Metaphor and Metanoia: Linguistic Transfer and Cognitive Transformation in British and Irish Modernism

This dissertation contributes to the critical expansions that Douglas Mao and Rebecca L. Walkowitz identify as New Modernist Studies. This expansion is temporal, spatial, and vertical. I engage with the effects Modernist texts have “above” the page: lived experience. I examine the structural similarity of linguistic metaphor and the mind as considered by cognitive scientists. Identifying the human mind as linguistic and language as an artifact of the human mind, my research extrapolates upon what I call the “psycho-ecology” of reading, a self-representational knot between text and mind that constitutes lived experience. Far from being an abstraction, psycho-ecology is concrete: atypical textual engagement is equated with a transformation in perception. The prologue traces a lineage between Modernism, phenomenology, and the cognitive sciences. The first chapter considers the relationship between two narrative levels in Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The second chapter considers temporal experimentation in Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse (1927) in relation to Martin Heidegger’s formulation of being as that which discloses our experience with language as temporal and finite. The third chapter examines the “sentimental information” of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (1939) from a phenomenological approach to information theory. The final chapter analyzes Samuel Beckett’s Endgame (1957) as a zero-player game that discloses the limits of agency in psycho-ecology. The dissertation follows a trajectory beginning with the intimacy a reader has with alphanumeric text towards the increasing experience of illiteracy when encountering new languages such as digital code

Relationship Building and Unethical Behavior in the Hospitality Industry

Relationship building is a fundamental component to develop successful businesses, although corrupt purchasing executives pay bribes in excess of $1.5 trillion dollars annually. The participants for this case study consisted of 10 national sales managers who have successfully implemented strategies to train suppliers in relationship building in a hotel in Greensville, South Carolina. The resource dependence theory grounded the study. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies a hotel owner in Greenville, South Carolina used to train managers on relationship building. Collection of data included 8 semi-structured telephone interviews and 2 video interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim, archived data, and field notes. Using a modified van Kaam method and methodological triangulation, 3 prominent themes were identified that included the appropriateness of relationship building activities to collect data critical to negotiations, the need to clarify unclear expectations, and developing an increased awareness of the gray areas for possible boundary violations between the vendor and the customer. The data from the results indicated the need for increased training to reduce the number of instances of unethical behavior perceived in relationship building activities. The implications for positive social change include the potential to increase the awareness of ethical issues in multicultural business settings on the part of national sales managers, which could decrease the rate of unethical behavior in the hospitality industry

Neuroimaging Measures as Endophenotypes in Alzheimer's Disease

Late onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is moderately to highly heritable. Apolipoprotein E allele ε4 (APOE4) has been replicated consistently as an AD risk factor over many studies, and recently confirmed variants in other genes such as CLU, CR1, and PICALM each increase the lifetime risk of AD. However, much of the heritability of AD remains unexplained. AD is a complex disease that is diagnosed largely through neuropsychological testing, though neuroimaging measures may be more sensitive for detecting the incipient disease stages. Difficulties in early diagnosis and variable environmental contributions to the disease can obscure genetic relationships in traditional case-control genetic studies. Neuroimaging measures may be used as endophenotypes for AD, offering a reliable, objective tool to search for possible genetic risk factors. Imaging measures might also clarify the specific mechanisms by which proposed risk factors influence the brain

AccountAbility’s AA1000AP standard: A framework for integrating sustainability into organisations

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate corporate sustainability integration by evaluating corporate practices against the sustainability principles of inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact outlined in AccountAbility’s AA1000 Accountability Principles (AA1000AP) standard. Design/methodology/approach: Data comprise 12 semi-structured interviews with senior managers of listed New Zealand companies. Findings are evaluated against AccountAbility’s principles of inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact, which are based on a normative view of stakeholder theory. Findings: In terms of inclusivity, stakeholder engagement is primarily monologic and is directed more towards traditional stakeholder groups. However, social media, which is gaining popularity, has the potential to facilitate greater dialogic stakeholder engagement. While most companies undertake a materiality assessment (with varying degrees of rigour) to support sustainability reporting, only some use it to drive planning and decision-making. Companies demonstrate responsiveness to stakeholder concerns through corporate governance and sustainability initiatives. Companies are monitoring and measuring their impact on stakeholders using sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs). However, measuring traditional metrics is easier than measuring areas such as the community. In rare instances, the executive’s remuneration is linked to these sustainability KPIs. Practical implications: The study findings offer useful examples of the integration of sustainability into corporate processes and systems. Practitioners may find the insights useful in understanding how sustainability is currently being integrated into corporate practices by best practice New Zealand companies. Regulators may consider incorporating AA1000AP into their corporate governance guidelines. Finally, academics may find the study useful for teaching business and accounting courses and to guide the next generation of business managers. Originality/value: First, the study brings together four streams of research on how sustainability reports are prepared (inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact) in a single study. Second, the findings offer novel insights by evaluating corporate sustainability against the requirements of a standard that has received little academic attention

The effect of the top 20 Alzheimer disease risk genes on gray-matter density and FDG PET brain metabolism

INTRODUCTION: We analyzed the effects of the top 20 Alzheimer disease (AD) risk genes on gray-matter density (GMD) and metabolism. METHODS: We ran stepwise linear regression analysis using posterior cingulate hypometabolism and medial temporal GMD as outcomes and all risk variants as predictors while controlling for age, gender, and APOE ε4 genotype. We explored the results in 3D using Statistical Parametric Mapping 8. RESULTS: Significant predictors of brain GMD were SLC24A4/RIN3 in the pooled and mild cognitive impairment (MCI); ZCWPW1 in the MCI; and ABCA7, EPHA1, and INPP5D in the AD groups. Significant predictors of hypometabolism were EPHA1 in the pooled, and SLC24A4/RIN3, NME8, and CD2AP in the normal control group. DISCUSSION: Multiple variants showed associations with GMD and brain metabolism. For most genes, the effects were limited to specific stages of the cognitive continuum, indicating that the genetic influences on brain metabolism and GMD in AD are complex and stage dependent

Monotonic Gaussian Process for Spatio-Temporal Disease Progression Modeling in Brain Imaging Data

We introduce a probabilistic generative model for disentangling spatio-temporal disease trajectories from series of high-dimensional brain images. The model is based on spatio-temporal matrix factorization, where inference on the sources is constrained by anatomically plausible statistical priors. To model realistic trajectories, the temporal sources are defined as monotonic and time-reparametrized Gaussian Processes. To account for the non-stationarity of brain images, we model the spatial sources as sparse codes convolved at multiple scales. The method was tested on synthetic data favourably comparing with standard blind source separation approaches. The application on large-scale imaging data from a clinical study allows to disentangle differential temporal progression patterns mapping brain regions key to neurodegeneration, while revealing a disease-specific time scale associated to the clinical diagnosis

Evidence-based models of policing to protect children from sexual exploitation

This research, carried out between 2015 and 2017 was undertaken by a team at the International Centre: Researching child sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence at the University of Bedfordshire. The International Centre has an established reputation for child-centred research and recently completed an initiative joint funded by the Home Office, Higher Education Funding Council for England and College of Policing to improve and share learning on policing child sexual exploitation (CSE) (see website https://www.uobcsepolicinghub.org.uk/). The original overarching aim of this research project was “to improve multi-agency work with police to prevent child sexual exploitation”. It was funded by KPMG Foundation and Norfolk Constabulary, supported by The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigation. This research is the first study of its kind. It is the first to document examples of current operating models of police responses to CSE in England and Wales; the first to attempt to draw out summaries of how features of policing improve disruption and prosecution of offenders; and the first study to assess the features of CSE policing responses in relation to the outcomes for victims. The research involved interviewing police officers and civilian staff including researchers and analysts from CSE teams across eight selected study forces in England

Monotonic Gaussian Process for Spatio-Temporal Disease Progression Modeling in Brain Imaging Data

International audienceWe introduce a probabilistic generative model for disentangling spatio-temporal disease trajectories from series of high-dimensional brain images. The model is based on spatio-temporal matrix factorization, where inference on the sources is constrained by anatomically plausible statistical priors. To model realistic trajectories, the temporal sources are defined as monotonic and time-reparametrized Gaussian Processes. To account for the non-stationarity of brain images, we model the spatial sources as sparse codes convolved at multiple scales. The method was tested on synthetic data favourably comparing with standard blind source separation approaches. The application on large-scale imaging data from a clinical study allows to disentangle differential temporal progression patterns mapping brain regions key to neurodegeneration, while revealing a disease-specific time scale associated to the clinical diagnosis