BackgroundIn crisis communication, warning messages are key to informing and galvanizing the public to prevent or mitigate damage. Therefore, this study examines how risk appraisal and individual characteristics influence the intention to comply with behavioral recommendations of a warning message regarding three hazard types: the COVID-19 pandemic, violent acts, and severe weather.MethodsA cross-sectional survey examined 403 German participants from 18 to 89 years. Participants were allocated to one of three hazard types and presented with warning messages that were previously issued (...) via an official warning app. Four components of risk appraisal—perceived severity, anticipated negative emotions, anticipatory worry, and risk perception —were assessed before and after presenting the warning message. Path models were calculated to predict the intention to comply with the warning message, controlling for age, gender, and previous hazard experience.ResultsFor the COVID-19 pandemic, higher age predicted warning compliance. AE predicted compliance in the case of violent acts. For severe weather, PS, age, and female gender lead to higher compliance. Changes across risk appraisal components were not consistent, as some facets decreased after the receipt of a warning message.DiscussionRisk appraisal has shown a marginal yet differential influence on warning message compliance in different types of hazards. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of sociodemographic factors on compliance should be studied more intensively. Moreover, integrating intermediary variables, such as self-efficacy, is necessary. (shrink)

This comment on Main and Kho’s suggestion for “a relational framework for integrating the study of empathy in children and adults” takes a conversation analytic perspective. First, I will su...

Since the 1980s, authors of the Austrian School have argued that the problem of rational allocation in a planned economy is not computational or technical in nature (static optimisation, with given information) but a question of dynamic efficiency (innovation and the creation of new information), and that this would be impossible without market processes and free entrepreneurship. In this article, we argue to the contrary that a planned economy can effectively drive dynamic efficiency. We first reveal that the Austrian thesis (...) on the impossibility of dynamic efficiency in socialist planning is based on tautological arguments, or on problems already solved by technological development. Secondly, we present an institutional formula for promoting innovative activities and entrepreneurship within a framework of social ownership of the means of production and social control of investment. (shrink)

The article criticizes the interpretation of Marx's theory of value as "analysis of forms" proposed by Clara Ramas in Fetiche y Mistificación Capitalistas. We argue that it is a reductionist interpretation that is not responsible for the analytical requirements imposed by Marx's own object of study: the need to articulate the qualitative and quantitative dimension of value theory. And it points out the theoretical implications and political ones.

Der Arbeitsbegriff Hegels ist mehrdeutig: Er umfasst den Bereich der ökonomischen Arbeit ebenso wie die Arbeit, die den Geist der Menschheit in der Geschichte, der Kunst und der Gesellschaft hervorbringt und entwickelt. Die Gemeinsamkeit dieser unterschiedlichen Arbeitsbegriffe liegt nach Hegel darin, dass sie von der menschlichen Existenz nicht wegzudenken sind. Beide bestimmen den vernünftigen Zugriff der Menschen auf ihre Umwelt in der gleichen Weise: Die Menschen formulieren Zwecke, die sie an ihre Umwelt herantragen und durch geeignete Mittel zu verwirklichen suchen, (...) gleich, ob diese Zwecke ökonomisch, kulturell oder moralisch bestimmt sind. Darüber, dass die zweckmäßige Bestimmung als Form der Bestimmung und Gestaltung der Welt im Geist der Menschheit insgesamt verstanden wird, wird die ökonomische mit der moralischen Arbeit vermittelt und Arbeit bei Hegel so insgesamt zum Ausdruck von Selbstbestimmung. Hegel vertritt damit einen Arbeitsbegriff, der für die Moderne prototypisch ist. Dass Arbeit frei mache, ist nicht nur die in grausamer Weise ideologisch umgesetzte Devise der Nationalsozialisten, sondern ein Gedanke, der eine Grundannahme der normativen Ideale der Moderne im gesamten politischen Spektrum darstellt. Diese Problematik aufnehmend, nimmt die Autorin die Hegelsche Intention einer vernünftigen Begründung des Verhältnisses der Menschen zu sich selbst, zu einander und zu ihrer Umwelt ernst und befragt seinen Arbeitsbegriff nach den Grenzen vernünftiger Begründbarkeit. Sie unterstellt dabei, dass die kritische Aufarbeitung nicht nur der Auslegung eines ‚Klassikers‘ dient, sondern einen Begriff zu klären vermag, an dem auch unsere Gegenwart sich messen lassen muss. (shrink)

We propose expanding the authors’ shared novelty-seeking basis for creativity and curiosity by emphasizing an underlying computational principle: Minimizing prediction errors (mismatch between predictions and incoming data). Curiosity is tied to the anticipation of minimizing prediction errors through future, novel information, whereas creative AHA moments are connected to the actual minimization of prediction errors through current, novel information.

This essay intends to discuss two concepts: The concept of practices as praxeological items in contrast to labour as a concept of critical theory. The self making of subjects is influenced by social and juridical conditions and institutions. However, practical theories have not yet sufficiently addressed the aspect. The author shows how labour in critical theory determined the relation between individuals, their labour and social and juridical institutions and asks whether both concepts may be understood as complementing one another.

Kant entwickelt in der Schrift uber 'Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft' den Begriff eines "ethischen gemeinen Wesens," das allein auf der moralischen Willensbestimmung seiner Glieder, nicht jedoch auf der burgerlich ..

One of the most successful physicians I have ever known, has assured me, that he used more bread pills, drops of colored water, and powders of hickory ashes, than of all other medicines put together. It was certainly a pious fraud.Clinicians and other health-care practitioners have known for hundreds of years that different procedures with unclear mechanisms of action or efficaciousness can still result in subjective improvement of clinical symptoms. Many scholars have attempted to define the placebo effect. This has (...) resulted in the development of multiple frameworks and models that help explain and further explore placebo effects and responses. After providing some definitions and clarifications of terminology... (shrink)

"Dieter Jähnig's life's work has been devoted to uncovering and exploring the field of tension between philosophy and art. The combination of comprehensive expertise in the field of the arts, together with the willingness of philosophy to radically question itself, has yielded a wealth of critical insights that can have a liberating and objectifying effect on the subject sciences. The many years of study with Jacob Burckhardt have produced an analysis of the different presences of the arts in time that (...) may be considered groundbreaking for the understanding of their 'relation to the world'. This differentiation of the character of works not only touches on methodological questions of reception aesthetics, but also has repercussions on the concept of history in general, which guides the historical-critical sciences." Robert Kudielka. (shrink)

When solving a problem with insight, people suddenly become aware of the solution (Mayer, 1995). Insight is often accompanied by a feeling of pleasure and certainty, known as an “Aha! moment” (Gick...

PurposeAsian Americans comprise 21% of matriculating medical students in the United States but little is known about their mental health. With the growing focus on addressing the mental health of medical students, this systematic, nationwide survey assesses the relationship between anxiety and depression symptoms and coping skills among Asian American medical students.Materials and methodsA survey tool comprised of Patient Health Questionnaire-9, General Anxiety Disorder-7, and questions related to coping were emailed to members of the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association (...) enrolled in a United States medical school during the 2016–2017 academic year. We evaluated associations between anxiety and coping as well as depression and coping.ResultsA total of 511 Asian American medical students completed the survey. Anxiety symptoms were positively correlated with an increase in negative coping skills. Depressive symptoms were not correlated with an increase in negative coping skills.ConclusionProfessionals and medical schools that aim to improve the mental health of medical students should be aware of the needs of specific populations. Asian American students who experience anxiety were more likely to utilize avoidant or negative coping strategies. In addition, Asian American students who experience depressive symptoms were not more likely to utilize these negative coping strategies. Further research must be done to evaluate the factors that influence the use of negative coping strategies to better address anxiety within the Asian American medical student population. (shrink)

The expressive power of logic is believed to be able to model most of the fundamental aspects of information retrieval. However, it is also understood that classical logic is ineffective for handling partiality and uncertainty in IR. Applying non-classical logics such as the AGM belief revision logic and the possibilistic logic to adaptive information retrieval is appealing since they provide a powerful and rigorous framework to model partiality and uncertainty inherent in any IR processes. The maxi-adjustment method, which is (...) an effective computational apparatus of the AGM paradigm, is applied to develop the learning components of the adaptive information agents. Essentially, maxi-adjustment allows the partial representation K of a user's information needs N to be refined gradually based on the user's relevance feedback t. Generally speaking, learning in adaptive information agents is characterised by the AGM belief revision Kt*. On the other hand, possibilistic logic supports a gradated assessment of the uncertainty arising from matching K with the imperfect characterisation d of an information object D. Information matching in adaptive information agents is underpinned by K ƕ d, where ƕ is the possibilistic inference relation. This paper illustrates how maxi-adjustment and possibilistic deduction can be applied to develop the adaptive information agents. Their impact on the agents learning autonomy and explanatory power is also discussed. (shrink)

Boltzmannian statistical mechanics partitions the phase space of a sys- tem into macro-regions, and the largest of these is identified with equilibrium. What justifies this identification? Common answers focus on Boltzmann’s combinatorial argument, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, and maxi- mum entropy considerations. We argue that they fail and present a new answer. We characterise equilibrium as the macrostate in which a system spends most of its time and prove a new theorem establishing that equilib- rium thus defined corresponds to the (...) largest macro-region. Our derivation is completely general in that it does not rely on assumptions about a system’s dynamics or internal interactions. (shrink)

Brought to you by: Crop X editors: Jonathan Alexander Perez, Harmony Smith, Corinne Tendorf, David Turturo, and Derek Rahn Williams. Faculty Advisor: David Turturo; Crop X team included: Chaimae Alehyane, Zachary S. Casey, Suzanna Brinez, Jacob Brown, Elizabeth George, Francisco Javier Muniz Ituarte, Brodey Myers. -/- Credits: Huckabee College of Architecture; Graphic Designers: Studio BLDG (Blossom Liu + Danny Gray); English Editor: Luke Studebaker; Spanish Translator: Jessie Forbes; Printer: Die Keure. Cover Photo: Derek Williams. -/- Generously supported by the (...) Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the Huckabee College of Architecture, Texas Tech University. (shrink)

The poor performances of typically developing children younger than 4 in the first-order false-belief task “Maxi and the chocolate” is analyzed from the perspective of conversational pragmatics. An ambiguous question asked by an adult experimenter (perceived as a teacher) can receive different interpretations based on a search for relevance, by which children according to their age attribute different intentions to the questioner, within the limits of their own meta-cognitive knowledge. The adult experimenter tells the child the following story of (...) object-transfer: “Maxi puts his chocolate into the green cupboard before going out to play. In his absence, his mother moves the chocolate from the green cupboard to the blue one.” The child must then predict where Maxi will pick up the chocolate when he returns. To the child, the question from an adult (a knowledgeable person) may seem surprising and can be understood as a question of his own knowledge of the world, rather than on Maxi's mental representations. In our study, without any modification of the initial task, we disambiguate the context of the question by (1) replacing the adult experimenter with a humanoid robot presented as “ignorant” and “slow” but trying to learn and (2) placing the child in the role of a “mentor” (the knowledgeable person). Sixty-two typical children of 3 years-old completed the first-order false belief task “Maxi and the chocolate,” either with a human or with a robot. Results revealed a significantly higher success rate in the robot condition than in the human condition. Thus, young children seem to fail because of the pragmatic difficulty of the first-order task, which causes a difference of interpretation between the young child and the experimenter. (shrink)

I propose and defend the Allocentric-Egocentric Interface Theory of Con- sciousness. Mental processes form a hierarchy of mental representations with maxi- mally egocentric (self-centered) representations at the bottom and maximally allocentric (other-centered) representations at the top. Phenomenally conscious states are states that are relatively intermediate in this hierarchy. More speci.

L’interactivité est communément perçue comme la marque caractéristique des technologies digitales et, par extension, de différentes formes de fictions, de médias ou d’œuvres numériques – de la littérature hypertextuelle et des jeux vidéo au net art. On peut toutefois s’interroger sur le sens précis qu’il convient de donner à cette notion, ainsi que sur les promesses auxquelles elle est souvent associée. À défaut de pouvoir cerner un concept unique et maxi-englobant d’interactivité, nous suggérons qu’il est plus profitable de tenter (...) d’identifier des types et des degrés d’interactivité. Nous tentons de montrer pourquoi cette théorie pluraliste et gradualiste est plus attrayante que d’autres approches développées dans la littérature récente. Nous mettons enfin cette conception à l’épreuve du jeu vidéo, en montrant qu’elle permet de réévaluer le rôle que joue l’interactivité dans ce médium, mais qu’elle met aussi au jour les limitations inhérentes des fictions interactives que l’on y trouve. (shrink)

We say that a first order sentence A defines a graph G if A is true on G but false on any graph non-isomorphic to G. Let L ) denote the minimum length of such a sentence. We define the succinctness function s ) to be the minimum L ) over all graphs on n vertices.We prove that s and q may be so small that for no general recursive function f we can have f)≥n for all n. However, for (...) the function q*=maxi≤nq, which is the least nondecreasing function bounding q from above, we have q*=)log*n, where log*n equals the minimum number of iterations of the binary logarithm sufficient to lower n to 1 or below.We show an upper bound qshrink)

We defend the Simulation Theory of Mind against a challenge from the Theory Theory of Mind. The challenge is that while Simulation Theory can account for Theory of Mind errors, it cannot account for their systematic nature. There are Theory of Mind errors seen in social psychological research with adults where persons are either overly generous or overly cynical in how rational they expect others to be. There are also Theory of Mind errors observable in developmental data drawn from (...) class='Hi'>Maxi-type false belief tests. We provide novel responses to several examples showing that Simulation Theory can answer these challenges. (shrink)

Different directed acyclic graphs may be Markov equivalent in the sense that they entail the same conditional indepen- dence relations among the observed variables. Meek characterizes Markov equiva- lence classes for DAGs by presenting a set of orientation rules that can correctly identify all arrow orienta- tions shared by all DAGs in a Markov equiv- alence class, given a member of that class. For DAG models with latent variables, maxi- mal ancestral graphs provide a neat representation that facilitates model (...) search. Earlier work has identified a set of orientation rules sufficient to con- struct all arrowheads common to a Markov equivalence class of MAGs. In this paper, we provide extra rules sufficient to construct all common tails as well. We end up with a set of orientation rules sound and complete for identifying commonalities across a Markov equivalence class of MAGs, which is partic- ularly useful for causal inference. (shrink)