Recency effects as a window to generalization: Separating decisional and perceptual sequential effects in category learning.

Accounts of learning and generalization typically focus on factors related to lasting changes in representation (i.e., long-term memory). The authors present evidence that shorter term effects also play a critical role in determining performance and that these recency effects can be subdivided into perceptual and decisional components. Experimental results based on a probabilistic category structure show that the previous stimulus exerts a contrastive effect on the current percept (perceptual recency) and that responses are biased toward or away from the previous feedback, depending on the similarity between successive stimuli (decisional recency). A method for assessing these recency effects is presented that clarifies open questions regarding stimulus generalization and perceptual contrast effects in categorization and in other domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Effectiveness of Early Head Start for 3-Year-Old Children and Their Parents: Lessons for Policy and Programs.

Early Head Start, a federal program begun in 1995 for low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers, was evaluated through a randomized trial of 3,001 families in 17 programs. Interviews with primary caregivers, child assessments, and observations of parent-child interactions were completed when children were 3 years old. Caregivers were diverse in race-ethnicity, language, and other characteristics. Regression-adjusted impact analyses showed that 3-year-old program children performed better than did control children in cognitive and language development, displayed higher emotional engagement of the parent and sustained attention with play objects, and were lower in aggressive behavior. Compared with controls, Early Head Start parents were more emotionally supportive, provided more language and learning stimulation, read to their children more, and spanked less. The strongest and most numerous impacts were for programs that offered a mix of home-visiting and center-based services and that fully implemented the performance standards early. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A framework for determining design correctness

Quality is one of the main concerns in today's systems and software development and use. One important instrument in verification is the use of formal methods, which means that requirements and designs are analyzed formally to determine their relationships. Furthermore, since professional software design is to an increasing extent a distributed process, the issue of integrating different systems to an entity is of great importance in modern system development and design. Various candidates for formalizing system development and integration have prevailed, but very often, particularly for dynamic conflict detection, these introduce non-standard objects and formalisms, leading to severe confusion, both regarding the semantics and the computability. In contrast to such, we introduce a framework for defining requirement fulfillment by designs, detecting conflicts of various kinds as well as integration of heterogeneous schemata. The framework introduced transcends ordinary logical consequence, as it takes into account static and dynamic aspects of design consistency and, in particular, the specific features of the state space of a specification. Another feature of the approach is that it provides a unifying framework for design conflict analysis and schema integration.     

Analytical Model Development for Stokes-Type Settling in a Solidifying Fluid

Analytical modeling was used to track the mudline displacement of a simulated fluid dispersion that underwent a simulated linear increase in the fluid viscosity as a function of time following an induction period. Modeling results indicate two regimes of settling behavior from the driving force of density differences between the particles and the fluid. A linear mudline movement was first determined in the regime of constant viscosity, and a logarithmic retarded mudline movement was numerically determined following a linear rise in fluid viscosity. The results show that the combination of settling and solidification leads to a transitional mudline movement similar to batch settling curves described by early settling theories.     

Modelling the dynamics of design error induced rework in construction

Rework that is experienced in construction projects is often caused by errors made during the design process. Factors that contribute to design errors are identified and used to design and develop a systems dynamics model, which is used to simulate a number of practical scenarios that can be used to reduce design errors and rework. The model presented in this paper can enable design and project managers to understand better the process of design documentation and how design errors occur in construction projects.     

Quantifying the causes and costs of rework in construction

Very few construction companies and consulting firms in Australia measure their costs of quality. Consequently, it is difficult for them to prove that systems for preventing quality failures are cost-effective. Although the direct costs of a quality system can be quantified with some accuracy (salaries, costs of documentation, audits, etc.), the corresponding benefits are far more difficult to assess. Indeed quality failures have become an endemic feature of the procurement process in construction and invariably lead to time and cost overruns in projects. Thus, in order to improve the performance of projects it is necessary to identify the causes and costs rework. The research presented in this paper quantifies the causes, magnitude and costs of rework experienced in two construction projects that were procured using different contractual arrangements. The causes and costs of rework projects are analysed and discussed. The findings reveal that the cost of rework for the case study projects was 3.15% and 2.40% of their project contract value. Changes initiated by the client and end-user together with errors and omissions in contract documentation were found to be the primary causes of rework. It is recommended that construction companies and consultant firms (particularly design consultants) implement quality management practices as well as place emphasis on coordinating project documentation during the design development process so that the amount of rework in projects can be reduced or even eliminated.     

On the performance of random vector quantization limited feedback beamforming in a MISO system

In multiple antenna wireless systems, beamforming is a simple technique for guarding against the negative effects of fading. Unfortunately, beamforming requires the transmitter to have knowledge of the forward-link channel which is often not available a priori. One way of overcoming this problem is to design the beamforming vector using a limited number of feedback bits sent from the receiver to the transmitter. In limited feedback beamforming, the beamforming vector is restricted to lie in a codebook that is known to both the transmitter and receiver. Random vector quantization (RVQ) is a simple approach to codebook design that generates the vectors independently from a uniform distribution on the complex unit sphere. This correspondence presents performance analysis results for RVQ limited feedback beamforming     

Effects of dental trauma on the pulp

Infection of the root canal system following dental trauma induces pulp and periapical disease and prevents healing of previously healthy pulp. A clinical goal in treating trauma is the maintenance of pulp vitality, and clinicians should be aware of factors that influence pulp healing. The learning objective of this article is to review the factors and techniques that influence pulp vitality and examine the influence pulp has on the healing of adjacent tissues. The potential routes for bacterial infection of the root canal system are discussed, with the clinical crown as the primary portal of entry. Uncomplicated and complicated crown fractures, as well as the crown-root and root fractures, are reviewed. Complications in pulp healing include canal obliteration, disturbed root development, apexogenesis, apexification, and the various forms of resorption.     

Effect of particulate/matrix debonding on the formation of adiabatic shear bands

We use the cohesive zone failure model to simulate debonding and failure in high strain-rate plane strain deformations of a heat conducting particulate composite comprised of initially circular metallic particulates immersed in a metallic matrix, with the goal of delineating the effect of these failures on the initiation and propagation of adiabatic shear bands (ASBs). Failure is assumed to ensue at an interface between two elements when a predefined combination of the normal and the tangential tractions on that interface reaches a critical value. We postulate that the critical value of the traction in the cohesive zone failure model decreases affinely with an increase in the temperature. Both particulate and matrix materials are assumed to be isotropic, heat conducting, and to obey the von Mises yield criterion with the flow stress depending upon the effective strain, the effective strain rate, and the temperature according to the Johnson-Cook relation. The coupled transient thermomechanical problem is analyzed by the finite element method by using 3-node triangular elements and the finite calculus technique to prevent volumetric locking. It is found that the critical strength of the bond between the particulate and the matrix significantly influences the loss of strength of the entire specimen. The time of initiation of an ASB is influenced by the time when debonding ensues which depends upon the values of the critical traction and the mode-mixity parameter in the cohesive zone failure criterion.     

A particulate basis for a lattice-gas model of amphiphilic fluids

We show that the flux-field expansion derived by Boghosian & Coveney for the Rothman-Keller immiscible fluid model can be derived in a simpler and more general way in terms of the completely symmetric tensor kernels introduced by those authors. Using this generalized flux-field expansion we show that the more complex amphiphilic model of Boghosian, Coveney & Emerton can also be derived from an underlying model of particle interactions. The consequences of this derivation are discussed in the context of previous equilibrium Ising-like lattice models and other non-equilibrium mesoscale models.