Photon-efficient imaging with a single-photon camera

Reconstructing a scene's 3D structure and reflectivity accurately with an active imaging system operating in low-light-level conditions has wide-ranging applications, spanning biological imaging to remote sensing. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a depth and reflectivity imaging system with a single-photon camera that generates high-quality images from ∼1 detected signal photon per pixel. Previous achievements of similar photon efficiency have been with conventional raster-scanning data collection using single-pixel photon counters capable of ∼10-ps time tagging. In contrast, our camera's detector array requires highly parallelized time-to-digital conversions with photon time-tagging accuracy limited to ∼ns. Thus, we develop an array-specific algorithm that converts coarsely time-binned photon detections to highly accurate scene depth and reflectivity by exploiting both the transverse smoothness and longitudinal sparsity of natural scenes. By overcoming the coarse time resolution of the array, our framework uniquely achieves high photon efficiency in a relatively short acquisition time

Social marketing and healthy eating : Findings from young people in Greece

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12208-013-0112-xGreece has high rates of obesity and non-communicable diseases owing to poor dietary choices. This research provides lessons for social marketing to tackle the severe nutrition-related problems in this country by obtaining insight into the eating behaviour of young adults aged 18–23. Also, the main behavioural theories used to inform the research are critically discussed. The research was conducted in Athens. Nine focus groups with young adults from eight educational institutions were conducted and fifty-nine participants’ views towards eating habits, healthy eating and the factors that affect their food choices were explored. The study found that the participants adopted unhealthier nutritional habits after enrolment. Motivations for healthy eating were good health, appearance and psychological consequences, while barriers included lack of time, fast-food availability and taste, peer pressure, lack of knowledge and lack of family support. Participants reported lack of supportive environments when deciding on food choices. Based on the findings, recommendations about the development of the basic 4Ps of the marketing mix, as well as of a fifth P, for Policy are proposedPeer reviewe

MYORG-related disease is associated with central pontine calcifications and atypical parkinsonism

Objective: To identify the phenotypic, neuroimaging, and genotype-phenotype expression of MYORG mutations. Methods: Using next-generation sequencing, we screened 86 patients with primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) from 60 families with autosomal recessive or absent family history that were negative for mutations in SLC20A2, PDGFRB, PDGBB, and XPR1. In-depth phenotyping and neuroimaging investigations were performed in all cases reported here. Results: We identified 12 distinct deleterious MYORG variants in 7 of the 60 families with PFBC. Overall, biallelic MYORG mutations accounted for 11.6% of PFBC families in our cohort. A heterogeneous phenotypic expression was identified within and between families with a median age at onset of 56.4 years, a variable combination of parkinsonism, cerebellar signs, and cognitive decline. Psychiatric disturbances were not a prominent feature. Cognitive assessment showed impaired cognitive function in 62.5% of cases. Parkinsonism associated with vertical nuclear gaze palsy was the initial clinical presentation in 1/3 of cases and was associated with central pontine calcifications. Cerebral cortical atrophy was present in 37% of cases. Conclusions: This large, multicentric study shows that biallelic MYORG mutations represent a significant proportion of autosomal recessive PFBC. We recommend screening MYORG mutations in all patients with primary brain calcifications and autosomal recessive or negative family history, especially when presenting clinically as atypical parkinsonism and with pontine calcification on brain CT

O Efeito da Sinalização de Qualidade no Contexto de Serviços

Signaling theory states that signals are firms’ actions that communicate information about the quality of a product. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of signal quality in a service context, through the investigation of the signaling effects of price and responsiveness in a service context. Perceived behavior control, regarded as an individual's perception of the ability to perform a behavior, was proposed as a moderator between signaling variables and perceived quality. Two experimental studies with factorial and inter-subject designs were conducted in order to test the hypotheses formulated from the literature review. Results from both experiments show that signaling quality through price and responsiveness can affect perceived quality. The second experiment supports the hypothesis of perceived behavior control moderation between price as a signaling variable and perceived quality, but not between responsiveness and perceived quality. These results and their implications are discussed in the final section of the paper

Bi-allelic JAM2 Variants Lead to Early-Onset Recessive Primary Familial Brain Calcification.

Primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a combination of neurological, psychiatric, and cognitive decline associated with calcium deposition on brain imaging. To date, mutations in five genes have been linked to PFBC. However, more than 50% of individuals affected by PFBC have no molecular diagnosis. We report four unrelated families presenting with initial learning difficulties and seizures and later psychiatric symptoms, cerebellar ataxia, extrapyramidal signs, and extensive calcifications on brain imaging. Through a combination of homozygosity mapping and exome sequencing, we mapped this phenotype to chromosome 21q21.3 and identified bi-allelic variants in JAM2. JAM2 encodes for the junctional-adhesion-molecule-2, a key tight-junction protein in blood-brain-barrier permeability. We show that JAM2 variants lead to reduction of JAM2 mRNA expression and absence of JAM2 protein in patient's fibroblasts, consistent with a loss-of-function mechanism. We show that the human phenotype is replicated in the jam2 complete knockout mouse (jam2 KO). Furthermore, neuropathology of jam2 KO mouse showed prominent vacuolation in the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum and particularly widespread vacuolation in the midbrain with reactive astrogliosis and neuronal density reduction. The regions of the human brain affected on neuroimaging are similar to the affected brain areas in the myorg PFBC null mouse. Along with JAM3 and OCLN, JAM2 is the third tight-junction gene in which bi-allelic variants are associated with brain calcification, suggesting that defective cell-to-cell adhesion and dysfunction of the movement of solutes through the paracellular spaces in the neurovascular unit is a key mechanism in CNS calcification

Shopping Streets versus Shopping Malls - Determinants of Agglomeration Format Attractiveness from the Customers' Point of View

The decline of shopping streets and the rise of shopping malls have been major trends in European retailing for decades. So far, research has failed to investigate this shift of agglomeration format (AF) patronage from a marketing perspective, including the consumers’ point of view. This paper presents a theoretical comparison of generic similarities and conceptual differences between shopping streets and shopping malls. Based on this comparison the AF-specific characteristics perceived by consumers are compared and discussed with respect to their impact on agglomeration attractiveness. This leads to the development of a conceptual framework which is empirically tested using a web-based survey of almost 1,000 consumers representing a typical urban central European retail market. The relative importance of nine distinctive AF characteristics on attractiveness was analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings proved to be quite similar for both shopping streets and shopping malls; the retail tenant mix and atmosphere had the highest relative importance

Seeing eye to eye: social augmented reality and shared decision making in the marketplace

Firms increasingly seek to improve the online shopping experience by enabling customers to exchange product recommendations through social augmented reality (AR). We utilize socially situated cognition theory and conduct a series of five studies to explore how social AR supports shared decision making in recommender–decision maker dyads. We demonstrate that optimal configurations of social AR, that is, a static (vs. dynamic) point-of-view sharing format matched with an image-enhanced (vs. text-only) communicative act, increase recommenders’ comfort with providing advice and decision makers’ likelihood of using the advice in their choice. For both, these effects are due to a sense of social empowerment, which also stimulates recommenders’ desire for a product and positive behavioral intentions. However, recommenders’ communication motives impose boundary conditions. When recommenders have strong impression management concerns, this weakens the effect of social empowerment on recommendation comfort. Furthermore, the stronger a recommender’s persuasion goal, the less likely the decision maker is to use the recommendation in their choice