Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beyond false belief understanding: Theory of Mind development in infancy

Beyond false belief understanding: Theory of Mind development in infancy Jessica Yott, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2015 Theory of Mind (ToM) development in infancy has generally been investigated using studies conducted on a single age group with a single task, usually measuring false belief. The goals of the current dissertation were to examine ToM understanding in infancy using multiple tasks, two paradigms, and a within-subjects design. An additional goal was to determine if ToM abilities in infancy follow a predictable pattern of development. The aim of the first study was to investigate 14- and 18-month-olds’ understanding of intentions, true beliefs, desires, and false beliefs using a violation of expectation paradigm. To do so, Study 1 used a within-subjects design, whereby infants observed both a congruent and an incongruent trial for each task. Results revealed that both groups of infants looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial on the intention and true belief tasks. In contrast, only 18-month-olds looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial of the desire task. Lastly, neither age group looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial of the false belief task. Furthermore, inter-task analyses revealed only a significant correlation between looking time at the false belief and intention tasks. The second study examined if ToM abilities developed in a predictable sequence as observed in preschool children. To do this, 18-, 24-, and 30-month-olds completed four tasks measuring intention, emotion, desire, and false belief understanding, using interactive spontaneous-response tasks. Results revealed that infants’ ToM understanding does develop in a predictable scale sequence. That is, infants were more likely to pass the intention task, followed by the emotion, desire, and false belief task. Moreover, infants’ performance on the intention, emotion, and false belief tasks appeared to improve with age. Together, the results from both studies suggest that ToM abilities begin to develop in infancy. However, results from the current dissertation also highlight some of the limitations in infants’ ability to reason about other people’s mental states. Nevertheless, using two distinct paradigms, the present findings demonstrate that intention, emotion, and true belief understanding develop before more complex ToM abilities, including desire and false belief understanding. Furthermore, these results suggest that implicit ToM follows a similar developmental sequence as observed in more explicit ToM development.
Development of Genetic System to Inactivate a Borrelia turicatae Surface Protein Selectively Produced within the Salivary Glands of the Arthropod Vector

Background Borrelia turicatae, an agent of tick-borne relapsing fever, is an example of a pathogen that can adapt to disparate conditions found when colonizing the mammalian host and arthropod vector. However, little is known about the genetic factors necessary during the tick-mammalian infectious cycle, therefore we developed a genetic system to transform this species of spirochete. We also identified a plasmid gene that was up-regulated in vitro when B. turicatae was grown in conditions mimicking the tick environment. This 40 kilodalton protein was predicted to be surface localized and designated the Borrelia repeat protein A (brpA) due to the redundancy of the amino acid motif Gln-Gly-Asn-Val-Glu. Methodology/Principal Findings Quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction using RNA from B. turicatae infected ticks and mice indicated differential regulation of brpA during the tick-mammalian infectious cycle. The surface localization was determined, and production of the protein within the salivary glands of the tick was demonstrated. We then applied a novel genetic system for B. turicatae to inactivate brpA and examined the role of the gene product for vector colonization and the ability to establish murine infection. Conclusions/Significance These results demonstrate the complexity of protein production in a population of spirochetes within the tick. Additionally, the development of a genetic system is important for future studies to evaluate the requirement of specific B. turicatae genes for vector colonization and transmission.
Letter representations in the mind and brain

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.iv TABLE OF CONTENTS.v LIST OF TABLES.vii LIST OF FIGURES.viii Chapter 1 – The multiple representations of letters in the mind and brain.1 1.1 A cognitive architecture for visual letter processing.3 1.2 Letter representation and modality.18 1.3 Summary and conclusions.20 Chapter 2 – Representational similarity analysis.22 2.1 First order isomorphism.22 2.2 Second order isomorphism.25 2.3 Using second order isomorphism to uncover content in an opaque medium . 28 2.4 Chapter 2 summary.39 Chapter 3 – The influence of visual and non-visual letter representations on behavioral measures of visual similarity.40 3.1 Experiment 1 – Pairwise visual similarity judgments of letters and digits . 49 3.2 Experiment 2 Physical same-different judgments of upright and rotated letters and digits presented in an atypical gridfont.67 3.3 Recognizers vs. Nonrecognizers for the rotated characters.80 3.4 Experiment 3: The visual similarity of upright and rotated pseudoletters . 83 3.5 General discussion.88
Bias From Censored Regressors

We study the bias that arises from using censored regressors in estimation of linear models. We present results on bias in ordinary least aquares (OLS) regression estimators with exogenous censoring and in instrumental variable (IV) estimators when the censored regressor is endogenous. Bound censoring such as top-coding results in expansion bias, or effects that are too large. Independent censoring results in bias that varies with the estimation method—attenuation bias in OLS estimators and expansion bias in IV estimators. Severe biases can result when there are several regressors and when a 0–1 variable is used in place of a continuous regressor.
Country of origin and use of social benefits: A large, preregistered study of stereotype accuracy in Denmark

A nationally representative Danish sample was asked to estimate the percentage of persons aged 30-39 living in Denmark receiving social benefits for 70 countries of origin (N = 766). After extensive quality control procedures, a sample of 484 persons were available for analysis. Stereotypes were scored by accuracy by comparing the estimated values to values obtained from an official source. Individual stereotypes were found to be fairly accurate (median/mean correlation with criterion values = .48/.43), while the aggregate stereotype was found to be very accurate (r = .70). Both individual and aggregate-level stereotypes tended to underestimate the percentages of persons receiving social benefits and underestimate real group differences. In bivariate analysis, stereotype correlational accuracy was found to be predicted by a variety of predictors at above chance levels, including conservatism (r = .13), nationalism (r = .11), some immigration critical beliefs/preferences, agreement with a few political parties, educational attainment (r = .20), being male (d = .19) and cognitive ability (r = .22). Agreement with most political parties, experience with ghettos, age, and policy positions on immigrant questions had little or no predictive validity. In multivariate predictive analysis using LASSO regression, correlational accuracy was found to be predicted only by cognitive ability and educational attainment with even moderate level of reliability. In general, stereotype accuracy was not easy to predict, even using 24 predictors (k-fold cross-validated R2 = 4%). We examined whether stereotype accuracy was related to the proportion of Muslims in the groups. Stereotypes were found to be less accurate for the groups with higher proportions of Muslims in that participants underestimated the percentages of persons receiving social benefits (mean estimation error for Muslim groups relative to overall elevation error = -8.09 %points). The study was preregistered with most analyses being specified before data collection began.
Hot topics from BELLE

The most precise current determination of the Unitarity Triangle angle $\phi_3$ is presented. It is obtained using the decay $B^+ \to D^{(*)} K^+$, with Dalitz plot analysis of the subsequent $D \to K_S \pi^+\pi^-$ decay. The result is $\phi_3 = 68^\circ ^{+14^\circ}_{-15^\circ} \stat \pm 13^\circ \syst \pm 11^\circ \model$.
Semiclassical Bethe ansatz and AdS/CFT

The Bethe ansatz can be used to compute anomalous dimensions in 𝒩 = 4 SYM theory. The classical solutions of the sigma‐model on AdS5 × S5 can also be parameterized by an integral equation of Bethe type. The relationship between the two Bethe ansätze is reviewed.
A SPECTROSCOPIC CENSUS OF THE M82 STELLAR CLUSTER POPULATION,

We present a spectroscopic study of the stellar cluster population of M82, the archetype starburst galaxy, based primarily on new Gemini-North multi-object spectroscopy of 49 star clusters. These observations constitute the largest to date spectroscopic data set of extragalactic young clusters, giving virtually continuous coverage across the galaxy; we use these data to deduce information about the clusters as well as the M82 post-starburst disk and nuclear starburst environments. Spectroscopic age dating places clusters in the nucleus and disk between (7, 15) and (30, 270) Myr, with distribution peaks at ∼10 and 140 Myr, respectively. We find cluster radial velocities (RVs) in the range vR ∈ (−160, 220)km s−1 (with respect to the galaxy center), and line-of-sight Na i D interstellar absorption line velocities vNa IDR ∈ (−75, 200) km s-1, in many cases entirely decoupled from the clusters. As the disk cluster RVs lie on the flat part of the galaxy rotation curve, we conclude that they comprise a regularly orbiting system. Our observations suggest that the largest part of the population was created as a result of the close encounter with M81 ∼220 Myr ago. Clusters in the nucleus are found in solid body rotation on the bar. The possible detection of Wolf–Rayet features in their spectra indicates that cluster formation continues in the central starburst zone. We also report the potential discovery of two old populous clusters in the halo of M82, aged ≳8 Gyr. Using these measurements and simple dynamical considerations, we derive a toy model for the invisible physical structure of the galaxy, and confirm the existence of two dominant spiral arms.
Extended Coding and Pooling in the HMAX Model

This paper presents an extension of the HMAX model, a neural network model for image classification. The HMAX model can be described as a four-level architecture, with the first level consisting of multiscale and multiorientation local filters. We introduce two main contributions to this model. First, we improve the way the local filters at the first level are integrated into more complex filters at the last level, providing a flexible description of object regions and combining local information of multiple scales and orientations. These new filters are discriminative and yet invariant, two key aspects of visual classification. We evaluate their discriminative power and their level of invariance to geometrical transformations on a synthetic image set. Second, we introduce a multiresolution spatial pooling. This pooling encodes both local and global spatial information to produce discriminative image signatures. Classification results are reported on three image data sets: Caltech101, Caltech256, and fifteen scenes. We show significant improvements over previous architectures using a similar framework.
Psychological Detachment From Work During Leisure Time

Psychological detachment from work during leisure time refers to a state in which people mentally disconnect from work and do not think about job-related issues when they are away from their job. Empirical research has shown that employees who experience more detachment from work during off-hours are more satisfied with their lives and experience fewer symptoms of psychological strain, without being less engaged while at work. Studies have demonstrated that fluctuations in individuals’ psychological detachment from work can explain fluctuations in their affective states, and have identified positive relations between detachment from work during off-hours and job performance. Trait negative affectivity, high involvement in one’s job, job stressors, and poor environmental conditions are negatively related to psychological detachment from work during off-job time.
Estimation of low-level turbulence utilizing the proper orthogonal decomposition and particle filter

The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and the particle filter (PF) are applied to estimate the low-level turbulence around an airport. POD is introduced to represent a wind velocity field by a reduced-order model. PF is employed to estimate coefficients of POD by using observed velocity components from the broadband radar located at an airport. In this study, a numerical experiment was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed method by comparing the estimated wind velocity field with the original wind velocity field obtained from large eddy simulation (LES). From the comparison results, the variation of turbulence intensity obtained from the present approach was found similar to the original LES result. The main advantage of the present approach is much lower computational cost compared to LES.
Improving students' learning in software engineering education through multi-level assignments

Assignments and exercises are an essential part of software engineering education. It usually requires a variety of these assignments to cover a desired wide range of educational objectives as defined in the revised Bloom's taxonomy. But such a variety has inherent problems, e.g. that students might not see the connections between the assignments and find it hard to generalize the covered concepts. In this paper we present the educational design pattern Multi-Level Assignment which addresses these problems. It enables the assignment designer to incorporate a variety of educational objectives into a single assignment by including the concepts on multiple knowledge and process levels. The description as educational design pattern and the provided three implementation examples make this approach directly applicable for other software engineering educators.
Genetic Dissection of EphA Receptor Signaling Dynamics during Retinotopic Mapping

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) project axons from their cell bodies in the eye to targets in the superior colliculus of the midbrain. The wiring of these axons to their synaptic targets creates an ordered representation, or “map,” of retinal space within the brain. Many lines of experiments have demonstrated that the development of this map requires complementary gradients of EphA receptor tyrosine kinases and their ephrin-A ligands, yet basic features of EphA signaling during mapping remain to be resolved. These include the individual roles played by the multiple EphA receptors that make up the retinal EphA gradient. We have developed a set of ratiometric “relative signaling” (RS) rules that quantitatively predict how the composite low-nasal-to-high-temporal EphA gradient is translated into topographic order among RGCs. A key feature of these rules is that the component receptors of the gradient—in the mouse, EphA4, EphA5, and EphA6—must be functionally equivalent and interchangeable. To test this aspect of the model, we generated compound mutant mice in which the periodicity, slope, and receptor composition of the gradient are systematically altered with respect to the levels of EphA4, EphA5, and a closely related receptor, EphA3, that we ectopically express. Analysis of the retinotopic maps of these new mouse mutants establishes the general utility of the RS rules for predicting retinocollicular topography, and demonstrates that individual EphA gene products are approximately equivalent with respect to axon guidance and target selection.
INFORMATION LEAKAGE AND INFORMED TRADING AROUND UNSCHEDULED EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS

While there has been much judicial discussion regarding the competency of Australia’s continuous disclosure regime with reference to contemporaneous international standards, there has to date been limited empirical analysis of the Australian system’s effectiveness in preventing selective disclosure and information leakage. This paper presents an empirical study of information content and trading behaviour around unscheduled earnings announcements – comprising of profit upgrades, profit warnings and neutral trading statements – made by ASX-listed companies during 2004. The contention is that informed trading impacts on the stock returns and trading volumes of listed entities, and hence abnormal returns or trading volumes observed prior to an announcement provide evidence of information leakage. The paper models a range of factors that potentially influence firm disclosure practices and contribute to the level information asymmetry in the market during the pre-announcement period. Previous research has investigated the influence of firm size and information content in contributing to information leakage. This study further considers the variables of firm growth, capital structure and industry group.
Comparative Population Dynamics of Two Closely Related Species Differing in Ploidy Level

Background Many studies compare the population dynamics of single species within multiple habitat types, while much less is known about the differences in population dynamics in closely related species in the same habitat. Additionally, comparisons of the effect of habitat types and species are largely missing. Methodology and Principal Findings We estimated the importance of the habitat type and species for population dynamics of plants. Specifically, we compared the dynamics of two closely related species, the allotetraploid species Anthericum liliago and the diploid species Anthericum ramosum, occurring in the same habitat type. We also compared the dynamics of A. ramosum in two contrasting habitats. We examined three populations per species and habitat type. The results showed that single life history traits as well as the mean population dynamics of A. liliago and A. ramosum from the same habitat type were more similar than the population dynamics of A. ramosum from the two contrasting habitats. Conclusions Our findings suggest that when transferring knowledge regarding population dynamics between populations, we need to take habitat conditions into account, as these conditions appear to be more important than the species involved (ploidy level). However, the two species differ significantly in their overall population growth rates, indicating that the ploidy level has an effect on species performance. In contrast to what has been suggested by previous studies, we observed a higher population growth rate in the diploid species. This is in agreement with the wider range of habitats occupied by the diploid species.
Hotel Frontline Employee’s Affective Commitment and Service Creativity: the Mediating Effect of Emotional Labor

According to the investigation of three star hotels’ employees and 108 effective questionnaires, we study the relationship between the affective commitment and service creativity of employees and the mediating effect of emotional labor. The results showed that affective commitment has a significant positive relationship with emotional labor and employees’ service creativity; and emotional labor has a significant positive influence on the service creativity; deep acting plays a part of the mediating role between affective commitment and employees’ service creativity. Surface acting plays a completely mediating role in the relation between affective commitment and service creativity.
PARTICLE MESH SIMULATIONS OF THE Lyα FOREST AND THE SIGNATURE OF BARYON ACOUSTIC OSCILLATIONS IN THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

We present a set of ultra-large particle-mesh simulations of the Lyα forest targeted at understanding the imprint of baryon acoustic oscillations in the inter-galactic medium. We use nine dark matter only simulations which can, for the first time, simultaneously resolve the Jeans scale of the intergalactic gas while covering the large volumes required to adequately sample the acoustic feature. Mock absorption spectra are generated using the fluctuating Gunn–Peterson approximation which have approximately correct flux probability density functions and small-scale power spectra. On larger scales, there is clear evidence in the redshift-space correlation function for an acoustic feature, which matches a linear theory template with constant bias. These spectra, which we make publicly available, can be used to test pipelines, plan future experiments, and model various physical effects. As an illustration, we discuss the basic properties of the acoustic signal in the forest, the scaling of errors with noise and source number density, modified statistics to treat mean flux evolution and mis-estimation, and non-gravitational sources such as fluctuations in the photoionizing background and temperature fluctuations due to He ii reionization.
Emotion Regulation Flexibility and Illicit Substance Use among Adolescents

Emotion Regulation Flexibility and Illicit Substance Use among Adolescents Chit Yuen Yi The purpose of the present study was to investigate how emotion regulation (ER) flexibility was related to illicit substance use among adolescents. The hypotheses were that higher levels of ER flexibility (indicated by higher levels of context sensitivity, a larger ER repertoire, and higher levels of responsiveness tofeedback about ER) would be associated with lower levels of substance use, fewer substance-related problems, and lower tendency to use substances in emotion-laden situations. In an online survey, adolescent participants (aged 18 – 20; M = 19.00; SD =0.74; 77.1% female) answeredquestions about emotion regulation, illicit substance involvement and other emotion-relevant characteristics. Various indices of ER flexibility were created and their associations with levels of substance use, substance-related problems, and tendency to use substances in emotion-laden situations were examined. Moderation analyses were also performed to identifyemotion-relevant factors (i.e., mood, temperament reactivity, and urgency to act rashly in response to intense emotional experiences) that might impact the aforementioned associations. Additional indices of ER flexibility were also explored post-hoc. Results were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Counter to expectations, a larger ER repertoire for negative emotionswas associated with more substance-related problems, whereas a larger ER repertoire for positive emotions was associated with higher levels of substances but lower tendency to use substances in positive situations. Furthermore, some of these associations were moderated by negative urgency and positive emotionality such that a larger ER repertoire for negative emotions was associated with more substance-related problems among individuals with higher levels of negative urgency, whereas a larger ERfor positive emotions was related to lower tendency to use substances in positive situations for individuals with lower levels of positive emotionality. Another moderating effect, which was consistent with hypotheses, indicated that higher levels of responsiveness to feedback about positive ER was associated with lower levels of substance use for individuals who reported higher levels (but not lower levels) of positive mood. Overall, most of the findings were not consistent with the hypotheses, suggesting that there might be other factors (e.g., peer influence) that more strongly predict illicit substance use in the current sample or that there may be better ways to assess ER flexibility.