Attention, spatial representation, and visual neglect: Simulating emergent attention and spatial memory in the selective attention for identification model (SAIM).

The selective attention for identification model (SAIM) is presented. This uses a spatial window to select visual information for recognition, binding parts to objects and generating translation-invariant recognition. The model provides a qualitative account of both normal and disordered attention. Simulations of normal attention demonstrate 2-object costs and effects of object familiarity on selection, global precedence, spatial cueing, and inhibition of return. When lesioned, SAIM demonstrated either view- or object-centered neglect or spatial extinction, depending on the type and extent of lesion. The model provides a framework to unify (a) object- and space-based theories of normal selection, (b) dissociations within the syndrome of unilateral neglect, and (c) attentional and representational accounts of neglect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of recrystallization in single-phase aluminium using in-situ annealing in the scanning electron microscope

In‐situ annealing experiments were performed in the scanning electron microscope on a single‐phase Al?0.13Mg alloy cold rolled to different strain levels. Once the validity of the technique had been verified by comparison of the recrystallization kinetics and final grain size with bulk annealed samples, the method was used in combination with electron back‐scattered diffraction (EBSD) to study the potential mechanisms for recrystallization in this alloy. During annealing of material rolled to moderate strains (?_t < 0.7), the primary mechanism was strain‐induced boundary migration (SIBM). In material rolled to higher true strains (?_t > 1.4), recrystallization occurred extensively along pre‐existing cube bands and EBSD measurements showed that the mean size of cells within the cube bands was larger than for all other orientations measured, suggesting a size advantage was responsible for the strengthening of cube texture during recrystallization. SIBM was shown to occur concurrently with the nucleation along cube bands but this contributed a lower proportion of nucleation sites during recrystallization.     

Real-time mirror steering for improved closed loop neoclassical tearing mode suppression by electron cyclotron current drive in DIII-D

The development and operation of the neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) avoidance and control system for DIII-D, which uses six sets of real-time steerable mirrors in order to move the electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) deposition location in plasma, is described. The real-time DIII-D NTM control algorithm residing in the Plasma Control System (PCS) automatically detects an NTM by analysis of the Mirnov diagnostics, employs motional Stark effect (MSE) EFIT MHD equilibrium reconstruction to locate the rational q-surface where the NTM island can be found, then calculates the appropriate mirror position for alignment of the ECCD with the island using ray tracing. The control commands from PCS are sent to the electron cyclotron system to switch on and off or modulate the gyrotrons and to the steerable mirror system to move the steerable mirrors to the requested positions. Successful NTM suppression has been achieved in DIII-D using this control system to rapidly align the NTM island and the ECCD deposition location, and to actively maintain the alignment as plasma conditions change.     

Who's Watching Whom? A Study of Interactive Technology and Surveillance

Information technology and new media allow for collecting and sharing personal information at unprecedented levels. This study explores issues of privacy and surveillance with new interactive technologies. Based on a year‐long field study, this project examines how people think about privacy and surveillance when using mobile social networks. Using the case of Dodgeball, the study found that most informants were not concerned about privacy when using the mobile social network because they felt they were in control of their personal information. There was, however, evidence of 3 kinds of surveillance present in everyday usage of Dodgeball: voluntary panopticon, lateral surveillance, and self‐surveillance. This study sheds light on the everyday conceptions, meanings, and activities associated with surveillance, privacy, and interactive technologies.     

Outdoor temperatures and comfort indoors

Using available data of outdoor temperatures in a given locality, it is possible, the author suggests, to forecast the range of temperatures that occupants will require indoors in order to feel comfortable—and this could have important implications for building design and economy. The author is Head of the Human Factors Section at the UK Bulding Research Establishment.     

Signing the E-word

Security is key to E-commerce (or E-business). Customers of E-commerce need the confidence that their online transactions are secure and that, if something goes wrong, they have some sort of redress for loss or damage. This growing need for assurance demands not only a set of security tools but also a legal framework in which to apply these tools. This includes the need to use cryptographic techniques and, in particular, ‘electronic signatures’ and related services allowing data authentication and certification. Electronic signatures enable someone receiving data over the Internet for example, to determine the origin of the data and to check that the data has not been altered.     

Parallel and competitive processes in hierarchical analysis: Perceptual grouping and encoding of closure.

The role of perceptual grouping and the encoding of closure of local elements in the processing of hierarchical patterns was studied. Experiments 1 and 2 showed a global advantage over the local level for 2 tasks involving the discrimination of orientation and closure, but there was a local advantage for the closure discrimination task relative to the orientation discrimination task. Experiment 3 showed a local precedence effect for the closure discrimination task when local element grouping was weakened by embedding the stimuli from Experiment 1 in a background made up of cross patterns. Experiments 4A and 4B found that dissimilarity of closure between the local elements of hierarchical stimuli and the background figures could facilitate the grouping of closed local elements and enhanced the perception of global structure. Experiment 5 showed that the advantage for detecting the closure of local elements in hierarchical analysis also held under divided- and selective-attention conditions. Results are consistent with the idea that grouping between local elements takes place in parallel and competes with the computation of closure of local elements in determining the selection between global and local levels of hierarchical patterns for response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional and motivational changes after bilateral lesions of the globus pallidus.

This study investigated motivational changes in a 44 year-old man (PJ) who developed considerable reduction in spontaneous activity and speech, flat affect, social withdrawal, loss of interest, inability to "feel," and lack of concern regarding his medical condition after bilateral, focal, anoxic lesions of the globus pallidus. PJ and 30 male controls performed a task designed to parse hedonic evaluation, or liking, from incentive motivation, or wanting. Affective stimuli were presented on a computer screen and subjects controlled viewing time by pressing keys. PJ's liking and wanting of unpleasant stimuli was similar to that of controls. In response to pleasant stimuli, PJ showed normal ratings of wanting and hedonic appreciation, but significantly reduced viewing time or made no responses. Active withdrawal from liked stimuli could constitute the basic mechanism underlying poor motivation and social withdrawal associated with globus pallidus damage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The combined effects of plane disorientation and foreshortening on picture naming: One manipulation or two?

Objects disoriented in plane away from the upright and objects rotated in depth producing foreshortening are harder to identify than canonical views. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants named pictures of familiar objects. There was no interaction between plane and depth rotation effects on initial presentation or after practice. Experiment 3 was a dual-task psychological refractory period study. Participants classified a high-low tone with a speeded keypress and then named a canonical, plane-rotated, or foreshortened view of an object. Naming was slower when the picture was presented 50 ms after the tone compared with 800 ms after the tone. Plane rotation effects were reduced (but not eliminated) at the short tone-picture stimulus onset asynchrony, but foreshortening effects were not reduced. The results implicate an early, prebottleneck locus for some processes compensating for plane rotation and a subsequent bottleneck or postbottleneck locus for compensation for foreshortening. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)