Detection of alcoholic EEG signals based on whole brain connectivity and convolution neural networks

Alcoholism is a common complex brain disorder caused by excessive drinking of alcohol and severely affected the basic function of the brain. This paper investigates classification of the alcoholic electroencephalogram (EEG) signals through whole brain connectivity analysis and deep learning methods. The whole brain connectivity analysis is proposed and implemented using mutual information algorithm. Continuous Wavelet transform was applied to extract time–frequency domain information in each selected frequency bands from EEG signal. The 2D and 3D convolutional neural networks (CNN) were used to classify the alcoholic subjects and health control subjects. UCI Alcoholic EEG dataset is employed to evaluate the proposed method, a 96.25 ± 3.11 % accuracy, 0.9806 ± 0.0163 F1-score result in 3D-CNN model was obtained via leaving-one out training method of all the testing subjects

A comparative autoethnographic lens on the doctorate as told by a supervisor and a doctoral candidate

Much scholarship has been dedicated to the issue of doctoral supervisory praxis and life as a doctoral student. This chapter views the act of supervision through the experiential lens of a supervisor (Naomi) and a student (Debbie). It is our contention that building and maintaining a healthy doctoral relationship is the responsibility of both parties and at the heart of the matter, there are really only three essential questions that should be asked of both supervisor and student: 'What do you bring to the doctoral relationship?'; 'What do you bring to the doctoral process?'; and 'What are you most afraid of?' Naomi tells her story from the perspective of a novice doctoral supervisor who values her connections with her students and seeks to widen her skill set. Debbie is a relatively experienced doctoral student in that she is currently undertaking her second doctorate

Edith Cooper’s Sin: Mapping the Willful Bodies of Michael Field

Scandal has long been associated with the collaborative partnership of Michael Field (the pseudonym/collaborative identity of Katharine Harris Bradley and Edith Emma Cooper): In the 1880s, the English literary world was reportedly scandalized to discover the recently lionized young debut writer, Michael Field, was actually an aunt and niece from suburban Bristol. Rediscovered in the 1990s as lesbian lovers and writers, Bradley and Cooper re-emerged at the forefront of historiography on transgressive sexuality and the nature of female same-sex relationships, and current scholarship has extended this to argue this relationship embraced more complex and fluidly desiring bodies. If LGBTQ+ sexuality is no longer a site of scandal, nevertheless under the surface a modern discomfort with the spectre of aunt-niece incest remains. In some sense, “Michael Field” often represents the bellwether for scholarship on Victorian women writers. Using Sara Ahmed’s theory of wilfullness and digital humanities scholarship on The Diaries of Michael Field this chapter draws on Bickle’s transcription of the 1912 diary, written predominantly by Edith Cooper whilst dying of cancer. This volume, which begins with Cooper’s discussion of her sin in the context of her Catholic conversion and includes a tumultuous penultimate meeting with art historian Bernhard Berenson—central to several of Cooper’s love triangles—grants a unique vision into Cooper’s sense of her own sexuality, and how she viewed the morality of her most intimate relationships

Key factors for implementation of total quality management in construction Sector: A system dynamics approach

Maintaining quality in construction projects is paramount to project success, achieved through techniques such as Total Quality Management (TQM). However, the key factors of TQM implementation in the construction industry of developing countries are not well explored. Accordingly, this paper evaluated the causative relationship and intricacies of TQM implementation in the construction sector of developing countries. A total of 28 key factors of TQM were captured through a literature review. Thereafter, 12 significant key factors were shortlisted. Lack of top management commitment, poor customer/client satisfaction, inadequate quality of education regarding TQM, and ineffective organizational quality culture emerged as impediments to implementing TQM in the construction sector. A Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) was developed to represent interrelations between the 12 shortlisted factors. In addition, a system dynamics model (SDM) was developed. The simulation results of the developed SDM indicated an increase in TQM implementation over the period under the defined system

Mental distress during adolescence and participation in higher education

Background/context. Recent evidence indicates that adolescents experiencing mental distress might be more likely to go on to attend university than those with no symptoms of distress (Lewis et al., 2021). One explanation for this is that future university students might experience greater academic pressures than their peers, which results in heightened mental distress (Lewis et al., 2021; Luthar et al., 2020). However, the mechanisms behind such pressures are unclear. The initiative/practice. In this study, we anticipated that mental distress (consisting of anxiety/depressive symptoms, social dysfunction, and loss of confidence) experienced by future university students might be specifically due to the high-stakes qualifications needed for university admission. Drawing on social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954), we theorised that future university students might make upward social comparisons with peers who they anticipate will perform better than them, and that this causes mental distress. Methods of evaluative data collection and analysis. We conducted logistic regression analyses of longitudinal panel survey data from a population-representative cohort of approximately 8000 young people. Evidence of outcomes and effectiveness. Our analyses confirmed that high-stakes qualifications appeared to be the underlying mechanism causing mental distress. Adolescents with greater mental distress were more likely to attend university in general, as well as attend a more academically selective university. Mental distress symptoms were also greater for those who planned to apply for university, but did not actually attend. By age 25, symptoms were, on the most part, no longer elevated for those who attended, or had planned to attend, university. We argue for a need to target interventions at times when adolescents undertake high-stakes qualifications at school and university

Examining 'good singing' in the age of The Voice

What constitutes 'good singing' can be hotly contested amongst voice pedagogues. The literature on singing evaluation tends to focus on quantitatively measuring the acoustic properties of the voice or qualitative evaluations by expert listeners, who assess the singer’s vocal technique relative to the performed genre. However, little is known about what the general public considers to be 'good singing'. Within a larger program of research on musical identity and singing self-concept, this small-scale, mixed-methods survey considered how people (N = 52) described and evaluated three stylistically different versions of a melody as sung by amateurs and professional vocalists to test a hypothesis that reality TV singing may be deemed as 'good singing' by the public. Specifically, participants were exposed to three versions of 'Happy Birthday': 1) amateurs singing 'as they would normally sing'; 2) professionals performing a 'plain' version; 3) the same professionals singing a version in the style of The Voice reality TV show. Quantitative and qualitative results indicate that both professional versions were considered 'better singing' than the amateur singing. While respondents focused on the technical deficiencies for amateurs, descriptions of the professionals concerned style. For the professional singers, it seems that technical considerations such as singing in tune were not remarked on because they were able to sing with pitch accuracy. Contrary to our hypothesis that the popularity of reality TV singing shows would influence public perceptions of good singing, people’s preferences for 'good singing' were split between the two professional versions, with people focused on sophistication and creativity (the 'professional voice' version) or vocal quality (the 'professional plain' version). While respondents’ preferred version largely matched their chosen exemplar of 'good singing', participants were more likely to sing along with the “amateur” version. Implications for vocal pedagogy and engagement in singing activities for wellbeing will be considered

Assessment of Densified Fuel Quality Parameters: A Case Study for Wheat Straw Pellet

An investigation was conducted to examine the impact of additive mixing with wheat straw (WS) for pellet making. This study manufactured seven types of pellets with different additive combinations to evaluate pellet quality characteristics and their relationships. A laboratory-type hammer mill and a pellet mill were used for feedstock preparation and pellet production. Experimental investigations showed that the lignin content increased from 7.0% to 13.1%, which was a primary need for pelletization. Also, the heating value rose from 17.02 to 20.36 MJ/kg. However, the ash content also increased from 7.09% to 16.2%. Results showed that dimension (length and diameter), durability, and tensile strength increased significantly with additives while the fines content decreased. The fines content had an inverse relationship with durability and strength. Wheat straw (60%), together with 10% sawdust (SD), 10% corn starch (CS), 10% bentonite clay (BC), and 10% biochar (BiC), was optimal with good pellet performance (T7). In addition, both the T5 pellets (70% WS, 10% SD, 10% BiC, and 10% BC) and the T6 pellets (70% WS, 10% SD, 10% BiC, and 10% CS) provide suitable quality according to EN plus 2015 standard requirements. The ash content of produced pellet was higher than the recommended value, which suggests that further research onto the alternative additive use for ash reduction is needed

Coronal Mass Ejections and Type II Radio Emission Variability during a Magnetic Cycle on the Solar-type Star ò Eridani

We simulate possible stellar coronal mass ejection (CME) scenarios over the magnetic cycle of Eridani (18 Eridani; HD 22049). We use three separate epochs from 2008, 2011, and 2013, and estimate the radio emission frequencies associated with these events. These stellar eruptions have proven to be elusive, although a promising approach to detect and characterize these phenomena are low-frequency radio observations of potential type II bursts as CME-induced shocks propagate through the stellar corona. Stellar type II radio bursts are expected to emit below 450 MHz, similarly to their solar counterparts. We show that the length of time these events remain above the ionospheric cutoff is not necessarily dependent on the stellar magnetic cycle, but more on the eruption location relative to the stellar magnetic field. We find that these type II bursts would remain within the frequency range of LOFAR for a maximum of 20-30 minutes post-eruption for the polar CMEs (50 minutes for second harmonics). We find evidence of slower equatorial CMEs, which result in slightly longer observable windows for the 2008 and 2013 simulations. Stellar magnetic geometry and strength have a significant effect on the detectability of these events. We place the CMEs in the context of the stellar mass-loss rate (27-48× solar mass-loss rate), showing that they can amount to 3%-50% of the stellar wind mass-loss rate for Eridani. Continuous monitoring of likely stellar CME candidates with low-frequency radio telescopes will be required to detect these transient events

The impact of penalty and subsidy mechanisms on the decisions of the government, businesses, and consumers during COVID-19 — Tripartite evolutionary game theory analysis

Purpose: Based on the fact that punishment and subsidy mechanisms affect the anti-epidemic incentives of major participants in a society, the issue of this paper is how the penalty and subsidy mechanisms affect the decisions of governments, businesses, and consumers during Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Design/Methodology/approach: This paper proposes a tripartite evolutionary game theory, involving governments, businesses, and consumers, to analyze the evolutionary stable strategies and the impact of penalty and subsidy mechanism on their strategy selection during COVID-19. We then uses numerical analysis to simulate the strategy formation process of governments, businesses, and consumers for the results of tripartite evolutionary game theory. Findings: This paper suggests that there are four evolutionary stable strategies corresponding to the actual anti-epidemic situations. We find that different subsidy and penalty mechanisms lead to different evolutionary stable strategies. High penalties for businesses and consumers can prompt them to choose active prevention strategies no matter what the subsidy mechanism is. For the government, the penalty mechanism is better than the subsidy mechanism, because the excessive subsidy mechanism will raise the government expenditure. The punishment mechanism is more effective than the subsidy mechanism in realizing the tripartite joint prevention of the COVID-19. Therefore, the implementation of strict punishment mechanism should be a major government measure under COVID-19. Originality/value: Our paper extends the existing theoretical work. We use political economy to make the preference hypothesis, and we explicitly state the effect of subsidy and penalty mechanisms on the decision making of participants and compare their applicability. This is the work that the existing literature did not complete before. Our findings can provide an important theoretical and decision-making basis for COVID-19 prevention and control