Reading and skimming from computer screens and books: the paperless office revisited?

Past research has demonstrated that reading efficiency is lower from the standard computer displays of the 1980s than from paper. In the present experiments, subjects read or skimmed stories, sometimes from a high-quality CRT (cathode ray tube) and sometimes from a book. Skimming was 41% slower from the CRTs than from the book. Possible reasons for this finding are discussed. Reading speed and comprehension were equivalent for the high-quality CRTs and the book. The paperless office may be imminent after all.     

New Type Anode for Calcium Ion Batteries Based on Silicon Carbide Monolayer

Silicon - A theoretical research study was conducted into the possibility of using a two-dimensional graphene-like material silicon carbide nano-sheet (2D-SiCNS) as an anode in rechargeable Ca-ion...     

Functional differentiation within the neostriatum of the rat using electrical (blocking) stimulation during discrimination learning.

16 male albino rats, 8 with bipolar electrodes implanted bilaterally in the anterodorsal head of the caudate-putamen and 8 with similar electrodes in the posteroventral caudate-putamen, learned a spatial and a form discrimination task and their reversals while receiving "continuous" stimulation. Ss receiving stimulation to the anterodorsal caudate-putamen were impaired on spatial reversal learning compared with the posteroventral group. On form discrimination reversal the posteroventral group was impaired compared with the anterodorsal group. This dissociation appears to be related to the particular cortical neostriatal projection system for the region stimulated and to demonstrate a behavioral differentiation in rat neostriatum comparable with that observed in the monkey. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lightness changes in a complex field with changing illumination and background.

Illumination of 8 different test-field (TF) regions on 3 different backgrounds was varied over 2.8 log units. 10 undergraduates categorized the lightness of the TF regions. Over upper levels of illumination, 20 of the 24 lightness functions were flat, 1 was negative, and 3, for white-appearing TFs, were incremental. Hence, over these levels of illumination all functions were flat (or negative) for gray- and black-appearing TFs. Over lower levels of illumination, 18 of these 24 functions were incremental and 6 were flat. In general, white-appearing TFs tended to yield incremental functions, whereas black- and gray-appearing TFs yielded either discontinuous functions or, in some cases, overall flat functions. These lightness functions were shown to differ from brightness functions that had been developed under comparable conditions (although with different tasks) but to agree in certain crucial respects with a number of theories of lightness functions. (French summary) (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Solving a robust airline crew pairing problem with column generation

In this study, we solve a robust version of the airline crew pairing problem. Our concept of robustness was partially shaped during our discussions with small local airlines in Turkey which may have to add a set of extra flights into their schedule at short notice during operation. Thus, robustness in this case is related to the ability of accommodating these extra flights at the time of operation by disrupting the original plans as minimally as possible. We focus on the crew pairing aspect of robustness and prescribe that the planned crew pairings incorporate a number of predefined recovery solutions for each potential extra flight. These solutions are implemented only if necessary for recovery purposes and involve either inserting an extra flight into an existing pairing or partially swapping the flights in two existing pairings in order to cover an extra flight. The resulting mathematical programming model follows the conventional set covering formulation of the airline crew pairing problem typically solved by column generation with an additional complication. The model includes constraints that depend on the columns due to the robustness consideration and grows not only column-wise but also row-wise as new columns are generated. To solve this difficult model, we propose a row and column generation approach. This approach requires a set of modifications to the multi-label shortest path problem for pricing out new columns (pairings) and various mechanisms to handle the simultaneous increase in the number of rows and columns in the restricted master problem during column generation. We conduct computational experiments on a set of real instances compiled from local airlines in Turkey.     

Designing an interface to optimize reading with small display windows.

The extent of electronic presentation of text in small display windows is mushrooming. In the present paper, 4 ways of presenting text in a small display window were examined and compared with a normal page condition: rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), RSVP with a completion meter, sentence-by-sentence presentation, and sentence-by-sentence presentation with a completion meter. Dependent measures were reading efficiency (speed and comprehension) and preference. For designers of hardware or software with small display windows, the results suggest the following: (a) Though RSVP is disliked by readers, the present methods of allowing self-pacing and regressions in RSVP are efficient and feasible, unlike earlier tested methods; (b) slower reading in RSVP should be achieved by increasing pauses between sentences or by repeating sentences, not by decreasing the presentation rate within a sentence; (c) completion meters do not interfere with performance and are usually preferred; (d) the space-saving sentence-by-sentence format is as efficient and as preferred as the normal page format.     

Phonemes, Rimes, Vocabulary, and Grammatical Skills as Foundations of Early Reading Development: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study.

The authors present the results of a 2-year longitudinal study of 90 British children beginning at school entry when they were 4 years 9 months old (range = 4 years 2 months to 5 years 2 months). The relationships among early phonological skills, letter knowledge, grammatical skills, and vocabulary knowledge were investigated as predictors of word recognition and reading comprehension. Word recognition skills were consistently predicted by earlier measures of letter knowledge and phoneme sensitivity (but not by vocabulary knowledge, rhyme skills, or grammatical skills). In contrast, reading comprehension was predicted by prior word recognition skills, vocabulary knowledge, and grammatical skills. The results are related to current theories about the role of phonological, grammatical, and vocabulary skills in the development of early reading skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimizing the reading of electronic text using rapid serial visual presentation

The focus on communications technology in recent years has led to the question of how to best display electronic text onto small-screened devices. Past studies have shown that the compact method of rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) is efficient but not well liked. Two experiments were conducted to explore ways of improving the preference for and feasibility of RSVP. In experiment 1, the effects of a completion meter, punctuation pauses, and variable word duration were studied. Although the sentence-by-sentence and normal page formats were still superior, post-experiment ratings indicated that punctuation pauses improved user preference for RSVP, and its preference increased in general with practice. In experiment 2, a modified RSVP condition included a completion meter, punctuation pauses, interruption pauses and pauses at clause boundaries. This condition was significantly preferred to a normal RSVP condition. The present enhancements may increase the feasibility of using RSVP with small displays.     

Reading dynamically displayed text

Two experiments were carried out to find an optimal electronic text display method given limited display space. The display formats tested fell into two categories: Times Square, in which text is scrolled from right to left; and rapid, serial, visual presentation (RSVP), in which text is presented one or several words at a time to a fixed location in the display. Previous studies have indicated that Times Square format is not as efficient as page format display or, by extrapolation, as RSVP. These studies, unlike the present experiments, did not include a smooth-scrolling (pixel-by-pixel) condition. In Experiment 1, a comparison was made between multiple-word RSVP and three versions of Times Square format, differing only in the size of steps by which the display was scrolled. Except for the largest step-size, comprehension was as high in the Times Square conditions as in the RSVP condition. The subjects expressed a significant preference for smooth scrolling Times Square over any other condition. Experiment 2 showed that comprehension for smooth scrolling Times Square was at least as high as that for RSVP at presentation rates ranging from 100 to 300 words per minute. Times Square reading is discussed in terms of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN).