The flow of thought is persistent, and at times merciless. Mental content is generated throughout the day and into the night, moving forward predictably at times but surprisingly at others. Understanding what influences the trajectory of thought—how thoughts continuously unfold over time—has important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of thought disorders like schizophrenia and recurrent nightmares. Here, we examine whether cognitive control restricts moment-to-moment content shifts across sleep and wakefulness, thus acting as a fundamental constraint on thought variability. Thought (...) variability was measured as the semantic incoherence between sequential thought phrases and was applied to independent datasets of dreaming and waking reports. Our results show that within both sleeping and waking reports, conditions typically marked by higher levels of cognitive control were associated with decreased thought variability (i.e., semantic incoherence). During wakefulness, on-task conditions were associated with reduced levels of thought variability compared to off-task conditions, and thought variability was greater when thoughts wandered around more freely. During sleep, lucid dreams, marked by higher levels of cognitive control, were associated with reduced levels of thought variability compared to non-lucid dreams. Together, these results suggest that cognitive control may limit thought variability across the 24-hour cycle of thought generation. Such findings are consistent with the Dynamic Framework of Thought, where mental states are expected to vary on a continuum of deliberate constraints, with lower cognitive control leading to a categorical cluster of spontaneous thought processes that includes both mind-wandering during wakefulness and non-lucid dreams during sleep. This observation has broad implications for models of cognition, specifically highlighting the continuity of cognitive processes throughout the circadian cycle and the importance of considering varying levels of thought constraint in both waking and dreaming states. (shrink)

This research study has done to identify and investigate the major factors behind the excessive usage of Facebook by the youth of Karachi and what kind of impacts they have to face on various aspects of their lives due to this much consumption of Facebook. In this research paper, the researcher has applied both types of methodology, Qualitative as well as Quantitative. The researcher has selected Karachi as the universe of the study. The data has collected in the manner of (...) survey forms filled by students of different universities and colleges of Karachi; aged from 18 to 30 and the sample size is 50 in which half of the population includes males and half females and 10 interviews are also conducted from teachers and parents of Facebook users. This research study raises major points related to the extreme usage of Facebook which includes the mental and physical conditions of adolescents, children’s progress in their academic lives, impacts on relationships and disturbance in routine works. The data has collected in a fair way. The results revealed that Facebook repercussion only happens when an individual is using it in an excessive amount. The researcher suggests that using Facebook could be beneficial only if people learns to use it in manageable levels and if they are able to create a balance between the virtual world and real world. (shrink)

Recent accounts of teleological naturalism hold that organisms are intrinsically goaldirected entities. We argue that supporters and critics of this view have ignored the ways in which it is used to address quite different problems. One problem is about biology and concerns whether an organism-centered account of teleological ascriptions would improve our descriptions and explanations of biological phenomena. This is different from the philosophical problem of how naturalized teleology would affect our conception of nature, and of ourselves as natural beings. (...) The neglect of this metatheoretic distinction has made it difficult to understand the criteria we should use for evaluating proposals to naturalize teleology. We argue that a clearer distinction between scientific and philosophical contexts shows that we need more than one set of criteria for evaluating proposals to naturalize teleology, and that taking these into account might advance or dissolve recurring debates in the literature. (shrink)

Anthropology of Consciousness, EarlyView.

We outline an alternative to both scientific and liberal naturalism which attempts to reconcile Sellars’ apparently conflicting commitments to the scientific accountability of human nature and the autonomy of the space of reasons. Scientific naturalism holds that agency and associated concepts are a mechanical product of the realm of laws, while liberal naturalism contends that the autonomy of the space of reason requires that we leave nature behind. The third way we present follows in the footsteps of German Idealism, which (...) attempted to overcome the Kantian chasm between nature and agency, and is thus dubbed ‘post-Kantian.’ We point to an overlooked group of scholars in the naturalism debate who, along with recent work in biology and cognitive science, offer a path to overcome the reductive tendencies of empiricism while avoiding the dichotomy of logical spaces. We then bring together these different streams of research, by foregrounding and expanding on what they share: the idea of organisms as living agents and that of a continuity without identity between life and mind. We qualify this as a bottom-up transformative approach to rational agency, which grounds cognition in the intrinsically purposive nature of organisms, while emphasizing the distinction between biological agency and full-fledged mindedness. (shrink)

The paper proposes a novel reading of Schelling’s speculative physics in light of debates concerning the notion of emergence in philosophy of science. We begin by highlighting Schelling’s disruptive potential with regard to the contemporary philosophical landscape, currently polarized over a false dichotomy between reductionist Humeanism and liberal Kantianism. We then argue that a broadly Schellingian approach to nature is unwittingly being revived by a group of scholars promoting a non-mainstream process account of emergence based on the notion of constraint (...) and grounded in far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics. Such an account, we argue, represents an effective theoretical platform to re-read Schelling’s philosophy of nature today. This reading provides a picture of life and mind as emerging out of self-organizing processes that take place through the self-inhibition of nature’s inherent tendency to disorder. (shrink)

The autonomic nervous system is the other division of the human nervous system, which is in charge of most of the automatic processes in the body including heartbeat, digestion, breathing, dilation of the pupils, constriction of pupils, ejaculation, and micturition. This work focuses on the relations and mediators implied in these functions and on the principal regulatory models. Both sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are essential in creating flexibility, and whenever a shift occurs, many health issues may develop as a result. (...) For instance, an ANS activity level too high will cause hypertension or heart issues, while an ANS activity level too low will cause anxiety or panic disorders. The review also discusses the impact of ANS and other new advancements in genetics and genetic makeup regarding stress responsiveness. Even though some people’s genetic predisposes them to certain ANS disorders they can be faced with it due to their lifestyle and stress. Nevertheless, concise information is still scarce about ANS, underlining the importance of further research to evaluate pathogenic genes, and constituent the genetic treatments to enhance the disease's negative outlook. (shrink)

The inspiration for this collective writing project began with a digital conference entitled ‘Knowledge Socialism, COVID-19 and the New Reality of Education’ held at Beijing Normal University. In this conference and through this article, multiple researchers spread across six continents have engaged in the collaborative task of outlining emerging innovations and alternative contingencies towards education, international collaboration, and digital reform in this time of global crisis. Trends associated with digital education, knowledge openness, peer production, and collective intelligence as articulated by (...) Michael A. Peters’ conception of Knowledge Socialism are given careful analysis and exploration. Some of the members of this collective endeavor to identify problems, others, begin to draw boxes around potential solutions. Overall, this article engages with real world challenges and innovations that look beyond dominant neoliberal trends in the knowledge economy to build bridges toward novel possibilities in this era of rapid digital change. (shrink)

Disclosure of health information is a sensitive matter, particularly in the context of serious illness. In conservative societies—those which predominate in the developing world—direct truth disclosure undoubtedly presents an ethical conundrum to the modern physician. The aim of this study is to explore the truth disclosure practices of physicians in Jordan, a developing country. In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, 240 physicians were initially selected by stratified random sampling. The sample was drawn from four major hospitals in Amman, Jordan. A closed-ended (...) questionnaire was distributed and completed by self-report. A total of 164 physicians completed the questionnaire. Thirty-seven physicians usually withheld the diagnosis of “serious illness” from patients, while 127 physicians usually divulged the information directly. Among the latter, 108 physicians made exceptions to their disclosure policy. Specialists were more likely to withhold health information. Non-disclosure was primarily motivated by request from the patient’s family. In twenty cases, non-disclosure was undertaken independently. In conclusion, most respondents opt to disclose the truth; however, the vast majority of these respondents make exceptions. Instances of non-disclosure are primarily motivated by sociocultural constructs. (shrink)

Depression is a widespread concern in the United States. Neuromodulation treatments are becoming more common but there is emerging concern for racial disparities in neuromodulation treatment utilization. This study focuses on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a treatment for depression, and the structural and attitudinal barriers that racialized individuals face in accessing it. In January 2023 participants from the Twin Cities, Minnesota engaged in focus groups, coupled with an educational video intervention. Individuals self identified as non-white who had no previous TMS (...) exposure but had tried at least one treatment for their depression. Results revealed that the intervention did not notably change knowledge or stigma about TMS, but attitudes surrounding traveling for treatment changed. Notably, barriers like affordability, frequency of treatment, and lack of knowledge persist. Participants expressed a desire for more information, personal connection, and a tailored educational approach. The study suggests a need for multifaceted strategies to reduce disparities, focusing on education, community-based resources, and policy interventions. Immediate actions that can be taken include the creation of a TMS education program focused on patient engagement and awareness about TMS. (shrink)

Stock markets accurately reflect countries’ economic health, and stock returns are tightly related to economic indices. One popular area of financial research is the factors that influence stock returns. Several investigations have frequently cited macroeconomic factors, among numerous elements. Therefore, this study focuses on the empirical analysis of the relationship between macroeconomic factors and stock market returns. When a stock market becomes increasingly volatile, it becomes susceptible to economic uncertainty news, and information on social media platforms. Thus, we incorporated a (...) new dimension of economic uncertainty news sentiment for stock return predictions. We employed the daily data ofgold index, crude oil price, interest rate, exchange rate, and stock returns for a set of countries from January 2010 to December 2020. Subsequently, to compute coefficients, we conducted a regression analysis using one of the more sophisticated approaches: single-layer neural networks and ordinary least square regression. In addition, we only computed EUNS for the period of the fiscal budget announcement for the US, Turkey, and Hong Kong. The results indicate that the gold index, interest rate, and exchange rate are highly significant and negative macroeconomic factors for all analyzed countries. These findings also indicate that EUNS is important and detrimental for projecting stock returns. (shrink)

Riassunto: La filosofia originale cinese è una sublimazione della coscienza culturale umana di base - la coscienza della vita e della riproduzione - che è l’unificazione del “Concetto di yin e yang” e del “Concetto di ciclo di vita “ in cui “lo yin e lo yang si uniscono per creare tutte le cose, e il ciclio dà una vita senza fine. La cultura originale cinese determina la visione filosofica, la visione artistica, il temperamento emotivo, la benessere psicologica e lo (...) spirito nazionale della nazione cinese. Il sistema filosofico cinese, che rappresenta l’unificazione della cosmologia, dell’epistemologia e della metodologia della nazione cinese, è un sistema filosofico completo e maturo che si è formato nella società tardo primitiva molto prima delle Dinastie Xia, Shang e Zhou. La cultura originale cinese, dalla cultura della ceramica dipinta di 7.000 anni fa fino ai giorni nostri, dalla cultura archeologica sotterranea alla cultura di massa terrestre, è un concetto ampio di belle arti, determinato da una visione filosofica dell’arte plastica di osservare gli oggetti e prendere immmagini. La cultura originale e la filosofia originale della Cina primitiva sono ancora conservate in un’eredità storica estremamente ricca e completa nella vita sociale della cultura di massa. Per questo motivo la Cina è l’unico Paese tra le civiltà antiche che non aver subito una frattura culturale. (shrink)

This study aims to definition of noise and what is its source, the role of the nurse in sparing patients noise and disturbance inside the health facility, especially intensive care rooms, hospitalization rooms, etc.., the role of visitors in not disturbing other patients in the health facility, A questionnaire was prepared via Google Drive and distributed to the population aged 25-55 years, men and women, in the city of Mecca. As for the questionnaire, it was distributed via the social networking (...) program (WhatsApp) for the purpose of distancing for fear of the presence of the Corona virus. 400 questionnaires were distributed, and 380 responses were obtained via email to the principal researcher. (shrink)

This study examines two stock market anomalies and provides strong evidence of the day-of-the-week effect in the Chinese A-share market during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we examined the Quality minus Junk strategy return on Monday and FridayQuality stocks mean portfolio deciles that earn higher excess returns. As historical evidences suggest that less distressed/safe stocks earn higher excess returns.. The QMJ factor is similar to the division of speculative and non-speculative stocks described by Birru. Our findings provide evidence that the QMJ (...) strategy gains negative returns on Fridays for both anomalies because the junk side is sensitive to an elevated mood and, thus, performs better than the quality side of portfolios on Friday. Our findings are also consistent with the theory of investor sentiment which asserts that investors are more optimistic when their mood is elevated, and generally individual mood is better on Friday than on other days of the week. Therefore, the speculative stocks earned higher sustainable stock returns during higher volatility in Chinese market due to COVID-19. Intrinsically, new evidence emerges on an inclined strategy to invest in speculative stocks on Fridays during the COVID-19 pandemic to gain sustainable excess returns in the Chinese A-share market. (shrink)

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of gamophobia among unmarried graduate students at Yarmouk University, Jordan, and to explore its correlation with family communication patterns. The sample comprised 255 male and female students selected through convenience sampling. The results indicated that the overall level of gamophobia within the sample was moderate. Notably, gamophobia levels were significantly higher among females and employed students compared to their male and unemployed counterparts. No significant differences in gamophobia levels related to age or educational (...) level were found. Regarding the relationship between gamophobia and family communication patterns, the study identified a significant positive correlation with four specific family role patterns and a significant negative correlation with one family communication pattern. The analysis further showed that family communication patterns ranged from medium to high, with the balanced communication pattern being the most prevalent and the blaming pattern the least. Additionally, while no significant differences in family communication patterns were observed based on gender, differences were noted in the placating pattern in favor of doctoral students, in the placating and super-reasonable patterns favoring employed students, in the placating style for the 25–30 and 30+ age groups, and the irrelevant pattern for those under 25 years old. The balanced communication pattern was more prevalent among participants aged 30 years and older. (shrink)

Xenotransplantation has great potential as an alternative to alleviate the shortage of organs for donation. However, given that the animal most suited for xenotransplantation is the pig, there are concerns that people in Muslim countries may be more hesitant to morally approve of these procedures. In this study, the moral approval of xenotransplantation was assessed in a group of 895 participants in Egypt. The results showed that religiosity itself does not predict moral approval of xenotransplantation, but religious identity does, as (...) Muslims are less likely to approve of xenotransplantation than Christians. However, the strongest predictor of moral approval of xenotransplantation was gender, with women displaying less approval. A partial mediating factor in this association was concern for animal welfare. Based on these results, some implications for public policy are discussed. (shrink)

Minu eesmärgiks antud artiklis on pakkuda üht vaadet filosoofia olemuse, eesmärgi ja rolli kohta kaasaja maailmas. Artikli esimeses osas kirjeldan lühidalt nelja tänapäeva filosoofiat oluliselt mõjutanud filosoofiakontseptsiooni: ideaalkeele traditsiooni filosoofiamõistmist, tavakeele filosoofia arusaamu, Wittgensteini terapeutilis-deflatsionalistlikku kontseptsiooni ning kaasaegse filosoofilise naturalismi metafilosoofiat. Teises osas visandan Wilfrid Sellarsist inspireerituna filosoofiamõistmise, mis võimaldab meil näha kõiki eelnevalt käsitletud filosoofiakontseptsioone täitmas ühe ja sama projekti erinevaid osi ning mõista keskset osa kaasaja filosoofiast.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Art Education and the Emergence of Radical Art Movements in Egypt: The Surrealists and the Contemporary Arts Group, 1938–1951Patrick Kane (bio)So it wasn’t the aim of the artist to just toss out a work of art. A tradition of the exhibition of the natural, and its meaning was not that it fled from life, but that it had penetrated and plunged into reality. Its meaning was not a prescription (...) or plain exercise in the taste of the sublime, or harmony of forms and charming scenes; and its meaning was not as a decoration of life; it was in its expression of what life inspires in us to give back.—Henry Moore, as quoted by Ramses Yunan, in “The Aim of the Contemporary Artist”1In these crucial days of difficulty, the artists in this country live in tall aristocratic towers.... For this peasant has an art of his own that sustains him, and it is not that art of the educated class.—Kamil Al-Tilmisani (c. 1941–1942)By 1938, as the agrarian crisis in Egypt deepened, the Depression, food shortages, low wages, expropriations of crops, and forced rents opened a polemic among Egyptian intellectuals over the role of the state and the looming threat of fascism. With the dismissal of the government of Mustafa Al-Nahas at the end of 1937, the political turbulence underscored the weakening of the Wafd Party. Opponents of the old Wafdists and supporters of the monarchy resorted to openly fascist tactics, including the establishment of youth organizations and the Blue Shirts, the fascist front of the young Wafdists who modeled themselves on Mussolini’s Black Shirts. The serial crises of agrarian struggles and parliamentary stalemates between [End Page 95] nationalists and monarchists led to increasingly militant stances by the paramilitary fascist organization Misr Al-Fattah (Young Egypt) as a counter to the Muslim Brothers. When Mahmud Khalil resigned from the Wafd and assumed the presidency of the Senate in 1938, his ascension opened a new phase of struggle in politics through culture and the arts.2 In this context, caricatures and satirical sculptures of Khalil appeared in 1939 that parodied him as the icon of a “dictatorship of art.”3 Leading intellectuals from all political stances addressed these issues directly. The cultural journals were peppered with articles on the problems of everyday life and the material crises with such representative titles as ‘Abbas al-Aqqad’s “Food for the Rich,” in which he raised the problem of food shortages and inequity as an issue for reform.4 Within the year, articles in Al-Risala and Al-Thaqafa drew comparisons with French and Italian nineteenth-century landscapes as a model for the recognition of the countryside as a subject. In journalism and the arts, suffering became a part of the recognition of the everyday, as articles appeared on Millet’s nineteenth-century paintings of French peasants.As the war in Europe encroached into the cover pages of Egypt’s cultural journals, Zaki Muhammad Hasan wrote an essay for Al-Thaqafa entitled “The Angelus,” with a reproduction of the 1859 painting by Jean Francois Millet (1814–1874).5 Hasan wrote about Millet’s interest in the “the daily labors of the peasant” as a depiction of the conditions of French peasants. Hasan’s mention of Millet’s own peasant origins, and his listing of paintings of social conditions, including Les Glaneuses (The Gleaners), reflected a broadening interest in the artistic subject of the peasant and the rise of the peasant as artist. Although in Millet’s painting there is a prayer scene of a man and a woman in the fields that is generally regarded as the evening prayer with the sun setting, an Egyptian reader could link the prayer with the issue of workers taking breaks in the fields at a time when the issue of compensation of peasant farm workers was paramount.6 Hasan introduced “The Angelus” to his readers as a Catholic prayer in southern Europe offered at dawn, noon, and sunset and compared the origins of the prayer’s stanzas from the Gospel of Luke 1:28–31 with passages from the chapter on Maryam in the Quran... (shrink)

Throughout the history of Islam, mosques and masjids have been in a position where Muslims both perform their prayers and perform their scientific activities. In this sense, in the history of Islamic culture, Muslims mostly learned and taught sciences such as the Qur'an, tafsir, hadith and fiqh in these places until the spread of madrasahs. Especially the al-Masjid al-Nabawi, which the Muslims built here with their migration from Mecca to Medina, has become a full center of science. People called Companions (...) of Suffa have a great share in this situation. Because they used this place both as a housing and a school. This function of al-Masjid al-Nabawi affected the mosques of cities such as Kufa. With the foundation of Kufa in 17/638, mosques were built in the center and in the quarters of the city. The Companions who came here for different reasons conveyed their knowledge to the public in these mosques. Thus, in the first period the masjids in Kufa became the centers where the Companions conveyed their knowledge of Islamic sciences. Over time, various scientific circles were established in these mosques, and scholars transferred their knowledge of tafser, hadith and fiqh to the next generations. Especially many important jurists were trained in these places. Some of them are ’Alqamah b. Qays, Masruq b. Abdurrahman, Aswad b. Yazīd, Ibrāhīm al-Naḥa’ī, Ḥammād b. Abū Suleimān, Abū Ḥanīfah, Sufyan al-Thawri, Abū Yūsuf and Imam Muhammad. That these important jurists mostly acquired their knowledge of fiqh in the mosques in Kūfa and that some of them had important effects on the formation of the Hanafi sect made important the quantity and quality of the fiqh education in these places. As a result, it has been seen that the masjids in Kūfa have an important role in the raising of many jurists and the function of these places in this regard has been studied. Thus, this study aims to reveal the function of mosques and masjids in the historical process, albeit limited. (shrink)