Impact of Short Social Training on Prosocial Behaviors: An fMRI Study

Efficient brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) are in need of knowledge about the human brain and how it interacts, plays games, and socializes with other brains. A breakthrough can be achieved by revealing the microfoundations of sociality, an additional component of the utility function reflecting the value of contributing to group success derived from social identity. Building upon our previous behavioral work, we conduct a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments (N = 10 in the Pilot Study and N = 15 in the Main Study) to measure whether and how sociality alters the functional activation of and connectivity between specific systems in the brain. The overarching hypothesis of this study is that sociality, even in a minimal form, serves as a natural mechanism of sustainable cooperation by fostering interaction between brain regions associated with social cognition and those related to value calculation. We use group-based manipulations to induce varying levels of sociality and compare behavior in two social dilemmas: Prisoner’s Dilemma and variations of Ultimatum Game. We find that activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus, a region previously associated with cognitive control and modulation of the valuation system, is correlated with activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to a greater degree when participants make economic decisions in a game with an acquaintance, high sociality condition, compared to a game with a random individual, low sociality condition. These initial results suggest a specific biological mechanism through which sociality facilitates cooperation, fairness and provision of public goods at the cost of individual gain. Future research should examine neural dynamics in the brain during the computation of utility in the context of strategic games that involve social interaction for a larger sample of subjects

Quantifying the contribution of individual variation in timing to delay-discounting

Delay-discounting studies in neuroscience, psychology, and economics have been mostly focused on concepts of self-control, reward evaluation, and discounting. Another important relationship to consider is the link between intertemporal choice and time perception. We presented 50 college students with timing tasks on the range of seconds to minutes and intertemporal-choice tasks on both the time-scale of seconds and of days. We hypothesized that individual differences in time perception would influence decisions about short experienced delays but not long delays. While we found some evidence that individual differences in internal clock speed account for some unexplained variance between choices across time-horizons, overall our findings suggest a nominal contribution of the altered sense of time in intertemporal choice

Використання агрегованих критеріїв для оцінки якості тестів програмного забезпечення

An approach to evaluating the software tests quality using aggregated quality criteria is proposed. The article considers the finding of such characteristics of software tests that can be used to judge their quality and their need for improvement. The subject of the study is the formation of a software tests quality evaluation system, which can be used in the software development process. It is proposed to consider a software test as a multiattribute object. It is emphasized that it is necessary to take into account both quantitative and qualitative characteristics of tests and test coverage, which greatly complicates the construction of a model for evaluating the software tests quality. Various approaches to solving the problem of evaluating complex, multiattribute objects are considered. The problem of comparing and ordering complex objects taking into account different criteria is considered. The choice of the method of sequential aggregation of classified states to solve the problem of multicriteria selection and assessment is justified. The stages of the procedure for solving the estimation problem using the method of sequential aggregation of classified states are considered. An activity diagram is constructed that reflects an algorithm for constructing a hierarchical system of criteria. The criteria for evaluating software tests are given, which belong to three groups - efficiency, coverage, and software implementation. For a hierarchical system of criteria aggregation, a set of indicators, their qualitative gradations with corresponding numerical intervals, are allocated. At the highest level of the hierarchy, it is proposed to use three composite criteria that correspond to the groups of efficiency, coverage and implementation, which will allow to obtain an integral indicator of the software tests quality. The resulting integral indicator includes five quality classes, each of which corresponds to a multitude of low-level indicator estimates. Тests quality evaluation will improve the testing process, which purpose is to ensure the specified quality of the software being developed.Пропонується підхід до оцінки якості тестів програмного забезпечення з використанням агрегованих критеріїв якості. Розглядається знаходження таких характеристик тестів програмного забезпечення, за якими можна судити про їхню якість і необхідність доопрацювання. Предметом дослідження є формування системи оцінювання якості програмних тестів, яку можливо використовувати в процесі розробки програмного забезпечення. Запропоновано розглядати тест програмного забезпечення як багатоознаковий об'єкт. Підкреслюється, що необхідно враховувати як кількісні, так і якісні характеристики тестів і тестового покриття, що істотно ускладнює побудову моделі оцінки якості програмних тестів. Розглянуто різні підходи до вирішення задачі оцінювання складних, багатоознакових об'єктів. Розглядається проблема порівняння й упорядкування складних об'єктів з урахуванням різних критеріїв. Обґрунтовано вибір методу послідовного агрегування станів, що класифікуються для розв'язання задачі багатокритеріального вибору і проведення оцінювання. Розглянуто етапи процедури вирішення задачі оцінювання з використанням методу послідовного агрегування станів, що класифікуються. Наведена діаграма діяльності, яка відображає алгоритм побудови ієрархічної системи критеріїв. Розглянуті критерії оцінювання програмних тестів, які відносяться до трьох груп – ефективності, покриття і програмної реалізації. Для ієрархічної системи агрегування критеріїв виділено набір показників, їх якісні градації з відповідними чисельними інтервалами. На вищому рівні ієрархії запропоновано використовувати три складенихкритерія, які відповідають групам ефективності, покриття і реалізації, що, в свою чергу, дозволить отримати інтегральний показник якості програмних тестів. Отриманий інтегральний показник включає п'ять класів якості, кожному з яких відповідає множина оцінок показників нижнього рівня. Оцінка якості програмних тестів дозволить поліпшити процес тестування, метою якого є забезпечення заданого рівня якості програмного забезпечення, що розробляється

Bovine mucous membranes as a source of antimicrobial compounds

Loss of food quality, deterioration of organoleptic properties and accumulation of anti-alimentary compounds are in focus of modern food science. Nowadays, such traditional methods as processing, physical and chemical treatment are used for improving of shelf life. An alternative ways of shelf life increasing are quite a sharp problem. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) could be an actual alternative. According to Antimicrobial Peptide Database (http://aps.unmc.edu/AP/main.php), 2884 antimicrobial peptides from six kingdoms were found and identified. Mucous membranes of farm animals due to their border position and intensive contact with different pathogens could be a capacious source of such substances. Objects of the study were bovine oral cavity mucosa, nasal cavity mucosa, tracheal cavity mucosa, rectal mucosa, tongue mucosa, saliva gland and submandibular lymph nodes. Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) was performed according to the method of O'Farrell, 35 protein fractions were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and MS/MS mass spectrometry. A number of qualitative and quantitative differences were revealed. A large number of histones (H2bd-like, H2BC, HIST1H2BD, HIST2H2AC, HIST1H2AH, histone H3.3 and H2bl-like, HIST2H2AC and histone H3.3, mixture HIST1H2AJ, HIST2H2BE and histone H2A type 2-C) were found in all mucous membranes as well as several tissue-specific proteins (proteins S100-A12 and AGR2, isoforms of ribosomal proteins, myelin P2, odorant-binding protein, secretoglobin), which could be a precusors of bioactive peptides</p

On Solvability of Certain Non-Standard Elliptic Problems

We consider a model elliptic pseudo-differential equation in a 4-wedge conical canonical 3D singular domain with two parameters. It is shown that the solution of a special boundary value problem for this equation can have a limit with respect to endpoint values of the parameters in appropriate Sobolev - Slobodetskii space if the boundary function is a solution of a special functional singular integral equatio

Do Women Socialize Better? Evidence from a Study on Sociality Effects on Gender Differences in Cooperative Behavior

Human behavior is greatly influenced by the social context. The currrent study on men’ and women’s cooperative behavior investigated the influence of long-term and short-term effects of socializing in group. The repeated Prisoner’s dilemma carried out in groups of 6 participants was used as the main experimental situation. The differences were found in changes in the level of cooperation, taking in to account the effects of mixing social and gender variables. Socialization made cooperation of group members strength and sustainable. However, men’ and women’s cooperative behavior in groups differed. Women were initially more inclined to cooperate in interaction with strangers. Men showed greater sensitivity to sociality effects. They tended to make cooperative decisions more often if there are friends in the group. Furthermore, men cooperated with previously unknown people after socializing with them significantly more than women

Do Women Socialize Better? Evidence from a Study on Sociality Effects on Gender Differences in Cooperative Behavior

Human behavior is greatly influenced by the social context. The currrent study on men’ and women’s cooperative behavior investigated the influence of long-term and short-term effects of socializing in group. The repeated Prisoner’s dilemma carried out in groups of 6 participants was used as the main experimental situation. The differences were found in changes in the level of cooperation, taking in to account the effects of mixing social and gender variables. Socialization made cooperation of group members strength and sustainable. However, men’ and women’s cooperative behavior in groups differed. Women were initially more inclined to cooperate in interaction with strangers. Men showed greater sensitivity to sociality effects. They tended to make cooperative decisions more often if there are friends in the group. Furthermore, men cooperated with previously unknown people after socializing with them significantly more than women

Do Women Socialize Better? Evidence from a Study on Sociality Effects on Gender Differences in Cooperative Behavior

Human behavior is greatly influenced by the social context. The currrent study on men’ and women’s cooperative behavior investigated the influence of long-term and short-term effects of socializing in group. The repeated Prisoner’s dilemma carried out in groups of 6 participants was used as the main experimental situation. The differences were found in changes in the level of cooperation, taking in to account the effects of mixing social and gender variables. Socialization made cooperation of group members strength and sustainable. However, men’ and women’s cooperative behavior in groups differed. Women were initially more inclined to cooperate in interaction with strangers. Men showed greater sensitivity to sociality effects. They tended to make cooperative decisions more often if there are friends in the group. Furthermore, men cooperated with previously unknown people after socializing with them significantly more than women