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What are the experiences of autistic individuals who engage in multiplayer online gaming? : A systematic meta-ethnography
No full textMultiplayer online gaming (MOG) is becoming an increasingly popular form of entertainment and way to interact with others. Within the online gaming community, there is a high proportion of autistic players. The aim of this review is to understand the experiences of autistic individuals who engage in MOG activity. A qualitative systematic review was conducted across five databases: PsychINFO, Medline, CINAHL, ACM Digital Library, and Web of Science. An additional search on Google Scholar was conducted to screen for grey literature. This resulted in 12 studies being identified for inclusion. Studies were synthesised using a meta-ethnographic approach. The review highlighted that MOGs provide opportunities for players to interact in a way that feels less pressured than the face-to-face world. This has positive implications for developing social skills and forming relationships with others. Additionally, players learn a variety of skills that contribute to increased self-esteem and improved psychological wellbeing. It is hoped that the findings from this review could be used clinically to help mental health professionals think about how such activities can benefit autistic individuals and also how they might adapt the way they work to be more suitable for this population
Epitranscriptomic Control of Viral Infection : YTHDF2 at the Crossroads of Host–Virus Interactions
No full textN6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the most prevalent and dynamic internal RNA modifications, playing a crucial role in regulating gene expression and cancer progression. This epitranscriptomic mark is co-transcriptionally deposited by m6A writers, recognised by reader proteins, and removed by erasers. In recent years, a wide range of viruses have been shown to carry m6A modifications within their RNA genomes or transcripts, which interact with the host cell’s m6A machinery to influence the viral life cycle. The field of viral epitranscriptomics has emerged to explore how such modifications impact viral gene expression, replication, and the evasion or modulation of host immune responses. Notably, m6A marks can enhance viral RNA stability through interaction with YTHDF2, a major m6A reader protein. Interest in YTHDF2 has grown due to its roles in RNA metabolism, disease progression, and therapeutic potential. However, its effect on viral replication is complex and context-dependent, exhibiting both proviral and antiviral functions under different cellular environments. This review highlights current insights into how YTHDF2 modulates the replication of various viruses and discusses its broader implications in host–virus interactions
Metaphor and multisensoriality drive appreciation in print advertising : An experimental study of visual and linguistic synaesthetic metaphors
Get PDFThe use of metaphors, whether linguistic or visual, has been shown to enhance advertisement effectiveness, and sensory marketing research highlights the positive effects of appealing to consumers’ sensory perception. Synaesthetic metaphors, which involve metaphor and sensory experiences, are ideal for studying the effects of both metaphor and (multi)sensory cues in advertisements. We experimentally tested the hypothesis that the presence of (linguistic and/or visual) metaphor and the evocation of multiple senses will enhance advertisement appreciation and the intention to purchase the advertised product. We manipulated eight print advertisements, each of which was presented in the following conditions: 1) visual and linguistic synaesthetic metaphor; 2) linguistic but no visual synaesthetic metaphor; 3) visual but no linguistic synaesthetic metaphor; 4) neither visual nor linguistic synaesthetic metaphor. Each advertisement was also rated for its multisensoriality, that is, its association with the five basic senses. Results partly supported the hypothesis, showing that advertisements with both visual and linguistic synaesthetic metaphors and those perceived as more multisensory were most appreciated. However, purchase intentions were not influenced by either metaphor or multisensoriality. This indicates that higher aesthetic appreciation does not necessarily translate into higher purchase intentions, suggesting the need for further research into additional influencing factors
Growth of private and state-owned listed businesses in China : The effects of finance and ownership structure on performance and potential
Get PDFPurpose This study analyses the growth patterns of listed Chinese companies in China during the 2000s and 2010s. Two key questions are considered: firstly, does finance affect firm growth in China? And, secondly, do private enterprises grow more quickly than state-owned enterprises? Design/methodology/approach A multi-year longitudinal approach is taken in order to provide a time-sensitive analysis of growth. Financial data were obtained from Compustat Global. The sample includes publicly listed non-financial companies in China’s two domestic stock exchanges – located in Shenzhen and Shanghai – between 1999 and 2022. Hypotheses were developed in order to test whether finance affects growth and also to determine whether private enterprises, which tend to be smaller and younger, grew faster than state-owned enterprises, which tend to be larger and older. Findings Growth was positively affected by investment opportunities, and constrained by debt, supporting the view that financing continues to be a critical factor in China. In the 2000s, companies at both ends of the size spectrum, namely the smallest and largest, outgrew companies in the middle. In the 2010s, smaller, younger companies continued to grow rapidly, while growth in larger, mature companies significantly slowed. Given the former are more likely to be private than state-owned enterprises (SOEs), this indicates that Chinese private enterprises have retained their vitality, despite ongoing constraints to their finance. SOEs continued to grow, but at a slower rate, indicating China’s economy is shifting to a more dynamic private sector, alongside an established, but slower-growing, state sector. Claims that the state sector is pushing out private enterprises are not supported. Practical implications China is becoming more of a private economy, and the mixed models proposed by the Chinese government are becoming less representative of the country’s actual economic structure. Future growth in China will increasingly be driven by private enterprises. State-owned enterprises, even where they dominate certain sectors, will contribute less to economic growth and activity. Originality/value The longitudinal use of financial and firm data over more than two decades provides a long-term perspective on firm growth in China. Studies taking a longer-term time-based consideration of firm growth and changing patterns are rare in the literature, but important for China due to continued economic growth, change and restructuring. The paper confirms ongoing issues around financing of growth firms and provides evidence that the private sector has outgrown the state sector since 2011
The impact of a story-based intervention on language, literacy, and cognitive development in South African pre-schoolers : randomised controlled trials for two language groups
Get PDFLiteracy rates in South Africa are low and many children start school without the requisite levels of emergent language and literacy skills needed to succeed. We report two RCTs of a story-based intervention delivered by preschool teachers to two language groups of children from low income backgrounds (isiXhosa: Nchildren=82, Nteachers=20; Afrikaans, Nchildren=118, Nteachers=24). The story-based intervention involved a 36-week programme, of 2-week cycles, each using a different culturally-appropriate story in the target language with activities designed to foster emergent language and literacy skills. Training for the teachers before and during the intervention was provided. The post-intervention assessment took place after 26 weeks. For both language groups (compared with the corresponding control group), the intervention had a positive impact on vocabulary taught in the programme and also developmental status across key learning domains. For early language and emergent literacy measures, baseline ability was the most consistent predictor for all outcome measures, with additional important contributions of initial vocabulary for some measures. This study demonstrates the feasibility of conducting gold-standard randomised controlled trials in low-resource settings. We draw on the data to set out practice and policy recommendations, critically the need to support school and literacy-learning readiness in homes and preschools, to enhance practice and children’s outcomes
Detection of protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) ultrasonographic imaging features in dogs using deep learning neural networks
Get PDFArtificial intelligence (AI)-based models and algorithms may aid in achieving overall more efficient and accurate diagnostics in various medical specialties. Such AI-based tools could be integrated and potentially offer advantages over currently used diagnostic and monitoring algorithms, enabling the pursue of more individualized treatment options with potentially improved patient outcomes in the future. However, very few studies exploring the potential of AI-based tools have been reported in veterinary medicine. Diagnosis and subclassification of chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE) and protein-losing enteropathy (PLE), requiring an integrated approach including several diagnostic modalities, remains a challenge in clinical canine gastroenterology and might benefit from AI-based tools. Thus, we aimed to use AI-based deep learning to develop a model that can differentiate clinical cases of protein-losing PLE from non-PLE CIE using ultrasonographic (B-mode) images. This pilot study included anonymized data extracted from the electronic medical records and diagnostic images from routine diagnostic evaluations of 59 dogs. Following several optimization steps, the final model had a high accuracy (91.57%), precision (0.9286), recall (0.9070), F1 score (0.9176), and AUC-ROC (0.9529). This model was highly sensitive and specific for the detection of ultrasonographic features associated with clinicopathologic and/or histological lesions consistent with a PLE diagnosis. Combining sonographic diagnostics with machine learning yielded a high degree of accuracy in PLE differentiation. The results of this study underscore the potential of integrating an AI-based model into CIE diagnostics and PLE differentiation in clinical canine gastroenterology
Essays in Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty
Get PDFhis thesis consists of three chapters that focus on decision making under uncertainty. The first of these chapters focuses on decision making for others, the second on different risk attitudes of males and females, and the third on wishful thinking in strategic games. In the first chapter, I conduct an experiment on decision making on behalf of others, and assess the difference between decision making for oneself and others under perfect and partial information. I use a lottery task to assess the risk preferences in each treatment group, and use the model outlined by Gurdal et al. (2013) to identify the impact of partial information on blame. The second chapter considers the gender difference in risk attitudes between males and females with inconclusive results. We use use a model that allows for a degree of heterogeneity between individuals, where males and females risk attitudes are drawn from two separate distributions as opposed to one value for males and one for females. We take data from three experiments where gender effects where not found and, using this method we find gender effects. The second chapter was jointly co-authored with Konstantinos Georgalos and Harrison Rolls and has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 202, 2022, 168-183. The third and final chapter of this focuses on wishful thinking in strategic games. This adapts an existing belief model used by Nyarko and Schotter (2002), adjusted to account for the possibility of wishful thinking. We then apply this model to the original dataset from Nyarko and Schotter (2002) and a new dataset from Attanasi et al. (2018), which provides data from an alternative game. We find evidence to support the presence of wishful thinking in both games
First Results on the Search for Lepton Number Violating Neutrinoless Double- β Decay with the LEGEND-200 Experiment
No full textThe LEGEND Collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double-beta ( 0 ν β β ) decay by operating high-purity germanium detectors enriched in Ge 76 in a low-background liquid argon environment. Building on key technological innovations from the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment, LEGEND-200 has performed a first 0 ν β β decay search based on 61.0 kg yr of data. Over half of this exposure comes from our highest performing detectors, including newly developed inverted-coaxial detectors, and is characterized by an estimated background level of 0.5 − 0.2 + 0.3 cts / ( keV ton yr ) in the 0 ν β β decay signal region. A combined analysis of data from GERDA, the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, and LEGEND-200, characterized by a 90% confidence level exclusion sensitivity of 2.8 × 10 26 yr on the half-life of 0 ν β β decay, reveals no evidence for a signal and sets a new observed lower limit at T 1 / 2 0 ν > 1.9 × 10 26 yr (90% confidence level). Assuming the decay is mediated by Majorana neutrinos, this corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range m β β < 75 – 200 meV , depending on the adopted nuclear matrix element
Uncovering the Secret Commonwealth : The Socio-Cultural Significance and Influence of Fairy Belief and Modern Fairy Encounters in Twenty-First Century England
Get PDFFairies and fairy-like beings have been a part of the folklore of the British Isles for as long as written records have existed. What are they and how do they affect the culture of the nation of England? This thesis traces the history and folklore of fairies and fairy belief and examines accounts of encounters recorded by people who claim to have seen or otherwise experienced fairies in the ‘real’ world. It forms a picture both of what fairies are like and what the people who experience them are like. It then goes on to analyse three main areas of English culture that are important to people today: nostalgia, enchantment and spirituality and how fairies have affected and continue to affect these areas. In terms of nostalgia, fairies create idyllic representations of the past that help people to endure the mundane and at times frightening aspects of the present. By using enchantment, including glamours, costumes, lights and magic, fairies enhance the ordinary, everyday environment of people, often for the purpose of tricking them or gaining help. In modern day spirituality, where established religions are declining in number and belief, New Age belief systems are filling up the gaps. Most recently, a fairy spirituality has developed, largely in the footprint of Wicca, wellbeing and oracular card readings, where fairies are elevated to the position of wise folk, ready and willing to give advice and comfort to human querants
Distribution and Sources of Emerging and Legacy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the East China Marginal Seas : Influence of Terrestrial Input and Hydrography
No full textThe replacement of legacy PFAS by emerging alternatives is increasingly prevalent. Due to the unique geographical and complex hydrological conditions of marginal seas, investigating the environmental behaviors of both legacy and emerging PFAS in these regions is necessary. In this study, seawater sampling was conducted in the East China Marginal Seas during 2020 and 2021. Among the 32 PFAS analyzed, 8 (2020) and 9 (2021) were detected in over 30% of samples, with mean concentrations of 4.93±4.17 ng/L and 13.0±13.2 ng/L, respectively. Notably, hexafluoropropylene oxide trimer acid (HFPO-TA, 5.02±4.95 ng/L) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, 6.04±7.73 ng/L) had comparable concentrations and accounted for 39% and 46% of ΣPFAS, respectively, indicating an increasing substitution of legacy PFAS by emerging alternatives. The Yangtze River estuary showed a pronounced replacement of legacy PFAS by emerging alternatives. Coastal fluorochemical manufacturing and high-performance fluoropolymer use were identified as major drivers of compositional differences. Legacy PFAS showed nearshore retention, with their migration constrained by salinity fronts and water masses, whereas emerging PFAS displayed more complex behaviors, with some capable of crossing salinity fronts and undergoing long-range transport. Ecological risk assessment based on risk quotient (RQ) and hazard index (HI) further revealed spatially elevated risks in nearshore and estuarine zones, driven primarily by PFOA and HFPO-TA. Overall, spatial heterogeneity among marine regions reflects variations in industrial sources and usage patterns, underscoring the necessity of integrating regional industrial structures and pollution characteristics to strengthen ecological risk assessments