Search results for "multidisciplinary"
showing 10 items of 4640 documents
A survey dataset to evaluate the changes in mobility and transportation due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in Australia, Brazil, China, Ghana, India…
2020
COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted the global community. To curb the viral transmission, travel restrictions have been enforced across the world. The dataset documents the mobility disruptions and the modal shifts that have occurred as a consequence of the restrictive measures implemented in ten countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Norway, South Africa and the United States. An online questionnaire was distributed during the period from the 11st to the 31st of May 2020, with a total of 9 394 respondents. The first part of the survey has characterized the frequency of use of all transport modes before and during the enforcement of the restrictions, while the se…
Shame in decision making under risk conditions: Understanding the effect of transparency.
2017
The role played by the emotion of shame in the area of decision-making in situations of risk has hardly been studied. In this article, we show how the socio-moral emotions and the anticipated feeling of shame associated with different options can determine our decisions, even overriding the cognitive choice tendency proposed by the certainty effect. To do so, we carried out an experiment with university students as participants, dividing them into four experimental conditions. Our findings suggest that people avoid making unethical decisions, both when these decisions are made public to others and when they remain in the private sphere. This result seems to indicate that the main factor in …
A dynamic analysis of SP 500, FTSE 100 and EURO STOXX 50 indices under different exchange rates.
2018
In this study, we assess the dynamic evolution of short-term correlation, long-term cointe-gration and Error Correction Model (hereafter referred to as ECM)-based long-term Granger causality between each pair of US, UK, and Eurozone stock markets from 1980 to 2015 using the rolling-window technique. A comparative analysis of pairwise dynamic integration and causality of stock markets, measured in common and domestic currency terms, is conducted to evaluate comprehensively how exchange rate fluctuations affect the time-varying integration among the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and EURO STOXX 50 indices. The results obtained show that the dynamic correlation, cointegration and ECM-based long-run Gra…
What robots want? Hearing the inner voice of a robot.
2021
Summary The inner speech is thoroughly studied in humans, and it represents an interdisciplinary research issue involving psychology, neuroscience, and pedagogy. A few papers only, mostly theoretical, analyze the role of inner speech in robots. The present study investigates the potential of the robot's inner speech while cooperating with human partners. A cognitive architecture is designed and integrated with standard robot routines into a complex framework. Two threads of interaction are discussed by setting the robot operations with and without inner speech. Thanks to the robotic self-dialog, the partner can easily trace the robot's processes. Moreover, the robot can better solve conflic…
Experimental Infection of Voles with Francisella tularensis Indicates Their Amplification Role in Tularemia Outbreaks
2014
Tularemia outbreaks in humans have been linked to fluctuations in rodent population density, but the mode of bacterial maintenance in nature is unclear. Here we report on an experiment to investigate the pathogenesis of Francisella tularensis infection in wild rodents, and thereby assess their potential to spread the bacterium. We infected 20 field voles (Microtus agrestis) and 12 bank voles (Myodes glareolus) with a strain of F. tularensis ssp. holarctica isolated from a human patient. Upon euthanasia or death, voles were necropsied and specimens collected for histological assessment and identification of bacteria by immunohistology and PCR. Bacterial excretion and a rapid lethal clinical …
Realizing women´s right to maternal health: A study of awareness of rights and utilization of maternal health services among reproductive age women i…
2019
BackgroundMaternal mortality rates are still unacceptably high in many countries, indicating violation of women´s human right to life and health. Access to adequate information about maternal health rights and available services are essential aspects of realizing women´s right to accessible health care. This study aimed at assessing awareness of the right to access maternal health services among women who had recently given birth, and the association between such awareness and the utilization of maternal health services in two districts in Tanzania.MethodsThis study was cross sectional in design. Interviews were conducted with women who gave birth within one year prior to the survey in two …
Evaluating diagnostic indicators of urogenital Schistosoma haematobium infection in young women: A cross sectional study in rural South Africa
2018
BackgroundUrine microscopy is the standard diagnostic method for urogenital S. haematobium infection. However, this may lead to under-diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis, as the disease may present itself with genital symptoms in the absence of ova in the urine. Currently there is no single reliable and affordable diagnostic method to diagnose the full spectrum of urogenital S. haematobium infection. In this study we explore the classic indicators in the diagnosis of urogenital S. haematobium infection, with focus on young women.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study of 1237 sexually active young women in rural South Africa, we assessed four diagnostic indicators of urogenital S. haematobium…
Early Warning Systems for Food Security in West Africa: Evolution, Achievements and Challenges
2010
In West Africa, early warning systems (EWSs) for food security have been widely recognized to have contributed, in the last 20 years, to an improved ability to deal with famine emergencies. Nevertheless, despite the advancements in understanding of the environmental and socio-economic dynamics and despite the improved technologies, tackling food security remains a difficult task for decision makers as demonstrated by local food crises in many countries of the region. African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis, while improving the understanding of the monsoon system, allowed us to better orient research challenges to provide EWS with improved products, effectively meeting the needs of end-us…
Pleistocene allopatric differentiation followed by recent range expansion explains the distribution and molecular diversity of two congeneric crustac…
2021
AbstractPleistocene glaciations had a tremendous impact on the biota across the Palaearctic, resulting in strong phylogeographic signals of range contraction and rapid postglacial recolonization of the deglaciated areas. Here, we explore the diversity patterns and history of two sibling species of passively dispersing taxa typical of temporary ponds, fairy shrimps (Anostraca). We combine mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (ITS2 and 18S) markers to conduct a range-wide phylogeographic study including 56 populations of Branchinecta ferox and Branchinecta orientalis in the Palaearctic. Specifically, we investigate whether their largely overlapping ranges in Europe resulted from allopatric differe…
Protein kinase CK2 governs the molecular decision between encephalitogenic T H 17 cell and T reg cell development
2016
T helper 17 (TH17) cells represent a discrete TH cell subset instrumental in the immune response to extracellular bacteria and fungi. However, TH17 cells are considered to be detrimentally involved in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). In contrast to TH17 cells, regulatory T (Treg) cells were shown to be pivotal in the maintenance of peripheral tolerance. Thus, the balance between Treg cells and TH17 cells determines the severity of a TH17 cell-driven disease and therefore is a promising target for treating autoimmune diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms controlling this balance are still unclear. Here, we report that pharmacological inhibition as well as genetic ablat…