In this study, we discuss the psychological acceptability of an utterance strategy used by the Driving Support Agent. Previous literature regarding DSA suggests that the adoption of a small robot as a form will increase acceptability. However, the agent’s utterance has been reported as a problem faced by the user. Therefore, in this study, we designed the agent’s utterance using politeness strategy as described by Brown and Levinson’s famous sociolinguistics and pragmatics theory and analyzed its acceptability through a participant-based experiment. (...) In this experiment, we used positive and negative politeness strategies. In general, PPS is utilized to reflect the desire to be liked/recognized by others, whereas NPS is utilized to reflect the need for not wanting to be disturbed by others. Based on our results, PPS was rated high compared to NPS. Therefore, many participants highly evaluated PPS. However, there was a group of participants who appreciated NPS. There were also participants who evaluated the two strategies equally. The number of participants in these three groups was observed at 4:1:1. This result contributes as an index on the utterance design of the DSA. (shrink)

Quantum walks exhibit different properties compared with classical random walks, most notably by linear spreading and localization. In the meantime, random walks that replicate quantum walks, which we refer to as quantum-walk-replicating random walks, have been studied in the literature where the eventual properties of QWRW coincide with those of QWs. However, we consider that the unique attributes of QWRWs have not been fully utilized in the former studies to obtain deeper or new insights into QWs. In this paper, we (...) highlight the directivity of one-dimensional discrete quantum walks via QWRWs. By exploiting the fact that QWRW allows trajectories of individual walkers to be considered, we first discuss the determination of future directions of QWRWs, through which the effect of linear spreading and localization is manifested in another way. Furthermore, the transition probabilities of QWRWs can also be visualized and show a highly complex shape, representing QWs in a novel way. Moreover, we discuss the first return time to the origin between RWs and QWs, which is made possible via the notion of QWRWs. We observe that the first return time statistics of QWs are quite different from RWs, caused by both the linear spreading and localization properties of QWs. (shrink)

Background: Advocacy is an important role of psychiatric nurses because their patients are ethically, socially, and legally vulnerable. This study of Japanese expert psychiatric nurses’ judgments of interventions for patient advocacy will show effective strategies for ethical nursing practice and their relationship with Japanese culture. Objectives: This article explores Japanese psychiatric nurses’ decision to intervene as a patient advocate and examine their ethical, cultural, and social implications. Research design: Using semi-structured interviews verbatim, themes of the problems that required interventions were (...) inductively summarized by a qualitative analysis and their contexts and nursing judgments were examined. Participants and research context: The participants were 21 nurses with 5 or more years of experience in psychiatric nursing. Ethical considerations: The research was approved by Institutional Review Board of research site and study facilities. The participants gave written informed consent. Findings: Analysis of 45 cases showed that nurses decided to intervene when surrounding people’s opinions impeded patients’ safety, healthcare professionals’ policies impeded patients’ decision-making, own violent behaviors impeded treatment and welfare services for patients, own or families’ low acceptance of illness impeded patients’ self-actualization, inappropriate treatment or care impeded patients’ liberty, and their families abused patients’ property. Discussion: To solve conflicts between patients and their surrounding people, the nurses sought reconciliation between them, which is in accordance with Japanese cultural norms respecting harmony. When necessary, however, they protected patients’ rights against cultural norms. Therefore, their judgments cannot be explained by cultural norms alone. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the nurses’ judgments were based on respect for patients’ rights apart from cultural norms, and they first sought solutions fitting the cultural norms before other solutions. This seems to be an ethical, effective strategy if advocates know the culture in depth. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Studies on development and fairness judgments in resource allocations have mainly addressed the distribution of reward. However, the distribution of responsibility also requires exploration in the context of research on development and distributive justice. For an integrated understanding of reward and responsibility distributions, we briefly reviewed the studies on children’s fairness judgments in reward and responsibility distributions. We then discussed the theoretical basis and methodological framework to further our understanding. After reviewing a study which considered both reward and responsibility (...) distributions in the same experiment, we also discussed the questions to be solved to understand children’s fairness judgments in both types of distributions. Individual developmental process of fairness judgments, (in)consistency of judgments in reward and responsibility distributions, and generous judgments in allocations were discussed by referring to theoretical discussions of culture and reciprocity. (shrink)

世界とは何かという壮大なテーマに気鋭の哲学者がせまる知的刺激あふれる一冊。事実とは何なのか?いま自分が見ているものと隣人が見ているものは同じものなのか?人と人とのコミュニケーションはどのようにして成り 立つのか?...新たなものの見方や考え方を模索し、社会で直面するさまざまな課題を解くカギを探ります。.

The Literature of Personalists of early Buddhism. Bhikshu Thích Thien Châu. Vietnam Buddhist Research Institute, Ho Chí Minh City 1996. xii, 241 pp. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1999. xiv, 242 pp. Rs 295. ISBN 81-208-1622-6.

The motor modules during human walking are identified using non-negative matrix factorization from surface electromyography signals. The extraction of motor modules in healthy participants is affected by the change in pre-processing of EMG signals, such as low-pass filters ; however, the effect of different pre-processing methods, such as the number of necessary gait cycles in post-stroke patients with varying steps, remains unknown. We aimed to specify that the number of GCs influenced the motor modules extracted in the consideration of LPFs (...) in post-stroke patients. In total, 10 chronic post-stroke patients walked at a self-selected speed on an overground walkway, while EMG signals were recorded from the eight muscles of paretic lower limb. To verify the number of GCs, five GC conditions were set, namely, 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5 gate cycles with three LPFs. First, the number of modules, variability accounted for, and muscle weightings extracted by the NNMF algorithm were compared between the conditions. Next, a modified NNMF algorithm, in which the activation timing profiles among different GCs were unified, was performed to compare the muscle weightings more robustly between GCs. The number of motor modules was not significantly different, regardless of the GCs. The difference in VAF and muscle weightings in the different GCs decreased with the LPF of 4 Hz. Muscle weightings in 15 GCs or less were significantly different from those in 25 GCs using the modified NNMF. Therefore, we concluded that the variability extracted motor modules by different GCs was suppressed with lower LPFs; however, 20 GCs were needed for more representative extraction of motor modules during walking in post-stroke patients. (shrink)

In the midst of globalization, English is regarded as an international language, or Lingua Franca, but learning it as a second language (L2) remains still difficult to speakers of other languages. This is true especially for the speakers of languages distantly related to English such as Japanese. In this sense, exploring neural basis for translation between the first language (L1) and L2 is of great interest. There have been relatively many previous researches revealing brain activation patterns during translations between L1 (...) and English as L2. These studies, which focused on language translation with close or moderate linguistic distance (LD), have suggested that the Broca area (BA 44/45) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA 46) may play an important role on translation. However, the neural mechanism of language translation between Japanese and English, having large LD, has not been clarified. Thus, we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation patterns during word translation between Japanese and English. We also assessed the effects of translation directions and word familiarity. All participants’ first language was Japanese and they were learning English. Their English proficiency was advanced or elementary. We selected English and Japanese words as stimuli based on the familiarity for Japanese people. Our results showed that the brain activation patterns during word translation largely differed depending on their English proficiency. The advanced group elicited greater activation on the left prefrontal cortex around the Broca’s area while translating words with low familiarity, but no activation was observed while translating words with high familiarity. On the other hand, the elementary group evoked greater activation on the left temporal area including the superior temporal gyrus (STG) irrespective of the word familiarity. These results suggested that different cognitive process could be involved in word translation corresponding to English proficiency in Japanese learners of English. These difference on the brain activation patterns between the advanced and elementary group may reflect the difference on the cognitive loads depending on the levels of automatization in one’s language processing. (shrink)

SummaryMis‐regulation (e.g. overproduction) of the human Ndc80/Hec1 outer kinetochore protein has been associated with aneuploidy and tumourigenesis, but the genetic basis and underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon remain poorly understood. Recent studies have identified the ubiquitous Ndc80 internal loop as a protein‐protein interaction platform. Binding partners include the Ska complex, the replication licensing factor Cdt1, the Dam1 complex, TACC‐TOG microtubule‐associated proteins (MAPs) and kinesin motors. We review the field and propose that the overproduction of Ndc80 may unfavourably absorb these interactors (...) through the internal loop domain and lead to a change in the equilibrium of MAPs and motors in the cells. This sequestration will disrupt microtubule dynamics and the proper segregation of chromosomes in mitosis, leading to aneuploid formation. Further investigation of Ndc80 internal loop‐MAPs interactions will bring new insights into their roles in kinetochore‐microtubule attachment and tumourigenesis. (shrink)

Sleep is mandatory in most animals that have the nervous system and is universally observed in model organisms ranging from the nematodes, zebrafish, to mammals. However, it is unclear whether different sleep states fulfill common functions and are driven by shared mechanisms in these different animal species. Mammals and birds exhibit two obviously distinct states of sleep, i.e., non-rapid eye movement sleep and rapid eye movement sleep, but it is unknown why sleep should be so segregated. Studying sleep in other (...) animal models might give us clues that help solve this puzzle. Recent studies suggest that REM sleep, or ancestral forms of REM sleep might be found in non-mammalian or -avian species such as reptiles. These observations suggest that REM sleep and NREM sleep evolved earlier than previously thought. In this review, we discuss the evolutionary origin of the distinct REM/NREM sleep states to gain insight into the mechanistic and functional reason for these two different types of sleep. (shrink)

In this paper, we report the case of an Inclusive Design workshop. Inclusive Design is a design method that includes elderly and disabled people not only in interviews, but also in the upstream design process such as basic design and survey analysis. In the workshop, participants designed scientific educational materials that visually impaired and sighted people can use together. To work together regardless of visual disability, participants used the image-processing system and the stereo copying machine to make images tactile. We (...) think that collaborative work with elderly and disabled people in Inclusive Design can teach participants different perspectives and help to correct their biased view of each other. In fact, participants of the workshop noticed several facts that they were not aware of before. That is, the Inclusive Design workshop can improve social awareness. (shrink)

La cuestión ambiental puede considerarse, sin dudas, el giro político de nuestro tiempo. En todo el mundo, las escenas de devastación de ecosistemas y ambientes pero, sobre todo, la desigualdad con que esa destrucción impacta en las vidas de las personas, hacen que la injusticia ambiental no pueda ya entenderse separada de la cuestión social. Distintas formas de organización y activismo popular estan alcanzando alcanzando creciente visibilidad al alzar sus voces para mostrar que el desastre ecológico no es una fatalidad, (...) sino una elección política. Este libro se dedica a hacer un análisis exhaustivo de los principales conflictos ambientales de las últimas décadas en América Latina. A través del relato de casos como la controversia por la contaminación de la cuenca de los ríos Matanza-Riachuelo, las pasteras en el río Uruguay, el movimiento de pueblos fumigados en la Argentina, el conflicto por un proyecto minero en Peru, la guerra del agua en Bolivia la lucha por la preservación de los paramos en Colombio, o el movimiento de mujeres en 'zonas de sacrificio' en Chile, la autora traza las líneas que unen el activismo ambiental entoda la región: de las acciones públicas de reclamo a la organizacion, de la producción de conocimiento local a la construcción de modos de gestión colectiva de lo común. Pero, sobre todo, plantea formas novedosas de entender el problema ambiental, que incluyen alternativas al modelo del capitalismo extractivo y formas de convivencia con las especies no humanas. La pregunta que la autora pone de relieve es estructural y nos interpela: el crecimiento económico, la rentabilidad o la captación de divisas para estabilizar la economía pueden ser criterios de valor equivalentes a la defensa del agua, del modo de vida local o de la salud de las personas? Así, este libro viene a sumarse a una línea de trabajo en plena construcción en la región, que reúne solidez académica con compromiso político con las luchas sociales y ambientales. Como estas páginas dejan en evidencia, las batallas por una vida digna que se estan librando ahora mismo en todo el planeta confirman que, cuando se piensa la justicia ambiental 'desde abajo', otros mundos son posibles. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta la idea de que el ensayo tiene una estética, un estilo literario, pero al tiempo esta estética es un estilo mental que presupone una ética como base. Por tanto, pensamos el ensayo como filosofía. Es más: en la modernidad, la filosofía es ensayística. Esta filosofía del ensayo tiene cinco características principales que son inseparables entre sí. El ensayo se basa en el mundo de la vida y en consecuencia es una filosofía experimental opuesta al sistema racionalista. Esta (...) filosofía es una filosofía de la finitud, antiabsolutista, que defiende la relevancia filosófica del sujeto concreto y real. Finalmente, el ensayo entiende la reflexión crítica como un método de libertad. La filosofía ensayística contiene una ética con todas las reservas que evita tanto el totalitarismo racionalista como el nihilismo esteticista, y que concluye en un pluralismo dialógico. (shrink)

La Sentencia 31 plantea una paradoja: el efecto permanece en su causa, pero al mismo tiempo la causa está “en todas partes y en ninguna” en su efecto. Nos centraremos en el análisis de la teoría del πανταχοῦ καὶ οὐδαμοῦ, deteniéndonos en la lectura porfiriana del argumento plotiniano de la anterioridad causal del Uno respecto a lo múltiple (III, 9 [13] 4, 1-9; V I 4 [22] 3), aplicado a Dios, al Intelecto y al Alma.

La autora escribe este texto con motivo de la recepción del Premio Internacional N´AITUN, que recientemente le ha sido concedido en Chile. En las páginas que siguen, explica el proceso de gestación del Proyecto ECOARTE que ella dirige y anima junto con un grupo de científicos y artistas. El objetivo fundamental de este proyecto es vincular ciencia y arte en la aventura del conocimiento, para establecer visiones integradas e integradoras del mundo. Todo ello orientado a promover un mayor equilibrio ecológico (...) y una adecuada equidad social.Los principios de un nuevo paradigma interpretativo de la realidad, los aportes de una ciencia con conciencia y con consciencia. Los lenguajes artísticos, son todos ellos parte de este proyecto, en el marco del cual se han realizado diversos seminarios transdisciplinarios, se han editado libros, han tenido lugar exposiciones de poesía y pintura, y se ha elaborado un Manifiesto de científicos y artistas por el desarrollo sostenible. (shrink)

A ambiguidade do humor torna-o capaz de desvendar a verdade para lá da peta, do ópio, do fingimento, da falsidade – cada um destes sinónimos de mentira está presente, com subtis gradações, nos periódicos de José Daniel Rodrigues da Costa. O próprio conceito de mentira suscita reflexão e é questionado na sua relação com a verdade: “Com toda a certeza, se não for mentira.” O exagero das petas com que “tempera” as verdades chama a atenção dos leitores para a (...) “verdade encoberta” sob as convenções das práticas sociais, numa dialéctica do ser com o dever ser, do moral com o amoral, na fronteira entre o lícito e o ilícito nas últimas décadas do Estado absolutista e no dealbar do liberalismo. O estudo do humor, dos seus limites e do seu lugar nos periódicos na viragem do século XVIII para o XIX é uma das muitas formas da história das ideias. (shrink)

En Creazione e anarchia, Giorgio Agamben distingue dos posiciones divergentes en la filosofía contemporánea heredera del pensamiento de Heidegger. Mientras que califica de “interpretación anárquica” el trabajo de Reiner Schürmann y el suyo propio, designa como “interpretación democrática” el trabajo de Jacques Derrida. El propósito del presente estudio consiste en valorar el alcance de estas designaciones, que se basan en los distintos sentidos de arché como origen y como principio, para comprender en qué medida puede resultar de interés para la (...) historia de la filosofía reciente tildar al pensamiento de Jacques Derrida como una interpretación democrática de Heidegger, y hasta qué punto la lectura agambeniana se muestra sesgada o limitada. Sostendremos que el gesto “democrático” de Derrida descansa en una cierta concepción de la literatura y de la performatividad de la que Agamben no aborda una lectura suficientemente crítica y precisa. La concepción literaria de la democracia por Derrida, aplicada a distintos aspectos como el tiempo, la muerte o la negatividad del lenguaje, opera una deconstrucción de la ontología heideggeriana y constituye el espacio democrático, así como el lenguaje, como momentos de espera para la irrupción de la alteridad. In creazione e anarchia, Giorgio Agamben distinguishes two divergent positions in the contemporary philosophy received from Heidegger’s thinking. While qualifying his own work and that of Reiner Schürmann’s as “anarchical interpretation”, he qualifies Jacques Derrida’s work as “democratic interpretation”. The purpose of this present study aims at valuing the scope of these designations, which are based on the different senses of arché as origin and as principle, in order to understand to which extent it is of any interest for the recent history of philosophy to name Jacques Derrida’s thinking as a democratic interpretation of Heidegger, and also, to which extent the agambenian reading seems biased or limited. We contend that Derrida’s “democratic” gesture lies on a given conception of literature and of performability of which Agamben does not undertake a sufficently critical and accurate reading. The literary conception of Derrida’s democracy applied to different aspects such as time, death o negativity of language, operates a deconstruction of the heideggerian ontology and embodies the democratic space, as well as the language, as moments of wait for the irruption of the otherness. (shrink)

Propõe-se nesta tese analisar como as narrativas sobre o martírio de Imam Hussein no deserto de Karbala no ano 680 d.C, pode constituir um tipo de pedagogia, entre os xiitas, e como essa pode influenciar a construção de um tipo de identidade entre eles. Estruturada em cinco capítulos, buscou-se compreender e interpretar a construção da identidade xiita, como religiosa e política, a partir do ensino e aprendizagem da narrativa sobre o martírio de Imam Hussein. Através da pesquisa de campo no (...) Brasil e no Líbano, objetivou-se verificar e compreender como a comunidade xiita ensina e aprende sobre o martírio ocorrido em Karbala. Utilizando-se da metodologia da Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados verificou-se, através da observação participante e de entrevistas semiestruturas, as mobilizações e desdobramentos que o ensino da narrativa sobre o martírio de Imam Hussein gera nessas comunidades. As entrevistas semiestruturadas foram norteadas por três eixos temáticos: 1) a respeito do aprendizado sobre o martírio de Imam Hussein; 2) a respeito do conceito de martírio no Islã; 3) a respeito da importância da narrativa sobre o martírio de Imam Hussein para a comunidade muçulmana xiita e para a sociedade em geral. As entrevistas e as observações do tipo participante foram realizadas na cidade de Foz do Iguaçu, no Brasil, e, no Líbano, na cidade de Beirute e na Aldeia de Mhabib. Família, religião e escola, foram as três instituições de formação de longa duração escolhidas para observação e análise sobre o ensino e aprendizagem dessa narrativa. Interpretou-se que, no momento da lembrança do martírio de Imam Hussein, seja através da celebração anual de seu martírio, seja através do ensino compartilhado, ocorre uma identificação com o sofrimento de Imam Hussein que leva à manutenção e preservação de valores contidos na narrativa. Tais valores são a base para a identificação do grupo, de forma religiosa como xiitas e política como resistentes. Compreendeu-se nessa pesquisa que as três instituições são responsáveis pelo ensino e manutenção dessa narrativa, sendo a instituição família, a primeira instituição a compartilhar e manter esse ensino. Conclui-se que as narrativas sobre o martírio de Imam Hussein e seus companheiros influenciam na construção de um determinado tipo de identidade que se apresenta como religiosa e política. Apesar das distintas formas de ensino e apreensão da narrativa sobre o martírio, pode-se dizer que há uma base comum que permite a utilização dessa como conteúdo pedagógico que alimenta a construção de práticas que dão forma a identidade específica. (shrink)

Al god og al fuldkommen Gave er ovenfra.

order to defend Putnam’s conceptual pluralism. Finally, the paper defends the compatibility between conceptual pluralism and the idea of convergence in a final opinion. Consequently, I conclude that objectivity depends on the particular vocabularies employed. This paper examines the concept of objectivity as a point of view without perspective. This sense of objectivity is present (among others) in Williams’ works (particularly in its notion of absolute conception of reality). The structure of the paper is the following: first, Williams’ physicalist program (...) is described. Secondly, the article presents some objections to Williams’ physicalism. Thirdly, some reasons are given against the notion of objectivity as a point of view without perspective in. (shrink)