The normalization in the path integral approach to quantum field theory, in contrast with statistical field theory, can contain physical information. The main claim of this paper is that the inner product on the space of field configurations, one of the fundamental pieces of data required to be added to quantize a classical field theory, determines the normalization of the path integral. In fact, dimensional analysis shows that the introduction of this structure necessarily introduces a scale that is left unfixed (...) by the classical theory. We study the dependence of the theory on this scale. This allows us to explore mechanisms that can be used to fix the normalization based on cutting and gluing different integrals. “Self-normalizing” path integrals, those independent of the scale, play an important role in this process. Furthermore, we show that the scale dependence encodes other important physical data: we use it to give a conceptually clear derivation of the chiral anomaly. Several explicit examples, including the scalar and compact bosons in different geometries, supplement our discussion. (shrink)

Certain cognitive and philosophical aspects of the concept of conceivability with intended or established diversion from reality are discussed. The “coherence gap problem” arises when certain fragments of the real world are replaced with imaginary situations while most details are ignored. Another issue, “the spectator problem”, concerns the participation of the conceiver himself in the world conceived. Three different examples of conceivability are used to illustrate our points, namely thought experiments in physics, a hypothetical world devoid of consciousness , and (...) virtual reality. (shrink)

Three experiments investigated the role of target-target perceptual similarity within the attentional blink. Various geometric shapes were presented in a rapid serial visual presentation task. Targets could have 2, 1, or 0 shared features. Features included shape and size. The second target was presented after five or six different lags after the first target. The task was to detect both targets on each trial. Second-target report accuracy was increased by target-target similarity. This modulation was observed more for mixed-trial design as (...) compared with blocked design. Results are discussed in terms of increased stability of working memory representations and reduced interference for second-target processing. (shrink)

Several authors have characterized a striking phenomenon of perceptual learning in visual discrimination tasks. This learning process is selective for the stimulus characteristics and location in the visual field. Since the human visual system exploits symmetry for object recognition we were interested in exploring how it learns to use preattentive symmetry cues for discriminating simple, meaningless, forms. In this study, similar to previous studies of perceptual learning, we asked whether the effects of practice acquired in the discrimination of pairs of (...) shape with a specific orientation of the symmetry axis would transfer to the discrimination of shapes with different orientation of symmetry axis, or to shapes presented in different areas of the visual field. We found that there was no learning transfer between forms with very different axes of symmetry (90° apart). Interestingly, however, we found a transfer of learning effect to horizontally oriented symmetry axis from a condition with an axis of symmetry differing by 45°. Also it appears that some subjects took a longer time to learn than the typical fast learning paradigm would predict. Data showed that when observers practice discrimination of meaningless symmetric forms, consistent improvement in the performance occurs. This improvement is lasting over days, and it tends to be specific for the area of the visual field trained. We will discuss results from some of the observers whose learning was not fast, but who actually improved with more practice and with large time intervals (1 day) between training sessions. (shrink)

Pueblos de mar. Relatos etnográficos es un libro singular que forma parte de una clase de textos ambivalentes entre la escritura etnográfica y la literatura antropológica, género nuevo en las letras chilenas paralelo a la llamada antropología poética. Esta condición depende de los diversos metatextos que lo conforman en gran parte, tales como el título, subtítulo, prólogo, estructura y especificidades textuales, que reconocen expresamente su plural condición de texto etnográfico y literario. Al mismo tiempo, su narración referencial se mezcla con (...) subjetividad, autorreflexividad y ficcionalidad. Peoples of sea. Ethnographic accounts is a unique book that is part of a class of ambivalent textual writings between ethnographic and anthropological literature, a new gendre in Chilean letters parallel to the so-called poetic anthropology. This condition depends on the different metatexts that compriseit, such as title, subtitle, prologue, and specific textual structures, which expressly recognize plural condition of ethnographic and literary text. At the same time, his referential discourse is mixed with subjectivity, self-reflexivity and fictionality. (shrink)

How do we come to like the things that we do? Each one of us starts from a relatively similar state at birth, yet we end up with vastly different sets of aesthetic preferences. These preferences go on to define us both as individuals and as members of our cultures. Therefore, it is important to understand how aesthetic preferences form over our lifetimes. This poses a challenging problem: to understand this process, one must account for the many factors at play (...) in the formation of aesthetic values and how these factors influence each other over time. A general framework based on basic neuroscientific principles that can also account for this process is needed. Here, we present such a framework and illustrate it through a model that accounts for the trajectories of aesthetic values over time. Our framework is inspired by meta-analytic data of neuroimaging studies of aesthetic appraisal. This framework incorporates effects of sensory inputs, rewards, and motivational states. Crucially, each one of these effects is probabilistic. We model their interactions under a reinforcement-learning circuitry. Simulations of this model and mathematical analysis of the framework lead to three main findings. First, different people may develop distinct weighing of aesthetic variables because of individual variability in motivation. Second, individuals from different cultures and environments may develop different aesthetic values because of unique sensory inputs and social rewards. Third, because learning is stochastic stemming from probabilistic sensory inputs, motivations, and rewards, aesthetic values vary in time. These three theoretical findings account for different lines of empirical research. Through our study, we hope to provide a general and unifying framework for understanding the various aspects involved in the formation of aesthetic values over time. (shrink)

The study aims to describe the process of implementing audiobooks and describe the various challenges faced by teachers. This research is qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. This research was carried out in 5 provinces, namely West Sumatra, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, North Kalimantan, Gorontalo, and North Maluku. Each province selected representatives from elementary, middle, high school, and special schools who have implemented audiobooks. Informants are teachers and students who have used audiobooks. The process of collecting data from teachers (...) was carried out using the interview method and students through FGD. Data analysis in this research uses a thematic analysis model. The results of this research indicate that the initial challenges in using audiobooks are variations in the availability of facilities, students' digital literacy, and students' learning styles. Before starting learning, teachers must ensure that they are ready to accompany (understand audiobooks technically and substantively), ensure that students understand the technicalities of using audiobooks, and design learning according to the student's profile. Things that should be ensured in the learning process with audiobooks are (1) ensuring students' psychological and substantive readiness, (2) facilitating students who are able to learn quickly or slowly, and (3) being ready to respond to situations of student boredom and maximizing audiobooks as supporting materials to study independently. The biggest challenge is minimizing the potential for boredom, maintaining concentration, and ensuring that the information presented can be understood by students. (shrink)

Understanding how chemical energy is converted into directed movement is a fundamental problem in biology. In higher organisms this is accomplished through the hydrolysis of ATP by three families of motor proteins: myosin, dynein and kinesin. The most abundant of these is myosin, which operates against actin and plays a central role in muscle contraction. As summarized here, great progress has been made towards understanding the molecular basis of movement through the determination of the three‐dimensional structures of myosin and actin (...) and through the establishment of systems for site‐directed mutagenesis of this motor protein. It now appears that the generation of movement is coupled to ATP hydrolysis by a series of domain movements within myosin. (shrink)

The worldwide problem of corruption is one that requires greater knowledge about responsible leadership. Based on the literature on responsible leadership, developmental psychology, and moral development, the purpose of our study is to understand the constructions of the motivational drivers behind the behaviors of a responsible leader. Using biographical and narrative methodologies, we analyzed the individual motivational drivers of Carlos Cavelier, a recognized responsible leaders who grew up and works in Colombia, a social/economic context characterized by institutional fragility and corruption. (...) Our findings suggest that the coherence between the immediate environments of development of the future leader, configured optimal environments in which the leader developed the moral conscience that guides his behavior as a responsible leader. Our study points out the need not to take the development of responsible leaders for granted, and presents propositions that allow for a deeper understanding of the micro‐foundations of responsible leadership, highlighting the importance of the contexts in which leaders are raised and in which they develop. Thus, our study has the potential to be heuristic and generative of future studies. (shrink)

The aim of this study is to analyze investor behavior towards socially responsible mutual funds. The analysis is based on an experimental study where a sample of individuals takes investment decisions under different parameters of information about the investment alternatives and expected returns. In the experiment, each participant decides how to distribute an investment budget between two funds, returns on which are uncertain and change over time. Two treatments are conducted, each providing a different degree of information on the socially (...) responsible (SR) character of one of the two investment alternatives. The results obtained suggest that although individuals’ criteria for investment are essentially guided by returns and diversification, participants invest significantly more in a fund when they are explicitly informed about its SR nature. In particular, participants who declare being concerned about SR actually invest significantly more in the SR alternative. Furthermore, the level of SR faithfulness among a small group of investors is such that they invest the main share of their budget in the SR fund, even when the return differential is highly unfavorable. Providing clear information about the SR characteristics of an investment is crucial to help investors express their preferences. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the analysis of two dominant security concepts in the modern world. Given the long bipolarity of the world, due to the dominance of the Horde and Westphalian concepts of security, the question arises about the place of Ukraine in this coordinate system. In the process of research, a historical analysis of the emergence, formation and dissemination of two, alternative concepts of security, which are characteristic of countries with different governance models. The article argues that at (...) present two concepts of state security are dominant in the world, namely the Westphalian and the Horde. The conducted analysis allows us to state that the strategic partnership between these two concepts of security is illusory, given the great differences in the principles of concept construction. (shrink)

IntroductionThe present study aims at analysing how social support received and provided by parents of children, adolescents and young adults (AYA) diagnosed with cancer, as well as their sociodemographic and clinical variables, affect those parents’ stress levels and life and family satisfaction.Materials and MethodsA total of 112 parents of children and AYAs who had been diagnosed with cancer and who received treatment in Malaga participated in the study. In the study, participated all parents who voluntarily agreed to fulfil the questionnaire. (...) The main inclusion criterion was that their child had cancer. Instruments used were Questionnaire on the Frequency of and Satisfaction with Social Support (QFSSS), Paediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP), Life Satisfaction Scale and Family Satisfaction Scale.ResultsIn the mean difference analyses, male parents showed 3.38 (SD = 0.56) in social support received and female parents showedM = 3.08 (SD = 0.72). Conversely, in social support provided, female parents showed 3.22 and male parents showedM = 3.55 (p = 0.020). Significant differences were also found in family satisfaction, where female parents (M = 3.64) feel more satisfied than male parents (M = 3.06;p = 0.027). Parents of children aged between 0 and 14 years (M = 3.06) feel more stress than those parents of children aged 15–21 (M = 2.61;p = 0.021). The correlation analysis shows that there is a negative and significant relation between stress levels experienced by parents when facing different situations related to the child’s disease and both types of support, receivedr = −0.411,p < 0.001 and providedr = −0.282,p < 0.01. There is also a positive and significant relation between life satisfaction and social support receivedr = 0.292,p < 0.01, and social support providedr = 0.409,p < 0.001. There is a positive and significant relation between family satisfaction and social support receivedr = 0.330,p < 0.01, in the same way as with social support providedr = 0.222,p < 0.05. The regression analysis related to stress levels of parents indicates that social support received predicts levels of stress significantlyp < 0.001, with the variable of number of children being the one that showed to be significantp < 0.05. Social support provided showed the most significant resultsp = 0.001, meaning that social support provided increased life satisfaction. Social support received explains family satisfaction (p = 0.50), as it increases the family satisfaction of parents of children with cancer.DiscussionAnalysing social support received and provided, as well as sociodemographic and clinical variables, allowed us to broaden the knowledge on the effect social support has on stress levels, life satisfaction and family satisfaction in parents of children and AYAs diagnosed with cancer. This may have relevant practical implications for the design of interventions that would improve parents’ lives. (shrink)

A growing volume of research from global data demonstrates that institutional care under conditions of deprivation is profoundly damaging to children, particularly during the critical early years of development. However, how these individuals develop over a life course remains unclear. This study uses data from a survey on the health and development of 420 children mostly under the age of three, placed in 12 infant care institutions between 1958 and 1961 in Zurich, Switzerland. The children exhibited significant delays in cognitive, (...) social, and motor development in the first years of life. Moreover, a follow-up of a subsample of 143 children about 10 years later revealed persistent difficulties, including depression, school related-problems, and stereotypies. Between 2019 and 2021, these formerly institutionalized study participants were located through the Swiss population registry and invited to participate once again in the research project. Now in their early sixties, they are studied for their health, further development, and life-course trajectories. A mixed-methods approach using questionnaires, neuropsychological assessments, and narrative biographical interviews was implemented by a multidisciplinary team. Combining prospective and retrospective data with standardized quantitative and biographical qualitative data allows a rich reconstruction of life histories. The availability of a community sample from the same geographic location, the 1954–1961 cohort of the Zurich Longitudinal Studies, described in detail in a paper in this issue, enables comparison with an unaffected cohort. This article describes the study design and study participants in detail and discusses the potential and limitations of a comparison with a community sample. It outlines a set of challenges and solutions encountered in the process of a lifespan longitudinal study from early childhood into the cusp of old age with a potentially vulnerable sample and summarizes the lessons learned along the way. (shrink)

The precarious rights of senior citizens, especially those who are highly educated and who are expected to counsel and guide the younger generations, has stimulated the creation internationally of advocacy associations and opinion leader groups. The strength of these groups, however, varies from country to country. In some countries, they are supported and are the focus of intense interest; in others, they are practically ignored. For this is reason we believe that the creation of a network of all these associations (...) is essential. The proposed network would act as a support for the already-existing policies of the United Nations’ High Commission for Human Rights, of independent experts, and of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People. All three have long ago recommended the creation of a recognized instrument for uniting presently scattered efforts. The proposed network, therefore, will seek to promote the international exchange of relevant expertise, and it will reinforce the commitments and actions that single countries are currently taking to meet these objectives. For example, informative public events can be organised to promote particular support initiatives and to provide an opportunity for new members of the network to be presented. The network will promote health for senior citizens, disease prevention, senior mobility, safe free time for seniors, alimentary education, protection against new risks and dangers, as well as equity in the services necessary for seniors to adopt new information and communication technologies. In the case of retired academic members, the network will promote equality with respect to continuing use of digital technologies (particularly email), continuing access to research libraries, and the guaranteed ability for seniors to fund their own research programs and to deliver free seminars. (shrink)

The article draws paralles between Bakhtin's literary theory and some of the Peirce's philosophical concepts. The comparisons with Bakhtin go beyond the theory of heteroglossia and reveal that related notions were implicitly originated by Dostoevsky. The elaboration of the concepts of dialogue, "self" and "other" continue into the ideas of consciousness, iconic effects in literature, and the semiotic aspect of thought. Especially important in this chapter is the aspect of Peirce's theory concerned with the endless growth of interpretation and sign (...) building, or unlimited semiosis. Peirce's discussion of unlimited semiosis is not among the less elaborated ones. Quite on the contrary, it is one of the most important of his ideas of sign. As a semiotic notion it is widely exploited in many related areas. However, it is not often used as an analytical tool to examine literature or to other works of art. Here, we will employ this notion in conjunction with Bakhtin's doctrine of heteroglossia. (shrink)

After introducing the new field of cultural evolution, we review a growing body of empirical evidence suggesting that culture shapes what people attend to, perceive and remember as well as how they think, feel and reason. Focusing on perception, spatial navigation, mentalizing, thinking styles, reasoning (epistemic norms) and language, we discuss not only important variation in these domains, but emphasize that most researchers (including philosophers) and research participants are psychologically peculiar within a global and historical context. This rising tide of (...) evidence recommends caution in relying on one’s intuitions or even in generalizing from reliable psychological findings to the species, Homo sapiens. Our evolutionary approach suggests that humans have evolved a suite of reliably developing cognitive abilities that adapt our minds, information-processing abilities and emotions ontogenetically to the diverse culturally-constructed worlds we confront. (shrink)

Afferent feedback can appreciably alter the pharyngeal phase of swallow. In order to measure the stability of the swallow motor pattern during several types of alterations in afferent feedback, we assessed swallow during a conventional water challenge in four anesthetized cats, and compared that to swallows induced by fixed (20 Hz) and stochastic (1-20Hz) electrical stimulation applied to the superior laryngeal nerve. The swallow motor patterns were evaluated by electromyographic activity (EMG) of eight muscles, based on their functional significance: laryngeal (...) elevators (mylohyoid, geniohyoid, and thyrohyoid); laryngeal adductor (thyroarytenoid); inferior pharyngeal constrictor (thyropharyngeus); upper esophageal sphincter (cricopharyngeus); and inspiratory activity (parasternal and costal diaphragm). Both the fixed and stochastic electrical stimulation paradigms increased activity of the laryngeal elevators, produced short-term facilitation evidenced by increasing swallow durations over the stimulus period, and conversely inhibited swallow-related diaphragm activity. Both the fixed and stochastic stimulus conditions also increased specific EMG amplitudes, which never occurred with the water challenges. Stochastic stimulation increased swallow excitability, as measured by an increase in the number of swallows produced. Consistent with our previous results, changes in the swallow motor pattern for pairs of muscles were only sometimes correlated with each other. We conclude that alterations in afferent feedback produced particular variations of the swallow motor pattern. We hypothesize that specific SLN feedback might modulate the swallow central pattern generator during aberrant feeding conditions (food/liquid entering the airway), which may protect the airway and serve as potentially important clinical diagnostic indicators. (shrink)

The integration of digital phenotyping in psychiatry promises unprecedented insights into mental health, particularly in college settings where mental well-being is a growing concern. The COVID-19...

This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of 'lenses' and 'tensions' to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and (...) procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the 'mess' of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses. (shrink)