Toward Online Measurement of Decision State

In traditional perceptual decision-making experiments, two pieces of data are collected on each trial: response time and accuracy. But how confident were participants and how did their decision state evolve over time? We asked participants to provide a continuous readout of their decision state by moving a cursor along a sliding scale between a 100% certain left response and a 100% certain right response. Subjects did not terminate the trials; rather, trials were timed out at random and subjects were scored based on the cursor position at that time. Higher rewards for correct responses and higher penalties for errors were associated with extreme responses so that the response with the highest expected value was that which accurately reflected the participant's odds of being correct. This procedure encourages participants to expose the time-course of their evolving decision state. Evidence on how well they can do this will be presented

It Takes a Village: Understanding the Collective Security Efficacy of Employee Groups

An organization’s ability to successfully manage information security incidents is determined by the actions of its employees, as well as the actions of various groups of employees within its organizational boundaries. To date, information security research has primarily focused on individual-level phenomena and has not yet explored group-level phenomena such as how employee groups recognize and respond to security incidents in a way that is consistent with the organization’s security goals and objectives. The current study addresses this gap, thereby answering the research call for group-level security research perspectives. The present study explores how employee groups formulate their collective security efficacy, which influences how group members recognize and respond to information security incidents. Using a case study of a large healthcare research organization (HRO), we analyze two security incidents, a malware attack, and a physical security breach, to identify a unique set of ecological and social properties of employee groups that are salient to their collective security efficacy

The pPSU Plasmids for Generating DNA Molecular Weight Markers.

Visualizing nucleic acids by gel electrophoresis is one of the most common techniques in molecular biology, and reference molecular weight markers or ladders are commonly used for size estimation. We have created the pPSU1 & pPSU2 pair of molecular weight marker plasmids which produce both 100 bp and 1 kb DNA ladders when digested with two common restriction enzymes. The 100 bp ladder fragments have been optimized to migrate appropriately on both agarose and native polyacrylamide, unlike many currently available DNA ladders. Sufficient plasmid DNA can be isolated from 100 ml E. coli cultures for the two plasmids to produce 100 bp or 1 kb ladders for 1000 gels. As such, the pPSU1 and pPSU2 plasmids provide reference fragments from 50 to 10000 bp at a fraction of the cost of commercial DNA ladders. The pPSU1 and pPSU2 plasmids are available without licensing restrictions to nonprofit academic users, affording freely available high-quality, low-cost molecular weight standards for molecular biology applications

Checks and cheques : implementing a population health and recall system to improve coverage of patients with diabetes in a rural general practice

Identification of all diabetic patients in the population is essential if diabetic care is to be effective in achieving the targets of the St Vincent Declaration.1 The challenge therefore is to establish population based monitoring and control systems by means of state of the art technology in order to achieve quality assurance in the provision of care for patients with diabetes. 2,3 Disease management receives extensive international support as the most appropriate approach to organising and delivering healthcare for chronic conditions like diabetes.4 This approach is achieved through a combination of guidelines for practice, patient education, consultations and follow up using a planned team approach and a strong focus on continuous quality improvement using information technology. 5,6 The current software (Medical Director) could not easily meet these requirements which led us to adopt a trial of Ferret. In designing this project we used change management7 and the plan, do, study, act cycle8 illustrated in Diagram 1.<br /

The Effect of Substructure on Mass Estimates of Galaxies

Large galaxies are thought to form hierarchically, from the accretion and disruption of many smaller galaxies. Such a scenario should naturally lead to galactic phase-space distributions containing some degree of substructure. We examine the errors in mass estimates of galaxies and their dark halos made using the projected phase-space distribution of a tracer population (such as a globular cluster system or planetary nebulae) due to falsely assuming that the tracers are distributed randomly. The level of this uncertainty is assessed by applying a standard mass estimator to samples drawn from 11 random realizations of galaxy halos containing levels of substructure consistent with current models of structure formation. We find that substructure will distort our mass estimates by up to ~20% - a negligible error compared to statistical and measurement errors in current derivations of masses for our own and other galaxies. However, this represents a fundamental limit to the accuracy of any future mass estimates made under the assumption that the tracer population is distributed randomly, regardless of the size of the sample or the accuracy of the measurements.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Astrophysical Journal, in pres

Multiple sulfur isotope constraints on the sulfur cycle in the modern ocean

We present 28 multiple sulfur isotope measurements of seawater sulfate (δ34SSO4δ34SSO4 and Δ33SSO4Δ33SSO4) from the modern ocean over a range of water depths and sites along the eastern margin of the Pacific Ocean. The average measured δ34SSO4δ34SSO4 is 21.24‰ (±0.88‰,2σ±0.88‰,2σ) with a calculated Δ33SSO4Δ33SSO4 of +0.050‰+0.050‰ (±0.014‰,2σ±0.014‰,2σ). With these values, we use a box-model to place constraints on the gross fraction of pyrite burial in modern sediments. This model presents an improvement on previous estimates of the global pyrite burial flux because it does not rely on the assumed value of δ34Spyriteδ34Spyrite, which is poorly constrained, but instead uses new information about the relationship between δ34Sδ34S and δ33Sδ33S in global marine sulfate. Our calculations indicate that the pyrite burial flux from the modern ocean is between 10% and 45% of the total sulfur lost from the oceans, with a more probable range between 20% and 35%

Uncertainty Assessment of Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics Prediction Capability

The present paper provides the background of a focused effort to assess uncertainties in predictions of heat flux and pressure in hypersonic flight (airbreathing or atmospheric entry) using state-of-the-art aerothermodynamics codes. The assessment is performed for four mission relevant problems: (1) shock turbulent boundary layer interaction on a compression corner, (2) shock turbulent boundary layer interaction due a impinging shock, (3) high-mass Mars entry and aerocapture, and (4) high speed return to Earth. A validation based uncertainty assessment approach with reliance on subject matter expertise is used. A code verification exercise with code-to-code comparisons and comparisons against well established correlations is also included in this effort. A thorough review of the literature in search of validation experiments is performed, which identified a scarcity of ground based validation experiments at hypersonic conditions. In particular, a shortage of useable experimental data at flight like enthalpies and Reynolds numbers is found. The uncertainty was quantified using metrics that measured discrepancy between model predictions and experimental data. The discrepancy data is statistically analyzed and investigated for physics based trends in order to define a meaningful quantified uncertainty. The detailed uncertainty assessment of each mission relevant problem is found in the four companion papers

Reshaping Practitioner Higher Education Institutions to Serve Adult Learners: The COVID-19 Pandemic Implications

Involving over 200 countries, the COVID-19 global pandemic impacts adult learners’ retention, increasing the need to reshape practitioner-oriented higher education institutions to better serve students. The purpose of this study was to explore how practitioner higher education institutions adopted innovative approaches and reshaped policies, practices, and perspectives to accommodate changes brought about by the COVID- 19 pandemic and successfully maintained or increased enrollment. This article reports the results, which may enhance practitioner higher education programs and enrollment

Long-lived space observatories for astronomy and astrophysics

NASA's plan to build and launch a fleet of long-lived space observatories that include the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO), the Advanced X Ray Astrophysics Observatory (AXAF), and the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) are discussed. These facilities are expected to have a profound impact on the sciences of astronomy and astrophysics. The long-lived observatories will provide new insights about astronomical and astrophysical problems that range from the presence of planets orbiting nearby stars to the large-scale distribution and evolution of matter in the universe. An important concern to NASA and the scientific community is the operation and maintenance cost of the four observatories described above. The HST cost about $1.3 billion (1984 dollars) to build and is estimated to require$160 million (1986 dollars) a year to operate and maintain. If HST is operated for 20 years, the accumulated costs will be considerably more than those required for its construction. Therefore, it is essential to plan carefully for observatory operations and maintenance before a long-lived facility is constructed. The primary goal of this report is to help NASA develop guidelines for the operations and management of these future observatories so as to achieve the best possible scientific results for the resources available. Eight recommendations are given