Iconic store and partial report

The iconic store has recently been challenged on the grounds that data in its favor may have resulted from some procedural artifacts. The display-instruction compatibility and perceptual grouping hypotheses were reexamined in two experiments with the partial-report paradigm. When care was taken to rectify some procedural problems found in Merikle's (1980) study, it was established that the iconic store (as a hypothetical mechanism) can still be validly entertained. This report demonstrates one important procedural point in studying the iconic store with the partial-report task, namely, that subjects must be given more than token training on the partial-report task

Departure from the onset-onset rule

Using a signal-detection task, the generality of Turvey's (1973) onset-onset rule was tested in four experiments. After seeing, in succession, (1) one or two letters (target display), (2) a multiletter detection display, and (3) a mask display, subjects decided whether or not the letter or letters in the target display reappeared in the succeeding detection display at different levels of detection-display duration in various situations. The subjects' sensitivity was inconsistent with the onset-onset rule. More specifically, sensitivity increased with increases in display duration within a fixed stimulus onset asynchrony of 150 msec. Display duration, however, had no effect on response bias. Nor was there any interaction between display duration and display size in terms of either sensitivity or response bias. The more complicated relationship between display duration and display size does not invalidate the departure from the onset-onset rule

Iconic memory, location information, and partial report

It has been suggested that the systematic decline of partial report as the delay of the partial-report cue increases is due to a time-related loss of location information. Moreover, the backward masking effect is said to be precipitated by the disruption of location information before and after identification. Results from three experiments do not support these claims when new indices of location information and of item information are used. Instead, it was found that (a) the systematic decline in partial report was due to a time-related loss of item information, and (b) location information was affected neither by the delay of the partial-report cue nor by the delay of backward masking. Subjects adopted the "select-then-identify" mode of processing

Dynamical Multiple-Timestepping Methods for Overcoming the Half-Period Time Step Barrier

Current molecular dynamic simulations of biomolecules using multiple time steps to update the slowingly changing force are hampered by an instability occuring at time step equal to half the period of the fastest vibrating mode. This has became a critical barrier preventing the long time simulation of biomolecular dynamics. Attemps to tame this instability by altering the slowly changing force and efforts to damp out this instability by Langevin dynamics do not address the fundamental cause of this instability. In this work, we trace the instability to the non-analytic character of the underlying spectrum and show that a correct splitting of the Hamiltonian, which render the spectrum analytic, restores stability. The resulting Hamiltonian dictates that in additional to updating the momentum due to the slowly changing force, one must also update the position with a modified mass. Thus multiple-timestepping must be done dynamically.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy

Impact of airline service quality on overall and female passengers' satisfaction : a case study of Tonga's domestic aviation market : a 190.893 (120 credit) research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Aviation at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The primary objectives of this thesis are to determine the direct impact of airline service quality on passengers’ satisfaction in Tonga’s domestic aviation market. The determinants of airline service quality were identified by using the SERVQUAL dimensions (assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness and tangibles) as measurable indicators. A survey was conducted and 205 questionnaires were collected and analysed. Empirical results obtained via the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach revealed that airline service quality has a direct impact on overall and female passengers’ satisfaction. Furthermore, both overall and female passengers were mostly satisfied with the responsiveness dimension. The tangibles dimension was the dimension with the lowest level of satisfaction for overall passengers and the reliability dimension was the dimension with the lowest satisfaction for female passengers. Importantly, the research highlights the different levels of satisfaction among airline passengers in the monopolistic Tongan domestic aviation market. The findings have implications for the airline management