In order to achieve flexible and smooth walking, we must accomplish subtasks (e.g., loading response, forward propulsion or swing initiation) within a gait cycle. To evaluate subtasks within a gait cycle, the analysis of muscle synergies may be effective. In the case of walking, extracted sets of muscle synergies characterize muscle patterns that relate to the subtasks within a gait cycle. Although previous studies have reported that the muscle synergies of individuals with disorders reflect impairments, a way to investigate the (...) instability in the activations of muscle synergies themselves has not been proposed. Thus, we investigated the local dynamic stability and orbital stability of activations of muscle synergies across various walking speeds using maximum Lyapunov exponents and maximum Floquet multipliers. We revealed that the local dynamic stability in the activations decreased with accelerated walking speeds. Contrary to the local dynamic stability, the orbital stability of the activations was almost constant across walking speeds. In addition, the increasing rates of maximum Lyapunov exponents were different among the muscle synergies. Therefore, the local dynamic stability in the activations might depend on the requirement of motor output related to the subtasks within a gait cycle. We concluded that the local dynamic stability in the activation of muscle synergies decrease as walking speed accelerates. On the other hand, the orbital stability is sustained across broad walking speeds. (shrink)

We propose a general framework for dynamic epistemic logics. It consists of a generic language for DELs and a class of structures, called model transition systems, that describe model transformations in a static way. An MTS can be viewed as a two-layered Kripke model and consequently inherits standard concepts such as bisimulation and bounded morphism from the ordinary Kripke models. In the second half of this article we add the global operator to the language, which enables us to define the (...) notions of a canonical MTS and canonicity of a DEL formula for a property of MTSs. Using these notions, we clarify correspondences between axioms of DELs and properties of MTSs. (shrink)

Honey bees are eusocial insects and the workers inform their nestmates of information regarding the location of food source using symbolic communication, called ‘dance communication’, that are based on their highly advanced learning abilities. Mushroom bodies (MBs), a higher-order center in the honey bee brain, comprise some subtypes/populations of interneurons termed Kenyon cells (KCs) that are distinguished by their cell body size and location in the MBs, as well as their gene expression profiles. Although the role of MBs in learning (...) ability has been studied extensively in the honey bee, the roles of each KC subtype and their evolution in hymenopteran insects remain mostly unknown. This mini-review describes recent progress in the analysis of gene/protein expression profiles and possible functions of KC subtypes/populations in the honey bee. Especially, the discovery of novel KC subtype/population, ‘middle-type KCs’ and ‘KC population expressing FoxP’, necessitated a redefinition of the KC subtype/population. Analysis of the effects of inhibiting gene function in a KC subtype-preferential manner revealed the function of the gene product as well as of the subtype where it is expressed. Genes expressed in a KC subtype/population-preferential manner can be used to trace the differentiation of KC subtypes during the honey bee ontogeny and the possible evolution of KC subtypes in hymenopteran insects. Current findings suggest that the three KC subtypes are unique characteristics to the aculeate hymenopteran insects. Finally, recent application of genome editing for the study of KC subtype functions in the honey bee is described. Genes expressed in a KC subtype-preferential manner can be good candidate target genes for genome editing, because they are likely related to highly advanced brain functions and some of them are dispensable for normal development and sexual maturation in honey bees. (shrink)

The tenascins are a growing family of extracellular matrix proteins of typical multidomain structure. The prototype to be discovered was tenascin‐C. It shows a highly regulated expression pattern during embryonic development and is often transiently associated with morphogenetic tissue interactions during organogenesis. In the adult organism reexpression of tenascin‐C occurs in tumors and many other pathological conditions. Tenascin‐C expression can be regulated by many different growth factors and hormones. Furthermore, mechanical strain exerted by fibroblasts seems to induce the expression of (...) tenascin‐C. This could represent a mechanism of translating mechanical forces into protein patterns, a step of potential relevance in the organization of embryogenesis. Tenascin‐C as well as tenascin‐R are believed to counteract the cell adhesion and spreading activity of fibronectin, thereby facilitating cell movement. (shrink)

A decrease in cortical excitability tends to be easily followed by an increase induced by external stimuli via a mechanism aimed at restoring it; this phenomenon is called “homeostatic plasticity.” In recent years, although intervention methods aimed at promoting motor learning using this phenomenon have been studied, an optimal intervention method has not been established. In the present study, we examined whether subsequent motor learning can be promoted further by a repetitive passive movement, which reduces the excitability of the primary (...) motor cortex before motor learning tasks. We also examined the relationship between motor learning and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Forty healthy subjects participated. Subjects were divided into two groups of 20 individuals each. The first group was assigned to perform the motor learning task after an intervention consisting in the passive adduction–abduction movement of the right index finger at 5 Hz for 10 min, while the second group was assigned to perform the task without the passive movement. The motor learning task consisted in the visual tracking of the right index finger. The results showed that the corticospinal excitability was transiently reduced after the passive movement in the RPM condition, whereas it was increased to the level detected in the control condition after the motor learning task. Furthermore, the motor learning ability was decreased immediately after the passive movement; however, the motor performance finally improved to the level observed in the control condition. In individuals carrying the Val/Val genotype, higher motor learning was also found to be related to the more remarkable changes in corticospinal excitability caused by the RPM condition. This study revealed that the implementation of a passive movement before a motor learning tasks did not affect M1 excitatory changes and motor learning efficiency; in contrast, in subjects carrying the Val/Val polymorphism, the more significant excitatory changes in the M1 induced by the passive movement and motor learning task led to the improvement of motor learning efficiency. Our results also suggest that homeostatic plasticity occurring in the M1 is involved in this improvement. (shrink)

Parmi les découvertes notables du site d’Hagios Vassileios, à l’Ouest de la cité antique de Thasos, figure la base d’un ambon appartenant à la plus septentrionale des deux basiliques protobyzantines mises au jour. Dans un état précédent, le bloc était mis en oeuvre dans un monument funéraire inscrit : cinq noms, trois d’hommes et deux de femmes, étaient gravés sur sa face antérieure. Ces noms apparaissent dans d’autres inscriptions thasiennes d’époque impériale : tous appartiennent à une famille importante, où les (...) noms d’Hérodès fils de Samos et de Samos fils d’Hérodès paraissent avoir alterné d’une génération à l’autre. La confrontation de ces textes permet une reconstitution du stemma de la famille, ainsi que l’étude de son insertion dans les sphères supérieures de la société thasienne. (shrink)

L ’habitat de Krisa, fouillé en 1935‑36, a livré d’importants vestiges de l’âge du Bronze. Le réexamen du site et du mobilier a pour but de revoir l’accessibilité de l’éperon rocheux, de redater les dépôts céramiques découverts dans les bâtiments et les tombes au sein de l’habitat, ainsi que de mettre à jour nos connaissances sur le corpus céramique. On démontre, entre autres, que la porte ouverte dans le mur de fortification se trouve plus à l’Est que l’emplacement indiqué jusqu’alors. (...) De plus, la phase HR I de l’habitat était plus importante que ce qui avait été supposé, alors que la phase HR II A demeure difficile à identifier. Par ailleurs, on souligne la présence récurrente de vases à boire et vaisselle de table dans le corpus céramique mycénienne. Enfin, on soutient que la majeure partie des céramiques à peinture mate et mycénienne examinées a certainement été produite régionalement. (shrink)

Scientists in anthropology, geography, and other fields within social sciences and humanities have long suggested that the environments in which people live deeply influence their cultural value systems and practices. Shota Shibasaki, Ryosuke Nakadai, and Yo Nakawake have built on this idea, demonstrating that local ecological characteristics shape the appearance of trickster animals in folklore. Based on their finding and the SM3D (Serendipity-Mindsponge-3D) knowledge management framework, we discuss how the individuals’ or groups’ ability to create cultural products depends on (...) the availability and accessibility of information from the surrounding environment. Due to biodiversity loss and climate change, such valuable resources for cultural creativity have been diminished. Thus, it is crucial to adopt biodiversity preservation and climate action as fundamental values of a progressive and humane culture. Only then can we continue to preserve and enhance the creative cultural capacity of society. (shrink)

As its title suggests, this anthology is a collection of papers presented at a conference on feelings and emotions held in Amsterdam in 2001. One of the symposium’s main goals was to draw some of the most prominent researchers in emotion research together and provide a multi-disciplinary ‘snap shot’ of the state of the art at the turn of the century. In that respect it is truly a cognitive science success story. There are articles from a wide range of fields, (...) encompassing, e.g., philosophy, neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. Another.. (shrink)

From the beginning, Augustine's "Confessions" presents itself as a dialogue with God. Taking a cue from Ludwig Feuerbach’s "The Essence of Christianity [Das Wesen des Christentums]," this dialogue can easily be dismissed as a projection of the self. This would imply that the divine otherness is nothing more than a mirror of one’s own fears and preferences. “Does this critique,” I asked myself in this piece, “really do justice to a position like that of Augustine?” For a long time, I (...) did not know how to approach what I had — provisionally — called Augustine’s dialogue with God. It appeared to me that Augustine, in an accidental and indirect way, had re-invented the Platonic dialogue and had turned it into a new Christian genre. “It is true,” I told myself, “that the genre of the Confessions shows family resemblances with the hagiography and the autobiography. But most certainly it cannot be reduced to these genres.” The Greek words ‘hagios’ (holy) and ‘autos’ (self) are in flagrant contradiction with the intention of the Confessions. Augustine tries to stay clear of any claim of holiness and only highlights his own ‘self’ to immediately question it. “Is the Platonic dialogue,” I asked myself, “not a far more appropriate predecessor for Augustine’s dialogue with God?” Both types of dialogues can be seen as true dia logoi in which at least two different voices emerge. However, contrary to what one would expect, it is not the dialogue form itself that frames these two voices. Instead the two voices emerge within the discourse of a single speaker, incorporating true otherness within the discourse of the self. Building on these reflections, I explore how Augustine's dialogue with God succeeds in eluding Feuerbach's charge of self-projection. (shrink)

An undiscovered chapter in the history of architecture comes from the ex-Soviet Republic of Georgia. Poetics of Architecture is the name given to the studioworkshop at the Georgian Technical University set up by the Georgian architect Shota Bostanashvili (1948–2013). From 1990 until his death he delivered insightful, playful and rather provocative lectures on architecture at this university. He preferred to call his architectural philosophy, critical discourse on architecture. Themes ranged from poetics to metapoetics of architecture. His philosophy of architecture (...) is illustrated by some of his designs and executed projects which demonstrate a drift from existentialism to the philosophy of play. This study includes reference to his last building, a project whose demolition Bostanashvili witnessed before passing away. Based on the concept of the return of the sacred, this edifice was a sort of counter movement to technogenic architecture. (shrink)

This article explores Muslim conversion to Christianity using a body of hagio-graphical sources in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Greek, and Latin. Through these lives of Christian martyrs, the article seeks to understand why Muslims undertook the surprising journey from “mosque to church” in the early centuries after the conquests. Many studies of Islamization are teleological, aiming to explain the large-scale conversion of the Middle East by the end of the Crusades. In contrast, this article aims to show why Islamization—especially in (...) the Umayyad and early ʿAbbāsid periods—could be highly contingent, even fragile, at a time when Muslims formed a numerical minority in many regions under their control. (shrink)

The opinion according to which Thomas Aquinas was the original owner of ms. Vat. lat. 718 has proved wrong and cannot serve anymore for dating the codex before Thomas’ departure to Italy . The Parisian tradition of De progressu animalium and De motu animalium integrated Moerbeke’s two translations not only into the Aristotelian Corpus recentius of zoological treatises, but also into the corpora recentiora of the parua. It is probable that De historia animalium was augmented with Book X in a (...) secondary stage of its circulation. As far as the university tradition of De motibus animalium et aliorum paruorum is concerned, not all questions regarding three successive exemplaria, and more precisely those of the exact contents, composition and number of peciae are definitively resolvable for the moment. R.-A. Gauthier’s position regarding the composition of the exemplar of the psychological parua in Np3 must be corrected after new examination of the manuscript witnesses . Several Italian witnesses do not depend on the university text, but regularly attest to the existence of independent traditions. Moerbeke’s Greek codex used in his first version of the Latin translation has some similarities with the Greek codex used by the Anonymous whose translation became the basis of Albert the Great’s De principiis motus processivi. This latter Greek codex is not preserved, but it had some striking similarities with ms. Firenze Laur. LXXXVII.21, which originated in the monastery of Hagios Nikalaos in Casole near Otranto. Moerbeke’s Greek model was certainly not identical with that used by the Anonymous and was, indeed, obviously better. (shrink)