Based on a qualitative study with 124 participants we explore what is in ordinary language referred to as 'suicidal feelings'. We identify four interrelated aspects of this experience, which together suggest that 'suicidal feelings' is in fact a 'feeling of being suicidal', an existential feeling. Although each experience is unique in its presentation, it is also the case that people who are suicidal tend to experience a combination of the following: 1) loss of consistency and/ or coherence in their sense (...) of self; 2) a disruption in the reciprocal action between self and world; 3) serious depletion of their mental resources; and 4) a disturbance of embodiment. We then argue that 'the feeling of being suicidal' should be understood as a disruption in the experience of the self as an agent and that this forms the appropriate background for interpreting suicidal thoughts and intentions. (shrink)

Jacques Derrida wrote twice, in 1984 in "Shibboleth" and in 2002 for his Paris seminar lectures, about "The Meridian," Paul Celan's Georg Büchner prize speech that forms the most elaborate exposition of the poet's poetics. In both readings Derrida, in one way or the other, deals with the question of time. In "Shibboleth," at stake is the notion of date; in the seminar lectures, the "other's time." Through the Greek, Christian, and Jewish experiences involved, the present article takes the notion (...) of Augenblick as a fil conducteur. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of decision-makers toward the use of care robots in welfare services. We investigated their knowledge regarding the use of care robots in welfare services as well as their attitudes toward using robots in their own care and in the care of various user groups, for example, children, youths, and older people. We conducted an online survey with a range of Finnish decision-makers as respondents. The respondents were divided into two groups: (...) service actors and research and development actors. The respondents did not regard themselves as having much knowledge about robotics; however, the results showed that the R&D actors had more overall knowledge of the use of robots than the service actors. The R&D actors were found to be more willing to accept a robot as part of their own care as well as part of the care for various user groups. The contribution of this study is a better understanding of the views of the decision-makers who are or will be in charge of the acquisition of technological devices in welfare services. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to put forth the concept of ethics, present ethical theories and, finally, consider some business ethics issues in the context of retailing practices. In the first part of this paper we seek to motivate the research task. The importance of conducting ethical analysis is stressed. In the second part of the paper several ethical theories: utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics are presented. This part serves as a basis for research interviews, e.g. it is (...) possible to examine retailers'' opinions about their professional virtues, and try to position these opinions in relation with utilitarianism and deontology. In the third part the empirical findings about the retailing business ethics are set forth. This part suggests that there prevails among retailers some kind of confusion about what are ethical issues and what is not ethical in their daily professional practices. To avoid this confusion four main principles were put forth by the Finnish retailers. The principles were: 1. Freedom versus rules; 2. Principles versus moralizing; 3. Boundaries versus transition; 4. Economy and moral versus subjective judgment. (shrink)

The threat simulation theory of dreaming states that dream consciousness is essentially an ancient biological defence mechanism, evolutionarily selected for its capacity to repeatedly simulate threatening events. Threat simulation during dreaming rehearses the cognitive mechanisms required for efficient threat perception and threat avoidance, leading to increased probability of reproductive success during human evolution. One hypothesis drawn from TST is that real threatening events encountered by the individual during wakefulness should lead to an increased activation of the system, a threat simulation (...) response, and therefore, to an increased frequency and severity of threatening events in dreams. Consequently, children who live in an environment in which their physical and psychological well-being is constantly threatened should have a highly activated dream production and threat simulation system, whereas children living in a safe environment that is relatively free of such threat cues should have a weakly activated system. We tested this hypothesis by analysing the content of dream reports from severely traumatized and less traumatized Kurdish children and ordinary, non-traumatized Finnish children. Our results give support for most of the predictions drawn from TST. The severely traumatized children reported a significantly greater number of dreams and their dreams included a higher number of threatening dream events. The dream threats of traumatized children were also more severe in nature than the threats of less traumatized or non-traumatized children. (shrink)

Objective: Traditionally, asymmetric spatial processing has been assessed with paper-and-pencil tasks, but growing evidence indicates that computer-based methods are a more sensitive assessment modality. It is not known, however, whether simply converting well-established paper-and-pencil methods into a digital format is the best option. The aim of the present study was to compare sensitivity in detecting contralesional omissions of two different computer-based methods: a “digitally converted” cancellation task was compared with a computer-based Visual and Auditory dual-tasking approach, which has already proved (...) to be very sensitive.Methods: Participants included 40 patients with chronic unilateral stroke in either the right hemisphere or the left hemisphere and 20 age-matched healthy controls. The cancellation task was implemented on a very large format or in a smaller paper-and-pencil version. The computer-based dual-tasks were implemented on a 15′′ monitor and required the detection of unilateral and bilateral briefly presented lateralized targets.Results: Neither version of the cancellation task was able to show spatial bias in RH patients. In contrast, in the Visual dual-task RH patients missed significantly more left-sided targets than controls in both unilateral and bilateral trials. They also missed significantly more left-sided than right-sided targets only in the bilateral trials of the Auditory dual-task.Conclusion: The dual-task setting outperforms the cancellation task approach even when the latter is implemented on a screen. Attentionally demanding methods are useful for revealing mild forms of contralesional visuospatial deficits. (shrink)

It has been suggested that early cry parameters are connected to later cognitive abilities. The present study is the first to investigate whether the acoustic features of infant cry are associated with cognitive development already during the first year, as measured by oculomotor orienting and attention disengagement. Cry sounds for acoustic analyses (fundamental frequency; F0) were recorded in two neonatal cohorts at the age of 0-8 days (Tampere, Finland) or at 6 weeks (Cape Town, South Africa). Eye tracking was used (...) to measure oculomotor orienting to peripheral visual stimuli and attention disengagement from central stimuli at 8 months (Tampere) or at 6 months (Cape Town) of age. Only a marginal positive correlation between fundamental frequency of cry (F0) and visual attention disengagement was observed in the Tampere cohort, but not in the Cape Town cohort. This correlation indicated that infants from the Tampere cohort with a higher neonatal F0 were marginally slower to shift their gaze away from the central stimulus to the peripheral stimulus. No associations between F0 and oculomotor orienting were observed in either cohort. We discuss possible factors influencing the current pattern of results suggesting a lack of replicable associations between neonatal cry and visual attention and suggest directions for future research investigating the potential of early cry analysis in predicting later cognitive development. (shrink)

Afin de mettre en exergue la spécificité de la jurilinguistique, le présent article examine une des particularités du langage du droit, l’utilisation des abréviations dans les textes juridiques, sur laquelle il est, je pense, essentiel de faire des recherches comparatives. Dans ce contexte, ma tâche est d’expliciter la nécessité d’une étude comparative en jurilinguistique en prenant pour appui des travaux que notre groupe de recherche a réalisés sur les abréviations juridiques finlandaises. (Ce groupe de recherche comprenait Anne Jussila, licenciée ès-lettres, (...) Outi Kaltio, licenciée ès-lettres, et l’auteur de ces pages.). (shrink)

« Personne est mon nom », dit Ulysse au cyclope Polyphème, qui n’y voyait déjà que d’un œil avant d’être totalement plongé dans les ténèbres par la ruse d’Ulysse, auquel il avait pourtant offert, en toute magnanimité, de ne le dévorer qu’en dernier, pour le récompenser de ce vin divin qu’il lui versait à boire. Ulysse aux mille tours fait ici à son redoutable hôte les honneurs de sa mètis (« intelligence, sagesse habile ») la plus achevée – car sémantique (...) – en prétendant se nommer Outis, Pers... (shrink)