Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The extreme male brain revisited: gender coherence in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Background The ‘extreme male brain’ theory suggests that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an extreme variant of male intelligence. However, somewhat paradoxically, many individuals with ASD display androgynous physical features regardless of gender. Aims To assess physical measures, supposedly related to androgen influence, in adults with and without ASD. Method Serum hormone levels, anthropometry, the ratio of 2nd to 4th digit length (2D:4D) and psychiatric symptomatology were measured in 50 adults with high-functioning ASD and age- and gender-matched neurotypical controls. Photographs of face and body, as well as voice recordings, were obtained and assessed with respect to gender coherence, blindly and independently, by eight assessors. Results Women with ASD had higher total and bioactive testosterone levels, less feminine facial features and a larger head circumference than female controls. Men in the ASD group were assessed as having less masculine body characteristics and voice quality, and displayed higher (i.e. less masculine) 2D:4D ratios, but similar testosterone levels to controls. Androgynous facial features correlated strongly and positively with autistic traits measured with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient in the total sample. In males and females with ASD dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate did not decrease with age, in contrast to the control group. Conclusions Women with ASD had elevated testosterone levels and several masculinised characteristics compared with controls, whereas men with ASD displayed several feminised characteristics. Our findings suggest that ASD, rather than being characterised by masculinisation in both genders, may constitute a gender defiant disorder.
Stress-Induced Cardiomyopathy: The Role of Echocardiography

Echocardiography is widely used to carry out non-invasive cardiac evaluation at the bedside and provides useful real-time information about hemodynamics. It can also be used to diagnose a stress-induced cardiomyopathy and its complications such as shock, heart failure and apical thrombus. Early diagnosis and management are important to prevent possible complications, and short-term follow-up by echocardiography can readily determine the improvement in these abnormalities. In this brief review, we summarize the role of echocardiography in stress-induced cardiomyopathy, with a special focus on its benefits in the era of new emerging diagnostic technology.
A Model Of The Internet Information Seeking Behaviour Of Older New Zealanders

This research set out to investigate the internet information seeking behavior of older users in New Zealand. The findings show that older internet users are diverse group with a wide range of skills and attitudes but that they do exhibit specific internet behaviors based on their information seeking behavior. A classification of how older New Zealanders use the Internet is presented based on a quantitative survey. A classification of types of internet behaviour of older users is presented based on an analysis of open-end survey questions and face to face interviews. The results extent what is known about this important group, confirms some earlier work in this area and refutes others.
Gesture and Thought

David McNeill, a pioneer in the ongoing study of the relationship between gesture and language, here argues that gestures are active participants in both speaking and thinking. He posits that gestures are key ingredients in an "imagery-language dialectic" that fuels speech and thought. The smallest unit of this dialectic is the growth point, a snapshot of an utterance at its beginning psychological stage. In "Gesture and Thought", the central growth point comes from a Tweety Bird cartoon. Over the course of twenty-five years, the McNeill Lab showed this cartoon to numerous subjects who spoke a variety of languages, and a fascinating pattern emerged. The shape and timing of gestures depends not only on what speakers see but on what they take to be distinctive; this, in turn, depends on the context. Those who remembered the same context saw the same distinctions and used similar gestures; those who forgot the context understood something different and changed gestures or used none at all. Thus, the gesture becomes part of the growth point - the building block of language and thought. "Gesture and Thought" is an ambitious project in the ongoing study of how we communicate and how language is connected to thought.
Paying Attention to Symmetry

Humans are very sensitive to symmetry in visual patterns. Symmetry is detected and recognized very rapidly. While viewing symmetrical patterns eye fixations are concentrated along the axis of symmetry or the symmetrical center of the patterns. This suggests that symmetry is a highly salient feature. Existing computational models of saliency, however, have mainly focused on contrast as a measure of saliency. These models do not take symmetry into account. In this paper, we discuss local symmetry as measure of saliency. We developed a number of symmetry models an performed an eye tracking study with human participants viewing photographic images to test the models. The performance of our symmetry models is compared with the contrast saliency model of Itti et al. [1]. The results show that the symmetry models better match the human data than the contrast model. This indicates that symmetry is a salient structural feature for humans, a finding which can be exploited in computer vision.
Evolution of Specialization of Cassida rubiginosa on Cirsium arvense (Compositae, Cardueae)

The majority of herbivorous insects are specialized feeders restricted to a plant family, genus, or species. The evolution of specialized insect–plant interactions is generally considered to be a result of trade-offs in fitness between possible hosts. Through the course of natural selection, host plants that maximize insect fitness should result in optimal, specialized, insect–plant associations. However, the extent to which insects are tracking plant phylogeny or key plant traits that act as herbivore resistance or acceptance characters is uncertain. Thus, with regard to the evolution of host plant specialization, we tested if insect performance is explained by phylogenetic relatedness of potential host plants, or key plant traits that are not phylogenetically related. We tested the survival (naive first instar to adult) of the oligophagous leaf-feeding beetle, Cassida rubiginosa, on 16 selected representatives of the Cardueae tribe (thistles and knapweeds), including some of the worst weeds in temperate grasslands of the world in terms of the economic impacts caused by lost productivity. Leaf traits (specific leaf area, leaf pubescence, flavonoid concentration, carbon and nitrogen content) were measured as explanatory variables and tested in relation to survival of the beetle, and the phylogenetic signal of the traits were examined. The survival of C. rubiginosa decreased with increasing phylogenetic distance from the known primary host plant, C. arvense, suggesting that specialization is a conserved character, and that insect host range, to a large degree is constrained by evolutionary history. The only trait measured that clearly offered some explanatory value for the survival of C. rubiginosa was specific leaf area. This trait was not phylogenetically dependant, and when combined with phylogenetic distance from C. arvense gave the best model explaining C. rubiginosa survival. We conclude that the specialization of the beetle is explained by a combination of adaptation to an optimal host plant over evolutionary time, and key plant traits such as specific leaf area that can restrict or broaden host utilization within the Cardueae lineage. The phylogenetic pattern of C. rubiginosa fitness will aid in predicting the ability of this biocontrol agent to control multiple Cardueae weeds.
Strategic Human Resource Management: An international perspective

Part I: The Organization, the Organizational Context and Strategy Chapter 1: An Introduction to the Organization, its Environment and Human Resource Management - Gary Rees and Paul E. Smith Chapter 2: Strategy Approaches - Paola Pisano, Alison Rieple and Marco Pironti Chapter 3: Strategic Human Resource Management - Geoffrey Wood and Zsuzsanna Kispal-Vitai Chapter 4: HRM: The Added Value Debate - Charles Leatherbarrow Part II- The Functional aspects of HR Chapter 5: Recruitment and Selection - Stephen Taylor Chapter 6: Flexible Working - Sue Hutchinson Chapter 7: Reward Strategy and Managing Performance - Geoff White Chapter 8: Managing the Employment Relationship - Moira Calveley, David Allsop & Natalia Rocha Lawton Chapter 9: Equality and Diversity in the Workplace - John Neugebauer Chapter 10: Developing Employees and Managers - Jim Stewart Part III: SHRM and the 'Bigger Picture' Chapter 11: Organizational Culture - Dr. Crystal Zhang and Paul Iles Chapter 12: Managing in a Global Context - Paul Iles Chapter 13: The Future of HR - Dr Linda Holbeche
Phosphorylation of the Conserved Transcription Factor ATF-7 by PMK-1 p38 MAPK Regulates Innate Immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans

Innate immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans requires a conserved PMK-1 p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway that regulates the basal and pathogen-induced expression of immune effectors. The mechanisms by which PMK-1 p38 MAPK regulates the transcriptional activation of the C. elegans immune response have not been identified. Furthermore, in mammalian systems the genetic analysis of physiological targets of p38 MAPK in immunity has been limited. Here, we show that C. elegans ATF-7, a member of the conserved cyclic AMP–responsive element binding (CREB)/activating transcription factor (ATF) family of basic-region leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors and an ortholog of mammalian ATF2/ATF7, has a pivotal role in the regulation of PMK-1–mediated innate immunity. Genetic analysis of loss-of-function alleles and a gain-of-function allele of atf-7, combined with expression analysis of PMK-1–regulated genes and biochemical characterization of the interaction between ATF-7 and PMK-1, suggest that ATF-7 functions as a repressor of PMK-1–regulated genes that undergoes a switch to an activator upon phosphorylation by PMK-1. Whereas loss-of-function mutations in atf-7 can restore basal expression of PMK-1–regulated genes observed in the pmk-1 null mutant, the induction of PMK-1–regulated genes by pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 is abrogated. The switching modes of ATF-7 activity, from repressor to activator in response to activated PMK-1 p38 MAPK, are reminiscent of the mechanism of regulation mediated by the corresponding ancestral Sko1p and Hog1p proteins in the yeast response to osmotic stress. Our data point to the regulation of the ATF2/ATF7/CREB5 family of transcriptional regulators by p38 MAPK as an ancient conserved mechanism for the control of innate immunity in metazoans, and suggest that ATF2/ATF7 may function in a similar manner in the regulation of mammalian innate immunity.
Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness and Diabetic Retinopathy in Gilan Province, Iran

ABSTRACT Purpose: To conduct an assessment of avoidable blindness and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Gilan, 2014. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was performed on a representative sample of urban and rural individuals aged ≥50 years of the province. Blindness was defined as presenting visual acuity (PVA) <3/60 in the better eye. Moderate visual impairment (MVI) and severe visual impairment (SVI) were defined as 6/60 ≤ PVA <6/18 and 3/60 ≤ PVA <6/60 in the better eye, respectively. Diabetes mellitus (DM) was determined based on random blood sugar (RBS) levels ≥200 mg/dL or a previous diagnosis. We used the Scottish grading system to grade DR. Results: We invited 2975 individuals from 85 clusters. Age- and sex-adjusted prevalence and 95% confidence interval (CI) of blindness, SVI, MVI, and DM in 2587 participants (response rate: 86.9%) were 1.5% (95% CI: 1.1–2.0), 1.5% (95% CI: 0.9–2.0), 11.3% (95% CI: 9.9–12.7) and 21.4% (95% CI: 19.2–23.7), respectively. The leading causes of blindness were cataract (47.1%), age-related macular degeneration (14.7%) and DR (8.8%). Cataract surgery (CS) coverage was 69.3%. The main challenges for CS were cost and unawareness. The outcome of CS was good in 66.9% of operated eyes. Any DR and/or maculopathy were observed in 25.3% (95% CI: 21.0–29.5) of subjects including 12.6% (95% CI: 9.7–15.6) sight-threatening DR. In previously known DM cases, 215 (41.7%) had never undergone an eye examination for DR. Conclusion: The proportion of avoidable blindness and DR is considerable in Gilan Province.
Visual function and postoperative care after cataract surgery in rural China: study of cataract outcomes and up-take of services (SCOUTS) in the caring is hip project, report 2.

OBJECTIVE To study the postoperative visual function and uptake of refraction and second-eye surgery among persons undergoing cataract surgery in rural China. METHODS Self-reported visual function was measured 10 to 14 months after surgery. Subjects with improvement of 2 or more lines with refraction were offered glasses, and those with significant cataract were offered second-eye surgery. RESULTS Among 313 eligible subjects, 242 (77%) could be contacted; 176 (73%) of those contacted were examined. Interviewed subjects had a mean +/- SD age of 69.9 +/- 10.2 years, and 63.6% were female. The mean +/- SD visual function score was 88.4 +/- 12.3, higher than previously reported for cataract programs in rural China and significantly (P = .03) correlated with presenting vision. Forty-two percent of subjects had spectacles, more than half being reading glasses. Though 87% of subjects' vision improved with refraction, only 35% accepted prescriptions, the most common reason for refusal being lack of perceived need. Second-eye surgery was accepted by a total of 48% (85 of 176) of patients, cost being the biggest reason for refusal. CONCLUSIONS Visual function was high in this cohort. Potential benefit of refraction and second-eye surgery was substantial, but uptake of services was modest. Programs to improve service uptake should focus on reading glasses and cost-reduction strategies such as tiered pricing.
Enhanced Peripheral and Splanchnic Insulin Sensitivity in NIDDM Men After Single Bout of Exercise

We studied glucose metabolism in non-insulin-dependent diabetic (NIDDM) men with and without glycogendepleting cycle exercise 12 h beforehand and have compared the results to our previous data in lean and obese subjects. Rates of total glucose utilization, glucose oxidation, nonoxidative glucose disposal (NOGD), glucose metabolic clearance rate (MCR), and endogenous glucose production (EGP) were determined with a “two-level” insulin-clamp technique (100-min infusions at 40 and 400 mU · m−2 · min−1) combined with indirect calorimetry and D-3-[3H]glucose infusion. Muscle biopsy specimens from vastus lateralis were analyzed for glycogen content and glycogen synthase activity before and after insulin infusions. After exercise, NIDDM subjects had muscle glycogen concentrations comparable with those of lean and obese subjects. The activation of glycogen synthase both by prior exercise and insulin infusion was similar to lean controls. After exercise, total glucose disposal was significantly increased during the 40-mU · m−2 · min−1 infusion (P < .05), but the increase observed during the 400-mU · m−2 · min−1 infusion was not significant. These increases after exercise were the result of significantly higher NOGD duringboth levels of insulin infusion. The MCR of glucose during both insulin infusions was reduced in NIDDM compared with lean subjects but was very similar to that in obese nondiabetics. Basal EGP was significantly reduced on the morning after exercise (4.03 ± 0.27 vs. 3.21 ± 0.21 mg · kg−1 fat-free mass · min−1) (P < .05) and associated with significant reductions of fasting plasma glucose (197 ± 12 vs. 164 ± 9 mg/dl). Suppression of EGP by the 40-mU · m−2 · min−1 infusion was also greater on the morning after exercise (54 vs. 90% of basal) (P < .05). This study demonstrates that a single bout of glycogen-depleting exercise significantly increases periph-eral and splanchnic insulin sensitivity 12–16 h later in NIDDM men. Increased peripheral glucose utilization after exercise is the result of increased NOGD, presumably reflecting increased glucose storage as glycogen. Insulin-stimulated rates of glucose oxidation are decreased after exercise. The lower fasting glucose concentration after exercise is due to decreased EGP rather than increased glucose utilization.
The role of social cognition in decision making

Successful decision making in a social setting depends on our ability to understand the intentions, emotions and beliefs of others. The mirror system allows us to understand other people's motor actions and action intentions. ‘Empathy’ allows us to understand and share emotions and sensations with others. ‘Theory of mind’ allows us to understand more abstract concepts such as beliefs or wishes in others. In all these cases, evidence has accumulated that we use the specific neural networks engaged in processing mental states in ourselves to understand the same mental states in others. However, the magnitude of the brain activity in these shared networks is modulated by contextual appraisal of the situation or the other person. An important feature of decision making in a social setting concerns the interaction of reason and emotion. We consider four domains where such interactions occur: our sense of fairness, altruistic punishment, trust and framing effects. In these cases, social motivations and emotions compete with each other, while higher-level control processes modulate the interactions of these low-level biases.
Combining Trait Models of Impulsivity to Improve Explanation of Substance Use Behaviour

The UPPS–P model of impulsivity is gaining popularity among personality and substance use researchers, but questions remain as to whether its five facets have incremental validity in explaining substance use over a more parsimonious model specifying only two facets: reward drive and rash impulsiveness. In three cross–sectional studies (total N = 486), we investigated whether the novel components of the UPPS–P model (negative Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, Sensation seeking, Positive urgency) predicted typical and problematic alcohol and cannabis use after accounting for reward drive, rash impulsiveness and trait neuroticism (assessed with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire). Reward drive and rash impulsiveness scores were calculated using principal components analysis of multiple scales, including UPPS–P premeditation and sensation seeking. Results showed that rash impulsiveness was a robust predictor of typical and problematic substance use. The novel facets of the UPPS–P did not improve prediction of typical substance use. The urgency scales inconsistently predicted problematic use. Specifically, negative urgency predicted one of three measures of negative consequences from alcohol use, and positive urgency only predicted negative consequences from cannabis use. Results suggest that the three novel facets of the UPPS–P model add little over a two component model in explaining substance use, although may provide preliminary evidence for the utility of a revised global urgency construct in explaining problematic substance use. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology
THE APPLICATION OF SUPRATHRESHOLD STOCHASTIC RESONANCE TO COCHLEAR IMPLANT CODING

In this paper we explore the possibility of using a recently discovered form of stochastic resonance - termed suprathreshold stochastic resonance - to improve speech comprehension in patients fitted with cochlear implants. A leaky-integrate-and-fire (LIF) neurone is used to model cochlear nerve activity when subject to electrical stimulation. This model, in principle, captures key aspects of temporal coding in analogue cochlear implants. Estimates for the information transmitted by a population of nerve fibres is obtained as a function of internal (neuronal) noise level. We conclude that SSR does indeed provide a possible mechanism by which information transmission along the cochlear nerve can be improved - and thus may well lead to improved speech comprehension.
An examination of the pathways of depressive symptoms and heavy drinking from adolescence to adulthood

Title of Dissertation: AN EXAMINATION OF PATHWAYS OF DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND HEAVY DRINKING FROM ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD Emily Anne Gustafson, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Directed By: Professor William Strein, Department of Counseling and Personnel Services This study examined the dynamic interaction of heavy alcohol use and depressive symptoms at three points over a time period of 11 years from adolescence to adulthood using a subset of data from the nationally representative, multi-year, longitudinal data source, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results revealed that, in general, those that drink heavily with greater frequency are more likely to have a greater number of depressive symptoms. Conversely, those with more early depressive symptoms are more likely to be early heavy drinkers, but less likely to be heavy drinkers six years down the road. Additionally, early depressive symptoms affect later trajectories in binge drinking. Gender, racial/ethnic group, and college attendance all affected the relationship over time for heavy drinking and were generally related to the average but not the change over time of depressive symptoms. Results are discussed in the context of Elder’s life course theory that views developmental trajectories in relation
Classification of Fruits Using Computer Vision and a Multiclass Support Vector Machine

Automatic classification of fruits via computer vision is still a complicated task due to the various properties of numerous types of fruits. We propose a novel classification method based on a multi-class kernel support vector machine (kSVM) with the desirable goal of accurate and fast classification of fruits. First, fruit images were acquired by a digital camera, and then the background of each image was removed by a split-and-merge algorithm; Second, the color histogram, texture and shape features of each fruit image were extracted to compose a feature space; Third, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensions of feature space; Finally, three kinds of multi-class SVMs were constructed, i.e., Winner-Takes-All SVM, Max-Wins-Voting SVM, and Directed Acyclic Graph SVM. Meanwhile, three kinds of kernels were chosen, i.e., linear kernel, Homogeneous Polynomial kernel, and Gaussian Radial Basis kernel; finally, the SVMs were trained using 5-fold stratified cross validation with the reduced feature vectors as input. The experimental results demonstrated that the Max-Wins-Voting SVM with Gaussian Radial Basis kernel achieves the best classification accuracy of 88.2%. For computation time, the Directed Acyclic Graph SVMs performs swiftest.