Towards a Video Consumer Leaning Spectrum: A Medium-Centric Approach

Purpose: As TV and digital video converge, there is a need to compare advertising effectiveness, advertising receptivity, and video consumption drivers in this new context. Considering the emerging viewing practices and underlying theories, this study examines the feasibility of the traditional notion of differentiating between lean-back (LB) and lean-forward (LF) media, and proposes a revised approach of addressing video consumption processes and associated advertising effectiveness implications. Methodology: An extensive, systematic literature review examines a total of 715 sources regarding current lean-back/lean-forward media research and alternative approaches as by (1) basic terminologies, (2) limitations of lean-back/lean-forward situations, (3) advertising effectiveness implications, (4) video-specific approaches. Findings/Contribution: Key differences between lean-back and lean-forward video consumption are presented. A conceptual integration of video ad receptivity/effectiveness drivers is proposed to guide future media and marketing research and practice. Video consumption today is no longer lean-back or lean-forward, but a “leaning spectrum” with two dimensions: leaning direction and leaning degree. Designing video content today requires focusing on consumption drivers and platform synergies for owning the “leaning spectrum”

Neural Signals of Video Advertisement Liking:Insights into Psychological Processes and their Temporal Dynamics

What drives the liking of video advertisements? The authors analyzed neural signals during ad exposure from three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data sets (113 participants from two countries watching 85 video ads) with automated meta-analytic decoding (Neurosynth). These brain-based measures of psychological processes—including perception and language (information processing), executive function and memory (cognitive functions), and social cognition and emotion (social-affective response)—predicted subsequent self-report ad liking, with emotion and memory being the earliest predictorsafter the first three seconds. Over the span of ad exposure, while the predictiveness of emotion peaked early and fell, that of social cognition had a peak-and-stable pattern, followed by a late peak of predictiveness in perception and executive function.At the aggregate level, neural signals—especially those associated with social-affective response—improved the prediction of out-of-sample ad liking compared with traditional anatomically based neuroimaging analysis and self-report liking. Finally, earlyonset social-affective response predicted population ad liking in a behavioral replication. Overall, this study helps delineate the psychological mechanisms underlying ad processing and ad liking and proposes a novel neuroscience-based approach for generating psychological insights and improving out-of-sample predictions

Internet and Biometric Web Based Business Management Decision Support

Internet and Biometric Web Based Business Management Decision Support MICROBE MOOC material prepared under IO1/A5 Development of the MICROBE personalized MOOCs content and teaching materials Prepared by: A. Kaklauskas, A. Banaitis, I. Ubarte Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania Project No: 2020-1-LT01-KA203-07810

A reception study of machine translated subtitles for MOOCs

As MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) grow rapidly around the world, the language barrier is becoming a serious issue. Removing this obstacle by creating translated subtitles is an indispensable part of developing MOOCs and improving accessibility. Given the large quantity of MOOCs available worldwide and the considerable demand for them, machine translation (MT) appears to offer an alternative or complementary translation solution, thus providing the motivation for this research. The main goal of this research is to test the impact machine translated subtitles have on Chinese viewers’ reception of MOOC content. More specifically, the author is interested in whether there is any difference between viewers’ reception of raw machine translated subtitles as opposed to fully post-edited machine translated subtitles and human translated subtitles. Reception is operationalized by adapting Gambier's (2007) model, which divides ‘reception’ into ‘the three Rs’: (i) response, (ii) reaction and (iii) repercussion. Response refers to the initial physical response of a viewer to an audio-visual stimulus, in this case the subtitle and the rest of the image. Reaction involves the cognitive follow-on from initial response, and is linked to how much effort is involved in processing the subtitling stimulus and what is understood by the viewer. Repercussion refers to attitudinal and sociocultural dimensions of AVT consumption. The research contains a pilot study and a main experiment. Mixed methods of eye-tracking, questionnaires, translation quality assessment and frequency analysis were adopted. Over 60 native Chinese speakers were recruited as participants for this research. They were divided into three groups, those who read subtitles created by raw MT, post-edited MT (PE) and human translation (HT). Results show that most participants had a positive attitude towards the subtitles regardless of their type. Participants who were offered PE subtitles scored the best overall on the selected reception metrics. Participants who were offered HT subtitles performed the worst in some of the selected reception metrics

Water and Brain Function: Effects of Hydration Status on Neurostimulation and Neurorecording

Introduction: TMS and EEG are used to study normal neurophysiology, diagnose, and treat clinical neuropsychiatric conditions, but can produce variable results or fail. Both techniques depend on electrical volume conduction, and thus brain volumes. Hydration status can affect brain volumes and functions (including cognition), but effects on these techniques are unknown. We aimed to characterize the effects of hydration on TMS, EEG, and cognitive tasks. Methods: EEG and EMG were recorded during single-pulse TMS, paired-pulse TMS, and cognitive tasks from 32 human participants on dehydrated (12-hour fast/thirst) and rehydrated (1 Liter oral water ingestion in 1 hour) testing days. Hydration status was confirmed with urinalysis. MEP, ERP, and network analyses were performed to examine responses at the muscle, brain, and higher-order functioning. Results: Rehydration decreased motor threshold (increased excitability) and shifted the motor hotspot. Significant effects on TMS measures occurred despite being re-localized and re-dosed to these new parameters. Rehydration increased SICF of the MEP, magnitudes of specific TEP peaks in inhibitory protocols, specific ERP peak magnitudes and reaction time during the cognitive task. Rehydration amplified nodal inhibition around the stimulation site in inhibitory paired-pulse networks and strengthened nodes outside the stimulation site in excitatory and CSP networks. Cognitive performance was not improved by rehydration, although similar performance was achieved with generally weaker network activity. Discussion: Results highlight differences between mild dehydration and rehydration. The rehydrated brain was easier to stimulate with TMS and produced larger responses to external and internal stimuli. This is explainable by the known physiology of body water dynamics, which encompass macroscopic and microscopic volume changes. Rehydration can shift 3D cortical positioning, decrease scalp cortex distance (bringing cortex closer to stimulator/recording electrodes), and cause astrocyte swelling-induced glutamate release. Conclusions: Previously unaccounted variables like osmolarity, astrocyte and brain volumes likely affect neurostimulation/neurorecording. Controlling for and carefully manipulating hydration may reduce variability and improve therapeutic outcomes of neurostimulation. Dehydration is common and produces less excitable circuits. Rehydration should offer a mechanism to macroscopically bring target cortical areas closer to an externally applied neurostimulation device to recruit greater volumes of tissue and microscopically favor excitability in the stimulated circuits

The Monogenic Architecture of Retinal and Neurological Diseases

Monogenic diseases, or single-gene disorders, are clinical manifestations that can be traced to genetic variation in a single gene that alters the biologically intended (wildtype) function of its protein (or mRNA) product. Although the causal gene and its function are well-understood in many monogenic diseases, this knowledge alone often does not fully encapsulate the extensive clinical spectrum of phenotypes seen in patients. This is due in part to the numerous types of pathogenic variants that can arise in a single gene, all of which can have distinct effects on disease expression. Understanding the relationship between the vast number of possible genotypes and corresponding disease phenotypes defines a gene’s monogenic disease architecture—an important but poorly understood concept that can yield informative mechanistic and clinical insight. This doctoral dissertation integrates traditional sequencing approaches with in-depth characterization of patient phenotypes to elucidate the monogenic disease architecture of three etiologically distinct disorders: retinal degeneration caused by autosomal recessive variation in ABCA4 and neurodevelopmental disease entities caused by autosomal dominant variants in CERT1 and PUM1. Genetic modifiers are identified as a significant factor in the penetrance of the major disease-causing allele of ABCA4 and several other genetic inconsistencies are resolved to create a coherent genotype-phenotype model for the disease. Insight from this model is then applied to demonstrate the effect of allele differences in disease progression and evaluation of treatment efficacy in patients. A large cohort of affected individuals with CERT1 variation is assembled to (1) validate the causal role of CERT1 in disease, (2) delineate the precise mechanism of CERT protein dysfunction in sphingolipid metabolism and (3) demonstrate therapeutic efficacy of an inhibitor compound for a newly described syndrome. Finally, the mutational spectrum of PUM1 is expanded to previously unattributed variant classes with unexpected pathophysiological consequences to patients. Not only do the findings in this dissertation advance the prospects of delivering personalized, precision medicine to patients, the overall impact underscores the importance of this integrated approach in reconciling knowledge gaps between observations at the molecular and organismal level

Molecular Basis of Inherited Diseases in Companion Animals

This book includes a collection of publications describing the molecular etiology of inherited diseases and conditions in companion animals (dogs and cats). In addition to contributing to the health of companion animals, this research also benefits humans that have similar types of diseases

Dissecting the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental disorders and demyelinating neuropathies

The understanding of the pathophysiology of most rare, complex neurological disorders has been elusive, especially in the case of complex demyelinating neuropathies and neurodevelopmental disorders. In my work, I learnt to employ two main techniques that will help advance the search for better understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders: next generation sequencing and functional validation of rare genetic variants. The main aim of my research was to establish the genetic diagnosis in several patients affected by complex syndromes such as peripheral neuropathy with central nervous system involvement (Chapter 3), neurodevelopmental disorders (Chapter 4) and epilepsy (Chapter 5). The phenotypic and genotypic correlations of identified gene variants were investigated in these chapters and is a profound theme in my project. To achieve this, an integrated approach combining next generation sequencing (NGS) technology, homozygosity mapping, array genotyping, traditional Sanger sequencing and functional experiments was undertaken. Firstly, I describe the work performed in an attempt to identify the causative gene in a cohort of young children presented with an early-onset hereditary form of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy with a central and peripheral involvement. My key findings were that: i) neurofascin is the first gene causally responsible for an inherited disorder that resembles CIDP, ii) this is the largest clinical cohort to date of patients with NFASC mutations with 10 individuals, and iii) the functional evidence implicate the major protein isoforms, which were also shown to be the main targets for the autoantibodies in CIDP pathogenesis. Secondly, I describe the work done on various neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) genes, with particular focus on a newly identified gene presenting with a complex neurodevelopmental phenotype comprised of developmental delay, epilepsy, and/or a demyelinating neuropathy. My key findings were that: i) NARS1, a cytoplasmic aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase enzyme can be causative for this disorder by either a de-novo heterozygous or a biallelic inheritance mode, ii) functional investigations showed reduced aminoacylation activity in the disease-associated biallelic mutations using fibroblasts and iNPCs transcriptomics, suggesting that the majority of NARS1 mutations cause a loss of function of the protein by reduced expression and disruption of dimer formation suggesting a loss-of-function mechanism, and iii) increased yeast growth in the disease-associated heterozygous mutations showing near normal protein expression are suggestive of a gain-of-function mechanism. Finally, I describe the work done on two relative new genes (PIGS and TARS1) in an attempt to expand the patient phenotypic spectrum, as well as an interesting candidate gene (SLITRK3) linked with epilepsy. I present my understanding for disease-gene discovery that will enable me and other members of the neurogenetics field to identify disease-mechanisms and address important gaps of translational research into rare neurological diseases such as those described in this thesis