Insight into potential probiotic markers predicted in Lactobacillus pentosus MP-10 genome sequence

Lactobacillus pentosus MP-10 is a potential probiotic lactic acid bacterium (LAB) originally isolated from naturally fermented Aloreña green table olives. The entire genome sequence was annotated to in-silico analyze the molecular mechanisms involved in the adaptation of L. pentosus MP-10 to the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT), such as carbohydrate metabolism (related with prebiotic utilization) and the proteins involved in bacteria-host interactions. We predicted an arsenal of genes coding for carbohydrate-modifying enzymes to modify oligo- and polysaccharides, such as glycoside hydrolases, glycoside transferases and isomerases, and other enzymes involved in complex carbohydrate metabolism especially starch, raffinose and levan. These enzymes represent key indicators of the bacteria’s adaptation to the GIT environment, since they involve the metabolism and assimilation of complex carbohydrates not digested by human enzymes. We also detected key probiotic ligands (surface proteins, excreted or secreted proteins) involved in the adhesion to host cells such as adhesion to mucus, epithelial cells or extracellular matrix, and plasma components; also, moonlighting proteins or multifunctional proteins were found that could be involved in adhesion to epithelial cells and/or extracellular matrix proteins and also affect host immunomodulation. In-silico analysis of the genome sequence of L. pentosus MP-10 is an important initial step to screen for genes encoding for proteins that may provide probiotic features, and thus provides one new routes for screening and studying this potentially probiotic bacterium

Multisensory and Gaze-Contingent Stimulation of the Own Face

When observers’ own face is stroked in synchrony, but not in asynchrony with another face, they tend to perceive that face as more similar to their own and report that it belongs to them. This “enfacement effect” appears to be a compelling illusion and also modulates social cognitive processes. This thesis further examined the effect of such synchronous multisensory stimulation on physical and psychological aspects of the self. Chapter 2 explored whether multisensory facial stimulation can reduce racial prejudice. White observers’ faces were stroked with a cotton bud while they watched a black face being stroked in synchrony. This was compared with a no-touch and an asynchronous stroking condition. Across three experiments, observers consistently reported an enfacement illusion after the synchronous condition. However, this effect did not produce concurrent changes in implicit or explicit racial prejudice. Chapter 3 explored whether a similar enfacement effect can be elicited with a novel gaze-contingent mirror paradigm. In this paradigm, an onscreen face either mimicked observers’ own eye-gaze behaviour (congruent condition), moved its eyes in different directions to observers’ eyes (incongruent condition), or remains unresponsive to the observers’ gaze (neutral condition). Observers experienced a consistent enfacement illusion after the congruent condition across two of three experiments. However, while the mimicry of the onscreen face affected observers’ phenomenological experience, it did not alter their perceptual self-representations. A final experiment, in Chapter 4, further investigated the cognitive locus of the enfacement effect by using ERPs. Observers were exposed to blocks of synchronous and asynchronous stimulation. ERPs were then recorded while observers were presented with images of (a) a synchronously stimulated face, (b) an asynchronously stimulated face, (c) their own face, (d) one of two unfamiliar filler faces and (e) an unfamiliar target face. Observers consistently reported an enfacement illusion after the synchronous condition. However, this enfacement effect was not evident in ERP components reflecting early perceptual encoding of the face (i.e., N170) or subsequent identity- and affect-related markers, such as the N250 and the P300. Altogether the results of this thesis show that it is possible to enface a face, even when it belongs to a different ethnic group to that of the observer. This effect is such that observers report that the enfaced face belongs to them. Interestingly, a similar phenomenological enfacement experience can be obtained with gaze-contingent mirror paradigm. However, this enfacement effect seems to be too short-lived to be reflected in ERP components

Exploring the Role of Foveal and Extrafoveal Processing in Emotion Recognition: A Gaze-Contingent Study.

Although the eye-tracking technique has been widely used to passively study emotion recognition, no studies have utilised this technique to actively manipulate eye-gaze strategies during the recognition facial emotions. The present study aims to fill this gap by employing a gaze-contingent paradigm. Observers were asked to determine the emotion displayed by centrally presented upright or inverted faces. Under the window condition, only a single fixated facial feature was available at a time, only allowing for foveal processing. Under the mask condition, the fixated facial feature was masked while the rest of the face remained visible, thereby disrupting foveal processing but allowing for extrafoveal processing. These conditions were compared with a full-view condition. The results revealed that while both foveal and extrafoveal information typically contribute to emotion identification, at a standard conversation distance, the latter alone generally suffices for efficient emotion identification

Effectiveness of training in reducing accidents in construction companies

[eng] In 2021, 741 people died due to occupational accidents in the construction sector in Europe (Eurostat, 2023). The European Commission developed the Strategic Framework for Health and Safety at Work 2021–2027, outlining objectives to improve the health and safety of workers. One of these objectives is to improve the safety training. Method: Focusing on this point and considering the safety training offered to construction workers in Spain, in the first hypothesis, we propose that more safety training reduces accidents by separating mandatory and voluntary training. In Hypothesis 2, we analyze whether voluntary training has a greater effect on reducing accidents than mandatory training. Finally, in Hypothesis 3, we test whether specific training is more effective than general training in reducing accidents. To test these hypotheses, we used data from training providers, accident data from the Labor Authority, and economic data from Informa & Bureau van Dijk (SABI). The final sample comprises data from 1,283 Spanish construction companies over 11 years (2007–2017). The methodology involved analyzing the relationship between training and accidents, addressing our variables’ apparent endogeneity using instrumental variables. We analyzed the effect of accident training in the same year and, based on the learning curve theory, we also considered the previous three years of training. Results: Contrary to our hypotheses, our results show that more hours of safety training of all types are associated with more accidents, questioning its effectiveness. This finding highlights the need for an in-depth analysis of the training process to identify areas for improvement. Finally, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the training processes within the Spanish construction sector and propose potential modifications aimed at improving it and, consequently, reducing accidents.

Introduction: International Arbitration and the Courts

What role do national courts play in international arbitration? Is international arbitration an “autonomous dispute resolution process, governed primarily by non-national rules and accepted international commercial rules and practices” where the influence of national courts is merely secondary? Or, in light of the fact that “international arbitration always operates in the shadow of national courts,” is it not more accurate to say that national courts and international arbitration act in partnership? On April 17, 2015, the Pepperdine Law Review convened a group of distinguished authorities from international practice and academia to discuss these and other related issues for a symposium on International Arbitration and the Courts

Covertly instructing participants to focus of diagnostic features reduces the own-ethnicity bias in face recognition

One theory of own-ethnicity bias in face recognition is that people do not pay attention to the most diagnostically discriminating features of other-ethnicity faces, leading to poorer encoding and subsequent recognition of them. To test this theory, two standard old/new recognition paradigms were employed in which White and Black participants were covertly told to encode features that were diagnostic for discriminating between White or Black faces during the learning phase. These instructions were to rate the size of one of the more diagnostically important features: specifically, the eyes or the nose. The results indicate that this instruction was sufficient to minimise the own-ethnicity bias in face recognition offering further support to the aforementioned theory

Multisensory stimulation of other-race faces and the reduction of racial prejudice

This study investigated whether multisensory stimulation with other-race faces can reduce racial prejudice. In three experiments, the faces of Caucasian observers were stroked with a cotton bud while they watched a black face being stroked in synchrony on a computer screen. This was compared with a neutral condition, in which no tactile stimulation was administered (Experiment 1 and 2), and with a condition in which observers' faces were stroked in asynchrony with the onscreen face (Experiment 3). In all experiments, observers experienced an enfacement illusion after synchronous stimulation, whereby they reported to embody the other-race face. However, this effect did not produce concurrent changes in implicit or explicit racial prejudice. This outcome contrasts with other procedures for the reduction of self-other differences that decrease racial prejudice, such as behavioural mimicry and intergroup contact. We speculate that enfacement is less effective for such prejudice reduction because it does not encourage perspective-taking

Two face masks are better than one: congruency effects in face matching.

Although the positive effects of congruency between stimuli are well replicated in face memory paradigms, mixed findings have been found in face matching. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, face masks are now very common during daily life outdoor activities. Thus, the present study aims to further explore congruency effects in matching faces partially occluded by surgical masks. Observers performed a face matching task consisting of pairs of faces presented in full view (i.e., full-view condition), pairs of faces in which only one of the faces had a mask (i.e., one-mask condition), and pairs of faces in which both faces had a mask (i.e., two-mask condition). Although face masks disrupted performance in identity match and identity mismatch trials, in match trials, we found better performance in the two-mask condition compared to the one-mask condition. This finding highlights the importance of congruency between stimuli on face matching when telling faces together

Face masks affect emotion categorisation, age estimation, recognition, and gender classification from faces

Although putting on a mask over our nose and mouth is a simple but powerful way to protect ourselves and others during a pandemic, face masks may interfere with how we perceive and recognize one another, and hence, may have far-reaching impacts on communication and social interactions. To date, it remains relatively unknown the extent to which wearing a face mask that conceals the bottom part of the face affects the extraction of different facial information. To address this question, we compared young adults' performance between masked and unmasked faces in four different tasks: (1) emotion recognition task, (2) famous face recognition and naming test, (3) age estimation task, and (4) gender classification task. Results revealed that the presence of face mask has a negative impact on famous face recognition and emotion recognition, but to a smaller extent on age estimation and gender classification tasks. More interestingly, we observed a female advantage in the famous face recognition and emotion recognition tasks and a female own-gender bias in gender categorisation and age estimation tasks. Overall, these findings allude to the lack of malleability of the adulthood face recognition and perceptual systems