Coherent Response Research Articles

Electrical Oscillations of Isolated Brain Microtubules

Microtubules (MTs) are important cytoskeletal structures engaged in a number of specific cellular activities, including vesicular traffic and cell division, as well as information transfer within neuronal processes. MTs also are highly charged polyelectrolytes. Recent in vitro electrophysiological studies indicate that different brain MT assemblies, including two-dimensional (2D) sheets (MT sheets) and macrotube bundles, generate highly synchronous electrical oscillations (Cantero et al. Sci Rep, 2016 & 2018). Although taxol-stabilized isolated MTs are capable of amplifying electrical signals, no information is heretofore available as to whether isolated they also engage in electrical oscillations. Herein we tested the effect of voltage clamping on the electrical properties of non-taxol stabilized isolated brain MTs. Electrical oscillations were observed at holding potentials between ±200 mV. Mean oscillatory currents were linear with respect to holding potential, with a change in conductance from 59.6 ± 3.6 nS to 160.8 ± 7.6 nS (n = 3) after loose-patch correction. The average change in conductance was much higher than previously reported for more complex MT structures. Spectral analysis of the electrical currents also disclosed a richer oscillatory response as compared to voltage clamped MT sheets from the same preparation. The findings are consistent with the possibility that MT assemblies (i.e. bundles, sheets) may render more coherent responses at given oscillatory frequencies such as entraining to oscillate together. The oscillatory behavior of isolated brain MTs is consistent with that of “ionic-based” transistors whose activity is synchronized in higher MT structures. The ability of MTs to generate, propagate, and amplify electrical signals may have important implications in neuronal computational capabilities.

The case for developing a cohesive systems approach to research across unhealthy commodity industries

ObjectivesMost non-communicable diseases are preventable and largely driven by the consumption of harmful products, such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling and ultra-processed food and drink products, collectively termed unhealthy commodities. This...

Nepal in 2020

Internal party rifts in the Nepali government preoccupied leaders, who squandered opportunities to prepare a coherent response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic resulted in a four-month lockdown, with widespread economic and social consequences. The government’s response to criticism was to propose legislation restricting citizens’ rights, prompting accusations of creeping authoritarianism. Continued tensions along Nepal’s borders led to escalated rhetoric. The crises of 2020 exacerbated existing problems with governance, social inequality, and poverty.

De la inutilidad a la justificación de una “Forma del dedo” en Platón (De la República al Sofista)

While in Republic (523a) Plato considers there is no need of the existence of a Finger’s Form, since a no-finger can be imagined, in Book X he affirms the existence of a Bed’s Form, a substantial object such as the finger. This Platonic inaccuracy related to the Form of substances is confirmed in the Parmenides, when Socrates confesses his doubts about them. But in the Sophist, a later dialogue, we find a coherent response because The Form of the Other justifies that there be an opposite to the finger, a “no-finger”, which is simply something different from the finger.

A sequence to sequence model for dialogue generation with gated mixture of topics

In this paper, we propose GMoT-Seq2Seq, a sequence to sequence (Seq2Seq) model with a gated mixture of topics (MoT) designed to utilize topic information to generate fluent and coherent responses. Seq2Seq model is good at capturing the local structure of word sequence which affects the fluency due to their sequential nature, but probably has difficulty to extract topic information from the utterance. In contrast, topic models are very capable of capturing global semantic information that has a direct impact on the coherence. Absorbing the advantages of both, the proposed GMoT-Seq2Seq model uses a Seq2Seq to capture the temporal dependencies, and an MoT layer to obtain the topic vector that provides global semantic dependencies in the conversation. The MoT layer can summarize the utterances into a proportion vector over several underlying topics. To balance the fluency and coherence, we utilize a topic gate to dynamically control the information from the inferred topic vector and the partially generated responses. Experiment results show that our proposed model outperforms the compared baselines, and can generate more fluent and coherent responses.

Fundamental policy challenges influencing sustainable development in Africa

Background: There is widespread recognition on the African continent that a coherent and integrated policy response is necessary to adequately deal with issues associated with sustainable development. Despite this general recognition, it is, however, also evident that much still needs to be done to realise a coherent policy response fostered by a transgovernance approach to sustainable development.Aim: The aim of this article is to analyse the nature and scope of development policy influencing Africa’s policy responses to sustainable development challenges.Setting: Challenges associated with sustainable development transcend national borders. This requires trans-border policy responses and transgovernance. Transgovernance goes beyond conventional governance approaches and moves towards a more integrated global and continental response to address sustainability issues. The same applies to Africa as a continent.Methods: In the traditions of interpretivism, the methodology is based on a desktop analysis by means of a literature survey. The qualitative description of the findings focuses on the themes that emerge from the research and the manner in which it was conceptualised and contextualised in terms of unobtrusive research techniques.Results: Results indicate that across Africa there have been varied policy responses to sustainable development challenges. It was established that despite successes on the continent, inclusive of the establishment of various sectoral policy frameworks and coordinating mechanisms, there is still great concern for the general lack of a coordinated response to environmental concerns. Change in policy-making approaches and practices as well as changes in attitudes towards the environment are essential.Conclusion: Policy coherence on the continent is a prerequisite to promote sustainable development. Policy responses need to consider the finite nature of natural resources and the future implications of current government actions (and inactions). Policy-makers need to look forward, contemplating the interrelationship between human-driven development and the environment, and approach policy design in a fundamentally new way.

Multitask Learning and Reinforcement Learning for Personalized Dialog Generation: An Empirical Study.

Open-domain dialog generation, which is a crucial component of artificial intelligence, is an essential and challenging problem. In this article, we present a personalized dialog system, which leverages the advantages of multitask learning and reinforcement learning for personalized dialogue generation (MRPDG). Specifically, MRPDG consists of two subtasks: 1) an author profiling module that recognizes user characteristics from the input sentence (auxiliary task) and 2) a personalized dialog generation system that generates informative, grammatical, and coherent responses with reinforcement learning algorithms (primary task). Three kinds of rewards are proposed to generate high-quality conversations. We investigate the effectiveness of three widely used reinforcement learning methods [i.e., Q-learning, policy gradient, and actor-critic (AC) algorithm] in a personalized dialog generation system and demonstrate that the AC algorithm achieves the best results on the underlying framework. Comprehensive experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed model on two real-life data sets. Experimental results illustrate that MRPDG is able to produce high-quality personalized dialogs for users with different characteristics. Quantitatively, the proposed model can achieve better performance than the compared methods across different evaluation metrics, such as the human evaluation, BiLingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU), and perplexity.

Paradoxes of populism in the pandemic and beyond : A commentary on Rogers Brubaker’s essay

In a thoughtful essay, Rogers Brubaker points to the paradoxes of populism unveiled by the pandemic: populists’ difficult relationship with expertise; their challenge of facing a crisis which was not created by them; and their new anti-protectionist feelings that were generated by the alleged overprotectedness of government measures. I certainly agree with him that the pandemic effectively challenged populism, and this is probably the main reason why the COVID-19 crisis, as Brubaker put it, ‘has not generated a coherent or large-scale populist response’ – which could have been expected. After all, populists are supposed to capitalize on crises and, being mostly in opposition, they can easily criticize mainstream politics. Although we cannot say that the pandemic would have swept away populism, it is certainly true that the popularity of populist parties is not soaring. Therefore, I believe Brubaker’s point is valid and the pandemic posed a real challenge to populists.

Speak Out: Verifying and Unmasking Cryptocurrency User Identity

Terror attacks pose a serious threat to public safety and national security. New technologies assist these attacks, magnify them and render them deadlier. The more funding terrorist organizations manage to raise, the greater their capacity to recruit members, organize and commit terror attacks. Since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, law enforcement agencies have increased their efforts to develop more anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering regulations, which are designed to block the flow of financing of terrorism and cut off its oxygen. However, at present most regulatory measures focus on traditional currencies. The more efforts to restrict the financing of terrorism by traditional fiat currencies succeeds, the greater the likelihood that cryptocurrencies will be used in order to fund illicit behavior. Furthermore, the COVID-19 virus and social distancing guidelines that followed it have increased the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering, material support to terror and other financial crimes. Cryptocurrencies, electronically generated and stored tokens which can be exchanged via a decentralized payment system, are a game changer, significantly affecting market functions like never before and making it easier to finance terrorism and other types of criminal activity. These decentralized and (usually) anonymous usable currencies facilitate a high volume of transactions, allowing terrorists extensive fundraising, management, transfer and spending of money for illegal activities. The ability of terror organizations and those who finance them to increase their activities and attacks by using cryptocurrencies poses a major threat to national security. As cryptocurrencies gain popularity, the issue of how to regulate them becomes more urgent. The scope and utility of financing of terrorism begs for a coherent legal response. This Article proposes to reform the regulation of cryptocurrencies. It advocates the promotion of mandatory obligations directed at cryptocurrency issuers, wallet providers and exchanges to verify the identity of users on the blockchain. Thus, courts could grant warrants obligating companies issuing cryptocurrencies to unmask the identity of cryptocurrency users when there is probable cause that their activities support terrorism or other money laundering activities. Such reforms would make it possible to allow stifling the financing of terrorism and other types of criminal activity financed through cryptocurrencies, and in so doing would make it possible to curb harmful lethal activities and promote national security. As we are aware of the legal challenges our solution poses, this Article also addresses substantial objections that might be raised regarding the proposed reforms, such as jeopardizing innovation, First Amendment freedom of expression objections, Fourth Amendment protection from surveillance and measures for promoting efficiency in the application of the proposed reforms.

COVID-19 Pandemic. A Review Based on Current Evidence from Sri Lanka

Pandemics are large-scale outbreaks of infectious disease that can extremely increase mortality and morbidity over a wide geographic area and cause significant social political and economic. Evidence suggests that the likelihood of pandemics has increased over the past century because of increased global travel and integration, urbanization and greater exploitation of the natural environment. The emergence and spread of infectious diseases with pandemic potential occurred regularly throughout history. Major pandemics and epidemics such as plague, cholera, flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) have already afflicted humanity. The world is now facing the new corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.The sudden outbreak of COVID-19, originated in China in December 2019, struck the Sri lanka so hard affecting all the economic and daily activities of humans. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on poverty, employment, gross domestic product, inflation, stock market, external sector performance, household income, tourism, Import & export, government revenue & Gross domestic product in the context of Sri Lanka. Further gradually describe the influence of industrial, agriculture and service sector. A global recession is likely to significantly reduce the demand for Sri Lanka’s exports, and lead to considerable job losses especially in the apparel sector. The closing of the Sri Lankan border for foreign passenger arrivals in mid-March, combined with global travel restrictions undoubtedly lead to further losses. Uncertainty will be part of the backdrop for the foreseeable future. Coherent, coordinated, and credible policy responses provide the best chance at limiting the economic fallout from what is already and sadly a human tragedy.

Can we afford pluralism in times of disruption A competence-based guide for pluralistic and democratic practice

This article scrutinises the meaning and role of pluralism in times of global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The coherent pandemic responses have been accompanied by the rise of censor...

General Operational Protocol for Coherence. Central Limit Theorem as Approximation

A general operational protocol which provides permanent macroscopic coherence of the response of any stable complex system put in an ever-changing environment is proposed. It turns out that the coherent response consists of two parts: 1) a specific discrete pattern, called by the author homeostatic one, whose characteristics are robust to the statistics of the environment; 2) the rest part of the response forms a stationary homogeneous process whose coarse-grained structure obeys universal distribution which turns out to be scale-invariant. It is demonstrated that, for relatively short time series, a measurement, viewed as a solitary operation of coarse-graining, superimposed on the universal distribution results in a rich variety of behaviors ranging from periodic-like to stochastic-like, to a sequences of irregular fractal-like objects and sequences of random-like events. The relevance of the Central Limit theorem applies to the latter case. Yet, its application is still an approximation which holds for relatively short time series and for specific low resolution of the measurement equipment. It is proven that the asymptotic behavior in each and every of the above cases is provided by the recently proven decomposition theorem.

How Should the Irish State Respond to the Radicalisation of Irish Citizens in Support of Islamist Terrorism?

In spite of several high-profile cases of radicalisation in recent years, Ireland does not appear to have formulated a coherent response, unlike most other European countries. This paper aims to answer the central research question: how should the Irish state respond to the radicalisation of Irish citizens in support of Islamist terrorism? A review of the literature on radicalisation was conducted, based upon the models of radicalisation set forth by Wiktorowicz (2004) and Precht (2007) which have identified possible indicators of radicalisation. As the literature on the subject is somewhat sparse relating to the Irish context, the counter-radicalisation strategies of the United Kingdom (UK) and Denmark were examined for international comparison. The study was carried out as a qualitative, phenomenological research project using mixed methods. Documentary analysis of relevant Irish, UK, and Danish government publications was followed by the conduct of semi-structured elite interviews. It is apparent that this country does not have a proactive approach to security issues in general, and radicalisation in particular. Interviewees were strong in their support for the adoption of more clearly defined measures to counter Islamist radicalisation specific to the context in this country, though there is no clear consensus on the best path forward. The complex individual nature of the radicalisation process, and the impact of external influences, were recognised as key considerations. The need for widespread consultation, at the expert level, on the crafting of the state’s response was also emphasised, given the risks involved in a poorly conceptualised approach. Community cohesion emerged as an important topic, and may form the basis for an effective response, along with training for appropriate professionals and sensitisation of the population to the dangers of the issue.

Why Phenomenology Doesn't Need Disjunctivism: Merleau-Ponty on Intentionality and Transcendence

Abstract Commentators have argued that disjunctivism, from a phenomenological perspective, is the most coherent response to certain skeptical concerns. They find two phenomenological beliefs in tension: that intentionality is transcendent and that perceptions and hallucinations have a similar intentional content. While not ruling out a disjunctivist phenomenology, I show that phenomenologists are not forced into disjunctivism in order to avoid skeptical problems posed by hallucination. Instead, Merleau-Ponty's approach to the horizonal structure of experience supports a novel nondisjunctivist solution: first, by distinguishing proximate from ultimate objects of experience; second, by showing how every experience “belongs” to the world.

Implementing Open Data Strategies for Climate Action: Suggestions And Lessons Learned for Government and Civil Society Stakeholders

Shared data and information are fundamental to mainstreaming climate action and promoting a coordinated and coherent response to climate change across government and society. Open data—the publication of datasets that can be freely used and redistributed by anyone, anywhere—offers opportunities to ensure climate policymaking is informed by all relevant data while building trust with civil society and enabling data users to create valuable tools and visualizations that can broaden impact and engage new audiences. This working paper aims to promote greater accessibility of climate-related data by building government officials’ and other stakeholders’ understanding of the benefits of open data practices for climate action, potential challenges, and ways to address these challenges while taking steps to ensure that data publication is impactful, responsible, and sustainable. It draws on a literature review, expert consultations, and observations from pilot projects implemented in Chile and Uruguay to provide insights for contexts with a range of data capacities, from those with mature data collection and publication protocols to those investing in new data generation processes.

Assessment of Biomechanical Response to Fatigue through Wearable Sensors in Semi-Professional Football Referees.

Quantifying muscle fatigue is a key aspect of everyday sport practice. A reliable and objective solution that can fulfil this task would be deeply important for two main reasons: (i) it would grant an objective indicator to adjust the daily training load for each player and (ii) it would provide an innovative tool to reduce the risk of fatigue-related injuries. Available solutions for objectively quantifying the fatigue level of fatigue can be invasive for the athlete; they could alter the performance or they are not compatible with daily practice on the playground. Building on previous findings that identified fatigue-related parameters in the kinematic of the counter-movement jump (CMJ), this study evaluates the physical response to a fatigue protocol (i.e., Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1) in 16 football referees, by monitoring CMJ performance with wearable magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMU). Nineteen kinematic parameters were selected as suitable indicators for fatigue detection. The analysis of their variations allowed us to distinguish two opposites but coherent responses to the fatigue protocol. Indeed, eight out of sixteen athletes showed reduced performance (e.g., an effective fatigue condition), while the other eight athletes experienced an improvement of the execution likely due to the so-called Post-Activation Potentiation. In both cases, the above parameters were significantly influenced by the fatigue protocol (p < 0.05), confirming their validity for fatigue monitoring. Interesting correlations between several kinematic parameters and muscular mass were highlighted in the fatigued group. Finally, a “fatigue approximation index” was proposed and validated as fatigue quantifier.

Northern Ireland: Managing COVID-19 Across Open Borders

The early response to the coronavirus pandemic in Northern Ireland revealed three things. First, although part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland is integrally connected in very practical ways to the Republic of Ireland. Policies and practices regarding COVID-19 on the southern side of the Irish land border had a direct impact on those being formulated for the North. Secondly, as well as differences in scientific advice and political preferences in the bordering jurisdictions, a coherent policy response was delayed by leaders’ failures to communicate in a timely manner with counterparts on the other side of the border. And, thirdly, different policies on either side of an open border can fuel profound uncertainty in a borderland region; but this can give rise to community-level action that fills the gaps in ways that can actually better respond to the complexity of the situation. This essay draws on the author’s close observation of events as they happened, including news coverage, press conferences and public statements from the three governments concerned over the period of March-October 2020.

Beyond good intentions, to urgent action: Former UNFCCC leaders take stock of thirty years of international climate change negotiations

ABSTRACT The authors, who have all held senior positions in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, take critical stock of what has been achieved since the negotiations were launched 30 years ago in December 1990. The assessment is made against seven functions or roles of multilateral processes (e.g. developing international law, setting goals, and supporting developing countries), and based on clear-eyed expectations of what multilateralism can and cannot do in a world of sovereign states and powerful economic interests. The authors point to some important successes, but also serious shortcomings, particularly in terms of failure of governments to deliver on agreed goals, and inadequate action and coordination within the UN system. The authors conclude that continuing at the pace of the last 30 years is unthinkable. Key policy insights The international climate change negotiations have successfully delivered three landmark treaties, providing the basis for a coherent international response to the climate crisis, but their impact is constrained by the realities of the multilateral system. Particular successes include the climate treaties’ goals – especially the UNFCCC’s ultimate objective and Paris Agreement’s temperature rise thresholds and ‘global net zero’ target – systems for data sharing and transparency and growing engagement of stakeholders. The principal shortcoming is failure by governments to fully implement treaty obligations, exacerbated by the still inadequate response of the business community. The rate of global emission growth over the 30-year period testifies to this failure, with the levels of support to developing countries also falling short of what is required. The principal role of the multilateral climate change negotiations must now be to promote full implementation of agreed commitments and ensuing national actions. Maximum use should be made of every mandated deadline. International agreement on clear and precise targets for 2030 and 2050 will be important, but only if accompanied by strong and specific policies. ‘Business as usual’ in climate change negotiations will mean failure to avoid dangerous climate change. Fuller engagement by leaders is crucial to ensuring an all-of-government approach. The UNFCCC process should address its unwieldiness and act in line with the urgency of the issue.

Enchantingly Modern: Whispers of the Occult in Popular Psychic Healing Practices of Early 20th-century Bengal

Early 20th-century Bengal witnessed the budding of a constituency of spiritually inclined psychic healers who provided miraculous treatment to ailing patients through practices widely referred to as sammohan. Practicing healers seemed to recklessly borrow from Western healing therapies of mesmerism and hypnotism, on the one hand, and simultaneously appear, on the other, to vigorously harp, albeit covertly on the mystical kernel of indigenous occult tantric knowledge. This, I argue, had the marks of an unsure modernity, which produced its own enchantment ironically in the public discourse by retaining the mystical essence of occultism under the shell of popular healing. This article explores whether practices of sammohan placed between the medically sober and the erotically intoxicated provide a way to unravel the complexities of the “Bengali modern.” It also investigates whether the occult turn of psychic healing constituted an enormous, complex, and internally complicated phenomenon yet posited simultaneously a coherent response to the dilemmas of modernity.

High-stakes crisis management in the Low Countries: Comparing government responses to COVID-19

Like many Western European countries, Belgium and the Netherlands have been strongly hit by COVID-19. Almost simultaneously, the virus spread, caused a relatively high number of infections and severe lockdown measures were imposed; however, at the same time, the crisis management response has been sufficiently different to justify a systematic comparative analysis. We start with the premise that decisions made on the basis of incomplete information show the true nature of governments’ response to a crisis, which is conditioned by legacies arising from the past and organizational cultures, existing and new governance structures, and strategies used by specific actors. We show that the difference in crisis management echoes the countries’ different types of consociationalism, though also that Belgian federalism and Dutch decentralism impeded a truly coherent response. The cost of coordinating different government levels made a uniform approach difficult too. Actor strategies attempting to exploit the crisis seem to have influenced the response the least but did have an impact on perceptions of the response.Points for practitionersThe article unravels how the governments in the Low Countries responded to the COVID-19 challenge in the first half of 2020. It allows practitioners to better understand that under circumstances of an imminent crisis, specific governance structures matter. It also reveals that the cost of coordination between the federated and the federal level turned out to be quite high in Belgium. In the Netherlands, a lot of autonomy was left to federated and local authorities. This too impeded a more coherent approach. COVID-19 certainly offers possibilities for policymakers to exploit the crisis but opportunities are not always taken.