Should I trust you? Neural processing of unconscious influences on trustworthiness judgements

Should I trust you? Neural processing of unconscious influences on trustworthiness judgement

Βig Data και Κατάχρηση Δεσπόζουσας Θέσης

Αντικείμενο της εργασίας αποτελεί η διερεύνηση της σχέσης των big data με το δίκαιο του ελεύθερου ανταγωνισμού και συγκεκριμένα η εξέταση τους υπό το πρίσμα του Άρθρου 102 της Συνθήκης για τη Λειτουργία της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Τα big data συνιστούν αναπόσπαστο τμήμα της ψηφιακής οικονομίας, η οποία διεισδύει ολοένα και περισσότερο στις συναλλακτικές σχέσεις των ατόμων και των επιχειρήσεων, αλλά και στην κοινωνία εν συνόλω. Η μεγάλη χρησιμότητα των μεγάλων δεδομένων έγκειται στην ,κατόπιν κατάλληλης επεξεργασίας αυτών, εξαγωγή των ουσιώδους σημασίας πληροφοριών κατά την επιδίωξη ενός συγκεκριμένου σκοπού, όπως για παράδειγμα είναι η εσωτερική οργάνωση ενός φορέα, η διαμόρφωση πρακτικών εμπορικής προώθησης κ.α. Ως εκ τούτου, στoν τρόπο χρήσης των δεδομένων επικεντρώνεται το ενδιαφέρον συζητήσεων όχι μόνο τεχνολογικού ή οικονομικού χαρακτήρα, αλλά και νομικού, το οποίο βεβαίως συνυφάζεται με τα άλλα δύο. Στην εργασία γίνεται αναφορά στο ζήτημα της θεώρησης των big data ως μέσο απόκτησης σημαντικού ανταγωνιστικού πλεονεκτήματος και δύναμης στην αγορά και σε συναφείς προβληματισμούς, οι οποίοι άπτονται της εδραίωσης ισχυρής θέσης και της μεταχείρισης αυτής από επιχειρήσεις που αναπτύσσουν στρατηγικές βασισμένες σε δεδομένα.Τhis master thesis focuses on the relationship between big data and competition law and more particularly on their examination in the light of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Big data are an integral part of the digital economy, which is increasingly penetrating the business relationships of individuals and businesses, but also of society as a whole. The great usefulness of big data lies in the extraction of essential information when pursuing a specific purpose, such as the internal organization of a body, the formulation of marketing practices etc. Accordingly, there are many ongoing discussions - not only of technological or economic, but also of legal nature - on the way in which big data are used. This master thesis refers to the consideration of big data as a means of gaining significant competitive advantage and market power and other relevant concerns related to the establishment of strong market position by enterprises that adopt data-based strategies

How does the brain encode distinct values? Electrophysiological evidence for the common currency hypothesis

How does the brain encode distinct values? Electrophysiological evidence for the common currency hypothesi

Spatiotemporal characteristics of social and non-social decision making

Spatiotemporal characteristics of social and non-social decision makin

End user engagement with domestic hot water heating systems: design implications for future thermal storage technologies

The strategies used by householders for heating and using hot water heating have a significant impact on energy consumption in domestic buildings. A better understanding of the interaction between occupants and hot water heating systems can improve the energy efficiency of a building. This paper maps the interaction between occupants and their current domestic hot water heating systems to provide insights for the design of future thermal energy storage systems. A total of 35 householders from the Midlands region of the UK took part in semi-structured contextual interviews about their current strategies for the provision of hot water and the way they engage with their heating systems. Using the DNAs framework as an analysis lens, drivers, needs and actions relating to the provision of hot water were evaluated and four distinct hot water heating types are presented: On Demand, For All Eventualities, Just Enough and Sunny Days. Findings provide insights into occupants’ behaviour in relation to hot water heating usage and design implications for thermal energy storage technologies

Using a scenario-based methodology to assess users' requirements for future thermal energy storage systems

Using a scenario-based methodology to assess users' requirements for future thermal energy storage system

The Developing Human Connectome Project neonatal data release

The Developing Human Connectome Project has created a large open science resource which provides researchers with data for investigating typical and atypical brain development across the perinatal period. It has collected 1228 multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain datasets from 1173 fetal and/or neonatal participants, together with collateral demographic, clinical, family, neurocognitive and genomic data from 1173 participants, together with collateral demographic, clinical, family, neurocognitive and genomic data. All subjects were studied in utero and/or soon after birth on a single MRI scanner using specially developed scanning sequences which included novel motion-tolerant imaging methods. Imaging data are complemented by rich demographic, clinical, neurodevelopmental, and genomic information. The project is now releasing a large set of neonatal data; fetal data will be described and released separately. This release includes scans from 783 infants of whom: 583 were healthy infants born at term; as well as preterm infants; and infants at high risk of atypical neurocognitive development. Many infants were imaged more than once to provide longitudinal data, and the total number of datasets being released is 887. We now describe the dHCP image acquisition and processing protocols, summarize the available imaging and collateral data, and provide information on how the data can be accessed

The Developing Human Connectome Project Neonatal Data Release

The Developing Human Connectome Project has created a large open science resource which provides researchers with data for investigating typical and atypical brain development across the perinatal period. It has collected 1228 multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain datasets from 1173 fetal and/or neonatal participants, together with collateral demographic, clinical, family, neurocognitive and genomic data from 1173 participants, together with collateral demographic, clinical, family, neurocognitive and genomic data. All subjects were studied in utero and/or soon after birth on a single MRI scanner using specially developed scanning sequences which included novel motion-tolerant imaging methods. Imaging data are complemented by rich demographic, clinical, neurodevelopmental, and genomic information. The project is now releasing a large set of neonatal data; fetal data will be described and released separately. This release includes scans from 783 infants of whom: 583 were healthy infants born at term; as well as preterm infants; and infants at high risk of atypical neurocognitive development. Many infants were imaged more than once to provide longitudinal data, and the total number of datasets being released is 887. We now describe the dHCP image acquisition and processing protocols, summarize the available imaging and collateral data, and provide information on how the data can be accessed

Temporal dynamics of social and affective decision-making processes

This thesis will establish the influence of social saliency and affect on perceptual decision-making. Although the study of the neural basis of human decision-making has inspired great attention, much of the literature has employed fMRI to explore complex decision-making in the brain which has great advantages in providing spatial information about the underlying neural activation. But, there is a lack of studies on the temporal dynamics of simple perceptual decision-making. It is important to focus on simple perceptual decision-making because people tend to make decisions rapidly based on the presented information which varies in sociality. However, despite research that has highlighted the importance of social saliency in simple perceptual decision-making tasks (Gutnik et al., 2006) the influence of social saliency on the temporal dynamics is understudied. It is crucial to examine the influence of social saliency on decision-making because humans are bombarded with various socially salient information/stimuli which impacts subsequent behaviour. Another influence on decision-making is the affective nature of information/stimuli. Emotions are the dominant driver of the most meaningful decisions in life (Keltner & Lerner 2010; Keltner et al 2014) but the impact of affect on the temporal dynamics of simple perceptual decision-making tasks, in particular, remains to be established. The current thesis addressed those gaps in the literature by examining the influence of social saliency and affect on the temporal dynamics of simple perceptual decision-making. Three conceptually similar studies were designed involving simple perceptual decision-making tasks in which social saliency (e.g. task stimuli, word primes and context) and affect (e.g. positive and negative) were manipulated to contrast differences in amplitudes in certain processing stages dependent on social saliency and affect. The first study was a systematic review which synthesised existing neurophysiological evidence from studies that manipulated social saliency across different neuroimaging paradigms and task designs. The systematic review highlighted the scarcity of temporal examination of the influence of social saliency on decision-making and the limited use of simple perceptual decision-making tasks in that literature. The second study investigated the influence of social saliency of task stimuli on behavioural performance and temporal dynamics in a preference choice task involving two conditions: 1) choosing between faces that varied in affect - social condition and 2) choosing between landscapes that varied in affect – non-social condition. In both conditions, one happy and one sad image was presented in a pair. Results demonstrated that the sensory processing and attentional focus stages had higher amplitudes for faces, whereas the affective evaluation stage was sensitive to landscapes. During the late processing stage,social saliency did not influence the decision-related stage (i.e. there was no difference in processing based on social saliency). The third study investigated the impact of social saliency on unconscious influences using a simple perceptual decision-making task involving trustworthiness ratings about neutral faces in two conditions: 1) primed with social words and 2) primed with non-social words. To examine the contributions of affect on decision-making, in both conditions word primes varied in affective nature (positive and negative). Social saliency and affect influenced behavioural performance and trustworthiness ratings of neutral faces: reaction times were faster in trials preceded by non-social primes than social word primes and faces preceded by social word primes were rated as more trustworthy compared to non-social word primes. There was no effect of social saliency on temporal dynamics, but negatively-valenced words elicited higher ERP amplitudes during the affective evaluation and decision-related stages. The fourth study moved from manipulating the social saliency and affective nature of the task stimuli and word primes to manipulating the social context. The influence of social context on the temporal dynamics of performance monitoring was investigated while participants performed a visual discrimination task in two conditions: 1) in the presence of a passive observer – social condition and 2) alone – non-social condition. The influence of affect was examined by giving participants performance feedback (i.e. via the computer) that varied in affect (i.e. neutral, negative and positive). The findings revealed an effect of social saliency at the behavioural level: reaction times were faster during the non-social condition compared to the social condition. There was no effect of social saliency on temporal dynamics, but negative and neutral feedback elicited higher ERP amplitudes during the feedback-related stage and the mid-range stage. There was an interaction between social saliency and affect with higher amplitudes for non-social trials where negative feedback was given during the mid-range stages. Overall, the current thesis contributes to the literature by providing electrophysiological evidence that both social saliency and affect of stimuli or feedback moderate the process of decision-making at different stages depending on the type of stimuli and task used. Early components (less than <200ms after stimulus onset) are sensitive to the social saliency, but this effect is stimuli dependent: faces as a form of social stimuli demonstrated an influence on early temporal dynamics. Mid-range and late components (around 300-600ms) are sensitive to non-social information and modulated by the affect of stimuli/feedback with sensitivity towards negatively-valenced stimuli. Finally, the electrophysiological findings show that when social saliency interacts with affect, it elicits greater ERP amplitudes (i.e. activation) during the later processing stages that decision-making evaluative judgements take place

Design of green extraction processes for the recovery of bioactive extracts from plants and byproducts of the agro-food industry. Evaluation of their environmental impact through Life Cycle Assessment.

In this study, industrially applied recovery processes were examined on the extraction of bioactive compounds from plants and by-product of the agro-food sector. Specifically, winery waste, olive oil production solid waste, citrus peels, olive leaves and mastic tree leaves were selected as raw materials for the extraction of phenolic compounds. Prior to extraction these materials were subjected to drying in order to avoid spoilage and retain their phenolic content. The drying kinetics were calculated and the effect of drying on the recovery of bioactive compounds was evaluated. The recovery was performed through conventional solvent extraction techniques, such as soxhlet extraction and maceration, as well as, novel methods using microwaves or ultrasounds. The use of microwave and ultrasound assisted extraction was found to enhance the recovery of phenolic compounds even when using greener/milder solvents. The efficiency of the extractions was examined by calculating the yield, while and selectivity of the processes was evaluated using spectrometric assays and high performance liquid chromatography analysis. In addition, a comparative life cycle assessment was performed to evaluate the sustainability of the selected valorization strategies for the production of bioactive extracts which can be incorporated to food and cosmetic products. Among the different extraction suggested, significant differences were observed on the yielding of phenolic compounds and therefore on their environmental performance. Ultrasound assisted extraction of dried by-products (grape pomace, olive pomace, olive leaves and orange peels) was found to be the most sustainable extraction procedure regardless of the use of ethanol 50% or methanol as solvent, while microwave assisted extraction using water as solvent was found suitable for the extraction of phenolic from untreated mastic leaves. Among the suggested waste streams and extraction processes the most economic feasible for the extraction of phenolic compounds were the ultrasound assisted extraction of grape pomace and olive leaves and the microwave assisted extraction of mastic leaves.Στην διατριβή αυτή μελετήθηκαν βιομηχανικά εφαρμόσιμες διεργασίες εκχύλισης ως προς την ανάκτηση βιοδραστικών ενώσεων από φυτά και τα παραπροϊόντα του αγρο-βιομηχανικού κλάδου διατροφής. Συγκεκριμένα, στερεά απόβλητα οινοποιείων, στερεά υπολείμματα της παραγωγής ελαιόλαδου, φλούδες εσπεριδοειδών, φύλλα ελιάς και μαστίχας επιλέχθηκαν ως πρώτες ύλες για την εκχύλιση φαινολικών ενώσεων. Πριν από την εκχύλιση τα υλικά αυτά υποβλήθηκαν σε ξήρανση προκειμένου να αποφευχθεί η μικροβιακή αλλοίωση τους και να διατηρηθεί το φαινολικό τους περιεχόμενο. Υπολογίστηκαν επίσης οι κινητικές ξήρανσης και εξετάστηκε η επίδραση της ξήρανσης στην ανάκτηση των βιοδραστικών τους ενώσεων. Η ανάκτηση διεξήχθη μέσω συμβατικών τεχνικών εκχύλισης, όπως η εκχύλιση soxhlet και η διαβροχή, καθώς και νέες μεθόδους που υποβοηθούμενες με μικροκύματα ή υπερήχους. Η χρήση μικροκυμάτων και υπερήχων βρέθηκε να ενισχύουν την ανάκτηση φαινολικών ενώσεων, ακόμη και όταν χρησιμοποιούνται πιο πράσινοι ηπιότεροι διαλύτες. Η αποτελεσματικότητα των εκχυλίσεων εξετάστηκε υπολογίζοντας τις αποδόσεις τους, ενώ και η επιλεκτικότητα των διεργασιών αξιολογήθηκε χρησιμοποιώντας φασματοφωτομετρικά πρωτόκολλα και αναλύσεις υψηλής απόδοσης υγρής χρωματογραφίας. Επιπλέον, πραγματοποιήθηκε συγκριτική αξιολόγηση του κύκλου ζωής των διεργασιών για να αξιολογηθεί η βιωσιμότητα των επιλεγμένων στρατηγικών αξιοποίησης για την παραγωγή βιοδραστικών εκχυλισμάτων, τα οποία μπορούν να ενσωματωθούν σε τρόφιμα και καλλυντικά προϊόντα. Μεταξύ των διαφόρων διεργασιών εκχύλισης παρατηρήθηκαν σημαντικές διαφορές στην απόδοση των φαινολικών ενώσεων και ως εκ τούτου στις περιβαλλοντικές τους επιδόσεις. Η υποβοηθούμενη εκχύλιση με υπερήχους για αποξηραμένα υποπροϊόντα (στεμφύλων, ελαιοπυρήνα, φύλλα ελιάς και φλούδες πορτοκαλιού) βρέθηκε να είναι η πιο βιώσιμη διαδικασία εκχύλισης, ανεξάρτητα από τη χρήση αιθανόλης 50% ως διαλύτη, ενώ η υποβοηθούμενη μικροκυμάτων βρέθηκε κατάλληλη για την εκχύλιση φαινολικών από μη επεξεργασμένα φύλλα μαστίχας χρησιμοποιώντας νερό ως διαλύτη. Ανάμεσα στους εξεταζόμενους συνδυασμούς γραμμών παραγωγής βιοδραστικών εκχυλισμάτων βρέθηκε ότι η πιο οικονομικά βιώσιμη είναι η εκχύλιση με υπερήχους στεμφύλων και φύλλων ελιάς και η εκχύλιση με μικροκύματα φύλλων μαστίχας