Jeagwon Kim's exclusion argument is a well-known argument against non-reductive physicalism in the contemporary debate on mental causation. In this essay, we will first discuss two versions of the exclusion argument: the simple version and the sophisticated version. Secondly, we will take a conservative strategy to defend the kind of non-reductive physicalism initiated by Donald Davidson: the Token Identity Theory. Namely, we will explain where Kim failed to appropriately understand Davidson's work and argue that the simple version and the sophisticated (...) version of the exclusion argument won't work against the clarified token identity theory at all. Lastly, Since much of Kim's inappropriate interpretation of Davidson's work is rooted in their difference in metaphysics, there is reason to believe the proper understanding and evaluation on contemplation as such on mental causation, non-reductive physicalism, and other related problems can't be achieved without finding an appropriate metaphysical frame. (shrink)

In recent years, somatosensory interaction technology, represented by Microsoft’s Kinect hardware platform, has been widely used in various fields, such as entertainment, education, and medicine. Kinect technology can easily capture and record behavioral data, which provides new opportunities for behavioral and psychological correlation analysis research. In this paper, an automatic decision-style recognition method is proposed. Experiments involving 240 subjects were conducted to obtain face data and individual decision-making style score. The face data was obtained using the Kinect camera, and the (...) decision-style score were obtained via a questionnaire. To realize automatic recognition of an individual decision-making style, machine learning was employed to establish the mapping relationship between the face data and a scaled evaluation of the decision-making style score. This study adopts a variety of classical machine learning algorithms, including Linear regression, Support vector machine regression, Ridge regression, and Bayesian ridge regression. The experimental results show that the linear regression model returns the best results. The correlation coefficient between the linear regression model evaluation results and the scale evaluation results was 0.6, which represents a medium and higher correlation. The results verify the feasibility of automatic decision-making style recognition method based on facial analysis. (shrink)

We analyze and study the tracking of nonrigid complex targets of sports video based on mean shift fusion color histogram algorithm. A simple and controllable 3D template generation method based on monocular video sequences is constructed, which is used as a preprocessing stage of dynamic target 3D reconstruction algorithm to achieve the construction of templates for a variety of complex objects, such as human faces and human hands, broadening the use of the reconstruction method. This stage requires video sequences of (...) rigid moving target objects or sets of target images taken from different angles as input. First, the standard rigid body method of Visuals is used to obtain the external camera parameters of the sequence frames as well as the sparse feature point reconstruction data, and the algorithm has high accuracy and robustness. Then, a dense depth map is computed for each input image frame by the Multi-View Stereo algorithm. The depth reconstruction with a too high resolution not only increases the processing time significantly but also generates more noise, so the resolution of the depth map is controlled by parameters. The multiple hypothesis target tracking algorithms are used to track multiple targets, while the chunking feature is used to solve the problem of mutual occlusion and adhesion between targets. After finishing the matching, the target and background models are updated online separately to ensure the validity of the target and background models. Our results of nonrigid complex target tracking by mean shift fusion color histogram algorithm for sports video improve the accuracy by about 8% compared to other studies. The proposed tracking method based on the mean shift algorithm and color histogram algorithm can not only estimate the position of the target effectively but also depict the shape of the target well, which solves the problem that the nonrigid targets in sports video have complicated shapes and are not easy to track. An example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness and adaptiveness of the applied method. (shrink)

Background: Trait self-esteem reflects stable self-evaluation, and it affects social interaction patterns. However, whether and how trait self-esteem can be expressed through behaviors are controversial. Considering that facial expressions can effectively convey information related to personal traits, the present study investigated the three-dimensional facial movements related to self-esteem level and the sex differences therein. Methods: The sample comprised 238 participants. Their levels of trait self-esteem were evaluated by employing the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. During self-introductions, their facial movements in 3D space (...) were recorded by Microsoft Kinect. Two-way ANOVA was performed to analyze the effect of self-esteem and gender on 3D facial movements. Additionally, Logistic regression models were established to describe the relationship between 3D facial movements and self-esteem levels in both genders. Results: The results of two-way ANOVA revealed a main effect of trait self-esteem level for cheeks and lips’ movements. Meanwhile, there was a significant interaction between trait self-esteem and gender on the variability of lips’ movements. In addition, the combination of facial movements can effectively identify trait self-esteem in men and women, with 75.5 and 68% accuracy, respectively. Conclusion: The present results suggest that the 3D facial expressions of individuals with different trait self-esteem levels were different, and such difference is affected by gender. Our study explores a possible way in which trait self-esteem plays a role in social interaction and also provides the basis for automatic self-esteem recognition. (shrink)

As we all know, the Silk Road, as a famous ancient transportation route, was a trade line cross-Eurasian continent in history. Its name was from the delivery of silk. However, no Chinese ancient documents mentioned the name of “Silk Road”. German F. V. Richthofen (1933-1905) firstly used the term “Silk Road” in his book China, published in 1877. Afterwards, the name of “Silk Road” has been accepted universally and used by the world widely. The Silk Road was an ancient business (...) channel, acrossing the middle of China and countries in Central Asia, gradually forming after Qian Zhang visited Western Regions twice, two thousand and one hundred years ago. The north-west land Silk Road started from Chinese ancient Capital Chang’an (now Xi’an), acrossing Central Asia, and reaching ancient Rome in Europe. It was a bridge for communication of politics, economy, and culture between ancient China and the Western. Before 11 Century, the Sino-Western silk trade mainly depended on the land transportation. During Han Dynasty, it was a competition between the Huns and the Hans for occupy the Silk road. The silk as a kind of material culture was a sort of intermediary for making people to know how to get along together.This article attempts to describe the Sino-Western silk trade conditions before and after the two missions of Qian Zhang to Western Regions (Xiyu), including archaeological evidences, kinds of silk and trade scale, transportation routes, trade participants, and so on. (shrink)