Synergistic Team Composition

Effective teams are crucial for organisations, especially in environments that require teams to be constantly created and dismantled, such as software development, scientific experiments, crowd-sourcing, or the classroom. Key factors influencing team performance are competences and personality of team members. Hence, we present a computational model to compose proficient and congenial teams based on individuals' personalities and their competences to perform tasks of different nature. With this purpose, we extend Wilde's post-Jungian method for team composition, which solely employs individuals' personalities. The aim of this study is to create a model to partition agents into teams that are balanced in competences, personality and gender. Finally, we present some preliminary empirical results that we obtained when analysing student performance. Results show the benefits of a more informed team composition that exploits individuals' competences besides information about their personalities

Investigating The Role Of Extracellular Vesicles And MicroRNA-155 In Cerebrovascular Function In Inflammation

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction is an early feature of several central nervous system (CNS) pathologies and is characterised by increased leukocyte migration to the CNS and increased paracellular permeability of brain endothelial cells (BECs). The mechanisms by which the BBB actively participates in the inflammatory events that contribute to the progression of many CNS diseases is still poorly understood. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a novel mechanism of cell-to-cell communication. Endothelial cell-derived EVs are upregulated in circulating blood in different pathologies (e.g. multiple sclerosis) and systemic inflammation. TNFα-stimulated BECs secrete a higher number of EVs, which carry a pro-inflammatory cargo. However, the role of cerebrovascular EVs modulating inflammation at the BBB is still unclear. In this project, EVs secreted from BECs were characterised based on number, size and RNA cargo. Indeed, BECs secreted higher number of EVs in inflammation that carried pro-inflammatory modulators (e.g. miRNA-155). Uptake of EVs by NVU cells and their role in BEC function was investigated. Interestingly, EVs decreased transendothelial resistance and increased T cell adhesion to BECs via up-regulation of adhesion molecules. TNFα/IFNγ–mediated BECs dysfunction is partially modulated by miRNA-155. However, the mechanism by which miRNA-155 modulates T cell adhesion remains to be elucidated. WNK1 was identified as possible target of miRNA-155 and shown to modulate T cell adhesion. Finally, unexpected increased polydipsia in female aged miRNA-155 knock-out mice was investigated but this unexpected phenotype was attributed to a miRNA-155-independent pathway. Results from this work constitute the first evidence that BEC-derived EVs modulate BBB function in inflammation, which is likely to be a mechanism of the cells to amplify pro-inflammatory cytokine signalling in the vasculature. Additionally, this work has demonstrated endothelial WNK1 as a modulator of T cell adhesion. Genotyping tissue from miRNA-155 KO mice will serve for future identification of novel modulators of water balance

Trust-Based Community Assessment

In this paper we present Community Assessment (COMAS), a trust-based assessment service that helps compute group opinion from the perspective of a specific community member. We apply COMAS in the context of communities of learners, and we compute the group opinion from the perspective of the teacher. Specifically, our model relies on \emph{teacher assessments}, aggregations of \emph{student assessments} and \emph{trust measures} derived from student assessments to suggest marks to assignments that have not been assessed by the teacher. The proposed model intends to support intelligent online learning applications by 1) encouraging students to assess one another, and 2) benefiting from students' assessments. We believe the task of assessing massive numbers of students is of special interest to online learning communities, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Experimental results were conducted on a real classroom datasets as well as simulated data that considers different social network topologies (where we say students assess some assignments of socially connected students). Results show that our method 1) is sound, i.e. the error of the suggested assessments decreases for increasing numbers of teacher assessments; and 2) scales for large numbers of students. 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reservedThis work is supported by the CollectiveMind project (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, under grant number TEC2013-49430-EXP), the MILESS project (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, under grant num- ber TIN2013-45039-P) and the PRAISE project (funded by the European Commission, under grant number 388770)Peer reviewe

Pourfour du Petit Syndrome in a Patient with Thyroid Carcinoma

The clinical presentation of Pourfour du Petit syndrome (PdPs) is the opposite of Horner syndrome. Although all disorders underlying Horner syndrome may potentially present as PdPs, very few cases of the latter have been described in the literature. We report a patient with PdPs due to carotid compression by a thyroid tumor

Método de análisis de la técnica del nadador

Para superar las dificultades de entrenadores y nadadores en la mejora de la técnica, se ha diseñado un método de análisis y corrección de errores que se aplica en el entrenamiento. Se registra al nadador con una cámara de vídeo y, simultáneamente, se recoge su velocidad de desplazamiento con un velocímetro intraciclo. Esto provoca que entrenador y nadador puedan ver en la misma piscina la curva de velocidad superpuesta a la imagen del nadador. Se ha realizado un proyecto doble, de laboratorio y de campo, para demostrar la validez y fiabilidad del métod

PPAR<i>γ</i> agonist-loaded PLGA -PEG nanocarriers as a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease: in vitro and in vivo studies

Objective: The first aim of this study was to develop a nanocarrier that could transport the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonist, pioglitazone (PGZ) across brain endothelium and examine the mechanism of nanoparticle transcytosis. The second aim was to determine whether these nanocarriers could successfully treat a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: PGZ-loaded nanoparticles (PGZ-NPs) were synthesized by the solvent displacement technique, following a factorial design using poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) polyethylene glycol (PLGA-PEG). The transport of the carriers was assessed in vitro, using a human brain endothelial cell line, cytotoxicity assays, fluorescence-tagged nanocarriers, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, confocal and transmission electron microscopy. The effectiveness of the treatment was assessed in APP/PS1 mice in a behavioral assay and by measuring the cortical deposition of β-amyloid. Results: Incorporation of PGZ into the carriers promoted a 50x greater uptake into brain endothelium compared with the free drug and the carriers showed a delayed release profile of PGZ in vitro. In the doses used, the nanocarriers were not toxic for the endothelial cells, nor did they alter the permeability of the blood–brain barrier model. Electron microscopy indicated that the nanocarriers were transported from the apical to the basal surface of the endothelium by vesicular transcytosis. An efficacy test carried out in APP/PS1 transgenic mice showed a reduction of memory deficit in mice chronically treated with PGZ-NPs. Deposition of β-amyloid in the cerebral cortex, measured by immunohistochemistry and image analysis, was correspondingly reduced. Conclusion: PLGA-PEG nanocarriers cross brain endothelium by transcytosis and can be loaded with a pharmaceutical agent to effectively treat a mouse model of AD

Automatic Melody Composition Inspired by Short Melodies Using a Probabilistic Model and Harmonic Rules

This demo shows how automatic melody composition of melodies that follow the style of a certain singleshort melodic excerpt can be achieved in such a way that the sample excerpt can be considered an inspirationalpiece of music for the automatic compositor.Music composition has been faced from diverse perspectives and using different approaches, among them theutilization of probabilistic schemes is common since early stages. For example, Brooks et al. [1] considerthe direct utilization of m-order Markov chains for music analysis and generation, and other authors havefollowed a relatively similar path [2]. Often large data sets are necessary to train music generation systems,though in some rare cases algorithms are developed to perform automatic melody composition based on asingle sample melody [5]; in such case, the application of explicit rules is of great importance.Considering the probabilistic approach to music models and music rules on the basis of the melody generationmodel developed in [4], a melody generation scheme is designed that is capable of generating music excerptswith the style and resemblance of short individual MIDI melody samples.Since only one sample melody of arbitrarily small duration will be considered, some modification must bedone to the system described in [4]. Specifically, modifications are necessary in the extraction of musicalparameters and in the generation scheme in order to provide with the necessary musical variability for theadaptation of extracted musical parameters and patterns. .Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.This work was funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of the Spanish Government under Project No. TIN2016-75866-C3-2-R

Anàlisi dels indicadors de la gestió per processos de la docència pràctica a la Unitat de Laboratoris Docents (ULD) de la Facultat de Farmàcia

[eng] In the Unitat de Laboratoris Docents (ULD) of the Faculty of Pharmacy a Quality System has been implemented to improve the management of the training laboratories and to introduce practical aspects of this system in the formation of the students. In the last years, we have designed the process map, and the flowcharts with the corresponding key point tables from which the indicators have been identified. The main objective of this work was to found a system that allows the evaluation of the ULD service, the teaching innovation introduced as well as the grade of implication of the lecturers who teach practical training and thus are directly responsible for the formation of the students. The values obtained for the operating ULD procedures correspond to the data from obligatory courses, with practical teaching in the ULD laboratories, of Pharmacy and Food Science and Technology degrees for the 2005-06 academic year. [spa] En la Unidad de Laboratorios Docentes (ULD) de la Facultad de Farmacia, se ha implantado un sistema de gestión de la calidad con el objetivo de mejorar la gestión de la docencia práctica y a su vez introducir aspectos prácticos de la gestión de la calidad en la formación de los estudiantes. En los últimos años se ha elaborado el mapa de procesos, el diagrama de flujo y la ficha de cada proceso a partir de la cual ha sido posible la identificación de los indicadores. El Prat, J. et al. Edusfarm, revista d"educació superior en Farmàcia. Núm. 2. 2007 2 principal objetivo del presente trabajo es buscar un sistema que permita evaluar el propio funcionamiento de la ULD, la innovación realizada así como el grado de implicación de los profesores que imparten la docencia práctica y que son responsables directos de la formación de los estudiantes. Los valores obtenidos para los procesos operativos de la ULD provienen de los datos generados en el curso académico 2005-2006 en las asignaturas troncales de las Licenciaturas de Farmacia y de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos

Breastfeeding in women who conceived using fertility treatments: a systematic review

Las mujeres sometidas a tratamientos de fertilidad (TF) presentan necesidades de atención médica y procesos de toma de decisiones antes y después del parto que pueden influir sobre los comportamientos de lactancia materna (LM). Esta revisión examinó el efecto de los TF (invasivos como inyección intracitoplasmática y/o fecundación in vitro, y menos invasivos como medicación y/o inseminación intrauterina) sobre el inicio, duración y exclusividad de la LM a partir de los estudios observacionales que compararon algún resultado de LM en función del modo de concepción (TF versus concepción espontánea). El efecto de los TF sobre el inicio, duración y exclusividad de la LM fue pequeño o no significativo y en ocasiones contradictorio. La evidencia es limitada debido al bajo número de artículos incluidos con calidad suficiente. Por ello se recomienda, hasta que se tengan más y mejores estudios al respecto, un apoyo individualizado a cada diada madre-hijo según sus características.Women subjected to fertility treatment present needs requiring medical attention and decision-making processes before and after delivery that might influence their behaviour in maternal breastfeeding. This review examined the effect of fertility treatments on the start, duration and exclusiveness of maternal lactation based on all the observational studies that compared some result of maternal lactation according to the form of conception. Two reviewers extracted the data and evaluated the risk of bias. The effect of fertility treatments on the results of maternal lactation was small or not significant, and on occasions contradictory. The evidence is limited due to the low number of articles of sufficient quality included. For the time being, fertility treatments do not seem to influence the start, duration and exclusiveness of maternal lactation, but until more and better studies are available, individualized support is recommended for each mother-child dyad according to its characteristics

Neural encoding of voice pitch and formant structure at birth as revealed by frequency-following responses

Detailed neural encoding of voice pitch and formant structure plays a crucial role in speech perception, and is of key importance for an appropriate acquisition of the phonetic repertoire in infants since birth. However, the extent to what newborns are capable of extracting pitch and formant structure information from the temporal envelope and the temporal fine structure of speech sounds, respectively, remains unclear. Here, we recorded the frequency-following response (FFR) elicited by a novel two-vowel, rising-pitch-ending stimulus to simultaneously characterize voice pitch and formant structure encoding accuracy in a sample of neonates and adults. Data revealed that newborns tracked changes in voice pitch reliably and no differently than adults, but exhibited weaker signatures of formant structure encoding, particularly at higher formant frequency ranges. Thus, our results indicate a well-developed encoding of voice pitch at birth, while formant structure representation is maturing in a frequency-dependent manner. Furthermore, we demonstrate the feasibility to assess voice pitch and formant structure encoding within clinical evaluation times in a hospital setting, and suggest the possibility to use this novel stimulus as a tool for longitudinal developmental studies of the auditory system