The influence of asymmetric force requirements on a multi-frequency bimanual coordination task

An experiment was designed to determine the impact of the force requirements on the production of bimanual 1:2 coordination patterns requiring the same (symmetric) or different (asymmetric) forces when Lissajous displays and goal templates are provided. The Lissajous displays have been shown to minimize the influence of attentional and perceptual constraints allowing constraints related to neural crosstalk to be more clearly observed. Participants (N = 20) were randomly assigned to a force condition in which the left or right limb was required to produce more force than the contralateral limb. In each condition participants were required to rhythmically coordinate the pattern of isometric forces in a 1:2 coordination pattern. Participant performed 13 practice trials and 1 test trial per force level. The results indicated that participants were able to effectively coordinate the 1:2 multi-frequency goal patterns under both symmetric and asymmetric force requirements. However, consistent distortions in the force and force velocity time series were observed for one limb that appeared to be associated with the production of force in the contralateral limb. Distortions in the force produced by the left limb occurred regardless of the force requirements of the task (symmetric, asymmetric) or whether the left or right limb had to produce more force than the contralateral limb. However, distinct distortions in the right limb occurred only when the left limb was required to produce 5 times more force than the right limb. These results are consistent with the notion that neural crosstalk can influence both limbs, but may manifest differently for each limb depending on the force requirements of the task.     

Re-framing the characteristics of concepts and their relation to learning and cognition in artificial agents

In this work, the problems of knowledge acquisition and information processing are explored in relation to the definitions of concepts and conceptual processing, and their implications for artificial agents.The discussion focuses on views of cognition as a dynamic property in which the world is actively represented in grounded mental states which only have meaning in the action context. Reasoning is understood as an emerging property consequence of actions-environment couplings achieved through experience, and concepts as situated and dynamic phenomena enabling behaviours.Re-framing the characteristics of concepts is considered crucial to overcoming settled beliefs and reinterpreting new understandings in artificial systems.The first part presents a review of concepts from cognitive sciences. Support is found for views on grounded and embodied cognition, describing concepts as dynamic, flexible, context-dependent, and distributedly coded.That is argued to contrast with many technical implementations assuming concepts as categories, whilst explains limitations when grounding amodal symbols, or in unifying learning, perception and reasoning.The characteristics of concepts are linked to methods of active inference, self-organization, and deep learning to address challenges posed and to reinterpret emerging techniques.In a second part, an architecture based on deep generative models is presented to illustrate arguments elaborated. It is evaluated in a navigation task, showing that sufficient representations are created regarding situated behaviours with no semantics imposed on data. Moreover, adequate behaviours are achieved through a dynamic integration of perception and action in a single representational domain and process.     

Synchrnoic consciousness from a neurological point of view: the philosophical foundations for neuroethics

Daniel Kolak’s theory of synchronic consciousness according to which the entire range of dissociative phenomena, from pathologies such as MPD and schizophrenia to normal dream states, are best explained in terms of consciousness becoming simultaneously identified as many selves, has revolutionary therapeutic implications for neurology and psychiatry. All these selves, according to Kolak—even the purely imaginary ones that exist as such only in our dreams—are not just conscious but also self-conscious, with beliefs, intentions, living lives informed by memories (confabulatory, in the case of the fictional ones) and personal histories. Kolak’s derivation of psychiatrically relevant aspects of his theory—a neurological rendition of a Kantian transcendental argument—can be given a straightforward neurological, and therefore open to scientific scrutiny, interpretation that would then more easily lend itself to the clinical setting in which these perplexing phenomena, along with their purveyors, must live and cope. This will be the main focus of this paper.     

The Scientific Untraceability of Phenomenal Consciousness

It is a common conviction among philosophers who hold that phenomenal properties, qualia, are distinct from any cognitive, intentional, or functional properties, that it is possible to trace the neural correlates of these properties. The main purpose of this paper is to present a challenge to this view, and to show that if “non-cognitive” phenomenal properties exist at all, they lie beyond the reach of neuroscience. In the final section it will be suggested that they also lie beyond the reach of psychology, so that they may be said to lie beyond the reach of science.

Fragile X syndrome: Neural network models of sequencing and memory

A comparative framework of memory processes in males with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and typically developing (TYP) mental age-match children is presented. Results indicate a divergence in sequencing skills, such that males with FXS recall sequences similarly to TYP children around five and a half years of age, but the males with FXS recall significantly worse when compared to TYP children around seven and a half years of age. Performance on one working memory measure, an n-back Card Task, is modeled with a neural network. To date, no network models explicate the sequencing and memory processes in those with FXS. Noise was added to various levels (weight matrices) in the FXS model and outputs approximated human FXS performance. Three models were compared: (1) FXS; (2) younger mental age-TYP matches; (3) older reading level-TYP matches. Modeling can help to reify conceptualizations of deficits and to guide in the creation of more valid, science-based remediations. The FXS model suggested that the levels of phonological representation and sequencing in memory were candidates for targeted therapies in males with FXS.     

成人股骨头坏死的治疗进展

股骨头坏死（ONFH）是一种进展性和致残性疾病,保存自身股骨头是临床治疗所追求的最理想目标,早中期的治疗方案主要采用非手术疗法和保髋的姑息性手术,目前为止还没有一种治疗方法能达到理想的治疗效果。近年来,骨髓间充质于细胞（MSCs）移植治疗ONFH是目前研究热点之一,有望成为一种有效的治疗方法,晚期行人工髋关节置换术是唯一的和最佳的选择。因此,早期诊断,采用综合性治疗方案保全自身髋关节是治疗本病的主要方向。     

血管平滑肌细胞在动脉粥样硬化发生中的哲学思维

随着对血管平滑肌细胞增殖在动脉粥样硬化中研究的不断深入,逐步意识到细胞凋亡的存在及其相互之间的矛盾关系,对动脉粥样硬化的认识亦由从形态结构和生化组成等描述病变,发展为在细胞乃至分子基因水平上的深入研究,发现血管平滑肌细胞的增殖和凋亡在动脉粥样硬化形成过程中起重要作用。从哲学角度探讨血管平滑肌细胞在动脉粥样硬化发生中的作用,有助于科学的发现疾病的本质。     

中国免疫皮肤病学的开拓者、吴阶平医学奖得主:陈洪铎

陈洪铎,皮肤性病学界国际知名专家,我国皮肤性病学界首位院士.在皮肤免疫系统,尤其是关于朗格汉斯细胞的研究上,他被国际上公认为权威学者之一.在朗格汉斯细胞的来源、分布、转换规律、表面抗原、免疫功能、病理及与其密切相关的角质形成细胞研究中,他做出了系统的、创造性的、有实际意义的重大贡献.2009年陈洪铎被国际皮肤科学会联盟授予国际皮肤科学会联盟表彰奖,这是我国皮肤科医生首次获得该荣誉.2012年陈洪铎获吴阶平医学奖,该奖项被称为中国医学界的诺贝尔奖.     

Incorporating Demographic Embeddings Into Language Understanding

Meaning depends on context. This applies in obvious cases like deictics or sarcasm as well as more subtle situations like framing or persuasion. One key aspect of this is the identity of the participants in an interaction. Our interpretation of an utterance shifts based on a variety of factors, including personal history, background knowledge, and our relationship to the source. While obviously an incomplete model of individual differences, demographic factors provide a useful starting point and allow us to capture some of this variance. However, the relevance of specific demographic factors varies between situations—where age might be the key factor in one context, ideology might dominate in another. To address this challenge, we introduce a method for combining demographics and context into situated demographic embeddings—mapping representations into a continuous geometric space appropriate for the given domain, showing the resulting representations to be functional and interpretable. We further demonstrate how to make use of related external data so as to apply this approach in low‐resource situations. Finally, we show how these representations can be incorporated into improve modeling of real‐world natural language understanding tasks, improving model performance and helping with issues of data sparsity.     

GENETIC AND REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE LIGHT OF RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

Since the gene splicing debates of the 1980s, the public has been exposed to an ongoing sequence of genetic and reproductive technologies. Many issue areas have outcomes that lose track of people's inner values or engender opposing religious viewpoints defying final resolution. This essay relocates the discussion of what is an acceptable application from the individual to the societal level, examining technologies that stand to address large numbers of people and thus call for policy resolution, rather than individual fiat, in their application. A major source of guidance is the “Genetic Frontiers” series of professional dialogues and conferences held by the National Conference for Community and Justice from 2002 to 2004. Genetic testing, human gene therapy, genetic engineering of plants and animals, and stem cell technology are examined. While differences in perspective on the beginning of life persist, a stepwise approach to the examination of genetic testing reveals areas of general agreement. Stewardship of life, human co‐creativity with the divine, and social justice help define the bounds of application of genetic engineering and therapy; compassionate care plays a major role in establishing stem cell policy. Active, sustained dialogue is a useful resource for enabling sharing of religious values and crystallization of policies.