Can pilots time-share better than non-pilots?

Time-sharing performance of a group of pilots was compared with that of a group of college students. In a secondary task paradigm, both groups were required to perform five dual tasks with various degrees of structural similarity. A higher degree of task interference was observed for the structurally more similar task pairs. The data were consistent with the results from previous research and support the concept of multiple resources. Although the pilots appeared to be more efficient in one of the dual task conditions, evidence for a general difference in time-sharing ability between the students and the pilots was not compelling. It was concluded that the degree to which time-sharing performance is structure dependent is not easily alterable by training. The results suggested that laboratory findings on the structural determinants of time-sharing efficiency are generalisable to operational environments.     

Multiple Testing in Regression Models With Applications to Fault Diagnosis in the Big Data Era

Motivated by applications to root-cause identification of faults in multistage manufacturing processes that involve a large number of tools or equipment at each stage, we consider multiple testing in regression models whose outputs represent the quality characteristics of a multistage manufacturing process. Because of the large number of input variables that correspond to the tools or equipments used, this falls in the framework of regression modeling in the modern era of big data. On the other hand, with quick fault detection and diagnosis followed by tool rectification, sparsity can be assumed in the regression model. We introduce a new approach to address the multiple testing problem and demonstrate its advantages over existing methods. We also illustrate its performance in an application to semiconductor wafer fabrication that motivated this development. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Rats with area postrema lesions have lengthy eating and drinking bouts when fed ad libitum: implications for feedback inhibition of ingestive behavior

Ad libitum ingestive behavior of rats with area postrema lesions (APX) was monitored electronically every 6 s for 23 hr. Whereas control rats ate on average 32.2 g of food each day in 16.3 distinct bouts, rats with APX ate comparable amounts of food (28.6 g) in much fewer daily bouts (5.8) that were very large. Controls drank 38.4 ml of water daily in 17.8 bouts, whereas rats with APX consumed more than twice as much water (101.5 ml) in a similar number of bouts (18.5). Controls drank 5.3 ml of 0.5 M NaCl daily in 7.0 bouts, whereas rats with APX consumed 9 times as much saline (45.5 ml) in more bouts (18.2) that were relatively large. These and other results suggest that the area postrema plays an important role in detecting inhibitory signals generated by food or fluid intake and that feeding and drinking bouts may increase in size after APX, because the feedback inhibition provided by those signals is diminished.     

Lead leaching from pressure cookers

Leachability of lead by tap water and tamarind solution from Indian pressure cookers while cooking with and without a safety valve is studied. Lead contamination of food by cookers is not very high when compared to the daily intake of lead from various food items consumed by the Indian community. However, looking at the very wide range of lead levels leached from various brands of pressure cookers, it certainly seems possible to keep the lead contamination to the minimum by proper choice of the materials used in the manufacture of these pressure cookers. The rubber gasket, which is a very important component of any pressure cooker, contains the maximum lead concentration; the safety valve is another important source leading to lead contamination of cooked food.     

渤海湾盆地演化特征与构造样式

应用勘探地震信息，分析研究了渤海湾贫地从中、上元古代、古生代、中生代到新生代，地质发展历史演化特征，并根据临清地震剖面显示，探索该区在演变历史进程中地壳层厚度的民应力环境转化的规律；论述了盆地在３次断陷－坳陷期形成的力学机制；在综合论述的基础上，归纳总结出盆地内有７种类型盖层构造特征的展布样式。文章最后概述了盆地成油成藏条件与规律并强调进一步加强古生界油气藏勘探与研究的重要意义。