Auditory Consonant Trigrams: Construct And Criterion Validity Update

The Auditory Consonant Trigrams (ACT) has historically been used in research and clinical settings as a measure of working memory ability, though previous research has failed to identify the precise cognitive processes and abilities measured by the task. The ACT total score (ACT T) has been shown to be sensitive to numerous clinical neurological and psychological populations (i.e., TBI, ADHD, MS, MDD). Alternatively, little is known about the ACT perseveration score (ACT P), the current study aimed to identity the ACT T and ACT P’s relationships to other neuropsychological measures and their clinical utility within diverse clinical/neurological presentations. In a sample of patients referred for neuropsychological evaluation (N = 448), an exploratory factor analysis revealed a 2-factor model accounting for 49.54% of the variance within the sample. The ACT T and ACT P loaded on a factor with measures of higher-order executive functioning accounting for 9.99% of the variance within the sample. Further, the clinical utility of the ACT T and ACT P was found to be limited within the current sample with a trend of the ACT T discriminating the severity of brain damage within TBI, while the ACT P tended to discriminate diagnostic groups. These findings suggest that the ACT scoring methods may be too simplistic to identify subtle cognitive changes in clinical populations

Presentation Effects On Matrix Reasoning Scores

Matrix reasoning tasks are popular measures of fluid and inductive reasoning ability. The impact of rule type, number of rules, grouping, overlapping elements, and unfamiliar shapes on matrix reasoning performance has been shown to make matrix tasks more difficult to solve. Alternatively, the relationship of features (the physical and visual dimensions of individual elements within a matrix) to matrix reasoning performance in an adult population has not been established. The current study aimed to test the impact of features (i.e., height, shape, width) on matrix reasoning performance in an undergraduate sample (N = 196) by systematically varying rules and features using three experimental matrix task sets. Results indicated a significant effect of feature on matrix reasoning performance (F(2,193) = 4.871, p = .009) when controlling for differences in inductive reasoning ability between experimental groups. Post-hoc analysis revealed significantly (p = .007) worse performance in the width/height feature combination as compared to the shape/height. Concluding, features have a differential impact on matrix reasoning performance, as some features may be more efficiently solved than others. Future studies using more complex scoring methods, assessment of working memory, and direct measurement of cortical functioning are warranted to clarify the impact of features on matrix reasoning performance

Early identification of mushy Halibut syndrome with hyperspectral image analysis

Mushy Halibut Syndrome (MHS) is a condition that appears in Greenland halibut and manifests itself as abnormally opaque, flaccid and jelly-like flesh. Fish affected by this syndrome show poor meat quality, which results in negative consequences for the fish industry. The research community has not carefully investigated this condition, nor novel technologies for MHS detection have been proposed. In this research work, we propose using hyperspectral imaging to detect MHS. After collecting a dataset of hyperspectral images of halibut affected by MHS, two different goals were targeted. Firstly, the estimation of the chemical composition of the samples (specifically fat and water content) from their spectral data by using constrained spectral unmixing. Secondly, supervised classification using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was evaluated to identify specimens affected by MHS. The outcomes of our study suggest that the prediction of fat from the spectral data is possible, but the prediction of the water content was not found to be accurate. However, the detection of MHS using PLS-DA was precise for hyperspectral images from both fillets and whole fish, with lower bounds of 75% and 83% for precision and recall, respectively. Our findings suggest hyperspectral imaging as a suitable technology for the early screening of MHS.Early identification of mushy Halibut syndrome with hyperspectral image analysispublishedVersio

Early identification of mushy Halibut syndrome with hyperspectral image analysis

Mushy Halibut Syndrome (MHS) is a condition that appears in Greenland halibut and manifests itself as abnormally opaque, flaccid and jelly-like flesh. Fish affected by this syndrome show poor meat quality, which results in negative consequences for the fish industry. The research community has not carefully investigated this condition, nor novel technologies for MHS detection have been proposed. In this research work, we propose using hyperspectral imaging to detect MHS. After collecting a dataset of hyperspectral images of halibut affected by MHS, two different goals were targeted. Firstly, the estimation of the chemical composition of the samples (specifically fat and water content) from their spectral data by using constrained spectral unmixing. Secondly, supervised classification using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was evaluated to identify specimens affected by MHS. The outcomes of our study suggest that the prediction of fat from the spectral data is possible, but the prediction of the water content was not found to be accurate. However, the detection of MHS using PLS-DA was precise for hyperspectral images from both fillets and whole fish, with lower bounds of 75% and 83% for precision and recall, respectively. Our findings suggest hyperspectral imaging as a suitable technology for the early screening of MHS.Early identification of mushy Halibut syndrome with hyperspectral image analysispublishedVersio

Geryonid crabs and associated continental slope fauna: a research workshop report

Considerable research in recent years has been invested in the basic biology, ecology, and fisheries of deep-water crabs, Family Geryonidae. These efforts have been concentrated off the southeastern United States and southwest Africa, following earlier work from the Mid-Atlantic states of the U.S. to the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Species of primary interest have been the golden crab, Chaceon fenneri, and the red crabs C. maritae and C. auinauedens. Only a fraction of recent data has been published. Yet, the many investigators and sponsoring agencies sought to foster regional comparisons, to inform the commercial fishing industry and resource agencies, and tp provide guidance for future research investments. On January 19 and 20, 1989, an invited panel of scientists, fishermen, and Sea Grant Extension faculty met in Tampa, Florida to share their results, conclusions, and latest hypotheses. This report, as a summary of workshop presentations and discussions, is simply a vehicle by which that expertise can be delivered to a broader audience. (73pp.) (Lindberg and Wenner (eds

Seeing the Forest in Family Violence Research: Moving to a Family-Centered Approach

Victims of family violence are sorted into fragmented systems that fail to address the family as an integrated unit. Each system provides specialized care to each type of victim (child, older adult, adult, animal) and centers on the expertise of the medical and service providers involved. Similarly, researchers commonly study abuse from the frame of the victim, rather than looking at a broader frame-the family. We propose the following 5 steps to create a research paradigm to holistically address the response, recognition, and prevention of family violence.By developing an integrated research model to address family violence, and by using that model to support integrated systems of care, we propose a fundamental paradigm shift to improve the lives of families living with and suffering from violence