Multiple days of heat exposure on firefighters' work performance and physiology

This study assessed the accumulated effect of ambient heat on the performance of, and physiological and perceptual responses to, intermittent, simulated wildfire fighting tasks over three consecutive days. Firefighters (n = 36) were matched and allocated to either the CON (19°C) or HOT (33°C) condition. They performed three days of intermittent, self-paced simulated firefighting work, interspersed with physiological testing. Task repetitions were counted (and converted to distance or area) to determine work performance. Participants were asked to rate their perceived exertion and thermal sensation after each task. Heart rate, core temperature (Tc), and skin temperature (Tsk) were recorded continuously throughout the simulation. Fluids were consumed ad libitum. Urine volume was measured throughout, and urine specific gravity (USG) analysed, to estimate hydration. All food and fluid consumption was recorded. There was no difference in work output between experimental conditions. However, significant variation in performance responses between individuals was observed. All measures of thermal stress were elevated in the HOT, with core and skin temperature reaching, on average, 0.24 ± 0.08°C and 2.81 ± 0.20°C higher than the CON group. Participants' doubled their fluid intake in the HOT condition, and this was reflected in the USG scores, where the HOT participants reported significantly lower values. Heart rate was comparable between conditions at nearly all time points, however the peak heart rate reached each circuit was 7 ± 3% higher in the CON trial. Likewise, RPE was slightly elevated in the CON trial for the majority of tasks. Participants' work output was comparable between the CON and HOT conditions, however the performance change over time varied significantly between individuals. It is likely that the increased fluid replacement in the heat, in concert with frequent rest breaks and task rotation, assisted with the regulation of physiological responses (e.g., heart rate, core temperature).

Mechanisms of anxiety related attentional biases in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have high levels of anxiety. It is unclear whether they exhibit threat-related attentional biases commensurate with anxiety disorders as manifest in non-ASD populations, such as facilitated attention toward, and difficulties disengaging engaging from, threatening stimuli. Ninety children, 45 cognitively able with ASD and 45 age, perceptual-IQ, and gender matched typically developing children, aged 7–12 years, were administered a visual dot probe task using threatening facial pictures. Parent-reported anxiety symptoms were also collected. Children with ASD showed similarly high levels of anxiety compared with normative data from an anxiety disordered sample. Children with ASD had higher levels of parent-reported anxiety but did not show differences in disengaging from, or facilitated attention toward, threatening facial stimuli compared with typically developing children. In contrast to previously published studies of anxious children, in this study there were no differences in attentional biases in children with ASD meeting clinical cutoff for anxiety and those who did not. There were no correlations between attentional biases and anxiety symptoms and no gender differences. These findings indicate the cognitive mechanisms underlying anxiety in cognitively able children with ASD could differ from those commonly found in anxious children which may have implications for both understanding the aetiology of anxiety in ASD and for anxiety interventions

A new fuzzy peer assessment methodology for cooperative learning of students

In this paper, a new fuzzy peer assessment methodology that considers vagueness and imprecision of words used throughout the evaluation process in a cooperative learning environment is proposed. Instead of numerals, words are used in the evaluation process, in order to provide greater flexibility. The proposed methodology is a synthesis of perceptual computing (Per-C) and a fuzzy ranking algorithm. Per-C is adopted because it allows uncertainties of words to be considered in the evaluation process. Meanwhile, the fuzzy ranking algorithm is deployed to obtain appropriate performance indices that reflect a student's contribution in a group, and subsequently rank the student accordingly. A case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology is described. Implications of the results are analyzed and discussed. The outcomes clearly demonstrate that the proposed fuzzy peer assessment methodology can be deployed as an effective evaluation tool for cooperative learning of students.

Kaleidescope: women and cinematic change from the silent era to now

We must join women's film history to the process of its theoretical reflection.This will allow us to see the crucial teen years in film history not as an inevitable step towards the longer playing narrative film, but a space in which we might explore the perceptual realities opened up and enabled by film. At the same time that we open film history to disciplines and theories 'separate' from the literary base traditionally brought to film, we must also research and explore film as a transnational undertaking. Western film history has, to date, neglected and elided a number of important regions and cinematic practices that we must now include in research and discussion.

Application of extended multivariate modeling for information flow analysis of event related responses

Event related potential (ERP) analysis is one of the most widely used methods in cognitive neuroscience research to study the physiological correlates of sensory, perceptual and cognitive activity associated with processing information. To this end information flow or dynamic effective connectivity analysis is a vital technique to understand the higher cognitive processing under different events. In this paper we present a Granger causality (GC)-based connectivity estimation applied to ERP data analysis. In contrast to the generally used strictly causal multivariate autoregressive model, we use an extended multivariate autoregressive model (eMVAR) which also accounts for any instantaneous interaction among variables under consideration. The experimental data used in the paper is based on a single subject data set for erroneous button press response from a two-back with feedback continuous performance task (CPT). In order to demonstrate the feasibility of application of eMVAR models in source space connectivity studies, we use cortical source time series data estimated using blind source separation or independent component analysis (ICA) for this data set.

Applying inverse just-noticeable-differences of velocity to position data for haptic data reduction

ust-Noticeable-Differences (JND) as a dead-band in perceptual analysis has been widely used for more than a decade. This technique has been employed for data reduction in hap tic data transmission systems by several researchers. In fact, researchers use two different JND coefficients that are JNDV and JNDF for velocity and force data respectively. For position data, they usually rely on the resolution of hap tic display device to omit data that are unperceivable to human. In this paper, pruning undesirable position data that are produced by the vibration of the device or subject and/or noise in transmission line is addressed. It is shown that using inverse JNDV for position data can prune undesirable position data. Comparison of the results of the proposed method in this paper with several well known filters and some available methods proposed by other researchers is performed. It is shown that combination of JNDV could provide lower error with desirable curve smoothness, and as little as possible computation effort and complexity. It also has been shown that this method reduces much more data rather than using forward-JNDV.

Study of the audio coding algorithm of the MPEG-4 AAC standard and comparison among implementations of modules of the algorithm

Audio coding is used to compress digital audio signals, thereby reducing the amount of bits needed to transmit or to store an audio signal. This is useful when network bandwidth or storage capacity is very limited. Audio compression algorithms are based on an encoding and decoding process. In the encoding step, the uncompressed audio signal is transformed into a coded representation, thereby compressing the audio signal. Thereafter, the coded audio signal eventually needs to be restored (e.g. for playing back) through decoding of the coded audio signal. The decoder receives the bitstream and reconverts it into an uncompressed signal. ISO-MPEG is a standard for high-quality, low bit-rate video and audio coding. The audio part of the standard is composed by algorithms for high-quality low-bit-rate audio coding, i.e. algorithms that reduce the original bit-rate, while guaranteeing high quality of the audio signal. The audio coding algorithms consists of MPEG-1 (with three different layers), MPEG-2, MPEG-2 AAC, and MPEG-4. This work presents a study of the MPEG-4 AAC audio coding algorithm. Besides, it presents the implementation of the AAC algorithm on different platforms, and comparisons among implementations. The implementations are in C language, in Assembly of Intel Pentium, in C-language using DSP processor, and in HDL. Since each implementation has its own application niche, each one is valid as a final solution. Moreover, another purpose of this work is the comparison among these implementations, considering estimated costs, execution time, and advantages and disadvantages of each one.

Um estudo experimental do acento secundário no português brasileiro

A presente pesquisa investiga o acento secundário (AS) no português brasileiro (PB), especialmente na variedade falada na cidade de Porto Alegre, com base na análise fonológica de Collischonn (1994) e na análise acústica/perceptual de Moraes (2003 a). Adotamos a metodologia de análise de Moraes (2003 a), que consiste na gravação de frases lidas por locutores e posterior audição por falantes do português. Tendo por base o julgamento destes falantes, procuramos determinar a localização do acento secundário e verificar se ele se manifesta mais de uma vez num mesmo vocábulo. Nossos resultados apontam que, em geral, um acento secundário é percebido de forma consistente na 1a sílaba pretônica e que há manifestação de um acento secundário na 2a sílaba pretônica apenas em um número muito reduzido de palavras. Percebemos também indicativos para a incidência de mais de uma proeminência secundária por vocábulo.

O ECR na relação fornecedor x atacadista

Este relatório intitulado “Pesquisa sobre o ECR na Relação Fornecedor X Atacadista no Brasil”, foi desenvolvido pelo Professor Manoel de Andrade e Silva Reis, para o Núcleo de Pesquisas e Projetos (NPP) da Fundação Getúlio Vargas de São Paulo. Inicialmente apresenta alguns conceitos importantes para o entendimento do texto e faz considerações gerais sobre o ECR no Brasil e seu histórico. A principal parte do trabalho é a pesquisa realizada com 10 FORNECEDORES e 20 ATACADISTAS, sendo que 60% dos FORNECEDORES e 40% dos ATACADISTAS responderam aos questionários. As principais conclusões da pesquisa são: 1) Existem sérios obstáculos a transpor para a implantação abrangente do ECR na relação FORNECEDOR X ATACADISTA no Brasil, como: a) O setor ATACADISTA tem um forte preconceito com relação ao ECR, pelo receio de perda de mercado com a implantação de uma nova forma de fazer negócio. Isso evita que seus membros aprofundem o conhecimento das suas estratégias e ferramentas; b) Empresas ATACADISTAS tendem a ser muito fechadas, dificilmente abrindo suas informações para fornecedores, um dos requisitos básicos para a implantação bem sucedida do ECR. Têm também grande rivalidade com seus pares ATACADISTAS. c) O setor ATACADISTA desconfia das verdadeiras intenções dos FORNECEDORES. Há ATACADISTAS que chegaram a implantar uma ferramenta do ECR para teste e desistiram, por sentirem que os FORNECEDORES fogem aos acordos estabelecidos, visando, em especial, preencher as cotas de venda. 2) Na opinião das empresas ATACADISTAS, a sobrevivência setor depende de fatores como: a) Necessidade de uma radical mudança cultural das empresas, de forma a adotar os conceitos de compra e venda necessários no ECR; b) Necessidade de especialização em canais escolhidos e nos produtos característicos dos mesmos, visando tornar-se especialista na sua comercialização; c) Gestão mais adequada dos níveis de estoque; d) Maior agilidade no acesso ao pequeno varejo. 3) Fatores que podem aumentar a atratividade do setor ATACADISTA para os FORNECEDORES: a) Redução do número de transações; b) Redução dos custos pelos elevados volumes; c) Prestação de serviços ao pequeno varejo (devoluções, trocas, promoções, treinamento e incentivos); d) Pulverização das vendas.

A dinâmica da organização interna da mesa diretoria e comissões da assembléia do estado do Rio de Janeiro

A globalização do capitalismo joga indivíduo em um mundo de controvérsias, quase de crise existencial, já que oscila entre sonho de satisfazer todos os seus desejos realidade de não poder realizá-los. globalização que interessa são as ressacas emocionais do indivíduo, que distancia da razão, do equilíbrio entre poder querer torna um compulsivo do consumo. processo de massificação homogeneização cultural, que não apenas gera vícios consumistas nos indivíduos, como também os impede de participarem politicamente. Politicamente, uma primeira fase da globalização caracterizada pela égide das monarquias absolutistas que concentram enorme poder mobilizam os recursos econômicos, militares burocráticos, para manterem expandirem seus impérios coloniais. Os principais desafios que enfrentam advinham das rivalidades entre elas, seja pelas disputas dinástico-territoriais ou pela posse de novas colônias no além do mar. Politicamente globalização recente caracteriza-se pela crescente adoção de regimes em procura de uma democracia mais ampla participativa participação política, portanto, exigência básica para que indivíduo supere as barreiras impostas pela globalização consiga desenvolver ações de cidadania dentro da própria sociedade global. Nesse sentido, necessário encurtar distanciamento entre as formas institucionais existentes, sejam jurídicas ou políticas, real possibilidade de reconhecer nas leis, nas instituições, as suas próprias leis seu próprio poder.