Storage Tasks Research Articles

Longitudinal and concurrent links between memory span, anxiety symptoms, and subsequent executive functioning in young children.

It has been conjectured that basic individual differences in attentional control influence higher-level executive functioning and subsequent academic performance in children. The current study sets out to complement the limited body of research on early precursors of executive functions (EFs). It provides both a cross-sectional, as well as a longitudinal exploration of the relationship between EF and more basic attentional control mechanisms, assessed via children's performance on memory storage tasks, and influenced by individual differences in anxiety. Multiple measures of verbal and visuospatial short-term memory (STM) were administered to children between 3 and 6 years old, alongside a non-verbal measure of intelligence, and a parental report of anxiety symptoms. After 9 months, children were re-tested on the same STM measures, at which time we also administered multiple measures of executive functioning: verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM), inhibition, and shifting. A cross-sectional view of STM development indicated that between 3 and 6 years the trajectory of visuospatial STM and EF underwent a gradual linear improvement. However, between 5 and 6 years progress in verbal STM performance stagnated. Hierarchical regression models revealed that trait anxiety was negatively associated with WM and shifting, while non-verbal intelligence was positively related to WM span. When age, gender, non-verbal intelligence, and anxiety were controlled for, STM (measured at the first assessment) was a very good predictor of overall executive performance. The models were most successful in predicting WM, followed by shifting, yet poorly predicted inhibition measures. Further longitudinal research is needed to directly address the contribution of attentional control mechanisms to emerging executive functioning and to the development of problematic behavior during early development.

A Research on Active Storage Task Allocation Strategy Based on MMC

the processing capacity of a server is unable to satisfy the parallel processing of mass data and also improves data transmission in storage system. This paper has adopted active storage system to transfer calculation task and management ability to data end, improving the parallel processing capability of application program and reducing the data transmission rate in the system. During processing arriving process, this research has complied with Poisson flow, and the service time for each processor is negative exponential distribution and task service rule is the mixing model of “first come, first served”. Through experiment, it is proved that the data transmission rate within MMC system is reduced by 15% than random allocation of task on average and the system speed-up ratio is improved by 2.1 than average.

Selection of wavelet for image compression in hybrid coding scheme combining SPIHT- and SOFM-based vector quantisation

Image compression is an important task for image transmission and storage. Thus far many compression techniques have been developed, such as transform image coding, predictive image coding, Vector Quantisation (VQ) and so on. Of these compression techniques, the techniques based on transform coding and VQ have received considerable attention. Recently, hybrid schemes for effective image compression have gained enormous popularity among researchers. In this paper, we analyse a hybrid scheme combining Kohonen’s Self-Organising Feature Map (SOFM)-based VQ coding and Set Partitioning In Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) coding for compression of images (Rawat and Meher, 2009). The reconstructed image quality achieved after decoding depends upon the wavelet used in SPIHT. The effectiveness of the scheme for various orthogonal and biorthogonal wavelets for the hybrid scheme is tested in terms of Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Visual Information Fidelity (VIF).

The Service Platform for Barrier-Free Special Education Based on Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a computing model, computing and storage tasks be assigned to the cloud that be composed of a large number of computers. The cloud computing technology are introduced firstly, then the cloud network platform, the service platform for barrier-free special education and functions are detailed described, lastly the key technology is given, such as TTS technology, Microsoft Speech SDK.

Memory abilities in generally gifted and excelling-in-mathematics adolescents

This paper presents part of a multidimensional examination of mathematical giftedness. The present study examined the memory mechanisms associated with general giftedness (G) and excellence in mathematics (E) in four groups of 10th–12th grade students (16–18years old) varying in levels of G and E. The participants first underwent the Raven test for general ability evaluation and SAT-M — the mathematical excellence tests in order to design the study groups. Afterwards, the students were tested on a battery of three memory tests including tests for short-term (STM) and working memory (WM). The results reveal that the G factor is related to high STM for both phonological loop and phonological central executive mechanisms. It was also found that the E factor is associated with high visual–spatial memory (VSM), in particular with the visual central executive mechanism. An interaction effect was found between G and E factors regarding WM. The central executive mechanism appeared to be related to both G and E factors. In addition, gender differences were shown within the groups. Male participants performed better than their female counterparts on a phonological storage task and a phonological central executive mechanism task. The results can contribute to the theoretical knowledge regarding similarities and differences in memory mechanisms in G and E groups.

Visuospatial working memory in specific language impairment: A meta-analysis

We conducted a meta-analysis of the data from studies comparing visuospatial working memory (WM) in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing (TD) children. The effect sizes of 21 studies (including 32 visuospatial storage tasks and 9 visuospatial central executive (CE) tasks) were identified via computerized database searches and the reference sections of the identified studies. Meta-analyses and moderator analyses were conducted to examine the magnitude of the differences in visuospatial storage and CE, and their relation to the inclusion criteria used for SLI and the age of the children. The results showed significant effect sizes for visuospatial storage (d=0.49) and visuospatial CE (d=0.63), indicating deficits in both components of visuospatial WM in children with SLI. The moderator analyses showed that greater impairment in visuospatial storage was associated with more pervasive language impairment, whereas age was not significant associated with visuospatial WM. The finding of deficits in visuospatial WM suggests domain-general impairments in children with SLI. It raises questions about the language-specificity of a diagnosis of SLI. Careful attention should thus be paid to both verbal and visuospatial WM in clinical practice, and especially in those children with pervasive language impairments.

Unification of STN and RTN based models for short-term scheduling of batch plants with shared resources

State-task-network (STN) and resource-task-network (RTN) representations are popularly used for formulating mathematical models of scheduling problems. In contrast to STN representation, RTN representation offers unified treatment for different resources such as processing and storage units, material states and utilities. In global-event (or single-time grid) based models processing tasks occurring in different units are aligned globally, hence, they explicitly do not distinguish handling of resources such as utilities and material states. While, unit-specific event (or multi-time grid) based models offer better computational performance due to requirement of lesser number of events, but there is no unified treatment for handling of utility or discrete resources due to heterogeneous location of events. Usually, global alignment is enforced for different tasks that use the same utility, while for material states unit-specific alignment is used. Hence, for unit-specific event-based models it is desirable to have a unified framework for handling of material states and utility resources, which, not only offers a unification of STN and RTN formulations, but, potentially can result in further reduction in the number of events required to find optimal solutions. In this work, we propose a unified framework and develop two unit-specific event-based approaches for STN and RTN representations by incorporating a novel resource balance that offers these two unifications. The key features of the proposed approach are: (i) all resources are treated in unified way for the first time, (ii) simplified handling of multiple orders using the concept of active task, (iii) handling of shared storage problems in non-aggregated storage tanks by considering explicit storage tasks. The proposed features are demonstrated on few benchmark examples from literature.

What is not working in working memory of children with literacy disorders? Evidence from a three-year-longitudinal study

The goals of this study were to explore the deficits in working memory associated with literacy disorders (i.e. developmental disorders of reading and/or spelling) and the developmental trajectories of these working memory deficits. The performance of 28 children with literacy disorders was compared to a non-disabled control group with the same group size at five bi-annual times of measurement in a three-year-longitudinal study beginning at the end of primary school (9.5 years of age). Storage capacity and central-executive working memory were assessed in phonological and visual-spatial modalities, the latter under static and dynamic conditions. Overall, children with literacy disorders were outperformed by their typical developing peers in all phonological and in dynamic visual-spatial storage and central-executive tasks except for the static visual-spatial storage task. Results at single times of measurement revealed that the most consistent deficit was found in the storage capacity of the phonological loop. An additional central-executive impairment is supported by low backward spans. The causes for output deficits in dynamic visual-spatial tasks and good performance under static visual-spatial condition are discussed.

Adaptive Computing Resource Allocation for Mobile Cloud Computing

Mobile cloud computing (MCC) enables mobile devices to outsource their computing, storage and other tasks onto the cloud to achieve more capacities and higher performance. One of the most critical research issues is how the cloud can efficiently handle the possible overwhelming requests from mobile users when the cloud resource is limited. In this paper, a novel MCC adaptive resource allocation model is proposed to achieve the optimal resource allocation in terms of the maximal overall system reward by considering both cloud and mobile devices. To achieve this goal, we model the adaptive resource allocation as a semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) to capture the dynamic arrivals and departures of resource requests. Extensive simulations are conducted to demonstrate that our proposed model can achieve higher system reward and lower service blocking probability compared to traditional approaches based on greedy resource allocation algorithm. Performance comparisons with various MCC resource allocation schemes are also provided.

On the practical use of physical unclonable functions in oblivious transfer and bit commitment protocols

In recent years, PUF-based schemes have been suggested not only for the basic tasks of tamper-sensitive key storage or the identification of hardware systems, but also for more complex protocols like oblivious transfer (OT) or bit commitment (BC), both of which possess broad and diverse applications. In this paper, we continue this line of research. We first present an attack on two recent OT and BC protocols which have been introduced by Brzuska et al. (CRYPTO, LNCS 6841, pp 51–70, Springer 2011). The attack quadratically reduces the number of CRPs which malicious players must read out to cheat, and fully operates within the original communication model of Brzuska et al. (CRYPTO, LNCS 6841, pp 51–70, Springer 2011). In practice, this leads to insecure protocols when electrical PUFs with a medium challenge-length are used (e.g., 64 bits), or whenever optical PUFs are employed. These two PUF types are currently among the most popular designs of so-called Strong PUFs. Secondly, we show that the same attack applies to a recent OT protocol of Ostrovsky et al. (IACR Cryptol. ePrint Arch. 2012:143, 2012), leading to exactly the same consequences. Finally, we discuss countermeasures. We present a new OT protocol with better security properties, which utilizes interactive hashing as a substep and is based on an earlier protocol by Rührmair (TRUST, LNCS 6101, pp 430–440, Springer 2010). We then closely analyze its properties, including its security, security amplification, and practicality.

The structure of visuospatial memory in adulthood

The present study aimed to investigate the structure of visuospatial memory in adulthood. Adults 40–89years of age (n=160) performed simple storage and complex visuospatial span tasks. Simple storage tasks were distinguished into three presentation formats: (i) visual, which involved maintaining shapes and textures; (ii) spatial-sequential, which involved maintaining sequentially-presented locations; and (iii) spatial-simultaneous, which involved maintaining patterns of locations. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that, among the domain-differentiated models, the one considering visuospatial memory in its simple visual, spatial-sequential and spatial-simultaneous components and complex visuospatial memory yielded a good fit to our data. Structural equation modeling also showed that age had a direct effect on visual, spatial-sequential and spatial-simultaneous memory, and on complex visuospatial memory. Altogether these results suggest the importance of considering both the type of processing involved (in simple storage vs. complex visuospatial tasks) and the presentation format of the stimuli in the visuospatial domain.

Application of Clouds Computing Assisted Instruction to Mobile Learning Activities

The limitation of terminal equipment and the scarcity of mobile learning resource are key constrains of mobile learning development. However, cloud computing supplies a new way of solving the problem. For cloud computing, the calculation and the storage of task are conducted in the cloud server. As a result, computing and storage work of mobile phone are separated from the machine. So user can customize through cloud computing services according to personal need. Thus a lot of works that are realized only in high-performance computers before, but now can be finished through the mobile phones with poor configuration. This paper through theoretical study and based on the theory of mobile learning and cloud computing, it points out the disadvantages of mobile learning and puts forward the solution of cloud computing technology.

Study of Location Optimization Scheduling with Multiple Storage Tasks at Container Storage Area of Airport Freight Station

In this paper, we made a deep analysis on the operational conditions and the process of double plate of ETV at the packaging zone of airport freight station, and considered double plate factor in the freight lot allocation problem of multi Unit Load Device (ULD) storage tasks. The freight lot allocation problem of multi ULD at the packaging zone was translated into a multi-objective optimization problem with constraints and a mathematical model was set up. Niche technique was introduced into genetic algorithm, and storage location was constructed to optimize genetic algorithm. The model was solved by genetic algorithm combined with. The experimental data obtained by the simulation of MATLAB showed that, the given genetic algorithm can solve the optimal Pareto solution aggregate of the ULD region’s freight lot allocation problem.

Storage capacity explains fluid intelligence but executive control does not

We examined whether fluid intelligence (Gf) is better predicted by the storage capacity of active memory or by the effectiveness of executive control. In two psychometric studies, we measured storage capacity with three kinds of task which required the maintenance of a visual array, the monitoring of simple relations among perceptually available stimuli, or the quick update of information. Executive control was measured with tasks reflecting three executive functions, namely attention control, interference resolution, and response inhibition. Using structural equation modeling, we found that all storage tasks loaded on one latent variable, which predicted on average 70% of variance in Gf (Studies 1 and 2). On the contrary, neither interference resolution nor response inhibition was substantially related to Gf or to any other variable (Study 1). Although attention control predicted on average 25% of Gf variance (Studies 1 and 2), when storage capacity was statistically controlled for, attention control no longer significantly explained Gf.

H2 optimal control solution for a combined energy and attitude control system

This addendum is an extension of a series of research work on the combined energy and attitude control system (CEACS) for small satellites. Previous works appeared in Acta Astronautica showed that the CEACS is able to simultaneously perform the attitude control and energy storage task. This addendum focuses on the CEACS attitude control enhancement by employing the H2 optimal control method. Governing equations describing the CEACS H2 attitude control architecture are established. Numerical treatments are performed in order to validate the attitude control option.

Intuitive geometry and visuospatial working memory in children showing symptoms of nonverbal learning disabilities

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and intuitive geometry were examined in two groups aged 11–13, one with children displaying symptoms of nonverbal learning disability (NLD; n = 16), and the other, a control group without learning disabilities (n = 16). The two groups were matched for general verbal abilities, age, gender, and socioeconomic level. The children were presented with simple storage and complex-span tasks involving VSWM and with the intuitive geometry task devised by Dehaene, Izard, Pica, and Spelke (2006). Results revealed that the two groups differed in the intuitive geometry task. Differences were particularly evident in Euclidean geometry and in geometrical transformations. Moreover, the performance of NLD children was worse than controls to a larger extent in complex-span than in simple storage tasks, and VSWM differences were able to account for group differences in geometry. Finally, a discriminant function analysis confirmed the crucial role of complex-span tasks involving VSWM in distinguishing between the two groups. Results are discussed with reference to the relationship between VSWM and mathematics difficulties in nonverbal learning disabilities.

The Comprehensive Approach for Data Security in Cloud Computing: A Survey

Computing is becoming next stage platform in the evolution of the internet. It provides the customer an enhanced and efficient way to store data in the cloud with different range of capabilities and applications. The data in the cloud is stored by the service provider. Service provider capable and having a technique to protect their client data to ensure security and to prevent the data from discloser by unauthorized users. This paper, will gives a descriptive knowledge regarding cloud computing privacy and security issue provided by encryption and decryption services. If a cloud system is performing a task of storage of data and encryption and decryption of data on the same cloud then there are much more chances of getting access to the confidential data without authorization. This increases the risk factor in terms of security and privacy. This paper helps us on proposes a business model for cloud computing which focused on separating the encryption and decryption service, from the storage service provided by service provider. I means that both encryption and decryption of the data can performed at two distinct places. For studying this proposal are using a business model named as CRM (customer relationship model) for an example. For the evaluation of effective an efficient technique of data storage and retrieval we are providing three clouds separately such as including encryption and decryption services, secondly storage and a CRM application system. In this Research paper, we have tried to access separate encryption and decryption service using RSA algorithm and computing is a paradigm in which information is stored in servers on the internet. That information retrieved by the client as per usage. For this manner, we provide us a solution for data security, confidentiality and privacy based on a concept of separate encryption and decryption service. Keywordscomputing; encryption and decryption cloud service; service level agreement; availability; reliability; integrity; data privacy protection

Analysis of the effects of storage conditions on the preservation of soybean quality and the prevention of the self-heating process and the occurrence of fires

After harvest, oilseed raw materials must be stored for a longer or shorter period of time before further processing. The task of storage is the safekeeping of the stored material with a minimal loss in quality. In order to preserve wet grain until processing, it is necessary to provide proper storage conditions. For this purpose, storage in the atmosphere of inert gases as well as storage in hermetically closed storages is applied. Such method is uncommon for oil cultures in domestic practice. Experimental research, analyzed in this paper, with emphasis on the effects of storage conditions on the preservation of soybean grain quality and the prevention of possibilities of the occurrence of the self-heating and self-ignition process, confirms the advantages of application of such method of storage for soybean grain. Soybean with the moisture content of 10.99% and 16.96% is stored in steel semi-industrial silo cells with carbon-dioxide atmosphere, and in hermetically sealed cell. The changes in temperature in the silo cells, changes in moisture content and discoloration of the soybean grains, as well as the amount of oil and protein in the grain were monitored during the experiment. The quality of the oil in grain was determined through the content of free fatty acids. The results of the research showed that, during longer period of time (216 days), the quality of the soybean grain in the sample with higher moisture content (16,96%) was preserved when storage was performed in carbon dioxide atmosphere. The storage of wet grain in a hermetically closed cell, in relation to the grain kept in carbon dioxide atmosphere, did not record significant differences in the examined indicators. Since the storage under controlled conditions did not result in the development of processes that would lead to the spontaneous heating of the soybean mass, the recommendation is to introduce such storage method for oilseed raw materials into domestic practice, with the additional aim of increasing the degree of protection against fire and explosions.

The neural correlates of impaired collision avoidance in hemianopic patients

The aim of this study was to assess the brain regions associated with impaired performance in a virtual, dynamic collision avoidance task, in a group of patients with homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs) because of unilateral vascular brain lesions. Overall task performance was quantitatively assessed as the number of collisions while crossing an intersection at two levels of traffic density. Twenty-six patients were divided into two subgroups using the median split method: patients with 'performance above average' (HVFD(A), i.e. lower number of collisions) and patients with 'performance below average' (HVFD(B), i.e. higher number of collisions). In order to identify the anatomical structures that might be specifically affected in HVFD(B) patients but spared in HVFD(A) patients, overlap, subtraction and voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping analyses were performed using the MRIcron software. No significant difference in collision avoidance between patients with left- and right-hemispheric lesions was revealed. Separate lesion analysis in 12 patients with right- and 14 patients with left-hemispheric lesions showed that the cortical structures associated with impaired collision avoidance were the parieto-occipital region and posterior cingulate gyrus in the right hemisphere and the inferior occipital cortex and parts of the fusiform (occipito-temporal) gyrus in the left hemisphere. In the present collision avoidance paradigm, impaired performance of patients with right-hemispheric lesions is associated with damage in the dorsal processing stream and potential impact on the visual spatial working memory (WM), while impaired performance of patients with left-hemispheric lesions is associated with damage in the ventral stream and potential impact on the visual object WM.

Commentary: Theoretical and methodological challenges to the study of working memory in developmental disorders - a comment on Rhodes et al. (2012)

Rhodes and colleagues’ decision to investigate working memory profiles in children with ADHD, ODD, and a combined diagnosis (see preceding article in this issue: Rhodes, Park, Seth and Coghill, 2012), is certainly timely, as there is an increasing awareness of the role of working memory capacity in educational achievement and classroom behaviour. Indeed, it is often suggested that poor working memory capacity might underpin apparent problems of inattention in the classroom, and it may well be the case that the working memory profiles of these two conditions are different from one another. It is therefore undoubtedly important to understand the pattern of deficits in children with ADHD and ODD, and where they arise, in order to direct educational support to these individuals in an appropriate way. In addition, the approach taken by Rhodes et al. is much more theoretically motivated than one often sees in studies of this kind. It makes excellent sense to decompose working memory performance into its executive control and non-executive storage aspects, the latter of which appears to have distinct verbal and spatial components. There is a growing consensus in the literature that long-term memory plays a role in constraining working memory performance, so the inclusion of long-term memory measures in this battery is very welcome. Determining the factor structure that emerges from these tasks, and using this to drive most of the analysis of group differences, is also a very sensible analytic strategy. We therefore fully support the principle of using factor analysis in work of this kind. However, we know from our own experience that it is all too easy to generate an inappropriate factor structure from a dataset, and, from that, questionable estimates of latent variables, and we would argue that aspects of Rhodes et al.’s confirmatory factor analysis may be open to question. In any working memory battery one would expect to see higher correlations between tasks tapping the same storage domain, for example, between two spatial storage tasks or between two verbal storage tasks, than between tasks tapping different domains. In this data set, there are a number of relatively small correlations between tasks tapping verbal storage only in contrast to somewhat higher correlations between verbal and spatial storage only measures (e.g., r = .30 for the correlation between e-prime verbal storage and verbal recognition free recall, r = .40 for the correlation between e-prime spatial storage and verbal recognition free recall, Table 3). This suggests that the tasks may not be as pure indicators of verbal and spatial skills as one might like. Although the confirmatory factor analysis supports a model that includes separable domains for visual and verbal material (p. 132), the model itself arguably does not give an entirely parsimonious account of the data because it also includes a general short-term memory latent variable (Figure 1: Rhodes at al., 2012). One might argue that it makes sense to dissociate domain-specific short-term memory content from the domain-general processes that support the ordering of that content (Majerus et al., 2010), and if so then there may be a theoretical rationale for this type of model. However, it is also likely that the fit indices in a model such as this will show a good fit to the data, as it encompasses all possible relations between variables, in a sense holding two potentially separate theoretical positions simultaneously. Some form of nested model in which verbal and spatial functioning latent variables were partialled out of the working memory storage latent variable might be a more theoretically coherent way of modeling these data. A further issue with the factor analysis employed in this paper is the use of a single solution for four apparently distinct groups. If the authors are correct in assuming that children in the different subgroups show different patterns of impairment, one would presumably not expect the intercorrelations between factors to be consistent across subgroups; a selective impairment in verbal ability will clearly alter the relative relationships between factors in comparison to a global delay. Latent variable modelling is a powerful technique for showing independence of domains and correlations between latent variables, but it is not clear to us whether it is entirely appropriate to aggregate all the individuals in this study for the purposes of this analysis. Certainly some evidence of a similar pattern of correlations in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 53:2 (2012), pp 138–140 doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02507.x