Maavis@School

Managed Access to Audio, Visual and Information Services (Maavis) was launched as an open source beta release application in September 2008. Maavis was developed by the authors with the participation of older people using a prototype called ‘SIMWIN’ which showed proof of concept and indicated beneficial outcomes1-3. The concepts behind Maavis, which partially were guided by human computer interfacing for people with dementia4, were always recognised as beneficial to other populations5. During 2008 these concepts, summarised as use of IT without understanding it or extreme simplification of the interface, were evaluated with four school pupils with varying physical and learning impairments. Again this work indicated beneficial outcomes6. This lead to the authors adding features to Maavis to make it suitable for use in the special needs school environment, eg being network friendly and single switch scanning access. This was achieved through brainstorming and consultations with staff within three schools. These developments will be tested during the autumn term 2009 in the same three schools. The details of the developments and their success so far in the classroom will be reported. In June 2009 Maavis was adopted by JISC’s OSS Watch as a ‘strategic’ project that will significantly address accessibility issues of IT and the web for groups who struggle with standard IT and/or are e-isolated. The aim is to establish an active open development community by the first half of 2010. Links with others in the adult education field and with UK and international care providers are already initiated

Picture Recognition of Food by Macaques (Macaca silenus)

Pictorial representations of three-dimensional objects are often used to investigate animal cognitive abilities; however, investigators rarely evaluate whether the animals conceptualize the two-dimensional image as the object it is intended to represent. We tested for picture recognition in lion-tailed macaques by presenting five monkeys with digitized images of familiar foods on a touch screen. Monkeys viewed images of two different foods and learned that they would receive a piece of the one they touched first. After demonstrating that they would reliably select images of their preferred foods on one set of foods, animals were transferred to images of a second set of familiar foods. We assumed that if the monkeys recognized the images, they would spontaneously select images of their preferred foods on the second set of foods. Three monkeys selected images of their preferred foods significantly more often than chance on their first transfer session. In an additional test of the monkeys\u27 picture recognition abilities, animals were presented with pairs of food images containing a medium-preference food paired with either a high-preference food or a low-preference food. The same three monkeys selected the medium-preference foods significantly more often when they were paired with low-preference foods and significantly less often when those same foods were paired with high-preference foods. Our novel design provided convincing evidence that macaques recognized the content of two-dimensional images on a touch screen. Results also suggested that the animals understood the connection between the two-dimensional images and the three-dimensional objects they represented

Electron density in the quiet solar coronal transition region from SoHO/SUMER measurements of S VI line radiance and opacity

Context: The sharp temperature and density gradients in the coronal transition region are a challenge for models and observations. Aims: We set out to get linearly- and quadratically-weighted average electron densities in the region emitting the S VI lines, using the observed opacity and the emission measure of these lines. Methods: We analyze SoHO/SUMER spectroscopic observations of the S VI lines, using the center-to-limb variations and radiance ratios to derive the opacity. We also use the Emission Measure derived from radiance at disk center. Results: We get an opacity at S VI line center of the order of 0.05. The resulting average electron density is 2.4 10^16 m^-3 at T = 2 10^5 K. This value is higher than the values obtained from radiance measurements. Conversely, taking a classical value for the density leads to a too high value of the thickness of the emitting layer. Conclusions: The pressure derived from the Emission Measure method compares well with previous determinations and implies a low opacity of 5 10^-3 to 10^-2. The fact that a direct derivation leads to a much higher opacity remains unexplained, despite tentative modeling of observational biases. Further measurements need to be done, and more realistic models of the transition region need to be used.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Investigation of mass flows in the transition region and corona in a three-dimensional numerical model approach

The origin of solar transition region redshifts is not completely understood. Current research is addressing this issue by investigating three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic models that extend from the photosphere to the corona. By studying the average properties of emission line profiles synthesized from the simulation runs and comparing them to observations with present-day instrumentation, we investigate the origin of mass flows in the solar transition region and corona. Doppler shifts were determined from the emission line profiles of various extreme-ultraviolet emission lines formed in the range of $T=10^4-10^6$ K. Plasma velocities and mass flows were investigated for their contribution to the observed Doppler shifts in the model. In particular, the temporal evolution of plasma flows along the magnetic field lines was analyzed. Comparing observed vs. modeled Doppler shifts shows a good correlation in the temperature range $\log(T$/[K])=4.5-5.7, which is the basis of our search for the origin of the line shifts. The vertical velocity obtained when weighting the velocity by the density squared is shown to be almost identical to the corresponding Doppler shift. Therefore, a direct comparison between Doppler shifts and the model parameters is allowed. A simple interpretation of Doppler shifts in terms of mass flux leads to overestimating the mass flux. Upflows in the model appear in the form of cool pockets of gas that heat up slowly as they rise. Their low temperature means that these pockets are not observed as blueshifts in the transition region and coronal lines. For a set of magnetic field lines, two different flow phases could be identified. The coronal part of the field line is intermittently connected to subjacent layers of either strong or weak heating, leading either to mass flows into the loop or to the draining of the loop.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Capuchin Monkeys Exercise Self-control by Choosing Token Exchange Over an Immediate Reward

Self-control is a prerequisite for complex cognitive processes such as cooperation and planning. As such, comparative studies of self-control may help elucidate the evolutionary origin of these capacities. A variety of methods have been developed to test for self-control in non-human primates that include some variation of foregoing an immediate reward in order to gain a more favorable reward. We used a token exchange paradigm to test for self-control in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Animals were trained that particular tokens could be exchanged for food items worth different values. To test for self-control, a monkey was provided with a token that was associated with a lower-value food. When the monkey exchanged the token, the experimenter provided the monkey with a choice between the lower-value food item associated with the token or another token that was associated with a higher-value food. If the monkey chose the token, they could then exchange it for the higher-value food. Of seven monkeys trained to exchange tokens, five demonstrated that they attributed value to the tokens by differentially selecting tokens for higher-value foods over tokens for lower-value foods. When provided with a choice between a food item or a token for a higher-value food, two monkeys selected the token significantly more than expected by chance. The ability of capuchin monkeys to forego an immediate food reward and select a token that could then be traded for a more preferred food demonstrated some degree of self-control. Thus, results suggest a token exchange paradigm could be a successful technique for assessing self-control in this New World species

Witnessing reconciliation reduces arousal of bystanders in a baboon group (Papio hamadryas hamadryas)

Reconciliation is the occurrence of friendly behaviour between opponents shortly after an aggressive conflict. In primate groups, reconciliation reduces aggression and post-conflict arousal. Aggression within a group can also increase arousal of bystanders (e.g. increase bystanders’ rates of self-directed behaviour). Since reconciliation reduces aggression between opponents, we tested whether it also reduces self-directed behaviour in bystanders. Following aggression in a captive group of hamadryas baboons, one observer conducted a focal sample on one of the combatants to document reconciliation and a second observer simultaneously conducted a focal sample on a randomly selected bystander. Matched control observations were then collected on the same individuals in a nonaggressive context to obtain baseline levels of behaviour. The self-directed behaviour of bystanders was elevated after witnessing a fight compared to baseline levels. If combatants reconciled aggression, bystander rates of self-directed behaviour significantly decreased. If combatants did not reconcile aggression, bystander rates of self-directed behaviour remained at elevated levels, significantly higher than after reconciliation. If combatants affiliated with partners other than their original opponent, bystander rates of self-directed behaviour did not decrease. The rate of bystander self-directed behaviour after a combatant affiliated with its opponent was significantly lower than the rate after a combatant affiliated with other animals. Witnessing aggression increased arousal in bystanders, and reconciliation between the combatants was accompanied by reduced bystander arousal. The reduction was specific to contexts in which former opponents interacted. We suggest that bystanders recognized the functional significance of this conflict resolution mechanism when it occurred in their group

Ubiquitous High Speed Transition Region and Coronal Upflows in the Quiet Sun

We study the line profiles of a range of transition region (TR) emission lines observed in typical quiet Sun regions. In magnetic network regions, the Si IV 1402\AA{}, C IV 1548\AA{}, N V 1238\AA{}, O VI 1031\AA{}, and Ne VIII 770\AA{} spectral lines show significant asymmetry in the blue wing of the emission line profiles. We interpret these high-velocity upflows in the lower and upper TR as the quiet Sun equivalent of the recently discovered upflows in the low corona above plage regions (Hara et al., 2008). The latter have been shown to be directly associated with high-velocity chromospheric spicules that are (partially) heated to coronal temperatures and play a significant role in supplying the active region corona with hot plasma (DePontieu et al., 2009}. We show that a similar process likely dominates the quiet Sun network. We provide a new interpretation of the observed quiet Sun TR emission in terms of the relentless mass transport between the chromosphere and corona - a mixture of emission from dynamic episodic heating and mass injection into the corona as well as that from the previously filled, slowly cooling, coronal plasma. Analysis of the observed upflow component shows that it carries enough hot plasma to play a significant role in the energy and mass balance of the quiet corona. We determine the temperature dependence of the upflow velocities to constrain the acceleration and heating mechanism that drives these upflows. We also show that the temporal characteristics of these upflows suggest an episodic driver that sometimes leads to quasi-periodic signals. We suggest that at least some of the quasi-periodicities observed with coronal imagers and spectrographs that have previously been interpreted as propagating magnetoacoustic waves, may instead be caused by these upflows.Comment: 10 pages, 15 figures. In press ApJ. Higher resolution figures, and movies supporting them, can be found at http://download.hao.ucar.edu/pub/mscott/papers/QS

The interface between morphology and action planning: a comparison of two species of New World monkeys

Recent research with several species of nonhuman primates suggests sophisticated motor-planning abilities observed in human adults may be ubiquitous among primates. However, there is considerable variability in the extent to which these abilities are expressed across primate species. In the present experiment, we explore whether the variability in the expression of anticipatory motor-planning abilities may be attributed to cognitive differences (such as tool use abilities) or whether they may be due to the consequences of morphological differences (such as being able to deploy a precision grasp). We compared two species of New World monkeys that differ in their tool use abilities and manual dexterity: squirrel monkeys, Saimiri sciureus (less dexterous with little evidence for tool use) and tufted capuchins, Sapajus apella (more dexterous and known tool users). The monkeys were presented with baited cups in an untrained food extraction task. Consistent with the morphological constraint hypothesis, squirrel monkeys frequently showed second-order motor planning by inverting their grasp when picking up an inverted cup, while capuchins frequently deployed canonical upright grasping postures. Findings suggest that the lack of ability for precision grasping may elicit more consistent second-order motor planning, as the squirrel monkeys (and other species that have shown a high rate of second-order planning) have fewer means of compensating for inefficient initial postures. Thus, the interface between morphology and motor planning likely represents an important factor for understanding both the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins of sophisticated motor-planning abilities

Voice-In, Voice-Out Communication Aids

This paper describes an approach to the development of a voice-input voice-output communication aid (VIVOCA) for people with disordered or unintelligible speech, initially concentrating on people with moderate to severe dysarthria. The VIVOCA is intended to recognize and interpret an individual's disordered speech and speak out an equivalent message in clear synthesized speech. User consultation suggests that such a device would be acceptable and would be useful in communication situations where speed and intelligibility are crucial. Speech recognition techniques will build on previously successful development of speech-based home control interfaces, and various methods for speech 'translation' are being evaluated