This paper presents a new argument to defend the normativity of meaning, specifically the thesis that there are no meanings without norms. The argument starts from the observation inferentialists have emphasized that incompatibility relations between sentences are a necessary part of meaning as it is understood. We motivate this approach by showing that the standard normativist strategy in the literature, which is developed in terms of veridical reference that may swing free from the speaker’s understanding, violates the ought-implies-can principle, but (...) ours does not. In addition, our approach is superior because, unlike the representationalist approach, it can be extended from declarative sentences to non-representational uses of language. In this paper, however, we only formulate the argument for the base case that involves incompatibility relations between declarative sentences. The goal is not to derive norms from something that is not normative, but to explicate the distinctive type of normativity that is built into meaning as it is understood by language-users. The explication proceeds in two steps. (1) For any sentence s a speaker understands, there is an incompatible sentence s’ the speaker understands to be incompatible with s. (2) In virtue of understanding this incompatibility of meanings, she ought not to be committed to both s and s’. This prohibition is not derived from instrumental practical reason, nor is it based on representational correctness, but its source is the incompatibility of meanings. (shrink)

For genetic algorithms, it is important to maintain the population diversity. Some genetic algorithms have been proposed, which have an ability to control the diversity. But these algorithms use the distance between two individuals to control the diversity. Therefore, these performances become worse on ill-scaled functions. In this paper, we propose a new genetic algorithm, DIDC(a genetic algorithm with Distance Independent Diversity Control), that does not use a distance to control the population diversity. For controlling the diversity, DIDC uses two (...) GAs that have different natures. For realizing different natures, one GA uses a crossover operator as a search operator, and the other GA uses a mutation operator in DIDC. By applying DIDC to several benchmark problems, we show that DIDC has a good performance on high dimensional, multimodal, non-separable and ill-scaled problems. Finally, we show that the control parameter of DIDC has the same effect on the search with the number of generating children n c. (shrink)

In this paper, we present a version of Fraïssé theory for categories of metric structures. Using this version, we show that every UHF algebra can be recognized as a Fraïssé limit of a class of C*-algebras of matrix-valued continuous functions on cubes with distinguished traces. We also give an alternative proof of the fact that the Jiang–Su algebra is the unique simple monotracial C*-algebra among all the inductive limits of prime dimension drop algebras.

Motivated by semantic inferentialism and logical expressivism proposed by Robert Brandom, in this paper, I submit a nonmonotonic modal relevant sequent calculus equipped with special operators, □ and R. The base level of this calculus consists of two different types of atomic axioms: material and relevant. The material base contains, along with all the flat atomic sequents (e.g., Γ0, p |~0 p), some non-flat, defeasible atomic sequents (e.g., Γ0, p |~0 q); whereas the relevant base consists of the local region (...) of such a material base that is sensitive to relevance. The rules of the calculus uniquely and conservatively extend these two types of nonmonotonic bases into logically complex material/relevant consequence relations and incoherence properties, while preserving Containment in the material base and Reflexivity in the relevant base. The material extension is supra-intuitionistic, whereas the relevant extension is stronger than a logic slightly weaker than R. The relevant extension also avoids the fallacies of relevance. Although the extended material consequence relation is defeasible and insensitive to relevance, it has local regions of indefeasibility and relevance (the latter of which is marked by the relevant extension). The newly introduced operators, □ and R, codify these local regions within the same extended material consequence relation. (shrink)

BackgroundMany genetic counseling studies have focused on anxiety status because clients of GC often feel anxious during their visits. Metacognition is known to be one of the causes of having an inappropriate thinking style. In this study, we examined the relationship between anxiety and the metacognitive status of GC clients according to their characteristics.MethodsThe participants were 106 clients who attended their first GC session in our hospital from November 2018 to March 2021. The survey items were the clients’ characteristics, anxiety (...) status at the time of the visit, and metacognitive status.ResultsHigh state anxiety and high trait anxiety were observed in 34.9 and 11.3% of clients, respectively. Clients who were a relative or had a family history were significantly more likely to have high state anxiety. As for metacognitive status, only negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger were associated with having an anxiety status. Furthermore, multivariate analysis showed that negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger were an independent determinant of higher state anxiety, but not being a relative or having a family history. Metacognitive status scores were significantly lower in clients than in the control group.ConclusionState anxiety was shown to be more dependent on negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger of GC clients than their characteristics such as being a relative or having a family history. The results of this study will contribute to the development of new GC psychosocial support measures to address the anxiety of GC clients. (shrink)

There are different ways of defining science, but I should like to examine it primarily as one of the forms of mental labor. In this connection it is appropriate to recall Marx's words: "A distinction must be made between universal labor and cooperative labor. Each plays its own role in the process of production. They overlap, but there is also a distinction between them. Every scientific work, every discovery, every invention is universal labor. It is made possible partly by cooperation (...) among contemporaries and partly by making use of the work of those who have gone before. Joint labor presumes direct cooperation among individuals." What is subsumed here under "cooperative labor," according to Marx, is "directly associated labor," which, to put it in other terms, is "direct labor.". (shrink)

I present a sequent calculus that extends a nonmonotonic reflexive consequence relation as defined over an atomic first-order language without variables to one defined over a logically complex first-order language. The extension preserves reflexivity, is conservative (therefore nonmonotonic) and supraintuitionistic, and is conducted in a way that lets us codify, within the logically extended object language, important features of the base thus extended. In other words, the logical operators in this calculus play what Brandom (2008) calls expressive roles. Expressivist logical (...) systems have already been proposed for propositional logics (see Hlobil, 2016, and Kaplan, 2018) but not for first-order logics. An advantage of this calculus over standard first-order calculi (e.g., those in Gentzen, 1935/1964) is that universally quantified variables behave as they should even in the presence of arbitrary nonlogical axioms. I claim that because of this robust well-behavedness of variables, this calculus also provides logical inferentialists with a way to understand the meanings of variables in terms of the roles those variables play in a wide range of inferences that is not limited to purely logical ones (e.g, mathematical inferences). (shrink)

This article presents research on robot therapy for elderly residents in a care house. Experiments were conducted from June 2005, lasting more than 2 months. Two therapeutic baby seal robots were introduced to the residents, and activated for over 9 hours daily. To investigate the psychological and social effects of the robots, the residents’ activities in public areas were recorded using video cameras, during the daytime for over 2 months. In addition, urinalysis of the residents was performed for 17-ketosteroid sulfate (...) and 17-hydroxycorticosteroid. Results of the video analysis indicated that social interaction increased through interaction with the seal robots. Results of the urine tests showed that the reactions of the subjects’ vital organs to stress improved after the introduction of the robots. (shrink)

Mutations in growth factor receptor signaling pathways are common in cancer cells, including the highly lethal brain tumor glioblastoma (GBM) where they drive tumor growth through mechanisms including altering the uptake and utilization of nutrients. However, the impact of changes in micro‐environmental nutrient levels on oncogenic signaling, tumor growth, and drug resistance is not well understood. We recently tested the hypothesis that external nutrients promote GBM growth and treatment resistance by maintaining the activity of mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 2 (...) (mTORC2), a critical intermediate of growth factor receptor signaling, suggesting that altered cellular metabolism is not only a consequence of oncogenic signaling, but also potentially an important determinant of its activity. Here, we describe the studies that corroborate the hypothesis and propose others that derive from them. Notably, this line of reasoning raises the possibility that systemic metabolism may contribute to responsiveness to targeted cancer therapies. (shrink)

Unter dem Titel Feuerbach und der Judaismus wird mit dieser Publikation ein neues Kapitel in der Feuerbachforschung aufgeschlagen, da erstmalig Feuerbachs Stellung zum Judaismus, aber auch sein Einfluß auf die deutsch-jüdische Philosophie ...

Introduction: Physical distancing under the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic had a significant impact on lifestyles, including exercise routines. In this study, we examined the relationship between mental health and addictive behaviors, such as excessive exercise and the use of image and performance enhancing drugs across 12 sport disciplines.Materials and methods: A large cross-sectional sample of the adult population was surveyed. The mean age was 33.09. The number of male participants was 668. The use of IPEDs was assessed in conjunction with (...) psychometric measures such as the Exercise Addiction Inventory and the Appearance Anxiety Inventory. The participants were grouped into activity group and non-activity group according to the presence or absence of their exercise habits. The results were compared between these groups, as well as across sport disciplines, while taking into account the relationship between different psychological measures and IPEDs consumption.Results: The frequency of IPEDs use was higher among AG than NAG, although AG participants reported less history of addictions than NAG. The logistic regression analysis revealed that scores equal to or above cutoff points, in both the EAI and AAI, predicted the IPEDs use. Regarding the differences across the various sport disciplines, those who were involved in practicing Weight Lifting and Cross Fit were found to be more at risk of excessive exercising and more inclined to use a wide range of IPEDs.Conclusions: Although exercise could help to increase well-being and prevent addictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, our results show that those in the AG are particularly vulnerable to excessive IPEDs use. Sport disciplines associated with higher EAI and AAI scores have also shown a higher tendency to excessive IPEDs use. Furthermore, the factor of having above the cutoff scores in EAI or AAI in each sport could indicate larger IPEDs consumption regardless of the discipline. In light of the current findings, it is necessary to better define the “non-excessive” levels of exercise in various sport disciplines and an adequate intake of IPEDs to ensure the safety and well-being of people during a pandemic. (shrink)

The atomic structure of a ‡ = 3, [110]/{112} grain boundary in a yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia bicrystal has been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy . It was found that the grain boundary migrated to form periodic facets, although the bicrystal was initially joined so as to have the symmetric boundary plane of {112}. The faceted boundary planes were indexed as {111}/{115}. The structure of the {111}/{115} grain boundary was composed of an alternate array of two types of structure unit: (...) {112}- and {111}-type structure units. HRTEM observations combined with lattice statics calculations verified that both crystals were relatively shifted by [110] along the rotation axis to form a stable grain-boundary structure. A weak-beam dark-field image revealed that there was a periodic array of dislocations along the grain boundary. The grain-boundary dislocations were considered to be introduced by the slight misorientation from the perfect ‡ = 3 orientation. The fact that the periodicity of the facets corresponded to that of the grain-boundary dislocations must indicate that the introduction of the grain-boundary dislocations is closely related to the periodicity of the facets. An atomic flipping model has been proposed for the facet growth from the initial ‡ = 3, {112} grain boundary. (shrink)

1-kan. Geijutsuteki rōdō no shakaigaku -- 2-kan. Geijutsuteki sōzō no riron.