Enhancing the Imago Dei: Can a Christian Be a Transhumanist?

Transhumanism is an ideology that embraces the use of various forms of biotechnology to enhance human beings toward the emergence of a “posthuman” kind. In this article, I contrast some of the foundational tenets of Transhumanism with those of Christianity, primarily focusing on their respective anthropologies—that is, their diverse understandings of whether there is an essential nature shared by all human persons and, if so, whether certain features of human nature may be intentionally altered in ways that contribute toward how each views human flourishing. A central point of difference concerns Transhumanists’ aim of attaining “substrate independence” for the human mind, such that one’s consciousness could be uploaded into a cybernetic environment. Christian anthropology, on the other hand, considers embodiment, with its characteristics of vulnerability and finitude, to be an essential feature of human nature—hence, Christians’ belief in bodily resurrection. Despite Christianity and Transhumanism having fundamental differences, I contend that Christians may support moderate forms of enhancement oriented toward supporting our flourishing as living, sentient, social, and rational animals.

The New Safety Trends: The Challenges through Industry 4.0

Industrial engineering achieved rapid growth in providing safety measurements in all industries, following different safety policies to prevent faults in sectors. Industrial safety is an essential feature to give an accident-free environment. The safety policies and measurements encourage the industrial people to work in different perilous conditions. Industries prepare their safety policy and safety manual to identify various faults and risks. It is necessary to create awareness in industrial working members, and industries maintain special departments for safety. The safety guidelines prevent occupational injuries and accidents. The safety rules and regulations reduce the waste of human and other resources in industries. The study evaluates safety models used in industry to identify issues involved in the selection, implementation, and evaluation. This research provides insight into the overall process for industrial safety and, most essential, overviews on the methodology. Predicting industrial faults and risks emphasized the industrial engineering process and used machine learning algorithms for classifications. Many issues and challenges discussed industrial safety and provided novel innovation ideas for researchers.

Intelligent Image Saliency Detection Method Based on Convolution Neural Network Combining Global and Local Information

Image saliency object detection can rapidly extract useful information from image scenes and further analyze it. At present, the traditional saliency target detection technology still has the edge of outstanding target that cannot be well preserved. Convolutional neural network (CNN) can extract highly general deep features from the images and effectively express the essential feature information of the images. This paper designs a model which applies CNN in deep saliency object detection tasks. It can efficiently optimize the edges of foreground objects and realize highly efficient image saliency detection through multilayer continuous feature extraction, refinement of layered boundary, and initial saliency feature fusion. The experimental result shows that the proposed method can achieve more robust saliency detection to adjust itself to complex background environment.

Excitatory-Inhibitory Homeostasis and Diaschisis: Tying the Local and Global Scales in the Post-stroke Cortex

Maintaining a balance between excitatory and inhibitory activity is an essential feature of neural networks of the neocortex. In the face of perturbations in the levels of excitation to cortical neurons, synapses adjust to maintain excitatory-inhibitory (EI) balance. In this review, we summarize research on this EI homeostasis in the neocortex, using stroke as our case study, and in particular the loss of excitation to distant cortical regions after focal lesions. Widespread changes following a localized lesion, a phenomenon known as diaschisis, are not only related to excitability, but also observed with respect to functional connectivity. Here, we highlight the main findings regarding the evolution of excitability and functional cortical networks during the process of post-stroke recovery, and how both are related to functional recovery. We show that cortical reorganization at a global scale can be explained from the perspective of EI homeostasis. Indeed, recovery of functional networks is paralleled by increases in excitability across the cortex. These adaptive changes likely result from plasticity mechanisms such as synaptic scaling and are linked to EI homeostasis, providing a possible target for future therapeutic strategies in the process of rehabilitation. In addition, we address the difficulty of simultaneously studying these multiscale processes by presenting recent advances in large-scale modeling of the human cortex in the contexts of stroke and EI homeostasis, suggesting computational modeling as a powerful tool to tie the meso- and macro-scale processes of recovery in stroke patients.

Slow Firing Single Units Are Essential for Optimal Decoding of Silent Speech

Summary The motivation of someone who is locked-in, that is, paralyzed and mute, is to find relief for their loss of function. The data presented in this report is part of an attempt to restore one of those lost functions, namely, speech. An essential feature of the development of a speech prosthetic is optimal decoding of patterns of recorded neural signals during silent or covert speech, that is, speaking ‘inside the head’ with no audible output due to the paralysis of the articulators. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the importance of both fast and slow single unit firings recorded from an individual with locked-in syndrome and from an intact participant speaking silently. Long duration electrodes were implanted in the motor speech cortex for up to 13 years in the locked-in participant. The data herein provide evidence that slow firing single units are essential for optimal decoding accuracy. Additional evidence indicates that slow firing single units can be conditioned in the locked-in participant five years after implantation, further supporting their role in decoding.

A Systematic Review on the Neuro-Cognitive Correlates of Game-Based Learning in Higher Education Learning Environments

Game-based learning is one of the sustainable education methods for future professionals from the higher education learning environment. To attain these innovative and sustainable teaching pedagogies, the components of games and simulations need to be incorporated into the teaching-learning content. The integration of neuroscience and cognitive concepts has become an essential feature in understanding various phenomena in game-based learning with regard to higher education learning environments. Several neural and cognitive processes are involved while engaging in such activities. These activities have played a pivotal role in the pedagogy and teachers had to think on their feet while engaging students in higher education as well. Game-based learning has proven to be a very effective method of engaging higher education students.

On the People’s Nature of Judicature from the Way of Ma Xiwu’s Trial Mode

As the product of the judicial work under the leadership of the Party during the Chinese revolution, the Ma Xiwu’s Trial Mode is a creative contribution of the Chinese Communists to the judicial work, bearing the spiritual core of the red judicial culture of the People’s Republic of China, focusing on investigation and research, facilitating the mass litigation and solving disputes on the spot. Under the background of socialism with Chinese characteristics stepping into a new era, people’s judicature is the essential feature of socialist judicial system with Chinese characteristics. The core connotation of people’s judicature is reflected in Ma Xiwu’s judicial stand of people-centered, judicial idea of justice as the core, working principle of insisting on the dialectical unity of people’s nature and impartiality of judicature and evaluation standard of reflecting public opinion.

Key factors for ensuring sustainable development of rural regions of Kazakhstan

Main problem: Currently, there are various socio-economic and environmental problems in the development of rural regions, among the key ones: access to basic services, lack of transport connectivity, inadequate social, housing infrastructure, and others. Achieving sustainable development of the territory is one of the important priorities, which is of great importance for any state. Sustainable development is understood as harmonious development from the perspective of the economy, social sphere and ecology. At the same time, the sustainable development of socio-economic and natural systems is not possible if many factors and conditions are not taken into account that can directly affect the current state and long-term sustainability of their functioning and interference is not created on these processes within the framework of the implementation of various policies by the state. Purpose: In this regard, the purpose of this study is to identify and study the key factors that determine and contribute to the balanced development of rural regions of the country in the context of sustainable development goals and objectives. Methods: Empirical methods of economic cognition, methods of induction and deduction, synthesis, as well as logical methods were used in the framework of scientific research. Results and their significance: When classifying significant factors that influence the formation of sustainable rural development, it is necessary to take into account an essential feature of sustainable development – a harmonious combination of economic, social and environmental components of social development. Taking into account the logic of this study, based on the variety of factors contributing to the sustainable development of rural a reas, their systematization has been carried out.

Legal mechanisms of public administration in Ukraine

Issues related to the analysis of the current and possible future changes in the constitutional status of public authorities in Ukraine and the legal mechanisms of public administration in the country are considered. An essential feature of state bodies is that only they are endowed with state powers. They perform their functions on behalf of the state in clearly defined forms. An attempt is made to analyze the legally defined organizational structure of legal mechanisms of public administration in the state. The main purpose of a research consists in carrying out the theoretical analysis and system approach to legal mechanisms of public administration in Ukraine and the constitutional relations of branches of the power in the state, disclosure of features of the constituent elements of a system of the constitutional relations of the state power in Ukraine. In the constitutional state the law always must be the primary act of a statement of the state power, and people have to be the only source of a statement of the state power. The most enlightened rulers, in whose hands unlimited all webs of power were concentrated, sooner or later became wayward tyrants who recognized only their authority, that they neglected freedom and, did not consider inalienable human rights. Therefore, further transfer of powers of public administration from local public authorities to local self-government bodies should be the subject of further research in this direction

The Role of the Universally Conserved ATPase YchF/Ola1 in Translation Regulation during Cellular Stress

The ability to respond to metabolic or environmental changes is an essential feature in all cells and involves both transcriptional and translational regulators that adjust the metabolic activity to fluctuating conditions. While transcriptional regulation has been studied in detail, the important role of the ribosome as an additional player in regulating gene expression is only beginning to emerge. Ribosome-interacting proteins are central to this translational regulation and include universally conserved ribosome interacting proteins, such as the ATPase YchF (Ola1 in eukaryotes). In both eukaryotes and bacteria, the cellular concentrations of YchF/Ola1 determine the ability to cope with different stress conditions and are linked to several pathologies in humans. The available data indicate that YchF/Ola1 regulates the stress response via controlling non-canonical translation initiation and via protein degradation. Although the molecular mechanisms appear to be different between bacteria and eukaryotes, increased non-canonical translation initiation is a common consequence of YchF/Ola1 regulated translational control in E. coli and H. sapiens. In this review, we summarize recent insights into the role of the universally conserved ATPase YchF/Ola1 in adapting translation to unfavourable conditions.