A sound interpretation of minimality properties of common belief in minimal semantics

1996 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittoriomanuele Ferrante
Keyword(s):  
Common Belief

Neural and sociocultural mediators of ethnic differences in pain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
EAR Losin ◽  
CW Woo ◽  
NA Medina ◽  
JR Andrews-Hanna ◽  
Hedwig Eisenbarth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Nociceptive Pain ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Pain Mechanisms ◽  
Thermal Pain ◽  
Heat Effects ◽  
Pain Report ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Ethnicity And Gender

© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. Understanding ethnic differences in pain is important for addressing disparities in pain care. A common belief is that African Americans are hyposensitive to pain compared to Whites, but African Americans show increased pain sensitivity in clinical and laboratory settings. The neurobiological mechanisms underlying these differences are unknown. We studied an ethnicity- and gender-balanced sample of African Americans, Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites using functional magnetic resonance imaging during thermal pain. Higher pain report in African Americans was mediated by discrimination and increased frontostriatal circuit activations associated with pain rating, discrimination, experimenter trust and extranociceptive aspects of pain elsewhere. In contrast, the neurologic pain signature, a neuromarker sensitive and specific to nociceptive pain, mediated painful heat effects on pain report largely similarly in African American and other groups. Findings identify a brain basis for higher pain in African Americans related to interpersonal context and extranociceptive central pain mechanisms and suggest that nociceptive pain processing may be similar across ethnicities.

Dendrobium officinalis Flower Improves Learning and Reduces Memory Impairment by Mediating Antioxidant Effect and Balancing the Release of Neurotransmitters in Senescent Rats

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 402-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin-Zi Li ◽  
Shan-Shan Lei ◽  
Bo Li ◽  
Fu-Chen Zhou ◽  
Ye-Hui Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning And Memory ◽  
Brain Aging ◽  
Morris Water Maze Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Histopathological Analysis ◽  
Hippocampal Damage ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Mao B ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Brain

Aim and Objective: The Dendrobium officinalis flower (DOF) is popular in China due to common belief in its anti-aging properties and positive effects on “nourish yin”. However, there have been relatively few confirmatory pharmacological experiments conducted to date. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether DOF has beneficial effects on learning and memory in senescent rats, and, if so, to determine its potential mechanism of effect. Materials and Methods: SD rats were administrated orally DOF at a dose of 1.38, or 0.46 g/kg once a day for 8 weeks. Two other groups included a healthy untreated control group and a senescent control group. During the 7th week, a Morris water maze test was performed to assess learning and memory. At the end of the experiment, serum and brain samples were collected to measure concentrations of antioxidant enzymes, including malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione reductase (GSH-Px) in serum, and the neurotransmitters, including γ-aminobutyric acid (γ-GABA), Glutamic (Glu), and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) in the brain. Histopathology of the hippocampus was assessed using hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining. Results: The results suggested that treatment with DOF improved learning as measured by escape latency, total distance, and target quadrant time, and also increased levels of γ-GABA in the brain. In addition, DOF decreased the levels of MDA, Glu, and MAO-B, and improved SOD and GSHPx. Histopathological analysis showed that DOF also significantly reduced structural lesions and neurodegeneration in the hippocampus relative to untreated senescent rats. Conclusion: DOF alleviated brain aging and improved the spatial learning abilities in senescent rats, potentially by attenuating oxidative stress and thus reducing hippocampal damage and balancing the release of neurotransmitters.

Connecting Gospels

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Century ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Single Field ◽  
Vantage Points ◽  
Canonical Texts ◽  
Normative Status ◽  
Two Bodies ◽  
Shed Light

By the late second century, early Christian gospels had been divided into two groups by a canonical boundary that assigned normative status to four of them while consigning their competitors to the margins. The project of this volume is to find ways to reconnect these divided texts. The primary aim is not to address the question whether the canonical/non-canonical distinction reflects substantive and objectively verifiable differences between the two bodies of texts—although that issue may arise at various points. Starting from the assumption that, in spite of their differences, all early gospels express a common belief in the absolute significance of Jesus and his earthly career, the intention is to make their interconnectedness fruitful for interpretation. The approach taken is thematic and comparative: a selected theme or topic is traced across two or more gospels on either side of the canonical boundary, and the resulting convergences and divergences shed light not least on the canonical texts themselves as they are read from new and unfamiliar vantage points. The outcome is to demonstrate that early gospel literature can be regarded as a single field of study, in contrast to the overwhelming predominance of the canonical four characteristic of traditional gospels scholarship.

Aristotle on the Sources of the Ethical Life

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Berryman
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Metaphysical Grounding ◽  
Middle Way ◽  
The Common

This work challenges the common belief that Aristotle’s virtue ethics is founded on an appeal to human nature, an appeal that is thought to be intended to provide both substantive ethical advice and justification for the demands of ethics. It is argued that it is not Aristotle’s intent, but the view is resisted that Aristotle was blind to questions of the source or justification of his ethical views. Aristotle’s views are interpreted as a ‘middle way’ between the metaphysical grounding offered by Platonists and the scepticism or subjectivist alternatives articulated by others. The commitments implicit in the nature of action figure prominently in this account: Aristotle reinterprets Socrates’ famous paradox that no one does evil willingly, taking it to mean that a commitment to pursuing the good is implicit in the very nature of action. This approach is compared to constructivism in contemporary ethics.

scholarly journals Fluctuation Relations for Dissipative Systems in Constant External Magnetic Field: Theory and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 146
Author(s):  
Alessandro Coretti ◽  
Lamberto Rondoni ◽  
Sara Bonella
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Molecular Dynamics ◽  
External Magnetic Field ◽  
Molecular Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Nonequilibrium Molecular Dynamics ◽  
Dissipative Systems ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Fluctuation Relations ◽  
Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Constant External Magnetic Field

We illustrate how, contrary to common belief, transient Fluctuation Relations (FRs) for systems in constant external magnetic field hold without the inversion of the field. Building on previous work providing generalized time-reversal symmetries for systems in parallel external magnetic and electric fields, we observe that the standard proof of these important nonequilibrium properties can be fully reinstated in the presence of net dissipation. This generalizes recent results for the FRs in orthogonal fields—an interesting but less commonly investigated geometry—and enables direct comparison with existing literature. We also present for the first time a numerical demonstration of the validity of the transient FRs with nonzero magnetic field via nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of a realistic model of liquid NaCl.

scholarly journals Understanding Urban Commercial Vehicle Driver Behaviors and Decision Making

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110035
Author(s):  
Giacomo Dalla Chiara ◽  
Klaas Fiete Krutein ◽  
Andisheh Ranjbari ◽  
Anne Goodchild
Keyword(s):  
Commercial Vehicle ◽  
Operating Time ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Urban Freight ◽  
The Road ◽  
Commercial Drivers ◽  
The Common ◽  
Printed Materials

As e-commerce and urban deliveries spike, cities grapple with managing urban freight more actively. To manage urban deliveries effectively, city planners and policy makers need to better understand driver behaviors and the challenges they experience in making deliveries. In this study, we collected data on commercial vehicle (CV) driver behaviors by performing ridealongs with various logistics carriers. Ridealongs were performed in Seattle, Washington, covering a range of vehicles (cars, vans, and trucks), goods (parcels, mail, beverages, and printed materials), and customer types (residential, office, large and small retail). Observers collected qualitative observations and quantitative data on trip and dwell times, while also tracking vehicles with global positioning system devices. The results showed that, on average, urban CVs spent 80% of their daily operating time parked. The study also found that, unlike the common belief, drivers (especially those operating heavier vehicles) parked in authorized parking locations, with only less than 5% of stops occurring in the travel lane. Dwell times associated with authorized parking locations were significantly longer than those of other parking locations, and mail and heavy goods deliveries generally had longer dwell times. We also identified three main criteria CV drivers used for choosing a parking location: avoiding unsafe maneuvers, minimizing conflicts with other users of the road, and competition with other commercial drivers. The results provide estimates for trip times, dwell times, and parking choice types, as well as insights into why those decisions are made and the factors affecting driver choices.

scholarly journals Testing Common Knowledge: Are Northern Europeans and Millennials More Concerned about the Environment?

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Cristina Gómez-Román ◽  
Maria Luisa Lima ◽  
Gloria Seoane ◽  
Mónica Alzate ◽  
Marcos Dono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Generation X ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Personal Norms ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Using Data ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
North And South

This study explores whether there are differences in several environmental dimensions, when the European Region and Generation cohort are considered. In doing so, this study compares millennials in North and South Europe with members of Generation X in three environmental dimensions: attitudes, personal norms, and behavior. Using data from the European Social Survey (n = 6.216), the researchers tested the hypothesis that Northern Europeans and millennials have more pro-environmental standing than southerners and Generation Xers. The findings challenge the common belief that millennials are more committed to being environmentally conscious, showing that many millennials do not feel responsible for their climate footprint, nor do they behave in a way that shows more concern than previous generations to improve their environmental performance. Furthermore, contrary to expectations, Northern European participants are not the most committed, in all environmental dimensions, compared to Southern Europeans.

scholarly journals Inverse design of glass structure with deep graph neural networks

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Wang ◽  
Longfei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Configuration Space ◽  
Glass Structure ◽  
Stable State ◽  
Specific Property ◽  
Inverse Design ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Graph Neural Networks

AbstractDirectly manipulating the atomic structure to achieve a specific property is a long pursuit in the field of materials. However, hindered by the disordered, non-prototypical glass structure and the complex interplay between structure and property, such inverse design is dauntingly hard for glasses. Here, combining two cutting-edge techniques, graph neural networks and swap Monte Carlo, we develop a data-driven, property-oriented inverse design route that managed to improve the plastic resistance of Cu-Zr metallic glasses in a controllable way. Swap Monte Carlo, as a sampler, effectively explores the glass landscape, and graph neural networks, with high regression accuracy in predicting the plastic resistance, serves as a decider to guide the search in configuration space. Via an unconventional strengthening mechanism, a geometrically ultra-stable yet energetically meta-stable state is unraveled, contrary to the common belief that the higher the energy, the lower the plastic resistance. This demonstrates a vast configuration space that can be easily overlooked by conventional atomistic simulations. The data-driven techniques, structural search methods and optimization algorithms consolidate to form a toolbox, paving a new way to the design of glassy materials.

scholarly journals Publicity and Common Commitment to Believe

Erkenntnis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. G. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Functional Role ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Standard Analysis ◽  
Joint Intention ◽  
Normative Role

AbstractInformation can be public among a group. Whether or not information is public matters, for example, for accounts of interdependent rational choice, of communication, and of joint intention. A standard analysis of public information identifies it with (some variant of) common belief. The latter notion is stipulatively defined as an infinite conjunction: for p to be commonly believed is for it to believed by all members of a group, for all members to believe that all members believe it, and so forth. This analysis is often presupposed without much argument in philosophy. Theoretical entrenchment or intuitions about cases might give some traction on the question, but give little insight about why the identification holds, if it does. The strategy of this paper is to characterize a practical-normative role for information being public, and show that the only things that play that role are (variants of) common belief as stipulatively characterized. In more detail: a functional role for “taking a proposition for granted” in non-isolated decision making is characterized. I then present some minimal conditions under which such an attitude is correctly held. The key assumption links this attitude to beliefs about what is public. From minimal a priori principles, we can argue that a proposition being public among a group entails common commitment to believe among that group. Later sections explore partial converses to this result, the factivity of publicity and publicity from the perspective of outsiders to the group, and objections to the aprioricity of the result deriving from a posteriori existential presuppositions.

Female labour participation and pay equity in Arab countries: commonalities and differences

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuf M. Sidani ◽  
Tony Feghali
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Country ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Problematic Situation ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Labour Participation

While there is a common belief that female labour indicators in Arab countries demonstrate a problematic situation, little is understood about the varieties within countries in that region. This paper attempts to draw a segmentation of the Arab world to show how different countries differ in this regard. It looks at two specific measures: the level of female participation as a percentage of male participation (FPM), and the female earned income to male income (FIM). Statistics from 20 Arab countries generated four clusters in which those countries are classified. Female labour indicators in most countries in the Arab world show similar patterns found in other countries in their stage of development. This confirms earlier research that indicates that women's labour participation decreases as societies move away from agriculture into manufacturing, services and industry. Only four countries are identified as outliers whose labour indicators can be understood within the context of the cultural values that dominate. The implications are discussed and individual research on female labour within each Arab country is invited.

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