The effects of minimal group membership on young preschoolers' social preferences, estimates of similarity, and behavioral attribution

We investigate young children`s sensitivity to minimal group membership. Previous research has suggested that children do not show sensitivity to minimal cues to group membership until the age of five to six, contributing to claims that this is an important transition in the development of intergroup cognition and behavior. In this study, we investigated whether even younger children are sensitive to minimal cues to group membership. Random assignment to one of either of two color groups created a temporary, visually salient minimal group membership in 3 and 4-year-old study participants. Using explicit measures, we tested whether children preferred minimal group members when making social judgments. We find that, in the absence of any knowledge regarding the two groups, children expressed greater liking for in- group than outgroup targets. Moreover, children estimated that ingroup members would share their preferences. Our findings demonstrate that from early in development, humans assess unknown others on the basis of minimal cues to social similarity and that the perception of group boundaries potentially underlies social assortment in strangers

Proliferationsspezifische Antikörper Ki-S11 und Ki-S2 sowie HMB-45-Expression als Prognosemarker für benigne und maligne melanozytische Läsionen der Haut

Diese Arbeit untersucht den Proliferationsindex an 327 humanen Hautgewebeproben melanozytärer Läsionen mithilfe der Antikörper Ki-S11 und Ki-S2. Die wichtigsten Befund zeigen eine Korrelation zwischen der Proliferationsaktivität und dem histologischen Typ, einen signifikanten Unterschied zwischen benignen und malignen melanozytischen Läsionen und eine Korrelation zwischen der Proliferationsaktivität und der prognostischen Tumorgruppe.Die vorliegende Arbeit unterstützt nicht das Konzept der Tumorprogression von melanozytären Läsionen unsicheren Verhaltens in das maligne Melanom,da die Proliferationsraten von den Spitz/Reed Nävi zu den Melanoma in situ sprunghaft ansteigen.Zusammenfassend stellen die Antikörper Ki-S11 und Ki-S2 für melanozytäre Läsionen ein sehr stark diskriminierendes Werkzeug der Diagnosefindung dar mit hoher Aussagefähikeit für die Prognose

Social Preference in Preschoolers: Effects of Morphological Self-Similarity and Familiarity

Adults prefer to interact with others that are similar to themselves. Even slight facial self-resemblance can elicit trust towards strangers. Here we investigate if preschoolers at the age of 5 years already use facial self-resemblance when they make social judgments about others. We found that, in the absence of any additional knowledge about prospective peers, children preferred those who look subtly like themselves over complete strangers. Thus, subtle morphological similarities trigger social preferences well before adulthood

Methanol‐to‐Olefins in a Membrane Reactor with in situ Steam Removal – The Decisive Role of Coking

The reaction of methanol to light olefins and water (MTO) was studied in a fixed bed tubular membrane reactor using commercial SAPO-34 catalyst. In the fixed bed reactor without membrane support, the MTO reaction collapsed after 3 h time on stream. However, if the reaction by-product steam is in situ extracted from the reactor through a hydrophilic tubular LTA membrane, the reactor produces long-term stable about 60% ethene and 10% propene. It is shown that the reason for the superior performance of the membrane-assisted reactor is not the prevention of catalyst damage caused by steam but the influence of the water removal on the formation of different carbonaceous residues inside the SAPO-34 cages. Catalytically beneficial methylated 1 or 2 ring aromatics have been found in a higher percentage in the MTO reaction with a water removal membrane compared to the MTO reaction without membrane support

Investigating Looking Behaviors with a Humanoid Robot

Faculty advisor: Jed ElisonSeveral research studies have shown that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often display impairments in their ability to engage in many social behaviors that are crucial for the development of social-emotional competence, empathy, and expressive language. Because most children with autism show strong preferences for nonsocial information such as objects and machines (Adamson, Deckner, & Bakeman, 2010; Tapus et al., 2012), researchers have explored using humanoid robots to help children with autism develop skills for social interaction (Tapus et al., 2012). In this study, we used data from 55 typically developing toddlers (M= 33 months) who participated in a 10-minute semi-structured play session with a humanoid robot, the NAO V4 (Aldebaran Robotics). The NAO robot was pre-programmed to advance through seven structured social interactions, such as Simon Says, I Spy, a tai chi routine, and a dance to “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” Using this data, we examined children’s engagement with the robot, specifically their looking preferences during the interaction phases with the NAO.This research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

PoeticTTS -- Controllable Poetry Reading for Literary Studies

Speech synthesis for poetry is challenging due to specific intonation patterns inherent to poetic speech. In this work, we propose an approach to synthesise poems with almost human like naturalness in order to enable literary scholars to systematically examine hypotheses on the interplay between text, spoken realisation, and the listener's perception of poems. To meet these special requirements for literary studies, we resynthesise poems by cloning prosodic values from a human reference recitation, and afterwards make use of fine-grained prosody control to manipulate the synthetic speech in a human-in-the-loop setting to alter the recitation w.r.t. specific phenomena. We find that finetuning our TTS model on poetry captures poetic intonation patterns to a large extent which is beneficial for prosody cloning and manipulation and verify the success of our approach both in an objective evaluation as well as in human studies.Comment: Accepted to Interspeech 202

Synergy-Directed Fractionation of Botanical Medicines: A Case Study with Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis)

It is often argued that the efficacy of herbal medicines is a result of the combined action of multiple constituents that work synergistically or additively. Determining the bioactive constituents in these mixtures poses a significant challenge. We have developed an approach to address this challenge, synergy-directed fractionation, which combines comprehensive mass spectrometry profiling with synergy assays and natural products isolation. The applicability of synergy-directed fractionation was demonstrated using the botanical medicine goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) as a case study. Three synergists from goldenseal were identified, sideroxylin (1), 8-desmethyl-sideroxylin (2), and 6-desmethyl-sideroxylin (3). These flavonoids synergistically enhance the antimicrobial activity of the alkaloid berberine (also a constituent of H. canadensis) against Staphylococcus aureus by inhibition of the NorA multidrug resistance pump. The flavonoids possess no inherent antimicrobial activity against S. aureus; therefore, they could have been missed using traditional bioactivity-directed fractionation. The flavonoid synergists are present at higher concentration in extracts from H. canadensis leaves, while the antimicrobial alkaloid berberine is present at higher levels in H. canadensis roots. Thus, it may be possible to produce an extract with optimal activity against S. aureus using a combination of goldenseal roots and leaves

In Vitro Model for Hepatotoxicity Studies Based on Primary Human Hepatocyte Cultivation in a Perfused 3D Bioreactor System

Accurate prediction of the potential hepatotoxic nature of new pharmaceuticals remains highly challenging. Therefore, novel in vitro models with improved external validity are needed to investigate hepatic metabolism and timely identify any toxicity of drugs in humans. In this study, we examined the effects of diclofenac, as a model substance with a known risk of hepatotoxicity in vivo, in a dynamic multi-compartment bioreactor using primary human liver cells. Biotransformation pathways of the drug and possible effects on metabolic activities, morphology and cell transcriptome were evaluated. Formation rates of diclofenac metabolites were relatively stable over the application period of seven days in bioreactors exposed to 300 µM diclofenac (300 µM bioreactors (300 µM BR)), while in bioreactors exposed to 1000 µM diclofenac (1000 µM BR) metabolite concentrations declined drastically. The biochemical data showed a significant decrease in lactate production and for the higher dose a significant increase in ammonia secretion, indicating a dose-dependent effect of diclofenac application. The microarray analyses performed revealed a stable hepatic phenotype of the cells over time and the observed transcriptional changes were in line with functional readouts of the system. In conclusion, the data highlight the suitability of the bioreactor technology for studying the hepatotoxicity of drugs in vitro

Produktivität biologisch bewirtschafteter Weiden und Wiesen im Kanton Solothurn

Die Produktivität von 54 Dauergraslandparzellen im Schweizer Kanton Solothurn zeigte keine statistisch signifikanten Unterschiede, aber eine starke Tendenz zu einem niedrigeren Ertrag und einem geringeren Phosphorgehalt im Boden auf biologisch gegenüber konventionell bewirtschafteten Weiden

Der Einfluss biologischer Bewirtschaftung auf Ökosystemleistungen von Wiesen und Weiden

Wir untersuchten den Einfluss von biologischer Bewirtschaftung sowie Beweidung auf elf Ökosystemleistungen (ÖSL) auf 54 intensiv bewirtschafteten Grasländern in der Schweiz. Biologische Bewirtschaftung förderte nur eine der ÖSL, dagegen wurden sechs von Beweidung positiv oder negativ beeinflusst