Eye-movements reveal attention to social information in autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition in which children show reduced attention to social aspects of the environment. However in adults with ASD, evidence for social attentional deficits is equivocal. One problem is that many paradigms present social information in an unrealistic, isolated way. This study presented adults and adolescents, with and without ASD, with a complex social scene alongside another, non-social scene, and measured eye-movements during a 3-s viewing period. Analyses first identified viewing time to different regions and then investigated some more complex issues. These were: the location of the very first fixation in a trial (indicating attentional priority); the effect of a task instruction on scan paths; the extent to which gaze-following was evident; and the degree to which participants’ scan paths were influenced by the low-level properties of a scene. Results indicate a superficially normal attentional preference for social information in adults with ASD. However, more sensitive measures show that ASD does entail social attention problems across the lifespan, supporting accounts of the disorder which emphasise lifelong neurodevelopmental atypicalities. These subtle abnormalities may be sufficient to produce serious difficulties in real-life scenarios

Multimodality treatment for esophageal adenocarcinoma: Multi-center propensity-score matched study

Background: The primary aim of this study was to compare survival from neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus surgery (NCRS) versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus surgery (NCS) for the treatment of esophageal or junctional adenocarcinoma. The secondary aims were to compare pathological effects, short-term mortality and morbidity, and to evaluate the effect of lymph node harvest upon survival in both treatment groups. Methods: Data were collected from 10 European centers from 2001 to 2012. Six hundred and eight patients with stage II or III oesophageal or oesophago-gastric junctional adenocarcinoma were included; 301 in the NCRS group and 307 in the NCS group. Propensity score matching and Cox regression analyses were used to compensate for

Short-range correlations and meson exchange currents in photonucleon emission

One-nucleon emission processes induced by photon absorption are studied by considering short-range correlations effects. At energies above the giant resonance region the validity of the direct knock-out model has been tested by comparison with continuum Random Phase Approximation results. Nucleon re-scattering effects have been considered by using an optical potential. The role of the electromagnetic convection, magnetization and meson exchange currents has been investigated as a function of both excitation energy and momentum transfer. The short-range correlation effects have been studied by using various correlation functions. We found that the nucleon photo-emission cross section is rather sensitive to the presence of short-range correlations at large values of nucleon emission angle. In this region, however, the effects of meson exchange currents are even larger than those produced by short-range correlations.Comment: 37 pages, 20 figures in postscript, Text in LaTe

Meson exchange currents in electromagnetic one-nucleon emission

The role of meson exchange currents (MEC) in electron- and photon-induced one-nucleon emission processes is studied in a nonrelativistic model including correlations and final state interactions. The nuclear current is the sum of a one-body and of a two-body part. The two-body current includes pion seagull, pion-in-flight and the isobar current contributions. Numerical results are presented for the exclusive 16O(e,e'p)15N and 16O(\gamma,p)15N reactions. MEC effects are in general rather small in (e,e'p), while in (\gamma,p) they are always large and important to obtain a consistent description of (e,e'p) and (\gamma,p) data, with the same spectroscopic factors. The calculated (\gamma,p) cross sections are sensitive to short-range correlations at high values of the recoil momentum, where MEC effects are larger and overwhelm the contribution of correlations.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Observation of the Ankle and Evidence for a High-Energy Break in the Cosmic Ray Spectrum

We have measured the cosmic ray spectrum at energies above $10^{17}$ eV using the two air fluorescence detectors of the High Resolution Fly's Eye experiment operating in monocular mode. We describe the detector, PMT and atmospheric calibrations, and the analysis techniques for the two detectors. We fit the spectrum to models describing galactic and extragalactic sources. Our measured spectrum gives an observation of a feature known as the ``ankle'' near $3\times 10^{18}$ eV, and strong evidence for a suppression near $6\times 10^{19}$ eV.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures. To appear in Physics Letters B. Accepted versio

The semiology of changing brand image

This article considers the attempted change to the image of an established brand by studying the semiotics within the brand’s historical advertising campaigns. The use of semiotics to study the interpretation of messages is discussed, and the link between interpretation of messages and advertising effectiveness in changing brand image is explored. The authors deconstruct advertisements of a brand to provide a model containing opposing dialectics that may aid managers by highlighting alternative symbolic messages contained in advertisements. Oncwe identified, these alternative symbolic messages may be used to help change brand image and influence advertising effectiveness. Although the study focuses upon a major brand of beer, this is an industry in which there are numerous small firms, and many of those have constrained marketing budgets, and thus need to make sure that their advertising is effective. Equally, entrepreneurial marketing is not to found only in the small firm, and the case study discusses a radical and imaginative brand repositioning of a well established product

Investigating sailing styles and boat set-up on the performance of a hydrofoiling Moth dinghy

The adoption of hydrofoils in the International Moth class of dinghy has posed new challenges to sailors both in terms of the set-up of the boat and hydrofoils, and their sailing techniques and styles. The experience of sailors in the class indicates that the height above the water surface at which the boat is flown (ride height) and the amount of windward heel (heel angle) are critical factors affecting performance, particularly in upwind sailing. The fore-aft position of the helm affects the stability of the craft and, in conjunction with the aft foil settings, alters the pitch orientation of the craft and offers potential for significant gains in performance. A four degree of freedom velocity prediction programme (VPP) with the capability to investigate these factors is presented and used to demonstrate how the fore-aft position of the helm and the aft foil may be used in conjunction to maximise speed

Investigation of the effects of hydrofoil set-up on the performance of an international moth dinghy using a dynamic VPP

The International Moth dinghy is a 3.355m long single handed, una-rigged monohull dinghy. The class rules allow the use of hydrofoil that in certain wind conditions can significantly reduce resistance. A new velocity prediction program (VPP) has been developed to evaluate the impact of hydrofoil design and set-up on the performance of a Moth dinghy by simulating racing on a windward - leeward course. The VPP generates polar diagrams indicating the speed of the craft in a range of true wind strengths and angles. Sail force and windage are modelled using aerofoil theory. The drag model includes hull skin friction and residuary resistance, profile and induced drag for every foil, wavemaking drag of the lifting foils and spray drag of the surface piercing foils. Using an iterative process the VPP determines the boat speed that balances resistive forces with drive force, heeling moment and righting moment and vertical lift forces with weight. A series of case studies demonstrate the use of the VPP by examining the effects of changing the span of the forward foil, adding end plates, and using different foil geometries on performance

Mechanics of a rowing stroke: surge speed variations of a single scull

A generic model of a rowing craft is presented and used to identify the mechanics of the rowing stroke that give rise to variations in the speed of a rowing shell, together with the causes and locations of maximum and minimum shell speeds through the stroke. The model is implemented computationally in a velocity prediction program which uses readily available measured data for the input and simulates the motion of the athlete using a sevenbody-segment model. The rowing model is derived to avoid limitations that arise from the quasi-steady application of steady state data to the unsteady flow around the oar blades and includes hydrodynamic and aerodynamic resistance models. Propulsive drive forces arise as a result of the difference between the gate and handle forces due to the lever action of the oar. The surge motion is dominated by the inertial forces arising as a result of the athlete’s motion within the craft which are much larger in magnitude than the drive forces. The minimum surge speed occurs midway through the drive phase. Two distinct maxima in the surge speed occur:one at the end of the drive as the athlete comes to rest at the end of the stroke, and one during the recovery as the athlete’s seat attains the maximum speed backwards relative to the craft.The relative magnitudes of these peaks are mainly determined by the ratio of the drive time to the recovery time