Simulation of Concrete in Winter with Self-Limiting Heating Band

In order to investigate the temperature distribution and cracking risk of concrete in winter under the combined action of heating zone and air layer, the analytical calculation method of early age concrete temperature field of concrete component under the combined action of self-limiting temperature band, cement hydration and air layer was established by taking concrete prism with self-limiting temperature band as an example. The model is applied to calculate and analyze the temperature distribution of concrete under different boundary conditions and different additional thermal field modes. The results show that: Under the conditions of internal layout, surface layout and thermal insulation layer outside the formwork, all components reach the critical strength after heating and curing for three days, which indicates that the heating band can provide temperature conditions for concrete curing in winter. Comparing the temperature field of different layout positions of heating belt, the uniformity of temperature field of heating belt outside the formwork is better than the other two layout methods.

Prediction errors in surface segmentation are reflected in the visual mismatch negativity, independently of task and surface features

The visual system quickly registers perceptual regularities in the environment and responds to violations in these patterns. Errors of perceptual prediction are associated with electrocortical modulation, including the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) and P2 event-related potential. One relatively unexplored question is whether these prediction error signals can encode higher-level properties such as surface segmentation, or whether they are limited to lower-level perceptual features. Using a roving standard paradigm, a triangle surface appeared either behind (featuring amodal contours) or in front of (featuring real contours) a second surface with hole-like windows. A surface layout appeared for 2-5 repetitions before switching to the other "deviant" layout; lighting and orientation of stimuli varied across presentations while remaining isoluminant. Observers responded when they detected a rare "pinched" triangle which occasionally appeared. Cortical activity - reflected in mismatch responses affecting the P2-N2 and P300 amplitudes - was sensitive to a change in stimulus layout, when surfaces shifted position in depth, following several repetitions. Specifically, layout deviants led to a more negative P2-N2 complex at posterior electrodes, and greater P300 positivity at central sites. Independently of these signals of a deviant surface layout, further modulations of the P2 encoded differences between layouts and detection of the rare target stimulus. Comparison of the effect of preceding layout repetitions on this prediction error signal suggests that it is all-or-none and not graded with respect to the number of previous repetitions. We show that within the visual domain, unnoticed and task-irrelevant changes in visual surface segmentation leads to observable electrophysiological signals of prediction error that are dissociable from stimulus-specific encoding and lower-level perceptual processing.

Comparative cognition of number and space: the case of geometry and of the mental number line

Evidence is discussed about the use of geometric information for spatial orientation and the association between space and numbers in non-human animals. A variety of vertebrate species can reorient using simple Euclidian geometry of the environmental surface layout, i.e. in accord with metric and sense (right/left) relationships among extended surfaces. There seems to be a primacy of geometric over non-geometric information in spatial reorientation and, possibly, innate encoding of the sense of direction. The hippocampal formation plays a key role in geometry-based reorientation in mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. Although some invertebrate species show similar behaviours, it is unclear whether the underlying mechanisms are the same as in vertebrates. As to the links between space and number representations, a disposition to associate numerical magnitudes onto a left-to-right-oriented mental number line appears to exist independently of socio-cultural factors, and can be observed in animals with very little numerical experience, such as newborn chicks and human infants. Such evidence supports a nativistic foundation of number–space association. Some speculation about the possible underlying mechanisms is provided together with consideration on the difficulties inherent to any comparison among species of different taxonomic groups. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The origins of numerical abilities'.

Why Do Hills Look So Steep?

This chapter discusses the visual perception of hills. Hills look much steeper than they are. This chapter reviews current knowledge of the phenomenology of slant perception in relation to both functionalist and mechanistic accounts of this perceptual bias. Recent discoveries suggest that this misperception of the geometry of our environment may be related to useful biological information coding strategies with respect to not only slant but also other angular variables relevant to the biological measurement of surface layout. Even in the absence of hills, people misperceive the angular declination of their gaze systematically in ways that seem to contribute to the vertical expansion of the perceived environment.