bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Validation of the Full and Short-Form Self-Help Involvement Scale Against the Rasch Measurement Model
Authors: Conrad Karen M. , Conrad Kendon J. , Passetti Lora L. , Funk Rodney R. , Dennis Michael L.
Published: August 2015

Background:

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are one of the nation’s most costly problems in terms of dollars, disability, and death. Self-help programs are among the varied recovery support options available to address SUD, and evaluation of these programs depends on good measurement. There exists an unmet need for a psychometrically sound, brief, efficient measure of self-help involvement for individuals with SUD that is valid across different substances and age-groups.

Methods:

Using data from 2,101 persons presenting for SUD treatment, the full 21-item Global Appraisal of Individual Needs Self-Help Involvement Scale (SHIS) and a newly developed 11-item short-form version were validated against the Rasch measurement model and each other. Differential item functioning (DIF) was assessed by primary substance and age.

Results:

Both versions met Rasch psychometric criteria. The full scale had minor misfit with no DIF for alcohol, marijuana, or opioids but a few instances of DIF for amphetamine and cocaine users as well as for age, in that youth tended to endorse several easier items more frequently than did adults. The 11-item short form had neither misfit nor DIF by substance and only minor DIF by age was highly correlated with the full version and was relatively more efficient. Criterion-related validity was supported for both.

Conclusions:

Both the long and short versions of SHIS are psychometrically sound measures of a more comprehensive conceptualization of self-help involvement for SUDs that can be used as part of an in-depth assessment or as a short measure that lessens respondent burden.
War, law, jurisdiction, and juridical othering: private military security contractors and the Nisour Square massacre
Authors: Snukal Katia , Gilbert Emily
Published: August 2015

In September 2007 private contractors working for Blackwater, a private military contracting firm based in the US, killed seventeen people in Nisour Square in Iraq and severely injured more than twenty others. For over seven years the contractors evaded legal liability. This paper examines the way that legal jurisdiction played out in this evasion of accountability. We first examine the role of Order 17 in mandating that private contractors in Iraq “be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of their sending states”. We then turn to interrogate the ways that ‘juridical othering’, which operates through appeals to jurisdiction, has been employed by the state to distance itself from its own actions, in that the contractors were seen to be accountable neither to martial nor to domestic civilian law. Subsequently, we examine the impact of this juridical othering on the victims of the violence, as they too are ‘othered’ in the law. Through this analysis we demonstrate that the processes of juridical othering are the result not only of deliberate state action, but also of complex spatiolegal jurisdictions that are historically ingrained and are called into being in times of war in particular kinds of ways. In our conclusion, we point to the October 2014 ruling in the US federal courts that found three Blackwater employees guilty of manslaughter and one of murder, to show how law is continually unfolding and, as it does so, reinforces the intimate ways that law and war are co-constituted.
Frames of law: targeting advice and operational law in the Israeli military
Authors: Jones Craig A.
Published: August 2015

In this paper I draw on interviews conducted with former Israeli military lawyers about their role in lethal targeting operations. I argue that military lawyers and the practice of operational law help to legitimize and extend violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. To make the case I focus on Israel's ‘targeted killing policy’ (2000–present) and on the involvement of military lawyers in the planning and execution stages of targeting operations. I offer two contributions to the literature on war and law; first, I extend Derek Gregory's analysis of the ‘kill chain’ by arguing that targeting is increasingly made possible by a ‘technolegal’ process. Second, I add nuance to Eyal Weizman's account of how law extends violence in what he calls the ‘humanitarian present’. I argue that we must attend not only to international humanitarian law and different scales of law but to the simultaneously plural and overlapping legal regimes that govern late modern war. I conclude with a reflection on Judith Butler's Frames of War to think through the ways in which ‘frames of law’ have come to structure our apprehension of targeting and war today.
Global governance through the pairing of list and algorithm
Authors: Johns Fleur
Published: August 2015

The work of global governance increasingly entails some pairing of list and algorithm. Across sectors as diverse as environmental conservation, migration, nuclear nonproliferation, humanitarian aid, counterterrorism, and more, the list-plus-algorithm is, it seems, displacing rival juridical forms on the global scale. This paper probes some implications of the proliferation of this conjunctive form of’law’. Beginning with a typology of some types of governance work that the list-plus-algorithm is called to do on the global plane, this paper tracks movements of knowledge from the arcane form of the list into an algorithmic mode, and back again. It considers, too, some difficulties with which these configurations of lawful authority may be associated and the repertoire of techniques that international lawyers typically use to address these. Among these, the endless championing of transparency will be the focus of particular critique. Precisely as the prospect of seeing definitively through these decision-making devices seems, for a range of reasons, almost impossible to achieve, preoccupations with transparency have intensified. But what else might be entailed in making ‘public’ the governance work of these list-plus-algorithms? This paper takes up this question by focusing attention on how lists-plus-algorithms bring peoples, places, and things into lawful relation.
Power in motion: Tracking time, space, and movement in the British Penal Estate
Authors: Follis Luca
Published: August 2015

This paper tracks the impact of prison transfers (and mobility considerations more generally) on the spatio-temporal regimes pursued within the British Penal Estate. I argue that what appear from outside as static spaces of detention are in fact nodes within a network deeply crisscrossed by internal patterns of mobility and the problematics of time–space coordination. I explore the power relations that shape prisoner patterns of movement and highlight the distinctive states of deprivation they generate.
Performing entrepreneurial masculinity: An ethnographic account
Authors: Giazitzoglu Andreas , Down Simon
Published: August 2015

This article addresses the empirical relationship between masculinity, hegemony and entrepreneurial identity as a largely neglected debate; this omission is addressed by outlining how 10 enterprising men who own and run small businesses perform, in the Goffmanesque sense, a style of ‘entrepreneurial masculinity’ in front of each other during their leisure lives when they meet as a local entrepreneurial fraternity in a semi-rural pub. By so doing, we expand upon prevailing ideas about how male actors perform entrepreneurial identity and develop ethnographic accounts of how gender, entrepreneurship and identity projection culturally intersect.
Tabernacles of memory revisited
Authors: Garaba Francis
Published: August 2015

The study assessed the oral history projects undertaken between 1994 and 2014 within the Pietermaritzburg Cluster of Theological Libraries to ascertain the depth and breadth of their collections in as far as documenting the voice of the indigenous clergy is concerned. Data collection instruments used for the study were interviews, both face-to-face and telephonically, documentary analysis, email correspondence and database checks. The findings revealed that the School of Theology, now the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics (SRPC), at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, was at the forefront in this collection drive and that theological libraries were generally lagging behind; that ethnographical, literacy and content challenges are prevalent and that there is a dearth of material pertaining to religious archives on the National Register of Oral Sources (NAROS) database, which does not bode well with regards to the management of this ecclesiastical heritage. The study also revealed that there was a need for a co-ordinated oral history collection strategy to avoid duplication of effort. The study recommended that for religious archives to be effectively managed, private archives need to be properly legislated like their public counterparts, hence the need for a new national model in this regard irrespective of the perceived institutional imperatives.
The Imagination Constructs with Science Students
Authors: Lin Ju-Sen , Chang Wen-Shan , Liang Chaoyun
Published: August 2015

Using science majors as an example, we examined how social climate, intrinsic motivation, agreeableness, extraversion, and conscientiousness interact to affect three types of student imagination. We tested 11 hypotheses by using data collected from six universities across Taiwan; 547 science majors participated in the study. Our results showed that conscientiousness predicted both conceiving and transforming imagination, whereas extraversion only predicted initiating imagination. Agreeableness affected none of these types of imagination directly, whereas both social climate and intrinsic motivation predicted all three types of imagination. Moreover, the interaction of conscientiousness and social climate exerted a significant effect on conceiving imagination, whereas the interaction between extraversion and social climate affected transforming imagination. Lastly, intrinsic motivation moderated the effects of extraversion and agreeableness on initiating imagination.
Performative Features in Adults' Haitian Creole Narratives
Authors: Champion Tempii B. , McCabe Allyssa , Cuneo C. Nicholas , Bruny Jessica
Published: August 2015

This study evaluated structures and patterns of the narrative performance from 10 native Haitian adults (5 women and 5 men). Haitian Creole narratives were (a) analyzed and coded for nine West African features (repetition, parallelism, detailing, tonality, ideophone, digression, imagery, allusion, and symbolism) and (b) analyzed for nonverbal behaviors associated with speech using five gesticulation characteristics (hand, arm, feet, head movements, and facial expressions). Results suggested that Haitian Creole narratives most frequently utilized three patterns of West African storytelling features: tonality, repetition, and detailing.
The Role of Positive Affect and Individual Differences in Intuition in the Accuracy of Pattern Recognition
Authors: Cicero David C. , Hicks Joshua A. , King Laura A.
Published: August 2015

Two studies examined the interaction of individual differences in intuitive processing style and induced positive affect in implicit pattern recognition in undergraduates. In Study 1 ( N = 187), induced mood and intuition interacted to predict accuracy in pattern recognition using an implicit learning paradigm. Participants high in intuition in a positive mood were the most accurate. In Study 2 ( N = 90), induced mood interacted with intuition to predict accurate reports of stimulus-reward contingencies in an operant conditioning paradigm. Intuition predicted accuracy in judgments of reward contingencies in the positive mood condition. This research suggests that individual differences in faith in intuition predict accurate implicit pattern recognition in the presence of positive affect.
Numerical Context and Time Perception: Contrast Effects and the Perceived Duration of Numbers
Authors: Alards-Tomalin Doug , Walker Alexander C. , Kravetz Alexa , Leboe-McGowan Launa C.
Published: August 2015

In the current study, we examined how the contextual repetition of magnitude information presented in either symbolic (Arabic digits) or nonsymbolic (numerosities) formats impacted on the perceived duration of a later occurring target number. The results of the current study demonstrated a time-magnitude bias in which, on average, large magnitude target numbers were judged to last for longer durations relative to small magnitude target numbers, regardless of notation (symbolic number and numerosity). Furthermore, context effects were found, in which a greater discrepancy in the target’s magnitude from the initial context led to longer perceived duration ratings. However, this was found to be asymmetrical, occurring only for large magnitude targets. Additionally, the type of context effect was shown to be determined by whether the context was presented in the same notation as the target or a different notation.
The Unilateral Mean Luminance Alters Additive Internal Noise in Normal Vision
Authors: Li Lin , Yu Yongqiang , Zhou Yifeng
Published: August 2015

Luminance has been found to play a modulating role in the processes of many visual tasks. However, the mechanisms underlying the modulation role of luminance have been little studied, and the conclusions have been controversial. Here, using a dichoptic viewing paradigm by varying the luminance in one eye while measuring the contrast-detection threshold in the other eye, we studied the effect of different unilateral mean luminance values on the detectability of sine wave gratings against backgrounds of various levels of white noise in normal subjects. We found that unilateral luminance altered the additive internal noise within a perceptual template model framework, with low luminance increasing the additive internal noise and high luminance reducing it. This finding helps to reveal how luminance modulates contrast detection and its relative mechanisms.
The Effectiveness of Gaze-Contingent Control in Computer Games
Authors: Orlov Paul A. , Apraksin Nikolay
Published: August 2015

Eye-tracking technology and gaze-contingent control in human–computer interaction have become an objective reality. This article reports on a series of eye-tracking experiments, in which we concentrated on one aspect of gaze–contingent interaction: Its effectiveness compared with mouse-based control in a computer strategy game. We propose a measure for evaluating the effectiveness of interaction based on “the time of recognition” the game unit. In this article, we use this measure to compare gaze- and mouse-contingent systems, and we present the analysis of the differences as a function of the number of game units. Our results indicate that performance of gaze–contingent interaction is typically higher than mouse manipulation in a visual searching task. When tested on 60 subjects, the results showed that the effectiveness of gaze-contingent systems over 1.5 times higher. In addition, we obtained that eye behavior stays quite stabile with or without mouse interaction.
Finger Counting and (2D:4D) Digit Ratio in Spatial-Numerical Association
Authors: Fabbri Marco , Natale Vincenzo
Published: August 2015

It is reported that a canonical and cultural finger counting habit influences the spatial-numerical association. The digit ratio (the ratio between the lengths of the index and ring fingers as a putative indicator of prenatal androgen exposure) also plays an effect on space-number representation, reflecting a stronger left-to-right number representation in people with a short index finger and longer ring finger (i.e., 2D:4D ratio). It is unknown whether the finger counting habit and digit ratio have an effect on spatial-numerical association independently from each other or whether they interact with each other. In Study 1, the digit ratio and finger counting mapping were recorded in right handers. The participants performed number-to-position, digit string bisection, and physical line bisection tasks. In the number-to-position task, a finger counting effect was found, as well as a significant interaction between factors. A digit ratio effect was observed in the digit string bisection task. In Study 2, digit ratio and finger counting mapping were recorded in right and left handers. The results showed that the finger counting habit influenced the spatial biases in both numerical tasks. A significant interaction between finger counting and digit ratio was found in both numerical tasks when only the left hand was considered. The results are discussed considering the embodied nature of the spatial-numerical association.
Galileo’s Dagger
Authors: Anstis Stuart
Published: August 2015

Galileo found that fine lines on a balance scale dazzled his eyes and were unreadable. So he used a grid of fine wires instead and ran his dagger across it, counting the number of auditory clicks. This is the first known experiment on sensory substitution.
Targets Need Their Own Personal Space: Effects of Clutter on Multiple-Target Search Accuracy
Authors: Adamo Stephen H. , Cain Matthew S. , Mitroff Stephen R.
Published: August 2015

Visual search is an essential task for many lifesaving professions; airport security personnel search baggage X-ray images for dangerous items and radiologists examine radiographs for tumors. Accuracy is critical for such searches; however, there are potentially negative influences that can affect performance; for example, the displays can be cluttered and can contain multiple targets. Previous research has demonstrated that clutter can hurt search performance and a second target is less likely to be detected in a multiple-target search after a first target has been found, which raises a concern—how does clutter affect multiple-target search performance? The current study explored clutter in a multiple-target search paradigm, where there could be one or two targets present, and targets appeared in varying levels of clutter. There was a significant interaction between clutter and target number: Increasing levels of clutter did not affect single-target detection but did reduce detection of a second target. Multiple-target search accuracy is known to be sensitive to contextual influences, and the current results reveal a specific effect wherein clutter disproportionally affected multiple-target search accuracy. These results suggest that the detection and processing of a first target might enhance the masking effects of clutter around a second target.
Relation of Descriptor Completeness and Distinctiveness to Localization of the Most Informative Regions in Images
Authors: Kalinin Konstantin B. , Petrushan Mikhail V. , Samarin Anatoly I.
Published: August 2015

Allocation of informative regions in images depends on a visual task. We propose two criteria for allocation of informative regions in images considering visual recognition of objects in images using a space-variant foveal filter. The first criterion relates to descriptor completeness. This criterion is formalized as a measure of similarity of an original image to an image reconstructed from foveal filter responses. The second criterion relates to descriptor distinctiveness. This criterion relates to the problem of retrieving discriminative and repeatable features in images of objects. It is formalized as a variation of descriptor elements of different objects within the same class. We reveal that regions of interest produced by these criteria are distributed in the areas of high variety of brightness gradients orientations.
Neuronal Representation of 3-D Space in the Primary Visual Cortex and Control of Eye Movements
Authors: Alekseenko Svetlana V.
Published: August 2015

The aim of this article is to consider the correlations between the structure of the primary visual cortical area V1 and control of coordinated movements of the two eyes. Using the anatomical data available, a schematic map of 3-D space representation in the layer IV of area V1 containing only monocular cells has been constructed. The analysis of this map revealed that binocular neurons of V1, which are formed by convergence of monocular cells, should encode the absolute disparity. Participation of monocular and binocular neurons of V1 in the control of convergence, divergence, and version eye movements is discussed. It is proposed that synchronous contraction of corresponding extraocular muscles of both eyes for vergence might be ensured by duplicated transmission of information from the central part of retina to visual cortex of both hemispheres.
Smooth Pursuit in Elderly Adults Studied With Apparent Motion
Authors: Bozhkova Valentina P. , Surovicheva Nadezhda S. , Nikolaev Dmitry P. , Nikolaev Ilya P. , Bolshakov Andrey S.
Published: August 2015

The variability of smooth pursuit eye movements was studied in a group of healthy subjects for horizontal apparent motion by a method that does not require direct measurements of eye movements. It was found that the individual smooth pursuit efficiencies for binocular perception in group of healthy elderly subjects (mean age 61 years) as well as in the group of healthy young adults were distinctly differentiated. Furthermore, we have not detected any age-related decrease in the fraction of subjects showing high smooth pursuit efficiencies. This fact demonstrates that the human oculomotor system is relatively resistant to the effects of aging. At the same time, an appreciable increase of percentage of persons with directional asymmetry of smooth pursuit has been found among elderly adults. A higher smooth pursuit efficiency was noticed reliably more often in the direction from left to right rather than in the opposite direction. Subject eye movements were recorded with i-View XTM Hi-Speed 1250 eye tracking system (SMI Inc.). These records confirmed that the smooth pursuit accuracy of older adults is less than that of young persons, at least in some directions of tracking.
Gaze Dynamics in the Recognition of Facial Expressions of Emotion
Authors: Barabanschikov Vladimir A.
Published: August 2015

We studied preferably fixated parts and features of human face in the process of recognition of facial expressions of emotion. Photographs of facial expressions were used. Participants were to categorize these as basic emotions; during this process, eye movements were registered. It was found that variation in the intensity of an expression is mirrored in accuracy of emotion recognition; it was also reflected by several indices of oculomotor function: duration of inspection of certain areas of the face, its upper and bottom or right parts, right and left sides; location, number and duration of fixations, viewing trajectory. In particular, for low-intensity expressions, right side of the face was found to be attended predominantly (right-side dominance); the right-side dominance effect, was, however, absent for expressions of high intensity. For both low- and high-intensity expressions, upper face part was predominantly fixated, though with greater fixation of high-intensity expressions. The majority of trials (70%), in line with findings in previous studies, revealed a V-shaped pattern of inspection trajectory. No relationship, between accuracy of recognition of emotional expressions, was found, though, with either location and duration of fixations or pattern of gaze directedness in the face.
How Were Eye Movements Recorded Before Yarbus?
Authors: Wade Nicholas J
Published: August 2015

Alfred Yarbus introduced a new dimension of precision in recording how the eyes moved, either when attempts were made to keep them stationary or when scanning pictures. Movements of the eyes had been remarked upon for millennia, but recording how they move is a more recent preoccupation. Emphasis was initially placed on abnormalities of oculomotor function (like strabismus) before normal features were considered. The interest was in where the eyes moved to rather than determining how they got there. The most venerable technique for examining ocular stability involved comparing the relative motion between an afterimage and a real image. In the late 18th century, Wells compared afterimages generated before body rotation with real images observed following it when dizzy; he described both lateral and torsional nystagmus, thereby demonstrating the directional discontinuities in eye velocities. At around the same time Erasmus Darwin used afterimages as a means of demonstrating ocular instability when attempting to fixate steadily. However, the overriding concern in the 19th century was with eye position rather than eye movements. Thus, the characteristics of nystagmus were recorded before those of saccades and fixations. Eye movements during reading were described by Hering and by Lamare (working in Javal’s laboratory) in 1879; both used similar techniques of listening (with tubes placed over the eyelids) to the sounds made during contractions of the extraocular muscles. Photographic records of eye movements during reading were made by Dodge early in the 20th century, and this stimulated research using a wider array of patterns. Eye movements over pictures were examined by Stratton and later by Buswell, who drew attention to the effects of instructions on the pattern of eye movements. In midcentury, attention shifted back to the stability of the eyes during fixation, with the emphasis on involuntary movements. The suction cap methods developed by Yarbus were applied with some success to recording the perceptual effects of retinal image stabilization. It is an historical irony that the accuracy of image stabilization with contact lenses was assessed by comparison with the oldest method for examining eye movements—afterimages.
The Influence of Monocular Spatial Cues on Vergence Eye Movements in Monocular and Binocular Viewing of 3-D and 2-D Stimuli
Authors: Batvinionak Anton A. , Gracheva Maria A. , Bolshakov Andrey S. , Rozhkova Galina I.
Published: August 2015

The influence of monocular spatial cues on the vergence eye movements was studied in two series of experiments: (I) the subjects were viewing a 3-D video and also its 2-D version—binocularly and monocularly; and (II) in binocular and monocular viewing conditions, the subjects were presented with stationary 2-D stimuli containing or not containing some monocular indications of spatial arrangement. The results of the series (I) showed that, in binocular viewing conditions, the vergence eye movements were only present in the case of 3-D but not 2-D video, while in the course of monocular viewing of 2-D video, some regular vergence eye movements could be revealed, suggesting that the occluded eye position could be influenced by the spatial organization of the scene reconstructed on the basis of the monocular depth information provided by the viewing eye. The data obtained in series (II), in general, seem to support this hypothesis.
Visual Percepts in the Cases of Binocular and Monocular Viewing Stabilized Test Objects, Ganzfeld Stimuli, and Prolonged Afterimages
Authors: Rozhkova Galina I. , Nikolaev Petr P.
Published: August 2015

A thorough analysis of the literature on retinal image stabilization, as well as our own experimental data, present evidence that Yarbus’s concept, implying inevitable and irreversible fading of a visible image evoked by stabilized retinal stimulus of any size, color, and luminance in 1 to 3 s after its onset, is not valid in a general case. It has been demonstrated that, even with Yarbus’s stabilization techniques, the lifetime of visible images varies from fractions of a second to the whole stimulus duration—up to 30 min in our experiments—depending on many factors: monocular or binocular viewing, stimulus parameters, characteristics of subjects, and so forth. The dynamics of perceived images is determined mainly by the processes at the higher levels of the visual system. In the cases of such unusual visual stimuli as stabilized retinal images, it is problematic for the visual brain to find their proper interpretations in terms of everyday natural experience. Usually, the responses of retinal units are determined by three types of coexisting images: (a) the optical projections of external objects, (b) shadows of the blood vessels and other internal eye structures, (c) virtual patterns caused by the traces of previous stimuli. A task of the visual system is to recognize and visualize only external objects separating their projections from all the entoptic images of the two remaining types. To implement separation, visual brain employs a number of approaches—in particular, the eye movements that cause sliding over the retina but only the projection of the external objects. This means that the peculiar phenomena observed in the cases of stabilized retinal images can be determined not by invariability of such stimuli per se but rather by the fact that stabilization eliminates a powerful cue helping to identify the retinal images belonging to the external objects, thereby increasing the probability to treat them as the entoptic ones which should be ignored or canceled rather than perceived. However, the probability of canceling—image fading—can be essentially reduced in conditions of concordant, large, bright, and sharp binocular stimuli.
Perceptual Grouping Affects Haptic Enumeration Over the Fingers
Authors: Overvliet Krista E. , Plaisier Myrthe A.
Published: August 2015

Spatial arrangement is known to influence enumeration times in vision. In haptic enumeration, it has been shown that dividing the total number of items over the two hands can speed up enumeration. Here we investigated how spatial arrangement of items and non-items presented to the individual fingers impacts enumeration times. More specifically, we tested whether grouping by proximity facilitates haptic serial enumeration (counting). Participants were asked to report the number of tangible items, amongst non-items, presented to the finger pads of both hands. In the first experiment, we divided the tangible items in one, two, or three groups that were defined by proximity (i.e., one nonitem in between two groups) and found that number of groups and not number of items were the critical factor in enumeration times. In a second experiment, we found that this grouping even takes place when groups extend across fingers of both hands. These results suggest that grouping by proximity affects haptic serial enumeration and that this grouping takes place on a spatial level possibly in addition to the somatotopic level. Our results support the idea that grouping by proximity, a principle introduced in vision, also greatly affects haptic processing of spatial information.
From Exploration to Fixation: An Integrative View of Yarbus’s Vision
Authors: Martinez-Conde Susana , Macknik Stephen L.
Published: August 2015

Alfred Lukyanovich Yarbus (1914–1986) pioneered the study of stabilized retinal images, miniature eye movements, and the cognitive influences that act on visual scanning. Yarbus’s studies of these different topics have remained fundamentally disconnected and independent of each other, however. In this review, we propose that Yarbus’s various research lines are instead deeply and intrinsically interconnected, as are the small eye movements produced during visual fixation and the large-scale scanning patterns associated with visual exploration of objects and scenes. Such apparently disparate viewing behaviors may represent the extremes of a single continuum of oculomotor performance that operates across spatial scales when we search the visual world.
Yarbus’s Conceptions on the General Mechanisms of Color Perception
Authors: Nikolaev Petr P. , Rozhkova Galina I.
Published: August 2015

In the last series of papers published during 1975 to 1980, Alfred Yarbus tried to formulate general conceptions concerning the basic principles of retinal image processing in the human visual system. The original ideas of Yarbus were based on the results of his numerous and various experiments carried out with extraordinary inventiveness and great skill. Being concentrated primarily on the problems of color vision, Alfred Yarbus dreamed of elaborating a comprehensive model that would simulate visual information processing at the monocular precognitive level in the visual system of humans with normal trichromatic color perception. In this article, the most important of Yarbus’ experimental paradigms, findings, statements, and conclusions are systematized and considered in relation to the classical theories of color perception and, in particular, fundamental theses of the Nyberg school. The perceptual model developed by Alfred Yarbus remained incomplete. Nevertheless, it is already evident that some intrinsic contradictions make it inadequate in terms of comprehensive modeling. However, certain partial advantages deserve more thorough appreciation and further investigation.
Multiple Level Crowding: Crowding at the Object Parts Level and at the Object Configural level
Authors: Kimchi Ruth , Pirkner Yossef
Published: August 2015

In crowding, identification of a peripheral target in the presence of nearby flankers is worse than when the target appears alone. Prevailing theories hold that crowding occurs because of integration or “pooling” of low-level features at a single, relatively early stage of visual processing. Recent studies suggest that crowding can occur also between high-level object representations. The most relevant findings come from studies with faces and may be specific to faces. We examined whether crowding can occur at the object configural level in addition to part-level crowding, using nonface objects. Target (a disconnected square or diamond made of four elements) identification was measured at varying eccentricities. The flankers were similar either to the target parts or to the target configuration. The results showed crowding in both cases: Flankers interfered with target identification such that identification accuracy decreased with an increase in eccentricity, and no interference was observed at the fovea. Crowding by object parts, however, was weaker and had smaller spatial extent than crowding by object configurations; we related this finding to the relationship between crowding and perceptual organization. These results provide strong evidence that crowding occurs not only between object parts but also between configural representations of objects.
Metaphorical Salience in Artistic Text Processing: Evidence From Eye Movement
Authors: Novikova Eleonora G. , Janyan Armina , Tsaregorodtseva Oksana V.
Published: August 2015

The study aimed to explore processing difference between a literal phrase and a metaphoric one. Unlike artificially created stimuli in most experimental research, an artistic text with an ambiguous binary metaphoric phrase was used. Eye tracking methodology was applied. Results suggested difference between the two types of phrases in both early and late processing measures.
Early Changes in Saccadic Eye Movement in Hemiparkinsonian MPTP-Treated Monkeys
Authors: Tereshchenko Leonid V. , Anisimov Victor N. , Shul’govsky Valery V. , Latanov Alexander V.
Published: August 2015

The saccadic eye movements declining given the development of Parkinson’s disease (PD) still deserves thorough analysis. Recent studies confirmed that PD patients show poor saccadic control in visuomotor tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamics of saccades parameters at the development of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) model of PD. The gradual decline of saccadic control was studied in two monkeys that executed the visuomotor task with low doses of MPTP being injected at a prolonged period of time. The experiment included investigating the horizontal, vertical, oblique visually guided saccades as well as the corrective saccades triggered by stimuli onset in various loci within a two-dimensional visual field in the Gap-Step-Overlap paradigm. Our study revealed that the execution of visually guided saccades with small amplitude and corrective saccades changed dramatically with MPTP-model progressing. These changes are also confirmed statistically at the presymptomatic stage of MPTP syndrome. Not only our study gives a robust report of PD dynamics development and saccadic control but the obtained data could also be helpful in developing methods for the early diagnosis of PD.
Scanpaths of Complex Image Viewing: Insights From Experimental and Modeling Studies
Authors: Samarin Anatoly , Koltunova Tatiana , Osinov Vladislav , Shaposhnikov Dmitry , Podladchikova Lubov
Published: August 2015

From the first works of Buswell, Yarbus, and Noton and Stark, the scan path for viewing complex images has been considered as a possible key to objective estimation of cognitive processes and their dynamics. However, evidences both pro and con were revealed in the modern research. In this article, the results supporting the Yarbus-Stark concept are presented. In psychophysical tests, two types of images (three paintings from Yarbus` works and four textures) were used with two instructions, namely, “free viewing” and “search for modified image regions.” The focus of the analysis of experimental results and modeling has been given to local elements of the scan path. It was shown that each parameter used (square of viewing area, S; distance between center of mass of viewing area and image center, R; parameter Xi, based on duration of the current fixation and angle between preceding and following saccades), reflects the specificity of both visual task and image properties. Additionally, the return gaze fixations which have a set of specific properties and mainly address to the areas of interest on image were revealed. Evidently these facts can be formalized in an advanced mathematical model as additional instrument to study the mechanisms of complex image viewing.
Precision and Bias in Approximate Numerical Judgment in Auditory, Tactile, and Cross-modal Presentation
Authors: Tokita Midori , Ishiguchi Akira
Published: August 2015

Many studies have claimed that the numerosity of any set of discrete elements can be depicted by a genuinely abstract number representation, irrespective of whether they are presented in a visual, auditory, or tactile modality. However, in behavioral studies, some inconsistencies have been observed in the performance of number comparisons among different modalities. In this study, we have tested whether numerical comparisons of auditory, tactile, and cross-modal presentations would differ under adequate control of stimulus presentation, and, if so, how they would differ. The unimodal and cross-modal stimuli pairs were presented in sequential manner. We measured the Weber fractions (i.e., precision) and points of subjective equality (i.e., accuracy) of numerical discriminations in auditory, tactile, and crossmodal conditions. The results showed that the Weber fractions are constant over standard stimuli, indicating that the Weber’s law holds for the range of numerical values that was tested. Furthermore, the Weber fractions are consistent over unimodal and cross-modal comparisons, and this indicates that there is no additional noise involved in the cross-modal comparisons. Interestingly, the bias measure showed that the number of auditory stimuli is systematically overestimated compared with that of tactile stimuli.
The Mirrored Hand Illusion: I Control, So I Possess?
Authors: Zhou Aibao , Zhang Yanchi , Yin Yulong , Yang Yang
Published: August 2015

Certain situations may not only cause people to misjudge external information but also distort people’s perception of themselves. The present study is the first to report the mirrored hand illusion which could be generated when the experimenter imitated the fist-clenching movements of the subject synchronously. The subjects formed the illusion that the experimenter’s hand was “something I can control” when being imitated synchronously. In addition, a sense of ownership over the alien hand was established by integrating multisensory signals and comparing these signals with preexisting body presentations. This method might represent a new avenue for research on the formation of self-consciousness.
Deaf Individuals Show a Leftward Bias in Numerical Bisection
Authors: Cattaneo Zaira , Cecchetto Carlo , Papagno Costanza
Published: August 2015

Consistent evidence suggests that deaf individuals conceive of numerical magnitude as a left-to-right-oriented mental number line, as typically observed in hearing individuals. When accessing this spatial representation of numbers, normally hearing individuals typically show an attentional bias to the left (pseudoneglect), resembling the attentional bias they show in physical space. Deaf individuals do not show pseudoneglect in representing external space, as assessed by a visual line bisection task. However, whether deaf individuals show attentional biases in representing numerical space has never been investigated before. Here we instructed groups of deaf and hearing individuals to quickly estimate (without calculating) the midpoint of a series of numerical intervals presented in ascending and descending order. Both hearing and deaf individuals were significantly biased toward lower numbers (i.e., the leftward side of the mental number line) in their estimations. Nonetheless, the underestimation bias was smaller in deaf individuals than in the hearing when bisecting pairs of numbers given in descending order. This result may depend on the use of different strategies by deaf and hearing participants or a less pronounced lateralization of deaf individuals in the control of spatial attention.
Metaphoric Car Drawings By a 12-Year-Old Congenitally Blind Girl
Authors: Chao Hsin-Yi , Kennedy John M.
Published: August 2015

A 12-year-old congenitally-blind girl drew a car moving, stationary, and braking. For stationary, she put the wheels inside the car and, for braking, drew the wheels as rough rectangles. At the age verbal metaphor is understood ( Winner, 1988 ), the girl invented metaphoric drawings. In these, what is shown is not what is meant. In late childhood, metaphor may be understood similarly in pictures and words and by the sighted and blind.
Building Bridges in New Jersey
Authors: Abdel-Salam Sami , Kilmer Ashley , Monico Laura , Visher Christy A.
Published: August 2015

This article describes the experience and outcomes of the National Institute on Drug Abuse–funded Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies 2 Improving Best Practices in Assessment and Case Planning for Offenders protocol in the state of New Jersey. The protocol was designed to test the effectiveness of an Organizational Process Improvement Intervention in improving four assessment and case planning domains for drug-involved offenders in correctional settings transferring to community treatment based agencies. This article describes the protocol and the change team model process through which correctional and community agency staff collaborated to improve assessment and case planning for offenders with substance abuse problems. The primary goal of these collaborative efforts was to link information across stages of the treatment continuum to improve service coordination. Data taken from qualitative interviews with agency participants are used to illustrate the common themes that emerged relating to the intervention process, barriers to implementing developed goals, and facilitative factors that contributed to successes. The findings from the current study provide indication that organizational process improvement strategies can be implemented within a correctional setting to reduce interorganizational barriers and to facilitate improvements in the continuum of care involved in the treatment of offenders with histories of substance abuse.
An Examination of Women Ex-Offenders With Methadone Histories
Authors: Majer John M. , Harris Jasmine C. , Jason Leonard A.
Published: August 2015

Criminal (drug and prostitution) charges, employment levels (weekly hours), recent substance use in the past 6 months, and primary sources of income were examined among a sample ( n = 106) of women ex-offenders who had opioid use disorders with and without methadone histories. A general linear model was tested to examine differences in relation to methadone use history. Results from a one-way MANCOVA found that those with methadone histories reported significantly higher levels of drug and prostitution charges than those without any methadone history, but no significant differences in terms of weekly hours of employment or recent substance use were observed between groups. Women ex-offenders with methadone histories reported various sources of income beyond employment, and proportionally, more of these women reported prostitution as a primary source of income. Findings suggest that methadone maintenance treatments are not sufficient in meeting the needs of women ex-offenders.
Quantitative methods I
Authors: Brunsdon Chris
Published: August 2015

Reproducible quantitative research is research that has been documented sufficiently rigorously that a third party can replicate any quantitative results that arise. It is argued here that such a goal is desirable for quantitative human geography, particularly as trends in this area suggest a turn towards the creation of algorithms and codes for simulation and the analysis of Big Data. A number of examples of good practice in this area are considered, spanning a time period from the late 1970s to the present day. Following this, practical aspects such as tools that enable research to be made reproducible are discussed, and some beneficial side effects of adopting the practice are identified. The paper concludes by considering some of the challenges faced by quantitative geographers aspiring to publish reproducible research.
Bolt tension monitoring with reusable fiber Bragg-grating sensors
Authors: Khomenko Anton , Koricho Ermias G , Haq Mahmoodul , Cloud Gary L
Published: August 2015

Bolted/mechanical fastening is one of the oldest and most widely used joining techniques. While it has many advantages such as ease of assembly and repair, it also has some important limitations. One such concern is bolt clamping load control and monitoring during and after joint assembly. Conventionally used torque wrenches can provide only an approximation of the clamping load and cannot be used for load monitoring. Clamping force transducers are bulky, expensive, and cannot usually be incorporated into the bolted joint for continuous load monitoring in the field. In this work, a novel implementation of a transducer device, called here for convenience the “bolt tension monitor,” is described and tested. It utilizes removable and reusable fiber Bragg-grating sensor(s) embedded in a bolt shaft for preload and retained clamping force measurements. While the inherent small size of the fiber Bragg-grating provides precise monitoring without significant effect on the intrinsic properties of the bolt, the embedding of an fiber Bragg-grating sensor with temporary adhesives allows quick assembly, disassembly, and reassembly of the sensor. Furthermore, these instrumented bolts can be used for structural health monitoring and defect detection in joints and structures. The technique shows great potential in simple adaptation to conventional manufacturing practices, precise clamping load measurement, and structural health monitoring of bolts and resulting joints.