Most binaural speech source localization models perform poorly in unprecedentedly noisy and reverberant situations. Here, this issue is approached by modelling a multiscale dilated convolutional neural network. The time-related crosscorrelation function and energy-related interaural level differences are preprocessed in separate branches of dilated convolutional network. The multiscale dilated CNN can encode discriminative representations for CCF and ILD, respectively. After encoding, the individual interaural representations are fused to map source direction. Furthermore, in order to improve the parameter adaptation, a novel semiadaptive (...) entropy is proposed to train the network under directional constraints. Experimental results show the proposed method can adaptively locate speech sources in simulated noisy and reverberant environments. (shrink)

This book explores how one can bring about changes in the brain through meditation, both through attention-focus training and through compassion training. Recent findings in the natural sciences have confirmed that it is possible for humans to achieve these structural and functional changes through various life-style practices. It is argued that meditation enables us to influence some aspects of our biological make-up and, for example, could boost our cognitive flexibility as well as our ability to act compassionate. Such changes are (...) likely to facilitate the instilling of a number of epistemic virtues which have great bearing on our quality of life. This book offers the reader an accessible introduction to a set of neuro-enhancement methods, with a special focus on meditation techniques, and explores how such practices could contribute to make us better decision-makers and improve our moral virtues. The book is suitable for anyone looking for a text discussing the effects of neuro-enhancement from a secular ethics perspective. (shrink)

Moderate pragmatic invariantism (MPI) is a proposal to explain why our intuitions about the truth-value of knowledge claims vary with stakes and salient error-possibilities. The basic idea is that this variation is due to a variation not in the propositions expressed (as epistemic contextualists would have it) but in the propositions conversationally implicated. I will argue that MPI is mistaken: I will distinguish two kinds of implicature, namely, additive and substitutional implicatures. I will then argue, first, that the proponent of (...) MPI cannot appeal to additive implicatures because they don’t affect truth-value intuitions in the required way. Second, I will argue that the proponent of MPI cannot appeal to substitutional implicatures either because, even though they may have the required effects on truth-value intuitions, they don’t feature in the relevant cases. It follows that MPI is mistaken because whether the proponent of MPI appeals to additive or substitutional implicatures, at least one of the claims that make up her view is false. Along the way, I will suggest principles about implicatures that should be relevant not only to MPI, but to pragmatic accounts of seemingly semantic intuitions in general. (shrink)

Episodic memories can no longer be seen as the re-activation of stored experiences but are the product of an intense construction process based on a memory trace. Episodic recall is a result of a process of scenario construction. If one accepts this generative framework of episodic memory, there is still a be big gap in understanding the role of the narrative self in shaping scenario construction. Some philosophers are in principle sceptic by claiming that a narrative self cannot be more (...) than a causally inefficacious attributed entity anyway. Thus, we first characterize a narrative self in detail and second we clarify its influential causal role in shaping our episodic memories by influencing the process of scenario construction. This happens at three stages, namely at the level of the input, the output and the process of scenario construction. (shrink)

This article brings together two sets of data that are rarely discussed in concert; namely, disagreement and testimony data. I will argue that relativism yields a much more elegant account of these data than its major rival, contextualism. The basic idea will be that contextualists can account for disagreement data only by adopting principles that preclude a simple account of testimony data. I will conclude that, other things being equal, we should prefer relativism to contextualism. In making this comparative point, (...) I will also defend self-standing relativist accounts of disagreement and testimony data. (shrink)

EDITOR’S ABSTRACTThe popular Chinese portrayal of the victory of Confucianism, or in Chinese terms “dismiss the hundred schools of thought and revere only the Confucian arts,” has been challenged by some scholars in the past decades. Ding’s essay illustrates not only how it has been challenged but also how the catch phrase influences the scholarly discussion. As he indicates, recent Chinese studies that attempt to subvert the traditional theory share the same “flow.” They fail to note that the expression (...) “dismiss the hundred schools of thought and revere only the Confucian arts” has had very negative connotations since it was invoked by Yi Baisha 易白沙 to harshly denounce Confucianism for being responsible for the centuries-long Chinese autocracy. (shrink)

Although the Standard Model of particle physics is usually formulated in terms of fields, it can be equivalently formulated in terms of particles and strings. In this picture particles and open strings are always coupled. This offers an intuitive and graphical explanation for the otherwise mysterious gauge symmetry. In addition, the particle–string formulation avoids introducing redundant path integral configurations that are present in the field formulation. For its explanatory power and economy, the particle–string ontology may be preferred over the field (...) ontology for the Standard Model. (shrink)

This book shows how pressing issues in bioethics – e.g. the ownership of biological material and human cognitive enhancement – successfully can be discussed with in a virtue ethics framework. This is not intended as a complete or exegetic account of virtue ethics. Rather, the aim here is to discuss how some key ideas in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, when interpreted pragmatically, can be a productive way to approach some hot issues in bioethics. In spite of being a very promising theoretical (...) perspective virtue ethics has so far been underdeveloped both in bioethics and neuroethics and most discussions have been conducted in consequentialist and/or deontological terms. ​. (shrink)

As a pair of important categories in traditional Chinese culture, "ming 命 (destiny or decrees)" and "tian ming 天命 (heavenly ordinances)" mainly refer to the constraints placed on human beings. Both originated from "ling 令 (decrees)," which evolved from "wang ling 王令 (royal decrees)" into "tian ling 天令 (heavenly decrees)," and then became "ming" from a throne because of the decisive role of "heavenly decrees" over a throne. "Ming" and "tian ming" have different definitions: "Ming" represented the limits Heaven placed (...) on the natural lives of human beings and was an objective force that men could not direct, but was embodied in human beings as their "destiny"; "Tian ming" reflected the moral ideals of human beings in their self-identification; It originated in man but had to be verified by Heaven, and it was therefore the true ordinance that Heaven placed on human beings. "Ming" and "tian ming" are two perspectives on the traditional relationship between Heaven and human beings, and at the same time Confucians and Daoists placed different emphasis on them. /// 摘要 "命" 与 "天命" 是传统文化中的-对重要范畴，主要指人所受到的限制。 二者都起源 "令", 由 "王令" "而" 天令又因 "天令" 对王权的决定作用从 而成为王权之 "命" 。"命" 与 "天命" 有不同规定 "命" 体现着天对人之自然 生命的限制，表现的是人所无法驾驭的客观力量，但落实于人并表现为人之 "命" ; "天命" 体现的则是人之自我确认的道德理想，其虽然出于人却又必须证之于天， 所以是天之真正的命于人者。命与天命，既体现了传统天人关系的双重视角，同时 也是儒道两家不同探索侧重的一个基本分野。. (shrink)

In this paper we investigate problems about densities ofe-generic,s-generic andp-generic degrees. We, in particular, show that allp-generic degrees are non-branching, which answers an open question by Jockusch who asked: whether alls-generic degrees are non-branching and refutes a conjecture of Ingrassia; the set of degrees containing r.e.p-generic sets is the same as the set of r.e. degrees containing an r.e. non-autoreducible set.

This article explores from a semiotic perspective the structural features of the ‘poetic logic’ that lies behind metonymy and metaphor. More specifi-cally, it treats metonymy and metaphor not as ‘abnormal’ uses of language but as the results of the same indexical and iconic ways of thinking that we see elsewhere in our lives. The paper also brings to bear on the topic of metaphor some important insights from the late Chinese scholar Qian Zhong-shu, whose ‘two handles and several sides’ theory (...) of metaphor seems to complement contemporary Western ‘metaphorology’ very well. (shrink)

This article is designed to explore the concept of the social sphere and its relations to public life. `Social sphere' here refers to a societal self-organization to create a common cultural landscape on which various forms of performance and public drama are staged, and through which a social bond among strangers is created and public life maintained. It is argued that different societies have different kinds of social spheres with distinctive forms of cultural performance, and thus create various types of (...) public life. Through a genealogical exploration, four kinds of social spheres (religious ceremonies, public festivals, recreation and consumption), associated with four types of performance (ritual, spectacular, theatrical and magical) are identified. The social transformation of the nature of public life is thereby explored. It is here that I see the structural source of modern individualism and its relations to cultural performance. (shrink)

EDITOR’S ABSTRACTThis article argues that the early Laozi text underwent three stages: The first had section divisions on the basis of the meaning. The second stage was the formative period of the Laozi text influenced by cosmological numerology; the Silk Manuscript version A is its testimony. The third stage finalized the text through the canonization of the Classic by Emperor Jing; it is represented by the Peking University Han Bamboo Slips, Yan Zun, and Liu Xiang versions and became the received (...) edition. From the Han Bamboo Slips to the Liu Xiang version, the Laozi’s two parts and section numbering became increasingly balanced and symmetric. Ding urges scholars to pay attention to all these developments when studying the Laozi text. (shrink)

Communication can be risky. Like other kinds of actions, it comes with potential costs. For instance, an utterance can be embarrassing, offensive, or downright illegal. In the face of such risks, speakers tend to act strategically and seek ‘plausible deniability’. In this paper, we propose an account of the notion of deniability at issue. On our account, deniability is an epistemic phenomenon. A speaker has deniability if she can make it epistemically irrational for her audience to reason in certain ways. (...) To avoid predictable confusion, we distinguish deniability from a practical correlate we call ‘untouchability’. Roughly, a speaker has untouchability if she can make it practically irrational for her audience to act in certain ways. These accounts shed light on the nature of strategic speech and suggest countermeasures against strategic speech. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2016 Heft: 213 Seiten: 165-175.

Indian philosophy of Yoni-Linga may be examined as a parallel to the Chinese philosophy of “Yin-Yang.” This essay will compare the similarities and distinctions between the two kinds of dichotomies through a theoretical formulation: certain conceptual, analytical and cross-cultural perspectives. The study will be focused on semiologieal, aesthetical, ontological and theological comparisons between these two of the most famous pairs of conceptual antonyms which have been developed by later Sino-Hindu philosophies and theologies as human worldviews widened and deepened with Eastern (...) civilization. (shrink)

Background: Chinese Taoist cognitive therapy (CTCT), a culture-oriented psychological therapy for Chinese mental well-being, has been proposed for decades. However, the evidence for its effects is unclear. This study aimed to systematically assess the effect of this therapy on symptoms of depression and anxiety in Chinese adults. Methods: Relevant studies were searched from major electronic databases through November 2018 without language limits. Several search terms used include “anxiety” OR “depression” AND “Taoism” OR “Daoism” OR “Chinese Taoist Cognitive Therapy”. A total (...) of 11 clinical trials focusing on CTCT were included in this meta-analysis. Random-effects meta-analytical models were conducted. Heterogeneity and publication bias were also explored. Results: Eight clinical trials for 580 subjects were included. The majority of these studies explored samples with depressive symptoms. Overall, CTCT significantly reduced depressive symptoms with a small positive effect (SMD = 0.16, 95% CI: -0.36-0.68). Medium-to-large effect sizes were observed across individuals with clinical or nonclinical depression and chronic physical diseases (SMD = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.27-1.13 and SMD = 0.72, 95%CI: 0.09-1.35, respectively). However, the effectiveness for anxiety symptoms remains debatable. Conclusions: Our findings hold promise that CTCT can help reduce depressive symptoms in Chinese adults, including patients with chronic physical diseases and clinical or nonclinical depression. Our findings may be generalized to Chinese communities in other countries. (shrink)

Previous research studies of traffic networks are mainly based on planar networks and less considered the influence of multilayer networks, which illustrate and represent different appropriate urban traffic modes. Development of rail and road networks is inseparable from the development of a prosperous urban area; thus, research on multilayer networks has scientific potential and fulfils a real need. In this paper, a framework of complex network based integrated multilayer urban growth and optimisation model is proposed, to analyse the complex relationships (...) between the traffic network structure, the population growth, and the urban land-use. The innovation of this paper is the combination of the traffic complex multilayer networks and the “Four Step Model”. With the multiobjective, multilayer network coevolution and optimisation model, a more efficient traffic network layout was generated based on different land-use, population density, and travel speed scenarios. Then, this paper has proved that the proposed CNIMUGOM can save the traffic network construction investment, reduce the travel cost, make the urban traffic network more efficient, and decrease the total traffic flow amount. This research has connected the recent complex multilayer network related study and traditional urban economic model based study. The findings of the study afford to improve the current land-use and traffic integrated models and can provide traffic network planning suggestions for urban agglomeration development. (shrink)

The eukaryotic cell is partitioned by membranes into spatially and functionally discrete subcellular organelles. In addition, the cytoplasm itself is partitioned into discrete subregions that carry out specific functions. Such compartmentation can be achieved by localizing proteins and RNAs to different subcellular regions. This review will focus on localized RNAs, with a particular emphasis on RNA localization mechanisms and on the possible biological functions of localization of these RNAs. In recent years, an increasing number of localized RNAs have been identified (...) in a variety of cell types among many animal species. Emphasis here will be on localized RNAs in the most intensively studied systems – Drosophila and Xenopus eggs and early embryos. (shrink)