Bernini, Marco. Beckett and the Cognitive Method: Mind, Models, and Exploratory Narratives

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Knowledge Representation with Ontologies: The Present and Future

Recently, we have seen an explosion of interest in ontologies as artifacts to represent human knowledge and as critical components in knowledge management, the semantic Web, business-to-business applications, and several other application areas. Various research communities commonly assume that ontologies are the appropriate modeling structure for representing knowledge. However, little discussion has occurred regarding the actual range of knowledge an ontology can successfully represent

Image annotation with Photocopain

Photo annotation is a resource-intensive task, yet is increasingly essential as image archives and personal photo collections grow in size. There is an inherent conflict in the process of describing and archiving personal experiences, because casual users are generally unwilling to expend large amounts of effort on creating the annotations which are required to organise their collections so that they can make best use of them. This paper describes the Photocopain system, a semi-automatic image annotation system which combines information about the context in which a photograph was captured with information from other readily available sources in order to generate outline annotations for that photograph that the user may further extend or amend

A case series of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for reducing symptom interference in functional neurological disorders

There is limited high-quality evidence supporting psychological treatments for functional neurological disorders (FNDs), and what evidence exists suggests that the impact of such treatments could be improved. One way to increase effectiveness is to utilize approaches that can have impact across heterogeneous FND presentations. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) targets a transdiagnostic process called psychological flexibility and is used effectively to integrate multidisciplinary treatments in other clinical contexts. Here, we present a consecutive case series (N = 8) of a relatively brief (6 to 10 sessions) ACT intervention, delivered face to face by a clinical psychologist in an outpatient neuropsychology service. Treatment aimed to reduce symptom interference and improve mood via improvements in psychological flexibility. Service users presented with a range of FND symptoms (e.g., syncope, limb paralysis, and paraesthesia). Following treatment, 5 participants showed reliable improvements in symptom interference (Work and Social Adjustment Scale), 2 to the extent of clinical significance; 4 had reliable improvements in mood (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation—10), and 2 within the range of clinical significance. There were no reliable deteriorations in symptom interference or mood. Marked variation was apparent on the measure of psychological flexibility (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II), with 4 reliable improvements, 3 within the range of clinical significance, and also 2 reliable deteriorations. These promising results suggest that further investigation of an ACT approach to FND is warranted. Future studies should include measures of psychological flexibility with greater comprehensibility

Creation of ultracold molecules from a Fermi gas of atoms

Since the realization of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) in atomic gases an experimental challenge has been the production of molecular gases in the quantum regime. A promising approach is to create the molecular gas directly from an ultracold atomic gas; for example, atoms in a BEC have been coupled to electronic ground-state molecules through photoassociation as well as through a magnetic-field Feshbach resonance. The availability of atomic Fermi gases provides the exciting prospect of coupling fermionic atoms to bosonic molecules, and thus altering the quantum statistics of the system. This Fermi-Bose coupling is closely related to the pairing mechanism for a novel fermionic superfluid proposed to occur near a Feshbach resonance. Here we report the creation and quantitative characterization of exotic, ultracold $^{40}$K$_2$ molecules. Starting with a quantum degenerate Fermi gas of atoms at T < 150 nanoKelvin we scan over a Feshbach resonance to adiabatically create over a quarter million trapped molecules, which we can convert back to atoms by reversing the scan. The small binding energy of the molecules is controlled by detuning from the Feshbach resonance and can be varied over a wide range. We directly detect these weakly bound molecules through rf photodissociation spectra that probe the molecular wavefunction and yield binding energies that are consistent with theory

Enamel thickness and growth rates in modern human permanent first molars over a 2000 year period in Britain

Objectives: This study explores variation and trends in first molar enamel thickness and daily enamel secretion rates over a 2000 year period in Britain. Methods: Permanent first molars (n=89) from the Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Medieval periods, as well as modern day Britain, were analysed using standard histological methods. Relative enamel thickness (RET) and linear measurements of cuspal and lateral thickness were calculated for mesial cusps. Daily secretion rates (DSRs) were calculated for inner, mid, and outer enamel regions in both cuspal and lateral enamel. Significant differences and trends were identified between samples using non-parametric statistical tests. Results: Enamel thickness differed between some populations, but no temporal trends were identified. Early Anglo-Saxon molars had significantly thinner RET than both Late Anglo-Saxon (p<0.00) and Medieval (p<0.00) molars. Lateral enamel from the Roman molars was significantly thinner than the modern day sample (p=0.04). In contrast, DSRs slowed significantly from the more ancient to the modern day samples in every comparison except the mid lateral enamel region. Discussion: This study presents the first evidence for a gradual slowing in the daily rate that enamel is secreted in molars over the past 2000 years in Britain. However, this trend was not matched by a change in enamel thickness, which remained fairly consistent over this time period. These findings suggest that modern human molars of similar enamel thickness, from different modern and ancient populations, formed at different rates

Inter-population differences in enamel secretion rates: a comparison between modern and ancient populations

Human enamel growth occurs as ameloblast cells secrete and mineralize protein matrix. Studies of enamel daily secretion rates (DSRs) have yielded significant insights into the evolution of permanent tooth enamel across hominin species. However, inter-population variation of modern human permanent enamel DSRs has received less attention, particularly for anterior tooth types. This study utilizes dental histological thin sections to examine DSRs calculated for lateral and cuspal enamel regions for permanent molar, canine, and incisor crowns from British populations. These samples date from the Roman (70-400AD), Early-Anglo Saxon (500-600AD), Late Anglo- Saxon (800-1200AD), Medieval (1100-1500AD), and modern day period. A total of 338 teeth were analyzed: molar (n=89), canine (n=69), incisor (n=80). Results display consistent and significant trends towards decreasing DSRs from the ancient to modern populations. This was observed in all molar cuspal (p<0.00), lateral mid (p<0.01) and outer (p<0.00) regions, in all incisor cuspal and lateral regions (all p<0.00), and in all canine cuspal and lateral regions (all p<0.00). These data provide the first evidence for a change in the daily rate of enamel growth in human permanent dentition, in multiple permanent tooth types, over a 2000 year period. This alludes to a previously unidentified plasticity in modern human enamel growth. Ongoing research will investigate whether similar variation has occurred in other enamel variables over this period of time in these populations