Microsaccades and Exploratory Saccades in a Naturalistic Environment

Microsaccades, small saccadic eye movements made during fixation, might accompany shifts of visual attention, serve to refresh the retinal image, or have some other function. We tested the relative importance of these functions by recording exploratory saccades and microsaccades with a free head during a lane-change task in a simulated driving environment, accompanied by a simultaneous visual search task in which drivers searched for a target among similar distractors on a panel to the driver's right where an electronic display would normally be located. After training, observers performed a baseline run with the lane-change task only, followed by four dual-task runs and a final control run. In the dual-task condition, where more visual attention shifts occur, we found a significantly increased frequency of microsaccades along with an even larger increase in frequency of large exploratory saccades. However the proportion of microsaccades significantly decreased in the dual task, consistent with the idea of a common neurological origin for microsaccades and exploratory saccades

Charlie Haden. Musica e Politica

Charlie Haden is one of the most important musicians in the history of jazz. Both as a double bassist and composer, he innovated the musical language of the jazz and free jazz scene from the 1960s onward. His particular sound and his original vision of music have enabled him to play with the greatest musicians in the history of jazz, making himself always recognizable, even in different musical contexts. His political activism led him to clash with regimes all over the world, even going so far as to be imprisoned in Portugal in 1971. This article will analyze several performances of Haden’s compositions and fragments of solos, showing recurring elements and stylistic differences dictated by the ensemble or the peculiarities of the individual artists on the recordings, as well as linking the genesis of the pieces (as with Song for Che) to Haden’s own extra-musical ideas.Charlie Haden è stato uno dei più importanti musicisti nella storia del jazz. Sia nel ruolo di contrabbassista che in quello di compositore ha saputo innovare il linguaggio musicale della scena jazz e free jazz dagli anni ’60 in avanti. Il suo particolare suono e la sua originale visione della musica gli hanno permesso di suonare con i più grandi nomi della storia del jazz, rendendosi sempre riconoscibile anche in contesti musicalmente differenti tra loro. Il suo attivismo politico lo ha portato a scontrarsi con regimi in tutto il mondo, arrivando ad essere incarcerato in Portogallo nel 1971. Nel presente articolo, si analizzeranno diverse esecuzioni di sue composizioni, frammenti di soli dello stesso Haden e di altri musicisti, mettendo in luce gli elementi ricorrenti e le differenze stilistiche dettate dall’organico o dalle peculiarità dei singoli artisti presenti nelle registrazioni, oltre a collegare le genesi dei brani (come per Song for Che) alle idee extra musicali dello stesso Haden

Ritmicità nella musica vocale di Luigi Nono

Ritmicità nella musica vocale di Luigi Non

Laboratory evolution of copper tolerant yeast strains

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Yeast strains endowed with robustness towards copper and/or enriched in intracellular Cu might find application in biotechnology processes, among others in the production of functional foods. Moreover, they can contribute to the study of human diseases related to impairments of copper metabolism. In this study, we investigated the molecular and physiological factors that confer copper tolerance to strains of baker's yeasts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We characterized the effects elicited in natural strains of <it>Candida humilis </it>and <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>by the exposure to copper in the culture broth. We observed that, whereas the growth of <it>Saccharomyces </it>cells was inhibited already at low Cu concentration, <it>C. humilis </it>was naturally robust and tolerated up to 1 g · L^-1CuSO₄in the medium. This resistant strain accumulated over 7 mg of Cu per gram of biomass and escaped severe oxidative stress thanks to high constitutive levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase. Both yeasts were then "evolved" to obtain hyper-resistant cells able to proliferate in high copper medium. While in <it>S. cerevisiae </it>the evolution of robustness towards Cu was paralleled by the increase of antioxidative enzymes, these same activities decreased in evolved hyper-resistant <it>Candida </it>cells. We also characterized in some detail changes in the profile of copper binding proteins, that appeared to be modified by evolution but, again, in a different way in the two yeasts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Following evolution, both <it>Candida </it>and <it>Saccharomyces </it>cells were able to proliferate up to 2.5 g · L^-1CuSO₄and to accumulate high amounts of intracellular copper. The comparison of yeasts differing in their robustness, allowed highlighting physiological and molecular determinants of natural and acquired copper tolerance. We observed that different mechanisms contribute to confer metal tolerance: the control of copper uptake, changes in the levels of enzymes involved in oxidative stress response and changes in the copper-binding proteome. However, copper elicits different physiological and molecular reactions in yeasts with different backgrounds.</p

Interpreting Housing Prices with a MultidisciplinaryApproach Based on Nature-Inspired Algorithms and Quantum Computing

Current technology still does not allow the use of quantum computers for broader and individual uses; however, it is possible to simulate some of its potentialities through quantum computing. Quantum computing can be integrated with nature-inspired algorithms to innovatively analyze the dynamics of the real estate market or any other economic phenomenon. With this main aim, this study implements a multidisciplinary approach based on the integration of quantum computing and genetic algorithms to interpret housing prices. Starting from the principles of quantum programming, the work applies genetic algorithms for the marginal price determination of relevant real estate characteristics for a particular segment of Naples’ real estate market. These marginal prices constitute the quantum program inputs to provide, as results, the purchase probabilities corresponding to each real estate characteristic considered. The other main outcomes of this study consist of a comparison of the optimal quantities for each real estate characteristic as determined by the quantum program and the average amounts of the same characteristics but relative to the real estate data sampled, as well as the weights of the same characteristics obtained with the implementation of genetic algorithms. With respect to the current state of the art, this study is among the first regarding the application of quantum computing to interpretation of selling prices in local real estate markets

Pneumokoki konjugeeritud vaktsiiniga vaktsineerimise kulutõhusus Eesti vastsündinute kohordis*

Taustteave ja eesmärgid. Eesti kaalub pneumokoki konjugeeritud vaktsiini (PCV) lisamist riiklikku immuniseerimiskavasse, et vähendada invasiivse pneumokokilise infektsiooni (IPD), kopsupõletiku ja ägeda keskkõrvapõletikuga (AOM) seotud haiguskoormust. Artiklis esitatud kulutõhususe analüüsis (CEA) määrati vaktsiini hind, mille korral vaktsineerimine pneumokoki mittetüpiseeritava Haemophilus influenzae D-proteiini konjugeeritud vaktsiiniga (PHiD-CV) oleks võrreldes mittevaktsineerimisega kulutõhus.Metoodika. Markovi mudel kohandati Eesti oludele, vastavate andmete olemasolu korral kasutati Eesti andmeid, nende puudumisel on kasutatud kirjanduses avaldatud andmeid. Eeldused vaktsiini efektiivsuse (VE) kohta pärinevad suurtest ja avaldatud PCVde uuringutest. Baasstsenaariumi analüüsis kasutatud parameetrid valideeris ekspertide rühm ja alternatiivseid stsenaariume uuriti tundlikkuse analüüsis. Kohorti vaktsineeritakse 2., 4. ja 12. kuul, eeldatav vaktsineerimisega hõlmatus on 95% ja jälgitakse kogu ülejäänud elu, seejuures on tervishoiu rahastaja perspektiivist aastane diskonteerimismäär 5%.Tulemused. Baasstsenaariumi analüüsis hoiab vaktsineerimine PHiD-CV-ga Eesti 13 555 lapsega vastsündinute kohordis nende eluajal mittevaktsineerimisega võrreldes ära 3801 AOMiga seotud ambulatoorset visiiti, 240 tümpanostoomiatoru paigaldamist (TTP), 92 pneumooniajuhtu, 85 IPD-juhtu ja 14 surmajuhtu. Vaktsineerimise koguefektiivsuseks kujunes 290 diskonteerimata (43 diskonteeritud) võidetud kvaliteetset eluaastat ja otsese diskonteerimata kogukuluna säästetud 325 043 eurot (125 353 eurot diskonteeritud kogukuluna). Arvestades, et Eesti sisemajanduse koguprodukt (SKP) ühe inimese kohta on 15 301 eurot (2014), ja võttes arvesse üksnes otseseid diskonteeritud kulusid, võib vaktsineerimise programmi pidada äärmiselt kulutõhusaks (täiendkulu tõhususe määr (ICER) &lt; 1-kordne SKP inimese kohta), kui vaktsiini hind on alla 24,19 eurot annus (vastavalt 45,12 eurot ja 66,05 eurot annus, kui ICER on 2kordne SKP inimese kohta ja 3kordne SKP inimese kohta). Alternatiivsete stsenaariumite korral, kui kohordi kaitse netoefekt oleks poole väiksem kui baasstsenaariumis, oleks aastane diskonteerimismäär 3%, või kui võtta arvesse tootlikkuse vähenemist, siis jääks vaktsineerimine allapoole äärmise kulutõhususe läviväärtust vaktsiini hindade korral vastavalt 20,22 eurot annus, 39,43 eurot annus ja 24,49 eurot annus.Järeldused. Mudel prognoosib, et PCVga vaktsineerimine oleks Eesti tingimustes äärmiselt kulutõhus vaktsiini hinna korral alla 24,19 eurot annus ja kulutõhus kuni vaktsiini hinnani 66,05 eurot annus.Eesti Arst 2017; 96(10):577–58

Automatic Stress Classification With Pupil Diameter Analysis

This article proposes a method based on wavelet transform and neural networks for relating pupillary behavior to psychological stress. The proposed method was tested by recording pupil diameter and electrodermal activity during a simulated driving task. Self-report measures were also collected. Participants performed a baseline run with the driving task only, followed by three stress runs where they were required to perform the driving task along with sound alerts, the presence of two human evaluators, and both. Self-reports and pupil diameter successfully indexed stress manipulation, and significant correlations were found between these measures. However, electrodermal activity did not vary accordingly. After training, the four-way parallel neural network classifier could guess whether a given unknown pupil diameter signal came from one of the four experimental trials with 79.2% precision. The present study shows that pupil diameter signal has good discriminating power for stress detection