Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interpersonal touch suppresses visual processing of aversive stimuli

Social contact is essential for survival in human society. A previous study demonstrated that interpersonal contact alleviates pain-related distress by suppressing the activity of its underlying neural network. One explanation for this is that attention is shifted from the cause of distress to interpersonal contact. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a functional MRI (fMRI) study wherein eight pairs of close female friends rated the aversiveness of aversive and non-aversive visual stimuli under two conditions: joining hands either with a rubber model (rubber-hand condition) or with a close friend (human-hand condition). Subsequently, participants rated the overall comfortableness of each condition. The rating result after fMRI indicated that participants experienced greater comfortableness during the human-hand compared to the rubber-hand condition, whereas aversiveness ratings during fMRI were comparable across conditions. The fMRI results showed that the two conditions commonly produced aversive-related activation in both sides of the visual cortex (including V1, V2, and V5). An interaction between aversiveness and hand type showed rubber-hand-specific activation for (aversive > non-aversive) in other visual areas (including V1, V2, V3, and V4v). The effect of interpersonal contact on the processing of aversive stimuli was negatively correlated with the increment of attentional focus to aversiveness measured by a pain-catastrophizing scale. These results suggest that interpersonal touch suppresses the processing of aversive visual stimuli in the occipital cortex. This effect covaried with aversiveness-insensitivity, such that aversive-insensitive individuals might require a lesser degree of attentional capture to aversive-stimulus processing. As joining hands did not influence the subjective ratings of aversiveness, interpersonal touch may operate by redirecting excessive attention away from aversive characteristics of the stimuli.
The relationships among students' commitment, self-esteem, organisational citizenship behaviour and academic performance

Abstract As one of the most important dependent variables in education and work research, performance has been operationalised either as the proficiency with which core tasks are performed (task performance), or as extra-role behaviours that support core activities (organisational citizenship behaviours). Relative to academic performance (core academic achievement), there has been little research on the extent to which students practise organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in their academic work. The aim of the present study was to explore some correlates of both OCB and academic performance. Data used in the study were obtained from 185 students enrolled in a business course at the National University of Lesotho. Survey questionnaires inquiring about students' commitment, self-esteem, and OCB were administered to 204 third-year students. These were correlated with formal academic performance before and after the survey. Students' commitment was significantly related to both OCB and academic performance. Self-esteem was significantly correlated with OCB, but not academic performance. Two dimensions of OCB (altruism and civic virtue) were moderately but significantly related to academic performance. Results suggest that improving self-esteem might affect OCB, and improving commitment and certain elements of OCB might improve academic achievement.
A Method for Open Source License Compliance of Java Applications

Open source license compliance (OSLC) is the process of ensuring that an organization satisfies the licensing requirements of the open source software it reuses, whether for its internal use or as a part of a product it ships. The major challenges of OSLC include component identification, provenance discovery, license identification, and licensing requirements analysis. Kenen is an approach that assists organizations in OSLC for Java components.
Ferrier Lecture - The organization of the visual cortex in man

In this lecture, which was founded to commemorate the pioneer work of Sir David Ferrier on cerebral localization, I intend to deal with a subject in which he was particularly interested, that is the cortical representation of vision. Ferrier’s interest was at once excited by the discovery of Fritsch & Hitzig (1870) that certain portions of the surface of the forebrain are excitable, and he immediately adopted this new method of electrical stimulation to map out those areas from which movements can be produced. The results of his investigations on the motor cortex are well known, but he also discovered that movements could be elicited from other regions which he did not regard as primarily motor, including deviations of the eyes on stimulation of the angular gyrus on the lateral surface of the parietal lobe. He interpreted these movements as motor responses to ‘excitation of subjective visual sensations’ by the stimulus, and he therefore assumed that this region contained the primary visual centres, that is the centres through which retinal impressions excite visual perception. A series of experiments on monkeys which he reported in the Croonian Lecture of 1875 appeared to support this conclusion, for he found that destruction of one angular gyrus caused blindness of the opposite eye, which was not, however, permanent if the other angular gyrus was intact (Fig. 1). Ablation of both angular gyri appeared to cause complete and permanent loss of vision. He failed to detect any disturbance of sight when one occipital lobe only was injured, provided the lesion did not extend forwards to the angular gyrus.
Comparing Longitudinal Academic Achievement of Full-Day and Half-Day Kindergarten Students

ABSTRACT The authors compared the achievement of children who were enrolled in full-day kindergarten (FDK) to a matched sample of students who were enrolled in half-day kindergarten (HDK) on mathematics and reading achievement in Grades 2, 3, and 4, several years after they left kindergarten. Results showed that FDK students demonstrated significantly higher achievement at the end of kindergarten than did their HDK counterparts, but that advantage disappeared quickly by the end of first grade. Interpretations and implications are given for that finding.
The Role of Experiential Knowledge and Subsequent Investment Decisions on the Profitability of Japanese Companies in Brazil

This study attempts to empirically investigate how firms' experiential knowledge and the decision to invest sequentially in the host country are associated with the performance of their overseas subsidiaries. This research advances prior studies by adopting an objective performance measure based on the profitability ratio at the subsidiary level. Using a random-effect model of GLS regression applied to a panel data of Japanese firms established in Brazil, the results provide theoretical and practical implications showing that experiential knowledge is positively associated with subsidiary profitability. Local experiential knowledge can be acquired by managing subsidiaries for a long time in the host country, but also by increasing the number of investments in the local market. In practical terms, the subsidiary profitability ratio becomes higher when the parent firms have established more than five investments in the host country, although further investigation is needed to examine the direction of this relationship. Moreover, there is a significant association between subsidiary performance and the parent firms' experience in culturally similar markets to Brazil. The benefit of learning from international markets suggests that operating in countries with a similar culture transforms their experience into a competitive advantage.
TRIPS: An Integrated Intelligent Problem-Solving Assistant

We discuss what constitutes an integrated system in AI, and why AI researchers should be interested in building and studying them. Taking integrated systems to be ones that integrate a variety of components in order to perform some task from start to finish, we believe that such systems (a) allow us to better ground our theoretical work in actual tasks, and (b) provide an opportunity for much-needed evaluation based on task performance. We describe one particular integrated system we have developed that supports spoken-language dialogue to collaboratively solve planning problems. We discuss how the integrated system provides key advantages for helping both our work in natural language dialogue processing and in interactive planning and problem solving, and consider the opportunities such an approach affords for the future.
The impact of institutional processes, social networks, and culture on diffusion of global work values in multinational organizations

Purpose – Previous research has documented emergence of global work values and an important function of multinational organizations (MNOs) in their diffusion. However, studies on the processes supporting the diffusion of global work values have been limited. This study seeks to conceptually explore the roles of institutional mechanisms and moderating functions of social network structures and cultural values in diffusion of global work values within the context of MNOs.Design/methodology/approach – Adopting a multilevel approach and grounding the arguments in the neo‐institutional framework, this work synthesizes cross‐cultural research with organizational theory research to present a conceptual model of the diffusion of global work values in the context of MNOs.Findings – It is proposed that the level of diffusion of global work values by members of MNOs is positively related to the level of institutionalization of these values within and between MNOs by means of regulative and normative institutional pr.
Two sides to long-term potentiation: a view towards reconciliation

Almost since the discovery of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus, its locus of expression has been debated. Throughout the years, convincing evidence has accumulated to suggest that LTP can be supported either presynaptically, by an increase in transmitter release, or postsynaptically, by an increase in α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor number. However, whereas postsynaptic enhancement appears to be consistently obtained across studies following LTP induction, presynaptic enhancement is not as reliably observed. Such discrepancies, along with the failure to convincingly identify a retrograde messenger required for presynaptic change, have led to the general view that LTP is mainly supported postsynaptically, and certainly, research within the field for the past decade has been heavily focused on the postsynaptic locus. Here, we argue that LTP can be expressed at either synaptic locus, but that pre- and postsynaptic forms of LTP are dissociable phenomena mediated by distinct mechanistic processes, which are sensitive to different patterns of neuronal activity. This view of LTP helps to reconcile discrepancies across the literature and may put to rest a decades-long debate.
Reflective decisions: the use of Socratic dialogue in managing organizational change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that too often decisions concerning change are made on the basis of partial understanding, limited data and unreflective assumptions about people and organizations. In the discussion of the Socratic dialogue the aim is to uncover a useful method for ensuring more reflective decision making that involves active participation of employees on the receiving end of change.Design/methodology/approach – Although dialogue is used in management processes today, it is contended that the Socratic dialogue is particularly useful in making sense of complex change processes. Data drawn from research conducted in two UK higher education institutions are used to illustrate how lack of knowledge and understanding often pervades and constrains change, and how techniques of Socratic dialogue can be used to secure higher levels of employee involvement and commitment to change.Findings – It is argued that Socratic dialogue can be used as a practical tool to facilitate “participat.
Early and Progressive Sensorimotor Anomalies in Mice Overexpressing Wild-Type Human α-Synuclein

Accumulation of α-synuclein in brain is a hallmark of synucleinopathies, neurodegenerative diseases that include Parkinson's disease. Mice overexpressing α-synuclein under the Thy-1 promoter (ASO) show abnormal accumulation of α-synuclein in cortical and subcortical regions of the brain, including the substantia nigra. We examined the motor deficits in ASO mice with a battery of sensorimotor tests that are sensitive to alterations in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. Male wild-type and ASO mice were tested every 2 months for 8 months for motor performance and coordination on a challenging beam, inverted grid, and pole, sensorimotor deficits in an adhesive removal test, spontaneous activity in a cylinder, and gait. Fine motor skills were assessed by the ability to grasp cotton from a bin. ASO mice displayed significant impairments in motor performance and coordination and a reduction in spontaneous activity as early as 2 months of age. Motor performance and coordination impairments became progressively worse with age and sensorimotor deficits appeared at 6 months. Fine motor skills were altered at 4 months and worsened at 8 months. These data indicate that overexpression of α-synuclein induced an early and progressive behavioral phenotype that can be detected in multiple tests of sensorimotor function. These behavioral deficits provide a useful way to assess novel drug therapy in genetic models of synucleinopathies.
Surfaceome Profiling Reveals Regulators of Neural Stem Cell Function

The composition of cell‐surface proteins changes during lineage specification, altering cellular responses to their milieu. The changes that characterize maturation of early neural stem cells (NSCs) remain poorly understood. Here we use mass spectrometry‐based cell surface capture technology to profile the cell surface of early NSCs and demonstrate functional requirements for several enriched molecules. Primitive NSCs arise from embryonic stem cells upon removal of Transforming growth factor‐β signaling, while definitive NSCs arise from primitive NSCs upon Lif removal and FGF addition. In vivo aggregation assays revealed that N‐cadherin upregulation is sufficient for the initial exclusion of definitive NSCs from pluripotent ectoderm, while c‐kit signaling limits progeny of primitive NSCs. Furthermore, we implicate EphA4 in primitive NSC survival signaling and Erbb2 as being required for NSC proliferation. This work elucidates several key mediators of NSC function whose relevance is confirmed on forebrain‐derived populations and identifies a host of other candidates that may regulate NSCs. Stem Cells 2014;32:258–268
Gene-regulatory interactions in embryonic stem cells represent cell-type specific gene regulatory programs

Abstract Pluripotency, the ability of embryonic stem cells to differentiate into specialized cell types, is determined by ESC-specific gene regulators such as transcription factors and chromatin modification factors. It is not well understood how ESCs are poised for differentiation, however, and methods are needed for prognosis of the molecular changes in the differentiation of ESCs into specific organs. We describe a new approach to infer cell-type specific gene regulatory programs based on gene regulatory interactions in ESCs. Our method infers the molecular logic of gene regulatory mechanisms by mapping the position-specific combinatory patterns of numerous regulators in ESCs into cell-type specific gene regulations. We validate the proposed approach by recapitulating the RNA-seq and microarray data of neuronal progenitor cells, adult liver cells, and ESCs from the integrated patterns of diverse gene regulators in ESCs. We find that the collective functions of diverse gene regulators in ESCs represent distinct gene regulatory programs in specialized cell types. Our new approach expands our understanding of the differential gene regulatory information in developments encoded in regulatory networks of ESCs.
Agile development methodologies introduced to Norwegian ICT companies. A part of the EVISOFT project.

The software development discipline has become increasingly complex. Even though the practice has continiously evolved to remedy the consequences of this complexity, projects are plagued with missed deadlines, exceeded budgets or even total failure. One of the remedies that has evolved is different development methods. The methods that has recieved the most attention lately has been labeled ”light” or ”agile” methods. The first part of this study presents this evolution of software engineering in general and in software development processes in particular. Firstly the difference between the traditional and agile methods are explored, followed by a closer examination of specific agile methods. The agile methods considered are explained in more detail and summarized using 8 properties found important in the litterature. In order to further study the use of agile methods and especially in a Norwegian setting a set of interviews was performed. A total of 21 companies was contacted and resulted in 7 interviews from companies differing in both size and business areas. Prior to the interviews a list of research questions and a interview guide constructed, these helped guide the interview and narrow the field of research. The aspects that the interviews focused on were customer involvement, the use or consideration of agile methods, typical project characteristics, valued development method properties and development method variations. The results of the interviews are presented as answers to the research questions and show that there are only two companies that use agile methods daily, but that all but two companies have considered it. The results also show that none of the companies have the customer involvement that is recommended for using agile development methods, and that customer interest in which method is used is close to non-existent. A majority of the companies adapt or make changes in their existing development methods depending on the project, but only one company change the entire method. The most desirable property in a development method was by far the ability to produce quality software, but for the companies using agile methods the simplistic method of developing came a close second. When looking at the projects timespan and size it was discovered that the participants that uses agile methods has smaller teams, use less time and includes more iterations. This can be an indication that agile methods are best suited in smaller and less complex systems, or with above average skilled developers. It has also become clear that there are variations in the day to day workings of the participating companies that are not taken into account in any of the explored development methods.
Design and Implementation of Real-time NURBS Interpolator for Motion Control

The purpose of this paper is to study the design and implementation of an efficient and inexpensive real-time NURBS interpolator for CNC motion control. The proposed real-time NURBS interpolator integrates the advantages of digital differential analyzer (DDA) and the native NURBS interpolator with the help of data conversion module. Since such an open NURBS interpolator can be easily realized by the off-shelf DSP chips and/or CPLD devices, the manufacture industry will be interested in this real-time NURBS interpolator soon in the future. The actual manufacture of NURBS curves validates that the proposed real-time interpolator is feasible for the motion control in the traditional CNC machine.
Improvement design of fuzzy geo-demographic clustering using Artificial Bee Colony optimization

Geo-demographic analysis (GDA) is the study of geo-demographic that refers to spatial or geographical area, utilizing some spatial based analysis explicitly. Fuzzy Geographically Weighted Clustering (FGWC), a variant of Fuzzy C-Means (FCM), has been serving as an effective algorithm in Geo-demographic Analysis. FGWC is sensitive because of its initialization by determining random cluster centers makes the greater probability of clustering result falling into the local optima that affect the clustering quality. Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), one of metaheuristic algorithms is usually used as a global optimization tools. This research aims to propose a integration design of ABC based optimization and FGWC for improving geo-demographic clustering accuracy.
A Generalized Formulation of Quarter-Wave Symmetry SHE-PWM Problems for Multilevel Inverters

A generalized formulation of quarter-wave symmetrical selective harmonic elimination (SHE) problems according to the rising and falling edges of the pulsewidth modulation (PWM) waveforms for multilevel inverters is proposed. The SHE modulation scheme features a broad solution space and can eliminate a large number of low-order harmonics. An effective method for obtaining initial values of switching angles is proposed. This method is based on rules of equal area and superposition of center of gravity (cg) of the PWM section with the sine reference signal. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed SHE method, a five-level voltage source inverter with elimination of 11 low-order harmonics is investigated. The SHE-PWM equations that can eliminate harmonics from 5th to 35th with modulation index M varying from 0 to 1.15 are formulated, and solutions are presented. Simulations and experiments based on two sets of solutions are carried out. It is demonstrated that the experimental results agree well with simulated ones, which proves the validity and practicability of the new method proposed.
Sensory Integration in the Learning Disabled

Letter learning and recognition by young learning disabled children were studied using visual, tactual, and visual plus tactual training and testing with 5- and 15-second exploration times. All children in the training and testing conditions using vision or vision plus touch made more correct responses than those using touch alone. However, there were no differences between the visual and visual plus tactual conditions, indicating that the additional input from touch did not help performance. There was some benefit from more exploration time; the 15-second groups tended to make fewer errors of a certain type.