808 research outputs found
Using Cognitive Architectures to Study Issues in Team Cognition in a Complex Task Environment
No full textCognitive social simulation is a computer simulation technique that aims to improve our understanding of the dynamics of socially-situated and socially-distributed cognition. This makes cognitive social simulation techniques particularly appealing as a means to undertake experiments into team cognition. The current paper reports on the results of an ongoing effort to develop a cognitive social simulation capability that can be used to undertake studies into team cognition using the ACT-R cognitive architecture. This capability is intended to support simulation experiments using a team-based problem solving task, which has been used to explore the effect of different organizational environments on collective problem solving performance. The functionality of the ACT-R-based cognitive social simulation capability is presented and a number of areas of future development work are outlined. The paper also describes the motivation for adopting cognitive architectures in the context of social simulation experiments and presents a number of research areas where cognitive social simulation may be useful in developing a better understanding of the dynamics of team cognition. These include the use of cognitive social simulation to study the role of cognitive processes in determining aspects of communicative behavior, as well as the impact of communicative behavior on the shaping of task-relevant cognitive processes (e.g., the social shaping of individual and collective memory as a result of communicative exchanges). We suggest that the ability to perform cognitive social simulation experiments in these areas will help to elucidate some of the complex interactions that exist between cognitive, social, technological and informational factors in the context of team-based problem-solving activities
Foreign direct investment and China's bilateral intra-industry trade with Japan and the US
No full textThis paper analyzes dynamic changes of China's intra-industry trade with its major trading partners, Japan and the US, from 1980 to 2004. It also investigates to what extent foreign direct investment promoted intra-industry trade. The empirical results show that, while shares of China's intra-industry trade with both Japan and U.S rose substantially, its intra-industry trade with Japan has reached 35 per cent of the overall trade, considerably larger than 10 per cent with the US. Sino-Japan intra-industry trade concentrated in the electrical and machinery sectors accounted for 52 per cent and 46 per cent of overall trade respectively. On the other hand, it is in the chemical and food sectors where intra-industry trade represented a relatively large proportion of Sino-US trade, 50 per cent and 30 per cent accordingly in each sector. In addition, the analysis indicates that Japanese direct investment in China performed a significant role in enhancing intra-industry trade between Japan and China. However, it found no evidence that the US direct investment in China contributed to the growth of the bilateral intra-industry trade between the two countries.intra-industry trade; FDI; China
Towards a cognitively realistic computational model of team problem solving using ACT-R agents and the ELICIT experimentation framework
No full textThe aim of cognitive social simulation is to improve our understanding of the complex inter-play between factors that are spread across the cognitive, social and technological domains. This makes cognitive social simulation techniques particularly appealing as a means to undertake experiments into socially-distributed cognition. The current paper reports on the results of an ongoing effort to develop a cognitive social simulation capability that can be used to undertake studies into team cognition using the ACT-R cognitive architecture. The focus of the cognitive modeling effort associated with the development of the simulation capability is a particular team-based problem solving task that forms part of the Experimental Laboratory for Investigating Collaboration, Information-sharing, and Trust (ELICIT) experimentation framework. This task has been used with human subjects to investigate the effect of different command and control organizational structures on collective problem solving performance. The results of the cognitive modeling effort are presented and future work to extend both the simulation capability and the cognitive model are outlined. By comparing the results obtained with the ACT-R simulation capability with those obtained from previous experiments using the ELICIT experimentation framework, it should be possible to evaluate the extent to which ACT-R agents exhibit performance profiles similar to those of their human counterparts. This will support the effort to evaluate the extent to which cognitive social simulation experiments with ACT-R can be used to generate findings of predictive and explanatory relevance to future studies using the ELICIT experimentation framework
The ACT-R Unity Interface: Integrating ACT-R with the Unity Game Engine
No full textCognitive architectures are computational frameworks that support the development of computational models of human cognitive processes. They have typically been used to advance our understanding of human cognition in specific task environments; however, they have also been used to support the development of a variety of intelligent systems and agents (e.g., cognitive robots). There are a broad range of reasons to motivate the effort to integrate cognitive architectures with virtual environments. These include the development of intelligent virtual characters for the purposes of training simulations, enhanced gameplay experiences and the modelling of user/gamer behaviour. Virtual environments also support simulations of actual real-world environments (e.g., using physics engines and advanced lighting models) that can be used to perform computational simulations into embedded, extended, and embodied cognition. In the current report, we describe the effort to develop an integration framework that enables the ACT-R cognitive architecture to be used in conjunction with the Unity game engine. The resulting framework, referred to as the ACT-R Unity Integration (ACT-R UI) framework, enables individual ACT-R models to control the behaviour of virtual non-player characters that inhabit 3D virtual environments built on top of Unity. We first provide an overview of the ACT-R architecture and the Unity game engine. We describe the key features of both systems and discuss why they provide such a compelling target for integration. We then go on to describe the nature of the integration solution itself. We outline the extensions to the ACT-R architecture that enable ACT-R models to exchange information with Unity, and we also present the Unity components that enable virtual characters to be controlled or influenced by ACT-R models. Finally, we provide a concrete example of the use of the ACT-R UI. In particular, we show how an ACT-R model can be used to control the behaviour of a virtual robotic character that inhabits a Unity-based virtual environment
Socially-distributed cognition and cognitive architectures: towards an ACT-R-based cognitive social simulation capability
No full textACT-R is one of the most widely used cognitive architectures, and it has been used to model hundreds of phenomena described in the cognitive psychology literature. In spite of this, there are relatively few studies that have attempted to apply ACT-R to situations involving social interaction. This is an important omission since the social aspects of cognition have been a growing area of interest in the cognitive science community, and an understanding of the dynamics of collective cognition is of particular importance in many organizational settings. In order to support the computational modeling and simulation of socially-distributed cognitive processes, a simulation capability based on the ACT-R architecture is described. This capability features a number of extensions to the core ACT-R architecture that are intended to support social interaction and collaborative problem solving. The core features of a number of supporting applications and services are also described. These applications/services support the execution, monitoring and analysis of simulation experiments. Finally, a system designed to record human behavioral data in a collective problem-solving task is described. This system is being used to undertake a range of experiments with teams of human subjects, and it will ultimately support the development of high fidelity ACT-R cognitive models. Such models can be used in conjunction with the ACT-R simulation capability to test hypotheses concerning the interaction between cognitive, social and technological factors in tasks involving socially-distributed information processing
Information Sharing for Collective Sensemaking
No full textGroup decision tasks that require pooling of information to reach the best decision have been studied across a variety of disciplines over the past thirty years. The crucial question of what makes these tasks so difficult, however remains unanswered. Various hypotheses include inefficiency in sharing information leading to decisions based on incomplete information or cognitive inefficiencies in processing and storing information arriving in a piecemeal fashion. The present study attacks this problem from two directions. Human experiments are used to compare decisions between groups manipulated to receive and share information in raw and aggregated forms and mixed groups comprised of humans and software agents. To shed light on cognitive limitations that may affect performance, an ACT-R cognitive model of group members was constructed and its results compared to human data
The Association of Waist Circumference With Functional Mobility Among Adults With Obesity and Knee Osteoarthritis
No full textAbstract
Date Presented 3/30/2017
We examined to what extent high waist circumference was linked with decreased functional mobility over 4 yr in adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Measuring waist circumference may better stratify the risk of decreased functional mobility among adults with obesity and knee OA.
Primary Author and Speaker: Simone Gill
Contributing Authors: Gregory E. Hicks, Yuqing Zhang, Jingbo Niu, Caroline M. Apovian, Daniel K. White</jats:p
Cognitive and Probabilistic Models of Group Decision Making
No full textWe introduce an experiment designed to study trade-offs in collaborative decision making environments such as the ability to accumulate information and its impact on the fluctuation of decisions. Two models of the experiment are presented: a cognitive model using the ACT-R cognitive architecture and a probabilistic argumentation model using Markov Random Fields. Representative results from the experiment are presented and compared to the results of the two models. Implications of the results and avenues for future work are discussed
A Diagnostic Study Of Rainfall Evolution In A Weak Landfalling Tropical Cyclone Over East China
No full textTropical storm Rumbia (2018) made landfall over East China on 16 August 2018 with a moderate intensity but led to long-lasting and heavy landfall, causing causality and tremendous economic loss to East China. In this study, the fifth generation European Centre for MediumRange Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) reanalysis (ERA-5) data, the best-track tropical cyclone data, and rainfall observations from China Meteorological Administration (CMA) were used to diagnose the rainfall evolution of Rumbia after its landfall. Resultsshowed that when it approached and made landfall over East China, Rumbia was embedded in an environment with a deep-layer (300–850hPa) southwesterly vertical wind shear (VWS), heavy rainfall mostly occurring downshear-left in its inner-core region and downshear-right in the outer-core region. The translation of Rumbia also contributed to the rainfall distribution to some extent. The strong southwesterly-southeasterly summer monsoon flow transported water vapor from the tropical ocean and the East China Sea to the storm’s core region, providing moisture and convective instability conditions in the mid-lower troposphere for the sustained rainfall even after Rumbia moved well inland. The low-level convective instability and the deep-layer environmental VWS played an important role in deepening the inflow boundary layer and the development of the secondary circulation and the heavy rainfall in the northeast quadrant of Rumbia. It is concluded that the environmental VWS and the storm translation are key to the asymmetric rainfall distribution, and the southwesterly-southeasterly summer monsoon flow transported warm and moist air from the tropical oceans and provided the moisture and convective instability conditions to the sustained rainfall of Rumbia after its landfall.M.S
Blacus (Hysterobolus) melanoapicalis Lu & Achterberg & Tang & Chen 2023, sp. nov.
No full text<i>Blacus</i> (<i>Hysterobolus</i>) <i>melanoapicalis</i> sp. nov. <p>(Figs. 9–10)</p> <p> <b>Material examined.</b> <b>Holotype:</b> ♀, China, Zhejiang, Tianmu Mtn, Xianren Peak (30º21′N, 119º25′E), 27.VII.2011, Song Shengnan, NO. 201102181 (ZJUH). <b>Paratypes:</b> 49 ♀♀, China, Fujian, Wuyi Mtn, Guadun, 1.VII.1985, Huang Donghong, No. 20004198, 20003902, 20003903; 2.VII.1985, Huang Donghong, No. 20003901, 20003902, 20003903, 20003906, 20003907; 25.VII.1985, Huang Donghong, No. 20004200; Fujian, Wuyi Mtn, 20.VII.1985, Lin Naiquan, No. 968113, 968114, 968122, 968125, 968127, 968130, 968146, 968154, 968155, 968157; Fujian, Wuyi Mtn, Erliping, 2. VI.1985, Tang Yuqing, No. 20004172; Fujian, Huanggang Mtn, VI.1980, Huang Juchang, No. 20003957, 20003958, 20003959, 20004127; Zhao Jingwei, No. 20003968, 20003969, 20003971, 20003973; Zhao Xiufu, No. 20004126, 20004128; IX.1981, Huang Juchang, No. 20003960; 9. V.1982, Xu Jianfei, No. 20003780; 28.VII.1984, Huang Juchang, No. 20004129; 6.VII.1985, Chen Xinjin, No. 20004134; Liu Minghui, No. 20004132; 13.VII.1985, Huang Donghong, No. 20004096; 14.VII.1985, Huang Donghong, No. 20004097, 20004098; Tang Yuqing, No. 20004107; Zheng Geng, No. 20004102, 20004103; 1.VIII.1985, Huang Donghong, No. 20003775, 20003960, 20004092; 30.VII.1985, Chen Xinjin, No. 20004113, 20004115, 20004116, 20004118; Liu Minghui, No. 20004123; 3 ♀♀, Fujian, Fuzhou, 22.IX.1984, Wang Jiadong, No. 20004150; 8.X.1984, Wang Jiadong, No. 20004155; Jinshan Park, 16.VII.1984, Liu Changming, No. 20004217; 1 ♀, China, Zhejiang, Tianmu Mtn, 8. VI.1992, Lin Wei, No. 922874; 9 ♀♀, Zhejiang, Tianmu Mtn, Xianren Peak, 2-4. VI.1990, Lou Yonggen, No. 900905; 29.VII.1998, Zhao Mingshui, No. 993644; 30.VII.1998, Zhao Mingshui, No. 993531; 18.VIII.1999, Ma Yun, No. 997608; 25-29.VII.2011, Liu Zhen, No. 201102647; 26.VII.2011, Song Shengnan, No. 201101970; 27.VII.2011, Song Shengnan, No. 201102181; Liu Zhen, No. 201101425, 201101431 (ZJUH).</p> <p> <b>Description.</b> Female. Length of body 2.8 mm, length of fore wing 2.75 mm.</p> <p> <b>Body setosity.</b> Body with long setae, setosity on mesopleuron and propodeum denser.</p> <p> <b>Head.</b> Antennomeres 19; length of first flagellomere 1.4 × second flagellomere; length of first, second, penultimate and terminal flagellomere 4.0, 2.8, 1.45 and 2.8 × their width, respectively; length of maxillary palp 1.2 × height of head; OOL: diameter of posterior ocellus: POL = 11:4:7; frons smooth, with a shallow longitudinal groove in upper second; eyes with short setose, sparse; length of eye in dorsal view 1.2 × temple; occiput distinctly concave; face transversely rugose; temple smooth; clypeus convex, smooth, slightly punctate; width of clypeus 2.3 × its medial height; tentorial pits large, distance between pits 1.9 × distance from pit to eye; malar suture absent, length of malar space 2.75 × basal width of mandible, mandible with long setae.</p> <p> <b>Mesosoma.</b> Length of mesosoma 1.4 × its height; side of pronotum smooth dorsally, remainder coarsely reticulate; precoxal sulcus wide, with some long striae, reaching anterior edge of mesopleuron; notauli complete, wide and crenulate, with some short transversely rugae in anterior third; mesoscutal lobes rather convex; scutellar sulcus with median carina only; scutellum reticulate, its lateral carina lamelliform; propodeal tubercles small, obtuse apically, lateral apical angle almost 90°; surface of propodeum rugulose.</p> <p> <b>Wings.</b> Fore wing: parastigma small; length of pterostigma 5.0 × its maximum width; length of vein r 1.5 × width of pterostigma; vein r arising almost from middle of pterostigma; 1-CU1:2-CU1 = 15:16. Hind wing: 1r-m:1- M = 5:7; M+CU about subequal to 1-M; 2-1A present and short, branched posteriorly.</p> <p> <b>Legs.</b> Fore leg tibial spur large and long; hind coxa coarsely rugose dorsally, with distinct dorsal carina; length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 5.7, 9.5 and 8.0 × their width, respectively; fore tarsal claws with blackish bristles.</p> <p> <b>Metasoma.</b> Length of first tergite 1.75 × its apical width, widened apically, rugose; dorsal carinae distinct in basal 0.4; remainder of tergites smooth; length of ovipositor sheath 0.15 × length of fore wing.</p> <p> <b>Colour.</b> Reddish-brown; stemmaticum, propodeum and metasomal first tergite dark reddish-brown; palpi, labrum, mandible, tegulae, all legs yellow; clypeus yellowish-red; scapus, 5 apical flagellomeres dark brown, remainder of flagellomeres brownish; parastigma and basal of pterostigma white; side of pronotum yellowish-red, remainder reddish-brown; most mesonotum and scutellum yellowish-red, consistent with dorsal head, mesoscutum companied with reddish-brown, the reddish-brown area on middle lobe separate from each other; metasomal second tergite yellowish-brown, remainder of metasomal tergites and sternum, ovipositor and sheath, veins and pterostigma brown; all basitarsi apically brown; wing membrane slightly infuscate.</p> <p> <b>Variation.</b> Length of first tergite 1.7–1.8 × its apical width; penultimate flagellomere 1.4–1.7 × their width; length of eye in dorsal view 1.0–1.2 × temple; length of fore wing 2.4–2.8 mm; length of ovipositor sheath 0.15– 0.18 × length of fore wing; dorsally head yellowish-red to reddish-brown, similar to mesonotum, propodeum and metasomal first tergite reddish-brown to blackish, remainder of metasomal tergites and sternum brownish to dark brown; 5 (or at most 6) apical flagellomeres dark brown.</p> <p> <b>Male.</b> Unknown.</p> <p> <b>Biology.</b> Unknown.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> China (Zhejiang, Fujian)</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The specific name refers to the dark apical flagellomeres and is derived from “ <i>melanos</i> ” (Greek for black) and “ <i>apex</i> ” (Latin for top).</p> <p> <b>Notes.</b> The new species is similar to <i>B.</i> (<i>H.</i>) <i>fuscitibialis</i> van Achterberg, 1988 because the scutellum is coarsely rugose, the malar suture absent, the first metasomal tergite widened apically, and the face transversely rugose, but differs by having the precoxal sulcus with long striae (only with a few medium-sized striae in <i>B. fuscitibialis</i>), the hind leg brownish (hind tibia infuscated medially), fore claw with blackish bristles (brownish), length of malar space 2.75 × basal width of mandible (2.0 ×), dorsal carinae distinct in basal 0.4 of tergite (basal 0.7), and length of ovipositor sheath 0.15 × length of fore wing (0.18 ×).</p>Published as part of <i>Lu, Qian-Yu, Achterberg, Cornelis Van, Tang, Pu & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2023, The discovery of the subgenus Hysterobolus Viereck, 1913 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Brachistinae, Blacini, Blacus) in China, with description of nine new species, pp. 472-498 in Zootaxa 5293 (3)</i> on pages 483-486, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5293.3.3, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/7961330">http://zenodo.org/record/7961330</a>
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