Job Jindo applies recent studies in cognitive science and explores how we can view metaphor as the very essence of poetic prophecy—namely, metaphor as an indispensable mode to communicate prophetic insight.

Hand function improvement in stroke survivors in the chronic stage usually plateaus by 6 months. Brain-computer interface (BCI)-guided robot-assisted training has been shown to be effective for facilitating upper-limb motor function recovery in chronic stroke. However, the underlying neuroplasticity change is not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the whole-brain neuroplasticity changes after 20-session BCI-guided robot hand training, and whether the changes could be maintained at the 6-month follow-up. Therefore, the clinical improvement and the neurological changes before, immediately after, (...) and 6 months after training were explored in 14 chronic stroke subjects. The upper-limb motor function was assessed by Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and Fugl-Meyer Assessment for Upper-Limb (FMA), and the neurological changes were assessed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Repeated-measure ANOVAs indicated that long-term motor improvement was found by both FMA (F[2,26]= 6.367,p= 0.006) and ARAT (F[2,26]= 7.230,p= 0.003). Seed-based functional connectivity analysis exhibited that significantly modulated FC was observed between ipsilesional motor regions (primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area) and contralesional areas (supplementary motor area, premotor cortex, and superior parietal lobule), and the effects were sustained after 6 months. The fALFF analysis showed that local neuronal activities significantly increased in central, frontal and parietal regions, and the effects were also sustained after 6 months. Consistent results in FC and fALFF analyses demonstrated the increase of neural activities in sensorimotor and fronto-parietal regions, which were highly involved in the BCI-guided training.Clinical Trial Registration:This study has been registered atClinicalTrials.govwith clinical trial registration number NCT02323061. (shrink)

Dag Svanæs is involved in the Norwegian public debate on how to handle the Corona pandemic. During the last year, he has written articles, participated in many debates and given lectures on the pandemic. He is the initiator of the website Coronakritikk.no, where they document the debate and present scientific knowledge about the pandemic. Svanæs is a professor at the Department of Computer Technology and Informatics at NTNU and studies the interaction between humans and technology. Svanæs received his Ph.D. in (...) Human-Computer Interaction from NTNU. His research over the last 15 years has been in the fields of HCI and Interaction Design. He has built up a full-scale usability laboratory that allows for simulation of use scenarios with multiple users and multiple devices in realistic settings – primarily for the medical domain. This allows for evaluations and empirical studies of embodied interaction. The basic theory that most inspires his work is the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Martin Heidegger. This was also the topic of his 2000 PhD. This shows Svanæs’ interest in technology, philosophy, health and the ability to have knowledge to predict what could happen in the future. (shrink)

Es incuestionable que la literatura –tanto la novela como el teatro– ha proporcionado grandes historias para el cine a lo largo de sus casi ciento veinte años de existencia. ¿Y por qué se elige un texto literario para ser adaptado? Entre otras razones por la necesidad de contar con historias bien trazadas, por la garantía del éxito comercial, el acceso al conocimiento histórico o por la recreación de mitos y obras emblemáticas. En el caso de la directora Pilar Miró lo (...) importante de sus adaptaciones es que finalmente prevalece su percepción, su lectura, su visión personal de la obra original, pero siempre a través del diálogo entre creadores. El texto de este artículo estudia las cinco películas que Pilar Miró dirigió como adaptaciones de obras literarias, cinco trabajos que vinieron como resultado de un deslumbramiento personal ante la calidad y el poder de sugerencia de esos textos literarios. (shrink)

Freely falling point-like objects converge toward the center of the Earth. Hence the gravitational field of the Earth is inhomogeneous, and possesses a tidal component. The free fall of an extended quantum mechanical object such as a hydrogen atom prepared in a high principal-quantum-number state, i.e. a circular Rydberg atom, is predicted to fall more slowly than a classical point-like object, when both objects are dropped from the same height above the Earth’s surface. This indicates that, apart from transitions between (...) quantum states, the atom exhibits a kind of quantum mechanical incompressibility during free fall in inhomogeneous, tidal gravitational fields like those of the Earth.A superconducting ring-like system with a persistent current circulating around it behaves like the circular Rydberg atom during free fall. Like the electronic wavefunction of the freely falling atom, the Cooper-pair wavefunction is quantum mechanically incompressible. The ions in the lattice of the superconductor, however, are not incompressible, since they do not possess a globally coherent quantum phase. The resulting difference during free fall in the response of the nonlocalizable Cooper pairs of electrons and the localizable ions to inhomogeneous gravitational fields is predicted to lead to a charge separation effect, which in turn leads to a large Coulomb force that opposes the convergence caused by the tidal gravitational force on the superconducting system.A “Cavendish-like” experiment is proposed for observing the charge separation effect induced by inhomogeneous gravitational fields in a superconducting circuit. The charge separation effect is determined to be limited by a pair-breaking process that occurs when low frequency gravitational perturbations are present. (shrink)

This study looks at the differences and changes observed in the visual design of the covers of French editions of women’s fashion magazines over a period of twenty-one years. To this end, the study aims to identify the changes that can be observed over the years in the design of the covers of the magazines Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan. However, the main aim of the study is to analyze how these visual signs on the covers of French magazines (...) are designed “differently” and how these signs create a “difference” in comparison to each other. By analyzing these visual elements, the aim of the study is to show the development of design trends and their impact on the visual communication strategies and brand identities of magazines. (shrink)

Introduction: Probationers, offenders with less serious and non-violent offences, and under statutory supervision, have low levels of self-esteem and physical health, and high level of family conflict, and poorer quality of family relationships. This study examined the effectiveness of the existing probation service and the additional use of a positive family holistic health intervention to enhance physical, psychological, and family well-being in probationers and relationships with probation officers.Methods: Probationers under the care of the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department were randomized (...) into a care-as-usual control group, a brief intervention group receiving two 1-h individual sessions [of a brief theory-based positive family holistic health intervention integrating Zero-time Exercise and positive psychology themes of “Praise and Gratitude” in the existing probation service], or a combined intervention group receiving BI and a 1-day group activity with family members. The outcomes were physical activity, fitness performance, self-esteem, happiness, anxiety and depression symptoms, life satisfaction, quality of life, family communication and well-being, and relationships with probation officers. Self-administered questionnaires and simple fitness tests were used at baseline, 1-month and 3-month follow-up. Linear mixed model analysis was used to compare difference in the changes of outcome variables among groups, adjusted of sex, age, and baseline values. Focus group interviews were conducted. Thematic content analysis was used.Results: 318 probationers were randomized into CAU, BI, or CI group. CAU showed enhanced physical activity, fitness performance and psychological health, and family communication with small effect sizes. BI and CI showed further improved physical activity, family communication and family well-being. Additionally, CI reported greater improvements in the relationships with probation officers than CAU with a small effect size. CI also reported greater increases in physical activity and family communication than BI with small to moderate effect sizes. Qualitative feedbacks corroborated the quantitative findings.Conclusion: Our trial provided the first evidence of the effectiveness of probation service and the additional use of an innovative, relatively low-cost, theory-based brief positive family holistic health intervention. This intervention may offer a new model for enhancing probation service.Trial Registration: The research protocol was registered at the National Institutes of Health. (shrink)

By comparing mechanisms in nativism, empiricism, and culturalism, the target article by Steels & Belpaeme (S&B) emphasizes the influence of communicational constraint on sharing color categories. Our commentary suggests deeper considerations of some of their claims, and discusses some modifications that may help in the study of communicational constraints in both humans and robots.

Este libro va dirigido esencialmente a los estudios de Postgrado de las Facultades de Filosofía de la UNED y de la UAM, en primer lugar, y de las universidades españolas e iberoamericanas en general. Pero sin duda interesará a cualquier persona que quiera estar al tanto del pensamiento filosófico actual. Es decir, de las Ideas propias de nuestro tiempo-espacio del pensar y de su diferencia histórica y mediática. La cuestión de la Filosofía de la Historia y la Historia Universal puesta (...) en cuestión, están en el centro de las investigaciones que se van hilvanando cronológicamente en estos dos libros dedicados al pensamiento y la intervención de Los hijos y las hijas de Nietzsche. Ya que estos dos libros: Materiales de Ontología Estética y Hermenéutica (Los hijos de Nietzsche I) y El retorno teológico-político de la inocencia (Los Hijos de Nietzsche II) tratan precisamente de eso: de dar cuenta de cómo y por qué se ha producido ese giro transhistórico: el que va, por así decirlo (y lo significativo es que se pueda decir así) desde la Dialéctica de La Historia Universal –Y la lógica de la Emancipación y Superación que la preside – hasta la Hermenéutica de la Historicidad Plural –y la lógica de la comprensión e interpretación dialogal que la constituye –, en busca de nexos o de acuerdos posibles entre las diferencias enlazadas. La percepción sincrónica y sus regímenes de enlace y sentido, como sobredeterminación condicional de los universos diacrónicos y cinéticos está en el centro operacional y corazón noético de todos estos escritos. Pues no otro sino el predominio condicionante de la sincronía sobre la diacronía expresa el giro esencial de nuestra época, en medio de las sociedades telemáticas de la comunicación. Estos trabajos que se entregan al lector, ya de escritura, ya de recreación audiovisual de la palabra, son solamente eso: materiales para una ontología estética y hermenéutica, del espacio y el tiempo, del acontecer del lenguaje del ser, en el que todos nosotros nos jugamos la vida–muerte que se construye entre todos; que cada cual puede construir a su manera para que podamos jugar juntos, con tal de respetar una sola regla: la ley del límite limitante que es condición del juego ontológico mismo y de su hermosa, inagotable, intensa, creatividad. Comprender que este desafío nos reclama hacia un nuevo pensar, viniendo desde la apelación de la propia voz del ser del tiempo, tal y como se vierte en las obras y en la experiencia del lenguaje de las acciones participativas extáticas, proporciona a la ontología estética (del espacio y el tiempo) y la ontología política (de la ley común) un complejo e inaplazable enclave: el de la ontología de nuestro propio presente, hoy todavía por emerger, y sometida a brutales fuerzas ilimitadas. (shrink)

As we journey into the fourth year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of Americans express relief at a “return to normal,” experience pandemic fatigue, or embrace the idea of living with COVID-19 in much the same way we live with the seasonal flu. But transition to a new phase of life with SARS-CoV-2 does not diminish the importance of vaccination. The US Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration recently recommended another round of booster dose for (...) persons age 5 and up, or an initial series for those not previously vaccinated, with an updated bivalent formula that protects against both the original virus strain and Omicron subvariants that are now the dominant source of infection. By most accounts most of the population has been or will become infected with SARS-CoV-2. Suboptimal uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines among the approximately 25 million adolescents in the United States is a significant obstacle to population coverage, public health, and the health and well-being of adolescents. A major cause of low adolescent uptake is parental vaccine hesitancy. This article discusses parental vaccine hesitancy and argues that permitting independent adolescent consent to COVID-19 vaccination should be an ethical and policy priority as we continue to confront the threat of Omicron and other variants of the coronavirus. We discuss the central role of the pediatric healthcare team in caring for adolescent patients who disagree with their parents about vaccination. (shrink)

I identify three functions of language: the communicative, the objectifying, and the objective. I claim that of these three functions, the objective function is the most essential, in the sense specified in the paper, and the communicative the least. I further indicate that language use without the communicative function is more prevalent than might commonly be believed.

The article examines the convergence of studies on the Pastoral Epistles, with greater attention to the theme of education as a key to the purpose of the documents. The close association between the household and education is considered in an effort to shed light on the presentations of Timothy and Titus, emerging leadership roles, intergenerational instruction, and constructions of gender.

Variations in levels of apolipoprotein E have been tied to the risk and progression of Alzheimer's disease . Our group has previously compared and contrasted the promoters of the mouse and human ApoE gene promoter sequences and found notable similarities and significant differences that suggest the importance of the APOE promoter's role in the human disease. We examine here three specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms within the human APOE promoter region, specifically at -491 , -427 , and at -219 upstream from the (...) +1 transcription start site. The -219 and -491 polymorphic variations have significant association with instance of AD, and -491AA has significant risk even when stratified for the APOEepsilon4 allele. We also show significant effects on reporter gene expression in neuronal cell cultures, and, notably, these effects are modified by species origin of the cells. The -491 and -219 polymorphisms may have an interactive effect in addition to any independent activity. DNA-protein interactions differ between each polymorphic state. We propose SP1 and GATA as candidates for regulatory control of the -491 and -219 polymorphic sites. This work's significance lies in drawing connection among APOE promoter polymorphisms' associations with AD to functional promoter activity differences and specific changes in DNA-protein interactions in cell culture-based assays. Taken together, these results suggest that APOE expression levels are a risk factor for AD irrespective of APOEepsilon4 allele status. (shrink)