The evaluation of partial binocular overlap on car maneuverability: A pilot study

An engineering approach to enlarge the helmet mounted display (HMD) field of view (FOV) and maintain resolution and weight by partially overlapping the binocular FOV has received renewed interest among human factors scientists. It is evident, based on the brief literature review, that any panoramic display with a binocular overlap, less than a minimum amount, annoys the viewer, degrades performance, and elicits undesirable behavior. The major finding is that across the 60 deg conditions, subjects moved their heads a greater distance (by about 5 degs on each side) than in the 180 deg condition, presumably to compensate for the lack of FOV. It is quite clear that the study, based on simple car maneuverability and two subjects, reveals differences in FOV, but nothing significant between binocular overlap levels and configurations. This tentatively indicates that some tradeoffs of binocular vision for a larger overall display FOV are acceptable

The Map is Not Which Territory?: Speculating on the Geo-Spatial Diffusion of Ideas in the Arab Spring of 2011

The process by which social movements move through time and space can be understood as a process of innovation diffusion of memes or ideas. This process of diffusion may be traceable through computational linguistics and map geocoding of the linguistic memes employed by such movements. A Visualizing Information Space In Ontological Networks (VISION) method is described and illustrated with web-based search results of keywords relevant to Arab Spring. Using map algebra, and with the potential for using computational linguistics, the intent is to demonstrate the feasibility of both the theoretical model of diffusion, as well as the relevance of the geospatial dimension in understanding another dimension of diffusion—the meaning space of ideas as they spread through new media. Such methodology holds substantial promise for understanding the communicative dynamics of social movements and social influence

Spatiotemporal characteristics of hemodynamic changes in the human lateral prefrontal cortex during working memory tasks

Abstract The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is widely believed to subserve mental manipulation and monitoring processes ascribed to the central executive (CE) of working memory (WM). We attempted to examine and localize the CE by functional imaging of the frontal cortex during tasks designed to require the CE. Using near-infrared spectroscopy, we studied the spatiotemporal dynamics of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb), an indicator of changes in regional cerebral blood flow, in both sides of lateral PFC during WM intensive tasks. In most participants, increases in oxy-Hb were localized within one subdivison during performance of the n-back task, whereas oxy-Hb increased more diffusely during the random number generation (RNG) task. Activation of the ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC) was prominent in the n-back task; both sustained and transient dynamics were observed. Transient dynamics means that oxy-Hb first increases but then decreases to less than 50% of the peak value or below the baseline level before the end of the task. For the RNG task sustained activity was also observed in the dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC), especially in the right hemisphere. However, details of patterns of activation varied across participants: subdivisions commonly activated during performance of the two tasks were the bilateral VLPFCs, either side of the VLPFC, and either side of the DLPFC in 4, 2, and 4 of the 12 participants, respectively. The remaining 2 of the 12 participants had no regions commonly activated by these tasks. These results suggest that although the PFC is implicated in the CE, there is no stereotyped anatomical PFC substrate for the CE

Reduced SPAG17 Expression in Systemic Sclerosis Triggers Myofibroblast Transition and Drives Fibrosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a clinically heterogeneous fibrotic disease with no effective treatment. Myofibroblasts are responsible for unresolving synchronous skin and internal organ fibrosis in SSc, but the drivers of sustained myofibroblast activation remain poorly understood. Using unbiased transcriptome analysis of skin biopsies, we identified the downregulation of SPAG17 in multiple independent cohorts of patients with SSc, and by orthogonal approaches, we observed a significant negative correlation between SPAG17 and fibrotic gene expression. Fibroblasts and endothelial cells explanted from SSc skin biopsies showed reduced chromatin accessibility at the SPAG17 locus. Remarkably, mice lacking Spag17 showed spontaneous skin fibrosis with increased dermal thickness, collagen deposition and stiffness, and altered collagen fiber alignment. Knockdown of SPAG17 in human and mouse fibroblasts and microvascular endothelial cells was accompanied by spontaneous myofibroblast transformation and markedly heightened sensitivity to profibrotic stimuli. These responses were accompanied by constitutive TGF-β pathway activation. Thus, we discovered impaired expression of SPAG17 in SSc and identified, to our knowledge, a previously unreported cell-intrinsic role for SPAG17 in the negative regulation of fibrotic responses. These findings shed fresh light on the pathogenesis of SSc and may inform the search for innovative therapies for SSc and other fibrotic conditions through SPAG17 signaling

Social media analytics and research testbed (SMART): Exploring spatiotemporal patterns of human dynamics with geo-targeted social media messages

The multilevel model of meme diffusion conceptualizes how mediated messages diffuse over time and space. As a pilot application of implementing the meme diffusion, we developed the social media analytics and research testbed to monitor Twitter messages and track the diffusion of information in and across different cities and geographic regions. Social media analytics and research testbed is an online geo-targeted search and analytics tool, including an automatic data processing procedure at the backend and an interactive frontend user interface. Social media analytics and research testbed is initially designed to facilitate (1) searching and geo-locating tweet topics and terms in different cities and geographic regions; (2) filtering noise from raw data (such as removing redundant retweets and using machine learning methods to improve precision); (3) analyzing social media data from a spatiotemporal perspective; and (4) visualizing social media data in diagnostic ways (such as weekly and monthly trends, trend maps, top media, top retweets, top mentions, or top hashtags). Social media analytics and research testbed provides researchers and domain experts with a tool that can efficiently facilitate the refinement, formalization, and testing of research hypotheses or questions. Three case studies (flu outbreaks, Ebola epidemic, and marijuana legalization) are introduced to illustrate how the predictions of meme diffusion can be examined and to demonstrate the potentials and key functions of social media analytics and research testbed