The effects of local prevalence and explicit expectations on search termination times.

Abstract In visual search tasks, the relative proportions of target-present and -absent trials have important effects on behavior. Miss error rates rise as target prevalence decreases (Wolfe, Horowitz, & Kenner, Nature 435, 439-440, 2005). At the same time, search termination times on target-absent trials become shorter (Wolfe & Van Wert, Current Biology 20, 121-124, 2010). These effects must depend on some implicit or explicit knowledge of the current prevalence. What is the nature of that knowledge? In Experiment 1, we conducted visual search tasks at three levels of prevalence (6%, 50%, and 94%) and analyzed performance as a function of "local prevalence," the prevalence over the last n trials. The results replicated the usual effects of overall prevalence but revealed only weak or absent effects of local prevalence. In Experiment 2, the overall prevalence in a block of trials was 20%, 50%, or 80%. However, a 100%-valid cue informed observers of the prevalence on the next trial. These explicit cues had a modest effect on target-absent RTs, but explicit expectation could not explain the full prevalence effect. We conclude that observers predict prevalence on the basis of an assessment of a relatively long prior history. Each trial contributes a small amount to that assessment, and this can be modulated but not overruled by explicit instruction

Recovery from heat shock injury by activation of Na+-glucose cotransporter in renal epithelial cells

AbstractExposure of cells or organs to sublethal physical or chemical stresses induces disruption of cellular structures and functions. Here, we examined whether Na+-glucose cotransporter (SGLT1) is involved in the recovery from heat shock (HS) injury in porcine renal epithelial LLC-PK1 cells. Recovery from HS (42 °C for 3 h, then 37 °C for 12 h) increased SGLT1 activity, assessed by [14C]α-methyl glucopyranoside uptake, and a maximal transport rate (Vmax) from 2.4 to 5.9 nmol/mg protein/30 min, but did not alter an apparent affinity constant (Km). Protein distribution of SGLT1 in apical membrane fraction was also increased after recovery from HS without changing in total membrane fraction. Membrane integrity assessed by calcein accumulation was decreased by HS, and then returned to basal level. This recovery was inhibited by phloridzin, a potent SGLT1 inhibitor, and nonmetabolizable glucose analogues. Anti-transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) antibody inhibited both elevation of SGLT1 distribution in apical membrane and recovery of calcein accumulation induced by HS. Taken together, HS increases in the number of SGLT1 protein in apical membrane mediated via TGF-β1 signaling pathway. The increase of glucose uptake is necessary to repair plasma membrane integrity

NMR verification of Dirac nodal lines in a single-component molecular conductor

The Dirac nodal line (DNL) is a novel form of massless Dirac fermions that reside along lines in momentum space. Here, we verify genuine DNLs in the molecular material, [Ni(dmdt)$_2$], with the combined NMR experiments and numerical simulations. The NMR spectral shift and spin-lattice relaxation rate divided by temperature, $1/T_1T$, decrease linearly and quadratically with temperature, respectively, and become constant at low temperatures, consistent with slightly dispersive DNLs with small Fermi pockets. Comparison of these results with model simulations of DNLs reveals the suppression of the Fermi velocity and the enhancement of antiferromagnetic fluctuations due to electron correlation as well as the influence of the Landau quantization. The present study offers a demonstration to identify the DNL and evaluate the correlation effect with NMR.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Selective and Preferential Separation of Rhodium (III) from Palladium (II) and Platinum (IV) Using a m-Phenylene Diamine-Containing Precipitant

Although Rh is an industrially important and the most expensive platinum group metal (PGM), the selective and preferential separation of Rh from PGM mixtures still remains as a big challenge. In this work, the separation of Rh (III) from Pd (II) and Pt (IV) in a hydrochloric acid (HCI) solution was studied using a m-phenylene diamine-containing precipitant (m-PDA). At high HCI concentrations (6.0-8.0 M), most of the Rh (III) (>90%) was precipitated, and Pd (II) and Pt (IV) were hardly precipitated (<5%). On the other hand, over 85% of Pd (II) and Pt (IV) precipitated along with small amount of Rh (III) (<25%) at low HCI concentrations (1.0-2.0 M). As a consequence, m-PDA enabled selective and preferential precipitation of Rh (III) at high HCI concentrations. XPS and TG analyses revealed that the Rh-containing precipitate is an ion-pair complex composed of one [RhCI6](3-) anion and three m-PDA cations. The Rh desorption from the precipitate as well as the recovery of m-PDA was successfully achieved using an NH4OH solution. This method is a promising practical approach to Rh recovery

Temperature-dependent magnetoresistance effects in FeSi/FeSi/FeSi trilayered spin valve junctions

Fe3Si/FeSi2/Fe3Si trilayered junctions were fabricated by facing targets direct-current sputtering combined with a mask method, and the spin valve signals of the junctions were studied in the temperature range from 50 to 300 K. Whereas the magnetoresistance ratio of giant magnetoresistance and tunnel magnetoresistance junctions monotonically increases with decreasing temperature, that of our samples has the maximum value around 80 K and decreases with decreasing temperature at lower than 80 K, which might be due to an increase in the electrical conductivity mismatch between the metallic Fe3Si layers and semiconducting FeSi2 interlayer in the low temperature range.Asia-Pacific Conference on Semiconducting Silicides and Related Materials — Science and Technology Towards Sustainable Electronics (APAC Silicide 2016), July 16-18, 2016, Fukuoka, Japa

Evolution of Cosmological Perturbations in the Brane World

The evolution of the cosmological perturbations is studied in the context of the Randall-Sundrum brane world scenario, in which our universe is realized on a three-brane in the five dimensional Anti-de Sitter(AdS) spacetime. We develop a formalism to solve the coupled dynamics of the cosmological perturbations in the brane world and the gravitational wave in the AdS bulk. Using our formalism, the late time evolution of the cosmological scalar perturbations at any scales larger than the AdS curvature scale $l$ is shown to be identical with the one obtained in the conventional 4D cosmology, provided the effect of heavy graviton modes may be neglected. Here the late time means the epoch when the Hubble horizon $H^{-1}$ in the 4D brane world is sufficiently larger than the AdS curvature scale $l$. If the inflation occurs sufficiently lower than $l^{-1}$, the scalar temperature anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background at large scales can be calculated using the constancy of the Bardeen parameter as is done in the 4D cosmology. The assumption of the result is that the effect of the massive graviton with mass $m e^{-\alpha_0}>l^{-1}$ in the brane world is negligible, where $e^{\alpha_0}$ is the scale factor of the brane world. We also discuss the effect of these massive gravitons on the evolution of the perturbations.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, typos in published version are correcte