Empathic Responses for Pain in Facial Muscles Are Modulated by Actor’s Attractiveness and Gender, and Perspective Taken by Observer

Although empathy for pain is an often studied phenomenon, only few studies employing electromyography (EMG) have investigated either emotional responses to the pain of others or factors that modulate these responses. The present study investigated whether the sex and attractiveness of persons experiencing pain affected muscle activity associated with empathy for pain, the corrugator supercili (CS) and orbicularis oculi (OO) muscles, in male and female participants in two conditions: adopting a perspective of “the other” or “the self.” Fifty one participants (27 females) watched movies showing situations that included the expression of pain, with female and male and more and less attractive actors under both conditions, while the CS and OO EMG were recorded. Perspective did not affect CS muscle activity, but OO muscle activity tended to be higher in women than men under the imagine-self condition. CS muscle activity, but not OO muscle activity, was modulated by the actors’ gender and attractiveness. CS muscle activity was stronger in response to the pain of less attractive than more attractive actors, and to the pain of female actors compared to male actors. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between empathic concern, as a trait, and CS muscle activity, but only in the imagine-self condition

Status and prospects of development of rural tourism in the district of Krakow

Celem pracy jest przedstawienie stanu i perspektyw rozwoju agroturystyki na terenie powiatu krakowskiego. W pracy posłużono się kilkoma metodami badań. Ze względu na charakter pracy główną metodą, była metoda opisowa. Następnie za pomocą metody sondażu diagnostycznego, czyli ankiety pozyskano dane dotyczące turystów korzystających z usług agroturystycznych. Na przykładzie metody bonitacji punktowej zbadano walory wybranych gospodarstw agroturystycznych. Dokonano oceny perspektywy rozwoju agroturystyki w regionie, w świetle analizy SWOT.W pracy posłużono się licznymi pozycjami z fachowej literatury naukowej oraz cennych raportów wydanych m.in. przez Urząd Marszałkowski Województwa Małopolskiego. Praca składa z siedmiu rozdziałów. Pierwsza część pracy dotyczy ogólnej charakterystyki agroturystyki oraz jej historycznych uwarunkowań. Część druga dotyczy fizycznogeograficznej charakterystyki powiatu krakowskiego oraz rozmieszczenia gospodarstw agroturystycznych. Punktem wyjścia do badań jest charakterystyka metody bonitacji punktowej oraz wyniki oceny potencjału agroturystycznego gospodarstw. Badanie ankietowe wśród turystów pozwoliło uzyskać dane dotyczące m.in. profilu turysty, preferencji, potrzeb oraz oczekiwań przeważającej grupy klientów korzystających z usług agroturystycznych.Stwierdzono, że powiat krakowski na mapie Małopolski jest postrzegany jako obszar o bardzo dużym potencjale turystycznym. Rozwój agroturystyki zależy głównie od oferty produktów turystycznych, co powoduje konieczność podejmowania działań zarówno w zakresie kreacji nowych produktów i rozwijaniu już istniejących, ich modyfikacji i unowocześniania zgodnie z trendami rynkowymi i oczekiwaniami klientów, jak również w zakresie budowy, rozbudowy i stałej poprawy jakości infrastruktury gwarantującej efektywny i prawidłowy rozwój.The aim of the study is to present state and prospects of development of rural tourism in the district of Krakow. The paper was used with several test methods. Due to the nature of the work the main method was descriptive method. Then, using the method of diagnostic survey, a questionnaire was obtained data on tourists using the services of tourism. For example, the method of grading point tested values ​​of selected farm tourism. An assessment of prospects for the development of agro-tourism in the region, in light of the SWOT analysis.The work was used by numerous positions with professional scientific literature and valuable reports issued include by the Marshal Office of the Malopolska Region. The work consists of seven chapters. The first part is a general description of agro-tourism and its historical conditions. The second part concerns physico Cracow district characteristics and the distribution of farm tourism. The starting point for research is the characterization of the method of grading point and the results of the assessment of the potential of agritourism farms. A survey of tourists allowed to obtain data on, among others, tourist profile, preferences, needs and expectations of the majority of clients who use the services of tourism.It was found that the county on the map of Krakow Malopolska is seen as an area with great potential tourist destination. The development of rural tourism depends mainly on tourism product offerings, making it necessary to take action both in terms of creating new products and developing existing, modifications and upgrading according to market trends and customer expectations, as well as in the construction, expansion and continuous improvement of the infrastructure that ensures efficient and proper development

On the Unification of Common Actigraphic Data Scoring Algorithms

Actigraphy is a well-known, inexpensive method to investigate human movement patterns. Sleep and circadian rhythm studies are among the most popular applications of actigraphy. In this study, we investigate seven common sleep-wake scoring algorithms designed for actigraphic data, namely Cole-Kripke algorithm, two versions of Sadeh algorithm, Sazonov algorithm, Webster algorithm, UCSD algorithm and Scripps Clinic algorithm. We propose a unified mathematical framework describing five of them. One of the observed novelties is that five of these algorithms are in fact equivalent to low-pass FIR filters with very similar characteristics. We also provide explanations about the role of some factors defining these algorithms, as none were given by their Authors who followed empirical procedures. Proposed framework provides a robust mathematical description of discussed algorithms, which for the first time allows one to fully understand their operation and basics

Towards an optimization of stimulus parameters for brain-computer interfaces based on steady state visual evoked potentials.

Efforts to construct an effective brain-computer interface (BCI) system based on Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) commonly focus on sophisticated mathematical methods for data analysis. The role of different stimulus features in evoking strong SSVEP is less often considered and the knowledge on the optimal stimulus properties is still fragmentary. The goal of this study was to provide insight into the influence of stimulus characteristics on the magnitude of SSVEP response. Five stimuli parameters were tested: size, distance, colour, shape, and presence of a fixation point in the middle of each flickering field. The stimuli were presented on four squares on LCD screen, with each square highlighted by LEDs flickering with different frequencies. Brighter colours and larger dimensions of flickering fields resulted in a significantly stronger SSVEP response. The distance between stimulation fields and the presence or absence of the fixation point had no significant effect on the response. Contrary to a popular belief, these results suggest that absence of the fixation point does not reduce the magnitude of SSVEP response. However, some parameters of the stimuli such as colour and the size of the flickering field play an important role in evoking SSVEP response, which indicates that stimuli rendering is an important factor in building effective SSVEP based BCI systems

On the quantification of SSVEP frequency responses in human EEG in realistic BCI conditions.

This article concerns one of the most important problems of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) based on Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP), that is the selection of the a-priori most suitable frequencies for stimulation. Previous works related to this problem were done either with measuring systems that have little in common with actual BCI systems (e.g., single flashing LED) or were presented on a small number of subjects, or the tested frequency range did not cover a broad spectrum. Their results indicate a strong SSVEP response around 10 Hz, in the range 13-25 Hz, and at high frequencies in the band of 40-60 Hz. In the case of BCI interfaces, stimulation with frequencies from various ranges are used. The frequencies are often adapted for each user separately. The selection of these frequencies, however, was not yet justified in quantitative group-level study with proper statistical account for inter-subject variability. The aim of this study is to determine the SSVEP response curve, that is, the magnitude of the evoked signal as a function of frequency. The SSVEP response was induced in conditions as close as possible to the actual BCI system, using a wide range of frequencies (5-30 Hz, in step of 1 Hz). The data were obtained for 10 subjects. SSVEP curves for individual subjects and the population curve was determined. Statistical analysis were conducted both on the level of individual subjects and for the group. The main result of the study is the identification of the optimal range of frequencies, which is 12-18 Hz, for the registration of SSVEP phenomena. The applied criterion of optimality was: to find the largest contiguous range of frequencies yielding the strong and constant-level SSVEP response

The results of post-hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank for comparison of SSVEP magnitude pairs evoked by different coloured stimuli in experiment I.

<p>The results of post-hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank for comparison of SSVEP magnitude pairs evoked by different coloured stimuli in experiment I.</p

SSVEP responses to stimuli of different sizes; organization of the plot as in <b>Figure 2</b>.

<p>SSVEP responses to stimuli of different sizes; organization of the plot as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0112099#pone-0112099-g002" target="_blank"><b>Figure 2</b></a>.</p

SSVEP responses to circle and square stimuli; organization of the plot as in <b>Figure 2</b>.

<p>SSVEP responses to circle and square stimuli; organization of the plot as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0112099#pone-0112099-g002" target="_blank"><b>Figure 2</b></a>.</p