The salience network and human personality: Integrity of white matter tracts within anterior and posterior salience network relates to the self-directedness character trait.

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Prillwitz, Conrad; Rüber, Theodor; Reuter, Martin; Montag, Christian; Weber, Bernd; Elger, Christian E; Markett, Sebastian

2018-04-28

A prevailing topic in personality neuroscience is the question how personality traits are reflected in the brain. Functional and structural networks have been examined by functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, however, the structural correlates of functionally defined networks have not been investigated in a personality context. By using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), the present study assesses in a sample of 116 healthy participants how personality traits proposed in the framework of the biopsychosocial theory on personality relate to white matter pathways delineated by functional network imaging. We show that the character trait self-directedness relates to the overall microstructural integrity of white matter tracts constituting the salience network as indicated by DTI-derived measures. Self-directedness has been proposed as the executive control component of personality and describes the tendency to stay focused on the attainment of long-term goals. The present finding corroborates the view of the salience network as an executive control network that serves maintenance of rules and task-sets to guide ongoing behavior. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Interactions of the Salience Network and Its Subsystems with the Default-Mode and the Central-Executive Networks in Normal Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

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Chand, Ganesh B; Wu, Junjie; Hajjar, Ihab; Qiu, Deqiang

2017-09-01

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations suggest that the intrinsically organized large-scale networks and the interaction between them might be crucial for cognitive activities. A triple network model, which consists of the default-mode network, salience network, and central-executive network, has been recently used to understand the connectivity patterns of the cognitively normal brains versus the brains with disorders. This model suggests that the salience network dynamically controls the default-mode and central-executive networks in healthy young individuals. However, the patterns of interactions have remained largely unknown in healthy aging or those with cognitive decline. In this study, we assess the patterns of interactions between the three networks using dynamical causal modeling in resting state fMRI data and compare them between subjects with normal cognition and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In healthy elderly subjects, our analysis showed that the salience network, especially its dorsal subnetwork, modulates the interaction between the default-mode network and the central-executive network (Mann-Whitney U test; p control correlated significantly with lower overall cognitive performance measured by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (r = 0.295; p control, especially the dorsal salience network, over other networks provides a neuronal basis for cognitive decline and may be a candidate neuroimaging biomarker of cognitive impairment.

Aberrant coupling within and across the default mode, task-positive, and salience network in subjects at risk for psychosis.

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Wotruba, Diana; Michels, Lars; Buechler, Roman; Metzler, Sibylle; Theodoridou, Anastasia; Gerstenberg, Miriam; Walitza, Susanne; Kollias, Spyros; Rössler, Wulf; Heekeren, Karsten

2014-09-01

The task-positive network (TPN) is anticorrelated with activity in the default mode network (DMN), and possibly reflects competition between the processing of external and internal information, while the salience network (SN) is pivotal in regulating TPN and DMN activity. Because abnormal functional connectivity in these networks has been related to schizophrenia, we tested whether alterations are also evident in subjects at risk for psychosis. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was tested in 28 subjects with basic symptoms reporting subjective cognitive-perceptive symptoms; 19 with attenuated or brief, limited psychotic symptoms; and 29 matched healthy controls. We characterized spatial differences in connectivity patterns, as well as internetwork connectivity. Right anterior insula (rAI) was selected as seed region for identifying the SN; medioprefrontal cortex (MPFC) for the DMN and TPN. The 3 groups differed in connectivity patterns between the MPFC and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC), and between the rAI and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). In particular, the typically observed antagonistic relationship in MPFC-rDLPFC, rAI-PCC, and internetwork connectivity of DMN-TPN was absent in both at-risk groups. Notably, those connectivity patterns were associated with symptoms related to reality distortions, whereas enhanced connectivity strengths of MPFC-rDLPFC and TPN-DMN were related to poor performance in cognitive functions. We propose that the loss of a TPN-DMN anticorrelation, accompanied by an aberrant spatial extent in the DMN, TPN, and SN in the psychosis risk state, reflects the confusion of internally and externally focused states and disturbance of cognition, as seen in psychotic disorders. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Altered intrinsic organisation of brain networks implicated in attentional processes in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a resting-state study of attention, default mode and salience network connectivity.

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Sidlauskaite, Justina; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund; Roeyers, Herbert; Wiersema, Jan R

2016-06-01

Deficits in task-related attentional engagement in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been hypothesised to be due to altered interrelationships between attention, default mode and salience networks. We examined the intrinsic connectivity during rest within and between these networks. Six-minute resting-state scans were obtained. Using a network-based approach, connectivity within and between the dorsal and ventral attention, the default mode and the salience networks was compared between the ADHD and control group. The ADHD group displayed hyperconnectivity between the two attention networks and within the default mode and ventral attention network. The salience network was hypoconnected to the dorsal attention network. There were trends towards hyperconnectivity within the dorsal attention network and between the salience and ventral attention network in ADHD. Connectivity within and between other networks was unrelated to ADHD. Our findings highlight the altered connectivity within and between attention networks, and between them and the salience network in ADHD. One hypothesis to be tested in future studies is that individuals with ADHD are affected by an imbalance between ventral and dorsal attention systems with the former playing a dominant role during task engagement, making individuals with ADHD highly susceptible to distraction by salient task-irrelevant stimuli.

Saliency U-Net: A regional saliency map-driven hybrid deep learning network for anomaly segmentation

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Karargyros, Alex; Syeda-Mahmood, Tanveer

2018-02-01

Deep learning networks are gaining popularity in many medical image analysis tasks due to their generalized ability to automatically extract relevant features from raw images. However, this can make the learning problem unnecessarily harder requiring network architectures of high complexity. In case of anomaly detection, in particular, there is often sufficient regional difference between the anomaly and the surrounding parenchyma that could be easily highlighted through bottom-up saliency operators. In this paper we propose a new hybrid deep learning network using a combination of raw image and such regional maps to more accurately learn the anomalies using simpler network architectures. Specifically, we modify a deep learning network called U-Net using both the raw and pre-segmented images as input to produce joint encoding (contraction) and expansion paths (decoding) in the U-Net. We present results of successfully delineating subdural and epidural hematomas in brain CT imaging and liver hemangioma in abdominal CT images using such network.

Shared atypical default mode and salience network functional connectivity between autism and schizophrenia.

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Chen, Heng; Uddin, Lucina Q; Duan, Xujun; Zheng, Junjie; Long, Zhiliang; Zhang, Youxue; Guo, Xiaonan; Zhang, Yan; Zhao, Jingping; Chen, Huafu

2017-11-01

Schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are two prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders sharing some similar genetic basis and clinical features. The extent to which they share common neural substrates remains unclear. Resting-state fMRI data were collected from 35 drug-naïve adolescent participants with first-episode schizophrenia (15.6 ± 1.8 years old) and 31 healthy controls (15.4 ± 1.6 years old). Data from 22 participants with ASD (13.1 ± 3.1 years old) and 21 healthy controls (12.9 ± 2.9 years old) were downloaded from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange. Resting-state functional networks were constructed using predefined regions of interest. Multivariate pattern analysis combined with multi-task regression feature selection methods were conducted in two datasets separately. Classification between individuals with disorders and controls was achieved with high accuracy (schizophrenia dataset: accuracy = 83%; ASD dataset: accuracy = 80%). Shared atypical brain connections contributing to classification were mostly present in the default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN). These functional connections were further related to severity of social deficits in ASD (p = 0.002). Distinct atypical connections were also more related to the DMN and SN, but showed different atypical connectivity patterns between the two disorders. These results suggest some common neural mechanisms contributing to schizophrenia and ASD, and may aid in understanding the pathology of these two neurodevelopmental disorders. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1776-1786. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia are two common neurodevelopmental disorders which share several genetic and behavioral features. The present study identified common neural mechanisms contributing to ASD and schizophrenia using resting-state functional MRI data. The results may help to understand

Saliency detection by conditional generative adversarial network

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Cai, Xiaoxu; Yu, Hui

2018-04-01

Detecting salient objects in images has been a fundamental problem in computer vision. In recent years, deep learning has shown its impressive performance in dealing with many kinds of vision tasks. In this paper, we propose a new method to detect salient objects by using Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). This type of network not only learns the mapping from RGB images to salient regions, but also learns a loss function for training the mapping. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that Conditional GAN has been used in salient object detection. We evaluate our saliency detection method on 2 large publicly available datasets with pixel accurate annotations. The experimental results have shown the significant and consistent improvements over the state-of-the-art method on a challenging dataset, and the testing speed is much faster.

Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in Salience and Default Mode Networks and Aberrant Social Processes in Youth at Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis.

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Pelletier-Baldelli, Andrea; Bernard, Jessica A; Mittal, Vijay A

2015-01-01

Social processes are key to navigating the world, and investigating their underlying mechanisms and cognitive architecture can aid in understanding disease states such as schizophrenia, where social processes are highly impacted. Evidence suggests that social processes are impaired in individuals at ultra high-risk for the development of psychosis (UHR). Understanding these phenomena in UHR youth may clarify disease etiology and social processes in a period that is characterized by significantly fewer confounds than schizophrenia. Furthermore, understanding social processing deficits in this population will help explain these processes in healthy individuals. The current study examined resting state connectivity of the salience (SN) and default mode networks (DMN) in association with facial emotion recognition (FER), an integral aspect of social processes, as well as broader social functioning (SF) in UHR individuals and healthy controls. Consistent with the existing literature, UHR youth were impaired in FER and SF when compared with controls. In the UHR group, we found increased connectivity between the SN and the medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the DMN relative to controls. In UHR youth, the DMN exhibited both positive and negative correlations with the somatosensory cortex/cerebellum and precuneus, respectively, which was linked with better FER performance. For SF, results showed that sensory processing links with the SN might be important in allowing for better SF for both groups, but especially in controls where sensory processing is likely to be unimpaired. These findings clarify how social processing deficits may manifest in psychosis, and underscore the importance of SN and DMN connectivity for social processing more generally.

The role of the salience network in processing lexical and nonlexical stimuli in cochlear implant users: an ALE meta-analysis of PET studies.

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Song, Jae-Jin; Vanneste, Sven; Lazard, Diane S; Van de Heyning, Paul; Park, Joo Hyun; Oh, Seung Ha; De Ridder, Dirk

2015-05-01

Previous positron emission tomography (PET) studies have shown that various cortical areas are activated to process speech signal in cochlear implant (CI) users. Nonetheless, differences in task dimension among studies and low statistical power preclude from understanding sound processing mechanism in CI users. Hence, we performed activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of PET studies in CI users and normal hearing (NH) controls to compare the two groups. Eight studies (58 CI subjects/92 peak coordinates; 45 NH subjects/40 peak coordinates) were included and analyzed, retrieving areas significantly activated by lexical and nonlexical stimuli. For lexical and nonlexical stimuli, both groups showed activations in the components of the dual-stream model such as bilateral superior temporal gyrus/sulcus, middle temporal gyrus, left posterior inferior frontal gyrus, and left insula. However, CI users displayed additional unique activation patterns by lexical and nonlexical stimuli. That is, for the lexical stimuli, significant activations were observed in areas comprising salience network (SN), also known as the intrinsic alertness network, such as the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), left insula, and right supplementary motor area in the CI user group. Also, for the nonlexical stimuli, CI users activated areas comprising SN such as the right insula and left dACC. Previous episodic observations on lexical stimuli processing using the dual auditory stream in CI users were reconfirmed in this study. However, this study also suggests that dual-stream auditory processing in CI users may need supports from the SN. In other words, CI users need to pay extra attention to cope with degraded auditory signal provided by the implant. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abnormal Functional Connectivity Between Default and Salience Networks in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder.

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Lopez-Larson, Melissa P; Shah, Lubdha M; Weeks, Howard R; King, Jace B; Mallik, Atul K; Yurgelun-Todd, Deborah A; Anderson, Jeffrey S

2017-01-01

Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) (occurring prior to 18 years of age) is a developmental brain disorder that is among the most severe and disabling psychiatric conditions affecting youth. Despite increasing evidence that brain connectivity is atypical in adults with bipolar disorder, it is not clear how brain connectivity may be altered in youths with PBD. This cross-sectional resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study included 80 participants recruited over 4 years: 32 youths with PBD, currently euthymic (13 males; 15.1 years old), and 48 healthy control (HC) subjects (27 males; 14.5 years old). Functional connectivity between eight major intrinsic connectivity networks, along with connectivity measurements between 333 brain regions, was compared between PBD and HC subjects. Additionally, connectivity differences were evaluated between PBD and HC samples in negatively correlated connections, as defined by 839 subjects of the Human Connectome Project dataset. We found increased inter- but not intranetwork functional connectivity in PBD between the default mode and salience networks (p = .0017). Throughout the brain, atypical connections showed failure to develop anticorrelation with age during adolescence in PBD but not HC samples among connections that exhibit negative correlation in adulthood. Youths with PBD demonstrate reduced anticorrelation between default mode and salience networks. Further evaluation of the interaction between these networks is needed in development and with other mood states such as depression and mania to clarify if this atypical connectivity is a PBD trait biomarker. Copyright © 2016 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Resting-state functional connectivity abnormalities in limbic and salience networks in social anxiety disorder without comorbidity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pannekoek, J. Nienke; Veer, Ilya M.; van Tol, Marie-Jose; van der Werff, Steven J. A.; Demenescu, Liliana R.; Aleman, Andre; Veltman, Dick J.; Zitman, Frans G.; Rombouts, Serge A. R. B.; van der Wee, Nic J. A.

The neurobiology of social anxiety disorder (SAD) is not yet fully understood. Structural and functional neuroimaging studies in SAD have identified abnormalities in various brain areas, particularly the amygdala and elements of the salience network. This study is the first to examine resting-state

Resting-state functional connectivity abnormalities in limbic and salience networks in social anxiety disorder without comorbidity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pannekoek, J.N.; Veer, I.M.; van Tol, M.J.; van der Werff, S.J.A.; Demenescu, L.R.; Aleman, A.; Veltman, D.J.; Zitman, F. G.; Rombouts, S.A.R.B.; van der Wee, N.J.A.

2013-01-01

The neurobiology of social anxiety disorder (SAD) is not yet fully understood. Structural and functional neuroimaging studies in SAD have identified abnormalities in various brain areas, particularly the amygdala and elements of the salience network. This study is the first to examine resting-state

Frequency Specific Effects of ApoE ε4 Allele on Resting-State Networks in Nondemented Elders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ying Liang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We applied resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to examine the Apolipoprotein E (ApoE ε4 allele effects on functional connectivity of the default mode network (DMN and the salience network (SN. Considering the frequency specific effects of functional connectivity, we decomposed the brain network time courses into two bands: 0.01–0.027 Hz and 0.027–0.08 Hz. All scans were acquired by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroscience Initiative (ADNI. Thirty-two nondemented subjects were divided into two groups based on the presence (n=16 or absence (n=16 of the ApoE ε4 allele. We explored the frequency specific effects of ApoE ε4 allele on the default mode network (DMN and the salience network (SN functional connectivity. Compared to ε4 noncarriers, the DMN functional connectivity of ε4 carriers was significantly decreased while the SN functional connectivity of ε4 carriers was significantly increased. Many functional connectivities showed significant differences at the lower frequency band of 0.01–0.027 Hz or the higher frequency band of 0.027–0.08 Hz instead of the typical range of 0.01–0.08 Hz. The results indicated a frequency dependent effect of resting-state signals when investigating RSNs functional connectivity.

Change in brain network connectivity during PACAP38-induced migraine attacks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Amin, Faisal Mohammad; Hougaard, Anders; Magon, Stefano

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To investigate resting-state functional connectivity in the salience network (SN), the sensorimotor network (SMN), and the default mode network (DMN) during migraine attacks induced by pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide-38 (PACAP38). METHODS: In a double-blind, randomized...... connectivity with the bilateral opercular part of the inferior frontal gyrus in the SN. In SMN, there was increased connectivity with the right premotor cortex and decreased connectivity with the left visual cortex. Several areas showed increased (left primary auditory, secondary somatosensory, premotor......, and visual cortices) and decreased (right cerebellum and left frontal lobe) connectivity with DMN. We found no resting-state network changes after VIP (n = 15). CONCLUSIONS: PACAP38-induced migraine attack is associated with altered connectivity of several large-scale functional networks of the brain....

Obesity is marked by distinct functional connectivity in brain networks involved in food reward and salience.

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Wijngaarden, M A; Veer, I M; Rombouts, S A R B; van Buchem, M A; Willems van Dijk, K; Pijl, H; van der Grond, J

2015-01-01

We hypothesized that brain circuits involved in reward and salience respond differently to fasting in obese versus lean individuals. We compared functional connectivity networks related to food reward and saliency after an overnight fast (baseline) and after a prolonged fast of 48 h in lean versus obese subjects. We included 13 obese (2 males, 11 females, BMI 35.4 ± 1.2 kg/m(2), age 31 ± 3 years) and 11 lean subjects (2 males, 9 females, BMI 23.2 ± 0.5 kg/m(2), age 28 ± 3 years). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were made after an overnight fast (baseline) and after a prolonged 48 h fast. Functional connectivity of the amygdala, hypothalamus and posterior cingulate cortex (default-mode) networks was assessed using seed-based correlations. At baseline, we found a stronger connectivity between hypothalamus and left insula in the obese subjects. This effect diminished upon the prolonged fast. After prolonged fasting, connectivity of the hypothalamus with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) increased in lean subjects and decreased in obese subjects. Amygdala connectivity with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was stronger in lean subjects at baseline, which did not change upon the prolonged fast. No differences in posterior cingulate cortex connectivity were observed. In conclusion, obesity is marked by alterations in functional connectivity networks involved in food reward and salience. Prolonged fasting differentially affected hypothalamic connections with the dACC and the insula between obese and lean subjects. Our data support the idea that food reward and nutrient deprivation are differently perceived and/or processed in obesity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neuroimaging Impaired Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution in Human Drug Addiction: A Systematic Review.

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Zilverstand, Anna; Huang, Anna S; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Goldstein, Rita Z

2018-06-06

The impaired response inhibition and salience attribution (iRISA) model proposes that impaired response inhibition and salience attribution underlie drug seeking and taking. To update this model, we systematically reviewed 105 task-related neuroimaging studies (n > 15/group) published since 2010. Results demonstrate specific impairments within six large-scale brain networks (reward, habit, salience, executive, memory, and self-directed networks) during drug cue exposure, decision making, inhibitory control, and social-emotional processing. Addicted individuals demonstrated increased recruitment of these networks during drug-related processing but a blunted response during non-drug-related processing, with the same networks also being implicated during resting state. Associations with real-life drug use, relapse, therapeutic interventions, and the relevance to initiation of drug use during adolescence support the clinical relevance of the results. Whereas the salience and executive networks showed impairments throughout the addiction cycle, the reward network was dysregulated at later stages of abuse. Effects were similar in alcohol, cannabis, and stimulant addiction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impulsive Internet Game Play Is Associated With Increased Functional Connectivity Between the Default Mode and Salience Networks in Depressed Patients With Short Allele of Serotonin Transporter Gene

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Ji Sun Hong

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Problematic Internet game play is often accompanied by major depressive disorder (MDD. Depression seems to be closely related to altered functional connectivity (FC within (and between the default mode network (DMN and salience network. In addition, serotonergic neurotransmission may regulate the symptoms of depression, including impulsivity, potentially by modulating the DMN. We hypothesized that altered connectivity between the DMN and salience network could mediate an association between the 5HTTLPR genotype and impulsivity in patients with depression. A total of 54 participants with problematic Internet game play and MDD completed the research protocol. We genotyped for 5HTTLPR and assessed the DMN FC using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The severity of Internet game play, depressive symptoms, anxiety, attention and impulsivity, and behavioral inhibition and activation were assessed using the Young Internet Addiction Scale (YIAS, Beck Depressive Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI, Korean Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder scale, and the Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Scales (BIS-BAS, respectively. The SS allele was associated with increased FC within the DMN, including the middle prefrontal cortex (MPFC to the posterior cingulate cortex, and within the salience network, including the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG to the right rostral prefrontal cortex (RPFC, right anterior insular (AInsular to right SMG, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC to left RPFC, and left AInsular to right RPFC, and between the DMN and salience network, including the MPFC to the ACC. In addition, the FC from the MPFC to ACC positively correlated with the BIS and YIAS scores in the SS allele group. The SS allele of 5HTTLPR might modulate the FC within and between the DMN and salience network, which may ultimately be a risk factor for impulsive Internet game play in patients with MDD.

Impulsive Internet Game Play Is Associated With Increased Functional Connectivity Between the Default Mode and Salience Networks in Depressed Patients With Short Allele of Serotonin Transporter Gene.

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Hong, Ji Sun; Kim, Sun Mi; Bae, Sujin; Han, Doug Hyun

2018-01-01

Problematic Internet game play is often accompanied by major depressive disorder (MDD). Depression seems to be closely related to altered functional connectivity (FC) within (and between) the default mode network (DMN) and salience network. In addition, serotonergic neurotransmission may regulate the symptoms of depression, including impulsivity, potentially by modulating the DMN. We hypothesized that altered connectivity between the DMN and salience network could mediate an association between the 5HTTLPR genotype and impulsivity in patients with depression. A total of 54 participants with problematic Internet game play and MDD completed the research protocol. We genotyped for 5HTTLPR and assessed the DMN FC using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The severity of Internet game play, depressive symptoms, anxiety, attention and impulsivity, and behavioral inhibition and activation were assessed using the Young Internet Addiction Scale (YIAS), Beck Depressive Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Korean Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder scale, and the Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Scales (BIS-BAS), respectively. The SS allele was associated with increased FC within the DMN, including the middle prefrontal cortex (MPFC) to the posterior cingulate cortex, and within the salience network, including the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) to the right rostral prefrontal cortex (RPFC), right anterior insular (AInsular) to right SMG, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to left RPFC, and left AInsular to right RPFC, and between the DMN and salience network, including the MPFC to the ACC. In addition, the FC from the MPFC to ACC positively correlated with the BIS and YIAS scores in the SS allele group. The SS allele of 5HTTLPR might modulate the FC within and between the DMN and salience network, which may ultimately be a risk factor for impulsive Internet game play in patients with MDD.

Hormonal Cycle and Contraceptive Effects on Amygdala and Salience Resting-State Networks in Women with Previous Affective Side Effects on the Pill.

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Engman, Jonas; Sundström Poromaa, Inger; Moby, Lena; Wikström, Johan; Fredrikson, Mats; Gingnell, Malin

2018-02-01

The mechanisms linking ovarian hormones to negative affect are poorly characterized, but important clues may come from the examination of the brain's intrinsic organization. Here, we studied the effects of both the menstrual cycle and oral contraceptives (OCs) on amygdala and salience network resting-state functional connectivity using a double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled design. Hormone levels, depressive symptoms, and resting-state functional connectivity were measured in 35 healthy women (24.9±4.2 years) who had previously experienced OC-related negative affect. All participants were examined in the follicular phase of a baseline cycle and in the third week of the subsequent cycle during treatment with either a combined OC (30 μg ethinyl estradiol/0.15 mg levonorgestrel) or placebo. The latter time point targeted the midluteal phase in placebo users and steady-state ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel concentrations in OC users. Amygdala and salience network connectivity generally increased with both higher endogenous and synthetic hormone levels, although amygdala-parietal cortical connectivity decreased in OC users. When in the luteal phase, the naturally cycling placebo users demonstrated higher connectivity in both networks compared with the women receiving OCs. Our results support a causal link between the exogenous administration of synthetic hormones and amygdala and salience network connectivity. Furthermore, they suggest a similar, potentially stronger, association between the natural hormonal variations across the menstrual cycle and intrinsic network connectivity.

Resting-State Brain and the FTO Obesity Risk Allele: Default Mode, Sensorimotor, and Salience Network Connectivity Underlying Different Somatosensory Integration and Reward Processing between Genotypes.

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Olivo, Gaia; Wiemerslage, Lyle; Nilsson, Emil K; Solstrand Dahlberg, Linda; Larsen, Anna L; Olaya Búcaro, Marcela; Gustafsson, Veronica P; Titova, Olga E; Bandstein, Marcus; Larsson, Elna-Marie; Benedict, Christian; Brooks, Samantha J; Schiöth, Helgi B

2016-01-01

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene are linked to obesity, but how these SNPs influence resting-state neural activation is unknown. Few brain-imaging studies have investigated the influence of obesity-related SNPs on neural activity, and no study has investigated resting-state connectivity patterns. We tested connectivity within three, main resting-state networks: default mode (DMN), sensorimotor (SMN), and salience network (SN) in 30 male participants, grouped based on genotype for the rs9939609 FTO SNP, as well as punishment and reward sensitivity measured by the Behavioral Inhibition (BIS) and Behavioral Activation System (BAS) questionnaires. Because obesity is associated with anomalies in both systems, we calculated a BIS/BAS ratio (BBr) accounting for features of both scores. A prominence of BIS over BAS (higher BBr) resulted in increased connectivity in frontal and paralimbic regions. These alterations were more evident in the obesity-associated AA genotype, where a high BBr was also associated with increased SN connectivity in dopaminergic circuitries, and in a subnetwork involved in somatosensory integration regarding food. Participants with AA genotype and high BBr, compared to corresponding participants in the TT genotype, also showed greater DMN connectivity in regions involved in the processing of food cues, and in the SMN for regions involved in visceral perception and reward-based learning. These findings suggest that neural connectivity patterns influence the sensitivity toward punishment and reward more closely in the AA carriers, predisposing them to developing obesity. Our work explains a complex interaction between genetics, neural patterns, and behavioral measures in determining the risk for obesity and may help develop individually-tailored strategies for obesity prevention.

Maternal Immune Activation During the Third Trimester Is Associated with Neonatal Functional Connectivity of the Salience Network and Fetal to Toddler Behavior.

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Spann, Marisa N; Monk, Catherine; Scheinost, Dustin; Peterson, Bradley S

2018-03-14

Prenatal maternal immune activation (MIA) is associated with altered brain development and risk of psychiatric disorders in offspring. Translational human studies of MIA are few in number. Alterations of the salience network have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the same psychiatric disorders associated with MIA. If MIA is pathogenic, then associated abnormalities in the salience network should be detectable in neonates immediately after birth. We tested the hypothesis that third trimester MIA of adolescent women who are at risk for high stress and inflammation is associated with the strength of functional connectivity in the salience network of their neonate. Thirty-six women underwent blood draws to measure interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) and electrocardiograms to measure fetal heart rate variability (FHRV) at 34-37 weeks gestation. Resting-state imaging data were acquired in the infants at 40-44 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA). Functional connectivity was measured from seeds placed in the anterior cingulate cortex and insula. Measures of cognitive development were obtained at 14 months PMA using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-Third Edition (BSID-III). Both sexes were studied. Regions in which the strength of the salience network correlated with maternal IL-6 or CRP levels included the medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, and basal ganglia. Maternal CRP level correlated inversely with FHRV acquired at the same gestational age. Maternal CRP and IL-6 levels correlated positively with measures of cognitive development on the BSID-III. These results suggest that MIA is associated with short- and long-term influences on offspring brain and behavior. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Preclinical studies in rodents and nonhuman primates and epidemiological studies in humans suggest that maternal immune activation (MIA) alters the development of brain circuitry and associated behaviors, placing offspring at risk for

Decreased triple network connectivity in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder

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Liu, Yang; Li, Liang; Li, Baojuan; Zhang, Xi; Lu, Hongbing

2017-03-01

The triple network model provides a common framework for understanding affective and neurocognitive dysfunctions across multiple disorders, including central executive network (CEN), default mode network (DMN), and salience network (SN). Considering the effect of traumatic experience on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this study aims to explore the alteration of triple network connectivity in a specific PTSD induced by a single prolonged trauma exposure. With arterial spin labeling sequence, three networks were identified using independent component analysis in 10 PTSD patients and 10 healthy survivors, who experienced the same coal mining flood disaster. In PTSD patients, decreased connectivity was identified in left middle frontal gyrus of CEN, left precuneus and bilateral superior frontal gyrus of DMN, and right anterior insula of SN. The decreased connectivity in left middle frontal gyrus was identified to associate with clinical severity. These results indicated the decreased triple network connectivity, which not only supported the proposal of the triple network model, but also prompted possible neurobiology mechanism of cognitive dysfunction for this kind of PTSD.

On the distribution of saliency.

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Berengolts, Alexander; Lindenbaum, Michael

2006-12-01

Detecting salient structures is a basic task in perceptual organization. Saliency algorithms typically mark edge-points with some saliency measure, which grows with the length and smoothness of the curve on which these edge-points lie. Here, we propose a modified saliency estimation mechanism that is based on probabilistically specified grouping cues and on curve length distributions. In this framework, the Shashua and Ullman saliency mechanism may be interpreted as a process for detecting the curve with maximal expected length. Generalized types of saliency naturally follow. We propose several specific generalizations (e.g., gray-level-based saliency) and rigorously derive the limitations on generalized saliency types. We then carry out a probabilistic analysis of expected length saliencies. Using ergodicity and asymptotic analysis, we derive the saliency distributions associated with the main curves and with the rest of the image. We then extend this analysis to finite-length curves. Using the derived distributions, we derive the optimal threshold on the saliency for discriminating between figure and background and bound the saliency-based figure-from-ground performance.

Localization and Classification of Paddy Field Pests using a Saliency Map and Deep Convolutional Neural Network

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ziyi; Gao, Junfeng; Yang, Guoguo; Zhang, Huan; He, Yong

2016-01-01

We present a pipeline for the visual localization and classification of agricultural pest insects by computing a saliency map and applying deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) learning. First, we used a global contrast region-based approach to compute a saliency map for localizing pest insect objects. Bounding squares containing targets were then extracted, resized to a fixed size, and used to construct a large standard database called Pest ID. This database was then utilized for self-learning of local image features which were, in turn, used for classification by DCNN. DCNN learning optimized the critical parameters, including size, number and convolutional stride of local receptive fields, dropout ratio and the final loss function. To demonstrate the practical utility of using DCNN, we explored different architectures by shrinking depth and width, and found effective sizes that can act as alternatives for practical applications. On the test set of paddy field images, our architectures achieved a mean Accuracy Precision (mAP) of 0.951, a significant improvement over previous methods. PMID:26864172

Associative Learning Through Acquired Salience.

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Treviño, Mario

2015-01-01

Most associative learning studies describe the salience of stimuli as a fixed learning-rate parameter. Presumptive saliency signals, however, have also been linked to motivational and attentional processes. An interesting possibility, therefore, is that discriminative stimuli could also acquire salience as they become powerful predictors of outcomes. To explore this idea, we first characterized and extracted the learning curves from mice trained with discriminative images offering varying degrees of structural similarity. Next, we fitted a linear model of associative learning coupled to a series of mathematical representations for stimulus salience. We found that the best prediction, from the set of tested models, was one in which the visual salience depended on stimulus similarity and a non-linear function of the associative strength. Therefore, these analytic results support the idea that the net salience of a stimulus depends both on the items' effective salience and the motivational state of the subject that learns about it. Moreover, this dual salience model can explain why learning about a stimulus not only depends on the effective salience during acquisition but also on the specific learning trajectory that was used to reach this state. Our mathematical description could be instrumental for understanding aberrant salience acquisition under stressful situations and in neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addiction.

Networks of power in digital copyright law and policy political salience, expertise and the legislative process

CERN Document Server

Farrand, Benjamin

2014-01-01

In this book, Benjamin Farrand employs an interdisciplinary approach that combines legal analysis with political theory to explore the development of copyright law in the EU. Farrand utilises Foucault's concept of Networks of Power and Culpepper's Quiet Politics to assess the adoption and enforcement of copyright law in the EU, including the role of industry representative, cross-border licensing, and judicial approaches to territorial restrictions. Focusing in particular on legislative initiatives concerning copyright, digital music and the internet, Networks of Power in Digital Copyright Law and Policy: Political Salience, Expertise and the Legislative Process demonstrates the connection between copyright law and complex network relationships. This book presents an original socio-political theoretical framework for assessing developments in copyright law that will interest researchers and post-graduate students of law and politics, as well as those more particularly concerned with political theory, EU and c...

Saliency Detection via Absorbing Markov Chain With Learnt Transition Probability.

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Lihe Zhang; Jianwu Ai; Bowen Jiang; Huchuan Lu; Xiukui Li

2018-02-01

In this paper, we propose a bottom-up saliency model based on absorbing Markov chain (AMC). First, a sparsely connected graph is constructed to capture the local context information of each node. All image boundary nodes and other nodes are, respectively, treated as the absorbing nodes and transient nodes in the absorbing Markov chain. Then, the expected number of times from each transient node to all other transient nodes can be used to represent the saliency value of this node. The absorbed time depends on the weights on the path and their spatial coordinates, which are completely encoded in the transition probability matrix. Considering the importance of this matrix, we adopt different hierarchies of deep features extracted from fully convolutional networks and learn a transition probability matrix, which is called learnt transition probability matrix. Although the performance is significantly promoted, salient objects are not uniformly highlighted very well. To solve this problem, an angular embedding technique is investigated to refine the saliency results. Based on pairwise local orderings, which are produced by the saliency maps of AMC and boundary maps, we rearrange the global orderings (saliency value) of all nodes. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on six publicly available benchmark data sets.

Aversive Peer Experiences on Social Networking Sites: Development of the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire (SN-PEQ).

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Landoll, Ryan R; La Greca, Annette M; Lai, Betty S

2013-12-01

Cyber victimization is an important research area; yet, little is known about aversive peer experiences on social networking sites (SNSs), which are used extensively by youth and host complex social exchanges. Across samples of adolescents ( n =216) and young adults ( n =214), we developed the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire ( SN-PEQ ), and examined its psychometric properties, distinctiveness from traditional peer victimization, and associations with internalized distress. The SN-PEQ demonstrated strong factorial invariance and a single factor structure that was distinct from other forms of peer victimization. Negative SNS experiences were associated with youths' symptoms of social anxiety and depression, even when controlling for traditional peer victimization. Findings highlight the importance of examining the effects of aversive peer experiences that occur via social media.

Aversive Peer Experiences on Social Networking Sites: Development of the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire (SN-PEQ)

Science.gov (United States)

Landoll, Ryan R.; La Greca, Annette M.; Lai, Betty S.

2012-01-01

Cyber victimization is an important research area; yet, little is known about aversive peer experiences on social networking sites (SNSs), which are used extensively by youth and host complex social exchanges. Across samples of adolescents (n=216) and young adults (n=214), we developed the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire (SN-PEQ), and examined its psychometric properties, distinctiveness from traditional peer victimization, and associations with internalized distress. The SN-PEQ demonstrated strong factorial invariance and a single factor structure that was distinct from other forms of peer victimization. Negative SNS experiences were associated with youths’ symptoms of social anxiety and depression, even when controlling for traditional peer victimization. Findings highlight the importance of examining the effects of aversive peer experiences that occur via social media. PMID:24288449

A Local Texture-Based Superpixel Feature Coding for Saliency Detection Combined with Global Saliency

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Bingfei Nan

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Because saliency can be used as the prior knowledge of image content, saliency detection has been an active research area in image segmentation, object detection, image semantic understanding and other relevant image-based applications. In the case of saliency detection from cluster scenes, the salient object/region detected needs to not only be distinguished clearly from the background, but, preferably, to also be informative in terms of complete contour and local texture details to facilitate the successive processing. In this paper, a Local Texture-based Region Sparse Histogram (LTRSH model is proposed for saliency detection from cluster scenes. This model uses a combination of local texture patterns and color distribution as well as contour information to encode the superpixels to characterize the local feature of image for region contrast computing. Combining the region contrast as computed with the global saliency probability, a full-resolution salient map, in which the salient object/region detected adheres more closely to its inherent feature, is obtained on the bases of the corresponding high-level saliency spatial distribution as well as on the pixel-level saliency enhancement. Quantitative comparisons with five state-of-the-art saliency detection methods on benchmark datasets are carried out, and the comparative results show that the method we propose improves the detection performance in terms of corresponding measurements.

Saliency of social comparison dimensions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kuyper, H.

2007-01-01

The present article discusses a theory of the saliency of social comparison dimensions and presents the results of an experiment about the effects of two different experimental situations on the saliency of exterior, task-related and socio-emotional dimensions. Saliency was operationalized with a

Effects of Cognitive Training on Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Default Mode, Salience, and Central Executive Networks.

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Cao, Weifang; Cao, Xinyi; Hou, Changyue; Li, Ting; Cheng, Yan; Jiang, Lijuan; Luo, Cheng; Li, Chunbo; Yao, Dezhong

2016-01-01

Neuroimaging studies have documented that aging can disrupt certain higher cognitive systems such as the default mode network (DMN), the salience network and the central executive network (CEN). The effect of cognitive training on higher cognitive systems remains unclear. This study used a 1-year longitudinal design to explore the cognitive training effect on three higher cognitive networks in healthy older adults. The community-living healthy older adults were divided into two groups: the multi-domain cognitive training group (24 sessions of cognitive training over a 3-months period) and the wait-list control group. All subjects underwent cognitive measurements and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning at baseline and at 1 year after the training ended. We examined training-related changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and between three networks. Compared with the baseline, we observed maintained or increased FC within all three networks after training. The scans after training also showed maintained anti-correlation of FC between the DMN and CEN compared to the baseline. These findings demonstrated that cognitive training maintained or improved the functional integration within networks and the coupling between the DMN and CEN in older adults. Our findings suggested that multi-domain cognitive training can mitigate the aging-related dysfunction of higher cognitive networks.

Binaural beat salience

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Grose, John H.; Buss, Emily; Hall, Joseph W.

2012-01-01

Previous studies of binaural beats have noted individual variability and response lability, but little attention has been paid to the salience of the binaural beat percept. The purpose of this study was to gauge the strength of the binaural beat percept by matching its salience to that of sinusoidal amplitude modulation (SAM), and to then compare rate discrimination for the two types of fluctuation. Rate discrimination was measured for standard rates of 4, 8, 16, and 32 Hz – all in the 500-Hz carrier region. Twelve normal-hearing adults participated in this study. The results indicated that discrimination acuity for binaural beats is similar to that for SAM tones whose depths of modulation have been adjusted to provide equivalent modulation salience. The matched-salience SAM tones had relatively shallow depths of modulation, suggesting that the perceptual strength of binaural beats is relatively weak, although all listeners perceived them. The Weber fraction for detection of an increase in binaural beat rate is roughly constant across beat rates, at least for rates above 4 Hz, as is rate discrimination for SAM tones. PMID:22326292

Manipulation, salience, and nudges.

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Noggle, Robert

2018-03-01

Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler recommend helping people make better decisions by employing 'nudges', which they define as noncoercive methods of influencing choice for the better. Not surprisingly, healthcare practitioners and public policy professionals have become interested in whether nudges might be a promising method of improving health-related behaviors without resorting to heavy-handed methods such as coercion, deception, or government regulation. Many nudges seem unobjectionable as they merely improve the quality and quantity available for the decision-maker. However, other nudges influence decision-making in ways that do not involve providing more and better information. Nudges of this sort raise concerns about manipulation. This paper will focus on noninformational nudges that operate by changing the salience of various options. It will survey two approaches to understanding manipulation, one which sees manipulation as a kind of pressure, and one that sees it as a kind of trickery. On the pressure view, salience nudges do not appear to be manipulative. However, on the trickery view (which the author favors), salience nudges will be manipulative if they increase the salience so that it is disproportionate to that fact's true relevance and importance for the decision at hand. By contrast, salience nudges will not be manipulative if they merely highlight some fact that is true and important for the decision at hand. The paper concludes by providing examples of both manipulative and nonmanipulative salience nudges. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Affective salience can reverse the effects of stimulus-driven salience on eye movements in complex scenes

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Yaqing eNiu

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In natural vision both stimulus features and cognitive/affective factors influence an observer's attention. However, the relationship between stimulus-driven (bottom-up and cognitive/affective (top-down factors remains controversial: Can affective salience counteract strong visual stimulus signals and shift attention allocation irrespective of bottom-up features? Is there any difference between negative and positive scenes in terms of their influence on attention deployment? Here we examined the impact of affective factors on eye movement behavior, to understand the competition between visual stimulus-driven salience and affective salience and how they affect gaze allocation in complex scene viewing. Building on our previous research, we compared predictions generated by a visual salience model with measures indexing participant-identified emotionally meaningful regions of each image. To examine how eye movement behaviour differs for negative, positive, and neutral scenes, we examined the influence of affective salience in capturing attention according to emotional valence. Taken together, our results show that affective salience can override stimulus-driven salience and overall emotional valence can determine attention allocation in complex scenes. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that cognitive/affective factors play a dominant role in active gaze control.

Information theoretic preattentive saliency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loog, Marco

2011-01-01

Employing an information theoretic operational definition of bottom-up attention from the field of computational visual perception a very general expression for saliency is provided. As opposed to many of the current approaches to determining a saliency map there is no need for an explicit data...... of which features, image information is described. We illustrate our result by determining a few specific saliency maps based on particular choices of features. One of them makes the link with the mapping underlying well-known Harris interest points, which is a result recently obtained in isolation...

Binaural beat salience.

Science.gov (United States)

Grose, John H; Buss, Emily; Hall, Joseph W

2012-03-01

Previous studies of binaural beats have noted individual variability and response lability, but little attention has been paid to the salience of the binaural beat percept. The purpose of this study was to gauge the strength of the binaural beat percept by matching its salience to that of sinusoidal amplitude modulation (SAM), and to then compare rate discrimination for the two types of fluctuation. Rate discrimination was measured for standard rates of 4, 8, 16, and 32 Hz - all in the 500-Hz carrier region. Twelve normal-hearing adults participated in this study. The results indicated that discrimination acuity for binaural beats is similar to that for SAM tones whose depths of modulation have been adjusted to provide equivalent modulation salience. The matched-salience SAM tones had relatively shallow depths of modulation, suggesting that the perceptual strength of binaural beats is relatively weak, although all listeners perceived them. The Weber fraction for detection of an increase in binaural beat rate is roughly constant across beat rates, at least for rates above 4 Hz, as is rate discrimination for SAM tones. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Altered intrinsic functional coupling between core neurocognitive networks in Parkinson's disease

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Deepti Putcha

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Parkinson's disease (PD is largely attributed to disruptions in the nigrostriatal dopamine system. These neurodegenerative changes may also have a more global effect on intrinsic brain organization at the cortical level. Functional brain connectivity between neurocognitive systems related to cognitive processing is critical for effective neural communication, and is disrupted across neurological disorders. Three core neurocognitive networks have been established as playing a critical role in the pathophysiology of many neurological disorders: the default-mode network (DMN, the salience network (SN, and the central executive network (CEN. In healthy adults, DMN–CEN interactions are anti-correlated while SN–CEN interactions are strongly positively correlated even at rest, when individuals are not engaging in any task. These intrinsic between-network interactions at rest are necessary for efficient suppression of the DMN and activation of the CEN during a range of cognitive tasks. To identify whether these network interactions are disrupted in individuals with PD, we used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI to compare between-network connectivity between 24 PD participants and 20 age-matched controls (MC. In comparison to the MC, individuals with PD showed significantly less SN–CEN coupling and greater DMN–CEN coupling during rest. Disease severity, an index of striatal dysfunction, was related to reduced functional coupling between the striatum and SN. These results demonstrate that individuals with PD have a dysfunctional pattern of interaction between core neurocognitive networks compared to what is found in healthy individuals, and that interaction between the SN and the striatum is even more profoundly disrupted in those with greater disease severity.

Irrelevant stimulus processing in ADHD: catecholamine dynamics and attentional networks

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Francisco eAboitiz

2014-03-01

Full Text Available A cardinal symptom of Attenion Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD is a general distractibility where children and adults shift their attentional focus to stimuli that are irrelevant to the ongoing behavior. This has been attributed to a deficit in dopaminergic signaling in cortico-striatal networks that regulate goal-directed behavior. Furthermore, recent imaging evidence points to an impairment of large scale, antagonistic brain networks that normally contribute to attentional engagement and disengagement, such as the task-positive networks and the Default Mode Network (DMN. Related networks are the ventral attentional network (VAN involved in attentional shifting, and the salience network (SN related to task expectancy. Here we discuss the tonic-phasic dynamics of catecholaminergic signaling in the brain, and attempt to provide a link between this and the activities of the large-scale cortical networks that regulate behavior. More specifically, we propose that a disbalance of tonic catecholamine levels during task performance produce an emphasis of phasic signaling and increased excitability of the VAN, yielding distractibility symptoms. Likewise, immaturity of the SN may relate to abnormal tonic signaling and an incapacity to build up a proper executive system during task performance. We discuss different lines of evidence including pharmacology, brain imaging and electrophysiology, that are consistent with our proposal. Finally, restoring the pharmacodynamics of catecholaminergic signaling seems crucial to alleviate ADHD symptoms; however, the possibility is open to explore cognitive rehabilitation strategies to top-down modulate network dynamics compensating the pharmacological deficits.

Tensor-based spatiotemporal saliency detection

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Dou, Hao; Li, Bin; Deng, Qianqian; Zhang, LiRui; Pan, Zhihong; Tian, Jinwen

2018-03-01

This paper proposes an effective tensor-based spatiotemporal saliency computation model for saliency detection in videos. First, we construct the tensor representation of video frames. Then, the spatiotemporal saliency can be directly computed by the tensor distance between different tensors, which can preserve the complete temporal and spatial structure information of object in the spatiotemporal domain. Experimental results demonstrate that our method can achieve encouraging performance in comparison with the state-of-the-art methods.

A robust neural network-based approach for microseismic event detection

KAUST Repository

Akram, Jubran

2017-08-17

We present an artificial neural network based approach for robust event detection from low S/N waveforms. We use a feed-forward network with a single hidden layer that is tuned on a training dataset and later applied on the entire example dataset for event detection. The input features used include the average of absolute amplitudes, variance, energy-ratio and polarization rectilinearity. These features are calculated in a moving-window of same length for the entire waveform. The output is set as a user-specified relative probability curve, which provides a robust way of distinguishing between weak and strong events. An optimal network is selected by studying the weight-based saliency and effect of number of neurons on the predicted results. Using synthetic data examples, we demonstrate that this approach is effective in detecting weaker events and reduces the number of false positives.

Brain networks during free viewing of complex erotic movie: new insights on psychogenic erectile dysfunction.

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Nicoletta Cera

Full Text Available Psychogenic erectile dysfunction (ED is defined as a male sexual dysfunction characterized by a persistent or recurrent inability to attain adequate penile erection due predominantly or exclusively to psychological or interpersonal factors. Previous fMRI studies were based on the common occurrence in the male sexual behaviour represented by the sexual arousal and penile erection related to viewing of erotic movies. However, there is no experimental evidence of altered brain networks in psychogenic ED patients (EDp. Some studies showed that fMRI activity collected during non sexual movie viewing can be analyzed in a reliable manner with independent component analysis (ICA and that the resulting brain networks are consistent with previous resting state neuroimaging studies. In the present study, we investigated the modification of the brain networks in EDp compared to healthy controls (HC, using whole-brain fMRI during free viewing of an erotic video clip. Sixteen EDp and nineteen HC were recruited after RigiScan evaluation, psychiatric, and general medical evaluations. The performed ICA showed that visual network (VN, default-mode network (DMN, fronto-parietal network (FPN and salience network (SN were spatially consistent across EDp and HC. However, between-group differences in functional connectivity were observed in the DMN and in the SN. In the DMN, EDp showed decreased connectivity values in the inferior parietal lobes, posterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex, whereas in the SN decreased and increased connectivity was observed in the right insula and in the anterior cingulate cortex respectively. The decreased levels of intrinsic functional connectivity principally involved the subsystem of DMN relevant for the self relevant mental simulation that concerns remembering of past experiences, thinking to the future and conceiving the viewpoint of the other's actions. Moreover, the between group differences in the SN nodes

Brain networks during free viewing of complex erotic movie: new insights on psychogenic erectile dysfunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Cera, Nicoletta; Di Pierro, Ezio Domenico; Ferretti, Antonio; Tartaro, Armando; Romani, Gian Luca; Perrucci, Mauro Gianni

2014-01-01

Psychogenic erectile dysfunction (ED) is defined as a male sexual dysfunction characterized by a persistent or recurrent inability to attain adequate penile erection due predominantly or exclusively to psychological or interpersonal factors. Previous fMRI studies were based on the common occurrence in the male sexual behaviour represented by the sexual arousal and penile erection related to viewing of erotic movies. However, there is no experimental evidence of altered brain networks in psychogenic ED patients (EDp). Some studies showed that fMRI activity collected during non sexual movie viewing can be analyzed in a reliable manner with independent component analysis (ICA) and that the resulting brain networks are consistent with previous resting state neuroimaging studies. In the present study, we investigated the modification of the brain networks in EDp compared to healthy controls (HC), using whole-brain fMRI during free viewing of an erotic video clip. Sixteen EDp and nineteen HC were recruited after RigiScan evaluation, psychiatric, and general medical evaluations. The performed ICA showed that visual network (VN), default-mode network (DMN), fronto-parietal network (FPN) and salience network (SN) were spatially consistent across EDp and HC. However, between-group differences in functional connectivity were observed in the DMN and in the SN. In the DMN, EDp showed decreased connectivity values in the inferior parietal lobes, posterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex, whereas in the SN decreased and increased connectivity was observed in the right insula and in the anterior cingulate cortex respectively. The decreased levels of intrinsic functional connectivity principally involved the subsystem of DMN relevant for the self relevant mental simulation that concerns remembering of past experiences, thinking to the future and conceiving the viewpoint of the other's actions. Moreover, the between group differences in the SN nodes suggested a

Three-Dimensional SnS Decorated Carbon Nano-Networks as Anode Materials for Lithium and Sodium Ion Batteries

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Yanli Zhou

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The three-dimensional (3D SnS decorated carbon nano-networks (SnS@C were synthesized via a facile two-step method of freeze-drying combined with post-heat treatment. The lithium and sodium storage performances of above composites acting as anode materials were investigated. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries, a high reversible capacity of 780 mAh·g−1 for SnS@C composites can be obtained at 100 mA·g−1 after 100 cycles. Even cycled at a high current density of 2 A·g−1, the reversible capacity of this composite can be maintained at 610 mAh·g−1 after 1000 cycles. The initial charge capacity for sodium ion batteries can reach 333 mAh·g−1, and it retains a reversible capacity of 186 mAh·g−1 at 100 mA·g−1 after 100 cycles. The good lithium or sodium storage performances are likely attributed to the synergistic effects of the conductive carbon nano-networks and small SnS nanoparticles.

The effects of LT-SN on energy dissipation and lifetime in wireless sensor networks

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Zeydin Pala

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks (WSNs still attract the attention of researchers, users and the private sector despite their low power and low range tendency for malfunction. This attraction towards WSNs results from their low cost structure and the solutions they offer for many prevalent problems. Many conditions, which remain unforeseen or unexpected during the design of the system, may arise after the initialization of the system. Similarly, many situations where security vulnerabilities take place may emerge in time in WSNs operating normally. In this study, we called nodes which enter sleeping mode without any further waking up and causing a sparser number of nodes in the network without any function in data transmission as Long-Term Sleep Nodes (LT-SN; and considered energy spaces caused by such nodes as a problem; and established two Linear Programming (LP models based on the efficiency of the present nodes. We offered two different models which present the effect of sensor nodes, which were initially operating in wireless sensor network environment and did not wake up following sleep mode, on network lifetime. The results of the present study report that as the number of LT-SN increases, the lifetime of the network decreases.

Assessing the construct validity of aberrant salience

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Kristin Schmidt

2009-12-01

Full Text Available We sought to validate the psychometric properties of a recently developed paradigm that aims to measure salience attribution processes proposed to contribute to positive psychotic symptoms, the Salience Attribution Test (SAT. The “aberrant salience” measure from the SAT showed good face validity in previous results, with elevated scores both in high-schizotypy individuals, and in patients with schizophrenia suffering from delusions. Exploring the construct validity of salience attribution variables derived from the SAT is important, since other factors, including latent inhibition/learned irrelevance, attention, probabilistic reward learning, sensitivity to probability, general cognitive ability and working memory could influence these measures. Fifty healthy participants completed schizotypy scales, the SAT, a learned irrelevance task, and a number of other cognitive tasks tapping into potentially confounding processes. Behavioural measures of interest from each task were entered into a principal components analysis, which yielded a five-factor structure accounting for ~75% percent of the variance in behaviour. Implicit aberrant salience was found to load onto its own factor, which was associated with elevated “Introvertive Anhedonia” schizotypy, replicating our previous finding. Learned irrelevance loaded onto a separate factor, which also included implicit adaptive salience, but was not associated with schizotypy. Explicit adaptive and aberrant salience, along with a measure of probabilistic learning, loaded onto a further factor, though this also did not correlate with schizotypy. These results suggest that the measures of learned irrelevance and implicit adaptive salience might be based on similar underlying processes, which are dissociable both from implicit aberrant salience and explicit measures of salience.

Functional Connectivity Between Anterior Insula and Key Nodes of Frontoparietal Executive Control and Salience Networks Distinguish Bipolar Depression From Unipolar Depression and Healthy Control Subjects.

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Ellard, Kristen K; Zimmerman, Jared P; Kaur, Navneet; Van Dijk, Koene R A; Roffman, Joshua L; Nierenberg, Andrew A; Dougherty, Darin D; Deckersbach, Thilo; Camprodon, Joan A

2018-05-01

Patients with bipolar depression are characterized by dysregulation across the full spectrum of mood, differentiating them from patients with unipolar depression. The ability to switch neural resources among the default mode network, salience network, and executive control network (ECN) has been proposed as a key mechanism for adaptive mood regulation. The anterior insula is implicated in the modulation of functional network switching. Differential connectivity between anterior insula and functional networks may provide insights into pathophysiological differences between bipolar and unipolar mood disorders, with implications for diagnosis and treatment. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from 98 subjects (35 unipolar, 24 bipolar, and 39 healthy control subjects). Pearson correlations were computed between bilateral insula seed regions and a priori defined target regions from the default mode network, salience network, and ECN. After r-to-z transformation, a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted to identify significant differences in connectivity between groups. Post hoc pairwise comparisons were conducted and Bonferroni corrections were applied. Receiver-operating characteristics were computed to assess diagnostic sensitivity. Patients with bipolar depression evidenced significantly altered right anterior insula functional connectivity with the inferior parietal lobule of the ECN relative to patients with unipolar depression and control subjects. Right anterior insula-inferior parietal lobule connectivity significantly discriminated patients with bipolar depression. Impaired functional connectivity between the anterior insula and the inferior parietal lobule of the ECN distinguishes patients with bipolar depression from those with unipolar depression and healthy control subjects. This finding highlights a pathophysiological mechanism with potential as a therapeutic target and a clinical biomarker for bipolar

Default Mode Network Interference in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury – A Pilot Resting State Study

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Sours, Chandler; Zhuo, Jiachen; Janowich, Jacqueline; Aarabi, Bizhan; Shanmuganathan, Kathirkamanthan; Gullapalli, Rao P

2013-01-01

In this study we investigated the functional connectivity in 23 Mild TBI (mTBI) patients with and without memory complaints using resting state fMRI in the sub-acute stage of injury as well as a group of control participants. Results indicate that mTBI patients with memory complaints performed significantly worse than patients without memory complaints on tests assessing memory from the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM). Altered functional connectivity was observed between the three groups between the default mode network (DMN) and the nodes of the task positive network (TPN). Altered functional connectivity was also observed between both the TPN and DMN and nodes associated with the Salience Network (SN). Following mTBI there is a reduction in anti-correlated networks for both those with and without memory complaints for the DMN, but only a reduction in the anti-correlated network in mTBI patients with memory complaints for the TPN. Furthermore, an increased functional connectivity between the TPN and SN appears to be associated with reduced performance on memory assessments. Overall the results suggest that a disruption in the segregation of the DMN and the TPN at rest may be mediated through both a direct pathway of increased FC between various nodes of the TPN and DMN, and through an indirect pathway that links the TPN and DMN through nodes of the SN. This disruption between networks may cause a detrimental impact on memory functioning following mTBI, supporting the Default Mode Interference Hypothesis in the context of mTBI related memory deficits. PMID:23994210

Nitrogen-Doped Carbon-Encapsulated SnO2@Sn Nanoparticles Uniformly Grafted on Three-Dimensional Graphene-like Networks as Anode for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yunyong; Zhang, Haiyan; Chen, Yiming; Shi, Zhicong; Cao, Xiaoguo; Guo, Zaiping; Shen, Pei Kang

2016-01-13

A peculiar nanostructure consisting of nitrogen-doped, carbon-encapsulated (N-C) SnO2@Sn nanoparticles grafted on three-dimensional (3D) graphene-like networks (designated as N-C@SnO2@Sn/3D-GNs) has been fabricated via a low-cost and scalable method, namely an in situ hydrolysis of Sn salts and immobilization of SnO2 nanoparticles on the surface of 3D-GNs, followed by an in situ polymerization of dopamine on the surface of the SnO2/3D-GNs, and finally a carbonization. In the composites, three-layer core-shell N-C@SnO2@Sn nanoparticles were uniformly grafted onto the surfaces of 3D-GNs, which promotes highly efficient insertion/extraction of Li(+). In addition, the outermost N-C layer with graphene-like structure of the N-C@SnO2@Sn nanoparticles can effectively buffer the large volume changes, enhance electronic conductivity, and prevent SnO2/Sn aggregation and pulverization during discharge/charge. The middle SnO2 layer can be changed into active Sn and nano-Li2O during discharge, as described by SnO2 + Li(+) → Sn + Li2O, whereas the thus-formed nano-Li2O can provide a facile environment for the alloying process and facilitate good cycling behavior, so as to further improve the cycling performance of the composite. The inner Sn layer with large theoretical capacity can guarantee high lithium storage in the composite. The 3D-GNs, with high electrical conductivity (1.50 × 10(3) S m(-1)), large surface area (1143 m(2) g(-1)), and high mechanical flexibility, tightly pin the core-shell structure of the N-C@SnO2@Sn nanoparticles and thus lead to remarkably enhanced electrical conductivity and structural integrity of the overall electrode. Consequently, this novel hybrid anode exhibits highly stable capacity of up to 901 mAh g(-1), with ∼89.3% capacity retention after 200 cycles at 0.1 A g(-1) and superior high rate performance, as well as a long lifetime of 500 cycles with 84.0% retention at 1.0 A g(-1). Importantly, this unique hybrid design is expected to be

Effects of Sn doping on the morphology, structure, and electrical property of In{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanofiber networks

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Wu, Xu; Wang, Yihua [Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, College of Materials and Textiles, Hangzhou (China); Yang, Bin [Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology, College of Materials and Textiles, Hangzhou (China); Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, College of Materials and Textiles, Hangzhou (China)

2014-11-15

This paper studies the effect of Sn doping on the morphological, structural, and electrical properties of the Sn-doping In{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanofiber networks. In{sub 2}O{sub 3}-based nanofibers with various relative concentration of Sn precursor (0-20 mol%) were fabricated through the electrospinning method. Scanning electron microscopy observations show that, depending on the relative concentration of SnCl{sub 4} in the starting materials, the doped nanofibers with different morphologies, from smooth to corn-like and then to accidented, are fabricated. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses reveal that the Sn dopants influence the growth direction of seeds, resulting in doped nanoparticles having diverse shapes and sizes, which are critical for the formation of doped nanofiber with different morphology. From these nanofiber networks, we fabricated several thin sheets to characterize the effect of Sn concentration on the electrical resistivity. The resistivity of thin sheets decreased significantly before the doping concentration up to 12.5 mol%, and then increased slightly at a larger addition. This work will assist further understanding the formation of Sn-doped In{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanofibers and is expected to be extended to other transparent conductive oxides. (orig.)

Visual Saliency Models for Text Detection in Real World.

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Renwu Gao

Full Text Available This paper evaluates the degree of saliency of texts in natural scenes using visual saliency models. A large scale scene image database with pixel level ground truth is created for this purpose. Using this scene image database and five state-of-the-art models, visual saliency maps that represent the degree of saliency of the objects are calculated. The receiver operating characteristic curve is employed in order to evaluate the saliency of scene texts, which is calculated by visual saliency models. A visualization of the distribution of scene texts and non-texts in the space constructed by three kinds of saliency maps, which are calculated using Itti's visual saliency model with intensity, color and orientation features, is given. This visualization of distribution indicates that text characters are more salient than their non-text neighbors, and can be captured from the background. Therefore, scene texts can be extracted from the scene images. With this in mind, a new visual saliency architecture, named hierarchical visual saliency model, is proposed. Hierarchical visual saliency model is based on Itti's model and consists of two stages. In the first stage, Itti's model is used to calculate the saliency map, and Otsu's global thresholding algorithm is applied to extract the salient region that we are interested in. In the second stage, Itti's model is applied to the salient region to calculate the final saliency map. An experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed model outperforms Itti's model in terms of captured scene texts.

Large-Scale Brain Network Coupling Predicts Total Sleep Deprivation Effects on Cognitive Capacity.

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Yu Lei

Full Text Available Interactions between large-scale brain networks have received most attention in the study of cognitive dysfunction of human brain. In this paper, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the coupling strength of large-scale brain networks will reflect the pressure for sleep and will predict cognitive performance, referred to as sleep pressure index (SPI. Fourteen healthy subjects underwent this within-subject functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study during rested wakefulness (RW and after 36 h of total sleep deprivation (TSD. Self-reported scores of sleepiness were higher for TSD than for RW. A subsequent working memory (WM task showed that WM performance was lower after 36 h of TSD. Moreover, SPI was developed based on the coupling strength of salience network (SN and default mode network (DMN. Significant increase of SPI was observed after 36 h of TSD, suggesting stronger pressure for sleep. In addition, SPI was significantly correlated with both the visual analogue scale score of sleepiness and the WM performance. These results showed that alterations in SN-DMN coupling might be critical in cognitive alterations that underlie the lapse after TSD. Further studies may validate the SPI as a potential clinical biomarker to assess the impact of sleep deprivation.

A novel visual saliency detection method for infrared video sequences

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Wang, Xin; Zhang, Yuzhen; Ning, Chen

2017-12-01

Infrared video applications such as target detection and recognition, moving target tracking, and so forth can benefit a lot from visual saliency detection, which is essentially a method to automatically localize the ;important; content in videos. In this paper, a novel visual saliency detection method for infrared video sequences is proposed. Specifically, for infrared video saliency detection, both the spatial saliency and temporal saliency are considered. For spatial saliency, we adopt a mutual consistency-guided spatial cues combination-based method to capture the regions with obvious luminance contrast and contour features. For temporal saliency, a multi-frame symmetric difference approach is proposed to discriminate salient moving regions of interest from background motions. Then, the spatial saliency and temporal saliency are combined to compute the spatiotemporal saliency using an adaptive fusion strategy. Besides, to highlight the spatiotemporal salient regions uniformly, a multi-scale fusion approach is embedded into the spatiotemporal saliency model. Finally, a Gestalt theory-inspired optimization algorithm is designed to further improve the reliability of the final saliency map. Experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms many state-of-the-art saliency detection approaches for infrared videos under various backgrounds.

Aberrant development of functional connectivity among resting state-related functional networks in medication-naïve ADHD children.

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Jeewook Choi

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the compromised developmental trajectory of the functional connectivity among resting-state-related functional networks (RSFNs in medication-naïve children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Using both independent component analysis and dual regression, subject-specific time courses of 12 RSFNs were extracted from both 20 medication-naïve children with ADHD, and 20 age and gender-matched control children showing typical development (TDC. Both partial correlation coefficients among the 12 RSFNs and a resting-state resource allocation index (rsRAI of the salience network (SN were entered into multiple linear regression analysis to investigate the compromised, age-related change in medication-naïve ADHD children. Finally, correlation analyses were performed between the compromised RSFN connections showing significant group-by-age interaction and rsRAI of SN or clinical variables. RESULTS: Medication-naïve ADHD subjects failed to show age-related increment of functional connectivity in both rsRAI of SN and two RSFN connections, SN-Sensory/motor and posterior default mode/precuneus network (pDMN/prec--anterior DMN. Lower SN-Sensory/motor connectivity was related with higher scores on the ADHD Rating Scale, and with poor scores on the continuous performance test. The pDMN/prec-aDMN connectivity was positively related with rsRAI of SN. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that medication-naïve ADHD subjects may have delayed maturation of the two functional connections, SN-Sensory/Motor and aDMN-pDMN/prec. Interventions that enhance the functional connectivity of these two connections may merit attention as potential therapeutic or preventive options in both ADHD and TDC.

Cognitive and default-mode resting state networks: do male and female brains "rest" differently?

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Weissman-Fogel, Irit; Moayedi, Massieh; Taylor, Keri S; Pope, Geoff; Davis, Karen D

2010-11-01

Variability in human behavior related to sex is supported by neuroimaging studies showing differences in brain activation patterns during cognitive task performance. An emerging field is examining the human connectome, including networks of brain regions that are not only temporally-correlated during different task conditions, but also networks that show highly correlated spontaneous activity during a task-free state. Both task-related and task-free network activity has been associated with individual task performance and behavior under certain conditions. Therefore, our aim was to determine whether sex differences exist during a task-free resting state for two networks associated with cognitive task performance (executive control network (ECN), salience network (SN)) and the default mode network (DMN). Forty-nine healthy subjects (26 females, 23 males) underwent a 5-min task-free fMRI scan in a 3T MRI. An independent components analysis (ICA) was performed to identify the best-fit IC for each network based on specific spatial nodes defined in previous studies. To determine the consistency of these networks across subjects we performed self-organizing group-level ICA analyses. There were no significant differences between sexes in the functional connectivity of the brain areas within the ECN, SN, or the DMN. These important findings highlight the robustness of intrinsic connectivity of these resting state networks and their similarity between sexes. Furthermore, our findings suggest that resting state fMRI studies do not need to be controlled for sex. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Saliency Changes Appearance

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Kerzel, Dirk; Schönhammer, Josef; Burra, Nicolas; Born, Sabine; Souto, David

2011-01-01

Numerous studies have suggested that the deployment of attention is linked to saliency. In contrast, very little is known about how salient objects are perceived. To probe the perception of salient elements, observers compared two horizontally aligned stimuli in an array of eight elements. One of them was salient because of its orientation or direction of motion. We observed that the perceived luminance contrast or color saturation of the salient element increased: the salient stimulus looked even more salient. We explored the possibility that changes in appearance were caused by attention. We chose an event-related potential indexing attentional selection, the N2pc, to answer this question. The absence of an N2pc to the salient object provides preliminary evidence against involuntary attentional capture by the salient element. We suggest that signals from a master saliency map flow back into individual feature maps. These signals boost the perceived feature contrast of salient objects, even on perceptual dimensions different from the one that initially defined saliency. PMID:22162760

SALIENCY BASED SEGMENTATION OF SATELLITE IMAGES

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A. Sharma

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Saliency gives the way as humans see any image and saliency based segmentation can be eventually helpful in Psychovisual image interpretation. Keeping this in view few saliency models are used along with segmentation algorithm and only the salient segments from image have been extracted. The work is carried out for terrestrial images as well as for satellite images. The methodology used in this work extracts those segments from segmented image which are having higher or equal saliency value than a threshold value. Salient and non salient regions of image become foreground and background respectively and thus image gets separated. For carrying out this work a dataset of terrestrial images and Worldview 2 satellite images (sample data are used. Results show that those saliency models which works better for terrestrial images are not good enough for satellite image in terms of foreground and background separation. Foreground and background separation in terrestrial images is based on salient objects visible on the images whereas in satellite images this separation is based on salient area rather than salient objects.

Disrupted insula-based neural circuit organization and conflict interference in trauma-exposed youth

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Hilary A. Marusak

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Childhood trauma exposure is a potent risk factor for psychopathology. Emerging research suggests that aberrant saliency processing underlies the link between early trauma exposure and later cognitive and socioemotional deficits that are hallmark of several psychiatric disorders. Here, we examine brain and behavioral responses during a face categorization conflict task, and relate these to intrinsic connectivity of the salience network (SN. The results demonstrate a unique pattern of SN dysfunction in youth exposed to trauma (n = 14 relative to comparison youth (n = 19 matched on age, sex, IQ, and sociodemographic risk. We find that trauma-exposed youth are more susceptible to conflict interference and this correlates with higher fronto-insular responses during conflict. Resting-state functional connectivity data collected in the same participants reveal increased connectivity of the insula to SN seed regions that is associated with diminished reward sensitivity, a critical risk/resilience trait following stress. In addition to altered intrinsic connectivity of the SN, we observed altered connectivity between the SN and default mode network (DMN in trauma-exposed youth. These data uncover network-level disruptions in brain organization following one of the strongest predictors of illness, early life trauma, and demonstrate the relevance of observed neural effects for behavior and specific symptom dimensions. SN dysfunction may serve as a diathesis that contributes to illness and negative outcomes following childhood trauma.

Alcohol Dependence and Altered Engagement of Neural Networks in Risky Decisions

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Xi eZhu

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Alcohol dependence is associated with heightened risk tolerance and altered decision- making. This raises the question as to whether alcohol dependent patients (ADP are incapable of proper risk assessment. We investigated how healthy controls (HC and ADP engage neural networks to cope with the increased cognitive demands of risky decisions. We collected fMRI data while 34 HC and 16 ADP played a game that included safe and risky trials. In safe trials, participants accrued money at no risk of a penalty. In risky trials, reward and risk simultaneously increased as participants were instructed to decide when to stop a reward accrual period. If the participant failed to stop before an undisclosed time, the trial would bust and participants would not earn the money from that trial. Independent Component Analysis was used to identify networks engaged during the anticipation and the decision execution of risky compared with safe trials. Like HC, ADP demonstrated distinct network engagement for safe and risky trials at anticipation. However, at decision execution, ADP exhibited severely reduced discrimination in network engagement between safe and risky trials. Although ADP behaviorally responded to risk they failed to appropriately modify network engagement as the decision continued, leading ADP to assume similar network engagement regardless of risk prospects. This may reflect disorganized network switching and a facile response strategy uniformly adopted by ADP across risk conditions. We propose that aberrant salience network (SN engagement in ADP might contribute to ineffective network switching and that the role of the SN in risky decisions warrants further investigation.

Functional network endophenotypes unravel the effects of apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 in middle-aged adults.

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Joseph S Goveas

Full Text Available Apolipoprotein E-ε4 (APOE-ε4 accentuates memory decline, structural volume loss and cerebral amyloid deposition in cognitively healthy adults. We investigated whether APOE-ε4 carriers will show disruptions in the intrinsic cognitive networks, including the default mode (DMN, executive control (ECN and salience (SN networks, relative to noncarriers in middle-aged healthy adults; and the extent to which episodic-memory performance is related to the altered functional connectivity (Fc in these networks. Resting-state functional connectivity MRI (R-fMRI was used to measure the differences in the DMN, ECN and SN Fc between 20 APOE-ε4 carriers and 26 noncarriers. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between episodic-memory performance and Fc differences in the three resting-state networks across all subjects. There were no significant differences in the demographic and neuropsychological characteristics and the gray-matter volumes in the carriers and noncarriers. While mostly diminished DMN and ECN functional connectivities were seen, enhanced connections to the DMN structures were found in the SN in ε4 carriers. Altered DMN and ECN were associated with episodic memory performance. Significant Fc differences in the brain networks implicated in cognition were seen in middle-aged individuals with a genetic risk for AD, in the absence of cognitive decline and gray-matter atrophy. Prospective studies are essential to elucidate the potential of R-fMRI technique as a biomarker for predicting conversion from normal to early AD in healthy APOE-ε4 carriers.

Default mode network interference in mild traumatic brain injury - a pilot resting state study.

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Sours, Chandler; Zhuo, Jiachen; Janowich, Jacqueline; Aarabi, Bizhan; Shanmuganathan, Kathirkamanthan; Gullapalli, Rao P

2013-11-06

In this study we investigated the functional connectivity in 23 Mild TBI (mTBI) patients with and without memory complaints using resting state fMRI in the sub-acute stage of injury as well as a group of control participants. Results indicate that mTBI patients with memory complaints performed significantly worse than patients without memory complaints on tests assessing memory from the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM). Altered functional connectivity was observed between the three groups between the default mode network (DMN) and the nodes of the task positive network (TPN). Altered functional connectivity was also observed between both the TPN and DMN and nodes associated with the Salience Network (SN). Following mTBI there is a reduction in anti-correlated networks for both those with and without memory complaints for the DMN, but only a reduction in the anti-correlated network in mTBI patients with memory complaints for the TPN. Furthermore, an increased functional connectivity between the TPN and SN appears to be associated with reduced performance on memory assessments. Overall the results suggest that a disruption in the segregation of the DMN and the TPN at rest may be mediated through both a direct pathway of increased FC between various nodes of the TPN and DMN, and through an indirect pathway that links the TPN and DMN through nodes of the SN. This disruption between networks may cause a detrimental impact on memory functioning following mTBI, supporting the Default Mode Interference Hypothesis in the context of mTBI related memory deficits. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

MPEG-4 AVC saliency map computation

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Ammar, M.; Mitrea, M.; Hasnaoui, M.

2014-02-01

A saliency map provides information about the regions inside some visual content (image, video, ...) at which a human observer will spontaneously look at. For saliency maps computation, current research studies consider the uncompressed (pixel) representation of the visual content and extract various types of information (intensity, color, orientation, motion energy) which are then fusioned. This paper goes one step further and computes the saliency map directly from the MPEG-4 AVC stream syntax elements with minimal decoding operations. In this respect, an a-priori in-depth study on the MPEG-4 AVC syntax elements is first carried out so as to identify the entities appealing the visual attention. Secondly, the MPEG-4 AVC reference software is completed with software tools allowing the parsing of these elements and their subsequent usage in objective benchmarking experiments. This way, it is demonstrated that an MPEG-4 saliency map can be given by a combination of static saliency and motion maps. This saliency map is experimentally validated under a robust watermarking framework. When included in an m-QIM (multiple symbols Quantization Index Modulation) insertion method, PSNR average gains of 2.43 dB, 2.15dB, and 2.37 dB are obtained for data payload of 10, 20 and 30 watermarked blocks per I frame, i.e. about 30, 60, and 90 bits/second, respectively. These quantitative results are obtained out of processing 2 hours of heterogeneous video content.

Prediction of visual saliency in video with deep CNNs

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Chaabouni, Souad; Benois-Pineau, Jenny; Hadar, Ofer

2016-09-01

Prediction of visual saliency in images and video is a highly researched topic. Target applications include Quality assessment of multimedia services in mobile context, video compression techniques, recognition of objects in video streams, etc. In the framework of mobile and egocentric perspectives, visual saliency models cannot be founded only on bottom-up features, as suggested by feature integration theory. The central bias hypothesis, is not respected neither. In this case, the top-down component of human visual attention becomes prevalent. Visual saliency can be predicted on the basis of seen data. Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have proven to be a powerful tool for prediction of salient areas in stills. In our work we also focus on sensitivity of human visual system to residual motion in a video. A Deep CNN architecture is designed, where we incorporate input primary maps as color values of pixels and magnitude of local residual motion. Complementary contrast maps allow for a slight increase of accuracy compared to the use of color and residual motion only. The experiments show that the choice of the input features for the Deep CNN depends on visual task:for th eintersts in dynamic content, the 4K model with residual motion is more efficient, and for object recognition in egocentric video the pure spatial input is more appropriate.

Salience Effects in the North-West of England

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Sandra Jansen

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The question of how we can define salience, what properties it includes and how we can quantify it have been discussed widely over the past thirty years but we still have more questions than answers about this phenomenon, e. g. not only how salience arises, but also how we can define it. However, despite the lack of a clear definition, salience is often taken into account as an explanatory factor in language change. The scientific discourse on salience has in most cases revolved around phonetic features, while hardly any variables on other linguistic levels have been investigated in terms of their salience. Hence, one goal of this paper is to argue for an expanded view of salience in the sociolinguistic context. This article investigates the variation and change of two groups of variables in Carlisle, an urban speech community in the north west of England. I analyse the variable (th and in particular the replacement of /θ/ with [f] which is widely known as th-fronting. The use of three discourse markers is also examined. Both groups of features will then be discussed in the light of sociolinguistic salience.

Increased parietal circuit-breaker activity in delta frequency band and abnormal delta/theta band connectivity in salience network in hyperacusis subjects.

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Jae Joon Han

Full Text Available Recent studies have suggested that hyperacusis, an abnormal hypersensitivity to ordinary environmental sounds, may be characterized by certain resting-state cortical oscillatory patterns, even with no sound stimulus. However, previous studies are limited in that most studied subjects with other comorbidities that may have affected cortical activity. In this regard, to assess ongoing cortical oscillatory activity in idiopathic hyperacusis patients with no comorbidities, we compared differences in resting-state cortical oscillatory patterns between five idiopathic hyperacusis subjects and five normal controls. The hyperacusis group demonstrated significantly higher electrical activity in the right auditory-related cortex for the gamma frequency band and left superior parietal lobule (SPL for the delta frequency band versus the control group. The hyperacusis group also showed significantly decreased functional connectivity between the left auditory cortex (AC and left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC, between the left AC and left subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC for the gamma band, and between the right insula and bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC and between the left AC and left sgACC for the theta band versus the control group. The higher electrical activity in the SPL may indicate a readiness of "circuit-breaker" activity to shift attention to forthcoming sound stimuli. Also, because of the disrupted salience network, consisting of the dACC and insula, abnormally increased salience to all sound stimuli may emerge, as a consequence of decreased top-down control of the AC by the dACC and dysfunctional emotional weight attached to auditory stimuli by the OFC. Taken together, abnormally enhanced attention and salience to forthcoming sound stimuli may render hyperacusis subjects hyperresponsive to non-noxious auditory stimuli.

Psychopathic traits associated with abnormal hemodynamic activity in salience and default mode networks during auditory oddball task.

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Anderson, Nathaniel E; Maurer, J Michael; Steele, Vaughn R; Kiehl, Kent A

2018-06-01

Psychopathy is a personality disorder accompanied by abnormalities in emotional processing and attention. Recent theoretical applications of network-based models of cognition have been used to explain the diverse range of abnormalities apparent in psychopathy. Still, the physiological basis for these abnormalities is not well understood. A significant body of work has examined psychopathy-related abnormalities in simple attention-based tasks, but these studies have largely been performed using electrocortical measures, such as event-related potentials (ERPs), and they often have been carried out among individuals with low levels of psychopathic traits. In this study, we examined neural activity during an auditory oddball task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a simple auditory target detection (oddball) task among 168 incarcerated adult males, with psychopathic traits assessed via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Event-related contrasts demonstrated that the largest psychopathy-related effects were apparent between the frequent standard stimulus condition and a task-off, implicit baseline. Negative correlations with interpersonal-affective dimensions (Factor 1) of the PCL-R were apparent in regions comprising default mode and salience networks. These findings support models of psychopathy describing impaired integration across functional networks. They additionally corroborate reports which have implicated failures of efficient transition between default mode and task-positive networks. Finally, they demonstrate a neurophysiological basis for abnormal mobilization of attention and reduced engagement with stimuli that have little motivational significance among those with high psychopathic traits.

Object detection system based on multimodel saliency maps

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Guo, Ya'nan; Luo, Chongfan; Ma, Yide

2017-03-01

Detection of visually salient image regions is extensively applied in computer vision and computer graphics, such as object detection, adaptive compression, and object recognition, but any single model always has its limitations to various images, so in our work, we establish a method based on multimodel saliency maps to detect the object, which intelligently absorbs the merits of various individual saliency detection models to achieve promising results. The method can be roughly divided into three steps: in the first step, we propose a decision-making system to evaluate saliency maps obtained by seven competitive methods and merely select the three most valuable saliency maps; in the second step, we introduce heterogeneous PCNN algorithm to obtain three prime foregrounds; and then a self-designed nonlinear fusion method is proposed to merge these saliency maps; at last, the adaptive improved and simplified PCNN model is used to detect the object. Our proposed method can constitute an object detection system for different occasions, which requires no training, is simple, and highly efficient. The proposed saliency fusion technique shows better performance over a broad range of images and enriches the applicability range by fusing different individual saliency models, this proposed system is worthy enough to be called a strong model. Moreover, the proposed adaptive improved SPCNN model is stemmed from the Eckhorn's neuron model, which is skilled in image segmentation because of its biological background, and in which all the parameters are adaptive to image information. We extensively appraise our algorithm on classical salient object detection database, and the experimental results demonstrate that the aggregation of saliency maps outperforms the best saliency model in all cases, yielding highest precision of 89.90%, better recall rates of 98.20%, greatest F-measure of 91.20%, and lowest mean absolute error value of 0.057, the value of proposed saliency evaluation

The social perceptual salience effect.

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Inderbitzin, Martin P; Betella, Alberto; Lanatá, Antonio; Scilingo, Enzo P; Bernardet, Ulysses; Verschure, Paul F M J

2013-02-01

Affective processes appraise the salience of external stimuli preparing the agent for action. So far, the relationship between stimuli, affect, and action has been mainly studied in highly controlled laboratory conditions. In order to find the generalization of this relationship to social interaction, we assess the influence of the salience of social stimuli on human interaction. We constructed reality ball game in a mixed reality space where pairs of people collaborated in order to compete with an opposing team. We coupled the players with team members with varying social salience by using both physical and virtual representations of remote players (i.e., avatars). We observe that, irrespective of the team composition, winners and losers display significantly different inter- and intrateam spatial behaviors. We show that subjects regulate their interpersonal distance to both virtual and physical team members in similar ways, but in proportion to the vividness of the stimulus. As an independent validation of this social salience effect, we show that this behavioral effect is also displayed in physiological correlates of arousal. In addition, we found a strong correlation between performance, physiology, and the subjective reports of the subjects. Our results show that proxemics is consistent with affective responses, confirming the existence of a social salience effect. This provides further support for the so-called law of apparent reality, and it generalizes it to the social realm, where it can be used to design more efficient social artifacts. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

The high-temperature modification of LuAgSn and high-pressure high-temperature experiments on DyAgSn, HoAgSn, and YbAgSn

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heying, B.; Rodewald, U.C.; Hermes, W.; Schappacher, F.M.; Riecken, J.F.; Poettgen, R. [Muenster Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Anorganische und Analytische Chemie; Heymann, G.; Huppertz, H. [Muenchen Univ. (Germany). Dept. fuer Chemie und Biochemie; Sebastian, C.P. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Chemische Physik Fester Stoffe, Dresden (Germany)

2008-02-15

The high-temperature modification of LuAgSn was obtained by arc-melting an equiatomic mixture of the elements followed by quenching the melt on a water-cooled copper crucible. HT-LuAgSn crystallizes with the NdPtSb-type structure, space group P6{sub 3}mc: a = 463.5(1), c = 723.2(1) pm, wR2 = 0.0270, 151 F{sup 2}, and 11 variables. The silver and tin atoms build up two-dimensional, puckered [Ag{sub 3}Sn{sub 3}] networks (276 pm Ag-Sn) that are charge-balanced and separated by the lutetium atoms. The Ag-Sn distances between the [Ag{sub 3}Sn{sub 3}] layers of 294 pm are much longer. Single crystals of isotypic DyAgSn (a = 468.3(1), c = 734.4(1) pm, wR2 = 0.0343, 411 F{sup 2}, and 11 variables) and HoAgSn (a = 467.2(1), c = 731.7(2) pm, wR2 = 0.0318, 330 F{sup 2}, and 11 variables) were obtained from arc-melted samples. Under high-pressure (up to 12.2 GPa) and high-temperature (up to 1470 K) conditions, no transitions to a ZrNiAl-related phase have been observed for DyAgSn, HoAgSn, and YbAgSn. HT-TmAgSn shows Curie-Weiss paramagnetism with {mu}{sub eff} = 7.53(1) {mu}{sub B}/Tm atom and {theta}P = -15.0(5) K. No magnetic ordering was evident down to 3 K. HT-LuAgSn is a Pauli paramagnet. Room-temperature {sup 119}Sn Moessbauer spectra of HT-TmAgSn and HT-LuAgSn show singlet resonances with isomer shifts of 1.78(1) and 1.72(1) mm/s, respectively. (orig.)

Improving Saliency Models by Predicting Human Fixation Patches

KAUST Repository

Dubey, Rachit

2015-04-16

There is growing interest in studying the Human Visual System (HVS) to supplement and improve the performance of computer vision tasks. A major challenge for current visual saliency models is predicting saliency in cluttered scenes (i.e. high false positive rate). In this paper, we propose a fixation patch detector that predicts image patches that contain human fixations with high probability. Our proposed model detects sparse fixation patches with an accuracy of 84 % and eliminates non-fixation patches with an accuracy of 84 % demonstrating that low-level image features can indeed be used to short-list and identify human fixation patches. We then show how these detected fixation patches can be used as saliency priors for popular saliency models, thus, reducing false positives while maintaining true positives. Extensive experimental results show that our proposed approach allows state-of-the-art saliency methods to achieve better prediction performance on benchmark datasets.

Improving Saliency Models by Predicting Human Fixation Patches

KAUST Repository

Dubey, Rachit; Dave, Akshat; Ghanem, Bernard

2015-01-01

There is growing interest in studying the Human Visual System (HVS) to supplement and improve the performance of computer vision tasks. A major challenge for current visual saliency models is predicting saliency in cluttered scenes (i.e. high false positive rate). In this paper, we propose a fixation patch detector that predicts image patches that contain human fixations with high probability. Our proposed model detects sparse fixation patches with an accuracy of 84 % and eliminates non-fixation patches with an accuracy of 84 % demonstrating that low-level image features can indeed be used to short-list and identify human fixation patches. We then show how these detected fixation patches can be used as saliency priors for popular saliency models, thus, reducing false positives while maintaining true positives. Extensive experimental results show that our proposed approach allows state-of-the-art saliency methods to achieve better prediction performance on benchmark datasets.

Alteration of basal ganglia and right frontoparietal network in early drug-naïve Parkinson’s disease during heat pain stimuli and resting state

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ying eTan

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Background: The symptoms and pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD are complicated and accurate diagnosis is difficult, particularly in early-stage. Functional magnetic resonance imaging is noninvasive and characterized by the integration of different brain areas at functional connectivity (FC. Considering pain process in PD, we hypothesized that pain is one of the earliest symptoms and investigated whether FC of the pain network was disrupted in PD without pain.Methods: Fourteen early drug-naïve PD without pain and 17 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC participated in our test. We investigate abnormalities in FC and in functional network connectivity in PD compared with HC during the task (51 °C heat pain stimuli and at rest.Results: Compared with HC, PD showed decreased FC in basal ganglia network (BGN, salience network (SN and sensorimotor network in two states respectively. FNC between the BGN and the SN are reduced during both states in PD compared with HC. In addition, the FNC associated with right frontoparietal network (RFPN was also significantly disturbed during the task.Conclusion: These findings suggest that BGN plays a role in the pathological mechanisms of pain underlying PD, and RFPN likely contributes greatly to harmonization between intrinsic brain activity and external stimuli.

Chip-to-chip SnO2 nanowire network sensors for room temperature H2 detection

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Köck, A.; Brunet, E.; Mutinati, G. C.; Maier, T.; Steinhauer, S.

2012-06-01

The employment of nanowires is a very powerful strategy to improve gas sensor performance. We demonstrate a gas sensor device, which is based on silicon chip-to-chip synthesis of ultralong tin oxide (SnO2) nanowires. The sensor device employs an interconnected SnO2 nanowire network configuration, which exhibits a huge surface-to-volume ratio and provides full access of the target gas to the nanowires. The chip-to-chip SnO2 nanowire device is able to detect a H2 concentration of only 20 ppm in synthetic air with ~ 60% relative humidity at room temperature. At an operating temperature of 300°C a concentration of 50 ppm H2 results in a sensitivity of 5%. At this elevated temperature the sensor shows a linear response in a concentration range between 10 ppm and 100 ppm H2. The SnO2-nanowire fabrication procedure based on spray pyrolysis and subsequent annealing is performed at atmospheric pressure, requires no vacuum and allows upscale of the substrate to a wafer size. 3D-integration with CMOS chips is proposed as viable way for practical realization of smart nanowire based gas sensor devices for the consumer market.

SnS{sub 2} nanoplates embedded in 3D interconnected graphene network as anode material with superior lithium storage performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang, Hongli [Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy Materials and Devices, and School of Physics and Optoelectronics, Xiangtan University, Hunan 411105 (China); Qi, Xiang, E-mail: xqi@xtu.edu.cn [Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy Materials and Devices, and School of Physics and Optoelectronics, Xiangtan University, Hunan 411105 (China); Han, Weijia; Ren, Long; Liu, Yundan [Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy Materials and Devices, and School of Physics and Optoelectronics, Xiangtan University, Hunan 411105 (China); Wang, Xingyan, E-mail: xywangxtu@163.com [Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105 (China); Zhong, Jianxin [Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy Materials and Devices, and School of Physics and Optoelectronics, Xiangtan University, Hunan 411105 (China)

2015-11-15

Graphical abstract: Schematic formation process of 3D interconnected SnS{sub 2}/graphene composite, and its superior lithium storage performance. - Highlights: • 3D graphene network embedded with SnS{sub 2} is synthesized by a facile two-step method. • This structure produces a synergistic effect between graphene and SnS{sub 2} nanoplates. • High capacity, excellent cycle performance and good rate capability are achieved. - Abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) interconnected graphene network embedded with uniformly distributed tin disulfide (SnS{sub 2}) nanoplates was prepared by a facile two-step method. The microstructures and morphologies of the SnS{sub 2}/graphene nanocomposite (SSG) are experimentally confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Using the as-prepared SSG as an anode material for lithium batteries, its electrochemical performances were investigated by cyclic voltammograms (CV), charge/discharge tests, galvanostatic cycling performance and AC impedance spectroscopy. The results demonstrate that the as-prepared SSG exhibits excellent cycling performance with a capacity of 1060 mAh g{sup −1} retained after 200 charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 100 mA g{sup −1}, also a superior rate capability of 670 mAh g{sup −1} even at such a high current density of 2000 mA g{sup −1}. This favorable performance can be attributed to the unique 3D interconnected architecture with great electro-conductivity and its intimate contact with SnS{sub 2}. Our results indicate a potential application of this novel 3D SnS{sub 2}/graphene nanocomposite in lithium-ion battery.

Fabric defect detection based on visual saliency using deep feature and low-rank recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhoufeng; Wang, Baorui; Li, Chunlei; Li, Bicao; Dong, Yan

2018-04-01

Fabric defect detection plays an important role in improving the quality of fabric product. In this paper, a novel fabric defect detection method based on visual saliency using deep feature and low-rank recovery was proposed. First, unsupervised training is carried out by the initial network parameters based on MNIST large datasets. The supervised fine-tuning of fabric image library based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) is implemented, and then more accurate deep neural network model is generated. Second, the fabric images are uniformly divided into the image block with the same size, then we extract their multi-layer deep features using the trained deep network. Thereafter, all the extracted features are concentrated into a feature matrix. Third, low-rank matrix recovery is adopted to divide the feature matrix into the low-rank matrix which indicates the background and the sparse matrix which indicates the salient defect. In the end, the iterative optimal threshold segmentation algorithm is utilized to segment the saliency maps generated by the sparse matrix to locate the fabric defect area. Experimental results demonstrate that the feature extracted by CNN is more suitable for characterizing the fabric texture than the traditional LBP, HOG and other hand-crafted features extraction method, and the proposed method can accurately detect the defect regions of various fabric defects, even for the image with complex texture.

The role of ethnic school segregation for adolescents’ religious salience

OpenAIRE

Van der Bracht, Koen; D'hondt, Fanny; Van Houtte, Mieke; Van de Putte, Bart; Stevens, Peter

2016-01-01

Public concerns over the possible effects of school segregation on immigrant and ethnic majority religiosity have been on the rise over the last few years. In this paper we focus on (1) the association between ethnic school composition and religious salience, (2) intergenerational differences in religious salience and (3) the role of ethnic school composition for intergenerational differences in religious salience. We perform analyses on religious salience, one five-point Likert scale item me...

Computationally determining the salience of decision points for real-time wayfinding support

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Makoto Takemiya

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This study introduces the concept of computational salience to explain the discriminatory efficacy of decision points, which in turn may have applications to providing real-time assistance to users of navigational aids. This research compared algorithms for calculating the computational salience of decision points and validated the results via three methods: high-salience decision points were used to classify wayfinders; salience scores were used to weight a conditional probabilistic scoring function for real-time wayfinder performance classification; and salience scores were correlated with wayfinding-performance metrics. As an exploratory step to linking computational and cognitive salience, a photograph-recognition experiment was conducted. Results reveal a distinction between algorithms useful for determining computational and cognitive saliences. For computational salience, information about the structural integration of decision points is effective, while information about the probability of decision-point traversal shows promise for determining cognitive salience. Limitations from only using structural information and motivations for future work that include non-structural information are elicited.

Disrupted coupling of large-scale networks is associated with relapse behaviour in heroin-dependent men

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Li, Qiang; Liu, Jierong; Wang, Wei; Wang, Yarong; Li, Wei; Chen, Jiajie; Zhu, Jia; Yan, Xuejiao; Li, Yongbin; Li, Zhe; Ye, Jianjun; Wang, Wei

2018-01-01

Background It is unknown whether impaired coupling among 3 core large-scale brain networks (salience [SN], default mode [DMN] and executive control networks [ECN]) is associated with relapse behaviour in treated heroin-dependent patients. Methods We conducted a prospective resting-state functional MRI study comparing the functional connectivity strength among healthy controls and heroin-dependent men who had either relapsed or were in early remission. Men were considered to be either relapsed or in early remission based on urine drug screens during a 3-month follow-up period. We also examined how the coupling of large-scale networks correlated with relapse behaviour among heroin-dependent men. Results We included 20 controls and 50 heroin-dependent men (26 relapsed and 24 early remission) in our analyses. The relapsed men showed greater connectivity than the early remission and control groups between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (key node of the SN) and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (included in the DMN). The relapsed men and controls showed lower connectivity than the early remission group between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (key node of the left ECN) and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. The percentage of positive urine drug screens positively correlated with the coupling between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, but negatively correlated with the coupling between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Limitations We examined deficits in only 3 core networks leading to relapse behaviour. Other networks may also contribute to relapse. Conclusion Greater coupling between the SN and DMN and lower coupling between the left ECN and DMN is associated with relapse behaviour. These findings may shed light on the development of new treatments for heroin addiction. PMID:29252165

Salience and attention in surprisal-based accounts of language processing

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Alessandra eZarcone

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The notion of salience has been singled out as the explanatory factor for a diverse range oflinguistic phenomena. In particular, perceptual salience (e.g. visual salience of objects in the world,acoustic prominence of linguistic sounds and semantic-pragmatic salience (e.g. prominence ofrecently mentioned or topical referents have been shown to influence language comprehensionand production. A different line of research has sought to account for behavioral correlates ofcognitive load during comprehension as well as for certain patterns in language usage usinginformation-theoretic notions, such as surprisal. Surprisal and salience both affect languageprocessing at different levels, but the relationship between the two has not been adequatelyelucidated, and the question of whether salience can be reduced to surprisal / predictability isstill open. Our review identifies two main challenges in addressing this question: terminologicalinconsistency and lack of integration between high and low levels of representations in salience-based accounts and surprisal-based accounts. We capitalise upon work in visual cognition inorder to orient ourselves in surveying the different facets of the notion of salience in linguisticsand their relation with models of surprisal. We find that work on salience highlights aspects oflinguistic communication that models of surprisal tend to overlook, namely the role of attentionand relevance to current goals, and we argue that the Predictive Coding framework provides aunified view which can account for the role played by attention and predictability at different levelsof processing and which can clarify the interplay between low and high levels of processes andbetween predictability-driven expectation and attention-driven focus.

Saliency predicts change detection in pictures of natural scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Michael J

2005-01-01

It has been proposed that the visual system encodes the salience of objects in the visual field in an explicit two-dimensional map that guides visual selective attention. Experiments were conducted to determine whether salience measurements applied to regions of pictures of outdoor scenes could predict the detection of changes in those regions. To obtain a quantitative measure of change detection, observers located changes in pairs of colour pictures presented across an interstimulus interval (ISI). Salience measurements were then obtained from different observers for image change regions using three independent methods, and all were positively correlated with change detection. Factor analysis extracted a single saliency factor that accounted for 62% of the variance contained in the four measures. Finally, estimates of the magnitude of the image change in each picture pair were obtained, using nine separate visual filters representing low-level vision features (luminance, colour, spatial frequency, orientation, edge density). None of the feature outputs was significantly associated with change detection or saliency. On the other hand it was shown that high-level (structural) properties of the changed region were related to saliency and to change detection: objects were more salient than shadows and more detectable when changed.

Brain network dysregulation, emotion, and complaints after mild traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Horn, Harm J; Liemburg, Edith J; Scheenen, Myrthe E; de Koning, Myrthe E; Marsman, Jan-Bernard C; Spikman, Jacoba M; van der Naalt, Joukje

2016-04-01

To assess the role of brain networks in emotion regulation and post-traumatic complaints in the sub-acute phase after non-complicated mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Fifty-four patients with mTBI (34 with and 20 without complaints) and 20 healthy controls (group-matched for age, sex, education, and handedness) were included. Resting-state fMRI was performed at four weeks post-injury. Static and dynamic functional connectivity were studied within and between the default mode, executive (frontoparietal and bilateral frontal network), and salience network. The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) was used to measure anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D). Regarding within-network functional connectivity, none of the selected brain networks were different between groups. Regarding between-network interactions, patients with complaints exhibited lower functional connectivity between the bilateral frontal and salience network compared to patients without complaints. In the total patient group, higher HADS-D scores were related to lower functional connectivity between the bilateral frontal network and both the right frontoparietal and salience network, and to higher connectivity between the right frontoparietal and salience network. Furthermore, whereas higher HADS-D scores were associated with lower connectivity within the parietal midline areas of the bilateral frontal network, higher HADS-A scores were related to lower connectivity within medial prefrontal areas of the bilateral frontal network. Functional interactions of the executive and salience networks were related to emotion regulation and complaints after mTBI, with a key role for the bilateral frontal network. These findings may have implications for future studies on the effect of psychological interventions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Finding the Secret of Image Saliency in the Frequency Domain.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jia; Duan, Ling-Yu; Chen, Xiaowu; Huang, Tiejun; Tian, Yonghong

2015-12-01

There are two sides to every story of visual saliency modeling in the frequency domain. On the one hand, image saliency can be effectively estimated by applying simple operations to the frequency spectrum. On the other hand, it is still unclear which part of the frequency spectrum contributes the most to popping-out targets and suppressing distractors. Toward this end, this paper tentatively explores the secret of image saliency in the frequency domain. From the results obtained in several qualitative and quantitative experiments, we find that the secret of visual saliency may mainly hide in the phases of intermediate frequencies. To explain this finding, we reinterpret the concept of discrete Fourier transform from the perspective of template-based contrast computation and thus develop several principles for designing the saliency detector in the frequency domain. Following these principles, we propose a novel approach to design the saliency detector under the assistance of prior knowledge obtained through both unsupervised and supervised learning processes. Experimental results on a public image benchmark show that the learned saliency detector outperforms 18 state-of-the-art approaches in predicting human fixations.

Night-Time Vehicle Detection Algorithm Based on Visual Saliency and Deep Learning

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Yingfeng Cai

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Night vision systems get more and more attention in the field of automotive active safety field. In this area, a number of researchers have proposed far-infrared sensor based night-time vehicle detection algorithm. However, existing algorithms have low performance in some indicators such as the detection rate and processing time. To solve this problem, we propose a far-infrared image vehicle detection algorithm based on visual saliency and deep learning. Firstly, most of the nonvehicle pixels will be removed with visual saliency computation. Then, vehicle candidate will be generated by using prior information such as camera parameters and vehicle size. Finally, classifier trained with deep belief networks will be applied to verify the candidates generated in last step. The proposed algorithm is tested in around 6000 images and achieves detection rate of 92.3% and processing time of 25 Hz which is better than existing methods.

Visual saliency in MPEG-4 AVC video stream

Science.gov (United States)

Ammar, M.; Mitrea, M.; Hasnaoui, M.; Le Callet, P.

2015-03-01

Visual saliency maps already proved their efficiency in a large variety of image/video communication application fields, covering from selective compression and channel coding to watermarking. Such saliency maps are generally based on different visual characteristics (like color, intensity, orientation, motion,…) computed from the pixel representation of the visual content. This paper resumes and extends our previous work devoted to the definition of a saliency map solely extracted from the MPEG-4 AVC stream syntax elements. The MPEG-4 AVC saliency map thus defined is a fusion of static and dynamic map. The static saliency map is in its turn a combination of intensity, color and orientation features maps. Despite the particular way in which all these elementary maps are computed, the fusion techniques allowing their combination plays a critical role in the final result and makes the object of the proposed study. A total of 48 fusion formulas (6 for combining static features and, for each of them, 8 to combine static to dynamic features) are investigated. The performances of the obtained maps are evaluated on a public database organized at IRCCyN, by computing two objective metrics: the Kullback-Leibler divergence and the area under curve.

Salience and Attention in Surprisal-Based Accounts of Language Processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Zarcone, Alessandra; van Schijndel, Marten; Vogels, Jorrig; Demberg, Vera

2016-01-01

The notion of salience has been singled out as the explanatory factor for a diverse range of linguistic phenomena. In particular, perceptual salience (e.g., visual salience of objects in the world, acoustic prominence of linguistic sounds) and semantic-pragmatic salience (e.g., prominence of recently mentioned or topical referents) have been shown to influence language comprehension and production. A different line of research has sought to account for behavioral correlates of cognitive load during comprehension as well as for certain patterns in language usage using information-theoretic notions, such as surprisal. Surprisal and salience both affect language processing at different levels, but the relationship between the two has not been adequately elucidated, and the question of whether salience can be reduced to surprisal / predictability is still open. Our review identifies two main challenges in addressing this question: terminological inconsistency and lack of integration between high and low levels of representations in salience-based accounts and surprisal-based accounts. We capitalize upon work in visual cognition in order to orient ourselves in surveying the different facets of the notion of salience in linguistics and their relation with models of surprisal. We find that work on salience highlights aspects of linguistic communication that models of surprisal tend to overlook, namely the role of attention and relevance to current goals, and we argue that the Predictive Coding framework provides a unified view which can account for the role played by attention and predictability at different levels of processing and which can clarify the interplay between low and high levels of processes and between predictability-driven expectation and attention-driven focus.

Salience and Attention in Surprisal-Based Accounts of Language Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Zarcone, Alessandra; van Schijndel, Marten; Vogels, Jorrig; Demberg, Vera

2016-01-01

The notion of salience has been singled out as the explanatory factor for a diverse range of linguistic phenomena. In particular, perceptual salience (e.g., visual salience of objects in the world, acoustic prominence of linguistic sounds) and semantic-pragmatic salience (e.g., prominence of recently mentioned or topical referents) have been shown to influence language comprehension and production. A different line of research has sought to account for behavioral correlates of cognitive load during comprehension as well as for certain patterns in language usage using information-theoretic notions, such as surprisal. Surprisal and salience both affect language processing at different levels, but the relationship between the two has not been adequately elucidated, and the question of whether salience can be reduced to surprisal / predictability is still open. Our review identifies two main challenges in addressing this question: terminological inconsistency and lack of integration between high and low levels of representations in salience-based accounts and surprisal-based accounts. We capitalize upon work in visual cognition in order to orient ourselves in surveying the different facets of the notion of salience in linguistics and their relation with models of surprisal. We find that work on salience highlights aspects of linguistic communication that models of surprisal tend to overlook, namely the role of attention and relevance to current goals, and we argue that the Predictive Coding framework provides a unified view which can account for the role played by attention and predictability at different levels of processing and which can clarify the interplay between low and high levels of processes and between predictability-driven expectation and attention-driven focus. PMID:27375525

Early adverse life events are associated with altered brain network architecture in a sex- dependent manner

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Arpana Gupta, PhD

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Early adverse life events (EALs increase the risk for chronic medical and psychiatric disorders by altering early neurodevelopment. The aim of this study was to examine associations between EALs and network properties of core brain regions in the emotion regulation and salience networks, and to test the influence of sex on these associations. Methods: Resting-state functional and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging were obtained in healthy individuals (61 men, 63 women. Functional and anatomical network properties of centrality and segregation were calculated for the core regions of the two networks using graph theory. Moderator analyses were applied to test hypotheses. Results: The type of adversity experienced influences brain wiring differently, as higher general EALs were associated with decreased functional and anatomical centrality in salience and emotion regulation regions, while physical and emotional EALs were associated with increased anatomical centrality and segregation in emotion regulation regions. Sex moderated the associations between EALs and measures of centrality; with decreased centrality of salience and emotion regulation regions with increased general EALs in females, and increased centrality in salience regions with higher physical and emotional EALs in males. Increased segregation of salience regions was associated with increased general EALs in males. Centrality of the amygdala was associated with physical symptoms, and segregation of salience regions was correlated with higher somatization in men only. Conclusions: Emotion regulation and salience regions are susceptible to topological brain restructuring associated with EALs. The male and female brains appear to be differently affected by specific types of EALs. Keywords: Early adverse traumatic life events, Centrality, Segregation, Network metrics, Moderating effects of sex, Emotion regulation network, Salience network

Gaze distribution analysis and saliency prediction across age groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishna, Onkar; Helo, Andrea; Rämä, Pia; Aizawa, Kiyoharu

2018-01-01

Knowledge of the human visual system helps to develop better computational models of visual attention. State-of-the-art models have been developed to mimic the visual attention system of young adults that, however, largely ignore the variations that occur with age. In this paper, we investigated how visual scene processing changes with age and we propose an age-adapted framework that helps to develop a computational model that can predict saliency across different age groups. Our analysis uncovers how the explorativeness of an observer varies with age, how well saliency maps of an age group agree with fixation points of observers from the same or different age groups, and how age influences the center bias tendency. We analyzed the eye movement behavior of 82 observers belonging to four age groups while they explored visual scenes. Explorative- ness was quantified in terms of the entropy of a saliency map, and area under the curve (AUC) metrics was used to quantify the agreement analysis and the center bias tendency. Analysis results were used to develop age adapted saliency models. Our results suggest that the proposed age-adapted saliency model outperforms existing saliency models in predicting the regions of interest across age groups.

Design and synthesis of porous nano-sized Sn@C/graphene electrode material with 3D carbon network for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lian, Peichao, E-mail: lianpeichao@126.com [Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500 (China); Wang, Jingyi [Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500 (China); Cai, Dandan; Liu, Guoxue [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Wang, Yingying [Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500 (China); Wang, Haihui, E-mail: hhwang@scut.edu.cn [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640 (China)

2014-08-01

Highlights: • Porous nano-sized Sn@C/graphene electrode material was designed and prepared. • The preparation method presented here can avoid the agglomeration of nanoparticles. • The prepared Sn@C/graphene electrode material exhibits outstanding cyclability. - Abstract: Tin is a promising high-capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries, but it usually suffers from the problem of poor cycling stability due to the large volume change during the charge–discharge process. In this article, porous nano-sized Sn@C/graphene electrode material with three-dimensional carbon network was designed and prepared. Reducing the size of the Sn particles to nanoscale can mitigate the absolute strain induced by the large volume change during lithiation–delithiation process, and retard particle pulverization. The porous structure can provide a void space, which helps to accommodate the volume changes of the Sn nanoparticles during the lithium uptake-release process. The carbon shell can avoid the aggregation of the Sn nanoparticles on the same piece of graphene and detachment of the pulverized Sn particles during the charge–discharge process. The 3D carbon network consisted of graphene sheets and carbon shells can not only play a structural buffering role in minimizing the mechanical stress caused by the volume change of Sn, but also keep the overall electrode highly conductive during the lithium uptake-release process. As a result, the as-prepared Sn@C/graphene nanocomposite as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries exhibited outstanding cyclability. The reversible specific capacity is almost constant from the tenth cycle to the fiftieth cycle, which is about 600 mA h g{sup −1}. The strategy presented in this work may be extended to improve the cycle performances of other high-capacity electrode materials with large volume variations during charge–discharge processes.

Culturally divergent responses to mortality salience.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma-Kellams, Christine; Blascovich, Jim

2011-08-01

Two experiments compared the effects of death thoughts, or mortality salience, on European and Asian Americans. Research on terror management theory has demonstrated that in Western cultural groups, individuals typically employ self-protective strategies in the face of death-related thoughts. Given fundamental East-West differences in self-construal (i.e., the independent vs. interdependent self), we predicted that members of Eastern cultural groups would affirm other people, rather than defend and affirm the self, after encountering conditions of mortality salience. We primed European Americans and Asian Americans with either a death or a control prime and examined the effect of this manipulation on attitudes about a person who violates cultural norms (Study 1) and on attributions about the plight of an innocent victim (Study 2). Mortality salience promoted culturally divergent responses, leading European Americans to defend the self and Asian Americans to defend other people.

Discrimination learning with variable stimulus 'salience'

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Treviño Mario

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In nature, sensory stimuli are organized in heterogeneous combinations. Salient items from these combinations 'stand-out' from their surroundings and determine what and how we learn. Yet, the relationship between varying stimulus salience and discrimination learning remains unclear. Presentation of the hypothesis A rigorous formulation of the problem of discrimination learning should account for varying salience effects. We hypothesize that structural variations in the environment where the conditioned stimulus (CS is embedded will be a significant determinant of learning rate and retention level. Testing the hypothesis Using numerical simulations, we show how a modified version of the Rescorla-Wagner model, an influential theory of associative learning, predicts relevant interactions between varying salience and discrimination learning. Implications of the hypothesis If supported by empirical data, our model will help to interpret critical experiments addressing the relations between attention, discrimination and learning.

Untangling Linguistic Salience

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boswijk, Vincent; Coler, Matt; Loerts, Hanneke; Hilton, Nanna

2018-01-01

The concept of linguistic salience is broadly used within sociolinguistics to account for processes as diverse as language change (Kerswill & Williams, 2002) and language acquisition (Ellis, 2016) in that salient forms are e.g. more likely to undergo change, or are often acquired earlier than other

Measuring and modeling salience with the theory of visual attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Krüger, Alexander; Tünnermann, Jan; Scharlau, Ingrid

2017-08-01

For almost three decades, the theory of visual attention (TVA) has been successful in mathematically describing and explaining a wide variety of phenomena in visual selection and recognition with high quantitative precision. Interestingly, the influence of feature contrast on attention has been included in TVA only recently, although it has been extensively studied outside the TVA framework. The present approach further develops this extension of TVA's scope by measuring and modeling salience. An empirical measure of salience is achieved by linking different (orientation and luminance) contrasts to a TVA parameter. In the modeling part, the function relating feature contrasts to salience is described mathematically and tested against alternatives by Bayesian model comparison. This model comparison reveals that the power function is an appropriate model of salience growth in the dimensions of orientation and luminance contrast. Furthermore, if contrasts from the two dimensions are combined, salience adds up additively.

Aberrant salience, self-concept clarity, and interview-rated psychotic-like experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Cicero, David C; Docherty, Anna R; Becker, Theresa M; Martin, Elizabeth A; Kerns, John G

2015-02-01

Many social-cognitive models of psychotic-like symptoms posit a role for self-concept and aberrant salience. Previous work has shown that the interaction between aberrant salience and self-concept clarity is associated with self-reported psychotic-like experiences. In the current research with two structured interviews, the interaction between aberrant salience and self-concept clarity was found to be associated with interview-rated psychotic-like experiences. The interaction was associated with psychotic-like experiences composite scores, delusional ideation, grandiosity, and perceptual anomalies. In all cases, self-concept clarity was negatively associated with psychotic-like experiences at high levels of aberrant salience, but unassociated with psychotic-like experiences at low levels of aberrant salience. The interaction was specific to positive psychotic-like experiences and not present for negative or disorganized ratings. The interaction was not mediated by self-esteem levels. These results provide further evidence that aberrant salience and self-concept clarity play an important role in the generation of psychotic-like experiences.

On an elementary definition of visual saliency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loog, Marco

2008-01-01

Various approaches to computational modelling of bottom-up visual attention have been proposed in the past two decades. As part of this trend, researchers have studied ways to characterize the saliency map underlying many of these models. In more recent years, several definitions based on probabi......Various approaches to computational modelling of bottom-up visual attention have been proposed in the past two decades. As part of this trend, researchers have studied ways to characterize the saliency map underlying many of these models. In more recent years, several definitions based...... on probabilistic and information or decision theoretic considerations have been proposed. These provide experimentally successful, appealing, low-level, operational, and elementary definitions of visual saliency (see eg, Bruce, 2005 Neurocomputing 65 125 - 133). Here, I demonstrate that, in fact, all...

Landmark Detection in Orbital Images Using Salience Histograms

Science.gov (United States)

Wagstaff, Kiri L.; Panetta, Julian; Schorghofer, Norbert; Greeley, Ronald; PendletonHoffer, Mary; bunte, Melissa

2010-01-01

NASA's planetary missions have collected, and continue to collect, massive volumes of orbital imagery. The volume is such that it is difficult to manually review all of the data and determine its significance. As a result, images are indexed and searchable by location and date but generally not by their content. A new automated method analyzes images and identifies "landmarks," or visually salient features such as gullies, craters, dust devil tracks, and the like. This technique uses a statistical measure of salience derived from information theory, so it is not associated with any specific landmark type. It identifies regions that are unusual or that stand out from their surroundings, so the resulting landmarks are context-sensitive areas that can be used to recognize the same area when it is encountered again. A machine learning classifier is used to identify the type of each discovered landmark. Using a specified window size, an intensity histogram is computed for each such window within the larger image (sliding the window across the image). Next, a salience map is computed that specifies, for each pixel, the salience of the window centered at that pixel. The salience map is thresholded to identify landmark contours (polygons) using the upper quartile of salience values. Descriptive attributes are extracted for each landmark polygon: size, perimeter, mean intensity, standard deviation of intensity, and shape features derived from an ellipse fit.

Impact of real-time fMRI working memory feedback training on the interactions between three core brain networks.

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Zhang, Qiushi; Zhang, Gaoyan; Yao, Li; Zhao, Xiaojie

2015-01-01

Working memory (WM) refers to the temporary holding and manipulation of information during the performance of a range of cognitive tasks, and WM training is a promising method for improving an individual's cognitive functions. Our previous work demonstrated that WM performance can be improved through self-regulation of dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI), which enables individuals to control local brain activities volitionally according to the neurofeedback. Furthermore, research concerning large-scale brain networks has demonstrated that WM training requires the engagement of several networks, including the central executive network (CEN), the default mode network (DMN) and the salience network (SN), and functional connectivity within the CEN and DMN can be changed by WM training. Although a switching role of the SN between the CEN and DMN has been demonstrated, it remains unclear whether WM training can affect the interactions between the three networks and whether a similar mechanism also exists during the training process. In this study, we investigated the dynamic functional connectivity between the three networks during the rtfMRI feedback training using independent component analysis (ICA) and correlation analysis. The results indicated that functional connectivity within and between the three networks were significantly enhanced by feedback training, and most of the changes were associated with the insula and correlated with behavioral improvements. These findings suggest that the insula plays a critical role in the reorganization of functional connectivity among the three networks induced by rtfMRI training and in WM performance, thus providing new insights into the mechanisms of high-level functions and the clinical treatment of related functional impairments.

Visual Saliency Prediction and Evaluation across Different Perceptual Tasks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shafin Rahman

Full Text Available Saliency maps produced by different algorithms are often evaluated by comparing output to fixated image locations appearing in human eye tracking data. There are challenges in evaluation based on fixation data due to bias in the data. Properties of eye movement patterns that are independent of image content may limit the validity of evaluation results, including spatial bias in fixation data. To address this problem, we present modeling and evaluation results for data derived from different perceptual tasks related to the concept of saliency. We also present a novel approach to benchmarking to deal with some of the challenges posed by spatial bias. The results presented establish the value of alternatives to fixation data to drive improvement and development of models. We also demonstrate an approach to approximate the output of alternative perceptual tasks based on computational saliency and/or eye gaze data. As a whole, this work presents novel benchmarking results and methods, establishes a new performance baseline for perceptual tasks that provide an alternative window into visual saliency, and demonstrates the capacity for saliency to serve in approximating human behaviour for one visual task given data from another.

Automatic Polyp Detection via A Novel Unified Bottom-up and Top-down Saliency Approach.

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Yuan, Yixuan; Li, Dengwang; Meng, Max Q-H

2017-07-31

In this paper, we propose a novel automatic computer-aided method to detect polyps for colonoscopy videos. To find the perceptually and semantically meaningful salient polyp regions, we first segment images into multilevel superpixels. Each level corresponds to different sizes of superpixels. Rather than adopting hand-designed features to describe these superpixels in images, we employ sparse autoencoder (SAE) to learn discriminative features in an unsupervised way. Then a novel unified bottom-up and top-down saliency method is proposed to detect polyps. In the first stage, we propose a weak bottom-up (WBU) saliency map by fusing the contrast based saliency and object-center based saliency together. The contrast based saliency map highlights image parts that show different appearances compared with surrounding areas while the object-center based saliency map emphasizes the center of the salient object. In the second stage, a strong classifier with Multiple Kernel Boosting (MKB) is learned to calculate the strong top-down (STD) saliency map based on samples directly from the obtained multi-level WBU saliency maps. We finally integrate these two stage saliency maps from all levels together to highlight polyps. Experiment results achieve 0.818 recall for saliency calculation, validating the effectiveness of our method. Extensive experiments on public polyp datasets demonstrate that the proposed saliency algorithm performs favorably against state-of-the-art saliency methods to detect polyps.

Diversification of visual media retrieval results using saliency detection

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Muratov, Oleg; Boato, Giulia; De Natale, Franesco G. B.

2013-03-01

Diversification of retrieval results allows for better and faster search. Recently there has been proposed different methods for diversification of image retrieval results mainly utilizing text information and techniques imported from natural language processing domain. However, images contain visual information that is impossible to describe in text and the use of visual features is inevitable. Visual saliency is information about the main object of an image implicitly included by humans while creating visual content. For this reason it is naturally to exploit this information for the task of diversification of the content. In this work we study whether visual saliency can be used for the task of diversification and propose a method for re-ranking image retrieval results using saliency. The evaluation has shown that the use of saliency information results in higher diversity of retrieval results.

The visual attention saliency map for movie retrospection

Science.gov (United States)

Rogalska, Anna; Napieralski, Piotr

2018-04-01

The visual saliency map is becoming important and challenging for many scientific disciplines (robotic systems, psychophysics, cognitive neuroscience and computer science). Map created by the model indicates possible salient regions by taking into consideration face presence and motion which is essential in motion pictures. By combining we can obtain credible saliency map with a low computational cost.

Does a network structure exist in molecular liquid SnI4 and GeI4?

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Sakagami, Takahiro; Fuchizaki, Kazuhiro

2017-04-01

The existence of a network structure consisting of electrically neutral tetrahedral molecules in liquid SnI4 and GeI4 at ambient pressure was examined. The liquid structures employed for the examination were obtained from a reverse Monte Carlo analysis. The structures were physically interpreted by introducing an appropriate intermolecular interaction. A ‘bond’ was then defined as an intermolecular connection that minimizes the energy of intermolecular interaction. However, their ‘bond’ energy is too weak for the ‘bond’ and the resulting network structure to be defined statically. The vertex-to-edge orientation between the nearest molecules is so ubiquitous that almost all of the molecules in the system can take part in the network, which is reflected in the appearance of a prepeak in the structure factor.

Increased frontal functional networks in adult survivors of childhood brain tumors

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Hongbo Chen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Childhood brain tumors and associated treatment have been shown to affect brain development and cognitive outcomes. Understanding the functional connectivity of brain many years after diagnosis and treatment may inform the development of interventions to improve the long-term outcomes of adult survivors of childhood brain tumors. This work investigated the frontal region functional connectivity of 16 adult survivors of childhood cerebellar tumors after an average of 14.9 years from diagnosis and 16 demographically-matched controls using resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI. Independent component analysis (ICA was applied to identify the resting state activity from rs-fMRI data and to select the specific regions associated with executive functions, followed by the secondary analysis of the functional networks connecting these regions. It was found that survivors exhibited differences in the functional connectivity in executive control network (ECN, default mode network (DMN and salience network (SN compared to demographically-matched controls. More specifically, the number of functional connectivity observed in the survivors is higher than that in the controls, and with increased strength, or stronger correlation coefficient between paired seeds, in survivors compared to the controls. Observed hyperconnectivity in the selected frontal functional network thus is consistent with findings in patients with other neurological injuries and diseases.

Morality salience increases adherence to salient norms and values

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gailliot, M.T.; Stillman, T.F.; Schmeichel, B.J.; Maner, J.K.; Plant, E.A.

2008-01-01

Four studies indicate that mortality salience increases adherence to social norms and values, but only when cultural norms and values are salient. In Study 1, mortality salience coupled with a reminder about cultural values of egalitarianism reduced prejudice toward Blacks among non-Black

Collinear masking effect in visual search is independent of perceptual salience.

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Jingling, Li; Lu, Yi-Hui; Cheng, Miao; Tseng, Chia-Huei

2017-07-01

Searching for a target in a salient region should be easier than looking for one in a nonsalient region. However, we previously discovered a contradictory phenomenon in which a local target in a salient structure was more difficult to find than one in the background. The salient structure was constructed of orientation singletons aligned to each other to form a collinear structure. In the present study, we undertake to determine whether such a masking effect was a result of salience competition between a global structure and the local target. In the first 3 experiments, we increased the salience value of the local target with the hope of adding to its competitive advantage and eventually eliminating the masking effect; nevertheless, the masking effect persisted. In an additional 2 experiments, we reduced salience of the global collinear structure by altering the orientation of the background bars and the masking effect still emerged. Our salience manipulations were validated by a controlled condition in which the global structure was grouped noncollinearly. In this case, local target salience increase (e.g., onset) or global distractor salience reduction (e.g., randomized flanking orientations) effectively removed the facilitation effect of the noncollinear structure. Our data suggest that salience competition is unlikely to explain the collinear masking effect, and other mechanisms such as contour integration, border formation, or the crowding effect may be prospective candidates for further investigation.

The visual attention saliency map for movie retrospection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rogalska Anna

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The visual saliency map is becoming important and challenging for many scientific disciplines (robotic systems, psychophysics, cognitive neuroscience and computer science. Map created by the model indicates possible salient regions by taking into consideration face presence and motion which is essential in motion pictures. By combining we can obtain credible saliency map with a low computational cost.

Work-family conflict, work- and family-role salience, and women's well-being.

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Noor, Noraini M

2004-08-01

The author considered both the direct effect and the moderator effect of role salience in the stress-strain relationship. In contrast to previous studies that have examined the effects of salience on well-being within specific social roles, the present study focused on the work-family interface. From a sample of 147 employed English women with children, the present results of the regression analyses showed that both effects are possible, depending on the outcome measures used. The author observed a direct effect of role salience in the prediction of job satisfaction; work salience was positively related to job satisfaction, over and above the main-effect terms of work-interfering-with-family (WIF) conflict and family-interfering-with-work (FIW) conflict. In contrast, the author found a moderator effect of role salience and conflict for symptoms of psychological distress. However, contrary to predictions, the author found that work salience exacerbated the negative impact of WIF conflict, rather than FIW conflict, on well-being. The author discussed these results in relation to the literature on work-family conflict, role salience, and the issue of stress-strain specificity.

Simultaneous modeling of visual saliency and value computation improves predictions of economic choice.

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Towal, R Blythe; Mormann, Milica; Koch, Christof

2013-10-01

Many decisions we make require visually identifying and evaluating numerous alternatives quickly. These usually vary in reward, or value, and in low-level visual properties, such as saliency. Both saliency and value influence the final decision. In particular, saliency affects fixation locations and durations, which are predictive of choices. However, it is unknown how saliency propagates to the final decision. Moreover, the relative influence of saliency and value is unclear. Here we address these questions with an integrated model that combines a perceptual decision process about where and when to look with an economic decision process about what to choose. The perceptual decision process is modeled as a drift-diffusion model (DDM) process for each alternative. Using psychophysical data from a multiple-alternative, forced-choice task, in which subjects have to pick one food item from a crowded display via eye movements, we test four models where each DDM process is driven by (i) saliency or (ii) value alone or (iii) an additive or (iv) a multiplicative combination of both. We find that models including both saliency and value weighted in a one-third to two-thirds ratio (saliency-to-value) significantly outperform models based on either quantity alone. These eye fixation patterns modulate an economic decision process, also described as a DDM process driven by value. Our combined model quantitatively explains fixation patterns and choices with similar or better accuracy than previous models, suggesting that visual saliency has a smaller, but significant, influence than value and that saliency affects choices indirectly through perceptual decisions that modulate economic decisions.

Does conspicuity enhance distraction? Saliency and eye landing position when searching for objects.

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Foulsham, Tom; Underwood, Geoffrey

2009-06-01

While visual saliency may sometimes capture attention, the guidance of eye movements in search is often dominated by knowledge of the target. How is the search for an object influenced by the saliency of an adjacent distractor? Participants searched for a target amongst an array of objects, with distractor saliency having an effect on response time and on the speed at which targets were found. Saliency did not predict the order in which objects in target-absent trials were fixated. The within-target landing position was distributed around a modal position close to the centre of the object. Saliency did not affect this position, the latency of the initial saccade, or the likelihood of the distractor being fixated, suggesting that saliency affects the allocation of covert attention and not just eye movements.

DeepFix: A Fully Convolutional Neural Network for Predicting Human Eye Fixations.

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Kruthiventi, Srinivas S S; Ayush, Kumar; Babu, R Venkatesh

2017-09-01

Understanding and predicting the human visual attention mechanism is an active area of research in the fields of neuroscience and computer vision. In this paper, we propose DeepFix, a fully convolutional neural network, which models the bottom-up mechanism of visual attention via saliency prediction. Unlike classical works, which characterize the saliency map using various hand-crafted features, our model automatically learns features in a hierarchical fashion and predicts the saliency map in an end-to-end manner. DeepFix is designed to capture semantics at multiple scales while taking global context into account, by using network layers with very large receptive fields. Generally, fully convolutional nets are spatially invariant-this prevents them from modeling location-dependent patterns (e.g., centre-bias). Our network handles this by incorporating a novel location-biased convolutional layer. We evaluate our model on multiple challenging saliency data sets and show that it achieves the state-of-the-art results.

The tin-rich copper lithium stannides: Li3Cu6Sn4 and Li2CuSn2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuertauer, Siegfried; Flandorfer, Hans; Effenberger, Herta S.

2015-01-01

The Sn rich ternary intermetallic compounds Li 3 Cu 6 Sn 4 (CSD-427097) and Li 2 CuSn 2 (CSD-427098) were synthesized from the pure elements by induction melting and annealing at 400 C. Structural investigations were performed by powder- and single-crystal XRD. Li 3 Cu 6 Sn 4 crystallizes in space group P6/mmm; it is structurally related to but not isotypic with MgFe 6 Ge 6 (a = 5.095(2) Aa, c = 9.524(3) Aa; wR 2 = 0.059; 239 unique F 2 -values, 17 free variables). Li 3 Cu 6 Sn 4 is characterized by two sites with a mixed Cu:Sn occupation. In contrast to all other Cu-Li-Sn compounds known so far, any mixed occupation was found for Cu-Li pairs only. In addition, one Li site is only half occupied. The second Sn rich phase is Li 2 CuSn 2 (space group I4 1 /amd, a = 4.4281(15) Aa, c = 19.416(4) Aa; wR 2 = 0.033; 213 unique F 2 -values, 12 atom free variables); it is the only phase in the Cu-Li-Sn system which is noted for full ordering. Both crystal structures exhibit 3D-networks which host Li atoms in channels. They are important for understanding the lithiation mechanism in Cu-Sn electrodes for Li-ion batteries.

Preference for Well-Balanced Saliency in Details Cropped from Photographs

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Abeln, Jonas; Fresz, Leonie; Amirshahi, Seyed Ali; McManus, I. Chris; Koch, Michael; Kreysa, Helene; Redies, Christoph

2016-01-01

Photographic cropping is the act of selecting part of a photograph to enhance its aesthetic appearance or visual impact. It is common practice with both professional (expert) and amateur (non-expert) photographers. In a psychometric study, McManus et al. (2011b) showed that participants cropped photographs confidently and reliably. Experts tended to select details from a wider range of positions than non-experts, but other croppers did not generally prefer details that were selected by experts. It remained unclear, however, on what grounds participants selected particular details from a photograph while avoiding other details. One of the factors contributing to cropping decision may be visual saliency. Indeed, various saliency-based computer algorithms are available for the automatic cropping of photographs. However, careful experimental studies on the relation between saliency and cropping are lacking to date. In the present study, we re-analyzed the data from the studies by McManus et al. (2011a,b), focusing on statistical image properties. We calculated saliency-based measures for details selected and details avoided during cropping. As expected, we found that selected details contain regions of higher saliency than avoided details on average. Moreover, the saliency center-of-mass was closer to the geometrical center in selected details than in avoided details. Results were confirmed in an eye tracking study with the same dataset of images. Interestingly, the observed regularities in cropping behavior were less pronounced for experts than for non-experts. In summary, our results suggest that, during cropping, participants tend to select salient regions and place them in an image composition that is well-balanced with respect to the distribution of saliency. Our study contributes to the knowledge of perceptual bottom-up features that are germane to aesthetic decisions in photography and their variability in non-experts and experts. PMID:26793086

Mortality salience increases personal relevance of the norm of reciprocity.

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Schindler, Simon; Reinhard, Marc-André; Stahlberg, Dagmar

2012-10-01

Research on terror management theory found evidence that people under mortality salience strive to live up to salient cultural norms and values, like egalitarianism, pacifism, or helpfulness. A basic, strongly internalized norm in most human societies is the norm of reciprocity: people should support those who supported them (i.e., positive reciprocity), and people should injure those who injured them (i.e., negative reciprocity), respectively. In an experiment (N = 98; 47 women, 51 men), mortality salience overall significantly increased personal relevance of the norm of reciprocity (M = 4.45, SD = 0.65) compared to a control condition (M = 4.19, SD = 0.59). Specifically, under mortality salience there was higher motivation to punish those who treated them unfavourably (negative norm of reciprocity). Unexpectedly, relevance of the norm of positive reciprocity remained unaffected by mortality salience. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Functional network integrity presages cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckley, Rachel F; Schultz, Aaron P; Hedden, Trey; Papp, Kathryn V; Hanseeuw, Bernard J; Marshall, Gad; Sepulcre, Jorge; Smith, Emily E; Rentz, Dorene M; Johnson, Keith A; Sperling, Reisa A; Chhatwal, Jasmeer P

2017-07-04

To examine the utility of resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI) measurements of network integrity as a predictor of future cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer disease (AD). A total of 237 clinically normal older adults (aged 63-90 years, Clinical Dementia Rating 0) underwent baseline β-amyloid (Aβ) imaging with Pittsburgh compound B PET and structural and rs-fcMRI. We identified 7 networks for analysis, including 4 cognitive networks (default, salience, dorsal attention, and frontoparietal control) and 3 noncognitive networks (primary visual, extrastriate visual, motor). Using linear and curvilinear mixed models, we used baseline connectivity in these networks to predict longitudinal changes in preclinical Alzheimer cognitive composite (PACC) performance, both alone and interacting with Aβ burden. Median neuropsychological follow-up was 3 years. Baseline connectivity in the default, salience, and control networks predicted longitudinal PACC decline, unlike connectivity in the dorsal attention and all noncognitive networks. Default, salience, and control network connectivity was also synergistic with Aβ burden in predicting decline, with combined higher Aβ and lower connectivity predicting the steepest curvilinear decline in PACC performance. In clinically normal older adults, lower functional connectivity predicted more rapid decline in PACC scores over time, particularly when coupled with increased Aβ burden. Among examined networks, default, salience, and control networks were the strongest predictors of rate of change in PACC scores, with the inflection point of greatest decline beyond the fourth year of follow-up. These results suggest that rs-fcMRI may be a useful predictor of early, AD-related cognitive decline in clinical research settings. © 2017 American Academy of Neurology.

V-groove SnO2 nanowire sensors: fabrication and Pt-nanoparticle decoration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Gun-Joo; Choi, Sun-Woo; Jung, Sung-Hyun; Katoch, Akash; Kim, Sang Sub

2013-01-01

Networked SnO 2 nanowire sensors were achieved using the selective growth of SnO 2 nanowires and their tangling ability, particularly on on-chip V-groove structures, in an effort to overcome the disadvantages imposed on the conventional trench-structured SnO 2 nanowire sensors. The sensing performance of the V-groove-structured SnO 2 nanowire sensors was highly dependent on the geometrical dimension of the groove, being superior to those of their conventional trench-structured counterparts. Pt nanoparticles were decorated on the surface of the networked SnO 2 nanowires via γ-ray radiolysis to enhance the sensing performances of the V-groove sensors whose V-groove widths had been optimized. The V-groove-structured Pt-nanoparticle-decorated SnO 2 nanowire sensors exhibited outstanding and reliable sensing capabilities towards toluene and nitrogen dioxide gases, indicating their potential for use as a platform for chemical gas sensors. (paper)

Categorisation salience and ingroup bias: the buffering role of a multicultural ideology.

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Costa-Lopes, Rui; Pereira, Cícero Roberto; Judd, Charles M

2014-12-01

The current work sought to test the moderating role of a multicultural ideology on the relationship between categorisation salience and ingroup bias. Accordingly, in one experimental study, we manipulated categorisation salience and the accessibility of a multicultural ideology, and measured intergroup attitudes. Results show that categorisation salience only leads to ingroup bias when a multiculturalism (MC) ideology is not made salient. Thus, MC ideology attenuates the negative effects of categorisation salience on ingroup bias. These results pertain to social psychology in general showing that the cognitive processes should be construed within the framework of ideological contexts. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

Objective correlates of pitch salience using pupillometry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bianchi, Federica; Santurette, Sébastien; Wendt, Dorothea

2014-01-01

the frequency region and F 0 , were considered. Pupil size was measured for each condition, while the subjects’ task was to detect the deviants by pressing a response button. The expected trend was that pupil size would increase with decreasing salience. Results for musically trained listeners showed...... the expected trend, whereby pupil size significantly increased with decreasing salience of the stimuli. Non-musically trained listeners showed, however, a smaller pupil size for the least salient condition as compared to a medium salient condition, probably due to a too demanding task...

Determination of a new structure type in the Sc–Fe–Ge–Sn system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brgoch, Jakoah; Ran, Sheng; Thimmaiah, Srinivasa; Canfield, Paul C.; Miller, Gordon J.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► A new structure type with the composition Sc 4 Fe 5 Ge 6.10(3) Sn 1.47(2) . ► Crystallizes in the space group Immm (No. 71, oI144). ► Sample obtained using a reactive Sn flux. ► Electronic structure calculations indicate polar intermetallic bonding network. - Abstract: A new structure type has been discovered in the system Sc–Fe–Ge–Sn by employing Sn as a flux medium. According to single crystal X-ray diffraction, the new structure has a composition of Sc 4 Fe 5 Ge 6.10(3) Sn 1.47(2) and crystallizes in the space group Immm (No. 71, oI144) with lattice parameters of a = 5.230(1) Å, b = 13.467(3) Å, and c = 30.003(6) Å. The structure is composed of square anti-prismatic clusters that are condensed into zig-zag chains along the [0 1 0] direction. These chains are further condensed through a split Sn/Ge position, forming a three-dimensional network. Magnetization measurements indicate an antiferromagnetic phase transition near 240 K. Electronic structure calculations identified the most favorable bonding network in this new system. Using crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP) curves and their integrated values (ICOHP), a polar intermetallic bonding network involving Sc–Ge as well as Fe–Sn and Fe–Ge contacts can be assigned to this new structure type.

The time course of color- and luminance-based salience effects.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel C Dombrowe

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Salient objects in the visual field attract our attention. Recent work in the orientation domain has shown that the effects of the relative salience of two singleton elements on covert visual attention disappear over time. The present study aims to investigate how salience derived from color and luminance differences affects covert selection. In two experiments, observers indicated the location of a probe which was presented at different stimulus-onset-asynchronies after the presentation of a singleton display containing a homogeneous array of oriented lines and two distinct color singletons (Experiment 1 or luminance singletons (Experiment 2. The results show that relative singleton salience from luminance and color differences, just as from orientation differences, affects covert visual attention in a brief time span after stimulus onset. The mere presence of an object, however, can affect covert attention for a longer time span regardless of salience.

The role of ethnic identity, self-concept, and aberrant salience in psychotic-like experiences.

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Cicero, David C; Cohn, Jonathan R

2018-01-01

Social-cognitive models of psychosis suggest that aberrant salience and self-concept clarity are related to the development and maintenance of psychoticlike experiences (PLEs). People with high aberrant salience but low self-concept clarity tend to have the highest levels of PLEs. Ethnic identity may also be related to PLEs. The current research aimed to (a) replicate the interaction between aberrant salience and self-concept clarity in their association with PLEs in an ethnically diverse sample, (b) examine whether ethnic identity and aberrant salience interact in their association with PLEs, and (c) determine if self-concept clarity and ethnic identity independently interact with aberrant salience in their association with PLEs. An ethnically diverse group of undergraduates (n = 663) completed self-report measures of aberrant salience, self-concept clarity, ethnic identity, and PLEs. There was an interaction between aberrant salience and self-concept clarity such that people with high levels of aberrant salience and low levels of self-concept clarity had the highest levels of PLEs. Similarly, there was an interaction between aberrant salience and ethnic identity such that people with high aberrant salience but low ethnic identity had the highest PLEs. These interactions independently contributed to explaining variance in PLEs. This interaction was present for the Exploration but not Commitment subscales of ethnic identity. These results suggest that, in addition to low self-concept clarity, low ethnic identity may be a risk factor for the development of psychosis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Motivational Salience of Faces Is Related to Both Their Valence and Dominance.

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Wang, Hongyi; Hahn, Amanda C; DeBruine, Lisa M; Jones, Benedict C

2016-01-01

Both behavioral and neural measures of the motivational salience of faces are positively correlated with their physical attractiveness. Whether physical characteristics other than attractiveness contribute to the motivational salience of faces is not known, however. Research with male macaques recently showed that more dominant macaques' faces hold greater motivational salience. Here we investigated whether dominance also contributes to the motivational salience of faces in human participants. Principal component analysis of third-party ratings of faces for multiple traits revealed two orthogonal components. The first component ("valence") was highly correlated with rated trustworthiness and attractiveness. The second component ("dominance") was highly correlated with rated dominance and aggressiveness. Importantly, both components were positively and independently related to the motivational salience of faces, as assessed from responses on a standard key-press task. These results show that at least two dissociable components underpin the motivational salience of faces in humans and present new evidence for similarities in how humans and non-human primates respond to facial cues of dominance.

Robust online tracking via adaptive samples selection with saliency detection

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Jia; Chen, Xi; Zhu, QiuPing

2013-12-01

Online tracking has shown to be successful in tracking of previously unknown objects. However, there are two important factors which lead to drift problem of online tracking, the one is how to select the exact labeled samples even when the target locations are inaccurate, and the other is how to handle the confusors which have similar features with the target. In this article, we propose a robust online tracking algorithm with adaptive samples selection based on saliency detection to overcome the drift problem. To deal with the problem of degrading the classifiers using mis-aligned samples, we introduce the saliency detection method to our tracking problem. Saliency maps and the strong classifiers are combined to extract the most correct positive samples. Our approach employs a simple yet saliency detection algorithm based on image spectral residual analysis. Furthermore, instead of using the random patches as the negative samples, we propose a reasonable selection criterion, in which both the saliency confidence and similarity are considered with the benefits that confusors in the surrounding background are incorporated into the classifiers update process before the drift occurs. The tracking task is formulated as a binary classification via online boosting framework. Experiment results in several challenging video sequences demonstrate the accuracy and stability of our tracker.

Influence of Personality Traits in Self-Evaluative Salience, Motivational Salience and Self-Consciousness of Appearance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Carlos da Silva Mendes

2016-12-01

Full Text Available AimThe aim of this study was to understand the possible influence of personality traits on the importance and significance of perception of body image and self-awareness of appearance in individuals.Method214 online recruited subjects between the ages of 17 and 64 years answered to a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Portuguese version of the instruments NEO-FFI (NEO-Five Factor Inventory, ASI-R (The Appearance Schemas Inventory – Revised and DAS-24 (Derriford Appearance Scale – short.ResultsIt was found that age, Neuroticism and Agreeableness dimensions significantly influence an individual's investment in body image and self-awareness of appearance. Sexual orientations differed with regard to Self-Evaluative Salience and Self-Consciousness of Appearance.ConclusionThe performed analysis showed that neuroticism and agreeableness are related to Self-Evaluative Salience and Self-Consciousness of Appearance.

The Role of Aberrant Salience and Self-Concept Clarity in Psychotic-Like Experiences

Science.gov (United States)

Cicero, David C.; Becker, Theresa M.; Martin, Elizabeth A.; Docherty, Anna R.; Kerns, John G.

2013-01-01

Most theories of psychotic-like experiences posit the involvement of social-cognitive mechanisms. The current research examined the relations between psychotic-like experiences and two social-cognitive mechanisms, high aberrant salience and low self-concept clarity. In particular, we examined whether aberrant salience, or the incorrect assignment of importance to neutral stimuli, and low self-concept clarity interacted to predict psychotic-like experiences. The current research included three large samples (n = 667, 724, 744) of participants and over-sampled for increased schizotypal personality traits. In all three studies, an interaction between aberrant salience and self-concept clarity was found such that participants with high aberrant salience and low self-concept clarity had the highest levels of psychotic-like experiences. In addition, aberrant salience and self-concept clarity interacted to predict a supplemental measure of delusions in Study 2. In Study 3, in contrast to low self-concept clarity, neuroticism did not interact with aberrant salience to predict psychotic-like experiences, suggesting that the relation between low self-concept clarity and psychosis may not be due to neuroticism. Additionally, aberrant salience and self-concept clarity did not interact to predict to other schizotypal personality disorder criteria, social anhedonia or trait paranoia, which suggests the interaction is specific to psychotic-like experiences. Overall, our results are consistent with several social-cognitive models of psychosis suggesting that aberrant salience and self-concept clarity might be important mechanisms in the occurrence of psychotic-like symptoms. PMID:22452775

The Aberrant Salience Inventory: A New Measure of Psychosis Proneness

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Cicero, David C.; Kerns, John G.; McCarthy, Denis M.

2010-01-01

Aberrant salience is the unusual or incorrect assignment of salience, significance, or importance to otherwise innocuous stimuli and has been hypothesized to be important for psychosis and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Despite the importance of this concept in psychosis research, no questionnaire measures are available to assess…

Determination of a new structure type in the Sc-Fe-Ge-Sn system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brgoch, Jakoah [Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (United States); Ran, Sheng [Ames Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Ames, IA 50011 (United States); Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (United States); Thimmaiah, Srinivasa [Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (United States); Ames Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Ames, IA 50011 (United States); Canfield, Paul C. [Ames Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Ames, IA 50011 (United States); Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (United States); Miller, Gordon J., E-mail: gmiller@iastate.edu [Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (United States); Ames Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Ames, IA 50011 (United States)

2013-01-05

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A new structure type with the composition Sc{sub 4}Fe{sub 5}Ge{sub 6.10(3)}Sn{sub 1.47(2)}. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Crystallizes in the space group Immm (No. 71, oI144). Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Sample obtained using a reactive Sn flux. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Electronic structure calculations indicate polar intermetallic bonding network. - Abstract: A new structure type has been discovered in the system Sc-Fe-Ge-Sn by employing Sn as a flux medium. According to single crystal X-ray diffraction, the new structure has a composition of Sc{sub 4}Fe{sub 5}Ge{sub 6.10(3)}Sn{sub 1.47(2)} and crystallizes in the space group Immm (No. 71, oI144) with lattice parameters of a = 5.230(1) A, b = 13.467(3) A, and c = 30.003(6) A. The structure is composed of square anti-prismatic clusters that are condensed into zig-zag chains along the [0 1 0] direction. These chains are further condensed through a split Sn/Ge position, forming a three-dimensional network. Magnetization measurements indicate an antiferromagnetic phase transition near 240 K. Electronic structure calculations identified the most favorable bonding network in this new system. Using crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP) curves and their integrated values (ICOHP), a polar intermetallic bonding network involving Sc-Ge as well as Fe-Sn and Fe-Ge contacts can be assigned to this new structure type.

SiNC: Saliency-injected neural codes for representation and efficient retrieval of medical radiographs.

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Jamil Ahmad

Full Text Available Medical image collections contain a wealth of information which can assist radiologists and medical experts in diagnosis and disease detection for making well-informed decisions. However, this objective can only be realized if efficient access is provided to semantically relevant cases from the ever-growing medical image repositories. In this paper, we present an efficient method for representing medical images by incorporating visual saliency and deep features obtained from a fine-tuned convolutional neural network (CNN pre-trained on natural images. Saliency detector is employed to automatically identify regions of interest like tumors, fractures, and calcified spots in images prior to feature extraction. Neuronal activation features termed as neural codes from different CNN layers are comprehensively studied to identify most appropriate features for representing radiographs. This study revealed that neural codes from the last fully connected layer of the fine-tuned CNN are found to be the most suitable for representing medical images. The neural codes extracted from the entire image and salient part of the image are fused to obtain the saliency-injected neural codes (SiNC descriptor which is used for indexing and retrieval. Finally, locality sensitive hashing techniques are applied on the SiNC descriptor to acquire short binary codes for allowing efficient retrieval in large scale image collections. Comprehensive experimental evaluations on the radiology images dataset reveal that the proposed framework achieves high retrieval accuracy and efficiency for scalable image retrieval applications and compares favorably with existing approaches.

Salience Is Only Briefly Represented: Evidence from Probe-Detection Performance

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Donk, Mieke; Soesman, Leroy

2010-01-01

Salient objects in the visual field tend to capture attention. The present study aimed to examine the time-course of salience effects using a probe-detection task. Eight experiments investigated how the salience of different orientation singletons affected probe reaction time as a function of stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the…

Whisker and Hillock formation on Sn, Sn-Cu and Sn-Pb electrodeposits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boettinger, W.J.; Johnson, C.E.; Bendersky, L.A.; Moon, K.-W.; Williams, M.E.; Stafford, G.R.

2005-01-01

High purity bright Sn, Sn-Cu and Sn-Pb layers, 3, 7 and 16 μm thick were electrodeposited on phosphor bronze cantilever beams in a rotating disk apparatus. Beam deflection measurements within 15 min of plating proved that all electrodeposits had in-plane compressive stress. In several days, the surfaces of the Sn-Cu deposits, which have the highest compressive stress, develop 50 μm contorted hillocks and 200 μm whiskers, pure Sn deposits develop 20 μm compact conical hillocks, and Sn-Pb deposits, which have the lowest compressive stress, remain unchanged. The differences between the initial compressive stresses for each alloy and pure Sn is due to the rapid precipitation of Cu 6 Sn 5 or Pb particles, respectively, within supersaturated Sn grains produced by electrodeposition. Over longer time, analysis of beam deflection measurements indicates that the compressive stress is augmented by the formation of Cu 6 Sn 5 on the bronze/Sn interface, while creep of the electrodeposit tends to decrease the compressive stress. Uniform creep occurs for Sn-Pb because it has an equi-axed grain structure. Localized creep in the form of hillocks and whiskers occurs for Sn and Sn-Cu because both have columnar structures. Compact hillocks form for the Sn deposits because the columnar grain boundaries are mobile. Contorted hillocks and whiskers form for the Sn-Cu deposits because the columnar grain boundary motion is impeded

Prospective memory failures in aviation: effects of cue salience, workload, and individual differences.

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Van Benthem, Kathleen D; Herdman, Chris M; Tolton, Rani G; LeFevre, Jo-Anne

2015-04-01

Prospective memory allows people to complete intended tasks in the future. Prospective memory failures, such as pilots forgetting to inform pattern traffic of their locations, can have fatal consequences. The present research examined the impact of system factors (memory cue salience and workload) and individual differences (pilot age, cognitive health, and expertise) on prospective memory for communication tasks in the cockpit. Pilots (N = 101) flew a Cessna 172 simulator at a non-towered aerodrome while maintaining communication with traffic and attending to flight parameters. Memory cue salience (the prominence of cues that signal an intended action) and workload were manipulated. Prospective memory was measured as radio call completion rates. Pilots' prospective memory was adversely affected by low-salience cues and high workload. An interaction of cue salience, pilots' age, and cognitive health reflected the effects of system and individual difference factors on prospective memory failures. For example, younger pilots with low levels of cognitive health completed 78% of the radio calls associated with low-salience memory cues, whereas older pilots with low cognitive health scores completed just 61% of similar radio calls. Our findings suggest that technologies designed to signal intended future tasks should target those tasks with inherently low-salience memory cues. In addition, increasing the salience of memory cues is most likely to benefit pilots with lower levels of cognitive health in high-workload conditions.

Intensity and Compactness Enabled Saliency Estimation for Leakage Detection in Diabetic and Malarial Retinopathy.

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Zhao, Yitian; Zheng, Yalin; Liu, Yonghuai; Yang, Jian; Zhao, Yifan; Chen, Duanduan; Wang, Yongtian

2017-01-01

Leakage in retinal angiography currently is a key feature for confirming the activities of lesions in the management of a wide range of retinal diseases, such as diabetic maculopathy and paediatric malarial retinopathy. This paper proposes a new saliency-based method for the detection of leakage in fluorescein angiography. A superpixel approach is firstly employed to divide the image into meaningful patches (or superpixels) at different levels. Two saliency cues, intensity and compactness, are then proposed for the estimation of the saliency map of each individual superpixel at each level. The saliency maps at different levels over the same cues are fused using an averaging operator. The two saliency maps over different cues are fused using a pixel-wise multiplication operator. Leaking regions are finally detected by thresholding the saliency map followed by a graph-cut segmentation. The proposed method has been validated using the only two publicly available datasets: one for malarial retinopathy and the other for diabetic retinopathy. The experimental results show that it outperforms one of the latest competitors and performs as well as a human expert for leakage detection and outperforms several state-of-the-art methods for saliency detection.

Electrochemical energy storage behavior of Sn/SnO2 double phase nanocomposite anodes produced on the multiwalled carbon nanotube buckypapers for lithium-ion batteries

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Alaf, Mirac; Akbulut, Hatem

2014-02-01

Recent development of electrode materials for Li-ion batteries is driven mainly by hybrid nanocomposite structures consisting of Li storage compounds and CNTs. In this study, tin/tinoxide (Sn/SnO2) films and tin/tinoxide/multi walled carbon nanotube (Sn/SnO2/MWCNT) nanocomposites are produced by a two steps process; thermal evaporation and subsequent plasma oxidation as anode materials for Li-ion batteries. The physical, structural, and electrochemical behaviors of the nanocomposite electrodes containing MWCNTs are discussed. The ratio between metallic tin (Sn) and tinoxide (SnO2) is controlled with plasma oxidation time and effects of the ratio are investigated on the structural and electrochemical properties. The greatly enhanced electrochemical performance is mainly due to the morphological stability and reduced diffusion resistance, which are induced by MWCNT core and deposited Sn/SnO2 double phase shell. The outstanding long-term cycling stability is a result of the two layers Sn and SnO2 phases on MWCNTs. The nanoscale Sn/SnO2/MWCNT network provides good electrical conductivity, and the creation of open spaces that buffer a large volume change during the Li-alloying/de-alloying reaction.

Saliency image of feature building for image quality assessment

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Ju, Xinuo; Sun, Jiyin; Wang, Peng

2011-11-01

The purpose and method of image quality assessment are quite different for automatic target recognition (ATR) and traditional application. Local invariant feature detectors, mainly including corner detectors, blob detectors and region detectors etc., are widely applied for ATR. A saliency model of feature was proposed to evaluate feasibility of ATR in this paper. The first step consisted of computing the first-order derivatives on horizontal orientation and vertical orientation, and computing DoG maps in different scales respectively. Next, saliency images of feature were built based auto-correlation matrix in different scale. Then, saliency images of feature of different scales amalgamated. Experiment were performed on a large test set, including infrared images and optical images, and the result showed that the salient regions computed by this model were consistent with real feature regions computed by mostly local invariant feature extraction algorithms.

Ecological origins of object salience: reward, uncertainty, aversiveness and novelty

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Ali Ghazizadeh

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Among many objects around us, some of them are more salient than others (i.e., attract our attention automatically. Some objects may be inherently salient (e.g., brighter, but others may become salient by virtue of their ecological relevance through experience. However, the importance of ecological experience in guiding attention has not been studied systematically. To address this question, we let subjects (macaque monkeys view a large number of complex objects (>300, each experienced repeatedly (>5 days with rewarding, aversive or no outcome association (mere-perceptual exposure. Test of salience was done on separate days using free viewing with no outcome. We found that gaze was biased among the objects from the outset, affecting saccades to objects or fixations within objects. When the outcome was rewarding, gaze preference was stronger (i.e. positive for objects with larger or equal but uncertain rewards. The effects of aversive outcomes were variable. Gaze preference was positive for some outcome associations (e.g. airpuff, but negative for others (e.g. time-out, possibly due to differences in threat levels. Finally, novel objects attracted gaze, but mere perceptual exposure of objects reduced their salience (learned negative salience. Our results show that, in primates, object salience is strongly influenced by previous ecological experience and is supported by a large memory capacity. Owing to such learned salience, the capacity to rapidly choose important objects can grow during the entire life to promote biological fitness.

The electrophysiological correlate of saliency: evidence from a figure-detection task.

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Straube, Sirko; Fahle, Manfred

2010-01-11

Although figure-ground segregation in a natural environment usually relies on multiple cues, we experience a coherent figure without usually noticing the individual single cues. It is still unclear how various cues interact to achieve this unified percept and whether this interaction depends on task demands. Studies investigating the effect of cue combination on the human EEG are still lacking. In the present study, we combined psychophysics, ERP and time-frequency analysis to investigate the interaction of orientation and spatial frequency as visual cues in a figure detection task. The figure was embedded in a matrix of Gabor elements, and we systematically varied figure saliency by changing the underlying cue configuration. We found a strong correlation between the posterior P2 amplitude and the perceived saliency of the figure: the P2 amplitude decreased with increasing saliency. Analogously, the power of the theta-band decreased for more salient figures. At longer latencies, the posterior P3 component was modulated in amplitude and latency, possibly reflecting increased decision confidence at higher saliencies. In conclusion, when the cue composition (e.g. one or two cues) or cue strength is changed in a figure detection task, first differences in the electrophysiological response reflect the perceived saliency and not directly the underlying cue configuration.

University-Affiliated Alcohol Marketing Enhances the Incentive Salience of Alcohol Cues.

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Bartholow, Bruce D; Loersch, Chris; Ito, Tiffany A; Levsen, Meredith P; Volpert-Esmond, Hannah I; Fleming, Kimberly A; Bolls, Paul; Carter, Brooke K

2018-01-01

We tested whether affiliating beer brands with universities enhances the incentive salience of those brands for underage drinkers. In Study 1, 128 undergraduates viewed beer cues while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Results showed that beer cues paired with in-group backgrounds (logos for students' universities) evoked an enhanced P3 ERP component, a neural index of incentive salience. This effect varied according to students' levels of identification with their university, and the amplitude of the P3 response prospectively predicted alcohol use over 1 month. In Study 2 ( N = 104), we used a naturalistic advertisement exposure to experimentally create in-group brand associations and found that this manipulation caused an increase in the incentive salience of the beer brand. These data provide the first evidence that marketing beer via affiliating it with students' universities enhances the incentive salience of the brand for underage students and that this effect has implications for their alcohol involvement.

Perceptual salience affects the contents of working memory during free-recollection of objects from natural scenes

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Tiziana ePedale

2015-02-01

Full Text Available One of the most important issues in the study of cognition is to understand which are the factors determining internal representation of the external world. Previous literature has started to highlight the impact of low-level sensory features (indexed by saliency-maps in driving attention selection, hence increasing the probability for objects presented in complex and natural scenes to be successfully encoded into working memory(WM and then correctly remembered. Here we asked whether the probability of retrieving high-saliency objects modulates the overall contents of WM, by decreasing the probability of retrieving other, lower-saliency objects. We presented pictures of natural scenes for 4 secs. After a retention period of 8 secs, we asked participants to verbally report as many objects/details as possible of the previous scenes. We then computed how many times the objects located at either the peak of maximal or minimal saliency in the scene (as indexed by a saliency-map; Itti et al., 1998 were recollected by participants. Results showed that maximal-saliency objects were recollected more often and earlier in the stream of successfully reported items than minimal-saliency objects. This indicates that bottom-up sensory salience increases the recollection probability and facilitates the access to memory representation at retrieval, respectively. Moreover, recollection of the maximal- (but not the minimal- saliency objects predicted the overall amount of successfully recollected objects: The higher the probability of having successfully reported the most-salient object in the scene, the lower the amount of recollected objects. These findings highlight that bottom-up sensory saliency modulates the current contents of WM during recollection of objects from natural scenes, most likely by reducing available resources to encode and then retrieve other (lower saliency objects.

Motivational salience signal in the basal forebrain is coupled with faster and more precise decision speed.

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Avila, Irene; Lin, Shih-Chieh

2014-03-01

The survival of animals depends critically on prioritizing responses to motivationally salient stimuli. While it is generally believed that motivational salience increases decision speed, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and decision speed, measured by reaction time (RT), remains unclear. Here we show that the neural correlate of motivational salience in the basal forebrain (BF), defined independently of RT, is coupled with faster and also more precise decision speed. In rats performing a reward-biased simple RT task, motivational salience was encoded by BF bursting response that occurred before RT. We found that faster RTs were tightly coupled with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Furthermore, the fraction of RT variability reflecting the contribution of intrinsic noise in the decision-making process was actively suppressed in faster RT distributions with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Artificially augmenting the BF motivational salience signal via electrical stimulation led to faster and more precise RTs and supports a causal relationship. Together, these results not only describe for the first time, to our knowledge, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and faster decision speed, they also reveal the quantitative coupling relationship between motivational salience and more precise RT. Our results further establish the existence of an early and previously unrecognized step in the decision-making process that determines both the RT speed and variability of the entire decision-making process and suggest that this novel decision step is dictated largely by the BF motivational salience signal. Finally, our study raises the hypothesis that the dysregulation of decision speed in conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, and cognitive aging may result from the functional impairment of the motivational salience signal encoded by the poorly understood noncholinergic BF neurons.

Salience and Strategy Choice in 2 × 2 Games

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Jonathan W. Leland

2015-10-01

Full Text Available We present a model of boundedly rational play in single-shot 2 × 2 games. Players choose strategies based on the perceived salience of their own payoffs and, if own-payoff salience is uninformative, on the perceived salience of their opponent’s payoffs. When own payoffs are salient, the model’s predictions correspond to those of Level-1 players in a cognitive hierarchy model. When it is the other player’s payoffs that are salient, the predictions of the model correspond to those of traditional game theory. The model provides unique predictions for the entire class of 2 × 2 games. It identifies games where a Nash equilibrium will always occur, ones where it will never occur, and ones where it will occur only for certain payoff values. It also predicts the outcome of games for which there are no pure Nash equilibria. Experimental results supporting these predictions are presented.

Growth of intermetallics between Sn/Ni/Cu, Sn/Ag/Cu and Sn/Cu layered structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horváth, Barbara; Illés, Balázs; Shinohara, Tadashi

2014-01-01

Intermetallic growth mechanisms and rates are investigated in Sn/Ni/Cu, Sn/Ag/Cu and Sn/Cu layer systems. An 8–10 μm thick Sn surface finish layer was electroplated onto a Cu substrate with a 1.5–2 μm thick Ni or Ag barrier layer. In order to induce intermetallic layer growth, the samples were aged in elevated temperatures: 50 °C and 125 °C. Intermetallic layer growth was checked by focused ion beam–scanning ion microscope. The microstructures and chemical compositions of the intermetallic layers were observed with a transmission electron microscope. It has been found that Ni barrier layers can effectively block the development of Cu 6 Sn 5 intermetallics. The intermetallic growth characteristics in the Sn/Cu and Sn/Ni/Cu systems are very similar. The intermetallic layer grows towards the Sn layer and forms a discrete layer. Differences were observed only in the growth gradients and surface roughness of the intermetallic layer which may explain the different tin whiskering properties. It was observed that the intermetallic layer growth mechanisms are completely different in the Ag barrier layers compared to the Ni layers. In the case of Sn/Ag/Cu systems, the Sn and Cu diffused through the Ag layer, formed Cu 6 Sn 5 intermetallics mainly at the Sn/Ag interface and consumed the Ag barrier layer. - Highlights: • Intermetallic growth was characterised in Sn/Ni/Cu, Sn/Ag/Cu and Sn/Cu layer systems. • Intermetallic growth rates and roughness are similar in the Sn/Cu and Sn/Ni/Cu systems. • Sn/Ni/Cu system contains the following intermetallic layer structure Sn–Ni3Sn4–Ni3Sn2–Ni3Sn–Ni. • In the case of Sn/Ag/Cu systems the Sn and Cu diffusion consumes the Ag barrier layer. • When Cu reaches the Sn/Ag interface a large amount of Cu 6 Sn 5 forms above the Ag layer

Multi-scale image segmentation method with visual saliency constraints and its application

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Chen, Yan; Yu, Jie; Sun, Kaimin

2018-03-01

Object-based image analysis method has many advantages over pixel-based methods, so it is one of the current research hotspots. It is very important to get the image objects by multi-scale image segmentation in order to carry out object-based image analysis. The current popular image segmentation methods mainly share the bottom-up segmentation principle, which is simple to realize and the object boundaries obtained are accurate. However, the macro statistical characteristics of the image areas are difficult to be taken into account, and fragmented segmentation (or over-segmentation) results are difficult to avoid. In addition, when it comes to information extraction, target recognition and other applications, image targets are not equally important, i.e., some specific targets or target groups with particular features worth more attention than the others. To avoid the problem of over-segmentation and highlight the targets of interest, this paper proposes a multi-scale image segmentation method with visually saliency graph constraints. Visual saliency theory and the typical feature extraction method are adopted to obtain the visual saliency information, especially the macroscopic information to be analyzed. The visual saliency information is used as a distribution map of homogeneity weight, where each pixel is given a weight. This weight acts as one of the merging constraints in the multi- scale image segmentation. As a result, pixels that macroscopically belong to the same object but are locally different can be more likely assigned to one same object. In addition, due to the constraint of visual saliency model, the constraint ability over local-macroscopic characteristics can be well controlled during the segmentation process based on different objects. These controls will improve the completeness of visually saliency areas in the segmentation results while diluting the controlling effect for non- saliency background areas. Experiments show that this method works

Salience of the lambs: a test of the saliency map hypothesis with pictures of emotive objects.

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Humphrey, Katherine; Underwood, Geoffrey; Lambert, Tony

2012-01-25

Humans have an ability to rapidly detect emotive stimuli. However, many emotional objects in a scene are also highly visually salient, which raises the question of how dependent the effects of emotionality are on visual saliency and whether the presence of an emotional object changes the power of a more visually salient object in attracting attention. Participants were shown a set of positive, negative, and neutral pictures and completed recall and recognition memory tests. Eye movement data revealed that visual saliency does influence eye movements, but the effect is reliably reduced when an emotional object is present. Pictures containing negative objects were recognized more accurately and recalled in greater detail, and participants fixated more on negative objects than positive or neutral ones. Initial fixations were more likely to be on emotional objects than more visually salient neutral ones, suggesting that the processing of emotional features occurs at a very early stage of perception.

A parallel spatiotemporal saliency and discriminative online learning method for visual target tracking in aerial videos.

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Aghamohammadi, Amirhossein; Ang, Mei Choo; A Sundararajan, Elankovan; Weng, Ng Kok; Mogharrebi, Marzieh; Banihashem, Seyed Yashar

2018-01-01

Visual tracking in aerial videos is a challenging task in computer vision and remote sensing technologies due to appearance variation difficulties. Appearance variations are caused by camera and target motion, low resolution noisy images, scale changes, and pose variations. Various approaches have been proposed to deal with appearance variation difficulties in aerial videos, and amongst these methods, the spatiotemporal saliency detection approach reported promising results in the context of moving target detection. However, it is not accurate for moving target detection when visual tracking is performed under appearance variations. In this study, a visual tracking method is proposed based on spatiotemporal saliency and discriminative online learning methods to deal with appearance variations difficulties. Temporal saliency is used to represent moving target regions, and it was extracted based on the frame difference with Sauvola local adaptive thresholding algorithms. The spatial saliency is used to represent the target appearance details in candidate moving regions. SLIC superpixel segmentation, color, and moment features can be used to compute feature uniqueness and spatial compactness of saliency measurements to detect spatial saliency. It is a time consuming process, which prompted the development of a parallel algorithm to optimize and distribute the saliency detection processes that are loaded into the multi-processors. Spatiotemporal saliency is then obtained by combining the temporal and spatial saliencies to represent moving targets. Finally, a discriminative online learning algorithm was applied to generate a sample model based on spatiotemporal saliency. This sample model is then incrementally updated to detect the target in appearance variation conditions. Experiments conducted on the VIVID dataset demonstrated that the proposed visual tracking method is effective and is computationally efficient compared to state-of-the-art methods.

Generating description with multi-feature fusion and saliency maps of image

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Liu, Lisha; Ding, Yuxuan; Tian, Chunna; Yuan, Bo

2018-04-01

Generating description for an image can be regard as visual understanding. It is across artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing and many other areas. In this paper, we present a model that generates description for images based on RNN (recurrent neural network) with object attention and multi-feature of images. The deep recurrent neural networks have excellent performance in machine translation, so we use it to generate natural sentence description for images. The proposed method uses single CNN (convolution neural network) that is trained on ImageNet to extract image features. But we think it can not adequately contain the content in images, it may only focus on the object area of image. So we add scene information to image feature using CNN which is trained on Places205. Experiments show that model with multi-feature extracted by two CNNs perform better than which with a single feature. In addition, we make saliency weights on images to emphasize the salient objects in images. We evaluate our model on MSCOCO based on public metrics, and the results show that our model performs better than several state-of-the-art methods.

NEMO-SN-1 the first 'real-time' seafloor observatory of ESONET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Favali, Paolo; Beranzoli, Laura; D'Anna, Giuseppe; Gasparoni, Francesco; Gerber, Hans W.

2006-01-01

The fruitful collaboration between Italian Research Institutions, particularly Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) together with Marine Engineering Companies, led to the development of NEMO-SN-1, the first European cabled seafloor multiparameter observatory. This observatory, deployed at 2060 m w.d. about 12 miles off-shore the Eastern coasts of Sicily (Southern Italy), is in real-time acquisition since January 2005 and addressed to different set of measurements: geophysical and oceanographic. In particular the SN-1 seismological data are integrated in the INGV land-based national seismic network, and they arrive in real-time to the Operative Centre in Rome. In the European Commission (EC) European Seafloor Observatory NETwork (ESONET) project, in connection to the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) action plan, the NEMO-SN-1 site has been proposed as an European key area, both for its intrinsic importance for geo-hazards and for the availability of infrastructure as a stepwise development in GMES program. Presently, NEMO-SN-1 is the only ESONET site operative. The paper gives a description of SN-1 observatory with examples of data

Sex differences in the influence of body mass index on anatomical architecture of brain networks.

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Gupta, A; Mayer, E A; Hamadani, K; Bhatt, R; Fling, C; Alaverdyan, M; Torgerson, C; Ashe-McNalley, C; Van Horn, J D; Naliboff, B; Tillisch, K; Sanmiguel, C P; Labus, J S

2017-08-01

The brain has a central role in regulating ingestive behavior in obesity. Analogous to addiction behaviors, an imbalance in the processing of rewarding and salient stimuli results in maladaptive eating behaviors that override homeostatic needs. We performed network analysis based on graph theory to examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and network measures of integrity, information flow and global communication (centrality) in reward, salience and sensorimotor regions and to identify sex-related differences in these parameters. Structural and diffusion tensor imaging were obtained in a sample of 124 individuals (61 males and 63 females). Graph theory was applied to calculate anatomical network properties (centrality) for regions of the reward, salience and sensorimotor networks. General linear models with linear contrasts were performed to test for BMI and sex-related differences in measures of centrality, while controlling for age. In both males and females, individuals with high BMI (obese and overweight) had greater anatomical centrality (greater connectivity) of reward (putamen) and salience (anterior insula) network regions. Sex differences were observed both in individuals with normal and elevated BMI. In individuals with high BMI, females compared to males showed greater centrality in reward (amygdala, hippocampus and nucleus accumbens) and salience (anterior mid-cingulate cortex) regions, while males compared to females had greater centrality in reward (putamen) and sensorimotor (posterior insula) regions. In individuals with increased BMI, reward, salience and sensorimotor network regions are susceptible to topological restructuring in a sex-related manner. These findings highlight the influence of these regions on integrative processing of food-related stimuli and increased ingestive behavior in obesity, or in the influence of hedonic ingestion on brain topological restructuring. The observed sex differences emphasize the importance of

Spatio-Temporal Saliency Perception via Hypercomplex Frequency Spectral Contrast

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Zhiqiang Tian

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Salient object perception is the process of sensing the salient information from the spatio-temporal visual scenes, which is a rapid pre-attention mechanism for the target location in a visual smart sensor. In recent decades, many successful models of visual saliency perception have been proposed to simulate the pre-attention behavior. Since most of the methods usually need some ad hoc parameters or high-cost preprocessing, they are difficult to rapidly detect salient object or be implemented by computing parallelism in a smart sensor. In this paper, we propose a novel spatio-temporal saliency perception method based on spatio-temporal hypercomplex spectral contrast (HSC. Firstly, the proposed HSC algorithm represent the features in the HSV (hue, saturation and value color space and features of motion by a hypercomplex number. Secondly, the spatio-temporal salient objects are efficiently detected by hypercomplex Fourier spectral contrast in parallel. Finally, our saliency perception model also incorporates with the non-uniform sampling, which is a common phenomenon of human vision that directs visual attention to the logarithmic center of the image/video in natural scenes. The experimental results on the public saliency perception datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach compared to eleven state-of-the-art approaches. In addition, we extend the proposed model to moving object extraction in dynamic scenes, and the proposed algorithm is superior to the traditional algorithms.

A parallel spatiotemporal saliency and discriminative online learning method for visual target tracking in aerial videos

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

Visual tracking in aerial videos is a challenging task in computer vision and remote sensing technologies due to appearance variation difficulties. Appearance variations are caused by camera and target motion, low resolution noisy images, scale changes, and pose variations. Various approaches have been proposed to deal with appearance variation difficulties in aerial videos, and amongst these methods, the spatiotemporal saliency detection approach reported promising results in the context of moving target detection. However, it is not accurate for moving target detection when visual tracking is performed under appearance variations. In this study, a visual tracking method is proposed based on spatiotemporal saliency and discriminative online learning methods to deal with appearance variations difficulties. Temporal saliency is used to represent moving target regions, and it was extracted based on the frame difference with Sauvola local adaptive thresholding algorithms. The spatial saliency is used to represent the target appearance details in candidate moving regions. SLIC superpixel segmentation, color, and moment features can be used to compute feature uniqueness and spatial compactness of saliency measurements to detect spatial saliency. It is a time consuming process, which prompted the development of a parallel algorithm to optimize and distribute the saliency detection processes that are loaded into the multi-processors. Spatiotemporal saliency is then obtained by combining the temporal and spatial saliencies to represent moving targets. Finally, a discriminative online learning algorithm was applied to generate a sample model based on spatiotemporal saliency. This sample model is then incrementally updated to detect the target in appearance variation conditions. Experiments conducted on the VIVID dataset demonstrated that the proposed visual tracking method is effective and is computationally efficient compared to state-of-the-art methods. PMID:29438421

Comparison of the electrochemical performance of mesoscopic Cu2Sb, SnSb and Sn/SnSb alloy powders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Ge; Huang Kelong; Liu Suqin; Zhang Wei; Gong Benli

2006-01-01

Cu 2 Sb, SnSb and Sn/SnSb mesoscopic alloy powders were prepared by chemical reduction, respectively. The crystal structures and particle morphology of Cu 2 Sb, SnSb and Sn/SnSb were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical performances of the Cu 2 Sb, SnSb and Sn/SnSb electrodes were investigated by galvanostatic charge and discharge cycling and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results showed the first charge and discharge capacities of SnSb and Sn/SnSb were higher than Cu 2 Sb, but after 15 cycles, the charge capacity fading rates of Cu 2 Sb, Sn/SnSb and Sn/SnSb were 26.16%, 55.33% and 47.39%, respectively. Cu 2 Sb had a better cycle performance, and Sn/SnSb multiphase alloy was prior to pure SnSb due to the existence of excessive Sn in Sn/SnSb system

Image based Monument Recognition using Graph based Visual Saliency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kalliatakis, Grigorios; Triantafyllidis, Georgios

2013-01-01

This article presents an image-based application aiming at simple image classification of well-known monuments in the area of Heraklion, Crete, Greece. This classification takes place by utilizing Graph Based Visual Saliency (GBVS) and employing Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) or Speeded......, the images have been previously processed according to the Graph Based Visual Saliency model in order to keep either SIFT or SURF features corresponding to the actual monuments while the background “noise” is minimized. The application is then able to classify these images, helping the user to better...

An Improved Saliency Detection Approach for Flying Apsaras in the Dunhuang Grotto Murals, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhong Chen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Saliency can be described as the ability of an item to be detected from its background in any particular scene, and it aims to estimate the probable location of the salient objects. Due to the salient map that computed by local contrast features can extract and highlight the edge parts including painting lines of Flying Apsaras, in this paper, we proposed an improved approach based on a frequency-tuned method for visual saliency detection of Flying Apsaras in the Dunhuang Grotto Murals, China. This improved saliency detection approach comprises three important steps: (1 image color and gray channel decomposition; (2 gray feature value computation and color channel convolution; (3 visual saliency definition based on normalization of previous visual saliency and spatial attention function. Unlike existing approaches that rely on many complex image features, this proposed approach only used local contrast and spatial attention information to simulate human’s visual attention stimuli. This improved approach resulted in a much more efficient salient map in the aspect of computing performance. Furthermore, experimental results on the dataset of Flying Apsaras in the Dunhuang Grotto Murals showed that the proposed visual saliency detection approach is very effective when compared with five other state-of-the-art approaches.

Women's hormone levels modulate the motivational salience of facial attractiveness and sexual dimorphism.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hongyi; Hahn, Amanda C; Fisher, Claire I; DeBruine, Lisa M; Jones, Benedict C

2014-12-01

The physical attractiveness of faces is positively correlated with both behavioral and neural measures of their motivational salience. Although previous work suggests that hormone levels modulate women's perceptions of others' facial attractiveness, studies have not yet investigated whether hormone levels also modulate the motivational salience of facial characteristics. To address this issue, we investigated the relationships between within-subject changes in women's salivary hormone levels (estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, and estradiol-to-progesterone ratio) and within-subject changes in the motivational salience of attractiveness and sexual dimorphism in male and female faces. The motivational salience of physically attractive faces in general and feminine female faces, but not masculine male faces, was greater in test sessions where women had high testosterone levels. Additionally, the reward value of sexually dimorphic faces in general and attractive female faces, but not attractive male faces, was greater in test sessions where women had high estradiol-to-progesterone ratios. These results provide the first evidence that the motivational salience of facial attractiveness and sexual dimorphism is modulated by within-woman changes in hormone levels. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Restoring large-scale brain networks in PTSD and related disorders: a proposal for neuroscientifically-informed treatment interventions

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Ruth A. Lanius

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Three intrinsic connectivity networks in the brain, namely the central executive, salience, and default mode networks, have been identified as crucial to the understanding of higher cognitive functioning, and the functioning of these networks has been suggested to be impaired in psychopathology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD. Objective: 1 To describe three main large-scale networks of the human brain; 2 to discuss the functioning of these neural networks in PTSD and related symptoms; and 3 to offer hypotheses for neuroscientifically-informed interventions based on treating the abnormalities observed in these neural networks in PTSD and related disorders. Method: Literature relevant to this commentary was reviewed. Results: Increasing evidence for altered functioning of the central executive, salience, and default mode networks in PTSD has been demonstrated. We suggest that each network is associated with specific clinical symptoms observed in PTSD, including cognitive dysfunction (central executive network, increased and decreased arousal/interoception (salience network, and an altered sense of self (default mode network. Specific testable neuroscientifically-informed treatments aimed to restore each of these neural networks and related clinical dysfunction are proposed. Conclusions: Neuroscientifically-informed treatment interventions will be essential to future research agendas aimed at targeting specific PTSD and related symptoms.

Saliency mapping in the optic tectum and its relationship to habituation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arkadeb eDutta

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Habituation of the orienting response has long served as a model system for studying fundamental psychological phenomena such as learning, attention, decisions and surprise. In this article, we review an emerging hypothesis that the evolutionary role of the superior colliculus (SC in mammals or its homologue in birds, the optic tectum (OT, is to select the most salient target and send this information to the appropriate brain regions to control the body and brain orienting responses. Recent studies have begun to reveal mechanisms of how saliency is computed in the OT/SC, demonstrating a striking similarity between mammals and birds. The saliency of a target can be determined by how different it is from the surrounding objects, by how different it is from its history (that is habituation and by how relevant it is for the task at hand. Here, we will first review evidence, mostly from primates and barn owls, that all three types of saliency computations are linked in the OT/SC. We will then focus more on neural adaptation in the OT and its possible link to temporal saliency and habituation.

Gender differences in the incentive salience of adult and infant faces.

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, Amanda C; Xiao, Dengke; Sprengelmeyer, Reiner; Perrett, David I

2013-01-01

Facial appearance can motivate behaviour and elicit activation of brain circuits putatively involved in reward. Gender differences have been observed for motivation to view beauty in adult faces--heterosexual women are motivated by beauty in general, while heterosexual men are motivated to view opposite-sex beauty alone. Although gender differences have been observed in sensitivity to infant cuteness, infant faces appear to hold equal incentive salience among men and women. In the present study, we investigated the incentive salience of attractiveness and cuteness in adult and infant faces, respectively. We predicted that, given alternative viewing options, gender differences would emerge for motivation to view infant faces. Heterosexual participants completed a "pay-per-view" key-press task, which allowed them to control stimulus duration. Gender differences were found such that infants held greater incentive salience among women, although both sexes differentiated infant faces based on cuteness. Among adult faces, men exerted more effort than women to view opposite-sex faces. These findings suggest that, contrary to previous reports, gender differences do exist in the incentive salience of infant faces as well as opposite-sex faces.

The habenula governs the attribution of incentive salience to reward predictive cues

Science.gov (United States)

Danna, Carey L.; Shepard, Paul D.; Elmer, Greg I.

2013-01-01

The attribution of incentive salience to reward associated cues is critical for motivation and the pursuit of rewards. Disruptions in the integrity of the neural systems controlling these processes can lead to avolition and anhedonia, symptoms that cross the diagnostic boundaries of many neuropsychiatric illnesses. Here, we consider whether the habenula (Hb), a region recently demonstrated to encode negatively valenced events, also modulates the attribution of incentive salience to a neutral cue predicting a food reward. The Pavlovian autoshaping paradigm was used in the rat as an investigative tool to dissociate Pavlovian learning processes imparting strictly predictive value from learning that attributes incentive motivational value. Electrolytic lesions of the fasciculus retroflexus (fr), the sole pathway through which descending Hb efferents are conveyed, significantly increased incentive salience as measured by conditioned approaches to a cue light predictive of reward. Conversely, generation of a fictive Hb signal via fr stimulation during CS+ presentation significantly decreased the incentive salience of the predictive cue. Neither manipulation altered the reward predictive value of the cue as measured by conditioned approach to the food. Our results provide new evidence supporting a significant role for the Hb in governing the attribution of incentive motivational salience to reward predictive cues and further imply that pathological changes in Hb activity could contribute to the aberrant pursuit of debilitating goals or avolition and depression-like symptoms. PMID:24368898

The habenula governs the attribution of incentive salience to reward predictive cues.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carey L. Danna

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The attribution of incentive salience to reward associated cues is critical for motivation and the pursuit of rewards. Disruptions in the integrity of the neural systems controlling these processes can lead to avolition and anhedonia, symptoms that cross the diagnostic boundaries of many neuropsychiatric illnesses. Here, we consider whether the habenula (Hb, a region recently demonstrated to encode negatively valenced events, also modulates the attribution of incentive salience to a neutral cue predicting a food reward. The Pavlovian autoshaping paradigm was used in the rat as an investigative tool to dissociate Pavlovian learning processes imparting strictly predictive value from learning that attributes incentive motivational value. Electrolytic lesions of the fasciculus retroflexus (fr, the sole pathway through which descending Hb efferents are conveyed, significantly increased incentive salience as measured by conditioned approaches to a cue light predictive of reward. Conversely, generation of a fictive Hb signal via fr stimulation during CS+ presentation significantly decreased the incentive salience of the predictive cue. Neither manipulation altered the reward predictive value of the cue as measured by conditioned approach to the food. Our results provide new evidence supporting a significant role for the Hb in governing the attribution of incentive motivational salience to reward predictive cues and further imply that pathological changes in Hb activity could contribute to the aberrant pursuit of debilitating goals or avolition and depression-like symptoms.

Functional connectivity patterns reflect individual differences in conflict adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiangpeng; Wang, Ting; Chen, Zhencai; Hitchman, Glenn; Liu, Yijun; Chen, Antao

2015-04-01

Individuals differ in the ability to utilize previous conflict information to optimize current conflict resolution, which is termed the conflict adaptation effect. Previous studies have linked individual differences in conflict adaptation to distinct brain regions. However, the network-based neural mechanisms subserving the individual differences of the conflict adaptation effect have not been studied. The present study employed a psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis with a color-naming Stroop task to examine this issue. The main results were as follows: (1) the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)-seeded PPI revealed the involvement of the salience network (SN) in conflict adaptation, while the posterior parietal cortex (PPC)-seeded PPI revealed the engagement of the central executive network (CEN). (2) Participants with high conflict adaptation effect showed higher intra-CEN connectivity and lower intra-SN connectivity; while those with low conflict adaptation effect showed higher intra-SN connectivity and lower intra-CEN connectivity. (3) The PPC-centered intra-CEN connectivity positively predicted the conflict adaptation effect; while the ACC-centered intra-SN connectivity had a negative correlation with this effect. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that conflict adaptation is likely supported by the CEN and the SN, providing a new perspective on studying individual differences in conflict adaptation on the basis of large-scale networks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Altered Synchronizations among Neural Networks in Geriatric Depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lihong; Chou, Ying-Hui; Potter, Guy G; Steffens, David C

2015-01-01

Although major depression has been considered as a manifestation of discoordinated activity between affective and cognitive neural networks, only a few studies have examined the relationships among neural networks directly. Because of the known disconnection theory, geriatric depression could be a useful model in studying the interactions among different networks. In the present study, using independent component analysis to identify intrinsically connected neural networks, we investigated the alterations in synchronizations among neural networks in geriatric depression to better understand the underlying neural mechanisms. Resting-state fMRI data was collected from thirty-two patients with geriatric depression and thirty-two age-matched never-depressed controls. We compared the resting-state activities between the two groups in the default-mode, central executive, attention, salience, and affective networks as well as correlations among these networks. The depression group showed stronger activity than the controls in an affective network, specifically within the orbitofrontal region. However, unlike the never-depressed controls, geriatric depression group lacked synchronized/antisynchronized activity between the affective network and the other networks. Those depressed patients with lower executive function has greater synchronization between the salience network with the executive and affective networks. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the between-network analyses in examining neural models for geriatric depression.

Determining the saliency of feature measurements obtained from images of sedimentary organic matter for use in its classification

Science.gov (United States)

Weller, Andrew F.; Harris, Anthony J.; Ware, J. Andrew; Jarvis, Paul S.

2006-11-01

The classification of sedimentary organic matter (OM) images can be improved by determining the saliency of image analysis (IA) features measured from them. Knowing the saliency of IA feature measurements means that only the most significant discriminating features need be used in the classification process. This is an important consideration for classification techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), where too many features can lead to the 'curse of dimensionality'. The classification scheme adopted in this work is a hybrid of morphologically and texturally descriptive features from previous manual classification schemes. Some of these descriptive features are assigned to IA features, along with several others built into the IA software (Halcon) to ensure that a valid cross-section is available. After an image is captured and segmented, a total of 194 features are measured for each particle. To reduce this number to a more manageable magnitude, the SPSS AnswerTree Exhaustive CHAID (χ 2 automatic interaction detector) classification tree algorithm is used to establish each measurement's saliency as a classification discriminator. In the case of continuous data as used here, the F-test is used as opposed to the published algorithm. The F-test checks various statistical hypotheses about the variance of groups of IA feature measurements obtained from the particles to be classified. The aim is to reduce the number of features required to perform the classification without reducing its accuracy. In the best-case scenario, 194 inputs are reduced to 8, with a subsequent multi-layer back-propagation ANN recognition rate of 98.65%. This paper demonstrates the ability of the algorithm to reduce noise, help overcome the curse of dimensionality, and facilitate an understanding of the saliency of IA features as discriminators for sedimentary OM classification.

The tin-rich copper lithium stannides: Li{sub 3}Cu{sub 6}Sn{sub 4} and Li{sub 2}CuSn{sub 2}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fuertauer, Siegfried; Flandorfer, Hans [Vienna Univ. (Austria). Inst. of Inorganic Chemistry (Materials Chemisrty); Effenberger, Herta S. [Vienna Univ. (Austria). Inst. of Mineralogy and Crystallography

2015-05-01

The Sn rich ternary intermetallic compounds Li{sub 3}Cu{sub 6}Sn{sub 4} (CSD-427097) and Li{sub 2}CuSn{sub 2} (CSD-427098) were synthesized from the pure elements by induction melting and annealing at 400 C. Structural investigations were performed by powder- and single-crystal XRD. Li{sub 3}Cu{sub 6}Sn{sub 4} crystallizes in space group P6/mmm; it is structurally related to but not isotypic with MgFe{sub 6}Ge{sub 6} (a = 5.095(2) Aa, c = 9.524(3) Aa; wR{sub 2} = 0.059; 239 unique F{sup 2}-values, 17 free variables). Li{sub 3}Cu{sub 6}Sn{sub 4} is characterized by two sites with a mixed Cu:Sn occupation. In contrast to all other Cu-Li-Sn compounds known so far, any mixed occupation was found for Cu-Li pairs only. In addition, one Li site is only half occupied. The second Sn rich phase is Li{sub 2}CuSn{sub 2} (space group I4{sub 1}/amd, a = 4.4281(15) Aa, c = 19.416(4) Aa; wR{sub 2} = 0.033; 213 unique F{sup 2}-values, 12 atom free variables); it is the only phase in the Cu-Li-Sn system which is noted for full ordering. Both crystal structures exhibit 3D-networks which host Li atoms in channels. They are important for understanding the lithiation mechanism in Cu-Sn electrodes for Li-ion batteries.

Activation of midbrain and ventral striatal regions implicates salience processing during a modified beads task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine Esslinger

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Metacognition, i.e. critically reflecting on and monitoring one's own reasoning, has been linked behaviorally to the emergence of delusions and is a focus of cognitive therapy in patients with schizophrenia. However, little is known about the neural processing underlying metacognitive function. To address this issue, we studied brain activity during a modified beads task which has been used to measure a "Jumping to Conclusions" (JTC bias in schizophrenia patients. METHODS: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify neural systems active in twenty-five healthy subjects when solving a modified version of the "beads task", which requires a probabilistic decision after a variable amount of data has been requested by the participants. We assessed brain activation over the duration of a trial and at the time point of decision making. RESULTS: Analysis of activation during the whole process of probabilistic reasoning showed an extended network including the prefronto-parietal executive functioning network as well as medial parieto-occipital regions. During the decision process alone, activity in midbrain and ventral striatum was detected, as well as in thalamus, medial occipital cortex and anterior insula. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that probabilistic reasoning shares neural substrates with executive functions. In addition, our finding that brain regions commonly associated with salience processing are active during probabilistic reasoning identifies a candidate mechanism that could underlie the behavioral link between dopamine-dependent aberrant salience and JTC in schizophrenia. Further studies with delusional schizophrenia patients will have to be performed to substantiate this link.

Saliency of color image derivatives: a comparison between computational models and human perception

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vazquez, E.; Gevers, T.; Lucassen, M.; van de Weijer, J.; Baldrich, R.

2010-01-01

In this paper, computational methods are proposed to compute color edge saliency based on the information content of color edges. The computational methods are evaluated on bottom-up saliency in a psychophysical experiment, and on a more complex task of salient object detection in real-world images.

Novelty enhances visual salience independently of reward in the parietal lobe.

Science.gov (United States)

Foley, Nicholas C; Jangraw, David C; Peck, Christopher; Gottlieb, Jacqueline

2014-06-04

Novelty modulates sensory and reward processes, but it remains unknown how these effects interact, i.e., how the visual effects of novelty are related to its motivational effects. A widespread hypothesis, based on findings that novelty activates reward-related structures, is that all the effects of novelty are explained in terms of reward. According to this idea, a novel stimulus is by default assigned high reward value and hence high salience, but this salience rapidly decreases if the stimulus signals a negative outcome. Here we show that, contrary to this idea, novelty affects visual salience in the monkey lateral intraparietal area (LIP) in ways that are independent of expected reward. Monkeys viewed peripheral visual cues that were novel or familiar (received few or many exposures) and predicted whether the trial will have a positive or a negative outcome--i.e., end in a reward or a lack of reward. We used a saccade-based assay to detect whether the cues automatically attracted or repelled attention from their visual field location. We show that salience--measured in saccades and LIP responses--was enhanced by both novelty and positive reward associations, but these factors were dissociable and habituated on different timescales. The monkeys rapidly recognized that a novel stimulus signaled a negative outcome (and withheld anticipatory licking within the first few presentations), but the salience of that stimulus remained high for multiple subsequent presentations. Therefore, novelty can provide an intrinsic bonus for attention that extends beyond the first presentation and is independent of physical rewards. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/347947-11$15.00/0.

Infrared Small Moving Target Detection via Saliency Histogram and Geometrical Invariability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minjie Wan

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In order to detect both bright and dark small moving targets effectively in infrared (IR video sequences, a saliency histogram and geometrical invariability based method is presented in this paper. First, a saliency map that roughly highlights the salient regions of the original image is obtained by tuning its amplitude spectrum in the frequency domain. Then, a saliency histogram is constructed by means of averaging the accumulated saliency value of each gray level in the map, through which bins corresponding to bright target and dark target are assigned with large values in the histogram. Next, single-frame detection of candidate targets is accomplished by a binarized segmentation using an adaptive threshold, and their centroid coordinates with sub-pixel accuracy are calculated through a connected components labeling method as well as a gray-weighted criterion. Finally, considering the motion characteristics in consecutive frames, an inter-frame false alarm suppression method based on geometrical invariability is developed to improve the precision rate further. Quantitative analyses demonstrate the detecting precision of this proposed approach can be up to 97% and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC curves further verify our method outperforms other state-of-the-arts methods in both detection rate and false alarm rate.

Perceiving and Confronting Sexism: The Causal Role of Gender Identity Salience.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Katie; Dovidio, John F

2017-03-01

Although many researchers have explored the relations among gender identification, discriminatory attributions, and intentions to challenge discrimination, few have examined the causal impact of gender identity salience on women's actual responses to a sexist encounter. In the current study, we addressed this question by experimentally manipulating the salience of gender identity and assessing its impact on women's decision to confront a sexist comment in a simulated online interaction. Female participants ( N = 114) were randomly assigned to complete a short measure of either personal or collective self-esteem, which was designed to increase the salience of personal versus gender identity. They were then given the opportunity to confront a male interaction partner who expressed sexist views. Compared to those who were primed to focus on their personal identity, participants who were primed to focus on their gender identity perceived the interaction partner's remarks as more sexist and were more likely to engage in confrontation. By highlighting the powerful role of subtle contextual cues in shaping women's perceptions of, and responses to, sexism, our findings have important implications for the understanding of gender identity salience as an antecedent of prejudice confrontation. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/index.

Security-Enhanced Autonomous Network Management for Space Networking, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program is integrating its three current agency networks: Space Network (SN), Deep Space Network (DSN), and Near...

Stakeholder Salience in ERP Projects

OpenAIRE

Salhotra, Eashan

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to examine stakeholder involvement in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System project that involves implementation and improvement of the implemented system. The study targets stakeholders, their classification, and their degree of importance during different phases of an ERP project life cycle, i.e. planning, implementation, stabilisation and improvement. The study shows that stakeholder involvement and their salience vary along the ERP project life cycle a...

Small Vocabulary with Saliency Matching for Video Copy Detection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ren, Huamin; Moeslund, Thomas B.; Tang, Sheng

2013-01-01

The importance of copy detection has led to a substantial amount of research in recent years, among which Bag of visual Words (BoW) plays an important role due to its ability to effectively handling occlusion and some minor transformations. One crucial issue in BoW approaches is the size of vocab......The importance of copy detection has led to a substantial amount of research in recent years, among which Bag of visual Words (BoW) plays an important role due to its ability to effectively handling occlusion and some minor transformations. One crucial issue in BoW approaches is the size...... matching algorithm based on salient visual words selection. More specifically, the variation of visual words across a given video are represented as trajectories and those containing locally asymptotically stable points are selected as salient visual words. Then we attempt to measure the similarity of two...... videos through saliency matching merely based on the selected salient visual words to remove false positives. Our experiments show that a small codebook with saliency matching is quite competitive in video copy detection. With the incorporation of the proposed saliency matching, the precision can...

Effect of impurities in niobium on the growth of superconducting Nb/sub 3//Sn. [Al, Cu, Ge, Si, Sn, Zr impurities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sekizawa, T

1974-01-01

In order to examine the possibility of reducing the heat treatment temperature in the manufacturing process of the superconducting intermetallic compounds wire or ribbon by the metallurgical bond method, tin cored specimens of niobium including a small amount of impurity (Al, Cu, Ge, Si, Sn and Zr) have been prepared, and the critical currents measured as a function of the heat treatment temperature and time. Experimental results are summarized as follows. (1) The effect of the impurity added into niobium is to stabilize the dislocation network cell structure in niobium, caused by the cold working, up to the forming temperature of Nb/sub 3/Sn. The stabilized dislocation network structure is considered to serve as diffusion pipes of the tin atom. As this diffusion (microscopic) is predominant over bulk diffusion (macroscopic), the cored specimen made of niobium including impurities has lower forming temperature of Nb/sub 3/Sn compared with the specimen made of pure niobium. (2) The critical current vs. heat treatment temperature characteristics show that the critical current peaks at 900/sup 0/C in the case of niobium including Si, while at 950/sup 0/C in the case of pure niobium. 6 references.

Salient regions detection using convolutional neural networks and color volume

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Guang-Hai; Hou, Yingkun

2018-03-01

Convolutional neural network is an important technique in machine learning, pattern recognition and image processing. In order to reduce the computational burden and extend the classical LeNet-5 model to the field of saliency detection, we propose a simple and novel computing model based on LeNet-5 network. In the proposed model, hue, saturation and intensity are utilized to extract depth cues, and then we integrate depth cues and color volume to saliency detection following the basic structure of the feature integration theory. Experimental results show that the proposed computing model outperforms some existing state-of-the-art methods on MSRA1000 and ECSSD datasets.

"Always in My Face": An Exploration of Social Class Consciousness, Salience, and Values

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Georgianna L.

2015-01-01

This qualitative study explores social class consciousness, salience, and values of White, low-income, first-generation college students. Overall, participants minimized the salience of social class as an aspect of their identity with many of them expressing that they did not want their social class to define them. Although participants largely…

Quantifying individual variation in the propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Paul J; Lovic, Vedran; Saunders, Benjamin T; Yager, Lindsay M; Flagel, Shelly B; Morrow, Jonathan D; Robinson, Terry E

2012-01-01

If reward-associated cues acquire the properties of incentive stimuli they can come to powerfully control behavior, and potentially promote maladaptive behavior. Pavlovian incentive stimuli are defined as stimuli that have three fundamental properties: they are attractive, they are themselves desired, and they can spur instrumental actions. We have found, however, that there is considerable individual variation in the extent to which animals attribute Pavlovian incentive motivational properties ("incentive salience") to reward cues. The purpose of this paper was to develop criteria for identifying and classifying individuals based on their propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues. To do this, we conducted a meta-analysis of a large sample of rats (N = 1,878) subjected to a classic Pavlovian conditioning procedure. We then used the propensity of animals to approach a cue predictive of reward (one index of the extent to which the cue was attributed with incentive salience), to characterize two behavioral phenotypes in this population: animals that approached the cue ("sign-trackers") vs. others that approached the location of reward delivery ("goal-trackers"). This variation in Pavlovian approach behavior predicted other behavioral indices of the propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues. Thus, the procedures reported here should be useful for making comparisons across studies and for assessing individual variation in incentive salience attribution in small samples of the population, or even for classifying single animals.

ERP evidence on the interaction between information structure and emotional salience of words.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lin; Bastiaansen, Marcel; Yang, Yufang; Hagoort, Peter

2013-06-01

Both emotional words and words focused by information structure can capture attention. This study examined the interplay between emotional salience and information structure in modulating attentional resources in the service of integrating emotional words into sentence context. Event-related potentials (ERPs) to affectively negative, neutral, and positive words, which were either focused or nonfocused in question-answer pairs, were evaluated during sentence comprehension. The results revealed an early negative effect (90-200 ms), a P2 effect, as well as an effect in the N400 time window, for both emotional salience and information structure. Moreover, an interaction between emotional salience and information structure occurred within the N400 time window over right posterior electrodes, showing that information structure influences the semantic integration only for neutral words, but not for emotional words. This might reflect the fact that the linguistic salience of emotional words can override the effect of information structure on the integration of words into context. The interaction provides evidence for attention-emotion interactions at a later stage of processing. In addition, the absence of interaction in the early time window suggests that the processing of emotional information is highly automatic and independent of context. The results suggest independent attention capture systems of emotional salience and information structure at the early stage but an interaction between them at a later stage, during the semantic integration of words.

Debiasing the disposition effect by reducing the saliency of information about a stock's purchase price.

Science.gov (United States)

Frydman, Cary; Rangel, Antonio

2014-11-01

The disposition effect refers to the empirical fact that investors have a higher propensity to sell risky assets with capital gains compared to risky assets with capital losses, and it has been associated with low trading performance. We use a stock trading laboratory experiment to investigate if it is possible to reduce subjects' tendency to exhibit a disposition effect by making information about a stock's purchase price, and thus about capital gains and losses, less salient. We compare two experimental conditions: a high-saliency condition in which the purchase price of a stock is prominently displayed by the trading software, and a low-saliency condition in which it is not displayed at all. We find that individuals exhibit a disposition effect in the high-saliency condition, and that the effect is 25% smaller in the low-saliency condition. This suggests that it is possible to debias the disposition effect by reducing the saliency with which information about a stock's purchase price is displayed on financial statements and online trading platforms.

SN Refsdal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kelly, P. L.; Brammer, G.; Selsing, J.

2016-01-01

(SNe), and we find strong evidence for a broad H-alpha P-Cygni profile in the HST grism spectrum at the redshift (z = 1.49) of the spiral host galaxy. SNe IIn, powered by circumstellar interaction, could provide a good match to the light curve of SN Refsdal, but the spectrum of a SN IIn would not show...... in the rest frame, provide additional evidence that supports the SN 1987A-like classification. In comparison with other examples of SN 1987A-like SNe, SN Refsdal has a blue B-V color and a high luminosity for the assumed range of potential magnifications. If SN Refsdal can be modeled as a scaled version of SN...

Pruning Boltzmann networks and hidden Markov models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Morten With; Stork, D.

1996-01-01

We present sensitivity-based pruning algorithms for general Boltzmann networks. Central to our methods is the efficient calculation of a second-order approximation to the true weight saliencies in a cross-entropy error. Building upon previous work which shows a formal correspondence between linear...... Boltzmann chains and hidden Markov models (HMMs), we argue that our method can be applied to HMMs as well. We illustrate pruning on Boltzmann zippers, which are equivalent to two HMMs with cross-connection links. We verify that our second-order approximation preserves the rank ordering of weight saliencies...

Perceiving and Confronting Sexism: The Causal Role of Gender Identity Salience

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Katie; Dovidio, John F.

2017-01-01

Although many researchers have explored the relations among gender identification, discriminatory attributions, and intentions to challenge discrimination, few have examined the causal impact of gender identity salience on women’s actual responses to a sexist encounter. In the current study, we addressed this question by experimentally manipulating the salience of gender identity and assessing its impact on women’s decision to confront a sexist comment in a simulated online interaction. Female participants (N = 114) were randomly assigned to complete a short measure of either personal or collective self-esteem, which was designed to increase the salience of personal versus gender identity. They were then given the opportunity to confront a male interaction partner who expressed sexist views. Compared to those who were primed to focus on their personal identity, participants who were primed to focus on their gender identity perceived the interaction partner’s remarks as more sexist and were more likely to engage in confrontation. By highlighting the powerful role of subtle contextual cues in shaping women’s perceptions of, and responses to, sexism, our findings have important implications for the understanding of gender identity salience as an antecedent of prejudice confrontation. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/index. PMID:29051685

Basal forebrain motivational salience signal enhances cortical processing and decision speed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sylvina M Raver

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The basal forebrain (BF contains major projections to the cerebral cortex, and plays a well-documented role in arousal, attention, decision-making, and in modulating cortical activity. BF neuronal degeneration is an early event in Alzheimer’s disease and dementias, and occurs in normal cognitive aging. While the BF is best known for its population of cortically projecting cholinergic neurons, the region is anatomically and neurochemically diverse, and also contains prominent populations of non-cholinergic projection neurons. In recent years, increasing attention has been dedicated to these non-cholinergic BF neurons in order to better understand how non-cholinergic BF circuits control cortical processing and behavioral performance. In this review, we focus on a unique population of putative non-cholinergic BF neurons that encodes the motivational salience of stimuli with a robust ensemble bursting response. We review recent studies that describe the specific physiological and functional characteristics of these BF salience-encoding neurons in behaving animals. These studies support the unifying hypothesis whereby BF salience-encoding neurons act as a gain modulation mechanism of the decision-making process to enhance cortical processing of behaviorally relevant stimuli, and thereby facilitate faster and more precise behavioral responses. This function of BF salience-encoding neurons represents a critical component in determining which incoming stimuli warrant an animal’s attention, and is therefore a fundamental and early requirement of behavioral flexibility.

Characterizing the effects of feature salience and top-down attention in the early visual system.

Science.gov (United States)

Poltoratski, Sonia; Ling, Sam; McCormack, Devin; Tong, Frank

2017-07-01

The visual system employs a sophisticated balance of attentional mechanisms: salient stimuli are prioritized for visual processing, yet observers can also ignore such stimuli when their goals require directing attention elsewhere. A powerful determinant of visual salience is local feature contrast: if a local region differs from its immediate surround along one or more feature dimensions, it will appear more salient. We used high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI) at 7T to characterize the modulatory effects of bottom-up salience and top-down voluntary attention within multiple sites along the early visual pathway, including visual areas V1-V4 and the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Observers viewed arrays of spatially distributed gratings, where one of the gratings immediately to the left or right of fixation differed from all other items in orientation or motion direction, making it salient. To investigate the effects of directed attention, observers were cued to attend to the grating to the left or right of fixation, which was either salient or nonsalient. Results revealed reliable additive effects of top-down attention and stimulus-driven salience throughout visual areas V1-hV4. In comparison, the LGN exhibited significant attentional enhancement but was not reliably modulated by orientation- or motion-defined salience. Our findings indicate that top-down effects of spatial attention can influence visual processing at the earliest possible site along the visual pathway, including the LGN, whereas the processing of orientation- and motion-driven salience primarily involves feature-selective interactions that take place in early cortical visual areas. NEW & NOTEWORTHY While spatial attention allows for specific, goal-driven enhancement of stimuli, salient items outside of the current focus of attention must also be prioritized. We used 7T fMRI to compare salience and spatial attentional enhancement along the early visual hierarchy. We report additive effects of

Large-scale brain networks are distinctly affected in right and left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

de Campos, Brunno Machado; Coan, Ana Carolina; Lin Yasuda, Clarissa; Casseb, Raphael Fernandes; Cendes, Fernando

2016-09-01

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) with hippocampus sclerosis (HS) is associated with functional and structural alterations extending beyond the temporal regions and abnormal pattern of brain resting state networks (RSNs) connectivity. We hypothesized that the interaction of large-scale RSNs is differently affected in patients with right- and left-MTLE with HS compared to controls. We aimed to determine and characterize these alterations through the analysis of 12 RSNs, functionally parceled in 70 regions of interest (ROIs), from resting-state functional-MRIs of 99 subjects (52 controls, 26 right- and 21 left-MTLE patients with HS). Image preprocessing and statistical analysis were performed using UF(2) C-toolbox, which provided ROI-wise results for intranetwork and internetwork connectivity. Intranetwork abnormalities were observed in the dorsal default mode network (DMN) in both groups of patients and in the posterior salience network in right-MTLE. Both groups showed abnormal correlation between the dorsal-DMN and the posterior salience, as well as between the dorsal-DMN and the executive-control network. Patients with left-MTLE also showed reduced correlation between the dorsal-DMN and visuospatial network and increased correlation between bilateral thalamus and the posterior salience network. The ipsilateral hippocampus stood out as a central area of abnormalities. Alterations on left-MTLE expressed a low cluster coefficient, whereas the altered connections on right-MTLE showed low cluster coefficient in the DMN but high in the posterior salience regions. Both right- and left-MTLE patients with HS have widespread abnormal interactions of large-scale brain networks; however, all parameters evaluated indicate that left-MTLE has a more intricate bihemispheric dysfunction compared to right-MTLE. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3137-3152, 2016. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by

The habenula governs the attribution of incentive salience to reward predictive cues

OpenAIRE

Danna, Carey L.; Shepard, Paul D.; Elmer, Greg I.

2013-01-01

The attribution of incentive salience to reward associated cues is critical for motivation and the pursuit of rewards. Disruptions in the integrity of the neural systems controlling these processes can lead to avolition and anhedonia, symptoms that cross the diagnostic boundaries of many neuropsychiatric illnesses. Here, we consider whether the habenula (Hb), a region recently demonstrated to encode negatively valenced events, also modulates the attribution of incentive salience to a neutral...

2D Sn-doped ZnO ultrathin nanosheet networks for enhanced acetone gas sensing application

KAUST Repository

Al-Hadeethi, Yas; Umar, Ahmad; Al-Heniti, Saleh. H.; Kumar, Rajesh; Kim, S.H.; Zhang, Xixiang; Raffah, Bahaaudin M.

2016-01-01

In this paper, we report the synthesis, characterizations and gas sensing application of 2D Sn-doped ZnO ultrathin nanosheet networks synthesized by a simple and facile hydrothermal process. The synthesized nanosheets were characterized using several techniques in terms of their morphological, structural, optical and compositional properties. The detailed characterizations confirmed that the nanosheets are pure, grown in high-density, possessing well-crystalline wurtzite hexagonal phase and exhibiting good optical properties. Further, the synthesized nanosheets were used as functional material to develop nanosensor device by coating it on the alumina substrate with suitable electrodes. The fabricated sensor device was tested towards acetone gas which exhibited a maximum sensitivity of 5.556 (Ra/Rg) for 200 ppm of acetone at 320 °C.

2D Sn-doped ZnO ultrathin nanosheet networks for enhanced acetone gas sensing application

KAUST Repository

Al-Hadeethi, Yas

2016-11-10

In this paper, we report the synthesis, characterizations and gas sensing application of 2D Sn-doped ZnO ultrathin nanosheet networks synthesized by a simple and facile hydrothermal process. The synthesized nanosheets were characterized using several techniques in terms of their morphological, structural, optical and compositional properties. The detailed characterizations confirmed that the nanosheets are pure, grown in high-density, possessing well-crystalline wurtzite hexagonal phase and exhibiting good optical properties. Further, the synthesized nanosheets were used as functional material to develop nanosensor device by coating it on the alumina substrate with suitable electrodes. The fabricated sensor device was tested towards acetone gas which exhibited a maximum sensitivity of 5.556 (Ra/Rg) for 200 ppm of acetone at 320 °C.

Quantifying individual variation in the propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul J Meyer

Full Text Available If reward-associated cues acquire the properties of incentive stimuli they can come to powerfully control behavior, and potentially promote maladaptive behavior. Pavlovian incentive stimuli are defined as stimuli that have three fundamental properties: they are attractive, they are themselves desired, and they can spur instrumental actions. We have found, however, that there is considerable individual variation in the extent to which animals attribute Pavlovian incentive motivational properties ("incentive salience" to reward cues. The purpose of this paper was to develop criteria for identifying and classifying individuals based on their propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues. To do this, we conducted a meta-analysis of a large sample of rats (N = 1,878 subjected to a classic Pavlovian conditioning procedure. We then used the propensity of animals to approach a cue predictive of reward (one index of the extent to which the cue was attributed with incentive salience, to characterize two behavioral phenotypes in this population: animals that approached the cue ("sign-trackers" vs. others that approached the location of reward delivery ("goal-trackers". This variation in Pavlovian approach behavior predicted other behavioral indices of the propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues. Thus, the procedures reported here should be useful for making comparisons across studies and for assessing individual variation in incentive salience attribution in small samples of the population, or even for classifying single animals.

Abnormal functional integration across core brain networks in migraine without aura.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Dahua; Yuan, Kai; Luo, Lin; Zhai, Jinquan; Bi, Yanzhi; Xue, Ting; Ren, Xiaoying; Zhang, Ming; Ren, Guoyin; Lu, Xiaoqi

2017-01-01

As a complex subjective experience, pain processing may be related to functional integration among intrinsic connectivity networks of migraine patients without aura. However, few study focused on the pattern alterations in the intrinsic connectivity networks of migraine patients without aura. Thirty-one migraine patients without aura and 31 age- and education-matched healthy controls participated in this study. After identifying the default mode network, central executive network and salience network as core intrinsic connectivity networks by using independent component analysis, functional connectivity, and effective connectivity during the resting state were used to investigate the abnormalities in intrinsic connectivity network interactions. Migraine patients without aura showed decreased functional connectivity among intrinsic connectivity networks compared with healthy controls. The strength of causal influences from the right frontoinsular cortex to the right anterior cingulate cortex became weaker, and the right frontoinsular cortex to the right medial prefrontal cortex became stronger in migraine patients without aura. These changes suggested that the salience network may play a major role in the pathophysiological features of migraine patients without aura and helped us to synthesize previous findings into an aberrant network dynamical framework.

Toward a Theory of Industrial Supply Networks: A Multi-Level Perspective via Network Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Zuo

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In most supply chains (SCs, transaction relationships between suppliers and customers are commonly considered to be an extrapolation from a linear perspective. However, this traditional linear concept of an SC is egotistic and oversimplified and does not sufficiently reflect the complex and cyclical structure of supplier-customer relationships in current economic and industrial situations. The interactional relationships and topological characteristics between suppliers and customers should be analyzed using supply networks (SNs rather than traditional linear SCs. Therefore, this paper reconceptualizes SCs as SNs in complex adaptive systems (CAS, and presents three main contributions. First, we propose an integrated framework of CAS network by synthesizing multi-level network analysis from the network-, community- and vertex-perspective. The CAS perspective enables us to understand the advances of SN properties. Second, in order to emphasize the CAS properties of SNs, we conducted a real-world SN based on the Japanese industry and describe an advanced investigation of SN theory. The CAS properties help in enriching the SN theory, which can benefit SN management, community economics and industrial resilience. Third, we propose a quantitative metric of entropy to measure the complexity and robustness of SNs. The results not only support a specific understanding of the structural outcomes relevant to SNs, but also deliver efficient and effective support to the management and design of SNs.

Referent Salience Affects Second Language Article Use

Science.gov (United States)

Trenkic, Danijela; Pongpairoj, Nattama

2013-01-01

The effect of referent salience on second language (L2) article production in real time was explored. Thai (-articles) and French (+articles) learners of English described dynamic events involving two referents, one visually cued to be more salient at the point of utterance formulation. Definiteness marking was made communicatively redundant with…

When death is not a problem: Regulating implicit negative affect under mortality salience.

Science.gov (United States)

Lüdecke, Christina; Baumann, Nicola

2015-12-01

Terror management theory assumes that death arouses existential anxiety in humans which is suppressed in focal attention. Whereas most studies provide indirect evidence for negative affect under mortality salience by showing cultural worldview defenses and self-esteem strivings, there is only little direct evidence for implicit negative affect under mortality salience. In the present study, we assume that this implicit affective reaction towards death depends on people's ability to self-regulate negative affect as assessed by the personality dimension of action versus state orientation. Consistent with our expectations, action-oriented participants judged artificial words to express less negative affect under mortality salience compared to control conditions whereas state-oriented participants showed the reversed pattern. © 2015 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

From prediction error to incentive salience: mesolimbic computation of reward motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Berridge, Kent C.

2011-01-01

Reward contains separable psychological components of learning, incentive motivation and pleasure. Most computational models have focused only on the learning component of reward, but the motivational component is equally important in reward circuitry, and even more directly controls behavior. Modeling the motivational component requires recognition of additional control factors besides learning. Here I will discuss how mesocorticolimbic mechanisms generate the motivation component of incentive salience. Incentive salience takes Pavlovian learning and memory as one input and as an equally important input takes neurobiological state factors (e.g., drug states, appetite states, satiety states) that can vary independently of learning. Neurobiological state changes can produce unlearned fluctuations or even reversals in the ability of a previously-learned reward cue to trigger motivation. Such fluctuations in cue-triggered motivation can dramatically depart from all previously learned values about the associated reward outcome. Thus a consequence of the difference between incentive salience and learning can be to decouple cue-triggered motivation of the moment from previously learned values of how good the associated reward has been in the past. Another consequence can be to produce irrationally strong motivation urges that are not justified by any memories of previous reward values (and without distorting associative predictions of future reward value). Such irrationally strong motivation may be especially problematic in addiction. To comprehend these phenomena, future models of mesocorticolimbic reward function should address the neurobiological state factors that participate to control generation of incentive salience. PMID:22487042

Two-stage sparse coding of region covariance via Log-Euclidean kernels to detect saliency.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ying-Ying; Yang, Cai; Zhang, Ping

2017-05-01

In this paper, we present a novel bottom-up saliency detection algorithm from the perspective of covariance matrices on a Riemannian manifold. Each superpixel is described by a region covariance matrix on Riemannian Manifolds. We carry out a two-stage sparse coding scheme via Log-Euclidean kernels to extract salient objects efficiently. In the first stage, given background dictionary on image borders, sparse coding of each region covariance via Log-Euclidean kernels is performed. The reconstruction error on the background dictionary is regarded as the initial saliency of each superpixel. In the second stage, an improvement of the initial result is achieved by calculating reconstruction errors of the superpixels on foreground dictionary, which is extracted from the first stage saliency map. The sparse coding in the second stage is similar to the first stage, but is able to effectively highlight the salient objects uniformly from the background. Finally, three post-processing methods-highlight-inhibition function, context-based saliency weighting, and the graph cut-are adopted to further refine the saliency map. Experiments on four public benchmark datasets show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of precision, recall and mean absolute error, and demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of the proposed method. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploiting Surroundedness for Saliency Detection: A Boolean Map Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jianming; Sclaroff, Stan

2016-05-01

We demonstrate the usefulness of surroundedness for eye fixation prediction by proposing a Boolean Map based Saliency model (BMS). In our formulation, an image is characterized by a set of binary images, which are generated by randomly thresholding the image's feature maps in a whitened feature space. Based on a Gestalt principle of figure-ground segregation, BMS computes a saliency map by discovering surrounded regions via topological analysis of Boolean maps. Furthermore, we draw a connection between BMS and the Minimum Barrier Distance to provide insight into why and how BMS can properly captures the surroundedness cue via Boolean maps. The strength of BMS is verified by its simplicity, efficiency and superior performance compared with 10 state-of-the-art methods on seven eye tracking benchmark datasets.

Pseudomorphic GeSiSn, SiSn and Ge layers in strained heterostructures

Science.gov (United States)

Timofeev, V. A.; Nikiforov, A. I.; Tuktamyshev, A. R.; Mashanov, V. I.; Loshkarev, I. D.; Bloshkin, A. A.; Gutakovskii, A. K.

2018-04-01

The GeSiSn, SiSn layer growth mechanisms on Si(100) were investigated and the kinetic diagrams of the morphological GeSiSn, SiSn film states in the temperature range of 150 °C-450 °C at the tin content from 0% to 35% were built. The phase diagram of the superstructural change on the surface of Sn grown on Si(100) in the annealing temperature range of 0 °C-850 °C was established. The specular beam oscillations were first obtained during the SiSn film growth from 150 °C to 300 °C at the Sn content up to 35%. The transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffractometry data confirm the crystal perfection and the pseudomorphic GeSiSn, SiSn film state, and also the presence of smooth heterointerfaces between GeSiSn or SiSn and Si. The photoluminescence for the multilayer periodic GeSiSn/Si structures in the range of 0.6-0.8 eV was detected. The blue shift with the excitation power increase is observed suggesting the presence of a type II heterostructure. The creation of tensile strained Ge films, which are pseudomorphic to the underlying GeSn layer, is confirmed by the results of the formation and analysis of the reciprocal space map in the x-ray diffractometry. The tensile strain in the Ge films reached the value in the range of 0.86%-1.5%. The GeSn buffer layer growth in the Sn content range from 8% to 12% was studied. The band structure of heterosystems based on pseudomorphic GeSiSn, SiSn and Ge layers was calculated and the valence and conduction band subband position dependences on the Sn content were built. Based on the calculation, the Sn content range in the GeSiSn, SiSn, and GeSn layers, which corresponds to the direct bandgap GeSiSn, SiSn, and Ge material, was obtained.

Reference Data for the Density, Viscosity, and Surface Tension of Liquid Al-Zn, Ag-Sn, Bi-Sn, Cu-Sn, and Sn-Zn Eutectic Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Dobosz, Alexandra; Gancarz, Tomasz

2018-03-01

The data for the physicochemical properties viscosity, density, and surface tension obtained by different experimental techniques have been analyzed for liquid Al-Zn, Ag-Sn, Bi-Sn, Cu-Sn, and Sn-Zn eutectic alloys. All experimental data sets have been categorized and described by the year of publication, the technique used to obtain the data, the purity of the samples and their compositions, the quoted uncertainty, the number of data in the data set, the form of data, and the temperature range. The proposed standard deviations of liquid eutectic Al-Zn, Ag-Sn, Bi-Sn, Cu-Sn, and Sn-Zn alloys are 0.8%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 0.2%, and 0.1% for the density, 8.7%, 4.1%, 3.6%, 5.1%, and 4.0% for viscosity, and 1.0%, 0.5%, 0.3%, N/A, and 0.4% for surface tension, respectively, at a confidence level of 95%.

Fixation and saliency during search of natural scenes: the case of visual agnosia.

Science.gov (United States)

Foulsham, Tom; Barton, Jason J S; Kingstone, Alan; Dewhurst, Richard; Underwood, Geoffrey

2009-07-01

Models of eye movement control in natural scenes often distinguish between stimulus-driven processes (which guide the eyes to visually salient regions) and those based on task and object knowledge (which depend on expectations or identification of objects and scene gist). In the present investigation, the eye movements of a patient with visual agnosia were recorded while she searched for objects within photographs of natural scenes and compared to those made by students and age-matched controls. Agnosia is assumed to disrupt the top-down knowledge available in this task, and so may increase the reliance on bottom-up cues. The patient's deficit in object recognition was seen in poor search performance and inefficient scanning. The low-level saliency of target objects had an effect on responses in visual agnosia, and the most salient region in the scene was more likely to be fixated by the patient than by controls. An analysis of model-predicted saliency at fixation locations indicated a closer match between fixations and low-level saliency in agnosia than in controls. These findings are discussed in relation to saliency-map models and the balance between high and low-level factors in eye guidance.

Frontoparietal cognitive control of verbal memory recall in Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Dhanjal, Novraj S; Wise, Richard J S

2014-08-01

Episodic memory retrieval is reliant upon cognitive control systems, of which 2 have been identified with functional neuroimaging: a cingulo-opercular salience network (SN) and a frontoparietal executive network (EN). In Alzheimer's disease (AD), pathology is distributed throughout higher-order cortices. The hypotheses were that this frontoparietal pathology would impair activity associated with verbal memory recall; and that central cholinesterase inhibition (ChI) would modulate this, improving memory recall. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to study normal participants and 2 patient groups: mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. Activity within the EN and SN was observed during free recall of previously heard sentences, and related to measures of recall accuracy. In normal subjects, trials with reduced recall were associated with greater activity in both the SN and EN. Better recall was associated with greater activity in medial regions of the default mode network. By comparison, AD patients showed attenuated responses in both the SN and EN compared with either controls or MCI patients, even after recall performance was matched between groups. Following ChI, AD patients showed no modulation of activity within the SN, but increased activity within the EN. There was also enhanced activity within regions associated with episodic and semantic memory during less successful recall, requiring greater cognitive control. The results indicate that in AD, impaired responses of cognitive control networks during verbal memory recall are partly responsible for reduced recall performance. One action of symptom-modifying treatment is partially to reverse the abnormal function of frontoparietal cognitive control and temporal lobe memory networks. © 2014 American Neurological Association.

Electrophysiological correlates of figure-ground segregation directly reflect perceptual saliency.

Science.gov (United States)

Straube, Sirko; Grimsen, Cathleen; Fahle, Manfred

2010-03-05

In a figure identification task, we investigated the influence of different visual cue configurations (spatial frequency, orientation or a combination of both) on the human EEG. Combining psychophysics with ERP and time-frequency analysis, we show that the neural response at about 200ms reflects perceptual saliency rather than physical cue contrast. Increasing saliency caused (i) a negative shift of the posterior P2 coinciding with a power decrease in the posterior theta-band and (ii) an amplitude and latency increase of the posterior P3. We demonstrate that visual cues interact for a percept that is non-linearly related to the physical figure-ground properties.

Selective vulnerability related to aging in large-scale resting brain networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hong-Ying; Chen, Wen-Xin; Jiao, Yun; Xu, Yao; Zhang, Xiang-Rong; Wu, Jing-Tao

2014-01-01

Normal aging is associated with cognitive decline. Evidence indicates that large-scale brain networks are affected by aging; however, it has not been established whether aging has equivalent effects on specific large-scale networks. In the present study, 40 healthy subjects including 22 older (aged 60-80 years) and 18 younger (aged 22-33 years) adults underwent resting-state functional MRI scanning. Four canonical resting-state networks, including the default mode network (DMN), executive control network (ECN), dorsal attention network (DAN) and salience network, were extracted, and the functional connectivities in these canonical networks were compared between the younger and older groups. We found distinct, disruptive alterations present in the large-scale aging-related resting brain networks: the ECN was affected the most, followed by the DAN. However, the DMN and salience networks showed limited functional connectivity disruption. The visual network served as a control and was similarly preserved in both groups. Our findings suggest that the aged brain is characterized by selective vulnerability in large-scale brain networks. These results could help improve our understanding of the mechanism of degeneration in the aging brain. Additional work is warranted to determine whether selective alterations in the intrinsic networks are related to impairments in behavioral performance.

Attention in natural scenes: Affective-motivational factors guide gaze independently of visual salience.

Science.gov (United States)

Schomaker, Judith; Walper, Daniel; Wittmann, Bianca C; Einhäuser, Wolfgang

2017-04-01

In addition to low-level stimulus characteristics and current goals, our previous experience with stimuli can also guide attentional deployment. It remains unclear, however, if such effects act independently or whether they interact in guiding attention. In the current study, we presented natural scenes including every-day objects that differed in affective-motivational impact. In the first free-viewing experiment, we presented visually-matched triads of scenes in which one critical object was replaced that varied mainly in terms of motivational value, but also in terms of valence and arousal, as confirmed by ratings by a large set of observers. Treating motivation as a categorical factor, we found that it affected gaze. A linear-effect model showed that arousal, valence, and motivation predicted fixations above and beyond visual characteristics, like object size, eccentricity, or visual salience. In a second experiment, we experimentally investigated whether the effects of emotion and motivation could be modulated by visual salience. In a medium-salience condition, we presented the same unmodified scenes as in the first experiment. In a high-salience condition, we retained the saturation of the critical object in the scene, and decreased the saturation of the background, and in a low-salience condition, we desaturated the critical object while retaining the original saturation of the background. We found that highly salient objects guided gaze, but still found additional additive effects of arousal, valence and motivation, confirming that higher-level factors can also guide attention, as measured by fixations towards objects in natural scenes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aging brain from a network science perspective: something to be positive about?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle W Voss

Full Text Available To better understand age differences in brain function and behavior, the current study applied network science to model functional interactions between brain regions. We observed a shift in network topology whereby for older adults subcortical and cerebellar structures overlapping with the Salience network had more connectivity to the rest of the brain, coupled with fragmentation of large-scale cortical networks such as the Default and Fronto-Parietal networks. Additionally, greater integration of the dorsal medial thalamus and red nucleus in the Salience network was associated with greater satisfaction with life for older adults, which is consistent with theoretical predictions of age-related increases in emotion regulation that are thought to help maintain well-being and life satisfaction in late adulthood. In regard to cognitive abilities, greater ventral medial prefrontal cortex coherence with its topological neighbors in the Default Network was associated with faster processing speed. Results suggest that large-scale organizing properties of the brain differ with normal aging, and this perspective may offer novel insight into understanding age-related differences in cognitive function and well-being.

Dysconnectivity of neurocognitive networks at rest in very-preterm born adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas P. White

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Advances in neonatal medicine have resulted in a larger proportion of preterm-born individuals reaching adulthood. Their increased liability to psychiatric illness and impairments of cognition and behaviour intimate lasting cerebral consequences; however, the central physiological disturbances remain unclear. Of fundamental importance to efficient brain function is the coordination and contextually-relevant recruitment of neural networks. Large-scale distributed networks emerge perinatally and increase in hierarchical complexity through development. Preterm-born individuals exhibit systematic reductions in correlation strength within these networks during infancy. Here, we investigate resting-state functional connectivity in functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 29 very-preterm (VPT-born adults and 23 term-born controls. Neurocognitive networks were identified with spatial independent component analysis conducted using the Infomax algorithm and employing Icasso procedures to enhance component robustness. Network spatial focus and spectral power were not generally significantly affected by preterm birth. By contrast, Granger-causality analysis of the time courses of network activity revealed widespread reductions in between-network connectivity in the preterm group, particularly along paths including salience-network features. The potential clinical relevance of these Granger-causal measurements was suggested by linear discriminant analysis of topological representations of connection strength, which classified individuals by group with a maximal accuracy of 86%. Functional connections from the striatal salience network to the posterior default mode network informed this classification most powerfully. In the VPT-born group it was additionally found that perinatal factors significantly moderated the relationship between executive function (which was reduced in the VPT-born as compared with the term-born group and generalised partial

From prediction error to incentive salience: mesolimbic computation of reward motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Berridge, Kent C

2012-04-01

Reward contains separable psychological components of learning, incentive motivation and pleasure. Most computational models have focused only on the learning component of reward, but the motivational component is equally important in reward circuitry, and even more directly controls behavior. Modeling the motivational component requires recognition of additional control factors besides learning. Here I discuss how mesocorticolimbic mechanisms generate the motivation component of incentive salience. Incentive salience takes Pavlovian learning and memory as one input and as an equally important input takes neurobiological state factors (e.g. drug states, appetite states, satiety states) that can vary independently of learning. Neurobiological state changes can produce unlearned fluctuations or even reversals in the ability of a previously learned reward cue to trigger motivation. Such fluctuations in cue-triggered motivation can dramatically depart from all previously learned values about the associated reward outcome. Thus, one consequence of the difference between incentive salience and learning can be to decouple cue-triggered motivation of the moment from previously learned values of how good the associated reward has been in the past. Another consequence can be to produce irrationally strong motivation urges that are not justified by any memories of previous reward values (and without distorting associative predictions of future reward value). Such irrationally strong motivation may be especially problematic in addiction. To understand these phenomena, future models of mesocorticolimbic reward function should address the neurobiological state factors that participate to control generation of incentive salience. © 2012 The Author. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2012 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Advert saliency distracts children's visual attention during task-oriented internet use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nils eHolmberg

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The general research question of the present study was to assess the impact of visually salient online adverts on children's task-oriented internet use. In order to answer this question, an experimental study was constructed in which 9-year-old and 12-year-old Swedish children were asked to solve a number of tasks while interacting with a mockup website. In each trial, web adverts in several saliency conditions were presented. By both measuring children's task accuracy, as well as the visual processing involved in solving these tasks, this study allows us to infer how two types of visual saliency affect children's attentional behavior, and whether such behavioral effects also impacts their task performance. Analyses show that low-level visual features and task relevance in online adverts have different effects on performance measures and process measures respectively. Whereas task performance is stable with regard to several advert saliency conditions, a marked effect is seen on children's gaze behavior. On the other hand, task performance is shown to be more sensitive to individual differences such as age, gender and level of gaze control. The results provide evidence about cognitive and behavioral distraction effects in children's task-oriented internet use caused by visual saliency in online adverts. The experiment suggests that children to some extent are able to compensate for behavioral effects caused by distracting visual stimuli when solving prospective memory tasks. Suggestions are given for further research into the interdiciplinary area between media research and cognitive science.

Cortical Thinning in Network-Associated Regions in Cognitively Normal and Below-Normal Range Schizophrenia

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R. Walter Heinrichs

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study assessed whether cortical thickness across the brain and regionally in terms of the default mode, salience, and central executive networks differentiates schizophrenia patients and healthy controls with normal range or below-normal range cognitive performance. Cognitive normality was defined using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB composite score (T=50 ± 10 and structural magnetic resonance imaging was used to generate cortical thickness data. Whole brain analysis revealed that cognitively normal range controls (n=39 had greater cortical thickness than both cognitively normal (n=17 and below-normal range (n=49 patients. Cognitively normal controls also demonstrated greater thickness than patients in regions associated with the default mode and salience, but not central executive networks. No differences on any thickness measure were found between cognitively normal range and below-normal range controls (n=24 or between cognitively normal and below-normal range patients. In addition, structural covariance between network regions was high and similar across subgroups. Positive and negative symptom severity did not correlate with thickness values. Cortical thinning across the brain and regionally in relation to the default and salience networks may index shared aspects of the psychotic psychopathology that defines schizophrenia with no relation to cognitive impairment.

Salience Assignment for Multiple-Instance Data and Its Application to Crop Yield Prediction

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Wagstaff, Kiri L.; Lane, Terran

2010-01-01

An algorithm was developed to generate crop yield predictions from orbital remote sensing observations, by analyzing thousands of pixels per county and the associated historical crop yield data for those counties. The algorithm determines which pixels contain which crop. Since each known yield value is associated with thousands of individual pixels, this is a multiple instance learning problem. Because individual crop growth is related to the resulting yield, this relationship has been leveraged to identify pixels that are individually related to corn, wheat, cotton, and soybean yield. Those that have the strongest relationship to a given crop s yield values are most likely to contain fields with that crop. Remote sensing time series data (a new observation every 8 days) was examined for each pixel, which contains information for that pixel s growth curve, peak greenness, and other relevant features. An alternating-projection (AP) technique was used to first estimate the "salience" of each pixel, with respect to the given target (crop yield), and then those estimates were used to build a regression model that relates input data (remote sensing observations) to the target. This is achieved by constructing an exemplar for each crop in each county that is a weighted average of all the pixels within the county; the pixels are weighted according to the salience values. The new regression model estimate then informs the next estimate of the salience values. By iterating between these two steps, the algorithm converges to a stable estimate of both the salience of each pixel and the regression model. The salience values indicate which pixels are most relevant to each crop under consideration.

Cue-Elicited Increases in Incentive Salience for Marijuana: Craving, Demand, and Attentional Bias

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Metrik, Jane; Aston, Elizabeth R.; Kahler, Christopher W.; Rohsenow, Damaris J.; McGeary, John E.; Knopik, Valerie S.; MacKillop, James

2016-01-01

Background Incentive salience is a multidimensional construct that includes craving, drug value relative to other reinforcers, and implicit motivation such as attentional bias to drug cues. Laboratory cue reactivity (CR) paradigms have been used to evaluate marijuana incentive salience with measures of craving, but not with behavioral economic measures of marijuana demand or implicit attentional processing tasks. Methods This within-subjects study used a new CR paradigm to examine multiple dimensions of marijuana’s incentive salience and to compare CR-induced increases in craving and demand. Frequent marijuana users (N=93, 34% female) underwent exposure to neutral cues then to lit marijuana cigarettes. Craving, marijuana demand via a marijuana purchase task, and heart rate were assessed after each cue set. A modified Stroop task with cannabis and control words was completed after the marijuana cues as a measure of attentional bias. Results Relative to neutral cues, marijuana cues significantly increased subjective craving and demand indices of intensity (i.e., drug consumed at $0) and Omax (i.e., peak drug expenditure). Elasticity significantly decreased following marijuana cues, reflecting sustained purchase despite price increases. Craving was correlated with demand indices (r’s: 0.23–0.30). Marijuana users displayed significant attentional bias for cannabis-related words after marijuana cues. Cue-elicited increases in intensity were associated with greater attentional bias for marijuana words. Conclusions Greater incentive salience indexed by subjective, behavioral economic, and implicit measures was observed after marijuana versus neutral cues, supporting multidimensional assessment. The study highlights the utility of a behavioral economic approach in detecting cue-elicited changes in marijuana incentive salience. PMID:27515723

Inflammatory modulation of exercise salience: using hormesis to return to a healthy lifestyle

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Bell Jimmy D

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Most of the human population in the western world has access to unlimited calories and leads an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. The propensity to undertake voluntary exercise or indulge in spontaneous physical exercise, which might be termed "exercise salience", is drawing increased scientific attention. Despite its genetic aspects, this complex behaviour is clearly modulated by the environment and influenced by physiological states. Inflammation is often overlooked as one of these conditions even though it is known to induce a state of reduced mobility. Chronic subclinical inflammation is associated with the metabolic syndrome; a largely lifestyle-induced disease which can lead to decreased exercise salience. The result is a vicious cycle that increases oxidative stress and reduces metabolic flexibility and perpetuates the disease state. In contrast, hormetic stimuli can induce an anti-inflammatory phenotype, thereby enhancing exercise salience, leading to greater biological fitness and improved functional longevity. One general consequence of hormesis is upregulation of mitochondrial function and resistance to oxidative stress. Examples of hormetic factors include calorie restriction, extreme environmental temperatures, physical activity and polyphenols. The hormetic modulation of inflammation, and thus, exercise salience, may help to explain the highly heterogeneous expression of voluntary exercise behaviour and therefore body composition phenotypes of humans living in similar obesogenic environments.

Isomer shifts and chemical bonding in crystalline Sn(II) and Sn(IV) compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terra, J.; Guenzburger, D.

1991-01-01

First-principles self-consistent Local Density calculations of the electronic structure of clusters representing Sn(II) (SnO, SnF 2 , SnS, SnSe) and Sn(IV) (SnO 2 , SnF 4 ) crystalline compounds were performed. Values of the electron density at the Sn nucleus were obtained and related to measured values of the Moessbauer Isomer Shifts reported in the literature. The nuclear parameter of 119 Sn derived was ΔR/R=(1.58±0.14)x10 -4 . The chemical bonding in the solids was analysed and related to the electron densities obtained. (author)

Debiasing the disposition effect by reducing the saliency of information about a stock’s purchase priceα

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Rangel, Antonio

2015-01-01

The disposition effect refers to the empirical fact that investors have a higher propensity to sell risky assets with capital gains compared to risky assets with capital losses, and it has been associated with low trading performance. We use a stock trading laboratory experiment to investigate if it is possible to reduce subjects’ tendency to exhibit a disposition effect by making information about a stock’s purchase price, and thus about capital gains and losses, less salient. We compare two experimental conditions: a high-saliency condition in which the purchase price of a stock is prominently displayed by the trading software, and a low-saliency condition in which it is not displayed at all. We find that individuals exhibit a disposition effect in the high-saliency condition, and that the effect is 25% smaller in the low-saliency condition. This suggests that it is possible to debias the disposition effect by reducing the saliency with which information about a stock’s purchase price is displayed on financial statements and online trading platforms. PMID:25774069

Modeling eye movements in visual agnosia with a saliency map approach: bottom-up guidance or top-down strategy?

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Foulsham, Tom; Barton, Jason J S; Kingstone, Alan; Dewhurst, Richard; Underwood, Geoffrey

2011-08-01

Two recent papers (Foulsham, Barton, Kingstone, Dewhurst, & Underwood, 2009; Mannan, Kennard, & Husain, 2009) report that neuropsychological patients with a profound object recognition problem (visual agnosic subjects) show differences from healthy observers in the way their eye movements are controlled when looking at images. The interpretation of these papers is that eye movements can be modeled as the selection of points on a saliency map, and that agnosic subjects show an increased reliance on visual saliency, i.e., brightness and contrast in low-level stimulus features. Here we review this approach and present new data from our own experiments with an agnosic patient that quantifies the relationship between saliency and fixation location. In addition, we consider whether the perceptual difficulties of individual patients might be modeled by selectively weighting the different features involved in a saliency map. Our data indicate that saliency is not always a good predictor of fixation in agnosia: even for our agnosic subject, as for normal observers, the saliency-fixation relationship varied as a function of the task. This means that top-down processes still have a significant effect on the earliest stages of scanning in the setting of visual agnosia, indicating severe limitations for the saliency map model. Top-down, active strategies-which are the hallmark of our human visual system-play a vital role in eye movement control, whether we know what we are looking at or not. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discounting input from older adults: the role of age salience on partner age effects in the social contagion of memory.

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Meade, Michelle L; McNabb, Jaimie C; Lindeman, Meghan I H; Smith, Jessi L

2017-05-01

Three experiments examined the impact of partner age on the magnitude of socially suggested false memories. Young participants recalled household scenes in collaboration with an implied young or older adult partner who intentionally recalled false items. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with only the age of their partner (low age-salience context); in Experiment 2, participants were presented with the age of their partner along with a photograph and biographical information about their partner (high age-salience context); in Experiment 3, age salience was varied within the same experiment. Across experiments, participants in both the low age-salience and high age-salience contexts incorporated their partners' misleading suggestions into their own subsequent recall and recognition reports, thus demonstrating social contagion with implied partners. Importantly, the effect of partner age differed across conditions. Participants in the high age-salience context were less likely to incorporate misleading suggestions from older adult partners than from young adult partners, but participants in the low age-salience context were equally likely to incorporate suggestions from young and older adult partners. Participants discount the memory of older adult partners only when age is highly salient.

Dynamic spectrum management in green cognitive radio cellular networks

KAUST Repository

Sboui, Lokman

2018-02-15

In this paper, we propose a new cellular network operation scheme fulfilling the 5G requirements related to spectrum management and green communications. We focus on cognitive radio cellular networks in which both the primary network (PN) and the secondary network (SN) are maximizing their operational profits. The PN and the SN are required to respect a CO emissions threshold by switching off one or more lightly loaded base stations (BSs). In addition, the PN accepts to cooperate with the SN by leasing its spectrum in the cells where the PN is turned off. In return, the corresponding SN BSs host the PN users and impose extra roaming fees to the PN. We propose a low-complexity algorithm that maximizes the profit per CO emissions metric while switching on/off the BSs. In the simulations, we show that our proposed algorithm achieves performances close to the exhaustive search method. In addition, we find that the roaming price is a key parameter that affects both PN and SN profits.

States in 118Sn from 117Sn(d,p) 118Sn at 12 MeV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frota-Pessoa, E.

1983-01-01

118 Sn energy levels up to = 5.2 MeV excitation energy are studied in the reaction 117 Sn (d,p) 118 Sn. Deuterons had a bombarding energy of 12 MeV. The protons were analized by a magnetic spectrograph. The detector was nuclear emulsion and the resolution in energy about 10 KeV. The distorted-wave analysis was used to determine l values and spectroscopic strengths. Centers of gravity and the sums of reduced spectroscopic factors are presented for the levels when it was possible to determine the S' value. 66 levels of excitation energy were found which did not appear in previous 117 Sn (d,p) reactions. 40 levels were not found previously in any reaction giving 118 Sn. The results are compared with the known ones. (Author) [pt

Dimensionally Specific Capture of Attention: Implications for Saliency Computation

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Katherine E. Burnett

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Observers automatically orient to a sudden change in the environment. This is demonstrated experimentally using exogenous cues, which prioritize the analysis of subsequent targets appearing nearby. This effect has been attributed to the computation of saliency, obtained by combining features specific signals, which then feed back to drive attention to the salient location. An alternative possibility is that cueing directly effects target-evoked sensory responses in a feed-forward manner. We examined the effects of luminance and equiluminant color cues in a dual task paradigm, which required both a motion and a color discrimination. Equiluminant color cues improved color discrimination more than luminance cues, but luminance cues improved motion discrimination more than equiluminant color cues. This suggests that the effects of exogenous cues are dimensionally specific and may not depend entirely on the computation of a dimension general saliency signal.

Comparison of immunization strategies in geographical networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang Bing; Aihara, Kazuyuki [Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)] [ERATO Aihara Complexity Modelling Project, JST, Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8505 (Japan); Kim, Beom Jun, E-mail: beomjun@skku.ed [BK21 Physics Research Division and Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746 (Korea, Republic of)] [Department of Computational Biology, School of Computer Science and Communication, Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm (Sweden)

2009-10-12

The epidemic spread and immunizations in geographically embedded scale-free (SF) and Watts-Strogatz (WS) networks are numerically investigated. We make a realistic assumption that it takes time which we call the detection time, for a vertex to be identified as infected, and implement two different immunization strategies: one is based on connection neighbors (CN) of the infected vertex with the exact information of the network structure utilized and the other is based on spatial neighbors (SN) with only geographical distances taken into account. We find that the decrease of the detection time is crucial for a successful immunization in general. Simulation results show that for both SF networks and WS networks, the SN strategy always performs better than the CN strategy, especially for more heterogeneous SF networks at long detection time. The observation is verified by checking the number of the infected nodes being immunized. We found that in geographical space, the distance preferences in the network construction process and the geographically decaying infection rate are key factors that make the SN immunization strategy outperforms the CN strategy. It indicates that even in the absence of the full knowledge of network connectivity we can still stop the epidemic spread efficiently only by using geographical information as in the SN strategy, which may have potential applications for preventing the real epidemic spread.

Comparison of immunization strategies in geographical networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Bing; Aihara, Kazuyuki; Kim, Beom Jun

2009-01-01

The epidemic spread and immunizations in geographically embedded scale-free (SF) and Watts-Strogatz (WS) networks are numerically investigated. We make a realistic assumption that it takes time which we call the detection time, for a vertex to be identified as infected, and implement two different immunization strategies: one is based on connection neighbors (CN) of the infected vertex with the exact information of the network structure utilized and the other is based on spatial neighbors (SN) with only geographical distances taken into account. We find that the decrease of the detection time is crucial for a successful immunization in general. Simulation results show that for both SF networks and WS networks, the SN strategy always performs better than the CN strategy, especially for more heterogeneous SF networks at long detection time. The observation is verified by checking the number of the infected nodes being immunized. We found that in geographical space, the distance preferences in the network construction process and the geographically decaying infection rate are key factors that make the SN immunization strategy outperforms the CN strategy. It indicates that even in the absence of the full knowledge of network connectivity we can still stop the epidemic spread efficiently only by using geographical information as in the SN strategy, which may have potential applications for preventing the real epidemic spread.

The Penefit of Salience: Salient Accented, but Not Unaccented Words Reveal Accent Adaptation Effects.

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Grohe, Ann-Kathrin; Weber, Andrea

2016-01-01

In two eye-tracking experiments, the effects of salience in accent training and speech accentedness on spoken-word recognition were investigated. Salience was expected to increase a stimulus' prominence and therefore promote learning. A training-test paradigm was used on native German participants utilizing an artificial German accent. Salience was elicited by two different criteria: production and listening training as a subjective criterion and accented (Experiment 1) and canonical test words (Experiment 2) as an objective criterion. During training in Experiment 1, participants either read single German words out loud and deliberately devoiced initial voiced stop consonants (e.g., Balken-"beam" pronounced as (*) Palken), or they listened to pre-recorded words with the same accent. In a subsequent eye-tracking experiment, looks to auditorily presented target words with the accent were analyzed. Participants from both training conditions fixated accented target words more often than a control group without training. Training was identical in Experiment 2, but during test, canonical German words that overlapped in onset with the accented words from training were presented as target words (e.g., Palme-"palm tree" overlapped in onset with the training word (*) Palken) rather than accented words. This time, no training effect was observed; recognition of canonical word forms was not affected by having learned the accent. Therefore, accent learning was only visible when the accented test tokens in Experiment 1, which were not included in the test of Experiment 2, possessed sufficient salience based on the objective criterion "accent." These effects were not modified by the subjective criterion of salience from the training modality.

Resting state connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex covaries with individual differences in high-frequency heart rate variability.

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Jennings, J Richard; Sheu, Lei K; Kuan, Dora C-H; Manuck, Stephen B; Gianaros, Peter J

2016-04-01

Resting high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) relates to cardiac vagal control and predicts individual differences in health and longevity, but its functional neural correlates are not well defined. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) encompasses visceral control regions that are components of intrinsic networks of the brain, particularly the default mode network (DMN) and the salience network (SN). Might individual differences in resting HF-HRV covary with resting state neural activity in the DMN and SN, particularly within the mPFC? This question was addressed using fMRI data from an eyes-open, 5-min rest period during which echoplanar brain imaging yielded BOLD time series. Independent component analysis yielded functional connectivity estimates defining the DMN and SN. HF-HRV was measured in a rest period outside of the scanner. Midlife (52% female) adults were assessed in two studies (Study 1, N = 107; Study 2, N = 112). Neither overall DMN nor SN connectivity strength was related to HF-HRV. However, HF-HRV related to connectivity of one region within mPFC shared by the DMN and SN, namely, the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, an area with connectivity to other regions involved in autonomic control. In sum, HF-HRV does not seem directly related to global resting state activity of intrinsic brain networks, but rather to more localized connectivity. A mPFC region was of particular interest as connectivity related to HF-HRV was shared by the DMN and SN. These findings may indicate a functional basis for the coordination of autonomic cardiac control with engagement and disengagement from the environment. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Gender Identity Salience and Perceived Vulnerability to Breast Cancer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S.T.L.R. Sweldens (Steven); S. Puntoni (Stefano); N.T. Tavassoli (Nader)

2008-01-01

textabstractContrary to predictions based on cognitive accessibility, heightened gender identity salience resulted in lower perceived vulnerability and reduced donation behavior to identity-specific risks (e.g., breast cancer). No such effect was manifest with identity-neutral risks. Establishing

Parietal cortex integrates contextual and saliency signals during the encoding of natural scenes in working memory.

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Santangelo, Valerio; Di Francesco, Simona Arianna; Mastroberardino, Serena; Macaluso, Emiliano

2015-12-01

The Brief presentation of a complex scene entails that only a few objects can be selected, processed indepth, and stored in memory. Both low-level sensory salience and high-level context-related factors (e.g., the conceptual match/mismatch between objects and scene context) contribute to this selection process, but how the interplay between these factors affects memory encoding is largely unexplored. Here, during fMRI we presented participants with pictures of everyday scenes. After a short retention interval, participants judged the position of a target object extracted from the initial scene. The target object could be either congruent or incongruent with the context of the scene, and could be located in a region of the image with maximal or minimal salience. Behaviourally, we found a reduced impact of saliency on visuospatial working memory performance when the target was out-of-context. Encoding-related fMRI results showed that context-congruent targets activated dorsoparietal regions, while context-incongruent targets de-activated the ventroparietal cortex. Saliency modulated activity both in dorsal and ventral regions, with larger context-related effects for salient targets. These findings demonstrate the joint contribution of knowledge-based and saliency-driven attention for memory encoding, highlighting a dissociation between dorsal and ventral parietal regions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of interlayer Sn-Sn lone pair interaction on the band gap of bulk and nanosheet SnO

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Umezawa, Naoto; Zhou, Wei

2015-03-01

Effects of interlayer lone-pair interactions on the electronic structure of SnO are firstly explored by the density-functional theory. Our comprehensive study reveals that the band gap of SnO opens as increase in the interlayer Sn-Sn distance. The effect is rationalized by the character of band edges which consists of bonding and anti-bonding states from interlayer lone pair interactions. The band edges for several nanosheets and strained double-layer SnO are estimated. We conclude that the double-layer SnO is a promising material for visible-light driven photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. This work is supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO) program.

Of wealth and death: materialism, mortality salience, and consumption behavior.

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Kasser, T; Sheldon, K M

2000-07-01

Theoretical work suggests that feelings of insecurity produce materialistic behavior, but most empirical evidence is correlational in nature. We therefore experimentally activated feelings of insecurity by having some subjects write short essays about death (mortality-salience condition). In Study 1, subjects in the mortality-salience condition, compared with subjects who wrote about a neutral topic, had higher financial expectations for themselves 15 years in the future, in terms of both their overall worth and the amount they would be spending on pleasurable items such as clothing and entertainment. Study 2 extended these findings by demonstrating that subjects exposed to death became more greedy and consumed more resources in a forest-management game. Results are discussed with regard to humanistic and terror-management theories of materialism.

Ethanol sensing properties and dominant sensing mechanism of NiO-decorated SnO2 nanorod sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Gun-Joo; Lee, Jae Kyung; Lee, Wan In; Dwivedi, Ram Prakash; Lee, Chongmu; Ko, Taegyung

2017-05-01

NiO-decorated SnO2 nanorods were synthesized by the thermal evaporation of Sn powders followed by the solvothermal deposition of NiO. A multi-networked p- n heterostructured nanorod sensor was fabricated by dropping the p-NiO-decorated n-SnO2 nanorods onto the interdigited electrode pattern and then annealing. The multi-networked p- n heterostructured nanorod sensor exhibited enhanced response to ethanol compared with the pristine SnO2 nanorod and NiO nanoparticle sensors. The former also exhibited a shorter sensing time for ethanol. Both sensors exhibited selectivity for ethanol over other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as HCHO, methanol, benzene and toluene and the decorated sensor exhibited superior selectivity to the other two sensors. In addition, the dominant sensing mechanism is discussed in detail by comparing the sensing properties and current-voltage characteristics of a p-NiO/ n-SnO2 heterostructured nanorod sensor with those of a pristine SnO2 nanorod sensor and a pristine NiO nanoparticle sensor. Of the two competing electronic mechanisms: a potential barrier-controlled carrier transport mechanism at a NiO-SnO2 p- n junction and a surface-depletio n-controlled carrier transport mechanism, the former has some contribution to the enhanced gas sensing performance of the p- n heterostructured nanorod sensor, however, its contribution is not as significant as that of the latter. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Decision salience signals in posterior cingulate cortex

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Sarah eHeilbronner

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Despite its phylogenetic antiquity and clinical importance, the posterior cingulate cortex (CGp remains an enigmatic nexus of attention, memory, motivation, and decision making. Here we show that CGp neurons track decision salience—the degree to which an option differs from a standard—but not the subjective value of a decision. To do this, we recorded the spiking activity of CGp neurons in monkeys choosing between options varying in reward-related risk, delay to reward, and social outcomes, each of which varied in level of decision salience. Firing rates were higher when monkeys chose the risky option, consistent with their risk-seeking preferences, but were also higher when monkeys chose the delayed and social options, contradicting their preferences. Thus, across decision contexts, neuronal activity was uncorrelated with how much monkeys valued a given option, as inferred from choice. Instead, neuronal activity signaled the deviation of the chosen option from the standard, independently of how it differed. The observed decision salience signals suggest a role for CGp in the flexible allocation of neural resources to motivationally significant information, akin to the role of attention in selective processing of sensory inputs.

Oxidation of Pb-Sn and Pb-Sn-In alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sluzewski, D.A.; Chang, Y.A.; Marcotte, V.C.

1990-01-01

Air oxidized Pb-Sn and Pb-Sn-In single phase alloys have been studied with scanning Auger microscopy. Line scans across grain boundaries combined with argon ion sputter etching revealed grain boundary oxidation. In the Pb-Sn samples, tin is preferentially oxidized with the grain boundary regions having a much higher percentage of tin oxide than the bulk surface oxide. In the Pb-Sn-In alloys, both tin and indium are preferentially oxidized with the grain boundary regions being enriched with tin and indium oxides

A novel airport extraction model based on saliency region detection for high spatial resolution remote sensing images

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Wen; Zhang, Libao; Zhu, Yongchun

2017-06-01

The airport is one of the most crucial traffic facilities in military and civil fields. Automatic airport extraction in high spatial resolution remote sensing images has many applications such as regional planning and military reconnaissance. Traditional airport extraction strategies usually base on prior knowledge and locate the airport target by template matching and classification, which will cause high computation complexity and large costs of computing resources for high spatial resolution remote sensing images. In this paper, we propose a novel automatic airport extraction model based on saliency region detection, airport runway extraction and adaptive threshold segmentation. In saliency region detection, we choose frequency-tuned (FT) model for computing airport saliency using low level features of color and luminance that is easy and fast to implement and can provide full-resolution saliency maps. In airport runway extraction, Hough transform is adopted to count the number of parallel line segments. In adaptive threshold segmentation, the Otsu threshold segmentation algorithm is proposed to obtain more accurate airport regions. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms existing saliency analysis models and shows good performance in the extraction of the airport.

Analyses of the Sn IX-Sn XII spectra in the EUV region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Churilov, S S; Ryabtsev, A N

2006-01-01

The Sn IX-Sn XII spectra excited in a vacuum spark have been analysed in the 130-160 A wavelength region. The analysis was based on the energy parameter extrapolation in the isonuclear Sn VI-VIII and Sn XIII-XIV sequence. 266 spectral lines belonging to the 4d m -(4d m-1 4f+4p 5 4d m+1 ) (m=6-3) transition arrays were classified in the Sn IX-Sn XII spectra for the first time. All 18 level energies of the 4d 3 configuration and 39 level energies of the strongly interacting 4d 2 4f and 4p 5 4d 4 configurations were established in the Sn XII spectrum. The energy differences between the majority of the 4d m levels and about 40 levels of the 4d m-1 4f+4p 5 4d m+1 configurations were determined in each of the Sn IX, Sn X and Sn XI spectra (m=6-4). As a result, all intense lines were classified in the 130-140 A region relevant to the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. It was shown that the most of the intense lines in the 2% bandwidth at 135 A belong to the transitions in the Sn XI-Sn XIII spectra

Rod-like hierarchical Sn/SnOx@C nanostructures with enhanced lithium storage properties

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Juan; Chen, Sanmei; Tang, Jingjing; Tian, Hangyu; Bai, Tao; Zhou, Xiangyang

2018-03-01

Rod-like hierarchical Sn/SnOx@C nanostructures have been designed and synthesized via calcining resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin coated Sn-based metal-organic frameworks. The rod-like hierarchical Sn/SnOx@C nanostructures are made of a great number of carbon-wrapped primary Sn/SnOx nanospheres of 100-200 nm in diameter. The as-prepared hierarchical Sn/SnOx@C nanocomposite manifests a high initial reversible capacity of 1177 mAh g-1 and remains 1001 mAh g-1 after 240 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g-1. It delivers outstanding high-rate performance with a reversible capacity of 823 mAh g-1 even at a high current density of 1000 mA g-1. The enhanced electrochemical performances of the Sn/SnOx@C electrode are mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of the unique hierarchical micro/nanostructures and the protective carbon layer.

Salience and conflict of work and family roles among employed men and women.

Science.gov (United States)

Knežević, Irena; Gregov, Ljiljana; Šimunić, Ana

2016-06-01

The aim of this research was to determine the salience of work and family roles and to study the connection between role salience and the interference of different types of roles among working men and women. Self-assessment measurement scales were applied. The research involved 206 participants; 103 employed married couples from different regions of Croatia. The results show that roles closely connected to family are considered the most salient. However, men are mostly dedicated behaviourally to the role of a worker. Women dedicate more time and energy to the roles of a spouse, a parent, and a family member whereas men are more oriented towards the leisurite role. The highest level of conflict was perceived when it comes to work disturbing leisure. Gender differences appeared only for work-to-marriage conflict, with men reporting higher conflict than women. The research found proof of only some low correlations between the salience of different types of roles and work-family conflict.

TbNb6Sn6: the first ternary compound from the rare earth–niobium–tin system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktor Hlukhyy

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The title compound, terbium hexaniobium hexastannide, TbNb6Sn6, is the first ternary compound from the rare earth–niobium–tin system. It has the HfFe6Ge6 structure type, which can be analysed as an intergrowth of the Zr4Al3 and CaCu5 structures. All the atoms lie on special positions; their coordination geometries and site symmetries are: Tb (dodecahedron 6/mmm; Nb (distorted icosahedron 2mm; Sn (Frank–Caspar polyhedron, CN = 14–15 6mm and overline{6}m2; Sn (distorted icosahedron overline{6}m2. The structure contains a graphite-type Sn network, Kagome nets of Nb atoms, and Tb atoms alternating with Sn2 dumbbells in the channels.

Discriminative region extraction and feature selection based on the combination of SURF and saliency

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Li; Wang, Chunhong; Rao, Changhui

2011-08-01

The objective of this paper is to provide a possible optimization on salient region algorithm, which is extensively used in recognizing and learning object categories. Salient region algorithm owns the superiority of intra-class tolerance, global score of features and automatically prominent scale selection under certain range. However, the major limitation behaves on performance, and that is what we attempt to improve. By reducing the number of pixels involved in saliency calculation, it can be accelerated. We use interest points detected by fast-Hessian, the detector of SURF, as the candidate feature for saliency operation, rather than the whole set in image. This implementation is thereby called Saliency based Optimization over SURF (SOSU for short). Experiment shows that bringing in of such a fast detector significantly speeds up the algorithm. Meanwhile, Robustness of intra-class diversity ensures object recognition accuracy.

Reprint of "Two-stage sparse coding of region covariance via Log-Euclidean kernels to detect saliency".

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ying-Ying; Yang, Cai; Zhang, Ping

2017-08-01

In this paper, we present a novel bottom-up saliency detection algorithm from the perspective of covariance matrices on a Riemannian manifold. Each superpixel is described by a region covariance matrix on Riemannian Manifolds. We carry out a two-stage sparse coding scheme via Log-Euclidean kernels to extract salient objects efficiently. In the first stage, given background dictionary on image borders, sparse coding of each region covariance via Log-Euclidean kernels is performed. The reconstruction error on the background dictionary is regarded as the initial saliency of each superpixel. In the second stage, an improvement of the initial result is achieved by calculating reconstruction errors of the superpixels on foreground dictionary, which is extracted from the first stage saliency map. The sparse coding in the second stage is similar to the first stage, but is able to effectively highlight the salient objects uniformly from the background. Finally, three post-processing methods-highlight-inhibition function, context-based saliency weighting, and the graph cut-are adopted to further refine the saliency map. Experiments on four public benchmark datasets show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of precision, recall and mean absolute error, and demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of the proposed method. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Moral processing deficit in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia is associated with facial emotion recognition and brain changes in default mode and salience network areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Van den Stock, Jan; Stam, Daphne; De Winter, François-Laurent; Mantini, Dante; Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt; Van Laere, Koen; Vandenberghe, Rik; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu

2017-12-01

Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is associated with abnormal emotion recognition and moral processing. We assessed emotion detection, discrimination, matching, selection, and categorization as well as judgments of nonmoral, moral impersonal, moral personal low- and high-conflict scenarios. bvFTD patients gave more utilitarian responses on low-conflict personal moral dilemmas. There was a significant correlation between a facial emotion processing measure derived through principal component analysis and utilitarian responses on low-conflict personal scenarios in the bvFTD group (controlling for MMSE-score and syntactic abilities). Voxel-based morphometric multiple regression analysis in the bvFTD group revealed a significant association between the proportion of utilitarian responses on personal low-conflict dilemmas and gray matter volume in ventromedial prefrontal areas ( p height  emotions in moral cognition and suggest a common basis for deficits in both abilities, possibly related to reduced experience of emotional sensations. At the neural level abnormal moral cognition in bvFTD is related to structural integrity of the medial prefrontal cortex and functional characteristics of the anterior insula. The present findings provide a common basis for emotion recognition and moral reasoning and link them with areas in the default mode and salience network.

Molecular Mimicry Regulates ABA Signaling by SnRK2 Kinases and PP2C Phosphatases

OpenAIRE

Soon, Fen-Fen; Ng, Ley-Moy; Zhou, X. Edward; West, Graham M.; Kovach, Amanda; Tan, M. H. Eileen; Suino-Powell, Kelly M.; He, Yuanzheng; Xu, Yong; Chalmers, Michael J.; Brunzelle, Joseph S.; Zhang, Huiming; Yang, Huaiyu; Jiang, Hualiang; Li, Jun

2011-01-01

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an essential hormone for plants to survive environmental stresses. At the center of the ABA signaling network is a subfamily of type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs), which form exclusive interactions with ABA receptors and subfamily 2 Snfl-related kinase (SnRK2s). Here, we report a SnRK2-PP2C complex structure, which reveals marked similarity in PP2C recognition by SnRK2 and ABA receptors. In the complex, the kinase activation loop docks into the active site of PP2C, wh...

Identity and Professional Networking.

Science.gov (United States)

Raj, Medha; Fast, Nathanael J; Fisher, Oliver

2017-06-01

Despite evidence that large professional networks afford a host of financial and professional benefits, people vary in how motivated they are to build such networks. To help explain this variance, the present article moves beyond a rational self-interest account to examine the possibility that identity shapes individuals' intentions to network. Study 1 established a positive association between viewing professional networking as identity-congruent and the tendency to prioritize strengthening and expanding one's professional network. Study 2 revealed that manipulating the salience of the self affects networking intentions, but only among those high in networking identity-congruence. Study 3 further established causality by experimentally manipulating identity-congruence to increase networking intentions. Study 4 examined whether identity or self-interest is a better predictor of networking intentions, providing support for the former. These findings indicate that identity influences the networks people develop. Implications for research on the self, identity-based motivation, and professional networking are discussed.

Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic performance of SnS nanofibers and SnSe nanofibers derived from the electrospinning-made SnO{sub 2} nanofibers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cheng, Li; Li, Dan; Dong, Xiangting; Ma, Qianli; Yu, Wensheng; Wang, Xinlu; Yu, Hui; Wang, Jinxian; Liu, Guixia, E-mail: dongxiangting888@163.com [Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry and Nanotechnology at Universities of Jilin Province, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun (China)

2017-11-15

SnO{sub 2} nanofibers were fabricated by calcination of the electrospun PVP/SnCl{sub 4} composite nanofibers. For the first time, SnS nanofibers and SnSe nanofibers were successfully synthesized by double crucible sulfurization and selenidation methods via inheriting the morphology of SnO{sub 2} nanofibers used as precursors, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows SnS nanofibers and SnSe nanofibers are respectively pure orthorhombic phase with space group of Pbnm and Cmcm. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation indicates that the diameters of SnS nanofibers and SnSe nanofibers are respectively 140.54±12.80 nm and 96.52±14.17 nm under the 95 % confidence level. The photocatalytic activities of samples were studied by using rhodamine B (Rh B) as degradation agent. When SnS or SnSe nanofibers are employed as the photocatalysts, the respective degradation rates of Rh B solution under the ultraviolet light irradiation after 200 min irradiation are 92.55 % and 92.86 %. The photocatalytic mechanism and formation process of SnS and SnSe nanofibers are also provided. More importantly, this preparation technique is of universal significance to prepare other metal chalcogenides nanofibers. (author)

Intrinsic brain networks normalize with treatment in pediatric complex regional pain syndrome

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Becerra, Lino; Sava, Simona; Simons, Laura E.; Drosos, Athena M.; Sethna, Navil; Berde, Charles; Lebel, Alyssa A.; Borsook, David

2014-01-01

Pediatric complex regional pain syndrome (P-CRPS) offers a unique model of chronic neuropathic pain as it either resolves spontaneously or through therapeutic interventions in most patients. Here we evaluated brain changes in well-characterized children and adolescents with P-CRPS by measuring resting state networks before and following a brief (median = 3 weeks) but intensive physical and psychological treatment program, and compared them to matched healthy controls. Differences in intrinsic brain networks were observed in P-CRPS compared to controls before treatment (disease state) with the most prominent differences in the fronto-parietal, salience, default mode, central executive, and sensorimotor networks. Following treatment, behavioral measures demonstrated a reduction of symptoms and improvement of physical state (pain levels and motor functioning). Correlation of network connectivities with spontaneous pain measures pre- and post-treatment indicated concomitant reductions in connectivity in salience, central executive, default mode and sensorimotor networks (treatment effects). These results suggest a rapid alteration in global brain networks with treatment and provide a venue to assess brain changes in CRPS pre- and post-treatment, and to evaluate therapeutic effects. PMID:25379449

Intrinsic brain networks normalize with treatment in pediatric complex regional pain syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lino Becerra

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Pediatric complex regional pain syndrome (P-CRPS offers a unique model of chronic neuropathic pain as it either resolves spontaneously or through therapeutic interventions in most patients. Here we evaluated brain changes in well-characterized children and adolescents with P-CRPS by measuring resting state networks before and following a brief (median = 3 weeks but intensive physical and psychological treatment program, and compared them to matched healthy controls. Differences in intrinsic brain networks were observed in P-CRPS compared to controls before treatment (disease state with the most prominent differences in the fronto-parietal, salience, default mode, central executive, and sensorimotor networks. Following treatment, behavioral measures demonstrated a reduction of symptoms and improvement of physical state (pain levels and motor functioning. Correlation of network connectivities with spontaneous pain measures pre- and post-treatment indicated concomitant reductions in connectivity in salience, central executive, default mode and sensorimotor networks (treatment effects. These results suggest a rapid alteration in global brain networks with treatment and provide a venue to assess brain changes in CRPS pre- and post-treatment, and to evaluate therapeutic effects.

The dimensional salience solution to the expectancy-value muddle: an extension.

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Newton, Joshua D; Newton, Fiona J; Ewing, Michael T

2014-01-01

The theory of reasoned action (TRA) specifies a set of expectancy-value, belief-based frameworks that underpin attitude (behavioural beliefs × outcome evaluations) and subjective norm (normative beliefs × motivation to comply). Unfortunately, the most common method for analysing these frameworks generates statistically uninterpretable findings, resulting in what has been termed the 'expectancy-value muddle'. Recently, however, a dimensional salience approach was found to resolve this muddle for the belief-based framework underpinning attitude. An online survey of 262 participants was therefore conducted to determine whether the dimensional salience approach could also be applied to the belief-based framework underpinning subjective norm. Results revealed that motivations to comply were greater for salient, as opposed to non-salient, social referents. The belief-based framework underpinning subjective norm was therefore represented by evaluating normative belief ratings for salient social referents. This modified framework was found to predict subjective norm, although predictions were greater when participants were forced to select five salient social referents rather than being free to select any number of social referents. These findings validate the use of the dimensional salience approach for examining the belief-based frameworks underpinning subjective norm. As such, this approach provides a complete solution to addressing the expectancy-value muddle in the TRA.

Sn-In-Ag phase equilibria and Sn-In-(Ag)/Ag interfacial reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Sinnwen; Lee Wanyu; Hsu Chiaming; Yang Chingfeng; Hsu Hsinyun; Wu Hsinjay

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → Thermodynamic models of Sn-In and Sn-In-Ag are developed using the CALPHAD approach. → Reaction layer in the Sn-In-(Ag)/Ag couples at 100 deg. C is thinner than those at 25 deg. C, 50 deg. C, and 75 deg. C. → Reactions in the Sn-20 wt%In-2.8 wt%Ag/Ag couples are faster than those in the Sn-20 wt%In/Ag couples. - Abstract: Experimental verifications of the Sn-In and Sn-In-Ag phase equilibria have been conducted. The experimental measurements of phase equilibria and thermodynamic properties are used for thermodynamic modeling by the CALPHAD approach. The calculated results are in good agreement with experimental results. Interfacial reactions in the Sn-In-(Ag)/Ag couples have been examined. Both Ag 2 In and AgIn 2 phases are formed in the Sn-51.0 wt%In/Ag couples reacted at 100 and 150 deg. C, and only the Ag 2 In phase is formed when reacted at 25, 50 and 75 deg. C. Due to the different growth rates of different reaction phases, the reaction layer at 100 deg. C is thinner than those at 25 deg. C, 50 deg. C, and 75 deg. C. In the Sn-20.0 wt%In/Ag couples, the ζ phase is formed at 250 deg. C and ζ/AgIn 2 phases are formed at 125 deg. C. Compared with the Sn-20 wt%In/Ag couples, faster interfacial reactions are observed in the Sn-20.0 wt%In-2.8 wt%Ag/Ag couples, and minor Ag addition to Sn-20 wt%In solder increases the growth rates of the reaction phases.

Magnetic behaviour of cerium in Ce2 Sn5 and Ce3 Sn7, surstructures of Ce Sn3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stunault, A.

1988-07-01

The compound studied, Ce 2 Sn 5 and Ce 3 Sn 7 are both orthorhombic, surstructure of cubic Ce Sn 3 . Magnetic susceptibility measurements show in both compounds an antiferromagnetic order at low temperature and magnetization shows a high anisotropy. Magnetization densities are determined by polarized neutron diffraction. The cerium site which has two Ce atoms as nearest neighbourgs carries all the magnetism in both structures. For Ce 2 Sn 5 moments are directed as the high magnetization axis and structure is modulated. Ce 3 Sn 7 presents a simple antiferromagnetic order but moment are directed as low magnetization axis. Various transitions towards a ferromagnetic order are presented. Results are interpreted by measuring the difference between energy levels of crystalline field. A model of crystalline field and isotrope exchange agrees well with Ce 3 Sn 7 , but for Ce 2 Sn 7 it is necessary to reduce the magnetic moment which is typical of the Kondo effect [fr

Role salience of dual-career women managers

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Anthony V Naidoo

2002-10-01

Full Text Available This study examines and contrasts the level of role participation, commitment and value expectation that dual career women invest in contending work and family roles. While the 162 married women managers were found to participate significantly more in the work role, they indicated greater commitment to and value expectation from the home and family role. A significant positive correlation between the commitment to the work role and commitment to the home and family role suggests that dual-career women may experience work and home as complimentary rather than conflicting roles. For dual-career women, work salience and career salience were found to be moderately correlated. Opsomming In hierdie studie word die vlakke van rol-deelname, rol-toegewydheid en rol-waardeverwagting wat dubbelloopbaan vroue onderskeidelik in die werk-en familierol investeer, gekonstrasteer. Terwyl dit geblyk het dat 162 getroude vroulike bestuurders beduidend meer deelneem in die werkrol, het hulle hoër toegewydheid en waardeverwagtings teenoor die huis-en-familie rol getoon. ‘n Beduidende positiewe korrelasie is gevind tussen toegewydheid tot die werksrol en toegewydheid tot die huis-en-familierol. Hierdie bevinding suggereer dat dubbelloopbaan vroue hulle werk en familie-rolle as komplimenterend eerder as konflikterend ervaar. Dit het verder geblyk dat werkrolbelangrikheid en loopbaanbelangrikheid matig gekorreleer is.

Intrinsic connectivity networks from childhood to late adolescence: Effects of age and sex

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Cristina Solé-Padullés

2016-02-01

Full Text Available There is limited evidence on the effects of age and sex on intrinsic connectivity of networks underlying cognition during childhood and adolescence. Independent component analysis was conducted in 113 subjects aged 7–18; the default mode, executive control, anterior salience, basal ganglia, language and visuospatial networks were identified. The effect of age was examined with multiple regression, while sex and ‘age × sex’ interactions were assessed by dividing the sample according to age (7–12 and 13–18 years. As age increased, connectivity in the dorsal and ventral default mode network became more anterior and posterior, respectively, while in the executive control network, connectivity increased within frontoparietal regions. The basal ganglia network showed increased engagement of striatum, thalami and precuneus. The anterior salience network showed greater connectivity in frontal areas and anterior cingulate, and less connectivity of orbitofrontal, middle cingulate and temporoparietal regions. The language network presented increased connectivity of inferior frontal and decreased connectivity within the right middle frontal and left inferior parietal cortices. The visuospatial network showed greater engagement of inferior parietal and frontal cortices. No effect of sex, nor age by sex interactions was observed. These findings provide evidence of strengthening of cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical networks across childhood and adolescence.

Salience in Second Language Acquisition:Physical form, learner attention, and instructional focus

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Myrna C Cintrón-Valentín

2016-08-01

Full Text Available We consider the role of physical form, prior experience, and form focused instruction (FFI in adult language learning. (1 When presented with competing cues to interpretation, learners are more likely to attend to physically more salient cues in the input. (2 Learned attention is an associative learning phenomenon where prior-learned cues block those that are experienced later. (3 The low salience of morphosyntactic cues can be overcome by FFI, which leads learners to attend cues which might otherwise be ignored. Experiment 1 used eye-tracking to investigate how language background influences learners’ attention to morphological cues, as well as the attentional processes whereby different types of FFI overcome low cue salience, learned attention and blocking. Chinese native speakers (no L1 verb-tense morphology viewed Latin utterances combining lexical and morphological cues to temporality under control conditions (CC and three types of explicit FFI: grammar instruction (VG, verb salience with textual enhancement (VS, and verb pretraining (VP, and their use of these cues was assessed in a comprehension test. CC participants were significantly more sensitive to the adverbs than verb morphology. Instructed participants showed greater sensitivity to the verbs. These results reveal attentional processes whereby learners’ prior linguistic experience can shape their attention toward cues in the input, and whereby FFI helps learners overcome the long-term blocking of verb-tense morphology. Experiment 2 examined the role of modality of input presentation – aural or visual – in L1 English learners’ attentional focus on morphological cues and the effectiveness of different FFI manipulations. CC participants showed greater sensitivity toward the adverb cue. FFI was effective in increasing attention to verb-tense morphology, however, the processing of morphological cues was considerably more difficult under aural presentation. From visual exposure

Trends in the salience of data collected in a multi user virtual environment: An exploratory study

Science.gov (United States)

Tutwiler, M. Shane

In this study, by exploring patterns in the degree of physical salience of the data the students collected, I investigated the relationship between the level of students' tendency to frame explanations in terms of complex patterns and evidence of how they attend to and select data in support of their developing understandings of causal relationships. I accomplished this by analyzing longitudinal data collected as part of a larger study of 143 7th grade students (clustered within 36 teams, 5 teachers, and 2 schools in the same Northeastern school district) as they navigated and collected data in an ecosystems-based multi-user virtual environment curriculum known as the EcoMUVE Pond module (Metcalf, Kamarainen, Tutwiler, Grotzer, Dede, 2011) . Using individual growth modeling (Singer & Willett, 2003) I found no direct link between student pre-intervention tendency to offer explanations containing complex causal components and patterns of physical salience-driven data collection (average physical salience level, number of low physical salience data points collected, and proportion of low physical salience data points collected), though prior science content knowledge did affect the initial status and rate of change of outcomes in the average physical salience level and proportion of low physical salience data collected over time. The findings of this study suggest two issues for consideration about the use of MUVEs to study student data collection behaviors in complex spaces. Firstly, the structure of the curriculum in which the MUVE is embedded might have a direct effect on what types of data students choose to collect. This undercuts our ability to make inferences about student-driven decisions to collect specific types of data, and suggests that a more open-ended curricular model might be better suited to this type of inquiry. Secondly, differences between teachers' choices in how to facilitate the units likely contribute to the variance in student data collection

Tax Salience, Voting, and Deliberation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sausgruber, Rupert; Tyran, Jean-Robert

Tax incentives can be more or less salient, i.e. noticeable or cognitively easy to process. Our hypothesis is that taxes on consumers are more salient to consumers than equivalent taxes on sellers because consumers underestimate the extent of tax shifting in the market. We show that tax salience...... biases consumers' voting on tax regimes, and that experience is an effective de-biasing mechanism in the experimental laboratory. Pre-vote deliberation makes initially held opinions more extreme rather than correct and does not eliminate the bias in the typical committee. Yet, if voters can discuss...... their experience with the tax regimes they are less likely to be biased....

An experimental field study of weight salience and food choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Incollingo Rodriguez, Angela C; Finch, Laura E; Buss, Julia; Guardino, Christine M; Tomiyama, A Janet

2015-06-01

Laboratory research has found that individuals will consume more calories and make unhealthy food choices when in the presence of an overweight individual, sometimes even regardless of what that individual is eating. This study expanded these laboratory paradigms to the field to examine how weight salience influences eating in the real world. More specifically, we tested the threshold of the effect of weight salience of food choice to see if a more subtle weight cue (e.g., images) would be sufficient to affect food choice. Attendees (N = 262) at Obesity Week 2013, a weight-salient environment, viewed slideshows containing an image of an overweight individual, an image of a thin individual, or no image (text only), and then selected from complimentary snacks. Results of ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that participants who viewed the image of the overweight individual had higher odds of selecting the higher calorie snack compared to those who viewed the image of the thin individual (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = [1.04, 3.04]), or no image (OR = 2.42, 95% CI = [1.29, 4.54]). Perceiver BMI category did not moderate the influence of image on food choice, as these results occurred regardless of participant BMI. These findings suggest that in the context of societal weight salience, weight-related cues alone may promote unhealthy eating in the general public. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Cortical Surround Interactions and Perceptual Salience via Natural Scene Statistics.

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Ruben Coen-Cagli

Full Text Available Spatial context in images induces perceptual phenomena associated with salience and modulates the responses of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1. However, the computational and ecological principles underlying contextual effects are incompletely understood. We introduce a model of natural images that includes grouping and segmentation of neighboring features based on their joint statistics, and we interpret the firing rates of V1 neurons as performing optimal recognition in this model. We show that this leads to a substantial generalization of divisive normalization, a computation that is ubiquitous in many neural areas and systems. A main novelty in our model is that the influence of the context on a target stimulus is determined by their degree of statistical dependence. We optimized the parameters of the model on natural image patches, and then simulated neural and perceptual responses on stimuli used in classical experiments. The model reproduces some rich and complex response patterns observed in V1, such as the contrast dependence, orientation tuning and spatial asymmetry of surround suppression, while also allowing for surround facilitation under conditions of weak stimulation. It also mimics the perceptual salience produced by simple displays, and leads to readily testable predictions. Our results provide a principled account of orientation-based contextual modulation in early vision and its sensitivity to the homogeneity and spatial arrangement of inputs, and lends statistical support to the theory that V1 computes visual salience.

Salience of the Nuclear Threat: Operationalization through Spontaneous Concern.

Science.gov (United States)

Mayton, Daniel M., II

An indirect/nonreactive technique of assessing spontaneous concern should be used to examine the salience of the threat of nuclear war. Direct/reactive techniques may produce inconsistent results and inadvertently enhance a false consensus. The procedures for the administration, scoring, and interpretation of a spontaneous concern measure along…

Bouquet-Like Mn2SnO4 Nanocomposite Engineered with Graphene Sheets as an Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery Anode.

Science.gov (United States)

Rehman, Wasif Ur; Xu, Youlong; Sun, Xiaofei; Ullah, Inam; Zhang, Yuan; Li, Long

2018-05-30

Volume expansion is a major challenge associated with tin oxide (SnO x ), which causes poor cyclability in lithium-ion battery anode. Bare tin dioxide (SnO 2 ), tin dioxide with graphene sheets (SnO 2 @GS), and bouquet-like nanocomposite structure (Mn 2 SnO 4 @GS) are prepared via hydrothermal method followed by annealing. The obtained composite material presents a bouquet structure containing manganese and tin oxide nanoparticle network with graphene sheets. Benefiting from this porous nanostructure, in which graphene sheets provide high electronic pathways to enhance the electronic conductivity, uniformly distributed particles offer accelerated kinetic reaction with lithium ion and reduced volume deviation in the tin dioxide (SnO 2 ) particle during charge-discharge testing. As a consequence, ternary composite Mn 2 SnO 4 @GS showed a high rate performance and outstanding cyclability of anode material for lithium-ion batteries. The electrode achieved a specific capacity of about 1070 mA h g -1 at a current density of 400 mA g -1 after 200 cycles; meanwhile, the electrode still delivered a specific capacity of about 455 mA h g -1 at a high current density of 2500 mA g -1 . Ternary Mn 2 SnO 4 @GS material could facilitate fabrication of unique structure and conductive network as advanced lithium-ion battery.

Ethanol electrooxidation on Pt-Sn and Pt-Sn-W bulk alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anjos, D.M. dos; Hahn, F.; Leger, J.M.; Kokoh, K.B. [Universite de Poitiers, Poitiers Cedex (France). Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). Equipe Electrocatalyse; Tremiliosi-Filho, G. [Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), Sao Carlos, SP (Brazil). Inst. de Quimica

2008-07-01

Ethanol oxidation has been studied on Pt-Sn and Pt-Sn-W electrodes prepared in an arc-melting furnace. Different electrochemical techniques like cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry were used to evaluate the catalytic activity of these materials. The electro-oxidation process was also investigated by in situ infrared reflectance spectroscopy in order to determine adsorbed intermediates and reaction products. Experimental results indicated that Pt-Sn and Pt-Sn-W alloys are able to oxidize ethanol mainly to acetaldehyde and acetic acid. Adsorbed CO was also detected, demonstrating the viability of splitting the C-C bond in the ethanol molecule during the oxidation process. The adsorbed CO was further oxidized to CO{sub 2}.This reaction product was clearly detected by SNIFTIRS. Pt-Sn-W catalyst showed a better electrochemical performance than Pt-Sn that, in it turn, is better than Pt-alone. (author)

Ultraviolet emission from low resistance Cu2SnS3/SnO2 and CuInS2/Sn:In2O3 nanowires

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E. Karageorgou

2014-11-01

Full Text Available SnO2 and Sn:In2O3 nanowires were grown on Si(001, and p-n junctions were fabricated in contact with p-type Cu2S which exhibited rectifying current–voltage characteristics. Core-shell Cu2SnS3/SnO2 and CuInS2/Sn:In2O3 nanowires were obtained by depositing copper and post-growth processing under H2S between 100 and 500 °C. These consist mainly of tetragonal rutile SnO2 and cubic bixbyite In2O3. We observe photoluminescence at 3.65 eV corresponding to band edge emission from SnO2 quantum dots in the Cu2SnS3/SnO2 nanowires due to electrostatic confinement. The Cu2SnS3/SnO2 nanowires assemblies had resistances of 100 Ω similar to CuInS2/In2O3 nanowires which exhibited photoluminescence at 3.0 eV.

Is the enhancement of memory due to reward driven by value or salience?

Science.gov (United States)

Madan, Christopher R; Spetch, Marcia L

2012-02-01

Past research using two levels of reward has shown that the higher-value items are remembered better than lower-value items and this enhancement is assumed to be driven by an effect of reward value. In the present study, multiple levels of reward were used to test the influence of reward salience on memory. Using a value-learning procedure, words were associated with reward values, and then memory for these words was later tested with free recall. Critically, multiple reward levels were used, allowing us to test two specific hypotheses whereby rewards can influence memory: (a) higher value items are remembered better than lower value items (reward value hypothesis), and (b) highest and lowest value items are remembered best and intermediate-value items are remembered worst (following a U-shaped relationship between value and memory; reward salience hypothesis). In two experiments we observed a U-shaped relationship between reward value and memory, supporting the notion that memory is enhanced due to reward salience, and not purely through reward value. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental cue saliency influences the vividness of a remote spatial memory in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez, Joëlle; de Vasconcelos, Anne Pereira; Cassel, Jean-Christophe

2008-07-01

The Morris water maze is frequently used to evaluate the acquisition and retrieval of spatial memories. Few experiments, however, have investigated the effects of environmental cue saliency on the strength or persistence of such memories after a short vs. long post-acquisition interval. Using a Morris water maze, we therefore tested in rats the effect of the saliency of distal cues on the vividness of a recent (5 days) vs. remote (25 days) memory. Rats trained in a cue-enriched vs. a cue-impoverished context showed a better overall level of performance during acquisition. Furthermore, the probe trials revealed that the rats trained and tested in the cue-impoverished context (1) spent less time in the target quadrant at the 25-day delay, and (2) swam shorter distances in the target area, with fewer crossings at both 5- and 25-day delays, as compared to their counterparts trained and tested in the cue-enriched context. Thus, the memory trace formed in the cue-enriched context shows better resistance to time, suggesting an implication of cue saliency in the vividness of a spatial memory.

Least Squares Neural Network-Based Wireless E-Nose System Using an SnO₂ Sensor Array.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahid, Areej; Choi, Jong-Hyeok; Rana, Abu Ul Hassan Sarwar; Kim, Hyun-Seok

2018-05-06

Over the last few decades, the development of the electronic nose (E-nose) for detection and quantification of dangerous and odorless gases, such as methane (CH₄) and carbon monoxide (CO), using an array of SnO₂ gas sensors has attracted considerable attention. This paper addresses sensor cross sensitivity by developing a classifier and estimator using an artificial neural network (ANN) and least squares regression (LSR), respectively. Initially, the ANN was implemented using a feedforward pattern recognition algorithm to learn the collective behavior of an array as the signature of a particular gas. In the second phase, the classified gas was quantified by minimizing the mean square error using LSR. The combined approach produced 98.7% recognition probability, with 95.5 and 94.4% estimated gas concentration accuracies for CH₄ and CO, respectively. The classifier and estimator parameters were deployed in a remote microcontroller for the actualization of a wireless E-nose system.

The Effects of Dimensional Salience, Pretraining Task, and Developmental Level Upon Bidimensional Processing in a Matching Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Katsuyama, Ronald M.; Reid, Amy

Purposes of this study are to determine the effects of (1) preassessed dimensional salience upon performance in a bi-dimensional matching task, and (2) pretraining conditions expected to facilitate bi-dimensional processing. An additional aim was to elucidate a model of development involving changing salience hierarchies by comparing the effects…

Phase diagram of SnTe-CdSe cross-section of SnTe+CdSe reversible SnSe+CdTe ternary reciprocal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dubrovin, I.V.; Budennaya, L.D.; Mizetskaya, I.B.; Sharkina, Eh.V.

1986-01-01

Phase equilibrium diagram of SnTe-CdSe cross-section of Sn, Cd long Te, Se ternary reciprocal system is investigated using the methods of differential thermal, X-ray phase, and microstructural analyses. Maximum length of solid solutions on the base of SnTe corresponds to approximately 14 mol.% at 1050 K and approximately 3 mol.% of CdSe at 670 K. Region of solid solutions on the base of CdSe corresponds to less than 1 mol.% of SnTe at room temperature. SnTe-CdSe cross-section is not a quasibinar one. Equilibrium is shifted to the left in the SnTe+CdSe reversible SnSe+CdTe reciprocal system

Large-scale brain network coupling predicts acute nicotine abstinence effects on craving and cognitive function.

Science.gov (United States)

Lerman, Caryn; Gu, Hong; Loughead, James; Ruparel, Kosha; Yang, Yihong; Stein, Elliot A

2014-05-01

Interactions of large-scale brain networks may underlie cognitive dysfunctions in psychiatric and addictive disorders. To test the hypothesis that the strength of coupling among 3 large-scale brain networks--salience, executive control, and default mode--will reflect the state of nicotine withdrawal (vs smoking satiety) and will predict abstinence-induced craving and cognitive deficits and to develop a resource allocation index (RAI) that reflects the combined strength of interactions among the 3 large-scale networks. A within-subject functional magnetic resonance imaging study in an academic medical center compared resting-state functional connectivity coherence strength after 24 hours of abstinence and after smoking satiety. We examined the relationship of abstinence-induced changes in the RAI with alterations in subjective, behavioral, and neural functions. We included 37 healthy smoking volunteers, aged 19 to 61 years, for analyses. Twenty-four hours of abstinence vs smoking satiety. Inter-network connectivity strength (primary) and the relationship with subjective, behavioral, and neural measures of nicotine withdrawal during abstinence vs smoking satiety states (secondary). The RAI was significantly lower in the abstinent compared with the smoking satiety states (left RAI, P = .002; right RAI, P = .04), suggesting weaker inhibition between the default mode and salience networks. Weaker inter-network connectivity (reduced RAI) predicted abstinence-induced cravings to smoke (r = -0.59; P = .007) and less suppression of default mode activity during performance of a subsequent working memory task (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, r = -0.66, P = .003; posterior cingulate cortex, r = -0.65, P = .001). Alterations in coupling of the salience and default mode networks and the inability to disengage from the default mode network may be critical in cognitive/affective alterations that underlie nicotine dependence.

Explaining the salience of anti-elitism and reducing political corruption for political parties in Europe with the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Polk, J.; Rovny, J.; Bakker, R.; Edwards, E.; Hooghe, L.; Jolly, S.; Koedam, J.; Kostelka, F.; Marks, G.; Schumacher, G.; Steenbergen, M.; Vachudova, M.; Zilovic, M.

2017-01-01

This article addresses the variation of anti-corruption and anti-elite salience in party positioning across Europe. It demonstrates that while anti-corruption salience is primarily related to the (regional) context in which a party operates, anti-elite salience is primarily a function of party

Plastic modulation of PTSD resting-state networks by EEG neurofeedback

Science.gov (United States)

Kluetsch, Rosemarie C.; Ros, Tomas; Théberge, Jean; Frewen, Paul A.; Calhoun, Vince D.; Schmahl, Christian; Jetly, Rakesh; Lanius, Ruth A.

2015-01-01

Objective Electroencephalographic (EEG) neurofeedback training has been shown to produce plastic modulations in salience network and default mode network functional connectivity in healthy individuals. In this study, we investigated whether a single session of neurofeedback training aimed at the voluntary reduction of alpha rhythm (8–12 Hz) amplitude would be related to differences in EEG network oscillations, functional MRI (fMRI) connectivity, and subjective measures of state anxiety and arousal in a group of individuals with PTSD. Method 21 individuals with PTSD related to childhood abuse underwent 30 minutes of EEG neurofeedback training preceded and followed by a resting-state fMRI scan. Results Alpha desynchronizing neurofeedback was associated with decreased alpha amplitude during training, followed by a significant increase (‘rebound’) in resting-state alpha synchronization. This rebound was linked to increased calmness, greater salience network connectivity with the right insula, and enhanced default mode network connectivity with bilateral posterior cingulate, right middle frontal gyrus, and left medial prefrontal cortex. Conclusion Our study represents a first step in elucidating the potential neurobehavioral mechanisms mediating the effects of neurofeedback treatment on regulatory systems in PTSD. Moreover, it documents for the first time a spontaneous EEG ‘rebound’ after neurofeedback, pointing to homeostatic/compensatory mechanisms operating in the brain. PMID:24266644

Decision Utility, Incentive Salience, and Cue-Triggered "Wanting"

Science.gov (United States)

Berridge, Kent C; Aldridge, J Wayne

2009-01-01

This chapter examines brain mechanisms of reward utility operating at particular decision moments in life-moments such as when one encounters an image, sound, scent, or other cue associated in the past with a particular reward or perhaps just when one vividly imagines that cue. Such a cue can often trigger a sudden motivational urge to pursue its reward and sometimes a decision to do so. Drawing on a utility taxonomy that distinguishes among subtypes of reward utility-predicted utility, decision utility, experienced utility, and remembered utility-it is shown how cue-triggered cravings, such as an addict's surrender to relapse, can hang on special transformations by brain mesolimbic systems of one utility subtype, namely, decision utility. The chapter focuses on a particular form of decision utility called incentive salience, a type of "wanting" for rewards that is amplified by brain mesolimbic systems. Sudden peaks of intensity of incentive salience, caused by neurobiological mechanisms, can elevate the decision utility of a particular reward at the moment its cue occurs. An understanding of what happens at such moments leads to a better understanding of the mechanisms at work in decision making in general.

Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity Associated with Hypnosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Heidi; White, Matthew P; Greicius, Michael D; Waelde, Lynn C; Spiegel, David

2017-08-01

Hypnosis has proven clinical utility, yet changes in brain activity underlying the hypnotic state have not yet been fully identified. Previous research suggests that hypnosis is associated with decreased default mode network (DMN) activity and that high hypnotizability is associated with greater functional connectivity between the executive control network (ECN) and the salience network (SN). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate activity and functional connectivity among these three networks in hypnosis. We selected 57 of 545 healthy subjects with very high or low hypnotizability using two hypnotizability scales. All subjects underwent four conditions in the scanner: rest, memory retrieval, and two different hypnosis experiences guided by standard pre-recorded instructions in counterbalanced order. Seeds for the ECN, SN, and DMN were left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), respectively. During hypnosis there was reduced activity in the dACC, increased functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC;ECN) and the insula in the SN, and reduced connectivity between the ECN (DLPFC) and the DMN (PCC). These changes in neural activity underlie the focused attention, enhanced somatic and emotional control, and lack of self-consciousness that characterizes hypnosis. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Approach Motivation as Incentive Salience: Perceptual Sources of Evidence in Relation to Positive Word Primes

OpenAIRE

Ode, Scott; Winters, Patricia L.; Robinson, Michael D.

2011-01-01

Four experiments (total N = 391) examined predictions derived from a biologically-based incentive salience theory of approach motivation. In all experiments, judgments indicative of enhanced perceptual salience were exaggerated in the context of positive, relative to neutral or negative, stimuli. In Experiments 1 and 2, positive words were judged to be of a larger size (Experiment 1) and led individuals to judge subsequently presented neutral objects as larger in size (Experiment 2). In Exper...

70 °C synthesis of high-Sn content (25%) GeSn on insulator by Sn-induced crystallization of amorphous Ge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toko, K., E-mail: toko@bk.tsukuba.ac.jp; Oya, N.; Suemasu, T. [Institute of Applied Physics, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573 (Japan); Saitoh, N.; Yoshizawa, N. [Electron Microscope Facility, TIA, AIST, 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-8569 (Japan)

2015-02-23

Polycrystalline GeSn thin films are fabricated on insulating substrates at low temperatures by using Sn-induced crystallization of amorphous Ge (a-Ge). The Sn layer stacked on the a-Ge layer (100-nm thickness each) had two roles: lowering the crystallization temperature of a-Ge and composing GeSn. Slow annealing at an extremely low temperature of 70 °C allowed for a large-grained (350 nm) GeSn layer with a lattice constant of 0.590 nm, corresponding to a Sn composition exceeding 25%. The present investigation paves the way for advanced electronic optical devices integrated on a flexible plastic substrate as well as on a Si platform.

Materialism moderates the impact of mortality salience on impulsive tendencies toward luxury brands.

Science.gov (United States)

Audrin, Catherine; Cheval, Boris; Chanal, Julien

2018-02-01

Luxury goods have been shown to help individuals coping with death-related anxiety. However, the extent to which the symbolic value allocated to possessions (i.e., materialism) moderates this effect is still unclear. Here, we investigated the impact of materialism on impulsive approach tendencies toward luxury clothing brands in a context of mortality salience. Results showed that the impact of mortality salience was moderated by materialism with lower impulsive approach tendencies toward luxury clothing brands observed in non-materialistic participants. These findings highlight how materialism values may impact luxury consumption through impulsive pathways in a situation of death-related anxiety.

Ebola salience, death-thought accessibility, and worldview defense: A terror management theory perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Arrowood, Robert B; Cox, Cathy R; Kersten, Michael; Routledge, Clay; Shelton, Jill Talley; Hood, Ralph W

2017-10-01

According to terror management theory, individuals defend their cultural beliefs following mortality salience. The current research examined whether naturally occurring instances of death (i.e., Ebola) correspond to results found in laboratory studies. The results of two experiments demonstrated that participants experienced a greater accessibility of death-related thoughts in response to an Ebola prime during a regional outbreak. Study 2 also showed that increased mortality awareness following an Ebola manipulation was associated with greater worldview defense (i.e., religious fundamentalism). Together, these results suggest that reminders of death in the form of a disease threat operate similarly to a mortality salience manipulation.

Controlling the antibacterial activity of CuSn thin films by varying the contents of Sn

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kang, Yujin; Park, Juyun; Kim, Dong-Woo; Kim, Hakjun; Kang, Yong-Cheol, E-mail: yckang@pknu.ac.kr

2016-12-15

Highlights: • We deposit CuSn thin films on a Si substrate with various Cu/Sn ratio. • Antibacterial activities of CuSn thin films increased as the ratio of Cu and the contact time increased. • XPS was utilized to assign the chemical environment of CuSn thin films before and after antibacterial test. - Abstract: We investigated antibacterial activity of CuSn thin films against Gram positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). CuSn thin films with different Cu to Sn ratios were deposited on Si(100) by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method using Cu and Sn metal anodes. The film thickness was fixed at 200 nm by varying the sputtering time and RF power on the metal targets. The antibacterial test was conducted in various conditions such as different contact times and Cu to Sn ratios in the CuSn films. The antibacterial activities of CuSn thin films increased as the ratio of Cu and the contact time between the film and bacteria suspension increased execpt in the case of CuSn-83. The oxidation states of Cu and Sn and the chemical composition of CuSn thin films before and after the antibacterial test were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). When the contact time was fixed, the Cu species was further oxidized as the RF power on Cu target increased. The intensity of Sn 3d decreased with increasing Cu ratio. When the sample was fixed, the peak intensity of Sn 3d decreased as the contact time increased due to the permeation of Sn into the cell.

Spectral and ion emission features of laser-produced Sn and SnO2 plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Hui, Lan; Xin-Bing, Wang; Du-Luo, Zuo

2016-03-01

We have made a detailed comparison of the atomic and ionic debris, as well as the emission features of Sn and SnO2 plasmas under identical experimental conditions. Planar slabs of pure metal Sn and ceramic SnO2 are irradiated with 1.06 μm, 8 ns Nd:YAG laser pulses. Fast photography employing an intensified charge coupled device (ICCD), optical emission spectroscopy (OES), and optical time of flight emission spectroscopy are used as diagnostic tools. Our results show that the Sn plasma provides a higher extreme ultraviolet (EUV) conversion efficiency (CE) than the SnO2 plasma. However, the kinetic energies of Sn ions are relatively low compared with those of SnO2. OES studies show that the Sn plasma parameters (electron temperature and density) are lower compared to those of the SnO2 plasma. Furthermore, we also give the effects of the vacuum degree and the laser pulse energy on the plasma parameters. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11304235) and the Director Fund of WNLO, China.

Delay performance of a broadcast spectrum sharing network in Nakagami-m fading

KAUST Repository

Khan, Fahd Ahmed

2014-03-01

In this paper, we analyze the delay performance of a point-to-multipoint secondary network (P2M-SN), which is concurrently sharing the spectrum with a point-to-multipoint primary network (P2M-PN). The channel is assumed to be independent but not identically distributed (i.n.i.d.) and has Nakagami-m fading. A constraint on the peak transmit power of the secondary-user transmitter (SU-Tx) is considered, in addition to the peak interference power constraint. The SU-Tx is assumed to be equipped with a buffer and is modeled using the M/G/1 queueing model. The performance of this system is analyzed for two scenarios: 1) P2M-SN does not experience interference from the primary network (denoted by P2M-SN-NI), and 2) P2M-SN does experience interference from the primary network (denoted by P2M-SN-WI). The performance of both P2M-SN-NI and P2M-SN-WI is analyzed in terms of the packet transmission time, and the closed-form cumulative density function (cdf) of the packet transmission time is derived for both scenarios. Furthermore, by utilizing the concept of timeout, an exact closed-form expression for the outage probability of the P2M-SN-NI is obtained. In addition, an accurate approximation for the outage probability of the P2M-SN-WI is also derived. Furthermore, for the P2M-SN-NI, the analytic expressions for the total average waiting time (TAW-time) of packets and the average number of packets waiting in the buffer of the SU-Tx are also derived. Numerical simulations are also performed to validate the derived analytical results. © 1967-2012 IEEE.

Transient Liquid Phase Behavior of Sn-Coated Cu Particles and Chip Bonding using Paste Containing the Particles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hwang Jun Ho

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Sn-coated Cu particles were prepared as a filler material for transient liquid phase (TLP bonding. The thickness of Sn coating was controlled by controlling the number of plating cycles. The Sn-coated Cu particles best suited for TLP bonding were fabricated by Sn plating thrice, and the particles showed a pronounced endothermic peak at 232°C. The heating of the particles for just 10 s at 250°C destroyed the initial core-shell structure and encouraged the formation of Cu-Sn intermetallic compounds. Further, die bonding was also successfully performed at 250°C under a slight bonding pressure of around 0.1 MPa using a paste containing the particles. The bonding time of 30 s facilitated the bonding of Sn-coated Cu particles to the Au surface and also increased the probability of network formation between particles.

Uncertainty, God, and scrupulosity: Uncertainty salience and priming God concepts interact to cause greater fears of sin.

Science.gov (United States)

Fergus, Thomas A; Rowatt, Wade C

2015-03-01

Difficulties tolerating uncertainty are considered central to scrupulosity, a moral/religious presentation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We examined whether uncertainty salience (i.e., exposure to a state of uncertainty) caused fears of sin and fears of God, as well as whether priming God concepts affected the impact of uncertainty salience on those fears. An internet sample of community adults (N = 120) who endorsed holding a belief in God or a higher power were randomly assigned to an experimental manipulation of (1) salience (uncertainty or insecurity) and (2) prime (God concepts or neutral). As predicted, participants who received the uncertainty salience and God concept priming reported the greatest fears of sin. There were no mean-level differences in the other conditions. The effect was not attributable to religiosity and the manipulations did not cause negative affect. We used a nonclinical sample recruited from the internet. These results support cognitive-behavioral models suggesting that religious uncertainty is important to scrupulosity. Implications of these results for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fabrication of textured SnO2 transparent conductive films using self-assembled Sn nanospheres

Science.gov (United States)

Fukumoto, Michitaka; Nakao, Shoichiro; Hirose, Yasushi; Hasegawa, Tetsuya

2018-06-01

We present a novel method to fabricate textured surfaces on transparent conductive SnO2 films by processing substrates through a bottom-up technique with potential for industrially scalable production. The substrate processing consists of three steps: deposition of precursor Sn films on glass substrates, formation of a self-assembled Sn nanosphere layer with reductive annealing, and conversion of Sn to SnO2 by oxidative annealing. Ta-doped SnO2 films conformally deposited on the self-assembled nanospherical SnO2 templates exhibited attractive optical and electrical properties, namely, enhanced haze values and low sheet resistances, for applications as transparent electrodes in photovoltaics.

Interaction of multiple networks modulated by the working memory training based on real-time fMRI

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Jiahui; Zhang, Gaoyan; Zhu, Chaozhe; Yao, Li; Zhao, Xiaojie

2015-03-01

Neuroimaging studies of working memory training have identified the alteration of brain activity as well as the regional interactions within the functional networks such as central executive network (CEN) and default mode network (DMN). However, how the interaction within and between these multiple networks is modulated by the training remains unclear. In this paper, we examined the interaction of three training-induced brain networks during working memory training based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI). Thirty subjects assigned to the experimental and control group respectively participated in two times training separated by seven days. Three networks including silence network (SN), CEN and DMN were identified by the training data with the calculated function connections within each network. Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to construct the directional connectivity patterns. The results showed that the causal influences from the percent signal changes of target ROI to the SN were positively changed in both two groups, as well as the causal influence from the SN to CEN was positively changed in experimental group but negatively changed in control group from the SN to DMN. Further correlation analysis of the changes in each network with the behavioral improvements showed that the changes in SN were stronger positively correlated with the behavioral improvement of letter memory task. These findings indicated that the SN was not only a switch between the target ROI and the other networks in the feedback training but also an essential factor to the behavioral improvement.

A speeded-up saliency region-based contrast detection method for small targets

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhengjie; Zhang, Haiying; Bai, Jiaojiao; Zhou, Zhongjun; Zheng, Huihuang

2018-04-01

To cope with the rapid development of the real applications for infrared small targets, the researchers have tried their best to pursue more robust detection methods. At present, the contrast measure-based method has become a promising research branch. Following the framework, in this paper, a speeded-up contrast measure scheme is proposed based on the saliency detection and density clustering. First, the saliency region is segmented by saliency detection method, and then, the Multi-scale contrast calculation is carried out on it instead of traversing the whole image. Second, the target with a certain "integrity" property in spatial is exploited to distinguish the target from the isolated noises by density clustering. Finally, the targets are detected by a self-adaptation threshold. Compared with time-consuming MPCM (Multiscale Patch Contrast Map), the time cost of the speeded-up version is within a few seconds. Additional, due to the use of "clustering segmentation", the false alarm caused by heavy noises can be restrained to a lower level. The experiments show that our method has a satisfied FASR (False alarm suppression ratio) and real-time performance compared with the state-of-art algorithms no matter in cloudy sky or sea-sky background.

Rules infants look by: Testing the assumption of transitivity in visual salience.

Science.gov (United States)

Kibbe, Melissa M; Kaldy, Zsuzsa; Blaser, Erik

2018-01-01

What drives infants' attention in complex visual scenes? Early models of infant attention suggested that the degree to which different visual features were detectable determines their attentional priority. Here, we tested this by asking whether two targets - defined by different features, but each equally salient when evaluated independently - would drive attention equally when pitted head-to-head. In Experiment 1, we presented 6-month-old infants with an array of gabor patches in which a target region varied either in color or spatial frequency from the background. Using a forced-choice preferential-looking method, we measured how readily infants fixated the target as its featural difference from the background was parametrically increased. Then, in Experiment 2, we used these psychometric preference functions to choose values for color and spatial frequency targets that were equally salient (preferred), and pitted them against each other within the same display. We reasoned that, if salience is transitive, then the stimuli should be iso-salient and infants should therefore show no systematic preference for either stimulus. On the contrary, we found that infants consistently preferred the color-defined stimulus. This suggests that computing visual salience in more complex scenes needs to include factors above and beyond local salience values.

Ordered CoSn-type ternary phases in Co3Sn3-xGex

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Allred, Jared M.; Jia, Shuang; Bremholm, Martin

2012-01-01

. By taking advantage of the chemical differences between the two crystallographically inequivalent Sn sites in the structure, we observe ordered ternary phases, nominally Co3SnGe2 and Co3Sn2Ge. The electron count and unit cell configuration remain unchanged from CoSn; these observations thus help to clarify...

Down image recognition based on deep convolutional neural network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenzhu Yang

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Since of the scale and the various shapes of down in the image, it is difficult for traditional image recognition method to correctly recognize the type of down image and get the required recognition accuracy, even for the Traditional Convolutional Neural Network (TCNN. To deal with the above problems, a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN for down image classification is constructed, and a new weight initialization method is proposed. Firstly, the salient regions of a down image were cut from the image using the visual saliency model. Then, these salient regions of the image were used to train a sparse autoencoder and get a collection of convolutional filters, which accord with the statistical characteristics of dataset. At last, a DCNN with Inception module and its variants was constructed. To improve the recognition accuracy, the depth of the network is deepened. The experiment results indicate that the constructed DCNN increases the recognition accuracy by 2.7% compared to TCNN, when recognizing the down in the images. The convergence rate of the proposed DCNN with the new weight initialization method is improved by 25.5% compared to TCNN. Keywords: Deep convolutional neural network, Weight initialization, Sparse autoencoder, Visual saliency model, Image recognition

[CH(3)(CH(2))(11)NH(3)]SnI(3): a hybrid semiconductor with MoO(3)-type tin(II) iodide layers.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Zhengtao; Mitzi, David B

2003-10-20

The organic-inorganic hybrid [CH(3)(CH(2))(11)NH(3)]SnI(3) presents a lamellar structure with a Sn-I framework isotypic to that of MoO(3). The SnI(3)(-) layer consists of edge and corner-sharing SnI(6) octahedra in which one of the six Sn-I bonds is distinctly elongated (e.g., 3.62 A), indicating lone-pair stereoactivity for the Sn(II) atom. The overall electronic character remains comparable with that of the well-studied SnI(4)(2)(-)-based perovskite semiconductors, such as [CH(3)(CH(2))(11)NH(3)](2)SnI(4), with a red-shifted and broadened exciton peak associated with the band gap, apparently due to the increased dimensionality of the Sn-I framework. The title compound offers, aside from the hybrid perovskites, a new type of solution-processable Sn-I network for potential applications in semiconductive devices.

Graphene-SnO2 nanocomposites decorated with quantum tunneling junctions: preparation strategies, microstructures and formation mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qingxiu; Wu, Xianzheng; Wang, Lijun; Chen, Zhiwen; Wang, Shilong

2014-09-28

Tin dioxide (SnO2) and graphene are versatile materials that are vitally important for creating new functional and smart materials. A facile, simple and efficient ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal synthesis approach has been developed to prepare graphene-SnO2 nanocomposites (GSNCs), including three samples with graphene/Sn weight ratios = 1 : 2 (GSNC-2), 1 : 1 (GSNC-1), and graphene oxide/Sn weight ratio = 1 : 1 (GOSNC-1). Low-magnification electron microscopy analysis indicated that graphene was exfoliated and adorned with SnO2 nanoparticles, which were dispersed uniformly on both the sides of the graphene nanosheets. High-magnification electron microscopy analysis confirmed that the graphene-SnO2 nanocomposites presented network tunneling frameworks, which were decorated with the SnO2 quantum tunneling junctions. The size distribution of SnO2 nanoparticles was estimated to range from 3 to 5.5 nm. Comparing GSNC-2, GSNC-1, and GOSNC-1, GOSNC-1 was found to exhibit a significantly better the homogeneous distribution and a considerably smaller size distribution of SnO2 nanoparticles, which indicated that it was better to use graphene oxide as a supporting material and SnCl4·5H2O as a precursor to synthesize hybrid graphene-SnO2 nanocomposites. Experimental results suggest that the graphene-SnO2 nanocomposites with interesting SnO2 quantum tunneling junctions may be a promising material to facilitate the improvement of the future design of micro/nanodevices.

The Contribution of Network Organization and Integration to the Development of Cognitive Control.

Science.gov (United States)

Marek, Scott; Hwang, Kai; Foran, William; Hallquist, Michael N; Luna, Beatriz

2015-12-01

Cognitive control, which continues to mature throughout adolescence, is supported by the ability for well-defined organized brain networks to flexibly integrate information. However, the development of intrinsic brain network organization and its relationship to observed improvements in cognitive control are not well understood. In the present study, we used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI), graph theory, the antisaccade task, and rigorous head motion control to characterize and relate developmental changes in network organization, connectivity strength, and integration to inhibitory control development. Subjects were 192 10-26-y-olds who were imaged during 5 min of rest. In contrast to initial studies, our results indicate that network organization is stable throughout adolescence. However, cross-network integration, predominantly of the cingulo-opercular/salience network, increased with age. Importantly, this increased integration of the cingulo-opercular/salience network significantly moderated the robust effect of age on the latency to initiate a correct inhibitory control response. These results provide compelling evidence that the transition to adult-level inhibitory control is dependent upon the refinement and strengthening of integration between specialized networks. Our findings support a novel, two-stage model of neural development, in which networks stabilize prior to adolescence and subsequently increase their integration to support the cross-domain incorporation of information processing critical for mature cognitive control.

The Contribution of Network Organization and Integration to the Development of Cognitive Control

Science.gov (United States)

Marek, Scott; Hwang, Kai; Foran, William; Hallquist, Michael N.; Luna, Beatriz

2015-01-01

Abstract Cognitive control, which continues to mature throughout adolescence, is supported by the ability for well-defined organized brain networks to flexibly integrate information. However, the development of intrinsic brain network organization and its relationship to observed improvements in cognitive control are not well understood. In the present study, we used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI), graph theory, the antisaccade task, and rigorous head motion control to characterize and relate developmental changes in network organization, connectivity strength, and integration to inhibitory control development. Subjects were 192 10–26-y-olds who were imaged during 5 min of rest. In contrast to initial studies, our results indicate that network organization is stable throughout adolescence. However, cross-network integration, predominantly of the cingulo-opercular/salience network, increased with age. Importantly, this increased integration of the cingulo-opercular/salience network significantly moderated the robust effect of age on the latency to initiate a correct inhibitory control response. These results provide compelling evidence that the transition to adult-level inhibitory control is dependent upon the refinement and strengthening of integration between specialized networks. Our findings support a novel, two-stage model of neural development, in which networks stabilize prior to adolescence and subsequently increase their integration to support the cross-domain incorporation of information processing critical for mature cognitive control. PMID:26713863

The Contribution of Network Organization and Integration to the Development of Cognitive Control.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott Marek

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Cognitive control, which continues to mature throughout adolescence, is supported by the ability for well-defined organized brain networks to flexibly integrate information. However, the development of intrinsic brain network organization and its relationship to observed improvements in cognitive control are not well understood. In the present study, we used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI, graph theory, the antisaccade task, and rigorous head motion control to characterize and relate developmental changes in network organization, connectivity strength, and integration to inhibitory control development. Subjects were 192 10-26-y-olds who were imaged during 5 min of rest. In contrast to initial studies, our results indicate that network organization is stable throughout adolescence. However, cross-network integration, predominantly of the cingulo-opercular/salience network, increased with age. Importantly, this increased integration of the cingulo-opercular/salience network significantly moderated the robust effect of age on the latency to initiate a correct inhibitory control response. These results provide compelling evidence that the transition to adult-level inhibitory control is dependent upon the refinement and strengthening of integration between specialized networks. Our findings support a novel, two-stage model of neural development, in which networks stabilize prior to adolescence and subsequently increase their integration to support the cross-domain incorporation of information processing critical for mature cognitive control.

Growth of highly textured SnS on mica using an SnSe buffer layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, S.F.; Fong, W.K.; Wang, W.; Surya, C.

2014-01-01

We report the growth of SnS thin films on mica substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Excellent 2D layered structure and strong (001) texture were observed with a record low rocking curve full width at half maximum of ∼ 0.101° for the SnS(004) diffraction. An interface model is used to investigate the nucleation of SnS on mica which indicates the co-existence of six pairs of lateral growth orientations and is in excellent agreement with the experimental Φ-scan measurements indicating 12 peaks separated by 30° from each other. To control the lateral growth of the SnS epilayers we investigate the utilization of a thin SnSe buffer layer deposited on the mica substrate prior to the growth of the SnS thin film. The excellent lattice match between SnSe and mica enhances the alignment of the nucleation of SnS and suppresses the minor lateral orientations along the mica[110] direction and its orthogonal axis. Detailed low-frequency noise measurement was performed to characterize the trap density in the films and our results clearly demonstrate substantial reduction in the density of the localized states in the SnS epilayer with the use of an SnSe buffer layer. - Highlights: • A record low rocking curve FWHM for deposited SnS on mica • Investigation of the nucleation of SnS on mica using the interface model • Investigation of nucleation mechanism by phi-scan measurement • Grain boundary formation from crystallites of various nucleation orientations • Suppression of nucleation orientations using an SnSe buffer layer

Hf{sub 3}Fe{sub 4}Sn{sub 4} and Hf{sub 9}Fe{sub 4−x}Sn{sub 10+x}: Two stannide intermetallics with low-dimensional iron sublattices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Calta, Nicholas P. [Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University (United States); Kanatzidis, Mercouri G., E-mail: m-kanatzidis@northwestern.edu [Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University (United States); Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory (United States)

2016-04-15

This article reports two new Hf-rich intermetallics synthesized using Sn flux: Hf{sub 3}Fe{sub 4}Sn{sub 4} and Hf{sub 9}Fe{sub 4−x}Sn{sub 10+x}. Hf{sub 3}Fe{sub 4}Sn{sub 4} adopts an ordered variant the Hf{sub 3}Cu{sub 8} structure type in orthorhombic space group Pnma with unit cell edges of a=8.1143(5) Å, b=8.8466(5) Å, and c=10.6069(6) Å. Hf{sub 9}Fe{sub 4−x}Sn{sub 10+x}, on the other hand, adopts a new structure type in Cmc2{sub 1} with unit cell edges of a=5.6458(3) Å, b=35.796(2) Å, and c=8.88725(9) Å for x=0. It exhibits a small amount of phase width in which Sn substitutes on one of the Fe sites. Both structures are fully three-dimensional and are characterized by pseudo one- and two-dimensional networks of Fe–Fe homoatomic bonding. Hf{sub 9}Fe{sub 4−x}Sn{sub 10+x} exhibits antiferromagnetic order at T{sub N}=46(2) K and its electrical transport behavior indicates that it is a normal metal with phonon-dictated resistivity. Hf{sub 3}Fe{sub 4}Sn{sub 4} is also an antiferromagnet with a rather high ordering temperature of T{sub N}=373(5) K. Single crystal resistivity measurements indicate that Hf{sub 3}Fe{sub 4}Sn{sub 4} behaves as a Fermi liquid at low temperatures, indicating strong electron correlation. - Graphical abstract: Slightly different growth conditions in Sn flux produce two new intermetallic compounds: Hf{sub 3}Fe{sub 4}Sn{sub 4} and Hf{sub 9}Fe{sub 4−x}Sn{sub 10+x}. - Highlights: • Single crystals of both Hf{sub 3}Fe{sub 4}Sn{sub 4} and Hf{sub 9}Fe{sub 4−x}Sn{sub 10+x} were grown using Sn flux. • The crystal structures were determined using single crystal X-ray diffraction. • The Fe moments in Hf{sub 3}Fe{sub 4}Sn{sub 4} display AFM order below T{sub N}=373 K. • The Fe moments in Hf{sub 9}Fe{sub 4−x}Sn{sub 10+x} display AFM order below T{sub N}=46 K.

A comparative investigation on the effects of nitrogen-doping into graphene on enhancing the electrochemical performance of SnO2/graphene for sodium-ion batteries.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xiuqiang; Su, Dawei; Zhang, Jinqiang; Chen, Shuangqiang; Mondal, Anjon Kumar; Wang, Guoxiu

2015-02-21

SnO2/nitrogen-doped graphene nanohybrids have been synthesized by an in situ hydrothermal method, during which the formation of SnO2 nanocrystals and nitrogen doping of graphene occur simultaneously. The as-prepared SnO2/nitrogen-doped graphene nanohybrids exhibit enhanced electrochemical performance for sodium-ion batteries compared to SnO2/graphene nanocomposites. A systematic comparison between SnO2/nitrogen-doped graphene nanohybrids and the SnO2/graphene counterpart as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries has been conducted. The comparison is in a reasonable framework, where SnO2/nitrogen-doped graphene nanohybrids and the SnO2/graphene counterpart have the same SnO2 ratio, similar SnO2 crystallinity and particle size, close surface area and pore size. The results clearly manifest that the improved electron transfer efficiency of SnO2/nitrogen-doped graphene due to nitrogen-doping plays a more important role than the increased electro-active sites within graphene network in enhancing the electro-activity of SnO2/nitrogen-doped graphene nanohybrids compared to the SnO2/graphene counterpart. In contrast to the previous reports which often ascribe the enhanced electro-activity of nitrogen-doped graphene based composites to two nitrogen-doping effects (improving the electron transfer efficiency and increasing electro-active sites within graphene networks) in one single declaration, this work is expected to provide more specific information for understanding the effects of nitrogen-doping into graphene on improving the electrochemical performance of graphene based composites.

An efficient visual saliency detection model based on Ripplet transform

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A Diana Andrushia

human visual attention models is still not well investigated. ... Ripplet transform; visual saliency model; Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC); .... proposed method has the same resolution as that of an input ... regions are obtained, which are independent of their sizes. ..... impact than those far away from the attention.

Cohort Differences in Received Social Support in Later Life: The Role of Network Type.

Science.gov (United States)

Suanet, Bianca; Antonucci, Toni C

2017-07-01

The objective is to assess cohort differences in received emotional and instrumental support in relation to network types. The main guiding hypothesis is that due to increased salience of non-kin with recent social change, those in friend-focused and diverse network types receive more support in later birth cohorts than earlier birth cohorts. Data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam are employed. We investigate cohort differences in total received emotional and instrumental support in a series of linear regression models comparing birth cohorts aged 55-64, 65-74, 75-84, and 85-94 across three time periods (1992, 2002, and 2012). Four network types (friend, family, restricted, and diverse) are identified. Friend-focused networks are more common in later birth cohorts, restrictive networks less common. Those in friend-focused networks in later cohorts report receiving more emotional and instrumental support. No differences in received support are evident upon diverse networks. The increased salience of non-kin is reflected in an increase in received emotional and instrumental support in friend-focused networks in later birth cohorts. The preponderance of non-kin in networks should not be perceived as a deficit model for social relationships as restrictive networks are declining across birth cohorts. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Quaternary selenostannates Na{sub 2-x}Ga{sub 2-x}Sn{sub 1+x}Se{sub 6} and AGaSnSe{sub 4} (A=K, Rb, and Cs) through rapid cooling of melts. Kinetics versus thermodynamics in the polymorphism of AGaSnSe{sub 4}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hwang, S -J; Iyer, R G; Kanatzidis, M G

2004-10-01

The quaternary alkali-metal gallium selenostannates, Na{sub 2-x}Ga{sub 2-x}Sn{sub 1+x}Se{sub 6} and AGaSnSe{sub 4} (A=K, Rb, and Cs), were synthesized by reacting alkali-metal selenide, Ga, Sn, and Se with a flame melting-rapid cooling method. Na{sub 2-x}Ga{sub 2-x}Sn{sub 1+x}Se{sub 6} crystallizes in the non-centrosymmetric space group C2 with cell constants a=13.308(3) A, b=7.594(2) A, c=13.842(3) A, {beta}=118.730(4) deg., V=1226.7(5) A{sup 3}. {alpha}-KGaSnSe{sub 4} crystallizes in the tetragonal space group I4/mcm with a=8.186(5) A and c=6.403(5) A, V=429.1(5) A{sup 3}. {beta}-KGaSnSe{sub 4} crystallizes in the space group P2{sub 1}/c with cell constants a=7.490(2) A, b=12.578(3) A, c=18.306(5) A, {beta}=98.653(5) deg., V=1705.0(8) A{sup 3}. The unit cell of isostructural RbGaSnSe{sub 4} is a=7.567(2) A, b=12.656(3) A, c=18.277(4) A, {beta}=95.924(4) deg., V=1741.1(7) A{sup 3}. CsGaSnSe{sub 4} crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pmcn with a=7.679(2) A, b=12.655(3) A, c=18.278(5) A, V=1776.1(8) A{sup 3}. The structure of Na{sub 2-x}Ga{sub 2-x}Sn{sub 1+x}Se{sub 6} consists of a polar three-dimensional network of trimeric (Sn,Ga){sub 3}Se{sub 9} units with Na atoms located in tunnels. The AGaSnSe{sub 4} possess layered structures. The compounds show nearly the same Raman spectral features, except for Na{sub 2-x}Ga{sub 2-x}Sn{sub 1+x}Se{sub 6}. Optical band gaps, determined from UV-Vis spectroscopy, range from 1.50 eV in Na{sub 2-x}Ga{sub 2-x}Sn{sub 1+x}Se{sub 6} to 1.97 eV in CsGaSnSe{sub 4}. Cooling of the melts of KGaSnSe{sub 4} and RbGaSnSe{sub 4} produces only kinetically stable products. The thermodynamically stable product is accessible under extended annealing, which leads to the so-called {gamma}-form (BaGa{sub 2}S{sub 4}-type) of these compounds.

Electrical and optical properties of SnEuTe and SnSrTe films

Science.gov (United States)

Ishida, Akihiro; Tsuchiya, Takuro; Yamada, Tomohiro; Cao, Daoshe; Takaoka, Sadao; Rahim, Mohamed; Felder, Ferdinand; Zogg, Hans

2010-06-01

The SnTe, Sn1-xEuxTe and Sn1-xSrxTe (x<0.06) films were prepared by hot wall epitaxy. The ternary alloy films prepared in cation rich condition had hole concentration around 1×1019 cm-3 with high mobility exceeding 2000 cm2/V s at room temperature. Optical transmission spectra were also measured in the temperature range from 100 to 400 K and compared with theoretical calculations. Optical transmission spectra of the SnTe were simulated successfully assuming bumped band edge structures. A band inversion model was proposed for the Sn1-xEuxTe and Sn1-xSrxTe systems, and the optical transmission spectra were also simulated successfully assuming the band inversion model.

Mortality Salience, System Justification, and Candidate Evaluations in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Sterling

Full Text Available Experiments conducted during the 2004 and 2008 U.S. presidential elections suggested that mortality salience primes increased support for President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain, respectively. Some interpreted these results as reflecting "conservative shift" following exposure to threat, whereas others emphasized preferences for "charismatic" leadership following exposure to death primes. To assess both hypotheses in the context of a new election cycle featuring a liberal incumbent who was considered to be charismatic, we conducted four experiments shortly before the 2012 election involving President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. Contrary to earlier studies, there was little evidence that mortality salience, either by itself or in interaction with political orientation, affected overall candidate ratings or voting intentions. However, a significant interaction between mortality salience and system justification in some studies indicated a more circumscribed effect. The failure to "replicate" previous results in the context of this election may be attributable to disagreement among participants as to which of the candidates better represented the societal status quo.

Rare, but obviously there: effects of target frequency and salience on visual search accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Biggs, Adam T; Adamo, Stephen H; Mitroff, Stephen R

2014-10-01

Accuracy can be extremely important for many visual search tasks. However, numerous factors work to undermine successful search. Several negative influences on search have been well studied, yet one potentially influential factor has gone almost entirely unexplored-namely, how is search performance affected by the likelihood that a specific target might appear? A recent study demonstrated that when specific targets appear infrequently (i.e., once in every thousand trials) they were, on average, not often found. Even so, some infrequently appearing targets were actually found quite often, suggesting that the targets' frequency is not the only factor at play. Here, we investigated whether salience (i.e., the extent to which an item stands out during search) could explain why some infrequent targets are easily found whereas others are almost never found. Using the mobile application Airport Scanner, we assessed how individual target frequency and salience interacted in a visual search task that included a wide array of targets and millions of trials. Target frequency and salience were both significant predictors of search accuracy, although target frequency explained more of the accuracy variance. Further, when examining only the rarest target items (those that appeared on less than 0.15% of all trials), there was a significant relationship between salience and accuracy such that less salient items were less likely to be found. Beyond implications for search theory, these data suggest significant vulnerability for real-world searches that involve targets that are both infrequent and hard-to-spot. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Laser soldering of Sn-Ag-Cu and Sn-Zn-Bi lead-free solder pastes

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Junichi; Nakahara, Sumio; Hisada, Shigeyoshi; Fujita, Takeyoshi

2004-10-01

It has reported that a waste of an electronics substrate including lead and its compound such as 63Sn-37Pb has polluted the environment with acid rain. For that environment problem the development of lead-free solder alloys has been promoted in order to find out the substitute for Sn-Pb solders in the United States, Europe, and Japan. In a present electronics industry, typical alloys have narrowed down to Sn-Ag-Cu and Sn-Zn lead-free solder. In this study, solderability of Pb-free solder that are Sn-Ag-Cu and Sn-Zn-Bi alloy was studied on soldering using YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) laser and diode laser. Experiments were peformed in order to determine the range of soldering parameters for obtaining an appropriate wettability based on a visual inspection. Joining strength of surface mounting chip components soldered on PCB (printed circuit board) was tested on application thickness of solder paste (0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 mm). In addition, joining strength characteristics of eutectic Sn-Pb alloy and under different power density were examined. As a result, solderability of Sn-Ag-Cu (Pb-free) solder paste are equivalent to that of coventional Sn-Pb solder paste, and are superior to that of Sn-Zn-Bi solder paste in the laser soldering method.

Bridging disparate symptoms of schizophrenia: a triple network dysfunction theory

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Nekovářová, Tereza; Fajnerová, Iveta; Horáček, J.; Španiel, F.

2014-01-01

Roč. 8, May 30 (2014), s. 171 ISSN 1662-5153 R&D Projects: GA MZd(CZ) NT13386; GA ČR(CZ) GAP303/12/1464; GA ČR(CZ) GBP304/12/G069; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-03627S Grant - others:GA MZd(CZ) NT14291; GA MZd(CZ) NT13843 Institutional support: RVO:67985823 Keywords : schizophrenia * self * theory of mind * forward model * default mode network * salience network * central executive network Subject RIV: FH - Neurology Impact factor: 3.270, year: 2014

SN 2009E

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pastorello...[], A.; Pumo, M.L.; Navasardyan, H.

2012-01-01

. In this paper we investigate the properties of SN 2009E, which exploded in a relatively nearby spiral galaxy (NGC 4141) and that is probably the faintest 1987A-like supernova discovered so far. We also attempt to characterize this subgroup of core-collapse supernovae with the help of the literature and present...... observations which started about 2 months after the supernova explosion, highlight significant differences between SN 2009E and the prototypical SN 1987A. Modelling the data of SN 2009E allows us to constrain the explosion parameters and the properties of the progenitor star, and compare the inferred estimates...... 2009E ejected about 0.04 M⊙ of 56Ni, which is the smallest 56Ni mass in our sample of 1987A-like events. Modelling the observations with a radiation hydrodynamics code, we infer for SN 2009E a kinetic plus thermal energy of about 0.6 foe, an initial radius of ~7 × 1012 cm and an ejected mass of ~19 M...

Social interactions and the salience of social identity

OpenAIRE

McLeish, Kendra N.; Oxoby, Robert J.

2008-01-01

In this paper, we explore the effect of identity salience on behavior in a simple social interaction. Specifically, we compare behavior in a ultimatum game across three treatments: priming subjects with a shared identity, priming subjects with an identity distinct from those with whom they will interact, and priming subjects with no particular identity. We find that subjects are most cooperative in the identity-priming treatment and least cooperative in the distinctiveness-priming treatment. ...

Layer-by-layer assembled graphene-coated mesoporous SnO2 spheres as anodes for advanced Li-ion batteries

KAUST Repository

Shahid, Muhammad

2014-10-01

We report layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly of graphene/carbon-coated mesoporous SnO2 spheres (Gr/C-SnO2 spheres), without binder and conducting additives, as anode materials with excellent Li-ion insertion-extraction properties. Our results indicate that these novel LBL assembled electrodes have high reversible Li storage capacity, improved cycling, and especially good rate performance, even at high specific currents. The superior electrochemical performance offered by these LBL assembled Gr/C-SnO2 spheres is attributed to the enhanced electronic conductivity and effective diffusion of Li ions in the interconnected network of nanoparticles forming the mesoporous SnO2 spheres. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Layer-by-layer assembled graphene-coated mesoporous SnO2 spheres as anodes for advanced Li-ion batteries

KAUST Repository

Shahid, Muhammad; Yesibolati, Nulati; Reuter, Mark C.; Ross, Frances M.; Alshareef, Husam N.

2014-01-01

We report layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly of graphene/carbon-coated mesoporous SnO2 spheres (Gr/C-SnO2 spheres), without binder and conducting additives, as anode materials with excellent Li-ion insertion-extraction properties. Our results indicate that these novel LBL assembled electrodes have high reversible Li storage capacity, improved cycling, and especially good rate performance, even at high specific currents. The superior electrochemical performance offered by these LBL assembled Gr/C-SnO2 spheres is attributed to the enhanced electronic conductivity and effective diffusion of Li ions in the interconnected network of nanoparticles forming the mesoporous SnO2 spheres. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reward salience and risk aversion underlie differential ACC activity in substance dependence.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, William H; Fukunaga, Rena; Finn, Peter; Brown, Joshua W

2015-01-01

The medial prefrontal cortex, especially the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), has long been implicated in cognitive control and error processing. Although the association between ACC and behavior has been established, it is less clear how ACC contributes to dysfunctional behavior such as substance dependence. Evidence from neuroimaging studies investigating ACC function in substance users is mixed, with some studies showing disengagement of ACC in substance dependent individuals (SDs), while others show increased ACC activity related to substance use. In this study, we investigate ACC function in SDs and healthy individuals performing a change signal task for monetary rewards. Using a priori predictions derived from a recent computational model of ACC, we find that ACC activity differs between SDs and controls in factors related to reward salience and risk aversion between SDs and healthy individuals. Quantitative fits of a computational model to fMRI data reveal significant differences in best fit parameters for reward salience and risk preferences. Specifically, the ACC in SDs shows greater risk aversion, defined as concavity in the utility function, and greater attention to rewards relative to reward omission. Furthermore, across participants risk aversion and reward salience are positively correlated. The results clarify the role that ACC plays in both the reduced sensitivity to omitted rewards and greater reward valuation in SDs. Clinical implications of applying computational modeling in psychiatry are also discussed.

Estimating the Relative Sociolinguistic Salience of Segmental Variables in a Dialect Boundary Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Llamas, Carmen; Watt, Dominic; MacFarlane, Andrew E.

2016-01-01

One way of evaluating the salience of a linguistic feature is by assessing the extent to which listeners associate the feature with a social category such as a particular socioeconomic class, gender, or nationality. Such ‘top–down’ associations will inevitably differ somewhat from listener to listener, as a linguistic feature – the pronunciation of a vowel or consonant, for instance – can evoke multiple social category associations, depending upon the dialect in which the feature is embedded and the context in which it is heard. In a given speech community it is reasonable to expect, as a consequence of the salience of the linguistic form in question, a certain level of intersubjective agreement on social category associations. Two metrics we can use to quantify the salience of a linguistic feature are (a) the speed with which the association is made, and (b) the degree to which members of a speech community appear to share the association. Through the use of a new technique, designed as an adaptation of the Implicit Association Test, this paper examines levels of agreement among 40 informants from the Scottish/English border region with respect to the associations they make between four key phonetic variables and the social categories of ‘Scotland’ and ‘England.’ Our findings reveal that the participants exhibit differential agreement patterns across the set of phonetic variables, and that listeners’ responses vary in line with whether participants are members of the Scottish or the English listener groups. These results demonstrate the importance of community-level agreement with respect to the associations that listeners make between social categories and linguistic forms, and as a means of ranking the forms’ relative salience. PMID:27574511

Preparation, deformation, and failure of functional Al-Sn and Al-Sn-Pb nanocrystalline alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Noskova, N. I.; Vil'Danova, N. F.; Filippov, Yu. I.; Churbaev, R. V.; Pereturina, I. A.; Korshunov, L. G.; Korznikov, A. V.

2006-12-01

Changes in the structure, hardness, mechanical properties, and friction coefficient of Al-30% Sn, Al-15% Sn-25% Pb, and Al-5% Sn-35% Pb (wt %) alloys subjected to severe plastic deformation by equal-channel angular pressing (with a force of 40 tonne) and by shear at a pressure of 5 GPa have been studied. The transition into the nanocrystalline state was shown to occur at different degrees of plastic deformation. The hardness exhibits nonmonotonic variations, namely, first it increases and subsequently decreases. The friction coefficient of the Al-30% Sn, Al-15% Sn-25% Pb, and Al-5% Sn-35% Pb alloys quenched from the melt was found to be 0.33; the friction coefficients of these alloys in the submicrocrystalline state (after equal-channel angular pressing) equal 0.24, 0.32, and 0.35, respectively. The effect of disintegration into nano-sized powders was found to occur in the Al-15% Sn-25% Pb, and Al-5% Sn-35% Pb alloys after severe plastic deformation to ɛ = 6.4 and subsequent short-time holding.

Study of neutron-deficient Sn isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auger, G.

1982-05-01

The formation of neutron deficient nuclei by heavy ion reactions is investigated. The experimental technique is presented, and the results obtained concerning Sn et In isotopes reported: first excited states of 106 Sn, high spin states in 107 Sn and 107 In; Yrast levels of 106 Sn, 107 Sn, 108 Sn; study of neutron deficient Sn and In isotopes formed by the desintegration of the compound nucleus 112 Xe. All these results are discussed [fr

There-dimensional porous carbon network encapsulated SnO2 quantum dots as anode materials for high-rate lithium ion batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Juan; Xi, Lihua; Tang, Jingjing; Chen, Feng; Wu, Lili; Zhou, Xiangyang

2016-01-01

SnO 2 quantum dots have attracted enormous interest, since they have been shown to effectively minimize the volume change stress, improve the anode kinetic and shorten the lithium ion migration distance when used as anode materials for lithium ion battery. In this work, we report a facile strategy to fabricate nanostructure with homogenous SnO 2 quantum dots anchored on three-dimensional (3D) nitrogen and sulfur dual-doped porous carbon (NSGC@SnO 2 ). Characterization results show that the obtained SnO 2 quantum dots have an average critical size of 3–5 nm and uniformly encapsulated in the porous of NSGC matrix. The as-designed nanostructure can effectively avoid the aggregation of SnO 2 quantum dots as well as accommodate the mechanical stress induced by the volume change of SnO 2 quantum dots and thus maintain the structure integrity of the electrode. As a result, the obtained NSGC@SnO 2 composite exhibits a specific reversible capacity as high as 1118 mAh g −1 at a current of 200 mA g −1 after 100 cycles along with a high coulombic efficiency of 98% and excellent rate capability.

Prospective memory function and cue salience in mild cognitive impairment: Findings from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Claire L; Henry, Julie D; Rendell, Peter G; Withall, Adrienne; Kochan, Nicole A; Sachdev, Perminder; Brodaty, Henry

2017-12-01

Prospective memory (PM) is crucial to the maintenance of functional independence in late adulthood and is consistently impaired in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). There remains a need for brief but valid measures of this construct that can be used as part of a comprehensive clinical assessment of cognition. Since the distinctiveness of PM cues is argued to determine the degree of strategic, controlled demands of PM paradigms, two variants of a brief measure were developed, one of which presented low-salience and the other high-salience PM cues. A large cohort of older adults with normal cognition or MCI was assessed with one of the two variants of our brief, novel measure of PM. Participants were asked to remember to execute PM tasks where the target cue was either high or low in salience, while concurrently engaged in an ongoing task of olfactory assessment. The task was able to discriminate between groups of participants with MCI or no cognitive impairment, albeit with a small effect size. The high-salience cue improved performance on the PM task; however, there was no interaction of cue salience with group. These results suggest that the temporal reliability and construct validity of very brief measures of the type used in this study need further exploration to determine their potential to provide meaningful insights into PM function. This measure may have utility as a brief screening tool, with identified deficits being followed up with a more comprehensive PM assessment.

Network Organization Unfolds over Time during Periods of Anxious Anticipation

OpenAIRE

McMenamin, Brenton W.; Langeslag, Sandra J.E.; Sirbu, Mihai; Padmala, Srikanth; Pessoa, Luiz

2014-01-01

Entering a state of anxious anticipation triggers widespread changes across large-scale networks in the brain. The temporal aspects of this transition into an anxious state are poorly understood. To address this question, an instructed threat of shock paradigm was used while recording functional MRI in humans to measure how activation and functional connectivity change over time across the salience, executive, and task-negative networks and how they interact with key regions implicated in emo...

Electrochemical properties of Ti-Ni-Sn materials predicted by {sup 119}Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ladam, A., E-mail: alix.ladam@univ-montp2.fr; Aldon, L.; Lippens, P.-E.; Olivier-Fourcade, J.; Jumas, J.-C. [Université de Montpellier, Institut Charles Gerhardt, UMR 5253 CNRS (France); Cenac-Morthe, C. [CNES, Service DCT/TV/El (France)

2016-12-15

The electrochemical activity of TiNiSn, TiNi {sub 2}Sn and Ti {sub 6}Sn {sub 5} compounds considered as negative electrode materials for Li-ion batteries has been predicted from the isomer shift- Hume-Rothery electronic density correlation diagram. The ternary compounds were obtained from solid-state reactions and Ti {sub 6}Sn {sub 5} by ball milling. The {sup 119}Sn Mössbauer parameters were experimentally determined and used to evaluate the Hume-Rothery electronic density [e {sub av}]. The values of [e {sub av}] are in the region of Li-rich Li-Sn alloys for Ti {sub 6}Sn {sub 5} and outside this region for the ternary compounds, suggesting that the former compound is electrochemically active but not the two latter ones. Electrochemical tests were performed for these different materials confirming this prediction. The close values of [e {sub av}] for Ti {sub 6}Sn {sub 5} and Li-rich Li-Sn alloys indicate that the observed good capacity retention could be related to small changes in the global structures during cycling.

Theoretical study of electronic structures and spectroscopic properties of Ga 3Sn, GaSn 3, and their ions

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xiaolei

2007-01-01

Ground and excited states of mixed gallium stannide tetramers (Ga 3Sn, Ga 3Sn +, Ga 3Sn -, GaSn 3, GaSn 3+, and GaSn 3-) are investigated employing the complete active space self-consistent-field (CASSCF), density function theory (DFT), and the coupled-cluster single and double substitution (including triple excitations) (CCSD(T)) methods. The ground states of Ga 3Sn, Ga 3Sn +, and Ga 3Sn - are found to be the 2A 1, 3B 1, and 1A 1 states in C2v symmetry with a planar quadrilateral geometry, respectively. The ground states of GaSn 3 and GaSn 3- is predicted to be the 2A 1 and 1A 1 states in C2v point group with a planar quadrilateral structure, respectively, while the ground state of GaSn 3+ is the 1A 1 state with ideal triangular pyramid C3v geometry. Equilibrium geometries, vibrational frequencies, binding energies, electron affinities, ionization energies, and other properties of Ga 3Sn and GaSn 3 are computed and discussed. The anion photoelectron spectra of Ga 3Sn - and GaSn 3- are also predicted. It is interesting to find that the amount of charge transfer between Ga and Sn 2 atoms in the 1A 1 state of GaSn 3+ greatly increases upon electron ionization from the 2A 1 state of GaSn 3, which may be caused by large geometry change. On the other hand, the results of the low-lying states of Ga 3Sn and GaSn 3 are compared with those of Ga 3Si and GaSi 3.

Electro-oxidation of Ethanol on Carbon Supported PtSn and PtSnNi Catalysts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nur Hidayati

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Even though platinum is known as an active electro-catalyst for ethanol oxidation at low temperatures (< 100 oC, choosing the electrode material for ethanol electro-oxidation is a crucial issue. It is due to its property which easily poisoned by a strong adsorbed species such as CO. PtSn-based electro-catalysts have been identified as better catalysts for ethanol electro-oxidation. The third material is supposed to improved binary catalysts performance. This work presents a study of the ethanol electro-oxidation on carbon supported Pt-Sn and Pt-Sn-Ni catalysts. These catalysts were prepared by alcohol reduction. Nano-particles with diameters between 2.5-5.0 nm were obtained. The peak of (220 crystalline face centred cubic (fcc Pt phase for PtSn and PtSnNi alloys was repositioned due to the presence of Sn and/or Ni in the alloy. Furthermore, the modification of Pt with Sn and SnNi improved ethanol and CO electro-oxidation. Copyright © 2016 BCREC GROUP. All rights reserved Received: 10th November 2015; Revised: 1st February 2016; Accepted: 1st February 2016 How to Cite: Hidayati, N., Scott, K. (2016. Electro-oxidation of Ethanol on Carbon Supported PtSn and PtSnNi Catalysts. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis, 11 (1: 10-20. (doi:10.9767/bcrec.11.1.394.10-20 Permalink/DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.11.1.394.10-20

Ethanol Oxidation Reaction Using PtSn/C+Ce/C Electrocatalysts: Aspects of Ceria Contribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Souza, R.F.B.; Silva, J.C.M.; Assumpção, M.H.M.T.; Neto, A.O.; Santos, M.C.

2014-01-01

The ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) was investigated using PtSn/C + Ce/C electrocatalysts in different mass ratios (58:42, 53:47, and 42:58) prepared using the polymeric precursor method. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments showed particles sizes in the range of 3 to 7 nm. Changes in the net parameters observed for Pt suggest the incorporation of Sn into the Pt crystalline network with the formation of an alloy mixture with the SnO 2 phase. Among the PtSn/C + Ce/C catalysts investigated, the 53:47 composition showed the highest activity towards the EOR. In this case, the j versus t curves obtained in the presence of ethanol in acidic media exhibited a current density 90% higher than that observed with the commercial PtSn/C (ETEK). Correspondingly, during the experiments performed on single direct ethanol fuel cells, the maximum power density obtained using PtSn/C + Ce/C (53:47) as the anode was approximately 60% higher than that obtained using the commercial catalyst. FTIR data showed that the observed behavior for ethanol oxidation may be explained in terms of a synergic effect of bifunctional mechanism with electronic effects, in addition to a chemical effect of ceria that provides oxygen-containing species to oxidize acetaldehyde to acetic acid

Amorphous Ultrathin SnO2 Films by Atomic Layer Deposition on Graphene Network as Highly Stable Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Ming; Sun, Xiang; George, Steven M; Zhou, Changgong; Lian, Jie; Zhou, Yun

2015-12-23

Amorphous SnO2 (a-SnO2) thin films were conformally coated onto the surface of reduced graphene oxide (G) using atomic layer deposition (ALD). The electrochemical characteristics of the a-SnO2/G nanocomposites were then determined using cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge curves. Because the SnO2 ALD films were ultrathin and amorphous, the impact of the large volume expansion of SnO2 upon cycling was greatly reduced. With as few as five formation cycles best reported in the literature, a-SnO2/G nanocomposites reached stable capacities of 800 mAh g(-1) at 100 mA g(-1) and 450 mAh g(-1) at 1000 mA g(-1). The capacity from a-SnO2 is higher than the bulk theoretical values. The extra capacity is attributed to additional interfacial charge storage resulting from the high surface area of the a-SnO2/G nanocomposites. These results demonstrate that metal oxide ALD on high surface area conducting carbon substrates can be used to fabricate high power and high capacity electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

CONSTRUÇÕES BINOMINAIS DO TIPO SN1 DE SN2

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Karen Sampaio Braga Alonso

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Este artigo tem por objetivo investigar a flutuação de sentido quantidade-qualidade licenciada pelo uso de construtos binominais do tipo SN1 de SN2, como xícara de chá, no Português do Brasil.A pesquisa é baseada na perspectiva teórica da Linguística Funcional Centrada no Uso (BYBEE, 2010; BARLOW E KEMMER, 2000; TOMASELLO, 2003, TRAUGOTT, 2008 e busca descrever as propriedades morfossintáticas, semântico-pragmáticas e cognitivas dos usos das construções que favorecem uma leitura ora qualitativa ora quantitativa, no que se refere à relação entre SN1 e SN2.

The Effect of Increasing Sn Content on High-Temperature Mechanical Deformation of an Mg-3%Cu-1%Ca Alloy

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Georgios S.E. Antipas

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Chill casting of magnesium alloy samples with secondary alloying elements of Cu, Ca and Sn at % w.t. concentrations in the range 1–5, 0.1–5 and 0.1–3 respectively, gave rise to appreciably enhanced resistance to high-temperature creep, while maintaining good heat conductivity. The latter was considered to be driven by Cu and Mg-Cu intermetallics while it was clear that Sn mediated the high-temperature performance, mainly via networks of Mg2Sn and MgCaSn precipitates along the Mg matrix grain boundaries. It was postulated that Sn formed intermetallics by preferential substitution of Ca atoms and, thus, did not degrade the heat conductivity by retaining Cu. The % w.t. stoichiometry with the optimum combination of heat conductivity and resistance to high-temperature creep was found to be Mg-3Cu-1Ca-0.1Sn.

Individual differences in the attribution of incentive salience to reward-related cues: Implications for addiction.

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Flagel, Shelly B; Akil, Huda; Robinson, Terry E

2009-01-01

Drugs of abuse acquire different degrees of control over thoughts and actions based not only on the effects of drugs themselves, but also on predispositions of the individual. Those individuals who become addicted are unable to shift their thoughts and actions away from drugs and drug-associated stimuli. Thus in addicts, exposure to places or things (cues) that has been previously associated with drug-taking often instigates renewed drug-taking. We and others have postulated that drug-associated cues acquire the ability to maintain and instigate drug-taking behavior in part because they acquire incentive motivational properties through Pavlovian (stimulus-stimulus) learning. In the case of compulsive behavioral disorders, including addiction, such cues may be attributed with pathological incentive value ("incentive salience"). For this reason, we have recently begun to explore individual differences in the tendency to attribute incentive salience to cues that predict rewards. When discrete cues are associated with the non-contingent delivery of food or drug rewards some animals come to quickly approach and engage the cue even if it is located at a distance from where the reward will be delivered. In these animals the reward-predictive cue itself becomes attractive, eliciting approach towards it, presumably because it is attributed with incentive salience. Animals that develop this type of conditional response are called "sign-trackers". Other animals, "goal-trackers", do not approach the reward-predictive cue, but upon cue presentation they immediately go to the location where food will be delivered (the "goal"). For goal-trackers the reward-predictive cue is not attractive, presumably because it is not attributed with incentive salience. We review here preliminary data suggesting that these individual differences in the tendency to attribute incentive salience to cues predictive of reward may confer vulnerability or resistance to compulsive behavioral disorders

SN 2013fs and SN 2013fr: exploring the circumstellar-material diversity in Type II supernovae

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Bullivant, Christopher; Smith, Nathan; Williams, G. Grant; Mauerhan, Jon C.; Andrews, Jennifer E.; Fong, Wen-Fai; Bilinski, Christopher; Kilpatrick, Charles D.; Milne, Peter A.; Fox, Ori D.; Cenko, S. Bradley; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Zheng, WeiKang; Kelly, Patrick L.; Clubb, Kelsey I.

2018-05-01

We present photometry and spectroscopy of SN 2013fs and SN 2013fr in the first ˜100 d post-explosion. Both objects showed transient, relatively narrow H α emission lines characteristic of SNe IIn, but later resembled normal SNe II-P or SNe II-L, indicative of fleeting interaction with circumstellar material (CSM). SN 2013fs was discovered within 8 h of explosion; one of the earliest SNe discovered thus far. Its light curve exhibits a plateau, with spectra revealing strong CSM interaction at early times. It is a less luminous version of the transitional SN IIn PTF11iqb, further demonstrating a continuum of CSM interaction intensity between SNe II-P and SNe IIn. It requires dense CSM within 6.5 × 1014 cm of the progenitor, from a phase of advanced pre-SN mass loss beginning shortly before explosion. Spectropolarimetry of SN 2013fs shows little continuum polarization (˜0.5 per cent, consistent with zero), but noticeable line polarization during the plateau phase. SN 2013fr morphed from an SN IIn at early times to an SN II-L. After the first epoch, its narrow lines probably arose from host-galaxy emission, but the bright, narrow H α emission at early times may be intrinsic to the SN. As for SN 2013fs, this would point to a short-lived phase of strong CSM interaction if proven to be intrinsic, suggesting a continuum between SNe IIn and SNe II-L. It is a low-velocity SN II-L like SN 2009kr, but more luminous. SN 2013fr also developed an infrared excess at later times, due to warm CSM dust that requires a more sustained phase of strong pre-SN mass loss.

SnO and SnO·CoO nanocomposite as high capacity anode materials for lithium ion batteries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Das, B., E-mail: bijoy822000@gmail.com; Reddy, M.V.; Chowdari, B.V.R, E-mail: phychowd@nus.edu.sg

2016-02-15

Highlights: • The preparation methods are simple, low cost and can be scaled up for large production. • SnO is cheap, non-toxic and eco-friendly. • SnO shows high reversible capacity (Theoretical reversible capacity: 875 mA h g{sup −1}). • We showed high reversible capacity and columbic efficiency for SnO and SnO based composites. • We addressed the capacity degradation by introducing secondary phase (CoO and CNT etc.) - Abstract: We prepared SnO nanoparticles (SnO–S) and SnO·CoO nanocomposites (SnO·CoO–B) as anodes for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) by chemical and ball-milling approaches, respectively. They are characterized by X-ray diffraction and TEM techniques. The Li- storage performance are evaluated by galvanostatic cycling and cyclic voltammetry. The SnO–S and SnO·CoO–B showed improved cycling performance due to their finite particle size (i.e. nano-size) and presence of secondary phase (CoO). Better cycling stability is noticed for SnO·CoO–B with the expense of their reversible capacity. Also, addition of carbon nanotubes (CNT) to SnO–S further improved the cycling performance of SnO–S. When cycled at 60 mA g{sup −1}, the first-cycle reversible capacities of 635, 590 and 460 (±10) mA h g{sup −1} are noticed for SnO–S, SnO@CNT and SnO·CoO–B, respectively. The capacity fading observed are 3.7 and 1.8 mA h g{sup −1} per cycle for SnO–S and SnO@CNT, respectively; whereas 1–1.2 mA h g{sup −1} per cycle for SnO·CoO–B. All the samples show high coulombic efficiency, 96–98% in the range of 5–50 cycles.

Different shades of default mode disturbance in schizophrenia: Subnodal covariance estimation in structure and function.

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Lefort-Besnard, Jérémy; Bassett, Danielle S; Smallwood, Jonathan; Margulies, Daniel S; Derntl, Birgit; Gruber, Oliver; Aleman, Andre; Jardri, Renaud; Varoquaux, Gaël; Thirion, Bertrand; Eickhoff, Simon B; Bzdok, Danilo

2018-02-01

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disease with an apparent disruption in the highly associative default mode network (DMN). Interplay between this canonical network and others probably contributes to goal-directed behavior so its disturbance is a candidate neural fingerprint underlying schizophrenia psychopathology. Previous research has reported both hyperconnectivity and hypoconnectivity within the DMN, and both increased and decreased DMN coupling with the multimodal saliency network (SN) and dorsal attention network (DAN). This study systematically revisited network disruption in patients with schizophrenia using data-derived network atlases and multivariate pattern-learning algorithms in a multisite dataset (n = 325). Resting-state fluctuations in unconstrained brain states were used to estimate functional connectivity, and local volume differences between individuals were used to estimate structural co-occurrence within and between the DMN, SN, and DAN. In brain structure and function, sparse inverse covariance estimates of network coupling were used to characterize healthy participants and patients with schizophrenia, and to identify statistically significant group differences. Evidence did not confirm that the backbone of the DMN was the primary driver of brain dysfunction in schizophrenia. Instead, functional and structural aberrations were frequently located outside of the DMN core, such as in the anterior temporoparietal junction and precuneus. Additionally, functional covariation analyses highlighted dysfunctional DMN-DAN coupling, while structural covariation results highlighted aberrant DMN-SN coupling. Our findings reframe the role of the DMN core and its relation to canonical networks in schizophrenia. We thus underline the importance of large-scale neural interactions as effective biomarkers and indicators of how to tailor psychiatric care to single patients. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of signal salience and noise on performance and stress in an abbreviated vigil

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Helton, William Stokely

Vigilance or sustained attention tasks traditionally require observers to detect predetermined signals that occur unpredictably over periods of 30 min to several hours (Warm, 1984). These tasks are taxing and have been useful in revealing the effects of stress agents, such as infectious disease and drugs, on human performance (Alluisi, 1969; Damos & Parker, 1994; Warm, 1993). However, their long duration has been an inconvenience. Recently, Temple and his associates (Temple et al., 2000) developed an abbreviated 12-min vigilance task that duplicates many of the findings with longer duration vigils. The present study was designed to explore further the similarity of the abbreviated task to long-duration vigils by investigating the effects of signal salience and jet-aircraft engine noise on performance, operator stress, and coping strategies. Forty-eight observers (24 males and 24 females) were assigned at random to each of four conditions resulting from the factorial combination of signal salience (high and low contrast signals) and background noise (quiet and jet-aircraft noise). As is the case with long-duration vigils (Warm, 1993), signal detection in the abbreviated task was poorer for low salience than for high salience signals. In addition, stress scores, as indexed by the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (Matthews, Joiner, Gilliland, Campbell, & Falconer, 1999), were elevated in the low as compared to the high salience condition. Unlike longer vigils, however, (Becker, Warm, Dember, & Hancock, 1996), signal detection in the abbreviated task was superior in the presence of aircraft noise than in quiet. Noise also attenuated the stress of the vigil, a result that is counter to previous findings regarding the effects of noise in a variety of other scenarios (Clark, 1984). Examination of observers' coping responses, as assessed by the Coping Inventory for Task Situations (Matthews & Campbell, 1998), indicated that problem-focused coping was the overwhelming

Molecular Mimicry Regulates ABA Signaling by SnRK2 Kinases and PP2C Phosphatases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soon, Fen-Fen; Ng, Ley-Moy; Zhou, X. Edward; West, Graham M.; Kovach, Amanda; Tan, M.H. Eileen; Suino-Powell, Kelly M.; He, Yuanzheng; Xu, Yong; Chalmers, Michael J.; Brunzelle, Joseph S.; Zhang, Huiming; Yang, Huaiyu; Jiang, Hualiang; Li, Jun; Yong, Eu-Leong; Cutler, Sean; Zhu, Jian-Kang; Griffin, Patrick R.; Melcher, Karsten; Xu, H. Eric

2012-01-01

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an essential hormone for plants to survive environmental stresses. At the center of the ABA signaling network is a subfamily of type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs), which form exclusive interactions with ABA receptors and subfamily 2 Snfl-related kinase (SnRK2s). Here, we report a SnRK2-PP2C complex structure, which reveals marked similarity in PP2C recognition by SnRK2 and ABA receptors. In the complex, the kinase activation loop docks into the active site of PP2C, while the conserved ABA-sensing tryptophan of PP2C inserts into the kinase catalytic cleft, thus mimicking receptor-PP2C interactions. These structural results provide a simple mechanism that directly couples ABA binding to SnRK2 kinase activation and highlight a new paradigm of kinase-phosphatase regulation through mutual packing of their catalytic sites.

Molecular Mimicry Regulates ABA Signaling by SnRK2 Kinases and PP2C Phosphatases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soon, Fen-Fen; Ng, Ley-Moy; Zhou, X. Edward; West, Graham M.; Kovach, Amanda; Tan, M.H. Eileen; Suino-Powell, Kelly M.; He, Yuanzheng; Xu, Yong; Chalmers, Michael J.; Brunzelle, Joseph S.; Zhang, Huiming; Yang, Huaiyu; Jiang, Hualiang; Li, Jun; Yong, Eu-Leong; Cutler, Sean; Zhu, Jian-Kang; Griffin, Patrick R.; Melcher, Karsten; Xu, H. Eric (Van Andel); (Scripps); (NWU); (Purdue); (UCR); (Chinese Aca. Sci.); (NU Singapore)

2014-10-02

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an essential hormone for plants to survive environmental stresses. At the center of the ABA signaling network is a subfamily of type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs), which form exclusive interactions with ABA receptors and subfamily 2 Snfl-related kinase (SnRK2s). Here, we report a SnRK2-PP2C complex structure, which reveals marked similarity in PP2C recognition by SnRK2 and ABA receptors. In the complex, the kinase activation loop docks into the active site of PP2C, while the conserved ABA-sensing tryptophan of PP2C inserts into the kinase catalytic cleft, thus mimicking receptor-PP2C interactions. These structural results provide a simple mechanism that directly couples ABA binding to SnRK2 kinase activation and highlight a new paradigm of kinase-phosphatase regulation through mutual packing of their catalytic sites.

Stress Sensitivity, Aberrant Salience, and Threat Anticipation in Early Psychosis: An Experience Sampling Study

Science.gov (United States)

Reininghaus, Ulrich; Kempton, Matthew J.; Valmaggia, Lucia; Craig, Tom K. J.; Garety, Philippa; Onyejiaka, Adanna; Gayer-Anderson, Charlotte; So, Suzanne H.; Hubbard, Kathryn; Beards, Stephanie; Dazzan, Paola; Pariante, Carmine; Mondelli, Valeria; Fisher, Helen L.; Mills, John G.; Viechtbauer, Wolfgang; McGuire, Philip; van Os, Jim; Murray, Robin M.; Wykes, Til; Myin-Germeys, Inez; Morgan, Craig

2016-01-01

While contemporary models of psychosis have proposed a number of putative psychological mechanisms, how these impact on individuals to increase intensity of psychotic experiences in real life, outside the research laboratory, remains unclear. We aimed to investigate whether elevated stress sensitivity, experiences of aberrant novelty and salience, and enhanced anticipation of threat contribute to the development of psychotic experiences in daily life. We used the experience sampling method (ESM) to assess stress, negative affect, aberrant salience, threat anticipation, and psychotic experiences in 51 individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP), 46 individuals with an at-risk mental state (ARMS) for psychosis, and 53 controls with no personal or family history of psychosis. Linear mixed models were used to account for the multilevel structure of ESM data. In all 3 groups, elevated stress sensitivity, aberrant salience, and enhanced threat anticipation were associated with an increased intensity of psychotic experiences. However, elevated sensitivity to minor stressful events (χ2 = 6.3, P = 0.044), activities (χ2 = 6.7, P = 0.036), and areas (χ2 = 9.4, P = 0.009) and enhanced threat anticipation (χ2 = 9.3, P = 0.009) were associated with more intense psychotic experiences in FEP individuals than controls. Sensitivity to outsider status (χ2 = 5.7, P = 0.058) and aberrantly salient experiences (χ2 = 12.3, P = 0.002) were more strongly associated with psychotic experiences in ARMS individuals than controls. Our findings suggest that stress sensitivity, aberrant salience, and threat anticipation are important psychological processes in the development of psychotic experiences in daily life in the early stages of the disorder. PMID:26834027

Effects of social identity salience on motivational orientation and conflict strategies in intergenerational conflict.

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Ho, Henry C Y; Yeung, Dannii Y

2017-06-01

With the upsurge of older adults still working, the labour force is becoming increasingly diverse in age. Age diversity in an organisation can increase the likelihood of intergenerational conflict. The present study aims to integrate the dual concern model and social identity theory to explain the underlying mechanisms of intergenerational conflict by examining the effects of social identity salience on motivational orientation and conflict strategies. A 2 (subgroup identity salience: low vs. high younger/older group membership) × 2 (superordinate identity salience: low vs. high organisational group membership) factorial design with a structured questionnaire on motivational orientation and conflict strategies in relation to a hypothetical work conflict scenario was implemented among 220 postgraduate university students in Hong Kong. Results revealed that subgroup and superordinate identities had a combined influence on conflict strategies but not in motivational orientation. Subgroup and superordinate identification promoted integrating and compromising strategies, superordinate identification promoted obliging strategy, subgroup identification promoted dominating strategy and no identification promoted avoiding strategy. Age did not moderate these relationships. This study contributes to the development of the integrated model of conflict. © 2017 International Union of Psychological Science.

Fixations on objects in natural scenes: dissociating importance from salience

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Bernard Marius e’t Hart

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The relation of selective attention to understanding of natural scenes has been subject to intense behavioral research and computational modeling, and gaze is often used as a proxy for such attention. The probability of an image region to be fixated typically correlates with its contrast. However, this relation does not imply a causal role of contrast. Rather, contrast may relate to an object’s importance for a scene, which in turn drives attention. Here we operationalize importance by the probability that an observer names the object as characteristic for a scene. We modify luminance contrast of either a frequently named (common/important or a rarely named (rare/unimportant object, track the observers’ eye movements during scene viewing and ask them to provide keywords describing the scene immediately after.When no object is modified relative to the background, important objects draw more fixations than unimportant ones. Increases of contrast make an object more likely to be fixated, irrespective of whether it was important for the original scene, while decreases in contrast have little effect on fixations. Any contrast modification makes originally unimportant objects more important for the scene. Finally, important objects are fixated more centrally than unimportant objects, irrespective of contrast.Our data suggest a dissociation between object importance (relevance for the scene and salience (relevance for attention. If an object obeys natural scene statistics, important objects are also salient. However, when natural scene statistics are violated, importance and salience are differentially affected. Object salience is modulated by the expectation about object properties (e.g., formed by context or gist, and importance by the violation of such expectations. In addition, the dependence of fixated locations within an object on the object’s importance suggests an analogy to the effects of word frequency on landing positions in reading.

Inherent Difference in Saliency for Generators with Different PM Materials

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Sandra Eriksson

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The inherent differences between salient and nonsalient electrical machines are evaluated for two permanent magnet generators with different configurations. The neodymium based (NdFeB permanent magnets (PMs in a generator are substituted with ferrite magnets and the characteristics of the NdFeB generator and the ferrite generator are compared through FEM simulations. The NdFeB generator is a nonsalient generator, whereas the ferrite machine is a salient-pole generator, with small saliency. The two generators have almost identical properties at rated load operation. However, at overload the behaviour differs between the two generators. The salient-pole, ferrite generator has lower maximum torque than the NdFeB generator and a larger voltage drop at high current. It is concluded that, for applications where overload capability is important, saliency must be considered and the generator design adapted according to the behaviour at overload operation. Furthermore, if the maximum torque is the design criteria, additional PM mass will be required for the salient-pole machine.

Imbalance of default mode and regulatory networks during externally focused processing in depression

Science.gov (United States)

Belleau, Emily L.; Taubitz, Lauren E.

2015-01-01

Attentional control difficulties likely underlie rumination, a core cognitive vulnerability in major depressive disorder (MDD). Abnormalities in the default mode, executive and salience networks are implicated in both rumination and attentional control difficulties in MDD. In the current study, individuals with MDD (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 16) completed tasks designed to elicit self-focused (ruminative) and externally-focused thinking during fMRI scanning. The MDD group showed greater default mode network connectivity and less executive and salience network connectivity during the external-focus condition. Contrary to our predictions, there were no differences in connectivity between the groups during the self-focus condition. Thus, it appears that when directed to engage in self-referential thinking, both depressed and non-depressed individuals similarly recruit networks supporting this process. In contrast, when instructed to engage in non-self-focused thought, non-depressed individuals show a pattern of network connectivity indicative of minimized self-referential processing, whereas depressed individuals fail to reallocate neural resources in a manner consistent with effective down regulation of self-focused thought. This is consistent with difficulties in regulating self-focused thinking in order to engage in more goal-directed behavior that is seen in individuals with MDD. PMID:25274576

Intrinsic network connectivity and own body perception in gender dysphoria.

Science.gov (United States)

Feusner, Jamie D; Lidström, Andreas; Moody, Teena D; Dhejne, Cecilia; Bookheimer, Susan Y; Savic, Ivanka

2017-08-01

Gender dysphoria (GD) is characterized by incongruence between one's identity and gender assigned at birth. The biological mechanisms of GD are unclear. We investigated brain network connectivity patterns involved in own body perception in the context of self in GD. Twenty-seven female-to-male (FtM) individuals with GD, 27 male controls, and 27 female controls underwent resting state fMRI. We compared functional connections within intrinsic connectivity networks involved in self-referential processes and own body perception -default mode network (DMN) and salience network - and visual networks, using independent components analyses. Behavioral correlates of network connectivity were also tested using self-perception ratings while viewing own body images morphed to their sex assigned at birth, and to the sex of their gender identity. FtM exhibited decreased connectivity of anterior and posterior cingulate and precuneus within the DMN compared with controls. In FtM, higher "self" ratings for bodies morphed towards the sex of their gender identity were associated with greater connectivity of the anterior cingulate within the DMN, during long viewing times. In controls, higher ratings for bodies morphed towards their gender assigned at birth were associated with right insula connectivity within the salience network, during short viewing times. Within visual networks FtM showed weaker connectivity in occipital and temporal regions. Results suggest disconnectivity within networks involved in own body perception in the context of self in GD. Moreover, perception of bodies in relation to self may be reflective rather than reflexive, as a function of mesial prefrontal processes. These may represent neurobiological correlates to the subjective disconnection between perception of body and self-identification.

Hopelessly mortal: The role of mortality salience, immortality and trait self-esteem in personal hope.

Science.gov (United States)

Wisman, Arnaud; Heflick, Nathan A

2016-08-01

Do people lose hope when thinking about death? Based on Terror Management Theory, we predicted that thoughts of death (i.e., mortality salience) would reduce personal hope for people low, but not high, in self-esteem, and that this reduction in hope would be ameliorated by promises of immortality. In Studies 1 and 2, mortality salience reduced personal hope for people low in self-esteem, but not for people high in self-esteem. In Study 3, mortality salience reduced hope for people low in self-esteem when they read an argument that there is no afterlife, but not when they read "evidence" supporting life after death. In Study 4, this effect was replicated with an essay affirming scientific medical advances that promise immortality. Together, these findings uniquely demonstrate that thoughts of mortality interact with trait self-esteem to cause changes in personal hope, and that literal immortality beliefs can aid psychological adjustment when thinking about death. Implications for understanding personal hope, trait self-esteem, afterlife beliefs and terror management are discussed.

Sn powder as reducing agents and SnO2 precursors for the synthesis of SnO2-reduced graphene oxide hybrid nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Mingxi; Zhang, Congcong; Li, Lingzhi; Liu, Yu; Li, Xichuan; Xu, Xiaoyang; Xia, Fengling; Wang, Wei; Gao, Jianping

2013-12-26

A facile approach to prepare SnO2/rGO (reduced graphene oxide) hybrid nanoparticles by a direct redox reaction between graphene oxide (GO) and tin powder was developed. Since no acid was used, it is an environmentally friendly green method. The SnO2/rGO hybrid nanoparticles were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The microstructure of the SnO2/rGO was observed with scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The tin powder efficiently reduced GO to rGO, and the Sn was transformed to SnO2 nanoparticles (∼45 nm) that were evenly distributed on the rGO sheets. The SnO2/rGO hybrid nanoparticles were then coated on an interdigital electrode to fabricate a humidity sensor, which have an especially good linear impedance response from 11% to 85% relative humidity.

Behavior of Sn atoms in GeSn thin films during thermal annealing: Ex-situ and in-situ observations

Science.gov (United States)

Takase, Ryohei; Ishimaru, Manabu; Uchida, Noriyuki; Maeda, Tatsuro; Sato, Kazuhisa; Lieten, Ruben R.; Locquet, Jean-Pierre

2016-12-01

Thermally induced crystallization processes for amorphous GeSn thin films with Sn concentrations beyond the solubility limit of the bulk crystal Ge-Sn binary system have been examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, and (scanning) transmission electron microscopy. We paid special attention to the behavior of Sn before and after recrystallization. In the as-deposited specimens, Sn atoms were homogeneously distributed in an amorphous matrix. Prior to crystallization, an amorphous-to-amorphous phase transformation associated with the rearrangement of Sn atoms was observed during heat treatment; this transformation is reversible with respect to temperature. Remarkable recrystallization occurred at temperatures above 400 °C, and Sn atoms were ejected from the crystallized GeSn matrix. The segregation of Sn became more pronounced with increasing annealing temperature, and the ejected Sn existed as a liquid phase. It was found that the molten Sn remains as a supercooled liquid below the eutectic temperature of the Ge-Sn binary system during the cooling process, and finally, β-Sn precipitates were formed at ambient temperature.

A facile inexpensive route for SnS thin film solar cells with SnS{sub 2} buffer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gedi, Sreedevi [School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea (Korea, Republic of); Solar Photovoltaic Laboratory, Department of Physics, Sri Venkateswasra University, Tirupati 517 502 (India); Minna Reddy, Vasudeva Reddy, E-mail: drmvasudr9@gmail.com [School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea (Korea, Republic of); Solar Photovoltaic Laboratory, Department of Physics, Sri Venkateswasra University, Tirupati 517 502 (India); Pejjai, Babu [School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea (Korea, Republic of); Solar Photovoltaic Laboratory, Department of Physics, Sri Venkateswasra University, Tirupati 517 502 (India); Jeon, Chan-Wook [School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea (Korea, Republic of); Park, Chinho, E-mail: chpark@ynu.ac.kr [School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea (Korea, Republic of); Ramakrishna Reddy, K.T., E-mail: ktrkreddy@gmail.com [Solar Photovoltaic Laboratory, Department of Physics, Sri Venkateswasra University, Tirupati 517 502 (India)

2016-05-30

Graphical abstract: PYS spectra of SnS/SnS{sub 2} interface and the related band diagram. - Highlights: • A low cost SnS solar cell is developed using chemical bath deposition. • We found E{sub I} & χ of SnS (5.3 eV & 4.0 eV) and SnS{sub 2} (6.9 eV & 4.1 eV) films from PYS. • Band offsets of 0.1 eV (E{sub c}) and 1.6 eV (E{sub v}) are estimated for SnS/SnS{sub 2} junction. • SnS based solar cell showed a conversion efficiency of 0.51%. - Abstract: Environment-friendly SnS based thin film solar cells with SnS{sub 2} as buffer layer were successfully fabricated from a facile inexpensive route, chemical bath deposition (CBD). Layer studies revealed that as-grown SnS and SnS{sub 2} films were polycrystalline; (1 1 1)/(0 0 1) peaks as the preferred orientation; 1.3 eV/2.8 eV as optical band gaps; and showed homogeneous microstructure with densely packed grains respectively. Ionization energy and electron affinity values were found by applying photoemission yield spectroscopy (PYS) to the CBD deposited SnS and SnS{sub 2} films for the first time. These values obtained as 5.3 eV and 4.0 eV for SnS films; 6.9 eV and 4.1 eV for SnS{sub 2} films. The band alignment of SnS/SnS{sub 2} junction showed TYPE-II heterostructure. The estimated conduction and valance band offsets were 0.1 eV and 1.6 eV respectively. The current density–voltage (J–V) measurements of the cell showed open circuit voltage (V{sub oc}) of 0.12 V, short circuit current density (J{sub sc}) of 10.87 mA cm{sup −2}, fill factor (FF) of 39% and conversion efficiency of 0.51%.

Interface chemistry engineering for stable cycling of reduced GO/SnO2 nanocomposites for lithium ion battery.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lei; Wang, Dong; Dong, Zhihui; Zhang, Fengxing; Jin, Jian

2013-04-10

From the whole anode electrode of view, we report in this work a system-level strategy of fabrication of reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/SnO2 composite-based anode for lithium ion battery (LIB) to enhance the capacity and cyclic performance of SnO2-based electrode materials. RGO/SnO2 composite was first coated by a nanothick polydopamine (PD) layer and the PD-coated RGO/SnO2 composite was then cross-linked with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) that was used as a binder to accomplish a whole anode electrode. The cross-link reaction between PAA and PD produced a robust network in the anode system to stabilize the whole anode during cycling. As a result, the designed anode exhibits an outstanding energy capacity up to 718 mAh/g at current density of 100 mA/g after 200 cycles and a good rate performance of 811, 700, 641, and 512 mAh/g at current density of 100, 250, 500, and 1000 mA/g, respectively. Fourier transform IR spectra confirm the formation of cross-link reaction and the stability of the robust network after long-term cycling. Our results indicate the importance of designing interfaces in anode system on achieving improved performance of electrode of LIBs.

Mortality Salience and Morality: Thinking about Death Makes People Less Utilitarian

Science.gov (United States)

Tremoliere, Bastien; De Neys, Wim; Bonnefon, Jean-Francois

2012-01-01

According to the dual-process model of moral judgment, utilitarian responses to moral conflict draw on limited cognitive resources. Terror Management Theory, in parallel, postulates that mortality salience mobilizes these resources to suppress thoughts of death out of focal attention. Consequently, we predicted that individuals under mortality…

The 7SK snRNP associates with the little elongation complex to promote snRNA gene expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Egloff, Sylvain; Vitali, Patrice; Tellier, Michael; Raffel, Raoul; Murphy, Shona; Kiss, Tamás

2017-04-03

The 7SK small nuclear RNP (snRNP), composed of the 7SK small nuclear RNA (snRNA), MePCE, and Larp7, regulates the mRNA elongation capacity of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) through controlling the nuclear activity of positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb). Here, we demonstrate that the human 7SK snRNP also functions as a canonical transcription factor that, in collaboration with the little elongation complex (LEC) comprising ELL, Ice1, Ice2, and ZC3H8, promotes transcription of RNAPII-specific spliceosomal snRNA and small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) genes. The 7SK snRNA specifically associates with a fraction of RNAPII hyperphosphorylated at Ser5 and Ser7, which is a hallmark of RNAPII engaged in snRNA synthesis. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and chromatin isolation by RNA purification (ChIRP) experiments revealed enrichments for all components of the 7SK snRNP on RNAPII-specific sn/snoRNA genes. Depletion of 7SK snRNA or Larp7 disrupts LEC integrity, inhibits RNAPII recruitment to RNAPII-specific sn/snoRNA genes, and reduces nascent snRNA and snoRNA synthesis. Thus, through controlling both mRNA elongation and sn/snoRNA synthesis, the 7SK snRNP is a key regulator of nuclear RNA production by RNAPII. © 2017 The Authors.

Career salience and work outcomes: A comparison of managerial and clerical employees

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G. J. Lock

1997-06-01

Full Text Available The present research aimed to assess the relationships between career salience and job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and psychological well-being. In addition, the variations within these relationships between management and clerical employees were explored. Self report data was collected from 86 accounting employees at the headoffice of a large retail company in Johannesburg. Pearson product-moment correlations, t-tests and z-transformations were computed. The results indicated that there is a significant positive relationship between career salience and both job satisfaction and organisational commitment. These results were found to differ according to hierarchical level. The variable psychological well-being only yielded significant associations with career salience for the managerial group. Opsomming Die navorsing neem die verband tussen loopbaanmarkantheid en werksbevrediging, toewyding aan die organisasie, en psigologiese welstand in oënskou. Verskille in hierdie verhoudings tussen bestuur en klerklike personeel word vervolgens ondersoek. Selfrapporteringsdata is ingesamel van 86 boekhouers by die hoofkantoor van 'n vooraanstaande kleinhandelaar in Johannesburg. Pearson produk-moment korrelasies, t-toetse en z-transformasies is bereken. Die resultate het aangedui dat daar 'n beduidende positiewe verband is tussen loopbaanmarkantheid, aan die een kant, en sowel werksbevrediging as toewyding aan die organisasie aan die ander kant. Daar is verder gevind dat resultaat bemvloed word deur die hierargiese vlak waarop mense werk. Psigologiese welstand het byvoorbeeld net in die geval van bestuurders 'n beduidende korrelasie met loopbaanmarkantheid getoon.

Superiority Of Graph-Based Visual Saliency GVS Over Other Image Segmentation Methods

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Umu Lamboi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Although inherently tedious the segmentation of images and the evaluation of segmented images are critical in computer vision processes. One of the main challenges in image segmentation evaluation arises from the basic conflict between generality and objectivity. For general segmentation purposes the lack of well-defined ground-truth and segmentation accuracy limits the evaluation of specific applications. Subjectivity is the most common method of evaluation of segmentation quality where segmented images are visually compared. This is daunting task however limits the scope of segmentation evaluation to a few predetermined sets of images. As an alternative supervised evaluation compares segmented images against manually-segmented or pre-processed benchmark images. Not only good evaluation methods allow for different comparisons but also for integration with target recognition systems for adaptive selection of appropriate segmentation granularity with improved recognition accuracy. Most of the current segmentation methods still lack satisfactory measures of effectiveness. Thus this study proposed a supervised framework which uses visual saliency detection to quantitatively evaluate image segmentation quality. The new benchmark evaluator uses Graph-based Visual Saliency GVS to compare boundary outputs for manually segmented images. Using the Berkeley Segmentation Database the proposed algorithm was tested against 4 other quantitative evaluation methods Probabilistic Rand Index PRI Variation of Information VOI Global Consistency Error GSE and Boundary Detection Error BDE. Based on the results the GVS approach outperformed any of the other 4 independent standard methods in terms of visual saliency detection of images.

Modification of SnO2 Anodes by Atomic Layer Deposition for High Performance Lithium Ion Batteries

KAUST Repository

Yesibolati, Nulati

2013-05-01

Tin dioxide (SnO2) is considered one of the most promising anode materials for Lithium ion batteries (LIBs), due to its large theoretical capacity and natural abundance. However, its low electronic/ionic conductivities, large volume change during lithiation/delithiation and agglomeration prevent it from further commercial applications. In this thesis, we investigate modified SnO2 as a high energy density anode material for LIBs. Specifically two approaches are presented to improve battery performances. Firstly, SnO2 electrochemical performances were improved by surface modification using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). Ultrathin Al2O3 or HfO2 were coated on SnO2 electrodes. It was found that electrochemical performances had been enhanced after ALD deposition. In a second approach, we implemented a layer-by-layer (LBL) assembled graphene/carbon-coated hollow SnO2 spheres as anode material for LIBs. Our results indicated that the LBL assembled electrodes had high reversible lithium storage capacities even at high current densities. These superior electrochemical performances are attributed to the enhanced electronic conductivity and effective lithium diffusion, because of the interconnected graphene/carbon networks among nanoparticles of the hollow SnO2 spheres.

ABERRANT RESTING-STATE BRAIN ACTIVITY IN POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER: A META-ANALYSIS AND SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Saskia B J; van Zuiden, Mirjam; Nawijn, Laura; Frijling, Jessie L; Veltman, Dick J; Olff, Miranda

2016-07-01

About 10% of trauma-exposed individuals develop PTSD. Although a growing number of studies have investigated resting-state abnormalities in PTSD, inconsistent results suggest a need for a meta-analysis and a systematic review. We conducted a systematic literature search in four online databases using keywords for PTSD, functional neuroimaging, and resting-state. In total, 23 studies matched our eligibility criteria. For the meta-analysis, we included 14 whole-brain resting-state studies, reporting data on 663 participants (298 PTSD patients and 365 controls). We used the activation likelihood estimation approach to identify concurrence of whole-brain hypo- and hyperactivations in PTSD patients during rest. Seed-based studies could not be included in the quantitative meta-analysis. Therefore, a separate qualitative systematic review was conducted on nine seed-based functional connectivity studies. The meta-analysis showed consistent hyperactivity in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex and the parahippocampus/amygdala, but hypoactivity in the (posterior) insula, cerebellar pyramis and middle frontal gyrus in PTSD patients, compared to healthy controls. Partly concordant with these findings, the systematic review on seed-based functional connectivity studies showed enhanced salience network (SN) connectivity, but decreased default mode network (DMN) connectivity in PTSD. Combined, these altered resting-state connectivity and activity patterns could represent neurobiological correlates of increased salience processing and hypervigilance (SN), at the cost of awareness of internal thoughts and autobiographical memory (DMN) in PTSD. However, several discrepancies between findings of the meta-analysis and systematic review were observed, stressing the need for future studies on resting-state abnormalities in PTSD patients. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effect of Sn addition on the microstructure and superelasticity in Ti-Nb-Mo-Sn alloys.

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Zhang, D C; Yang, S; Wei, M; Mao, Y F; Tan, C G; Lin, J G

2012-09-01

Ti-7.5Nb-4Mo-xSn (x=0-4at%) alloys were developed as the biomedical materials. The effect of the Sn content on the microstructure and superelasticity of the alloys was investigated. It is found that Sn is a strong stabilizer of the β phase, which is effective in suppressing the formation of α″ and ω phases in the alloys. Moreover, the Sn addition has a significant impact on the mechanical properties of the alloys. With the increase of Sn addition, the yield stress of the alloys increase, but their elastic modulus, the fracture strength and the ductility decrease, and the deformation mode of the alloys changes from (322) twining to α″ transformation and then to slip. The Ti-7.5Nb-4Mo-1Sn and Ti-7.5Nb-4Mo-3Sn alloys exhibit a good superelasticity with a high σ(SIM) due to the relatively high athermal ω phases containing or the solution hardening at room temperature. Under the maximum strain of 5%, Ti-7.5Nb-4Mo-3Sn (at%) alloy exhibits higher super elastic stability than that of Ti-7.5Nb-4Mo-1Sn alloy. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fabrication of high crystalline SnS and SnS2 thin films, and their switching device characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Hyeongsu; Lee, Jeongsu; Shin, Seokyoon; Lee, Juhyun; Lee, Seungjin; Park, Hyunwoo; Kwon, Sejin; Lee, Namgue; Bang, Minwook; Lee, Seung-Beck; Jeon, Hyeongtag

2018-05-01

Representative tin sulfide compounds, tin monosulfide (SnS) and tin disulfide (SnS2) are strong candidates for future nanoelectronic devices, based on non-toxicity, low cost, unique structures and optoelectronic properties. However, it is insufficient for synthesizing of tin sulfide thin films using vapor phase deposition method which is capable of fabricating reproducible device and securing high quality films, and their device characteristics. In this study, we obtained highly crystalline SnS thin films by atomic layer deposition and obtained highly crystalline SnS2 thin films by phase transition of the SnS thin films. The SnS thin film was transformed into SnS2 thin film by annealing at 450 °C for 1 h in H2S atmosphere. This phase transition was confirmed by x-ray diffractometer and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and we studied the cause of the phase transition. We then compared the film characteristics of these two tin sulfide thin films and their switching device characteristics. SnS and SnS2 thin films had optical bandgaps of 1.35 and 2.70 eV, and absorption coefficients of about 105 and 104 cm‑1 in the visible region, respectively. In addition, SnS and SnS2 thin films exhibited p-type and n-type semiconductor characteristics. In the images of high resolution-transmission electron microscopy, SnS and SnS2 directly showed a highly crystalline orthorhombic and hexagonal layered structure. The field effect transistors of SnS and SnS2 thin films exhibited on–off drain current ratios of 8.8 and 2.1 × 103 and mobilities of 0.21 and 0.014 cm2 V‑1 s‑1, respectively. This difference in switching device characteristics mainly depends on the carrier concentration because it contributes to off-state conductance and mobility. The major carrier concentrations of the SnS and SnS2 thin films were 6.0 × 1016 and 8.7 × 1013 cm‑3, respectively, in this experiment.

Rational design of Sn/SnO{sub 2}/porous carbon nanocomposites as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Xiaojia [Tianjin International Joint Research Centre of Surface Technology for Energy Storage Materials, College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387 (China); Li, Xifei, E-mail: xfli2011@hotmail.com [Tianjin International Joint Research Centre of Surface Technology for Energy Storage Materials, College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387 (China); Center for Advanced Energy Materials and Devices, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048 (China); Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071 (China); Fan, Linlin; Yu, Zhuxin; Yan, Bo; Xiong, Dongbin; Song, Xiaosheng; Li, Shiyu [Tianjin International Joint Research Centre of Surface Technology for Energy Storage Materials, College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387 (China); Adair, Keegan R. [Nanomaterials and Energy Lab., Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 5B9 (Canada); Li, Dejun, E-mail: dejunli@mail.tjnu.edu.cn [Tianjin International Joint Research Centre of Surface Technology for Energy Storage Materials, College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387 (China); Sun, Xueliang, E-mail: xsun9@uwo.ca [Nanomaterials and Energy Lab., Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 5B9 (Canada); Tianjin International Joint Research Centre of Surface Technology for Energy Storage Materials, College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387 (China)

2017-08-01

Highlights: • Sn/SnO{sub 2}/porous carbon nanocomposites are rationally designed via a facile strategy. • The porous carbon mitigates the volume change and poor conductivity of Sn/SnO{sub 2}. • The nanocomposites exhibit the enhanced sodium storage performance. - Abstract: Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have successfully attracted considerable attention for application in energy storage, and have been proposed as an alternative to lithium ion batteries (LIBs) due to the abundance of sodium resources and low price. Sn has been deemed as a promising anode material in SIBs which holds high theoretical specific capacity of 845 mAh g{sup −1}. In this work we design nanocomposite materials consisting of porous carbon (PC) with SnO{sub 2} and Sn (Sn/SnO{sub 2}/PC) via a facile reflux method. Served as an anode material for SIBs, the Sn/SnO{sub 2}/PC nanocomposite delivers the primary discharge and charge capacities of 1148.1 and 303.0 mAh g{sup −1}, respectively. Meanwhile, it can preserve the discharge capacity approximately of 265.4 mAh g{sup −1} after 50 cycles, which is much higher than those of SnO{sub 2}/PC (138.5 mAh g{sup −1}) and PC (92.2 mAh g{sup −1}). Furthermore, the Sn/SnO{sub 2}/PC nanocomposite possesses better cycling stability with 77.8% capacity retention compared to that of SnO{sub 2}/PC (61.88%) over 50 cycles. Obviously, the Sn/SnO{sub 2}/PC composite with excellent electrochemical performance shows the great possibility of application in SIBs.

Modafinil alters intrinsic functional connectivity of the right posterior insula: a pharmacological resting state fMRI study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicoletta Cera

Full Text Available Modafinil is employed for the treatment of narcolepsy and has also been, off-label, used to treat cognitive dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders. In a previous study, we have reported that single dose administration of modafinil in healthy young subjects enhances fluid reasoning and affects resting state activity in the Fronto Parietal Control (FPC and Dorsal Attention (DAN networks. No changes were found in the Salience Network (SN, a surprising result as the network is involved in the modulation of emotional and fluid reasoning. The insula is crucial hub of the SN and functionally divided in anterior and posterior subregions.Using a seed-based approach, we have now analyzed effects of modafinil on the functional connectivity (FC of insular subregions.Analysis of FC with resting state fMRI (rs-FMRI revealed increased FC between the right posterior insula and the putamen, the superior frontal gyrus and the anterior cingulate cortex in the modafinil-treated group.Modafinil is considered a putative cognitive enhancer. The rs-fMRI modifications that we have found are consistent with the drug cognitive enhancing properties and indicate subregional targets of action.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01684306.

Anticipated Work-Family Conflict: Effects of Role Salience and Self-Efficacy

Science.gov (United States)

Cinamon, Rachel Gali

2010-01-01

The current study investigated how male and female university students' self-efficacy and their role salience contributed to the variance in their anticipated work-family conflict (WFC). Participants comprised 387 unmarried students (mean age 24 years). Cluster analysis yielded four profiles of participants who differed in their attributions of…

Molecular Mimicry Regulates ABA Signaling by SnRK2 Kinases and PP2C Phosphatases

Science.gov (United States)

Soon, Fen-Fen; Ng, Ley-Moy; Zhou, X. Edward; West, Graham M.; Kovach, Amanda; Tan, M. H. Eileen; Suino-Powell, Kelly M.; He, Yuanzheng; Xu, Yong; Chalmers, Michael J.; Brunzelle, Joseph S.; Zhang, Huiming; Yang, Huaiyu; Jiang, Hualiang; Li, Jun; Yong, Eu-Leong; Cutler, Sean; Zhu, Jian-Kang; Griffin, Patrick R.; Melcher, Karsten; Xu, H. Eric

2013-01-01

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an essential hormone for plants to survive environmental stresses. At the center of the ABA signaling network is a subfamily of type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs), which form exclusive interactions with ABA receptors and subfamily 2 Snfl-related kinase (SnRK2s). Here, we report a SnRK2-PP2C complex structure, which reveals marked similarity in PP2C recognition by SnRK2 and ABA receptors. In the complex, the kinase activation loop docks into the active site of PP2C, while the conserved ABA-sensing tryptophan of PP2C inserts into the kinase catalytic cleft, thus mimicking receptor-PP2C interactions. These structural results provide a simple mechanism that directly couples ABA binding to SnRK2 kinase activation and highlight a new paradigm of kinase-phosphatase regulation through mutual packing of their catalytic sites. PMID:22116026

Green collaboration in cognitive radio cellular networks with roaming and spectrum trading

KAUST Repository

Sboui, Lokman

2015-08-30

In this paper, we propose a new cognitive cellular network architecture based on the coexistence of primary and secondary networks, (PN) and (SN), respectively. The PN aims to minimize its energy consumption by switching off the maximum number of its BSs and offloading its users to the SN\\'s infrastructure to maintain its QoS. In return, the PN pays a roaming price and permits the SN to share or lease the spectrum at a certain price. We propose a low-complexity algorithm allowing the PN to minimize its energy consumption by selecting a suboptimal combination of active base stations. Our algorithm also optimizes the resource allocation of the SN to maximize its total sum-rate while respecting the minimal profit constraints for both networks. In the numerical results, we show that our proposed algorithm achieves close performances to the optimal exhaustive search algorithm. In addition, we investigate the impact of various system parameters in the collaboration decision.

Hierarchical Graphene-Encapsulated Hollow SnO2@SnS2 Nanostructures with Enhanced Lithium Storage Capability.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Wangwang; Xie, Zhiqiang; Cui, Xiaodan; Zhao, Kangning; Zhang, Lei; Dietrich, Grant; Dooley, Kerry M; Wang, Ying

2015-10-14

Complex hierarchical structures have received tremendous attention due to their superior properties over their constitute components. In this study, hierarchical graphene-encapsulated hollow SnO2@SnS2 nanostructures are successfully prepared by in situ sulfuration on the backbones of hollow SnO2 spheres via a simple hydrothermal method followed by a solvothermal surface modification. The as-prepared hierarchical SnO2@SnS2@rGO nanocomposite can be used as anode material in lithium ion batteries, exhibiting excellent cyclability with a capacity of 583 mAh/g after 100 electrochemical cycles at a specific current of 200 mA/g. This material shows a very low capacity fading of only 0.273% per cycle from the second to the 100th cycle, lower than the capacity degradation of bare SnO2 hollow spheres (0.830%) and single SnS2 nanosheets (0.393%). Even after being cycled at a range of specific currents varied from 100 mA/g to 2000 mA/g, hierarchical SnO2@SnS2@rGO nanocomposites maintain a reversible capacity of 664 mAh/g, which is much higher than single SnS2 nanosheets (374 mAh/g) and bare SnO2 hollow spheres (177 mAh/g). Such significantly improved electrochemical performance can be attributed to the unique hierarchical hollow structure, which not only effectively alleviates the stress resulting from the lithiation/delithiation process and maintaining structural stability during cycling but also reduces aggregation and facilitates ion transport. This work thus demonstrates the great potential of hierarchical SnO2@SnS2@rGO nanocomposites for applications as a high-performance anode material in next-generation lithium ion battery technology.

ParticipACTION: A mass media campaign targeting parents of inactive children; knowledge, saliency, and trialing behaviours

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gauvin Lise

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In late 2007, Canada's ParticipACTION national physical activity mass media campaign was re-launched, with an initial campaign targeting parents of elementary school-aged children. The campaign informed them about the risks of physical inactivity for children and youth. The purpose of this study was to assess campaign awareness and understanding following the campaign, and to identify whether exposure to this campaign was likely associated with behaviour change. Methods A convenience sample of 1,500 adults was recruited though an existing panel (n = 60,000 of Canadian adults to participate in online surveys. Initial campaign exposure included "prompted" and "unprompted" recall of specific physical activity messages from the 2007 ParticipACTION campaign, knowledge of the benefits of PA, saliency, and initial trial behaviours to help their children become more active. Results One quarter of respondents showed unprompted recall of specific message content from the ParticipACTION campaign, and prompted recall was 57%. Message recall and understanding was associated with knowledge about physical activity, and that in turn was related to high saliency. Saliency was associated with each of the physical activity-related trial behaviours asked. Conclusion Campaign awareness and understanding was high following this ParticipACTION campaign, and was associated with intermediate campaign outcomes, including saliency and trial behaviours. This is relevant to campaign evaluations, as it suggests that an initial focus on influencing awareness and understanding is likely to lead to more substantial change in campaign endpoints.

Individual differences in frequency and saliency of speech-accompanying gestures: the role of cognitive abilities and empathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Mingyuan; Meyer, Antje; Foulkes, Lucy; Kita, Sotaro

2014-04-01

The present study concerns individual differences in gesture production. We used correlational and multiple regression analyses to examine the relationship between individuals' cognitive abilities and empathy levels and their gesture frequency and saliency. We chose predictor variables according to experimental evidence of the functions of gesture in speech production and communication. We examined 3 types of gestures: representational gestures, conduit gestures, and palm-revealing gestures. Higher frequency of representational gestures was related to poorer visual and spatial working memory, spatial transformation ability, and conceptualization ability; higher frequency of conduit gestures was related to poorer visual working memory, conceptualization ability, and higher levels of empathy; and higher frequency of palm-revealing gestures was related to higher levels of empathy. The saliency of all gestures was positively related to level of empathy. These results demonstrate that cognitive abilities and empathy levels are related to individual differences in gesture frequency and saliency.

In situ 119Sn Moessbauer spectroscopy used to study lithium insertion in c-Mg2Sn

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aldon, L.; Ionica, C. M.; Lippens, P. E.; Larcher, D.; Tarascon, J.-M.; Olivier-Fourcade, J.; Jumas, J.-C.

2006-01-01

The electrochemical reactions of Li with c-Mg 2 Sn have been investigated by in situ Moessbauer spectroscopy of 119 Sn and X-ray diffraction. The lithiation transforms initially c-Mg 2 Sn part into Li x Mg 2 Sn alloy (x 2 MgSn ternary alloy. In situ Moessbauer spectroscopy provides valuable information on local environment of tin and swelling behavior and cracking of the particles during discharge and charge processes.

Stress Sensitivity, Aberrant Salience, and Threat Anticipation in Early Psychosis: An Experience Sampling Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Reininghaus, Ulrich; Kempton, Matthew J; Valmaggia, Lucia; Craig, Tom K J; Garety, Philippa; Onyejiaka, Adanna; Gayer-Anderson, Charlotte; So, Suzanne H; Hubbard, Kathryn; Beards, Stephanie; Dazzan, Paola; Pariante, Carmine; Mondelli, Valeria; Fisher, Helen L; Mills, John G; Viechtbauer, Wolfgang; McGuire, Philip; van Os, Jim; Murray, Robin M; Wykes, Til; Myin-Germeys, Inez; Morgan, Craig

2016-05-01

While contemporary models of psychosis have proposed a number of putative psychological mechanisms, how these impact on individuals to increase intensity of psychotic experiences in real life, outside the research laboratory, remains unclear. We aimed to investigate whether elevated stress sensitivity, experiences of aberrant novelty and salience, and enhanced anticipation of threat contribute to the development of psychotic experiences in daily life. We used the experience sampling method (ESM) to assess stress, negative affect, aberrant salience, threat anticipation, and psychotic experiences in 51 individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP), 46 individuals with an at-risk mental state (ARMS) for psychosis, and 53 controls with no personal or family history of psychosis. Linear mixed models were used to account for the multilevel structure of ESM data. In all 3 groups, elevated stress sensitivity, aberrant salience, and enhanced threat anticipation were associated with an increased intensity of psychotic experiences. However, elevated sensitivity to minor stressful events (χ(2)= 6.3,P= 0.044), activities (χ(2)= 6.7,P= 0.036), and areas (χ(2)= 9.4,P= 0.009) and enhanced threat anticipation (χ(2)= 9.3,P= 0.009) were associated with more intense psychotic experiences in FEP individuals than controls. Sensitivity to outsider status (χ(2)= 5.7,P= 0.058) and aberrantly salient experiences (χ(2)= 12.3,P= 0.002) were more strongly associated with psychotic experiences in ARMS individuals than controls. Our findings suggest that stress sensitivity, aberrant salience, and threat anticipation are important psychological processes in the development of psychotic experiences in daily life in the early stages of the disorder. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

Vehicle Color Recognition with Vehicle-Color Saliency Detection and Dual-Orientational Dimensionality Reduction of CNN Deep Features

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qiang; Li, Jiafeng; Zhuo, Li; Zhang, Hui; Li, Xiaoguang

2017-12-01

Color is one of the most stable attributes of vehicles and often used as a valuable cue in some important applications. Various complex environmental factors, such as illumination, weather, noise and etc., result in the visual characteristics of the vehicle color being obvious diversity. Vehicle color recognition in complex environments has been a challenging task. The state-of-the-arts methods roughly take the whole image for color recognition, but many parts of the images such as car windows; wheels and background contain no color information, which will have negative impact on the recognition accuracy. In this paper, a novel vehicle color recognition method using local vehicle-color saliency detection and dual-orientational dimensionality reduction of convolutional neural network (CNN) deep features has been proposed. The novelty of the proposed method includes two parts: (1) a local vehicle-color saliency detection method has been proposed to determine the vehicle color region of the vehicle image and exclude the influence of non-color regions on the recognition accuracy; (2) dual-orientational dimensionality reduction strategy has been designed to greatly reduce the dimensionality of deep features that are learnt from CNN, which will greatly mitigate the storage and computational burden of the subsequent processing, while improving the recognition accuracy. Furthermore, linear support vector machine is adopted as the classifier to train the dimensionality reduced features to obtain the recognition model. The experimental results on public dataset demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve superior recognition performance over the state-of-the-arts methods.

Genetic effect of interleukin-1 beta (C-511T) polymorphism on the structural covariance network and white matter integrity in Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Chi-Wei; Hsu, Shih-Wei; Tsai, Shih-Jen; Chen, Nai-Ching; Liu, Mu-En; Lee, Chen-Chang; Huang, Shu-Hua; Chang, Weng-Neng; Chang, Ya-Ting; Tsai, Wan-Chen; Chang, Chiung-Chih

2017-01-18

Inflammatory processes play a pivotal role in the degenerative process of Alzheimer's disease. In humans, a biallelic (C/T) polymorphism in the promoter region (position-511) (rs16944) of the interleukin-1 beta gene has been significantly associated with differences in the secretory capacity of interleukin-1 beta. In this study, we investigated whether this functional polymorphism mediates the brain networks in patients with Alzheimer's disease. We enrolled a total of 135 patients with Alzheimer's disease (65 males, 70 females), and investigated their gray matter structural covariance networks using 3D T1 magnetic resonance imaging and their white matter macro-structural integrities using fractional anisotropy. The patients were classified into two genotype groups: C-carriers (n = 108) and TT-carriers (n = 27), and the structural covariance networks were constructed using seed-based analysis focusing on the default mode network medial temporal or dorsal medial subsystem, salience network and executive control network. Neurobehavioral scores were used as the major outcome factors for clinical correlations. There were no differences between the two genotype groups in the cognitive test scores, seed, or peak cluster volumes and white matter fractional anisotropy. The covariance strength showing C-carriers > TT-carriers was the entorhinal-cingulum axis. There were two peak clusters (Brodmann 6 and 10) in the salience network and four peak clusters (superior prefrontal, precentral, fusiform, and temporal) in the executive control network that showed C-carriers covariance strength. The salience network and executive control network peak clusters in the TT group and the default mode network peak clusters in the C-carriers strongly predicted the cognitive test scores. Interleukin-1 beta C-511 T polymorphism modulates the structural covariance strength on the anterior brain network and entorhinal-interconnected network which were independent of the white

The effect of visual salience on memory-based choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Pooresmaeili, Arezoo; Bach, Dominik R; Dolan, Raymond J

2014-02-01

Deciding whether a stimulus is the "same" or "different" from a previous presented one involves integrating among the incoming sensory information, working memory, and perceptual decision making. Visual selective attention plays a crucial role in selecting the relevant information that informs a subsequent course of action. Previous studies have mainly investigated the role of visual attention during the encoding phase of working memory tasks. In this study, we investigate whether manipulation of bottom-up attention by changing stimulus visual salience impacts on later stages of memory-based decisions. In two experiments, we asked subjects to identify whether a stimulus had either the same or a different feature to that of a memorized sample. We manipulated visual salience of the test stimuli by varying a task-irrelevant feature contrast. Subjects chose a visually salient item more often when they looked for matching features and less often so when they looked for a nonmatch. This pattern of results indicates that salient items are more likely to be identified as a match. We interpret the findings in terms of capacity limitations at a comparison stage where a visually salient item is more likely to exhaust resources leading it to be prematurely parsed as a match.

Stable and metastable equilibria in PbSe + SnI2=SnSe + PbI2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Odin, I.N.; Grin'ko, V.V.; Kozlovskij, V.F.; Demidova, E.D.

2003-01-01

T-x-y phase diagrams of the PbSe + SnI 2 =SnSe + PbI 2 mutual system (stable states) are plotted for the first time. It is shown that melt, solid solutions on the base of components of the mutual system and phase on the base of Sn 2 SeI 4 take part in phase equilibria. Transformations in the PbSe + SnI 2 =SnSe + PbI 2 mutual system leading to crystallization of metastable polytype modifications of lead iodides and metastable ternary compound forming in PbSe-PbI 2 system are investigated for the first time [ru

Attentional Push: Augmenting Salience with Shared Attention Modeling

OpenAIRE

Gorji, Siavash; Clark, James J.

2016-01-01

We present a novel visual attention tracking technique based on Shared Attention modeling. Our proposed method models the viewer as a participant in the activity occurring in the scene. We go beyond image salience and instead of only computing the power of an image region to pull attention to it, we also consider the strength with which other regions of the image push attention to the region in question. We use the term Attentional Push to refer to the power of image regions to direct and man...

An open-framework bimetallic chalcogenide structure K3Rb3Zn4Sn3Se13 built on a unique [Zn4Sn3Se16]12- cluster: synthesis, crystal structure, ion exchange and optical properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Min; Su Weiping; Jasutkar, Niren; Huang, Xiaoying; Li Jing

2005-01-01

Single crystals of K 3 Rb 3 Zn 4 Sn 3 Se 13 were synthesized by solvothermal method. The building block in this structure is a [Zn 4 Sn 3 Se 16 ] 12- cluster which consists of four ZnSe 4 and three SnSe 4 tetrahedra connected through corner-sharing of Se atoms. The 3D network contains intersecting channels running parallel to the crystallographic [2 1 1], [1-1-1] and [12-1] directions. The disordered K + and Rb + cations reside in these channels. Ion exchange of Cs + with disordered Rb + /K + ions in the structure showed a partial replacement of 15.8%. Optical diffuse reflectance experiments were carried out and gave a sharp absorption edge at 2.6 eV

Band Alignments, Valence Bands, and Core Levels in the Tin Sulfides SnS, SnS2, and Sn2S3: Experiment and Theory

OpenAIRE

Whittles, TJ; Burton, LA; Skelton, JM; Walsh, A; Veal, TD; Dhanak, VR

2016-01-01

Tin sulfide solar cells show relatively poor efficiencies despite attractive photovoltaic properties, and there is difficulty in identifying separate phases, which are also known to form during Cu2ZnSnS4 depositions. We present X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and inverse photoemission spectroscopy measurements of single crystal SnS, SnS2, and Sn2S3, with electronic-structure calculations from density functional theory (DFT). Differences in the XPS spectra of the three phases, including...

Explaining the salience of anti-elitism and reducing political corruption for political parties in Europe with the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Polk

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the variation of anti-corruption and anti-elite salience in party positioning across Europe. It demonstrates that while anti-corruption salience is primarily related to the (regional context in which a party operates, anti-elite salience is primarily a function of party ideology. Extreme left and extreme conservative (TAN parties are significantly more likely to emphasize anti-elite views. Through its use of the new 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey wave, this article also introduces the dataset.

Benefit salience and consumers' selective attention to product features

OpenAIRE

Ratneshwar, S; Warlop, Luk; Mick, DG; Seeger, G

1997-01-01

Although attention is a key construct in models of marketing communication and consumer choice, its selective nature has rarely been examined in common time-pressured conditions. We focus on the role of benefit salience, that is, the readiness with which particular benefits are brought to mind by consumers in relation to a given product category. Study I demonstrated that when product feature information was presented rapidly, individuals for whom the benefit of personalised customer service ...

Comparative study of SnS recrystallization in molten CdI{sub 2}, SnCl{sub 2}and KI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Timmo, Kristi; Kauk-Kuusik, Marit; Pilvet, Maris; Mikli, Valdek; Kaerber, Erki; Raadik, Taavi; Leinemann, Inga; Altosaar, Mare; Raudoja, Jaan [Department of Materials Science, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn (Estonia)

2016-01-15

In the present study, the recrystallization of polycrystalline SnS in different molten salts CdI{sub 2}, SnCl{sub 2} and KI as flux materials are presented. The recrystallization and growth of polycrystalline material in molten salts produces unique SnS monograin powders usable in monograin layer solar cells. XRD and Raman analysis revealed that single phase SnS powder can be obtained in KI at 740 C and in SnCl{sub 2} at 500 C. Long time heating of SnS in molten CdI{sub 2} was accompanied by chemical interaction between SnS and CdI{sub 2} that resulted in a mixture of CdS and Sn{sub 2}S{sub 3} crystals. SEM images showed that morphology of crystals can be controlled by the nature of the flux materials: needle-like Sn{sub 2}S{sub 3} together with round edged crystals of CdS in CdI{sub 2}, flat crystals of SnS with smooth surfaces in SnCl{sub 2} and well-formed SnS crystals with rounded edges in KI had been formed. The temperatures of phase transitions and/or the interactions of SnS and flux materials were determined by differential thermal analysis. (copyright 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

PROTEUS-SN User Manual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shemon, Emily R. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Smith, Micheal A. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lee, Changho [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2016-02-16

PROTEUS-SN is a three-dimensional, highly scalable, high-fidelity neutron transport code developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The code is applicable to all spectrum reactor transport calculations, particularly those in which a high degree of fidelity is needed either to represent spatial detail or to resolve solution gradients. PROTEUS-SN solves the second order formulation of the transport equation using the continuous Galerkin finite element method in space, the discrete ordinates approximation in angle, and the multigroup approximation in energy. PROTEUS-SN’s parallel methodology permits the efficient decomposition of the problem by both space and angle, permitting large problems to run efficiently on hundreds of thousands of cores. PROTEUS-SN can also be used in serial or on smaller compute clusters (10’s to 100’s of cores) for smaller homogenized problems, although it is generally more computationally expensive than traditional homogenized methodology codes. PROTEUS-SN has been used to model partially homogenized systems, where regions of interest are represented explicitly and other regions are homogenized to reduce the problem size and required computational resources. PROTEUS-SN solves forward and adjoint eigenvalue problems and permits both neutron upscattering and downscattering. An adiabatic kinetics option has recently been included for performing simple time-dependent calculations in addition to standard steady state calculations. PROTEUS-SN handles void and reflective boundary conditions. Multigroup cross sections can be generated externally using the MC2-3 fast reactor multigroup cross section generation code or internally using the cross section application programming interface (API) which can treat the subgroup or resonance table libraries. PROTEUS-SN is written in Fortran 90 and also includes C preprocessor definitions. The code links against the PETSc, METIS, HDF5, and MPICH libraries. It optionally links against the MOAB library and

Existential neuroscience: effects of mortality salience on the neurocognitive processing of attractive opposite-sex faces

Science.gov (United States)

Silveira, Sarita; Graupmann, Verena; Agthe, Maria; Gutyrchik, Evgeny; Blautzik, Janusch; Demirçapa, Idil; Berndt, Andrea; Pöppel, Ernst; Frey, Dieter; Reiser, Maximilian

2014-01-01

Being reminded of the inherently finite nature of human existence has been demonstrated to elicit strivings for sexual reproduction and the formation and maintenance of intimate relationships. Recently, it has been proposed that the perception of potential mating partners is influenced by mortality salience. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the neurocognitive processing of attractive opposite-sex faces after priming with death-related words for heterosexual men and women. Significant modulations of behavioral and neural responses were found when participants were requested to decide whether they would like to meet the presented person. Men were more in favor of meeting attractive women after being primed with death-related words compared to a no-prime condition. Increased neural activation could be found under mortality salience in the left anterior insula and the adjacent lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) for both men and women. As previously suggested, we believe that the lPFC activation reflects an approach-motivated defense mechanism to overcome concerns that are induced by being reminded of death and dying. Our results provide insight on a neurocognitive level that approach motivation in general, and mating motivation in particular is modulated by mortality salience. PMID:24078106

Scholastic performance and functional connectivity of brain networks in children.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Chaddock-Heyman

Full Text Available One of the keys to understanding scholastic success is to determine the neural processes involved in school performance. The present study is the first to use a whole-brain connectivity approach to explore whether functional connectivity of resting state brain networks is associated with scholastic performance in seventy-four 7- to 9-year-old children. We demonstrate that children with higher scholastic performance across reading, math and language have more integrated and interconnected resting state networks, specifically the default mode network, salience network, and frontoparietal network. To add specificity, core regions of the dorsal attention and visual networks did not relate to scholastic performance. The results extend the cognitive role of brain networks in children as well as suggest the importance of network connectivity in scholastic success.

A new method for calibrating perceptual salience across dimensions in infants: the case of color vs. luminance.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaldy, Zsuzsa; Blaser, Erik A; Leslie, Alan M

2006-09-01

We report a new method for calibrating differences in perceptual salience across feature dimensions, in infants. The problem of inter-dimensional salience arises in many areas of infant studies, but a general method for addressing the problem has not previously been described. Our method is based on a preferential looking paradigm, adapted to determine the relative salience of two stimuli. We report here on the case of stimuli differing in color and luminance, though the method has wider potential. We were able to determine on a psychophysical curve the point at which a color contrast was equally salient to infants as a given luminance contrast. We then used these calibrated, 'iso-salient' stimuli in an object memory study. Results showed that 6.5-month-old infants noticed a color, but not a luminance, change while tracking an occluded object. Our method should have numerous applications in the study of bottom-up effects on infant attention and visual working memory.

GeSn growth kinetics in reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition from Ge2H6 and SnCl4

Science.gov (United States)

Aubin, J.; Hartmann, J. M.

2018-01-01

We have investigated the low temperature epitaxy of high Sn content GeSn alloys in a 200 mm industrial Reduced Pressure - Chemical Vapor Deposition tool from Applied Materials. Gaseous digermane (Ge2H6) and liquid tin tetrachloride (SnCl4) were used as the Ge and Sn precursors, respectively. The impact of temperature (in the 300-350 °C range), Ge2H6 and SnCl4 mass-flows on the GeSn growth kinetics at 100 Torr has been thoroughly explored. Be it at 300 °C or 325 °C, a linear GeSn growth rate increase together with a sub-linear Sn concentration increase occurred as the SnCl4 mass-flow increased, irrespective of the Ge2H6 mass flow (fixed or varying). The Sn atoms seemed to catalyze H desorption from the surface, resulting in higher GeSn growth rates for high SnCl4 mass-flows (in the 4-21 nm min-1 range). The evolution of the Sn content x with the F (SnCl4) 2 ·/F (Ge2H6) mass-flow ratio was fitted by x2/(1 - x) = n ·F (SnCl4) 2 ·/F (Ge2H6), with n = 0.25 (325 °C) and 0.60 (300 °C). We have otherwise studied the impact of temperature, in the 300-350 °C range, on the GeSn growth kinetics. The GeSn growth rate exponentially increased with the temperature, from 15 up to 32 nm min-1. The associated activation energy was low, i.e. Ea = 10 kcal mol-1. Meanwhile, the Sn content decreased linearly as the growth temperature increased, from 15% at 300 °C down to 6% at 350 °C.

HPLC method for determination of SN-38 content and SN-38 entrapment efficiency in a novel liposome-based formulation, LE-SN38.

Science.gov (United States)

Xuan, Tong; Zhang, J Allen; Ahmad, Imran

2006-05-03

A simple HPLC method was developed for quantification of SN-38, 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin, in a novel liposome-based formulation (LE-SN38). The chromatographic separation was achieved on an Agilent Zorbax SB-C18 (4.6 mmx250 mm, 5 microm) analytical column using a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of NaH2PO4 (pH 3.1, 25 mM) and acetonitrile (50:50, v/v). SN-38 was detected at UV wavelength of 265 nm and quantitatively determined using an external calibration method. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) were found to be 0.05 and 0.25 microg/mL, respectively. The individual spike recovery of SN-38 ranged from 100 to 101%. The percent of relative standard deviation (%R.S.D.) of intra-day and inter-day analyses were less than 1.6%. The method validation results confirmed that the method is specific, linear, accurate, precise, robust and sensitive for its intended use. The current method was successfully applied to the determination of SN-38 content and drug entrapment efficiency in liposome-based formulation, LE-SN38 during early stage formulation development.

Perspectives on the Salience and Magnitude of Dam Impacts for Hydro Development Scenarios in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Desiree Tullos

2010-06-01

Survey results indicate differences in the perceived salience and magnitude of impacts across both expert groups and dam scenarios. Furthermore, surveys indicate that stakeholder perceptions changed as the information provided regarding dam impacts became more specific, suggesting that stakeholder evaluation may be influenced by quality of information. Finally, qualitative comments from the survey reflect some of the challenges of interdisciplinary dam assessment, including cross-disciplinary cooperation, data standardisation and weighting, and the distribution and potential mitigation of impacts. Given the complexity of data and perceptions around dam impacts, decision-support tools that integrate the objective magnitude and perceived salience of impacts are required urgently.

Psychodynamic Factors Behind Online Social Networking and its Excessive Use.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Thomas Cheuk Wing

2016-03-01

This article discusses the psychodynamic factors behind the popularity of one form of Internet activity, online social networking (SN). It views online SN as an extension of the social self, organized in a way that is more controllable than real life relating. The SN platforms reward its users with reassuring surfaces and novel self-object experiences while at the same time induces much anxiety. The addictive quality of online SN is understood in the context of collapse of dialectical space and the defensive use of this technology.

Overspecification of colour, pattern, and size: Salience, absoluteness, and consistency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sammie eTarenskeen

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The rates of overspecification of colour, pattern, and size are compared, to investigate how salience and absoluteness contribute to the production of overspecification. Colour and pattern are absolute attributes, whereas size is relative and less salient. Additionally, a tendency towards consistent responses is assessed. Using a within-participants design, we find similar rates of colour and pattern overspecification, which are both higher than the rate of size overspecification. Using a between-participants design, however, we find similar rates of pattern and size overspecification, which are both lower than the rate of colour overspecification. This indicates that although many speakers are more likely to include colour than pattern (probably because colour is more salient, they may also treat pattern like colour due to a tendency towards consistency. We find no increase in size overspecification when the salience of size is increased, suggesting that speakers are more likely to include absolute than relative attributes. However, we do find an increase in size overspecification when mentioning the attributes is triggered, which again shows that speakers tend refer in a consistent manner, and that there are circumstances in which even size overspecification is frequently produced.

Isolating the Incentive Salience of Reward-Associated Stimuli: Value, Choice, and Persistence

Science.gov (United States)

Beckmann, Joshua S.; Chow, Jonathan J.

2015-01-01

Sign- and goal-tracking are differentially associated with drug abuse-related behavior. Recently, it has been hypothesized that sign- and goal-tracking behavior are mediated by different neurobehavioral valuation systems, including differential incentive salience attribution. Herein, we used different conditioned stimuli to preferentially elicit…

In Situ High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Observation of Sn Nanoparticles on SnO2 Nanotubes Under Lithiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheong, Jun Young; Chang, Joon Ha; Kim, Sung Joo; Kim, Chanhoon; Seo, Hyeon Kook; Shin, Jae Won; Yuk, Jong Min; Lee, Jeong Yong; Kim, Il-Doo

2017-12-01

We trace Sn nanoparticles (NPs) produced from SnO2 nanotubes (NTs) during lithiation initialized by high energy e-beam irradiation. The growth dynamics of Sn NPs is visualized in liquid electrolytes by graphene liquid cell transmission electron microscopy. The observation reveals that Sn NPs grow on the surface of SnO2 NTs via coalescence and the final shape of agglomerated NPs is governed by surface energy of the Sn NPs and the interfacial energy between Sn NPs and SnO2 NTs. Our result will likely benefit more rational material design of the ideal interface for facile ion insertion.

Growth of SnO2 Nanoflowers on N-doped Carbon Nanofibers as Anode for Li- and Na-ion Batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jiaojiao; Yuan, Chaochun; Li, Huanhuan; Fan, Kai; Wei, Zengxi; Sun, Hanqi; Ma, Jianmin

2018-06-01

It is urgent to solve the problems of the dramatic volume expansion and pulverization of SnO2 anodes during cycling process in battery systems. To address this issue, we design a hybrid structure of N-doped carbon fibers@SnO2 nanoflowers (NC@SnO2) to overcome it in this work. The hybrid NC@SnO2 is synthesized through the hydrothermal growth of SnO2 nanoflowers on the surface of N-doped carbon fibers obtained by electrospinning. The NC is introduced not only to provide a support framework in guiding the growth of the SnO2 nanoflowers and prevent the flower-like structures from agglomeration, but also serve as a conductive network to accelerate electronic transmission along one-dimensional structure effectively. When the hybrid NC@SnO2 was served as anode, it exhibits a high discharge capacity of 750 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 after 100 cycles in Li-ion battery and 270 mAh g-1 at 100 mA g-1 for 100 cycles in Na-ion battery, respectively.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

SALIENCY-GUIDED CHANGE DETECTION OF REMOTELY SENSED IMAGES USING RANDOM FOREST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Feng

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Studies based on object-based image analysis (OBIA representing the paradigm shift in change detection (CD have achieved remarkable progress in the last decade. Their aim has been developing more intelligent interpretation analysis methods in the future. The prediction effect and performance stability of random forest (RF, as a new kind of machine learning algorithm, are better than many single predictors and integrated forecasting method. In this paper, we present a novel CD approach for high-resolution remote sensing images, which incorporates visual saliency and RF. First, highly homogeneous and compact image super-pixels are generated using super-pixel segmentation, and the optimal segmentation result is obtained through image superimposition and principal component analysis (PCA. Second, saliency detection is used to guide the search of interest regions in the initial difference image obtained via the improved robust change vector analysis (RCVA algorithm. The salient regions within the difference image that correspond to the binarized saliency map are extracted, and the regions are subject to the fuzzy c-means (FCM clustering to obtain the pixel-level pre-classification result, which can be used as a prerequisite for superpixel-based analysis. Third, on the basis of the optimal segmentation and pixel-level pre-classification results, different super-pixel change possibilities are calculated. Furthermore, the changed and unchanged super-pixels that serve as the training samples are automatically selected. The spectral features and Gabor features of each super-pixel are extracted. Finally, superpixel-based CD is implemented by applying RF based on these samples. Experimental results on Ziyuan 3 (ZY3 multi-spectral images show that the proposed method outperforms the compared methods in the accuracy of CD, and also confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Saliency-Guided Change Detection of Remotely Sensed Images Using Random Forest

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, W.; Sui, H.; Chen, X.

2018-04-01

Studies based on object-based image analysis (OBIA) representing the paradigm shift in change detection (CD) have achieved remarkable progress in the last decade. Their aim has been developing more intelligent interpretation analysis methods in the future. The prediction effect and performance stability of random forest (RF), as a new kind of machine learning algorithm, are better than many single predictors and integrated forecasting method. In this paper, we present a novel CD approach for high-resolution remote sensing images, which incorporates visual saliency and RF. First, highly homogeneous and compact image super-pixels are generated using super-pixel segmentation, and the optimal segmentation result is obtained through image superimposition and principal component analysis (PCA). Second, saliency detection is used to guide the search of interest regions in the initial difference image obtained via the improved robust change vector analysis (RCVA) algorithm. The salient regions within the difference image that correspond to the binarized saliency map are extracted, and the regions are subject to the fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering to obtain the pixel-level pre-classification result, which can be used as a prerequisite for superpixel-based analysis. Third, on the basis of the optimal segmentation and pixel-level pre-classification results, different super-pixel change possibilities are calculated. Furthermore, the changed and unchanged super-pixels that serve as the training samples are automatically selected. The spectral features and Gabor features of each super-pixel are extracted. Finally, superpixel-based CD is implemented by applying RF based on these samples. Experimental results on Ziyuan 3 (ZY3) multi-spectral images show that the proposed method outperforms the compared methods in the accuracy of CD, and also confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Plastic modulation of PTSD resting-state networks and subjective wellbeing by EEG neurofeedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Kluetsch, R C; Ros, T; Théberge, J; Frewen, P A; Calhoun, V D; Schmahl, C; Jetly, R; Lanius, R A

2014-08-01

Electroencephalographic (EEG) neurofeedback training has been shown to produce plastic modulations in salience network and default mode network functional connectivity in healthy individuals. In this study, we investigated whether a single session of neurofeedback training aimed at the voluntary reduction of alpha rhythm (8-12 Hz) amplitude would be related to differences in EEG network oscillations, functional MRI (fMRI) connectivity, and subjective measures of state anxiety and arousal in a group of individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twenty-one individuals with PTSD related to childhood abuse underwent 30 min of EEG neurofeedback training preceded and followed by a resting-state fMRI scan. Alpha desynchronizing neurofeedback was associated with decreased alpha amplitude during training, followed by a significant increase ('rebound') in resting-state alpha synchronization. This rebound was linked to increased calmness, greater salience network connectivity with the right insula, and enhanced default mode network connectivity with bilateral posterior cingulate, right middle frontal gyrus, and left medial prefrontal cortex. Our study represents a first step in elucidating the potential neurobehavioural mechanisms mediating the effects of neurofeedback treatment on regulatory systems in PTSD. Moreover, it documents for the first time a spontaneous EEG 'rebound' after neurofeedback, pointing to homeostatic/compensatory mechanisms operating in the brain. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Lithium insertion mechanism in SnS2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lefebvre-Devos, I.; Olivier-Fourcade, J.; Jumas, J.C.; Lavela, P.

2000-01-01

We study lithium insertion in SnS 2 by means of 119 Sn Moessbauer spectroscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy at Sn L I,III , and S K edges, and theoretical electronic structures (calculated in the density-functional theory framework). An insertion mechanism is derived according to the Li amount. It shows the influence of the SnS 2 -layered structure on the Sn reduction, particularly the possibility of an intermediate oxidation state between Sn IV and Sn II , which is not observed during Li insertion in three-dimensional sulfides

Sandwich-like C@SnO2/Sn/void@C hollow spheres as improved anode materials for lithium ion batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Huijun; Jiang, Xinya; Chai, Yaqin; Yang, Xia; Yuan, Ruo

2018-03-01

As lithium ion batteries (LIBs) anode, SnO2 suffers fast capacity fading due to its large volume expansion during discharge/charge process. To overcome the problem, sandwich-like C@SnO2/Sn/void@C hollow spheres (referred as C@SnO2/Sn/void@C HSs) are prepared by in-situ polymerization and carbonization, using hollow SnO2 as self-template and dopamine as carbon source. The C@SnO2/Sn/void@C HSs possesses the merits of hollow and core/void/shell structure, so that they can accommodate the volume change under discharge/charge process, shorten the transmission distance of Li ions, own more contact area for the electrolyte. Thanks to these advantages, C@SnO2/Sn/void@C HSs display excellent electrochemical performance as anode materials for LIBs, which deliver a high capacity of 786.7 mAh g-1 at the current density of 0.5 A g-1 after 60 cycles. The simple synthesis method for C@SnO2/Sn/void@C HSs with special structure will provide a promising method for preparing other anode materials for LIBs.

Aberrant brain functional connectome in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Li-Ting; Fan, Xiao-Le; Li, Hai-Jun; Ye, Cheng-Long; Yu, Hong-Hui; Xin, Hui-Zhen; Gong, Hong-Han; Peng, De-Chang; Yan, Li-Ping

2018-01-01

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is accompanied by widespread abnormal spontaneous regional activity related to cognitive deficits. However, little is known about the topological properties of the functional brain connectome of patients with OSA. This study aimed to use the graph theory approaches to investigate the topological properties and functional connectivity (FC) of the functional connectome in patients with OSA, based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Forty-five male patients with newly diagnosed untreated severe OSA and 45 male good sleepers (GSs) underwent a polysomnography (PSG), clinical evaluations, and rs-fMRI scans. The automated anatomical labeling (AAL) atlas was used to construct the functional brain connectome. The topological organization and FC of brain functional networks in patients with OSA were characterized using graph theory methods and investigated the relationship between functional network topology and clinical variables. Both the patients with OSA and the GSs exhibited high-efficiency "small-world" network attributes. However, the patients with OSA exhibited decreased σ, γ, E glob ; increased Lp, λ; and abnormal nodal centralities in several default-mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and central executive network (CEN) regions. However, the patients with OSA exhibited abnormal functional connections between the DMN, SN, and CEN. The disrupted FC was significantly positive correlations with the global network metrics γ and σ. The global network metrics were significantly correlated with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score, and oxygen desaturation index. The findings suggest that the functional connectome of patients with OSA exhibited disrupted functional integration and segregation, and functional disconnections of the DMN, SN, and CEN. The aberrant topological attributes may be associated with disrupted FC and cognitive functions. These

Sn surface-enriched Pt-Sn bimetallic nanoparticles as a selective and stable catalyst for propane dehydrogenation

KAUST Repository

Zhu, Haibo

2014-12-01

A new one pot, surfactant-free, synthetic route based on the surface organometallic chemistry (SOMC) concept has been developed for the synthesis of Sn surface-enriched Pt-Sn nanoparticles. Bu3SnH selectively reacts with [Pt]-H formed in situ at the surface of Pt nanoparticles, Pt NPs, obtained by reduction of K2PtCl4 by LiB(C2H5)3H. Chemical analysis, 1H MAS and 13C CP/MAS solid-state NMR as well as two-dimensional double-quantum (DQ) and triple-quantum (TQ) experiments show that organo-tin moieties Sn(n-C4H9) are chemically linked to the surface of Pt NPs to produce, in fine, after removal of most of the n-butyl fragment, bimetallic Pt-Sn nanoparticles. The Sn(n-CH2CH2CH2CH3) groups remaining at the surface are believed to stabilize the as-synthesized Pt-Sn NPs, enabling the bimetallic NPs to be well dispersed in THF. Additionally, the Pt-Sn nanoparticles can be supported on MgAl2O4 during the synthesis of the nanoparticles. Some of the Pt-Sn/MgAl2O4 catalyst thus prepared exhibits high activity in PROX of CO and an extremely high selectivity and stability in propane dehydrogenation to propylene. The enhanced activity in propane dehydrogenation is associated with the high concentration of inactive Sn at the surface of Pt nanoparticles which ”isolates” the active Pt atoms. This conclusion is confirmed by XRD, NMR, TEM, and XPS analysis.

Microstructural investigation and SnO nanodefects in spray-pyrolyzed SnO2 thin films

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thanachayanont, Chanchana; Yordsri, Visittapong; Boothroyd, Chris

2011-01-01

Spray pyrolysis is one of the most cost-effective methods to prepare SnO2 films due to its ability to deposit large uniform area, low fabrication cost, simplicity and low deposition temperature. Conventionally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) are routinely used...... diffraction (CBED). It was found that large grain-size vertically-aligned columnar SnO2 grains were formed after a few layers of small grain-size randomly oriented SnO2 grains. Moreover, CBED showed the presence of SnO nanodefects that had not been reported before and could not be detected by SEM or XRD....

Two-dimensional hidden semantic information model for target saliency detection and eyetracking identification

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Weibing; Yuan, Lingfeng; Zhao, Qunfei; Fang, Tao

2018-01-01

Saliency detection has been applied to the target acquisition case. This paper proposes a two-dimensional hidden Markov model (2D-HMM) that exploits the hidden semantic information of an image to detect its salient regions. A spatial pyramid histogram of oriented gradient descriptors is used to extract features. After encoding the image by a learned dictionary, the 2D-Viterbi algorithm is applied to infer the saliency map. This model can predict fixation of the targets and further creates robust and effective depictions of the targets' change in posture and viewpoint. To validate the model with a human visual search mechanism, two eyetrack experiments are employed to train our model directly from eye movement data. The results show that our model achieves better performance than visual attention. Moreover, it indicates the plausibility of utilizing visual track data to identify targets.

Fluid sensitive nanoscale switching with quantum levitation controlled by $\\alpha$-Sn/$\\beta$-Sn phase transition

OpenAIRE

Boström, Mathias; Dou, Maofeng; Malyi, Oleksandr I.; Parashar, Prachi; Parsons, Drew F.; Brevik, Iver; Persson, Clas

2018-01-01

We analyze the Lifshitz pressure between silica and tin separated by a liquid mixture of bromobenzene and chlorobenzene. We show that the phase transition from semimetallic α−Sn to metallic β−Sn can switch Lifshitz forces from repulsive to attractive. This effect is caused by the difference in dielectric functions of α−Sn and β−Sn, giving both attractive and repulsive contributions to the total Lifshitz pressure in different frequency regions controlled by the composition of the intervening l...

Azadirachta indica (neem) leaves mediated synthesis of SnO2/NiO nanocomposite and assessment of its photocatalytic activity

Science.gov (United States)

Varshney, Bhaskar; Shoeb, Mohd; Siddiqui, M. J.; Azam, Ameer; Mobin, Mohammad

2018-05-01

SnO2/NiO nanocomposite are prepared by using a simple cost effective and ecofriendly green soft template method followed by ultrasonication treatment further by calcination at 300 °C. The resulting nanocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The SnO2-NiO photocatalyst was made of a mesoporous network of aggregated NiO and cassiterite SnO2 nanocrystallites, the size of which was estimated to be 16.68 nm and 13.17 nm, respectively, after calcination. According to UV-visible spectroscopy, the evident energy band gap value of the SnO2-NiO photocatalyst was estimated to be 3.132 eV to be compared with those of pure SnO2, that is, 3.7 eV. Moreover, the heterostructure SnO2-NiO photocatalyst showed much higher photocatalytic activities for the degradation of methylene blue than those of individual SnO2 and NiO nanomaterials. This behaviour was rationalized in terms of better charge separation and the suppression of charge recombination in the SnO2-NiO photocatalyst because of the energy difference between the conduction band edges of SnO2 and NiO as evidenced by the band alignment determination. Finally, this mesoporous SnO2-NiO heterojunction nanocatalyst was stable and could be easily recycled several times opening new avenues for potential industrial applications.

ERP evidence on the interaction between information structure and emotional salience of words

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, L.; Bastiaansen, M.C.M.; Yang, Y.; Hagoort, P.

2013-01-01

Both emotional words and words focused by information structure can capture attention. This study examined the interplay between emotional salience and information structure in modulating attentional resources in the service of integrating emotional words into sentence context. Event-related

Managerial Cognitive Moral Development and the Firm's Owners' Salience: Empirical Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Martynov, Aleksey; Logachev, Sergey

2016-01-01

In this paper, we study the agency relationship between the firm's owners and managers. We apply the theory of Cognitive Moral Development (CMD) to answer the question: What factors affect salience of the interests of the firm's owners to the managers? Using a sample of Russian managers, we found that higher levels of CMD weaken the relationship…

A Bivalent Securinine Compound SN3-L6 Induces Neuronal Differentiation via Translational Upregulation of Neurogenic Transcription Factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yumei Liao

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Developing therapeutic approaches that target neuronal differentiation will be greatly beneficial for the regeneration of neurons and synaptic networks in neurological diseases. Protein synthesis (mRNA translation has recently been shown to regulate neurogenesis of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs. However, it has remained unknown whether engineering translational machinery is a valid approach for manipulating neuronal differentiation. The present study identifies that a bivalent securinine compound SN3-L6, previously designed and synthesized by our group, induces potent neuronal differentiation through a novel translation-dependent mechanism. An isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ-based proteomic analysis in Neuro-2a progenitor cells revealed that SN3-L6 upregulated a group of neurogenic transcription regulators, and also upregulated proteins involved in RNA processing, translation, and protein metabolism. Notably, puromycylation and metabolic labeling of newly synthesized proteins demonstrated that SN3-L6 induced rapid and robust activation of general mRNA translation. Importantly, mRNAs of the proneural transcription factors Foxp1, Foxp4, Hsf1, and Erf were among the targets that were translationally upregulated by SN3-L6. Either inhibition of translation or knockdown of these transcription factors blocked SN3-L6 activity. We finally confirmed that protein synthesis of a same set of transcription factors was upregulated in primary cortical NPCs. These findings together identify a new compound for translational activation and neuronal differentiation, and provide compelling evidence that reprogramming transcriptional regulation network at translational levels is a promising strategy for engineering NSPCs.

99mTc bone scanning agents preparation and chemical analysis of Tc(Sn)pyrophosphate, Tc(Sn)MDP and Tc(Sn)HMDP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kroesbergen, J.

1986-01-01

This thesis describes a comparison of the preparation, composition and properties of three bone scanning agents: 99m Tc(Sn)pyrophosphate, 99m Tc(Sn)MDP and 99m Tc(Sn)HMDP. This study has been performed for two reasons: First to investigate the preparation and composition of the radiopharmaceuticals as a function of experimental conditions. Together with previously reported results for 99m Tc(Sn)EHDP, obtained in a similar way, this enables to use well-defined preparations of the bone scanning agents. Secondly to gain an insight in the mechanism in which the agents behave 'in vivo'. Because the 'in vivo' process is too complicated to study directly, it seemed more appropriate to perform 'in vitro' investigations as simplifications of the 'in vivo' situation. 304 refs.; 26 figs.; 31 tabs

SnSAG5 is an alternative surface antigen of Sarcocystis neurona strains that is mutually exclusive to SnSAG1.

Science.gov (United States)

Crowdus, Carolyn A; Marsh, Antoinette E; Saville, Willliam J; Lindsay, David S; Dubey, J P; Granstrom, David E; Howe, Daniel K

2008-11-25

Sarcocystis neurona is an obligate intracellular parasite that causes equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). Previous work has identified a gene family of paralogous surface antigens in S. neurona called SnSAGs. These surface proteins are immunogenic in their host animals, and are therefore candidate molecules for development of diagnostics and vaccines. However, SnSAG diversity exists in strains of S. neurona, including the absence of the major surface antigen gene SnSAG1. Instead, sequence for an alternative SnSAG has been revealed in two of the SnSAG1-deficient strains. Herein, we present data characterizing this new surface protein, which we have designated SnSAG5. The results indicated that the protein encoded by the SnSAG5 sequence is indeed a surface-associated molecule that has characteristics consistent with the other SAGs identified in S. neurona and related parasites. Importantly, Western blot analyses of a collection of S. neurona strains demonstrated that 6 of 13 parasite isolates express SnSAG5 as a dominant surface protein instead of SnSAG1. Conversely, SnSAG5 was not detected in SnSAG1-positive strains. One strain, which was isolated from the brain of a sea otter, did not express either SnSAG1 or SnSAG5. Genetic analysis with SnSAG5-specific primers confirmed the presence of the SnSAG5 gene in Western blot-positive strains, while also suggesting the presence of a novel SnSAG sequence in the SnSAG1-deficient, SnSAG5-deficient otter isolate. The findings provide further indication of S. neurona strain diversity, which has implications for diagnostic testing and development of vaccines against EPM as well as the population biology of Sarcocystis cycling in the opossum definitive host.

Uncovering the neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive, affective and conative theory of mind in paediatric traumatic brain injury: a neural systems perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Nicholas P; Catroppa, Cathy; Beare, Richard; Silk, Timothy J; Hearps, Stephen J; Beauchamp, Miriam H; Yeates, Keith O; Anderson, Vicki A

2017-09-01

Deficits in theory of mind (ToM) are common after neurological insult acquired in the first and second decade of life, however the contribution of large-scale neural networks to ToM deficits in children with brain injury is unclear. Using paediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a model, this study investigated the sub-acute effect of paediatric traumatic brain injury on grey-matter volume of three large-scale, domain-general brain networks (the Default Mode Network, DMN; the Central Executive Network, CEN; and the Salience Network, SN), as well as two domain-specific neural networks implicated in social-affective processes (the Cerebro-Cerebellar Mentalizing Network, CCMN and the Mirror Neuron/Empathy Network, MNEN). We also evaluated prospective structure-function relationships between these large-scale neural networks and cognitive, affective and conative ToM. 3D T1- weighted magnetic resonance imaging sequences were acquired sub-acutely in 137 children [TBI: n = 103; typically developing (TD) children: n = 34]. All children were assessed on measures of ToM at 24-months post-injury. Children with severe TBI showed sub-acute volumetric reductions in the CCMN, SN, MNEN, CEN and DMN, as well as reduced grey-matter volumes of several hub regions of these neural networks. Volumetric reductions in the CCMN and several of its hub regions, including the cerebellum, predicted poorer cognitive ToM. In contrast, poorer affective and conative ToM were predicted by volumetric reductions in the SN and MNEN, respectively. Overall, results suggest that cognitive, affective and conative ToM may be prospectively predicted by individual differences in structure of different neural systems-the CCMN, SN and MNEN, respectively. The prospective relationship between cerebellar volume and cognitive ToM outcomes is a novel finding in our paediatric brain injury sample and suggests that the cerebellum may play a role in the neural networks important for ToM. These findings are

Electronic and magnetic properties of rare earth-Sn3 compounds for 119Sn Moessbauer spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchez, J.P.; Friedt, J.M.; Shenoy, G.K.; Percheron, A.; Achard, J.C.

1975-01-01

The electronic and magnetic properties of RESn 3 compounds (RE=La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Yb) have been investigated using the 23.8keV Moessbauer resonance of 119 Sn. The isomer shifts and quadrupole interactions are nearly the same in all compounds. The transferred magnetic fields and their orientation with respect to the principal electric field gradient axis at various Sn sites in the magnetically ordered state of RESn 3 (RE=Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd) have been utilized to get information about the magnetic structure. An evaluation of the transferred fields in PrSn 3 and NdSn 3 shows that the spin density at the Sn nucleus is nearly the same in both compounds [fr

SN REFSDAL: CLASSIFICATION AS A LUMINOUS AND BLUE SN 1987A-LIKE TYPE II SUPERNOVA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelly, P. L.; Filippenko, A. V.; Graham, M. L. [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States); Brammer, G.; Strolger, L.-G.; Riess, A. G. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Selsing, J.; Hjorth, J.; Christensen, L. [Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Foley, R. J. [Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); Rodney, S. A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, 712 Main St., Columbia, SC 29208 (United States); Treu, T. [University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Steidel, C. C.; Strom, A.; Zitrin, A. [California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Schmidt, K. B.; McCully, C. [Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530 (United States); Bradač, M. [University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 (United States); Jha, S. W. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Graur, O., E-mail: pkelly@astro.berkeley.edu [Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10003 (United States); and others

2016-11-10

We have acquired Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Very Large Telescope near-infrared spectra and images of supernova (SN) Refsdal after its discovery as an Einstein cross in fall 2014. The HST light curve of SN Refsdal has a shape consistent with the distinctive, slowly rising light curves of SN 1987A-like SNe, and we find strong evidence for a broad H α P-Cygni profile and Na I D absorption in the HST grism spectrum at the redshift ( z = 1.49) of the spiral host galaxy. SNe IIn, largely powered by circumstellar interaction, could provide a good match to the light curve of SN Refsdal, but the spectrum of a SN IIn would not show broad and strong H α and Na I D absorption. From the grism spectrum, we measure an H α expansion velocity consistent with those of SN 1987A-like SNe at a similar phase. The luminosity, evolution, and Gaussian profile of the H α emission of the WFC3 and X-shooter spectra, separated by ∼2.5 months in the rest frame, provide additional evidence that supports the SN 1987A-like classification. In comparison with other examples of SN 1987A-like SNe, photometry of SN Refsdal favors bluer B - V and V - R colors and one of the largest luminosities for the assumed range of potential magnifications. The evolution of the light curve at late times will provide additional evidence about the potential existence of any substantial circumstellar material. Using MOSFIRE and X-shooter spectra, we estimate a subsolar host-galaxy metallicity (8.3 ± 0.1 dex and <8.4 dex, respectively) near the explosion site.

Preparation of PtSnCu/C and PtSn/C electrocatalysts and activation by dealloying processes for ethanol electrooxidation; Preparacao de eletrocatalisadores PtSnCu/C e PtSn/C e ativacao por processos de dealloying para aplicacao na oxidacao eletroquuimica do etanol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crisafulli, Rudy

2013-06-01

PtSnCu/C (with different Pt:Sn:Cu atomic ratios) and PtSn/C (50:50) electrocatalysts were prepared by borohydride (BR) and alcohol-reduction (AR) processes using H{sub 2}PtCl{sub 6}.6H{sub 2}O, SnCl{sub 2}.2H{sub 2}O and CuCl{sub 2}.2H{sub 2}O as metal sources, NaBH{sub 4} and ethylene glycol as reducing agents, 2-propanol and ethylene glycol/water as solvents and carbon black as support. In a further step, these electrocatalysts were activated by chemical (CD) and electrochemical (ED) dealloying processes through acid treatment and thin porous coating technique, respectively. These materials were characterized by energy dispersive X-ray, Xray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, line scan energy dispersive Xray and cyclic voltammetry. Electrochemical studies for ethanol electro-oxidation were performed by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and in single Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell using Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA). The anodic effluents were analysed by gas chromatography. The X-ray diffractograms of the as-synthesized electrocatalysts showed the typical face-centered cubic structure (FCC) of platinum and its alloys. After dealloying, the X-ray diffractograms showed that the Pt FCC structure was preserved. The crystallite sizes of the assynthesized electrocatalysts were in the range of <=2 nm to 3 nm and after dealloying there were no significant variations in sizes. The energy dispersive Xray analysis of the as-synthesized electrocatalysts showed a Pt:Sn and Pt:Sn:Cu atomic ratios similar to the nominal values. After chemical and electrochemical dealloying of the electrocatalysts the ranged Pt:Sn and Pt:Sn:Cu atomic ratios showed that Cu and Sn atoms were removed. However, chemical dealloying process proved to be more efficient for removing Cu and electrochemical dealloying for removing Sn. The line scan energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed that acid and electrochemical treatments were efficient to dealloying Cu and/or Sn superficial atoms of

Terror management theory and self-esteem revisited: the roles of implicit and explicit self-esteem in mortality salience effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmeichel, Brandon J; Gailliot, Matthew T; Filardo, Emily-Ana; McGregor, Ian; Gitter, Seth; Baumeister, Roy F

2009-05-01

Three studies tested the roles of implicit and/or explicit self-esteem in reactions to mortality salience. In Study 1, writing about death versus a control topic increased worldview defense among participants low in implicit self-esteem but not among those high in implicit self-esteem. In Study 2, a manipulation to boost implicit self-esteem reduced the effect of mortality salience on worldview defense. In Study 3, mortality salience increased the endorsement of positive personality descriptions but only among participants with the combination of low implicit and high explicit self-esteem. These findings indicate that high implicit self-esteem confers resilience against the psychological threat of death, and therefore the findings provide direct support for a fundamental tenet of terror management theory regarding the anxiety-buffering role of self-esteem. Copyright (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Polarographic determination of Sn (II) and total Sn in PYRO and MDP radiopharmaceutical kits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sebastian, Maria V.A.; Lugon, Marcelo Di M.V.; Silva, Jose L. da; Fukumori, Neuza T.O.; Pereira, Nilda P.S. de; Silva, Constancia P.G. da; Matsuda, Margareth M.N.

2007-01-01

A sensitive, alternative method to atom absorption spectrometry, fluorimetry or potentiometry for the evaluation of tin(II) ions (0.1- 10 mg) and total tin in radiopharmaceutical kits was investigated. Differential pulse polarography was chosen. The supporting electrolyte was H 2 SO 4 3 mol L -1 and HCl 3 mol L -1 solution. The potential was swept from -250 to -800 mV vs Ag/AgCl/saturated KCl, using a dropping mercury electrode with 1 s drop time, 50 mV s -1 scan rate, -50 mV pulse amplitude, 40 ms pulse time and 10 mV step amplitude. Pure nitrogen was used to deaerate the polarographic cell solution for 5 min, before and after each sample introduction. Oxidation of Sn(II) was made in the same sample vial by adding H 2 O 2 (hydrogen peroxide) 10 mol L -1 , at 37 deg C, in order to quantify the total Sn. The calibration curve for Sn(II) and Sn(IV) was obtained in the concentration range of 0-10 ppm from a 1000 ppm standard solution. The detection limit of Sn(II) is 0.5 ppm and for Sn(IV) is 0.6 ppm. Differential pulse polarography was performed in the pyrophosphate (PYRO) and methylenediphosphonic acid (MDP) radiopharmaceutical kits, containing 2 mg and 1 mg of SnCl 2 .2H 2 O per vial, respectively. The described method for determination of stannous ion (Sn(II)), is selective, reproducible and adequate to be used in the quality control of lyophilized reagents and it shall be performed for other cold kits produced at IPEN. (author)

The Effects of Music Salience on the Gait Performance of Young Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

de Bruin, Natalie; Kempster, Cody; Doucette, Angelica; Doan, Jon B; Hu, Bin; Brown, Lesley A

2015-01-01

The presence of a rhythmic beat in the form of a metronome tone or beat-accentuated original music can modulate gait performance; however, it has yet to be determined whether gait modulation can be achieved using commercially available music. The current study investigated the effects of commercially available music on the walking of healthy young adults. Specific aims were (a) to determine whether commercially available music can be used to influence gait (i.e., gait velocity, stride length, cadence, stride time variability), (b) to establish the effect of music salience on gait (i.e., gait velocity, stride length, cadence, stride time variability), and (c) to examine whether music tempi differentially effected gait (i.e., gait velocity, stride length, cadence, stride time variability). Twenty-five participants walked the length of an unobstructed walkway while listening to music. Music selections differed with respect to the salience or the tempo of the music. The genre of music and artists were self-selected by participants. Listening to music while walking was an enjoyable activity that influenced gait. Specifically, salient music selections increased measures of cadence, velocity, and stride length; in contrast, gait was unaltered by the presence of non-salient music. Music tempo did not differentially affect gait performance (gait velocity, stride length, cadence, stride time variability) in these participants. Gait performance was differentially influenced by music salience. These results have implications for clinicians considering the use of commercially available music as an alternative to the traditional rhythmic auditory cues used in rehabilitation programs. © the American Music Therapy Association 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Overspecification of colour, pattern, and size: Salience, absoluteness, and consistency

OpenAIRE

Sammie eTarenskeen; Mirjam eBroersma; Mirjam eBroersma; Bart eGeurts

2015-01-01

The rates of overspecification of colour, pattern, and size are compared, to investigate how salience and absoluteness contribute to the production of overspecification. Colour and pattern are absolute attributes, whereas size is relative and less salient. Additionally, a tendency towards consistent responses is assessed. Using a within-participants design, we find similar rates of colour and pattern overspecification, which are both higher than the rate of size overspecification. Using a bet...

Overspecification of color, pattern, and size: salience, absoluteness, and consistency

OpenAIRE

Tarenskeen, S.L.; Broersma, M.; Geurts, B.

2015-01-01

The rates of overspecification of color, pattern, and size are compared, to investigate how salience and absoluteness contribute to the production of overspecification. Color and pattern are absolute and salient attributes, whereas size is relative and less salient. Additionally, a tendency toward consistent responses is assessed. Using a within-participants design, we find similar rates of color and pattern overspecification, which are both higher than the rate of size overspecification. Usi...

Internal friction behavior of liquid Bi-Sn alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Aiqing; Guo Lijun; Liu Changsong; Jia Erguang; Zhu Zhengang

2005-01-01

Pure Bi and Sn and four Bi-Sn alloys distributed on the entire concentration range were selected for internal-friction investigation over a wide temperature range. There exist two peaks in the plots of internal friction versus temperature for liquid Sn, Bi-Sn60 and Bi-Sn90 alloys, one peak being located at about 480 - bar Cand another at about 830 - bar C. Only a single internal-friction peak at about 830 - bar C occurs in liquid Bi-Sn43 (eutectic composition). No internal-friction peak appears in liquid Bi-Sn20 alloy and pure Bi. The height of the internal-friction peaks depends on the content of Sn. The present finding suggests that Sn-rich Bi-Sn alloys may inherit the internal-friction behaviors of pure Sn, whereas Bi-rich Bi-Sn alloy seems to be like pure Bi. The position of the internal-friction peaks is frequency dependent, which resembles the internal-friction feature in structure transition in solids