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Listening in the moment: how bilingualism interacts with task demands to shape active listening
Get PDFWhile there is evidence for bilingual enhancements of inhibitory control and auditory
processing, two processes that are fundamental to daily communication, it is not
known how bilinguals utilize these cognitive and sensory enhancements during realworld listening. To test our hypothesis that bilinguals engage their enhanced cognitive
and sensory processing in real-world listening situations, bilinguals and monolinguals
performed a selective attention task involving competing talkers, a common demand of
everyday listening, and then later passively listened to the same competing sentences.
During the active and passive listening periods, evoked responses to the competing
talkers were collected to understand how online auditory processing facilitates active
listening and if this processing differs between bilinguals and monolinguals. Additionally,
participants were tested on a separate measure of inhibitory control to see if inhibitory
control abilities related with performance on the selective attention task. We found
that although monolinguals and bilinguals performed similarly on the selective attention
task, the groups differed in the neural and cognitive processes engaged to perform
this task, compared to when they were passively listening to the talkers. Specifically,
during active listening monolinguals had enhanced cortical phase consistency while
bilinguals demonstrated enhanced subcortical phase consistency in the response to
the pitch contours of the sentences, particularly during passive listening. Moreover,
bilinguals’ performance on the inhibitory control test related with performance on the
selective attention test, a relationship that was not seen for monolinguals. These results
are consistent with the hypothesis that bilinguals utilize inhibitory control and enhanced
subcortical auditory processing in everyday listening situations to engage with sound in
ways that are different than monolinguals
Extractive investibility in historical colonial perspective: the emerging market and its antecedents in Indonesia
Get PDFThe term ‘emerging market’ is widely used in popular and scholarly fields to simply indicate an empirical condition of economic improvement. For Indonesia, this affirmative investor label covers economic activities including cheap commodity extraction via the plantation and the mine for the world market, despite the expropriation and ecological ruin such extraction generates. This article connects this emerging market present with the colonial past by tracing how extractive spaces and relations have been produced over time with the help of investment capital. Developing the concept of ‘extractive investibility’ in historical colonial perspective, the analysis begins by tracing Dutch East India Company (VOC) era interventions and the establishment of the Cultivation System and plantation economies on Java and Sumatra by the Dutch colonial state. The article then documents how the brief ‘Third Worldism’ interlude meaningfully challenged these colonial extractive relations. The analysis ends by detailing how the emerging market label was explicitly conceived to replace the term ‘Third World’ and continues to function as a discursive idealisation which directs capital back toward extractive spaces
Personalized cognitive training: protocol for individual-level meta-analysis implementing machine learning methods
Get PDFAccumulating evidence suggests that cognitive training may enhance well-being. Yet, mixed findings imply that individual differences and training characteristics may interact to moderate training efficacy. To investigate this possibility, the current paper describes a protocol for a data-driven individual-level meta-analysis study aimed at
developing personalized cognitive training. To facilitate comprehensive analysis, this protocol proposes criteria for data search, selection and pre-processing along with the rationale for each decision. Twenty-two cognitive training datasets comprising 1544 participants were collected. The datasets incorporated diverse training methods, all aimed at improving well-being. These training regimes differed in training characteristics such as targeted domain (e.g., working memory, attentional bias, interpretation bias, inhibitory control) and training duration, while participants differed in diagnostic status, age and sex. The planned analyses incorporate machine learning algorithms designed to identify which individuals will be most responsive to cognitive training in general and to discern which methods may be a better fit for certain individuals
COVID-19 health and social care access for autistic people: A European policy review
Get PDFBackground: The global COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on European health and social care systems, with demands on testing, hospital and intensive care capacity exceeding available resources in many regions. This has led to concerns that some vulnerable groups,including autistic people, may be excluded from services. Methods: We reviewed policies from 15 European member states, published March-July 2020,pertaining to: 1) access to COVID-19 tests; 2) provisions for treatment, hospitalisation and intensive careunits(ICU); and 3) changes to standard health and social care. In parallel, we analysed surveydata onthelived experiences of 1,301 autistic people and caregivers. Results: Autistic peopleexperienced significant barriers accessing COVID-19services. First, despite being at elevated risk for severe illness due to co-occurring health conditions, there was a lack of accessibility ofCOVID-19 testing. Second, many COVID-19 outpatient and inpatient treatment serviceswere reported to be inaccessible -predominantly resulting from individual differences in communication needs. Third, ICU triage protocols in many European countries (directly or indirectly)resultedin discriminatory exclusion from lifesaving treatments. Last, interruptions to standard health and social care left over 70% of autistic people without everyday support. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated existing healthcare inequalities for autistic people, likely contributing to disproportionate increases in morbidity and mortality,mental health/behavioural difficulties and reduced qualityoflife. Current policies and guidelines regarding the accessibility of COVID-19 services require urgent update to prevent the widespread exclusion of autistic peoplefrom services, which represents a violation of international human rights law
Genetic overlap and causal associations between smoking behaviours and mental health
Get PDFCigarette smoking is a modifiable behaviour associated with mental health. We investigated the degree of genetic overlap between smoking behaviours and psychiatric traits and disorders, and whether genetic associations exist beyond genetic influences shared with confounding variables (cannabis and alcohol use, risk-taking and insomnia). Second, we investigated the presence of causal associations between smoking initiation and psychiatric traits and disorders. We found significant genetic correlations between smoking and psychiatric disorders and adult psychotic experiences. When genetic influences on known covariates were controlled for, genetic associations between most smoking behaviours and schizophrenia and depression endured (but not with bipolar disorder or most psychotic experiences). Mendelian randomization results supported a causal role of smoking initiation on psychiatric disorders and adolescent cognitive and negative psychotic experiences, although not consistently across all sensitivity analyses. In conclusion, smoking and psychiatric disorders share genetic influences that cannot be attributed to covariates such as risk-taking, insomnia or other substance use. As such, there may be some common genetic pathways underlying smoking and psychiatric disorders. In addition, smoking may play a causal role in vulnerability for mental illness
Mush remobilisation and mafic recharge: a study of the crystal cargo of the 2013–17 eruption at Volcán de Colima, Mexico
Get PDFVolcán de Colima is a highly active stratovolcano at the western end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Present-day activity consists of lava dome growth and destruction cycles, lava flows, small explosions, and larger explosive Vulcanian eruptions. It has been postulated that an increased frequency of more mafic eruptions signals the run-up to the end of c. 100-year eruptive ‘cycles’, terminating with a Plinian eruption such as those in 1818 and 1913. It is therefore important to understand the role played by mafic recharge during interplinian activity. We present new petrological and geochemical data for lava and ash from the 2013–17 phase of eruption. The uniform paragenesis and geochemical homogeneity of bulk rocks indicate efficient long-term homogenisation of magmas within the plumbing system, similar to the previous 1998–2005 eruptive products. Mineral chemistry however preserves complex patterns of magma recharge and mixing. Chemical and textural information support the interpretation of two magmatic end-members – an evolved end-member, saturated with respect to Fe--Ti oxides and apatite and crystallising low-An plagioclase and pyroxenes in the Mg# 69–75 range; and a more primitive, mafic end-member, crystallising high-An plagioclase and pyroxenes in the Mg# 77–88 range. Pyroxene textures and zoning patterns suggest mixing of the mafic melts with the evolved magma and remobilisation of the crystal mush. Two-pyroxene geothermometry constrains magmatic temperatures to c. 980–1000 °C for the evolved end-member, and c. 1020–1080 °C for the mafic end-member. Pressure estimates suggest crystallisation at 4–6 kbar, or c. 12–18 km depth. We interpret this to reflect periodic injections of mafic melts and remobilised crystals into evolved reservoirs in a mushy magma storage system in the mid-crust, in agreement with geophysical data suggesting a semi-molten, partially crystallised body at this depth. An increase in reverse zoned crystals, indicative of mafic injection, from mid-2015 onwards suggests that these melts were injected into the system following the large eruption in July 2015. Our findings suggest that the intense July 2015 eruption may be linked to increased input of mafic magmas into the shallow system, indicating that mafic injections may be a key process governing the timing and style of interplinian eruption at Volcán de Colima
Provenance study of the Lubok Antu M elange from the Lupar valley, West Sarawak, Borneo: implications for the closure of eastern Meso-Tethys?
Get PDFThe Lubok Antu M´elange is exposed along one of the most important tectonic lineaments, the Lupar Line in Sarawak, Borneo. However, the depositional age of the Lubok Antu M´elange is poorly known, and no provenance studies have been conducted so far. Here, we use geochemical, Nd isotopic and detrital zircon U–Pb analyses of samples from the Lubok Antu M´elange to constrain provenance and routing in order to better understand Borneo’s evolution history. Bulk rock geochemistry reveals that the Lubok Antu M´elange was deposited in a continental arc setting related to the Paleo-Pacific subduction margin. New U–Pb detrital zircon data suggest that the maximum depositional age for the Lubok Antu M´elange is ca. 115 to 105 Ma. The Lubok Antu M´elange with a strongest Jurassic peak is interpreted to be sourced from the Mesozoic continental arc related to the Paleo-Pacific subduction, with contributions from West Borneo, the Malay Peninsula and possibly Sumatra. Compared with the detrital zircon data of the uppermost Cretaceous sedimentary rocks in Sarawak, our study records a change in source in the latest Cretaceous from erosion of basement magmatic rocks of the Paleo-Pacific subduction-related arc that was probably located offshore of what is now South Vietnam and West Borneo, to the Schwaner Mountains arc of SW Borneo. This indicates that the rapid uplift and exhumation of the Schwaner Mountains could have initiated in the latest Cretaceous, which may imply the arrival of SW Borneo and the closure of the eastern Meso-Tethys at that time
Bayesian Policy learning during COVID-19
Get PDFThe rapid spread of COVID-19 across the globe primed a variety of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Given these NPIs, whether the SIR parameters followed a Bayesian learning, a random walk pattern or other type of learning with evolving epidemiological data over time has implications for policy learning literature. Using a sample of UK country specific data and also for 168 countries and 51,083 country-date observations (January 1, 2020 to January 9, 2021), we estimate a SIR model with time-varying β and γ parameters in three context of a dynamic panel vector autoregressive model. Although learning does not seem to be taking place, and despite the absence of evidence of governments’ learning from the past, most policy measures are effective in reducing the values of the β and γ parameters. We also provide estimates of time-varying β and γ that can be used widely, and we develop novel testing procedures for testing for Bayesian learning
Walking on thin ice: reflexivity in doing ethnography
No full textResearcher reflexivity is important throughout the research process, especially in ethnographic enquiry. This chapter provides a reflexive account of our research experiences with exiled Syrian academics, whose efforts to re-establish their academic careers in their new contexts and publish in English as an Additional Language we have been following for almost two years. Data are taken from a longitudinal multiple-case study using ethnography as deep theorizing (Lillis, 2008). In this chapter we provide a reflexive account of five research methodological aspects: participant recruitment, conducting and analysing interviews, Text Histories, textual representation, and ethics in collaborative ethnography. We discuss how aspects of the researcher’s experience and position interact with the research process
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