The narrative self, distributed memory, and evocative objects

In this article, I outline various ways in which artifacts are interwoven with autobiographical memory systems and conceptualize what this implies for the self. I first sketch the narrative approach to the self, arguing that who we are as persons is essentially our (unfolding) life story, which, in turn, determines our present beliefs and desires, but also directs our future goals and actions. I then argue that our autobiographical memory is partly anchored in our embodied interactions with an ecology of artifacts in our environment. Lifelogs, photos, videos, journals, diaries, souvenirs, jewelry, books, works of art, and many other meaningful objects trigger and sometimes constitute emotionally-laden autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memory is thus distributed across embodied agents and various environmental structures. To defend this claim, I draw on and integrate distributed cognition theory and empirical research in human-technology interaction. Based on this, I conclude that the self is neither defined by psychological states realized by the brain nor by biological states realized by the organism, but should be seen as a distributed and relational construct

The age of anxiety? It depends where you look: changes in STAI trait anxiety, 1970–2010

Purpose Population-level surveys suggest that anxiety has been increasing in several nations, including the USA and UK. We sought to verify the apparent anxiety increases by looking for systematic changes in mean anxiety questionnaire scores from research publications. Methods We analyzed all available mean State–Trait Anxiety Inventory scores published between 1970 and 2010. We collected 1703 samples, representing more than 205,000 participants from 57 nations. Results Results showed a significant anxiety increase worldwide, but the pattern was less clear in many individual nations. Our analyses suggest that any increase in anxiety in the USA and Canada may be limited to students, anxiety has decreased in the UK, and has remained stable in Australia. Conclusions Although anxiety may have increased worldwide, it might not be increasing as dramatically as previously thought, except in specific populations, such as North American students. Our results seem to contradict survey results from the USA and UK in particular. We do not claim that our results are more reliable than those of large population surveys. However, we do suggest that mental health surveys and other governmental sources of disorder prevalence data may be partially biased by changing attitudes toward mental health: if respondents are more aware and less ashamed of their anxiety, they are more likely to report it to survey takers. Analyses such as ours provide a useful means of double-checking apparent trends in large population surveys

Microservice Transition and its Granularity Problem: A Systematic Mapping Study

Microservices have gained wide recognition and acceptance in software industries as an emerging architectural style for autonomic, scalable, and more reliable computing. The transition to microservices has been highly motivated by the need for better alignment of technical design decisions with improving value potentials of architectures. Despite microservices' popularity, research still lacks disciplined understanding of transition and consensus on the principles and activities underlying "micro-ing" architectures. In this paper, we report on a systematic mapping study that consolidates various views, approaches and activities that commonly assist in the transition to microservices. The study aims to provide a better understanding of the transition; it also contributes a working definition of the transition and technical activities underlying it. We term the transition and technical activities leading to microservice architectures as microservitization. We then shed light on a fundamental problem of microservitization: microservice granularity and reasoning about its adaptation as first-class entities. This study reviews state-of-the-art and -practice related to reasoning about microservice granularity; it reviews modelling approaches, aspects considered, guidelines and processes used to reason about microservice granularity. This study identifies opportunities for future research and development related to reasoning about microservice granularity.Comment: 36 pages including references, 6 figures, and 3 table

Power grip, pinch grip, manual muscle testing or thenar atrophy - which should be assessed as a motor outcome after carpal tunnel decompression? A systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Objective assessment of motor function is frequently used to evaluate outcome after surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). However a range of outcome measures are used and there appears to be no consensus on which measure of motor function effectively captures change. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify the methods used to assess motor function in randomized controlled trials of surgical interventions for CTS. A secondary aim was to evaluate which instruments reflect clinical change and are psychometrically robust.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The bibliographic databases Medline, AMED and CINAHL were searched for randomized controlled trials of surgical interventions for CTS. Data on instruments used, methods of assessment and results of tests of motor function was extracted by two independent reviewers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-two studies were retrieved which included performance based assessments of motor function. Nineteen studies assessed power grip dynamometry, fourteen studies used both power and pinch grip dynamometry, eight used manual muscle testing and five assessed the presence or absence of thenar atrophy. Several studies used multiple tests of motor function. Two studies included both power and pinch strength and reported descriptive statistics enabling calculation of effect sizes to compare the relative responsiveness of grip and pinch strength within study samples. The study findings suggest that tip pinch is more responsive than lateral pinch or power grip up to 12 weeks following surgery for CTS.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although used most frequently and known to be reliable, power and key pinch dynamometry are not the most valid or responsive tools for assessing motor outcome up to 12 weeks following surgery for CTS. Tip pinch dynamometry more specifically targets the thenar musculature and appears to be more responsive. Manual muscle testing, which in theory is most specific to the thenar musculature, may be more sensitive if assessed using a hand held dynamometer – the Rotterdam Intrinsic Handheld Myometer. However further research is needed to evaluate its reliability and responsiveness and establish the most efficient and psychometrically robust method of evaluating motor function following surgery for CTS.</p

Short Group Signatures via Structure-Preserving Signatures: Standard Model Security from Simple Assumptions

International audienceGroup signatures are a central cryptographic primitive which allows users to sign messages while hiding their identity within a crowd of group members. In the standard model (without the random oracle idealization), the most efficient constructions rely on the Groth-Sahai proof systems (Euro-crypt'08). The structure-preserving signatures of Abe et al. (Asiacrypt'12) make it possible to design group signatures based on well-established, constant-size number theoretic assumptions (a.k.a. " simple assumptions ") like the Symmetric eXternal Diffie-Hellman or Decision Linear assumptions. While much more efficient than group signatures built on general assumptions, these constructions incur a significant overhead w.r.t. constructions secure in the idealized random oracle model. Indeed, the best known solution based on simple assumptions requires 2.8 kB per signature for currently recommended parameters. Reducing this size and presenting techniques for shorter signatures are thus natural questions. In this paper, our first contribution is to significantly reduce this overhead. Namely, we obtain the first fully anonymous group signatures based on simple assumptions with signatures shorter than 2 kB at the 128-bit security level. In dynamic (resp. static) groups, our signature length drops to 1.8 kB (resp. 1 kB). This improvement is enabled by two technical tools. As a result of independent interest, we first construct a new structure-preserving signature based on simple assumptions which shortens the best previous scheme by 25%. Our second tool is a new method for attaining anonymity in the strongest sense using a new CCA2-secure encryption scheme which is simultaneously a Groth-Sahai commitment

Incidentalomas during imaging for primary hyperparathyroidism—incidence and clinical outcomes

Background: Imaging for pre-operative localisation of parathyroid glands in primary hyperparathyroidism is now routine. This has led to the detection of incidental lesions (incidentalomas) in other organs, the nature of which is not well characterised. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, characteristics and outcomes in patients who had incidental findings on parathyroid imaging. Methods: Records of patients who underwent imaging for primary hyperparathyroidism over 2 years were reviewed to identify incidental lesions detected on parathyroid imaging. Patients with persistent or renal hyperparathyroidism were excluded. Details on the management of detected incidentalomas were obtained from patient records. Results: Incidentalomas were identified in 17 of 170 patients (10 %) undergoing parathyroid imaging. Incidentalomas included thyroid (n = 11), breast (n = 3), lateral compartment of the neck (n = 1), lung (n = 1) and clavicle (n = 1). However, no disease of clinical significance needing treatment was detected on further investigation. Conclusions: Although a significant proportion of patients undergoing parathyroid imaging had incidental lesions detected, these seem to be of little clinical significance. The morbidity and cost of further interventions on these incidentalomas need to be weighed against the benefits of routine imaging in improving outcomes of first-time surgery in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. Keywords: Parathyroid gland, Primary hyperparathyroidism, Imaging, Incidentaloma

Multi-photon ionisation spectroscopy for rotational state preparation of N+2

In this paper we investigate the 2 + 1′ resonance enhanced multi-photon ionisation (REMPI) of molecular nitrogen via the a1Πg(v = 6) intermediate state and analyse its feasibility to generate molecular nitrogen ions in a well defined ro-vibrational state. This is an important tool for high precision experiments based on trapped molecular ions, and is crucial for studying the time variation of the fundamental constant mp/me using N+2. The transition is not reported in the literature and detailed spectral analysis has been conducted to extract the molecular constants of the intermediate state. By carefully choosing the intermediate ro-vibrational state, the ionisation laser wavelength and controlling the excitation laser pulse energy, unwanted formation of rotationally excited molecular ions can be suppressed and ro-vibrational ground state ions can be generated with high purity

Assessing the reliability of retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences among adolescents with documented childhood maltreatment

The literature suggests that childhood maltreatment is related to a higher probability of developing psychopathology and disease in adulthood. However, some authors have questioned the reliability of self-reports of maltreatment, suggesting that psychopathology at the time of evaluation affects self-reports. We evaluated the reliability of the self-reports of 79 young adults who were identified in childhood by Child Protective Services by comparing two moments of evaluation. Psychological and physical symptoms were tested to evaluate their interference with the reports. We found good to excellent agreement, with no significant correlation between the changes in self-reported experiences and the changes in physical and psychological symptoms, suggesting that the reliability of reports is not related to the health state at the time of the report

Potential pathways of invasion and dispersal of Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz 1865 in the Baltic Sea

The rapid spread of Mnemiopsis leidyi across the entire Baltic Sea after its first observation in 2006 gave rise to the question of its invasion pathway and the possible vector of its transport. To investigate pathways of M. leidyi invasion, the years 2005–2008 have been simulated by a three-dimensional coupled sea ice-ocean model of the Baltic Sea. In addition, a Lagrangian particle-tracking model has been utilized to test possible transport routes of this invader for 2006/2007. Based on the model, we exclude advection from the Kattegat as the main area of origin of M. leidyi and further spreading through the entire Baltic Sea. To explain the dispersion of M. leidyi in 2007 an earlier invasion already in 2005 is most probable. Alternatively, an invasion originating from main harbors with high ship traffic could also be a potential pathway. Drift simulations with drifter release in the main harbors are in good agreement with the observed distribution pattern of M. leidyi

Entrepreneurs’ age, institutions, and social value creation goals: a multi-country study

This study explores the relationship between an entrepreneur's age and his/her social value creation goals. Building on the lifespan developmental psychology literature and institutional theory, we hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to create social value through their ventures, such that younger and older entrepreneurs create more social value with their businesses while middle age entrepreneurs are relatively more economically and less socially oriented with their ventures. We further hypothesize that the quality of a country’s formal institutions in terms of economic, social, and political freedom steepen the U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to pursue social value creation as supportive institutional environments allow entrepreneurs to follow their age-based preferences. We confirm our predictions using multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions on a sample of over 15,000 entrepreneurs (aged between 18 and 64 years) in 45 countries from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data. The findings are robust to several alternative specifications. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for theory and practice, and we propose future research directions