Massively Parallel Video Networks

We introduce a class of causal video understanding models that aims to improve efficiency of video processing by maximising throughput, minimising latency, and reducing the number of clock cycles. Leveraging operation pipelining and multi-rate clocks, these models perform a minimal amount of computation (e.g. as few as four convolutional layers) for each frame per timestep to produce an output. The models are still very deep, with dozens of such operations being performed but in a pipelined fashion that enables depth-parallel computation. We illustrate the proposed principles by applying them to existing image architectures and analyse their behaviour on two video tasks: action recognition and human keypoint localisation. The results show that a significant degree of parallelism, and implicitly speedup, can be achieved with little loss in performance.Comment: Fixed typos in densenet model definition in appendi

Merleau-Ponty and neuroaesthetics: Two approaches to performance and technology

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Digital Creativity, 23(3-4), 225 - 238, 2012. Copyright @ 2012 Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14626268.2012.709941.Assisted by the rapid growth of digital technology, which has enhanced its ambitions, performance is an increasingly popular area of artistic practice. This article seeks to contextualise this within two methodologically divergent yet complimentary intellectual tendencies. The first is the work of the philosopher Merleau-Ponty, who recognised that our experience of the world has an inescapably ‘embodied’ quality, not reducible to mental accounts, which can be vicariously extended through specific instrumentation. The second is the developing field of neuroaesthetics; that is, neurological research directed towards the analysis, in brain-functional terms, of our experiences of objects and events which are culturally deemed to be of artistic significance. I will argue that both these contexts offer promising approaches to interpreting developments in contemporary performance, which has achieved critical recognition without much antecedent theoretical support

Extending Human Perception of Electromagnetic Radiation to the UV Region through Biologically Inspired Photochromic Fuzzy Logic (BIPFUL) Systems.

Photochromic Fuzzy Logic Systems have been designed that extend human visual perception into the UV region. The systems are founded on a detailed knowledge of the activation wavelengths and quantum yields of a series of thermally reversible photochromic compounds. By appropriate matching of the photochromic behaviour unique colour signatures are generated in response differing UV activation frequencies

The Disunity of Consciousness

It is commonplace for both philosophers and cognitive scientists to express their allegiance to the "unity of consciousness". This is the claim that a subject’s phenomenal consciousness, at any one moment in time, is a single thing. This view has had a major influence on computational theories of consciousness. In particular, what we call single-track theories dominate the literature, theories which contend that our conscious experience is the result of a single consciousness-making process or mechanism in the brain. We argue that the orthodox view is quite wrong: phenomenal experience is not a unity, in the sense of being a single thing at each instant. It is a multiplicity, an aggregate of phenomenal elements, each of which is the product of a distinct consciousness-making mechanism in the brain. Consequently, cognitive science is in need of a multi-track theory of consciousness; a computational model that acknowledges both the manifold nature of experience, and its distributed neural basis

Geo-statistical methods to analyse changes in pre-Hispanic settlement patterns in the Río Ica catchment, Peru

Within arid regions allochthonous rivers as a main source of fresh water play a significant role in the spatial organisation of human occupation.This study aims at a comprehensive view on changes in the prehistoric occupation patterns within the Río Ica catchment on the southern coast of Peru. Results of different research projects are integrated. The heterogeneous character of the catchment allows us to define three sub-sections which differ greatly in terms of vegetation, relief and water regime.Based on quantitative geo-statistical methods we analyse spatio-temporal changes in human occupation from the Early Horizon (c. 1000–200 BC) through to the Inca Late Horizon (AD 1450–1532) in the context of environmental conditions, as well as socio-economic processes. Examining known archaeological sites we are able to assess the significance of environmental location factors for pre-Hispanic settlements. In addition, areas of high human interaction are identified on the basis of a classification of archaeological sites according to their function (craft/industry, cult, cooperation and trade). We thereby transfer the concept of central place theory to the spatial distribution of archaeological remains, introducing a novel approach to identifying central functions in a spatially explicit way.Our results crystallise the changing character of occupation in the study area over more than two millennia. They contribute to the ongoing debate on the decline of the Nasca culture, endorsing a complex combination of natural and socio-economic reasons. Furthermore, the results support the concept of a more widespread exchange and cooperation during ‘Horizon’ periods in the study area and likewise indicate that the disappearance of a supra-regional administrative polity during ‘Intermediate’ periods might have led to higher human activity in smaller scale societies, as reflected in a more diverse spatial organisation in terms of geomorphometric units and central areas

The association of parental and offspring educational attainment with systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose and waist circumference in Latino adults

Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate the association of intergenerational educational attainment with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among US Latinos. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the Niños Lifestyle and Diabetes Study, an offspring cohort of middle-aged Mexican-Americans whose parents participated in the Sacramento Latino Study on Aging. We collected educational attainment, demographic and health behaviours and measured systolic blood pressure (SBP), fasting glucose and waist circumference. We evaluated the association of parental, offspring and a combined parent–offspring education variable with each CVD risk factor using multivariable regression. Results: Higher parental education was associated only with smaller offspring waist circumference. In contrast, higher offspring education was associated with lower SBP, fasting glucose and smaller waist circumference. Adjustment for parental health behaviours modestly attenuated these offspring associations, whereas adjustment for offspring health behaviours and income attenuated the associations of offspring education with offspring SBP and fasting glucose but not smaller waist circumference, even among offspring with low parental education. Conclusions: Higher offspring education is associated with lower levels of CVD risk factors in adulthood, despite intergenerational exposure to low parental education

The Ca²⁺-gated channel TMEM16A amplifies capillary pericyte contraction and reduces cerebral blood flow after ischemia

Pericyte-mediated capillary constriction decreases cerebral blood flow in stroke after an occluded artery is unblocked. The determinants of pericyte tone are poorly understood. We show that a small rise in cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) in pericytes activates chloride efflux through the Ca2+-gated anion channel TMEM16A, thus depolarizing the cell and opening voltage-gated calcium channels. This mechanism strongly amplifies the pericyte [Ca2+]i rise and capillary constriction evoked by contractile agonists and ischemia. In a rodent stroke model, TMEM16A inhibition slows the ischemia-evoked pericyte [Ca2+]i rise, capillary constriction and pericyte death, reduces neutrophil stalling and improves cerebrovascular reperfusion. Genetic analysis implicates altered TMEM16A expression in poor patient recovery from ischemic stroke. Thus, pericyte TMEM16A is a crucial regulator of cerebral capillary function, and a potential therapeutic target for stroke and possibly other disorders of impaired microvascular flow, such as Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia

A Gaze-Driven Evolutionary Algorithm to Study Aesthetic Evaluation of Visual Symmetry

Empirical work has shown that people like visual symmetry. We used a gaze-driven evolutionary algorithm technique to answer three questions about symmetry preference. First, do people automatically evaluate symmetry without explicit instruction? Second, is perfect symmetry the best stimulus, or do people prefer a degree of imperfection? Third, does initial preference for symmetry diminish after familiarity sets in? Stimuli were generated as phenotypes from an algorithmic genotype, with genes for symmetry (coded as deviation from a symmetrical template, deviation–symmetry, DS gene) and orientation (0° to 90°, orientation, ORI gene). An eye tracker identified phenotypes that were good at attracting and retaining the gaze of the observer. Resulting fitness scores determined the genotypes that passed to the next generation. We recorded changes to the distribution of DS and ORI genes over 20 generations. When participants looked for symmetry, there was an increase in high-symmetry genes. When participants looked for the patterns they preferred, there was a smaller increase in symmetry, indicating that people tolerated some imperfection. Conversely, there was no increase in symmetry during free viewing, and no effect of familiarity or orientation. This work demonstrates the viability of the evolutionary algorithm approach as a quantitative measure of aesthetic preference