Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional and morphometric brain dissociation between dyslexia and reading ability

In functional neuroimaging studies, individuals with dyslexia frequently exhibit both hypoactivation, often in the left parietotemporal cortex, and hyperactivation, often in the left inferior frontal cortex, but there has been no evidence to suggest how to interpret the differential relations of hypoactivation and hyperactivation to dyslexia. To address this question, we measured brain activation by functional MRI during visual word rhyme judgment compared with visual cross-hair fixation rest, and we measured gray matter morphology by voxel-based morphometry in dyslexic adolescents in comparison with (i) an age-matched group, and (ii) a reading-matched group younger than the dyslexic group but equal to the dyslexic group in reading performance. Relative to the age-matched group (n = 19; mean 14.4 years), the dyslexic group (n = 19; mean 14.4 years) exhibited hypoactivation in left parietal and bilateral fusiform cortices and hyperactivation in left inferior and middle frontal gyri, caudate, and thalamus. Relative to the reading-matched group (n = 12; mean 9.8 years), the dyslexic group (n = 12; mean 14.5 years) also exhibited hypoactivation in left parietal and fusiform regions but equal activation in all four areas that had exhibited hyperactivation relative to age-matched controls as well. In regions that exhibited atypical activation in the dyslexic group, only the left parietal region exhibited reduced gray matter volume relative to both control groups. Thus, areas of hyperactivation in dyslexia reflected processes related to the level of current reading ability independent of dyslexia. In contrast, areas of hypoactivation in dyslexia reflected functional atypicalities related to dyslexia itself, independent of current reading ability, and related to atypical brain morphology in dyslexia.
Team Dispersion and Performance: The Role of Team Communication and Transformational Leadership

Organizations increasingly rely on virtual teams to access geographically dispersed expertise. Yet, team dispersion introduces challenges to team communication that may negatively influence team performance. Using a sample of 53 innovation teams representing a variety of geographic dispersion configurations from completely collocated to highly dispersed, we examined the moderating role of transformational leadership on the relationship between team dispersion, team communication, and team performance. Our findings suggest that while transformational leadership is effective in reducing the negative effects of dispersion in collocated teams or ones with low levels of geographic dispersion, it is less effective helping improve the performance of highly dispersed teams. This effect may be due to a transformational leader’s difficulty in facilitating team communication in highly dispersed teams, where his or her influence might actually have counterproductive effects. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, future research, and practice.
The Bias Associated with Amplicon Sequencing Does Not Affect the Quantitative Assessment of Bacterial Community Dynamics

The performance of two sets of primers targeting variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene V1–V3 and V4 was compared in their ability to describe changes of bacterial diversity and temporal turnover in full-scale activated sludge. Duplicate sets of high-throughput amplicon sequencing data of the two 16S rRNA regions shared a collection of core taxa that were observed across a series of twelve monthly samples, although the relative abundance of each taxon was substantially different between regions. A case in point was the changes in the relative abundance of filamentous bacteria Thiothrix, which caused a large effect on diversity indices, but only in the V1–V3 data set. Yet the relative abundance of Thiothrix in the amplicon sequencing data from both regions correlated with the estimation of its abundance determined using fluorescence in situ hybridization. In nonmetric multidimensional analysis samples were distributed along the first ordination axis according to the sequenced region rather than according to sample identities. The dynamics of microbial communities indicated that V1–V3 and the V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene yielded comparable patterns of: 1) the changes occurring within the communities along fixed time intervals, 2) the slow turnover of activated sludge communities and 3) the rate of species replacement calculated from the taxa–time relationships. The temperature was the only operational variable that showed significant correlation with the composition of bacterial communities over time for the sets of data obtained with both pairs of primers. In conclusion, we show that despite the bias introduced by amplicon sequencing, the variable regions V1–V3 and V4 can be confidently used for the quantitative assessment of bacterial community dynamics, and provide a proper qualitative account of general taxa in the community, especially when the data are obtained over a convenient time window rather than at a single time point.
Efficient Visualization of Fiber Tracking Uncertainty based on Complex Gaussian Noise

: Visualizing the uncertainty of fiber tracking is an important new challenge in the area of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). In this paper, we present a new method that allows for an efficient computation of diffusion weighted images with user-defined noise. These are used to analyze the tracking uncertainty resulting from image noise. The main idea is to add complex Gaussian noise to the magnitude images. In contrast to the bootstrap method, our technique needs only a single data set so that the acquisition time and the time for computing the artificial data can be reduced dramatically. Our visualization of the resulting fiber sets as well as our measurements show that bootstrap noise can be simulated appropriately by complex Gaussian noise.
The Group-Member Mind Trade-Off

People attribute minds to other individuals and make inferences about those individuals’ mental states to explain and predict their behavior. Little is known, however, about whether people also attribute minds to groups and believe that collectives, companies, and corporations can think, have intentions, and make plans. Even less is known about the consequences of these attributions for both groups and group members. We investigated the attribution of mind and responsibility to groups and group members, and we demonstrated that people make a trade-off: The more a group is attributed a group mind, the less members of that group are attributed individual minds. Groups that are judged to have more group mind are also judged to be more cohesive and responsible for their collective actions. These findings have important implications for how people perceive the minds of groups and group members, and for how attributions of mind influence attributions of responsibility to groups and group members.
High Levels of Anti-Ganglioside Antibodies in Patients with Parkinson?s Disease Associated with Cognitive Decline

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that gangliosides act as important mediators in both demyelination and remyelination. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the presence of IgM antibodies against GM1, GD1b and GQ1b gangliosides in the sera of in patients who suffered from Parkinson’s disease in correlation with the clinical parameters. Method: The present research is based on the investigation of 44 patients (63.7-73.3 years) for anti-ganglioside antibodies and 44 healthy age- matched individuals, as normal controls, using Enzyme-Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assays. Results: The patients revealed increased levels of the tested antibodies, compared to normal controls (p=0.0005). A correlation between IgM anti-GM1 and the level of cognitive impairment (Minimental State Examination, p=0.003; Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale I, p=0.013) was also noticed. Conclusion: A peripheral neuroimmune response may occur in patients who suffer from Parkinson’s disease especially those with cognitive impairment. Further investigation is needed to establish a direct connection between that immune response and disease pathophysiology.
Geographic profiling applied to testing models of bumble-bee foraging

Geographic profiling (GP) was originally developed as a statistical tool to help police forces prioritize lists of suspects in investigations of serial crimes. GP uses the location of related crime sites to make inferences about where the offender is most likely to live, and has been extremely successful in criminology. Here, we show how GP is applicable to experimental studies of animal foraging, using the bumble-bee Bombus terrestris. GP techniques enable us to simplify complex patterns of spatial data down to a small number of parameters (2–3) for rigorous hypothesis testing. Combining computer model simulations and experimental observation of foraging bumble-bees, we demonstrate that GP can be used to discriminate between foraging patterns resulting from (i) different hypothetical foraging algorithms and (ii) different food item (flower) densities. We also demonstrate that combining experimental and simulated data can be used to elucidate animal foraging strategies: specifically that the foraging patterns of real bumble-bees can be reliably discriminated from three out of nine hypothetical foraging algorithms. We suggest that experimental systems, like foraging bees, could be used to test and refine GP model predictions, and that GP offers a useful technique to analyse spatial animal behaviour data in both the laboratory and field.
Spatial Politics in Metropolitan Miami, 1980-1992: Cuban American Crisis, Community Development and Empowerment

In this paper I examine the urban history of Cuban American empowerment in metropolitan Miami from 1980 to 1992 through the concept of “spatial politics” – the use of space by urban communities to claim government control. By combining archival research, GIS mappings, visual documentation, and interviews with retired metropolitan planners and community development specialists, I consider how Cuban Americans engaged in performative, discursive, electoral, planning-oriented, and allied activities over three stages – crisis, community development, and empowerment – which resulted in the transformation of Miami’s political status quo. Metropolitan planners contributed to this spatial politics by producing demographic data that facilitated the development of a Cuban American community development system, which in turn engaged public policy, economic development and housing. These provisions led to the concentration of ethnic bloc voting and the election of Cuban American leadership at the municipal and county level. This untold urban history, situated in the aftermath of the Mariel Boatlift, demonstrates that urban historians need to analyze how urban space is contested, produced and managed by immigrants in order to fully understand how immigrant incorporation and empowerment operates in American cities. Spatial politics is a conceptual tool to aid in this understanding.
Low free energy cost of very long loop insertions in proteins

Long insertions into a loop of a folded host protein are expected to have destabilizing effects because of the entropic cost associated with loop closure unless the inserted sequence adopts a folded structure with amino‐ and carboxy‐termini in close proximity. A loop entropy reduction screen based on this concept was used in an attempt to retrieve folded sequences from random sequence libraries. A library of long random sequences was inserted into a loop of the SH2 domain, displayed on the surface of M13 phage, and the inserted sequences that did not disrupt SH2 function were retrieved by panning using beads coated with a phosphotyrosine containing SH2 peptide ligand. Two sequences of a library of 2 × 108 sequences were isolated after multiple rounds of panning, and were found to have recovery levels similar to the wild‐type SH2 domain and to be relatively intolerant to further mutation in PCR mutagenesis experiments. Surprisingly, although these inserted sequences exhibited little nonrandom structure, they do not significantly destabilize the host SH2 domain. Additional insertion variants recovered at lower levels in the panning experiments were also found to have a minimal effect on the stability and peptide‐binding function of the SH2 domain. The additional level of selection present in the panning experiments is likely to involve in vivo folding and assembly, as there was a rough correlation between recovery levels in the phage‐panning experiments and protein solubility. The finding that loop insertions of 60–80 amino acids have minimal effects on SH2 domain stability suggests that the free energy cost of inserting long loops may be considerably less than polymer theory estimates based on the entropic cost of loop closure, and, hence, that loop insertion may have provided an evolutionary route to multidomain protein structures.
The Effects Upon Students of Supplementing Aboriginal Post-Secondary Transition Programs With Traditional Cultural Activities

This study investigates Aboriginal student experiences in an Aboriginal transition program that was co-developed by the student-participants. Data was collected from participants in the study through a focus group, journals, and surveys. The results show that adding Aboriginal cultural activities to the curriculum improved the experience of students in the transition program. Students felt that their contributions were important and valued, that they learned more about their traditional culture, and that their contributions enhanced their experience in the program. Allowing Aboriginal students to participate in their own education empowers them and improves their overall educational
Engagement in the Use of English and Chinese as Foreign Languages: The Role of Learner‐Generated Content in Instructional Task Design

This study investigates learner engagement in pedagogic task performance by triangulating multiple sources of data to gain insight into the cognitive and affective processes that take place on a range of tasks and how they engage learners of different target languages. The study provides a detailed analysis of 4 learners? second language (L2) performance (2 first language [L1] Japanese learners of English; 2 L1 Japanese learners of Chinese). All learners completed an identical set of 12 communication tasks in 3 discourse genres (instruction, narrative, and opinion) in a learner-generated (LGC) and teacher-generated content (TGC) condition. The performances were followed by immediate stimulated video recalls and questionnaires on perceived levels of anxiety and motivation during each task. Triangulation of these data sources revealed that both the English and Chinese learners were more socially and emotionally engaged in LGC tasks than in TGC tasks and that this engagement was associated with more fluent and accurate, but less complex, speech. The difference between the Chinese and English learners was in their self-reported preferences and levels of anxiety and motivation while performing the tasks in the respective conditions. Based on the learners? background profiles, this difference in subjective response to the tasks is attributed to previous experience with formal L2 instruction.
An Exploratory Study of Radical Mindfulness Training with Severely Economically Disadvantaged People: Findings of a Canadian Study

Abstract This article describes a two-phased research project that piloted a modified mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention developed specifically for a severely economically disadvantaged population. The terms severely economically disadvantaged (SED) and “severely marginalised” were used to describe the participants who experience socioeconomic disadvantage and social isolation as well as significant medical, psychological, physical, and learning challenges. Phase one of the project consisted of community focus groups to determine what types of mindfulness-based interventions would most benefit this population. Based on this feedback, the first author developed a modified MBSR intervention he called radical mindfulness training (or RMT). Phase two was a pilot study of RMT with 11 SED participants who accessed services at a local community health centre; eight participants completed the program, and seven of the participants completed Self Compassion and Satisfaction with Life scales and qualitative interviews. Results revealed an overall mean increase in self compassion and satisfaction with life after completing the program. Qualitative findings provided further evidence of the nature of the participants' perceived effectiveness of this program. The authors conclude that the findings from his limited exploratory study substantiate the need for further study of the RMT program.
SOM-Based Modelling for an Activated Sludge Treatment Process

The control of an activated sludge treatment plant depends on on-line process data and measurements made in the laboratory. The most important quality indicators of activated sludge are settling properties. Even though the behaviour of activated sludge is basically known, long lags and the complex characteristic of biological activity set a challenge for controlling the process. In this paper, the process lags of an activated sludge treatment plant are determined by a cross-correlation method. We also demonstrate the use of Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) for analysing an activated sludge treatment process. A data set of the process was used for training a SOM, which could be used for estimating the diluted sludge volume index (DSVI). The results of a validation data set showed a good agreement between the actual and estimated values of DSVI. The results indicate that the SOM method can also be efficiently applied to the analysis of the activated sludge treatment process and so towards better process control.
Structural accommodations of patriarchy: Women and workplace gender segregation in Qatar

As the institutions of classic patriarchy erode in Qatar, women are entering the labour force in growing numbers. It is argued that women's need to work in societies historically characterized by classic patriarchy causes them to enact strategic accommodations that signal their feminine respectability and conformity to male domination. We find the Qatari context to be characterized by structural rather than individual accommodations of patriarchy. State institutions and several employers have made available gender‐segregated workplaces that facilitate women's employment while maintaining many elements of patriarchy. Using semi‐structured interview data with university‐aged Qatari women, we examine attitudes towards employment, specifically those related to gender mixing in the workplace. Young women's narratives reveal complex schemas regarding the acceptability of gender mixing, which depends on characteristics of the working woman, characteristics of the men with whom she must interact in the workplace and the spatial organization of the workplace itself. Women's protection of their reputations, critical to maintaining their families’ support and their own marriageability, emerged as a key motivation for limiting interactions with men. The preference for gender‐segregated workplaces reveals Qatari women's continued subscription to the patriarchal bargain — they constrain their behaviour in return for protection from male kin.
Comparative Species Divergence across Eight Triplets of Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus) Using Genomic Sequence Data

Species divergence is typically thought to occur in the absence of gene flow, but many empirical studies are discovering that gene flow may be more pervasive during species formation. Although many examples of divergence with gene flow have been identified, few clades have been investigated in a comparative manner, and fewer have been studied using genome-wide sequence data. We contrast species divergence genetic histories across eight triplets of North American Sceloporus lizards using a maximum likelihood implementation of the isolation–migration (IM) model. Gene flow at the time of species divergence is modeled indirectly as variation in species divergence time across the genome or explicitly using a migration rate parameter. Likelihood ratio tests (LRTs) are used to test the null model of no gene flow at speciation against these two alternative gene flow models. We also use the Akaike information criterion to rank the models. Hundreds of loci are needed for the LRTs to have statistical power, and we use genome sequencing of reduced representation libraries to obtain DNA sequence alignments at many loci (between 340 and 3,478; mean = 1,678) for each triplet. We find that current species distributions are a poor predictor of whether a species pair diverged with gene flow. Interrogating the genome using the triplet method expedites the comparative study of species divergence history and the estimation of genetic parameters associated with speciation.
"Police free gay slaves": consent, sexuality, and the law

On 11 January 1995, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg agreed to hear a complaint against Great Britain by three gay men imprisoned for sado-masochistic sexual practices in the infamous "Operation Spanner" case.l This international hearing addressed the vital question, "If a man wants his scrotum sandpapered in the privacy of his own home, is it anybody else's business? " The complaint to the Court arose after the United Kingdom had sentenced sixteen men to prison for engaging in consensual sado-masochistic sexual activities; specifically, among other things, "nailing each other's willies to the skirting b ~ a r d . " ~ The men were convicted on assault charges; the case was unusual in that the evidence against them was a set of videotapes of the activity rather than the testimony of any victim. Since the activity itself was entirely consensual, there was no complaining witness in any of the cases.4 The Commission eventually rejected the men's complaint, ruling that the state has the right to interfere in the private lives of its citizens "to protect public health and moral^. "^ One commentator called the day of the Commission's decision "a black day for human rights in Europe," arguing that the Commission's Judge Pettiti "displays a contempt for individual freedom unrivalled even by the Thought Police in Orwell's 1984. "6 Underlying such condemnations of the Commission's judgment is an insistence that the government stay out of the affairs of consenting adults. It is presumed by critics that the state should not interfere with the consensual sexual activities of individuals, no matter how bizarre such activities might seem to other^. ^ Because the men involved consented to the activities they engaged in, it is argued, any physical harm sustained by the participants should be deemed no more injurious to "public health and morals" than similar injuries that might occur during a particularly vigorous boxing match or a mountain climb. This essay is an attempt to understand the discursive apparatus surrounding sexual consent in the broader context of the history of the Anglo-American juridico-legal repression of sexuality. The goal of this essay is to make a few observations about the production of erotic subjectivities through juridico-legal discursive ma~hinery. ~ I have chosen a rather circuitous route to this goal. Rather than approaching the problem systematically in order to arrive at final conclusions, I have chosen to analyze a cluster of events in Anglo-American juridico-legal history in order to tease out some of the implications of the way in which certain assumptions about "consent" circumscribe erotic identities.