One "shape" fits all: The orientation bandwidth of contour integration

The ability of human participants to integrate fragmented stimulus elements into perceived coherent contours (amidst a field of distracter elements) has been intensively studied across a large number of contour element parameters, ranging from luminance contrast and chromaticity to motion and stereo. The evidence suggests that contour integration performance depends on the low-level Fourier properties of the stimuli. Thus, to understand contour integration, it would be advantageous to understand the properties of the low-level filters that the visual system uses to process contour stimuli. We addressed this issue by examining the role of stimulus element orientation bandwidth in contour integration, a previously unexplored area. We carried out three psychophysical experiments, and then simulated all of the experiments using a recently developed two-stage filter-overlap model whereby the contour grouping occurs by virtue of the overlap between the filter responses to different elements. The first stage of the model responds to the elements, while the second stage integrates the responses along the contour. We found that the first stage had to be fairly broadly tuned for orientation to account for our results. The model showed a very good fit to a large data set with relatively few free parameters, suggesting that this class of model may have an important role to play in helping us to better understand the mechanisms of contour integration

OH Production from the Photolysis of Isoprene-derived Peroxy Radicals: Cross-sections, quantum yields and atmospheric implications

In environments with high concentrations of biogenic volatile organic compounds and low concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2), significant discrepancies have been found between measured and modeled concentrations of hydroxyl radical (OH). The photolysis of peroxy radicals from isoprene (HO-Iso-O2) in the near ultraviolet represents a potential source of OH in these environments, yet has not been considered in atmospheric models. This paper presents measurements of the absorption cross-sections for OH formation (σRO2,OH) from the photolysis of HO-Iso-O2 at wavelengths from 310–362.5 nm via direct observation by laser-induced fluorescence of the additional OH produced following laser photolysis of HO-Iso-O2. Values of σRO2,OH for HO-Iso-O2 ranged from (6.0 ± 1.6) × 10-20 cm2 molecule-1 at 310 nm to (0.5 ± 0.15) × 10-20 cm2 molecule-1 at 362.5 nm. OH photodissociation yields from HO-Iso-O2 photolysis, ϕOH,RO2, were determined via comparison of the measured values of σRO2,OH to the total absorption cross-sections for HO-Iso-O2 (σRO2), which were obtained using a newly-constructed spectrometer. ϕOH,RO2 was determined to be 0.13 ± 0.037 at wavelengths from 310–362.5 nm. To determine the impact of HO-Iso-O2 photolysis on atmospheric OH concentrations, a modeling case-study for a high-isoprene, low-NOx environment (namely, the 2008 Oxidant and Particle Photochemical Processes above a South-East Asian Tropical Rainforest (OP-3) field campaign, conducted in Borneo) was undertaken using the detailed Master Chemical Mechanism. The model calculated that the inclusion of HO-Iso-O2 photolysis in the model had increased the OH concentration by only 1% on average from 10:00–16:00 local time. Thus, HO-Iso-O2 photolysis alone is insufficient to resolve the discrepancy seen between measured OH concentrations and those predicted by atmospheric chemistry models in such environments

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Spin injection between epitaxial Co2.4Mn1.6Ga and an InGaAs quantum well

Electrical spin injection in a narrow [100] In0.2Ga0.8As quantum well in a GaAs p-i-n optical device is reported. The quantum well is located 300 nm from an AlGaAs Schottky barrier and this system is used to compare the efficiencies and temperature dependences of spin injection from Fe and the Heusler alloy Co2.4Mn1.6Ga grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. At 5 K, the injected electron spin polarizations for Fe and Co2.4Mn1.6Ga injectors are 31% and 13%, respectively. Optical detection is carried out in the oblique Hanle geometry. A dynamic nuclear polarization effect below 10 K enhances the magnetic field seen by the injected spins in both devices. The Co2.4Mn1.6Ga thin films are found to have a transport spin polarization of similar to 50% by point contact Andreev reflection conductivity measurements. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics

Detailed characterizations of the new Mines Douai comparative reactivity method instrument via laboratory experiments and modeling

The hydroxyl (OH) radical is an important oxidant in the troposphere, which controls the lifetime of most air quality- and climate-related trace gases. However, there are still uncertainties concerning its atmospheric budget, and integrated measurements of OH sinks have been valuable to improve this aspect. Among the analytical tools used for measuring total OH reactivity in ambient air, the comparative reactivity method (CRM) is spreading rapidly in the atmospheric community. However, measurement artifacts have been highlighted for this technique, and additional work is needed to fully characterize them. In this study, we present the new Mines Douai CRM instrument, with an emphasis on the corrections that need to be applied to ambient measurements of total OH reactivity. Measurement artifacts identified in the literature have been investigated, including (1) a correction for a change in relative humidity between the measurement steps leading to different OH levels, (2) the formation of spurious OH in the sampling reactor when hydroperoxy radicals (HO2) react with nitrogen monoxide (NO), (3) not operating the CRM under pseudo-first-order kinetics, and (4) the dilution of ambient air inside the reactor. The dependences of these artifacts on various measurable parameters, such as the pyrrole-to-OH ratio and the bimolecular reaction rate constants of ambient trace gases with OH, have also been studied. Based on these observations, parameterizations are proposed to correct ambient OH reactivity measurements. On average, corrections of 5.2 ± 3.2, 9.2 ± 15.7, and 8.5 ± 5.8 s-1 were respectively observed for (1), (2) and (3) during a field campaign performed in Dunkirk, France (summer 2014). Numerical simulations have been performed using a box model to check whether experimental observations mentioned above are consistent with our understanding of the chemistry occurring in the CRM reactor. Two different chemical mechanisms have been shown to reproduce the magnitude of corrections (2) and (3). In addition, these simulations reproduce their dependences on the pyrrole-to-OH ratio and on bimolecular reaction rate constants of gases reacting with OH. The good agreement found between laboratory experiments and model simulations gives us confidence in the proposed parameterizations. However, it is worth noting that the numerical values given in this study are suitable for the Mines Douai instrument and may not be appropriate for other CRM instruments. It is recommended that each group characterize its own instrument following the recommendations given in this study. An assessment of performances for the Mines Douai instrument, including a propagation of errors from the different corrections, indicates a limit of detection of 3.0 s-1 and total uncertainties of 17-25 % for OH reactivity values higher than 15 s-1 and NOx mixing ratios lower than 30 ppbv

The population of close double white dwarfs in the Galaxy

We present a new model for the Galactic population of close double white dwarfs. The model accounts for the suggestion of the avoidance of a substantial spiral-in during mass transfer between a giant and a main-sequence star of comparable mass and for detailed cooling models. It agrees well with the observations of the local sample of white dwarfs if the initial binary fraction is close to 50% and an ad hoc assumption is made that white dwarfs with mass less than about 0.3 solar mass cool faster than the models suggest. About 1000 white dwarfs brighter than V=15 have to be surveyed for detection of a pair which has total mass greater than the Chandrasekhar mass and will merge within 10 Gyr.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Proc. ``The influence of binaries on stellar population studies'', Brussels, August 2000 (Kluwer, D. Vanbeveren ed.

The SNAPSHOT study protocol : SNAcking, Physical activity, Self-regulation, and Heart rate Over Time

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A new approach to bad news effects on volatilit y: the multiple-sign-volume sensitive regime EGARCH model (MSV-EGARCH)

In this paper, using daily data for six major international stock market indexes and a modified EGARCH specification, the links between stock market returns, volatility and trading volume are investigated in a new nonlinear conditional variance framework with multiple regimes and volume eff ects. Volatility forecast comparisons, using the Harvey-Newbold test for multiple forecasts encompassing, seem to demonstrate that the MSV- EGARCH complex threshold structure is able to correctly fit GARCH- type dynamics of the series under study and dominates competing standard asymmetric models in several of the considered stock indexes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hypericum perforatum plant cells reduce Agrobacterium viability during co-cultivation

Plant recalcitrance is the major barrier in developing Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocols for several important plant species. Despite the substantial knowledge of T-DNA transfer process, very little is known about the factors leading to the plant recalcitrance. Here, we analyzed the basis of Hypericum perforatum L. (HP) recalcitrance to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation using cell suspension culture. When challenged with Agrobacterium, HP cells swiftly produced an intense oxidative burst, a typical reaction of plant defense. Agrobacterium viability started to decline and reached 99% mortality within 12 h, while the plant cells did not suffer apoptotic process. This is the first evidence showing that the reduction of Agrobacterium viability during co-cultivation with recalcitrant plant cells can affect transformation