More than Words: The Impact of Memory on How Undergraduates with Dyslexia Interact with Information

Despite the prevalence of dyslexia and the challenges it poses for seeking, assessing and using information, there has been relatively little research on the challenges people with dyslexia face when interacting with information. What existing research there is has mostly focused on the impact on information comprehension and spelling. However, people with dyslexia often face considerable memory impairment that can affect their learning. This paper reports findings from retrospective think-aloud (RTA) observations with 13 undergraduates with dyslexia, focusing on the memory-related barriers they face and the workarounds they use to overcome these barriers. An enhanced understanding of the full range of barriers faced by information-seekers with dyslexia can inform the design of dyslexia-aware digital information environments and information literacy programs. These can ‘level the information playing field’ by helping to break down barriers to information and, in turn, to knowledge creation

Initial operating capability for the hypercluster parallel-processing test bed

The NASA Lewis Research Center is investigating the benefits of parallel processing to applications in computational fluid and structural mechanics. To aid this investigation, NASA Lewis is developing the Hypercluster, a multi-architecture, parallel-processing test bed. The initial operating capability (IOC) being developed for the Hypercluster is described. The IOC will provide a user with a programming/operating environment that is interactive, responsive, and easy to use. The IOC effort includes the development of the Hypercluster Operating System (HYCLOPS). HYCLOPS runs in conjunction with a vendor-supplied disk operating system on a Front-End Processor (FEP) to provide interactive, run-time operations such as program loading, execution, memory editing, and data retrieval. Run-time libraries, that augment the FEP FORTRAN libraries, are being developed to support parallel and vector processing on the Hypercluster. Special utilities are being provided to enable passage of information about application programs and their mapping to the operating system. Communications between the FEP and the Hypercluster are being handled by dedicated processors, each running a Message-Passing Kernel, (MPK). A shared-memory interface allows rapid data exchange between HYCLOPS and the communications processors. Input/output handlers are built into the HYCLOPS-MPK interface, eliminating the need for the user to supply separate I/O support programs on the FEP

Single atom-scale diamond defect allows large Aharonov-Casher phase

We propose an experiment that would produce and measure a large Aharonov-Casher (A-C) phase in a solid-state system under macroscopic motion. A diamond crystal is mounted on a spinning disk in the presence of a uniform electric field. Internal magnetic states of a single NV defect, replacing interferometer trajectories, are coherently controlled by microwave pulses. The A-C phase shift is manifested as a relative phase, of up to 17 radians, between components of a superposition of magnetic substates, which is two orders of magnitude larger than that measured in any other atom-scale quantum system.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

A message passing kernel for the hypercluster parallel processing test bed

A Message-Passing Kernel (MPK) for the Hypercluster parallel-processing test bed is described. The Hypercluster is being developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center to support investigations of parallel algorithms and architectures for computational fluid and structural mechanics applications. The Hypercluster resembles the hypercube architecture except that each node consists of multiple processors communicating through shared memory. The MPK efficiently routes information through the Hypercluster, using a message-passing protocol when necessary and faster shared-memory communication whenever possible. The MPK also interfaces all of the processors with the Hypercluster operating system (HYCLOPS), which runs on a Front-End Processor (FEP). This approach distributes many of the I/O tasks to the Hypercluster processors and eliminates the need for a separate I/O support program on the FEP

Secular trends in under-reporting in young people

Original article can be found at: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=BJN Copyright The Authors. DOI: 10.1079/BJN20041307National survey data show that reported energy intake has decreased in recent decades despite a rise in the prevalence of obesity. This disparity may be due to a secular increase in under-reporting or a quantitatively greater decrease in energy expenditure. This study examines the extent of under-reporting of energy intake in the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) in young people aged 4–18 years in 1997 using published equations to calculate estimated energy requirements. It explores secular changes by comparison with the Diets of British School Children (DBSC) survey in 10–11- and 14–15-year-olds in 1983. In the NDNS, under-reporting (estimated energy requirements – energy intake) represented 21 % of energy needs in girls and 20 % in boys. The magnitude of under-reporting increased significantly with age (P<0·001) and was higher in overweight than lean individuals over 7 years of age. To compare reported energy intake in DBSC and NDNS, the estimated physical activity level from dietary records (dPAL=reported energy intake/predicted BMR) was calculated. If there were no under-reporting, dPAL would represent the subject's true activity level. However, dPAL from the NDNS was significantly lower than that from the DBSC by 8 % and 9 % in boys and girls for those aged 10–11 years, and by 14 % and 11 % for 14–15-year-olds respectively, reaching physiologically implausible levels in the 14–15-year-old girls (dPAL=1·17). If activity levels have remained constant between the two surveys, under-reporting has increased by 8–14 %. The evidence supports a secular trend towards increased under-reporting between the two surveys, but the precise magnitude cannot be quantified in the absence of historical measures of energy expenditure.Peer reviewe

Overview of SERI's high efficiency solar cell research

The bulk of the research efforts supported by the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) High Efficiency Concepts area has been directed towards establishing the feasibility of achieving very high efficiencies, 30% for concentrator and more than 20% for thin film flat plate, in solar cell designs which could possibly be produced competitively. The research has accomplished a great deal during the past two years. Even though the desired performance levels have not yet been demonstrated, based on the recent progress, a greater portion of the terrestrial photovoltaics community believes that these efficiencies are attainable. The program will now allocate a larger portion of resources to low cost, large area deposition technology. The program is currently shifting greater emphasis on to the study of crystal growth in order to provide the understanding and tools needed to design a large area process

The Effects of Age on Red Giant Metallicities Derived from the Near-Infrared Ca II Triplet

We have obtained spectra with resolution 2.5 Angstroms in the region 7500-9500 Angstroms for 116 red giants in 5 Galactic globular clusters and 6 old open clusters (5 with published metallicities, and one previously unmeasured). The signal-to-noise ranges from 20 to 85. We measure the equivalent widths of the infrared Ca II triplet absorption lines in each stars and compare to cluster metallicities taken from the literature. With globular cluster abundances on the Carretta & Gratton scale, and open cluster abundances taken from the compilation of Friel and collaborators, we find a linear relation between [Fe/H] and Ca II line strength spanning the range -2 < [Fe/H] < -0.2 and ages from 2.5 - 13 Gyr. No evidence for an age effect on the metallicity calibration is observed. Using this calibration, we find the metallicity of the old open cluster Trumpler 5 to be [Fe/H] = -0.56 +/-0.11. Considering the 10 clusters of known metallicity shifted to a common distance and reddening, we find that the additional metallicity error introduced by the variation of horizontal branch/red clump magnitude with metallicity and age is of order +/-0.05 dex, which can be neglected in comparison to the intrinsic scatter in our method. The results are discussed in the context of abundance determinations for red giants in Local Group galaxies.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; 21 pages in LaTeX MNRAS style, 6 tables, 6 figure

Matterwave Transport Without Transit

Classically it is impossible to have transport without transit, i.e., if the points one, two and three lie sequentially along a path then an object moving from one to three must, at some point in time, be located at two. However, for a quantum particle in a three-well system it is possible to transport the particle between wells one and three such that the probability of finding it at any time in the classically accessible state in well two is negligible. We consider theoretically the analogous scenario for a Bose-Einstein condensate confined within a three well system. In particular, we predict the adiabatic transportation of an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate of 2000 Li atoms from well one to well three without transiting the allowed intermediate region. To an observer of this macroscopic quantum effect it would appear that, over a timescale of the order of one second, the condensate had transported, but not transited, a macroscopic distance of 20 microns between wells one and three.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure