Production Tasks Research Articles

Automation and asymmetric international spillovers of technological shocks

AbstractThis study examines international spillover effects of technological shocks using a dynamic open economy model in which production tasks are automated by robots. A concentration of robot production in a few countries worldwide is essential to understanding automation advances and robot price declines in a globalized economy. Technological improvements in robot‐producing countries decrease world robot prices and affect automation advances in other countries specializing in non‐robot production; however, the reverse is not true. The welfare effects are also asymmetric and depend on the type of technological shocks. For example, by improving the productivity of investment in robots, the non‐robot producing countries suffer from the deteriorated terms of trade and may become worse off depending on the global wealth distribution.

Migrant labour flows and interconnected agrarian transformations in Southern China

Abstract While contemporary debates about agrarian transformations that include topics like the persistence of family farms, agrarian capital accumulation, and simple reproduction squeeze remain vibrant, discussions about the increasingly significant role of migrant wage labour, which further complicates these processes, remain limited. In this paper, we argue that the process of capitalist accumulation in some sections of the agrarian and food system sectors in southern China is able to proceed despite recurring pressures — especially labour shortages in the rural economy caused by domestic rural–urban migration — because of the availability of migrant workers from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar. This development dynamic can be better understood through the lens of interrelated connections between land and labour and production and social reproduction across China and Myanmar. We highlighted the role of two land-related labour flows in the agrarian transformation in southern China–Myanmar regions. We argue that various social classes and groups across China and Myanmar are tied to land, wage work and capital accumulation and, in turn, their productive and social reproductive tasks are directly and indirectly linked to one another. If we are to understand agrarian transformation in settings like this, then methodologically, we will have to adopt an interconnected approach in order to bring the pieces of the puzzle together.

Vocal and Facial Behavior During Affect Production in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

We investigate the extent to which automated audiovisual metrics extracted during an affect production task show statistically significant differences between a cohort of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing controls. Forty children with ASD and 21 neurotypical controls interacted with a multimodal conversational platform with a virtual agent, Tina, who guided them through tasks prompting facial and vocal communication of four emotions-happy, angry, sad, and afraid-under conditions of high and low verbal and social cognitive task demands. Individuals with ASD exhibited greater standard deviation of the fundamental frequency of the voice with the minima and maxima of the pitch contour occurring at an earlier time point as compared to controls. The intensity and voice quality of emotional speech were also different between the two cohorts in certain conditions. Additionally, facial metrics capturing the acceleration of the lower lip, lip width, eye opening, and vertical displacement of the eyebrows were also important markers to distinguish between children with ASD and neurotypical controls. Both facial and speech metrics performed well above chance in group classification accuracy. Speech acoustic and facial metrics associated with affect production were effective in distinguishing between children with ASD and neurotypical controls. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28027796.

On the origin of variance along the uncontrolled manifold: Its effects on anticipatory and spontaneous changes in performance-stabilizing synergies in force production tasks.

We used the framework of the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis to explore the origin of inter-trial variance within the UCM, which by definition does not affect the salient performance variable, during accurate two-finger force production. Specifically, we tested several hypotheses on two main sources of variance within the UCM, variability in the sharing patterns between the fingers across trials and covaried variability in finger forces within individual trials. We also explored effects on unintentional changes in the structure of variance during preparation for a quick force change and during force drift without visual feedback. Fourteen young healthy participants performed two-finger force production trials with feedback on total force only or individual finger forces. In one part, they were instructed to produce a quick force pulse in a self-paced manner. In the other, they tried to keep finger forces unchanged without visual feedback. All manipulations led to significant changes in variance along the UCM, but not the ORT, space orthogonal to the UCM. Namely, the relative variance along the UCM dropped prior to quick force production and was not different from the ORT after the force drift. Changing the initial magnitude of variance along the UCM was reflected in its magnitude during anticipatory synergy adjustments prior to the force pulse and following the unintentional force drift. We interpret the results assuming a hierarchical control with two commands, reciprocal and coactivation. The results support the scheme with two contributing factors to variance along the UCM, likely associated with feed-forward and feedback mechanisms.

Efficient Inefficiency: Organisational challenges of realising economic gains from AI

Efficient Inefficiency: Organisational challenges of realising economic gains from AI

Individualizing musical tempo to spontaneous rates maximizes music-induced hypoalgesia.

Music has long been recognized as a noninvasive and cost-effective means of reducing pain. However, the selection of music for pain relief often relies on intuition rather than on a scientific understanding of the impact of basic musical attributes on pain perception. This study examines how a fundamental element of music-tempo-affects its pain-relieving properties. One important finding in research on temporal dynamics of music is that people tend to sing or tap at a characteristic rate when asked to produce a simple melody. This characteristic rate, known as the spontaneous production rate (SPR), is consistent across different rhythm production tasks and may reflect the output of an endogenous oscillator. According to dynamical systems theory, SPRs represent optimal efficiency, minimizing energy expenditure while maximizing behavioral accuracy. This study examined whether aligning music tempo with individual SPRs could enhance the hypoalgesic effects of music. First, participants' SPRs were measured by asking them to produce a familiar melody at a comfortable rate. Next, they were asked to rate painful thermal stimulations under 4 conditions: music modified to match participants' SPR, music modified to be 15% faster or 15% slower than participants' SPR, and silence. Results revealed that musical tempos matching participants' SPR produced stronger reductions in pain compared to faster or slower tempo conditions, supporting the hypothesis that musical tempo aligned with individual rates is optimal for reducing pain. These findings underscore the individual-specific effects of musical tempo on pain perception, offering implications for personalized pain management strategies.

The near-miss to cross-modal commutativity.

This paper is a follow-up to Ellermeier, Kattner, and Raum (2021, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 83, 2955-2967), and provides a reanalysis of their data on cross-modal commutativity from a Bayesian perspective, and a theory-based analysis grounded on a recently suggested extension of a global psychophysical approach to cross-modal judgments (Heller, 2021, Psychological Review, 128, 509-524). This theory assumes that stimuli are judged against respondent-generated internal references that are modality-specific and potentially role-dependent (i.e., sensitive to whether they pertain to the standard or the variable stimulus in the performed cross-modal magnitude production task). While the Bayesian tests turn out to be inconclusive, the theory-based analysis reveals a massive and systematic role-dependence of internal references. This leads to predicting small but systematic deviations from cross-modal commutativity, which are in line with the observed data. In analogy to a term coined in the context of Weber's law, this phenomenon is referred to as near-miss to cross-modal commutativity. The presented theory offers a psychological rationale explaining this phenomenon, and opens up an innovative approach to studying cross-modal perception.

The Impact of Critical Thinking and Teaching Methods on Students' Writing Ability

Abstract – In today's global culture, writing—once thought to be the domain of the educated—has evolved into a critical ability for people from all walks of life. One of the most challenging language production tasks is writing, and both professional and amateur writers routinely lament the process' complexity and difficulty. Students need to be able to think critically to generate an idea. The aim of this study was to ascertain how instructional methods and critical thinking interact to affect students' writing abilities. An experimental research design was adopted. There were 80 pupils in the sample, 40 from MAN 1 Kabupaten Tangerang's experiment class and 40 from MAN 2 Tangerang's control class. The sampling method that was employed. The findings of the validity and reliability tests of the writing ability and critical thinking (30 items) were tested using research instruments. Two-way ANOVA analysis was the test utilized, and the outcome revealed: (1) At State Islamic High School 1 Tangerang Regency, educational methods have a major impact on pupils' writing abilities. It is demonstrated by the values of Fo = 77,449 and sig 0,000 < 0,05. (2) At State Islamic High School 2 Tangerang, pupils' writing abilities are significantly impacted by critical thinking. The values of sig 0,000 < 0,05 and Fo = 51,791 demonstrate this. (3) Do teaching methods and critical thinking have any discernible interacting effects on students' writing abilities at State Islamic High School in Tangerang?

Emotion word production tasks grant insight into the development of emotion word organization and accessibility.

Children are often instructed to "use their words" to communicate their emotions, which requires them to quickly access words that best describe their feelings. Adults vary in their ability to bring both nonemotion and emotion words to mind (two capacities called verbal fluency and emotion fluency). However, no studies have examined how emotion fluency emerges across development, despite the fact that mastering emotion language is an important developmental task. A cross-sectional sample of participants aged 4-25 years (N = 194) generated as many fruit words as possible in 60 s (to measure verbal fluency) and as many emotion words as possible in 60 s (to measure emotion fluency). Emotion fluency was highly correlated with verbal fluency, and both showed similar increases across age, plateauing in late adolescence. Participants produced more negative emotion words than positive or neutral words, and these proportions were invariant across age. Network analyses shed light on the emergence of semantic networks underlying emotion organization across age. Finally, age of acquisition, valence, dominance, concreteness, and word length were significantly associated with the order in which emotion words came to participants' minds, suggesting that these dimensions are associated with the accessibility of emotion concepts. Interestingly, the influence of these dimensions on the order of emotion word production was invariant across age. Results from this study illustrate the developmental emergence of emotion fluency and provide new insight into the key dimensions that are associated with which emotion words rapidly come to mind. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Supplemental Material for Emotion Word Production Tasks Grant Insight Into the Development of Emotion Word Organization and Accessibility

Supplemental Material for Emotion Word Production Tasks Grant Insight Into the Development of Emotion Word Organization and Accessibility

Intrahemispheric White Matter Asymmetries and Interhemispheric Connections Underlying the Lateralization of Language Production and Spatial Attention in Left-Handers.

Leftward language production and rightward spatial attention are salient features of functional organization in most humans, but their anatomical basis remains unclear. Interhemispheric connections and intrahemispheric white matter asymmetries have been proposed as important factors underlying functional lateralization. To investigate the role of white matter connectivity in functional lateralization, we first identified 96 left-handers using visual half field naming tasks. They were then divided into atypical and typical functional dominance based on the lateralization of brain activation in a word generation task (for language production) and a landmark task (for spatial attention). Using a novel fixel-based framework, we obtained fiber-specific properties of white matter pathways. Results showed, first, that differences between two language dominance groups occurred in the asymmetry of the superior longitudinal fasciculus-III (SLF-III), whereas differences between two spatial attention dominance groups occurred in the rostrum and rostral body of the corpus callosum. However, the directions of functional lateralization were not associated with the directions of white matter asymmetries. Second, the degree of language lateralization was predicted by SLF-III asymmetry and the rostral body of the corpus callosum, whereas the degree of spatial attention lateralization was predicted by the rostrum of the corpus callosum. Notably, the degree of each functional lateralization was negatively correlated with the anterior and middle callosal connections, supporting the excitatory model of the corpus callosum. The results suggest that language lateralization is shaped by a combined effect of intra- and interhemispheric connections, whereas spatial attention lateralization relies more on interhemispheric connections.

A shared serial order system for verbal working memory and language production: evidence from aphasia

ABSTRACT Many aspects of human performance require producing sequences of items in serial order. The current study takes a multiple-case approach to investigate whether the system responsible for serial order is shared across cognitive domains, focusing on working memory (WM) and word production. Serial order performance in three individuals with post-stroke language and verbal WM disorders (hereafter persons with aphasia, PWAs) were assessed using recognition and recall tasks for verbal and visuospatial WM, as well as error analyses in spoken and written production tasks to assess whether there was a tendency to produce the correct phonemes/letters in the wrong order. One PWA exhibited domain-specific serial order deficits in verbal and visuospatial WM. The PWA with verbal serial order WM deficit made more serial order errors than expected by chance in both repetition and writing-to-dictation tasks, whereas the other two PWAs showed no serial order deficits in verbal WM and production tasks. These findings suggest separable serial order systems for verbal and visuospatial WM and a shared system for serial order processing in verbal WM and word production. Implications for the domain-generality of WM, its connection to language production, and serial order processing across cognitive functionssc are discussed.

Does muscle fatigue change motor synergies at different levels of neuromotor control?

We investigated the effects of static and dynamic fatigue on motor synergies, focusing on their hierarchical control. Specifically, we examined whether changes in fatigue influence the central nervous system's ability to preserve movement stability. In addition to exploring the direct impact of fatigue on motor synergies, we also analyzed its effects at two distinct levels of hierarchical control, aiming to elucidate the mechanisms by which fatigue alters motor coordination and stability. Thirteen healthy, young and right-handed male participants took part in the study. Participants performed a bilateral accurate force production task under static and dynamic fatigue conditions at 30% of maximal voluntary contraction level with elbow flexors. Muscle activity level were collected from five muscles of each limb: biceps brachii, brachialis, brachioradialis, flexor carpi radialis, and flexor carpi ulnaris. The results revealed distinct effects of fatigue on isometric force production in the elbow joint tasks. On the higher level of hierarchy control of synergies, there were non-significant effects of different types of fatigue on movement performance, however, on the lower level we observed a strong effect of fatigue on forming motor synergies. There was no significant difference between the type of applied fatigue protocol on force and muscle activity data, nevertheless, the contribution of involved muscles to the task has changed. Our findings indicate that the central nervous system employs specific strategies to counteract fatigue and preserve movement stability during performance. However, the precise mechanisms by which variability at lower levels of hierarchical control influence higher levels remain unclear, highlighting a critical gap in our understanding of motor coordination under fatigue. Future studies should explore how these interactions across hierarchical levels contribute to movement stability under different fatigue conditions.

Comprehension and production of (non-)reflexive possessive constructions in Abui by Alor Malay–Abui bilingual children

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: We investigate how Alor Malay–Abui child bilinguals, a non-WEIRD and underrepresented population in the field, comprehend and produce reflexive and non-reflexive possessive constructions in Abui. Their profiles of language development are explored through functionalist accounts that highlight the close connection between language and domain-general learning capacities, with special emphasis on three models: Competition Model, usage-based approach, and processing determinism. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 17 children (experimental group) and 17 adults (comparison group) complete a forced-choice sentence comprehension task (where they listen to two sentences following a short video prompt and verbally select the sentence that best describes the clip) and an elicited production task (where they watch a series of video clips and describe what is happening in each clip in a semi-spontaneous way). Data and analysis: This study employs mixed-effects modelling for data analysis. The global model per experiment includes Condition (reflexive; non-reflexive) and Group (child; adult) as fixed effects and Participant and Item as random effects, with the maximal random-effects structure allowed by the model. Findings/conclusions: Results show asymmetric performance by bilingual children on the two construction types across both experiments. Our findings provide insight into the developing processor in bilingual children, influenced by various factors such as usage frequency, cognitive skills, and task effects, within the functionalist framework. Originality and significance/implications: The findings of this study align with functionalist accounts for language development, illuminating the intricate deployment of linguistic knowledge in the minds of bilingual children interfacing with language-usage experience and domain-general factors. By combining the three models of functionalism, our findings are more properly understood, highlighting their complementary nature in addressing developmental trajectories of linguistic knowledge for child bilinguals. Importantly, our study shifts our attention to a unique bilingual context that has not been explored – lesser-studied languages and learning environments, contributing to offsetting the sampling bias persistent in the field.

Investigating Saudi university medical students' English language difficulties: a needs analysis study.

An important dimension in the education of health professionals is developing their English language performance to help them meet academic and professional needs. Though understanding Saudi university medical students' English language needs is key to helping them perform well in their academic studies and future workplaces, there has been scarce research on these needs. The present study investigated Saudi university medical students' English language difficulties, the strategies they use for overcoming these difficulties, their evaluation of the English language instruction received at their colleges and perceptions of their English language needs. The study drew upon surveying students' language needs through using a 25-item questionnaire with four sections assessing the target dimensions. Two hundred and 55 students completed the questionnaire. The students have some difficulties when completing productive language tasks and when processing content explained or written fully in English. Their highest language needs relate to improving medical terminology and English speaking, but their lowest language need concerns listening. A few significant gender-related differences were noted. The English language instruction provided to the students studying medicine could be reformed through giving more attention to improving their productive language skills and helping them communicate fluently using target medical terminology.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Google Forms and Microsoft Forms in English Language Evaluation

Using digital tools such as Google Forms and Microsoft Forms has transformed the landscape of English language assessment, offering features like instant feedback, multimedia integration, and automated grading. However, despite their widespread adoption, limited research has systematically compared their effectiveness across critical dimensions, including usability, engagement, and feedback quality, as well as their suitability for assessing specific language skills—reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This study aimed to fill this gap by evaluating the strengths and limitations of these platforms through a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data were collected from surveys involving 100 students and 15 educators, while qualitative insights were derived from semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Statistical analyses were used to assess platform-specific performance, including paired t-tests and ANOVA. The results revealed significant differences in skill-specific effectiveness: Google Forms was better suited for reading assessments (p = 0.014) due to its simplicity and ease of use, while Microsoft Forms excelled in writing (p = 0.001) and speaking (p = 0.047) tasks, owing to its advanced features like branching logic and multimedia capabilities. Both platforms were equally effective for listening assessments, reflecting their shared strengths in multimedia support. Regarding usability, Google Forms was favoured for its mobile-friendly design, whereas Microsoft Forms offered superior customization but presented a steeper learning curve. Engagement levels were comparable, with multimedia integration and instant feedback highlighted as key motivators. Feedback quality was effective on both platforms but required further refinement for open-ended tasks. This study concluded that educators should align platform selection with the specific assessment objectives, using Google Forms for receptive skills like reading and listening and Microsoft Forms for productive tasks like writing and speaking. These findings provide practical recommendations for leveraging digital tools to enhance language assessment practices.

Enhancing online speech and language assessment: Item development for the remote adult language experiment (ReAL-E) tool.

Recent technological advancements in psychology have yielded multiple unsupervised online tools for measuring cognitive skills. However, these tools do not measure key features of communication abilities in adults, such as productive speech or oral language. To address this gap, we developed the Remote Adult Language Experiment (ReAL-E) using a three-step approach that incorporates domain identification, expert evaluation, and piloting testing. Step 1 focused on domain and task identification by collaborating with experts and reviewing the literature. Step 2 included two rounds of evaluation by content and lay experts to assess the initial tool design, identify areas for refinement, and solicit feedback for desired features. Step 3 involved piloting the tool in a sample of adults recruited online. The ReAL-E tool adapted three speech planning and production tasks and four oral and written language tasks into online versions. Feedback from content and lay experts led to significant improvements, including enhanced task instructions, presentation modifications, and the incorporation of features to address potential confounds. Pilot testing demonstrated that adults perform within expected ranges, and five out of seven tasks had good to excellent preliminary reliability. The development of the ReAL-E tool contributes to the field by offering a scalable, efficient method for assessing a broad range of communication skills in adults, paving the way for future research and clinical applications in developmental communication disorders. Our study underscores the collaborative effort and innovative approach required for creating a digital assessment tool that promises to expand research capabilities and improve diagnostic processes in the discipline.

SKS-Net: skeleton-strengthening network for surface defect segmentation

Abstract Surface defect detection is an important task in industrial production. Although significant progress has been made in deep learning-based defect segmentation methods, the low contrast between defect and background and the shape and scale diversity of defects limit the models’ detection accuracy and generalization ability. Therefore, realizing the full automation of surface defect detection still faces many challenges. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a skeleton-strengthening network called SKS-Net, which provides stable and excellent surface defect detection performance even at low contrast and multi-scale. SKS-Net designs a skeleton-strengthening convolutional module to capture multi-scale features efficiently. The convolution kernel of this convolution module is closer to the shape of the segmentation target, which significantly reduces irrelevant regions and improves the feature extraction capability of the convolution kernel. This convolution module can be directly embedded into existing network structures without adding additional computational overhead. In addition, we design a new feature channel fusion module to extract key information from features at different levels. To improve the training effect, we introduce a multi-scale auxiliary supervision mechanism. The proposed model is evaluated on four different publicly available surface defect datasets and compared with other state-of-the-art models. Results show that SKS-Net performs exceptionally well in terms of accuracy, achieving 66.72% mIoU on the KolektorSDD dataset. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/Wanglaoban3/SKS-Net.git.

Meat Quality Control in Beef Production

The hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) system is primarily a risk assessment method focused on identifying and controlling the risk factors classified as the critical control points. Pathogenic microorganisms can enter the meat supply chain at various points along their path. Live animals can harbor various pathogens, while unhygienic conditions during slaughter and processing introduce external contamination risks, and cross contamination can occur during handling and cooking. Traditionally, pathogen control is concentrated in the processing stage. Despite its effectiveness, approaches like HACCP do not fully satisfy the consumer demands for food safety. A more comprehensive approach targeting pathogen control at every stage of the supply chain that is, “from farm-to-table,” offers broadercoverage and greater integration. Meat is one of the most perishable food products, providing an ideal environment for the growth of a wide range of pathogenic bacteria. Foodborne illnesses result from the consumption of bacteria, toxins, or cells produced by microorganisms present in food. Past outbreaks have been linked to various stages of the meat production process; hence, it is logical to develop a risk assessment model encompassing all stages, from raising food animals and processing carcasses to meat preparation and consumption. The primary task in meat production is the evaluation of the microbiological quality of raw meat and the sanitary conditions at processing facilities based on the presence of indicator microorganisms in the meat, equipment, and processing plants. Accordingly, hygienic measures in meat production, processing, and retail aim to ensure meat safety, prevent rapid spoilage, and preserve its quality. HACCP, which heavily relies on prerequisite programs like good hygienic practice and sanitation standard operating procedures, provides enhanced hygiene standards essential for producing safe meat and meat products throughout the entire meat supply chain.

Procrastination on production of energy using renewable sources retard settlement of congenial society: Evidence of Bangladesh

A better flow of resources to total package of energy production can ensure sustainable development of a nation. Bangladesh is a country which cannot yet make available all resources of energy required for sustainable development. Production of energy from renewable sources are not yet been accounted nationally. Sustainable Development Goals (Goal–7) demands creation of energy through resources like: water, air, sunlight and joint effect of another environmental resources. The task of production of energy through renewable sources has already been started but in a discrete manner. As a result, energy from conventional resources are used heavily for completing the production cycles in Bangladesh. The sources of energy at persisting process are mentioned as: natural gas (54.67%), fossil fuel (21.72%), coal (6.97%) wind, solar etc. (0.085%) and hydro (0.12%) and bio-fuels (15.90%). It can be pointed that the sources of energy through renewable resources is observing very negligible picture even after nine years of adopting UN convention and ratification for SDG (Goal 7). The absent of energy through renewable sources and burning of coal, fossil fuels, and natural gas for energy warming the atmosphere and affecting human health and environment. Considering this, the study attempts to find relationship of per capita generation of electricity with economic growth and other energy resources. Besides this, the study attempts to know how the changes of resources quantity influence the per capita generation of energy. Moreover, the research required to find out the turning point of the individual series contributing to the amount final product. The values of the parameters and the analysis are shown significant results, which support that the atmosphere getting more heat, polluting the environment and affecting the human health. As a result, more strong steps are to be taken to get rid of many unacceptable issues which is degrading atmospheric environment, human health and retarding the development of congenial process of living. On this situation, the study suggests that the generation of electricity observing renewal process should be started in full swing reducing the persisting long traditional process. This may lead to achieving targeted indicators for sustainable development goals (SDG 7) and help creating a pleasant and congenial society.