Industrial development in recent decades has led to using information and communication technologies to support personnel selection processes. One of the most notable examples is game-related assessments, supposedly as accurate as conventional tests but which generate better applicant reactions and reduce the likelihood of adverse impact and faking. However, such claims still lack scientific support. Given practitioners’ increasing use of GRA, this article reviews the scientific literature on gamification applied to personnel selection to determine whether the current state of the (...) art supports their use in professional practice and identify specific aspects on which future research should focus. Following the PRISMA model, a search was carried out in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, identifying 34 valid articles, of which 85.3% are empirical studies that analyze five areas: validity; applicant reactions; design of GRA; personal characteristics and GRA; and adverse impact and faking. Together, these studies show that GRA can be used in personnel selection but that the supposed advantages of GRA over conventional tests are fewer than imagined. The results also suggest several aspects on which research should focus, which could help define the situations in which the use of GRA may be recommended. (shrink)

This article examines the anatomy and circuitry of skills that, like reading, calculating, recognizing, or remembering, are common abilities of humans. While the anatomical areas active are unique to each skill there are features common to all tasks. For example, all skills produce activation of a small number of widely separated neural areas that appear necessary to perform the task. These neural areas relate to internal codes that may not be observed by any external behavior nor be reportable by the (...) performer. There is considerable plasticity to the performance of skills. Task components can be given priority through attention, which serves to increase activation of the relevant brain areas. Attention can also cause reactivation of sensory areas driven by input, but usually only after a delay. The threshold for activation for any area may be temporarily reduced by prior activation . Skill components requiring attention tend to cause interference resulting in the dual tasks effects and unified focus of attention described in many cognitive studies. Practice may change the size or number of brain areas involved and alter the pathways used by the skill. By combining cognitive and anatomical analyses, a more general picture of the nature of skill emerges. (shrink)

OBJECTIVES: To compare 2005 and 1995 ethics guidelines from journal editors to authors regarding requirements for institutional review board (IRB) approval and conflict-of-interest (COI) disclosure. DESIGN: A descriptive study of the ethics guidelines published in 103 English-language biomedical journals listed in the Abridged Index Medicus in 1995 and 2005. Each journal was reviewed by the principal author and one of four independent reviewers. RESULTS: During the period, the proportion of journals requiring IRB approval increased from 42% (95% CI 32.2% to (...) 51.2%, p<0.001) to 76% (95% CI 66.4% to 83.1%, p<0.001). In 2005, an additional 9% referred to the Declaration of Helsinki or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' Uniform requirements for ethical guidelines; 15% (95% CI 8.5% to 22.5%, p<0.01) provided ambiguous or no requirements. The proportion of journals requiring COI disclosure increased from 75% (95% CI 66.6% to 83.3%, p<0.05) to 94% (95% CI 89.4% to 98.6%, p<0.05); 41% had comprehensive requirements, while some addressed only funding source (6%), were vague (10%) or both (14%). Criteria for authorship rose from 40% (95% CI 30.5% to 49.5%, p<0.05) to 72% (95% CI 63.3% to 80.7%, p<0.05). Journals with higher impact factors were more likely to require IRB approval (p<0.01). Journals in anaesthesia and radiology all required IRB approval; requirements in other disciplines varied. CONCLUSIONS: Instructions to authors regarding ethical standards have improved. Some remain incomplete, especially regarding the scope of disclosure of COI. The ethical guidelines presented to authors need further clarification and standardisation. (shrink)

The acquisition and evolution of speech production, discourse and communication can be negatively impacted by brain malformations. We describe, for the first time, a case of developmental dynamic dysphasia (DDD) in a right-handed adolescent boy (subject D) with cortical malformations involving language-eloquent regions (inferior frontal gyrus) in both the left and the right hemispheres. Language evaluation revealed a markedly reduced verbal output affecting phonemic and semantic fluency, phrase and sentence generation and verbal communication in everyday life. Auditory comprehension, repetition, naming, (...) reading and spelling were relatively preserved, but executive function was impaired. Multimodal neuroimaging showed a malformed cerebral cortex with atypical configuration and placement of white matter tracts bilaterally and abnormal callosal fibers. Dichotic listening showed right hemisphere dominance for language and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) additionally revealed dissociated hemispheric language representation with right frontal activation for phonology and bilateral dominance for semantic processing. Moreover, subject D also had congenital mirror movements (CMM), defined as involuntary movements of one side of the body that mirror intentional movements of the other side. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and fMRI during voluntary unimanual (left and right) hand movements showed bilateral motor cortex recruitment and tractography revealed a lack of decussation of bilateral corticospinal tracts. Genetic testing aimed to detect mutations that disrupt the development of commissural tracts correlating with CMM (e.g., Germline DCC mutations) was negative. Overall, our findings suggest that DDD in subject D resulted from the underdevelopment of the left inferior frontal gyrus with limited capacity for plastic reorganization by its homologous counterpart in the right hemisphere. Corpus callosum anomalies probably contributed to hinder interhemispheric connectivity necessary to compensate language and communication deficits after left frontal involvement. (shrink)

Livestock systems across the world are transformed by capitalist forces. Understanding these social, economic, and cultural transformations is important because it has major implications for rural populations across the world. Traditionally, the study of livestock systems has been organized along the conceptual classification of ranching in North America and Australia and pastoralism in Africa and Asia, but this intellectual division has limited our understanding because of a priori assumptions about the extent to which these systems have been shaped by capitalism. (...) The goal of our paper is to outline a conceptual framework to come to a better understanding of the different ways that livestock systems across the globe have become more and less capitalist. We use a comparative approach that considers a wide range of livestock systems in different parts of the world, ranging from pastoralism in open access and communally held grasslands to ranching in privately owned and fenced rangelands, and industrial agriculture, to examine the diversity, complexity, and dynamics of these systems at the intersection with capitalism. We describe how livestock keepers across the world adopt, adapt to, and challenge capitalist logics and offer new ways to raise livestock in the twenty-first century. One of the emergent themes of our review is the persistence of pastoral values and identities across livestock systems. (shrink)

We analyze the prestige of 1,500 scholars in economics, sociology, and management who have Spanish and French institutional affiliations operationalized by their h-index in Scopus and Google Scholar. We use a negative binomial count model to examine how some individual factors affect the h-index from both databases. The results show a non-monotonic relationship between the researchers’ career length and their h-index. There is a positive and statistically significant relationship between total research output and the h-index. The share of publications in (...) English over total publications has also a positive and statistically significant effect on the h-index, except in a single case, while the share of publications in other foreign languages does not have such effect. Finally, we found that the effects of the number of citations received by documents in English and by those in the vernacular language on the h-index vary according to the database, the country, and the discipline in question. (shrink)

Origin of life on earth transpired once and from then on, it emerges as an endless eternal process. Matter and energy are constants of the cosmos and the hypothesis is that the origin of life is a moment when these constants intertwined or interacted. Energy from the cosmos interacted with inorganic matter to support matter with retention of this riveted energy, as energy to be circulated within the primitive channelized structures to conserve energy by the materialization of the proton homeostasis (...) mechanisms developed from the obtainable inorganic matter. The driver for these processes as we now confirm, exists in the quantum world and through quantum phenomenal processes could have combined these constants to create the magic of life. Primitive earth was a chemical reactive system that triggered a macromolecular evolution by means of open thermodynamic systems, driven by cyclic gradients of temperature, electromagnetic radiation and chemical potentials which sustained life and proto-consciousness in the first life forms driven by the quantum processes. The origin of life is always an intriguing topic but the purpose for finding the cause should never be inclined towards obliterating it; for if that is the case, the further we seek, the farther it will go. (shrink)

In order to study early human development while avoiding the burdens associated with human embryo research, scientists are redirecting their efforts towards so-called human embryo-like structures (hELS). hELS are created from clusters of human pluripotent stem cells and seem capable of mimicking early human development with increasing accuracy. Notwithstanding, hELS research finds itself at the intersection of historically controversial fields, and the expectation that it might be received as similarly sensitive is prompting proactive law reform in many jurisdictions, including the (...) Netherlands. However, studies on the public perception of hELS research remain scarce. To help guide policymakers and fill this gap in the literature, we conducted an explorative qualitative study aimed at mapping the range of perspectives in the Netherlands on the creation and research use of hELS. This article reports on a subset of our findings, namely those pertaining to (the degrees of and requirements for) confidence in research with hELS and its regulation. Despite commonly found disparities in confidence on emerging biotechnologies, we also found wide consensus regarding the requirements for having (more) confidence in hELS research. We conclude by reflecting on how these findings could be relevant to researchers and (Dutch) policymakers when interpreted within the context of their limitations. (shrink)

Nature Network Groups hosted an invited workshop on 'Theories of Consciousness' during the second semester of 2009. There were presentations by each of 15 authors active in the field, followed by debate with other presenters and invitees. A week was allocated to each of the theories proposed; general discussion threads were also opened from time to time, as seemed appropriate. We offer here an account of the principal outcomes. It can be regarded as a contemporary, 'state of the art' snapshot (...) of thinking in this field. (shrink)

Consciousness being the very source of subjective experience is needed for our life experiences, for the working of our body, to perceive, to cognize, and to express. Agreeing to a fundamental approach for consciousness is more about embracing the true understanding of consciousness rather than avoiding it. Consciousness can, therefore, be located anywhere and everywhere, but in a form that we do not understand until it takes shape within the limits of our reality. Monism related approaches to consciousness are an (...) act to run away from the problems associated with dualism and therefore the need of the hour is a holistic sense of consciousness. Holistic approaches to understand consciousness opens the doors to many versions of this unique ubiquitous feature that we possess; that we do not understand, and that which gives us the ability to go over and beyond emergence. (shrink)

The present mainstream science tackles the problem of Consciousness by embracing the objective or third person perspective; hence, it fails in understanding many fundamental aspects of life. Further, knowledge gained from science is not absolute in the sense that it is based on a human-centric view. This brings us to the question of how to access absolute reality? In this article, we consider the subjective aspect associated with the objective phenomena and explore a possible new science of subjective experience.

Fractals are built from patterns generated from immense complexity within the resonant frequencies that connect and tune the universe. Play of such frequencies would result in the exchange of energy and coupling of informational systems at various levels and scales. The present essay serves as a small ride into life’s association with such phenomenon. At a fundamental level communication happens via process called ‘resonance’, and this in turn manifests at a physical level as self-replicating and self-resonating patterns called ‘fractals.’ This (...) could be the reason why at a physical level every structure carries this fractal imprint nature, making it the cosmic signature. The fractal patterns popping out in the natural world surrounding us could be thought of as frozen energy or resonant life patterns. Thus, we hypothesize life could have emerged or appeared as a ‘fracto-resonant’ phenomenon, resulting from the play of interference between material and non-material aspects. In this regard, we propose frequencies or vibrations to be more fundamental to life and call for scientific studies that aim at understanding the effect of various frequencies and vibrations on life forms and consciousness. (shrink)

Kahneman's theory of two systems assumes that human decision making in Economy is based on two cognitive systems, one that is automatic, intuitive and mostly unconscious, and one that is reflexive, rational and fully conscious. The authors consider Kahneman’s approach incomplete and limited in accounting for the creativity of embodied agents grasping the opportunities afforded by physical and social environments. This limitation leads us to argue for the existence of a third system in decision making in Economy, the creative intuition (...) based on direct perception of affordances, addressing not only the dispositions and goals of agents but also the social and environmental responsibility of corporations and governments. The authors argue that the third decision-making system the authors propose implies a concept of intuition that is different from the type of association process discussed by Morewedge and Kahneman [2] and gives an example of the third system operation, the Bolsa Família in Brazil, and finding new options for the funding of similar programs. (shrink)

A Teoria dos Dois Sistemas, proposta por Kahneman (2011), pressupõe que a tomada de decisão no contexto econômico se baseia em dois sistemas, um que é automático, intuitivo e principalmente inconsciente e outro reflexivo, racional e totalmente consciente. Consideramos a abordagem kahnemaniana incompleta na medida em que a concepção dos sistemas 1 e 2 não é suficiente para explicar os processos de tomada de decisão. Neste artigo, nosso desafio é mostrar que, diferentemente dos sistemas de Kahneman, a tomada de decisão (...) está ancorada na percepção direta de affordances e é a base das escolhas conceituais, que envolvem experiências sensório-motoras advindas da reciprocidade entre agente e ambiente. Concluímos este artigo, argumentando que, diferentemente da concepção de sistema 1 kahnemaniano, na perspectiva ecológica, a tomada de decisão advém de experiências não conceituais, da percepção direta, não automática, sem envolver representações mentais e processamento de informações. (shrink)

A teoria dos dois sistemas (Kahneman, 2011), em suas várias vertentes, assume que a tomada de decisão humana é baseada em dois sistemas cognitivos: um que é automático, rápido, agindo com mínimo esforço cognitivo, intuitivo (no sentido de Morewedge & Kahneman, 2010), e majoritariamente inconsciente; e outro que é reflexivo, lento, atuando com intenso esforço cognitivo, racional e totalmente consciente. Neste trabalho, investigamos a teoria dos dois sistemas e sua aplicação na tomada de decisão econômica em governos democráticos, com ênfase (...) especial na proposta de Kahneman. Consideramos sua abordagem incompleta e limitada na explicação do processo intuitivo que orienta a tomada de decisão. Essa limitação nos leva a defender a existência de um terceiro sistema de tomada de decisão em Economia: a intuição ecológica criativa, baseada no attunement entre affective drives e percepção direta de affordances, abordando não só as disposições e objetivos dos agentes, mas também a responsabilidade socioambiental das empresas e governos. Argumentamos que o terceiro sistema de tomada de decisão que propomos implica um conceito de intuição diferente do associativismo de ideias de Simon (1992), e damos como exemplo do funcionamento do terceiro sistema o processo de tomada de decisão que conduziu à formação do Banco Finapop, no Brasil. (shrink)

Recent advancements in developmental biology enable the creation of embryo-like structures from human stem cells, which we refer to as human embryo-like structures (hELS). These structures provide promising tools to complement—and perhaps ultimately replace—the use of human embryos in clinical and fundamental research. But what if these hELS—when further improved—also have a claim to moral status? What would that imply for their research use? In this paper, we explore these questions in relation to the traditional answer as to why human (...) embryos should be given greater protection than other (non-)human cells: the so-called Argument from Potential (AfP). According to the AfP, human embryos deserve special moral status because they have the unique potential to develop into persons. While some take the development of hELS to challenge the very foundations of the AfP, the ongoing debate suggests that its dismissal would be premature. Since the AfP is a spectrum of views with different moral implications, it does not need to imply that research with human embryos or hELS that (may) have ‘active’ potential should be completely off-limits. However, the problem with determining active potential in hELS is that this depends on development passing through ‘potentiality switches’ about the precise coordinates of which we are still in the dark. As long as this epistemic uncertainty persists, extending embryo research regulations to research with specific types of hELS would amount to a form of regulative precaution that as such would require further justification. (shrink)

This case study is a retrospection of my family’s experiences that highlight several ELE facets. Following a description, we attempt to explain some of these phenomena from the perspectives of science and other germane disciplines.

Just as religion is impassable to its own dogmatic philosophies and ideas, present day science also acts in the same manner. Embracing its reductionist approach, it loses its sight to the most beautiful and insightful possibilities associated with the cosmos and its fundamental constituents around us. The present paper is a holistic ride into few of life’s beautiful constructs that occur as a playful act of the cosmos, and in part hypothesize that the dynamic biological structures or forms could be (...) thought of as frozen energy patterns. Here, the supposition is that the electromagnetic fields that envelop our ecosystems play a central role in its functioning and evolution acting as a unified network interconnecting life at various scales. Supporting a synergetic and holistic view, the present paper is skeptical about the present school of thought, and to other investigations carried out under the sheath of modern science by raising a few fundamental questions. (shrink)

For any ordinal $\Lambda$, we can define a polymodal logic $\mathsf{GLP}_\Lambda$, with a modality $[\xi]$ for each $\xi < \Lambda$. These represent provability predicates of increasing strength. Although $\mathsf{GLP}_\Lambda$ has no Kripke models, Ignatiev showed that indeed one can construct a Kripke model of the variable-free fragment with natural number modalities, denoted $\mathsf{GLP}^0_\omega$. Later, Icard defined a topological model for $\mathsf{GLP}^0_\omega$ which is very closely related to Ignatiev's. In this paper we show how to extend these constructions for arbitrary $\Lambda$. (...) More generally, for each $\Theta,\Lambda$ we build a Kripke model $\mathfrak I^\Theta_\Lambda$ and a topological model $\mathfrak T^\Theta_\Lambda$, and show that $\mathsf{GLP}^0_\Lambda$ is sound for both of these structures, as well as complete, provided $\Theta$ is large enough. (shrink)

Imagination is the art of exploring beyond the depths of one’s body. Imagination allows one to peek into the void to realize the true existence of its self and feel the existence of eternity. The experience of imagination is a subjective experience of one’s own consciousness and it is this experience makes the experiencer worthy. Creation and creativity are the end aspects of imagination and unfold the hidden mysteries of the cosmos. This essay is a trip across the cosmic energy (...) that creates the self for experiencing its self - a first-hand experience through the virtuosity of imagination. (shrink)

The word soul in the cell-soul pathway does not have a scientific definition but has been hypothesized to be an indefinite, non-structured, massless energy made up of electromagnetic radiations that is confined in the cytoskeletal network of a living cell. It is a coherent, imperceptible, uncontainable and recyclable support pathway, which uses energy to promulgate consciousness in the cell supporting its functions. The pathway currently provides a mechanistic explanation of the flow of consciousness within the body, but the intent of (...) this paper is to provide an arduous explanation of non-local consciousness or disembodiment observed in near-death experiences. The paper hypothetically subsets the cell-soul pathway with the presence of two forms of consciousness, consistent with a recently developed model by Reddy : bodily consciousness, which manages functions only at cellular level, and functional consciousness, which is present in the body but can get disembodied and perform non-locally; the two forms of consciousness represent the overall state of consciousness. The non-locality of subjective experiences observed in near-death cases can be related to the realm of quantum physics – quantum entanglement between the two forms of consciousness that can demonstrate the capability of storing information holographically within the void or vacuum with the ability to create memories beyond the limitations of the brain and body. (shrink)

This book is a compilation of the work published by the present authors in various scientific journals mainly focused on understanding how quantum physics could decipher the experiences observed and reported during near-death and end-of-life situations. The authors claim that various theories and models proposed herein (though not propounding to be a complete one) are just an attempt to understand few aspects associated with such experiences connected to the phenomenon of death. They investigate the possible role of the quantum phenomenon (...) in the occurrence of these events and call for a detailed scientific investigation to validate any hypotheses made. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue on the ability of science to capture the true subjective experience of life, blinded within the limits of its reductionist approaches. With this approach, even though science can explain well the physics behind the objective phenomenon, it fails fundamentally in understanding the various aspects associated with the biological entities. In this sense, we are skeptical to the present approach of science and calls out for a more fundamental theory of life that considers not only the (...) objectivity aspect of a biological entity but also the subjective experience as well. It raises questions as to what does it takes to develop a new science from a subjective standpoint. (shrink)

The nature of the soul is attribute-less and boundless. To experience its true potential, the dimensionless soul manifests itself in the physical dimension as a body. Materialism originates with the creation of the body as it grows around the soul and in the process of forming, enchants the soul with its materialistic conducts. The soul has the ability to materialize and dematerialize into bodily forms as per will, but such an entropic amendment may change the true essence of bodily life. (...) The avarice for materialistic needs mutilates the body physically and mentally, and unshackles the soul; for as we grow in our materialistic conducts, the body and its senses endure this burden, gradually progressing towards a lesser body and more soul. (shrink)

Introduction: The aim of this review was to systematically synthesize the published literature describing the psychological and behavioral correlates of recreational running in adults, defined as running for leisure, with or without a competitive component.Methods: Quantitative research published in peer-reviewed journals until January 2021 were included. Studies were identified through MEDLINE, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science and were included in this review if they were aimed at recreational running, included general adult samples, and assessed psychological or behavioral correlates of (...) recreational running.Results: Fifty-six articles reporting 58 studies met the eligibility criteria and were included. There were 27 cross-sectional studies, 12 longitudinal studies, and 19 trials. Twenty-eight studies assessed antecedents of running behavior, and 25 studies used running behavior as treatment or predictor of a given effect or outcome. Four studies examined both predictors and outcomes of running. Thirty-one studies showed poor quality, while 20 had fair and 7 good quality. Motives were the most frequently studied antecedent of running behavior, and results suggest that the highest-ranked or more prevalent motives were physical health, psychological motives, and personal achievement. Additionally, perceived control, attitude toward running, intention and subjective norms, self-efficacy, and social support may have also played a role in the adoption of recreational running. Moreover, improvements in mood and well-being were the most frequently reported positive outcomes of running. Reductions in depression, anxiety, and stress were also reported in included studies.Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review on this topic. The identification of behavioral and psychological correlates of recreational running across populations can contribute to inform and guide a public policy agenda, focused on helping people sustain regular physical activity, through a modality they have chosen and appear to enjoy.Systematic Review Registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=68954, identifier: CRD42017068954. (shrink)

Ordinal functions may be iterated transfinitely in a natural way by taking pointwise limits at limit stages. However, this has disadvantages, especially when working in the class of normal functions, as pointwise limits do not preserve normality. To this end we present an alternative method to assign to each normal function f a family of normal functions Hyp[f]=〈fξ〉ξ∈OnHyp[f]=〈fξ〉ξ∈On, called its hyperation, in such a way that f0=idf0=id, f1=ff1=f and fα+β=fα∘fβfα+β=fα∘fβ for all α, β.Hyperations are a refinement of the Veblen hierarchy (...) of f. Moreover, if f is normal and has a well-behaved left-inverse g called a left adjoint, then g can be assigned a cohyperationcoH[g]=〈gξ〉ξ∈OncoH[g]=〈gξ〉ξ∈On, which is a family of initial functions such that gξgξ is a left adjoint to fξfξ for all ξ. (shrink)

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