Self-relevance processing in the human amygdala: Gaze direction, facial expression, and emotion intensity.

How the processing of emotional expression is influenced by perceived gaze remains a debated issue. Discrepancies between previous results may stem from differences in the nature of stimuli and task characteristics. Here we used a highly controlled set of computer-generated animated faces combining dynamic emotional expressions with varying intensity, and gaze shifts either directed at or averted from the observer. We predicted that perceived self-relevance of fearful faces would be higher with averted gaze—signaling a nearby danger; whereas conversely, direct gaze would be more relevant for angry faces—signaling aggressiveness. This interaction pattern was observed behaviorally for emotion intensity ratings, and neurally for functional magnetic resonance imaging activation in amygdala, as well as fusiform and medial prefrontal cortices, but only for mild- and not high-intensity expressions. These results support an involvement of human amygdala in the appraisal of self-relevance and reveal a crucial role of expression intensity in emotion and gaze interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The comparison of EPDM/clay nanocomposites and conventional composites in exposure of gamma irradiation

The effect of gamma irradiation on the properties of EPDM/clay nanocomposites and its conventional composites with pristine clay is studied. The dispersion of the silicate layers in the EPDM matrix is characterized by XRD (X-ray Diffractometer) and TEM (Transition Electron Microscopy) analyses. XRD and TEM results indicate that the alkylammonium chains are intercalated between the nanolayers silicate after modification. The mechanical behavior of samples is investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis and tensile test. The DMTA results demonstrate that their α-relaxation peaks are shifted to higher temperature, and storage modulus increases with increase of irradiation dose. The experimental data suggest that the exposure of EPDM hybrids to gamma rays improves the tensile strength of samples at lower irradiation doses due to cross-linking effect. The nanocomposites exhibit superior irradiation-resistance properties than that of unfilled EPDM and conventional composites.     

Trial the microscopic images for determination of diffusion behavior of dyes in fibrous material

A new technique is presented for determination of the diffusion behavior of dyes in fibrous materials. Polyamide 6.6 in filament form has been dyed with an acid dye in different temperatures and times. The microscopic images of the cross sections of dyed samples are captured and the RGB color images of the surfaces are converted to gray scale intensity data. Then, the variations of intensities within the fiber diameter, from the surface to the center of fiber, are analyzed. A linear relation is assumed between the concentration and the intensity for each pixel. The concentration‐distance curves are plotted and the pseudo‐diffusion coefficient of dye is predicted by using the error function relation between the normalized intensity and diffusion coefficient. According to the results, the index is constant for the samples dyed in different times and changes significantly by temperature. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Analytical investigation on acceleration motion of a vertically falling spherical particle in incompressible Newtonian media

The settling behavior of solid particles is of fundamental importance in natural and artificial applications. In current study, the unsteady motion of a spherical particle falling in a Newtonian fluid was analyzed using a drag of the form given by Oseen/Ferreira, for a range of Reynolds numbers. Particle equation of motion involved added-mass term and neglected the Basset term. Using the homotopy perturbation method (HPM) analytical expressions for the instantaneous velocity, acceleration and position of the particle were derived. The practical applications of the results were discussed. The presented investigation showed the effectiveness of HPM.     

Bloom filter applications in network security: A state-of-the-art survey

Undoubtedly, dealing with security issues is one of the most important and complex tasks various networks face today. A large number of security algorithms have been proposed to enhance security in various types of networks. Many of these solutions are either directly or indirectly based on Bloom filter (BF), a space- and time-efficient probabilistic data structure introduced by Burton Bloom in 1970. Obviously, Bloom filters and their variants are getting more and more consideration in network security area. This paper provides an up-to-date survey of the application of BFs and their variants to improve performance of the approaches proposed to address security problems with different types of networks.     

Probability of failure for uncertain control systems using neural networks and multi-objective uniform-diversity genetic algorithms (MUGA)

There are much research effort in the literature using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) which is a direct and simple numerical method, however, it can be computationally very expensive as the governing dynamic equations of the system to be simulated for each random sample using the MCS. In this paper, polynomial meta-models based on the evolved group method of data handling (GMDH) neural networks are obtained to simply calculate the probability of failure in the MCS, instead of direct solution of dynamic equation of system. In this way, some input–output data consisting of uncertain parameters of system and controller parameters as inputs and probability of failure of some cost functions as output are used for training such GMDH-type neural networks which replace the very time consuming direct solution of dynamical systems during the MCS. A multi-objective genetic algorithm is also used for Pareto optimal design of PI and PID controllers for both first and second order uncertain system with time delays using methodology of this paper. The objective functions that are considered for such Pareto multi-objective optimization are namely, probability of failure of settling time (P_TS) and probability of failure of overshoot (P_OS). The comparisons of the obtained results using the method of this paper with those obtained using direct method shows a significant reduction in computational time, whilst the accuracy is maintained.