Metaphysical realism is the view that most of the objects that populate the world exist independently of our thought and have their natures independently of how, if at all, we conceive of them. It is committed, in my opinion, to a robust form of essentialism. Many modern forms of anti-realism have their roots in a form of conceptualism, according to which all truths about essence knowable by us are ultimately grounded in our concepts, rather than in things 'in themselves'. My (...) aim is to show that conceptualist anti-realism is an incoherent doctrine and how we can support metaphysical realism and robust essentialism, while still properly acknowledging the cognitive role of concepts in mediating our grasp of the nature of mind-independent reality.RésuméLe réalisme métaphysique est la conception suivant laquelle la plupart des objets qui peuplent le monde existent indépendamment de notre pensée et possèdent une nature indépendante de la manière dont nous pouvons éventuellement la concevoir. A mon sens cette position engage à admettre une forme robuste d'essentialisme. Beaucoup des formes modernes de l'anti-réalisme tirent leurs origines d'une forme de conceptualisme, suivant laquelle toutes les vérités que nous puissions connaître au sujet des essences sont en dernière analyse fondées sur nos concepts, plutôt que dans les choses « en elles-mêmes ». Mon but est de montrer que l'anti-réalisme conceptualiste est une doctrine incohérente, et comment nous pouvons soutenir le réalisme métaphysique et l'essentialisme robuste, tout en reconnaissant clairement le rôle cognitif des concepts en tant qu'intermédiaires dans notre appréhension de la nature de la réalité indépendante de l'esprit. (shrink)

Drawing on the distinction between dominance and prestige as two evolutionarily grounded strategies for attaining status in human groups, this essay examines an underappreciated feature of Donald Trump's appeal to the millions of American voters who elected him president in 2016—his uncanny ability to channel primal dominance. Like the alpha male of a chimpanzee colony, Trump leads through intimidation, bluster, and threat, and through the establishment of short-term, opportunistic relationships with other high-status agents. Whereas domain-specific expertise confers status in the (...) prestige paradigm, dominant leaders derogate expertise in order to establish a direct, authoritarian connection to their constituency. Trump's leadership style derives readily from his personality makeup, which entails a combustible temperament mixture of high extraversion and low agreeableness, a motivational agenda centered on extreme narcissism, and an internalized life story that tracks the exploits of an intrepid warrior who must forever fight to win in a Hobbesian world of carnage. (shrink)

Philosophers of physics have long debated whether the Past State of low entropy of our universe calls for explanation. What is meant by “calls for explanation”? In this article we analyze this notion, distinguishing between several possible meanings that may be attached to it. Taking the debate around the Past State as a case study, we show how our analysis of what “calling for explanation” might mean can contribute to clarifying the debate and perhaps to settling it, thus demonstrating the (...) fruitfulness of this analysis. Applying our analysis, we show that two main opponents in this debate, Huw Price and Craig Callender, are, for the most part, talking past each other rather than disagreeing, as they employ different notions of “calling for explanation”. We then proceed to show how answering the different questions that arise out of the different meanings of “calling for explanation” can result in clarifying the problems at hand and thus, hopefully, to solving them. (shrink)

There is unanimous agreement regarding the need to ethically conduct research for improving therapy for patients admitted to hospital with acute conditions, including in emergency obstetric care. We present a conceptual analysis of ethical tensions inherent in the informed consent process for randomized clinical trials for emergency obstetric care and suggest ways in which these could be mitigated. A valid consenting process, leading to an informed consent, is a cornerstone of this aspect necessary for preservation and maintenance of respect for (...) autonomy and dignity. In emergency obstetric care research, obtaining informed consent can be problematic, leading to ethical tension between different moral considerations. Potential participants may be vulnerable due to severity of disease, powerlessness or impaired decisional capacity. Time for the consent process is limited, and some interventions have a narrow therapeutic window. These factors create ethical tension in allowing potentially beneficial research while avoiding potential harms and maintaining respect for dignity, human rights, justice and autonomy of the participants. Informed consent in emergency obstetric care in low- and middle-income countries poses numerous ethical challenges. Allowing research on vulnerable populations while maintaining respect for participant dignity and autonomy, protecting participants from potential harms and promoting justice underlie the ethical tensions in the research in emergency obstetric and newborn care. Those involved in research conduct or oversight have a duty of fair inclusion, to avoid denying participants the right to participate and to any potential research benefits. (shrink)

BackgroundInformed consent, whose goal is to assure that participants enter research voluntarily after disclosure of potential risks and benefits, may be impossible or impractical in emergency research. In low resource settings, there is limited information on the experiences of the informed consent process for randomized clinical trials in the emergency care context. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of the informed consent process and factors that motivated participation in two obstetrics and newborn care randomized clinical trials (...) (RCTs).MethodsThis was a qualitative study conducted among former participants of RCTs in the emergency obstetric care context, conducted at Kawempe National Referral Hospital, Uganda. It employed 30 in-depth interviews conducted from June 1, 2019 to August 30, 2019. Issues explored included attitudes about research, the purpose of the research in which they participated, motivations to take part in the study, factors that influenced enrolment decisions, and experiences of the informed consent process.ResultsRespondents felt that research was necessary to investigate the cause, prevention or complications of illness. The decisions to participate were influenced by hope for material or therapeutic benefit, trust in the healthcare system and influence of friends and family members. Many were satisfied with the informed consent process, though they did not understand some aspects of the research.ConclusionRespondents valued participation in RCTs in emergency obstetric and newborn care. Hope for benefit, altruism, desire to further scientific knowledge and trust in the investigators featured prominently in the motivation to participate. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors were motivators for RCT participation. (shrink)

According to the orthodox interpretation of bounce cosmologies, the universe was born from an entropy-reducing phase in a previous universe. To defend the thesis that the whole of physical reality was caused to exist a finite time ago, Craig and Sinclair have argued the low-entropy interface between universes should instead be understood as the beginning of two universes. Here, I present Craig and Sinclair with a dilemma. On the one hand, if the direction of time is reducible, as friends of (...) the Mentaculus—for example, Albert, Loewer, and Papineau—maintain, then there is reason to think that the direction of time and the entropic arrow of time align. But on that account, efficient causation is likely reducible to non-causal phenomena. In consequence, contrary to Craig and Sinclair’s theological aims, things can begin to exist without causes. On the other hand, if the direction of time is not reducible, Craig and Sinclair’s interpretation of bounce cosmologies is unjustified. Lastly, a reply to a potential objection motivates a discussion of how to interpret bounce cosmologies on the tensed theory of absolute time favoured by Craig and Sinclair. I offer two interpretations of bounce cosmologies that, given a tensed theory of absolute time, are preferable to those Craig and Sinclair offer, yet inconsistent with their project in natural theology; on one interpretation, the universe does not require a supernatural cause and, on the other, bounce cosmologies represent the universe as never having begun to exist. (shrink)

While there has been much discussion about what makes some mathematical proofs more explanatory than others, and what are mathematical coincidences, in this article I explore the distinct phenomenon of mathematical facts that call for explanation. The existence of mathematical facts that call for explanation stands in tension with virtually all existing accounts of “calling for explanation”, which imply that necessary facts cannot call for explanation. In this paper I explore what theoretical revisions are needed in order to accommodate this (...) phenomenon. One of the important upshots is that, contrary to the current consensus, low prior probability is not a necessary condition for calling for explanation. In the final section I explain how the results of this inquiry help us make progress in assessing Hartry Field’s style of reliability argument against mathematical Platonism and against robust realism in other domains of necessary facts, such as ethics. (shrink)

According to the orthodox interpretation of bounce cosmologies, the universe was born from an entropy-reducing phase in a previous universe. To defend the thesis that the whole of physical reality was caused to exist a finite time ago, Craig and Sinclair have argued the low-entropy interface between universes should instead be understood as the beginning of two universes. Here, I present Craig and Sinclair with a dilemma. On the one hand, if the direction of time is reducible, as friends of (...) the Mentaculus—for example, Albert, Loewer, and Papineau—maintain, then there is reason to think that the direction of time and the entropic arrow of time align. But on that account, efficient causation is likely reducible to non-causal phenomena. In consequence, contrary to Craig and Sinclair’s theological aims, things can begin to exist without causes. On the other hand, if the direction of time is not reducible, Craig and Sinclair’s interpretation of bounce cosmologies is unjustified. Lastly, a reply to a potential objection motivates a discussion of how to interpret bounce cosmologies on the tensed theory of absolute time favoured by Craig and Sinclair. I offer two interpretations of bounce cosmologies that, given a tensed theory of absolute time, are preferable to those Craig and Sinclair offer, yet inconsistent with their project in natural theology; on one interpretation, the universe does not require a supernatural cause and, on the other, bounce cosmologies represent the universe as never having begun to exist. (shrink)

Le réalisme métaphysique est la conception suivant laquelle la plupart des objets qui peuplent le monde existent indépendamment de notre pensée et possèdent une nature indépendante de la manière dont nous pouvons éventuellement la concevoir. A mon sens cette position engage à admettre une forme robuste d'essentialisme. Beaucoup des formes modernes de l'anti-réalisme tirent leurs origines d'une forme de conceptualisme, suivant laquelle toutes les vérités que nous puissions connaître au sujet des essences sont en dernière analyse fondées sur nos concepts, (...) plutôt que dans les choses « en elles-mêmes ». Mon but est de montrer que l'anti-réalisme conceptualiste est une doctrine incohérente, et comment nous pouvons soutenir le réalisme métaphysique et l'essentialisme robuste, tout en reconnaissant clairement le rôle cognitif des concepts en tant qu'intermédiaires dans notre appréhension de la nature de la réalité indépendante de l'esprit. (shrink)

Le réalisme métaphysique est la conception suivant laquelle la plupart des objets qui peuplent le monde existent indépendamment de notre pensée et possèdent une nature indépendante de la manière dont nous pouvons éventuellement la concevoir. A mon sens cette position engage à admettre une forme robuste d'essentialisme. Beaucoup des formes modernes de l'anti-réalisme tirent leurs origines d'une forme de conceptualisme, suivant laquelle toutes les vérités que nous puissions connaître au sujet des essences sont en dernière analyse fondées sur nos concepts, (...) plutôt que dans les choses « en elles-mêmes ». Mon but est de montrer que l'anti-réalisme conceptualiste est une doctrine incohérente, et comment nous pouvons soutenir le réalisme métaphysique et l'essentialisme robuste, tout en reconnaissant clairement le rôle cognitif des concepts en tant qu'intermédiaires dans notre appréhension de la nature de la réalité indépendante de l'esprit. (shrink)

The concept of protosemiosis or semiosis at the lower levels of the living goes back to Giorgio Prodi, Thomas A. Sebeok and others. More recently, a typology of proto-signs was introduced by Sharov and Vehkavaara. Kull uses the term of vegetative semiosis, defined by iconicity, when referring to plants and lower organism semiosis. The criteria for the typology of proto-signs by Sharov and Vehkavaara are mostly based on two important presuppositions: agency and a lack of representation in low-level semiosis. We (...) would like to focus on an alternative approach to protosign classification. In particular, we aim to provide a sign-typological characteristic of proteins (in analogy to Maran’ s classification of environmental signs). Our approach is focused on representation, that is, we only consider the relation between a sign and its object. We are considering representation independently from the role of interpretant and interpretation (which is an epiphenomenon of agency). Two hypotheses are investigated and accordingly evaluated in this paper: (I) Proteins are indexical protosigns. (II) Proteins are iconic protosigns. The conclusion our argumentation leads to supports the hypothesis (II). (shrink)

En faisant usage des intuitions de la philosophie de la science, l'étude compare les voies d'approches en recherche néotestamentaire et en philologie classique. La recherche néotestamentaire a mis en oeuvre une certaine méthode qui était en vogue en philologie classique durant le 19ème siècle, mais qui fut finalement rejetée par la plupart des philologues classiques. Il s'agit d'une méthode sceptique plutôt que critique, car elle rend toute prétention à la connaissance problématique ou même impossible. Son origine dernière se trouve dans (...) la méthode du doute systématique proposée par Descartes. Telle qu'elle est pratiquée aujourd'hui, cependant, la méthode sceptique est semblable à la philosophie de la science suggérée par le cercle de Vienne en les années 1920, mais que les héritiers de cette école regardent aujourd'hui comme trop simpliste. Des exemples concrets, tirés de la pratique courante de la recherche, montrent comment une méthode sobrement critique peut trouver place dans les études du Nouveau Testament, à condition seulement que les dangers de la méthode sceptique soient clairement aperçus. (shrink)

A previous model for treating electromagnetic nonlinear wave systems is examined in the context of wave mechanics. It is shown that nonlinear wave mechanics implies harmonic generation of new quasiparticle wave functions, which are absent in linear systems. The phenomenon is interpreted in terms of pair (and higher order ensembles) coherence of the interacting particles. The implications are far-reaching, and the present approach might contribute toward a common basis for diverse physical phenomena involving nonlinearity. An intimate relationship connecting coherence, nonlocal (...) interaction, and nonlinearity has been previously noticed in the physics of superconductivity. It is shown here that all these ingredients are consistently contained in the present formalism. The present theory may contribute to elucidate a controversial theory proposed by Panarella, who claims to have measured high-energy photons due to high-intensity laser radiation, which cannot be predicted on the basis of linear quantum theory. Panarella explains the new phenomena by stipulating a nonlinear intensity-dependent photon energy. It is argued here that nonlinearity, manifested in the presence of high intensity, may give rise to high- and low-energy photons, the so-called “effective” and “tired” photons, respectively. However, the present explanation does not involve ad hoc assumptions regarding the foundations of quantum theory. In analogy with the electrodynamic model, the present theory leads to particulate self-focusing in high-density streams of particles. Since such particulate beams are currently under consideration in connection with fusion reactions, this might be of future interest. (shrink)

The straightforward guide to the new Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D Popular tech blog Gizmodo.com called the Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D "an incredible camera – everything a first DSLR should be." With 1080p digital video capability and an 18 megapixel sensor that improves low-light shooting all for under $900, the accolades are well-earned. And for less than $30, you can learn how to maximize your digital photography experience! Packed with more than 300 color photos and 100 color screen captures throughout, this (...) beginner book walks you through the camera’s controls, features, and shooting modes. If you're new to the Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D, this fun and friendly guide shifts you out of automatic mode and helps you shoot memorable digital photos. Aimed at first-time dSLR users looking for a guide that clearly and patiently explains the features and controls of the Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D Explores the on-board controls and situational shooting Addresses using live view and playback modes Explains dialing in exposure and lighting controls Details how to edit, print, post online, and other ways to share images Spells out how to manipulate focus and color controls Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D For Dummies delivers a straightforward look through the lens of your dSLR! (shrink)

As a part of user experience, user emotion has rarely been studied in mobile libraries. Specifically, with the proposed emotional model in combination with the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance Emotion Model and the Five Factor Model, we evaluate user emotions on the mobile library’s three IS features. An experience procedure with three tasks has been designed to collect data. 50 participants were enrolled, and they were asked to fill in questionnaires right after the experience. The correlations among the PAD emotions were examined. Specifically, (...) users have a low perception of pleasure, high perception of arousal, and low perception of dominance. However, these three emotional states were not always significantly correlated with each other. This study extends mobile library research by focusing on users’ emotional experience. Specifically, the detailed PAD emotions have been examined. This study provides a new approach for application developers and managers to evaluate the user experience of an application. (shrink)

This article draws upon clinical experience of GPs working in a deprived area of the North East of England to examine the potential contribution of Universal Basic Income to health by mitigating ‘patient-side barriers’ among three cohorts experiencing distinct forms of ‘precariousness’: 1) long-term unemployed welfare recipients with low levels of education (lumpenprecariat); 2) workers on short-term/zero-hours contracts with low levels of education (‘lower’ precariat); 3) workers on short-term/zero-hours contracts with relatively high levels of education (‘upper’ precariat). We argue that (...) any benefits must be accompanied by robust institutions capable of promoting health. (shrink)

This study investigated patient preferences for various types of physician persuasion strategies. Four types of persuasion strategies were utilized which involved combination of high and low levels of affectivity and information. In addition, patient variables, receiver apprehension and health beliefs were introduced to predict preference choices by patients. Results indicated that patients are influenced in their decision-making (preferences) by the type of persuasive strategy employed. Further, patients with different characteristics and predispositions prefer different persuasive strategies. The results of this study (...) suggest that the success of physician persuasiveness is dependent upon the type of strategy used and the type of patient being persuaded. (shrink)

In many coevolutionary systems members of one party select members of a second party based on quality differences existing among members of the latter (e.g., predators and prey, pollinators and flowers, etc.). We examined the fate of characters that increase (amplifiers) or decrease (attenuators) the perceived amplitude of differences in the quality upon which choice of the selecting party is based. We found that the evolution of such characters depends on (i) the relationship between the cost of the character and (...) the relative benefit it gives to the high quality individuals (if an amplifier) or low quality individuals (if an attenuator), and (ii) the frequency, among members of the selected party, of the quality sought by the selecting party. (shrink)

Under the dual background of underemployment and health inequality, this study empirically analyzes the impact of education level on underemployed workers’ health based on data from the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey. The results show that underemployment is significantly related to the decline of self-rated health, increased depressive tendencies, and the prevalence of illness over a certain period. The results indicate that underemployment can significantly reduce the health level of workers in both low and high education level groups. However, underemployment (...) appears to have no significant impact on workers’ health in the middle education level group. This result holds even if the measurement method of the indicators is adjusted and endogeneity is considered; this indicates that the research conclusions are robust. Moreover, this kind of health inequality mainly comes from the economic and leisure effects of underemployment for workers with different educational levels. Although underemployment significantly reduces the economic level of workers in each education level group, it brings a positive leisure effect to workers with a middle education level and a negative leisure effect to workers with a low education level. This study provides empirical support for increasing labor protection mechanisms for underemployed people and reducing the health inequality caused by differences in education level. (shrink)

Embodied cognition theory posits that concept representations inherently rely on sensorimotor experiences that accompany their acquisitions. This is well established through concrete concepts. However, it is debatable whether representations of abstract concepts are based on sensorimotor representations. This study investigated the causal role of associated motor experiences that accompany concept acquisition in the involvement of the motor system in the abstract verb processing. Through two experiments, we examined the action–sentence compatibility effect, in the test phase after an increase in motor (...) features during the learning phase for abstract verbs with low motor features or novel words with no conceptual features at all. After associated motor experiences were added in the word learning phase, action–sentence compatibility effect was found in the semantic processing tasks during the test phase for abstract verbs and novel words. This was lacking in the word font color judgment task requiring no semantic processing. Coupled with our previous study, these findings suggest that motor features formed during word learning could causally affect embodiment in the motor system for abstract verbs, and reactivation of motor experiences in abstract verb processing depends on a given task’s demands. Our study supports the view that conceptual representations, even abstract concepts, can be grounded in sensorimotor experiences. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:134 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it —­Genesis 3:6 Abstract Aesthetics has emerged as an important battleground in the moral quest for a lower carbon society. Especially in the case of proposed wind farms (an environmentally benign technology in terms of low carbon emissions), (...) opponents frequently refer to the unsightly machines creating negative landscape impacts and ruining the view. This essay seeks to reflect on the particular ways in which visual aesthetics are framed and mobilized in this moral debate. Exploring the dividing lines between pictoral and more-­ than-­ representational approaches I ask if the moral dilemmas in our landscape decisions (e.g. individual rights to beauty or collective duties toward future generations) are obscured by physical or visual realms. The largely invisible nature of wind, electricity and climate change, set within the physical and tangible nature of landscapes and turbines, challenges us to experience the aesthetics of landscapes-­ with-­ machines through more creative and engaging means that are not limited to visibility, nor deaf to morality. SIN, DUTY, AND THE AESTHETICS OF NATURE As the first act of sin in the bible, Eve’s consumption of a visually aesthetic fruit led to humans being banned from the Garden of Eden. Looking at the above sentence more closely, we could even argue that “good for food” is not a positive condition (e.g. tasty, nourishing), but Justice in the Eye of the Beholder? ‘Looking’ Beyond the Visual Aesthetics of Wind Machines in a Post-­Productivist Landscape DAN VAN DER HORST Dan van der Horst / Justice in the Eye of the Beholder? 135 rather the absence of a negative (e.g. inedible), whilst “also desirable” may sound like the hunger for wisdom was only a secondary, additional attraction. The sentence thus draws attention to the key role of aesthetics in the making of a moral decision; would Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit if it was not “pleasing for the eye”? Aesthetic judgments may be informed by a range of factors, but as this bible quote illustrates, morality is key among them. Associations between right and wrong on the one side and beauty or ugliness on the other, are not exactly rare in written history, be they religious, literary or scholastic works. As a marked contribution to the latter, Immanuel Kant has paid particularly close attention to the links between aesthetics and morality, arguing amongst others that any universal agreement in judgments of the sublime must rest on an appeal to moral feelings.1 But universality is not the only logical link between aesthetic judgementandmorality.Peoplecanfeelasenseof‘duty’tofindcertainthings beautiful e.g. because that is the aesthetic judgment of the group they aspire to belong to.2 Whilst this sense of duty can refer to social conditioning and group belonging, it also has resonance for landscape aesthetics at a time of anthropogenic climate change (a universal threat) when we must “learn to love the low carbon landscape.”3 This presents a point of departure from the debate on the moral obligation of preserving aesthetically pleasing landscapes (as we tend to do through legal designations, e.g. national parks), an ethical logic which leads, to use the words of Holmes Rolston, “from beauty to duty.”4 Moreover a posi­ tive aesthetical appreciation of a landscape because it accommodates low carbon technologies, would potentially require an inverse ethical logic, i.e. from duty to beauty.5 Notwithstanding the clear conceptual links between moral and aesthetic judgment, in everyday life it may be far less clear what kind of moral issues may underpin particular expressions of aesthetic sensibility. This can be particularly problematic for the deployment of environmental technologies (i.e. technologies pursued to reduce pollution ) that have significant landscape footprints. That is where we can find universal moral claims demanding environmental action for the common good rubbing up against aesthetic landscape judgments in places where such developments are proposed. This produces an unsatisfactory situation in which the deployment of clean technologies ENVIRONMENT, SPACE, PLACE / VOLUME 10 / ISSUE 1 / 2018 136 is delayed, tensions within local communities may increase... (shrink)

Belongingness is a central biopsychosocial system. Challenges to belongingness (i.e. exclusion/ostracism) engender robust negative effects on affect and cognitions. Whether overinclusion – getting more than one’s fair share of social attention – favourably impacts affect and cognitions remains an open question. This pre-registered meta-analysis includes twenty-two studies (N = 2757) examining overinclusion in the context of the Cyberball task. We found that the estimated overall effect size of overinclusion on positive affect was small but robust, and the effect on fundamental (...) needs cognitions (belongingness, self-esteem, meaningful existence and control) was moderate in size and positive in direction. Notably, the effect sizes of overinclusion were smaller than the corresponding effects of exclusion. Finally, the effects of overinclusion on positive affect were greater for high, as compared to low, socially anxious individuals. Exploring the sequelae of the full range of inclusion experiences – from exclusion to overinclusion – may enrich our understanding of the functioning of the belongingness system as well as its interaction with another central biosocial system – the social status system. (shrink)

Substantial medical evidence shows that about half of ovarian cancers originate in the fallopian tube. Some medical organizations and clinical articles have suggested opportunistic salpingectomy to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer in patients at average risk of developing it. This entails removing the fallopian tubes at the same time as another procedure that would occur anyway. The authors argue that the principles of totality and double effect can justify such salpingectomies, even though there is a low incidence of ovarian (...) cancer. Since screening tools for ovarian cancer are ineffective and treatment options are poor, the good effect of reducing the risk of death from this type of ovarian cancer can be proportionate to the bad effects of the minor increase in surgical risk over the other procedure, the unintended side effect of infertility, and the removal of normally functioning tissue. The authors conclude that it is within the purview of a patient and physician to determine whether the benefits are proportionate to the risks in a particular case. (shrink)

Psychiatric genetic research investigates the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders with the aim of more effectively understanding, treating, or, ultimately, preventing such disorders. Given the challenges of recruiting research participants into such studies, the potential for long‐term benefits of such research, and seemingly minimal risk, a strong claim could be made that all non‐acute psychiatric inpatients, including forensic and involuntary patients, should be included in such research, provided they have capacity to consent. There are tensions, however, regarding the ethics of (...) recruiting psychiatric inpatients into such studies. In this paper our intention is to elucidate the source of these tensions from the perspective of research ethics committee interests and decision‐making. We begin by defining inpatient status and outline some of the assumptions surrounding the structures of inpatient care. We then introduce contemporary conceptions of vulnerability, including Florencia Luna’s account of vulnerability which we use as a framework for our analysis. While psychiatric inpatients could be subject to consent‐related vulnerabilities, we suggest that a particular kind of exploitation‐related vulnerability comes to the fore in the context of our case study. Moreover, a subset of these ethical concerns takes on particular weight in the context of genetic research in low‐ and middle‐income countries. At the same time, the automatic exclusion of inpatients from research elicits justice‐related vulnerabilities. (shrink)

We show the existence of noncomputable oracles which are low for Demuth randomness, answering a question in [15]. We fully characterize lowness for Demuth randomness using an appropriate notion of traceability. Central to this characterization is a partial relativization of Demuth randomness, which may be more natural than the fully relativized version. We also show that an oracle is low for weak Demuth randomness if and only if it is computable.

Viewing workplace deviance within a victim precipitation framework, we explore how abusive supervisors target subordinates low in core self-evaluations to explain when such employees respond by engaging in workplace deviance. We theorize that employees who are lower in CSE receive more abusive supervision, which generates subsequent harmful reactions toward supervisors, peers, and the organization. This occurs primarily when employees lack sufficient cognitive resources in dealing with supervisor abuse. We test, replicate, and extend our theoretical model in three empirical studies. Results (...) demonstrate that lower employee CSE drew more abusive supervision and led low-CSE employees to exhibit workplace deviance. This abusive supervision mediation effect was stronger for employees with comparatively lower cognitive ability levels. The findings are discussed with regard to theoretical and ethical issues in confronting employee abuse. (shrink)

This study aims to investigate mental health among Chinese people living in areas with differing levels of infection severity during the COVID-19 outbreak. It also assesses the association between reciprocal and authoritarian filial piety and mental health in times of crises. A sample of 1,201 Chinese participants was surveyed between April and June 2020. Wuhan city, Hubei province outside Wuhan, and elsewhere in China were categorized into high, moderate, and low infection severity areas, respectively. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale’s (...) severity cut-points were used to categorize participants. In the overall sample, 20.9, 34.2, and 29.0% of the participants showed elevated levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Those in the highest infection severity group were significantly more likely to be categorized as having elevated levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. General linear modeling was performed on a composite mental distress variable. This model indicated that, even after adjusting for group differences in age, gender, education, and filial piety, the high infection severity group displayed more mental distress than the low infection severity groups. The model also found reciprocal filial piety to have a negative association with mental distress. Conversely, authoritarian filial piety was found to be unrelated to mental distress when controlling for the other variables in the model. No evidence was found for an interaction between either authoritarian or reciprocal filial piety and infection severity, which suggests that the negative association observed between reciprocal filial piety and mental distress was relatively consistent across the three infection severity groups. The findings suggest that future public health programs may integrate the promotion of filial piety as a strategy to help Chinese people maintain good mental health in the face of pandemic crises. (shrink)

The lifetime prevalence of major depressive disorder in adolescents is reported to be as high as 20%; thus, MDD constitutes a significant social and public health burden. MDD is often associated with nonsuicidal self-injury behavior, but the contributing factors including cognitive function have not been investigated in detail. To this end, the present study evaluated cognitive impairment and psychosocial factors in associated with MDD with NSSI behavior. Eighteen and 21 drug-naïve patients with first-episode MDD with or without NSSI and 24 (...) healthy control subjects were enrolled in the study. The Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Hamilton Depression Scale, Adolescent Self-injury Questionnaire, Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation–Chinese Version, Shame Scale for Middle School Students, Sensation Seeking Scale and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were used to assess depression-related behaviors, and event-related potentials were recorded as a measure of cognitive function. The latency of the N1, N2, P3a, P3b, and P50 components of ERPs at the Cz electrode point; P50 amplitude and P50 inhibition showed significant differences between the 3 groups. CTQ scores also differed across three groups, and the NSSI– and NSSI+ groups showed significant differences in scores on the Shame Scale for Middle School Students. Thus, cognitive function was impaired in adolescents with MDD with NSSI behavior, which was mainly manifested as memory decline, attention and executive function deficits, and low anti-interference ability. We also found that childhood abuse, lack of social support, and a sense of shame contributed to NSSI behavior. These findings provide insight into the risk factors for MDD with NSSI behavior, which can help mental health workers more effectively diagnose and treat these patients. (shrink)

In the midst of globalization, English is regarded as an international language, or Lingua Franca, but learning it as a second language (L2) remains still difficult to speakers of other languages. This is true especially for the speakers of languages distantly related to English such as Japanese. In this sense, exploring neural basis for translation between the first language (L1) and L2 is of great interest. There have been relatively many previous researches revealing brain activation patterns during translations between L1 (...) and English as L2. These studies, which focused on language translation with close or moderate linguistic distance (LD), have suggested that the Broca area (BA 44/45) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA 46) may play an important role on translation. However, the neural mechanism of language translation between Japanese and English, having large LD, has not been clarified. Thus, we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation patterns during word translation between Japanese and English. We also assessed the effects of translation directions and word familiarity. All participants’ first language was Japanese and they were learning English. Their English proficiency was advanced or elementary. We selected English and Japanese words as stimuli based on the familiarity for Japanese people. Our results showed that the brain activation patterns during word translation largely differed depending on their English proficiency. The advanced group elicited greater activation on the left prefrontal cortex around the Broca’s area while translating words with low familiarity, but no activation was observed while translating words with high familiarity. On the other hand, the elementary group evoked greater activation on the left temporal area including the superior temporal gyrus (STG) irrespective of the word familiarity. These results suggested that different cognitive process could be involved in word translation corresponding to English proficiency in Japanese learners of English. These difference on the brain activation patterns between the advanced and elementary group may reflect the difference on the cognitive loads depending on the levels of automatization in one’s language processing. (shrink)

Previous neurological studies of shyness have focused on the hemispheric asymmetry of alpha spectral power. To the best of our knowledge, few studies have focused on the interaction between different frequencies bands in the brain of shyness. Additionally, shy individuals are even shyer when confronted with a group of people they consider superior to them. This study aimed to reveal the neural basis of shy individuals using the delta-beta correlation. Further, it aimed to investigate the effect of evaluators’ facial attractiveness (...) on the delta-beta correlation of shyness during the speech anticipation phase. We recorded electroencephalogram activity of 94 participants during rest and anticipation of the public speaking phase. Moreover, during the speech anticipation phase, participants were presented with high or low facial attractiveness. The results showed that, as predicted, the delta-beta correlation in the frontal region was more robust for high shyness than for low shyness during the speech anticipation phase. However, no significant differences were observed in the delta-beta correlation during the baseline phase. Further exploration found that the delta-beta correlation was more robust for high facial attractiveness than low facial attractiveness in the high shyness group. However, no significant difference was found in the low-shyness group. This study suggests that a stronger delta-beta correlation might be the neural basis for shy individuals. Moreover, high facial attractiveness might enhance the delta-beta correlation of high shyness in anticipation of public speaking. (shrink)

Mental health issues are becoming increasingly prevalent amongst university students. However, research on the psychological profile of the general university population is relatively limited. Thus, this study analyses the current state of university students’ psychological conditions; the demographic differences in depression, anxiety, and stress and the influencing factors. The objectives are to provide additional appropriate guidance in mental health for university students with different demographic characteristics. A cross-sectional study of 6,032 university students nationwide was conducted from October 2020 to January (...) 2021. A randomized whole-group sampling method was used to select the study participants, and the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale was used. P < 0.05 in the final model were considered statistically significant. The number of university students with no complain of depression, anxiety, or stress was 3,751. The odds of developing complain of depression were higher amongst anxious respondents and senior year than their counterparts. Students with “myopia” were 1.263 times more likely to be anxious. In terms of “impaired” or not, impaired is defined as any injury, such as sprain, strain, and fracture, “impaired” university students were 1.321 times more likely to be anxious. Furthermore, history of impairment and myopia increased the odds of stress by 1.305 and 1.305, respectively. Myopia, physical-activity-related injury and irrational eating habits are risk factors for complain of anxiety and stress. Males, upper grades, low parental education, and irrational eating habits are risk factors for complain of depression. Low physical activity levels are also an influential factor for complain of depression. DASS consists of interchangeable risk factors and multiple complains of DASS may coexist. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:On PartnershipRyan Schwarz, Duncan Smith-Rohrberg Maru, Dan Schwarz, Bibhav Acharya, Bijay Acharya, Ruma Rajbhandari, Jason Andrews, Gregory Karelas, Ranju Sharma, and Mark ArnoldyRecently, Bayalpata Hospital, in the rural district of Achham, Nepal almost collapsed under the weight of its own staff's discontent. The hospital had been largely abandoned until 2009 when our organization, Nyaya Health, renovated and opened it in partnership with the Nepali government. Since then, the hospital (...) has seen great progress and has experienced widespread community support. Nonetheless, earlier this year, a broad-based staff revolt occurred, led primarily by our senior clinical staff members, raising concerns that Nyaya's management policies were ineffective, and wages and benefits were too low. The unrest included everything from a strike, limiting services to our patients, to aggression against non-strikers and slander and racist comments in public media against the Nyaya Health Board of Directors. Ultimately, the conflict was resolved, though not without the departure of our three most senior clinicians. The incident deeply damaged staff morale [End Page 101] and impeded basic services to our patients, and from our perspective as a leadership and management team, it was deeply troubling and spiritually challenging. We have learned much in the wake of the strike, but here we focus more narrowly on the concept of partnerships in our work by examining the recent strike and the two key issues that lead to it: wages and benefits, and management policies at Bayalpata Hospital.In grappling with the recent staff crisis, some of our leadership team expressed concerns that we would never be able to develop a true partnership in Achham if our senior-level employees led strikes against the organization. The leaders of the strike were our most well-educated and high-ranking staff. They were also individuals who had come to work for us specifically citing the moral imperative of our work, and their pride in helping to serve the poorest of the poor. One leadership team member asked, "What is 'partnership' then? We came into this work with the premise that we would work together, with our partnership built around the right to health—but who are our partners if they lead strikes damaging the very services our collective mission aims to offer?"Another leadership team member commented, "The first time I visited Achham I was invited for tea at Meena's* house (one of Nyaya's midwives). We arrived at her house and Meena greeted us warmly. She showed us in to a small room: there was no furniture, but there was an immaculately swept mat which we joined her on. We drank tea, seated on her rug, and listened to her tell us how she had come to live in the house, how she had come to work for Nyaya, and her pride in now being able to provide both for her own children, as well as, the children of her relatives. As the only employed family member, she now had the challenge of providing for all of them. When we question our partnership, I'm taken back to Meena's warm, but extremely poor, home. She has worked for Nyaya for almost four years. She has helped our organization provide free care to over 75,000 people. Is this not a type of 'partnership'?"Allow us to offer some background on the issue of wages—Meena has been with our team since 2008, and has been paid about $2,500 per year—a generous wage compared to other employers in the region. Meena was one of the striking staff members. Among other concerns about the way the hospital was being run, she and other staff asked indignantly why we couldn't provide them with higher wages, better benefits, and more resources, both for her and the hospital. Notably, Meena's salary (and the rest of our staff's) was well above her equivalent in other, more urban hospitals (to compensate for the extremely remote area in which we work), and in a district where most families are farmers, our staff's salaries occupy the highest income bracket in the region. Nonetheless, as is common throughout the world in both rich and poor areas... (shrink)

As one of the key technologies for accelerating the construction of the ubiquitous Internet of Things, demand response not only guides users to participate in power market operations but also increases the randomness of grid operations and the difficulty of load forecasting. In order to solve the problem of rough feature engineering processing and low prediction accuracy, a short-term load forecasting model of LSTM neural network considering demand response is proposed. First of all, in view of the strong randomness and (...) complexity of input features, the weighted method is used to process multiple input features to strengthen the contribution of effective features and tap the potential value of features. Secondly, an improved genetic algorithm is used to obtain the best LSTM parameters; finally, the special gate structure of the LSTM model is used to selectively control the influence of input variables on the model parameters and perform load forecasting. The experimental results show that the research has high prediction accuracy and application value and provides a new way for the development of power load forecasting. (shrink)

Previous studies showed inconsistent results on the association between searching for calling and its psychosocial functioning outcomes. The link of searching for calling to its psychosocial functioning outcomes may be influenced by the presence of calling because the search for and presence of calling can co-exist within individuals. Thus, the present study employed a person-centered method to identify subgroups combining the search for and presence of a calling and then explore the identified profiles' differences in work meaning and job satisfaction. (...) Study participants were Chinese kindergarten teachers. Latent profile analysis revealed four different groups: actively maintaining calling, unsustainable calling, moderately increasing calling, and actively increasing calling. Subsequent analyses showed notable differences across the four groups on work meaning and job satisfaction. Participants in profile 1 with both the highest searching for and presence of calling would experience more work meaning and job satisfaction than those in the other profiles whose strengths of searching for and presence of calling were relatively low. Participants in profile 4 had higher searching for and presence of calling than those in profile 3, and they experienced more meaningfulness at work and were more satisfied with their job. These findings indicate that actively searching for calling is closely associated with more work meaning and job satisfaction among people who already perceive intensive calling. Implications, limitations, and future directions of the results are discussed. (shrink)

BackgroundCritical to conducting high quality research is the ability to attract and retain participants, especially for longitudinal studies. Understanding participant experiences and motivators or barriers to participating in clinical research is crucial. There are limited data on healthy participant experiences in longitudinal research, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study aims to investigate quantitatively participant experiences in a South African birth cohort study.MethodsMaternal participant experience was evaluated by a self-administered survey in the Drakenstein Child Health Study, a longitudinal birth (...) cohort study investigating the early life determinants of child health. Pregnant mothers, enrolled during the second trimester, were followed through childbirth and the early childhood years. Satisfaction scores were derived from the participant experience survey and quantitatively analyzed; associations between satisfaction scores and sociodemographic variables were then investigated using a linear regression model.ResultsData were included from 585 pregnant mothers, who had participated in the study for a median time of 16 months. Overall participant satisfaction was high and associated with increased attendance of study visits. Reasons for participating were a belief that involvement would improve their health, their child’s health or the health of family and friends. Potential reasons for leaving the study were inconvenience, not receiving clinical or study results, and unexpected changes in study visits or procedures. Variables associated with higher overall satisfaction scores were no prior participation in research, higher socioeconomic status, less intensive follow-up schedules and having experienced stressful life events in the past year.ConclusionsSatisfaction scores were high and associated with increased visit attendance. Participants’ perceived benefits of study participation, most notably the potential for an improvement in the health of their child, were a significant motivator to enroll and remain in the study. The consistent theme of perceived health benefits as a motivator to join and remain in the study raises the question of whether participation in research results in actual improvements in health. (shrink)

With the development of social media, advertising has migrated from traditional media to social media. Marketers are increasingly using social media’s brand pages to actively create humorous dialogue interactions with other brands for brand communication to achieve positive business outcomes. Especially brand-to-brand’s aggressive humor dialogue can also be an effective brand communication strategy. Based on benign violation theory, we have studied the influence mechanism and boundary condition of the brand-to-brand’s aggressive humor styles on consumer engagement behavioral intention in social media (...) context. Through experiments, it is indicated that low-aggressive humor could promote consumer engagement behavioral intention more than high-aggressive humor. Benign appraisal mediates the relationship between low-aggressive humor and consumer engagement behavioral intention. Furthermore, brand personality not only moderates the effect of low-aggressive humor on consumer engagement behavioral intention, but also moderates the mediating role of benign appraisal between low-aggressive humor and consumer engagement behavior intention. (shrink)

GraphicalPatients with early- to middle-stage PD were enrolled for C-Gait assessment and traditional walking ability assessments. The correlation of C-Gait assessment and traditional walking tests were studied. Two models were established based on C-Gait assessment and traditional walking tests to explore the value of C-Gait assessment in predicting freezing of gait.ObjectiveEfficient methods for assessing walking adaptability in individuals with Parkinson’s disease are urgently needed. Therefore, this study aimed to assess C-Gait for detecting freezing of gait in patients with early- to (...) middle-stage PD.MethodPeople with PD diagnosis were recruited from April 2019 to November 2019 in Beijing Rehabilitation Hospital. The participants performed six items of walking adaptability on an instrumented treadmill augmented with visual targets and obstacles. The patient’s walking adaptability was evaluated by C-Gait assessment and traditional walking tests, and FOG-related indexes were collected as outcome measures. Two discriminant models were established by stepwise discriminant analysis; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to validate the models.ResultIn total, 53 patients were included in this study. Most C-Gait assessment items had no or low correlations with traditional walking tests. The obstacle avoidance and speed of adaptation items could lead to FOG with high sensitivity. In addition, the C-Gait assessment model had slightly better discrimination of freezers from non-freezers compared with traditional walking test models ; specifically, obstacle avoidance and speed of adaptation have uniquely discriminant potential.ConclusionC-gait assessment could provide additional value to the traditional walking tests for PD. Gait adaptability assessment, as measured by C-Gait, may be able to help identify freezers in a PD population. (shrink)

The study hypothesizes that the environmental, social, and governance of the host country have a significant effect on clean development mechanism implementation. As CDM incorporates sustainable development as one of the objectives for the green transition, many countries endeavor to adopt and implement CDM as their cleaner production method. Based on the institutional theory, the study aims to investigate the mechanism by which the institutional process of each ESG pillar makes an opportunity for a host country and to see how (...) such country-specific factors influence the implementation of CDM projects. A county-year unbalanced sample drawn from World Bank and multinational CDM project data was analyzed using panel logistic and Poisson regression. Panel regression results show that high-energy intensity and low renewable electricity output as an environmental pillar positively affect CDM implementation. Unemployment and undernourishment as a social pillar positively affect CDM whereas low government effectiveness and the high rule of law positively affect CDM. In the results of zero-inflated Poisson regression, the direction of government effectiveness was upturned. The findings have broadened and deepened the ESG pillar based on the institutional theory and emphasized sustainable development rather than economic outputs. (shrink)

© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.Genetic studies have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with the risk of prostate cancer. It remains unclear whether such genetic variants are associated with disease aggressiveness. The NCI-SPORE Genetics Working Group retrospectively collected clinicopathologic information and genotype data for 36 SNPs which at the time had been validated to be associated with PC risk from 25,674 cases with PC. Cases were grouped according to race, Gleason score and aggressiveness. Statistical analyses were used to compare the frequency (...) of the SNPs between different disease cohorts. After adjusting for multiple testing, only PC-risk SNP rs2735839 was significantly and inversely associated with aggressive and high-grade disease in European men. Similar associations with aggressive and high-grade disease were documented in African-American subjects. The G allele of rs2735839 was associated with disease aggressiveness even at low PSA levels in both European and African-American men. Our results provide further support that a PC-risk SNP rs2735839 near the KLK3 gene on chromosome 19q13 may be associated with aggressive and high-grade PC. Future prospectively designed, case-case GWAS are needed to identify additional SNPs associated with PC aggressiveness. (shrink)

I respond to Dan Lowe’s charge that libertarianism, or the most defensible version, involves an unacceptable “asymmetry of value.” I argue that there is an inconsistency between Lowe’s approach to counterexamples and his eventual objection.

This theory accords to volitions the status of basic mental actions, maintaining that these are spontaneous exercises of the will--a "two-way" power which ...

Une des solutions au problème de surcharge d'information, consiste à organiser dynamiquement l'ensemble de résultats trouvés en thèmes . L'utilisateur peut ainsi naviguer rapidement dans le résultat de sa requête. L'objectif de cette recherche est d'examiner comment l'activité de recherche d'informations dans un domaine conceptuel précis pouvait être améliorée selon que les participants avaient à leur disposition la liste de réponses regroupées en catégories. La tâche consistait à trouver sur le Web huit définitions relevant du domaine de la psychologie expérimentale (...) cognitive. Les résultats montrent que l'expertise améliore l'activité de la recherche alors que la mise à la disposition de catégories d'informations affecte négativement la recherche. Les experts dans le domaine ont produit plus de reformulations mais l'absence de familiarité dans le Web tend à augmenter le coût de ces reformulations. Tous les participants ont passé plus de temps sur la page du moteur de recherche que sur les pages Web.The research presented here analyses the influence of two types of expertise on an information access task on the Web. Forty-six students were asked to give correct answers to 8 questions about definitions of psychological concepts, without any time constraint. Results show that both participants with good knowledge of the field of study and participants with high experience of the Web on the other had the best performances. Participants with low experience of the Web were less effective than the other participants. (shrink)

Humans massively depend on communication with others, but this leaves them open to the risk of being accidentally or intentionally misinformed. To ensure that, despite this risk, communication remains advantageous, humans have, we claim, a suite of cognitive mechanisms for epistemic vigilance. Here we outline this claim and consider some of the ways in which epistemic vigilance works in mental and social life by surveying issues, research and theories in different domains of philosophy, linguistics, cognitive psychology and the social sciences.

Dan Zahavi engages with classical phenomenology, philosophy of mind, and a range of empirical disciplines to explore the nature of selfhood. He argues that the most fundamental level of selfhood is not socially constructed or dependent upon others, but accepts that certain dimensions of the self and types of self-experience are other-mediated.