Thesis--M.N. University of Washington, 1960.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-60).

abstract: This study examined the impact of Situation Presence Assessment Method (SPAM) administration on air traffic control (ATC) students’ task workload and performance in high-fidelity ATC simulations. ATC students performed high-fidelity en-route simulations in two conditions: baseline conditions (without SPAM questions) and SPAM conditions. The data collected show that while workload in the two conditions were not significantly different, there was a trend of higher mental workload in SPAM conditions than in baseline conditions. Performance immediately following SPAM questions was revealed to be poorer than that preceding the SPAM questions and that over the equivalent time periods in the baseline conditions. The results suggest that a "Ready" signal before a SPAM question may not be enough to eliminate the impact of SPAM administration on ATC students’ workload and performance in high-fidelity en-route simulations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Technology 2016

This experiment investigated how different percentages of incentive pay affected performance on a number-entering task. It was hypothesized that the critical factor in incentive pay systems was the absolute amount of money that could be earned in an incentive pay paradigm. A counterbalanced single-subject reversal design was employed to examine effects of incentives on performance. Twelve subjects were used in the experiment with three subjects assigned to one of four experimental paradigms. Two of the experimental paradigms incorporated 10% and 100% incentive pay conditions, while the other two experimental paradigms incorporated absolute pay conditions equal to the 10% and 100% incentive pay conditions. Results indicated that similar trends in productivity occurred across subjects in all four experimental paradigms.

Each disaster presents itself with a unique set of characteristics that are hard to determine a priori. Thus disaster management tasks are inherently uncertain, requiring knowledge sharing and quick decision making that involves coordination across different levels and collaborators. While there has been an increasing interest among both researchers and practitioners in utilizing knowledge management to improve disaster management, little research has been reported about how to assess the dynamic nature of disaster management tasks, and what kinds of knowledge sharing are appropriate for different dimensions of task uncertainty characteristics. Using combinations of qualitative and quantitative methods, this research study developed the dimensions and their corresponding measures of the uncertain dynamic characteristics of disaster management tasks and tested the relationships between the various dimensions of uncertain dynamic disaster management tasks and task performance through the moderating and mediating effects of knowledge sharing. Furthermore, this research work conceptualized and assessed task uncertainty along three dimensions: novelty, unanalyzability, and significance; knowledge sharing along two dimensions: knowledge sharing purposes and knowledge sharing mechanisms; and task performance along two dimensions: task effectiveness and task efficiency. Analysis results of survey data collected from Miami-Dade County emergency managers suggested that knowledge sharing purposes and knowledge sharing mechanisms moderate and mediate uncertain dynamic disaster management task and task performance. Implications for research and practice as well directions for future research are discussed.

The problem of the present study was to investigate the effects of verbal praise and reproof on digit-symbol task performances of two groups of children.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of determining the relationship of selected abilities to motor skill performance. Specifically this study analysed the performance trend on a gross motor task to determine the degree of relationship between the abilities: agility, balance, depth perception, flexibility, reaction time and speed of arm movement, and strength and performance scores on a wall volley task at successive stages of task practice.

Sociality shapes patterns of senescence, evidenced by the remarkable lifespan plasticity of social insect queens and workers. Ants, exemplars of eusociality, provide diverse systems to explore the sociobiology of senescence by examining how sterile workers partition colony labor over their lifespans, and how neurobiological factors affect transitions among social roles and age-related task performance efficacies. Integrating sociobiology, senescence theory, and neurobiology, I examined the relationship of chronological age and social behavior during the ~140-day lifespan of workers of the ant Pheidole dentata. I critically analyzed programmed senescence in respect to the sociobiology of worker longevity and evaluated how large colony size achieved through selection for extended worker lifespan enhances colony fitness. My study found no support for worker programmed senescence. Further testing senescence theory, I determined if workers declined behaviorally as they aged due to increased apoptotic cell death and changes in synaptic complexes associated with higher-order processing in the brain. Using robust behavioral assays I found aging was not correlated with declines in sensory responsiveness or motor functions associated with foraging, nursing, and prey-capture tasks, or activity level and phototaxis. Old minor workers (95 days) followed pheromone trails for greater distances than 20-day old minors and showed higher activity levels, suggesting improvement in behavioral performance. Neural substrates likely underscoring task performance were maintained with age: synaptic complex density was constant and apoptosis was unchanged with age. Sensory and motor control brain regions did not show age-related increases in neurodegeneration. Worker spatial location predicted social role independent of age: foragers exhibited higher activity levels and more aggressive predatory behavior than nurses. Serotonin and dopamine titers increased from 20 to 120 days but showed no clear correlation with social role. Pharmacological manipulations of brain serotonin had no effect on brood care, predatory response, activity, or phototaxis. Finally, I assessed arborization of a serotonergic neuron hypothesized to underscore task performance to determine how aging across subcastes influences neuronal structure. Major workers showed greater branching complexity than minors and an age-related increase in arbor complexity. P. dentata workers appear to show negligible behavioral and neural senescence throughout their lifespans.

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