Detecting Periods of Flight with High Task Load

Tools that predict dangerous working conditions empirically in the cockpit could greatly improve aviation safety. In an effort to lay the groundwork for such tools, this study will investigate whether a link exists between task load and pilots’ control strategies, their biometric data, and their planes’ position data. Using X Plane simulation software, an experiment will be run in which licensed pilots will fly a 3-nautical-mile approach into Mineta San Jose International Airport 4 times, under different task load conditions. During the flight, participants’ pupil diameters will be recorded along with the simulated aircraft position data and cognitive control modes. Future work will focus on applying these relationships to novel systems that will help pilots facing high task loads perform critical tasks without hindering the safety of those onboard the aircraft

Absorption spectrum in the wings of the potassium second resonance doublet broadened by helium

We have measured the reduced absorption coefficients occurring in the wings of the potassium 4S-5P doublet lines at 404.414 nm and at 404.720 nm broadened by helium gas at pressures of several hundred Torr. At the experimental temperature of 900 K, we have detected a shoulder-like broadening feature on the blue wing of the doublet which is relatively flat between 401.8 nm and 402.8 nm and which drops off rapidly for shorter wavelengths, corresponding to absorption from the X doublet Sigma+ state to the C doublet Sigma+ state of the K-He quasimolecule. The accurate measurements of the line profiles in the present work will sharply constrain future calculations of potential energy surfaces and transition dipole moments correlating to the asymptotes He-K(5p), He-K(5s), and He-K(3d).Comment: 2 figure

Supernova Simulations and Strategies For the Dark Energy Survey

We present an analysis of supernova light curves simulated for the upcoming Dark Energy Survey (DES) supernova search. The simulations employ a code suite that generates and fits realistic light curves in order to obtain distance modulus/redshift pairs that are passed to a cosmology fitter. We investigated several different survey strategies including field selection, supernova selection biases, and photometric redshift measurements. Using the results of this study, we chose a 30 square degree search area in the griz filter set. We forecast 1) that this survey will provide a homogeneous sample of up to 4000 Type Ia supernovae in the redshift range 0.05<z<1.2, and 2) that the increased red efficiency of the DES camera will significantly improve high-redshift color measurements. The redshift of each supernova with an identified host galaxy will be obtained from spectroscopic observations of the host. A supernova spectrum will be obtained for a subset of the sample, which will be utilized for control studies. In addition, we have investigated the use of combined photometric redshifts taking into account data from both the host and supernova. We have investigated and estimated the likely contamination from core-collapse supernovae based on photometric identification, and have found that a Type Ia supernova sample purity of up to 98% is obtainable given specific assumptions. Furthermore, we present systematic uncertainties due to sample purity, photometric calibration, dust extinction priors, filter-centroid shifts, and inter-calibration. We conclude by estimating the uncertainty on the cosmological parameters that will be measured from the DES supernova data.Comment: 46 pages, 30 figures, resubmitted to ApJ as Revision 2 (final author revision), which has subtle editorial differences compared to the published paper (ApJ, 753, 152). Note that this posting includes PDF only due to a bug in either the latex macros or the arXiv submission system. The source files are available in the DES document database: http://des-docdb.fnal.gov/cgi-bin/ShowDocument?docid=624

Modulation of emotional appraisal by false physiological feedback during fMRI

BACKGROUND James and Lange proposed that emotions are the perception of physiological reactions. Two-level theories of emotion extend this model to suggest that cognitive interpretations of physiological changes shape self-reported emotions. Correspondingly false physiological feedback of evoked or tonic bodily responses can alter emotional attributions. Moreover, anxiety states are proposed to arise from detection of mismatch between actual and anticipated states of physiological arousal. However, the neural underpinnings of these phenomena previously have not been examined. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We undertook a functional brain imaging (fMRI) experiment to investigate how both primary and second-order levels of physiological (viscerosensory) representation impact on the processing of external emotional cues. 12 participants were scanned while judging face stimuli during both exercise and non-exercise conditions in the context of true and false auditory feedback of tonic heart rate. We observed that the perceived emotional intensity/salience of neutral faces was enhanced by false feedback of increased heart rate. Regional changes in neural activity corresponding to this behavioural interaction were observed within included right anterior insula, bilateral mid insula, and amygdala. In addition, right anterior insula activity was enhanced during by asynchronous relative to synchronous cardiac feedback even with no change in perceived or actual heart rate suggesting this region serves as a comparator to detect physiological mismatches. Finally, BOLD activity within right anterior insula and amygdala predicted the corresponding changes in perceived intensity ratings at both a group and an individual level. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Our findings identify the neural substrates supporting behavioural effects of false physiological feedback, and highlight mechanisms that underlie subjective anxiety states, including the importance of the right anterior insula in guiding second-order "cognitive" representations of bodily arousal state

Modulation of emotional appraisal by false physiological feedback during fMRI

BACKGROUND James and Lange proposed that emotions are the perception of physiological reactions. Two-level theories of emotion extend this model to suggest that cognitive interpretations of physiological changes shape self-reported emotions. Correspondingly false physiological feedback of evoked or tonic bodily responses can alter emotional attributions. Moreover, anxiety states are proposed to arise from detection of mismatch between actual and anticipated states of physiological arousal. However, the neural underpinnings of these phenomena previously have not been examined. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We undertook a functional brain imaging (fMRI) experiment to investigate how both primary and second-order levels of physiological (viscerosensory) representation impact on the processing of external emotional cues. 12 participants were scanned while judging face stimuli during both exercise and non-exercise conditions in the context of true and false auditory feedback of tonic heart rate. We observed that the perceived emotional intensity/salience of neutral faces was enhanced by false feedback of increased heart rate. Regional changes in neural activity corresponding to this behavioural interaction were observed within included right anterior insula, bilateral mid insula, and amygdala. In addition, right anterior insula activity was enhanced during by asynchronous relative to synchronous cardiac feedback even with no change in perceived or actual heart rate suggesting this region serves as a comparator to detect physiological mismatches. Finally, BOLD activity within right anterior insula and amygdala predicted the corresponding changes in perceived intensity ratings at both a group and an individual level. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Our findings identify the neural substrates supporting behavioural effects of false physiological feedback, and highlight mechanisms that underlie subjective anxiety states, including the importance of the right anterior insula in guiding second-order "cognitive" representations of bodily arousal state

Reframing Kurtz’s Painting: Colonial Legacies and Minority Rights in Ethnically Divided Societies

Minority rights constitute some of the most normatively and economically important human rights. Although the political science and legal literatures have proffered a number of constitutional and institutional design solutions to address the protection of minority rights, these solutions are characterized by a noticeable neglect of, and lack of sensitivity to, historical processes. This Article addresses that gap in the literature by developing a causal argument that explains diverging practices of minority rights protections as functions of colonial governments’ variegated institutional practices with respect to particular ethnic groups. Specifically, this Article argues that in instances where colonial governments politicize and institutionalize ethnic hegemony in the pre-independence period, an institutional legacy is created that leads to lower levels of minority rights protections. Conversely, a uniform treatment and depoliticization of ethnicity prior to independence ultimately minimizes ethnic cleavages post-independence and consequently causes higher levels of minority rights protections. Through a highly structured comparative historical analysis of Botswana and Ghana, this Article builds on a new and exciting research agenda that focuses on the role of long-term historio-structural and institutional influences on human rights performance and makes important empirical contributions by eschewing traditional methodologies that focus on single case studies that are largely descriptive in their analyses. Ultimately, this Article highlights both the strength of a historical approach to understanding current variations in minority rights protections and the varied institutional responses within a specific colonial government

Modeling biomedical experimental processes with OBI

BACKGROUND: Experimental descriptions are typically stored as free text without using standardized terminology, creating challenges in comparison, reproduction and analysis. These difficulties impose limitations on data exchange and information retrieval. RESULTS: The Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI), developed as a global, cross-community effort, provides a resource that represents biomedical investigations in an explicit and integrative framework. Here we detail three real-world applications of OBI, provide detailed modeling information and explain how to use OBI. CONCLUSION: We demonstrate how OBI can be applied to different biomedical investigations to both facilitate interpretation of the experimental process and increase the computational processing and integration within the Semantic Web. The logical definitions of the entities involved allow computers to unambiguously understand and integrate different biological experimental processes and their relevant components. AVAILABILITY: OBI is available at http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi/2009-11-02/obi.ow

People of the British Isles: preliminary analysis of genotypes and surnames in a UK control population

There is a great deal of interest in fine scale population structure in the UK, both as a signature of historical immigration events and because of the effect population structure may have on disease association studies. Although population structure appears to have a minor impact on the current generation of genome-wide association studies, it is likely to play a significant part in the next generation of studies designed to search for rare variants. A powerful way of detecting such structure is to control and document carefully the provenance of the samples involved. Here we describe the collection of a cohort of rural UK samples (The People of the British Isles), aimed at providing a well-characterised UK control population that can be used as a resource by the research community as well as providing fine scale genetic information on the British population. So far, some 4,000 samples have been collected, the majority of which fit the criteria of coming from a rural area and having all four grandparents from approximately the same area. Analysis of the first 3,865 samples that have been geocoded indicates that 75% have a mean distance between grandparental places of birth of 37.3km, and that about 70% of grandparental places of birth can be classed as rural. Preliminary genotyping of 1,057 samples demonstrates the value of these samples for investigating fine scale population structure within the UK, and shows how this can be enhanced by the use of surnames