Three-channel convolutional neural networks for vegetable leaf disease recognition

The color information of diseased leaf is the main basis for leaf based plant disease recognition. To make use of color information, a novel three-channel convolutional neural networks (TCCNN) model is constructed by combining three color components for vegetable leaf disease recognition. In the model, each channel of TCCNN is fed by one of three color components of RGB diseased leaf image, the convolutional feature in each CNN is learned and transmitted to the next convolutional layer and pooling layer in turn, then the features are fused through a fully connected fusion layer to get a deep-level disease recognition feature vector. Finally, a softmax layer makes use of the feature vector to classify the input images into the predefined classes. The proposed method can automatically learn the representative features from the complex diseased leaf images, and effectively recognize vegetable diseases. The experimental results validate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods of the vegetable leaf disease recognition.     

Exploratory study of the effect of binaural beat stimulation on the EEG activity pattern in resting state using artificial neural networks

Anxiety disorders afflict almost 7.3 percent of the world’s population. One in 14 people will experience anxiety disorder at the given year. When associated with mood disorders, anxiety can also trigger or increase other diseases’ symptoms and effects, like depression and suicidal behavior. Binaural beats are a low-frequency type of acoustic stimulation perceived when the individual is subjected to two slightly different wave frequencies, from 200 to 900 Hz. Binaural beats can contribute to anxiety reduction and modification of other psychological conditions and states, modifying cognitive processes and mood states. In this work, we applied a 5 Hz binaural beat to 6 different subjects, to detect a relevant change in their brainwaves before and after the stimuli. We applied 20 min stimuli in 10 separated sessions. We assessed the differences using a Multi-Layer Perceptron classifier in comparison with non-parametric tests and Low-Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography (eLORETA). eLORETA showed remarkable changes in High Alpha. Both eLORETA and MLP approaches revealed outstanding modifications in high Beta. MLP evinced significant changes in Theta brainwaves. Our study evidenced high Alpha modulation at the limbic lobe, implicating in a possible reduction of sympathetic system activation in the studied sample. Our main results on eLORETA suggest a strong increase in the current distribution, mostly in Alpha 2, at the Anterior Cingulate, which is related to the monitoring of mistakes regarding social conduct, recognition and expression of emotions. We also found that MLPs are able of evincing the main differences with high separability in Delta and Theta.     

Stress and inflammation among older adults: The moderating role of religiosity

Chronic stress weakens the immune system and leads to heightened bodily inflammation, which in turn is linked with serious health conditions. This study examined whether religiosity moderates the relationship between stress and inflammation (measured by C-reactive Protein (CRP)). A sample of 4,734 community-dwelling older adults was drawn from the 2006 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between chronic stress (8-item index), inflammation (high CRP level), and religiosity (organizational, nonorganizational, and intrinsic), controlling for other factors. Higher levels of stress were significantly associated with high inflammation/CRP (p = .039). Further, intrinsic religiosity acted as a moderator of this relationship (p = .024), such that the relationship between stress and inflammation is lessened for persons with higher levels of intrinsic religiosity. Higher intrinsic religiosity attenuated the effects of stress on inflammation, suggesting that individuals with stronger religious commitment/motivation may better cope with stress.     

橡胶手错觉:拥有感研究的实验范式及其应用

橡胶手错觉是一种健康个体将非肉体的假手视为自己真实身体的一部分的体验, 这种错觉可以通过同时轻刷被试面前可见的橡胶手及其不可见的真手而产生.橡胶手错觉已成为一种研究身体拥有感的重要范式, 其产生机制可以分为“自下而上的认知匹配”与“自上而下的认知匹配”两种加工方式.前者涉及视觉与触觉刺激的同步性; 而后者涉及被试心中预存的身体意象与身体图式(包括真假手之间模态特征,位置空间的相似性).综合上述证据, 身体模型假说与个人边缘空间理论进一步为拥有感产生的复杂机制提供了整合两种加工方式的解释.橡胶手错觉范式已经被用于探索精神分裂症患者等特殊被试病理分析,错觉产生和心理特质之间的关系, 以及神经外科和术后恢复上.未来的研究应该更加重视范式本身的拓展, 应用虚拟现实技术来提高身体模态的仿真效果, 利用橡胶手拥有感的易感性作为筛选与预测身体意象障碍疾病的指标.     

Embodying the Couple Relationship: Kinesthetic Empathy and Somatic Mirroring in Couples Therapy

Kinesthetic sensitivity plays a central role in the development of empathy and in understanding others’ intentions, skills that greatly affect spousal satisfaction. The present study examines how, in the couple relationship, somatic mirroring of the other’s physical expressions creates an emotional experience in the relationship, and in couples therapy, sets processes in motion. Such understanding is critical in couples therapy to harness the embodied knowledge needed to address issues in areas where verbal discussion is insufficient. Nine couples (n?=?18) participated in 12 couples therapy sessions that incorporated somatic mirroring. The sessions were documented on video and through the personal diaries kept by the therapists and patients. The participants related to four main themes: Somatic mirroring (a) creates comfort and emotional availability, (b) contributes to identifying and labeling feeling, (c) contributes to arousing intimacy and desire, and (d) avoiding somatic mirroring is characteristic of moments of conflict in the relationship. To create a bridge between the research and the clinic, in the Discussion section methods for connecting with embodied knowledge in couples therapy are examined, with the implications of having familiarity with such knowledge on the intimate relationship and the couple’s communication.     

When Is It Ethical for Physician-Investigators to Seek Consent From Their Own Patients?

Classic statements of research ethics advise against permitting physician-investigators to obtain consent for research participation from patients with whom they have preexisting treatment relationships. Reluctance about “dual-role” consent reflects the view that distinct normative commitments govern physician–patient and investigator–participant relationships, and that blurring the research–care boundary could lead to ethical transgressions. However, several features of contemporary research demand reconsideration of the ethics of dual-role consent. Here, we examine three arguments advanced against dual-role consent: that it creates role conflict for the physician-investigator; that it can compromise the voluntariness of the patient-participant’s consent; and that it promotes therapeutic misconceptions. Although these concerns have merit in some circumstances, they are not dispositive in all cases. Rather, their force—and the ethical acceptability of dual-role consent—varies with features of the particular study. As research participation more closely approximates usual care, it becomes increasingly acceptable, or even preferable, for physicians to seek consent for research from their own patients. It is time for a more nuanced approach to dual-role consent.     

多项式加工树模型在社会心理学中的应用

多项式加工树（multinomial processing tree, MPT）从理论模型出发,使用多项式模型来拟合行为数据并估计理论模型中各个加工过程发生的可能性。该模型能够有效分离和量化不同心理过程,被广泛应用于社会认知研究之中,如态度、刻板印象等。本文首先介绍该模型的基本原理及其实现,并以道德判断为例说明其在社会心理学中的最新应用。最后,总结其对社会心理学研究的意义,即可以作为一种方法提高研究的效度和精度,具有较高的实用价值,并指出其潜在不足。     

A balanced time perspective: Is it an exercise in empiricism,and does it relate meaningfully to health and well‐being outcomes?

Time perspective research assesses the degree to which thoughts and feelings about the past, present and future influence behaviour, and a balanced time perspective profile has been posited as being ideal. Although this area of research has seen a move towards person‐centred analyses, using either cluster analyses or a deviation from balanced time perspective (DBTP) approach, there are a number of theoretical and methodological issues that must be addressed. Using data from diverse samples in four countries, the present study used both cluster analyses and the DBTP approach to assess how cluster membership and DBTP scores related to a range of health and well‐being outcomes. As in previous studies, a balanced profile only emerged once in cluster analyses, and positive‐oriented profiles were associated with optimal outcomes. The study also found evidence of a relationship between DBTP scores and scores on well‐being indicators. However, results gained after manipulating the DBTP equation in two different ways again indicated that higher than expected positive past and present or past and future scores were responsible for the positive outcomes. As such, these findings raise concerns regarding the use of the DBTP construct within clinical settings.     

Pentecostal Dynamics of African Initiated Churches

This essay is a historical consideration of the body of churches known as African Initiated Churches (AICs). The key research questions I am investigating are whether this church can be classified as Pentecostal and how it employs transnational networking in its mission strategy. I have approached this question by exploring the Pentecostal dynamics and transnational networking of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church as an example of an AIC. To this end, I analyze the Pentecostal and transnational nature of an international ecumenical conference organized by the church in London in 2017. This essay is written from the perspective of someone who was born and raised within the church movement, but has also studied the movement as part of African Christianity. The originality of this essay is in its analysis of the transnational nature of the international ecumenical conference.     

African American cultural history and reflections on Jung in the African Diaspora

Racism is defined as a psychopathology and the ground in which the covenant of whiteness is rooted and mirrored in the system of apartheid structured by American Constitutional Jurisprudence between 1857 and 1954. This historical period overshadowed Carl Jung's visit to America between 1909 and 1937. The spirit of the times and practices of racism coloured Jung's views, attitudes, and theories about African Americans, just as colonialism coloured his attitudes toward Africa and Africans. Consequently Jung failed to see the African Diaspora and the extraordinary intellectual and artistic period of the Harlem Renaissance (1919‐1929). Its introduction here foregrounds the exceptionalism of African Americans and the cultural continuity of African ancestry. This exceptionalism was not seen by Jung and there have been no attempts to redress its omission from analytical psychology and other sub‐disciplines of Western psychology. Jung's theories of personality and psychoanalysis and his negative projections about primitivism among Africans and African American ‘Negroes’ would have been mediated by knowledge of a legislated American apartheid and the Harlem Renaissance which occurred within the barriers of apartheid. In this paper I posit that culture, kinship libido, and the African principle of Ubuntu are healing modalities that play a critical role in instinct and the relational ground of human psychology and biology, from which culture as an environmental expression constellates around common goals of the human species. Cultural equivalencies and expressions within the wisdom traditions and mythologies of the Africa Diaspora are considered. Specifically, the Bantu principle of Ubuntu or ‘humanity’ is identified as the relational ground in African cultures, while the Kemetic‐Egyptian deity Maat, as an archetypal anima figure and the religio‐mythology offer a transcendent position from which to critique the inequities and constitutional jurisprudence that structured American apartheid. Maat is the personification of truth, justice, balance and weighing of the heart in orderly judicial processes. In her we find the alignment of the spirit and matter in the law and judgement. The paper concludes with reflections on pathways toward healing the psychopathology of racism and recommendations to enhance clinical training and practice.