scholarly journals Neuromodulation and Individuality

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan T. Maloney
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Behavioral Preferences ◽  
Behavioral Preference ◽  
Do So

Within populations, individuals show a variety of behavioral preferences, even in the absence of genetic or environmental variability. Neuromodulators affect these idiosyncratic preferences in a wide range of systems, however, the mechanism(s) by which they do so is unclear. I review the evidence supporting three broad mechanisms by which neuromodulators might affect variability in idiosyncratic behavioral preference: by being a source of variability directly upstream of behavior, by affecting the behavioral output of a circuit in a way that masks or accentuates underlying variability in that circuit, and by driving plasticity in circuits leading to either homeostatic convergence toward a given behavior or divergence from a developmental setpoint. I find evidence for each of these mechanisms and propose future directions to further understand the complex interplay between individual variability and neuromodulators.

scholarly journals Religious Experience or Psychopathology? A Feature-Based Approach to the Comparative Study of “Nonordinary” Experiences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Taves ◽  
Michael Barlev ◽  
Michael Kinsella
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
Culture Dependent ◽  
Do So

At the turn of the 20th century, researchers compared case studies of patients diagnosed with hysteria and mediums who claimed to channel spirits. In doing so, researchers recognized the phenomenological overlap between the experiences reported by their subjects: alterations in the sense of self. Yet, notwithstanding its early promise, this comparative approach to “nonordinary experiences” (NOEs) was never fully realized: disciplinary siloing, categorical distinctions such as between “religious” and “psychopathological” experiences, and the challenges involved in comparing culture-laden first-person accounts all limited such efforts. Here, we argue for a renewed feature-based approach for mapping the universality and diversity of NOEs across cultures and investigating the ways in which culture and experiences interact. To do so, we argue that researchers must solve two problems: (1) how to query experiences without eliminating the culture, and (2) how to query experiences when the ordinary-nonordinary distinction itself may be culture-dependent. We introduce a survey —the Inventory of Nonordinary Experiences (INOE)—that addresses these problems by separating the phenomenological features of a wide-range of experiences from the claims made about them, and then querying both the features and claims. We demonstrate how this approach enables us to investigate a few ways in which culture shapes experiences and make inferences regarding the reasons why experiences stand out for people. We conclude by highlighting future directions for the comparative study of NOEs across cultures.

History of the Study of Apocrypha in Early Medieval England

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Brandon W. Hawk
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Early Judaism ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Early English

Literature written in England between about 500 and 1100 CE attests to a wide range of traditions, although it is clear that Christian sources were the most influential. Biblical apocrypha feature prominently across this corpus of literature, as early English authors clearly relied on a range of extra-biblical texts and traditions related to works under the umbrella of what have been called “Old Testament Pseudepigrapha” and “New Testament/Christian Apocrypha." While scholars of pseudepigrapha and apocrypha have long trained their eyes upon literature from the first few centuries of early Judaism and early Christianity, the medieval period has much to offer. This article presents a survey of significant developments and key threads in the history of scholarship on apocrypha in early medieval England. My purpose is not to offer a comprehensive bibliography, but to highlight major studies that have focused on the transmission of specific apocrypha, contributed to knowledge about medieval uses of apocrypha, and shaped the field from the nineteenth century up to the present. Bringing together major publications on the subject presents a striking picture of the state of the field as well as future directions.

A review on aversive Pavlovian-to-Instrumental transfer in humans

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Gerlicher ◽  
Merel Kindt
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Transfer Paradigm ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Threat Cues ◽  
Imminent Threat ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Pathological Anxiety

A cue that indicates imminent threat elicits a wide range of physiological, hormonal, autonomic, cognitive, and emotional fear responses in humans and facilitates threat-specific avoidance behavior. The occurrence of a threat cue can, however, also have general motivational effects and affect behavior. That is, the encounter with a threat cue can increase our tendency to engage in general avoidance behavior that does neither terminate nor prevent the threat-cue or the threat itself. Furthermore, the encounter with a threat-cue can substantially reduce our likelihood to engage in behavior that leads to rewarding outcomes. Such general motivational effects of threat-cues on behavior can be informative about the transition from normal to pathological anxiety and could also explain the development of comorbid disorders, such as depression and substance abuse. Despite the unmistakable relevance of the motivational effects of threat for our understanding of anxiety disorders, their investigation is still in its infancy. Pavlovian-to-Instrumental transfer is one paradigm that allows us to investigate such motivational effects of threat cues. Here, we review studies investigating aversive transfer in humans and discuss recent results on the neural circuits mediating Pavlovian-to-Instrumental transfer effects. Finally, we discuss potential limitations of the transfer paradigm and future directions for employing Pavlovian-to-Instrumental transfer for the investigation of motivational effects of fear and anxiety.

Automatic Vulnerability Detection in Embedded Devices and Firmware

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Abdullah Qasem ◽  
Paria Shirani ◽  
Mourad Debbabi ◽  
Lingyu Wang ◽  
Bernard Lebel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Embedded Systems ◽  
Symbolic Execution ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Security And Privacy ◽  
Embedded Devices ◽  
Security Vulnerabilities ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Hybrid Approaches ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Internet Of Things

In the era of the internet of things (IoT), software-enabled inter-connected devices are of paramount importance. The embedded systems are very frequently used in both security and privacy-sensitive applications. However, the underlying software (a.k.a. firmware) very often suffers from a wide range of security vulnerabilities, mainly due to their outdated systems or reusing existing vulnerable libraries; which is evident by the surprising rise in the number of attacks against embedded systems. Therefore, to protect those embedded systems, detecting the presence of vulnerabilities in the large pool of embedded devices and their firmware plays a vital role. To this end, there exist several approaches to identify and trigger potential vulnerabilities within deployed embedded systems firmware. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art proposals, which detect vulnerabilities in embedded systems and firmware images by employing various analysis techniques, including static analysis, dynamic analysis, symbolic execution, and hybrid approaches. Furthermore, we perform both quantitative and qualitative comparisons among the surveyed approaches. Moreover, we devise taxonomies based on the applications of those approaches, the features used in the literature, and the type of the analysis. Finally, we identify the unresolved challenges and discuss possible future directions in this field of research.

scholarly journals Oxygen Is Instrumental for Biological Signaling: An Overview

Oxygen ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-15
Author(s):  
John T. Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Superoxide Anion ◽  
Nitrosative Stress ◽  
Redox Status ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Form Part ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
And Control ◽  
Signaling Components

Control of cellular function is extremely complex, being reliant on a wide range of components. Several of these are small oxygen-based molecules. Although reactive compounds containing oxygen are usually harmful to cells when accumulated to relatively high concentrations, they are also instrumental in the control of the activity of a myriad of proteins, and control both the upregulation and downregulation of gene expression. The formation of one oxygen-based molecule, such as the superoxide anion, can lead to a cascade of downstream generation of others, such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and the hydroxyl radical (∙OH), each with their own reactivity and effect. Nitrogen-based signaling molecules also contain oxygen, and include nitric oxide (NO) and peroxynitrite, both instrumental among the suite of cell signaling components. These molecules do not act alone, but form part of a complex interplay of reactions, including with several sulfur-based compounds, such as glutathione and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Overaccumulation of oxygen-based reactive compounds may alter the redox status of the cell and lead to programmed cell death, in processes referred to as oxidative stress, or nitrosative stress (for nitrogen-based molecules). Here, an overview of the main oxygen-based molecules involved, and the ramifications of their production, is given.

scholarly journals Towards Reduced CNNs for De-Noising Phase Images Corrupted with Speckle Noise

Photonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Marie Tahon ◽  
Silvio Montresor ◽  
Pascal Picart
Keyword(s):  
Phase Error ◽  
Speckle Noise ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Benchmark Data ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Phase Images ◽  
Different Depths ◽  
Phase Data ◽  
Do So

Digital holography is a very efficient technique for 3D imaging and the characterization of changes at the surfaces of objects. However, during the process of holographic interferometry, the reconstructed phase images suffer from speckle noise. In this paper, de-noising is addressed with phase images corrupted with speckle noise. To do so, DnCNN residual networks with different depths were built and trained with various holographic noisy phase data. The possibility of using a network pre-trained on natural images with Gaussian noise is also investigated. All models are evaluated in terms of phase error with HOLODEEP benchmark data and with three unseen images corresponding to different experimental conditions. The best results are obtained using a network with only four convolutional blocks and trained with a wide range of noisy phase patterns.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study of Target Tracking Approaches in Wireless Sensor Networks

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmaa Ez-Zaidi ◽  
Said Rakrak
Keyword(s):  
Wireless Sensor Networks ◽  
Sensor Networks ◽  
Target Tracking ◽  
Sensor Nodes ◽  
Wireless Sensor ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Intense Research

Wireless sensor networks have been the subject of intense research in recent years. Sensor nodes are used in wide range of applications such as security, military, and environmental monitoring. One of the most interesting applications in wireless sensor networks is target tracking, which mainly consists in detecting and monitoring the motion of mobile targets. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of target tracking approaches. We then analyze them according to several metrics. We also discuss some of the challenges that influence the performance of tracking schemes. In the end, we conduct detailed analysis and comparison between these algorithms and we conclude with some future directions.

Socio-Semantic Processes in Social Actors Representation: A Case Study of “Ya-Sin”

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-169
Author(s):  
Roghayeh Farsi
Keyword(s):  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Linear Nature ◽  
Do So ◽  
Semantic Processes

AbstractThe academic field of Qurʾānic Studies employs a wide range of approaches, each one of which helps to open up a new perspective on the Qurʾānic text. The Holy Book was revealed to guide people; it is thus of relevance to all aspects of people’s lives. This article focuses on the way social actors are represented in one Meccansūra, entitled “Ya-Sin”, and employs a case-study approach to do so. The analysis carried out includes the socio-semantic processes that thesūrauses in order to represent social actors either by behavior (action) or meaning (reflection), and it also analyzes the actors as they are represented in processes such as activation and passivation. The methodology adopted is eclectic and analytic. It is a hybrid of Swales’ move analysis, El-Awa’s identification of shift-markers, and Halliday’s and Van Leeuwen’s theories of social actor representation. This study shows how such an analysis can contribute to understanding the apparently fragmented and non-linear nature of “Ya-Sin”.

RELATIONSHIP IN IOT AND BIG DATA ANALYTICS: THE OPPORTUNITIES AND OPEN CHALLENGES

2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 100-111
Author(s):  
Ahmad Anwar Zainuddin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Time Utilization ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Internet Of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) is an up-and-coming technology that has a wide variety of applications. It empowers physical objects to be organized in a specialized framework to grow its convenience in terms of ease and time utilization. It is to convert the thought of bridging the crevice between the physical world and the machine world. It is also being use in the wide range of the technology in this current situation. One of its applications is to monitor and store data over time from numerous devices allows for easy analysis of the dataset. This analysis can then be the basis of decisions made on the same. In this study, the concept, architecture, and relationship of IoT and Big Data are described. Next, several use cases in IoT and big data in the research methodology are studied. The opportunities and open challenges which including the future directions are described. Furthermore, by proposing a new architecture for big data analytics in the Internet of Things, this paper adds value. Overall, the various types of big IoT data analytics, their methods, and associated big data mining technologies are discussed.

scholarly journals Everything You Always Wanted to Know about β3-AR * (* But Were Afraid to Ask)

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgia Schena ◽  
Michael J. Caplan
Keyword(s):  
Adrenergic Receptor ◽  
Species Differences ◽  
Current Clinical Practice ◽  
Substantial Body ◽  
Cellular Models ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Function ◽  
Novel Therapeutic ◽  
Do So

The beta-3 adrenergic receptor (β3-AR) is by far the least studied isotype of the beta-adrenergic sub-family. Despite its study being long hampered by the lack of suitable animal and cellular models and inter-species differences, a substantial body of literature on the subject has built up in the last three decades and the physiology of β3-AR is unraveling quickly. As will become evident in this work, β3-AR is emerging as an appealing target for novel pharmacological approaches in several clinical areas involving metabolic, cardiovascular, urinary, and ocular disease. In this review, we will discuss the most recent advances regarding β3-AR signaling and function and summarize how these findings translate, or may do so, into current clinical practice highlighting β3-AR’s great potential as a novel therapeutic target in a wide range of human conditions.

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