This work deals with creation of database information system for employee training and bonus calculation with direct connection on existing personal systems in Honeywell production company. The project makes provision for solution on dynamic database server and maximal usage of its potentiality for application development. The system dispose of access privileges containing several user roles and role of administrator. The system concept is realized in UML modeling language. The implementation is realized on Microsoft technologies. The system is generally implmented in 3 tiers: user interface, database component, data base model. The user interface is implemented in ASP.NET 2.0 with utilization of ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 technology. The database component is implemented using object oriented language Visual .NET C# and ADO.NET classes. Data base is relized on SQL Server 2000 in Transact-SQL language. The integral part of the project is also testing on sample data and application in live business on Honeywells company intranet.

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The purpose of this end-thesis was to examine how the information flow associated with the defect scrapping process could be improved using theories such as information theory, Lean and industry 4.0. The thesis was written in combination and cooperation with a business which follows the Lean methodology. To fulfil this purpose a qualitative study was performed at a department at the partner company with the goal of creating an understanding of the current state and consensus of the current defect scrapping process and its information flow. Based on the data collected a qualitative analysis was performed where a number of themes appeared. The main themes were connected to the routines, feedback, lack of information, information asymmetry and knowledge. From the analysis of the current state it became clear that there were areas for improvement in the defect scrapping process and the associated information flow. Currently the defect scrapping process is very manual. Data collected from the lists once per month is manually put into the system by a technician. A process which is both complicated and time consuming, and which additionally adds the risk of human error. Likewise, the information flow is clearly lacking, first and foremost not all defects which are scrapped are documented, which naturally leads to incorrect information in the system and the subsequent information flow. Additionally, the data which is gathered is primarily accessed by a small number of people, and the information regarding previous defects does not reach the shop floor. Meaning a circular information flow is not achieved and in the current state primarily flows in one direction, which is upwards. Based on the findings in the result chapter and the analysis chapter an industry 4.0 recommendation was presented with the purpose of remedying and improving the current information logistics at the partner company, and furthermore companies which find themselves in similar situations. Thus enabling the use of industry 4.0 in combination with information logistics and Lean for improved information management in the defect scrapping process.

Mindfulness and cognitive control are overlapping constructs. Mindfulness involves maintaining awareness of the current experience by sustaining attention to relevant information and disengaging from irrelevant information. Cognitive control refers to the set of processes involved in selecting and monitoring information relevant to our goals, while ignoring or inhibiting information irrelevant to these goals. This dissertation contains three studies that examine the convergence between mindfulness and cognitive control. The first study examined the relationship between self-reported mindfulness and behavioural correlates of cognitive control using the Digit Stroop task within two experimental contexts: when task difficulty was not manipulated (non-titrated) and when task difficulty was increased (titrated). The results demonstrate that self-reported mindfulness predicted behavioural performance, but only when cognitive control processes were sufficiently challenged by increasing task difficulty. The second study examined the precise neural mechanisms underlying the relationship between mindfulness and cognitive control using electroencephalography (EEG) to identify changes to event-related potentials (ERPs) during the non-titrated Digit Stroop task after two weeks of daily training. By introducing a novel active control training condition (guided visual imagery meditation) that contrasted passive attention regulation with the focused attention regulation in mindfulness, the results isolated electrophysiological correlates of cognitive control that were uniquely tied to mindfulness training, including increased efficiency in conflict detection, delayed attentional capture by incongruent stimuli, faster conscious evaluation of all stimuli, and delayed automatic detection of all errors. The third study replicated and extended these findings by examining changes to ERPs when the cognitive control system was challenged using the titrated Digit Stroop task. Compared to the active control group, the mindfulness group showed enhanced sensory processing, resistance to stimulus-driven attentional capture and faster conscious evaluation of all stimuli after training. Taken together, this dissertation establishes an empirical relationship between behavioural and electrophysiological correlates of mindfulness and cognitive control. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Mindfulness is a way of paying attention, on purpose, in the present-moment and nonjudgmentally. By focusing attention on present goals and redirecting attention from distractions, mindfulness enhances moment-to-moment awareness of fluctuations in cognitive demands. As a result, meditators can develop greater control over a set of cognitive processes that promote useful behavioural responses. This deliberate practice overlaps with a construct known as “cognitive control”—a set of cognitive processes that facilitate information processing and behaviour to vary adaptively from moment to moment depending on current goals. This dissertation examines the relationship between mindfulness and cognitive control using electroencephalography (EEG) to record ongoing brain activity during two variations of a cognitive control task designed to manipulate difficulty. The results show that self-reported mindfulness predicts cognitive control performance when task difficulty is increased and that two weeks of daily mindfulness training leads to changes in neural activity underlying this cognitive control performance.

Our lives are dominated by a complex visual world, and spatially selective attention allows us to process only the most relevant information. Previous evidence suggests that if possible locations of stimulus presentation are delineated, attention affects processing in a spatially graded manner. This gradient is seen in both behavioral measures and in visual evoked potentials (VEPs). Stimuli presented close to cued regions elicit faster responses and larger VEPs than those presented farther away. However, both position in the visual field and allocation of attention may contribute to the observed gradients. These relative contributions can be distinguished by comparing responses on physically identical trials when attention is directed to locations at various distances from the stimuli. In the current study, participants attended to one of 12 squares arranged in a circle around fixation. Letters appeared individually, each in one of the squares; 80% were O’s (standards) and 20% were X’s (deviants). Participants were instructed to press a button when an X appeared at the attended location. The largest amplitude N1s (150-200 ms) were observed when participants attended to the location where a standard was presented. VEPs elicited by standards showed evidence of asymmetric attentional gradients. Specifically, the gradient of facilitation spread down more than up. Results also showed that attention had differential effects on the stages of processing indexed at specific time windows. These results confirm that attention can be applied to visual processing in a spatial gradient, reveal its asymmetric distribution, and elaborate on the timing of its selectivity.

Monitoring the accuracy of memory is an automatic but essential process of memory encoding and retrieval. Retrospective memory confidence judgments are making effective and efficient decisions based on one's memories. The neural processes involved in retrospective confidence ratings were investigated with EEG and fMRI using a recognition memory task designed such that participants also rated their confidence in their memory response. Correct trials (hits and correct rejections) were examined for differences related to the participants' level of confidence in their response. There were significant differences in electrophysiological activity (in the FN400 and the late parietal component) associated with confidence rating, with mean deflection increasing as confidence decreased. fMRI analysis revealed activity that appeared to be specific to the process of confidence rating. Activity was found to increase in the medial frontal, lateral frontal, and lateral parietal cortices as confidence decreases, but only for hits. In the lateral frontal, lateral parietal, and medial parietal cortices, activity decreased as confidence increased. These data indicate that there are neural mechanisms specifically related to making retrospective memory confidence judgments.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Two interesting properties of the distribution of spatially selective attention have been noted in the behavioral and electrophysiological literature. First, there is a graded field of attention that expands from the center of the attended area. Second, the size of the attended area can be adjusted to be either larger or smaller in order to match the demands of the current task. Five event-related potential (ERP) studies are presented that extend these findings in several important ways; 1) The time frame of these two distribution properties is different. Results are consistent with a two stage model of spatial attention in which visual processing is initially enhanced for all stimuli presented near the center of the attended area as indexed by the amplitude of the first negative peak in the waveform (N1). Subsequently, the effects of narrowing or expanding the attentional field to the relevant size affects visual processing as indexed by the amplitude of the second negative peak (N2). 2) Object boundaries had limited impact on either the spread of the initial gradient of spatial selection or the scale of attention. 3) When selecting visual stimuli for attentive processing based on features such as color and size there is also a gradient of facilitation, but the impact of this graded selection on visual processing is not observed until later in processing, and is indexed by the amplitude of the selection negativity (SN). Furthermore, similar to the lack of interaction between object boundaries and the range of cued locations, the gradients of feature-based selection are not affected by the range of cued features.

Previous findings have discovered that self-related stimuli such as one’s own face relative to a familiar or an unknown face leads to enhanced neural processing. Preferential processing of the self-face has been observed at various event-related potential (ERP) components, both when stimuli were presented on a subliminal and supraliminal level. This study extends previous research on the relationship between self-preferential processing and awareness by examining whether the visual awareness negativity (VAN) component, a proposed early signature of visual awareness, is modulated by the self-face compared to a personally familiar face. By the use of backward masking paradigm, faces were presented on the left or the right side of the screen, after which participants performed localization and identification task, and rated their perceived awareness. We found more negative amplitude for supraliminal compared to subliminal faces, indexed by the VAN (180-280ms). Further, the self-face displayed more negative amplitude than the familiar-face, supporting findings of self-referential processing. However, no interaction between face identity and awareness was found. These findings suggest that preferential processing of the self-face does not depend on the level of awareness.