Glasses' makeup: the simple and the combined effect of color and shape on perceived volume and beverage intake

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsIn order to understand the context of beverages’ intake, it is crucial to bear in mind that there are a wide number of environmental cues which affect both the frequency and the volume ingested by consumers (Wansink, 2004). The horizontal-vertical illusion and the size-contrast illusion are the main causes to the biases regarding the amount of beverage consumed, inasmuch it is known that consumers use heuristics to make area and volume assessments (Krider, Raghubir and Krishna, 2001; Raghubir and Krishna, 1999). Hence, it is relevant to consider cues such as the shape and the size of packages, containers, (Folkes and Matta, 2004; Krider, Raghubir and Krishna, 2001; Raghubir and Krishna, 1999; Wansink and Park, 2001; Wansink and Ittersum, 2003; Wansink, 1996; Wansink, Van Ittersum and Painter, 2006) in what regards to their impact on both perceived and actual consumption. However, the simple and combined effect of color and shape on perceived consumption and intake via the effect of the vertical-horizontal illusion on the perceived amount of beverage has been disregarded in the past. The results of the experiment conducted showed that glasses’ elongation positively influences the perceived volume, while indirectly and inversely affects perceived consumption, the amount of sparkling water being constant on the experiment. Nevertheless, the experiment failed to show the simple and the combined effects of color and shape on volume perceptions and volume ingested by subjects

Anatomical mechanism of consciousness : astroglia, amoeboidism and the theory of neuronal avalanche in the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres.

Διπλωματική εργασία-- Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, Θεσσαλονίκη, 2019Ο σκοπός αυτής της διπλωματικής είναι διττός: Πρώτον, να διατηρηθούν, σε ενημερωμένες αγγλικές μεταφράσεις, δύο θεωρητικές εργασίες του Santiago Ramón y Cajal το 1895 και το 1896 αντίστοιχα, υπό τους τίτλους: “Conjectures on the anatomical mechanism of ideation, association and attention”, και, “Conjectural interpretations of certain points in neurological histophysiology”, και, δεύτερον, να τεθούν ορισμένες από τις ιδέες που πρότεινε ο Cajal σε μια σύγχρονη Νευροεπιστημονική προοπτική. Στις “Conjectures” του, ο Cajal, προσπάθησε να περιγράψει τον μηχανισμό της αντίληψης, του συσχετισμού των ιδεών και της προσοχής, εισάγοντας τον όρο "μονάδα εντυπώσεων" (“impression unit”) που θεώρησε πως διαδίδεται στον εγκέφαλο ως "χιονοστιβάδα αγωγιμότητας" (“avalanche of conduction”). Επιπλέον, πρότεινε ότι η διανοητική ανάπαυση και ο ύπνος, με φυσικές ή τεχνικές μεθόδους, οφείλονται στις μορφολογικές παραλλαγές της νευρογλοίας. Πιο συγκεκριμένα ότι, σε περιόδους χαλάρωσης, αναπτύσσονται αποφυάδες που διεισδύουν στις νευρωνικές συνδέσεις και εμποδίζουν την αγωγή του «νευρικού ρεύματος», ενώ σε περιόδους ενεργητικής συστολής, τα ψευδοπόδια συρρικνώνονται επιτρέποντας να έλθουν σε επαφή οι νευρωνικές αποφυάδες. Σε μια συνέχεια των ”Conjectures”, ο Cajal παρουσίασε ισχυρά επιχειρήματα για την υπεράσπιση της νευρωνικής θεωρίας ενάντια στην δικτυακή επηρεάζοντας μεταγενέστερους αλλά και σύγχρονους ερευνητές. Επιπλέον, συζήτησε τη λειτουργική διαφοροποίηση των κινητικών νευρώνων του νωτιαίου μυελού και των φλοιικών πυραμιδοειδών κυττάρων, τα οποία αντίστοιχα υποστηρίζουν τους μηχανισμούς της κίνησης και της συνείδησης παρά την μορφολογική τους ομοιότητα

A Tunable Measure of 3D Compactness

The field of shape description can be applied in domains ranging from medicine to engineering. Defining new metrics may allow to better describe shapes. It is therefore an essential process of development of the field. In this work, a new family of compactness metrics is introduced. It is proven that they range over (0, 1] and are translation, rotation and scaling independent. The sphere is the shape that has the smallest volume for a fixed surface, this is a definition of compactness. Therefore, the metrics of this family are called compactness measures since they all reach 1 if and only if the considered shape is a sphere. The different metrics of the family are obtained by the modification of a parameter β involved in the mathematical definition of the metric. They are proven to be different from each other and a thorough study of their behaviour resulted in the formulation of two interesting conjectures concerning the limit cases of β. Finally several experiments investigate how McGill’s database classes of shapes are represented when using the new family

How Many Colours?

This is the author accepted manuscript. the final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this recordIsaac Newton’s first optical paper (published in the Philosophical Transactions in February 1672) was controversial: Newton argued for a new theory of light and colour when no one else thought the old one was inadequate, and moreover he claimed certain truth for his new theory! A debate followed, in which Newton defended his claims against the objections of optical heavy weights such as Robert Hooke and Christiaan Huygens. One major sticking point between Newton and his critics concerned the number and division of colours. Newton argued that there is an indefinite number of ‘primary’ colours, but Hooke and Huygens objected to this inflated ontology. Each critic argued, for different reasons, that there were only two original colours. I examine Newton’s responses to these objections. I argue that they are revelatory of Newton’s unique methodology: a mathematico-experimental approach that eschewed ‘hypotheses’ in favour of ‘theories’. I also show that we should read Newton’s claim that there are an ‘indefinite’ number of colours in epistemic terms. Nowadays, Newton’s first optical paper represents a landmark in the science of optics. Its exploitation of the correspondence between refraction and spectral colour, provided a new approach to the study of light. And its views on the properties and nature of light, set a new agenda for the field

Discussing on the origins of symbolism from the latest paleoanthropological research: the case of Homo naledi

International audienceFrom an historical-critical comparison of some data and certain results coming from paleoanthropology and neurosciences, we would like to do some possible remarks and putting forward some simple suggestions about the early origins of symbolic function starting from the recent discovery of a new species of the genus Homo, called Naledi

Morphological shape analysis of children's actively generated viewpoints

Our visual system develops in a world of three-dimensional objects, where children often control the dynamic visual experience they experience. Our previous experimental work was the first to analyse in detail what object views are selected in children’s unconstrained manipulation of physical objects. The key finding was the distribution of dwell time across all possible viewpoints; preferred viewpoints are around on-axis views, where the principal axis of elongation is either perpendicular or parallel to the line of sight and flat surfaces are presented approximately perpendicular to the line of sight – so called planar views. The planar bias is statistically above a random exploration baseline at the earliest age tested (12-18 months) and undergoes large changes until at least 30 to 36 months. The planar bias is also characteristic of mature viewing and was found to promote more efficient visual object learning. Its functional role is, however, unknown. Here we present a morphological shape analysis of the object views selected by a large cross-sectional sample of children, while they manipulated objects (N = 54, 12-36 months). We followed an image-based (pixel-based) approach; we coded the 3D object orientation and used it to create computer-generated images of the object and extracted standard shape measures. We investigated if basic shape measures differed between planar and non-planar views. In particular we computed surface area and aspect ratio. In addition, and for a smaller subset of 30-36 month olds (N = 8, 14400 frames) we computed the number of pixels that do not overlap between consecutive frames (a measure of image variability), as a proportion of the maximum object surface area. There were two key results: (1) on average, planar views have lower surface area and lower aspect ratio (i.e. they are more elongated) than non-planar views; (2) on average, consecutive frames of planar views have a lower proportion number of pixels that do not overlap between frames than non planar views. The results suggest that elongation is a characteristic aspect of preferred viewpoints, not solely of the 3D orientation of the main axis but also of the viewed surface. Also, planar views correspond to more stable periods of the object manipulation. This suggests that sampling planar views corresponds to moments of focused attention to a particular view where perhaps learning of a static view is occurring. We will discuss these results in the context of contemporary theories of visual object recognition development.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Sensory marketing, embodiment, and grounded cognition: A review and introduction

There has been a recent swell of interest in marketing as well as psychology pertaining to the role of sensory experiences in judgment and decision making. Within marketing, the field of sensory marketing has developed which explores the role of the senses in consumer behavior. In psychology, the dominant computer metaphor of information processing has been challenged by researchers demonstrating various manners in which mental activity is grounded in sensory experience. These findings are arduous to explain using the amodal model of the human mind. In this introduction, we first delineate key assumptions of the information processing paradigm and then discuss some of the key conceptual challenges posed by the research generally appearing under the titles of embodiment, grounded cognition, or sensory marketing. We then address the use of bodily feelings as a source of information; next, we turn to the role of context sensitive perception, imagery, and simulation in consumer behavior, and finally discuss the role of metaphors. Through this discourse, we note the contributions to the present special issue as applicable.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141359/1/jcpy159.pd

Proton transfer vs. oligophosphine formation by P-C/P-H sigma-bond metathesis : decoding the competing Bronsted and Lewis type reactivities of imidazolio-phosphines

Studies of the protonation and alkylation of imidazolio-phosphides and deprotonation of imidazolio-phosphines reveal a complex behaviour that can be traced back to an interplay of Bronsted-type proton transfers and Lewis-type P-P bond formation reactions. As a consequence, the expected (de)protonation and (de)alkylation processes compete with reactions producing cyclic or linear oligophosphines. A careful adjustment of the conditions allows us to selectively address each reaction channel and devise specific synthesis methods for primary, secondary and tertiary imidazolio-phosphines, imidazolio-alkylphosphides, and cyclic oligophosphines, respectively. Mechanistic studies reveal that oligophosphines assemble in sequential P-P bond formation steps involving the condensation of cationic imidazolio-phosphines via sigma-bond metathesis and concomitant elimination of an imidazolium ion. Imidazolio-phosphides catalyse these transformations. Computational model studies suggest that the metathesis proceeds in two stages via an initial nucleophilic substitution under expulsion of a carbene, and a subsequent proton transfer step that generates an imidazolium cation and provides the driving force for the whole transformation. As energy barriers are predicted to be low or even absent, different elementary steps are presumed to form a network of mutually coupled equilibrium processes. Cyclic oligophosphines or their dismutation products are identified as the thermodynamically favoured final products in the reaction network.Peer reviewe

Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology gives us a new hope because it combines various disciplines, such as genetics, chemistry, biology, molecular sciences, and other disciplines, and gives rise to a novel interdisciplinary science. We can foresee the creation of the new world of vegetation, animals, and humans with the interdisciplinary system of biological sciences. These articles are contributed by renowned experts in their fields. The field of synthetic biology is growing exponentially and opening up new avenues in multidisciplinary approaches by bringing together theoretical and applied aspects of science