The focus of much sensory language research has been on vocabulary and codability, not how language is used in communication of sensory perceptions. We make a case for discourse-oriented research about sensory language as an alternative to the prevailing vocabulary orientation. To consider the language of sound in authentic textual data, we presented participants with 20 everyday sounds of unknown sources and asked them to describe the sounds in as much detail as possible, as if describing them to someone who (...) could not hear them. We explored how the participants use language to describe these sounds. Do they describe their listening experiences (stressful), sound properties (intermittent beeping), and/or the events that caused the sounds (eating an apple)? The results show that out of these three soundscape elements, events are the most frequent and most indispensable element. We let the results from the study illustrate the need for more discursive data in studies of sensory language and argue that there is no designated language of sound. Our study highlights that in order to account for sensory language use, we need an analytical framework that accommodates discursive language in a non-trivial way beyond stable couplings between individual words and meanings. (shrink)

Purpose To quantify how often physical therapists from high-income countries (HIC) travelling to low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) practise outside their scope of practice, in what circumstances, and their likelihood of doing the same in the future. Methods An exploratory descriptive study using a survey. Results One hundred and twenty-six licensed physical therapists from around the world participated. Physical therapists typically spent less than a month (73.8 per cent) in LMIC; 67.5 per cent believed that physical therapists practise outside of (...) their scope, and 31.7 per cent reported doing so. Reasons were believing that something is better than nothing (47.5 per cent ), a mismatch between the physical therapist’s and host’s expectations (40.0 per cent ), and preserving their relationship with the host (25.0 per cent ). It was deemed appropriate by 64.5 per cent to practise outside of their scope in some situations and 53.8% considered repeating the activity in the future. Half of the respondent’s first experience in LMIC occurred as a student or in their first decade of practice. Conclusions Working in LMIC requires a keen understanding of the risks and challenges associated with such experiences. To ensure best practice, a skill set that consists of critical self-reflection, systems thinking, and structural competency combined with clinical competency and accountability is imperative. (shrink)

Chemistry educator Alex H. Johnstone is perhaps best known for his insight that chemistry is best explained using macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic perspectives. But in his writings, he stressed a broader thesis, namely that teaching should be guided by scientific research on how the brain learns: cognitive science. Since Johnstone’s retirement, science’s understanding of learning has progressed rapidly. A surprising discovery has been when solving chemistry problems of any complexity, reasoning does not work: students must apply very-well-memorized facts and algorithms. (...) Following Johnstone’s advice, we review recent discoveries of cognitive science research. Instructional strategies are recommended that cognitive studies have shown help students learn chemistry. (shrink)

ABSTRACTUsing authentic textual data from written personal narratives, we investigate how individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Tourette Syndrome mediate their emotive and sensory experiences through language. Our study reveals that experiential comparisons of different kinds feature prominently as means of conveying such experiences. We identify a number of meaning domains that are recruited in correspondences between sources and targets, including motion and force, and detail how sensory modalities, bodily sensations, and emotions are exploited to evoke (...) emotive/sensory responses in readers. We conclude that comparative construal is a significant communicative strategy precisely because it elicits familiar situational meanings capable of evoking vicarious experiences in readers. By considering texts from actual uses of language in natural situations, our research sheds new light on how emotive/sensory... (shrink)

In introductory chemistry courses, should students be encouraged to solve problems by reasoning based on conceptual understanding or by applying memorized facts and algorithms? Cognitive scientists have recently studied this issue with the assistance of new technologies. In the current consensus model for cognition, during problem solving the brain relies on “working memory” to sequentially process small elements of knowledge. Working memory is able to hold and manipulate virtually all elements that can be recalled “with automaticity” from long-term memory, but (...) very few elements that are not recallable. As one consequence, students can reliably solve well-structured science problems only if most of the facts and algorithms needed to solve the problem have previously been well memorized. To achieve automaticity in recall, facts and procedures must be committed to memory and then tagged with associations to other knowledge in the brain’s conceptual frameworks. Accommodation can be assisted by guided inquiry. Articles citing methods that can assist students in the development of automaticity are listed, and implications for chemistry instruction are discussed. (shrink)

This book is a defence of scepticism, based on a critical analysis of the concept of knowledge. The metaphysics of substance and its modern and contemporary consequences are analyzed, mostly the transcendental tradition. Finally, a sceptical approach is proposed, leading to an a-ethical concept of the will and the values of life.

I present an analysis of the dialectic relationship uniting concepts of responsibility and loyalty, on the background of the political question of the right to move (immigration, in a very broad sense of leaving one's native community). I present a thorough analysis of the meanings of the categories of responsibility and loyalty, concentrating on the aspects that reveal their mutual antagonism. It is specially claimed that no responsibility is purely individual (however neither is it collective) and in this respect the (...) concept of responsibility is confronted with the concept of guilt. In conclusion, it's claimed that the universal right of settling in a democratic country is a practical solution of the contradiction between the requirements of loyalty and responsibility on the one hand and freedom and justice on the other. (shrink)

I present an analysis of the dialectic relationship uniting concepts of responsibility and loyalty, on the background of the political question of the right to move (immigration, in a very broad sense of leaving one's native community). I present a thorough analysis of the meanings of the categories of responsibility and loyalty, concentrating on the aspects that reveal their mutual antagonism. It is specially claimed that no responsibility is purely individual (however neither is it collective) and in this respect the (...) concept of responsibility is confronted with the concept of guilt. In conclusion, it's claimed that the universal right of settling in a democratic country is a practical solution of the contradiction between the requirements of loyalty and responsibility on the one hand and freedom and justice on the other. (shrink)

The book examines metaphilosophical issues and contemporary philosophy, in particular such movements as hermeneutics, pragmatism, structuralism and deconstructionism. The author calls the new project of philosophical and metaphilosophical investigations which his work aims to present «philosophical heuristics».

v. 1. Readings in nineteenth-century philosophy.--v. 2. Readings in twentieth-century philosophy.

In the present world, where the sphere of knowledge and social relations have become extremely complex, the problem of insufficient competency and inability to manage efficiently the accumulation and distribution process of various professional skills, has grown very urgent. Paradoxically, the insufficient knowledge,lacking skill or competence may be advantageous. To a certain extent, it reduces the threat of arrogant technocracy and meritocracy, while supporting innovation and creative search process, in which the burden of excessive erudition has often slowed down progress. (...) I will focus on some fallacies common in many countries undergoing modernization process, connected to the lack of clear awareness of the reasonably expected results of the medical university education(not quite professional if related to the background of the scientific state of the matter), to the dangerous “dissemination” of responsibility for a patient in the medical bureaucracy as well as to the overrepresentation of doctors among the managerial staff. To take advantage from some portion of ignorance in the medical life it needs to be acknowledged and reflected on. (shrink)

Debata bioetyczna w polskiej przestrzeni publicznej podporządkowana jest walce ideologicznej toczonej pomiędzy środowiskami konserwatywnymi, skupionymi wokół Kościoła katolickiego a środowiskami liberalnymi, domagającymi się wprowadzenia w Polsce regulacji i praw podobnych do tych, jakie obowiązują w Europie Zachodniej. W artykule dokonano przeglądu i analizy wypowiedzi publicystycznych i politycznych w przykładowych trzech obszarach: aborcji, obowiązkowych szczepień oraz prawa do strajku personelu medycznego. Uderzającą cechą publicznych sporów bioetycznych w Polsce jest prawie całkowity brak świadomości istnienia bioetyki jako dyscypliny akademickiej dostarczającej wiedzy i ekspertyzy (...) w tego rodzaju kwestiach. (shrink)