An inverse oblique effect in human vision

AbstractIn the classic oblique effect contrast detection thresholds, orientation discrimination thresholds, and other psychophysical measures are found to be smallest for vertical or horizontal stimuli and significantly higher for stimuli near the ±45° obliques. Here we report a novel inverse oblique effect in which thresholds for detecting translational structure in random dot patterns [Glass, L. (1969). Moiré effect from random dots. Nature, 223, 578–580] are lowest for obliquely oriented structure and higher for either horizontal or vertical structure. Area summation experiments provide evidence that this results from larger pooling areas for oblique orientations in these patterns. The results can be explained quantitatively by a model for complex cells in which the final filtering stage in a filter–rectify–filter sequence is of significantly larger area for oblique orientations

Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

The pulmonary hypertension (PH) and right heart dysfunction that results from chronic thromboembolic involvement of the pulmonary vascular bed is potentially curable with surgical endarterectomy. Over the past several decades, growing clinical experience has brought about increased recognition of this treatable form of PH. Moreover, advances in cardiothoracic surgical techniques have given an increasing number of patients with chronic thromboembolic PH (CTEPH) a surgical remedy with decreasing perioperative morbidity and mortality risks. The availability of pulmonary hypertensive—specific medical therapy for CTEPH patients with surgically inaccessible disease also has been a positive therapeutic advance over the past several years. However, despite this progress, chronic thromboembolic disease as a sequela of acute pulmonary emboli continues to be underappreciated. Furthermore, even if CTEPH has been appropriately diagnosed, misinterpretation of diagnostic information may lead to the inappropriate exclusion of patients from surgical consideration. This may result in the prescription of pulmonary hypertensive medical therapy in CTEPH patients with potentially surgically correctable disease. This difficulty arises from a lack of objective criteria as to what constitutes surgical chronic thromboembolic disease, which primarily is a result of the variability in surgical experience in specialty centers in the United States. Consequently, clinicians must be wary about using pulmonary hypertensive medications in CTEPH patients. Before prescription, it is important to exclude patients from surgical consideration by consulting a specialized center with expertise in this discipline

Free-Trade Ideology and Transatlantic Abolitionism: A Historiography

Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2015. Author's accepted version deposited in accordance with SHERPA RoMEO guidelines. The definitive version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1053837215000103.This essay seeks to trace the many—and often conflicting—economic ideological interpretations of the transatlantic abolitionist impulse. In particular, it explores the contested relationship between free-trade ideology and transatlantic abolitionism, and highlights the understudied influence of Victorian free-trade ideology within the American abolitionist movement. By bringing together historiographical controversies from the American and British side, the essay calls into question long-standing conceptions regarding the relationship between free trade and abolitionism, and suggests new avenues for research

Evaluating the Labor-Market Effects of Compulsory Military Service – A Regression-Discontinuity Approach

We identify the causal effect of compulsory military service on conscripts' subsequent labor-market outcomes by exploiting the regression-discontinuity design of the military draft in Germany during the 1950s. Unbiased estimates of military service on lifetime earnings, wages, and employment are obtained by comparing men born before July 1, 1937 (the White Cohort) who were exempted from compulsory military service to men who were born on or shortly after this threshold date and hence faced a positive probability of being drafted. We find that the putative earnings advantage and wage premium of those who served in the armed forces vanish when selection effects are taken into account

Handbook of knot theory

This book is a survey of current topics in the mathematical theory of knots. For a mathematician, a knot is a closed loop in 3-dimensional space: imagine knotting an extension cord and then closing it up by inserting its plug into its outlet. Knot theory is of central importance in pure and applied mathematics, as it stands at a crossroads of topology, combinatorics, algebra, mathematical physics and biochemistry.* Survey of mathematical knot theory* Articles by leading world authorities* Clear exposition, not over-technical* Accessible to readers with undergraduate background in mathematic