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Prosthetic hands introduce an artificial sensorimotor interface between the prosthesiswearer and the environment that is prone to perturbations. We analyze theoretically and evaluate psychophysically the performance in stable grip control in conditions of physical grasps perturbation, such as object slip. Simulation results suggest that user-centered stable grasp control depends on two primal user parameters: reaction time to slip and grip force intensity. Experiments with human users indicate that a user's response time can be controlled by relaying information about the speed of the slipping object, while minimal grip force intensity can be adjusted with information about grip force at the onset of the slip. Based on our theoretical and experimental findings, we propose a stable grasp control method for prosthetic hands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the development of legged locomotion robots that can achieve both efficiency and versatility has been one of the most important challenges in robotics research. In general, fully actuated systems that can achieve many variations of behaviors show comparatively low energy efficiency, while it is extremely difficult to enrich the behavioral diversity of passivity-based systems that exhibit efficient behaviors. In order to overcome the tradeoff, there has been an increasing interest in the development of actuation technologies, such as variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) that can autonomously adjust mechanical dynamics. However, although many VSAs have been proposed and developed in the past, researchers are yet to clarify how such actuators can improve both energy efficiency and behavioral diversity. From this perspective, the goal of this paper is to investigate a one-legged hopping robot that is equipped with a class of VSA with the intention of explaining how behavioral diversity can be enhanced with modest impact in the energy efficiency. Through a systematic analysis including both simulation and a real-world robot platform, this paper investigates how the natural dynamics of hopping robots can be varied by the actuator resulting in variations in stride frequencies and locomotion speed while maximizing energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the link between trust and law through the prism of the mafia phenomenon. Mafias spread in a context of "endogenous mistrust" and manage to privatize law by imposing an unwritten system of rules in their territory. This alternative system of law has consequences in terms of distorted access to economic opportunities for non-Mafiosi as it is oriented in favor of its affiliates and external backers. It also leads to the emergence of negative social capital benefiting Mafiosi but unable to create relationships based on genuine trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

His seminal I De Arte de Combinator!a i distinguishes itself with the extensive application of disc-like diagrams, largely inspired by Ramon Llull's I Ars Magna. i Leibniz used diagrams and other forms of "element modelling" to study the primary qualities ofthe universe. As our interactions get more external by means of technological solutions (add-ons and extensions), diagramming the "emotional" gains a new meaning by becoming a form of an aesthetic (yet conceptually oriented) detachment from the physical.[1] To explore that becoming, I engage with scientifically motivated art, specifically three works - Lancet and Maat's I E.E.G. Kiss i , Noemi Iglesias's I Off Love i and Przemyslaw Jasielski's I Emotion Machine Unit i - to delineate the abstract of diagramming feelings. CONCLUSION: DIAGRAM AMBIENCE Do diagrams "feel"? I eta/. i 2019: 2,010) EEG KISS taps into non-traditional incarnations of diagrammatic expression: interface diagrams and sound diagrams (a topic for another discussion). [Extracted from the article]

The interrelationship among art, intelligence, and machine has important implications for the visual arts as part of a general education. Here, Frederic Fol Leymarie (FFL), a computer scientist and engineer at Goldsmiths College, and Seymour Simmons III (SS3), an artist and art educator from Winthrop University, South Carolina, discuss these issues and the value of sustained cross-disciplinary conversations in addressing challenges in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Russia is large and not well-controlled. To describe the more recent molecular epidemiology of HIV-1, transmitted drug resistance, and the relationship between the epidemics in this region, we sequenced the protease and reverse transcriptase genes of HIV-1 from 812 people living with HIV from Ukraine (n = 191), Georgia (n = 201), and Russia (n = 420) before the initiation of antiretroviral therapy. In 190 Ukrainian patients, the integrase gene sequence was also determined. The most reported route of transmission was heterosexual contact, followed by intravenous drug use, and men having sex with men (MSM). Several pre-existing drug resistance mutations were found against non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) (n = 103), protease inhibitors (n = 11), and nucleoside analogue RTIs (n = 12), mostly polymorphic mutations or revertants. In the integrase gene, four strains with accessory integrase strand transfer inhibitor mutations were identified. Sub-subtype A6 caused most of the infections (713/812; 87.8%) in all three countries, including in MSM. In contrast to earlier studies, no clear clusters related to the route of transmission were identified, indicating that, within the region, the exchange of viruses among the different risk groups may occur more often than earlier reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive science has gathered robust evidence supporting the hypothesis that cognitive processes do not occur in an amodal format but take shape through the activation of the sensorimotor systems of the agent body, which works as simulation system upon which concepts, words, and thought are based. However, studies that have investigated the relationship between language and cognitive processes, as both embedded processes, are very rare. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that intelligence is associated with referential competence, conceived as the ability to find words to refer to our subjective and perceptual experience, and to evoke understanding of this experience in the listener. We administered the WAIS-IV test to 32 nonclinical subjects and collected autobiographical narratives from them through the Relationship Anecdotes Paradigm Interview. The narratives were analyzed linguistically by applying computerized measures of referential competence. Intelligence scores were found to correlate with the use in narratives of words related to somatic and sensory sensations, while they were not associated with other measures of referential competence related to more abstract domains of experience or based on vivid or reflective dimensions of language style. The results support the hypothesis that sensorimotor schemas have an intrinsic role in language and cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We sought to develop a simple, effective and accurate assessment tool using well-known prognostic parameters to predict mortality and morbidity in severely injured patients with major fractures at the stage of the trauma bay. Methods: European Data from the TraumaRegister DGU® were queried for patients aged 16 or older and with an ISS of 9 and higher with major fractures. The development (2012–2015) and validation (2016) groups were separated. The four prognostic aspects Age, Head injury, Oxygenation and Circulation along with parameters were identified as having a relevant impact on the outcome of severely injured patients with major fractures. The performance of the score was analyzed with the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve and compared to other trauma scores. Results: An increasing AdHOC (Age, Head injury, Oxygenation, Circulation) score value in the 17,827 included patients correlated with increasing mortality (0 points = 0.3%, 1 point = 5.3%, 2 points = 15.6%, 3 points = 42.5% and 4 points = 62.6%). With an AUROC of 0.858 for the development (n = 14,047) and 0.877 for the validation (n = 3780) group dataset, the score is superior in performance compared to the Injury Severity Score (0.806/0.815). Conclusion: The AdHOC score appears to be easy and accessible in every emergency room without the requirement of special diagnostic tools or knowledge of the exact injury pattern and can be useful for the planning of further surgical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AI is "essentially detached" from the world. The intrinsic nature of this technology precludes a proper space of negotiation between the different human and non-human actors involved and leads to an ideology of control. The challenge of the designer consists in looking across the black box, as opposed to looking inside, in order to visualise, sense, and experience why AI is leading us, and where, and how. These questions are as important as the algorithmic questions. The missing integration between human and artificial intelligence must be compensated for by mechanisms of social governance. These mechanisms should adopt an approach of constructive engagement with the limits of AI through the inclusion of social learning processes involving the different stakeholders, starting with ordinary citizens. Designing a "good" AI means to give up on a de-situated and socially detached understanding for engaging a community of actors while sharing a common concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contends that certain types of Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS) are susceptible to Hume's Law. Hume's Law highlights the seeming impossibility of deriving moral judgments, if not all evaluative ones, from purely factual premises. If autonomous weapons make use of factual data from their environments to carry out specific actions, then justifying their ethical decisions may prove to be intractable in light of the said problem. In this article, Hume's original formulation of the no-ought-from-is thesis is evaluated in relation to the dominant views regarding it (viz., moral non-descriptivism and moral descriptivism). Citing the objections raised against these views, it is claimed that, if there is no clear-cut solution to Hume's is-ought problem that presently exists, then the task of grounding the moral judgements of AWS would still be left unaccounted for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myriapoda, having multitudes of legs and an elongated body, can dexterously travel on natural environments. Myriapod locomotion has an advantage over wheeled and tracked vehicles on a rough terrain, because each leg can discretely contact the ground at several points. The authors have attempted, therefore, to develop a light, simple, and adaptive myriapod robot, i-CentiPot, in accordance with the implicit control law given by passive dynamics, which achieved significant mobility against unpredictable environment. The physical model, i-CentiPot 01, showed that the body undulation emerged because of the leg wave, which was similar to that of a real centipede. However, the mechanism of the body undulation was not revealed. This study, therefore, aims at developing a dynamic model of the myriapod robot using frictional force and elucidating how it locomotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the potential risks of the fourth industrial revolution and how sustainable development goals align with those risks and any benefits. This paper adopts a qualitative research method using content analysis of video and textual materials. This research finds that the increased complexity of IR4.0 carries greater risks but offers greater benefits to humanity. Sustainability is going to be positively affected by the greater use of smart interconnected technologies. However, the fabric of human society will undergo a tremendous change that will often lead to unwanted consequences. Many risks can be anticipated and addressed by designing systems, including financial and economic, that are inherently robust and adaptable. States must acknowledge the risks associated with new technologies and complex systems, such as artificial intelligence, and devise strategies to help deal with and anticipate those risks. This paper identifies the risks and benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, implications for sustainability, and proposes a maqasid-based approach to IR4.0 related policy in OIC countries. This paper is intended for researchers in the area of public policy, OIC, Islamic economics and for policymakers interested in adopting the maqasid framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science research and theory suggests that perception can be viewed as an embodied process of social and cultural mediation. This embodied view of perception involves deep connections between the mind and body, as well as the larger social context. Previous research with Maya communities has outlined how aspects of subject and object, or self and other, can be bridged through forms of social connectedness with the family or community. This ethnographic work with Q'eqchi' Maya healers in southern Belize details embodied and sensual aspects of therapeutic encounters, including aspects of healers embodied modes of perception or "signs" during pulse reading, manual manipulation, dreams, and prayer that mesh together and span across worlds of flesh and spirit. These embodied forms of somatic knowledge further allow us to reflect on the notions of "empathy" in Q'eqchi' clinical encounters, challenging cognitive biases and boundaries of patients, healers, and spiritual worlds. Exploring an ontological shift away from mere material bodies and social actors opens new directions for embodiment literature and a query of spiritual ontologies. Methodological and theoretical tools to critique a spiritual/material dualism and re‐vision embodiment practices of therapeutic engagement, including their clinical significations, representations, and cultural meanings, are also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are delighted to bring you this first issue of SoSyM for 2020! The six SoSyM issues published in 2019 contained 74 Regular papers, 2 Overview papers, 32 Special Section papers, 17 Theme Section papers, 2 Expert Voices, and 8 Guest Editorials. This is the highest Impact Factor since the inception of SoSyM, which we believe offers evidence to the growing interest in software and systems modeling as a research discipline and to SoSyM's important role in the modeling research community. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines how the interactive capabilities of companion robots, particularly their materiality and animate movements, appeal to human users and generate an image of aliveness. Building on Husserl's phenomenological notion of a 'double body' and theories of emotions as affective responses, we develop a new understanding of the robots' simulated aliveness. Analyzing empirical findings of a field study on the use of the robot Zora in care homes for older people, we suggest that the aliveness of companion robots is the result of a combination of four aspects: 1) material ingredients, 2) morphology, 3) animate movements guided by software programs and human operators as in Wizard of Oz-settings and 4) anthropomorphising narratives created by their users to support the robot's performance. We suggest that narratives on affective states, such as, sleepiness or becoming frightened attached to the robot trigger users' empathic feelings, caring and tenderness toward the robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the research field of machine ethics and how it relates to a technological singularity-a hypothesized, futuristic event where artificial machines will have greater-than-human-level intelligence. One problem related to the singularity centers on the issue of whether human values and norms would survive such an event. To somehow ensure this, a number of artificial intelligence researchers have opted to focus on the development of artificial moral agents, which refers to machines capable of moral reasoning, judgment, and decision-making. To date, different frameworks on how to arrive at these agents have been put forward. However, there seems to be no hard consensus as to which framework would likely yield a positive result. With the body of work that they have contributed in the study of moral agency, philosophers may contribute to the growing literature on artificial moral agency. While doing so, they could also think about how the said concept could affect other important philosophical concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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An introduction to articles published within the issue is presented on topics including the concept of feminist technoecologies, bioart, and the solar power installation in Czech Republic.