How musical selection impacts the performance of the interaction with the computer

In this busy society of ours people push their limits to work better and more in order to remain competitive with their peers. Nonetheless, working longer hours does not necessarily improves productivity nor performance. In order to prevent the negative consequences of this increasing trend, the evolution of performance throughout the day of work should be more closely monitored. This could avoid undesirable states or even breakdowns, which have social and economical implications. In this work we measure user performance through their interaction with the computer. We monitor its evolution during a day of work and how di erent types of music may increase or decrease its natural daily degradation. We conclude that the relationship between types of music and its e ects is not universal and depends, among other things, on the musical pro le of the individual. A prototype for a distributed music recommendation service is presented that suggests musics at an individual and group level, based on user musical pro les and objectives.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012)

Effects of Time of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Microinjection on Gene Detection and In Vitro Development of Bovine Embryos

In vivo fertilized embryos were surgically collected from superovulated dairy cows to evaluate microinjection on embryo development and utilized the polymerase chain reaction technique for selection of transgenic embryos. Seventy-two percent of the embryos with visible pronuclei or nuclei were microinjected with DNA, and the remaining 28% served as uninjected controls. All embryos were cocultured with bovine oviductal epithelial cells. Mean final development scores of embryos within the same initial cell stage at collection were unaffected by microinjection. After 144 h of culture, 45% of the microinjected embryos developed to the morula or blastocyst stage. The transgene was detected in 50, 10, and 9% of demimorulae from embryos microinjected at the 1-, 2-, and 4-cell stages. Frequency of transgene detection was higher in morulae from 1-cell embryos than in morulae from 2- and 4-cell embryos. Use of in vitro coculture, embryo bisection, and polymerase chain reaction technique facilitated selection of bovine embryos that carried the transgene

Associations between Prenatal Urinary Biomarkers of Phthalate Exposure and Preterm Birth: A Pooled Study of 16 US Cohorts

Importance: Phthalate exposure is widespread among pregnant women and may be a risk factor for preterm birth. Objective: To investigate the prospective association between urinary biomarkers of phthalates in pregnancy and preterm birth among individuals living in the US. Design, Setting, and Participants: Individual-level data were pooled from 16 preconception and pregnancy studies conducted in the US. Pregnant individuals who delivered between 1983 and 2018 and provided 1 or more urine samples during pregnancy were included. Exposures: Urinary phthalate metabolites were quantified as biomarkers of phthalate exposure. Concentrations of 11 phthalate metabolites were standardized for urine dilution and mean repeated measurements across pregnancy were calculated. Main Outcomes and Measures: Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between each phthalate metabolite with the odds of preterm birth, defined as less than 37 weeks of gestation at delivery (n = 539). Models pooled data using fixed effects and adjusted for maternal age, race and ethnicity, education, and prepregnancy body mass index. The association between the overall mixture of phthalate metabolites and preterm birth was also examined with logistic regression. G-computation, which requires certain assumptions to be considered causal, was used to estimate the association with hypothetical interventions to reduce the mixture concentrations on preterm birth. Results: The final analytic sample included 6045 participants (mean [SD] age, 29.1 [6.1] years). Overall, 802 individuals (13.3%) were Black, 2323 (38.4%) were Hispanic/Latina, 2576 (42.6%) were White, and 328 (5.4%) had other race and ethnicity (including American Indian/Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, >1 racial identity, or reported as other). Most phthalate metabolites were detected in more than 96% of participants. Higher odds of preterm birth, ranging from 12% to 16%, were observed in association with an interquartile range increase in urinary concentrations of mono-n-butyl phthalate (odds ratio [OR], 1.12 [95% CI, 0.98-1.27]), mono-isobutyl phthalate (OR, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.00-1.34]), mono(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (OR, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.00-1.34]), and mono(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (OR, 1.14 [95% CI, 1.01-1.29]). Among approximately 90 preterm births per 1000 live births in this study population, hypothetical interventions to reduce the mixture of phthalate metabolite levels by 10%, 30%, and 50% were estimated to prevent 1.8 (95% CI, 0.5-3.1), 5.9 (95% CI, 1.7-9.9), and 11.1 (95% CI, 3.6-18.3) preterm births, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: Results from this large US study population suggest that phthalate exposure during pregnancy may be a preventable risk factor for preterm delivery

Degassing at the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, recorded in matrix glass compositions

Compositions of matrix glasses from the current eruption of Soufriere Hills Volcano indicate that decompression-driven crystallization results in 20-70 wt % groundmass crystallization during eruption and variable degassing. Variations in crystallinity and volatile contents (water and chlorine) of matrix glasses are attributed to variations in extrusion rates and residence times in the lava dome. Residual water contents in pumice clasts (0.2-0.6 wt %) indicate minimum pressures of 1.1-3.7 MPa in 1997 Vulcanian explosions. Residual water contents of 1.6 wt % in a ballistic block ejected in sub- Plinian explosive activity on 17 September 1996 imply larger pressure drops (similar to20 MPa). Variable residual water contents in dome samples are consistent with pressure variations of up to 9 MPa in the lava dome interior. Large variation in chlorine contents between lava blocks compared with explosion pumice clasts indicates that shallow-level processes dominate degassing. Low melt chlorine contents of dome samples cannot be explained by open- or closed-system degassing, especially when crystallization is taken into account. Instead, heterogeneous chlorine leaching by circulation of groundwater vapour in the dome is proposed. Variable and elevated matrix glass deltaD values can also be attributed to interaction with isotopically heavy surface waters. HCl emission during the current eruption can be accounted for by Cl loss from the melt, consistent with the melt being undersaturated in chlorine

Gold standard or fool's gold: the pursuit of certainty in experimental criminology

This article assesses some of the claims made for experimental research in the field of rehabilitation of offenders. It suggests that both policy officials and evaluators have tended to over-invest financially and intellectually in a technocratic model of reducing reoffending that emphasizes programmes for offenders, and to under-invest in models that see the process as a complex ‘people changing’ skill. It argues that the complexity of this process renders it hard to evaluate using experimental methods of evaluation such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RCTs provide strong internal validity, but in complex settings offer weak external validity, making it hard to generalize from the experimental setting to other settings. The article suggests that the proper role for evaluative research in this field should be seen as building and testing middle-level theories about how best to change offenders’ behaviour

Van interventie tot stoppen met misdaad

ARTIKELEN: 1. A.E. Bottoms - Actief volwassen worden; een verklaring voor de daling in criminaliteit onder jonge volwassenen 2. V. van der Geest - Werk doet delinquentie afnemen 3. H. Werdmölder - Stoppen met crimineel gedrag; een kwalitatief, longitudinaal onderzoek naar Marokkaanse en Nederlandse mannen met een crimineel verleden 4. M. van Ooyen-Houben, C.N. Nas en J. Mulder - What Works en What goes Wrong? Over evidence-based beleid in de dagelijkse praktijk 5. F. McNeill, K. Anderson, S. Colvin, K. Overy, R. Sparks en L. Tett - Kunstprojecten en What Works; een stimulans voor desistance? 6. B. Vogelvang - Familierelaties en het stoppen met misdaad; aangrijpingspunten voor het reclasseringswerk 7. Internetsites. SAMENVATTING: De artikelen in dit themanummer gaan dieper in op vraagstukken rondom de levensloop/ontwikkeling van delinquenten en delinquent gedrag en gedragsinterventies voor (ex-)gedetineerden. Ook de rol die de reclassering kan spelen, komt aan de orde