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A recent wave of brain research has advanced our understanding of the neural mechanisms of conscious states, contents and functions. A host of questions remain to be explored, as shown by lively debates between models of higher vs. lower-order aspects of consciousness, as well as global vs. local models. (Baars 2007; Block, 2009; Dennett and Cohen, 2011; Lau and Rosenthal, 2011). Over some twenty-five centuries the contemplative traditions have also developed explicit descriptions and taxonomies of the mind, to interpret experiences that are often reported in contemplative practices (Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1967; Rinbochay & Naper, 1981). These traditional descriptions sometimes converge on c...
In Radical Transformation, Imants Barušs leads the reader out of the receding materialist paradigm into an emerging post-materialist landscape in which new questions present themselves. If consciousness has nonlocal properties, then how are boundaries between events established? If consciousness directly modulates physical manifestation, then what is the scope of such modulation? If consciousness continues after physical death, then how much interference is there from non-physical entities? As we face the threat of extinction on this planet, is there anything in recent consciousness research that can help us? Are there effective means of self-transformation that can be used to enter persistent transcendent states of consciousness that could resolve existential and global crises? The author leads the reader through discussions of meaning, radical transformation, and subtle activism, revealing the unexpected interplay of consciousness and reality along the way.
Over the last ten years or so, it has become commonplace to hear talk of an obscurantist threat linked to a rise in irrationality, manifested mainly by a mistrust of vaccination and conventional medicine. But obscurantism can also be found where we pride ourselves on fighting it. In this case, it is no longer the work of marginal or anti-establishment groups, but of a dominant way of thinking that presents itself as that of science and rationality. The aim of this book is to lift the veil on this obscurantism in power. Through numerous examples, from impeded research into unexplained phenomena such as near-death experiences, to the vast field of medicine where the pharmaceutical industry has cornered the market on proving the usefulness of a treatment, Brice Perrier reveals how reason is transformed into dogmatism and hinders the advancement of knowledge. The aim of the book is not to say what is true or false, nor to settle scientific controversies, but to understand why these debates, which have always been legitimate and even necessary in science, may simply no longer be allowed.
The story of a neural impulse and what it reveals about how our brains work We see the last cookie in the box and think, can I take that? We reach a hand out. In the 2.1 seconds that this impulse travels through our brain, billions of neurons communicate with one another, sending blips of voltage through our sensory and motor regions. Neuroscientists call these blips “spikes.” Spikes enable us to do everything: talk, eat, run, see, plan, and decide. In The Spike, Mark Humphries takes readers on the epic journey of a spike through a single, brief reaction. In vivid language, Humphries tells the story of what happens in our brain, what we know about spikes, and what we still have left to u...
Prominent scientists and philosophers of science address contemporary debates on the nature of Time. Their contributions freely discuss its unity and reality, its compatibility with the orders of classical philosophy (present, past and future) and with the disputed idea of free will (Volume 1). They also present a detailed and updated state of the role of Time in the so-called exact sciences: biology — or more precisely genetics, evolution, neurosciences, natural and artificial intelligence (Volume 2) , and physics — relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum gravity, and cosmology (Volume 3).
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Visual shape analysis plays a fundamental role in perception by man and by computer, allowing for inferences about properties of objects and scenes in the physical world. Mathematical approaches to describing visual form can benefit from the use of representations that simultaneously capture properties of an object's outline as well as its interior. Motivated by the success of medial models, this doctoral thesis revisits a quantity related to medial axis computations, the average outward flux of the gradient of the Euclidean distance function from a boundary, and then addresses three distinct problems using this measure. First, I consider the problem of view sphere partitioning for view-base...
This volume presents the proceedings of the International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (ICBHI). The conference was a new special topic conference and a common initiative by the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) and IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (IEEE- EMBS). BHI2015 was held in Haikou, China, 8-10 October 2015. The main theme of the BHI2015 is “The Convergence: Integrating Information and Communication Technologies with Biomedicine for Global Health”. The ICBHI2015 proceedings examine enabling technologies of sensors, devices and systems that optimize the acquisition, transmission, processing, storage, retrieval, use of biomedical and health information as well as to report novel clinical applications of health information systems and the deployment of m-Health, e-Health, u-Health, p-Health and Telemedicine.
Thousands, perhaps millions, of people have had near-death experiences (NDEs). Why do so many report uncannily similar experiences? What are they—a simple trick of the mind and body or something more? What are we to make of them, and do they tell us anything about the possibility of an afterlife? An illuminating and thought-provoking journey into the enigmatic territory where science, spirituality, and human consciousness converge, Near Death Experiences: Afterlife Journeys and Revelations presents a comprehensive journey through different interpretations of NDEs: The Scientific. What neuroscience, medicine, and biology have to say about what happens at the brink of death. The Religious. W...
This volume contains 69 papers presented at ICICT 2015: International Congress on Information and Communication Technology. The conference was held during 9th and 10th October, 2015, Udaipur, India and organized by CSI Udaipur Chapter, Division IV, SIG-WNS, SIG-e-Agriculture in association with ACM Udaipur Professional Chapter, The Institution of Engineers (India), Udaipur Local Centre and Mining Engineers Association of India, Rajasthan Udaipur Chapter. This volume contains papers mainly focused on ICT for Managerial Applications, E-governance, IOT and e-Mining.