GraFIX: a semiautomatic approach for parsing low- and high-quality eye-tracking data

Fixation durations (FD) have been used widely as a measurement of information processing and attention. However, issues like data quality can seriously influence the accuracy of the fixation detection methods and, thus, affect the validity of our results (Holmqvist, Nyström, & Mulvey, 2012). This is crucial when studying special populations such as infants, where common issues with testing (e.g., high degree of movement, unreliable eye detection, low spatial precision) result in highly variable data quality and render existing FD detection approaches highly time consuming (hand-coding) or imprecise (automatic detection). To address this problem, we present GraFIX, a novel semiautomatic method consisting of a two-step process in which eye-tracking data is initially parsed by using velocity-based algorithms whose input parameters are adapted by the user and then manipulated using the graphical interface, allowing accurate and rapid adjustments of the algorithms’ outcome. The present algorithms (1) smooth the raw data, (2) interpolate missing data points, and (3) apply a number of criteria to automatically evaluate and remove artifactual fixations. The input parameters (e.g., velocity threshold, interpolation latency) can be easily manually adapted to fit each participant. Furthermore, the present application includes visualization tools that facilitate the manual coding of fixations. We assessed this method by performing an intercoder reliability analysis in two groups of infants presenting low- and high-quality data and compared it with previous methods. Results revealed that our two-step approach with adaptable FD detection criteria gives rise to more reliable and stable measures in low- and high-quality data

Non-Perturbative String Equations for Type 0A

Well-defined non-perturbative formulations of the physics of string theories, sometimes with D-branes present, were identified over a decade ago, from a careful study of double scaled matrix models. Following recent work which recasts some of those old results in the context of type 0 string theory, a study is made of a much larger family of models, which are proposed as type 0A models of the entire superconformal minimal series coupled to gravity. This gives many further examples of important physical phenomena, including non-perturbative descriptions of transitions between D-branes and fluxes, tachyon condensation, and holography. In particular, features of a large family of non-perturbatively stable string equations are studied, and results are extracted which pertain to type 0A string theory, with D-branes and fluxes, in this large class of backgrounds. For the entire construction to work, large parts of the spectrum of the supergravitationally dressed superconformal minimal models and that of the gravitationally dressed bosonic conformal minimal models must coincide, and it is shown how this happens. The example of the super-dressed tricritical Ising model is studied in some detail.Comment: 29 pages LaTe

Electronic, magnetic properties and correlation effects in the layered quaternary iron oxyselenide Na2Fe2Se2O from first principles

By means of the first-principle calculations, we have investigated electronic, magnetic properties and correlation effects for the newly discovered layered oxyselenide Na2Fe2Se2O. Our results reveal that the electron correlations in the Fe 3d bands promote a transition of Na2Fe2Se2O from magnetic metallic or half-metallic states to the antiferromagnetic Mott-insulating state. In addition, the bonding picture in Na2Fe2Se2O is described as an anisotropic mixture of ionic and covalent contributions.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Annulus Amplitudes in the Minimal Superstring

We study the annulus amplitudes in the (2,4) minimal superstring theory using the continuum worldsheet approach. Our results reproduce the semiclassical behavior of the wavefunctions of FZZT-branes recently studied in hep-th/0412315 using the dual matrix model. We also study the multi-point functions of neutral FZZT-branes and find the agreement between their semiclassical limit and the worldsheet annulus calculation.Comment: 15 pages, lanlma

Annulus Amplitudes and ZZ Branes in Minimal String Theory

We study the annulus amplitudes of (p,q) minimal string theory. Focusing on the ZZ-FZZT annulus amplitude as a target-space probe of the ZZ brane, we use it to confirm that the ZZ branes are localized in the strong-coupling region. Along the way we learn that the ZZ-FZZT open strings are fermions, even though our theory is bosonic! We also provide a geometrical interpretation of the annulus amplitudes in terms of the Riemann surface M_{p,q} that emerges from the FZZT branes. The ZZ-FZZT annulus amplitude measures the deformation of M_{p,q} due to the presence of background ZZ branes; each kind of ZZ-brane deforms only one A-period of the surface. Finally, we use the annulus amplitudes to argue that the ZZ branes can be regarded as "wrong-branch" tachyons which violate the bound \alpha<Q/2.Comment: 33 pages, new results in appendix, minor change

Branes, Rings and Matrix Models in Minimal (Super)string Theory

We study both bosonic and supersymmetric (p,q) minimal models coupled to Liouville theory using the ground ring and the various branes of the theory. From the FZZT brane partition function, there emerges a unified, geometric description of all these theories in terms of an auxiliary Riemann surface M_{p,q} and the corresponding matrix model. In terms of this geometric description, both the FZZT and ZZ branes correspond to line integrals of a certain one-form on M_{p,q}. Moreover, we argue that there are a finite number of distinct (m,n) ZZ branes, and we show that these ZZ branes are located at the singularities of M_{p,q}. Finally, we discuss the possibility that the bosonic and supersymmetric theories with (p,q) odd and relatively prime are identical, as is suggested by the unified treatment of these models.Comment: 72 pages, 3 figures, improved treatment of FZZT and ZZ branes, minor change

Absorption of Fixed scalars and the D-brane Approach to Black Holes

We calculate the emission and absorption rates of fixed scalars by the near-extremal five-dimensional black holes that have recently been modeled using intersecting D-branes. We find agreement between the semi-classical and D-brane computations. At low energies the fixed scalar absorption cross-section is smaller than for ordinary scalars and depends on other properties of the black hole than just the horizon area. In the D-brane description, fixed scalar absorption is suppressed because these scalars must split into at least four, rather than two, open strings running along the D-brane. Consequently, this comparison provides a more sensitive test of the effective string picture of the D-brane bound state than does the cross-section for ordinary scalars. In particular, it allows us to read off the value of the effective string tension. That value is precisely what is needed to reproduce the near-extremal 5-brane entropy.Comment: 33 pages, harvmac, version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Dibaryon Spectroscopy

The AdS/CFT correspondence relates dibaryons in superconformal gauge theories to holomorphic curves in Kaehler-Einstein surfaces. The degree of the holomorphic curves is proportional to the gauge theory conformal dimension of the dibaryons. Moreover, the number of holomorphic curves should match, in an appropriately defined sense, the number of dibaryons. Using AdS/CFT backgrounds built from the generalized conifolds of Gubser, Shatashvili, and Nekrasov (1999), we show that the gauge theory prediction for the dimension of dibaryonic operators does indeed match the degree of the corresponding holomorphic curves. For AdS/CFT backgrounds built from cones over del Pezzo surfaces, we are able to match the degree of the curves to the conformal dimension of dibaryons for the n'th del Pezzo surface, n=1,2,...,6. Also, for the del Pezzos and the A_k type generalized conifolds, for the dibaryons of smallest conformal dimension, we are able to match the number of holomorphic curves with the number of possible dibaryon operators from gauge theory.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, corrected refs; v3 typos correcte

Flux Backgrounds in 2D String Theory

We study RR flux backgrounds in two dimensional type 0 string theories. In particular, we study the relation between the 0A matrix model and the extremal black hole in two dimensions. Using T-duality we find a dual flux background in type 0B theory and propose its matrix model description. When the Fermi level is set to zero this system remains weakly coupled and exhibits a larger symmetry related to the structure of flux vacua. Finally, we construct a two dimensional type IIB background as an orbifold of the 0B background.Comment: Harvmac, 40 pages, 6 figs, minor changes, references adde