86,643 research outputs found
Restoring Civic Virtue: The Buckley Model
No full textThe political life of William F. Buckley Jr. stands as a model for reinvigorating the civic virtue that the American founders recognized as necessary.
Author information: Moriah Poliakoff is a junior at Christopher Newport University majoring in American Studies and minoring in Philosophy and US National Security Studies. She has a particular interest in political philosophy
Visuo-tactile synesthesia in non-synethetic subjects: a distinction between self and other.
No full textVisuo-tactile synesthesia in non-synesthetic subjects. A distinction between self and other.
Andrea Serino 1,2, Francesca Pizzoferrato 2 & Elisabetta Làdavas1,2.
1 – Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Bologna.
2 – Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Cesena
Abstract
Observation of actions, sensations or emotions activates the same brain areas directly involved in action execution, sensory and emotional feelings, respectively, i.e. the so called “mirror system” (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004). In this study, we show that such resonance of brain activity when observing and feeling has a behavioural landmark in the domain of touch. Observing an image of a face being touched by human hands enhanced tactile processing on the face. This effect was: a) specific for observation of touch: tactile enhancement was found when the hands touched the face compared to when they just approached the face; b) specific to viewing a body part: viewing the image of a house being touched did not improve touch; c) sensitive to the identity of the observed face: tactile enhancement was stronger when subjects viewed their own face rather than another person’s face.
These findings suggest that observation of touch directly modulates tactile processing, probably by activating primary somatosensory areas in a mirror-like way. Such modulation is stronger when visual information is related to the self. This suggests a gradient in mirror-like activity due to observation of touch that discriminates between observing an another person and the self
Selective virtual lesions of somatosensory and motor underpinnings of action simulation
No full textMere action observation may trigger a mental simulation process that is reflected in the activation of fronto-parietal sensorimotor circuits for making the same action. This occurs not only during observation of naturalistic movements but also when viewing biomechanically impossible movements that tap the afferent component of action, possibly by eliciting strong somatic feelings in the onlooker. Information on the possible causative role of frontal and parietal structures in simulating motor and sensory action components is lacking. By combining low-frequency repetitive and single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation we found that virtual lesions of ventral promotor cortex (vPMc) and primary somatosensory cortex (S1) suppressed motor facilitation contingent upon observation of possible and impossible movements respectively. In contrast, virtual lesions of the primary motor cortex did not influence mirror motor facilitation. The reported double dissociation suggests that vPMc and S1 play an active, differential role in simulating efferent and afferent components of observed actions
Variations on the Author
No full text“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Effets de la Modulation de la Fertilization Azotee sur la Productive du Brachiaria decumbens
No full textPour le choix d\u27especes ameliorees, selectionnees pour !\u27intensification fourragere a la Martinique, Brachiaria decumbens presente une faible sensibilite aux phenomenes saisonniers (Artus, 1986), mais sa productivite n\u27en demeure pas moins variable malgre !\u27irrigation complementaire en saison seche (Artus-Poliakoff et al., 1988). La fertilisation azotee, indispensable a !\u27expression des potentialites de rendement d\u27une telle graminee, accentue ces variations saisonnieres par stimulation de la croissance en periode favorable a la vegetation (CaroCostas et al., 1960; Salette, 1971). L\u27ajustement du chargement a la quantite d\u27herbe disponible ou le report fourrager sous forme de foin ou d\u27ensilage sont des techniques difficiles a maitriser et coiiteuses en region tropicale humide. Une modulation de la fumure azotee, apportee en fonction des saisons suggeree par Dumas (1971) pourrait constituer un mo yen operationnel pour une meilleure gestion des paturages. Ce travail a pour objectif de comparer l\u27effet de deux systemes de fertilisation: dose constante d\u27azote appliquee apres chaque coupe et dose modulee en fonction de la saison
[Newspaper Clipping: Author Claims Evidence of Second JFK Assassin #1]
No full textNewspaper article titled "Author Claims Evidence of Second JFK Assassin." The article states that author Richard J. Whalen concluded "that there is circumstantial evidence to support the theory of a second assassin in the shooting of President John F. Kennedy.
Mental rotation of prosthetic hands
No full textThis study focusses on the mental rotation of real and prosthetic hands within a laterality judgement task. When such tasks contain human hands they are believed to invoke motor imagery based mental rotation. This can be detected through a resulting biomechanical constraint effect; the limited range of movement available to human hands is reflected in task performance with medial hand rotation taking longer than lateral rotation (Zapparoli et al., 2016). When similar tasks use inanimate stimuli, motor imagery is not induced, and a visual rotation strategy is used (Zacks, 2008). This experiment partially replicates and builds upon a final year undergraduate project at the University of Manchester in 2021 examining the processing of prosthetic hands (Duncan-Cross, 2021). As prosthetic hands are known to elicit eeriness in some observers (Poliakoff et al., 2018), in line with Mori’s theory of the Uncanny Valley (Mori et al., 2012), it is possible that their eeriness may also be responsible for changes in their processing.
Research question 1: Is motor imagery used to process artificial hands?
The previous study found that real, realistic, and mechanical hands all produced a biomechanical constraints effect, suggesting that motor imagery is used across hand types.
Research question 2: Are artificial hands processed differently to real hands in the hand laterality task?
The previous study found that mechanical and realistic prosthetic hands produced lower slope values than real hands, suggesting differences in processing. For all hand types, palms of hands produced slower reaction times and lower slopes.
Duncan-Cross, I. (2021). What can mental rotation tell us about the uncanny valley for prosthetic hands? Unpublished final year undergraduate study.
Mori, M., Mac Dorman, K. F., & Kageki, N. N. (2012). The uncanny valley [Bukimi no tani]. IEEE Robotics and Automation, 19(2), 98-100. DOI: 10.1109/MRA.2012.2192811
Poliakoff, E., O’Kane, S., Carefoot, O., Kyberd, P., & Gowen, E. (2018). Investigating the uncanny valley for prosthetic hands. Prosthetics and Orthotics International, 42(1), 21-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309364617744083
Zacks, J. M. (2008). Neuroimaging studies of mental rotation: a meta-analysis and review. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 20(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2008.20013
Zapparoli, L., Saetta, G., De Santis, C., Gandola, M., Zerbi, A., Banfi, G., & Paulesu, E. (2016). When I am (almost) 64: The effect of normal ageing on implicit motor imagery in young elderlies. Behavioural brain research, 303, 137-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2016.01.05
Also By The Same Author: AKTiveAuthor, a Citation Graph Approach to Name Disambiguation
No full textThe desire for definitive data and the semantic web drive for inference over heterogeneous data sources requires co-reference resolution to be performed on those data. In particular, name disambiguation is required to allow accurate publication lists, citation counts and impact measures to be determined. This paper describes a graph-based approach to author disambiguation on large-scale citation networks. Using self-citation, co-authorship and document source analyses, AKTiveAuthor clusters papers, achieving precision of 0.997 and recall of 0.818 over a test group of eight surname clusters
John F. Kennedy telegram to Roosevelt
No full textJersey Homesteads (later the Borough of Roosevelt) was established in the 1930s as an agro-industrial cooperative community. It was established specifically for urban Jewish garment workers, many of whom had emigrated from Europe. President John F. Kennedy sent a telegram to the citizens of Roosevelt, New Jersey, apologizing for not being able to attend the memorial dedication in honor of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (Jersey Homesteads became Roosevelt in 1945 in honor of the president.) President Kennedy expressed his gratitude to the people of Roosevelt for constructing the memorial, and commented that it will serve as a constant reminder of Roosevelt's good works
First international proficiency testing for laboratory performance on Xylella fastidiosa
No full textA proficiency test (PT) to evaluate the performance of laboratories involved in molecular and serological detection of Xf was carried out in early 2017. Thirty-five laboratories from EU/non-EU Countries tested 4 different methods to purify DNA, conventional and qPCR assays, and 2 ELISA tests. The number of resultant positive agreement/negative agreement/positive deviation/negative deviation was used to determine the laboratory performance (i.e. accuracy 100%). The overall results showed that all laboratories were able to correctly diagnose Xf in the blind samples containing the highest Xf concentrations, whereas the performance of several laboratories was negatively affected by the lack of detection in the samples with the lowest concentrations, both through molecular and serological tests. Accuracy level of 100% (laboratory conformed to the PT) was successfully recovered in the majority of the laboratories performing qPCR assays on DNA purified using at least 2 of the 4 tested protocols. The use of automated platform ensured higher laboratory performance. As expected, results of the ELISA tests generated lower performance values in the majority of the laboratories, due to the lack of detection of positive samples containing the lowest the bacterial concentration. This study provides a good overview on the laboratory performance for the diagnostics currently used in the EPPO countries and indicate useful improvements that laboratories can adopt to achieve a better performanc
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