Boys-Specific Text-Comprehension Enhancement With Dual Visual-Auditory Text Presentation Among 12–14 Years-Old Students

Quality of language comprehension determines performance in all kinds of activities including academics. Processing of words initially develops as auditory, and gradually extends to visual as children learn to read. School failure is highly related to listening and reading comprehension problems. In this study we analyzed sex-differences in comprehension of texts in Spanish (standardized reading test PROLEC-R) in three modalities (visual, auditory, and both simultaneously: dual-modality) presented to 12–14-years old students, native in Spanish. We controlled relevant cognitive variables such as attention (d2), phonological and semantic fluency (FAS) and speed of processing (WISC subtest Coding). Girls’ comprehension was similar in the three modalities of presentation, however boys were importantly benefited by dual-modality as compared to boys exposed only to visual or auditory text presentation. With respect to the relation of text comprehension and school performance, students with low grades in Spanish showed low auditory comprehension. Interestingly, visual and dual modalities preserved comprehension levels in these low skilled students. Our results suggest that the use of visual-text support during auditory language presentation could be beneficial for low school performance students, especially boys, and encourage future research to evaluate the implementation in classes of the rapidly developing technology of simultaneous speech transcription, that could be, in addition, beneficial to non-native students, especially those recently incorporated into school or newly arrived in a country from abroad.This project was funded by the Universidad Internacional de la Rioja grant to all authors (Proyecto Retos de Investigación B0036-1819). Additional resources came from Universidad de Alicante (to RS)

Poincar\'e series of multiplier ideals in two-dimensional local rings with rational singularities

We study the multiplicity of the jumping numbers of an $\mathfrak m$-primary ideal $\mathfrak a$ in a two-dimensional local ring with a rational singularity. The formula we provide for the multiplicities leads to a very simple and efficient method to detect whether a given rational number is a jumping number. We also give an explicit description of the Poincar\'e series of multiplier ideals associated to $\mathfrak a$ proving, in particular, that it is a rational function.Comment: 21 page

Campaigns Against Intimate Partner Violence Toward Women in Portugal: Types of Prevention and Target Audiences

Understanding the objectives and groups targeted by previous campaigns to prevent intimate partner violence will prove useful in developing future such efforts. This study examines the types of prevention and audiences of Portuguese poster campaigns against Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) toward women, comparing governmental and nongovernmental organizations and observing how objectives evolved between 2000 and 2011. These comparisons were made through inductive and deductive content analysis of 74 posters – received after contacting 1,097 institutions – using standardized residual analysis from the chi-square test. Results indicated tertiary prevention as the main aim and the general population as the main target audience. Differences in these regards were found between public and private organizations, and campaigns were found to have changed over the years, mainly concerning target audiences. This study provides an overview of the directions of the campaigns against IPV over 11 years; these emphasized the urgency of informing abused or at-risk women about resources available in the community and strategies for getting help, and they sought to alert the general population that IPV is a public crime that everyone has a responsibility to combat.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Performance modeling of the sparse matrix-vector product via convolutional neural networks

[EN] Modeling the execution time of the sparse matrix-vector multiplication (SpMV) on a current CPU architecture is especially complex due to (i) irregular memory accesses; (ii) indirect memory referencing; and (iii) low arithmetic intensity. While analytical models may yield accurate estimates for the total number of cache hits/misses, they often fail to predict accurately the total execution time. In this paper, we depart from the analytic approach to instead leverage convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in order to provide an effective estimation of the performance of the SpMV operation. For this purpose, we present a high-level abstraction of the sparsity pattern of the problem matrix and propose a blockwise strategy to feed the CNN models by blocks of nonzero elements. The experimental evaluation on a representative subset of the matrices from the SuiteSparse Matrix collection demonstrates the robustness of the CNN models for predicting the SpMV performance on an Intel Haswell core. Furthermore, we show how to generalize the network models to other target architectures to estimate the performance of SpMV on an ARM A57 coreThis work was supported by project TIN2017-82972-R from the MINECO, Spain. Manuel F. Dolz was also supported by the Plan GenT project CDEIGENT/2018/014 from the Generalitat Valenciana, Spain. Maria Barreda was also supported by the POSDOC-A/2017/11 project from the Universitat Jaume IBarreda, M.; Dolz, MF.; Castaño Alvarez, MA.; Alonso-Jordá, P.; Quintana-Orti, ES. (2020). Performance modeling of the sparse matrix-vector product via convolutional neural networks. The Journal of Supercomputing (Online). 76(11):8883-8900. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-020-03186-1S888389007611Abdelfattah A, Ltaief H, Keyes D (2015) High performance multi-GPU SpMV for multi-component PDE-based applications. In: Träff JL, Hunold S, Versaci F (eds) Euro-Par 2015: parallel processing. Springer, Berlin, pp 601–612Schiesser WE (2014) Computational mathematics in engineering and applied science: ODEs, DAEs, and PDEs. CRC Press, Boca RatonVuduc R, Demmel JW, Yelick KA (2005) OSKI: a library of automatically tuned sparse matrix kernels. J Phys Conf Ser 16:521–530Williams S, Oliker L, Vuduc R, Shalf J, Yelick K, Demmel J (2007) Optimization of sparse matrix–vector multiplication on emerging multicore platforms. In: SC ’07: Proceedings of the 2007 ACM/IEEE Conference on Supercomputing, pp 1–12Elafrou A, Goumas G, Koziris N (2017) Performance analysis and optimization of sparse matrix–vector multiplication on modern multi- and many-core processors. In: 2017 46th International Conference on Parallel Processing (ICPP), pp 292–301Li S, Chang H, Zhang J, Zhang Y (2015) Automatic tuning of sparse matrix–vector multiplication on multicore clusters. Sci China Inf Sci 58(9):1–14Guo P, Wang L (2015) Accurate cross-architecture performance modeling for sparse matri–vector multiplication (SpMV) on GPUs. Concurr Comput Pract Exp 27(13):3281–3294Li K, Yang W, Li K (2015) Performance analysis and optimization for SpMV on GPU using probabilistic modeling. IEEE Trans Parallel Distrib Syst 26(1):196–205Eijkhout V, Pozo R (1994) Data structures and algorithms for distributed sparse matrix operations. Technical reportGu J, Wang Z, Kuen J, Ma L, Shahroudy A, Shuai B, Liu T, Wang X, Wang G, Cai J, Chen T (2018) Recent advances in convolutional neural networks. Pattern Recognit 77(C):354–377Glorot X, Bordes A, Bengio Y (2011) Deep sparse rectifier neural networks. In: Gordon G, Dunson D, Dudík M (eds) Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, volume 15 of Proceedings of Machine Learning Research. Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA, 11–13. PMLR, pp 315–323Ioffe S, Szegedy C (2015) Batch normalization: accelerating deep network training by reducing internal covariate shift. In: Proceedings of the 32nd International Conference on International Conference on Machine Learning, Volume 37 (ICML’15). JMLR org, pp 448–456Keras: The Python Deep Learning library. https://keras.io/. Accessed Dec 2019TensorFlow, an open source machine learning library for research and production. https://www.tensorflow.org/. Accessed Dec 2019Keras + Hyperopt: a very simple wrapper for convenient hyperparameter optimization. http://maxpumperla.com/hyperas/. Accessed Dec 2019Bergstra J, Komer B, Eliasmith C, Yamins D, Cox D (2015) Hyperopt: a python library for model selection and hyperparameter optimization. Comput Sci Discov. https://doi.org/10.1088/1749-4699/8/1/014008Bergstra J, Yamins D, Cox DD (2013) Making a science of model search: hyperparameter optimization in hundreds of dimensions for vision architectures. In: Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on International Conference on Machine Learning—Volume 28, ICML’13. JMLR.org, pp I–115–I–123SuiteSparse Matrix Collection. https://sparse.tamu.edu/. Accessed Dec 2019Bishop CM (2006) Pattern recognition and machine learning (information science and statistics). Springer, BerlinPan SJ, Yang Qiang (2010) A survey on transfer learning. IEEE Trans Knowl Data Eng 22(10):1345–1359Schmidhuber J (2015) Deep learning in neural networks: an overview. Neural Netw 61:85–117LeCun Y, Bengio Y, Hinton G (2015) Deep learning. Nature 521:436–44 05Götz M, Anzt H (2018) Machine learning-aided numerical linear algebra: convolutional neural networks for the efficient preconditioner generation. In: Procs of ScalA’18: 9th Workshop on Latest Advances in Scalable Algorithms for Large-Scale Systems, WS at Supercomputing 2018, 11Zhao Y, Li J, Liao C, Shen X (2018) Bridging the gap between deep learning and sparse matrix format selection. SIGPLAN Not 53(1):94–108Cui H, Hirasawa S, Kobayashi H, Takizawa H (2018) A machine learning-based approach for selecting SpMV kernels and matrix storage formats. IEICE Trans Inf Syst E101.D(9):2307–2314Nisa I, Siegel C, Rajam AS, Vishnu A, Sadayappan P (2018) Effective machine learning based format selection and performance modeling for SpMV on GPUs. EasyChair Preprint no. 388, EasyChairTiwari A, Laurenzano MA, Carrington L, Snavely A (2012) Modeling power and energy usage of HPC kernels. In: 2012 IEEE 26th International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops PhD Forum, pp 990–998Benatia A, Ji W, Wang Y, Shi F (2016) Machine learning approach for the predicting performance of SpMV on GPU. In: 2016 IEEE 22nd International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Systems (ICPADS), pp 894–90

Development of in vitro systems to study IFN signalling in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata)

Type I interferon (IFN I) triggers specific signalling pathways leading to the activation of the innate immune defence of vertebrates against viral infections. In contrats, type II IFN (IFN II) is generally accepted to be part of the adaptive response. Among IFN I-stimulated genes, those coding the Mx proteins play a main role due to the direct antiviral activity of these proteins. The study of Mx genes in gilthead seabream, one of the most important species in the Mediterranean aquaculture, is especially interesting, as this species displays a high natural resistance to viral diseases, and behaves as asymptomatic carrier and/or reservoir of several viruses, such as viral nervous necrosis virus (VNNV), infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), and viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV), which are pathogenic to other fish species. Three Mx genes (Mx1, Mx2, and Mx3) have been identified in S. aurata, showing the three proteins a wide spectrum of antiviral activity. The structure of the three promoters (pMx1, pMx2 and pMx3) has been disclosed, and their response to IFN I, IPNV and VHSV indicated a clear induction of the three promoters, with some differences in the kinetics and magnitude of the response. Several studies evidenced the important role of Mx transcription regulation on virus-host interaction: i) Mx promoters can respond to both IFN I and IFN II, thus Mx might be the link between innate and adaptive immunity; ii) Mx activation is blocked by several viruses, thus Mx transcription is the target of their IFN I antagonistic activity; and iii) A fish cell line modified with the promoter of a fish Mx gene was used to measure viraemia in serum with high sensitivity. Therefore, assessing the regulatory mechanisms controlling the transcription of fish Mx genes could significantly contribute to both, understanding virus-host interactions, and designing strategies to control viral infections. In our case, this approach can also give light to understand the successful antiviral strategies developed by gilthead seabream in nature. Thus, the purpose of the present work was to develop three stable transgenic cell lines expressing the firefly luciferase gene under the control of the gilthead seabream Mx promoters. These in vitro systems were established and their response to poly I:C, and to two viral infections was characterized. In the case of IPNV, a clear antagonistic activity was observed for pMx2, as the activity of the promoter was 78.53% lower, however, this effect was not observed for pMx1 and pMx3. When cells were infected with VHSV, no changes in the promoters’ activity were detected, thus indicating that seabream Mx promoters are not targeted by VHSV antagonistic activity. These results confirm the specificity of the interactions between each virus/promoter combination, and support the use of the three cell lines developed as useful tools to characterize virus-host interactions in this species. Further studies aimed at the identification of the molecular mechanisms behind our observations will allow us to get more insight into this complex system.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Propiedades estructurales, fisicoquímicas y emulsionantes de la pectina obtenida por extracción acuosa de la cascara de la pitaya roja (Hylocereus polyrhizus)

Pectin was obtained from red pitaya peels (RPP) by aqueous extraction. SEM analysis showed irregular and rough particles, with some micro-fractures surface. The yield (11.59/100 g d.b.) and Gal A content (54.36 ± 1.03%) were slightly lower than that reported for other conventional pectin sources. The RPP pectin presented high thermal stability (310.74 °C) and a high degree of esterification (60.35±1.35%) which classifies it as a high methoxyl pectin. Also, the emulsifying activity and emulsifying stability of RPP pectin were comparable or higher than that reported for other pectin sources and could be attributed to the small inherent protein content detected. The high RPP pectin/oil volume ratio increased both the emulsifying activity and emulsion stability, which is a desired property. Therefore, the results showed that the RPP pectin has an adequate balance between physicochemical characteristics and functional properties that make it a potentially suitable substitute of commercial pectins for applications in the industry, particularly in the formation and stabilization of emulsions. In addition, the results obtained in this work justify the fact of taking advantage of, maximizing, and giving an added value to the peel of the red pitaya fruit in order to develop a process to produce pectin. In this way, help the rural communities where this fruit is cultivated to improve their environment and quality of life.This work aimed to carry out a straightforward aqueous extraction of pectin from red pitaya peels (RPP), in a drive to promote the circular economy of the settlements where the fruit of this endemic species grows. The average pectin yield was 11.59 g/100 g dry basis, the degree of esterification was 60.35±1.35% (classified as high methoxyl), the galacturonic acid content was 54.36±1.03%, and the protein content of 5.86 ± 0.25%. The RPP pectin was analyzed in terms of physicochemical, functional, and structural features. The FTIR spectrum confirmed that the unveiled pectin structure was consistent with that reported for commercial pectins from different botanical sources. Pectin aqueous dispersions exhibited power-law shear thinning behaviour. Corn oil (10 mL) in 150 mL aqueous pectin solutions (0.12, 0.15, 0.30, 0.60 and 0.90%, w/v) emulsions exhibited increasing emulsifying activity and emulsifying stability with increased pectin concentration. It was concluded that the RPP pectin is an alternative potential new source of pectin for use in the formation and stabilization of oil-in-water food emulsions.A la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México por financiar este artículo mediante el proyecto con clave 6160/2020/CI

Tailoring block copolymer nanoporous thin films with acetic acid as a small guest molecule

Block copolymers offer the fabrication of mesoporous thin films with distinct nanoscale structural features. In this contribution, we present the use of acetic acid (CH3COOH) as a low‐molecular‐weight guest molecule to tune the supramolecular assembly of poly[styrene‐block‐(4‐vinylpyridine)] (PS‐b‐P4VP), offering a versatile and straightforward method to obtain tailored nanostructured films with controlled topography and pore size. Spin‐coating toluene solutions of PS‐b‐P4VP, with a variable amount of CH3COOH, leads to micellar thin films, where the micelles contain the carboxylic acid as a guest molecule. The size can be conveniently modified in these films (from 48 to 75 nm) by varying the amount of organic acid in the starting solutions. Subsequent surface reconstruction of micellar films using ethanol leads to ring‐shaped copolymer nanoporous films with modulated diameter. Controlling the micelle reconstruction process, cylindrical porous films are also obtained. Interestingly, changing the type of aliphatic carboxylic acid leads to a modification of the observed film morphology from micelles to out‐of‐plane P4VP cylinders (or lamellae) in a PS matrix