Contour Figures Research Articles

Short-Incision Midface-Lift in Lower Blepharoplasty.

Inthis retrospectivereviewof80cosmetic, short-incisionmidfacelift (SIML)proceduresperformedby2 surgeonsat 2 institutions, lay observers, masked to the type of intervention and not with acquainted with either surgeon, graded standardized and side-byside preoperative and postoperative photographs using a grading systemtoevaluatemalposition, distortion, asymmetry, contour, and scar (MDACS system) (Figure).1 The studywas approved by the institutional review boards at both institutions. All patients provided written informed consent.

Eating behaviors, body image, perfectionism, and self-esteem in a sample of Portuguese girls.

Objective:Eating disorders are an increasingly prevalent health problem among adolescent girls. It is well known that biological, psychosocial, and family-related factors interact in the development of this group of disorders. However, the mechanisms underlying the interaction between these variables are still poorly understood, especially in Portuguese adolescents. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between eating behaviors, body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, and perfectionism in a sample of Portuguese girls.Method:A community sample of 575 Portuguese girls attending secondary school, answered self-report questionnaires including data on weight, height, and the Portuguese versions of the Contour Figures Rating Scale, the Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, the Children Eating Attitudes Test, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. SPSS version 20.0 for Windows was used for statistical analyses.Results:High scores in the Children Eating Attitudes Test were associated with significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction (r = 0.339), socially prescribed perfectionism (r = 0.175), self-oriented perfectionism (r = 0.211), and low self-esteem (r = -0.292) (all p < 0.001). Self-oriented perfectionism partially mediated the relation between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors.Conclusion:In this sample, dysfunctional eating behaviors appeared to correlate strongly with body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, and perfectionism in girls. These themes should be addressed among female adolescents in the community.

Do high-risk infants preferentially look at Illusory contour figure?

Do high-risk infants preferentially look at Illusory contour figure?

How to interpret a discovery or null result of the $$0\nu 2\beta $$ 0 ν 2 β decay

The Majorana nature of massive neutrinos will be crucially probed in the next-generation experiments of the neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu 2\beta$) decay. The effective mass term of this process, $\langle m\rangle^{}_{ee}$, may be contaminated by new physics. So how to interpret a discovery or null result of the $0\nu 2\beta$ decay in the foreseeable future is highly nontrivial. In this paper we introduce a novel three-dimensional description of $|\langle m\rangle_{ee}^{}|$, which allows us to see its sensitivity to the lightest neutrino mass and two Majorana phases in a transparent way. We take a look at to what extent the free parameters of $|\langle m\rangle_{ee}^{}|$ can be well constrained provided a signal of the $0\nu 2\beta$ decay is observed someday. To fully explore lepton number violation, all the six effective Majorana mass terms $\langle m\rangle_{\alpha\beta}^{}$ (for $\alpha, \beta = e, \mu, \tau$) are calculated and their lower bounds are illustrated with the two-dimensional contour figures. The effect of possible new physics on the $0\nu 2\beta$ decay is also discussed in a model-independent way. We find that the result of $|\langle m\rangle_{ee}^{}|$ in the normal (or inverted) neutrino mass ordering case modified by the new physics effect may somewhat mimic that in the inverted (or normal) mass ordering case in the standard three-flavor scheme. Hence a proper interpretation of a discovery or null result of the $0\nu 2\beta$ decay may demand extra information from some other measurements.

Pop-out of Illusory contour figure in children with autism spectrum disorder

Pop-out of Illusory contour figure in children with autism spectrum disorder

Enumeration of Illusory Contour Figures

Every day we encounter objects that are partially obscured by shadows or other objects. We can study how our visual system processes these items by creating objects which do not have a real contour (i.e., a solid line) completely surrounding them. This project used enumeration (determining the number of objects present) to study the way that illusory contour figures are processed. The processing of illusory contour objects has previously been studied using a visual search task (Li, Cave & Wolfe, 2008). Li, et al. (2008) found that line-end illusory contour figures (figures that are induced through the particular way lines end around the "object") pop out in visual search. Because objects that pop out in search are usually subitized (fast, accurate and effortless enumeration of a small quantity of objects), it was hypothesized that line-end illusory contour figures would be subitized both when they were presented only as targets (simple enumeration task) and when they were presented with distractors (selective enumeration task). The simple enumeration task required participants to enumerate 1-9 vertical line-end illusory contour rectangles or real contour rectangles presented in conjunction with the line-end inducers. The selective enumeration task was the same expect for the addition of 4 or 8 horizontal distractors of the same figure type. The results of these two enumeration tasks revealed that line-end illusory contour figures can be subitized when they are presented alone, but not when they are presented with distractors. These results may be due to differences in task demands which can be explained by Pylyshyn’s (1988) FINST theory. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013

Infants’ perception of curved illusory contour with motion

Recently, Masuda et al. (submitted for publication) showed that adults perceive moving rigid or nonrigid motion from illusory contour with neon color spreading in which the inducer has pendular motion with or without phase difference. In Experiment 1, we used the preferential looking method to investigate whether 3–8-month-old infants can discriminate illusory and non-illusory contour figures, and found that the 7–8-month-old, but not the 3–6-month-old, infants showed significant preference for illusory contour with phase difference. In Experiment 2, we tested the validity of the visual stimuli in the present study, and whether infants could detect illusory contour from the current neon color spreading figures. The results showed that all infants might detect illusory contour figure with neon color spreading figures. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that 7–8-month-old infants potentially perceive illusory contour from the visual stimulus with phase-different movement of inducers, which elicits the perception of nonrigid dynamic subjective contour in adults.

Evaluation of Coal Floor Water Inrush Risk with Five-Figure and Double-Coefficient Method

The coal seam floor water inrush risk assessment is the basis and foundation of inrush water disaster prevention[1-, this paper uses five figure double coefficient method evaluating NO.16 coalseam floor water inrush risk of Xin'an Coal Mine. Contour figure of the destroyed floor protection layer depth, the floor protection layer thickness, the head above seam floor, the effective protection layer thickness, and evaluation figure of mining above aquifer which can guide coal production were drawn to given the security zone within mining area and ensure safe mining.

Discussion of the relationship between dustfall grain size and the desert border, taking the southern border of the Tengger Desert and the southern dust deposit area as an example

In northern China, high spatial and temporal instability exists in the southern desert border. Since the region is very sensitive to the changes of global climate and the migration of the southern desert border threatens the survival of surrounding inhabitants, it is very important to strengthen the research about the migration of the southern desert border of northern China. The dust in the downwind of the desert contains relevant information of the desert evolutionary history. In order to investigate the relationship between dustfall grain size and the southern border of northern China desert, we collected 56 eolian surface soil samples from the south of the Tengger Desert, selected two near north–south transects from these samples and used the grain size class-standard deviation method. We finally obtained three sensitive grain size components (ranking by degree of sensitivity from high to low): 61.8–185.4μm, 18.2–61.8μm and 2.3–18.2μm. The values of the three sensitive grain size components from the 56 eolian surface soil samples and the three commonly used grain-size indicators, which are the median grain size, >20μm and >63μm particle content, have been converted to the grain-size contour figures. In the six grain-size contour figures, the contour of the 61.8–185.4μm particle content component has the highest degree of similarity with the southern border of the Tengger Desert, followed by the >63μm particle content component, and then the components of the median grain size, 18.2–61.8μm particle content, >20μm and 2.3–18.2μm particle content in turn. Relative to the >20μm and >63μm particle content indicators, the indicator of 61.8–185.4μm particle content is not only the most sensitive one in theory, but also has the highest degree of similarity between its contour and the southern desert border in practical terms. Moreover, this indicator is further defined as the upper limit of coarse grain size. Since the coarse grains in the eolian deposits are mainly from the near-source desert, the component of 61.8–185.4μm particle content within the loess to the south of the Tengger Desert could be regarded as the indicator of the migration of the southern desert border, which could be used to quantitatively reconstruct the desert palaeo-border in the future.

Investigation of vortical flow over bluff bodies with base cavities

Based on our previous research about drag reduction in term of the base cavity length using two dimensional simulations, this paper describes a numerical study of a bluff body of which the number of base cavities is successively increased and the cavity geometries are also modified to assume different shapes. Here we attempt to find an effective configuration to reduce the drag by increasing the number of base cavities. The numerical simulations examining varied number of base cavities reveal the presence of different strength of vortices in the wake zone which is the reason why the drag coefficients are distinctly different for different cases. In the case with double and triple rectangular cavities, we use the pressure contours snapshots at successive time instants to describe the wake evolution. We further investigate the effect of variable base cavity shapes for a constant cavity length at an identical time instant. A total of two different geometries of base cavities are discussed here: the rectangular and the sinusoidal cavities with sharp and rounded trailing edges, respectively. The numerical results reveal that the former is an effective drag reduction configuration which can produce a significant base pressure recovery corresponding to the strength of the vortices shown in the pressure contour figures. While the latter shows no obvious reduction in drag coefficient and a similar intensity of vortex in the wake zone compared with the unmodified case. Reductions in drag are observed for all the investigated cavity configurations, and additionally it is found that the magnitude of the reduction bears a direct relationship with the number of the cavities up to a certain minimum value.

Visual Search for Illusory Contour Figures in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Visual Search for Illusory Contour Figures in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Illusory contour figures are perceived as occluding contours by 4-month-old infants.

Although 4-month-olds perceive continuity of an object's trajectory through occlusion, little is known about the information specifying an occluding surface at this age. We investigated this in 3 experiments involving 84 participants. Testing the claim that 5-month-olds are unable to perceive the Kanizsa figure as an occluding surface (Csibra, 2001), we demonstrated that 4-month-olds perceived trajectory continuity behind this figure providing its horizontal extent was small. We demonstrated that the presence of visible occluding edges or occlusion of background was insufficient to specify an occluding surface but that their combination was sufficient. Thus, beyond object deletion and accretion, both visible occluding edges and occlusion of background are necessary for perception of occluding surfaces at this age.

Research on the Effect of Heat Treatment Parameters of Rotary Tiller Blade on Anti-Wear Properties

65Mn spring steel is mainly used for rotary blade which is a vulnerable part of farming machinery. The experiment of the wear-resistance property for 65Mn spring steel under different heat treatments is conducted. The results are discussed based on the regression orthogonal design. The wear-resistance property of 65Mn steel has been discussed by applying diverse heat treatment technology and the optimum parameters of heat treatment for the best anti-wear property are obtained through experiments. The influence of the parameters on anti-wear property is studied by applying the regression orthogonal design. The relation between the wear mass loss and diverse heat treatment parameters has been given by using planar and contour figure. The optimum heat treatment parameter for maximum anti-wear ability is obtained as following: 852.64 for quenching temperature, 18.36min for quenching time, and 145.44 for tempering temperature, respectively.

Dichoptic positive color aftereffect induced by contour figure: A new color aftereffect

Dichoptic positive color aftereffect induced by contour figure: A new color aftereffect

Functional differences of low- and high-frequency oscillatory dynamics during illusory border perception

Neuronal oscillations are an essential part of several brain processes like perception, memory and attention, but little is known about the simultaneous dynamics of different frequency bands in such processes. Here, we studied the low- and high-frequency dynamics of neuronal oscillations in a task that involves covert searching and visual perception of an illusory contour figure (Kanisza square). Subjects were cued to a particular region of the space, and then a matrix of illusory contour inductors appeared. Illusory contour could appear at the cued position, in a different position or not appear at all. We analyze the condition in which an illusory contour appears and those in which the illusory borders do not appear. During the visual perception of the illusory contour, we found a significant increase in a narrow and sustained gamma frequency band (55–65 Hz). We also found a transient increase in the theta band (4–10 Hz), 0.3 s after stimuli onset. This low-frequency power increase correlates strongly with the detection of the illusory contour and it is inversely correlated with the gamma-band response. When illusory contours were absent, a sustained low-frequency response in the same frequency range was present until appearance of the motor response. The intensity of this low-frequency power response was also related to the speed of the motor response. We hypothesize that theta and gamma interact to process different aspects of the task. Gamma would be related to perception of the stimuli, while theta would be involved in search mechanisms or the initiation of a motor response.

CONFIGR: A vision-based model for long-range figure completion

CONFIGR (CONtour FIgure GRound) is a computational model based on principles of biological vision that completes sparse and noisy image figures. Within an integrated vision/recognition system, CONFIGR posits an initial recognition stage which identifies figure pixels from spatially local input information. The resulting, and typically incomplete, figure is fed back to the "early vision" stage for long-range completion via filling-in. The reconstructed image is then re-presented to the recognition system for global functions such as object recognition. In the CONFIGR algorithm, the smallest independent image unit is the visible pixel, whose size defines a computational spatial scale. Once the pixel size is fixed, the entire algorithm is fully determined, with no additional parameter choices. Multi-scale simulations illustrate the vision/recognition system. Open-source CONFIGR code is available online, but all examples can be derived analytically, and the design principles applied at each step are transparent. The model balances filling-in as figure against complementary filling-in as ground, which blocks spurious figure completions. Lobe computations occur on a subpixel spatial scale. Originally designed to fill-in missing contours in an incomplete image such as a dashed line, the same CONFIGR system connects and segments sparse dots, and unifies occluded objects from pieces locally identified as figure in the initial recognition stage. The model self-scales its completion distances, filling-in across gaps of any length, where unimpeded, while limiting connections among dense image-figure pixel groups that already have intrinsic form. Long-range image completion promises to play an important role in adaptive processors that reconstruct images from highly compressed video and still camera images.

Inverted event-related potentials response to illusory contour in boys with autism

We examined the hypothesis of lower-level processing abnormalities related to perceptual grouping in boys with autism aged 3-6 years. We investigated event-related potentials response to visual elements that either formed perceptually coherent illusory contour or were arranged in a noncoherent way. The results showed that in healthy boys the illusory contour as compared with control stimulus elicited enhanced negativity of N1 peak (C effect), which has been previously found in adults. Autistic boys demonstrated the reliable inverted illusory contour effect, that is, more positive N1 amplitude to illusory contour. We hypothesized that boys with autism were sensitive to difference between illusory contour and control figures basing on collinearity processing mechanisms implemented in neural circuitry of primary visual cortex.

Phenomenology and psychophysics

Recent philosophy of mind has tended to treat “inner” states, including both qualia and intentional states, as “theoretical posits” of either folk or scientific psychology. This article argues that phenomenology in fact plays a very different role in the most mature part of psychology, psychophysics. Methodologically, phenomenology plays a crucial role in obtaining psychophysical results. And more importantly, many psychophysical data are best interpreted as reporting relations between stimuli and phenomenological states, both qualitative and intentional. Three examples are used to argue for this thesis: the Weber–Fechner laws, the Craik-O’Brien–Cornsweet effect, and subjective contour figures. The phenomenological properties that play a role here do so in the role of data that ultimately constrain theoretical work (in this case theory of vision), and not as theoretical posits.

A Scale-space Analysis of Contour Figures Using an Anisotropic Crystalline Flow

A method for a scale-space analysis of a contour figure based on a crystalline flow is proposed. A crystalline flow is a special family of an evolving polygons, and is a discrete version of a curvature flow. Based on a crystalline flow of a given contour, the proposed method makes a scale-space representation and extracts several sets of dominant facets from the given contour. By changing the shape of the Wulff shape that plays a role of a unit circle for computing the nonlocal curvature of each facet, the method analyzes the contour shape anisotropically.

明るさ充填の個人差における大域処理・局所処理の優位性の効果

This study investigated the individual differences of lightness filling-in on illusory contour figures with regard to the attention to figures; namely, to which information of hierarchical figures, the global information or the local information, subjects tended to allocate their attention. Subjects participated in a preliminary experiment to divide into a global group and a local group. The global group consisted of ten subjects who had a tendency to allocate their attention to the global configuration of hierarchical figures and the local group consisted of ten subjects who had a tendency to allocate their attention to the form of local elements of hierarchical figures. Both groups observed the Kanizsa squares and judged the lightness of the test field. The results showed that the local group significantly filled in greater lightness in the test field than the global group did. It is suggested that how subjects allocate attention to figures is one factor in individual differences of lightness filling-in and that lightness filling-in depends on top-down processing.