The mind of society: Investigating and using the “language of the gods”

The “language of the gods” is conceived as a kind of language more complex than what we associate with human tongues in the strict sense of the term. Certain arbitrary regularities throughout the rational disciplines appear to indicate the existence of this language. The present article explores this new concept and applies it in an attempt to provide a logical clarification of the notions of individual consciousness and physical reality.     

A computational model of fMRI activity in the intraparietal sulcus that supports visual working memory

A computational model was developed to explain a pattern of results of fMRI activation in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) supporting visual working memory for multiobject scenes. The model is based on the hypothesis that dendrites of excitatory neurons are major computational elements in the cortical circuit. Dendrites enable formation of a competitive queue that exhibits a gradient of activity values for nodes encoding different objects, and this pattern is stored in working memory. In the model, brain imaging data are interpreted as a consequence of blood flow arising from dendritic processing. Computer simulations showed that the model successfully simulates data showing the involvement of inferior IPS in object individuation and spatial grouping through representation of objects’ locations in space, along with the involvement of superior IPS in object identification through representation of a set of objects’ features. The model exhibits a capacity limit due to the limited dynamic range for nodes and the operation of lateral inhibition among them. The capacity limit is fixed in the inferior IPS regardless of the objects’ complexity, due to the normalization of lateral inhibition, and variable in the superior IPS, due to the different encoding demands for simple and complex shapes. Systematic variation in the strength of self-excitation enables an understanding of the individual differences in working memory capacity. The model offers several testable predictions regarding the neural basis of visual working memory.     

早期检测血浆N-端脑利钠肽前体在高龄呼吸困难患者诊治策略中的应用价值

N-端脑利钠肽前体具有快捷、简易、安全可靠、耐受性好的特点,在呼吸困难的鉴别诊断上有其独特优势,已成为近年来临床开展的一项新技术。在高龄呼吸困难患者中具有光明的应用前景,本文就早期检测血浆N-端脑利钠肽前体在高龄呼吸困难患者诊治中的应用作一讨论。     

浅析医务人员收受回扣的法律责任

在医疗服务过程中,医务人员收受回扣的行为较为普遍。根据其情节轻重可能要承担刑事责任、行政责任或相应的民事责任。伴随着一系列规定的出台,我国目前在该领域存在的诸多法律问题得以解决。在梳理相关规定的基础上,对现阶段仍然存在的一些残留问题作出分析。     

医学本科生基层就业意愿调查及其影响因素分析

通过对四川省五所医学院校本科生的抽样调查,了解到医学生到基层工作的积极性有待提高,"性别"、"生源"、"学习成绩"、"年级"、"就业指导"是影响医学生是否愿意到基层的重要因素。加强基层医疗机构的建设、加大学校就业指导工作力度,对改善当前基层医疗卫生人力资源结构,解决医学生就业具有重要意义。     

The Paradox of Inference and the Non-Triviality of Analytic Information

The classical theory of semantic information (ESI), as formulated by Bar-Hillel and Carnap in 1952, does not give a satisfactory account of the problem of what information, if any, analytically and/or logically true sentences have to offer. According to ESI, analytically true sentences lack informational content, and any two analytically equivalent sentences convey the same piece of information. This problem is connected with Cohen and Nagel’s paradox of inference: Since the conclusion of a valid argument is contained in the premises, it fails to provide any novel information. Again, ESI does not give a satisfactory account of the paradox. In this paper I propose a solution based on the distinction between empirical information and analytic information. Declarative sentences are informative due to their meanings. I construe meanings as structured hyperintensions, modelled in Transparent Intensional Logic as so-called constructions. These are abstract, algorithmically structured procedures whose constituents are sub-procedures. My main thesis is that constructions are the vehicles of information. Hence, although analytically true sentences provide no empirical information about the state of the world, they convey analytic information, in the shape of constructions prescribing how to arrive at the truths in question. Moreover, even though analytically equivalent sentences have equal empirical content, their analytic content may be different. Finally, though the empirical content of the conclusion of a valid argument is contained in the premises, its analytic content may be different from the analytic content of the premises and thus convey a new piece of information.     

An Extension of Multiple Correspondence Analysis for Identifying Heterogeneous Subgroups of Respondents

An extension of multiple correspondence analysis is proposed that takes into account cluster-level heterogeneity in respondents’ preferences/choices. The method involves combining multiple correspondence analysis and k-means in a unified framework. The former is used for uncovering a low-dimensional space of multivariate categorical variables while the latter is used for identifying relatively homogeneous clusters of respondents. The proposed method offers an integrated graphical display that provides information on cluster-based structures inherent in multivariate categorical data as well as the interdependencies among the data. An empirical application is presented which demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed method and how it compares to several extant approaches. The work reported in this paper was supported by Grant 290439 and Grant A6394 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the first and third authors, respectively. We wish to thank Ulf B?ckenholt, Paul Green, and Marc Tomiuk for their insightful comments on an earlier version of this paper. We also wish to thank Byunghwa Yang for generously providing us with his data.     

对癫痫的认识及其外科治疗

人们对癫痫的认识及其外科治疗的发展是一个漫长而复杂的过程,经历高潮、低谷的更迭。科技进步使人们对癫痫正确认识,也使治疗手段更趋于多样化、个性化。     

EORTC QLQ—C30及其在胸部肿瘤患者生命质量研究中的应用

生命质量研究是近年来肿瘤研究的热点之一,其主要作用评价治疗效果,选择治疗方案;应用于抗肿瘤新药筛选;用于预测患者预后和远期生存状态。EORTC QLQ-C30及其子量表在世界范围内被应用于胸部肿瘤治疗和研究当中并取得了较好效果,为评价食管癌和肺癌的各种治疗方法提供了一个较好的参考标准,同时对提高食管癌和肺癌的治疗水平和改善病人生命质量起到了一定的推动作用。     

异种移植研究刍议

现代科学技术的发展已经并正在给人类展示一个互相矛盾的事实一方面是人类社会的巨大进步,社会生活的极大提高。核能利用、转基因作物、器官移植、动物克隆等等,无一不让人类充分享受到现代科技带来的种种利益和好处;另一方面是人类生存危机前所未有的加深。怎样理性的评判现代科技对人类的影响,摆脱其发展对社会所造成的两难困境,是一个必须解决的难题。以异种移植研究为例,探究科学技术的可持续发展道路。