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Ambiguity is ubiquitous in language; lexical ambiguity refers to instances where a single word has multiple meanings. The current investigation examined homonyms, words that have the same orthography and pronunciation in English but multiple meanings (e.g., BANK, meaning "financial institution" or "river's edge"). The processing of homonyms requires the engagement of executive control processes, for example, to select the appropriate meaning of the homonym while reducing interference from other meanings. Executive function processes are known to change over the lifespan and may be impacted by experiential factors such as bilingualism. The present study uses event-related brain potentials as an index of lexical access to examine whether bilingualism influences homonym processing in older adults. The results indicate that patterns of lexical access differ as a function of bilingual status in older adults and compared to young adults, suggesting that language experience may moderate language processing in both young and older adults, at least in situations where language processing is demanding on executive function, such as in the processing of homonyms. Importantly, we show that older bilinguals show a somewhat similar pattern of ambiguity processing as their younger counterparts, while age differences were observed in monolinguals when comparing across studies. This suggests that bilingual language experience may have a mitigating impact on age-related changes in ambiguity processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experts' views on the use of mostly digital technologies for dementia prevention are characterized by a simultaneity of "gerontechnological optimism" and skeptical hesitancy. Despite the hope for progress in dementia prevention through preventive technologies, experts also point to the complexity of prevention, the importance of environmental factors and public health policies, and the danger of an excessive focus on individual interventions. Without questioning the positive impact such technologies can have on many people, we claim that the experts' ambiguity reveals a deeper concern, a kind of "cruel optimism" that is based on a fantasy of "supported autonomy". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in economic geography has focused on the shift away from the standard employment relationship in the West; yet within these debates, non‐standard work is an amorphous stand‐in for many kinds of labour. Our aim is to account for absences and ambiguities within one form of non‐standard work – freelancing – to make the contours of this work more visible and to understand why a growing sector of the labour market is not well measured, protected or understood. Working from a Canadian case study, we first examine the conflicting ways freelancing is statistically measured, using an umbrella of intersecting terms that refer to labour or workers. Second, we critically review how freelancing is (not) legislated, organised and protected, areas of mediation which often still presume a standard employment relationship. Finally, we consider how the identity of 'freelancer' is lived, through freelancers' complex yet partial definitions that embrace flexibility and constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We offer exploratory reflections on the matter of sexual misconduct affecting sexuality minority male students by males in positions of authority in the university, based on interviews with eight sexual violence service providers and five men across Canada with lived experience, as well as information gathered through our recruitment work. Data were interpreted using thematic analysis. Our results indicate that there is a need to think through the specificity of sexual misconduct involving men in university settings. Several dynamics operate to perpetuate a willed ambiguity on this issue that allow abuses of power to go unchecked. These include difficulties in having a conversation on this topic, the sexualization of gay male culture, gender dynamics among gay men, 'queer' justifications, risks of social isolation, and financial precarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducing ionospheric information into a precise point positioning (PPP) solution enables faster ambiguity resolution and significantly improves positioning accuracy. To compute such corrections over wide areas, sparse networks with potentially irregular station distributions are often used. This aspect brings a new level of complexity as ionospheric corrections should be weighted appropriately in the PPP filter. This paper presents a possible implementation of grid-based wide-area slant ionospheric delay corrections, with a focus on the reported uncertainties. A balance is obtained between obtaining corrections with formal errors small enough to enable fast convergence, while large enough to overbound most errors. Based on least-squares collocation, the method uses satellite-specific variograms based on the 99th percentile values in each distance bin. Tested in southern Canada over a 53-week period in 2020, ionospheric grids allowed dual-frequency receivers to obtain around 5 cm accuracy in each horizontal component within 5 min of static data collection. For single-frequency solutions using data from geodetic receivers, positioning errors were reduced by over 60% for both static and kinematic processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]