Presence of Mind: Consciousness and the Sense of Self

It is generally agreed that consciousness is a somewhat slippery term. However, more narrowly defined as 'phenomenal consciousness' it captures at least three essential features or aspects: subjective experience (the notion that what we are primarily conscious of are experiences), subjective knowledge (that feature of our awareness that gives consciousness its distinctive reflexive character), and phenomenal contrast (the phenomenality of awareness, absence of which makes consciousness intractable) (cf. Siewert 1998). If Buddhist accounts of consciousness are built, as it is claimed, on phenomenological (thus descriptive) rather than metaphysical grounds, the obvious question arises: is there such a place or locus for conscious experience? And if there is, does it have the sort of character that is amenable to phenomenological analysis? A positive answer would suggest that conscious experience is such that at a minimum, the 'sense of self' must be an ineliminable structural feature of cognitive awareness. This paper pursues the question of precisely what conception of self-consciousness can be supported on experiential grounds given the Buddhist no-self view, and whether such conception is sufficient to account for the ineliminable features of phenomenal consciousness

Cross-cultural approach to teaching foreign languages [Кросс-культурный подход в обучении иностранным языкам] (in Russian)

It is shown that knowledge of the cultural characteristics of the country of the studied language can significantly increase the motivation for learning. Now the Italian language takes its rightful place among the foreign languages studied in Ukraine, but the methodological and didactic support of the process of its teaching is at a low level. The structure of the language, i.e. the linguistic system stored in consciousness determines the process of thinking, the structure of worldview, behavioral motives, the way of knowing the world around and building a picture of the world, different for each language. The linguistic-cultural shock, as a result of the student’s incomplete acculturation, lack of knowledge or lack of understanding of the norms of a culture new to him, disappears as the student becomes acquainted with the culture of the country of the language being studied. Показано, что знание особенностей культуры страны изучаемого языка позволяет существенно повысить мотивацию обучения. Сейчас итальянский язык занимает законное место среди изучаемых в Украине иностранных языков, но методическое и дидактическое обеспечение процесса его преподавания находится на низком уровне. Структура языка, т.е. языковая система, хранящаяся в сознании, определяет процесс мышления, структуру мировоззрени, мотивы поведения, способ познания окружающего мира и построение картины мира, иной для каждого языка. Лингво-культурный шок, как следствие неполной аккультурации учащегося, незнания или непонимания им норм новой для него культуры, исчезает по мере знакомства учащегося с культурой страны изучаемого языка

Weekly Specials - 11.10.14

Specials: Soup and Sandwich, South Side Salad, Grilled Swordfish, Veal Scaloppin

Six Key Elements of High Quality Technical Writing

What is the definition of “high quality”, when it comes to technical writing? What are the key elements that differentiate high-quality technical writing from the technical writing that is less effective in communicating the message? This webinar stems from the presenter’s observations and personal thoughts over the last decade or two, as an active researcher, a mentor, and a teacher in the engineering community. This webinar will be organized around six key elements or keywords identified by the presenter, i.e., innovation, engaging, hypothesis, logic, synthesis, and details

Insurer Liability for Damage to Realty When Payment Would Result in Windfall Recovery

168 Ha

Ecuador: Domestic Violence

x, 202 hlm. : ilus. ; tab. ; 20 cm

Satisfying the Duty to Bargain During the Term of a Collective Bargaining Agreement Relative to Conditions of Employment Not Covered by the Agreement

Buku ini berisi pengetahuan mengenai cara pembuatan susu kedelai dan youghurt kedelai, bahan dan peralatan yang dibutuhkan, serta analisis usaha susu kedelai dan yoghurt kedelai

Conditional Love: Imitation, Inheritance and Violent Relations in Early Modern Revenge Tragedies

In Conditional Love, I reread narratives that seem to confirm normative kinship structures as excessive iterations of their very normativity. Examining revenge tragedies by Shakespeare, Marston, Middleton, Tourneur and Kyd, I argue that the metaphors each playwright uses to portray familial emotions reveal the ideologies underpinning both excessive and normative versions of familial relationships. For example, the pietas that causes Titus to refurbish his elaborate family tomb also leads him to murder one of his sons. It is because Piero, the villainous father in Marston\u27s Antonio\u27s Revenge, imagines his daughter as a physical part of him as near my heart as is my liver that when she disobeys he can imagine rend[ing] her off. I argue that the metaphors used to express normative familial relations reveal the pressures placed on family emotions by economic and political ideologies. The foundational topos of primogeniture: that the father can live on in the son) requires the son to resemble the father, which creates relationships founded on reproduction through imitation. These imitative relationships are then vulnerable to disruption should a son fail to resemble his father. While critics have traditionally read instances of violent family breakdown in plays as moments that violate kinship norms, I argue that such moments of violence are caused by ideologies associated with inheritance structures which underpin descriptions and experiences of normative familial emotions. Revisiting tragedies commonly read as non-normative from the position that these violent behaviors are not exceptions but excesses, I am able to uncover the ideologies which create and, under pressure, distort familial relationships

In re ATM Fee Litigation: Ninth Circuit Uses Illinois Brick to Build a High Wall for Indirect Purchasers

296 HA

Reconstruction Algorithms for Novel Joint Imaging Techniques in PET

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an important functional in vivo imaging modality with many clinical applications. Its enormously wide range of applications has made both research and industry combine it with other imaging modalities such as X-ray computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The general purpose of this work is to study two cases in PET where the goal is to perform image reconstruction jointly on two data types. The first case is the Beta-Gamma image reconstruction. Positron emitting isotopes, such as 11C, 13N, and 18F, can be used to label molecules, and tracers, such as 11CO2, are delivered to plants to study their biological processes, particularly metabolism and photosynthesis, which may contribute to the development of plants that have higher yield of crops and biomass. Measurements and resulting images from PET scanners are not quantitative in young plant structures or in plant leaves due to low positron annihilation in thin objects. To address this problem we have designed, assembled, modeled, and tested a nuclear imaging system (Simultaneous Beta-Gamma Imager). The imager can simultaneously detect positrons (β+) and coincidence-gamma rays (γ). The imaging system employs two planar detectors; one is a regular gamma detector which has a LYSO crystal array, and the other is a phoswich detector which has an additional BC-404 plastic scintillator for beta detection. A forward model for positrons is proposed along with a joint image reconstruction formulation to utilize the beta and coincidence-gamma measurements for estimating radioactivity distribution in plant leaves. The joint reconstruction algorithm first reconstructs the beta and gamma images independently to estimate the thickness component of the beta forward model, and then jointly estimates the radioactivity distribution in the object. We have validated the physics model and the reconstruction framework through a phantom imaging study and imaging a tomato leaf that has absorbed 11CO2. The results demonstrate that the simultaneously acquired beta and coincidence-gamma data, combined with our proposed joint reconstruction algorithm, improved the quantitative accuracy of estimating radioactivity distribution in thin objects such as leaves. We used the Structural Similarity (SSIM) index for comparing the leaf images from the Simultaneous Beta-Gamma Imager with the ground truth image. The jointly reconstructed images yield SSIM indices of 0.69 and 0.63, whereas the separately reconstructed beta alone and gamma alone images had indices of 0.33 and 0.52, respectively. The second case is the virtual-pinhole PET technology, which has shown that higher resolution and contrast recovery can be gained by adding a high resolution PET insert with smaller crystals to a conventional PET scanner. Such enhancements are obtained when the insert is placed in proximity of the region of interest (ROI) and in coincidence with the conventional PET scanner. Intuitively, the insert may be positioned within the scanner\u27s axial field-of-view (FOV) and radially closer to the ROI than the scanner\u27s ring. One of the complicating factors of this design is the insert\u27s blocking the scanner\u27s lines-of-response (LORs). Such data may be compensated through attenuation and scatter correction in image reconstruction. However, a potential solution is to place the insert outside of the scanner\u27s axial FOV and to move the body to be in proximity of the insert. We call this imaging strategy the surveillance mode. As the main focus of this work, we have developed an image reconstruction framework for the surveillance mode imaging. The preliminary results show improvement in spatial resolution and contrast recovery. Any improvement in contrast recovery should result in enhancement in tumor detectability, which will be of high clinical significance