Artificial Interactionism: Avoiding Isolating Perception From Cognition in AI.

We discuss the influence upon the fields of robotics and AI of the manner one conceives the relationships between artificial agents' perception, cognition, and action. We shed some light upon a widespread paradigm we call the that addresses perception as isolated from cognition and action. By mobilizing the resources of philosophy (phenomenology and epistemology) and cognitive sciences, and by drawing on recent approaches in AI, we explore what it could mean for robotics and AI to take distance from the isolated perception paradigm.

Feeding state sculpts a circuit for sensory valence in .

Hunger affects the behavioral choices of all animals, and many chemosensory stimuli can be either attractive or repulsive depending on an animal's hunger state. Although hunger-induced behavioral changes are well documented, the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which hunger modulates neural circuit function to generate changes in chemosensory valence are poorly understood. Here, we use the CO response of the free-living nematode to elucidate how hunger alters valence.

A Single Set of Interneurons Drives Opposite Behaviors in C. elegans.

Many chemosensory stimuli evoke innate behavioral responses that can be either appetitive or aversive, depending on an animal's age, prior experience, nutritional status, and environment [1-9]. However, the circuit mechanisms that enable these valence changes are poorly understood. Here, we show that Caenorhabditis elegans can alternate between attractive or aversive responses to carbon dioxide (CO), depending on its recently experienced CO environment.

A protocol for developing an evaluation framework for an academic and private-sector partnership to assess the impact of major food and beverage companies' investments in community health in the United States.

Public health leaders increasingly recognize the importance of multi-sector partnerships and systems approaches to address obesity. Public-private partnerships (PPP), which are joint ventures between government agencies and private sector entities, may help facilitate this process, but need to be delivered through comprehensive, transparent frameworks to maximize potential benefits and minimize potential risks for all partners. The City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health and the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) propose to engage in a unique academic-private-sector research partnership to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the food and beverage industry's investment in obesity and hunger prevention and reduction through community-level healthful eating and active living programs.

[Reciprocal interactions between bariatric surgery and psychopathology].

In this article, the results of a bibliographic research concerning the interactions between bariatric surgery and psychopathologies are presented. In the preoperative phase, although not scientifically demonstrated, uncontrolled psychopathologies as well as the abuse of illicit substances are often considered as exclusion criteria for the intervention. From the psychological point of view, neither the existence of a "typical" profile, nor the presence of predictive factors have been demonstrated.

O2-sensing neurons control CO2 response in C. elegans.

Sensory behaviors are often flexible, allowing animals to generate context-appropriate responses to changing environmental conditions. To investigate the neural basis of behavioral flexibility, we examined the regulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) response in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. CO2 is a critical sensory cue for many animals, mediating responses to food, conspecifics, predators, and hosts (Scott, 2011; Buehlmann et al.

Olfaction shapes host-parasite interactions in parasitic nematodes.

Many parasitic nematodes actively seek out hosts in which to complete their lifecycles. Olfaction is thought to play an important role in the host-seeking process, with parasites following a chemical trail toward host-associated odors. However, little is known about the olfactory cues that attract parasitic nematodes to hosts or the behavioral responses these cues elicit.

Differentiation of carbon dioxide-sensing neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans requires the ETS-5 transcription factor.

Many animals sense environmental gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen using specialized populations of gas-sensing neurons. The proper development and function of these neurons is critical for survival, as the inability to respond to changes in ambient carbon dioxide and oxygen levels can result in reduced neural activity and ultimately death. Despite the importance of gas-sensing neurons for survival, little is known about the developmental programs that underlie their formation.

Tuning spectral properties of ultrafast laser ablation plasmas from brass using adaptive temporal pulse shaping.

Using automated laser pulse temporal shaping we report on enhancing spectral emission characteristics of ablation plasmas produced by laser irradiation of brass on ultrafast time scales. For different input irradiance levels, control of both atomic and ionic species becomes possible concerning the yield and the excitation state. The improved energy coupling determined by tailored pulses induces material ejection with lower mechanical load that translates into hot gas-phase regions with higher excitation degrees and reduced particulates.

Onychomycosis due to Exophiala jeanselmei.

Background: Exophiala jeanselmei is a dematiaceous fungus that may cause invasive diseases, particularly among immunocompromised hosts. Most reports mention cutaneous or subcutaneous lesions, but no case of nail involvement due to this fungus has been reported until now.

Case Report: A 60-year-old man presented with hyperkeratosis and black coloration of the nails of the two thumbs and the two big toes of 4 years' duration.

Use of monoclonal antibodies in the diagnosis of chlamydial urethritis and cervicitis.

Isolation of Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) in cell culture is the most reliable method for the diagnosis of chlamydial infections. The results are obtained in 48-72 hours.