Instructional control in choice tasks: the relation between type of schedule and relative expected values

The present work aims improve our understanding of the boundaries of instructional control. It does so by solving contradictory results obtained on two different fields: Three studies conducted on the description-experience gap field, showing that instructions are neglected when personal experience is available, and several others conducted on the experimental analysis of behavior paradigm getting to the opposite conclusion. Two factors were studied: the type of schedule, and the relative expected values between options. The present work showed that (1) positive evidence of instructional control was found in a choice task with probability schedules and different expected values between options; (2) negative evidence of instructional control was found in a choice task with VI schedules and similar expected values between options; and (3) these results, together with previous research, suggest that relative expected values are a fundamental factor on understanding the presence of instructional control in choice tasks. We conclude that the relevance of this factor relies on its capacity to make participants' decisions easier: all else being equal, adding descriptions enables participants to better discriminate optimal behavior in choice tasks.- This study was conducted at Psychology University Center for Bio- logical and Agricultural Sciences, University of Guadalajara, and sup- ported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministery of Education and Science through national funds and when applicable co -financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (UID/PSI/01662/2013)

Influencia del nivel educativo de los progenitores y la edad en la derivación de equivalencia-equivalencia

Antecedentes: el objetivo de este trabajo fue el estudio del razonamiento analógico desde el fenómeno de equivalencia-equivalencia. Método: las variables estudiadas fueron la edad de los participantes y el nivel educativo de los padres, en relación a la ejecución de la tarea de razonamiento. Para ello se utilizó una muestra de 64 participantes. Se diseñó un instrumento basado en discriminaciones condicionales utilizando el procedimiento de igualación simbólica a la muestra. Resultados: los resultados mostraron una diferencia significativa en la ejecución de la tarea entre los niños con padres universitarios y los niños con padres no universitarios. Sin embargo, en relación a la edad no se obtuvieron resultados concluyentes. Conclusiones: se analizan estos resultados desde la perspectiva de la derivación de la relación de equivalencia-equivalencia a través de entrenamiento en múltiples ejemplares como origen de la derivación del fenómeno.Background: The objective of this work was the study of analogical reasoning from the perspective of the equivalence-equivalence phenomenon. Method: The variables studied consisted of the age of the participants and the educational level of the parents, in relation to performance on a reasoning task. The task utilized a sample size of 64 participants and an instrument based on conditional discriminations using the matching-to-sample procedure. Results: The results showed a significant difference in the performance on the task between the children of parents with college degrees, and those of parents without college degrees. However, there were no conclusive results as to age. Conclusions: The results are analyzed from the perspective of the derivation of the relationship of equivalence-equivalence via multiple exemplar training

Afloramiento artificial producido con energía eólica con aplicación a la maricultura

Offshore wind is proposed as an energy source to upwell nutrient-rich deep water to the ocean photic layers. A spar-buoy wind turbine with a rigid tube about 300 m long is proposed as a pipe to drive deep water up to the surface. The minimum energy required to uplift the water is the potential energy difference between surface waters inside and outside the pipe, which depends on the background density profile. The corresponding surface jump or hydraulic head, h, calculated for several analytical and experimental density profiles, is of the order of 10 cm. If the complete turbine power (of the order of several MW) is used for raising the water (assuming a 100% pump efficiency), in a frictionless flow, very large water volumes, of the order of thousands of m3 s-1, will be transported to the photic layers. In a more realistic case, taking into account pipe friction in wide pipes, of the order of 10 m radius, and a power delivered to the fluid of 1 MW, the volume transport is still very large, about 500 m3 s-1. However, such a large amount of dense water could sink fast to aphotic layers due to vertical static instability (the fountain effect), ruining the enhancement of primary production. Hence, some ways to increase the turbulent entrainment and avoid the fountain effect are proposed. From the energetic viewpoint, artificial upwelling using offshore wind energy is a promising way to fertilize large open sea regions. This mariculture application is, however, severely subjected to atmosphere and ocean climatology, as well as to ecological dynamics. The general problem is multidisciplinary, and some important physical, engineering and ecological questions need to be seriously addressed to improve our confidence in the approach presented here.Analizamos el uso de la energía eólica marina como fuente de energía para aflorar aguas profundas ricas en nutrientes a las capas fóticas del océano. Una turbina de viento tipo boya-pértiga, con un tubo rígido de unos 300 m de largo, se propone para transportar las aguas profundas hasta la superficie. La energía mínima necesaria para elevar el agua es la diferencia de energa potencial entre las aguas superficiales dentro y fuera de la tubería, que depende del perfil de densidad de fondo. El salto superficial de agua, o cabezal hidráulico h, calculado para varios perfiles analíticos y experimentales de densidad, resulta ser del orden de 10 cm. Si la potencia total de la turbina (del orden de varios MW) se utiliza para elevar el agua (suponiendo una eficiencia de la bomba del 100%), en un flujo sin fricción, el transporte de volumen de agua transportado a las capas fóticas es muy elevado, del orden de miles de m3 s-1. En un caso más realista, teniendo en cuenta la fricción en tuberías de un ancho del orden de 10 m radio, y una potencia proporcionada al fluido de 1 MW, el transporte volumen sigue siendo muy grande, de alrededor de 500 m3 s-1. Sin embargo, una cantidad tan grande de agua densa podría hundirse rápidamente a las capas afóticas debido a la inestabilidad estática vertical (efecto fuente) arruinando la mejora de la producción primaria. Por lo tanto se proponen algunas maneras de aumentar el arrastre turbulento y evitar el efecto fuente. Desde el punto de vista energético, el afloramiento artificial utilizando energía eólica marina parece una manera prometedora de fertilización de grandes regiones del mar abierto. Esta aplicación de maricultura, sin embargo, depende severamente de la climatología atmosférica y océanica, así como de la dinámica ecológica. El problema global es multidisciplinar, y algunos aspectos importantes de física, ingeniería, y ecología tienen que ser mejor estudiados para poder aumentar nuestra confianza en el método aquí presentado

Twilight Mesospheric Clouds in Jezero as Observed by MEDA Radiation and Dust Sensor (RDS)

The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer instrument, on board NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, includes a number of sensors to characterize the Martian atmosphere. One of these sensors is the Radiation and Dust Sensor (RDS) that measures the solar irradiance at different wavelengths and geometries. We analyzed the RDS observations made during twilight for the period between sol 71 and 492 of the mission (Ls 39°–262°, Mars Year 36) to characterize the clouds over the Perseverance rover site. Using the ratio between the irradiance at zenith at 450 and 750 nm, we inferred that the main constituent of the detected high-altitude aerosol layers was ice from Ls = 39°–150° (cloudy period), and dust from Ls 150°–262°. A total of 161 twilights were analyzed in the cloudy period using a radiative transfer code and we found: (a) signatures of clouds/hazes in the signals in 58% of the twilights; (b) most of the clouds had altitudes between 40 and 50 km, suggesting water ice composition, and had particle sizes between 0.6 and 2 µm; (c) the cloud activity at sunrise is slightly higher that at sunset, likely due to the differences in temperature; (d) the time period with more cloud detections and with the greatest cloud opacities is during Ls 120°–150°; and (e) a notable decrease in the cloud activity around aphelion, along with lower cloud altitudes and opacities. This decrease in cloud activity indicates lower concentrations of water vapor or cloud condensation nuclei (dust) around this period in the Martian mesosphere.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the projects no. ESP2014-54256-C4-1-R (also ESP2014-54256-C4-2-R, ESP2014-54256-C4-3-R, and ESP2014-54256-C4-4-R), Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, projects no. ESP2016-79612-C3-1-R (also ESP2016-79612-C3-2-R and ESP2016-79612-C3-3-R), Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation/State Agency of Research (10.13039/501100011033), projects no. PID2021-126719OB-C41, ESP2016-80320-C2-1-R, RTI2018-098728-B-C31 (also RTI2018-098728-B-C32 and RTI2018-098728-B-C33), RTI2018-099825-B-C31. RH and ASL were supported by the Spanish project PID2019-109467GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/50110001103 and by Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT1742-22. The US co-authors performed their work under sponsorship from NASA’s Mars 2020 project, from the Game Changing Development programme within the Space Technology Mission Directorate and from the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate. Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). G.M. acknowledges JPL funding from USRA Contract Number 1638782. ML is supported by contract 15-712 from Arizona State University and 1607215 from Caltech-JPL. A. V-R. is supported by the Comunidad de Madrid Project S2018/NMT-4291 (TEC2SPACE-CM)

Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Studies of the Martian Atmosphere Over Jezero From Pressure Measurements

The pressure sensors on Mars rover Perseverance measure the pressure field in the Jezero crater on regular hourly basis starting in sol 15 after landing. The present study extends up to sol 460 encompassing the range of solar longitudes from Ls ∼ 13°–241° (Martian Year (MY) 36). The data show the changing daily pressure cycle, the sol-to-sol seasonal evolution of the mean pressure field driven by the CO2 sublimation and deposition cycle at the poles, the characterization of up to six components of the atmospheric tides and their relationship to dust content in the atmosphere. They also show the presence of wave disturbances with periods 2–5 sols, exploring their baroclinic nature, short period oscillations (mainly at night-time) in the range 8–24 min that we interpret as internal gravity waves, transient pressure drops with duration ∼1–150 s produced by vortices, and rapid turbulent fluctuations. We also analyze the effects on pressure measurements produced by a regional dust storm over Jezero at Ls ∼ 155°.The UPV/EHU team (Spain) is supported by Grant PID2019-109467GB-I00 funded by 1042 MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by Groups Gobierno Vasco IT1742-22. GM wants to acknowledge JPL funding from USRA Contract Number 1638782. A. Vicente-Retortillo is supported by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project No. MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC). Part of the research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). GM wants to acknowledge JPL funding from USRA Contract Number 1638782