Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness characterized by a disconnection between brain regions. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive brain intervention technique that can be used as a new and safe treatment option for patients with schizophrenia with drug-refractory symptoms, such as negative symptoms and cognitive impairment. However, the therapeutic effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation remain unclear and would be investigated using non-invasive tools, such as functional connectivity. A longitudinal design was adopted to investigate the alteration in FC dynamics using (...) a dynamic functional connectivity approach in patients with schizophrenia following high-frequency repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation with the target at the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Two groups of schizophrenia inpatients were recruited. One group received a 4-week high-frequency rTMS together with antipsychotic drugs, while the other group only received antipsychotic drugs. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and psychiatric symptoms were obtained from the patients with schizophrenia twice at baseline and after 4-week treatment. The dynamics was evaluated using voxel- and region-wise FC temporal variability resulting from fMRI data. The pattern classification technique was used to verify the clinical application value of FC temporal variability. For the voxel-wise FC temporary variability, the repeated measures ANCOVA analysis showed significant treatment × time interaction effects on the FC temporary variability between the left DLPFC and several regions, including the thalamus, cerebellum, precuneus, and precentral gyrus, which are mainly located within the cortico-thalamo-cerebellar circuit. For the ROI-wise FC temporary variability, our results found a significant interaction effect on the FC among CTCC. rTMS intervention led to a reduced FC temporary variability. In addition, higher alteration in FC temporal variability between left DLPFC and right posterior parietal thalamus predicted a higher remission ratio of negative symptom scores, indicating that the decrease of FC temporal variability between the brain regions was associated with the remission of schizophrenia severity. The support vector regression results suggested that the baseline pattern of FC temporary variability between the regions in CTCC could predict the efficacy of high-frequency rTMS intervention on negative symptoms in schizophrenia. These findings confirm the potential relationship between the reduction in whole-brain functional dynamics induced by high-frequency rTMS and the improvement in psychiatric scores, suggesting that high-frequency rTMS affects psychiatric symptoms by coordinating the heterogeneity of activity between the brain regions. Future studies would examine the clinical utility of using functional dynamics patterns between specific brain regions as a biomarker to predict the treatment response of high-frequency rTMS. (shrink)

Identification of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) has been significantly improved over the past decade. On the other hand, semantic annotation of ncRNA data is facing critical challenges due to the lack of a comprehensive ontology to serve as common data elements and data exchange standards in the field. We developed the Non-Coding RNA Ontology (NCRO) to handle this situation. By providing a formally defined ncRNA controlled vocabulary, the NCRO aims to fill a specific and highly needed niche in semantic annotation of (...) large amounts of ncRNA biological and clinical data. (shrink)

In recent years, sequencing technologies have enabled the identification of a wide range of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Unfortunately, annotation and integration of ncRNA data has lagged behind their identification. Given the large quantity of information being obtained in this area, there emerges an urgent need to integrate what is being discovered by a broad range of relevant communities. To this end, the Non-Coding RNA Ontology (NCRO) is being developed to provide a systematically structured and precisely defined controlled vocabulary for the (...) domain of ncRNAs, thereby facilitating the discovery, curation, analysis, exchange, and reasoning of data about structures of ncRNAs, their molecular and cellular functions, and their impacts upon phenotypes. The goal of NCRO is to serve as a common resource for annotations of diverse research in a way that will significantly enhance integrative and comparative analysis of the myriad resources currently housed in disparate sources. It is our belief that the NCRO ontology can perform an important role in the comprehensive unification of ncRNA biology and, indeed, fill a critical gap in both the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) Library and the National Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO) BioPortal. Our initial focus is on the ontological representation of small regulatory ncRNAs, which we see as the first step in providing a resource for the annotation of data about all forms of ncRNAs. The NCRO ontology is free and open to all users. (shrink)

Schizophrenia is considered as a self-disorder with disordered local synchronous activation. Previous studies have reported widespread dyssynchrony of local activation in patients with SZ, which may be one of the crucial physiological mechanisms of SZ. To further verify this assumption, this work used a surface-based two-dimensional regional homogeneity approach to compare the local neural synchronous spontaneous oscillation between patients with SZ and healthy controls, instead of the volume-based regional homogeneity approach described in previous study. Ninety-seven SZ patients and 126 HC (...) were recruited to this study, and we found the SZ showed abnormal 2dReHo across the cortical surface. Specifically, at the global level, the SZ patients showed significantly reduced global 2dReHo; at the vertex level, the foci with increased 2dReHo in SZ were located in the default mode network, frontoparietal network, and limbic network ; however, foci with decreased 2dReHo were located in the somatomotor network, auditory network, and visual network. Additionally, this work found positive correlations between the 2dReHo of bilateral rectus and illness duration, as well as a significant positive correlation between the 2dReHo of right orbital inferior frontal gyrus with the negative scores of the positive and negative syndrome scale in the SZ patients. Therefore, the 2dReHo could provide some effective features contributed to explore the pathophysiology mechanism of SZ. (shrink)

ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy combined with medication therapy in preventing the recurrence of major depressive disorder in convalescent patients.MethodsA total of 130 patients with convalescent MDD were enrolled in this prospective study. Sixty-five patients were assigned to the experimental group and received medication therapy combined with MBCT, and 65 patients were assigned to the control group and treated with medication alone. The recurrence rate and related hormonal changes were compared between the two groups.ResultsAfter (...) 1 year of MBCT intervention, eight patients experienced recurrence in the experimental group, a recurrence rate of 12.31%, and 19 patients experienced recurrence in the control group, a recurrence rate of 29.23%. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale scores in both the experimental and the control groups were significantly improved after treatment. The difference in the HAM-D scores before and after treatment in the experimental group was 16.74 ± 4.54; this was significantly higher than that of the control group. The WHOQOL-BREF scores in the experimental group were significantly improved compared with those of the control group. The differences in the levels of corticotrophin-releasing hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and cortisol before and after treatment in the experimental group and the control group were statistically significant. The difference in CRH before and after treatment in the experimental group was 16.8 ± 7.2, which was higher than that of the control group. The intervention with MBCT had a significant impact on the recurrence of MDD [β = 1.206, P = 0.039, 95% CI = 0.0790–1.229]. The difference in the HAM-D scores also had a significant impact on the recurrence of MDD.ConclusionCompared with medication therapy alone, the use of MBCT combined with medication therapy can effectively prevent the recurrence of MDD in convalescent patients. (shrink)

BackgroundFamily consent is a prerequisite for the organ donation of the deceased in China. However, a large number of donors are individuals who died due to accidental injuries or unanticipated diseases, which means that most of the families of such donors have just experienced the sudden death of their loved one and have to make a donation decision in a short time. This decision may cause psychological stress and some psychological damage to the minds of relatives of the donors. In (...) addition, cultural sensitivity also has largely caused the relatives of donors inner conflicts and contradictions. And sometimes organ donation may still be stigmatized. However, have they received any emotional support and what is their emotional support needs are some questions that need to be answered. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the emotional support, influencing factors, and needs of the family members of organ donors in Hunan Province, China.Materials and methodsThis is mixed-methods research that combines quantitative and qualitative research methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 102 donor families using a questionnaire to investigate their emotional support status. To further understand their emotional support needs, 12 donor families participated in the semi-structured interview.ResultsThe results confirmed that: A total of 67.7% of the 102 respondents received emotional support or psychological comfort. Thus, only a small number of respondents felt respected by the public. Emotional support came mainly from immediate family members, and official organizations such as the Red Cross. Marital status, health status, occupation, and coping style can affect the emotional support of the donor families. Interview showed that the families of donors need emotional support and psychological aid from psychological professionals mostly. And they also wish to receive the understanding and respect of the public.ConclusionMost families of organ donors received emotional support from family, Red Cross, and friends, but only a minority of families of donors reported receiving respect from the public after the donation. And families of donor showed a strong need for emotional support and professional psychological aid from institutions. (shrink)

Ben shu ji yu Wang Chuanshan zhe xue wen ben, can zhao "nei zai quan shi" de li lu yi ji quan shi zhi "dao" "shu" de ce lüe ji qiao, dui wang chuan shan zhe xue jin xing yan jiu, ti chu zhu ru Song Ming ru xue "san xi shuo", "wu zhong shi" ji xian shi shi jie de yu zhou lun, "tai ji" ben ti lun, xing zhi qian zai yu shi xian, liang ge ceng mian de (...) gong fu lun, ji yu "jin hua" de xun huan li shi guan, jun quan de "he fa xing" "zheng dang xing"yi ji "zi zhi lun" deng yi xie xin de guan dian, bing ti chu ru xue "shi cun dao de miao shu" "xing shang xue" "xing shang dao de shi jian" san zhong xing tai, tong guo jiang Wang Chuanshan yu Huang Zongxi deng tong shi dai de ru zhe yi qi zhi yu Ming mo Qing chu ru xue "xing shang dao de shi jian" xing tai, dui Wang Chuanshan zhe xue jin xing ru xue shi ding wei, wei Qing dai yi hou ru xue bao kuo xian dai xin ru xue dian ding ji ben fang xiang. (shrink)

Extensive empirical work has examined ethical perceptions of different occupational groups in marketing. Additionally, researchers have explored ethical apperceptions of industrial customers and retail consumers. Minimal effort, though, has been directed at investigating differences in ethical perceptions between buyers and sellers, notwithstanding considerable theoretical arguments for doing so. This paper reports the results of a study that focused on differences between retail customers’ and retail salespeople’s perceptions of questionable buying and selling behaviors. Findings indicate that the two groups differ in (...) some respect depending on which group is engaging in the questionable conduct. Managerial and future research implications are provided. (shrink)

The concept of integrity appears in many arguments and theories in business ethics and organizational behavior where it plays multiple roles. It has been shown to have desirable organizational outcomes and is held as important by the academic and practitioner alike. Yet despite its prominence there are a variety of approaches to defining and conceptualizing it and little existent theory to explain its nature. We offer integrative social contracts theory (ISCT) as a framework that can anchor integrity in ethical theory (...) and also encompass aspects of integrity such as wholeness, consistency, and authenticity. In addition we show how ISCT can resolve some of the challenges to definitions of integrity that have been raised in the literature and hence we provide some suggestions for future academic research and suggestions for the practitioner. (shrink)

This is a premature baby. I have decided to submit this rather immature essay to the circle of scholarship mainly because of two considerations, each of which, I must admit, carries with it some deeper concerns.

Deception is common in dementia care, although its moral legitimacy is questionable. This paper conceptually clarifies when does dementia care involve deception and argues that care ethics is an appropriate ethical framework to guide dementia care compared with the mainstream ethical theories that emphasize abilities. From a perspective of care ethics, this paper claims that morally defensible deception is context-specific, embodied as a caring process that needs to be identified through instant, creative and interactive care procedures. According to this argument, (...) it further analyses and concludes the moral rationality of deception in five common cases. While deception is morally justified in many situations, another concern is that it is usually not the last resort but a means of convenience. As the ability to interact, autonomy and dignity of persons with dementia (PWDs) are generally ignored; nurses need more training and education to master the essential procedures to ensure that the value of authenticity and autonomy is maintained and considered throughout dementia care. (shrink)

Extant contextualist theories have relied on the mechanism of pragmatically driven modulation to explain the way non-indexical expressions take on different interpretations in different contexts. In this paper I argue that a modulation-based contextualist semantics is untenable with respect to non-ambiguous expressions whose invariant meaning fails to determine a unique literal interpretation, such as ‘lawyer’ ‘musician’ ‘book’ and ‘game’. The invariant meaning of such an expression corresponds to a range of closely related and equally basic interpretations, none of which can (...) be distinguished as the literal interpretation. Moreover, what counts as a literal interpretation as opposed to a non-literal one is arguably vague. The nonuniqueness of the literal interpretation and the vagueness in the literal/non-literal divide doubly challenge a modulation-based semantics, for modulation is supposed to operate on a unique literal interpretation to generate a clearly non-literal interpretation. Lastly I contend that non-ambiguous expressions which lack determinate literal interpretation are amenable to a Radical Contextualist semantics, according to which the invariant meaning of such an expression directs its interpretation to congruent background information in context. Thereby, these expressions exhibit semantically driven context sensitivity without displaying indexicality. (shrink)

As the essence of livestream e-commerce is social commerce, building a livestream brand community and attracting brand followers are the key aspects to achieving sustained revenue. For many companies, inviting celebrities has become a shortcut to attract new followers. Considering the unsustainability and high cost of the celebrity host mode, some companies switched to using their own branded broadcasters to attract followers. However, as branded broadcasters lack a fan base, choosing the suitable broadcaster type has become a challenge in livestream (...) e-commerce. The motivation of consumers to follow brand livestream accounts is mainly to obtain potential value by embedding them in social networks. Therefore, based on motive theory, this research explores how different broadcaster types affect consumer’s intention to follow a livestream brand community. Results from the analysis of secondary data from livestream platforms and two laboratory experiments reveal that celebrities contribute more to consumer’s intention to follow than branded broadcasters, and utilitarian products can strengthen the effect of branded broadcasters on attracting potential followers. Moreover, branded broadcasters can promote consumer’s intention to follow a livestream brand community by satisfying consumer’s need for informational value during utilitarian product evaluation. This research analyzes the differential effects of different types of broadcasters on livestream brand community building. The findings can deepen the understanding of the consumer’s behavior of following brand livestream communities and provide companies with suggestions on broadcaster selection in livestream e-commerce. (shrink)

To demonstrate how green innovation effectively occurs, this study examines the effects of green intellectual capital on GI from the perspective of green supply chain integration. Based on a natural-resource-based view and knowledge-based view, the authors constructed an intermediary model of GIC-GSCI-GI, and analyzed the effects of green absorptive ability and relationship learning ability as moderators. An empirical survey of 328 Chinese manufacturing companies was conducted. Our results indicate that three dimensions of GIC positively impact GI. The mediating effects of (...) internal and external GSCI exist in the relationship between GIC and GI. The moderating effects of GAA and RLA in these effects were also verified. Our study provides further empirical evidence for the relationship between GIC and GI, highlights the effects of companies’ internal and external abilities on GI, and suggests new ways and implementation contexts for GI. (shrink)

Twenty classes in ten schools with 627 sixth?grade students in five cities in Taiwan participated in this study. The research provides information on the performance differences among written computation, pictorial representation, symbolic representation and number sense. The results of One?way ANOVA analysis indicate that significant difference was found among WCT, PRT, SRT and NST tests, with F=536.327, p=0.000. The a posteriori comparisons show for each pair (WCT vs PRT, WCT vs SRT, WCT vs NST, PRT vs SRT and SRT vs (...) NST) significant difference at the 0.001 level (p=0.000), except for the pair comparison between PRT and NST. This implies that these Taiwanese students were highly skilled in written computation but their written skills were not equally transferred to use of non?computational paths that depended on symbolic representation, pictorial representation and number sense to solve similar problems. (shrink)

Given the current shortage of kindergarten teachers, this study examines the relationship between empowering leadership and job satisfaction among kindergarten teachers in China from the perspective of their job characteristics and the Chinese cultural context. The participants were 557 Chinese kindergarten female teachers whose average number of years of experience was 2.82. They completed a self-report survey regarding empowering leadership, vigor, affective commitment, and job satisfaction. The study results show that vigor and affective commitment could mediate the relationship between empowering (...) leadership and job satisfaction. Finally, we discuss the findings of this study in depth. At the same time, we suggest that administrators should focus on the empowering leadership of Chinese kindergarten teachers, strive to increase their level of dynamism, and finally, strengthen the emotional connection between the organization and the Chinese kindergarten teachers. Thus, we suggest that educational administrators should empower kindergarten teachers more, rather than allowing them to be mere enforcers. In addition, how to enhance the individual dynamics of early childhood teachers and their emotional connection to the organization may also be something for educational administrators to consider. (shrink)

This commentary places Jussim in dialogue with sociological perspectives on social reality and the political-academic nature of scientific paradigms. Specifically, we highlight how institutions, observers, and what is being observed intersect, and discuss the implications of this intersection on measurement within the social world. We then identify similarities between Jussim's specific narrative regarding social perception research, with noted patterns of scientific change.

Over the span of nearly 10 years, the social work labor force grew from 0.2 million to approximately 1.2 million in China. Despite these increases, studies have shown social workers in China are also experiencing equally high burnout rates. For this analysis, we collected data from 537 social workers based in Guangzhou, China. We used the job demands and resources theory, to examine the relations between JD-R and burnout and whether mindfulness practice could reduce any such burnout. Our results suggest (...) JD-R affects social workers’ burnout through both health and motivation impairment. High job demands were linked to high burnout while high job resources were linked to a reduction in burnout. Formal and informal MP were associated with low burnout amongst social workers. The significant interaction between JD and MP also suggests that MP can reduce burnout for social workers with high JD. The findings call for using MP to be used to shield social workers from the effects of increasing JD and to prevent an increase of burnout amongst Chinese social workers. (shrink)

In this study, we explore the psychological mechanisms underlying the relation between college students’ post-traumatic growth and their entrepreneurial intentions in the post-COVID-19 era. Using the post-traumatic growth, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, prosocial tendency, and entrepreneurial intention scales, we tested 690 valid samples of Chinese undergraduates. The results revealed that post-traumatic growth of college students in the post-COVID-19 era will have a significant and positive effect on their entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, the results indicated that students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies play a (...) partial mediation role between post-traumatic growth and entrepreneurial intentions in the post-COVID-19 era and that there is a chain mediating effect between students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies. This study provides valuable insights into the influence of post-traumatic growth on entrepreneurial intentions among college students in the post-COVID-19 era and suggests that colleges and universities can improve students’ entrepreneurial intentions by adopting measures to foster their post-traumatic growth, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and prosocial tendencies. (shrink)

In longitudinal cohort studies involving large populations over extended periods, informed consent entails numerous urgent challenges. This paper explores challenges regarding informed consent in long‐term, large‐scale longitudinal cohort studies based on the longitudinal and dynamic nature of such research. It analyzes and evaluates widely recognized broad consent and dynamic consent methods, highlighting limitations concerning their ability to adapt to evolving research objectives and participant perspectives. This paper discusses trust‐based informed consent and emphasizes the needs to establish and maintain trust with (...) research participants and to balance information disclosure with respect for participants' autonomy. Informed consent in long‐term studies is an evolving process that must adapt to changing research environments. Based on participant trust, researchers should observe and assess potential research risks. Finally, the paper recommends enhancing institutional credibility, implementing reconsent procedures, and ensuring robust ethical oversight to safeguard participants' rights despite the complexity of modern biomedical research. (shrink)

The planetary boundaries concept has profoundly changed the vocabulary and representation of global environmental issues. The article starts by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of planetary boundaries from a social science perspective. It is argued that the growth imperative of capitalist economies, as well as other particular characteristics detailed below, are the main drivers of the ecological crisis and exacerbated trends already underway. Further, the planetary boundaries framework can support interpretations that do not solely emphasize technocratic operational approaches and costs, (...) but also assume that these alone can be the solution. (shrink)

This commentary focuses on two issues. First, reflecting on the distinction between public and private institutions in protecting individual rights is necessary. Second, the current regulatory appr...

The notion of societal boundaries aims to enhance the debate on planetary boundaries. The focus is on capitalist societies as a heuristic for discussing the expansionary dynamics, power relations, and lock-ins of modern societies that impel highly unsustainable societal relations with nature. While formulating societal boundaries implies a controversial process – based on normative judgments, ethical concerns, and socio-political struggles – it has the potential to offer guidelines for a just, social-ecological transformation.

Educational assessments tests are often constructed using testlets because of the flexibility to test various aspects of the cognitive activities and broad content sampling. However, the violation of the local item independence assumption is inevitable when tests are built using testlet items. In this study, simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of item response theory models and testlet response theory models for both the dichotomous and polytomous items in the context of equating tests composed of testlets. We also examine (...) the impact of testlet effect, length of testlet items, and sample size on estimating item and person parameters. The results show that more accurate performance of testlet response theory models over item response theory models was consistently observed across the studies, which supports the benefits of using the testlet response theory models in equating for tests composed of testlets. Further, results of the study indicate that when sample size is large, item response theory models performed similarly to testlet response theory models across all studies. (shrink)

Although personal and group recommendation systems have been quickly developed recently, challenges and limitations still exist. In particular, users constantly explore new items and change their preferences throughout time, which causes difficulties in building accurate user profiles and providing precise recommendation outcomes. In this context, this study addresses the time awareness of the user preferences and proposes a hybrid recommendation approach for both individual and group recommendations to better meet the user preference changes and thus improve the recommendation performance. The (...) experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms several baseline algorithms in terms of precision, recall, novelty, and diversity, in both personal and group recommendations. Moreover, it is clear that the recommendation performance can be largely improved by capturing the user preference changes in the study. These findings are beneficial for increasing the understanding of the user dynamic preference changes in building more precise user profiles and expanding the knowledge of developing more effective and efficient recommendation systems. (shrink)

Commented Article: YANG, Baohong. Criticism of Feuerbach thought by Marx and Engels through the Reflection on the Text of the German Ideology. Trans/Form/Ação: Unesp Journal of Philosophy, v. 47, n. 1, e0240002, 2024. Available in: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/14519.

Commented article: ZHANG, Ziyu; XU, Xinyue. The enlightenment of Chinese philosophy to the construction of contemporary ecological civilization. Trans/Form/Ação: Unesp journal of philosophy, Marília, v. 47, n. 4, “Eastern thought”, e0240070, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/14658.

We examine the impact of family firms’ historical ownership on corporate fraud. Our results show that restructured family firms from state-owned enterprises are more likely to violate and commit more fraud than entrepreneurial family firms. This finding is robust to the difference-in-difference-in-differences estimation, an instrument variables regression, fixed effects research design, and propensity score matching (PSM) approach analysis. Mechanism analysis shows that restructured family firms result in lower financial performance, high labor redundancy, inefficient investments, and cash volatility. Therefore, restructured family (...) firms have a stronger incentive to conceal these problems through corporate fraud. Furthermore, the effects of family firms’ historical ownership on corporate fraud are weakened for a more extended period after SOE ownership reform and the restructuring approach adopted by equity takeover. (shrink)