Effects of talker familiarity on communication breakdown in conversations with adult cochlear-implant users

This investigation had three objectives: a) to determine the types of repair strategies that cochlear-implant users implement to rectify communication breakdowns during ongoing conversation when talking to either familiar or unfamiliar communication partners, b) to determine how communication partners respond to particular types of repair strategies, and c) to describe the use of conversational behaviors that might circumvent communication difficulties. In Experiment 1, cochlear-implant subjects were videotaped while talking to familiar and then unfamiliar communication partners. In Experiment 2, a second group of cochlear-implant subjects were videotaped while speaking with an unfamiliar partner for 6.5 minutes. Analysis of the videotapes revealed that the cochlear-implant subjects in the two experiments most commonly asked "what?," "huh," or "pardon?" after not recognizing a spoken message (e.g., following a communication breakdown), regardless of whether the communication partner was familiar or unfamiliar. Communication partners' more common response to this repair strategy was to repeat the original message. When cochlear-implant subjects repeated back the segment of a message that they understood, communication partners most often confirmed or corrected them. When they requested information, communication partners usually provided it. The cochlear-implant subjects were more likely to use controlling conversational behaviors when interacting with unfamiliar than familiar communication partners. We conclude that repair strategy-response adjacency pairs may emerge during spontaneous conversations. Use of both specific and nonspecific repair strategies may indicate cochlear-implant users' adherence to a cooperative principle.     

A longitudinal study of the effects of Internet use and videogame playing on academic performance and the roles of gender, race and income in these relationships

In this research we examined the effects of Internet use and videogame playing on children’s academic performance. Gender, race, and income were also considered. Participants were 482 youth, average age 12 years old. One-third were African American and two-thirds were Caucasian American. All measures were completed twice, first in Year 1 and then one year later, Year 2. Results indicated that greater Internet use was associated with better reading skills, but only for youth initially low in reading skills. Videogame playing was associated with better visual-spatial skill but also with lower GPAs. Gender, race and income influenced Internet use, videogame playing and academic performance but not the relationships between using these technologies and academic performance. Implications of the results for increasing the benefits of technology use are discussed.     

Runtime analysis of the (mu+1) EA on simple Pseudo-Boolean functions

Although Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) have been successfully applied to optimization in discrete search spaces, theoretical developments remain weak, in particular for population-based EAs. This paper presents a first rigorous analysis of the (mu+1) EA on pseudo-Boolean functions. Using three well-known example functions from the analysis of the (1+1) EA, we derive bounds on the expected runtime and success probability. For two of these functions, upper and lower bounds on the expected runtime are tight, and on all three functions, the (mu+1) EA is never more efficient than the (1+1) EA. Moreover, all lower bounds grow with mu. On a more complicated function, however, a small increase of mu probably decreases the expected runtime drastically.This paper develops a new proof technique that bounds the runtime of the (mu+1) EA. It investigates the stochastic process for creating family trees of individuals; the depth of these trees is bounded. Thereby, the progress of the population towards the optimum is captured. This new technique is general enough to be applied to other population-based EAs.     

Information technology use and creativity: Findings from the Children and Technology Project

This research examined relationships between children’s information technology (IT) use and their creativity. Four types of information technology were considered: computer use, Internet use, videogame playing and cell phone use. A multidimensional measure of creativity was developed based on  and  test of creative thinking. Participants were 491 12-year olds; 53% were female, 34% were African American and 66% were Caucasian American. Results indicated that videogame playing predicted of all measures of creativity. Regardless of gender or race, greater videogame playing was associated with greater creativity. Type of videogame (e.g., violent, interpersonal) was unrelated to videogame effects on creativity. Gender but not race differences were obtained in the amount and type of videogame playing, but not in creativity. Implications of the findings for future research to test the causal relationship between videogame playing and creativity and to identify mediator and moderator variables are discussed.     

The effects of handedness and reachability on perceived distance.

Previous research has suggested that perceived distances are scaled by the action capabilities of the body. The present studies showed that when “reachability” is constrained due to a difficult grasp required to pick up an object, perceived distance to the object increases. Participants estimated the distances to tools with handle orientations that made them either easy or difficult to grasp with their dominant and nondominant hands. Right-handed participants perceived tools that were more difficult to grasp to be farther away than tools that were easier to grasp. However, perceived distance did not differ in left-handed participants. These studies suggest that, when reaching toward a target, the distance to that target is scaled in terms of how far one can effectively reach, given the type of reaching posture that is executed. Furthermore, this effect is modulated by handedness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SIMULATION OF THE PROCESS STABILITY OF HPC MILLING OPERATIONS

The optimisation of high-performance cutting (HPC) processes under technological and economical aspects often proves to be extremely difficult due to the appearance of process instabilities, so-called “chatter”. The identification of ideal process parameters often involves the systematic testing with varied cutting parameters. Simulation of the process stability offers a less costly way of optimising processes prior to production. However, the predictions for the stability of high performance milling processes exhibit great deviation from experimental results. The objective is to analyse and to prevent errors within the simulation methods to make stability simulation a reliable tool in process planning. In order to improve the quality of stability simulation, the interacting Systems “Machine Tool” and “Cutting Process” are analysed individually. Methods for the coupled simulation of both systems are implemented to identify stable working conditions. As a result of this work, a time domain simulation environment for the investigation of high performance milling operations is presented. It considers the complex behaviour of the cutting process as well as the speed dependent machine tool dynamics. Cutting tests have been conducted to verify the benefit of the enhanced simulation method.     

同时提取大豆中的油脂和蛋白质的工艺

近几年来 ,国外油脂科技的发展非常迅速 ,特别是在油脂工程的大型化、规模化 ,以及油脂工厂自动控制方面发展尤为迅速 ,同时 ,在油脂、油料蛋白及其功能性的研究方面也取得了不少重要成果。应广大读者的要求 ,《中国油脂》杂志从本期开始增加“国外动态”栏目 ,以期让广大读者了解更多国外新技术的动态。本期我刊选编了由国家粮食储备局西安油脂科学研究设计院武丽荣工程师根据“2 0 0 2年北京国际大豆技术及开发合作研讨会暨展示会 (CISCE2 0 0 2 )”的论文编译了几则有关油脂加工方面的论文 (摘编 ) ,这些论文从不同侧面反映了国外油脂行业的一种信息 ,以促进我国油脂工业的发展 ,进而促进我国油脂行业的科技进步     

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