scholarly journals The Effect of Bilingualism on Cue-Based vs. Memory-Based Task Switching in Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Rieker ◽  
José Manuel Reales ◽  
Soledad Ballesteros
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Pronounced Increase ◽  
Task Block

Findings suggest a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including the later onset of dementia. However, it is not clear to what extent these effects are influenced by variations in attentional control demands in response to specific task requirements. In this study, 20 bilingual and 20 monolingual older adults performed a task-switching task under explicit task-cuing vs. memory-based switching conditions. In the cued condition, task switches occurred in random order and a visual cue signaled the next task to be performed. In the memory-based condition, the task alternated after every second trial in a predictable sequence without presenting a cue. The performance of bilinguals did not vary across experimental conditions, whereas monolinguals experienced a pronounced increase in response latencies and error rates in the cued condition. Both groups produced similar switch costs (difference in performance on switch trials as opposed to repeating trials within the mixed-task block) and mixing costs (difference in performance on repeat trials of a mixed-task block as opposed to trials of a single-task block), but bilinguals produced them with lower response latencies. The cognitive benefits of bilingualism seem not to apply to executive functions per se but to affect specific cognitive processes that involve task-relevant context processing. The present results suggest that lifelong bilingualism could promote in older adults a flexible adjustment to environmental cues, but only with increased task demands. However, due to the small sample size, the results should be interpreted with caution.

scholarly journals Trends and Opportunities of Tertiary Education in Safety Engineering Moving towards Safety 4.0

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 524
Author(s):  
Vendula Laciok ◽  
Katerina Sikorova ◽  
Bruno Fabiano ◽  
Ales Bernatik
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Safety ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Occupational Safety And Health ◽  
Safety Engineering ◽  
Safety And Health

Industry and related work and workplaces are constantly changing as a result of the implementation of new technologies, substances and work processes, changes in the composition of the workforce and the labor market, and new forms of employment and work organization. The implementation of new technologies represents certain ambivalence. Next to the positive impact on workers’ health, new risks and challenges can arise in the area of process and occupational safety and health of people at work. On these bases, it follows the need for predicting and handling the new risks, in order to ensure safe and healthy workplaces in the future. The aim of most forecasting studies is not only to identify new emerging risks, but also to foresee changes that could affect occupational safety and health. However, a number of questions still require proper investigation, i.e., “What impact do new emerging risks have on tertiary education in the area of Safety engineering? Has tertiary education already reacted to progress in science and research and does it have these innovations in its syllabus? How are tertiary graduates prepared for the real world of new technologies?” This paper represents a first attempt in the literature to provide answers to the raised questions, by a survey approach involving academics, Health Safety and Environment (HSE) industrial experts and university students in the Czech Republic. Even if statistical evaluation is limited to a single Country and to a small sample size, the obtained results allow suggesting practical recommendations that can contribute to ensuring new challenges in the area of education by addressing relevant culture issues needed to support new workplace realities according to the newly defined Safety 4.0.

scholarly journals A New Nearest Centroid Neighbor Classifier Based on K Local Means Using Harmonic Mean Distance

Information ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumet Mehta ◽  
Xiangjun Shen ◽  
Jiangping Gou ◽  
Dejiao Niu
Keyword(s):  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Classification Performance ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Harmonic Mean ◽  
Local Means ◽  
Local Mean ◽  
Real World Datasets ◽  
Nearest Neighbour Classifier ◽  
Query Sample

The K-nearest neighbour classifier is very effective and simple non-parametric technique in pattern classification; however, it only considers the distance closeness, but not the geometricalplacement of the k neighbors. Also, its classification performance is highly influenced by the neighborhood size k and existing outliers. In this paper, we propose a new local mean based k-harmonic nearest centroid neighbor (LMKHNCN) classifier in orderto consider both distance-based proximity, as well as spatial distribution of k neighbors. In our method, firstly the k nearest centroid neighbors in each class are found which are used to find k different local mean vectors, and then employed to compute their harmonic mean distance to the query sample. Lastly, the query sample is assigned to the class with minimum harmonic mean distance. The experimental results based on twenty-six real-world datasets shows that the proposed LMKHNCN classifier achieves lower error rates, particularly in small sample-size situations, and that it is less sensitive to parameter k when compared to therelated four KNN-based classifiers.

Effectiveness of Directional Microphones and Noise Reduction Schemes in Hearing Aids: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (07) ◽  
pp. 473-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth A. Bentler
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Noise Reduction ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Directional Microphones ◽  
Directional Microphone

A systematic review of the literature was undertaken to find evidence of real-world effectiveness of directional microphone and digital noise reduction features in current hearing aids. The evidence was drawn from randomized controlled trials, nonrandomized intervention studies, and descriptive studies. The quality of each study was evaluated for factors such as blinding, power of statistical analyses, and use of psychometrically strong outcome measures. Weaknesses in the identified studies included small sample size, resultant poor power to detect potentially worthwhile differences, and overlapping experimental conditions. Nine studies were identified for directional microphones, and the evidence (albeit weak) supports effectiveness. Two studies were identified for the noise reduction feature, and the evidence was equivocal. For the researcher, such a systematic review should encourage the careful consideration of appropriate methodologies for assessing feature effectiveness. For the clinician, the outcomes reported herein should encourage use of such a systematic review to drive clinical practice.

scholarly journals Functional Gait Assessment: Concurrent, Discriminative, and Predictive Validity in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

2010 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 761-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane M. Wrisley ◽  
Neeraj A. Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Predictive Validity ◽  
Fall Risk ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Cutoff Score ◽  
Gait Assessment ◽  
Functional Gait ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

BackgroundThe Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) is a reliable and valid measure of gait-related activities.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to determine the concurrent, discriminative, and predictive validity of the FGA in community-dwelling older adults.DesignThis was a prospective cohort study.MethodsThirty-five older adults aged 60 to 90 years completed the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Dynamic Gait Index (DGI), Timed “Up & Go” Test (TUG), and Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) during one session. Falls were tracked by having participants complete a monthly fall calendar for 6 months. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to determine concurrent validity among the ABC, BBS, TUG, DGI, and FGA. To determine the optimum scores to classify fall risk, sensitivity (Sn), specificity (Sp), and positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR+ and LR−) were calculated for the FGA in classifying fall risk based on the published criterion scores of the DGI and TUG and for the FGA, TUG, and DGI in identifying prospective falls. Receiver operator curves with area under the curve were used to determine the effectiveness of the FGA in classifying fall risk and of the DGI, TUG, and FGA in identifying prospective falls.ResultsThe FGA correlated with the ABC (r=.053, P<.001), BBS (r=.84, P<.001), and TUG (r=−.84, P<.001). An FGA score of ≤22/30 provides both discriminative and predictive validity. The FGA (scores ≤22/30) provided 100% Sn, 72% Sp, LR+ of 3.6, and LR− of 0 to predict prospective falls.LimitationsThe study was limited by the length of time of follow-up and the small sample size that did not allow for evaluation of criterion scores by decade.ConclusionsThe FGA with a cutoff score of 22/30 is effective in classifying fall risk in older adults and predicting unexplained falls in community-dwelling older adults.

scholarly journals A Naturalistic Study of Driving Behavior in Older Adults and Preclinical Alzheimer Disease: A Pilot Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganesh M. Babulal ◽  
Sarah H. Stout ◽  
Tammie L. S. Benzinger ◽  
Brian R. Ott ◽  
David B. Carr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Driving Behavior ◽  
Driving Performance ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Clinical Consequence ◽  
Cognitively Normal ◽  
Preclinical Ad ◽  
One Year

A clinical consequence of symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is impaired driving performance. However, decline in driving performance may begin in the preclinical stage of AD. We used a naturalistic driving methodology to examine differences in driving behavior over one year in a small sample of cognitively normal older adults with ( n = 10) and without ( n = 10) preclinical AD. As expected with a small sample size, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups, but older adults with preclinical AD drove less often, were less likely to drive at night, and had fewer aggressive behaviors such as hard braking, speeding, and sudden acceleration. The sample size required to power a larger study to determine differences was calculated.

scholarly journals Age Affects the Attentional Demands of Stair Ambulation: Evidence From a Dual-Task Approach

2009 ◽  
Vol 89 (10) ◽  
pp. 1080-1088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi A. Ojha ◽  
Rebecca W. Kern ◽  
Chien-Ho Janice Lin ◽  
Carolee J. Winstein
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Attentional Demands ◽  
Probe Task ◽  
Stair Ambulation

Background: Approximately 75% of all injury-producing falls on steps for people of all ages occur in people 65 years of age and older. Diminished attentional capacity contributes to fall risk in older adults, particularly when task demands are high. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the attentional demands of ascending and descending a set of stairs (stair ambulation) in older adults and younger adults. Design: This was a nonblinded, prospective, single-site, observational cohort study. Methods: Ten older (>65 years of age) and 10 younger (21–33 years of age) adults without disabilities were recruited. A dual-task approach was used for 2 task conditions: the first task was standing and responding verbally to an unanticipated auditory tone as quickly as possible (probe task), and the second task was ascending or descending a set of stairs with the same probe task. A 2-factor (group × task) analysis of variance with repeated measures on task (standing and stair ambulation) was performed for voice response time (VRT). Significance for the analysis was set at P<.05. Results: The group × task interaction was significant for VRT. Post hoc analyses indicated that during stair ambulation, the VRT for older adults was significantly longer than that for younger adults. For the standing task, the VRTs (X̅±SD) were similar for younger (322±65 milliseconds) and older (306±22 milliseconds) participants. For stair ascent and descent, the average VRTs were more than 100 milliseconds longer for older participants (493±113 and 470±127 milliseconds, respectively) than for younger participants (365±56 and 356±67 milliseconds, respectively). Limitations: Because of the small sample size and generally fit older group, generalization of findings to older people at risk for falls is not recommended until further research is done. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that although both older and younger adults required similar attentional resources for the standing task, older adults required significantly more resources during stair ambulation. The findings suggested that the dual-task method used here provided a clinically useful measure for detecting important changes in attentional demands in older adults who are healthy.

Foreign direct investments, democracy, and economic growth in Turkey

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazif Durmaz
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Cointegration Analysis ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Bounds Testing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run

Purpose In the last decade, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have increased dramatically in the world, especially in the emerging economies. Some of these countries make changes in their market conditions that will improve the civil rights and liberties to attract better FDI flows. The purpose of this paper is to test the linkage between democracy and FDI flows to Turkey. Design/methodology/approach The present study employs a bounds testing procedure developed (Pesaran et al., 2001) for cointegration analysis on six different long-run models with selected determinants of FDIs with yearly data from 1977 to 2011. Findings The intuition the paper empirically provides how improvements in democracy have a significant positive impact on FDI flows to Turkey. The results may also put forward that, in the long run, FDI inflows will have spillover effects in Turkey’s economy. Research limitations/implications Although one drawback in the study is having a small sample size of 35 observations, estimating six different long-run models is one way to overcome it. Thus presented results may be in short of simplification for some readers. This, however, opens an opportunity for future studies to further the proposal by employing in different models and/or longer data sets if possible. Practical implications A stable government policies, more civil freedom, and sustained institution politics should not be ignored in Turkey given its geopolitical location. Originality/value This paper satisfies the established need to study of democracy and FDI flows link is necessary in an emerging market such as Turkey.

scholarly journals The relationship between chronic stress, emotion regulation and depressive symptoms in healthy older adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Huang
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Chronic Stress ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
The Relationship

The current study examined the association between chronic stress (measured in allostatic load or AL), ER, and depressive symptoms in a group of community-dwelling older adults. It was hypothesized that chronic stress levels would mediate the relationship between ER and depressive symptoms. A total of 70 older adults aged 60 and older participated in the study. There were no significant associations found in the main analyses between the AL index and depressive symptoms, as well as no significant relationship was found between ER strategies and AL index, after controlling for age, sex, education, and perceived SES. However, perceived stress significantly mediated the relationship between maladaptive ER strategies and depressive symptoms, and the relationship between adaptive ER strategies and depressive symptoms. Given the small sample size and the lack of variability of the AL index, the study would benefit from a larger sample size to clarify the present results.

scholarly journals Creating and sustaining collaborative multi-institutional industry site visit programs: a toolkit

F1000Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 1317
Author(s):  
Tammy R.L. Collins ◽  
Kiri Hoff ◽  
Molly Starback ◽  
Patrick D. Brandt ◽  
Christopher E. Holmquist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Program Implementation ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Outcome Data ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Site Visit ◽  
Contract Research Organization ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Graduate Trainees

Background: As more early career scientists enter into diverse career pathways, visiting local companies or organizations can support their exploration of these paths. As an efficient way to facilitate this, we developed a collaborative regional site visit program: the Enhancing Local Industry Transitions through Exploration (ELITE) Consortium.  Consortium members arrange half-day visits to local industry sites, thus providing companies and trainees the opportunity to meet and identify potential professional and career opportunities. Three different training institutions worked cooperatively in the development and maintenance of the program. The ELITE Consortium was developed with eight phased steps; guidelines and operating procedures were created for each of these steps and are provided along with sample materials for institutions interested in building similar programs. Methods: Prior to fully developing the program, trainee interests were evaluated via questionnaire. During program implementation and thereafter, program directors tracked attendance and collected career outcome data from publicly available sources to identify first job positions after training. Regression analyses and chi-squared analyses were used to examine site visit matches and career outcome data. Results: Analyses suggest a positive impact of site visits on postdoctoral and graduate trainees’ career outcomes at companies or institutions that match a similar sector (e.g., for-profit) and type (e.g., biotech, pharmaceutical, contract research organization). Despite a small sample size, evidence suggests an especially positive impact on trainees who organize site visits to companies compared with those who simply participate. Conclusions: The ELITE Consortium was successful in helping trainees explore and identify a multitude of career paths. Trainees attained employment either directly or in related companies and institutions visited by ELITE participants. The joint, three-institution, flexible nature of the ELITE Consortium positively impacts the program’s sustainability and reach. The toolkit provided here will help other institutions to replicate and adapt the program with minimal effort.

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