Nonnative Accents and Conflict Management: The Mediating Roles of Stereotype Threat, Regulatory Focus, and Conflict Behaviors on Conflict Outcomes

The proposed study explores the experiences of nonnative speakers when they interact with native speakers in conflict situations. The aim of the study is to test if nonnative speakers experience stereotype threat when interacting with native speakers in conflict situations and, if so, to examine how stereotype threat affects their regulatory focus, conflict behaviors, and outcomes. A serial mediation model with three mediators (stereotype threat, regulatory focus, conflict behaviors) will be tested. This study contributes to the field of organizational psychology and conflict studies by 1) extending stereotype threat literature and examining nonnative speakers as a social identity group that experiences stereotype threat, 2) exploring the effects of stereotype threat in a conflict context, and 3) extending workforce diversity literature and examining language diversity in relation to conflict-related behaviors and outcomes in organizational settings. The findings from the proposed study offer insights into understanding the effects of language diversity on conflict dynamics within the increasingly globalized, multi-cultural world of organizations

The Combined Effect of Individualism – Collectivism on Conflict Styles and Satisfaction: An Analysis at the Individual Level

This research examines the relationships among individualism-collectivism (IND-COL), conflict management styles and conflict satisfaction. The authors aim to explain some of the inconclusive findings in the literature related to IND-COL and conflict styles by studying IND-COL as states, rather than dispositional traits. By taking a dynamic approach to conceptualizing IND-COL and measuring IND-COL over time, we investigate how different ratios of individualistic-to-collectivistic orientations are associated with different conflict management styles. Results show that individuals who employed a balanced focus (1:1 ratio) of both individualistic and collectivistic orientations utilized an integrative style in conflict more than individuals with either a strong individualistic or collectivistic orientation. Integrative style was associated with higher levels of satisfaction with conflict outcomes, processes, relationships, goal attainment and job satisfaction at work. Individuals with predominant focus on individualism utilized a dominating style more, whereas individuals with predominant focus on collectivism utilized obliging and avoiding styles. Furthermore, results show that state-level IND-COL is a better predictor of conflict management styles than trait-level IND-COL. Past research has focused on studying IND-COL primarily as a trait variable at the individual level, but we examine IND-COL as states in relation to conflict management styles. In addition, we investigate the combined and optimal effects of both individualism and collectivism value-orientations on conflict management styles

POLYTECHNIC LEARNERS’ PERCEPTION ON PRONUNCIATION ACQUISITION VIA QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION TODAY

his study examines perceptions of learners on pronunciation acquisition, learning phonetic transcriptions and their sounds associations amongst Polytechnic Kuala Terengganu Learners. This study was carried-out amongst semester one diploma of Electronics and Electrical Engineering learners in Kuala Terengganu Polytechnic, Terengganu, Malaysia. This study also hopes to show that by learning to recognise and read phonetic symbols learners will be able to overcome any pronunciation disability using the dictionary. This research follows the quasi- experimental design of a control-group A and treatment group B selected randomly doing a pre-test and post-test. The treatment of explicit instruction of phonetic transcriptions for 45 hours was given only to the experimental group. This study focuses on the analysis of oral test answers by learners. Some of the challenges identified in the acquisition of pronunciation are mother tongue interference, mispronunciation because spelling does not reflect pronunciation, unintelligibility and miscommunication and the lack of confidence to speak the English Language. Whilst factors that affect pronunciation acquisition are mother tongue, exposure, motivation, students’ perception, ways of learning, which English to speak and others. However, it was discovered that phonetic instruction of transcriptions and their sounds’ association improves pronunciation competence. Some of the implications of this study are aimed at ELT academicians and practitioners to apply the method used in this study to up-grade the standard of pronunciation proficiency and a suggestion that the learning of pronunciation using phonetic symbols should be taught earlier in their education

Using Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to Review and Classify the Medical Literature on Cancer Susceptibility Genes

PURPOSE: The medical literature relevant to germline genetics is growing exponentially. Clinicians need tools monitoring and prioritizing the literature to understand the clinical implications of the pathogenic genetic variants. We developed and evaluated two machine learning models to classify abstracts as relevant to the penetrance (risk of cancer for germline mutation carriers) or prevalence of germline genetic mutations. METHODS: We conducted literature searches in PubMed and retrieved paper titles and abstracts to create an annotated dataset for training and evaluating the two machine learning classification models. Our first model is a support vector machine (SVM) which learns a linear decision rule based on the bag-of-ngrams representation of each title and abstract. Our second model is a convolutional neural network (CNN) which learns a complex nonlinear decision rule based on the raw title and abstract. We evaluated the performance of the two models on the classification of papers as relevant to penetrance or prevalence. RESULTS: For penetrance classification, we annotated 3740 paper titles and abstracts and used 60% for training the model, 20% for tuning the model, and 20% for evaluating the model. The SVM model achieves 89.53% accuracy (percentage of papers that were correctly classified) while the CNN model achieves 88.95 % accuracy. For prevalence classification, we annotated 3753 paper titles and abstracts. The SVM model achieves 89.14% accuracy while the CNN model achieves 89.13 % accuracy. CONCLUSION: Our models achieve high accuracy in classifying abstracts as relevant to penetrance or prevalence. By facilitating literature review, this tool could help clinicians and researchers keep abreast of the burgeoning knowledge of gene-cancer associations and keep the knowledge bases for clinical decision support tools up to date

Signal peptide peptidases and gamma-secretase: Cousins of the same protease family?

Signal peptide peptidase (SPIP) is an unusual aspartyl protease, which mediates clearance of signal peptides by proteolysis within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Like presenilins, which provide the proteolytically active subunit of the,gamma-secretase complex, SPP contains a conserved GxGD motif in its C-terminal domain which is critical for its activity. While SPIP is known to be an aspartyl protease of the GxGD type, several presenilin homologues/SPP-like proteins (PSHs/ SPPL) of unknown function have been identified by database searches. In contrast to SPP and SPPL3, which are both restricted to the endoplasmic reticulum, SPPL2b is targeted through the secretory pathway to endosomes/lysosomes. As suggested by the differential subcellular localization of SPPL2b and SPPL3 distinct phenotypes were found upon antisense gripNA-mediated knockdown in zebrafish. spp and sppl3 knockdowns in zebrafish result in cell death within the central nervous system, whereas reduction of sppl2b expression causes erythrocyte accumulation in an enlarged caudal vein. Moreover, expression of D/A mutants of the putative C-terminal active sites of spp, sppl2, and spp13 produced phenocopies of the respective knockdown phenotypes. These data suggest that all investigated PSHs/SPPLs are members of the novel family of GxGD aspartyl proteases. More recently, it was shown that SPPL2b utilizes multiple intramembrane cleavages to liberate the TNF(x intracellular domain into the cytosol and to release the C-terminal counterpart into the lumen. These findings suggest common principles of intramembrane proteolysis by GxGD type aspartyl proteases. In this article,we will review the similarities of SPPs and gamma-secretase based on recent findings by us and others

Pussy envy: towards post-colonial agencies of feminine corporeality

Since Independence, the Malay-Muslim woman’s body has been the site of various discursive contests imposed onto her personhood as a consequence of the conflict between the state and religious “dakwa” movement, and later, their alliance. Significantly, these changes have displayed a contradiction. On one hand, it has been made permissible on account of the Malay woman’s active acquiescence, in aspiring to the paradigm of “ideal” Muslim womanhood and its moral and familial obligations. On the other hand, various studies have documented the different layers of resistance to Islamic heteropatriarchal hegemony that Malay women exhibited through cultural and informal means. This dissertation seeks to investigate how this contradiction manifests in an impasse in the Malay woman’s body politic through a met resistance with the conscious and unconscious aspects of her corporeality. It takes the curious politicisation of the Malay vagina as an area of focus. As a reproductive organ, it has been the site of oppression and regulation, mirroring misogyny that seems to be commonplace in much of the modern world. But the Malay context also reveals a certain limit to its pacification. For this reason, the social phenomena of “bau miss V”, described as the occurrence of vaginal odour, the scent of which is unique to the individual woman; and “nasi kangkang”, a Malay folk practice that makes use of the woman’s vaginal excrements to bend the will of her husband or lover, are used as case studies wherein the vagina is presumed less as a pacified organ than it is a site of discursive contestations. Insights from the findings will be developed by way of Kristeva’s theory of the abject, to determine how insubordination to the Malay heteropatriarchy is manifested within the female body

Pectus excavatum and chest pain: a case report

© 2008 Kim and Baker; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Biogenesis of γ-secretase early in the secretory pathway

γ-Secretase is responsible for proteolytic maturation of signaling and cell surface proteins, including amyloid precursor protein (APP). Abnormal processing of APP by γ-secretase produces a fragment, Aβ42, that may be responsible for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The biogenesis and trafficking of this important enzyme in relation to aberrant Aβ processing is not well defined. Using a cell-free reaction to monitor the exit of cargo proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), we have isolated a transient intermediate of γ-secretase. Here, we provide direct evidence that the γ-secretase complex is formed in an inactive complex at or before the assembly of an ER transport vesicle dependent on the COPII sorting subunit, Sec24A. Maturation of the holoenzyme is achieved in a subsequent compartment. Two familial AD (FAD)–linked PS1 variants are inefficiently packaged into transport vesicles generated from the ER. Our results suggest that aberrant trafficking of PS1 may contribute to disease pathology

Epsilon Haemoglobin Specific Antibodies with Applications in Noninvasive Prenatal Diagnosis

Invasive procedures for prenatal diagnosis are associated with increased risk of abortion; thus, development of noninvasive procedures would be beneficial. Based on the observation that embryonic nucleated red blood cell (NRBC) crosses the placenta and enters the circulation of pregnant women, the ability to identify such cell would allow development of such procedures. Identification of NRBCs in blood samples would be possible provided that specific antibodies are available. Here we have isolated recombinant antibodies using phage display. From the panel of antibody fragments specifically recognising ε-Hb, one was chosen for further characterization, DAb1. DAb1 binds to ε-Hb both in Western blots and immunocytochemistry. Several ε-Hb positive cells were detected in a blood sample taken as postchorionic villus sampling (CVS). To evaluate the sensitivity of the method, K562 cells (which express ε-Hb) were spiked in a blood sample followed by staining in solution and FACS analysis

The congruency of neuropsychological and F18-FDG brain PET/CT diagnostics of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in routine clinical practice : insights from a mixed neurological patient cohort

Background Diagnostics of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) require a multimodal approach. Neuropsychologists examine the degree and etiology of dementia syndromes and results are combined with those of cerebrospinal fluid markers and imaging data. In the diagnostic process, neuropsychologists often rely on anamnestic and clinical information, as well as cognitive tests, prior to the availability of exhaustive etiological information. The congruency of this phenomenological approach with results from FDG-PET/CT examinations remains to be explored. The latter yield highly accurate diagnostic information. Method A mixed sample of N = 127 hospitalized neurological patients suspected of displaying a dementia syndrome underwent extensive neuropsychological and FDG-PET/CT examinations. Neuropsychological examinations included an anamnestic and clinical interview, and the CERAD cognitive test battery. Two decisional approaches were considered: First, routine diagnostic results were obtained, i.e. the final clinical decision of the examining neuropsychologist (ADClinical vs. non-ADClinical). Secondly, a logistic regression model was implemented, relying on CERAD profiles alone. CERAD subscales that best predicted AD based on FDG-PET/CT were identified and a nominal categorization obtained (ADTest vs. non-ADTest). Congruency of results from both approaches with those of the FDG-PET/CT (ADPET vs. non-ADPET) were estimated with Cohen’s Kappa (κ) and Yule’s Y coefficient of colligation. Descriptive estimates of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of CERAD relative to FDG-PET/CT diagnostics were derived. Results ADPET patients constituted N = 33/127 (26%) of the sample. The clinical decision approach (ADClinical vs. non-ADClinical) showed substantial agreement with the FDG-PET/CT classification (κ = .69, Y = .72) involving good accuracy (84.2%), moderate sensitivity (75.8%) and excellent specificity (92.6%). In contrast, the decisional approach that relied on CERAD data alone (ADTest vs. non-ADTest) involved only moderate agreement with the FDG-PET/CT (κ = .54, Y = .62) with lower accuracy (74.8%), attributable to decreased sensitivity (56.3%) and comparable specificity (93.3%). Conclusions It is feasible to identify AD through a comprehensive neuropsychological examination in a mixed sample of neurological patients. However, within the boundaries of methods applied here, decisions based on cognitive test results alone appear limited. One may conclude that the clinical impression based on anamnestic and clinical information obtained by the neuropsychological examiner plays a crucial role in the identification of AD patients in routine clinical practice