Manual response preparation and saccade programming are linked to attention shifts: ERP evidence for covert attentional orienting and spatially specific modulations of visual processing

The premotor theory of attention claims that attentional shifts are triggered during response programming, regardless of which response modality is involved. To investigate this claim, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants covertly prepared a left or right response, as indicated by a precue presented at the beginning of each trial. Cues signalled a left or right eye movement in the saccade task, and a left or right manual response in the manual task. The cued response had to be executed or withheld following the presentation of a Go/Nogo stimulus. Although there were systematic differences between ERPs triggered during covert manual and saccade preparation, lateralised ERP components sensitive to the direction of a cued response were very similar for both tasks, and also similar to the components previously found during cued shifts of endogenous spatial attention. This is consistent with the claim that the control of attention and of covert response preparation are closely linked. N1 components triggered by task-irrelevant visual probes presented during the covert response preparation interval were enhanced when these probes were presented close to cued response hand in the manual task, and at the saccade target location in the saccade task. This demonstrates that both manual and saccade preparation result in spatially specific modulations of visual processing, in line with the predictions of the premotor theory.

Preliminary observations on the presence of sustained tendon strain and eccentric contractions of the wrist extensors during a common manual task: implications for lateral epicondylitis

Lateral epicondylitis (LE) is hypothesized to occur as a result of repetitive, strenuous and abnormal postural activities of the elbow and wrist. There is still a lack of understanding of how wrist and forearm positions contribute to this condition during common manual tasks. In this study the wrist kinematics and the wrist extensors’ musculotendon patterns were investigated during a manual task believed to elicit LE symptoms in susceptible subjects. A 42-year-old right-handed male, with no history of LE, performed a repetitive movement involving pushing and turning a spring-loaded mechanism. Motion capture data were acquired for the upper limb and an inverse kinematic and dynamic analysis was subsequently carried out. Results illustrated the presence of eccentric contractions sustained by the extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL), together with an almost constant level of tendon strain of both extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) and extensor digitorum communis lateral (EDCL) branch. It is believed that these factors may partly contribute to the onset of LE as they are both responsible for the creation of microtears at the tendons’ origins. The methodology of this study can be used to explore muscle actions during movements that might cause or exacerbate LE.

Field manual 3-24 and the heritage of counterinsurgency theory

The Counterinsurgency Manual FM 3-24 has been accused of being over-dependent on the counterinsurgency 'classics' Galula and Thompson. But comparison reveals that it is different in spirit. Galula and Thompson seek practical control; the Manual seeks to build 'legitimacy'. Its concept of legitimacy is superficially Weberian, but owes more to the writings of the American Max Manwaring. The Manual presupposes that a rights-based legal order can (other things being equal) be made to be cross-culturally attractive; 'effective governance' by itself can build legitimacy. The fusion of its methods with an ideology creates unrealistic criteria for success. Its weaknesses suggest a level of incapacity to think politically that will, in time, result in further failures.

Assessment of inter-examiner agreement and variability in the manual classification of auditory brainstem response

Abstract Background: The analysis of the Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) is of fundamental importance to the investigation of the auditory system behaviour, though its interpretation has a subjective nature because of the manual process employed in its study and the clinical experience required for its analysis. When analysing the ABR, clinicians are often interested in the identification of ABR signal components referred to as Jewett waves. In particular, the detection and study of the time when these waves occur (i.e., the wave latency) is a practical tool for the diagnosis of disorders affecting the auditory system. Significant differences in inter-examiner results may lead to completely distinct clinical interpretations of the state of the auditory system. In this context, the aim of this research was to evaluate the inter-examiner agreement and variability in the manual classification of ABR. Methods: A total of 160 ABR data samples were collected, for four different stimulus intensity (80dBHL, 60dBHL, 40dBHL and 20dBHL), from 10 normal-hearing subjects (5 men and 5 women, from 20 to 52 years). Four examiners with expertise in the manual classification of ABR components participated in the study. The Bland-Altman statistical method was employed for the assessment of inter-examiner agreement and variability. The mean, standard deviation and error for the bias, which is the difference between examiners’ annotations, were estimated for each pair of examiners. Scatter plots and histograms were employed for data visualization and analysis. Results: In most comparisons the differences between examiner’s annotations were below 0.1 ms, which is clinically acceptable. In four cases, it was found a large error and standard deviation (>0.1 ms) that indicate the presence of outliers and thus, discrepancies between examiners. Conclusions: Our results quantify the inter-examiner agreement and variability of the manual analysis of ABR data, and they also allows for the determination of different patterns of manual ABR analysis.

Neuromantic : from semi-manual to semi-automatic reconstruction of neuron morphology

The ability to create accurate geometric models of neuronal morphology is important for understanding the role of shape in information processing. Despite a significant amount of research on automating neuron reconstructions from image stacks obtained via microscopy, in practice most data are still collected manually. This paper describes Neuromantic, an open source system for three dimensional digital tracing of neurites. Neuromantic reconstructions are comparable in quality to those of existing commercial and freeware systems while balancing speed and accuracy of manual reconstruction. The combination of semi-automatic tracing, intuitive editing, and ability of visualizing large image stacks on standard computing platforms provides a versatile tool that can help address the reconstructions availability bottleneck. Practical considerations for reducing the computational time and space requirements of the extended algorithm are also discussed.

User's manual

'Typeform dialogues', as originally planned for publication, was an interactive CD-based screen interface presenting a comparative survey of typeform history and description. The CD was to be held inside a printed book that included two essays and a User’s Manual. Although 'Typeform dialogues' (CD+book) was not completed as planned, a PDF file was published containing the User’s Manual, together with background information about the interface and the project it was part of. The User's Manual presents all interface sections and features (using screen grabs) and explains their editorial rationale, design, and function.

Overcoming your child’s fears and worries: guided self-help manual for therapists working with groups

This manual for therapists accompanies ‘Overcoming your child’s fears and worries’ (Creswell & Willetts, 2007), a guide for parents to help their children overcome difficulties with anxiety

Overcoming your child’s fears and worries: guided parent delivered CBT treatment manual for therapists

This manual for therapists accompanies ‘Overcoming your child’s fears and worries’ (Creswell & Willetts, 2007), a guide for parents to help their children overcome difficulties with anxiety

Complex networks analysis of manual and machine translations

Complex networks have been increasingly used in text analysis, including in connection with natural language processing tools, as important text features appear to be captured by the topology and dynamics of the networks. Following previous works that apply complex networks concepts to text quality measurement, summary evaluation, and author characterization, we now focus on machine translation (MT). In this paper we assess the possible representation of texts as complex networks to evaluate cross-linguistic issues inherent in manual and machine translation. We show that different quality translations generated by NIT tools can be distinguished from their manual counterparts by means of metrics such as in-(ID) and out-degrees (OD), clustering coefficient (CC), and shortest paths (SP). For instance, we demonstrate that the average OD in networks of automatic translations consistently exceeds the values obtained for manual ones, and that the CC values of source texts are not preserved for manual translations, but are for good automatic translations. This probably reflects the text rearrangements humans perform during manual translation. We envisage that such findings could lead to better NIT tools and automatic evaluation metrics.

Jämförande analys mellan svenska och portugisiska reklambyråer. : Saker som är bra att veta om man ska arbeta som grafisk formgivare i Sverige eller i Portugal

If you move from Sweden to Portugal to work as an Art Director at an Ad agency, there are certain things you ought to know. Perhaps even before you decide to move. There are a lot of things that are quite different if you compare Portugal to Sweden, not only the language, but also the design, software, working hours and much more. You have for example two month with double salary, you work till six p.m. and when it comes to maternity leave, you have 100% compensation with no taxes the first four months of every pregnancy. The tasks you have to handle as an Art Director in Portugal may, as in Sweden, be various. The difference is more how you solve your task and what the design looks like. As a Swede in Portugal the solution will probably look like a mixture between the Portuguese “expressive” and the Swedish “clean” design. This degree project discusses questions that might turn up when a Swede gets employed as an Art Director in Portugal. What will the salary be? When, in the morning, is it time to show up at the office? How many weeks of vacations are entitled? There are a lot of distinctions, but also a lot of similarities. The report is mainly based upon the author’s own experiences of the Ad agency McCann-Erickson in Lisbon. The history of McCann-Erickson starts in New York, 1930 and grew rapidly into one of the leading corporation with agencies all over the world. It is still today one of the world’s largest Ad company with clients like Coca-Cola and General Motors, and the slogan “truth well told” still lights up all their agencies after almost a century, just like a leading star.

Grafisk kartvisning avverksamhetsinformation

Banverket Produktion är Sveriges största entreprenör inom järnvägsunderhåll. De har tillgång till ett flertal IT-system som ger information om järnvägsanläggningar och maskiner. Banverket Produktion vill utreda möjligheterna med att kombinera denna information och presentera den i ett kartgränssitt.En kartapplikation kan användas för att ta fram information ifrån olika system och presentera grafiskt. Den kan även användas som ett gränssnitt för att söka information från andra distrikt. Genom att använda sig av grafisk kartvisning av verksamhetsinformation blir det möjligt att planera åtgärder på ett mer tidssparande och kostnadseffektivt sätt och maskiner kan utnyttjas effektivare.Arbetet har gått ut på att beskriva vilken ökad verksamhetsnytta grafisk kartvisning av verksamhetsinformation kan ge och presentera ett förslag på en systemarkitektur som stödjer grafisk kartvisning. Inom Banverket Produktion finns det flera problem som man tror ska kunna lösas med hjälp av grafisk kartvisning. En viktig del i vårt arbete har varit att ta fram den viktigaste funktionaliteten i en kartapplikation som skall lösa dessa problem och ge en ökad verksamhetsnytta.

Grafisk profilering för butiksmiljö : Creating a visual identity for a store

A new visual identity for the ski store Alpingaraget in Stockholm has been proposed as the result of this thesis. Theproposal includes a new logotype, various printed matters, design planning of the store, interior design, signs and otherapplications.The theory section is within the field of graphic profiling and with some focus on profiling in stores.A clear visual identity is important for a company because what the company communicates internally and externallyshould be kept as consistent as possible. This is especially important nowadays when more and more similar products andstores are available. This means that the visual identity becomes part of the competition with other products and stores.The base elements in a visual identity are logotype, colors and typograpy. Using these elements according to rules andtemplates makes a consistent visual profile.