Misdirection – Past, Present, and the Future

Misdirection refers to the magician’s ability to manipulate people’s attention, thoughts, and memory. It has been argued that some of the techniques used by magicians to orchestrate people’s attention and awareness may provide valuable insights into human cognition. In this paper we review the scientific, as well as some of the magic literature on misdirection. We focus on four main points: (1) the magician’s concept of misdirection, (2) the paradigms used to study misdirection scientifically, (3) review of the current scientific findings, and (4) future directions

Nanoparticle-coated microcrystals

Coprecipitation provides a rapid high-yield method for self-assembly of nanoparticles on the surface of flat water-soluble crystalline surfaces and a simple immobilisation technique prior to storage or thermal and chemical modification

Towards a Functional Explanation of the Connectivity LGN - V1

The principles behind the connectivity between LGN and V1 are not well understood. Models have to explain two basic experimental trends: (i) the combination of thalamic responses is local and it gives rise to a variety of oriented Gabor-like receptive felds in V1 [1], and (ii) these filters are spatially organized in orientation maps [2]. Competing explanations of orientation maps use purely geometrical arguments such as optimal wiring or packing from LGN [3-5], but they make no explicit reference to visual function. On the other hand, explanations based on func- tional arguments such as maximum information transference (infomax) [6,7] usually neglect a potential contribution from LGN local circuitry. In this work we explore the abil- ity of the conventional functional arguments (infomax and variants), to derive both trends simultaneously assuming a plausible sampling model linking the retina to the LGN [8], as opposed to previous attempts operating from the retina. Consistently with other aspects of human vi- sion [14-16], additional constraints should be added to plain infomax to understand the second trend of the LGN-V1 con- nectivity. Possibilities include energy budget [11], wiring constraints [8], or error minimization in noisy systems, ei- ther linear [16] or nonlinear [14, 15]. In particular, consideration of high noise (neglected here) would favor the redundancy in the prediction (which would be required to match the relations between spatially neighbor neurons in the same orientation domain)

The Role of Car Aesthetics on Consumers’ Decisions: An Example from Romania

Visual impact is essential when consumers are assessing car preferences. The purpose of this paper is to present a holistic model focusing on car aesthetic dimensions and its impact on consumers’ purchase decisions. Our findings are based on a questionnaire completed by 388 participants and analyzed with SPSS and AMOS. The results show not only that the aesthetic dimensions such as color, shape and sound influence the processing stimuli, but also the significant and positive relationships established between the stimuli and the purchase decision. Also, this study can guide marketers when developing an effective marketing strategy. As our research focuses on the Romanian market, testing our framework in different cultures is strongly encouraged.JEL Codes - M31; M2

Propuesta de un programa de prevención de lesiones para las categorías inferiores del club de fútbol cultural y deportiva leonesa S.A.D. = A proposal of injures prevention program for youth teams in football club cultural y deportiva leonesa S.A.D.

Las lesiones deportivas son contratiempos que suceden a lo largo de la temporada en los equipos de fútbol. En este documento se propone un programa de prevención primaria para las categorías inferiores de la Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa S.A.D. El objetivo principal es reducir el número de lesiones en todos los equipos, en especial las de tipo muscular. Para ello, se realiza una selección individualizada de las capacidades a trabajar por equipos y edades, en función de los factores de riesgo específicos del fútbol, el análisis de la incidencia lesional y las fases sensibles del entrenamiento en jóvenes deportistas. Pretende alcanzar un estado físico en el que las probabilidades de lesión se reduzcan mediante el trabajo de fuerza, core, propiocepción, flexibilidad y agilidad. Se presentan documentos de apoyo a los entrenadores y preparadores físicos para su realización, como son las fichas de las sesiones con imágenes de los ejercicios, y una serie de videos con la ejecución. Para comprobar el éxito de la propuesta, se expone una serie de pasos de evaluación. Como perfeccionamiento de esta planificación se ofrecen distintos futuros complementos a la hora de llevarlo a cabo

Purified palmitoleic acid for the reduction of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and serum lipids: A double-blinded, randomized, placebo controlled study

BackgroundPurified palmitoleic acid (16-1; omega-7) has shown lipid-lowering and anti-inflammatory benefits in open label, epidemiologic, and animal studies.ObjectiveOur objective was to perform the first randomized controlled trial of purified palmitoleic acid supplementation in humans.MethodsAdults with dyslipidemia and evidence of mild systemic inflammation (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hs-CRP] between 2 and 5 mg/L) were randomly allocated to receive either 220.5 mg of cis-palmitoleic acid (n = 30) or an identical capsule with placebo (1000 mg of medium chain triglycerides, n = 30) once per day for 30 days. Participants were asked to maintain their current diet. Serum lipids and hs-CRP were drawn at baseline and study completion.ResultsAt 30 days, there were significant mean (95% confidence interval [CI]) reductions in CRP (−1.9 [−2.3 to −1.4] mg/L), triglyceride (−30.2 [−40.2 to −25.3] mg/dL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (−8.9 [−12.0 to −5.8] mg/dL), and a significant increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (2.4 [1.5, 3.3] mg/dL) in the intervention group compared with control. These changes equated to 44%, 15%, and 8% reductions in CRP, triglyceride, and LDL respectively, and a 5% increase in HDL compared with control.ConclusionsPurified palmitoleic acid may be useful in the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia with the beneficial added effects of decreasing LDL and hs-CRP and raising HDL. Further study is needed to elucidate mechanisms and establish appropriate human doses

Temperature dependent charge transport mechanisms in carbon sphere/polymer composites

Carbon spheres (CS) with diameters in the range $2 - 10 \mu m$ were prepared via hydrolysis of a sucrose solution at $200^o C,$ and later annealed in $N_2$ at $800^o C.$ The spheres were highly conducting but difficult to process into thin films or pressed pellets. In our previous work, composite samples of CS and the insulating polymer polyethylene oxide (PEO) were prepared and their charge transport was analyzed in the temperature range $80 K < T < 300 K.$ Here, we analyze charge transport in CS coated with a thin polyaniline (PANi) film doped with hydrochloric acid (HCl), in the same temperature range. The goal is to study charge transport in the CS using a conducting polymer (PANi) as a binder and compare with that occurring at CS/PEO. A conductivity maxima was observed in the CS/PEO composite but was absent in CS/PANi. Our data analysis shows that variable range hopping of electrons between polymeric chains in PANi-filled gaps between CS takes on a predominant part in transport through CS/PANi composites, whereas in CS/PEO composites, electrons travel through gaps between CS solely by means of direct tunneling. This difference in transport mechanisms results in different temperature dependences of the conductivity.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

An Optimisation Algorithm to Establish the Location of Stations of a Mixed Fleet Biking System: An Application to the City of Lisbon

AbstractThis paper presents the design and deployment of a bike-sharing system developed for Lisbon. The design of this new service is performed through an heuristic, encompassing a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP), that simultaneously optimise the location of shared biking stations, the fleet dimension and measuring the bicycle relocation activities required in a regular operation day. The results obtained for the several tested scenarios provided better insights into knowing how to improve the design and operation of these systems