Understanding everyday behavior relies heavily upon understanding our ability to improvise, how we are able to continuously anticipate and adapt in order to coordinate with our environment and others. Here we consider the ability of musicians to improvise, where they must spontaneously coordinate their actions with co-performers in order to produce novel musical expressions. Investigations of this behavior have traditionally focused on describing the organization of cognitive structures. The focus, here, however, is on the ability of the time-evolving patterns of (...) inter-musician movement coordination as revealed by the mathematical tools of complex dynamical systems to provide a new understanding of what potentiates the novelty of spontaneous musical action. We demonstrate this approach through the application of cross wavelet spectral analysis, which isolates the strength and patterning of the behavioral coordination that occurs between improvising musicians across a range of nested time-scales. Revealing the sophistication of the previously unexplored dynamics of movement coordination between improvising musicians is an important step towards understanding how creative musical expressions emerge from the spontaneous coordination of multiple musical bodies. (shrink)

Musical improvisation is a natural case of human pattern formation, and Walton and colleagues investigate the way that different contextual constraints affect patterns of improvisation and their aesthetic quality. The authors find that coordination patterns are more diversified between two musicians when the musical space in which to improvise is relatively more constrained. They also find that listeners experience more diversified, complementary patterns between musicians as more enjoyable and harmonious.

Abnormalities in the ability of cells to properly degrade proteins have been identified in many neurodegenerative diseases. Recent work has implicated synaptojanin 1 (SynJ1) in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, although the role of this polyphosphoinositide phosphatase in protein degradation has not been thoroughly described. Here, we dissected in vivo the role of SynJ1 in endolysosomal trafficking in zebrafish cone photoreceptors using a SynJ1‐deficient zebrafish mutant, nrca14. We found that loss of SynJ1 leads to specific accumulation of late endosomes and (...) autophagosomes early in photoreceptor development. An analysis of autophagic flux revealed that autophagosomes accumulate because of a defect in maturation. In addition we found an increase in vesicles that are highly enriched for PI(3)P, but negative for an early endosome marker in nrca14 cones. A mutational analysis of SynJ1 enzymatic domains found that activity of the 5'phosphatase, but not the Sac1 domain, is required to rescue both aberrant late endosomes and autophagosomes. Finally, modulating activity of the PI(4,5)P2 regulator, Arf6, rescued the disrupted trafficking pathways in nrca14 cones. Our study describes a specific role for SynJ1 in autophagosomal and endosomal trafficking and provides evidence that PI(4,5)P2 participates in autophagy in a neuronal cell type. -/- . (shrink)

Peterson, Karlawish, and Largent’s “Supported Decision Making with People at the Margins of Autonomy” brings welcome attention to the rights of people with cognitive impairment and provides...

This rich and varied collection of essays addresses some of the most fundamental human questions through the lenses of philosophy, literature, religion, politics, and theology. Peter Augustine Lawler and Dale McConkey have fashioned an interdisciplinary consideration of such perennial and enduring issues as the relationship between nature and history, nature and grace, reason and revelation, classical philosophy and Christianity, modernity and postmodernity, repentance and self-limitation, and philosophy and politics.

Pickering et al. argue that judgments of competence should in part be based on the harm that could result from the decision. The centerpiece of their reasoning is that it is inconsistent...

Confusion surrounds Catholic teaching on the use of assisted nutrition and hydration, specifically the question of when, if ever, its refusal or removal is ethical. This paper focuses on two often-neglected considerations: the relationship between means and mechanism, and an assessment of proportionality of the mechanism from the patient’s perspective. The authors draw on two critical principles of Catholic moral teaching: only ordinary means are required, and proportionality is subject to the perspective of the patient, not just that of experts (...) or the culture. The mechanisms that provide food and water have distinct benefits and burdens. Their proportionality is properly subject to analysis by the patient or surrogate, who determines which mechanism is acceptable in the patient’s situation. (shrink)

Quantum computing is of high interest because it promises to perform at least some kinds of computations much faster than classical computers. Arute et al. 2019 (informally, “the Google Quantum Team”) report the results of experiments that purport to demonstrate “quantum supremacy” – the claim that the performance of some quantum computers is better than that of classical computers on some problems. Do these results close the debate over quantum supremacy? We argue that they do not. In the following, we (...) provide an overview of the Google Quantum Team’s experiments, then identify some open questions in the quest to demonstrate quantum supremacy. (shrink)

There are wide individual differences in the ability to detect a stimulus contingency embedded in a complex paradigm. The present study used a cognitive masking paradigm to better understand individual differences related to contingency learning. Participants were assessed on measures of electrodermal arousal and on working memory capacity before engaging in the contingency learning task. Contingency awareness was assessed both by trial-by-trial verbal reports obtained during the task and by a short post-task recognition questionnaire. Participants who became aware had fewer (...) non-specific skin conductance responses and tended to score higher on a digit span assessment. Skin conductance level was not significantly lower in the aware group than in the unaware group. These findings are consistent with studies showing that lower arousal and greater cognitive processing capacity facilitate conscious perception of a greater breadth of information within a scene or a task. (shrink)

Trata-se de apontar neste artigo que em Heidegger há dois caminhos diferentes para se investigar a questão do niilismo, que não são necessariamente excludentes, mas que por se localizarem em pontos diferentes em relação à sua virada (Kehre) de pensamento, acaba sempre gerando o questionamento de se estamos frente ao mesmo projeto ou não. Procuraremos demarcar a discussão e mostrar que seja tomada como uma empreitada de longo prazo ou não, o niilismo enquanto relacionado ao nada, na visão dos filósofos (...) da Escola de Kyoto, em especial Nishitani, não pode ser superado. Por consequência, passamos a investigação da proposta de superação do niilismo e buscamos os antecessores de sua discussão sobre a Vacuidade em Nagarjuna. (shrink)

This conceptual paper argues for the reconfiguring of Intercultural Communication Education (ICE) through a dialogical engagement with Istina (Truth) and Pravda (Truth in Justice). The paper argues that the field of ICE is predominantly characterised by normative conceptualisations of truth (e.g., characterised by fixed or ‘objective’ interpretations of language and culture) or hyper-relativist post-truth conceptualisations (e.g., non-essentialist approaches to ICE). This conceptual paper, therefore, addresses the following research question: To what extent can a dialogical approach to truth address and redress (...) epistemic power imbalances in ICE? Through engaging with Russian language and the dialogical approach of Mikhail Bakhtin a non-normative approach for ICE is proposed. The paper conceptually argues in moving beyond the binary of normative and post-truth interpretations in ICE through dialogism. The paper serves at an important juncture amidst calls that the field of ICE is characterised by epistemic violence and epistemic power imbalances. The proposed dialogical approach to truth in ICE aims to redress epistemic imbalances in arguing for a form of non-normative dialogical ethics. (shrink)

Emerging adult newlywed couples often experience many demands on their time, and three common problems may surface as couples try to balance these demands—problems related to finances, sleep, and sex. We used two waves of dyadic data from 1,001 emerging adult newlywed couples to identify four dyadic latent profiles from husbands’ and wives’ financial management behaviors, sexual satisfaction, and sleep quality: Flounderers, Financially Challenged Lovers, Drowsy Budgeters, and Flourishers. We then examined how husbands’ and wives’ marital satisfaction, in relation to (...) profile membership, varied at a later wave. We found that Financially Challenged Lovers and Flourishers had significantly higher marital satisfaction than Drowsy Budgeters and Flounderers. Whereas, Financially Challenged Lovers and Flourishers did not differ in terms of marital satisfaction, Drowsy Budgeters seemed to have slightly higher marital satisfaction than Flounderers for wives only. However, we did not find evidence that these connections meaningfully differed by sex. Implications for the efforts of clinicians and educators are discussed. (shrink)

Pretende-se mostrar, a partir do pensamento de Keiji Nishitani, os pressupostos para a discussão sobre o “vazio-saber” e que passa pela questão do niilismo e da vacuidade em sua filosofia. O problema do niilismo em Nishitani, diferente da perspectiva adotada pelos filósofos ocidentais, não está ligada à ideia de que o Eu frente ao Nada perde seus fundamentos e sua existência, deixando de ter sentido. Pelo contrário, é no encontro com o Nada que o homem pode descobrir e entrar em (...) contato com sua verdadeira essência, uma vez que, é nesse encontro que sua existência se revela. Isso só seria possível caso o Eu realizasse um processo de auto abertura, um salto para dentro da Vacuidade, para que aí sua verdadeira face se revele e ele possa encontrar seu verdadeiro ser. Pretende-se desenvolver esses desdobramentos ao longo do artigo. (shrink)

A Fenomenologia Material de Michel Henry nos desvela o imenso domínio da vida que nos supõe outro conceito de absoluto, a saber, essa vida originária em cada cogitatio enquanto auto-afecção, onde nem a vida e tampouco o desvelado por ela são meros conceitos abstratos, mas uma realidade carnalmente passível. Este saber da vida se abre contra-redutivamente, de modo que, na passibilidade radical da vida, a partir de um sentimento que sempre ocorre na ipseidade de sua carne patética, Verbo e carne (...) permanecem desde sempre unidos enquanto começo absoluto independente de representações. Nesta medida, ir à ‘coisa mesma’ desta fenomenologia não intencional implica em descobrir o ser na transparência de sua vinda a si, absolutamente autônoma, cujo processo de fenomenalidade dispensa uma distância. Assim, Henry insiste no pathos que ego sum sem nos obrigar a passar por uma representação, graças ao primado do aparecer em sua própria aparição, no entanto, nos permanece como questão latente entender em que consiste essa vida enquanto absoluto incondicionado. Como é possível falarmos desta vida que leva a cabo a experiência de si, identificando com tal movimento? Para tanto, este trabalho tem como base central L’Essence de la Manifestation de Michel Henry que, ao nosso ver, defende como tese o devir fenomênico do ser como pura afecção de si num corpo próprio e, nesta medida, apresentar-se-ia como um bom fundamento por converter da transcendência para uma imanência pura o desvelar do próprio ser. (shrink)

O estudo que se segue, tratar-se-á, a prima facie, de uma tentativa de justificar a necessidade de Michel Henry em radicalizar o método fenomenológico a fim de conceber a dualidade visível-invisível na Imanência absoluta de um sujeito patético sem, contudo, afastar-se do campo fenomenológico. No entanto, nos será preciso entender que suas considerações se tratam de um projeto onto-fenomenológico pois, segundo o autor, é apenas submetendo toda a ontologia à fenomenologia que o desvelar do Ser é suscetível de dar-se em (...) sua plenitude. Nesta medida, espera-se com esse artigo apresentar-lhes os argumentos principais da Onto-Fenomenologia Material de Michel Henry arguindo, por sua vez, que seu projeto filosófico não se trata de metafísica e, tampouco, de mística. Em sentido oposto, mostraremos em que medida a Filosofia Material de Michel Henry deve ser considerada ontologia e seu método fenomenológico. Para tal utilizaremos como base, em especial, L’essence de la Manifestation e Phenomenologie Materielle. (shrink)

This article provides an overview of, and thematic justification for, the special issue of the journal of Artificial Intelligence and Law entitled “E-Discovery”. In attempting to define a characteristic “AI & Law” approach to e-discovery, and since a central theme of AI & Law involves computationally modeling legal knowledge, reasoning and decision making, we focus on the theme of representing and reasoning with litigators’ theories or hypotheses about document relevance through a variety of techniques including machine learning. We also identify (...) two emerging techniques for enabling users’ document queries to better express the theories of relevance and connect them to documents: social network analysis and a hypothesis ontology. (shrink)