Conceptual Reasons Research Articles

Expanding the concept of social behavior to interspecific interactions

AbstractIn pretty much any species, an individual's survival and reproduction depends crucially on the outcome of interactions with other individuals. Key interactions may take place between individuals of the same species but also between individuals belonging to different species. However, the most accepted definition of social behavior only considers interactions between conspecifics. Here, we argue that the distinction between intra‐ and interspecific interactions is largely artificial and hinders the integration of the historically separately developed concepts. At the ultimate level, given that the ecological landscape of organisms is composed both by interactions with conspecifics and with heterospecifics, and both types of interactions may have evolutionary consequences. Although intraspecific interactions usually have a higher impact in fitness because in most species interactions relevant for reproduction (mating, parenting) exclusively involve conspecifics, and interactions relevant for survival are more probable between conspecifics because they share the same ecological niche, hence competing for the same resources (e.g., food, shelter), there are notable exceptions in both fitness components (e.g., heterospecific mating in parthenogenic all‐female species; heterospecific brood parasitism; heterospecific aggression in sympatric species that compete for shared resources). At the proximate level, behaviors and cognitive decision‐making rules used to interact with other organisms may be shared between intra‐ and interspecific interactions, and the mechanistic differences between conspecific social behaviors used in distinct functional domains, such as mating, aggression, or parenting, can be more expressive than those found within the same functional domain between conspecific and heterospecific behavior. Therefore, there are neither fundamental conceptual (ultimate) reasons, nor key differences in mechanisms underlying behaviors involved in conspecific vs. heterospecific interactions that support the exclusion of interspecific interactions from the conceptual framework of social behavior.

Urinary Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1: A Biomarker of Acute Tubular Injury

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a threatening, multiaetiological syndrome encompassing a variety of forms and damage patterns. AKI lacks sufficiently specific diagnostic tools to evaluate the distinct combination of pathophysiological events underlying each case, which limits personalized and optimized handling. Therefore, a pathophysiological diagnosis based on new urinary biomarkers is sought for practical (readiness and noninvasiveness) and conceptual reasons, as the urine is a direct product of the kidneys. However, biomarkers found in the urine may also have extrarenal origin, thus conveying pathophysiological information from other organs or tissues. Urinary plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) has been associated to AKI, although its origin and traffic to the urine are not known. Methods: Herein, we studied the blood or renal origin of urinary PAI-1 (uPAI-1) in experimental AKI in Wistar rats, by means of the in situ renal perfusion method. For this purpose, urine was collected while the kidneys of rats with AKI showing increased uPAI-1 excretion, and controls, were in situ perfused with a saline solution. Results: Our results show that during perfusion, PAI-1 remained in the urine of AKI rats, suggesting that renal cells shed this protein directly to the urine. PAI-1 is also significantly increased in the urine of AKI patients. Its low correlation with other urinary markers such as NGAL or NAG suggests that PAI-1 provides complementary and distinct phenotypical information. Conclusion: In conclusion, uPAI-1 is a biomarker produced by damaged kidneys following AKI, whose precise pathophysiological meaning in AKI needs to be further investigated.

Explanatory profiles of models of consciousness - towards a systematic classification.

Models of consciousness aim to inspire new experimental protocols and aid interpretation of empirical evidence to reveal the structure of conscious experience. Nevertheless, no current model is univocally accepted on either theoretical or empirical grounds. Moreover, a straightforward comparison is difficult for conceptual reasons. In particular, we argue that different models explicitly or implicitly subscribe to different notions of what constitutes a satisfactory explanation, use different tools in their explanatory endeavours and even aim to explain very different phenomena. We thus present a framework to compare existing models in the field with respect to what we call their ‘explanatory profiles’. We focus on the following minimal dimensions: mode of explanation, mechanisms of explanation and target of explanation. We also discuss the empirical consequences of the discussed discrepancies among models. This approach may eventually lead to identifying driving assumptions, theoretical commitments, experimental predictions and a better design of future testing experiments. Finally, our conclusion points to more integrative theoretical research, where axiomatic models may play a critical role in solving current theoretical and experimental contradictions.

Weil positivity and trace formula the archimedean place

We provide a potential conceptual reason for the positivity of the Weil functional using the Hilbert space framework of the semi-local trace formula of Connes (Sel Math (NS) 5(1):29–106, 1999). We explore in great details the simplest case of the single archimedean place. The root of this result is the positivity of the trace of the scaling action compressed onto the orthogonal complement of the range of the cutoff projections associated to the cutoff in phase space, for \(\Lambda =1\). We express the difference between the Weil distribution and the trace associated to the above compression of the scaling action, in terms of prolate spheroidal wave functions, and use, as a key device, the theory of hermitian Toeplitz matrices to control that difference. All the concepts and tools used in this paper make sense in the general semi-local case, where Weil positivity implies RH.

Perspectives of psychiatric patients in rural areas of Jordan: Barriers to compliance and pharmacist role.

Successful management of psychiatric disorders is affected by patient perspectives and several barriers, that is, conceptual, psychological, social, or logistic reasons that can decrease patient adherence to therapy. In this perspective, pharmacists have a vital role in identifying patients in need of help and in dealing with barriers. The aim of this study was to investigate perspectives of patients diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, living in rural areas in Jerash, Jordan, regarding their awareness about their conditions, including religious and cultural factors, adherence to their treatment and related barriers, with special focus on pharmacist's role. This cross-sectional survey study was conducted in Jordan from August to November 2019. A validated questionnaire was administered by two pharmacy students via a structured interview with patients waiting for their appointment in the psychiatric clinic. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. One hundred twenty patients (age 39.4±9.5, 66.7% males) completed the questionnaire. Most of them (71.0%) reported adherence to their medications, and 47.5% reported complete control of their symptoms with treatment. Most patients (59.2%) reported that they perceive their psychiatric problem in terms of religious faith as being counted for their favour in the Hereafter, and 52.5% of them always/usually looked at themselves positively and unaffected by their psychiatric problem; with both factors correlating significantly with better treatment adherence (P<.045 and P<.001; respectively). Barriers affecting adherence included mainly suffering from adverse effects (31.9%) and being unconvinced that they needed a medication (23.3%). Only 14.2% of patients reported that they refer to the pharmacist to get information about their medications. This study shows suboptimal symptom control of psychiatric patients in Jerash. Nonadherence is an issue, with barriers identified. Positive religious and self-image perspectives correlated with better adherence. Patient referral to pharmacists is minimal and needs to be optimised.

Centric relation critically revisited-What are the clinical implications?

Centric relation is a dental term that has undergone many alterations over the years, which in turn have led to significant clinical controversies. These continuing changes in the meaning of the term CR have not only led to confusion, but they also have resulted in a variety of unnecessary diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Analysis of the dental literature reveals ongoing misunderstanding and disagreement regarding that term among both clinicians and academic dentists. A search of the PubMed database was performed with the following search terms: "centric relation", "masticatory muscles", "maxillomandibular relationship" and "condylar position." Relevant literature from the past 70years until the present day was meticulously scrutinised. As expected, the literature review on the topic of CR revealed a problematic pattern of changing definitions and clinical disagreements, all of which have had a significant impact on the practice of dentistry. There are semantic, conceptual and practical reasons for concluding that the term 'centric relation' is flawed. Those flaws have a significant impact on dental practice. Based on our analysis, argumentation is provided to conclude that the term 'centric relation' should be abandoned. Instead, it appears that every individual has a unique temporomandibular joint relationship which cannot be described by any singular term. In healthy dentate patients, this relationship is determined by the maximum intercuspation of the teeth and should therefore be considered as biologically acceptable.

Re‐orienting the Statement of Cash Flows Around Cash Flows to Equity Holders

This paper argues that the Statement of Cash Flows should be re‐oriented around the concept of Cash Flows to Equity Holders. This re‐orientation seems attractive for conceptual and internal consistency reasons. The Income Statement and the Balance Sheet are already oriented around reporting the residual claim of equity holders. Thus, re‐orienting the Statement of Cash Flows around Cash Flows to Equity Holders naturally aligns it with the other two principal financial statements. The change also has considerable practical appeal for major users of financial reporting, especially investors who are interested in equity cash flows for forecasting and valuation. Finally, the proposed change is unusually easy to implement, essentially limited to different presentation of already existing information.

What is the force of forced migration? Diagnosis and critique of a conceptual relativization

Theorizing of forced migration and refugees has been paralyzed by excessive reliance on migration theory. This article suggests the need to transfer conceptualizations of forced migration to sociological theories of violence. To that end, a preliminary step is argued to be indispensable: the affirmation of the force factor as a vital concept for meaningful theorization of refugee phenomena. Conceptual and empirical reasons are offered to resurrect the force factor’s centrality. First, I suggest the need to resolve the conceptual residuality of “forced migration” in sociological theory, proposing manageable terminology for the task at hand. Second, I sketch conceptual and empirical reasons that the force factor is a viable and urgent candidate for our theoretical toolkit. Finally, I assess in depth the shortcomings of three prominent relativization conditions: (1) unwitting severity; (2) processual dilution; and (3) political-economic indeterminacy. By overcoming onerous relativization habits, we open horizons for coercion-centric theoretical insights on forced migration.

Folk psychology and proximal intentions

ABSTRACT There is a longstanding debate in philosophy concerning the relationship between intention and intentional action. According to the Single Phenomenon View, while one need not intend to A in order to A intentionally, one nevertheless needs to have an A-relevant intention. This view has recently come under criticism by those who think that one can A intentionally without any relevant intention at all. On this view, neither distal nor proximal intentions are necessary for intentional action. In this paper we present the results of two studies that explore folk ascriptions of proximal intentions and intentional actions in garden-variety, non-moral cases. Our findings suggest a very tight relationship between the two. We argue that the results from these two studies cohere with the Single Phenomenon View and give theorists who reject this view on conceptual grounds reason to worry.

On estimating the prevalence of use of medically assisted reproduction in developed countries: a critical review of recent literature.

BACKGROUNDExisting reviews on the prevalence of use of medically assisted reproduction (MAR) are relatively old and include mainly studies from the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, MAR has developed at a rapid pace, public awareness and acceptance of medical solutions to infertility problems has increased, and, consequently, the use of MAR has risen in developed countries.OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALEThis study provides a comprehensive overview of the state of research on the prevalence of MAR use in women and men, as well as a critique of methodology used in studies of the use of MAR, and suggestions for moving forward.SEARCH METHODSArticles were located via the databases Academic Search Complete, Biomed Central, FirstSearch, Google Scholar, Medline, Health and Medical Collection, Medline and Social Science Citation Index using the key words ‘infertile’, ‘infertility’, ‘subfecund’, ‘subfecundity’, ‘treatment’, ‘help-seeking’, ‘service use’, ‘service utilization’, ‘ART use’ and ‘MAR use’ separately and in various combinations. The focus was on studies from developed countries, published between 1990 and 2018, in English, German or French.OUTCOMESIn this article, we have reviewed 39 studies covering 13 countries or regions; approximately half of these covered the USA. Ten studies were published in the 1990s, 10 in the 2000s and 19 since 2010. Studies report different types of prevalence rates such as lifetime and current prevalence rates of MAR use. Prevalence rates are based on very different denominators: women who tried to become pregnant for at least 12 months without success, women who experienced at least 12 months of unprotected intercourse without success, women of reproductive age from the general population or women with a life birth. There are few studies that report help-seeking rates for men or make direct comparisons between genders. Knowledge on medical help-seeking across different stages, such as seeing a doctor, undergoing tests, having operations to restore fertility or ART, has started to accumulate in recent years. There are conceptual reasons for being cautious about drawing conclusions about gender, regional, country level and differences over time in help-seeking rates.LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTIONIn a narrative review, the risk of bias in the interpretation of findings cannot be completely eliminated. The literature search was limited to languages the authors speak: English, French and German.WIDER IMPLICATIONSIn line with earlier reviews, we found that studies on help-seeking are not comparable across time and space, preventing researchers and healthcare providers from understanding the relation between social change, social policy, social structure and help-seeking for infertility. The discussion in this article should assist future researchers in designing better studies on the prevalence of MAR use. We provide suggestions for producing better estimates of the prevalence of MAR use. More cross-country and cross-gender comparisons are needed. Studies that treat help-seeking as a continuum and report on different stages are preferable compared to choosing arbitrary cutoff points, as is common practice in the studies reviewed.STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)None.

The Possibility of Analytic Philosophy in United Kingdom Madrasas

In the course of this article, I address the following question: why does analytic philosophy, which predominates throughout higher education in the United Kingdom, not feature prominently in UK madrasas (Islamic schools)? I provide two responses to this question. The first focuses on a possible intellectual conflict between the types of philosophy that are practiced in madrasas and in mainstream institutions of higher education. The second response focuses on the kind of philosophy that various organizations promote and practice in communities of philosophic inquiry (CPI). These responses illustrate the conceptual and institutional reasons for madrasas’ reluctance toward analytic philosophy. Finally, I offer specific recommendations intended to help facilitate the introduction of analytic philosophy into madrasa curricula in the UK.

Corporate social responsibility and corporate payout policy: the impact of product market competition

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate if and how firm performance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) is related to corporate payouts and how competition in product markets influences this relation.Design/methodology/approachLogit and Tobit regressions are used to estimate the relation between firm performance in CSR and corporate payouts.FindingsThe empirical results show that firm performance in CSR is positively related to the propensity and level of dividends, repurchases and total payouts (dividends plus repurchases). However, the positive relation between CSR performance and corporate payouts is significant only for firms that operate in low competition markets. In high competition markets, CSR performance does not seem to have any significant relation with corporate payouts.Research limitations/implicationsThis study uses MSCI social ratings data to measure net scores on CSR. There is no systematic conceptual reason for measuring social performance using MSCI social ratings. Future research should use other measures of social performance (e.g. Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Accountability Ratings and Global Reporting Initiative to estimate the relation between CSR and corporate payouts).Practical implicationsCSR firms are more likely to choose higher payouts when they operate in low competition markets.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the stream of research that evaluates the payout choices of CSR firms and competition in product markets. To the author's knowledge, this is the first study that documents the impact of market competition on the relation between firm performance in CSR and corporate payouts.

Biological Markets, Cooperation, and the Evolution of Morality

Biological market theory has in recent years become an important part of the social evolutionist’s toolkit. This article discusses the explanatory potential and pitfalls of biological market theory in the context of big picture accounts of the evolution of human cooperation and morality. I begin by assessing an influential account that presents biological market dynamics as a key driver of the evolution of fairness norms in humans. I argue that this account is problematic for theoretical, empirical, and conceptual reasons. After mapping the evidential and explanatory limits of biological market theory, I suggest that it can nevertheless fill a lacuna in an alternative account of hominin evolution. Trade on a biological marketplace can help explain why norm-based cooperation did not break down when our Late Pleistocene ancestors entered new, challenging social and economic environments.

Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Knowledge of Students: The Case of Subtraction

Abstract Introduction: Although there is ambiguity about the elements of teacher knowledge, all researchers accept that being able to anticipate what errors can be made, the reasons for and the strategies to overcome these errors, in short, the knowledge of students is important for student achievement. In this study, knowledge of students refers to being aware of students’ possible errors and underlying reasons for these errors and knowing how to overcome these errors. Based on this consideration, the purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service elementary teachers’ knowledge of students on the subtraction topic. Methods: Considering the purpose, the data were collected from 118 pre-service elementary teachers who were enrolled in a four-year Elementary Teacher Education program via a task-based questionnaire related to the topic of subtraction and semi-structured interviews following the questionnaire. The task-based questionnaire included three completed incorrect subtraction tasks and was prepared considering the related literature and the elementary school mathematics curriculum of Turkey. Each task in the questionnaire contained a different type of error. The pre-service elementary teachers’ answers to the task-based questionnaire were categorized as correct, partially correct, wrong, or no answer by means of categorical analysis. The pre-service elementary teachers who gave correct and partially correct answers to the tasks were asked to participate in the second part of the study to learn their possible strategies to overcome the errors made in the tasks. Results: As a result of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the pre-service elementary teachers’ responses, it was found that their knowledge of students for subtraction is limited. Specifically, although the pre-service elementary teachers were partially able to identify the errors in the first and second task, they were not able to identify the error in the third task. Furthermore, they were better able to determine a more commonly occurring subtraction error compared to the uncommon ones. The pre-service elementary teachers could not identify the underlying reasons that led the students to the errors. They could not explain what conceptual knowledge related to the topic of subtraction the student lacked that resulted in the errors. As the pre-service teachers did not attain these reasons, they were not able to provide strategies to overcome these errors different than restating the rules or procedures to overcome students’ errors. Discussion: Only being able to identify the errors is not enough to make the instruction effective. Teachers also need to know and provide a rationale for why the errors happen and how to overcome them (Even &amp; Tirosh, 1995). Contrary to this statement, the pre-service elementary teachers in this study could not attempt to understand the students’ thinking or could not explain the reasons behind students’ errors with the notion of subtraction. Son (2013) emphasizes that pre-service teachers tend to explain the reasons for students’ errors as procedural. Similar to this emphasis, the pre-service teachers identified the errors as resulting from not applying procedures carefully or not enough knowing algorithms to find correct solutions. However, without addressing the reasons or focusing on procedures does not promote students’ understanding of the related topic (An, Kulm, &amp; Wu, 2004). The pre-service teachers’ difficulties in identifying the possible conceptual reasons may result from deficits in knowledge of students (Fennema &amp; Franke, 1992; Ball et al., 2008). Limitations: The findings were limited with the responses of the pre-service elementary teachers participating in this study. Moreover, the pre-service elementary teachers’ knowledge of students was investigated within the scope of subtraction. Conclusions: Although the pre-service elementary teachers could identify students’ errors on subtraction, they had difficulty in identifying the reasons and suggesting strategies to overcome the errors. Therefore, it can be concluded that the pre-service teachers’ knowledge of students for the topic of subtraction is limited. An implication of this is that teacher educators need to include error-analysis tasks to help pre-service teachers be aware of the importance of their knowledge of students.

Well-Being and Pluralism

It is a commonly expressed sentiment that the science and philosophy of well-being would do well to learn from each other. Typically such calls identify mistakes and bad practices on both sides that would be remedied if scientists picked the right bit of philosophy and philosophers picked the right bit of science. We argue that the differences between philosophers and scientists thinking about well-being are more difficult to reconcile than such calls suggest, and that pluralism is central to this task. Pluralism is a stance that explicitly drives towards accommodating and nurturing the richness and diversity of well-being, both as a concept and as an object of inquiry. We show that well-being science manifests a contingent pluralism at the level of methodology, whereas philosophy of well-being has largely rejected pluralism at the conceptual level. Recently, things have begun to change. Within philosophy, conceptual monism is under attack. But so is methodological pluralism within science. We welcome the first development, and bemoan the second. We argue that a joined-up philosophy and science of well-being should recognise the virtues of both conceptual and methodological pluralism. Philosophers should embrace the methodological justification of pluralism that can be found in the well-being sciences, and scientists should embrace the conceptual reasons to be pluralist that can be found in philosophical debate.

Grandes Datos, Grandes Sesgos, Grandes Errores: Sobre el Atlas de Oportunidades

El Atlas de Oportunidades, impulsado por las fundaciones Felipe González y Cotec, ha sido recientemente presentado por sus autores como una herramienta única para estudiar la movilidad social en España. En este trabajo sostengo que el Atlas es, en realidad, una mala herramienta para el estudio de la movilidad social, tanto por razones conceptuales como, sobre todo, por razones metodológicas. El Atlas es una herramienta conceptualmente limitada porque reduce la movilidad social a la movilidad de ingresos y esto oscurece nuestra compresión de los factores y procesos implicados en el logro socio-económico y la transmisión de la (des)ventaja social. El Atlas es, además, una mala base de datos para estudiar la movilidad intergeneracional de ingresos porque, a pesar de su gigantesco tamaño, introduce sesgos muy serios, que conducen inevitablemente a una abultada sobrestimación de la movilidad de ingresos realmente existente en España.

Leveraging Quasi-Experimental Methods to Estimate Model Structure: Understanding School Funding Changes in Response to Court Orders

We discuss an approach to using the event study, a common experimental design in the social sciences, to parameterize delays and develop other insights into system structure. We show a step-by-step process for undertaking a delay event study, discuss some of the conceptual reasons that this provides information about the delay, and illustrate the process for a typical example. We find evidence that school funding changes following court orders do not adjust quickly, and likely follow a higher-order, as opposed to a first-order, delay process. Our tests also suggest that school district budget makers appear to forecast revenue pessimistically, contributing an additional source of delay to the system.

The value transformation аnd semantic space of kitsch in the music practice at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries

Background. The phenomenon of kitsch in the musical practice of the 20th century is characterized by the absence of a strict definition, on the basis of which one or another musical composition could be classified as a kitsch one. The appearance of kitsch in music had several reasons: 1) the composers’ desire to impress the listener, as well as to achieve commercial success (hence the imitation of high art patterns through democratization, aimed at achieving the replication of a musical composition); 2) the perception of kitsch as a “secondary” phenomenon – a copy or a fake; 3) the change of one cultural paradigm for another (“Romanticism – Avant-gardism – Postmodernism”). The negative semantic load of kitsch has developed genetically and is a kind of marking of “a bad taste”. The paradox is that “kitsch” is interpreted by music critics as a secondary phenomenon, which is beyond the boundaries of genuine art. However, in the composer’s work, kitsch can be interpreted in a positive sense, too. The purpose of the article is to identify the space of the actualization of kitsch as a stylistic mechanism of the value semantics of a musical composition and to point out the specificity of kitsch in its categorical correlation with other components of the stylistic system of the composer’s creativity. Objectives. The object of the research is the stylistic systems of composers creativity of the 20th–21st centuries, the structure of which includes the intonation form of kitsch, the ambivalent nature of which is revealed through various composing methods in various semantic keys that are the subject of this study. Methods. The need to substantiate the immanent-musical manifestations of kitsch in the composer’s style system explains the choice of interdisciplinary interaction of general scientific (historical, axiological, cognitive, systemic, and comparative) and special (genre-style, structural-functional, and interpretive) approaches. Results. Kitsch in academic music oeuvre is an intonation form, which is made by a composer from the “intonation dictionary of the epoch” without any individual activity and independence (“ordinary art”, forgery) or by the method of modelling and transforming that reflects the stereotypical human’s ideas of the Beauty in the axiological dynamics of musical arts (“high” art, its transcendental essence). The mechanisms of actualization, assessment and identification of kitsch in music have been revealed. The level of identification by the listener of the composer’s idea with one or another evaluative judgment will depend on the position of not only the author, but also the interpreter. The essence of kitsch is immanently predisposed to the multivariate nature of its manifestation, depending on the peculiarities of the correlation of the composer’s intention and the perception of the recipient. A typology of kitsch and its functions in music have been proposed. Mechanisms of kitsch meaning formation are semantic, axiological, and performing factors. Conclusions. In musical art, the phenomenon of kitsch acquires a perception and semantic transformation, which should be different from other types of art. The versatility of the intonation forms of kitsch depends on the composing, performing, and listening interpretation. In terms of professional perception and evaluation of the composition, kitsch carries a negative semantic load. However, if the perspective and evaluation criteria change, then kitsch can become a “borderline” phenomenon of musical culture. Transformation and “centring”, shift away from the main negative understanding of kitsch is possible only upon its immersing into a new compositional context. At the basis of kitsch stylization is the conceptual reason for referring to kitsch material through modelling (method by I. Stravinsky, D. Shostakovich, A. Schnittke, and R. Schedrin). The interaction of the kitsch material with the author’s stylistic frees kitsch from the negative meaning (metastyle). The transformation of the “kitsch” material becomes possible due to the appeal of the composers to the form of its symbolization (method by A. Schnittke, V. Silvestrov), which generalizes the process of the semantic “decoding” of kitsch in the perception of the recipient. V. Silvestrov reflected the ideas about Beauty within the borders of the modern European musical and aural experience. The uniqueness of the intonation embodiment of kitsch lies in the fact that the composer took into account the axiological aspect of the perception of one or another of its parameters by the recipient to embody his conceptual ideas. Kitsch, being the lexical “component” of the composer’s style, at the level of inter-textual connections becomes a new tool for generating meaning-making in music. In other words, in the music by V. Silvestrov, kitsch is released from the negative semantic load. The ambivalence of the nature of kitsch and the duality of its perception by listeners are the very immanent qualities that the performer can take into account in his/her interpretation of kitsch.

Iconic presuppositions

Why are some linguistic inferences treated as presuppositions? This is the ‘Triggering Problem,’ which we attack from a new angle: we investigate highly iconic constructions in gestures (speech-replacing gestures or ‘pro-speech gestures’) and in signs (classifier predicates in ASL) and show that some regularly trigger presuppositions. These iconic constructions can be created and understood ‘on the fly,’ with two advantages over lexical words: they suggest the existence of a productive ‘triggering algorithm,’ since presuppositions can arguably be generated with no prior exposure to the iconic construction; and they make it possible to minimally modify the target constructions to determine which do and which do not generate presuppositions. Our investigation does not just target standard presuppositions, but also ‘cosuppositions,’ initially defined as conditionalized presuppositions triggered by co-speech gestures. We show that pro-speech gestures and classifier predicates alike can trigger cosuppositions, which are thus an inferential class that goes beyond the confines of co-speech gestures (Aristodemo 2017). Our data argue for a triggering algorithm that can generate presuppositions on iconic grounds, and we offer a generalization of cosupposition theory on which these can be triggered for reasons of manner (co-speech gestures), but also for conceptual reasons.

Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia does not appear to have a substantial impact on early markers of cardiovascular disease: A preliminary randomized controlled trial.

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world. Therefore, early prevention of these diseases is a public health priority. Epidemiological data suggest that insomnia may be a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. A randomized controlled trial in a sample of insomnia patients without cardiovascular disease was conducted to investigate the effects of insomnia treatment on early markers of cardiovascular diseases assessed by 24-hr ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate and heart rate variability monitoring, and morning fasting blood samples. Forty-six patients with insomnia disorder were randomized to cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I; n=23) or a waitlist control condition (n=23). Contrary to the hypothesis, intention-to-treat analyses did not show any significant treatment effects on early markers of cardiovascular disease (d=0.0-0.6) despite successful insomnia treatment (d=1.3). Potential methodological and conceptual reasons for these negative findings are discussed. Future studies might include larger sample sizes that are at risk of cardiovascular diseases and focus on other cardiovascular markers.