Invisible Objects Research Articles

L. J. SACKVILLE. Heresy and Heretics in the Thirteenth Century: The Textual Representations.

In this first volume of York's welcome new series on heresy and inquisition, L. J. Sackville presents a well-researched analysis of the complex and sometimes contradictory ways that multiple layers of meaning adhered to “heresy” and “heretic” in various thirteenth-century textual genres. She argues primarily and explicitly against the existence of any single dominant portrayal of heresy in this period, and secondarily and implicitly against historiographic trends that focus so resolutely on textual constructions of heresy as to deny any meaningful links between texts and a reality behind them. The book first presents four chapters organized around overlapping genres of text: polemic, edification, canon-legal, and inquisition. As Sackville methodically moves through her evidence, her picture of complex layering emerges. Sometimes this is a question of shifts over time, but often the point is that different textual imperatives led different genres to produce different pictures of heretics and heresy. For instance, heresy could be treated within anti-heretical polemics and schematic summae auctoritatum (lists of biblical references useful for refuting heresy) as an inherently learned, text-based phenomenon, where imagined heretics argue points of doctrine in scholastic fashion. Yet in exempla collections and early Dominican sources, where the false appearance of heretics teaches lessons and reinforces Dominican identity, the details of doctrine are not so important as the devious nature of contemporary heretics; and some later inquisitors' manuals actually perpetuated earlier stereotypes of heretics as simply unlearned and ignorant. Thus, on several levels, doctrinal detail could be either central or irrelevant to textual constructions of heresy. Similarly, as is well known, the Fourth Lateran Council offered a newly detailed definition of orthodoxy and then decreed that anything contradicting this definition was heresy. Thus dissent is here, as in the polemics, a matter of doctrine. Yet in succeeding decades key regional councils and legal consultations moved away from a stress on ideas and instead emphasized behaviors, especially of those who helped, sheltered, believed in, or harbored heretics. In these texts it is relationships between people that matter. This move in turn built on a strand in canon law that focused on one specific kind of behavior, contumacy in the face of church judgment. In texts produced more directly by inquisitions, the nature of questioning and sentences tended to create an image of heretics as elusive, mobile, and hidden away; the nearly invisible object around which circled the real objects of inquisitors' questions: those who saw, or adored, or ate with “them.”

The Certainties of History and the Uncertainties of Representation in Post-Holocaust Writing

The Certainties of History and the Uncertainties of Representation in Post-Holocaust Writing

Object-based attention guided by an invisible object

Evidence for object-based attention typically comes from studies using displays with visible objects, and little is known about whether object-based attention can occur with invisible objects. We investigated this issue with a modified double-rectangle cuing paradigm, which was originally developed by Egly et al. (J Exp Psychol Gen 123:161-177, 1994). In this study, low-contrast rectangles were presented very briefly, which rendered them invisible to subjects. With the invisible rectangles, we found a classical object-based attentional effect as indexed by the same-object effect. We also found the instantaneous object effect-object-based attention was dependent on the orientation of the rectangles presented with the target, providing evidence for the dynamic updating hypothesis (Ho and Yeh in Acta Psychol 132:31-39, 2009). These results suggest that object-based attention can be guided by an invisible object in an automatic way, with a minimal influence from high-level top-down control.

Equally invisible but neurally unequal: Cortical responses to invisible objects differ as a function of presentation method

Equally invisible but neurally unequal: Cortical responses to invisible objects differ as a function of presentation method

Charting the invisible in phase space (Abstract only)

One challenge in particle physics is that not all the momenta relevant to many processes are observable. Some particles are nearly invisible (neutrinos and hypothetical neutralinos), others escape undetected down the beam pipes of colliders. One faces the task of extracting the maximum information (e.g. on the mass of the unobserved particles) from a set of more unknowns than constraining energy–momentum conservation equations. We study the simplest realistic case of current interest: single-W production at a hadron collider, followed by its leptonic decay. We derive and discuss the statistically-optimal ‘singularity variable’ relevant to the measurement of the W mass. In spite of its simplicity, this process is fairly non-trivial and constitutes a good ‘training’ example for the scrutiny of phenomena involving invisible objects. Our graphical analysis of the phase space is akin to that of a Dalitz plot, extended to such processes.

Some Examples to Show that Objects be Presented by Mathematical Equations

We have often heard remarks such as “We can plot graphs from the mathematical equations”, including equations of lines, equations of curves, and equations of invisible and visible objects. Actually, we can present each object by mathematical equation and we can plot graphs from equations. Equations not only show visible objects but also can show invisible objects such as wave equations in differential equations. In fact, the change of equations is also to conduce the change of objects and phenomena. This paper presents mathematical equations, methods to plot the graphs in 2D and 3D space. The paper is also a small proof of this conclusion have been provided and addressing visualization problem for any object. The novelty of this paper presents some special equations of objects and shows the ideas to build objects from equations.

Brain activation during spatial updating and attentive tracking of moving targets

Keeping aware of the locations of objects while one is moving requires the updating of spatial representations. As long as the objects are visible, attentional tracking is sufficient, but knowing where objects out of view went in relation to one’s own body involves an updating of spatial working memory. Here, multiple object tracking was employed to study spatial updating and its neural correlates. In a dynamic 3D-scene, targets moved among visually indistinguishable distractors. The targets and distractors either stayed visible during continuous viewpoint changes or they turned invisible. The parametric variation of tracking load revealed load-dependent activations of the intraparietal sulcus, the superior parietal lobule, and the lateral occipital cortex in response to the attentive tracking task. Viewpoint changes with invisible objects that demanded retention and updating produced load-dependent activation only in the precuneus in line with its presumed involvement in updating spatial working memory.

Nonretinotopic Exogenous Attention

Attention is crucial for visual perception because it allows the visual system to effectively use its limited resources by selecting behaviorally and cognitively relevant stimuli from the large amount of information impinging on the eyes. Reflexive, stimulus-driven attention is essential for successful interactions with the environment because it can, for example, speed up responses to life-threatening events. It is commonly believed that exogenous attention operates in the retinotopic coordinates of the early visual system. Here, using a novel experimental paradigm [1], we show that a nonretinotopic cue improves both accuracy and reaction times in a visual search task. Furthermore, the influence of the cue is limited both in space and time, a characteristic typical of exogenous cueing. These and other recent findings show that many more aspects of vision are processed nonretinotopically than previously thought.

The neural encoding of guesses in the human brain

Human perception depends heavily on the quality of sensory information. When objects are hard to see we often believe ourselves to be purely guessing. Here we investigated whether such guesses use brain networks involved in perceptual decision making or independent networks. We used a combination of fMRI and pattern classification to test how visibility affects the signals, which determine choices. We found that decisions regarding clearly visible objects are predicted by signals in sensory brain regions, whereas different regions in parietal cortex became predictive when subjects were shown invisible objects and believed themselves to be purely guessing. This parietal network was highly overlapping with regions, which have previously been shown to encode free decisions. Thus, the brain might use a dedicated network for determining choices when insufficient sensory information is available.

Measuring the W-Boson mass at a hadron collider: a study of phase-space singularity methods

The traditional method to measure the W-Boson mass at a hadron collider (more precisely, its ratio to the Z-mass) utilizes the distributions of three variables in events where the W decays into an electron or a muon: the charged-lepton transverse momentum, the missing transverse energy and the transverse mass of the lepton pair. We study the putative advantages of the additional measurement of a fourth variable: an improved phase-space singularity mass. This variable is statistically optimal, and simultaneously exploits the longitudinal- and transverse-momentum distributions of the charged lepton. Though the process we discuss is one of the simplest realistic ones involving just one unobservable particle, it is fairly non-trivial and constitutes a good "training" example for the scrutiny of phenomena involving invisible objects. Our graphical analysis of the phase space is akin to that of a Dalitz plot, extended to such processes.

Deflecting the light and deceiving the gods

Tales of invisible people and magical invisibility-bestowing objects have thrilled us for millennia.

VAIKINŲ POREIKIS IEŠKOTI GAMTAMOKSLINĖS VIZUALIZACIJOS INTERNETE

The term visualization is defined as representation of images but this is only a brief explanation because the term encompasses all kinds of represented information in various forms of codes. Priority in information codes has shifted from verbal codes to visual codes. A computer screen has enabled an individual to see invisible and difficult objects and made cognitive and social processes easier. Visualization tools have the strongest position among other teaching/learning tools because of such features as complex 3D, spatial relationships, parameters of moving objects and comprehensible representation of images. Visualization takes into account schoolchildren’s perceptive and cognitive abilities including visual thinking and meta-cognition. The previous authors’ researches results enclosed that there were statisti-cally significant differences between two main categories that showed that boys more than girls used searches for visualization in the internet. According to this, there is a question – what has influenced this difference? The aim is to find out boys’ opinion why they are searching for visualization more than girls. The results enclose that the boys more frequently search for visualizations in the inter-net than girls. There were found out two main reasons that explained stated data. Search for visualization was used for learning purposes and for meeting their requirements. In firstly, boys want to have a deeper knowledge, also, they identify that visualization stimulates their cognitive processes and motivation too. Secondly, boys are noisy than girls during the lessons, they do not concentrate them selves to themes and mostly, often do not listen to the teacher. According to this, at home they feel lack of knowledge and want to compensate this by searching for visual information. Also, boys feel pleasure when they are searching in the inter-net. Key words: science education, visualization, need.

Detection of a large massive circumstellar disk around a high-mass young stellar object in the Carina Nebula

(abbreviated) We investigate the spatial structure and spectral energy distribution of an edge-on circumstellar disk around an optically invisible young stellar object that is embedded in a dark cloud in the Carina Nebula. Whereas the object was detected as an apparently point-like source in earlier infrared observations, only the superb image quality (FWHM ~0.5") of our VLT / HAWK-I data could reveal, for the first time, its peculiar morphology. It consists of a very red point-like central source that is surrounded by a roughly spherical nebula, which is intersected by a remarkable dark lane through the center. We construct the spectral energy distribution of the object from 1 to 870 microns and perform a detailed radiative transfer modeling of the spectral energy distribution and the source morphology. The observed object morphology in the near-IR images clearly suggests a young stellar object that is embedded in an extended, roughly spherical envelope and surrounded by a large circumstellar disk with a diameter of ~5500 AU that is seen nearly edge-on. The radiative transfer modeling shows that the central object is a massive (10-15 Msun) young stellar object. The circumstellar disk has a mass of about 2 Msun. The disk object in Carina is one of the most massive young stellar objects for which a circumstellar disk has been detected so far, and the size and mass of the disk are very large compared to the corresponding values found for most other similar objects.

Object-Based Attention Guided by An Invisible Object

Many studies have demonstrated that attention can be object based. One line of evidence supporting object-based attention showed that observers respond to a target faster when the target and cue are in the same object than when they are in different objects, which is called the same-object advantage. By adopting the double-rectangle cuing paradigm (Egly, Driver, & Rafal, 1994), we tested whether this advantage can occur with invisible rectangles. The original paradigm was slightly modified. Rectangles had a low luminance level against a dark background and were presented for only 10 ms, along with a cue or a target. These two characteristics rendered the rectangles invisible to subjects, as confirmed by a forced-choice test. We found a conventional object-based attention effect even when the rectangles were invisible. We also found that the object-based attention was dependent on the orientation of the rectangles presented along with the target, consistent with the finding by Ho and Yeh (2009). These results suggest that object based attention can be guided by an invisible object in an automatic way, with a minimal influence from the high level top-down control.

2P2-H02 希土類含有セラミックスナノ粒子と近赤外光を用いた乳がん細胞の三次元バイオイメージング(手術支援ロボティクス・メカトロニクス)

This paper presents a concept of a novel breast cancer cell detection system based on fluorescence bioimaging (FBI) which consists of rare-earth-doped ceramic nanophosphors (RED-CNP) and near-infrared (NIR). The use of NIR light in the wavelength region between 800 and 2000 nm for biomedical photonics attracts great interests since the region is so-called "biological windows", where biological tissues have minimal absorbance and also auto-fluorescence can be avoided. 3D measurement of breast cancer cell can be achieved by integrate NIR bioimaging which uses NIR emission under NIR excitation and laser light section method. In this paper, the 3D measurement experiments of an invisible object covered by chicken skin and meat are conducted. The experimental results suggest that the proposed method is useful for the 3D measurement breast cancer cell detection method.

Visual information gleaned by observing grasping movement in allocentric and egocentric perspectives.

One of the major functions of vision is to allow for an efficient and active interaction with the environment. In this study, we investigate the capacity of human observers to extract visual information from observation of their own actions, and those of others, from different viewpoints. Subjects discriminated the size of objects by observing a point-light movie of a hand reaching for an invisible object. We recorded real reach-and-grasp actions in three-dimensional space towards objects of different shape and size, to produce two-dimensional 'point-light display' movies, which were used to measure size discrimination for reach-and-grasp motion sequences, release-and-withdraw sequences and still frames, all in egocentric and allocentric perspectives. Visual size discrimination from action was significantly better in egocentric than in allocentric view, but only for reach-and-grasp motion sequences: release-and-withdraw sequences or still frames derived no advantage from egocentric viewing. The results suggest that the system may have access to an internal model of action that contributes to calibrate visual sense of size for an accurate grasp.

Metamaterials: A new direction in materials science

A review is presented of materials science of metamaterials, i.e., the area of research that has been extensively developed over the last decade. Metamaterials are artificial materials consisting of structural elements, whose type and mutual arrangement can be specified during the fabrication. The development of metamaterials was associated initially with the idea of the design of electromagnetic media with a negative refractive index and, more recently, with the prospect for fabrication of superlenses, invisible objects, and other optical devices. As a result, there appeared a new branch of materials science and an intimately related new branch of optics—transformation optics. This review has discussed the main directions of research in this field and problems encountered in this way. It is noted that metamaterials cannot be designed without invoking the most modern tools for performing numerical simulation and that their implementation requires the use of high-level technologies. The idea of metamaterials is important not only for optics and electromagnetism but also for acoustics.

Making the Invisible Visible: Verbal but Not Visual Cues Enhance Visual Detection

BackgroundCan hearing a word change what one sees? Although visual sensitivity is known to be enhanced by attending to the location of the target, perceptual enhancements of following cues to the identity of an object have been difficult to find. Here, we show that perceptual sensitivity is enhanced by verbal, but not visual cues.Methodology/Principal FindingsParticipants completed an object detection task in which they made an object-presence or -absence decision to briefly-presented letters. Hearing the letter name prior to the detection task increased perceptual sensitivity (d′). A visual cue in the form of a preview of the to-be-detected letter did not. Follow-up experiments found that the auditory cuing effect was specific to validly cued stimuli. The magnitude of the cuing effect positively correlated with an individual measure of vividness of mental imagery; introducing uncertainty into the position of the stimulus did not reduce the magnitude of the cuing effect, but eliminated the correlation with mental imagery.Conclusions/SignificanceHearing a word made otherwise invisible objects visible. Interestingly, seeing a preview of the target stimulus did not similarly enhance detection of the target. These results are compatible with an account in which auditory verbal labels modulate lower-level visual processing. The findings show that a verbal cue in the form of hearing a word can influence even the most elementary visual processing and inform our understanding of how language affects perception.

Spatial updating of dynamic scenes: Tracking multiple invisible objects across viewpoint changes

Research on dynamic attention has shown that visual tracking is possible even if the observer's viewpoint on the scene holding the moving objects changes. In contrast to smooth viewpoint changes, abrupt changes typically impair tracking performance. The lack of continuous information about scene motion, resulting from abrupt changes, seems to be the critical variable. However, hard onsets of objects after abrupt scene motion could explain the impairment as well. We report three experiments employing object invisibility during smooth and abrupt viewpoint changes to examine the influence of scene information on visual tracking, while equalizing hard onsets of moving objects after the viewpoint change. Smooth viewpoint changes provided continuous information about scene motion, which supported the tracking of temporarily invisible objects. However, abrupt and, therefore, discontinuous viewpoint changes strongly impaired tracking performance. Object locations retained with respect to a reference frame can account for the attentional tracking that follows invisible objects through continuous scene motion.

Tracking invisible objects across viewpoint changes: The role of scene information

Tracking invisible objects across viewpoint changes: The role of scene information