First-Order Provenance Games

We propose a new model of provenance, based on a game-theoretic approach to query evaluation. First, we study games G in their own right, and ask how to explain that a position x in G is won, lost, or drawn. The resulting notion of game provenance is closely related to winning strategies, and excludes from provenance all "bad moves", i.e., those which unnecessarily allow the opponent to improve the outcome of a play. In this way, the value of a position is determined by its game provenance. We then define provenance games by viewing the evaluation of a first-order query as a game between two players who argue whether a tuple is in the query answer. For RA+ queries, we show that game provenance is equivalent to the most general semiring of provenance polynomials N[X]. Variants of our game yield other known semirings. However, unlike semiring provenance, game provenance also provides a "built-in" way to handle negation and thus to answer why-not questions: In (provenance) games, the reason why x is not won, is the same as why x is lost or drawn (the latter is possible for games with draws). Since first-order provenance games are draw-free, they yield a new provenance model that combines how- and why-not provenance

Knowledge Cartography for Controversies: The Iraq Debate

In analysing controversies and debates—which would include reviewing a literature in order to plan research, or assessing intelligence to formulate policy—there is no one worldview which can be mapped, for instance as a single, coherent concept map. The cartographic challenge is to show which facts are agreed and contested, and the different kinds of narrative links that use facts as evidence to define the nature of the problem, what to do about it, and why. We will use the debate around the invasion of Iraq to demonstrate the methodology of using a knowledge mapping tool to extract key ideas from source materials, in order to classify and connect them within and across a set of perspectives of interest to the analyst. We reflect on the value that this approach adds, and how it relates to other argument mapping approaches

A future orientation intervention delivered through a smartphone application and virtual reality: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Short-term mindsets are associated with self-defeating behaviors, such as delinquency and alcohol use. In contrast, people who consider the longer-term consequences of their decisions tend to report positive outcomes, like feeling more competent and enhanced goal achievement. We evaluate an intervention, FutureU, that aims to stimulate future-oriented thinking, increase goal achievement, and reduce self-defeating behavior, by strengthening people’s identification with their future self. The intervention will be delivered through a smartphone application (app) or immersive Virtual Reality (VR). We test the effectiveness of FutureU for both delivery methods, examine working mechanisms, and identify potential moderators of intervention effects.Methods: In this Randomized Controlled Trial, a total of 240 first-year university students (n = 80 per condition) will be randomized into one of three conditions: (1) a smartphone condition, (2) a VR condition, and (3) an active control condition. We will assess proximal (i.e., future self-identification) and distal intervention outcomes (e.g., future orientation, self-defeating behaviors, goal achievement), user engagement, and examine usage data and goal content. Assessments will take place at baseline, during the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and at 3- and 6-months follow-up.Discussion: This study will provide information on the effectiveness of the intervention and allows for comparisons between delivery methods using novel technologies, a smartphone app versus immersive VR. Knowledge gained through this study can be used for further intervention development as well as theory building

Automated mobile virtual reality cognitive behavior therapy for aviophobia in a natural setting: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Access to evidence-based psychological treatment is a challenge worldwide. We assessed the effectiveness of a fully automated aviophobia smartphone app treatment delivered in combination with a $5 virtual reality (VR) viewer.Methods: In total, 153 participants from the Dutch general population with aviophobia symptoms and smartphone access were randomized in a single-blind randomized controlled trial to either an automated VR cognitive behavior therapy (VR-CBT) app treatment condition (n = 77) or a wait-list control condition (n = 76). The VR-CBT app was delivered over a 6-week period in the participants' natural environment. Online self-report assessments were completed at baseline, post-treatment, at 3-month and at 12-month follow-up. The primary outcome measure was the Flight Anxiety Situations Questionnaire (FAS). Analyses were based on intent-to-treat.Results: A significant reduction of aviophobia symptoms at post-test for the VR-CBT app compared with the control condition [p Conclusions: This study is the first to show that fully automated mobile VR-CBT therapy delivered in a natural setting can maintain long-term effectiveness in reducing aviophobia symptoms. In doing so, it offers an accessible and scalable evidence-based treatment solution that can be applied globally at a fraction of the cost of current treatment alternatives

Lessons learned from conducting a randomized controlled trial to improve non-adherence to antihypertensive drug treatment

Purpose: Hypertension significantly contributes to cardiovascular diseases and premature deaths. Effective treatment is crucial to reduce cardiovascular risks, but poor adherence to antihypertensive drugs is a major issue. Numerous studies attempted to investigate interventions for identifying non-adherence, but often failed to address the issue effectively. The RHYME-RCT trial sought to bridge this gap by measuring non-adherence by determining antihypertensive drug concentrations in blood through a dried blood spot (DBS) method in patients with resistant hypertension. This measurement was followed by personalized feedback to improve adherence. During the course of this trial several challenges emerged, including selection bias, the gatekeeper role of physicians, the Hawthorne effect and the role of randomization.Aim: This communication aims to inform fellow researchers and clinicians of challenges that can arise when conducting clinical trials to improve adherence and offer insights for refining study designs to avoid these issues in forthcoming adherence studies

Instrumental Music Influences Recognition of Emotional Body Language

In everyday life, emotional events are perceived by multiple sensory systems. Research has shown that recognition of emotions in one modality is biased towards the emotion expressed in a simultaneously presented but task irrelevant modality. In the present study, we combine visual and auditory stimuli that convey similar affective meaning but have a low probability of co-occurrence in everyday life. Dynamic face-blurred whole body expressions of a person grasping an object while expressing happiness or sadness are presented in combination with fragments of happy or sad instrumental classical music. Participants were instructed to categorize the emotion expressed by the visual stimulus. The results show that recognition of body language is influenced by the auditory stimuli. These findings indicate that crossmodal influences as previously observed for audiovisual speech can also be obtained from the ignored auditory to the attended visual modality in audiovisual stimuli that consist of whole bodies and music

Cognitive Computation sans Representation

The Computational Theory of Mind (CTM) holds that cognitive processes are essentially computational, and hence computation provides the scientific key to explaining mentality. The Representational Theory of Mind (RTM) holds that representational content is the key feature in distinguishing mental from non-mental systems. I argue that there is a deep incompatibility between these two theoretical frameworks, and that the acceptance of CTM provides strong grounds for rejecting RTM. The focal point of the incompatibility is the fact that representational content is extrinsic to formal procedures as such, and the intended interpretation of syntax makes no difference to the execution of an algorithm. So the unique 'content' postulated by RTM is superfluous to the formal procedures of CTM. And once these procedures are implemented in a physical mechanism, it is exclusively the causal properties of the physical mechanism that are responsible for all aspects of the system's behaviour. So once again, postulated content is rendered superfluous. To the extent that semantic content may appear to play a role in behaviour, it must be syntactically encoded within the system, and just as in a standard computational artefact, so too with the human mind/brain - it's pure syntax all the way down to the level of physical implementation. Hence 'content' is at most a convenient meta-level gloss, projected from the outside by human theorists, which itself can play no role in cognitive processing

A clinically relevant pharmacokinetic interaction between cyclosporine and imatinib

Purpose: Cyclosporine A (CsA) and imatinib are both CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein substrates. Concomitant use after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL) may therefore result in a pharmacokinetic interaction. Although case reports and a recent small study in children indeed suggested there is a relevant pharmacokinetic interaction, a larger study in adults is lacking. In this study, we assessed the presence and extent of this interaction in patients with CML or Ph+ ALL undergoing HSCT. Methods: From a large database containing data of all patients receiving HSCT in our center between 2005 and 2015, we selected 16 patients using this drug combination. The average dose-corrected CsA concentration was calculated before and after initiation of imatinib. Results: The average dose-corrected CsA concentration increased during imatinib use in all patients, on average by 94 % (p < 0.001). Based on measured drug con

The systematicity challenge to anti-representational dynamicism

After more than twenty years of representational debate in the cognitive sciences, anti-representational dynamicism may be seen as offering a rival and radically new kind of explanation of systematicity phenomena. In this paper, I argue that, on the contrary, anti-representational dynamicism must face a version of the old systematicity challenge: either it does not explain systematicity, or else, it is just an implementation of representational theories. To show this, I present a purely behavioral and representation-free account of systematicity. I then consider a case of insect sensorimotor systematic behavior: communicating behavior in honey bees. I conclude that anti-representational dynamicism fails to capture the fundamental trait of systematic behaviors qua systematic, i.e., their involving exercises of the same behavioral capacities. I suggest, finally, a collaborative strategy in pursuit of a rich and powerful account of this central phenomenon of high cognition at all levels of explanation, including the representational level

Clinical Validation of a Dried Blood Spot Assay for 8 Antihypertensive Drugs and 4 Active Metabolites

BACKGROUND: Drug nonadherence is one of the major challenges faced by resistant hypertension patients, and identification of this problem is needed for optimizing pharmacotherapy. Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling is a minimally invasive method designed to detect and determine the degree of nonadherence. In this study, a DBS method for qualifying 8 antihypertensive drugs (AHDs) and 4 active metabolites was developed and validated using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). METHOD: The DBS assay was validated analytically and clinically, in accordance with FDA requirements. Analytical validation was accomplished using UHPLC-MS/MS. For clinical validation, paired peak and trough levels of DBS and plasma samples were simultaneously collected and comparatively analyzed using Deming regression and Bland-Altman analyses. All concentrations below the set lower limit were excluded. Deming regression analysis was used to predict comparison bias between the collected plasma and DBS samples, with DBS concentrations corrected accordingly. RESULTS: The UHPLC-MS/MS method for simultaneously measuring 8 AHDs and their metabolites in DBS, was successfully validated. With Deming regression no bias was observed in N = 1; constant bias was seen in N = 6 and proportional bias in N = 11 of the AHDs and metabolites. After correction for bias, only one metabolite (canrenone) met the 20% acceptance limit for quantification, after Bland-Altman analyses. In addition, amlodipine, valsartan, and [enalaprilate] met the 25% acceptance limit. CONCLUSIONS: A novel DBS assay for simultaneously qualifying and quantifying 8 AHDs and their metabolites, has been successfully developed and validated. The DBS assay is therefore a suitable method to detect drug nonadherence. However, with the exception of canrenone, the interchangeable use of plasma and DBS sa