Through numbers of studies on the formation of equivalence relations and causal induction, it is known that human beings tend to consider conditional statements ``if p then q " as biconditional statements ``if and only if p then q ": we call the tendency to perceive ``if p then q " as ``if q then p " the ``symmetry bias". On the other hand, many studies on children's word learning have pointed out that children tend to expect each object has (...) only one label. This is so-called the ``mutual exclusivity bias". This bias implies. (shrink)

30th Nov. and 1st Dec. 2013 at Kyoto University. Organizer: Takeshi Sakon.

Reflections on Science, technology and nature - the pain of animals - genetics and society - our fragile democracy - dancing on racism's grave; The lesson of Japan - the prostitution of Academia - how educators have failed - the ecosystem as capital - the rape of the Amazon; The future; borrowing from the children - showdown in Brazil - Aboriginal people and the land; Acid rain - rain forests - deforestation - population.

This research investigates whether required employee green behavior can spill over to a proactive form of green behavior termed green advocacy. Drawing on self-perception theory, we theorize and test a moderated mediation model in which required employee green behavior is positively associated with green advocacy via the mediation of pro-environmental self-identity, with the strength of such association contingent upon employee moral identity. Data collected in three waves from 297 employees at a large manufacturing firm in China provide support for the (...) research model. Results show that pro-environmental self-identity explains the positive association between required employee green behavior and green advocacy and that its mediating role is stronger when moral identity is higher (vs. lower). This study advances workplace green behavior research by identifying a novel psychological path and extending knowledge about a boundary condition. (shrink)

Many studies concerning deviant innovation behavior mainly focus on the influence of personality differences or leadership styles, and there is a lack of attention given to internal cognitive factors related to actors. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the internal mechanism of perceived support for innovation on deviant innovation behavior. A two-wave study was conducted among 393 knowledge workers from 10 knowledge-intensive enterprises in the People's Republic of China. Model 4 and Model 14 from SPSS macro PROCESS (...) are used to test the mediating effect of innovation commitment and the moderating effect of threatened self-identity, respectively. The findings suggest that perceived support for innovation can significantly predict deviant innovation behavior; innovation commitment fully mediates the relationship between perceived support for innovation and deviant innovation behavior; public threat to self-identity plays a moderating role in the relationship between innovation commitment and deviant innovation behavior; and public threat to self-identity moderates the mediating effect of innovation commitment on perceived support for innovation and deviant innovation behavior. This study enriches the research on antecedent variables of deviant innovation behavior, and highlights the important role of situational factors on the whole mechanism. (shrink)

The best seller and perennial classic by one of the great Zen Buddhist masters--now available in Spanish. En los más de cuarenta años que han transcurrido desde su publicación original, Mente Zen, mente de principiante se ha convertido en uno de los grandes clásicos de la espiritualidad moderna, muy querido, continuamente releído y profusamente recomendado como el mejor libro que se puede leer sobre el Zen. Suzuki Roshi presenta las bases —desde los detalles de la postura y la respiración (...) en zazen hasta la percepción de la no dualidad— de un modo que, además de ser notablemente claro, resuena con la alegría de la comprensión desde la primera hasta la última página. (shrink)

One criterion of constructive logics is the disjunction, property (DP). The Halldén-completeness is a weak DP, and is related to the relevance principle and variable separation. This concept is well-understood in the case of propositional logics. We extend this notion to predicate logics. Then three counterparts naturally arise. We discuss relationships between these properties and meet-irreducibility in the lattice of logics.

Shehtman and Skvortsov introduced Kripke bundles as semantics of non-classical first-order predicate logics. We show the structural equivalence between Kripke bundles for intermediate predicate lógics and Kripke-type frames for intuitionistic modal propositional logics. This equivalence enables us to develop the semantical study of relations between intermediate predicate logics and intuitionistic modal propositional logics. New examples of modal counterparts of intermediate predicate logics are given.

To become more broadly applicable, positions on AI ethics require perspectives from non-Western regions and cultures such as China and Japan. In this paper, we propose that the addition of the concept of harmony to the discussion on ethical AI would be highly beneficial due to its centrality in East Asian cultures and its applicability to the challenge of designing AI for social good. We first present a synopsis of different definitions of harmony in multiple contexts, such as music and (...) society, which reveals that the concept is, at its core, about well-balanced relationships and appropriate actions which give rise to order, balance, and aesthetically pleasing phenomena. The mediator for these well-balanced relationships isTaktwhich is an ability to act thoughtfully and sensibly according to the specific situation and to put things into proportion and order. We propose that the central challenge of building harmonizing AI is to make intelligent systems tactful and also to design and use them tactfully. For an AI system to become tactful, it needs to be able to have an advanced sensitivity to the specific contexts which it is in and their social and ethical implications and have the capability of approximately inferring the emotional and cognitive states of people with whom it is interacting. (shrink)

Extending techniques of Dowd and those of Poizat, we study computational complexity of in the case when is a generic oracle, where is a positive integer, and denotes the collection of all -query tautologies with respect to an oracle . We introduce the notion of ceiling-generic oracles, as a generalization of Dowd's notion of -generic oracles to arbitrary finitely testable arithmetical predicates. We study how existence of ceiling-generic oracles affects behavior of a generic oracle, by which we show that is (...) not a subset of is comeager in the Cantor space. Moreover, using ceiling-generic oracles, we present an alternative proof of the fact (Dowd) that the class of all -generic oracles has Lebesgue measure zero. (shrink)

This note is a continuation of our former paper ''Complexity of the r-query tautologies in the presence of a generic oracle.'' We give a very short direct proof of the nonexistence of t-generic oracles, a result obtained first by Dowd. We also reconstitute a proof of Dowd's result that the class of all r-generic oracles in his sense has Lebesgue measure one.

Feinberg and Mallatt, in their presentation of neurobiological naturalism, have suggested that visual consciousness was acquired by early vertebrates and inherited by a wide range of descendants, and that its neural basis has shifted to nonhomologous nervous structures during evolution. However, their evolutionary scenario of visual consciousness relies on the assumption that visual consciousness is closely linked with survival, which is not commonly accepted in current consciousness research. We suggest an alternative idea that visual consciousness is linked to a specific (...) class of agency, consequently justifying their phylogenetic claim. We also examine the implication of their phylogenetic claim: visual consciousness is homologous across vertebrates, but its neural basis is not. This apparent incongruence illustrates a general phenomenon of homology, and that the resulting hierarchical view of visual consciousness and its neural basis can be straightforwardly accommodated by neurobiological naturalism. Throughout these discussions, we aim to address the potential theoretical issues in neurobiological naturalism and refine the picture illustrated by Feinberg and Mallatt regarding phylogenetic distribution and trajectories of visual consciousness. (shrink)

Yinyang philosophy encompasses an essential understanding of the mechanism and laws of nature, cosmos, and human society in Chinese culture, and reaches to many other parts of Asia and around the world. The purpose of this article is to explore how yinyang philosophy can serve as a philosophical underpinning of mixed methods research (MMR). In particular, harmony, one of the important features in yinyang philosophy, is applied to interpret the design of mixed methods research. Guided by this philosophy, other beliefs (...) about an integrated approach to using qualitative and quantitative methods fit in with the MMR approach. These underlying precepts are not necessarily held by researchers, and will be shown to indicate harmony and a dynamic equilibrium of yin and yang. This perspective provides a novel window for considering controversial issues that have arisen about the use of different philosophical underpinnings for MMR during its emergence over the past several decades. The implications are for a softer interpretation, for example, when selection of quantitative rules needs to harmonize with certain types of MMR, and validity of self-developed questionnaires needs to consider different levels of criteria for MMR. (shrink)

为读者参加各层次的哲学考试而编写的辅导材料。力求在较完整地阐述原理的基础上,结合当前的一些理论问题给以说明,包括各种试题和答案等。.

This paper presents a cross-cultural study on peoples’ negative attitude toward robots. 467 participants from seven different countries filled in the negative attitude towards robots scale survey which consists of 14 questions in three clusters: attitude towards the interaction with robots, attitude towards social influence of robots and attitude towards emotions in interaction with robots. Around one half of them were recruited at local universities and the other half was approached through Aibo online communities. The participants’ cultural background had a (...) significant influence on their attitude and the Japanese were not as positive as stereotypically assumed. The US participants had the most positive attitude, while participants from Mexico had the most negative attitude. The participants from the online community were more positive towards robots than those not involved. Previous experience in interacting with Aibo also had a positive effect, but owning an Aibo did not improve their attitude. (shrink)

Targeted gene alteration (TGA) is a strategy for correcting single base mutations in the DNA of human cells that cause inherited disorders. TGA aims to reverse a phenotype by repairing the mutant base within the chromosome itself, avoiding the introduction of exogenous genes. The process of how to accurately repair a genetic mutation is elucidated through the use of single‐stranded DNA oligonucleotides (ODNs) that can enter the cell and migrate to the nucleus. These specifically designed ODNs hybridize to the target (...) sequence and act as a beacon for nucleotide exchange. The key to this reaction is the frequency with which the base is corrected; this will determine whether the approach becomes clinically relevant or not. Over the course of the last five years, workers have been uncovering the role played by the cells in regulating the gene repair process. In this essay, we discuss how the impact of the cell on TGA has evolved through the years and illustrate ways that inherent cellular pathways could be used to enhance TGA activity. We also describe the cost to cell metabolism and survival when certain processes are altered to achieve a higher frequency of repair. (shrink)

An application of the entropic theory of perception to evolutionary systems indicates that environmental entropy increases will exert pressures on an organism to adapt. We speculate that the instability caused by such environmental changes will also cause an increase in the mutation rate of organisms leading to an eventual increase in their complexity. Such complexity generation allows organisms to adapt to the more entropic environment. Although we conclude that increases in environmental entropy cause an organism to evolve into a more (...) complex organism, increases in entropy may not be necessary for complexity generationper se. (shrink)

The idea that the thalamo-cortical system is the crucial constituent of the neurobiological mechanisms of consciousness has a long history. For the last few decades, however, consciousness research has to a large extent overlooked the interplay between the cortex and thalamus. Here we revive an integrated view of the neurobiology of consciousness by presenting and discussing several recent major findings about the role of the thalamocortical interactions in consciousness. Based on these findings we propose a specific cellular mechanism how thalamic (...) nuclei modulate the integration of different processing streams within single cortical pyramidal neurons. This theory is inspired by recent work done in rodents, but it integrates decades of work conducted on various species. We illustrate how this new view readily explains various properties and experimental phenomena associated with conscious experience. We discuss the implications of this idea and some of the experiments that need to be done in order to test it. Our view bridges two long-standing perspectives on the neural mechanisms of consciousness and proposes that cortical and thalamo-cortical processing interact at the level of single pyramidal cells. (shrink)

Japan has often been regarded as an ethnically homogeneous society whose restrictive immigration policies reflect the deep-seated cultural peculiarities of this ‘island nation’. By contrast, I shall argue that Japan’s post- 1945 cultural separation from the other countries of East Asia, and its strict border controls, were to a large extent products of Cold War politics. The postwar democratization of Japan went hand in hand with the introduction of tight restrictions on cross-border mobility: restrictions which had profound consequences for the (...) rights of ethnic minorities in Japan (particularly Koreans and Taiwanese). An exploration of the emergence and impact of this border control regime casts new light, not just on Japan’s role in the Northeast Asian region, but also on key limitations of nation-state centred notions of liberal democracy. (shrink)

The vestibulo-ocular reflex plays an important role in controlling the gaze at a visual target. Although patients with vestibular hypofunction aim to improve their VOR function, some retain dysfunction for a long time. Previous studies have explored the effects of direct current stimulation on vestibular function; however, the effects of random noise stimulation on eye–head coordination have not previously been tested. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the effects of high frequency noisy vestibular stimulation on eye–head coordination related to VOR function. (...) Thirteen healthy young adult participants with no serious disease took part in our study. The current amplitude and density used were 0.4 mA and 0.2 mA/cm2, respectively, with a random noise frequency of 100–640 Hz. The electrodes were located on both mastoid processes. The stimulus duration and fade in/out duration were 600 and 10 s, respectively. Subjects oscillated their head horizontally, gazing at the fixation point, at 1 Hz for 30 repetitions. The coordination of eye–head movements was measured by eye-tracking and a motion capture system. Peak-to-peak angles for eye and head movement and deviation of the visual line from the fixation target revealed no significant differences between HF-nVS and sham. The lag time between the eye and head movement with HF-nVS post-stimulation was significantly shorter than that of the sham. We found that HF-nVS can reduce the lag time between eye and head movement and improve coordination, contributing to a clear retinal image. This technique could be applied as a form of VOR training for patients with vestibular hypofunction. (shrink)

This book explores the construction of gender ideology in early modern England through an analysis of the querelle des femmes - the debate about the relationship between the sexes that originated on the continent during the middle ages and the Renaissance and developed in England into the Swetnam controversy, which revolved around the publication of Joseph Swetnam's The arraignment of lewd, forward, and inconstant women and the pamphlets which responded to its misogynist attacks. The volume contextualizes the debate in terms (...) of its continental antecedents and elite manuscript circulation in England, then moves to consider popular culture and printed texts from the Jacobean debate and its effects on women's writing and the developing discourse on gender, and concludes with an examination of the ramifications of the debate during the Civil War and Restoration. Essays focus attention on the implications of the gender debate for women writers and their literary relations, cultural ideology and the family, and political discourse and ideas of nationhood. (shrink)

Cyberbullying is a serious global problem that affects many teenagers and university students. Recent studies have explored the relationship between personality traits and cyberbullying, but the mechanism needs further research. This paper examines the impact of personality traits on cyberbullying perpetration of Chinese university students and the moderating role of Internet self-efficacy and gender. By random cluster sampling, 549 university students participated in filling out the self-report questionnaires. The results revealed: conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness were significantly negatively correlated with cyberbullying (...) perpetration. The stratified regression showed that ISE moderated the relation between agreeableness and cyberbullying. Gender moderated the relationship between agreeableness and cyberbullying, and openness and cyberbullying. (shrink)

In [STU 00, KUT 03] we introduced a family of ‘modal' languages intended for talking about distances. These languages are interpreted in ‘distance spaces' which satisfy some of the standard axioms of metric spaces. Among other things, we singled out decidable logics of distance spaces and proved expressive completeness results relating classical and modal languages. The aim of this paper is to axiomatize the modal fragments of the semantically defined distance logics of [KUT 03] and give a new proof of (...) their decidability. (shrink)

The Bird Song Diamond project is a series of multifaceted and multidisciplinary installations with the aim of bringing contemporary research on bird communication to a large public audience. Using art and technology to create immersive experiences, BSD allows large audiences to embody bird communication rather than passively observe. In particular, BSD Mimic, a system for mimicking bird song, asks participants to grapple with both audition and vocalization of birdsong. The use of interactive installations for public outreach provides unique experiences to (...) a diverse audience, while providing direct feedback for artists and researchers interested in the success of such outreach. By following an iterative design process, both artists and researchers have been able to evaluate the effectiveness of each installation for promoting audience engagement with the subject matter. The execution and evaluation of each iteration of BSD is described throughout the paper. In addition, the process of interdisciplinary collaboration in our project has led to a more defined role of the artist as a facilitator of specialists. BSD Mimic has also led to further questions about the nature of audience collaboration for an engaged experience. (shrink)