Sharedness as an innate basis for communication in the infant

From a cognitive perspective, intentional communication may be viewed as an agent's activity overtly aimed at modifying a partner's mental states. According to standard Gricean definitions, this requires each party to be able to ascribe mental states to the other, i.e., to entertain a so-called theory of mind. According to the relevant experimental literature, however, such capability does not appear before the third or fourth birthday; it would follow that children under that age should not be viewed as communicating agents. In order to solve the resulting dilemma, we propose that certain specific components of an agent's cognitive architecture (namely, a peculiar version of sharedness and communicative intention), are necessary and sufficient to explain infant communication in a mentalist framework. We also argue that these components are innate in the human species

On the nature and role of intersubjectivity in communication

We outline a theory of human agency and communication and discuss the role that the capability to share (that is, intersubjectivity) plays in it. All the notions discussed are cast in a mentalistic and radically constructivist framework. We also introduce and discuss the relevant literature

Achieving High Organization Performance through Servant Leadership

This empirical paper investigates whether a servant leader can develop a corporate culture that attracts or develops other servant leaders. Using the survey developed by Barbuto and Wheeler (2006), servant leader characteristics in managers were measured at three high-performing organizations. Results indicate that servant leaders can develop a culture of followers who are servant leaders themselves. This is one of the few studies to empirically test the model of servant leadership in an organizational environment. The success these servant leaders have achieved in a for-profit, demanding environment suggests this leadership style is viable for adoption by other firms

Sharedness and privateness in human early social life

This research is concerned with the innate predispositions underlying human intentional communication. Human communication is currently defined as a circular and overt attempt to modify a partner's mental states. This requires each party involved to posse ss the ability to represent and understand the other's mental states, a capability which is commonly referred to as mindreading, or theory of mind (ToM). The relevant experimental literature agrees that no such capability is to be found in the human speci es at least during the first year of life, and possibly later. This paper aims at advancing a solution to this theoretical problem. We propose to consider sharedness as the basis for intentional communication in the infant and to view it as a primitive, i nnate component of her cognitive architecture. Communication can then build upon the mental grounds that the infant takes as shared with her caregivers. We view this capability as a theory of mind in a weak sense.

Rethinking the ontogeny of mindreading

We propose a mentalistic and nativist view of human early mental and social life and of the ontogeny of mindreading. We define the mental state of sharedness as the primitive, one-sided capability to take one's own mental states as mutually known to an i nteractant. We argue that this capability is an innate feature of the human mind, which the child uses to make a subjective sense of the world and of her actions. We argue that the child takes all of her mental states as shared with her caregivers. This a llows her to interact with her caregivers in a mentalistic way from the very beginning and provides the grounds on which the later maturation of mindreading will build. As the latter process occurs, the child begins to understand the mental world in terms of differences between the mental states of different agents; subjectively, this also corresponds to the birth of privateness.

Generational Differences in Use of Social Media in Today’s Workplace

This study examined the use of social media at work. Undergraduate students and professors were surveyed to try to find a generational relationship between the younger generation’s view of using sites such as Facebook while working and how some participants from an older generation perceived it. We also examined the effects of Facebook outside of work and whether or not postings made there could jeopardize a position at work. The results from our survey and research conclude that social media is an increasing problem because it serves as a distraction and predict that with increasing individual use of social media it will become more of a problem at work if it is not properly managed by the employer

Three-dimensional instabilities of a stratified cylinder wake

International audienceThis paper describes experimentally, numerically and theoretically how the three-dimensional instabilities of a cylinder wake are modified by the presence of a linear density stratification. The first part is focused on the case of a cylinder with a small tilt angle between the cylinder's axis and the vertical. The classical mode A well-known for a homogeneous fluid is still present. It is more unstable for moderate stratifications but it is stabilized by a strong stratification. The second part treats the case of a moderate tilt angle. For moderate stratifications, a new unstable mode appears, mode S, characterized by undulated layers of strong density gradients and axial flow. These structures correspond to Kelvin–Helmholtz billows created by the strong shear present in the critical layer of each tilted von Kármán vortex. The last two parts deal with the case of a strongly tilted cylinder. For a weak stratification, an instability (mode RT) appears far from the cylinder, due to the overturning of the isopycnals by the von Kármán vortices. For a strong stratification, a short wavelength unstable mode (mode L) appears, even in the absence of von Kármán vortices. It is probably due to the strong shear created by the lee waves upstream of a secondary recirculation bubble. A map of the four different unstable modes is established in terms of the three parameters of the study: the Reynolds number, the Froude number (characterizing the stratification) and the tilt angle

COMPARISON OF TWO CHICKEN GENOTYPES ORGANICALLY REARED: OXIDATIVE STABILITY AND OTHER QUALITATIVE TRAITS

The effect of genotype on the oxidative stability and other qualitative traits of chicken meat was studied. Two groups of 200 chicks (Ross 205 and Kabir) were reared according to the organic farming system. At 81 d of age 20 birds per group were slaughtered and after refrigeration (24 h at 4°C) of the carcasses, Pectoralis major muscles were excised for analyses.Samples were analysed after 0, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours of storage at 4°C under continuous fluorescent illumination (2300 lux). The analyses concerned the chemical composition and the shear force (only at time 0) and the progress of several traits as pH, CIELAB values, Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances (TBARS), panel test and fatty acid composition (at 0 and after 96 h). Genotype greatly affected the physico-chemical characteristics and the sensory evaluation. The meat from Ross chickens showed high TBARS values, perhaps due to selection for growth rate that reduced their adaptability to greater space allowance and to poorer environmental conditions; these higher TBARS values were also negatively correlated to lightness and yellowness. The initial level of TBARS affected the oxidative stability of breast meat during storage. The amount of TBARS showed significantly negative relationship with the sensory evaluation; breast meat of Kabir had higher scores for liking when the level of malondialdehyde was less than 2.5 mg kg-1