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Connected speech features in non-English speakers with Alzheimer's disease: protocol for scoping review
Get PDFBackground A large body of literature indicates that connected speech profiles in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be utilized for diagnosis, disease monitoring, and for developing communication strategies for patients. Most connected speech research has been conducted in English, with little work in some European languages. Therefore, significant drawback remains with respect to the diversity of languages studied, and how the fragmentation of linguistic features differs across languages in AD. Accordingly, existing reviews on connected speech in AD have focused on findings from English-speaking patients; none have specifically focused on the linguistic diversity of AD populations. This scoping review is undertaken to provide the currently reported characteristics of connected speech in AD in languages other than English. It also seeks to identify the type of assessments, methods to elicit speech samples, type of analysis and linguistic frameworks used, and micro- and macro-linguistic features of speech reported in non-English speakers with AD.MethodWe will conduct a scoping review of published studies that have quantitively assessed connected speech in AD in languages other than English. The inclusion criteria for the studies would be subject/s with a clinical diagnosis of AD. The search will include the electronic databases PubMed, Ovid-Embase, PsycINFO, Linguistic and Language Behaviour Abstracts (LLBA), and Web of Science up until March 2023. Findings will be mapped and described according to the languages studied, the methodology employed (e.g., patient characteristics, tasks used, linguistic analysis framework utilized), and connected speech profiles derived (e.g., micro- and macro-linguistic reported).DiscussionThe scoping review will provide an overview of languages studied in connected speech research in AD with variation in linguistic features across languages, thus allowing comparison with the established key features that distinguish AD patients from healthy controls. The findings will inform future research in connected speech in different languages to facilitate robust connected speech research in linguistically and ethnically diverse populations
Investigating the themes in supply chain finance: the emergence of blockchain as a disruptive technology
Get PDFBlockchain has gained momentum as a disruptive technology in supply chain management against its introduction as a finance-related instrument. Nevertheless, the developing academic understanding and the limited practical implications lead to insufficient insights into the use of blockchain technology, particularly in the supply chain finance (SCF) domain. Thus, the expected potential of blockchain technology remains underexplored. Accordingly, this study explicates this situation by examining the extant literature findings and web-based big data that can provide evidence about the real needs in supply chains, and investigating how blockchain emerges as a disruptive SCF-oriented technology. The study employs a web analytics method, Search Engine Results Page (SERP) analysis which considers the trends in blockchain technology use and the interactions between blockchain, supply chain and finance appearing in Google searches. The SERP method examined real-time clicks, web traffics and most commonly asked questions about blockchain. The SERP findings revealed that the interest in blockchain technology neither focused on finance nor data privacy as emphasised in the literature but mainly on the benefits of increasing digitalisation and efficiency in supply chains. The results offered practical implications for capturing recent blockchain- and supply chain-related trends and designing more digital and efficient supply chains
Mindfulness facets and psychological well-being among meditators: serenity as a mediating process
Get PDFGuided by the theoretical processes of mindfulness and psychological well-being, this study examined serenity as a mediator between mindfulness facets and psychological well-being, as indexed by depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Participants were 133 mindfulness practitioners who took part in a 3-day transnational meditation event in Hong Kong. Upon informed consent, participants completed a self-report questionnaire. The findings from structural equation modeling showed that serenity mediated the relation between two facets of mindfulness, including describing and nonreacting to inner experience, and life satisfaction. Serenity also mediated the relation between the mindfulness facet of describing and depressive symptoms. Direct associations were indicated between two mindfulness facets, including observing and nonjudging of inner experience, and depressive symptoms. Taken together, the findings revealed mindfulness facets as major correlates of serenity and psychological outcomes among Chinese meditation practitioners. To foster psychological well-being, researchers, educators, and practitioners should pay attention to the role of serenity, describing, and nonreacting to inner experience in mental health
Module 4 - regulatory compliance (advanced) & building a sustainable compliance framework – general compliance: enhanced competency framework - compliance
No full textThis module aims to provide the candidates with in-depth conceptual, legal and technical knowledges in relation to the performance of general compliance function in an Authorized
Institutions in Hong Kong. Different compliance tools and handling of non-compliance incidents will be assessed and analyzed alongside the policy, procedures, people and process in response to the compliance function. The current trend of Regtech adoption is also examined
The ultimate end: an exploration of the perspective of two stakeholder groups on the moral purpose of coaching
Get PDFThis study explores the moral purpose (telos) of coaching. Whilst much has been written about outcomes-based or instrumental purposes of coaching, there is little understanding of the ultimate end or moral purpose of coaching. What is the ultimate ‘good’ that we aim to achieve as coaches? This research contributes to the continuing debate regarding the status of coaching as a profession and where there is a gap in the literature on moral purpose. Thirteen experienced coaches and eleven clients were interviewed as key stakeholders in coaching practice to determine their understanding of the moral purpose of coaching in the context of the workplace. Data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The moral purpose of coaching was found to be the flourishing of the client through the development of self-awareness, identity and agency. These were found to link to two instrumental and subsidiary purposes which are ‘outcome’ and ‘movement’. The paper proposes a conceptual model for further testing and professional reflection
On the heat waves over India and their future projections under different SSP scenarios from CMIP6 models
Get PDFThirteen Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) models were employed to simulate mean, maximum, and minimum temperature across 7 homogenous temperature regions of India for both annual and summer season (June, July, and August (JJA)). The model fidelity was assessed by comparing them with observed Climate Research Unit temperature dataset. The JJA multi‐model ensemble for the present (1981–2014) suggests large warm biases in the temperature. Although the models could simulate the spatial variability of the mean and maximum temperature over most of the homogeneous regions, they do not compare well for representing the temporal variability. We also found, that although different individual models have strengths and weaknesses in representing spatial and temporal temperature characteristics over India, a few of the models perform better than the others. For example, CNRM‐CM6 could better represent the spatial temperature patterns however they struggle in capturing the temporal variability. HadGEM3‐GC31‐LL, KACE‐1‐0G, and UKESM1‐0‐LL are comparably the best‐performing models for temporal temperature features over India. The annual maximum temperature during far future period is projected to increase by 1.5°C, 2.3°C, and 4.1°C for Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) SSP1‐2.6, SSP2‐4.5, and SSP5‐8.5 respectively. At regional scales, JJA mean temperature for SSP5‐8.5 revealed significant increases in Interior Peninsula (3.8°C), Western Himalaya (5.6°C), Northwest (3.9°C), West Coast (3.6°C), East Coast (3.6°C), Northeast (3.6°C), and North Central (3.8°C), highlighting the Western Himalaya's heightened sensitivity. Further, heat wave frequency is projected to rise, with the northern territories (NW, NC, NE, and part of IP) most affected, anticipating week‐long heat waves affecting around 50% of India's population under stronger SSPs. Such unprecedented impacts seem to be less profound in case of abatement scenarios such as the SSP1‐2.6. Our findings support the urgent need for more ambitious mitigation and adaptation strategies to alleviate the public health impacts of climate change
Motivated with joy or anxiety: does approach-avoidance goal framing elicit differential reward-network activation in the brain?
Get PDFPsychological research on human motivation repeatedly observed that approach goals (i.e., goals to attain success) increase task enjoyment and intrinsic motivation more strongly than avoidance goals (i.e., goals to avoid failure). The present study sought to address how the reward network in the brain-including the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex-is involved when individuals engage in the same task with a focus on approach or avoidance goals. Participants reported stronger positive emotions when they focused on approach goals, but stronger anxiety and disappointment when they focused on avoidance goals. The fMRI analyses revealed that the reward network in the brain showed similar levels of activity to cues predictive of approach and avoidance goals. In contrast, the two goal states were associated with different patterns of activity in the visual cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum during success and failure outcomes. Representation similarity analysis further revealed shared and different representations within the striatum and vmPFC between the approach and avoidance goal states, suggesting both the similarity and uniqueness of the mechanisms behind the two goal states. In addition, the distinct patterns of activation in the striatum were associated with distinct subjective experiences participants reported between the approach and the avoidance conditions. These results suggest the importance of examining the pattern of striatal activity in understanding the mechanisms behind different motivational states in humans
Contractility defects hinder glycoprotein VI-mediated platelet activation and affect platelet functions beyond clot contraction
Get PDFABSTRACT
Background: Active and passive biomechanical properties of platelets contribute substantially to thrombus formation. Actomyosin contractility drives clot contraction required for stabilizing the hemostatic plug. Impaired contractility results in bleeding but is difficult to detect using
platelet function tests.
Objectives: To determine how diminished myosin activity affects platelet functions including and beyond clot contraction.
Methods: Using the myosin IIA-specific pharmacological inhibitor blebbistatin, we tuned myosin activity in platelets from healthy donors and systematically characterized platelet responses at various levels of inhibition using a range of complementary assays interrogating distinct platelet functions at each stage of thrombus formation.
Results: Partial myosin IIA inhibition did not affect platelet von Willebrand Factor interactions
under arterial shear nor spreading and cytoskeletal rearrangements on fibrinogen. However, it impacted stress fiber formation and the nanoarchitecture of cell-matrix adhesions, drastically reducing and limiting traction forces. Higher blebbistatin concentrations impaired platelet adhesion under flow, altered mechanosensing at lamellipodia edges, and eliminated traction forces without affecting spreading, α-granule secretion, or procoagulant platelet
formation. Unexpectedly, myosin IIA inhibition reduced calcium influx, dense granule secretion and platelet aggregation downstream of glycoprotein (GP) VI and limited the redistribution of GPVI on the cell membrane, whereas aggregation induced by ADP or arachidonic acid were unaffected.
Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of both active contractile and passive crosslinking roles of myosin IIA in the platelet cytoskeleton. They support the hypothesis that highly contractile platelets are needed for hemostasis and further suggest a supportive role for myosin IIA in GPVI signaling
Does public justification face an ‘expert problem’? some thoughts in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFPolicies are often justified to the public with reference to factual claims that most people cannot easily verify or scrutinise because they lack relevant knowledge or expertise. This poses a challenge for theories of public justification which require that laws are justified using reasons that all can accept. Further difficulties arise in cases such as the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic where the factual base of knowledge used to justify policies is limited, subject to a high degree of disagreement amongst experts, and marked by rapid changes. This paper reviews some strategies that public justification theorists might draw on to address the question of how to justify policies that depend on this kind of expert knowledge. Whilst such strategies cohere with existing theories of public justification, they do not yield intuitively attractive recommendations. Ideally, theories of public justification would provide criteria by which to evaluate expert testimony such that it guides and informs, but does not lead, policy making. However, in cases like the pandemic response, theories of public reason currently tend towards recommendations that are intuitively unattractive: either requiring citizens to defer to ‘experts’ in a fairly uncritical way or being overly permissive of most factual claims