Identical Tasks Research Articles

Collusion-free for Cloud Verification toward the View of Game Theory

At present, clients can outsource lots of complex and abundant computation, e.g., Internet of things (IoT), tasks to clouds by the “pay as you go” model. Outsourcing computation can save costs for clients and fully utilize the existing cloud infrastructures. However, it is hard for clients to trust the clouds even if blockchain is used as the trusted platform. In this article, we utilize the verification method as SETI@home by only two rational clouds, who hope to maximize their utilities. Utilities are defined as the incomes of clouds when they provide computation results to clients. More specifically, one client outsources two jobs to two clouds and each job contains n tasks, which include k identical sentinels. Two clouds can either honestly compute each task or collude on the identical sentinel tasks by agreeing on random values. If the results of identical sentinels are identical, then client regards the jobs as correctly computed without verification. Obviously, rational clouds have incentives to deviate by collusion and provide identical random results for a higher income. We discuss how to prevent collusion by using deposits, e.g., bit-coins. Furthermore, utilities for each cloud can be automatically assigned by a smart contract. We prove that, given proper parameters, two rational clouds will honestly send correct results to the client without collusion.

3D virtual reality vs. 2D desktop registration user interface comparison.

Working with organs and extracted tissue blocks is an essential task in many medical surgery and anatomy environments. In order to prepare specimens from human donors for further analysis, wet-bench workers must properly dissect human tissue and collect metadata for downstream analysis, including information about the spatial origin of tissue. The Registration User Interface (RUI) was developed to allow stakeholders in the Human Biomolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) to register tissue blocks—i.e., to record the size, position, and orientation of human tissue data with regard to reference organs. The RUI has been used by tissue mapping centers across the HuBMAP consortium to register a total of 45 kidney, spleen, and colon tissue blocks, with planned support for 17 organs in the near future. In this paper, we compare three setups for registering one 3D tissue block object to another 3D reference organ (target) object. The first setup is a 2D Desktop implementation featuring a traditional screen, mouse, and keyboard interface. The remaining setups are both virtual reality (VR) versions of the RUI: VR Tabletop, where users sit at a physical desk which is replicated in virtual space; VR Standup, where users stand upright while performing their tasks. All three setups were implemented using the Unity game engine. We then ran a user study for these three setups involving 42 human subjects completing 14 increasingly difficult and then 30 identical tasks in sequence and reporting position accuracy, rotation accuracy, completion time, and satisfaction. All study materials were made available in support of future study replication, alongside videos documenting our setups. We found that while VR Tabletop and VR Standup users are about three times as fast and about a third more accurate in terms of rotation than 2D Desktop users (for the sequence of 30 identical tasks), there are no significant differences between the three setups for position accuracy when normalized by the height of the virtual kidney across setups. When extrapolating from the 2D Desktop setup with a 113-mm-tall kidney, the absolute performance values for the 2D Desktop version (22.6 seconds per task, 5.88 degrees rotation, and 1.32 mm position accuracy after 8.3 tasks in the series of 30 identical tasks) confirm that the 2D Desktop interface is well-suited for allowing users in HuBMAP to register tissue blocks at a speed and accuracy that meets the needs of experts performing tissue dissection. In addition, the 2D Desktop setup is cheaper, easier to learn, and more practical for wet-bench environments than the VR setups.

Reduced Fusiform Gyrus Activation During Face Processing in Pediatric Brain Tumor Survivors.

The neural mechanisms contributing to the social problems of pediatric brain tumor survivors (PBTS) are unknown. Face processing is important to social communication, social behavior, and peer acceptance. Research with other populations with social difficulties, namely autism spectrum disorder, suggests atypical brain activation in areas important for face processing. This case-controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study compared brain activation during face processing in PBTS and typically developing (TD) youth. Participants included 36 age-, gender-, and IQ-matched youth (N = 18 per group). PBTS were at least 5 years from diagnosis and 2 years from the completion of tumor therapy. fMRI data were acquired during a face identity task and a control condition. Groups were compared on activation magnitude within the fusiform gyrus for the faces condition compared to the control condition. Correlational analyses evaluated associations between neuroimaging metrics and indices of social behavior for PBTS participants. Both groups demonstrated face-specific activation within the social brain for the faces condition compared to the control condition. PBTS showed significantly decreased activation for faces in the medial portions of the fusiform gyrus bilaterally compared to TD youth, ps ≤ .004. Higher peak activity in the left fusiform gyrus was associated with better socialization (r = .53, p < .05). This study offers initial evidence of atypical activation in a key face processing area in PBTS. Such atypical activation may underlie some of the social difficulties of PBTS. Social cognitive neuroscience methodologies may elucidate the neurobiological bases for PBTS social behavior.

20 Hz Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation Inhibits Observation-Execution-Related Motor Cortex Excitability.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on the primary motor cortex (M1) during action observation, and subsequent action execution, on motor cortex excitability. The participants received tACS at 10 Hz or 20 Hz, or a sham stimulation over the left M1 for 10 min while they observed a video displaying a repeated button-tapping task using the right hand, and then performed an identical task with their right hand. Motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes were measured before (T0) and after the action observation paired with tACS or a sham stimulation (T1), and after the performance of the action (T2). The results showed that MEPs were significantly reduced at time point T1 (p = 0.042, Cohen’s d = 0.611) and T2 (p = 0.0003, Cohen’s d = 0.852) in the 20 Hz tACS condition, in contrast with the sham stimulation. There was a significantly smaller MEP amplitude at time point T2 in the 20 Hz tACS condition, as compared to the 10 Hz tACS condition (p = 0.01, Cohen’s d = 0.622), but the MEP amplitude did not significantly change at time point T1 between the 20 Hz and 10 Hz tACS conditions (p = 0.136, Cohen’s d = 0.536). There were no significant differences at time point T1 and T2 between the 10 Hz tACS condition and the sham stimulation. We conclude that 20 Hz tACS during action observation inhibited motor cortex excitability and subsequently inhibited execution-related motor cortex excitability. The effects of tACS on task-related motor cortex excitability are frequency-dependent.

Meaningful interpretation of algebraic inequalities to achieve uncertainty and risk reduction

The paper develops an important method related to using algebraic inequalities for uncertainty and risk reduction and enhancing systems performance. The method consists of creating relevant meaning for the variables and different parts of the inequalities and linking them with real physical systems or processes. The paper shows that inequalities based on multivariable sub-additive functions can be interpreted meaningfully and the generated new knowledge used for optimising systems and processes in diverse areas of science and technology. In this respect, an interpretation of the Bergström inequality, which is based on a sub-additive function, has been used to increase the accumulated strain energy in components loaded in tension and bending. The paper also presents an interpretation of the Chebyshev’s sum inequality that can be used to avoid the risk of overestimation of returns from investments and an interpretation of a new algebraic inequality that can be used to construct the most reliable series-parallel system. The meaningful interpretation of other algebraic inequalities yielded a highly counter-intuitive result related to assigning devices of different types to missions composed of identical tasks. In the case where the probabilities of a successful accomplishment of a task, characterising the devices, are unknown, the best strategy for a successful accomplishment of the mission consists of selecting randomly an arrangement including devices of the same type. This strategy is always correct, irrespective of existing uknown interdependencies among the probabilities of successful accomplishment of the tasks characterising the devices.

Somatosensory Perception Of Basketball Shoe Mass

Athletic shoe manufacturers have been marketing increasingly “lightweight” shoes, though it is unclear how well people can perceive shoe mass through their feet. PURPOSE: To determine how accurately subjects could perceive the relative masses of five different, unaltered basketball shoes models using either their feet or their hands. METHODS: Seventeen males (23.8 ± 9.4 years, 180 ± 3.8 cm, 89.2 ± 12.6 kg) participated. The five basketball shoe models ranged in mass from 345-500 g. For foot perception, subjects were blindly fitted with the shoes, allowed one minute to wear the shoes, and then ranked the shoes’ masses first individually using verbal analogue scales (VAS) and second collectively using verbal relative rankings. For hand perception, subjects blindly hefted the shoes and then physically ordered them based on perceived mass. RESULTS: Subjects were 20% accurate in the foot task and 88% accurate in the hand task based on squared residuals. Accuracy outcomes in the present study were not statistically different from accuracy outcomes from identical mass perception tasks using running shoes in either men (shoe mass range 220-360 g) or women (shoe mass range 160-290 g), for either foot or hand perceptual tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with previous studies, subjects perceived relative basketball shoe masses poorly when wearing the shoes but well when holding them. It appears that mass perceptual abilities are comparable regardless of whether running shoes (with overall lighter masses) or basketball shoes (with overall heavier masses) are used.

Mice learn multi-step routes by memorizing subgoal locations.

The behavioral strategies that mammals use to learn multi-step routes are unknown. In this study, we investigated how mice navigate to shelter in response to threats when the direct path is blocked. Initially, they fled toward the shelter and negotiated obstacles using sensory cues. Within 20 min, they spontaneously adopted a subgoal strategy, initiating escapes by running directly to the obstacle's edge. Mice continued to escape in this manner even after the obstacle had been removed, indicating use of spatial memory. However, standard models of spatial learning-habitual movement repetition and internal map building-did not explain how subgoal memories formed. Instead, mice used a hybrid approach: memorizing salient locations encountered during spontaneous 'practice runs' to the shelter. This strategy was also used during a geometrically identical food-seeking task. These results suggest that subgoal memorization is a fundamental strategy by which rodents learn efficient multi-step routes in new environments.

Familiarity and task context shape the use of acoustic information in voice identity perception

Familiar and unfamiliar voice perception are often understood as being distinct from each other. For identity perception, theoretical work has proposed that listeners use acoustic information in different ways to perceive identity from familiar and unfamiliar voices: Unfamiliar voices are thought to be processed based on close comparisons of acoustic properties, while familiar voices are processed based on diagnostic acoustic features that activate a stored person-specific representation of that voice. To date no empirical study has directly examined whether and how familiar and unfamiliar listeners differ in their use of acoustic information for identity perception. Here, we tested this theoretical claim by linking listeners' judgements in voice identity tasks to complex acoustic representation — spectral similarity of the heard voice recordings. Participants (N = 177) who were either familiar or unfamiliar with a set of voices completed an identity discrimination task (Experiment 1) or an identity sorting task (Experiment 2). In both experiments, identity judgements for familiar and unfamiliar voices were guided by spectral similarity: Pairs of recordings with greater acoustic similarity were more likely to be perceived as belonging to the same voice identity. However, while there were no differences in how familiar and unfamiliar listeners used acoustic information for identity discrimination, differences were apparent for identity sorting. Our study therefore challenges proposals that view familiar and unfamiliar voice perception as being at all times distinct. Instead, our data suggest a critical role of the listening situation in which familiar and unfamiliar voices are evaluated, thus characterising voice identity perception as a highly dynamic process in which listeners opportunistically make use of any kind of information they can access.

Food cue regulation of AGRP hunger neurons guides learning.

Agouti-related peptide (AGRP)-expressing neurons are activated by fasting-this causes hunger1-4, an aversive state that motivates the seeking and consumption of food5,6. Eating returns AGRP neuron activity towards baseline on three distinct timescales: rapidly and transiently following sensory detection of food cues6-8, slowly and longer-lasting in response to nutrients in the gut9,10, and even more slowly and permanently with restoration of energy balance9,11. The rapid regulation by food cues is of particular interest as its neurobiological basis and purpose are unknown. Given that AGRP neuron activity is aversive6, the sensory cue-linked reductions in activity could function to guide behaviour. To evaluate this, we first identified the circuit mediating sensory cue inhibition and then selectively perturbed it to determine function. Here, we show that a lateral hypothalamic glutamatergic→dorsomedial hypothalamic GABAergic (γ-aminobutyric acid-producing)12 → AGRP neuron circuit mediates this regulation. Interference with this circuit impairs food cue inhibition of AGRP neurons and, notably, greatly impairs learning of a sensory cue-initiated food-acquisition task. This is specific for food, as learning of an identical water-acquisition task is unaffected. We propose that decreases in aversive AGRP neuron activity6 mediated by this food-specific circuit increases the incentive salience13 of food cues, and thus facilitates the learning of food-acquisition tasks.

Modulation of the Primary Auditory Thalamus When Recognizing Speech with Background Noise.

Recognizing speech in background noise is a strenuous daily activity, yet most humans can master it. An explanation of how the human brain deals with such sensory uncertainty during speech recognition is to-date missing. Previous work has shown that recognition of speech without background noise involves modulation of the auditory thalamus (medial geniculate body; MGB): there are higher responses in left MGB for speech recognition tasks that require tracking of fast-varying stimulus properties in contrast to relatively constant stimulus properties (e.g., speaker identity tasks) despite the same stimulus input. Here, we tested the hypotheses that (1) this task-dependent modulation for speech recognition increases in parallel with the sensory uncertainty in the speech signal, i.e., the amount of background noise; and that (2) this increase is present in the ventral MGB, which corresponds to the primary sensory part of the auditory thalamus. In accordance with our hypothesis, we show, by using ultra-high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in male and female human participants, that the task-dependent modulation of the left ventral MGB (vMGB) for speech is particularly strong when recognizing speech in noisy listening conditions in contrast to situations where the speech signal is clear. The results imply that speech in noise recognition is supported by modifications at the level of the subcortical sensory pathway providing driving input to the auditory cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Speech recognition in noisy environments is a challenging everyday task. One reason why humans can master this task is the recruitment of additional cognitive resources as reflected in recruitment of non-language cerebral cortex areas. Here, we show that also modulation in the primary sensory pathway is specifically involved in speech in noise recognition. We found that the left primary sensory thalamus (ventral medial geniculate body; vMGB) is more involved when recognizing speech signals as opposed to a control task (speaker identity recognition) when heard in background noise versus when the noise was absent. This finding implies that the brain optimizes sensory processing in subcortical sensory pathway structures in a task-specific manner to deal with speech recognition in noisy environments.

Nuancing Perspective

Abstract. Two experiments manipulated participants’ familiarity with another person and examined their performance in future understanding of that person’s emotions. To gain familiarity, participants watched several videos of the target sharing experiences and rated her emotions. In the Feedback condition, perceivers learned about the actual emotions the target felt. In the Control condition, perceivers completed identical recognition tasks but did not know the target’s own emotion ratings. Studies ( Ntotal= 398; one preregistered) found that the Feedback group was more accurate than the Control in future understanding of the target’s emotions. Results provide a proof-of-concept demonstration that brief preliminary learning about past emotional experiences of another person can give one a more accurate understanding of the person in the future.

In Flow with Task Repetition During Collaborative Oral and Writing Tasks

The present study draws on Flow Theory to examine the relationship between task repetition and the quality of learners’ subjective experience during task execution. Flow is defined as a positive experiential state characterized by intense focus and involvement in meaningful and challenging, but doable tasks, which has been associated with enhanced self-confidence and task performance (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008). While research shows that certain task characteristics interact differentially with the quality of flow experiences, no research has specifically examined such interaction with task repetition. Participants (n=24) were randomly assigned to a Task Repetition or a Procedural Repetition group. All participants first completed a two-way decision-making gap task in both the oral and written modalities and either repeated the identical task or a comparable task one week later. Data were collected with a flow perception questionnaire, completed immediately following each task. Results show that repetition positively influenced learners’ flow experience, but that modality was an important mediating factor.

Amplified inversion effects for moving biological stimuli remain largest for faces and bodies.

Turning an object upside-down disrupts our ability to perceive it accurately, and this inversion effect is disproportionately larger for faces and whole bodies than most other objects. This disproportionate inversion effect is taken as an indicator of holistic processing for these stimuli. Large inversion effects are also found when viewing motion-only information from faces and bodies; however, these have not been compared to other moving objects in an identity task so it is unclear whether inversion effects remain disproportionately larger for faces and bodies when they are engaged in motion. The current study investigated the effect of inversion on static and moving unfamiliar faces, human bodies, and German Shepherd dogs in an old-new recognition memory task. Sensitivity and baseline corrected reaction time (RT) results revealed that inversion effects for faces and whole-bodies remained disproportionately larger than those for German Shepherd dogs, regardless of presentation type, suggesting that both static and moving faces and bodies are processed holistically.

Impulsivity and self-control in elementary school children and adult females: Using identical task and procedural parameters

Results of studies examining the relationship between impulsivity and age are limited because different tasks, procedural parameters, and different reinforcers have been used with different aged participants. Thus, the current study sought to rectify these differences in two experiments with children (42, ages 5–12) and adults (69 college-aged females) using the same task with identical procedural parameters. In the Self-Control Video Software Task (SCVST; Forzano and Schunk, 2008; Forzano et al., 2014) participants repeatedly choose between larger, more delayed and smaller, less delayed access to viewing video cartoons. No differences in impulsivity were found between adults and children. No age or gender differences were found among children. Differences in task and procedural parameters are identified as important in their implications for research on impulsivity.

Personalising digital learning for young children: Leveraging psychosocial identities and Techne for literacy development

AbstractChildren learn literacies as social practices in context. Increasingly, these contexts include technological tools. Moreover, children engage with psychosocial identity tasks that involve more than cognitive growth. With the rapid rise in digital personalisation, there is a need to consider ways to ensure that digital technologies attend to literacies using understandings about psychosocial development. In this paper, we share ideas from Erik Erikson about the psychosocial tasks children must achieve in their communities from infancy and we relate these to literacy. The psychosocial tasks are trust, autonomy, initiative and industry. We explain how digital personalisation efforts might contribute to holistic psychosocial development that are also supportive of expansive literacies. Then, we make three recommendations for enhancing the digital personalisation efforts. These include attending to identity tasks, considering multiple types of growth simultaneously and involving multiple systems (eg, parents, caregivers and community) in planning, implementing and evaluating personalised instructional materials for young children. Practitioner notesWhat is already known Personalisation is a concept centred on meeting learners' individual needs. Digital personalisation tools and practices for young children have not fully leveraged unique aspects of childhood versus other phases of life. What this paper adds Digital personalisation processes for young children can be enhanced through psychosocial considerations within social contexts, particularly for literacy learning. Psychosocial developmental theories offer new ways to think about how to involve parents and other caregivers in digital personalisation processes. Implications for practice Planners, implementers and evaluators of digital personalised instructional materials should tether their efforts to psychosocial identity tasks. Planners, implementers and evaluators should also consider ways to layer multiple types of learning (cognitive, social and psychological) within identity tasks. Planners, implementers and evaluators should work to include multiple support systems (parents, educators and communities) in their efforts to personalise digital activities and materials.

Great expectations: minor differences in initial instructions have a major impact on visual search in the absence of feedback

Professions such as radiology and aviation security screening that rely on visual search—the act of looking for targets among distractors—often cannot provide operators immediate feedback, which can create situations where performance may be largely driven by the searchers’ own expectations. For example, if searchers do not expect relatively hard-to-spot targets to be present in a given search, they may find easy-to-spot targets but systematically quit searching before finding more difficult ones. Without feedback, searchers can create self-fulfilling prophecies where they incorrectly reinforce initial biases (e.g., first assuming and then, perhaps wrongly, concluding hard-to-spot targets are rare). In the current study, two groups of searchers completed an identical visual search task but with just a single difference in their initial task instructions before the experiment started; those in the “high-expectation” condition were told that each trial could have one or two targets present (i.e., correctly implying no target-absent trials) and those in the “low-expectation” condition were told that each trial would have up to two targets (i.e., incorrectly implying there could be target-absent trials). Compared to the high-expectation group, the low-expectation group had a lower hit rate, lower false alarm rate and quit trials more quickly, consistent with a lower quitting threshold (i.e., performing less exhaustive searches) and a potentially higher target-present decision criterion. The expectation effect was present from the start and remained across the experiment—despite exposure to the same true distribution of targets, the groups’ performances remained divergent, primarily driven by the different subjective experiences caused by each groups’ self-fulfilling prophecies. The effects were limited to the single-targets trials, which provides insights into the mechanisms affected by the initial expectations set by the instructions. In sum, initial expectations can have dramatic influences—searchers who do not expect to find a target, are less likely to find a target as they are more likely to quit searching earlier.

Listeners are initially flexible in updating phonetic beliefs over time.

Perceptual learning serves as a mechanism for listeners to adapt to novel phonetic information. Distributional tracking theories posit that this adaptation occurs as a result of listeners accumulating talker-specific distributional information about the phonetic category in question (Kleinschmidt & Jaeger, Psychological Review, 122, 148-203, 2015). What is not known is how listeners build these talker-specific distributions-that is, if they aggregate all information received over a certain time period, or if they rely more heavily upon the most recent information received and down-weight older, consolidated information. In the present experiment, listeners were exposed to four interleaved blocks of a lexical decision task and a phonetic categorization task in which the lexical decision blocks were designed to bias perception in opposite directions of a "s"-"sh" contrast. Listeners returned several days later and completed the identical task again. In each individual session, listener's perception of a "s"-"sh" contrast was biased by the information in the immediately preceding lexical decision block (though only when participants heard the "sh"-biasing block first, which was likely driven by stimulus characteristics). There was evidence that listeners accrued information about the talker over time since the bias effect diminished in the second session. In general, results suggest that listeners initially maintain some flexibility with their talker-specific phonetic representations, but over the course of several exposures begin to consolidate these representations.

Collaborative learning in mathematics classrooms: Can teachers understand progress of concurrent collaborating groups?

Dashboards have been hypothesized to facilitate adaptive guidance in classrooms. Thus far, however, empirical studies in this domain are badly missing. We present a dashboard, which enables teachers to observe concurrent groups as they engage in mathematical tasks using Dynamic Geometry tools and to guide groups when their intervention is needed. We rely on a case study with this dashboard in which a single teacher could successfully orchestrate the progression of several groups working on difficult problems in geometry, when being sent realtime alerts about critical moments, moments whose occurrence may impinge on further co-construction of knowledge. In the present study, we chose six 20-min long demo videos of small groups in a variety of sessions of unguided group work, where each video describes the work of one of six small groups (dyads or triads) dealing simultaneously with identical set tasks. Two versions of this demo were prepared, one with alerts of critical moments generated according to predefined rules, and the other without alerts. The teachers observing concurrent groups and being updated about critical moments (N1 = 21) better understand progression in groups than teachers that are not informed about these critical moments (N2 = 18). In a second study we found that the dispatching of alerts impinges on the ways the teachers navigate across rooms. In particular, they pay attention to certain alerts and at the same time, focus on learning processes in mathematics. We conclude that such tools may help bringing collaborative settings more often in classrooms.

The ecomuseum as a space for the activation of governance processes. Co‑management of heritage in responsible tourism management

An ecomuseum orients its conservation, formation and reproduction of identity and patrimonial tasks based on the proximity to the territory and the population area it serves. This entails a flexible management system that adapts to contextual specificities of this socio‑cultural and geographical area, empowering local populations to govern themselves in relation to a common project. This study explores the activation of governance processes in ecomuseums, The Cultural Project of Community Development of La Aldea on the island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain) is taken as a case study, related to manners and traditional work. Methodologically, interviews, informal conversations and direct observation have been conducted to determine the presence of governance in the management. To assess the opinion of the visitor, questionnaires were made. From the analysis it is possible to confirm that co‑management, in accordance with governance provides better decision‑making in the formation of the cultural tourism product

It's the Effort that Counts: Exerting Self-Control Biases Goal Progress Perceptions

Does how much self-control we exert influence how much goal progress we feel that we have made? In eight studies (N = 5,061), we demonstrate that consumers perceive that they have made more progress on their goals, and are motivated to further pursue the goal, if the identical goal-relevant task they completed required more (vs. less) self-control to complete. This is because consumers perceive they have put more effort towards their goal when they exert more (vs. less) self-control to complete a goal-relevant task. Relying on an effort-progress heuristic, consumers translate any perceived effort towards the goal to mean increased progress towards the goal. While this effort-progress heuristic can many times lead to accurate judgments of goal progress, we demonstrate that consumers misapply this heuristic when they exert more self-control effort, as this effort is irrelevant to goal progress.