Statements are always under the threat of the potential counter-question How do you know? To pre-empt this question, language users often indicate what kind of access they had to the communicated content: Their own perception, inference from other information, 'hearsay', etc. Such expressions, grammatical or lexical, have been studied in recent years under the cover term of evidentiality research. The present volume contributes 11 new studies to this flourishing field, all exploring evidential phenomena in a range of languages (Dutch, Estonian, (...) Finnish, French, German, Khalkha Mongolian, Spanish, Tibetan, Yurakaré), using a variety of methodologies. Evidential meaning is discussed in relation to other semantic dimensions, such as epistemic modality, semantic roles, commitment, quotative meaning, and tense. The volume is of interest to scholars and students who are interested in up-to-date methods and frameworks for studying evidential meaning and the various ways it is expressed in the languages of the world. (shrink)

Background Speech understanding may rely not only on auditory, but also on visual information. Non-invasive functional neuroimaging techniques can expose the neural processes underlying the integration of multisensory processes required for speech understanding in humans. Nevertheless, noise (from fMRI) limits the usefulness in auditory experiments, and electromagnetic artefacts caused by electronic implants worn by subjects can severely distort the scans (EEG, fMRI). Therefore, we assessed audio-visual activation of temporal cortex with a silent, optical neuroimaging technique: functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Methods (...) We studied temporal cortical activation as represented by concentration changes of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin in four, easy-to-apply fNIRS optical channels of 33 normal-hearing adult subjects and 5 post-lingually deaf cochlear implant (CI) users in response to supra-threshold unisensory auditory and visual, as well as to congruent auditory-visual speech stimuli. Results Activation effects were not visible from single fNIRS channels. However, by discounting physiological noise through reference channel subtraction, auditory, visual and audiovisual speech stimuli evoked concentration changes for all sensory modalities in both cohorts (p<0.001). Auditory stimulation evoked larger concentration changes than visual stimuli (p<0.001). A saturation effect was observed for the audiovisual condition. Conclusions Physiological, systemic noise can be removed from fNIRS signals by reference channel subtraction. The observed multisensory enhancement of an auditory cortical channel can be plausibly described by a simple addition of the auditory and visual signals with saturation. (shrink)

This chapter is concerned with the question to what extent free word order phenomena are regulated by information-structural constraints. Progress on this question must combine detailed empirical study with bold theoretical work that aims to test restrictive hypotheses about available syntactic operations, available IS-primitives, and their mapping. The present chapter evaluates four cross-cutting word order generalizations on the basis of a rough classification of syntactic operations and IS-primitives. Operations will be divided into those that are A-related, those that are A′-related, (...) those that involve doubling with a pronoun or clitic, and finally those that involve extraposition, and it is assumed that IS-primitives are restricted to topic, focus, contrast, and givenness. Some discussion is offered of how the four generalizations identified here might emerge as effects of deeper properties of the language faculty or human psychology. (shrink)

BackgroundAcrophobia is a specific phobia characterized by a severe fear of heights. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of two therapies that may ameliorate symptoms of acrophobia and anxiety sensitivity, i.e., virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy with a Waiting List Control Condition (WLCC).MethodsWe applied a three-armed randomized controlled pre-post-test design with 45 female adolescent students. Students who met DSM-5 criteria for acrophobia were randomly assigned to either VRET (...) (N = 15;Mage = 17.26; SD = 1.32), EMDR (N = 15;Mage = 17.15; SD = 1.57), or a WLCC (N = 15;Mage = 17.50; SD = 1.26). The study groups were evaluated one week before the intervention and one week after the last intervention session regarding symptoms of acrophobia (Severity Measure for Acrophobia) and anxiety sensitivity (Anxiety Sensitivity Index).ResultsThe data showed that both the application of VRET and EMDR therapy were associated with significantly reduced symptoms of acrophobia (d = 1.03 for VRET and d = 1.08 for EMDR) and anxiety sensitivity (d = 1.15 for VRET and d = 1.13 for EMDR) in comparison to the Waiting List.LimitationsThe sample consisted only of adolescent women. Due to the recognizable differences between the two interventions, the therapists and the participants were not blind to the conditions.ConclusionThe results suggest that both VRET and EMDR are interventions that can significantly improve symptoms of acrophobia and anxiety sensitivity in female adolescents.Clinical Trial Registrationhttps://www.irct.ir/trial/57391, identifier: IRCT20210213050343N1. (shrink)

Cet article tente de montrer que la révolution qui s’est produite en Égypte était porteuse d’un projet politique libéral-démocrate. Les groupes révolutionnaires et les opposants au régime de Moubarak ont réussi à mobiliser des couches sociales substantielles en 2011 en demandant le respect des droits humains de base et la représentation de la volonté du peuple. La forte présence d’ouvriers mécontents, de classes moyennes appauvries et de populations urbaines défavorisées dans le mouvement de protestation n’a jamais débouché sur un projet (...) politique visant un changement économique et social. Leurs revendications sont restées figées dans une économie morale nassériste où les revendications économiques et sociales sont en grande partie apolitiques et totalement dissociées de la démocratisation des relations entre la société et l’État. L’absence de projet de changement socio-politique a privé le processus révolutionnaire d’une large et solide coalition sociale. (shrink)

Malebranche's conception of imagination is often thought to be entirely contained in Book II of La Recherche de la vérité, which aims at destroying the beliefs and false theories resulting from the untempered use of that faculty. And yet Malebranche shows, in Book VI of the same work, that imagination has an essential function in the construction of science, particularly when it comes to producing geometrical models for phenomena; and it is, from the point of view of cognition, a singular (...) cunning of reason which associates the presence of corporeal affects in the mind, and ideas, which enlighten it without touching it. This conception rests upon unacknowledged quotations from the Regulae ad directionem ingenii, which Malebranche must have had at hand while working on the Recherche. At stake is, for us, the precise understanding of the relation between mathematics and imagination, first in the Regulae and then in the Recherche, in the general context of the project of a universal science or mathesis universalis. (shrink)

In the last section of his Introduction to the Human Sciences Dilthey claims that from its very beginnings western metaphysics has been oriented towards a panlogistic goal that received its most adequate formulation in Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason. According to Dilthey, this principle leaves little or no room for the sovereignity of the will and the personal freedom that man finds within his self-consciousness and lived experiences. In this paper we argue that Dilthey gives a rather one-sided and somewhat (...) distorted view not only of the goal of modern metaphysics, but also of the essence of human freedom. As a matter of fact the great metaphysicians of the 17th and 18th centuries considered the solution of the problem of human freedom the cornerstone of all metaphysics. However, unlike Dilthey, they sought to understand human freedom within the conceptual framework of grounds and reasons, thereby giving these notions a depth and a differentiation that are completely overlooked by Dilthey. (shrink)

An examination of British and French weights exchanged between the Royal Society and the Académie royale des sciences in the 1730s has led to a re‐assessment of the Elizabethan troy standards from the Exchequer and the suggestion that the mass of the troy pound has been revised upwards. In turn this is used to support the idea of an evolutionary relationship between the early bullion ounces of England, France, and the Low Countries.

In this paper I analyse two closely related examples of duality and of emergence of gravity, namely AdS/CFT and Verlinde's scheme. Based on the notion of duality introduced in Dieks et al., I here elaborate on the conditions necessary for AdS/CFT to be a duality, in particular the condition of completeness. I also address what is usually seen as a desideratum for any candidate theory of quantum gravity: the background-independence of the theory and the diffeomorphism invariance of the observables. Then (...) I discuss Verlinde's scheme and the extent to which it gives a clear case of emergence of gravity. Finally, I give a novel derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy formula based on Verlinde's scheme. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 10, October 2020, Page 34-36.

PurposeThe relation between fear of childbirth and gestational age is inconclusive, and self-reported need for help regarding this fear has never been investigated. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and course of FoC according to gestational age, to identify risk factors for the development of FoC, the influence of this fear on preferred mode of delivery, and self-reported need for help.MethodsNulliparous pregnant women of all gestational ages completed an online survey. The study consisted of a cross-sectional and a longitudinal (...) analysis. Women who completed the survey in the first or second trimester were approached again in their third trimester. The Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire Version A was used with a cut-off score ≥ 85 to define presence of fear of childbirth. Questionnaires indexing social support, anxiety, symptoms of depression, preferred mode of delivery, and self-reported need for help were included.ResultsIn total, 364 women were enrolled at T0, and 118 out of 184 eligible women were included in the longitudinal analysis. Point prevalence of FoC at T0 was 18.4% with no significant difference between trimesters. In the longitudinal sample, the prevalence of FoC decreased from 18.6% to 11.0%, p = 0.004. Although mean scores for FoC decreased significantly, p < 0.001, scores increased in 41 women. The presence of FoC was associated with elevated anxiety, less family support, prenatal care of the obstetrician by choice, preference for a cesarean section, and for pain relief. Women with FoC were more likely to actively seek for help compared to women without FoC.ConclusionWhile FoC is common in each trimester, prevalence decreases over the course of pregnancy. Women with FoC are often actively seeking for help, suggesting that this fear should be addressed better, and help should be offered accordingly. (shrink)

Agamben’s thought gives us an interesting set of tools and references to critically analyse the logic of sovereignty haunting even the best intentions of Western biopolitics. As an alternative to the inherently disastrous logic of inclusive exclusion, he puts forward a strong vitalist, ontological way of thinking. This paper is an enquiry into whether that alternative is really valid. As far as his publications allow, the answer to this question must be negative. A careful reading of the passages on language (...) in both Homo Sacer I and III, is illuminating in this regard. This is because the passages on language in which Agamben develops his alternative logic do not overcome the logic of sovereignty denounced in the usual – representationalist – way of thinking the biopolitical. Those passages give no adequate answer to the representationalist way of treating the same problems, saying that the logic of sovereignty – of inclusive exclusion – is the logic we have to deal with even to find solutions for the disaster that logic has provoked and is still able to provoke. (shrink)