2,495 research outputs found
Folly to the Greeks: Good Reasons to Give up Reason
A discussion of why a strong doctrine of 'reason' may not be worth sustaining in the face of modern scientific speculation, and the difficulties this poses for scientific rationality, together with comments on the social understanding of religion, and why we might wish to transcend common sense
TID and SEE Testing Results of Altera Cyclone Field Programmable Gate Array
Total ionizing dose (TID) and single event effects testing was performed on Altera Cyclone FPGAs. The devices exhibit slight performance degradation to a TID of 1 Mrad (Si), but also exhibited single event latchup at a low LET
Thermal Tolerance in Tropical Versus Subtropical Pacific Reef Corals
Upper lethal temperature tolerances of reef corals in Hawaii and at
Enewetak, Marshall Islands, were determined in the field and under controlled
laboratory conditions. Enewetak corals survived in situ temperatures of nearly
34° C, whereas 32° C was lethal to Hawaiian corals for similar short-term exposures.
Laboratory determinations indicate that the upper thermal limits of Hawaiian corals
are approximately 2° C less than congeners from the tropical Pacific. Differences in
coral thermal tolerances correspond to differences in the ambient temperature
patterns between geographic areas
INCREASING PATIENT DEMAND FOR HOME MEDICINES REVIEWS: A MARKETING PLAN RESEARCH STUDY
Objectives: 1. To deliver a marketing plan which proposes strategies to increase consumer uptake of HMRs. Sub -objectives were to assess the: Awareness levels of eligible non-recipients prior to participation in this study Perceived potential benefits and barriers of having an HMR Perceived HMR facilitators Satisfaction levels of HMR recipients Intention to have an (another) HMR if the GP suggested it Intention to ask the GP for an (another) HMR and to recommend the service to others Drivers of perceived benefits, barriers and facilitators; drivers of satisfaction, intention to have and to ask GP for an (another) HMR Medicine information sources Differences across specific low incidence consumer groups vs. the broad HMR target population. 2. To investigate the extent to which pharmacists could cope with an increased demand for HMR services due to a possible increas e in consumer awareness and demand for HMRs. Key findings 1. Very low HMR awareness among eligible non-recipients 2. Extremely high HMR satisfaction levels among HMR recipients 3. Very positive HMR perceptions among eligible nonrecipients after being informed about the service Further research Focus on patients/carers of non-English speaking backgrounds, patients with cognitive disabilities, those who have recently been discharged from hospital and those who have refused to have an HMR Longitudinal studies for investigation of HMR effects on an individualâs attitudes/long-term behaviours Very strong latent demand for HMR service Immense opportunity to increase HMR uptake through direct-to-consumer promotion (For marketing strategies see poster 1 âMarketing Planâ)Pharmacy Guild of Australi
Efficient characterisation of large deviations using population dynamics
We consider population dynamics as implemented by the cloning algorithm for analysis of large deviations of time-averaged quantities. We use the simple symmetric exclusion process with periodic boundary conditions as a prototypical example and investigate the convergence of the results with respect to the algorithmic parameters, focussing on the dynamical phase transition between homogeneous and inhomogeneous states, where convergence is relatively difficult to achieve. We discuss how the performance of the algorithm can be optimised, and how it can be efficiently exploited on parallel computing platforms.</p
Improvement in visual search with practice: Mapping learning-related changes in neurocognitive stages of processing
© 2015 the authors. Practice can improve performance on visual search tasks; the neural mechanisms underlying such improvements, however, are not clear. Response time typically shortens with practice, but which components of the stimulusâresponse processing chain facilitate this behavioral change? Improved search performance could result from enhancements in various cognitive processing stages, including (1) sensory processing, (2) attentional allocation, (3) target discrimination, (4) motor-response preparation, and/or (5) response execution. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) as human participants completed a five-day visual-search protocol in which they reported the orientation of a color popout target within an array of ellipses. We assessed changes in behavioral performance and in ERP components associated with various stages of processing. After practice, response time decreased in all participants (while accuracy remained consistent), and electrophysiological measures revealed modulation of several ERP components. First, amplitudes of the early sensory-evoked N1 component at 150 ms increased bilaterally, indicating enhanced visual sensory processing of the array. Second, the negative-polarity posteriorâcontralateral component (N2pc, 170â250 ms) was earlier and larger, demonstrating enhanced attentional orienting. Third, the amplitude of the sustained posterior contralateral negativity component (SPCN, 300â400 ms) decreased, indicating facilitated target discrimination. Finally, faster motor-response preparation and execution were observed after practice, as indicated by latency changes in both the stimulus-locked and response-locked lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs). These electrophysiological results delineate the functional plasticity in key mechanisms underlying visual search with high temporal resolution and illustrate how practice influences various cognitive and neural processing stages leading to enhanced behavioral performance
Efficient characterisation of large deviations using population dynamics
We consider population dynamics as implemented by the cloning algorithm for
analysis of large deviations of time-averaged quantities. Using the simple
symmetric exclusion process as a prototypical example, we investigate the
convergence of the results with respect to the algorithmic parameters,
focussing on the dynamical phase transition between homogeneous and
inhomogeneous states, where convergence is relatively difficult to achieve. We
discuss how the performance of the algorithm can be optimised, and how it can
be efficiently exploited on parallel computing platforms.Comment: 23 pages, final versio
An ice-sheet scale comparison of eskers with modelled subglacial drainage routes
Eskers record a time-integrated signature of channelised meltwater drainage during
deglaciation providing vital information on the nature and evolution of subglacial drainage. In this
paper, we compare the spatial pattern of eskers beneath the former Laurentide Ice Sheet with
subglacial drainage routes diagnosed at discrete time intervals from the results of a numerical icesheet
model. Perhaps surprisingly, we show that eskers predominantly occur in regions where
modelled subglacial water flow is low. Eskers and modelled subglacial drainage routes were found to
typically match for lengths <10 km, and most eskers show a better agreement with the routes close to
the ice margin just prior to deglaciation. This supports a time-transgressive esker pattern, with
formation in short (<10 km) segments of conduit close behind a retreating ice margin, and probably
associated with thin, stagnant or sluggish ice. Esker forming conduits were probably dominated by
supraglacially fed meltwater inputs. We also show that modelled subglacial drainage routes containing
the largest concentrations of meltwater show a close correlation with palaeo-ice stream locations. The
paucity of eskers along the terrestrial portion of these palaeo-ice streams and meltwater routes is
probably due to the prevalence of distributed drainage and the high erosion potential of fast-flowing
ice
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