The nature of anisotropy in gain control pools.

When observers view a naturalistic (l/f) broadband image, the various spatial components present in the image stimulate many detecting-mechanisms that suppress each other. This suppression is anisotropic, being relatively greater for mechanisms that detect horizontal components and least for oblique-detecting mechanisms (c.f., Essock et al., 2009; Haun & Essock, 2010; Kim et al., 2010), and leads to better sensitivity to and greater salience of obliquely-oriented structure when viewed in the presence of broadband background (the \u27horizontal effect\u27, Essock et al., 2003). It is thought that anisotropic suppression reflects a gain control mechanism whose output is intended to equalize the neural response to the orientation content biases in natural scenes. Here we further investigate the dependence of this gain control anisotropy on temporal and spatial frequency by measuring tuning properties of these pools. Experiment 1 evaluates (1) the shape and the peak suppression of temporal frequency tuning functions for grating targets at 10 fixed spatio-temporal combinations by varying the temporal frequency of the l/f broadband masks, and (2) whether the observed suppression show the horizontal effect. Experiment 2 evaluates the same properties for spatial frequency tuning. The results showed that multiple local gain control pools across the spatiotemporal locations are tuned in temporal frequency and spatial frequency, and all of these pools are stronger at horizontal. Surprisingly, results showed that multiple temporally tuned pools are revealed with a broadband mask, whereas prior studies using very narrowband masks have shown only 2 (or 3) temporally-tuned channels (e.g., Lehky, 1985; Hess & Snowden, 1992; Fredericksen & Hess, 1998; Cass & Alias, 2006; Cass et al., 2009). We proposed that to drive these pools, the use of an appropriate broadband mask which can rise above a certain detection threshold of each of the underlying many, unknown, and lesser sensitive temporal detectors is crucial, and thereby can create strong suppression between detectors tuned to similar temporal rates which form local (\u27 tuned \u27) pools

Korean Fatherhood in Policy and Practice

Korean fathers gained their first entitlement to take one-year paid parental leave in 2001. The policy has since continuously advanced, but as of 2020, fathers’ take-up rates remain low at 3.4%. This dissertation raises the question of why Korean fathers do not take parental leave, and what the nature of the underlying sociocultural contexts is that precipitates this discrepancy. To seek answers to this question, the dissertation examines tensions between the de jure entitlement and the de facto entitlement of fatherhood via four different contexts: policymaking, relational ethics, workplace norms, and paternal identities.Applying these four contexts, four sub-studies address the following research questions: (1) How have Korean parental leave policies evolved since 1995 and what were the motives and challenges that emerged in the course of their development? (2) How have relational ethics and workplace norms influenced individual fathers’ decisions and sense of entitlement for taking time off for childcare? (3) How do Korean fathers perceive good fathering and how do they negotiate and practise fathering ideals in everyday life?The analysis draws on two types of empirical data: semi-structured interviews and public documents. The interview data contain four different sets of interviews with six policy actors, 47 fathers, and 15 of their female partners. Official policy documents contain various sources, such as newspaper articles, Acts, Bills, Master Plans, press kits, campaign posters, and parliamentary meeting minutes demonstrating policy changes from 1990 to 2021.The findings show that Korean parental leave policies have evolved in a way of emphasising the value of gender equality and men’s roles in childcare as a practical tool for increasing fertility rates. In everyday life, couples, influenced by Confucian relational ethics, considered fathers as last-resort caregivers within families and as forefront workers in workplaces; they showed reluctance to renege such social expectations despite the detriment to women’s careers. Furthermore, Korean workplaces featured presence-oriented, hierarchical, and work-prioritised norms and practices. These features (in)directly lowered fathers’ sense of entitlement to take time off for childcare. Indeed, those pursuing to be an involved father, tended to struggle with gaps between fathering ideals and practices. With lack of time, information, network, and role models, fathers tried to make the most of the time given to them by engaging in playful activities with their children, with the belief in fathers’ distinctive role in childcare.Based on these findings, this dissertation contributes to theoretical discussions in the policy-practice literature by bridging the two perspectives. It suggests a distinction within the policy context: policymaking context and policy context for practice. The latter matters because the de jure entitlement granted by policies does not necessarily transition to the corresponding sense of entitlement in practice. To explore this gap, this dissertation explores the policy context for practice (as opposed to theory) by proposing the concept of fatherhood practices (people’s routine behaviours). Fatherhood practices highlight people’s everyday aspects that consist of doings, sayings, and reasonings, which shape and construct the meaning of fatherhood. The integration of the policy contexts and fatherhood practices particularly reveals the nuanced differences between voluntary opt-out and resigned acceptance of policy use behaviours.In conclusion, this dissertation argues that policymaking contexts of Korean parental leave policies have been insufficient for promoting sociocultural grounds that directly encourage fathers to feel equally entitled as a parent as mothers; Korean fatherhood is undergoing piecemeal transitions, which can be interpreted as conditional, exclusive, and silent

The Effect Of Nostalgia On Service Failure

Nostalgia induced by savoring precious past experience helps a person feel loved and protected and may help them cope with loneliness. Generally, these positive, prosocial functions, which nostalgia provides, are derived from the content of the memories. However, recent research shows that the process of recalling nostalgic memories could have an important, but different impact on consumers' behavior. When people face nostalgia through the recollection of positive experience and become aware of its non-repeatability, they seek to enjoy and prolong the experience. Due to the motivation to savor nostalgic experiences, people are likely to be more tolerant of waiting. To this extent, the inclination to reminisce about past experiences motivates people to be more accepting of, thus less dissatisfied with service failure. Unlike other research focusing on social functions of nostalgia, we examine the effect of nostalgia to a particular service failure: delayed shipping. Nowadays, on-line retailers that use a delivery service is commonplace. Therefore, we believe our research will give critical implications about the effects of nostalgia on service failure. We theorize that nostalgia could have a positive effect on consumer patience, especially for delayed shipping, and the distance to a nostalgic memory affects consumer patience and dissatisfaction. Two studies have confirmed these effects

Preliminary evidence for the psychophysiological effects of technologic feature in e-commerce

As information and communication technologies are advanced, consumers are now able to enhance their e-commerce experiences regardless the channel, and it leads fashion retailers to develop better innovative experiential strategy to secure sustainable competency. The purpose of this study is to focus on apparel website to investigate the effect of branded contents on consumer\u27s pleasure and arousal that in turn may influence consumer\u27s response behaviors. This study employed S-O-R paradigm which explains that consumers\u27 inner organisms change according to the exposed external stimulation, and the changes antedate behavioral responses. Pleasure and arousal were measured with BioPAC MP150, which indicates the changes of electromyogram (EMG: pleasure), galvanic skin reflex (GSR: arousal), and heart rate (HR: pleasure) follow by the self-reported survey about behavioral responses. This study found that the effect for e-commerce\u27s branded content video on consumer\u27s response is indirect, and change of arousal is an indicator of hedonic shopping behavior

Nonlinear Resonance Ultrasonic Spectroscopy of Precipitation in 17-4PH Stainless Steel

Nonlinear resonance ultrasonic spectroscopy (NRUS) has been widely used to determine the hysteretic nonlinearity parameter, α for mesoscopic elastic materials. The current research adopts the NRUS to characterize microscopic material damage in metallic specimens with small dimensions. The geometric limitations in these small samples greatly restrict applications of other nonlinear ultrasonic techniques such as the higher harmonic generation technique. Two opposite edges of a rectangular plate specimen (10x10x2mm) are clamped by a specially designed holder and an excitation piezoelectric transducer is attached to one of the other edges. The excitation transducer provides a frequency sweep around a few of the natural vibration modes of the specimen while the resonant response of the specimen is detected by a laser vibrometer. To simulate the copper-rich precipitate (CRP) formation and the associated irradiation damage in reactor pressure vessel steels, thermally aged 17-4 PH stainless steel is used to study the effects of CRPs on the measured hysteretic nonlinearity parameter, α. These results are compared to previous research [1] and it is shown that the NRUS method is quite sensitive to the microstructure changes due to copper precipitates in this material

Optimal set of grid size and angular increment for practical dose calculation using the dynamic conformal arc technique: a systematic evaluation of the dosimetric effects in lung stereotactic body radiation therapy

Purpose To recommend the optimal plan parameter set of grid size and angular increment for dose calculations in treatment planning for lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) using dynamic conformal arc therapy (DCAT) considering both accuracy and computational efficiency. Materials and methods Dose variations with varying grid sizes (2, 3, and 4 mm) and angular increments (2°, 4°, 6°, and 10°) were analyzed in a thorax phantom for 3 spherical target volumes and in 9 patient cases. A 2-mm grid size and 2° angular increment are assumed sufficient to serve as reference values. The dosimetric effect was evaluated using dose–volume histograms, monitor units (MUs), and dose to organs at risk (OARs) for a definite volume corresponding to the dose–volume constraint in lung SBRT. The times required for dose calculations using each parameter set were compared for clinical practicality. Results Larger grid sizes caused a dose increase to the structures and required higher MUs to achieve the target coverage. The discrete beam arrangements at each angular increment led to over- and under-estimated OARs doses due to the undulating dose distribution. When a 2° angular increment was used in both studies, a 4-mm grid size changed the dose variation by up to 3–4% (50 cGy) for the heart and the spinal cord, while a 3-mm grid size produced a dose difference of \u3c1% (12 cGy) in all tested OARs. When a 3-mm grid size was employed, angular increments of 6° and 10° caused maximum dose variations of 3% (23 cGy) and 10% (61 cGy) in the spinal cord, respectively, while a 4° increment resulted in a dose difference of \u3c1% (8 cGy) in all cases except for that of one patient. The 3-mm grid size and 4° angular increment enabled a 78% savings in computation time without making any critical sacrifices to dose accuracy. Conclusions A parameter set with a 3-mm grid size and a 4° angular increment is found to be appropriate for predicting patient dose distributions with a dose difference below 1% while reducing the computation time by more than half for lung SBRT using DCAT

An Approach to the Difference of Store Environments on Customer Experience Realms and Behaviors

The purpose of this study is to investigate the store environment if the presence of technology and different brand types have significant effect on customer experience realms and behavior intentions