In the process of rapid urbanization, urban heat island effect has been showing more and more significant impacts on human well-being. Therefore, a more detailed understanding of the impact of three-dimensional building morphology on UHI effect across a continuum of spatial scales will be necessary to guide and improve the human settlement.This study selected 31 provincial capital cities of mainland China to analyze the impacts of the 3D building morphology, including the number, area, height, volume, and the surface (...) area of the buildings, on the land surface temperature. By exploring how the influence of 3D building morphology on LST changes with the increase of spatial scale, this study finally recognized which 3D building morphology index is the most significant index affecting LST in different cities, and which spatial scale these 3D building morphology indexes have the most significant impact on LST. The results showed that the building area is the most important 3D building morphology parameter affecting the LST, while the building height has the slightest influence on the LST. These effects are more significant in the spatial scale of 150 m–540 m, and the spatial scale increases with the increase of building areas in developed cities. These results highlight the necessity of considering fine-grained management in the governance and alleviating of the urban thermal environment through urban planning and urban renewal strategies. (shrink)

There is a growing demand for information and computational technology for surgeons help with surgical planning as well as prosthetics design. The two-dimensional images are registered to the three-dimensional (3D) model for high efficiency. To reconstruct the 3D model of knee joint including bone structure and main soft tissue structure, the evaluation and analysis of sports injury and rehabilitation treatment are detailed in this study. Mimics 10.0 was used to reconstruct the bone structure, ligament, and meniscus according to the pulse (...) diffusion-weighted imaging sequence (PDWI) and stir sequences of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Excluding congenital malformations and diseases of the skeletal muscle system, MRI scanning was performed on bilateral knee joints. Proton weighted sequence (PDWI sequence) and stir pulse sequence were selected for MRI. The models were imported into Geomagic Studio 11 software for refinement and modification, and 3D registration of bone structure and main soft tissue structure was performed to construct a digital model of knee joint bone structure and accessory cartilage and ligament structure. The 3D knee joint model including bone, meniscus, and collateral ligament was established. Reconstruction and image registration based on mimics and Geomagic Studio can build a 3D model of knee joint with satisfactory morphology, which can meet the requirements of teaching, motion simulation, and biomechanical analysis. (shrink)

Continued urbanization, along with anthropogenic global warming, has and will increase land surface temperature and air temperature anomalies in urban areas when compared to their rural surroundings, leading to Urban Heat Islands (UHI). UHI poses environmental and health risks, affecting both psychological and physiological aspects of human health. Thus, using a deep learning approach that considers morphological variables, this study predicts UHI intensity in 69 European cities from 2007 to 2021 and projects UHI impacts for 2050 and 2080. The research (...) employs Artificial Neural Networks, Deep Neural Networks, and Gated Recurrent Units, combining high-resolution 3D urban models with environmental data to analyze UHI trends. The results indicate strong associations between urban form, weather patterns, and UHI intensity, highlighting the need for customized urban planning and policy measures to reduce UHI impacts and foster sustainable urban settings. This research enhances understanding of UHI dynamics and serves as a valuable tool for urban planners and policymakers to address the challenges of climate change, urbanization, and air pollution, ultimately aiding in the improvement of health outcomes and building energy consumption. Moreover, the methodology effectively demonstrates the ability of the GRU to link its scores with UHI projections, offering crucial insights into potential health impacts. (shrink)

ObjectiveTo investigate the instant impact of hemodialysis on the cerebral morphological measurements of patients with end-stage renal disease.Materials and methodsTwenty-five patients undergoing maintenance HD and twenty-eight age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy control were included. The HD group and HC group had 3D high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging scans twice and once, respectively. Both groups underwent neuropsychologic tests. The morphological measurements of structural MRI were measured using CAT12 and these measures were compared among three groups. The relationship between morphological measures and (...) clinical parameters and neuropsychological tests were investigated through multiple regression analysis.ResultsCompared to the HC group, the cortical thickness before HD significantly decreased in the bilateral temporal lobe and significantly decreased in the left superior temporal gyrus after HD. The cortical thickness significantly increased in the bilateral temporal lobe, frontal lobe and occipital lobe after HD compared to before HD. The sulcus depth in the bilateral insula, frontal lobe, and parietal lobe after HD significantly increased compared to before HD. No significant differences in sulcus depth between HD and HC were detected. After HD, the cortical thickness of the right parsopercularis was positively correlated with the number connection test-A. Cortical thickness in multiple regions were positively correlated with blood flow velocity and cortical thickness in the left parahippocampal gyrus was negatively correlated with ultrafiltration volume. Patients showed better performance in the digit symbol test and line tracing test after HD compared to before HD, but there were no significant differences in the comparison of neuropsychologic tests between patients and HC.ConclusionThe instant morphological changes were captured during a single hemodialysis in HD patients. There was an association between these instant changes in the brain and clinical parameters and neuropsychologic tests. This work implied the instant impact of a single hemodialysis impact on the brain in HD patients. (shrink)

In this article I will address the issue of the embodiment of computing systems from the point of view distinctive of the so-called Unconventional Computation, focusing on the paradigm known as Morphological Computation. As a first step, I will contextualize Morphological Computation within the disciplinary field of Embodied Artificial Intelligence: broadly conceived, Embodied Artificial Intelligence may be characterized as embracing both conventional and unconventional approaches to the artificial emulation of natural intelligence. Morphological Computation stands out from other paradigms of unconventional (...) Embodied Artificial Intelligence in that it discloses a new, closer kind of connection between embodiment and computation. I will further my investigation by briefly reviewing the state-of-the-art in Morphological Computation: attention will be given to a very recent trend, whose core concept is that of “organic reconfigurability”. In this direction, as a final step, two advanced cases of study of organic or living morphological computers will be presented and discussed. The prospect is to shed some light on our title question: what progress has been made in understanding the embodiment of computing systems? (shrink)

Researchers have long debated the extent to which an individual’s skin tone influences their perceived race. Brooks and Gwinn demonstrated that the race of surrounding faces can affect the perceived skin tone of a central target face without changing perceived racial typicality, suggesting that skin lightness makes a small contribution to judgments of race compared to morphological cues. However, the lack of a consistent light source may have undermined the reliability of skin tone cues, encouraging observers to rely disproportionately on (...) morphological cues instead. The current study addresses this concern by using 3D models of male faces with typically Black African or White European appearances that are illuminated by the same light source. Observers perceived target faces surrounded by White faces to have darker skin than those surrounded by Black faces, particularly for faces of intermediate lightness. However, when asked to judge racial typicality, a small assimilation effect was evident, with target faces perceived as more stereotypically White when surrounded by White than when surrounded by Black faces at intermediate levels of typicality. This evidence of assimilation effects for perceived racial typicality despite concurrent contrast effects on perceived skin lightness supports the previous conclusion that perceived skin lightness has little influence on judgments of racial typicality for racially ambiguous faces, even when lighting is consistent. (shrink)

The present study examines the 3-dimensional data of human crania from the Yayoi period (800 BC to AD 250) of the Japanese archipelago by geometric morphometrics to investigate demic diffusion patterns. This is the first study on the Yayoi crania using their 3D data and geometric morphometrics with a much larger number of skeletal remains outside of the Kyushu regions than previous studies. The comparative results between the Jōmon and Yayoi samples show that the Yayoi people not only in the (...) eastern parts but also in the western parts of the archipelago are significantly different from the final Jōmon people and the Yayoi people were not strongly affected by the Jōmon people. A relatively gradual geological cline is also found among the Yayoi population, suggesting that the immigrants from the continental East Asia moved from the western parts to the eastern parts of the archipelago though the causes of the morphological changes are unclear. (shrink)

Computational design uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimise designs towards user-determined goals. When combined with 3D printing, it is possible to develop and construct physical products in a wide range of geometries and materials and encapsulating a range of functionality, with minimal input from human designers. One potential application is the development of bespoke surgical tools, whereby computational design optimises a tool’s morphology for a specific patient’s anatomy and the requirements of the surgical procedure to improve surgical outcomes. This (...) emerging application of AI and 3D printing provides an opportunity to examine whether new technologies affect the ethical responsibilities of those operating in high-consequence domains such as healthcare. This research draws on stakeholder interviews to identify how a range of different professions involved in the design, production, and adoption of computationally designed surgical tools, identify and attribute responsibility within the different stages of a computationally designed tool’s development and deployment. Those interviewed included surgeons and radiologists, fabricators experienced with 3D printing, computational designers, healthcare regulators, bioethicists, and patient advocates. Based on our findings, we identify additional responsibilities that surround the process of creating and using these tools. Additionally, the responsibilities of most professional stakeholders are not limited to individual stages of the tool design and deployment process, and the close collaboration between stakeholders at various stages of the process suggests that collective ethical responsibility may be appropriate in these cases. The role responsibilities of the stakeholders involved in developing the process to create computationally designed tools also change as the technology moves from research and development (R&D) to approved use. (shrink)

Many neuroanatomical alterations have been detected in patients with tinnitus in previous studies. However, little is known about the morphological and structural covariance network changes before and after long-term sound therapy. This study aimed to explore alterations in brain anatomical and SCN changes in patients with idiopathic tinnitus using voxel-based morphometry analysis 24 weeks before and after sound therapy. Thirty-three tinnitus patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans at baseline and after 24 weeks of sound therapy. Twenty-six age- and sex-matched healthy (...) control individuals also underwent two scans over a 24-week interval; 3.0T MRI and high-resolution 3D structural images were acquired with a 3D-BRAVO pulse sequence. Structural image data preprocessing was performed using the VBM8 toolbox. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score was assessed for the severity of tinnitus before and after treatment. Two-way mixed model analysis of variance and post hoc analyses were performed to determine differences between the two groups and between the two scans. Student-Newman-Keuls tests were used in the post hoc analysis. Interaction effects between the two groups and the two scans demonstrated significantly different gray matter volume in the right parahippocampus gyrus, right caudate, left superior temporal gyrus, left cuneus gyrus, and right calcarine gyrus; we found significantly decreased GM volume in the above five brain regions among the tinnitus patients before sound therapy compared to that in the HC group. The 24-week sound therapy group demonstrated significantly greater brain volume compared with the baseline group among these brain regions. We did not find significant differences in brain regions between the 24-week sound therapy and HC groups. The SCN results showed that the left superior temporal gyrus and left rolandic operculum were significantly different in nodal efficiency, nodal degree centrality, and nodal betweenness centrality after FDR correction. This study characterized the effect of sound therapy on brain GM volume, especially in the left superior temporal lobe. Notably, sound therapy had a normalizing effect on tinnitus patients. (shrink)

3D printing has surely come of age. Widely available, and integrated into many computer-based design and animation curricula, it almost seems to have become a simple extension of what we already had in 2D printing. A 2D image acts as the basis of a sign, which, perhaps upon further twists of the semiotic spiral, may lead one to cognition of a 3D physical pipe. But then, perhaps not. And only in a rare case would the physical pipe in turn find (...) use as a sign of the aforesaid 2D image. With 3D printing, this order of semiosis no longer applies. Since 3D printing mainly occurs as a non-mass-production manufacturing technique, a 3D-printed artifact acts as a physical object – and generally it is printed to act precisely in that manner. It is a being that has an ontic difference from its digital source. The case of 3D printing provides an intriguing, complex, case study for semiosis, since the printables move in and out of the virtual and physical. (shrink)

3D printing or additive manufacturing is a novel method of manufacturing parts directly from digital model using layer-by-layer material build-up approach. This tool-less manufacturing method can produce fully dense metallic parts in short time, with high precision. Features of additive manufacturing like freedom of part design, part complexity, light weighting, part consolidation, and design for function are garnering particular interests in metal additive manufacturing for aerospace, oil and gas, marine, and automobile applications. Powder bed fusion, in which each powder bed (...) layer is selectively fused using energy source like laser, is the most promising additive manufacturing technology that can be used for manufacturing small, low-volume, complex metallic parts. This review presents overview of 3D Printing technologies, materials, applications, advantages, disadvantages, challenges, economics, and applications of 3D metal printing technology, the DMLS process in detail, and also 3D metal printing perspectives in developing countries. (shrink)

The thesis of 3D/4D equivalence states that every three-dimensional description of the world is translatable without remainder into a four-dimensional description, and vice versa. In representing an object in 3D or in 4D terms we are giving alternative descriptions of one and the same thing, and debates over whether the ontology of the physical world is "really" 3D or 4D are pointless. The twins paradox is shown to rest, in relativistic 4D geometry, on a reversed law of triangle inequality. But (...) considering the twins as 3D beings who age through time, the paradox implies that time passes at different rates in different reference frames, and therefore that the concept of a single global or Absolute time is unsustainable. (shrink)

Worlds, Lewis says this: Let us say that something persists iff, somehow or other, it exists at various times; this is the neutral word. Something perdures iff it persists by having different temporal parts, or stages, at different times, though no one part of it is wholly present at more than one time; whereas it endures iff it persists by being wholly present at more than one time. Perdurance corresponds to the way a road persists through space; part of it (...) is here, and part of it is there, and no part is wholly present at two different places. Endurance corresponds to the way a universal, if there are such things, would be wholly present wherever and whenever it is instantiated. Endurance involves overlap: the content of two different times has the enduring thing as a common part. Perdurance does not.1 Lewis's remarks suggest the following formulations of the two views in the 3D/4D controversy.2.. (shrink)

The emerging contemporary natural philosophy provides a common ground for the integrative view of the natural, the artificial, and the human-social knowledge and practices. Learning process is central for acquiring, maintaining, and managing knowledge, both theoretical and practical. This paper explores the relationships between the present advances in understanding of learning in the sciences of the artificial, natural sciences, and philosophy. The question is, what at this stage of the development the inspiration from nature, specifically its computational models such as (...) info-computation through morphological computing, can contribute to machine learning and artificial intelligence, and how much on the other hand models and experiments in machine learning and robotics can motivate, justify, and inform research in computational cognitive science, neurosciences, and computing nature. We propose that one contribution can be understanding of the mechanisms of ‘learning to learn’, as a step towards deep learning with symbolic layer of computation/information processing in a framework linking connectionism with symbolism. As all natural systems possessing intelligence are cognitive systems, we describe the evolutionary arguments for the necessity of learning to learn for a system to reach humanlevel intelligence through evolution and development. The paper thus presents a contribution to the epistemology of the contemporary philosophy of nature. (shrink)

One foundational question in contemporarybiology is how to `rejoin evolution anddevelopment. The emerging research program(evolutionary developmental biology or`evo-devo) requires a meshing of disciplines,concepts, and explanations that have beendeveloped largely in independence over the pastcentury. In the attempt to comprehend thepresent separation between evolution anddevelopment much attention has been paid to thesplit between genetics and embryology in theearly part of the 20th century with itscodification in the exclusion of embryologyfrom the Modern Synthesis. This encourages acharacterization of evolutionary developmentalbiology as the marriage (...) of evolutionary theoryand embryology via developmental genetics. Butthere remains a largely untold story about thesignificance of morphology and comparativeanatomy (also minimized in the ModernSynthesis). Functional and evolutionarymorphology are critical for understanding thedevelopment of a concept central toevolutionary developmental biology,evolutionary innovation. Highlighting thediscipline of morphology and the concepts ofinnovation and novelty provides an alternativeway of conceptualizing the `evo and the `devoto be synthesized. (shrink)

In this paper, we develop a 3D-individual-based model to understand effect of various small-scale mechanisms in phytoplankton cells, on the cellular aggregation process. These mechanisms are: spatial interactions between cells due to their chemosensory abilities, a molecular diffusion and a demographical process. The latter is considered as a branching process with a density-dependent death rate to take into account the local competition on resources. We implement the IBM and simulate various scenarios under real parameter values for phytoplankton cells. To quantify (...) the effects of the different processes quoted above on the spatial and temporal distribution of phytoplankton, we used two spatial statistics: the Clark–Evans index and the group belonging percentage. Our simulation study highlights the role of the branching process with a weak-to-medium competition in reinforcing the aggregating structure that forms from attraction mechanisms, and shows by contrast that aggregations cannot form when competition is high. (shrink)

Over the past fifty years numerous ethical and political traditions, and positions and sub-positions, have emerged in the fields of animal and environmental ethics. In combination with inconsistent terminology and axiological variation, this has made it difficult for both novices and professional scholars to maintain an overview of these fields. Referring to the preliminary work of Kenneth Goodpaster, William Frankena and Kirsten Schmidt, this paper describes and explains a workable 3D method in which advantageous use is made of three dimensions (...) in ethical argumentation: “moral considerability”, “moral significance” and “moral practice”. The method is a useful research tool for at least three reasons: it allows us to systematically analyze, reconstruct, compare and criticize different normative positions in animal and environmental ethics; it helps ethical theorists to reflect on, and define, their distinctive positions; and it leads to the construction and development of a moral position with the desirable qualities of clarity, transparency, comprehensibility and completeness. First, the 3D method is introduced, and its historical context and origins outlined. Then the three dimensions of the method (moral considerability, moral significance, and moral practice) and their interrelations are considered. The paper concludes with some critical remarks and discusses the limits of the method. (shrink)

Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), tremendous efforts have been made by scientists, health professionals, business people, politicians, and laypeople around the world. Covid-19 vaccines are one of the most crucial innovations that help fight against the virus. This paper attempts to revisit the Covid-19 vaccines production process by employing the serendipity-mindsponge-3D creativity management theory. Vaccine production can be considered an information process and classified into three main stages. The first stage involved the processes of absorbing information (...) (e.g., digital data and open science) and rejecting unhelpful information (e.g., misinformation and fake news) for effectively acquiring useful insights. Useful insights were later employed by experts, enterprises, governments, and international organizations through interdisciplinary coordinated efforts for developing vaccines within a short period. Finally, the appearance of multiple types of vaccines enabled more strategic options for vaccine distribution and administration. Findings from this vaccine creativity management process could be used as critical lessons for further improvements of vaccination programs. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to argue against the claim that morphological computation is substantially different from other kinds of physical computation. I show that some (but not all) purported cases of morphological computation do not count as specifically computational, and that those that do are solely physical computational systems. These latter cases are not, however, specific enough: all computational systems, not only morphological ones, may (and sometimes should) be studied in various ways, including their energy efficiency, cost, reliability, (...) and durability. Second, I critically analyze the notion of “offloading” computation to the morphology of an agent or robot, by showing that, literally, computation is sometimes not offloaded but simply avoided. Third, I point out that while the morphology of any agent is indicative of the environment that it is adapted to, or informative about that environment, it does not follow that every agent has access to its morphology as the model of its environment. (shrink)

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines commonly illustrate 3D relationships in diagrams, yet these are often challenging for students. Failing to understand diagrams can hinder success in STEM because scientific practice requires understanding and creating diagrammatic representations. We explore a new approach to improving student understanding of diagrams that convey 3D relations that is based on students generating their own predictive diagrams. Participants’ comprehension of 3D spatial diagrams was measured in a pre- and post-design where students selected the correct 2D (...) slice through 3D geologic block diagrams. Generating sketches that predicated the internal structure of a model led to greater improvement in diagram understanding than visualizing the interior of the model without sketching, or sketching the model without attempting to predict unseen spatial relations. In addition, we found a positive correlation between sketched diagram accuracy and improvement on the diagram comprehension measure. Results suggest that generating a predictive diagram facilitates students’ abilities to make inferences about spatial relationships in diagrams. Implications for use of sketching in supporting STEM learning are discussed. (shrink)

Idealized mo dels of receptive elds (RFs) can be used as building blocks for the creation of p owerful distributed computation systems. The present rep ort concentrates on inv estigating the utility of collections of RFs in representing 3D objects under changing viewing conditions. The main requirement in this task is that the pattern of activity of RFs vary as little as p ossible when the object and the camera move relative to each other. I propose a method for representing (...) objects by RF activities, based on the observation that, in the case of rotation around a xed axis, dierences of activities of RFs that are prop erly situated with resp ect to that axis remain inv ariant. Results of computational exp eriments suggest that a representation scheme based on this algorithm for the choice of stable pairs of RFs would p erform consistently b etter than a scheme inv olving random sets of RFs. The proposed scheme may be useful under object or camera rotation, b oth for ideal Lam b ertian objects, and for real-world objects such as human faces. (shrink)

The research is devoted to the morphology that V.N. Ilyin developed in the work Static and Dynamics of Pure Form and other archival texts. Morphology is central to the philosophy of V.N. Ilyin, but it remains an unexplored subject. The article’s author explores the morphology of the philosopher from a historical and philosophical point of view. In addition to apparent influences (G.W. Leibniz, E. Husserl, N. Lossky), the article’s author revealed the connection of V.N. Ilyin’s ideas with (...) the history of Western European philosophy and his attitude to medieval thinkers. The author considered how V.N. Ilyin understood and assessed his modern philosophy and its results by the middle of the twentieth century. V.N. Ilyin especially paid attention to phenomenology and its connection with morphology, analyzing phenomenology's influence on existential philosophy. In addition to phenomenology, V.N. Ilyin highly appreciated the intuitism of H. Bergson and N. Lossky. The third main philosophical direction in the twentieth century for V.N. Ilyin was religious philosophy (Neo-Thomists and followers of H. Bergson), which aimed at creating axiology, a new system of values. V.N. Ilyin sought to combine various philosophical ideas in the project of morphology based on logic and scientific methodology. He stated the need to reform formal logic and create “metalogic” that would be more consistent with the philosophical tasks of the twentieth century. The morphology of V.N. Ilyin is based on the idea of synthesis and focuses on creating universal science. The comparison of various philosophical ideas of the twentieth century with morphology makes it possible to understand better his philosophical worldview, the course of his reflections, and the meaning of the morphological project. (shrink)

Resumo Neste artigo, vamos considerar o recente debate na metafísica da evolução, no que diz respeito tanto à persistência como à “mudança” em espécies biológicas, segundo a tese que considera a espécie como o agregado de indivíduos. Centrar-nos-emos na proposta de Thomas Reydon, que argumenta que em biologia, o termo “espécie” refere-se a duas entidades biológicas, por si denominadas evolverons e phylons, que desempenham vários papéis epistemológicos em pelo menos duas disciplinas diferentes, nomeadamente na biologia sistemática e na biologia evolutiva. (...) Em particular, analisamos criticamente a alegação de Reydon, que estas duas entidades biológicas geraram um problema para a tese que sustém a equivalência entre duas teorias de persistência, desenvolvidas pela metafísica analítica contemporânea: o tri–Dimensionalismo e tetra–Dimensionalismo. Neste artigo, pretende-se restaurar a tese da equivalência metafísica, recorrendo a uma tripla estratégia: promover a ideia de que os evolverons e os “phylons” são duas dimensões de uma mesma realidade; recorrer a uma noção menos problemática noção de endurantismo e, por último, destacar alguns problemas que surgem dos exemplos biológicos empregues por Reydon para basear o desenvolvimento dos seus argumentos. Palavras-chave : conceito de espécie, endurantismo, equivalência metafísica entre 3D e 4D, espécies biológicas sincrónicas e diacrónicas, persistênciaIn this paper we revise a recent debate on the metaphysics of evolution pertaining to both the persistence and change of biological species, and the species-as-individuals thesis. We focus on Thomas Reydon’s proposal that, in biology, the term “species” refers to two different biological entities, which he calls evolverons and phylons, and plays different epistemological roles in at least two different disciplines in which it is used, namely, evolutionary and systematic biology. In particular, we critically revise Reydon’s claim that these two biological entities raise a problem for the thesis of the equivalence between the two theories of persistence developed in contemporary analytic metaphysics: three–dimensionalism and four–dimensionalism. In this paper, we aim to reinstate the thesis of metaphysical equivalence by a threefold strategy: motivation of the idea that evolverons and phylons are two dimensions of the same entity, shifting to a less problematic notion of endurance, and an exploration of doubts about the particular biological examples upon which Reydon bases his arguments. Keywords : 3D / 4D metaphysical equivalence, endurantism, persistence, species concept, synchronic and diachronic biological species. (shrink)

Morphological content is information that is implicitly embodied in the standing structure of a cognitive system and is automatically accommodated during cognitive processing without first becoming explicit in consciousness. We maintain that much belief-formation in human cognition is essentially morphological : i.e., it draws heavily on large amounts of morphological content, and must do so in order to tractably accommodate the holistic evidential relevance of background information possessed by the cognitive agent. We also advocate a form of experiential evidentialism concerning (...) epistemic justification—roughly, the view that the justification-status of an agent’s beliefs is fully determined by the character of the agent’s conscious experience. We have previously defended both the thesis that much belief-formation is essentially morphological, and also a version of evidentialism. Here we explain how experiential evidentialism can be smoothly and plausibly combined with the thesis that much of the cognitive processing that generates justified beliefs is essentially morphological. The leading idea is this: even though epistemically relevant morphological content does not become explicit in consciousness during the process of belief-generation, nevertheless such content does affect the overall character of conscious experience in an epistemically significant way: it is implicit in conscious experience, and is implicitly appreciated by the experiencing agent. (shrink)

Several tasks in artificial intelligence require the ability to find models about knowledge dynamics. They include belief revision, fusion and belief merging, and abduction. In this paper, we exploit the algebraic framework of mathematical morphology in the context of propositional logic and define operations such as dilation or erosion of a set of formulas. We derive concrete operators, based on a semantic approach, that have an intuitive interpretation and that are formally well behaved, to perform revision, fusion and abduction. (...) Computation and tractability are addressed, and simple examples illustrate the main results. (shrink)

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is twofold: to provide an overview of related studies and to highlight research gaps and questions that need to be addressed. Research conducted in three-dimensional (3D) online environments constitutes a different research context, not least because it involves the recruitment of avatars in the research process. Researchers need to appreciate better the ethical concerns that arise in this novel, fast-evolving context and how these concern different stakeholders.Design/methodology/approach– The paper employs an interdisciplinary desk-research approach. It (...) critically reviews related literature, highlights the involved stakeholders, discusses ethical issues from a marketing research perspective and concludes with a discussion of related studies and research gaps, providing direct future research avenues.Findings– The characteristics of the 3D online environments and the behaviour and experiences of their users set the boundaries and guide the way regarding the ethical research in this context.Research limitations/implications– The paper does not present primary empirical results, instead it reviews and critiques related literature in 3D online environments and sets the agenda for future research.Practical implications– The paper provides ethical guidelines and identifies blurred areas in conducting or participating in research in 3D online environments.Originality/value– Based on earlier studies and examples of ethical concerns when studying 3D online environments, this paper emphasises the parameters that should be taken into consideration in current and future research studies. (shrink)

Le lecteur moderne demeure dérouté par les ekphraseis de bâtiments des textes byzantins. Il est en effet difficile de les considérer comme des sources pour l'archéologie ou l'Histoire de l'art, et la recherche tend à leur égard à adopter deux approches : l'une, plutôt liée à l'Histoire et à l'Histoire de l'art, s'emploie à retrouver des éléments réels de bâtiments ou d'œuvres d'art dans ces textes ; l'autre, plutôt philologique, cherche à considérer ces textes en eux-mêmes pour leur valeur littéraire. (...) Serait-il cependant possible de chercher une voie médiane? Une voie qui accepterait qu'une part de l'étrangeté de ces textes, nécessairement due à la langue et à l'époque, le soit également parce que l'expérience de lecture entre Moyen Âge et époque moderne a radicalement changé. Il manquerait au lecteur moderne, non l'imagination, mais les mécanismes et les résultats de l'imagination médiévale. Les échos lexicaux et thématiques qui balisent le texte et qui en dessinent l'architecture en seraient la clef aboutiraient à un texte en 3D, c'est-à-dire une projection mentale de l'objet décrit non pas comme simple image donnée par l'information contenue dans le texte, mais comme image construite par la composition du discours. Ainsi, au fur et à mesure qu'un auteur décrit un bâtiment, le texte le construit en mots et in fine en a épousé la forme. (shrink)

Depuis la fin des années 1970, le programme NALC-BDLC collecte des données dialectales auprès de locuteurs natifs dans l’ensemble de la Corse et dans le nord de la Sardaigne. Les enquêtes ethnolinguistiques de terrain sont menées sous la forme d’entretiens semi-dirigés avec l’aide de questionnaires thématiques. Cette entreprise au long cours a permis de rassembler un matériel linguistique riche, mais a parallèlement connu diverses évolutions – méthodologiques et technologiques – rendant la version actuelle partielle. Avant de décrire l’analyse menée pour (...) combler ces déficits, les possibilités offertes aujourd’hui sont exposées et mises en perspectives par rapport à celles de la version historique. Notre démarche dépasse cependant la « simple restauration » du système et s’envisage en deux directions : d’une part la mise en œuvre d’un projet de recherches qui renforcera les dimensions morphologie et syntaxe de la base, d’autre part l’application des techniques du Traitement Automatique du Langage (TAL) pour le développement du programme. (shrink)

The paper aims to understand whether morphology can be framed as a language for aesthetics. In particular, whether Olaf Breidbach’s contribution can determine its fundamental terms. These are related to the notion of forms and images. Hence, the paper is structured into three parts: i) framing of research on morphology in Ger-many; ii) analysis of Goethe’s method and vocabulary from an aesthetic standpoint; iii) presentation of Breidbach’s proposal in relation to Goethe.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, and there is currently no cure. The “β‐amyloid cascade hypothesis” of AD is the basis of current understanding of AD pathogenesis and drug discovery. However, no AD models have fully validated this hypothesis. We recently developed a human stem cell culture model of AD by cultivating genetically modified human neural stem cells in a three‐dimensional (3D) cell culture system. These cells were able to recapitulate key events of AD pathology including (...) β‐amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. In this review, we will discuss the progress and current limitations of AD mouse models and human stem cell models as well as explore the breakthroughs of 3D cell culture systems. We will also share our perspective on the potential of dish models of neurodegenerative diseases for studying pathogenic cascades and therapeutic drug discovery. (shrink)

El presente artículo analiza la (re)introducción del 3D en nuestras pantallas de cine. Esta vez, gracias a la tecnología digital y a la polarización de la imagen, la profundidad de campo se hace mas creíble y la interfaz, a pesar de seguir presente, ha ganado en comodidad y efectividad. La espectacularidad de las imágenes es el mayor reclamo que hoy presenta el 3D para atraer al espectador a las salas de cine y fascinarle con el desarrollo tecnológico. Al mismo tiempo, (...) el 3D es una herramienta útil para solucionar los problemas surgidos en la industria cinematográfica a raíz de la evolución de la pirateria y la cada vez más compleja competición con otros medios. La gran duda que plantea el 3D es si se sumará a la larga lista de fracasos de los años 70 y 80 por intentar transformar la forma de ver la imagen o supondrá un paso adelante en la pretensión por acercarnos a la realidad virtual y un cine de inmersión e interacción total. (shrink)

The chapter examines the recent approach to ideology as an actual and ubiquitous combination of decontested political concepts, whose micro-morphological arrangements are the key to the specific meaning each ideological family contains. Shifting proximities and relative weights accorded to those concepts produce multiple ideological variants. Ideologies are pivotal to the discipline of political theory, discernible both in professional and vernacular thinking, and serve as discursive competitions over the control of public political language. Notions of essential contestability, theories of symbolic mapping, (...) and a focus on actual rather than normative political thinking shed light on their semantic significance. Ideologies are permanent phenomena ranging from the flexible to the rigid, and the boundaries that seem to separate one ideology from another may be loose and mutating, challenging the traditional association of ideologies with political parties. In parallel, the study of ideology involves decoding and interpretation, not its juxtaposition with truth. (shrink)

It may seem trivial to state that one of the major trends in biological investigation consists in an attempt to explain the structural and functional aspects of living matter in chemical terms, in an effort to obtain insight into the equivalent of macroscopic phenomena on the molecular level. I am sure you are aware of, and this meeting of the Association has brought ample additional evidence, in how many fields this tendency has become apparent. It can be recognized in genetics (...) with the molecular analysis of chromosomes and the enzymatic or metabolic interpretation of hereditary properties like the eyecolor of Drosophila. In a purely morphological branch like histology we do not ask merely for a differentiation of stained cell structure but we ask for the nature of the staining reaction; in nerve physiology we try to interpret conduction as alterations of protein lipoid layers; or in pathology where the age old syndrome of inflammation is explored with biochemical methods. I should mention molecular models of membranes and cell surfaces, the molecular interpretation of secretion and of the macroscopic phenomena of metabolism. Yet insofar as this yield of data could be designated as a trend, it would rather seem to be the natural outcome to be expected from the application of the analytic method of science. In one instance, however, this approach has been carried farther than in all the other fields, and it would seem to be worthwhile to pause for one moment to ask whether this case is important merely because of its technical implications or whether it is meaningful in a wider sense. (shrink)

An important element of Natural Language Processing is parts of speech tagging. With fine-grained word-class annotations, the word forms in a text can be enhanced and can also be used in downstream processes, such as dependency parsing. The improved search options that tagged data offers also greatly benefit linguists and lexicographers. Natural language processing research is becoming increasingly popular and important as unsupervised learning methods are developed. There are some aspects of the Albanian language that make the creation of a (...) part-of-speech tag set challenging. This research provides a discussion of those issues linguistic phenomena and presents a proposal for a part-of-speech tag set that can adequately represent them. The corpus contains more than 250,000 tokens, each annotated with a medium-sized tag set. The Albanian language’s syntagmatic aspects are adequately represented. Additionally, in this paper are morphologically and part-of-speech tagged corpora for the Albanian language, as well as lemmatize and neural morphological tagger trained on these corpora. Based on the held-out evaluation set, the model achieves 93.65% accuracy on part-of-speech tagging, The morphological tagging rate was 85.31 % and the lemmatization rate was 88.95%. Furthermore, the TF-IDF technique weighs terms and with the scores are highlighted words that have additional information for the Albanian corpus. (shrink)

The Global Workspace Theory and Information Integration Theory are two of the most currently accepted consciousness models; however, these models do not address many aspects of conscious experience. We compare these models to our previously proposed consciousness model in which the thalamus fills-in processed sensory information from corticothalamic feedback loops within a proposed 3D default space, resulting in the recreation of the internal and external worlds within the mind. This 3D default space is composed of all cells of the body, (...) which communicate via gap junctions and electrical potentials to create this unified space. We use 3D llustrations to explain how both visual and non-visual sensory information may be filled-in within this dynamic space, creating a unified seamless conscious experience. This neural sensory memory space is likely generated by baseline neural oscillatory activity from the default mode network, other salient networks, brainstem, and reticular activating system. (shrink)

Through the analysis of facial feature extraction technology, this paper designs a lightweight convolutional neural network. The LW-CNN model adopts a separable convolution structure, which can propose more accurate features with fewer parameters and can extract 3D feature points of a human face. In order to enhance the accuracy of feature extraction, a face detection method based on the inverted triangle structure is used to detect the face frame of the images in the training set before the model extracts the (...) features. Aiming at the problem that the feature extraction algorithm based on the difference criterion cannot effectively extract the discriminative information, the Generalized Multiple Maximum Dispersion Difference Criterion and the corresponding feature extraction algorithm are proposed. The algorithm uses the difference criterion instead of the entropy criterion to avoid the “small sample” problem, and the use of QR decomposition can extract more effective discriminative features for facial recognition, while also reducing the computational complexity of feature extraction. Compared with traditional feature extraction methods, GMMSD avoids the problem of “small samples” and does not require preprocessing steps on the samples; it uses QR decomposition to extract features from the original samples and retains the distribution characteristics of the original samples. According to different change matrices, GMMSD can evolve into different feature extraction algorithms, which shows the generalized characteristics of GMMSD. Experiments show that GMMSD can effectively extract facial identification features and improve the accuracy of facial recognition. (shrink)

I have several comments and I will try to present the essence of the problem. The papers that we read on the computer give an idea of a certain structure of the future dictionary of culturology, or of culture- I don't know which is intended. It seems to me, that, according their approach, the papers are strictly scientific and attempt to apply the methods and concepts of scientific knowledge to culturology. Indeed, there is a scientific approach to cultural phenomena, for (...) example, the morphology of culture. It proceeds from the ideas of general validity, objectivity, and conceptuality. All this is legitimate and was sufficiently justified. I have some comments on Orlova's text regarding the identification of formal and eidetic logic. It is not exactly so. Eidetic logic has no bearing on contemporary logic, which does not coincide with formal logic. (shrink)

This article presents a systematic exposition of how the basic ideas of Construction Grammar and the Parallel Architecture of grammar provide the framework for a proper account of morphological phenomena, in particular word formation. This framework is referred to as Construction Morphology. As to the implications of CxM for the architecture of grammar, the article provides evidence against a split between lexicon and grammar, in line with CxG. In addition, it shows that the PA approach makes it possible to (...) be explicit about what happens on which level of the grammar, and thus to give an insightful account of interface phenomena. These interface phenomena appear to require that various types of information are accessible simultaneously, and it is argued that constructional schemas have the right format for expressing these mutual dependencies between different types of information. (shrink)

The diachronic change of word-formation patterns is currently gaining increasing interest in cognitive-linguistic and constructionist approaches. This paper contributes to this line of research with a corpus-based investigation of nominalization with the suffix -ung in German. In doing so, it puts forward both theoretical and methodological considerations on morphology and morphological change from a usage-based perspective. Regarding methodology, the long-standing topic of how to measure the productivity of a morphological pattern is discussed, and it is shown how statistical association (...) measures can be applied to quantify the relationship between word-formation patterns and their bases. These findings are linked up with theoretical considerations on the interplay between constructional schemas and their respective instances. (shrink)

There has been a surge in mass media reports extolling the potential for using three-dimensional printing of biomaterials to treat a wide range of clinical conditions. Given that mass media is recognized as one of the most important sources of health and medical information for the general public, especially prospective patients, we report and discuss the ethical consequences of coverage of 3D bioprinting in the media. First, we illustrate how positive mass media narratives of a similar biofabricated technology, namely the (...) Macchiarini scaffold tracheas, which was involved in lethal experimental human trials, influenced potential patient perceptions. Second, we report and analyze the positively biased and enthusiastic portrayal of 3D bioprinting in mass media. Third, we examine the lack of regulation and absence of discussion about risks associated with bioprinting technology. Fourth, we explore how media misunderstanding is dangerously misleading the narrative about the technology. (shrink)

The scientific development of 3D bioprinting is rapidly advancing. This innovative technology involves many ethical and regulatory issues, including theoretical, source, transplantation and enhancement, animal welfare, economic, safety and information arguments. 3D bioprinting technology requires an adequate bioethical debate in order to develop regulations in the interest both of public health and the development of research. This paper aims to initiate and promote ethical debate. The authors examine scientific aspects of 3D bioprinting technology and explore related ethical issues, with special (...) regard to the protection of individual rights and transparency of research. In common with all new biotechnologies, 3D bioprinting technology involves both opportunities and risks. Consequently, several scientific and ethical issues need to be addressed. A bioethical debate should be carefully increased through a multidisciplinary approach among experts and also among the public. (shrink)

Although the role of morphology in evolutionary theory remains a subject of debate, assessing the contributions of morphological investigation to evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo) is a more circumscribed issue of direct relevance to ongoing research. Historical studies of morphologically oriented researchers and the formation of the Modern Synthesis in the Anglo-American context identify a recurring theme: the synthetic theory of evolution did not capture multiple levels of biological organization. When this feature is incorporated into a philosophical framework for explaining (...) the origin of evolutionary innovations and novelties (a core domain of inquiry in Evo-devo) two specific roles for morphology can be described: (1) the conceptualization and operational identification of the targets of explanation; and (2) the elucidation of causal interactions at higher levels of organization during ontogeny and through evolutionary time. These roles are critical components of any adequate explanation of innovation and novelty though not exhaustive of the parts played by morphology in evolutionary investigation. They also invite reflection on what counts as an evolutionary cause in contemporary evolutionary biology. (shrink)

Morphological engineering is an emerging research area in synthetic biology. In 2008 “synthetic morphology” was proposed as a prospective approach to engineering self-constructing anatomies by Jamie A. Davies of the University of Edinburgh. Synthetic morphology can establish a new paradigm, according to Davies, insofar as “cells can be programmed to organize themselves into specific, designed arrangements, structures and tissues.” It is obvious that this new approach will extrapolate morphology into a new realm beyond the traditional logic of (...) morphological research. However, synthetic morphology is a highly idealized vision of morphology which derives its visionary ideas from morphological engineering and mathematical idealizations in order to understand the principles of molecular morphology. Thus, the question is, if this approach will help to understand morphogenesis better or if it will just enable biologists to engineer morphogenesis. The paper investigates the development of synthetic morphology and its relation to synthetic biology as well as its epistemic gains. (shrink)

Dramatic advances in 3D Web technologies have recently led to widespread development of virtual world Web browsers and 3D content. A natural question is whether 3D thumbnails can be used to find one’s way about such 3D content the way that text and 2D thumbnail images are used to navigate 2D Web content. We have conducted an empirical experiment that shows interactive 3D thumbnails, which we call worldlets, improve travelers’ landmark knowledge and expedite wayfinding in virtual environments.