Drug Safety Communications are used by the Food and Drug Administration to inform health care providers, patients, caregivers, and the general public about safety issues related to FDA-approved drugs. To assess patient knowledge of the messaging contained in DSCs related to the sleep aids zolpidem and eszopiclone, we conducted a large, cross-sectional patient survey of 1,982 commercially insured patients selected by stratified random sampling from the Optum Research Database who had filled at least two prescriptions for either zolpidem or eszopiclone (...) between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013. Among the 594 respondents, two-thirds reported hearing generally about drug safety information prior to starting a new drug, with the remaining one-third “rarely” or “never” hearing such information. Providers and pharmacists were primary sources of drug safety information. Two-thirds of zolpidem users and half of eszopiclone users reported having heard about the related DSC messages, ability to accurately identify the major factual messages was limited. Respondents reacted to new drug safety information about their sleep aids by reporting that they would want to learn about alternative ways to help them sleep and seek out more information about the safety of their specific sleeping pill. Opportunities may exist for the FDA to work with providers and pharmacies to help ensure the DSC information is more widely received and is more fully understood by those taking the affected medications. (shrink)

Pessimism over a democracy’s ability to produce good outcomes is as longstanding as democracy itself. On one hand, democratic theorists consider democracy to be the only legitimate form of government on the basis that it alone promotes or safeguards intrinsic values like freedom, equality, and justice. On the other, skepticism toward the ordinary citizen’s cognitive capacities remains a perennial concern. Qualms about the epistemic value of democracy have only been made more pertinent by a fundamental problem of deep epistemic disagreement (...) which underlies the post-truth phenomenon. I argue that the democratic theorists who have sought to defend democracy on epistemic grounds have thus far neglected such deep and intractable disagreements. Without addressing this oversight, the epistemic democrat will find that collective decision-making processes quickly become paralyzed and will not be able to yield the epistemic benefits they promise. Hence, the work for epistemic democrats is to recognize and take into account the ramifications of epistemic disagreements so as to make a stronger case for epistemic democracy. (shrink)

Several theologians unanimously accorded well with the notion that the writer of the Gospel of Matthew was a pastoral theologian. Nevertheless, the pastoral dimension of Matthew 22:32 has not been subjected to much scrutiny. In the text, Jesus celebrated the tradition of calling the God as the ‘God of the Fathers’. The tradition revealed that Jesus adapted the pastoral approach, which is termed as nostalgia in psychology. In empirical psychology researches, utilising nostalgia provides many positive benefits for people who have (...) psychological problems, including an identity crisis. By using a psychological text to sharpen the understanding of the biblical text, this research showed the nostalgic construction in the tradition as a pastoral approach to the readers who were in a situation of a major crisis.Contribution: By using the nostalgia as a psychological text, this article attempts to explore the pastoral dimension of Matthew 22:32, which seems absent in the study of Matthew 22:32. (shrink)

Using an interdisciplinary approach, this book explores the emerging topics and rapid technological developments of robotics and artificial intelligence through the lens of the evolving role of sex robots, and how they should best be designed to serve human needs. An international panel of authors provides the most up-to-date, evidence-based empirical research on the potential sexual applications of artificial intelligence. Early chapters discuss the objections to sexual activity with robots while also providing a counterargument to each objection. Subsequent chapters present (...) the implications of robot sex as well as the security and data privacy issues associated with sexual interactions with artificial intelligence. The book concludes with a chapter highlighting the importance of a scientific, multidisciplinary approach to the study of human - robot sexuality. Topics featured in this book include: The Sexual Interaction Illusion Model. The personal companion system, Harmony, designed by RealbotixTM. An exposition of the challenges of personal data control and protection when dealing with artificial intelligence. The current and future technological possibilities of projecting three-dimensional holograms. Expert discussion notes from an international workshop on the topic. AI Love You will be of interest to academic researchers in psychology, robotics, ethics, medical science, sociology, gender studies as well as clinicians, policy makers, and the business sector. (shrink)

Sex robots are humanoid robots with artificial intelligence, designed to interact sexually with humans. They have received much attention in recent discussions about technology, human relationships and the future of human sexuality. Based on available evidence so far, this outlook aims to give tentative answers to two fundamental questions surrounding the topic of human–robot intimate relationships. First, whether intelligent humanoid robots are technologically ready to be our intimate partners. Second, whether humans are ready to accept the idea of developing intimate (...) relationships with robots, and how far we have engaged and will engage in such activity. We highlight the importance of a scientific transdisciplinary approach to the study of human sexuality in the twenty-first century. (shrink)

Corporate social responsibility involvement and disclosure has been becoming increasingly popular among US public firms, including those that qualify as real estate investment trusts. This paper aims to discover the relationship between CSR involvement and potential determinants such as growth opportunities, profitability, visibility, and agency costs. Types of CSR involvement are assessed in terms of environmental, community, and governance disclosures and are quantified using word count from the company’s voluntary disclosure. Our results support the hypothesis that CSR has a strategic (...) element and that REITs have greater CSR involvement when they have greater growth and investment opportunities. When the type of disclosure is broken into subcategories, the results show that not all dimensions of CSR are alike: environmental, community, and governance CSR disclosures appear to be motivated by different sets of incentives and reasons. (shrink)

In a society where mobility, globalization and contact with people from other cultures have become its basic descriptors, the enhancement of plurilingualism and intercultural understanding seem to be of the utmost concern. From a Positive Psychology Perspective, agency is the human capacity to affect other people positively or negatively through their actions. This agentic vision can be related to mediation, a concept rooted in the socio-cultural learning theory where social interaction is considered a fundamental cornerstone in the development of cognition. (...) Social interactions in the language learning setting may be facilitated through musical activities due to its social bonding effect. This paper tries to offer insights on how a musical-mediated experience in language learning may develop students’ interpersonal and collaborative competences to become active members of a more inclusive society. Mediation, considered as a paradigm shift in the foreign language classroom and the different out-of-class language learning possibilities, could also provide an environment where learners maximize their emotional intelligence. Our paper focuses on this paradigm shift spearheaded by the CEFR Companion Volume and the considerable repercussions it is bound to have for foreign language didactics, as cooperative tasks become central to foreign language learning. We hypothesize that mediated language learning experiences imply a socioemotional change in learners, focusing on the others, on their needs and interests, by trying to help them understand texts, concepts or facilitating communication with their peers. An intervention with a musical-mediated language learning experience was designed and implemented in the classroom. A self assessment scale with mediation descriptors and the socioemotional expertise scale (SEE) were administered. Results show that students become more mindful of their strengths, of their capacity for collaborating and team working. This leads to more awareness of their mediation skills. Students’ mediation skills correlate significantly with their socio-emotional skills, more concretely with their expressivity. The implementation of a musical-mediated experience also promoted tolerance and enhanced learners’ intrinsic motivation for language learning at the same time as they acknowledged their diversity. (shrink)

Ataxia is a kind of external characteristics when the human body has poor coordination and balance disorder, it often indicates diseases in certain parts of the body. Many internal factors may causing ataxia; currently, observed external characteristics, combined with Doctor’s personal clinical experience play main roles in diagnosing ataxia. In this situation, different kinds of diseases may be confused, leading to the delay in treatment and recovery. Modern high precision medical instruments would provide better accuracy but the economic cost is (...) a non-negligible factor. In this paper, novel non-contact sensing technique is used to detect and distinguish sensory ataxia and cerebellar ataxia. Firstly, Romberg’s test and gait analysis data are collected by the microwave sensing platform; then, after some preprocessing, some machine learning approaches have been applied to train the models. For Romberg’s test, time domain features are considered, the accuracy of all the three algorithms are higher than 96%; for gait detection, Principal Component Analysis is used for dimensionality reduction, and the accuracies of Back Propagation neural Network, Support Vector Machine, and Random Forest are 97.8, 98.9, and 91.1%, respectively. (shrink)

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to describe the implementation and outcomes of an Eye Movement and Desensitization Reprocessing treatment-program for women with posttraumatic stress disorder after childbirth.MethodsA prospective cohort-study with pre- and post-measurements was carried out in the setting of an academic hospital in the Netherland. Included were women who gave birth to a living child at least 4 weeks ago, with a diagnosis of PTSD, or severe symptoms of PTSD combined with another psychiatric diagnosis. All received up to (...) 8 sessions of EMDR-therapy. The posttraumatic stress disorder Checklist for DSM-5 was administered before and after treatment. Trauma history was assessed before treatment with the Life Events Checklist for the DSM-5, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Childbirth Perception Scale. Descriptive statistics were used.ResultsForty-four women were referred, 26 met the inclusion criteria. After treatment, none of the women met the criteria for diagnosis of PTSD after on average 5 weekly sessions of EMDR- therapy. These outcomes are promising, as they were achieved in women with relatively high levels of psychiatric comorbidity and high rates of previous mental health treatment.ConclusionImplementing an EMDR-treatment program for women with PTSD after childbirth in the setting of an academic hospital is feasible and effective. Key factors for success include a close collaboration between the relevant hospital departments and a thorough case conceptualization addressing the etiology of the PTSD. (shrink)

The life, works, and philosophy of rabbi Hasdai Crescas.

This article explores the connection between the Heng Xian and the Changes of Zhou tradition, especially the “Tuan” and “Attached Verbalizations” commentaries. Two important Heng Xian terms—heng 恆 and fu 復—are also Changes of Zhou hexagrams and possible connections are explored. Second, the Heng Xian account of the creation of names is compared with the “Attached Verbalizations” account of the creation of the Changes of Zhou system. Third, the roles played by knowing and desire in both Heng (...) Xian and the Changes of Zhou tradition are explored, with particular focus on potential points of similarity. Finally, insights gained through these comparisons are used to interpret the Heng Xian advice on initiating action. (shrink)

Aiming at the oscillation suppression of spacecraft with large flexible appendages, we propose a control strategy using H∞ control. The weighting functions are designed for the specific flexible modes of the spacecraft and the frequency of harmonic interference in its operating environment. Taking into account the structural uncertainty of systematic modeling and the comprehensive performance requirements of system bandwidth constraint and attitude stability, the H∞ comprehensive performance matrix is constructed. A space telescope with a large flexible solar array is presented (...) as an illustrative example, and a control design that meets the requirement for pointing accuracy is proposed. The simulation results show that the designed controller satisfies the requirements of attitude stability and high pointing accuracy and has effectively suppressed the disturbance of endemic frequency. The design scheme and selection method of the weight function shown in this paper can be a reference for the controller design for oscillation suppression of this type of spacecraft with flexible structures. (shrink)

In 1941, Zhou Jingwen launched a human rights movement in the magazine Shidai piping. Zhou was motivated both by concerns about the human rights violations committed by the Guomindang and by a belief that the protection of human rights would enable people to make greater contributions to the war effort. As Zhang Junmai would be, Zhou was inspired by H.G. Wells's work to draft a new human rights declaration that could serve as an inspiration during World War (...) II and as a manifesto for a future peaceful world. Zhou also attempted to relate the 1941 human rights movement to the May Fourth movement of 1919, in that he intended his human rights movement to awaken and liberate the Chinese. Positive reactions from readers prompted Zhou to publish a special issue on human rights, and some of the articles were also reprinted in book form. Zhou chose to remain on the mainland after 1949, and was severely criticized during the "three-anti" and "five-anti" campaigns in the early 1950s. He fled to Hong Kong in 1957 and there revived Shidai piping. (shrink)

Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) catalyzes the rate limiting step in the production of deoxyribonucleotides needed for DNA synthesis. In addition to the well documented allosteric regulation, the synthesis of the enzyme is also tightly regulated at the level of transcription. mRNAs for both subunits are cell cycle regulated and inducible by DNA damage in all organisms examined, including E. coli, S. cerevisiae and H. sapiens. This DNA damage regulation is thought to provide a metabolic state that facilitates DNA replicational repair processes. (...) S. cerevisiae also encodes a second large subunit gene, RNR3, that is expressed only in the presence of DNA damage. Genetic analysis of the DNA damage response in S. cerevisiae has shown that RNR expression is under both positive and negative control. Among mutants constitutive for RNR expression are the general transcriptional repression genes, SSN6 and TUP1. Mutations in POL1 and POL3 also activate RNR expression, indicating that the DNA damage sensory network may respond directly to blocks in DNA synthesis. A protein kinase, Dun1, has been identified that controls inducibility of RNR1, RNR2 and RNR3 in response to DNA damage and replication blocks. This result suggests that the RNR genes in S. cerevisiae form a regulon that is coordinately regulated by protein phosphorylation in response to DNA damage. (shrink)

This special volume of Studies in Christian Ethics constitutes the most significant continuation to date of Christian social ethics in the tradition of Ronald Preston. It brings together leading scholars and new voices in the field from around the world, covering a broad range of contemporary issues, including globalisation, poverty, feminism, civil society, economics and religious pluralism.

This special volume of Studies in Christian Ethics constitutes the most significant continuation to date of Christian social ethics in the tradition of Ronald Preston. It brings together leading scholars and new voices in the field from around the world, covering a broad range of contemporary issues, including globalisation, poverty, feminism, civil society, economics and religious pluralism.

We review a proposal of how to complete non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics to a physically meaningful, mathematically precise and logically coherent theory. This proposal has been dubbed ETH-Approach to Quantum Mechanics, “E” standing for “Events,” “T” for “Trees,” and “H” for “Histories.” The ETH-Approach supplies the last one of three pillars Quantum Mechanics can be constructed upon in such a way that its foundations are solid and stable. Two of these pillars are well known. The third one has been proposed quite (...) recently; it implies a general non-linear stochastic law for the time-evolution of states of individual physical systems. (shrink)

Este artículo reseña: Fernando H. LLANO ALONSO (dir.), Joaquín GARRIDO MARTÍN y Ramón VALDIVIA JIMÉNEZ (coords.), Inteligencia artificial y Filosofía del derecho. Ediciones Laborum, Murcia, 2022, 558 pp.

In diesem Band werden die Beiträge eines Symposiums dokumentiert, das sich unter der Leitperspektive "wechselseitiger Wahrnehmungen" in 14 Paarvorträgen der Analyse zentraler anthropologischer und ethischer Themenbereiche einerseits aus neutestamentlicher Perspektive, andererseits aus dem Blickwinkel frühjüdischer Literatur, insbesondere der sogenannten Pseudepigraphen, gewidmet hat. Inhaltlich spannen die Beiträge einen Bogen vom Motiv der Gottebenbildlichkeit des Menschen über die Frage nach der Sünde und dem Umgang mit Gewalt sowie über Aspekte der Sexual- und Besitzethik und das Verhalten gegenüber Notleidenden bis hin zum "Ende (...) des Menschen". Ergänzend reflektieren übergreifende Beiträge zum einen methodisch den "Dialog" zwischen frühjüdischen und neutestamentlichen Schriften, zum anderen thematisch die anthropologische und ethische Bedeutung von Menschenwürde und -pflichten, Konversionserfahrungen und der menschlichen Ernährung. Mit Beiträgen von:John M.G. Barclay, René Bloch, Christfried Böttrich, Roland Deines, Matthias Henze, Jens Herzer, Friedrich Wilhelm Horn, Matthias Konradt, George H. Van Kooten, Stefan Krauter, Hindy Najman, Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr, Eckart Reinmuth, Todd D. Still, Loren T. Stuckenbruck, Gerd Theißen, Michael Tilly, Samuel Vollenweider, Markus Witte. (shrink)