Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The serial reaction time task: Learning without knowing or knowing without learning ?

Constant interaction with a dynamic environment —from riding a bicycle to segmenting speech — makes sensitivity to the sequential structure of the world a crucial dimension of the cognitive system. Accounts of sequence learning vary widely, with some authors arguing that parsing and segmentation processes are central, and others defending the notion that sequence learning involves mere memorization. In this paper, we argue that sequence knowledge is essentially statistical in nature and that sequence learning involves simple associative prediction mechanisms. We focus on a choice reaction situation introduced by Lee (1997), in which participants were exposed to material that follows an extremely simple rule, namely that stimuli are selected randomly but never appear more than once in a legal sequence. Perhaps surprisingly, people can learn this rule very well. Or do they? We offer a conceptual replication of the original finding, but a very different interpretation of the results, as well as simulation work that makes it clear how highly abstract dimensions of the stimulus material can in fact be learned based on elementary associative mechanisms.
Distributed under Creative Commons Cc-by 4.0 Polymorphism in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (mhc Class Ii B) Genes of the Rufous-backed Bunting (emberiza Jankowskii)

Genetic diversity is one of the pillars of conservation biology research. High genetic diversity and abundant genetic variation in an organism may be suggestive of capacity to adapt to various environmental changes. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is known to be highly polymorphic and plays an important role in immune function. It is also considered an ideal model system to investigate genetic diversity in wildlife populations. The Rufous-backed Bunting (Emberiza jankowskii) is an endangered species that has experienced a sharp decline in both population and habitat size. Many historically significant populations are no longer present in previously populated regions, with only three breeding populations present in Inner Mongolia (i.e., the Aolunhua, Gahaitu and Lubei557 populations). Efforts focused on facilitating the conservation of the Rufous-backed Bunting (Emberiza jankowskii) are becoming increasingly important. However, the genetic diversity of E. jankowskii has not been investigated. In the present study, polymorphism in exon 2 of the MHCIIB of E. jankowskii was investigated. This polymorphism was subsequently compared with a related species, the Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides). A total of 1.59 alleles/individual were detected in E. jankowskii and 1.73 alleles/individual were identified in E. cioides. The maximum number of alleles per individual from the three E. jankowskii populations suggest the existence of at least three functional loci, while the maximum number of alleles per individual from the three E. cioides populations suggest the presence of at least four functional loci. Two of the alleles were shared between the E. jankowskii and E. cioides. Among the 12 unique alleles identified in E. jankowskii, 10.17 segregating sites per allele were detected, and the nucleotide diversity was 0.1865. Among the 17 unique alleles identified in E. cioides, eight segregating sites per allele were detected, and the nucleotide diversity was 0.1667. Overall, compared to other passerine birds, a relatively low level of MHC polymorphism was revealed in E. jankowskii, which was similar to that in E. cioides. Positive selection was detected by PAML/SLAC/FEL analyses in the region encoding the peptide-binding region in both species, and no recombination was detected. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the alleles from E. jankowskii and E. cioides belong to the same clade and the two species shared similar alleles, suggesting the occurrence of a trans-species polymorphism between the two Emberiza species. How to cite this article Li et al. (2017), Polymorphism in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC class II B) genes of the Rufous-backed Bunting …
Self-interest and Liberal Educational Discourse: How Ideology Works for Middle-Class Mothers

Middle-class mothers typically are viewed as ideal models in terms of their values and goals related to education, participation in their children’s education, and professional involvement in schooling. Yet, the results of this study indicate that educated, middle-class mothers, perceived as liberals who believe in integrated and inclusive education, still support segregated and stratified school structures that mainly benefit students of the middle class. Thompson’s (1990) modes of operation of ideology and strategies of symbolic construction shed light on the ways ideology works to establish and sustain high-income parents’ self-interested educational choices while, at the same time, allowing them to maintain a liberal image. The study illustrates how ideology allows parents to bridge disparate streams of thought and salve the dissonance that results from the contradiction between their desired liberal identity and class positionality.
The identification of foreground‐background information in on‐line oral descriptive discourse∗

Abstract The identification of discourse relations, like foreground‐background information, in natural text data represents a critical methodological issue in research into the functions of syntax in discourse. Currently, methods of identification are either syntax‐dependent or exclusively introspective, resulting in circular or vague argumentation concerning the role of syntactic form in coding discourse relations. An empirically‐grounded methodology for identifying foreground‐background information in natural discourse data is presented and motivated. An experiment is described in which 15 native English speaking subjects described on‐line a 108 second animated videotape. Results show that independently determined event significance correlates significantly with the frequences with which subjects report events. These results permit the formulation of a syntax‐independent and operationally explicit methodology for identifying foreground‐background information in on‐line descriptive discourse.
Turning around an unknown object using visual servoing

In this paper, the problem of controlling a motion by visual servoing around an unknown object is addressed. These works can be interpreted as an initial step towards a perception goal of an unmodeled object. The main purpose is to perform motion with regard to the object in order to discover several viewpoint of the object. The originality of our work is based on the choice and extraction of visual features in accordance with motions to be performed. The notion of invariant feature is introduced to control the navigational task around the unknown object. A real-time experimentation with a complex object is realized and shows the generality of the proposed ideas.
The impact of salesperson customer orientation on the evaluation of a salesperson’s ethical treatment, trust in the salesperson, and intentions to purchase

Previous research suggests that salespersons’ customer orientation can impact the effectiveness and outcomes of their selling interactions with customers. The purpose of this exploratory research was to create a foundation (based on prior results) for more comprehensive future work investigating customer judgments of a salesperson based on observed behaviors. Specifically, this study assessed whether a salesperson’s relational customer orientation (compared to a functional orientation) could trigger improved evaluations of a salesperson’s ethical treatment of a customer, increased trust in the salesperson, and stronger intentions to purchase. The relationships among perceptions of ethical treatment, trust, and purchase intentions were also explored. Using data collected from a large sample of working professionals, the results indicated that a relational selling approach resulted in increases in the three indicators of sales effectiveness. Additionally, perceived ethical treatment was positively related to trust in a salesperson and purchase intentions, and trust was positively related to purchase intentions. Implications for sales professionals in general as well as sales organizations and sales leaders in particular are discussed.
Fructose Production by Inulinase Covalently Immobilized on Sepabeads in Batch and Fluidized Bed Bioreactor

The present work is an experimental study of the performance of a recently designed immobilized enzyme: inulinase from Aspergillus sp. covalently immobilized on Sepabeads. The aim of the work is to test the new biocatalyst in conditions of industrial interest and to assess the feasibility of the process in a fluidized bed bioreactor (FBBR). The catalyst was first tested in a batch reactor at standard conditions and in various sets of conditions of interest for the process. Once the response of the catalyst to different operating conditions was tested and the operational stability assessed, one of the sets of conditions tested in batch was chosen for tests in FBBR. Prior to reaction tests, preliminary fluidization tests were realized in order to define an operating range of admissible flow rates. As a result, the FBR was run at different feed flow rates in a closed cycle configuration and its performance was compared to that of the batch system. The FBBR proved to be performing and suitable for scale up to large fructose production.
Improving Estimates of Grassland Fractional Vegetation Cover Based on a Pixel Dichotomy Model: A Case Study in Inner Mongolia, China

Linear spectral mixture analysis (SMA) is commonly used to infer fractional vegetation cover (FVC), especially for pixel dichotomy models. However, several sources of uncertainty including normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) saturation and selection of endmembers inhibit the effectiveness of SMA for the estimation of FVC. In this study, Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat 8/Operational Land Imager (OLI) remote sensing data for the early growing season and in situ measurement of spectral reflectance are used to determine the value of endmembers including VIsoil and VIveg, with equally weighted RVI and NDVI measures used in combination to minimize the inherent biases in pure NDVI-based FVC. Their ability to improve estimates of grassland FVC is analyzed at different resolutions. These are shown to improve FVC estimates over NDVI-based SMA models using fixed values for the endmembers. Grassland FVC changes for Inner Mongolia, China from 2000 to 2013 are then monitored using the MODIS data. The results show that changes in most grassland areas are not significant, but in parts of Hulunbeier, south Tongliao, middle Xilin Gol and Erdos, grassland FVC has increased significantly.
Influence of fat intake on body composition, lipemia and glycemia of type 1 diabetics

Background:Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia and body composition is important in the disease control. The nutritional intervention has relevance in the improve­ ment of glycemia and Iipemia in diabetic patients. Aim: Evaluate the influence of fat intake on body composition, Iipemia and glycemia on patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Methods: 19 patients were evaluated by anthropo­ metric (body mass index and waist circurnference), body composition (fat mass, lean body mass and total body water by bioelectrical impedance) and biochemical varia­ bles, after 8 hours of fasting. Dietary assessment was performed using the dietary records for 3 days, analyzed for nutritional software DietPro Si. The groups were formed according to the usual intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) (Gl < 10% oftotal energy expenditure (TEE) ofSFA and G2;,; 10% ofTEE ofSFA). Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS 16.0, considering p < 0.05. Results: There was no difference in anthropometric and biochemical variables between groups, but G1 presented higher fat mass (FM) and G2 high SFA and adequate mounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) intake. The Iipemia and glycemia were not affected by high SFA intake, but adequate MUFA intake may have influenced the results of these variables. No found relation between type of fat ingested and biochemistry variables. Conclusion: Body composition can be influenced by type offat ingested. Lipemia and glycemia were not influ­ enced by high SFA intake, perhaps due to MUFA intake adequate. (NutrHosp.2011;26:111O-1114) DO1:10.3305/nh.2011. 26.5. 5051
A Controller Based Approach for Web Services Virtualized Instance Allocation

Few Service providers provide compute intensive and data intensive services over web platform; where in applications can be deployed on demand. These service providers usually employ machine virtualization for providing cost effective solution. At the time of infrastructure purchase, one may opt for a particular instance, assuming that this will satisfy the computational needs. Whereas considering the case when no of service request increases, the more robust instance may be needed. In this paper, we present a mechanism which provides optimal instance allocation satisfying the computational needs. Results show that this approach utilizes the infrastructure in more optimal manner. Keywords— Web Service, Allocating Services, Controller
Local Anesthesia in Hair Transplantation

BACKGROUND Safe and effective use of local anesthesia is essential in hair transplantation. OBJECTIVE To review the agents and techniques of local anesthesia as applied to hair transplantation. METHODS Information was retrieved from texts, journal articles found by MEDLINE searches, and related references. RESULTS Agents, vasoconstrictors, maximum dosages, toxicity, and techniques are discussed. CONCLUSION Effective local anesthesia can be maintained throughout hair transplantation. Care must be exercised to minimize discomfort through proper technique and to minimize toxicity through judicious use of vasoconstrictors and nerve blocks and by monitoring total dosage. Constant monitoring for toxicity is required, as is early intervention in the unlikely event that warning signs should appear.
Estimating age privacy leakage in online social networks

We perform a large-scale study to quantify just how severe the privacy leakage problem is in Facebook. As a case study, we focus on estimating birth year, which is a fundamental human attribute and, for many people, a private one. Specifically, we attempt to estimate the birth year of over 1 million Facebook users in New York City. We examine the accuracy of estimation procedures for several classes of users: (i) highly private users, who do not make their friend lists public; (ii) users who hide their birth years but make their friend lists public. To estimate Facebook users' ages, we exploit the underlying social network structure to design an iterative algorithm, which derives age estimates based on friends' ages, friends of friends' ages, and so on. We find that for most users, including highly private users who hide their friend lists, it is possible to estimate ages with an error of only a few years. We also make a specific suggestion to Facebook which, if implemented, would greatly reduce privacy leakages in its service.
Stable Vascular Connections and Remodeling Require Full Expression of VE-Cadherin in Zebrafish Embryos

Background VE-cadherin is an endothelial specific, transmembrane protein, that clusters at adherens junctions where it promotes homotypic cell-cell adhesion. VE-cadherin null mutation in the mouse results in early fetal lethality due to altered vascular development. However, the mechanism of action of VE-cadherin is complex and, in the mouse embryo, it is difficult to define the specific steps of vascular development in which this protein is involved. Methodology and Principal Findings In order to study the role VE-cadherin in the development of the vascular system in a more suitable model, we knocked down the expression of the coding gene in zebrafish. The novel findings reported here are: 1) partial reduction of VE-cadherin expression using low doses of morpholinos causes vascular fragility, head hemorrhages and increase in permeability; this has not been described before and suggests that the total amount of the protein expressed is an important determinant of vascular stability; 2) concentrations of morpholinos which abrogate VE-cadherin expression prevent vessels to establish successful reciprocal contacts and, as a consequence, vascular sprouting activity is not inhibited. This likely explains the observed vascular hyper-sprouting and the presence of several small, collapsing vessels; 3) the common cardinal vein lacks a correct connection with the endocardium leaving the heart separated from the rest of the circulatory system. The lack of closure of the circulatory loop has never been described before and may explain some downstream defects of the phenotype such as the lack of a correct vascular remodeling. Conclusions and Significance Our observations identify several steps of vascular development in which VE-cadherin plays an essential role. While it does not appear to regulate vascular patterning it is implicated in vascular connection and inhibition of sprouting activity. These processes require stable cell-cell junctions which are defective in absence of VE-cadherin. Notably, also partial modifications in VE-cadherin expression prevent the formation of a stable vasculature. This suggests that partial internalization or change of function of this protein may strongly affect vascular stability and organization.
The modulatory influence of a predictive cue on the auditory steady‐state response

Whether attention exerts its impact already on primary sensory levels is still a matter of debate. Particularly in the auditory domain the amount of empirical evidence is scarce. Recently noninvasive and invasive studies have shown attentional modulations of the auditory Steady‐State Response (aSSR). This evoked oscillatory brain response is of importance to the issue, because the main generators have been shown to be located in primary auditory cortex. So far, the issue whether the aSSR is sensitive to the predictive value of a cue preceding a target has not been investigated. Participants in the present study had to indicate on which ear the faster amplitude modulated (AM) sound of a compound sound (42 and 19 Hz AM frequencies) was presented. A preceding auditory cue was either informative (75%) or uninformative (50%) with regards to the location of the target. Behaviorally we could confirm that typical attentional modulations of performance were present in case of a preceding informative cue. With regards to the aSSR we found differences between the informative and uninformative condition only when the cue/target combination was presented to the right ear. Source analysis indicated this difference to be generated by a reduced 42 Hz aSSR in right primary auditory cortex. Our and previous data by others show a default tendency of “40 Hz” AM sounds to be processed by the right auditory cortex. We interpret our results as active suppression of this automatic response pattern, when attention needs to be allocated to right ear input. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Leadership processes in alternative organizations: Invitational and dramaturgical leadership

In contrast to traditional bureaucracies, alternative organizations offer sites in which leadership focuses on opposing tensions between dualities such as individual‐collective, power over‐power with, inequality‐equality, and autonomy‐interdependence. We present two case studies of leadership in a food cooperative and a quilting guild, in which leaders and members construct processual themes and practices that can be captured by images of invitation and of dramaturgical foregrounding‐backgrounding. These images are coherent enough to enable performance of varied democratic practices but are flexible enough to allow for dialectic tensions. This flexibility enables the cooperative and guild organizations to remain true to their participatory values despite external and internal changes.
A Data Extraction and Visualization Framework for Information Retrieval Systems

In recent years we are witnessing a continuous growth in the amount of data that both public and private organizations collect and profit by. Search engines are the most common tools used to retrieve information, and more recently, clustering techniques showed to be an effective tool in helping users to skim query results. The majority of the systems proposed to manage information, provide textual interfaces to explore search results that are not specifically designed to provide an interactive experience to the users. Trying to find a solution to this problem, we focus on how to extract conveniently data from sources of interest, and how to enhance their analysis and consultation through visualization techniques. In this work we present a customizable framework able to acquire, search and interactively visualize data. This framework is built upon a modular architectural schema and its effectiveness will be illustrated by a prototype implemented for a specific application domain.
Facilitation of return during scene viewing

Inhibition of Return (IOR) is a delay in initiating attentional shifts to previously attended locations. It is believed to facilitate attentional exploration of a scene. Computational models of attention have implemented IOR as a simple mechanism for driving attention through a scene. However, evidence for IOR during scene viewing is inconclusive. In this study IOR during scene memorization and in response to sudden onsets at the last (1-back) and penultimate (2-back) fixation location was measured. The results indicate that there is a tendency for saccades to continue the trajectory of the last saccade (Saccadic Momentum), but contrary to the “foraging facilitator” hypothesis of IOR, there is also a distinct population of saccades directed back to the last fixation location, especially in response to onsets. Voluntary return saccades to the 1-back location experience temporal delay but this does not affect their likelihood of occurrence. No localized temporal delay is exhibited at 2-back. These results suggest that IOR exists at the last fixation location during scene memorization but that this temporal delay is overridden by Facilitation of Return. Computational models of attention will fail to capture the pattern of saccadic eye movements during scene viewing unless they model the dynamics of visual encoding and can account for the interaction between Facilitation of Return, Saccadic Momentum, and Inhibition of Return.