Microstructural Brain Differences Predict Functional Hemodynamic Responses in a Reward Processing Task

Many aspects of human behavior are driven by rewards, yet different people are differentially sensitive to rewards and punishment. In this study, we showthat white matter microstructure inthe uncinate/inferiorfronto-occipitalfasciculus, defined byfractional anisotropy values derived from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance images, correlates with both short-term (indexed by the fMRI blood oxygenation level-dependent response to reward in the nucleus accumbens) and long-term (indexed by the trait measure sensitivity to punishment) reactivityto rewards.Moreover,traitmeasures of reward processingwere also correlatedwith reward-relatedfunctional activation in the nucleus accumbens. The white matter tract revealed by the correlational analysis connects the anterior temporal lobe with the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex and also supplies the ventral striatum. The pattern of strong correlations suggests an intimate relationship betweenwhitematter structure and reward-related behaviorthatmay also play a rolein a number of pathological conditions, such as addiction and pathological gambling.

Bulletin des armées de la République : réservé à la zone des armées

1915/01/04 (N60)-1915/06/30 (N110).

Bulletin des armées de la République : réservé à la zone des armées

1914/08/15 (N1)-1915/01/03 (N59).

Research of wood fuel market in North-West of Russia

The main purposes of this study are analyzing of forest sector of North-West and research of potentials of wood fuel market in this region. Research is focused on definition of the most perspective areas for export of wood fuel: logging residues, industrial wood processing residues, pellets and briquettes. Russian wood energy industry is very young in comparison with European countries. Nowadays there are no support and serious attention from the government to this sector. Hence almost all wood fuel market is oriented to the Western Europe. Export of wood fuel is dominated over the internal consumption. Pellet production in North –West is rapidly growing. Despite internal market has been developed the lion's share of pellets goes to export. Part of industrial wood processing residues is used by producers for their own goals, part goes to the export and rest of them is not used at all. Logging residues as raw materials for fuel have great potentials; most of them are left in a forest. Special techniques for their processing are too expensive for Russian entrepreneur. Some parts of North –West, which are situated close to the border with European countries, are potential for export. Political, economical and logistical challenges are complicated facilities for foreign customer to purchase wood fuel in remote parts of North-West. However some decisions for solving this problem exist and Russian manufactures are still interested in export of their products.

Alternative Techniques of Neural Signal Processing in Neuroengineering

Neural signal processing is a discipline within neuroengineering. This interdisciplinary approach combines principles from machine learning, signal processing theory, and computational neuroscience applied to problems in basic and clinical neuroscience. The ultimate goal of neuroengineering is a technological revolution, where machines would interact in real time with the brain. Machines and brains could interface, enabling normal function in cases of injury or disease, brain monitoring, and/or medical rehabilitation of brain disorders. Much current research in neuroengineering is focused on understanding the coding and processing of information in the sensory and motor systems, quantifying how this processing is altered in the pathological state, and how it can be manipulated through interactions with artificial devices including brain–computer interfaces and neuroprosthetics.

Improving the efficiency of PV low-power processing circuits by selecting an optimal inductor current of the DC/DC converter

In the context of autonomous sensors powered by small-size photovoltaic (PV) panels, this work analyses how the efficiency of DC/DC-converter-based power processing circuits can be improved by an appropriate selection of the inductor current that transfers the energy from the PV panel to a storage unit. Each component of power losses (fixed, conduction and switching losses) involved in the DC/DC converter specifically depends on the average inductor current so that there is an optimal value of this current that causes minimal losses and, hence, maximum efficiency. Such an idea has been tested experimentally using two commercial DC/DC converters whose average inductor current is adjustable. Experimental results show that the efficiency can be improved up to 12% by selecting an optimal value of that current, which is around 300-350 mA for such DC/DC converters.

One, two, or many mechanisms? The brain's processing of complex words

The heated debate over whether there is only a single mechanism or two mechanisms for morphology has diverted valuable research energy away from the more critical questions about the neural computations involved in the comprehension and production of morphologically complex forms. Cognitive neuroscience data implicate many brain areas. All extant models, whether they rely on a connectionist network or espouse two mechanisms, are too underspecified to explain why more than a few brain areas differ in their activity during the processing of regular and irregular forms. No one doubts that the brain treats regular and irregular words differently, but brain data indicate that a simplistic account will not do. It is time for us to search for the critical factors free from theoretical blinders.

Functional connectivity of reward processing in the brain

Controversial results have been reported concerning the neural mechanisms involved in the processing of rewards and punishments. On the one hand, there is evidence suggesting that monetary gains and losses activate a similar fronto-subcortical network. On the other hand, results of recent studies imply that reward and punishment may engage distinct neural mechanisms. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we investigated both regional and interregional functional connectivity patterns while participants performed a gambling task featuring unexpectedly high monetary gains and losses. Classical univariate statistical analysis showed that monetary gains and losses activated a similar fronto-striatallimbic network, in which main activation peaks were observed bilaterally in the ventral striatum. Functional connectivity analysis showed similar responses for gain and loss conditions in the insular cortex, the amygdala, and the hippocampus that correlated with the activity observed in the seed region ventral striatum, with the connectivity to the amygdala appearing more pronounced after losses. Larger functional connectivity was found to the medial orbitofrontal cortex for negative outcomes. The fact that different functional patterns were obtained with both analyses suggests that the brain activations observed in the classical univariate approach identifi es the involvement of different functional networks in the current task. These results stress the importance of studying functional connectivity in addition to standard fMRI analysis in reward-related studies.

An Engineering Solution for using Coarse Meshes in the Simulation of Delamination with Cohesive Zone Models

This paper presents a methodology to determine the parameters used in the simulation of delamination in composite materials using decohesion finite elements. A closed-form expression is developed to define the stiffness of the cohesive layer. A novel procedure that allows the use of coarser meshes of decohesion elements in large-scale computations is proposed. The procedure ensures that the energy dissipated by the fracture process is correctly computed. It is shown that coarse-meshed models defined using the approach proposed here yield the same results as the models with finer meshes normally used in the simulation of fracture processes

Simulation of Delamination Propagation in Composites Under High-Cycle Fatigue by Means of Cohesive-Zone Models

A damage model for the simulation of delamination propagation under high-cycle fatigue loading is proposed. The basis for the formulation is a cohesive law that links fracture and damage mechanics to establish the evolution of the damage variable in terms of the crack growth rate dA/dN. The damage state is obtained as a function of the loading conditions as well as the experimentally-determined coefficients of the Paris Law crack propagation rates for the material. It is shown that by using the constitutive fatigue damage model in a structural analysis, experimental results can be reproduced without the need of additional model-specific curve-fitting parameters

Programació d'una aplicació gràfica per l'anàlisi de senyals usant LDB (Local Discriminant Bases) i MLDB (Modified LDB)

Tot seguit presentem un entorn per analitzar senyals de tot tipus amb LDB (Local Discriminant Bases) i MLDB (Modified Local Discriminant Bases). Aquest entorn utilitza funcions desenvolupades en el marc d’una tesi en fase de desenvolupament. Per entendre part d’aquestes funcions es requereix un nivell de coneixement avançat de processament de senyals. S’han extret dels treballs realitzats per Naoki Saito [3], que s’han agafat com a punt de partida per la realització de l’algorisme de la tesi doctoral no finalitzada de Jose Antonio Soria. Aquesta interfície desenvolupada accepta la incorporació de nous paquets i funcions. Hem deixat un menú preparat per integrar Sinus IV packet transform i Cosine IV packet transform, tot i que també podem incorporar-n’hi altres. L’aplicació consta de dues interfícies, un Assistent i una interfície principal. També hem creat una finestra per importar i exportar les variables desitjades a diferents entorns. Per fer aquesta aplicació s’han programat tots els elements de les finestres, en lloc d’utilitzar el GUIDE (Graphical User Interface Development Enviroment) de MATLAB, per tal que sigui compatible entre les diferents versions d’aquest programa. En total hem fet 73 funcions en la interfície principal (d’aquestes, 10 pertanyen a la finestra d’importar i exportar) i 23 en la de l’Assistent. En aquest treball només explicarem 6 funcions i les 3 de creació d’aquestes interfícies per no fer-lo excessivament extens. Les funcions que explicarem són les més importants, ja sigui perquè s’utilitzen sovint, perquè, segons la complexitat McCabe, són les més complicades o perquè són necessàries pel processament del senyal. Passem cada entrada de dades per part de l’usuari per funcions que ens detectaran errors en aquesta entrada, com eliminació de zeros o de caràcters que no siguin números, com comprovar que són enters o que estan dins dels límits màxims i mínims que li pertoquen.

Identification of the Emerging Issues in Recycled Fiber Processing

The objectives of this research work “Identification of the Emerging Issues in Recycled Fiber processing” are discovering of emerging research issues and presenting of new approaches to identify promising research themes in recovered paper application and production. The projected approach consists of identifying technological problems often encountered in wastepaper preparation processes and also improving the quality of recovered paper and increasing its proportion in the composition of paper and board. The source of information for the problem retrieval is scientific publications in which waste paper application and production were discussed. The study has exploited several research methods to understand the changes related to utilization of recovered paper. The all assembled data was carefully studied and categorized by applying software called RefViz and CiteSpace. Suggestions were made on the various classes of these problems that need further investigation in order to propose an emerging research trends in recovered paper.

Managing the Pricing of Integrated Solutions in Export Partnerships

Little research has been conducted to guide the management of marketing variables, such as pricing, in systems business context. Furthermore, given that international partnering has become a popular mode of operation for SMEs, the objective of the current thesis was to explore the scantly researched topic of managing the pricing of integrated solutions in an export partnership. Specifically, the thesis synthesizes literature findings from the three areas of export pricing, systems business, and export partnerships. The empirical section of the study consists of a qualitative single-case study of a Finnish systems integrator that has recently launched its export operations. Primary data was collected by conducting four interviews of the case company’s managers and by organizing one group interview session. The study findings indicate that a systems integrator’s pricing strategy in an export partnership can be very multidimensional and dependant on international pricing environment and partner characteristics, that an export partnership appears to have unique implications on a systems integrator’s pricing process, and that customer value –based pricing strategies might be particularly suited to pricing integrated solutions.

Evaluation of sample processing methods for the polar contaminant analysis of sewage sludge using liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (LC/MS)

Monitoring of sewage sludge has proved the presence of many polar anthropogenic pollutants since LC/MS techniques came into routine use. While advanced techniques may improve characterizations, flawed sample processing procedures, however, may disturb or disguise the presence and fate of many target compounds present in this type of complex matrix before analytical process starts. Freeze-drying or oven-drying, in combination with centrifugation or filtration as sample processing techniques were performed followed by visual pattern recognition of target compounds for assessment of pretreatment processes. The results shown that oven-drying affected the sludge characterization, while freeze-drying led to less analytical misinterpretations.