We consider R-torsionfree modules over group rings RG, where R is a Dedekind domain and G is a finite group. In the first part of the paper [4] we compared the theory T of all R-torsionfree RG-modules and the theory T0 of RG-lattices , and we realized that they are almost always different. Now we compare their behaviour with respect to decidability, when RG-lattices are of finite, or wild representation type.

The study of pairs of modules (over a Dedekind domain) arises from two different perspectives, as a starting step in the analysis of tuples of submodules of a given module, or also as a particular case in the analysis of Abelian structures made by two modules and a morphism between them. We discuss how these two perspectives converge to pairs of modules, and we follow the latter one to obtain an alternative approach to the classification of pairs of (...) class='Hi'>torsionfree objects. Then we restrict our attention to pairs of free modules. Our main results are that the theory of pairs of free Abelian groups is co-recursively enumerable, and that a few remarkable extensions of this theory are decidable. (shrink)

In his seminal work After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging, Willie Jennings defines a concept he calls ‘whiteness’ and states that this plays the role of the ‘Paterfamilias’, a term born within the Greco–Roman period, which refers to the social system of rule and governance that was centred around the father–master archetype. During slavery, Jennings states that it was on the plantation that the life, logic, and social order of whiteness transpired. The more I engaged with Jennings’ work, the more (...) I began to realize the extent to which the religious education curriculum, and by extension the English education system curriculum, further perpetuated whiteness. Inspired by the works of Jennings and the activism of Black Lives Matter (BLM) following the murder of George Floyd, I was motivated to create and teach a unit in the religious education (RE) curriculum, ‘Black Religion and Protest’. As well as examining the teaching and reception of this unit, this article seeks to unpack the ways in which Britain’s colonial legacy maintains epistemological inequity and hierarchical knowledge. (shrink)

For over 20 years, the Schmid Training Course (STC) has offered unique opportunities for marine biology students from European universities to learn about marine model organisms. While the topics of the course have continuously changed over the years with the advent of new research techniques and discoveries, the pedagogical approach has remained largely the same – a combination of lectures, lab practicals, and field excursions. Several life science researchers, who have taught in the STC for many years, sought to bring (...) the course's pedagogical approach into the 21st century, and with the support of Erasmus+ Programme of the European Community funding, the Digital Marine project was developed. Digital Marine began in 2018 as an international partnership between the six research centers from which the STC instructors hail, and its main objective was to introduce a flipped, blended approach to learning and teaching with respect to established and emerging marine biological model systems. The Digital Marine platform, which covers 12 marine model organisms, is now publicly available. (shrink)

This commentary focuses on the larger implications of Grodzinsky's hypothesis. Although Grodzinsky argues persuasively that the syntactic comprehension deficits in Broca's aphasia involve mainly an inability to comprehend sentences requiring a transformational movement of phrasal constituents, his larger claim for a distinct and dedicated “language organ” in the left hemisphere is much less tenable.

ZusammenfassungHistorische, theoretische und ethische Aspekte der Medizin sind Lehrinhalte des medizinischen Ausbildungscurriculums, die in dem neu eingeführten Querschnittsbereich 2 "Geschichte, Theorie, Ethik der Medizin" vermittelt werden sollen. Gegenstand dieser Arbeit ist die Darstellung von Unterrichtskonzept und Evaluationsergebnissen eines medizinhistorische und -ethische Inhalte intergrierenden Lehrmoduls zum Thema der Aufklärung und Einwilligung in Klinik und medizinischer Forschung. Die integrierte Vermittlung medizinethischer und -historischer Inhalte wurde von den Studierenden positiv bewertet. Die von den Kursteilnehmenden im Rahmen der Evaluation gezeigten Kenntnisse sowie die Selbsteinschätzung (...) ausgewählter Fähigkeiten und Fertigkeiten können als Hinweis für eine effektive Vermittlung der korrespondierenden Lehrinhalte gewertet werden. Die Definition fachübergreifender Lehrziele sowie die Entwicklung geeigneter Evaluationsinstrumente sind Voraussetzungen für die die Evaluation zukünftiger Lehrveranstaltungen, in denen historische und ethische Aspekte integriert vermitteltwerden sollen. Neben einem Beitrag zur wissenschaftlich fundierten medizinischen Ausbildung im Querschnittsbereich GTE bieten interdisziplinäre Lehrprojekte mit Begleitforschung auch die Möglichkeit das Verhältnis von Geschichte und Ethik der Medizin hinsichtlich der für beide Fächer relevanten Lehrinhalte und Lehrmethoden zu reflektieren. (shrink)

What if subconscious brain processes are actually independent consciousnesses, each resembling an independent advisor whispering advice to the main consciousness, or “I”? This multi-consciousness model would support free will, as our choices are informed by other consciousnesses, not the subconscious. Each independent consciousness allows a movable perspective through its rich representation of the world and constantly seeks harmony and resonance between its internal concepts, other consciousnesses, external reality, and the genetic worm hole to the evolutionary past.

Representing provenance information for data is of crucial importance for data reuse. This is in particular the case for language resources such as annotated corpora. NIF has been proposed as an RD...

Public “upstream engagement” and other approaches to the social control of technology are currently receiving international attention in policy discourses around emerging technologies such as nanotechnology. To the extent that such approaches hold implications for research and development (R&D) activities, the distinct participation of scientists and engineers is required. The capacity of technoscientists to broaden the influences on R&D activities, however, implies that they conduct R&D differently. This article discusses the possibility for more reflexive participation by scientists and engineers in (...) the internal governance of technology development. It reviews various historical attempts to govern technoscience and introduces the concept of midstream modulation, through which scientists and engineers, ideally in concert with others, bring societal considerations to bear on their work. (shrink)

Hypnosis is considered a unique tool capable of modulating cognitive processes. The extent to which hypnotic suggestions intervenes is still under debate. This study was designed to provide a new insight into this issue, by focusing on an unintentional emotional process: attentional bias. In Experiment 1, highly suggestible participants performed three sessions of an emotional Stroop task where hypnotic suggestions aiming to increase and decrease emotional reactivity towards emotional stimuli were administered within an intra-individual design. Compared to a baseline condition (...) (without hypnotic suggestion), a significant increase in attentional bias was found when a hypnotic suggestion to increase emotional reactivity was administered. In contrast, the bias was eliminated when a suggestion to decrease emotional reactivity was administered. Experiment 2 investigated the effect of session repetition on attentional bias across three successive experimental sessions without hypnosis, and showed that the emotional Stroop effect did not vary across sessions. Hence, session repetition could not account for part of the modulation of attentional bias in Experiment 1. Taken together, the results suggest that specific hypnotic suggestions can influence elicitation of unintentional emotional processing. The implications are discussed regarding the locus of intervention of hypnotic suggestion in cognitive and emotional processes. (shrink)

Traditionally, research on affordances and emotions follows two separate routes. For the first time, this article explicitly links the two phenomena by investigating whether, in a discrimination task, the motivational states induced by emotional images can modulate affordances-related motor response elicited by dangerous and neutral graspable objects. The results show faster RTs: for both neutral and dangerous objects with neutral images; for dangerous objects with pleasant images; for neutral objects with unpleasant images. Overall, these data support a significant effect of (...) emotions on affordances. The article also proposes a brain neural network underlying emotions and affordance interplay. (shrink)

While research to improve memory or counter decay caused by neurodegenerative diseases has a fairly long history, scientific attempts to erase memories are very recent. The use of non-invasive brain stimulation for memory modulation represents a new and promising application for the treatment of certain disorders [such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ]. However, numerous ethical issues are related to memory intervention. In particular, the possibility of using forms of non-invasive brain stimulation requires to distinguish treatment interventions from the enhancement of (...) the healthy. Furthermore, a range of important societal and legal concerns arise when manipulating memories. In this short contribution, we address some of the most significant ethical, social, and legal implications surrounding the application of memory-modulation techniques and offer a series of reflections and considerations, which we hope can be of use to guide -and perhaps regulate- their potential, future implementation in society. (shrink)

From generalized quantifiers we move to modulated logic. So with this motivation we show ways for the construction of some modal logics. With the translations between logics we show some inter-relations between modal logics. Finally, we introduce some opportune concepts for a type of classification of deontic logic.

Starting from the early 2000s, paired associative stimulation protocols have been used in humans to study brain connectivity in motor and sensory networks by exploiting the intrinsic properties of timing-dependent cortical plasticity. In the last 10 years, PAS have also been developed to investigate the plastic properties of complex cerebral systems, such as the frontal ones, with promising results. In the present work, we review the most recent advances of this technique, focusing on protocols targeting frontal cortices to investigate connectivity (...) and its plastic properties, subtending high-order cognitive functions like memory, decision-making, attentional, or emotional processing. Overall, current evidence reveals that PAS can be effectively used to assess, enhance or depress physiological connectivity within frontal networks in a timing-dependent way, in turn modulating cognitive processing in healthy and pathological conditions. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis module examines ethical debates about the level of care that should be provided to human research participants. Particular attention is placed on the question of what should be considered an ethically acceptable control arm. You will also learn what relevant international and domestic regulatory documents say about standards of care.

In this paper, considering \(L\)-algebras, which include a significant number of other algebraic structures, we present a definition of modules on \(L\)-algebras (\(L\)-modules). Then we provide some examples and obtain some results on \(L\)-modules. Also, we present definitions of prime ideals of \(L\)-algebras and \(L\)-submodules (prime \(L\)-submodules) of \(L\)-modules, and investigate the relationship between them. Finally, by proving a number of theorems, we provide some conditions for having prime \(L\)-submodules.

Various methods have been employed to investigate different aspects of the brain activity modulation related to the performance of a cycling task. In our study we examined how functional connectivity and brain network efficiency varied during an endurance cycling task. To this purpose, we reconstructed EEG signals at source level: we computed current densities in 28 anatomical regions of interest (ROIs) through the eLORETA algorithm, then we calculated the Lagged Coherence of the 28 current density signals to define the adjacency (...) matrix. To quantify changes of functional network efficiency during an exhaustive cycling task, we computed three graph theoretical indices: local efficiency (LE), global efficiency (GE) and Density (D) in two different frequency bands, Alpha and Beta bands, that indicate alertness processes and motor binding/fatigue respectively. This analysis was conducted for six different task intervals: pre-cycling, initial, intermediate and final stages of cycling, active recovery and passive recovery. Fourteen participants performed an incremental cycling task with simultaneous EEG recording and RPE monitoring to detect participants’ exhaustion. LE remained constant during the endurance cycling task in both bands. Therefore, we speculate that fatigue processes did not affect segregated neural processing. We observed an increase of GE in the Alpha band only during cycling, that could be due to greater alertness processes and preparedness to stimuli during exercise. Conversely, although D did not change significantly over time in the Alpha band, its general reduction in the Beta bands during cycling could be interpreted within the framework of the neural efficiency hypothesis, which posits a reduced neural activity for expert/automated performances. We argue that the use of graph theoretical indices represents a clear methodological advancement in studying endurance performance. (shrink)

How does the brain generate our experience of being in control over our actions and their effects? Here, we argue that the perception of events as self-caused emerges from a comparison between anticipated and actual action-effects: if the representation of an event that follows an action is activated before the action, the event is experienced as caused by one’s own action, whereas in the case of a mismatch it will be attributed to an external cause rather than to the self. (...) In a subliminal priming paradigm we show that participants overestimated how much control they had over objectively uncontrollable stimuli, which appeared after free- or forced-choice actions, when a masked prime activated a representation of the stimuli immediately before each action. This prime-induced control-illusion was independent from whether primes were consciously perceived. Results indicate that the conscious experience of control is modulated by unconscious anticipations of action-effects. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe objective of this module is to inform you on issues of concern for Research Ethics Committee members and investigators during the review process. The many guidelines on research ethics, including those from the South African Department of Health and the World Health Organisation, will be referred to extensively to educate you on the requirements of Research Ethics Committees. The evolution of the review process in South Africa will be detailed.

Fodor claims that cognitive modules can be thought of as constituting a psychological natural kind in virtue of their possession of most or all of nine specified properties. The challenge to this considered here comes from synaesthesia. Synaesthesia is a type of cross-modal association: input to one sensory modality reliably generates an additional sensory output that is usually generated by the input to a distinct sensory modality. The most common form of synaesthesia manifests Fodor's nine specified properties of modularity, and (...) hence, according to Segal (1997), it should be understood as involving an extra module. Many psychologists believe that synaesthesia involves a breakdown in modularity. After outlining how both theories can explain the manifestation of the nine alleged properties of modularity in synaesthesia, I discuss the two concepts of function which initially motivate the respective theories. I argue that only a teleological concept of function is properly able to adjudicate between the two theories. The upshot is a further application of so-called externalist considerations to mental phenomena. (shrink)

It is widely believed that neural elements interact by communicating messages. Neurons, or groups of neurons, are supposed to send packages of data with informational content to other neurons or to the body. Thus, behavior is traditionally taken to consist in the execution of commands or instructions sent by the nervous system. As a consequence, neural elements and their organization are conceived as literally embodying and transmitting representations that other elements must in some way read and conform to. In opposition (...) to this conception, growing approaches such as enactivism and ecological psychology hold that neurons are not in the business of representing. However, by insisting that neural causation is not of a representational kind, these anti-representationalist approaches seem to be left with only one rather implausible alternative, viz. that behavior is the result of nothing but basic physical causation such as push-pull forces. In this paper it is argued that a third form of causation—termed “modulation”—exists and is at work in the coordination of animal behavior. Modulation is the quasi-direct guidance of dynamical systems through specific yet emerging trajectories. By setting the constraints that coordinate the free interaction of multi-element systems, modulation influences without forcing nor representing goal states. The basic properties of modulatory causation are analyzed and shown to be present in some fundamental aspects of neural and bodily interaction. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe objective of this module is to familiarise you with the concept of informed consent, its ethical basis, its elements, and typical problems that are encountered even by the most well intentioned researchers when trying to achieve genuine informed consent.

Fibring is recognized as one of the main mechanisms in combining logics, with great signicance in the theory and applications of mathematical logic. However, an open challenge to bring is posed by the collapsing problem: even when no symbols are shared, certain combinations of logics simply collapse to one of them, indicating that bring imposes unwanted interconnections between the given logics. Modulated bring allows a ner control of the combination, solving the collapsing problem both at the semantic and deductive levels. (...) Main properties like soundness and completeness are shown to be preserved, comparison with bring is discussed, and some important classes of examples are analyzed with respect to the collapsing problem. (shrink)

Fictional characters present a problem for semantic theorists. One approach to this problem has been to maintain realism regarding fictional characters, that is to claim that fictional characters exist. In this way names originating from fiction have designata. On this approach the problem of negative existentials is more pressing than it might otherwise be since an explanation must be given as to why we judge them true when the names occurring within them designate existing objects. So, realists must explain the (...) intuitive truth of such statements. Some realists have appealed to pragmatics to explain this, but have not developed these positions fully. What follows is an original account of negative existentials based on the pragmatic process of modulation. Modulation affects the meaning of ‘exists’ such that its extension is merely those things that exist physically. It is then argued that the modulation approach provides a more natural account of the intuitive truth of negative existentials involving fictional characters than an account based on conversational implicatures. Finally, the modulation account is defended against objections presented against similar accounts. (shrink)

Visual modules can be viewed as expressions of a marked analytic attitude in the study of vision. In vision psychology, this attitude is accompanied by hypotheses that characterize how visual modules are thought to operate in perceptual processes. Our thesis here is that there are what we call “intrinsic reasons” for the presence of such hypotheses in a vision theory, that is, reasons of a deductive kind, which are imposed by the partiality of the basic terms in the definition of (...) a module, and by peculiar characteristics of those terms. Specifically, we discuss three hypotheses of functional attributes: successive stages in the action of modules, residual indeterminacy of their effects, and the role of prior constraints. For each of the three, we indicate its occurrence in perceptual psychology, explain corresponding intrinsic reasons, and illustrate such reasons with examples. (shrink)

Peak alpha frequency is known to vary not just between individuals, but also within an individual over time. While variance in this metric between individuals has been tied to working memory performance, less understood are how short timescale modulations of peak alpha frequency during task performance may facilitate behavior. This gap in understanding may be bridged by consideration of a key difference between individuals: sex. Inconsistent findings in the literature regarding the relationship between peak alpha frequency and cognitive performance, as (...) well as known sex-related-differences in peak alpha frequency and its modulation motivated our hypothesis that cognitive and neural processes underlying working memory—modulation of peak alpha frequency in particular—may differ based upon sex. Targeting sex as a predictive factor, we analyzed the EEG data of participants recorded while they performed four versions of a visual spatial working memory task. A significant difference between groups was present: females modulated peak alpha frequency more than males. Task performance did not differ by sex, yet a relationship between accuracy and peak alpha frequency was present in males, but not in females. These findings highlight the importance of considering sex as a factor in the study of oscillatory activity, particularly to further understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie working memory. (shrink)

Using the description of the Ziegler spectrum we characterise modules with various stability-theoretic properties (ω-stability, superstability, categoricity) over certain classes of finite-dimensional algebras. We also show that, for modules over the algebras we consider, having few types is equivalent to being ω-stable.

In this paper, by considering the notions of effect algebra and product effect algebra, we define the concept of effect module. Then we investigate some properties of effect modules, and we present some examples on them. Finally, we introduce some topologies on effect modules.

(2013). Evolutionary modules and Bayesian facilitation: The role of general cognitive resources. Thinking & Reasoning: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 27-53. doi: 10.1080/13546783.2012.713177.

We investigate the processes underlying the feeling of control over one’s actions . Sense of agency may depend on internal motoric signals, and general inferences about external events. We used priming to modulate the sense of agency for voluntary and involuntary movements, by modifying the content of conscious thought prior to moving. Trials began with the presentation of one of two supraliminal primes, which corresponded to the effect of a voluntary action participants subsequently made. The perceived interval between movement and (...) effect was used as an implicit measure of sense of agency. Primes modulated perceived intervals for both voluntary and involuntary movements, but the modulation was greatest for involuntary movements. A second experiment showed that this modulation depended on prime–movement contiguity. We propose that sense of agency is based on a combination of internal motoric signals and external sensory evidence about the source of actions and effects. (shrink)

Although deductive reasoning is a closed system, one's beliefs about the world can influence validity judgements. To understand the associated functional neuroanatomy of this belief-bias we studied 14 volunteers using event-related fMRI, as they performed reasoning tasks under neutral, facilitatory and inhibitory belief conditions. We found evidence for the engagement of a left temporal lobe system during belief-based reasoning and a bilateral parietal lobe system during belief-neutral reasoning. Activation of right lateral prefrontal cortex was evident when subjects inhibited a prepotent (...) response associated with belief-bias and correctly completed a logical task, a finding consistent with its putative role in cognitive monitoring. By contrast, when logical reasoning was overcome by belief-bias, there was engagement of ventral medial prefrontal cortex, a region implicated in affective processing. This latter involvement suggests that belief-bias effects in reasoning may be mediated through an influence of emotional processes on reasoning. (shrink)

Modules are widely held to play a central role in explaining mental development and in accounts of the mind generally. But there is much disagreement about what modules are, which shows that we do not adequately understand modularity. This paper outlines a Fodoresque approach to understanding one type of modularity. It suggests that we can distinguish modular from nonmodular cognition by reference to the kinds of process involved, and that modular cognition differs from nonmodular forms of cognition in being a (...) special kind of computational process. The paper concludes by considering implications for the role of modules in explaining mental development. (shrink)