Physical and neural entrainment to rhythm: human sensorimotor coordination across tasks and effector systems.

The human sensorimotor system can be readily entrained to environmental rhythms, through multiple sensory modalities. In this review, we provide an overview of theories of timekeeping that make this neuroentrainment possible. First, we present recent evidence that contests the assumptions made in classic timekeeper models. The role of state estimation, sensory feedback and movement parameters on the organization of sensorimotor timing are discussed in the context of recent experiments that examined simultaneous timing and force control. This discussion is extended to the study of coordinated multi-effector movements and how they may be entrained

GPR: A Data Mining Tool Using Genetic Programming

This paper proposes an inductive data mining technique (named GPR) based on genetic programming. Unlike other mining systems, the particularity of our technique is its ability to discover business rules that satisfy multiple (and possibly conflicting) decision or search criteria simultaneously. We present a step-by-step method to implement GPR, and introduce a prototype that generates production rules from real life data. We also report in this article on the use of GPR in an organization that seeks to understand how its employees make decisions in a voluntary separation program. Using a personnel database of 12,787 employees with 35 descriptive variables, our technique is able to discover employees\u27 hidden decision making patterns in the form of production rules. As our approach does not require any domain specific knowledge, it can be used without any major modification in different domains

The Prevalence of Temporomandibular Disorders in Fibromyalgia Patients Compared to That of Failed Back Syndrome Patients: A Blinded Prospective Study

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in fibromyalgia (FM) patients compared to failed back syndrome (FBS) patients. In addition, the FM and FBS patients were assessed and compared with regard to their psychosocial dysfunction. The study included 51 adult patients (FM = 32, FBS = 19) recruited from a physical medicine and rehabilitation clinic and a FM workshop. Questionnaires included an orofacial pain questionnaire and a battery of psychological questionnaires that included the Symptom Check List-90-Revised, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Multi-dimensional Pain Inventory, the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version, and Multidimensional Fatigue Symptoms Inventoryshort form. Each patient underwent a clinical examination by a dentist who was blind to the diagnostic category and if applicable was diagnosed with TMD based on the Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD. Fifty three percent of the FM patients reported having face pain compared to 11% of the FBS patients (P=0.002). Of those FM patients who reported face pain, 71% fulfilled the criteria for TMD. The psychometric data revealed that the FM patients had higher scores for somatization (P=0.02) and obsessive-compulsive (P=0.009) subscales compared to the FBS patients. The mean score of medication used to sleep was higher among the FM patients compared to FBS patients (P=0.002). Eighty seven percent of the FM patients reported a stressful event (P=0.036). Of those FM patients who reported a stressful event 42.3% were deemed post-traumatic stress disorder positive. FM patient also had higher scores for general fatigue (Pandlt;0.0001), emotional fatigue (P=0.008), physical fatigue (Pandlt;0.0001) and mental fatigue (Pandlt;0.0001) as compared to FBS patients. The high prevalence of TMD and psychosocial dysfunction among FM patients suggests a dysfunctional hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and dysregulated autonomic nervous system

Motor Learning Characterized by Changing Lévy Distributions

The probability distributions for changes in transverse plane fingertip speed are Lévy distributed in human pole balancing. Six subjects learned to balance a pole on their index finger over three sessions while sitting and standing. The Lévy or decay exponent decreased as a function of learning, showing reduced decay in the probability for large speed steps and was significantly smaller in the sitting condition. However, the probability distribution for changes in fingertip speed was truncated so that the probability for large steps was reduced in this condition. These results show a learning-induced tolerance for large speed step sizes and demonstrate that motor learning in continuous tasks may be characterized by changing distributions that reflect sensorimotor skill acquisition

On The Role Of Accountability And Incentives In Obtaining Quality Process Documentation

The importance of managing process knowledge in complex activities such as information product development is well recognized in recent research. However, successful implementation of a traceability scheme(that provides the ability to follow the life of artifacts created during systems development)  to manage process knowledge requires the development of appropriate incentives to knowledge workers. Based on a review of accounting and economic literature on managerial incentives and  accountability as well as empirical studies of nearly thirty organizations, we propose a series of hypotheses that predict the influence of an organizational culture of accountability and presence of financial and other incentives on obtaining quality process documentation in organizations

Dynamic Capabilities in Small Service Firms

ABSTRACT In constantly shifting service environments managers face the challenge to renew, modify, and reconfigure their firm’s service offerings as to effectively respond to industry turbulence. Dynamic capabilities have been proposed as a primary means by which firms reconfigure their operational processes to generate such new service offerings. While the role of dynamic capabilities in large organizations has been extensively investigated, their role in small organizations has not received much attention. We explore how dynamic capabilities manifest in small service firms and how they use IT capabilities to achieve these capabilities. Using a multi-site case study in four small service firms, we examine how the four dynamic capabilities identified by Pavlou and El Sawy (2011), namely (i) sensing, (ii) learning, (iii) integrating, and (iv) coordinating capabilities enable a firm to achieve these capabilities. Our study extends the literature on dynamic capabilities to small service providers operating in the defense contracting industry. It explains how they can develop dynamic capabilities by reconfiguring operational capabilities when operating under industry turbulence. Our findings also reveal IT as a critical enabler of dynamic capabilities. For managers, our study offers new insights on how they can better understand, assess, and acquire dynamic capabilities in their firms

Negotiating Strategic Business Value of BPM Systems: A Balanced Scorecard Approach

There has been a growing interest in how Business Process Management (BPM) initiatives can be used to improve competitive advantage of organizations. Discussion in the current literature is often centered on how operational efficiencies can be gained by the implementation of BPM initiatives. However, to fully realize the strategic opportunities made possible with BPM, it is necessary to take an approach that evaluates BPM not only on the financial aspects, but also on other intangible/ non-financial aspects. In this paper, we demonstrate how the balanced scorecard approach can be used for negotiating strategic business value of business process management initiatives to gain support from the various stakeholders

Establishing Data Provenance for Responsible Artificial Intelligence Systems

Data provenance, a record that describes the origins and processing of data, offers new promises in the increasingly important role of artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems in guiding human decision making. To avoid disastrous outcomes that can result from bias-laden AI systems, responsible AI builds on four important characteristics: fairness, accountability, transparency, and explainability. To stimulate further research on data provenance that enables responsible AI, this study outlines existing biases and discusses possible implementations of data provenance to mitigate them. We first review biases stemming from the data’s origins and pre-processing. We then discuss the current state of practice, the challenges it presents, and corresponding recommendations to address them. We present a summary highlighting how our recommendations can help establish data provenance and thereby mitigate biases stemming from the data’s origins and pre-processing to realize responsible AI-based systems. We conclude with a research agenda suggesting further research avenues

Knowledge Transfer in Distributed Software Support with a Traceability Framework

Distributed software support has become increasingly common especially due to the rampant globalization of the software development process. Transfer of contextual knowledge across stakeholders involved in such distributed environments is critical to successful product development and support. Timely transfer of appropriate knowledge about issues faced in production environments to support teams and within support teams can result in significant economic benefits. Failure to share contextual knowledge and lack of common understanding significantly impact the quality of support. We draw from the literature on knowledge transfer and adaptive structuration theory to develop a theoretical basis and an approach to knowledge transfer in distributed software support contexts. Based on a multi-site case study, we develop a traceability framework to enhance shared understanding among team members. A qualitative evaluation of the usefulness of our traceability-based approach to knowledge transfer is presented