The adequacy of the theories of deductive systems with respect to sentential calculi

Summary The sentential calculiR, under discussion, are axiomatizable and implication is among their primitive terms. The modus ponens and the rule of substitution are their primitive rules. ByS _r is denoted the set of sentences obtained from the formulae of the calculusR by substituting sentences of a given language for all variables. The variablesx, y, z ... represent the elements of the setS _r , the variablesX, Y, Z ... represent the subsets ofS _R . The formulacxy designates an implication withx as its antecedent andy as its consequent,cxy is always an element ofS _R δ(X) means, thatX is closed with respect to the modus ponens rule.A _R designates the class of allS _R -substitutions of the axioms of the sentential calculusR.     

Two years of physically active mathematics lessons enhance cognitive function and gross motor skills in primary school children

Physically active lessons have been shown to enhance academic achievement. However, the effects on cognitive function and gross motor skill development remain unknown. The present study examined how the incorporation of physical activity bouts within Mathematics lessons affects cognitive function and gross motor skill development across 2 years in primary school children. Eighty-two children (6.6 ± 0.3 y) were allocated to an intervention (n = 36; completing 8 h/wk of physically active lessons) or control (n = 46) group. A battery of cognitive function tests was completed, alongside the TGMD-3 to assess gross motor skills. Physically active Mathematics lessons led to greater improvements across all measures of cognition, when compared to the control group (digit span forwards, p < 0.001, d = 1.5; digit span backwards, p = 0.017, d = 1.0; free word recall: p < 0.001, d = 1.3; selective visual attention: p < 0.001, d = 0.3; verbal fluency: p < 0.001, d = 0.9; arithmetic: p < 0.001, d = 1.8). Furthermore, the intervention group demonstrated greater improvements in overall score on the TGMD-3 (p < 0.001, d = 1.7), as well as the locomotion (p < 0.001, d = 1.1) and object control (p < 0.001, d = 1.5) sub-scales. The physically active Mathematics lessons intervention appears to offer synergistic benefits in relation to cognitive and motor development, which are critical for optimal development in the early years.     

Lexicographic additive differences

Several authors have identified sets of axioms for a preference relation ? on a two-factor set A × X which imply that ? can be represented by specific types of numerical structures. Perhaps the two best-known of these are the additive representation, for which there are real valued functions f_A on A and f_X on X such that (a, x) ? (b, y) if and only if f_A(a) + f_X(x) > f_A(b) + f_X(y), and the lexicographic representation which, with A as the dominant factor, has (a, x) ? (b, y) if and only if f_A(a) > f_A(b) or {f_A(a) = f_A(b) and f_X(x) > f_X(y)}. Recently, Duncan Luce has combined the additive and lexicographic notions in a model for which A is the dominant factor if the difference between a and b is sufficiently large but which adheres to the additive representation when the difference between a and b lies within what might be referred to as a lexicographic threshold. The present paper specifies axioms for ? which lead to a numerical model which also has a lexicographic component but whose local tradeoff structure is governed by the additive-difference model instead of the additive model. Although the additive-difference model includes the additive model as a special case, the new lexicographic additive-difference model is not more general than Luce's model since the former has a “constant” lexicographic threshold whereas Luce's model has a “variable” lexicographic threshold. Realizations of the new model range from the completely lexicographic representation to the regular additive-difference model with no genuine lexicographic component. Axioms for the latter model are obtained from the general axioms with one slight modification.     

Decision policies minimizing risk in a multistage betting game

Considered in this paper is a decision task which has been employed to study multistage betting behavior. When the task commences, a decision maker (DM) is provided with some capital x (x > 0) which he is required to allocate over m (m > 1) mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive alternatives, each of which occurs with probability p_i (p_i > 0, i = 1,…, m; Σ_i=1^mp_i = 1). If the amount y_i is allocated to alternative i (y_i ≥ 0, Σ_i=1^my_i = x) and alternative i obtains, DM's capital for the next stage of the game becomes y_ir_i, where r_i (r_i > 0) is the return per unit allocated to alternative i. The task consists of N stages.Defining risk in terms of the mean and variance of DM's bets, and assuming that the minimization of risk is DM's objective, decision policies satisfying this objective are derived in closed form and their testable properties are briefly discussed.     

命与天命:儒家天人关系的双重视角

As a pair of important categories in traditional Chinese culture, “ming 命 (destiny or decrees)” and “tian ming 天命 (heavenly ordinances)” mainly refer to the constraints placed on human beings. Both originated from “ling 令 (decrees),” which evolved from “wang ling 王令 (royal decrees)” into “tian ling 天令 (heavenly decrees),” and then became “ming” from a throne because of the decisive role of “heavenly decrees” over a throne. “Ming” and “tian ming” have different definitions: “Ming” represented the limits Heaven placed on the natural lives of human beings and was an objective force that men could not direct, but was embodied in human beings as their “destiny”; “Tian ming” reflected the moral ideals of human beings in their self-identification; It originated in man but had to be verified by Heaven, and it was therefore the true ordinance that Heaven placed on human beings. “Ming” and “tian ming” are two perspectives on the traditional relationship between Heaven and human beings, and at the same time Confucians and Daoists placed different emphasis on them. Translated by Huang Deyuan from Zhongguo zhexueshi 中国哲学史 (History of Chinese Philosophy), 2007, (4): 11–21     

Making Sense of Sense-Making: Reflections on Enactive and Extended Mind Theories

This paper explores some of the differences between the enactive approach in cognitive science and the extended mind thesis. We review the key enactive concepts of autonomy and sense-making. We then focus on the following issues: (1) the debate between internalism and externalism about cognitive processes; (2) the relation between cognition and emotion; (3) the status of the body; and (4) the difference between ‘incorporation’ and mere ‘extension’ in the body-mind-environment relation.

"儒"的自我理解——荀子说儒的意义

No matter what the original meaning of “Ru” was, looking at it from the perspective of the history of philosophy, the image of “Ru” as portrayed by other schools in the Warring States period was infused with the characteristics of Confucianism of that time. The self-understanding of Warring States Confucians expressed by their employment of the character “Ru” clearly displayed Ru’s character as well as the main points of the Ru school, namely Confucianism. In particular, the words and thoughts of Xunzi, the great Confucian master, on “Ru”, epitomize Pre-Qin Confucian’s understanding and expectations of themselves, and also reflect the Confucian new pursuit in facing the age of the unification of Qin. Translated by Yan Xin from Beijing daxue xuebao 北京大学学报 (Journal of Peking University), 2007, (5): 19–26     

Increased forefoot loading is associated with an increased plantar flexion moment

The aim of this study was to identify the cascade of effects leading from alterations in force generation around the ankle joint to increased plantar pressures under the forefoot. Gait analysis including plantar pressure measurement was performed at an individually preferred and a standardized, imposed gait velocity in diabetic subjects with polyneuropathy (n = 94), without polyneuropathy (n = 39) and healthy elderly (n = 19). The plantar flexion moment at 40% of the stance phase was negatively correlated with the displacement rate of center of pressure (r = ?.749, p < .001 at the imposed, and r = ?.693, p < .001 at the preferred gait velocity). Displacement rate of center of pressure was strongly correlated with forefoot loading (r = ?.837, p < .001 at the imposed, and r = ?.731, p < .001 at the preferred gait velocity). People with a relatively high plantar flexion moment at 40% of the stance phase, have a faster forward transfer of center of pressure and consequently higher loading of the forefoot. This indicates that interventions aimed at increasing the control of the roll-off of the foot may contribute to a better plantar pressure distribution.     

The tragedy of a comic: fundamentalists crusading against fundamentalists

Christian Fundamentalists used to read the apocalyptic scenario through the “red” filter of communism, but since the 1980s the target has shifted to the “green tide” of Islam. One of the more colorful Fundamentalist diatribes against Islam is cartoon evangelist Jack Chick’s The Prophet, a comic book that calls Islam a Satanic plot hatched by the Catholic church. This article examines the rhetoric of Christian Fundamentalist diatribe against Islam in light of apocalyptic scenarios drawn out of biblical prophecy. Chick’s comic and the millenarian Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth are placed in the context of doctrinal attacks on Islam in medieval Christendom. In tracing the usage of “Islamic fundamentalism,” I argue that the term “fundamentalism” is problematic for cross-cultural studies of religious expression and movements.

Towards a New Epistemology of Mathematics

In this introduction we discuss the motivation behind the workshop “Towards a New Epistemology of Mathematics” of which this special issue constitutes the proceedings. We elaborate on historical and empirical aspects of the desired new epistemology, connect it to the public image of mathematics, and give a summary and an introduction to the contributions to this issue.

---

Cyborg intentionality: Rethinking the phenomenology of human–technology relations

This article investigates the types of intentionality involved in human–technology relations. It aims to augment Don Ihde’s analysis of the relations between human beings and technological artifacts, by analyzing a number of concrete examples at the limits of Ihde’s analysis. The article distinguishes and analyzes three types of “cyborg intentionality,” which all involve specific blends of the human and the technological. Technologically mediated intentionality occurs when human intentionality takes place “through” technological artifacts; hybrid intentionality occurs when the technological actually merges with the human; and composite intentionality is the addition of human intentionality and the intentionality of technological artifacts.

Sick? Or slow? On the origins of intelligence as a psychological object

This paper examines the first moments of the emergence of “psychometrics” as a discipline, using a history of the Binet–Simon test (precursor to the Stanford–Binet) to engage the question of how intelligence became a “psychological object.” To begin to answer this, we used a previously-unexamined set of French texts to highlight the negotiations and collaborations that led Alfred Binet (1857–1911) to identify “mental testing” as a research area worth pursuing. This included a long-standing rivalry with Désiré-Magloire Bourneville (1840–1909), who argued for decades that psychiatrists ought to be the professional arbiters of which children would be removed from the standard curriculum and referred to special education classes in asylums. In contrast, Binet sought to keep children in schools and conceived of a way for psychologists to do this. Supported by the Société libre de l'étude psychologique de l'enfant [Free society for the psychological study of the child], and by a number of collaborators and friends, he thus undertook to create a “metric” scale of intelligence—and the associated testing apparatus—to legitimize the role of psychologists in a to-that-point psychiatric domain: identifying and treating “the abnormal”. The result was a change in the earlier law requiring all healthy French children to attend school, between the ages of 6 and 13, to recognize instead that otherwise normal children sometimes need special help: they are “slow” (arriéré), but not “sick.” This conceptualization of intelligence was then carried forward, through the test's influence on Lewis Terman (1877–1956) and Lightner Witmer (1867–1956), to shape virtually all subsequent thinking about intelligence testing and its role in society.     

Noticing and responding in a discrimination based on a distinguishing element

In learning a successive go/no-go discrimination between a positive display consisting of the elements A and B, and negative display consisting of A-alone, pigeons first trained to peck A shift to pecking the distinguishing B element. In order to learn whether or not the shift to B is facilitated by B's function as a signal of the reinforcer, apart from the direct reinforcement of B responses, six arrangements of the elements with respect to the food reinforcer were used. Discrete trials were terminated by a single peck or after 4 sec. The A and B elements were dots of different color. The most critical comparison was between two groups, both of which received no reinforcement for a response directed to B. In one case, B signaled the reinforcer: An A response was reinforced when B was present but not when A appeared alone. In the other, B signaled the absence of a reinforcer: An A response was nonreinforced when B was present, while the response to A-alone was reinforced. During training and in extinction many more reponses were made to B when it signaled the reinforcer than when it signaled its absence. It is concluded that in a discrimination between AB positive and A negative the shift from pecking A to pecking B is facilitated by B's role as a signal for the reinforcer even on trials in which the peck is not made to B. Results from certain other groups showed that, unless pecks shifted to B within the positive display, pecks to A continued on the negative, A-alone trials as well as on the positive AB trials.     

Religious Experience and the Transformation of Narcissism: Kohutian Theory and the Life of St. Francis of Assisi

Kohut proposed that the narcissistic personality could be transformed in the therapeutic environment by an empathic approach on the part of the analyst. Within the analytic setting, specific transference phenomena arise spontaneously, allowing the analysand to confront infantile grandiose fantasies and unresolved narcissistic wounds. Using the story of the life of St. Francis of Assisi, this paper illustrates how religious experience––specifically the ongoing encounter with a transcendent other––can provide the “therapeutic” milieu in which the mirroring, idealizing, and twinship transferences described by Kohut can arise, and within which pathological narcissism can be transformed into the “cosmic narcissism” of the healthy personality.

The Minister Goes on Medical Leave: A Trigger for Conflict in the Congregation

The impact of a minister’s illness on the congregation can be temporary or serious and long-term. The following factors are reviewed: stress at the denominational level; the role of the area bishop; the interim minister’s task; personality characteristics of those who react negatively when their minister takes medical leave; and the dynamics of persons who draw together dissatisfied members into a power group. Suggestions are offered to ameliorate the effect of the minister’s medical leave in congregations at risk of dysfunction.

Effect of network connectivity on thermal properties of As30Te70– x Tl x glasses

Alternating differential scanning calorimetry (ADSC) studies were undertaken to investigate the effect of Tl addition on the thermal properties of As₃₀Te_{70– x} Tl _x (6?≤?x?≤?22 at%) glasses. These include parameters such as glass-transition temperature (T _g), changes in specific heat capacity (ΔC _p) and relaxation enthalpy (ΔH ^NR) at the glass transition. It was found that T _g of the glasses decreased with the addition of Tl, which is in contrast to the dependence of T _g in As–Te glasses on the addition of Al and In. The change in heat capacity ΔC _p through the glass transition was also found to decrease with increasing Tl content. The addition of Tl to the As–Te matrix may lead to a breaking of As–Te chains and the formation of Tl⁺Te^?AsTe_2/2 dipoles. There was no significant dependence of the change of relaxation enthalpy, through the glass transition, with composition.     

Predictive model for early math skills based on structural equations

Early math skills are determined by higher cognitive processes that are particularly important for acquiring and developing skills during a child's early education. Such processes could be a critical target for identifying students at risk for math learning difficulties. Few studies have considered the use of a structural equation method to rationalize these relations. Participating in this study were 207 preschool students ages 59 to 72 months, 108 boys and 99 girls. Performance with respect to early math skills, early literacy, general intelligence, working memory, and short‐term memory was assessed. A structural equation model explaining 64.3% of the variance in early math skills was applied. Early literacy exhibited the highest statistical significance (β = 0.443, p < 0.05), followed by intelligence (β = 0.286, p < 0.05), working memory (β = 0.220, p < 0.05), and short‐term memory (β = 0.213, p < 0.05). Correlations between the independent variables were also significant (p < 0.05). According to the results, cognitive variables should be included in remedial intervention programs.     

Variation with density of the transport properties of YBaCuO superconductors

Abstract

The dependence of the normal-state resistivity, resistive superconducting transition (T _c, ΔT _c), and of the upper critical-field slope (dH _c2/dT|T=T_c) on density has been investigated for several YBa₂Cu₃O_9-x(x?2.1) samples. The resistivity decreases rapidly with increasing density, whereas T _c and ΔT _c are rather insensitive to a change in density. dH _c2/dT|T_c depends sensitively on the preparation conditions. The implications of these results both for the evaluation of the parameters relevant to the understanding of the nature of superconductivity and for the technological applications of granular superconductors are briefly discussed.     

Religion in the service of an elite: A sociologicallydefined imposture. the case of ancient Sparta

The following article is based upon the socio-theological framework elaborated in mybook, Heilsgeschidllicht verfasste Theologie and Männerbiinde, (Theology based on the History of Salvation versus ‘Märmerbünde‘). It attempts to correlate the recurring appearance of a gnostic worldview with the socio-psychological structures of ‘Männerbünde’ or ‘male-groups’. In doing so, it traces the gnostic method of interpreting the human condition from efforts to build an ideological superstructure in order to secure the interests of solely secular groupings; the so-called “Männerbünde’. By developing pseudo-theological constructions with their hint of true ‘theo’-logy, these secular groupings attempt to seduce people into following these newly-developed pseudotheological systems which in fact deliver them helplessly into the grip of the ‘Männerbünde’. It is through means such as these pseudo-theologies that the ‘Männerbünde’ endeavour to win almost unlimited power over the common people; hence the article's title, ‘Religion in the service of an elite’.The second element of the title, ‘A sociologically defined imposture’, refers to myunderstanding that the creation of the pseudo-theology by the ‘Minnerbünde’ does not follow the demands of theological truth but is instead ‘defined’ by the sociological rules which are to be observed if one wants to subject others to one's own private aims.Whereas the book exemplifies the proposed ideas on a larger scale by centring on historical situations taken principally from ancient and modern indo-european contexts, the present article focuses on one of the best known ‘Männerbünde’, namely, the Spartan commonwealth. Sparta's special structures, which are highly relevant in illustrating this thesis, were not considered in the book.Finally, the analysis of the Spartan material has been effected through an abstractgeneral approach, and through a socio-psychological exposition of the structures which underly and interpret the ‘Männerbünde’ text, which mainly consists of historical arguments. It is this general approach which I shall consider first.