Language control in the bilingual brain has remained in the limelight of research over the past decades. However, the mechanisms underlying bilingual language control may be more intricate than typically assumed due to the hierarchical nature of language. This study aimed to investigate the dynamics of bilingual language control at the phonetic level. Participants, who were speakers of Chinese, English and German, named the letters of the alphabet in English (L2) or German (L3) following an alternating language-switching paradigm. Two sets of letters were selected, differing in the phonological similarity of their pronunciation across the two languages, thereby allowing the exploration of cross-language phonological influences. Each participant completed two sessions of letter-naming tasks. In one session, seven phonologically similar letters were randomly repeated either in single-language blocks or in alternate-language blocks. In the other session, seven phonologically dissimilar letters were similarly manipulated. The results indicated local inhibition, reflected by switch costs and global inhibition, reflected by mixing costs. Reversed language dominance, another indicator of global inhibition, was not observed. However, there was a tendency for larger global inhibition to be applied to the more dominant language. Moreover, there was significantly faster naming for phonologically similar letters compared to dissimilar ones, suggesting a facilitation effect for both English and German, irrespective of whether letter naming occurred in single- or alternate-language blocks. These findings provided evidence for the role of inhibitory and facilitative mechanisms at the phonetic level, suggesting language-specific control in the bilingual brain and underscoring the complexity and dynamics of managing language control across multiple levels of processing.

Item replenishing is essential for item bank maintenance in cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing (CD-CAT). In regular CAT, online calibration is commonly used to calibrate the new items continuously. However, until now no reference has publicly become available about online calibration for CD-CAT. Thus, this study investigates the possibility to extend some current strategies used in CAT to CD-CAT. Three representative online calibration methods were investigated: Method A (Stocking in Scale drift in on-line calibration. Research Rep. 88-28, 1988), marginal maximum likelihood estimate with one EM cycle (OEM) (Wainer & Mislevy In H. Wainer (ed.) Computerized adaptive testing: A primer, pp. 65–102, 1990) and marginal maximum likelihood estimate with multiple EM cycles (MEM) (Ban, Hanson, Wang, Yi, & Harris in J. Educ. Meas. 38:191–212, 2001). The objective of the current paper is to generalize these methods to the CD-CAT context under certain theoretical justifications, and the new methods are denoted as CD-Method A, CD-OEM and CD-MEM, respectively. Simulation studies are conducted to compare the performance of the three methods in terms of item-parameter recovery, and the results show that all three methods are able to recover item parameters accurately and CD-Method A performs best when the items have smaller slipping and guessing parameters. This research is a starting point of introducing online calibration in CD-CAT, and further studies are proposed for investigations such as different sample sizes, cognitive diagnostic models, and attribute-hierarchical structures.

Bacterial infection risk in work environments has been extensively reported for healthcare workers, while this risk is rarely researched in other occupations. This study aimed to identify occupational environments in Taiwan’s agricultural and healthcare industries with elevated bacterial infection risks by comparing risks for general bacterial infections and pneumonia. Using labour and health insurance claim data from 3.3 million workers (January 2004–December 2020), a retrospective cohort was constructed to estimate occupational infection risks with Cox regression and the Anderson-Gill extension. Significantly elevated hazard ratios were found for workers in vegetable growing, crop cultivation service, mushroom growing, flower growing, and fruit growing, ranging from 1.13 to 1.39 for general bacterial infections and 1.68 to 3.06 for pneumonia infections. In afforestation and the inland fishing industry, pneumonia risk was significantly elevated with, respectively, 1.87 and 1.21. In the healthcare section, especially workers in residential care services and residential care services for elderly stand out regarding their pneumonia risk, with significant hazard ratios of 3.49 and 1.75. The methods used in this study were proven to be effective in identification of occupation environments at risk and can be used in other settings. These findings call for prioritization of bacterial infection prevention by occupation.

Introduction: Late-life depression (LLD) is associated with cognitive deficit with risk of future dementia. By examining the entropy of the spontaneous brain activity, we aimed to understand the neural mechanism pertaining to cognitive decline in LLD.

Methods: We collected MRI scans in older adults with LLD (n = 32), mild cognitive impairment [MCI (n = 25)] and normal cognitive function [NC, (n = 47)]. Multiscale entropy analysis (MSE) was applied to resting-state fMRI data. Under the scale factor (tau) 1 and 2, reliable separation of fMRI data and noise was achieved. We calculated the brain entropy in 90 brain regions based on automated anatomical atlas (AAL). Due to exploratory nature of this study, we presented data of group-wise comparison in brain entropy between LLD vs. NC, MCI vs. NC, and LLD and MCD with a p-value below 0.001.

Results: The mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of LLD and MCI was 27.9 and 25.6. Under tau 2, we found higher brain entropy of LLD in left globus pallidus than MCI (p = 0.002) and NC (p = 0,009). Higher brain entropy of LLD than NC was also found in left frontal superior gyrus, left middle superior gyrus, left amygdala and left inferior parietal gyrus. The only brain region with higher brain entropy in MCI than control was left posterior cingulum (p-value = 0.015). Under tau 1, higher brain entropy was also found in LLD than in MCI in right orbital part of medial frontal gyrus and left globus pallidus (p-value = 0.007 and 0.005).

Conclusions: Our result is consistent with prior hypothesis where higher brain entropy was found during early aging process as compensation. We found such phenomenon particular in left globus pallidus in LLD, which could be served as a discriminative brain region. Being a key region in reward system, we hypothesis such region may be associated with apathy and with unique pathway of cognitive decline in LLD. We will undertake subsequent analysis longitudinally in this cohort

Key words: resting-state fMRI, Late-life depression, Brain entropy, globus pallidus, cognitive decline

With a history of over six hundred years, Kun Opera is one of the oldest types of opera still actively performed in China today. In some Kun Opera plays, the story is set in a garden, which becomes an important narrative motif. Such plays were frequently staged in gardens, usually for private gatherings. The twenty-first-century revival of this type of garden Kun Opera took place during a strong wave of cultural tourism, aligning cultural preservation with economic development. A prototypical example is Six Records of a Floating Life, which, since 2018, has been performed at Canglang Pavilion, one of the classical gardens of Suzhou. An inventive yet historically informed production of garden Kun Opera, Six Records of a Floating Life provides an immersive aesthetic and more broadly cultural experience, situating Kun Opera in the economic, cultural, and social context of contemporary life.

Artificial sweeteners are generally used and recommended to alternate added sugar for health promotion. However, the health effects of artificial sweeteners remain unclear. In this study, we included 6371 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with artificial sweetener intake records. Logistic regression and Cox regression were applied to explore the associations between artificial sweeteners and risks of cardiometabolic disorders and mortality. Mendelian randomisation was performed to verify the causal associations. We observed that participants with higher consumption of artificial sweeteners were more likely to be female and older and have above medium socio-economic status. After multivariable adjustment, frequent consumers presented the OR (95 % CI) for hypertension (1·52 (1·29, 1·80)), hypercholesterolaemia (1·28 (1·10, 1·50)), diabetes (3·74 (3·06, 4·57)), obesity (1·52 (1·29, 1·80)), congestive heart failure (1·89 (1·35, 2·62)) and heart attack (1·51 (1·10, 2·04)). Mendelian randomisation confirmed the increased risks of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Moreover, an increased risk of diabetic mortality was identified in participants who had artificial sweeteners ≥ 1 daily (HR = 2·62 (1·46, 4·69), P = 0·001). Higher consumption of artificial sweeteners is associated with increased risks of cardiometabolic disorders and diabetic mortality. These results suggest that using artificial sweeteners as sugar substitutes may not be beneficial.

This study addresses endogenous factors related to the strategic planning of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Our findings help explain the paradox: If better CSR always leads to better firm performance, why do so many companies either choose not to engage in CSR or act irresponsibly? Managers may make decisions regarding CSR based on the environment. Some companies may be better served through a proactive CSR strategy; however, others may be unable to achieve better performance through this strategy for a variety of endogenous causes. Our sample included 594 U.S. publicly traded companies with 2,019 firm-year observations. We empirically simulated scenarios where companies selected inappropriate CSR strategies and found that the companies were unable to achieve better firm performance if they did not select appropriate CSR strategies based on their internal and external environment. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

One species-general life history (LH) principle posits that challenging childhood environments are coupled with a fast or faster LH strategy and associated behaviors, while secure and stable childhood environments foster behaviors conducive to a slow or slower LH strategy. This coupling between environments and LH strategies is based on the assumption that individuals’ internal traits and states are independent of their external surroundings. In reality, individuals respond to external environmental conditions in alignment with their intrinsic vitality, encompassing both physical and mental states. The present study investigated attachment as an internal mental state, examining its role in mediating and moderating the association between external environmental adversity and fast LH strategies. A sample of 1169 adolescents (51% girls) from 9 countries was tracked over 10 years, starting from age 8. The results confirm both mediation and moderation and, for moderation, secure attachment nullified and insecure attachment maintained the environment-LH coupling. These findings suggest that attachment could act as an internal regulator, disrupting the contingent coupling between environmental adversity and a faster pace of life, consequently decelerating human LH.

Following the literature on entrepreneurial framing and identity change, we examined how Chinese shan-zhai phone entrepreneurs have drawn on their cultural resources to reframe their businesses to claim new identities and gain legitimacy over time. Through qualitative procedures, we found that a staged process of collective identity development underlies this entrepreneurial process, consisting of building (a) niche-market identity via pragmatic reframing, (b) socio-political identity via nationalistic reframing, and finally (c) professional identity via comprehensive reframing. There has also been a clear change in the sources of legitimacy from the indigenous market through the wider Chinese society to the more globally defined industry. Our central contribution is a processual model of identity change through cultural reframing specifically focused on how informal entrepreneurs grow into formalization and global competition.

This paper explores the use of inkjet-printing technology for transparent transmitarrays, presenting a viable alternative to traditional copper microwire counterparts. The study focuses on achieving high-gain performance crucial for wireless communication systems, with a particular emphasis on the fifth-generation (5G) millimeter-wave communication. Transparent transmitarrays leverage transparent conducting films and conductive mesh structures, overcoming opacity limitations and seamlessly integrating with urban architecture. In this paper, the inkjet-printing process is detailed for fabricating transmitarray apertures, highlighting the flexibility and precision in depositing nanosilver particles onto a glass substrate. The design intricacies involve optimizing feeding characteristics, determining unit cell structures, and constructing transmitarrays of various sizes. To validate the proposed technique, three different apertures (15 × 15, 20 × 20, and 25 × 25 unit cells) are constructed. The antenna performances are evaluated in terms of reflection coefficients, radiation efficiency, realized gain, and patterns, demonstrating the effectiveness of inkjet-printed transmitarrays. Comparative analysis with copper microwire counterparts is also conducted, validating the inkjet-printing technology for similar gain performance with added advantages of flexibility, compatibility with transparent substrates, and cost-effective manufacturing.

Snails and freshwater fish were examined from four ponds in the Meinung township in which Clonorchis sinensis was known to be endemic 18 years ago. No metacercariae were found in 478 Tilapia nilotica, whereas of 451 Ctenopharyngodon idellus examined, 16.2%, 3.3% and 0.9% were found to be infected with Haplorchis pumilio, H. taichui and Clonorchis sinensis, respectively. In addition, there were some unidentified metacercariae in 12.0% of Ctenopharyngodon idellus examined. Overall, no positive correlation between infection rates and sizes of infected fish was shown. Six species of snails were collected in this survey and two frequently-occurring snails, Melanoides tuberculata and Thiara granifera were commonly infected with H. pumilio. Reasons for the prevalence of Haplorchis species and the absence of Clonorchis sinensis in fish and snail hosts in a previously reported endemic area for human clonorchiasis are discussed.