Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-143).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: James E. Hoffman, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

We examine the tolerance of dining philosopher algorithms subject to process crash faults in arbitrary conflict graphs. This classic problem is unsolvable in asynchronous message-passing systems subject to even a single crash fault. By contrast, dining can be solved in synchronous systems capable of implementing the perfect failure detector P (from the Chandra-Toueg hierarchy). We show that dining is also solvable in weaker timing models using a combination of the trusting detector T and the strong detector S; Our approach extends and composes two currents of previous research. First, we define a parametric generalization of Lynch’s classic algorithm for hierarchical resource allocation. Our construction converts any mutual exclusion algorithm into a valid dining algorithm. Second, we consider the fault-tolerant mutual exclusion algorithm (FTME) of Delporte-Gallet, et al., which uses T and the strong detector S to mask crash faults in any environment. We instantiate our dining construction with FTME, and prove that the resulting dining algorithm guarantees masking tolerance to crash faults. Our contribution (1) defines a new construction for transforming mutual exclusion algorithms into dining algorithms, and (2) demonstrates a better upper-bound on the fault-detection capabilities necessary to mask crash faults in dining philosophers.

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Auditory maskers, whether intelligible speech or unintelligible noise, can make it difficult to hear and/or process a target sentence. These maskers can present challenges to peripheral processing as well as central processing. Change in pupil size is a physiological index of listening effort and can be measured using eye tracking technology. The aim of the study was to compare listening effort, as measured by changes in pupil size in individuals with normal hearing, between the conditions of Intelligible Speech Masker (ISM), Speech Shaped, Speech Envelope-Modulated Noise Maskers (SSSNM), and Stationary Noise Masker (SNM). Spatial separation between target and maskers was used throughout all conditions. The study design used adaptive tracks that varied the Target to Masker Ratios (TMRs) in each of the 3 conditions in order to identify the TMR corresponding to the 75% correct point on the psychometric function for each participant. Once the TMR corresponding to the 75% correct point was identified, this TMR was held constant for 24 trials while pupil size was recorded. The results show that the ISM condition elicited a higher degree of listening effort compared to either of the noise conditions (SNM and SSSNM). These results reveal that more effort is required to ignore background speech than to ignore background noise at equivalent TMRs. Understanding the amount of effort that young, normal-hearing listeners must exert in these different types of situations will provide a foundation for later measuring the amount of effort that individuals with hearing loss and/or cognitive-linguistic deficits (e.g., aphasia) must exert in the same situations. / 2023-05-19T00:00:00Z

Two questions can be posed for study: 1) Will the effect of auditory masking provided by a clinical noise significantly affect the performance of hearing children on the Knox Cube Test? 2) Are there significant differences among brain-injured, mentally, retarded, and "normal" children in ability to adjust to auditory masking in the performance of the Knox Cube Test?

This thesis claims that metacontrast unmasking is influenced by attentional orienting towards the target location. This view is contrary to Breitmeyer, Rudd and Dunn (1981), who proposed that metacontrast unmasking is the product of inhibition of the primary mask's transient signal by the sustained signal of a secondary mask. A series of experiments demonstrate the thesis using a task in which observers discriminated the missing corner of a target diamond. Experiments 1 and 2 replicated metacontrast masking and unmasking, respectively, experiment 3 illustrated that contour proximity had no influences on unmasking, contrary to dual-channel inhibition theory. Experiments 4 and 5 indicated that metacontrast unmasking was influenced by spatial orienting. We propose an addition of attention to dual-channel theory as it is incomplete with regards to metacontrast unmasking.

This thesis claims that metacontrast unmasking is influenced by attentional orienting towards the target location. This view is contrary to Breitmeyer, Rudd and Dunn (1981), who proposed that metacontrast unmasking is the product of inhibition of the primary mask's transient signal by the sustained signal of a secondary mask. A series of experiments demonstrate the thesis using a task in which observers discriminated the missing corner of a target diamond. Experiments 1 and 2 replicated metacontrast masking and unmasking, respectively, experiment 3 illustrated that contour proximity had no influences on unmasking, contrary to dual-channel inhibition theory. Experiments 4 and 5 indicated that metacontrast unmasking was influenced by spatial orienting. We propose an addition of attention to dual-channel theory as it is incomplete with regards to metacontrast unmasking. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate