Xu Jiang

The advent of the posthuman era has blurred the boundary between the body and artifacts. Further, external materials and information are more deeply integrated into the body, making emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI), a key driving force for shaping posthuman existence and promoting bodily evolution. Based on this, this study analyses the transformation process of three technological forms, namely tools, machines, and cyborgs, and reveals the construction of bodies and artifacts. From the phenomenological perspective, the essences of body and artifact existences are reflected upon, and the ‘existence is construction’ viewpoint is proposed. Furthermore, a technological design concept, ‘bodioid’, is proposed to meticulously depict the characteristics of integrating similarities and differences toward unity between the body and artifacts, based on the theoretical foundation of technological mediation and the materialization of morality. Finally, through analogising the organizational form of language, the two key forms and specific mechanisms of ‘bodioid’ construction, namely ‘extension’ and ‘mirroring’, are indicated. Moreover, the posthuman existence landscape is discussed to provide theoretical insights into the study of the underlying philosophical principles of technological design.

Building on social network theory and incorporating insights from the literature on corporate misconduct, this study examined how a firm’s centrality within a social network influences terminations of its strategic alliances following public allegations of corporate misconduct. Utilizing a sample of 264 publicly listed companies operating within the global computer industry, the study found an inverted U-shaped relationship between an accused firm’s centrality and terminations of its strategic alliances following corporate misconduct. This relationship was found to be influenced as well by media coverage and an accused firm’s brokering position. The findings underscore the multifaceted nature of centrality in the context of a corporate crisis, emphasizing its critical role in shaping the dynamics of inter-organizational partnerships.

This paper proposes a new system whose potential function is with three types of asymmetric potential wells, driven by trichotomous noise. Firstly, the three types of asymmetric bistable system are described in detail, and the changes of asymmetric bistable system potential function under different asymmetric factors are analyzed. Secondly, the effect of potential function parameters, asymmetric factorα, noise intensity D, and the probability of particle transition q is discussed, using numerical simulation. The detection effects of traditional symmetric SR and three types of asymmetric SR are observed and compared under the driving of trichotomous noise and periodic signals. The mean of signal-to-noise ratio gain is the indicator of the system's effectiveness on enhancing weak signal. The results indicate that it can make the detection effect of the asymmetric system better than that of the traditional bistable system by adjusting the parameters of the asymmetric stochastic resonance system and trichotomous noise.

The output from motor neuron pools is influenced by the integration of synaptic inputs originating from descending corticomotor and spinal reflex pathways. In this study, using paired non-invasive brain and peripheral nerve stimulation, we investigated how descending corticomotor pathways influence the physiologic recruitment order of the soleus Hoffmann reflex. Eleven neurologically unimpaired adults completed an assessment of transcranial magnetic stimulation -conditioning of the soleus H-reflex over a range of peripheral nerve stimulation intensities. Unconditioned H-reflex recruitment curves were obtained by delivering PNS pulses to the posterior tibial nerve. Subsequently, TMS-conditioned H-reflex recruitment curves were obtained by pairing PNS with subthreshold TMS at short and long intervals. We evaluated unconditioned and TMS-conditioned H-reflex amplitudes along the ascending limb, peak, and descending limb of the H-reflex recruitment curve. Our results revealed that, for long-interval facilitation, TMS-conditioned H-reflex amplitudes were significantly larger than unconditioned H-reflex amplitudes along the ascending limb and peak of the H-reflex recruitment curve. Additionally, significantly lower PNS intensities were needed to elicit peak H-reflex amplitude for long-interval facilitation compared to unconditioned. These findings suggest that the influence of descending corticomotor pathways, particularly those mediating long-interval facilitation, contribute to changing the recruitment gain of the motor neuron pool, and can inform future methodological protocols for TMS-conditioning of H-reflexes. By characterizing and inducing short-term plasticity in circuitry mediating short- and long-interval TMS-conditioning of H-reflex amplitudes, future studies can investigate supraspinal and spinal circuit contributions to abnormal motor control, as well as develop novel therapeutic targets for neuromodulation.