Representing space: the development, content and accuracy of mental representations by the blind and visually impaired

This thesis reports on two studies on the perception and cognition of space by individuals who are blind and visually impaired. Research was conducted with students from Dorton College at the Royal London Society for the Blind (RLSB) in Kent. The first experiment examined the content and accuracy of mental representations of a well-known environment. Students walked a route around the RLSB campus and learned the position of ten buildings and structures. They were then asked to make pointing judgments, estimate distances and complete a spatial cued model of the campus. The second experiment considered the wayflnding strategies and spatial coding heuristics used to explore a complex novel environment. Students were asked to explore a maze and learn the position of six different locations. Their search patterns were recorded and analyzed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. Students were tested using the same methods as in the previous experiment and their performance was related to the type and frequency of strategies used during exploration. Results were complemented with a mobility questionnaire, a low vision quality of life questionnaire and data from a literacy and numeracy assessment as well as ethnographic material collected by the author during the two years spent working and living at the RLSB. The thesis begins with a discussion of disability and society framed within the context of geography, urban planning and design. The concepts of blindness and visual impairment are then examined with particular attention given to the psychosocial implications of visual loss. This is followed by a discussion of growth and development, and in-depth review of research on the development, content and accuracy of mental representations by the blind and visually impaired. Finally, the methods used to collect and analyse data for both experiments are considered in light of individual differences and the inadequacy of some statistical techniques to account for the heterogeneous nature of visual impairment. Results from the first experiment revealed significant differences in the accuracy and content of mental representation between the sighted, visually impaired and blind groups for the pointing and model construction tasks. Performance in the distance estimation task was similar across groups. Large individual differences were identified, with the performance of individuals in the same group varying according to the type and requirement of the task. Results from the second experiment also revealed significant differences between the different groups, this time for all three tasks. Here again, large individual differences were found within each group. An analysis of distortions revealed that despite a disparity in accuracy, the blind and visually impaired shared many of the systematic distortions typically found in the mental representation of sighted individuals further confirming their ability develop functional mental representations of space. Performance in the pointing, distance estimation and model construction tasks were also related to the type and frequency of strategies used to explore the maze with the best performers using a combination of egocentric and allocentric strategies. In general, results from the two experiments support the amodal notion that the construction of accurate mental representations of space is not limited to any particular sensory modality but facilitated by the visual system. It also emphasizes the need for mutually supportive techniques that incorporate both quantitative and qualitative methods in the collection and analysis of cognitive data

Visual Artists' Career Development In Washington Metropolitan Area

Through surveys with 130 visual artists and in-depth interviews with nineteen mid-career and established artists, this paper aims to provide readers a genuine picture of current employment and career developments of American visual artists in cities with mid-size art markets, such as Washington DC Metropolitan Area. This research emphasizes the importance of artists' connections with arts colleges, galleries, local arts organizations, museums and collectors, and examines roles of foundations, corporations, art fairs and online-publications in artists' career development. It discusses and answers the questions: How do working and established artists get themselves connected in art community? What are the sustainable ways to keep art practice and advance a career as a visual artist.</p

FPY_20220816_OE_Visualization1.mp4

Animation of FIg.

Adaptive Data-Transition Decision Feedback Equalizers For High-Speed Serial Links

This dissertation investigates adaptive decision feedback equalizers for high-speed serial data links.An adaptive data-transition decision feedback equalizer (DT-DFE) was developed. The DT-DFE boosts the eye-opening of the high-frequency components of data without attenuating their low-frequency counterparts. Reference voltages were obtained by transmitting consecutive 1s and 0s and measuring the output of the continuous-time linear equalizer using a pair of successive approximation register analog-to-digital converters in a training phase. It uses loop unrolling to detect data transitions, activate tap-tuning, launch DFE, and combat timing constraints. The performance of the DT-DFE and its advantages over commonly used data-state DFE were validated using the schematic-level simulation results of 5 Gbps backplane links.A new adaptive DT-DFE with edge-emphasis (EE) taps and raised references was developed. Loop-unrolling was further developed for DT-DFE with EE-taps. The reference voltages were raised beyond that set by the low-frequency components of data to increase vertical eye-opening. Clock and data recovery was performed using 4x oversampling. The DT-DFE was validated using the schematiclevel simulation results of 10 Gbps backplane links.A pre-skewed bi-directional gated delay line (BDGDL) bang-bang frequency difference-to-digital converter and a BDGDL integrating frequency difference-todigital converter (iFDDC) were proposed for clock and data recovery. Both frequency difference detectors feature all-digital realization, low power consumption, and high-speed operation. The built-in integration of iFDDC results in a zero static frequency error and the first-order noise-shaping of the quantization errors of the BDGDL and digitally-controlled oscillators. Their effectiveness was validated using schematic-level simulation results of 5-GHz frequency-locked loops.All systems validating the proposed adaptive DFE and frequency-difference detectors were designed in TSMC’s 65 nm CMOS technology and analyzed using Spectre from Cadence Design Systems. </div

Supplementary document for Pump-guided Nonlinear Metasurfaces for Phase Conjugation - 6112855.pdf

Clearcop

Hybrid zone between <i>L</i>. <i>japonicum</i> and <i>L</i>. <i>stellipilum</i> in the central Japanese mainland.

<p>(A) Map of Japan showing locations of the hybrid zone and allopatric pure <i>L</i>. <i>japonicum</i> populations (filled circles) and pure <i>L</i>. <i>stellipilum</i> (filled triangles) populations. (B) Detailed map of the hybrid zone illustrating the sampling sites of sympatric <i>L</i>. <i>japonicum</i> (open circles), sympatric <i>L</i>. <i>stellipilum</i> (open triangle), and putative hybrids (cross). Additional details for each population are shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0116411#pone.0116411.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>.</p

Data Supplement for "The Effects of Collecting Income Taxes on Social Security Benefits"

This zip file contains the data and codes for reproducing the results in the paper "The Effects of Collecting Income Taxes on Social Security Benefits"

Ethylene Glycol Ions Dissociate by Tunneling through an H-Atom Transfer Barrier: A DFT and TPEPICO Study

Density functional theory (DFT) and threshold photoelectron−photoion coincidence spectroscopy (TPEPICO) have been used to investigate the dissociation dynamics of the ethylene glycol ion. A total of 13 isomers of the ethylene glycol ion (C2H6O2+•) and the transition states connecting them were obtained at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level. The TPEPICO experimental results show that the CH3OH2+ ion, produced by a double hydrogen transfer, and the CH2OH+ ion, produced by direct C−C bond cleavage, are the two dominant products. The H2O loss channel, the lowest dissociation energy channel according to the DFT calculations, is suppressed because of a high barrier leading to its formation. The time-of-flight distributions of the CH3OH2+ ion at low energies are asymmetric, which indicates that this ion is produced from a slowly dissociating (metastable) parent ion. A two-well−two-channel model is proposed to describe the isomerization and dissociation process. The simulations combined with RRKM theory suggest that the production of the CH3OH2+ ion involves a hydrogen-bridged reaction intermediate, and its slow production is caused by tunneling through the isomerization barrier. This mechanism is supported by data for deuterated ethylene glycol. The 0 K appearance energy for the CH2OH+ ion is determined to be 11.08 ± 0.04 eV, from which the 298 K heat of formation of the ethylene glycol molecule is determined to be −383.1 ± 4.5 kJ/mol, in agreement with other experimental values

Are AMI Patients with Comorbid Mental Illness More Likely to be Admitted to Hospitals with Lower Quality of AMI Care?

<div><p>Objective</p><p>Older patients with comorbid mental illness are shown to receive less appropriate care for their medical conditions. This study analyzed Medicare patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and determined whether those with comorbid mental illness were more likely to present to hospitals with lower quality of AMI care.</p> <p>Methods</p><p>Retrospective analyses of Medicare claims in 2008. Hospital quality was measured using the five “Hospital Compare” process indicators (aspirin at admission/discharge, beta-blocker at admission/discharge, and angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotension receptor blocker for left ventricular dysfunction). Multinomial logit model determined the association of mental illness with admission to low-quality hospitals (rank of the composite process score <10^th percentile) or high-quality hospitals (rank>90^th percentile), compared to admissions to other hospitals with medium quality. Multivariate analyses further determined the effects of hospital type and mental diagnosis on outcomes.</p> <p>Results</p><p>Among all AMI admissions to 2,845 hospitals, 41,044 out of 287,881 patients were diagnosed with mental illness. Mental illness predicted a higher likelihood of admission to low-quality hospitals (unadjusted rate 2.9% vs. 2.0%; adjusted odds ratio [OR]1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17–1.34, p<0.01), and an equal likelihood to high-quality hospitals (unadjusted rate 9.8% vs. 10.3%; adjusted OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.93–1.01, p = 0.11). Both lower hospital quality and mental diagnosis predicted higher rates of 30-day readmission, 30-day mortality, and 1-year mortality.</p> <p>Conclusions</p><p>Among Medicare myocardial infarction patients, comorbid mental illness was associated with an increased risk for admission to lower-quality hospitals. Both lower hospital quality and mental illness predicted worse post-AMI outcomes.</p> </div

Table_1_Preliminary Assessment of Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning Model Applied to Music Performance Anxiety in College Piano Majors.docx

Individual zone of optimal functioning (IZOF) is a psychological model studied and applied to quantify athletes’ anxiety and predicts their achievement in sports competitions. This study aimed to determine the application of the IZOF model to evaluate music performance anxiety (MPA) in pianists because the causes of anxiety in athletes and musicians may be similar. A total of 30 college-level piano-major students were included in the study, and the anxiety level in performance was scored by the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 questionnaire. In the first phase, participants recalled and self-scored the four important performances in the past year. Notably, seven piano teachers scored the performances. Both results were combined to identify the individual IZOF zone. Each student showed different anxiety scores for cognitive state anxiety (CA), somatic state anxiety (SA), and self-confidence (SC). In the second phase, all participants scored their anxiety level 1 day before the final performance, and the same judges evaluated the performance immediately afterward. A total of 60% of the participants who had at least two subscales inside the IZOF received performance scores greater than 90. In conclusion, the IZOF model provides information for both piano teachers and pianists to help review their anxiety intensity and predict their performance scores to some extent.</p