Polarity of uncertainty representation during exploration and exploitation in ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Environments furnish multiple information sources for making predictions about future events. Here we use behavioural modelling and functional magnetic resonance imaging to describe how humans select predictors that might be most relevant. First, during early encounters with potential predictors, participants’ selections were explorative and directed towards subjectively uncertain predictors (positive uncertainty effect). This was particularly the case when many future opportunities remained to exploit knowledge gained. Then, preferences for accurate predictors increased over time, while uncertain predictors were avoided (negative uncertainty effect). The behavioural transition from positive to negative uncertainty-driven selections was accompanied by changes in the representations of belief uncertainty in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). The polarity of uncertainty representations (positive or negative encoding of uncertainty) changed between exploration and exploitation periods. Moreover, the two periods were separated by a third transitional period in which beliefs about predictors’ accuracy predominated. The vmPFC signals a multiplicity of decision variables, the strength and polarity of which vary with behavioural context

Opportunity- and Necessity-Driven Self-Employment Among Older People in Finland

To date, few empirical studies have attempted to highlight the impact of the socio-economic characteristics of older entrepreneurs according to whether they are driven by necessity or opportunity. Tervo and Haapanen contribute to the economics of ageing by showing that opportunity- and necessity-driven senior entrepreneurs differ in terms of socio-economic characteristics. This chapter utilizes a longitudinal data set from Finland. Individuals aged between 55 and 70 entering self-employment are grouped in terms of pull and push motivations. Profiles of entrepreneurs are developed using personal, family, and environmental characteristics. The results show that opportunity-driven older self-employed workers are more likely to be highly educated males, whereas necessity-driven older self-employed workers are often less educated females and individuals who live in rural areas.peerReviewe

FindPrimaryPairs: An efficient algorithm for predicting element-transferring reactant/product pairs in metabolic networks.

The metabolism of individual organisms and biological communities can be viewed as a network of metabolites connected to each other through chemical reactions. In metabolic networks, chemical reactions transform reactants into products, thereby transferring elements between these metabolites. Knowledge of how elements are transferred through reactant/product pairs allows for the identification of primary compound connections through a metabolic network. However, such information is not readily available and is often challenging to obtain for large reaction databases or genome-scale metabolic models. In this study, a new algorithm was developed for automatically predicting the element-transferring reactant/product pairs using the limited information available in the standard representation of metabolic networks. The algorithm demonstrated high efficiency in analyzing large datasets and provided accurate predictions when benchmarked with manually curated data. Applying the algorithm to the visualization of metabolic networks highlighted pathways of primary reactant/product connections and provided an organized view of element-transferring biochemical transformations. The algorithm was implemented as a new function in the open source software package PSAMM in the release v0.30 (https://zhanglab.github.io/psamm/)

National injury prevention measures in team sports should focus on knee, head, and severe upper limb injuries.

PURPOSE: To examine acute injuries in licensed floorball, football, handball, and ice hockey players in all ages nationwide in Sweden, and to identify the most common and severe injuries in each body location and recommend injury prevention measures. METHODS: Using national sport insurance data from years 2006-2015 was the incidence and proportion of acute injuries, and injuries leading to permanent medical impairment (PMI), calculated in the four team sports. The most common injury type and injured body part was identified, with a particular focus of the severe injuries. Comparison between sexes was made. RESULTS: In total, there were 92,162 registered injuries in all sports together. Knee injuries were most common, and also had the highest incidence of PMI, in all ball sports and in female ice hockey players. In male ice hockey, the most common injury was a dental and face injury, and PMI injuries were mostly in the shoulder. The most severe PMI injuries were rare and most often a face/eye injury in male floorball and ice hockey, a concussion in female ice hockey, and a knee injury in female floorball, and in both sexes in football and handball. CONCLUSIONS: To achieve the greatest impact in reducing the adverse effects of acute sport injuries nationwide in Sweden, preventive measures should focus on knee injuries in all the investigated team sports. The severe head/face and upper limb injuries also need attention. Protective equipment, neuromuscular training programs, rules enforcements, and fair-play interventions may reduce the incidence of injuries.At the time of Malin Åman's dissertation the article was submitted with the titel 'Acute injuries in floorball, football, handball and ice hockey at a national level and recommended prevention measures'.</p