Crossing the ‘Uncanny Valley’: Adaptation to Cartoon Faces Can Influence Perception of Human Faces

In this study we assessed whether there is a single face space common to both human and cartoon faces by testing whether adaptation to cartoon faces can affect perception of human faces. Participants were shown Japanese animation cartoon videos containing faces with abnormally large eyes. The use of animated videos eliminated the possibility of position-dependent retinotopic adaptation (because the faces appear at many different locations) and more closely simulated naturalistic exposure. Adaptation to cartoon faces with large eyes significantly shifted preferences for human faces toward larger eyes, consistent with a common, non-retinotopic representation for both cartoon and human faces. This supports the possibility that there are representations that are specific to faces yet common to all kinds of faces

NameBuzzer

The NameExpert is an iOS mobile application that will help users remember the names of new acquaintances. Many people often experience situations where they would run into someone they have been introduced to before, but could not remember the name to. Situations like this tend to instigate feelings of frustration and awkwardness between both parties. Names are important as part of identity and so the NameExpert would allow individuals to connect names to things like location of the meet, appearances, and other systematic ways. The NameExpert would utilize an algorithm that is derived from a proven psychological research regarding the human memory to help the individual retain the new names

An Overlapping-Generations Model of Firm Heterogeneity in Economic Development

We study firm heterogeneity in economic development in an overlapping-generations general equilibrium model in which manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition. Individuals differ in their productivities in the manufacturing sector and choose to become entrepreneurs or workers. The model is surprisingly tractable. In the steady state, an increase in the entry barrier in the manufacturing sector or an increase in the percentage of income spent on the agricultural good decreases the wage rate, but the level of output in the manufacturing sector does not necessarily decrease. An increase in the degree of patience of an individual increases the steady state wage rate and the capital stock. Even with increasing returns in manufacturing and constant returns in agriculture, neither the wage rate nor the output level in the manufacturing sector may increase with the size of the population

An Overlapping-Generations Model of Firm Heterogeneity in Economic Development

We study firm heterogeneity in economic development in an overlapping-generations general equilibrium model in which manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition. Individuals differ in their productivities in the manufacturing sector and choose to become entrepreneurs or workers. The model is surprisingly tractable. In the steady state, an increase in the entry barrier in the manufacturing sector or an increase in the percentage of income spent on the agricultural good decreases the wage rate, but the level of output in the manufacturing sector does not necessarily decrease. An increase in the degree of patience of an individual increases the steady state wage rate and the capital stock. Even with increasing returns in manufacturing and constant returns in agriculture, neither the wage rate nor the output level in the manufacturing sector may increase with the size of the population

SalienTime: User-driven Selection of Salient Time Steps for Large-Scale Geospatial Data Visualization

The voluminous nature of geospatial temporal data from physical monitors and simulation models poses challenges to efficient data access, often resulting in cumbersome temporal selection experiences in web-based data portals. Thus, selecting a subset of time steps for prioritized visualization and pre-loading is highly desirable. Addressing this issue, this paper establishes a multifaceted definition of salient time steps via extensive need-finding studies with domain experts to understand their workflows. Building on this, we propose a novel approach that leverages autoencoders and dynamic programming to facilitate user-driven temporal selections. Structural features, statistical variations, and distance penalties are incorporated to make more flexible selections. User-specified priorities, spatial regions, and aggregations are used to combine different perspectives. We design and implement a web-based interface to enable efficient and context-aware selection of time steps and evaluate its efficacy and usability through case studies, quantitative evaluations, and expert interviews.Comment: In Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'24), May 11-16, 2024, Honolulu, HI, US

Laser frequency offset locking via tripod-type electromagnetically induced transparency

We have demonstrated the laser frequency offset locking via the Rb tripod-type double dark resonances electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system. The influence of coupling fields power and detuning on the tripod-type EIT profile is detailed studied. In a wide coupling fields detuning range, the narrower EIT dip has an ultranarrow linewidth of 590 KHz, which is about one order narrower than the natural linewidth of Rb. Without the additional frequency stabilization of the coupling lasers, we achieve the relative frequency fluctuation of 60 KHz in a long time of ~2000s, which is narrower than the short-time linewidth of each individual laser