Tune in to your emotions: a robust personalized affective music player

The emotional power of music is exploited in a personalized affective music player (AMP) that selects music for mood enhancement. A biosignal approach is used to measure listeners’ personal emotional reactions to their own music as input for affective user models. Regression and kernel density estimation are applied to model the physiological changes the music elicits. Using these models, personalized music selections based on an affective goal state can be made. The AMP was validated in real-world trials over the course of several weeks. Results show that our models can cope with noisy situations and handle large inter-individual differences in the music domain. The AMP augments music listening where its techniques enable automated affect guidance. Our approach provides valuable insights for affective computing and user modeling, for which the AMP is a suitable carrier application

New hyperekplexia mutations provide insight into glycine receptor assembly, trafficking, and activation mechanisms

Background: Hyperekplexia mutations have provided much information about glycine receptor structure and function. Results: Weidentified and characterized nine new mutations. Dominant mutations resulted in spontaneous activation, whereas recessive mutations precluded surface expression. Conclusion: These data provide insight into glycine receptor activation mechanisms and surface expression determinants. Significance: The results enhance our understanding of hyperekplexia pathology and glycine receptor structure-function. © 2013 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Published in the U.S.A

The developmental pattern of homologous and heterologous tRNA methylation in rat brain differential effect of spermidine

Using S -adenosyl- L -[Me- 14 C] methionine, rat cerebral cortex methyltransferase activity was determined during the early postnatal period in the absence of added Escherichia coli tRNA and in its presence. [Me- 14 C] tRNA was purified from both systems and its [Me- 14 C] base composition determined. The endogenous formation of [Me- 14 C] tRNA (homologous tRNA methylation) was totally abolished in the presence of 2.5 mM spermidine, whereas E. coli B tRNA methylation (heterologous methylation) was markedly stimulated. Only [Me- 14 C] 1-methyl guanine and [Me- 14 C] N 2 -methyl guanine were formed by homologous methylation, there being an inverse shift in their relative proportions with age. Heterologous tRNA methylation led, additionally, to the formation of [Me- 14 C] N 2 2 -dimethyl guanine, 5-methyl cytosine, 1-methyl adenine, 5-methyl uracil, 2-methyl adenine, and 1-methyl hypoxanthine. A comparison of heterologous tRNA methylation between the whole brain cortex (containing nerve and glial cells) and bulk-isolated nerve cell bodies revealed markedly lower proportions of [Me- 14 C] N 2 -methyl and N 2 2 -dimethyl guanine and significantly higher proportions of [Me- 14 C] 1-methyl adenine in the neurons. The present findings suggest (1) that homologous tRNA methylation may provide developing brain cells with continuously changing populations of tRNA and (2) that neurons are enriched in adenine residue-specific tRNA methyltransferases that are highly sensitive to spermidine.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45399/1/11064_2004_Article_BF00966229.pd

All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO

We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in two sets of data collected by the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston detectors between November 5, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010, with a total observational time of 283.0 days and 132.9 days, respectively. The search targets gravitational wave transients of duration 10-500 s in a frequency band of 40-1000 Hz, with minimal assumptions about the signal waveform, polarization, source direction, or time of occurrence. All candidate triggers were consistent with the expected background; as a result we set 90% confidence upper limits on the rate of long-duration gravitational wave transients for different types of gravitational wave signals. For signals from black hole accretion disk instabilities, we set upper limits on the source rate density between 3.4×10-5 and 9.4×10-4 Mpc-3 yr-1 at 90% confidence. These are the first results from an all-sky search for unmodeled long-duration transient gravitational waves. © 2016 American Physical Society

All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO

We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in two sets of data collected by the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston detectors between November 5, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010, with a total observational time of 283.0 days and 132.9 days, respectively. The search targets gravitational wave transients of duration 10-500 s in a frequency band of 40-1000 Hz, with minimal assumptions about the signal waveform, polarization, source direction, or time of occurrence. All candidate triggers were consistent with the expected background; as a result we set 90% confidence upper limits on the rate of long-duration gravitational wave transients for different types of gravitational wave signals. For signals from black hole accretion disk instabilities, we set upper limits on the source rate density between 3.4×10-5 and 9.4×10-4 Mpc-3 yr-1 at 90% confidence. These are the first results from an all-sky search for unmodeled long-duration transient gravitational waves. © 2016 American Physical Society

Reassessing the effect of colour on attitude and behavioural intentions in promotional activities: The moderating role of mood and involvement

The present research examines the effect of background colour on attitude and behavioural intentions in various promotional activities taking into consideration the moderating role of mood and involvement. Three experiments reflecting different promotional activities (window display, consumer trade show, guerrilla marketing) were conducted for this purpose. Overall, findings indicate that cool background colours, in contrast to warm colours, induce more positive attitudes and behavioural intentions mainly in positive mood, and low involvement conditions. Implications are also discussed

Designing marketplaces of the artificial with consumers in mind: Four approaches to understanding consumer behavior in electronic environments

Marketers face a myriad of decisions when developing a Web site for e-commerce. In this article, we attempt to organize our current understanding of consumer behavior into streams of research that address the development of marketplaces for the digital economy. We start by characterizing computerbased decision environments as Marketplaces of the Artificial, arguing that the unbundling of product information from products presents many decisions and opportunities for the design of decision environments. We then review four areas of research, identifying themes in each area. These areas are (a) the economics of search, (b) cognitive cost approaches, (c) constructed preference approaches, and (d) phenomenological approaches. We illustrate each approach, highlighting its assumptions and discussing examples of research questions and results

PHASE AND FREQUENCY DYNAMICS IN A BIDIRECTIONAL RING LASER

L'alternation des modes dans les lasers circulaires bidirectionnels devient plus claire si l'on étudie la dynamique des phases et fréquences des deux modes. Les effets dynamiques entre autres sont "mode-pushing", "mode-pulling" et des changements brusques de phase s'élevant à pi radians.Mode alternation in bidirectional ring lasers is more clearly understood by examining the dynamics of the phases and frequencies of the two modes. Dynamical effects include mode-pushing, mode-pulling and phase jumps of pi radians