Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Salience, Selective Attention and Learning with Information-Overload

A fundamental question is how firms adapt to environments that present multiple dimensions. Generally, the number of dimensions may exceed the limits of human attention. Subsequently, as organizations try to adapt to such environments they may be constrained to consider only a few dimensions. In fact, selection of dimensions is a process that may be driven by multiple factors. Especially relevant are the validity, the predictive weight of dimensions, and the perceptual salience of features through which the competing dimensions are perceived. When these aspects diverge, their conflict will affect the learning process. In this paper, we explore how salience and validity interact in the process where agents have to learn to evaluate a stream of task inputs with the number of dimensions that overloads the average short-term memory capacity. We hypothesize that the interplay between the cue salience and the validity affects the ability to assess accurately the cue-outcome relationship, detect changes in task environments, and adapt decision-making strategies accordingly. To test our hypothesis, we conducted three behavioral experiments and then proposed a classification model that accounts for the observed behavioral outcome. We consider a set of sequential binary classification decision tasks to be completed by a participant. We vary whether the difficulty of the task, also vary whether the performance of another is observable to the participants in the experiment. The behavioral data analysis highlight that cue salience is instrumental in driving learning. The simulation results illustrate that our classification model can indeed replicate the human participant data. The best fit was obtained when the single-cue salience bias was present. This suggests that humans tend to favor decision-making strategies that arise from focusing on a single, yet the most salient, cue when assessing cue-outcome relationship in multi-cue environments. Ours is perhaps the first study to demonstrate the effect of salience and validity interaction on choice and learning in multi-dimensional and changing environments in the context of organizational adaptation. Finally, we discuss variations in our linear classification model and suggest extensions of our experiment.
Serum Amyloid A Induces NLRP-3-Mediated IL-1β Secretion in Neutrophils

Background/Aims Serum amyloid A (SAA) is an acute phase reactant with significant immunological activities, including effects on cytokine synthesis and neutrophil chemotaxis. Neutrophils can also release cytokines with proinflammatory properties. IL-1β is a key proinflammatory cytokine, the secretion of which is controlled by inflammasome. We investigated the proinflammatory effects of SAA in vitro in relation to the NLRP3 inflammasome in neutrophils. Methodology/Principal Findings Human neutrophils isolated form healthy subjects were stimulated with serum amyloid A (SAA). The cellular supernatants were analyzed by western blot using anti-IL-1β or anti-caspase-1 antibodies. IL-1β or Nod-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) mRNA expressions were analyzed by real-time PCR or reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) method. SAA stimulation induced pro-IL-1β mRNA expression in neutrophils. Furthermore, SAA engaged the caspase-1-activating inflammasome, resulting in the production of active IL-1β. SAA-induced pro-IL-1β expression was marginally suppressed by the Syk specific inhibitor, R406, and SAA-induced pro-IL-1β processing in neutrophils was prevented by R406. Furthermore, SAA-induced NLRP3 mRNA expression was completely blocked by R406. Analysis of intracellular signaling revealed that SAA stimulation activated the tyrosine kinase Syk and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Conclusions/Significance These results demonstrate that the innate neutrophil immune response against SAA involves a two-step activation process: an initial signal promoting expression of pro-IL-1β and a second signal involving Syk-dependent activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and caspase-1, allowing processing of pro-IL-1β and secretion of mature IL-1β.
Polyphenols neuroprotective effect in a Parkinson ’ s disease yeast model : phosphoproteome alterations

2014 ii Polyphenols neuroprotective effect in a Parkinson's disease yeast model: phosphoproteome alterations Declaração de autoria de trabalho Declaro ser o(a) autor(a) deste trabalho, que é original e inédito. Autores e trabalhos consultados estão devidamente citados no texto e constam da listagem de referências incluída. iii " A lesson without pain is meaningless. For you cannot gain anything without sacrificing something else in return. " Hiromu Arawaka Polyphenols neuroprotective effect in a Parkinson's disease yeast model: Phosphoproteome alterations iv Acknowledgments I would never have been able to finish my dissertation without the guidance of my supervisors, help from friends, and support from my family. All words will be few to express my gratitude to all who helped me in this stage of my life. First of all I would like to thank to Inês Araújo, Ph.D., my Neuroscience teacher and supervisor, who always opened the doors of neuroscience and for all the help over my scientific career. In special, would like to express my deepest gratitude to Cláudia dos Santos, Ph.D., for her excellent guidance, caring, patience, and providing me with an excellent atmosphere for doing research. To Sandra Tenreiro, Ph.D., a special thanks for accepting to be my supervisor and for introducing me to " the yeast world ". My sincerely gratitude to Professor Ricardo Boavida Ferreira for being an admirable teacher, and for allowing me to developed this work on his laboratory and for all the knowledge transmitted during this year. I cannot forget to express my gratitude to all the Disease and Stress Biology lab team, for all the support and cooperation gave during this year. My research would not have been possible without their helps. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family, especially my mother, father and my little brothers. They were always supporting me and encouraging me with their best wishes. Polyphenols neuroprotective effect in a Parkinson's disease yeast model: Phosphoproteome alterations v Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) is a massive chronic progressive disorder characterized by the intracellular depositions known as Lewy Bodies (LBs), mainly composed of alpha-synuclein protein (aSyn). These proteinaceous aggregates are associated with the loss of dopaminergic neurons. aSyn aggregation is thought to be a key event in the PD pathogenesis leading to the formation of LBs. Thus is extremely important to search and explore therapeutic agents that prevent or reduce aSyn toxicity. The consumption of Polyphenols-rich foods …
Overview for the First Shared Task on Language Identification in Code-Switched Data

We present an overview of the ﬁrst shared task on language identiﬁcation on code-switched data. The shared task included code-switched data from four language pairs: Modern Standard Arabic-Dialectal Arabic (MSA-DA), Mandarin-English (MAN-EN), Nepali-English (NEP-EN), and Spanish-English (SPA-EN). A total of seven teams participated in the task and submitted 42 system runs. The evaluation showed that language identiﬁcation at the token level is more difﬁcult when the languages present are closely related, as in the case of MSA-DA, where the prediction performance was the lowest among all language pairs. In contrast, the language pairs with the higest F-measure where SPA-EN and NEP-EN. The task made evident that language identiﬁcation in code-switched data is still far from solved and warrants further research.
Using the Cognitive-Affective Processing System to Better Understand Person and Situation Factors that Contribute to Risk-Taking Among Older Adolescents

Using the Cognitive-Affective Processing System to Better Understand Person and Situation Factors that Contribute to Risk-Taking Among Older Adolescents Daniel Zdzieborski Advisor: University of Guelph, 2014 Professor B. A. Morrongiello The Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS) was used to theoretically integrate and empirically examine the effect a number of person and situation factors (i.e., impulsivity, interpersonal traits, affect, and peer-based interpersonal situations) have on several forms of adolescent risk-taking. Participants (N = 251) completed a novel, video based assessment of risktaking (i.e., the Risk-Taking Environment Simulation) under several peer-based interpersonal situations, each emphasizing a different interpersonal context: neutral, dominant-hostile, dominant-friendly, submissive-friendly, or submissive-hostile. Results indicated that although impulsivity significantly predicted risk-taking, interpersonal traits and affect accounted for additional variance in the models over and above impulsivity when predicting some, but not all forms of risk-taking. Additionally, except for physical and non-physical aggression, type of peerbased interpersonal situation did not significantly moderate risk-taking, nor did it significantly change or activate interpersonal traits and affect. Nevertheless, the changes in interpersonal traits and affect that did emerge were related to some forms of risk-taking under certain peer-based interpersonal situations. This approach and findings highlight how using the CAPS framework can be used to gain a fuller understanding of risk-taking. Implications for theory and interventions, as well as limitations and directions for future research, are discussed.
Generative Compression

Traditional image and video compression algorithms rely on hand-crafted encoder/decoder pairs (codecs) that lack adaptability and are agnostic to the data being compressed. We describe the concept of generative compression, the compression of data using generative models, and suggest that it is a direction worth pursuing to produce more accurate and visually pleasing reconstructions at deeper compression levels for both image and video data. We also show that generative compression is orders- of-magnitude more robust to bit errors (e.g., from noisy channels) than traditional variable-length coding schemes.
A Review on Prognosis of Rolling Element Bearings

Bearings are amongst the frequently encountered components to be found in rotating machinery. Though inexpensive, their failure can interrupt the production in a plant causing unscheduled downtime and production losses. So the bearing prognosis plays a significant role in reducing plant down time and enhanced operation safety, by estimating the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of damaged bearing. Admitting the importance of bearing prognosis, this literature review attempts to summarize various techniques, methods and models used in the prognosis of bearing till date. The definition of bearing prognosis is discussed in the beginning, followed by classification of various prognostic methods, review of methods used by various investigators in this research domain and concluding the topic with the summary of future research directions.
The structure of the protoplanetary disk surrounding three young intermediate mass stars II. Spatially resolved dust and gas distribution

Aims. We present the first direct comparison of the distribution of the gas, as traced by the [O i] 6300 A emission, and the dust, as traced by the 10 μm emission, in the planet-forming region of proto-planetary disks around three intermediate-mass stars: HD 101412, HD 135344 B and HD 179218. Methods. N-band visibilities were obtained with VLTI/MIDI. Simple geometrical models are used to compare the dust emission to high-resolution optical spectra in the 6300 A [O i] line of the same targets. Results. HD 101412 and HD 135344 B show compact (< 2A U) 10μm emission while the [O i] brightness profile shows a double peaked structure. The inner peak is strongest and is consistent with the location of the dust, the outer peak is fainter and is located at 5–10 AU. In both systems, spatially extended PAH emission is found. HD 179218 shows a double ring-like 10 μm emission with the first ring peaking at ∼1 AU and the second at ∼20 AU. The [O i] emitting region is more compact, peaking between 3–6 AU. Conclusions. The disks around HD 101412 and HD 135344 B appear strongly flared in the gas, but self-shadowed in the dust beyond ∼ 2A U. The difference in the gas and dust vertical structure beyond 2 AU might be the first observational evidence of gas-dust decoupling in protoplanetary disks. The disk around HD 179218 is flared in the dust. The 10 μm emission emerges from the inner rim and from the flared surface of the disk at larger radii. No dust emission is detected between ∼3–15 AU. The oxygen emission seems also to come from a flared structure, however, the bulk of this emission is produced between ∼1–10 AU. This could indicate a lack of gas in the outer disk or could be due to chemical effects which reduce the abundance of OH – the parent molecule of the observed [O i] emission – further away from the star. It may also be a contrast effect if the [O i] emission is much stronger in the inner disk. We suggest that the three systems, HD 179218, HD 135344 B and HD 101412, may form an evolutionary sequence: the disk initially flared becomes flat under the combined action of gas-dust decoupling, grain growth and dust settling.
A Simple instrumentation calibration technique for Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) using a 16-electrode phantom

A simple analog instrumentation for Electrical Impedance Tomography is developed and calibrated using the practical phantoms. A constant current injector consisting of a modified Howland voltage controlled current source fed by a voltage controlled oscillator is developed to inject a constant current to the phantom boundary. An instrumentation amplifier, 50 Hz notch filter and a narrow band pass filter are developed and used for signal conditioning. Practical biological phantoms are developed and the forward problem is studied to calibrate the EIT-instrumentation. An array of sixteen stainless steel electrodes is developed and placed inside the phantom tank filled with KCl solution. 1 mA, 50 kHz sinusoidal current is injected at the phantom boundary using adjacent current injection protocol. The differential potentials developed at the voltage electrodes are measured for sixteen current injections. Differential voltage signal is passed through an instrumentation amplifier and a filtering block and measured by a digital multimeter. A forward solver is developed using Finite Element Method in MATLAB7.0 for solving the EIT governing equation. Differential potentials are numerically calculated using the forward solver with a simulated current and bathing solution conductivity. Measured potential data is compared with the differential potentials calculated for calibrating the instrumentation to acquire the voltage data suitable for better image reconstruction.
A review of “music and movement” therapies for children with autism: embodied interventions for multisystem development

The rising incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) has led to a surge in the number of children needing autism interventions. This paper is a call to clinicians to diversify autism interventions and to promote the use of embodied music-based approaches to facilitate multisystem development. Approximately 12% of all autism interventions and 45% of all alternative treatment strategies in schools involve music-based activities. Musical training impacts various forms of development including communication, social-emotional, and motor development in children with ASDs and other developmental disorders as well as typically developing children. In this review, we will highlight the multisystem impairments of ASDs, explain why music and movement therapies are a powerful clinical tool, as well as describe mechanisms and offer evidence in support of music therapies for children with ASDs. We will support our claims by reviewing results from brain imaging studies reporting on music therapy effects in children with autism. We will also discuss the critical elements and the different types of music therapy approaches commonly used in pediatric neurological populations including autism. We provide strong arguments for the use of music and movement interventions as a multisystem treatment tool for children with ASDs. Finally, we also make recommendations for assessment and treatment of children with ASDs, and provide directions for future research.
High-Speed Inter-Domain Fault Localization

Data-plane fault localization enhances network availability and reliability by enabling localization and circumvention of malicious entities on a network path. Algorithms for data-plane fault localization exist for intra-domain settings, however, the per-flow or per-source state required at intermediate routers makes them prohibitively expensive in inter-domain settings. We present Faultprints, the first secure data-plane fault localization protocol that is practical for inter-domain settings. Faultprints enables a source to precisely localize malicious network links that drop, delay, or modify packets. We implemented an efficient version of Faultprints on a software router by taking advantage of the parallelism in the AES-NI module of Intel CPUs. Our evaluation on real-world traffic shows fast forwarding on a commodity server at 116.95 Gbps out of 120 Gbps capacity, and a goodput of 94 Gbps. Additionally, Faultprints achieves a high failure localization rate, while incurring a low communication overhead.
Diagnostic and Therapeutic Problems of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Elderly Patients

To identify differences in the clinical, radiologic, and microbiologic features of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in the young (<64 yr) and elderly (≥65 yr), we performed a retrospective analysis of the medical charts and chest radiographs of 207 young and 119 elderly pulmonary TB patients. Hemoptysis and a febrile sense were more frequent in the young, whereas weakness, dyspnea, anorexia, and mental change were more frequent in the elderly. Elderly patients showed higher frequencies of cardiovascular and chronic lung diseases, whereas the young showed a higher proportion of underlying liver disease. In addition, chest radiography showed a significantly higher frequency of mid or lower lung involvement by TB lesions in the elderly (10.6% vs. 22.7%, p<0.05). Lesions were frequently misdiagnosed as pneumonia or lung cancer in the elderly. However, there was no difference between these two groups in terms of sputum acid-fast bacilli positivity. The elderly showed a higher frequency of adverse drug reactions (18.5% vs. 40.7%, p<0.05), and higher TB-related mortality (1.3% vs. 11.1%, p<0.05). In conclusion this study showed that young and elderly pulmonary TB patients have similar microbiologic features; however, the elderly showed higher frequencies of atypical clinical and radiologic presentations, adverse drug reactions, and higher TB-related mortality.
Management control system, leadership and gender ideology

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reveal the relations between management control system (MCS), leadership style and gender ideology. It investigates how a female leader’s gendered personal values are formed, translated, produced, and reproduced in her leadership style, the subsequent MCS and organisational life. Design/methodology/approach This is an interpretive case study that uses the anthropological lens of emic and etic views. The emic view is derived from the interpretation of the company’s subjects. The etic view refers to the interpretation of outsiders (the researchers and previous literatures). The combination of these two views enables an in-depth understanding of the case. Interviews, observation and documentary analysis were used to collect the data. Findings In a gendered society, a female leader will gain full respect if she demonstrates leadership behaviours that fit her subordinates’ gendered expectations. The leader’s and followers’ common gendered cultural background will result in leadership and followership that support each other. Gendered leadership produces gendered MCS. Gendered MCS is based on gendered cultural values that direct the behaviour of organisational members to focus on certain competencies based on a single gender perspective. In turn, the gendered MCS sustains and reinforces the gendered leadership. Research limitations/implications The study does not focus on the potential value of including feminine measures in MCS. In the future, MCS literatures need to explore the strategic advantages of introducing measures into the system in order to develop feminine competencies in organisation. Furthermore, the processes by which MCS reinforces gendered practices in a society are not explored in the study. Therefore, another important next step is to examine the patterns of the reinforcement processes and their magnitude in strengthening the biases beyond organisational boundaries (e.g. in professional and industrial practices). Practical implications This study encourages leaders to consider the use of masculine and feminine characters in MCS to increase organisational effectiveness, build a more humane organisational atmosphere, establish organisational cohesion and harmonise different personal aspirations. Originality/value MCS literatures tend to hide gender bias in the system. This study offers insight on how MCS translates, produces and reproduces societal gendered practices in organisational life.
Injury and immune response: applying the danger theory to mosquitoes

The insect immune response can be activated by the recognition of both non-self and molecular by-products of tissue damage. Since pathogens and tissue damage usually arise at the same time during infection, the specific mechanisms of the immune response to microorganisms, and to tissue damage have not been unraveled. Consequently, some aspects of damage caused by microorganisms in vector-borne arthropods have been neglected. We herein reassess the Anopheles–Plasmodium interaction, incorporating Matzinger’s danger/damage hypothesis and George Salt’s injury assumptions. The invasive forms of the parasite cross the peritrophic matrix and midgut epithelia to reach the basal lamina and differentiate into an oocyst. The sporozoites produced in the oocyst are released into the hemolymph, and from there enter the salivary gland. During parasite development, wounds to midgut tissue and the basement membrane are produced. We describe the response of the different compartments where the parasite interacts with the mosquito. In the midgut, the response includes the expression of antimicrobial peptides, production of reactive oxygen species, and possible activation of midgut regenerative cells. In the basal membrane, wound repair mainly involves the production of molecules and the recruitment of hemocytes. We discuss the susceptibility to damage in tissues, and how the place and degree of damage may influence the differential response and the expression of damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Knowledge about damage caused by parasites may lead to a deeper understanding of the relevance of tissue damage and the immune response it generates, as well as the origins and progression of infection in this insect–parasite interaction.
The Impact of Depositor Preference Laws

The 1993 amendment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Act made depositors' claims on failed banks superior to those of general creditors. The legislation’s stated purpose was to reduce the cost to the FDIC of resolving bank failures, but how effective is it likely to be? This paper examines the impact of states' depositor preference laws from 1984 through 1992 and finds that although resolution costs were lower, creditors' responses may have partially offset the legislation's benefit to the FDIC.