Happy but still focused: failures to find evidence for a mood-induced widening of visual attention

In models of affect and cognition it is held that positive affect broadens the scope of attention. Consistent with this claim, previous research has indeed suggested that positive affect is associated with impaired selective attention as evidenced by increased interference of spatially distant distractors. However, several recent findings cast doubt on the reliability of this observation. In the present study we examined whether selective attention in a visual flanker task is influenced by positive mood induction. Across three experiments, positive affect consistently failed to exert any impact on selective attention. The implications of this null-finding for theoretical models of affect and cognition are discussed

Model Predictive Control for a Small Scale Unmanned Helicopter

Kinematical and dynamical equations of a small scale unmanned helicoper are presented in the paper. Based on these equations a model predictive control (MPC) method is proposed for controlling the helicopter. This novel method allows the direct accounting for the existing time delays which are used to model the dynamics of actuators and aerodynamics of the main rotor. Also the limits of the actuators are taken into the considerations during the controller design. The proposed control algorithm was verified in real flight experiments where good perfomance was shown in postion control mode

Stochastic Models of Lymphocyte Proliferation and Death

Quantitative understanding of the kinetics of lymphocyte proliferation and death upon activation with an antigen is crucial for elucidating factors determining the magnitude, duration and efficiency of the immune response. Recent advances in quantitative experimental techniques, in particular intracellular labeling and multi-channel flow cytometry, allow one to measure the population structure of proliferating and dying lymphocytes for several generations with high precision. These new experimental techniques require novel quantitative methods of analysis. We review several recent mathematical approaches used to describe and analyze cell proliferation data. Using a rigorous mathematical framework, we show that two commonly used models that are based on the theories of age-structured cell populations and of branching processes, are mathematically identical. We provide several simple analytical solutions for a model in which the distribution of inter-division times follows a gamma distribution and show that this model can fit both simulated and experimental data. We also show that the estimates of some critical kinetic parameters, such as the average inter-division time, obtained by fitting models to data may depend on the assumed distribution of inter-division times, highlighting the challenges in quantitative understanding of cell kinetics

Comparing Notes: Recording and Criticism

This chapter charts the ways in which recording has changed the nature of music criticism. It both provides an overview of the history of recording and music criticism, from the advent of Edison’s Phonograph to the present day, and examines the issues arising from this new technology and the consequent transformation of critical thought and practice

Wider Still and Wider: British Music Criticism since the Second World War

This chapter provides the first historical examination of music criticism in Britain since the Second World War. In the process, it also challenges the simplistic prevailing view of this being a period of decline from a golden age in music criticism

Jeannine Hommel : témoignage

National audienc

Jeannine Hommel : témoignage

National audienc

Autonomously flying vtol-robots: Modeling and control.”

Abstract-In this paper an approach for control of autonomously flying robots with vertical take off and landing capabilities (VTOL) is presented. After reviewing that the motion description for different VTOL-robots is very similar, the general control scheme for VTOL-robots is presented. This scheme is based on linearisation and decoupling using inversion of the system model blocks. To compensate the model uncertainties and disturbances two additional parts are included into the controller: a reduced state observer based on a robot motion model as well as a disturbances observer and compensator for orientation control. The presented approach was applied to two different VTOLrobots: a helicopter and a quad-rotor. In real flight experiments it was verified that the presented general but simple controller provides sufficient performance for a wide range of practical applications