Početkom dvadesetog stoljeća Walter Benjamin ukazao je da s razvojem tehnike reproduciranja dolazi do gubljenja elitističkog statusa autora. S ekspanzijom tiska, filma i fotografije, svakome je, kako ističe, otvorena mogućnost dobivanja uloge u nekom filmu, pisanja nekog teksta koji bi potom bio objavljen u novinama, kreativnog izražavanja putem fotografije. Pojava interneta i novih medija ponovno aktualizira Benjaminovu teoriju. Razvoj cyber svjetova i mogućnost čovjekova kreativnog izražavanja unutar njih, u tekstu su dovedeni u vezu s pitanjem identiteta. Uključivanje čovjeka u cyber (...) prostor shvaćeno je kao otvaranje novih mogućnosti za ostvarenje čovjekovih kreativnih potencijala. U tome smislu, sudjelovanje čovjeka u cyber prostoru, čak i onda kada je usmjereno na stvaranje različitih predodžaba o samome sebi, shvaćeno je kao ostvarivanje čovjeka kao autora, a ne kao proces destabiliziranja čovjekova identiteta.At the beginning of the twentieth century Walter Benjamin pointed out that the development of techniques of reproduction leads to the loss of elite status of author. With the development of the press, film, and photography, as pointed out by Benjamin, everyone has an open possibility to gain a role in a movie, to be the author of a text which would then have been published in newspaper, or to creatively express through photography. Advent of the internet and new media actualized Benjamin’s theory. Development of cyber worlds and the possibility to one to creatively express himself into these worlds, in the text are linked to the question of identity. Inclusion of one in cyber space is understood as opening of new possibilities for the realization of one’s creative potentials. In that regard, the participation of one in cyber space, even when it is focused on creating different ideas about him, is understood as the realization of one as the author, and not as a process of destabilization of human identity. (shrink)

Ako je u antičkom polisu Platona brinulo što se građani samodovoljno oslanjaju na vlastita uvjerenja o vrlinama, ne tragajući za znanjem, današnjeg žitelja globalnog pseudopolisa opčinjavaju simulirane informacije, slike i uvjerenja koja nezamislivim bujanjem kreiraju društvenu svijest. U sjenci masmedijskih pećina uočavaju se obrisi transformirane demokracije koja je sve izloženija silovitim naletima megakorporativnih interesa, dominantnih geopolitičkih utjecaja, kulturnog determinizma i redefiniranog vjerskog fundamentalizma. Usamljenom pojedincu na Agori sve je teže formirati i sačuvati vlastito mišljenje, ideje i vrijednosti. Infoprostor je pokriven (...) globalnom mrežom informacija i podataka, dok čin razmjene simboličkih sadržaja od čovjeka preuzimaju strojevi! Sloboda izražavanja medija je kisik otvorenog, javnog komuniciranja, stup demokratskih građevina, ali problem je u činjenici što čuvari informacijskih ulaza i dalje stražare, ovoga puta pred cyberprostorima.If Plato was upset that people leaned on their own convictions about virtues, without seeking knowledge, present resident of global pseudopolis is obsessed by simulated information, pictures and convictions, which create social consciousness with their hyperproduction. In shadow of massmedia’s caves, contours of transformed democracy can be seen. This democracy is more and more exposed to the interests of megacorporations, dominant geopolitical influence, cultural determinism, and redefined fundamentalism. Under such circumstances, to some lonely individual, “in Athena’s Agora”, is even more difficult to form and keep his or her own opinion, ideas and values. Infospace is covered by global network of information and facts; the process of symbolic exchange is taken off humans by machines. Freedom of speech in media is the air of open, public communication, the pillar of democratic structures, but problem is that watchmen of “information gates” still standing guard, but this time in front of cyber spaces. (shrink)

Not so long ago, a well institutionalized predatory journal exposed itself by publishing a hoax article that blew the whistle for its devastating influence on the academic affairs of a small country. This paper puts that experiment in context, gives all the important details and analyzes the results. The experiment was inspired by well-known cases of scientific activism and is in line with recent efforts against predatory publishers. The paper presents the evidence in detail and uses it to analyze the (...) publishing practices of the offending journal, using established criteria for assessing predatory publications. That journal somehow acquired an impact factor and charged money to publish thousands of “scientific” papers without any peer review. Since the impact factor is the major official evaluation criteria for scientists in Serbia, these papers disturbed the whole academic evaluation process. Credentials acquired by those publications form a strong obstacle to institutionalized reasoned efforts against such practices. This case warns the whole community of the long lasting damage when journals with low publishing ethics are taken seriously. (shrink)

The first part of this paper explores the kinship in diagnosis of contemporaneity of Hugo Ball and Martin Heidegger. Both thinkers recognize leveling as an important trait of their age. In Ball?s terms, leveling is identified with the apocalyptic abolishment of humanity. That happens by equalizing all of human creation, which becomes possible only after the abolishment of the hierarchy of values, thanks to which it was previously possible to distinguish a work of art from an average work. With Heidegger, (...) leveling is equated with the perverted forms of curiosity. Unlike the former forms of curiosity, coupled by the common desire for deeper insight, modern curiosity is fairly superficial, let loose with no boundaries to all the impressions which supersede the expected and already seen. In the second part of the paper, Husserl?s term of passive synthesis is examined, so we can observe the intervention of phenomenology from the perspective of deconstruction of the effects of leveling. I conclude with a warning that we cannot protect ourselves from the world to which we are exposed by natural subjectivity and conventional forms of knowledge. Which insight leads us to revert to the sources of subjectivity, the idea common to both the avant-garde and the phenomenologists. (shrink)

Human nature, regardless of how we perceive it, whether from an ethical or psychological standpoint, is arguably such that it prevents the overwhelming majority of people from killing other humans....

The paper attempts to situate the work of Fyodor Dostoevsky in the tradition of Russian existentialism, and to indicate his influence on the subsequent development of existentialism in its ontological or ethical guise. In fact, Dostoevsky may be seen as the originator of a tradition which will later on influence and be taken up, via Nietzsche and Shestov, by the figures like Emanuel Levinas, Albert Camus or Maurice Blanchot, all explicitly concerned with existentialist questions of debt, guilt or suicide. Dostoevsky's (...) writings are also interpreted in relation to Russian nationalism, and the sense of Russian Messianic election, which at the end of Crime and Punishment coalesce in another destination for Raskolnikov, launching him towards a Messianic future prior to the Abrahamic time and monotheistic sacrificiality. The end of Crime and Punishment imagines another existence for Raskolnikov, before the religious history, or the history tout court, has taken place or time. That time space is akin to something that Jacques Derrida formulated as an advent of an event to-come, a-venir. Dostoevsky is thus, in our interpretation, both a progenitor of the important strains of existentialism, but also a writer returning his hero's existence to an advent of a completely other, time before time, yet to come. (shrink)

The main intention of the work that deals with the Nicolo Machiavelli thought is to point out the obvious paradox between the high political goal and the legitimating of all possible means for its realization. Are evil deeds inevitable in the sphere of politics and under what circumstances the immorality contained in political acts could be transformed into common good? The text asks additional questions such as about the accomplishments of ambitious political projects, the relationship among the ideologist and the (...) representative of political power, the transformations of the means into the ends, the use of violence and indoctrination in political acts, revolutionary and evolutionary political methods, etc. The author claims that political technologies recommended by Machiavelli basically haven't diminished, but have taken on more modern and more adequate forms. Osnovna namera teksta je da prateci misao Nikola Makijavelija ukaze na ociti paradoks izmedju visoko postavljenog cilja i opravdanja svih sredstava da bi se taj cilj realizovao. Da li je cinjenje zla neminovni ulog u sferi politike i pod kojim uslovima se amoralnost sadrzana u politickim cinovima moze transformisati u opste dobro? Tekst postavlja i dodatna pitanja, poput ostvarljivosti ambicioznih politickih projekata, odnosa ideologa i nosioca politicke moci, transformacije sredstava u ciljeve, koriscenja nasilja i indoktrinacije u politickim preokretima, revolucionarne i evolutivne metode politickog postupanja i sl. Autor iznosi zakljucak da politicke tehnologije koje je Makijaveli preporucavao u osnovi nisu iscezle, vec su zadobile samo zadobile modernije i adekvatnije oblike. (shrink)

Dissociation is commonly regarded as a disruption in the normally integrated functions of memory, knowledge, affect, sensation or behavior. The present study utilized behavioral genetics’ methodology to investigate genetic and environmental basis of the relationship between dissociation and Cloninger’s temperament and character traits. A sample of 83 monozygotic and 65 dizygotic twins were administered self-report measures which assessed dissociative experiences along with personality dimensions. Significant correlations and high loads of common genetic variance between dissociative experiences and personality traits of novelty (...) seeking, self-directedness, cooperativeness and self-transcendence were identified. Heritability of dissociative experiences was estimated at 62%. The study shows that there exists a considerable amount of genetic variance overlap between dissociation and personality dimensions. It also supports the hypothesis that propensity to dissociate is highly heritable. (shrink)

Alexander Sokurov’s latest film, Francofonia (2015), produced by the Louvre and filmed in France, takes up the issue of the Louvre in the middle of World War II and the Nazi occupation of Paris. This quasi-documentary, filmed along the lines of Sokurov’s signature documentary “elegies,” also encompasses the history of the Louvre up to the present day. Francofonia follows in the long line of Sokurov’s other films set in museums. Sokurov is an author who has worked more than any other (...) filmmaker to translate paintings into a cinematic medium. While engaging with art history and great museums, however, Sokurov also gives a poignant interpretation of the violence of history that often surrounds great works of art. Thus the museum, in Sokurov’s cinematic interpretation, is both an archive of the most valuable products of civilization, as well as a material monument to the founding cultural and political violence that produced and surrounds it. The overt scrutiny and hypervigilance with which Sokurov films museums affects the very mode of his filming: his camera operates as if it were a museum itself, each film becoming an attempt to save civilization from its own ruination, and from its own blindness. Every frame in Sokurov’s films is thus a freeze-frame, born out of the paralyzing tension between external historical nihilism and the beauty of art. (shrink)

Study in the period of coronavirus disease 2019 lockdown and the effect of different exercise training programs on the quality of life dimension are limited. This randomized control study as a part of which the impact of an 8-week neuromuscular training program on the 90 healthy young individuals’ QoL after COVID-19 lockdown was assessed using a short form of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire comprising of four domains. The intervention group took part in a neuromuscular training program consisting of dynamic neuromuscular stabilization (...) and whole-body vibration training. In contrast, the control group did not participate in any programmed physical activity. From pre- to post-intervention test, the NT group significantly and substantially improved [mean change ] all the QoL domains, physical for 12.78 scores, psychological for 13.12 scores, social relationships for 20.57 scores, and environmental for 24.40 scores. These results suggest that the NT program could enhance QoL in young and healthy participants following COVID-19 lockdown. (shrink)

The postmodernist view, with its emphasis on the nature of discursive practices in constructing subjectivity and reality, has found many applications. This book develops a critically informed psychoanalytic semiotic view derived from Lacan, and applies it to the study of law. It also integrates some of the central concepts of chaos theory in describing how the legal text is constructed and how it may be read. Postmodern feminist analyses focusing on a possible ecriture feminine provide key insights, and the notion (...) of an empowered democracy is offered as a potentially generating milieu for a revolutionary replacement discourse. (shrink)

Recent advances in the neuroscience of episodic memory provide a framework to integrate object relations theory, a psychoanalytic model of mind development, with potential neural mechanisms. Object relations are primordial cognitive-affective units of the mind derived from survival- and safety-level experiences with caretakers during phase-sensitive periods of infancy and toddlerhood. Because these are learning experiences, their neural substrate likely involves memory, here affect-enhanced episodic memory. Inaugural object relations are encoded by the hippocampus-amygdala synaptic plasticity, and systems-consolidated by medial prefrontal cortex (...) (mPFC). Self- and object-mental representations, extracted from these early experiences, are at first dichotomized by contradictory affects evoked by frustrating and rewarding interactions (“partial object relations”). Such affective dichotomization appears to be genetically hardwired the amygdala. Intrinsic propensity of mPFC to form schematic frameworks for episodic memories may pilot non-conscious integration of dichotomized mental representations in neonates and infants. With the emergence of working memory in toddlers, an activated self- and object-representation of a particular valence can be juxtaposed with its memorized opposites creating a balanced cognitive-affective frame (conscious “integration of object relations”). Specific events of object relations are forgotten but nevertheless profoundly influence the mental future of the individual, acting (i) as implicit schema-affect templates that regulate attentional priorities, relevance, and preferential assimilation of new information based on past experience, and (ii) as basic units of experience that are, under normal circumstances, integrated as attractors or “focal points” for interactive self-organization of functional brain networks that underlie the mind. A failure to achieve integrated object relations is predictive of poor adult emotional and social outcomes, including personality disorder. Cognitive, cellular-, and systems-neuroscience of episodic memory appear to support key postulates of object relations theory and help elucidate neural mechanisms of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Derived through the dual prism of psychoanalysis and neuroscience, the gained insights may offer new directions to enhance mental health and improve treatment of multiple forms of psychopathology. (shrink)

The main goal of this work is to present the proof-theoretical and model-theoretical approaches to probabilistic logics which allow reasoning about independence and probabilistic support. We extend the existing formalisms [14] to obtain several variants of probabilistic logics by adding the operators for independence and confirmation to the syntax. We axiomatize these logics, provide corresponding semantics, prove that the axiomatizations are sound and strongly complete, and discuss decidability issues.

Optimization, in general, is regarded as the process of finding optimal values for the variables of a given problem in order to minimize or maximize one or more objective function(s). Brain storm optimization (BSO) algorithm solves a complex optimization problem by mimicking the human idea generating process, in which a group of people solves a problem together. The aim of this paper is to present hybrid BSO algorithm solutions in the past 5 years. This study could be divided into two (...) parts: strategies and applications. In the first part, different strategies for the hybrid BSO algorithms intended to improve the various ability of the original BSO algorithm are displayed. In the second part, the real-world applications in the past five years in optimization, prediction and feature selection processes are presented. (shrink)

When teaching a novel mathematical concept, should we present learners with abstract or concrete examples? In this experiment, we conduct a critical replication and extension of a well‐known study that argued for the general advantage of abstract examples (Kaminski, Sloutsky, & Heckler, 2008a). We demonstrate that theoretically motivated yet minor modifications of the learning design put this argument in question. A key finding from this study is that participants who trained with improved concrete examples performed as well as, or better (...) than, participants who trained with abstract examples. We argue that the previously reported “advantage of abstract examples” manifested not because abstract examples are advantageous in general, but because the concrete condition employed suboptimal examples. (shrink)

We present a propositional and a first-order logic for reasoning about higher-order upper and lower probabilities. We provide sound and complete axiomatizations for the logics and we prove decidability in the propositional case. Furthermore, we show that the introduced logics generalize some existing probability logics.

It is generally claimed that there exist exceptional circumstances when taking human life may be approved and when such actions may be justified on moral grounds. Precise guidelines in the medical field for making such decisions concerning patients who are terminally ill or have irreparable injuries incompatible with a bearable life, are difficult to establish. Recommendations that take the particular logical form of a rule, such as "in dubio pro vita", "when in doubt favour life") have been suggested and in (...) some countries incorporated into legal texts (Germany). We claim here that such a rule is of no value since it is open-ended and always allows for doubt, and a decision to employ measures that would support human life could always be argued to be a valid choice. Preservation of this rule could be encouraged, but giving it the force of law may put physicians at risk, as they may be challenged for choosing to terminate life in otherwise ethically and medically uncontroversial circumstances. (shrink)