Prime Attention Research Articles

Representing color ensembles: Mapping internal probability density functions with attentional priming

Representing color ensembles: Mapping internal probability density functions with attentional priming

Green synthesised zinc oxide nanostructures through Periploca aphylla extract shows tremendous antibacterial potential against multidrug resistant pathogens.

To grapple with multidrug resistant bacterial infections, implementations of antibacterial nanomedicines have gained prime attention of the researchers across the globe. Nowadays, zinc oxide (ZnO) at nano-scale has emerged as a promising antibacterial therapeutic agent. Keeping this in view, ZnO nanostructures (ZnO-NS) have been synthesised through reduction by P. aphylla aqueous extract without the utilisation of any acid or base. Structural examinations via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction have revealed pure phase morphology with highly homogenised average particle size of 18 nm. SEM findings were further supplemented by transmission electron microscopy examinations. The characteristic Zn-O peak has been observed around 363 nm using ultra-violet-visible spectroscopy. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy examination has also confirmed the formation of ZnO-NS through detection of Zn-O bond vibration frequencies. To check the superior antibacterial activity of ZnO-NS, the authors' team has performed disc diffusion assay and colony forming unit testing against multidrug resistant E. coli, S. marcescens and E. cloacae. Furthermore, protein kinase inhibition assay and cytotoxicity examinations have revealed that green fabricated ZnO-NS are non-hazardous, economical, environmental friendly and possess tremendous potential to treat lethal infections caused by multidrug resistant pathogens.

Dynamical analysis of a stochastic SIS epidemic model with nonlinear incidence rate and double epidemic hypothesis

In this paper, a stochastic SIS epidemic model with nonlinear incidence rate and double epidemic hypothesis is proposed and analysed. We explain the effects of stochastic disturbance on disease transmission. To this end, firstly, we investigated the dynamic properties of the system neglecting stochastic disturbance and obtained the threshold and the conditions for the extinction and the permanence of two kinds of epidemic diseases by considering the stability of the equilibria of the deterministic system. Secondly, we paid prime attention on the threshold dynamics of the stochastic system and established the conditions for the extinction and the permanence of two kinds of epidemic diseases. We found that there exists a significant difference between the threshold of the deterministic system and that of the stochastic system. Moreover, it has been established that the persistent of infectious disease analysed by use of deterministic system becomes extinct under the same conditions due to the stochastic disturbance. This implies that a stochastic disturbance has significant impact on the spread of infectious diseases and the larger stochastic disturbance leads to control the epidemic diseases. In order to illustrate the dynamic difference between the deterministic system and the stochastic system, there have been given a series of numerical simulations by using different noise disturbance coefficients.

Ecological aspects of increasing intensity in pepper forcing with prime attention to the type of the growing equipment

Significant amount of profit can be generated in forcing technologies by the efficient use of different elements in growing technologies, however, improving production intensity is on the agenda in the sector. Pepper forcing, as the most significant class of vegetable forcing, practically takes place under all the growing equipment widespread in our country, but there is a considerable difference in context of profitability and efficiency. This paper wonders whether the most intensive technology in pepper forcing is efficient regarding the use of forcing equipment, namely modern greenhouses, or growing under greenhouses with significantly lower investment cost is more efficient. The analysis represents cost-income factors and efficiency assessed on a long-term basis of different technologies via a deterministic model based on producers’ data collections. As a result of the research, economic indicators are calculated based on exact results which will help to conduct a comparative assessment of economic features in technological varieties.
 JEL code: Q12

The role of attention in perceptual and conceptual priming.

The role of attention in perceptual and conceptual priming.

Indian Science Culture Needs a Paradigm Shift.

There is a general impression in the scientific community in our country that the way science is taught, leant and the work culture of research and management of academic and research institutions is not conducive to cutting edge research, innovation and making world leaders. Mentoring continues to be poor with some exceptions. Very often, senior scientists with long innings in science teaching and research express anguish at the status quo in spite of a number of policy documents and recommendations for change. Indian science culture (teaching, research as well as administration) is a matter of prime concern and the issues cannot be pushed under the carpet if we desire a qualitative change. Most of the institutions of higher learning churn out graduates and post graduates who are largely unemployable. There are concerns on the number of Ph.Ds and not on the quality of Ph.D. One major consequence of the weak post graduates and Ph.Ds is the non-availability of competent faculty. Weakness and lack of interest in science learning starts from school. Learning continues to be by rote which is the prime reason for our low global rank in science and mathematics competence. Teaching and research apart there are umpteen other issues in over all culture of institutions and universities engaged in science teaching and research. Few oases of excellence are exceptions in the vast pool of mediocrity. Some points which need prime attention are: adoption of a tenure track system on the pattern of US institutions; feedback on and evaluation of teaching and mentoring; bottom up approach for candid feedback on issues which require long term solutions for efficiency and sound deliverables, cultivating the culture of working in front line areas, full transparency in working and an all out exit from culture of feudalism. This transformation needs commitment on the part of the politicians who man the respective departments of science education, research and human resource development. I am sure such a cultural change and paradigm shift from the status quo does not need extra funds and can be surely ushered in without money.

Cracking Behavior of a Concrete Arch Dam with Weak Upper Abutment

The cracking behavior and failure mode of a 78 m high concrete double-curvature arch dam with weak upper abutment are investigated through performing cracking analysis. The mechanical behavior of concrete is simulated using a smeared crack model, in which a combination of the compression yield surface and the crack detection surface with a damaged elasticity concept is employed to describe the failure of concrete. The arch dam with practical mechanical properties of the upper and lower abutments is firstly studied with emphasis on its cracking behavior during overloading. Then, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis is carried out to investigate the influence of the ratio of the mechanical properties of upper abutment to those of lower abutment on dam failure with prime attention placed on the failure mode. Simulation results indicate the adopted smeared crack model is well-suited to the crack analysis of concrete arch dam. It is shown that cracking is localized around the interface between upper and lower abutments, which leads to a fast crack growth in the through-thickness direction of dam and finally causes the dam failure. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis presents three types of failure modes corresponding to different ratio value, wherein Modes II and III should be avoided since the weak upper abutment plays a predominant role in the cracking and failure of concrete arch dam.

The relationship between priming and linguistic representations is mediated by processing constraints.

Understanding the nature of linguistic representations undoubtedly will benefit from multiple types of evidence, including structural priming. Here, we argue that successfully gaining linguistic insights from structural priming requires us to better understand (1) the precise mappings between linguistic input and comprehenders' syntactic knowledge; and (2) the role of cognitive faculties such as memory and attention in structural priming.

The Obligation Dilemma

I motivate a dilemma to show that nothing can be obligatory for anyone regardless of whether determinism or indeterminism (the falsity of determinism) is true. The deterministic horn, to which prime attention is directed, exploits the thesis that obligation requires freedom to do otherwise. Since determinism precludes such freedom, it precludes obligation too. The indeterministic horn allows for freedom to do otherwise but assumes the burden of addressing whether indeterministically caused choices or actions are too much of a matter of luck to be obligatory for anyone. I critically discuss a response to the deterministic horn that invokes the distinction between alternatives compatible with determinism (weak alternatives) and those incompatible with determinism (strong alternatives).

The Constitutional Right to Enhanced Livelihood in Ethiopia: Unfulfilled Promises and the Need for New Approaches

The civilized-uncivilized line of thinking had an element-system interface whereby social conduct was the aggregate of individual moral standards and behaviours. On the contrary, developmentalism tends to reverse this interface and give prime attention to ‘economic growth’. This usually depersonalizes individuals and at times relegates them to the oblivion of anonymity. In spite of Ethiopia’s statistical claims of double-digit economic growth, there are challenges in the implementation of the right of citizens to enhanced livelihoods . I argue that new approaches should critically examine the most effective means of enhancing the (physical, mental, spiritual and emotional) being of citizens and their (economic, social, political and environmental) living conditions . Development is not ‘given’ by a ‘Big Brother’, and is rather the making of citizens themselves through a strong work culture in the context of an appropriate institutional setting including policy environment. Nor should development be regarded as hasty campaign because it is an incremental steady march and attainment. The 1995 Ethiopian Constitution envisages the capacity enhancement of citizens so that they can bring about development and meet their needs. New approaches should thus give prime attention to nurturing and developing the state of being and livelihoods of citizens in the context of environmental sustainability and the preservation of positive cultural legacies. Such approaches and conceptions should transcend statistical figures and reports of ‘accelerated growth’ in construction, the number of universities, etc., and instead offer prime attention to the bigger picture of enhancing livelihoods (including poverty alleviation) and the state of being (i.e., moral character, quality education, social ties and work ethic) of citizens. Key terms Livelihoods, living conditions, well-being, capabilities, state of being, development, new approaches, Ethiopia

Scalable Nodes Deployment Algorithm for the Monitoring of Underwater Pipeline

Underwater Wireless Linear Sensor Networks (UW-LSNs) possess unique features as compared to the terrestrial sensor networks for pipeline monitoring. Other than long propagation delays for long range underwater pipelines and high error probability, homogeneous node deployment also makes it harder to detect and locate the pipeline leakage efficiently. Determining the exact leakage position with minimum delay stays a major issue where pipelines length is extremely long and expensive to deploy many underwater sensors. In order to tackle the problem of large scale pipeline monitoring and unreliable underwater link quality, many algorithms have been proposed and even some of them provided good solutions for these issues but the scalable nodes deployments still need focus and prime attention. In order to handle the problem of nodes deployment, we therefore propose a dynamic nodes deployment algorithm where every node in the network is assigned location in a quick and efficient way without needing any localization scheme. It provides an option to handle the heterogeneous types of nodes, distribute topology and mechanism in which new nodes are easily added to the network without affecting the existing network performance. The proposed distributed topology algorithm divides the pipeline length into segments and sub-segments in order to manage the higher delay issue. Normally nodes are randomly deployed for the long range underwater pipeline inspection yet it requires some proper dynamic nodes deployment algorithm assigning unique position to each node

Resonant Dynamics of Grounded Cognition: Explanation of Behavioral and Neuroimaging Data Using the ART Neural Network.

Research on grounded cognition suggests that the processing of a word or concept reactivates the perceptual representations that are associated with the referent object. The objective of this work is to demonstrate how behavioral and functional neuroimaging data on grounded cognition can be understood as different manifestations of the same cortical circuit designed to achieve stable category learning, as proposed by the adaptive resonance theory (ART). We showed that the ART neural network provides a mechanistic explanation of why reaction times in behavioral studies depend on the expectation or attentional priming created by the word meaning (Richter and Zwaan, 2009). A mismatch between top-down expectation and bottom-up sensory data activates an orienting subsystem that slows execution of the current task. Furthermore, we simulated the data from functional neuroimaging studies of color knowledge retrieval that showed anterior shift (Chao and Martin, 1999; Thompson-Schill, 2003) and an overlap effect (Simmons et al., 2007; Hsu et al., 2011) in the left fusiform gyrus. We explain the anterior effect as a result of the partial activation of different components of the same ART circuit in the condition of passive viewing. Conversely, a demanding perceptual task requires activation of the whole ART circuit. This condition is reflected in the fMRI image as an overlap between cortical activation during perceptual and conceptual processing. We conclude that the ART neural network is able to explain how the brain grounds symbols in perception via perceptual simulation.

Unconscious Priming of Focused Attention Reduces the Attention Deficits of ADHD Patients

We have shown before that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) children suffer from deficits of sustained attention, while divided, selective and distributed attention is largely spared. The present study explores whether these deficits can be ameliorated by unconscious priming of attention. Sixty children diagnosed with ADHD participated, their age ranged between eight and twelve years. Participants were primed with the scrambled sentence task: under the pretext of a language comprehension task, they were exposed to words referring to focused attention (group “focused”) or scattered attention (group “scattered”), or were not exposed to attention-related words (group “control”). All three groups were then assessed with the same battery of attention tests used in our earlier study. We found that compared to the “control” group, performance was higher in the “focused” group on tests of sustained, divided and distributed attention, and was lower in the “scattered” group on all four tests. From this we conclude that unconscious priming can modify the attention of ADHD children, and that this modification extends to the one attention component that is most affected by ADHD. Unconscious priming might therefore be an expedient supplementary method for ADHD treatment, as it can be administered at virtually no cost anytime, anywhere.

Dioscorea oppositifolia Mediated Synthesis of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles with Catalytic Activity

Biological approaches for synthesis of nanoparticles have gained prime attention in the recent decade as they not only involve lesser time and energy consumption compared to physical and chemical methods but also rapid, efficient and nontoxic. Medicinal plants with diverse phytochemistry have been considered as most promising for development and design of novel routes to synthesize metal nanoparticles. Herein, we report for the first time the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Dioscorea oppositifolia tuber extract (DOTE). The synthesis process was complete within 5 h as observed in UV-visible spectroscopy. High resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that the bioreduced AuNPs were anisotropic exhibiting exotic shaped like nanohexagons, pentagons and blunt ended triangles. Spherical AuNPs ranging from 30 to 60 nm were also spotted. Similarly, distinctly spherical AgNPs without any agglomeration were observed with a size ranging between 17 to 25 nm. Both AuNPs and AgNPs were characterized using various techniques like energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, dynamic light scattering and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Phytochemical analysis employing biochemical tests and GCMS/MS revealed the presence of phenolics, flavonoids, starch, ascorbic acid and citric acid that may help not only in reduction but also in stabilization of the bioreduced nanoparticles. AuNPs and AgNPs synthesized by DOTE exhibited efficient catalytic activity towards reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol by NaBH4 with a pseudo-first order rate kinetics.

Anti-atherosclerotic plants which modulate the phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of global death, with atherosclerosis being a major contributor to this mortality. Several mechanisms are implicated in the pathogenesis of this disease. A key element in the development and progression of atherosclerotic lesions is the phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells. Under pathophysiologic conditions such as injury, these cells switch from a contractile to a synthetic phenotype that often possesses high proliferative and migratory capacities.Purpose: Despite major advances made in the management and treatment of atherosclerosis, mortality associated with this disease remains high. This mandates that other approaches be sought. Herbal medicine, especially for the treatment of CVD, has been gaining more attention in recent years. This is in no small part due to the evidence-based values associated with the consumption of many plants as well as the relatively cheaper prices, easier access and conventional folk medicine “inherited” over generations.Sections: In this review, we provide a brief introduction about the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis then we highlight the role of vascular smooth muscle cells in this disease, especially when a phenotypic switch of these cells arises. We then thoroughly discuss the various plants that show potentially beneficial effects as anti-atherosclerotic, with prime attention given to herbs and plants that inhibit the phenotypic switch of vascular smooth muscle cells.Conclusion: Accumulating evidence provides the justification for the use of botanicals in the treatment or prevention of atherosclerosis. However, further studies, especially clinical ones, are warranted to better define several pharmacological parameters of these herbs, such as toxicity, tolerability, and efficacy.

Subliminal semantic priming in near absence of attention: A cursor motion study.

The role of attention in subliminal semantic priming remains controversial: some researchers argue that attention is necessary for subliminal semantic priming, while others suggest that subliminal semantic processing is free from the influence of attention. The present study employs a cursor motion method to measure priming and evaluate the influence of attention. Specifically, by employing a semantic priming task developed by Naccache, Blandin, and Dehaene (2002), we investigate the extent to which top-down attention influences semantic priming. Results indicate that, consistent with the Naccache et al. (2002) results, attention facilitates priming. However, inconsistent with their theory, significant priming is still observed even in near absence of attention. We suggest that top-down attention helps but is not necessary for subliminal semantic processing.

Ventromedial Frontal Cortex Is Critical for Guiding Attention to Reward-Predictive Visual Features in Humans.

There has been a swell of interest recently in the ventromedial frontal cortex (VMF), a brain region critical to associative learning. However, the underlying mechanism by which this region guides learning is not well understood. Here, we tested the effects of damage to this region in humans on a task in which rewards were linked incidentally to visual features, resulting in trial-by-trial attentional priming. Controls and subjects with prefrontal damage sparing the VMF showed normal reward priming, but VMF-damaged patients did not. This work sheds light on a potential mechanism through which this region influences behavior. We suggest that the VMF is necessary for directing attention to reward-predictive visual features based on feedback, facilitating future learning and decision-making.

Evidence for distinct mechanisms underlying attentional priming and sensory memory for bistable perception.

Attentional selection in visual search paradigms and perceptual selection in bistable perception paradigms show functional similarities. For example, both are sensitive to trial history: They are biased toward previously selected targets or interpretations. We investigated whether priming by target selection in visual search and sensory memory for bistable perception are related. We did this by presenting two trial types to observers. We presented either ambiguous spheres that rotated over a central axis and could be perceived as rotating in one of two directions, or search displays in which the unambiguously rotating target and distractor spheres closely resembled the two possible interpretations of the ambiguous stimulus. We interleaved both trial types within experiments, to see whether priming by target selection during search trials would affect the perceptual outcome of bistable perception and, conversely, whether sensory memory during bistable perception would affect target selection times during search. Whereas we found intertrial repetition effects among consecutive search trials and among consecutive bistable trials, we did not find cross-paradigm effects. Thus, even though we could ascertain that our experiments robustly elicited processes of both search priming and sensory memory for bistable perception, these same experiments revealed no interaction between the two.

Improved crop management practices for sustainable pulse production: An Indian perspective

Pulses are an integral part of Indian agricultural economy next to cereals and oilseeds in terms of acreage, production and economic value. Pulses are rich source of protein and energy, but in India, these are largely cultivated under energy starved conditions resulting in poor pulse productivity. This is mainly because of unavailability of quality seed at desired time, cultivation on marginal and sub-marginal lands, imbalanced use of fertilizers and nonadoption of crop improved management practices. India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world, accounting for about 25% of global production, 27% of consumption and 34% of food use. To reduce the demandsupply gap, government of India launched various programmes in pulses. Still, prime attention is required to meet the food security challenges, especially in case of pulse sector. In order to enhance and sustain the pulse productivity at high levels, the development and promotion of low–cost pulse production technology need greater attention so that technology is widely adopted by the practizing farmers. The most potential technologies in pulse production include improved crop establishment and management practices, integrated soil fertility and pest management practices, etc. which enhance not only the productivity and profitability but also warrants environmental and social sustainability besides nutritional security. Various agronomic researches have shown that improved cultivation practices, such as seed replacement with improved varieties, raised bed planting method, use of biofertilizers, foliar application of fertilizers at critical stages in rainfed areas, application of secondary and micro-nutrients and adoption of appropriate modules for integrated weed and pest management, etc. have great potential in gearing-up pulses productivity. Thus, there is a great challenge for policy makers, farm scientists and farming community to enhance pulse productivity using improved farm technology to meet out the national and local pulse requirements. Thus, this article presents a critical review on capacity of various improved crop management practices to scale-up pulses productivity on one hand and highlight future research priorities on the other with the prime objective of sustaining pulse production in India.

Self-exposed nudity on the net: displacements of obscenity and beauty?

This article focuses on images of nude female bodies that circulate today within the media, and on the internet in particular. Prime attention is given to the images that women publish as self portraits. From a genealogical perspective, we examine the politicization involved in a new set of practices, diverse but recent, and how they impact on current redefinitions of beauty standards and criteria defining what is considered to be obscene.