The Dual Phase Oscillation Hypothesis and the Neuropsychology of Docu-Fiction Film

The dual phase oscillation (DPO) hypothesis recently proposed by Mukhopadhyay (2014), is based on the neural correlate of aesthetic paradox; the paradox referring to a state of simultaneous heightened emotional experience and a state of detached composure during art appreciation. The hypothesis proposed that aesthetic delight is the dynamic, oscillatory balance between Suspension of Disbelief (SOD) and Introspective Detached Contemplation (IDC) and is orchestrated by functional coherence of the Default Mode Network (DMN) of the brain. This article is an extrapolation of the concepts of the DPO hypothesis which here is theoretically integrated with the experience of the art form of film. In film, an important functional aspect of SOD, in addition to other central elements, is the suppression of the literal identity of the performer in the narrative performance and an overall suspension of the awareness that the art form is staged. Docu-fiction film, a developing genre in contemporary filmmaking, attempts to capture documentary reality while simultaneously introducing fictional elements in the narrative. The article proposes that in docu-fiction film, the SOD-IDC dynamics of both a fiction film and a documentary film operates oscillating in a bigger scenario and the preconceived mindset of the audience cannot offer a stable expectancy regarding the genre of the film which introduces the element of ambiguity. Thus docu-fiction film-making exploits the unique attributes of the art form of film (by portraying verisimilitude as well as imaginative abstraction and fiction) at its fullest following the DPO hypothesis

An inferential framework for biological network hypothesis tests

Background Networks are ubiquitous in modern cell biology and physiology. A large literature exists for inferring/proposing biological pathways/networks using statistical or machine learning algorithms. Despite these advances a formal testing procedure for analyzing network-level observations is in need of further development. Comparing the behaviour of a pharmacologically altered pathway to its canonical form is an example of a salient one-sample comparison. Locating which pathways differentiate disease from no-disease phenotype may be recast as a two-sample network inference problem. Results We outline an inferential method for performing one- and two-sample hypothesis tests where the sampling unit is a network and the hypotheses are stated via network model(s). We propose a dissimilarity measure that incorporates nearby neighbour information to contrast one or more networks in a statistical test. We demonstrate and explore the utility of our approach with both simulated and microarray data; random graphs and weighted (partial) correlation networks are used to form network models. Using both a well-known diabetes dataset and an ovarian cancer dataset, the methods outlined here could better elucidate co-regulation changes for one or more pathways between two clinically relevant phenotypes. Conclusions Formal hypothesis tests for gene- or protein-based networks are a logical progression from existing gene-based and gene-set tests for differential expression. Commensurate with the growing appreciation and development of systems biology, the dissimilarity-based testing methods presented here may allow us to improve our understanding of pathways and other complex regulatory systems. The benefit of our method was illustrated under select scenarios

Scalar and Spinor Perturbation to the Kerr-NUT Spacetime

We study the scalar and spinor perturbation, namely the Klein-Gordan and Dirac equations, in the Kerr-NUT space-time. The metric is invariant under the duality transformation involving the exchange of mass and NUT parameters on one hand and radial and angle coordinates on the other. We show that this invariance is also shared by the scalar and spinor perturbation equations. Further, by the duality transformation, one can go from the Kerr to the dual Kerr solution, and vice versa, and the same applies to the perturbation equations. In particular, it turns out that the potential barriers felt by the incoming scalar and spinor fields are higher for the dual Kerr than that for the Kerr. We also comment on existence of horizon and singularity.Comment: 31 pages including 20 figures, RevTeX style: Final version to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit