Multiple cortical areas of the human brain motor system interact coherently in the low frequency range (< 0.1 Hz), even in the absence of explicit tasks. Following stroke, cortical interactions are functionally disturbed. How these interactions are affected and how the functional organization is regained from rehabilitative treatments as people begin to recover motor behaviors has not been systematically studied. We recorded the intrinsic functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals from 30 participants: 17 young healthy controls and 13 aged stroke (...) survivors. Stroke participants underwent mental practice (MP) or both mental practice and physical therapy (MP + PT) within 14-51 days following stroke. We investigated the network activity of five core areas in the motor-execution network, consisting of the left primary motor area (LM1), the right primary motor area (RM1), the left pre-motor cortex (LPMC), the right pre-motor cortex (RPMC) and the supplementary motor area (SMA). We discovered that (i) the network activity dominated in the frequency range 0.06 Hz – 0.08 Hz for all the regions, and for both able-bodied and stroke participants (ii) the causal information flow between the regions: LM1 and SMA, RPMC and SMA, RPMC and LM1, SMA and RM1, SMA and LPMC, was reduced significantly for stroke survivors (iii) the flow did not increase significantly after MP alone and (iv) the flow among the regions during MP+PT increased significantly. We also found that sensation and motor scores were significantly higher and correlated with directed functional connectivity measures when the stroke-survivors underwent MP+PT but not MP alone. The findings provide evidence that a combination of mental practice and physical therapy can be an effective means of treatment for stroke survivors to recover or regain the strength of motor behaviors, and that the spectra of causal information flow can be used as a reliable biomarker for evaluating rehabilitation in stroke survivors. (shrink)

A major requirement for humans is a breathable atmosphere. In microgravity, despite environmental life support systems regulating air exchange, astronauts complain about air quality, with elevated CO2-levels resulting in detrimental health and performance effects. We extend extant accounts of human respiration to include the role of gravity and buoyancy. Using computational fluid dynamics, we demonstrate that the absence of biothermal convection in microgravity reduces airflow around the human body. This impairs gas exchange by creating an environmental breathing deadspace in front (...) of the face, leading to significant CO2-rebreathing, with implications for astronaut health and countermeasures. In 1g, increasing ambient air temperature can also reduce efficient respiratory exchange, resulting in breathing conditions equivalent to those in microgravity, with implications for treating respiratory disease on Earth. (shrink)

A long-standing question in cognitive science is how high-level knowledge is integrated with sensory input. For example, listeners can leverage lexical knowledge to interpret an ambiguous speech sound, but do such effects reflect direct top-down influences on perception or merely postperceptual biases? A critical test case in the domain of spoken word recognition is lexically mediated compensation for coarticulation (LCfC). Previous LCfC studies have shown that a lexically restored context phoneme (e.g., /s/ in Christma#) can alter the perceived place of (...) articulation of a subsequent target phoneme (e.g., the initial phoneme of a stimulus from a tapes-capes continuum), consistent with the influence of an unambiguous context phoneme in the same position. Because this phoneme-to-phoneme compensation for coarticulation is considered sublexical, scientists agree that evidence for LCfC would constitute strong support for top–down interaction. However, results from previous LCfC studies have been inconsistent, and positive effects have often been small. Here, we conducted extensive piloting of stimuli prior to testing for LCfC. Specifically, we ensured that context items elicited robust phoneme restoration (e.g., that the final phoneme of Christma# was reliably identified as /s/) and that unambiguous context-final segments (e.g., a clear /s/ at the end of Christmas) drove reliable compensation for coarticulation for a subsequent target phoneme. We observed robust LCfC in a well-powered, preregistered experiment with these pretested items (N = 40) as well as in a direct replication study (N = 40). These results provide strong evidence in favor of computational models of spoken word recognition that include top–down feedback. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article considers how five single mothers, who used adoption or donor conception to bring children into their lives, negotiate a persistent and pervasive discourse of ‘problematic single motherhood’ in their interview talk. Tactics of intersubjectivity (Bucholtz & Hall [2005]. Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7(4–5), 585–614.), especially the overlapping strategies of distinction, authorisation and illegitimation, are shown to be particularly salient for these parents, as they work to legitimise their routes to motherhood by distancing (...) themselves from widely stigmatised positions such as young motherhood, working-class motherhood and unplanned motherhood. I argue that these single women’s intersubjective positioning serves to protect them against stigma and discrimination, but often relies on the reproduction of other polarising and discriminatory discourses, which feed into idealised constructions of mothers as responsible, middle-class, and appropriately aged citizens. Overall, the analysis suggests that it is difficult for these single mothers to challenge the multiple and intersecting discriminatory discourses, ideals and stereotypes that converge in exclusionary and limiting constructions of single motherhood, whilst maintaining a recognisably legitimate social position for themselves. (shrink)

The study aims to ascertain how different levels of society have been influenced by the impact of pandemics over the last many years. The study also determines the societal implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. The integrative literature survey method is adopted to extract the secondary data pertinent to the socio-economic effect of pandemics and COVID-19 on society. Primary data is collected to diagnose the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on employees (N = 210) working in the Indian organized (...) sector. Findings of the study suggest that pandemics have been a cause of economic slowdown measured with a fall in gross domestic product (GDP) at the macro level. The reduced level of economic activity is found to be negatively related to an individual socio-economic status building their psychological distress. The descriptive analysis of the data reveals that although employees have managed their jobs and finances during COVID-19, they have experienced stress in their lives due to the pandemic. The study assimilates the pandemic effect using inductive reasoning to develop a COVID quadrilateral conceptual framework. (shrink)

Abstract The debate about the ethics of uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) is failing to keep pace with the rise of the technology. Therefore, all the key players, including ethicists, lawyers, and roboticists, are keen to offer their views on the use of these drone aircraft. Some are opposed to their use, citing a range of ethical, legal and operational issues, while others argue for their ethically mandated use. B.J. Strawser fits into this latter category. He develops a principle of ?unnecessary (...) risk?, from which he argues that we have an ethical obligation to employ UAVs if we can do so without incurring a loss of capability. Strawser defends his argument against a number of potential objections, most questionably, the argument that the use of distance weaponry such as drones, against another state without distance weaponry, crosses some moral threshold that makes the combat immoral. Utilising Jeff McMahan's work on the inequality of combatants, Strawser essentially argues that there are no grounds for a ?fair fight?. However, this paper will argue that it is not so easy to overturn the doctrine of the moral equality of combatants, nor dismiss the problem with asymmetry. It will demonstrate that if the asymmetry reaches a certain level, the justification for resorting to war may be removed and some sort of policing action may remain the only option. (shrink)

The US military is a globally recognizable force politically, ethically and, to some extent, economically. It is not generally realized, however, that such an influential military force also holds...

Purpose The high rate of internet penetration has led to the proliferation of social media use, even at the workplace, including academia. This research attempts to develop a topology and thereby determine the dominant use motive for faculty’s use of SM. Design/methodology/approach In this two-part study, a two-stage research design has been adopted for topology development based on the application of Uses and Gratifications Theory. In the second part, the Technology Acceptance Model is applied to discern the dominant motive for (...) SM use in academia. Findings The work is able to develop a seven-item topology, conforming to the basic three use motives, namely, hedonic, utilitarian and social. The work shows faculty attach more value to the instrumental utility of SM, while the hedonic function is also significant. Practical implications Discerning dominant motive implies that SM use at the workplace should not be banned, rather effective regulated use will instil the faculty to enhance work outcomes. The conceptualisation of topology for SM use in academia at the workplace can aid in designing an effective organisation policy, and design of an internal SM platform. Originality/value The study is unique towards topology development for academic faculty and has many important implications for management and academia, especially towards policy design for SM use at the workplace. (shrink)

This book introduces the theory of graded consequence and its mathematical formulation. It also compares the notion of graded consequence with other notions of consequence in fuzzy logics, and discusses possible applications of the theory in approximate reasoning and decision-support systems. One of the main points where this book emphasizes on is that GCT maintains the distinction between the three different levels of languages of a logic, namely object language, metalanguage and metametalanguage, and thus avoids the problem of violation of (...) the principle of use and mention; it also shows, gathering evidences from existing fuzzy logics, that the problem of category mistake may arise as a result of not maintaining distinction between levels. (shrink)

Ethics settings allow for morally significant decisions made by humans to be programmed into autonomous machines, such as autonomous vehicles or autonomous weapons. Customizable ethics settings are a type of ethics setting in which the users of autonomous machines make such decisions. Here two arguments are provided in defence of customizable ethics settings. Firstly, by approaching ethics settings in the context of failure management, it is argued that customizable ethics settings are instrumentally and inherently valuable for building resilience into the (...) larger socio-technical systems in which autonomous machines operate. Secondly, after defining the preliminary condition of responsibility attribution and demonstrating how ethics settings enable humans to exert control over the outcomes of morally significant incidents, it is shown that ethics settings narrow the responsibility gap. (shrink)

In July 2021, a series of gruesome videos exposed a case of brutal torture perpetrated by a guru or leader of the trans feminine hijra community in eastern India. This guru was allegedly of a Bangladeshi Muslim background, and various community members used the case as an alibi to target hijras of such national and religious origin, sometimes even demanding their expulsion from India. This phenomenon paralleled increasing affiliations between certain sections of trans/hijra communities and the Hindu Right. This article (...) situates this case within the broader rise of queer and trans Hindutva or Hindu nationalism and locates it as indicative of Hindutva’s expansion to its erstwhile ‘elsewheres’: areas outside its traditional strongholds such as eastern India and communities such as hijras who are known for their mixed religious practices and have been historically stigmatised by Hindu society. However, the article also analyses the case to show how hijras and related communities evidence contingently wavering political alliances and complex dynamics of intra-community power and resistance that remain irreducible to typical equations of Hindu right-wing politics. Queer/trans Hindutva might become disrupted by its potential constituents themselves, showing how Hindutva’s ‘elsewheres’ trouble its assimilationist capacities. (shrink)

Contemporary Artificial Intelligence methods, especially their subset-deep learning, are finding their way to successful implementations in the detection and classification of intrusions at the network level. This paper presents an intrusion detection mechanism that leverages Deep AutoEncoder and several Deep Decoders for unsupervised classification. This work incorporates multiple network topology setups for comparative studies. The efficiency of the proposed topologies is validated on two established benchmark datasets: UNSW-NB15 and NetML-2020. The results of their analysis are discussed in terms of classification (...) accuracy, detection rate, false-positive rate, negative predictive value, Matthews correlation coefficient and F1-score. Furthermore, comparing against the state-of-the-art methods used for network intrusion detection is also disclosed. (shrink)

We recently reported strong, replicable (i.e., replicated) evidence for lexically mediated compensation for coarticulation (LCfC; Luthra et al., 2021), whereby lexical knowledge influences a prelexical process. Critically, evidence for LCfC provides robust support for interactive models of cognition that include top‐down feedback and is inconsistent with autonomous models that allow only feedforward processing. McQueen, Jesse, and Mitterer (2023) offer five counter‐arguments against our interpretation; we respond to each of those arguments here and conclude that top‐down feedback provides the most parsimonious (...) explanation of extant data. (shrink)

Visual word recognition is facilitated by the presence of orthographic neighbors that mismatch the target word by a single letter substitution. However, researchers typically do not consider where neighbors mismatch the target. In light of evidence that some letter positions are more informative than others, we investigate whether the influence of orthographic neighbors differs across letter positions. To do so, we quantify the number of enemies at each letter position (how many neighbors mismatch the target word at that position). Analyses (...) of reaction time data from a visual word naming task indicate that the influence of enemies differs across letter positions, with the negative impacts of enemies being most pronounced at letter positions where readers have low prior uncertainty about which letters they will encounter (i.e., positions with low entropy). To understand the computational mechanisms that give rise to such positional entropy effects, we introduce a new computational model, VOISeR (Visual Orthographic Input Serial Reader), which receives orthographic inputs in parallel and produces an over‐time sequence of phonemes as output. VOISeR produces a similar pattern of results as in the human data, suggesting that positional entropy effects may emerge even when letters are not sampled serially. Finally, we demonstrate that these effects also emerge in human subjects' data from a lexical decision task, illustrating the generalizability of positional entropy effects across visual word recognition paradigms. Taken together, such work suggests that research into orthographic neighbor effects in visual word recognition should also consider differences between letter positions. (shrink)

Unethical behavior on the part of business corporations and their leaders has led many business executives and university administrators to call for the inclusion of ethics in MBA programs. This paper reviewed studies and commentary relating to the teaching of ethics in MBA programs in the United States. The results showed that ethics has not yet gained an integral place in the curricula of business schools. A plan of action for the systematic incorporation of ethics into the MBA curriculum was (...) proposed based on the system model of training commonly used in the training field. In concluding, a question about the total responsibility of the business schools toward the promotion of ethical behavior on the part of their graduates was raised. (shrink)

This study aims to identify the ethical challenges in the process of product marketing. It conducted a bibliometric study to evaluate the major ethical concerns in the area of product marketing. The data for the current study was extracted using the Scopus database. The study uses VOSviewer and Biblioshiny-bibliometrix to analyze the data. The results revealed that in the twenty-first century, ethical concerns and research related to pharmaceutical marketing, consumption behavior, and sustainability have significantly grown and are emerging as important (...) issues. The study is novel in its approach and develops a theoretical model to know ethical issues related to product marketing with multidimensional process (i.e., identification, search strategy, and analysis) for a long-term sustainable business success. By this study, the academicians and researchers will focus greater attention on the rapidly developing human-techno-centric world to fulfill the organizations’ service promises. The study contributes to the marketing ethics literature, particularly to the literature related to ethical issues in product marketing. (shrink)

What's wrong with targeted advertising in political campaigns? Are echo chambers a matter of genuine concern? How does data collection impact on trust in society? As decision-making becomes increasingly automated, how can decision-makers be held to account? This collection consider potential solutions to these challenges.

Today, with the advent of unmanned systems, military hopes are attached to the idea that battles can be fought with soldiers pressing buttons in distant command centres. However, soldiers must now be highly trained, super strong and have the intelligence and mental capacity to handle the highly complex and dynamic military operating environment. This book provides the first comprehensive and unifying analysis of the moral, legal and social questions concerning military human enhancement, with a view toward developing guidance and policy (...) that may influence real-world decision making. (shrink)

Study of philosophy of self in Sāṅkhyakārikā by Īśvarakr̥ṣṇa and Essay concerning human understanding by John Locke, 1632-1704.

Most of the papers presented at the worshop held at Calcutta.

Neural crest cells are multipotent progenitors, capable of producing diverse cell types upon differentiation. Recent studies have identified significant heterogeneity in both the fates produced and genes expressed by different premigratory crest cells. While these cells may be specified toward particular fates prior to migration, transplant studies show that some may still be capable of respecification at this time. Here we summarize evidence that extracellular signals in the local environment may act to specify premigratory crest and thus generate diversity in (...) the population. Three main classes of signals–Wnts, BMP2/BMP4 and TGFβ1,2,3–have been shown to directly influence the production of particular neural crest cell fates, and all are expressed near the premigratory crest. This system may therefore provide a good model for integration of multiple signaling pathways during embryonic cell fate specification. BioEssays 22:708–716, 2000. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

. VIEWPOINT ARTICLE CLOSING WITH COMPLETENESS: THE ASYMMETRIC DRONE WARFARE DEBATE. Journal of Military Ethics: Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 353-356. doi: 10.1080/15027570.2012.760245.

Discusses nuances required to balance out the debate surrounding the moral and legal permissibility of using autonomous weapon systems in war fighting.

We must understand that with the possibility of commercial space travel on our horizon, it comes with a number of significant practical and moral challenges. This volume provides the first comprehensive and unifying analysis concerning the rise of private space exploration, with a view toward developing policy that may influence real-world decision making. The plethora of questions demanding serious attention - privatisation and commercialisation, the impact on the environment, health futures, risk assessment, responsibility and governance - are directly addressed in (...) this scholarly work. (shrink)

This volume examines the ethical issues generated by recent developments in intelligence collection and offers a comprehensive analysis of the key legal, moral and social questions thereby raised. Intelligence officers, whether gatherers, analysts or some combination thereof, are operating in a sea of social, political, scientific and technological change. This book examines the new challenges faced by the intelligence community as a result of these changes. It looks not only at how governments employ spies as a tool of state and (...) how the ultimate outcomes are judged by their societies, but also at the mind-set of the spy. In so doing, this volume casts a rare light on an often ignored dimension of spying: the essential role of truth and how it is defined in an intelligence context. This book offers some insights into the workings of the intelligence community and aims to provide the first comprehensive and unifying analysis of the relevant moral, legal and social questions, with a view toward developing policy that may influence real-world decision making. The contributors analyse the ethics of spying across a broad canvas – historical, philosophical, moral and cultural – with chapters covering interrogation and torture, intelligence’s relation to war, remote killing, cyber surveillance, responsibility and governance. In the wake of the phenomena of WikiLeaks and the Edward Snowden revelations, the intelligence community has entered an unprecedented period of broad public scrutiny and scepticism, making this volume a timely contribution. This book will be of much interest to students of ethics, intelligence studies, security studies, foreign policy and IR in general. (shrink)

The question of whether new rules or regulations are required to govern, restrict, or even prohibit the use of autonomous weapon systems has been the subject of debate for the better part of a decade. Despite the claims of advocacy groups, the way ahead remains unclear since the international community has yet to agree on a specific definition of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems and the great powers have largely refused to support an effective ban. In this vacuum, the public has (...) been presented with a heavily one-sided view of Killer Robots. This interdisciplinary volume presents a more nuanced approach to autonomous weapon systems that recognizes the need to progress beyond a discourse framed by the Terminator and HAL 9000. Re-shaping the discussion around this emerging military innovation requires a new line of thought and a willingness to challenge the orthodoxy. Lethal Autonomous Weapons focuses on exploring the moral and legal issues associated with the design, development and deployment of lethal autonomous weapons. The volume brings together some of the most prominent academics and academic-practitioners in the lethal autonomous weapons space and seeks to return some balance to the debate. As part of this effort, it recognizes that society needs to invest in hard conversations that tackle the ethics, morality, and law of these new digital technologies and understand the human role in their creation and operation. (shrink)

Does there exist any equivalence between the notions of inconsistency and consequence in paraconsistent logics as is present in the classical two valued logic? This is the key issue of this paper. Starting with a language where negation ( ${\neg}$ ) is the only connective, two sets of axioms for consequence and inconsistency of paraconsistent logics are presented. During this study two points have come out. The first one is that the notion of inconsistency of paraconsistent logics turns out to (...) be a formula-dependent notion and the second one is that the characterization (i.e. equivalence) appears to be pertinent to a class of paraconsistent logics which have double negation property. (shrink)

This article examines representations of Mermaids, a charity that supports trans young people and their families, in the British press. Using corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis, we identify and chart patterns in reporting between Mermaids’ inception as a charity in 2015, and 2022, a turbulent year for both the charity and trans people in the UK more generally. The findings show that, in the early years, there is relatively little attention to Mermaids in the press. Where they are mentioned, the charity (...) is represented as a useful source of advice and support, and their service users as happy and united. However, 2018 represents a turning point, with increasingly negative and misleading portrayals of Mermaids coinciding with a rise in public interest and funding. By 2019, media interest in the charity has surged and the impression of Mermaids as a support group for families is supplanted by the image of a powerful, dangerous and controversial organisation. We argue that the increasingly excessive, negative and polarised reporting around Mermaids is a strategy for indirectly delegitimising and attacking the lives of trans young people themselves. In a burgeoning culture war, Mermaids is used as a weapon against the very people they seek to support. (shrink)