Contributions of supercritical fluid technology for advancing decellularization and postprocessing of viable biological materials

This review summarizes relevant literature on scCO2-assisted decellularization, and discusses major topics dominating the field, such as mechanism of action, effect of cosolvent and operational parameters, and range of results across different works.

Relations between metacognitive processes and differences in framing effect performance

In this paper we discuss the link between risky decisions and regret, uncertainty about choice and willing to change the chosen option. We used a classic and modified versions of “Asian disease” task. The modification consisted in adding a series of side effects to the sure option to decrease it's the preferability. An attempt to replicate framing effect, action effect and its inversion in certain and uncertain decision-makers was made. The estimation of utility through integration of information about alternatives and role of metacognitive processes in choice are discussed. Accordingly to results the uncertain decision-makers tend to feel regret about choosing safe option in loss domain. Action effect and its inversion were not found. The inversion of framing-effect in uncertain decision-makers in loss domain was shown. In conclusion, the absence of framing effect in loss domain can be explained by strong the differences between certain and uncertain decision-makers.

Agency evaluation in motor cognition: Action’s control-effectiveness feedback and its environmental context enhances motor performance

A perceptual effect that is temporally contiguous on one’s action holds important information about one’s control over the action and its effect (“I did that”). Previous work has demonstrated the impact of such immediate action-effect on perception and motor processes. In the current study, we investigated the promoting impact of control-effectiveness feedback – an effect that is temporally contiguous on one’s action – on motor performance. In two experiments, participants performed a rapid movement towards a target location on a computer monitor and clicked on the target with their mouse key as quickly and accurately as possible. Their click response triggered a perceptual effect (a brief white flash) on the target. We manipulated control-effectiveness feedback by employing varying levels of action-effect delay in two experimental contexts - long versus short lag distributions. Such design enabled us to investigate the impact of both the recent action-effect delay and its experimental context on motor performance. The findings demonstrate that control-effectiveness feedback (e.g., temporally contiguous perceptual effect) enhances motor performance as indicated by both endpoint precision and movement speed. In addition, a substantial effect of the experimental context was observed. Namely, we found enhanced motor performance, especially after an ambiguous (intermediate) action-effect delay when it was sampled from a short compared to long lag distribution; a pattern that supports the contribution of both ‘control’ expectations and control-feedback on motor performance. We discuss findings in the context of previous work on control-effectiveness and movement control and their potential implications for clinicians and digital interface developers.

Induction-thermal action effect on the surface area of titanium products

The changes in the surface area of titanium samples occurring during induction heat treatment (IHT) were studied. The dependence of the surface area of titanium samples on the exposure temperature was revealed. When a titanium sample was heated to a temperature of 1000 °C in the air at an exposure time of 60 s, there was a 45-fold area increase. The assessment of the porosity of the formed coating is carried out. The number of pores increased with increasing temperature from 374 to 1029 pieces. Accordingly, the average pore size decreased by 40%.

Theoretical Perspective on an Ideomotor Brain-Computer Interface: Toward a Naturalistic and Non-invasive Brain-Computer Interface Paradigm Based on Action-Effect Representation

Recent years have been marked by the fulgurant expansion of non-invasive Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) devices and applications in various contexts (medical, industrial etc.). This technology allows agents “to directly act with thoughts,” bypassing the peripheral motor system. Interestingly, it is worth noting that typical non-invasive BCI paradigms remain distant from neuroscientific models of human voluntary action. Notably, bidirectional links between action and perception are constantly ignored in BCI experiments. In the current perspective article, we proposed an innovative BCI paradigm that is directly inspired by the ideomotor principle, which postulates that voluntary actions are driven by the anticipated representation of forthcoming perceptual effects. We believe that (1) adapting BCI paradigms could allow simple action-effect bindings and consequently action-effect predictions and (2) using neural underpinnings of those action-effect predictions as features of interest in AI methods, could lead to more accurate and naturalistic BCI-mediated actions.

The Impact of Action Effects on Infants’ Predictive Gaze Shifts for a Non-Human Grasping Action at 7, 11, and 18 Months

During the observation of goal-directed actions, infants usually predict the goal at an earlier age when the agent is familiar (e.g., human hand) compared to unfamiliar (e.g., mechanical claw). These findings implicate a crucial role of the developing agentive self for infants’ processing of others’ action goals. Recent theoretical accounts suggest that predictive gaze behavior relies on an interplay between infants’ agentive experience (top-down processes) and perceptual information about the agent and the action-event (bottom-up information; e.g., agency cues). The present study examined 7-, 11-, and 18-month-old infants’ predictive gaze behavior for a grasping action performed by an unfamiliar tool, depending on infants’ age-related action knowledge about tool-use and the display of the agency cue of producing a salient action effect. The results are in line with the notion of a systematic interplay between experience-based top-down processes and cue-based bottom-up information: Regardless of the salient action effect, predictive gaze shifts did not occur in the 7-month-olds (least experienced age group), but did occur in the 18-month-olds (most experienced age group). In the 11-month-olds, however, predictive gaze shifts occurred only when a salient action effect was presented. This sheds new light on how the developing agentive self, in interplay with available agency cues, supports infants’ action-goal prediction also for observed tool-use actions.

Advertising and Marketing Strategies to Gain Top of Mind

Technological progress and competition between companies in the globalization era are increasing. New media plays an increasingly important role in advertising and marketing. In addition, companies’ survival depends on the presence of audiences/ consumers. Therefore, it is important and interesting to study how to utilize this new media/technology; how effective and efficient digital advertising and marketing strategies are in appealing to the audience; and how to ensure the products offered are acceptable to the target audience. This study carried out a literature review using a qualitative approach to obtain a framework of important concepts and strategies for effective marketing and advertising. It is important to pay attention to the objectives, audience and distribution / media of advertising and marketing. The use of various media such as social media, online advertising, digital signage and endorsers are also important factors in advertising and marketing success. Advertising and marketing strategies help to better understand consumers and how best to engage and empower them. Here technology has created a new environment, where power has shifted from advertisers to consumers. This research produced a variety of important strategies to attract audiences, obtain the AIDA (Attention Interest Desire Action) effect of the audience and finally reach the Top of Mind. Keywords: communication, advertising, marketing, endorser

Temporal binding as multisensory integration: Manipulating perceptual certainty of actions and their effects

It has been proposed that statistical integration of multisensory cues may be a suitable framework to explain temporal binding, that is, the finding that causally related events such as an action and its effect are perceived to be shifted towards each other in time. A multisensory approach to temporal binding construes actions and effects as individual sensory signals, which are each perceived with a specific temporal precision. When they are integrated into one multimodal event, like an action-effect chain, the extent to which they affect this event’s perception depends on their relative reliability. We test whether this assumption holds true in a temporal binding task by manipulating certainty of actions and effects. Two experiments suggest that a relatively uncertain sensory signal in such action-effect sequences is shifted more towards its counterpart than a relatively certain one. This was especially pronounced for temporal binding of the action towards its effect but could also be shown for effect binding. Other conceptual approaches to temporal binding cannot easily explain these results, and the study therefore adds to the growing body of evidence endorsing a multisensory approach to temporal binding.