Lateralized processing of faces: The role of features, configurations and familiarity

We investigated the lateralized processing of featural and configural information in face recognition in two divided visual field studies. In Experiment 1, participants matched the identity of a cue face containing either featural (scrambled faces) or configural (blurred faces) information with an intact test face presented subsequently either in the right visual field (RVF) or in the left visual field (LVF). Unilateral presentation was controlled by monitoring eye movements. The results show an advantage of the left hemisphere (LH) over the right hemisphere (RH) for featural processing and a specialization of the RH for configural compared to featural processing. In Experiment 2, we focused on configural processing and its relationship to familiarity. Either learned or novel test faces were presented in the LVF or the RVF. Participants recognized learned faces better when presented in the LVF than in the RVF, suggesting that the RH has an advantage in the recognition of learned faces. Because the recognition of familiar faces relies strongly on configural information (Buttle & Raymond, 2003), we argue that the advantage of the RH over the LH in configural processing is a function of familiarity.

Redox front geochemistry and weathering: theory with application to the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine, Poços de Caldas, Brazil

Numerical calculations describing weathering of the Poços de Caldas alkaline complex (Minas Gerais, Brazil) by infiltrating groundwater are carried out for time spans up to two million years in the absence of pyrite, and up to 500,000 years with pyrite present. Deposition of uranium resulting from infiltration of oxygenated, uranium bearing groundwater through the hydrothermally altered phonolitic host rock at the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine is also included in the latter calculation. The calculations are based on the quasi-stationary state approximation to mass conservation equations for pure advective transport. This approximation enables the prediction of solute concentrations, mineral abundances and porosity as functions of time and distance over geologic time spans. Mineral reactions are described by kinetic rate laws for both precipitation and dissolution. Homogeneous equilibrium is assumed to be maintained within the aqueous phase. No other constraints are imposed on the calculations other than the initial composition of the unaltered host rock and the composition of the inlet fluid, taken as rainwater modified by percolation through a soil zone. The results are in qualitative agreement with field observations at the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine. They predict a lateritic cover followed by a highly porous saprolitic zone, a zone of oxidized rock with pyrite replaced by iron-hydroxide, a sharp redox front at which uranium is deposited, and the reduced unweathered host rock. Uranium is deposited in a narrow zone located on the reduced side of the redox front in association with pyrite, in agreement with field observations. The calculations predict the formation of a broad dissolution front of primary kaolinite that penetrates deep into the host rock accompanied by the precipitation of secondary illite. Secondary kaolinite occurs in a saprolitic zone near the surface and in the vicinity of the redox front. Gibbsite forms a bi-modal distribution consisting of a maximum near the surface followed by a thin tongue extending downward into the weathered profile in agreement with field observations. The results are found to be insensitive to the kinetic rate constants used to describe mineral reactions.

Outcomes in Advanced Head and Neck Cancer Treated with Up-front Neck Dissection prior to (Chemo)Radiotherapy.

OBJECTIVE Our aim was to compare outcomes with and without up-front neck dissection prior to (chemo)radiotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. STUDY DESIGN Case series with chart review. SETTING Tertiary referral center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Outcomes of oropharyngeal, laryngeal, and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma cases with neck lymph node metastases treated from January 2001 to March 2012 were analyzed. Due to imbalances in baseline characteristics between groups treated with (n = 129) and without (n = 95) up-front neck dissection, propensity score matching was performed. RESULTS Median follow-up was 48 months (range, 12-148). With up-front neck dissection, the hazard ratio for the primary end point, disease-free survival, was 0.63 (95% confidence interval: 0.37-1.06, P = .08). Up-front neck dissection reduced acute grade ≥3 toxicity significantly when xerostomia was excluded (odds ratio: 0.40, 95% confidence interval: 0.20-0.82, P = .012). CONCLUSION Our results indicate less acute treatment toxicity without any significant difference in terms of oncologic outcome with up-front neck dissection prior to (chemo)radiotherapy as compared with (chemo)radiotherapy alone. Well-designed randomized trials are required to verify this result and further investigate the impact of this strategy on late toxicity and oncologic outcome.

Can women detect cues to ovulation in other women's faces?

Recent research suggests that men find portraits of ovulatory women more attractive than photographs of the same women taken during the luteal phase. Only few studies have investigated whether the same is true for women. The ovulatory phase matters to men because women around ovulation are most likely to conceive, and might matter to women because fertile women might pose a reproductive threat. In an online study 160 women were shown face pairs, one of which was assimilated to the shape of a late follicular prototype and the other to a luteal prototype, and were asked to indicate which face they found more attractive. A further 60 women were tested in the laboratory using a similar procedure. In addition to choosing the more attractive face, these participants were asked which woman would be more likely to steal their own date. Because gonadal hormones influence competitive behaviour, we also examined whether oestradiol, testosterone and progesterone levels predict women's choices. The women found neither the late follicular nor the luteal version more attractive. However, naturally cycling women with higher oestradiol levels were more likely to choose the ovulatory woman as the one who would entice their date than women with lower oestradiol levels. These results imply a role of oestradiol when evaluating other women who are competing for reproduction.

Earthquake- induced Geomorphology: A Neotectonic Study at the Front of the Alps (Lake Thun & Aare Valley, Switzerland)

We present a multi-disciplinary two-step approach to assess the potential for seismic hazard of the Aare valley and perialpine Lake Thun (Switzerland). High-resolution seismic images and multibeam-bathymetric data, complemented by field observations represent the tools to identify potentially active seismogenic fault structures. Several second-order earthquake effects such as subaqueous mass movements, seismites and liquefaction structures have been observed in Lake Thun and ultimately document the seismic activity of the study area. A first investigation of possibly first-order active structures is presented in the scope of this study. Recently acquired bathymetric data in Lake Thun reveal significant morphologic depressions aligning with an observed lineament on land. Furthermore, high-resolution seismic images indicate potential fault structures in Lake Thun. However, their continuation with depth has to be verified with a multichannel seismic campaign, scheduled for March 2015.

Die politische Front des Liberalismus und der religiösen Mächte in der Volks- und Staatskrise

Ernst Michel