2,889 research outputs found

    A martingale analysis of first passage times of time-dependent Wiener diffusion models

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    Research in psychology and neuroscience has successfully modeled decision making as a process of noisy evidence accumulation to a decision bound. While there are several variants and implementations of this idea, the majority of these models make use of a noisy accumulation between two absorbing boundaries. A common assumption of these models is that decision parameters, e.g., the rate of accumulation (drift rate), remain fixed over the course of a decision, allowing the derivation of analytic formulas for the probabilities of hitting the upper or lower decision threshold, and the mean decision time. There is reason to believe, however, that many types of behavior would be better described by a model in which the parameters were allowed to vary over the course of the decision process. In this paper, we use martingale theory to derive formulas for the mean decision time, hitting probabilities, and first passage time (FPT) densities of a Wiener process with time-varying drift between two time-varying absorbing boundaries. This model was first studied by Ratcliff (1980) in the two-stage form, and here we consider the same model for an arbitrary number of stages (i.e. intervals of time during which parameters are constant). Our calculations enable direct computation of mean decision times and hitting probabilities for the associated multistage process. We also provide a review of how martingale theory may be used to analyze similar models employing Wiener processes by re-deriving some classical results. In concert with a variety of numerical tools already available, the current derivations should encourage mathematical analysis of more complex models of decision making with time-varying evidence

    Multitasking versus multiplexing: Toward a normative account of limitations in the simultaneous execution of control-demanding behaviors

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    Why is it that behaviors that rely on control, so striking in their diversity and flexibility, are also subject to such striking limitations? Typically, people cannot engage in more than a few—and usually only a single—control-demanding task at a time. This limitation was a defining element in the earliest conceptualizations of controlled processing; it remains one of the most widely accepted axioms of cognitive psychology, and is even the basis for some laws (e.g., against the use of mobile devices while driving). Remarkably, however, the source of this limitation is still not understood. Here, we examine one potential source of this limitation, in terms of a trade-off between the flexibility and efficiency of representation (“multiplexing”) and the simultaneous engagement of different processing pathways (“multitasking”). We show that even a modest amount of multiplexing rapidly introduces cross-talk among processing pathways, thereby constraining the number that can be productively engaged at once. We propose that, given the large number of advantages of efficient coding, the human brain has favored this over the capacity for multitasking of control-demanding processes.National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Progra

    Relaxation of tyrosine pathway regulation underlies the evolution of betalain pigmentation in Caryophyllales

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    Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141098/1/nph14822-sup-0001-SupInfo.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141098/2/nph14822-sup-0006-MethodsS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141098/3/nph14822_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141098/4/nph14822.pd

    Next generation sequencing to investigate genomic diversity in Caryophyllales

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    Pucker B, Feng T, Brockington SF. Next generation sequencing to investigate genomic diversity in Caryophyllales. bioRxiv. 2019.AbstractCaryophyllales are a highly diverse and large order of plants with a global distribution. While some species are important crops like Beta vulgaris, many others can survive under extreme conditions. This order is well known for the complex pigment evolution, because the red pigments anthocyanin and betalain occur with mutual exclusion in species of the Caryophyllales. Here we report about genome assemblies of Kewa caespitosa (Kewaceae), Macarthuria australis (Macarthuriaceae), and Pharnaceum exiguum (Molluginaceae) which are representing different taxonomic groups in the Caryophyllales. The availability of these assemblies enhances molecular investigation of these species e.g. with respect to certain genes of interest.</jats:p

    Intended and Unintended Effects of E-cigarette Taxes on Youth Tobacco Use

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    Over the past decade, rising youth use of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has prompted aggressive regulation by state and local governments. Between 2010 and 2019, ten states and two large counties adopted ENDS taxes. Applying a continuous treatment difference-in-differences approach to data from two large national datasets (Monitoring the Future and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System), this study explores the impact of ENDS taxes on youth tobacco use. We find that ENDS taxes reduce youth e-cigarette consumption, with estimated e-cigarette tax elasticities of -0.06 to -0.21. However, we estimate sizable positive cigarette cross-tax elasticities, suggesting economic substitution between cigarettes and e-cigarettes for youth. These substitution effects are particularly large for frequent cigarette smoking. We conclude that the unintended effects of ENDS taxation may more than fully offset any public health gains

    Corrigendum: Evolution, ecology, and zoonotic transmission of betacoronaviruses: A review

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    In the published article, there was an error in the legend for Figure 1 as published. The figure legend did not indicate that it has been adapted from Plowright et al. (2017). Copyright permission was obtained from Springer Nature to adapt Figure 1 from Plowright et al. (2017). The corrected legend appears below. Figure 1. Zoonotic risk distribution, pathway to spillover, and the multimodal role of the determinants of spillover. The zoonotic risk is demonstrated by the accumulated distribution of reservoir hosts and vectors that play a role in the pathway to spillover. The risk of spillover is determined by a series of processes from the ecological dynamics of reservoir host distribution and density, to the susceptibility, replication and dissemination of the biological factors in the recipient host. This is also reflected in the multimodal role of the determinants of spillover, demonstrating the disciplines that are being used to study zoonotic transmission and the determinants of spillover. This figure was adapted from Figure 1 in Plowright et al. (2). Copyright permission was obtained with license number 55218980848529. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated

    Moyal Representation of the String Field Star Product in the Presence of a B-background

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    In this paper we show that in the presence of an anti-symmetric tensor BB-background, Witten's star algebra for open string fields persists to possess the structure of a direct product of commuting Moyal pairs. The interplay between the noncommutativity due to three-string overlap and that due to the BB-background is our main concern. In each pair of noncommutative directions parallel to the BB-background, the Moyal pairs mix string modes in the two directions and are labeled, in addition to a continuous parameter, by {\it two} discrete values as well. However, the Moyal parameters are BB-dependent only for discrete pairs. We have also demonstrated the large-BB contraction of the star algebra, with one of the discrete Moyal pairs dropping out while the other giving rise to the center-of-mass noncommutative function algebra.Comment: minor notation chang
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