In this work, we develop a social behavioral model designed for multi-agent systems for solving the collective sorting task. Experiments show that under this model agents are capable of improving their performance significantly and can achieve better results than conventional swarms of agents lacking communication and social abilities.

This research studied how Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients can communicate after losing speech and typing abilities. To create a friendly and useful HCI system, this research studied the graphical user interfaces (GUI) through participant observations, to understanding how to innovate a better communication device for ALS patients and the elderly, to gaining a better quality of life.

Linguists interested in language evolution tend to focus on combinatorial features and rightly point out the lack of comparable evidence in animal communication. However, human language is based on various unique capacities, such as a motor capacity of sophisticated vocal control and a cognitive capacity of acting on others' psychological states. These features are only present in very rudiment...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether communication at 2 years predicted communication at 4 years in children with cerebral palsy (CP); and whether the age a child first produces words imitatively predicts change in speech production. METHOD 30 children (15 males) with CP participated and were seen 5 times at 6-month intervals between 24 and 53 months (mean age at time 1 = 26.9 months (SD 1.9)). Var...

BACKGROUND Alternative communication. AIM To evaluate the efficacy of the adapted Pecs and Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) in the communication of a child with cerebral palsy. METHOD The participant of this study was a 9 year and 10 months old girl, with athetoid quadriplegia. All stages of the adapted Pecs were applied (Walter, 2000), using the PCS pictures (Johnson, 1998), associated ...

Adult cochlear implant candidates' abilities to cope with communication breakdown were assessed using the Communication Strategies Task (CST). Forty adult cochlear implant candidates with acquired hearing losses and 10 adults with normal hearing served as subjects. Appropriateness of responses to the CST were rated by 10 certified speech-language pathologists and audiologists. Seventy-six perce...

OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to explore the relationship between communication problems associated with dementia and caregiver burden, within the context of problem behaviors and cognitive and functional abilities of the care recipient. METHODS A scale on communication problems associated with dementia was developed and administered to 89 family caregivers. Participants also completed...

Over the past few years, much attention has focused upon whether sign language, being a visual communication method, is compatible with the cochlear implant, an auditory aid. A substantial proportion of children with cochlear implants utilize sign language. Recent pediatric implantees in the U.S. are about equally divided between those who use Oral Communication (OC) and those who use Total Com...