Research has shown that the left and right hemispheres display different neural atrophy patterns in the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Yet, in current research practices, asymmetrical...Show moreResearch has shown that the left and right hemispheres display different neural atrophy patterns in the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Yet, in current research practices, asymmetrical patterns are not usually considered during classification analyses. Therefore, in this study we analysed the difference in classification accuracy between the left and right hemisphere for different stages of the disease. To further analyse the impact of asymmetric neural atrophy, we calculated an asymmetry score to include in the classification analyses. The sample consisted out of 173 healthy controls and 75 AD patients divided in two groups: 38 mild AD patients and 37 with severe AD (based on MMSE-scores). The classification analyses were performed using a logistic regression analysis with a LASSO penalty including a nested cross-validation procedure to improve the reliability of our analyses. We found that in the case of both mild and severe AD, the combined model (left + right hemisphere) showed that the left hemisphere was better in classifying AD. However, in severe AD the model included more predictors from the right hemisphere, indicating that the right hemisphere offers valuable information in classifying severe AD. We found that asymmetry scores did improve classification accuracy for mild AD. In contrast, this was not the case for severe AD, since asymmetric atrophy diminishes as AD progresses. Furthermore, asymmetry on its own was consistently shown to be a poor predictor of AD. This could possibly be attributed to the calculation method of asymmetry in our study. Overall, our findings contribute to the idea of asymmetric neural atrophy in AD and the emphasize the need for further investigation into the calculation of asymmetry scores.Show less
This thesis critically analyses the success of John Rawls’s political liberalism, which recast his theory of justice from a comprehensive doctrine to a political conception. This analysis into...Show moreThis thesis critically analyses the success of John Rawls’s political liberalism, which recast his theory of justice from a comprehensive doctrine to a political conception. This analysis into Rawlsian political liberalism involves an examination of the way in which political liberals have responded to the objections raised by critics of the theory. Through analysing the problem of asymmetry in political liberalism, this thesis argues that political liberalism is only able to remain viable on the basis of the notion of reasonableness, which characterises the group of highly idealised, reasonable citizens. These citizens are immensely important to political liberalism, since they have the role of deliberating on and justifying the political conception of justice. In order for political liberalism to remain a tenable account of how agreement can be reached on the principles of justice, the idea of reasonableness requires justification. Political liberals attempt to accomplish this by appealing to the public political culture, and the shared political ideas found within it, which all democratically-aligned citizens will endorse. This thesis also argues that such a claim cannot be made, since the political ideas are subject to interpretation and thus not shared. It is also illustrated that political liberals cannot ground their theory in the support of committed democrats, since disagreement over the ideas of democracy and reasonableness are likely. After concluding that political liberalism cannot be defended, the last chapter of this thesis focuses upon a perfectionist liberalism, which Rawls argues must be rejected. This thesis argues that, on the contrary, perfectionist liberalism may be able to overcome the problems that political liberals associate with it.Show less
