Prosthetic devices that replace a lost limb have become increasingly performant in recent years. Recent advances in both software and hardware allow for the decoding of electroencephalogram signals to improve the control of active prostheses with brain-computer interfaces. Most BCI research is focused on the upper body. Although BCI research for the lower extremities has increased in recent years, there are still gaps in our knowledge of the neural patterns associated with lower limb movement. Therefore, the main objective of this (...) study is to show the feasibility of decoding lower limb movements from EEG data recordings. The second aim is to investigate whether well-known neuroplastic adaptations in individuals with an amputation have an influence on decoding performance. To address this, we collected data from multiple individuals with lower limb amputation and a matched able-bodied control group. Using these data, we trained and evaluated common BCI methods that have already been proven effective for upper limb BCI. With an average test decoding accuracy of 84% for both groups, our results show that it is possible to discriminate different lower extremity movements using EEG data with good accuracy. There are no significant differences in the decoding performance of these movements between healthy subjects and subjects with lower extremity amputation. These results show the feasibility of using BCI for lower limb prosthesis control and indicate that decoding performance is not influenced by neuroplasticity-induced differences between the two groups. (shrink)

Prosthetic devices that replace a lost limb have become increasingly performant in recent years. Recent advances in both software and hardware allow for the decoding of electroencephalogram signals to improve the control of active prostheses with brain-computer interfaces. Most BCI research is focused on the upper body. Although BCI research for the lower extremities has increased in recent years, there are still gaps in our knowledge of the neural patterns associated with lower limb movement. Therefore, the main objective of this (...) study is to show the feasibility of decoding lower limb movements from EEG data recordings. The second aim is to investigate whether well-known neuroplastic adaptations in individuals with an amputation have an influence on decoding performance. To address this, we collected data from multiple individuals with lower limb amputation and a matched able-bodied control group. Using these data, we trained and evaluated common BCI methods that have already been proven effective for upper limb BCI. With an average test decoding accuracy of 84% for both groups, our results show that it is possible to discriminate different lower extremity movements using EEG data with good accuracy. There are no significant differences in the decoding performance of these movements between healthy subjects and subjects with lower extremity amputation. These results show the feasibility of using BCI for lower limb prosthesis control and indicate that decoding performance is not influenced by neuroplasticity-induced differences between the two groups. (shrink)

"Monteverdi et Wagner : hiatus, mariage impossible, défiance à l’entendement. Le mélomane proteste. Mais le parallèle n’est pas inédit. Car mettre en relation Monteverdi et Wagner, qu’a priori tout oppose, permet de lever le voile sur l’essentiel. À deux siècles d’intervalle, les changements de paradigme opérés par les deux artistes ont un terreau commun. Au-delà des analogies formelles, les attaques portées aux deux compositeurs et leurs répliques sous forme d’écrits théoriques mettent en évidence un monde d’idées. Nietzsche commença sa carrière (...) philosophique en le soulignant. À travers Ficin et Politien pour Monteverdi – Hölderlin, Schelling et Novalis pour Wagner –, les racines néoplatoniciennes communes aux deux créateurs constituent une autre correspondance révélatrice. On les retrouve au seuil du baroque comme du symbolisme. Venise, Pétrarque et Le Tasse ne laissent pas de réunir Monteverdi et Wagner, tandis qu’Orphée et Tristan offrent au chercheur une série d’analogies frappantes. Alors pourquoi ce rapprochement a-t-il été si peu approfondi? Certes, la dénonciation des frontières interdisciplinaires propres au système académique n’est pas nouvelle. Mais faut-il rester muet devant leur persistance? Il existe aujourd’hui toute une philosophie de la musique, ou précisément de la musique instrumentale. Mais où est la philosophie de l’opéra? Après avoir évoqué les apports lumineux de Romain Rolland et de Jean-Jacques Nattiez à la musicologie, Olivier Lexa établit un bref historique de la philosophie de l’opéra, de Rousseau à Nietzsche en passant par Hegel, Novalis, Schopenhauer et Kierkegaard. Par la suite, l’auteur aborde la portée exemplaire de l’histoire de l’art, de l’histoire culturelle et de l’esthétique analytique, avant de se pencher sur les relations que plusieurs grands penseurs récents et contemporains ont entretenues avec l’art lyrique : Adorno, Lévi-Strauss, Barthes, Deleuze, Foucault, Bourdieu, Badiou, Lacoue-Labarthe et Žižek. Sera-t-on surpris de retrouver les noms de Monteverdi et Wagner parmi les récurrences dominantes?" -- Site internet de l'éditeur. (shrink)

Tel qu’Arrien l’indique dans les Entretiens, le cours d’Épictète comprenait une partie technique, où l’apprentissage de la doctrine et des démonstrations était de mise, et une autre, à laquelle nous avons seulement accès, où le maître discutait plus librement avec des interlocuteurs de tous horizons sur des sujets d’ordre spécifiquement éthiques en interprétant la doctrine stoïcienne selon ses propres catégories conceptuelles. Cette deuxième séquence pédagogique interroge directement l’utilité de la première, et engage une réflexion plus large sur l’école philosophique, reprenant (...) la discussion traditionnellement menée entre stoïciens et académiciens sur la scholè. Épictète apporte ainsi un éclairage original sur le rôle, le sens et la fonction des pratiques scolaires à l’époque romaine, dans la perspective stoïcienne d’une vie philosophiquement authentique, en accord avec la nature. (shrink)

Evaluative theories of emotions purport to shed light on the nature of emotions by appealing to values. Three kinds of evaluative theories of emotions dominate the recent literature: the judgment theory equates emotions with value judgments; the perceptual theory equates emotions with perceptions of values, and the attitudinal theory equates emotions with evaluative attitudes. This paper defends a fourth kind of evaluative theory of emotions, mostly neglected so far: the reactive theory. Reactive theories claim that emotions are attitudes which arise (...) in reaction to perceptions of value. (shrink)

A long-standing debate has dominated systematic biology and the ontological commitments made by its theories. The debate has contrasted individuals and the part – whole relationship with classes and the membership relation. This essay proposes to conceptualize the hierarchy of higher taxa is terms of a hierarchy of homeostatic property cluster natural kinds (biological species remain largely excluded from the present discussion). The reference of natural kind terms that apply to supraspecific taxa is initially fixed descriptively; the extension of those (...) natural kind terms is subsequently established by empirical investigation. In that sense, classification precedes generalization, and description provides guidance to empirical investigation. The reconstruction of a hierarchy of (homeostatic property cluster) natural kinds is discussed in the light of cladistic methods of phylogeny reconstruction. (shrink)

This study examines to what extent different types of CEOs in family firms influence external and internal stakeholder-related CSP as compared to CEOs in nonfamily firms. Linking family CEO and nonfamily CEO with CSR outcomes, we provide evidence that family CEOs are positively associated with both external and internal CSR, whereas nonfamily CEOs within family firms tend to be negatively associated with both external and internal CSR. We show that the incumbent CEO’s age moderates the above relationships, indicating the existence (...) of shifting family priorities and suggesting a tendency toward CSR conformity as the salience of succession concerns increases. (shrink)

Species are generally considered to be the basic units of evolution, and hence to constitute spatio-temporally bounded entities. In addition, it has been argued that species also instantiate a natural kind. Evolution is fundamentally about change. The question then is how species can remain the same through evolutionary change. Proponents of the species qua individuals thesis individuate species through their unique evolutionary origin. Individuals, or spatio-temporally located particulars in general, can be bodies, objects, events, or processes, or a combination of (...) these. It is here argued that species are best understood as open or closed, causally integrated processual systems that also instantiate an historically conditioned homeostatic property cluster natural kind. (shrink)

Contemporary pain literature increasingly acknowledges the need of a multidimensional approach to pain, which accounts for its complex biological, psychological and social components. This is reflected in the recently revised definition of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and some contemporary philosophical positions. This paper addresses the need to offer a theoretical approach that integrates the biopsychosocial and qualitative multidimensionality of pain by developing the “social grounding view of pain”. My focus is on seeking a multidimensional philosophical (...) approach that accounts not only for its complex biological and psychological aspects but also and specifically does justice to its social dimension. I draw from some of the most recent multidimensional theoretical and methodological approaches that attempt to account for the social component of pain, including enactivism and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), to propose the advancement of the social grounding view, which has a particular focus on socially shared linguistic concepts in relation to the meaning and modulation of pain. More specifically, the social grounding view is based on the argument that the meaning of the experience of pain is determined in part by socially shareable linguistic concepts habitually associated with pain. I test this view against empirical cases drawn from pain neuroscience education (PNE) and try to demonstrate how the modification of the linguistic concepts of pain could be used effectively to modulate its experience. (shrink)

Starting with the observation that there exist contradictory claims in the literature about the relationship between vitalism and emergentism—be it one of inclusion or, on the contrary, exclusion–, this paper aims at disentangling the vitalism–emergentism knot. To this purpose, after having described a particular form of emergentism, namely Lloyd Morgan’s emergent evolutionism, I develop a conceptual analysis on the basis of a distinction between varieties of monism and pluralism. This analysis allows me to identify and characterize several forms of vitalism (...) and emergentism, and a subsequent comparison between these forms constitutes the occasion for a clarification of the relationship between both doctrines. (shrink)

The relatively late acceptance of Darwinism in German biology and paleontology is frequently attributed to a lingering of Lamarckism, a persisting influence of German idealistic Naturphilosophie and Goethean romanticism. These factors are largely held responsible for the vitalism underlying theories of saltational and orthogenetic evolutionary change that characterize the writings of many German paleontologists during the first half of the 20th century. A prominent exponent of that tradition was Karl Beurlen, who is credited with having been the first German paleontologist (...) to present a full-fledged theory of saltational evolution and orthogenetic change. A review of Beurlen's writings reveals motives and concerns far more complex, however, and firmly rooted in contemporary völkisch thought and Aryan Science. Beurlen's mature theory of evolution can indeed be understood as his own contribution to Aryan Geology and Biology, tainted as it was with National-Socialist ideology. Evolutionary biologists of the time who opposed the theories of Beurlen and likeminded authors, i.e., idealistic morphology, typology, saltational change, orthogenesis and cyclism did so on Darwinian principles, which ultimately prevailed. But at the time when the battle was fought, their adherence to the principle of natural selection was likewise ideologically tainted, namely in terms of racial theory. National-Socialist ideology was unable to forge a unity of evolutionary theory in Germany even amongst those of its proponents who endorsed this ideology. (shrink)

Recently there has been a strong movement towards reflections about the “geography of reason,” especially among philosophers who deal with postcolonial thinking. There is also a renewed interest among different schools of thought, both analytical and continental, in the ways our “life world,” or “embodiment,” or “situated cognition,” shape our minds and eventually the philosophy we do. As a result, we have seen some recent publications on the nature and import of the concept of “place” by authors such as Edward (...) Casey, Jeff Malpas, and Bruce Janz. In Philosophy in an African place, Bruce Janz introduces the concept of “philosophy-in-place” with the question as to what it is to do philosophy in a particular context of lived experience or, more specifically, what it is to do philosophy in an African place. This paper expands on Janz's “philosophy-in-place” by developing what will be called a “philosophy through place.” It starts with Janz's discussion of the problem of placing philosophy and a philosophy-in-place. Then it attempts to develop an argument for a “philosophy through place” and its implications for considering the place of philosophy in Africa and the challenge it poses to philosophy. (shrink)

This paper takes a hierarchical approach to the question whether species are individuals or natural kinds. The thesis defended here is that species are spatiotemporally located complex wholes (individuals), that are composed of (i.e., include) causally interdependent parts, which collectively also instantiate a homeostatic property cluster (HPC) natural kind. Species may form open or closed genetic systems that are dynamic in nature, that have fuzzy boundaries due to the processual nature of speciation, that may have leaky boundaries as is manifest (...) in lateral gene transfer and introgression, that may be of multiple origins through hybridization, and that may split and merge and split again over time. The identity conditions of species qua individuals will have to be anchored in their history, rather than in their unique evolutionary origin. Species qua historically conditioned HPC natural kinds requires the kind to be mereologically structured, subject to the part-whole relation rather than the membership relation. This implies that there can be more than one kind of natural kinds. (shrink)

The philosophy of pattern cladism has been variously explained by reference to the work of Louis Agassiz. The present study analyzes Agassiz's attempt to combine an empirical approach to the study of nature with an idealistic philosophy. From this emerges the problem of empiricism and of the isomorphy between the order of nature and human thinking. The analysis of the writings of Louis Agassiz serves as the basis for discussion of the reality of natural groups as postulated by pattern cladists.

Il apparaît qu'aujourd'hui, le conflit entre religion et raison s'est réouvert à la faveur du réveil du religieux ou de sa radicalisation. Comment comprendre la nature et l'origine de ce conflit contemporain? Comment analyser ses répercussions? Pour répondre dans une démarche interdisciplinaire, l'ouvrage s'articule en trois moments. Le moment historique permet de revenir sur la conception traditionnelle des rapports entre religion et État en terre d'Islam et de chrétienté. Une clarification de la notion de Shari'a dans l'Islam traditionnel sunnite (IXe (...) au XIXe siècle) est proposée ainsi qu'une réflexion sur la saisie par le politique de la Shari'a en Égypte dès le début du XIXe siècle. Enfin, est étudié le système de Religion d'État inspiré encore par le Christianisme sous la Restauration en France. Le moment juridique conduit à s'interroger sur la remise en cause de la séparation Religion/État au sein de deux pays rarement étudiés de ce point de vue : Israël et le Japon. Le moment philosophique envisage la possibilité de surmonter l'opposition religion/raison, voire foi/raison. À partir du livre de Kant La Religion dans les limites de la simple raison, il est montré que le fait religieux s'oppose à la raison seulement s'il est rabattu du côté du sacré. Un commentaire de l'encyclique Fides et ratio de Jean-Paul II explique comment foi et raison s'appuient sur 'un socle commun qui est la vérité.' Une analyse du conflit loi divine/raison dans le cadre de l'Islam suggère que ce conflit est exacerbé du fait que nous vivons à une époque de généralisation des simulacres qui concerne le religieux lui-même."--Back cover. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to describe an analogue of the theory of nontrivial torsion-free divisible abelian groups for metabelian groups. We obtain illustrations for “old-fashioned” model theoretic algebra and “new” examples in the theory of stable groups. We begin this paper with general considerations about model theory. In the second section we present our results and we give the structure of the rest of the paper. Most parts of this paper use only basic concepts from model theory and (...) group theory. However, in Section 5, we need some somewhat elaborate notions from stability theory. One can find the beginnings of this theory in [14], and we refer the reader to [16] or [21] for stability theory and to [22] for stable groups.§1. Some model theoretic considerations. Denote by the theory of torsion-free abelian groups in the language of groups ℒgp. A finitely generated group G satisfies iff G is isomorphic to a finite direct power of ℤ. It follows that axiomatizes the universal theory of free abelian groups and that the theory of nontrivial torsion-free abelian groups is complete for the universal sentences. Denote by the theory of nontrivial divisible torsion-free abelian groups. (shrink)

Ne estas prima orda formulo, kiu definas la Zariskijajn slositojn inter la konstruitoj, malpli ke la konektojn inter la slositoj.

L’Égypte lagide offre une documentation exceptionnelle pour étudier le travail des changeurs grâce aux comptes conservés par les papyrus et au remplacement des types monétaires lors des dix réformes du monnayage en bronze que nous avons distinguées. Nous analysons ici deux de ces réformes, le passage de la série 4 à la série 5 et surtout la « grande mutation » de la série 6. La monnaie de bronze passe alors d’un système chalque / obole / drachme à un système (...) décimal, où l’unité de bronze qui n’est pas frappée vaut 1/ 1200e de statère. Il apparaît aussi qu’à la différence de la politique suivie depuis le début du monnayage, le roi favorise maintenant le développement de la petite monnaie, comme s’il s’agissait de développer la monétarisation dans le pays. (shrink)

The biennial DEON conferences are designed to promote interdisciplinary cooperation amongst scholars interested in linking the formal-logical study of normative concepts and normative systems with computer science, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, organization theory and law. In addition to these general themes, DEON 2016 encouraged a special focus on the topic "Reasons, Argumentation and Justification.".

In biological systematics, as well as in the philosophy of biology, species and higher taxa are individuated through their unique evolutionary origin. This is taken by some authors to mean that monophyly is a (relational) property not only of higher taxa, but also of species. A species is said to originate through speciation, and to go extinct when it splits into two daughter species (or through terminal extinction). Its unique evolutionary origin is said to bestow identity on a species through (...) time and change, and to render species names rigid designators. Species names are thus believed to function just like names of supraspecific taxa. However, large parts of the Web of Life are composed of species that do not have a unique evolutionary origin from a single population, lineage or stem-species. Further, monophyly is an ambiguous concept if it is defined simply in terms of ‘unique evolutionary origin’. Disambiguating the concept by defining a monophyletic taxon as ‘a taxon that includes the ancestor and all, and only, its descendant’ renders monophyly inapplicable to species. At the heart of the problem lies a fundamental distinction between species and monophyletic taxa, where species form mutually exclusive reticulated systems, while higher taxa form inclusive hierarchical systems. Examples are given both at the species level and below to illustrate the problems that result from the application of the monophyly criterion to species. The conclusion is that the concepts of exclusivity and monophyly should be treated as non-overlapping: exclusivity marks out a species synchronistically, i.e. in the present time. Monophyly marks out clades (groups of species) diachronistically, i.e. within an historical dimension. (shrink)

Le potentiel de développement porté par les TIC reste quelque chose de purement théorique pour des millions de personnes compte tenu de l'existence de la fracture numérique qui sépare les « inforiches » des « infopauvres ». Dans la perspective de la construction d'une société de l'information inclusive, la question de l'accès universel aux TIC est donc centrale, notamment pour les pays africains. Cette problématique ne doit cependant pas être réduite à la question de la disponibilité des infrastructures de télécommunications; (...) elle doit prendre en compte l'accès réel, c'est-à-dire les usages. Afin de résoudre les problèmes de diverses natures interdisant l'appropriation des TIC par le plus grand nombre, il faut aller au-delà de la régulation par le marché et mettre en oeuvre de vigoureuses politiques publiques visant à faire de l'accès universel une réalité concrète pour tous ceux dont les chances de bénéficier pleinement des opportunités offertes par la société de l'information sont aujourd'hui hypothéquées.The potential of ICT-led development remains something purely theoretical for millions of people due to the existence of the digital divide between the "haves" from "have-nots". In view of the construction of the information society inclusive, the issue of universal access to ICTs is central, especially for African countries. This issue should not be reduced to the question of the availability of telecommunications infrastructure, but must take into account the actual access, that is to say, uses. To solve problems of various kinds prohibiting the appropriation of ICTs by the largest number, you must go beyond regulation by the market and implement vigorous public policies to make universal access a reality concrete for all those whose opportunities to benefit fully from the opportunities offered by the information society are now mortgaged. (shrink)

Comment, en pleine crise environnementale, réorienter l’énergie créative du design au service d’une proto-démocratie technique? À partir d’une capacité cachée du design à construire et déconstruire les environnements matériels, nous disons qu’il est avant tout un processus de conception dont la réversibilité permet de comprendre et d’agir progressivement sur nos structures techniques. Et de tenter de se mouvoir dans un monde matériel ramifié à l’extrême.

La frappe de la monnaie et le timbrage des amphores relèvent d’une même technique, celle du sceau, qui est la marque d’une autorité publique. Cette étude analyse les rapprochements entre la composition des types monétaires et celle des emblèmes sur les timbres. Elle relève les nombreux exemples d’emploi de la même image. Elle étudie la signification juridique du scellement, qui a pour effet d’indiquer l’objet dokimon, agréé par la cité. Elle compare les modes de contrôle de la monnaie et des (...) amphores. Enfin, elle met en évidence les coïncidences chronologiques entre l’apparition des timbres et la réforme monétaire de 390 ainsi que le passage des timbres anciens aux timbres récents et le passage du groupe IV et au groupe V, vers 335. La prise de Thasos par Philippe V en 202 pourrait aussi marquer l’histoire des timbres et des monnaies. (shrink)

Background: The bioethics literature contains speculation but little data about sociodemographic differences between patients for whom ethics committees (EC) are consulted for conflict about life-sustaining treatment (LST) and the broader hospital population that these committees serve. To provide an empirical context for this discussion, we examined differences in five sociodemographic factors between patients for whom an EC was consulted for conflict over LST and the general inpatient population, hypothesizing that nonwhite patients were most likely to be disproportionately represented. Methods: This (...) was a retrospective cohort study comparing self-reported race/ethnicity, household income, insurance status, primary language, and religious affiliation between patients involved in EC consultations for conflict over LST and the general adult inpatient population at a large academic hospital from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2013. Results: There were 169 EC consultations involving conflict over LST and 243,197 adult inpatient admissions over the study period. On bivariate analysis, patients for whom the EC was consulted for conflict over LST were more likely to be nonwhite, low-income, and to speak a primary language other than English. They were not more likely to be underinsured or to report a religious affiliation. On multivariate analysis, patients for whom the EC was consulted for conflict over LST were more likely to be nonwhite (odds ratio [OR], 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7–3.7; p <.001). They were also more likely to be low income (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.1–3.0; p =.02). They were not more likely to speak a primary language other than English (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 0.9–2.1; p =.17). None of the assessed variables were associated with conflict over LST requiring additional meetings beyond the first EC consultation. Conclusions: Nonwhite and low-income status patients are disproportionately represented in EC committee consultation for conflict over LST compared to the general inpatient population. (shrink)