Culture shapes how we look at faces

Background: Face processing, amongst many basic visual skills, is thought to be invariant across all humans. From as early as 1965, studies of eye movements have consistently revealed a systematic triangular sequence of fixations over the eyes and the mouth, suggesting that faces elicit a universal, biologically-determined information extraction pattern. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we monitored the eye movements of Western Caucasian and East Asian observers while they learned, recognized, and categorized by race Western Caucasian and East Asian faces. Western Caucasian observers reproduced a scattered triangular pattern of fixations for faces of both races and across tasks. Contrary to intuition, East Asian observers focused more on the central region of the face. Conclusions/Significance: These results demonstrate that face processing can no longer be considered as arising from a universal series of perceptual events. The strategy employed to extract visual information from faces differs across cultures

On the morphology of Anisakis pegreffii: a comparative analysis of three microscopic techniques used to build a new parasite atlas

BACKGROUND: Human anisakidosis is a parasitic anthropozoonosis caused by larval nematodes of the family Anisakidae. Here, we report a detailed description of the morphology of Anisakis pegreffii third-stage larva performed using a conventional light and confocal microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that provide a basis for both phenotypic studies and genetic mutations. METHODS: The collected larvae from fish were morphologically identified as Anisakis larvae Type I, and they were characterized by PCR-RFLP to identify the Anisakis pegreffii specie. Using NC5/NC2 primers, ribosomal genomic regions ITS1, 5.8 SrRNA and ITS2 of DNA were amplified and PCR products were sequenced. Fifteen larvae belonging to Anisakis pegreffii were fixed, sectioned, and examined with a light and confocal microscope and by SEM. RESULTS: In our studies, have been acquired detailed ultrastructural images, which have been integrated with those derived from the dissection of the parasite, obtained with light and confocal microscopy. The structural and ultrastructural images concerning the third stage larvae of Anisakis pegreffii have been studied, analyzed and compared among them. The derived overall view has allowed detecting new interesting details of a well-known parasite and has been schematically showed. CONCLUSIONS: The aim of this study is to furnish an updated atlas of Anisakis pegreffii. Confocal microscopy, as well as the light and electron microscopy have played a pivotal role in the accumulation of new scientific data regarding the anatomical structures of this nematode. This work is the result of one year of engagement by the Authors and the outcome is a comprehensive atlas on Anisakis pegreffii microscopy

TRANSIENT DYNAMICS AND ASYMPTOTIC POPULATIONS IN A DRIVEN METASTABLE QUANTUM SYSTEM

The transient dynamics of a periodically driven metastable quantum system, interacting with a heat bath, is investigated. The time evolution of the populations, within the framework of the Feynman–Vernon influ- ence functional and in the discrete variable representation, is analyzed by varying the parameters of the external driving. The results display strong non-monotonic behaviour of the populations with respect to the driving frequency

Changes in eggshell ultrastructure of Falco naumanni and Tyto alba exposed to pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Changes in the quality of eggs of birds exposed to environmental contaminants have been described, but few reports concern eggshell ultrastructure. In this study, infertile or addled Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni) and Barn owls (Tyto alba) eggs were collected from the polluted area of Gela plain (Sicily) during 2007, and compared in terms of organophosphate and organochlorine pesticides, and PCBs levels, and eggshell ultrastructure as determined by scanning electron microscopy. Pesticide and PCB residues in eggs were determined by Gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (GC/MS) [GC Agilent 7890A/MS Agilent 5975C (Agilent technologies) using a DB-5 capillary column in the selected ion monitoring mode]. The GC/MS analysis revealed that eggs contained measurable amounts of some pesticides and PCBs. There was a low detection of organophosphate pesticides while the most abundant organochlorine residues detected were p,p’ DDT, p,p’ DDE, and Hexachlorobenzene. While, the most abundant PCBs detected congeners were PCB 138, 153, 170, 180, and 187. Although the general structure of the eggshell layers was maintained, the results showed ultrastructural differences in mammillary and palisade eggshell layers between high level and low level contaminated eggs in Tyto alba. Furthermore, mammillary cores of the eggshell had an increased distance between themselves with respect to well organized structures present in uncontaminated egg. In this paper we verify the presence of environmental contaminants in the eggs and document structural changes in bird of prey eggshells. The data could suggest that some contaminants can contribute to reduced reproductive performance (infertile or addled egg) by structural changes in the eggshell. The alteration in morphological disposition of mammillary cores could also suggest an impairment of gas exchange

THE BISTABLE POTENTIAL: AN ARCHETYPE FOR CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM SYSTEMS

In this work we analyze the transient dynamics of three different classical and quantum systems. First, we consider a classical Brownian particle moving in an asymmetric bistable potential, subject to a multiplicative and additive noise source. We investigate the role of these two noise sources on the life time of the metastable state. A nonmonotonic behavior of the lifetime as a function of both additive and multiplicative noise intensities is found, revealing the phenomenon of noise enhanced stability. Afterward, by using a Lotka–Volterra model, the dynamics of two competing species in the presence of Lévy noise sources is analyzed. Quasiperiodic oscillations and stochastic resonance phenomenon in the dynamics of the competing species are found. Finally the dynamics of a quantum particle subject to an asymmetric bistable potential and interacting with a thermal reservoir is investigated. We use the Caldeira–Leggett model and the approach of the Feynman–Vernon functional in discrete variable representation. We obtain the time evolution of the population distributions in energy eigenstates of the particle, for different values of the coupling strength with the thermal bath

Effect of Low-frequency Noise on Adiabatic Passage in a Superconducting Nanocircuit

Recent experiments have demonstrated coherent phenomena in three-level systems based on superconducting nanocircuits. This opens the possibility to detect Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP) in artificial atoms. Low-fequency noise (often 1/f) is one of the main sources of decoherence in these systems, and we study its effect on the transfer e±ciency. We propose a way to analyze low frequency fluctuations in terms of fictitious correlated fluctuations of external parameters. We discuss a specific implementation, namely the Quantronium setup of a Cooper-pair box, showing that optimizing the trade-off between efficient coupling and protection against noise may allow us to observe coherent population transfer in this nanodevice

Relaxation phenomena in classical and quantum systems

et al.Relaxation phenomena in three different classical and quantum systems are investigated. First, the role of multiplicative and additive noise in a classical metastable system is analyzed. The mean lifetime of the metastable state shows a nonmonotonic behavior with a maximum as a function of both the additive and multiplicative noise intensities. In the second system, the simultaneous action of thermal and non-Gaussian noise on the dynamics of an overdamped point Josephson junction is studied. The effect of a Lévy noise generated by a Cauchy-Lorentz distribution on the mean lifetime of the superconductive metastable state, in the presence of a periodic driving, is investigated. We find resonant activation and noise enhanced stability in the presence of Lévy noise. Finally, the time evolution of a quantum particle moving in a metastable potential and interacting with a thermal reservoir is analyzed. Within the Caldeira-Legget model and the Feynman-Vernon functional approach, we obtain the time evolution of the population distributions in the position eigenstates of the particle, for different values of the thermal bath coupling strength.This work was partially supported by MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Universita‘ e della Ricerca), CNISM (Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze Fisiche della Materia) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 11-02-01418). This work was also partially supported by the EU through Grant No. PITN-GA-2009-234970 and the Joint Italian Japanese Laboratory on “Quantum Technologies” of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Peer Reviewe

Impact of different light sources on broiler rearing environment.

Broiler production is highly dependent on the use of artificial light. The light source may affect the effectiveness of housing conditions due to increasing ambient temperature and concentration of noxious gases. This research aimed to evaluate the effects of different bulb types on the thermal, aerial, and acoustic environment of broiler aviaries. The experiment was carried out at a commercial broiler farm in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. Three aviaries were used, and two flocks of male broilers from Cobb® genetic strain were reared from the first day to slaughter. Each aviary was equipped with a different light source, comprising the adopted treatments (A1 - incandescent light bulb, control; A2 - sodium vapor light bulb; A3 - fluorescent light bulb). The aviaries were divided into nine quadrants, and the environmental data (ambient dry bulb temperature and relative humidity), litter surface temperature, CO2 and NH3 concentrations, and bird sound pressure behavior were recorded in each quadrant. The aviary with incandescent light presented higher air and litter temperatures, and concentration of gases than the other tested alternatives. It also presented higher level of sound pressure in the second week of the growing period; however, from this period up to slaughter, there was no effect of the light source on the results of broiler sound pressure level