Distinguishing representational geometries with controversial stimuli: Bayesian experimental design and its application to face dissimilarity judgments

Comparing representations of complex stimuli in neural network layers to human brain representations or behavioral judgments can guide model development. However, even qualitatively distinct neural network models often predict similar representational geometries of typical stimulus sets. We propose a Bayesian experimental design approach to synthesizing stimulus sets for adjudicating among representational models efficiently. We apply our method to discriminate among candidate neural network models of behavioral face dissimilarity judgments. Our results indicate that a neural network trained to invert a 3D-face-model graphics renderer is more human-aligned than the same architecture trained on identification, classification, or autoencoding. Our proposed stimulus synthesis objective is generally applicable to designing experiments to be analyzed by representational similarity analysis for model comparison

The Use of Critical Solution Mixtures for Contaminated Sediments Remediation

Using a critical solution mixture, into which chelating agents have been dissolved, resulted in the efficient, rapid and simultaneous removal of both heavy metals and organic pollutants from contaminated sediments. Both heating and cooling across the immiscibility curve and isothermal extraction were investigated. In addition, the extraction yields were compared to those obtained with solution mixtures that do not possess a critical point of miscibility. Extraction yields of the former were superior to those of the latter in the range of relevant pressures (1 atm.) and temperatures. Extraction via heating and cooling across the miscibility curve resulted in the removal of close to 90% of the heavy metals and practically all of the organic contaminants, compared to only about 40% when the extraction was performed isothermally at around 20oC

The effect of mouthrinse solutions on periodontal status

Rezumat Scopul studiului a fost de a evalua eficacitatea a două ape de gură cu efecte antimicrobiene în reducerea plăcii dentare ca măsură de prevenire a leziunilor parodontale. Material si metode. 10 pacienţi, repartizaţi aleatoriu în două grupe: asistenţă parodontală (detartraj + periaj) urmată de recomandările de îngrijire la domiciliu: Grupa A: periaj + irigare (Clorură de cetilperidiniu); Grupa B: periaj + irigare (Uleiuri esenţiale) de două ori pe zi la domiciliu. Indicele CPITN a fost înregistrat la momentul iniţial şi la 14 săptămâni după. Rezultate. După 14 săptămâni de la prima vizită, grupurile A şi B au prezentat rezultate mai bune la nivelul indicelui CPITN decât la momentul iniţial. De asemenea, grupul B a avut rezultate mai bune decât grupul A. Concluzii. Utilizarea apei de gură contribuie la dislocarea şi îndepărtarea particulelor de alimente rămase în cavitatea orală, deci este o măsură adjuvantă favorabilă în prevenirea leziunilor parodontale.Summary The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of two antimicrobial mouthwashes in reducing plaque as a measure of prevention of periodontal lesions. Material and methods. 10 patients, devided randomly in 2 groups: Periodontal assistance (scaling + polishing) followed by home-care recommendations: Group A: brushing + rinsing (Cetylpyridinium chloride) twice/day at home. Group B: brushing + rinsing (Essential oils) twice/day at home. CPITN index was recorded at baseline and 14 weeks after. Results. After 14 weeks since the first visit, Group A and B showed better results by the index CPTIN than at the baseline. Also Group B had better results than group A. Conclusions. Using mouthwash helps to dislodge and remove remaining food particles in mouth, thus is a favorable adjunctive measure in periodontal lesions prevention

From voxels to pixels and back: Self-supervision in natural-image reconstruction from fMRI

Reconstructing observed images from fMRI brain recordings is challenging. Unfortunately, acquiring sufficient "labeled" pairs of {Image, fMRI} (i.e., images with their corresponding fMRI responses) to span the huge space of natural images is prohibitive for many reasons. We present a novel approach which, in addition to the scarce labeled data (training pairs), allows to train fMRI-to-image reconstruction networks also on "unlabeled" data (i.e., images without fMRI recording, and fMRI recording without images). The proposed model utilizes both an Encoder network (image-to-fMRI) and a Decoder network (fMRI-to-image). Concatenating these two networks back-to-back (Encoder-Decoder & Decoder-Encoder) allows augmenting the training with both types of unlabeled data. Importantly, it allows training on the unlabeled test-fMRI data. This self-supervision adapts the reconstruction network to the new input test-data, despite its deviation from the statistics of the scarce training data.Comment: *First two authors contributed equally. NeurIPS 201

Basic and complex emotion recognition in children with autism: cross-cultural findings.

BACKGROUND: Children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have emotion recognition deficits when tested in different expression modalities (face, voice, body). However, these findings usually focus on basic emotions, using one or two expression modalities. In addition, cultural similarities and differences in emotion recognition patterns in children with ASC have not been explored before. The current study examined the similarities and differences in the recognition of basic and complex emotions by children with ASC and typically developing (TD) controls across three cultures: Israel, Britain, and Sweden. METHODS: Fifty-five children with high-functioning ASC, aged 5-9, were compared to 58 TD children. On each site, groups were matched on age, sex, and IQ. Children were tested using four tasks, examining recognition of basic and complex emotions from voice recordings, videos of facial and bodily expressions, and emotional video scenarios including all modalities in context. RESULTS: Compared to their TD peers, children with ASC showed emotion recognition deficits in both basic and complex emotions on all three modalities and their integration in context. Complex emotions were harder to recognize, compared to basic emotions for the entire sample. Cross-cultural agreement was found for all major findings, with minor deviations on the face and body tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the multimodal nature of ER deficits in ASC, which exist for basic as well as complex emotions and are relatively stable cross-culturally. Cross-cultural research has the potential to reveal both autism-specific universal deficits and the role that specific cultures play in the way empathy operates in different countries.The research leading to this work has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) under grant agreement no. [289021]. SvB was supported by the Swedish Research Council (Grant No. 523-2009-7054), and SBC was supported by the Autism Research Trust, the MRC, the Wellcome Trust, and the NIHR CLAHRC EoE during the period of this work

Basic and complex emotion recognition in children with autism: cross-cultural findings

Background: Children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have emotion recognition deficits when tested in different expression modalities (face, voice, body). However, these findings usually focus on basic emotions, using one or two expression modalities. In addition, cultural similarities and differences in emotion recognition patterns in children with ASC have not been explored before. The current study examined the similarities and differences in the recognition of basic and complex emotions by children with ASC and typically developing (TD) controls across three cultures: Israel, Britain, and Sweden. Methods: Fifty-five children with high-functioning ASC, aged 5–9, were compared to 58 TD children. On each site, groups were matched on age, sex, and IQ. Children were tested using four tasks, examining recognition of basic and complex emotions from voice recordings, videos of facial and bodily expressions, and emotional video scenarios including all modalities in context. Results: Compared to their TD peers, children with ASC showed emotion recognition deficits in both basic and complex emotions on all three modalities and their integration in context. Complex emotions were harder to recognize, compared to basic emotions for the entire sample. Cross-cultural agreement was found for all major findings, with minor deviations on the face and body tasks. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the multimodal nature of ER deficits in ASC, which exist for basic as well as complex emotions and are relatively stable cross-culturally. Cross-cultural research has the potential to reveal both autism-specific universal deficits and the role that specific cultures play in the way empathy operates in different countries

The EU-Emotion Voice Database.

In this study, we report the validation results of the EU-Emotion Voice Database, an emotional voice database available for scientific use, containing a total of 2,159 validated emotional voice stimuli. The EU-Emotion voice stimuli consist of audio-recordings of 54 actors, each uttering sentences with the intention of conveying 20 different emotional states (plus neutral). The database is organized in three separate emotional voice stimulus sets in three different languages (British English, Swedish, and Hebrew). These three sets were independently validated by large pools of participants in the UK, Sweden, and Israel. Participants' validation of the stimuli included emotion categorization accuracy and ratings of emotional valence, intensity, and arousal. Here we report the validation results for the emotional voice stimuli from each site and provide validation data to download as a supplement, so as to make these data available to the scientific community. The EU-Emotion Voice Database is part of the EU-Emotion Stimulus Set, which in addition contains stimuli of emotions expressed in the visual modality (by facial expression, body language, and social scene) and is freely available to use for academic research purposes