Dopaminergic and Non-Dopaminergic Value Systems in Conditioning and Outcome-Specific Revaluation

Animals are motivated to choose environmental options that can best satisfy current needs. To explain such choices, this paper introduces the MOTIVATOR (Matching Objects To Internal Values Triggers Option Revaluations) neural model. MOTIVATOR describes cognitiveemotional interactions between higher-order sensory cortices and an evaluative neuraxis composed of the hypothalamus, amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex. Given a conditioned stimulus (CS), the model amygdala and lateral hypothalamus interact to calculate the expected current value of the subjective outcome that the CS predicts, constrained by the current state of deprivation or satiation. The amygdala relays the expected value information to orbitofrontal cells that receive inputs from anterior inferotemporal cells, and medial orbitofrontal cells that receive inputs from rhinal cortex. The activations of these orbitofrontal cells code the subjective values of objects. These values guide behavioral choices. The model basal ganglia detect errors in CS-specific predictions of the value and timing of rewards. Excitatory inputs from the pedunculopontine nucleus interact with timed inhibitory inputs from model striosomes in the ventral striatum to regulate dopamine burst and dip responses from cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta and ventral tegmental area. Learning in cortical and striatal regions is strongly modulated by dopamine. The model is used to address tasks that examine food-specific satiety, Pavlovian conditioning, reinforcer devaluation, and simultaneous visual discrimination. Model simulations successfully reproduce discharge dynamics of known cell types, including signals that predict saccadic reaction times and CS-dependent changes in systolic blood pressure.Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-1-0409); National Institutes of Health (R29-DC02952, R01-DC007683); National Science Foundation (IIS-97-20333, SBE-0354378); Office of Naval Research (N00014-01-1-0624

41SM32 on Little Saline Creek in Smith County, Texas

A review of early trinomial numbers for sites located in Smith County in East Texas indicated that between 1938 and 1943 Jack Hughes identified and collected from at least 37 sites listed on the Texas Historic Site Atlas. From 1938 to 1941 his site locations randomly occur throughout the County; interestingly there are no sites recorded in 1942. In 1943 he recorded about 14 sites along Black Fork Creek and its tributaries, this being mostly west of the City of Tyler. The primary purpose in reviewing the available archaeological information about these early recorded sites was to re-visit selected sites if necessary and to update information that was recorded beginning almost 80 years ago. An entry contained on a Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas (TARL) site card indicated that Hughes collected artifacts from a site (41SM32) located on Little Saline Creek, near the much better known Alligator Pond site (41SM442) that had been recorded in 2011 by Mark Walters. The Alligator Pond site is on property owned by Thacker, a Texas Archeological Stewardship Network member. 41SM32 is a prehistoric archaeological site that was found and recorded in September 1940 by Jack Hughes, who later went on to a career as a professional archaeologist in Texas. The site is on Little Saline Creek, a northward-flowing tributary to the Sabine River about 10 km to the north, in the Post Oak Savannah of East Texas

The Crescent Student Newspaper, January 27, 1979

Student newspaper of Pacific College (later George Fox University). 4 pages, black and white.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/the_crescent/1959/thumbnail.jp

Using mobile RE tools to give end-users their own voice

Researchers highlight end-user involvement in system design as an important concept for developing useful and usable solutions. However, end-user involvement in software engineering is still an open-ended topic. Novel paradigms such as service-oriented computing strengthen the need for more active end-user involvement in order to provide systems that are tailored to individual end-user needs. Our work is based on the fact that the majority of end-users are familiar with mobile devices and use an increasing number of mobile applications. A mobile tool enabling end-user led requirements elicitation could be just one of many applications installed on end-users' mobile devices. In this paper, we present a framework of end-user involvement in requirements elicitation which motivates our research. The main contribution of our research is a tool-supported requirements elicitation approach allowing end-users to document needs in situ. Furthermore, we present first evaluation results to highlight the feasibility of on-site end-user led requirements elicitation

Feedback from activity trackers improves daily step count after knee and hip arthroplasty: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Commercial wrist-worn activity monitors have the potential to accurately assess activity levels and are being increasingly adopted in the general population. The aim of this study was to determine if feedback from a commercial activity monitor improves activity levels over the first 6 weeks after total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods: One hundred sixty-three consecutive subjects undergoing primary TKA or THAwere randomized into 2 groups. Subjects received an activity tracker with the step display obscured 2 weeks before surgery and completed patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). On day 1 after surgery, participants were randomized to either the “feedback (FB) group” or the “no feedback (NFB) group.” The FB group was able to view their daily step count and was given a daily step goal. Participants in the NFB group wore the device with the display obscured for 2 weeks after surgery, after which time they were also able to see their daily step count but did not receive a formal step goal. The mean daily steps at 1, 2, 6 weeks, and 6 months were monitored. At 6 months after surgery, subjects repeated PROMs and daily step count collection. Results: Of the 163 subjects, 95 underwent THA and 68 underwent TKA. FB subjects had a significantly higher (P \u3c .03) mean daily step count by 43% in week 1, 33% in week 2, 21% in week 6, and 17% at 6 months, compared with NFB. The FB subjects were 1.7 times more likely to achieve a mean 7000 steps per day than the NFB subjects at 6 weeks after surgery (P ¼ .02). There was no significant difference between the groups in PROMs at 6 months. Ninety percent of FB and 83% of NFB participants reported that they were satisfied with the results of the surgery (P ¼ .08). At 6 months after surgery, 70% of subjects had a greater mean daily step count compared with their preoperative level. Conclusion: Subjects who received feedback from a commercial activity tracker with a daily step goal had significantly higher activity levels after hip and knee arthroplasty over 6 weeks and 6 months, compared with subjects who did not receive feedback in a randomized controlled trial. Commercial activity trackers may be a useful and effective adjunct after arthroplasty