Mulsemedia: State of the art, perspectives, and challenges

Mulsemedia-multiple sensorial media-captures a wide variety of research efforts and applications. This article presents a historic perspective on mulsemedia work and reviews current developments in the area. These take place across the traditional multimedia spectrum-from virtual reality applications to computer games-as well as efforts in the arts, gastronomy, and therapy, to mention a few. We also describe standardization efforts, via the MPEG-V standard, and identify future developments and exciting challenges the community needs to overcome

Salience-based selection: attentional capture by distractors less salient than the target

Current accounts of attentional capture predict the most salient stimulus to be invariably selected first. However, existing salience and visual search models assume noise in the map computation or selection process. Consequently, they predict the first selection to be stochastically dependent on salience, implying that attention could even be captured first by the second most salient (instead of the most salient) stimulus in the field. Yet, capture by less salient distractors has not been reported and salience-based selection accounts claim that the distractor has to be more salient in order to capture attention. We tested this prediction using an empirical and modeling approach of the visual search distractor paradigm. For the empirical part, we manipulated salience of target and distractor parametrically and measured reaction time interference when a distractor was present compared to absent. Reaction time interference was strongly correlated with distractor salience relative to the target. Moreover, even distractors less salient than the target captured attention, as measured by reaction time interference and oculomotor capture. In the modeling part, we simulated first selection in the distractor paradigm using behavioral measures of salience and considering the time course of selection including noise. We were able to replicate the result pattern we obtained in the empirical part. We conclude that each salience value follows a specific selection time distribution and attentional capture occurs when the selection time distributions of target and distractor overlap. Hence, selection is stochastic in nature and attentional capture occurs with a certain probability depending on relative salience

Visual saliency and semantic incongruency influence eye movements when inspecting pictures

Models of low-level saliency predict that when we first look at a photograph our first few eye movements should be made towards visually conspicuous objects. Two experiments investigated this prediction by recording eye fixations while viewers inspected pictures of room interiors that contained objects with known saliency characteristics. Highly salient objects did attract fixations earlier than less conspicuous objects, but only in a task requiring general encoding of the whole picture. When participants were required to detect the presence of a small target, then the visual saliency of nontarget objects did not influence fixations. These results support modifications of the model that take the cognitive override of saliency into account by allowing task demands to reduce the saliency weights of task-irrelevant objects. The pictures sometimes contained incongruent objects that were taken from other rooms. These objects were used to test the hypothesis that previous reports of the early fixation of congruent objects have not been consistent because the effect depends upon the visual conspicuity of the incongruent object. There was an effect of incongruency in both experiments, with earlier fixation of objects that violated the gist of the scene, but the effect was only apparent for inconspicuous objects, which argues against the hypothesis

Species mixing reduces drought susceptibility of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and oak (Quercus robur L., Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) – Site water supply and fertility modify the mixing effect

Tree species mixing has been widely promoted as a promising silvicultural tool for reducing drought stress. However, so far only a limited number of species combinations have been studied in detail, revealing inconsistent results. In this study, we analysed the effect of mixing Scots pine and oak (pedunculate oak and sessile oak) trees on their drought response along a comprehensive ecological gradient across Europe. The objective was to improve our knowledge of general drought response patterns of two fundamental European tree species in mixed versus monospecific stands. We focused on three null hypotheses: () tree drought response does not differ between Scots pine and oak, () tree drought response of Scots pine and oak is not affected by stand composition (mixture versus monoculture) and () tree drought response of Scots pine and oak in mixtures and monocultures is not modified by tree size or site conditions. To test the hypotheses, we analysed increment cores of Scots pine and oak, sampled in mixed and monospecific stands, covering a wide range of site conditions. We investigated resistance (the ability to maintain growth levels during drought), recovery (the ability to restore a level of growth after drought) and resilience (the capacity to recover to pre-drought growth levels), involving site-specific drought events that occurred between 1976 and 2015. In monocultures, oak showed a higher resistance and resilience than Scots pine, while recovery was lower. Scots pine in mixed stands exhibited a higher resistance, but also a lower recovery compared with Scots pine in monocultures. Mixing increased the resistance and resilience of oak. Ecological factors such as tree size, site water supply and site fertility were found to have significant effects on the drought response. In the case of Scots pine, resistance was increased by tree size, while recovery was lowered. Resistance of oak increased with site water supply. The observed mixing effect on the tree drought response of Scots pine and oak was in some cases modified by the site conditions studied. Positive mixing effects in terms of resistance and resilience of oak increased with site water supply, while the opposite was found regarding recovery. In contrast, site fertility lessened the positive mixing effect on the resistance of Scots pine. We hypothesise that the observed positive mixing effects under drought mainly result from water- and/or light-related species interactions that improve resource availability and uptake according to temporal and spatial variations in environmental conditions.This work was supported by the European Union as part of the ERA-Net SUMFOREST project REFORM – Mixed species forest management. Lowering risk, increasing resilience (2816ERA02S, PCIN2017-026) and the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 778322. All contributors thank their national funding institutions for supporting the establishment, mensuration and analysis of the studied triplets. The first author wants to thank the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) for financial support through the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) (grant number 2816ERA02S), as well as the Bayerische Staatsforsten (BaySF) and Landesbetrieb Forst Brandenburg for providing suitable research sites. Research on the Lithuanian triplets (LT 1, LT 2) was made possible by the national funding institution Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT) (agreement number S-SUMFOREST-17-1). The French site FR 1 belongs to the OPTMix experimental site (https://optmix.irstea.fr), which is supported annually by Ecofor, Allenvi, and the French national research infrastructure ANAEE-F. A special thank is due to Peter Biber for supporting the statistical analysis

Halofantrin zur Behandlung der importierten Malaria bei nicht-immunen Reisenden

Im Rahmen einer prospektiven Multizenterstudie wurden die Wirksamkeit (Kriterien: Heilungsrate, Zeit bis zur Entfieberung oder Parasitenfreiheit) und Verträglichkeit (Kriterien: klinische Nebenwirkungen, veränderte Laborparameter) von Halofantrin bei 96 nicht-immunen Malaria-Patienten (71 Männer, 25 Frauen, mittleres Alter 34,3 [21-62] Jahre) untersucht, die aus Hochresistenzgebieten nach Deutschland oder in die Schweiz zurückgekehrt waren. 63 Patienten wurden mit einer Eintagestherapie behandelt (dreimal 500 mg Halofantrin); die folgenden 33 Patienten erhielten einen zusätzlichen Therapiezyklus nach einer Woche. In der zweiten Gruppe war die Therapie in allen Fällen wirksam, während bei der Eintagestherapie fünf von 41 Patienten (12,2 %) mit Malaria tropica einen Rückfall erlitten. Die Zeit bis zur Entfieberung betrug 45 Stunden, die Zeit bis zur Parasitenfreiheit 66 Stunden. Bei fünf Behandelten kam es unter der Therapie zu leichten Transaminasenanstiegen, die jedoch spontan innerhalb weniger Tage zurückgingen und am ehesten infektionsbedingt waren. - Bei guter Verträglichkeit ist Halofantrin für die Therapie und Stand-by-Therapie von multiresistenten Plasmodien-Infektionen geeignet. Die Behandlung muß nach 7 Tagen wiederholt werden.The efficacy (criteria: cure rate, time to resolution of fever or absence of parasites) and safety (criteria: clinical side effects, altered laboratory parameters) of halofantrin were investigated in a multi-centre study of 96 non-immune patients (71 men, 25 women, mean age 34.3 [21-62] years) with malaria imported from regions of high resistance into Germany or Switzerland. The initial 63 patients received one-day treatment (three doses of 500 mg halofantrin), while the last 33 patients received an additional course of treatment one week later. Treatment was curative in all patients in the second group, but relapses occurred in five of the 41 patients (12.2 %) with falciparum malaria who received one-day therapy. Fever resolved after a mean of 45 hours and parasites were absent after a mean of 66 hours. There were small increases in transaminase values (most probably because of the infection) in five patients, but all became normal again within a few days. - Halofantrin is a safe drug and is suitable for both therapy and stand-by therapy of resistant Plasmodium infections. Treatment should be repeated after 7 days

Mixing effects on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) productivity along a climatic gradient across Europe

Mixed-species stands have been found to be more productive than would be expected from the performance of their component species in monocultures due to facilitation and complementarity between species, although these interactions depend on the combination of species present. Our study focuses on monospecific and mixed species stands of Scots pine and Norway spruce using 20 triplets established in nine countries along a climatic gradient across Europe. Differences in mean tree and stand characteristics, productivity and stand structure were assessed. Basal area increment in mixed stands was 8% higher than expected while volume increment was only 2% greater. Scots pine trees growing in mixed-species stands showed 11% larger quadratic mean diameter, 7% larger dominant diameter, 17% higher basal area and 25% higher stand volume than trees growing in mono specific stands. Norway spruce showed only a non-significant tendency to lower mean values of diameters, heights, basal area, as well standing volume in mixtures than monocultures. Stand structure indices differed between mixed stands and monocultures of Scots pine showing a greater stratification in mixed-species stands. Furthermore, the studied morphological traits showed little variability for trees growing in monospecific stands, except for diameter at breast height, crown length and crown length ratio. For trees growing in mixed stands, all the morphological traits of the trees were identified as different. Some of these morphological traits were associated with relative productivity. Nevertheless, relative productivity in mixed-species stands was not related to site conditions

The Time Course of Segmentation and Cue-Selectivity in the Human Visual Cortex

Texture discontinuities are a fundamental cue by which the visual system segments objects from their background. The neural mechanisms supporting texture-based segmentation are therefore critical to visual perception and cognition. In the present experiment we employ an EEG source-imaging approach in order to study the time course of texture-based segmentation in the human brain. Visual Evoked Potentials were recorded to four types of stimuli in which periodic temporal modulation of a central 3° figure region could either support figure-ground segmentation, or have identical local texture modulations but not produce changes in global image segmentation. The image discontinuities were defined either by orientation or phase differences across image regions. Evoked responses to these four stimuli were analyzed both at the scalp and on the cortical surface in retinotopic and functional regions-of-interest (ROIs) defined separately using fMRI on a subject-by-subject basis. Texture segmentation (tsVEP: segmenting versus non-segmenting) and cue-specific (csVEP: orientation versus phase) responses exhibited distinctive patterns of activity. Alternations between uniform and segmented images produced highly asymmetric responses that were larger after transitions from the uniform to the segmented state. Texture modulations that signaled the appearance of a figure evoked a pattern of increased activity starting at ∼143 ms that was larger in V1 and LOC ROIs, relative to identical modulations that didn't signal figure-ground segmentation. This segmentation-related activity occurred after an initial response phase that did not depend on the global segmentation structure of the image. The two cue types evoked similar tsVEPs up to 230 ms when they differed in the V4 and LOC ROIs. The evolution of the response proceeded largely in the feed-forward direction, with only weak evidence for feedback-related activity