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More than one’s negative ties: The role of friends’ antipathies in high school gossip
Full text linkGossip is universal, and multiple studies have demonstrated that it can have beneficial group-level outcomes when negative reports help identify defectors or norm-violators. Gossip, however, seldom happens in a social vacuum. Instead, it is enmeshed in a fabric of positive and negative relationships that creates opportunities, constraints, and also motives to gossip. This article studies the importance of friendships and antipathies among the three concerned parties (sender, receiver, target) for negative gossip among adolescents. We contrast two theoretical accounts. According to the first, gossip brings closer individuals who have “enemies” in common. Based on this, we infer that gossip appears in triads where both the sender and receiver share their antipathy against the target. The second position argues that gossip is used to compromise different opinions of friends towards the target. Thus, what predicts gossip is direct antipathy against the target or being friends with someone who dislikes the target (indirect antipathy) rather than the combination of the two antipathies. We test these two lines of reasoning with sociometric data from 17 classroom observations (13 unique classrooms in different time points) in Hungary. Bayesian Exponential Random Graph Models yield support for direct antipathy in 13 (nine unique) classrooms and indirect antipathy in five. No evidence for shared antipathy is found. Results suggest that, at least among adolescents, negative gossip is not about bonding with potential allies but more about consensus-making between friends. Also, results reveal that negative gossip concentrates on the two ends of the reputational echelon, hinting that, in the classroom, high reputation might be contested instead of rewarded
Could a Referendum Change the Local Party System? Discussion of the Referendum’s Consequences in the Context of Cleavages
Full text linkThe local policy is sometimes degraded by this opinion: in the small village, there is no policy, self‑government is based on the personal character without the political context, it is mainly oriented on the technical side of the government. However, different researches confirm that despite this claim local policy contains political (and ideological) fights. These researches focus on different topics and different attitudes in cleavages or conflict study. However, only a few research types mentioned the importance of local civic activism in connection with the local policy trends. It is interesting because civic activism, values and attitudes are the main points in the cleavage topic. In this research, we will discuss the term cleavage (concept by Deegan‑Krause) in the context of four Czech municipalities which have experience with civic activism – the referendum. In our research, we will focus on four municipalities, on which we will present the application of the Deegan‑Krause model. Based on the application, we will discuss if civic activism in the form of a referendum could lead to changes in the local party system
ENNGene: an Easy Neural Network model building tool for Genomics
Full text linkBackground The recent big data revolution in Genomics, coupled with the emergence of Deep Learning as a set of powerful machine learning methods, has shifted the standard practices of machine learning for Genomics. Even though Deep Learning methods such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) are becoming widespread in Genomics, developing and training such models is outside the ability of most researchers in the field. Results Here we present ENNGene-Easy Neural Network model building tool for Genomics. This tool simplifies training of custom CNN or hybrid CNN-RNN models on genomic data via an easy-to-use Graphical User Interface. ENNGene allows multiple input branches, including sequence, evolutionary conservation, and secondary structure, and performs all the necessary preprocessing steps, allowing simple input such as genomic coordinates. The network architecture is selected and fully customized by the user, from the number and types of the layers to each layer's precise set-up. ENNGene then deals with all steps of training and evaluation of the model, exporting valuable metrics such as multi-class ROC and precision-recall curve plots or TensorBoard log files. To facilitate interpretation of the predicted results, we deploy Integrated Gradients, providing the user with a graphical representation of an attribution level of each input position. To showcase the usage of ENNGene, we train multiple models on the RBP24 dataset, quickly reaching the state of the art while improving the performance on more than half of the proteins by including the evolutionary conservation score and tuning the network per protein. Conclusions As the role of DL in big data analysis in the near future is indisputable, it is important to make it available for a broader range of researchers. We believe that an easy-to-use tool such as ENNGene can allow Genomics researchers without a background in Computational Sciences to harness the power of DL to gain better insights into and extract important information from the large amounts of data available in the field
All that Glitters Isn't: Gold Mining, Sustainable Development, and the Loulo Mine
Full text linkThis article contributes to this discussion in three ways. First, it undertakes the first academic case study of the Loulo mine in Mali. Utilizing a variety of sources, including United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Filings, Canadian National Instrument 43-101 filings relating to Mineral Disclosure in Canada, annual and quarterly company reports, non-governmental organization (NGO) and human rights reports, and other secondary literature, this article presents a broad overview of the Loulo mine. In doing so, it challenges the corporate narrative that the Loulo mine has been a laudable contributor to sustainable development in Mali.This article contributes to this discussion in three ways. First, it undertakes the first academic case study of the Loulo mine in Mali. Utilizing a variety of sources, including United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Filings, Canadian National Instrument 43-101 filings relating to Mineral Disclosure in Canada, annual and quarterly company reports, non-governmental organization (NGO) and human rights reports, and other secondary literature, this article presents a broad overview of the Loulo mine. In doing so, it challenges the corporate narrative that the Loulo mine has been a laudable contributor to sustainable development in Mali
The Logic of Exemplarity
Full text linkThe topic of exemplarity has attracted considerable interest in philosophy, legal theory, literary studies and art recently. There is broad consensus that exemplary cases mediate between singular instances and general concepts or norms. The aim of this article is to provide an additional perspective on the logic of exemplarity. First, inspired by Jacques Derrida’s discussion of exemplarity, I shall argue that there is a kind of différance between (singular) examples and (general) exemplars. What an example exemplifies, the exemplarity of the example, eludes any fixed identity and follows a logic of supplement. Second, I shall present the so-called logic of exemplarity. The received paraconsistent view has it that the exemplar of X is an X and, at the same time, is not an X. Inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s discussion of the standard metre, I would like to present an alternative paracomplete view whereby we can say of an exemplar of X neither that it is an X nor that it is not an X
Evaluating Two Approaches to Assessing Student Progress in Cybersecurity Exercises
Full text linkCybersecurity students need to develop practical skills such as using command-line tools. Hands-on exercises are the most direct way to assess these skills, but assessing students' mastery is a challenging task for instructors. We aim to alleviate this issue by modeling and visualizing student progress automatically throughout the exercise. The progress is summarized by graph models based on the shell commands students typed to achieve discrete tasks within the exercise. We implemented two types of models and compared them using data from 46 students at two universities. To evaluate our models, we surveyed 22 experienced computing instructors and qualitatively analyzed their responses. The majority of instructors interpreted the graph models effectively and identified strengths, weaknesses, and assessment use cases for each model. Based on the evaluation, we provide recommendations to instructors and explain how our graph models innovate teaching and promote further research. The impact of this paper is threefold. First, it demonstrates how multiple institutions can collaborate to share approaches to modeling student progress in hands-on exercises. Second, our modeling techniques generalize to data from different environments to support student assessment, even outside the cybersecurity domain. Third, we share the acquired data and open-source software so that others can use the models in their classes or research
Literární soutěž Jana Palacha 2022
No full textLegenda o Marcovi Curtiovi je voľným veršovaným spracovaním starovekého rímskeho príbehu o rovnomennom legionárovi, ktorý obetoval svoj život za záchranu svojho rodného mesta.Legenda o Marcovi Curtiovi je voľným veršovaným spracovaním starovekého rímskeho príbehu o rovnomennom mladom legionárovi, ktorý obetoval svoj život za záchranu svojho rodného mesta.The Legend of Marcus Curtius is a free versified version of the ancient Roman story about the legionary of the same name who sacrificed his own life in order to save his city
Strange Bedfellows : A Hyper-pragmatic Alliance between European Liberals and an Illiberal Czech Technocrat
Full text linkThe article deals with the membership of the most important Czech political party, ANO (meaning “yes” in Czech), led by Andrej Babiš, in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Our goals are to reconstruct how Babiš’s party joined ALDE and to discuss the ideological differences between ANO and ALDE. The paper shows that ALDE’s offer of membership in 2014 was motivated by a pragmatic need to bolster its own position in the European Parliament; ANO, meanwhile, needed to anchor itself in European politics. Andrej Babiš’s technocratic and illiberal view was not apparent at the beginning, but more importantly, this did not matter to ALDE. ALDE’s Czech “point of contact,” ANO’s foreign policy expert and the leader of its party group in the European Parliament, Pavel Telička, made ANO’s membership credible. However, as a Euro-optimist, Telička was not compatible with ANO’s flexible ideological character in the long term and the party group split up. A comparison of the parties’ European Parliament election manifestos and positions on crucial controversial European issues clearly reveals a deep division between ALDE and ANO and their fundamentally opposed ideological positions. We describe the findings as a new hyper-pragmatic trend in the creation of Europarties, which weakens their ideological cohesion.Článek se věnuje členství ANO Andreje Babiše v Alianci liberálů a demokratů pro Evropu (ALDE). Cíli článku je rekonstruovat cestu ANO do ALDE a debatovat ideologické rozdíly mezi ANO a ALDE. Text ukazuje hluboký rozdíl mezi ALDE a ANO a fundamentální neslučitelnost jejich ideologických pozic, což dokládá hyperpragmatický trend v podobě Eurostran
Proteomic Signatures of Human Visceral and Subcutaneous Adipocytes
Full text linkContext: Adipose tissue distribution is a key factor influencing metabolic health and risk in obesity-associated comorbidities. Objective: Here we aim to compare the proteomic profiles of mature adipocytes from different depots. Methods: Abdominal subcutaneous (SA) and omental visceral adipocytes (VA) were isolated from paired adipose tissue biopsies obtained during bariatric surgery on 19 severely obese women (body mass index > 30 kg/m(2)) and analyzed using state-of-the-art mass spectrometry. Differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were performed to investigate proteome signature properties and to examine a possible association of the protein expression with the clinical data. Results: We identified 3686 protein groups and found 1140 differentially expressed proteins (adj. P value < 0.05), of which 576 proteins were upregulated in SA and 564 in VA samples. We provide a global protein profile of abdominal SA and omental VA, present the most differentially expressed pathways and processes distinguishing SA from VA, and correlate them with clinical and body composition data. We show that SA are significantly more active in processes linked to vesicular transport and secretion, and to increased lipid metabolism activity. Conversely, the expression of proteins involved in the mitochondria! energy metabolism and translational or biosynthetic activity is higher in VA. Conclusion: Our analysis represents a valuable resource of protein expression profiles in abdominal SA and omental VA, highlighting key differences in their role in obesity
Quantitative assessment of multiple pesticides in silicone wristbands of children/guardian pairs living in agricultural areas in South Africa
Full text linkLittle is known about personal and time-integrated exposure to past and current used pesticides in agricultural areas and within-family exposure similarities. We aimed to assess exposure to pesticides using silicone wristbands in child/guardian pairs living on farms and in villages within two agricultural areas in South Africa. Using silicone wristbands, we quantified 21 pesticides in child/guardian pairs in 38 households over six days in 2018. Levels (in ng/g wristband) of pesticides and their transformation products (12 current-use pesticides and nine organochlorine pesticides) were measured using GC-MS/MS. We assessed the correlation between pesticide levels and between household members using Spearman correlation coefficients (r(s)). Multivariable generalized least squares (GLS) models, using household id as intercept, were used to determine level of agreement between household members, exposure differences between children and guardians and exposure predictors (study area, household location [farm vs. village] and household pesticide use). We detected 16 pesticides with highest detection frequencies for deltamethrin (89%), chlorpyrifos (78%), boscalid (56%), cypermethrin (55%), and p,p'-DDT (48%). Most wristbands (92%) contained two or more pesticides (median seven (range one to 12)). Children had higher concentrations than guardians for four pesticides. Correlation between the pesticide levels were in most cases moderate (rs 0.30-0.68) and stronger in children than in guardians. Five pesticides showed moderate to strong correlation between household members, with the strongest correlation for boscalid (r(s) 0.84). Exposure differences between the two agricultural areas were observed for chlorpyri fas, diazinon, pmthiofos, cypermethrin, boscalid, p,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE and within areas for cypermethrin. We showed that for several pesticides children had higher exposure levels than guardians. The positive correlations observed for child/guardian pairs living in the same household suggest non-occupational shared exposure pathways in these communities