Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Face Processing: The N170 ERP Component in Autism

of a thesis at the University of Miami. Thesis supervised by Professor Peter Mundy. (74) Face processing deficits appear early in autism and greatly impact subsequent development. In this paper, the N170 component, an event-related brain potential sensitive to face processing, is examined in children with autism and typical development. The N170 amplitude was sensitive to group differences, as children with typical development showed greater differentiation to upright vs. inverted stimuli and faces vs. vehicles than children with autism. The N170 was also delayed in children with autism. The N170 was not a sensitive marker of individual differences in social behavior and autistic symptomology, but the proceeding positive peak, the P1, was a sensitive marker of individual differences in children with typical development. Results suggest that children with autism and children with typical development employ different face processing strategies, even for the basic encoding of a face.
Working memory capacity may influence perceived effort during aided speech recognition in noise.

BACKGROUND Recently there has been interest in using subjective ratings as a measure of perceived effort during speech recognition in noise. Perceived effort may be an indicator of cognitive load. Thus, subjective effort ratings during speech recognition in noise may covary both with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and individual cognitive capacity. PURPOSE The present study investigated the relation between subjective ratings of the effort involved in listening to speech in noise, speech recognition performance, and individual working memory (WM) capacity in hearing impaired hearing aid users. RESEARCH DESIGN In two experiments, participants with hearing loss rated perceived effort during aided speech perception in noise. Noise type and SNR were manipulated in both experiments, and in the second experiment hearing aid compression release settings were also manipulated. Speech recognition performance was measured along with WM capacity. STUDY SAMPLE There were 46 participants in all with bilateral mild to moderate sloping hearing loss. In Experiment 1 there were 16 native Danish speakers (eight women and eight men) with a mean age of 63.5 yr (SD = 12.1) and average pure tone (PT) threshold of 47. 6 dB (SD = 9.8). In Experiment 2 there were 30 native Swedish speakers (19 women and 11 men) with a mean age of 70 yr (SD = 7.8) and average PT threshold of 45.8 dB (SD = 6.6). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS A visual analog scale (VAS) was used for effort rating in both experiments. In Experiment 1, effort was rated at individually adapted SNRs while in Experiment 2 it was rated at fixed SNRs. Speech recognition in noise performance was measured using adaptive procedures in both experiments with Dantale II sentences in Experiment 1 and Hagerman sentences in Experiment 2. WM capacity was measured using a letter-monitoring task in Experiment 1 and the reading span task in Experiment 2. RESULTS In both experiments, there was a strong and significant relation between rated effort and SNR that was independent of individual WM capacity, whereas the relation between rated effort and noise type seemed to be influenced by individual WM capacity. Experiment 2 showed that hearing aid compression setting influenced rated effort. CONCLUSIONS Subjective ratings of the effort involved in speech recognition in noise reflect SNRs, and individual cognitive capacity seems to influence relative rating of noise type.
Analysis of large scale parameter-varying systems by using scaled diagonal dominance

It has been recognized recently that semidefinite optimization problems (SDP) can be cast into second order cone programs (SOCP) by replacing the positive definiteness constraints with stronger, scaled diagonal dominance (SDD) conditions. Since the scalability of SOCP solvers is much better than that of the SDPs, the new formulation allows solving large dimensional problems more efficiently. However, scaled diagonal dominant matrices form only a subset of the positive definite matrices. Hence, the new problem formulation results in more conservative solutions. This paper analyses the efficiency and conservativeness of the SDD formulation on two particular problems: the stability analysis and induced ℒ2 gain computation for linear parameter-varying systems. In the paper some important features of the SDD formulation are revealed and numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the efficiency of the approach.
UV-B detected by the UVR8 photoreceptor antagonizes auxin signaling and plant shade avoidance

Significance UV-B is a key component of sunlight. In plants, UV-B is perceived by the photoreceptor protein UVR8. Along with regulating photoprotective responses, UV-B dramatically inhibits stem elongation. Here we show how UV-B regulates plant architecture, using the agriculturally important shade avoidance response. When grown in dense stands, plants use reflected far-red light signals from neighbors to detect the threat of shading. In many species, these signals drive rapid elongation responses to overtop competitors. UV-B perceived by UVR8 provides a potent sunlight signal that inhibits shade avoidance. UVR8 activation stimulates multiple pathways that converge to block biosynthesis of the plant growth hormone auxin. Understanding how UV-B regulates plant architecture is central to our understanding of plant growth and development in sunlight. Plants detect different facets of their radiation environment via specific photoreceptors to modulate growth and development. UV-B is perceived by the photoreceptor UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8). The molecular mechanisms linking UVR8 activation to plant growth are not fully understood, however. When grown in close proximity to neighboring vegetation, shade-intolerant plants initiate dramatic stem elongation to overtop competitors. Here we show that UV-B, detected by UVR8, provides an unambiguous sunlight signal that inhibits shade avoidance responses in Arabidopsis thaliana by antagonizing the phytohormones auxin and gibberellin. UV-B triggers degradation of the transcription factors PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 and PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 5 and stabilizes growth-repressing DELLA proteins, inhibiting auxin biosynthesis via a dual mechanism. Our findings show that UVR8 signaling is closely integrated with other photoreceptor pathways to regulate auxin signaling and plant growth in sunlight.
Admission Control for TCP Flows Using Packet Classes and Edge-to-edge Measurements of Aggregates

TCP flows from applications such as the web or ftp are well supported by a Guaranteed Minimum Throughput Service (GMTS), which provides a minimum network throughput to the flow and, if possible, an extra throughput. We propose a scheme for a GMTS using Admission Control (AC) that is able to provide different minimum throughput to different users and that is suitable for "standard" TCP flows. Moreover, we consider a multidomain scenario where the scheme is used in one of the domains, and we propose some mechanisms for the interconnection with neighbor domains. The whole scheme uses a small set of packet classes in a core-stateless network where each class has a different discarding priority in queues assigned to it. The AC method involves only edge nodes and uses a special probing packet flow (marked as the highest discarding priority class) that is sent continuously from ingress to egress through a path. The available throughput in the path is obtained at the egress using measurements of flow aggregates, and then it is sent back to the ingress. At the ingress each flow is detected using an implicit way and then it is admission controlled. If it is accepted, it receives the GMTS and its packets are marked as the lowest discarding priority classes; otherwise, it receives a best-effort service. The scheme is evaluated through simulation in a simple "bottleneck" topology using different traffic loads consisting of "standard" TCP flows that carry files of varying sizes.
Troponin as a marker of myocardial damage during coronary surgery with and without cardiopulmonary bypass.

BACKGROUND The use of coronary surgery without cardiopulmonary bypass (CBP) has been growing during the last years. In order to compare myocardial damage during coronary surgery with and without CBP, perioperative Troponin T determinations were done. METHODS Experimental design and setting: prospective, comparative. Cardiovascular surgery department. Patients, interventions and measures: 29 prospective patients who underwent elective coronary surgery were enrolled. Troponin T determinations (ng/ml) were done before surgical procedure, after a 2-hour and after a 12-hour postoperative. Population was divided in two groups: group 1, with CBP (17 patients); group 2, without CBP (12 patients). Variables in relation with population characteristics, myocardial damage and immediate postoperative haemodynamic results were all analyzed. RESULTS Population characteristics and basal Troponin levels were similar for the two groups. Troponin T average levels at 2-hour postoperative period was 0.729 ng/ml and 0.067 ng/ml for group 1 and 2, respectively (p<0.00002). At 12 hours postoperative period Troponin T was 1.047 ng/ml and 0.183 ng/ml for group land 2 (p<0.0002). Haemodynamic performance was better in the group without CBP. CONCLUSIONS Troponin T levels were significantly elevated in group 1, showing that surgical procedures without CBP caused less myocardial damage.
In search of HRM

It is common in discussions about human resource management (HRM) to distinguish between “rhetoric” and what is regarded as a clearly separate “reality”. This is naive in that it fails to recognize the way those researching the human aspects of management and those practically involved in it influence each other. It also fails to recognize the power of recent developments in social science theorizing which focus on the relationship between discourse and action. The concepts and language of HRM are perhaps most usefully seen as discursive resources which both managers and academic writers make use of – or refuse to make use of – in their occupational practices. Illustrates this argument with ethnographic material gathered in an organization in which many of those activities frequently labelled “HRM” occur but where the notion of HRM is not used. The dog does not bark.
An in-situ study of mobile phone notifications

Notifications on mobile phones alert users about new messages, emails, social network updates, and other events. However, little is understood about the nature and effect of such notifications on the daily lives of mobile users. We report from a one-week, in-situ study involving 15 mobile phones users, where we collected real-world notifications through a smartphone logging application alongside subjective perceptions of those notifications through an online diary. We found that our participants had to deal with 63.5 notifications on average per day, mostly from messengers and email. Whether the phone is in silent mode or not, notifications were typically viewed within minutes. Social pressure in personal communication was amongst the main reasons given. While an increasing number of notifications was associated with an increase in negative emotions, receiving more messages and social network updates also made our participants feel more connected with others. Our findings imply that avoiding interruptions from notifications may be viable for professional communication, while in personal communication, approaches should focus on managing expectations.
Headhunters from the Swamps: The Marind Anim of New Guinea as Seen by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, 1905-1925

In 1905, the Tilburg Missionaries of the Sacred Heart established their first mission post among the Marind Anim on the southwest coast of New Guinea. These Dutch missionaries were to witness the swift and dramatic demise of an ancient cultural tradition. They recorded its intricate cosmology, complex initiation ceremonies, spectacular art and intensive headhunting in writing and photographs. "They are veritable human beings, sensible beings, with a delightful language, unwritten literature, and an appreciation for all that is good and beautiful," one missionary reported. "How low, how unfathomably low these people here have stooped, [. ] disgusting, [. ] animals are more estimable," another wrote. Dismay and fascination, suppression and research went hand in hand. The author was granted permission to publish the remarkable photographs of the Sacred Heart congregation's archive. With its amply documented photographs, Headhunters from the swamps is a fascinating resource for anyone with an interest in the history and culture of New Guinea.
Recursive modular modelling methodology for lumped-parameter dynamic systems

This paper proposes a novel approach to the modelling of lumped-parameter dynamic systems, based on representing them by hierarchies of mathematical models of increasing complexity instead of a single (complex) model. Exploring the multilevel modularity that these systems typically exhibit, a general recursive modelling methodology is proposed, in order to conciliate the use of the already existing modelling techniques. The general algorithm is based on a fundamental theorem that states the conditions for computing projection operators recursively. Three procedures for these computations are discussed: orthonormalization, use of orthogonal complements and use of generalized inverses. The novel methodology is also applied for the development of a recursive algorithm based on the Udwadia–Kalaba equation, which proves to be identical to the one of a Kalman filter for estimating the state of a static process, given a sequence of noiseless measurements representing the constraints that must be satisfied by the system.
Protecting the health of the @hlete: how online technology may aid our common goal to prevent injury and illness in sport

Online technology dominates our era and eHealth has become a reality for sports clinicians and researchers. Contemporary online platforms enable self-monitoring and provide tailored feedback to the different stakeholders who play a role in the health and care of athletes. Innovations such as digital monitoring, mobile applications and connected hardware provide the critical tools to solve current enigmas in sports medicine research, and to streamline and facilitate injury prevention, management and rehabilitation. eHealth is not an emerging future of sports medicine—the technology to move our field forward in terms of research and practice is already available. This Analysis is based on Evert Verhagen's keynote presentation at the IOC World Conference on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport (Monaco, 12 April 2014). It outlines the use of eHealth in research, implementation and practice, and provides an overview of possibilities and opportunities that existing and emerging eHealth solutions provide for sports and exercise medicine and physiotherapy.
De unificatie van menselijke cognitie

Hoe leren mensen taal, en wat heeft dit gemeenschappelijk met het luisteren naar muziek, het kijken naar een afbeelding of het oplossen van een probleem? Deze vragen vormen de kern van het Vici-project Integrating Cognition dat poogt een algemeen computationeel model te ontwikkelen voor het leren van taal, muziek en redeneren. Zo'n algemeen model zou een klein deel van de zogeheten Grand Challenge (Newell 1990) kunnen oplossen: het ontwerpen van een unificerend model voor menselijke cognitie. In dit artikel zal ik ingaan op de doelstellingen en wijze van aanpak van dit project, en op enkele relevante toepassingen ervan.
Rotavirus vaccines: an overview

Rotavirus vaccine development has focused on the delivery of live attenuated rotavirus strains by the oral route. The initial "Jennerian" approach involving bovine (RIT4237, WC3) or rhesus (RRV) rotavirus vaccine candidates showed that these vaccines were safe, well tolerated, and immunogenic but induced highly variable rates of protection against rotavirus diarrhea. The goal of a rotavirus vaccine is to prevent severe illness that can lead to dehydration in infants and young children in both developed and developing countries. These studies led to the concept that a multivalent vaccine that represented each of the four epidemiologically important VP7 serotypes might be necessary to induce protection in young infants, the target population for vaccination. Human-animal rotavirus reassortants whose gene encoding VP7 was derived from their human rotavirus parent but whose remaining genes were derived from the animal rotavirus parent were developed as vaccine candidates. The greatest experience with a multivalent vaccine to date has been gained with the quadrivalent preparation containing RRV (VP7 serotype 3) and human-RRV reassortants of VP7 serotype 1, 2, and 4 specificity. Preliminary efficacy trial results in the United States have been promising, whereas a study in Peru has shown only limited protection. Human-bovine reassortant vaccines, including a candidate that contains the VP4 gene of a human rotavirus (VP4 serotype 1A), are also being studied.
The Relationship between Consumer Characteristics (Demographic Characteristics and Personality Traits) and SST Adoption in Multiple Service Industries in Saudi Arabia

This study examines the relationship between consumer characteristics (demographic characteristics and personality traits) and SST adoption in Multiple Service Industries in Saudi Arabia. With regards to the appropriate population sample, it should be 384 (Sekaran, 2003), and as such, the sample comprised of 400 individuals where data was obtained by self-administered questionnaire. This study addressed some assumptions of analysis including normality and multicollinearity. Furthermore, this study used multiple regressions analysis in order to test the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. This study found a positive and significant association between demographic characteristics and SST adoption and a positive significant effect of personality traits on SST adoption. Eventually, this study offered some limitations and suggestions for future studies towards the end.
Disentangling the effect of bilingualism in attention from socioeconomic influences: A lifespan approach

There is growing evidence that brain structure and cognitive performance can be moulded from various forms of experience. Bilingualism seems to form such an experience, with studies mainly showing a bilingual advantage over monolinguals in executive control of attention. This has been attributed to bilinguals’ lifelong practice in controlling two simultaneously active languages while using only one during communication. However, the problematic replicability of some of the main findings of relevant studies suggests that a confounding factor may have influenced their results. We suggest this could be the socioeconomic status (SES) of the participants, which has been inadequately controlled for in the majority of those studies, despite evidence on SES’s strong influences on the cognitive system. Also, research has largely neglected the possible effects of bilingualism in the other two main attention functions, alerting and orienting. Four experiments were designed to explore the bilingual effect in executive attention, alerting and orienting, in children, young and old adults, bilingual in Albanian and Greek or monolingual in Greek, all of low SES. Several cognitive tasks were used to detect the bilingual effect. An additional innovation of this investigation was the language-switching task we used as an index of bilingual proficiency, to compensate for the questionable reliability of self-report measures that have been used up to date for this purpose. This also enabled us to determine what level of bilingual experience is required to influence cognition and to explore possible commonalities between the mechanisms underlying bilingual language-switching and executive attentional control. Our results suggest that, when controlling for SES and when bilinguals are balanced, there is a bilingual effect in executive attention and alerting. However it is weaker than what has been suggested, as specific manipulations were required to detect it (i.e. individuals with age-related cognitive decline, under high working memory load).
Cost-based models for the power-reserve pricing of frequency control

One of the tasks of the system operator (SO) is to control the frequency of the system within defined limits. In order to do this, the SO has to provide enough power reserves which can be provided on the basis of bilateral contracts or on the relevant competitive market. In this paper, several methods for the power-reserve pricing of frequency control are presented. These methods are well suited to small power systems, where an insufficient number of potential bidders makes an ancillary-services market difficult to organize. The proposed pricing methods are meant for estimating the annual costs for power-reserves provision when these reserves are provided on the basis of bilateral contracts. The proposed pricing methods are applied to the Slovenian power system.
A rotation based method for detecting on-body positions of mobile devices

We present a novel rotation based method for detecting where a mobile device is worn on a user's body that utilizes the fusion of the data from accelerometer and gyroscope. Detecting the position of a mobile device could improve the performance of on-body sensor based human activity recognition and the adaptability of many mobile applications. In our method, the radius and angular velocity for a position is calculated based on the data read from the sensors integrated in a mobile device. We have evaluated our method with an experiment to detect four commonly used positions: breast pocket, trouser pocket, hip pocket and hand.