Human Individuals (human + individual)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Intravascular neural interface with nanowire electrode

ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATIONS IN JAPAN, Issue 7 2009
Hirobumi Watanabe
Abstract A minimally invasive electrical recording and stimulating technique capable of simultaneously monitoring the activity of a significant number (e.g., 103 to 104) of neurons is an absolute prerequisite in developing an effective brain,machine interface. Although there are many excellent methodologies for recording single or multiple neurons, there has been no methodology for accessing large numbers of cells in a behaving experimental animal or human individual. Brain vascular parenchyma is a promising candidate for addressing this problem. It has been proposed [1, 2] that a multitude of nanowire electrodes introduced into the central nervous system through the vascular system to address any brain area may be a possible solution. In this study we implement a design for such microcatheter for ex vivo experiments. Using Wollaston platinum wire, we design a submicron-scale electrode and develop a fabrication method. We then evaluate the mechanical properties of the electrode in a flow when passing through the intricacies of the capillary bed in ex vivo Xenopus laevis experiments. Furthermore, we demonstrate the feasibility of intravascular recording in the spinal cord of Xenopus laevis. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 92(7): 29,37, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10058 [source]


Competence transfer from old timers to newcomers analysed with the help of the holistic concept of man

KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 1 2006
Kaj U. Koskinen
This conceptual article addresses the question of how the competencies of old timers are transferred to newcomers in the context of a technology company. First, an individual's personal competence which is divided into knowledge based competencies and socially based competencies is illustrated. A special focus is on how the competence alters in the course of the individual's working life. Second, our conceptual tool the ,Holistic Concept of Man', which defines the human individual to consist of three deeply intertwined modes of existence (i.e. consciousness, situationality and corporeality), is described. Third, because in the literature the communicability and motivation are often identified as factors that facilitate or hinder competence transfer, these factors are analysed by the tool mentioned. However, because the competence is, in fact, transferred from the worldview of an old timer to the worldview of a newcomer, this concept is described before the analysis. Also the notion of communicability is divided further and handled in three different sub-sections dealing with: straight interaction between an old timer and a newcomer, action learning, and workplace learning. The paper ends with the conclusion that when studying and analysing competence transfer in practice, three individual dimensions (i.e. consciousness, situationality and corporeality) should be understood and taken into consideration. It is also concluded that old timers' and newcomers' different worldviews and different situationalities are the central reasons for difficulties in the competence transferring process between these parties. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Brief communication: The London atlas of human tooth development and eruption

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
S.J. AlQahtani
Abstract The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive evidence-based atlas to estimate age using both tooth development and alveolar eruption for human individuals between 28 weeks in utero and 23 years. This was a cross-sectional, retrospective study of archived material with the sample aged 2 years and older having a uniform age and sex distribution. Developing teeth from 72 prenatal and 104 postnatal skeletal remains of known age-at-death were examined from collections held at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Natural History Museum, London, UK (M 91, F 72, unknown sex 13). Data were also collected from dental radiographs of living individuals (M 264, F 264). Median stage for tooth development and eruption for all age categories was used to construct the atlas. Tooth development was determined according to Moorrees et al. (J Dent Res 42 (1963a) 490,502; Am J Phys Anthropol 21 (1963b) 205,213) and eruption was assessed relative to the alveolar bone level. Intraexaminer reproducibility calculated using Kappa on 150 teeth was 0.90 for 15 skeletal remains of age <2 years, and 0.81 from 605 teeth (50 radiographs). Age categories were monthly in the last trimester, 2 weeks perinatally, 3-month intervals during the first year, and at every year thereafter. Results show that tooth formation is least variable in infancy and most variable after the age of 16 years for the development of the third molar. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Science against modernism: the relevance of the social theory of Michael Polanyi

THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2001
Charles Thorpe
ABSTRACT Science, as an institution, is widely taken by sociologists to exemplify the modern tendency towards vesting trust and authority in impersonal offices and procedures, rather than in embodied human individuals. Such views of science face an important challenge in the social philosophy of Michael Polanyi. His work provides important insights into the continuing role of embodied personal authority and tradition in science and, hence, in late modernity. I explicate Polanyi's relevance for social theory, through a comparison with Weber's essay ,Science as a Vocation'. An understanding of the personal dimensions of trust and authority in science suggests practical limits to the position of Giddens on the disembedding of social relations and on the scepticism and reflexivity of modernity. [source]


Divisibility and the Moral Status of Embryos

BIOETHICS, Issue 5-6 2001
Christian Munthe
The phenomenon of twinning in early fetal development has become a popular source for doubt regarding the ascription of moral status to early embryos. In this paper, the possible moral basis for such a line of reasoning is critically analysed with sceptical results. Three different versions of the argument from twinning are considered, all of which are found to rest on confusions between the actual division of embryos involved in twinning and the property of early embryos to be divisible, to be based on highly questionable ethical assumptions, or to imply inconsistent claims regarding the moral importance of potentiality and/or the moral status of embryos. This is taken to expose a number of related inconsistencies in the moral basis of pro-life positions. In particular, ascribing moral significance to the property of being (in)divisible is found to be incompatible with the claim that human individuals possess unique values which could underpin an absolute moral ban on murder. [source]