scholarly journals Why Does Space Feel the Way it Does? Towards a Principled Account of Spatial Experience

Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 1160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Haun ◽  
Giulio Tononi

There must be a reason why an experience feels the way it does. A good place to begin addressing this question is spatial experience, because it may be more penetrable by introspection than other qualities of consciousness such as color or pain. Moreover, much of experience is spatial, from that of our body to the visual world, which appears as if painted on an extended canvas in front of our eyes. Because it is ‘right there’, we usually take space for granted and overlook its qualitative properties. However, we should realize that a great number of phenomenal distinctions and relations are required for the canvas of space to feel ‘extended’. Here we argue that, to be experienced as extended, the canvas of space must be composed of countless spots, here and there, small and large, and these spots must be related to each other in a characteristic manner through connection, fusion, and inclusion. Other aspects of the structure of spatial experience follow from extendedness: every spot can be experienced as enclosing a particular region, with its particular location, size, boundary, and distance from other spots. We then propose an account of the phenomenal properties of spatial experiences based on integrated information theory (IIT). The theory provides a principled approach for characterizing both the quantity and quality of experience by unfolding the cause-effect structure of a physical substrate. Specifically, we show that a simple simulated substrate of units connected in a grid-like manner yields a cause-effect structure whose properties can account for the main properties of spatial experience. These results uphold the hypothesis that our experience of space is supported by brain areas whose units are linked by a grid-like connectivity. They also predict that changes in connectivity, even in the absence of changes in activity, should lead to a warping of experienced space. To the extent that this approach provides an initial account of phenomenal space, it may also serve as a starting point for investigating other aspects of the quality of experience and their physical correspondents.

ARCHALP ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 NS (Issue 2 Ns, July 2019) ◽  
pp. 105-113
Author(s):  
Walter Angonese

Isn’t the existent always the outcome of any creative confrontation? Is such a creative discussion really out of a contextual consideration? Isn’t every context – even a purely spiritual one – part of the heritage? In his contribution, Walter Angonese reflects on the potential of the pre-existent on the architectural project. He believes in “thinking ahead” and consequently in “building on”, and that is why the question of the relevance of existing structures to architectural design has been clarified. However, he also believes that the quality of the existent can only be improved thanks to an increased habit of awareness and not only following and blaming the prescribed laws for quality assurance. This awareness raising gives responsibility to the individual within a society, but also makes him responsible for his own actions. Building in an alpine context – like any building, by the way – is therefore a question of responsibility, towards oneself and towards one’s society. If the architectural idea is built by leading it from an intuition about a cultural reflection to what one can call a real “architectural idea” (and not merely any intuition), then that is an important first step for a high-quality “continuing construction” of the existing. Only the heritage and the existent can become a meaningful starting point of the project.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-230
Author(s):  
Vera Tripodi

In this paper, I investigate the issue of the professionalization of philosophy, taking as my starting point the debate triggered by the publication of Diego Marconi’s monograph, Il mestiere di pensare (Thinking as a Trade, 2014). This debate about the state of the art of Italian philosophy and the increased tendency towards specialization in philosophy is still on-going. It raises the issue of how to understand the putative split between analytic and continental philosophy, and how to establish standards or criteria for evaluating the quality of philosophical research. I conclude by posing the question about what needs to change in our knowledge practices and suggest that what is needed is an overhauling of our conceptions of trust, reliance, testimony, and justice, with a view to re-defining how social identity affects the way we operate in philosophical practice and how we establish our credibility.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-58
Author(s):  
Rolf Kraemer ◽  
Marcin Brzozowski ◽  
Stefan Nowak

Home networks are becoming more and more popular. Today's state of the art is that several different technologies, like Wireless LAN (WLAN), Power Line Communication (PLC), or Ethernet, are being used concurrently to connect home devices. If any connection fault happens, the communication stops and new connectivity has to be established. Since the fault detection can last several seconds, it reduces the "Quality of Experience" dramatically, and ongoing transmissions can be disturbed. Therefore, reliability of transmission is a necessary precondition to fulfil customers' expectations. In our approach, we suggest an additional protocol layer, dubbed layer 2.5, which manages any available connectivity and automatically chooses a new connection with the correct properties, for instance HDTV stream. It balances load situations and can also be used to intelligently distribute traffic between nodes. The system has been proven to work in standard LINUX kernel implementation with a speed up to 1 Gb/s and with an extreme low latency. The topology control and signalling components have been implemented in LINUX user space and work on best effort bases. Within this paper, we outline the architectural considerations and show the initial results. The work has been used as the starting point for a new IEEE standardization, i.e., IEEE1905.1. This group started with the OMEGA I-MAC architecture, introduced here. The work described here has received funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement no. 213311, also referred to as OMEGA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 730-744
Author(s):  
V.I. Loktionov

Subject. The article reviews the way strategic threats to energy security influence the quality of people's life. Objectives. The study unfolds the theory of analyzing strategic threats to energy security by covering the matter of quality of people's life. Methods. To analyze the way strategic threats to energy security spread across cross-sectoral commodity and production chains and influences quality of people's living, I applied the factor analysis and general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis. Results. I suggest interpreting strategic threats to energy security as risks of people's quality of life due to a reduction in the volume of energy supply. I identified mechanisms reflecting how the fuel and energy complex and its development influence the quality of people's life. The article sets out the method to assess such quality-of-life risks arising from strategic threats to energy security. Conclusions and Relevance. In the current geopolitical situation, strategic threats to energy security cause long-standing adverse consequences for the quality of people's life. If strategic threats to energy security are further construed as risk of quality of people's life, this will facilitate the preparation and performance of a more effective governmental policy on energy, which will subsequently raise the economic well-being of people.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-91
Author(s):  
A.N. Sedashkin ◽  
◽  
A.A. Kostrigin ◽  
E.A. Milyushina ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

Efficiency of combination of soil herbicide Command (CE 0.02 ml/m2) and growth stimulators Melafen and Emistim S for tobacco seedling growing in sheltered ground has been studied. Before studies inhibition properties of herbicide on first stage of tobacco growing were found. For decreasing effect of herbicide ’s depression and increasing growing processes researches during greenhouse and field stages have been carried. It has been found that soaking seeds in solution of growth stimulator Melafen (concentration 0.05 %) and Emistim S (concentration 0.00001 %) during 3 hours in combination with further treatments on basic stages of seedling development (cotyledon and ready for transplanting before pulling out) led not only to decreasing toxic effect of herbicide but also increasing qualitative properties of tobacco plants. Growth stimulators led to increasing length of plants from collar to growing point by 46-62 %, to end of tips - by 20-35 %, above ground plant mass - by 42 - 86 %, root mass - by 32 %. It was also noticed 28 - 36 % increasing outcome of standard seedlings from m2 in time of transplanting. Due to prolonged effect of Melafen and Emistim S seedlings transplanted into field were with increased surviving properties. Later, due to increased growing rate it was noticed increasing leaf area by 9-18 % and productivity - by 16-24 %. Economic effect due to utilizing growth stimulators Melafen and Emistim S during seedling stage reaches 360 and 470 rubles/m2 and during field stage - 66 and 98 th.rubles/ha respectively. Offered elaboration can be utilized for protecting systems of different agricultural plants where utilizing soil herbicides is recommended. Also quality of cured tobacco grown with stimulators had been improved.


1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 361-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleftheria Papachristou ◽  
Costas T. Lafazanis

A great number of cheese dairies and dairy industries in Greece are disposing their wastes, mainly cheese whey, either on land or in surface receivers, in large quantities creating a major environmental problem. A typical agricultural and pastoral provincial town of 70,000 inhabitants, Trikala, became the starting point of this research. A co-treatment of the urban sewage and the dairy wastes in the municipal treatment plant was recommended. The successful application of the above statement is based primarily on the pretreatment of the cheese dairies wastes. So far for cheese whey the recovery of the lactose serum in the contemporary central unit applying membrane technology has been suggested. As far as the wastewaters of the washing and refrigeration are concerned a pretreatment is required for the defatting in a grease trap, the grating, the adjustment of pH and the equalisation in an appropriate tank. Finally, this research has also focussed on the importance of membrane technology in improving the quality of milk and cheese production.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
Erma Yenis

Abstractlearning process  good teaching  can create a situation that allows children to learn, so that is the starting point of the success of teaching. The low quality of education depends on the management of the teaching and learning process which can be interpreted as being less effective in the teaching and learning process, the causes: (1) Low learning activities, (2) Inadequate facilities and infrastructure. The case in Solok City Middle School, the low level of student learning activities allegedly influenced the low student learning outcomes. Based on observations on class VIII A which included the superior class had not yet achieved the desired completeness, the class with the least completeness was class VIII B which was 33.33% with KKM 65 criteria. Seeing this reality, teachers were required to motivate students and foster enthusiasm student learning. Therefore, to foster students' enthusiasm for learning, the author tries to apply student learning activities through discussion methods in small groups.Keywords: Learning, discussion AbstrakProses belajar mengajar yang baik dapat menciptakan situasi yang mmemungkinkan anak belajar, sehingga merupakan titik awal keberhasilan pengajaran. Rendahnya mutu pendidikan tergantung pada pengelolaan proses belajar mengajar yang dapat diartikan kurang efektifnya proses belajar mengajar, penyebabnya: (1) Rendahnya aktifitas belajar,  (2) Sarana dan prasarana yang belum memadai. Kasus pada SMP Negeri % Kota Solok rendahnya aktifitas belajar siswa diduga berpengaruh terhadap rendahnya hasil belajar siswa. Berdasarkan pengamatanpada  kelas VIII A yang termasuk kelas unggul belum mencapai ketuntasan yang di inginkan, sedangkan kelas yang paling sedikit ketuntasannya adalah kelas VIII B yaitu sebanyak 33,33 % dengan kriterian KKM 65. Melihat kenyataan tersebut, guru dituntut untuk dapat memotivasi siswa dan menumbuhkan semangat belajar siswa. Karena itu, untuk menumbuhkan semangat belajar siswa, penulis mencoba untuk menerapkan aktivitas belajar siswa melalui metode diskusi dalam kelompok kecil. Kata kunci: Pembelajaran, diskusi


Author(s):  
Lucas Champollion

Why can I tell you that I ran for five minutes but not that I *ran all the way to the store for five minutes? Why can you say that there are five pounds of books in this package if it contains several books, but not *five pounds of book if it contains only one? What keeps you from using *sixty degrees of water to tell me the temperature of the water in your pool when you can use sixty inches of water to tell me its height? And what goes wrong when I complain that *all the ants in my kitchen are numerous? The constraints on these constructions involve concepts that are generally studied separately: aspect, plural and mass reference, measurement, and distributivity. This work provides a unified perspective on these domains, connects them formally within the framework of algebraic semantics and mereology, and uses this connection to transfer insights across unrelated bodies of literature and formulate a single constraint that explains each of the judgments above. This provides a starting point from which various linguistic applications of mereology are developed and explored. The main foundational issues, relevant data, and choice points are introduced in an accessible format.


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