Edge-region grouping in figure-ground organization and depth perception.

Edge-region grouping (ERG) is proposed as a unifying and previously unrecognized class of relational information that influences figure-ground organization and perceived depth across an edge. ERG occurs when the edge between two regions is differentially grouped with one region based on classic principles of similarity grouping. The ERG hypothesis predicts that the grouped side will tend to be perceived as the closer, figural region. Six experiments are reported that test the predictions of the ERG hypothesis for 6 similarity-based factors: common fate, blur similarity, color similarity, orientation similarity, proximity, and flicker synchrony. All 6 factors produce the predicted effects, although to different degrees. In a 7th experiment, the strengths of these figural/depth effects were found to correlate highly with the strength of explicit grouping ratings of the same visual displays. The relations of ERG to prior results in the literature are discussed, and possible reasons for ERG-based figural/depth effects are considered. We argue that grouping processes mediate at least some of the effects we report here, although ecological explanations are also likely to be relevant in the majority of cases

Autonomous Multi-Robot Soccer

The goal of this project was to design and implement software to allow humanoid robots to compete in the Standard Platform League of RoboCup, a robotic soccer competition. The various modules developed by the team addressed topics in computer vision, probabilistic localization, multi-robot coordination, and off-robot visualization. By the time of the competition, the team significantly improved the robots\u27 performance in the aforementioned topics

Early engagement of stakeholders with individual-based modelling can inform research for improving invasive species management : the round goby as a case study

FUNDING We are grateful to the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/J008001/1) for financial supportPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Effects of university affiliation and “school spirit” on color preferences: Berkeley versus Stanford

The ecological valence theory (EVT) posits that preference for a color is determined by people’s average affective response to everything associated with it (Palmer & Schloss, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 8877–8882, 2010). The EVT thus implies the existence of sociocultural effects: Color preference should increase with positive feelings (or decrease with negative feelings) toward an institution strongly associated with a color. We tested this prediction by measuring undergraduates’ color preferences at two rival universities, Berkeley and Stanford, to determine whether students liked their university’s colors better than their rivals did. Students not only preferred their own colors more than their rivals did, but the degree of their preference increased with self-rated positive affect (“school spirit”) for their university. These results support the EVT’s claim that color preference is caused by learned affective responses to associated objects and institutions, because it is unlikely that students choose their university or develop their degree of school spirit on the basis of preexisting color preferences

The Infrared Spectrum of Uranium Hollow Cathode Lamps from 850 nm to 4000 nm: Wavenumbers and Line Identifications from Fourier Transform Spectra

We provide new measurements of wavenumbers and line identifications of 10 100 UI and UII near-infrared (NIR) emission lines between 2500 cm-1 and 12 000 cm-1 (4000 nm to 850 nm) using archival FTS spectra from the National Solar Observatory (NSO). This line list includes isolated uranium lines in the Y, J, H, K, and L bands (0.9 {\mu}m to 1.1 {\mu}m, 1.2 {\mu}m to 1.35 {\mu}m, 1.5 {\mu}m to 1.65 {\mu}m, 2.0 {\mu}m to 2.4 {\mu}m, and 3.0 {\mu}m to 4.0 {\mu}m, respectively), and provides six times as many calibration lines as thorium in the NIR spectral range. The line lists we provide enable inexpensive, commercially-available uranium hollow-cathode lamps to be used for high-precision wavelength calibration of existing and future high-resolution NIR spectrographs.Comment: 23 pages, 6 Figure

A High-Resolution Atlas of Uranium-Neon in the H Band

We present a high-resolution (R ~ 50 000) atlas of a uranium-neon (U/Ne) hollow-cathode spectrum in the H-band (1454 nm to 1638 nm) for the calibration of near-infrared spectrographs. We obtained this U/Ne spectrum simultaneously with a laser-frequency comb spectrum, which we used to provide a first-order calibration to the U/Ne spectrum. We then calibrated the U/Ne spectrum using the recently-published uranium line list of Redman et al. (2011), which is derived from high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer measurements. These two independent calibrations allowed us to easily identify emission lines in the hollow cathode lamp that do not correspond to known (classified) lines of either uranium or neon, and to compare the achievable precision of each source. Our frequency comb precision was limited by modal noise and detector effects, while the U/Ne precision was limited primarily by the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the observed emission lines and our ability to model blended lines. The standard deviation in the dispersion solution residuals from the S/N-limited U/Ne hollow cathode lamp were 50% larger than the standard deviation of the dispersion solution residuals from the modal-noise-limited laser frequency comb. We advocate the use of U/Ne lamps for precision calibration of near-infrared spectrographs, and this H-band atlas makes these lamps significantly easier to use for wavelength calibration.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, submitted and accepted in ApJSS. Online-only material to be published online by ApJS

Evolution of oceanic near surface stratification in response to an autumn storm

Understanding the processes that control the evolution of the ocean surface boundary layer (OSBL) is a prerequisite for obtaining accurate simulations of air-sea fluxes of heat and trace gases. Observations of the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy (ɛ), temperature, salinity, current structure and wave-field over a period of 9.5 days in the NE Atlantic during the Ocean Surface Mixing, Ocean Submesoscale Interaction Study (OSMOSIS), are presented. The focus of this study is a storm which passed over the observational area during this period. The profiles of ɛ in the OSBL are consistent with profiles from large eddy simulation (LES) of Langmuir turbulence. In the transition layer (TL), at the base of the OSBL, ɛ was found to vary periodically at the local inertial frequency. A simple bulk model of the OSBL and a parametrisation of shear driven turbulence in the TL are developed. The parametrisation of ɛ is based on assumptions about the momentum balance of the OSBL and shear across the TL. The predicted rate of deepening, heat budget and the inertial currents in the OSBL were in good agreement with the observations, as is the agreement between the observed value of ɛ and that predicted using the parametrisation. A previous study reported spikes of elevated dissipation related to enhanced wind-shear alignment at the base of the OSBL after this storm. The spikes in dissipation are not predicted by this new parametrisation, implying that they are not an important source of dissipation during the storm

A multi-species modelling approach to examine the impact of alternative climate change adaptation strategies on range shifting ability in a fragmented landscape

An individual-based model of animal dispersal and population dynamics was used to test the effects of different climate change adaptation strategies on species range shifting ability, namely the improvement of existing habitat, restoration of low quality habitat and creation of new habitat. These strategies were implemented on a landscape typical of fragmentation in the United Kingdom using spatial rules to differentiate between the allocation of strategies adjacent to or away from existing habitat patches. The total area being managed in the landscape was set at realistic levels based on recent habitat management trends. Eight species were parameterised to broadly represent different stage structure, population densities and modes of dispersal. Simulations were initialised with the species occupying 20% of the landscape and run for 100 years. As would be expected for a range of real taxa, range shifting abilities were dramatically different. This translated into large differences in their responses to the adaptation strategies. With conservative (0.5%) estimates of the area prescribed for climate change adaptation, few species display noticeable improvements in their range shifting, demonstrating the need for greater investment in future adaptation. With a larger (1%) prescribed area, greater range shifting improvements were found, although results were still species-specific. It was found that increasing the size of small existing habitat patches was the best way to promote range shifting, and that the creation of new stepping stone features, whilst beneficial to some species, did not have such broad effect across different species

Coupled land use and ecological models reveal emergence and feedbacks in socio-ecological systems

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by an EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre grant (EP/G03690X/1). Supplementary material (Appendix ECOG‐04039 at ). Appendix 1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD