contour interpolation by vector field combination

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The ecological approach to multimodal system design

Following the ecological approach to visual perception, this paper presents a framework that emphasizes the role of vision on referring actions. In particular, affordances are utilized to explain gestures variability in a multimodal human-computer interaction. Such a proposal is consistent with empirical findings obtained in different simulation studies showing how referring gestures are determined by the mutuality of information coming from the target and the set of movements available to the speaker. A prototype that follows anthropomorphic perceptual principles to analyze gestures has been developed and tested in preliminary computational validations

Trajectory Discrimination and Peripersonal Space Perception in Newborns

The ability to discriminate the trajectories of moving objects is highly adaptive and fundamental for physical and social interactions. Therefore, we could reasonably expect sensitivity to different trajectories already at birth, as a precursor of later communicative and defensive abilities. To investigate this possibility, we measured newborns' looking behavior to evaluate their ability to discriminate between visual stimuli depicting motion along different trajectories happening within the space surrounding their body. Differently from previous studies, we did not take into account defensive reactions, which may not be elicited by impending collision as newborns might not categorize approaching stimuli as possible dangers. In two experiments, we showed that newborns display a spontaneous visual preference for trajectories directed toward their body. We found this visual preference when visual stimuli depicted motion in opposite directions (approaching vs. receding) as well as when they both moved toward the peripersonal space and differed only in their specific target (i.e., the body vs. the space around it). These findings suggest that at birth human infants seem to be already equipped with visual mechanisms predisposing them to perceive their presence in the environment and to adaptively focus their attention on the peripersonal space and their bodily self

Cornering (quasi) degenerate neutrinos with cosmology

In light of the improved sensitivities of cosmological observations, we examine the status of quasi-degenerate neutrino mass scenarios. Within the simplest extension of the standard cosmological model with massive neutrinos, we find that quasi-degenerate neutrinos are severely constrained by present cosmological data and neutrino oscillation experiments. % % We find that Planck 2018 observations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies disfavour quasi-degenerate neutrino masses at $2.4$ Gaussian $\sigma$'s, while adding Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data brings the rejection to 5.9$\sigma$'s. % The highest statistical significance with which one would be able to rule out quasi-degeneracy would arise if the sum of neutrino masses is $\Sigma m_\nu = 60$ \meV (the minimum allowed by neutrino oscillation experiments); % indeed a sensitivity of 15 meV, as expected from a combination of future cosmological probes, would further improve the rejection level up to 17$\sigma$. % We discuss the robustness of these projections with respect to assumptions on the underlying cosmological model, and also compare them with bounds from $\beta$ decay endpoint and neutrinoless double beta decay studies.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Cosmological data and indications for new physics

Data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the South Pole Telescope (SPT), combined with the nine-year data release from the WMAP satellite, provide very precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) angular anisotropies down to very small angular scales. Augmented with measurements from Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations surveys and determinations of the Hubble constant, we investigate whether there are indications for new physics beyond a Harrison-Zel'dovich model for primordial perturbations and the standard number of relativistic degrees of freedom at primordial recombination. All combinations of datasets point to physics beyond the minimal Harrison-Zel'dovich model in the form of either a scalar spectral index different from unity or additional relativistic degrees of freedom at recombination (e.g., additional light neutrinos). Beyond that, the extended datasets including either ACT or SPT provide very different indications: while the extended-ACT (eACT) dataset is perfectly consistent with the predictions of standard slow-roll inflation, the extended-SPT (eSPT) dataset prefers a non-power-law scalar spectral index with a very large variation with scale of the spectral index. Both eACT and eSPT favor additional light degrees of freedom. eACT is consistent with zero neutrino masses, while eSPT favors nonzero neutrino masses at more than 95% confidence.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

‘Priming’ exercise and O2 uptake kinetics during treadmill running

We tested the hypothesis that priming exercise would speed kinetics during treadmill running. Eight subjects completed a square-wave protocol, involving two bouts of treadmill running at 70% of the difference between the running speeds at lactate threshold (LT) and max, separated by 6-min of walking at 4 km h−1, on two occasions. Oxygen uptake was measured breath-by-breath and subsequently modelled using non-linear regression techniques. Heart rate and blood lactate concentration were significantly elevated prior to the second exercise bout compared to the first. However, kinetics was not significantly different between the first and second exercise bouts (mean ± S.D., phase II time constant, Bout 1: 16 ± 3 s vs. Bout 2: 16 ± 4 s; slow component amplitude, Bout 1: 0.24 ± 0.10 L min−1vs. Bout 2: 0.20 ± 0.12 L min−1; mean response time, Bout 1: 34 ± 4 s vs. Bout 2: 34 ± 6 s; P > 0.05 for all comparisons). These results indicate that, contrary to previous findings with other exercise modalities, priming exercise does not alter kinetics during high-intensity treadmill running, at least in physically active young subjects. We speculate that the relatively fast kinetics and the relatively small slow component in the control (‘un-primed’) condition negated any enhancement of kinetics by priming exercise in this exercise modality

Preparation of amino-substituted indenes and 1,4-dihydronaphthalenes using a one-pot multireaction approach: total synthesis of oxybenzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids

Allylic trichloroacetimidates bearing a 2-vinyl or 2-allylaryl group have been designed as substrates for a one-pot, two-step multi-bond-forming process leading to the general preparation of aminoindenes and amino-substituted 1,4-dihydronaphthalenes. The synthetic utility of the privileged structures formed from this one-pot process was demonstrated with the total synthesis of four oxybenzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids, oxychelerythrine, oxysanguinarine, oxynitidine, and oxyavicine. An intramolecular biaryl Heck coupling reaction, catalyzed using the Hermann–Beller palladacycle was used to effect the key step during the synthesis of the natural products

Neutrino Self-Interactions: A White Paper

Neutrinos are the Standard Model (SM) particles which we understand theleast, often due to how weakly they interact with the other SM particles.Beyond this, very little is known about interactions among the neutrinos, i.e.,their self-interactions. The SM predicts neutrino self-interactions at a levelbeyond any current experimental capabilities, leaving open the possibility forbeyond-the-SM interactions across many energy scales. In this white paper, wereview the current knowledge of neutrino self-interactions from a vast array ofprobes, from cosmology, to astrophysics, to the laboratory. We also discusstheoretical motivations for such self-interactions, including neutrino massesand possible connections to dark matter. Looking forward, we discuss thecapabilities of searches in the next generation and beyond, highlighting thepossibility of future discovery of this beyond-the-SM physics.<br