/visual stimulation in eye-movements/fixed-eyes condition) on simulated patients. Results predict different training effects and associate them to synaptic changes in specific circuits. Thanks to the SC multisensory enhancement, the audiovisual training is able to effectively strengthen the retina-SC route, which in turn can foster reinforcement of the SC-brainstem route (this occurs only in eye-movements condition) and reinforcement of the SC-extrastriate route (this occurs in presence of survived V1 tissue, regardless of eye condition). The retina-SC-brainstem circuit may mediate compensatory effects: the model assumes that reinforcement of this circuit can translate visual stimuli into short-latency saccades, possibly moving the stimuli into visual detection regions. The retina-SC-extrastriate circuit is related to restitutive effects: visual stimuli can directly elicit visual detection with no need for eye movements. Model predictions and assumptions are critically discussed in view of existing behavioral and neurophysiological data, forecasting that other oculomotor compensatory mechanisms, beyond short-latency saccades, are likely involved, and stimulating future experimental and theoretical investigations.

Learning Program for Enhancing Visual Literacy for Non-Design Students Using a CMS to Share Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ariga, Taeko; Watanabe, Takashi; Otani, Toshio; Masuzawa, Toshimitsu

2016-01-01

This study proposes a basic learning program for enhancing visual literacy using an original Web content management system (Web CMS) to share students' outcomes in class as a blog post. It seeks to reinforce students' understanding and awareness of the design of visual content. The learning program described in this research focuses on to address…

Screening for hearing, visual and dual sensory impairment in older adults using behavioural cues: a validation study.

PubMed

Roets-Merken, Lieve M; Zuidema, Sytse U; Vernooij-Dassen, Myrra J F J; Kempen, Gertrudis I J M

2014-11-01

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Severe Dual Sensory Loss screening tool, a tool designed to help nurses and care assistants to identify hearing, visual and dual sensory impairment in older adults. Construct validity of the Severe Dual Sensory Loss screening tool was evaluated using Crohnbach's alpha and factor analysis. Interrater reliability was calculated using Kappa statistics. To evaluate the predictive validity, sensitivity and specificity were calculated by comparison with the criterion standard assessment for hearing and vision. The criterion used for hearing impairment was a hearing loss of ≥40 decibel measured by pure-tone audiometry, and the criterion for visual impairment was a visual acuity of ≤0.3 diopter or a visual field of ≤0.3°. Feasibility was evaluated by the time needed to fill in the screening tool and the clarity of the instruction and items. Prevalence of dual sensory impairment was calculated. A total of 56 older adults receiving aged care and 12 of their nurses and care assistants participated in the study. Crohnbach's alpha was 0.81 for the hearing subscale and 0.84 for the visual subscale. Factor analysis showed two constructs for hearing and two for vision. Kappa was 0.71 for the hearing subscale and 0.74 for the visual subscale. The predictive validity showed a sensitivity of 0.71 and a specificity of 0.72 for the hearing subscale; and a sensitivity of 0.69 and a specificity of 0.78 for the visual subscale. The optimum cut-off point for each subscale was score 1. The nurses and care assistants reported that the Severe Dual Sensory Loss screening tool was easy to use. The prevalence of hearing and vision impairment was 55% and 29%, respectively, and that of dual sensory impairment was 20%. The Severe Dual Sensory Loss screening tool was compared with the criterion standards for hearing and visual impairment and was found a valid and reliable tool, enabling nurses and care assistants to identify hearing, visual and dual sensory impairment among older adults. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The primate amygdala represents the positive and negative value of visual stimuli during learning

PubMed Central

Paton, Joseph J.; Belova, Marina A.; Morrison, Sara E.; Salzman, C. Daniel

2008-01-01

Visual stimuli can acquire positive or negative value through their association with rewards and punishments, a process called reinforcement learning. Although we now know a great deal about how the brain analyses visual information, we know little about how visual representations become linked with values. To study this process, we turned to the amygdala, a brain structure implicated in reinforcement learning1–5. We recorded the activity of individual amygdala neurons in monkeys while abstract images acquired either positive or negative value through conditioning. After monkeys had learned the initial associations, we reversed image value assignments. We examined neural responses in relation to these reversals in order to estimate the relative contribution to neural activity of the sensory properties of images and their conditioned values. Here we show that changes in the values of images modulate neural activity, and that this modulation occurs rapidly enough to account for, and correlates with, monkeys’ learning. Furthermore, distinct populations of neurons encode the positive and negative values of visual stimuli. Behavioural and physiological responses to visual stimuli may therefore be based in part on the plastic representation of value provided by the amygdala. PMID:16482160

Interest Inventory Items as Reinforcing Stimuli: A Test of the A-R-D Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Staats, Arthur W.; And Others

An experiement was conducted to test the hypothesis that interest inventory items would function as reinforcing stimuli in a visual discrimination task. When previously rated liked and disliked items from the Strong Vocational Interest Blank were differentially presented following one of two responses, subjects learned to respond to the stimulus…

Long-term hearing outcomes after recurrent acute otitis media during early childhood.

PubMed

Krakau, Mattias; Dagöö, Britta Rynnel; Hellström, Sten; Granath, Anna

2017-12-01

To survey long-term hearing outcomes and middle ear pathology in a 30-year follow-up in individuals with onset of recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM) before three years of age. 28 adults, aged 30.1-31.8 years, who originally - at the age of 12-32 months - participated in a study on rAOM between 1979 and 1983, were re-examined regarding self-reported ear problems, current tympanic membrane changes and audiology. Thirteen subjects had suffered from rAOM during early childhood and 15 subjects served as a control group. Recurrent acute otitis media subjects reported hearing problems comparable to those of the controls. Pure tone audiometry, at 125-8000 Hz, did not differ between groups. The rAOM group had a trend for impaired high-frequency (9000-14,000 Hz) threshold levels (9000-14,000 Hz); implying that their cochlear function seemed to have deteriorated. Adults, who suffered from recurrent acute otitis media as infants, did not show any clinically significant hearing loss for pure tone audiometry when compared to controls, but there was a trend for impaired results regarding extended high frequency audiometry (9-14 kHz). Children suffering from rAOM will be at low risk of developing hearing loss and severe middle ear disease.

Evaluation of Two Circumaural Earphones for Audiometry.

PubMed

Smull, Clae C; Madsen, Brandon; Margolis, Robert H

2018-05-08

The Sennheiser HDA 200 earphone, a standard circumaural earphone used in audiometry for many years, is out of production and is replaced by the RadioEar DD450. The Sennheiser HD 280 Pro earphone is a consumer product that has characteristics that may be suitable for audiometry and may be a low-cost alternative to the DD450. The DD450 and HD 280 Pro earphones were compared with the HDA 200 for use in audiometry. RadioEar DD450 and Sennheiser HD 280 Pro earphones were evaluated for reference equivalent threshold sound pressure levels (RETSPLs), ambient-noise attenuation, and occlusion effects. Audiometric thresholds measured on a group of normal-hearing adults were used to determine RETSPLs. Ambient-noise attenuation was determined by measuring the sound pressure in the ear canal produced by a broadband signal from a loudspeaker with and without occlusion by the earphone. Acoustic occlusion effects were determined by measuring the ear-canal sound pressure produced by a bone-conducted source with and without occlusion by the earphone. The results were compared with measurements obtained from the HDA 200 earphone. Audiometric thresholds obtained using the DD450 earphone did not differ from those obtained with the HDA 200 earphones, indicating that the HDA 200 RETSPLs provided in the audiometer standards (ANSI S3.6-2010; ISO 389-8-2004) are transferable to the DD450. New RETSPLs for the HD 280 Pro earphone were determined from the threshold measurements. Ambient-noise attenuation provided by the DD450 was equivalent to the attenuation provided by the HDA 200. The HD 280 Pro provided less ambient-noise attenuation than the other circumaural earphones, but more than the supra-aural earphones commonly used in audiometry. The DD450 produced an occlusion effect 5 dB larger than that of the HDA 200 at 0.25 and 0.5 kHz; both earphones produced negligible occlusion effects at higher frequencies. The HD 280 Pro produced larger occlusion effects in the low frequencies than the other two earphones, with negligible occlusion effects at 1.0 kHz and above. The HDA 200 RETSPLs are transferable to the DD450. Ambient-noise attenuation and occlusion effects are similar for these two earphones. RETSPLs for the HD 280 Pro are provided. The HD 280 Pro has less ambient-noise attenuation and larger occlusion effects than the DD450 but is a viable low-cost alternative.

The relationship between reinforcement and gaming machine choice.

PubMed

Haw, John

2008-03-01

The present study assessed whether prior reinforcement experiences were related to gaming machine choice and the decision to change gaming machines during a session of gambling. Seventy undergraduate students (48 women, 22 men; mean age = 22.05 years) were presented with two visually identical simulated gaming machines in a practice phase. These simulated machines differed only in the rate of reinforcement. After the practice phase, participants were asked to choose a machine to play in the test phase and were allowed to change machines at will. Two measures of reinforcement were employed; frequency of wins and payback rate. Results indicated that neither measure of reinforcement was related to machine choice, but both were predictors of when participants changed machines. A post-hoc analysis of the 33 participants who changed machines during the test phase found a significant relationship between machine choice and prior reinforcement. For these participants, payback rate was significantly related to machine choice, unlike frequency of wins.

Teaching Commercial German Through Advertisements.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heyer, Elfriede A.

Advertisements can be used in many ways to facilitate the teaching of a commercial language. If reproduced as slides or other visual aids, they serve as a visual warm-up exercise for each class period, either reinforcing previously discussed topics or introducing new ones. Catchy headlines in commercials promote rapid expansion of vocabulary and…

Simple and conditional visual discrimination with wheel running as reinforcement in rats.

PubMed

Iversen, I H

1998-09-01

Three experiments explored whether access to wheel running is sufficient as reinforcement to establish and maintain simple and conditional visual discriminations in nondeprived rats. In Experiment 1, 2 rats learned to press a lit key to produce access to running; responding was virtually absent when the key was dark, but latencies to respond were longer than for customary food and water reinforcers. Increases in the intertrial interval did not improve the discrimination performance. In Experiment 2, 3 rats acquired a go-left/go-right discrimination with a trial-initiating response and reached an accuracy that exceeded 80%; when two keys showed a steady light, pressing the left key produced access to running whereas pressing the right key produced access to running when both keys showed blinking light. Latencies to respond to the lights shortened when the trial-initiation response was introduced and became much shorter than in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, 1 rat acquired a conditional discrimination task (matching to sample) with steady versus blinking lights at an accuracy exceeding 80%. A trial-initiation response allowed self-paced trials as in Experiment 2. When the rat was exposed to the task for 19 successive 24-hr periods with access to food and water, the discrimination performance settled in a typical circadian pattern and peak accuracy exceeded 90%. When the trial-initiation response was under extinction, without access to running, the circadian activity pattern determined the time of spontaneous recovery. The experiments demonstrate that wheel-running reinforcement can be used to establish and maintain simple and conditional visual discriminations in nondeprived rats.

Discriminative stimuli that control instrumental tobacco-seeking by human smokers also command selective attention.

PubMed

Hogarth, Lee; Dickinson, Anthony; Duka, Theodora

2003-08-01

Incentive salience theory states that acquired bias in selective attention for stimuli associated with tobacco-smoke reinforcement controls the selective performance of tobacco-seeking and tobacco-taking behaviour. To support this theory, we assessed whether a stimulus that had acquired control of a tobacco-seeking response in a discrimination procedure would command the focus of visual attention in a subsequent test phase. Smokers received discrimination training in which an instrumental key-press response was followed by tobacco-smoke reinforcement when one visual discriminative stimulus (S+) was present, but not when another stimulus (S-) was present. The skin conductance response to the S+ and S- assessed whether Pavlovian conditioning to the S+ had taken place. In a subsequent test phase, the S+ and S- were presented in the dot-probe task and the allocation of the focus of visual attention to these stimuli was measured. Participants learned to perform the instrumental tobacco-seeking response selectively in the presence of the S+ relative to the S-, and showed a greater skin conductance response to the S+ than the S-. In the subsequent test phase, participants allocated the focus of visual attention to the S+ in preference to the S-. Correlation analysis revealed that the visual attentional bias for the S+ was positively associated with the number of times the S+ had been paired with tobacco-smoke in training, the skin conductance response to the S+ and with subjective craving to smoke. Furthermore, increased exposure to tobacco-smoke in the natural environment was associated with reduced discrimination learning. These data demonstrate that discriminative stimuli that signal that tobacco-smoke reinforcement is available acquire the capacity to command selective attentional and elicit instrumental tobacco-seeking behaviour.

Damage assessment and residual compression strength of thick composite plates with through-the-thickness reinforcements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Barry T.

1990-01-01

Damage in composite materials was studied with through-the-thickness reinforcements. As a first step it was necessary to develop new ultrasonic imaging technology to better assess internal damage of the composite. A useful ultrasonic imaging technique was successfully developed to assess the internal damage of composite panels. The ultrasonic technique accurately determines the size of the internal damage. It was found that the ultrasonic imaging technique was better able to assess the damage in a composite panel with through-the-thickness reinforcements than by destructively sectioning the specimen and visual inspection under a microscope. Five composite compression-after-impact panels were tested. The compression-after-impact strength of the panels with the through-the-thickness reinforcements was almost twice that of the comparable panel without through-the-thickness reinforcement.

The Galker test of speech reception in noise; associations with background variables, middle ear status, hearing, and language in Danish preschool children.

PubMed

Lauritsen, Maj-Britt Glenn; Söderström, Margareta; Kreiner, Svend; Dørup, Jens; Lous, Jørgen

2016-01-01

We tested "the Galker test", a speech reception in noise test developed for primary care for Danish preschool children, to explore if the children's ability to hear and understand speech was associated with gender, age, middle ear status, and the level of background noise. The Galker test is a 35-item audio-visual, computerized word discrimination test in background noise. Included were 370 normally developed children attending day care center. The children were examined with the Galker test, tympanometry, audiometry, and the Reynell test of verbal comprehension. Parents and daycare teachers completed questionnaires on the children's ability to hear and understand speech. As most of the variables were not assessed using interval scales, non-parametric statistics (Goodman-Kruskal's gamma) were used for analyzing associations with the Galker test score. For comparisons, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Interrelations were adjusted for using a non-parametric graphic model. In unadjusted analyses, the Galker test was associated with gender, age group, language development (Reynell revised scale), audiometry, and tympanometry. The Galker score was also associated with the parents' and day care teachers' reports on the children's vocabulary, sentence construction, and pronunciation. Type B tympanograms were associated with a mean hearing 5-6dB below that of than type A, C1, or C2. In the graphic analysis, Galker scores were closely and significantly related to Reynell test scores (Gamma (G)=0.35), the children's age group (G=0.33), and the day care teachers' assessment of the children's vocabulary (G=0.26). The Galker test of speech reception in noise appears promising as an easy and quick tool for evaluating preschool children's understanding of spoken words in noise, and it correlated well with the day care teachers' reports and less with the parents' reports. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Study of the hearing of rock and roll musicians].

PubMed

Maia, Juliana Rollo Fernandes; Russo, Ieda Chaves Pacheco

2008-01-01

rock and roll has as one of its main characteristics the excessive sound pressure levels. Several studies have demonstrated that the sound levels of rock concerts can range from 100 to 115dB (A), with peak levels of 150dB (A). to study the hearing of rock and roll musicians, analyzing the results of the audiological evaluation and verifying the influence of time of exposure to amplified music. a questionnaire was answered by 23 rock and roll musicians (46 ears) who were also evaluated by means of pure tone audiometry, immitance audiometry and transient/distortion product evoked otoacoustic emissions (OAET and OAEPD). regarding the time of exposure to music, values close to the limit of acceptance (tending to be significants) were found in the frequencies of 0.5 and 6kHz, in the pure tone audiometry. A statistically significant difference was also found in the OAET test in the frequency of 2kHz and also in the frequencies of 0.75, 1, 4 and 6kHz in the OAEPD test. the results indicate that although hearing loss was not found in the studied population, alteration in the register of the OAE already exists, suggesting alteration of the cochlear function. Regarding time of exposure, the results indicate that musicians with more than 10 years of practice present statistically significant differences when compared to those with less time of exposure.

Congenital Stapes Ankylosis in Children: Surgical Findings and Results in 35 Cases.

PubMed

Vincent, Robert; Wegner, Inge; Kamalski, Digna M A; Bittermann, Arnold J N; Grolman, Wilko

2016-04-01

To evaluate surgical findings and hearing results in children undergoing middle ear surgery for congenital stapes ankylosis with or without other ossicular malformations (Teunissen and Cremers class I and class II malformations). A nonrandomized, nonblinded case series of prospectively collected data. A tertiary referral center. Twenty-eight consecutive pediatric patients who underwent 35 surgical procedures for congenital stapes ankylosis with or without other ossicular malformations and had available postoperative pure-tone audiometry. Primary stapedotomy with vein graft interposition and reconstruction with a Teflon piston, bucket handle prosthesis or total ossicular replacement prosthesis. Pre- and postoperative audiometric evaluation using four-frequency (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) audiometry. Air-conduction thresholds, bone-conduction thresholds, and air-bone gaps (ABGs) were measured. Postoperative audiometry was performed at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months after surgery and at a yearly interval thereafter. Overall, a postoperative ABG closure of 10 dB or less was achieved in 73% of class I cases and in 50% of class II cases. A postoperative ABG closure of 20 dB or less was achieved in 77% of class I cases and 67% of class II cases. Postoperative sensorineural hearing loss occurred in one class I case (4%) and none of the class II cases. Stapedotomy is a safe and feasible treatment option in children with congenital stapes ankylosis.

Audiological manifestations in mitochondrial encephalomyopathy lactic acidosis and stroke like episodes (MELAS) syndrome.

PubMed

Vandana, V P; Bindu, Parayil Sankaran; Sonam, Kothari; Govindaraj, Periyasamy; Taly, Arun B; Gayathri, Narayanappa; Chiplunkar, Shwetha; Govindaraju, Chikkanna; Arvinda, H R; Nagappa, Madhu; Sinha, Sanjib; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy

2016-09-01

Reports of audiological manifestations in specific subgroups of mitochondrial disorders are limited. This study aims to describe the audiological findings in patients with MELAS syndrome and m.3243A>G mutation. Audiological evaluation was carried out in eight patients with confirmed MELAS syndrome and m.3243A>G mutation. The evaluation included a complete neurological evaluation, pure tone audiometry (n=8), otoacoustic emissions (n=8) and brainstem evoked response audiometry (n=6), magnetic resonance imaging (n=8) and muscle biospy (n=6). Eight patients (Age range: 5-45 years; M:F-1:3) including six children and two adults underwent formal audiological evaluation. Five patients had hearing loss; of these two had "subclinical hearing loss", one had moderate and two had severe hearing loss. The abnormalities included abnormal audiometry (n=5), otoacoustic emission testing (n=7) and absent brainstem auditory evoked responses (n=1). The findings were suggestive of cochlear involvement in four and retrocochlear in one. This study shows that hearing loss of both cochlear and retrocochlear origin occurs in patients with MELAS and may be subclinical. Early referrals for audiological evaluation is warranted to recognize the subclinical hearing loss in these patients. The therapeutic implications include early interventions in the form of hearing aids, cochlear implants and cautioning the physicians for avoidance of aminoglycosides. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pure-tone audiometry outside a sound booth using earphone attentuation, integrated noise monitoring, and automation.

PubMed

Swanepoel, De Wet; Matthysen, Cornelia; Eikelboom, Robert H; Clark, Jackie L; Hall, James W

2015-01-01

Accessibility of audiometry is hindered by the cost of sound booths and shortage of hearing health personnel. This study investigated the validity of an automated mobile diagnostic audiometer with increased attenuation and real-time noise monitoring for clinical testing outside a sound booth. Attenuation characteristics and reference ambient noise levels for the computer-based audiometer (KUDUwave) was evaluated alongside the validity of environmental noise monitoring. Clinical validity was determined by comparing air- and bone-conduction thresholds obtained inside and outside the sound booth (23 subjects). Twenty-three normal-hearing subjects (age range, 20-75 years; average age 35.5) and a sub group of 11 subjects to establish test-retest reliability. Improved passive attenuation and valid environmental noise monitoring was demonstrated. Clinically, air-conduction thresholds inside and outside the sound booth, corresponded within 5 dB or less > 90% of instances (mean absolute difference 3.3 ± 3.2 SD). Bone conduction thresholds corresponded within 5 dB or less in 80% of comparisons between test environments, with a mean absolute difference of 4.6 dB (3.7 SD). Threshold differences were not statistically significant. Mean absolute test-retest differences outside the sound booth was similar to those in the booth. Diagnostic pure-tone audiometry outside a sound booth, using automated testing, improved passive attenuation, and real-time environmental noise monitoring demonstrated reliable hearing assessments.

Prevalence of tinnitus in workers exposed to noise and organophosphates

PubMed Central

Delecrode, Camila Ribas; de Freitas, Thais Domingues; Frizzo, Ana Claúdia Figueiredo; Cardoso, Ana Claúdia Vieira

2012-01-01

Summary Introduction: Research on the workplace has emphasized the effects of noise exposure on workers' hearing, but has not considered the effects of agrochemicals. Aim: To evaluate and correlate the hearing level and tinnitus of workers exposed simultaneously to noise and organophosphates in their workplace and to measure tinnitus distress on their quality of life. Method: A retrospective clinical study. We evaluated 82 organophosphate sprinklers from the São Paulo State Regional Superintendence who were active in the fight against dengue and who were exposed to noise and organophosphates. We performed pure tone audiometry and applied the translated THI (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory) questionnaire. Results: Of the sample, 28.05% reported current tinnitus or had presented tinnitus, and the workers with tinnitus had an increased incidence of abnormal audiometry. The average hearing threshold for the 4–8-kHz frequency range of the workers with current tinnitus was higher than that of the others, and was most affected at the 4-kHz frequency. The THI score ranged 0–84, with an average score of 13.1. Twelve (52.17%) workers had THI scores consistent with discrete handicap. Conclusion: There is an increased incidence of abnormal pure tone audiometry in workers with tinnitus, and its impact on the workers' quality of life was discrete. The correlation between average hearing threshold and tinnitus distress was weak. PMID:25991953

Auditory-steady-state response reliability in the audiological diagnosis after neonatal hearing screening.

PubMed

Núñez-Batalla, Faustino; Noriega-Iglesias, Sabel; Guntín-García, Maite; Carro-Fernández, Pilar; Llorente-Pendás, José Luis

2016-01-01

Conventional audiometry is the gold standard for quantifying and describing hearing loss. Alternative methods become necessary to assess subjects who are too young to respond reliably. Auditory evoked potentials constitute the most widely used method for determining hearing thresholds objectively; however, this stimulus is not frequency specific. The advent of the auditory steady-state response (ASSR) leads to more specific threshold determination. The current study describes and compares ASSR, auditory brainstem response (ABR) and conventional behavioural tone audiometry thresholds in a group of infants with various degrees of hearing loss. A comparison was made between ASSR, ABR and behavioural hearing thresholds in 35 infants detected in the neonatal hearing screening program. Mean difference scores (±SD) between ABR and high frequency ABR thresholds were 11.2 dB (±13) and 10.2 dB (±11). Pearson correlations between the ASSR and audiometry thresholds were 0.80 and 0.91 (500Hz); 0.84 and 0.82 (1000Hz); 0.85 and 0.84 (2000Hz); and 0.83 and 0.82 (4000Hz). The ASSR technique is a valuable extension of the clinical test battery for hearing-impaired children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Cirugía de Cabeza y Cuello. All rights reserved.

Audiometry

MedlinePlus

... any cause. Common causes of hearing loss include: Acoustic trauma Chronic ear infections Diseases of the inner ... hearing. The following conditions may affect test results: Acoustic neuroma Acoustic trauma Age-related hearing loss Alport ...

Reconsideration of Serial Visual Reversal Learning in Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) from a Methodological Perspective

PubMed Central

Bublitz, Alexander; Weinhold, Severine R.; Strobel, Sophia; Dehnhardt, Guido; Hanke, Frederike D.

2017-01-01

Octopuses (Octopus vulgaris) are generally considered to possess extraordinary cognitive abilities including the ability to successfully perform in a serial reversal learning task. During reversal learning, an animal is presented with a discrimination problem and after reaching a learning criterion, the signs of the stimuli are reversed: the former positive becomes the negative stimulus and vice versa. If an animal improves its performance over reversals, it is ascribed advanced cognitive abilities. Reversal learning has been tested in octopus in a number of studies. However, the experimental procedures adopted in these studies involved pre-training on the new positive stimulus after a reversal, strong negative reinforcement or might have enabled secondary cueing by the experimenter. These procedures could have all affected the outcome of reversal learning. Thus, in this study, serial visual reversal learning was revisited in octopus. We trained four common octopuses (O. vulgaris) to discriminate between 2-dimensional stimuli presented on a monitor in a simultaneous visual discrimination task and reversed the signs of the stimuli each time the animals reached the learning criterion of ≥80% in two consecutive sessions. The animals were trained using operant conditioning techniques including a secondary reinforcer, a rod that was pushed up and down the feeding tube, which signaled the correctness of a response and preceded the subsequent primary reinforcement of food. The experimental protocol did not involve negative reinforcement. One animal completed four reversals and showed progressive improvement, i.e., it decreased its errors to criterion the more reversals it experienced. This animal developed a generalized response strategy. In contrast, another animal completed only one reversal, whereas two animals did not learn to reverse during the first reversal. In conclusion, some octopus individuals can learn to reverse in a visual task demonstrating behavioral flexibility even with a refined methodology. PMID:28223940

Sensory Impairments and Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged Adults.

PubMed

Schubert, Carla R; Cruickshanks, Karen J; Fischer, Mary E; Chen, Yanjun; Klein, Barbara E K; Klein, Ronald; Pinto, A Alex

2017-08-01

Hearing, visual, and olfactory impairments have been associated with cognitive impairment in older adults but less is known about associations with cognitive function in middle-aged adults. Sensory and cognitive functions were measured on participants in the baseline examination (2005-2008) of the Beaver Dam Offspring Study. Cognitive function was measured with the Trail Making tests A (TMTA) and B (TMTB) and the Grooved Peg Board test. Pure-tone audiometry, Pelli-Robson letter charts, and the San Diego Odor Identification test were used to measure hearing, contrast sensitivity, and olfaction, respectively. There were 2,836 participants aged 21-84 years with measures of hearing, visual, olfactory, and cognitive function at the baseline examination. Nineteen percent of the cohort had one sensory impairment and 3% had multiple sensory impairments. In multivariable adjusted linear regression models that included all three sensory impairments, hearing impairment, visual impairment, and olfactory impairment were each independently associated with poorer performance on the TMTA, TMTB, and Grooved Peg Board (p < .05 for all sensory impairments in all models). Participants with a sensory impairment took on average from 2 to 10 seconds longer than participants without the corresponding sensory impairment to complete these tests. Results were similar in models that included adjustment for hearing aid use. Hearing, visual and olfactory impairment were associated with poorer performance on cognitive function tests independent of the other sensory impairments and factors associated with cognition. Sensory impairments in midlife are associated with subtle deficits in cognitive function which may be indicative of early brain aging. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Family Voices at Mealtime: Experiences with Young Children with Visual Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smyth, Catherine A.; Spicer, Carol L.; Morgese, Zoe L.

2014-01-01

Infants with visual impairment often require additional interaction from adults to reinforce behaviors that lead to competency at mealtimes, but parental and professional confidence in teaching these skills is often limited. In the following collective case study, the authors, a speech/language pathologist (S/LP), occupational therapist (OT), and…

External Visual Representations in Science Learning: The Case of Relations among System Components

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eilam, Billie; Poyas, Yael

2010-01-01

How do external visual representations (e.g., graph, diagram) promote or constrain students' ability to identify system components and their interrelations, to reinforce a systemic view through the application of the STS approach? University students (N = 150) received information cards describing cellphones' communication system and its subsystem…

Technique for Measuring Speed and Visual Motion Sensitivity in Lizards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woo, Kevin L.; Burke, Darren

2008-01-01

Testing sensory characteristics on herpetological species has been difficult due to a range of properties related to physiology, responsiveness, performance ability, and the type of reinforcer used. Using the Jacky lizard as a model, we outline a successfully established procedure in which to test the visual sensitivity to motion characteristics.…

Low-cost USB interface for operant research using Arduino and Visual Basic.

PubMed

Escobar, Rogelio; Pérez-Herrera, Carlos A

2015-03-01

This note describes the design of a low-cost interface using Arduino microcontroller boards and Visual Basic programming for operant conditioning research. The board executes one program in Arduino programming language that polls the state of the inputs and generates outputs in an operant chamber. This program communicates through a USB port with another program written in Visual Basic 2010 Express Edition running on a laptop, desktop, netbook computer, or even a tablet equipped with Windows operating system. The Visual Basic program controls schedules of reinforcement and records real-time data. A single Arduino board can be used to control a total of 52 inputs/output lines, and multiple Arduino boards can be used to control multiple operant chambers. An external power supply and a series of micro relays are required to control 28-V DC devices commonly used in operant chambers. Instructions for downloading and using the programs to generate simple and concurrent schedules of reinforcement are provided. Testing suggests that the interface is reliable, accurate, and could serve as an inexpensive alternative to commercial equipment. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

One-year audiologic monitoring of individuals exposed to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

PubMed

Van Campen, L E; Dennis, J M; Hanlin, R C; King, S B; Velderman, A M

1999-05-01

This longitudinal study evaluated subjective, behavioral, and objective auditory function in 83 explosion survivors. Subjects were evaluated quarterly for 1 year with conventional pure-tone and extended high-frequencies audiometry, otoscopic inspections, immittance and speech audiometry, and questionnaires. There was no obvious relationship between subject location and symptoms or test results. Tinnitus, distorted hearing, loudness sensitivity, and otalgia were common symptoms. On average, 76 percent of subjects had predominantly sensorineural hearing loss at one or more frequencies. Twenty-four percent of subjects required amplification. Extended high frequencies showed evidence of acoustic trauma even when conventional frequencies fell within the normal range. Males had significantly poorer responses than females across frequencies. Auditory status of the group was significantly compromised and unchanged at the end of 1-year postblast.

An assessment of differential reinforcement procedures for learners with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Johnson, Kate A; Vladescu, Jason C; Kodak, Tiffany; Sidener, Tina M

2017-04-01

Differential reinforcement procedures may promote unprompted correct responding, resulting in a quicker transfer of stimulus control than nondifferential reinforcement. Recent studies that have compared reinforcement arrangements have found that the most effective arrangement may differ across participants. The current study conducted an assessment of differential reinforcement arrangements (i.e., quality, schedule, and magnitude) and nondifferential reinforcement to identify the most effective arrangement for each participant. The assessment phase showed that the quality arrangement was the most efficient for all participants during auditory-visual matching. Next, a validation phase was conducted to evaluate whether the assessment would predict the most effective arrangement across multiple skills. The results from the assessment phase were validated for all participants for the same skill. However, the results were only validated for one participant during the other skills (i.e., tact and intraverbal). The results are discussed in light of previous research and future areas of research. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Program for establishing long-time flight service performance of composite materials in the center wing structure of C-130 aircraft. Phase 5: Flight service and inspection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kizer, J. A.

1981-01-01

Inspections of the C-130 composite-reinforced center wings were conducted over the flight service monitoring period of more than six years. Twelve inspections were conducted on each of the two C-130H airplanes having composite reinforced center wing boxes. Each inspection consisted of visual and ultrasonic inspection of the selective boron-epoxy reinforced center wings which included the inspection of the boron-epoxy laminates and the boron-epoxy reinforcement/aluminum structure adhesive bondlines. During the flight service monitoring period, the two C-130H aircraft accumulated more than 10,000 flight hours and no defects were detected in the inspections over this period. The successful performance of the C-130H aircraft with composite-reinforced center wings allowed the transfer of the responsibilities of inspecting and maintaining these two aircraft to the U. S. Air Force.

Visual reinforcement in the female Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens.

PubMed

Elcoro, Mirari; Silva, Stephanie P; Lattal, Kennon A

2008-07-01

Operant conditioning with Betta splendens (Bettas) has been investigated extensively using males of the species. Ethological studies of female Bettas have revealed aggressive interactions that qualitatively parallel those between male Bettas. Given these similarities, four experiments were conducted with female Bettas to examine the generality of a widely reported finding with males: mirror-image reinforcement. Swimming through a ring was reinforced by a 10-s mirror presentation. As with males, ring swimming was acquired and maintained when mirror presentations were immediate (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) and delayed (Experiment 4). The failure of conventional extinction (Experiments 1 and 2) and response-independent mirror presentations (Experiment 3) to maintain responding confirmed the reinforcing properties of mirror presentation. These results extend previous findings of mirror images as reinforcers in males of the same species and illustrate a complementarity between behavioral ecology and the experimental analysis of behavior.

Representations of the Moon in Children's Literature: An Analysis of Written and Visual Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trundle, Kathy Cabe; Troland, Thomas H.; Pritchard, T. Gail

2008-01-01

This review focused on the written and visual representation of the moon in 80 children's books, including Caldecott Medal and Honor books over the past 20 years. Results revealed that many of these books misrepresent the moon and even reinforce misconceptions about lunar phases. Teachers who use children's literature that misrepresents the moon…

Toward the Development of a Self-Management Intervention to Promote Pro-Social Behaviors for Students with Visual Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivy, Sarah E.; Lather, Amanda B.; Hatton, Deborah D.; Wehby, Joseph H.

2016-01-01

Students with visual impairment (VI) lack access to the same models and reinforcers as students with sight. Consequentially, behaviors that children with sight acquire through observation must be explicitly taught to children with VI. In addition, children with VI have difficulty maintaining such behaviors. Therefore, interventions that promote…

Parametric estimation for reinforced concrete relief shelter for Aceh cases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atthaillah; Saputra, Eri; Iqbal, Muhammad

2018-05-01

This paper was a work in progress (WIP) to discover a rapid parametric framework for post-disaster permanent shelter’s materials estimation. The intended shelters were reinforced concrete construction with bricks as its wall. Inevitably, in post-disaster cases, design variations were needed to help suited victims condition. It seemed impossible to satisfy a beneficiary with a satisfactory design utilizing the conventional method. This study offered a parametric framework to overcome slow construction-materials estimation issue against design variations. Further, this work integrated parametric tool, which was Grasshopper to establish algorithms that simultaneously model, visualize, calculate and write the calculated data to a spreadsheet in a real-time. Some customized Grasshopper components were created using GHPython scripting for a more optimized algorithm. The result from this study was a partial framework that successfully performed modeling, visualization, calculation and writing the calculated data simultaneously. It meant design alterations did not escalate time needed for modeling, visualization, and material estimation. Further, the future development of the parametric framework will be made open source.

Understanding the contributions of visual stimuli to contextual fear conditioning: A proof-of-concept study using LCD screens.

PubMed

Murawski, Nathen J; Asok, Arun

2017-01-10

The precise contribution of visual information to contextual fear learning and discrimination has remained elusive. To better understand this contribution, we coupled the context pre-exposure facilitation effect (CPFE) fear conditioning paradigm with presentations of distinct visual scenes displayed on 4 LCD screens surrounding a conditioning chamber. Adult male Long-Evans rats received non-reinforced context pre-exposure on Day 1, an immediate 1.5mA foot shock on Day 2, and a non-reinforced context test on Day 3. Rats were pre-exposed to either digital Context (dCtx) A, dCtx B, a distinct Ctx C, or no context on Day 1. Digital context A and B were identical except for the visual image displayed on the LCD screens. Immediate shock and retention testing occurred in dCtx A. Rats pre-exposed dCtx A showed the CPFE with significantly higher levels of freezing compared to controls. Rats pre-exposed to Context B failed to show the CPFE, with freezing that did not highly differ from controls. These results suggest that visual information contributes to contextual fear learning and that visual components of the context can be manipulated via LCD screens. Our approach offers a simple modification to contextual fear conditioning paradigms whereby the visual features of a context can be manipulated to better understand the factors that contribute to contextual fear discrimination and generalization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics as implant materials].

PubMed

Bader, R; Steinhauser, E; Rechl, H; Siebels, W; Mittelmeier, W; Gradinger, R

2003-01-01

Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics have been used clinically as an implant material for different applications for over 20 years.A review of technical basics of the composite materials (carbon fibers and matrix systems), fields of application,advantages (e.g., postoperative visualization without distortion in computed and magnetic resonance tomography), and disadvantages with use as an implant material is given. The question of the biocompatibility of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics is discussed on the basis of experimental and clinical studies. Selected implant systems made of carbon composite materials for treatments in orthopedic surgery such as joint replacement, tumor surgery, and spinal operations are presented and assessed. Present applications for carbon fiber reinforced plastics are seen in the field of spinal surgery, both as cages for interbody fusion and vertebral body replacement.

Combining sensory reinforcement and texture fading procedures to overcome chronic food refusal.

PubMed

Luiselli, J K; Gleason, D J

1987-06-01

Previous research has demonstrated behavioral programs to be effective in treating children with selective food preferences. However, there are few examples of interventions for the child displaying almost total food refusal. The present program combined sensory reinforcement and texture fading procedures to treat a 4-year-old deaf, visually impaired child who only consumed milk and, occasionally, pureed baby food. Sensory reinforcement consisted of the contingent presentation of light and rocking motion following consummatory responses. Texture fading entailed gradually increasing food composition. Results indicated that treatment was associated with substantial increases in the consumption of solid foods. Effects were maintained following the withdrawal of sensory reinforcement and with meals presented outside of the original treatment settings. Various features of the program are highlighted and discussed.

22q11.2 microduplication syndrome with congenital aural atresia: a family report.

PubMed

Boudewyns, An; van den Ende, Jenneke; Boiy, Tine; Van de Heyning, Paul; Declau, Frank

2012-06-01

22q11.2 microduplication syndrome is characterized by a large phenotypic variability including facial dysmorphism, developmental delay, and hearing loss. We describe a family in whom 5 of 11 children were affected by a unilateral or bilateral congenital aural atresia. Four of these 5 carried a 22q11.2 microduplication and had typical dysmorphic features. Computed tomography with 3-D reconstructions allowed for a detailed examination of the middle ear structures and classification of the atresia type. Audiometry revealed a moderately severe conductive hearing loss in accordance with the clinical and computed tomography findings. Detailed examination of the ear is warranted in patients with a 22q11.2 microduplication. When outer ear abnormalities are encountered, an additional workup including audiometry and computed tomography with 3-D reconstructions is required.

An experimental study of non-destructive testing on glass fibre reinforced polymer composites after high velocity impact event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razali, N.; Sultan, M. T. H.; Cardona, F.

2016-10-01

A non-destructive testing method on Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) after high velocity impact event using single stage gas gun (SSGG) is presented. Specimens of C- type and E-type fibreglass reinforcement, which were fabricated with 6mm, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm thicknesses and size 100 mm x 100 mm, were subjected to a high velocity impact with three types of bullets: conical, hemispherical and blunt at various gas gun pressure levels from 6 bar to 60 bar. Visual observation techniques using a lab microscope were used to determine the infringed damage by looking at the crack zone. Dye penetrants were used to inspect the area of damage, and to evaluate internal and external damages on the specimens after impact. The results from visual analysis of the impacted test laminates were discussed and presented. It was found that the impact damage started with induced delamination, fibre cracking and then failure, simultaneously with matrix cracking and breakage, and finally followed by the fibres pulled out. C-type experienced more damaged areas compared to E-type of GFRP.

Contribution of amygdalar and lateral hypothalamic neurons to visual information processing of food and nonfood in monkey.

PubMed

Ono, T; Tamura, R; Nishijo, H; Nakamura, K; Tabuchi, E

1989-02-01

Visual information processing was investigated in the inferotemporal cortical (ITCx)-amygdalar (AM)-lateral hypothalamic (LHA) axis which contributes to food-nonfood discrimination. Neuronal activity was recorded from monkey AM and LHA during discrimination of sensory stimuli including sight of food or nonfood. The task had four phases: control, visual, bar press, and ingestion. Of 710 AM neurons tested, 220 (31.0%) responded during visual phase: 48 to only visual stimulation, 13 (1.9%) to visual plus oral sensory stimulation, 142 (20.0%) to multimodal stimulation and 17 (2.4%) to one affectively significant item. Of 669 LHA neurons tested, 106 (15.8%) responded in the visual phase. Of 80 visual-related neurons tested systematically, 33 (41.2%) responded selectively to the sight of any object predicting the availability of reward, and 47 (58.8%) responded nondifferentially to both food and nonfood. Many of AM neuron responses were graded according to the degree of affective significance of sensory stimuli (sensory-affective association), but responses of LHA food responsive neurons did not depend on the kind of reward indicated by the sensory stimuli (stimulus-reinforcement association). Some AM and LHA food responses were modulated by extinction or reversal. Dynamic information processing in ITCx-AM-LHA axis was investigated by reversible deficits of bilateral ITCx or AM by cooling. ITCx cooling suppressed discrimination by vision responding AM neurons (8/17). AM cooling suppressed LHA responses to food (9/22). We suggest deep AM-LHA involvement in food-nonfood discrimination based on AM sensory-affective association and LHA stimulus-reinforcement association.

10-Month-Olds Visually Anticipate an Outcome Contingent on Their Own Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenward, Ben

2010-01-01

It is known that young infants can learn to perform an action that elicits a reinforcer, and that they can visually anticipate a predictable stimulus by looking at its location before it begins. Here, in an investigation of the display of these abilities in tandem, I report that 10-month-olds anticipate a reward stimulus that they generate through…

Cue dependency of nicotine self-administration and smoking.

PubMed

Caggiula, A R; Donny, E C; White, A R; Chaudhri, N; Booth, S; Gharib, M A; Hoffman, A; Perkins, K A; Sved, A F

2001-12-01

A paradox exists regarding the reinforcing properties of nicotine. The abuse liability associated with smoking equals or exceeds that of other addictive drugs, yet the euphoric, reinforcing and other psychological effects of nicotine, compared to these other drugs, are more subtle, are manifest under more restricted conditions, and do not readily predict the difficulty most smokers experience in achieving abstinence. One possible resolution to this apparent inconsistency is that environmental cues associated with drug delivery become conditioned reinforcers and take on powerful incentive properties that are critically important for sustaining smoking in humans and nicotine self-administration in animals. We tested this hypothesis by using a widely employed self-administration paradigm in which rats press a lever at high rates for 1 h/day to obtain intravenous infusions of nicotine that are paired with two types of visual stimuli: a chamber light that when turned on signals drug availability and a 1-s cue light that signals drug delivery. We show that these visual cues are at least as important as nicotine in sustaining a high rate of responding once self-administration has been established, in the degree to which withdrawing nicotine extinguishes the behavior, and in the reinstatement of lever pressing after extinction. Additional studies demonstrated that the importance of these cues was manifest under both fixed ratio and progressive ratio (PR) schedules of reinforcement. The possibility that nicotine-paired cues are as important as nicotine in smoking behavior should refocus our attention on the psychology and neurobiology of conditioned reinforcers in order to stimulate the development of more effective treatment programs for smoking cessation.

Examining in vivo tympanic membrane mobility using smart phone video-otoscopy and phase-based Eulerian video magnification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janatka, Mirek; Ramdoo, Krishan S.; Tatla, Taran; Pachtrachai, Krittin; Elson, Daniel S.; Stoyanov, Danail

2017-03-01

The tympanic membrane (TM) is the bridging element between the pressure waves of sound in air and the ossicular chain. It allows for sound to be conducted into the inner ear, achieving the human sense of hearing. Otitis media with effusion (OME, commonly referred to as `glue ear') is a typical condition in infants that prevents the vibration of the TM and causes conductive hearing loss, this can lead to stunting early stage development if undiagnosed. Furthermore, OME is hard to identify in this age group; as they cannot respond to typical audiometry tests. Tympanometry allows for the mobility of the TM to be examined without patient response, but requires expensive apparatus and specialist training. By combining a smartphone equipped with a 240 frames per second video recording capability with an otoscopic clip-on accessory, this paper presents a novel application of Eulerian Video Magnification (EVM) to video-otology, that could provide assistance in diagnosing OME. We present preliminary results showing a spatio-temporal slice taken from an exaggerated video visualization of the TM being excited in vivo on a healthy ear. Our preliminary results demonstrate the potential for using such an approach for diagnosing OME under visual inspection as alternative to tympanometry, which could be used remotely and hence help diagnosis in a wider population pool.

Visual Culture and Electronic Government: Exploring a New Generation of E-Government

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bekkers, Victor; Moody, Rebecca

E-government is becoming more picture-oriented. What meaning do stakeholders attach to visual events and visualization? Comparative case study research show the functional meaning primarily refers to registration, integration, transparency and communication. The political meaning refers to new ways of framing in order to secure specific interests and claims. To what the institutional meaning relates is ambiguous: either it improves the position of citizens, or it reinforces the existing bias presented by governments. Hence, we expect that the emergence of a visualized public space, through omnipresent penetration of (mobile) multimedia technologies, will influence government-citizen interactions.

A stimulus-control account of dysregulated drug intake.

PubMed

Panlilio, Leigh V; Thorndike, Eric B; Schindler, Charles W

2009-05-01

Drug self-administration typically occurs in a regular temporal pattern, with a consistent pause following each injection. We have proposed that this patterning results from differential reinforcement of post-injection pausing. In this view, even when every response produces an injection, some injections are not reinforcing because they occur when the level of drug effect is already maximal; consequently, drug reinforcement occurs on an intermittent schedule, and the interoceptive drug effect functions as a cue, indicating when another injection will be reinforcing. Previously, we emulated this situation with rats by using food reinforcement; each response was recorded as delivering a "virtual" injection, and a visual cue tracked the virtual drug level to indicate availability of reinforcement. This emulation schedule produced response patterns strikingly similar to actual drug self-administration. In the present study, the emulation schedule was modified to determine whether reinforcement of pausing is sufficient to produce these patterns, or whether a cue is necessary. Without a cue, response patterns were irregular and virtual drug intake was escalated. These results suggest that a failure of interoceptive cues to control pausing might contribute to the dysregulated drug intake that is associated with addiction.

Renewal, Resurgence, and Alternative Reinforcement Context

PubMed Central

Sweeney, Mary M.; Shahan, Timothy A.

2015-01-01

Resurgence, relapse induced by the removal of alternative reinforcement, and renewal, relapse induced by a change in contextual stimuli, are typically studied separately in operant conditioning paradigms. In analogous treatments of operant problem behavior, aspects of both relapse phenomena can operate simultaneously. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine a novel method for studying resurgence and renewal in the same experimental preparation. An alternative source of reinforcement was available during extinction for one group of rats (a typical resurgence preparation). Another group experienced an operant renewal preparation in which the extinction context was distinguished via olfactory and visual stimuli. A third group experienced alternative reinforcement delivery in the new context, a novel combination of typical resurgence and renewal preparations. Removal of alternative reinforcement and/or a change in context induced relapse, relative to an extinction-only control group. When alternative reinforcement was delivered in a novel context, the alternative response was less persistent relative to when extinction of the alternative response took place in the context in which it was trained. This methodology might be used to illustrate shared (or distinct) mechanisms of resurgence and renewal, and to determine how delivering alternative reinforcement in another context may affect persistence and relapse. PMID:25936876

Processing of microencapsulated dyes for the visual inspection of fibre reinforced plastics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hopmann, Ch.; Kerschbaum, M.; Küsters, K.

2014-05-01

The evaluation of damages caused during processing, assembly or usage of fibre reinforced plastics is still a challenge. The use of inspection technology like ultrasonic scanning enables a detailed damage analysis but requires high investments and trained staff. Therefore, the visual inspection method is widely used. A drawback of this method is the difficult identification of barely visible damages, which can already be detrimental for the structural integrity. Therefore an approach is undertaken to integrate microencapsulated dyes into the laminates of fibre reinforced plastic parts to highlight damages on the surface. In case of a damage, the microcapsules rupture which leads to a release of the dye and a visible bruise on the part surface. To enable a wide application spectrum for this technology the microcapsules must be processable without rupturing with established manufacturing processes for fibre reinforced plastics. Therefore the incorporation of microcapsules in the filament winding, prepreg autoclave and resin transfer moulding (RTM) process is investigated. The results show that the use of a carrier medium is a feasible way to incorporate the microcapsules into the laminate for all investigated manufacturing processes. Impact testing of these laminates shows a bruise formation on the specimen surface which correlates with the impact energy level. This indicates a microcapsule survival during processing and shows the potential of this technology for damage detection and characterization.

Noise induced hearing loss in dance music disc jockeys and an examination of sound levels in nightclubs.

PubMed

Bray, Adam; Szymański, Marcin; Mills, Robert

2004-02-01

Noise exposure, hearing loss and associated otological symptoms have been studied in a group of 23 disc jockeys using a questionnaire and pure tone audiometry. The level of noise exposure in the venues where they work has also been studied using Ametek Mk-3 audio dosimeters. Three members of the study group showed clear evidence of noise-induced hearing loss on audiometry, 70 per cent reported temporary threshold shift after sessions and 74 per cent reported tinnitus. Sound levels of up to 108 dB(A) were recorded in the nightclubs. The average level for a typical session was 96 dB(A) which is above the level at which the provision of ear protection is mandatory for employers in industry. It can be concluded that DJs are at substantial risk of developing noise-induced hearing loss and noise exposure in nightclubs frequently exceeds safe levels.

Initial experience with the Sophono Alpha 1 osseointegrated implant.

PubMed

Escorihuela-García, Vicente; Llópez-Carratalá, Ignacio; Pitarch-Ribas, Ignacia; Latorre-Monteagudo, Emilia; Marco-Algarra, Jaime

2014-01-01

In the last several years, bone anchored hearing aids have proven to be useful in treating conductive and mixed unilateral or bilateral hearing loss, as well as for sensorineural unilateral hearing loss. The Sophono Alpha 1 model has the advantage of not requiring an abutment, with it being coupled by magnetism instead. We report the cases of 3 infants with congenital malformations of external and middle ear. Audiometry showed conductive hearing loss. All 3 patients were implanted with Alpha 1 model (Sophono). Patients evolved satisfactorily. After 30 days we applied the processor and the control audiometry showed a marked improvement of hearing thresholds, although without a complete closure of the gap. With minimal care, the skin over the implant remained in excellent condition, with a very satisfactory cosmetic outcome. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Patología Cérvico-Facial. All rights reserved.

Automated smartphone audiometry: Validation of a word recognition test app.

PubMed

Dewyer, Nicholas A; Jiradejvong, Patpong; Henderson Sabes, Jennifer; Limb, Charles J

2018-03-01

Develop and validate an automated smartphone word recognition test. Cross-sectional case-control diagnostic test comparison. An automated word recognition test was developed as an app for a smartphone with earphones. English-speaking adults with recent audiograms and various levels of hearing loss were recruited from an audiology clinic and were administered the smartphone word recognition test. Word recognition scores determined by the smartphone app and the gold standard speech audiometry test performed by an audiologist were compared. Test scores for 37 ears were analyzed. Word recognition scores determined by the smartphone app and audiologist testing were in agreement, with 86% of the data points within a clinically acceptable margin of error and a linear correlation value between test scores of 0.89. The WordRec automated smartphone app accurately determines word recognition scores. 3b. Laryngoscope, 128:707-712, 2018. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Interaural attenuation for Sennheiser HDA 200 circumaural earphones.

PubMed

Brännström, K Jonas; Lantz, Johannes

2010-06-01

Interaural attenuation (IA) was evaluated for pure tones (frequency range 125 to 16000 Hz) using Sennheiser HDA 200 circumaural earphones and Telephonics TDH-39P earphones in nine unilaterally deaf subjects. Audiometry was conducted in 1-dB steps using the manual ascending technique in accordance with ISO 8253-1. For all subjects and for all tested frequencies, the lowest IA value for HDA 200 was 42 dB. The present IA values for TDH-39P earphones closely resemble previously reported data. The findings show that the HDA 200 earphones provide more IA than the TDH-39P, especially at lower frequencies (

Hearing status in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed

Ahmadzadeh, A; Daraei, M; Jalessi, M; Peyvandi, A A; Amini, E; Ranjbar, L A; Daneshi, A

2017-10-01

Rheumatoid arthritis is thought to induce conductive hearing loss and/or sensorineural hearing loss. This study evaluated the function of the middle ear and cochlea, and the related factors. Pure tone audiometry, speech reception thresholds, speech discrimination scores, tympanometry, acoustic reflexes, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions were assessed in rheumatoid arthritis patients and healthy volunteers. Pure tone audiometry results revealed a higher bone conduction threshold in the rheumatoid arthritis group, but there was no significant difference when evaluated according to the sensorineural hearing loss definition. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions related prevalence of conductive or mixed hearing loss, tympanometry values, acoustic reflexes, and speech discrimination scores were not significantly different between the two groups. Sensorineural hearing loss was significantly more prevalent in patients who used azathioprine, cyclosporine and etanercept. Higher bone conduction thresholds in some frequencies were detected in rheumatoid arthritis patients that were not clinically significant. Sensorineural hearing loss is significantly more prevalent in refractory rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Corrosion products of carbonation induced corrosion in existing reinforced concrete facades

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

Köliö, Arto; Honkanen, Mari; Lahdensivu, Jukka

Active corrosion in reinforced concrete structures is controlled by environmental conditions and material properties. These factors determine the corrosion rate and type of corrosion products which govern the total achieved service life. The type and critical amount of corrosion products were studied by electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry on concrete and reinforcement samples from existing concrete facades on visually damaged locations. The corrosion products in outdoor environment exposed concrete facades are mostly hydroxides (Feroxyhite, Goethite and Lepidocrocite) with a volume ratio to Fe of approximately 3. The results can be used to calibrate calculation of the critical corrosion penetration ofmore » concrete facade panels.« less

Effects of Systematically Depriving Access to Computer-Based Stimuli on Choice Responding with Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reyer, Howard S.; Sturmey, Peter

2009-01-01

Three adults with intellectual disabilities participated to investigate the effects of reinforcer deprivation on choice responding. The experimenter identified the most preferred audio-visual (A-V) stimulus and the least preferred visual-only stimulus for each participant. Participants did not have access to the A-V stimulus for 5 min, 5 and 24 h.…

Dissociating error-based and reinforcement-based loss functions during sensorimotor learning

PubMed Central

McGregor, Heather R.; Mohatarem, Ayman

2017-01-01

It has been proposed that the sensorimotor system uses a loss (cost) function to evaluate potential movements in the presence of random noise. Here we test this idea in the context of both error-based and reinforcement-based learning. In a reaching task, we laterally shifted a cursor relative to true hand position using a skewed probability distribution. This skewed probability distribution had its mean and mode separated, allowing us to dissociate the optimal predictions of an error-based loss function (corresponding to the mean of the lateral shifts) and a reinforcement-based loss function (corresponding to the mode). We then examined how the sensorimotor system uses error feedback and reinforcement feedback, in isolation and combination, when deciding where to aim the hand during a reach. We found that participants compensated differently to the same skewed lateral shift distribution depending on the form of feedback they received. When provided with error feedback, participants compensated based on the mean of the skewed noise. When provided with reinforcement feedback, participants compensated based on the mode. Participants receiving both error and reinforcement feedback continued to compensate based on the mean while repeatedly missing the target, despite receiving auditory, visual and monetary reinforcement feedback that rewarded hitting the target. Our work shows that reinforcement-based and error-based learning are separable and can occur independently. Further, when error and reinforcement feedback are in conflict, the sensorimotor system heavily weights error feedback over reinforcement feedback. PMID:28753634

Dissociating error-based and reinforcement-based loss functions during sensorimotor learning.

PubMed

Cashaback, Joshua G A; McGregor, Heather R; Mohatarem, Ayman; Gribble, Paul L

2017-07-01

It has been proposed that the sensorimotor system uses a loss (cost) function to evaluate potential movements in the presence of random noise. Here we test this idea in the context of both error-based and reinforcement-based learning. In a reaching task, we laterally shifted a cursor relative to true hand position using a skewed probability distribution. This skewed probability distribution had its mean and mode separated, allowing us to dissociate the optimal predictions of an error-based loss function (corresponding to the mean of the lateral shifts) and a reinforcement-based loss function (corresponding to the mode). We then examined how the sensorimotor system uses error feedback and reinforcement feedback, in isolation and combination, when deciding where to aim the hand during a reach. We found that participants compensated differently to the same skewed lateral shift distribution depending on the form of feedback they received. When provided with error feedback, participants compensated based on the mean of the skewed noise. When provided with reinforcement feedback, participants compensated based on the mode. Participants receiving both error and reinforcement feedback continued to compensate based on the mean while repeatedly missing the target, despite receiving auditory, visual and monetary reinforcement feedback that rewarded hitting the target. Our work shows that reinforcement-based and error-based learning are separable and can occur independently. Further, when error and reinforcement feedback are in conflict, the sensorimotor system heavily weights error feedback over reinforcement feedback.

[Correlation of pure tone thresholds and hearing loss for numbers. Comparison of three calculation variations for plausibility checking in expertise].

PubMed

Braun, T; Dochtermann, S; Krause, E; Schmidt, M; Schorn, K; Hempel, J M

2011-09-01

The present study analyzes the best combination of frequencies for the calculation of mean hearing loss in pure tone threshold audiometry for correlation with hearing loss for numbers in speech audiometry, since the literature describes different calculation variations for plausibility checking in expertise. Three calculation variations, A (250, 500 and 1000 Hz), B (500 and 1000 Hz) and C (500, 1000 and 2000 Hz), were compared. Audiograms in 80 patients with normal hearing, 106 patients with hearing loss and 135 expertise patients were analyzed in a retrospective manner. Differences between mean pure tone audiometry thresholds and hearing loss for numbers were calculated and statistically compared separately for the right and the left ear in the three patient collectives. We found the calculation variation A to be the best combination of frequencies, since it yielded the smallest standard deviations while being statistically different to calculation variations B and C. The 1- and 2.58-fold standard deviation (representing 68.3% and 99.0% of all values) was ±4.6 and ±11.8 dB for calculation variation A in patients with hearing loss, respectively. For plausibility checking in expertise, the mean threshold from the frequencies 250, 500 and 1000 Hz should be compared to the hearing loss for numbers. The common recommendation reported by the literature to doubt plausibility when the difference of these values exceeds ±5 dB is too strict as shown by this study.

Eddy-Current Detection Of Cracks In Reinforced Carbon/Carbon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christensen, Scott V.; Koshti, Ajay M.

1995-01-01

Investigations of failures of components made of reinforced carbon/carbon show eddy-current flaw-detection techniques applicable to these components. Investigation focused on space shuttle parts, but applicable to other parts made of carbon/carbon materials. Techniques reveal cracks, too small to be detected visually, in carbon/carbon matrix substrates and in silicon carbide coates on substrates. Also reveals delaminations in carbon/carbon matrices. Used to characterize extents and locations of discontinuities in substrates in situations in which ultrasonic techniques and destructive techniques not practical.

Auditory brainstem response as a diagnostic tool for patients suffering from schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar disorder: protocol.

PubMed

Wahlström, Viktor; Åhlander, Fredrik; Wynn, Rolf

2015-02-12

Psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and bipolar disorder, may sometimes be difficult to diagnose. There is a great need for a valid and reliable diagnostic tool to aid clinicians in arriving at the diagnoses in a timely and accurate manner. Prior studies have suggested that patients suffering from schizophrenia and ADHD may process certain sound stimuli in the brainstem in an unusual manner. When these patient groups have been examined with the electrophysiological method of brainstem audiometry, some studies have found illness-specific aberrations. Such aberrations may also exist for patients suffering from bipolar disorder. In this study, we will examine whether the method of brainstem audiometry can be used as a diagnostic tool for patients suffering from schizophrenia, ADHD, and bipolar disorder. The method includes three steps: (1) auditory stimulation with specific sound stimuli, (2) simultaneous measurement of brainstem activity, and (3) automated interpretation of the resulting brain stem audiograms with data-based signal analysis. We will compare three groups of 12 individuals with confirmed diagnoses of schizophrenia, ADHD, or bipolar disorder with 12 healthy subjects under blinded conditions for a total of 48 participants. The extent to which the method can be used to reach the correct diagnosis will be investigated. The project is now in a recruiting phase. When all patients and controls have been recruited and the measurements have been performed, the data will be analyzed according to a previously arranged algorithm. We expect the recruiting phase and measurements to be completed in early 2015, the analyses to be performed in mid-2015, and the results of the study to be published in early 2016. If the results support previous findings, this will lend strength to the idea that brainstem audiometry can offer objective diagnostic support for patients suffering from schizophrenia, ADHD, and bipolar disorder. A positive result from the study could imply that brainstem audiometry could become an important supportive tool for clinicians in their efforts to diagnose patients with these disorders in a timely and accurate manner. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01629355; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01629355 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6VBfTwx5H).

Processing and damage recovery of intrinsic self-healing glass fiber reinforced composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sordo, Federica; Michaud, Véronique

2016-08-01

Glass fiber reinforced composites with a self-healing, supramolecular hybrid network matrix were produced using a modified vacuum assisted resin infusion moulding process adapted to high temperature processing. The quality and fiber volume fraction (50%) of the obtained materials were assessed through microscopy and matrix burn-off methods. The thermo-mechanical properties were quantified by means of dynamic mechanical analysis, revealing very high damping properties compared to traditional epoxy-based glass fiber reinforced composites. Self-healing properties were assessed by three-point bending tests. A high recovery of the flexural properties, around 72% for the elastic modulus and 65% of the maximum flexural stress, was achieved after a resting period of 24 h at room temperature. Recovery after low velocity impact events was also visually observed. Applications for this intrinsic and autonomic self-healing highly reinforced composite material point towards semi-structural applications where high damping and/or integrity recovery after impact are required.

Toy Control Program evaluation.

PubMed

Stewart, H A; Ormond, C; Seeger, B R

1991-08-01

The Toy Control Program for the Apple IIe microcomputer is a software and hardware package developed for the training of single-switch scanning skills. The specially designed scanning programs provide on screen visual feedback and activate a battery-powered toy to reinforce performance. This study examined whether the training of preschool subjects in single-switch scanning skills with the Toy Control Program would result in increased task completion scores and increased levels of attention to task, as compared with conditions of toy activation only and microcomputer programs with screen reinforcement only. The results showed that the subjects paid significantly more attention to the toys as reinforcers (p less than .01). No significant difference was found for the performance results of the three conditions. These findings support the use of a program like the Toy Control Program, which integrates the instructional capabilities of a computer with the reinforcement potential of a toy and the creativity of a therapist.

Estrogen and hearing from a clinical point of view; characteristics of auditory function in women with Turner syndrome.

PubMed

Hederstierna, Christina; Hultcrantz, Malou; Rosenhall, Ulf

2009-06-01

Turner syndrome is a chromosomal aberration affecting 1:2000 newborn girls, in which all or part of one X chromosome is absent. This leads to ovarial dysgenesis and little or no endogenous estrogen production. These women have, among many other syndromal features, a high occurrence of ear and hearing problems, and neurocognitive dysfunctions, including reduced visual-spatial abilities; it is assumed that estrogen deficiency is at least partially responsible for these problems. In this, study 30 Turner women aged 40-67, with mild to moderate hearing loss, performed a battery of hearing tests aimed at localizing the lesion causing the sensorineural hearing impairment and assessing central auditory function, primarily sound localization. The results of TEOAE, ABR and speech recognition scores in noise were all indicative of cochlear dysfunction as the cause of the sensorineural impairment. Phase audiometry, a test for sound localization, showed mild disturbances in the Turner women compared to the reference group, suggesting that auditory-spatial dysfunction is another facet of the recognized neurocognitive phenotype in Turner women.

The suffering of tinnitus in childhood and adolescence.

PubMed

Holgers, Kajsa-Mia; Juul, Jolanta

2006-05-01

Investigate the profile of young patients complaining of tinnitus and study the prevalence and the severity of tinnitus in schoolchildren. Ninety-five consecutive patients (55 boys), 8-20 years old, seeking help for tinnitus at our clinic were studied using audiometry, structural interviews, Tinnitus Severity Questionnaire (TSQ) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), together with Visual Analog Scales (VAS) on tinnitus loudness and annoyance. The onset of tinnitus was twice as often sudden than gradual. In 54% of the children, tinnitus had started after noise exposure, most commonly listening to music. Correlations were found between the pure-tone average (PTA) of 3, 4, and 6 kHz and TSQ scores; between TSQ and HAD subscales; and between TSQ and VAS. According to the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, 32% and 14.5%, respectively, were above the cut level for clinical anxiety and depressive disorders. The girls showed more signs of anxiety disorders than the boys. The majority of the help seekers had been exposed to noise, mostly music. Predisposing factors for tinnitus severity are high-frequency hearing loss and anxiety and depressive disorders.

Preventing collapse of external auditory meatus during audiometry.

PubMed

Pearlman, R C

1975-11-01

Occlusion of the external auditory meatus resulting from earphone pressure can produce a pseudoconductive hearing loss. I describe a method for detecting ear canal collapse by otoscopy and I suggest a method of correcting the problem with a polyethylene tube prosthesis.

Observations on Hearing Levels of Preschool Cleft-Palate Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Robert J.; Philips, Betty Jane

1971-01-01

Pure-tone audiometry performed monthly on nine preschool cleft palate children showed the incidence of hearing loss ranging from 25 to 71 percent from month to month, with all children experiencing a significant hearing loss at some time. (Author/KW)

Audiological Evaluation for Exaggerated Hearing Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engelberg, Marvin W.

Described are clinical techniques and procedures useful in evaluations for exaggerated hearing levels. Discussed are considerations of the audiologist, his equipment, and erroneous findings; patient cooperation, anticipated hearing handicaps, detection of exaggeration, and order of test presentation; voluntary aid conduction audiometry,…

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

PubMed

Golob, Edward J; Taube, Jeffrey S

2002-10-17

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

Transient inactivation of basolateral amygdala during selective satiation disrupts reinforcer devaluation in rats

PubMed Central

West, Elizabeth A.; Forcelli, Patrick A.; Murnen, Alice T.; McCue, David L.; Gale, Karen; Malkova, Ludise

2012-01-01

Basolateral amygdala (BLA) function is critical for flexible, goal-directed behavior, including performance on reinforcer devaluation tasks. Here we tested, in rats, the hypothesis that BLA is critical for conditioned reinforcer devaluation during the period when the primary reinforcer (food) is being devalued (by feeding it to satiety), but not thereafter for guiding behavioral choices. We used a spatially-independent task, which employed two visual cues, each predicting one of two foods. An instrumental action (lever press) was required for reinforcer delivery. After training, rats received BLA or sham lesions, or cannulae implanted in BLA. Under control conditions (sham lesions, saline infusions), devaluation of one food significantly decreased responding to the cue associated with that food, when both cues were presented simultaneously during extinction. BLA lesions impaired this devaluation effect. Transient inactivation of BLA by microinfusion of the GABAA agonist muscimol resulted in an impairment, only when BLA was inactivated during satiation. When muscimol was infused after satiation and, therefore, BLA was inactivated only during the choice test, rats showed no impairment. Thus, BLA is necessary for registering or updating cues to reflect updated reinforcer values, but not for guiding choices once the value has been updated. Our results are the first to describe the contribution of rat BLA to specific components of reinforcer devaluation, and are the first to show impairment in reinforcer devaluation following transient inactivation in the rat. PMID:22845705

Hierarchical extreme learning machine based reinforcement learning for goal localization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

AlDahoul, Nouar; Zaw Htike, Zaw; Akmeliawati, Rini

2017-03-01

The objective of goal localization is to find the location of goals in noisy environments. Simple actions are performed to move the agent towards the goal. The goal detector should be capable of minimizing the error between the predicted locations and the true ones. Few regions need to be processed by the agent to reduce the computational effort and increase the speed of convergence. In this paper, reinforcement learning (RL) method was utilized to find optimal series of actions to localize the goal region. The visual data, a set of images, is high dimensional unstructured data and needs to be represented efficiently to get a robust detector. Different deep Reinforcement models have already been used to localize a goal but most of them take long time to learn the model. This long learning time results from the weights fine tuning stage that is applied iteratively to find an accurate model. Hierarchical Extreme Learning Machine (H-ELM) was used as a fast deep model that doesn’t fine tune the weights. In other words, hidden weights are generated randomly and output weights are calculated analytically. H-ELM algorithm was used in this work to find good features for effective representation. This paper proposes a combination of Hierarchical Extreme learning machine and Reinforcement learning to find an optimal policy directly from visual input. This combination outperforms other methods in terms of accuracy and learning speed. The simulations and results were analysed by using MATLAB.

Effects of Monoamine Oxidase Inhibition on the Reinforcing Properties of Low-Dose Nicotine.

PubMed

Smith, Tracy T; Rupprecht, Laura E; Cwalina, Samantha N; Onimus, Matthew J; Murphy, Sharon E; Donny, Eric C; Sved, Alan F

2016-08-01

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the authority to regulate cigarette smoke constituents, and a reduction in nicotine content might benefit public health by reducing the prevalence of smoking. Research suggests that cigarette smoke constituents that inhibit monoamine oxidase (MAO) may increase the reinforcing value of low doses of nicotine. The aim of the present experiments was to further characterize the impact of MAO inhibition on the primary reinforcing and reinforcement enhancing effects of nicotine in rats. In a series of experiments, rats responded for intravenous nicotine infusions or a moderately-reinforcing visual stimulus in daily 1-h sessions. Rats received pre-session injections of known MAO inhibitors. The results show that (1) tranylcypromine (TCP), a known MAO inhibitor, increases sensitivity to the primary reinforcing effects of nicotine, shifting the dose-response curve for nicotine to the left, (2) inhibition of MAO-A, but not MAO-B, increases low-dose nicotine self-administration, (3) partial MAO-A inhibition, to the degree observed in chronic cigarette smokers, also increases low-dose nicotine self-administration, and (4) TCP decreases the threshold nicotine dose required for reinforcement enhancement. The results of the present experiments suggest cigarette smoke constituents that inhibit MAO-A, in the range seen in chronic smokers, are likely to increase the primary reinforcing and reinforcement enhancing effects of low doses of nicotine. If the FDA reduces the nicotine content of cigarettes, then variability in constituents that inhibit MAO-A could impact smoking.

Identification and Modelling of the In-Plane Reinforcement Orientation Variations in a CFRP Laminate Produced by Manual Lay-Up

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davila, Yves; Crouzeix, Laurent; Douchin, Bernard; Collombet, Francis; Grunevald, Yves-Henri

2017-08-01

Reinforcement angle orientation has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of composite materials. This work presents a methodology to introduce variable reinforcement angles into finite element (FE) models of composite structures. The study of reinforcement orientation variations uses meta-models to identify and control a continuous variation across the composite ply. First, the reinforcement angle is measured through image analysis techniques of the composite plies during the lay-up phase. Image analysis results show that variations in the mean ply orientations are between -0.5 and 0.5° with standard deviations ranging between 0.34 and 0.41°. An automatic post-treatment of the images determines the global and local angle variations yielding good agreements visually and numerically between the analysed images and the identified parameters. A composite plate analysed at the end of the cooling phase is presented as a case of study. Here, the variation in residual strains induced by the variability in the reinforcement orientation are up to 28% of the strain field of the homogeneous FE model. The proposed methodology has shown its capabilities to introduce material and geometrical variability into FE analysis of layered composite structures.

Identification and Modelling of the In-Plane Reinforcement Orientation Variations in a CFRP Laminate Produced by Manual Lay-Up

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davila, Yves; Crouzeix, Laurent; Douchin, Bernard; Collombet, Francis; Grunevald, Yves-Henri

2018-06-01

Reinforcement angle orientation has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of composite materials. This work presents a methodology to introduce variable reinforcement angles into finite element (FE) models of composite structures. The study of reinforcement orientation variations uses meta-models to identify and control a continuous variation across the composite ply. First, the reinforcement angle is measured through image analysis techniques of the composite plies during the lay-up phase. Image analysis results show that variations in the mean ply orientations are between -0.5 and 0.5° with standard deviations ranging between 0.34 and 0.41°. An automatic post-treatment of the images determines the global and local angle variations yielding good agreements visually and numerically between the analysed images and the identified parameters. A composite plate analysed at the end of the cooling phase is presented as a case of study. Here, the variation in residual strains induced by the variability in the reinforcement orientation are up to 28% of the strain field of the homogeneous FE model. The proposed methodology has shown its capabilities to introduce material and geometrical variability into FE analysis of layered composite structures.

Optimisation of cognitive performance in rodent operant (touchscreen) testing: Evaluation and effects of reinforcer strength.

PubMed

Phillips, Benjamin U; Heath, Christopher J; Ossowska, Zofia; Bussey, Timothy J; Saksida, Lisa M

2017-09-01

Operant testing is a widely used and highly effective method of studying cognition in rodents. Performance on such tasks is sensitive to reinforcer strength. It is therefore advantageous to select effective reinforcers to minimize training times and maximize experimental throughput. To quantitatively investigate the control of behavior by different reinforcers, performance of mice was tested with either strawberry milkshake or a known powerful reinforcer, super saccharin (1.5% or 2% (w/v) saccharin/1.5% (w/v) glucose/water mixture). Mice were tested on fixed (FR)- and progressive-ratio (PR) schedules in the touchscreen-operant testing system. Under an FR schedule, both the rate of responding and number of trials completed were higher in animals responding for strawberry milkshake versus super saccharin. Under a PR schedule, mice were willing to emit similar numbers of responses for strawberry milkshake and super saccharin; however, analysis of the rate of responding revealed a significantly higher rate of responding by animals reinforced with milkshake versus super saccharin. To determine the impact of reinforcer strength on cognitive performance, strawberry milkshake and super saccharin-reinforced animals were compared on a touchscreen visual discrimination task. Animals reinforced by strawberry milkshake were significantly faster to acquire the discrimination than animals reinforced by super saccharin. Taken together, these results suggest that strawberry milkshake is superior to super saccharin for operant behavioral testing and further confirms that the application of response rate analysis to multiple ratio tasks is a highly sensitive method for the detection of behavioral differences relevant to learning and motivation.

Temporally Coordinated Deep Brain Stimulation in the Dorsal and Ventral Striatum Synergistically Enhances Associative Learning.

PubMed

Katnani, Husam A; Patel, Shaun R; Kwon, Churl-Su; Abdel-Aziz, Samer; Gale, John T; Eskandar, Emad N

2016-01-04

The primate brain has the remarkable ability of mapping sensory stimuli into motor behaviors that can lead to positive outcomes. We have previously shown that during the reinforcement of visual-motor behavior, activity in the caudate nucleus is correlated with the rate of learning. Moreover, phasic microstimulation in the caudate during the reinforcement period was shown to enhance associative learning, demonstrating the importance of temporal specificity to manipulate learning related changes. Here we present evidence that extends upon our previous finding by demonstrating that temporally coordinated phasic deep brain stimulation across both the nucleus accumbens and caudate can further enhance associative learning. Monkeys performed a visual-motor associative learning task and received stimulation at time points critical to learning related changes. Resulting performance revealed an enhancement in the rate, ceiling, and reaction times of learning. Stimulation of each brain region alone or at different time points did not generate the same effect.

49 CFR 227.5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... this part. Exchange rate means the change in sound level, in decibels, which would require halving or... audiometric testing, showing the thresholds of hearing sensitivity measured at discrete frequencies, as well... discrete frequencies. Audiometry can also be referred to as audiometric testing. Baseline audiogram means...

Model of lightning strike to a steel reinforce structure using PSpice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koone, Neil; Condren, Brian

2003-03-01

Surges and arcs from lightning can pose hazards to personnel and sensitive equipment and processes. Steel reinforcement in structures can act as a Faraday cage mitigating lightning effects. Knowing a structure's response to a lightning strike allows hazards associated with lightning to be analyzed. A model of lightning's response in a steel reinforced structure has been developed using PSpice (a commercial circuit simulation). Segments of rebar are modeled as inductors and resistors in series. A program has been written to take architectural information of a steel reinforced structure and "build" a circuit network that is analogous to the network of reinforcement in a facility. A severe current waveform (simulating a 99th percentile lightning strike), modeled as a current source, is introduced in the circuit network, and potential differences within the structure are determined using PSpice. A visual three-dimensional model of the facility displays the voltage distribution across the structure using color to indicate the potential difference relative to the floor. Clear air arcing distances can be calculated from the voltage distribution using a conservative value for the dielectric breakdown strength of air.

Alternative Audio Solution to Enhance Immersion in Deployable Synthetic Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-09-01

sense of presence. For example, the musical score of a movie increases the viewers’ emotional involvement in a cinematic feature. The character...photo-realistic way can make mental immersion difficult, because any flaw in the realism will spoil the effect [SHER 03].” One way to overcome spoiling...the visual realism is to reinforce visual clues with those from other modalities. 3. Aural Modality a. General Aural displays can be

Right Ear Advantage of Speech Audiometry in Single-sided Deafness.

PubMed

Wettstein, Vincent G; Probst, Rudolf

2018-04-01

Postlingual single-sided deafness (SSD) is defined as normal hearing in one ear and severely impaired hearing in the other ear. A right ear advantage and dominance of the left hemisphere are well established findings in individuals with normal hearing and speech processing. Therefore, it seems plausible that a right ear advantage would exist in patients with SSD. The audiometric database was searched to identify patients with SSD. Results from the German monosyllabic Freiburg word test and four-syllabic number test in quiet were evaluated. Results of right-sided SSD were compared with left-sided SSD. Statistical calculations were done with the Mann-Whitney U test. Four hundred and six patients with SSD were identified, 182 with right-sided and 224 with left-sided SSD. The two groups had similar pure-tone thresholds without significant differences. All test parameters of speech audiometry had better values for right ears (SSD left) when compared with left ears (SSD right). Statistically significant results (p < 0.05) were found for a weighted score (social index, 98.2 ± 4% right and 97.5 ± 4.7% left, p < 0.026), for word understanding at 60 dB SPL (95.2 ± 8.7% right and 93.9 ± 9.1% left, p < 0.035), and for the level at which 100% understanding was reached (61.5 ± 10.1 dB SPL right and 63.8 ± 11.1 dB SPL left, p < 0.022) on a performance-level function. A right ear advantage of speech audiometry was found in patients with SSD in this retrospective study of audiometric test results.

Auditory agnosia as a clinical symptom of childhood adrenoleukodystrophy.

PubMed

Furushima, Wakana; Kaga, Makiko; Nakamura, Masako; Gunji, Atsuko; Inagaki, Masumi

2015-08-01

To investigate detailed auditory features in patients with auditory impairment as the first clinical symptoms of childhood adrenoleukodystrophy (CSALD). Three patients who had hearing difficulty as the first clinical signs and/or symptoms of ALD. Precise examination of the clinical characteristics of hearing and auditory function was performed, including assessments of pure tone audiometry, verbal sound discrimination, otoacoustic emission (OAE), and auditory brainstem response (ABR), as well as an environmental sound discrimination test, a sound lateralization test, and a dichotic listening test (DLT). The auditory pathway was evaluated by MRI in each patient. Poor response to calling was detected in all patients. Two patients were not aware of their hearing difficulty, and had been diagnosed with normal hearing by otolaryngologists at first. Pure-tone audiometry disclosed normal hearing in all patients. All patients showed a normal wave V ABR threshold. Three patients showed obvious difficulty in discriminating verbal sounds, environmental sounds, and sound lateralization and strong left-ear suppression in a dichotic listening test. However, once they discriminated verbal sounds, they correctly understood the meaning. Two patients showed elongation of the I-V and III-V interwave intervals in ABR, but one showed no abnormality. MRIs of these three patients revealed signal changes in auditory radiation including in other subcortical areas. The hearing features of these subjects were diagnosed as auditory agnosia and not aphasia. It should be emphasized that when patients are suspected to have hearing impairment but have no abnormalities in pure tone audiometry and/or ABR, this should not be diagnosed immediately as psychogenic response or pathomimesis, but auditory agnosia must also be considered. Copyright © 2014 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Subclinical sensorineural hearing loss in female patients with rheumatoid arthritis].

PubMed

Treviño-González, José Luis; Villegas-González, Mario Jesús; Muñoz-Maldonado, Gerardo Enrique; Montero-Cantu, Carlos Alberto; Nava-Zavala, Arnulfo Hernán; Garza-Elizondo, Mario Alberto

2015-01-01

The rheumatoid arthritis is a clinical entity capable to cause hearing impairment that can be diagnosed promptly with high frequencies audiometry. To detect subclinical sensorineural hearing loss in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Cross-sectional study on patients with rheumatoid arthritis performing high frequency audiometry 125Hz to 16,000Hz and tympanometry. The results were correlated with markers of disease activity and response to therapy. High frequency audiometry was performed in 117 female patients aged from 19 to 65 years. Sensorineural hearing loss was observed at a sensitivity of pure tones from 125 to 8,000 Hz in 43.59%, a tone threshold of 10,000 to 16,000Hz in 94.02% patients in the right ear and in 95.73% in the left ear. Hearing was normal in 8 (6.84%) patients. Hearing loss was observed in 109 (93.16%), and was asymmetric in 36 (30.77%), symmetric in 73 (62.37%), bilateral in 107 (91.45%), unilateral in 2 (1.71%), and no conduction and/or mixed hearing loss was encountered. Eight (6.83%) patients presented vertigo, 24 (20.51%) tinnitus. Tympanogram type A presented in 88.90% in the right ear and 91.46% in the left ear, with 5.98 to 10.25% type As. Stapedius reflex was present in 75.3 to 85.2%. Speech discrimination in the left ear was significantly different (p = 0.02)in the group older than 50 years. No association was found regarding markers of disease activity, but there was an association with the onset of rheumatoid arthritis disease. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis had a high prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss for high and very high frequencies. Copyright © 2015 Academia Mexicana de Cirugía A.C. Published by Masson Doyma México S.A. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Hearing Thresholds from 500 to 16,000 Hz in Dentists: A Comparative Study

PubMed Central

Gonçalves, Claudia Giglio de Oliveira; Santos, Luciana; Lobato, Diolen; Ribas, Angela; Lacerda, Adriana Bender Moreira; Marques, Jair

2014-01-01

Introduction High-level noise exposure in dentists' workplaces may cause damages to the auditory systems. High-frequency audiometry is an important tool in the investigation in the early diagnosis of hearing loss. Objectives To analyze the auditory thresholds at frequencies from 500 to 16,000 Hz of dentists in the city of Curitiba. Methods This historic cohort study retrospectively tested hearing thresholds from 500 to 16,000 Hz with a group of dentists from Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, Brazil. Eighty subjects participated in the study, separated into a dentist group and a control group, with the same age range and gender across groups but with no history of occupational exposure to high levels of sound pressure in the control group. Subjects were tested with conventional audiometry and high-frequency audiometry and answered a questionnaire about exposure to noise. Results Results showed that 81% of dentists did not receive any information regarding noise at university; 6 (15%) dentists had sensorineural hearing impairment; significant differences were observed between the groups only at frequencies of 500 Hz and 1,000, 6,000 and 8,000 Hz in the right ear. There was no significant difference between the groups after analysis of mean hearing thresholds of high frequencies with the average hearing thresholds in conventional frequencies; subjects who had been working as dentists for longer than 10 years had worse tonal hearing thresholds at high frequencies. Conclusions In this study, we observed that dentists are at risk for the development of sensorineural hearing loss especially after 10 years of service. PMID:25992172

A study of the high-frequency hearing thresholds of dentistry professionals

PubMed Central

Lopes, Andréa Cintra; de Melo, Ana Dolores Passarelli; Santos, Cibele Carmelo

2012-01-01

Summary Introduction: In the dentistry practice, dentists are exposed to harmful effects caused by several factors, such as the noise produced by their work instruments. In 1959, the American Dental Association recommended periodical hearing assessments and the use of ear protectors. Aquiring more information regarding dentists', dental nurses', and prosthodontists' hearing abilities is necessary to propose prevention measures and early treatment strategies. Objective: To investigate the auditory thresholds of dentists, dental nurses, and prosthodontists. Method: In this clinical and experimental study, 44 dentists (Group I; GI), 36 dental nurses (Group II; GII), and 28 prosthodontists (Group III; GIII) were included, , with a total of 108 professionals. The procedures that were performed included a specific interview, ear canal inspection, conventional and high-frequency threshold audiometry, a speech reception threshold test, and an acoustic impedance test. Results: In the 3 groups that were tested, the comparison between the mean hearing thresholds provided evidence of worsened hearing ability relative to the increase in frequency. For the tritonal mean at 500 to 2,000 Hz and 3,000 to 6,000 Hz, GIII presented the worst thresholds. For the mean of the high frequencies (9,000 and 16,000 Hz), GII presented the worst thresholds. Conclusion: The conventional hearing threshold evaluation did not demonstrate alterations in the 3 groups that were tested; however, the complementary tests such as high-frequency audiometry provided greater efficacy in the early detection of hearing problems, since this population's hearing loss impaired hearing ability at frequencies that are not tested by the conventional tests. Therefore, we emphasize the need of utilizing high-frequency threshold audiometry in the hearing assessment routine in combination with other audiological tests. PMID:25991940

Validated Smartphone-Based Apps for Ear and Hearing Assessments: A Review

PubMed Central

Pallawela, Danuk

2016-01-01

Background An estimated 360 million people have a disabling hearing impairment globally, the vast majority of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Early identification through screening is important to negate the negative effects of untreated hearing impairment. Substantial barriers exist in screening for hearing impairment in LMICs, such as the requirement for skilled hearing health care professionals and prohibitively expensive specialist equipment to measure hearing. These challenges may be overcome through utilization of increasingly available smartphone app technologies for ear and hearing assessments that are easy to use by unskilled professionals. Objective Our objective was to identify and compare available apps for ear and hearing assessments and consider the incorporation of such apps into hearing screening programs Methods In July 2015, the commercial app stores Google Play and Apple App Store were searched to identify apps for ear and hearing assessments. Thereafter, six databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE, Global Health, Web of Science, CINAHL, and mHealth Evidence) were searched to assess which of the apps identified in the commercial review had been validated against gold standard measures. A comparison was made between validated apps. Results App store search queries returned 30 apps that could be used for ear and hearing assessments, the majority of which are for performing audiometry. The literature search identified 11 eligible validity studies that examined 6 different apps. uHear, an app for self-administered audiometry, was validated in the highest number of peer reviewed studies against gold standard pure tone audiometry (n=5). However, the accuracy of uHear varied across these studies. Conclusions Very few of the available apps have been validated in peer-reviewed studies. Of the apps that have been validated, further independent research is required to fully understand their accuracy at detecting ear and hearing conditions. PMID:28582261

Standards on medical fitness examinations for Navy divers.

PubMed

Weiss, Michael

2003-01-01

The German Navy employs approximately 480 divers in their primary and secondary role. Before entering diving training, every diver has to pass an intensive physical examination programme at the German Naval Medical Institute (NMI) in Kiel-Kronshagen. Annual follow-ups ensure the currency of the medical findings. Criteria of medical fitness for diving reflect industrial medical standards for hyperbaric workers as well as the general medical guidelines for NATO divers. A diving examination consists of the individual medical history, a physical examination including the neurological status and the assessment of the cardiovascular fitness by ECG and bicycle ergometry. The respiratory system is screened by regular chest x-rays and spirometry or body plethysmography. Blood and urine samples are taken to look for abnormal haematological and metabolic conditions as well as disorders of the genito-urinary system. In order to determine visual fitness, diver's visual acuity, colour vision and stereopsis as well as eye fundi are examined by an eye specialist. Also the ENT examination involves a speciality consultant and consists of audiometry, inspection of the external ear and tympanic membrane and functional tests. To ensure a high standard of dental fitness, screening by a dental officer is part of the annual check-up. Every routine diving medical examination at the NMI includes a pressure test in the hyperbaric chamber. Divers who use nitrox or oxygen-rebreather devices have to pass successfully an oxygen tolerance test under hyperbaric conditions. The annual routine diving medical examination contributes to minimize the risk of accidents in military diving operations.

Addiction to melodrama.

PubMed

Stephens, Robert P

2011-01-01

Addiction films have been shaped by the internal demands of a commercial medium. Specifically, melodrama, as a genre, has defined the limits of the visual representation of addiction. Similarly, the process of intermedialization has tended to induce a metamorphosis that shapes disparate narratives with diverse goals into a generic filmic form and substantially alters the meanings of the texts. Ultimately, visual representations shape public perceptions of addiction in meaningful ways, privileging a moralistic understanding of drug addiction that makes a complex issue visually uncomplicated by reinforcing "common sense" ideas of moral failure and redemption. Copyright © 2011 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc.

[The effects of transplantation of compound keratoprosthesis in clinical practice and managements of complications after operation].

PubMed

Yuan, Jin; Chen, Jia-qi; Zhou, Shi-you; Wang, Zhi-chong; Huang, Ting; Gu, Jian-jun; Shao, Ying-feng

2009-02-01

To explore the clinical value and management of complications of the transplantation of Titanium skirt compounded keratoprosthesis for severe corneal blindness eyes. It was a retrospective case series study. Nine eyes from 9 male patients, aged 28 to 52 years old, accepted permanent keratoprosthesis transplantation in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center from March 2002 to June 2005. All patients had corneal lesion in both eyes for 1.5 to 5.0 years. Among the 9 treated eyes, 6 eyes was severe vascularization after alkali burns, 3 eyes explosive injuries. Light perception was remained in all patients before surgery, however, 2 eyes only had a questionable orientation of light perception among them. Surgical management was divided into two stages. In the first stage, transplantation of Titanium skirt compound keratoprosthesis was performed, and the explant was reinforced by the self auricular cartilage and Tendons capsule. The second stage of surgery was performed in 5 to 6 months later, in which the membrane in the front of keratoprosthesis was cut. After the surgery, visual acuity, visual field, intraocular pressure and retina were examined. The complications were noticed and managed. All treated eyes were followed up for 1 to 3 years. After the treatment, 7 eyes divorced from blindness with uncorrected visual acuity 20/200 (0.1), and 2 eyes among them got corrected visual acuity 20/30 (0.6). Two eyes with the questionable orientation of light perception before treatment gained uncorrected visual acuity 4/200 (0.02) and 8/200 (0.04) after treatment respectively. Complications were found to include 5 recurrent frontal membrane of keratoprosthesis, one back membrane of keratoprosthesis, and one limited corneal melting. Complications were controlled by the corresponding treatments, such as membrane resection for the recurrent frontal membrane of keratoprosthesis, courage under microscope for back membrane of keratoprosthesis, and reinforcement of acellular dermis for corneal melting. All keratoprosthesis were maintained in situ, and no rejection and leakage of aqueous humor happened. It is effective to use transplantation of keratoprosthesis for the severe corneal blindness eyes. Combination with self auricular cartilage and Tendons capsular reinforcement may reduce the complications and improve the biocompatibility of keratoprosthesis.

Amplitude changes in otoacoustic emissions after exposure to industrial noise.

PubMed

Baradarnfar, Mohammad Hossein; Karamifar, Kayvan; Mehrparvar, Amir Houshang; Mollasadeghi, Abolfazl; Gharavi, Marjan; Karimi, Ghasem; Vahidy, Mohammad Reza; Baradarnfar, Amin; Mostaghaci, Mehrdad

2012-01-01

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a frequent problem in industrial settings, especially where a high noise level is present. It is permanent, and irreversible, but preventable. Routine audiometry (an objective and time consuming) test is used for NIHL screening. Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are recently proposed as a more sensitive test for early diagnosis of NIHL. In this study, we aimed to compare the results of pure tone audiometry (PTA) with OAE in the diagnosis of NIHL. In a cross-sectional study on 120 workers (in three groups: Not exposed to noise, exposed to noise without NIHL and exposed to noise with NIHL), we compared the results of PTA and OAE. OAE can detect some changes in the function of hearing system in subjects exposed to noise, and these changes are apparently prior to hearing loss, which is diagnosed by PTA. OAE is a more sensitive method for the early diagnosis of cochlear damage than PTA, and can be performed in industrial settings for NIHL screening.

The dissociation of video head impulse test (vHIT) and bithermal caloric test results provide topological localization of vestibular system impairment in patients with "definite" Ménière's disease.

PubMed

McCaslin, Devin L; Rivas, Alejandro; Jacobson, Gary P; Bennett, Marc L

2015-03-01

We report 3 patients with Ménière's disease and describe how the combination of audiometry, video head impulse testing, and caloric results may prove helpful in the diagnosis of Ménière's disease. Three patients with "definite" Ménière's disease were evaluated in a tertiary care medical center. Each patient underwent videonystagmography, horizontal canal video head impulse testing, and audiometry. All 3 patients demonstrated moderate, flat, sensorineural hearing losses; significant caloric asymmetries; and bilaterally normal video head impulse testing. This pattern of findings suggests differential preservation of high-frequency function (video head impulse testing) with impairment of low-frequency function (unilaterally abnormal caloric test results) in these patients. Ipsilesional abnormal caloric testing in the presence of normal video head impulse testing is a pattern of findings observed in a cohort of patients who have "definite" Ménière's disease.

[The Freiburg speech intelligibility test : A pillar of speech audiometry in German-speaking countries].

PubMed

Hoth, S

2016-08-01

The Freiburg speech intelligibility test according to DIN 45621 was introduced around 60 years ago. For decades, and still today, the Freiburg test has been a standard whose relevance extends far beyond pure audiometry. It is used primarily to determine the speech perception threshold (based on two-digit numbers) and the ability to discriminate speech at suprathreshold presentation levels (based on monosyllabic nouns). Moreover, it is a measure of the degree of disability, the requirement for and success of technical hearing aids (auxiliaries directives), and the compensation for disability and handicap (Königstein recommendation). In differential audiological diagnostics, the Freiburg test contributes to the distinction between low- and high-frequency hearing loss, as well as to identification of conductive, sensory, neural, and central disorders. Currently, the phonemic and perceptual balance of the monosyllabic test lists is subject to critical discussions. Obvious deficiencies exist for testing speech recognition in noise. In this respect, alternatives such as sentence or rhyme tests in closed-answer inventories are discussed.

No evidence for visual context-dependency of olfactory learning in Drosophila

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yarali, Ayse; Mayerle, Moritz; Nawroth, Christian; Gerber, Bertram

2008-08-01

How is behaviour organised across sensory modalities? Specifically, we ask concerning the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster how visual context affects olfactory learning and recall and whether information about visual context is getting integrated into olfactory memory. We find that changing visual context between training and test does not deteriorate olfactory memory scores, suggesting that these olfactory memories can drive behaviour despite a mismatch of visual context between training and test. Rather, both the establishment and the recall of olfactory memory are generally facilitated by light. In a follow-up experiment, we find no evidence for learning about combinations of odours and visual context as predictors for reinforcement even after explicit training in a so-called biconditional discrimination task. Thus, a ‘true’ interaction between visual and olfactory modalities is not evident; instead, light seems to influence olfactory learning and recall unspecifically, for example by altering motor activity, alertness or olfactory acuity.

Cueing, demand fading, and positive reinforcement to establish self-feeding and oral consumption in a child with chronic food refusal.

PubMed

Luiselli, J K

2000-07-01

A 3-year-old child with multiple medical disorders and chronic food refusal was treated successfully using a program that incorporated antecedent control procedures combined with positive reinforcement. The antecedent manipulations included visual cueing of a criterion number of self-feeding responses that were required during meals to receive reinforcement and a gradual increase in the imposed criterion (demand fading) that was based on improved frequency of oral consumption. As evaluated in a changing criterion design, the child learned to feed himself as an outcome of treatment. One year following intervention, he was consuming a variety of foods and had gained weight. Advantages of antecedent control methods for the treatment of chronic food refusal are discussed.

Stress affects instrumental learning based on positive or negative reinforcement in interaction with personality in domestic horses

PubMed Central

Valenchon, Mathilde; Lévy, Frédéric; Moussu, Chantal; Lansade, Léa

2017-01-01

The present study investigated how stress affects instrumental learning performance in horses (Equus caballus) depending on the type of reinforcement. Horses were assigned to four groups (N = 15 per group); each group received training with negative or positive reinforcement in the presence or absence of stressors unrelated to the learning task. The instrumental learning task consisted of the horse entering one of two compartments at the appearance of a visual signal given by the experimenter. In the absence of stressors unrelated to the task, learning performance did not differ between negative and positive reinforcements. The presence of stressors unrelated to the task (exposure to novel and sudden stimuli) impaired learning performance. Interestingly, this learning deficit was smaller when the negative reinforcement was used. The negative reinforcement, considered as a stressor related to the task, could have counterbalanced the impact of the extrinsic stressor by focusing attention toward the learning task. In addition, learning performance appears to differ between certain dimensions of personality depending on the presence of stressors and the type of reinforcement. These results suggest that when negative reinforcement is used (i.e. stressor related to the task), the most fearful horses may be the best performers in the absence of stressors but the worst performers when stressors are present. On the contrary, when positive reinforcement is used, the most fearful horses appear to be consistently the worst performers, with and without exposure to stressors unrelated to the learning task. This study is the first to demonstrate in ungulates that stress affects learning performance differentially according to the type of reinforcement and in interaction with personality. It provides fundamental and applied perspectives in the understanding of the relationships between personality and training abilities. PMID:28475581

Functional Contour-following via Haptic Perception and Reinforcement Learning.

PubMed

Hellman, Randall B; Tekin, Cem; van der Schaar, Mihaela; Santos, Veronica J

2018-01-01

Many tasks involve the fine manipulation of objects despite limited visual feedback. In such scenarios, tactile and proprioceptive feedback can be leveraged for task completion. We present an approach for real-time haptic perception and decision-making for a haptics-driven, functional contour-following task: the closure of a ziplock bag. This task is challenging for robots because the bag is deformable, transparent, and visually occluded by artificial fingertip sensors that are also compliant. A deep neural net classifier was trained to estimate the state of a zipper within a robot's pinch grasp. A Contextual Multi-Armed Bandit (C-MAB) reinforcement learning algorithm was implemented to maximize cumulative rewards by balancing exploration versus exploitation of the state-action space. The C-MAB learner outperformed a benchmark Q-learner by more efficiently exploring the state-action space while learning a hard-to-code task. The learned C-MAB policy was tested with novel ziplock bag scenarios and contours (wire, rope). Importantly, this work contributes to the development of reinforcement learning approaches that account for limited resources such as hardware life and researcher time. As robots are used to perform complex, physically interactive tasks in unstructured or unmodeled environments, it becomes important to develop methods that enable efficient and effective learning with physical testbeds.

Teaching Abstract Concepts: Keys to the World of Ideas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flatley, Joannis K.; Gittinger, Dennis J.

1990-01-01

Specific teaching strategies to help hearing-impaired secondary students comprehend abstract concepts include (1) pinpointing facts and fallacies, (2) organizing information visually, (3) categorizing ideas, and (4) reinforcing new vocabulary and concepts. Figures provide examples of strategy applications. (DB)

Mathematics at the Mall.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fennell, Francis (Skip)

1998-01-01

Presents two activities involving number sense in and around the shopping mall. Activities include estimation, measurement, and applications using percent. Concludes that it is appropriate to help students visualize numbers, particularly large numbers, in a context that is familiar and will be constantly reinforced. (ASK)

Spontaneous in-flight accommodation of hand orientation to unseen grasp targets: A case of action blindsight.

PubMed

Prentiss, Emily K; Schneider, Colleen L; Williams, Zoë R; Sahin, Bogachan; Mahon, Bradford Z

2018-03-15

The division of labour between the dorsal and ventral visual pathways is well established. The ventral stream supports object identification, while the dorsal stream supports online processing of visual information in the service of visually guided actions. Here, we report a case of an individual with a right inferior quadrantanopia who exhibited accurate spontaneous rotation of his wrist when grasping a target object in his blind visual field. His accurate wrist orientation was observed despite the fact that he exhibited no sensitivity to the orientation of the handle in a perceptual matching task. These findings indicate that non-geniculostriate visual pathways process basic volumetric information relevant to grasping, and reinforce the observation that phenomenal awareness is not necessary for an object's volumetric properties to influence visuomotor performance.

A visual approach to efficient analysis and quantification of ductile iron and reinforced sprayed concrete.

PubMed

Fritz, Laura; Hadwiger, Markus; Geier, Georg; Pittino, Gerhard; Gröller, M Eduard

2009-01-01

This paper describes advanced volume visualization and quantification for applications in non-destructive testing (NDT), which results in novel and highly effective interactive workflows for NDT practitioners. We employ a visual approach to explore and quantify the features of interest, based on transfer functions in the parameter spaces of specific application scenarios. Examples are the orientations of fibres or the roundness of particles. The applicability and effectiveness of our approach is illustrated using two specific scenarios of high practical relevance. First, we discuss the analysis of Steel Fibre Reinforced Sprayed Concrete (SFRSpC). We investigate the orientations of the enclosed steel fibres and their distribution, depending on the concrete's application direction. This is a crucial step in assessing the material's behavior under mechanical stress, which is still in its infancy and therefore a hot topic in the building industry. The second application scenario is the designation of the microstructure of ductile cast irons with respect to the contained graphite. This corresponds to the requirements of the ISO standard 945-1, which deals with 2D metallographic samples. We illustrate how the necessary analysis steps can be carried out much more efficiently using our system for 3D volumes. Overall, we show that a visual approach with custom transfer functions in specific application domains offers significant benefits and has the potential of greatly improving and optimizing the workflows of domain scientists and engineers.

Non-destructive inspection protocol for reinforced concrete barriers and bridge railings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chintakunta, Satish R.; Boone, Shane D.

2014-02-01

Reinforced concrete highway barriers and bridge railings serve to prevent errant vehicles from departing the travel way at grade separations. Despite the important role that they play in maintaining safety and their ubiquitous nature, barrier inspection rarely moves beyond visual inspection. In August 2008, a tractor-trailer fatally departed William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge after it dislodged a section of the bridge barrier. Investigations following the accident identified significant corrosion of the anchor bolts attaching the bridge railing to the bridge deck. As a result of the information gathered during its investigation of the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration concerning Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of concrete bridge railings. The Center for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) at Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA is currently evaluating feasibility of using four technologies - ground penetrating radar (GPR), ultrasonic pulse-echo, digital radiography and infrared thermal imaging methods to develop bridge inspection methods that augment visual inspections, offer reliable measurement techniques, and are practical, both in terms of time and cost, for field inspection work. Controlled samples containing predefined corrosion levels in reinforcing steel were embedded at barrier connection points for laboratory testing. All four NDE techniques were used in the initial phase I testing. An inspection protocol for detecting and measuring the corrosion of reinforced steel embedded in the anchorage system will be developed as part of phase II research. The identified technologies shall be further developed for field testing utilizing a structure with a barrier in good condition and a structure with a barrier in poor condition.

[Value of the study of cochlear microphonic recordings in deep and severe deafness].

PubMed

Moatti, L; Busquet, D; Cotin, G

1983-01-01

A study was conducted to assess the contribution of cochlear microphonic potential recordings during electrophysiologic audiometry examinations. Amplitude of microphonic recordings were correlated with the degree of deafness, its etiology, and the prosthetic prognosis in 38 electrocochleographic examinations. Preliminary results are analyzed.

FE-ANN based modeling of 3D simple reinforced concrete girders for objective structural health evaluation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-06-01

The structural deterioration of aging infrastructure systems and the costs of repairing these systems is an increasingly important issue worldwide. Structural health monitoring (SHM), most commonly visual inspection and condition rating, has proven t...

The Economic Impact of Implementing Nondestructive Testing of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Decks in Indiana

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-08-01

The deck is among the most expensive components of a bridge over its lifetime because of the frequent and costly maintenance and rehabilitation required. Currently, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) performs visual inspections of a bri...

Experience-dependent plasticity from eye opening enables lasting, visual cortex-dependent enhancement of motion vision.

PubMed

Prusky, Glen T; Silver, Byron D; Tschetter, Wayne W; Alam, Nazia M; Douglas, Robert M

2008-09-24

Developmentally regulated plasticity of vision has generally been associated with "sensitive" or "critical" periods in juvenile life, wherein visual deprivation leads to loss of visual function. Here we report an enabling form of visual plasticity that commences in infant rats from eye opening, in which daily threshold testing of optokinetic tracking, amid otherwise normal visual experience, stimulates enduring, visual cortex-dependent enhancement (>60%) of the spatial frequency threshold for tracking. The perceptual ability to use spatial frequency in discriminating between moving visual stimuli is also improved by the testing experience. The capacity for inducing enhancement is transitory and effectively limited to infancy; however, enhanced responses are not consolidated and maintained unless in-kind testing experience continues uninterrupted into juvenile life. The data show that selective visual experience from infancy can alone enable visual function. They also indicate that plasticity associated with visual deprivation may not be the only cause of developmental visual dysfunction, because we found that experientially inducing enhancement in late infancy, without subsequent reinforcement of the experience in early juvenile life, can lead to enduring loss of function.

Speech Recognition Thresholds for Multilingual Populations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramkissoon, Ishara

2001-01-01

This article traces the development of speech audiometry in the United States and reports on the current status, focusing on the needs of a multilingual population in terms of measuring speech recognition threshold (SRT). It also discusses sociolinguistic considerations, alternative SRT stimuli for second language learners, and research on using…

Diagnosing Dyslexia: The Screening of Auditory Laterality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johansen, Kjeld

A study investigated whether a correlation exists between the degree and nature of left-brain laterality and specific reading and spelling difficulties. Subjects, 50 normal readers and 50 reading disabled persons native to the island of Bornholm, had their auditory laterality screened using pure-tone audiometry and dichotic listening. Results…

Relations between Neurological Aberrations and Psychological Dysfunctions in Children with Serious Language Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bo, Ola O.; And Others

1992-01-01

Relationships between neuropsychological aberrations and psychological dysfunction were studied for 20 Swedish children (average age around 10 years at first testing) with serious language problems through (1) electroencephalography; (2) brain stem response audiometry; (3) magnetic resonance imaging; and (4) brain electric activity mapping by…

Heat transfer in hybrid fibre reinforced concrete-steel composite column exposed to a gas-fired radiant heater

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Štefan, R.; Procházka, J.; Novák, J.; Fládr, J.; Wald, F.; Kohoutková, A.; Scheinherrová, L.; Čáchová, M.

2017-09-01

In the paper, a gas-fired radiant heater system for testing of structural elements and materials at elevated temperatures is described. The applicability of the system is illustrated on an example of the heat transfer experiment on a hybrid fibre reinforced concrete-steel composite column specimen. The results obtained during the test are closely analysed by common data visualization techniques. The experiment is simulated by a mathematical model of heat transfer, assuming the material data of the concrete determined by in-house measurements. The measured and calculated data are compared and discussed.

PSpice Model of Lightning Strike to a Steel Reinforced Structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koone, Neil; Condren, Brian

2003-12-01

Surges and arcs from lightning can pose hazards to personnel and sensitive equipment, and processes. Steel reinforcement in structures can act as a Faraday cage mitigating lightning effects. Knowing a structure's response to a lightning strike allows hazards associated with lightning to be analyzed. A model of lightning's response in a steel reinforced structure has been developed using PSpice (a commercial circuit simulation). Segments of rebar are modeled as inductors and resistors in series. A program has been written to take architectural information of a steel reinforced structure and "build" a circuit network that is analogous to the network of reinforcement in a facility. A severe current waveform (simulating a 99th percentile lightning strike), modeled as a current source, is introduced in the circuit network, and potential differences within the structure are determined using PSpice. A visual three-dimensional model of the facility displays the voltage distribution across the structure using color to indicate the potential difference relative to the floor. Clear air arcing distances can be calculated from the voltage distribution using a conservative value for the dielectric breakdown strength of air. Potential validation tests for the model will be presented.

Action-Driven Visual Object Tracking With Deep Reinforcement Learning.

PubMed

Yun, Sangdoo; Choi, Jongwon; Yoo, Youngjoon; Yun, Kimin; Choi, Jin Young

2018-06-01

In this paper, we propose an efficient visual tracker, which directly captures a bounding box containing the target object in a video by means of sequential actions learned using deep neural networks. The proposed deep neural network to control tracking actions is pretrained using various training video sequences and fine-tuned during actual tracking for online adaptation to a change of target and background. The pretraining is done by utilizing deep reinforcement learning (RL) as well as supervised learning. The use of RL enables even partially labeled data to be successfully utilized for semisupervised learning. Through the evaluation of the object tracking benchmark data set, the proposed tracker is validated to achieve a competitive performance at three times the speed of existing deep network-based trackers. The fast version of the proposed method, which operates in real time on graphics processing unit, outperforms the state-of-the-art real-time trackers with an accuracy improvement of more than 8%.

Data-driven cluster reinforcement and visualization in sparsely-matched self-organizing maps.

PubMed

Manukyan, Narine; Eppstein, Margaret J; Rizzo, Donna M

2012-05-01

A self-organizing map (SOM) is a self-organized projection of high-dimensional data onto a typically 2-dimensional (2-D) feature map, wherein vector similarity is implicitly translated into topological closeness in the 2-D projection. However, when there are more neurons than input patterns, it can be challenging to interpret the results, due to diffuse cluster boundaries and limitations of current methods for displaying interneuron distances. In this brief, we introduce a new cluster reinforcement (CR) phase for sparsely-matched SOMs. The CR phase amplifies within-cluster similarity in an unsupervised, data-driven manner. Discontinuities in the resulting map correspond to between-cluster distances and are stored in a boundary (B) matrix. We describe a new hierarchical visualization of cluster boundaries displayed directly on feature maps, which requires no further clustering beyond what was implicitly accomplished during self-organization in SOM training. We use a synthetic benchmark problem and previously published microbial community profile data to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed methods.

Selective effects of 5-HT2C receptor modulation on performance of a novel valence-probe visual discrimination task and probabilistic reversal learning in mice.

PubMed

Phillips, Benjamin U; Dewan, Sigma; Nilsson, Simon R O; Robbins, Trevor W; Heath, Christopher J; Saksida, Lisa M; Bussey, Timothy J; Alsiö, Johan

2018-04-22

Dysregulation of the serotonin (5-HT) system is a pathophysiological component in major depressive disorder (MDD), a condition closely associated with abnormal emotional responsivity to positive and negative feedback. However, the precise mechanism through which 5-HT tone biases feedback responsivity remains unclear. 5-HT2C receptors (5-HT2CRs) are closely linked with aspects of depressive symptomatology, including abnormalities in reinforcement processes and response to stress. Thus, we aimed to determine the impact of 5-HT2CR function on response to feedback in biased reinforcement learning. We used two touchscreen assays designed to assess the impact of positive and negative feedback on probabilistic reinforcement in mice, including a novel valence-probe visual discrimination (VPVD) and a probabilistic reversal learning procedure (PRL). Systemic administration of a 5-HT2CR agonist and antagonist resulted in selective changes in the balance of feedback sensitivity bias on these tasks. Specifically, on VPVD, SB 242084, the 5-HT2CR antagonist, impaired acquisition of a discrimination dependent on appropriate integration of positive and negative feedback. On PRL, SB 242084 at 1 mg/kg resulted in changes in behaviour consistent with reduced sensitivity to positive feedback. In contrast, WAY 163909, the 5-HT2CR agonist, resulted in changes associated with increased sensitivity to positive feedback and decreased sensitivity to negative feedback. These results suggest that 5-HT2CRs tightly regulate feedback sensitivity bias in mice with consequent effects on learning and cognitive flexibility and specify a framework for the influence of 5-HT2CRs on sensitivity to reinforcement.

Non-destructive inspection protocol for reinforced concrete barriers and bridge railings

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

Chintakunta, Satish R.; Boone, Shane D.

Reinforced concrete highway barriers and bridge railings serve to prevent errant vehicles from departing the travel way at grade separations. Despite the important role that they play in maintaining safety and their ubiquitous nature, barrier inspection rarely moves beyond visual inspection. In August 2008, a tractor-trailer fatally departed William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge after it dislodged a section of the bridge barrier. Investigations following the accident identified significant corrosion of the anchor bolts attaching the bridge railing to the bridge deck. As a result of the information gathered during its investigation of the accident, the National Transportation Safety Boardmore » (NTSB) made recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration concerning Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of concrete bridge railings. The Center for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) at Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA is currently evaluating feasibility of using four technologies - ground penetrating radar (GPR), ultrasonic pulse-echo, digital radiography and infrared thermal imaging methods to develop bridge inspection methods that augment visual inspections, offer reliable measurement techniques, and are practical, both in terms of time and cost, for field inspection work. Controlled samples containing predefined corrosion levels in reinforcing steel were embedded at barrier connection points for laboratory testing. All four NDE techniques were used in the initial phase I testing. An inspection protocol for detecting and measuring the corrosion of reinforced steel embedded in the anchorage system will be developed as part of phase II research. The identified technologies shall be further developed for field testing utilizing a structure with a barrier in good condition and a structure with a barrier in poor condition.« less

The French TV Commercial as a Pedagogical Tool in the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Katherine

1987-01-01

Use of French television commercials as a pedagogical tool has a great advantage over "two-dimensional" advertisements because they provide authentic and current spoken language which is often reinforced by repetitions and musical tunes as well as visual slogans on the screen. (CB)

A case study of three methods used in detecting bridge deck deterioration associated with spalling.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1973-01-01

The three most widely used current methods for detecting deterioration of concrete bridge decks associated with spalling were compared with a visual inspection of the reinforcing steel and to each other in order to determine the degree of agreement a...

Crocodile Mathematics 1.1. [CD-ROM].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2002

This CD-ROM consists of software that allows both teachers and students to create and experiment with mathematical models by linking shapes, graphs, numbers, and equations. It is usable for demonstrations, home learning, reinforcing concepts, illustrating concepts that are difficult to visualize, further pupil investigations, and project work.…

Shaping tRNA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Priano, Christine

2013-01-01

This model-building activity provides a quick, visual, hands-on tool that allows students to examine more carefully the cloverleaf structure of a typical tRNA molecule. When used as a supplement to lessons that involve gene expression, this exercise reinforces several concepts in molecular genetics, including nucleotide base-pairing rules, the…

Iontophoresis and Flame Photometry: A Hybrid Interdisciplinary Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharp, Duncan; Cottam, Linzi; Bradley, Sarah; Brannigan, Jeanie; Davis, James

2010-01-01

The combination of reverse iontophoresis and flame photometry provides an engaging analytical experiment that gives first-year undergraduate students a flavor of modern drug delivery and analyte extraction techniques while reinforcing core analytical concepts. The experiment provides a highly visual demonstration of the iontophoresis technique and…

Visual Reinforcement in the Female Siamese Fighting Fish, "Betta Splendens"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elcoro, Mirari; da Silva, Stephanie P.; Lattal, Kennon A.

2008-01-01

Operant conditioning with "Betta splendens" ("Bettas") has been investigated extensively using males of the species. Ethological studies of female "Bettas" have revealed aggressive interactions that qualitatively parallel those between male "Bettas". Given these similarities, four experiments were conducted with female "Bettas" to examine the…

A behavioral economic analysis of the value-enhancing effects of nicotine and varenicline and the role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in male and female rats.

PubMed

Barrett, Scott T; Geary, Trevor N; Steiner, Amy N; Bevins, Rick A

2018-04-09

Reinforcement value enhancement by nicotine of non-nicotine rewards is believed to partially motivate smoking behavior. Recently, we showed that the value-enhancing effects of nicotine are well characterized by reinforcer demand models and that the value-enhancing effects of the smoking-cessation aid bupropion (Zyban) are distinct from those of nicotine and differ between the sexes. The present study evaluated potential sex differences in the enhancement effects of nicotine and varenicline (Chantix) using a reinforcer demand methodology. The role of α4β2* and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the enhancing effects of nicotine and varenicline is also evaluated. Male and female rats (n=12/sex) were trained to lever press maintained by sensory reinforcement by visual stimulus (VS) presentations. Changes in the VS value following nicotine and varenicline administration were assessed using an established reinforcer demand approach. Subsequently, the effects of antagonism of α4β2* and α7 nAChRs on varenicline and nicotine-induced enhancement active lever-pressing were assessed using a progressive ratio schedule. Nicotine and varenicline enhanced VS demand equivalently between the sexes as evaluated by reinforcer demand. However, α4β2* receptor antagonism attenuated value enhancement by nicotine and varenicline in females, but only of nicotine in males.

Reinforcing Visual Grouping Cues to Communicate Complex Informational Structure.

PubMed

Bae, Juhee; Watson, Benjamin

2014-12-01

In his book Multimedia Learning [7], Richard Mayer asserts that viewers learn best from imagery that provides them with cues to help them organize new information into the correct knowledge structures. Designers have long been exploiting the Gestalt laws of visual grouping to deliver viewers those cues using visual hierarchy, often communicating structures much more complex than the simple organizations studied in psychological research. Unfortunately, designers are largely practical in their work, and have not paused to build a complex theory of structural communication. If we are to build a tool to help novices create effective and well structured visuals, we need a better understanding of how to create them. Our work takes a first step toward addressing this lack, studying how five of the many grouping cues (proximity, color similarity, common region, connectivity, and alignment) can be effectively combined to communicate structured text and imagery from real world examples. To measure the effectiveness of this structural communication, we applied a digital version of card sorting, a method widely used in anthropology and cognitive science to extract cognitive structures. We then used tree edit distance to measure the difference between perceived and communicated structures. Our most significant findings are: 1) with careful design, complex structure can be communicated clearly; 2) communicating complex structure is best done with multiple reinforcing grouping cues; 3) common region (use of containers such as boxes) is particularly effective at communicating structure; and 4) alignment is a weak structural communicator.

Reiter's syndrome and hearing loss: a possible association?

PubMed

Monsanto, Rafael C; Neto, Arlindo C L; Lorenzetti, Fábio T M

2014-12-01

Patient complained of hearing loss and tinnitus after the onset of Reiter's syndrome. Audiometry confirmed the hearing loss on the left ear; blood work showed increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C3 fraction of the complement. Genotyping for HLA-B27 was positive. Treatment with prednisolone did not improve the hearing levels.

Is There a Silent Hearing Loss among Children in Jordan?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alaqrabawi, Wala' S.; Alshawabka, Amneh Z.; Al-Addasi, Zainab M.

2016-01-01

This study measured the prevalence of hearing loss among school children in Jordan. A random sample of 1649 children (990 males and 659 females) was collected from randomly chosen 40 schools in Amman. Screening was conducted between November 2010 and October 2014. Otoscopic examination, tympanometry, and audiometry were used for screening. Based…

THE DEAF. PRENTICE-HALL FOUNDATIONS OF SPEECH PATHOLOGY SERIES.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DI CARLO, LOUIS M.

DESIGNED FOR STUDENTS OF SPEECH PATHOLOGY AND AUDIOLOGY AND PRACTICING CLINICIANS, THIS BOOK PRESENTS AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF ATTEMPTS TO TEACH THE DEAF FROM BEFORE THE 15TH CENTURY THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY. A DISCUSSION OF DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES FOR AUDITORY DISORDERS IN CHILDREN INCLUDED INFORMAL TESTING, PLAY AUDIOMETRY, SPEECH TESTS,…

Q-Type Factor Analysis of Healthy Aged Men.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kleban, Morton H.

Q-type factor analysis was used to re-analyze baseline data collected in 1957, on 47 men aged 65-91. Q-type analysis is the use of factor methods to study persons rather than tests. Although 550 variables were originally studied involving psychiatry, medicine, cerebral metabolism and chemistry, personality, audiometry, dichotic and diotic memory,…

Diagnosis of Hearing Loss.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

World Federation of the Deaf, Rome (Italy).

Seven conference papers from the U.S.S.R., India, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia consider the diagnosis of hearing loss. They are "Examination of Hearing of Children, Aged from 2 to 5, by Means of Playing Audiometry" by A. P. Kossacheva, "A Study of the Etiology and Pattern of Deafness in a School for the Deaf in Madras,…

Auditory effects of aircraft noise on people living near an airport.

PubMed

Chen, T J; Chen, S S; Hsieh, P Y; Chiang, H C

1997-01-01

Two groups of randomly chosen individuals who lived in two communities located different distances from the airport were studied. We monitored audiometry and brainstem auditory-evoked potentials to evaluate cochlear and retrocochlear functions in the individuals studied. The results of audiometry measurements indicated that hearing ability was reduced significantly in individuals who lived near the airport and who were exposed frequently to aircraft noise. Values of pure-tone average, high pure-tone average, and threshold at 4 kHz were all higher in individuals who lived near the airport, compared with those who lived farther away. With respect to brainstem auditory-evoked potentials, latencies between the two groups were not consistently different; however, the abnormality rate of such potentials was significantly higher in volunteers who lived near the airport, compared with less-exposed counterparts. In addition, a positive correlation was found between brainstem auditory-evoked potential latency and behavioral hearing threshold of high-frequency tone in exposed volunteers. We not only confirmed that damage to the peripheral cochlear organs occurred in individuals exposed frequently to aircraft noise, but we demonstrated involvement of the central auditory pathway.

The effect of mobile phone to audiologic system.

PubMed

Kerekhanjanarong, Virachai; Supiyaphun, Pakpoom; Naratricoon, Jantra; Laungpitackchumpon, Prinya

2005-09-01

Mobile phones have come into widespread use. There are a lot of possible adverse effect to health. Use of mobile phone generate potentially harmful radiofrequency electromagnetic field (EMF) particularly for the hearing aspect. 98 subjects underwent hearing evaluations at Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Chulalongkorn University. 31 males and 67females, mean age was 30.48 +/- 9.51 years old, all subjects were investigated the hearing level by audiometry, tympanometry, otoacoustic emission (OAE) and auditory brain stem evoked response (ABR). The average of using time were 32.54 +/- 27.64 months, 57 subjects usually used the right side and 41 the left side. Average time of use per day was 26.31 +/- 30.91 minutes (range from 3 to 180 mins). When the authors compared the audiogram, both pure tone and speech audiometry, between the dominant and nondominant side, it indicated that there is no significant different. When the authors focused on the 8 subjects that used the mobile phone more than 60 mins per day. It indicated that the hearing threshold of the dominant ears was worse than the nondominant ears.

Synchronous activity in cat visual cortex encodes collinear and cocircular contours.

PubMed

Samonds, Jason M; Zhou, Zhiyi; Bernard, Melanie R; Bonds, A B

2006-04-01

We explored how contour information in primary visual cortex might be embedded in the simultaneous activity of multiple cells recorded with a 100-electrode array. Synchronous activity in cat visual cortex was more selective and predictable in discriminating between drifting grating and concentric ring stimuli than changes in firing rate. Synchrony was found even between cells with wholly different orientation preferences when their receptive fields were circularly aligned, and membership in synchronous groups was orientation and curvature dependent. The existence of synchrony between cocircular cells reinforces its role as a general mechanism for contour integration and shape detection as predicted by association field concepts. Our data suggest that cortical synchrony results from common and synchronous input from earlier visual areas and that it could serve to shape extrastriate response selectivity.

Transiently-Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions (teoaes) in Monitoring Adult Cis-Platin Patients.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ribera, John Everett

1995-01-01

There is evidence to suggest that otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) reflect the integrity of cochlear outer hair cell (OHC) function. Cis-platin (CDDP) is a potent ototoxic chemotherapeutic agent that tends to destroy or disable OHCs. Therefore, this study was designed to answer the following questions: (1) Can TEOAEs be used in monitoring for ototoxicity in adult VA oncology patients receiving CDDP treatment? (2) If so, how sensitive are TEOAEs in detecting significant changes when compared to Audiometry in a VA population? and (3) Which of several TEOAE measures is the most sensitive to changes in hearing due to CDDP ototoxicity in a VA population?. In Experiment I, VA Medical Center patients were recruited (control group) and tested using a conventional audiometer and the ILO88 Otoacoustic Analyzer on three separate days. Data from this experiment were used to develop change criteria in each of four TEOAE measures (Reproducibility, Compare, 1 kHz Band Analysis, and OAE Response) for Experiment II. Experiment II was of similar design with the exception that the subjects (experimental group) were patients enrolled from the oncology ward and were administered CDDP after the first and second test sessions. Data from both groups and all test measures revealed (1) that there was no ear effect in any of the test conditions, (2) there was a group (drug) effect, and (3) there was a frequency effect at 2 kHz. Audiometry detected changes in 56% of the experimental subjects, while the number of changes varied among the TEOAE measures studied. Compare agreed with Audiometry more often and performed better than any other TEOAE measure in detecting change. Based on these findings, incorporation of Compare into an audiometric test battery to monitor for ototoxicity in the VA population is feasible. There is evidence to suggest that as measurement techniques are refined TEOAE analysis will become a valid test for monitoring of adult CDDP patients.

Graphing and Percentage Applications Using the Personal Computer.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Innes, Jay

1985-01-01

The paper describes how "IBM Graphing Assistant" and "Apple Softgraph" can foster a multifaceted approach to application of mathematical concepts and how a survey can be undertaken using the computer as word processor, data bank, and source of visual displays. Mathematical skills reinforced include estimating, rounding, graphing, and solving…

FE-ANN based modeling of 3D Simple Reinforced Concrete Girders for Objective Structural Health Evaluation : Tech Transfer Summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-06-01

The objective of this study was to develop an objective, quantitative method for evaluating damage to bridge girders by using artificial neural networks (ANNs). This evaluation method, which is a supplement to visual inspection, requires only the res...

Interactive Word Walls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Julie; Narvaez, Rose

2013-01-01

It is common to see word walls displaying the vocabulary that students have learned in class. Word walls serve as visual scaffolds and are a classroom strategy used to reinforce reading and language arts instruction. Research shows a strong relationship between student word knowledge and academic achievement (Stahl and Fairbanks 1986). As a…

Compassion: A Teaching Tool?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reeves, Kate

2009-01-01

Colin is a kindergartener who acted like a three-year-old with an attitude. This author, his kindergarten teacher, had tried visual schedules, positive and negative reinforcement, ignoring disruptive behavior, clear expectations and choices, and nothing was curbing his defiant behaviors. So far, all he had learned was that grown-ups were always…

Body Awareness and Movement for Students with Multiple Disabilities Including Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DePountis, Vicki; Cady, Deborah; Hallak, Tracy

2013-01-01

This conference presentation examines concept development for congenitally blind students. It presents current research on best-practice for teaching this population. Examples of strategies to reinforce understanding of body concepts, spatial awareness, and positional language, while promoting mirroring, self regulation, and purposeful movement to…

Teaching Strategy: Using the Human Rights Poster.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Update on Law-Related Education, 1998

1998-01-01

Describes a lesson focusing on a human-rights poster that provides visual reinforcement of the second article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that enforces freedom from discrimination. Presents students with examples of human-rights situations to assist them in understanding that all people are entitled to human rights. (CMK)

Damage assessment in reinforced concrete using nonlinear vibration techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Den Abeele, K.; De Visscher, J.

2000-07-01

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures are subject to microcrack initiation and propagation at load levels far below the actual failure load. In this paper, nonlinear vibration techniques are applied to investigate stages of progressive damage in RC beams induced by static loading tests. At different levels of damage, a modal analysis is carried out, assuming the structure to behave linearly. At the same time, measurement of resonant frequencies and damping ratios as function of vibration amplitude are performed using a frequency domain technique as well as a time domain technique. We compare the results of the linear and nonlinear techniques, and value them against the visual damage evaluation.

Experience improves feature extraction in Drosophila.

PubMed

Peng, Yueqing; Xi, Wang; Zhang, Wei; Zhang, Ke; Guo, Aike

2007-05-09

Previous exposure to a pattern in the visual scene can enhance subsequent recognition of that pattern in many species from honeybees to humans. However, whether previous experience with a visual feature of an object, such as color or shape, can also facilitate later recognition of that particular feature from multiple visual features is largely unknown. Visual feature extraction is the ability to select the key component from multiple visual features. Using a visual flight simulator, we designed a novel protocol for visual feature extraction to investigate the effects of previous experience on visual reinforcement learning in Drosophila. We found that, after conditioning with a visual feature of objects among combinatorial shape-color features, wild-type flies exhibited poor ability to extract the correct visual feature. However, the ability for visual feature extraction was greatly enhanced in flies trained previously with that visual feature alone. Moreover, we demonstrated that flies might possess the ability to extract the abstract category of "shape" but not a particular shape. Finally, this experience-dependent feature extraction is absent in flies with defective MBs, one of the central brain structures in Drosophila. Our results indicate that previous experience can enhance visual feature extraction in Drosophila and that MBs are required for this experience-dependent visual cognition.

[Is it possible to train Achatina fulica using visual stimulation?].

PubMed

Baĭkova, I B; Zhukov, V V

2001-01-01

The conditioned behavior to visual stimuli was obtained in Achatina fulica mollusk on the basis of its negative phototaxis. Directional moving of snails toward black cards was accompanied by the negative unconditioned stimulation (electric current). Learning was expressed in a statistically significant decrease in locomotor activity of animals and decrease in the rate of preference of sections with black cards. Learning developed within two daily training sessions with 30 trials in each of them. Learning traces were observed as defensive behavior at least during a month after reinforcement elimination.

Escape from harm: linking affective vision and motor responses during active avoidance

PubMed Central

Keil, Andreas

2014-01-01

When organisms confront unpleasant objects in their natural environments, they engage in behaviors that allow them to avoid aversive outcomes. Here, we linked visual processing of threat to its behavioral consequences by including a motor response that terminated exposure to an aversive event. Dense-array steady-state visual evoked potentials were recorded in response to conditioned threat and safety signals viewed in active or passive behavioral contexts. The amplitude of neuronal responses in visual cortex increased additively, as a function of emotional value and action relevance. The gain in local cortical population activity for threat relative to safety cues persisted when aversive reinforcement was behaviorally terminated, suggesting a lingering emotionally based response amplification within the visual system. Distinct patterns of long-range neural synchrony emerged between the visual cortex and extravisual regions. Increased coupling between visual and higher-order structures was observed specifically during active perception of threat, consistent with a reorganization of neuronal populations involved in linking sensory processing to action preparation. PMID:24493849

A Multinomial Model for Identifying Significant Pure-Tone Threshold Shifts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlauch, Robert S.; Carney, Edward

2007-01-01

Purpose: Significant threshold differences on retest for pure-tone audiometry are often evaluated by application of ad hoc rules, such as a shift in a pure-tone average or in 2 adjacent frequencies that exceeds a predefined amount. Rules that are so derived do not consider the probability of observing a particular audiogram. Methods: A general…

Reiter's syndrome and hearing loss: a possible association?

PubMed Central

Monsanto, Rafael C; Neto, Arlindo C L; Lorenzetti, Fábio T M

2014-01-01

Key Clinical Message Patient complained of hearing loss and tinnitus after the onset of Reiter's syndrome. Audiometry confirmed the hearing loss on the left ear; blood work showed increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C3 fraction of the complement. Genotyping for HLA-B27 was positive. Treatment with prednisolone did not improve the hearing levels. PMID:25548635

Evaluation of Monitoring Audiometry in the United States Air Force Hearing Conservation Program

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

the True Positive on the y-axis (MacMillian and Creelman , 1991). Issues to consider include the cost of the 40 hour noise-free audiogram vs. the benefit... Creelman , C.D. (1991). Detection theory: a user’s guide. New York: Capbridge University Press. Melnick, W. (1979). Hearing loss from noise exposure. In

Modification of saccadic gain by reinforcement

PubMed Central

Paeye, Céline; Wallman, Josh

2011-01-01

Control of saccadic gain is often viewed as a simple compensatory process in which gain is adjusted over many trials by the postsaccadic retinal error, thereby maintaining saccadic accuracy. Here, we propose that gain might also be changed by a reinforcement process not requiring a visual error. To test this hypothesis, we used experimental paradigms in which retinal error was removed by extinguishing the target at the start of each saccade and either an auditory tone or the vision of the target on the fovea was provided as reinforcement after those saccades that met an amplitude criterion. These reinforcement procedures caused a progressive change in saccade amplitude in nearly all subjects, although the rate of adaptation differed greatly among subjects. When we reversed the contingencies and reinforced those saccades landing closer to the original target location, saccade gain changed back toward normal gain in most subjects. When subjects had saccades adapted first by reinforcement and a week later by conventional intrasaccadic step adaptation, both paradigms yielded similar degrees of gain changes and similar transfer to new amplitudes and to new starting positions of the target step as well as comparable rates of recovery. We interpret these changes in saccadic gain in the absence of postsaccadic retinal error as showing that saccade adaptation is not controlled by a single error signal. More generally, our findings suggest that normal saccade adaptation might involve general learning mechanisms rather than only specialized mechanisms for motor calibration. PMID:21525366

Behavioral Vision Training for Myopia: Stimulus Specificity of Training Effects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leung, Jin-Pang

1988-01-01

The study assessed transfer of visual training for myopia using two different training stimuli and a single subject A-B-C-A design with a male student volunteer. A procedure including stimulus fading and reinforcement (positive verbal feedback) was used to effectively improve performance on both behavioral acuity tests during the training phases…

A Treasure Chest of Primary Learning Center Ideas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kessler, Margaret; Kessler, John

Defining a learning center as a classroom area containing several learning stations where students may work independently with materials which teach, reinforce, or enrich their skills, this guide presents a number of ideas for use in the visual motivation display area of such a center. Suggestions for displays for the various teaching stations are…

The Challenge of New Colorblind Racism in Art Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desai, Dipti

2010-01-01

In this article, the author examines the ways the colorblind ideology shapes the post-Civil Rights society, what is now being called the new racism. She looks specifically at the ways colorblind ideology is produced and reinforced through multiculturalism and visual culture (media). She then looks at how it shapes art teachers' understanding of…

The Use of Peer Networks to Increase Communicative Acts of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamps, Debra; Mason, Rose; Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy; Feldmiller, Sarah; Turcotte, Amy; Miller, Todd

2014-01-01

Peer networks including social groups using typical peers, scripted instruction, visual text cues, and reinforcement were examined with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A multiple baseline design across four participants was used to measure students' use of communication acts with peers during free play following instruction. Peer…

An Integrated Model of Associative and Reinforcement Learning

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

Frameworks that em- ploy some form of Model-based planning (e.g. Daw, Niv , & Dayan, 2005; Sutton & Barto, 1998) include both AL and RL, but these tend to...Chun, M. M. (2000). Contextual cueing of visual attention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(5), 170–178. Daw, N. D., Niv , Y., & Dayan, P. (2005

Imaging the Frame: Media Representations of Teachers, Their Unions, NCLB, and Education Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldstein, Rebecca A.

2011-01-01

This article examines the political discourse surrounding NCLB, educational reform, and how that discourse shaped perceptions of public education during the Bush Administration. Examining mass media campaigns in the New York Times and Time Magazine, the article demonstrates how the media has visually and textually framed and reinforced NCLB and…

Pour une pedagogie integree du code oral et du code ecrit (Toward a Pedagogy Integrating Oral and Written Codes).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guillen-Diaz, Carmen

1990-01-01

A classroom approach that brings oral and written language learning closer together is outlined. The strategy focuses on proper pronunciation using minimal pairs and uses exercises designed for listening and visualization, production, discrimination, re-use and reinforcement, and computer-assisted instruction. (MSE)

Orientalism(s), World Geography Textbooks, and Temporal Paradox: Questioning Representations of Southwest Asia and North Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zagumny, Lisa; Richey, Amanda B.

2013-01-01

In this critical discourse analysis of six high-school world geography textbooks, we explore how constructions and representations of North Africa and Southwest Asia have served to reinforce Orientalist discourse in formal curriculum. Visual and written representations in these textbooks were overwhelmingly confounded by a traditional/modern…

Figure Analysis: An Implementation Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiles, Amy M.

2016-01-01

Figure analysis is a novel active learning teaching technique that reinforces visual literacy. Small groups of students discuss diagrams in class in order to learn content. The instructor then gives a brief introduction and later summarizes the content of the figure. This teaching technique can be used in place of lecture as a mechanism to deliver…

Selective attention to visual compound stimuli in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus).

PubMed

Ploog, Bertram O

2011-05-01

Five squirrel monkeys served under a simultaneous discrimination paradigm with visual compound stimuli that allowed measurement of excitatory and inhibitory control exerted by individual stimulus components (form and luminance/"color"), which could not be presented in isolation (i.e., form could not be presented without color). After performance exceeded a criterion of 75% correct during training, unreinforced test trials with stimuli comprising recombined training stimulus components were interspersed while the overall reinforcement rate remained constant for training and testing. The training-testing series was then repeated with reversed reinforcement contingencies. The findings were that color acquired greater excitatory control than form under the original condition, that no such difference was found for the reversal condition or for inhibitory control under either condition, and that overall inhibitory control was less pronounced than excitatory control. The remarkably accurate performance throughout suggested that a forced 4-s delay between the stimulus presentation and the opportunity to respond was effective in reducing "impulsive" responding, which has implications for suppressing impulsive responding in children with autism and with attention deficit disorder. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Degradation of learned skills: Effectiveness of practice methods on visual approach and landing skill retention

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sitterley, T. E.; Zaitzeff, L. P.; Berge, W. A.

1972-01-01

Flight control and procedural task skill degradation, and the effectiveness of retraining methods were evaluated for a simulated space vehicle approach and landing under instrument and visual flight conditions. Fifteen experienced pilots were trained and then tested after 4 months either without the benefits of practice or with static rehearsal, dynamic rehearsal or with dynamic warmup practice. Performance on both the flight control and procedure tasks degraded significantly after 4 months. The rehearsal methods effectively countered procedure task skill degradation, while dynamic rehearsal or a combination of static rehearsal and dynamic warmup practice was required for the flight control tasks. The quality of the retraining methods appeared to be primarily dependent on the efficiency of visual cue reinforcement.

Advances and limitations of visual conditioning protocols in harnessed bees.

PubMed

Avarguès-Weber, Aurore; Mota, Theo

2016-10-01

Bees are excellent invertebrate models for studying visual learning and memory mechanisms, because of their sophisticated visual system and impressive cognitive capacities associated with a relatively simple brain. Visual learning in free-flying bees has been traditionally studied using an operant conditioning paradigm. This well-established protocol, however, can hardly be combined with invasive procedures for studying the neurobiological basis of visual learning. Different efforts have been made to develop protocols in which harnessed honey bees could associate visual cues with reinforcement, though learning performances remain poorer than those obtained with free-flying animals. Especially in the last decade, the intention of improving visual learning performances of harnessed bees led many authors to adopt distinct visual conditioning protocols, altering parameters like harnessing method, nature and duration of visual stimulation, number of trials, inter-trial intervals, among others. As a result, the literature provides data hardly comparable and sometimes contradictory. In the present review, we provide an extensive analysis of the literature available on visual conditioning of harnessed bees, with special emphasis on the comparison of diverse conditioning parameters adopted by different authors. Together with this comparative overview, we discuss how these diverse conditioning parameters could modulate visual learning performances of harnessed bees. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conditioning with compound stimuli in Drosophila melanogaster in the flight simulator.

PubMed

Brembs, B; Heisenberg, M

2001-08-01

Short-term memory in Drosophila melanogaster operant visual learning in the flight simulator is explored using patterns and colours as a compound stimulus. Presented together during training, the two stimuli accrue the same associative strength whether or not a prior training phase rendered one of the two stimuli a stronger predictor for the reinforcer than the other (no blocking). This result adds Drosophila to the list of other invertebrates that do not exhibit the robust vertebrate blocking phenomenon. Other forms of higher-order learning, however, were detected: a solid sensory preconditioning and a small second-order conditioning effect imply that associations between the two stimuli can be formed, even if the compound is not reinforced.

Training self-feeding skills in children who are deaf and blind.

PubMed

Luiselli, J K

1993-10-01

There are very few studies that describe programs to train self-feeding skills in young children who are deaf and blind. This research reports two single-case studies on the acquisition of self-feeding in children with developmental disabilities and combined visual and auditory impairments. Study 1 included the use of prompting, prompt-fading, and contingent sensory reinforcement procedures to train independent self-feeding in a 7-year-old girl. Study 2 incorporated social reinforcement and response interruption to refine the self-feeding skills of a 6-year-old boy. Both studies were conducted by direct-care providers within an educational setting and reported maintenance of skill acquisition at 4 and 8 months posttraining.

[Erespal effectiveness in exudative otitis media].

PubMed

Levina, Iu V; Luchikhin, L A; Krasiuk, A A

2003-01-01

Standard conservative treatment of exudative otitis media (EOM) was performed in 82 patients, but 44 of them received adjuvant fenspiride (erespal) in a dose 80 mg per os 3 times a day for 10 days. Dynamic pure tone audiometry, tympanometry and subjective response demonstrated higher treatment efficiency in the erespal group. Therefore, it is recommended to include erespal in combined conventional therapy of EOM.

Risks to hearing from a rock concert.

PubMed Central

Yassi, A.; Pollock, N.; Tran, N.; Cheang, M.

1993-01-01

We measured noise exposure and temporary threshold shift (TTS) from a rock concert for 22 volunteers, using dosimetry, questionnaires, and audiometry. Most (81%) participants showed TTS of 10 dB or more 5 to 25 minutes after exposure; of these, 76% showed continued TTS at 40 to 60 minutes. Family physicians should counsel patients about the risks of recreational noise. PMID:8499785

Methodology for assessing the probability of corrosion in concrete structures on the basis of half-cell potential and concrete resistivity measurements.

PubMed

Sadowski, Lukasz

2013-01-01

In recent years, the corrosion of steel reinforcement has become a major problem in the construction industry. Therefore, much attention has been given to developing methods of predicting the service life of reinforced concrete structures. The progress of corrosion cannot be visually assessed until a crack or a delamination appears. The corrosion process can be tracked using several electrochemical techniques. Most commonly the half-cell potential measurement technique is used for this purpose. However, it is generally accepted that it should be supplemented with other techniques. Hence, a methodology for assessing the probability of corrosion in concrete slabs by means of a combination of two methods, that is, the half-cell potential method and the concrete resistivity method, is proposed. An assessment of the probability of corrosion in reinforced concrete structures carried out using the proposed methodology is presented. 200 mm thick 750 mm  ×  750 mm reinforced concrete slab specimens were investigated. Potential E corr and concrete resistivity ρ in each point of the applied grid were measured. The experimental results indicate that the proposed methodology can be successfully used to assess the probability of corrosion in concrete structures.

Polybenzoxazole Nanofiber-Reinforced Moisture-Responsive Soft Actuators.

PubMed

Chen, Meiling; Frueh, Johannes; Wang, Daolin; Lin, Xiankun; Xie, Hui; He, Qiang

2017-04-10

Hydromorphic biological systems, such as morning glory flowers, pinecones, and awns, have inspired researchers to design moisture-sensitive soft actuators capable of directly converting the change of moisture into motion or mechanical work. Here, we report a moisture-sensitive poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) nanofiber (PBONF)-reinforced carbon nanotube/poly(vinyl alcohol) (CNT/PVA) bilayer soft actuator with fine performance on conductivity and mechanical properties. The embedded PBONFs not only assist CNTs to form a continuous, conductive film, but also enhance the mechanical performance of the actuators. The PBONF-reinforced CNT/PVA bilayer actuators can unsymmetrically adsorb and desorb water, resulting in a reversible deformation. More importantly, the actuators show a pronounced increase of conductivity due to the deformation induced by the moisture change, which allows the integration of a moisture-sensitive actuator and a humidity sensor. Upon changing the environmental humidity, the actuators can respond by the deformation for shielding and report the humidity change in a visual manner, which has been demonstrated by a tweezer and a curtain. Such nanofiber-reinforced bilayer actuators with the sensing capability should hold considerable promise for the applications such as soft robots, sensors, intelligent switches, integrated devices, and material storage.

Effects of lesions of the amygdala central nucleus on autoshaped lever pressing

PubMed Central

Chang, Stephen E.; Wheeler, Daniel S.; Holland, Peter C.

2012-01-01

Neutral cues paired with rewards often appear to acquire motivational significance, as if the incentive motivational value of the reward is transferred to the cue. Such cues have been reported to modulate the performance of instrumental action (Pavlovian-instrumental transfer, PIT), serve as conditioned reinforcers in the establishment of new learning, and be the targets of approach and other cue-directed behaviors. Here we examined the effects of lesions of the amygdala central nucleus (CeA) on the acquisition of discriminative autoshaped lever-pressing. Insertion of one lever into the experimental chamber was reinforced by sucrose delivery, but insertion of another lever was not reinforced. Although sucrose delivery was not contingent on lever pressing, both CeA- and sham-lesioned rats rapidly came to press the reinforced but not the nonreinforced lever. Despite their showing little evidence of impairments in autoshaped lever pressing, these same CeA-lesioned rats showed significant deficits in the expression of PIT in a subsequent phase of the experiment. The lack of impaired autoshaping in CeA-lesioned rats contrasts with effects previously reported for conditioned orienting responses (ORs) and for other putative measures of incentive learning including PIT and conditioned approach to visual cues. PMID:22386516

Influence of compact disk recording protocols on reliability and comparability of speech audiometry outcomes: acoustic analysis.

PubMed

Di Berardino, F; Tognola, G; Paglialonga, A; Alpini, D; Grandori, F; Cesarani, A

2010-08-01

To assess whether different compact disk recording protocols, used to prepare speech test material, affect the reliability and comparability of speech audiometry testing. We conducted acoustic analysis of compact disks used in clinical practice, to determine whether speech material had been recorded using similar procedures. To assess the impact of different recording procedures on speech test outcomes, normal hearing subjects were tested using differently prepared compact disks, and their psychometric curves compared. Acoustic analysis revealed that speech material had been recorded using different protocols. The major difference was the gain between the levels at which the speech material and the calibration signal had been recorded. Although correct calibration of the audiometer was performed for each compact disk before testing, speech recognition thresholds and maximum intelligibility thresholds differed significantly between compact disks (p < 0.05), and were influenced by the gain between the recording level of the speech material and the calibration signal. To ensure the reliability and comparability of speech test outcomes obtained using different compact disks, it is recommended to check for possible differences in the recording gains used to prepare the compact disks, and then to compensate for any differences before testing.

Ototoxicity (cochleotoxicity) classifications: A review.

PubMed

Crundwell, Gemma; Gomersall, Phil; Baguley, David M

2016-01-01

Drug-mediated ototoxicity, specifically cochleotoxicity, is a concern for patients receiving medications for the treatment of serious illness. A number of classification schemes exist, most of which are based on pure-tone audiometry, in order to assist non-audiological/non-otological specialists in the identification and monitoring of iatrogenic hearing loss. This review identifies the primary classification systems used in cochleototoxicity monitoring. By bringing together classifications published in discipline-specific literature, the paper aims to increase awareness of their relative strengths and limitations in the assessment and monitoring of ototoxic hearing loss and to indicate how future classification systems may improve upon the status-quo. Literature review. PubMed identified 4878 articles containing the search term ototox*. A systematic search identified 13 key classification systems. Cochleotoxicity classification systems can be divided into those which focus on hearing change from a baseline audiogram and those that focus on the functional impact of the hearing loss. Common weaknesses of these grading scales included a lack of sensitivity to small adverse changes in hearing thresholds, a lack of high-frequency audiometry (>8 kHz), and lack of indication of which changes are likely to be clinically significant for communication and quality of life.

Reduced auditory efferent activity in childhood selective mutism.

PubMed

Bar-Haim, Yair; Henkin, Yael; Ari-Even-Roth, Daphne; Tetin-Schneider, Simona; Hildesheimer, Minka; Muchnik, Chava

2004-06-01

Selective mutism is a psychiatric disorder of childhood characterized by consistent inability to speak in specific situations despite the ability to speak normally in others. The objective of this study was to test whether reduced auditory efferent activity, which may have direct bearings on speaking behavior, is compromised in selectively mute children. Participants were 16 children with selective mutism and 16 normally developing control children matched for age and gender. All children were tested for pure-tone audiometry, speech reception thresholds, speech discrimination, middle-ear acoustic reflex thresholds and decay function, transient evoked otoacoustic emission, suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emission, and auditory brainstem response. Compared with control children, selectively mute children displayed specific deficiencies in auditory efferent activity. These aberrations in efferent activity appear along with normal pure-tone and speech audiometry and normal brainstem transmission as indicated by auditory brainstem response latencies. The diminished auditory efferent activity detected in some children with SM may result in desensitization of their auditory pathways by self-vocalization and in reduced control of masking and distortion of incoming speech sounds. These children may gradually learn to restrict vocalization to the minimal amount possible in contexts that require complex auditory processing.

The effect of head protection on the hearing of rugby players.

PubMed

Kieran, S M; Dunne, J; Hughes, J P; Fenton, J E

2008-09-01

Professional rugby players utilise various methods of head protection to prevent against the development of a pinna haematoma. This study tests the hypothesis that these measures, whilst preventing injury, decrease the wearers' hearing threshold and therefore their performance. Eight patients had free field audiometry performed in a soundproof room, with warble tones. All patients were young men (mean 24.75 years (range 22-34)). No participant had ear symptomatology or a past history of ear surgery. Three separate audiological assessments were performed on each patient: normal free field audiometry in a sound field room, following application of adhesive tape and whilst wearing a scrum cap. All measurements were performed by a single audiological scientist. A significant clinical drop in hearing threshold was defined as an increase of 10 dB. No patient demonstrated a significant drop in hearing threshold following the application of either tape or a scrum cap, nor was there a significant difference in the mean (SD) warble tone average: air 7.03 (5.47); tape 7.19 (6.40); scrum cap 6.56 (5.58). Theoretical concerns that "ear taping" and scrum caps affect hearing of rugby players are unfounded and should not discourage their use.

Validity and reliability of in-situ air conduction thresholds measured through hearing aids coupled to closed and open instant-fit tips.

PubMed

O'Brien, Anna; Keidser, Gitte; Yeend, Ingrid; Hartley, Lisa; Dillon, Harvey

2010-12-01

Audiometric measurements through a hearing aid ('in-situ') may facilitate provision of hearing services where these are limited. This study investigated the validity and reliability of in-situ air conduction hearing thresholds measured with closed and open domes relative to thresholds measured with insert earphones, and explored sources of variability in the measures. Twenty-four adults with sensorineural hearing impairment attended two sessions in which thresholds and real-ear-to-dial-difference (REDD) values were measured. Without correction, significantly higher low-frequency thresholds in dB HL were measured in-situ than with insert earphones. Differences were due predominantly to differences in ear canal SPL, as measured with the REDD, which were attributed to leaking low-frequency energy. Test-retest data yielded higher variability with the closed dome coupling due to inconsistent seals achieved with this tip. For all three conditions, inter-participant variability in the REDD values was greater than intra-participant variability. Overall, in-situ audiometry is as valid and reliable as conventional audiometry provided appropriate REDD corrections are made and ambient sound in the test environment is controlled.

[Comparative studies of the quality of the esophageal voice following laryngectomy: the insufflation test and reverse speech audiometry].

PubMed

Böhme, G; Clasen, B

1989-09-01

We carried out a transnasal insufflation test according to Blom and Singer on 27 laryngectomy patients as well as a speech communications test with the help of reverse speech audiometry, i.e. the post laryngectomy telephone test according to Zenner and Pfrang. The combined evaluation of both tests provided basic information on the quality of the esophagus voice and functionability of the speech organs. Both tests can be carried out quickly and easily and allow a differentiated statement to be made on the application possibilities of a esophagus voice, electronic speech aids and voice prothesis. Three groups could be identified from our results: 1. Insufflation test and reverse speech test provided conformable good or very good results. The esophagus voice was well understood. 2. Complete failure in the insufflation and telephone tests calls for further examinations to exclude any spasm, stricture, divertical and scarred membrane stenosis as well as tumor relapse in the region of the pharyngo-esophageal segments. 3. Organic causes must be looked for in the area of the nozzle as well as cranial nerve failure and social-determined causes in the case of normal insufflation and considerably reduced speech communication in the telephone test.

The use of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions as a hearing screen following grommet insertion.

PubMed

Dale, O T; McCann, L J; Thio, D; Wells, S C; Drysdale, A J

2011-07-01

This study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity of transient evoked otoacoustic emission testing as a screening tool for hearing loss in children, after grommet insertion. A prospective study was conducted of 48 children (91 ears) aged three to 16 years who had undergone grommet insertion for glue ear. At post-operative review, pure tone audiometry was performed followed by transient evoked otoacoustic emission testing. Outcomes for both tests, in each ear, were compared. The pure tone audiometry threshold was ≤ 20 dB in 85 ears (93.4 per cent), 25 dB in two ears (2.2 per cent) and ≥ 30 dB in four ears (4.4 per cent). Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions were detected in 69 ears (75.8 per cent). The sensitivity of transient evoked otoacoustic emission testing for detecting hearing loss was 100 per cent for ≥ 30 dB loss but only 66.7 per cent for ≥ 25 dB loss. Transient evoked otoacoustic emission testing offers a sensitive means of detecting hearing loss of ≥ 30 dB following grommet insertion in children. However, the use of such testing as a screening tool may miss some cases of mild hearing loss.

Operant conditioning of neural activity in freely behaving monkeys with intracranial reinforcement

PubMed Central

Eaton, Ryan W.; Libey, Tyler

2017-01-01

Operant conditioning of neural activity has typically been performed under controlled behavioral conditions using food reinforcement. This has limited the duration and behavioral context for neural conditioning. To reward cell activity in unconstrained primates, we sought sites in nucleus accumbens (NAc) whose stimulation reinforced operant responding. In three monkeys, NAc stimulation sustained performance of a manual target-tracking task, with response rates that increased monotonically with increasing NAc stimulation. We recorded activity of single motor cortex neurons and documented their modulation with wrist force. We conditioned increased firing rates with the monkey seated in the training booth and during free behavior in the cage using an autonomous head-fixed recording and stimulating system. Spikes occurring above baseline rates triggered single or multiple electrical pulses to the reinforcement site. Such rate-contingent, unit-triggered stimulation was made available for periods of 1–3 min separated by 3–10 min time-out periods. Feedback was presented as event-triggered clicks both in-cage and in-booth, and visual cues were provided in many in-booth sessions. In-booth conditioning produced increases in single neuron firing probability with intracranial reinforcement in 48 of 58 cells. Reinforced cell activity could rise more than five times that of non-reinforced activity. In-cage conditioning produced significant increases in 21 of 33 sessions. In-cage rate changes peaked later and lasted longer than in-booth changes, but were often comparatively smaller, between 13 and 18% above non-reinforced activity. Thus intracranial stimulation reinforced volitional increases in cortical firing rates during both free behavior and a controlled environment, although changes in the latter were more robust. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Closed-loop brain-computer interfaces (BCI) were used to operantly condition increases in muscle and neural activity in monkeys by delivering activity-dependent stimuli to an intracranial reinforcement site (nucleus accumbens). We conditioned increased firing rates with the monkeys seated in a training booth and also, for the first time, during free behavior in a cage using an autonomous head-fixed BCI. PMID:28031396

Operant conditioning of neural activity in freely behaving monkeys with intracranial reinforcement.

PubMed

Eaton, Ryan W; Libey, Tyler; Fetz, Eberhard E

2017-03-01

Operant conditioning of neural activity has typically been performed under controlled behavioral conditions using food reinforcement. This has limited the duration and behavioral context for neural conditioning. To reward cell activity in unconstrained primates, we sought sites in nucleus accumbens (NAc) whose stimulation reinforced operant responding. In three monkeys, NAc stimulation sustained performance of a manual target-tracking task, with response rates that increased monotonically with increasing NAc stimulation. We recorded activity of single motor cortex neurons and documented their modulation with wrist force. We conditioned increased firing rates with the monkey seated in the training booth and during free behavior in the cage using an autonomous head-fixed recording and stimulating system. Spikes occurring above baseline rates triggered single or multiple electrical pulses to the reinforcement site. Such rate-contingent, unit-triggered stimulation was made available for periods of 1-3 min separated by 3-10 min time-out periods. Feedback was presented as event-triggered clicks both in-cage and in-booth, and visual cues were provided in many in-booth sessions. In-booth conditioning produced increases in single neuron firing probability with intracranial reinforcement in 48 of 58 cells. Reinforced cell activity could rise more than five times that of non-reinforced activity. In-cage conditioning produced significant increases in 21 of 33 sessions. In-cage rate changes peaked later and lasted longer than in-booth changes, but were often comparatively smaller, between 13 and 18% above non-reinforced activity. Thus intracranial stimulation reinforced volitional increases in cortical firing rates during both free behavior and a controlled environment, although changes in the latter were more robust. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Closed-loop brain-computer interfaces (BCI) were used to operantly condition increases in muscle and neural activity in monkeys by delivering activity-dependent stimuli to an intracranial reinforcement site (nucleus accumbens). We conditioned increased firing rates with the monkeys seated in a training booth and also, for the first time, during free behavior in a cage using an autonomous head-fixed BCI. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Auditory hallucinations in adults with hearing impairment: a large prevalence study.

PubMed

Linszen, M M J; van Zanten, G A; Teunisse, R J; Brouwer, R M; Scheltens, P; Sommer, I E

2018-03-20

Similar to visual hallucinations in visually impaired patients, auditory hallucinations are often suggested to occur in adults with hearing impairment. However, research on this association is limited. This observational, cross-sectional study tested whether auditory hallucinations are associated with hearing impairment, by assessing their prevalence in an adult population with various degrees of objectified hearing impairment. Hallucination presence was determined in 1007 subjects aged 18-92, who were referred for audiometric testing to the Department of ENT-Audiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. The presence and severity of hearing impairment were calculated using mean air conduction thresholds from the most recent pure tone audiometry. Out of 829 participants with hearing impairment, 16.2% (n = 134) had experienced auditory hallucinations in the past 4 weeks; significantly more than the non-impaired group [5.8%; n = 10/173; p < 0.001, odds ratio 3.2 (95% confidence interval 1.6-6.2)]. Prevalence of auditory hallucinations significantly increased with categorized severity of impairment, with rates up to 24% in the most profoundly impaired group (p < 0.001). The corrected odds of hallucination presence increased 1.02 times for each dB of impairment in the best ear. Auditory hallucinations mostly consisted of voices (51%), music (36%), and doorbells or telephones (24%). Our findings reveal that auditory hallucinations are common among patients with hearing impairment, and increase with impairment severity. Although more research on potential confounding factors is necessary, clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon, by inquiring after hallucinations in hearing-impaired patients and, conversely, assessing hearing impairment in patients with auditory hallucinations, since it may be a treatable factor.

Context generalization in Drosophila visual learning requires the mushroom bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Li; Wolf, Reinhard; Ernst, Roman; Heisenberg, Martin

1999-08-01

The world is permanently changing. Laboratory experiments on learning and memory normally minimize this feature of reality, keeping all conditions except the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli as constant as possible. In the real world, however, animals need to extract from the universe of sensory signals the actual predictors of salient events by separating them from non-predictive stimuli (context). In principle, this can be achieved ifonly those sensory inputs that resemble the reinforcer in theirtemporal structure are taken as predictors. Here we study visual learning in the fly Drosophila melanogaster, using a flight simulator,, and show that memory retrieval is, indeed, partially context-independent. Moreover, we show that the mushroom bodies, which are required for olfactory but not visual or tactile learning, effectively support context generalization. In visual learning in Drosophila, it appears that a facilitating effect of context cues for memory retrieval is the default state, whereas making recall context-independent requires additional processing.

Success in These Schools? Visual Counternarratives of Young Men of Color and Urban High Schools They Attend

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Shaun R.

2015-01-01

The overwhelming majority of published scholarship on urban high schools in the United States focuses on problems of inadequacy, instability, underperformance, and violence. Similarly, across all schooling contexts, most of what has been written about young men of color continually reinforces deficit narratives about their educational possibility.…

Elements of Success: WorkReady Philadelphia Program Year 2011-2012 Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Philadelphia Youth Network, 2012

2012-01-01

What does it take to deliver WorkReady Philadelphia's high-quality career-connected programming? In short, it's all about the "elements"--those essential components of the system that combine to produce success for young people. This 2011-12 WorkReady report reinforces this theme by using visual aspects of the "Periodic Table of…

ARI Basic Research Program FY 1999-2000

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-06-01

visual cues, reinforcement, and instruction concerning abstract , general rules. In our future research, we plan to examine the learning of novel...Watch, • Graduate student apprenticeship program - Consortium Research Fellows Program- with the Consortium of Metropolitan Washington Universities...do learn complex rules involving different levels of abstraction when given sufficient specific examples but that they also benefit from explicit

Teaching Plant-Soil Relationships with Color Images of Rhizosphere pH.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heckman, J. R.; Strick, J. E.

1996-01-01

Presents a laboratory exercise that uses a simple imaging technique to illustrate the profound effects that living roots exert on the pH of the surrounding soil environment. Achieves visually stimulating results that can be used to reinforce lectures on rhizosphere pH, nutrient availability, plant tolerance of soil acidity, microbial activity, and…

The Collaborative Instructional Design System (CIDS): Visualizing the 21st Century Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zain, Ismail Md.

2017-01-01

Learning is the act of acquiring new, or reinforcing existing knowledge, characters, skills, and values, affecting a potential change of the learners towards nurturing creativity and innovation. The 21st-century learning framework from the 21st-Century Partnership, 2002 and the component of the Four-Dimensional Education written by Fadel, Bialik…

Reinforcement Schedules in Pacing Reading Rate. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schutz, Richard E.; And Others

Responses of individual fourth-grade children were monitored in daily 30-minute sessions for 10 consecutive school days. Individual subjects were used as their own controls. The child sat before a small table with a surface-mounted button and a wall-mounted screen upon which visual stimuli were rear-view projected, using a filmstrip projector with…

Nonstructural damages of reinforced concrete buildings due to 2015 Ranau earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adiyanto, Mohd Irwan; Majid, Taksiah A.; Nazri, Fadzli Mohamed

2017-07-01

On 15th June 2016 a moderate earthquake with magnitude Mw5.9 was occurred in Sabah, Malaysia. Specifically, the epicentre was located at 16 km northwest of Ranau. Less than two days after the first event, a reconnaissance mission took action to investigate the damages on buildings. Since the reinforced concrete buildings in Ranau were designed based on gravity and wind load only, a lot of minor to severe damages was occurred. This paper presents the damages on the nonstructural elements of reinforced concrete buildings due to Ranau earthquake. The assessment was conducted via in-situ field investigation covering the visual observation, taking photo, and interview with local resident. Based on in-situ field investigation, there was a lot of damages occurred on the nonstructural elements like the brick walls. Such damages cannot be neglected since it can cause injury and fatality to the victims. Therefore, it can be concluded that the installation of nonstructural elements should be reviewed for the sake of safety.

Mesolimbic confidence signals guide perceptual learning in the absence of external feedback

PubMed Central

Guggenmos, Matthias; Wilbertz, Gregor; Hebart, Martin N; Sterzer, Philipp

2016-01-01

It is well established that learning can occur without external feedback, yet normative reinforcement learning theories have difficulties explaining such instances of learning. Here, we propose that human observers are capable of generating their own feedback signals by monitoring internal decision variables. We investigated this hypothesis in a visual perceptual learning task using fMRI and confidence reports as a measure for this monitoring process. Employing a novel computational model in which learning is guided by confidence-based reinforcement signals, we found that mesolimbic brain areas encoded both anticipation and prediction error of confidence—in remarkable similarity to previous findings for external reward-based feedback. We demonstrate that the model accounts for choice and confidence reports and show that the mesolimbic confidence prediction error modulation derived through the model predicts individual learning success. These results provide a mechanistic neurobiological explanation for learning without external feedback by augmenting reinforcement models with confidence-based feedback. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13388.001 PMID:27021283

Interaction of chronic food restriction and methylphenidate in sensation seeking of rats.

PubMed

Talishinsky, Aleksandr D; Nicolas, Celine; Ikemoto, Satoshi

2017-07-01

It is necessary to understand better how chronic food restriction (CFR) and psychostimulant drugs interact in motivated behavior unrelated to food or energy homeostasis. We examined whether CFR augments methylphenidate (MPH)-potentiated responding reinforced by visual sensation (VS) and whether repeated MPH injections or prolonged CFR further augments such responses. Before starting the following experiments, rats on a CFR diet received a limited daily ration in such a way that their body weights decreased to 85-90% of their original weights over 2 weeks. In experiment 1, rats on CFR and ad libitum diet received four injections of varying MPH doses (0, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg). In experiment 2, CFR and ad libitum groups received repeated injections of MPH (2.5 mg/kg). In experiment 3, half of CFR rats received repeated injections of MPH (2.5 mg/kg), and the other half received saline, and following a 7-day abstinence, they all received the 2.5-mg/kg dose of MPH. CFR rats increased VS-reinforced responding more than ad libitum rats when they received MPH. Repeated injections of MPH with prolonged CFR further increased VS-reinforced responding. We found a double dissociation where prolonged CFR (3 vs. 6 weeks) made VS-reinforced responding, but not locomotor activity, more responsive to MPH, whereas repeated MPH injections made locomotor activity, but not VS-reinforced responding, more responsive to MPH. CFR markedly potentiates effects of MPH on VS-reinforced responding. The present study demonstrates that the longer CFR continues, the greater psychostimulant drugs augment behavioral interaction with salient stimuli.

The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status for Hearing Impaired Individuals (RBANS-H) before and after Cochlear Implantation: A Protocol for a Prospective, Longitudinal Cohort Study.

PubMed

Claes, Annes J; Mertens, Griet; Gilles, Annick; Hofkens-Van den Brandt, Anouk; Fransen, Erik; Van Rompaey, Vincent; Van de Heyning, Paul

2016-01-01

Background: Currently, an independent relationship between hearing loss and cognitive decline in older adults is suggested by large prospective studies. In general, cochlear implants improve hearing and the quality of life in severely to profoundly hearing impaired older persons. However, little is known about the effects of cochlear implantation on the cognitive evolution in this population. Aim of the study: The primary goal of this prospective, longitudinal cohort study is to explore the cognitive profile of severely to profoundly postlingually hearing impaired subjects before and after cochlear implantation. In addition, the current study aims to investigate the relationship between the cognitive function, audiometric performances, quality of life, and self-reliance in these patients. Methods: Twenty-five patients aged 55 or older, scheduled for cochlear implantation, will be enrolled in the study. They will be examined prior to implantation, at 6 and 12 months after implantation and annually thereafter. The test battery consists of (1) a cognitive examination, using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status adapted for Hearing impaired persons (RBANS-H), (2) an audiological examination, including unaided and aided pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry in quiet and speech audiometry in noise, (3) the administration of four questionnaires evaluating quality of life and subjective hearing benefit and (4) a semi-structured interview about the self-reliance of the participant. Discussion: Up until now only one study has been conducted on this topic, focusing on the short-term effects of cochlear implantation on cognition in older adults. The present study is the first study to apply a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment adapted for severely to profoundly hearing impaired subjects in order to investigate the cognitive capabilities before and after cochlear implantation. Trial registration: The present protocol is retrospectively registered at Clinical Trials (ClinicalTrials.gov) on June 9th, 2016. The first participant was enrolled on June 22nd, 2015. The protocol identifier is NCT02794350.

The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status for Hearing Impaired Individuals (RBANS-H) before and after Cochlear Implantation: A Protocol for a Prospective, Longitudinal Cohort Study

PubMed Central

Claes, Annes J.; Mertens, Griet; Gilles, Annick; Hofkens-Van den Brandt, Anouk; Fransen, Erik; Van Rompaey, Vincent; Van de Heyning, Paul

2016-01-01

Background: Currently, an independent relationship between hearing loss and cognitive decline in older adults is suggested by large prospective studies. In general, cochlear implants improve hearing and the quality of life in severely to profoundly hearing impaired older persons. However, little is known about the effects of cochlear implantation on the cognitive evolution in this population. Aim of the study: The primary goal of this prospective, longitudinal cohort study is to explore the cognitive profile of severely to profoundly postlingually hearing impaired subjects before and after cochlear implantation. In addition, the current study aims to investigate the relationship between the cognitive function, audiometric performances, quality of life, and self-reliance in these patients. Methods: Twenty-five patients aged 55 or older, scheduled for cochlear implantation, will be enrolled in the study. They will be examined prior to implantation, at 6 and 12 months after implantation and annually thereafter. The test battery consists of (1) a cognitive examination, using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status adapted for Hearing impaired persons (RBANS-H), (2) an audiological examination, including unaided and aided pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry in quiet and speech audiometry in noise, (3) the administration of four questionnaires evaluating quality of life and subjective hearing benefit and (4) a semi-structured interview about the self-reliance of the participant. Discussion: Up until now only one study has been conducted on this topic, focusing on the short-term effects of cochlear implantation on cognition in older adults. The present study is the first study to apply a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment adapted for severely to profoundly hearing impaired subjects in order to investigate the cognitive capabilities before and after cochlear implantation. Trial registration: The present protocol is retrospectively registered at Clinical Trials (ClinicalTrials.gov) on June 9th, 2016. The first participant was enrolled on June 22nd, 2015. The protocol identifier is NCT02794350. PMID:27895549

Association Between Childhood Hearing Disorders and Tinnitus in Adulthood.

PubMed

Aarhus, Lisa; Engdahl, Bo; Tambs, Kristian; Kvestad, Ellen; Hoffman, Howard J

2015-11-01

The association between childhood hearing disorders and adult tinnitus has not been examined in longitudinal cohort studies. To determine the association between different types of childhood hearing loss and tinnitus in adulthood and evaluate whether tinnitus risk is mediated by adult hearing loss. Population-based cohort study of 32 430 adults (aged 20-56 years) who underwent pure-tone audiometry and completed a tinnitus questionnaire in the Nord-Trøndelag Hearing Loss Study, which was a part of the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study 2 (HUNT2). The study was conducted from January 1, 2014, to April 1, 2015. Data analysis was performed from April 1, 2014, to April 1, 2015. As children, the same individuals had undergone screening audiometry in a longitudinal primary school hearing investigation, including ear, nose, and throat examinations when indicated. Pure-tone audiometry, questionnaires, and ear, nose, and throat examinations. Self-reported tinnitus (yes or no) in adulthood measured by questionnaires. Adults who had hearing loss at the time of the school investigation (n = 3026) reported more tinnitus, measured as odds ratio (95% CI), than did adults with normal childhood hearing (n = 29 404) (1.4 [1.3-1.6]). Childhood hearing disorders associated with tinnitus in adulthood included sensorineural hearing loss, chronic suppurative otitis media, and hearing loss associated with a history of recurrent acute otitis media (2.4 [1.9-3.0], 2.4 [1.5-3.9], and 1.6 [1.3-2.0], respectively). These estimates were adjusted for age, sex, and noise exposure in adulthood. After further analyses that included adjustment for adult hearing threshold, none of these childhood hearing disorders remained positively associated with tinnitus. Childhood hearing disorders associated with tinnitus in adulthood include sensorineural hearing loss, chronic suppurative otitis media, and hearing loss associated with a history of recurrent acute otitis media. After adjustment for the adult hearing threshold, none of the childhood hearing disorders was positively associated with tinnitus. Hence, it appears that these significant associations are mediated or transmitted through adult hearing loss.

Near-field visual acuity of pigeons: effects of head location and stimulus luminance.

PubMed

Hodos, W; Leibowitz, R W; Bonbright, J C

1976-03-01

Two pigeons were trained to discriminate a grating stimulus from a blank stimulus of equivalent luminance in a three-key chamber. The stimuli and blanks were presented behind a transparent center key. The procedure was a conditional discrimination in which pecks on the left key were reinforced if the blank had been present behind the center key and pecks on the right key were reinforced if the grating had been present behind the center key. The spatial frequency of the stimuli was varied in each session from four to 29.5 lines per millimeter in accordance with a variation of the method of constant stimuli. The number of lines per millimeter that the subjects could discriminate at threshold was determined from psychometric functions. Data were collected at five values of stimulus luminance ranging from--0.07 to 3.29 log cd/m2. The distance from the stimulus to the anterior nodal point of the eye, which was determined from measurements taken from high-speed motion-picture photographs of three additional pigeons and published intraocular measurements, was 62.0 mm. This distance and the grating detection thresholds were used to calculate the visual acuity of the birds at each level of luminance. Acuity improved with increasing luminance to a peak value of 0.52, which corresponds to a visual angle of 1.92 min, at a luminance of 2.33 log cd/m2. Further increase in luminance produced a small decline in acuity.

Understanding Electrophoresis through the Investigation of Size, Shape, and Charge of pH Indicators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brenner, Ryan K.; Hess, Kenneth R.; Morford, Jennifer L.

2015-01-01

A laboratory experiment was designed for upper-level students in a Chemical Analysis course to illustrate the theoretical and practical applications of 0.8% agarose gel electrophoresis and to reinforce an understanding of weak acids/bases using easy-to-visualize pH indicators. The careful choice of indicators included acid and base types with…

Level of Abstraction and Feelings of Presence in Virtual Space: Business English Negotiation in Open Wonderland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Judy F.; Warden, Clyde A.; Tai, David Wen-Shung; Chen, Farn-Shing; Chao, Chich-Yang

2011-01-01

Virtual spaces allow abstract representations of reality that not only encourage student self-directed learning but also reinforce core content of the learning objective through visual metaphors not reproducible in the physical world. One of the advantages of such a space is the ability to escape the restrictions of the physical classroom, yet…

Using Reinforcement Learning to Understand the Emergence of "Intelligent" Eye-Movement Behavior during Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reichle, Erik D.; Laurent, Patryk A.

2006-01-01

The eye movements of skilled readers are typically very regular (K. Rayner, 1998). This regularity may arise as a result of the perceptual, cognitive, and motor limitations of the reader (e.g., limited visual acuity) and the inherent constraints of the task (e.g., identifying the words in their correct order). To examine this hypothesis,…

The Arts Tool Kit. Priority Academic Student Skills: Visual Art and General Music, Grades 1-12. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Gayla; Alexander, JoAnne C.; Bass, Elaine; Black, Paulette; Cesario, Robert; Clow, Jo Ellen; Dalton, Doug; Dedmon, Charla; Gabbard, Susan; Gabel, Barbara; Goree, Gary; Kyle, Nicholas; Martin, Rita; Merklin, Roxy; Riley, Patrick; Reed, John

This kit is designed to help teachers throughout the state of Oklahoma implement the arts in the core curriculum. Suggestions are included for classroom activities that complement the arts competencies in the "Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS)." The kit is a collection of ideas to introduce or reinforce PASS. In the material is a…

Parallel pathways for cross-modal memory retrieval in Drosophila.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaonan; Ren, Qingzhong; Guo, Aike

2013-05-15

Memory-retrieval processing of cross-modal sensory preconditioning is vital for understanding the plasticity underlying the interactions between modalities. As part of the sensory preconditioning paradigm, it has been hypothesized that the conditioned response to an unreinforced cue depends on the memory of the reinforced cue via a sensory link between the two cues. To test this hypothesis, we studied cross-modal memory-retrieval processing in a genetically tractable model organism, Drosophila melanogaster. By expressing the dominant temperature-sensitive shibire(ts1) (shi(ts1)) transgene, which blocks synaptic vesicle recycling of specific neural subsets with the Gal4/UAS system at the restrictive temperature, we specifically blocked visual and olfactory memory retrieval, either alone or in combination; memory acquisition remained intact for these modalities. Blocking the memory retrieval of the reinforced olfactory cues did not impair the conditioned response to the unreinforced visual cues or vice versa, in contrast to the canonical memory-retrieval processing of sensory preconditioning. In addition, these conditioned responses can be abolished by blocking the memory retrieval of the two modalities simultaneously. In sum, our results indicated that a conditioned response to an unreinforced cue in cross-modal sensory preconditioning can be recalled through parallel pathways.

Behavioral research in pigeons with ARENA: An automated remote environmental navigation apparatus

PubMed Central

Leising, Kenneth J.; Garlick, Dennis; Parenteau, Michael; Blaisdell, Aaron P.

2009-01-01

Three experiments established the effectiveness of an Automated Remote Environmental Navigation Apparatus (ARENA) developed in our lab to study behavioral processes in pigeons. The technology utilizes one or more wireless modules, each capable of presenting colored lights as visual stimuli to signal reward and of detecting subject peck responses. In Experiment 1, subjects were instrumentally shaped to peck at a single ARENA module following an unsuccessful autoshaping procedure. In Experiment 2, pigeons were trained with a simultaneous discrimination procedure during which two modules were illuminated different colors; pecks to one color (S+) were reinforced while pecks to the other color (S−) were not. Pigeons learned to preferentially peck the module displaying the S+. In Experiment 3, two modules were lit the same color concurrently from a set of six colors in a conditional discrimination task. For three of the colors pecks to the module in one location (e.g., upper quadrant) were reinforced while for the remaining colors pecks at the other module (e.g., lower quadrant) were reinforced. After learning this discrimination, the color-reinforced location assignments were reversed. Pigeons successfully acquired the reversal. ARENA is an automated system for open-field studies and a more ecologically valid alternative to the touchscreen. PMID:19429204

Methodology for Assessing the Probability of Corrosion in Concrete Structures on the Basis of Half-Cell Potential and Concrete Resistivity Measurements

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

In recent years, the corrosion of steel reinforcement has become a major problem in the construction industry. Therefore, much attention has been given to developing methods of predicting the service life of reinforced concrete structures. The progress of corrosion cannot be visually assessed until a crack or a delamination appears. The corrosion process can be tracked using several electrochemical techniques. Most commonly the half-cell potential measurement technique is used for this purpose. However, it is generally accepted that it should be supplemented with other techniques. Hence, a methodology for assessing the probability of corrosion in concrete slabs by means of a combination of two methods, that is, the half-cell potential method and the concrete resistivity method, is proposed. An assessment of the probability of corrosion in reinforced concrete structures carried out using the proposed methodology is presented. 200 mm thick 750 mm  ×  750 mm reinforced concrete slab specimens were investigated. Potential E corr and concrete resistivity ρ in each point of the applied grid were measured. The experimental results indicate that the proposed methodology can be successfully used to assess the probability of corrosion in concrete structures. PMID:23766706

Learning and altering behaviours by reinforcement: neurocognitive differences between children and adults.

PubMed

Shephard, E; Jackson, G M; Groom, M J

2014-01-01

This study examined neurocognitive differences between children and adults in the ability to learn and adapt simple stimulus-response associations through feedback. Fourteen typically developing children (mean age=10.2) and 15 healthy adults (mean age=25.5) completed a simple task in which they learned to associate visually presented stimuli with manual responses based on performance feedback (acquisition phase), and then reversed and re-learned those associations following an unexpected change in reinforcement contingencies (reversal phase). Electrophysiological activity was recorded throughout task performance. We found no group differences in learning-related changes in performance (reaction time, accuracy) or in the amplitude of event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with stimulus processing (P3 ERP) or feedback processing (feedback-related negativity; FRN) during the acquisition phase. However, children's performance was significantly more disrupted by the reversal than adults and FRN amplitudes were significantly modulated by the reversal phase in children but not adults. These findings indicate that children have specific difficulties with reinforcement learning when acquired behaviours must be altered. This may be caused by the added demands on immature executive functioning, specifically response monitoring, created by the requirement to reverse the associations, or a developmental difference in the way in which children and adults approach reinforcement learning. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

In-flight speech intelligibility evaluation of a service member with sensorineural hearing loss: case report.

PubMed

Casto, Kristen L; Cho, Timothy H

2012-09-01

This case report describes the in-flight speech intelligibility evaluation of an aircraft crewmember with pure tone audiometric thresholds that exceed the U.S. Army's flight standards. Results of in-flight speech intelligibility testing highlight the inability to predict functional auditory abilities from pure tone audiometry and underscore the importance of conducting validated functional hearing evaluations to determine aviation fitness-for-duty.

Measuring Sound-Processor Threshold Levels for Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients Using Conditioned Play Audiometry via Telepractice

PubMed Central

Goehring, Jenny L.

2017-01-01

Purpose This study evaluated the use of telepractice for measuring cochlear implant (CI) behavioral threshold (T) levels in children using conditioned play audiometry (CPA). The goals were to determine whether (a) T levels measured via telepractice were not significantly different from those obtained in person, (b) response probability differed between remote and in-person conditions, and (c) the remote visit required more time than the in-person condition. Method An ABBA design (A, in-person; B, remote) was split across 2 visits. Nineteen children aged 2.6–7.1 years participated. T levels were measured using CPA for 3 electrodes per session. A “hit” rate was calculated to determine whether the likelihood of obtaining responses differed between conditions. Test time was compared across conditions. A questionnaire was administered to assess parent/caregiver attitudes about telepractice. Results Results indicated no significant difference in T levels between conditions. Hit rates were not significantly different between in-person and remote conditions (98% vs. 97%, respectively). Test time was similar between conditions. Questionnaire results revealed that 100% of caregivers would use telepractice for CI appointments either some or all of the time. Conclusion Telepractice is a viable option for routine pediatric programming appointments for children using CPA to set behavioral thresholds. PMID:28257529

Sequential analysis as a tool for detection of amikacin ototoxicity in the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

PubMed

Vasconcelos, Karla Anacleto de; Frota, Silvana Maria Monte Coelho; Ruffino-Netto, Antonio; Kritski, Afrânio Lineu

2018-04-01

To investigate early detection of amikacin-induced ototoxicity in a population treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), by means of three different tests: pure-tone audiometry (PTA); high-frequency audiometry (HFA); and distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) testing. This was a longitudinal prospective cohort study involving patients aged 18-69 years with a diagnosis of MDR-TB who had to receive amikacin for six months as part of their antituberculosis drug regimen for the first time. Hearing was assessed before treatment initiation and at two and six months after treatment initiation. Sequential statistics were used to analyze the results. We included 61 patients, but the final population consisted of 10 patients (7 men and 3 women) because of sequential analysis. Comparison of the test results obtained at two and six months after treatment initiation with those obtained at baseline revealed that HFA at two months and PTA at six months detected hearing threshold shifts consistent with ototoxicity. However, DPOAE testing did not detect such shifts. The statistical method used in this study makes it possible to conclude that, over the six-month period, amikacin-associated hearing threshold shifts were detected by HFA and PTA, and that DPOAE testing was not efficient in detecting such shifts.

Hearing impairment in children with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection based on distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) and brain evoked response audiometry stimulus click (BERA Click) examinations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Airlangga, T. J.; Mangunatmadja, I.; Prihartono, J.; Zizlavsky, S.

2017-08-01

Congenital cytomegalovirus (congenital CMV) infection is a leading factor of nongenetic sensorineural hearing loss in children. Hearing loss caused by CMV infection does not have a pathognomonic configuration hence further research is needed. The development of knowledge on hearing loss caused by congenital CMV infection is progressing in many countries. Due to a lack of research in the context of Indonesia, this study assesses hearing impairment in children with congenital CMV infection in Indonesia, more specifically in the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital. Our objective was to profile hearing impairment in children 0-5 years of age with congenital CMV infection using Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE) and Brain Evoked Response Audiometry Stimulus Click (BERA Click) examinations. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Cipto Mangunkusum Hospital from November, 2015 to May 2016 with 27 children 0-5 years of age with congenital CMV infection. Of individual ears studied, 58.0% exhibited sensorineural hearing loss. There was a significant relationship between developmental delay and incidence of sensorineural hearing loss. Subjects with a developmental delay were 6.57 times more likely (CI 95%; 1.88-22.87) to experience sensorineural hearing loss. Congenital CMV infection has an important role in causing sensorineural hearing loss in children.

[The criteria for the relationship between hearing impairment and professional occupation and the criteria for professional suitability in terms of hearing among the aeronautical personnel engaged in civilian aviation].

PubMed

Pankova, V B

This article describes the main clinical features associated with the development and manifestations of disturbed sound perception in the members of the aeronautical personnel engaged in the Russian civilian aviation. The main expert criteria for the relationship between the diseases of the organs of hearing (as exemplified by chronic sensorineural hearing impairment) and professional occupation have been developed based on the results of the clinical and diagnostic examination with the use of whispered and loud speech acumetry, tonal threshold audiometry, speech audiometry, impedancometry and evoked optoacoustic emission. Civilian aviation sectoral approaches to the evaluation of professional suitability in terms of hearing among the aeronautical personnel are considered in accordance with the criteria adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized UN agency that sets the international standards for the civilian aviation and co-ordinates its development with the purpose of enhancing the safety and effectiveness of flights. The criteria are formulated for the solution of the expert problems arising from the relationship between the professional occupation and the diseases of the organs of hearing and for the evaluation of the professional suitability in terms of hearing among the aeronautical personnel engaged in civilian aviation.

Hearing thresholds, tinnitus, and headphone listening habits in nine-year-old children.

PubMed

Båsjö, Sara; Möller, Claes; Widén, Stephen; Jutengren, Göran; Kähäri, Kim

2016-10-01

Investigate hearing function and headphone listening habits in nine-year-old Swedish children. A cross-sectional study was conducted and included otoscopy, tympanometry, pure-tone audiometry, and spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAE). A questionnaire was used to evaluate headphone listening habits, tinnitus, and hyperacusis. A total of 415 children aged nine years. The prevalence of a hearing threshold ≥20 dB HL at one or several frequencies was 53%, and the hearing thresholds at 6 and 8 kHz were higher than those at the low and mid frequencies. SOAEs were observed in 35% of the children, and the prevalence of tinnitus was 5.3%. No significant relationship between SOAE and tinnitus was found. Pure-tone audiometry showed poorer hearing thresholds in children with tinnitus and in children who regularly listened with headphones. The present study of hearing, listening habits, and tinnitus in nine-year old children is, to our knowledge, the largest study so far. The main findings were that hearing thresholds in the right ear were poorer in children who used headphones than in children not using them, which could be interpreted as headphone listening may have negative consequences to children's hearing. Children with tinnitus showed poorer hearing thresholds compared to children without tinnitus.

Hearing loss in children with otitis media with effusion: a systematic review.

PubMed

Cai, Ting; McPherson, Bradley

2017-02-01

Otitis media with effusion (OME) is the presence of non-purulent inflammation in the middle ear. Hearing impairment is frequently associated with OME. Pure tone audiometry and speech audiometry are two of the most primarily utilised auditory assessments and provide valuable behavioural and functional estimation on hearing loss. This paper was designed to review and analyse the effects of the presence of OME on children's listening abilities. A systematic and descriptive review. Twelve articles reporting frequency-specific pure tone thresholds and/or speech perception measures in children with OME were identified using PubMed, Ovid, Web of Science, ProQuest and Google Scholar search platforms. The hearing loss related to OME averages 18-35 dB HL. The air conduction configuration is roughly flat with a slight elevation at 2000 Hz and a nadir at 8000 Hz. Both speech-in-quiet and speech-in-noise perception have been found to be impaired. OME imposes a series of disadvantages on hearing sensitivity and speech perception in children. Further studies investigating the full range of frequency-specific pure tone thresholds, and that adopt standardised speech test materials are advocated to evaluate hearing related disabilities with greater comprehensiveness, comparability and enhanced consideration of their real life implications.

Modernising speech audiometry: using a smartphone application to test word recognition.

PubMed

van Zyl, Marianne; Swanepoel, De Wet; Myburgh, Hermanus C

2018-04-20

This study aimed to develop and assess a method to measure word recognition abilities using a smartphone application (App) connected to an audiometer. Word lists were recorded in South African English and Afrikaans. Analyses were conducted to determine the effect of hardware used for presentation (computer, compact-disc player, or smartphone) on the frequency content of recordings. An Android App was developed to enable presentation of recorded materials via a smartphone connected to the auxiliary input of the audiometer. Experiments were performed to test feasibility and validity of the developed App and recordings. Participants were 100 young adults (18-30 years) with pure tone thresholds ≤15 dB across the frequency spectrum (250-8000 Hz). Hardware used for presentation had no significant effect on the frequency content of recordings. Listening experiments indicated good inter-list reliability for recordings in both languages, with no significant differences between scores on different lists at each of the tested intensities. Performance-intensity functions had slopes of 4.05%/dB for English and 4.75%/dB for Afrikaans lists at the 50% point. The developed smartphone App constitutes a feasible and valid method for measuring word recognition scores, and can support standardisation and accessibility of recorded speech audiometry.

Embedding, serial sectioning and staining of zebrafish embryos using JB-4 resin.

PubMed

Sullivan-Brown, Jessica; Bisher, Margaret E; Burdine, Rebecca D

2011-01-01

Histological techniques are critical for observing tissue and cellular morphology. In this paper, we outline our protocol for embedding, serial sectioning, staining and visualizing zebrafish embryos embedded in JB-4 plastic resin-a glycol methacrylate-based medium that results in excellent preservation of tissue morphology. In addition, we describe our procedures for staining plastic sections with toluidine blue or hematoxylin and eosin, and show how to couple these stains with whole-mount RNA in situ hybridization. We also describe how to maintain and visualize immunofluorescence and EGFP signals in JB-4 resin. The protocol we outline-from embryo preparation, embedding, sectioning and staining to visualization-can be accomplished in 3 d. Overall, we reinforce that plastic embedding can provide higher resolution of cellular details and is a valuable tool for cellular and morphological studies in zebrafish.

Marketing drugs, marketing health care relationships: a content analysis of visual cues in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.

PubMed

Welch Cline, Rebecca J; Young, Henry N

2004-01-01

Proponents and opponents of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs argue that it promotes greater participation in health care by consumers with significant implications for public health and health care outcomes. This article (a). proposes a social cognitive theoretical framework to explain DTCA's effects, and (b). reports the first in a series of studies on DTCA's observational learning functions that may influence consumer behavior and the physician-patient relationship. This investigation addresses visual features of print DTCA. Results focus on the prevalence and nature of models featured in the ads and how visual cues may offer identity and relational motivators while reinforcing the value of prescription drug treatments. Further, DTCA may market disenfranchising images that increase disparity in health care information and access, despite their argued educational function.

Visual body perception in anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Urgesi, Cosimo; Fornasari, Livia; Perini, Laura; Canalaz, Francesca; Cremaschi, Silvana; Faleschini, Laura; Balestrieri, Matteo; Fabbro, Franco; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria; Brambilla, Paolo

2012-05-01

Disturbance of body perception is a central aspect of anorexia nervosa (AN) and several neuroimaging studies have documented structural and functional alterations of occipito-temporal cortices involved in visual body processing. However, it is unclear whether these perceptual deficits involve more basic aspects of others' body perception. A consecutive sample of 15 adolescent patients with AN were compared with a group of 15 age- and gender-matched controls in delayed matching to sample tasks requiring the visual discrimination of the form or of the action of others' body. Patients showed better visual discrimination performance than controls in detail-based processing of body forms but not of body actions, which positively correlated with their increased tendency to convert a signal of punishment into a signal of reinforcement (higher persistence scores). The paradoxical advantage of patients with AN in detail-based body processing may be associated to their tendency to routinely explore body parts as a consequence of their obsessive worries about body appearance. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An interactive online robotics course.

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

Wedeward, Kevin; Bruder, Steven B. H.

Attempting to convey concepts and ideas in the subject area of robotic manipulators from within the confines of a static two-dimensional printed page can prove quite challenging to even the most gifted of authors. The inherently dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of the subject matter seems better suited to a medium of conveyance wherein a student is allowed to interactively explore topics in this multi-disciplinary field. This article describes the initial development of an online robotics course 'textbook' which seeks to leverage recent advances in Web-based technologies to enhance the learning experience in ways not possible with printed materials. The pedagogicalmore » approach employed herein is that of multi-modal reinforcement wherein key concepts are first described in words, conveyed visually, and finally reinforced by soliciting student interaction.« less

The propagation of light through fibre reinforced composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sargent, J. P.; Upstill, C.

1986-06-01

Features of a generalized technique for detecting and measuring submicron gaps between the fiber and the matrix in low fiber-volume fraction composite materials are outlined. Sample microphotographs are provided to illustrate visual evidence of the presence of water and air pockets at the fiber-matrix interface, and the differences in refractive index of composite material components and impurities such as oils. The imagery were obtained using a laser to illumine glass fiber reinforced epoxy samples. Attention is given to the geometric optics, evanescent wave optics and polarization effects associated with interfacial gaps. Finally, the scattering of light by the gaps and the corresponding size of the gaps are described statistically in terms of Rayleigh's theory, noting that only estimates will be possible for the scattering due to limitations of available computing power.

Pure-Tone Audiometry With Forward Pressure Level Calibration Leads to Clinically-Relevant Improvements in Test-Retest Reliability.

PubMed

Lapsley Miller, Judi A; Reed, Charlotte M; Robinson, Sarah R; Perez, Zachary D

2018-02-21

Clinical pure-tone audiometry is conducted using stimuli delivered through supra-aural headphones or insert earphones. The stimuli are calibrated in an acoustic (average ear) coupler. Deviations in individual-ear acoustics from the coupler acoustics affect test validity, and variations in probe insertion and headphone placement affect both test validity and test-retest reliability. Using an insert earphone designed for otoacoustic emission testing, which contains a microphone and loudspeaker, an individualized in-the-ear calibration can be calculated from the ear-canal sound pressure measured at the microphone. However, the total sound pressure level (SPL) measured at the microphone may be affected by standing-wave nulls at higher frequencies, producing errors in stimulus level of up to 20 dB. An alternative is to calibrate using the forward pressure level (FPL) component, which is derived from the total SPL using a wideband acoustic immittance measurement, and represents the pressure wave incident on the eardrum. The objective of this study is to establish test-retest reliability for FPL calibration of pure-tone audiometry stimuli, compared with in-the-ear and coupler sound pressure calibrations. The authors compared standard audiometry using a modern clinical audiometer with TDH-39P supra-aural headphones calibrated in a coupler to a prototype audiometer with an ER10C earphone calibrated three ways: (1) in-the-ear using the total SPL at the microphone, (2) in-the-ear using the FPL at the microphone, and (3) in a coupler (all three are derived from the same measurement). The test procedure was similar to that commonly used in hearing-conservation programs, using pulsed-tone test frequencies at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 kHz, and an automated modified Hughson-Westlake audiometric procedure. Fifteen adult human participants with normal to mildly-impaired hearing were selected, and one ear from each was tested. Participants completed 10 audiograms on each system, with test-order randomly varied and with headphones and earphones refitted by the tester between tests. Fourteen of 15 ears had standing-wave nulls present between 4 and 8 kHz. The mean intrasubject SD at 6 and 8 kHz was lowest for the FPL calibration, and was comparable with the low-frequency reliability across calibration methods. This decrease in variability translates to statistically-derived significant threshold shift criteria indicating that 15 dB shifts in hearing can be reliably detected at 6 and 8 kHz using FPL-calibrated ER10C earphones, compared with 20 to 25 dB shifts using standard TDH-39P headphones with a coupler calibration. These results indicate that reliability is better with insert earphones, especially with in-the-ear FPL calibration, compared with a standard clinical audiometer with supra-aural headphones. However, in-the-ear SPL calibration should not be used due to its sensitivity to standing waves. The improvement in reliability is clinically meaningful, potentially allowing hearing-conservation programs to more confidently determine significant threshold shifts at 6 kHz-a key frequency for the early detection of noise-induced hearing loss.

An intelligent agent for optimal river-reservoir system management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rieker, Jeffrey D.; Labadie, John W.

2012-09-01

A generalized software package is presented for developing an intelligent agent for stochastic optimization of complex river-reservoir system management and operations. Reinforcement learning is an approach to artificial intelligence for developing a decision-making agent that learns the best operational policies without the need for explicit probabilistic models of hydrologic system behavior. The agent learns these strategies experientially in a Markov decision process through observational interaction with the environment and simulation of the river-reservoir system using well-calibrated models. The graphical user interface for the reinforcement learning process controller includes numerous learning method options and dynamic displays for visualizing the adaptive behavior of the agent. As a case study, the generalized reinforcement learning software is applied to developing an intelligent agent for optimal management of water stored in the Truckee river-reservoir system of California and Nevada for the purpose of streamflow augmentation for water quality enhancement. The intelligent agent successfully learns long-term reservoir operational policies that specifically focus on mitigating water temperature extremes during persistent drought periods that jeopardize the survival of threatened and endangered fish species.

Deep imitation learning for 3D navigation tasks.

PubMed

Hussein, Ahmed; Elyan, Eyad; Gaber, Mohamed Medhat; Jayne, Chrisina

2018-01-01

Deep learning techniques have shown success in learning from raw high-dimensional data in various applications. While deep reinforcement learning is recently gaining popularity as a method to train intelligent agents, utilizing deep learning in imitation learning has been scarcely explored. Imitation learning can be an efficient method to teach intelligent agents by providing a set of demonstrations to learn from. However, generalizing to situations that are not represented in the demonstrations can be challenging, especially in 3D environments. In this paper, we propose a deep imitation learning method to learn navigation tasks from demonstrations in a 3D environment. The supervised policy is refined using active learning in order to generalize to unseen situations. This approach is compared to two popular deep reinforcement learning techniques: deep-Q-networks and Asynchronous actor-critic (A3C). The proposed method as well as the reinforcement learning methods employ deep convolutional neural networks and learn directly from raw visual input. Methods for combining learning from demonstrations and experience are also investigated. This combination aims to join the generalization ability of learning by experience with the efficiency of learning by imitation. The proposed methods are evaluated on 4 navigation tasks in a 3D simulated environment. Navigation tasks are a typical problem that is relevant to many real applications. They pose the challenge of requiring demonstrations of long trajectories to reach the target and only providing delayed rewards (usually terminal) to the agent. The experiments show that the proposed method can successfully learn navigation tasks from raw visual input while learning from experience methods fail to learn an effective policy. Moreover, it is shown that active learning can significantly improve the performance of the initially learned policy using a small number of active samples.

Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence-Digital as an oral hygiene evaluation tool to assess plaque accumulation and enamel demineralization in orthodontics.

PubMed

Miller, Cara C; Burnside, Girvan; Higham, Susan M; Flannigan, Norah L

2016-11-01

  To assess the use of Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence-Digital as an oral hygiene evaluation tool during orthodontic treatment.   In this prospective, randomized clinical trial, 33 patients undergoing fixed orthodontic appliance treatment were randomly allocated to receive oral hygiene reinforcement at four consecutive appointments using either white light (WL) or Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence-Digital (QLF) images, taken with a device, as visual aids. Oral hygiene was recorded assessing the QLF images for demineralization, by fluorescence loss (ΔF), and plaque coverage (ΔR30). A debriefing questionnaire ascertained patient perspectives.   There were no significant differences in demineralization (P  =  .56) or plaque accumulation (P  =  .82) between the WL and QLF groups from T0 to T4. There was no significant reduction in demineralization, ΔF, in the WL, or the QLF group from T0-T4 (P > .05); however, there was a significant reduction in ΔR30 plaque scores (P < .05). All the participants found being shown the images helpful, with 100% of the QLF group reflecting that it would be useful to have oral hygiene reinforcement for the full duration of treatment compared with 81% of the WL group (OR 2.3; P < .05).   Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence-Digital can be used to detect and monitor demineralization and plaque during orthodontics. Oral hygiene reinforcement at consecutive appointments using WL or QLF images as visual aids is effective in reducing plaque coverage. In terms of clinical benefits, QLF and WL images are of similar effectiveness; however, patients preferred the QLF images.

Virtual environment display for a 3D audio room simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chapin, William L.; Foster, Scott

1992-06-01

Recent developments in virtual 3D audio and synthetic aural environments have produced a complex acoustical room simulation. The acoustical simulation models a room with walls, ceiling, and floor of selected sound reflecting/absorbing characteristics and unlimited independent localizable sound sources. This non-visual acoustic simulation, implemented with 4 audio ConvolvotronsTM by Crystal River Engineering and coupled to the listener with a Poihemus IsotrakTM, tracking the listener's head position and orientation, and stereo headphones returning binaural sound, is quite compelling to most listeners with eyes closed. This immersive effect should be reinforced when properly integrated into a full, multi-sensory virtual environment presentation. This paper discusses the design of an interactive, visual virtual environment, complementing the acoustic model and specified to: 1) allow the listener to freely move about the space, a room of manipulable size, shape, and audio character, while interactively relocating the sound sources; 2) reinforce the listener's feeling of telepresence into the acoustical environment with visual and proprioceptive sensations; 3) enhance the audio with the graphic and interactive components, rather than overwhelm or reduce it; and 4) serve as a research testbed and technology transfer demonstration. The hardware/software design of two demonstration systems, one installed and one portable, are discussed through the development of four iterative configurations. The installed system implements a head-coupled, wide-angle, stereo-optic tracker/viewer and multi-computer simulation control. The portable demonstration system implements a head-mounted wide-angle, stereo-optic display, separate head and pointer electro-magnetic position trackers, a heterogeneous parallel graphics processing system, and object oriented C++ program code.

Incidental orthographic learning during a color detection task.

PubMed

Protopapas, Athanassios; Mitsi, Anna; Koustoumbardis, Miltiadis; Tsitsopoulou, Sofia M; Leventi, Marianna; Seitz, Aaron R

2017-09-01

Orthographic learning refers to the acquisition of knowledge about specific spelling patterns forming words and about general biases and constraints on letter sequences. It is thought to occur by strengthening simultaneously activated visual and phonological representations during reading. Here we demonstrate that a visual perceptual learning procedure that leaves no time for articulation can result in orthographic learning evidenced in improved reading and spelling performance. We employed task-irrelevant perceptual learning (TIPL), in which the stimuli to be learned are paired with an easy task target. Assorted line drawings and difficult-to-spell words were presented in red color among sequences of other black-colored words and images presented in rapid succession, constituting a fast-TIPL procedure with color detection being the explicit task. In five experiments, Greek children in Grades 4-5 showed increased recognition of words and images that had appeared in red, both during and after the training procedure, regardless of within-training testing, and also when targets appeared in blue instead of red. Significant transfer to reading and spelling emerged only after increased training intensity. In a sixth experiment, children in Grades 2-3 showed generalization to words not presented during training that carried the same derivational affixes as in the training set. We suggest that reinforcement signals related to detection of the target stimuli contribute to the strengthening of orthography-phonology connections beyond earlier levels of visually-based orthographic representation learning. These results highlight the potential of perceptual learning procedures for the reinforcement of higher-level orthographic representations. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modification of a prey catching response and the development of behavioral persistence in the fire-bellied toad (Bombina orientalis).

PubMed

Ramsay, Zachary J; Ikura, Juntaro; Laberge, Frédéric

2013-11-01

The present report investigated how fire-bellied toads (Bombina orientalis) modified their response in a prey catching task in which the attribution of food reward was contingent on snapping toward a visual stimulus of moving prey displayed on a computer screen. Two experiments investigated modification of the snapping response, with different intervals between the opportunity to snap at the visual stimulus and reward administration. The snapping response of unpaired controls was decreased compared with the conditioned toads when hour or day intervals were used, but intervals of 5 min produced only minimal change in snapping. The determinants of extinction of the response toward the visual stimulus were then investigated in 3 experiments. The results of the first experiment suggested that increased resistance to extinction depended mostly on the number of training trials, not on partial reinforcement or the magnitude of reinforcement during training. This was confirmed in a second experiment showing that overtraining resulted in resistance to extinction, and that the pairing of the reward with a response toward the stimulus was necessary for that effect, as opposed to pairing reward solely with the experimental context. The last experiment showed that the time elapsed between training trials also influenced extinction, but only in toads that received few training trials. Overall, the results suggest that toads learning about a prey stimulus progress from an early flexible phase, when an action can be modified by its consequences, to an acquired habit characterized by an increasingly inflexible and automatic response.

Stimulus Processing and Associative Learning in Wistar and WKHA Rats

PubMed Central

Chess, Amy C.; Keene, Christopher S.; Wyzik, Elizabeth C.; Bucci, David J.

2007-01-01

This study assessed basic learning and attention abilities in WKHA (Wistar-Kyoto Hyperactive) rats using appetitive conditioning preparations. Two measures of conditioned responding to a visual stimulus, orienting behavior (rearing on the hindlegs) and food cup behavior (placing the head inside the recessed food cup) were measured. In Experiment 1, simple conditioning but not extinction was impaired in WKHA rats compared to Wistar rats. In Experiment 2, non-reinforced presentations of the visual cue preceded the conditioning sessions. WKHA rats displayed less orienting behavior than Wistar rats, but comparable levels of food cup behavior. These data suggest that WKHA rats exhibit specific abnormalities in attentional processing as well as learning stimulus-reward relationships. PMID:15998198

Pragmatically Framed Cross-Situational Noun Learning Using Computational Reinforcement Models

PubMed Central

Najnin, Shamima; Banerjee, Bonny

2018-01-01

Cross-situational learning and social pragmatic theories are prominent mechanisms for learning word meanings (i.e., word-object pairs). In this paper, the role of reinforcement is investigated for early word-learning by an artificial agent. When exposed to a group of speakers, the agent comes to understand an initial set of vocabulary items belonging to the language used by the group. Both cross-situational learning and social pragmatic theory are taken into account. As social cues, joint attention and prosodic cues in caregiver's speech are considered. During agent-caregiver interaction, the agent selects a word from the caregiver's utterance and learns the relations between that word and the objects in its visual environment. The “novel words to novel objects” language-specific constraint is assumed for computing rewards. The models are learned by maximizing the expected reward using reinforcement learning algorithms [i.e., table-based algorithms: Q-learning, SARSA, SARSA-λ, and neural network-based algorithms: Q-learning for neural network (Q-NN), neural-fitted Q-network (NFQ), and deep Q-network (DQN)]. Neural network-based reinforcement learning models are chosen over table-based models for better generalization and quicker convergence. Simulations are carried out using mother-infant interaction CHILDES dataset for learning word-object pairings. Reinforcement is modeled in two cross-situational learning cases: (1) with joint attention (Attentional models), and (2) with joint attention and prosodic cues (Attentional-prosodic models). Attentional-prosodic models manifest superior performance to Attentional ones for the task of word-learning. The Attentional-prosodic DQN outperforms existing word-learning models for the same task. PMID:29441027

[Randomized controlled clinical trials of individualized treatment of cerebral palsy children by warm-reinforcing needling combined with Bobath rehabilitation training].

PubMed

Zhang, Ning-Xia; Wang, Xiang-Yu; Liu, Gui-Zhen; Li, Yun-Bo; Zhang, Hong-Ying

2014-08-01

To observe the effect of warm-reinforcing needling combined with modern rehabilitation training on motor function of cerebral palsy (CP) children. Sixty cases of CP children were randomly divided into acupuncture combined with rehabilitation (Acu + Rehab, n = 30) group and Rehab (n = 30) group. Patients of the Acu + Rehab group were treated by warm-reinforcing needling stimulation of Jiaji (EX-B 2), Jianyu (LI 15), Quchi (LI 11), Hegu (LI 4), Zusanli (ST 36), Yinlingquan (GB 34), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Juegu (GB 39), Yanglingquan (GB 34), etc., combined with Bobath rehabilitation therapy, and those of the Rehab group treated by Bobath rehabilitation (stimulating key control points in the body, triggering reflexes that provide head and body control). The treatment was conducted every day,with three months being a therapeutic course,two courses in all. The Peabody Developmental Motor Scales 2 (PDMS-2) was used to evaluate the CP children's motor function [1) gross motor: posture (straightness ratio), locomotion and object manipulation; 2) fine motor: grasping and visual-Motor integration]. After the treatment, of the 30 and 30 cases in the Acu+ Rehab and Rehab groups, 1 (3.33%) and 0 (0%) were cured, 20 (66.67%) and 18 (60.00%) experienced marked improvement, 9 (30.00%) and 12 (40.00%) were invalid, with the effective rates being 70.00% and 60.00% respectively. The therapeutic effect of the Acu + Rehab group was markedly superior to that of the Rehab group (P < 0.05). After 6 months ' treatment, the scores of posture, locomotor, object manipulation and grasping, and visual-movement integration were significantly increased in comparison with pre-treatment in the same one group (P < 0.05), and the effects of the Acu + Rehab group were obviously superior to those of Rehab group in increasing the scores of posture, locomotor, object manipulation and grasping after 6 months' treatment (P < 0.05). Warm-reinforcing needling combined with Bobath rehabilitation has a better therapeutic effect in improving gross motor and fine motor functions of CP children.

[The assessment of the clinical effectiveness of fenspiride for the treatment of acute obstruction of the Eustachian tube].

PubMed

Fedin, A V

2015-01-01

The objective of the present study was to estimate the clinical effectiveness of fenspiride used to correct the obstruction of the Eustachian tube in 80 patients presenting with acute tubootitis and exudative otitis media. The algorithm of the examination included the evaluation of the severity of subjective clinical symptoms based on the relevant analog-visual scale, results of tonal audiometry, and tympanometry. The control group was comprised of 34 patients treated with antibacterial preparations, topical decongestants, and transtubal administration of glucocorticoids. The study group included 46 patients who received fenspiride at a dose of 80 mg thrice daily in addition to the above pharmacotherapy. The severity of clinical symptoms in the patients treated with fenspiride decreased faster than in the control subjects. The frequency analysis of dynamics of the air-bone gaps on the audiometric curves revealed the significantly more intensive recovery of the hearing function in the patients treated by basal pharmacotherapy in the combination with fenspiride. Type A tympanograms predominated on day 7 after the onset of the conservative treatment with the use of fenspiride whereas type C tympanograms continued to predominate in the patients of the control group. It is concluded that the introduction of fenspiride into combined therapy of acute tubootitis and exudative otitis media promotes the normalization of the ventilation and drainage functions and relieves the severity of subjective clinical symptoms.

Factors associated with poor academic achievement among urban primary school children in Malaysia.

PubMed

Ong, L C; Chandran, V; Lim, Y Y; Chen, A H; Poh, B K

2010-03-01

The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with poor academic achievement during the early school years. This was a cross-sectional study of urban Primary Two children. Sociodemographic and medical data were obtained from questionnaires and interviews. Achievement was based on marks obtained in the core subjects of the Primary One examination. All students underwent the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices test as a general measure of cognitive ability, audiometry and visual tests, and standardised measurements of weight and height. Out of 1,470 eligible children, 206 (14 percent) had poor academic achievement. Of the 919 children who participated in the study, 111 (12.1 percent) had poor achievement compared with 95 (17.2 percent) of the 551 non-participants. Using logistic regression analysis, the factors that were found to be independently associated with poor academic achievement were lower mean Raven scores (p-value is less than 0.001), lower mean socioeconomic status scores (p-value is less than 0.001), larger sibship size (p-value is 0.031), male gender (odds ratio [OR] 1.7; 95 percent confidence interval [CI] 1.1-2.65) and a history of prematurity (OR 14; 95 percent CI 2-97.8). Cognitive ability, gender, prematurity and social factors contribute to poor academic achievement during the early school years. The higher proportion of poor achievers among non-participants warrants further attention.

Video Nasoendoscopic-Assisted Transoral Adenoidectomy with the PEAK PlasmaBlade: A Preliminary Report of a Case Series

PubMed Central

Kuo, Chao-Yin; Lin, Yuan-Yung

2017-01-01

Objectives. The primary objective for this study is to evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, surgical applicability, and outcome of the pulsed electron avalanche knife (PEAK) PlasmaBlade in transoral adenoidectomy under direct visualization using video nasoendoscopy. Patients and Methods. In this series, six cases of adenoid hypertrophy showing varying clinical presentations in relation to its clinical course were surgically treated using a PEAK PlasmaBlade. Before and after surgery, all patients underwent nasal endoscopy to define the grading of hypertrophic adenoids and postoperative outcome. Pure tone audiometry and tympanometry tests were carried out to investigate the change in middle and inner ear functions. Results. The mean follow-up period was 23.8 months. Postoperatively, symptoms of otitis media with effusion were all relieved with closure of the air-bone gap (6/6). Other relevant ear complaints like tinnitus were resolved (1/1) and aural fullness disappeared in 87.5% of ears (7/8). Nasal obstruction (2/2) and postnasal drip (2/2) were improved after surgery. Conclusions. Based on this preliminary report of a case series in a limited sample size, we suggest that using the transoral PEAK PlasmaBlade for adenoidectomy guided by video nasoendoscopy is a safe and feasible surgical technique, allowing remarkable outcomes by providing precise tissue removal, effective hemostasis, and painless postoperative recovery. PMID:28459055

Deep learning of orthographic representations in baboons.

PubMed

Hannagan, Thomas; Ziegler, Johannes C; Dufau, Stéphane; Fagot, Joël; Grainger, Jonathan

2014-01-01

What is the origin of our ability to learn orthographic knowledge? We use deep convolutional networks to emulate the primate's ventral visual stream and explore the recent finding that baboons can be trained to discriminate English words from nonwords. The networks were exposed to the exact same sequence of stimuli and reinforcement signals as the baboons in the experiment, and learned to map real visual inputs (pixels) of letter strings onto binary word/nonword responses. We show that the networks' highest levels of representations were indeed sensitive to letter combinations as postulated in our previous research. The model also captured the key empirical findings, such as generalization to novel words, along with some intriguing inter-individual differences. The present work shows the merits of deep learning networks that can simulate the whole processing chain all the way from the visual input to the response while allowing researchers to analyze the complex representations that emerge during the learning process.

Differential effects of serotonin-specific and excitotoxic lesions of OFC on conditioned reinforcer devaluation and extinction in rats

PubMed Central

West, Elizabeth A.; Forcelli, Patrick A.; McCue, David L.; Malkova, Ludise

2013-01-01

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is critical for behavioral adaptation in response to changes in reward value. Here we investigated, in rats, the role of OFC and, specifically, serotonergic neurotransmission within OFC in a reinforcer devaluation task (which measures behavioral flexibility). This task used two visual cues, each predicting one of two foods, with the spatial position (left-right) of the cues above two levers pseudorandomized across trials. An instrumental action (lever press) was required for reinforcer delivery. After training, rats received either excitotoxic OFC lesions made by NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartic acid), serotonin-specific OFC lesions made by 5,7-DHT (5,7-dihydroxytryptamine), or sham lesions. In sham-lesioned rats, devaluation of one food (by feeding to satiety) significantly decreased responding to the cue associated with that food, when both cues were presented simultaneously during extinction. Both types of OFC lesions disrupted the devaluation effect. In contrast, extinction learning was not affected by serotonin-specific lesions and was only mildly retarded in rats with excitotoxic lesions. Thus, serotonin within OFC is necessary for appropriately adjusting behavior towards cues that predict reward but not for reducing responses in the absence of reward. Our results are the first to demonstrate that serotonin in OFC is necessary for reinforcer devaluation, but not extinction. PMID:23458741

Differential effects of serotonin-specific and excitotoxic lesions of OFC on conditioned reinforcer devaluation and extinction in rats.

PubMed

West, Elizabeth A; Forcelli, Patrick A; McCue, David L; Malkova, Ludise

2013-06-01

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is critical for behavioral adaptation in response to changes in reward value. Here we investigated, in rats, the role of OFC and, specifically, serotonergic neurotransmission within OFC in a reinforcer devaluation task (which measures behavioral flexibility). This task used two visual cues, each predicting one of two foods, with the spatial position (left-right) of the cues above two levers pseudorandomized across trials. An instrumental action (lever press) was required for reinforcer delivery. After training, rats received either excitotoxic OFC lesions made by NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartic acid), serotonin-specific OFC lesions made by 5,7-DHT (5,7-dihydroxytryptamine), or sham lesions. In sham-lesioned rats, devaluation of one food (by feeding to satiety) significantly decreased responding to the cue associated with that food, when both cues were presented simultaneously during extinction. Both types of OFC lesions disrupted the devaluation effect. In contrast, extinction learning was not affected by serotonin-specific lesions and was only mildly retarded in rats with excitotoxic lesions. Thus, serotonin within OFC is necessary for appropriately adjusting behavior toward cues that predict reward but not for reducing responses in the absence of reward. Our results are the first to demonstrate that serotonin in OFC is necessary for reinforcer devaluation, but not extinction. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of Cognitive Architectures on Human-Computer Interaction

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

activation, reinforced learning, emotion, semantic memory , episodic memory , and visual imagery.12 In 2010 Rosenbloom created a variant of the Soar...being added to almost every new version. In 2004 Nuxoll and Laird added episodic memory to the Soar architecture.11 In 2008 Laird presented...York (NY): Psychology Press; 2014; p. 1–50. 11. Nuxoll A, Laird JE. A cognitive model of episodic memory integrated with a general cognitive

Advanced Prosthetic Gait Training Tool

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

motion capture sequences was provided by MPL to CCAD and OGAL. CCAD’s work focused on imposing these sequences on the SantosTM digital human avatar ...manipulating the avatar image. These manipulations are accomplished in the context of reinforcing what is the more ideal position and relating...focus on the visual environment by asking users to manipulate a static image of the Santos avatar to represent their perception of what they observe

Summary of Research 1997, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-01-01

Maintenance for Diesel Engines 49 Control Architectures and Non-Linear Controllers for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles 38 Creep of Fiber Reinforced Metal...Technology Demonstration (ATD) 50 Development of Delphi Visual Performance Model 25 Diffraction Methods for the Accurate Measurement of Structure Factors...literature. If this could be done, a U.S. version of ORACLE (to be called DELPHI ) could be developed and used. The result has been the development of a

Analysis of discriminative control by social behavioral stimuli

PubMed Central

Hake, Don F.; Donaldson, Tom; Hyten, Cloyd

1983-01-01

Visual discriminative control of the behavior of one rat by the behavior of another was studied in a two-compartment chamber. Each rat's compartment had a food cup and two response keys arranged vertically next to the clear partition that separated the two rats. Illumination of the leader's key lights signaled a “search” period when a response by the leader on the unsignaled and randomly selected correct key for that trial illuminated the follower's keys. Then, a response by the follower on the corresponding key was reinforced, or a response on the incorrect key terminated the trial without reinforcement. Accuracy of following the leader increased to 85% within 15 sessions. Blocking the view of the leader reduced accuracy but not to chance levels. Apparent control by visual behavioral stimuli was also affected by auditory stimuli and a correction procedure. When white noise eliminated auditory cues, social learning was not acquired as fast nor as completely. A reductionistic position holds that behavioral stimuli are the same as nonsocial stimuli; however, that does not mean that they do not require any separate treatment. Behavioral stimuli are usually more variable than nonsocial stimuli, and further study is required to disentangle behavioral and nonsocial contributions to the stimulus control of social interactions. PMID:16812313

Acoustic emission evaluation of reinforced concrete bridge beam with graphite composite laminate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Dan E.; Shen, H. Warren; Finlayson, Richard D.

2001-07-01

A test was recently conducted on August 1, 2000 at the FHwA Non-Destructive Evaluation Validation Center, sponsored by The New York State DOT, to evaluate a graphite composite laminate as an effective form of retrofit for reinforced concrete bridge beam. One portion of this testing utilized Acoustic Emission Monitoring for Evaluation of the beam under test. Loading was applied to this beam using a two-point loading scheme at FHwA's facility. This load was applied in several incremental loadings until the failure of the graphite composite laminate took place. Each loading culminated by either visual crack location or large audible emissions from the beam. Between tests external cracks were located visually and highlighted and the graphite epoxy was checked for delamination. Acoustic Emission data was collected to locate cracking areas of the structure during the loading cycles. To collect this Acoustic Emission data, FHwA and NYSDOT utilized a Local Area Monitor, an Acoustic Emission instrument developed in a cooperative effort between FHwA and Physical Acoustics Corporation. Eight Acoustic Emission sensors were attached to the structure, with four on each side, in a symmetrical fashion. As testing progressed and culminated with beam failure, Acoustic Emission data was gathered and correlated against time and test load. This paper will discuss the analysis of this test data.

Air-conduction estimated from tympanometry (ACET) 1: relationship to measured hearing in OME.

PubMed

2009-01-01

In otitis media with effusion (OME), the accuracy of predicting air-conduction hearing-level (HLs) from tympanometry has generally been seen as too poor for use in clinical practice. Previous studies of the relationship have mostly concerned single ears, many using samples with predominantly mild cases of OM and weak statistical approaches. A better understanding of the interrelations between these tests might improve efficiency in testing and decision-making for individuals. Binaural average HL was adopted as the measure to be predicted most relevant to auditory disability. Multiple regression from modified Jerger tympanogram categories B, C2, C1 and A tympanogram types on 3085 children aged 3(1/4)-6(3/4) years gave formulae which we tested for replication, stability and generalization across distributions differing in severity. Age-adjusted formulae explained up to 49% of the variance in binaural HL (i.e. a multiple correlation of 0.70), and were robust across phase of disease. Best predictions were seen in a severe sample permitting exploitation of the strong conditioning effect by a B tympanogram in one ear upon the tympanometry/HL relationship in the other. This permits a trichotomous approximation (0, 1, or 2 B-tympanograms) to also perform well. We name the HL prediction formula "ACET" - Air Conduction Estimated from Tympanometry. We do not recommend replacing audiometry with tympanometry, particularly not at first assessment. However, where the diagnosis is, or likely from history to be, OME (even if fluid is absent on test day), the informativeness of further air-conduction audiometry on the same or later occasion may not always be worth the further effort or cost. It is therefore clinically useful to have a dB measure, from an evidence-based formula justifying a principled estimate. Non-clinical uses include imputation when research data are missing, and non-intensive applications where audiometry is impracticable, e.g. field clinics and large scale or longitudinal research. A companion paper shows how the part of the air-conduction HL variance that is not explicable by ACET, also offers a surrogate, but for bone-conduction HL (BC), where BC testing may be problematic, as in the very young. This surrogate can also define cases needing true BC testing.

Impact behaviour of Napier/polyester composites under different energy levels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fahmi, I.; Majid, M. S. Abdul; Afendi, M.; Haslan, M.; Helmi E., A.; M. Haameem J., A.

2016-07-01

The effects of different energy levels on the impact behaviour of Napier fibre/polyester reinforced composites were investigated. Napier fibre was extracted using traditional water retting process to be utilized as reinforcing materials in polyester composite laminates. 25% fibre loading composite laminates were prepared and impacted at three different energy levels; 2.5,5 and 7.5 J using an instrumented drop weight impact testing machine (IMATEK IM10). The outcomes show that peak force and contact time increase with increased impact load. The energy absorption was then calculated from the force displacement curve. The results indicated that the energy absorption decreases with increasing energy levels of the impact. Impacted specimens were observed visually for fragmentation fracture using an optical camera to identify the failure mechanisms. Fracture fragmentation pattern from permanent dent to perforation with radial and circumferential was observed.

The effect of CFRP on retrofitting of damaged HSRC beams using AE technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soffian Noor, M. S.; Noorsuhada, M. N.

2017-12-01

This paper presents the effect of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) on retrofitted high strength reinforced concrete (HSRC) beams using acoustic emission (AE) technique. Two RC beam parameters were prepared. The first was the control beam which was undamaged HSRC beam. The second was the damaged HSRC beam retrofitted with CFRP on the soffit. The main objective of this study is to assess the crack modes of HSRC beams using AE signal strength. The relationship between signal strength, load and time were analysed and discussed. The crack pattern observed from the visual observation was also investigated. HSRC beam retrofitted with CFRP produced high signal strength compared to control beam. It demonstrates the effect of the AE signal strength for interpretation and prediction of failure modes that might occur in the beam specimens.

How to reinforce perception of depth in single two-dimensional pictures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nagata, S.

1989-01-01

The physical conditions of the display of single 2-D pictures, which produce images realistically, were studied by using the characteristics of the intake of the information for visual depth perception. Depth sensitivity, which is defined as the ratio of viewing distance to depth discrimination threshold, was introduced in order to evaluate the availability of various cues for depth perception: binocular parallax, motion parallax, accommodation, convergence, size, texture, brightness, and air-perspective contrast. The effects of binocular parallax in different conditions, the depth sensitivity of which is greatest at a distance of up to about 10 m, were studied with the new versatile stereoscopic display. From these results, four conditions to reinforce the perception of depth in single pictures were proposed, and these conditions are met by the old viewing devices and the new high-definition and wide television displays.

The fibre orientation influence in cementitious composite against extreme load resistance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lovichova, R.; Fornusek, J.; Mara, M.; Kocova, M.; Rihova, Z.

2018-02-01

This paper is focused on resistance of steel fibre-reinforced cement composite against impact of the deformable projectile shot from the 7.62 × 39 caliber. Different values of resistance against impact of the projectile are caused by different orientation of the fibres. The influence of formwork position, which is the main cause of the different orientation of the fibres, is investigated. The resistance was examined on thirty slabs made of ultra-high performance fibre-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC). Fifteen specimens with vertical orientation of formwork and fifteen with horizontal orientation of formwork was made. The resistance is classified according to the visual evaluation and local damage measurement on the front side and the rear side of the examined specimens. The experiment shown positive influence of vertically oriented formwork on the slabs according to their resistance against impact of the projectile.

On the evils of group averaging: commentary on Nevin's "Resistance to extinction and behavioral momentum".

PubMed

Gallistel, C R

2012-05-01

Except under unusually favorable circumstances, one can infer from functions obtained by averaging across the subjects neither the form of the function that describes the behavior of the individual subject nor the central tendencies of descriptive parameter values. We should restore the cumulative record to the place of honor as our means of visualizing behavioral change, and we should base our conclusions on analyses that measure where the change occurs in these response-by-response records of the behavior of individual subjects. When that is done, we may find that the extinction of responding to a continuously reinforced stimulus is faster than the extinction of responding to a partially reinforced stimulus in a within-subject design because the latter is signaled extinction. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Natural Mallow Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composite for Ballistic Armor Against Class III-A Ammunition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nascimento, Lucio Fabio Cassiano; Holanda, Luane Isquerdo Ferreira; Louro, Luis Henrique Leme; Monteiro, Sergio Neves; Gomes, Alaelson Vieira; Lima, Édio Pereira

2017-10-01

Epoxy matrix composites reinforced with up to 30 vol pct of continuous and aligned natural mallow fibers were for the first time ballistic tested as personal armor against class III-A 9 mm FMJ ammunition. The ballistic efficiency of these composites was assessed by measuring the dissipated energy and residual velocity after the bullet perforation. The results were compared to those in similar tests of aramid fabric (Kevlar™) commonly used in vests for personal protections. Visual inspection and scanning electron microscopy analysis of impact-fractured samples revealed failure mechanisms associated with fiber pullout and rupture as well as epoxy cracking. As compared to Kevlar™, the mallow fiber composite displayed practically the same ballistic efficiency. However, there is a reduction in both weight and cost, which makes the mallow fiber composites a promising material for personal ballistic protection.

Pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus lesions impair stimulus--reward learning in autoshaping and conditioned reinforcement paradigms.

PubMed

Inglis, W L; Olmstead, M C; Robbins, T W

2000-04-01

The role of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) in stimulus-reward learning was assessed by testing the effects of PPTg lesions on performance in visual autoshaping and conditioned reinforcement (CRf) paradigms. Rats with PPTg lesions were unable to learn an association between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and a primary reward in either paradigm. In the autoshaping experiment, PPTg-lesioned rats approached the CS+ and CS- with equal frequency, and the latencies to respond to the two stimuli did not differ. PPTg lesions also disrupted discriminated approaches to an appetitive CS in the CRf paradigm and completely abolished the acquisition of responding with CRf. These data are discussed in the context of a possible cognitive function of the PPTg, particularly in terms of lesion-induced disruptions of attentional processes that are mediated by the thalamus.

[The influence of various acoustic stimuli upon the cumulative action potential (SAP) of the auditory nerves in guinea pigs (author's transl)].

PubMed

Hofmann, G; Kraak, W

1976-08-31

The impact of various acoustic stimuli upon the cumulative action potential of the auditory nerves in guinea pigs is investigated by means of the averaging method. It was found that the potential amplitude within the measuring range increases with the logarithm of the rising sonic pressure velocity. Unlike the evoked response audiometry (ERA), this potential seems unsuitable for furnishing information of the frequency-dependent threshold course.

Stapedotomy in osteogenesis imperfecta: a prospective study of 32 consecutive cases.

PubMed

Vincent, Robert; Wegner, Inge; Stegeman, Inge; Grolman, Wilko

2014-12-01

To prospectively evaluate hearing outcomes in patients with osteogenesis imperfecta undergoing primary stapes surgery and to isolate prognostic factors for success. A nonrandomized, open, prospective case series. A tertiary referral center. Twenty-five consecutive patients who underwent 32 primary stapedotomies for osteogenesis imperfecta with evidence of stapes fixation and available postoperative pure-tone audiometry. Primary stapedotomy with vein graft interposition and reconstruction with a regular Teflon piston or bucket handle-type piston. Preoperative and postoperative audiometric evaluation using conventional 4-frequency (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) audiometry. Air-conduction thresholds, bone-conduction thresholds, and air-bone gap were measured. The overall audiometric results as well as the results of audiometric evaluation at 3 months and at least 1 year after surgery were used. Overall, postoperative air-bone gap closure to within 10 dB was achieved in 88% of cases. Mean (standard deviation) gain in air-conduction threshold was 22 (9.4) dB for the entire case series, and mean (standard deviation) air-bone gap closure was 22 (9.0) dB. Backward multivariate logistic regression showed that a model with preoperative air-bone gap closure and intraoperatively established incus length accurately predicts success after primary stapes surgery. Stapes surgery is a feasible and safe treatment option in patients with osteogenesis imperfecta. Success is associated with preoperative air-bone gap and intraoperatively established incus length.

Impact of hearing impairment on spousal mental health: the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study

PubMed Central

Krog, Norun Hjertager; Tambs, Kristian

2010-01-01

Background: Previous studies indicate that hearing loss have negative emotional implications also on spouses of the hearing impaired persons. We sought to assess the relationship between hearing impairment and spousal mental health in the general population. Methods: Pure tone audiometry and questionnaires were administered to the adult population of Nord–Trøndelag County, Norway (1996–97). In the age group between 20 and 44 years, the number of cases with hearing impairment was very low; thus, this age group was excluded from analyses. In total, 8607 couples with women over 44 years and 9530 couples with men over 44 years were identified. Associations between measured and self-reported hearing impairment and spousal self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, and subjective well-being were estimated. Stratified by sex and adjusting for several covariates, mental health in spouses of persons with hearing impairment was compared with that of spouses of persons with normal hearing using the general linear model. Results: Audiometrically measured hearing was not significantly associated with spousal mental health. Moderate relations between self-reported hearing and spousal mental health were observed. Conclusion: Contrary to previous results based on self-reported hearing loss, our results based on audiometry did not indicate severe loss of mental health among spouses of persons with impaired hearing. PMID:19887520

Equivalence and test-retest reproducibility of conventional and extended-high-frequency audiometric thresholds obtained using pure-tone and narrow-band-noise stimuli.

PubMed

John, Andrew B; Kreisman, Brian M

2017-09-01

Extended high-frequency (EHF) audiometry is useful for evaluating ototoxic exposures and may relate to speech recognition, localisation and hearing aid benefit. There is a need to determine whether common clinical practice for EHF audiometry using tone and noise stimuli is reliable. We evaluated equivalence and compared test-retest (TRT) reproducibility for audiometric thresholds obtained using pure tones and narrowband noise (NBN) from 0.25 to 16 kHz. Thresholds and test-retest reproducibility for stimuli in the conventional (0.25-6 kHz) and EHF (8-16 kHz) frequency ranges were compared in a repeated-measures design. A total of 70 ears of adults with normal hearing. Thresholds obtained using NBN were significantly lower than thresholds obtained using pure tones from 0.5 to 16 kHz, but not 0.25 kHz. Good TRT reproducibility (within 2 dB) was observed for both stimuli at all frequencies. Responses at the lower limit of the presentation range for NBN centred at 14 and 16 kHz suggest unreliability for NBN as a threshold stimulus at these frequencies. Thresholds in the conventional and EHF ranges showed good test-retest reproducibility, but differed between stimulus types. Care should be taken when comparing pure-tone thresholds with NBN thresholds especially at these frequencies.

Sex-specific predictors of hearing-aid use in older persons: The age, gene/environment susceptibility - Reykjavik study

PubMed Central

Fisher, Diana E.; Li, Chuan-Ming; Hoffman, Howard J.; Chiu, May S.; Themann, Christa L.; Petersen, Hannes; Jonsson, Palmi V.; Jonsson, Helgi; Jonasson, Fridbert; Sverrisdottir, Johanna Eyrun; Launer, Lenore J.; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Cotch, Mary Frances

2015-01-01

Objective We estimate the prevalence of hearing-aid use in Iceland and identify sex-specific factors associated with use. Design Population-based cohort study. Study sample A total of 5172 age, gene/environment susceptibility - Reykjavik study (AGES-RS) participants, aged 67 to 96 years (mean age 76.5 years), who completed air-conduction and pure-tone audiometry. Results Hearing-aid use was reported by 23.0% of men and 15.9% of women in the cohort, although among participants with at least moderate hearing loss in the better ear (pure-tone average [PTA] of thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz ≥ 35 dB hearing level [HL]) it was 49.9% and did not differ by sex. Self-reported hearing loss was the strongest predictor of hearing-aid use in men [OR: 2.68 (95% CI: 1.77, 4.08)] and women [OR: 3.07 (95% CI: 1.94, 4.86)], followed by hearing loss severity based on audiometry. Having diabetes or osteoarthritis were significant positive predictors of use in men, whereas greater physical activity and unimpaired cognitive status were important in women. Conclusions Hearing-aid use was comparable in Icelandic men and women with moderate or greater hearing loss. Self-recognition of hearing loss was the factor most predictive of hearing-aid use; other influential factors differed for men and women. PMID:25816699

Audiovestibular impairments associated with intracranial hypotension.

PubMed

Choi, Jae-Hwan; Cho, Kee-Yong; Cha, Seung-Yi; Seo, Jae-Deuk; Kim, Min-Ji; Choi, Yu Ri; Kim, Sung-Hee; Kim, Ji-Soo; Choi, Kwang-Dong

2015-10-15

To investigate the patterns and mechanisms of audiovestibular impairments associated with intracranial hypotension. We had consecutively recruited 16 patients with intracranial hypotension at the Neurology Center of Pusan National University Hospital for two years. Spontaneous, gaze-evoked, and positional nystagmus were recorded using 3D video-oculography in all patients, and the majority of them also had pure tone audiometry and bithermal caloric tests. Of the 16 patients, five (31.3%) reported neuro-otological symptoms along with the orthostatic headache while laboratory evaluation demonstrated audiovestibular impairments in ten (62.5%). Oculographic analyses documented spontaneous and/or positional nystagmus in six patients (37.5%) including weak spontaneous vertical nystagmus with positional modulation (n=4) and pure positional nystagmus (n=2). One patient presented with recurrent spontaneous vertigo and tinnitus mimicking Meniere's disease, and showed unidirectional horizontal and torsional nystagmus with normal head impulse tests during the attacks. Bithermal caloric tests were normal in all nine patients tested. Audiometry showed unilateral (n=6) or bilateral (n=1) sensorineural hearing loss in seven (53.8%) of the 13 patients tested. Intracranial hypotension frequently induces audiovestibular impairments. In addition to endolymphatic hydrops and irritation of the vestibulocochlear nerve, compression or traction of the brainstem or cerebellum due to loss of CSF buoyancy may be considered as a mechanism of frequent spontaneous or positional vertical nystagmus in patients with intracranial hypotension. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Occupational noise-induced hearing loss in Indian steel industry workers: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Singh, Lakhwinder Pal; Bhardwaj, Arvind; Deepak, Kishore Kumar

2013-04-01

The present study focused on exploring the current level of hearing protection and subsequently determined the prevalence of occupational noise-induced hearing loss among casting and forging industry workers. The casting and forging industry provides employment to a significant portion of the population. The level of hearing protection was assessed through questionnaire survey of 572 workers. Out of these workers, 165 and another control group of 57 participants were assessed by formal audiometry. Audiometric tests were conducted at frequencies of 1.0 KHz to 8.0 KHz.The occurrence of hearing loss was determined on the basis of a hearing threshold level with a low fence of 25 dB. Student's test and ANOVA were used to compare the various groups; a p value < .05 was considered statistically significant. More than 90% of the workers sampled showed significant hearing loss at medium and high frequencies. The analyses revealed a higher prevalence of significant hearing loss among the forging workers compared with the workers associated with the other activities. The workers of the Indian steel industry are highly exposed to occupational noise. The majority of workers are not protected from noise-induced hearing loss. There is a need to provide special ear protectors for workers engaged in forging. A complete hearing protection program, including training, audiometry, job rotation, and the use of hearing protection devices, needs to be introduced.

Optimizing Clinical Interpretation of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions in Infants.

PubMed

Blankenship, Chelsea M; Hunter, Lisa L; Keefe, Douglas H; Feeney, M Patrick; Brown, David K; McCune, Annie; Fitzpatrick, Denis F; Lin, Li

2018-03-06

The purpose of this study was to analyze distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) level and signal to noise ratio in a group of infants from birth to 4 months of age to optimize prediction of hearing status. DPOAEs from infants with normal hearing (NH) and hearing loss (HL) were used to predict the presence of conductive HL (CHL), sensorineural HL (SNHL), and mixed HL (MHL). Wideband ambient absorbance was also measured and compared among the HL types. This is a prospective, longitudinal study of 279 infants with verified NH and HL, including conductive, sensorineural, and mixed types that were enrolled from a well-baby nursery and two neonatal intensive care units in Cincinnati, Ohio. At approximately 1 month of age, DPOAEs (1-8 kHz), wideband absorbance (0.25-8 kHz), and air and bone conduction diagnostic tone burst auditory brainstem response (0.5-4 kHz) thresholds were measured. Hearing status was verified at approximately 9 months of age with visual reinforcement audiometry (0.5-4 kHz). Auditory brainstem response air conduction thresholds were used to assign infants to an NH or HL group, and the efficacy of DPOAE data to classify ears as NH or HL was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Two summary statistics of the ROC curve were calculated: the area under the ROC curve and the point of symmetry on the curve at which the sensitivity and specificity were equal. DPOAE level and signal to noise ratio cutoff values were defined at each frequency as the symmetry point on their respective ROC curve, and DPOAE results were combined across frequency in a multifrequency analysis to predict the presence of HL. Single-frequency test performance of DPOAEs was best at mid to high frequencies (3-8 kHz) with intermediate performance at 1.5 and 2 kHz and chance performance at 1 kHz. Infants with a conductive component to their HL (CHL and MHL combined) displayed significantly lower ambient absorbance values than the NH group. No differences in ambient absorbance were found between the NH and SNHL groups. Multifrequency analysis resulted in the best prediction of HL for the SNHL/MHL group with poorer sensitivity values when infants with CHL were included. Clinical interpretation of DPOAEs in infants can be improved by using age-appropriate normative ranges and optimized cutoff values. DPOAE interpretation is most predictive at higher F2 test frequencies in young infants (2-8 kHz) due to poor test performance at 1 to 1.5 kHz. Multifrequency rules can be used to improve sensitivity while balancing specificity. Last, a sensitive middle ear measure such as wideband absorbance should be included in the test battery to assess possibility of a conductive component to the HL.

A deep (learning) dive into visual search behaviour of breast radiologists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mall, Suneeta; Brennan, Patrick C.; Mello-Thoms, Claudia

2018-03-01

Visual search, the process of detecting and identifying objects using the eye movements (saccades) and the foveal vision, has been studied for identification of root causes of errors in the interpretation of mammography. The aim of this study is to model visual search behaviour of radiologists and their interpretation of mammograms using deep machine learning approaches. Our model is based on a deep convolutional neural network, a biologically-inspired multilayer perceptron that simulates the visual cortex, and is reinforced with transfer learning techniques. Eye tracking data obtained from 8 radiologists (of varying experience levels in reading mammograms) reviewing 120 two-view digital mammography cases (59 cancers) have been used to train the model, which was pre-trained with the ImageNet dataset for transfer learning. Areas of the mammogram that received direct (foveally fixated), indirect (peripherally fixated) or no (never fixated) visual attention were extracted from radiologists' visual search maps (obtained by a head mounted eye tracking device). These areas, along with the radiologists' assessment (including confidence of the assessment) of suspected malignancy were used to model: 1) Radiologists' decision; 2) Radiologists' confidence on such decision; and 3) The attentional level (i.e. foveal, peripheral or none) obtained by an area of the mammogram. Our results indicate high accuracy and low misclassification in modelling such behaviours.

Modeling the Violation of Reward Maximization and Invariance in Reinforcement Schedules

PubMed Central

La Camera, Giancarlo; Richmond, Barry J.

2008-01-01

It is often assumed that animals and people adjust their behavior to maximize reward acquisition. In visually cued reinforcement schedules, monkeys make errors in trials that are not immediately rewarded, despite having to repeat error trials. Here we show that error rates are typically smaller in trials equally distant from reward but belonging to longer schedules (referred to as “schedule length effect”). This violates the principles of reward maximization and invariance and cannot be predicted by the standard methods of Reinforcement Learning, such as the method of temporal differences. We develop a heuristic model that accounts for all of the properties of the behavior in the reinforcement schedule task but whose predictions are not different from those of the standard temporal difference model in choice tasks. In the modification of temporal difference learning introduced here, the effect of schedule length emerges spontaneously from the sensitivity to the immediately preceding trial. We also introduce a policy for general Markov Decision Processes, where the decision made at each node is conditioned on the motivation to perform an instrumental action, and show that the application of our model to the reinforcement schedule task and the choice task are special cases of this general theoretical framework. Within this framework, Reinforcement Learning can approach contextual learning with the mixture of empirical findings and principled assumptions that seem to coexist in the best descriptions of animal behavior. As examples, we discuss two phenomena observed in humans that often derive from the violation of the principle of invariance: “framing,” wherein equivalent options are treated differently depending on the context in which they are presented, and the “sunk cost” effect, the greater tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made. The schedule length effect might be a manifestation of these phenomena in monkeys. PMID:18688266

Modeling the violation of reward maximization and invariance in reinforcement schedules.

PubMed

La Camera, Giancarlo; Richmond, Barry J

2008-08-08

It is often assumed that animals and people adjust their behavior to maximize reward acquisition. In visually cued reinforcement schedules, monkeys make errors in trials that are not immediately rewarded, despite having to repeat error trials. Here we show that error rates are typically smaller in trials equally distant from reward but belonging to longer schedules (referred to as "schedule length effect"). This violates the principles of reward maximization and invariance and cannot be predicted by the standard methods of Reinforcement Learning, such as the method of temporal differences. We develop a heuristic model that accounts for all of the properties of the behavior in the reinforcement schedule task but whose predictions are not different from those of the standard temporal difference model in choice tasks. In the modification of temporal difference learning introduced here, the effect of schedule length emerges spontaneously from the sensitivity to the immediately preceding trial. We also introduce a policy for general Markov Decision Processes, where the decision made at each node is conditioned on the motivation to perform an instrumental action, and show that the application of our model to the reinforcement schedule task and the choice task are special cases of this general theoretical framework. Within this framework, Reinforcement Learning can approach contextual learning with the mixture of empirical findings and principled assumptions that seem to coexist in the best descriptions of animal behavior. As examples, we discuss two phenomena observed in humans that often derive from the violation of the principle of invariance: "framing," wherein equivalent options are treated differently depending on the context in which they are presented, and the "sunk cost" effect, the greater tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made. The schedule length effect might be a manifestation of these phenomena in monkeys.

Effect OF NaOH Treatment on Bending Strength Of The Polyester Composite Reinforce By Sugar Palm Fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arif Irfai, Mochamad; Wulandari, Diah; Sutriyono; Marsyahyo, Eko

2018-04-01

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of NaOH treatment on bending strength of lamina composite reinforced by sugar palm fiber. To know of mechanism fracture can be done with visual inspection of the fracture surface. The Materials used are random sugar palm fibers that have been in the treatment of NaOH, polyester resin and hardener. Sugar palm fibers after washed and dried then soaked NaOH with a long time soaking 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours. The bending test specimens were produced according to ASTM D 790. All specimens were post cured at 62°C for 4 hours. The Bending test was carried out on a universal testing machine. The SEM analysis has conducted to provide the analysis on interface adhesion between the surfaces of fiber with the matrix. The result shows that polyester composite reinforced by sugar palm fiber has highest bending stress 176.77 N/mm2 for 2 hours of a long time soaking NaOH, the highest flexural strain 0.27 mm for 2 hours of a long time soaking NaOH, elongation 24.05% for 2 hours of a long time soaking NaOH and the highest bending modulus 1.267 GPa for 2 hours of a long time soaking NaOH. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the polyester composite reinforced by sugar palm fiber has the optimum bending properties for a long time soaking 2 hours. The fracture surface shows that the polyester composite reinforced by sugar palm fiber pull out that indicate weakens the bond between fiber and matrix.

Virtual environment display for a 3D audio room simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chapin, William L.; Foster, Scott H.

1992-01-01

The development of a virtual environment simulation system integrating a 3D acoustic audio model with an immersive 3D visual scene is discussed. The system complements the acoustic model and is specified to: allow the listener to freely move about the space, a room of manipulable size, shape, and audio character, while interactively relocating the sound sources; reinforce the listener's feeling of telepresence in the acoustical environment with visual and proprioceptive sensations; enhance the audio with the graphic and interactive components, rather than overwhelm or reduce it; and serve as a research testbed and technology transfer demonstration. The hardware/software design of two demonstration systems, one installed and one portable, are discussed through the development of four iterative configurations.

Damage analysis of CF/AF hybrid fabric reinforced plastic laminated composites with scanned image microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miyasaka, Chiaki; Kasano, Hideaki; Shull, Peter J.

2004-07-01

The article presents an experimental study that has been conducted to evaluate the impact loading damage within hybrid fabric laminates-carbon and Aramid fibers. The experiments have been undertaken on a series of interply hybrid specimens with different preprags stacking sequences. Impact damage was created using an air-gun like impact device propelling spherical steel balls with diameters of 5.0mm and 10.0mm and having velocities of 113m/s and 40m/s respectively. The resulting specimen surface and internal damage (e.g., micro-cracking and debonding) was visualized nondestructively by a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) while further interrogation of specific internal damage was visualized using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) on cross-sectioned panels.

Mother-infant interaction during the first 3 months: the emergence of culture-specific contingency patterns.

PubMed

Kärtner, Joscha; Keller, Heidi; Yovsi, Relindis D

2010-01-01

This study analyzed German and Nso mothers' auditory, proximal, and visual contingent responses to their infants' nondistress vocalizations in postnatal Weeks 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Visual contingency scores increased whereas proximal contingency scores decreased over time for the independent (German urban middle-class, N = 20) but not the interdependent sociocultural context (rural Nso farmers, N = 24). It seems, therefore, that culture-specific differences in the modal patterns of contingent responsiveness emerge during the 2nd and 3rd months of life. This differential development was interpreted as the result of the interplay between maturational processes associated with the 2-month shift that are selectively integrated and reinforced in culture-specific mother-infant interaction.

[Reflex seizures, cinema and television].

PubMed

Olivares-Romero, Jesús

2015-12-16

In movies and television series are few references to seizures or reflex epilepsy even though in real life are an important subgroup of total epileptic syndromes. It has performed a search on the topic, identified 25 films in which they appear reflex seizures. Most seizures observed are tonic-clonic and visual stimuli are the most numerous, corresponding all with flashing lights. The emotions are the main stimuli in higher level processes. In most cases it is not possible to know if a character suffers a reflex epilepsy or suffer reflex seizures in the context of another epileptic syndrome. The main conclusion is that, in the movies, the reflex seizures are merely a visual reinforcing and anecdotal element without significant influence on the plot.

Morning Glory Syndrome with Carotid and Middle Cerebral Artery Vasculopathy.

PubMed

Nezzar, Hachemi; Mbekeani, Joyce N; Dalens, Helen

2015-12-01

To report a case of incidental asymptomatic atypical morning glory syndrome (MGS) with concomitant ipsilateral carotid and middle cerebral dysgenesis. A 6-year-old child was discovered to have incidental findings of MGS, with atypia. All visual functions were normal including vision and stereopsis. Neuroimaging revealed ipsilateral carotid and middle cerebral vascular narrowing without associated collateral vessels or cerebral ischemia commonly seen in Moyamoya disease. Subsequent annual examinations have been stable, without signs of progression. This case demonstrates disparity between structural aberrations and final visual and neurological function and reinforces the association between MGS and intracranial vascular disruption. Full ancillary ophthalmic and neuroimaging studies should be performed in all patients with MGS with interval reassessments, even when the patient is asymptomatic and functionally intact.

Cocaine Versus Food Choice Procedure in Rats: Environmental Manipulations and Effects of Amphetamine

PubMed Central

Thomsen, Morgane; Barrett, Andrew C.; Negus, S. Stevens; Caine, S. Barak

2014-01-01

We have adapted a nonhuman primate model of cocaine versus food choice to the rat species. To evaluate the procedure, we tested cocaine versus food choice under a variety of environmental manipulations as well as pharmacological pretreatments. Complete cocaine-choice dose-effect curves (0–1.0 mg/kg/infusion) were obtained for each condition under concurrent fixed ratio schedules of reinforcement. Percentage of responding emitted on the cocaine-reinforced lever was not affected significantly by removal of cocaine-associated visual or auditory cues, but it was decreased after removal of response-contingent or response-independent cocaine infusions. Cocaine choice was sensitive to the magnitude and fixed ratio requirement of both the cocaine and food reinforcers. We also tested the effects of acute (0.32, 0.56, 1.0, 1.8 mg/kg) and chronic (0.1, 0.32 mg/kg/hr) d-amphetamine treatment on cocaine choice. Acute and chronic d-amphetamine had opposite effects, with acute increasing and chronic decreasing cocaine choice, similar to observations in humans and in nonhuman primates. The results suggest feasibility and utility of the choice procedure in rats and support its comparability to similar procedures used in humans and monkeys. PMID:23319458

Evaluation of fixed momentary dro schedules under signaled and unsignaled arrangements.

PubMed

Hammond, Jennifer L; Iwata, Brian A; Fritz, Jennifer N; Dempsey, Carrie M

2011-01-01

Fixed momentary schedules of differential reinforcement of other behavior (FM DRO) generally have been ineffective as treatment for problem behavior. Because most early research on FM DRO included presentation of a signal at the end of the DRO interval, it is unclear whether the limited effects of FM DRO were due to (a) the momentary response requirement of the schedule per se or (b) discrimination of the contingency made more salient by the signal. To separate these two potential influences, we compared the effects of signaled versus unsignaled FM DRO with 4 individuals with developmental disabilities whose problem behavior was maintained by social-positive reinforcement. During signaled FM DRO, the experimenter presented a visual stimulus 3 s prior to the end of the DRO interval and delivered reinforcement contingent on the absence of problem behavior at the second the interval elapsed. Unsignaled DRO was identical except that interval termination was not signaled. Results indicated that signaled FM DRO was effective in decreasing 2 subjects' problem behavior, whereas an unsignaled schedule was required for the remaining 2 subjects. These results suggest that the response requirement per se of FM DRO may not be problematic if it is not easily discriminated.

Tribological behaviour predictions of r-GO reinforced Mg composite using ANN coupled Taguchi approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kavimani, V.; Prakash, K. Soorya

2017-11-01

This paper deals with the fabrication of reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) reinforced Magnesium Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) through a novel solvent based powder metallurgy route. Investigations over basic and functional properties of developed MMC reveals that addition of r-GO improvises the microhardness upto 64 HV but however decrement in specific wear rate is also notified. Visualization of worn out surfaces through SEM images clearly explains for the occurrence of plastic deformation and the presence of wear debris because of ploughing out action. Taguchi coupled Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique is adopted to arrive at optimal values of the input parameters such as load, reinforcement weight percentage, sliding distance and sliding velocity and thereby achieve minimal target output value viz. specific wear rate. Influence of any of the input parameter over specific wear rate studied through ANOVA reveals that load acting on pin has a major influence with 38.85% followed by r-GO wt. % of 25.82%. ANN model developed to predict specific wear rate value based on the variation of input parameter facilitates better predictability with R-value of 98.4% when compared with the outcomes of regression model.

Scopolamine effects on visual discrimination: modifications related to stimulus control

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

Evans, H.L.

1975-01-01

Stumptail monkeys (Macaca arctoides) performed a discrete trial, three-choice visual discrimination. The discrimination behavior was controlled by the shape of the visual stimuli. Strength of the stimuli in controlling behavior was systematically related to a physical property of the stimuli, luminance. Low luminance provided weak control, resulting in a low accuracy of discrimination, a low response probability and maximal sensitivity to scopolamine (7.5-60 ..mu..g/kg). In contrast, high luminance provided strong control of behavior and attenuated the effects of scopolamine. Methylscopolamine had no effect in doses of 30 to 90 ..mu..g/kg. Scopolamine effects resembled the effects of reducing stimulus control inmore » undrugged monkeys. Since behavior under weak control seems to be especially sensitive to drugs, manipulations of stimulus control may be particularly useful whenever determination of the minimally-effective dose is important, as in behavioral toxicology. Present results are interpreted as specific visual effects of the drug, since nonsensory factors such as base-line response rate, reinforcement schedule, training history, motor performance and motivation were controlled. Implications for state-dependent effects of drugs are discussed.« less

CPP-TRS(C): On using visual cognitive symbols to enhance communication effectiveness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tonfoni, Graziella

1994-01-01

Communicative Positioning Program/Text Representation Systems (CPP-TRS) is a visual language based on a system of 12 canvasses, 10 signals and 14 symbols. CPP-TRS is based on the fact that every communication action is the result of a set of cognitive processes and the whole system is based on the concept that you can enhance communication by visually perceiving text. With a simple syntax, CPP-TRS is capable of representing meaning and intention as well as communication functions visually. Those are precisely invisible aspects of natural language that are most relevant to getting the global meaning of a text. CPP-TRS reinforces natural language in human machine interaction systems. It complements natural language by adding certain important elements that are not represented by natural language by itself. These include communication intention and function of the text expressed by the sender, as well as the role the reader is supposed to play. The communication intention and function of a text and the reader's role are invisible in natural language because neither specific words nor punctuation conveys them sufficiently and unambiguously; they are therefore non-transparent.

Different Levels of Food Restriction Reveal Genotype-Specific Differences in Learning a Visual Discrimination Task

PubMed Central

Makowiecki, Kalina; Hammond, Geoff; Rodger, Jennifer

2012-01-01

In behavioural experiments, motivation to learn can be achieved using food rewards as positive reinforcement in food-restricted animals. Previous studies reduce animal weights to 80–90% of free-feeding body weight as the criterion for food restriction. However, effects of different degrees of food restriction on task performance have not been assessed. We compared learning task performance in mice food-restricted to 80 or 90% body weight (BW). We used adult wildtype (WT; C57Bl/6j) and knockout (ephrin-A2−/−) mice, previously shown to have a reverse learning deficit. Mice were trained in a two-choice visual discrimination task with food reward as positive reinforcement. When mice reached criterion for one visual stimulus (80% correct in three consecutive 10 trial sets) they began the reverse learning phase, where the rewarded stimulus was switched to the previously incorrect stimulus. For the initial learning and reverse phase of the task, mice at 90%BW took almost twice as many trials to reach criterion as mice at 80%BW. Furthermore, WT 80 and 90%BW groups significantly differed in percentage correct responses and learning strategy in the reverse learning phase, whereas no differences between weight restriction groups were observed in ephrin-A2−/− mice. Most importantly, genotype-specific differences in reverse learning strategy were only detected in the 80%BW groups. Our results indicate that increased food restriction not only results in better performance and a shorter training period, but may also be necessary for revealing behavioural differences between experimental groups. This has important ethical and animal welfare implications when deciding extent of diet restriction in behavioural studies. PMID:23144936

Different levels of food restriction reveal genotype-specific differences in learning a visual discrimination task.

PubMed

Makowiecki, Kalina; Hammond, Geoff; Rodger, Jennifer

2012-01-01

In behavioural experiments, motivation to learn can be achieved using food rewards as positive reinforcement in food-restricted animals. Previous studies reduce animal weights to 80-90% of free-feeding body weight as the criterion for food restriction. However, effects of different degrees of food restriction on task performance have not been assessed. We compared learning task performance in mice food-restricted to 80 or 90% body weight (BW). We used adult wildtype (WT; C57Bl/6j) and knockout (ephrin-A2⁻/⁻) mice, previously shown to have a reverse learning deficit. Mice were trained in a two-choice visual discrimination task with food reward as positive reinforcement. When mice reached criterion for one visual stimulus (80% correct in three consecutive 10 trial sets) they began the reverse learning phase, where the rewarded stimulus was switched to the previously incorrect stimulus. For the initial learning and reverse phase of the task, mice at 90%BW took almost twice as many trials to reach criterion as mice at 80%BW. Furthermore, WT 80 and 90%BW groups significantly differed in percentage correct responses and learning strategy in the reverse learning phase, whereas no differences between weight restriction groups were observed in ephrin-A2⁻/⁻ mice. Most importantly, genotype-specific differences in reverse learning strategy were only detected in the 80%BW groups. Our results indicate that increased food restriction not only results in better performance and a shorter training period, but may also be necessary for revealing behavioural differences between experimental groups. This has important ethical and animal welfare implications when deciding extent of diet restriction in behavioural studies.

Failure behavior of glass ionomer cement under Hertzian indentation.

PubMed

Wang, Yan; Darvell, B W

2008-09-01

To investigate the load-bearing capacity and failure mode of various types of glass ionomer cement (GIC) under Hertzian indentation, exploring the relationship between the failure behavior and formulation, and examining claims of filler-reinforcement of GIC. Discs 2mm thick, 10mm diameter, 8-18 replicates, were fabricated for two filler-reinforced GICs, four unmodified and unreinforced GICs, and four resin-modified GICs, with a dental silver amalgam and a filled-resin restorative material for comparison. Testing was at 23 degrees C, wet, after 7d storage at 37 degrees C in artificial saliva at pH 6, using a 20mm diameter hard steel ball and filled-nylon substrate (E: 10GPa). First failure was detected acoustically; mode was determined visually. At least 1/3 of specimens in each case were examined under scanning electronic microscope for corroboration. Reinforced and unmodified-unreinforced GICs were indistinguishable by failure load (one-way analysis of variance, P=0.425, overall 260+/-70N) and mode. Failure loads for resin-modified GICs were 360-1150N, amalgam approximately 680N, and filled resin approximately 1200N. Resin-modified GICs tended to be tougher (incomplete fracture), all others gave complete fracture (radial cracking). The stronger materials (two resin-modified GICs and filled resin) showed some cone cracking. While resin-modified GICs showed various extents of increase of failure load over that of the plain GICs, consistent with the hybrid chemistry, filler-reinforcement was not evident for the two claimed products, consistent with structural and theoretical expectations.

Credit assignment in movement-dependent reinforcement learning

PubMed Central

Boggess, Matthew J.; Crossley, Matthew J.; Parvin, Darius; Ivry, Richard B.; Taylor, Jordan A.

2016-01-01

When a person fails to obtain an expected reward from an object in the environment, they face a credit assignment problem: Did the absence of reward reflect an extrinsic property of the environment or an intrinsic error in motor execution? To explore this problem, we modified a popular decision-making task used in studies of reinforcement learning, the two-armed bandit task. We compared a version in which choices were indicated by key presses, the standard response in such tasks, to a version in which the choices were indicated by reaching movements, which affords execution failures. In the key press condition, participants exhibited a strong risk aversion bias; strikingly, this bias reversed in the reaching condition. This result can be explained by a reinforcement model wherein movement errors influence decision-making, either by gating reward prediction errors or by modifying an implicit representation of motor competence. Two further experiments support the gating hypothesis. First, we used a condition in which we provided visual cues indicative of movement errors but informed the participants that trial outcomes were independent of their actual movements. The main result was replicated, indicating that the gating process is independent of participants’ explicit sense of control. Second, individuals with cerebellar degeneration failed to modulate their behavior between the key press and reach conditions, providing converging evidence of an implicit influence of movement error signals on reinforcement learning. These results provide a mechanistically tractable solution to the credit assignment problem. PMID:27247404

Credit assignment in movement-dependent reinforcement learning.

PubMed

McDougle, Samuel D; Boggess, Matthew J; Crossley, Matthew J; Parvin, Darius; Ivry, Richard B; Taylor, Jordan A

2016-06-14

When a person fails to obtain an expected reward from an object in the environment, they face a credit assignment problem: Did the absence of reward reflect an extrinsic property of the environment or an intrinsic error in motor execution? To explore this problem, we modified a popular decision-making task used in studies of reinforcement learning, the two-armed bandit task. We compared a version in which choices were indicated by key presses, the standard response in such tasks, to a version in which the choices were indicated by reaching movements, which affords execution failures. In the key press condition, participants exhibited a strong risk aversion bias; strikingly, this bias reversed in the reaching condition. This result can be explained by a reinforcement model wherein movement errors influence decision-making, either by gating reward prediction errors or by modifying an implicit representation of motor competence. Two further experiments support the gating hypothesis. First, we used a condition in which we provided visual cues indicative of movement errors but informed the participants that trial outcomes were independent of their actual movements. The main result was replicated, indicating that the gating process is independent of participants' explicit sense of control. Second, individuals with cerebellar degeneration failed to modulate their behavior between the key press and reach conditions, providing converging evidence of an implicit influence of movement error signals on reinforcement learning. These results provide a mechanistically tractable solution to the credit assignment problem.

Oculomotor learning revisited: a model of reinforcement learning in the basal ganglia incorporating an efference copy of motor actions

PubMed Central

Fee, Michale S.

2012-01-01

In its simplest formulation, reinforcement learning is based on the idea that if an action taken in a particular context is followed by a favorable outcome, then, in the same context, the tendency to produce that action should be strengthened, or reinforced. While reinforcement learning forms the basis of many current theories of basal ganglia (BG) function, these models do not incorporate distinct computational roles for signals that convey context, and those that convey what action an animal takes. Recent experiments in the songbird suggest that vocal-related BG circuitry receives two functionally distinct excitatory inputs. One input is from a cortical region that carries context information about the current “time” in the motor sequence. The other is an efference copy of motor commands from a separate cortical brain region that generates vocal variability during learning. Based on these findings, I propose here a general model of vertebrate BG function that combines context information with a distinct motor efference copy signal. The signals are integrated by a learning rule in which efference copy inputs gate the potentiation of context inputs (but not efference copy inputs) onto medium spiny neurons in response to a rewarded action. The hypothesis is described in terms of a circuit that implements the learning of visually guided saccades. The model makes testable predictions about the anatomical and functional properties of hypothesized context and efference copy inputs to the striatum from both thalamic and cortical sources. PMID:22754501

Oculomotor learning revisited: a model of reinforcement learning in the basal ganglia incorporating an efference copy of motor actions.

PubMed

Fee, Michale S

2012-01-01

In its simplest formulation, reinforcement learning is based on the idea that if an action taken in a particular context is followed by a favorable outcome, then, in the same context, the tendency to produce that action should be strengthened, or reinforced. While reinforcement learning forms the basis of many current theories of basal ganglia (BG) function, these models do not incorporate distinct computational roles for signals that convey context, and those that convey what action an animal takes. Recent experiments in the songbird suggest that vocal-related BG circuitry receives two functionally distinct excitatory inputs. One input is from a cortical region that carries context information about the current "time" in the motor sequence. The other is an efference copy of motor commands from a separate cortical brain region that generates vocal variability during learning. Based on these findings, I propose here a general model of vertebrate BG function that combines context information with a distinct motor efference copy signal. The signals are integrated by a learning rule in which efference copy inputs gate the potentiation of context inputs (but not efference copy inputs) onto medium spiny neurons in response to a rewarded action. The hypothesis is described in terms of a circuit that implements the learning of visually guided saccades. The model makes testable predictions about the anatomical and functional properties of hypothesized context and efference copy inputs to the striatum from both thalamic and cortical sources.

Multiagent cooperation and competition with deep reinforcement learning.

PubMed

Tampuu, Ardi; Matiisen, Tambet; Kodelja, Dorian; Kuzovkin, Ilya; Korjus, Kristjan; Aru, Juhan; Aru, Jaan; Vicente, Raul

2017-01-01

Evolution of cooperation and competition can appear when multiple adaptive agents share a biological, social, or technological niche. In the present work we study how cooperation and competition emerge between autonomous agents that learn by reinforcement while using only their raw visual input as the state representation. In particular, we extend the Deep Q-Learning framework to multiagent environments to investigate the interaction between two learning agents in the well-known video game Pong. By manipulating the classical rewarding scheme of Pong we show how competitive and collaborative behaviors emerge. We also describe the progression from competitive to collaborative behavior when the incentive to cooperate is increased. Finally we show how learning by playing against another adaptive agent, instead of against a hard-wired algorithm, results in more robust strategies. The present work shows that Deep Q-Networks can become a useful tool for studying decentralized learning of multiagent systems coping with high-dimensional environments.

Advanced X-Ray Inspection of Reinforced Carbon Composite Materials on the Orbiter Leading Edge Structural Subsystem (LESS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hernandez, Jose M.; Berry, Robert F.; Osborn, Robin; Bueno, Clifford; Osterlitz, Mark; Mills, Richard; Morris, Philip; Phalen, Robert; McNab, Jim; Thibodeaux, Tahanie;

Impact behaviour of Napier/polyester composites under different energy levels

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

Fahmi, I., E-mail: fahmi-unimap@yahoo.com; Majid, M. S. Abdul, E-mail: shukry@unimap.edu.my; Afendi, M., E-mail: afendirojan@unimap.edu.my

2016-07-19

The effects of different energy levels on the impact behaviour of Napier fibre/polyester reinforced composites were investigated. Napier fibre was extracted using traditional water retting process to be utilized as reinforcing materials in polyester composite laminates. 25% fibre loading composite laminates were prepared and impacted at three different energy levels; 2.5,5 and 7.5 J using an instrumented drop weight impact testing machine (IMATEK IM10). The outcomes show that peak force and contact time increase with increased impact load. The energy absorption was then calculated from the force displacement curve. The results indicated that the energy absorption decreases with increasing energymore » levels of the impact. Impacted specimens were observed visually for fragmentation fracture using an optical camera to identify the failure mechanisms. Fracture fragmentation pattern from permanent dent to perforation with radial and circumferential was observed.« less

Multiagent cooperation and competition with deep reinforcement learning

PubMed Central

Kodelja, Dorian; Kuzovkin, Ilya; Korjus, Kristjan; Aru, Juhan; Aru, Jaan; Vicente, Raul

2017-01-01

Evolution of cooperation and competition can appear when multiple adaptive agents share a biological, social, or technological niche. In the present work we study how cooperation and competition emerge between autonomous agents that learn by reinforcement while using only their raw visual input as the state representation. In particular, we extend the Deep Q-Learning framework to multiagent environments to investigate the interaction between two learning agents in the well-known video game Pong. By manipulating the classical rewarding scheme of Pong we show how competitive and collaborative behaviors emerge. We also describe the progression from competitive to collaborative behavior when the incentive to cooperate is increased. Finally we show how learning by playing against another adaptive agent, instead of against a hard-wired algorithm, results in more robust strategies. The present work shows that Deep Q-Networks can become a useful tool for studying decentralized learning of multiagent systems coping with high-dimensional environments. PMID:28380078

A Group Contingency Plus Self-Management Intervention Targeting At-Risk Secondary Students’ Class-Work and Active Engagement

PubMed Central

Trevino-Maack, Sylvia I.; Kamps, Debra; Wills, Howard

2015-01-01

The purpose of the present study is to show that an independent group contingency (GC) combined with self-management strategies and randomized-reinforcer components can increase the amount of written work and active classroom responding in high school students. Three remedial reading classes and a total of 15 students participated in this study. Students used self-management strategies during independent reading time to increase the amount of writing in their reading logs. They used self-monitoring strategies to record whether or not they performed expected behaviors in class. A token economy using points and tickets was included in the GC to provide positive reinforcement for target responses. The results were analyzed through visual inspection of graphs and effect size computations and showed that the intervention increased the total amount of written words in the students’ reading logs and overall classroom and individual student academic engagement. PMID:26617432

Keep it clean: a visual approach to reinforce hand hygiene compliance in the emergency department.

PubMed

Wiles, Lynn L; Roberts, Chris; Schmidt, Kim

2015-03-01

Although hand hygiene strategies significantly reduce health care-associated infections, multiple studies have documented that hand hygiene is the most overlooked and poorly performed infection control intervention. Emergency nurses and technicians (n = 95) in a 41-bed emergency department in eastern Virginia completed pretests and posttests, an education module, and two experiential learning activities reinforcing hand hygiene and infection control protocols. Posttest scores were significantly higher than pretest scores (t (108) = -6.928, P = .048). Hand hygiene compliance rates improved at the conclusion of the project and 3 months after the study (F (2, 15) = 9.89, P = .002). Interfaces with staff as they completed the interactive exercise, as well as anecdotal notes collected during the study, identified key times when compliance suffered and offered opportunities to further improve hand hygiene and, ultimately, patient safety. Copyright © 2015 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Imaging Carbon Nanotubes in High Performance Polymer Composites via Magnetic Force Microscope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lillehei, Peter T.; Park, Cheol; Rouse, Jason H.; Siochi, Emilie J.; Bushnell, Dennis M. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Application of carbon nanotubes as reinforcement in structural composites is dependent on the efficient dispersion of the nanotubes in a high performance polymer matrix. The characterization of such dispersion is limited by the lack of available tools to visualize the quality of the matrix/carbon nanotube interaction. The work reported herein demonstrates the use of magnetic force microscopy (MFM) as a promising technique for characterizing the dispersion of nanotubes in a high performance polymer matrix.

Grounding the Meanings in Sensorimotor Behavior using Reinforcement Learning

PubMed Central

Farkaš, Igor; Malík, Tomáš; Rebrová, Kristína

2012-01-01

The recent outburst of interest in cognitive developmental robotics is fueled by the ambition to propose ecologically plausible mechanisms of how, among other things, a learning agent/robot could ground linguistic meanings in its sensorimotor behavior. Along this stream, we propose a model that allows the simulated iCub robot to learn the meanings of actions (point, touch, and push) oriented toward objects in robot’s peripersonal space. In our experiments, the iCub learns to execute motor actions and comment on them. Architecturally, the model is composed of three neural-network-based modules that are trained in different ways. The first module, a two-layer perceptron, is trained by back-propagation to attend to the target position in the visual scene, given the low-level visual information and the feature-based target information. The second module, having the form of an actor-critic architecture, is the most distinguishing part of our model, and is trained by a continuous version of reinforcement learning to execute actions as sequences, based on a linguistic command. The third module, an echo-state network, is trained to provide the linguistic description of the executed actions. The trained model generalizes well in case of novel action-target combinations with randomized initial arm positions. It can also promptly adapt its behavior if the action/target suddenly changes during motor execution. PMID:22393319

Deep Learning of Orthographic Representations in Baboons

PubMed Central

Hannagan, Thomas; Ziegler, Johannes C.; Dufau, Stéphane; Fagot, Joël; Grainger, Jonathan

2014-01-01

What is the origin of our ability to learn orthographic knowledge? We use deep convolutional networks to emulate the primate's ventral visual stream and explore the recent finding that baboons can be trained to discriminate English words from nonwords [1]. The networks were exposed to the exact same sequence of stimuli and reinforcement signals as the baboons in the experiment, and learned to map real visual inputs (pixels) of letter strings onto binary word/nonword responses. We show that the networks' highest levels of representations were indeed sensitive to letter combinations as postulated in our previous research. The model also captured the key empirical findings, such as generalization to novel words, along with some intriguing inter-individual differences. The present work shows the merits of deep learning networks that can simulate the whole processing chain all the way from the visual input to the response while allowing researchers to analyze the complex representations that emerge during the learning process. PMID:24416300

Neural network system for purposeful behavior based on foveal visual preprocessor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Golovan, Alexander V.; Shevtsova, Natalia A.; Klepatch, Arkadi A.

1996-10-01

Biologically plausible model of the system with an adaptive behavior in a priori environment and resistant to impairment has been developed. The system consists of input, learning, and output subsystems. The first subsystems classifies input patterns presented as n-dimensional vectors in accordance with some associative rule. The second one being a neural network determines adaptive responses of the system to input patterns. Arranged neural groups coding possible input patterns and appropriate output responses are formed during learning by means of negative reinforcement. Output subsystem maps a neural network activity into the system behavior in the environment. The system developed has been studied by computer simulation imitating a collision-free motion of a mobile robot. After some learning period the system 'moves' along a road without collisions. It is shown that in spite of impairment of some neural network elements the system functions reliably after relearning. Foveal visual preprocessor model developed earlier has been tested to form a kind of visual input to the system.

Progressive Learning of Topic Modeling Parameters: A Visual Analytics Framework.

PubMed

El-Assady, Mennatallah; Sevastjanova, Rita; Sperrle, Fabian; Keim, Daniel; Collins, Christopher

2018-01-01

Topic modeling algorithms are widely used to analyze the thematic composition of text corpora but remain difficult to interpret and adjust. Addressing these limitations, we present a modular visual analytics framework, tackling the understandability and adaptability of topic models through a user-driven reinforcement learning process which does not require a deep understanding of the underlying topic modeling algorithms. Given a document corpus, our approach initializes two algorithm configurations based on a parameter space analysis that enhances document separability. We abstract the model complexity in an interactive visual workspace for exploring the automatic matching results of two models, investigating topic summaries, analyzing parameter distributions, and reviewing documents. The main contribution of our work is an iterative decision-making technique in which users provide a document-based relevance feedback that allows the framework to converge to a user-endorsed topic distribution. We also report feedback from a two-stage study which shows that our technique results in topic model quality improvements on two independent measures.

GPR technique as a tool for decision-making regarding timber beam inner reinforcement: The Lonja de la Seda de Valencia, Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García, Francisco; Ramirez, Manuel; Benlloch, Javier; Valls, Ana

2015-04-01

This paper describes the decision-making process for the timber beam inner reinforcement of the building The Lonja de la Seda de Valencia (15th c.), Spain. This research was based on the study of 13 timber beams for their diagnosis and the characterization before decision-making in structural reinforcement. For this purpose, we integrated the results of analysis of historical documentation, in situ visual inspection and ground penetrating radar (GPR). The rehabilitation project considered the substitution of the upper-storey floor (The Consulate of the Sea Hall) for another one that complied with the original. This room was closed due to the instability of the timber beams. For the flooring renovation it was necessary to increase the rigidity of the timber floor framing. Preliminary conclusions, which derived from the historical documentation and in situ visual inspection of the timber coffered ceiling were: (a) timber beams supported inside masonry walls could suffer moisture and xylophage attacks, (b) timber beams were significantly damaged (splits, ring shakes, failure of beam section that reduced its bearing capacity), (c) substantial timber beam warping. So the main objectives of this GPR study were: to detect splits, to identify failure of section due to biological attacks, to pinpoint epoxy resin reconstructions and to assess the severity of the damages observed on surface. A GPR survey was carried out in timber coffered-ceiling beams of The Consulate of the Sea Hall. Radar measurements were carried out using a SIR-10H system (GSSI) and a 1.6 GHz ground coupled antenna, due to the timber beam dimensions (0.45 x 0.45 x 8.75 m. A total of 37 longitudinal profiles were collected in the centre of all the beam accessible sides. After radragram processing steps, a number of anomalies were detected in the records, which were analysed. The outcomes derived from this GPR study were taken into account when it came to make decisions in the final restoration project of the timber coffered ceiling elements: timber beams, wooden latticework and floor. The results obtained in this survey are a good example of GPR application in Civil Engineering for timber beam inner reinforcement of a building, establishing technical criteria.

Long Term Effects of Aversive Reinforcement on Colour Discrimination Learning in Free-Flying Bumblebees

PubMed Central

Rodríguez-Gironés, Miguel A.; Trillo, Alejandro; Corcobado, Guadalupe

2013-01-01

The results of behavioural experiments provide important information about the structure and information-processing abilities of the visual system. Nevertheless, if we want to infer from behavioural data how the visual system operates, it is important to know how different learning protocols affect performance and to devise protocols that minimise noise in the response of experimental subjects. The purpose of this work was to investigate how reinforcement schedule and individual variability affect the learning process in a colour discrimination task. Free-flying bumblebees were trained to discriminate between two perceptually similar colours. The target colour was associated with sucrose solution, and the distractor could be associated with water or quinine solution throughout the experiment, or with one substance during the first half of the experiment and the other during the second half. Both acquisition and final performance of the discrimination task (measured as proportion of correct choices) were determined by the choice of reinforcer during the first half of the experiment: regardless of whether bees were trained with water or quinine during the second half of the experiment, bees trained with quinine during the first half learned the task faster and performed better during the whole experiment. Our results confirm that the choice of stimuli used during training affects the rate at which colour discrimination tasks are acquired and show that early contact with a strongly aversive stimulus can be sufficient to maintain high levels of attention during several hours. On the other hand, bees which took more time to decide on which flower to alight were more likely to make correct choices than bees which made fast decisions. This result supports the existence of a trade-off between foraging speed and accuracy, and highlights the importance of measuring choice latencies during behavioural experiments focusing on cognitive abilities. PMID:23951186

Impact of Prominent Themes in Clinician-Patient Conversations on Caregiver's Perceived Quality of Communication with Paediatric Dental Visits.

PubMed

Wong, Hai Ming; Bridges, Susan Margaret; McGrath, Colman Patrick; Yiu, Cynthia Kar Yung; Zayts, Olga A; Au, Terry Kit Fong

2017-01-01

Patients' perceived satisfaction is a key performance index of the quality health care service. Good communication has been found to increase patient's perceived satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the prominent themes arising from clinician-patient conversations on the caregiver's perceived quality of communication during paediatric dental visits. 162 video recordings of clinical dental consultations for 62 cases attending the Paediatric Dentistry Clinic of The Prince Philip Dental Hospital in Hong Kong were captured and transcribed. The patients' demographic information and the caregiver's perceived quality of communication with the clinicians were recorded using the 16-item Dental Patient Feedback on Consultation skills questionnaires. Visual text analytics (Leximancer™) indicated five prominent themes 'disease / treatment', 'treatment procedure related instructions', 'preparation for examination', 'positive reinforcement / reassurance', and 'family / social history' from the clinician-patient conversation of the recorded videos, with 60.2% of the total variance in concept words in this study explained through principal components analysis. Significant variation in perceived quality of communication was noted in five variables regarding the prominent theme 'Positive reinforcement / reassurance': 'number of related words' (p = 0.002), 'number of related utterances' (p = 0.001), 'percentage of the related words in total number of words' (p = 0.005), 'percentage of the related utterances in total number of utterances' (p = 0.035) and 'percentage of time spent in total time duration' (p = 0.023). Clinicians were perceived to be more patient-centered and empathetic if a larger proportion of their conversation showed positive reinforcement and reassurance via using related key words. Care-giver's involvement, such as clinicians' mention of the parent, was also seen as critical to perceptions of quality clinical experience. The study reveals the potential of the application of visual text analytics software in clinical consultations with implications for professional development regarding clinicians' communication skills for improving patients' clinical experiences and treatment satisfaction.

Otitis media in indonesian urban and rural school children.

PubMed

Anggraeni, Ratna; Hartanto, Widya W; Djelantik, Bulantrisna; Ghanie, Abla; Utama, Denny S; Setiawan, Eka P; Lukman, Erica; Hardiningsih, Chintriany; Asmuni, Suprihati; Budiarti, Rery; Rahardjo, Sutji Pratiwi; Djamin, Riskiana; Mulyani, Tri; Mutyara, Kuswandewi; Carosone-Link, Phyllis; Kartasasmita, Cissy B; Simões, Eric A F

2014-10-01

Although the epidemiology of otitis media is well-known in industrialized countries, the extent of otitis media in developing Asian countries, especially in south East Asia is not well studied. To define the burden of otitis media and its sequelae in children 6-15 years of age, we enrolled elementary and junior high school children in 6 areas in rural and urban Indonesia. Randomly selected schools and classrooms were selected. All children were administered a questionnaire and had ear examinations, pneumatic otoscopy and screening audiometry. Children with any abnormality on examination or with a relevant history underwent diagnostic audiometry and tympanometry, if indicated. Of the 7005 children studied, 116 had chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM), 30 had acute otitis media and 26 had otitis media with effusion. 2.7% of rural children had CSOM compared with 0.7% of urban children (P < 0.0001). The rates per 1000 of CSOM in rural Bali and Bandung were significantly higher (75 and 25, respectively) than in the rest of Indonesia (P < 0.05). In rural Bali, the rate per 1000 children of inactive CSOM was 63 in 6- to 9-year-old children, compared with 37 in children aged 13-15 years. Concomitantly, the rates of tympanosclerosis were 7 and 26/1000, respectively, in these age groups. In Indonesia, the prevalence of CSOM is relatively high with most disease occurring in rural areas. The high rates in rural Bali with early progression to tympanosclerosis suggest a significant burden of potentially vaccine preventable illness.

Free Field Word recognition test in the presence of noise in normal hearing adults.

PubMed

Almeida, Gleide Viviani Maciel; Ribas, Angela; Calleros, Jorge

In ideal listening situations, subjects with normal hearing can easily understand speech, as can many subjects who have a hearing loss. To present the validation of the Word Recognition Test in a Free Field in the Presence of Noise in normal-hearing adults. Sample consisted of 100 healthy adults over 18 years of age with normal hearing. After pure tone audiometry, a speech recognition test was applied in free field condition with monosyllables and disyllables, with standardized material in three listening situations: optimal listening condition (no noise), with a signal to noise ratio of 0dB and a signal to noise ratio of -10dB. For these tests, an environment in calibrated free field was arranged where speech was presented to the subject being tested from two speakers located at 45°, and noise from a third speaker, located at 180°. All participants had speech audiometry results in the free field between 88% and 100% in the three listening situations. Word Recognition Test in Free Field in the Presence of Noise proved to be easy to be organized and applied. The results of the test validation suggest that individuals with normal hearing should get between 88% and 100% of the stimuli correct. The test can be an important tool in measuring noise interference on the speech perception abilities. Copyright © 2016 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Screening of dental staff nurses for noise induced hearing loss.

PubMed

Daud, M K M; Noh, N F M; Sidek, D S; Abd Rahman, N; Abd Rani, N; Zakaria, M N

2011-01-01

The effect of noise on employees of dental clinics is debatable. The purposes of this study were to determine the intensity and frequency components of dental instruments used by dental staff nurses and the prevalence of noise induced hearing loss. We performed a comparative, cross sectional study on a group of dental staff nurses. Participants underwent ear examination followed by pure tone audiometry. Pure tone audiometry was performed at least 48 hours after the participants were free from noise exposure. Noise induced hearing loss was defined as failed definitive threshold at a frequency of 4000 Hz greater than 20 dB. The intensity level, noise spectrum, and frequency of hand piece, saliva suction, and scaler were recorded during the dental procedure. A total of 65 dental staff nurses were included. The mean intensity of hand pieces, scalers, and saliva suctions were 88.7 (SD2.2), 87.1 (SD2.6), and 77.4 (SD6.3) dBA while their most prominent frequencies were 3880, 7997, and 3513 Hz, respectively. Three of the subjects had slightly more than 20 dB hearing loss at 4 kHz on audiogram; all were affected unilaterally. These three individuals worked as dental nurses for 11, 13, and 21 years, respectively. Therefore, the prevalence of noise induced hearing loss was 5.0% (95% CI: -1.0%, 10.0%). Dental staff nurses might have an increased risk of noise induced hearing loss, depending upon individual factors influencing susceptibility and duration of noise exposure.

Inner ear problems of Thai priest at Priest Hospital.

PubMed

Karnchanakas, Taweporn; Tantanavat, Are; Sinsakontavat, Jamjan

2008-01-01

The inner ear problems of Thai priest at Priest Hospital had never been reported previously, so Department of Ear Nose Throat try to correlate the metebotic disorder with inner ear problems. 1) To study the fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol (T. Chol), low density lipoprotein (LDL), and triglyceride (TG), the factors expected to involve in inner ear problems of priests at Priest Hospital. 2) To compare the FBS, T. Chol, HDL, LDL, and TG of priests with inner ear problems at Priest Hospital. 3) To find the percentage of abnormal from FBS, T. Chol, LDL, and TG. The study using 83 sampling of priests with inner ear problems and 107 priests as a controlled group. The research instruments used to collect data was the questionnaire which composed of general information, physical, ear-nose-throat and neurological examination, pure tone audiometry, brainstem evoke response audiometry (BERA) and the blood tests:FBS, T. Chol, TG, and LDL. The inner ear problems were composed of: 1) Dizziness 2) Hearing Loss 3) Tinnitus Aurium. The descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data from questionnaires and utilized frequency, percentage, standard deviation (S.D.) and t-test to achieve desired results. Priest at middle age and elderly with inner ear problems had greater FBS and TG than expected values of the control group. The middle age and elderly priests who had greater FBS and TG than expected values were sick with inner ear problems that causing dizziness, hearing loss and tinnitus aurium.

Titanium clip ball joint: a partial ossicular reconstruction prosthesis.

PubMed

Beutner, Dirk; Luers, Jan Christoffer; Bornitz, Matthias; Zahnert, Thomas; Huttenbrink, Karl-Bernd

2011-06-01

To describe a new titanium clip prosthesis for partial ossicular reconstruction with a micro ball joint in the headplate for compensation of tympanic membrane displacements. Laboratory experiments followed by 18 consecutive patients. A micro ball joint was implemented into a headplate of titanium middle ear prosthesis. First, the new prosthesis was tested in the laboratory in temporal bone experiments. Second, the new prosthesis was clinically installed in 18 patients. Results of laser Doppler vibrometry and force measurements in the laboratory experiments, analysis of a questionnaire, and preoperative and postoperative pure tone audiometry. The frictional resistance in the joint was measured to be 12 mN that should allow for adequate mobility under physiologic conditions. The effective sound transmission of the prosthesis was demonstrated by laser Doppler vibrometry. Intraoperatively, the installation of the prosthesis was always straightforward with headplate prosthesis shaft angles between 60 and 90 degrees. Postoperatively, pure tone audiometry revealed satisfying hearing results with a remaining average air-bone gap of 18.2 dB over the frequencies 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 Hz. No signs of prosthesis dislocation were discovered within the follow-up period of approximately 6 months. The experimental data show that the new modified prosthesis headplate fulfills the requirements necessary for sound transmission. The joint allows the plate to follow movements of the tympanic membrane. This characteristic in conjunction with the proven clip design ensure for optimal prosthesis placement and effectiveness.

Testing of Action of Direct Flame on Concrete

PubMed Central

Valek, Jaroslav; Novosad, Petr

2015-01-01

The paper states results of experimental exposition of concrete test specimens to direct flame. Concrete test specimens made from various mixtures differing in the type of aggregate, binder, dispersed reinforcement, and technological procedure were subjected to thermal load. Physicomechanical and other properties of all test specimens were tested before exposition to open flame: density, compressive strength, flexural strength, moisture content, and surface appearance. The specimens were visually observed during exposition to open flame and changes were recorded. Exposed surface was photographically documented before thermal load and at 10-minute intervals. Development of temperature of the specimens was documented with a thermocamera. After exposition to thermal load and cooling down, concrete specimens were visually observed, network of cracks was photographically documented, and maximal depth of spalled area was measured. PMID:25830162

In-Air Evoked Potential Audiometry of Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) from the North and Baltic Seas

PubMed Central

Ruser, Andreas; Dähne, Michael; Sundermeyer, Janne; Lucke, Klaus; Houser, Dorian S.; Finneran, James J.; Driver, Jörg; Pawliczka, Iwona; Rosenberger, Tanja; Siebert, Ursula

2014-01-01

In-air anthropogenic sound has the potential to affect grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) behaviour and interfere with acoustic communication. In this study, a new method was used to deliver acoustic signals to grey seals as part of an in-air hearing assessment. Using in-ear headphones with adapted ear inserts allowed for the measurement of auditory brainstem responses (ABR) on sedated grey seals exposed to 5-cycle (2-1-2) tone pips. Thresholds were measured at 10 frequencies between 1–20 kHz. Measurements were made using subcutaneous electrodes on wild seals from the Baltic and North Seas. Thresholds were determined by both visual and statistical approaches (single point F-test) and good agreement was obtained between the results using both methods. The mean auditory thresholds were ≤40 dB re 20 µPa peak equivalent sound pressure level (peSPL) between 4–20 kHz and showed similar patterns to in-air behavioural hearing tests of other phocid seals between 3 and 20 kHz. Below 3 kHz, a steep reduction in hearing sensitivity was observed, which differed from the rate of decline in sensitivity obtained in behavioural studies on other phocids. Differences in the rate of decline may reflect influence of the ear inserts on the ability to reliably transmit lower frequencies or interference from the structure of the distal end of the ear canal. PMID:24632891

The Analysis for Activations in the Brain during Hearing the Amplitude-Modulated Tone by fMRI Measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukami, Tadanori; Shimada, Takamasa; Akatsuka, Takao; Saito, Yoichi

In audiometry, ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) is widely used. However, it shows low accuracy in low frequency band. Meanwhile, AMFR (Amplitude-Modulation-Following Response), the response during hearing an amplitude-modulated tone, has high frequency specificity and is brought to attention. As the first step to clinical application of AMFR, we investigated the activated areas in a brain when the subjects hear SAM tone (Sinusoidally Amplitude-Modulated tone) with both ears. We measured following two signals. One is the difference of BOLD (Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent) signal between hearing SAM tone vs. silence, the other is the difference of BOLD signal between hearing SAM tone vs. unmodulated tone. As a result, in the case of SAM vs. silence, the bilaterally auditory cortex (Broadmann Area 41, 42), the biratelally BA 10, left superior frontal gyrus and right superior temporal gyrus were activated (p<0.0037, uncorrected). In the case of SAM vs. unmodulated tone, the bilaterally superior frontal gyrus (BA 6) and precuneus (BA 7), neighboring area including the bilaterally inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), the bilaterally medial frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus were activated (p<0.021, uncorrected). Activations of visual perception due to eye-opened state were detected in some parts of activations. As a result, we inferred that modulated tone was recognized in the medial frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule was the part related to perception of amplitude-modulation.

Predictors of vertigo in patients with untreated vestibular schwannoma.

PubMed

Andersen, Jan Fredrik; Nilsen, Kathrin Skorpa; Vassbotn, Flemming Slinning; Møller, Per; Myrseth, Erling; Lund-Johansen, Morten; Goplen, Frederik Kragerud

2015-04-01

Previous studies have shown that vertigo is the most powerful negative predictor of quality of life in patients with vestibular schwannomas, but the variability in vertigo symptom severity is still poorly understood. We wanted to find out whether vertigo could be related to objective parameters such as tumor size, location, vestibular nerve function, hearing, and postural stability in patients with untreated vestibular schwannomas. Baseline data from prospective cohort study. Tertiary referral center. Four hundred thirty-four consecutive patients with unilateral VS diagnosed on MRI. Mean age 56 years (range 16-84 yr). Fifty-three percent women. Diagnostic, with a medical history, otolaryngological examination, pure-tone and speech audiometry, MRI, posturography, and videonystagmography with bithermal caloric tests. Dizziness measured on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS). Secondary outcome measures were canal paresis and postural imbalance (static and dynamic posturography). Three hundred three patients (70%) completed the VAS. Severe dizziness, defined as VAS 75 or greater, was reported by 9% of the patients. Larger tumors were associated with higher risk of postural instability and canal paresis. Moderate to severe dizziness was associated with postural imbalance and canal paresis, and possibly with small to medium-sized tumors. Postural instability was related to tumor size and canal paresis when measured by dynamic, but not with static, posturography. A minority of VS patients experience severe vestibular symptoms related to canal paresis and postural instability. A curvilinear relationship is hypothesized between tumor size and dizziness.

Helping students revise disruptive experientially supported ideas about thermodynamics: Computer visualizations and tactile models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, Douglas; Jorde, Doris

2004-01-01

This study analyzes the impact of an integrated sensory model within a thermal equilibrium visualization. We hypothesized that this intervention would not only help students revise their disruptive experientially supported ideas about why objects feel hot or cold, but also increase their understanding of thermal equilibrium. The analysis synthesizes test data and interviews to measure the impact of this strategy. Results show that students in the experimental tactile group significantly outperform their control group counterparts on posttests and delayed posttests, not only on tactile explanations, but also on thermal equilibrium explanations. Interview transcripts of experimental and control group students corroborate these findings. Discussion addresses improving the tactile model as well as application of the strategy to other science topics. The discussion also considers possible incorporation of actual kinetic or thermal haptic feedback to reinforce the current audio and visual feedback of the visualization. This research builds on the conceptual change literature about the nature and role of students' experientially supported ideas as well as our understanding of curriculum and visualization design to support students in learning about thermodynamics, a science topic on which students perform poorly as shown by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) studies.

Multi-modal assessment of on-road demand of voice and manual phone calling and voice navigation entry across two embedded vehicle systems.

PubMed

Mehler, Bruce; Kidd, David; Reimer, Bryan; Reagan, Ian; Dobres, Jonathan; McCartt, Anne

2016-03-01

One purpose of integrating voice interfaces into embedded vehicle systems is to reduce drivers' visual and manual distractions with 'infotainment' technologies. However, there is scant research on actual benefits in production vehicles or how different interface designs affect attentional demands. Driving performance, visual engagement, and indices of workload (heart rate, skin conductance, subjective ratings) were assessed in 80 drivers randomly assigned to drive a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox or Volvo XC60. The Chevrolet MyLink system allowed completing tasks with one voice command, while the Volvo Sensus required multiple commands to navigate the menu structure. When calling a phone contact, both voice systems reduced visual demand relative to the visual-manual interfaces, with reductions for drivers in the Equinox being greater. The Equinox 'one-shot' voice command showed advantages during contact calling but had significantly higher error rates than Sensus during destination address entry. For both secondary tasks, neither voice interface entirely eliminated visual demand. Practitioner Summary: The findings reinforce the observation that most, if not all, automotive auditory-vocal interfaces are multi-modal interfaces in which the full range of potential demands (auditory, vocal, visual, manipulative, cognitive, tactile, etc.) need to be considered in developing optimal implementations and evaluating drivers' interaction with the systems. Social Media: In-vehicle voice-interfaces can reduce visual demand but do not eliminate it and all types of demand need to be taken into account in a comprehensive evaluation.

Frequency of auditory involvement and of associated factors in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

PubMed

Céspedes Cruz, Adriana Ivonne; Méndez Núñez, Myriam; Solís Vallejo, Eunice; Zeferino Cruz, Maritza; Torres Jiménez, Alfonso Ragnar; Ocampo Sánchez, Verónica; Flores Meza, Beatriz; Quintana Ruiz, Norma

2017-09-08

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of arthritis in children under 16 years of age for more than 6 weeks in the absence of any other known cause. The extra-articular manifestations, especially in the audiovestibular system, are related to the involvement of the joints of the ossicular chain as a result of the inflammatory process in the synovium. Previous clinical studies in pediatric patients have shown conductive or sensorineural hearing loss. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of hearing impairment and of associated factors in patients with JIA. A prospective, analytical study was conducted from January 2013 to August 2014 in 62 patients with JIA aged between 5 and 15 years. The study was approved by the local ethics committee and parents signed their informed consent. All subjects underwent audiological examination involving otomicroscopy, audiometry, tympanometry, stapedius reflex and test for transient otoacoustic emissions (TOAE); rheumatologic evaluation included joint examination and the application of a measure of functional ability (disability) using the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ). Measures of central tendency and of dispersion were used (chi-square for associations and P<.05 for statistical significance). Sixty-two patients were included: 56 girls and 6 boys, mean age 11.9 years and mean disease duration of 3.4 years; 46% had rheumatoid factor (RF)- positive polyarticular JIA, 40% had RF-negative polyarticular JIA, 15% had disease of systemic onset and 3% had oligoarthritis. Active disease was found in 29 patients and 33 were in remission with medication. Of the total of 124 ears evaluated according to the Jerger classification for tympanometry, abnormal findings were observed in 78 that were type As and in 1 that was type Ad, whereas there were 45 type A ears. Hearing loss was disclosed by speech audiometry, rather than by pure tone audiometry. The TOAE were absent in 4% of those assessed and the stapedius reflex was absent in less than 10%. Factors that had a positive correlation with hearing impairment were RF-positive polyarticular JIA, disease duration, degree of disability and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate level (P<.000). The presence of an abnormal tympanogram suggested early involvement in the structure of the tympanic-ossicular complex; however, 3.4 years later, no hearing loss had been reported. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Reumatología y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatología. All rights reserved.

Disbond detection with piezoelectric wafer active sensors in RC structures strengthened with FRP composite overlays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giurgiutiu, Victor; Harries, Kent; Petrou, Michael; Bost, Joel; Quattlebaum, Josh B.

2003-12-01

The capability of embedded piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) to perform in-situ nondestructive evaluation (NDE) for structural health monitoring (SHM) of reinforced concrete (RC) structures strengthened with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite overlays is explored. First, the disbond detection method were developed on coupon specimens consisting of concrete blocks covered with an FRP composite layer. It was found that the presence of a disbond crack drastically changes the electromechanical (E/M) impedance spectrum measured at the PWAS terminals. The spectral changes depend on the distance between the PWAS and the crack tip. Second, large scale experiments were conducted on a RC beam strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite overlay. The beam was subject to an accelerated fatigue load regime in a three-point bending configuration up to a total of 807,415 cycles. During these fatigue tests, the CFRP overlay experienced disbonding beginning at about 500,000 cycles. The PWAS were able to detect the disbonding before it could be reliably seen by visual inspection. Good correlation between the PWAS readings and the position and extent of disbond damage was observed. These preliminary results demonstrate the potential of PWAS technology for SHM of RC structures strengthened with FRP composite overlays.

Cocaine versus food choice procedure in rats: environmental manipulations and effects of amphetamine.

PubMed

Thomsen, Morgane; Barrett, Andrew C; Negus, S Stevens; Caine, S Barak

2013-03-01

We have adapted a nonhuman primate model of cocaine versus food choice to the rat species. To evaluate the procedure, we tested cocaine versus food choice under a variety of environmental manipulations as well as pharmacological pretreatments. Complete cocaine-choice dose-effect curves (0-1.0 mg/kg/infusion) were obtained for each condition under concurrent fixed ratio schedules of reinforcement. Percentage of responding emitted on the cocaine-reinforced lever was not affected significantly by removal of cocaine-associated visual or auditory cues, but it was decreased after removal of response-contingent or response-independent cocaine infusions. Cocaine choice was sensitive to the magnitude and fixed ratio requirement of both the cocaine and food reinforcers. We also tested the effects of acute (0.32, 0.56, 1.0, 1.8 mg/kg) and chronic (0.1, 0.32 mg/kg/hr) d-amphetamine treatment on cocaine choice. Acute and chronic d-amphetamine had opposite effects, with acute increasing and chronic decreasing cocaine choice, similar to observations in humans and in nonhuman primates. The results suggest feasibility and utility of the choice procedure in rats and support its comparability to similar procedures used in humans and monkeys. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

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

Hopmann, Ch., E-mail: kerschbaum@ikv.rwth-aachen.de; Kerschbaum, M., E-mail: kerschbaum@ikv.rwth-aachen.de; Küsters, K., E-mail: kerschbaum@ikv.rwth-aachen.de

The evaluation of damages caused during processing, assembly or usage of fibre reinforced plastics is still a challenge. The use of inspection technology like ultrasonic scanning enables a detailed damage analysis but requires high investments and trained staff. Therefore, the visual inspection method is widely used. A drawback of this method is the difficult identification of barely visible damages, which can already be detrimental for the structural integrity. Therefore an approach is undertaken to integrate microencapsulated dyes into the laminates of fibre reinforced plastic parts to highlight damages on the surface. In case of a damage, the microcapsules rupture whichmore » leads to a release of the dye and a visible bruise on the part surface. To enable a wide application spectrum for this technology the microcapsules must be processable without rupturing with established manufacturing processes for fibre reinforced plastics. Therefore the incorporation of microcapsules in the filament winding, prepreg autoclave and resin transfer moulding (RTM) process is investigated. The results show that the use of a carrier medium is a feasible way to incorporate the microcapsules into the laminate for all investigated manufacturing processes. Impact testing of these laminates shows a bruise formation on the specimen surface which correlates with the impact energy level. This indicates a microcapsule survival during processing and shows the potential of this technology for damage detection and characterization.« less

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

PubMed

Koch, Iring; Rumiati, Raffaella I

2006-11-01

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

Cortical excitability correlates with the event-related desynchronization during brain-computer interface control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daly, Ian; Blanchard, Caroline; Holmes, Nicholas P.

2018-04-01

Objective. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) based on motor control have been suggested as tools for stroke rehabilitation. Some initial successes have been achieved with this approach, however the mechanism by which they work is not yet fully understood. One possible part of this mechanism is a, previously suggested, relationship between the strength of the event-related desynchronization (ERD), a neural correlate of motor imagination and execution, and corticospinal excitability. Additionally, a key component of BCIs used in neurorehabilitation is the provision of visual feedback to positively reinforce attempts at motor control. However, the ability of visual feedback of the ERD to modulate the activity in the motor system has not been fully explored. Approach. We investigate these relationships via transcranial magnetic stimulation delivered at different moments in the ongoing ERD related to hand contraction and relaxation during BCI control of a visual feedback bar. Main results. We identify a significant relationship between ERD strength and corticospinal excitability, and find that our visual feedback does not affect corticospinal excitability. Significance. Our results imply that efforts to promote functional recovery in stroke by targeting increases in corticospinal excitability may be aided by accounting for the time course of the ERD.

An Overwhelming Desire to Be Blind: Similarities and Differences between Body Integrity Identity Disorder and the Wish for Blindness.

PubMed

Gutschke, Katja; Stirn, Aglaja; Kasten, Erich

2017-01-01

The urge to be permanently blind is an extremely rare mental health disturbance. The underlying cause of this desire has not been determined yet, and it is uncertain whether the wish for blindness is a condition that can be included in the context of body integrity identity disorder, a condition where people feel an overwhelming need to be disabled, in many cases by amputation of a limb or through paralysis. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that people with a desire for blindness suffer from a greater degree of visual stress in daily activities than people in a healthy visual control group. We created a Likert scale questionnaire to measure visual stress, covering a wide range of everyday situations. The wish for blindness is extremely rare and worldwide only 5 people with an urge to be blind were found to participate in the study (4 female, 1 male). In addition, a control group of 35 (28 female, 7 male) visually healthy people was investigated. Questions addressing issues that may be experienced by participants with a desire to be blind were integrated into the questionnaire. The hypothesis that people with a desire for blindness suffer from a significantly higher visual overload in activities of daily living than visually healthy subjects was confirmed; the significance of visual stress between these groups was p < 0.01. In addition, an interview with the 5 affected participants supported the causal role of visual overload. The desire for blindness seems to originate from visual overload caused by either ophthalmologic or organic brain disturbances. In addition, psychological reasons such as certain personal character traits may play an active role in developing, maintaining, and reinforcing one's desire to be blind.

Self Healing Fibre-reinforced Polymer Composites: an Overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bond, Ian P.; Trask, Richard S.; Williams, Hugo R.; Williams, Gareth J.

Lightweight, high-strength, high-stiffness fibre-reinforced polymer composite materials are leading contenders as component materials to improve the efficiency and sustainability of many forms of transport. For example, their widespread use is critical to the success of advanced engineering applications, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380. Such materials typically comprise complex architectures of fine fibrous reinforcement e.g. carbon or glass, dispersed within a bulk polymer matrix, e.g. epoxy. This can provide exceptionally strong, stiff, and lightweight materials which are inherently anisotropic, as the fibres are usually arranged at a multitude of predetermined angles within discrete stacked 2D layers. The direction orthogonal to the 2D layers is usually without reinforcement to avoid compromising in-plane performance, which results in a vulnerability to damage in the polymer matrix caused by out-of-plane loading, i.e. impact. Their inability to plastically deform leaves only energy absorption via damage creation. This damage often manifests itself internally within the material as intra-ply matrix cracks and inter-ply delaminations, and can thus be difficult to detect visually. Since relatively minor damage can lead to a significant reduction in strength, stiffness and stability, there has been some reticence by designers for their use in safety critical applications, and the adoption of a `no growth' approach (i.e. damage propagation from a defect constitutes failure) is now the mindset of the composites industry. This has led to excessively heavy components, shackling of innovative design, and a need for frequent inspection during service (Richardson 1996; Abrate 1998).

[Pontine cavernous angioma (cavernoma) with initial ENT manifestations].

PubMed

Pino Rivero, V; González Palomino, A; Pantoja Hernández, C G; Trinidad Ruíz, G; Marqués Rebollo, L; Blasco Huelva, A

2006-01-01

We report the case of a 22 years old female who consulted us for facial parestesias, hearing loss in right ear and sudden tinnitus. Her audiometry showed an unilateral discreet sensorineural hipoacusia and the cranial IRM, a mass of 20 mm diameter in right pontine region and bulbus informed as cavernous angioma with signs of recent bleeding. The patient was sent to Neurosurgery but she refused the intervention. The risk of hemorrhage in the cavernomas is estimated at 0.25% to 1.6% per year and represents the main reason to advise a surgical treatment.

[Audiometry in the cellulose industry].

PubMed

Corrao, C R; Milano, L; Pedulla, P; Carlesi, G; Bacaloni, A; Monaco, E

1993-01-01

A noise level dosimetry and audiometric testing were conducted in a cellulose factory to determine the hazardous noise level and the prevalence of noise induced hearing loss among the exposed workers. The noise level was recorded up to 90 db (A) in several working areas. 18 workers, potentially exposed to noise injury, evidenced a significant hearing loss. While no evidence of noise injury was recorded in a control group of 100 subjects. This finding suggest a strict relationship between audiometric tests, the noise level recorded in the working place and the working seniority of exposed employers.

The reward of seeing: Different types of visual reward and their ability to modify oculomotor learning.

PubMed

Meermeier, Annegret; Gremmler, Svenja; Richert, Kerstin; Eckermann, Til; Lappe, Markus

2017-10-01

Saccadic adaptation is an oculomotor learning process that maintains the accuracy of eye movements to ensure effective perception of the environment. Although saccadic adaptation is commonly considered an automatic and low-level motor calibration in the cerebellum, we recently found that strength of adaptation is influenced by the visual content of the target: pictures of humans produced stronger adaptation than noise stimuli. This suggests that meaningful images may be considered rewarding or valuable in oculomotor learning. Here we report three experiments that establish the boundaries of this effect. In the first, we tested whether stimuli that were associated with high and low value following long term self-administered reinforcement learning produce stronger adaptation. Twenty-eight expert gamers participated in two sessions of adaptation to game-related high- and low-reward stimuli, but revealed no difference in saccadic adaptation (Bayes Factor01 = 5.49). In the second experiment, we tested whether cognitive (literate) meaning could induce stronger adaptation by comparing targets consisting of words and nonwords. The results of twenty subjects revealed no difference in adaptation strength (Bayes Factor01 = 3.21). The third experiment compared images of human figures to noise patterns for reactive saccades. Twenty-two subjects adapted significantly more toward images of human figures in comparison to noise (p < 0.001). We conclude that only primary (human vs. noise), but not secondary, reinforcement affects saccadic adaptation (words vs. nonwords, high- vs. low-value video game images).

Rapid Long-Range Disynaptic Inhibition Explains the Formation of Cortical Orientation Maps

PubMed Central

Antolík, Ján

2017-01-01

Competitive interactions are believed to underlie many types of cortical processing, ranging from memory formation, attention and development of cortical functional organization (e.g., development of orientation maps in primary visual cortex). In the latter case, the competitive interactions happen along the cortical surface, with local populations of neurons reinforcing each other, while competing with those displaced more distally. This specific configuration of lateral interactions is however in stark contrast with the known properties of the anatomical substrate, i.e., excitatory connections (mediating reinforcement) having longer reach than inhibitory ones (mediating competition). No satisfactory biologically plausible resolution of this conflict between anatomical measures, and assumed cortical function has been proposed. Recently a specific pattern of delays between different types of neurons in cat cortex has been discovered, where direct mono-synaptic excitation has approximately the same delay, as the combined delays of the disynaptic inhibitory interactions between excitatory neurons (i.e., the sum of delays from excitatory to inhibitory and from inhibitory to excitatory neurons). Here we show that this specific pattern of delays represents a biologically plausible explanation for how short-range inhibition can support competitive interactions that underlie the development of orientation maps in primary visual cortex. We demonstrate this statement analytically under simplifying conditions, and subsequently show using network simulations that development of orientation maps is preserved when long-range excitation, direct inhibitory to inhibitory interactions, and moderate inequality in the delays between excitatory and inhibitory pathways is added. PMID:28408869

Training social skills to severely mentally retarded multiply handicapped adolescents.

PubMed

Matson, J L; Manikam, R; Coe, D; Raymond, K; Taras, M; Long, N

1988-01-01

Three severely mentally retarded, multiply handicapped, adolescents were treated in a classroom setting for social skills deficits. Two of these children exhibited symptoms of autism including periods of echolalia, and fascination with tactile and visual stimulation. One of the pair was deaf. The third child was profoundly mentally retarded and had minimal expressive language skills. All had received sign language training to facilitate communication. Treatment focused on increasing the frequency of eye contact, in seat and response to verbal prompt behaviors, skills deemed necessary to facilitate use of sign language communication and to increase social interaction. Baseline and treatment were evaluated in a multiple baseline, alternating treatment design across children. Baseline was taken on responses to 10 standard questions, asked by the teacher, based on verbal presentation and sign language. This same procedure was then continued during the initial treatment phase following training sessions. During training, the children received social reinforcement, performance feedback and edible reinforcement, in the form of candy, for appropriate performance. Physical and verbal prompts as well as pictorial cues were employed to shape appropriate behavior. In the second treatment phase, training was implemented in the classroom in which baseline data had been collected. Improvement in target behaviors, via training sessions held four days a week, was noted. These data suggest that use of a combination of visual stimuli, operant and social learning methods can remediate social skills deficits in children with multiple psychological and physical deficits. The implications of these findings for current and future research are discussed.

Synchronization in monkey visual cortex analyzed with an information-theoretic measure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manyakov, Nikolay V.; Van Hulle, Marc M.

2008-09-01

We apply an information-theoretic measure for phase synchrony to local field potentials recorded with a multi-electrode array implanted in area V4 of the monkey visual cortex during a reinforcement pairing experiment. We show for the first time that (1) the phase synchrony is significantly higher for the rewarded stimulus than the unrewarded one, after training the monkey; (2) just after the stimuli reversal, the difference in phase synchronization is due to the stimuli, not the reward; (3) the difference between reward and no reward is most clear in two disconnected time intervals between stimuli onset and the expected delivery of the reward; and (4) synchronous activity appears in waves running over the array, and their timing correlates well with the time intervals where the difference between reward and no reward is most prominent.

Evidence to practice: treatment of anxiety in individuals with autism spectrum disorders

PubMed Central

Lang, Russell; Mahoney, Richard; El Zein, Farah; Delaune, Elizabeth; Amidon, Megan

2011-01-01

Clinical question What treatment improves social interactions and reduces reports of anxiety symptoms in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and a co-occurring anxiety disorder? Results Systematic reviews and randomized clinical trials suggest that cognitive behavior therapy in tandem with direct instruction of social skills using applied behavior analysis intervention components may be effective for treating anxiety in individuals with high functioning ASD. For individuals with ASD, an anxiety disorder, and an intellectual disability, systematic desensitization may be effective. Implementation Intervention should emphasize teaching social skills. Reinforcers (ie, rewards based upon the client’s interests) should be used to encourage participation in therapy. Treatment should incorporate visual aides and family involvement. Intervention components involving abstract concepts, visualization, and discussions of emotions are less useful given difficulties in abstract reasoning and communication inherent to ASD. PMID:21326652

Audiovisual integration of emotional signals from music improvisation does not depend on temporal correspondence.

PubMed

Petrini, Karin; McAleer, Phil; Pollick, Frank

2010-04-06

In the present study we applied a paradigm often used in face-voice affect perception to solo music improvisation to examine how the emotional valence of sound and gesture are integrated when perceiving an emotion. Three brief excerpts expressing emotion produced by a drummer and three by a saxophonist were selected. From these bimodal congruent displays the audio-only, visual-only, and audiovisually incongruent conditions (obtained by combining the two signals both within and between instruments) were derived. In Experiment 1 twenty musical novices judged the perceived emotion and rated the strength of each emotion. The results indicate that sound dominated the visual signal in the perception of affective expression, though this was more evident for the saxophone. In Experiment 2 a further sixteen musical novices were asked to either pay attention to the musicians' movements or to the sound when judging the perceived emotions. The results showed no effect of visual information when judging the sound. On the contrary, when judging the emotional content of the visual information, a worsening in performance was obtained for the incongruent condition that combined different emotional auditory and visual information for the same instrument. The effect of emotionally discordant information thus became evident only when the auditory and visual signals belonged to the same categorical event despite their temporal mismatch. This suggests that the integration of emotional information may be reinforced by its semantic attributes but might be independent from temporal features. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multi-modal assessment of on-road demand of voice and manual phone calling and voice navigation entry across two embedded vehicle systems

PubMed Central

Mehler, Bruce; Kidd, David; Reimer, Bryan; Reagan, Ian; Dobres, Jonathan; McCartt, Anne

2016-01-01

Abstract One purpose of integrating voice interfaces into embedded vehicle systems is to reduce drivers’ visual and manual distractions with ‘infotainment’ technologies. However, there is scant research on actual benefits in production vehicles or how different interface designs affect attentional demands. Driving performance, visual engagement, and indices of workload (heart rate, skin conductance, subjective ratings) were assessed in 80 drivers randomly assigned to drive a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox or Volvo XC60. The Chevrolet MyLink system allowed completing tasks with one voice command, while the Volvo Sensus required multiple commands to navigate the menu structure. When calling a phone contact, both voice systems reduced visual demand relative to the visual–manual interfaces, with reductions for drivers in the Equinox being greater. The Equinox ‘one-shot’ voice command showed advantages during contact calling but had significantly higher error rates than Sensus during destination address entry. For both secondary tasks, neither voice interface entirely eliminated visual demand. Practitioner Summary: The findings reinforce the observation that most, if not all, automotive auditory–vocal interfaces are multi-modal interfaces in which the full range of potential demands (auditory, vocal, visual, manipulative, cognitive, tactile, etc.) need to be considered in developing optimal implementations and evaluating drivers’ interaction with the systems. Social Media: In-vehicle voice-interfaces can reduce visual demand but do not eliminate it and all types of demand need to be taken into account in a comprehensive evaluation. PMID:26269281

Surface-coated fly ash reinforced biodegradable poly(vinyl alcohol) composite films: part 2-analysis and characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nath, D. C. D.; Bandyopadhyay, S.; Campbell, J.; Yu, A.; Blackburn, D.; White, C.

2010-12-01

Composite films of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) reinforced with 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt.% surface-coated fly ash by surfactant, sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS-FA) along with 1 wt.% cross-linking agent, glutaraldehyde (GLA) were prepared by aqueous casting method. The tensile strengths of the composite films were increased proportionally with the addition of SLS-FA. The maximum 75% higher strength of the composite with 20 wt.% was achieved compared to that of neat PVA. The modulus of the composites was also increased proportionally with SLS-FA and the maximum 218% reached in composite with 20 wt.%, but the strain at break was decreased with addition of SLS-FA. Changes in FTIR spectra reflect the chemical and/or physical bonding in the ternary PVA, SLS-FA and GLA component systems. In the study of surface morphology, the connectivity was visualized in SEM images along with interstitial voids. The films with SLS-FA show 53% smoother surface calculated with AFM compared to unmodified FA composite films.

Effects of phencyclidine, secobarbital and diazepam on eye tracking in rhesus monkeys.

PubMed

Ando, K; Johanson, C E; Levy, D L; Yasillo, N J; Holzman, P S; Schuster, C R

1983-01-01

Rhesus monkeys were trained to track a moving disk using a procedure in which responses on a lever were reinforced with water delivery only when the disk, oscillating in a horizontal plane on a screen at a frequency of 0.4 Hz in a visual angle of 20 degrees, dimmed for a brief period. Pursuit eye movements were recorded by electrooculography (EOG). IM phencyclidine, secobarbital, and diazepam injections decreased the number of reinforced lever presses in a dose-related manner. Both secobarbital and diazepam produced episodic jerky-pursuit eye movements, while phencyclidine had no consistent effects on eye movements. Lever pressing was disrupted at doses which had little effect on the quality of smooth-pursuit eye movements in some monkeys. This separation was particularly pronounced with diazepam. The similarities of the drug effects on smooth-pursuit eye movements between the present study and human studies indicate that the present method using rhesus monkeys may be useful for predicting drug effects on eye tracking and oculomotor function in humans.

Associative symmetry in a spatial sample-response paradigm

PubMed Central

Vasconcelos, Marco; Urcuioli, Peter J.

2011-01-01

Symmetry has been difficult to observe in nonhumans mainly because they seem to perceive stimuli as a conjunction of visual, spatial, and temporal characteristics. When such characteristics are controlled, symmetry does emerge in nonhumans (cf. Frank and Wasserman 2005; Urcuioli 2008). Recently, however, Garcia and Benjumea (2006) reported symmetry in pigeons without controlling for temporal order. The present experiments explored their paradigm and the ingredients for their success. Experiments 1 and 2 sought to replicate their findings and to examine different symmetry measures. We found evidence for symmetry using non-reinforced choice probe tests, a latency-based test, and a reinforced consistent versus inconsistent manipulation. Experiment 3 adapted their procedure to successive matching to evaluate their contention that a choice between at least two comparisons is necessary for symmetry to emerge. Contrary to their prediction, symmetry was observed following go/no-go training. Our results confirm Garcia and Benjumea’s findings, extend them to other test and training procedures, and once again demonstrate symmetry in the absence of language. PMID:21238554

Kernel Temporal Differences for Neural Decoding

PubMed Central

Bae, Jihye; Sanchez Giraldo, Luis G.; Pohlmeyer, Eric A.; Francis, Joseph T.; Sanchez, Justin C.; Príncipe, José C.

2015-01-01

We study the feasibility and capability of the kernel temporal difference (KTD)(λ) algorithm for neural decoding. KTD(λ) is an online, kernel-based learning algorithm, which has been introduced to estimate value functions in reinforcement learning. This algorithm combines kernel-based representations with the temporal difference approach to learning. One of our key observations is that by using strictly positive definite kernels, algorithm's convergence can be guaranteed for policy evaluation. The algorithm's nonlinear functional approximation capabilities are shown in both simulations of policy evaluation and neural decoding problems (policy improvement). KTD can handle high-dimensional neural states containing spatial-temporal information at a reasonable computational complexity allowing real-time applications. When the algorithm seeks a proper mapping between a monkey's neural states and desired positions of a computer cursor or a robot arm, in both open-loop and closed-loop experiments, it can effectively learn the neural state to action mapping. Finally, a visualization of the coadaptation process between the decoder and the subject shows the algorithm's capabilities in reinforcement learning brain machine interfaces. PMID:25866504

Visual function affects prosocial behaviors in older adults.

PubMed

Teoli, Dac A; Smith, Merideth D; Leys, Monique J; Jain, Priyanka; Odom, J Vernon

2016-02-01

Eye-related pathological conditions such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration commonly lead to decreased peripheral/central field, decreased visual acuity, and increased functional disability. We sought to answer if relationships exist between measures of visual function and reported prosocial behaviors in an older adult population with eye-related diagnoses. The sample consisted of adults, aged ≥ 60 years old, at an academic hospital's eye institute. Vision ranged from normal to severe impairment. Medical charts determined the visual acuities, ocular disease, duration of disease (DD), and visual fields (VF). Measures of giving help were via validated questionnaires on giving formal support (GFS) and giving informal support; measures of help received were perceived support (PS) and informal support received (ISR). ISR had subscales: tangible support (ISR-T), emotional support (ISR-E), and composite (ISR-C). Visual acuities of the better and worse seeing eyes were converted to LogMAR values. VF information converted to a 4-point rating scale of binocular field loss severity. DD was in years. Among 96 participants (mean age 73.28; range 60-94), stepwise regression indicated a relationship of visual variables to GFS (p < 0.05; Multiple R (2) = 0.1679 with acuity-better eye, VF rating, and DD), PS (p < 0.05; Multiple R (2) = 0.2254 with acuity-better eye), ISR-C (p < 0.05; Multiple R (2) = 0.041 with acuity-better eye), and ISR-T (p < 0.05; Multiple R (2) = 0.1421 with acuity-better eye). The findings suggest eye-related conditions can impact levels and perceptions of support exchanges. Our data reinforces the importance of visual function as an influence on prosocial behavior in older adults.

Identifying Early Onset of Hearing Loss in Young Adults With Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Using High Frequency Audiometry.

PubMed

Vignesh, S S; Jaya, V; Moses, Anand; Muraleedharan, A

2015-09-01

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder caused by hyperglycemia which leads to dysfunction of various organs. Hearing acuity is equally hindered by this disorder. Among individuals with DM audiological characteristics of DM type 1 are of great concern in the literature. This study aims at establishing high frequency audiometry (HFA) as a useful tool in identifying early onset of hearing loss in individuals with DM type 2. 20 non-diabetic participants and 20 individuals with DM type 2 in the age range of 20-40 years were considered for the study. Subjects in both groups underwent otoscopic examination, PTA at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 kHz and HFA at 9, 10, 11.2, 12.5, 14 and 16 kHz. Results revealed statistically significant difference in thresholds of both PTA and HFA at all frequencies across the group, but the mean threshold difference between the diabetic and non-diabetic group was marked in HFA than in PTA. In the diabetic subjects the thresholds of PTA was within 25 dBHL at all frequencies when compared to the thresholds of HFA. Individuals with DM type 2 showed bilateral symmetrical mild hearing loss in HFA and the hearing loss increased with ascending test frequencies from 9,000 to 16,000 Hz. Mild hearing loss in HFA is an indicator for early onset of hearing loss in DM type 2. Hence this present study emphasis the clinical utility of HFA in young adults with DM type 2.

Validation of the use of self-reported hearing loss and the Hearing Handicap Inventory for elderly among rural Indian elderly population.

PubMed

Deepthi, R; Kasthuri, Arvind

2012-01-01

Hearing loss is a potentially disabling problem among elderly leading to physical and social dysfunction. Though audiometric assessment of hearing loss is considered as gold standard, it is not feasible in community settings. Several questionnaires measuring hearing handicap have been developed. Knowledge regarding applicability of these questionnaires among rural elderly is limited, hence a study was planned to validate single question and Shortened Hearing Handicap Inventory for Elderly (HHIE-S) in detecting hearing loss against pure tone-audiometry among rural Indian elderly. A single question 'do you feel you have a hearing loss?' and the HHIE-S was administered to 175 elderly in two rural areas. Hearing ability was assessed using pure tone audiometry. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of both screening tools were compared with pure tone averages (PTAs) greater than 25, 40 and 55 dB hearing level (mild, moderate and severe hearing loss, respectively). The single question yielded low sensitivity (30.9%) and high specificity (93.9%) for mild hearing loss. Similarly HHIE-S yielded a sensitivity of 26.2% and specificity of 95.9%. Sensitivity with single question increased to 76.2% and specificity decreased to 83.1% with severe hearing loss. Sensitivity with HHIE-S also increased to 76.2% and specificity decreased to 87.7% with severe hearing loss. These hearing screening questionnaires will be useful in identifying more disabling hearing losses among rural elderly which helps in rehabilitation services planning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multidisciplinary assessment of patients with musical hallucinations, tinnitus and hearing loss.

PubMed

Rocha, Savya Cybelle Milhomem; Kii, Marcia Akemi; Pereira, Cristiana Borges; Borelli, Danilo Totarelli; Forlenza, Orestes; Sanchez, Tanit Ganz

2015-01-01

Although auditory hallucinations are considered a psychopathological phenomenon, musical hallucinations have been reported in individuals without psychosis but with auditory symptoms (tinnitus and/or hearing loss). Thus, a possible different cognitive functioning may be involved in musical hallucinations. The aim of the study was to characterize patients with tinnitus and musical hallucinations through a multidisciplinary assessment, allowing a better understanding of these concomitant phenomena. As this sample is rare to find, all consecutive patients with tinnitus, hearing loss and musical hallucinations were included over a 3-year period, excluding those unable to respond. All subjects underwent the following assessments: (1) otolaryngological and audiological assessment (physical examination and audiometry), (2) neurological assessment (cognition, electroencephalogram and imaging examination) and (3) psychiatric assessment (structured interview). A total of 16 patients were included (87.5% women; mean age 61.43 ± 15.99 years). The otolaryngological examination was normal in all cases, but audiometry revealed that the degree of hearing loss was severe to profound in 68.75% of participants. Neurological assessment showed electroencephalogram changes in only 17.6% of cases, while 25% presented with mild attention deficit and 43.75% had small foci of gliosis or ischemia on the imaging examination. Psychiatric assessment showed that 68.75% of cases had depression, 6.25% had anxiety disorder and 25% had no psychiatric conditions. Musical hallucinations were strongly associated with female elderly adults and with mood disorders. Thus, in contrast to common auditory hallucinations, patients with musical hallucinations associated with tinnitus and hearing loss should be offered a more multidisciplinary assessment. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A study on the effect of prolonged mobile phone use on pure tone audiometry thresholds of medical students of Sikkim

PubMed Central

Das, S; Chakraborty, S; Mahanta, B

2017-01-01

Introduction: Mobile phones have become indispensable for daily activities, and people are exposed to them from an early age. There is, however, concern about the harmful effect of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the mobile phones. Objective: The objective of the study was to study the effect of mobile phone on average pure tone audiometry (PTA) threshold of the person and to study the changes in the pure tone threshold at high frequencies such as 2 kHz, 4 kHz, and 8 kHz among the students with prolonged exposure to mobile phones. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the medical students who have been using mobile phones for the past 5 years. The effect of mobile phones on the PTA threshold in the exposed ear and the nonexposed ear was assessed. Results: The study shows that there is a significant difference in average air conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC) hearing threshold among the exposed and the nonexposed ears (P < 0.05). A significant rise of both AC and BC threshold at individual frequencies between the exposed and the nonexposed ear is also noted in this study. Conclusion: The study conducted shows changes in the hearing threshold of the exposed ear when compared with the nonexposed ear. There are however lot of unanswered questions which provide an interesting avenue for further research. Till concrete evidence is available the only feasible way to control its exposure is to limit the duration of usage of mobile phones. PMID:28272071

Foveal and peripheral fields of vision influences perceptual skill in anticipating opponents' attacking position in volleyball.

PubMed

Schorer, Jörg; Rienhoff, Rebecca; Fischer, Lennart; Baker, Joseph

2013-09-01

The importance of perceptual-cognitive expertise in sport has been repeatedly demonstrated. In this study we examined the role of different sources of visual information (i.e., foveal versus peripheral) in anticipating volleyball attack positions. Expert (n = 11), advanced (n = 13) and novice (n = 16) players completed an anticipation task that involved predicting the location of volleyball attacks. Video clips of volleyball attacks (n = 72) were spatially and temporally occluded to provide varying amounts of information to the participant. In addition, participants viewed the attacks under three visual conditions: full vision, foveal vision only, and peripheral vision only. Analysis of variance revealed significant between group differences in prediction accuracy with higher skilled players performing better than lower skilled players. Additionally, we found significant differences between temporal and spatial occlusion conditions. Both of those factors interacted separately, but not combined with expertise. Importantly, for experts the sum of both fields of vision was superior to either source in isolation. Our results suggest different sources of visual information work collectively to facilitate expert anticipation in time-constrained sports and reinforce the complexity of expert perception.

Development of a new technique (ATP) for training visually impaired children in oral hygiene maintenance.

PubMed

Hebbal, M; Ankola, A V

2012-10-01

To develop a special oral health education technique and compare plaque scores before and after health education. Non-randomised before and after comparison trial without controls. The final study population comprised of 96 visually impaired children aged 6-18 years old. Silness and Loe plaque index scores were recorded at baseline. 'Audio tactile performance technique' (ATP Technique) a specially designed health education method was used to educate these children regarding oral hygiene maintenance. Periodic reinforcement of health education was performed at an interval of 9 months. Re-examination was carried out after 18 months of health education to assess plaque scores. Wilcoxon's sign rank test and paired t test was used to assess the difference between the scores before and after health education. There was increase in frequency of tooth brushing after health education. The mean plaque scores pre- and post-health education were 1.41 (+/-0.58) and 0.63 (+/-0.39) respectively. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). Visually impaired children could maintain an acceptable level of oral hygiene when taught using special customised methods.

Drag reduction of a hairy disk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Jun; Hu, David L.

2011-10-01

We investigate experimentally the hydrodynamics of a hairy disk immersed in a two-dimensional flowing soap film. Drag force is measured as a function of hair length, density, and coating area. An optimum combination of these parameters yields a drag reduction of 17%, which confirms previous numerical predictions (15%). Flow visualization indicates the primary mechanism for drag reduction is the bending, adhesion, and reinforcement of hairs trailing the disk, which reduces wake width and traps "dead water." Thus, the use of hairy coatings can substantially reduce an object's drag while negligibly increasing its weight.

Social stimuli enhance phencyclidine (PCP) self-administration in rhesus monkeys

PubMed Central

Newman, Jennifer L.; Perry, Jennifer L.; Carroll, Marilyn E.

2007-01-01

Environmental factors, including social interaction, can alter the effects of drugs of abuse on behavior. The present study was conducted to examine the effects of social stimuli on oral phencyclidine (PCP) self-administration by rhesus monkeys. Ten adult rhesus monkeys (M. mulatta) were housed side by side in modular cages that could be configured to provide visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli provided by another monkey located in the other side of the paired unit. During the first experiment, monkeys self-administered PCP (0.25 mg/ml) and water under concurrent fixed ratio (FR) 16 schedules of reinforcement with either a solid or a grid (social) partition separating each pair of monkeys. In the second experiment, a PCP concentration-response relationship was determined under concurrent progressive ratio (PR) schedules of reinforcement under the solid and grid partition conditions. Under the concurrent FR 16 schedules, PCP and water self-administration was significantly higher during exposure to a cage mate through a grid partition than when a solid partition separated the monkeys. The relative reinforcing strength of PCP, as measured by PR break points, was greater during the grid partition condition compared to the solid partition condition indicated by an upward shift in the concentration-response curve. To determine whether the social stimuli provided by another monkey led to activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which may have evoked the increase of PCP self-administration during the grid partition condition, a third experiment was conducted to examine cortisol levels under the two housing conditions. A modest, but nonsignificant increase in cortisol levels was found upon switching from the solid to the grid partition condition. The results suggest that social stimulation among monkeys in adjoining cages leads to enhanced reinforcing strength of PCP. PMID:17560636

Subsurface defect detection in first layer of pavement structure and reinforced civil engineering structure by FRP bonding using active infrared thermography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumoulin, Jean; Ibos, Laurent

2010-05-01

In many countries road network ages while road traffic and maintenance costs increase. Nowadays, thousand and thousand kilometers of roads are each year submitted to surface distress survey. They generally lean on pavement surface imaging measurement techniques, mainly in the visible spectrum, coupled with visual inspection or image processing detection of emergent distresses. Nevertheless, optimisation of maintenance works and costs requires an early detection of defects within the pavement structure when they still are hidden from surface. Accordingly, alternative measurement techniques for pavement monitoring are currently under investigation (seismic methods, step frequency radar). On the other hand, strengthening or retrofitting of reinforced concrete structures by externally bonded Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) systems is now a commonly accepted and widespread technique. However, the use of bonding techniques always implies following rigorous installing procedures. To ensure the durability and long-term performance of the FRP reinforcements, conformance checking through an in situ auscultation of the bonded FRP systems is then highly suitable. The quality-control program should involve a set of adequate inspections and tests. Visual inspection and acoustic sounding (hammer tap) are commonly used to detect delaminations (disbonds) but are unable to provide sufficient information about the depth (in case of multilayered composite) and width of debonded areas. Consequently, rapid and efficient inspection methods are also required. Among the non destructive methods under study, active infrared thermography was investigated both for pavement and civil engineering structures through experiments in laboratory and numerical simulations, because of its ability to be also used on field. Pulse Thermography (PT), Pulse Phase Thermography (PPT) and Principal Component Thermography (PCT) approaches have been tested onto pavement samples and CFRP bonding on concrete samples in laboratory. In parallel numerical simulations have been used to generate a set of time sequence of thermal maps for simulated samples with and without subsurface defect. Using this set of experimental and simulated data different approaches (thermal contrast, FFT analysis, polynomial interpolation, singular value decomposition…) for defect location have been studied and compared. Defect depth retrieval was also studied on such data using different thermal model coupled to a direct or an inverse approach. Trials were conducted both with an uncooled and cooled infrared camera with different measurement performances. Results obtained will be discussed and analysed in the paper we plan to present. Finally, combining numerical simulations and experiments allows us discussing on the sensitivity influence of the infrared camera used to detect subsurface defects.

Reinforcement learning and decision making in monkeys during a competitive game.

PubMed

Lee, Daeyeol; Conroy, Michelle L; McGreevy, Benjamin P; Barraclough, Dominic J

2004-12-01

Animals living in a dynamic environment must adjust their decision-making strategies through experience. To gain insights into the neural basis of such adaptive decision-making processes, we trained monkeys to play a competitive game against a computer in an oculomotor free-choice task. The animal selected one of two visual targets in each trial and was rewarded only when it selected the same target as the computer opponent. To determine how the animal's decision-making strategy can be affected by the opponent's strategy, the computer opponent was programmed with three different algorithms that exploited different aspects of the animal's choice and reward history. When the computer selected its targets randomly with equal probabilities, animals selected one of the targets more often, violating the prediction of probability matching, and their choices were systematically influenced by the choice history of the two players. When the computer exploited only the animal's choice history but not its reward history, animal's choice became more independent of its own choice history but was still related to the choice history of the opponent. This bias was substantially reduced, but not completely eliminated, when the computer used the choice history of both players in making its predictions. These biases were consistent with the predictions of reinforcement learning, suggesting that the animals sought optimal decision-making strategies using reinforcement learning algorithms.

Interaction of the phencyclidine model of schizophrenia and nicotine on total and categorized ultrasonic vocalizations in rats

PubMed Central

Swalve, Natashia; Mulholland, Michele M.; Schulz, Tiffany D.; Li, Ming

2015-01-01

Patients with schizophrenia smoke cigarettes at a higher rate than the general population. We hypothesized that a factor in this comorbidity is sensitivity to the reinforcing and reinforcement-enhancement effects of nicotine. Phencyclidine (PCP) was used to model behavioral changes resembling negative symptoms of schizophrenia in rats. USVs in rats have been used to measure emotional states, with 50 kHz USVs indicating positive states and 22 kHz indicating negative. Total and categorized numbers of 22 and 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) and USVs during a visual stimulus (e.g. a potential measure of reinforcement-enhancement) were examined in rats following .injection ofh PCP (2.0 mg/kg), and/or nicotine (0.2 or 0.4 mg/kg) daily for 7 days. PCP was then discontinued and all rats received nicotine (0.2 mg/kg and 0.4 mg/kg) and PCP (2.0 mg/kg) on 3 challenge days. PCP acutely decreased 50 kHz vocalizations while repeated nicotine potentiated rates of vocalizations, with similar patterns during light presentations. Rats in the PCP and nicotine combination groups made more 50 kHz vocalizations compared to control groups on challenge days. We conclude that PCP may produce a reward deficit that is shown by decreased 50 kHz USVs, and behaviors post-PCP exposure may best model the comorbidity between schizophrenia and nicotine. PMID:26479849

Do cattle (Bos taurus) retain an association of a visual cue with a food reward for a year?

PubMed

Hirata, Masahiko; Takeno, Nozomi

2014-06-01

Use of visual cues to locate specific food resources from a distance is a critical ability of animals foraging in a spatially heterogeneous environment. However, relatively little is known about how long animals can retain the learned cue-reward association without reinforcement. We compared feeding behavior of experienced and naive Japanese Black cows (Bos taurus) in discovering food locations in a pasture. Experienced animals had been trained to respond to a visual cue (plastic washtub) for a preferred food (grain-based concentrate) 1 year prior to the experiment, while naive animals had no exposure to the cue. Cows were tested individually in a test arena including tubs filled with the concentrate on three successive days (Days 1-3). Experienced cows located the first tub more quickly and visited more tubs than naive cows on Day 1 (usually P < 0.05), but these differences disappeared on Days 2 and 3. The performance of experienced cows tended to increase from Day 1 to Day 2 and level off thereafter. Our results suggest that Japanese Black cows can associate a visual cue with a food reward within a day and retain the association for 1 year despite a slight decay. © 2014 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

Visualizations of Travel Time Performance Based on Vehicle Reidentification Data

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

Young, Stanley Ernest; Sharifi, Elham; Day, Christopher M.

This paper provides a visual reference of the breadth of arterial performance phenomena based on travel time measures obtained from reidentification technology that has proliferated in the past 5 years. These graphical performance measures are revealed through overlay charts and statistical distribution as revealed through cumulative frequency diagrams (CFDs). With overlays of vehicle travel times from multiple days, dominant traffic patterns over a 24-h period are reinforced and reveal the traffic behavior induced primarily by the operation of traffic control at signalized intersections. A cumulative distribution function in the statistical literature provides a method for comparing traffic patterns from variousmore » time frames or locations in a compact visual format that provides intuitive feedback on arterial performance. The CFD may be accumulated hourly, by peak periods, or by time periods specific to signal timing plans that are in effect. Combined, overlay charts and CFDs provide visual tools with which to assess the quality and consistency of traffic movement for various periods throughout the day efficiently, without sacrificing detail, which is a typical byproduct of numeric-based performance measures. These methods are particularly effective for comparing before-and-after median travel times, as well as changes in interquartile range, to assess travel time reliability.« less

Double Deception: Ant-Mimicking Spiders Elude Both Visually- and Chemically-Oriented Predators

PubMed Central

Uma, Divya; Durkee, Caitlin; Herzner, Gudrun; Weiss, Martha

2013-01-01

Biological mimicry is often multimodal, in that a mimic reinforces its resemblance to another organism via different kinds of signals that can be perceived by a specific target audience. In this paper we describe a novel scenario, in which a mimic deceives at least two distinct audiences, each of which relies primarily on a different sensory modality for decision-making. We have previously shown that Peckhamia picata, a myrmecomorphic spider that morphologically and behaviorally resembles the ant Camponotus nearcticus, experiences reduced predation by visually-oriented jumping spiders. Here we report that Peckhamia also faces reduced aggression from spider-hunting sphecid wasps as well as from its model ant, both of which use chemical cues to identify prey. We also report that Peckhamia does not chemically resemble its model ants, and that its total cuticular hydrocarbons are significantly lower than those of the ants and non-mimic spiders. Although further studies are needed to clarify the basis of Peckhamia's chemically-mediated protection, to our knowledge, such ‘double deception,’ in which a single organism sends misleading visual cues to one set of predators while chemically misleading another set, has not been reported; however, it is likely to be common among what have until now been considered purely visual mimics. PMID:24236152

Comparative analysis of performance in reading and writing of children exposed and not exposed to high sound pressure levels.

PubMed

Santos, Juliana Feitosa dos; Souza, Ana Paula Ramos de; Seligman, Lilian

2013-01-01

To analyze the possible relationships between high sound pressure levels in the classroom and performance in the use of lexical and phonological routes in reading and writing. This consisted on a quantitative and exploratory study. The following measures were carried out: acoustic measurement, using the dosimeter, visual inspection of the external auditory canal, tonal audiometry thresholds, speech recognition tests and acoustic immittance; instrument for evaluation of reading and writing of isolated words. The non-parametric χ² test and Fisher's exact test were used for data analysis. The results of acoustic measurements in 4 schools in Santa Maria divided the sample of 87 children of third and fourth years of primary school, aged 8 to 10 years, in 2 groups. The 1st group was exposed to sound levels higher than 80 dB(A) (Study group) and the 2nd group at levels lower than 80 dB(A) (Control group). Higher prevalence of correct answers in reading and writing of nonwords, reading irregular words and frequency effect were observed. Predominance of correct answers in the writing of irregular words was observed in the Control group. For the Study group, a higher number of type errors neologism in reading and writing were observed, especially regarding the writing of nonwords and the extension effect; fewer errors of lexicalization type and verbal paragraphy in writing were observed. In assessing the reading and writing skills, children in the Study group exposed to high noise levels had poorer performance in the use of lexical and phonological routes, both in reading and in writing.

Therapeutic role of Vitamin B12 in patients of chronic tinnitus: A pilot study.

PubMed

Singh, Charu; Kawatra, Rahul; Gupta, Jaya; Awasthi, Vishnu; Dungana, Homnath

2016-01-01

True tinnitus is a phantom auditory perception arising from a source or trigger in the cochlea, brainstem, or at higher centers and has no detectable acoustic generator. The most accepted is the famous neurophysiologic model of Jastreboff, which stresses that tinnitus, is a subcortical perception and results from the processing of weak neural activity in the periphery. The aim of this study is to determine the role of Vitamin B12 in treatment of chronic tinnitus. In this randomized, double-blind pilot study, total 40 patients were enrolled, of which 20 in Group A (cases) received intramuscular therapy of 1 ml Vitamin B12 (2500 mcg) weekly for a period of 6 weeks and Group B (20) patients received placebo isotonic saline 01 ml intramuscular. The patients were subjected to Vitamin B12 assay and audiometry pre- and post-therapy. Of the total patients of tinnitus, 17 were Vitamin B12 deficient that is 42.5% showed deficiency when the normal levels were considered to be 250 pg/ml. A paired t-test showed that in Group A, patients with Vitamin B12 deficiency showed significant improvement in mean tinnitus severity index score and visual analog scale (VAS) after Vitamin B12 therapy. This pilot study highlights the significant prevalence of Vitamin B12 deficiency in North Indian population and improvement in tinnitus severity scores and VAS in cobalamin-deficient patients receiving intramuscular Vitamin B12 weekly for 6 weeks further provides a link between cobalamin deficiency and tinnitus thereby suggestive of a therapeutic role of B12 in cobalamin-deficient patients of tinnitus.

[Musical hallucinosis following infarction of the right middle cerebral artery].

PubMed

Augustin, J; Guegan-Massardier, E; Levillain, D; Lemarchand, M; Mihout, B; Hannequin, D

2001-03-01

A 44-year-old woman demonstrated a musical hallucinosis four months after a massive infarction in the territory of the right middle cerebral artery. This musical hallucinosis consisting of familiar tunes, was continuous and perceived by both ears. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, middle and late auditory evoked potentials suggested that right Heschl's gyrus and associative areas were imparied. Audiometry demonstrated a low right transmission deafness. The hallucinosis was persistent for seven months and stopped just after hemorrhage of the right ear. This case gives the opportunity to review the different mechanisms responsible for musical hallucinosis.

The Development of Performance-Based Auditory Aviation Classification Standards in the U.S. Navy,

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-12-01

Gerontology, Vol. 24(2), pp. 189-192, 1969. 10. Palva, A. and Jokinen, K., ’The Role of the Binaural Test in Filtered Speech Audiometry." Acta Oto...BEAD BEAT BEAN REEL HEEL EEL PAVE PALE PAY WIG RIG FIG GALE MALE TALE PAGE PANE PACE PIG BIG DIG PALE SALE BALE DID DIN DIP SAP SAG SAD SIN WIN...SEEN SEED SEEK CAME GAME SAME NEAT BEAT SEAT SEEM SEETHE SEEP PAD PASS PATH PARK MARK HARK SIP RIP TIP PACK PAN PAT DARK LARK BARK LIP HIP DIP LED

Evaluation of aural manifestations in temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction.

PubMed

Sobhy, O A; Koutb, A R; Abdel-Baki, F A; Ali, T M; El Raffa, I Z; Khater, A H

2004-08-01

Thirty patients with temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction were selected to investigate the changes in otoacoustic emissions before and after conservative treatment of their temporo-mandibular joints. Pure tone audiometry, transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE), distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) as well as a tinnitus questionnaire were administered to all patients before and after therapy. Therapy was conservative in the form of counselling, physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory agents, muscle relaxants, and occlusal splints. Results indicated insignificant changes in the TEOAEs, whereas there were significant increases in distortion product levels at most of the frequency bands. These results were paralleled to subjective improvement of tinnitus.

Impact of Prominent Themes in Clinician-Patient Conversations on Caregiver’s Perceived Quality of Communication with Paediatric Dental Visits

PubMed Central

Bridges, Susan Margaret; McGrath, Colman Patrick; Yiu, Cynthia Kar Yung; Zayts, Olga A.; Au, Terry Kit Fong

2017-01-01

Patients’ perceived satisfaction is a key performance index of the quality health care service. Good communication has been found to increase patient’s perceived satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the prominent themes arising from clinician-patient conversations on the caregiver’s perceived quality of communication during paediatric dental visits. 162 video recordings of clinical dental consultations for 62 cases attending the Paediatric Dentistry Clinic of The Prince Philip Dental Hospital in Hong Kong were captured and transcribed. The patients’ demographic information and the caregiver’s perceived quality of communication with the clinicians were recorded using the 16-item Dental Patient Feedback on Consultation skills questionnaires. Visual text analytics (Leximancer™) indicated five prominent themes ‘disease / treatment’, ‘treatment procedure related instructions’, ‘preparation for examination’, ‘positive reinforcement / reassurance’, and ‘family / social history’ from the clinician-patient conversation of the recorded videos, with 60.2% of the total variance in concept words in this study explained through principal components analysis. Significant variation in perceived quality of communication was noted in five variables regarding the prominent theme ‘Positive reinforcement / reassurance’: ‘number of related words’ (p = 0.002), ‘number of related utterances’ (p = 0.001), ‘percentage of the related words in total number of words’ (p = 0.005), ‘percentage of the related utterances in total number of utterances’ (p = 0.035) and ‘percentage of time spent in total time duration’ (p = 0.023). Clinicians were perceived to be more patient-centered and empathetic if a larger proportion of their conversation showed positive reinforcement and reassurance via using related key words. Care-giver’s involvement, such as clinicians’ mention of the parent, was also seen as critical to perceptions of quality clinical experience. The study reveals the potential of the application of visual text analytics software in clinical consultations with implications for professional development regarding clinicians’ communication skills for improving patients’ clinical experiences and treatment satisfaction. PMID:28046044

Medial prefrontal cortex involvement in the expression of extinction and ABA renewal of instrumental behavior for a food reinforcer.

PubMed

Eddy, Meghan C; Todd, Travis P; Bouton, Mark E; Green, John T

2016-02-01

Instrumental renewal, the return of extinguished instrumental responding after removal from the extinction context, is an important model of behavioral relapse that is poorly understood at the neural level. In two experiments, we examined the role of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in extinction and ABA renewal of instrumental responding for a sucrose reinforcer. Previous work, exclusively using drug reinforcers, has suggested that the roles of the dmPFC and vmPFC in expression of extinction and ABA renewal may depend at least in part on the type of drug reinforcer used. The current experiments used a food reinforcer because the behavioral mechanisms underlying the extinction and renewal of instrumental responding are especially well worked out in this paradigm. After instrumental conditioning in context A and extinction in context B, we inactivated dmPFC, vmPFC, or a more ventral medial prefrontal cortex region by infusing baclofen/muscimol (B/M) just prior to testing in both contexts. In rats with inactivated dmPFC, ABA renewal was still present (i.e., responding increased when returned to context A); however responding was lower (less renewal) than controls. Inactivation of vmPFC increased responding in context B (the extinction context) and decreased responding in context A, indicating no renewal in these animals. There was no effect of B/M infusion on rats with cannula placements ventral to the vmPFC. Fluorophore-conjugated muscimol was infused in a subset of rats following test to visualize infusion spread. Imaging suggested that the infusion spread was minimal and mainly constrained to the targeted area. Together, these experiments suggest that there is a region of medial prefrontal cortex encompassing both dmPFC and vmPFC that is important for ABA renewal of extinguished instrumental responding for a food reinforcer. In addition, vmPFC, but not dmPFC, is important for expression of extinction of responding for a food reinforcer. The role of the medial prefrontal cortex in renewal in the original conditioning context may depend in part on control over excitatory context-response or context-(response-outcome) relations that might be learned in acquisition. The role of the vmPFC in expression of extinction may depend on its control over inhibitory context-response or context-(response-outcome) relations that are learned in extinction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comorbid Visual and Psychiatric Disabilities Among the Chinese Elderly: A National Population-Based Survey.

PubMed

Guo, Chao; Wang, Zhenjie; Li, Ning; Chen, Gong; Zheng, Xiaoying

2017-12-01

To estimate the prevalence of, and association between, co-morbid visual and psychiatric disabilities among elderly (>65 years-of-age) persons in China. Random representative samples were obtained using multistage, stratified, cluster sampling, with probabilities proportional to size. Standard weighting procedures were used to construct sample weights that reflected this multistage, stratified cluster sampling survey scheme. Logistic regression models were used to elucidate associations between visual and psychiatric disabilities. Among the Chinese elderly, >160,000 persons have co-morbid visual and psychiatric disabilities. The weighted prevalence among this cohort is 123.7 per 100,000 persons. A higher prevalence of co-morbid visual and psychiatric disabilities was found in the oldest-old (p<0.001); women (65-79 years-of-age, p=0.001; ≥80 years-of-age, p=0.004); illiterate (65-79 years-of-age, p<0.001; ≥80 years-of-age, p=0.02); and single elders (65-79 years-of-age, p=0.01; ≥80 years-of-age, p=0.001). Presence of a visual disability was significantly associated with a higher risk of having a psychiatric disability among persons aged ≥80 years-of-age [adjusted odds ratio, 1.24; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.03-1.54]. A significant number of Chinese elderly persons were living with co-morbid visual and psychiatric disabilities. To address the challenge of these co-morbid disorders among Chinese elders, it is incumbent upon the government to implement additional and more comprehensive prevention and rehabilitation strategies for health-care systems, reinforce health promotion among the elderly, and improve accessibility to health-care services.

Computer-assisted CI fitting: Is the learning capacity of the intelligent agent FOX beneficial for speech understanding?

PubMed

Meeuws, Matthias; Pascoal, David; Bermejo, Iñigo; Artaso, Miguel; De Ceulaer, Geert; Govaerts, Paul J

2017-07-01

The software application FOX ('Fitting to Outcome eXpert') is an intelligent agent to assist in the programing of cochlear implant (CI) processors. The current version utilizes a mixture of deterministic and probabilistic logic which is able to improve over time through a learning effect. This study aimed at assessing whether this learning capacity yields measurable improvements in speech understanding. A retrospective study was performed on 25 consecutive CI recipients with a median CI use experience of 10 years who came for their annual CI follow-up fitting session. All subjects were assessed by means of speech audiometry with open set monosyllables at 40, 55, 70, and 85 dB SPL in quiet with their home MAP. Other psychoacoustic tests were executed depending on the audiologist's clinical judgment. The home MAP and the corresponding test results were entered into FOX. If FOX suggested to make MAP changes, they were implemented and another speech audiometry was performed with the new MAP. FOX suggested MAP changes in 21 subjects (84%). The within-subject comparison showed a significant median improvement of 10, 3, 1, and 7% at 40, 55, 70, and 85 dB SPL, respectively. All but two subjects showed an instantaneous improvement in their mean speech audiometric score. Persons with long-term CI use, who received a FOX-assisted CI fitting at least 6 months ago, display improved speech understanding after MAP modifications, as recommended by the current version of FOX. This can be explained only by intrinsic improvements in FOX's algorithms, as they have resulted from learning. This learning is an inherent feature of artificial intelligence and it may yield measurable benefit in speech understanding even in long-term CI recipients.

[The comparative analysis of clinical symptomatology before and after the operation of otosclerosis].

PubMed

Terzić, Negra; Zivić, Ljubica

2009-01-01

Otosclerosis is a progressive osteodystrophic disease of the osseous capsule of the labyrinth which leads to the fixation of the stapes and partial deafness. The progressive hearing loss followed by ear tingling--tinitus and vertigo is of great importance for this disease. The aim of the work was to determine the changes of clinical symptomatology before and after the operative treatment of otoscleoris. The study included 32 subjects between 25 and 60 years of age affected by otosclerosis who had undergone surgical treatment at the VMA (Military Medical Academy) Clinic, Department of Otolaryngology in Belgrade. Besides the clinical examination and detailed case history, audiometry and tympanometry examinations were performed. During the postoperative period the clinical symptomatology was evaluated and audiometry examinations were performed in order to determine the effect of the surgical intervention. Of the total number of 32 subjects, partial deafness was present in all of them before the operation, whereas tinitus, vertiginous disturbances and otalgia were found in a certain number of the subjects. During the postoperative period a partial recovery was found in a larger number of the subjects in relation to the total hearing recovery. During the postoperative period tinitus of lower intensity was found in a greater number of the subjects, whereas the number of those without tinitus was smaller. The problem of vertiginous disturbances as well as otalgia were not found during the postoperative period. By following the changes of the clinical symptomatology we came to the conclusion that surgical treatment of otosclerosis results in the reduction and disappearance of subjective disturbances, tinitus, vertigo and otalgia and leads to the partial or complete hearing recovery.

[Vestibulo-cochlear disturbances in the course of vaso-neural conflict of vestibule-cochlear nerve--diagnostic and therapeutic problems].

PubMed

Orendorz-Fraczkowska, Krystyna; Jaworska, Marzena; Gawron, Wojciech; Badowski, Roman; Nadolska, Beata

2007-01-01

Symptoms encompassing sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo occur in many diseases of various origin. The diagnostics in such cases is especially difficult and often requires interdisciplinary cooperation. Despite of that many cases remain unexplained. The two cases with above mentioned symptoms (52 year-old woman and 46 year-old man) with differentiated clinical course were presented. The woman for one year experienced left sided, extreme tinnitus with paroxysmal vertigo and dizziness. The man with sudden monolateral hearing loss and tinnitus that disappeared after corticosteroid therapy, complained about recurrence of fluctuating hearing loss and tinnitus accompanied by chronic instability. The diagnostics of hearing and balance organs was performed (pure tone audiometry, impedance audiometry, DPOAE, ABR, ENG) complemented with computed tomography and Nuclear Resonance. Female patient presented bilateral mild sensorineural hearing loss, more intensive on the left side, male patient right sided sensorineural hearing loss in the frequencies from 250 to 1500 Hz. The elongation of some peak values in ABR test (with bilaterally proper otoacoustic emissions) as well as partial canal paresis on the hearing loss side suggested primary diagnosis of neoplasmatic process. It was an indication to perform radiological diagnostics. The radiologic findings revealed the contact of vestibulo-cochlear nerve with the loop of cerebellar inferior anterior artery within the internal acoustic canal. The course of the disease and diagnostic tests do not provide characteristic data that let diagnose neuro-vascular conflict. One has to be aware of such possibility in patients with intensive vertigo and dizziness that do not improve after treatment when other causes do not justify the symptoms.

Sex-Related Cochlear Impairment in Cigarette Smokers

PubMed Central

Lisowska, Grażyna; Jochem, Jerzy; Gierlotka, Agata; Misiołek, Maciej; Ścierski, Wojciech

2017-01-01

Background A number of studies have documented the influence of cigarette smoking on hearing. However, the association between sex and hearing impairment in smokers as measured by otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) has not been clearly established. The aim of this study was to analyze sex-specific effects of smoking on hearing via conventional and ultra-high-frequency pure tone audiometry (PTA), and OAEs, specifically spontaneous OAEs, click-evoked OAEs, and distortion-product OAEs. Material/Methods The study included 84 healthy volunteers aged 25–45 years (mean 34), among them 46 women (25 non-smokers and 21 smokers) and 38 men (16 non-smokers and 22 smokers). The protocol of the study included otoscopic examination, tympanometry, low-, moderate-, and ultra-high-frequency PTA, evaluation of spontaneous click-evoked (CEAOEs) and distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), assessment of the DP-grams for 2f1-f2 (f1 from 977 to5 164 Hz), and input/output function at L2 primary tone level of 40–70 dB SPL. Results Smokers and non-smokers did not differ significantly in terms of their hearing thresholds assessed with tone audiometry. Male smokers presented with significantly lower levels of CEAOEs and DPOAEs than both male non-smokers and female smokers. Conclusions Smoking does not modulate a hearing threshold determined with PTA at low, moderate, and ultra-high frequencies, but causes a significant decrease in OAE levels. This effect was observed only in males, which implies that they are more susceptible to smoking-induced hearing impairment. Sex-specific differences in otoacoustic emissions level may reflect influences of genetic, hormonal, behavioral, and/or environmental factors. PMID:28110343

Correlation between CD64 and PCT levels in cerebrospinal fluid and degree of hearing impairment sequelae in neonates with purulent meningitis.

PubMed

Liu, Cui; Zhao, Dongchi

2017-12-01

This study investigated the possible correlation between the degree of hearing impairment caused by neonatal purulent meningitis and the levels of CD64 and PCT in cerebrospinal fluid of patients, and assessed the prognostic value of such levels. We recorded data from 156 cases of neonatal purulent meningitis retrospectively. All the patients received brainstem response audiometry, and cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected within the first day after admission through lumbar puncture. Flow cytometry was used to detect CD64 levels and enzyme-linked fluorescent assay was used to detect PCT levels. The children with hearing impairment were followed up for 1 year and brainstem response audiometry was performed again in them. We found that 43.59% of the children showed different degrees of hearing impairment, and 55% of them did not fully recover. The levels of PCT and CD64 in cerebrospinal fluid of children with hearing impairment were significantly higher than those of children with normal hearing (P<0.01). The levels of PCT and CD64 in mild, moderate and severe hearing impaired children increased gradually with higher degrees of impairment, and the differences between groups were significant (P<0.01). During the follow-up, it was found that the levels of PCT and CD64 in children correlated well with the degree of hearing recovery, and the differences between groups were significant (P<0.01). In our study, approximately 1/4 children with purulent meningitis showed long-term hearing impairment. Based on our analyses, the levels of CD64 and PCT in cerebrospinal fluid can be used to predict the degree and long-term prognosis of hearing impairment caused by purulent meningitis in children.

Auditory changes in acromegaly.

PubMed

Tabur, S; Korkmaz, H; Baysal, E; Hatipoglu, E; Aytac, I; Akarsu, E

2017-06-01

The aim of this study is to determine the changes involving auditory system in cases with acromegaly. Otological examinations of 41 cases with acromegaly (uncontrolled n = 22, controlled n = 19) were compared with those of age and gender-matched 24 healthy subjects. Whereas the cases with acromegaly underwent examination with pure tone audiometry (PTA), speech audiometry for speech discrimination (SD), tympanometry, stapedius reflex evaluation and otoacoustic emission tests, the control group did only have otological examination and PTA. Additionally, previously performed paranasal sinus-computed tomography of all cases with acromegaly and control subjects were obtained to measure the length of internal acoustic canal (IAC). PTA values were higher (p < 0.001 for right ears and p = 0.001 for left ears), and SD scores were (p = 0.002 for right ears and p = 0.002 for left ears) lower in acromegalic patients. IAC width in acromegaly group was narrower compared to that in control group (p = 0.03 for right ears and p = 0.02 for left ears). When only cases with acromegaly were taken into consideration, PTA values in left ears had positive correlation with growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1 levels (r = 0.4, p = 0.02 and r = 0.3, p = 0.03). Of all cases with acromegaly 13 (32%) had hearing loss in at least one ear, 7 (54%) had sensorineural type and 6 (46%) had conductive type hearing loss. Acromegaly may cause certain changes in the auditory system in cases with acromegaly. The changes in the auditory system may be multifactorial causing both conductive and sensorioneural defects.

Noise-induced hearing loss caused by gunshot in South Korean military service.

PubMed

Moon, In Seok

2007-04-01

Noise-induced hearing loss is a preventive disease and yet the effective treatment modality has not been established. Acute acoustic traumas caused by an exposure to gunshot noise are common in young South Korean males in military service. Considering the significant lack of awareness on this serious issue as well as the absence of proper protective gear, an in-depth analysis is desperately needed. All 3650 soldiers performed regular periodic gunfire exercise without any hearing protective measures. Seven patients with hearing impairment after periodic gunfire visited the aeromedical squadron; all were right-handed males. Six were tested with the K-2 rifle and one was tested with a K-5 revolver. History taking, physical examination, pure-tone audiometry, and impedance audiometry were conducted. In the next periodic gunfire exercise, all 3650 soldiers performed gunfire with unilateral hearing protection. The average outcome of postexposure air conduction thresholds was 6.5 dB in the right ear and 33.1 dB in the left ear. After medical treatment, hearing impairment was much improved; however, tinnitus was not diminished. In the next periodic gunfire exercise, the result of a supplement of unilateral earplug protection proved its effectiveness on acoustic trauma caused by gunfire noise. Asymmetry in hearing loss is related to the position of the head during gunfire. A unilateral hearing protection device was enough to protect hearing from gunfire noise. At the same time, it can effectively prevent a potential firearm accident that can be caused by trainees mishearing the instruction of a firearm instructor if both earplugs are worn. Thus, providing a unilateral earplug for protection against acoustic trauma must be taken into serious consideration.

The role of IGF-1 and the distribution of body fat in decreasing the number of prostate rebiopsies.

PubMed

Morán, E; Martínez, M; Budía, A; Broseta, E; Cámara, R; Boronat, F

2017-03-01

To assess the usefulness of IGF-1 and internal organ fat measured by bioelectrical impedance audiometry to avoid rebiopsies in patients with persistently high prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. A prospective study was conducted with 92 patients who underwent prostate rebiopsy due to high PSA levels with negative results in the rectal examination and a lack of preneoplastic lesions. The patients previously had their IGF-1 levels measured and had undergone an impedance audiometry test using the abdominal Fat Analyser AB-140 TANITA system. We calculated the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the PSA levels, %PSA, internal organ fat and IGF-1 and PSA density. Twenty-five patients were diagnosed with prostate cancer. These patients had significantly higher PSA, PSAd and IGF-1 values and a tendency towards higher internal organ fat levels and lower %PSA readings (p=.001, p=.003, p=.001, p=.24 and P=0.28, respectively). The ROC curve showed an area under the curve for IGF-1 and PSA of .82 and .81, respectively. Using the cutoff points for 95% sensitivity and using the 3 criteria as an indication of rebiopsy, 74% of the biopsies would have been spared, leaving undiagnosed only 1 patient with clinically significant cancer -Gleason score>7 (4+3)-. The positive and negative predictive values for the set of variables were higher than for each one separately (PPV: 66/NPV: 63). The cost of both determinations was 82 euros. Our results suggest that measuring IGF-1 could significantly decrease the number of unnecessary rebiopsies in an inexpensive and safe manner. Copyright © 2016 AEU. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood: diagnostic value of vestibular test and high stimulus rate auditory brainstem response test.

PubMed

Zhang, Daogong; Fan, Zhaomin; Han, Yuechen; Wang, Mingming; Xu, Lei; Luo, Jianfen; Ai, Yu; Wang, Haibo

2012-01-01

To investigate the diagnostic value of vestibular test and high stimulus rate auditory brainstem response (ABR) test and the possible mechanism responsible for benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood (BPVC). Data of 56 patients with BPVC in vertigo clinic of our hospital from May 2007 to September 2008 were retrospectively analyzed in this study. Patients with BPVC were tested with pure tone audiometry, high stimulus rate auditory brainstem response test (ABR), transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD), bithermal caloric test, and VEMP. The results of the hearing and vestibular function test were compared and analyzed. There were 56 patients with BPVC, including 32 men, 24 women, aged 3-12 years old, with an average of 6.5 years. Among 56 cases of BPVC patients, the results of pure tone audiometry were all normal. High stimulus rate ABR was abnormal in 66.1% (37/56) of cases. TCD showed 57.1% abnormality in 56 cases, including faster flow rate in 28 cases and slower flow rate in 4 cases. High stimulus rate ABR and TCD were both abnormal in 48.2% (27/56) of cases. Bithermal caloric test was abnormal in 14.3% (8/56) of cases. VEMP showed 32.1% abnormality, including amplitude abnormality in 16 cases and latency abnormality in 2 cases. The abnormal rate of VEMP was much higher than that of caloric test. Vascular mechanisms might be involved in the pathogenesis of BPVC and there is strong evidence for close relationship between BPVC and migraine. High stimulus rate ABR is helpful in the diagnosis of BPVC. The inferior vestibular pathway is much more impaired than the superior vestibular pathway in BPVC. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risk Factors for Hearing Loss in Patients Treated With Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy for Head-and-Neck Tumors

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

Zuur, Charlotte L.; Simis, Yvonne J.; Lamers, Emmy A.

2009-06-01

Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) is a common treatment of head-and-neck carcinoma. The objective of this study was to perform a prospective multivariate assessment of the dose-effect relationship between intensity-modulated RT and hearing loss. Methods and Materials: Pure tone audiometry at 0.250-16 kHz was obtained before and after treatment in 101 patients (202 ears). All patients received full-course intensity-modulated RT (range, 56-70 Gy), with a median cochlear dose of 11.4 Gy (range, 0.2-69.7). Results: Audiometry was performed 1 week before and a median of 9 weeks (range, 1-112) after treatment. The mean hearing deterioration at pure tone average air-conduction 1-2-4 kHz wasmore » small (from 28.6 dB HL to 30.1 dB HL). However, individual patients showed clinically significant hearing loss, with 10-dB threshold shift incidences of 13% and 18% at pure tone averages air-conduction 1-2-4 kHz and 8-10-12.5 kHz, respectively. Post-treatment hearing capability was unfavorable in the case of greater inner ear radiation doses (p <0.0001), unfavorable baseline hearing capability (p <0.0001), green-eyed patients (p <0.0001), and older age (p <0.0001). Using multivariate analysis, a prediction of individual hearing capabiltity after treatment was made. Conclusion: RT-induced hearing loss in the mean population is modest. However, clinically significant hearing loss was observed in older patients with green eyes and unfavorable pretreatment hearing. In these patients, the intended radiation dose may be adjusted according to the proposed predictive model, aiming to decrease the risk of ototoxicity.« less

Short-term auditory effects of listening to an MP3 player.

PubMed

Keppler, Hannah; Dhooge, Ingeborg; Maes, Leen; D'haenens, Wendy; Bockstael, Annelies; Philips, Birgit; Swinnen, Freya; Vinck, Bart

2010-06-01

To determine the output levels of a commercially available MPEG layer-3 (MP3) player and to evaluate changes in hearing after 1 hour of listening to the MP3 player. First, A-weighted sound pressure levels (measured in decibels [dBA]) for 1 hour of pop-rock music on an MP3 player were measured on a head and torso simulator. Second, after participants listened to 1 hour of pop-rock music using an MP3 player, changes in hearing were evaluated with pure-tone audiometry, transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions. Twenty-one participants were exposed to pop-rock music in 6 different sessions using 2 types of headphones at multiple preset gain settings of the MP3 player. Output levels of an MP3 player and temporary threshold and emission shifts after 1 hour of listening. The output levels at the full gain setting were 97.36 dBA and 102.56 dBA for the supra-aural headphones and stock earbuds, respectively. In the noise exposure group, significant changes in hearing thresholds and transient-evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes were found between preexposure and postexposure measurements. However, this pattern was not seen for distortion product otoacoustic emission amplitudes. Significant differences in the incidence of significant threshold or emission shifts were observed between almost every session of the noise exposure group compared with the control group. Temporary changes in hearing sensitivity measured by audiometry and otoacoustic emissions indicate the potential harmful effects of listening to an MP3 player. Further research is needed to evaluate the long-term risk of cumulative noise exposure on the auditory system of adolescents and adults.

Role of ocular VEMP test in assessing the occurrence of vertigo in otosclerosis patients.

PubMed

Lin, Kuei-You; Young, Yi-Ho

2015-01-01

This study adopted an inner ear test battery comprising audiometry, caloric test, ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) test and cervical VEMP (cVEMP) test to find the factors related to the occurrence of vertigo in patients with otosclerosis. Fifty otosclerosis patients comprising 27 patients with vertigo (Group A) and 23 patients without vertigo/dizziness (Group B) were enrolled. Each patient underwent otoscopy, image study, audiometry, caloric test, and oVEMP and cVEMP tests via bone vibration stimuli. The sequence of inner ear deficits in Group A was in the order from oVEMP test (84%), cVEMP test (51%), caloric test (38%) and mean bone-conducted (BC) hearing threshold (14%), exhibiting a significantly declining trend (p<0.001). The rate of inner ear dysfunction in Group B also declined significantly but in a different order - cVEMP test (55%), oVEMP test (52%), mean BC hearing threshold (33%), and caloric test (18%). Comparison between the two groups revealed a significant difference in the oVEMP test results (p<0.01), but not in the results of the BC hearing threshold, caloric test or cVEMP test (p>0.05). Further, no significant differences existed between the BC hearing threshold and vestibular function test results. Otosclerosis patients with vertigo have more frequent abnormalities of oVEMPs to impulsive stimulation than do those without, consistent with more frequent abnormalities of the utricle. Abnormalities of oVEMPs and cVEMPs are more frequent than for caloric testing and BC hearing thresholds. The relative frequency of abnormalities may reflect the degree of pathological involvement of the utricle, saccule, semicircular canals and cochlea in otosclerosis patients with vertigo. Copyright © 2014 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Motor Learning Enhances Use-Dependent Plasticity

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Motor behaviors are shaped not only by current sensory signals but also by the history of recent experiences. For instance, repeated movements toward a particular target bias the subsequent movements toward that target direction. This process, called use-dependent plasticity (UDP), is considered a basic and goal-independent way of forming motor memories. Most studies consider movement history as the critical component that leads to UDP (Classen et al., 1998; Verstynen and Sabes, 2011). However, the effects of learning (i.e., improved performance) on UDP during movement repetition have not been investigated. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation in two experiments to assess plasticity changes occurring in the primary motor cortex after individuals repeated reinforced and nonreinforced actions. The first experiment assessed whether learning a skill task modulates UDP. We found that a group that successfully learned the skill task showed greater UDP than a group that did not accumulate learning, but made comparable repeated actions. The second experiment aimed to understand the role of reinforcement learning in UDP while controlling for reward magnitude and action kinematics. We found that providing subjects with a binary reward without visual feedback of the cursor led to increased UDP effects. Subjects in the group that received comparable reward not associated with their actions maintained the previously induced UDP. Our findings illustrate how reinforcing consistent actions strengthens use-dependent memories and provide insight into operant mechanisms that modulate plastic changes in the motor cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Performing consistent motor actions induces use-dependent plastic changes in the motor cortex. This plasticity reflects one of the basic forms of human motor learning. Past studies assumed that this form of learning is exclusively affected by repetition of actions. However, here we showed that success-based reinforcement signals could affect the human use-dependent plasticity (UDP) process. Our results indicate that learning augments and interacts with UDP. This effect is important to the understanding of the interplay between the different forms of motor learning and suggests that reinforcement is not only important to learning new behaviors, but can shape our subsequent behavior via its interaction with UDP. PMID:28143961

Physical Principles Pertaining to Ultrasonic and Mechanical Properties of Anisotropic Media and Their Application to Nondestructive Evaluation of Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handley, Scott Michael

The central theme of this thesis is to contribute to the physics underlying the mechanical properties of highly anisotropic materials. Our hypothesis is that a fundamental understanding of the physics involved in the interaction of interrogating ultrasonic waves with anisotropic media will provide useful information applicable to quantitative ultrasonic measurement techniques employed for the determination of material properties. Fiber-reinforced plastics represent a class of advanced composite materials that exhibit substantial anisotropy. The desired characteristics of practical fiber -reinforced composites depend on average mechanical properties achieved by placing fibers at specific angles relative to the external surfaces of the finished part. We examine the physics underlying the use of ultrasound as an interrogation probe for determination of ultrasonic and mechanical properties of anisotropic materials such as fiber-reinforced composites. Fundamental constituent parameters, such as elastic stiffness coefficients (c_{rm IJ}), are experimentally determined from ultrasonic time-of-flight measurements. Mechanical moduli (Poisson's ratio, Young's and shear modulus) descriptive of the anisotropic mechanical properties of unidirectional graphite/epoxy composites are obtained from the ultrasonically determined stiffness coefficients. Three-dimensional visualizations of the anisotropic ultrasonic and mechanical properties of unidirectional graphite/epoxy composites are generated. A related goal of the research is to strengthen the connection-between practical ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation methods and the physics underlying quantitative ultrasonic measurements for the assessment of manufactured fiber-reinforced composites. Production defects such as porosity have proven to be of substantial concern in the manufacturing of composites. We investigate the applicability of ultrasonic interrogation techniques for the detection and characterization of porosity in graphite/epoxy laminates. Complementary ultrasonic parameters based on the frequency dependence of ultrasonic attenuation and integrated polar backscatter are investigated. In summary, the approach taken in this thesis is to examine the physical mechanisms in terms of a continuum mechanics framework and a linear elastic description of ultrasonic wave propagation in anisotropic media with specific application to the nondestructive evaluation of advanced composite materials.

Automatically augmenting lifelog events using pervasively generated content from millions of people.

PubMed

Doherty, Aiden R; Smeaton, Alan F

2010-01-01

In sensor research we take advantage of additional contextual sensor information to disambiguate potentially erroneous sensor readings or to make better informed decisions on a single sensor's output. This use of additional information reinforces, validates, semantically enriches, and augments sensed data. Lifelog data is challenging to augment, as it tracks one's life with many images including the places they go, making it non-trivial to find associated sources of information. We investigate realising the goal of pervasive user-generated content based on sensors, by augmenting passive visual lifelogs with "Web 2.0" content collected by millions of other individuals.

Characterization of selected LDEF polymer matrix resin composite materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, Philip R.; Slemp, Wayne S.; Witte, William G., Jr.; Shen, James Y.

1991-01-01

The characterization of selected graphite fiber reinforced epoxy (934 and 5208) and polysulfone (P1700) matrix resin composite materials which received 5 years and 10 months of exposure to the LEO environment on the Long Duration Exposure Facility is reported. Resin loss and a decrease in mechanical performance as well as dramatic visual effects were observed. However, chemical characterization including infrared, thermal, and selected solution property measurements showed that the molecular structure of the polymeric matrix had not changed significantly in response to this exposure. The potential effect of a silicon-containing molecular contamination of these specimens is addressed.

Learning to make collective decisions: the impact of confidence escalation.

PubMed

Mahmoodi, Ali; Bang, Dan; Ahmadabadi, Majid Nili; Bahrami, Bahador

2013-01-01

Little is known about how people learn to take into account others' opinions in joint decisions. To address this question, we combined computational and empirical approaches. Human dyads made individual and joint visual perceptual decision and rated their confidence in those decisions (data previously published). We trained a reinforcement (temporal difference) learning agent to get the participants' confidence level and learn to arrive at a dyadic decision by finding the policy that either maximized the accuracy of the model decisions or maximally conformed to the empirical dyadic decisions. When confidences were shared visually without verbal interaction, RL agents successfully captured social learning. When participants exchanged confidences visually and interacted verbally, no collective benefit was achieved and the model failed to predict the dyadic behaviour. Behaviourally, dyad members' confidence increased progressively and verbal interaction accelerated this escalation. The success of the model in drawing collective benefit from dyad members was inversely related to confidence escalation rate. The findings show an automated learning agent can, in principle, combine individual opinions and achieve collective benefit but the same agent cannot discount the escalation suggesting that one cognitive component of collective decision making in human may involve discounting of overconfidence arising from interactions.

An oculomotor continuum from exploration to fixation

PubMed Central

Otero-Millan, Jorge; Macknik, Stephen L.; Langston, Rachel E.; Martinez-Conde, Susana

2013-01-01

During visual exploration, saccadic eye movements scan the scene for objects of interest. During attempted fixation, the eyes are relatively still but often produce microsaccades. Saccadic rates during exploration are higher than those of microsaccades during fixation, reinforcing the classic view that exploration and fixation are two distinct oculomotor behaviors. An alternative model is that fixation and exploration are not dichotomous, but are instead two extremes of a functional continuum. Here, we measured the eye movements of human observers as they either fixed their gaze on a small spot or scanned natural scenes of varying sizes. As scene size diminished, so did saccade rates, until they were continuous with microsaccadic rates during fixation. Other saccadic properties varied as function of image size as well, forming a continuum with microsaccadic parameters during fixation. This saccadic continuum extended to nonrestrictive, ecological viewing conditions that allowed all types of saccades and fixation positions. Eye movement simulations moreover showed that a single model of oculomotor behavior can explain the saccadic continuum from exploration to fixation, for images of all sizes. These findings challenge the view that exploration and fixation are dichotomous, suggesting instead that visual fixation is functionally equivalent to visual exploration on a spatially focused scale. PMID:23533278

Vision in the natural world.

PubMed

Hayhoe, Mary M; Rothkopf, Constantin A

2011-03-01

Historically, the study of visual perception has followed a reductionist strategy, with the goal of understanding complex visually guided behavior by separate analysis of its elemental components. Recent developments in monitoring behavior, such as measurement of eye movements in unconstrained observers, have allowed investigation of the use of vision in the natural world. This has led to a variety of insights that would be difficult to achieve in more constrained experimental contexts. In general, it shifts the focus of vision away from the properties of the stimulus toward a consideration of the behavioral goals of the observer. It appears that behavioral goals are a critical factor in controlling the acquisition of visual information from the world. This insight has been accompanied by a growing understanding of the importance of reward in modulating the underlying neural mechanisms and by theoretical developments using reinforcement learning models of complex behavior. These developments provide us with the tools to understanding how tasks are represented in the brain, and how they control acquisition of information through use of gaze. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 158-166 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.113 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Weighted link graphs: a distributed IDS for secondary intrusion detection and defense

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Mian; Lang, Sheau-Dong

2005-03-01

While a firewall installed at the perimeter of a local network provides the first line of defense against the hackers, many intrusion incidents are the results of successful penetration of the firewalls. One computer"s compromise often put the entire network at risk. In this paper, we propose an IDS that provides a finer control over the internal network. The system focuses on the variations of connection-based behavior of each single computer, and uses a weighted link graph to visualize the overall traffic abnormalities. The functionality of our system is of a distributed personal IDS system that also provides a centralized traffic analysis by graphical visualization. We use a novel weight assignment schema for the local detection within each end agent. The local abnormalities are quantitatively carried out by the node weight and link weight and further sent to the central analyzer to build the weighted link graph. Thus, we distribute the burden of traffic processing and visualization to each agent and make it more efficient for the overall intrusion detection. As the LANs are more vulnerable to inside attacks, our system is designed as a reinforcement to prevent corruption from the inside.

The MOVIN' project (Mobilisation Of Ventilated Intensive care patients at Nepean): A quality improvement project based on the principles of knowledge translation to promote nurse-led mobilisation of critically ill ventilated patients.

PubMed

Hassan, Anwar; Rajamani, Arvind; Fitzsimons, Fiona

2017-10-01

Prospective quality improvement project to evaluate the impact of a training programme to promote nurse-led mobilisation of intubated critically ill patients. This project involved an educational programme to upskill nurses and overcome the barriers/challenges to nurse-led mobilisation. Initial strategies focused on educating and upskilling nurses to attain competency in active mobilisation. Subsequent strategies focused on positive reinforcement to achieve a culture shift. A pre- and post-intervention audit was used to evaluate its effectiveness. A baseline audit showed that ∼9% of ventilated patients were mobilised. Several barriers were identified. Twenty-three nurses underwent training in actively mobilising ventilated patients. This increased their confidence levels and there was reduction in reported barriers. However, the rate of active mobilisation remained low (9.7%). Subsequently, a programme of positive reinforcement with rewards and visual reminders was introduced, which saw an increase in the number of nurse-led mobilisations of both ventilated patients (from 9.7% to 34.8%; p=0.0003), and non-ventilated patients (29.5% versus 62.9%; p=<0.0001). It is safe and feasible to train nurses to perform active mobilisation of ventilated patients. However, to promote a culture change, training and competency must be combined with a multi-pronged approach including reminders, positive reinforcement and rewards. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

Ly, T M; Hodapp, R M

2005-12-01

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

Reviewing and visualizing the interactions of natural hazards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gill, Joel C.; Malamud, Bruce D.

2014-12-01

This paper presents a broad overview, characterization, and visualization of the interaction relationships between 21 natural hazards, drawn from six hazard groups (geophysical, hydrological, shallow Earth, atmospheric, biophysical, and space hazards). A synthesis is presented of the identified interaction relationships between these hazards, using an accessible visual format particularly suited to end users. Interactions considered are primarily those where a primary hazard triggers or increases the probability of secondary hazards occurring. In this paper we do the following: (i) identify, through a wide-ranging review of grey- and peer-review literature, 90 interactions; (ii) subdivide the interactions into three levels, based on how well we can characterize secondary hazards, given information about the primary hazard; (iii) determine the spatial overlap and temporal likelihood of the triggering relationships occurring; and (iv) examine the relationship between primary and secondary hazard intensities for each identified hazard interaction and group these into five possible categories. In this study we have synthesized, using accessible visualization techniques, large amounts of information drawn from many scientific disciplines. We outline the importance of constraining hazard interactions and reinforce the importance of a holistic (or multihazard) approach to natural hazard assessment. This approach allows those undertaking research into single hazards to place their work within the context of other hazards. It also communicates important aspects of hazard interactions, facilitating an effective analysis by those working on reducing and managing disaster risk within both the policy and practitioner communities.

Kinematic Visual Biofeedback Improves Accuracy of Learning a Swallowing Maneuver and Accuracy of Clinician Cues During Training.

PubMed

Azola, Alba M; Sunday, Kirstyn L; Humbert, Ianessa A

2017-02-01

Submental surface electromyography (ssEMG) visual biofeedback is widely used to train swallowing maneuvers. This study compares the effect of ssEMG and videofluoroscopy (VF) visual biofeedback on hyo-laryngeal accuracy when training a swallowing maneuver. Furthermore, it examines the clinician's ability to provide accurate verbal cues during swallowing maneuver training. Thirty healthy adults performed the volitional laryngeal vestibule closure maneuver (vLVC), which involves swallowing and sustaining closure of the laryngeal vestibule for 2 s. The study included two stages: (1) first accurate demonstration of the vLVC maneuver, followed by (2) training-20 vLVC training swallows. Participants were randomized into three groups: (a) ssEMG biofeedback only, (b) VF biofeedback only, and (c) mixed biofeedback (VF for the first accurate demonstration achieving stage and ssEMG for the training stage). Participants' performances were verbally critiqued or reinforced in real time while both the clinician and participant were observing the assigned visual biofeedback. VF and ssEMG were continuously recorded for all participants. Results show that accuracy of both vLVC performance and clinician cues was greater with VF biofeedback than with either ssEMG or mixed biofeedback (p < 0.001). Using ssEMG for providing real-time biofeedback during training could lead to errors while learning and training a swallowing maneuver.

[Treatment of Paget's disease with diphosphonate (disodium ethydronate)].

PubMed

Caniggia, A; Gennari, C; Guideri, R; Vattimo, A; Nardi, P

1976-01-07

16 patients suffering from Paget's disease were studied before, during and after 3 or 6 month treatment with disodium ethydronate (EHDP) per os. An appreciable improvement in pain symptomatology was noted and at times an evident improvement in audiometry; from the metabolic viewpoint there was a fall in serum alkaline phosphatase and urinary excretion of calcium and hydroxyproline. A study of radiocalcium kinetics demonstrated a reduction in the exchangeable calcium pool and the fractional turnover rate. Histological examination following needle biopsy of the iliac crest showed evident diminution in the active bone cell population (osteoclasts, osteoblasts) and, in certain cases, appearance of osteoid borders.

[Perceptive deafness and AIDS].

PubMed

Sancho, E M; Domínguez, L; Urpegui, A; Martínez, J; Jiménez, M; Bretos, S; Vallés, H

1997-06-01

We report a case of a 23 years old woman HIV positive for the past five years with a four year history of right perceptive hypoacusia evolution without tinitus, vertigo or any other otologic symptomatology. After reviewing her personal and family history and conducting imilar tonal audiometry, tympanometry bilateral, contralateral estapedial reflex, auditory evoked brain stem response and a bilateral nasal fiberendoscopy, we analyzed the evolution of her immunal deficiency and the treatments to which she has been submitted with the purpose of determining the risk factors that have coincided in this case to be able to establish some criteria to follow the auditive affect in HIV positive patients.

Audiological and electrophysiological evaluation of children with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

PubMed

Matas, Carla Gentile; Leite, Renata Aparecida; Magliaro, Fernanda Cristina Leite; Gonçalves, Isabela Crivellaro

2006-08-01

We examined the peripheral auditory system and the auditory brainstem pathway of children with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). One hundred and one children, 51 with AIDS diagnosis and 50 normal children were evaluated. Audiological assessment included immittance measures, pure tone and speech audiometry and auditory brainstem response (ABR). The children with AIDS more frequently had abnormal results than did their matched controls, presenting either peripheral or auditory brainstem impairment. We suggest that AIDS be considered a risk factor for peripheral and/or auditory brainstem disorders. Further research should be carried out to investigate the auditory effects of HIV infection along the auditory pathway.

[A case of transient auditory agnosia and schizophrenia].

PubMed

Kanzaki, Jin; Harada, Tatsuhiko; Kanzaki, Sho

2011-03-01

We report a case of transient functional auditory agnosia and schizophrenia and discuss their relationship. A 30-year-old woman with schizophrenia reporting bilateral hearing loss was found in history taking to be able to hear but could neither understand speech nor discriminate among environmental sounds. Audiometry clarified normal but low speech discrimination. Otoacoustic emission and auditory brainstem response were normal. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) elsewhere evidenced no abnormal findings. We assumed that taking care of her grandparents who had been discharged from the hospital had unduly stressed her, and her condition improved shortly after she stopped caring for them, returned home and started taking a minor tranquilizer.

System and algorithm for evaluation of human auditory analyzer state

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bachynskiy, Mykhaylo V.; Azarkhov, Oleksandr Yu.; Shtofel, Dmytro Kh.; Horbatiuk, Svitlana M.; Ławicki, Tomasz; Kalizhanova, Aliya; Smailova, Saule; Askarova, Nursanat

2017-08-01

The paper discusses questions of human auditory state evaluation with technical means. It considers the disadvantages of existing clinical audiometry methods and systems. It is proposed to use method for evaluating of auditory analyzer state by means of pulsometry to get the medical study more objective and efficient. It provides for use of two optoelectronic sensors located on the carotid artery and ear lobe, Using this method the biotechnical system for evaluation and stimulation of human auditory analyzer stare wad developed. Its hardware and software were substantiated. Different modes of simulation in the designed system were tested and the influence of the procedure on a patient was studied.

Suppression of spontaneous nystagmus during different visual fixation conditions.

PubMed

Hirvonen, Timo P; Juhola, Martti; Aalto, Heikki

2012-07-01

Analysis of spontaneous nystagmus is important in the evaluation of dizzy patients. The aim was to measure how different visual conditions affect the properties of nystagmus using three-dimensional video-oculography (VOG). We compared prevalence, frequency and slow phase velocity (SPV) of the spontaneous nystagmus with gaze fixation allowed, with Frenzel's glasses, and in total darkness. Twenty-five patients (35 measurements) with the peripheral vestibular pathologies were included. The prevalence of nystagmus with the gaze fixation was 40%, and it increased significantly to 66% with Frenzel's glasses and regular room lights on (p < 0.01). The prevalence increased significantly to 83% when the regular room lights were switched off (p = 0.014), and further to 100% in total darkness (p = 0.025). The mean SPV of nystagmus with visual fixation allowed was 1.0°/s. It increased to 2.4°/s with Frenzel's glasses and room lights on, and additionally to 3.1°/s, when the regular room lights were switched off. The mean SPV in total darkness was 6.9°/s. The difference was highly significant between all test conditions (p < 0.01). The frequency of nystagmus was 0.7 beats/s with gaze fixation, 0.8 beats/s in both the test conditions with Frenzel's glasses on, and 1.2 beats/s in total darkness. The frequency in total darkness was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than with Frenzel's glasses, and more so than with visual fixation (p = 0.003). The VOG in total darkness is superior in detecting nystagmus, since Frenzel's glasses allow visual suppression to happen, and this effect is reinforced with gaze fixation allowed. Strict control of visual surroundings is essential in interpreting peripheral nystagmus.

Continuous recognition of spatial and nonspatial stimuli in hippocampal-lesioned rats.

PubMed

Jackson-Smith, P; Kesner, R P; Chiba, A A

1993-03-01

The present experiments compared the performance of hippocampal-lesioned rats to control rats on a spatial continuous recognition task and an analogous nonspatial task with similar processing demands. Daily sessions for Experiment 1 involved sequential presentation of individual arms on a 12-arm radial maze. Each arm contained a Froot Loop reinforcement the first time it was presented, and latency to traverse the arm was measured. A subset of the arms were repeated, but did not contain reinforcement. Repeated arms were presented with lags ranging from 0 to 6 (0 to 6 different arm presentations occurred between the first and the repeated presentation). Difference scores were computed by subtracting the latency on first presentations from the latency on repeated presentations, and these scores were high in all rats prior to surgery, with a decreasing function across lag. There were no differences in performance following cortical control or sham surgery. However, there was a total deficit in performance following large electrolytic lesions of the hippocampus. The second experiment employed the same continuous recognition memory procedure, but used three-dimensional visual objects (toys, junk items, etc., in various shapes, sizes, and textures) as stimuli on a flat runway. As in Experiment 1, the stimuli were presented successively and latency to run to and move the object was measured. Objects were repeated with lags ranging from 0 to 4. Performance on this task following surgery did not differ from performance prior to surgery for either the control group or the hippocampal lesion group. These results provide support for Kesner's attribute model of hippocampal function in that the hippocampus is assumed to mediate data-based memory for spatial locations, but not three-dimensional visual objects.

Observational Study of Prevalence of Long-term Raynaud-Like Phenomena and Neurological Side Effects in Testicular Cancer Survivors

PubMed Central

Oldenburg, Jan; Klepp, Olbjørn; Bremnes, Roy M.; Wist, Erik A.; Wentzel-Larsen, Tore; Hauge, Erik R.; Dahl, Olav; Fosså, Sophie D.

2009-01-01

Background Sensory neuropathy (paresthesias), tinnitus, hearing impairment, and Raynaud phenomena are side effects of cisplatin-based chemotherapy used to treat testicular cancer patients. We assessed the long-term occurrence of these side effects among testicular cancer survivors according to the treatment they received. Methods A total of 1814 men who were treated for unilateral testicular cancer in Norway during 1980–1994 were invited to participate in a national multicenter follow-up survey conducted during 1998–2002. The men were allocated to six groups according to the treatment they had received. Self-reported symptoms were assessed by a mailed questionnaire that included the Scale for Chemotherapy-Induced Neurotoxicity. A total of 1409 participants who responded to the questionnaire and/or underwent audiometry were assessable in this study. Respondents to the questionnaire (n = 1402) scored the relevant symptoms according to how troubled they were by each (not at all, a little, quite a bit, or very much). Hearing impairment was objectively assessed by audiometry at 4000 Hz in 755 men (seven of whom did not respond to the questionnaire). Group comparisons of symptom assessments were performed with χ2 or Kruskal–Wallis tests. Associations between relevant factors and self-reported symptoms or hearing impairment measured by audiometry were assessed using proportional odds ordinal logistic regression models and linear regression models, respectively. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results The median follow-up for the 1409 assessable men was 10.7 years (range = 4–21 years). All chemotherapy groups had statistically significantly higher odds for increasing severity of all assessed symptoms and inferior audiometric results compared with men who did not receive chemotherapy. Among chemotherapy-treated men, 39% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 35% to 43%) reported Raynaud-like phenomena (defined as white or cold hands or fingers [or feet or toes] on cold exposure), 29% (95% CI = 25% to 33%) reported paresthesias in the hands or feet, 21% (95% CI = 18% to 25%) reported hearing impairment, and 22% (95% CI = 19% to 26%) reported tinnitus as major symptoms troubling them quite a bit or very much. Hearing impairment (odds ratio [OR] = 5.3, 95% CI = 3.0 to 9.2) and tinnitus (OR = 7.1, 95% CI = 4.1 to 12.4) were particularly common in the dose-intensive chemotherapy group compared with the no chemotherapy group. Men who were treated with radiotherapy had higher odds of self-reported paresthesias in feet compared with those not treated with radiotherapy (OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.01 to 2.1, P = .04). Conclusion Long-term survivors of testicular cancer who were treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy were more often troubled by dose-dependent neurological side effects and Raynaud-like phenomena compared with those who were not treated with chemotherapy. PMID:19940282

Human amygdala activation by the sound produced during dental treatment: A fMRI study.

PubMed

Yu, Jen-Fang; Lee, Kun-Che; Hong, Hsiang-Hsi; Kuo, Song-Bor; Wu, Chung-De; Wai, Yau-Yau; Chen, Yi-Fen; Peng, Ying-Chin

2015-01-01

During dental treatments, patients may experience negative emotions associated with the procedure. This study was conducted with the aim of using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to visualize cerebral cortical stimulation among dental patients in response to auditory stimuli produced by ultrasonic scaling and power suction equipment. Subjects (n = 7) aged 23-35 years were recruited for this study. All were right-handed and underwent clinical pure-tone audiometry testing to reveal a normal hearing threshold below 20 dB hearing level (HL). As part of the study, subjects initially underwent a dental calculus removal treatment. During the treatment, subjects were exposed to ultrasonic auditory stimuli originating from the scaling handpiece and salivary suction instruments. After dental treatment, subjects were imaged with fMRI while being exposed to recordings of the noise from the same dental instrument so that cerebral cortical stimulation in response to aversive auditory stimulation could be observed. The independent sample confirmatory t-test was used. Subjects also showed stimulation in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, indicating that the ultrasonic auditory stimuli elicited an unpleasant response in the subjects. Patients experienced unpleasant sensations caused by contact stimuli in the treatment procedure. In addition, this study has demonstrated that aversive auditory stimuli such as sounds from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece also cause aversive emotions. This study was indicated by observed stimulation of the auditory cortex as well as the amygdala, indicating that noise from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece was perceived as an aversive auditory stimulus by the subjects. Subjects can experience unpleasant sensations caused by the sounds from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece based on their auditory stimuli.

Human amygdala activation by the sound produced during dental treatment: A fMRI study

PubMed Central

Yu, Jen-Fang; Lee, Kun-Che; Hong, Hsiang-Hsi; Kuo, Song-Bor; Wu, Chung-De; Wai, Yau-Yau; Chen, Yi-Fen; Peng, Ying-Chin

2015-01-01

During dental treatments, patients may experience negative emotions associated with the procedure. This study was conducted with the aim of using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to visualize cerebral cortical stimulation among dental patients in response to auditory stimuli produced by ultrasonic scaling and power suction equipment. Subjects (n = 7) aged 23-35 years were recruited for this study. All were right-handed and underwent clinical pure-tone audiometry testing to reveal a normal hearing threshold below 20 dB hearing level (HL). As part of the study, subjects initially underwent a dental calculus removal treatment. During the treatment, subjects were exposed to ultrasonic auditory stimuli originating from the scaling handpiece and salivary suction instruments. After dental treatment, subjects were imaged with fMRI while being exposed to recordings of the noise from the same dental instrument so that cerebral cortical stimulation in response to aversive auditory stimulation could be observed. The independent sample confirmatory t-test was used. Subjects also showed stimulation in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, indicating that the ultrasonic auditory stimuli elicited an unpleasant response in the subjects. Patients experienced unpleasant sensations caused by contact stimuli in the treatment procedure. In addition, this study has demonstrated that aversive auditory stimuli such as sounds from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece also cause aversive emotions. This study was indicated by observed stimulation of the auditory cortex as well as the amygdala, indicating that noise from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece was perceived as an aversive auditory stimulus by the subjects. Subjects can experience unpleasant sensations caused by the sounds from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece based on their auditory stimuli. PMID:26356376

Therapeutic role of Vitamin B12 in patients of chronic tinnitus: A pilot study

PubMed Central

Singh, Charu; Kawatra, Rahul; Gupta, Jaya; Awasthi, Vishnu; Dungana, Homnath

2016-01-01

True tinnitus is a phantom auditory perception arising from a source or trigger in the cochlea, brainstem, or at higher centers and has no detectable acoustic generator. The most accepted is the famous neurophysiologic model of Jastreboff, which stresses that tinnitus, is a subcortical perception and results from the processing of weak neural activity in the periphery. The aim of this study is to determine the role of Vitamin B12 in treatment of chronic tinnitus. In this randomized, double-blind pilot study, total 40 patients were enrolled, of which 20 in Group A (cases) received intramuscular therapy of 1 ml Vitamin B12 (2500 mcg) weekly for a period of 6 weeks and Group B (20) patients received placebo isotonic saline 01 ml intramuscular. The patients were subjected to Vitamin B12 assay and audiometry pre- and post-therapy. Of the total patients of tinnitus, 17 were Vitamin B12 deficient that is 42.5% showed deficiency when the normal levels were considered to be 250 pg/ml. A paired t-test showed that in Group A, patients with Vitamin B12 deficiency showed significant improvement in mean tinnitus severity index score and visual analog scale (VAS) after Vitamin B12 therapy. This pilot study highlights the significant prevalence of Vitamin B12 deficiency in North Indian population and improvement in tinnitus severity scores and VAS in cobalamin-deficient patients receiving intramuscular Vitamin B12 weekly for 6 weeks further provides a link between cobalamin deficiency and tinnitus thereby suggestive of a therapeutic role of B12 in cobalamin-deficient patients of tinnitus. PMID:26960786

Figure-ground segregation at contours: a neural mechanism in the visual cortex of the alert monkey.

PubMed

Baumann, R; van der Zwan, R; Peterhans, E

1997-06-01

An important task of vision is the segregation of figure and ground in situations of spatial occlusion. Psychophysical evidence suggests that the depth order at contours is defined early in visual processing. We have analysed this process in the visual cortex of the alert monkey. The animals were trained on a visual fixation task which reinforced foveal viewing. During periods of active visual fixation, we recorded the responses of single neurons in striate and prestriate cortex (areas V1, V2, and V3/V3A). The stimuli mimicked situations of spatial occlusion, usually a uniform light (or dark) rectangle overlaying a grating texture of opposite contrast. The direction of figure and ground at the borders of these rectangles was defined by the direction of the terminating grating lines (occlusion cues). Neuronal responses were analysed with respect to figure-ground direction and contrast polarity at such contours. Striate neurons often failed to respond to such stimuli, or were selective for contrast polarity; others were non-selective. Some neurons preferred a certain combination of figure-ground direction and contrast polarity. These neurons were rare both in striate and prestriate cortex. The majority of neurons signalled figure-ground direction independent of contrast polarity. These neurons were only found in prestriate cortex. We explain these responses in terms of a model which also explains neuronal signals of illusory contours. These results suggest that occlusion cues are used at an early level of processing to segregate figure and ground at contours.

An integrated network visualization framework towards metabolic engineering applications.

PubMed

Noronha, Alberto; Vilaça, Paulo; Rocha, Miguel

2014-12-30

Over the last years, several methods for the phenotype simulation of microorganisms, under specified genetic and environmental conditions have been proposed, in the context of Metabolic Engineering (ME). These methods provided insight on the functioning of microbial metabolism and played a key role in the design of genetic modifications that can lead to strains of industrial interest. On the other hand, in the context of Systems Biology research, biological network visualization has reinforced its role as a core tool in understanding biological processes. However, it has been scarcely used to foster ME related methods, in spite of the acknowledged potential. In this work, an open-source software that aims to fill the gap between ME and metabolic network visualization is proposed, in the form of a plugin to the OptFlux ME platform. The framework is based on an abstract layer, where the network is represented as a bipartite graph containing minimal information about the underlying entities and their desired relative placement. The framework provides input/output support for networks specified in standard formats, such as XGMML, SBGN or SBML, providing a connection to genome-scale metabolic models. An user-interface makes it possible to edit, manipulate and query nodes in the network, providing tools to visualize diverse effects, including visual filters and aspect changing (e.g. colors, shapes and sizes). These tools are particularly interesting for ME, since they allow overlaying phenotype simulation results or elementary flux modes over the networks. The framework and its source code are freely available, together with documentation and other resources, being illustrated with well documented case studies.

Stereoscopic display technologies, interaction paradigms, and rendering approaches for neurosurgical visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooperstock, Jeremy R.; Wang, Guangyu

2009-02-01

We conducted a comparative study of different stereoscopic display modalities (head-mounted display, polarized projection, and multiview lenticular display) to evaluate their efficacy in supporting manipulation and understanding of 3D content, specifically, in the context of neurosurgical visualization. Our study was intended to quantify the differences in resulting task performance between these choices of display technology. The experimental configuration involved a segmented brain vasculature and a simulated tumor. Subjects were asked to manipulate the vasculature and a pen-like virtual probe in order to define a vessel-free path from cortical surface to the targeted tumor. Because of the anatomical complexity, defining such a path can be a challenging task. To evaluate the system, we quantified performance differences under three different stereoscopic viewing conditions. Our results indicate that, on average, participants achieved best performance using polarized projection, and worst with the multiview lenticular display. These quantitative measurements were further reinforced by the subjects' responses to our post-test questionnaire regarding personal preferences.

Visualization of delamination in composite materials utilizing advanced X-ray imaging techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vavrik, D.; Jakubek, J.; Jandejsek, I.; Krejci, F.; Kumpova, I.; Zemlicka, J.

2015-04-01

This work is focused on the development of instrumental radiographic methods for detection of delaminations in layered carbon fibre reinforced plastic composites used in the aerospace industry. The main limitation of current visualisation techniques is a very limited possibility to image so-called closed delaminations in which delaminated layers are in contact practically with no physical gap. In this contribution we report the development of innovative methods for closed delamination detection using an X-ray phase contrast technique for which the distance between delamination surfaces is not relevant. The approach is based on the energetic sensitivity of phase-enhanced radiography. Based on the applied methodology, we can distinguish both closed and open delamination. Further we have demonstrated the possibility to visualise open delaminations characterised by a physical gap between delaminated layers. This delamination type was successfully identified and visualized utilizing a high resolution and computed tomography table-top technique based on proper beam-hardening effect correction.

Can Vitamin A be Improved to Prevent Blindness due to Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Stargardt Disease and Other Retinal Dystrophies?

PubMed

Saad, Leonide; Washington, Ilyas

2016-01-01

We discuss how an imperfect visual cycle results in the formation of vitamin A dimers, thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of various retinal diseases, and summarize how slowing vitamin A dimerization has been a therapeutic target of interest to prevent blindness. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of vitamin A dimerization, an alternative form of vitamin A, one that forms dimers more slowly yet maneuvers effortlessly through the visual cycle, was developed. Such a vitamin A, reinforced with deuterium (C20-D3-vitamin A), can be used as a non-disruptive tool to understand the contribution of vitamin A dimers to vision loss. Eventually, C20-D3-vitamin A could become a disease-modifying therapy to slow or stop vision loss associated with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Stargardt disease and retinal diseases marked by such vitamin A dimers. Human clinical trials of C20-D3-vitamin A (ALK-001) are underway.

Protection of data carriers using secure optical codes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peters, John A.; Schilling, Andreas; Staub, René; Tompkin, Wayne R.

2006-02-01

Smartcard technologies, combined with biometric-enabled access control systems, are required for many high-security government ID card programs. However, recent field trials with some of the most secure biometric systems have indicated that smartcards are still vulnerable to well equipped and highly motivated counterfeiters. In this paper, we present the Kinegram Secure Memory Technology which not only provides a first-level visual verification procedure, but also reinforces the existing chip-based security measures. This security concept involves the use of securely-coded data (stored in an optically variable device) which communicates with the encoded hashed information stored in the chip memory via a smartcard reader device.

Compostability assessment of nano-reinforced poly(lactic acid) films.

PubMed

Balaguer, M P; Aliaga, C; Fito, C; Hortal, M

2016-02-01

Nanomaterials can provide plastics with great advantages on mechanical and active properties (i.e. release and capture of specific substances). Therefore, packaging is expected to become one of the leading applications for these substances by 2020. There are some applications already in the market. Nevertheless, there is still some areas under development. A key issue to be analyzed is the end-of-life of these materials once they become waste, and specifically when nanomaterials are used in biodegradable products. The present study evaluated the disintegration, biodegradability, and ecotoxicity of poly(lactic acid) films reinforced with the three following nanomaterials: (1) montmorillonite modified with an ammonium quaternary salt, (2) calcium carbonate and (3) silicon dioxide. Results on disintegration showed that films completely disintegrated into visually indistinguishable residues after 6-7weeks of incubation in composting environment. Moreover, no differences were observed in the evolution of the bioresidue with respect to color, aspect, and odor in comparison with the control. It was also observed that nanomaterials did not significantly reduce the level of biodegradability of PLA (p>0.05). In fact, biodegradation was higher, without finding significant differences (p>0.05), in all the nano-reinforced samples with respect to PLA after 130days in composting (9.4% in PLA+Nano-SiO2; 34.0% in PLA+Clay1; 48.0% in PLA+Nano-CaCO3). Finally, no significant differences (p>0.05) in ecotoxicity in plants were observed as a result of the incorporation of nanoparticles in the PLA matrix. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Retrocochlear impairments in systemic sclerosis: a case report study.

PubMed

Valente, Julia de Souza Pinto; Corona, Ana Paula

2017-12-07

To report three cases of patients with Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) and retrocochlear impairments. This is a case report of three individuals with SSc and retrocochlear impairments assisted at a rheumatology outpatient clinic. All individuals underwent Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential (BAEP) and, when necessary, audiometry. All three individuals presented sensorineural hearing loss. Although no retrocochlear impairment was identified in the basic audiologic evaluation, the BAEP results were altered. Retrocochlear impairments were present in the individuals under study, both in the absolute latencies and interpeak interval, thereby demanding the attention of rheumatologists and speech-language pathologists to such changes during the monitoring of SSc patients. The results also show a need for epidemiological studies on the theme.

Aberrant sylvian vein: A newly described cause of pulsatile tinnitus.

PubMed

Liu, Zhaohui; Yu, Jingge; Zhao, Pengfei; Zhang, Hanjuan; Wang, Qian; Wang, Zhenchang

2017-10-01

We herein report a newly described cause of venous pulsatile tinnitus: protrusion of an aberrant sylvian vein into the tympanum. A 60-year-old woman presented with a 4-month history of objective persistent pulsatile tinnitus in the right ear with no other complaints. The pulsatile tinnitus diminished with rotation of the head to the right side or by compression of the right cervical vascular structures. The frequency and intensity of the tinnitus were 125 Hz and 20 dB HL, respectively. Audiometry and otoscopic examination findings were normal. Radiologic examination showed that the right sylvian vein protruded into the tympanum through the dehiscent anterior cortical plate of the tympanum.

Otitis Media with ANCA-associated Vasculitis: A New Concept and the Associated Criteria

PubMed Central

Kobari, Yusuke; Nagasawa, Tasuku

2017-01-01

A previously healthy 77-year-old Japanese man presented with a 2-week history of daily fevers peaking at 38°C, chills, hearing loss, and almost 10 kg of unintentional weight loss over 2 months. Pure tone audiometry showed mixed conductive-sensorineural hearing loss: right, 63.6 dB, left, 80.0 dB. Blood tests after admission showed a high myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (MPO-ANCA) level (＞300 U/mL), so we suspected ANCA-related vasculitis. The Japanese Otorhinolaryngology Society has recently been advocating the concept of otitis media with ANCA-associated vasculitis (OMAAV). Our case met the criteria proposed, leading to our diagnosis. PMID:29021451

Otitis Media with ANCA-associated Vasculitis: A New Concept and the Associated Criteria.

PubMed

Kobari, Yusuke; Nagasawa, Tasuku

2017-12-15

A previously healthy 77-year-old Japanese man presented with a 2-week history of daily fevers peaking at 38°C, chills, hearing loss, and almost 10 kg of unintentional weight loss over 2 months. Pure tone audiometry showed mixed conductive-sensorineural hearing loss: right, 63.6 dB, left, 80.0 dB. Blood tests after admission showed a high myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (MPO-ANCA) level (>300 U/mL), so we suspected ANCA-related vasculitis. The Japanese Otorhinolaryngology Society has recently been advocating the concept of otitis media with ANCA-associated vasculitis (OMAAV). Our case met the criteria proposed, leading to our diagnosis.

Correlations between self-assessed hearing handicap and standard audiometric tests in elderly persons.

PubMed

Pedersen, K; Rosenhall, U

1991-01-01

The relationship between self-assessed hearing handicap and audiometric measures using pure-tone and speech audiometry was studied in a group of elderly persons representative of an urban Swedish population. The study population consisted of two cohorts, one of which was followed longitudinally. Significant correlations between measured and self-assessed hearing were found. Speech discrimination scores showed lower correlations with the self-estimated hearing than pure-tone averages and speech reception threshold. Questions concerning conversation with one person and concerning difficulty in hearing the doorbell showed lower correlations with measured hearing than the other questions. The discrimination score test is an inadequate tool for measuring hearing handicap.

Sizing up the competition: quantifying the influence of the mental lexicon on auditory and visual spoken word recognition.

PubMed

Strand, Julia F; Sommers, Mitchell S

2011-09-01

Much research has explored how spoken word recognition is influenced by the architecture and dynamics of the mental lexicon (e.g., Luce and Pisoni, 1998; McClelland and Elman, 1986). A more recent question is whether the processes underlying word recognition are unique to the auditory domain, or whether visually perceived (lipread) speech may also be sensitive to the structure of the mental lexicon (Auer, 2002; Mattys, Bernstein, and Auer, 2002). The current research was designed to test the hypothesis that both aurally and visually perceived spoken words are isolated in the mental lexicon as a function of their modality-specific perceptual similarity to other words. Lexical competition (the extent to which perceptually similar words influence recognition of a stimulus word) was quantified using metrics that are well-established in the literature, as well as a statistical method for calculating perceptual confusability based on the phi-square statistic. Both auditory and visual spoken word recognition were influenced by modality-specific lexical competition as well as stimulus word frequency. These findings extend the scope of activation-competition models of spoken word recognition and reinforce the hypothesis (Auer, 2002; Mattys et al., 2002) that perceptual and cognitive properties underlying spoken word recognition are not specific to the auditory domain. In addition, the results support the use of the phi-square statistic as a better predictor of lexical competition than metrics currently used in models of spoken word recognition. © 2011 Acoustical Society of America

Plasticity of orientation preference maps in the visual cortex of adult cats.

PubMed

Godde, Ben; Leonhardt, Ralph; Cords, Sven M; Dinse, Hubert R

2002-04-30

In contrast to the high degree of experience-dependent plasticity usually exhibited by cortical representational maps, a number of experiments performed in visual cortex suggest that the basic layout of orientation preference maps is only barely susceptible to activity-dependent modifications. In fact, most of what we know about activity-dependent plasticity in adults comes from experiments in somatosensory, auditory, or motor cortex. Applying a stimulation protocol that has been proven highly effective in other cortical areas, we demonstrate here that enforced synchronous cortical activity induces major changes of orientation preference maps (OPMs) in adult cats. Combining optical imaging of intrinsic signals and electrophysiological single-cell recordings, we show that a few hours of intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) lead to an enlargement of the cortical representational zone at the ICMS site and an extensive restructuring of the entire OPM layout up to several millimeters away, paralleled by dramatic changes of pinwheel numbers and locations. At the single-cell level, we found that the preferred orientation was shifted toward the orientation of the ICMS site over a region of up to 4 mm. Our results show that manipulating the synchronicity of cortical activity locally without invoking training, attention, or reinforcement, OPMs undergo large-scale reorganization reminiscent of plastic changes observed for nonvisual cortical maps. However, changes were much more widespread and enduring. Such large-scale restructuring of the visual cortical networks indicates a substantial capability for activity-dependent plasticity of adult visual cortex and may provide the basis for cognitive learning processes.

How Does Awareness Modulate Goal-Directed and Stimulus-Driven Shifts of Attention Triggered by Value Learning?

PubMed Central

Bourgeois, Alexia; Neveu, Rémi; Vuilleumier, Patrik

2016-01-01

In order to behave adaptively, attention can be directed in space either voluntarily (i.e., endogenously) according to strategic goals, or involuntarily (i.e., exogenously) through reflexive capture by salient or novel events. The emotional or motivational value of stimuli can also strongly influence attentional orienting. However, little is known about how reward-related effects compete or interact with endogenous and exogenous attention mechanisms, particularly outside of awareness. Here we developed a visual search paradigm to study subliminal value-based attentional orienting. We systematically manipulated goal-directed or stimulus-driven attentional orienting and examined whether an irrelevant, but previously rewarded stimulus could compete with both types of spatial attention during search. Critically, reward was learned without conscious awareness in a preceding phase where one among several visual symbols was consistently paired with a subliminal monetary reinforcement cue. Our results demonstrated that symbols previously associated with a monetary reward received higher attentional priority in the subsequent visual search task, even though these stimuli and reward were no longer task-relevant, and despite reward being unconsciously acquired. Thus, motivational processes operating independent of conscious awareness may provide powerful influences on mechanisms of attentional selection, which could mitigate both stimulus-driven and goal-directed shifts of attention. PMID:27483371

Potentiation of the early visual response to learned danger signals in adults and adolescents

PubMed Central

Howsley, Philippa; Jordan, Jeff; Johnston, Pat

2015-01-01

The reinforcing effects of aversive outcomes on avoidance behaviour are well established. However, their influence on perceptual processes is less well explored, especially during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Using electroencephalography, we examined whether learning to actively or passively avoid harm can modulate early visual responses in adolescents and adults. The task included two avoidance conditions, active and passive, where two different warning stimuli predicted the imminent, but avoidable, presentation of an aversive tone. To avoid the aversive outcome, participants had to learn to emit an action (active avoidance) for one of the warning stimuli and omit an action for the other (passive avoidance). Both adults and adolescents performed the task with a high degree of accuracy. For both adolescents and adults, increased N170 event-related potential amplitudes were found for both the active and the passive warning stimuli compared with control conditions. Moreover, the potentiation of the N170 to the warning stimuli was stable and long lasting. Developmental differences were also observed; adolescents showed greater potentiation of the N170 component to danger signals. These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that learned danger signals in an instrumental avoidance task can influence early visual sensory processes in both adults and adolescents. PMID:24652856

An Investigation into the Cognition Behind Spontaneous String Pulling in New Caledonian Crows

PubMed Central

Taylor, Alex H.; Medina, Felipe S.; Holzhaider, Jennifer C.; Hearne, Lindsay J.; Hunt, Gavin R.; Gray, Russell D.

2010-01-01

The ability of some bird species to pull up meat hung on a string is a famous example of spontaneous animal problem solving. The “insight” hypothesis claims that this complex behaviour is based on cognitive abilities such as mental scenario building and imagination. An operant conditioning account, in contrast, would claim that this spontaneity is due to each action in string pulling being reinforced by the meat moving closer and remaining closer to the bird on the perch. We presented experienced and naïve New Caledonian crows with a novel, visually restricted string-pulling problem that reduced the quality of visual feedback during string pulling. Experienced crows solved this problem with reduced efficiency and increased errors compared to their performance in standard string pulling. Naïve crows either failed or solved the problem by trial and error learning. However, when visual feedback was available via a mirror mounted next to the apparatus, two naïve crows were able to perform at the same level as the experienced group. Our results raise the possibility that spontaneous string pulling in New Caledonian crows may not be based on insight but on operant conditioning mediated by a perceptual-motor feedback cycle. PMID:20179759

Economic principles motivating social attention in humans.

PubMed

Hayden, Benjamin Y; Parikh, Purak C; Deaner, Robert O; Platt, Michael L

2007-07-22

We know little about the processes by which we evaluate the opportunity to look at another person. We propose that behavioural economics provides a powerful approach to understanding this basic aspect of social attention. We hypothesized that the decision process culminating in attention to another person follows the same economic principles that govern choices about rewards such as food, drinks and money. Specifically, such rewards are discounted as a function of time, are tradable for other rewards, and reinforce work. Behavioural and neurobiological evidence suggests that looking at other people can also be described as rewarding, but to what extent these economic principles apply to social orienting remains unknown. Here, we show that the opportunity to view pictures of the opposite sex is discounted by delay to viewing, substitutes for money and reinforces work. The reward value of photos of the opposite sex varied with physical attractiveness and was greater in men, suggesting differential utility of acquiring visual information about the opposite sex in men and women. Together, these results demonstrate that choosing whom to look at follows a general set of economic principles, implicating shared neural mechanisms in both social and non-social decision making.

Clinical application of carbon fibre reinforced plastic leg orthosis for polio survivors and its advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Hachisuka, K; Makino, K; Wada, F; Saeki, S; Yoshimoto, N; Arai, M

2006-08-01

A prospective study was carried out on the clinical application and features of a carbon fibre reinforced plastic leg orthosis (carbon orthosis) for polio survivors. The subjects comprised 9 polio survivors, and 11 carbon knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs) were prescribed, fabricated, and checked out at the authors' post-polio clinic. Walking was classified based on the functional ambulatory category, and the features of walking with a carbon orthosis were self-evaluated by using a visual analogue scale. The period from modelling a cast to completion was 55 +/- 25 days; the weight of a carbon KAFO was 27.8% lighter than that of the ordinary KAFO; the standard carbon KAFO was 50% more expensive than the ordinary KAFO. The carbon KAFO remained undamaged for at least 2 years. It improved the scores in the functional ambulation categories, but there was no difference between walking with an ordinary and with a carbon KAFO. The self-evaluation of walking with a carbon KAFO revealed that the subjects using a carbon KAFO were satisfied with their carbon KAFO. The carbon KAFO is lightweight, durable, slim and smart, and is positively indicated for polio survivors.

Measurement of Three-Dimensional Anisotropic Thermal Diffusivities for Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastics Using Lock-In Thermography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishizaki, Takuya; Nagano, Hosei

2015-11-01

A new measurement technique to measure the in-plane thermal diffusivity, the distribution of in-plane anisotropy, and the out-of-plane thermal diffusivity has been developed to evaluate the thermal conductivity of anisotropic materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs). The measurements were conducted by using a laser-spot-periodic-heating method. The temperature of the sample is detected by using lock-in thermography. Thermography can analyze the phase difference between the periodic heat input and the temperature response of the sample. Two kinds of samples, unidirectional (UD) and cross-ply (CP) pitch-based CFRPs, were fabricated and tested in an atmospheric condition. All carbon fibers of the UD sample run in one direction [90°]. The carbon fibers of the CP sample run in two directions [0°/90°]. It is found that, by using lock-in thermography, it is able to visualize the thermal anisotropy and calculate the angular dependence of the in-plane thermal diffusivity of the CFRPs. The out-of-plane thermal diffusivity of CFRPs was also measured by analyzing the frequency dependence of the phase difference.

Evaluation of Advanced Signal Processing Techniques to Improve Detection and Identification of Embedded Defects

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

Clayton, Dwight A.; Santos-Villalobos, Hector J.; Baba, Justin S.

By the end of 1996, 109 Nuclear Power Plants were operating in the United States, producing 22% of the Nation’s electricity [1]. At present, more than two thirds of these power plants are more than 40 years old. The purpose of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is to develop technologies and other solutions that can improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the operating lifetimes of nuclear power plants (NPPs) beyond 60 years [2]. The most important safety structures in an NPP are constructed of concrete. The structures generallymore » do not allow for destructive evaluation and access is limited to one side of the concrete element. Therefore, there is a need for techniques and technologies that can assess the internal health of complex, reinforced concrete structures nondestructively. Previously, we documented the challenges associated with Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of thick, reinforced concrete sections and prioritized conceptual designs of specimens that could be fabricated to represent NPP concrete structures [3]. Consequently, a 7 feet tall, by 7 feet wide, by 3 feet and 4-inch-thick concrete specimen was constructed with 2.257-inch-and 1-inch-diameter rebar every 6 to 12 inches. In addition, defects were embedded the specimen to assess the performance of existing and future NDE techniques. The defects were designed to give a mix of realistic and controlled defects for assessment of the necessary measures needed to overcome the challenges with more heavily reinforced concrete structures. Information on the embedded defects is documented in [4]. We also documented the superiority of Frequency Banded Decomposition (FBD) Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT) over conventional SAFT when probing defects under deep concrete cover. Improvements include seeing an intensity corresponding to a defect that is either not visible at all in regular, full frequency content SAFT, or an improvement in contrast over conventional SAFT reconstructed images. This report documents our efforts in four fronts: 1) Comparative study between traditional SAFT and FBD SAFT for concrete specimen with and without Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) damage, 2) improvement of our Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction (MBIR) for thick reinforced concrete [5], 3) development of a universal framework for sharing, reconstruction, and visualization of ultrasound NDE datasets, and 4) application of machine learning techniques for automated detection of ASR inside concrete. Our comparative study between FBD and traditional SAFT reconstruction images shows a clear difference between images of ASR and non-ASR specimens. In particular, the left first harmonic shows an increased contrast and sensitivity to ASR damage. For MBIR, we show the superiority of model-based techniques over delay and sum techniques such as SAFT. Improvements include elimination of artifacts caused by direct arrival signals, and increased contrast and Signal to Noise Ratio. For the universal framework, we document a format for data storage based on the HDF5 file format, and also propose a modular Graphic User Interface (GUI) for easy customization of data conversion, reconstruction, and visualization routines. Finally, two techniques for ASR automated detection are presented. The first technique is based on an analysis of the frequency content using Hilbert Transform Indicator (HTI) and the second technique employees Artificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques for training and classification of ultrasound data as ASR or non-ASR damaged classes. The ANN technique shows great potential with classification accuracy above 95%. These approaches are extensible to the detection of additional reinforced, thick concrete defects and damage.« less

[Effects of electromagnetic fields emitted by cellular phone on auditory and vestibular labyrinth].

PubMed

Sievert, U; Eggert, S; Goltz, S; Pau, H W

2007-04-01

It is the subject of this study to investigate the biological effect of the HF radiation produced by the Global System for Mobile Communications-( GSM)-mobile phone on the inner ear with its sensors of the vestibular and auditive systems. Thermographic investigations made on various model materials and on the human temporal bone should show whether mobile phone does induce any increases of temperature which would lead to a relevant stimulus for the auditive and vestibular system or not. We carried out video-nystagmographic recordings of 13 subjects, brainstem electric response audiometry of 24 ears, and recordings of distorsion products of otoacoustic emissions of 20 ears. All tests were made with and without a mobile phone in use. The data was then analyzed for variation patterns in the functional parameters of the hearing and balance system that are subject to the (non)existence of electromagnetic radiation from the mobile phone. The thermographic investigations suggest that the mobile phone does not induce any increases of temperature which would lead to a relevant stimulus for the auditive and vestibular system. Video-nystagmographic recordings under field effect do not furnish any indication of vestibular reactions generated by field effects. Compared with the recording without field, the brainstem electric response audiometry under field effect did not reveal any changes of the parameters investigated, i. e. absolute latency of the peaks I, III, V and the interpeak latency between the peaks I and V. The distorsion products of otoacoustic emissions do not indicate, comparing the three measuring situations, i. e. before field effect, pulsed field and continuous field, any possible impacts of the HF field on the spectrum or levels of emissions for none of the probands. The investigations made show that the electromagnetic fields generated in using the mobile phone do not have an effect on the inner ear and auditive system to the colliculus inferior in the brainstem and on the vestibular receptors in the inner ear and the vestibular system.

An epidemiologic study of tinnitus in a population in Jiangsu Province, China.

PubMed

Xu, Xia; Bu, Xingkuan; Zhou, Ling; Xing, Guangqian; Liu, Cheng; Wang, Dengyuan

2011-10-01

Tinnitus is a common complaint and often of no clinical significance. There are a number of unresolved issues concerning the etiology, pathogenesis, and natural history of tinnitus. There are a few current population-based estimates of the prevalence of tinnitus done in representative large geographic areas, but there is little data from multi-area, large sample studies of tinnitus in China. To investigate the prevalence of tinnitus and related factors in a Chinese population. These data would be used to plan and evaluate health-care services. We carried out an epidemiologic study of tinnitus as part of an epidemiologic study of ear and hearing disorders that was undertaken in Jiangsu Province, China. A question about tinnitus history was included in a comprehensive questionnaire about hearing. All participants also had both pure tone audiometry and an otological examination. The sample consisted of 6333 people 10 yr of age or older, selected by the methods of probability proportional to size. All participants answered a questionnaire concerning their tinnitus and had pure tone audiometry testing and an ear examination. All data were entered using EPIDATD 3.0 software and analyzed by a chi-squared test and test for trends. The overall prevalence of tinnitus was 14.5%, and the standardized rates were 11.4% in the whole country and 12.4% in Jiangsu province. Its prevalence increased with age. The prevalence of tinnitus was 11.9 and 15.6% in urban and rural residents, respectively There was no significant difference in prevalence between men and women. Hearing impairment, history of middle ear infections, and noise exposure were the main risk factors for tinnitus. Tinnitus is a common problem in the population. With the aging of the population, the prevalence of tinnitus will increase. The prevention of tinnitus should focus on hearing impairment screening, otitis media treatment, and noise exposure reduction. Health services in rural areas should emphasize prevention more. American Academy of Audiology.

[Audiological characteristics of young children with otitis media with effusion].

PubMed

Wang, Qiu-ju; Shi, Wei; Lan, Lan; Wang, Da-yong; Zhang, Ya-mei

2008-12-01

To characterize the audiological features in the infants with otitis media with effusion (OME) and to investigate the utility of variety of objective audiometry methods in diagnosis and intervention on OME. Fifty six infants (40 males and 16 females) were investigated, who were referred to our clinic at the General Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army by the other hospitals from December 2004 to June 2007 when the infants were diagnosed or highly suspected of OME. The ages at the initial diagnosis ranged from 42 days to three years, with an average of five months. The infants, after receiving the conventional otolaryngological exams, were subjected to the tests of auditory brainstem response (ABR), otoacoustic emission (OAE), tympanometry (226 Hz and 1000 Hz) and behaviors audiometry. Among 56 affected infants, 87 ears were diagnosed with OME, of which 31 infants were affected bilateral and 25 with monaural. For the 49 infants who received hearing screening at birth, 36 infants were referred at the initial screening. For the 52 infants who received repeated screening, all subjects were referred. Six infants without receiving hearing screening came to clinic when their parents observed their kids' hearing impairment. Among the 52 cases (104 ears) who received tympanometry test, 20 subjects (28 ears) showed B or C type tympanometry curve. Thirty-nine cases (78 ears) were given tympanometry test at 1000 Hz, of which 38 cases (55 ears) showed abnormal hearing. Among 56 infants (112 ears) with ABR test, 49 subjects (74 ears) exhibited prolonged ABR type I curve. All 56 infants (112 ears) received OAE test, of which 55 subjects (81 ears) were referred. Four infants (8 ears) accepted the behavior test and all of them showed A-B Gap. The combined tympanometry test at both 226 Hz and 1000 Hz, ABR latency or threshold test, infant's behavior test and OAE, used jointly, enable characterizing better OME in infants, thus helping early diagnosis of this hearing disorder.

Evaluation of peripheral auditory pathways and brainstem in obstructive sleep apnea.

PubMed

Matsumura, Erika; Matas, Carla Gentile; Magliaro, Fernanda Cristina Leite; Pedreño, Raquel Meirelles; Lorenzi-Filho, Geraldo; Sanches, Seisse Gabriela Gandolfi; Carvallo, Renata Mota Mamede

2016-11-25

Obstructive sleep apnea causes changes in normal sleep architecture, fragmenting it chronically with intermittent hypoxia, leading to serious health consequences in the long term. It is believed that the occurrence of respiratory events during sleep, such as apnea and hypopnea, can impair the transmission of nerve impulses along the auditory pathway that are highly dependent on the supply of oxygen. However, this association is not well established in the literature. To compare the evaluation of peripheral auditory pathway and brainstem among individuals with and without obstructive sleep apnea. The sample consisted of 38 adult males, mean age of 35.8 (±7.2), divided into four groups matched for age and Body Mass Index. The groups were classified based on polysomnography in: control (n=10), mild obstructive sleep apnea (n=11) moderate obstructive sleep apnea (n=8) and severe obstructive sleep apnea (n=9). All study subjects denied a history of risk for hearing loss and underwent audiometry, tympanometry, acoustic reflex and Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response. Statistical analyses were performed using three-factor ANOVA, 2-factor ANOVA, chi-square test, and Fisher's exact test. The significance level for all tests was 5%. There was no difference between the groups for hearing thresholds, tympanometry and evaluated Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response parameters. An association was observed between the presence of obstructive sleep apnea and changes in absolute latency of wave V (p=0.03). There was an association between moderate obstructive sleep apnea and change of the latency of wave V (p=0.01). The presence of obstructive sleep apnea is associated with changes in nerve conduction of acoustic stimuli in the auditory pathway in the brainstem. The increase in obstructive sleep apnea severity does not promote worsening of responses assessed by audiometry, tympanometry and Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response. Copyright © 2016 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

The efficacy and safety of systemic injection of Ginkgo biloba extract, EGb761, in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial.

PubMed

Koo, Ja-Won; Chang, Mun Young; Yun, Sung-Cheol; Kim, Tae Su; Kong, Soo-Keun; Chung, Jong Woo; Goh, Eui-Kyung

2016-09-01

Steroids are currently the most frequently accepted agents for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). However, the therapeutic effect of steroids is not always satisfactory. In this pilot study, we evaluated whether systemic treatment with Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb761) has an additive therapeutic effect in patients receiving a systemic steroid due to ISSNHL. A multicenter, randomized, double-blind clinical trial was performed. Fifty-six patients with ISSNHL were allocated to either EGb761 or placebo. In both groups, methylprednisolone was administered for 14 days. EGb761 was infused intravenously for 5 days in the EGb761 group, while the same amount of normal saline was infused in the placebo group. For the efficacy evaluation, pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) and short form-36 health (SF-36) survey outcomes were obtained before administration and on days 3, 5, 14 and 28 of administration. Twenty-four patients in each group completed the study protocol. There was no difference in hearing loss between the two groups before treatment. At day 28, air conduction threshold values in the placebo and EGb761 groups were 34.63 ± 28.90 and 23.84 ± 25.42 dB, respectively (p = 0.082). Speech discrimination scores in the placebo and EGb761 groups were 69.17 ± 40.89 and 87.48 ± 28.65 %, respectively (p = 0.050). THI and SF-36 scores in the placebo and EGb761 groups were similar. Although a combination of steroid and EGb761 for initial treatment did not show better pure tone threshold, compared with steroid alone, speech discrimination was significantly improved in combination therapy. Further studies will be needed to know if addition of EGb761 actually improves the outcome of ISSNHL treatment.

Effects of serum zinc level on tinnitus.

PubMed

Berkiten, Güler; Kumral, Tolgar Lütfi; Yıldırım, Güven; Salturk, Ziya; Uyar, Yavuz; Atar, Yavuz

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess zinc levels in tinnitus patients, and to evaluate the effects of zinc deficiency on tinnitus and hearing loss. One-hundred patients, who presented to an outpatient clinic with tinnitus between June 2009 and 2014, were included in the study. Patients were divided into three groups according to age: Group I (patients between 18 and 30years of age); Group II (patients between 31 and 60years of age); and Group III (patients between 61 and 78years of age). Following a complete ear, nose and throat examination, serum zinc levels were measured and the severity of tinnitus was quantified using the Tinnitus Severity Index Questionnaire (TSIQ). Patients were subsequently asked to provide a subjective judgment regarding the loudness of their tinnitus. The hearing status of patients was evaluated by audiometry and high-frequency audiometry. An average hearing sensitivity was calculated as the mean value of hearing thresholds between 250 and 20,000Hz. Serum zinc levels between 70 and 120μg/dl were considered normal. The severity and loudness of tinnitus, and the hearing thresholds of the normal zinc level and zinc-deficient groups, were compared. Twelve of 100 (12%) patients exhibited low zinc levels. The mean age of the zinc-deficient group was 65.41±12.77years. Serum zinc levels were significantly lower in group III (p<0.01). The severity and loudness of tinnitus were greater in zinc-deficient patients (p=0.011 and p=0.015, respectively). Moreover, the mean thresholds of air conduction were significantly higher in zinc-deficient patients (p=0.000). We observed that zinc levels decrease as age increases. In addition, there was a significant correlation between zinc level and the severity and loudness of tinnitus. Zinc deficiency was also associated with impairments in hearing thresholds. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Acute hearing loss and tinnitus caused by amplified recreational music].

PubMed

Metternich, F U; Brusis, T

1999-11-01

Hearing loss resulting from exposure to permanent or repeated amplified music in professional musicians and music consumers is described in literature. The risk of hearing loss does not exist only after prolonged exposure to music. Short-term exposure to very high sound levels, for example in concerts, can also cause hearing loss and tinnitus. The retrospective study includes 24 patients who required rheologic therapy between 1994 and 1997 due to a music related acoustic trauma. The type, intensity, and length of music exposure as well as the distance and the position to the source of noise were examined. The type of hearing damage and its development during rheological treatment was studied by pure-tone audiometry. In the majority of examined patients (67%) the hearing loss developed on the basis of one-time exposure at a rock concert or pop concert, followed by hearing loss from attending discotheques (17%) or parties (12%), and music exposure from personal cassette players (4%). The majority of patients showed a maximum hearing loss of 40-60 dB (A) in a frequency between 3 kHz and 4 kHz. Pure-tone audiometry in 58% of the patients exhibited a unilateral threshold in a frequency between 3 kHz and 4 kHz combined with ipsilateral tinnitus of the same frequency. Twenty-one percent of the patients showed a symmetric bilateral threshold and tinnitus between 3 kHz and 4 kHz. In 8% there was a unilateral tinnitus, and in 13% a bilateral tinnitus without any hearing loss. All patients improved their hearing loss during rheologic treatment. Improvement in the tinnitus was only achieved in 33% of the examined cases. The risk of permanent hearing loss resulting from short-term exposure to amplified music is low compared to the risk of continuous tinnitus. Given the lack of acceptance of personal ear protectors, the risk of acute hearing damage due to amplified music could be reduced by avoiding the immediate proximity to the speakers.

Effect of Reinforcement Architecture on Fracture of Selectively Reinforced Metallic Compact Tension Specimens

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abada, Christopher H.; Farley, Gary L.; Hyer, Michael W.

2006-01-01

A computer-based parametric study of the effect of reinforcement architectures on fracture response of aluminum compact-tension (CT) specimens is performed. Eleven different reinforcement architectures consisting of rectangular and triangular cross-section reinforcements were evaluated. Reinforced specimens produced between 13 and 28 percent higher fracture load than achieved with the non-reinforced case. Reinforcements with blunt leading edges (rectangular reinforcements) exhibited superior performance relative to the triangular reinforcements with sharp leading edges. Relative to the rectangular reinforcements, the most important architectural feature was reinforcement thickness. At failure, the reinforcements carried between 58 and 85 percent of the load applied to the specimen, suggesting that there is considerable load transfer between the base material and the reinforcement.

Reinforced cementoplasty using dedicated spindles in the management of unstable malignant lesions of the cervicotrochanteric region.

PubMed

Premat, Kévin; Clarençon, Frédéric; Bonaccorsi, Raphael; Degos, Vincent; Cormier, Évelyne; Chiras, Jacques

2017-09-01

In long bones, cementoplasty alone does not provide sufficient stability, which may cause secondary fractures. This study reviewed the safety and efficacy of reinforced cementoplasty (RC) (percutaneous internal fixation using dedicated spindles combined with cementoplasty) for unstable malignant lesions of the cervicotrochanteric region (CTR) of the proximal femur. Eighteen consecutive patients (nine women [50%] and nine men [50%]; mean age 55.1 ± 16.2 years; range 22-85) underwent RC for 19 unstable lesions of the CTR (16/19 [84.2%] bone metastases, 3/19 [15.8%] multiple myeloma lesions). All the patients were considered unsuitable for surgery. Clinical outcome was judged with a mean follow-up of 8.8 ± 7.2 months (range 1-27). The primary endpoints were occurrence of secondary fractures during the follow-up period and local pain relief measured by a visual analogue scale (VAS). No secondary fracture occurred. Mean VAS improved from 5.9 ± 3.1 (range 0-10) to 2.3 ± 2.4 (range 0-7) at 1 month (p = 0.001) to 1.6 ± 1.7 (range 0-5) at final follow-up (p = 0.0002). One symptomatic cement pulmonary embolism was recorded. RC is an original minimally invasive technique providing pain relief and effective bone stability for unstable malignant lesions of the cervicotrochanteric region in patients unsuitable for open surgery. • Reinforced cementoplasty (RC) combines intralesional spindling with cementoplasty. • RC provides effective bone stability and pain relief. • RC is a suitable minimally invasive option for patients in poor general condition.

Design of land-based, foam OTEC plants for bottoming cycles. [Design of waste-heat power plants based on foam OTEC power cycle

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

Molini, A. E.; Zener, C.; Fort, T. Jr.

1979-01-01

Open cycle OTEC technology suggests new concepts for the embediment of commercially feasible bottoming processes to recover energy from, and simultaneously minimize the environmental impact of, hot industrial effluents. The approach would make pollution abatement more economically attractive, yielding clean, low temperature flue gases while recovering a large portion of their thermal energy as electricity. The technology opens the use of lower quality fuels without fear of air pollution caused by their flue gases. Scrubbing would clean and cool the gases, yielding a hot fluid which after proper treatment would serve as the working fluid for open cycle systems usingmore » ambient air as the heat sink. Preparatory to demonstrating the Foam Energy Recovery Open Cycle System (FEROCS) at a 1 MW - 10 MW scale, a structural design was initiated for a unit 380 ft high visualized as an inverted, vertical, reinforced concrete U tube of 36 ft I.D. and walls 11 in. thick. The structure is feasible based on present construction practices with reinforced concrete in Puerto Rico. It would cost approximately $1.4 MM and consume 3800 yds/sup 3/ of concrete and 860 tons of reinforcing steel. To accelerate the demonstration of FEROCS, it is proposed to utilize artificially created temperature differences that can be readily obtained between industrial thermal effluents, for example flue gases at > 250/sup 0/F from fossil fuel fired steam generating plants, as the heat source and ambient air as the heat sink. Results are presented of a study made conceptualizing the process using different scrubbing-working fluids.« less

Trajectory-based visual localization in underwater surveying missions.

PubMed

Burguera, Antoni; Bonin-Font, Francisco; Oliver, Gabriel

2015-01-14

We present a new vision-based localization system applied to an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with limited sensing and computation capabilities. The traditional EKF-SLAM approaches are usually expensive in terms of execution time; the approach presented in this paper strengthens this method by adopting a trajectory-based schema that reduces the computational requirements. The pose of the vehicle is estimated using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), which predicts the vehicle motion by means of a visual odometer and corrects these predictions using the data associations (loop closures) between the current frame and the previous ones. One of the most important steps in this procedure is the image registration method, as it reinforces the data association and, thus, makes it possible to close loops reliably. Since the use of standard EKFs entail linearization errors that can distort the vehicle pose estimations, the approach has also been tested using an iterated Kalman filter (IEKF). Experiments have been conducted using a real underwater vehicle in controlled scenarios and in shallow sea waters, showing an excellent performance with very small errors, both in the vehicle pose and in the overall trajectory estimates.

Selection for Social Signalling Drives the Evolution of Chameleon Colour Change

PubMed Central

Stuart-Fox, Devi; Moussalli, Adnan

2008-01-01

Rapid colour change is a remarkable natural phenomenon that has evolved in several vertebrate and invertebrate lineages. The two principal explanations for the evolution of this adaptive strategy are (1) natural selection for crypsis (camouflage) against a range of different backgrounds and (2) selection for conspicuous social signals that maximise detectability to conspecifics, yet minimise exposure to predators because they are only briefly displayed. Here we show that evolutionary shifts in capacity for colour change in southern African dwarf chameleons (Bradypodion spp.) are associated with increasingly conspicuous signals used in male contests and courtship. To the chameleon visual system, species showing the most dramatic colour change display social signals that contrast most against the environmental background and amongst adjacent body regions. We found no evidence for the crypsis hypothesis, a finding reinforced by visual models of how both chameleons and their avian predators perceive chameleon colour variation. Instead, our results suggest that selection for conspicuous social signals drives the evolution of colour change in this system, supporting the view that transitory display traits should be under strong selection for signal detectability. PMID:18232740

Long-term memory of color stimuli in the jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchos).

PubMed

Bogale, Bezawork Afework; Sugawara, Satoshi; Sakano, Katsuhisa; Tsuda, Sonoko; Sugita, Shoei

2012-03-01

Wild-caught jungle crows (n = 20) were trained to discriminate between color stimuli in a two-alternative discrimination task. Next, crows were tested for long-term memory after 1-, 2-, 3-, 6-, and 10-month retention intervals. This preliminary study showed that jungle crows learn the task and reach a discrimination criterion (80% or more correct choices in two consecutive sessions of ten trials) in a few trials, and some even in a single session. Most, if not all, crows successfully remembered the constantly reinforced visual stimulus during training after all retention intervals. These results suggest that jungle crows have a high retention capacity for learned information, at least after a 10-month retention interval and make no or very few errors. This study is the first to show long-term memory capacity of color stimuli in corvids following a brief training that memory rather than rehearsal was apparent. Memory of visual color information is vital for exploitation of biological resources in crows. We suspect that jungle crows could remember the learned color discrimination task even after a much longer retention interval.

3-D localization of virtual sound sources: effects of visual environment, pointing method, and training.

PubMed

Majdak, Piotr; Goupell, Matthew J; Laback, Bernhard

2010-02-01

The ability to localize sound sources in three-dimensional space was tested in humans. In Experiment 1, naive subjects listened to noises filtered with subject-specific head-related transfer functions. The tested conditions included the pointing method (head or manual pointing) and the visual environment (VE; darkness or virtual VE). The localization performance was not significantly different between the pointing methods. The virtual VE significantly improved the horizontal precision and reduced the number of front-back confusions. These results show the benefit of using a virtual VE in sound localization tasks. In Experiment 2, subjects were provided with sound localization training. Over the course of training, the performance improved for all subjects, with the largest improvements occurring during the first 400 trials. The improvements beyond the first 400 trials were smaller. After the training, there was still no significant effect of pointing method, showing that the choice of either head- or manual-pointing method plays a minor role in sound localization performance. The results of Experiment 2 reinforce the importance of perceptual training for at least 400 trials in sound localization studies.

The intralaminar thalamus—an expressway linking visual stimuli to circuits determining agency and action selection

PubMed Central

Fisher, Simon D.; Reynolds, John N. J.

2014-01-01

Anatomical investigations have revealed connections between the intralaminar thalamic nuclei and areas such as the superior colliculus (SC) that receive short latency input from visual and auditory primary sensory areas. The intralaminar nuclei in turn project to the major input nucleus of the basal ganglia, the striatum, providing this nucleus with a source of subcortical excitatory input. Together with a converging input from the cerebral cortex, and a neuromodulatory dopaminergic input from the midbrain, the components previously found necessary for reinforcement learning in the basal ganglia are present. With this intralaminar sensory input, the basal ganglia are thought to play a primary role in determining what aspect of an organism’s own behavior has caused salient environmental changes. Additionally, subcortical loops through thalamic and basal ganglia nuclei are proposed to play a critical role in action selection. In this mini review we will consider the anatomical and physiological evidence underlying the existence of these circuits. We will propose how the circuits interact to modulate basal ganglia output and solve common behavioral learning problems of agency determination and action selection. PMID:24765070

Reverse Asteroids: Searching for an Effective Tool to Combat Asteroid Belt Misconceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Summers, F.; Eisenhamer, B.

2014-12-01

The public 'knows' that asteroid belts are densely packed and dangerous for spaceships to cross. Visuals from "Star Wars" to, unfortunately, the recent "Cosmos" TV series have firmly established this astronomical misconception. However, even scientifically correct graphics, such as the Minor Planet Center's plot of the inner solar system, reinforces that view. Each pixel in the image is more than a million kilometers in width, making an accurate representation of the object density impossible.To address this widespread misconception, we are investigating an educational exercise built around a computer interactive that we call "Reverse Asteroids". In the arcade classic video game, the asteroids came to the player's spaceship. For our reverse implementation, we consider an inquiry-based activity in which the spaceship must go hunting for the asteroids, using a database of real objects in our solar system. Both 3D data visualization and basic statistical analysis play crucial roles in bringing out the true space density within the asteroid belt, and perhaps a reconciliation between imagination and reality. We also emphasize that a partnership of scientists and educators is fundamental to the success of such projects.

A Visual Decision Aid for Gear Materials Selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maity, S. R.; Chakraborty, S.

2013-10-01

Materials play an important role during the entire design process and the designers need to identify materials with specific functionalities in order to find out feasible design concepts. While selecting materials for engineering designs from an ever-increasing array of alternatives, with each having its own characteristics, applications, advantages and limitations, a clear understanding of the functional requirements for each individual component is required and various important criteria need to be considered. Although various approaches have already been adopted by the past researchers to solve the material selection problems, they all require profound knowledge in mathematics from the part of the designers for their implementation. This paper proposes the application of an integrated preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation and geometrical analysis for interactive aid method as a visual decision aid for material selection. Two real time gear material selection problems are solved which prove the potentiality and usefulness of this combined approach. It is observed that Nitralloy 135M and Nylon glass fiber reinforced 6/6 are respectively the choicest metallic and non-metallic gear materials.

Face processing in different brain areas, and critical band masking.

PubMed

Rolls, Edmund T

2008-09-01

Neurophysiological evidence is described showing that some neurons in the macaque inferior temporal visual cortex have responses that are invariant with respect to the position, size, view, and spatial frequency of faces and objects, and that these neurons show rapid processing and rapid learning. Critical band spatial frequency masking is shown to be a property of these face-selective neurons and of the human visual perception of faces. Which face or object is present is encoded using a distributed representation in which each neuron conveys independent information in its firing rate, with little information evident in the relative time of firing of different neurons. This ensemble encoding has the advantages of maximizing the information in the representation useful for discrimination between stimuli using a simple weighted sum of the neuronal firing by the receiving neurons, generalization, and graceful degradation. These invariant representations are ideally suited to provide the inputs to brain regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala that learn the reinforcement associations of an individual's face, for then the learning, and the appropriate social and emotional responses generalize to other views of the same face. A theory is described of how such invariant representations may be produced by self-organizing learning in a hierarchically organized set of visual cortical areas with convergent connectivity. The theory utilizes either temporal or spatial continuity with an associative synaptic modification rule. Another population of neurons in the cortex in the superior temporal sulcus encodes other aspects of faces such as face expression, eye-gaze, face view, and whether the head is moving. These neurons thus provide important additional inputs to parts of the brain such as the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala that are involved in social communication and emotional behaviour. Outputs of these systems reach the amygdala, in which face-selective neurons are found, and also the orbitofrontal cortex, in which some neurons are tuned to face identity and others to face expression. In humans, activation of the orbitofrontal cortex is found when a change of face expression acts as a social signal that behaviour should change; and damage to the human orbitofrontal and pregenual cingulate cortex can impair face and voice expression identification, and also the reversal of emotional behaviour that normally occurs when reinforcers are reversed.

The representation of information about faces in the temporal and frontal lobes.

PubMed

Rolls, Edmund T

2007-01-07

Neurophysiological evidence is described showing that some neurons in the macaque inferior temporal visual cortex have responses that are invariant with respect to the position, size and view of faces and objects, and that these neurons show rapid processing and rapid learning. Which face or object is present is encoded using a distributed representation in which each neuron conveys independent information in its firing rate, with little information evident in the relative time of firing of different neurons. This ensemble encoding has the advantages of maximising the information in the representation useful for discrimination between stimuli using a simple weighted sum of the neuronal firing by the receiving neurons, generalisation and graceful degradation. These invariant representations are ideally suited to provide the inputs to brain regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala that learn the reinforcement associations of an individual's face, for then the learning, and the appropriate social and emotional responses, generalise to other views of the same face. A theory is described of how such invariant representations may be produced in a hierarchically organised set of visual cortical areas with convergent connectivity. The theory proposes that neurons in these visual areas use a modified Hebb synaptic modification rule with a short-term memory trace to capture whatever can be captured at each stage that is invariant about objects as the objects change in retinal view, position, size and rotation. Another population of neurons in the cortex in the superior temporal sulcus encodes other aspects of faces such as face expression, eye gaze, face view and whether the head is moving. These neurons thus provide important additional inputs to parts of the brain such as the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala that are involved in social communication and emotional behaviour. Outputs of these systems reach the amygdala, in which face-selective neurons are found, and also the orbitofrontal cortex, in which some neurons are tuned to face identity and others to face expression. In humans, activation of the orbitofrontal cortex is found when a change of face expression acts as a social signal that behaviour should change; and damage to the orbitofrontal cortex can impair face and voice expression identification, and also the reversal of emotional behaviour that normally occurs when reinforcers are reversed.

[Conversion of sound into auditory nerve action potentials].

PubMed

Encke, J; Kreh, J; Völk, F; Hemmert, W

2016-11-01

Outer hair cells play a major role in the hearing process: they amplify the motion of the basilar membrane up to a 1000-fold and at the same time sharpen the excitation patterns. These patterns are converted by inner hair cells into action potentials of the auditory nerve. Outer hair cells are delicate structures and easily damaged, e. g., by overexposure to noise. Hearing aids can amplify the amplitude of the excitation patterns, but they cannot restore their degraded frequency selectivity. Noise overexposure also leads to delayed degeneration of auditory nerve fibers, particularly those with low a spontaneous rate, which are important for the coding of sound in noise. However, this loss cannot be diagnosed by pure-tone audiometry.

Laser Doppler vibrometry: new ENT applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stasche, Norbert; Baermann, M.; Kempe, C.; Hoermann, Karl; Foth, Hans-Jochen

1996-12-01

Common audiometry often does not really allow a reliable and objective differential diagnosis of hearing disorders such as otosclerosis, adhesive otitis, ossicular interruption or tinnitus, even though several methods might be used complementarily. In recent years, some experimental studies on middle ear mechanics established laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) as a useful method allowing objective measurement of human tympanic membrane displacement. The present study on LDV investigated the clinical use of this new method under physiological conditions. LDV proved to be a fast, reproducible, non-invasive and very sensitive instrument to characterize ear-drum vibrations in various middle ear dysfunctions, except in tinnitus patients. For future applications, improved optical characteristics of the vibrometer might result in a better differential diagnosis of subjective and objective tinnitus, otoacoustic emissions or Morbus Meniere.

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Cross-Modal Phonetic Encoding.

PubMed

Shahin, Antoine J; Backer, Kristina C; Rosenblum, Lawrence D; Kerlin, Jess R

2018-02-14

Audiovisual (AV) integration is essential for speech comprehension, especially in adverse listening situations. Divergent, but not mutually exclusive, theories have been proposed to explain the neural mechanisms underlying AV integration. One theory advocates that this process occurs via interactions between the auditory and visual cortices, as opposed to fusion of AV percepts in a multisensory integrator. Building upon this idea, we proposed that AV integration in spoken language reflects visually induced weighting of phonetic representations at the auditory cortex. EEG was recorded while male and female human subjects watched and listened to videos of a speaker uttering consonant vowel (CV) syllables /ba/ and /fa/, presented in Auditory-only, AV congruent or incongruent contexts. Subjects reported whether they heard /ba/ or /fa/. We hypothesized that vision alters phonetic encoding by dynamically weighting which phonetic representation in the auditory cortex is strengthened or weakened. That is, when subjects are presented with visual /fa/ and acoustic /ba/ and hear /fa/ ( illusion-fa ), the visual input strengthens the weighting of the phone /f/ representation. When subjects are presented with visual /ba/ and acoustic /fa/ and hear /ba/ ( illusion-ba ), the visual input weakens the weighting of the phone /f/ representation. Indeed, we found an enlarged N1 auditory evoked potential when subjects perceived illusion-ba , and a reduced N1 when they perceived illusion-fa , mirroring the N1 behavior for /ba/ and /fa/ in Auditory-only settings. These effects were especially pronounced in individuals with more robust illusory perception. These findings provide evidence that visual speech modifies phonetic encoding at the auditory cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The current study presents evidence that audiovisual integration in spoken language occurs when one modality (vision) acts on representations of a second modality (audition). Using the McGurk illusion, we show that visual context primes phonetic representations at the auditory cortex, altering the auditory percept, evidenced by changes in the N1 auditory evoked potential. This finding reinforces the theory that audiovisual integration occurs via visual networks influencing phonetic representations in the auditory cortex. We believe that this will lead to the generation of new hypotheses regarding cross-modal mapping, particularly whether it occurs via direct or indirect routes (e.g., via a multisensory mediator). Copyright © 2018 the authors 0270-6474/18/381835-15$15.00/0.