Enacting Productive Dialogue: Addressing the Challenge that Non-Human Cognition Poses to Collaborations Between Enactivism and Heideggerian Phenomenology

This chapter uses one particular proposal for interdisciplinary collaboration – in this case, between early Heideggerian phenomenology and enactivist cognitive science – as an example of how such partnerships may confront and negotiate tensions between the perspectives they bring together. The discussion begins by summarising some of the intersections that render Heideggerian and enactivist thought promising interlocutors for each other. It then moves on to explore how Heideggerian enactivism could respond to the challenge of reconciling the significant differences in the ways that each discourse seeks to apply the structures it claims to uncover

Intelligence quotient in paediatric sickle cell disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the commonest cause of childhood stroke worldwide. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is routinely used to detect additional silent cerebral infarction (SCI), as IQ is lower in SCI as well as stroke. This review assesses the effect of infarction on IQ, and specifically whether, compared to healthy controls, IQ differences are seen in children with SCI with no apparent MRI abnormality. METHOD: A systematic review was conducted to include articles with an SCD paediatric population, MRI information, and Wechsler IQ. A meta-analysis of 19 articles was performed to compare IQ in three groups: stroke vs SCI; SCI vs no SCI; and no SCI vs healthy controls. RESULTS: Mean differences in IQ between all three groups were significant: stroke patients had lower IQ than patients with SCI by 10 points (six studies); patients with SCI had lower IQ than no patients with SCI by 6 points (17 studies); and no patients with SCI had lower IQ than healthy controls by 7 points (seven studies). INTERPRETATION: Children with SCD and no apparent MRI abnormality have significantly lower IQ than healthy controls. In this chronic condition, other biological, socioeconomic, and environmental factors must play a significant role in cognition

Susceptibility Mapping in Sickle Cell Anaemia Patients with and Without Chronic Blood Transfusions

Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is a genetic disorder affecting haemoglobin. Previous studies suggest that the iron content in some deep-brain regions is higher in transfused SCA patients (TSCA) than in healthy controls (HC). We hypothesised that iron content in those regions is lower in non-transfused patients (NSCA) than in controls as NSCA have low haematocrit. A pilot study (5 TSCA, 5 NSCA, 5 HC) showed that susceptibility values were significantly lower in the globus pallidus of both TSCA and NSCA than in HC, supporting our second hypothesis. A larger study (20 NSCA, 18 HC) showed a trend in this direction

Anatomy and lateralization of the human corticobulbar tracts: an fMRI-guided tractography study

The left hemisphere lateralization bias for language functions, such as syntactic processing and semantic retrieval, is well known. Although several theories and clinical data indicate a link between speech motor execution and language, the functional and structural brain lateralization for these functions has never been examined concomitantly in the same individuals. Here we used functional MRI during rapid silent syllable repetition (/lalala/, /papapa/ and /pataka/, known as oral diadochokinesis or DDK) to map the cortical representation of the articulators in 17 healthy adults. In these same participants, functional lateralization for language production was assessed using the well established verb generation task. We then used DDK-related fMRI activation clusters to guide tractography of the corticobulbar tract from diffusion-weighted MRI. Functional MRI revealed a wide inter-individual variability of hemispheric asymmetry patterns (left and right dominant, as well as bilateral) for DDK in the motor cortex, despite predominantly left hemisphere dominance for language-related activity in Broca’s area. Tractography revealed no evidence for structural asymmetry (based on fractional anisotropy) within the corticobulbar tract. To our knowledge, this study is the first to reveal that motor brain activation for syllable repetition is unrelated to functional asymmetry for language production in adult humans. In addition, we found no evidence that the human corticobulbar tract is an asymmetric white matter pathway. We suggest that the predominance of dysarthria following left hemisphere infarct is probably a consequence of disrupted feedback or input from left hemisphere language and speech planning regions, rather than structural asymmetry of the corticobulbar tract itself

Exploring the measurement of markedness and its relationship with other linguistic variables

Antonym pair members can be differentiated by each word's markedness-that distinction attributable to the presence or absence of features at morphological or semantic levels. Morphologically marked words incorporate their unmarked counterpart with additional morphs (e.g., "unlucky" vs. "lucky"); properties used to determine semantically marked words (e.g., "short" vs. "long") are less clearly defined. Despite extensive theoretical scrutiny, the lexical properties of markedness have received scant empirical study. The current paper employs an antonym sequencing approach to measure markedness: establishing markedness probabilities for individual words and evaluating their relationship with other lexical properties (e.g., length, frequency, valence). Regression analyses reveal that markedness probability is, as predicted, related to affixation and also strongly related to valence. Our results support the suggestion that antonym sequence is reflected in discourse, and further analysis demonstrates that markedness probabilities, derived from the antonym sequencing task, reflect the ordering of antonyms within natural language. In line with the Pollyanna Hypothesis, we argue that markedness is closely related to valence; language users demonstrate a tendency to present words evaluated positively ahead of those evaluated negatively if given the choice. Future research should consider the relationship of markedness and valence, and the influence of contextual information in determining which member of an antonym pair is marked or unmarked within discourse

Atomically precise placement of single dopants in Si

We demonstrate the controlled incorporation of P dopant atoms in Si(001), presenting a new path toward the creation of atomic-scale electronic devices. We present a detailed study of the interaction of PH3 with Si(001) and show that it is possible to thermally incorporate P atoms into Si(001) below the H-desorption temperature. Control over the precise spatial location at which P atoms are incorporated was achieved using STM H lithography. We demonstrate the positioning of single P atoms in Si with similar to1 nm accuracy and the creation of nanometer wide lines of incorporated P atoms

Nutritional status of Palestinian preschoolers in the Gaza Strip: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The authors examined factors associated with nutritional resilience/vulnerability among preschoolers in the Gaza Strip in 2007, where political violence and deprivation are widespread.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2007 using random sampling of kindergartens in order to select 350 preschoolers. Binary logistic regression was used to compare resilient (adequate nutrition) and vulnerable (stunted) groups with those with moderate nutrition.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Approximately 37% of the subjects demonstrated nutritional resilience and 15% were vulnerable. Factors associated with nutritional resilience were child younger age, normal birth weight, actively hand- or spoon-feeding when the child was below two years, and residential stability in the past two years. The only factor associated with nutritional vulnerability was lower total score on the mother's General Health Questionnaire, which we interpret as a marker of maternal mental health.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Children with low-birth weight and older children had worse nutritional resiliency outcomes. Further, poorer outcomes for children were associated with lower maternal mental health status, as well as increased family residential instability. Our results add to the large literature on the pervasive effects of violence and instability on children and underscore the need for resources for early intervention and for the urgent resolution of the Palestinian and other armed conflicts.</p

Effect of paper quality on the response rate to a postal survey: A randomised controlled trial. [ISRCTN32032031]

BACKGROUND: Response rates to surveys are declining and this threatens the validity and generalisability of their findings. We wanted to determine whether paper quality influences the response rate to postal surveys METHODS: A postal questionnaire was sent to all members of the British Society of Gynaecological Endoscopy (BSGE). Recipients were randomised to receiving the questionnaire printed on standard quality paper or high quality paper. RESULTS: The response rate for the recipients of high quality paper was 43/195 (22%) and 57/194 (29%) for standard quality paper (relative rate of response 0.75, 95% CI 0.33–1.05, p = 0.1 CONCLUSION: The use of high quality paper did not increase response rates to a questionnaire survey of gynaecologists affiliated to an endoscopic society

Time-trial performance is not impaired in either competitive athletes or untrained individuals following a prolonged cognitive task

This is the final version. Available from Springer via the DOI in this record.It has been reported that mental fatigue decreases exercise performance during high-intensity constant-work-rate exercise (CWR) and self-paced time trials (TT) in recreationally-trained individuals. The purpose of this study was to determine whether performance is impaired following a prolonged cognitive task in individuals trained for competitive sport. Ten trained competitive athletes (ATH) and ten untrained healthy men (UNT) completed a 6-min severe-intensity CWR followed by a 6-min cycling TT immediately following cognitive tasks designed to either perturb (Stroop colour-word task and N-back task; PCT) or maintain a neutral (documentary watching; CON) mental state. UNT had a higher heart rate (75 ± 9 v. 69 ± 7 bpm; P = 0.002) and a lower positive affect PANAS score (19.9 ± 7.5 v. 24.3 ± 4.6; P = 0.036) for PCT compared to CON. ATH showed no difference in heart rate, but had a higher negative affect score for PCT compared to CON (15.1 ± 3.7 v. 12.2 ± 2.7; P = 0.029). Pulmonary O 2 uptake during CWR was not different between PCT and CON for ATH or UNT. Work completed during TT was not different between PCT and CON for ATH (PCT 103 ± 12 kJ; CON 102 ± 12 kJ; P > 0.05) or UNT (PCT 75 ± 11 kJ; CON 74 ± 12 kJ; P > 0.05). Compared to CON, during PCT, UNT showed unchanged psychological stress responses, whereas ATH demonstrated increased psychological stress responses. However, regardless of this distinction, exercise performance was not affected by PCT in either competitive athletes or untrained individuals

Extreme enriched and heterogeneous ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios recorded in magmatic plagioclase from the Samoan hotspot

We report the major-element, trace-element, and 87Sr/86Sr compositions of six plagioclase crystals from two Samoan lavas with extreme EM2 isotopic compositions (ALIA-115-18 with whole-rock 87Sr/86Sr of 0.718592, and ALIA-115-21 with whole-rock 87Sr/86Sr of 0.720469). We employed laser-ablation split-stream mass spectrometry (LASS) to simultaneously measure 87Sr/86Sr ratios, major-element concentrations, and trace-element concentrations in the same plagioclase crystal volume. We find that two plagioclase crystals have extreme 87Sr/86Sr heterogeneity in excess of 5000 ppm (where ppm of 87Sr/Sr variability86=106⋅[Sr/8687Srmax−87Sr/86Srmin]/87Sr/86Sravg). In two of the plagioclase crystals, we identify the highest 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7224) ever measured in any fresh, mantle-derived ocean island basalt (OIB) or OIB-hosted mineral phase.We find that in 87Sr/86Sr-versus-Sr concentration space, the six plagioclase crystals overlap in a “common component” region with higher 87Sr/86Sr than has been previously identified in whole-rock Samoan lavas or mineral separates. We use the occurrence of olivine mineral inclusions (Fo=74.5±0.8, 2 SD) in the high-87Sr/86Sr zone of one plagioclase crystal to infer the bulk composition (Mg#=46.8±0.8, 2 SD) of the extreme EM2 magma from which the olivine and high-87Sr/86Sr plagioclase crystallized. We argue that a relatively evolved EM2 endmember magma mixed with at least one lower-87Sr/86Sr melt to generate the observed intra-crystal plagioclase isotopic heterogeneity.By inferring that subducted terrigenous sediment gives rise to EM2 signatures in Samoan lavas, we estimate that the quantity of sediment necessary to generate the most-elevated 87Sr/86Sr ratios observed in the Samoan plagioclase is ∼7% of the mantle source. We also estimate that sediment subduction into the mantle over geologic time has generated a sediment domain that constitutes 0.02% of the mass of the mantle, a much lower proportion than required in the EM2 mantle source. Even if subducted sediment is concentrated in large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs) at the base of the mantle (which constitute up to 7.7% of the mantle's mass), then only 0.25% of the LLSVPs are composed of sediment. This requires that the distribution of subducted sediment in the mantle is heterogeneous, and the high relative abundance of sediment in the Samoan EM2 mantle is an anomalous relic of ancient subduction that has survived convective attenuation