Procurement time as a determinant of meal frequency and meal duration.

Foraging involves the expenditure of both time and effort in the acquisition of food; animals typically modify their meal patterns so as to reduce these expenditures or costs. The contribution of time, as compared with effort, to the overall cost perceived by an animal is not known. We investigated the effect of foraging time as a cost independent of effort by measuring the meal patterns of rats living in a laboratory foraging simulation in which they earned all their daily intake. They pressed a bar once to initiate an interval (procurement interval) leading to the presentation of a large cup of food from which they could eat a meal of any size. As the length of the interval increased from 1 s to 46 hr, meal frequency decreased regularly. Meal size increased in a compensatory fashion, and total daily intake was conserved through an interval of 23 hr. The changes in meal frequency occurred because of changes in the rat's latency to bar press after each meal. The functions relating meal frequency and size to the procurement interval were of the same shape as those seen when cost is the completion of a bar-press requirement, which entails the expenditure of both effort and time. When the bar-press requirement was increased to 10, meal frequency was reduced, but time and effort did not appear to simply add together in the rat's perception of cost. These data reveal that time is preceived to be a cost by rats foraging in this laboratory environment. These results suggest that the time parameters of foraging are different from those of consumption.     

Responsibility and Self-Expression

I present two different models of moral responsibility -- two different accounts of what we value in behavior for which the agent can legitimately be held morally responsible. On the first model, what we value is making a certain sort of difference to the world. On the second model, which I favor, we value a certain kind of self-expression. I argue that if one adopts the self-expression view, then one will be inclined to accept that moral responsibility need not require alternative possibilities.     

Scale freeness in factor analysis

The notion of scale freeness does not seem to have been well understood in the factor analytic literature. It has been believed that if the loss function that is minimized to obtain estimates of the parameters in the factor model is scale invariant, then the estimates are scale free. It is shown that scale invariance of the loss function is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for scale freeness. A theorem that ensures scale freeness in the orthogonal factor model is given in this paper.The authors are grateful for the suggestions of the referees.     

TEILHARD'S TWO ENERGIES

Abstract. Resolution of the entropy‐evolution problem was a significant issue for Pierre Teilhard de Chardin throughout his scientific career. Although never truly satisfied with his solution, he proposed that all energy must be psychic and contain two components. Tangential energy is related to physical energy. Radial energy in some way accounts for increasing complexity and consciousness in evolution. Analysis of developments in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory show that Gibbs free energy contains both calorimetric and noetic components, thus validating Teilhard's intuition.     

关于癌症病人知情权问题探讨

目前全球癌患者人数超过1000万,中国每年新增癌症病例约160万,探讨如何处理癌症病人的知情权问题,贴近社会公众,具有重要的现实意义.     

声旁位置对形声字命名规则性效应的影响

已有证据表明, 低频形声字的命名存在规则性效应, 高频字则没有表现。但是, 这些研究所使用的全部或大部分实验材料可能均为声旁在右的字, 其结果也许仅能反映声旁在右字的加工规律。本研究通过三个实验考查了声旁在左与在右两种左右型字和声旁在上与在下两种上下型字的规则性效应, 探讨声旁位置对形声字命名规则性效应的影响。实验一仅考察了声旁在右的字, 结果重复了先前没有操控声旁位置研究中出现的低频字的规则性效应, 还发现高频字命名规则性效应的逆转; 实验二考察了声旁在左与在右的字, 发现声旁在右的低频字存在规则性效应, 而声旁在左的低频字则出现了规则性效应的逆转, 但声旁在右的高频字并不存在逆转; 实验三考察了声旁在上与在下的字, 发现声旁在下的低频字和声旁在上的高、低频字都出现了规则性效应, 而声旁在下的高频字则存在规则性效应的逆转。这些结果提示, 如果声旁在整字中处于易被激活的位置(右侧或下侧), 在低频字中会倾向于出现规则性效应, 在高频字中则可能出现逆转或缺乏规则性效应, 这也许会受到字频的制约; 在低频左右型字中声旁位置的改变也会导致命名规则性效应方向的转变, 但在低频上下型字中的表现要相对较弱。可以推测, 声旁位置是一种形声字的亚词汇成分的空间属性, 可以决定声旁语音激活的便利性; 整字字频则是一种词汇属性, 会通过调节整字的语音激活, 影响声旁语音作用于整字命名的亚词汇加工机制, 最终决定规则性效应的方向。     

Syntactic structure and artificial grammar learning: the learnability of embedded hierarchical structures

Embedded hierarchical structures, such as "the rat the cat ate was brown", constitute a core generative property of a natural language theory. Several recent studies have reported learning of hierarchical embeddings in artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks, and described the functional specificity of Broca's area for processing such structures. In two experiments, we investigated whether alternative strategies can explain the learning success in these studies. We trained participants on hierarchical sequences, and found no evidence for the learning of hierarchical embeddings in test situations identical to those from other studies in the literature. Instead, participants appeared to solve the task by exploiting surface distinctions between legal and illegal sequences, and applying strategies such as counting or repetition detection. We suggest alternative interpretations for the observed activation of Broca's area, in terms of the application of calculation rules or of a differential role of working memory. We claim that the learnability of hierarchical embeddings in AGL tasks remains to be demonstrated.     

TAKING SCIENCE SERIOUSLY WITHOUT SCIENTISM: A RESPONSE TO TAEDE SMEDES

In responding to Taede Smedes, I first examine his thesis that the recent dialogue between science and religion has been dominated by scientism and does not take theology seriously. I then consider his views on divine action, free will and determinism, and process philosophy. Finally I use the fourfold typology of Conflict, Independence, Dialogue, and Integration to discuss his proposal for the future of science and religion.     

高原缺氧防治探索研究中的一些思考

通过对增氧和增压两种治疗方法在高原缺氧中作用和应用现状的回顾分析,以及对传统高压氧技术和新出现的增压舱技术的优缺点比较,认为增压舱治疗技术是一种简单易行的高原缺氧防治新方法,同时认为探索合理的增压方式是高原缺氧防治研究的发展方向。