Human Experience Research Articles

Subtracting to Add: Assessing Teaching Activities in Consideration of Student Outcomes

Abstract: Human nature predisposes us to solve problems by adding elements, even when the simplest or most efficient solution would involve subtracting elements. In this article, evidence is explored in order to investigate how deeply rooted this tendency is in the human condition and how it may pose challenges for singing teachers trying to help their students solve vocal problems.

Process Axiology, Buddhism, Time, and Enduring Selves

Abstract This article explains that, why, and how process thinkers and Hartmanian axiologists affirm most, if not all, that Buddhism denies with respect to the positive goodness of ordinary conscious or aware lives, human and nonhuman. According to mainstream Buddhism, all the intrinsic, extrinsic, and systemic values of ordinary human existence are illusions, so we should avoid being involved with or attaching ourselves to any of them. By contrast, process thought and axiology affirm, cultivate, nurture, and encourage involvement with and attachment to all positive human values. Buddhism insists on the illusory nature of all intrinsic values (e.g., individual human selves, including ourselves), all extrinsic values (e.g., the everyday practical, useful, and sensory objects, processes, and activities of life), and all systemic values (e.g., all human thoughts, beliefs, and systems, except for the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path). Process thinkers and Hartmanian axiologists insist that such things are very real and should be taken with utmost seriousness. By “illusory,” Buddhists may mean nothing more than that all such things are temporal, fleeting, transient. For this reason, they claim, all attachment to or positive valuation of such things leads to suffering. I fully agree with the transience of all momentary actualities, but I react to and deal very differently with the positive values involved in such transience.

Looking into the cholesterol crystal ball: is complement the answer?

Cholesterol crystal embolism (CCE) is a complication of atherosclerosis and can cause microvascular obstruction in multiple organs. Because the consequences may be fatal, and there is no specific treatment, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms and identify treatment strategies. In this issue, Zhao etal., using a mouse model of kidney CCE, demonstrated that inhibition of C5a/C5aR prevented and resolved CCE-induced renal thrombosis and angiopathy. Although these findings must be extended to human condition, they offer hope for management of CCE syndrome.

Literary Realism, Speculative Fiction, and Queer African Futures in Akwaeke Emezi's Freshwater

ABSTRACT: This article positions Akwaeke Emezi's novel Freshwater (2018) as a text that challenges definitions of multiple genres, namely literary realism and speculative fiction. I argue that Freshwater 's seemingly fantastical elements are in fact iterations of Igbo cosmology, which recognizes coterminous human and spiritual realms as part of material reality. By positioning Igbo ontology as the grounding principle of earthly existence, Freshwater contests the division of realism into multiple subsets (magical, animist, literary). Furthmore, I argue that the novel playfully refigures ogbanje identities and Igbo cosmological structures to envision new horizons for future kinship. Rather than speculating about futures that respond to African histories of European colonization, Freshwater reconfigures uniquely Igbo concepts such as ogbanje and iyi-uwa into means for queer agential re-destination. Thus, the novel shifts the speculative focus away from postcolonial efforts to "write back," and instead locates the basis for speculative futures within Igbo ontological structures. Freshwater 's complex navigation of not only multiple realisms and speculative fiction, but also tradition and change, defies easy categorization and instead offers open-ended avenues for queer Igbo and other African futurities.

Engagement in ‘prevailing societal challenges’ as a contribution to wellbeing? An analysis of interdisciplinary topics in the Norwegian curriculum (LK20)

ABSTRACT Objective This paper explores the expectations of teachers to contribute to fostering students’ wellbeing in the revised Norwegian curriculum. A new construct in the curriculum is three interdisciplinary topics – health and life skills; democracy and citizenship; and, sustainable development – included to give priority to prevailing societal challenges. Our specific concern is the content of these topics, and the extent to which they provide a framework for connecting with complex health and social issues. Method Thematic analysis is used to examine how wellbeing is framed in the curriculum texts. Results Our analysis reveals an emphasis on individualism, the responsibilizing of choice, and the importance attached to individual agency and skills in the three interdisciplinary topics. The topics emphasise the importance of informed, ethical, and wise choices in a way that disconnects people from the world around them. This limits opportunities for students to be introduced to a socioecological perspective on human existence as well as overlooking opportunities for developing a sociocritical approach to students’ wellbeing through engagement with the real world. Conclusion More emphasis on collective challenges and dilemmas might stimulate students’ engagement and could thereby connect wellbeing to empowerment and to a sense of meaning in belonging to a larger whole.

Enhancing software engineering practices with generative AI: A framework for automated code synthesis and refactoring

This paper is based on how software development has been revolutionized using AI in automation, mainly dealing with code synthesis and rewrite frameworks. While there is no focused definition for software development with AI technologies, their application in development processes is unlikely to remain marginal as they mature and provide higher productivity, improved code quality, and enhanced ability for automating repetitive tasks in development. Automating coding means that predefined tools can bring code suggestions, show and apply refactoring features, and enforce coding standards so developers can devote their efforts to other aspects of software development. The following paper describes the practical systems that should be adopted before AI can be incorporated into software development. It also covers essential factors such as ethical, security, and quality aspects regarding the proper use of artificial intelligence. Lastly, the paper focuses on the direction and innovations in the future, including domain-specific AI models, better explainability of the AI solutions, and collaborative tools that can work according to improved and modified development practices. The framework is intended to balance machine learning with human experience to help developers utilize the benefits that an AI-Based Software Development Framework can render.

Natural Products with Potential for the Treatment of Pain: Global Evidence from the NAPRALERT Database.

Natural products (NPs) continue to inform the discovery and development of a diversity of drugs, both marketed and investigational. Pain, one of the most common of human experiences and profound challenges in medicine and biology, has emerged at the core of an urgent societal problem, in the United States and globally. The present study employs a retrospective analysis of an extensive set of published literature curated in the NAPRALERT database to identify NPs with experimental evidence of bioactivity supporting the selection and prioritization of NP leads with promise in pain management. The NAPRALERT pain data set currently documents >38,000 pain-relevant experiments reported in >1,750 distinct journals. The evidence presented here was annotated from >10,000 distinct scientific publications identifying NP extracts and isolates with experimental biological data indicating positive mitigation of pain, inflammation, and/or modulation of nociceptive signaling targets. Correlation of ethnomedical uses with experimental data represents a value-added approach to the selection and prioritization of leads. Dissemination of this unique NP/pain data set, with experimental data and information applicable to basic, translational, and clinical science stakeholders alike, furnishes practical evidence in support of a rational selection of NPs for directed pain research. A large portion of the NAPRALERT pain-relevant data set, along with a set of query tools designed to assist user-directed selection and prioritization of leads, are presented as Supporting Information in order to mitigate the limitations inherent in presenting such a large data set in (print) format. To support user efforts, this report involves explication of NAPRALERT data organization and the articulation of rational approaches to user-guided selection of evidence-based NP leads.

Health literacy & somatic education: a salutogenic self-resource critical health intervention

Abstract Issue Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as musculoskeletal conditions, cause severe functional limitations. Therapeutic practices in this field have employed a theoretical-practical framework with a pathogenic and mechanistic bias. However, the causes of these NCD’s are also related to biopsychosocial factors. Therefore, a critical theoretical-practical approach, such as Somatic Education, becomes relevant as it introduces a subjective experience to an educational praxis, modifying the meaning processes in human movement experience in a complimentary approach to the pathogenic perspective. Description of the problem There is a perceptual poverty in movement experience, which dissociates doing from feeling. Somatic practices aim to foster movement awareness (perception) and autonomy (self-regulation), placing the individual as a valuable resource, strengthening the capacity for understanding, reflection and habitus change. This presentation will focus on the following research questions: Can Somatic Education, as a critical intervention of the body, contribute to increased levels of health literacy? Can somatic practices contribute to sustainable health development? Is it possible to create a new meaningful process in human movement experience through this practice incrementing its salutogenic emphasis? Results/Effects Somatic practices foster integrative approaches of health, promoting subjective bodily experience (interface between doing, thinking and feeling). Integrative progress can urge the embodiment of health literacy, encouraging more active and awareness of individuals related to their well-being, contributing to sustainable health development. Moreover, subjective bodily experience transforms the process of meaning in movement experience. Lessons Somatic practices enhance NCDs prevention and education, increasing health literacy rates through innovative conceptual foundations.

Histological Change of Placenta in Diabetic Pregnant Women in Comparison to Normal Pregnant Women

Background: The placenta is a foeto-maternal organ and its alterations is directly related to the disease’s length and severity. The human placenta experiences a number of functional and structural pathologic alterations when complicated by metabolic disorder such as diabetes mellitus. Methods: This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted over a period of threeyears from January 2019 to December 2021 at the Department of Anatomy, Rajshahi Medical College, Rajshahi, in collaboration with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and Diabetic Hospital Rajshahi, Bangladesh. The study was carried out on 70 pregnant women, among them 35 diabetics and 35 non-diabetics. The fibrinoid necrosis, syncytial knot and immature villi of the placenta were studied in diabetic and non-diabetic pregnant women. SPSS software, version-24 was used for data analysis, with a p-value < 0.05 indicating statistically significance for all tests. Results: The diabetic and non-diabetic pregnant women groups were almost identical in terms of attachment of umbilical cord to placenta with marginal attachment being more often found in either group (p = 0.829). Histological examination of placenta showed that fibrinoid necrosis was common in placenta of diabetic mothers than that of the normal mothers (p < 0.001). Syncytial knot and immature villi were higher in the former group than those in the latter group, here p values were also less than .001. Conclusion: Histological findings (fibrinoid necrosis, syncytial knot and immature villi) were more in placenta of diabetic mother and they were highly significant different between the groups. EWMCJ Vol. 12, No. 1&2, January-July 2024: 27-33

Phenomenology of Mystical Psychedelic Experiences: The Case of Existential Anxiety

AbstractThe essay offers an interpretation of psychedelic peak experiences. It criticizes the quasi-scientific naturalistic attempts to explain such experiences and offers an alternative ontology underlying a more complex sense of naturalism, thus defending an entheogenic view irreducible to mere psychological effects. First, the mainstream ontology in the paradigm of natural sciences is exposed as being a version of the ontology of presence. This fact is shown as the reason for the phenomenological gap and the impotence of the natural sciences to address human experience. Next, existential anxiety is interpreted in terms of Heidegger’s ontology and is suggested as the core dimension of possible spiritual transformation. Finally, the phenomenology of mystical psychedelic experiences (MPE) is interpreted in terms of overcoming existential anxiety– a well-documented effect of MPE – and explicated in ontological terms. The psychedelic experience is shown to be mystical in a sense of transcending the everyday mode of existential denial of the enigmatic nature of the universe by facing the nothingness in a way that transforms one’s stand within it into a stand of original belongingness to the field of emptiness (Nishitani). Different aspects of psychedelic experience are explained and co-related in terms of such a transformation.

Filsafat Materialisme Karl Marx (Epistimologi Dialectical And Historical Materiali)

With the premise that the production and distribution of products and services is vital to aid people in growing their life, this article examines Karl Marx's historical materialism and its methodology. Economic considerations serve as the foundation of human existence, while the concrete problems of human awareness in the fields of science, philosophy, ideology, and religion serve as the superstructure, according to him. According to Marx, society's superstructure is defined by its economic foundation. Marx argued that the struggle between social classes was the driving force behind all major historical shifts. Marx posits a social hierarchy in which the capitalist bourgeoisie and the working class proletariat are the two main social groups. Thus, rather than people, social class is a product of historical development that dictates how events unfold. A class revolution is inevitable given the presence of these two social strata. Religion is the opium of the masses, according to Marx; the more one devotes oneself to religion, the more lost he will become. Religion does not create man, but rather, Marx argues that humans create religion.

1.M. Scientific session: Young and lonely – exploring experiences, challenges, and potential solutions

Abstract Experiencing loneliness is a natural facet of human existence, often considered a normative aspect of adolescent life. However, for some adolescents, this experience evolves into a ‘vicious circle’ of prolonged loneliness, making it challenging to reconnect with their social environment. This issue is important given the significance of fulfilling social relationships during adolescence. Peer relationships are particularly important in facilitating various developmental processes such as identity formation, asserting of autonomy from parental influence, and acquisition of social skills. Loneliness among adolescents is notably high, as evidenced by mounting research highlighting its prevalence in this age group surpassing other age groups. Research spanning adulthood and old age consistently demonstrates loneliness as a risk factor for both mental and physical health outcomes, including stress, depression, chronic diseases, and premature mortality. Even during adolescence, loneliness is associated with adverse mental and physical health, with potential long-term consequences extending into adulthood. These findings underscore the imperative of addressing adolescent loneliness and the need for effective interventions and widespread solutions tailored to this demographic. This workshop aims to address adolescent loneliness, exploring their experiences, challenges, and the consequences of loneliness, while also addressing possibilities for mitigation and prevention. Through three presentations followed by a joint discussion with the audience, participants will gain important insights into this critical issue. The workshop will be chaired by Asst. Prof. Julie Christiansen (Defactum - Public Health Research, Denmark, and University of Southern Denmark). Julie Christiansen will provide an introductory overview, describing current knowledge of adolescent loneliness including prevalence, ascendants, and consequences, based on findings from the Danish National Health Survey (How are you?”). The first presentation will be given by Lily Verity (University of Manchester, UK), who will present the findings from a qualitative research study with adolescents highlighting factors that influence their approach to coping with loneliness. Following this, Prof. Mathias Lasgaard (Defactum - Public Health Research, Denmark, and University of Southern Denmark) and Dr. Anne Friis Bo (Defactum - Public Health Research, Denmark) will provide an overview of the intervention landscape, including current knowledge on the effectiveness of various intervention strategies. The presentation will also highlight the potential of community-based approaches. This will be exemplified through an introduction to the Danish initiative ‘More Together’ including 36 partners in Silkeborg Municipality. Lastly, Ph.D. student Lauren Burke (University of Manchester, UK) will present the findings from a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of loneliness interventions for children and adolescents. Key messages • The prevalence of loneliness among adolescents surpasses that of other age groups, substantiated by extensive research spanning nations. • Loneliness during adolescence is potentially modifiable through targeted interventions.

Model of superior semicircular canal dehiscence: asymmetrical vestibular dysfunction induces reversible balance impairment

BackgroundSuperior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD) is a vestibular-cochlear disorder in humans in which a pathological third mobile window of the otic capsule creates changes to the flow of sound pressure energy through the perilymph/endolymph. The primary symptoms include sound-induced dizziness/vertigo, inner ear conductive hearing loss, autophony, headaches, and visual problems. We have developed an animal model of this human condition in the Mongolian Gerbil that uses surgically created SSCD to induce the condition. A feature that is unique in this model is that spontaneous resurfacing of the dehiscence occurs via osteoneogenesis without a subsequent intervention. In this study, we completed our assessment of this model to include reversible asymmetrical vestibular impairments that interfere with balance.MethodsAdult Mongolian gerbils (N = 6) were trained to complete a balance beam task. They were also trained to perform a Rotarod task. After 10 days of training, preoperative ABR and c+VEMP testing was followed by a surgical fenestration of the left superior semicircular canal. Balance beam testing recommenced at postoperative day 6 and continued through postoperative day 15 at which point final ABR and c+VEMP testing was carried out.ResultsBehavioral comparison of preoperative and postoperative performance show a significant decrease in Rotarod performance, increased rates of falling, and an increase in time to cross the balance beam. Impairments were the most significant at postoperative day 7 with a return toward preoperative performance by postoperative day 14. This behavioral impairment was correlated with residual impairments to auditory thresholds and vestibular myogenic amplitudes at postoperative day 14.ConclusionThese results confirm that aberrant asymmetric vestibular output in our model of SSCD results in reversible balance impairments. The level of these behavioral impairments is directly correlated with severity of the vestibular dysfunction as we have previously reported for peripheral ear physiology and cognition.

Explaining the Dynamics and Stability of Dialects: A Representational Approach

Abstract In this article, the focus is on the pivotal role of speakers in shaping language dynamics and dialectal stability, particularly within the context of dialectal variation. It is evident that language is intricately tied to human experience, serving as a tool for navigation, problem-solving, and social interaction. This article posits that understanding the interplay between language dynamics and stability of dialects requires a nuanced consideration of speakers and their practical relationships with the world as well as their linguistic mental representations. People are not passive recipients of language; rather, they actively engage with it in various contexts, adapting to new situations and influencing linguistic change. Through empirical examples from German dialectology, the article illustrates how speakers’ interactions with their environment shape language evolution. Overall, the article aims to provide insight into the role of speakers in driving linguistic change and maintaining linguistic conventions within dialectal contexts. By examining the practical relationships between speakers and their environment, it contributes to the development of a comprehensive framework for understanding the complexities of language variation and evolution considering linguistic representations.

Gambaran Self-Compassion pada Wanita yang Pernah Mengalami Dating Violence: Sebuah Pendekatan Fenomenologi

Dating violence is a form of abuse in a relationship that can have harmful physical and psychological impacts on one partner. Gender inequality due to patriarchal culture, along with the sense of attachment that often develops in women, makes them more vulnerable to becoming victims of dating violence. Self-compassion, which focuses on being kind to yourself and accepting pain as part of the human experience, can be used as a mechanism to help people cope with the traumatic experiences caused by dating violence. This study aims to describe self-compassion in women who have experienced dating violence using a qualitative method and a phenomenological approach. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, and purposive sampling was used to select 5 female participants, all of whom were college students who had experienced dating violence. Data analysis was carried out using a coding technique to identify the main themes related to the participants' self-compassion after experiencing dating violence. The findings showed that 2 out of 5 participants exhibited positive self-compassion. This was shown in their ability to recover after experiencing dating violence, where they could show care and concern for themselves during the difficult post-breakup phase while also giving themselves the necessary positive affirmations. Furthermore, the participants initiated productive activities to improve their self-worth and confidence. This positive self-compassion played an important role in facilitating the psychological and emotional recovery from the inner wounds caused by the abusive relationship.

Human Interiority and Artificial Intelligence

This article addresses the issue of attributing phenomenal consciousness to Artificial Intelligence (AI), a mistake that can lead to ethically dangerous consequences and that is becoming widespread due to the advances of Large Language Models such as ChatGPT. We juxtapose advancements in AI with the notion of inner experience as it is present in humans. The study draws from various disciplines, including philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, and theological texts such as "The Inner Castle" by Saint Theresa of Ávila and "Confessions" by Saint Augustine. Firstly, it reviews the current state of the relationship between phenomenal consciousness and AI, followed by a critique of the idea that advanced language models, like ChatGPT, can achieve an inner experience in the same sense we use the term to describe the human inner experience. A common objection is raised, suggesting that AI can become conscious by increasing its complexity. This is countered by presenting theoretical and empirical evidence on the independence of computational intelligence and phenomenal consciousness. The study concludes that, despite AI's notable cognitive abilities, it lacks the inner experience that characterizes human experience. Then, our second main contribution is an analogy of the dwellings of the Inner Castle to the range of different subjective experiences that are available to human beings, together with actions associated to them, which can be useful to understand where the machine can perform tasks that are similar to the human and where subjective experience is key. We are now in a pivotal moment where it is essential to understand the limitations of AI for deploying it ethically.

God of Promise and Voucher: Alienation, Reconciliation, and Resurrection

Abstract A Christian approach to suffering, sin, and evil cannot offer now a full theodicy. We now ‘know in part’ only regarding divine purposes in allowing suffering, sin, and evil. We can clarify instead how God interacts in righteousness with people as their God of promise and voucher in the midst of suffering, sin, and evil. To that end, this article illuminates a divine effort toward human reconciliation with God in righteousness and resurrection, despite our gaps in explaining suffering, sin, and evil. It identifies current reconciliation with God and resurrection by God that do not fully explain suffering, sin, and evil, but can be a voucher now in human experience and life for eventual eschatological reparations promised by God. If the Spirit of God can be such a voucher, so also can the reconciliation and resurrection now empowered by that Spirit. This article recognizes a special role for the divine ‘fruit of the Spirit’ identified by Paul. It also explains how this role figures in spiritual resurrection with Christ now, in advance of any resurrection of the body. The article contends that the spiritual resurrection in question emerges through reconciliation with God now in volitional cooperation with God’s unique moral personality traits.

Real-Time Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Monitoring Using an IoT-Based Wireless Sensing Network

In recent years, our time spent indoors has risen to around 90% and to maintain an occupant’s comfort and well-being, Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is monitored. Concerned with inhabitant’s satisfaction and health, the adoption of smart solutions for IEQ monitoring and improvement has expanded. The solution this study explores is an occupant-centric approach involving the implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT) IEQ sensing network in a prominent office skyscraper in Hong Kong. Over the course of 15 months, real-time IEQ data were collected from 12 locations within the building. The data were collected at 1-min time intervals and consisted of readings of indoor air temperature, radiant temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), horizontal illuminance levels, and sound pressure levels, which served as the basis of the assessment made about the qualities of thermal comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ), aural comfort, and visual comfort. Compared to traditional periodic surveys, this IoT-based sensing network captured instantaneous environmental variations, providing valuable insights into the indoor environment’s spatial characterization and temporal dynamics. This smart solution also assisted facility management in terms of identifying sources of discomfort and developing effective mitigation strategies accordingly. This study presents an occupant-centric approach to improve occupant comfort and energy efficiency within office buildings. By customizing the built environment to enhance occupants’ well-being, comfort, and productivity, an emphasis is placed on a more personalized and occupant-focused design strategy. This approach integrates technical design with human experience, highlighting the importance of real-time physical and subjective surveys for achieving optimal results.

EXAMEN CRÍTICO DE LOS ARGUMENTOS DE PLANTINGA EN DEFENSA DEL EXCLUSIVISMO RELIGIOSO

In "Pluralism: A Defense of Religious Exclusivism" Alvin Plantinga defends religious exclusivism from a variety of objections. In this paper I discuss two of those objections. First, where Plantinga set two grounds of their religious beliefs as exclusivist, they missed to mention a third important ground of exclusive believe which is ‘Holy Scriptures’. In this paper I'll try to show that this third ground can change the scenario. Second, in the against of moral objections, like Exclusivists, are guilty of moral failures and arrogant, elitist, egotistical, unjust, oppressive, and imperialistic etc.; Plantinga reply that: Religious exclusivism is not necessarily a moral or intellectual failure and, (because?) given the human condition, some exclusivism is inevitable in our lives. In other words, there is no alternative to religious exclusivism. I argue, in contrast to Plantinga, that there is a contradiction in their argument and a version of this principle is not absolutely correct.

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Auditing and the Future of Human Workforce Replacement

The advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) over the recent years have been drastic and stunning, and they have revolutionized the world in such ways as influencing the advancement of other fields such as accounting. This research paper aims to study the deep influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the auditing profession. They plan to assess the strengths and the existing applications to auditing: machine learning, natural language processing, deep learning, and robotic process automation. These technologies allow the auditors to identify issues that they were previously unable to, or it would have taken them so much of their time to be able to locate. The paper also brings out the various risks related to the application of AI to auditing tasks. Some challenges include data quality and its privacy, ethical dilemmas, opaqueness, and regulatory matters on the use of Artificial Intelligence. Also, the soundness of AI choices and the ability to explain such decisions remain an issue, especially with complex financial data that depend on human perception and experience. Additionally, the paper also examines the possibility of AI imposing to replace human auditors in the future while comparing the technological aspects of the audit together with the humanistic aspects.