Information processing in neural systems can be described and analyzed at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Generally, information at lower levels is more fine-grained but can be coarse-grained at higher levels. However, only information processed at specific scales of coarse-graining appears to be available for conscious awareness. We do not have direct experience of information available at the scale of individual neurons, which is noisy and highly stochastic. Neither do we have experience of more macro-scale interactions, such as interpersonal communications. Neurophysiological evidence (...) suggests that conscious experiences co-vary with information encoded in coarse-grained neural states such as the firing pattern of a population of neurons. In this article, we introduce a new informational theory of consciousness: Information Closure Theory of Consciousness (ICT). We hypothesize that conscious processes are processes which form non-trivial informational closure (NTIC) with respect to the environment at certain coarse-grained scales. This hypothesis implies that conscious experience is confined due to informational closure from conscious processing to other coarse-grained scales. Information Closure Theory of Consciousness (ICT) proposes new quantitative definitions of both conscious content and conscious level. With the parsimonious definitions and a hypothesize, ICT provides explanations and predictions of various phenomena associated with consciousness. The implications of ICT naturally reconcile issues in many existing theories of consciousness and provides explanations for many of our intuitions about consciousness. Most importantly, ICT demonstrates that information can be the common language between consciousness and physical reality. (shrink)

El presente artículo se centra en Baldr, una de las figuras clave para entender la mitología germánica. En nuestro estudio damos un breve repaso por las fuentes literarias, toponímicas y arqueológicas que se refieren a esta divinidad, para pasar a continuación a esbozar una interpretación del papel del dios que muere en el corpus de esta mitología.

The dynamics of epiphytic bryophyte communities following natural and human disturbance have rarely been quantified. We describe the response of bryophyte communities on bigleaf maple trees in Olympia, Washington, following their experimental removal. Approximately 8% of the exposed area was recolonized by bryophytes 1 year after clearing, and 27% after 3 years. Lateral encroachment from bryophytes on the sides of the 20-cm-long plots accounted for 75% of this recolonization, with growth from residual plant parts or aerially dispersed diaspores accounting for (...) the remaining 25%. Though it was not possible to distinguish between the latter two sources of cover, the number of clear de novo colonization events over the course of the year was low. Disturbance appeared to reduce bryophyte diversity at this successional stage, as alpha and gamma diversity remained low after 1 year and had not recovered after 3 years. Reflecting the preponderance of lateral encroachment as the mechanism for recolonization, disturbance size may significantly affect the time needed to recolonize disturbed branch substrates. In addition to contributing to ecologists' understanding of processes of succession, these experiments may help to develop sustainable practices for moss-harvesting in the Pacific Northwest.Key words: succession, bryophytes, epiphytes, Acer macrophyllum, recolonization, canopy studies. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:American Journal of Philology 123.4 (2002) 601-622 [Access article in PDF] Falling Masts, Rising Masters:The Ethnography of Virtue in Caesar's Account of the Veneti Brice Erickson [Appendix]CAESAR'S ACCOUNT OF THE REVOLT of the Veneti and neighboring tribes along the northwest coast of Gaul (BGall. 3.8-15) contains a clear assertion of Rome's superiority in virtus over her foes. While the account of the Veneti has sparked considerable debate over Caesar's (...) political motivations and Venetic topography, 1 the passage's literary themes merit study in their own right. This paper examines the respective roles of technology and virtus in Caesar's presentation of the Venetic defeat. The first section establishes that Caesar conceived of the sea battle fought against the Veneti as a contest about virtus. The next section argues that the technology of enemy boat design detailed in an ethnographic passage is represented by Caesar as a source of Venetic strength in place of true fighting spirit. This naval ethnography, dismissed by several commentators as an afterthought awkwardly inserted into the text, 2 is, on the contrary, the cornerstone of a sophisticated exposition on the theme of native technological strength failing to compensate for a lack of virtus. Caesar's presentation of the final defeat of the Veneti at sea, the subject of the third section, exposes native weakness in a remarkable scene wherein falling masts and sudden calm metaphorically cast enemy failure within a gendered opposition of hard and soft. [End Page 601] The Presentation of the Sea Battle as a Contest about VirtusAt the beginning of the account, the Veneti prove to be formidable adversaries despite their apparent reluctance to face the Romans in battle. The unusual position of their strongholds, on the tips of spits or promontories, shelters the Veneti from sea-borne attack. As Caesar points out, the violent swelling of the tide (aestus) characteristic of these northern regions and the presence of dangerous shoals make approaching the headlands by sea difficult (3.12.2-3). A further Roman disadvantage is their inadequate knowledge of the region's shoals, ports, and islands where the fighting will have to be waged. 3 Even when the Romans manage to besiege enemy positions, the Veneti's possession of a superior fleet allows them to abandon compromised strongholds and fortify new ones. Faced with an enemy skilled at tactical retreat, the Romans must delay a decisive resolution of the campaign until they finish assembling a fleet of their own. 4The Veneti stand in contrast to other tribes Caesar has fought, at least among those described in any detail. They lack the fighting virtues of masculine fortitude and courage in battle. Caesar ascribes Venetic power to three factors: a great number of ships, control over ports and trade with Britain, and a combination of knowledge (scientia) and experience (usus) in naval matters. 5 He credits the Veneti with being a coastal power, respected by their neighbors and preeminent in auctoritas. 6 This term is commonly paired with other words that reflect the courage of the Gauls, such as fortissimus, acerrimus, or occasionally even virtus. But Caesar's entire account of the Veneti is noticeably lacking in any explicit description of enemy fighting spirit. 7 In contrast, the Bellovaci at Bellum [End Page 602] Gallicum 2.4.5 are said to reign over their neighbors (inter eos) both in auctoritas and virtus. The term virtus itself covers a wide range of meanings. At its core are the concepts of masculine fortitude and courageous action. 8 Caesar describes another Gallic tribe, the Senones, in similar terms: civitas in primis firma et magnae inter Gallos auctoritatis (BGall. 5.54.2), where firma is paired with auctoritas.Fortis and acer occasionally serve as crude adjectival equivalents of virtus, as evidenced by an example at Bellum Gallicum 5.43.4, in which Caesar equates virtus with fighting in a manner acerrime fortissimeque in the case of Roman legionaries. A distinction exists between these terms and audacia and ferox, which convey the... (shrink)

Recent court decisions imposing liability on physicians who fail to inform patients that they carry the human immunodeficiency virus before performing invasive procedures create an urgent need for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reopen the issuance of guidelines and to address authoritatively the question of the appropriate limits within which HIV-infected health care providers can treat patients.Public fear of HIV-infected physicians were kindled by reports, beginning in 1990, that Dr. David Acer, an HIV-infected dentist, had infected (...) a number of his patients. However, great skepticism has arisen as to whether Dr. Acer’s patients were infected as a result of procedures conducted in accordance with universal precautions against transmission. Moreover, look back studies have failed to identify even one patient, among the thousands who have undergone procedures administered by HIV-infected physicians, who contracted the virus directly from his/her physician. (shrink)

[A Defence of Assisted Death: Philosophical Arguments for Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide] Kniha Tomáše Hříbka je první monografií v českém jazyce, jež nabízí filozofickou obhajobu eutanazie a sebeusmrcení za asistence lékaře. Autor vysvětluje zdroje současné diskuse, definuje základní pojmy a analyzuje argumenty pro asistované sebeusmrcení a eutanazii i proti nim. Odpovídá mimo jiné na tyto zásadní otázky: Co je smrt, a jak poznáme, že nastala? Je smrt vždy újmou, nebo může i prospět? Může být rozhodnutí zabít se rozumné i morální? (...) Je apel k morální autonomii pacienta přesvědčivý? Má utrpení na konci života smysl? Pokud jsou eticky přijatelné nezahájení nebo ukončení léčby či paliativní péče, tak proč ne i eutanazie a asistovaná smrt? Lze ospravedlnit eutanazii pacientů, kteří s ní nemohou vyslovit souhlas? Je možné eutanazii a asistované sebeusmrcení odmítnout s odkazem na etiku medicíny nebo svědomí lékařů? Neocitneme se legalizací eutanazie na kluzkém svahu, po němž sklouzneme k nemorální praxi? A jsou podobné metody asistované smrti morálně přijatelné jen za předpokladu, že zůstanou výjimečné? (shrink)

caue, caue; namque in malos asperrimus parata tollo cornua, qualis Lycambae spretus infido gener aut acer hostis Bupalo. an, si quis atra dente me petiuerit, inultus ut flebo puer? Harrison observes that commentators translate ‘“inultus” not “unavenged” but “without taking revenge”, construing it with Horace as the subject of “flebo” and not with “puer”’, and he then asserts ‘This use of “inultus” is wholly unparalleled; the adjective is elsewhere always used passively of persons or objects unavenged and never in (...) the active sense of “unavenging”’. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:American Journal of Philology 122.4 (2001) 527-531 [Access article in PDF] A Virgilian Crux: Aeneid 8.342-43 Neil Adkin When Evander conducts Aeneas around the future site of Rome, the objects of interest he points out to his guest include the following: "hinc lucum ingentem, quem Romulus acer asylum / rettulit, et gelida monstrat sub rupe Lupercal" (8.342-43). John Conington (1883, 119) complained that rettulit had "not been satisfactorily (...) explained." A century later, Gerhard Binder (1971, 118 with n. 27) repeated the complaint: "Über Vergils rettulit ist viel gerätselt worden." Binder's study was then followed by the unprecedented appearance of three different commentaries on this book of the Aeneid in three successive years. 1 None of them was however able to offer a satisfactory explanation of rettulit: the latest discussion of this passage is obliged to reiterate Conington's original complaint. 2 The purpose of the present article is to suggest a possible solution to this vexatious and long-standing crux.Servius Danielis was himself perplexed by this Virgilian passage, for which he felt the need to offer two alternative explanations: "retulit aut restituit aut nominavit" (Aen. 8.342). The second of these was accepted by Heyne (1833, 221: "retulit est appellavit"); however Conington rightly objected that there is no evidence for such a meaning of referre. The first exegesis proposed by Servius has on the other hand found widespread support. 3 It must however be pointed out that those who accept the equation of referre with restituere appear to have forgotten that the object of rettulit is not asylum, but lucum: while the "re-establishment" of an asylum makes excellent sense, the same can hardly be said of "re-establishing" a grove of trees. Servius himself detected an allusion to the asylum founded at Athens by the Heraclidae: "ideo ergo ait 'quod Romulus acer asylum retulit,' hoc est fecit ad imitationem [End Page 527] Atheniensis asyli" (Aen. 8.342). This interpretation of referre as signifying "to reproduce from a model" has similarly been widely accepted. 4 Such a construe is however open to the same objection that can be raised against restituere: while this rendering would have been admirably suited to asylum as direct object, the notion of "reproducing" a grove "from a model" is likewise far less satisfactory. 5 In support of both these explications it has been customary to adduce Aeneid 5.596-98: "hunc morem cursus atque haec certamina primus / Ascanius, Longam muris cum cingeret Albam, / rettulit." The supposed parallel is however illusory, since here referre simply governs a direct object, whereas in book 8 the same verb is instead employed in conjunction with the predicative apposition asylum. K. W. Gransden's commentary on this latter book (1976, 129) accordingly proposed the novel rendering "instituted as," which was however rejected by P. T. Eden's postscript (1986, 439) to his own commentary as "emphatically not a meaning of refero." Eden's commentary itself had taken rettulit as equivalent to reddidit. 6 This view that referre is here being used in the sense of "to render" had already been tentatively advanced by Conington himself; it too has received a certain measure of support. 7 In his latest contribution to the debate, however, Eden (1986, 440) changes his mind and instead adopts the unsatisfactory notion of Fordyce's commentary that rettulit signifies "reproduced from a model." Eden's reason for this volte-face is the following: "even if... the construction here of referre with a double accusative is an analogical imitation of reddere with the same construction, it cannot therefore also be presumed to share its meaning." Perhaps it is nonetheless possible to indicate how this objection of Eden's can be circumvented by a novel hypothesis which would at last appear to provide a key to this troublesomely enigmatic text. [End Page 528]Quintilian (Inst. 8.6.37) illustrates the rhetorical figure of metalempsis or transumptio with a reference to Odyssey 15.299 where thoos ("quick") is employed in the sense of oxus ("sharp"). Heinrich Lausberg (1990, 295) explains the figure as follows: "Die... (shrink)