Addressing accountability in highly autonomous virtual assistants

Building from a survey specifically developed to address the rising concerns of highly autonomous virtual assistants; this paper presents a multi-level taxonomy of accountability levels specifically adapted to virtual assistants in the context of Human-Human-Interaction (HHI). Based on research findings, the authors recommend the integration of the variable of accountability as capital in the development of future applications around highly automated systems. This element inserts a sense of balance in terms of integrity between users and developers enhancing trust in the interactive process. Ongoing work is being dedicated to further understand to which extent different contexts affect accountability in virtual assistants

The effects of long-term saturated fat enriched diets on the brain lipidome

The brain is highly enriched in lipids, where they influence neurotransmission, synaptic plasticity and inflammation. Non-pathological modulation of the brain lipidome has not been previously reported and few studies have investigated the interplay between plasma lipid homeostasis relative to cerebral lipids. This study explored whether changes in plasma lipids induced by chronic consumption of a well-tolerated diet enriched in saturated fatty acids (SFA) was associated with parallel changes in cerebral lipid homeostasis. Male C57Bl/6 mice were fed regular chow or the SFA diet for six months. Plasma, hippocampus (HPF) and cerebral cortex (CTX) lipids were analysed by LC-ESI-MS/MS. A total of 348 lipid species were determined, comprising 25 lipid classes. The general abundance of HPF and CTX lipids was comparable in SFA fed mice versus controls, despite substantial differences in plasma lipid-class abundance. However, significant differences in 50 specific lipid species were identified as a consequence of SFA treatment, restricted to phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), alkyl-PC, alkenyl-PC, alkyl-PE, alkenyl-PE, cholesterol ester (CE), diacylglycerol (DG), phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphatidylserine (PS) classes. Partial least squares regression of the HPF/CTX lipidome versus plasma lipidome revealed the plasma lipidome could account for a substantial proportion of variation. The findings demonstrate that cerebral abundance of specific lipid species is strongly associated with plasma lipid homeostasis

Molecular and cytological characterization of the global Musa germplasm collection provides insights into the treasure of banana diversity

© 2016, The Author(s). Bananas (Musa spp.) are one of the main fruit crops grown worldwide. With the annual production reaching 144 million tons, their production represents an important contribution to the economies of many countries in Asia, Africa, Latin-America and Pacific Islands. Most importantly, bananas are a staple food for millions of people living in the tropics. Unfortunately, sustainable banana production is endangered by various diseases and pests, and the breeding for resistant cultivars relies on a far too small base of genetic variation. Greater diversity needs to be incorporated in breeding, especially of wild species. Such work requires a large and thoroughly characterized germplasm collection, which also is a safe depository of genetic diversity. The largest ex situ Musa germplasm collection is kept at the International Transit Centre (ITC) in Leuven (Belgium) and currently comprises over 1500 accessions. This report summarizes the results of systematic cytological and molecular characterization of the Musa ITC collection. By December 2015, 630 accessions have been genotyped. The SSR markers confirmed the previous morphological based classification for 84% of ITC accessions analyzed. The remaining 16% of the genotyped entries may need field verification by taxonomist to decide if the unexpected classification by SSR genotyping was correct. The ploidy level estimation complements the molecular data. The genotyping continues for the entire ITC collection, including newly introduced accessions, to assure that the genotype of each accession is known in the largest global Musa gene bank. Open Access ispartof: Biodiversity and Conservation vol:26 issue:4 pages:801-824 status: publishe

Plantain diversity in the Democratic Republic of Congo and future prospects

© 2018 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is the largest centre of diversity for plantain (Musa AAB subgroup). In the the 1940s and 1950s descriptions of a collection of 56 accessions at Yangambi (INERA ex INEAC) were published. Between 2005 and 2015, new collection missions covering 306 villages of DR Congo gave morphological descriptors of 107 cultivars, which were established in two fields at the University of Kisangani (UNIKIS). Ninety-seven of these cultivars are completely characterized and grouped into French (64 accessions), False Horn (23 accessions) and Horn (10 accessions) types. Three plant size categories were distinct in the French plantain accessions (24 giant, 22 medium and 12 small) but less obvious within the False Horn and Horn accessions. A similar proportion between the three bunch types was found for dwarfism. The dominant bunch orientation was pendulous (71% of all accessions). Different colours of pseudostem (green, dark green, mottled red and black) and of immature fruit peel (brown, dark green, green, red and yellow) were recorded, green being predominant. The collected cultivars will be further characterized for their agronomic and postharvest performance, used in breeding and characterized at the molecular level.status: publishe

Predictors of Partner Notification for C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae: An Examination of Social Cognitive and Psychological Factors

Efforts to control chlamydial and gonococcal infections include notifying eligible sexual partners of possible infection, primarily by asking the diagnosed patient to notify their partners. This approach, known as patient referral, is widely used but poorly understood. The current study examined psychosocial and cognitive factors associated with patient referral among an urban, minority sample of 168 participants recently diagnosed with Chlamydia trachomatis or Neisseria gonorrhoeae. At a follow-up interview 1-month from diagnosis, participants were more likely to have notified all eligible partners if they had greater intention to notify at baseline (OR = 3.72; 95% CI = 1.34, 10.30) and if they had only one partner at baseline (OR = 4.08; 95% CI = 1.61, 10.31). There were also gender differences as well as differences based on type of partner (i.e., regular, casual, one-time). The implications of these findings for the design of programs to promote patient referral for sexually transmitted infections are discussed