The decision to close airspace in the event of a volcanic eruption is based on hazard maps of predicted ash extent. These are produced using output from volcanic ash transport and dispersion (VATD) models. In this paper the fractions skill score has been used for the first time to evaluate the spatial accuracy of VATD simulations relative to satellite retrievals of volcanic ash. This objective ...

This paper presents a new method to decompose complex sequences of assembly operations into skill primitives. This can be realized by analyzing hyperarcs of the underlying AND/ORgraphs representing automatically generated assembly plans. Features like local depart spaces, symbolic spatial relations, and the necessary tools classify the type of assembly operation (peg in hole, placements, alignm...

In 2013, Canadian scholars delivered a 1-week workshop to 30 junior public health professionals in Rwanda. The goal was to improve the Rwandans' skills and confidence with respect to writing scientific papers for submission to international peer-reviewed global health journals. As a result of the workshop, there was a statistically significant improvement in participants' reported confidence in...

There are differences in the way infants learn, perceive, and understand the environment as compared to adults (Bornstein, 1989; Nelson, 2000; Craik and Bialystok, 2006). While an adult has an established, clear perception of his environment, infants are still forming perceptions of the world (Hall et al., 1989; Holt, 1991; Zitelli and Davis, 2007). The mechanisms underlying these differences a...

Novel experience and learning new skills are known as modulators of brain function. Advances in non-invasive brain imaging have provided new insight into structural and functional reorganization associated with skill learning and expertise. Especially, significant imaging evidences come from the domains of sports and music. Data from in vivo imaging studies in sports and music have provided vit...

This paper examines how, over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the appreciation of skill in surgery shifted in characteristic ways. Skill is a problematic category in surgery. Its evaluation is embedded into wider cultural expectations and evaluations, which changed over time. The paper examines the discussions about surgical skill in a variety of contexts: the highly...

Synchronized action is considered as a manifestation of shared skill. Most synchronized behaviors in humans and other animals are based on periodic repetition. Aperiodic synchronization of complex action is found in the experimental task of synchronous speaking, in which naive subjects read a common text in lock step. The demonstration of synchronized behavior without a periodic basis is presen...

The rapid development of mobile devices has stimulated the popularity of spatial crowdsourcing. Various spatial crowdsourcing platforms, such as Uber, gMission and Gigwalk, are becoming increasingly important in our daily life. A core functionality of spatial crowdsourcing platforms is to allocate tasks or make plans for workers to efficiently finish the published tasks. However, existing studi...

In this study, we tested 77 undergraduates who were randomly assigned to play either a popular video game (Portal 2) or a popular brain training game (Lumosity) for 8 h. Before and after gameplay, participants completed a set of online tests related to problem solving, spatial skill, and persistence. Results revealed that participants who were assigned to play Portal 2 showed a statistically si...