Forebrain mechanisms of dreaming are activated from a variety of sources

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1035-1040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Solms
Keyword(s):  
Conscious State ◽  
Sleep Cycle ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
State Control ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Physiological Basis ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Evidential Support ◽  
Principal Objection ◽  
Sleep Control

The central question facing sleep and dream science today seems to be: What is the physiological basis of the subset of NREM dreams that are qualitatively indistinguishable from REM dreams (“apex dreams”)? Two competing answers have emerged: (1) all apex dreams are generated by REM sleep control mechanisms, albeit sometimes covertly; and (2) all such dreams are generated by forebrain mechanisms, independently of classical pontine sleep-cycle control mechanisms. The principal objection to the first answer is that it lacks evidential support. The principal objection to the second answer (which is articulated in my target article) is that it takes inadequate account of interactions that surely exist between the putative forebrain mechanisms and the well established brainstem mechanisms of conscious state control. My main response to this objection (elaborated below) is that it conflates nonspecific brainstem modulation – which supports consciousness in general – with a specific pontine mechanism that is supposed to generate apex dreaming in particular. The latter mechanism is in fact neither necessary nor sufficient for apex dreaming. The putative forebrain mechanisms, by contrast, are necessary for apex dreaming (although they are nor sufficient, in the limited sense that all conscious states of the forebrain are modulated by the brainstem).

Catatonia isn't ready for a unified theory

2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 579-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie E. Bearden ◽  
John R. Monterosso
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Cortical Connectivity ◽  
Physiological Basis ◽  
Target Article

Northoff's target article presents a unifying theory of the pathophysiology of catatonia, as compared to Parkinson's disease. We address two arguments in particular that do not appear justified by available evidence: (1) The physiological basis of catatonia is the breakdown of right hemisphere prefrontal-parietal cortical connectivity, and (2) Dysfunction in this system results in specific deficits in termination of action.

scholarly journals Administrative Reform and the Transfer of Authority to Social Organizations in China

2017 ◽  
Vol 232 ◽  
pp. 1050-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Gao ◽  
Adam Tyson
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
State Control ◽  
Social Organizations ◽  
Administrative Functions ◽  
Public Service Provision

AbstractIn this article, we examine the administrative functions that have been carried out by social organizations (SOs) in China since 2013. We use evidence from Guangdong to demonstrate that the transfer of authority to SOs is selective, tends to create more burdens for local government, and generally does not lead to greater autonomy for SOs. We focus on five types of SOs that are undertaking new administrative functions with varying degrees of operational autonomy, which relates to the consultative authoritarian model proposed by Jessica Teets. Consultative authoritarianism allows for the expansion of relatively autonomous SOs and the development of indirect state control mechanisms. The model is designed to improve governance without democratization by expanding the role played by intermediaries such as SOs in public administration and service delivery. The evidence from Guangdong permits us to conclude that the transfer of authority to SOs allows for innovations in public administration, but that politics continues to motivate government decisions as to which functions are suitable for SOs to undertake, casting doubt on the ability of the Chinese Communist Party to achieve sustainable improvements in local governance and public service provision.

Pandemonium and Order: Suretyship, Surveillance, and Taxation in Early Nineteenth-Century İstanbul

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 167-189
Author(s):  
Nalan Turna
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
State Control ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
State And Society ◽  
The Government ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis article analyzes the practice of suretyship (kefalet), surveillance and taxation in early nineteenth-century İstanbul. It deals with how the practice of suretyship functioned to achieve social control; it provided shelter for some but at the same time marginalized others with little or no social status. This article also analyzes the extent to which the state maintained order through suretyship. In this way, it intends to capture where and how state and society interacted through social and state control mechanisms. To this end, this article takes into consideration two particular events, the Greek uprising of 1821 and the abolition of the Janissary Corps in 1826, and demonstrates a growing tendency towards impersonal relations in terms of governmental practices of surveillance. Briefly, it illustrates how suretyship changed over time and how a gradual transition took place from personal to impersonal relations as well as within governmental practices. Furthermore, this article provides examples of similar practices by focusing on an institutional development that involved the government systematically accumulating knowledge about the population. Finally, it explores taxation practices by the government in order to. show how the pre-modern (contractual) and the modern (statutory) state were not substitutes for each other, but rather shaped each other.

scholarly journals Perceived morality of direct versus indirect harm: Replications of the preference for indirect harm effect

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignazio Ziano ◽  
Yu Jie Wang ◽  
Sydney Susanto Sany ◽  
Gilad Feldman ◽  
Ngai Long Ho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mechanical Turk ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Evidential Support

Royzman and Baron (2002) demonstrated that people prefer indirect harm to direct harm: they judge actions that produce harm as a by-product to be more moral than actions that produce harm directly. In two preregistered studies, we successfully replicated Study 2 of Royzman and Baron (2002) with a Hong Kong student sample (N = 46) and an online American Mechanical Turk sample (N = 314). We found consistent evidential support for the preference for indirect harm phenomenon (d = 0.46 [0.26, 0.65] to 0.47 [0.18, 0.75]), weaker than effects reported in the original findings of the target article (d = 0.70 [0.40, 0.99]). We also successfully replicated findings regarding reasons underlying a preference for indirect harm (directness, intent, omission, probability of harm, and appearance of harm). All materials, data, and code are available on: https://osf.io/ewq8g/

scholarly journals The adoption of the first Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1931

2014 ◽  
pp. 41-54
Author(s):  
Dragan Novakovic
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
State Control ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Church Unity ◽  
Church Life ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
The Church

The process of adoption of the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, after its unification and elevation to the rank of Patriarchate, has been analyzed. During ten years of work it was necessary to overcome and solve numerous and complex problems that had the internal church character or came from the political sphere. Among the first to dominate were different theoretical and canonical standpoints about the body with power to prepare the text of the Constitution and the institution with the full legitimate authority for its adoption. There was also a dissatisfaction of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina unwilling to relinquish historically acquired rights to directly elect representatives of the ecclesiastical self-governing bodies and accept increasingly emphasized efforts to transfer all church affairs to the Episcopate. Other issue was directly related to the current political events and its main driver was the unwillingness of the ruling Serbian elite to accept the Constitution which would result in a greater autonomy of the Church and elimination of state control mechanisms. After a lengthy discussion a text was adopted as a compromise, which enabled the consolidation of church unity, the establishment of the planned organization and the assumption of jurisdiction from all the bodies and institutions envisaged in the Constitution, but also gave the state a significant influence on some important areas of church life.

Cardiovascular Control Mechanisms in the Conscious State

1975 ◽  
Vol 293 (19) ◽  
pp. 970-976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen F. Vatner ◽  
Eugene Braunwald
Keyword(s):  
Conscious State ◽  
Cardiovascular Control ◽  
Control Mechanisms

A Recent Swedish Attempt to Weaken State Control and Strengthen School Autonomy: The Experiment with Local Time Schedules

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Rönnberg
Keyword(s):  
Time Allocation ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
State Control ◽  
School Autonomy ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Government ◽  
Freedom Of Action

In 1999, after a series of far-reaching reforms aiming at decentralisation, deregulation and increased local autonomy in Swedish education, the Government decided to introduce a five-year experiment, which would develop these reform efforts even further. Even though Swedish compulsory schools already were the most autonomous in Europe with regard to decision making on school time, an experiment which allowed schools to freely decide time allocation and time management was launched. At least on paper, the experiment indicates a shift from state control to local autonomy, allowing school professionals to be free to make decisions on time distribution previously controlled by the state. The aim is to analyse and discuss whether the experiment has affected school autonomy or not and how this can be understood. The theoretical point of departure is a two-dimensional view of autonomy, where both freedom of action and capacity for action need to be taken into account. The freedom of action (the discretionary space for local actors) provided within the experiment is analysed through three properties of the experimental programme: programme clarity, division of responsibilities and control mechanisms. The schools' capacity for action concerns the extent participating schools make use of the discretion provided within the experiment. This is analysed in three schools with reference to their ability to organise themselves in a flexible way, as well as to what extent the schools have shown previous capacity for action and readiness for reform. Based on this analysis of the experiment, it is concluded that if reform efforts are made to increase school autonomy, they should not one-sidedly be focused on increasing local actors' freedom of action (such as abolishing the national time schedule). Such efforts should also be accompanied by measures to reinforce local actors' capacity for action. Unless local actors can make use of the discretion given to them by a superior (political) body, local autonomy will be far less than was intended, since freedom to act exceeds the actual capacity to act.

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