Simulating naturalistic instruction: the case for a voice mediated interface for assistive technology for cognition

A variety of brain pathologies can result in difficulties performing complex behavioural sequences. Assistive technology for cognition (ATC) attempts support of complex sequences with the aim of reducing disability. Traditional ATCs are cognitively demanding to use and thus have had poor uptake. A more intuitive interface may allow ATCs to reach their potential. Insights from psychological science may be useful to technologists in this area. We propose that an auditory-verbal interface is more intuitive than a visual interface and reduces cognitive demands on users. Two experiments demonstrate a novel ATC, the General User Interface for Disorders of Execution (GUIDE). GUIDE is novel because it simulates normal conversational prompting to support task performance. GUIDE provides verbal prompts and questions and voice recognition allows the user to interact with the GUIDE. Research with non-cognitively impaired participants and a single participant experiment involving a person with vascular dementia provide support for using interactive auditory-verbal interfaces. Suggestions for the future development of auditory-verbal interfaces are discussed

Evaluating the Impact of a National Minimum Wage: Evidence from a New Survey of Firms

In April 2000 the Irish government introduced a national minimum wage of £4.40 an hour. This paper uses data from a specially designed panel survey of firms to estimate the labour market effects of this change. Initial results show that employment growth among firms with low wage workers prior to the legislation was not significantly different to that for firms not affected by the legislation. However, this measure of the minimum wage bite is likely to overestimate the number of firms affected by the legislation. When we use a more refined measure of the minimum wage bite, which takes account of general wage growth in the economy we find the minimum wage may have had a statistically significantly negative effect on employment for the small number of firms most severely affected by the legislation.

Digital parenting in Ireland

Ireland lags behind in children’s engagement with the internet, and also in parents’ awareness of how to keep them safe. Earlier this week, we posted about online hate in light of Safer Internet Day, now Brian O’Neill reflects on how parents need more support in protecting their children, as well as encouragement to become more engaged. Brian is the Director of Research, Enterprise and Innovation Services for the three partner institutions of the Dublin Institute of Technology, and is part of the Irish team of the EU Kids Online project

Ecological Responses to Hydrogeomorphic Fluctuations in a Sand Bed Prairie River: River Complexity, Habitat Availability, and Benthic Invertebrates

Rivers with stochastic precipitation have fauna that overcome unique challenges. Organisms surmount these challenges by using refugia. Research was conducted on the sand bed Kansas River (Kaw). I (a) quantified how the hydrology affects the Kaw's shallow habitat complexity, (b) compared the amounts of hard vs. sand substrates, and (c) related abiotic variables to the community composition of benthic macroinvertebrates. I developed the riverscape complexity ratio, a metric that measures all types of river structures, found there was little hard substrate for zoobenthos to colonize, and that the zoobenthos had different communities at different river complexity levels. Zoobenthos in the Kaw use the river structures as refuges from flow spikes that eliminate species in the main channel. Unfortunately, flood control structures have eliminated much of the complexity in the Kaw. These habitats must be preserved since much of the food web uses these structures as vital nursery and feeding habitats

Community dynamics of ephemeral systems: food web drivers, community assembly, and anthropogenic impacts of playa wetlands

Scientists know relatively little about the ecology of ephemeral wetlands and few attempts have been made to integrate the published ecological studies. We use playa wetlands, a common aquatic feature of many arid to semi-arid landscapes, to study what drives community dynamics and food web trophic structure (size, redundancy, and variability) in an extremely abundant aquatic habitat of the U.S. Great Plains. We conducted a multi-scale study to track playa wetland invertebrate communities and their food webs across space and time. We explored invertebrate diversity and richness and used geometric properties of stable isotope biplots (C13 and N15) to measure trophic structure complexity. On a large scale, playa communities are unaffected by changes in habitat size, depth, and native vegetation buffer. Artificially created waterbodies often hold communities indistinguishable from natural playas. Tilling for row crops negatively impacts playa diversity, but cattle grazing has a positive effect, perhaps reinstating functions of formerly abundant, native grazers, such as bison. Playa food webs were more complex in insect dominated communities rather than crustacean branchiopods. Insect diversity was controlled by hydroperiod stage; therefore, the key to understanding playa trophic structure is an interaction between hydroperiod and the traits, lifespan, and trophic niche of the species present. Whether a playa was artificially created or grazed by cattle had little effect on trophic structure, yet tilling for row crops expanded the food sources available for the food web. On a temporal scale, playa food webs initially increased in diversity, with declines at the end of the hydroperiod. Playas were organized in time rather than space. That is, food web complexity was more closely associated with identity of the taxa rather than total diversity. Mesocosm experiments showed that habitat structure may play a role in determining food-web complexity, but the effect was overridden by the influence of hydroperiod. Mesocosm experiments revealed insect diversity to control trophic structure complexity in playa wetlands, rather than the trophically redundant crustacean branchiopods. While playas are highly resistant and resilient habitats, they cannot survive all perturbations. Playas should be protected and have much to inform us about food web assembly and maintenance

Female Labour supply and Income Inequality in Ireland

Over the last 10-15 years female labour force participation rates have increased substantially in Ireland. At the same time there has been a large increase in wage inequality but a decline in total household income inequality. In this paper we examine the relationship between the trends in female labour force participation, wage inequality and household income inequality in order to develop a better understanding of the processes governing inequality in Ireland. Our findings suggest that despite an increased correlation in the earnings of spouses the recent increases in female labour force participation and female wage rates account for between 20% and 50% of the recent fall in income inequality in Ireland. The remainder of the reduction is attributed to factors not directly related to wives' earnings.female labour supply; family income inequality

A Guide to Global Population Projections

Interdisciplinary studies that draw on long-term, global population projections often make limited use of projection results, due at least in part to the historically opaque nature of the projection process. We present a guide to such projections aimed at researchers and educators who would benefit from putting them to greater use. Drawing on new practices and new thinking on uncertainty, methodology, and the likely future courses of fertility and life expectancy, we discuss who makes projections and how, and the key assumptions upon which they are based. We also compare methodology and recent results from prominent institutions and provide a guide to other sources of demographic information, pointers to projection results, and an entry point to key literature in the field.forecasting, population projections, projection methodology, uncertainty