De Sitter solutions in N=4 matter coupled supergravity

We investigate the scalar potential of gauged N=4 supergravity with matter. The extremum in the SU(1,1)/U(1) scalars is obtained for an arbitrary number of matter multiplets. The constraints on the matter scalars are solved in terms of an explicit parametrisation of an SO(6,6+n) element. For the case of six matter multiplets we discuss both compact and noncompact gauge groups. In an example involving noncompact groups and four scalars we find a potential with an absolute minimum and a positive cosmological constant.Comment: 14 page

Microscopic Description of Nuclear Fission Dynamics

We discuss possible avenues to study fission dynamics starting from a time-dependent mean-field approach. Previous attempts to study fission dynamics using the time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) theory are analyzed. We argue that different initial conditions may be needed to describe fission dynamics depending on the specifics of the fission phenomenon and propose various approaches towards this goal. In particular, we provide preliminary calculations for studying fission following a heavy-ion reaction using TDHF with a density contraint. Regarding prompt muon-induced fission, we also suggest a new approach for combining the time-evolution of the muonic wave function with a microscopic treatment of fission dynamics via TDHF

The natural history of primary progressive aphasia: beyond aphasia

Introduction: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is divided into three prototypical subtypes that are all characterized by their single core symptom of aphasia. Although later in their course, other cognitive, behavioral, and motor domains may become involved, little is known about the progression profile of each subtype relative to the other subtypes. Methods: In this longitudinal retrospective cohort study, based on the recent biomarker-supported diagnostic criteria, 24 subjects diagnosed with semantic variant (svPPA), 22 with non-fluent variant (nfvPPA), and 18 with logopenic variant (lvPPA) were collected and followed up for 1–6 years. Symptom distribution, cognitive test and neuropsychiatric inventory scores, and progression into another syndrome were assessed. Results: Over time, lvPPA progressed with broader language problems (PPA-extended) and nfvPPA progressed to mutism, whereas semantic impairment remained the major problem in svPPA. Apart from linguistic problems, svPPA developed pronounced behavioral disturbances, whereas lvPPA exhibited a greater cognitive decline. By contrast, in nfvPPA motor deficits were more common. Furthermore, within 5 years (IQR = 2.5) after clinical onset, 65.6% of the patients additionally fulfilled the clinical criteria for another neurodegenerative syndrome (PPA-plus). Fourteen out of 24 (58%) svPPA patients additionally met the diagnostic criteria of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (5.1 years, IQR = 1.1), whereas the clinical features of 15/18 (83%) lvPPA patients were consistent with Alzheimer disease dementia (4.5 years IQR = 3.4). Furthermore, 12/22 (54%) of the subjects with the nfvPPA progressed to meet the diagnostic criteria of corticobasal syndrome, progressive supranuclear palsy, or motor neuron disease (5.1 years IQR = 3.4). Discussion: Despite aphasia being the initial and unique hallmark of the syndrome, our longitudinal results showed that PPA is not a language limited disorder and progression differs widely for each subtype, both with respect to the nature of symptoms and disease duration

A New Perceptual Bias Reveals Suboptimal Population Decoding of Sensory Responses

Several studies have reported optimal population decoding of sensory responses in two-alternative visual discrimination tasks. Such decoding involves integrating noisy neural responses into a more reliable representation of the likelihood that the stimuli under consideration evoked the observed responses. Importantly, an ideal observer must be able to evaluate likelihood with high precision and only consider the likelihood of the two relevant stimuli involved in the discrimination task. We report a new perceptual bias suggesting that observers read out the likelihood representation with remarkably low precision when discriminating grating spatial frequencies. Using spectrally filtered noise, we induced an asymmetry in the likelihood function of spatial frequency. This manipulation mainly affects the likelihood of spatial frequencies that are irrelevant to the task at hand. Nevertheless, we find a significant shift in perceived grating frequency, indicating that observers evaluate likelihoods of a broad range of irrelevant frequencies and discard prior knowledge of stimulus alternatives when performing two-alternative discrimination

Consensus on a conversation aid for shared decision making with people with intellectual disabilities in the palliative phase

Background: Little is known about how to involve people with intellectual disabilities in making decisions about treatment and care in their palliative phase. We aimed to reach a consensus about a shared decision-making (SDM) conversation aid for people with intellectual disabilities, relatives, and healthcare professionals. Methods: In a Delphi process, an expert panel of 11 people with intellectual disabilities, 14 relatives, and 65 healthcare profe

Predicting Eye Fixations on Complex Visual Stimuli Using Local Symmetry

Most bottom-up models that predict human eye fixations are based on contrast features. The saliency model of Itti, Koch and Niebur is an example of such contrast-saliency models. Although the model has been successfully compared to human eye fixations, we show that it lacks preciseness in the prediction of fixations on mirror-symmetrical forms. The contrast model gives high response at the borders, whereas human observers consistently look at the symmetrical center of these forms. We propose a saliency model that predicts eye fixations using local mirror symmetry. To test the model, we performed an eye-tracking experiment with participants viewing complex photographic images and compared the data with our symmetry model and the contrast model. The results show that our symmetry model predicts human eye fixations significantly better on a wide variety of images including many that are not selected for their symmetrical content. Moreover, our results show that especially early fixations are on highly symmetrical areas of the images. We conclude that symmetry is a strong predictor of human eye fixations and that it can be used as a predictor of the order of fixation