Spatially distributed computation in cortical circuits

The traditional view of neural computation in the cerebral cortex holds that sensory neurons are specialized, i.e., selective for certain dimensions of sensory stimuli. This view was challenged by evidence of contextual interactions between stimulus dimensions in which a neuron's response to one dimension strongly depends on other dimensions. Here we use methods of mathematical modeling, psychophysics, and electrophysiology to address shortcomings of the traditional view. Using a model of a generic cortical circuit, we begin with the simple demonstration that cortical responses are always distributed among neurons, forming characteristic waveforms, which we call neural waves. When stimulated by patterned stimuli, circuit responses arise by interference of neural waves. Resulting patterns of interference depend on interaction between stimulus dimensions. Comparison of these modeled responses with responses of biological vision makes it clear that the framework of neural wave interference provides a useful alternative to the standard concept of neural computation.

A simple improvement of an off-grid solar photovoltaic panel using an integrated reflector

This work presents a simple demonstration of a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel integrated with mirror reflectors to increase electric energy generation. The reflector was integrated with a PV panel and its angle was adjusted to an incline to optimize sunlight collection. Current and voltage generated by PV panel was recorded by an Arduino data logger. The integrated-reflector PV panel at an appropriate incline angle of 70 degrees presented a 9.38% increased electric energy beyond that of a conventional PV panel. This result was because the reflector provided greater sunlight to the PV panel. Therefore, this method can be used to increase solar PV panel performance without the installation of additional panels.

“SANJHYA” THE GODDESS TRADITIONAL ART FORM OF INDIAN ART

If there is any priority for mankind with bread, cloth and house then it will be said to be an expression of his art, his feelings. This is the reason why pre-historic man has also painted on the walls of caves, which today help historians to understand that ancient civilization are the center of interest of tourists. "Sanjhya" is a very ancient and the goddess traditional art form of Indian. Perhaps it is a spiritual image to connect the divine to the earth. Apart from Madhya Pradesh, "Sanjhya" is spread in the terrain of Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana etc. Most of the women and youth are making Sanjhya in specific art form. The specialty of these folk art is that these are three-dimensional art on wall consider it to be a reflection of simplicity and culture of ordinary living being through his arts. These artworks show how colorful the imagination of a human can make even a simple straight life. Animals such as peacocks, lions, bears, deer, crocodiles, fish, rivers, mountains, fields, trees, moon are the subjects of their art work, which these community give a multi-colored look on a wall of length and width. These artwork made from unique images of human and divine also. Sanjhya is used on the entrance of the house and on the walls in the courtyard and portrays the family wedding, death or other religious occasions. These pictures are a simple demonstration of the nature and living conditions of these people.

Visibility matters during wayfinding in the vertical

Visibility is the degree to which different parts of the environment can be observed from a given vantage point. In the absence of previous familiarity or signage, the visibility of key elements in a multilevel environment (e.g., the entrance, exit, or the destination itself) becomes a primary input to make wayfinding decisions and avoid getting lost. Previous research has focused on memory-based wayfinding and mental representation of 3D space, but few studies have investigated the direct effects of visibility on wayfinding. Moreover, to our knowledge, there are no studies that have explicitly observed the interaction between visibility and wayfinding under uncertainty in a multilevel environment. To bridge this gap, we studied how the visibility of destinations, as well as the continuity of sight-lines along the vertical dimension, affects unaided and goal-directed wayfinding behavior in a multilevel desktop Virtual Reality (VR) study. We obtained results from a total of 69 participants. Each participant performed a total of 24 wayfinding trials in a multilevel environment. Results showcase a significant and nonlinear correlation between the visibility of destinations and wayfinding behavioral characteristics. Specifically, once the destination was in sight, regardless of whether it was highly or barely visible, participants made an instantaneous decision to switch floors and move up towards the destination. In contrast, if the destination was out-of-sight, participants performed ‘visual exploration’, indicated by an increase in vertical head movements and greater time taken to switch floors. To demonstrate the direct applicability of this fundamental wayfinding behavioral pattern, we formalize these results by modeling a visibility-based cognitive agent. Our results show that by modeling the transition between exploration and exploitation as a function of visibility, cognitive agents were able to replicate human wayfinding patterns observed in the desktop VR study. This simple demonstration shows the potential of extending our main findings concerning the nonlinear relationship between visibility and wayfinding to inform the modeling of human cognition.

LOKAKARYA PENGENALAN MAKANAN DAN JAJANAN YANG MENGANDUNG PEMANIS DAN PEWARNA BUATAN PADA SISWA SMP NEGERI 5 CIANJUR MELALUI DEMONSTRASI SEDERHANA

It is very important to introduce good food and snacks to students. This is useful for maintaining the health of students when consuming snacks in the school canteen. This service aims to increase students' knowledge and attitudes towards types of food that contain artificial sweeteners and dyes through simple demonstration methods. The service method is a pretest and posttest experimental research using test instruments and questionnaires. The population in this study were students at SMPN 5 Cianjur, West Java. The sample was selected randomly so that 37 students were selected. Data analysis using comparative descriptive. The results of this study were (1) a simple demonstration method could increase students' knowledge of the type of food based on n.gain dye 0.75 (high) and sweetener n-gain 0.69 (medium); (2) students' attitudes about food coloring and sweeteners are at a good level. (3) The relationship between the aspects of attitude and knowledge in this service includes the domain of disciplinary attitude towards sweeteners (0.92) and 0.442 dyes, the creative domain for sweeteners 0.789 and dyes 0.416, the domain of responsibility for sweetener aspects 0.279 and dyes 0.407. The introduction of food snacks through effective methods increases students' knowledge of sweeteners and food coloring that are healthy.

A Contract Theory Approach to Islamic Financial Securities with an Application to Diminishing Mushārakah

This paper demonstrates how the contract theory framework can and should complement standard financial mathematics for analysing Islamic financial securities (IFSs). It is motivated by the perception that most valuations of IFSs are rather simplistic and are as simple as risk and reward, leading to very simplistic investment strategies, especially by buyers. In fact, there are more dimensions to IFSs and IF in general which can only be properly analysed with more advanced approaches, such as contractual issues which are well-recognised and discussed in the fields of Islamic commercial law and contract theory but not always considered in valuation models. Contract theory can bring together financial mathematics and contractual issues, providing a more sophisticated framework for analysing IFSs. This paper aims to demonstrate this by providing a brief outline of the contract theory approach, followed by a simple demonstration of its use in the analysis of diminishing mushārakah (DM) contracts. The resulting model led to three main conclusions regarding DM contracts: That (i) finance seekers have no ready incentive to spend on asset maintenance, (ii) finance seekers will only spend on asset maintenance if their marginal benefit from the asset’s appreciation is greater than the financier’s share of the asset, and (iii) if the magnitude of asset appreciation and depreciation is equal, an increase in either will also increase the optimal level of spending on asset maintenance.

Advanced automated emergency control strategy for embedded VSC-HVDC links

This paper proposes an advanced emergency control strategy for embedded VSC-HVDC links after AC disturbances, such as line tripping and generation loss. The control goals are to minimize the impact of the disturbance on the AC-network, which includes improving the long-term voltage stability with utilizing possible unloading capacity of parallel AC elements. The proposed algorithm is evaluated against other control strategies for embedded VSC-HVDC links by applying it to a simple demonstration network. The test system includes all necessary VSC converter dynamics, the VSC-HVDC link current and voltage limits and simple load recovery characteristics for an evaluation of the long term voltage stability. The simulation results are explained and the advantages of the proposed emergency control strategy are discussed.