100,569 research outputs found
Neural underpinnings of visuomotor functions: insights from brain connectivity
No full textBesides being essential for our survival, actions provide meaning to our exchanges with the external world. To successfully interact with the objects surrounding us, we need to extract their relevant visual features, turn them into motor possibilities, and perform movements while integrating visual, tactile, and motor information. In my work, I investigated how this different information is merged in the brain and nested in a process that is continuously updated as the action unfolds. I used neuroimaging techniques in humans to prove that such mechanisms lie in the connections between multiple brain areas. I provided evidence that parietal and frontal areas are bounded by feed-forward/feedback loops during the execution of reaching and grasping movements, showing their different interplay during motor imagery with implications for rehabilitation protocols of motor functions. To test the idea that such circuits are stressed under changing environmental contexts, using virtual reality I created ecological environments to expand the range of action possibilities to be investigated. I tested these paradigms under functional MRI by developing an MRI-compatible motion tracking system to study the neural underpinnings of the online update of motor plans. I have also investigated the neurophysiological correlates of mechanical and tactile hand-object interactions using transcranial magnetic stimulation and providing evidence of stronger cortico-cortical inputs to M1 under conditions of sensorimotor uncertainty during grasp-lift tasks. Overall, by combining multiple techniques and paradigms my work uniquely explored the neural correlates of multiple facets of human motor behavior
Letter, [Author unclear] to Paulina T. Merritt
No full textHandwritten letter to Paulina Merritt from an unknown author, October 1, 1876.
How to select measures for gender equality plans
No full textAs recently announced by the European Commission, Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) will become an eligibility criterion in the future Horizon Europe programme (2021-2027) for every legal entity (public body, research center or higher education institution). The complex process of designing a GEP in a Research Performing Organization (RPO) involves different phases. In this paper, recalling the six steps process of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) GEAR tool for developing GEPs in research institutions, we focus on the third critical step of setting up a GEP. In particular, the EIGE recommendation for an effective GEP design is to get inspiration from measures implemented by other organisations and tailor them to the specific local institutional context. However, analysing other RPO’s GEP measures is a time-consuming effort requiring at least some experience and preparation to understand and evaluate the measures replicability, impact, effectiveness and sustainability. This analysis may be a very complicated task for organisations that are not experienced with GEPs. To address this issue, the paper presents a methodology that aims at supporting RPOs in the selection of measures to be included in the institutional GEP design. The proposed methodology has been defined in the context of the LeTSGEPs Horizon 2020 project and is based on a catalogue of GEPs measures that have been experimented by European RPOs so far. The LeTSGEPs methodology and related catalogue offer a classified guide of the GEP measures' gender impact through several factors, such as: the gender issues to be addressed, the target groups, the stakeholders to be involved, the different dimensions of staff organisational well being, the output and outcome indicators, the possible sustainability strategies. The proposed catalogue may represent a tool able to facilitate RPOs evaluation and selection of measures among those already experimented by other research institutions, offering useful indication on their appropriateness to solve specific issues. At a more general level, the catalogue also provides essential information on the main measures that have been experimented so far in implementing GEPs in European RPOs, the most common areas of interest, and the capabilities involved
Handwritten biographical information on Paulina T. McClung Merritt
No full textA handwritten biography of Paulina T. McClung Merritt by an unknown author, 1892.
Heterogeneous and tissue-specific regulation of effector T cell responses by IFN-gamma during Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection.
No full textIFN-γ and T cells are both required for the development of experimental cerebral malaria during Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection. Surprisingly, however, the role of IFN-γ in shaping the effector CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell response during this infection has not been examined in detail. To address this, we have compared the effector T cell responses in wild-type and IFN-γ(-/-) mice during P. berghei ANKA infection. The expansion of splenic CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells during P. berghei ANKA infection was unaffected by the absence of IFN-γ, but the contraction phase of the T cell response was significantly attenuated. Splenic T cell activation and effector function were essentially normal in IFN-γ(-/-) mice; however, the migration to, and accumulation of, effector CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in the lung, liver, and brain was altered in IFN-γ(-/-) mice. Interestingly, activation and accumulation of T cells in various nonlymphoid organs was differently affected by lack of IFN-γ, suggesting that IFN-γ influences T cell effector function to varying levels in different anatomical locations. Importantly, control of splenic T cell numbers during P. berghei ANKA infection depended on active IFN-γ-dependent environmental signals--leading to T cell apoptosis--rather than upon intrinsic alterations in T cell programming. To our knowledge, this is the first study to fully investigate the role of IFN-γ in modulating T cell function during P. berghei ANKA infection and reveals that IFN-γ is required for efficient contraction of the pool of activated T cells
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Pelevin’s Trinity in the novel “t”: author – protagonist – reader
No full textThe article attempts to interpret Pelevin's artistic strategy in the novel "T" by exploring its subject organization and addressing the key problems of the author, the protagonist, and the reader as they are seen by the researcher. The article analyzes the peculiarities of constructing the narrative reality in the novel "T", and goes on to discuss Pelevin's philosophic models of the development of the humankind, and the emergence of his new anthropology
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