Using Virtual Pheromones and Cameras for Dispersing a Team of Multiple Miniature Robots

To safely and efficiently guide personnel of search and rescue operations in disaster areas, swift gathering of relevant information such as the locations of victims, must occur. Using the concept of ‘repellent virtual pheromones’ inspired by insect colony coordination behaviors, miniature robots can be quickly dispersed to survey a disaster site. Assisted by visual servoing, dispersion of the miniature robots can quickly cover an area. An external observer such as another robot or an overhead camera is brought into the control loop to provide each miniature robot estimations of the positions of all of the other near-by robots in the robotic team. These miniature robots can then move away from the other near-by robots on the team, resulting in the robot collective becoming swiftly distributed through the local area. The technique has been simulated with differing pheromone persistence levels and implemented using the miniature Scout robots, developed by the Center for Distributed Robotics at the University of Minnesota, which are well-suited to surveillance and reconnaissance missions.     

Organizational strategies with unilateral or bilateral frontal lobe injury in word learning tasks.

To define the capacity to organize verbal learning after frontal lobe injury, 32 patients with stable frontal lesions were evaluated with list learning tasks. Lesion size and site were determined from CAT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The lists were contructed to assess several potential organizational processes. A mild deficit in recognition performance was observed in patients with left frontal lesions accompanied by residual minor language impairments or in patients with septal lesions. Patients with frontal lesions also had a verbal recall deficit that was related to several factors: poor higher order organization of learning, independent of lesion size or site; a selective secondary memory impairment, associated with a language deficit and size of the lesion in the left frontal region; and excess intralist repetitions in patients with right frontal lesions. Impaired list learning after frontal lesions involves several independent psychological processes. This functional heterogeneity is based on regional anatomical specialization and dissociation of task processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Issues in the development of reliable measures in addiction research: Introduction to Project MATCH assessment strategies.

This article provides an introduction to the 5 instrument articles in this special section, each of which presents a psychometric evaluation of a self-administered questionnaire developed for use in addictions treatment research. An overview of measurement theory is presented, and social-psychological factors that affect reliability and validity are considered. The instruments evaluated in this issue are summarized, and the 2 common data sources for the 5 reports, the Project MATCH baseline data set and the Project MATCH Reliability Study, are described. The article concludes with a brief summary that offers recommendations regarding how psychometric investigation should be undertaken and applied to the development of self-report questionnaires in addictions research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

OLED显示技术在军事中的应用

在旧式战争影片中,常常可以看到这样一个情景:一些士兵挤在一个掩体中,费力地试图查阅一幅皱皱巴巴的、老旧的战场地图,炮火在其周围爆炸。他们所要了解的,只不过是在山那边或者树丛的另一侧有些什么情况,他们所倚重的地图实际已经过时,污秽不堪,沾满油垢,看起来很费劲,而且,地图上的一个错误就会造成灾难性的后果。对今天装备更加现代化的军人来说,古老的地图将被电子化的产品所取代。人们非常希望电子技术最终能为士兵提供一种更好的作战手段。举例来说,不妨把一块平板显示屏添加到通信系统上,从而能够让士兵实时观察山头的情况,并全面了…     

Characterization of the electrophoretic mobility of gold nanoparticles with different sizes using the nanoporous alumina membrane system

This work presents a new analytical system to study the electrophoretic mobility of gold nanoparticles with different sizes, in which the platinum-coated alumina membranes are used as the separator due to the high pore densities, rigid support structure, chemical and thermal stability. It is shown that the electrophoretic mobility of gold nanoparticles is dependent on the nature of mobile phase and interfacial properties of alumina channels. The transport performance of nanoparticles are improved with the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) into the mobile phase, because SDS not only decreases the physical adsorption of gold nanoparticles on the nano-channel wall of alumina membrane, but also reduces the thickness of the electric double layer (decreasing the apparent size of particles). When the alumina membranes were modified with 6-aminohexanoic acid, it was further confirmed that the physical adsorption played a key role for the electrophoretic mobility of gold nanoparticles. Under optimized conditions, the mobility of gold nanoparticles had a fairly linear dependence on particle size (R² > 0.99), reiterating that our membrane system was also capable of characterizing gold nanoparticles in nanometer-size regimes.     

Social desirability responding in the measurement of assertive behavior.

Investigated social desirability responding in the measurement of assertive behavior. 30 22–56 yr old middle-class women completed self-report and analogue behavioral measures of assertion and anxiety before and after assertiveness training. The measures included the Assertion Inventory, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and role-played assertiveness scenes during a telephone call. Consistent with social desirability theory and research, high social desirability scorers described themselves as more assertive and less anxious than low scorers, but were behaviorally less assertive than low scorers. Although both high and low scorers improved their assertion skills, high scorers did not appear less anxious after assertiveness training, unlike low scorers. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metalimnetic Oxygen Minima in Lake Ontario, 1972

Dissolved oxygen profiles taken in Lake Ontario in 1972 indicate the presence of a distinct and persistent metalimnetic oxygen minimum during the stratified season. Evidence indicates the phenomenon occurred in previous years as well. The depth and magnitude of the minimum were closely related to the thermocline depth and strength of stratification. Lowest minimum values in 1972 occurred in early to mid September and were 8.6 mg/l dissolved oxygen and 82% saturation. Offshore the minimum decreased from west to east across the lake and was lesser in magnitude nearshore and in the northeast. During the nonstratified period oxygen concentrations remained relatively constant with depth at approximately saturated values.     

Does the Vocational Exploration and Insight Kit equal the sum of its parts? A comparison study.

This study compared the effects of a new vocational intervention, the Vocational Exploration and Insight Kit (VEIK), with those of the Self-Directed Search (SDS) and the Vocational Card Sort (VCS). Ss were 103 female undergraduates. Effects of the 3 procedures were measured by a Career Alternatives and Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Vocational Exploration Behavior Checklist, and the Feedback Sheet. The SDS, VCS, and VEIK had small and similar effects on Ss' vocational behavior. Findings lend support to counselor-free techniques as appropriate and inexpensive methods of career exploration. The use of certain criteria for outcome studies of vocational interventions is also discussed. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterization of stability of performance in patients with traumatic brain injury: Variability and consistency on reaction time tests.

The stability of performance of reaction times (RTs) on 3 visual discrimination tasks was assessed in patients with varying severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and in matched control Ss. Results were analyzed for group and individual variability and consistency of performance over time. There was significantly greater intersubject (group) variability in the TBI group. Individual patients (intrasubject) tended to be more variable in performance and less consistent over time than control Ss, but this occurred only with specific measures, which suggests that increased lack of stability in performance is not a general impairment after brain damage but requires specific analyses for identification of performance differences. This intrasubject variability was indepedent of test–retest and split-half test reliability. No obvious factors such as severity of brain injury were related to the variability and inconsistency of performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)