A Role for Contrast Gain Control in Skin Appearance

Apparent contrast can be suppressed or enhanced when presented within surrounding images. This contextual modulation is typically accounted for with models of contrast gain control. Similarly, the appearance of one part of a face is affected by the appearance of the other parts of the face. These influences are typically accounted for with models of face-specific holistic processing. Here we report evidence that facial skin appearance is modulated by adjacent surfaces. In four experiments we measured the appearance of skin evenness and wrinkles in images with increased or decreased contrast between facial skin and adjacent image regions. Increased contrast with adjacent regions made facial skin appear more even and less wrinkled. We found the effect whether faces were presented upright or inverted, and also when facial features were not present, ruling out face-specific holistic processing as an explanation yet fully consistent with contrast gain control. Because the mechanism is not face specific, contrast between skin and any adjacent surface should affect skin appearance. This suggests that adornments such as makeup, hair coloring, clothing, and jewelry could also affect skin appearance through contrast suppression or enhancement, linking these cultural practices to the structure and function of the visual system

Mexico\u27s Changing Pork Industry: The Forces of Domestic and International Market Demand

Once dominated by traditional and small-scale production systems with little regulation, Mexico\u27s pork industry now includes modern, vertically integrated production systems and federal inspection of packing and processing plants. Recent structural changes have resulted in three distinct segments within the production and processing sectors as the industry works to adjust to international and domestic demand for better product quality, stricter sanitary practices, and increased supplies yet continue to meet the needs of low-income consumers. As the structural changes continue, the industry faces several challenges that will affect its ability to become both internationally and domestically competitive. To meet these challenges, the Mexican government is faced with decisions about implementing and enforcing regulations and providing incentives to encourage continued development and best serve domestic consumers

The Changing Structure of Pork Trade, Production, and Processing in Mexico

The structure of the pork production, slaughter, and processing sectors in Mexico has changed significantly since implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and with rising income and increased urbanization. Today, Mexico\u27s pork industry has become more integrated and achieved greater production efficiencies in response to increasing demand for better product quality and stricter sanitary practices in production and processing pork for both the domestic market and for export. However, despite these improvements Mexico\u27s pork industry has not kept up with the rising domestic demand, and Mexico has become an increasingly important market for the United States. A key to the development of increased trade in both live animals and pork is growth of federally inspected or Tipo Inspección Federal (TIF) plant production, as well as development of marketing channels and product promotion that support high-quality consumer meat products

Positive Facial Affect Looks Healthy

A healthy appearance is linked to important behavioural outcomes. Here we investigated whether positive facial affect is a cue for perceived health. In study one, two groups of participants rated the perceived health or perceived happiness of a large set of faces with neutral expressions. Perceived happiness predicted perceived health, as did anthropometric measures of expression. In a second experimental study, we collected ratings of perceived health for a wide age range of target faces with either neutral or smiling expressions. Smiling faces were rated as being much healthier looking than neutral faces, confirming that facial expression plays a role in the perception of health. A third study investigating attractiveness as a possible mediator found that expression still had a significant direct effect on perceived health, after accounting for attractiveness. Together, these studies systematically show that facial affect plays a critical role in shaping our perceptions of health in others

Polymer Chains in Random Layered Flows: A Scaling Approach

We consider the diffusion of a polymer chain in random layered flows. We use scaling ideas and take the randomness of the flow into account through an Imry-Ma-type argument. For the chain\u27s dynamics both the Zimm approach for screened hydrodynamic interactions and also the Rouse approach are considered. We cornpute both the internal dynamics of the chain (motion of a segment) and also the center of mass motion; for the Rouse model we recover the exact results obtained by Oshanin and Blumen. The polymer\u27s dynamics at long times turns out to be diffusive or enhanced, depending on the flow\u27s disorder (thread-like or layer-like), and on the hydrodynamic interactions. Furthermore we also evaluate the chain\u27s conformations under these conditions

Avances y desafíos de la agenda de cambio climático en la Zona Costero- Marina de El Salvador

Abstract: Central America is one of the most vulnerable regions to the adverse effects of climate change, due to the rise of frequency and intensity that hydrometeorological phenomena have occurred in recent years. In El Salvador 484 people died and 800,000 more were affected because these extreme events and economic losses reached up to 6.711 million dollars. According to the climate projections over the next 50 years in the territory, is expected that extreme events such as droughts and rainfall will intensify. Within the last 30 years, July of 2014 is considered the one with less rainfall. Meanwhile, Tropical Depression 12E in 2011 provoked an outstanding rainfall average of 1,137 mm, affecting more than 500,000 people; most of them live in the coastal zone. The death of 34 people and living economic losses of 840.4 million was recorded, equivalent to 4% of GDP. El Salvador has policies, national plans and strategies aimed to reducing vulnerability, promoting adaptation to these changes and more effective risk management. This paper compiles the impacts of climate variability in El Salvador and the efforts of the State on adaptation to improve environmental and social resilience

Cultural Predictors of Facial Ethnicity Preference in the Miskitu and Mestizos of Rural Nicaragua

Both basic visual experience and cultural associations with race and ethnicity may contribute to the extent observers do or do not favor some facial ethnicity cues over others. Given that visual media contain a highly biased selection of faces, with Whiteness both over-represented and strongly privileged in film and television, communities for whom visual media are relatively novel may experience an additional, pervasive source of attitudes to facial ethnicity markers. In the current research, we compared individuals of Mestizo and Miskitu identities living in communities on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua with, and without, regular access to television on their relative preference for facial stimuli manipulated to look more or less White (Black vs White, Black vs Mestizo, Mestizo vs White). Results showed that all communities showed an overall preference for images with lighter skin, although changes in facial shape did not affect preferences. Those who had attended more years of education preferred whiter faces than those with less education, and those who watched more television preferred whiter faces more only where color (rather than shape) had been manipulated. Results are discussed in terms of the broader relations around ethnicity, status, and technological transition in this area

Cultural Predictors of Facial Ethnicity Preference in the Miskitu and Mestizos of Rural Nicaragua

Both basic visual experience and cultural associations with race and ethnicity may contribute to the extent observers do or do not favor some facial ethnicity cues over others. Given that visual media contain a highly biased selection of faces, with Whiteness both over-represented and strongly privileged in film and television, communities for whom visual media are relatively novel may experience an additional, pervasive source of attitudes to facial ethnicity markers. In the current research, we compared individuals of Mestizo and Miskitu identities living in communities on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua with, and without, regular access to television on their relative preference for facial stimuli manipulated to look more or less White (Black vs White, Black vs Mestizo, Mestizo vs White). Results showed that all communities showed an overall preference for images with lighter skin, although changes in facial shape did not affect preferences. Those who had attended more years of education preferred whiter faces than those with less education, and those who watched more television preferred whiter faces more only where color (rather than shape) had been manipulated. Results are discussed in terms of the broader relations around ethnicity, status, and technological transition in this area

Improving EEG-Based Motor Imagery Classification for Real-Time Applications Using the QSA Method

We present an improvement to the quaternion-based signal analysis (QSA) technique to extract electroencephalography (EEG) signal features with a view to developing real-time applications, particularly in motor imagery (IM) cognitive processes. The proposed methodology (iQSA, improved QSA) extracts features such as the average, variance, homogeneity, and contrast of EEG signals related to motor imagery in a more efficient manner (i.e., by reducing the number of samples needed to classify the signal and improving the classification percentage) compared to the original QSA technique. Specifically, we can sample the signal in variable time periods (from 0.5 s to 3 s, in half-a-second intervals) to determine the relationship between the number of samples and their effectiveness in classifying signals. In addition, to strengthen the classification process a number of boosting-technique-based decision trees were implemented. The results show an 82.30% accuracy rate for 0.5 s samples and 73.16% for 3 s samples. This is a significant improvement compared to the original QSA technique that offered results from 33.31% to 40.82% without sampling window and from 33.44% to 41.07% with sampling window, respectively. We can thus conclude that iQSA is better suited to develop real-time applications