A Quantitative Method to Explore the Assimilation Effects

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 217-217
Author(s):  
E Kroon ◽  
M J H Puts ◽  
C M M de Weert

The role of central processes in the assimilation effect can easily be shown qualitatively (de Weert and Spillmann, 1995 Vision Research35 1413 – 1419), but it is difficult to measure quantitatively because of the subtlety of the effect. In most experimental designs, the match stimulus differs greatly in appearance from the test stimulus, eg in size or configuration, and because these differences are far more striking than the assimilation effect, matching is difficult. Central processing, eg object segmentation, influences colour spreading. It is this property that we explored with a new approach: a matching task in which the match stimulus has the same properties (eg size and configuration) as the test stimulus. Object segmentation is forced by stereopsis-induced depth. The test stimulus consists of two depth planes, one with black dots and the other with white dots, on a homogeneous gray background. The match stimulus has the same configuration of black and white dots, but now squeezed into a single depth plane. The basic idea behind this stimulus is that assimilation mainly acts on the back plane of a scene (as can be shown experimentally). So, while keeping the appearance of the stimulus the same, subjects can focus on the assimilation effect itself. This new approach allows us to explore more aspects of the assimilation effect and gain insight into the processes involved.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Koopman ◽  
Radwan M. Sarhan ◽  
Felix Stete ◽  
Clemens N. Z. Schmitt ◽  
Matias Bargheer

Plasmon-mediated chemistry presents an intriguing new approach to photocatalysis. However, the reaction enhancement<br>mechanism is not well understood. In particular, the relative importance of plasmon-generated hot charges and<br>photoheating are strongly debated. In this article, we evaluate the influence of microscopic photoheating on the kinetics of<br>a model plasmon-catalyzed reaction: the light-induced 4-nitrothiophenol (4NTP) to 4,4’-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB)<br>dimerization. Direct measurement of the reaction temperature by nanoparticle Raman-thermometry demonstrated that<br>the thermal effect plays a dominant role in the kinetic limitations of this multistep reaction. On the same time, no reaction<br>is possible by dark heating to the same temperature. This shows that plasmon nanoparticles have the unique ability to<br>enhance several steps of complex tandem reactions simultaneously. These results provide insight into the role of hot<br>electron and thermal effects in plasmonic catalysis of complex organic reactions, which highly important for the ongoing<br>development of plasmon based photosynthesis. <br>



Author(s):  
Dónal Roche ◽  
Vincent Russell

Precision medicine is a new approach that considers differences in genes, environment, and lifestyle in an attempt to tailor treatments for individual patients. Psychiatry, as a discipline, has historically relied on clinical judgement and phenomenology-based diagnostic guidelines and has yet to take full advantage. This editorial provides an insight into the expanding role of precision medicine in psychiatry, both in research and clinical practice. It discusses the application of genetics and subgroup stratification in increasing response rates to therapeutic interventions, mainly focusing on major depressive disorder and schizophrenia. It presents an overview of machine learning techniques and how they are being integrated with traditional research methods within the field. In the context of these developments, while emphasizing the considerable potential for moving toward precision psychiatry, we also acknowledge the inherent challenges.



2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Koopman ◽  
Radwan M. Sarhan ◽  
Felix Stete ◽  
Clemens N. Z. Schmitt ◽  
Matias Bargheer

Plasmon-mediated chemistry presents an intriguing new approach to photocatalysis. However, the reaction enhancement<br>mechanism is not well understood. In particular, the relative importance of plasmon-generated hot charges and<br>photoheating are strongly debated. In this article, we evaluate the influence of microscopic photoheating on the kinetics of<br>a model plasmon-catalyzed reaction: the light-induced 4-nitrothiophenol (4NTP) to 4,4’-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB)<br>dimerization. Direct measurement of the reaction temperature by nanoparticle Raman-thermometry demonstrated that<br>the thermal effect plays a dominant role in the kinetic limitations of this multistep reaction. On the same time, no reaction<br>is possible by dark heating to the same temperature. This shows that plasmon nanoparticles have the unique ability to<br>enhance several steps of complex tandem reactions simultaneously. These results provide insight into the role of hot<br>electron and thermal effects in plasmonic catalysis of complex organic reactions, which highly important for the ongoing<br>development of plasmon based photosynthesis. <br>



1992 ◽  
Vol 67 (01) ◽  
pp. 111-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Levi ◽  
Jan Paul de Boer ◽  
Dorina Roem ◽  
Jan Wouter ten Cate ◽  
C Erik Hack

SummaryInfusion of desamino-d-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) results in an increase in plasma plasminogen activator activity. Whether this increase results in the generation of plasmin in vivo has never been established.A novel sensitive radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the measurement of the complex between plasmin and its main inhibitor α2 antiplasmin (PAP complex) was developed using monoclonal antibodies preferentially reacting with complexed and inactivated α2-antiplasmin and monoclonal antibodies against plasmin. The assay was validated in healthy volunteers and in patients with an activated fibrinolytic system.Infusion of DDAVP in a randomized placebo controlled crossover study resulted in all volunteers in a 6.6-fold increase in PAP complex, which was maximal between 15 and 30 min after the start of the infusion. Hereafter, plasma levels of PAP complex decreased with an apparent half-life of disappearance of about 120 min. Infusion of DDAVP did not induce generation of thrombin, as measured by plasma levels of prothrombin fragment F1+2 and thrombin-antithrombin III (TAT) complex.We conclude that the increase in plasminogen activator activity upon the infusion of DDAVP results in the in vivo generation of plasmin, in the absence of coagulation activation. Studying the DDAVP induced increase in PAP complex of patients with thromboembolic disease and a defective plasminogen activator response upon DDAVP may provide more insight into the role of the fibrinolytic system in the pathogenesis of thrombosis.



2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-259
Author(s):  
Joseph Acquisto

This essay examines a polemic between two Baudelaire critics of the 1930s, Jean Cassou and Benjamin Fondane, which centered on the relationship of poetry to progressive politics and metaphysics. I argue that a return to Baudelaire's poetry can yield insight into what seems like an impasse in Cassou and Fondane. Baudelaire provides the possibility of realigning metaphysics and politics so that poetry has the potential to become the space in which we can begin to think the two of them together, as opposed to seeing them in unresolvable tension. Or rather, the tension that Baudelaire animates between the two allows us a new way of thinking about the role of esthetics in moments of political crisis. We can in some ways see Baudelaire as responding, avant la lettre, to two of his early twentieth-century readers who correctly perceived his work as the space that breathes a new urgency into the questions of how modern poetry relates to the world from which it springs and in which it intervenes.



Letonica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Māra Grudule

The article gives insight into a specific component of the work of Baltic enlightener Gotthard Friedrich Stender (1714–1796) that has heretofore been almost unexplored — the transfer of German musical traditions to the Latvian cultural space. Even though there are no sources that claim that Stender was a composer himself, and none of his books contain musical notation, the texts that had been translated by Stender and published in the collections “Jaunas ziņģes” (New popular songs, 1774) and “Ziņģu lustes” (The Joy of singing, 1785, 1789) were meant for singing and, possibly, also for solo-singing with the accompaniment of some musical instrument. This is suggested, first, by how the form of the translation corresponds to the original’s form; second, by the directions, oftentimes attached to the text, that indicate the melody; and third, by the genres of the German originals cantata and song. Stender translated several compositions into Latvian including the text of the religious cantata “Der Tod Jesu” (The Death of Jesus, 1755) by composer Karl Heinrich Graun (1754–1759); songs by various composers that were widely known in German society; as well as a collection of songs by the composer Johann Gottlieb Naumann (1741–1801) that, in its original form, was published together with notation and was intended for solo-singing (female vocals) with the accompaniment of a piano. This article reveals the context of German musical life in the second half of the 18th century and explains the role of music as an instrument of education in Baltic-German and Latvian societies.



Author(s):  
Yu.V. IRKHIN

The article analyzes the problems, achievements and contradictions in the genesis of the contemporary postmodern discourse. The author has carried out complex research, systematized and showed the main features and differences of postmodernism and metamodernism, as well as the role of neoliberal values in their development. The author has considered a new approach to the study of society and politics: neomodernist discourse with the dominant conservative values, opposing postmodern theory, methodology and practice he has identified the features of neomodernism: historicism, patriotism and healthy nationalism, populism, transactionalismn and realism in the world politics.



Author(s):  
James Marlatt

ABSTRACT Many people may not be aware of the extent of Kurt Kyser's collaboration with mineral exploration companies through applied research and the development of innovative exploration technologies, starting at the University of Saskatchewan and continuing through the Queen's Facility for Isotope Research. Applied collaborative, geoscientific, industry-academia research and development programs can yield technological innovations that can improve the mineral exploration discovery rates of economic mineral deposits. Alliances between exploration geoscientists and geoscientific researchers can benefit both parties, contributing to the pure and applied geoscientific knowledge base and the development of innovations in mineral exploration technology. Through a collaboration that spanned over three decades, we gained insight into the potential for economic uranium deposits around the world in Canada, Australia, USA, Finland, Russia, Gabon, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Guyana. Kurt, his research team, postdoctoral fellows, and students developed technological innovations related to holistic basin analysis for economic mineral potential, isotopes in mineral exploration, and biogeochemical exploration, among others. In this paper, the business of mineral exploration is briefly described, and some examples of industry-academic collaboration innovations brought forward through Kurt's research are identified. Kurt was a masterful and capable knowledge broker, which is a key criterion for bringing new technologies to application—a grand, curious, credible, patient, and attentive communicator—whether talking about science, business, or life and with first ministers, senior technocrats, peers, board members, first nation peoples, exploration geologists, investors, students, citizens, or friends.



1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 51-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Henshilwood ◽  
J. Green ◽  
D. N. Lees

This study investigates human enteric virus contamination of a shellfish harvesting area. Samples were analysed over a 14-month period for Small Round Structured Viruses (SRSVs) using a previously developed nested RT-PCR. A clear seasonal difference was observed with the largest numbers of positive samples obtained during the winter period (October to March). This data concurs with the known winter association of gastroenteric illness due to oyster consumption in the UK and also with the majority of the outbreaks associated with shellfish harvested from this area during the study period. RT-PCR positive amplicons were further characterised by cloning and sequencing. Sequence analysis of the positive samples identified eleven SRSV strains, of both Genogroup I and Genogroup II, occurring throughout the study period. Many shellfish samples contained a mixture of strains with a few samples containing up to three different strains with both Genogroups represented. The observed common occurrence of strain mixtures may have implications for the role of shellfish as a vector for dissemination of SRSV strains. These results show that nested RT-PCR can identify SRSV contamination in shellfish harvesting areas. Virus monitoring of shellfish harvesting areas by specialist laboratories using RT-PCR is a possible approach to combating the transmission of SRSVs by molluscan shellfish and could potentially offer significantly enhanced levels of public health protection.



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