Age effects in coding tasks: Componential analysis and test of the sensory deficit hypothesis.

Multiple forms of a symbol-digit substitution task were used to provide a componential analysis of age differences in coding task performance. The results demonstrated age differences in feature encoding, memory, and visual search. A 2nd experiment was conducted with young adults to investigate a sensory deficit as a locus of age differences. The spatial contrast sensitivity deficit of older adults was simulated on forms by applying a digital filter. Persons in the age-simulated contrast condition performed worse than those in the normal contrast condition. The stimulus degradation effect was linked to visual search speed. The study illustrates the utility of componential analysis and offers direct support for the hypothesis that sensory deficits affect performance on tasks used to assess intelligence (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic dimensional reduction and meshing of stiffened thin-wall structures

The creation of idealised, dimensionally reduced meshes for preliminary design and optimisation remains a time-consuming, manual task. A dimensionally reduced model is ideal for assessing design changes through modification of element properties without the need to create a new geometry or mesh. In this paper, a novel approach for automating the creation of mixed dimensional meshes is presented. The input to the process is a solid model which has been decomposed into a non-manifold assembly of smaller volumes with different meshing significance. Associativity between the original solid model and the dimensionally reduced equivalent is maintained. The approach is validated by means of a free-free modal analysis on an output mesh of a gas turbine engine component of industrial complexity. Extensions and enhancements to this work are also discussed.     

Towards locally and globally shape-aware reverse 3D modeling

The process of re-creating CAD models from actual physical parts, formally known as digital shape reconstruction (DSR) is an integral part of product development, especially in re-design. While, the majority of current methods used in DSR are surface-based, our overarching goal is to obtain direct parameterization of 3D meshes, by avoiding the actual segmentation of the mesh into different surfaces. As a first step towards reverse modeling physical parts, we extract (1) locally prominent cross-sections (PCS) from triangular meshes, and (2) organize and cluster them into sweep components, which form the basic building blocks of the re-created CAD model. In this paper, we introduce two new algorithms derived from Locally Linear Embedding (LLE) (Roweis and Sauk, 2000 [3]) and Affinity Propagation (AP) (Frey and Dueck, 2007 [4]) for organizing and clustering PCS. The LLE algorithm analyzes the cross-sections (PCS) using their geometric properties to build a global manifold in an embedded space. The AP algorithm, then clusters the local cross sections by propagating affinities among them in the embedded space to form different sweep components. We demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of the algorithms through many examples including actual laser-scanned (point cloud) mechanical parts.     

Multiparty sensemaking: A technology‐vendor selection case study

Information system (IS) procurement history is replete with poorly executed, multimillion dollar procurement decisions. Yet we barely understand what effective IS procurement should look like. IS procurement is highly challenging, as it requires the client to simultaneously select a technology and vendor. This paper explores the technology‐vendor selection process through the sensemaking perspective. Our study develops a sensemaking model for technology‐vendor selection that connects the multiple rounds of client‐vendor communicative actions with the client's sensemaking process. We show how the client reconciles fragmented and sometimes conflicting cues and information through three intertwined cycles: immediate, retrospective, and decision. Sensebreaking occurs as a separate process (and not a communicative action) when disruptive cues occur persistently and from different vendors over multiple rounds of sensemaking. We derive a set of critical factors, on the basis of the sensemaking perspective, for selecting an appropriate vendor and technical solution. These insights in turn help explain many poorly executed IS procurement decisions.     

Determining the parametric effectiveness of a CAD model

The motivation for this paper is to present an approach for rating the quality of the parameters in a computer-aided design model for use as optimization variables. Parametric Effectiveness is computed as the ratio of change in performance achieved by perturbing the parameters in the optimum way, to the change in performance that would be achieved by allowing the boundary of the model to move without the constraint on shape change enforced by the CAD parameterization. The approach is applied in this paper to optimization based on adjoint shape sensitivity analyses. The derivation of parametric effectiveness is presented for optimization both with and without the constraint of constant volume. In both cases, the movement of the boundary is normalized with respect to a small root mean squared movement of the boundary. The approach can be used to select an initial search direction in parameter space, or to select sets of model parameters which have the greatest ability to improve model performance. The approach is applied to a number of example 2D and 3D FEA and CFD problems.     

Semiempirical and ab initio conformational analysis of 2-methylene-8,8-dimethyl-1,4,6,10-tetraoxaspiro[4.5] decane with application of GIAO-SCF methods to NMR spectrum interpretation

The GIAO-SCF method for calculating isotropic nuclear magnetic shielding values has been utilized to explain certain features in the ¹H-NMR spectrum of 2-methylene-8,8-dimethyl-1,4,6,10-tetraoxaspiro[4.5] decane. Population distributions of the low-energy conformers based on their ab initio energies were used to produce weighting factors for the individual calculated shielding values to calculate the weighted average of the shielding values for a complete set of conformers. The differences in ¹H chemical shifts between the hydrogens of the two methyl groups and between the axial and equatorial hydrogens in 2-methylene-8,8-dimethyl-1,4,6,10-tetraoxaspiro[4.5] decane were shown to be due to energy differences between the chair and boat orientations of the six-membered ring and contribution from a twist-boat conformation. Results suggest a hypothesis that intramolecular differences in chemical shift might be calculated to a greater degree of accuracy than chemical shifts calculated relative to a standard.     

Control Mechanisms and Agile Methodology Use: Data from the Industry

This research investigates the relationship between the degree of agile methodology use and four types of control mechanisms that are widely used in the management of a software project and its personnel: outcome control, behavioral control, clan control, and self-control. We conducted two studies: a survey of software professionals and a follow-up interview in six organizations. We found the following: 1) software professionals reported high outcome and clan controls regardless of their levels of agile methodology use; 2) the high agile group reported some use of behavioral and self-controls while the low agile group did not; 3) even though behavioral control was minimum in the low agile group, all professionals we interviewed strongly agreed that using established materials and following existing procedures should be standardized practices in software development. Implications of this research are discussed.     

The Variety of Scale

It is a truism that the essential qualities of a work of architecture cannot, since architecture is a visual art, be fully conveyed in words. No one would seriously maintain that this absolves those whose business it is to write or talk about architecture from the obligation to use words with some regard for exactness. Yet all too often we behave as if it did; certain words are bandied about as if all were agreed as to what they meant at any time, whereas in fact they may mean different things at different times, and even different things to different people at one time. Cecil Elliott here takes up the case of one such word, a small but much-abused one, isolating four distinct phenomena which it can denote in an architectural context and pursuing his inquiry beyond the realm of semantics to consider their practical implications for the designer.     

Validation of a Method for Quantitation of Soybean Lectin in Commercial Varieties

Soybean agglutinin (SBA) protein, also known as soybean lectin, is regarded as an anti‐nutrient due to its negative effect on the ability of monogastric animals to gain weight following consumption of raw soybean seed. Historically, SBA has been measured using a time‐consuming and cumbersome hemagglutination procedure. The objective of our research was to obtain a validated methodology that is precise and accurate in the measurement of SBA while allowing minimally equipped laboratories to effectively conduct the analysis, thus our focus was on evaluating an existing commercially available ELISA, an enzyme‐linked‐lectin‐assay (ELLA), and a hybrid ELISA/ELLA. A new ELLA technique that can detect and quantify lectins was chosen and modified specifically for the quantitation of SBA in soybean seed. The proposed ELLA methodology is similar to a standard sandwich ELISA, and uses polyacrylamide‐linked N‐acetylgalactosamine (Gal–NAc–PAA) for a capture phase and the biotinylated version (Gal–NAc–PAA–Biotin) for detection. Based upon the validation data, the ELLA method can precisely and accurately determine soybean lectin levels in soybean seed. The validated ELLA method was used to quantify SBA in nine commercial soybean varieties introduced between 1972 and 2008 and demonstrated that the natural variability of SBA is subject to the effects of genotype and environment.