Age of acquisition and familiar face recognition

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Philharmonic and Concert Band

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents Philharmonic and Concert Band.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1378/thumbnail.jp

Abiotic Stress Mitigation: A Case Study from 21 Trials Using a Natural Organic Matter Based Biostimulant Across Multiple Geographies

Crop productivity and yields can be greatly diminished by abiotic stress events including drought, extreme temperatures, excess moisture, and saline irrigation water. Multiple stressors occurring simultaneously can further exacerbate the strain on plants. Various types of biostimulants have been shown to mitigate abiotic stress and here, the results of 21 trials on corn, wheat, soybean, and various high-value crops are discussed in the context of the abiotic stress that either occurred naturally or was experimentally induced. Treatments in these trials included stressed and non-stressed plants, as well as either an untreated control or grower standard fertilizer applications alone and in combination with a natural organic matter (NOM)-based biostimulant. While stressed plants suffered compared with non-stressed plants, the stressed plants receiving the NOM-based biostimulant were healthier and larger, as indicated by whole, root, and shoot weights and yields at harvest. Plant response was stronger when stress existed, but the biostimulant also led to healthier plants when no stress occurred. Positive results occurred for 20 of the 21 trials, indicating that biostimulants can effectively mitigate abiotic stress events regardless of the plant species tested or the growing conditions encountered, by increasing sap Brix, enzymatic activity, and nutrient use efficiency

A qualitative exploration of perceptions and experiences of contraceptive use, abortion and post-abortion family planning services (PAFP) in three provinces in China

Background: The INPAC project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of integrated post-abortion family planning (PAFP) services into existing hospital based abortion services in China. A qualitative study was conducted in three provinces to contribute to developing effective PAFP services through understanding influences on contraceptive use, experiences of abortion and existing PAFP, and their effect on future contraceptive practices from the perspective of users, in the context of social and institutional change. Methods: Twenty-nine in-depth interviews (IDIs) were undertaken with women who had experienced abortion between 1 and 6 months prior to interview, recruited from three urban and two rural facilities in each province. Thirteen IDIs were also conducted with male partners. Six focus group discussions (FGDs) were carried out with community members from different social groups, including unmarried and married women and men, urban residents and rural-to-urban migrants. Results: Social networks and norms are important in shaping attitudes and behaviour towards abortion and contraception. Widespread concerns were expressed about side-effects, reliability and effects on future fertility of some modern contraceptives. The combination of limited information and choices and a lack of person-centred counselling in PAFP with anxieties about side effects underlies the widespread use of unreliable methods. Gendered power relations significantly influence contraceptive (non) use, with several examples illustrating women's relative lack of power to decide on a method, particularly in the case of condoms. Although the availability of contraceptive information from respected providers can offer impetus for individual behaviour change, social distance from providers reduces opportunities for clients to discuss their difficulties regarding contraceptive use; particularly, but not exclusively for young, unmarried clients. Conclusions: Increased access to non-commercial, reliable information on contraceptive methods is needed. PAFP services must go beyond simple information provision to ensure that providers take a more personcentred approach, which considers the most appropriate method for individual clients and probes for the underlying influences on contraceptive (non) use. More sensitive reflection on gender norms and relationships is required during counselling and, where women choose this, efforts should be made to include their male partners. Specific attention to provider positionality and skills for counselling young, unmarried clients is needed

The relationship between attachment style, anxiety sensitivity and interpretive bias among adolescent nonclinical panickers

Elevated anxiety sensitivity and the tendency to catastrophically misinterpret ambiguous bodily sensations has been demonstrated in people who experience nonclinical levels of panic (Richards, Austin, & Alvarenga, 2001), and anxiety sensitivity has been shown to be associated with insecure attachment in adolescents and young adults (Weems, Berman, Silverman, and Saavedra, 2001). This study investigated the relationship between attachment style, anxiety sensitivity and catastrophic misinterpretation among 11 nonclinical panickers and 58 nonanxious controls aged 18 to 19 years. Participants completed the Brief Bodily Sensations Interpretation Questionnaire (BBSIQ), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) and an attachment questionnaire. The hypothesis that insecurely attached individuals would demonstrate greater catastrophic misinterpretation and higher anxiety sensitivity than securely attached individuals was not supported; however, nonclinical panickers gave more anxiety-related interpretations of ambiguous internal stimuli than nonanxious controls. Results do not support the notion that attachment style is related to anxiety sensitivity or catastrophic misinterpretation (regardless of panic experience). Results do, however, support the notion that anxiety-related misinterpretation of ambiguous somatic sensations precedes the onset of panic disorder

Reward Learning with Trees:Methods and Evaluation

Recent efforts to learn reward functions from human feedback have tended to use deep neural networks, whose lack of transparency hampers our ability to explain agent behaviour or verify alignment. We explore the merits of learning intrinsically interpretable tree models instead. We develop a recently proposed method for learning reward trees from preference labels, and show it to be broadly competitive with neural networks on challenging high-dimensional tasks, with good robustness to limited or corrupted data. Having found that reward tree learning can be done effectively in complex settings, we then consider why it should be used, demonstrating that the interpretable reward structure gives significant scope for traceability, verification and explanation

Exploring 3D Data Reuse and Repurposing through Procedural Modeling

Most contemporary 3D data used in archaeological research and heritage management have been created through ‘reality capture,’ the recording of the physical features of extant archaeological objects, structures, and landscapes using technologies such as laser scanning and photogrammetry (Garstki 2020, ch.2; Magnani et al. 2020). A smaller quantity of data are generated by Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects, and even fewer data are generated through procedural modeling, the rapid prototyping of multi-component threedimensional (3D) models from a set of rules (Figure 8.1.). It is unsurprising therefore that in archaeology and heritage, efforts around digital 3D data preservation and accessibility have concentrated on high-resolution 3D data produced through scanning and image-based techniques (Hardesty et al. 2020; Richards-Rissetto and von Schwerin 2017). Establishing best practices, cultivating a community of experts, and developing infrastructure for this kind of 3D data in the archaeological and cultural heritage domains have been the focus of several coordinated efforts in Europe over the past decade (Fresa et al. 2015, Remondino and Campana 2014, Taylor and Gibson 2017, Vecchio et al. 2015). A series of European projects including 3D-COFORM, CARARE, and their successor projects, made particularly notable contributions (D’Andrea et al. 2013, Kuroczyski et al. 2014, Papatheodorou et al. 2011, Pitzalis et al. 2011, Remondino and Campana 2014). These projects were primarily oriented toward 3D data captured as part of conservation and heritage management work. Issues of preservation, accuracy, fidelity, access, and associated ethical issues of ownership, stewardship, contextualization, and interpretation were, appropriately, the center of extended disciplinary debates (for example, Magnani et al. 2018, Santana Quintero et al. 2019, Ulguim 2018; and more broadly on digital ethics Dennis 2020 and Richardson 2018). File size, geometric complexity, the diversity of ‘standard’ formats, evolving platforms for delivery, and presentation online posed challenges that continue to re-emerge today (for example, Digital Lab Notebook http://culturalheritageimaging.org/ Technologies/Digital_Lab_Notebook/, Jensen 2018a, Koutsoudis et al. 2020, Münster et al. 2016, Rahaman et al. 2019, Rourk 2019). To these efforts, heritage practitioners working in the context of architecture and urban development communities added workflows and tools designed to make CAD- and BIM-produced 3D models FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). Such work provides a foundation for broader efforts to make data in 3D digital archaeology and heritage FAIR (Apollonio et al. 2012, Leventhal 2018, Pocobelli et al. 2018, Saygi et al. 2013, Wilkinson et al. 2016). These CAD and BIM projects also advanced the development of archaeological information infrastructures and workflows for 3D data by incorporating more extensive use of paradata, while also grappling with issues of uncertainty and intellectual transparency in the interpretive modeling process (Bentkowska-Kafel et al. 2012, Denard 2012). In contrast, procedural modeling’s geometrically simple, lego-like 3D models have received little attention from the community concerned with digital 3D infrastructures, standards, and practices (Coelho et al. 2020). Various sectors employ the approach to create multiple virtual reconstructions (simulations) and to explore alternative constructions and arrangements with varying properties. These multiple, nesting-doll reconstructions redeploy components such as buildings in different arrangements according to diverse rules (Figure 8.1.). In archaeology, they have been used to investigate ancient Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and Maya cities in connection with core research questions about the emergence, character, and experience of urban life (Dylla et al. 2009, Fanini and Ferdani 2011, Kitsakis et al. 2017, Piccoli 2014, 2016, 2018, Richards- Rissetto and Plessing 2015, Saldana 2014, Saldana and Johanson 2013, Sullivan 2017, 2020)

Cognitive function in childhood and lifetime cognitive change in relation to mental wellbeing in four cohorts of older people

Background: poorer cognitive ability in youth is a risk factor for later mental health problems but it is largely unknown whether cognitive ability, in youth or in later life, is predictive of mental wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether cognitive ability at age 11 years, cognitive ability in later life, or lifetime cognitive change are associated with mental wellbeing in older people.Methods: we used data on 8191 men and women aged 50 to 87 years from four cohorts in the HALCyon collaborative research programme into healthy ageing: the Aberdeen Birth Cohort 1936, the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921, the National Child Development Survey, and the MRC National Survey for Health and Development. We used linear regression to examine associations between cognitive ability at age 11, cognitive ability in later life, and lifetime change in cognitive ability and mean score on the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and meta-analysis to obtain an overall estimate of the effect of each.Results: people whose cognitive ability at age 11 was a standard deviation above the mean scored 0.53 points higher on the mental wellbeing scale (95% confidence interval 0.36, 0.71). The equivalent value for cognitive ability in later life was 0.89 points (0.72, 1.07). A standard deviation improvement in cognitive ability in later life relative to childhood ability was associated with 0.66 points (0.39, 0.93) advantage in wellbeing score. These effect sizes equate to around 0.1 of a standard deviation in mental wellbeing score. Adjustment for potential confounding and mediating variables, primarily the personality trait neuroticism, substantially attenuated these associations.Conclusion: associations between cognitive ability in childhood or lifetime cognitive change and mental wellbeing in older people are slight and may be confounded by personality trait difference