Integration of 3D Structure from Disparity into Biological Motion Perception Independent of Depth Awareness

Images projected onto the retinas of our two eyes come from slightly different directions in the real world, constituting binocular disparity that serves as an important source for depth perception -the ability to see the world in three dimensions. It remains unclear whether the integration of disparity cues into visual perception depends on the conscious representation of stereoscopic depth. Here we report evidence that, even without inducing discernible perceptual representations, the disparity-defined depth information could still modulate the visual processing of 3D objects in depthirrelevant aspects. Specifically, observers who could not discriminate disparity-defined in-depth facing orientations of biological motions (i.e., approaching vs. receding) due to an excessive perceptual bias nevertheless exhibited a robust perceptual asymmetry in response to the indistinguishable facing orientations, similar to those who could consciously discriminate such 3D information. These results clearly demonstrate that the visual processing of biological motion engages the disparity cues independent of observers' depth awareness. The extraction and utilization of binocular depth signals thus can be dissociable from the conscious representation of 3D structure in high-level visual perception

Integrating declarative and imperative approach to model logistics service processes

Purpose: There is a widespread recognition of the importance of correctly modeling service processes as an effective way to provide a comprehensive understanding of the process and to enhance the service quality to clients. Taking this into account, this paper aims to construct the logistics service process model using the integration of the declarative approach and imperative approach. Design/methodology/approach: A methodology integrating the declarative and imperative process modeling approach is proposed for modeling the logistics service processes. Through investigation of the service departments and services involved, the process is decomposed into loosely-structured parts modeled by a declarative approach and highly structured parts modeled by an imperative approach. The loosely-structured and highly-structured parts are then integrated to form the model for the logistics service process. Findings: Through a case study for a Chinese bulk port, the integrative method proves to be effective in modeling the loosely-structured logistics service processes. The result model is able to express the logistics regulations and corresponding rules across different organizations as well as the strict execution order of the process activities inside a particular organization. Originality/value: The model could be the starting point for further logistics service process investigation. Future work could be conducted for conformance checking of the logistics service process using the model as a reference model.Peer Reviewe

Deepen electronic health record diffusion beyond breadth: game changers and decision drivers

Cloud computing, financial incentive and patient-centered care are the game changers that deepen EHR diffusion beyond breadth. Based on the innovation diffusion theory (IDT), technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and alignment literature, this study examines how these changes shape business requirement, service value and society need that drive different phases of EHR diffusion in terms of planning, adoption, usage and upgrade. A longitudinal analysis with the USA National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) reveals the impacts of different drivers on EHR diffusion. In addition to quantitative results, interview observations corroborate the relationships among game changers, decision drivers and EHR diffusion. The findings provide healthcare providers, system vendors and policy-makers the insights on the best practices of promoting EHR diffusion for long-term success

Examining Scientific Writing Styles from the Perspective of Linguistic Complexity

Publishing articles in high-impact English journals is difficult for scholars around the world, especially for non-native English-speaking scholars (NNESs), most of whom struggle with proficiency in English. In order to uncover the differences in English scientific writing between native English-speaking scholars (NESs) and NNESs, we collected a large-scale data set containing more than 150,000 full-text articles published in PLoS between 2006 and 2015. We divided these articles into three groups according to the ethnic backgrounds of the first and corresponding authors, obtained by Ethnea, and examined the scientific writing styles in English from a two-fold perspective of linguistic complexity: (1) syntactic complexity, including measurements of sentence length and sentence complexity; and (2) lexical complexity, including measurements of lexical diversity, lexical density, and lexical sophistication. The observations suggest marginal differences between groups in syntactical and lexical complexity.Comment: 6 figure

Thickness dependence of superconductivity and superconductor-insulator transition in ultrathin FeSe films on SrTiO3(001) substrate

Interface-enhanced high-temperature superconductivity in one unit-cell (UC) FeSe film on SrTiO3(001) (STO) substrate has recently attracted much attention in condensed matter physics and material science. Here, by ex situ transport measurements, we report on the superconductivity in FeSe ultra-thin films with different thickness on STO substrate. We find that the onset superconducting transition temperature (Tc) decreases with increasing film thickness of FeSe, which is opposite to the behavior usually observed in traditional superconductor films. By systematic post-annealing of 5 UC FeSe films, we observe an insulator to superconductor transition, which is accompanied with a sign change of the dominated charge carriers from holes to electrons at low temperatures according to the corresponding Hall measurement

On the origin of critical temperature enhancement in atomically-thin superconductors

Recent experiments showed that thinning gallium, iron selenide and 2H tantalum disulfide to single/several monoatomic layer(s) enhances their superconducting critical temperatures. Here, we characterize these superconductors by extracting the absolute values of the London penetration depth, the superconducting energy gap, and the relative jump in specific heat at the transition temperature from their self-field critical currents. Our central finding is that the enhancement in transition temperature for these materials arises from the opening of an additional superconducting gap, while retaining a largely unchanged bulk superconducting gap. Literature data reveals that ultrathin niobium films similarly develop a second superconducting gap. Based on the available data, it seems that, for type-II superconductors, a new superconducting band appears when the film thickness becomes smaller than the out-of-plane coherence length. The same mechanism may also be the cause of enhanced interface superconductivity.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figure

Improvement of colchicine oral bioavailability by incorporating eugenol in the nanoemulsion as an oil excipient and enhancer

The effect of eugenol on colchicine transport across an isolated rat intestinal membrane was studied using an in vitro diffusion chamber system. We found that eugenol increased the absorptive transport of the drug efficiently. The effect of eugenol on intestinal absorption of colchicine in an oral administrative nanoemulsion formulation was also demonstrated in vivo. The colchicine nanoemulsion was prepared with isopropyl myristate, eugenol, Tween80, ethanol and water, and eugenol was used as an oil phase in the formulation; an average particle size of this nanoemulsion was 41.2 ± 7.2 nm. The permeation of colchicine in the nanoemulsion across the intestinal membrane was significantly different from that of the control group (0.2 mM colchicine). Finally, co-administration of eugenol in colchicine nanoemulsion to enhance the colchicine bioavailability was investigated by an oral administration method. After oral administration of colchicine (8 mg/kg) in the form of either the nanoemulsion or in free colchicine solution, the relative bioavailability of nanoemulsion and eugenol–nanoemulsion were enhanced by about 1.6- and 2.1-fold, respectively, compared with free colchicine solution. The procedure indicated that the intestinal absorption of colchicine was enhanced significantly by eugenol in the tested nanoemulsion. All the results suggested that eugenol is an efficient component in an oral administrative formulation for improving the intestinal absorption of colchicine