Short-term memory (STM) has demonstrated to be affected by serial order, involving the use of rhythm and entrainment to stimuli. However, less is known of the extent of this relationship and language learning, and the literature focuses on words rather than sentences. Moreover, the literature lacks an exploration of whether this relationship has a correlation with MMN responses. We had 30 participants (21 female) complete two sentence repetition tasks, a temporal rhythm accuracy task, and two temporal order judgment tasks. We also recorded the electroencephalograms (EEG) from 24 of the participants (17 female) while they listened to syllables differing by time of presentation and differing by consonant and vowel. We then correlated performance on these tasks to performance on a foreign-word learning (FWL) task. We hypothesized that the STM tasks would predict performance in the FWL task, and we explored whether temporal accuracy and word learning correlated with MMN responses to early stimuli. We found that only the foreign sentence repetition task significantly predicted performance in the FWL task. We also did not find any significant correlations with MMN responses and temporal accuracy and word learning abilities. Findings show that with previous exposure to a novel language, the prosodic pattern of the foreign language is stored temporarily in STM, which enhances learning of the foreign words. Further exploration is needed to understand the relationship of temporal order and language learning with cortical responses. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Spoken language is driven by rhythm and keeping track of this rhythm allows us to keep track of the order in which sounds in language are presented. Remembering the order of items requires the use of short-term memory. The better one is at repeating back the order of items, the better they are at learning new words. This thesis investigates the relationship between various short-term memory tasks (English nonword sentence repetition task, foreign sentence repetition task, temporal rhythm accuracy task, auditory judgment task, visual judgment task) and foreign-word learning. This thesis also explores whether there is a correlation between one’s brain responses to differing stimuli and a person’s ability to track the timing and order of items, as well as a person’s ability to learn new words. The results reveal that only the foreign sentence repetition task, using the same foreign language as the word learning task, significantly predicts one’s ability to accurately learn foreign words. The results did not show any significant interaction between one’s neural responses and rhythm or word learning. These results suggest that the ability to maintain the order of items in memory aids word learning, but further exploration is required with regards to non-verbal stimuli and neural responses. It is important to investigate individual differences in repetition tasks that require short-term memory, as this will aid in understanding normal language development and language acquisition.

Yes / Participants generated both autobiographical memories (AMs) that they believed to be true and intentionally fabricated autobiographical memories (IFAMs). Memories were constructed while a concurrent memory load (random 8-digit sequence) was held in mind or while there was no concurrent load. Amount and accuracy of recall of the concurrent memory load was reliably poorer following generation of IFAMs than following generation of AMs. There was no reliable effect of load on memory generation times; however, IFAMs always took longer to construct than AMs. Finally, replicating previous findings, fewer IFAMs had a field perspective than AMs, IFAMs were less vivid than AMs, and IFAMs contained more motion words (indicative of increased cognitive load). Taken together, these findings show a pattern of systematic differences that mark out IFAMs, and they also show that IFAMs can be identified indirectly by lowered performance on concurrent tasks that increase cognitive load.

Yes / Objective: This study investigated whether dual tasks make disproportionately high demands in Huntington’s disease (HD) compared with controls, and also tested the Multiple Resources Theory. Method: Thirteen HD participants and 13 controls completed 2 dual task sets that varied in difficulty and complexity: Set 1 paired simple choice reaction time (RT) with digit forward, and Set 2 paired complex choice RT with digit backward. Results: We found that HD participants were overall slower; however, although they maintained similar levels of accuracy in the simple choice RT tasks with controls, their accuracy decreased in the complex choice RT tasks. In addition, we found that HD participants were more susceptible to speed-accuracy trade-offs. Despite that, they did not show greater dual task costs than controls. Conclusions: Overall, our findings do not support the Multiple Resources Theory, but they do provide some support for the Unitary Resource Theory and the attentional impairment hypothesis.

This paper presents an investigation into the optimal scheduling of realtime tasks of a multiprocessor system using hybrid genetic algorithms (GAs). A comparative study of heuristic approaches such as `Earliest Deadline First (EDF)¿ and `Shortest Computation Time First (SCTF)¿ and genetic algorithm is explored and demonstrated. The results of the simulation study using MATLAB is presented and discussed. Finally, conclusions are drawn from the results obtained that genetic algorithm can be used for scheduling of real-time tasks to meet deadlines, in turn to obtain high processor utilization.

The purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate the diagnostic utility of the Conners CPT and the P ASAT as a laboratory-based measures of attention, vigilance, working memory, and sustained mental effort in clinic-referred adults with and without ADHD. Moreover, the study was conducted in order to obtain additional evidence in ongoing efforts to clarify the classification and phenomenological status of ADHD in adults. Subjects were adults seeking psychological evaluation for a variety of presenting problems including, emotional, occupational, relational, and/or adjustment, difficulties. Standardized clinical evaluations were conducted and structured clinical interviews were used to determine clinical diagnosis and group membership (ADHD vs. Non-ADHD). It was hypothesized that ADHD adults would exhibit significantly more comorbid psychopathology, learning problems, and verbal memory deficits than non-ADHD adults. It was also hypothesized that the findings from the CPT (Conners, 1992) and P ASAT (Gronwall, 1977) would reliably discriminate these groups (ADHD and non-ADHD) of clinic-referred adults. While ADHD adults did not exhibit a higher frequency of learning disabilities, they did have significantly more comorbid psychopathology and were much more likely to experience clinically impairing deficits in verbal memory functioning. The combined results of the laboratory tasks accurately identified diagnostic group status in over 9 of 10 cases for ADHD adults and in approximately 8 of 10 cases for non-ADHD adults. The relevance of these findings for the psychiatric classification and experiential nature of ADHD in adults, as well as the clinical diagnostic utility of these laboratory measures for adult ADHD is discussed. / Master of Science

Zero-shot video generation involves generating videos of concepts (action classes) that are not seen in the training phase. Even though the research community has explored conditional video generation for long high-resolution videos, zero-shot video remains a fairly unexplored and challenging task. Most recent works can generate videos for action-object or motion-content pairs, where both the object (content) and action (motion) are observed separately during training, yet results often lack spatial consistency between foreground and background and cannot generalize to complex scenes with multiple objects or actions. In this work, we propose Concept2Vid that generates zero-shot videos for classes that are completely unseen during training. In contrast to prior work, our model is not limited to a predefined fixed set of class-level attributes, but rather utilizes semantic information from multiple videos of the same topic to generate samples from novel classes. We evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively on the Kinetics400 and UCF101 datasets, demonstrating the effectiveness of our proposed model. / Master of Science / Humans are able to generalize unseen scenarios without explicit feedback. They can be thought of as self-learning Artificial Intelligence agents that can collect data from various modalities (video, audio, text) found in surrounding environments, to develop new knowledge and acclimate to unseen situations without explicit feedback. Many recent studies have learned how to perform this process for images, but very few have been able to extend it to videos. Videos provide rich multi-modal data, such as text, audio, and images, and hence are composed of multifaceted knowledge that can introduce more complex temporal and spatial constraints. Leveraging videos in combination with text and audio data can assist intelligent systems to learn similar to how humans do. Zero-shot video generation (ZSVG) involves generating videos of concepts that are not seen in the training phase of a machine learning model. Generating a zero-shot video requires a multitude of temporal and spatial dependencies. In generating a video, not only does the model need temporal coherence but also the understanding of object properties. Current approaches for ZSVG are not well suited due to these challenges. We propose Concept2Vid which generates zero-shot videos for classes that are completely unseen during training. In contrast to prior work, our model is not limited to a predefined fixed set of class descriptions, but rather utilizes semantic information from multiple videos of the same topic to generate samples from novel classes. We evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively on the Kinetics400 and UCF101 datasets, demonstrating the effectiveness of our proposed model.

Forskning visar att elever som utvecklar en tidig taluppfattning har lättare för möjligheten att ta till sig ytterligare kunskap inom matematiken. Forskning visar även på att arbete med laborativt material kan gynna elevernas inlärning. Vi ville därmed undersöka och synliggöra hur stor möjlighet som läromedel i årskurs 3 ger eleverna till att arbeta laborativt med taluppfattning. Även möjligheten till att föra resonemang i samband med dessa uppgifter undersöktes. Detta för att ge insikt för lärare när de ska göra val av läromedel eller lägga upp sin undervisning. En innehållsanalys har genomförts utefter ett analysschema. Två matematikbokserier valdes ut bestående av två böcker vardera (A och B) och deras innehåll analyserades utefter några utformade kriterier. Sammanlagt har fyra böcker riktade mot årskurs 3 analyserats för att besvara studiens syfte. Böckerna analyserades utefter; antal laborativa och icke-laborativa uppgifter som uppfyller kriterierna för taluppfattning samt vilka av dessa som förekom i böckerna. Även om uppgifterna lät eleverna föra resonemang antecknades. Det insamlade resultatet visade på att det var befintligt fler icke-laborativa uppgifter som uppfyllde kriterierna för taluppfattningen än de laborativa. Trots det låga antalet laborativa uppgifter visade resultatet att eleverna fick mer möjlighet till att föra egna resonemang i de laborativa uppgifterna jämfört med de icke-laborativa. Böckernas innehåll hade olika fokus och detta speglas även av det insamlade resultatet. Trots detta återfinns uppgifter som uppfyller samtliga av kriterierna för taluppfattning i alla av de analyserade böckerna. En slutsats är då att en fungerande undervisning kan bedrivas med hjälp av de valda läromedlen, dock kan läraren behöva komplettera innehållet med mer laborativa inslag i undervisningen. / Research shows that students who develop an early number sense find it easier to acquire further mathematical knowledge. Additionally, more research indicates that working with manipulative materials can benefit students' development. Therefore, we wanted to investigate and highlight the extent to which textbooks for Swedish students in Grade 3 allow them to work with manipulative activities related to number sense. Something that was also investigated was whether the textbooks encourage the students to reason. This knowledge could assist teachers in making decisions regarding textbook selection and the structure of their teaching. Two series of textbooks aimed towards 3rd grade mathematics, each consisting of two textbooks (A and B), were chosen for analysis. The analysis of the four textbooks were based on specific criteria.  A content analysis was conducted using an analysis framework. Two series of mathematic textbooks were selected and their content was analyzed based on specific criteria. The books were divided into 3A and 3B, resulting in a total of four books that were investigated. The analysis was based on certain criteria that included: the number of manipulative and non-manipulative tasks meeting the selected criteria for number sense (FoNS), and which of these tasks were present in the books. It was also noted whether the tasks allowed students to engage in further reasoning connected to the assignments. The collected results revealed that there were more non-manipulative tasks meeting the criteria for number sense compared to manipulative tasks. Despite the low number of manipulative tasks, the results indicated that students had more opportunities to engage in reasoning during the manipulative tasks compared to the non-manipulative ones. The content of the books had different focuses, which was reflected in the collected results. However, tasks meeting all the criteria for number sense were found in all of the analyzed books. Therefore, a conclusion is that teaching can be conducted using the selected textbooks, but teachers may need to supplement the content with more manipulative elements in their teaching.

Användandet av molnbaserade språkmodeller blir allt vanligare i takt med att de blir mer tillgängliga, och deras kapacitet att bearbeta och generera text förbättras ständigt. Men för användare och organisationer som arbetar med känslig information uppstår en utmaning, eftersom all data som behandlas av dessa modeller överförs till serveroperatören. I och med detta växer behovet av så kallade On-Premisemodeller, som kan köras lokalt på en användares eller organisations egna servrar. Därför ämnar detta projekt till att identifiera, testa och jämföra flera on-premise-språkmodeller med inriktning på textbehandling. Detta inkluderar uppgifter som att upptäcka fel i stavning, grammatik och bruk av skiljetecken, samt att analysera språkanvändning. Projektet innebar att söka efter modeller på hemsidan HuggingFace.co som hanterar både svenska och engelska och sedan implementera dem på olika AWS EC2-instanser. Efter en inledande granskning av flera modeller, identifierades två särskilt lovande alternativ, Viking och GPT-SW3, som var tillräckligt kapabla att genomföra de mer avancerade sorters tester. De utvalda modellerna genomgick en omfattande process av prompt-engineering för att optimera deras prestanda och maximera deras förmåga att demonstrera sin kompetens. Efter detta skapades standardiserade tester för grammatik, stavning och bruk av skiljetecken, samt översättning. Dessutom skapades mer avancerade tester som inkluderade omstrukturering av text, samt förenkling och anpassning av texter till en specifik persona. Resultaten av dessa tester visade att båda prövade modeller hade god förmåga att korrigera fel i stavning, grammatik, och bruk av skiljetecken i texter, samt översättning av texter. GPT-SW3 visade även god förmåga i personatesterna, medan modellen Viking inte var kapabel till att genomföra denna sorts behandling av texter. Parallellt med testandet av språkmodellerna utvecklades ett skript för att analysera hårdvarans prestanda och kostnad under exekveringen av språkmodellerna. Detta skript kördes på flera olika AWS EC2-instanser, var och en utrustad med olika typer av hårdvara. Prestationerna från de olika instanserna jämfördes, och resultaten visade att körning av modellerna på Inferentia2chip gav den bästa prestandan och den lägsta kostnaden per genererat ord, fastän denna hårdvara hade den högsta timkostnaden. Alla CPUinstanser som testades presterade betydligt sämre än GPU-instansen, men var markant billigare att hyra per timme. Detta kan vara en fördel för on-demand-applikationer där kostnadseffektivitet prioriteras. / The use of cloud-based language models is becoming increasingly common as they become more accessible, and their capabilities to process and generate text are continually improving. However, a challenge arises for users and organizations handling sensitive data because all processed data is transmitted to the server operator. As a result, there’s a growing need for so-called On-Premise models, which can be operated locally on the servers of a user or organization. This project aims to identify, test, and compare several on-premise language models, "Focusing on tasks such as detecting errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation, as well as analyzing language usage. The project involved searching for models that support both Swedish and English on the website Huggingface.co and implementing them on various AWS EC2 instances. After an initial assessment, two particularly promising models, Viking and GPT-SW3, were identified as capable enough for more detailed testing. The selected models underwent an extensive prompt-engineering process to optimize their performance and maximize their ability to demonstrate their capabilities. Following this, standardized tests for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and translation were developed. Additionally,more advanced tests were designed, including restructuring, simplifying, and adapting texts to specific personas. The results from the tests showed that both tested models had high proficiency in correcting errors regarding spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and in translating texts between Swedish and English. GPT-SW3 had high proficiency in rewriting texts to use other styles, such as using formal or simplistic language, while the Viking model had no proficiency in achieving these types of tasks. Concurrently with the model testing, a script was developed to analyze the performance and costs of the hardware during the model executions. This script was implemented on several AWS EC2 instances, each equipped with different hardware types. The performance of these instances was compared, and the results showed that running the models on the Inferentia2 chip offered the best performance and the lowest cost per generated word, despite having the highest hourly rental cost. All CPU instances tested performed significantly worse than the GPU instance but were a lot cheaper to rent per hour. This could be advantageous for on-demand applications where cost efficiency is a priority.

The rapid growth of an older demographic is an increasing concern around the world. Older people have been reported to suffer from physiological and neuromuscular declines in several systems including skeletal muscles, central nervous system, cardiovascular processes and respiratory function. These age-related changes are often reflected through impairments in functional performance of occupational tasks as well as activities of daily living. This may make an older population more prone to musculoskeletal disorders and injuries. In addition, health problems and injury risks are likely amplified by factors such as obesity. Obesity has emerged as a serious health concern in the United States in recent decades. However, obesity-related changes in performance and motor control as well as how they will be modified by gender, specifically among older adults, are still largely unexplored. As motor variability has recently been reported to be associated with fatigue development and may have the potential to reveal underlying mechanisms of neuromuscular control, the main goals of this study were to investigate the influence of gender and obesity on motor performance, neuromuscular control and endurance in the elderly, by examining differences in motor variability during intermittent submaximal isometric exertions of the knee and hand. Fifty-two older participants with age over 65 were recruited into four groups: obese male (9), obese female (13), non-obese male (15) and non-obese female (15). The obese groups consisted of those whose BMI was greater than 30 kg/m2. Participants were asked to perform intermittent (15s on and 15s off) isometric handgrip and knee extensions at 30% MVC until exhaustion. Force and muscle activations of the Vastus Lateralis, Rectus Femoris, Extensor Carpi Radialis and Flexor Carpi Radialis muscles were collected through the endurance task. Motor variability was quantified using the coefficient of variation (CV) and sample entropy (SaEn) of the surface electromyography (EMG) and force signals. Motor variability during exercise differed both between males and females, and between obese and non-obese people, reflecting different motor strategies employed in order to prolong endurance. Overall, across all individuals, we observed a significant positive correlation between cycle-to-cycle variability of knee extensor muscle activation during the baseline period of the task and endurance time. As for gender differences, males exhibited longer endurance times than females, and seemed to achieve that through utilizing a motor strategy involving a more variable (higher CV) and less complex (lower SaEn) agonistic muscle activity. Since this was accompanied by a lower fluctuation in the force signal (lower CV) and a higher complexity of force (SaEn), we interpreted this to be a motor strategy involving more variable recruitment of synergistic and antagonistic motor units during the knee extension task to prolong endurance time, among males compared to females. As for obesity differences, there were no obesity-related changes in endurance time. However, obese individuals exhibited a greater cycle-to-cycle variability that was positively correlated with endurance time during the knee extension task, indicating a larger alteration in the recruitment of motor units across successive contractions, which contributed to comparable endurance time and performance with their non-obese counterparts. During the hand-grip tasks, variabilities in force and muscle activity followed similar trends as the knee extension task. However, there were no significant gender or obesity differences in endurance time, and there also weren't any significant correlations between any of the dependent variables with endurance time. Thus, this study was a basic investigation into changes in motor variability and how it was associated with the development of fatigue among older adults; and the potential influences of gender and obesity on the relationships. Two tasks of high relevance to both occupational life and activities of daily living, i.e. knee extension and hand-grip were considered. Our findings enhance the theoretical understanding of the underlying neuromuscular control patterns and their relationship with fatigue for different individuals. Given that both aging and obesity rates are rising continuously and becoming a substantial health and safety problem especially in the occupational environment, the results from this study are both timely and critical for practical design applications, especially by recognizing the importance of having a variable motor pattern in task performance, even among older adults. / MS / Obesity rates in the geriatric population has emerged as serious health concern in recent decades. Yet, obesity-related differences in neuromuscular performance and neuromotor control during fatiguing tasks, as well as how they are modified by gender, specifically among older adults, are still largely unexplored. In recent decades, motor variability, referring to the natural variations in postures, movements and muscle activity, has been observed in all physical tasks and linked with fatigue development. It may have the potential to reveal underlying mechanisms of neuromuscular control. Thus, the main goals of this study were to investigate the influence of gender and obesity on motor variability and performance in the elderly, by studying intermittent isometric muscle contractions. Fifty-two older adults (Mean age: 73 (SD 6) years) were recruited into four groups: 9 obese males, 13 obese females, 15 non-obese males, and 15 non-obese females 15. Participants performed intermittent (15s contraction and 15s rest) isometric knee extensions and handgrips at 30% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) until exhaustion. Force and muscle activations of the Vastus Lateralis (VL), Rectus Femoris (RF), Extensor Carpi Radialis (ECR) and Flexor Carpi Radialis (FCR) muscles were collected during knee extension and handgrip tasks. Performance was quantified using endurance time and force fluctuations. Motor variability was quantified using the coefficient of variation (CV) and sample entropy (SaEn) of the muscle activation signals (surface electromyography (EMG)). The CV is a linear estimator that quantified the size of motor variability. The SaEn is the non-linear estimator that can show the complexity of the signal. Across all individuals, larger cycle-to-cycle variability of baseline muscle activation was associated with longer endurance time during the knee extension task. Males exhibited longer endurance times than females, and probably achieved that by utilizing a motor strategy involving more variable recruitment of synergistic and antagonistic motor units during the knee extension task. No obesity-related changes in endurance time were found. However, obese individuals exhibited a greater cycle-to-cycle variability during the knee extension task, indicating a larger alteration in the recruitment of motor units across successive contractions, which contributed to comparable endurance time and performance with their non-obese counterparts. This study was a basic investigation into changes in motor variability and how it was associated with the development of fatigue among older adults; and the potential influences of gender and obesity on the relationships. Given that obesity rates in the older population is rising continuously and becoming a substantial health and safety problem especially in the occupational environment, the results from this study are both timely and critical for practical design applications, especially by recognizing the importance of having a variable motor pattern in task performance, particularly among older adults.

The goal of this ethnographic research study was to illuminate and analyze how one group of students, some identified with disabilities, experienced learning in an inclusive mathematics classroom. The data collection took place in one second-grade general education classroom. An interactional ethnographic approach was used to analyze the motivations of students with disabilities for participating when presented with high-level mathematics tasks within the classroom, as indicated by the Instruction Quality Assessment toolkit. I used Self-Determination Theory as a lens to analyze how students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness impacted their participation. From informants' self-reported perceptions of self-determination through an initially adapted Basic Psychological Needs Assessment survey, I focused my observations on what might impact student motivation or willingness to participate. By uncovering what collaboration and participation looked like in this classroom, as described by key informants and evidenced through their discursive actions, I used a domain and taxonomic analysis to construct and organize my findings. Two taxonomies were constructed, ways to get help and ways to give help, based on informants’ constructions of 1) how to collaborate within their group and 2) how to communicate during a mathematical disagreement. The analysis disclosed two ways of getting help and six ways of giving help. Participation was consistent during high-level or low-level tasks presented by the teacher during collaborative time. The findings revealed that informants preferred the role of giving help and often refused help from group members. There are two major conclusions of this work: 1) There is a need for analysis of student discourse during mathematical disagreements, as students get, give, and refuse help; and 2) Perspectives of students with disabilities in inclusive mathematics classrooms should continue to be explored with efforts to promote mathematical agency in all learners.