Mitre Corporation

About: Mitre Corporation is a company organization based out in Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Air traffic control & National Airspace System. The organization has 4884 authors who have published 6053 publications receiving 124808 citations. The organization is also known as: Mitre & MITRE.

Minding Your Own Business? Mindfulness Decreases Prosocial Behavior for People With Independent Self-Construals.

Abstract: Mindfulness appears to promote individual well-being, but its interpersonal effects are less clear. Two studies in adult populations tested whether the effects of mindfulness on prosocial behavior differ according to individuals' self-construals. In Study 1 (N = 366), a brief mindfulness induction, compared with a meditation control condition, led to decreased prosocial behavior among people with relatively independent self-construals but had the opposite effect among those with relatively interdependent self-construals. In Study 2 (N = 325), a mindfulness induction led to decreased prosocial behavior among people primed with independence but had the opposite effect among those primed with interdependence. The effects of mindfulness on prosocial behavior appear to depend on individuals' broader social goals. This may have implications for the increasing popularity of mindfulness training around the world.

Design and implementation of a database inference controller

Abstract: The Inference Problem compromises database systems which are usually considered to be secure. here, users pose sets of queries and infer unauthorized information from the responses that they obtain. An Inference Controller is a device that prevents and/or detects security violations via inference. We are particularly interested in the inference problem which occurs in a multilevel operating environment. In such an environment, the users are cleared at different security levels and they access a multilevel database where the data is classified at different sensitivity levels. A multilevel secure database management system (MLS/DBMS) manages a multilevel database where its users cannot access data to which they are not authorized. However, providing a solution to the inference problem, where users issue multiple requests and consequently infer unauthorized knowledge is beyond the capability of currently available MLS/DBMSs. This paper describes the design and prototype development of an Inference Controller for a MLS/DBMS that functions during query processing. To our knowledge this is the first such inference controller prototype to be developed. We also describe some extensions to the inference controller so that an integrated solution can be provided to the problem.

Energy-efficient, utility accrual scheduling under resource constraints for mobile embedded systems

Abstract: We present an energy-efficient real-time scheduling algorithm called the Resource-constrained Energy-Efficient Utility Accrual Algorithm (or ReUA). ReUA considers an application model where activities are subject to time/utility function-time constraints, resource dependencies including mutual exclusion constraints, and statistical performance requirements including probabilistically satisfied, activity (timeliness) utility bounds. Further, ReUA targets mobile embedded systems where system-level energy consumption is a major concern. For such a model, we consider the scheduling objectives of (1) satisfying statistical performance requirements, and (2) maximizing system-level energy efficiency, while respecting resource dependencies. Since the problem is NP-hard, ReUA allocates resources using statistical properties of application cycle demands and heuristically computes schedules with a polynomial-time cost. We analytically establish several timeliness and non-timeliness properties of the algorithm. Further, our simulation experiments illustrate ReUA's effectiveness.

How to Evaluate Your Question Answering System Every Day ... and Still Get Real Work Done

Abstract: In this paper, we report on Qaviar, an experimental automated evaluation system for question answering applications. The goal of our research was to find an automatically calculated measure that correlates well with human judges' assessment of answer correctness in the context of question answering tasks. Qaviar judges the response by computing recall against the stemmed content words in the humangenerated answer key. It counts the answer correct if it exceeds a given recall threshold. We determined that the answer correctness predicted by Qaviar agreed with the human 93% to 95% of the time. 41 question-answering systems were ranked by both Qaviar and human assessors, and these rankings correlated with a Kendall’s Tau measure of 0.920, compared to a correlation of 0.956 between human assessors on the same data.

The Workload Curve Subjective Mental Workload

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: In this paper I begin looking for evidence of a subjective workload curve. BACKGROUND: Results from subjective mental workload assessments are often interpreted linearly. However, I hypothesized that ratings of subjective mental workload increase nonlinearly with unitary increases in working memory load. METHOD: Two studies were conducted. In the first, the participant provided ratings of the mental difficulty of a series of digit span recall tasks. In the second study, participants provided ratings of mental difficulty associated with recall of visual patterns. The results of the second study were then examined using a mathematical model of working memory. RESULTS: An S curve, predicted a priori, was found in the results of both the digit span and visual pattern studies. A mathematical model showed a tight fit between workload ratings and levels of working memory activation. CONCLUSION: This effort provides good initial evidence for the existence of a workload curve. The results support further study in applied settings and other facets of workload (e.g., temporal workload). APPLICATION: Measures of subjective workload are used across a wide variety of domains and applications. These results bear on their interpretation, particularly as they relate to workload thresholds. Language: en