The problem of finite-time stability of switched genetic regulatory networks with time-varying delays via Wirtinger’s integral inequality is addressed in this study. A novel Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional is proposed to capture the dynamical characteristic of GRNs. Using Wirtinger’s integral inequality, reciprocally convex combination technique and the average dwell time method conditions in the form of linear matrix inequalities are established for finite-time stability of switched GRNs. The applicability of the developed finite-time stability conditions is validated by (...) numerical results. (shrink)

A double delayed hybrid stochastic prey-predator bioeconomic system with Lévy jumps is established and analyzed, where commercial harvesting on prey and environmental stochasticity on population dynamics are considered. Two discrete time delays are utilized to represent the maturation delay of prey and gestation delay of predator, respectively. For a deterministic system, positivity of solutions and uniform persistence of system are discussed. Some sufficient conditions associated with double time delays are derived to discuss asymptotic stability of interior (...) equilibrium. For a stochastic system, existence and uniqueness of a global positive solution are studied. By using the invariant measure theory and singular boundary theory of diffusion process, existence of stochastic Hopf bifurcation and stochastic stability are investigated. By constructing appropriate Lyapunov functions, asymptotic dynamic behavior of the proposed hybrid stochastic system with double time delays and Lévy jumps is discussed. Numerical simulations are provided to show consistency with theoretical analysis. (shrink)

Neurons encode and transmit signals through chemical synaptic or electrical synaptic connections in the actual nervous system. Exploring the biophysical properties of coupling channels is of great significance for further understanding the rhythm transitions of neural network electrical activity patterns and preventing neurological diseases. From the perspective of biophysics, the activation of magnetic field coupling is the result of the continuous release and propagation of intracellular and extracellular ions, which is very similar to the activation of chemical synaptic coupling through (...) the continuous release of neurotransmitters. In this article, an induction coil is used to connect two HR neurons to stimulate the effect of magnetic field coupling. It is inevitable that time delays can affect the coupling process in the transmission of information, and it should be considered in the coupled model. Firstly, the firing characteristics and bifurcation modes of two coupled HR neurons are studied by using one parameter and two parameters bifurcation. With the increase of propagation delay and coupling gain, the chaotic state of neurons disappears and the high-period window decreases due to the influence of energy transfer between neurons. Then, the synchronization patterns of two HR neurons with different stimulation are analyzed by error diagrams and time series diagrams. It is confirmed that the synchronous pattern has certain regularity and is related not only to the neurons with large stimulation current but also to the time delay and coupling gain. The research conclusions of this article will provide the corresponding theoretical basis for medical experiments. (shrink)

In this paper, the stability of switched neural networks with interval parameter uncertainties and time delays is investigated. First, the conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium point of the system are discussed. Second, the average dwell time approach and M-matrix property are employed to obtain conditions to ensure the globally exponential stability of the delayed SNNs under constrained switching. Third, by resorting to inequality technique and the idea of vector Lyapunov function, sufficient condition to ensure (...) the robust exponential stability of the delayed SNNs under arbitrary switching is derived. The form of the constructed Lyapunov functions is simple, which has certain commonality in studying delayed SNNs, and the proposed results not only are explicit but also reveal the relationship between the constrained switching and the arbitrary switching of the SNNs. Finally, two numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and less conservativeness of the main results compared with the existing literature. (shrink)

The dynamics behaviors of Kaldor–Kalecki business cycle model with diffusion effect and time delay under the Neumann boundary conditions are investigated. First the conditions of time-independent and time-dependent stability are investigated. Then, we find that the time delay can give rise to the Hopf bifurcation when the time delay passes a critical value. Moreover, the normal form of Hopf bifurcations is obtained by using the center manifold theorem and normal form theory of (...) the partial differential equation, which can determine the bifurcation direction and the stability of the periodic solutions. Finally, numerical results not only validate the obtained theorems, but also show that the diffusion coefficients play a key role in the spatial pattern. With the diffusion coefficients increasing, different patterns appear. (shrink)

This article investigates the impacts of proper modeling of the wake effects and wind speed delays, between different wind turbines' rows, on the dynamic performance accuracy of the wind farms models. Three different modeling scenarios were compared to highlight the impacts of wake effects and wind speed time-delay models. In the first scenario, wind wake effect and time delay are ignored. Consequently, all wind turbines are assumed subjected to the same wind speed profile. The second scenario (...) considers the wind wake effect, and it was modeled by reducing the incident wind speed values by 0.5 m/s from one row to the next row facing the wind. The last scenario, the proposed model, used the wind wake effect model developed for wind turbines micrositting applications and considered the effect of the delay time between the wind speed profiles incident on the different wind turbines' rows. (shrink)

Time-delayed coincidence Mössbauer experiments, in which the spread in energy may be either greater or less than the natural linewidth, are discussed. This discussion leads to the conclusion that in the uncertainty relation ΔE Δt ≥ $\begin{array}{*{20}c} / \\ h \\ \end{array} /2$ , Δt should be interpreted as the duration time of the measurement and not as the lifetime of the state. Further analysis shows that confinement of photons to the region of space between emitter and (...) absorber should cause a frequency spread much larger than actually observed. This leads to the conclusion that to think of photons as being created at one point in space, traveling with the velocity of light to another point, then being absorbed or destroyed, is incorrect. (shrink)

The phenomenon of quantum tunneling challenges classical intuitions about particle behavior and offers profound insights into the nature of quantum entities. This article examines tunneling through the lens of an effect predicted by Thomas E. Hartman in 1962: the tunneling time-delay becomes independent of the barrier width as the latter increases, implying superluminal effective velocities that appear to conflict with relativistic constraints. Exploiting the inherent symmetries of transmitted and reflected time-delays, our analysis shows that a tunneling (...) particle, like its reflected counterpart, completely avoids the barrier region. However, since it can be detected on the transmitted side of the barrier, the only logical conclusion is that the classical notion of spatiality is violated during the tunneling process. In other words, quantum tunneling and the associated Hartman effect strongly support the idea that quantum non-locality should be interpreted as quantum non-spatiality. The latter, according to the conceptuality interpretation of quantum mechanics, expresses the conceptual-like nature of quantum entities, which during measurement transition from an abstract state to a maximally concrete one, in full compatibility with the Hartman effect. (shrink)

In this paper, we put forward a time-delay ecological competition system with food restriction and diffusion terms under Neumann boundary conditions. For the case without delay, the conditions for local asymptotic stability and Turing instability are constructed. For the case with delay, the existence of Hopf bifurcation is demonstrated by analyzing the root distribution of the corresponding characteristic equations. Furthermore, by using the normal form theory and the center manifold reduction of partial functional differential equations, explicit (...) formulas are obtained to determine the direction of bifurcations and the stability of bifurcating periodic solutions. Finally, some simulation examples are provided to substantiate our analysis. (shrink)

In order to analyze the characteristics of airport flight delayed time series, based on the construction of flight delay time series, firstly, the K-means algorithm is used to cluster the time series of delayed departures. Secondly, combining with R/s analysis method of Fractal theory, Hurst index of the series is calculated, and Fractal characteristics of the series are analyzed. Then, the VAR (Vector Auto Regression) model is constructed, and Impulse Response Function (IRF) and Variance Decomposition (...) are conducted to explore the impact of the fluctuation of flight delay time series on the future delay. The results show that K-means algorithm divides the time series into five categories, and each category has significant characteristics. Hurst index values of different time series are in the interval of (0.5, 1), indicating that the time series have good fractal characteristics. Through the IRF and Variance Decomposition of VAR model, results show that the time series are significantly affected by random pulses, and the prediction changes of the series come from multiple time series fluctuations. The prediction results show that the flight delay time series is predictable. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the finite-time synchronization analysis for complex-valued recurrent neural networks with time delays. First, two kinds of common activation functions appearing in the existing references are combined together and more general assumptions are given. To achieve our aim, a nonlinear delayed controller with two independent parameters different from the existing ones is provided, which leads to great difficulty. To overcome it, a newly developed inequality is used. Then, via Lyapunov function approach, some criteria are (...) derived to guarantee the finite-time synchronization of the considered system, and the settling time for synchronization is also estimated. Finally, two numerical simulations are given to support the effectiveness and advantages of the obtained results. (shrink)

Interval time-varying delay is common in control process, e.g., automatic robot control system, and its stability analysis is of great significance to ensure the reliable control of industrial processes. In order to improve the conservation of the existing robust stability analysis method, this paper considers a class of linear systems with norm-bounded uncertainty and interval time-varying delay as the research object. Less conservative robust stability criterion is put forward based on augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional method (...) and reciprocally convex combination. Firstly, the delay interval is partitioned into multiple equidistant subintervals, and a new Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional comprising quadruple-integral term is introduced for each subinterval. Secondly, a novel delay-dependent stability criterion in terms of linear matrix inequalities is given by less conservative Wirtinger-based integral inequality approach. Three numerical comparative examples are given to verify the superiority of the proposed approach in reducing the conservation of conclusion. For the first example about closed-loop control systems with interval time-varying delays, the proposed robust stability criterion could get MADB about 0.3 more than the best results in the previous literature; and, for two other uncertain systems with interval time-varying delays, the MADB results obtained by the proposed method are better than those in the previous literature by about 0.045 and 0.054, respectively. All the example results obtained in this paper clearly show that our approach is better than other existing methods. (shrink)

This paper investigates the stochastically exponential stability of reaction-diffusion impulsive stochastic cellular neural networks. The reaction-diffusion pulse stochastic system model characterizes the complexity of practical engineering and brings about mathematical difficulties, too. However, the difficulties have been overcome by constructing a new contraction mapping and an appropriate distance on a product space which is guaranteed to be a complete space. This is the first time to employ the fixed point theorem to derive the stability criterion of reaction-diffusion impulsive stochastic (...) CNN with distributed time delays. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. (shrink)

This study investigates the sampled-data admissibility problem for a singular system. The objective of this paper is to design a sampled-data controller to ensure the admissibility of a singular system and to construct an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional to get less conservative results for the sampled-data singular system. To accomplish these objectives, the system is converted into a time-delay system by the input delay approach firstly, and both lower and upper bounds of the delay are considered. Secondly, (...) by introducing a suitable LKF, the admissibility criteria are obtained. Then, when estimating the derivative of the LKF, a relaxation variable is introduced by the method of reciprocally convex inequality, and it is proved that the conservatism is reduced. Finally, two numerical examples are given to prove that the designed sampled-data controller can ensure the states of the systems under the influence of external interference. (shrink)

This paper discusses the stability of semi-Markovian jump networked control system containing time-varying delay and actuator faults. The system dynamic is optimized while the network resource is saved by introducing an improved static event-triggered mechanism. For deriving a less conservative stability criterion, the Bessel–Legendre inequalities approach is employed to the stability analysis and plays a major role. By constructing the enhanced Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional relevant to the Legendre polynomials, a stability criterion with lower conservativeness indexed by N is (...) derived, and the conservativeness will decrease as N increases. In addition, a controller is designed. To prove the validity of this paper, numerical examples are provided at the last. (shrink)

This paper discusses the stability and Hopf bifurcation analysis of the diffusive Kaldor–Kalecki model with a delay included in both gross product and capital stock functions. The reaction-diffusion domain is considered, and the Galerkin analytical method is used to derive the system of ordinary differential equations. The methodology used to determine the Hopf bifurcation points is discussed in detail. Furthermore, full diagrams of the Hopf bifurcation regions considered in the stability analysis are shown, and some numerical simulations (...) of the limit cycle are used to confirm the theoretical outcomes. The delay investment parameter and diffusion coefficient can have great impacts on the Hopf bifurcations and stability of the business cycle model. The investment parameters for the gross product and capital stock as well as the adjustment coefficient of the production market are also studied. These parameters can cause instability in, and the stabilization of, the business cycle model. In addition, we point out that, as the delay investment parameter increases, the Hopf bifurcation points for the diffusion coefficient values decrease considerably. When the delay investment parameter has a very small value, the solution of the business cycle model tends to become steady. (shrink)

The item-specific proportion congruency (ISPC) effect is demonstrated by a smaller Stroop effect observed for mostly incongruent items compared to mostly congruent items. Currently, there is a continuing debate on whether conflict driven item-specific control processes or stimulus-response contingency learning account for the ISPC effect. In the present study, we conducted two experiments to investigate the time course of the ISPC effect with a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) manipulation. Both negative and positive SOAs were used in order to manipulate (...) the contingency learning between the word and the color dimensions. We also combined this SOA manipulation with a set size manipulation (Bugg and Hutchison, 2013 ) to moderate the contribution of contingency learning and item-specific processes to the observed ISPC effect. We expected that the change in the magnitude of the ISPC effect as a result of SOA would follow different patterns for the 2-item and 4-item set conditions. Results showed that the SOA manipulation influenced the ISPC effect. Specifically, when the word followed the color with a 200 ms delay, the observed ISPC effect was smaller, if at all present, than the ISPC effects in other negative and positive SOA conditions, regardless of set size. In conclusion, our results showed that the ISPC effect was not observed if the word arrived too late. We also conducted additional awareness and RT distribution analyses (delta plots) to further investigate the ISPC effect. These analyses showed that a higher percentage of participants were aware of the ISPC manipulation in the 2-item set condition compared to the 4-item set condition. Delta plots revealed that the ISPC effect was smaller for fastest responses and increased as the responses got slower. (shrink)

The complex chaotic dynamics and multistability of financial system are some important problems in micro- and macroeconomic fields. In this paper, we study the influence of two-delay feedback on the nonlinear dynamics behavior of financial system, considering the linear stability of equilibrium point under the condition of single delay and two delays. The system undergoes Hopf bifurcation near the equilibrium point. The stability and bifurcation directions of Hopf bifurcation are studied by using the normal form method and central (...) manifold theory. The theoretical results are verified by numerical simulation. Furthermore, one feature of the proposed financial chaotic system is that its multistability depends extremely on the memristor initial condition and the system parameters. It is shown that the nonlinear dynamics of financial chaotic system can be significantly changed by changing the values of time delays. (shrink)

In the present paper we expand upon ideas published some time ago in connection with which path detectors based on the micromaser. Frequently questions arise concerning the time ordering of detection and eraser events. We here show, by a detailed and careful analysis of a quantum eraser experimental setup, that the experimenter can choose to ascertain particle-like which path information or wavelike interference information even after the atom has hit the screen.

In an intertemporal framework with a finite horizon, we pose the problem of characterizing which discrete Choquet integrals satisfy strong aversion to delayed rewards. This property is arguably a minimal condition for a reasonable evaluation of vectors of rewards received at successive periods of time. We relate this property to other distributional axioms discussed for this framework. Particularly, we show that for monotonic evaluations, delay-aversion is equivalent to consistency with cumulative domination. Then, we define a property (temporal anti-buoyancy) (...) and we prove that it is necessary and sufficient for a capacity to define a strongly delay-averse Choquet integral. (shrink)

All projects take place within a context of uncertainty. That is especially noticeable in complex hydroelectric power generation projects, which are affected by factors such as the large number of multidisciplinary tasks to be performed in parallel, long execution times, or the risks inherent in various fields like geology, hydrology, and structural, electrical, and mechanical engineering, among others. Such factors often lead to cost overruns and delays in projects of this type. This paper analyzes the efficiency of the Earned Value (...) Management technique and its Earned Schedule extension, as means of forecasting costs and deadlines when applied to complex hydroelectric power production projects. It is worth noting that this analysis was based on simulation models applied to real-life projects. The results showed that cost forecasting becomes very accurate over time, whereas duration forecasting is not reliably accurate. (shrink)

This paper presents the nonlinear dynamic analysis of energy-based models arisen from the applied systems characterized by the energy transport in the presence of fractional order derivative and time delay. The studied model is the fractional version of Bianca-Ferrara-Dalgaard-Strulik model of economy which is viewed as a transport network for energy in which the law of motion of capital occurs. By considering the time delay as bifurcation parameter, a proof to investigate the existence of Hopf (...) bifurcation and the phase lock solutions using the Poincare-Linstedt and the harmonic balance methods is given. At definite values of time delay, period-doubling bifurcations followed up by the consequences of chaotic states are detected. Simulation results assure that the BFDS model can generate new chaotic attractors beyond half order derivatives through the effect of the time delay on that system. In accordance with the literatures related to the problem of chaos, the concluded results confirm the proposed theorem by El-Borhamy in which the time delay possesses the ability to change the dynamic state of nonlinear systems from regular to chaotic within the fractional order derivative domain. (shrink)

In Simultaneity and Delay: A Dialectical Theory of Staggered Time, the Canadian philosopher Jay Lampert challenges theories that define time in terms of absolute simultaneity and continuous succession. To counter these theories he introduces an alternative: the dialectic of simultaneity and delay. According to Lampert, this dialectic constitutes a temporal succession that is no longer structured as a continuous line, but that is built out of staggered time-flows and delayed reactions. The bulk of the book (...) consists of an attempt to give a conceptual order to the ‘unsystematic analyses of simultaneity and delay sprinkled through the history of philosophy’ (2). This conceptual analysis leads us through ancient (Plato and Plotinus), medieval (Origen) and late modern issues (Kant, Hegel and Lessing), as well as scientific discussions (Einstein, McTaggart), and culminates in the central chapter of the book, which attempts to show ‘how the problems of the great simultaneity philosophers - Husserl and Bergson - might be solved by the great delay philosophers - Derrida and Deleuze’ (147). In this review, I will focus on three points. 1. The problem of synchronization. 2. The problem of synthesis. 3. Theproblem of localization. (shrink)

This chapter describes three relatively specific forms such as destructive uploading, gradual uploading, and nondestructive uploading. Neuroscience is gradually discovering various neural correlates of consciousness, but this research program largely takes the existence of consciousness for granted. It presents an argument for the pessimistic view and an argument for the optimistic view, both of which run parallel to related arguments that can be given concerning teletransportation. Cryonic technology offers the possibility of preserving our brains in a low‐temperature state shortly after (...) death, until such time as the technology is available to reactivate the brain or perhaps to upload the information in it. Reconstructive uploading from brain scans is closely akin to ordinary (nongradual) uploading from brain scans, with the main difference being the time delay, and perhaps the continued existence in the meantime of the original person. (shrink)

In many real-world gambles, a non-trivial amount of time passes before the uncertainty is resolved but after a choice is made. An individual may have a preference between gambles with identical probability distributions over final outcomes if they differ in the timing of resolution of uncertainty. In this domain, utility consists not only of the consumption of outcomes, but also the psychological utility induced by an unresolved gamble. We term this utility anxiety. Since a reflective decision maker may want (...) to include anxiety explicitly in analysis of unresolved lotteries, a multiple-outcome model for evaluating lotteries with delayed resolution of uncertainty is developed. The result is a rank-dependent utility representation (e.g., Quiggin, 1982), in which period weighting functions are related iteratively. Substitution rules are proposed for evaluating compound temporal lotteries. The representation is appealing for a number of reasons. First, probability weights can be interpreted as the cognitive attention allocated to certain outcomes. Second, the model disaggregates strength of preference from temporal risk aversion and thus provides some insight into the old debate about the relationship between von Neumann–Morgenstern utility functions and strength of preference value functions. (shrink)

OBJECTIVES: To compare the practices of local research ethics committees and the time they take to obtain ethical approval for a multi-centre study. DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of outcome of applications for a multi-centre study to local research ethics committees. SETTING: Thirty-six local research ethics committees covering 38 district health authorities in England. MAIN MEASURES: Response of chairmen and women, the time required to obtain approval, and questions asked in application forms. RESULTS: We received replies from all (...) 36 chairmen contacted: four (11%) granted their approval, and 32 (89%) required our proposal to be considered by their local research ethics committee. Three committees asked us to attend their meetings. The application was approved by all 36 local research ethics committees but the time to obtain ethical approval varied between six to 208 days. One third of the committees did not approve the project within three months, and three took longer than six months. There was considerable variation in the issues raised by local research ethics committees and none conformed exactly to the Royal College of Physicians' guidelines. CONCLUSION: Obtaining ethical approval for a multi-centre study is time-consuming. There is much diversity in the practice of local research ethics committees. Our data support the recommendation for a central or regional review body of multi-centre studies which will be acceptable to all local research ethics committees. (shrink)

This paper presents an adaptive neural tracking control approach for a two-joint robotic manipulator with unknown time-varying delays. In order to work out the effect of unknown time-varying delays on the two-joint robotic manipulator, the appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals and separation technology are chosen to settle this matter. The neural networks work as an approximator that has the advantage of estimating the unknown function in the system. In this paper, Lyapunov stability analysis can prove that all signals of (...) the closed-loop system are semiglobal uniformly ultimately bounded and the tracking error can converge to a compact neighborhood with respect to zero. The simulation consequences demonstrate the availability of the feedforward control approach. (shrink)

Responding to climate change and avoiding irreversible climate tipping points requires radical and drastic action by 2030. This urgency raises serious questions for energy companies, one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in terms of how they frame, and reframe, their response to climate change. Despite the majority of energy companies releasing ambitious statements declaring net zero carbon ambitions, this ‘talk’ has not been matched with sufficient urgency or substantive climate action. To unpack the disconnect between talk (...) and action, this paper draws on the literature on framing, organisational hypocrisy, and collective moral responsibility. We conduct a longitudinal qualitative content analysis of the framing of climate change used by the ten largest European investor-owned energy companies and the actions they have taken to shift their business practices. Our findings reveal three main categories of energy companies: (i) deflecting, (ii) stagnating, and (iii) evolving. We show key differences in the relationship between framing and action over time for each category, revealing how deflecting companies have larger and persistent gaps between green talk and concrete action and how stagnating companies are delaying action despite increased green talk, while evolving companies exhibit a closer link between talk and action that tends to be realised over time. Our analysis reveals how competing approaches to framing collective moral responsibility help understand the trajectories of talk and action across the different categories of energy companies. This research makes several contributions to the literature on organisational hypocrisy and collective moral responsibility in the context of climate change. Our analysis highlights the complex relationship between collective moral responsibility, organisational hypocrisy and climate action, revealing how different collective framings—diffuse, teleological, or agential—can both enable and offset substantive climate action. The study also enriches our understanding of the performative nature of collective moral responsibility by examining its temporal dimensions and showing how an agential, backward-looking focus is associated with more meaningful climate action. (shrink)

Responding to climate change and avoiding irreversible climate tipping points requires radical and drastic action by 2030. This urgency raises serious questions for energy companies, one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in terms of how they frame, and reframe, their response to climate change. Despite the majority of energy companies releasing ambitious statements declaring net zero carbon ambitions, this ‘talk’ has not been matched with sufficient urgency or substantive climate action. To unpack the disconnect between talk (...) and action, this paper draws on the literature on framing, organisational hypocrisy, and collective moral responsibility. We conduct a longitudinal qualitative content analysis of the framing of climate change used by the ten largest European investor-owned energy companies and the actions they have taken to shift their business practices. Our findings reveal three main categories of energy companies: (i) deflecting, (ii) stagnating, and (iii) evolving. We show key differences in the relationship between framing and action over time for each category, revealing how deflecting companies have larger and persistent gaps between green talk and concrete action and how stagnating companies are delaying action despite increased green talk, while evolving companies exhibit a closer link between talk and action that tends to be realised over time. Our analysis reveals how competing approaches to framing collective moral responsibility help understand the trajectories of talk and action across the different categories of energy companies. This research makes several contributions to the literature on organisational hypocrisy and collective moral responsibility in the context of climate change. Our analysis highlights the complex relationship between collective moral responsibility, organisational hypocrisy and climate action, revealing how different collective framings—diffuse, teleological, or agential—can both enable and offset substantive climate action. The study also enriches our understanding of the performative nature of collective moral responsibility by examining its temporal dimensions and showing how an agential, backward-looking focus is associated with more meaningful climate action. (shrink)

In this paper, the stability and stabilization issues for a class of delayed neural networks with time-varying hybrid impulses are investigated. The hybrid effect of two types of impulses including both stabilizing and destabilizing impulses is considered simultaneously in the analysis of systems. To characterize the occurrence features of impulses, the concepts of average impulse interval and average impulse strength are employed. Based on the analysis of stability, a pinning impulsive controller which can ensure the global exponential (...) stability of the studied neural networks is designed by pinning a small fraction of neurons. Finally, two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes for delayed neural networks with hybrid impulses. (shrink)

In comparison to activist films with an “in your face” aesthetic, Food, Inc. seems positively tame. Rather than shock viewers with direct images of distasteful, disgusting, immoral, and outrageous practices in the food industry, it provokes and performs physical and moral disgust by its paradoxical (and perhaps quintessentially documentary) combination of proximity and immediacy with distance and delay. This close textual analysis reveals the film’s use of images to defer, deflect, and dodge, in such a way as to (...) emphasize the temporal ‘lag time’ that Sara Ahmed argues is intrinsic to disgust and that connects as well to what Malin Wahlberg calls ‘documentary time.’. (shrink)

Delayed responses are a common phenomenon in experience sampling studies. Yet no consensus exists on whether they should be excluded from the analysis or what the threshold for exclusion should be. Delayed responses could introduce bias, but previous investigations of systematic differences between delayed and timely responses have offered unclear results. To investigate differences as a function of delay, we conducted secondary analyses of nine paper and pencil based experience sampling studies including 1,528 individuals with different clinical statuses. (...) In all participants, there were significant decreases in positive and increases in negative affect as a function of delay. In addition, delayed answers of participants without depression showed higher within-person variability and an initial strengthening in the relationships between contextual stress and affect. Participants with depression mostly showed the opposite pattern. Delayed responses seem qualitatively different from timely responses. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these differences. (shrink)

BackgroundPrehospital delay is associated with non-modifiable factors such as age, residential region, and disease severity. However, the impact of psychosocial factors especially for job burnout on prehospital decision delay is still little understood.MethodThis internet-based survey was conducted between 14 February 2021 and 5 March 2021 in China through the Wechat platform and web page. Self-designed questionnaires about the expected and actual length of prehospital decision time and the Chinese version of Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, Type D Personality (...) Scale-14, and Social Support Rating Scale were applied. A total of 1,039 general participants with a history of perceptible but tolerable body discomfort were included.ResultsThe top six reasons for prehospital decision delay were: endure until self-healing, too busy to ask for leave, process for seeing a doctor too complicated, too tired after work, worry about the expenditure, and fear of being identified as with serious problem. The univariate analyses revealed that older age, type D personality, job burnout, and worrying about expenditure were associated with prolonged prehospital decision time, while engaged in medical-related job and with more social support would shorten the delay. The multivariate analysis using logistic regression model with forward selecting method showed that age [per 10 years, odds ratio 1.19, p 7 days). Mediating effects were analyzed by using bias-corrected percentile bootstrap methods. Social support was found partially mediated the relationship between the determinants and prehospital decision time. The partial mediating effect of social support accounted for 24.0% of the total effect for job burnout and 11.6% for worrying about expenditure.ConclusionPsychosocial factors have a non-negligible impact on prehospital decision delay. The crucial part of prehospital decision delay may be the lack of motivation inside. Job burnout and lack of social support, as two commonly seen features in the modern world, should be given enough consideration in disease prevention and treatment. (shrink)

We investigated whether the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) responds in real-time to multisensory inconsistency during movement. The IPL is thought to be involved in both the detection of inconsistencies in multisensory information obtained during movement and that obtained during self-other discrimination. However, because of the limited temporal resolution of conventional neuroimaging techniques, it is difficult to distinguish IPL activity during movement from that during self-other discrimination. We simultaneously conducted electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with the goal of examining (...) IPL activity with a high spatiotemporal resolution during single reaching movements. Under a visual feedback-delay condition, gamma event-related synchronization (γ-ERS), i.e., an increase in gamma (31–47 Hz) EEG power, occurred during reaching movements. This γ-ERS is considered to reflect processing of information about prediction errors. To integrate this temporal information with spatial information from the NIRS signals, we developed a new analysis technique that enabled estimation of the regions that show a hemodynamic response characterized by EEG fluctuation present in the visual feedback-delay condition. As a result, IPL activity was explained by γ-ERS specific to visual feedback delay during movements. Thus, we succeeded in demonstrating real-time activation of the IPL in response to multisensory inconsistency. However, we did not find any correlation between either IPL activity or γ-ERS with the sense of agency. Therefore, our results suggest that while the IPL is influenced by prediction error signals, it does not engage in direct processing underlying the conscious experience of making a movement, which is the foundation of self-other discrimination. (shrink)

Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice. It often starts with asymptomatic and short episodes, which are difficult to detect without the assistance of automatic monitoring tools. The vast majority of methods proposed for this purpose are based on quantifying the irregular ventricular response during the arrhythmia. However, although AF totally alters the atrial activity reflected on the electrocardiogram, replacing stable P-waves by chaotic and time-variant fibrillatory waves, this information has still not been explored for (...) automated screening of AF. Hence, a pioneering AF detector based on quantifying the variability over time of the AA morphological pattern is here proposed. Results from two public reference databases have proven that the proposed method outperforms current state-of-the-art algorithms, reporting accuracy higher than 90%. A less false positive rate in the presence of other arrhythmias different from AF was also noticed. Finally, the combination of this algorithm with the classical analysis of RR series variability also yielded a promising trade-off between AF accuracy and detection delay. Indeed, this combination provided similar accuracy than RR-based methods, but with a significantly shorter delay of 10 beats. (shrink)

IntroductionCerebral visual impairment results from damage to cerebral visual processing structures. It is the most common cause of pediatric visual impairment in developed countries and rising in prevalence in developing nations. There is currently limited understanding on how neurologic, developmental, and ophthalmic factors predict outcome for pediatric CVI.MethodA retrospective manual chart review of pediatric CVI patients seen at the tertiary pediatric hospital neurology and neuro-ophthalmology service between 2010 and 2019 was conducted. Patients were stratified into severity groups, and followed over (...) time to identify outcome predictors. Collected baseline characteristics included perinatal, genetic, developmental, and neurologic history, along with neuroimaging and fundoscopic findings on examination. Longitudinal data collected included age, seizure control, and type of therapy received. Linear mixed-effect models were used for longitudinal CVI grade outcome analysis.ResultsA total of 249 individuals spanning 779 patient visits were identified. Mean age at diagnosis was 18.8 ± 16.8 months. About 64.3% were born at term age. Perinatal history revealed hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in 16.5%, intraventricular hemorrhage in 11.6%, and seizures in 21.7%. At presentation, 60.3% had a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and 84.7% had developmental delay. Among all subjects, 78.6% had epilepsy; 33.8% had an epileptic encephalopathy, with spasms/hypsarrhythmia being most common. Abnormal neuroimaging was present in 93.8%. Genetic anomalies were present in 26.9%. Baseline visual examination revealed no blink-to-light in 24.5%; only BTL in 34.5%, fixation/tracking in 26.5%, and optokinetic drum follow in 14.4%. Longitudinal data analysis showed that perinatal history of HIE, a positive epilepsy history, using multiple epilepsy medications, cerebral palsy, and abnormal fundoscopic findings were all negatively associated with CVI grade change over time. After controlling for significant confounders, receiving any type of therapy [early childhood intervention, physical and occupational therapy, refractive error correction or glasses] was significantly associated with longitudinal improvement in CVI grade compared to patients who did not receive any therapy, with glasses yielding the largest benefit.ConclusionThis study offers extensive insights into neurologic, developmental and ophthalmologic features in patients with moderate to severe CVI. In concordance with previous findings, aspects of perinatal history and epilepsy/seizure control may help inform severity and prognosis in the general neurology or ophthalmology clinic. Conversely, these aspects, as well as genetic and specific epilepsy traits may alert vision health care providers in the clinic to pursue visual evaluation in at-risk individuals. Longitudinal follow-up of CVI patients showed that interventional therapies demonstrated vision function improvement greater than no therapy and maturational development. (shrink)

Multivariate pattern analysis can reveal new information from neuroimaging data to illuminate human cognition and its disturbances. Here, we develop a methodological approach, based on multivariate statistical/machine learning and time series analysis, to discern cognitive processing stages from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) time series. We apply this method to data recorded from a group of healthy adults whilst performing a virtual reality version of the delayed win-shift radial arm maze (RAM) (...) task. This task has been frequently used to study working memory and decision making in rodents. Using linear classifiers and multivariate test statistics in conjunction with time series bootstraps, we show that different cognitive stages of the task, as defined by the experimenter, namely, the encoding/retrieval, choice, reward and delay stages, can be statistically discriminated from the BOLD time series in brain areas relevant for decision making and working memory. Discrimination of these task stages was significantly reduced during poor behavioral performance in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), but not in the primary visual cortex (V1). Experimenter-defined dissection of time series into class labels based on task structure was confirmed by an unsupervised, bottom-up approach based on Hidden Markov Models. Furthermore, we show that different groupings of recorded time points into cognitive event classes can be used to test hypotheses about the specific cognitive role of a given brain region during task execution. We found that whilst the DLPFC strongly differentiated between task stages associated with different memory loads, but not between different visual-spatial aspects, the reverse was true for V1. Our methodology illustrates how different aspects of cognitive information processing during one and the same task can be separated and attributed to specific brain regions based on information contained in multivariate patterns of voxel activity. (shrink)

We explore the nature of forgetting in a corpus of 125,000 students learning Spanish using the Rosetta Stone® foreign-language instruction software across 48 lessons. Students are tested on a lesson after its initial study and are then retested after a variable time lag. We observe forgetting consistent with power function decay at a rate that varies across lessons but not across students. We find that lessons which are better learned initially are forgotten more slowly, a correlation which likely reflects (...) a latent cause such as the quality or difficulty of the lesson. We obtain improved predictive accuracy of the forgetting model by augmenting it with features that encode characteristics of a student's initial study of the lesson and the activities the student engaged in between the initial and delayed tests. The augmented model can predict 23.9% of the variance in an individual's score on the delayed test. We analyze which features best explain individual performance. (shrink)

A new class of polynomials investigates the numerical solution of the fractional pantograph delay ordinary differential equations. These polynomials are equipped with an auxiliary unknown parameter a, which is obtained using the collocation and least-squares methods. In this study, the numerical solution of the fractional pantograph delay differential equation is displayed in the truncated series form. The upper bound of the solution as well as the error analysis and the rate of convergence theorem are also investigated in (...) this study. In five examples, the numerical results of the present method have been compared with other methods. For the first time, a -polynomials are used in this study to numerically solve delay equations, and accurate approximations have been displayed. (shrink)

Receiving social support from community and extended family has been typical for mothers with infants in human societies past and present. In non-industrialised contexts, infants of mothers with extended family support often have better health and higher survival through the vulnerable infant period, and hence shared infant care has a clear fitness benefit. However, there is scant evidence that these benefits continue in industrialised contexts. Better infant health and development with allocare support would indicate continued evolutionary selection for allocare. The (...) research reported here used multiple logistic regression analysis to test whether a lack of family and other social support for mothers was associated with an increased risk of developmental delay in 9-month-old infants in the UK Millennium Cohort (analysis sample size, 15,696 infants). Extended family-based childcare during work hours and more maternal time spent with friends were the most influential kin and social support variables: infants of mothers with kin-based childcare versus all other childcare arrangements had a lower risk of developmental delay (OR = 0.61, 95% CIs: 0.46–0.82). Infants of mothers who spent no time with friends when compared with those who saw friends every day had double the odds of delay. Greater paternal involvement in infant care was associated with a lower odds of developmental delay. In conclusion, shared care of infants and social support for mothers may influence fitness-related traits in industrialised societies rather than being factors that influenced selection only in the past and in societies which retain close kin networks and a strong local community focus. (shrink)