120 research outputs found
Brain Computations and Connectivity [2nd edition]
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
Brain Computations and Connectivity is about how the brain works. In order to understand this, it is essential to know what is computed by different brain systems; and how the computations are performed.
The aim of this book is to elucidate what is computed in different brain systems; and to describe current biologically plausible computational approaches and models of how each of these brain systems computes.
Understanding the brain in this way has enormous potential for understanding ourselves better in health and in disease. Potential applications of this understanding are to the treatment of the brain in disease; and to artificial intelligence which will benefit from knowledge of how the brain performs many of its extraordinarily impressive functions.
This book is pioneering in taking this approach to brain function: to consider what is computed by many of our brain systems; and how it is computed, and updates by much new evidence including the connectivity of the human brain the earlier book: Rolls (2021) Brain Computations: What and How, Oxford University Press.
Brain Computations and Connectivity will be of interest to all scientists interested in brain function and how the brain works, whether they are from neuroscience, or from medical sciences including neurology and psychiatry, or from the area of computational science including machine learning and artificial intelligence, or from areas such as theoretical physics
The Varieties of Contemplative Experiences and Practices
While the diverse contemplative techniques are employed across a plethora of traditions around the world, contemplative research over the years has not reflected this variety. Despite growing interest in research on meditation, studies in contemplative science have largely focused on a narrow selection of practices (e.g., mindfulness, compassion, etc.) and traditions (i.e. Buddhism, Transcendental Meditation etc.). By choosing this topic, we hope to broaden the scope of contemplative science
Dietary Habits, Beneficial Exercise and Chronic Diseases
Several lines of evidence indicate that healthy diet and exercise can prevent cardiovascular diseases, stroke, diabetes, and some types of cancer such as colon cancer, and smoking-related cancers. Dietary patterns defined as the quantities, proportions, variety, or combination of different foods and drinks, and the frequency with which they are habitually consumed are also associated with an increased or decreased incidence of chronic diseases. Lately, an association has been found between eating habits, exercise, and psychological and/or mental disorders. This Special Issue of Nutrients, entitled âDietary Habits, Beneficial Exercise, and Chronic Diseases: Latest Advances and Prospectsâ, contains 20 manuscripts, either describing original research or reviewing the scientific literature, focused on the relationship between dietary habits (macronutrients, micronutrients, etc.) and/or exercise with metabolic, cardiovascular, neurological, mental, rheumatic, inflammatory, gastrointestinal, odontostomatological, and other chronic diseases
Our Mythical Hope
Classical Antiquity is a particularly important field in terms of âHope studiesâ [âŠ]. For centuries, the ancient tradition, and classical mythology in particular, has been a common reference point for whole hosts of creators of culture, across many parts of the world, and with the new media and globalization only increasing its impact. Thus, in our research at this stage, we have decided to study how the authors of literary and audiovisual texts for youth make use of the ancient myths to support their young protagonists (and readers or viewers) in crucial moments of their existence, on their road into adulthood, and in those dark hours when it seems that life is about to shatter and fade away. However, if Hope is summoned in time, the crisis can be overcome and the protagonist grows stronger, with a powerful uplifting message for the public. [âŠ] Owing to this, we get a chance to remain true to our ideas, to keep faith in our dreams, and, when the decisive moment comes, to choose not hatred but love, not darkness but light.
Katarzyna Marciniak, University of Warsaw, From the introductory chapte
Coding Christianity: Negotiating Religious Dialogue in Online Participatory Spaces
This dissertation examines rhetorical conditions and internet-mediated communication strategies that open and close dialogue between individuals with diverse and conflicting worldviews. The author illustrates this tension through sacred-secular interactions in college composition classrooms and online environments, positing that navigating conflict between these discoursesânamely those espoused by religiously committed students and public university instructorsâoften requires stepping outside of adversarial communication frameworks. This project makes a case for models of civic engagement that use more deliberative rhetorical approaches prioritizing empathy over defensiveness and understanding before persuasion. To develop these non-adversarial communication approaches for the composition classroom, the author looks to participatory media for insights and studies the negotiation strategies of Christian and atheist YouTube users who leverage the affordances of the video medium, internet logics, and invitational rhetorical strategies to engage ideological differences in their respective online communities. Through mixed methods research involving in-depth interviews with five YouTube vloggers, netnographic study of over 3,000 videos, and statistical analysis of 76,000+ user comments, Coding Christianity finds that perspective-taking in conflict-ridden environments can happen between netizens when content creators opt out of âflame warsâ and, instead, explicitly model critical openness and charitable listening to perceived âothers.â The author ultimately suggests that sacred-secular tension in both academic and digital environments be used, not diffused, to negotiate conflicting values and engage in rigorous, civil dialogues
Fear Classification using Affective Computing with Physiological Information and Smart-Wearables
MenciĂłn Internacional en el tĂtulo de doctorAmong the 17 Sustainable Development Goals proposed within the 2030 Agenda
and adopted by all of the United Nations member states, the fifth SDG is a call
for action to effectively turn gender equality into a fundamental human right and
an essential foundation for a better world. It includes the eradication of all types
of violence against women. Focusing on the technological perspective, the range of
available solutions intended to prevent this social problem is very limited. Moreover,
most of the solutions are based on a panic button approach, leaving aside
the usage and integration of current state-of-the-art technologies, such as the Internet
of Things (IoT), affective computing, cyber-physical systems, and smart-sensors.
Thus, the main purpose of this research is to provide new insight into the design and
development of tools to prevent and combat Gender-based Violence risky situations
and, even, aggressions, from a technological perspective, but without leaving aside
the different sociological considerations directly related to the problem. To achieve
such an objective, we rely on the application of affective computing from a realist
point of view, i.e. targeting the generation of systems and tools capable of being implemented
and used nowadays or within an achievable time-frame. This pragmatic
vision is channelled through: 1) an exhaustive study of the existing technological
tools and mechanisms oriented to the fight Gender-based Violence, 2) the proposal
of a new smart-wearable system intended to deal with some of the current technological
encountered limitations, 3) a novel fear-related emotion classification approach
to disentangle the relation between emotions and physiology, and 4) the definition
and release of a new multi-modal dataset for emotion recognition in women.
Firstly, different fear classification systems using a reduced set of physiological signals are explored and designed. This is done by employing open datasets together
with the combination of time, frequency and non-linear domain techniques. This
design process is encompassed by trade-offs between both physiological considerations
and embedded capabilities. The latter is of paramount importance due to
the edge-computing focus of this research. Two results are highlighted in this first
task, the designed fear classification system that employed the DEAP dataset data
and achieved an AUC of 81.60% and a Gmean of 81.55% on average for a subjectindependent
approach, and only two physiological signals; and the designed fear
classification system that employed the MAHNOB dataset data achieving an AUC
of 86.00% and a Gmean of 73.78% on average for a subject-independent approach,
only three physiological signals, and a Leave-One-Subject-Out configuration. A detailed
comparison with other emotion recognition systems proposed in the literature
is presented, which proves that the obtained metrics are in line with the state-ofthe-
art.
Secondly, Bindi is presented. This is an end-to-end autonomous multimodal system
leveraging affective IoT throughout auditory and physiological commercial off-theshelf
smart-sensors, hierarchical multisensorial fusion, and secured server architecture
to combat Gender-based Violence by automatically detecting risky situations
based on a multimodal intelligence engine and then triggering a protection protocol.
Specifically, this research is focused onto the hardware and software design of one of
the two edge-computing devices within Bindi. This is a bracelet integrating three
physiological sensors, actuators, power monitoring integrated chips, and a System-
On-Chip with wireless capabilities. Within this context, different embedded design
space explorations are presented: embedded filtering evaluation, online physiological
signal quality assessment, feature extraction, and power consumption analysis.
The reported results in all these processes are successfully validated and, for some
of them, even compared against physiological standard measurement equipment.
Amongst the different obtained results regarding the embedded design and implementation
within the bracelet of Bindi, it should be highlighted that its low power
consumption provides a battery life to be approximately 40 hours when using a 500
mAh battery.
Finally, the particularities of our use case and the scarcity of open multimodal datasets dealing with emotional immersive technology, labelling methodology considering
the gender perspective, balanced stimuli distribution regarding the target
emotions, and recovery processes based on the physiological signals of the volunteers
to quantify and isolate the emotional activation between stimuli, led us to the definition
and elaboration of Women and Emotion Multi-modal Affective Computing
(WEMAC) dataset. This is a multimodal dataset in which 104 women who never
experienced Gender-based Violence that performed different emotion-related stimuli
visualisations in a laboratory environment. The previous fear binary classification
systems were improved and applied to this novel multimodal dataset. For instance,
the proposed multimodal fear recognition system using this dataset reports up to
60.20% and 67.59% for ACC and F1-score, respectively. These values represent a
competitive result in comparison with the state-of-the-art that deal with similar
multi-modal use cases.
In general, this PhD thesis has opened a new research line within the research group
under which it has been developed. Moreover, this work has established a solid base
from which to expand knowledge and continue research targeting the generation of
both mechanisms to help vulnerable groups and socially oriented technology.Programa de Doctorado en IngenierĂa ElĂ©ctrica, ElectrĂłnica y AutomĂĄtica por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: David Atienza Alonso.- Secretaria: Susana PatĂłn Ălvarez.- Vocal: Eduardo de la Torre Arnan
Stochastic modelling of transition dynamic of mixed mood episodes in bipolar disorder
In the present state of health and wellness, mental illness is always deemed less importance compared to other forms of physical illness. In reality, mental illness causes serious multi-dimensional adverse effect to the subject with respect to personal life, social life, as well as financial stability. In the area of mental illness, bipolar disorder is one of the most prominent type which can be triggered by any external stimulation to the subject suffering from this illness. There diagnosis as well as treatment process of bipolar disorder is very much different from other form of illness where the first step of impediment is the correct diagnosis itself. According to the standard body, there are classification of discrete forms of bipolar disorder viz. type-I, type-II, and cyclothymic. Which is characterized by specific mood associated with depression and mania. However, there is no study associated with mixed-mood episode detection which is characterized by combination of various symptoms of bipolar disorder in random, unpredictable, and uncertain manner. Hence, the model contributes to obtain granular information with dynamics of mood transition. The simulated outcome of the proposed system in MATLAB shows that resulting model is capable enough for detection of mixed mood episode precisel
- âŠ