Consciousness as Presence: An Exploration of the Illusion of Self

Buddhism teaches that ‘self’ as a substantial, enduring entity is an illusion. But for self to be an illusion there must be something in our experience that is misinterpreted as self. What is this? The notion of an experiential self plays an important role in phenomenological investigations of conscious experience. Does the illusion of self consist in mistaking a purely experiential self for a substantial self? I argue against this and locate the source of the illusion in time-consciousness. It is the essence of consciousness to flow, but the flow of consciousness presupposes an experiential present. The experiential present — an abiding sense of ‘now’ — is the dimension through which experiences are experienced as streaming. It is this, I argue, that is misinterpreted as an enduring self. I support my account by arguing that the synchronic and diachronic unity of consciousness can be accounted for in terms of impersonal, temporal experience, and that conceiving of consciousness as the presence-dimension rather than as the I-dimension affords a solution to the brain-bisection puzzle

Greenways As Resilient Global Landscape Solutions

Greenways historically have been highly valued for their benefit to human health and wellness as linear recreational corridors and as a product of interconnected walking and bicycling trail networks. With the threat of accelerating global climate change, greenways offer a more important and strategic landscape for the protection of coastal and shoreline communities, mitigating the impacts associated with urban flooding, and providing landscapes that protect the health, safety and welfare for millions of coastal and shoreline residents around the world. Each day millions of residents worldwide are exposed to the impacts resulting from global climate change, primarily from urban flooding. In 2003, 3 billion people lived within 200 km of a coastline or shoreline. (Figure 1) By 2025 that number will double.9 In the United States, 39% of the population, an estimated 123 million people live in counties directly on a coastline or shoreline. This population is expected to increase by 8% from 2010 to 2020.10 These shoreline residents are being impacted more frequently by flood events. The full impact of river flooding on urban areas has also been realized in Western and Central European cities during 2002, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Historically significant rain events have swamped cities along the Elbe and Danube rivers with excessive rainwater, specifically in Austria, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, and Switzerland.11 The 2013 floods coincided with one of the wettest weather patterns of the past 156 years. Additionally, the frequency of the rain events, with significant floods occurring in three consecutive years, makes it imperative to consider broad regional and systemic solutions to the problem of “main stem” river flooding. How can the implementation of watershed oriented greenway systems lessen the impact of urban flooding, resulting in more sustainable and resilient communities

A study of the brain\u27s transfer function for edge perception

A concept was developed and a computer program was designed and implemented to model the eye, the brain, and the perception system. These models were used to study edge transformation through the human visual system. The eye model was developed using optical spread and neural sampling data along with different inhibition distributions. The effects of lateral inhibition on retinal edge response were studied and hypothetical brain transfer functions were calculated. The results of this study indicate that no single mechanism or linear model can explain both the sinewave response and edge perception for the human visual system. The eye and brain models were also used to predict edge perception. The applications and limitations of computer modeling are demonstrated for both human vision phenomena as well as artificial vision system development

¿Cómo se representan la historia y las ciencias sociales los alumnos de la Suiza francófona?

Dos encuestas realizadas en la Suiza francófona han pretendido conocer mejor cómo percibían los alumnos la historia escolar. Se ha pasado un cuestionario, se han hecho entrevistas semidirigidas y se ha realizado un ejercicio de clasificación de un corpus de fotografías que debían asociarse con las diversas disciplinas que integran el área de las ciencias sociales. Algunos análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos realizados con el programa Alceste se siguen utilizando para explorar una segunda encuesta, y los resultados provisionales obtenidos confirman los resultados anteriores. Ambas encuestas muestran la amplia gama de percepciones de los alumnos y la fuerte relación que establecen entre historia y cultura general. Parece que la mayoría de los alumnos tienen muy asumido su «oficio de alumno» tradicional y, en ocasiones, se muestran desorientados ante una enseñanza de la historia innovadora que les reclama participación y reflexión. Sería aconsejable realizar con los alumnos de historia un trabajo previo que consistiría en precisar y explicitar los objetivos de la enseñanza de la historia y las cuestiones que dicha enseñanza plantea, ello contribuiría a que desparecieran los posibles errores conceptuales y los malentendidos. Dicho trabajo haría que la enseñanza de la historia respondiera mejor a sus propias finalidades, dado que muchos alumnos parecen mostrar potencialmente buena disposición para ello.Two different surveys made in francophone Switzerland try to better know how students perceive school history. A questionnaire was passed, half oriented interviews were made and then the students made an exercise of classification of a body of photographs that they had to match with the different disciplines that form the area of social science. Some quantitative and qualitative analyses made with the programme Alcestes are still being used to explore a second survey. The results therein obtained confirm those obtained before. Both surveys show the wide range of perceptions in students and the strong bond that they establish between history and «general culture». It seems that most students have deeply assumed a traditional «role of student» and at times are confused in front of an innovative teaching of history that requires participation and reflection. It would be advisable to effect a previous task with the students, consisting of specifying and making explicit the goals of history teaching and the problems that such a teaching presents. That would contribute to the disappearance of possible conceptual errors and misunderstandings. Such a piece of work would make history teaching be more according to its own goals, as many students seem to present a good attitude.Dos encuestas realizadas en la Suiza francófona han pretendido conocer mejor cómo percibían los alumnos la historia escolar. Se ha pasado un cuestionario, se han hecho entrevistas semidirigidas y se ha realizado un ejercicio de clasificación de un corpus de fotografías que debían asociarse con las diversas disciplinas que integran el área de las ciencias sociales. Algunos análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos realizados con el programa Alceste se siguen utilizando para explorar una segunda encuesta, y los resultados provisionales obtenidos confirman los resultados anteriores. Ambas encuestas muestran la amplia gama de percepciones de los alumnos y la fuerte relación que establecen entre historia y cultura general. Parece que la mayoría de los alumnos tienen muy asumido su «oficio de alumno» tradicional y, en ocasiones, se muestran desorientados ante una enseñanza de la historia innovadora que les reclama participación y reflexión. Sería aconsejable realizar con los alumnos de historia un trabajo previo que consistiría en precisar y explicitar los objetivos de la enseñanza de la historia y las cuestiones que dicha enseñanza plantea, ello contribuiría a que desparecieran los posibles errores conceptuales y los malentendidos. Dicho trabajo haría que la enseñanza de la historia respondiera mejor a sus propias finalidades, dado que muchos alumnos parecen mostrar potencialmente buena disposición para ello