Exploring Topological Properties in Artificial Neural Networks

Biological neural systems often represent information on low-dimensional manifolds that reflect the topology of their encoded variables. This suggests that neural activity can be naturally organized in geometrically meaningful ways, as seen in rodent head direction cells forming circular manifolds. This proposal examines whether artificial neural networks (ANNs) trained on tasks with well-defined topologies—such as planar or spherical coordinates from autonomous driving datasets like Apolloscape, cyclic temporal variables, or graph-structured road networks—develop similar low-dimensional representations aligned with the variables' inherent topology. We consider convolutional and vision transformer models for image data, graph neural networks for road network graphs, and 3D or point-based models for LIDAR point clouds, analyzing their internal activations with dimensionality reduction and topological data analysis. If successful, this approach not only elucidates the nature of internal representations in ANNs but also offers insights into the computational principles that bridge artificial systems and biological cognition

The Effect of Moderate Alcohol Use on the Health of Older Adults in New Zealand: A scoping review and analysis of the Health, Work and Retirement Study

Background: Some studies have found a J-shaped relationship between alcohol and health where moderate drinking has the lowest risk of disease or mortality, and nondrinking and heavy drinking represent heightened risk. Researchers argue that this J-shaped relationship is spurious and a result of the ‘sick quitter’ effect and residual confounding factors. Rigorous research that accounts for these methodological limitations could further elucidate these inconclusive findings. Aim: To undertake 1) a review of the existing literature on the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on health outcomes, and 2) secondary data analyses of a New Zealand (NZ) cohort study looking at the effect of light to moderate alcohol consumption on health-related quality of life (measured using the SF-12) and cancer risk in adults (≥ 50 years). Method: A scoping review was undertaken to summarise the methods and findings on literature on the health effect of moderate drinking in older adults. Secondary data analyses was conducted with eight waves of data from 3,959 older NZ adults from the Massey University Health, Work and Retirement Study (HWR) after accounting for the ‘sick quitter’ effect and socioeconomic status (SES). The HWR cohort data was analysed to evaluate the effect of moderate drinking on SF-12 scores cross-sectionally and longitudinally. National health record data linked to the HWR data was analysed to assess cancer outcomes of moderate drinking. Results: The scoping review identified 42 cohort studies. The review highlighted that existing research on the effect of moderate drinking on mortality, depression, mental health and dementia is often contradictory. However, there was consistent evidence that moderate drinking only had a significant protective effect on bone health indicators. Cross-sectional analyses of the HWR cohort found that alcohol consumption had a positive linear association with SF-12 physical health scores in older females, but not in males. Longitudinal analyses found consistent alcohol consumption over time by females significantly increased physical health SF-12 scores over time, compared to lifetime abstainers, but no effect was noticed for males. Alcohol consumption at baseline did not significantly affect cancer risk, irrespective of gender. Conclusion: The contradictory findings of the scoping review highlighted the need for longitudinal studies to assess the effect of moderate drinking on health in older adults whilst accounting for the ‘sick quitter’ effect. Secondary analyses found discrepant health effects of moderate drinking between genders, suggesting that future research should study the effects of alcohol based on different characteristics (e.g. gender, age, and ethnicity)

Credit and fiscal multipliers in China

We estimate credit and fiscal multipliers in China, using subnational political cycles as a source of exogenous variation. The tenure of the provincial party secretary, interacted with the credit and fiscal expenditure used in other provinces, instruments for provincial credit and government expenditure growth. We find a fiscal multiplier of 0.75 in 2001-2008, which increased to 1.2 in 2010-2015, consistent with higher multipliers in a slower economy. At the same time, a credit multiplier of 0.2 in 2001-2008 declined to close to zero in 2010-2015, consistent with credit saturation and credit misallocation. Our results suggest that credit expansion cannot further support economic growth in China. The flip side is that lower credit growth is also unlikely to disrupt output growth. Fiscal policy is powerful, and can cushion the macroeconomic adjustment to lower credit intensity

Older residents' perceptions of loneliness in long-term care facilities: A qualitative study

Loneliness is a negative emotional feeling often experienced by older residents in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). Previous studies have shown that loneliness is related to depression, inferior quality of life, cardiovascular disease, and suicidal thoughts. Thus, it is important to understand older residents' viewpoints about loneliness to provide better care in the long-term care context. This study aimed to explore residents’ perceptions of loneliness in LTCFs. For this qualitative research, data were collected from two LTCFs in northern Taiwan, and purposive sampling was used. In-depth interviews with 16 older residents were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Content analysis was performed to analyse the data. Four themes with nine subthemes were generated. The themes were: being cut off from continually meaningful
 relationships, experiencing tears of pain, feeling alone, and lacking a sense of belonging. The findings of this study can provide information for health care professionals to better understand older residents' views on loneliness and remind them to re-examine care protocols for psychological health care. Thus, this study found that in order to prevent or alleviate older residents' feelings of loneliness, the LTCFs should maintain continually meaningful relationships, accompany them, and give them a sense of belonging. The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) guidelines were used to report this study

sj-docx-1-hej-10.1177_00178969231222542 – Supplemental material for Promoting school-based learning about nutrition and physical activity using Photovoice: A systematic review

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-hej-10.1177_00178969231222542 for Promoting school-based learning about nutrition and physical activity using Photovoice: A systematic review by Suzanne Trask, Erica N D’Souza, Sophia Pi, Siobhan Tu’akoi and Jacquie L Bay in Health Education Journal</p

sj-docx-2-hej-10.1177_00178969231222542 – Supplemental material for Promoting school-based learning about nutrition and physical activity using Photovoice: A systematic review

Supplemental material, sj-docx-2-hej-10.1177_00178969231222542 for Promoting school-based learning about nutrition and physical activity using Photovoice: A systematic review by Suzanne Trask, Erica N D’Souza, Sophia Pi, Siobhan Tu’akoi and Jacquie L Bay in Health Education Journal</p