Visual search training benefits from the integrative effect of enhanced covert attention and optimized overt eye movements

Visual search in a complex environment requires efficient discrimination between target and distractors. Training serves as an effective approach to improve visual search performance when the target does not automatically pop out from the distractors. In the present study, we trained subjects on a conjunction visual search task and examined the training effects in behavior and eye movement from Experiments 1 to 4. The results showed that training improved behavioral performance and reduced the number of saccades and overall scanning time. Training also increased the search initiation time before the first saccade and the proportion of trials in which the subjects correctly identified the target without any saccade, but these effects were modulated by stimulus' parameters. In Experiment 5, we replicated these training effects when eye movements and EEG signals were recorded simultaneously. The results revealed significant N2pc components after the stimulus onset (i.e., stimulus-locked) and before the first saccade (i.e., saccade-locked) when the search target was the trained one. These N2pc components can be considered as the neural signatures for the training-induced boost of covert attention to the trained target. The enhanced covert attention led to a beneficial tradeoff between search initiation time and the number of saccades as a small amount of increase in search initiation time could result in a larger reduction in scanning time. These findings suggest that the enhanced covert attention to target and optimized overt eye movements are coordinated together to facilitate visual search training.

The Effects of Technology Integration in the Classroom for Students With ADHD

This qualitative case study investigated the influence of technology integration in a special education classroom for students who have ADHD. Technology has shown to have a positive influence on student academic, social, and emotional growth in a general education classroom. This study sought to understand the influence technology has for students struggling with ADHD. This study aimed to understand if technology can play a role in the development of students with ADHD specifically in the domains of academic and social growth. Through observations, interviews, and focus group sessions, six themes were deduced: importance of consistency in using technology, impact of group size, increased interest, increased independence, task initiation/time efficiency using Chromebook, and overall confidence academically and socially.

Reinforced Concrete Structure Performance in Marine Structures: Analyzing Durability Indexes to Obtain More Accurate Corrosion Initiation Time Predictions

This paper presents a comparison of six index properties collected during durability inspections of five Mexican seaports. Typical durability indicators such as compressive strength, saturated electrical resistivity, ultrasonic pulse velocity, percent total void content, capillary porosity, and chloride concentration profiles were analyzed to obtain empirical correlations with the non-steady-state chloride diffusion coefficient. These indices were compared to determine correlation coefficients that are the most important for obtaining better corrosion initiation forecasting. Two models of corrosion initiation time (ti) were used: Fick’s second law of diffusion and the reported UNE-83994-2 (Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE) in which electrical resistivity was used to calculate concrete service life. The data from both models were cleaned using correlated variables, and the initial variables were compared with ti. The main result achieved was the verification of the feasibility of using correlations of variables to clean unnecessary data in order to calculate ti. Additionally, electrical resistivity was identified as one of the main durability indexes for in-service concrete structures exposed to marine environments. This is important because electrical resistivity is a non-destructive and reliable test that can be measured both in the laboratory and in the field very easily.

The effect of chemotherapy type and timing among the other factors on patency of totally implantable vascular access devices in colorectal carcinoma

Purpose: Catheter-related complications are observed in infusion of chemotherapy, and these were encountered with targeted therapies. Our principle is to study non-mechanical effects of type and initiation time of chemotherapy among the other factors on patency of totally implantable vascular access devices (TIVAD) inserted in patients with colorectal carcinoma. Methods: This is a one-center retrospective cohort study. We analyzed TIVAD related complications in 624 patients with colorectal carcinoma. The patients were categorized by chemotherapy type (non-target-directed chemotherapy agents (Group A), bevacizumab (Group B), and cetuximab (Group C)). Additionally, we divided the patients into groups by the time interval between TIVAD insertion and chemotherapy initiation. According to our study, a 3-day period was optimal. Therefore, we named the groups as within 3 days and beyond 3 days, and called this process 3 days cut-off. Age, gender, jugular-subclavian access, platelet count, INR, the types of chemotherapy, and the initiation time of chemotherapy were investigated by survival tests. We compared chemotherapy type groups both one-by-one and combined into one group. Results: The TIVADs were removed due to the complications in 11 patients of Group A, 6 patients of Group B, and 3 patients of Group C. Only chemotherapy type was significant ( p = 0.011) in Cox regression test. A clear difference ( p = 0.010) was detected between the catheter patency of Group A and combination of Groups B and C, because of skin necrosis and thrombosis. Within 3 days of their first chemotherapy day, an important difference between Group A and Group C ( p = 0.013) was observed in the TIVAD patency. The same observation was made between Group A and Group B ( p = 0.007). Beyond this period, no major difference was detected ( p = 0.341). Conclusion: A major effect on catheter patency was detected by using the target-directed chemotherapy agent within 3 days, which should be considered in target-directed chemotherapy.

Paintings crack initiation time caused by microclimate

The current paper aims to use an irreversible cohesive zone model to investigate the effects of temperature and relative humidity cycles on multilayer thin-film paintings. The homogenous one-dimensional paint layers composed of alkyd and acrylic gesso over a canvas foundation (support) with known constant thicknesses are considered as the mechanical model of painting. Experimental data was used for mathematical modeling of canvas as a linear elastic material and paint as a viscoelastic material with the Prony series. Growth of crack through the length of the paint layers under the low amplitude cyclic stresses are modeled by cyclic mechanical loadings. The three-dimensional system is modeled using a finite element method. Fatigue damage parameters such as crack initiation time and maximum loads are calculated by an irreversible cohesive zone model used to control the interface separation. In addition, the effects of initial crack length and layers thickness are studied. With the increase of the painting thickness and/or the initial crack length, the value of the maximum force increases. Moreover, by increasing the Relative Humidity (RH) and the temperature difference at loading by one cycle per day, the values of initiation time of delamination decrease. It is shown that the thickness of painting layers is the most important parameter in crack initiation times and crack growth rate in historical paintings in museums and conservation settings.

A distributed simulation study to investigate pedestrians’ head-turning behaviour when crossing in response to automated and human-driven vehicles displaying different braking patterns

This distributed simulator study investigated pedestrians’ head-turning behaviour during a series of road crossings in a CAVE-based pedestrian simulator. Pedestrians were required to cross the road in front of an approaching vehicle, the kinematic behaviour of which was either programmed by the simulation to depict an automated vehicle (AV) or controlled by a human driver (HD), via a connected (hidden) desktop driving simulator. A within-participant experimental design was used with twenty-five pairs of participants (a pedestrian and a driver). For each trial, pedestrians had to decide whether to cross in front of the HD/AV, which was instructed (or programmed) to yield (or not) to the pedestrian. For the AV trials, two braking patterns were included: a hard-braking AV (AVHB, deceleration rate = 3.2 m/s2, stopping distance = 12 m from pedestrian) and soft-braking (AVSB, deceleration rate = 2.5 m/s2, stopping distance = 4 m from pedestrian). Pedestrians’ head-turning frequency and the change in head-turning angle, were calculated for each condition, both before a crossing was initiated, and during the actual road crossing. Results showed a significant increase in head-turning behaviour in the last 2 seconds before a crossing initiation in the yielding trials, in line with a ‘last-second check’ reported in observations of real-world crossings (Hassan, Geruschat, & Turano, 2005). The vehicle’s braking behaviour and stopping distance were the most important factors affecting pedestrians’ head-turning patterns during the crossing, with the least head-turning behaviour seen in the AVSB condition, compared with AVHB and HDB trials. This suggests that a closer stopping distance for the AV was associated with less confusion for the pedestrian, although this condition was also associated with the longest crossing initiation time. In contrast, the highest number of head-turnings were seen for the human-driven vehicle, which, on average, yielded about 40 m away from the participants, enabling a much faster crossing initiation. Overall, the shortest crossing initiation time (~ 1 sec) and highest head-turning behaviour were seen in the non-braking conditions, where participants crossed as quickly as the circumstances allowed. These results provide new insights about the use of VR simulators for understanding pedestrians’ crossing behaviour in response to different vehicle kinematics. They also extend our knowledge of pedestrian cues for the development of suitable sensors in future automated vehicles, which should help with providing a more seamless interaction between AVs and other road users in mixed traffic settings.

The timing for initiating estrogen stimulation in artificial cycle for frozen-thawed embryo transfer can be flexible

Background There remains a lack of evidence to demonstrate whether the initiation time of estrogen stimulation is flexible in the proliferative endometrial phase during the artificial cycle for frozen-thawed embryo transfer (AC-FET). Methods FET records were retrospectively reviewed from a large university-affiliated reproductive medicine center. Only the patients who were undergoing their first embryo transfer with a single blastocyst in the AC-FET cycles were included: thereby 660 cycles were recruited, and the patients were grouped according to their day of estrogen usage initiation as early initiation group (estrogen stimulation initiated during days 2–5 of menses, n = 128) and the late initiation group (estrogen stimulation initiated on or after the 6th day of menses, n = 532). The primary outcome was the ongoing pregnancy rates (OPR). Results The rates of biochemical and clinical pregnancies were significantly higher in the late initiation group relative to those in the early initiation group, however, no significant differences were noted between the two groups for OPR. Furthermore, after adjusting for the results of the potential confounders, no impact was observed in the initiation time of estrogen stimulation on the OPR. Conclusions This study provides evidence that initiating the estrogen stimulation on after days 2–5 of menses do not exert adverse effects on the OPR in AC-FETs. Thus, AC-FET can be scheduled in a flexible manner without compromising on the pregnancy outcomes.