Task Variables Research Articles

Objective Assessment of Active Display Screen Fixation Among Office Workers Using an Innovative Nonwearable Acquisition System: A Pilot Study

Background: Occupational risk assessments of VDT users are usually hindered by the variability of tasks that office workers perform. Digital eye strain is related to the amount of work time dedicated to screen fixation. Purpose: This study aimed to improve the risk assessment of VDT workers by introducing an advanced version of software developed at the University of Brescia. Methods: The prototype enables the recording of the times in front of the screen and those in which the operator actively fixes. It was tested on 30 employees from different offices. The system includes a webcam placed over the workers’ screens and connected with a laptop running specifically developed monitoring software. This experiment required worker-to-worker calibration of the system by the investigators. Results: The obtained data allowed us to distinguish between the period of screen fixation and the presence in front of the monitor. The visual activity varied greatly on a daily basis because of the differences between tasks. The mean facial detection time was approximately 48%, whereas the mean eye fixation time was 29%. Conclusions: The results suggest that our prototype is a promising tool for investigating the relative contributions of screen fixation to the development of digital occupational eye strain.

Same Same but Different: Why Both Sport-Specific Cutting Tasks and Generic Change-Of-Direction Tasks Might Need to Be Considered to Prevent ACL Injury

OBJECTIVE: To compare knee abduction moment (KAM) magnitudes between a generic 180° pivot turn (modified 505 change-of-direction test; m505) and a handball-specific sidestep cut, and to assess ranking consistency. Additionally, to examine the resultant ground reaction force (GRF) and its frontal plane moment arm to the knee to comprehend their contributions to KAM. STUDY DESIGN: Observational laboratory study. METHODS: High-level female handball players (n = 45) performed the m505 and handball-specific sidestep cut. Resultant GRF, its frontal plane moment arm to the knee, and KAM were obtained and subsequently compared between the tasks. Rank correlation coefficients were employed to assess if variables of both tasks are related. RESULTS: Peak KAM was similar for the m505 and the sidestep cut (1.79 (0.95 – 3.53) Nm/kg vs. 1.64 (0.34 – 3.60) Nm/kg; rB = .25; p = .14). The ranking of the players' peak KAM differed substantially ( rS = 0.26, p = .084), suggesting that different tasks could classify the same player with different injury risk. The m505 generated lower resultant GRF (24 ± 4 N/kg, 95% CI [23, 24] vs. 33 ± 9 N/kg, 95% CI [31, 35]; d = 1.30; p < .001) but longer frontal plane moment arms (7.8 ± 1.8 cm, 95% CI [7.3, 8.4] vs. 5.4 ± 1.5 cm, 95% CI: [5.0, 5.8]; d = 1.36; p < .001) than the sidestep cut. CONCLUSION: A difference in individual ACL injury risk assessment depending on movement type was revealed. While KAM magnitudes were similar across direction-change tasks, player rankings differed. The contributions of resultant GRF and frontal plane moment arms to peak KAM varied between tasks, underscoring the importance of task-specific and individualized injury prevention.

Towards Context-Aware Emotion Recognition Debiasing From a Causal Demystification Perspective via De-Confounded Training.

Understanding emotions from diverse contexts has received widespread attention in computer vision communities. The core philosophy of Context-Aware Emotion Recognition (CAER) is to provide valuable semantic cues for recognizing the emotions of target persons by leveraging rich contextual information. Current approaches invariably focus on designing sophisticated structures to extract perceptually critical representations from contexts. Nevertheless, a long-neglected dilemma is that a severe context bias in existing datasets results in an unbalanced distribution of emotional states among different contexts, causing biased visual representation learning. From a causal demystification perspective, the harmful bias is identified as a confounder that misleads existing models to learn spurious correlations based on likelihood estimation, limiting the models' performance. To address the issue, we embrace causal inference to disentangle the models from the impact of such bias, and formulate the causalities among variables in the CAER task via a customized causal graph. Subsequently, we present a Contextual Causal Intervention Module (CCIM) to de-confound the confounder, which is built upon backdoor adjustment theory to facilitate seeking approximate causal effects during model training. As a plug-and-play component, CCIM can easily integrate with existing approaches and bring significant improvements. Systematic experiments on three datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our CCIM.

Rarely categorical, always high-dimensional: how the neural code changes along the cortical hierarchy.

The brain is highly structured both at anatomical and functional levels. However, within individual brain areas, neurons often exhibit very diverse and seemingly disorganized responses. A more careful analysis shows that these neurons can sometimes be grouped together into specialized subpopulations (categorical representations). Organization can also be found at the level of the representational geometry in the activity space, typically in the form of low-dimensional structures. It is still unclear how the geometry in the activity space and the structure of the response profiles of individual neurons are related. Here, we systematically analyzed the geometric and selectivity structure of the neural population from 40+ cortical regions in mice performing a decision-making task (IBL public Brainwide Map data set). We used a reduced-rank regression approach to quantify the selectivity profiles of single neurons and multiple measures of dimensionality to characterize the representational geometry of task variables. We then related these measures within single areas to the position of each area in the sensory-cognitive cortical hierarchy. Our findings reveal that only a few regions (in primary sensory areas) are categorical. When multiple brain areas are considered, we observe clustering that reflects the brain's large-scale organization. The representational geometry of task variables also changed along the cortical hierarchy, with higher dimensionality in cognitive regions. These trends were explained by analytical computations linking the maximum dimensionality of representational geometry to the clustering of selectivity at the single neuron level. Finally, we computed the shattering dimensionality (SD), a measure of the linear separability of neural activity vectors; remarkably, the SD remained near maximal across all regions, suggesting that the observed variability in the selectivity profiles allows neural populations to maintain high computational flexibility. These results provide a new mathematical and empirical perspective on selectivity and representation geometry in the cortical neural code.

Modeling and application of maintenance activities in a multi-site company

In an environment where competition is increasingly fierce, companies are constantly looking for new solutions to keep their market share, meet their increasingly demanding customers, and meet the needs of their staff. Companies must develop new innovative products not only of good quality and minimum cost, but also they must meet new constraints, particularly those related to respect for the environment and health / safety. This work is part of the implementation of a maintenance structure in a multi-site production company, with fixed complex homogeneous machines. These machines require, for level 4 and 5 maintenance activities, very expensive mobile specific tools and maintenance characterized by activities with a great variability of tasks in nature, specificity and duration, thus affecting the five maintenance levels. This involves the intervention of technicians of various qualifications and skills, resulting in various hourly labor costs. It is then a question of dimensioning the resources by balancing the loads, by assigning to each level of maintenance a corresponding level of competence. This article concerns the modeling of the activities of this type of maintenance, by proposing a Local Maintenance Workshop (LMW) equipped with a set of mobile tools. The goal is to minimize the cost of maintenance and improve availability.

Exploring Cutout and Mixup for Robust Human Activity Recognition on Sensor and Skeleton Data

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) is an essential area of research in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, with numerous applications in healthcare, sports science, and smart environments. While several advancements in the field, such as attention-based models and Graph Neural Networks, have made great strides, this work focuses on data augmentation methods that tackle issues like data scarcity and task variability in HAR. In this work, we investigate and expand the use of mixup and cutout data augmentation methods to sensor-based and skeleton-based HAR datasets. These methods were first widely used in Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing. We use both augmentation techniques, customized for time-series and skeletal data, to improve the robustness and performance of HAR models by diversifying the data and overcoming the drawbacks of having limited training data. Specifically, we customize mixup data augmentation for sensor-based datasets and cutout data augmentation for skeleton-based datasets with the goal of improving model accuracy without adding more data. Our results show that using mixup and cutout techniques improves the accuracy and generalization of activity recognition models on both sensor-based and skeleton-based human activity datasets. This work showcases the potential of data augmentation techniques on transformers and Graph Neural Networks by offering a novel method for enhancing time series and skeletal HAR tasks.

Criteria for Assessing Exposure to Biomechanical Risk Factors: A Research-to-Practice Guide-Part 1: General Issues and Manual Material Handling.

Musculoskeletal disorders are the most prevalent occupational health problem all over the world and are often related to biomechanical risk factors; to control these risk factors, several assessment methods (mostly observational) have been proposed in the past 40 years. An in-depth knowledge of each method to evaluate biomechanical risk factors is needed to effectively employ them in the field, together with a robust understanding of their effective predictive value and limitations. In Part 1, some general issues relevant to biomechanical risk assessment are discussed, and the method for assessing manual material handling after receiving more robust validation data is reviewed (Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation), together with a discussion about variability of tasks. Similarly, for the assessment of the biomechanical exposure of the upper limb, the TLV for Hand activity (ACGIH®) is presented in Part 2 of this guide, together with criteria to proportion risk assessment to the working duration in part-time jobs.

Dynamics of Heart Rate Variability in the Reflexivity Task at Different Levels of Anxiety

Dynamics of Heart Rate Variability in the Reflexivity Task at Different Levels of Anxiety

Profiles of brain topology for dual-functional stability in old age.

Dual-functional stability (DFS) in cognitive and physical abilities is important for successful aging. This study examines the brain topology profiles that underpin high DFS in older adults by testing two hypotheses: (1) older adults with high DFS would exhibit a unique brain organization that preserves their physical and cognitive functions across various tasks, and (2) any individuals with this distinct brain topology would consistently show high DFS. We analyzed two cohorts of cognitively and physically healthy older adults from the UK (Cam-CAN, n = 79) and the US (CF, n = 48) using neuroimaging data and a combination of cognitive and physical tasks. Variability in DFS was characterized using k-mean clustering for intra-individual variability (IIV) in cognitive and physical tasks. Graph theory analyses of diffusion tensor imaging connectomes were used to assess brain network segregation and integration through clustering coefficients (CCs) and shortest path lengths (PLs). Using support vector machine and regression, brain topology features, derived from PLs + CCs, differentiated the high DFS subgroup from low and mix DFS subgroups with accuracies of 65.82% and 84.78% in Cam-CAN and CF samples, respectively, which predicted cross-task DFS score in CF samples at 58.06% and 70.53% for cognitive and physical stability, respectively. Results showed distinctive neural correlates associated with high DFS, notably varying regional brain segregation and integration within critical areas such as the insula, frontal pole, and temporal pole. The identified brain topology profiles suggest a distinctive neural basis for DFS, a trait indicative of successful aging. These insights offer a foundation for future research to explore targeted interventions that could enhance cognitive and physical resilience in older adults, promoting a healthier and more functional lifespan.

Lumbar Sitting Behavior of Individuals with Low Back Pain: A Preliminary Study Using Extended Real-World Data

Low back pain affects 619 million people worldwide and is commonly provoked by sitting. Current assessment methods constrain task variability, removing real-world, task-switching behaviors. This study utilized accelerometers to provide an original validated method of in vivo real-world assessment of lumbar sitting behavior throughout a full day. A three-stage study design was used, which involved (1) blinded verification of our sitting detection algorithm, (2) full-day data collection from participants with low back discomfort, quantifying lumbar angles, and end-user acceptability explored, (3) case study application to two clinical low back pain (LBP) patients, incorporating measurement of provocative sitting. Focus group discussions demonstrated that data collection methods were acceptable. Sitting ‘windows’ were created and analyzed using novel histograms, amplitude probability distribution functions, and variability, demonstrating that sitting behavior was unique and varied across individuals. One LBP patient demonstrated two frequent lumbar postures (<15% flexion and ~75% flexion), with pain provocation at 62% lumbar flexion. The second patient demonstrated a single dominant posture (~90% flexion), with pain provoked at 86% lumbar flexion. Our in vivo approach offers an acceptable method to gain new insights into provocative sitting behavior in individuals with LBP, allowing individualized unconstrained data for full-day postures and pain provocation behaviors to be quantified, which are otherwise unattainable.

Национальные традиции в фольклоре разных народов России: особенности изучения в начальной школе

The article discusses the problem of studying folklore of different peoples of Russia by primary school students. The article presents variants of tasks that orient students to analytical work with small genres of folklore, study of the features of the language of proverbs and sayings as a means of displaying the national way of thinking, features, life, customs, beliefs. Practical tasks allow to expand the horizons of the primary schoolchildren: to visualize the geographical location of the people, the connection of their way of life with nature, way of thinking, traditions, life values. Each task is supplemented with a methodological commentary for the teacher.

Pupillary responses to directional uncertainty while intercepting a moving target.

Pupillary responses serve as sensitive indicators of cognitive processes, attentional shifts and decision-making dynamics. Our study investigates how directional uncertainty and target speed (V T) influence pupillary responses in a foveal tracking task involving the interception of a moving dot. Directional uncertainty, reflecting the unpredictability of the target's direction changes, was manipulated by altering the angular range (AR) from which random directions for the moving dot were extracted. Higher AR values were associated with reduced pupillary diameters, indicating that heightened uncertainty led to smaller pupil sizes. Additionally, an inverse U-shaped relationship between V T and pupillary responses suggested maximal diameters at intermediate speeds. Analysis of saccade-triggered responses showed a negative correlation between pupil diameter and directional uncertainty. Dynamic linear modelling revealed the influence of past successful collisions and other behavioural parameters on pupillary responses, emphasizing the intricate interaction between task variables and cognitive processing. Our results highlight the dynamic interplay between the directional uncertainty of a single moving target, V T and pupillary responses, with implications for understanding attentional mechanisms, decision-making processes and potential applications in emerging technologies.

Letter identity and position coding in the parafovea.

Letter position coding has been extensively examined in studies of isolated word identification, spurring the development of computational models. However, these models are largely restricted to explaining word identification in foveal vision, despite the fact that early lexical processing during reading occurs in the parafovea. We report four experiments that examined the flexibility of parafoveal letter identity and position coding using a variant of the same-different match task. Participants matched transposed- and substituted-letter strings to reference words, with the former being displayed at various retinal eccentricities for 100 ms versus 300 ms to respectively preclude or allow eye movements. The first pair of experiments demonstrated the relative difficulty of coding parafoveal letter positions as compared to their identities, as well as the standard benefit in identifying words displayed in the right visual field. The second pair of experiments further demonstrated that the location of letter-position uncertainty (i.e., transposed letters) interacts with both eccentricity and visual field. Initial letter transpositions were more easily detected in the left visual field, whereas transpositions of the final letters were more accurately detected in the right visual field. As discussed, these results are challenging for existing models of reading, which can individually account for some of our findings but not the results in their entirety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Differentiation in the Process of Learning English by Future Ship Engineers

Traditional methods of teaching English do not always allow us to consider the individual characteristics of future ship- engineers, their learning pace, cognitive styles and level of training, which can lead to the loss of motivation to learn and failure to master the material in full. The article substantiates the basic principles of differentiated learning (variability of tasks, frontal work, pair/group, and independent assignments). The research describes multi-level tasks for groups, considering different levels of English language proficiency. It is emphasized that differentiated learning contributes to the development of various skills important for ship's engineers, such as critical thinking, solving professional problems, high-level English for communication in an international crew, teamwork, etc. The author emphasizes the need to plan tasks for each stage of the lesson for groups with different knowledge bases and levels of training. It is important to anticipate possible difficulties that students may encounter in mastering the material and to use differentiated individual tasks in the classroom system. The advantages of differentiated learning are revealed: considering the individual characteristics of students, increasing motivation to learn. The disadvantages are also pointed out, since differentiated learning requires considerable effort and time from the teacher to plan classes, prepare various materials and tasks. Criteria for assessing the knowledge and skills of future specialists are proposed, since students of different groups perform different tasks and study according to different programs when learning maritime English. It is emphasized that the systematic use of different types of exercises for a particular group, taking into account the topic, stage of study and didactic goals, is optimal for improving the assimilation of knowledge of students

Decomposing decision-making in preschoolers: Making decisions under ambiguity versus risk.

Decision-making in the real world involves multiple abilities. The main goal of the current study was to examine the abilities underlying the Preschool Gambling task (PGT), a preschool variant of the Iowa Gambling task (IGT), in the context of an integrative decision-making framework. Preschoolers (n = 144) were given the PGT along with four novel decision-making tasks assessing either decision-making under ambiguity or decision-making under risk. Results indicated that the ability to learn from feedback, to maintain a stable preference, and to integrate losses and gains contributed to the variance in decision-making on the PGT. Furthermore, children's awareness level on the PGT contributed additional variance, suggesting both implicit and explicit processes are involved. The results partially support the integrative decision-making framework and suggest that multiple abilities contribute to individual differences in decision-making on the PGT.

Technology of organization and performance of professional (demonstration) exam (on the example of special (defectological) education and subject areas «Russian language and literature», «Art»)

Introduction. The article presents the experience of conducting professional (demonstration) examination in Master's degree program as a tool for assessing the readiness of future teachers for professional activity. The article considers the mechanisms of assessing the readiness of master's degree graduates to work in the educational system through the prism of professional, subject, methodological, communicative and managerial competencies. Materials and Methods. The presented characteristic of the organization and conduct of professional (demonstration) examination is based on theoretical research methods: logical analysis, structural-functional method, discourse analysis. The basis is the interdisciplinary methodology that allows synthesizing approaches inherent in the organization of the educational process. The method of systematization and analysis of the existing experience in conducting professional demonstration examination was used in describing the methodology of technology. Results. The purpose of these materials is to summarize and systematize the experience of conducting professional examination of master's students at the Ural State Pedagogical University. The principles and stages of the professional (demonstration) examination developed by the Educational and Methodological Council of the Urals State Pedagogical University are presented as organizational bases of the activity of organizing and conducting the professional (demonstration) examination. The principles implemented in the professional (demonstration) examination, such as continuity and continuity of teacher training, inclusiveness of the educational environment, orientation to professional communication and group decision-making, the principle of openness, combination of fundamentality and practice-oriented are outlined. Discussion and Conclusions. The optimal form of conducting the teachers' demonstration exam is determined as an activity-type technology corresponding to its tasks, based on an active way of interaction between participants – a business game. In the course of the business game, master's students simulate the situation of a meeting of a methodological association or pedagogical council, where they realize the solution of a professional problem. Content aspects of the professional (demonstration) examination are revealed in the article on the material of specific illustrations of variants of examination tasks for Master's degree students in the areas of training «Pedagogical Education» (on the example of subject areas «Russian language and literature» and «Art») and «Special (defectological) education».

Increased Sensitivity to Effort and Perception of Effort in People with Schizophrenia

Abstract Objective Motivational deficits in schizophrenia are proposed to be attributable in part to abnormal effort-cost computations, calculations weighing the costs vs. the benefits of actions. Several reports have shown that people with schizophrenia display a reduced willingness to exert effort for monetary rewards when compared to controls. The primary goal of the current study was to further characterize reduced willingness to exert effort in schizophrenia by determining whether reduced willingness reflects (1) reduced sensitivity to reward, (2) increased sensitivity to effort, or (3) a combination of both. Design We assessed effort-cost decision-making in 30 controls and 30 people with schizophrenia, using 2 separate experimental tasks. Critically, one paradigm allowed for independent estimation of effects of reward and effort sensitivity on choice behavior. The other task isolated effort sensitivity by measuring effort in the absence of reward. Clinical interviews and self-report questionnaires were administered to people with schizophrenia to determine negative symptom severity. Results Across both tasks, we found evidence for reduced willingness to exert effort in people with schizophrenia compared to controls. Further, in both paradigms reduced willingness to exert effort was driven by increased sensitivity to effort in people with schizophrenia compared to controls. In contrast, measures of reward sensitivity did not significantly differ between groups. Surprisingly, we did not find correlations between task variables and measures of negative symptom severity. Conclusions and Relevance These findings further specify prior work by identifying a specific contributory role for increased effort sensitivity in effort-cost decision-making deficits in schizophrenia.

Not All Stroop-Type Tasks Are Alike: Assessing the Impact of Stimulus Material, Task Design, and Cognitive Demand via Meta-analyses Across Neuroimaging Studies.

The Stroop effect is one of the most often studied examples of cognitive conflict processing. Over time, many variants of the classic Stroop task were used, including versions with different stimulus material, control conditions, presentation design, and combinations with additional cognitive demands. The neural and behavioral impact of this experimental variety, however, has never been systematically assessed. We used activation likelihood meta-analysis to summarize neuroimaging findings with Stroop-type tasks and to investigate whether involvement of the multiple-demand network (anterior insula, lateral frontal cortex, intraparietal sulcus, superior/inferior parietal lobules, midcingulate cortex, and pre-supplementary motor area) can be attributed to resolving some higher-order conflict that all of the tasks have in common, or if aspects that vary between task versions lead to specialization within this network. Across 133 neuroimaging experiments, incongruence processing in the color-word Stroop variant consistently recruited regions of the multiple-demand network, with modulation of spatial convergence by task variants. In addition, the neural patterns related to solving Stroop-like interference differed between versions of the task that use different stimulus material, with the only overlap between color-word, emotional picture-word, and other types of stimulus material in the posterior medial frontal cortex and right anterior insula. Follow-up analyses on behavior reported in these studies (in total 164 effect sizes) revealed only little impact of task variations on the mean effect size of reaction time. These results suggest qualitative processing differences among the family of Stroop variants, despite similar task difficulty levels, and should carefully be considered when planning or interpreting Stroop-type neuroimaging experiments.

A - 97 Performance Variability in a Multitrial List-Learning Task in Differentiating between Fronto-Temporal Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Normal Healthy Controls

Abstract Objective Alzheimer’s Disease (ad) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) are neurodegenerative diseases with differing cognitive profiles. This study explored word-list learning task performance differences between ad and FTD and from healthy older adults (NHC). Method This study utilized results of the CERAD-NAB Word List task, stored in a database by the OHSU Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Outpatient subjects (n = 2099), ages 56+ (M = 83.61; SD = 11.44), tested from 1989 to 2020, were included, diagnosed as “NHC,” “ad,” or “FTD.” Participants included 88.8% Caucasian, 9.8% Black, 1% Asian, and 0.3% Native. Inclusion criteria involve the CERAD-NAB Word List task and a diagnosis of “NHC”, “ad”, or “FTD” at their last visit. Exclusion criteria apply to participants without diagnoses including ‘NHC, “ad”, or “FTD”. A factorial analysis of variance was conducted to compare raw scores of each group’s performances on Trials 1, 2, 3, delayed, and recognition retention. Results There was a significant impaired learning variability in each trial with poor encoding in adults with ad when compared to FTD. In Trial 3, the difference in performance between the FTD group and the ad group was statistically different, suggesting better recall in the FTD group. Conclusions Findings suggest a similar pattern of encoding difficulties with individuals diagnosed with ad and FTD. The FTD groups were able to better recall the list following a delay as compared to the ad group. Combined investigation of cognitive and neurobehavioral symptoms coupled with clear patterns in verbal memory deficits could provide a more accurate approach for differentiating between ad and FTD.

Cultural Approach in Teaching Visual Arts and Literary Reading at the Primary General Education Level: Principles and Methodological Solutions

Introduction. Introducing elementary school students to the values of artistic culture in the lessons of fine arts and literary reading is an important aspect of primary education. The authors of the article focus on the cultural approach, which contributes to the expansion of space for interpersonal and intercultural interaction, self-expression and realization of essential, creative in nature, human forces, allowing to rely on the dominant system of values in society and build educational strategies based on the ideas of dialogue and humanism as a basic basis for common approaches in teaching different subjects. Methodology. The article presents a number of principles, including: the principle of continuity, continuity, the principle of combining theory and practice-oriented, communicative interaction, openness, inclusiveness of the educational environment, cultural appropriateness. The integration of these principles in the process of implementation of the subjects “Fine Arts” and “Literary Reading” at the level of primary general education allows the teacher to strengthen the educational context of the taught subject, to expand the possibilities of searching and justification of actual methodological solutions in the context of cultural approach in education. Results. The research resulted in methodological solutions presented in the form of variants of tasks for students on the material of studying watercolor painting and works of various genres in elementary school. Conclusions. The solutions proposed by the authors can be considered by teachers as methodological guidelines that demonstrate and reveal the specifics of the implementation of the cultural approach in teaching the subjects “Fine Arts” and “Literary Reading”.