Control processes in short-term storage: Retrieval strategies in immediate recall depend upon the number of words to be recalled

According to the Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) model, control processes in the short-term memory store determine the selection ofdifferent storage, search, and retrieval strategies. Although rehearsal is the most studied short-term control process, it is necessaryto specify the different retrieval strategies available for participants to use in searching for and outputting from short-term orimmediate memory, as well as the degree to which participants can flexibly select different retrieval strategies for recallingrehearsed and unrehearsed materials. In three experiments we examined retrieval strategies in tests of immediate free recall (Exp.1), immediate serial recall (ISR; Exp. 2), and a variant of ISR that we call ISR-free (Exp. 3). In each experiment, participants werepresented with very short lists of four, five, or six words and were instructed to recall one, two, three, or all of the items from eachlist. Neither the list length nor the number of to-be-recalled items was known in advance. The serial position of the first itemrecalled in all three tasks depended on the number of to-be-recalled items. When only one or two items were to be recalled,participants tended to initiate recall with the final or penultimate list item, respectively; when participants were required to recallas many list items as possible, they tended to initiate recall with the first list item. These findings show that different retrievalstrategies exist for rapidly searching for different numbers of items from immediate memory, and they confirm that participantshave some control over their output order, as measured by the first items recalled

The Microenvironment in Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Malignancies

The Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) can cause a wide variety of cancers upon infection of different cell types and induces a highly variable composition of the tumor microenvironment (TME). This TME consists of both innate and adaptive immune cells and is not merely an aspecific reaction to the tumor cells. In fact, latent EBV-infected tumor cells utilize several specific mechanisms to form and shape the TME to their own benefit. These mechanisms have been studied largely in the context of EBV+ Hodgkin lymphoma, undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and EBV+ gastric cancer. This review describes the composition, immune escape mechanisms, and tumor cell promoting properties of the TME in these three malignancies. Mechanisms of susceptibility which regularly involve genes related to immune system function are also discussed, as only a small proportion of EBV-infected individuals develops an EBV-associated malignancy

The Role of Rehearsal and Reminding in the Recall of Categorized Word Lists

Most theories of free recall emphasize the importance of retrieval in explaining temporal and semantic regularities in recall; rehearsal mechanisms are often absent or limit rehearsal to a subset of what was last rehearsed. However, in three experiments using the overt rehearsal method, we show clear evidence that just-presented items act as retrieval cues during encoding (study-phase retrieval) with prior related items rehearsed despite well over a dozen intervening items. Experiment 1 examined free recall of categorized and uncategorized lists of 32 words. In Experiments 2 and 3, we presented categorized lists of 24, 48, and 64 words for free recall or cued recall, with the category exemplars blocked in successive list positions (Experiment 2) or randomized throughout the list (Experiment 3). The probability of rehearsing a prior word was affected by its semantic similarity to the just-presented item, and the frequency and recency of its prior rehearsals. These rehearsal data suggest alternative interpretations to well-known recall phenomena. With randomized designs, the serial position curves were reinterpreted by when words were last rehearsed (which contributed to the list length effects), and semantic clustering and temporal contiguity effects at output were reinterpreted by whether words were co-rehearsed during study. The contrast with the blocked designs suggests that recall is sensitive to the relative (not absolute) recency of targeted list items. We discuss the benefits of incorporating rehearsal machinery into computational models of episodic memory, and suggest that the same retrieval processes that generate the recalls are used to generate the rehearsals

Multitask Learning via Shared Features: Algorithms and Hardness

We investigate the computational efficiency of multitask learning of Boolean functions over the $d$-dimensional hypercube, that are related by means of a feature representation of size $k \ll d$ shared across all tasks. We present a polynomial time multitask learning algorithm for the concept class of halfspaces with margin $\gamma$, which is based on a simultaneous boosting technique and requires only $\textrm{poly}(k/\gamma)$ samples-per-task and $\textrm{poly}(k\log(d)/\gamma)$ samples in total. In addition, we prove a computational separation, showing that assuming there exists a concept class that cannot be learned in the attribute-efficient model, we can construct another concept class such that can be learned in the attribute-efficient model, but cannot be multitask learned efficiently -- multitask learning this concept class either requires super-polynomial time complexity or a much larger total number of samples

Understanding the interaction between nontuberculous mycobacteria and the host in cystic fibrosis

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental bacteria and can be found in soil, water, and dusts. However, they can cause lung diseases in certain populations with pre-existing lung conditions such as cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). NTM employs a variety of mechanisms for their survival in the host, such as arresting phagolysosome maturation, cell wall component alteration, and attenuating T cell activation to interfere with the host's protective immune response. In this study, I am working with the senior lab members to understand the mechanism by which Mycobacterium abscessus, one type of NTM strains, causes active lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. We hope that our research can aid in the medical approach and treatment plans of NTM infections.Oklahoma State University. Freshman Research Scholars ProgramOklahoma State University. Research Experiences for UndergraduatesBiochemistry and Molecular Biolog

A Low-Cost Egg Incubator to Provide Zambian Churches with Income and Food Security

Partnering with Brethren in Christ (BIC) Church in Zambia, the Egg Incubator Team is seeking to help provide a source of income for the growing churches in Choma, Zambia. They will accomplish this by designing and building a high-quality, low-cost egg incubator fabricated from local parts and cheap internationally available parts for The Nahumba Mission, in Choma, Zambia. The team’s design will provide the means for the Mission to hatch and sell chickens to provide both food security and a sustainable supplemental income. With the specifications to maintain temperature, humidity and constant ventilation, the team selected heating and humidity concepts for their incubator series. The team completed both mechanical and electrical designs for the setter and hatcher. In preparation for testing the incubator design with fertilized eggs, the team has also produced an incubation and hatching plan and achieved IACUC approval. Currently, the team is in the prototyping phase, while simultaneously monitoring the temperature and humidity in an existing incubator setter design. Once the team finishes their hatcher prototype and verifies that the temperature and humidity specifications are met, they will be ready to test designs using fertilized chicken eggs.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2021/1020/thumbnail.jp

SOSIALISASI HASIL HUTAN BUKAN KAYU (HHBK) SEBAGAI SOLUSI MASALAH KEHUTANAN DAN EKONOMI MASYARAKAT

Non-Timber Forest Products are a potential that can be managed to overcome forestry and community economic problems. Improvement of eucalyptus oil processing and management can affect the income of eucalyptus oil farmers. The purpose of this community service activity is to provide knowledge about improving the quality of eucalyptus oil through improving eucalyptus oil processing methods and utilizing eucalyptus leaf waste as an energy source through making charcoal briquettes. The stages of the activity are: 1) The initial approach is carried out with the head of the Buru FMU to facilitate meetings with the KPH-assisted farmer groups to be addressed, 2) Implementation of counseling, lectures and questions and answers about various knowledge related to the utilization of Non-Timber Forest Products. How is eucalyptus oil processed and how is the management carried out by eucalyptus oil farmers, and 3) Observation of eucalyptus oil cooking places to see the raw materials and boilers used. This activity was carried out cooperatively and well because the Waspait village community was very enthusiastic about their curiosity which was reflected when participating in the counseling which was carried out by building dialogue in the form of questions related to the eucalyptus oil processing activities carried out

Tuberculosis active case finding in Cambodia: a pragmatic, cost-effectiveness comparison of three implementation models.

BACKGROUND: Globally, almost 40% of tuberculosis (TB) patients remain undiagnosed, and those that are diagnosed often experience prolonged delays before initiating correct treatment, leading to ongoing transmission. While there is a push for active case finding (ACF) to improve early detection and treatment of TB, there is extremely limited evidence about the relative cost-effectiveness of different ACF implementation models. Cambodia presents a unique opportunity for addressing this gap in evidence as ACF has been implemented using different models, but no comparisons have been conducted. The objective of our study is to contribute to knowledge and methodology on comparing cost-effectiveness of alternative ACF implementation models from the health service perspective, using programmatic data, in order to inform national policy and practice. METHODS: We retrospectively compared three distinct ACF implementation models - door to door symptom screening in urban slums, checking contacts of TB patients, and door to door symptom screening focusing on rural populations aged above 55 - in terms of the number of new bacteriologically-positive pulmonary TB cases diagnosed and the cost of implementation assuming activities are conducted by the national TB program of Cambodia. We calculated the cost per additional case detected using the alternative ACF models. RESULTS: Our analysis, which is the first of its kind for TB, revealed that the ACF model based on door to door screening in poor urban areas of Phnom Penh was the most cost-effective (249 USD per case detected, 737 cases diagnosed), followed by the model based on testing contacts of TB patients (308 USD per case detected, 807 cases diagnosed), and symptomatic screening of older rural populations (316 USD per case detected, 397 cases diagnosed). CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides new evidence on the relative effectiveness and economics of three implementation models for enhanced TB case finding, in line with calls for data from 'routine conditions' to be included in disease control program strategic planning. Such cost-effectiveness comparisons are essential to inform resource allocation decisions of national policy makers in resource constraint settings. We applied a novel, pragmatic methodological approach, which was designed to provide results that are directly relevant to policy makers, costing the interventions from Cambodia's national TB program's perspective and using case finding data from implementation activities, rather than experimental settings

Kalman Filter Models for the Prediction of Individualised Thermal Work Strain

It is important to monitor and assess the physiological strain of individuals working in hot environments to avoid heat illness and performance degradation. The body core temperature (Tc) is a reliable indicator of thermal work strain. However, measuring Tc is invasive and often inconvenient and impractical for real-time monitoring of workers in high heat strain environments. Seeking a better solution, the main aim of the present study was to investigate the Kalman filter method to enable the estimation of heat strain from non-invasive measurements (heart rate (HR) and chest skin temperature (ST)) obtained ‘online’ via wearable body sensors. In particular, we developed two Kalman filter models. First, an extended Kalman filter (EFK) was implemented in a cubic state space modelling framework (HR versus Tc) with a stage-wise, autoregressive exogenous model (incorporating HR and ST) as the time update model. Under the second model, the online Kalman filter (OFK) approach builds up the time update equation depending only on the initial value of Tc and the latest value of the exogenous variables. Both models were trained and validated using data from laboratory- and outfield-based heat strain profiling studies in which subjects performed a high intensity military foot march. While both the EKF and OKF models provided satisfactory estimates of Tc, the results showed an overall superior performance of the OKF model (overall root mean square error, RMSE = 0.31°C) compared to the EKF model (RMSE = 0.45°C)