A study published in the Journal of Leadership Studies examines the actions of Michael Scott, self‐proclaimed “World's Best Boss”, to determine how he communicates leadership on The Office. Using Northouse's (2020) definition of leadership, Scott's behavior is content analyzed to establish his particular message transmission tendencies. Further, given Scott's unique management style, George's (2003) dimensions of authentic leadership are used to code Scott's behavior as Scranton's regional manager. Based on a quantitative coding of shows, two main findings are advanced. First, Scott's leadersh ..read more

Neurofeedback using real-time functional MRI (RT-fMRI-NF) is an innovative technique that allows to voluntarily modulate a targeted brain response and its associated behavior. Despite promising results in the current literature, its effectiveness on symptoms management in psychiatric disorders is not yet clearly demonstrated.  A study in the journal Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry  provides 1) a state-of-art qualitative review of RT-fMRI-NF studies aiming at alleviating clinical symptoms in a psychiatric population; 2) a quantitative evaluation ..read more

The sense of smell, olfaction, is seldom engaged in digital interactive systems, but, supported by the proper technology, olfaction might open up new interaction domains. Human olfactory experience involves active exploration, directed sniffing and nuanced judgements about odour identity, concentrations, and blends, yet to date most compact olfactory displays do not directly support these experiences.  A study in the  International Journal of Human-Computer Studies describes the development and validation of a compact, low-cost olfactory production fitted to the hand controller of th ..read more

Alzheimer’s, or so-called dementia, is one of the types of diseases that affects brain cells and causes memory loss, difficulty in thinking, and forgetfulness. Thus far, there is no effective treatment for AD, but treatment could be helpful in impeding the progression of the disease. Therefore, early AD diagnosis is effective in limiting the disease from progressing to advanced and dangerous stages. Physicians and radiologists face difficulties in diagnosing healthy nerve cells from soft tissue, and it requires substantial expertise and a long time to decipher the MRI images. Thus, artificial ..read more

Legend has it that when Judge Melville B. Gerry handed down a death sentence on Alferd Packer, he said, "There was seven Democrats in Hinsdale Country, but you, you voracious man-eatin' son of a bitch, you ate five of them. I sentence you to be hanged ... as a warning against reducing the Democratic population of this state." According to the actual trial records, Judge Gerry was more succinct (and apolitical) in his death sentence, stressing that Packer would be "hung by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead!". If Judge Gerry was upset with Alf Packer, he was hardly the only one. As the sol ..read more

In recent years, social networks have become very popular and an integral part of everyday life. People express their feelings and experiences in this virtual environment and become aware of others’ opinions and interests. Among them, influential users play an important role in disseminating information on social networks. Identifying such influencers is important in designing techniques to increase the speed of information dissemination. Such techniques are applicable in various fields including viral marketing, preventing the dissemination of harmful information, providing specialized recomm ..read more

Rome's Museo Criminologico [Criminological Museum]  may not be to everybody's taste,  but it's worth seeing (alas, it's now closed though, hopefully, that will change in the future).  The museum's collection featured photographs and memorabilia from some of the most gruesome forensic cases in the long history of Italy.   From Renaissance murders to the Mafia, this museum had it all.   There, I first learned about Leonarda Cianciulli, a.k.a. the "Soap Maker of Correggio," and her bizarre criminal career.   While almost unknown outside of It ..read more

Recent evidence shows that genetic and environmental risk factors for psychotic disorders are associated with higher levels of schizotypy (or psychosis proneness) in the general population. However, little is known about how these risk factors interact. A recent article in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry specifically examined whether genetic loading for schizophrenia moderates the association between childhood trauma severity and schizotypy. Schizotypy was measured using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), and childhood trauma severity was measured ..read more

Disruptive events within a country can have global repercussions, creating a need for the anticipation and planning of these events. Crystal Cube (CC) is a novel approach to forecasting disruptive political events at least one month into the future. The system uses a recurrent neural network and a novel measure of event similarity between past and current events. We also introduce the innovative Thermometer of Irregular Leadership Change (ILC). We present an evaluation of CC in predicting ILC for 167 countries and show promising results in forecasting events one to twelve months in advance. We ..read more

A new study published in the Journal of Leadership Studies examines the actions of Michael Scott, self‐proclaimed “World's Best Boss”, to determine how he communicates leadership on The Office. Using Northouse's (2020) definition of leadership, Scott's behavior is content analyzed to establish his particular message transmission tendencies. Further, given Scott's unique management style, George's (2003) dimensions of authentic leadership are used to code Scott's behavior as Scranton's regional manager. Based on a quantitative coding of shows, two main findings are advanced. First, Scott's lead ..read more