In this paper, we study the path based continuous spatial keyword queries, which find the answer set continuously when the query point moves on a given path. Under this setting, we explore two primitive spatial keyword queries, namely k nearest neighbor query and range query. The technical challenges lie in that: retrieving qualified vertices in large road networks efficiently, and issuing the query continuously for points on the path, which turns out to be inapplicable. To overcome the above challenges, we (...) first propose a backbone road network index structure, which supports the distance computation efficiently and offers a global insights of the whole road network. Motivated by the safe zone technique, we then transform our queries to the issue of finding event points, which capture the changes of answer set. By this transformation, our queries are to be simple and feasible. To answer the queries, we propose a Two-Phase Progressive computing framework, which first computes the answer sets for some crucial vertices on the path, and then identifies the event points by the retrieved answer sets. Extensive experiments on both real and synthetic data sets are conducted to evaluate the performance of our proposed algorithms, and the results show that our algorithms outperform competitors by several orders of magnitude. (shrink)

This study aims to identify research trends of scaffolding in the field of science education. To this end, both descriptive analysis and co-word analysis were conducted to examine the selected articles published in the Social Science Citation Index journals from 2000 to 2019. A total of 637 papers were retrieved as research samples through rounds of searching in Web of Science database. Overall, this study reveals a growing trend of science educators' academic publications about scaffolding in the recent two decades. (...) In these sample papers, from 1,487 non-repeated keywords, we extracted 286 author-defined keywords shared by at least two studies as a benchmark dictionary. A series of co-word analyses were then conducted based on the dictionary to reveal the underlying co-occurring relationships of the words in title and abstract of the sample papers. Results showed that “scaffolding,” “support,” and “design” were the top three most frequently used keywords during 2000 and 2019. Visualization of co-word networks in each 5-year period further helps clarify both educators' common research foci and relevant research trends. Derived discussion and potential research directions are also provided. (shrink)

The current COVID-19 pandemic and the previous SARS/MERS outbreaks of 2003 and 2012 have resulted in a series of major global public health crises. We argue that in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs and to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechenisms it is necessary to integrate the large and exponentially growing body of heterogeneous coronavirus data. Ontologies play an important role in standard-based knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. Accordingly, we initiated the (...) development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology in early 2020. -/- As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. CIDO is aligned with the Basic Formal Ontology and Viral Infectious Disease Ontology. CIDO has imported terms from over 30 OBO ontologies. For example, CIDO imports all SARS-CoV-2 protein terms from the Protein Ontology, COVID-19-related phenotype terms from the Human Phenotype Ontology, and over 100 COVID-19 terms for vaccines (both authorized and in clinical trial) from the Vaccine Ontology. CIDO systematically represents variants of SARS-CoV-2 viruses and over 300 amino acid substitutions therein, along with over 300 diagnostic kits and methods. CIDO also describes hundreds of host-coronavirus protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and the drugs that target proteins in these PPIs. CIDO has been used to model COVID-19 related phenomena in areas such as epidemiology. The scope of CIDO was evaluated by visual analysis supported by a summarization network method. CIDO has been used in various applications such as term standardization, inference, natural language processing (NLP) and clinical data integration. We have applied the amino acid variant knowledge present in CIDO to analyze differences between SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants. CIDO's integrative host-coronavirus PPIs and drug-target knowledge has also been used to support drug repurposing for COVID-19 treatment. -/- CIDO represents entities and relations in the domain of coronavirus diseases with a special focus on COVID-19. It supports shared knowledge representation, data and metadata standardization and integration, and has been used in a range of applications. (shrink)

Background: We described the prevalence of anxiety and depression related to COVID-19 pandemic among different types of population and examined their potential risk factors.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect demographic characteristics, exposure histories, and many other concerns about COVID-19. The Zung's self-rating anxiety scale and self-rating depression scale, followed by a four-step multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with mental health outcomes.Results: Out of 3,303 participants, the quarantined people, community workstation staffs-policemen-volunteers and general public (...) reported higher percentages of depression than the general medical staff. Moreover, the quarantined people also showed higher prevalence of anxiety than the general public and the general medical staff. The quarantined people had the highest risk of anxiety and depression, whereas the self-rated health was negatively associated with the risks of anxiety and depression. Younger age group showed higher risks of anxiety and depression. People who had exposure history or contact from Hubei province after December 1, 2019, had family or friends engaged in front-line health care work, had confirmed case nearby were all more likely to suffer from anxiety. Moreover, the negligence or overindulgence toward the epidemic information was associated with a higher risk of depression and anxiety.Conclusions: Our findings show that the CPV and quarantined people were most at-risk population. We have identified that the young people, people with exposure histories and negligence or overindulgence toward epidemic information are in grave need of attention. (shrink)

Professional values are standards for action and provide a framework for evaluating behavior. This study examined changes in the professional values of nursing students between their entrance to and graduation from an undergraduate nursing program. A pre- and post-test design was employed. A convenience sample of 94 students from a university in Taiwan was surveyed. Data were collected from students during the sophomore and senior years. Total scores obtained for the revised Nurses Professional Values Scale during the senior year of (...) the nursing program were significantly higher than upon program entry. The ‘caring’ subscale was scored highest at both program entry and graduation, but the pre- and post-test scores were not significantly different from each other. The students scored significantly higher on the ‘professionalism’ and ‘activism’ subscales at post-test than they did at pre-test. Professional values changed in a positive direction between the beginning of the student nurses’ educational experience and their graduation. The results supported the premise that education had a positive effect on these students’ professional values but causality could not be assumed. (shrink)

Given the widespread acceptance of computational thinking in educational systems around the world, primary and higher education has begun thinking about how to cultivate students' CT competences. The artificial intelligence of things combines artificial intelligence and the Internet of things and involves integrating sensing technologies at the lowest level with relevant algorithms in order to solve real-world problems. Thus, it has now become a popular technological application for CT training. In this study, a novel AIoT learning with Augmented Reality technology (...) was proposed and explored the effect of CT skills. The students used AR applications to understand AIoT applications in practice, attempted the placement of different AR sensors in actual scenarios, and further generalized and designed algorithms. Based on the results of the experimental course, we explored the influence of prior knowledge and usage intention on students' CT competence training. The results show that proposed AIoT learning can increase students' learning intention and that they had a positive impact on problem solving and comprehension with AR technology, as well as application planning and design. (shrink)

Background: People in both Taiwan and China originally descended from the Han Chinese, but the societies have been separated for approximately 38 years. Due to different political systems, variations exist in healthcare and nursing education systems in Taiwan and China. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the professional values of nursing students in Taiwan and China. Design: A cross-sectional design was applied in this study. The Nursing Professional Value Scale–Revised was used to measure the professional values of (...) the students. The questionnaire was distributed to eligible undergraduate students in a classroom setting. Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the first investigator’s university. Participants were informed that completion and return of the questionnaire was voluntary, and confidentiality was ensured by keeping the responses anonymous. Participants: A convenience sample included 292 Taiwanese students and 654 Chinese students. Findings: A total of 11 individual Nursing Professional Value Scale–Revised items showed significant differences between the two groups. These results reflect the differences in the perceived importance of these items between the groups. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the mean overall scores for the Nursing Professional Value Scale–Revised (p =.766) and three subscales (all p >.05). Conclusion: There are some differences in professional values between nursing students in Taiwan and China. Given the increasingly frequent and close interactions between Taiwan and China and the globalization of nursing, understanding these differences may help nursing educators identify students’ perceptions of their professional values and support the development of strategies to improve weaknesses in professional values. (shrink)

The importance of data literacy and the need of raising and improving it through formal educational channel or public engagement has repeatedly been flagged up in each of the past Economic and Social Research Council-funded Data-Psst! Seminar I attended in 2014–2016. There is a real demand for action taking. I took advantage of the knowledge I learned from the Data-Psst seminars and devised a module teaching Level 5 undergraduate media students about critical issues in today’s data-centric digital society, including privacy (...) and surveillance. In this article, I share how the class activities were devised and carried out, and how guided engagement with the current debate in privacy and surveillance were realised. I also draw on relevant pedagogical theories to discuss my educational approaches, student performance, the challenges of the project, and evaluate and reflect upon the outcomes. This report from the field provides fresh first-hand information about the data ethics of the younger public who are practising media arts and their behaviours and attitudes towards privacy and surveillance. This article shall open up the discussion about the role educators play in enriching public engagement with critical thinking about Big Data. The lessons learned can also contextualise the pedagogical implication of the recent scholarly research on Big Data and privacy, and provide a framework for constructing future collaborative or creative projects. (shrink)

We define DNA sequence by a bottom-up approach, starting with a real sequence from an actual biological sample. By providing axioms for notions of string, substring and strand, we formally define a DNA sequence, and a DNA molecule as composed of two antiparallel strands. We note that a sequence is a kind of group in which each member stands a certain relation to every other. The spatial aspects of a DNA sequence are also described.

A medical intervention is a medical procedure or application intended to relieve or prevent illness or injury. Examples of medical interventions include vaccination and drug administration. After a medical intervention, adverse events (AEs) may occur which lie outside the intended consequences of the intervention. The representation and analysis of AEs are critical to the improvement of public health. Description: The Ontology of Adverse Events (OAE), previously named Adverse Event Ontology (AEO), is a community-driven ontology developed to standardize and integrate data (...) relating to AEs arising subsequent to medical interventions, as well as to support computer-assisted reasoning. OAE has over 3,000 terms with unique identifiers, including terms imported from existing ontologies and more than 1,800 OAE-specific terms. In OAE, the term ‘adverse event’ denotes a pathological bodily process in a patient that occurs after a medical intervention. Causal adverse events are defined by OAE as those events that are causal consequences of a medical intervention. OAE represents various adverse events based on patient anatomic regions and clinical outcomes, including symptoms, signs, and abnormal processes. OAE has been used in the analysis of several different sorts of vaccine and drug adverse event data. (shrink)

Background Ethical dilemmas that arise in the clinical setting often require the collaboration of multiple disciplines to be resolved. However, medical and nursing curricula do not prioritize communication among disciplines regarding this issue. A common teaching strategy, problem-based learning, could be used to enhance communication among disciplines. Therefore, a university in southern Taiwan developed an interprofessional ethics education program based on problem-based learning strategies. This study described tutors’ experience teaching in this program. Aim To explore the phenomenon of teaching and (...) learning in interprofessional ethics education for medical and nursing students from the perspectives of tutors. Design Phenomenological qualitative research. Methods Medical and nursing students completed a 6-week interprofessional ethics education program moderated by either physician or nurse tutors. At the conclusion of the ethics education program, all 14 tutors were invited to participate in focus group interviews. Among them, six tutors (three nursing tutors and three physician tutors) participated in additional individual interviews. All of the contents from the focus group interviews and individual interviews were recorded and transcribed. Using the phenomenological approach, the phenomenon of teaching and learning in interprofessional ethics education were generated. Ethical consideration The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board. Findings Three themes emerged from the tutors' teaching perspectives, including the instructor’s motivation to teach, the use of narrative case scenarios, and the emphasis on improving interprofessional ethics communication. Discussion Problem-based learning creates an interprofessional communication platform in interprofessional ethics education. The phenomenon of value convergence between tutors and students, between different students’ professions, and between different students’ professional maturities is observed. Conclusion Problem-based learning is an effective teaching strategy for creating a communication platform for interprofessional ethics education. Ethic curriculum should emphasize motivating instructor, use narrative case scenarios, and focus on interprofessional communication. (shrink)

This article investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and investment efficiency from a strategic perspective. Taking into account the competitive strategy between firms, we proposed an adjusted competitive strategy measure and fitted CSR with a competitive strategy such as strategic CSR and examined the impact of competitive strategy on CSR and the sensitivity of investment to free cash flow. The results show that firms engage in CSR strategically. The stronger the strategic substitutes in which a firm competes, the (...) more likely it is to engage in CSR activities. The weaker the strategic substitutes and complements in which a firm competes, the better its CSR performance. However, strategic CSR and corporate strategy do not have a synergistic effect in mitigating overinvestment. The results suggest that strategic CSR performance eliminates the sensitivity of investment to free cash flow. CSR can be a powerful tool to link corporate strategy and social sustainability, which has the potential to create a win-win situation for both the firm and society. (shrink)

This study analyzes the influence of behavioral foundation factors and corporate strategic behavior on the formulation of corporate dividend policy. We use the Logit model and the OLS model for estimating the empirical model. The year- and industry-fixed effects are controlled in the model. We consider the behavioral foundations in three dimensions-ambiguity aversions, risk aversion, and loss aversion. The results show firms with high ambiguity or high risk infrequently pay dividends but firms with loss-averse behavior tend to pay dividends. This (...) paper also provides evidence that a firms’ business strategy influences its corporate dividend policy. Aggressive firms inhibit the payout of dividends. In additional tests, we find the results remain unchanged in those firms with high corporate governance or high growth opportunities. (shrink)

In this paper, we discuss the development and piloting of a new methodology for illuminating the socio-material constitution of data objects and flows as data move between different sites of practice. The data journeys approach contributes to the development of critical, qualitative methodologies that can address the geographic and temporal scale of emerging knowledge infrastructures, and capture the ‘life of data’ from their initial generation through to re-use in different contexts. We discuss the theoretical development of the data journeys methodology (...) and the application of the approach on a project examining meteorological data on their journey from initial production through to being re-used in climate science and financial markets. We then discuss three key conceptual findings from this project about: the socio-material constitution of digital data objects, ‘friction’ in the movement of data through space and time and the mutability of digital data as a material property that contributes to driving the movement of data between different sites of practice. (shrink)

Background Frontline nurses and nurse leaders faced profound psychological, ethical, and professional challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Less attention has been given to how meaning in life supports moral resilience and ethical nursing practice during prolonged public health crises. Research question/aim This study aimed to explore how frontline nurses and nurse leaders experienced pandemic-related stress, constructed meaning in life, and developed moral resilience within pandemic clinical settings. Research design A descriptive phenomenological design was used, and data were analysed using Giorgi’s (...) descriptive phenomenological method. Participants and research context Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 participants, including 14 frontline nurses and four nurse leaders, from four hospitals in southern Taiwan. Ethical considerations The study was approved by an institutional review board, and all participants provided informed consent. Findings Three major categories were identified: crisis conditions and ethical pressures, meaning-making as a source of moral resilience, and transformative meaning, professional identity, and moral agency. Meaning-making enabled frontline nurses to connect suffering with patient care, teamwork, and professional commitment, while nurse leaders constructed meaning through staff support, ethical decision-making, and reflective leadership. Discussion Meaning in life functioned not only as a psychological coping resource but also as an ethical resource supporting moral resilience, moral agency, and professional identity. Conclusions Meaning-centred reflection, moral resilience training, peer support, and reflective leadership development should be incorporated into organisational crisis preparedness to strengthen ethical nursing practice during future public health emergencies. (shrink)

The Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI) is an ontology that provides terms with precisely defined meanings to describe all aspects of how investigations in the biological and medical domains are conducted. OBI re-uses ontologies that provide a representation of biomedical knowledge from the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) project and adds the ability to describe how this knowledge was derived. We here describe the state of OBI and several applications that are using it, such as adding semantic expressivity to (...) existing databases, building data entry forms, and enabling interoperability between knowledge resources. OBI covers all phases of the investigation process, such as planning, execution and reporting. It represents information and material entities that participate in these processes, as well as roles and functions. Prior to OBI, it was not possible to use a single internally consistent resource that could be applied to multiple types of experiments for these applications. OBI has made this possible by creating terms for entities involved in biological and medical investigations and by importing parts of other biomedical ontologies such as GO, Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (ChEBI) and Phenotype Attribute and Trait Ontology (PATO) without altering their meaning. OBI is being used in a wide range of projects covering genomics, multi-omics, immunology, and catalogs of services. OBI has also spawned other ontologies (Information Artifact Ontology) and methods for importing parts of ontologies (Minimum information to reference an external ontology term (MIREOT)). The OBI project is an open cross-disciplinary collaborative effort, encompassing multiple research communities from around the globe. To date, OBI has created 2366 classes and 40 relations along with textual and formal definitions. The OBI Consortium maintains a web resource providing details on the people, policies, and issues being addressed in association with OBI. (shrink)

Globalization is a part of modern life. Sharing a common set of professional nursing values is critical in this global environment. The purpose of this research was to examine the professional values of nursing students from two distinct cultural perspectives. Nurse educators in Taiwan partnered with nurse educators in the United States to compare professional values of their respective graduating nursing students. The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics served as the philosophical framework for this examination. The convenience sample comprised (...) 94 Taiwanese students and 168 US students. Both groups reported high scores on an overall measure of values. They did differ substantially on the relative importance of individual items related to advocacy, competence, education, self-evaluation, professional advancement, and professional associations. Global implications for the collaborative practice of nurses from different cultures working together can be improved by first recognizing and then attending to these differences in value priorities. (shrink)

Research has indicated that microRNAs (miRNAs), a special class of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), can perform important roles in different biological and pathological processes. miRNAs’ functions are realized by regulating their respective target genes (targets). It is thus critical to identify and analyze miRNA-target interactions for a better understanding and delineation of miRNAs’ functions. However, conventional knowledge discovery and acquisition methods have many limitations. Fortunately, semantic technologies that are based on domain ontologies can render great assistance in this regard. In our (...) previous investigations, we developed a miRNA domain-specific application ontology, Ontology for MIcroRNA Target (OMIT), to provide the community with common data elements and data exchange standards in the miRNA research. This paper describes (1) our continuing efforts in the OMIT ontology development and (2) the application of the OMIT to enable a semantic approach for knowledge capture of miRNA-target interactions. (shrink)

This study aimed to investigate and compare the longitudinal impacts of mandatory clinical ethics consultation (CEC) on resource use and ethical conflicts among critically ill neurologic and non-neurologic patients. It also sought to identify relevant predictive factors and determine family member satisfaction with CEC. This combined retrospective and prospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary academic medical centre. During the eight-year study period, 1,150 adult patients participated in this study (437 neurological and 713 non-neurological). In both groups, the ICU (...) length of stay and days of ventilator use significantly decreased each year. Secular trends in the incidence rates of ethical conflicts significantly decreased each year in neurological patients. Neurological patients exhibited a greater decrease in resource usage and significantly higher incidence rates of ethical conflicts than non-neurological patients. Family members of both groups expressed high levels of satisfaction and agreed that CEC was beneficial. In the local healthcare context, the implementation of CEC policies may reduce resource usage, ethical conflicts, and improve the knowledge base of CEC and clinical teams, helping them in approaching the distinct issues raised by various patient characteristics. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution as their applicability to other healthcare systems may vary. (shrink)

Mandatory clinical ethics consultation (CEC) is initiated under specific circumstances when required by institutional policies. Medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) have various characteristics. Studies on whether mandatory CEC have different impacts on medical and surgical ICUs are limited. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of mandatory CEC on resource use and ethical conflicts as well as family member satisfaction regarding critically ill patients in medical and surgical ICUs and their predicting factors. This combined retrospective and prospective cohort (...) study was conducted at a tertiary academic university-affiliated medical center. Patients admitted to the adult ICUs and had CEC between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2020, were eligible. A total of 1,150 adult patients were included, with 822 in the medical and 328 in the surgical ICU. After the implementation of mandatory CEC policy, resource use in both ICUs deceased biannually. Medical ICU has significantly longer total length of stay (LOS), days of ventilator use, and days from ICU admission to ethics consultation than surgical ICU. Advanced cancer and the episode of cardiac arrest mainly predicted ICU LOS and resource use in the medical ICU, whereas the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score was the main predicting factor for surgical ICU. Secular trends for incidence rates of ethical conflicts decreased biannually in both ICUs. In general, higher incidence rates of ethical conflicts were observed in the surgical ICU. The predicting factors for ethical conflicts in the medical ICU included age, patients with advanced cancer, patients who received inotropes or vasopressors, and the GCS score, whereas in the surgical ICU, the marital status and GCS score were the main predicting factors. Family members in both ICUs were highly satisfied with the CEC team. Medical and surgical ICUs exhibited different impacts on resource use and ethical conflicts after the implementation of mandatory CEC policy. Our results provide CEC and clinical teams with guidelines to approach the distinct issues within various specialties. The institution should consider implementing mandatory CEC policy and developing special educational and training programs for various specialties to provide the best quality of end-of-life care in the ICUs. The ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier is NCT04926610. (shrink)

The financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic have caused many enterprises to suffer great losses. Thus, companies have to take measures such as pays cut, furloughs, or layoffs, which caused dissatisfaction among employees and triggered labor disputes. Therefore, this study explores the service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior in order to understand the behavioral intentions of employees through their mental states, job attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. This study conducted questionnaire (...) surveys for employees in different industries, collected 281 valid questionnaires, and applied Structural Equation Model for the analysis. The results show: employees believe organizational justice in the organization is important, and when they feel treated fairly, their job attitudes and beliefs are enhanced. Employees’ job attitudes and beliefs support service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior, in other words, they have positive job attitudes and beliefs and will actively provide better service to customers. When employees are treated reasonably and fairly by the organization and have positive job attitudes and perceived behavior control, their spontaneous service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior is stimulated, thus increasing organizational development. (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)

Identification of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) has been significantly enhanced due to the rapid advancement in sequencing technologies. On the other hand, semantic annotation of ncRNA data lag behind their identification, and there is a great need to effectively integrate discovery from relevant communities. To this end, the Non-Coding RNA Ontology (NCRO) is being developed to provide a precisely defined ncRNA controlled vocabulary, which can fill a specific and highly needed niche in unification of ncRNA biology.

Statistics play a critical role in biological and clinical research. To promote logically consistent representation and classification of statistical entities, we have developed the Ontology of Biological and Clinical Statistics (OBCS). OBCS extends the Ontology of Biomedical Investigations (OBI), an OBO Foundry ontology supported by some 20 communities. Currently, OBCS contains 686 terms, including 381 classes imported from OBI and 147 classes specific to OBCS. The goal of this paper is to present OBCS for community critique and to describe a (...) number of use cases designed to illustrate its potential applications. The OBCS project and source code are available at http://obcs.googlecode.com. (shrink)

Packed with ideas designed to help children learn to sing, this booklet offers criteria for selecting songs, strategies to bring out the best in children's voices, and suggestions for games, ideas, and resources.

Media exposure influences mental health symptomology in response to salient aversive events, like terrorist attacks, but little has been done to explore the impact of news coverage that varies more subtly in affective content. Here, we utilized an existing data set in which participants self-reported physical symptoms, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, and completed a potentiated startle task assessing their physiological reactivity to aversive stimuli at three time points (waves) over a 9-month period. Using a computational linguistics approach, we then (...) calculated an average ratio of words with positive vs. negative affective connotations for only articles from news sources to which each participant self-reported being exposed over the prior 2 weeks at each wave of data collection. As hypothesized, individuals exposed to news coverage with more negative affective tone over the prior 2 weeks reported significantly greater physical and depressive symptoms, and had significantly greater physiological reactivity to aversive stimuli. (shrink)

As artificial intelligence (AI) undergoes rapid evolutionary advancements, two enduring queries in the philosophy of language and linguistics persist: the problem of other minds and coherence. This can be further explored by the following question: is there a fundamental difference between human-AI interactions and human–human interactions? More precisely, does an AI partner’s ability to understand discursive coherence sufficiently approximate that of the human mind? This study frames the problem of other minds as a problem in discourse analysis, positing that linguistic (...) exchange inherently constitutes interactions between minds, where the act of decoding discursive coherence serves as a proxy for apprehending other minds. Guided by this perspective, this study uses four criteria of discursive coherence to examine how AI partners (with a focus on ChatGPT) achieve discursive coherence, thus reflecting whether an AI partner’s ability to understand discursive coherence suffices to simulate the human mind. Through a comparison between human–human interactions and human-AI interactions, the results indicate that while ChatGPT demonstrates proficiency in constructing discursive coherence along dictional, intentional, emotional, and rational coherence lines, the structural complexity and generative creativity of its coherence lines remain significantly below the threshold observed in human–human interactions. Moreover, ChatGPT’s emotional expressiveness pales in comparison to the rich, nuanced affect inherent in human–human interactions. (shrink)