Avatars and Lebensform: Kirchberg 2007

Several years ago, after a decade of experiments in the software industry, I returned to academia and found philosophy colleagues troubled by the term “virtual reality” — a term which enjoys wide usage in the ?eld of immersive computing but which raises hackles in post-metaphysical philosophers. Some vocabulary in this paper may create similar unease, so a warning may be in order. What makes sense to software engineers may for philosophers carry too much baggage. Words like “empathetic” or “empathic” may cause similar discomfort for those with an allergy to Romanticism. While these adjectives associated with poets like Wordsworth, the term “empathy” belongs equally to software designers and video-game artists who use it to describe the opposite of “?rst-person shooter” software. Empathic, as opposed to “shoot ‘em up” software, encourages the exchange of viewpoints beyond ?rst-person perspective and may even merge several perspectives. Rather than deepen a user’s ?rst-person point-of-view, empathic software offers a socializing experience, and in fact, is sometimes called “social” software, “Net 2.0,” or “computer supported cooperative work.

Bridging Real and Virtual: A Spiritual Challenge

The question of how to bridge virtuality and reality intensified in 2016 with the release of several consumer products. The article begins by reviewing two anxieties about virtual reality raised at a 1999 conference. To address these anxieties, the paper draws on post-Jungian archetypal psychology (James Hillman, Thomas Moore) and the retrieval of Renaissance theology (Marsilio Ficino). Two experiences with Samsung Gear VR then illustrate how classic archetypal elements can contribute to active procedures for bridging the virtual and the real

The Russian Journey of Karel Havlíček Borovský

Little is known of Karel Havlíček Borovský (1821-56) outside Czechoslovakia, but his fellow Czechs revere him. He is one of their nineteenth-century culture heroes - satirist of great finesse and a shrewd but always humane journalist and politician. The Russian journey proved to be the turning point in Havlíček's life

Combining Multiband Remote Sensing and Hierarchical Distance Sampling to Establish Drivers of Bird Abundance

Information on habitat preferences is critical for the successful conservation of endangered species. For many species, especially those living in remote areas, we currently lack this information. Time and financial resources to analyze habitat use are limited. We aimed to develop a method to describe habitat preferences based on a combination of bird surveys with remotely sensed fine-scale land cover maps. We created a blended multiband remote sensing product from SPOT 6 and Landsat 8 data with a high spatial resolution. We surveyed populations of three bird species (Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola, Ochre-rumped Bunting Emberiza yessoensis, and Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala) at a study site in the Russian Far East using hierarchical distance sampling, a survey method that allows to correct for varying detection probability. Combining the bird survey data and land cover variables from the remote sensing product allowed us to model population density as a function of environmental variables. We found that even small-scale land cover characteristics were predictable using remote sensing data with sufficient accuracy. The overall classification accuracy with pansharpened SPOT 6 data alone amounted to 71.3%. Higher accuracies were reached via the additional integration of SWIR bands (overall accuracy = 73.21%), especially for complex small-scale land cover types such as shrubby areas. This helped to reach a high accuracy in the habitat models. Abundances of the three studied bird species were closely linked to the proportion of wetland, willow shrubs, and habitat heterogeneity. Habitat requirements and population sizes of species of interest are valuable information for stakeholders and decision-makers to maximize the potential success of habitat management measures

Lignin content and chemical characteristics in maize and wheat vary between plant organs and growth stages: consequences for assessing lignin dynamics in soil

Assessing lignin turnover in soil on the basis of a 13C natural abundance labeling approach relies on the assumption that chemical characteristics of labeled and control plant inputs are similar and that the 13C content difference between labeled and control plant inputs is constant within the plant parts. We analyzed lignin in soils, roots, stems and leaves of wheat and maize at different stages of growth using the cupric oxide oxidation method. In both plants, lignin concentrations increased with growth, particularly during grain filling. Maize contained more cinnamyl moieties than wheat. Roots had higher lignin contents (especially cinnamyl moieties) than stems and leaves, and seemed to contribute more to the total soil lignin than the aboveground parts. The isotopic differences (∆ δ13C) of lignin phenols were not significantly different (p > 0.05) between plant organs, confirming assumptions underlying the natural abundance 13C labeling approach. Our data show that lignin content and phenol distribution can vary between plant organs and with the time of harvest. Consequently, the amount of annual lignin input may vary as a function of root amount and harvest date, and thus can affect the calculated apparent turnover times of lignin in natural abundance 13C labeling experiment

Effect of corticosteroids during ongoing drug exposure in pantoprazole-induced interstitial nephritis

Acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) represents a significant cause of acute renal failure in hospital practice. An increasing number of drugs are known to cause AIN. Due to the lack of prospective, randomized clinical trials, the most effective management is still uncertain, especially the role of steroids in the resolution of interstitial nephritis remains to be further defined. We report on a case with pantoprazole-induced interstitial nephritis and on the effect of steroids during ongoing drug exposure. In spite of ongoing drug exposure, steroids led to almost complete resolution of the inflammatory infiltrates. Early diagnosis of interstitial nephritis by renal biopsy and identification of the causative drug and its withdrawal remains the mainstay of treatment. However, the additional use of steroids has the potential to eradicate inflammatory infiltrates more rapidly and completely and may thus be important to minimize subsequent chronic damag

Bayesian Analysis of Femtosecond Pump-Probe Photoelectron-Photoion Coincidence Spectra with Fluctuating Laser Intensities

This paper employs Bayesian probability theory for analyzing data generated in femtosecond pump-probe photoelectron-photoion coincidence (PEPICO) experiments. These experiments allow investigating ultrafast dynamical processes in photoexcited molecules. Bayesian probability theory is consistently applied to data analysis problems occurring in these types of experiments such as background subtraction and false coincidences. We previously demonstrated that the Bayesian formalism has many advantages, amongst which are compensation of false coincidences, no overestimation of pump-only contributions, significantly increased signal-to-noise ratio, and applicability to any experimental situation and noise statistics. Most importantly, by accounting for false coincidences, our approach allows running experiments at higher ionization rates, resulting in an appreciable reduction of data acquisition times. In addition to our previous paper, we include fluctuating laser intensities, of which the straightforward implementation highlights yet another advantage of the Bayesian formalism. Our method is thoroughly scrutinized by challenging mock data, where we find a minor impact of laser fluctuations on false coincidences, yet a noteworthy influence on background subtraction. We apply our algorithm to data obtained in experiments and discuss the impact of laser fluctuations on the data analysis

Apprendre à naviguer entre les livres, les ordinateurs portables et la discussion en face-à-face

Jack Goody s’est servi de la perspective des cultures pré-modernes pour appréhender plus clairement la relation entre langue orale et langue écrite ainsi que ses implications sur le développement social . Les découvertes de Goody soulèvent naturellement des questions au sujet du passage du langage typographié / imprimé à celui médiatisé par l’ordinateur et l’internet. L’utilisation des ordinateurs pour tous les aspects de la communication ne peut qu’affecter la réflexion sur l’état de la rela..

Prehypertensive blood pressures and regional cerebral blood flow independently relate to cognitive performance in midlife

Background High blood pressure is thought to contribute to dementia in late life, but our understanding of the relationship between individual differences in blood pressure ( BP ) and cognitive functioning is incomplete. In this study, cognitive performance in nonhypertensive midlife adults was examined as a function of resting BP and regional cerebral blood flow ( rCBF ) responses during cognitive testing. We hypothesized that BP would be negatively related to cognitive performance and that cognitive performance would also be related to rCBF responses within areas related to BP control. We explored whether deficits related to systolic BP might be explained by rCBF responses to mental challenge. Methods and Results Healthy midlife participants (n=227) received neuropsychological testing and performed cognitive tasks in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. A pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling sequence assessed rCBF in brain areas related to BP in prior studies. Systolic BP was negatively related to 4 of 5 neuropsychological factors (standardized β&gt;0.13): memory, working memory, executive function, and mental efficiency. The rCBF in 2 brain regions of interest was similarly related to memory, executive function, and working memory (standardized β&gt;0.17); however, rCBF responses did not explain the relationship between resting systolic BP and cognitive performance. Conclusions Relationships at midlife between prehypertensive levels of systolic BP and both cognitive and brain function were modest but suggested the possible value of midlife intervention. </jats:sec

Transfer Functions and Penetrations of Five Differential Mobility Analyzers for Sub-2 nm Particle Classification

The transfer functions and penetrations of five differential mobility analyzers (DMAs) for sub-2 nm particle classification were evaluated in this study. These DMAs include the TSI nanoDMA, the Caltech radial DMA (RDMA) and nanoRDMA, the Grimm nanoDMA, and the Karlsruhe-Vienna DMA. Measurements were done using tetra-alkyl ammonium ion standards with mobility diameters of 1.16, 1.47, and 1.70 nm. These monomobile ions were generated by electrospray followed by high resolution mobility classification. Measurements were focused at an aerosol-to-sheath flow ratio of 0.1. A data inversion routine was developed to obtain the true transfer function for each test DMA, and these measured transfer functions were compared with theory. DMA penetration efficiencies were also measured. An approximate model for diffusional deposition, based on the modified Gormley and Kennedy equation using an effective length, is given for each test DMA. These results quantitatively characterize the performance of the test DMAs in classifying sub-2 nm particles and can be readily used for DMA data inversion