A bidirectional neurohumoral communication system known as the gut–brain axis integrates the activities of the intestine and the brain. In this Progress article, Collins, Surette and Bercik describe recent evidence suggesting that the intestinal microbiota is intimately connected with the gut–brain axis and can influence animal behaviour, development and health. The intestinal microbiota consists of a vast bacterial community that resides primarily in the lower gut and lives in a symbiotic relationship with the host. A bidirectional neurohumoral communication system, known as the gut–brain axis, integrates the host gut and brain activities. Here, we describe the recent advances in our understanding of how the intestinal microbiota communicates with the brain via this axis to influence brain development and behaviour. We also review how this extended communication system might influence a broad spectrum of diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome, psychiatric disorders and demyelinating conditions such as multiple sclerosis.

The interplay between the intestinal microbiota and the brain

The extent to which member states transpose EU directives in a timely fashion is often argued to be strongly associated with the general effectiveness of national bureaucracies. But what kind of institutional solutions ensure better performance? This paper examines the patterns and effects of departmental oversight across 28 ministries in Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. In mapping the strength of oversight, it relies on around 90 structured interviews regarding the rules-in-use on transposition planning, legal review and monitoring of deadlines. The analysis of the impact of departmental oversight is based on an original dataset of over 300 directives with transposition deadlines between January 2005 and December 2008.

On the european union

Anthocyanins belong to the flavonoid group of polyphenolic compounds, which are responsible for the red and blue colors of plant organs such as fruits, flowers, and leaves Due to their frequent presence in plants, particularly berry fruits, vegetables, and grapes, they are key components of the human diet Interest in anthocyanins has increased widely during the past decade Numerous studies have suggested that anthocyanins have a wide range of health-promoting properties These compounds are therefore considered to be a functional food factor, which may have important implications in the prevention of chronic diseases The aim of this body of work is to investigate and review the current literature on anthocyanins, and particularly their pharmacokinetics and any health-promoting properties, in order to summarize existing knowledge and highlight any aspects that require further study and analysis

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1541-4337.12024

The Case for Anthocyanin Consumption to Promote Human Health: A Review

The title of this technical report says almost everything: this is indeed \"a short bibliography on AI and the arts\". It is presented in four sections: General Arguments, Proposals, and Approaches (31 references); Artificial Intelligence in Music (124 references); Artificial Intelligence in Literature and the Performing Arts (13 references), and Artificial Intelligence and Visual Art (57 references). About a quarter of these have short abstracts. Creating a bibliography can be a monumental task, and this bibliography should be viewed as a good and useful start, though it is by no means complete. For comparison, consider the 4,585-entry bibliography Computer Applications in Music by Deta Davis (A-REditions). No direct comparison is intended (or possible), but my point is that many more papers are likely to exist. As a rough check, I looked for several pre-1990 AI and Music articles and books (including my own, of course) in the bibliography. Out of five papers from well-known sources, only one was listed. On the other hand, I discovered a number of papers in this report that were unknown to me, so I am grateful to have a new source of references. In their introduction, the authors acknowledge the need for more references and even offer.a cup of coffee in reward for each new one. I will be sending a number of contributions, so the next time anyone is in Vienna, the coffee is on me. I hope the authors will continue to collect abstracts and publish an updated report in the future.

Auditory Scene Analysis: The Perceptual Organization of Sound by Albert Bregman (review)

Anthocyanins are naturally occurring molecules belonging to the flavonoid class characterized by the presence of chromophores. Apart from their well-known antioxidant activity, they show a wide variety of health-promoting properties for human health, ranging from cytoprotective, antimicrobial and antitumour activities to neuroprotective, anti-obesity and lipidomic potential, properties for which anthocyanins have been prescribed as medicines in several countries for thousands of years. Despite this, these phytochemicals have received less attention than other flavonoids, and there is still a gap in the literature, particularly regarding pharmacological and toxicological aspects. Moreover, epidemiological evidence suggests a direct correlation between anthocyanin intake and a lower incidence of chronic and degenerative diseases. In light of this, the aim of this review is to cover the current literature on anthocyanins, their biological in vitro and in vivo effects and their potential therapeutic applications, as well as their bioavailability and pharmacokinetics, all of which are essential to gain a better understanding of their biological effectiveness and potential toxicity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Chemistry, Pharmacology and Health Benefits of Anthocyanins.

Recent techniques for indoor localization are now able to support practical, accurate turn-by-turn navigation for people with visual impairments (PVI) Understanding user behavior as it relates to situational contexts can be used to improve the ability of the interface to adapt to problematic scenarios, and consequently reduce navigation errors This work performs a fine-grained analysis of user behavior during indoor assisted navigation, outlining different scenarios where user behavior (either with a white-cane or a guide-dog) is likely to cause navigation errors The scenarios include certain instructions (eg, slight turns, approaching turns), cases of error recovery, and the surrounding environment (eg, open spaces and landmarks) We discuss the findings and lessons learned from a real-world user study to guide future directions for the development of assistive navigation interfaces that consider the users' behavior and coping mechanisms

/pdf/how-context-and-user-behavior-affect-indoor-navigation-je2fb09tyw.pdf

How Context and User Behavior Affect Indoor Navigation Assistance for Blind People

Blind people rely mostly on the auditory feedback of screen readers to consume digital information. Still, how fast can information be processed remains a major problem. The use of faster speech rates is one of the main techniques to speed-up the consumption of digital information. Moreover, recent experiments have suggested the use of concurrent speech as a valid alternative when scanning for relevant information. In this paper, we present an experiment with 30 visually impaired participants, where we compare the use of faster speech rates against the use of concurrent speech. Moreover, we combine these two approaches by gradually increasing the speech rate with one, two and three voices. Results show that concurrent voices with speech rates slightly faster than the default rate, enable a significantly faster scanning for relevant content, while maintaining its comprehension. In contrast, to keep-up with concurrent speech timings, One-Voice requires larger speech rate increments, which cause a considerable loss in performance. Overall, results suggest that the best compromise between efficiency and the ability to understand each sentence is the use of Two-Voices with a rate of 1.75*default-rate (approximately 278 WPM).

http://www.inesc-id.pt/pt/indicadores/Ficheiros/11687.pdf

Faster Text-to-Speeches: Enhancing Blind People's Information Scanning with Faster Concurrent Speech

Interaction with large touch surfaces is still a relatively infant domain, particularly when looking at the accessibility solutions offered to blind users. Their smaller mobile counterparts are shipped with built-in accessibility features, enabling non-visual exploration of linearized screen content. However, it is unknown how well these solutions perform in large interactive surfaces that use more complex spatial content layouts. We report on a user study with 14 blind participants performing common touchscreen interactions using one and two-hand exploration. We investigate the exploration strategies applied by blind users when interacting with a tabletop. We identified six basic strategies that were commonly adopted and should be considered in future designs. We finish with implications for the design of accessible large touch interfaces.

Blind People Interacting with Large Touch Surfaces: Strategies for One-handed and Two-handed Exploration

Braille has paved its way into mobile touchscreen devices, providing faster text input for blind people. This advantage comes at the cost of accuracy, as chord typing over a flat surface has proven to be highly error prone. A misplaced finger on the screen translates into a different or unrecognized character. However, the chord itself gathers information that can be leveraged to improve input performance. We present B#, a novel correction system for multitouch Braille input that uses chords as the atomic unit of information rather than characters. Experimental results on data collected from 11 blind people revealed that B# is effective in correcting errors at character-level, thus providing opportunities for instant corrections of unrecognized chords; and at word-level, where it outperforms a popular spellchecker by providing correct suggestions for 72% of incorrect words (against 38%). We finish with implications for designing chord-based correction system and avenues for future work.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2556288.2557269

B#: chord-based correction for multitouch braille input

People with visual impairments (PVI) have shown interest in visiting museums and enjoying visual art. Based on this knowledge, some museums provide tactile reproductions of artworks, specialized tours for PVI, or enable them to schedule accessible visits. However, the ability of PVI to visit museums is still dependent on the assistance they get from their family and friends or from the museum personnel. In this paper, we surveyed 19 PVI to understand their opinions and expectations about visiting museums independently, as well as the requirements of user interfaces to support it. Moreover, we increase the knowledge about the previous experiences, motivations and accessibility issues of PVI in museums.

/pdf/the-present-and-future-of-museum-accessibility-for-people-12mkbfdtlj.pdf

João Guerreiro

Papers

How Context and User Behavior Affect Indoor Navigation Assistance for Blind People

Faster Text-to-Speeches: Enhancing Blind People's Information Scanning with Faster Concurrent Speech

Blind People Interacting with Large Touch Surfaces: Strategies for One-handed and Two-handed Exploration

B#: chord-based correction for multitouch braille input

The Present and Future of Museum Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments