Distant Peers

What is the nature of rational disagreement? A number of philosophers have recently addressed this question by examining how we should respond to epistemic conflict with a so‐called epistemic peer—that is, someone over whom you enjoy no epistemic advantage. Some say that you're rationally required to suspend judgment in these cases—thereby denying the very possibility of a certain kind of rational disagreement. Others say that it's permissible to retain your beliefs even in the face of epistemic conflict. By distinguishing between close peers and distant peers, I argue that it's rational to respond to different types of peers in different ways. I also argue that remote peers—a particularly distant kind of distant peer—provide us with an important lesson in epistemic humility.     

Memory Drum Theory

Two experiments investigated the memory drum theory’s prediction (Henry & Rogers, 1960) that simple reaction time (SRT) increased with the complexity of the response to be initiated. Experiment 1 (N = 9) matched the Experiment 1, Group 1, SRT condition described by Henry and Rogers. Results of Experiment 1 replicated those of Henry and Rogers and indicated that the memory drum theory’s prediction of increased SRT as a function of increased complexity of response was tenable. Experiment 2 (N = 11) tested the effects of anatomical unit, extent, and target size on SRT, premotor time, and motor time. The results supported the contention that alternative explanations for SRT were possible. With complexity constant, increases in anatomical unit lead to increases in SRT, but only in the motor time component which indicated electromechanical rather than neuromotor program delays. It is proposed that the increased motor time could be explained by peripheral events such as the duration maximum torque must be applied by the agonist muscle(s) to generate the angular acceleration required to initiate rapid movement. SRT, premotor time, and motor time increased when target size was reduced from 6.35 cm to .79 cm. The increased premotor time could be a function of the determining of new equilibrium points for the elbow joint during response initiation. No effects on SRT were observed for extent.     

Empathy: From Mind Reading to the Reading of a Distant Text

In the psychoanalytic literature empathy is commonly discussed as a form of “mind reading”, which is deeply associated with the capacity to mirror the other’s mental state. In this paper, I propose an alternative perspective on empathy as the process of reading a distant text. This perspective is illustrated through a Talmudic story and by weaving a thread between Bakhtin, Bion and Lacan. The paper concludes by pointing to the danger of empathy as a hidden form of projective identification that provides the reader with a false sense of control rather than with negative capability for otherness.     

Perceptions of Three Mile Island and Acceptance of a Nuclear Power Plant in a Distant Community

Links between the accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) and attitudes among residents of a distant community toward a local nuclear power plant were examined. Interviews were conducted about 18 months after TMI with 213 residents of a nuclear host community concerning the effects of TMI, expectations about local events, and attitudes toward the local plant. Residents' perceptions of the importance of TMI in relation to their attitudes were associated with the perceived hazards of the local plant and with changes in attitudes over the past five years. A path analysis showed that the perceived influence of TMI was inversely related to local acceptance of the plant through expectations of local outcomes. Perceived hazards were more strongly related to the perceived influence of TMI than to expected economic benefits. Findings suggested a strong link between a distant event and local expectations and attitudes.     

Distant Things: A Closer Look

In a discussion of the constitutive role of colour in our visual perceptual experiences, Wilhelm Schapp centrally argues that we cannot visually perceive certain distant things, like a house seen far down in the valley. My main contention is that, in cases relevantly similar to Schapp’s, we do perceptually experience distant things, viz., as drastically “decayed” things, which are part of distant scenes. In doing so, we adopt towards them a kind of conservative “attitude.” The ideas of decay and scenicness will be unpacked in terms of the Husserlian ideas of fulfilment, and fulfilment conditions, capturing the idea that we perceptually experience objects in terms of anticipated possibilities for further experiences of these objects. These ideas will also be considered in relation to Herbert Leyendecker’s notion of an attitude, e.g. of observing, searching for, or working with objects.     

Apparatus for Smoking Kymograph Drum Papers

In a computer simulation study, random samples from a uniform density were substituted for each of two independent samples from normal and various nonnormal densities. This procedure was compared with conventional ranking and with Bell and Doksum's (1965) procedure, which substituted random normal deviates for initial sample values. After performing the Student t test, the program transformed the initial scores and performed additional t tests on ranks, random uniform scores, and random normal scores. For several distributions, the test on random normal scores was more powerful than the others, consistent with known asymptotic results. The probabilities of Type I and Type II errors of the test on random uniform scores were nearly the same as those of the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test, for all distributions examined.     

Freedom as Non-domination,Robustness, and Distant Threats

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice - It is a core feature of the conception of freedom as non-domination that freedom requires the absence of exposure to arbitrary power across a range of relevant...     

Distant melodies: statistical learning of nonadjacent dependencies in tone sequences

Human listeners can keep track of statistical regularities among temporally adjacent elements in both speech and musical streams. However, for speech streams, when statistical regularities occur among nonadjacent elements, only certain types of patterns are acquired. Here, using musical tone sequences, the authors investigate nonadjacent learning. When the elements were all similar in pitch range and timbre, learners acquired moderate regularities among adjacent tones but did not acquire highly consistent regularities among nonadjacent tones. However, when elements differed in pitch range or timbre, learners acquired statistical regularities among the similar, but temporally nonadjacent, elements. Finally, with a moderate grouping cue, both adjacent and nonadjacent statistics were learned, indicating that statistical learning is governed not only by temporal adjacency but also by Gestalt principles of similarity.     

永党元贤《鼓山志》及其文献价值

元贤是清初具有强烈民族意识和气节的禅僧,他的<鼓山志>在清初编纂刊印以后,一直没有广为流通.清修<四库全书>仅有存目,未收全书,国家图书馆等处所收藏的此书均为残本.本文依据的<鼓山志>现藏于世界宗教研究所,为品相极佳的足本,最早被清初藏书家汪宪收藏,乾隆修<四库全书>时呈于朝廷,又辗转藏于八千卷楼、江苏省图书馆,后流传至民间.该书具有重要的版本价值,内中题记、钤印等亦极为珍贵.本文还考察了历代编修的鼓山寺志的内容和存佚情况,对元贤的流传和撰述时间进行了考证,并在标点校勘该书的基础上,与黄任的<鼓山志>的内容加以比较,指出元贤所编的<鼓山志>从内容、特色以及版本上都具有极为重要的文献价值.     

Human–Android Interaction in the Near and Distant Future

ABSTRACT— In this article, a psychologist and an artificial-intelligence (AI) researcher speculate on the future of social interaction between humans and androids (robots designed to look and act exactly like people). We review the trajectory of currently developing robotics technologies and assess the level of android sophistication likely to be achieved in 50 years time. On the basis of psychological research, we consider obstacles to creating an android indistinguishable from humans. Finally, we discuss the implications of human–android social interaction from the standpoint of current psychological and AI research and speculate on the novel psychological issues likely to arise from such interaction. The science of psychology will face a remarkable new set of challenges in grappling with human–android interaction.     

Distant Memories: A Prospective Study of Vantage Point of Trauma Memories

ABSTRACT— Adopting an observer perspective to recall trauma memories may function as a form of avoidance that maintains posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We conducted a prospective study to analyze the relationship between memory vantage point and PTSD symptoms. Participants ( N = 947) identified the vantage point of their trauma memory and reported PTSD symptoms within 4 weeks of the trauma; 730 participants repeated this process 12 months later. Initially recalling the trauma from an observer vantage point was related to more severe PTSD symptoms at that time and 12 months later. Shifting from a field to an observer perspective a year after trauma was associated with greater PTSD severity at 12 months. These results suggest that remembering trauma from an observer vantage point is related to both immediate and ongoing PTSD symptoms.     

Creative Reading in the Information Age: Paradoxes of Close and Distant Reading

This article reflects on transformations of modes of reading in an information age, asking what “creative reading” entails in information‐intensive, multimodal environments. We currently face the challenge of the development of reading strategies that oscillate between “close” and “distant” reading. For years, these reading strategies have been a topic of debate between practitioners of Digital Humanities on the one hand, and “traditional” humanists on the other. This ongoing polemics presents reading methods in an unnecessarily polarized manner. I argue that creativity research can be operationalized to come to a more productive model to characterize the ways we read in an information age. I show that the “schism” between close and distant reading is structured around a number of apparent paradoxes that I unravel such as hyper‐ and deep attention/attention and distraction, and convergence and divergence. The paradox of creativity resides in the fact that we find convergence in divergence and vice versa, that the two by definition intertwine. Building on these concepts, I propose a model that considers reading in terms of scale variance. I suggest the humanities turn to creativity research and the interrelations between divergent‐exploratory and convergent‐integrative thinking (Lubart), for a conceptual framework that will allow us to train students on all levels how to read (and how and when not to read), in an information age.     

远程开放教育学生的学习特征及其互动策略

采用自编的“互动教育效果及影响因素问卷”,对电大金融类课程的学生进行调查,考察其在远程开放环境下的学习特征及其差异.结果显示:该问卷包括“教学艺术”、“活动吸引力”、“材料丰富性”和“途径便利性”等四个因子,且具有较好的信效度；目前电大远程开放教育的整体状况有待改善.在这基础上,对如何提高电大远程开放教育互动性的问题进行了深入的讨论.     

Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: Two meta‐analyses

Findings in parapsychology suggest an effect of distant intentionality. Two laboratory set‐ups explored this topic by measuring the effect of a distant intention on psychophysiological variables. The ‘Direct Mental Interaction in Living Systems’ experiment investigates the effect of various intentions on the electrodermal activity of a remote subject. The ‘Remote Staring’ experiment examines whether gazing by an observer covaries with the electrodermal activity of the person being observed. Two meta‐analyses were conducted. A small significant effect size (d =.11, p = .001) was found in 36 studies on ‘direct mental interaction', while a best‐evidence‐synthesis of 7 studies yielded d = .05 (p = .50). In 15 remote staring studies a mean effect size of d = 0.13 (p = .01) was obtained. It is concluded that there are hints of an effect, but also a shortage of independent replications and theoretical concepts.     

手术治疗单一局部复发或远处转移病灶乳腺癌的临床观察

探索手术治疗单一局部复发或唯一远处转移病灶乳腺癌的临床价值。收集2006年6月至2013年6月湖南省人民医院乳甲外科收治的64例局部复发或术后远处转移乳腺癌患者,其中28例为单发病灶病例。根据是否采取了包含手术的综合治疗,将其分为手术组与非手术组。回顾性分析两组的临床资料和随访数据,分析手术治疗局部复发或远处转移乳腺癌有无临床意义。结果28例都采取了含化疗的综合治疗,8例局部单发病灶与9例远处单一脏器转移病例进行了手术治疗。手术组的局部缓解率与控制率明显优于非手术组,均为100％。两组无进展生存时间（PFS）和总生存时间（（）S）比较,手术组明显长于非手术组;但在单一远处脏器转移手术组中0S没有优势。2年生存率方面手术组与非手术组比较有统计学意义。对于术后单一局部复发病灶或唯一远处脏器转移的乳腺癌患者,采取含手术的综合治疗方案能带来明显的PFS优势,若有手术机会和条件成熟,手术仍是不应放弃的有效治疗方法。