What is "special" about face perception?

There is growing evidence that face recognition is "special" but less certainty concerning the way in which it is special. The authors review and compare previous proposals and their own more recent hypothesis, that faces are recognized "holistically" (i.e., using relatively less part decomposition than other types of objects). This hypothesis, which can account for a variety of data from experiments on face memory, was tested with 4 new experiments on face perception. A selective attention paradigm and a masking paradigm were used to compare the perception of faces with the perception of inverted faces, words, and houses. Evidence was found of relatively less part-based shape representation for faces. The literatures on machine vision and single unit recording in monkey temporal cortex are also reviewed for converging evidence on face representation. The neuropsychological literature is reviewed for-evidence on the question of whether face representation differs in degree or kind from the representation of other types of objects.     

Applications of the upside-down normal loss function

The upside-down normal loss function (UDNLF) is a weighted loss function that has accurately modeled losses in a product engineering context. The function's scale parameter can be adjusted to account for the actual percentage of material failing to work at specification limits. Use of the function along with process history allows the prediction of expected loss-the average loss one would expect over a long period of stable process operation. Theory has been developed for the multivariate loss function (MUDNLF), which can be applied to optimize a process with many parameters-a situation in which engineering intuition is often ineffective. Computational formulae are presented for expected loss given normally distributed process parameters (correlated or uncorrelated), both in the univariate and multivariate cases     

Dicationic furans inhibit development of Cryptosporidium parvum in HSD/ICR suckling Swiss mice

The efficacy of dicationic diarylfurans was evaluated against Cryptosporidium parvum by a suckling murine model. Candidate drugs were solubilized or suspended in deionized water and administered orally at a constant dose rate on days 0-5 (treatment day 0) to suckling ICR Swiss mice experimentally inoculated with oocysts of C. parvum. Efficacy was based on numbers of oocysts recovered from the intestinal tracts of mice subjected to necropsy examination on day 6. Numerous candidate furans significantly reduced the numbers of oocysts recovered from treated mice compared with control mice. Compounds 1, 2, 4, and 9 demonstrated superior efficacies (10% of controls or better) against C. parvum. Compounds 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 17, 18, and 19 also significantly reduced the numbers of oocysts recovered from treated mice but demonstrated efficacies ranging from 17 to 65% of controls. Compound 4 was particularly efficacious against C. parvum at a dosage as low as 8.5 mg/kg of body weight. Compound 4 is identified as a lead compound for additional studies in other animal models.     

Effects of approval or disapproval on reading behavior of high- and low-guilt subjects.

Hypothesized that censure would enhance viewing of an erotic magazine for low- but not for high-guilt Ss. In contrast to the prediction, mean viewing time for high-guilt Ss was significantly higher in the positive and negative comment conditions than in the neutral conditions, while the viewing time of low-guilt Ss in the positive and negative conditions did not significantly differ from the neutral condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Genetic Algorithm Hybrid for Constructing Optimal Response Surface Designs

Hybrid heuristic optimization methods can discover efficient experiment designs in situations where traditional designs cannot be applied, exchange methods are ineffective, and simple heuristics like simulated annealing fail to find good solutions. One such heuristic hybrid is GASA (genetic algorithm–simulated annealing), developed to take advantage of the exploratory power of the genetic algorithm, while utilizing the local optimum exploitive properties of simulated annealing. The successful application of this method is demonstrated in a difficult design problem with multiple optimization criteria in an irregularly shaped design region. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.