Rendere l'interazione accessibile: realtà virtuale e aumentata per il contatto visivo nell'au­tismo

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder frequently struggle with eye contact, i.e. the ability to reciprocate another person’s direct look. This restricts their access to social interaction and thus constitutes a considerable barrier to social inclusion. This paper explores the possibility to employ virtual and augmented reality to devise training programs aimed at improving eye contact skills in the population at stake. The paper starts with a critique of the use of virtual reality, highlighting some of its limitations: most importantly, the discomfort generated by most headsets. Hence, the paper proposes a shift towards augmented reality. By comparing the two technologies, it argues that augmented reality can be perceptually less challenging and less distressing, thus creating more favourable training conditions. Augmented reality, the paper concludes, may become an important component of future interventions targeting social inclusion for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Screening the human mind: A Deleuzian approach to altered states of consciousness in cinema history: Toward an idea of the virtual image in the cinema (II)

From its very origins, cinema has demonstrated a particular interest in the representation of altered states of consciousness: memories, visions, nightmares and dreams are a common feature of narrative films and usually interrupt a flow of events by inserting different temporalities in the present of the story. Following the arguments explored by Gilles Deleuze in his groundbreaking works on cinema, this essay will address the issue of how narrative cinema has represented altered states of consciousness. If in early cinema of attractions altered states were represented as physical realities intertwined with the world, classical Hollywood films progressively exorcised the disruptive potential of such images by defining a visual grammar in order to normalize them within the narrative. It will be modern cinema which will focus on this issue in depth, given its new interest in the link between the moving image and the mechanisms of thought. In this regard, the essay will in conclusion address the hallucinations experienced by Isak Borg in Bergman’s Wild Strawberries, a complex and highly illuminating case of various forms of altered mental states

chemotherapy induced peripheral neurotoxicity cipn what are patients telling us

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Between the mind and the senses: Jean Mitry’s approach to cinematic consciousness: Toward an idea of the virtual image in the cinema (I)

Representing altered states of consciousness, even through the most phantasmal of technical images, is an inherent contradiction; once we attribute a physical body, i.e. objectivity, to mental images, we deny what Husserl considers their very essence. Jean Mitry draws from this assumption when discussing filmic access to mental states from a phenomenological perspective. The following essay reconsiders Mitry’s contribution with specific reference to the role of projection, technically and metaphorically speaking, in the cinematic technique and imagination; this, with the intention of suggesting some crucial questions for the comparison between the filmic forms of the visible and those inaugurated by the technology of the virtual

On the altered states of machine vision: Trevor Paglen, Hito Steyerl, Grégory Chatonsky

The landscape of contemporary visual culture and contemporary artistic practices is currently undergoing profound transformations caused by the application of technologies of machine learning to the vast domain of networked digital images. The impact of such technologies is so profound that it leads us to raise the very question of what we mean by “vision” and “image” in the age of artificial intelligence. This paper will focus on the work of three artists – Trevor Paglen, Hito Steyerl, Grégory Chatonsky – who have recently employed technologies of machine learning in non-standard ways. Rather than using them to train systems of machine vision with their different operations (face and emotion recognition, object and movement detection, etc.) and their different fields of application (surveillance, policing, process control, driverless vehicle guidance, etc.), they have used them in order to produce entirely new images, never seen before, that they present as altered states of the machine itself

Images that we should not see. The issue of non-perceptual attitudes from film to virtual reality

This paper casts film experience as a sort of disembodied perception. I will show how this experience can be manipulated and altered in order to approximate to mental states of fictional characters, in particular embodied perception, memory and imagination. I will acknowledge that film experience can approximate to non-perceptual attitudes such as memory and imagination much better than the experience elicited by theater. Yet, I will contend, film experience cannot emulate the phenomenology of non-perceptual attitudes since it remains a sort of disembodied perception even when it is manipulated by filmmakers in order to approximate memory states or imaginative states of fictional characters. Finally, I will argue that virtual reality, in virtue of both its proximity to embodied perception and its potential for manipulation, is, in principle, in a better position than film when it comes to trying to emulate non-perceptual attitudes such as memory and imagination

Ni–W diffusion barrier: Its influence on the oxidation behaviour of a β-(Ni,Pt)Al coated fourth generation nickel-base superalloy

A Ni–W base diffusion barrier (DB) has been developed to limit interdiffusion between a fourth generation Ni-base superalloy (MCNG) and a Pt-modified nickel aluminide bondcoat. After long term oxidation, the DB layer permits to reduce the Al depletion in the coating and to delay the phase transformations in the coating. But despite this result, the oxidation behaviour of the system with DB is slightly worse than without the DB. This difference may be caused by the addition of S and/orWin the coating of the system with the DB. The DB layer also delays the Secondary Reaction Zone (SRZ) formation. Nevertheless, the propagation of the SRZ is similar in systems with and without a DB, with growth kinetics which are driven by interdiffusion

CINEMA AS A TIME LAB: A THEORETICAL, METHODOLOGICAL, AND EMPIRICAL EXPLORATION OF TIME PERCEPTION IN CINEMA

Questa tesi presenta i risultati teorici, metodologici ed empirici di una ricerca di dottorato incentrata sul tema della percezione del tempo nell’esperienza cinematografica. La prima parte fornisce un’introduzione teorica al tema. Il Capitolo 1 precisa il taglio e l’oggetto della ricerca. Il Capitolo 2 presenta i principali modelli teorici di percezione del tempo. Il Capitolo 3 si concentra sulla percezione del tempo nel contesto cinematografico. La seconda parte comprende gli esperimenti condotti nel corso della ricerca. Il Capitolo 4 illustra il primo esperimento. Attraverso misure comportamentali, questo studio ha indagato gli effetti sulla stima di durata e sulla percezione del passaggio del tempo di due variabili cinematografiche: il tipo di azione rappresentata e lo stile di montaggio. Il Capitolo 5 presenta il secondo esperimento. Tramite un metodo chiamato micro-fenomenologia, questo studio ha esplorato i processi esperienziali che fondano i compiti di stima di durata e percezione del passaggio del tempo. Il Capitolo 6 descrive il terzo esperimento. Attraverso una tecnica di neurostimolazione (tDCS), questo studio ha testato il coinvolgimento di una specifica area cerebrale (Area Supplementare Motoria) negli stessi compiti temporali. La terza parte riassume i risultati della ricerca (Capitolo 7) e discute possibili futuri sviluppi di quest’ultima (Capitolo 8).This dissertation presents the theoretical, methodological, and empirical results of a doctoral research concerning time perception in the experience of cinema. The first part provides a theoretical introduction to the topic. Chapter 1 carves out the dissertation’s precise angle and object. Chapter 2 presents the main models of subjective time perception. Chapter 3 restricts the scope to time perception in the specific context of cinema. The second part reports about the three experiments conducted during the research. Chapter 4 introduces the first experiment. By using behavioural measures, this study addressed the effects on duration estimation and time passage perception of two cinematographic variables: the type of represented action and the style of editing. Chapter 5 presents the second experiment. By adopting a method called micro-phenomenology, this study explored the processes underlying the performance of the duration estimation and time passage perception tasks. Chapter 6 is devoted to the third experiment. By using a neurostimulation technique (tDCS), this study tested the involvement of a specific brain area (the Supplementary Motor Area) in the same timing tasks. The third part summarizes the essential findings of the research (Chapter 7) and re-opens it to some of its possible future developments (Chapter 8)

CYP3A5 genotype and its impact on vincristine pharmacokinetics and development of neuropathy in Kenyan children with cancer

BackgroundVincristine (VCR) is a critical part of treatment in pediatric malignancies and is associated with dose‐dependent peripheral neuropathy (vincristine‐induced peripheral neuropathy [VIPN]). Our previous findings show VCR metabolism is regulated by the CYP3A5 gene. Individuals who are low CYP3A5 expressers metabolize VCR slower and experience more severe VIPN as compared to high expressers. Preliminary observations suggest that Caucasians experience more severe VIPN as compared to nonCaucasians.ProcedureKenyan children with cancer who were undergoing treatment including VCR were recruited for a prospective cohort study. Patients received IV VCR 2 mg/m2/dose with a maximum dose of 2.5 mg as part of standard treatment protocols. VCR pharmacokinetics (PK) sampling was collected via dried blood spot cards and genotyping was conducted for common functional variants in CYP3A5, multi‐drug resistance 1 (MDR1), and microtubule‐associated protein tau (MAPT). VIPN was assessed using five neuropathy tools.ResultsThe majority of subjects (91%) were CYP3A5 high‐expresser genotype. CYP3A5 low‐expresser genotype subjects had a significantly higher dose and body surface area normalized area under the curve than CYP3A5 high‐expresser genotype subjects (0.28 ± 0.15 hr·m2/l vs. 0.15 ± 0.011 hr·m2/l, P = 0.027). Regardless of which assessment tool was utilized, minimal neuropathy was detected in this cohort. There was no difference in the presence or severity of neuropathy assessed between CYP3A5 high‐ and low‐expresser genotype groups.ConclusionGenetic factors are associated with VCR PK. Due to the minimal neuropathy observed in this cohort, there was no demonstrable association between genetic factors or VCR PK with development of VIPN. Further studies are needed to determine the role of genetic factors in optimizing dosing of VCR for maximal benefit.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141496/1/pbc26854_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141496/2/pbc26854.pd