Artificial intelligence techniques in general and convolutional neural networks in particular have attained successful results in medical image analysis and classification. A deep CNN architecture has been proposed in this paper for the diagnosis of COVID-19 based on the chest X-ray image classification. Due to the nonavailability of sufficient-size and good-quality chest X-ray image dataset, an effective and accurate CNN classification was a challenge. To deal with these complexities such as the availability of a very-small-sized and imbalanced dataset with image-quality (...) issues, the dataset has been preprocessed in different phases using different techniques to achieve an effective training dataset for the proposed CNN model to attain its best performance. The preprocessing stages of the datasets performed in this study include dataset balancing, medical experts’ image analysis, and data augmentation. The experimental results have shown the overall accuracy as high as 99.5% which demonstrates the good capability of the proposed CNN model in the current application domain. The CNN model has been tested in two scenarios. In the first scenario, the model has been tested using the 100 X-ray images of the original processed dataset which achieved an accuracy of 100%. In the second scenario, the model has been tested using an independent dataset of COVID-19 X-ray images. The performance in this test scenario was as high as 99.5%. To further prove that the proposed model outperforms other models, a comparative analysis has been done with some of the machine learning algorithms. The proposed model has outperformed all the models generally and specifically when the model testing was done using an independent testing set. (shrink)

The cognitive unbinding paradigm suggests that the synthesis of neural information is attenuated by general anesthesia. Here, we analyzed the functional organization of brain activities in the conscious and anesthetized states, based on functional segregation and integration. Electroencephalography recordings were obtained from 14 subjects undergoing induction of general anesthesia with propofol. We quantified changes in mean information integration capacity in each band of the EEG. After induction with propofol, mean information integration capacity was reduced most prominently in the γ band (...) of the EEG . Furthermore, we demonstrate that loss of consciousness is reflected by the breakdown of the spatiotemporal organization of γ waves. We conclude that induction of general anesthesia with propofol reduces the capacity for information integration in the brain. These data directly support the information integration theory of consciousness and the cognitive unbinding paradigm of general anesthesia. (shrink)

Frontoparietal connectivity has been suggested to be important in conscious processing and its interruption is thought to be one mechanism of general anesthesia. Data in animals demonstrate that feedforward processing of information may persist during the anesthetized state, while feedback processing is inhibited. We investigated the directionality and functional organization of frontoparietal connectivity in 10 human subjects anesthetized with propofol on two separate occasions. Multichannel electroencephalography and a computational method of assessing directed functional connectivity were employed. We demonstrate that directed (...) feedback connectivity is diminished with loss of consciousness and returns with responsiveness to verbal command. We also applied the Dendrogram classification method to assess the global organization of directed functional connectivity during consciousness and anesthesia. We demonstrate a state-specific hierarchy and subject-specific subhierarchy in functional organization. These data support the hypothesis that specific states of human consciousness are defined by specific states of frontoparietal connectivity. (shrink)

The development of ideologies in re-construction and transformation of the Indian subcontinent during and after its division into new nation states in 1947emerged as the fault lines in its structural and organizational imbalances, which is an interesting phenomenon and at times led to the violent and radical political discourses. This ideological transformation became imbalanced, due to the exploitation by opportunists in state and political elements, through consciously planned attitude especially in dogma, religious traditions, ethnicity and political/state governance thereby fulfilling ulterior (...) motives. Resultantly, violence and conflicts emerged in both the fragile states of the Indian subcontinent besides undergoing a series of dictatorship, one party rule, manipulation of elites, and ethnic or national polarization ultimately leading to the weak governmental structure. This research was aimed at ascertaining both at theoretical and practical levels, the causes of intricacies involved in transformation of religious ideology into a fault line besides suppressing ethnic and identity markers of traditional society like Pakistan, exploiting the structural organization of political governments through state/bureaucratic regimes. It was discovered that this transformation became such due to the indulgence of state elements and their practices besides illiberal democratic governments, which were also leading to the violence and militancy where ideology/religion has been used for parochial political interests embodied in desires to hang on to power. Henceforth, the power made the dismemberment of joint Pakistan in post-1971era, whereas continuously challenged the fragile integrity after 1971. (shrink)

It has long been believed across languages that the Agent‐First strategy, a comprehension heuristic that maps the first noun onto the agent role, is a general cognitive bias which applies automatically and faithfully to children's comprehension. The present study asks how this strategy interplays with such grammatical cues as the number of overt arguments and the presence of case‐marking in Korean, an SOV language with case‐marking by dedicated markers. To investigate whether and how these cues affect the operation of this (...) strategy, we measure children's comprehension of a transitive construction (with scrambling and omission of sentential components) in a novel experimental setting where arguments and case markers were obscured to varying degrees through acoustic masking. We find that children do not demonstrate the agent‐first interpretation strongly in the noun–verb pattern without case‐marking, showing their uncertainty about the thematic role of the nominal when it is both the only argument in the sentence and lacks case‐marking. They perform significantly better in the patterns with additional cues, the impact of which is asymmetric by age and by the nature of alignment between cues from word order and case‐marking. These findings suggest that, for Korean‐speaking children's comprehension of a transitive construction, the Agent‐First strategy is activated properly only in conjunction with other types of interpretive cues. (shrink)

The prime objective of this study is to discuss the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis concerning Pakistan and globally across South Asian developing countries. It also demonstrates those economic indicators through which the economic performance of the countries is influenced considering the prospective global economic costs of COVID-19 under different scenarios. The study systematically reviewed the literature on historical pandemic crises and the most recent Covid-19 fallout economic disorder in South Asian countries. Considering the history of human civilization, there (...) are varied instances of severe epidemics that are caused by numerous viruses. It is observed that the prevailing outbreak of COVID-19 has eventually affected large scale manufacturing, service sectors and arose supply side constraint to an extent. On the contrary, GDP and consumption declined sharply. Furthermore, sudden loss of service sector jobs and the rise in food prices have created an economic crisis for developing countries of South Asia. The study attempts to discuss the policy responses given by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, The State Bank of Pakistan, and the Ministry of finance, Pakistan encountered due to the deteriorating international environment, fiscal stress, and difficulties in financial liquidity markets and provides relevant policies for the better prospect of Pakistan's economy after comparing it with other South Asian countries affected by this pandemic vulnerabilities. (shrink)

The First World War was the scenario that led to the invention and systematic use of military camouflage techniques. Between them, the two fundamental modes of static or pictorial camouflage: mimetic, known as Disruptive Pattern Material, and the naval, called Dazzle Painting. Avantgarde artists contributed to their birth. Immediately, there was the transfer of these techniques to the civilian sphere, revealing that its essentially practical essence did not prevent the exploitation of its aesthetic potential by contemporary visual culture. Throughout the (...) twentieth and twenty-first centuries the fields of art, architecture and design continue importing and exploiting the strategies of these two types of military camouflage. This article analyzes the artistic potential of static military camouflage devised during World War I and its impact on the setting of an expanded notion of camouflage. If the camouflage was in its origins and early history a form of disclosure of modern art on a global scale, the use of DPM and Dazzle by contemporary artists, is a form of dissemination of military camouflage to civil level. We explore a double investment produced by military camouflage: providing avantgarde art with a practical sense, and providing camouflage with an aesthetic sense. (shrink)

Security has always been a force multiplier to concentrate over the traditional military stockpile for the perceived threats in the modern days of nation states focused on the conceptualization of non-traditional security dwelling into integration, like European Union’s regional cooperation rather than towards diverting assets on further devolutions or disintegrations over the phenomenon of ‘security dilemma’ as is the case of India and Pakistan. Indeed, the later phenomenological conceptual framework had never diminished in its essence which forced the welfare states (...) as well as the major powers including USA to maintain traditional military hardware in the age of 5th generation of warfare. India and Pakistan remained into zenith of vicious cycle of stock piling of latest weaponry under the outcome of irrational conclusions of prisoner’s dilemma of the belligerents fuelling traditional enthusiasm of ethnic and religious vehemence. This research is an effort to find out the gaps in easing the tensions over the détente and interdependent security while moving towards non-traditional security and instead of transforming both the states into welfare states or formerly highlighted integration of the region. Resultantly, the shedding away of the existing survival and deterrence phase led to the devolution of traditional hype of grotesque nuclear flash point. (shrink)

Este artículo estudia la contribución de las primeras vanguardias artísticas del siglo XX a la ideación y puesta en práctica de técnicas de camuflaje militar durante la I Guerra Mundial. Se analizan así el origen cubista de los diseños de camuflaje mimético (o Disruptive pattern Material), el papel desempeñado por los artistas en la ideación de numerosos trompe l’oeil con fines bélicos y la condición del camoufleur como artista-soldado, un sujeto repartido entre lo funcional y lo estético. Todo ello sirve (...) de fundamento para sustentar la tesis de que el contexto bélico sirvió como campo de pruebas de las técnicas, anhelos y formas del arte de las vanguardias históricas. (shrink)

This book investigates the different meanings and logics that the notion of qi/gi has acquired within the East Asian traditions in order to understand the diversity of these traditions. More specifically, this work focuses on investigating how the notion was understood by traditional Chinese and Korean philosophers.

Traditionally, “the operator calculus of Born and Wiener” has been considered one of the four formulations of quantum mechanics that existed in 1926. The present paper reviews the operator calculus as applied by Max Born and Norbert Wiener during the last months of 1925 and the early months of 1926 and its connections with the rise of the new quantum theory. Despite the relevance of this operator calculus, Born–Wiener’s joint contribution to the topic is generally bypassed in historical accounts of (...) quantum mechanics. In this study, we analyse the paper that epitomises the contribution, and we explain the main reasons for the apparent lack of interest in Born and Wiener’s work. We argue that they did not solve the main problem for which the tool was intended, that of linear motion, because of their reluctance to use Dirac delta functions. (shrink)

When Western Christianity came to Asia, it merged with Eastern religions and histories and developed very differently in different places. Today Asian women in each country build up very unique images of God. They practice Eastern forms of worship and liturgical rites, and do indigenized theologies. They simultaneously try to find their own ways of naming, imaging, believing in and communicating with their own God. Korean Christianity has inherited many images of God from Western Christian doctrines and theologies. However, when (...) it meets and merges with Koreanized Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shamanism, some of the images of God in Christianity are transformed and re-imagined in Korean women's social cultural and religious contexts. As an Asian woman, especially a Korean woman, I would like to introduce one of the many Asian women's theologies, Korean women's images of God. It cannot represent all Asian women's ways of doing theologies, but it will give some clues to show how Asian women do theologies in their own context. In particular, I will examine three images of God that demonstrate how Western Christianity and Eastern religions meet and are transformed in Korean Christian women's living contexts. (shrink)

What constitutes a good life? A hedonist’s answer to this question is rather simple— more pleasure, less pain. While hedonism was previously a widely accepted belief, it now suffers from several crucial objections. A challenge particularly vexing to hedonists is the Philosophy of Swine: could it be possible that our lives may be less than that of a theoretical swine? In this essay, I argue that lifetime hedonism, the view of hedonism concerned with one’s total lifelong well-being, does not survive (...) this objection. In particular, I will refute the counterarguments that modern-day hedonist, Ben Bramble, presents against the Philosophy of Swine objection. (shrink)

Interest in sustainability is increasing, and research on ESG management continues. The first issue to be discussed in the present situation is the environment. The study between the environment and internationalization was conducted around two conflicting arguments. First, the pollution haven hypothesis states that multinational corporations move to countries with looser regulations depending on environmental regulation. Next is the Porter Hypothesis, which argues that well-designed environmental regulations offset the cost of compliance and ultimately help firms gain a competitive advantage through (...) innovation that enhances performance. However, the two arguments have not yet reached a consensus conclusion. In addition, studies on the national level and studies considering the distance between countries, an important factor in international management, are lacking. This manuscript aims to revisit the relationship between the strength of environmental regulation and foreign direct investment in the context of increasing environmental concerns. Differences between countries are an important field of international management, but research on environmental regulations is lacking. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between existing environmental regulations and FDI and to discuss how the distance between countries can affect existing theories. (shrink)

This is a perfect overview article that serves as a general introduction to the topic of dispositions. It is composed of six sections that review the main philosophical approaches to the most important questions: Analysis of disposition ascription, the dispositional/categorical distinction, dispositions and categorical bases, the intrinsicness of dispositions and the causal efficacy of dispositions.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated advances in bioethical approaches to medical decision-making. This paper develops an alternative method for rationing care during periods of resource scarcity. Typical approaches to triaging rely on utilitarian calculations; however, this approach introduces a problematic antihumanist sentiment, inviting the proposition of alternative schemata. As such, we suggest a feminist approach to medical decision-making, founded in and expanding upon the framework of Eva Kittay’s Ethics of Care. We suggest that this new structure addresses (...) the issue of medical decision-making during times of resource scarcity just as well as pure utilitarian approaches while better attending to their significant theoretical concerns, forming a coherent alternative to the current bioethical consensus. (shrink)

Sensory cues provided by compression garments can improve movement accuracy and potentially reduce inter-limb balance asymmetries and the associated risk of injury. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of CG wearing on inter-limb balance asymmetries. The hypothesis was that CG would reduce inter-limb balance asymmetries, especially in subjects with high level of asymmetries. Twenty-five sportsmen were recruited. They had to stand as motionless as possible in a one-leg stance in two postural tasks, while wearing CG or (...) not. Asymmetry indexes were calculated from center of foot pressure parameters. The effects of CG wearing were analyzed according to participants’ baseline level of asymmetry with correlation analyses. A qualitative analysis was also performed after a dichotomization procedure to check for a specific influence of CG on the dominant and non-dominant leg. Inter-limb balance asymmetries were reduced with CG in participants with high levels of asymmetries at baseline. However, asymmetries were increased with CG in participants with low levels of asymmetries at baseline. The dominant leg was more affected by this negative effect. CG wearing could reduce inter-limb balance asymmetries and the related injury risk in subjects with high levels of inter-limb balance asymmetries at baseline. Nevertheless, CG should not be used in individuals with low baseline balance asymmetries since it can increase asymmetries in these subjects, likely by confusing and overloading the sensorimotor processing on the dominant leg. (shrink)