433 research outputs found
Excitonic Funneling in Extended Dendrimers with Non-Linear and Random Potentials
The mean first passage time (MFPT) for photoexcitations diffusion in a
funneling potential of artificial tree-like light-harvesting antennae
(phenylacetylene dendrimers with generation-dependent segment lengths) is
computed. Effects of the non-linearity of the realistic funneling potential and
slow random solvent fluctuations considerably slow down the center-bound
diffusion beyond a temperature-dependent optimal size. Diffusion on a
disordered Cayley tree with a linear potential is investigated analytically. At
low temperatures we predict a phase in which the MFPT is dominated by a few
paths.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, To be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Disorder and Funneling Effects on Exciton Migration in Tree-Like Dendrimers
The center-bound excitonic diffusion on dendrimers subjected to several types
of non-homogeneous funneling potentials, is considered. We first study the
mean-first passage time (MFPT) for diffusion in a linear potential with
different types of correlated and uncorrelated random perturbations. Increasing
the funneling force, there is a transition from a phase in which the MFPT grows
exponentially with the number of generations , to one in which it does so
linearly. Overall the disorder slows down the diffusion, but the effect is much
more pronounced in the exponential compared to the linear phase. When the
disorder gives rise to uncorrelated random forces there is, in addition, a
transition as the temperature is lowered. This is a transition from a
high- regime in which all paths contribute to the MFPT to a low- regime
in which only a few of them do. We further explore the funneling within a
realistic non-linear potential for extended dendrimers in which the dependence
of the lowest excitonic energy level on the segment length was derived using
the Time-Dependent Hatree-Fock approximation. Under this potential the MFPT
grows initially linearly with but crosses-over, beyond a molecular-specific
and -dependent optimal size, to an exponential increase. Finally we consider
geometrical disorder in the form of a small concentration of long connections
as in the {\it small world} model. Beyond a critical concentration of
connections the MFPT decreases significantly and it changes to a power-law or
to a logarithmic scaling with , depending on the strength of the funneling
force.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure
Deep Adaptation of Adult-Child Facial Expressions by Fusing Landmark Features
Imaging of facial affects may be used to measure psychophysiological
attributes of children through their adulthood, especially for monitoring
lifelong conditions like Autism Spectrum Disorder. Deep convolutional neural
networks have shown promising results in classifying facial expressions of
adults. However, classifier models trained with adult benchmark data are
unsuitable for learning child expressions due to discrepancies in
psychophysical development. Similarly, models trained with child data perform
poorly in adult expression classification. We propose domain adaptation to
concurrently align distributions of adult and child expressions in a shared
latent space to ensure robust classification of either domain. Furthermore, age
variations in facial images are studied in age-invariant face recognition yet
remain unleveraged in adult-child expression classification. We take
inspiration from multiple fields and propose deep adaptive FACial Expressions
fusing BEtaMix SElected Landmark Features (FACE-BE-SELF) for adult-child facial
expression classification. For the first time in the literature, a mixture of
Beta distributions is used to decompose and select facial features based on
correlations with expression, domain, and identity factors. We evaluate
FACE-BE-SELF on two pairs of adult-child data sets. Our proposed FACE-BE-SELF
approach outperforms adult-child transfer learning and other baseline domain
adaptation methods in aligning latent representations of adult and child
expressions
Single Stranded DNA Translocation Through A Nanopore: A Master Equation Approach
We study voltage driven translocation of a single stranded (ss) DNA through a
membrane channel. Our model, based on a master equation (ME) approach,
investigates the probability density function (pdf) of the translocation times,
and shows that it can be either double or mono-peaked, depending on the system
parameters. We show that the most probable translocation time is proportional
to the polymer length, and inversely proportional to the first or second power
of the voltage, depending on the initial conditions. The model recovers
experimental observations on hetro-polymers when using their properties inside
the pore, such as stiffness and polymer-pore interaction.Comment: 7 pages submitted to PR
Modification of threat-processing in non-anxious individuals: a preliminary, behavioral and ERP study
Background and objectives: Previous research suggests that attention bias toward threat contributes to the development and maintenance of anxiety. The current study extends this work by mapping the neural correlates of experimentally-induced changes in attention bias. The study examines both behavioral and psychophysiological changes associated with experimentally-induced changes in threat bias.
Methods: Thirty-four non-anxious female adults were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: training attention toward threat or placebo control. Attention bias was assessed and trained via a modified dot-probe task. Participants completed pre- and post-training assessments of attention bias and stress reactivity. As well, EEG was collected during pre- and post-test assessment of attention bias using the dot-probe task.
Results: Training induced significant changes in attention bias, though findings were complicated by group differences in baseline threat-bias scores. Compared to controls, those in the training group showed greater depression vulnerability to a post-training stressor and increased P2 amplitude, an ERP component associated with attention toward threat, during the dot-probe task.
Limitations: Although participants were randomly assigned to groups, there were still group differences in pre-training bias scores. Also, while the use of a stress task before the initial assessment of attention bias was used to control for initial differences in stress vulnerability, this may have altered pre-bias scores since participants completed this task immediately after being stressed.
Conclusions: These findings demonstrate training-induced changes in behavior and neural response patterns relevant to work on attention bias modification
Introduction to the Special Issue: Understanding the role of attentional control in the development of anxiety in childhood, adolescence and across the lifespan
Additional services for Psychological Medicine: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here Perturbed threat monitoring following a traumatic event predicts risk for post-traumatic stress di
Background. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic and difficult to treat psychiatric disorder. Objective, performance-based diagnostic markers that uniquely index risk for PTSD above and beyond subjective self-report markers could inform attempts to improve prevention and early intervention. We evaluated the predictive value of threat-related attention bias measured immediately after a potentially traumatic event, as a risk marker for PTSD at a 3-month follow-up. We measured the predictive contribution of attentional threat bias above and beyond that of the more established marker of risk for PTSD, self-reported psychological dissociation. Method. Dissociation symptoms and threat-related attention bias were measured in 577 motor vehicle accident (MVA) survivors (mean age = 35.02 years, 356 males) within 24 h of admission to an emergency department (ED) of a large urban hospital. PTSD symptoms were assessed at a 3-month follow-up using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Results. Self-reported dissociation symptoms significantly accounted for 16% of the variance in PTSD at follow-up, and attention bias toward threat significantly accounted for an additional 4% of the variance in PTSD. Conclusions. Threat-related attention bias can be reliably measured in the context of a hospital ED and significantly predicts risk for later PTSD. Possible mechanisms underlying the association between threat bias following a potentially traumatic event and risk for PTSD are discussed. The potential application of an attention bias modification treatment (ABMT) tailored to reduce risk for PTSD is suggested
Stereotyping starlings are more 'pessimistic'.
Negative affect in humans and animals is known to cause individuals to interpret ambiguous stimuli pessimistically, a phenomenon termed 'cognitive bias'. Here, we used captive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to test the hypothesis that a reduction in environmental conditions, from enriched to non-enriched cages, would engender negative affect, and hence 'pessimistic' biases. We also explored whether individual differences in stereotypic behaviour (repetitive somersaulting) predicted 'pessimism'. Eight birds were trained on a novel conditional discrimination task with differential rewards, in which background shade (light or dark) determined which of two covered dishes contained a food reward. The reward was small when the background was light, but large when the background was dark. We then presented background shades intermediate between those trained to assess the birds' bias to choose the dish associated with the smaller food reward (a 'pessimistic' judgement) when the discriminative stimulus was ambiguous. Contrary to predictions, changes in the level of cage enrichment had no effect on 'pessimism'. However, changes in the latency to choose and probability of expressing a choice suggested that birds learnt rapidly that trials with ambiguous stimuli were unreinforced. Individual differences in performance of stereotypies did predict 'pessimism'. Specifically, birds that somersaulted were more likely to choose the dish associated with the smaller food reward in the presence of the most ambiguous discriminative stimulus. We propose that somersaulting is part of a wider suite of behavioural traits indicative of a stress response to captive conditions that is symptomatic of a negative affective state
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