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Friday, July 5, 2013

Seeing starfish: The missing link in eye evolution?

Public release date: 4-Jul-2013
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Contact: Clara Howcroft Ferreira
sebiology@gmail.com
44-785-044-1445
Society for Experimental Biology

A study has shown for the first time that starfish use primitive eyes at the tip of their arms to visually navigate their environment. Research headed by Dr. Anders Garm at the Marine Biological Section of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, showed that starfish eyes are image-forming and could be an essential stage in eye evolution.

The researchers removed starfish with and without eyes from their food rich habitat, the coral reef, and placed them on the sand bottom one metre away, where they would starve. They monitored the starfishes' behaviour from the surface and found that while starfish with intact eyes head towards the direction of the reef, starfish without eyes walk randomly.

Dr Garm said: "The results show that the starfish nervous system must be able to process visual information, which points to a clear underestimation of the capacity found in the circular and somewhat dispersed central nervous system of echinoderms."

Analysing the morphology of the photoreceptors in the starfish eyes the researchers further confirmed that they constitute an intermediate state between the two large known groups of rhabdomeric and ciliary photoreceptors, in that they have both microvilli and a modified cilium.

Dr Garm added: "From an evolutionary point of view it is interesting because the morphology of the starfish eyes along with their optical quality (quality of the image) is close to the theoretical eye early in eye evolution when image formation first appeared. In this way it can help clarify what the first visual tasks were that drove this important step in eye evolution, namely navigation towards the preferred habitat using large stationary objects (here the reef)."

Most known starfish species possess a compound eye at the tip of each arm, which, except for the lack of true optics, resembles arthropod compound eye. Despite being known for about two centuries, no visually guided behaviour has ever been documented before.

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Seeing starfish: The missing link in eye evolution? Public release date: 4-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Clara Howcroft Ferreira
sebiology@gmail.com
44-785-044-1445
Society for Experimental Biology

A study has shown for the first time that starfish use primitive eyes at the tip of their arms to visually navigate their environment. Research headed by Dr. Anders Garm at the Marine Biological Section of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, showed that starfish eyes are image-forming and could be an essential stage in eye evolution.

The researchers removed starfish with and without eyes from their food rich habitat, the coral reef, and placed them on the sand bottom one metre away, where they would starve. They monitored the starfishes' behaviour from the surface and found that while starfish with intact eyes head towards the direction of the reef, starfish without eyes walk randomly.

Dr Garm said: "The results show that the starfish nervous system must be able to process visual information, which points to a clear underestimation of the capacity found in the circular and somewhat dispersed central nervous system of echinoderms."

Analysing the morphology of the photoreceptors in the starfish eyes the researchers further confirmed that they constitute an intermediate state between the two large known groups of rhabdomeric and ciliary photoreceptors, in that they have both microvilli and a modified cilium.

Dr Garm added: "From an evolutionary point of view it is interesting because the morphology of the starfish eyes along with their optical quality (quality of the image) is close to the theoretical eye early in eye evolution when image formation first appeared. In this way it can help clarify what the first visual tasks were that drove this important step in eye evolution, namely navigation towards the preferred habitat using large stationary objects (here the reef)."

Most known starfish species possess a compound eye at the tip of each arm, which, except for the lack of true optics, resembles arthropod compound eye. Despite being known for about two centuries, no visually guided behaviour has ever been documented before.

###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/sfeb-sst062613.php
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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Scientists help explain visual system's remarkable ability to recognize complex objects

July 2, 2013 ? How is it possible for a human eye to figure out letters that are twisted and looped in crazy directions, like those in the little security test internet users are often given on websites?

It seems easy to us -- the human brain just does it. But the apparent simplicity of this task is an illusion. The task is actually so complex, no one has been able to write computer code that translates these distorted letters the same way that neural networks can. That's why this test, called a CAPTCHA, is used to distinguish a human response from computer bots that try to steal sensitive information.

Now, a team of neuroscientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has taken on the challenge of exploring how the brain accomplishes this remarkable task. Two studies published within days of each other demonstrate how complex a visual task decoding a CAPTCHA, or any image made of simple and intricate elements, actually is to the brain.

The findings of the two studies, published June 19 in Neuron and June 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), take two important steps forward in understanding vision, and rewrite what was believed to be established science. The results show that what neuroscientists thought they knew about one piece of the puzzle was too simple to be true.

Their deep and detailed research -- -involving recordings from hundreds of neurons -- -may also have future clinical and practical implications, says the study's senior co-authors, Salk neuroscientists Tatyana Sharpee and John Reynolds.

"Understanding how the brain creates a visual image can help humans whose brains are malfunctioning in various different ways -- -such as people who have lost the ability to see," says Sharpee, an associate professor in the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory. "One way of solving that problem is to figure out how the brain -- -not the eye, but the cortex -- -- processes information about the world. If you have that code then you can directly stimulate neurons in the cortex and allow people to see."

Reynolds, a professor in the Systems Neurobiology Laboratory, says an indirect benefit of understanding the way the brain works is the possibility of building computer systems that can act like humans.

"The reason that machines are limited in their capacity to recognize things in the world around us is that we don't really understand how the brain does it as well as it does," he says.

The scientists emphasize that these are long-term goals that they are striving to reach, a step at a time.

Integrating parts into wholes

In these studies, Salk neurobiologists sought to figure out how a part of the visual cortex known as area V4 is able to distinguish between different visual stimuli even as the stimuli move around in space. V4 is responsible for an intermediate step in neural processing of images.

"Neurons in the visual system are sensitive to regions of space -- -- they are like little windows into the world," says Reynolds. "In the earliest stages of processing, these windows -- -known as receptive fields -- -are small. They only have access to information within a restricted region of space. Each of these neurons sends brain signals that encode the contents of a little region of space -- -they respond to tiny, simple elements of an object such as edge oriented in space, or a little patch of color."

Neurons in V4 have a larger receptive field that can also compute more complex shapes such as contours. They accomplishes this by integrating inputs from earlier visual areas in the cortex -- -that is, areas nearer the retina, which provides the input to the visual system, which have small receptive fields, and sends on that information for higher level processing that allow us to see complex images, such as faces, he says.

Both new studies investigated the issue of translation invariance -- -- the ability of a neuron to recognize the same stimulus within its receptive field no matter where it is in space, where it happens to fall within the receptive field.

The Neuron paper looked at translation invariance by analyzing the response of 93 individual neurons in V4 to images of lines and shapes like curves, while the PNAS study looked at responses of V4 neurons to natural scenes full of complex contours.

Dogma in the field is that V4 neurons all exhibit translation invariance.

"The accepted understanding is that individuals neurons are tuned to recognize the same stimulus no matter where it was in their receptive field," says Sharpee.

For example, a neuron might respond to a bit of the curve in the number 5 in a CAPTCHA image, no matter how the 5 is situated within its receptive field. Researchers believed that neuronal translation invariance -- -the ability to recognize any stimulus, no matter where it is in space -- -increases as an image moves up through the visual processing hierarchy.

"But what both studies show is that there is more to the story," she says. "There is a trade off between the complexity of the stimulus and the degree to which the cell can recognize it as it moves from place to place."

A deeper mystery to be solved

The Salk researchers found that neurons that respond to more complicated shapes -- -like the curve in 5 or in a rock -- -- demonstrated decreased translation invariance. "They need that complicated curve to be in a more restricted range for them to detect it and understand its meaning," Reynolds says. "Cells that prefer that complex shape don't yet have the capacity to recognize that shape everywhere."

On the other hand, neurons in V4 tuned to recognize simpler shapes, like a straight line in the number 5, have increased translation invariance. "They don't care where the stimuli they are tuned to is, as long as it is within their receptive field," Sharpee says.

"Previous studies of object recognition have assumed that neuronal responses at later stages in visual processing remain the same regardless of basic visual transformations to the object's image. Our study highlights where this assumption breaks down, and suggests simple mechanisms that could give rise to object selectivity," says Jude Mitchell, a Salk research scientist who was the senior author on the Neuron paper.

"It is important that results from the two studies are quite compatible with one another, that what we find studying just lines and curves in one first experiment matches what we see when the brain experiences the real world," says Sharpee, who is well known for developing a computational method to extract neural responses from natural images.

"What this tells us is that there is a deeper mystery here to be solved," Reynolds says. "We have not figured out how translation invariance is achieved. What we have done is unpacked part of the machinery for achieving integration of parts into wholes."

Minjoon Kouh, a former postdoctoral fellow at Salk, participated in the PNAS study. Salk postdoctoral researcher Anirvan Nandy and senior staff scientist Jude Mitchell, of the Salk Systems Neurobiology Laboratory, were co-authors of the Neuron paper.

Both studies were funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01EY019493), the McKnight Scholarship and the Ray Thomas Edwards and W. M. Keck Foundations. In addition, the PNAS study received a grant from the Searle Funds. The Neuron study was additionally funded by grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (EY0113802), the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Schwartz Foundation, and a Pioneer Fund postdoctoral fellowship.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/2LE5bjYHJGc/130702100008.htm

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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Firefox OS hands-on: Alcatel OneTouch Fire and ZTE Open (video)

We've crossed paths with Firefox OS before, but today marks the first time we've played with handsets running the final build of Mozilla's mobile software. The Alcatel OneTouch Fire and ZTE Open you see above are the same hardware we saw at MWC earlier this year -- in fact, the latter just launched in Spain on Telefónica for €69 ($90) contract-free including €30 ($39) of airtime for prepaid customers. We took both phones for a brief spin and immediately noticed a slight improvement in performance. Unfortunately, there's still a significant amount of lag in the UI, especially when scrolling through web pages and navigating the app tray. Websites also take a while to load, even when connecting over Wi-Fi. Then again, what do you expect for €69? Check out the gallery below and hit the break to watch our hands-on video.

Note: the ZTE Open we handled was destined for Movistar (a Telefónica brand) and is launching today for €69 (not €63 as mentioned in our video).

Gallery: Firefox OS hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/firefox-os-hands-on-alcatel-onetouch-fire-and-zte-open-video/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Google Glass update adds web browsing, widens voice commands (update: images)

Google has delivered a steady stream of Glass updates since the Explorer Edition launched, but its new July upgrade may be the biggest yet -- it addresses several of our earliest gripes. Wearers can now answer phone calls or have messages read aloud. It's also now possible to call or message any Gmail contact, not just the top ten. Oh, and that hidden web browser? It's now public: Glass owners can ask to see a favorite page and navigate using the touchpad. If you're one of the precious few to sport Google's eyewear, you should automatically receive the much-improved firmware in the next few days; we've already heard of at least one user getting the upgrade today.

Update: We now have screenshots of how browsing works in the update -- check them out below.

Gallery: Google Glass July 2013 update

Filed under: Wearables, Google

Comments

Source: Project Glass (Google+)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/google-glass-update-adds-web-viewing/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Monday, July 1, 2013

Funeral held for man in ex-Patriot's murder case

By RODRIQUE NGOWI

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 3:14 p.m. ET June 29, 2013

BOSTON (AP) - Hundreds of relatives, friends and teammates wept together and hugged Saturday at the funeral of a semi-pro football player whose killing led to murder and weapons charges against former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.

The body of Odin Lloyd was found June 17 near Hernandez's home. Police arrested Hernandez on Wednesday and charged him with orchestrating the execution-style shooting.

Lloyd played for the Boston Bandits and was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee. Members of Lloyd's team showed up for the funeral in their uniforms and chanted his name as pallbearers placed his casket in a hearse outside Church of the Holy Spirit in Boston's Mattapan neighborhood. The crowd of mourners was so large that some could not find room inside the church for the two-hour service.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail. Two other men are also in custody. Prosecutors say the three were in a car with Lloyd shortly before his death.

Authorities have said trouble that led to Lloyd's killing happened June 14, when Lloyd went with Hernandez to a Boston nightclub. Hernandez became upset when Lloyd began talking with people Hernandez apparently didn't like, prosecutors said.

On June 16, the night before the slaying, a prosecutor said, Hernandez texted two unidentified friends and asked them to hurry to Massachusetts from Connecticut.

A few minutes later, he texted Lloyd to tell him he wanted to get together, prosecutors said. Authorities say Hernandez, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace picked up Lloyd at around 2:30 a.m. June 17, drove him to an industrial park near Hernandez's home and shot him five times. They have not said who fired the shots.

Prosecutors said an ammunition clip found in Hernandez's Hummer matched the caliber of casings found at the scene of Lloyd's killing.

Hernandez's lawyer argued in court that the case is circumstantial. He said Hernandez, who was cut by the Patriots the day he was arrested, wanted to clear his name.

Ortiz's attorney, John Connors, said he will seek bail for his client at the July 9 hearing. He described Ortiz as a "gentle person" and said he will advise Ortiz to plead not guilty to the gun charge he is facing.

Wallace surrendered in Miramar, Fla., on Friday, police said. Authorities had been seeking Wallace on a charge of acting as an accessory after Lloyd's murder. Details of that allegation weren't released.

Hernandez was drafted by the Patriots in 2010 and signed a five-year contract worth $40 million last summer. He could face life in prison if convicted.

More news

Nobody saw this coming

PFT: Aaron Hernandez had character concerns in the draft, but they involved drug use and partying -- never murder, a charge which he presently faces.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/52351787/ns/sports-nfl/

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Smart IR Remote for Galaxy S4 v1.2.6

Current Version: 1.2.6
Requires Android: 4.1 and up
Category: Tools
Size: 7.9M
What's in this version:
- Added more languages: German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Romanian and Swedish
- Added Resizable widgets! *only guaranteed to work with the default launcher
- Added short tutorial which shows on first run to present the most important features
- Added XBox 360 support, improved remote setup process, navigation between many remotes (try pressing the remote name), other minor improvements and bugfixes
Details:
You can now use your phone as an Infrared Remote (IR Remote)
Why should you need to use more than one remote for all the devices you own ?

With Smart Remote for your Samsung Galaxy S4 (also works on CyanogenMod now!), you can add, create and customize any number of remotes, combining controls from any of your existing remotes. Imagine a single remote on which the CHANNEL UP button controls your Set Top Box from your TV provider, the VOLUME keys control your home theater system and the arrow keys control your TV's menu.

On top of all that, since you're holding a phone, why not use some of it's unique features?

AIR GESTURES ? exclusive to your phone!
Simply leave the app open, and wave your hand above your phone to change channels (left to right) or volume (up and down)

AUTOMATIC MUTE WHEN YOU GET CALLED
Don't you hate it when you receive a call but can't hear the other person because the TV is too loud? Now, Smart Remote can automatically mute your current device when someone calls you.

DYNAMIC VOLUME ? BETA

Smart Remote will automatically turn down your volume when there are sudden high-volume sounds (think movie explosions), or it will turn up your volume when the sounds are too low to hear (think actors' voices not being loud enough)

MACRO COMMANDS
Send multiple commands at the press of a single button!

With infrared ? IR Blaster ? already included in your phone, why shouldn't you make the most of it? Smart Remote can control your TV, Set Top Box, Lights, Projectors, etc.. Virtually anything that has an Infrared Receiver can be controlled by Smart Remote with the correct remote codes. And we're working 24/7 on adding more!

Why not get rid of your TV remote, set top box remote, and home center remote, all at once ?

# Please note that due to the large queue, it normally takes 1-2 weeks to add new devices to our database after you report them
# Please note that due to Galaxy S4 hardware limitation, automatic learning isn't possible

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...1vdGVmYWlyeSJd

download here

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MegawrzForum/~3/H6lQbBGJr8Y/showthread.php

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Do private equity firms owe regular income tax?

Congress has been debating how to tax managers of private equity firms for a decade. But what if they aren't being taxed the right way in the first place?

By Howard Gleckman,?Guest blogger / June 30, 2013

President Obama gestures during a speech at a food security expo on Friday, June 28, 2013, in Dakar, Senegal. Mr. Obama and other Democrats have pushed for private equity returns to be taxed at regular income rates for years, but a new paper argues that private equity managers should already tax their returns at traditional income tax rates.

Evan Vucci/AP

Enlarge

For a decade, Congress has been debating how to tax managers of private equity firms. The argument is pretty familiar to tax wonks: Should these partners treat this compensation (commonly called carried interest) as capital gains, as they do today? Or should they be taxed at the higher ordinary income rate as President Obama and others have urged?

Skip to next paragraph Howard Gleckman

Howard Gleckman is a resident fellow at The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the author of Caring for Our Parents, and former senior correspondent in the Washington bureau of Business Week. (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org)