If an asymmetry in time does not arise from the fundamental dynamical laws of physics, it may be found in special boundary conditions. The argument normally goes that since thermodynamic entropy in the past is lower than in the future according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, then tracing this back to the time around the Big Bang means the universe must have started off in a state of very low thermodynamic entropy: the Thermodynamic Past Hypothesis. In this paper, we (...) consider another boundary condition that plays a similar role, but for the decoherent arrow of time, i.e. the quantum state of the universe is more mixed in the future than in the past. According to what we call the Entanglement Past Hypothesis, the initial quantum state of the universe had very low entanglement entropy. We clarify the content of the Entanglement Past Hypothesis, compare it with the Thermodynamic Past Hypothesis, and identify some challenges and open questions for future research. (shrink)

This article examines the concept of the “education of desire,” which undergirds literary utopian studies’ response to postmodernism’s challenge to the modern utopian impulse. The analysis returns to two classic utopian texts—the work of Miguel Abensour, who coined the term “education of desire,” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel about ecological sustainability, “The Dispossessed”—to argue that the education of desire involves a more intimate relationship between desire and domination than literary utopian studies has allowed. This article not only transforms our (...) understanding of a mainstay of utopian studies; it relates this discussion to utopian strains in environmental thought, tracing the tension between the desire for ecological sustainability and the social, political, and economic prescriptions this would entail. (shrink)

This paper aims, first, to argue against using opaque AI technologies in decision making processes, and second to suggest that we need to possess a qualitative form of understanding about them. It first argues that opaque artificially intelligent technologies are suitable for users who remain indifferent to the understanding of decisions made by means of these technologies. According to virtue ethics, this implies that these technologies are not well-suited for those who care about realizing their moral capacity. The paper then (...) draws on discussions on scientific understanding to suggest that an AI technology becomes understandable to its users when they are provided with a qualitative account of the consequences of using it. As a result, explainable AI methods can render an AI technology understandable to its users by presenting the qualitative implications of employing the technology for their lives. (shrink)

This chapter explores the relevance of empirical evidence to real causes. I argue for the claim that instrumentally mediated empirical results are causally dependent on unobservable entities. I develop this idea in the context of discussions on entity realism. As a consequence of my argument, an antirealist version of empiricism, which underlines the significance of empirical evidence but which abstains from real causation, is incoherent.

To protect public health, states require that parents have their children immunized before they are permitted to attend public or private school. But for homeschooled children, the rules vary. With the spectacular growth in the number of homeschooled students, it is becoming more difficult to reach these youth to ensure that they are immunized at all. These children are frequently unvaccinated, leaving them open to infection with diseases that are all but stamped out in the United States with immunization requirements. (...) States should encourage parents to get their homeschooled students vaccinated through enacting the same laws as those used for public school students. This could be done by enforcing current laws through neglect petitions or by requiring that children be immunized before participating in school sponsored programs. As most states require some filing to allow parents to homeschool their children, it would be easy to enact laws requiring that homeschooled children be immunized or exempted before completing registration. (shrink)

Quantum physicist, New York Times bestselling author, and BBC host Jim Al-Khalili reveals how 8 lessons from the heart of science can help you get the most out of life Today’s world is unpredictable and full of contradictions, and navigating its complexities while trying to make the best decisions is far from easy. The Joy of Science presents 8 short lessons on how to unlock the clarity, empowerment, and joy of thinking and living a little more scientifically. In this brief (...) guide to leading a more rational life, acclaimed physicist Jim Al-Khalili invites readers to engage with the world as scientists have been trained to do. The scientific method has served humankind well in its quest to see things as they really are, and underpinning the scientific method are core principles that can help us all navigate modern life more confidently. Discussing the nature of truth and uncertainty, the role of doubt, the pros and cons of simplification, the value of guarding against bias, the importance of evidence-based thinking, and more, Al-Khalili shows how the powerful ideas at the heart of the scientific method are deeply relevant to the complicated times we live in and the difficult choices we make. Read this book and discover the joy of science. It will empower you to think more objectively, see through the fog of your own preexisting beliefs, and lead a more fulfilling life. (shrink)

In The Joy of Science, Jim Al-Khalili presents eight lessons that serve as a guide to thinking and living life a little more scientifically. It is a gentle entrée to the conceptual core of what science is and the spirit of how it is practiced, which will help any reader understand how to live a more rational life and benefit from doing so. The book will connect the lay public with what science fundamentally is - not knowledge per se, but (...) rather a way of thinking, which gives us the power to turn encounters with the unknown into greater insights into the true nature of reality. In an engaging, conversational tone, and writing from the perspective of a practitioner of science, Al- Khalili invites readers to engage with the world in a new way and to think as scientists are trained to do about unsolved mysteries; the nature of truth, uncertainty, and the role of doubt; the value and dangers of simplification; the challenges of complexity or too little information; the importance of evidence-based thinking; the value of guarding against bias (in oneself and others); the importance of being able to change one's mind, and more. By the end, the reader will come away with a clear sense of how the ideas at the heart of the scientific method are deeply relevant to our current times, lives, and personal decision making. Knowing how to think and live more scientifically can make our all of our lives better, and this short book gives non-specialists a welcoming introduction to this knowledge, sharing "the joy" that science can bring. (shrink)

This paper concerns the recent revival of entity realism. Having been started with the work of Ian Hacking, Nancy Cartwright and Ronald Giere, the project of entity realism has recently been developed by Matthias Egg, Markus Eronen, and Bence Nanay. The paper opens a dialogue among these recent views on entity realism and integrates them into a more advanced view. The result is an epistemological criterion for reality: the property-tokens of a certain type may be taken as real insofar as (...) only they can be materially inferred from the evidence obtained in a variety of independent ways of detection. (shrink)

The quality of arm movements typically improves in the sub-acute phase of stroke affecting the upper extremity. Here, we used whole arm kinematic analysis during reaching movements to distinguish whether these improvements are due to true recovery or to compensation. Fifty-three participants with post-acute stroke performed ∼80 reaching movement tests during 4 weeks of training with the ArmeoSpring exoskeleton. All participants showed improvements in end-effector performance, as measured by movement smoothness. Four ArmeoSpring angles, shoulder horizontal rotation, shoulder elevation, elbow rotation, (...) and forearm rotation, were recorded and analyzed. We first characterized healthy joint coordination patterns by performing a sparse principal component analysis on these four joint velocities recorded during reaching tests performed by young control participants. We found that two dominant joint correlations [SH with elbow rotation and SE with forearm rotation] explained over 95% of variance of joint velocity data. We identified two clusters of stroke participants by comparing the evolution of these two correlations in all tests. In the “Recoverer” cluster, both joint correlations converged toward the respective correlations for control participants. Thus, Recoverers relearned how to generate smooth end-effector movements while developing joint movement patterns similar to those of control participants. In the “Compensator” cluster, at least one of the two joint correlations diverged from the corresponding correlation of control participants. Compensators relearned how to generate smooth end-effector movements by discovering various new compensatory movement patterns dissimilar to those of control participants. New compensatory patterns included atypical decoupling of the SE and forearm joints, and atypical coupling of the SH rotation and elbow joints. There was no difference in clinical impairment level between the two groups either at the onset or at the end of training as assessed with the Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer scale. However, at the start of training, the Recoverers showed significantly faster improvements in end-effector movement smoothness than the Compensators. Our analysis can be used to inform neurorehabilitation clinicians on how to provide movement feedback during practice and suggest avenues for refining exoskeleton robot therapy to reduce compensatory patterns. (shrink)

Get the science facts, not science fiction, on the cutting-edge developments that are already changing the course of our future. Every day, scientists conduct pioneering experiments with the potential to transform how we live. Yet it isn’t every day you hear from the scientists themselves! Now, award–winning author Jim Al–Khalili and his team of top-notch experts explain how today’s earthshaking discoveries will shape our world tomorrow—and beyond. Pull back the curtain on: genomics robotics AI the “Internet of Things” synthetic biology (...) transhumanism interstellar travel colonization of the solar system teleportation and much more And find insight into big–picture questions such as: Will we find a cure to all diseases? The answer to climate change? And will bionics one day turn us into superheroes? The scientists in these pages are interested only in the truth—reality-based and speculation-free. The future they conjure is by turns tantalizing and sobering: There’s plenty to look forward to, but also plenty to dread. And undoubtedly the best way to for us to face tomorrow’s greatest challenges is to learn what the future looks like—today. Praise for What the Future Looks Like “A collection of mind-boggling essays that are just the thing for firing up your brain cells.” —Saga Magazine “The predictions and impacts are global... [and] the book contains far more fascinating information than can be covered in this review.” —Choice “This book is filled with essays from experts offering their informed opinions on what the science and technology of today will look like in the future, from smart materials to artificial intelligence to genetic editing.” —Popular Science “Fun is an understatement. This is a great collection to get the summer book season started.” —Forbes.com “The focus on sincere, factual presentation of current and future possibilities by leading experts is particularly welcome in this era of fake news and anti-science rhetoric.” —Library Journal. (shrink)

This paper draws on the phenomenological-hermeneutical approaches to philosophy of science to develop realist perspectivism, an integration of experimental realism and perspectivism. Specifically, the paper employs the distinction between “manifestation” and “phenomenon” and it advances the view that the evidence of a real entity is “explorable” in order to argue that instrumentally-mediated robust evidence indicates real entities. Furthermore, it underpins the phenomenological notion of the horizonal nature of scientific observation with perspectivism, so accounting for scientific pluralism even in the cases (...) of inconsistent models. Overall, realist perspectivism is proposed as the way to go for (phenomenologically-hermeneutically minded) philosophers of science. (shrink)

Relying on the notion of “overlapping perspectives,” this paper argues that entity realism and perspectivism are complementary. According to entity realism, it is justified to maintain a positive attitude toward the existence of unobservable entities with which multiple experimental interactions are possible. Perspectivism also explains that our beliefs about these entities are bounded by historically contingent theoretical and instrumental perspectives. The argument of the paper is developed through a discussion of Ronald Giere’s versions of realism: entity realism, constructive realism, and (...) perspectival realism. (shrink)

Every September, millions of parents around the country herd their children into pediatricians’ offices with school immunization forms in hand. Their kids have already received a dozen or more shots before the age of two, and, depending on the state in which they live, a dozen more may await them over the ensuing decade. To protect public health, states require that parents have their children immunized before they are permitted to attend public or private school, but the rules vary for (...) homeschooled children. With the spectacular growth in the number of homeschooled students, it is becoming more difficult to reach these youth to ensure that they are immunized at all. These children are frequently unvaccinated, leaving them open to infection by diseases that have been all but stamped out in the United States by immunization requirements. States should encourage parents to have their homeschooled students vaccinated by enacting the same laws that are used for public school students, enforcing current laws through neglect petitions, or requiring that children be immunized before participating in school-sponsored programs. (shrink)

The most important reason underlying the success of the Crusaders taking Antakya from Muslims and entering the Syrian and Palestinian territories is undoubtedly the division among the Muslims. This division was not only among the dynasties, but also the cities. The Muslim rulers of Damascus have sat up alliances with the Crusaders to protect themselves from neighboring Muslim rulers. Of course, this alliance was more of a role for the Crusaders, making it easier for them to hold on to the (...) region, and strengthening them by acquiring new lands. Damascus's opposition posture caused power and time loosing to Muslim rulers, which served the Crusaders and to take the advantage of this controversy. Damascus continued its opponent position after Saladin (d. 589/1193), and quarrels within the dynasty caused the Crusaders to breathe deeply and as well as Jerusalem to fall into the hands of the Crusaders for a while again. During the Mamluks period, Damascus, who showed his opposing face for a short period of time, but afterwards he attained peace and obedience and also occupied comply with Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī (d. 676/1277). In this article we will analyze the opposing stance of Damascus and his role in the Crusades. Summary: Pearl of Syria, Damascus has a rebellious and oppositional aspect as well. This feature of the city came into prominence further with the coming of the Crusaders to the region. Its oppositional stance and uncompromising aspect sometimes played into the hands of the Crusaders unintentionally. When the Crusaders first came to the surrounding of Antakya, the governor of Damascus, Duqāq did not provide the necessary support to Yaghisiyan who was encircled in Antakya by the Crusaders, due to his inexperience, jealousy and his hostile competition with his brother, Ridvan who is emir of Aleppo. Thus, the Crusaders used this opportunity.Atabeg of Duqāq, Tughtakīn who started to command the city after the death of Duqāq did not support especially Mawdūd who struggled against the Crusaders in Urfa, adequately. Besides, he was accused of getting Mawdūd killed by another separatist power of the region, the Assassins in the great mosque of the city. On top of it, he allied with the Crusaders, because he was troubled with the commander Porsuk sent to the region by the Sultan of Great Saljūq Empire, Mohammed Tapar. He caused the heroic warrior, Porsuk to be defeated near Tel-Dānis by the Crusaders and to die in Al Jazīrah after a short time.Soon after the above events, ‘Imāduddīn Zengī focused on Damascus and tried to establish the Islamic unity. The son of the ruler Böri, called Ismail became isolated because of the poor administration in the city. He resorted to inviting Zangī to the city. However, Ismail was killed by the opponents before the arrival of Zangī, so no result could be accomplished. Later, Zangī focused on the city again. Although he mercilessly treated the resisters in Ba’lebek after occupying there to demotivate the community of Damascus, he faced the serious resistance of the forces of Damascus. While Zangī spent all his energy to Damascus, the king of Jerusalem, Foulque improved his policy for Syria to some extent and could reestablish communication with the states of the Crusaders. The community Damascus helped the Crusaders and eased their work unintentionally once more.The Mamlūk called Uner began to govern Damascus on behalf of the forces of Bori who lost their influence in the city. Uner who developed a close relationship with the Crusaders to prevent the dominance of Zangī in the city did not hesitate to send an envoy to them. He promised to give Banyas to the Crusaders in return for moving Zangī away from Damascus. After the Franks accepted the proposal of Uner, Zangī remained in between the forces of Damascus and the Crusaders and was obliged to recede to Aleppo. In this way, the Crusaders occupied the castle of Banyas. Several locations until Buzaa were seized by the Crusaders in Antakya who found the opportunity.Zangī was martyred in front of Jaabar castle in 541/1146, so his son Nūr al-dīn became the new ruler of Damascus. Nevertheless, the following incidents caused Nūr al-dīn and Uner to get closer to each other, and the Crusaders had to move away from Damascus. First, the administrator of Havran under the control of Uner rose against his governor and turned to the Crusaders. Besides, the Second Crusade in Damascus contributed to the association of Damascus and Aleppo for a while. Following the elimination of both endangers, the association of Damascus and Aleppo resumed. Uner established a close contact with the Crusaders and made a two-year agreement with them to prevent Nūr al-dīn from seizing the city. Uner died after some time, but almost nothing changed. The new governor of the city Mucīruddin ‘Abaq kept the association of the Crusaders. An operation of Nūr al-dīn against the city was averted with the help of the Crusaders again. Mucīruddin got closer to the Crusaders after their help. Their close relationship was strengthened with the mutual visits of the committees of the Crusaders and Damascus. The Artuquid governor Timurtāsh decided to organize a military expedition to Jerusalem after a little while. However, Mucīruddin who worried about the possible dissolution of their association with the Crusaders stopped supporting him, so Timurtāsh failed in his expedition. Mucīruddin improved his relations with the Crusaders further and started to pay tribute to them following their invasion of ‘Asqalān’s in 548/1153. Even, ‘Abaq offered officially his commitment to Jerusalem. Even though the spoilt Crusaders plundered and destroyed the surrounding of Damascus, they kept the administrators of Damascus with them. Moreover, they went further and offered them to give Ba’lebek to them in return for moving Nūr al-dīn away from Damascus. Such acts provoked the community of Damascus who opposed to the dynasty of Bori in the city afterward. Nūr al-dīn welcomed this opportunity and seized Damascus in 549/1154 by means of the public without giving any chance to coming of the Crusaders. Damascus was governed by Nūr al-dīn for approximately twenty years. A disagreement arose among the community of Zangī in the city after the decease of Nūr al-dīn in 569/1174, thus leading to the dominance of Ṣalādīn Ayyubi in the city. The Ayyubids began to govern Damascus, but internal conflicts started among them with the death of Ṣalādīn in 589/1193. Similarly, Damascus was the focus of these conflicts. The Ayyubids in Egypt were the other party of the disagreement. Unfortunately, the Crusaders benefited from such rivalries. When the senior member of the family al-Adil dominated Damascus in 592/1196, the Crusaders who increased their domain had seized Beirut. Egypt and Damascus got closed temporarily during the Fifth Crusade. After the Crusaders withdrew from Damietta, two brothers, al-Muazzam and al-Kᾱmil fought with each other again. Damascus and Egypt chose the Khwarezmian dynasty and Friedrich in Sicilia as ally, respectively. Unexpected death of al-Muazzam during the preparations for the Sixth Crusade resulted in the siege of Damascus by the forces of Egypt. Friedrich reached Akkā over the course of the siege. al-Kᾱmil who played for time to seize Damascus delivered Jerusalem to the Crusaders. Later, the internal conflicts about the new dynasty which arose in Damascus weakened the Ayyubids and made the Crusaders advantageous. Finally, Damascus found tranquility with the dominance of Baybars in the city. (shrink)

David Kilcullen, an Australian soldier-scholar who acted as counterinsurgency advisor to both the Pentagon and the State Department in theusWar on Terror, is refashioning himself as an expert on geospatial security and urban crises. HisOut of the Mountainsis a Malthusian account of urban disorder in the global South, in what he calls ‘crowded, complex, and coastal’ cities as a terrain of future asymmetric warfare. This review situates his work within the intellectual context of the counterinsurgency & pacification epistemic community out (...) of which it arises, and addresses why his book may have received plaudits from the socialist urban theorist Mike Davis. (shrink)

The special theory of relativity holds significant interest for scientific perspectivists. In this paper, I distinguish between two related meanings of “perspectival,” and argue that reference frames are perspectives, provided that perspectival means “being conditional” rather than “being partial.” Frame-dependent properties such as length, time duration, and simultaneity, are not partially measured in a reference frame, but their measurements are conditional on the choice of frame. I also discuss whether the constancy of the speed of light depends on perspectival factors (...) such as the idealized definition of the speed of light in a perfect vacuum and the Einstein synchronization convention. Furthermore, I argue for the view that the constancy of its speed is a robust property of light according to the conditions of currently acceptable experimental setups pertaining to special relativity, and conclude that this view supports perspectivism. (shrink)

This dissertation is about human knowledge of reality. In particular, it argues that scientific knowledge is bounded by historically available instruments and theories; nevertheless, the use of several independent instruments and theories can provide access to the persistent potentialities of reality. The replicability of scientific observations and experiments allows us to obtain explorable evidence of robust entities and properties. The dissertation includes seven chapters. It also studies three cases – namely, Higgs bosons and hypothetical Ϝ-particles (section 2.4), the Ptolemaic and (...) Kepler model of the planets (section 6.7), and the special theory of relativity (chapter 7). -/- Chapter 1 is the introduction of the dissertation. Chapter 2 clarifies the notion of the real on the basis of two concepts: persistence and resistance. These concepts enable me to explain my ontological belief in the real potentialities of human-independent things and the implications of this view for the perceptual and epistemological levels of discussion. On the basis of the concept of “overlapping perspectives”, chapter 3 argues that entity realism and perspectivism are complementary. That is, an entity that manifests itself through several experimental/observational methods is something real, but our knowledge of its nature is perspectival. Critically studying the recent views of entity realism, chapter 4 extends the discussion of entity realism and provides a criterion for the reality of property tokens. Chapter 5, in contrast, develops the perspectival aspects of my view on the basis of the phenomenological-hermeneutical approaches to the philosophy of science. This chapter also elaborates my view of empirical evidence, as briefly expressed in sections 2.5 and 4.5. Chapter 6 concerns diachronic theoretical perspectives. It first explains my view of progress, according to which current perspectives are broader than past ones. Second, it argues that the successful explanations and predictions of abandoned theories can be accounted for from our currently acceptable perspectives. The case study of Ptolemaic astronomy supports the argument of this chapter. Chapter 7 serves as the conclusion of the dissertation by applying the central themes of the previous chapters to the case study of special relativity theory. I interpret frame-dependent properties, such as length and time duration, and the constancy of the speed of light according to realist perspectivism. (shrink)

Este estudo tem por objetivo conhecer a estrutura e a dinâmica de funcionamento de famílias de nível sociocultural médio-alto, com casais de dupla carreira e filhos em idade escolar. Para tanto, realizou-se um Estudo de Casos Múltiplos (Yin, 1993) com quatro famílias. Para a coleta de dados, foi uti..

A discussion of what operates from "within" formal agency as irreal surplus to artworks and how otherwise discursive systems become abstracted by the artwork. Text by Gavin Keeney. Images by Parsa Khalili.

This paper proposes a way to understand the meaning of reality (in science) on the basis of the concepts of persistence and resistance. It first supports the ontological view that reality consists of persistent potentialities, which resist being excluded from existence. A study of the cases of the Higgs boson and the hypothetical Ϝ-particle helps to illustrate how real entities persist and resist. The paper then suggests that, perceptually speaking, the results of ordinary perception or observational processes persistently appear under (...) appropriate conditions, and they resist disappearance even when the appropriate conditions are not completely prepared. Finally, it argues that, epistemologically speaking, a truthful theory resists being falsified and persists across replicable observations and experiments. (shrink)

This study suggests a conceptual proposal to analyse the ethics of resistance in organisations, drawing on Foucault’s practising self as a refusal and Schaffer’s ethics of freedom in opposition to the legitimacy of managerial control and the ethics of compliance. We argue that ethics is already part of such politics in the form of ethico-politics on the basis of participation in political action in organisations. Hence, the practising self as resistance in the face of the status quo of managerial power (...) in an ongoing dialectical process with others and for others comprises our conceptual proposal as an ethics of resistance. Acknowledging dialectics as the driver of the continuous reconstruction and co-construction of politics and praxis, we propose an ethics from the bottom up with a critical and radical perspective. Our contribution is based on opening up an ethico-political space for those who are ignored or suppressed in the ethics and organisations literature. (shrink)

According to the care crisis in modern medicine, the existential needs of patients are not sufficiently satisfied. One idea is that to address the crisis physicians should be educated to be virtuous. This suggestion is helpful but incomplete. It does not take into account the part of (non-)human factors, including (medical) technologies. In particular, the paper focuses on online caring forums and argues that they are technological factors that can play the role of focal things, in which the members gather (...) together to do a care-related focal practice. Furthermore, we empirically study the online forums of Ninisite, a popular Persian website on pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting, and suggest that these forums shape focal practices that are helpful in alleviating the care crisis. (shrink)

It is demonstrated that one can in principle register an arbitrarily small force acting on a free particle by employing only measurements of its coordinates.

Theologians in some cases use the proof of miracle to prove the existence of God. This paper, surveying the relation of miracles to the proofs of the field, has intended to find the degree of miracle proof’s validity for the existence of God in Islamic and Christian theology. The conclusion would not only lead to the clearness of the real place of the proof and its usage but also help commentators to understand real meaning of the verses in the field. (...) In the paper, the nature of miracle is described in a religious approach at first and then, the usage of the proof of miracle in Muslim and Christian theologians’ works is studied. Finally, the usability of the proof and degree of its validity have been critically studied. (shrink)

The Islamic Republic of Iran is unsecular and follows religious interpretations from Shia Islam in deciding the laws of the land. In recent decades, the strengthening of civil society in the country has shaped various political debates on human rights among secular intellectuals and reflected in the discourse of some religious figures as well. While the regime has officially adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) since 1990, different views on the Islamic human rights and its social (...) implications still exist among the conservative and reformist Shia clergy within the country. This paper examines the view of an influential conservative pro-regime clergy, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who has been concerned about the Western interpretation of human rights and engaged in its theorization based on his interpretation of Shia Islam. He has criticized the theoretical and philosophical foundations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and its each single item and has also proposed his own version of the Islamic Declaration of Human Rights and Obligations. While Islamic fundamentalists have no concrete theoretical support for their negative view of the Western conceptions regarding human rights, Mesbah Yazdi’s approach is based on a reading of Shia theology and Sadraean ontology. He engages in a dialogue with the Western ideologies and rejects UDHR after philosophical and theological reasoning. His stance can be viewed as a reflection of the unsecular political Shia Islam as the main characteristic of the conservative faction within the Islamic Republic of Iran which results in serious policy and social implications on the rights of the people living in the country. (shrink)

Mobile health research involving pervasive sensors, mobile apps and other novel data collection tools and methods present new ethical, legal, and social challenges specific to informed consent, data management and bystander rights. To address these challenges, a participatory design approach was deployed whereby stakeholders contributed to the development of a web-based commons to support the mHealth research community including researchers and ethics board members. The CORE platform now features a community forum, a resource library and a network of nearly 600 (...) global members. The utility of the participatory design process was evaluated by analyzing activities carried out over an 8-month design phase consisting of 86 distinct events including iterative design deliberations and social media engagement. This article describes how participatory design yielded 55 new features directly mapped to community needs and discusses relationships to user engagement as demonstrated by a steady increase in CORE member activity and followers on Twitter. (shrink)

In this commentary, I ask six questions concerning the implications of Philipp Berghofer’s experience-first approach for the epistemology of science, in general, and that of quantum mechanics, in particular. His responses will deepen my comprehension of his ideas. I also anticipate that these questions will aid him in further refining and strengthening his arguments.

Injuries in professional soccer are a significant concern for teams, and they are caused amongst others by high training load. This cohort study describes the relationship between workload parameters and the occurrence of non-contact injuries, during weeks with high and low workload in professional soccer players throughout the season. Twenty-one professional soccer players aged 28.3 ± 3.9 yrs. who competed in the Iranian Persian Gulf Pro League participated in this 48-week study. The external load was monitored using global positioning system (...) and the type of injury was documented daily by the team's medical staff. Odds ratio and relative risk were calculated for non-contact injuries for high- and low-load weeks according to acute, chronic, acute to chronic workload ratio, and AW variation values. By using Poisson distribution, the interval between previous and new injuries were estimated. Overall, 12 non-contact injuries occurred during high load and 9 during low load weeks. Based on the variables ACWR and Δ-AW, there was a significantly increased risk of sustaining non-contact injuries during high-load weeks for ACWR, and Δ-AW. Finally, the expected time between injuries was significantly shorter in high load weeks for ACWR [1.25 vs. 3.33, rate ratio time ] and Δ-AW respectively, compared to low load weeks. The risk of sustaining injuries was significantly larger during high workload weeks for ACWR, and Δ-AW compared with low workload weeks. The observed high OR in high load weeks indicate that there is a significant relationship between workload and occurrence of non-contact injuries. The predicted time to new injuries is shorter in high load weeks compared to low load weeks. Therefore, the frequency of injuries is higher during high load weeks for ACWR and Δ-AW. ACWR and Δ-AW appear to be good indicators for estimating the injury risk, and the time interval between injuries. (shrink)

Analytical study of philosophy; includes comparative study of world-renowned philosophers and their ideologies.

This review provides an outline of the collection New Approaches to Scientific Realism, edited by Wenceslao Gonzalez. In particular, it questions whether the contributions to this edition can claim to be novel. The edition includes an introductory chapter and eighteen texts by well-known philosophers, such as Peter Achinstein, Alexander Bird, Donald Gillies, Theo Kuipers, Alan Musgrave, Thomas Nickles, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Howard Sankey, and John Worrall.