Age differences in identifying words in synthetic speech

OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether context or different speech rates could improve older adult performance on identification of synthetically generated words. BACKGROUND: Synthetic speech systems can potentially improve the daily functioning of older adults. However, research must determine whether older adults can effectively implement current text-to-speech technologies, which few studies have examined. Older adults' sensory and cognitive declines may cause difficulties in identifying words in synthetic speech. METHODS: Ninety-six participants (young, middle-aged, and older adults) identified auditory monosyllabic words (half natural, half synthetic) presented in isolation or at the ends of sentences. Participants heard speech at either normal or slower rates. RESULTS: We found an interaction of age, context, and voice type and that slower speech rates worsened performance for all groups. Contrasts revealed that context reduced age differences, though only for natural speech. Hearing acuity was highly correlated with age and fully accounts for the interaction. CONCLUSIONS: Context improves performance for everyone in natural speech. However, whereas context improves performance for synthetic speech, it does not differentially reduce the age impairment for older adults. Slower speed generally impairs everyone's performance compared with the normal rate. APPLICATIONS: Systems using synthetic speech should avoid presenting words in isolation, and rich contextual support should be consistently adopted. Synthetic speech fidelity must be improved significantly before becoming truly useful for older adult populations.     

Exploring the impact of software requirements on system-wide goals: a method using satisfaction arguments and i* goal modelling

This paper describes the application of requirements engineering concepts to support the analysis of the impact of new software systems on system-wide goals. Requirements on a new or revised software component of a socio-technical system not only have implications on the goals of the subsystem itself, but they also impact upon the goals of the existing integrated system. In industries such as air traffic management and healthcare, impacts need to be identified and demonstrated in order to assess concerns such as risk, safety, and accuracy. A method called PiLGRIM was developed which integrates means-end relationships within goal modelling with knowledge associated with the application domain. The relationship between domain knowledge and requirements, as described in a satisfaction argument, adds traceability rationale to help determine the impacts of new requirements across a network of heterogeneous actors. We report procedures that human analysts follow to use the concepts of satisfaction arguments in a software tool for i* goal modelling. Results were demonstrated using models and arguments developed in two case studies, each featuring a distinct socio-technical system??a new controlled airspace infringement detection tool for NATS (the UK??s air navigation service provider), and a new version of the UK??s HIV/AIDS patient reporting system. Results provided evidence towards our claims that the conceptual integration of i* and satisfaction arguments is usable and useful to human analysts, and that the PiLGRIM impact analysis procedures and tool support are effective and scalable to model and analyse large and complex socio-technical systems.     

The interplay of memory and judgment processes in effects of aging on hindsight bias.

Hindsight bias is the phenomenon that after people are presented with the correct answer to a question, their judgment regarding their own past answer to this question is biased toward the correct answer. In three experiments, younger and older adults gave numerical responses to general-knowledge questions and later attempted to recall their responses. For some questions, the correct answer was provided during recall (Experiment 1) or before recall (Experiments 2 and 3). Multinomial model-based analyses show age differences in both recollection bias and reconstruction bias when the correct judgment was in working memory during the recall phase. The authors discuss implications for theories of cognitive aging and theories of hindsight bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information Technology in Civil Engineering Curriculum

The fast-moving world of information technology confronts the civil engineer with constant change. This creates challenges for educators and students because rapid change requires curricula to be flexible and educators to gain competency and access to new equipment and software. Whereas a decade ago, civil engineering educators debated how to teach “programming,” the picture is now much more complex. The paper reports on how information technologies are changing the practice of civil engineering and offers a new framework for integrating next-generation information technology into the civil engineering curriculum at the department level.     

Institutional Analysis of Infrastructure Problems: Case Study of Water Quality in Distribution Systems

Civil engineers working with public infrastructure face institutional problems, but they are hard to explain and no effective methodology for analyzing them has been available to civil engineers. As applied to public infrastructure, the term “institution” includes more than agencies and organizations, and extends to laws, customs, and management behaviors. A methodology for institutional analysis should provide a systematic way to answer questions about infrastructure that include: what are the laws and controls; what are the incentives; who has control and which roles; and what is the management culture? The methodology is presented and a case study of institutional problems with water quality in distribution systems identifies technical issues and gaps in institutional arrangements that inhibit solutions to them: fragmented authority, inadequate legal controls stemming from poor technical understanding, faulty incentive structures, management cultures, and unclear roles and responsibilities, made worse by difficulties in enabling the players to undertake their responsibilities. It was evident from the case study that unless institutional problems are addressed, progress is not possible on the technical and management issues. Whereas the elements of institutional analysis are not new, the methodology offers a repeatable way to structure the analysis.     

Exchange Relationships: Examining Psychological Contracts and Perceived Organizational Support.

The authors surveyed 347 public sector employees on 4 measurement occasions to investigate the conceptual distinctiveness of the psychological contract and perceived organizational support (POS) and how they are associated over time. Results support the distinctiveness of the 2 concepts. In terms of their interrelationships over time, by drawing on psychological contract theory the authors found little support for a reciprocal relationship between POS and psychological contract fulfillment. Under an alternative set of hypotheses, by drawing on organizational support theory and by separating psychological contract fulfillment into its 2 components (perceived employer obligations and inducements), the authors found that perceived employer inducements were positively related to POS, which, in turn, was negatively related to perceived employer obligations. The results suggest that POS and the components of psychological contract fulfillment are more important in predicting organizational citizenship behavior than psychological contract fulfillment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Stress and Coping Model of Medication Adherence and Viral Load in HIV-Positive Men and Women on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART).

The authors tested a structural model that incorporated age, time since diagnosis, social support, coping, and negative mood as predictors of medication adherence and HIV viral load on 188 men and 134 women on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The authors used psychosocial latent factors formed from baseline measures to predict latent factors of adherence, as assessed by electronic monitoring and self-report, and viral load defined by indicators assessed over a 15-month period. Results from the model indicate that greater negative mood and lower social support are related to greater use of avoidance-oriented coping strategies. Use of these coping strategies by patients on HAART is related to poorer medication adherence and, subsequently, higher viral load. This model advances researchers' understanding of the contribution of psychosocial variables in predicting treatment adherence and disease progression in HIV-positive men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)