This article explores how a collaboration technology called Artificial Swarm Intelligence (ASI) addresses the limitations associated with group decision making, amplifies the intelligence of human groups, and facilitates better business decisions. It demonstrates of how ASI has been used by businesses to harness the diverse perspectives that individual participants bring to groups and to facilitate convergence upon decisions. It advances the understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to enhance, rather than replace, teams as they collaborate to make business decisions.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) are neurodegenerative disorders of the aging population characterized by the abnormal accumulation of alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn). Previous studies have suggested that excitotoxicity may contribute to neurodegeneration in these disorders, however the underlying mechanisms and their relationship to alpha-syn remain unclear. For this study we proposed that accumulation of alpha-syn might result in alterations in metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR), particularly mGluR5 which has been linked to deficits in murine models of PD. In this context, levels of mGluR5 were analyzed in the brains of PD and DLB human cases and alpha-syn transgenic (tg) mice and compared to age-matched, unimpaired controls, we report a 40% increase in the levels of mGluR5 and beta-arrestin immunoreactivity in the frontal cortex, hippocampus and putamen in DLB cases and in the putamen in PD cases. In the hippocampus, mGluR5 was more abundant in the CA3 region and co-localized with alpha-syn aggregates. Similarly, in the hippocampus and basal ganglia of alpha-syn tg mice, levels of mGluR5 were increased and mGluR5 and alpha-syn were co-localized and co-immunoprecipated, suggesting that alpha-syn interferes with mGluR5 trafficking. The increased levels of mGluR5 were accompanied by a concomitant increase in the activation of downstream signaling components including ERK, Elk-1 and CREB. Consistent with the increased accumulation of alpha-syn and alterations in mGluR5 in cognitive- and motor-associated brain regions, these mice displayed impaired performance in the water maze and pole test, these behavioral alterations were reversed with the mGluR5 antagonist, MPEP. Taken together the results from study suggest that mGluR5 may directly interact with alpha-syn resulting in its over activation and that this over activation may contribute to excitotoxic cell death in select neuronal regions. These results highlight the therapeutic importance of mGluR5 antagonists in alpha-synucleinopathies.

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A positive bias of opinions has frequently been identified across online review websites, suggesting that the public is making decisions based on a limited range of opinions. While scholars often attribute this bias to social loafing or self-selection, this study investigates the positive bias from the perspective of opinion expression. Drawing from the spiral of silence theory, a qualitative analysis of discussion forums reveals that fear of isolation reduces the willingness of members to voice neutral and negative reviews. Additionally, communicative affordances of the interface were found to further suppress neutral and negative opinions. These results extend the spiral of silence theory into the context of non-anonymous multichannel communication platforms and indicate the need to consider the role of communicative affordances in online opinion expression.