Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlations in Social Neuroscience Aren't Voodoo: A Reply to Vul Et Al.

Vul et al. claim that brain-personality correlations in many social neuroscience studies are “implausibly high,” “likely…spurious,” and “should not be believed. ” Several of their conclusions are incorrect due to flawed reasoning, statistical errors, and sampling anomalies. First, the conceptual issues discussed by Vul et al. have little to do with social neuroscience per se and are equally relevant for nearly all fMRI analyses that report measures of effect size from searches over multiple voxels or regions (r, t, or Z statistics). Second, Vul et al. incorrectly claim that whole-brain regression analyses use an invalid and “non-independent” two-step inferential procedure. We explain how whole-brain regressions are a valid single-step method of identifying brain regions that have reliable correlations with individual difference measures. Third, Vul et al. claim that large correlations obtained using whole-brain regression analyses may be the result of noise alone. We provide a simulation to demonstrate that typical fMRI sample sizes (N = 15-20) will only rarely produce large correlations in the absence of any true effect. Fourth, Vul et al. claim that the reported correlations are inflated to the point of being “implausibly high”. Though biased post hoc correlation estimates are a well-known consequence of conducting multiple tests, Vul et al. make inaccurate assumptions when estimating the theoretical ceiling of such correlations. Moreover, Vul et al.’s own meta-analysis suggests that the magnitude of the bias is an increase of approximately . 12, a rather modest estimate to inspire the label ‘voodoo’. In addition, after correcting for likely restricted range in several of the “independent” correlations that Vul et al. treat as the gold standard, the means of the “non-independent” and “independent” correlations are nearly identical. Finally, it is troubling that almost 25% of the “non-independent” correlations in the papers reviewed by Vul et al. were omitted from their own meta-analysis without explanation.
The importance of being proline: the interaction of proline‐rich motifs in signaling proteins with their cognate domains

A common focus among molecular and cellular biologists is the identification of proteins that interact with each other. Yeast two‐hybrid, cDNA expression library screening, and coimmunoprecipitation experiments are powerful methods for identifying novel proteins that bind to one's favorite protein for the purpose of learning more regarding its cellular function. These same techniques, coupled with truncation and mutagenesis experiments, have been used to define the region of interaction between pairs of proteins. One conclusion from this work is that many interactions occur over short regions, often less than 10 amino acids in length within one protein. For example, mapping studies and 3‐dimensional analyses of antigen‐antibody interactions have revealed that epitopes are typically 4–7 residues long (1). Other examples include protein‐interaction modules, such as Src homology (SH) 2 and 3 domains, phosphotyrosine binding domains (PTB), postsynaptic density/disc‐large/ZO1 (PDZ) domains, WW domains, Eps15 homology (EH) domains, and 14–3–3 proteins that typically recognize linear regions of 3–9 amino acids. Each of these domains has been the subject of recent reviews published elsewhere (2–7). Among the primary structures of many ligands for protein–protein interactions, the amino acid proline is critical. In particular, SH3, WW, and several new protein‐interaction domains prefer ligand sequences that are proline‐rich. In addition, even though ligands for EH domains and 14–3–3 domains are not proline‐rich, they do include a single proline residue. This review highlights the analysis of those protein‐protein interactions that involve proline residues, the biochemistry of proline, and current drug discovery efforts based on proline peptidomimetics. —Kay, B. K. , Williamson, M. P., Sudol, M. The importance of being proline: the interaction of proline‐rich motifs in signaling proteins with their cognate domains. FASEB J. 14, 231–241 (2000)
Effect of maternal periodontitis and low birth weight—A case control study

Abstract Introduction. Since the 1990s, evidence has been raised that there is an association between maternal periodontal disease and undesirable gestational events, for example low birth weight; this issue is controversial. Objective. To evaluate whether there is an association between maternal periodontitis and low birth weight (LBW). Methods. A case-control study was carried out on 951 mothers that had been cared for by the Brazilian Unified Health System in Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA, Brazil. The case group (n = 269) consisted of mothers of newborns with birth weight <2500 g and a control group (n = 682) of mothers of newborns with birth weight ≥2500 g. An interview was realized, using a questionnaire as well as a full mouth examination to diagnose the periodontal condition. Women who had at least four teeth with probing depth ≥4 mm and clinical attachment loss ≥3 mm, with bleeding on probing at the same site, were diagnosed with periodontitis. The birth weight was obtained through the hospital book record. The main association was evaluated using the multivariate regression model, considering confounders. Results. The frequency of periodontitis was 16.4% (case group) and 17.4% (control group). Periodontitis did not show an association with LBW (ORcrude = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.63–1.35), even after adjustment for the following confounders: maternal age, pre-gestational body mass index, number of pre-natal consultations, number of pregnancies, maternal schooling level, smoking habit during pregnancy and hypertension (ORadjusted = 1.00; 95% CI = 0.61–1.68). Conclusion. The findings of this study showed no association between maternal periodontal disease and low birth weight, even after appropriate adjustments for confounding factors.
Multi-dimensional role of trust in Internet banking adoption

Trust has been identified as the key to e-commerce because it is crucial wherever uncertainty and interdependence exist. The strong association between a high level of trust and the banking sector has not yet been fully translated in the electronic world. The aim of this article is to develop and validate a multi-dimensional model of trust for Internet banking. The data are collected through 441 Internet banking users of Halifax Bank of Scotland. Findings suggest that trust and perceived risk are direct antecedents of intention, and trust is a multi-dimensional construct with three antecedents: perceived trustworthiness, perceived security, and perceived privacy.
Toward a Critical Race Pedagogy

This article explores the connectivity of research and theories of African American emancipatory pedagogy to Critical Race Theory (CRT). In doing so, the guiding principles and maxims of CRT as an emergent ethical and moralistic discourse on race and racism in the law will be briefly outlined. Next, the premises of CRT will be used to analyze ethnographic interviews conducted with eight African American teachers. The interview data will then be used as a manner in which to articulate a Critical Race Pedagogy.
Ethanol as a reinforcer: a review of laboratory studies of non-human primates.

This article reviews studies of ethanol self-administration in non-human primates. Between approximately 1960 and 1980 research programs at three university medical centers (Michigan, Minnesota and Baylor) established that ethanol could function as a reinforcer when delivered either intravenously, intragastrically or orally. Variables such as session length, dose and intermittent reinforcement schedules were examined, and tolerance and physiological dependence on ethanol were also studied. Procedures used to establish abused drugs as reinforcers via the intravenous, intragastric and oral route are also effective in the particular case of ethanol. Under conditions of limited access (e.g. 3h per day), the variables that control behavior reinforced by ethanol are the same as those that govern behavior reinforced by other drugs. Moreover, the functional relations between these variables and ethanol-reinforced responding are similar to the functional relations between the same variables and other drug reinforcers. However, with continuous 24h access to ethanol, differences appear with respect to other sedative-hypnotic drugs. In contrast to these other drugs, intravenous ethanol use results in a suppression of food intake, weight loss, self-initiated abstinence, and often, death. When intravenous and oral ethanol self-administration are compared, two important differences emerge: the maximum intakes via the intravenous route exceed the maximum intakes via the oral route, and, perhaps surprisingly, the doses required to maintain responding are lower with the oral route. Studies since 1980 have increased the scope of ethanol reinforcement research and also corroborated and extended earlier findings. In summary, ethanol can function as an effective reinforcer for non-human primates.
Interactive lecture demonstrations: a tool for exploring and enhancing conceptual change

Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILD) are a student centered teaching method, in which students are asked to predict the outcome of an experiment, observe the outcome, and discuss it with respect to their former expectations. The demonstrations are designed to contradict students’ known misconceptions, generate cognitive conflict and dissatisfaction with the existing conception, and promote a process of conceptual change. An ILD based course was used to explore the effect of cognitive conflict on the conceptual change process, and the role of student interactivity in this process. Three major levels of conceptual change were identified: high – students who remember the outcome of the demonstration, and explain it using the consensus model; medium – students who can recall the outcome, are dissatisfied with their alternative model, but do not switch to the consensus model; and low – no meaningful recollection of the outcome, and no change in the alternative model. A multiple-choice test based on the lecture demonstration was given to two groups, one of which only observed the demonstrations, without predicting and discussing. We found a significant difference between the groups, with an obvious drop in students’ ability to recall the outcome of the demonstrations in the non-interactive group. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. , 2007, 8 (2), 197-211]
Entropy as a Measure for Linkage Disequilibrium over Multilocus Haplotype Blocks

Objective: The presence of linkage disequilibrium (LD) forms the basis for a range of uses, including the fine-mapping of diseases and studies on human genealogy. Recent findings indicate that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) can occur in blocks of limited haplotypic diversity with high degrees of LD. Commonly used measures for LD, such as r2 and D′, consider only two loci and might miss information to appropriately describe LD in larger haplotypic structures. Methods: We introduce the Normalized Entropy Difference, Ε, as a new multilocus measure for LD. A related quantity, ΔS, provides an approximate χ2 test for the significance of LD. The ability of the measure to detect haplotype blocks is investigated using simulated data sets as well as a real data set previously analyzed by Daly et al. (2001). Results: Ε allows for arbitrary numbers of loci, describes LD with regard to the loci sequence, and can be interpreted as a multilocus extension of r2. The application of Ε to the data sets demonstrated the measure’s ability to appropriately describe simultaneous multilocus LD and to detect haplotype blocks. Conclusions: Ε is a reasonable multilocus LD measure and might be of potential use in the construction of the human haplotype map.
Analysis and design of secure watermark-based authentication systems

This paper focuses on a coding approach for effective analysis and design of secure watermark-based multimedia authentication systems. We provide a design framework for semi-fragile watermark-based authentication such that both objectives of robustness and fragility are effectively controlled and achieved. Robustness and fragility are characterized as two types of authentication errors. The authentication embedding and verification structures of the semi-fragile schemes are derived and implemented using lattice codes to minimize these errors. Based on the specific security requirements of authentication, cryptographic techniques are incorporated to design a secure authentication code structure. Using nested lattice codes, a new approach, called MSB-LSB decomposition, is proposed which we show to be more secure than previous methods. Tradeoffs between authentication distortion and implementation efficiency of the secure authentication code are also investigated. Simulations of semi-fragile authentication methods on real images demonstrate the effectiveness of the MSB-LSB approach in simultaneously achieving security, robustness, and fragility objectives.
Model-based Recognition

Building robust recognition systems requires a careful understanding of the eeects of error in sensed features. In model-based recognition, matches between model features and sensed image features typically are used to compute a model pose and then project the unmatched model features into the image. The error in the image features results in uncertainty in the projected model features. We rst show how error propagates when poses are based on three pairs of model and image points. In particular, we show how to simply and eeciently compute the region in the image where an unmatched model point might appear, for both Gaussian and bounded error in the detection of image points, and for both scaled-orthographic and perspective projection models. This result applies to objects that are fully three-dimensional, where past results considered only two-dimensional objects. The result is based on an approximation that accurately linearizes the relationship between matched image points and unmatched, projected model points. Secondly, based on the linear approximation, we show how we can utilize linear programming to compute the propagated error region for any number of initial matches. Finally, we use these results to extend, from two-dimensional to three-dimensional objects, robust implementations of alignment, interpretation-tree search, and transformation clustering.
Phytoplankton Blooms at Increasing Levels of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Experimental Evidence for Negative Effects on Prymnesiophytes and Positive on Small Picoeukaryotes

Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and the ongoing accumulation in the surface ocean together with concomitantly decreasing pH and calcium carbonate saturation states have the potential to impact phytoplankton community composition and therefore biogeochemical element cycling on a global scale. Here we report on a recent mesocosm CO2 perturbation study (Raunefjorden, Norway), with a focus on organic matter and phytoplankton dynamics. Cell numbers of three phytoplankton groups were particularly affected by increasing levels of seawater CO2 throughout the entire experiment, with the cyanobacterium Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes (prasinophytes) profiting, and the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi (prymnesiophyte) being negatively impacted. Combining these results with other phytoplankton community CO2 experiments into a data-set of global coverage suggests that, whenever CO2 effects are found, prymnesiophyte (especially coccolithophore) abundances are negatively affected, while the opposite holds true for small picoeukaryotes belonging to the class of prasinophytes, or the division of chlorophytes in general. Future reductions in calcium carbonate-producing coccolithophores, providing ballast which accelerates the sinking of particulate organic matter, together with increases in picoeukaryotes, an important component of the microbial loop in the euphotic zone, have the potential to impact marine export production, with feedbacks to Earth's climate system.
VoxCeleb: A Large-Scale Speaker Identification Dataset

Most existing datasets for speaker identification contain samples obtained under quite constrained conditions, and are usually hand-annotated, hence limited in size. The goal of this paper is to generate a large scale text-independent speaker identification dataset collected 'in the wild'. We make two contributions. First, we propose a fully automated pipeline based on computer vision techniques to create the dataset from open-source media. Our pipeline involves obtaining videos from YouTube; performing active speaker verification using a two-stream synchronization Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and confirming the identity of the speaker using CNN based facial recognition. We use this pipeline to curate VoxCeleb which contains hundreds of thousands of 'real world' utterances for over 1,000 celebrities. Our second contribution is to apply and compare various state of the art speaker identification techniques on our dataset to establish baseline performance. We show that a CNN based architecture obtains the best performance for both identification and verification.
‘I found out the hard way’: micro-political workings in professional football

This paper examines the micro-political experiences of Adam (a pseudonym), a newly appointed fitness coach at a Football Association Premier League club, in his search for acceptance by senior colleagues. Data were collected through a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, before being subject to a process of inductive analysis. Goffman's writings on impression management and stigma, Kelchtermans's micro-political perspective and Garfinkel's notion of status degradation are primarily utilised to make the sense of Adam's perceptions and actions. The findings point to the value of developing coaches’ micro-political understandings, and of including their formal facilitation within given professional preparation programmes. Doing so, it is argued, would better equip coaches for the problematic realities of their practice.
Reducing perceived online shopping risk to enhance loyalty: a website quality perspective

The popularization of the Internet has made shopping through online stores and online auction websites increasingly common. Trends in online group purchasing and encouragement from social networks have changed consumption habits and shifted attention to the development of e-commerce. Previous studies have indicated that relative to physical stores, consumers still perceive higher risk in online shopping. The purpose of this study mainly aims to explore the importance of perceived risk in online shopping from a website quality perspective. A structural equation model is developed to test casual effects within a conceptual model. The empirical results show that (1) system quality and information quality do not have significant negative effects on perceived risk; (2) only e-service quality has a significant negative effect on perceived risk; (3) perceived risk has a significant negative effect on online loyalty; and (4) the negative relationship between perceived risk and online loyalty on consumer-to-consumer platforms will be stronger than that on business-to-consumer platforms. The managerial implications for online marketing managers and limitations are discussed.
Mental abilities: sibling constellation and social class correlates.

Verbal number reasoning and spatial ability scores were obtained for 185 11 year old boys. The relations between the mental abilities social status characteristics and sibling constellation variables were examined using a series of multiple regression equations. A 3 term equation including fathers occupation status inverse of the number of children in the family and the product of the 2 variables parsimoniously accounts for as much significant variance in the data as complex many-termed equations. Birth order crowding ratio their squares and products provide no better prediction beyond that afforded by the 3 term equation. The constellation variable inverse of sibsize is strongly associated with higher verbal and number ability scores of boys in families of low socioeconomic status but the effect is attenuated in families of higher socioeconomic status. The results suggest that birth order may be a superfluous sibling constellation variable in research but that the inclusion of the variable inverse of sibsize may lead to a greater understanding of the relationship between social status and mental ability performance. (authors modified)
How to Write True-False Test Items

Why Use True-False Items? The basic reason for using true-false test items is that they provide a simple and direct means of measuring the essential outcome of formal education, which is command of useful verbal knowledge. For all knowledge can be expressed in a series of propositions, and a proposition is simply a sentence that can be said to be true or false. Propositions are the substance of knowledge. Judging their truth or falsity is the essential task of scholarship in any field. Some test constructors obtain scores of respectable reliability from true-false classroom tests. Examples are given in Table 1. These reliabilities indicate that the items in these tests were not seriously ambiguous, and that guessing could not have been extensive. If an ambiguous true-false item is written, it is the fault of the writer, not of the form. Also, when guessing affects test scores seriously, it is because the test is too short, the items too difficult or too ambiguous or the examinees too poorly motivated. Compared with other item forms, true-false test items are relatively easy to write. They are simple declarative sentences of the