Qi, Information and the Net of Life

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Ralt
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Chaos Theory ◽  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Information Network ◽  
Fractal Approach ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Five Phases

There have been a variety of Western explanations for the Qi of traditional Chinese medicine, but all have essentially had to compromise between expression of energy, matter and flow. The author suggests that a non-linear, fractal approach, similar to that of Chaos theory, offers a tool to understand Qi; the yin-yang and five phases theories of Chinese philosophy can be regarded as fractals. Qi, as the “net of life”, can also be looked on as an information network with close parallels to the computer-based web of the internet. This article therefore suggests a new Western definition of Qi, proposing that: “The Qi of Chinese medicine is inter-cellular information communicated within the body: information which enables all bodily functions and is a key component in regulation”. Referring to Qi as information offers the chance to integrate Chinese medical philosophy with current biological research on cellular communication.

The integration of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine

2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHEN KEJI ◽  
XU HAO
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽  
Western Medicine ◽  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
The Body ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Future

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is one of the world's oldest medical systems, having a history of several thousands of years. It is a system of healing based upon the Chinese philosophy of the correspondence between nature and human beings. Its theories refer to yin and yang, the Five Elements, zang-fu, channels-collaterals, qi, blood, body fluid, methods of diagnosis, the differentiation of symptom-complexes, etc. TCM has two main features: a holistic point of view and treatment according to a differentiation of syndromes. The therapeutic methods of TCM involve different approaches, such as acupuncture, moxibustion, tuina bodywork, herbal medicine and qi gong, in order to allow the body to heal itself in a natural way. Western medicine was first introduced into China from the middle of the 17th century. During the first two centuries several different views, related to the future of TCM and the relation between TCM and Western medicine, emerged. Some advocated ‘complete westernization’ of Chinese medicine, others were in favour of keeping it intact, whereas again others recommended the ‘digestion and assimilation of TCM and Western medicine’. Nowadays, more and more people realize that each of the two medical traditions has its own merits and advise that the two systems should benefit from each other's strong points. We offer an argument for integrating Western medicine with TCM. In the 20th century China has maintained and developed three kinds of medical science, that is, TCM, Western medicine, and ‘integrated medicine’. Much has been achieved in clinical, experimental and theoretical research. The development of any science can be furthered by cross-fertilization based on absorption and fusion of whatever useful theory and experience. It is our dream that, in the future, diverse modalities – including TCM, Western medicine and possibly other variants – can work in conjunction with each other as part of a unified team rather than in competition. This integrated approach will ultimately lead to safer, faster and more effective health care.

Derrida on Pornography: Putting (It) Up for Sale

Derrida Today ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Morris
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
English Translation ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Past ◽  
French Original ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Critical Discourses ◽  
Academic Debate

Over the past thirty years, academic debate over pornography in the discourses of feminism and cultural studies has foundered on questions of the performative and of the word's definition. In the polylogue of Droit de regards, pornography is defined as la mise en vente that is taking place in the act of exegesis in progress. (Wills's idiomatic English translation includes an ‘it’ that is absent in the French original). The definition in Droit de regards alludes to the word's etymology (writing by or about prostitutes) but leaves the referent of the ‘sale’ suspended. Pornography as la mise en vente boldly restates the necessary iterability of the sign and anticipates two of Derrida's late arguments: that there is no ‘the’ body and that performatives may be powerless. Deriving a definition of pornography from a truncated etymology exemplifies the prosthesis of origin and challenges other critical discourses to explain how pornography can be understood as anything more than ‘putting (it) up for sale’.

Holism, Chinese Medicine and Systems Ideologies: Rewriting the Past to Imagine the Future

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Scheid
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Us ◽  
Shared Objective ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter explores the articulations that have emerged over the last half century between various types of holism, Chinese medicine and systems biology. Given the discipline’s historical attachments to a definition of ‘medicine’ that rather narrowly refers to biomedicine as developed in Europe and the US from the eighteenth century onwards, the medical humanities are not the most obvious starting point for such an inquiry. At the same time, they do offer one advantage over neighbouring disciplines like medical history, anthropology or science and technology studies for someone like myself, a clinician as well as a historian and anthropologist: their strong commitment to the objective of facilitating better medical practice. This promise furthermore links to the wider project of critique, which, in Max Horkheimer’s definition of the term, aims at change and emancipation in order ‘to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them’. If we take the critical medical humanities as explicitly affirming this shared objective and responsibility, extending the discipline’s traditional gaze is not a burden but becomes, in fact, an obligation.

scholarly journals Models Applied to Grapevine Pests: A Review

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Federico Lessio ◽  
Alberto Alma
Keyword(s):  
Lobesia Botrana ◽  
Grape Berry ◽  
Homalodisca Vitripennis ◽  
Flavescence Dorée ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Scaphoideus Titanus ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Biological Aspects ◽  
Definition Of

This paper reviews the existing predictive models concerning insects and mites harmful to grapevine. A brief conceptual description is given on the definition of a model and about different types of models: deterministic vs. stochastics, continuous vs. discrete, analytical vs. computer-based, and descriptive vs. data-driven. The main biological aspects of grapevine pests covered by different types of models are phenology, population growth and dynamics, species distribution, and invasion risk. A particular emphasis is put on forecasting epidemics of plant disease agents transmitted by insects with sucking-piercing mouthparts. The most investigated species or groups are the glassy-winged sharpshooter Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) and other vectors of Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa, a bacterium agent of Pierce’s disease; the European grape berry moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis and Schiffermuller); and the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus Ball, the main vector of phytoplasmas agents of Flavescence dorée. Finally, the present and future of decision-support systems (DSS) in viticulture is discussed.

scholarly journals Zur exakten Behandlung von kollektiven Rotationen Teil A: Theorie / On the Exact Treatment of Collective Rotations Part A: Theory

1973 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-215
Author(s):  
Hanns Ruder
Keyword(s):  
Coordinate System ◽  
Perturbation Expansion ◽  
Rotational Energy ◽  
The Body ◽  
System A ◽  
N Body Problem ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Fixed System ◽  
Body Fixed Coordinate System ◽  
Groundstate Energy

Basic in the treatment of collective rotations is the definition of a body-fixed coordinate system. A kinematical method is derived to obtain the Hamiltonian of a n-body problem for a given definition of the body-fixed system. From this exact Hamiltonian, a consequent perturbation expansion in terms of the total angular momentum leads to two exact expressions: one for the collective rotational energy which has to be added to the groundstate energy in this order of perturbation and a second one for the effective inertia tensor in the groundstate. The discussion of these results leads to two criteria how to define the best body-fixed coordinate system, namely a differential equation and a variational principle. The equivalence of both is shown.

scholarly journals Spiritual nursing care: A concept analysis

Curationis ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia V. Monareng
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Care ◽  
Concept Analysis ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
The Body ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Optimal Care ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Definition Of

Although the concept ‘spiritual nursing care’ has its roots in the history of the nursing profession, many nurses in practice have difficulty integrating the concept into practice. There is an ongoing debate in the empirical literature about its definition, clarity and application in nursing practice. The study aimed to develop an operational definition of the concept and its application in clinical practice. A qualitative study was conducted to explore and describe how professional nurses render spiritual nursing care. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit the sample. Individual and focus group interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Trustworthiness was ensured through strategies of truth value, applicability, consistency and neutrality. Data were analysed using the NUD*IST power version 4 software, constant comparison, open, axial and selective coding. Tech’s eight steps of analysis were also used, which led to the emergence of themes, categories and sub-categories. Concept analysis was conducted through a comprehensive literature review and as a result ‘caring presence’ was identified as the core variable from which all the other characteristics of spiritual nursing care arise. An operational definition of spiritual nursing care based on the findings was that humane care is demonstrated by showing caring presence, respect and concern for meeting the needs not only of the body and mind of patients, but also their spiritual needs of hope and meaning in the midst of health crisis, which demand equal attention for optimal care from both religious and nonreligious nurses.

scholarly journals Herbs of Our Own Kingdom: Layers of the ‘Local’ in the Materia Medica of Early Chosn Korea

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soyoung Suh
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Herbal Medicine ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Korean Medicine ◽  
Materia Medica ◽  
Fundamental Assumption ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
Korean Identity ◽  
Previous Scholarship

AbstractPrevious scholarship takes increasing Korean interest in ‘local botanicals’ () in its dynamic with Chinese counterparts as a gauge to measure the degree of independence and the extent of indigenisation of Korean medicine during the Chosn Dynasty (1392‐1910). Questioning this fundamental assumption about the development of Korean medicine, my article aims to scrutinise evocation of ‘the local’ in changing medical strategies concerned with Korean identity. While analysing major texts on local botanicals published during the early Chosn Dynasty, I claim that the classificatory arrangement used to map the local on botanicals often overlapped, and was not organised into a clear set of categories. Considering the traffic of herbal medicine across political and geographical boundaries, and the extreme diversity of botanical names, shapes and attributes, texts on local botanicals cannot be said to show clearly what belongs to a local ‘us’ or a foreign ‘them’. Instead, adjusting the names of botanicals, textualising the folk names of certain species, and publishing a series of books focusing on local botanicals reflected the socio-cultural need of scholars during the Chosn Dynasty to imprint motifs of the ‘local’ on Materia Medica simultaneously making a display of a separate Korean cultural identity. It was an accommodation of what was regarded as universal knowledge to a locale where the body of Chinese medicine had to be interpreted and mediated by the socio-cultural conditions of Chosn Korea.

scholarly journals A global framework for a systemic view of brain modeling

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Alexandre
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Conditioning ◽  
The Body ◽  
Posterior Cortex ◽  
Reciprocal Relationships ◽  
Brain Modeling ◽  
Brain Theory ◽  
Habitual Behavior ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Specific Contribution

AbstractThe brain is a complex system, due to the heterogeneity of its structure, the diversity of the functions in which it participates and to its reciprocal relationships with the body and the environment. A systemic description of the brain is presented here, as a contribution to developing a brain theory and as a general framework where specific models in computational neuroscience can be integrated and associated with global information flows and cognitive functions. In an enactive view, this framework integrates the fundamental organization of the brain in sensorimotor loops with the internal and the external worlds, answering four fundamental questions (what, why, where and how). Our survival-oriented definition of behavior gives a prominent role to pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, augmented during phylogeny by the specific contribution of other kinds of learning, related to semantic memory in the posterior cortex, episodic memory in the hippocampus and working memory in the frontal cortex. This framework highlights that responses can be prepared in different ways, from pavlovian reflexes and habitual behavior to deliberations for goal-directed planning and reasoning, and explains that these different kinds of responses coexist, collaborate and compete for the control of behavior. It also lays emphasis on the fact that cognition can be described as a dynamical system of interacting memories, some acting to provide information to others, to replace them when they are not efficient enough, or to help for their improvement. Describing the brain as an architecture of learning systems has also strong implications in Machine Learning. Our biologically informed view of pavlovian and instrumental conditioning can be very precious to revisit classical Reinforcement Learning and provide a basis to ensure really autonomous learning.

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