Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in Parasite Virulence Induced by the Disruption of a Single Member of the 235 kDa Rhoptry Protein Multigene Family of Plasmodium yoelii

Invasion of the erythrocyte by the merozoites of the malaria parasite is a complex process involving a range of receptor-ligand interactions. Two protein families termed Erythrocyte Binding Like (EBL) proteins and Reticulocyte Binding Protein Homologues (RH) play an important role in host cell recognition by the merozoite. In the rodent malaria parasite, Plasmodium yoelii, the 235 kDa rhoptry proteins (Py235) are coded for by a multigene family and are members of the RH. In P. yoelii Py235 as well as a single member of EBL have been shown to be key mediators of virulence enabling the parasite to invade a wider range of host erythrocytes. One member of Py235, PY01365 is most abundantly transcribed in parasite populations and the protein specifically binds to erythrocytes and is recognized by the protective monoclonal antibody 25.77, suggesting a key role of this particular member in virulence. Recent studies have indicated that overall levels of Py235 expression are essential for parasite virulence. Here we show that disruption of PY01365 in the virulent YM line directly impacts parasite virulence. Furthermore the disruption of PY01365 leads to a reduction in the number of schizonts that express members of Py235 that react specifically with the mcAb 25.77. Erythrocyte binding assays show reduced binding of Py235 to red blood cells in the PY01365 knockout parasite as compared to YM. While our results identify PY01365 as a mediator of parasite virulence, they also confirm that other members of Py235 are able to substitute for PY01365.
Round-trip agenda setting: Tracking the intermedia process over time in the ice bucket challenge

Despite the social media’s agenda-setting power, the literature provides little understanding of how social media agendas survive and last long enough to trigger substantial public discussions. This study investigates this issue by tracking the ice bucket challenge campaign over an 18-week period. This article claims that the pattern of the intermedia process evolves over time along with the issue-attention cycle. We observed a round-trip intermedia agenda setting where the direction is reversed as the agenda waxes and wanes. Both social and mainstream media continued to generate a heightened level of issue attention after the buzz was cooled down.
Higher learning: impacts of a high-altitude adventure-based field school on college student development

ABSTRACT Student learning can be enhanced through applied experience of theoretical knowledge. The purpose of this study was to identify and articulate personal and educational impacts experienced by students during a mentally and physically challenging international adventure-based field school. Nineteen students and two faculty members participated in a three-week applied course exploring the effects of altitude on human health and performance through an adventure sport expedition in the Andean Mountains of Bolivia, South America. The field school design was intended to optimize student learning through cross-disciplinary applied curriculum and research. Written journal assignments, data from physiological and psychological measures and researcher observations were included in the analysis. Findings suggest that altering environmental conditions and applying ‘real-world conditions’ can promote student growth and learning. Implications for field school design, pedagogical considerations and college administration of field schools are discussed.
A neuromorphic hardware architecture using the Neural Engineering Framework for pattern recognition

We present a hardware architecture that uses the Neural Engineering Framework (NEF) to implement large-scale neural networks on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) for performing pattern recognition in real time. NEF is a framework that is capable of synthesising large-scale cognitive systems from subnetworks. We will first present the architecture of the proposed neural network implemented using fixed-point numbers and demonstrate a routine that computes the decoding weights by using the online pseudoinverse update method (OPIUM) in a parallel and distributed manner. The proposed system is efficiently implemented on a compact digital neural core. This neural core consists of 64 neurons that are instantiated by a single physical neuron using a time-multiplexing approach. As a proof of concept, we combined 128 identical neural cores together to build a handwritten digit recognition system using the MNIST database and achieved a recognition rate of 96.55%. The system is implemented on a state-of-the-art FPGA and can process 5.12 million digits per second. The architecture is not limited to handwriting recognition, but is generally applicable as an extremely fast pattern recognition processor for various kinds of patterns such as speech and images.
Disability Identification and Self-Efficacy among College Students on the Autism Spectrum

The number of youth on the autism spectrum approaching young adulthood and attending college is growing. Very little is known about the subjective experience of these college students. Disability identification and self-efficacy are two subjective factors that are critical for the developmental and logistical tasks associated with emerging adulthood. This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 to examine the prevalence and correlates of disability identification and self-efficacy among college students on the autism spectrum. Results indicate nearly one-third of these students do not report seeing themselves as disabled or having a special need. Black race was associated with lower likelihood of both disability identification and self-efficacy.
On the robust stability and stabilization of sampled-data systems: A hybrid system approach

We consider the stability analysis and state-feedback stabilization of LTI uncertain sampled-data systems. There are two sources of uncertainty: the plant's parameters can be uncertain and the sampling intervals can be unknown and variable. We model the sampled-data system as a hybrid system and we employ a Lyapunov function with discontinuities to establish the stability of the system. Our stability and stabilization results are presented as linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). By solving these LMIs, one can find a positive constant which determines an upper bound on the sampling intervals such that the stability of the closed-loop is guaranteed. The control design LMIs also provide controller gains that can be used to stabilize a given process. To reduce the conservativeness we use slack matrices; however, we require a smaller number of slack matrices than in the previous results and we show that we have done it without making the results more conservative. As a special case we consider sampled-data systems with constant sampling intervals and provide results for this class of systems that are less conservative than the ones obtained for the general case of variable sampling time
The Nature of Modality and Learning Task: Unsupervised Learning of Auditory Categories

HALSEY, PHILLIP A. , Ph.D., August 2015, Psychology The Nature of Modality and Learning Task: Unsupervised Learning of Auditory Categories Director of Dissertation: Ronaldo Vigo Categorization and concept-learning has a long-standing influence on the field of psychology because the notions of concept-learning are key to how individuals learn. Central to this idea is; how do we categorize stimuli that vary according to different dimensions? How do we categorize stimuli under different conditions? How do we store these categorizes as mental representations? And does the modality of the stimuli affect our construction of a mental concept, and to what extent does this affect categorization behavior? To partially answer this last question, it has been determined that the modality of a stimulus does influence categorization behavior but the extent of this is unknown. The current dissertation explores the manner in which stimulus modality, relationships between stimulus dimensions, and learning method affects categorization behavior. Two experiments are conducted in order to examine the auditory dimensions individuals attend to when making comparisons, and how individuals spontaneously categorize auditory stimuli based on the attended dimensions. Participant’s data was then examined according to three models of unsupervised learning: the simplicity model, SUSTAIN, and GISTM.
Young People, Non-religion and Citizenship

Non-religion and unbelief are under-researched phenomena in the social sciences but the growing significance of the worldwide non-religious population is leading to more interest in this previously neglected topic. However, with the exception of a handful of studies, little attention has yet been directed towards non-religious youth, despite the emergence of a substantial body of research on youth and religion, and ongoing concerns about the conduct of young people more generally. This article draws on mixed-method data from the British Youth on Religion study to explore the responses of participants identifying as religious ‘nones’. The analysis focuses specifically on young people as citizens through their relationships with wider society, including the broader meaning of non-religious identity, views on morality and values, and approaches to, and relations with, religious others. As such, the article speaks to wider debates about youth, citizenship and community cohesion, as well as non-religion and unbelief.
The CTLA4 +49 A/G polymorphism is not associated with susceptibility to type 1 diabetes mellitus in the Portuguese population

CTLA4 genetic polymorphisms have been associated with type 1 diabetes. We genotyped 207 patients and 249 controls for the most frequently investigated polymorphism of the CTLA4 gene (+49A/G (rs231775)). No significant differences were observed, suggesting that this polymorphism is not strongly associated with type 1 diabetes in the Portuguese population.
On Acoustic Feedback Cancellation Using Probe Noise in Multiple-Microphone and Single-Loudspeaker Systems

A probe noise signal can be used in an acoustic feedback cancellation system to prevent biased adaptive estimation of acoustic feedback paths. However, practical experiences and simulation results indicate that whenever a low-level and inaudible probe noise signal is used, the convergence rate of the adaptive estimation is significantly decreased when keeping the steady-state error unchanged. The goal of this work is to derive analytic expressions for the system behavior such as convergence rate and steady-state error for a multiple-microphone and single-loudspeaker audio system, where the acoustic feedback cancellation is carried out using a probe noise signal. The derived results show how different system parameters and signal properties affect the cancellation performance, and the results explain theoretically the decreased convergence rate. Understanding this is important for making further improvements in the existing probe noise approach.
Cyber Victimization and Depression Among Adolescents With Intellectual Disabilities and Developmental Disorders: The Moderation of Perceived Social Support

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to examine the mitigating effect of perceived social support from parents, teachers, and friends on the association between cyber victimization and depression, accessed one year later. Adolescents (n = 131; 13–15 years old; 73% male) with intellectual and developmental disabilities completed questionnaires on their face-to-face and cyber victimization, perceived social support, and depression in 7th grade (Time 1). They also completed the depression questionnaire one year later in the 8th grade (Time 2). The findings suggested that high levels of Time 1 perceived social support from parents and teachers weakened the relationship between Time 1 cyber victimization and Time 2 depression, while controlling for Time 1 face-to-face victimization and Time 1 depression. The results are discussed in regard to the supportive roles of parents and teachers in adolescents’ lives. Recommendations are made for programs to consider including adolescents with intellectual disabilities and developmental disorders in prevention and intervention programs.
Argument Extraction from News

Argument extraction is the task of identifying arguments, along with their components in text. Arguments can be usually decomposed into a claim and one or more premises justifying it. The proposed approach tries to identify segments that represent argument elements (claims and premises) on social Web texts (mainly news and blogs) in the Greek language, for a small set of thematic domains, including articles on politics, economics, culture, various social issues, and sports. The proposed approach exploits distributed representations of words, extracted from a large non-annotated corpus. Among the novel aspects of this work is the thematic domain itself which relates to social Web, in contrast to traditional research in the area, which concentrates mainly on law documents and scientific publications. The huge increase of socialwebcommunities, alongwiththeirusertendency to debate, makes the identification of arguments in these texts a necessity. In addition, a new manually annotated corpus has been constructedthatcanbeusedfreelyforresearchpurposes. Evaluation results are quite promising, suggesting that distributed representations can contributepositivelyto thetaskofargumentextraction.
Dietary patterns and the incidence of hyperglyacemia in China

Abstract Objective Epidemiological studies have examined associations between dietary patterns and the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, information on dietary patterns and the risk of type 2 diabetes in Chinese populations is scarce. The aim of the present study was to identify dietary patterns and examine their association with incident hyperglycaemia in Nanjing, China. Design A community-based prospective cohort study. Dietary assessment was carried out using a validated eighty-seven-item FFQ. Dietary patterns were identified by exploratory factor analysis. Participants were categorized into tertiles of dietary factor score for each dietary pattern. The relationship between dietary patterns and hyperglycaemia risk was analysed using multivariable linear and Cox regression. Setting Seven communities from two urban districts in Nanjing, China. Subjects A total of 2900 of Chinese local residents aged 30 years or above, free of hyperglycaemia and other serious diseases, who participated in the baseline survey from June to September 2007 were followed up 3 years later from June to September 2010 for the development of hyperglycaemia. Fasting blood samples were collected at both baseline and 3-year follow-up surveys. Hyperglycaemia was defined as fasting plasma glucose concentration of ≥6·1 mmol/l or already taking oral hyperglycaemia agents for treatment of type 2 diabetes. Results Five major dietary patterns were identified: (i) the ‘condiments’ pattern; (ii) the ‘animal and plant protein’ pattern; (iii) the ‘healthy traditional’ pattern; (iv) the ‘fruits, eggs and juice’ pattern; and (v) the ‘alcohol, milk and tea’ pattern. A total of 2093 (72·2 %) individuals completed the follow-up survey and the 3-year cumulative incidence of hyperglycaemia was 7·5 % (158/2093). A 1-unit increase in the score for the ‘healthy traditional’ pattern was associated with a decrease of 0·054 mmol/l in fasting plasma glucose (P=0·017), while a 1-unit increase in the ‘fruits, eggs and juice’ pattern score was associated with an increase of 0·050 mmol/l in fasting plasma glucose (P=0·023) by multivariable linear regression. For men, tertile 3 of the ‘fruits, eggs and juice’ pattern was associated with an 88 % greater risk (hazard ratio=1·88; 95 % CI 1·04, 3·54) of hyperglycaemia than tertile 1 of this pattern. Being in tertile 3 of the ‘alcohol, milk and tea’ pattern was associated with a 35 % greater risk (hazard ratio=1·35; 95 % CI 1·04, 2·16) relative to tertile 1 in women, while for the ‘'healthy traditional’ pattern tertile 3 was associated with a 41 % lower risk (hazard ratio=0·59; 95 % CI 0·35, 0·99) compared with tertile 1. The ‘condiments’ and the ‘animal and plant protein’ patterns were not independently associated with hyperglycaemia. Conclusions Our findings suggest that modifying dietary patterns could reduce hyperglycaemia incidence in the mainland Chinese adult population.
Learning nonlinear functions on vectors : examples and predictions

One of the underlying assumptions of the Neural Engineering Framework, and of most of theoretical neuroscience, is that neurons in the brain perform functions on signals. Models of brain systems make explicit the functions that a modeller hypothesizes are being performed in the brain; the Neural Engineering Framework defines an analytical method of determining connection weight matrices between populations to perform those functions in a biologically plausible manner. With the recent implementation of general error-modulated plasticity rules in Nengo, it is now possible to start with a random connection weight matrix and learn a weight matrix that will perform an arbitrary function. This technical report confirms that this is true by showing results of learning several non-linear functions performed on vectors of various dimensionality. It also discusses trends seen in the data, and makes predictions about what we might expect when trying to learn functions on very high-dimensional signals.
Economic Pathways to Women’s Empowerment and Active Citizenship: What Does The Evidence From Bangladesh Tell Us?

Abstract This paper sets out to explore economic pathways to women’s empowerment and active citizenship in Bangladesh, a country where the denial of economic resources to women, and their resulting status as lifelong dependents on men, has long been seen as foundational to their subordinate status. While empowerment entails change in the lives of individual women and their interpersonal relations, the concept of active citizenship draws attention to women’s capacity to participate in the public life of their community. The paper draws on the existing literature on women’s access to various forms of paid work both to assess their impact in terms of empowerment and citizenship and to understand better the processes by which these changes might occur.
Identifying Talent in Youth Sport: A Novel Methodology Using Higher-Dimensional Analysis

Prediction of adult performance from early age talent identification in sport remains difficult. Talent identification research has generally been performed using univariate analysis, which ignores multivariate relationships. To address this issue, this study used a novel higher-dimensional model to orthogonalize multivariate anthropometric and fitness data from junior rugby league players, with the aim of differentiating future career attainment. Anthropometric and fitness data from 257 Under-15 rugby league players was collected. Players were grouped retrospectively according to their future career attainment (i.e., amateur, academy, professional). Players were blindly and randomly divided into an exploratory (n = 165) and validation dataset (n = 92). The exploratory dataset was used to develop and optimize a novel higher-dimensional model, which combined singular value decomposition (SVD) with receiver operating characteristic analysis. Once optimized, the model was tested using the validation dataset. SVD analysis revealed 60 m sprint and agility 505 performance were the most influential characteristics in distinguishing future professional players from amateur and academy players. The exploratory dataset model was able to distinguish between future amateur and professional players with a high degree of accuracy (sensitivity = 85.7%, specificity = 71.1%; p<0.001), although it could not distinguish between future professional and academy players. The validation dataset model was able to distinguish future professionals from the rest with reasonable accuracy (sensitivity = 83.3%, specificity = 63.8%; p = 0.003). Through the use of SVD analysis it was possible to objectively identify criteria to distinguish future career attainment with a sensitivity over 80% using anthropometric and fitness data alone. As such, this suggests that SVD analysis may be a useful analysis tool for research and practice within talent identification.
A Qualitative Exploration of Work-Life Conflict in Faculty Physicians

A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION OF WORK-LIFE CONFLICT IN FACULTY PHYSICIANS Rebecca S. Lee Advisor: University of Guelph, 2016 Dr. Leanne Son Hing This thesis is an exploratory investigation of work-life conflict in faculty physicians who are at the top of their field. Work-life conflict refers to the conflict or interference between work and non-work roles. The current study draws on theories and previous literature, such as role theory, inter-role conflict, intra-role conflict, role salience, and spillover, to explore how faculty physicians’ work lives interfere with their home lives, and how faculty physicians’ home lives interfere with their work lives. The Job Demands-Resources Model provides a framework to explore how demands and resources from the work and home domains can influence the experience of work-life conflict. 30 faculty pediatric physicians from a top research hospital were interviewed, with their responses analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results indicate that these faculty physicians experience work-life conflict, often influenced by many work demands conflicting with home demands. However, they also have many work resources that can act as a buffer against the negative effects of their demands. Further, as a result of multiple roles within their work domain, they experience intra-role conflict, leading to work-life conflict. This work-life conflict had negative consequences for their health and well-being; in particular, physicians’ sleep and self-care suffered greatly. Faculty physicians of this sample engage in various strategies to manage their work-life conflict. The implications for research and practice around work-life conflict in faculty physicians are discussed.
Quality Measures for Lidar Signal Procoessing

This paper presents a consistent derivation of quality measures for lidar signal processing used to obtain a representation of dynamic traffic scenes for driver-safety applications. These quality measures evaluate both the individual tracks and the description of the complete scene. This evaluation is crucial since subsequent processing steps, such as warnings or actions, rely on the results of the preceding signal processing. In our approach each processing step is formulated in mathematical terms and then is evaluated using a probabilistic approach. In a subsequent step the individual quality measures are incorporated into one quality measure evaluating the overall signal processing for the individual tracks. Finally, the description of the complete scene is evaluated on the basis of the individual tracks' quality measures. This approach has been implemented and tested on real lidar data and has proved to give a reliable measure of the signal processing quality