A Comparison Study of Saliency Models for Fixation Prediction on Infants and Adults

Various saliency models have been developed over the years. The performance of saliency models is typically evaluated based on databases of experimentally recorded adult eye fixations. Although studies on infant gaze patterns have attracted much attention recently, saliency based models have not been widely applied for prediction of infant gaze patterns. In this study, we conduct a comprehensive comparison study of eight state-ofthe- art saliency models on predictions of experimentally captured fixations from infants and adults. Seven evaluation metrics are used to evaluate and compare the performance of saliency models. The results demonstrate a consistent performance of saliency models predicting adult fixations over infant fixations in terms of overlap, center fitting, intersection, information loss of approximation, and spatial distance between the distributions of saliency map and fixation map. In saliency and baselines models performance ranking, the results show that GBVS and Itti models are among the top three contenders, infants and adults have bias toward the centers of images, and all models and the center baseline model outperformed the chance baseline model

Understanding the Unique Assembly History of Central Group Galaxies

Central Galaxies (CGs) in massive halos live in unique environments with formation histories closely linked to that of the host halo. In local clusters they have larger sizes ($R_e$) and lower velocity dispersions (sigma) at fixed stellar mass M_star, and much larger R_e at a fixed $\sigma$ than field and satellite galaxies (non-CGs). Using spectroscopic observations of group galaxies selected from the COSMOS survey, we compare the dynamical scaling relations of early-type CGs and non-CGs at z~0.6, to distinguish possible mechanisms that produce the required evolution. CGs are systematically offset towards larger R_e at fixed $\sigma$ compared to non-CGs with similar M_star. The CG R_e-M_star relation also shows differences, primarily driven by a sub-population (~15%) of galaxies with large $R_e$, while the M_star-sigma relations are indistinguishable. These results are accentuated when double Sersic profiles, which better fit light in the outer regions of galaxies, are adopted. They suggest that even group-scale CGs can develop extended components by these redshifts that can increase total $R_e$ and M_star estimates by factors of ~2. To probe the evolutionary link between our sample and cluster CGs, we also analyze two cluster samples at z~0.6 and z~0. We find similar results for the more massive halos at comparable z, but much more distinct CG scaling relations at low-z. Thus, the rapid, late-time accretion of outer components, perhaps via the stripping and accretion of satellites, would appear to be a key feature that distinguishes the evolutionary history of CGs.Comment: 18 pages, 14 Figures, ApJ in pres

Incentivised smoking cessation intervention with pregnant women: findings from a pilot program in Northamptonshire, UK

Smoking is understood as the primary cause of preventable morbidity and premature death in the UK. In Northamptonshire, UK, the rate of smoking among adults was 20.9% (approximately 144,607 people) in 2011/12. Among pregnant women, compared to the national average (13.2%), the rate of smoking at time of delivery was higher in Northamptonshire (16%) in 2011/12. In terms of smoking cessation programs during pregnancy, incentivised smoking cessation schemes have been more frequently utilised when attempting to reduce rates of smoking among pregnant women. While smoking cessation interventions broadly accounted for a 6% increase in late-pregnancy abstinence rates compared to control interventions, only those that contained an incentivised component showed a significantly larger effect (RR 0.76, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.81). This paper presents preliminary findings of an incentivised smoking cessation pilot intervention in Northamptonshire which aimed to recruit 50 pregnant women who smoke and evaluate the feasibility of the incentive programme in terms of its: uptake of stop smoking services; numbers of those setting a quit date; effectiveness to reduce smoking following referral to stop smoking services (i.e. 4 weeks after quit date); effectiveness to reduce smoking status at delivery and the psychosocial outcomes of incentivised smoking cessation programs for pre- and post-natal women. This research applied a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach to assess the aggregated effectiveness of the program (through cross-sectional analysis) and understand individual-level positive and negative experiences of the program (through storytelling and in-depth interviews). We will report initial results (data collection currently underway) that will include baseline profile data and uptake of the incentive programme. It is important to note that gendered roles and experiences may make it more difficult for some women to access treatment and support for smoking cessation, given the heightened stigma surrounding smoking during pregnancy and mothers who smoke. This presentation will, therefore, also emphasize findings that report gendered influences on smoking such as partner influence, socioeconomic impact of lone-motherhood and individual, societal and structural stigma surrounding mothers that smoke

High density NV sensing surface created via He^(+) ion implantation of (12)^C diamond

We present a promising method for creating high-density ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers with narrow spin-resonances for high-sensitivity magnetic imaging. Practically, narrow spin-resonance linewidths substantially reduce the optical and RF power requirements for ensemble-based sensing. The method combines isotope purified diamond growth, in situ nitrogen doping, and helium ion implantation to realize a 100 nm-thick sensing surface. The obtained 10^(17) cm^(-3) nitrogen-vacancy density is only a factor of 10 less than the highest densities reported to date, with an observed spin resonance linewidth over 10 times more narrow. The 200 kHz linewidth is most likely limited by dipolar broadening indicating even further reduction of the linewidth is desirable and possible.Comment: 5 pages including references. 3 figure

Rule By Example: Harnessing Logical Rules for Explainable Hate Speech Detection

Classic approaches to content moderation typically apply a rule-based heuristic approach to flag content. While rules are easily customizable and intuitive for humans to interpret, they are inherently fragile and lack the flexibility or robustness needed to moderate the vast amount of undesirable content found online today. Recent advances in deep learning have demonstrated the promise of using highly effective deep neural models to overcome these challenges. However, despite the improved performance, these data-driven models lack transparency and explainability, often leading to mistrust from everyday users and a lack of adoption by many platforms. In this paper, we present Rule By Example (RBE): a novel exemplar-based contrastive learning approach for learning from logical rules for the task of textual content moderation. RBE is capable of providing rule-grounded predictions, allowing for more explainable and customizable predictions compared to typical deep learning-based approaches. We demonstrate that our approach is capable of learning rich rule embedding representations using only a few data examples. Experimental results on 3 popular hate speech classification datasets show that RBE is able to outperform state-of-the-art deep learning classifiers as well as the use of rules in both supervised and unsupervised settings while providing explainable model predictions via rule-grounding.Comment: ACL 2023 Main Conferenc

EEG reinvestigations of visual statistical learning for faces, scenes, and objects

The objective of this ongoing, replication study is to understand temporal and spatial patterns in our environment by using the technique of electroencephalography (EEG). Visual statistical learning (VSL) helps us to understand conditional probabilities from our environments. This concept is why we know that chairs are located under tables, not above. The goal of this study is to understand whether participants can unconsciously associate pairs of items (faces, scenes, and objects) from their short-term memory. Strong pairs become more similar to each other, as compared to weak pairs, which become less similar. In the main task, participants saw items appear on the screen, on at a time, for 100ms each. Items directly followed each other without transitions. In the post-task, participants were asked to rate how familiar pairs of items were, using a sliding scale. There were three types of pairs presented: strong pairs where item B followed item A 100% of the time; weak pairs where item B followed item A 11% of the time; and foil pairs where item B followed item A 0% of the time. In conclusion, results are similar to the current study (n = 10) in that there are behavioral differences between strong vs. foil and strong vs. weak pairs

Cell Death of Melanophores in Zebrafish trpm7 Mutant Embryos Depends on Melanin Synthesis

Transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7) is a broadly expressed, non-selective cation channel. Studies in cultured cells implicate TRPM7 in regulation of cell growth, spreading, and survival. However, zebrafish trpm7 homozygous mutants display death of melanophores and temporary paralysis, but no gross morphological defects during embryonic stages. This phenotype implies that melanophores are unusually sensitive to decreases in Trpm7 levels, a hypothesis we investigate here. We find that pharmacological inhibition of caspases does not rescue melanophore viability in trpm7 mutants, implying that melanophores die by a mechanism other than apoptosis. Consistent with this possibility, ultrastructural analysis of dying melanophores in trpm7 mutants reveals abnormal melanosomes and evidence of a ruptured plasma membrane, indicating that cell death occurs by necrosis. Interestingly, inhibition of melanin synthesis largely prevents melanophore cell death in trpm7 mutants. These results suggest that melanophores require Trpm7 in order to detoxify intermediates of melanin synthesis. We find that unlike TRPM1, TRPM7 is expressed in human melanoma cell lines, indicating that these cells may also be sensitized to reduction of TRPM7 levels