This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.

The Capacity Limited, Cognitive Constructionist (CLCC) model of presence is proposed as an information processing model of presence, which is demonstrated to have more theoretical power than extant models. The CLCC model defines information processing paths between attention, working memory, declarative memory and procedural memory, which operate to create and maintain a semantic context or bias. Bottom-up information entering the sensory cortices is filtered by attention into working memory where it forms temporary structures encoding the subject’s experience of the VE. These structures also receive top-down information, which arises in declarative memory. This interaction of top-down and bottom-up data gives the entire model a semantic bias which attempts to keep the subject’s construction of the environment semantically coherent. This allows for inferences and decision making, which translates into high presence. A semantically incoherent construction, or one which does not have enough working memory capacity allocated to it will result in poorer inferences about the environment, and reduced presence. If, as the CLCC model contends, presence involves information processing rather than simple perception, then one would expect to see working memory interference effects and semantic content effects in presence. Six studies were conducted to test these conjectures and validate the CLCC model. Studies 1 – 3 examined the role of working memory and attention on presence (the bottom half of the model), while Studies 4 – 6 examined semantic content and processing effects on presence (the top half of the model). Study 1 manipulated working memory (WM) load during VE exploration. The CLCC prediction was that WM load would interfere with presence. Data from 177 subjects showed smaller effects than predicted: No WM effects on spatial presence, lower naturalness under spatial WM load, and lower engagement under verbal WM load. This suggests that spatial presence makes no use of WM, and that engagement and naturalness make limited use of it. While engagement seems to make use of semantic processing as predicted, naturalness seems to use spatial processing. Study 2 examined WM use by media decoders by repeating Study 1 with a text-based VE. Data from 114 subjects shows no WM effects exist on any of the four ITC-SOPI factors. This supports Study 1’s finding that spatial presence does not use WM, but 3 contradicts results engagement and naturalness. Study 3 examined the relative contribution of attention and WM. 46 subjects viewed VE walkthroughs in three conditions: Viewing one walkthrough only (baseline), viewing two walkthroughs simultaneously (WM load condition), or viewing one walkthrough and a jumbled video simultaneously (attention load condition). The CLCC model predicted the WM load condition would interfere with presence the most, followed by the attention load condition, followed by the baseline. No difference was found across conditions, although naturalness and engagement predicted task performance, indicating that spatial presence is distinct from these factors, in agreement with the findings of Study 1 and 2. Study 4 was a survey of semantic and processing effects on presence. Data from 101 computer gamers indicate that it is how often gamers play presence games (and not how many years they have been playing) that predicts how important they consider presence to their gaming experience. This suggests a moderate term activation effect rather than a long term learning effect. Furthermore, gamers with a high thematic inertia rate presence as important to gaming, indicating a processing effect. Finally, gamers who are capable of integrating non-diegetic music into their experiences rate presence as more important, which supports the CLCC notion that information processing of both semantic and perceptual information is important to presence. Study 5 followed up Study 4 by focusing on one specific content area. 461 flight simulation gamers completed the survey. Findings largely agree with those of Study 4, and strongly support the CLCC model prediction that highly specific expectations of content will reduce presence, while generalized expectations will increase it. Thematic inertia and priming were are also positively associated with presence, as predicted by the CLCC model. Study 6 manipulated non-diegetic information (background music) and semantic priming to test semantic processing in presence. The CLCC model predicted that all VE related information (semantic or perceptual) contributes to presence, particularly engagement and naturalness. 181 subjects were primed with materials semantically relevant or irrelevant to VE content, and then experienced the VE with no background music (baseline), music which semantically fit the VE, or VE music which was not a semantic fit. Priming did not influence presence as predicted, but non-diegetic music which fit the VE increased naturalness as predicted. The no-fit music produced the same presence scores as the baseline 4 condition, indicating that it was filtered out by attention, as predicted by the CLCC model. Overall, the CLCC model and data show that content effects occur in presence, and how these are mediated by declarative memory. It also shows that presence is a complex multi-level processing phenomenon. Spatial presence is at a cognitively low level, relying on perceptual (bottom-up) information, while engagement and naturalness are heavily dependent on conceptual (top-down) information, operating as a set of expectation-content comparisons which, when met by the content, lead to enhanced presence. These high and low cognitive forms of presence are largely independent, but do share some semantic effects, likely due to a reliance on common underlying cognitive processes such as priming and thematic inertia. The top half of the CLCC model (which encodes semantic meaning and explains content effects) is better supported that the bottom half (which predicted interference and attention effects). This finding is highly unexpected, as the literature on almost all extant models predicts an important role for attention in presence. From the data however, one must conclude that spatial presence makes no use of working memory, while cognitive higher forms of presence make use of limited amounts of working memory.

The Arizona Child Acoustic Database consists of longitudinal audio recordings from a group of children over a critical period of growth and development (ages 2-7 years). The goal of this database is to 1) document acoustic changes in speech production that may be related to physical growth 2) inform development of a model of speech production for child talkers. This work was funded by NSF BSC-1145011 awarded to Kate Bunton, Ph.D. and Brad Story, Ph.D, Principal Investigators. This database contains longitudinal audio recordings of 55 American English speaking children between the ages of 2-7 at 3-month intervals. Since children began the study at different ages, some children have fewer recording sessions than others. The database can also be used to provide cross-sectional data for children of a specific age. Please refer to the subject data table for information on specific sessions available here http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/316065. All children were recorded using the same protocol; therefore, task numbers are consistent across children and sessions. A calibration tone is included as Record 1 for all sessions. The speech protocol focused on production of English monopthong and diphthong vowels in isolation, sVd, hVd, and monosyllabic real words. In addition, the protocol includes several nonsense vowel-to-vowel transitions. Speakers were prompted either verbally by investigators or by graphical prompts. Details of the protocol with reference to task numbers can be found in the protocol spreadsheet available here http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/316065. Details on data recording: All samples were recorded digitally using an AKG SE 300B microphone with a mouth to mic distance of approximately 10 inches. Signals were recorded digitally using a Marantz PMD671, 16 bit PCM (uncompressed) at 44.1KHz. Recordings are made available in .wav format. Individual zip files contain all recordings from a single session.

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The Arizona Child Acoustic Database consists of longitudinal audio recordings from a group of children over a critical period of growth and development (ages 2-7 years). The goal of this database is to 1) document acoustic changes in speech production that may be related to physical growth 2) inform development of a model of speech production for child talkers. This work was funded by NSF BSC-1145011 awarded to Kate Bunton, Ph.D. and Brad Story, Ph.D, Principal Investigators. This database contains longitudinal audio recordings of 55 American English speaking children between the ages of 2-7 at 3-month intervals. Since children began the study at different ages, some children have fewer recording sessions than others. The database can also be used to provide cross-sectional data for children of a specific age. Please refer to the subject data table for information on specific sessions available here http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/316065. All children were recorded using the same protocol; therefore, task numbers are consistent across children and sessions. A calibration tone is included as Record 1 for all sessions. The speech protocol focused on production of English monopthong and diphthong vowels in isolation, sVd, hVd, and monosyllabic real words. In addition, the protocol includes several nonsense vowel-to-vowel transitions. Speakers were prompted either verbally by investigators or by graphical prompts. Details of the protocol with reference to task numbers can be found in the protocol spreadsheet available here http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/316065. Details on data recording: All samples were recorded digitally using an AKG SE 300B microphone with a mouth to mic distance of approximately 10 inches. Signals were recorded digitally using a Marantz PMD671, 16 bit PCM (uncompressed) at 44.1KHz. Recordings are made available in .wav format. Individual zip files contain all recordings from a single session.

The Arizona Child Acoustic Database consists of longitudinal audio recordings from a group of children over a critical period of growth and development (ages 2-7 years). The goal of this database is to 1) document acoustic changes in speech production that may be related to physical growth 2) inform development of a model of speech production for child talkers. This work was funded by NSF BSC-1145011 awarded to Kate Bunton, Ph.D. and Brad Story, Ph.D, Principal Investigators. This database contains longitudinal audio recordings of 55 American English speaking children between the ages of 2-7 at 3-month intervals. Since children began the study at different ages, some children have fewer recording sessions than others. The database can also be used to provide cross-sectional data for children of a specific age. Please refer to the subject data table for information on specific sessions available here http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/316065. All children were recorded using the same protocol; therefore, task numbers are consistent across children and sessions. A calibration tone is included as Record 1 for all sessions. The speech protocol focused on production of English monopthong and diphthong vowels in isolation, sVd, hVd, and monosyllabic real words. In addition, the protocol includes several nonsense vowel-to-vowel transitions. Speakers were prompted either verbally by investigators or by graphical prompts. Details of the protocol with reference to task numbers can be found in the protocol spreadsheet available here http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/316065. Details on data recording: All samples were recorded digitally using an AKG SE 300B microphone with a mouth to mic distance of approximately 10 inches. Signals were recorded digitally using a Marantz PMD671, 16 bit PCM (uncompressed) at 44.1KHz. Recordings are made available in .wav format. Individual zip files contain all recordings from a single session.

The purpose of the study was to determine if a relationship exists between participation in selected 4-H program components--beef, clothing, foods, and horse and pony--and career selection. The study was designed to provide empirical information for the Cooperative Extension Service about influence upon career selection of selected 4-H program components, generally. If differences existed, (1) sex of participants, (2) selected categories of years of participation tenure, and (3) five selected 4-H experiences were utilized as variables to gain further insights about such differences.An important consideration in the development of the study was the potential usefulness and direct application by Extension professionals in 4-H program planning for career information. The study provided a pioneering step in Indiana toward analyzing the impact of 4-H club participation upon career selection.The population was defined as all 4-H members enrolled in four selected projects in twenty Indiana counties which utilized the Purdue Computer Enrollment System. The 4-H members fell between seventeen and twenty-one years of age at the time of the study. Twenty boys and twenty girls representing each of the four project components in each of the selected counties were randomly selected as participants. Where the total enrollees were fewer than twenty participants for a project component, the entire group population was used.Data were obtained by mailing a questionnaire to each selected participant. The questionnaire was developed to ascertain--(l) perceptions about the degree to which selected 4-H program components generally influenced career selection; (2) sex of participants; (3) participation tenure of members; and (4) perceptions about the degree to which selected 4-H program activities, (a) workshops and meetings, (b) manuals, (c) preparing and presenting demonstrations, (d) working with the 4-H exhibit, and (e) talking with 4-H leaders--influenced career selection.The Chi-square technique at the .05 level was utilized for decisions with regard to a major hypothesis and seven sub-hypotheses. Descriptive analyses were utilized for further probing the data.Primary conclusions were:1. Participation in selected 4-H programs does affect career selection.2. The effect upon career selection is greater for males 4-H participants than female 4-H participants.3. Career selection is influenced more when 4-H participants remain in the respective 4-H program area longer.4. Information meetings and/or workshops influence career selections for horse and pony project participants.5. Reading 4-H manuals influences career selection for foods project participants.6. Preparing and presenting demonstrations influences career selection for participants in foods and horse and pony projects.7. Working with 4-H exhibits influences career selection in all four selected project areas--beef, clothing, foods, and horse and pony.8. Influence upon career selection is greater for participants in 4-H program components, beef and horse and pony, than for participants in clothing and foods.Conduct of the study led to identification of a need for gathering more information about (1) how Extension personnel currently disseminate career information; (2) what type of printed career information materials are currently utilized; (3) where on the Extension personnel priority list career information appears; (5) the ready availability of career information to Extension personnel; and (6) identification of the Cooperative Extension Service personnel role within each community in regard to disseminating career information.

Cytokines play an important regulatory role during immune responses against pathogens. The outcome of an induced cytokine pattern is determined by many factors. It strongly depends on the nature of the pathogen and the host’s ability to control the quality and strength of cytokine signals. In pulmonary infection with Cryptococcus neoformans T helper (Th) 1 and Th17 cell subsets and their associated cytokines confer protection, whereas a Th2-biased response with production of interleukin (IL) -4 confers susceptibility. Since inappropriate Th responses often lead to death in immunosuppressed human patients, especially HIV-1 infected patients, this work aimed to elucidate mechanisms of Th2 induction and regulation by assessing the Th2 hallmark cytokine IL-4 in an experimental model of cryptococcosis. Therefore, a kinetic study of IL-4 expression during 70 days after intranasal infection was performed in susceptible mice. The analyses included characterization of pulmonary leukocytes and Th cell cytokine profiling. IL-4 profiling revealed Cryptococcus-specific IL-4 production not before six weeks after infection. This unexpected finding was further validated by equal results observed in a kinetic study done in IL-4 reporter mice. These mice express a green fluorescent protein simultaneously to IL-4 expression in the same cell and this protein can be detected by flow cytometry. Two cellular sources of IL-4 were identified: Th2 cells were found as expected, but also, as shown for the first time, eosinophilic granulocytes could be demonstrated to secrete IL-4. Next, the influence of eosinophils on pulmonary inflammation and disease development was investigated using ΔdblGATA-1 mice constitutively devoid of eosinophilic granulocytes. Experiments with infected ΔdblGATA-1 mice revealed novel regulatory functions of eosinophils in cryptococcosis. In the absence of eosinophils pulmonary Th cell recruitment was significantly diminished. In addition, Th2 polarization was reduced in ΔdblGATA-1 mice as shown by reduced numbers of Th2 cells expressing the Th2-related surface marker T1/ST2 and reduced albeit not absent IL-4 production by Th cells. In addition to reduced IL-4 production, in the absence of eosinophils Th cells with enhanced interferon-γ and IL-17 production were observed. However, control of pulmonary fungal growth was only slightly enhanced in the absence of eosinophils and dissemination of cryptococci to the brain was unaltered. This may be related to the shared IL-4 production by not only eosinophils but also Th2 cells. Blocking more than one cellular source of IL-4 could be required to prevent immunopathology. To test the hypothesis of gradual IL-4-dependent immunopathology, experiments were conducted using mice expressing only one allele of the IL-4receptor (R) alpha (α) chain (+/-) instead of two (+/+). Indeed, mono-allelic expression of the IL-4Rα resulted in an intermediate expression of the IL-4R on the surface of myeloid and lymphoid cells indicating a gene-dosage effect for IL-4R expression. Infected IL-4Rα+/- mice displayed reduced susceptibility as compared with IL-4Rα+/+ mice, and IL-4Rα-/- mice completely lacking IL-4R expression were found to be protected with survival for the complete time period of the experiment (i.e. up to 275 days). Reduced susceptibility found in infected IL-4Rα+/- mice was associated with decreased serum levels of immunoglobulin E, reduced mucus production by airway epithelia, attenuation of airway hyper-reactivity, and reduced formation of alternatively activated macrophages in lung parenchyma – pathophysiological features, which are typically found in experimental models of asthma but also in asthma of humans and animals. Since no up-regulation of IL-4R by the infection with Cryptococcus neoformans was found, the experimental pulmonary infection model used appears to be a very sensitive low-level IL-4 system. This work highlights the outstanding role of IL-4 and its different cellular sources as well as its receptor in cryptococcosis and provides novel insights into pathogenesis. Moreover, a cellular (i.e. eosinophils) and a molecular (i.e. IL-4R) target for treatment of this mycosis and possibly of asthma is provided.

Zugl.: Kurzfassung von: Köln, Univ., Diss., 2005

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 195 p. : ill. Advisor: Jo Jones, Department of Agricultural Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-161).