Self-Awareness,a Singularity of AI

Self-awareness,or self-consciousness,refers to reflective recognition of the existence of“subjective-self”.Every person has a subjective-self from which the person observes and interacts with the world.In this article,we argue that self-consciousness is an enigmatic phenomenon unique in human intelligence.Unlike many other intelligent and conscious capabilities,self-consciousness is not possible to be achieved in electronic computers and robots.Self-consciousness is an odd-point of human intelligence and a singularity of artificial intelligence(AI).Man-made intelligence through software is not capable of self-consciousness;therefore,robots will never become a newly created species.Because of the lack of self-awareness,AI software,such as Watson,Alpha-zero,ChatGPT,and PaLM,will remain a tool of humans and will not dominate the human society no matter how smart it is.This singularity of AI makes us re-think humbly what the future AI is like,what kind of robots we are going to deal with,and the blessing and threat of AI on humanity.

Cronbach's a reliability, concurrent validity, and factorial structure of the Death Depression Scale in an Iranian hospital staff sample

Objective: Death depression is an important component in the process of death and dying. Death depression is the second element of death. Depression is one of the important features in death distress. The aim of this study was to explore the performance of the Farsi version of the Death Depression Scale with an Iranian convenience sample of nurses (n =106).Methods: Nurses were selected using a convenience sampling method, and completed the Death Depression Scale (DDS), Death Concern Scale (DCS), Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale (CLFDS), Reasons for Death Fear Scale (RDFS), Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), and Death Obsession Scale (DOS). Results: The results of exploratory factor analysis on DDS identified 4 factors (56.16%of variance). Factor 1 labeled"Death sadness", Factor 2 labeled"Death finality/end and Death dread/fear", Factor 3 labeled"Death despair and Death depression", and Factor 4 labeled"Death loneliness". Cronbach's a coefficient was 0.84, Spearman-Brown coefficient 0.85, and Guttman Split-Half coefficient 0.81 The DDS correlated 0.40 with the DCS, 0.39 with the CLFDS, 0.50 with the DAS, 0.35 with the RDFS, and 0.44 with the DOS, indicating good construct and criterion-related validity. Concurrent validity for the DDS with the other scales were significant. Conclusions: The DDS has good validity and reliability, and it can use in clinical and research settings.

Hydrodynamic parameters in a flood impacted boulder block ramp： Krzczonówka mountain stream, Polish Carpathians

Boulder block ramps are river engineering structures used to stabilise river beds. Block ramps provide a semi-natural and aesthetically pleasing solution to certain river engineering problems in mountain streams. When constructing block ramps,one can use the dissipative behaviour of large macroroughness elements randomly placed on the river bed to enhance fish migration in an upstream direction thus, in this sense, meeting the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive. Block ramps are often designed and constructed to replace damaged drop hydraulic structures in the channels of mountain streams. This paper investigates the resilience of a particular block ramp placed in the Krzczonówka stream(Polish Carpathians) in terms of the engineering design function and its durability against damaging. A hydrodynamic analysis of a block ramp is presented before and after a flood event that changed the configuration of the blocks. The seminatural unstructured hydraulic structure was built on the Krzczonowka stream to protect gas pipes which are located beneath it. As a result of several floods, the boulder block chute described in this paper was damaged, and some boulders were dislodged and transported downstream. Our post-flood investigations of bathymetry and velocity revealed that even damaged boulder blocks, removed from the chute and displaced downstream of the structure, still provide significant energy dissipation of the flowing water. The novel of our paper is for the first time showing very detailed analysis of unstructured block ramp hydrodynamics parameters done in the field.Also the novel finding of our investigations shows that before and after the flood event the unstructured block ramp structure, is still fish friendly in terms of hydrodynamics.

死亡恐惧原因量表的心理测量学评价

目的死亡恐惧是死亡学的主要科目,有些研究人员已经定义了对死亡的恐惧原因。本研究以106名伊朗护士作为研究样本,目的是探索波斯语版死亡恐惧量表的信效度。方法采用方便抽样方法选取研究对象,并采用死亡恐惧量表(the Reasons for Death Fear Scale,RDFS)、死亡担忧量表(Death Concern Scale,DCS)、Collett-Lester死亡恐惧量表(Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale,CLFDS)、死亡焦虑量表(Death Anxiety Scale,DAS)、死亡抑郁量表(Death Depression Scale,DDS)和死亡困扰量表(Death Obsession Scale,DOS)进行调查。结果量表的Cronbach’sα系数为0.90,重复测量信度为0.64。RDFS与5个量表的相关系数分别为0.34,0.39,0.50,0.35和0.39,显示较好的结构效度和效标关联效度。经过探索性因子分析,确定RDFS包括“疼痛和惩罚的恐惧”“离开人世的恐惧”“宗教的罪过及失败”“与亲人分离”4个因子,可解释66.20%的变异。结论RDFS具有良好的效度和可靠性,且可以应用于临床和研究工作。

Validation of the Farsi version of the Death Obsession Scale among nurses

Objectives:Obsession is one of the important aspects in death distress.The objective of this study was to estimate the reliability,validity,and factorial structure of the Farsi version of the Death Obsession Scale(DOS).Methods:A convenience sample of 106 Iranian nurses from two hospitals at Tehran city,Iran was recruited.They completed the DOS,Death Concern Scale,Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale,Death Anxiety Scale,Reasons for Death Fear Scale,and Death Depression Scale.Results:Cronbach's a for the DOS was 0.95,and 2-week test-retest reliability was 0.74.The DOS correlated 0.48,0.46,0.47,0.39 and 0.44 with the last mentioned scales,respectively(P<0.01),indicating good construct and criterion-related validity.Principle components analysis of the DOS identified three factors accounted for 74.82%of the variance.Factor 1 labeled“Death rumination”(34.78%of the variance),Factor 2 labeled“Death dominance”(29.65%of the variance),and Factor 3 labeled“Death idea repetition”(10.38%of the variance).Conclusions:The DOS has good validity and reliability,and it could be recommended for use in clinical and research settings to assess the death obsession in Iranian nurses.

Regarding Constituents of Subjective-Self

The kernel of human consciousness is self-consciousness. We in this article explore the issue about what subjective-self is composed of. A distinctive feature of "I" is uniqueness or un-duplicableness. By critically reviewing a few thought experiments, we reason that subjective-self must be composed of more than a blob of brain cells which are sophisticated enough to think reflexively and a bundle of memories and perceptions. There must be a third constituent for the existence of "I". We put forward two hypotheses for the third constituent. One is that it is something like dark matters or dark energy. Another is that it is something in the higher dimensional space. A person would lose his self-consciousness after death since the death takes away the two necessary constituents of subjective-self, his brain and memories. Where the third constituent would go after death remains a mystery.

Healthcare data analytics:using a metadata annotation approach for integrating electronic hospital records

The data in electronic medical records(EMR)are complex in structure.They are independent,yet related to each other.In order to improve information access through the use of EMR,annotating work on these data is necessary.The annotation on metadata,the resource data which contain a meta-model of the database,is the basis of the annotating work if a semi-automated or an automated annotating approach which aims at making the database more accessible is expected.In this study,a method has been proposed to transform the terms which cannot be matched directly by changing them literally but maintaining their semantics,and then annotating them indirectly.After the transforming work,a refinement method which is reducible to phrase sense disambiguation(PSD)is employed to ensure accuracy.A pilot study on a hospital database has been conducted to test the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method.

The use of self-Reiki for stress reduction and relaxation

OBJECTIVE： More than one-third of college students reported the desire for stress reduction techniques and education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 20-week structured self-Reiki program on stress reduction and relaxation in college students. METHODS： Students were recruited from Stockton University and sessions were conducted in the privacy of their residence. Twenty students completed the entire study consisting of 20 weeks of self- Reiki done twice weekly. Each participant completed a Reiki Baseline Credibility Scale, a Reiki Expectancy Scale, and a Perceived Stress Scale （PSS） after acceptance into the study. The PSS was completed every four weeks once the interventions were initiated. A global assessment questionnaire was completed at the end of the study. Logs summarizing the outcome of each session were submitted at the end of the study. RESULTS： With the exception of three participants, participants believed that Reiki is a credible technique for reducing stress levels. Except for two participants, participants agreed that Reiki would be effective in reducing stress levels. All participants experienced stress within the month prior to completing the initial PSS. There was a significant reduction in stress levels from pre-study to post-study. There was a correlation between self-rating of improvement and final PSS scores. With one exception, stress levels at 20 weeks did not return to pre-study stress levels. CONCLUSION： This study supports the hypothesis that the calming effect of Reiki may be achieved through the use of self-Reiki.

An evolving trajectory-from PD,logistics,SCM to the theory of material flow

The growing interest in the material flow(MF)theory has invoked much interesting research in recent years.Although the MF theory is relatively new,a review of the related literature from a historical perspective shows that MF theory represents a new stage of the evolutionary development of interrelated subjects such as Physical Distribution(PD),Logistics,and Supply Chain Management(SCM).The purpose of this paper is to provide a summative review of the evolution of the subjects of PD,Logistics,and SCM,and their new development,MF theory.The paper aims at tracing how concepts and findings in PD,Logistics,SCM,and MF have been developed and have evolved.The study shows that PD evolved to Logistics in middle of the 1980s;starting from the late 1990s,Logistics has evolved to SCM;and today PD,Logistics,and SCM can be considered to be under the umbrella provided by a new theory called MF theory.This paper points out that MF theory is a necessity to deal with the overwhelming complexity of material flow systems in the global economy of the twenty-first century.