How does a box work? A study in the qualitative dynamics of solid objects

This paper is an in-depth study of qualitative physical reasoning about one particular scenario: using a box to carry a collection of objects from one place to another. Specifically we consider the plan, plan1 “Load objects uCargo into box oBox one by one; carry oBox from location l1 to location l2”. We present qualitative constraints on the shape, starting position, and material properties of uCargo and oBox and on the characteristics of the motion that suffice to make it virtually certain that plan1 can be successfully executed. We develop a theory, consisting mostly of first-order statements together with two default rules, that supports an inference of the form “If conditions XYZ hold, and the agent attempts to carry out plan1 then presumably he will succeed”. Our theory is elaboration tolerant in the sense that carrying out the analogous inference for carrying objects in boxes with lids, in boxes with small holes, or on trays can reuse much of the same knowledge. The theory integrates reasoning about continuous time, Euclidean space, commonsense dynamics of solid objects, and semantics of partially specified plans.     

Learning from instructional animations: How does prior knowledge mediate the effect of visual cues?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cueing and prior knowledge on learning and mental effort of students studying an animation with narration. This study employed a 2 (no cueing vs. visual cueing) × 2 (low vs. high prior knowledge) between‐subjects factorial design. The results revealed a significant interaction effect between prior knowledge and cueing on learning. Low prior knowledge learners had higher scores after studying an instructional animation with visual cues, compared to those who studied the same instructional animation without visual cues. Conversely, when cues were not provided, high prior knowledge learners outperformed those high prior knowledge learners who studied with the cued version of an instructional animation. These results indicated that the effects of cueing in an instructional animation change depending on the learners' level of prior knowledge. Specifically, low prior knowledge learners benefited more when visual cues were provided, whereas cues did not facilitate learning for high prior knowledge learners.     

Is the use of information and communication technology related to performance in working memory tasks? Evidence from seventh-grade students

The main purpose of this study was to assess whether seventh-grade students use of information and communication technology (ICT) was related to performance on working memory tasks. In addition, the study tested whether the relationship between ICT use and performance on working memory tasks interacted with seventh-grade students’ socioeconomic level and gender. 275 students recruited from 30 Chilean schools were grouped according to their self-reported use of PC, the Internet, Chat and Video games. To assess students’ working memory performance, they were tested with a digit span test and a visuo-spatial measure. Only one of our two dependent variables reflected a relationship between specific profiles of ICT use and working memory. Higher scores on the digits span test were related to those user profiles combining PC use and video game play, that is, those identified as Full users and as PC and Console Gamers. We did not find an interaction effect of gender and ICT use or an interaction effect of socioeconomic level and ICT use. There are three possible explanations for these results: first, a proclivity of students with higher working memory capacity to engage in technology use; second, an impact on working memory of potential differences in multitasking; and, third, an impact on working memory of video game play. However, these results must be interpreted cautiously since scores on the GEFT, our visuo-spatial working memory measure, were not related to any profile of technology use. As serious educational games become more regularly used at school, previous differences in video game experience become growingly important. Future research must study whether the intended benefits of serious educational games are being mediated by individual differences in previous exposure to video games and other information and computer technologies, with independence of the directionality of the relationship between video game play and working memory.     

Wireless messaging: ready to take center stage in the US?

After the initial hype, WAP, the wireless application protocol, aka the Wireless Internet, has disappointed many users. In the US, the wireless powers-that-be continue to look for wireless data service offerings to compete with voice as a revenue generator. Wireless messaging services have yet to take hold in the US, despite their success in Japan and Europe; the author gives some reasons why     

The secretome of the working human skeletal muscle—A promising opportunity to combat the metabolic disaster?

Recent years have provided clear evidence for the skeletal muscle as an endocrine organ. Muscle contraction during physical activity has emerged as an important activator of the release of the proteins and peptides called “myokines." Diverse proteomic profiling approaches were applied to rodent and human skeletal muscle cells to characterize the complete secretome, to study the regulation of the secretome during cell differentiation or the release of myokines upon contractile activity of myotubes. Several of the exercise-regulated factors have the potency to mediate an interorgan crosstalk. The paracrine function of the secreted peptides and proteins to regulate muscle regeneration, tissue remodeling, and trainability can have direct effects on whole-body glucose disposal and oxygen consumption. The overall composition and dynamic of the myokinome are still incompletely characterized. Recent advantages in metabolomics and lipidomics will add metabolites and lipids with autocrine, paracrine, or endocrine function to the contraction-induced secretome of the skeletal muscle. The identification of these metabolites will lead to a more comprehensive view described by a new myo(metabo)kinome consisting of peptides, proteins, and metabolites.     

Speaking in noise: How does the Lombard effect improve acoustic contrasts between speech and ambient noise?

What makes speech produced in the presence of noise (Lombard speech) more intelligible than conversational speech produced in quiet conditions? This study investigates the hypothesis that speakers modify their speech in the presence of noise in such a way that acoustic contrasts between their speech and the background noise are enhanced, which would improve speech audibility.Ten French speakers were recorded while playing an interactive game first in quiet condition, then in two types of noisy conditions with different spectral characteristics: a broadband noise (BB) and a cocktail-party noise (CKTL), both played over loudspeakers at 86 dB SPL.Similarly to (Lu and Cooke, 2009b), our results suggest no systematic “active” adaptation of the whole speech spectrum or vocal intensity to the spectral characteristics of the ambient noise. Regardless of the type of noise, the gender or the type of speech segment, the primary strategy was to speak louder in noise, with a greater adaptation in BB noise and an emphasis on vowels rather than any type of consonants.Active strategies were evidenced, but were subtle and of second order to the primary strategy of speaking louder: for each gender, fundamental frequency (f₀) and first formant frequency (F1) were modified in cocktail-party noise in a way that optimized the release in energetic masking induced by this type of noise. Furthermore, speakers showed two additional modifications as compared to shouted speech, which therefore cannot be interpreted in terms of vocal effort only: they enhanced the modulation of their speech in f₀ and vocal intensity and they boosted their speech spectrum specifically around 3 kHz, in the region of maximum ear sensitivity associated with the actor's or singer's formant.     

On the Development of Applications of Logic in Programming

1.Preliminary RemarksBy Logic we mean the discipline which includes proof theory,model theory,recur-sion thoery and axiomatic set theory.In recent years there is a growing recognition of therelevance of logic to computer programming.The close relationship between these twofields seems to be aptly capsuled in the formula proposed by Patrick Hayes among others     

When does an easy task become hard? A systematic review of human task-evoked pupillary dynamics versus cognitive efforts

The amount of working memory recourses available (or required) to process a cognitive task (easy or hard) represents human cognitive effort. Working memory resources (visual or auditory) and cognitive efforts are interconnected with visual or auditory pathways. In this review, various facets of pupillary dynamics literature are compared in order to determine an optimal method of cognitive effort assessment. Some key categorical areas of interest are identified including the presented stimulus, observed response, comparisons and different methods of analysis. In details review, a set of predetermined evaluation criteria were used and a decision matrix is developed to outline the best practice in papillary dynamics. Based on the summery table in the form of the decision matrix, a quantitative model with artificial neural network (ANN) is selected for a best practice of cognitive effort estimation. The mental multiplication task is found an effective stimulus (cognitive task) to evoke the pupillary response for various level of task difficulty. In most cases, aural and visual are considered as two presentation modes, two sensory inputs, and two mental resources and greatly imparts in cognitive workload. Through this review, it is also explored that, linking together by transfer and error functions, a combination of an ANN and a multinomial processing tree can used in cognitive effort analysis. This research direction can further explored to estimate the relationship between cognitive task and cognitive effort, to facilitate in technology development for neurological disorders, such as narcolepsy, on the neural pathways involved in cognitive processing.

     

On the effect of quantum noise in a quantum prisoner’s dilemma cellular automaton

The disrupting effect of quantum noise on the dynamics of a spatial quantum formulation of the iterated prisoner’s dilemma game with variable entangling is studied in this work. The game is played in the cellular automata manner, i.e., with local and synchronous interaction. It is concluded in this article that quantum noise induces in fair games the need for higher entanglement in order to make possible the emergence of the strategy pair (Q, Q), which produces the same payoff of mutual cooperation. In unfair quantum versus classic player games, quantum noise delays the prevalence of the quantum player.     

On the applicability of capability models for small software organizations: does the use of standard processes lead to a better achievement of business goals?

The ISO/IEC 15504 standard implies that the use of its level-based capability model for software process development leads to a better business performance. At capability level 3, this would mean that there is not only a positive correlation but also a causal relation from the use of standard processes to better achievement of business goals. In this paper, we make this claim explicit and challenge it with a counterargument in the context of small software organizations. We argue that in most part, the way the software is designed is what determines the business success in software development, and when application domains are complex socio-technical systems, relying on a standard process instead of human expertise not only fails to answer the promise of process stability but also presents business risks related to poor design, a loss of diversity, and reduced adaptability. With reasons to believe that the standard’s claim is weak in this context, we come up with alternative explanations for why some small software organizations nevertheless use standard processes. Through these hypotheses, we argue that the reasons are not necessarily process-related. In closing, we suggest further studies on how the standard’s notion of process capability and business goals relate to each other when the application domain is not just complicated but complex.     

On the use of multibody dynamics techniques to simulate fluid dynamics and fluid–solid interaction problems

Multibody System Dynamics - A multibody dynamics-based solution to the fluid dynamics problem is compared herein to two established Lagrangian-based techniques used by the computational fluid...     

On the belief in avatars: what on earth have the aesthetics of the Byzantine icons to do with the avatar in social technologies?

This article looks at the digital portrait used in the form of avatars in various online worlds and communication networks. It describes an ongoing modal shift from an ontological understanding of the portrait towards the portrait as performative acting.

In accordance with the Western semiotic divide between representational fiction and material reality proper, the avatar-portrait is often still described as a representation that depicts the subject on the basis of a conceptual segregation between the living subject and the portrait. But the avatar-portrait functions as embodiment, thereby fulfilling a mainly performative purpose that triggers the participant's belief in the other's avatar.

The paper looks at Eastern iconology, where the iconic portrait is an energetic transmitter in which the depiction and the depicted converge in the belief in the realness of the picture. Key concepts such as prototype, archetype and inverse perspective are discussed and applied to the art piece Can You See Me Now? by Blast Theory.     

On the Formalization of the Modal μ-Calculus in the Calculus of Inductive Constructions

We present a natural deduction proof system for the propositional modal μ-calculus and its formalization in the calculus of inductive constructions. We address several problematic issues, such as the use of higher-order abstract syntax in inductive sets in the presence of recursive constructors, and the formalization of modal (sequent-style) rules and of context sensitive grammars. The formalization can be used in the system Coq, providing an experimental computer-aided proof environment for the interactive development of error-free proofs in the modal μ-calculus. The techniques we adopt can be readily ported to other languages and proof systems featuring similar problematic issues.     

Website design: place for luxury brands in cyberspace?

A great challenge for luxury marketers is how to harness Internet’s incredible influence on customers while still maintaining and adhering to the customer-based brand equity (CBE) of luxury brands. This study aims to investigate the effect of website design on the CBE of luxury brands. Integrating the research on aesthetic design and luxury branding, we develop and empirically validate a research model, specifying that two aesthetic design dimensions (aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal) can stimulate a strong sense of luxury, which in turn leads to a positive evaluation of CBE. Furthermore, the effect of aesthetic design on the sense of luxury is contingent upon brand familiarity prior to the exposure of a luxury brand website. The research model is validated with a survey study involving 201 participants. The paper includes implications for website design to deliver online brand experience and develop CBE with specific online consumer groups. As an early attempt to examine the website design effect on online branding experience and brand equity, this study contributes to both literature of website aesthetics and online luxury branding.     

How does organisational absorptive capacity matter in the assimilation of enterprise information systems?

Extant literature offers two mostly distinct perspectives on enterprise systems assimilation – driven either by internal expertise and learning capability or by external institutional pressures. This study combines the two perspectives and subscribes to the view that organisations’ learning capability moderates their acquiescence to institutional pressures. The study then anchors organisational learning capability to the concept of absorptive capacity and proposes that its two dimensions – potential absorptive capacity (PACAP) and realised absorptive capacity (RACAP) – affect enterprise systems assimilation through different pathways. Our survey‐based empirical study of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in the post‐implementation stage reveals that while both PACAP and RACAP have a positive direct impact on assimilation, PACAP positively moderates the impact of mimetic (institutional) pressures, but not normative (institutional) pressures, on assimilation; whereas RACAP positively moderates the impact of normative pressures, but not mimetic pressures, on assimilation. Thus, our theoretical contribution lies in understanding the distinct ways in which PACAP and RACAP moderate the influence of external institutional pressures on enterprise systems assimilation.     

Satellite‐based assessment of the dynamics of new lakes in southern Egypt

Lakes in arid landscapes are indicators of environmental change and important sources of water for human use. In regions without in situ hydrologic measurements, remote sensing may provide the only means to monitor long‐term changes in water storage. We used a synergistic combination of multiple satellite remote‐sensing methods to provide the first comprehensive assessment of the dynamics of a newly formed chain of large lakes in the hyper‐arid Toshka Depression of southern Egypt. A total of 145 MODIS and AVHRR satellite images were used to monitor changes in lake surface area, which increased to a maximum of 1740 km² before declining to 900 km². Two methods were tested for satellite‐based measurement of lake levels and volumes, one based on analysis of a digital elevation model and one using data from the ICESat GLAS laser altimeter. This study shows the power of satellite remote sensing for long‐term monitoring of regional‐scale hydrologic transformations.     

Explaining the split-attention effect: Is the reduction of extraneous cognitive load accompanied by an increase in germane cognitive load?

The phenomenon that the physical integration of verbal and pictorial information sources, compared to their physical separation, enhances learning is known as the split-attention effect. This paper investigates how the split-attention effect can be best explained against the background of cognitive load theory. In an experimental study, students learned about physiological processes with either an integrated or a split-source format. Secondary task performance was used to measure overall cognitive load, whereas subjective ratings were used to measure intrinsic, extraneous and germane load individually. Learners with split-source format achieved lower learning outcomes, but did not show worse secondary task performance than learners with integrated format. These results contradict the assumption that only an increase in extraneous load for learners with a split-source format mediates the split-attention effect. Mediation analyses of the subjective load ratings revealed that both, extraneous and germane load contributed to the split-attention effect. These results support the assumption that germane load also plays a crucial role in mediating the split-attention effect.     

Modelling the dynamics of the students’ academic performance in the German region of the North Rhine-Westphalia: an epidemiological approach with uncertainty

Student academic underachievement is a concern of paramount importance in Europe, where around 15% of the students in the last high school courses do not achieve the minimum knowledge academic requirement. In this paper, we propose a model based on a system of differential equations to study the dynamics of the students’ academic performance in the German region of the North Rhine-Westphalia. This approach is supported by the idea that both good and bad study habits, are a mixture of personal decisions and influence of classmates. This model allows us to forecast the student academic performance by means of confidence intervals over the next few years.