7,831 research outputs found
Being-in-the-world-with: Presence Meets Social And Cognitive Neuroscience
In this chapter we will discuss the concepts of âpresenceâ (Inner Presence) and âsocial presenceâ (Co-presence) within a cognitive and ecological perspective. Specifically, we claim that the concepts of âpresenceâ and âsocial presenceâ are the possible links between self, action, communication and culture. In the first section we will provide a capsule view of Heideggerâs work by examining the two main features of the Heideggerian concept of âbeingâ: spatiality and âbeing withâ. We argue that different visions from social and cognitive sciences â Situated Cognition, Embodied Cognition, Enactive Approach, Situated Simulation, Covert Imitation - and discoveries from neuroscience â Mirror and Canonical Neurons - have many contact points with this view. In particular, these data suggest that our conceptual system dynamically produces contextualized representations (simulations) that support grounded action in different situations. This is allowed by a common coding â the motor code â shared by perception, action and concepts. This common coding also allows the subject for natively recognizing actions done by other selves within the phenomenological contents. In this picture we argue that the role of presence and social presence is to allow the process of self-identification through the separation between âselfâ and âother,â and between âinternalâ and âexternalâ. Finally, implications of this position for communication and media studies are discussed by way of conclusion
Semiclassical Energy Levels of Sine-Gordon Model on a Strip with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions
We derive analytic expressions of the semiclassical energy levels of
Sine-Gordon model in a strip geometry with Dirichlet boundary condition at both
edges. They are obtained by initially selecting the classical backgrounds
relative to the vacuum or to the kink sectors, and then solving the Schodinger
equations (of Lame' type) associated to the stability condition. Explicit
formulas are presented for the classical solutions of both the vacuum and kink
states and for the energy levels at arbitrary values of the size of the system.
Their ultraviolet and infrared limits are also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
An existence result for a nonlinear transmission problems
Let and be open bounded subsets of of
class such that the closure of is contained in
. Let be a function in and let
and be continuous functions from to
. By exploiting an argument based on potential theory and on the
Leray-Schauder principle we show that under suitable and completely explicit
conditions on and there exists at least one pair of continuous
functions such that where the last equality is attained in certain weak sense. In a simple
example we show that such a pair of functions is in general
neither unique nor local unique. If instead the fourth condition of the problem
is obtained by a small nonlinear perturbation of a homogeneous linear
condition, then we can prove the existence of at least one classical solution
which is in addition locally unique
Moral and Legal Autonomy in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
The ethical principle of autonomy is one of the core principles in the field of applied ethics, from bioethics to ethics of artificial intelligence (AI). In this paper, we pursue an ethical inquiry into how AI systems can affect human autonomy according to a moral and legal perspective, that is, both in its moral dimension (as implicit endorsement) as well as in its legal one (as explicit consent). More specifically, after having defined the concept of individual autonomy from a moral and juridical standpoint as the human normative power of self-determination both in the moral sphere and in the legal one, and thus, better substantiating the AI ethics principle of autonomy as currently adopted in the field, we show how the design of novel AI systems, such as machine-learning and deep-learning algorithms, that widely rule the functioning of digital information and communication technology (ICT), can negatively affect both the preconditions of our moral and legal autonomy, by suspending intrinsic consent that individuals can express in order to endorse external information as a true motive of their choices and actions, as well as bypassing the legal conditions for a valid consent, as the external manifestation of the individual legal autonomy. We conclude by highlighting the ethical implications and risks of such phenomenon and proposing ethical and legal design practices to prevent or mitigate them
Defining Cultural Agents for Virtual Heritage Environments
This article describes the primary ways in which intelligent agents have been employed in virtual heritage projects and explains how the special requirements of virtual heritage environments necessitate the development of cultural agents. How do we distinguish between social agents and cultural agents? Can cultural agents meet these specific heritage objectives
Fatigue behaviour of thin Fe-Si steel sheets for electric motor production
The on-going evolution toward electric/hybrid traction requires the development of
high-performance electric motors. The rotor of electric motors is made from a stack of thin steel
sheets and a complex configuration of magnets. Electric steels are typically Fe-Si alloys where
Si addition controls grain size. Mechanical durability assessment of electric motors is based on
the fatigue performance of Fe-Si steels.
This contribution reports a thorough mechanical characterisation of a Fe-Si alloy in the form of
thin (i.e. 0.2 mm) sheets. Numerous tensile tests were performed to characterize the reference
static properties and their respective scatter. A suitable fatigue testing procedure for thin sheets
was developed and used in an extensive campaign aimed at investigating the directional fatigue
behaviour of the Fe-Si steel. Comparison with literature data confirms that the fatigue response
of thin sheets is affected by different factors related especially to the method of extraction
Media Presence and Inner Presence: The Sense of Presence in Virtual Reality Technologies
Abstract. Presence is widely accepted as the key concept to be considered in any research involving human interaction with Virtual Reality (VR). Since its original description, the concept of presence has developed over the past decade to be considered by many researchers as the essence of any experience in a virtual environment. The VR generating systems comprise two main parts: a technological component and a psychological experience. The different relevance given to them produced two different but coexisting visions of presence: the rationalist and the psychological/ecological points of view. The rationalist point of view considers a VR system as a collection of specific machines with the necessity of the inclusion \ud
of the concept of presence. The researchers agreeing with this approach describe the sense of presence as a function of the experience of a given medium (Media Presence). The main result of this approach is the definition of presence as the perceptual illusion of non-mediation produced by means of the disappearance of the medium from the conscious attention of the subject. At the other extreme, there \ud
is the psychological or ecological perspective (Inner Presence). Specifically, this perspective considers presence as a neuropsychological phenomenon, evolved from the interplay of our biological and cultural inheritance, whose goal is the control of the human activity. \ud
Given its key role and the rate at which new approaches to understanding and examining presence are appearing, this chapter draws together current research on presence to provide an up to date overview of the most widely accepted approaches to its understanding and measurement
Development and calibration of a structural simulation method of CF-SMC composite parts processed by compression molding
The need for the reduction in CO2 production in automotive field increasingly leads
manufacturers to consider fiber-reinforced composite materials that are however costly to
processes. Discontinuous fiber composite materials, like CF â SMC, are a competitive
candidate because they are transformed by the high productivity compression molding
technology. On the negative side, their structural complexity introduces high variability in the
mechanical performance that needs to be considered at the design stage. This contribution
describes the development of a structural modeling strategy for parts made of CF-SMC
processed by compression molding. It is based the statistical material model proposed by
Feraboli implemented here in a FEA-based structural analysis procedure. After validation and
calibration of a specific CF-SMC material, the proposed procedure is applied to the simulation
of the structural response of a compression molded part of complex geometry subjected to
know loading condition
High brightness 100 W-50 ÎŒm delivery blue laser diode module
Blue laser diodes are emerging as the next revolution in laser material processing, especially for high reflective materials, such as copper and gold. The paper presents the most recent evolution of a family of medium-high power and high brightness devices specifically conceived for micro-machining applications. The modules make use of a proprietary architecture based on the combination of commercial laser diodes in TO9 package. The diodes are first organized in rows staggered along the fast axis, then the rows are multiplexed along the fast axis; finally, wavelength and polarization multiplexing are exploited to achieve up to 100W of power into a 50 ÎŒm/0.22NA fiber
Smartphone-Based Therapeutic Exercises for Men Affected by Premature Ejaculation: A Pilot Study
Introduction: Smartphone-delivered healthcare interventions allow patients to access services on demand when needed, improving motivation and compliance. However, the use of mobile health apps has been scarcely explored in sexual medicine. Aim: To evaluate the effects of integrating psychological treatment for premature ejaculation (PE) with a mobile coaching app that offers therapeutic exercises on the patient's smartphone. Methods: This study comprised 35 heterosexual men with primary psychogenic PE (mean age 34 years, standard deviation = 9.15). All patients entered a cycle of 15 sessions of psychodynamic psychotherapy integrating behavioral therapy, each lasting about 45 minutes. The patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups, each of which performed daily homework exercises (physiotherapy exercises for reinforcing the pelvic floor muscles and cognitive exercises for distancing from sexual failure.) The first group (15 patients) received verbal and printed instructions only (treatment as usual\u2014TAU), whereas the second group (17 patients) experienced the exercises with guidance from the mobile app (app). In both groups, the exercises started after the seventh session. Patients were advised to perform the exercises 3 times a day for 3 months. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measures were the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool and the Premature Ejaculation Profile. Results: Analysis of the data revealed significant pre-post improvements in Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool and Premature Ejaculation Profile scores for the app group compared with those of the TAU group (P <.01). The frequency of patients with no-PE condition for the app group after treatment was significantly higher than the frequency of patients with no-PE condition for the TAU group (P <.001). Conclusion: Results suggest that a mobile coaching app performs better than TAU in improving both the behavioral skills of ejaculatory delay and sexual self-confidence within a psychological treatment for PE. Future studies should collect follow-up data and explore the potential of mobile coaching apps in combined pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy interventions. Optale G, Burigat S, Chittaro L. et al. Smartphone-Based Therapeutic Exercises for Men Affected by Premature Ejaculation: A Pilot Study. J Sex Med 2020;XX:XXX\u2013XXX
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