Local dynamic stability of the spine and its coordinated lower joints during repetitive Lifting: Effects of fatigue and chronic low back pain

The nonlinear Lyapunov exponent (LyE) has been proven effective for evaluating the local stability of human movement and exploring the effects of load, speed and direction of individuals with and without nonspecific chronic low back pain (CLBP). The purpose of this study was to examine spinal and lower joint stability and response to fatigue of individuals with and without CLBP while performing lifting-lowering movements. Fourteen healthy individuals and 14 patients with nonspecific CLBP were recruited to perform lifting movement repeatedly while holding two equally-sized dumbbells in their hands. The participants continued lifting until they reported their highest level of fatigue. Kinematic data for the spine and its coordinated lower joints were recorded during the task (more than 40 lifting cycles on average). The first and last 20 cycles of each cyclic time series were defined as early- and late-fatigue conditions, respectively. The maximum LyE was estimated to quantify the local dynamic stability of the angular displacement time series of the spine, hip, knee and ankle on different anatomical planes in both the early- and late-fatigue conditions. The results revealed that local stability of the spine and hip was affected by fatigue. Spinal stability decreased as fatigue increased on the sagittal plane (p < 0.05). The hip exhibited a similar affectation (destabilization under fatigue) on all anatomical planes. Patients with CLBP showed more stable hip movement on the frontal and transverse planes (p < 0.05). These results suggested that lifting/progressive fatigue could increase the risk of injury to the spine and hip. These findings indicate that patients with CLBP applied different control strategies for the hip; thus, spinal control stability should be evaluated together with the stability of the lower joints.     

Semantic coherence and fallacies in estimating joint probabilities

In three experiments on joint probability estimation, gist representations were manipulated with analogies, and the suboptimal strategy of ignoring relevant denominators was counteracted with training in using 2 × 2 tables to clarify joint probability estimates. The estimated probabilities of two events, as well as their conjunctive and disjunctive probabilities, were assessed against two benchmarks, logical fallacies and semantic coherence—a constellation of estimates consistent with the relationship among sets. Fuzzy‐trace theory (FTT) predicts that analogies will increase semantic coherence, and a table intervention affecting denominator neglect will both increase semantic coherence and reduce fallacies. In all three experiments, analogies increased semantic coherence. In both experiments training participants to use 2 × 2 tables, such tables reduced fallacies and increased semantic coherence. As the relations among sets in the problem materials progressed in cognitive complexity from identical sets, mutually exclusive sets, and subsets to overlapping sets, fallacies generally increased, and semantic coherence generally decreased. These findings indicate that denominator neglect is pervasive, but that it can be remedied with a straightforward intervention that clarifies relations among sets. Further, intuitive gist‐based probability estimation can be improved through the use of simple analogies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

齐鲁人与两汉地方治安

各级地方官作为维护治安职能的主要承担者,是关系地方治安好坏与否的关键因素。两汉社会的治安问题主要集中于三个方面：一是以豪强大姓为主、对社会治安严重破坏的地方恶势力;二是遭遇天灾人祸的诸多灾民、流民;三是官逼民反,以农民为代表的社会下层反抗势力。针对这些不同情况、不同性质的问题,许多齐鲁籍官吏采取了不同的措施和方法,并且留下大量施政范例,在社会治安方面为后人提供了有益的借鉴。     

Agent communication pragmatics: the cognitive coherence approach

Different approaches have investigated the syntax and semantics of agent communication languages. However, these approaches have not indicated how agents should dynamically use communications. Instead of filling this pragmatics gap, most approaches have mainly focused on the ‘structure’ of dialogues even though developers are more interested in agents’ capabilities of having ‘useful’ automated conversations with respect to their goals rather than in their abilities to structure dialogues. This led us to work on a theory of the use of conversations between agents. In this paper, we propose a pragmatics theory which extends and adapts the cognitive dissonance theory (a major theory of social psychology) to multi-agent systems by unifying it with the theory of coherence in thought and action that issues from computational philosophy of mind. Precisely, we show how this theory allows us to provide generic conceptual tools for the automation of both agent communicational behavior and attitude change processes. This new motivational model is formulated in terms of constraints and elements of cognition and allows us to define cognitive incoherences and dialogue utility measures. We show how these measures could be used to solve common problems and answer some critical questions concerning agent communication frameworks use. Finally, our exploration in applying the cognitive coherence pragmatics theory as a new communication layer over classical BDI agents is presented. It relies on our dialogue games based agent communication language (DIAGAL) and our dialogue games simulator toolbox (DGS). The resulting framework provides the necessary theoretical and practical elements for implementing our theory. In doing so, it brings in a general scheme for automatizing agents’ communicational behavior as it is exemplified in this article.     

领导幽默风格对团队内部学习的影响

采用幽默风格量表（HSQ）、领导成员交换量表（LMX-16）和团队内部学习问卷,以325名事业单位员工为调查对象,研究了领导幽默风格和团队内部学习、领导成员交换的关系。结果发现：（1）亲和型领导幽默和自强型领导幽默正向影响团队内部学习,嘲讽型领导幽默和自贬型领导幽默负向影响团队内部学习。（2）亲和型领导幽默和嘲讽型领导幽默对团队内部学习的影响完全通过领导成员交换起作用,自强型领导幽默对团队内部学习的影响部分通过领导成员交换起作用。（3）自强型领导幽默与嘲讽型领导幽默通过领导成员交换对团队内部学习的影响都大于亲和型领导幽默;自强型领导幽默对团队内部学习的直接效应大于自贬型领导幽默。     

Conscious Postural Control During Standing on Compliant Surface by Older Adults

This study examined the real-time objective measurement of conscious postural control (“reinvestment”) in older adults when standing on a compliant surface using electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence. Twenty-nine older adults participated in the study and their Alpha2 T3-Fz and Alpha2 T4-Fz EEG coherence during standing at three different positions on foam including wide-base standing on foam (WBF), narrow-base standing on foam (NBF) and tandem standing on foam (TAF) were measured. Participants were also required to respond to a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to determine their perceived task difficulty after each standing position. Three 2?×?3 (Groups[low reinvestor, high reinvestor]?×?Standing positions[WBF, NBF, TAF]) analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures were conducted to determine differences between high and low reinvestors in three standing positions (WBF, NBF, TAF) at the primary outcome measures. The main effects of standing positions at VAS and Alpah2 T3-Fz EEG coherence were discovered but without interaction. The results suggested that when standing task difficulty increased, older adults generally elevated their real-time conscious postural control together with perceived task difficulty. It implicates that Alpha2 T3-Fz EEG coherence can be considered as a real-time objective conscious postural control measurement during balance assessment and rehabilitation if further large-scale studies could find its discriminative power between high and low reinvestors.     

Epistemological Metaphors and the Nature of Philosophy

Abstract: This article examines some of the most important metaphors and analogies that epistemologists have used to discuss the structure and validity of knowledge. After reviewing foundational, coherentist, and other metaphors for knowledge, we discuss the metaphilosophical significance of the prevalence of such metaphors. We argue that they support a view of philosophy as akin to science rather than poetry or rhetoric.     

Visuo‐spatial abilities in autism: A review

Individuals with autism show various signs of heightened abilities in visuo‐spatial functioning. First, it is long‐established that they excel on embedded figures and block design tests relative to comparison participants. Second, some evidence suggests that processing global features is affected by inappropriate processing of the constituent elements of a stimulus. Third, they are more accurate than comparison participants in judging the shape of a slanted circle in a context in which ambient visual cues are eliminated. This suggests that their perception of the shape is less influenced by prior knowledge. Fourth, they are fast at searching for feature and conjunctive targets in a visual array. Contrary to earlier reports, however, they are susceptible to visual illusions. Also, they do show evidence of utilising prior knowledge when pairing a colour with an atypically coloured target. Accordingly, we conclude that there is something distinctive about autistic visuo‐spatial functioning, but not necessarily in ways that are predicted by the ‘weak central coherence’ hypothesis. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

语篇中代词指代的研究进展

代词的指代在语篇局部连贯性中具有关键作用。中心理论是代词指称中的重要理论,它解释了语篇中代词的分布规律;注意驱动理论是在中心理沦的基础上结合重音预设解释重音或非重音代词。影响代词指称的因素有语义因素和结构因素。对代词的认知研究另一方面主要集中在对歧义代词的解释．对歧义代词的解释的研究一方面采用重复姓名不利实验范式,另一方面的研究采用的研究方法是探测词任务。在汉语中对代词的研究主要是对文本语篇的研究。