Automation cueing modulates cerebral blood flow and vigilance in a simulated air traffic control task

Automation cueing of impending hazards or critical signals can have both beneficial and deleterious effects on the human operator, depending on automation reliability. To assess these effects, transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD), a low-cost non-invasive procedure that allows continuous monitoring of blood flow in the left and right cerebral hemispheres, was used to examine the influence of automation cues of varying reliability on vigilance performance in a 40-min simulated air traffic control task. Four levels of automation cue reliability (100, 80 and 40% reliable cueing and a no-cue control) were combined factorially with two levels of critical signal salience (high and low). For both levels of signal salience, the detection rate of critical signals was very high and remained stable over time with 100% cue-reliability, but declined over time in the remaining cue conditions, so that, by the end of the task, performance efficiency was best in the 100% condition followed in order by the 80%, 40%, and no-cue conditions. These performance effects for cueing were very closely mirrored by changes in cerebral blood flow in the right (but not the left) hemisphere in conjunction with low salience signals. The results fit well with an attentional resource model of vigilance and show that cerebral blood flow provides a metabolic index of the utilization of information-processing resources during sustained attention. The demonstration of systematic modulation of cerebral blood flow with time on task, automation cueing and signal salience also provides strong evidence for a right hemispheric brain system that is involved in the functional control of vigilance performance over time. Measurement of the activation of this system, as a reflection of operator mental workload, can, therefore, inform the design of optimal automation cueing.     

Mine-Product Variability Estimators Wth Emphasis on the Case of Coal

Two estimators are derived for the variability of small lots, such as barges or trains, around the mean of all small lots shipped in some fixed time frame such as a month or a quarter. These estimators are designed to account for simultaneous mining from any number of mining machines dispersed over a property and depend on the in situ spatial autocorrelation expressed by exploratory drill cores and in-mine sampling and on variability in mining-machine productivity. The two estimators, both approximations, are referred to as the expanded form and the reduced form. The reduced form is considerably easier to apply than the expanded form, although it requires more restrictive assumptions. A sensitivity analysis is provided that demonstrates the reasonableness of these stricter assumptions for mine plans and variograms typical of coal. Comparisons of estimated and actual mine-output variability are provided.     

Development of a Mini-mill Concept for the Recycling of Steel Mill Dusts in a TBRC Recovery of Zinc and Iron from Steel Mill Dusts by the Use of a TBRC

The search for an effective mini-mill solution to treat zinc containing filter dusts from steel industry or also from cupola furnaces has a long history but has not been very successful yet due to several reasons. Some of them are: unavailable technologies, the not well known and not developed product market by the steel producers, still relatively low treatment charges for the landfilling, and no effective solution for an additional iron recovery. The present paper describes a process where, in two subsequent steps by the use of a Top Blown Rotary Converter technology, a simultaneous recovery of zinc, iron, and other valuable metals should be possible. Investigations done in an advanced technical scale have given satisfying results. These data have allowed the calculation of a mass and energy balance. First economic considerations underline that, with such a concept, a feasible mini-mill solution could be established for the mentioned residues.     

QoS differentiation and Internet neutrality

Internet neutrality is a debate controversial to a tiered, application-aware Internet. Bandwidth and end-to-end delay of connections across the Internet may vary by several orders of magnitude, therefore unequal data handling per node is commonly applied to achieve differentiated QoS. This practice contradicts Internet neutrality if it is not restricted to pure application awareness. A strict separation of network operation from service provisioning would perfectly fit to achieve Internet neutrality. But this may lack economic business models for network operators, especially in a flat-rate world. This paper provides a review on differentiated quality requirements, discusses the different viewpoints of network and content providers, and closes with a discussion on potential differentiated charging intended to achieve a fair, autonomous, and cost-related revenue distribution among stakeholders.     

Statistical Dictionary of Terms and Symbols

Any device being used to record a time series has a natural maximum reading frequency which it is impossible or impractical to exceed, and this limits the absolute frequency range over which a spectrum estimate may be made. It is shown that if one may use two such devices, which do not have the same sampling period, to measure the the same process, then spectrum estimates may be made over a wider absolute frequency range than would normally be possible. Upper bounds to the asymptotic variance of such estimates are calculated and discussed.

The situation is treated as a particular type of missing data problem, and part of the work presented here applies to a larger class of missing data problems (those with periodic amplitude modulating function.)     

BaTiO3–P(VDF-HFP) nanocomposite dielectrics—Influence of surface modification and dispersion additives

We report on BaTiO₃–polymer composites as dielectrics for film capacitors. BaTiO₃ was synthesized by a sol–gel soft-chemistry method leading to spherical nanoparticles with a high degree of surface hydroxyl groups which turned out to be important for the bonding of surfactant molecules. As surfactants, n-octylphosphonic acid and 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl phosphonic acid were used to inhibit particle agglomeration and to improve the wetting behaviour with the polymer. The phosphonic acid-coated BaTiO₃ nanoparticles were dispersed in solutions of poly(vinylidefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene). Composite films were prepared by the spin-coating technique. A systematic study was performed on the influence of varying oxide fractions, different surfactants and the effect of additional dispersion aids such as sodium dodecyl sulphate or BYK-W 9010 on the quality and dielectric properties of the films obtained. The chemical adjustment of the 2,3,4,5,6-pentaflourobenzyl phosphonic acid within the fluorinated organic host form a more uniform particle distribution and increase relative permittivity of the resulting composite material compared to the unflourinated surfactant. Additionally, an enhancement of the relative permittivity can be realized by adding of dispersants. These two components can increase the relative permittivity by factor 5 compared to the pure polymer material.     

MMPI differentiation of panic disorder patients from other psychiatric outpatients.

A variety of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) techniques were used to determine differences in psychopathology between 60 outpatient panic disorder patients (PDPs) and 60 demographically matched psychiatric controls (PCs). PDPs showed less psychopathology than PCs on the clinical scales. PDPs had more neurotic code-type profiles, and PCs had more characterological profiles. An empirically constructed panic disorder (Pan) scale correctly classified 72% of PDPs and PCs in the cross-validation sample and 83% of the combined samples, suggesting potential clinical utility and the need for further validation. There were significant differences between PDPs with or without agoraphobia on the clinical scales or Pan scale. The Pan scale successfully differentiated PDPs from a small sample of PCs diagnosed with nonpanic anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)