Blur discrimination and its relation to blur-mediated depth perception

Retinal images of three-dimensional scenes often contain regions that are spatially blurred by different amounts, owing to depth variation in the scene and depth-of-focus limitations in the eye. Variations in blur between regions in the retinal image therefore offer a cue to their relative physical depths. In the first experiment we investigated apparent depth ordering in images containing two regions of random texture separated by a vertical sinusoidal border. The texture was sharp on one side of the border, and blurred on the other side. In some presentations the border itself was also blurred. Results showed that blur variation alone is sufficient to determine the apparent depth ordering. A subsequent series of experiments measured blur-discrimination thresholds with stimuli similar to those used in the depth-ordering experiment. Weber fractions for blur discrimination ranged from 0.28 to 0.56. It is concluded that the utility of blur variation as a depth cue is constrained by the relatively mediocre ability of observers to discriminate different levels of blur. Blur is best viewed as a relatively coarse, qualitative depth cue

Perceived discrimination against Dutch Muslim youths in the school context and its relation with externalising behavior

The role of the source of discrimination in relation to minority Muslim youths’ psychosocial well-being has received remarkably little attention in the post-9/11 climate. We have examined one of the aspects of psychosocial well-being that is given prominent attention in the media and public discourse, namely externalising behaviour. The article reports whether perceived discrimination by four sources (school peers and teachers, peers, and adults outside the school) is related to externalising behaviour. Links between perceived discrimination sources and externalising behaviour among Dutch Muslim youths (n = 308, ages 14–18) were examined through surveys. The quantitative findings guided our qualitative analyses of interviews with 10 Muslim Dutch youths on their accounts of discrimination in the school context. When comparing different discrimination sources, only teacher discrimination was found to predict externalising behaviour significantly (explaining 15% of the variance). The qualitative follow-up illustrated the significance of teacher discrimination: Some Muslim youths felt that their teachers held back their school progress, while others reported receiving insults from teachers about their parents’ native country and their religion. We argue that students’ perceived powerlessness within the teacher-student relationship deserves further attention, as some Dutch Muslim youths reported painful experiences, with perceived teacher discrimination linked to higher levels of externalising behaviour

A clinopyroxene record of primitive melt diversity and mantle heterogeneity beneath Italy

The young potassium-rich volcanic rocks of peninsular Italy are the products of a complex post-collisional geodynamic setting. These volcanic rocks exhibit extreme compositional variability in space and time, resulting from large variations in the subducted material in their mantle sources. The genetic relationships between distinct Italian magmatic series—shoshonitic, potassic, ultrapotassic and lamproitic, among others—that are closely related in space and time, as well as the exact nature and provenance of the metasomatic agents, are subject to active debate. The earliest crystallised silicate phases from mafic lavas—olivine and clinopyroxene—carry valuable information on the nature of mantle sources and melt extraction processes. Because Mg-rich clinopyroxene incorporates significant amounts of incompatible elements and is a ubiquitous phase in mafic Italian lavas, it potentially represents a versatile instrument for delineating the compositional complexity and regional variability of subduction-modified mantle sources in this region. Here we present the results of an extensive study of Mg-rich clinopyroxene (Mg# = 88–93 mol%) from potassium-rich mafic rocks from a chain of volcanic centres in central-southern Italy, from Tuscany down to Campania. We compare major- and trace-element data from clinopyroxenes with those from bulk rocks and olivine-hosted melt inclusions, using new estimates of trace-element partitioning between clinopyroxene and potassium-rich magmas based on cogenetic clinopyroxene-olivine crystallisation. The Mg-rich clinopyroxenes show a marked compositional diversity that reflects the nature of the (near-)primary mantle-derived melts from which they crystallised, and allow us to characterise the metasomatic agents responsible for the formation of different compositional end-members. We demonstrate that clinopyroxenes provide a detailed archive of mantle heterogeneity beneath Italy, highlighting systematic variations both regionally and beneath individual volcanic complexes

Genome-wide study of immune biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid and serum from patients with bipolar disorder and controls.

Bipolar disorder is a common, chronic psychiatric disorder. Despite high heritability, there is a paucity of identified genetic risk factors. Immune biomarkers are under more direct genetic influence than bipolar disorder. To explore the genetic associations with immune biomarker levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood serum which previously showed differences in bipolar disorder, we performed a study involving 291 individuals (184 bipolar disorder patients and 107 controls). The biomarkers assayed in both CSF and serum were: chitinase-3-like protein-1 (YKL-40), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), soluble cluster of differentiation (sCD14), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 and 2 (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2). C-reactive protein (CRP) was only quantified in serum, and interleukin 8 (IL-8) measures were only available in CSF. Genome-wide association studies were conducted using PLINK for each of three genotyping waves and incorporated covariates for population substructure, age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Results were combined by meta-analysis. Genome-wide significant associations were detected for all biomarkers except TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 in CSF. The strongest association in CSF was found for markers within the CNTNAP5 gene with YKL-40 (rs150248456, P = 2.84 × 10-10). The strongest association in serum was also for YKL-40 but localized to the FANCI gene (rs188263039, P = 5.80 × 10-26). This study revealed numerous biologically plausible genetic associations with immune biomarkers in CSF and blood serum. Importantly, the genetic variants regulating immune biomarker levels in CSF and blood serum differ. These results extend our knowledge of how biomarkers showing alterations in bipolar disorder are genetically regulated