Innovative Second-Generation Wavelets Construction With Recurrent Neural Networks for Solar Radiation Forecasting

Solar radiation prediction is an important challenge for the electrical engineer because it is used to estimate the power developed by commercial photovoltaic modules. This paper deals with the problem of solar radiation prediction based on observed meteorological data. A 2-day forecast is obtained by using novel wavelet recurrent neural networks (WRNNs). In fact, these WRNNS are used to exploit the correlation between solar radiation and timescale-related variations of wind speed, humidity, and temperature. The input to the selected WRNN is provided by timescale-related bands of wavelet coefficients obtained from meteorological time series. The experimental setup available at the University of Catania, Italy, provided this information. The novelty of this approach is that the proposed WRNN performs the prediction in the wavelet domain and, in addition, also performs the inverse wavelet transform, giving the predicted signal as output. The obtained simulation results show a very low root-mean-square error compared to the results of the solar radiation prediction approaches obtained by hybrid neural networks reported in the recent literature

A Model for Judicial Leadership: Community Responses to Juvenile Substance Abuse

Outlines the Reclaiming Futures initiative, which brings juvenile courts and systems of care together under judges' leadership in a team effort toward systemic change. Offers lessons learned, guidance, and recommendations for starting similar projects

Short-Term Memory Improvement After Simultaneous Interpretation Training

open4siSimultaneous interpretation (SI) is a cognitively demanding process that has been associated with enhanced memory and executive functions. It is unclear, however, if the previously evidenced interpreter advantages are developed through training and/or experience with SI or rather represent inherent characteristics that allow success in the field. The present study aimed to disentangle these possibilities through a longitudinal examination of students earning a Master of Conference Interpreting and two control populations. The students were tested at the beginning and end of their programs on measures of memory and executive functioning that have previously demonstrated an interpreter advantage. The results revealed no inherent advantage among the students of interpretation. However, an SI training-specific advantage was revealed in verbal short-term memory; the students of interpretation, but not the two control groups, showed a gain between the testing sessions. This controlled longitudinal study demonstrates that training in simultaneous interpretation is associated with cognitive changes.openBabcock, Laura; Capizzi, Mariagrazia; Arbula, Sandra; Vallesi, AntoninoBabcock, Laura; Capizzi, Mariagrazia; Arbula, Sandra; Vallesi, Antonin

How Life Experience Shapes Cognitive Control Strategies: The Case of Air Traffic Control Training

Although human flexible behavior relies on cognitive control, it would be implausible to assume that there is only one, general mode of cognitive control strategy adopted by all individuals. For instance, different reliance on proactive versus reactive control strategies could explain inter-individual variability. In particular, specific life experiences, like a highly demanding training for future Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs), could modulate cognitive control functions. A group of ATC trainees and a matched group of university students were tested longitudinally on task-switching and Stroop paradigms that allowed us to measure indices of cognitive control. The results showed that the ATCs, with respect to the control group, had substantially smaller mixing costs during long cue-target intervals (CTI) and a reduced Stroop interference effect. However, this advantage was present also prior to the training phase. Being more capable in managing multiple task sets and less distracted by interfering events suggests a more efficient selection and maintenance of task relevant information as an inherent characteristic of the ATC group, associated with proactive control. Critically, the training that the ATCs underwent improved their accuracy in general and reduced response time switching costs during short CTIs only. These results indicate a training-induced change in reactive control, which is described as a transient process in charge of stimulus-driven task detection and resolution. This experience-based enhancement of reactive control strategy denotes how cognitive control and executive functions in general can be shaped by real-life training and underlines the importance of experience in explaining inter-individual variability in cognitive functioning

Electrophysiological evidence for domain-general processes in task-switching

open5noopenCapizzi, Mariagrazia; Ambrosini, Ettore; Arbula, Sandra; Mazzonetto, Ilaria; Vallesi, AntoninoCapizzi, Mariagrazia; Ambrosini, Ettore; Arbula, Sandra; Mazzonetto, Ilaria; Vallesi, Antonin

The returns of business angel investments and their major determinants

This paper provides evidence on the performance of business angels\u2019 investments, using a unique data-set covering a representative sample of the main actors in the Italian informal venture capital market. An econometric analysis examines the returns on business angels\u2019 investments and their major determinants, making reference to an original set of independent variables. Whereas previous empirical studies have hypothesised linear relationships between the explanatory variables and the performance of informal venture capitalists\u2019 investments, this work tests different functional forms, both linear and non-linear. The main findings are as follows: (1) the relationship between experience and internal rate of return (IRR) is U-shaped and significant; (2) the widely accepted expectation that investments with a short holding period earn a lower IRR is confirmed by quantitative data; (3) an original explanatory variable \u2013 rejection rate \u2013 is put into the model and its impact on business angels\u2019 performance is positive, non-linear and significant; (4) the final overall econometric model shows relevant explanatory power, with an R-squared close to 35%. The outcomes of the empirical analysis performed in this study allow the identification of new and concrete insights into possible public policy interventions aimed at stimulating the informal venture capital industry and, therefore, entrepreneurship inside the economic system

Representing the Holocaust: Bearing Witness in Levi, Wiesel, and Sebald

Representing large-scale historical traumatic events can be problematic as accounts are often subjective and biased. It is difficult to determine if the subjective historical account is factually accurate or not. When discussing the Holocaust, representation is an important factor. How is the Holocaust represented? This paper shows how literature can fill in the gaps of historical representation. I focus on psychoanalyst Dori Laub’s three levels of the witness and their role in testimony in relation to Holocaust literature. For Laub, the first level witness is the primary account from the person who experienced the trauma. The second level witness is who the first level witness shares his/her story with. The third level witness observes the process of witnessing between the first and second witnesses. Laub’s ideas on witnessing and testifying are heightened when paired with Paul Ricoeur’s notion of attestation, which is the act of believing in the speech of the testifier. For many Holocaust survivors, speaking about the traumas endured was extremely difficult. Often the only evidence survivors had of their experiences was their testimony. As a survivor goes through the process of attestation, he/she asks listeners to believe in his/her testimony. I trace Laub’s three levels of the witness in Primo Levi’s memoir If This Is a Man, Elie Wiesel’s fictional Day, and W.G. Sebald’s journey novel Austerlitz. Tracing the three levels of the witness in each text, demonstrates Ricoeur’s notion of attestation, which provides new insight into the representation of large-scale historical traumatic events

Testing the domain-general nature of monitoring in the spatial and verbal cognitive domains

While it is well-established that monitoring the environment for the occurrence of relevant events represents a key executive function, it is still unclear whether such a function is mediated by domain-general or domain-specific mechanisms. We investigated this issue by combining event-related potentials (ERPs) with a behavioral paradigm in which monitoring processes (non-monitoring vs. monitoring) and cognitive domains (spatial vs. verbal) were orthogonally manipulated in the same group of participants. They had to categorize 3-dimensional visually presented words on the basis of either spatial or verbal rules. In monitoring blocks, they additionally had to check whether the word displayed a specific spatial configuration or whether it contained a certain consonant. The behavioral results showed slower responses for both spatial and verbal monitoring trials compared to non-monitoring trials. The ERP results revealed that monitoring did not interact with domain, thus suggesting the involvement of common underlying mechanisms. Specifically, monitoring acted on lower-level perceptual processes (as expressed by an enhanced visual N1 wave and a sustained posterior negativity for monitoring trials) and on higher-level cognitive processes (involving larger positive modulations by monitoring trials over frontal and parietal scalp regions). The source reconstruction analysis of the ERP data confirmed that monitoring was associated with increased activity in visual areas and in right prefrontal and parietal regions (i.e., superior and inferior frontal gyri and posterior parietal cortex), which previous studies have linked to spatial and temporal monitoring. Our findings extend this research by supporting the domain-general nature of monitoring in the spatial and verbal domains

Domain-independent neural underpinning of task-switching: an fMRI investigation

The ability to shift between different tasks according to internal or external demands, which is at the core of our behavioral flexibility, has been generally linked to the functionality of left fronto-parietal regions. Traditionally, the left and right hemispheres have also been associated with verbal and spatial processing, respectively. We therefore investigated with functional MRI whether the processes engaged during task-switching interact in the brain with the domain of the tasks to be switched, that is, verbal or spatial. Importantly, physical stimuli were exactly the same and participants\u2019 performance was matched between the two domains. The fMRI results showed a clearly left-lateralized involvement of fronto-parietal regions when contrasting task-switching vs. single task blocks in the context of verbal rules. A more bilateral pattern, especially in the prefrontal cortex, was instead observed for switching between spatial tasks. Moreover, while a conjunction analysis showed that the core regions involved in task-switching, independently of the switching context, were localized both in left inferior prefrontal and parietal cortices and in bilateral supplementary motor area, a direct analysis of functional lateralization revealed that hemispheric asymmetries in the frontal lobes were more biased toward the left side for the verbal domain than for the spatial one and vice versa. Overall, these findings highlight the role of left fronto-parietal regions in task-switching, above and beyond the specific task requirements, but also show that hemispheric asymmetries may be modulated by the more specific nature of the tasks to be performed during task-switching