The discovery of a novel polypeptide (Islet Amyloid Polypeptide: IAPP) isolated from human and cat islet amyloid and from amyloid of a human insulinoma is reviewed. Structurally, IAPP from the human and cat resembles calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP). The structural similarities between the neuropeptide CGRP and IAPP support the premise that IAPP is hormonal in nature. Our immunohistochemical studies also indicate that normal islet B‐cells of several mammalian species (including man and cat) give strong immunoreactivity with antiserum directed to a (...) synthetic peptide segment of IAPP. The fact that IAPP is deposited as amyloid in the pancreatic islets of type 2 (noninsulin‐dependent) diabetics strongly supports an important but yet unknown link between IAPP and the development of this disease. (shrink)

Hvad er show?--Showets æstetik.--Showets æstetik og kunstens.--Intethedens grimasser.--Det umuliges politik.--Gentagelse.--DeMASKEring.--Opgør med Mallarmé.--Materiale og praksis.

Meanings of living at home on a ventilator Nine adults were interviewed in order to illuminate the meanings of being dependent on a ventilator and living at home. The data were analysed using a phenomenological‐hermeneutic method inspired by the philosophy of Ricoeur. Five main themes emerged through the analysis: experiencing home as a safe and comfortable space from which to reach out, experiencing the body as being frail, brave and resilient, striving to live in the present, surrendering oneself to and (...) trusting others, and experiencing technology as a burden and a relief to the lived body. Meanings of being home on a ventilator were interpreted as maintaining autonomy and persistence in interaction with the ventilator and other human beings and being able to rise above yourself and your personal boundaries in order to live a good life. These meanings indicate that aesthetic and ethical values impact on the lived body. They are bound up with experiencing a vital force and interdependency, bringing safety and courage into daily life. (shrink)

This book contains scholarly contributions to several current debates in the philosophy of medicine and health care regarding the nature of health and health promotion, concepts and measurements of mental illness, phenomenological conceptions of health and illness, allocation of health care resources, criteria for proper medical science, the clinical meeting, and ethical constraints in such a meeting. With one exception, the authors in this book are or have been teachers or graduate students at the interdisciplinary Department of Health and Society (...) (Tema H) at Linköping University, Sweden. While all the texts have a philosophical focus, many other disciplines have influenced the choice of specific perspectives. The university backgrounds of the authors range from medicine, psychology, sociology, and religion to philosophy. What binds the authors together is their deep interest in the theory of medicine and in the pursuit of a philosophy of humanistic medicine and health care. (shrink)

Some fictions deliberately omit all fictional statements about the mental functioning of fictional agents. This presents an interpretive dilemma, as when we read fiction we ought to reconstruct the fictional minds of characters significant to the plot. Fictions that present the reader with an opaque fictional mind resist the general imaginative project prescribed by fiction-making and seem to demand a novel approach to imagining their fictional entities. Such fictional entities demand the reader commit to one of at least two different (...) ways of imagining nothing about a fictional mind, without explicitly authorizing either. One approach has already been described by H. Porter Abbott. Another can be extracted from Simone De Beauvoir, whose ethics of ambiguity is well suited to dealing with fictional entities about which nothing is fixed nor determined. (shrink)

The spatial dynamics of the optical emission from an array of 50 times 50 individual microcavity plasma devices is investigated. The array is operated in argon and argon-neon mixtures close to atmospheric pressure with an ac voltage. The optical emission is analysed with phase and space resolution. It has been found that the emission is not continuous over the entire ac period, but occurs once per half period. Each of the observed emission phases shows a self-pulsing of the discharge, with (...) several bursts of emission of fixed width and repetition rate. The number of emission bursts depends on applied voltage and frequency. Spatially resolved measurements prove that the emission bursts are formed by overlapping emission pulses from single discharge cavities. Intensity differences between positive and negative half-wave can be interpreted through spatially resolved measurements of single discharge cavities. (shrink)

This article focuses on strategic manoeuvring that takes place in Dutch administrative judi- cial decisions. These decisions may be seen as a distinct argumentative activity type. Starting from the char- acteristics that traditionally are per- tinent to this activity type, I will explore how implications of current discussions on the changing task of the administrative judge may be- come manifest in the judge’s strate- gic manoeuvring by means of the presentation of argumentation and the introduction of additional stand- points. The (...) case study of Dutch administrative law serves to demon- strate what consequences changing institutional demands may have for the starting points of the analysis of argumentation in judicial decisions. (shrink)

In 2022, students at North American universities with third-dose COVID-19 vaccine mandates risk disenrolment if unvaccinated. To assess the appropriateness of booster mandates in this age group, we combine empirical risk-benefit assessment and ethical analysis. To prevent one COVID-19 hospitalisation over a 6-month period, we estimate that 31 207–42 836 young adults aged 18–29 years must receive a third mRNA vaccine. Booster mandates in young adults are expected to cause a net harm: per COVID-19 hospitalisation prevented, we anticipate at least (...) 18.5 serious adverse events from mRNA vaccines, including 1.5–4.6 booster-associated myopericarditis cases in males (typically requiring hospitalisation). We also anticipate 1430–4626 cases of grade ≥3 reactogenicity interfering with daily activities (although typically not requiring hospitalisation). University booster mandates are unethical because they: (1) are not based on an updated (Omicron era) stratified risk-benefit assessment for this age group; (2) may result in a net harm to healthy young adults; (3) are not proportionate: expected harms are not outweighed by public health benefits given modest and transient effectiveness of vaccines against transmission; (4) violate the reciprocity principle because serious vaccine-related harms are not reliably compensated due to gaps in vaccine injury schemes; and (5) may result in wider social harms. We consider counterarguments including efforts to increase safety on campus but find these are fraught with limitations and little scientific support. Finally, we discuss the policy relevance of our analysis for primary series COVID-19 vaccine mandates. (shrink)

Home births continue to constitute only a small percentage of all deliveries in the United States, in part because of concerns about their safety. While the literature is decidedly mixed in regard to the degree of risk, there are several studies that report that home birth may at times entail a small absolute increase in perinatal risks in circumstances that cannot always be anticipated prior to the onset of labor. While the definition of “small” will vary between individuals, and publications (...) vary in the level of risk they ascribe to birth at home, studies with the least methodological flaws and with adequate power often cite an excess death rate in the range of one per thousand.Home birth is, in that regard, but one example of patients’ choices and plans that sometimes carry increased risk or include alternatives that individual physicians feel uncomfortable supporting or recommending. Our intention in this opinion piece is not to advocate for or against home birth. Rather, we recognize that home birth is but one example of a patient choice that might differ from what a provider feels is in a woman’s best interests.In this article we will discuss ethical considerations in such circumstances using home birth as an example. We consider in this article how the ethical principles of respect for autonomy and non-maleficence can be balanced using, among other examples, the choice by some for a home birth. We discuss how absolute rather than relative risk should guide individuals’ evaluation of patient choices. We also consider how in some circumstances, the value and safety added by a physician’s participation may outweigh a potentially small increment in absolute risk that might result from a patient’s decision to deliver at home because of a perceived physician endorsement.We recognize, however, that doctors and midwives participating in choices they have not recommended, or may even believe will lead to or increase risk for adverse outcomes, presents dilemmas and raises important questions. When does respect for patient choice and autonomy become support for poor decision making? When is participation not respectful but enabling? Finally we discuss the role and responsibility of organized medicine in making all births as safe as possible. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in (...) the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Social robots serve people as tutors, caretakers, receptionists, companions, and other social agents. People know that the robots are mechanical artifacts, yet they interact with them as if they were actual agents. How is this possible? The proposal here is that people construe social robots not as social agents per se, but as depictions of social agents. They interpret them much as they interpret ventriloquist dummies, hand puppets, virtual assistants, and other interactive depictions of people and animals. Depictions as a (...) class consist of three physical scenes with part-by-part mappings between them: (a) a base scene (the raw physical artifact), (b) the depiction proper (the artifact construed as a depiction), and (c) the scene depicted (the scene people are to imagine). With social robots, evidence shows people form the same three scenes plus mappings: They perceive the raw machinery of a robot, construe it as a depiction of a character, and, using the depiction as a guide, engage in the pretense that they are interacting with the character depicted. With social robots, people also recognize three classes of agents – the characters depicted, the intended recipients of the depictions (those who view or interact with the robots), and the authorities responsible for the robots (the designers, makers, and owners). Construing social robots as depictions, we argue, accounts for many phenomena not covered by alternative models. (shrink)

OBJECTIVES: To study the resuscitation preferences, choice of decision-maker, views on the seeking of patients' wishes and determinants of these of elderly hospital in-patients. DESIGN: Questionnaire administered on admission and prior to discharge. SETTING: Two acute geriatric medicine units (Southampton and Poole). PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and fourteen consecutive consenting mentally competent patients admitted to hospital as emergencies. RESULTS: Resuscitation was wanted by 60%, particularly married and functionally independent patients and those who had not already considered it. Not wanted resuscitation was (...) associated with lack of social contacts. Sixty-seven per cent welcomed enquiry about their preferences and 78% wanted participation in decision, 43% as sole decision-maker. Wishing to choose oneself was associated with not wanting resuscitation, prior knowledge of it, and lack of a spouse. Patients' opinions remained stable during their admission. CONCLUSIONS: Discussion of resuscitation is practical on hospital admission without causing distress and the views expressed endure through the period of hospitalisation. Elderly patients' attitudes depend partly on personal health and social circumstances. This may assist doctors when patients are unable to participate themselves. (shrink)

An interactive process model of the nature of representation intrinsically accounts for multiple emergent properties of consciousness, such as being a contentful experiential flow, from a situated and embodied point of view. A crucial characteristic of this model is that content is an internally related property of interactive process, rather than an externally related property as in all other contemporary models. Externally related content requires an interpreter, yielding the familiar regress of interpreters, along with a host of additional fatal problems. (...) Further properties of consciousness, such as differentiated qualities of experience, including qualia, emerge with conscious reflection. In particular, qualia are not constituents or direct properties of consciousness per se. Assuming that they are so is a common and ultimately disastrous misconstrual of the problems of consciousness. (shrink)

Inhalt: Klaus HAMMACHER: Nachruf auf Dr. Richard Schottky. Edit DÜSING: Johannes Schurr zum Gedenken. TEIL I. Jürgen STOLZENBERG: Fichtes Satz »Ich bin«. Argumentanalytische Überlegungen zu Paragraph 1 der Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre von 1794/95. Kunihiko NAGASAWA: Intellektuelle Anschauung und Dialektik. Sven JÜRGENSEN: Die Unterscheidung der Realität in Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre von 1794. Wilhelm METZ: Fichtes genetische Deduktion von Raum undä Zeit in Differenz zu Kant. Peter ROHS: Über die Zeit als das Mittelglied zwischen dem Intelligiblen und dem Sinnlichen. Daniel BREAZEALE: Philosophy (...) as the Divided Self: On the »Existential« and »Scientific« Tasks of the Jena Wissenschaftslehre. Endre KISS: Zwischen Apriorismus und Empirismus im Kontext der Isomorphie zweier Apriorismen. Zur Rekonstruktion von Fichtes philosophischer Konzeption. TEIL II. Erich HEINTEL: Gewißheit und Wahrheit bei Fichte. H.M. EMRICH: Identität und Versprechen. Hans Georg von MANZ: Selbstgewißheit und Fremdgewißheit. Fichtes Konzeption des Anderen als Konstituens der Selbsterfassung unter Berücksichtigung der Perspektive Lévinas'. Alois K. SOLLER: Die Unbegreiflichkeit der Wechselwirkung der Geister. Das Problem einer »Interpersonalitätslehre« bei Fichte. Carla DE PASCALE: Die Trieblehre bei Fichte. Karen GLOY: Die Naturauffassung bei Kant, Fichte und Schelling. Albert MUES: Der Grund der Dualität der Materie und des Indeterminismus in der physikalischen Natur. Die Lösung eines quantenphysikalischen Rätsels. Marco IVALDO: Zur Geschichtserkenntnis nach der Transzendentalphilosophie. Faustino ONCINA COVES: Geheimnis und Öffentlichkeit bei Fichte. Frank ASCHOFF: Rückkehr zur Metaphysik? Reinholds Abkehr von der Philosophie Fichtes. Ives RADRIZZANI: Der Übergang von der Grundlage zur Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo. L. de Vos: Die Realität der Idee. TEIL III. Wilhelm LÜTTERFELDS: Fichtes Konzept absoluter Einheit - ein performativer Selbstwiderspruch? Urs RICHLI: »Ich aber fordere Sie auf, absolute Genesis ins Auge zu fassen!« Realität und absolute Negativität in Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre von 1804 und in Hegels Wissenschaft der Logik. Hartmut TRAUB: Realität und System. Das Realitätsproblem in Fichtes Theorie der Fünffachheit. (shrink)

Inhalt: TEIL I Dominik SCHMIDIG: Sprachliche Vermittlung philosophischer Einsichten nach Fichtes Frühphilosophie. Thomas Sören HOFFMANN: Die Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre und das Problem der Sprache bei Fichte. Jere Paul SURBER: Fichtes Sprachphilosophie und der Begriff einer Wissenschaftslehre. Holger JERGIUS: Fichtes »geometrische« Semantik. TEIL II Günter MECKENSTOCK: Beobachtungen zur Methodik in Fichtes Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre. Hartmut TRAUB: Wege zur Wahrheit. Zur Bedeutung von Fichtes wissenschaftlich- und populär-philosophischer Methode. Jürgen STAHL: System und Methode - Zur methodologischen Begründung transzendentalen Philosophierens in Fichtes (...) »Begriffsschrift«. Kunihiko NAGASAWA: Eine neue Möglichkeit der Philosophie nach der Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre. Teil III Katsuaki OKADA: Der erste Grundsatz und die Bildlehre. Hisang RYUE: Die Differenz zwischen »Ich bin« und «Ich bin Ich«. Christian KLOTZ: Der Ichbegriff in Fichtes Erörterung der Substantialität. Alois K. SOLLER: Fichtes Lehre vom Anstoß. Nicht-Ich und Ding an sich in der Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre. Eine kritische Erörterung. Heinz EIDAM: Fichtes Anstoß. Anmerkungen zu einem Begriff der Wissenschaftslehre von 1794. Virginia LÓPEZ-DOMÍNGUEZ: Die Deduktion des Gefühls in der Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre. Reinhard LOOCK: Gefühl und Realität. Fichtes Auseinandersetzung mit Jacobi in der Grundlage der Wissenschaft des Praktischen. TEIL IV Marek SIEMEK: Wissen und Tun. Zur Handlungsweise der transzendentalen Subjektivität in der ersten Wissenschaftslehre Fichtes. Daniel BREAZEALE: Der fragwürdige »Primat der praktischen Vernunft« in Fichtes Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre. Marcin POREBA: Das Problem der transzendentalen Freiheit in semantischer Formulierung. Giuseppe DUSO: Absolutheit und Widerspruch in der Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre. Manuel JIMÉNEZ-REDONDO: Der Begriff des Grundes in Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre. TEIL V Helmut GIRNDT: Das »Ich« des ersten Grundsatzes der Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre in der Sicht der Wissenschaftslehre von 18042. Josef BEELER-PORT: Zum Stellenwert der Grundlage aus der Sicht von 1804. Eine Interpretation des Wechsels von analytisch-synthetischer und genetischer Methode in 5 der Grundlage. (shrink)

Inhalt: Vorwort. Abendvortrag. Wolfgang JANKE: Besonnenheit. Der philosophiegeschichtliche Ort von Fichtes Spätphilosophie. Sektion I: Phasen der Spätphilosophie 1800-1812. Ives RADRIZZANI: Die Bestimmung des Menschen: der Wendepunkt zur Spätphilosophie. Daniel BREAZEALE: Die Neue Bearbeitung der Wissenschaftslehre : Letzte »frühere« oder erste »spätere« Wissenschaftslehre? Toshio HONDA: Vom »Tun« zum »Sehen«. Reinhard LOOCK: Das Bild des absoluten Seins beim frühen und späten Fichte. Karen GLOY: Fichtes Dialektiktypen. Sektion II: Grundfragen. Jürgen STOLZENBERG: Zum Theorem der Selbstvernichtung des absoluten Wissens in Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre von 1801. (...) Kunihiko NAGASAWA: Die Absolutheit des absoluten Wissen in der WL 1801. Helmut GIRNDT: Strukturprobleme der Wissenschaftslehre 1804. Das Denken des Absoluten in Asien und Europa. Eine kritische Reflexion auf Fichtes Diktum: »Alle Philosophie vor Kant hat das Absolute in das Sein gesetzt.« Hitoshi MINOBE: Das Absolute in der Wissenschaftslehre 1804. Peter Lothar OESTERREICH: Die Rede vom Absoluten in der Spätphilosophie Fichtes. Dominik SCHMIDIG: Von Wahrheit ergriffen... >Wissenschaftslehre< und Gefühl. Ludo de VOS: Wahrheit in der Wissenschaftslehre. Manuel JIMÉNEZ-REDONDO: Logos und Erscheinung beim späten Fichte. Diogo FERRER: Der Begriff der Existenz und der Gang der Wissenschaftslehre 1805. Christoph ASMUTH: Fichtes Theorie des Ich in der Königsberger Wissenschaftslehre von 1807. Günter ZÖLLER: Denken und Wollen beim späten Fichte. Michael GERTEN: Das Verhältnis von Wissen, Moralität und Liebe. Zum Philosophiebegriff des späten Fichte. F. SCOTT SCRIBNER: Die »Physicierung des Idealismus« im Tagebuch über den animalischen Magnetismus: Die letzte Wissenschaftslehre? oder Das Ende des Idealismus? (shrink)

Inhalt: Vorwort. Abendvortrag. Wolfgang JANKE: Besonnenheit. Der philosophiegeschichtliche Ort von Fichtes Spätphilosophie. Sektion I: Phasen der Spätphilosophie 1800-1812. Ives RADRIZZANI: Die Bestimmung des Menschen: der Wendepunkt zur Spätphilosophie. Daniel BREAZEALE: Die Neue Bearbeitung der Wissenschaftslehre : Letzte »frühere« oder erste »spätere« Wissenschaftslehre? Toshio HONDA: Vom »Tun« zum »Sehen«. Reinhard LOOCK: Das Bild des absoluten Seins beim frühen und späten Fichte. Karen GLOY: Fichtes Dialektiktypen. Sektion II: Grundfragen. Jürgen STOLZENBERG: Zum Theorem der Selbstvernichtung des absoluten Wissens in Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre von 1801. (...) Kunihiko NAGASAWA: Die Absolutheit des absoluten Wissen in der WL 1801. Helmut GIRNDT: Strukturprobleme der Wissenschaftslehre 1804. Das Denken des Absoluten in Asien und Europa. Eine kritische Reflexion auf Fichtes Diktum: »Alle Philosophie vor Kant hat das Absolute in das Sein gesetzt.« Hitoshi MINOBE: Das Absolute in der Wissenschaftslehre 1804. Peter Lothar OESTERREICH: Die Rede vom Absoluten in der Spätphilosophie Fichtes. Dominik SCHMIDIG: Von Wahrheit ergriffen... >Wissenschaftslehre< und Gefühl. Ludo de VOS: Wahrheit in der Wissenschaftslehre. Manuel JIMÉNEZ-REDONDO: Logos und Erscheinung beim späten Fichte. Diogo FERRER: Der Begriff der Existenz und der Gang der Wissenschaftslehre 1805. Christoph ASMUTH: Fichtes Theorie des Ich in der Königsberger Wissenschaftslehre von 1807. Günter ZÖLLER: Denken und Wollen beim späten Fichte. Michael GERTEN: Das Verhältnis von Wissen, Moralität und Liebe. Zum Philosophiebegriff des späten Fichte. F. SCOTT SCRIBNER: Die »Physicierung des Idealismus« im Tagebuch über den animalischen Magnetismus: Die letzte Wissenschaftslehre? oder Das Ende des Idealismus? (shrink)

The Gardner report, recently published in the UK, showing a correlation between incidence of childhood leukaemia and paternal exposure to ionising radiations (amongst fathers working in nuclear power plants) has added a new element to debates about both the risk factors in nuclear power plants and the relationships between ionising radiations and leukaemogenesis. The epidemiologic and genetic evidence concerning leukaemias is reviewed here and it is concluded that the leukaemogenic agent, whose existence is indicated in the Gardner report, is unlikely (...) to be paternal radiation dose per se but rather exposure to another factor that is correlated with paternal radiation dose received. (shrink)

‘Lapidem silicem tenebant iuraturi per Iouem, haec uerba dicentes: Si sciens fallo, tum me Dispiter salua urbe arceque bonis eiciat ut ego hunc lapidem.’ I do not propose to add to the mass of commentary and controversy which loads this passage of Paulus Diaconus , except to remind readers that it is a comparatively modern version of a very old formula. Under Dispiter lurks some early shape of the name of Iuppiter, certainly not of the Greek importation Dis, first worshipped (...) in Rome, apparently, in 505/249. I believe it to be older than the end of the regal period, probably much older, for it names the Arx as the important spot in Rome, not the Etruscanizing Capitol. However, this detail and my opinions concerning the oath and its takers matter little for my present purpose. It is enough if it be granted, as I think everyone will grant, that it is ‘eine alte Fetialformel’ as Fraenkel has it, at all events eine alte Formel, more ancient than the surviving literature. (shrink)

The following lines are a famous crux: τ μν τι βασιλες σσ μεγαλν πολων ει συγγενς φθαλμς αδοιτατον γρας τε τοτο μειγνμενον φρεν. The reading is that of all MSS., save for the necessary correction αδοιτατον for αδοιςτατον, which will not scan. I have purposely left it without punctuation. The core of the difficulty of course is the word φθαλμς Farnell, it seems to me, has made it abundantly clear that this cannot be literal, for, apart from the oddity of (...) the epithet συγγενς in such a context, to take it as meaning the actual physical eye of Arkesilas involves giving ει the impossible meaning ‘sees’. But the metaphorical meaning is not much easier. A person or group of persons can be the ‘eye’, that is to say the most precious part, of something, as the Emmenidai were the ‘eye of Sicily’, Ol. ii, 10, Amphiaraos the ‘eye’ of Adrastos' army, Ol. vi, 16, the eldest or only son, or even the presence of the master, the ‘eye’ of the house , a child the ‘eye’—we should perhaps say ‘light’—of his mother's life, Eurip. Andr., 406, and perhaps, for the interpretation is not too certain, a chosen band of Athenians the ‘eye’ of Theseus' land, Aesch., Eumen., 1025. In these instances we may I think acquiesce in Groeneboom's remark on Pers., loc. cit., that ‘eye’ is used to signify the most precious or noble part of something, its glory. (shrink)

Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, im Auftrage und unter Mitwirkung des kaiserlick deutschen archaeologischen Instituts beschrieben von Walter Amerlung. Berlin: In Kommission bei Georg Reimer. Vol. I., 1903; Vol. II., 1908. Text, 8vo, pp. x + 935, 768. Plates, 4to, 121 + 83. M. 50 per vol.Guida illustrata del Museo Nazionale di Napoli; approvata dal Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione. Compilata da D. Bassi, E. Gábrici, L. Mariani, O. Maruchhi, G. Patroni, G. de Petra, A. Sogliano; per cura di A. Ruesch. (...) Naples: Richter & Co.; Munich: Buchholz, 1908. 8vo. Pp. 500. 129 illustrations in the text. Lire 25. (shrink)

The title is not a metaphor, though past tense might be better as this chapter is about how each of the many hundred abrupt coolings of the last several million years could have served as a pump stroke, each elevating intelligence a small increment - even though what natural selection was operating on was not intelligence per se.

Immanuel Kant’s theory of imagination is a surprisingly fruitful nexus of explanation for the prima facie disparate characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), especially the sub-spectrum best characterized by the Sensory Integration (SI) and Intense World (IW) theories of ASD. According to the psychological theories that underpin these approaches to autism, upstream effects of sensory processing atypicalities explain a cascade of downstream effects that have been characterized in the diagnostic triad, e.g., poor sensory integration contributes to weak central coherence, which (...) in turn contributes to difficulty participating in a back and forth conversation. To see why Kant’s theory of imagination might be useful, consider that ASD is neither a sensory disorder nor an intellectual disorder per se. Cognitive dysfunction is a common comorbidity of ASD, not a characteristic of it. If we exclude sense and intellect, what’s left? According to Kant, imagination is a synthesizing faculty that mediates between sense and understanding. It does so by transforming intuition from the canonic and vital senses. The uses of imagination include our spatially formative, temporally associative, and communicatively affinitive production, where affinitive production includes sympathy and fantasy. Imagination is thus the faculty of sensory integration, embodied subjectivity, empathy, mindreading, and social cooperation. The wide range of how autism presents and how it is experienced can thus be understood in terms of the atypical development of specific functions of imagination. Kant’s theory of imagination provides a new perspective on how to organize our understanding of autism at the psychological level, one that makes sense of how some of the disparate characteristic phenomena of autism are systematically related and which might lead to novel predictions, research targets, or intervention recommendations. (shrink)

Climate change can be interpreted as a unique case of historical injustice involving issues of both intergenerational and global justice. We split the issue into two separate questions. First, how should emission rights be distributed? Second, who should come up for the costs of coping with climate change? We regard the first question as being an issue of pure distributive justice and argue on prioritarian grounds that the developing world should receive higher per capita emission rights than the developed world. (...) This is justified by the fact that the latter already owns a larger share of benefits associated with emission generating activities because of its past record of industrialisation. The second question appears to be an issue of compensatory justice. After defining what we mean by compensation, we show that different kinds of compensatory principles run into problems when used to justify payments by historical emitters of the North to people suffering from climate change in the South. As an alternative, we propose to view payments from wealthy countries for adaptation to climate change in vulnerable countries rather as a measure based on concerns of global distributive justice. (shrink)

BackgroundThere is numerous literature on mechanisms underlying variability of practice advantages. Literature includes both behavioral and neuroimaging studies. Unfortunately, no studies are focusing on practice in constant conditions to the best of our knowledge. Hence it is essential to assess possible differences in mechanisms of neuroplasticity between constant vs. variable practice conditions. The primary objectives of the study described in this protocol will be: to determine the brain’s structural and functional changes following constant and variable practice conditions in motor learning (...) ; to determine the EEG activation and connectivity between cognitive, sensory, and motor cerebral cortex areas in constant and variable practice conditions and as a function of practice time.MethodsThe study will follow the interventional design with two arms. Fifty participants will be randomly assigned to two groups practicing in constant and variable conditions. CG will be practicing only one pattern of step isometric contractions during unimanual index finger abduction, i.e., 90 trials in all training sessions, whereas VG will practice three different patterns. Each will be practiced 30 times per session in variable conditions. Resting-state fMRI, EEG, and motor task proficiency will be examined before and after practice.DiscussionFindings will enhance our understanding of structural and functional neural changes following practice in constant and variable conditions. Therefore, the study can be considered pure research.Clinical Trial RegistrationStudy registered at clinicaltrials.gov on 9 June 2021. Last version update: 21 December 2021.The protocol has been prepared according to the complete SPIRIT checklist, although the item order has been modified in order to comply with the manuscript structure. (shrink)

Many people living in highly industrialised countries and elsewhere emit greenhouse gases at a certain high level as a by-product of their activities, and they expect to be able to continue to emit at that level. This level is far above the just per capita level. We investigate whether that expectation is legitimate and permissible. We argue that the expectation is epistemically legitimate. Given certain assumptions, we can also think of it as politically legitimate. Also, the expectation is shown to (...) be morally permissible but with major qualifications. The interpretation of the significance of the expectation is compatible with the understanding that historical emissions should count in terms of fairly distributing the benefits of emission-generating activities over people’s lifetimes but constrains the way in which we may collectively respond to climate change. (shrink)

Objectives: This study investigated Finnish physicians’ experiences of decisions concerning living wills and do not resuscitate orders and also their views on the role of patients and family members in these decisions.Design: A questionnaire was sent to 800 physicians representing the following specialties: general practice ; internal medicine ; neurology , and oncology .Results: The response rate was 56%. Most of the respondents had a positive attitude toward , and respect for living wills, and 72% reported situations in which such (...) a will would have been helpful, although experience with their use was limited. The physicians reported both benefits and problems with living wills. Thirteen per cent had completed a living will of their own. Half did not consider living wills to be reliable if they were several years old. Do not resuscitate orders were interpreted in two ways: resuscitation forbidden or only palliative care required . The respondents also documented DNR orders differently. Seventy two per cent discussed DNR decisions always or often with patients able to communicate, and even 76% discussed DNR orders with the family members of patients unable to communicate. Most respondents were able to approach a dying patient without difficulty. They also felt that education in general was needed.Conclusions: In general Finnish physicians accept living wills, but find they are accompanied by several problems. Many problems could be avoided if physicians and patients conducted progressive discussions about living wills. The differing interpretations of DNR orders are a matter of concern in that they may affect patient treatment. The promotion of patient autonomy with respect to treatment seems rather good, but the limitations of the study need to be kept in mind. (shrink)

One’s first reaction on seeing this book might be to wonder why it is labelled "Aristotle" at all. The de Mundo has long been regarded as spurious, the work of a later Peripatetic, or even of the vaguely Stoicizing eclecticism which was already, in the later Hellenistic period, beginning to see Aristotle and Plato as the proponents of the same philosophy. There has, however, been no general agreement about where precisely in that framework it should be placed, and Reale, who (...) has recently tried, not without success, to rehabilitate Melissus as a serious thinker, now tries to rehabilitate the de Mundo as a genuine work of Aristotle: he thinks the lack of agreement among the critics is itself an argument in its favor. Restoring the original attribution seems to be the main purpose of what is in fact the first full scale edition with commentary of the de Mundo. It contains a text, largely that established by Lorimer, with translation en face, a long introduction, copious notes and a full word index; the text and translation occupy less than a fifth of the whole. As far as a non-Italian can judge the translation is accurate—and free of effusive expansion. The notes are a real mine of information. So it should be said at the start that whether or not one accepts Reale’s thesis about genuineness does not affect the value of the edition as such. The question of authenticity is discussed with great thoroughness in the introduction, with considerable backing, some of it perhaps inevitably repetitious, in the form of detailed discussion in the notes. At the start Reale lists the charges levelled against the work at various times. These are that in general it contains non-Aristotelian elements, that the style is completely different from Aristotle’s, as is the method, being one of assertion rather than demonstration. Further, much of the material in the scientific section is post-Aristotelian, and the "Orphic hymn" of chapter 7 shows Stoic influence. Reale argues that the first three charges will stick only if the basis of discussion is the Aristotle of the treatises and claims that the objectionable material in the de Mundo can be paralleled from the exoteric works. Thus all the pre-Jaeger discussion is misconceived. (shrink)

When is it appropriate to harm a single person to help multiple others? Psychologists have investigated this question through the study of hypothetical “trolley” dilemmas involving extreme physical harm life-or-death situations that contrast outcome-focussed, consequentialist moral reasoning with principle-focussed, deontological moral reasoning. The present studies investigate whether participants’ preference for consequentialism generalises across domains. We administered traditional physical harm dilemmas as well as a trolley-type dilemma involving monetary harm. Across four studies (N = 809), an internal meta-analysis demonstrated that participants’ (...) responses to the traditional dilemmas predicted their responses to the monetary dilemma. Additionally, previous research has uncovered that primary psychopathy predicts consequentialist responses on physical harm dilemmas. The current work uncovers that this association does not generalise to monetary harm dilemmas, suggesting that the association between primary psychopathy and consequentialist reasoning is not related to consequentialist reasoning per se, but to the idiosyncrasies of traditional harm-centric trolley dilemmas instead. (shrink)

Public relations (PR) is trying to gain professional status by stressing specialized education for the field. Results are mixed, at best. Most practitioners have had educations in some aspects of communication, but so far only a small (though growing) number acknowledge it as being in public relations per se. Furthermore, when certain key attributes of professionalism are measured, practitioners with formal educations in public relations differ little from those without such educations.

Aim: To assess, against a checklist of specific areas of required information and using standard published criteria, to what extent leaflets given before cataract surgery provided patients with enough information to give adequately informed consent.Method: Twelve ophthalmology departments in the West Midlands region were asked to submit the cataract information leaflets given to their patients at the preoperative assessment for analysis. Using criteria published by the General Medical Council, British Medical Association, and Medical Defence Union the leaflets were assessed for (...) their contribution to informed consent for patients considering cataract surgery. Leaflets were scored according to the information they provided on: diagnosis, prognosis, treatment options, costs to the patient, details about the procedure, its purpose, likely benefits, how to prepare for it, what to expect during and after the operation, and the common as well as serious complications that may occur. The readability of the information was also assessed.Results: All the units’ leaflets provided information on diagnosis, the lifestyle changes required postoperatively, and cost involved to the patient. Only five units had leaflets that mentioned the risks involved in cataract surgery. The other areas of information were covered by 50–75% of the leaflets. Fifty per cent of the leaflets included a diagram. The average SMOG readability score was high.Conclusion: Although present cataract information leaflets make some contribution to the process of informed consent, most do not address important areas outlined by the General Medical Council. Many of the areas of information that are required for informed consent could easily be covered, and should be borne in mind when designing patient information leaflets. Resources are available on the internet including toolkits, guides, and means of assessment for the production of patient information leaflets. (shrink)

Globalization has increased the need for managers (and future managers) to predict the potential for country corruption. This study examines the relationship between Hofstede''s cultural dimensions and how country corruption is perceived. Power distance, individualism and masculinity were found to explain a significant portion of the variance in perceived corruption. A significant portion of country''s risk, trade flow with U.S.A., foreign investment, and per capita income was explained by perceived corruption.

Aristotle on the Athenian Constitution, translated, with introduction and notes, by F. G. Kenyon. London. Bell. 4s. 6d. Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, translated by E. Poste. London. Macmillan. 3s. 6d. Aristoteles Schriftvom Staatswesen der Athener, verdeutscht von Georg Kaibel und Adolf Kiessling. Strassburg. 2 Mk. Aristotele la Costituzione degli Ateniesi Testo Greco, versione Italiana, introduzione e note per cura di C. Ferrini. Milano.

Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, im Auftrage und unter Mitwirkung des kaiserlick deutschen archaeologischen Instituts beschrieben von Walter Amerlung. Berlin: In Kommission bei Georg Reimer. Vol. I., 1903; Vol. II., 1908. Text, 8vo, pp. x + 935, 768. Plates, 4to, 121 + 83. M. 50 per vol.Guida illustrata del Museo Nazionale di Napoli; approvata dal Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione. Compilata da D. Bassi, E. Gábrici, L. Mariani, O. Maruchhi, G. Patroni, G. de Petra, A. Sogliano; per cura di A. Ruesch. (...) Naples: Richter & Co.; Munich: Buchholz, 1908. 8vo. Pp. 500. 129 illustrations in the text. Lire 25. (shrink)

BackgroundIt is commonly reported by editors that it has become harder to recruit reviewers for peer review and that this is because individuals are being asked to review too often and are experiencing reviewer fatigue. However, evidence supporting these arguments is largely anecdotal.Main bodyWe examine responses of individuals to review invitations for six journals in ecology and evolution. The proportion of invitations that lead to a submitted review has been decreasing steadily over 13 years (2003–2015) for four of the six (...) journals examined, with a cumulative effect that has been quite substantial (average decline from 56% of review invitations generating a review in 2003 to just 37% in 2015). The likelihood that an invitee agrees to review declines significantly with the number of invitations they receive in a year. However, the average number of invitations being sent to prospective reviewers and the proportion of individuals being invited more than once per year has not changed much over these 13 years, despite substantial increases in the total number of review invitations being sent by these journals—the reviewer base has expanded concomitant with this growth in review requests.ConclusionsThe proportion of review invitations that lead to a review being submitted has been declining steadily for four of the six journals examined here, but reviewer fatigue is not likely the primary explanation for this decline. (shrink)