Amodal completion of partly occluded surfaces: Is there a mosaic stage?

Recent investigators have proposed that amodal completion is a sequential process requiring a preliminary mosaic stage. Results of 6 studies of the time course of completion processes show support for this mosaic-first view with pictorial displays, but not with displays involving occlusion specified by binocular parallax or when pictorial displays were observed monocularly. These results still do not rule out the mosaic-first view. A parallel model, however, can account more economically for the available data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reaction sequences in the formation of silico-ferrites of calcium and aluminum in iron ore sinter

Complex silico-ferrites of calcium and aluminium (low-Fe form, denoted as SFCA; and high-Fe, low-Si form, denoted as SFCA-I) constitute up to 50 vol pct of the mineral composition of fluxed iron ore sinter. The reaction sequences involved in the formation of these two phases have been determined using an in-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. Experiments were carried out under partial vacuum over the temperature range of T=22 °C to 1215 °C (alumina-free compositions) and T=22 °C to 1260 °C (compositions containing 1 and 5 wt pct Al₂O₃) using synthetic mixtures of hematite (Fe₂O₃), calcite (CaCO₃), quartz (SiO₂), and gibbsite (Al(OH)₃). The formation of SFCA and SFCA-I is dominated by solid-state reactions, mainly in the system CaO-Fe₂O₃. Initially, hematite reacts with lime (CaO) at low temperatures (T ∼ 750 °C to 780 °C) to form the calcium ferrite phase 2CaO·Fe₂O₃ (C₂F). The C₂F phase then reacts with hematite to produce CaO·Fe₂O₃ (CF). The breakdown temperature of C₂F to produce the higher-Fe₂O₃ CF ferrite increases proportionately with the amount of alumina in the bulk sample. Quartz does not react with CaO and hematite, remaining essentially inert until SFCA and SFCA-I began to form at around T=1050 °C. In contrast to previous studies of SFCA formation, the current results show that both SFCA types form initially via a low-temperature solid-state reaction mechanism. The presence of alumina increases the stability range of both SFCA phase types, lowering the temperature at which they begin to form. Crystallization proceeds more rapidly after the calcium ferrites have melted at temperatures close to T=1200 °C and is also faster in the higher-alumina-containing systems.     

Quantitative accuracy assessment of contextually filtered classified images

Relative radiance recorded by the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) for l–1O-year-old plantations of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) in Sabah, Malaysia, was negatively correlated with stand age. Remotely sensed response is determined by biophysical variables related to age since field planting, notably leaf area, canopy architecture and progressive masking of ground cover vegetation. The relation was asymptotic. Age and age-related variables will be most accurately inferred from TM data for stands under 5-years old, especially using short wave infrared and thermal bands. Narrower age classes will be required to represent younger stands in image classification.     

Associations between firefighters’ physical activity across multiple shifts of wildfire suppression

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between firefighters’ physical activity levels across consecutive wildfire suppression shifts and to determine whether sleep duration moderated these associations. Forty volunteer firefighters (31 males, 9 females) wore an activity monitor to concurrently measure physical activity and sleep duration. Sedentary time and time spent in light- (LPA), moderate- (MPA), and vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA) during each shift were determined using monitor-specific cut points. During any given shift, every additional 60 min spent in LPA was associated with 7.2 min more LPA and 27.6 min MPA the following shift. There were no other significant positive or negative associations. No significant moderating effect of total sleep time was observed. Firefighters are able to maintain and/or increase their physical activity intensity between consecutive shifts. Further research is needed to understand firefighters pacing and energy conservation strategies during emergency wildfire deployments.

Practitioner Summary: To examine associations between firefighters’ physical activity levels across consecutive shifts during a multi-day emergency wildfire and determine whether sleep duration moderated these associations. Firefighters are able to maintain and/or increase their physical activity intensity between consecutive shifts. No significant moderating effect of total sleep time was observed.     

Educating jurors: technology,the Internet and the jury system

This paper explores two ways in which the Internet and technology impact upon the jury trial. The first issue concerns jurors' improper use of the Internet to conduct research into the case they are hearing and the improper use of social networking websites. It is important to minimise the prejudicial effect that the introduction of extraneous material might have on the legitimacy of the verdict and the integrity of the jury system in the Internet age. This paper argues that more needs to be done to educate jurors about their role and the importance of abiding by judicial directions. The second issue concerns the positive impact that the use of technology may have in court as a tool to aid jury comprehension. Further research is required into measures which may be taken in order to accommodate the increase in use of technology and the Internet within today's jury system.     

Enhanced recognition of written words and enjoyment of reading in struggling beginner readers through whole-word multimedia software

The effectiveness of a reading intervention using the whole-word multimedia software ‘Oxford Reading Tree (ORT) for Clicker’ was compared to a reading intervention using traditional ORT Big Books. Developing literacy skills and attitudes towards learning to read were assessed in a group of 17 struggling beginner readers aged 5–6 years. Each child was given each of the two interventions, and the order of intervention was counterbalanced across the group. Each intervention was integrated into the literacy hour over five consecutive days. Measures of written word recognition, written word naming, phonological awareness and attitudes towards computers were taken before and after each intervention. Significant gains in performance were found following both interventions for all of the literacy measures, but significantly greater gains in written word recognition and enjoyment of instruction were found following the Clicker than Big Book intervention. These results suggest that whole-word multimedia software could be a useful classroom aid for supporting early literacy skills in children who are struggling with learning to read.     

Enhancing DLV instantiator by backjumping techniques

Disjunctive logic programming (DLP) is a powerful formalism for knowledge representation and reasoning. The high expressiveness of DLP language, together with the recent availability of some efficient DLP system, has favoured the application of DLP in emerging areas like Knowledge Management and Information Integration. These applications have often to deal with huge input data, and have evidenced the need to improve the efficiency of DLP instantiators. Program instantiation is the first phase of a DLP computation; in this phase, variables are replaced by constants to generate a ground program which is then evaluated by propositional algorithms in the second phase of the computation. The instantiation process may be computationally expensive, and in fact its efficiency has been recognized to be a key issue for solving real-world problems by using disjunctive logic programming. Given a program P, a good instantiation for P is a ground program P′ having precisely the same answer sets as P and such that: (1) P′ can be computed efficiently from P, and (2) P′ does not contain “useless” rules, (P′ is as small as possible) and can thus be evaluated efficiently. In this paper, we present a structure-based backjumping algorithm for the instantiation of disjunctive logic programs, that meets the above requirements. In particular, given a rule r to be grounded, our algorithm exploits both the semantical and the structural information about r for computing efficiently the ground instances of r, avoiding the generation of “useless” rules. That is, from each general rule r, we compute only a relevant subset of its ground instances, avoiding the generation of “useless” instances, while fully preserving the semantic of the program. We have implemented this algorithm in DLV—the state-of-the-art implementation of DLP—and we have carried out an experimentation activity on an ample collection of benchmark problems. The experimental results are very positive: the new technique improves sensibly the efficiency of the DLV system on many program classes.     

Some diagnostic scales for research in decision making and personality: Identity, information, and barriers.

Developed a 2-page form to operationalize a diagnostic scheme for research and career counseling. The form contains 3 scales: Vocational Identity, (the need for) Occupational Information, and Barriers (personal limits or environmental problems). The scales were developed using a sample of 496 high school sophomores and were validated using a new sample of 824 high school students, college students, and workers. Scale reliabilities ranged from .23 (Barriers scale, 4 items) to .89 (Vocational Identity scale, 23 items). Construct validity of scales was supported by external ratings, factor analysis, item content, item process analysis, correlational analysis, and earlier research. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)