Bayes to the rescue: does the type of hypnotic induction matter?

Studies comparing different forms of hypnotic induction (e.g., indirect vs. direct induction) on responsiveness to suggestion have typically found no significant difference between induction types. However, no firm conclusion can be drawn from a nonsignificant result. In contrast, Bayes factors (Jeffreys, 1939/1961) indicate whether evidence favors H0 and against the alternative hypothesis or whether data are simply insensitive. Here, we apply Bayes factors to those nonsignificant results to decide: Does the form of hypnotic induction really not matter, does it matter, or should we suspend judgment? As the claim that different inductions are differentially effective comes mostly from clinicians, we based the Bayes factors on hypnotherapists’ judgments of expected differences between inductions. In addition, we also used empirical differences between induction versus no-induction as an estimate of the order of size of effect that could be expected between different inductions, independent of clinical judgment. As a whole, the Bayesian reanalysis of the present evidence supports the claim that additional research should be done on the influence of the induction procedure on hypnotic responsiveness (at least with regard to the inductions considered in the present study), with several exceptions

Hyperparameter Optimization for AST Differencing

Computing the differences between two versions of the same program is an essential task for software development and software evolution research. AST differencing is the most advanced way of doing so, and an active research area. Yet, AST differencing still relies on default configurations or manual tweaking. In this paper we present a novel approach named DAT for hyperparameter optimization of AST differencing. We thoroughly state the problem of hyper configuration for AST differencing. We show that our data-driven approach to hyperoptimize AST differencing systems increases the edit-script quality in up to 53% of cases

Fine-grained and Accurate Source Code Differencing

update for oadoi on Nov 02 2018International audienceAt the heart of software evolution is a sequence of edit actions, called an "edit script", made to a source code file. Since software systems are stored version by version, the edit script has to be computed from these versions, which is known as a complex task. Existing approaches usually compute edit scripts at the text granularity with only "add line" and "delete line" actions. However, inferring syntactic changes from such an edit script is hard. Since moving code is a frequent action performed when editing code and it should also be taken into account. In this paper, we tackle these issues by introducing an algorithm computing edit scripts at the abstract syntax tree granularity including move actions. Our objective is to compute edit scripts that are short and close to the original developer intent. Our algorithm is implemented in a freely-available and extensible tool that has been intensively validated

Free Fatty Acids and Fatty Acids of Triacylglycerols in Normal and Hyperkeratotic Human Stratum Corneum

The content of the free fatty acids and the fatty acids of triacylglycerols has been measured in human plantar stratum corneum from normal and hyperkeratotic subjects with palmoplantar keratoderma. Fatty acids of triacylglycerols in normal tissues showed a characteristic pattern with a relative abundance of short-chain length and unsaturated fatty acids. Free fatty acid fraction was characterized by the predominance of saturated compounds. The relative amount of short-chain and monoene fatty acids in the hyperkeratotic stratum corneum was increased. These results seem to show a defect in the maturation of fatty acids in the living epidermis and present new evidence that the abnormality of lipid metabolism can influence the process of desquamation in stratum corneum

Atomic-scale grain boundary engineering to overcome hot-cracking in additively-manufactured superalloys

There are still debates regarding the mechanisms that lead to hot cracking in parts build by additive manufacturing (AM) of non-weldable Ni-based superalloys. This lack of in-depth understanding of the root causes of hot cracking is an impediment to designing engineering parts for safety-critical applications. Here, we deploy a near-atomic-scale approach to investigate the details of the compositional decoration of grain boundaries in the coarse-grained, columnar microstructure in parts built from a non-weldable Ni-based superalloy by selective electron-beam melting. The progressive enrichment in Cr, Mo and B at grain boundaries over the course of the AM-typical successive solidification and remelting events, accompanied by solid-state diffusion, causes grain boundary segregation induced liquation. This observation is consistent with thermodynamic calculations. We demonstrate that by adjusting build parameters to obtain a fine-grained equiaxed or a columnar microstructure with grain width smaller than 100 $\mu$m enables to avoid cracking, despite strong grain boundary segregation. We find that the spread of critical solutes to a higher total interfacial area, combined with lower thermal stresses, helps to suppress interfacial liquation.Comment: Accepted version at Acta Materiali

Search for photon oscillations into massive particles

International audienceIn this paper, we present the final results of our experiment on photon-axion oscillations in the presence of a magnetic field, which took place at LULI (Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, Palaiseau, France). Our null measurement allowed us to exclude the existence of axions with inverse coupling constant $M>9.\times 10^5$ GeV for low axion masses and to improve the preceding BFRT limits by a factor 3 or more for axion masses $1.1\, \mbox{meV

Neuropilin-2 Expression Promotes TGF-β1-Mediated Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition in Colorectal Cancer Cells

Neuropilins, initially characterized as neuronal receptors, act as co-receptors for cancer related growth factors and were recently involved in several signaling pathways leading to cytoskeletal organization, angiogenesis and cancer progression. Then, we sought to investigate the ability of neuropilin-2 to orchestrate epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer cells. Using specific siRNA to target neuropilin-2 expression, or gene transfer, we first observed that neuropilin-2 expression endows HT29 and Colo320 for xenograft formation. Moreover, neuropilin-2 conferred a fibroblastic-like shape to cancer cells, suggesting an involvement of neuropilin-2 in epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Indeed, the presence of neuropilin-2 in colorectal carcinoma cell lines was correlated with loss of epithelial markers such as cytokeratin-20 and E-cadherin and with acquisition of mesenchymal molecules such as vimentin. Furthermore, we showed by surface plasmon resonance experiments that neuropilin-2 is a receptor for transforming-growth factor-β1. The expression of neuropilin-2 on colon cancer cell lines was indeed shown to promote transforming-growth factor-β1 signaling, leading to a constitutive phosphorylation of the Smad2/3 complex. Treatment with specific TGFβ-type1 receptor kinase inhibitors restored E-cadherin levels and inhibited in part neuropilin-2-induced vimentin expression, suggesting that neuropilin-2 cooperates with TGFβ-type1 receptor to promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer cells. Our results suggest a direct role of NRP2 in epithelial-mesenchymal transition and highlight a cross-talk between neuropilin-2 and TGF-β1 signaling to promote cancer progression. These results suggest that neuropilin-2 fulfills all the criteria of a therapeutic target to disrupt multiple oncogenic functions in solid tumors

Coq Community Survey 2022: Summary of Results

Affiliated with ITP 2022, part of FLoC 2022International audienceThe Coq Community Survey 2022 was an online public survey conducted during February 2022. Its main goal was to obtain an updated picture of the Coq user community and inform future decisions taken by the Coq team. In particular, the survey aimed to enable the Coq team to make effective decisions about the development of the Coq software, and also about matters that pertain to the ecosystem maintained by Coq users in academia and industry. In this presentation abstract, we outline how the survey was designed, its content, and some initial data analysis and directions. Not least due to free-text answers to some questions requiring a more lengthy summary, the full presentation includes additional data and conclusions

Attention or instruction: do sustained attentional abilities really differ between high and low hypnotisable persons?

Previous research has suggested that highly hypnotisable participants (‘highs’) are more sensitive to the bistability of ambiguous figures—as evidenced by reporting more perspective changes of a Necker cube—than low hypnotisable participants (‘lows’). This finding has been interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that highs have more efficient sustained attentional abilities than lows. However, the higher report of perspective changes in highs in comparison to lows may reflect the implementation of different expectation-based strategies as a result of differently constructed demand characteristics according to one’s level of hypnotisability. Highs, but not lows, might interpret an instruction to report perspective changes as an instruction to report many changes. Using a Necker cube as our bistable stimulus, we manipulated demand characteristics by giving specific information to participants of different hypnotisability levels. Participants were told that previous research has shown that people with similar hypnotisability as theirs were either very good at switching or maintaining perspective versus no information. Our results show that highs, but neither lows nor mediums, were strongly influenced by the given information. However, highs were not better at maintaining the same perspective than participants with lower hypnotisability. Taken together, these findings favour the view that the higher sensitivity of highs in comparison to lows to the bistability of ambiguous figures reflect the implementation of different strategies