Department of Psychology

The limited capacity of visual working memory (VWM) requires the existence of an efficient information selection mechanism. While it has been shown that under low VWM load, an irrelevant simple feature can be processed, its fate under high load (e.g., six objects) remains unclear. We explored this issue by probing the "irrelevantchange distracting effect," in which the change of a stored irrelevant feature affects performance. Simple colored shapes were used as stimuli, with color as the target. Using a whole-probe method (presenting six objects in both the memory and test arrays), in Experiment 1 we found that a change to one of the six shapes led to a significant distracting effect. Using a partial-probe method (presenting the probe either at the screen center or at a location selected from the memory array), in Experiment 2 we showed the distracting effect again. These results suggest that irrelevant simple features can be stored into VWM, regardless of memory load.

The limited capacity of visual working memory (VWM) requires the existence of an efficient information selection mechanism. While it has been shown that under low VWM load, an irrelevant simple feature can be processed, its fate under high load (e.g., six objects) remains unclear. We explored this issue by probing the "irrelevantchange distracting effect," in which the change of a stored irrelevant feature affects performance. Simple colored shapes were used as stimuli, with color as the target. Using a whole-probe method (presenting six objects in both the memory and test arrays), in Experiment 1 we found that a change to one of the six shapes led to a significant distracting effect. Using a partial-probe method (presenting the probe either at the screen center or at a location selected from the memory array), in Experiment 2 we showed the distracting effect again. These results suggest that irrelevant simple features can be stored into VWM, regardless of memory load.

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As an important application of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), advances in intelligent transportation systems (ITS) improve driving safety by informing drivers of hazards with warnings in advance. The evaluation of the warning effectiveness is an important issue in facilitating communication of ITS. The goal of the present study was to develop a scale to evaluate the warning utility, namely, the effectiveness of a warning in preventing accidents in general. A driving simulator study was conducted to validate the Verbal Warning Utility Scale (VWUS) in a simulated driving environment. The reliability analysis indicated a good split-half reliability for the VWUS with a Spearman-Brown Coefficient of 0.873. The predictive validity of VWUS in measuring the effectiveness of the verbal warnings was verified by the significant prediction of safety benefits indicated by variables, including reduced kinetic energy and collision rate. Compared to conducting experimental studies, this scale provid...

Deaths and injuries resulted from traffic accidents is still a major public health problem. Recent advances in connected vehicle technology support a connected driving environment in which vehicles are enabled to communicate with each other and with roadside infrastructures via Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC). Connected vehicle safety applications supported by this technology allow drivers to learn about the traffic situations out of their sight and ahead of time so that drivers are warned early enough to make proper responses. As the connected vehicle systems (CVS) are designed with an aim to improving driver safety, the effectiveness of the CVS can not be achieved without drivers making proper responses in responding to the wireless warnings. Therefore, it is essential to understand and model the mechanism for human processing and responding to warnings from connected vehicle systems, and apply the driver model to optimize the design the CVS at the interface level and t...

Transportation Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) aim to improve driving safety by informing drivers of hazards with warnings in advance. The understanding of human responses to speech warnings is essential in the design of Transportation CPS to eliminate hazards and accidents. To date, many works have addressed diverse warning characteristics with experimental approaches. However, the computational model to quantify the effects of warning characteristics on human performance in responses to speech warnings is still missing. Mathematical equations were built to model the effects of lead time, loudness, and signal word choices on human perceptual, cognitive, and motor activities involved in speech warning responses. Different levels of lead time, levels of loudness, and signal word choices served as inputs in the model to predict human error rate and reaction time of speech warning responses. The model was validated with drivers' crash rates and reaction times to speech warnings of upcoming hazards in driving assistant systems in two empirical studies. Results showed a good prediction of human performance in responding to speech warnings compared to the empirical data. The application of the model to identify optimal parameter settings in the design of speech warnings in order to achieve greater safety benefits is later discussed. Index Terms-Human performance modeling, human computer interaction, intelligent transportation systems I. INTRODUCTION Deaths and injuries resulting from road traffic accidents has become a major public health problem. According to statistic data published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in U.S., 5.3 million crashes occurred nationally in 2011 [1]. With regard to improve driving safety, recent advances in Transportation Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) aim to establish a connected transportation environment by monitoring the status of the physical worlds (e.g. sensors and actuators), connecting it with the cyber worlds (e.g., information, communication, and intelligence), and providing the integrated real-time information among multiple levels, including vehicles to vehicle communication, vehicle to infrastructures communication and in-vehicle information Manuscript received DATE; revised DATE.

The communication describes a kinematic model-based solution to estimate the motion of a structure from a sequence of images captured by a set of cameras along the time. Using an arbitrarily number of noisy images and assuming a smooth structure's motion, an Iterated Extended Kalman Filter (IEKF) is used to recursively estimate the 6-D structure's motion (displacement and rotation) over time. The requirements are a minimum of two cameras and a minimum of three non-collinear targets (control points). Results related to the performance evaluation, obtained by numerical simulations and real experiments, are presented. The scenario conditions created for the numerical simulations were inspired in the suspension bridge 25 de Abril over the river Tagus, in Lisbon, whilst for the real experiments we used a reduced structure model to fix the targets and to impose the controlled motion.

CONTEXTO: O uso da cromoscopia virtual com sistema de imagem multibanda poderia auxiliar no diagnóstico in vivo de neoplasias colônicas. Objetivo - Avaliar a exatidão da magnificação associada à cromoendoscopia eletrônica ou com índigo-carmin na distinção entre lesões neoplásicas e não-neoplásicas do cólon e reto. MÉTODOS: Foram avaliadas prospectivamente 157 lesões colorretais em 75 pacientes. Empregou-se o sistema FICE® para a análise dos padrões de capilares, com a malha capilar negativa sendo considerada padrão de lesões não-neoplásicas, e a malha capilar positiva, o padrão das neoplasias. Após esta avaliação, ainda usando o sistema FICE®, o padrão de criptas foi definido conforme a classificação de Kudo. Por fim, instilou-se índigo-carmin à 0,8% e outro estudo das criptas foi realizado. RESULTADOS: Entre as 157 lesões colorretais, classificou-se 116 como malha capilar positiva, sendo 115 confirmadas histologicamente como neoplasias. Já entre as 41 lesões com malha capilar negat...

Resumo: O ser humano é capaz de analisar o mundo à sua volta por meio de informações provenientes das diversas modalidades sensoriais. A percepção do mundo a cada momento envolve a integração dessas informações em áreas multissensoriais existentes no cérebro humano. Dessa ...

O principal objetivo desse estudo foi contribuir para a compreensão das estimativas e análises espaciais dos fluxos de energia à superfície, utilizando o algoritmo S-SEBI e imagens Landsat 5 - TM, assim como, validar os resultados com medidas obtidas na torre micrometeorológica. A área de estudo foi a fazenda Frutacor, com área plantada com cultivos de bananeiras e áreas adjacentes com solo exposto e vegetação nativa. A referida área fica localizada no município de Quixeré, na microrregião do Baixo Jaguaribe, Estado do Ceará. O algoritmo S-SEBI apresentou-se como um bom estimador dos fluxos de energia à superfície, apresentando concordância com estudos desenvolvidos em diferentes partes do mundo. A comparação dos resultados estimados pelo S-SEBI com os medidos na torre micrometeorológica mostrou que os parâmetros, estimados pelo referido algoritmo, estão em boa concordância com os medidos, evidenciando assim, que o S-SEBI é uma ferramenta promissora na obtenção da distribuição espac...

Embora o transtorno bipolar (TB) ocorra quase igualmente em ambos os sexos, a fenomenologia e o curso da doença diferem no homem e na mulher. No entanto, há evidências de que mulheres bipolares, mais que os homens, apresentariam início mais tardio (em especial na quinta década de vida), ciclagem rápida, mais episódios depressivos, mais mania disfórica que eufórica, estados mistos e evolução do tipo bipolar II, ainda que os achados nem sempre sejam consistentes. Embora o risco de comorbidades no TB inclua, para ambos os gêneros, abuso de álcool e drogas, homens bipolares teriam maior probabilidade de ser alcoolistas, não procurar tratamento e de se suicidar. Hipóteses sugeridas para explicar tais diferenças variam daquelas centradas em aspectos culturais ou psicológicos para as que focalizam os sistemas hormonais, como os esteróides gonadais ou o eixo tireoidiano, e até mesmo a anatomia cerebral. A influência do ciclo reprodutivo (ciclo menstrual, gravidez e menopausa) sobre as opções terapêuticas no tratamento do TB é apresentada na última parte desta revisão.

" " O microcrédito não é caridade. O microcrédito não é caridade. Equivale a reconhecer que as pessoas pobres Equivale a reconhecer que as pessoas pobres São a solução, não o problema." São a solução, não o problema." Kofi Annan Kofi Annan " " Dinheiro, segundo o provérbio, chama dinheiro. Dinheiro, segundo o provérbio, chama dinheiro. Quando se tem um pouco, é mais fácil conseguir mais. Quando se tem um pouco, é mais fácil conseguir mais. A grande dificuldade é ter um pouco." A grande dificuldade é ter um pouco."

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of postconditioning protection in liver tissue of rats submitted to ischemia and reperfusion. METHODS: 25 Wistar male rats were randomized in three groups: Group A (ischemia and reperfusion - I/R), with 10 rats, which was made ischemia by vascular clamp application in hepatic hilum for 30 minutes and reperfusion for 60 minutes by removal of the cl& Group B (Postconditioning - IPo), with 10 rats, with same procedure plus postconditioning (3 cycles of reperfusion inserted by 3 cycles of ischemia, 30 seconds for each phase, between ischemia and reperfusion phases); and Group C (Sham), with 5 rats, which took place only laparotomy and manipulation of the hepatic hilum. Specimens were examined (histological evaluation) and dosage of serum AST and ALT was made. The statistical analysis was made with t Student test, with significant difference when p<0.05. RESULTS: In the Sham group there was no histological or enzymatic changes; In group A the mean tissu...

O artigo foi elaborado a partir do estudo dos resultados de duas dissertações de mestrado (Estudo 1 e 2) e de uma tese de doutorado (Estudo 3). Foram identificadas reações emocionais comuns e freqüentes nos portadores de diabetes mellitus (DM), que comprometem o desempenho dos papéis de autocuidado. Teve como objetivos: apresentar as reações emocionais identificadas em portadores de DM tipo 1 e 2 e discutir as interferências das reações emocionais para desempenho dos papéis de autocuidado. Dos resultados, emergiram as categorias de reações emocionais: medo, raiva/ revolta, tristeza, depressão e estresse/ansiedade. Evidenciou-se ser a DM uma doença que, independente do tipo e da faixa etária, causa um impacto negativo biopsicossocial. Concluiu-se que há necessidade de uma abordagem mais ampla para a relação entre as reações emocionais e o desempenho das ações de autocuidado dos portadores de DM.

Historicamente, o registro de nascimentos do Nordeste brasileiro tem apresentado importantes problemas de qualidade, cujas variações regionais são muito grandes e pouco se conhece sobre elas. Este trabalho se propõe a avaliar a qualidade dos registros sobre os nascidos vivos e identificar padrões de relacionamento entre variáveis que reflitam os fatores maternos e da criança constantes nas declarações de nascimento, que permitam resumir os dados sobre nascidos vivos das 188 microrregiões do Nordeste em 2000, com base no uso da análise fatorial. Os dados sobre nascidos vivos foram coletados do Sistema de Informações sobre Nascidos Vivos (SINASC). De forma genérica, a distribuição regional da cobertura dos nascimentos sugere um aumento à medida que os estados se posicionam em direção ao sul do Nordeste. A qualidade no preenchimento das variáveis das microrregiões do Nordeste foi considerada satisfatória. Na análise fatorial, os dados das variáveis foram reduzidos em dois fatores: favo...

RESUMO-A baixa necessidade de frio é característica fundamental para que se possa cultivar economicamente o pessegueiro em condições de clima subtropical, devendo ser este, portanto, o principal objetivo dos programas de melhoramento nestas regiões. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar e selecionar progênies de pessegueiro com baixa necessidade de frio hibernal por meio do método de ramos destacados e indicar o melhor genitor para utilização em programas de melhoramento, visando a esta característica. Foram avaliados 180 genótipos pertencentes a 25 populações de pessegueiro, sendo que o número de genótipos em cada população variou de três a dezenove. Os ramos foram submetidos a 50; 100; 150; 200 e 400 unidades de frio, e, ao término de cada tratamento, os ramos foram transferidos para o interior da casa de vegetação. Após 21 dias, foram avaliados quanto às porcentagens de fl oração e brotação,e com os resultados obtidos, 5 populações e 29 genótipos de pessegueiro com baixa necessidade de frio hibernal foram selecionados. A cultivar Real mostrou-se efi ciente na obtenção de pessegueiros com baixa necessidade de frio hibernal, quando utilizada como genitor feminino. Termos para indexação: Prunus persica, dormência, brotação.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of propofol as an inhibitor of tissue injury in testicular ischemia-reperfusion in rats. METHODS: 30 Wistar rats were assigned to one of three groups of 10 animals: G1, testicular exposure alone; G2 and G3: testicular ischemia caused by left spermatic cord torsion of 720º. In G3, propofol was administered intraperitoneally at 20 mg/kg/h 45 minutes after spermatic cord torsion. In G2 and G3, spermatic cords were detorsioned after 60 min. In all three groups, testes were subsequently repositioned in the scrotum. After 90 days, bilateral orchiectomy was performed for histological examination. RESULTS: No abnormalities in seminiferous tubules were found in G1. In G2, 86.6% of left testes exhibited abnormalities, in contrast with 67.8% for right testes. In G3, these proportions were 57.3% and 45.6%, respectively. A statistically significant difference was found between G2 and G3. CONCLUSION: Propofol reduced the tissue damage in rat testes subjected to is...

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the comorbidities and sleep patterns most commonly associated with each gender in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Methods: This was a crosssectional study of obese individuals with OSA. The polysomnographies were carried out in a sleep laboratory environment, using a 15-channel polysomnography setup. Airflow was measured using a nasal pressure cannula/thermistor combination. A standard handbook was used for interpretation of PSG findings. Results: A total of 284 subjects were included in the study, (147 females). The mean age, body mass index and neck circumference were similar between females and males (p = 0.9579, p < 0.0001, and p < 0.0001, respectively). On polysomnography, females exhibited longer latency to REM sleep (146.50 ± 85.93 vs. 122.3 ± 68.28, p = 0.0210) and a higher percentage of delta sleep (10.09 ± 7.48 vs. 7.55 ± 6.57, p = 0.0037); males had more frequent microarousals (38.37 ± 27.44 vs. 28.07 ± 21.23, p = 0.0017) and a higher AHI score (30.56 ± 27.52 vs. 17.31 ± 21.23, p < 0.0001). The comorbidities most commonly associated with female gender were diabetes (29% vs. 9.49%, p = 0.0132), hypothyroidism (20% vs. 2.19%, p < 0.0001), and depression (81.63% vs. 51.22%, p < 0.0001). Male gender was associated with myocardial infarction (6.57% vs. 1.38%, p = 0.0245) and alcohol intake (33.88% vs. 11.34%, p < 0.0001). Obese males with OSA have a larger neck circumference and higher AHI and arousal indices than females. Conclusions: There are gender differences both in the sleep patterns and in the comorbidities of patients with OSA. Men had a larger neck circumference, higher apnea and sleep fragmentation scores, were more likely to consume alcohol, and were more likely to have a history of myocardial infarction than women.