Objectives: The growing rate of retraction of scientific publications has attracted much attention within the academic community, but there is little knowledge about the nature of such retractions in schizophrenia-related research. This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of retractions of schizophrenia-related publications.

The Repugnant Conclusion served an important purpose in catalyzing and inspiring the pioneering stage of population ethics research. We believe, however, that the Repugnant Conclusion now receives too much focus. Avoiding the Repugnant Conclusion should no longer be the central goal driving population ethics research, despite its importance to the fundamental accomplishments of the existing literature.

What role does the wild duck play in Ibsen's famous drama? I argue that, besides mirroring the fate of the human cast members, the duck is acting as animal subject in a quasi-experiment, conducted in a private setting. Analysed from this perspective, the play allows us to discern the epistemological and ethical dimensions of the new scientific animal practice (systematic observation of animal behaviour under artificial conditions) emerging precesely at that time. Ibsen's play stages the clash between a scientific and (...) a romantic understanding of animals that still constitutes the backdrop of most contemporary debates over animals in research. Whereas the scientific understanding reduces the animal's behaviour, as well as its environment, to discrete and modifiable elements, the romantic view regards animals as being at one with (or violently disconnected from) their natural surroundings. (shrink)

Friedrich Engels’ dialectical assessment of modern science resulted from his fascination with the natural sciences in combination with his resurging interest in the work of “old Hegel.” Engels became especially interested in what he saw as the molecular essence of life, namely proteins or, more specifically, albumin, seeing life as the mode of existence of these enigmatic substances. Hegelian dialectics is crucial for a dialectical materialist understanding of contemporary technoscience. The dialectical materialist understanding of technoscience as a research practice builds (...) on Engels, but also on later authors who were inspired by his writings, e.g., life scientists such as Haldane and Bernal. Considering the criticism raised against Engels’ dialectics by 20th-century Marxists, a dialectical diagnostic of contemporary technoscience can be achieved, which shifts the focus from artificial albumin as “living matter” to contemporary research on synthetic cells. (shrink)

This paper subjects Dan Brown’s most recent novel Origin to a philosophical reading. Origin is regarded as a literary window into contemporary technoscience, inviting us to explore its transformative momentum and disruptive impact, focusing on the cultural significance of artificial intelligence and computer science: on the way in which established world-views are challenged by the incessant wave of scientific discoveries made possible by super-computation. While initially focusing on the tension between science and religion, the novel’s attention gradually shifts to the (...) increased dependence of human beings on smart technologies and artificial intelligence. Origin’s message, I will argue, reverberates with Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West, which aims to outline a morphology of world civilizations. Although the novel starts with a series of oppositions, most notably between religion and science, the eventual tendency is towards convergence, synthesis and sublation, exemplified by Sagrada Família as a monumental symptom of this transition. Three instances of convergence will be highlighted, namely the convergence between science and religion, between humanity and technology and between the natural sciences and the humanities. (shrink)

In this paper, I will reread the history of molecular genetics from a psychoanalytical angle, analysing it as a case history. Building on the developmental theories of Freud and his followers, I will distinguish four stages, namely: (1) oedipal childhood, notably the epoch of model building (1943–1953); (2) the latency period, with a focus on the development of basic skills (1953–1989); (3) adolescence, exemplified by the Human Genome Project, with its fierce conflicts, great expectations and grandiose claims (1989–2003) and (4) (...) adulthood (2003–present) during which revolutionary research areas such as molecular biology and genomics have achieved a certain level of normalcy—have evolved into a normal science. I will indicate how a psychoanalytical assessment conducted in this manner may help us to interpret and address some of the key normative issues that have been raised with regard to molecular genetics over the years, such as ‘relevance’, ‘responsible innovation’ and ‘promise management’. (shrink)

This paper analyses the technoscientific objective of building a synthetic cell from a Jungian perspective. After decades of fragmentation and specialisation, the synthetic cell symbolises a turn towards restored wholeness, both at the object pole and at the subject pole. From a Jungian perspective, it is no coincidence that visual representations of synthetic cells often reflect an archetypal, mandala-like structure. As a symbol of restored unity, the synthetic cell mandala compensates for technoscientific fragmentation via active imagination, providing a visual aid (...) for the technoscientific turn towards reintegration. Although the biotechnological desire to reconstruct life in vitro has been compared to alchemy before, a Jungian analysis allows us to make this comparison more specific and precise. The problem of archetypal images, however, is that alluring prospects of reintegration may underestimate and obfuscate the deficiencies and tensions at work in the current situation. As a projection of a future wholeness, it fosters optimism, but may also function as a misleading façade, covering up collisions and complexities. This can be averted by the conscious employment of the mandala as a symbolic scaffold fostering processes of individuation and working through. (shrink)

Commentators disagree about the extent to which Kant’s ethics is compatible with consequentialism. A question that has not yet been asked is whether Kant had a view of his own regarding the fundamental difference between his ethical theory and a broadly consequentialist one. In this paper I argue that Kant does have such a view. I illustrate this by discussing his response to a well-known objection to his moral theory, namely that Kant offers an implicitly consequentialist theory of moral appraisal. (...) This objection was most famously raised by Mill and Schopenhauer, but also during Kant’s time by Pistorius and Tittel. I show that Kant’s response to this objection in the second Critique illustrates that he sees the fundamental difference between his moral theory and a broadly consequentialist one to be one that concerns methodology. (shrink)

field: Issue 8 Embodying an Anti-Racist Architecture comprises essays, articles, podcasts, drawings, designs, the cover image, and a film. ‘This Call to Action' is a document borne from dialogue, and as such derives its power from the activism that collaboration and cooperation engender. -/- Asma Mehan, Carolina Lima, Faith Ng’eno, and Krzysztof Nawratek discuss white hegemony across different geopolitical and academic spaces, mindful of the nuances of using English as their shared yet borrowed language. -/- .

The current chapter provides an overview of research on responses in moral dilemmas where maximization of outcomes for the greater good (utilitarianism) conflicts with adherence to moral norms (deontology). Expanding on a description of the traditional paradigm to study moral-dilemma judgments (i.e., the trolley problem), the chapter reviews the most prominent dual-process account of moral-dilemma judgments, normative conclusions that have been derived from this account, and criticisms raised against this line of work. The following sections review advances in the development (...) of alternative approaches that aim to address shortcomings of the traditional dilemma paradigm as well as the implications of this work for psychological theories of moral-dilemma judgments and philosophical inferences about the normative implications of moral-dilemma research. The chapter concludes with a review of research on the links between moral-dilemma judgments and social impressions. (shrink)

The accumulation of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) has raised public awareness due to harmful contamination to both human and marine creatures. This study was designed to determine the concentration of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and nickel (Ni) in the intestine, kidney, muscle, gill, and liver tissues of local commercial edible fish, fourfinger threadfin (Eleutheronema tetradactylum), and black pomfret (Parastromateus niger) collected from Morib (M) and Kuala Selangor (KS). Among the studied PTEs, Cu and Zn were essential elements to (...) regulate body metabolism with certain dosages required while Cd and Ni were considered as non-essential elements that posed chronic and carcinogenic risk. The concentration of PTEs in fish tissue samples was analyzed using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (F-AAS). By comparing the concentration of PTEs in fish tissues as a bioindicator, the environmental risk of Morib was more serious than Kuala Selangor because both fish species collected from Morib resulted in a higher PTEs concentration. For an average 62 kg adult with a fish ingestion rate (FIR) of 0.16 kg/person/day in Malaysia, the estimated weekly intake (EWI) of Cd from the consumption of E. tetradactylum (M: 0.0135 mg/kg; KS: 0.0134 mg/kg) and P. niger (M: 0.0140 mg/kg; KS: 0.0132 mg/kg) had exceeded the provisional tolerable weekly intake (Cd: 0.007 mg/kg) established by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and oral reference dose (ORD) values of Cd (0.001 mg/kg/day) as provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) regional screening level, thus it posed chronic risks for daily basis consumption. Besides, the value of the carcinogenic risk of Cd (0.7−3 to 0.8−3) and Ni (0.5−3 to 0.6−3) were in between the acceptable range (10−6 to 10−4) of the health index that indicates a relatively low possibility cancer occurrence to the consumers in both Morib and Kuala Selangor. This study recommended FIR to be 0.80 kg/person/day to reduce the possibility of posing chronic and carcinogenic risks while at the same time obtaining the essential nutrients from the fish. (shrink)

Tropical grasses are fast growing and often used for phytoremediation. Three different types of tropical grasses: Vetiver (V. zizanoides), Imperata (I. cylindrical) and Pennisetum (P. purpureum) tested in different growth media of spiked heavy metal contents under the glasshouse environment of RimbaIlmu for 60-day. The growth performance, metals tolerance and phyto-assessment of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in shoots and roots were assessed using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS).Tolerance index (TI), translocation factor (TF), biological accumulation coefficient (...) (BAC), biological concentration factor (BCF), and uptake efficacy was applied to evaluate the metal translocation ability among all three grasses. All three grasses showed significantly higher (p<0.05) accumulation of the total heavy metals in the spiked metal treatment compared with other tested treatments. Vetiver accumulated remarkably higher total concentration of Cd (93.08 ± 3.81 mg/kg) and Zn (1284.00 ± 234.83 mg/kg) than both Imperata and Pennisetum. The overall trend of heavy metals accumulation for all three grasses followed the order of Zn>Pb>Cd>Cu. The results of study suggested that both Imperata and Pennisetum are commendable and potential phytoextractors for Zn as well as phytostabilizers for Cd, Pb and Cu, respectively. (shrink)

The growth response, metal tolerance and phytoaccumulation properties of water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) were assessed under different contaminated spiked metals: control, 50 mg Pb/kg soil, 50 mg Zn/kg soil and 50 mg Cu/kg soil. The availability of Pb, Zn and Cu metals in both soil and plants were detected using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The concentration and accumulation of heavy metals from soil to roots and shoots (edible parts) were evaluated in terms of translocation factor, accumulation (...) factor and tolerance index. Okra recorded the highest accumulation of Pb (80.20 mg/kg) in its root followed by Zn in roots (35.70 mg/kg) and shoots (34.80 mg/kg) of water spinach, respectively. Different accumulation trends were observed with, Pb > Zn > Cu in okra and Zn > Pb > Cu in water spinach. Significant differences (p < 0.01) of Pb, Zn and Cu accumulation were found in both water spinach and okra cultivated among tested treatments. However, only the accumulation of Pb metal in the shoots of water spinach and okra exceeded the maximum permissible levels of the national Malaysian Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985 ([2006]) as well as the international Codex Alimentarius Commission limits. This study has shown that both water spinach and okra have good potential as Pb and Zn phytoremediators. (shrink)

Three different types of low cost soil amendments, namely, EDTA, elemental S and N-fertilizer, were investigated with Vetiver grass, Vetiveria zizanioides (Linn.) Nash growing under highly mixed Cd–Pb contamination conditions. A significant increase (p < 0.05) in Cd and Pb accumulation were recorded in the shoots of all EDTA and N-fertilizer assisted treatments. The accumulation of Cd in 25 mmol EDTA/kg soil and 300 mmol N/kg soil showed relatively higher translocation factor (1.72 and 2.15) and percentage metal efficacy (63.25 % (...) and 68.22 %), respectively, compared to other treatments. However, it was observed that the increased application of elemental S may inhibit the availability of Pb translocation from soil-to-root and root-to-shoot. The study suggests that viable application of 25 mmol EDTA/kg, 300 mmol N/kg and 20 mmol S/kg soil have the potential to be used for soil amendment with Vetiver grass growing under contaminated mixed Cd–Pb soil conditions. (shrink)

Plastic waste is a significant environmental problem for almost all countries; therefore, protecting the environment from the problem is crucial. The most sensible solution to these problems is substituting the natural aggregates with substantial plastic waste in various building materials. This study aimed to optimise the mixed design ratio of cement brick containing plastic waste as aggregate replacement. Plastic cement brick mixtures were prepared by the incorporation of four different types of plastic waste such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene, (...) low-density polyethylene and polypropylene into cement bricks with different cement contents (150, 300 and 450 g) and plastic replacement percentages (0, 3 and 6%). Compressive strength and water absorption of the plastic cement bricks were analysed using a statistical model through the response surface methodology. It revealed the optimum cement brick mixed design is C3-1% PET with the compressive strength of 27.50 MPa and water absorption of 1.16%. The optimised plastic cement brick also satisfied the general ASTM C62-17 requirements for building bricks despite the higher porosity observed by the scanning electron microscopy. The results from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis also showed that the addition of the plastic waste into cement brick was unlikely to modify the chemical compound within the cement brick mixtures. Thus, the proposed mathematical model can predict the required hardened properties of plastic cement bricks and could lead to greater utilisation of plastic waste in building materials. (shrink)

Various types of plant species have been extensively used for heavy metals phyto-remediation without taking into consideration its tolerance threshold. In this study, Vetiver grass, Vetiveria zizanioides (Linn.) Nash was evaluated under five different sets of contaminated spiked cadmium (5Cd, 10Cd, 50Cd, 100Cd and 150Cd mg/kg) and lead (50Pb, 100Pb, 200Pb, 400Pb and 800Pb mg/kg) concentration levels in soil. The growth performance, metal tolerance and phyto-assessment of Cd and Pb in the roots and tillers were assessed using flame atomic absorption (...) spectrometry (FAAS). Tolerance index (TI), translocation factor (TF), biological transfer factor (BTF), biological accumulation coefficient (BAC) and metal uptake efficacy were used to determine the Cd and Pb translocation capability in Vetiver grass. Significantly higher (p<0.05) accumulation of Cd and Pb was recorded in the roots of all spiked treatments. Furthermore, strong and significantly positive correlations were exhibited between the increased levels of spiked heavy metal concentrations with both Cd (r=0.975) and Pb (r=0.952) accumulations. The results of this study showed Vetiver grass as an effective phyto-stabilizer for both Cd and Pb. Nevertheless, the growth of Vetiver grass was restricted when the tolerance threshold of 100 mg/kg (dry weight basis) Cd was exceeded in the contaminated soil. (shrink)

Thе оutbrеаk оf thе соrоnаvirus disеаsе 2019 (СОVID-19) саusing milliоns оf pеоplе tо bе infесtеd hаs pоsеd mаjоr publiс hеаlth аnd gоvеrnаnсе сhаllеngеs. This study еvаluаtеs thе еxtеnt tо whiсh thе unаvаilаbility оf intеrnеt fоr сhildrеn tо lеаrn оnlinе during thе pаndеmiс аffесts pаrеntаl psyсhоlоgiсаl wеllbеing. Wе find thаt pаrеnts hаving nо intеrnеt fоr thеir сhildrеn tо lеаrn оnlinе during tо thе pаndеmiс аrе 40.37, 47.22, 43.68, аnd 46.90 pеrсеntаgе pоints mоrе likеly tо fееl аnxiоus, wоrriеd, displеаsеd, аnd dеprеssеd еvеry (...) dаy. Thе study саlls fоr thе еxpаnsiоn оf suppоrts fоr сhildrеn аnd fаmiliеs during thе pаndеmiс, еspесiаlly fоr disprоpоrtiоnаtеly аffесtеd соmmunitiеs. (shrink)

This paper investigates the local implementation of Malaysian public GAP standard called MyGAP by examining its effectiveness in raising the awareness and improving the pesticide use practices of participant smallscale farmers toward better food safety and quality assurance. For this objective, 19 MyGAP certified and 57 uncertified durian farms in the state of Pahang, Malaysia were surveyed. The research found that certified farm managers have a much better understanding of the basic intent of the policy than uncertified farms, reflecting the (...) individually oriented interests and motivations of participant farmers in the national scheme. Their interests in and assessment of the merits of the scheme are found to concentrate in economic realms rather than in the original policy goal of food safety and quality assurance. As regards pesticide use practices, certified farms showed a much better performance than uncertified farms in record keeping and pesticide use and management. There remains a question, however, whether it is due to the farming practices improved through MyGAP adoption or due to the participation of farms already well-performing prior to MyGAP adoption. (shrink)

Over the years, ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetate (EDTA) has been widely used for many purposes. However, there are inadequate phytoassessment studies conducted using EDTA in Vetiver grass. Hence, this study evaluates the phytoassessment (growth performance, accumulation trends, and proficiency of metal uptake) of Vetiver grass, Vetiveria zizanioides (Linn.) Nash in both single and mixed heavy metal (Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn)—disodium EDTA-enhanced contaminated soil. The plant growth, metal accumulation, and overall efficiency of metal uptake by different plant parts (lower root, upper root, lower (...) tiller, and upper tiller) were thoroughly examined. The relative growth performance, metal tolerance, and phytoassessment of heavy metal in roots and tillers of Vetiver grass were examined. Metals in plants were measured using the flame atomic absorption spectrometry (F-AAS) after acid digestion. The root-tiller (R/T) ratio, biological concentration factor (BCF), biological accumulation coefficient (BAC), tolerance index (TI), translocation factor (TF), and metal uptake efficacy were used to estimate the potential of metal accumulation and translocation in Vetiver grass. All accumulation of heavy metals were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in both lower and upper roots and tillers of Vetiver grass for Cd + Pb + Cu + Zn + EDTA treatments as compared with the control. The single Zn + EDTA treatment accumulated the highest overall total amount of Zn (8068 ± 407 mg/kg) while the highest accumulation for Cu (1977 ± 293 mg/kg) and Pb (1096 ± 75 mg/kg) were recorded in the mixed Cd + Pb + Cu + Zn + EDTA treatment, respectively. Generally, the overall heavy metal accumulation trends of Vetiver grass were in the order of Zn >>> Cu > Pb >> Cd for all treatments. Furthermore, both upper roots and tillers of Vetiver grass recorded high tendency of accumulation for appreciably greater amounts of all heavy metals, regardless of single and/or mixed metal treatments. Thus, Vetiver grass can be recommended as a potential phytoextractor for all types of heavy metals, whereby its tillers will act as the sink for heavy metal accumulation in the presence of EDTA for all treatments. (shrink)

Sources of soil contamination can exist in various types of conditions including in the form of semifluids. In this study, 3 different types of tropical plants, Acacia (Acacia mangium Willd), Mucuna (Mucuna bracteata DC. ex Kurz) and Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides L. Nash), were tested under different levels of soil-leachate conditions. The relative growth rate, metal tolerance, and phytoassessment of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) accumulation in the roots and shoots were determined using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Tolerance index, translocation factor, (...) metal accumulation ratio, and percentage metal efficacy were applied to assess the metal translocation ability among all the 3 types of plants. Significantly higher (P < .05) accumulation of Cd and Pb was exhibited in the roots and shoots of all 3 plants growing under the soil-leachate conditions. However, negative growth performance and plant withering were observed in both Acacia and Mucuna with increased application of higher soil-leachate levels. Vetiver accumulated remarkably higher total concentration of Cd (116.16-141.51 mg/kg) and Pb (156.37-365.27 mg/kg) compared with both Acacia and Mucuna. The overall accumulation trend of Cd and Pb in the 3 plants growing under the soil-leachate conditions was in the order of Vetiver > Acacia > Mucuna. The findings of the study suggest that Vetiver has great potential as Cd and Pb phytoremediator in soil-leachate conditions. (shrink)

"I have a tree, which grows here in my close, / That mine own use invites me to cut down, / And shortly I must fell it" (Shakespeare 2001, 168)—Timon's lament, which in Shakespeare's rendition occurs shortly before its utterer's demise "upon the beached verge of the salt flood" (2001, 168) beyond the perimeter of Athens, is an indictment of the nature that Timon finds unable to escape. Having given away his wealth in misguided generosity to a host of parasitic (...) sycophants, Timon turns misanthropic when his "friends" reject his requests for help in kind to repay his debts, eventually exiling himself from the city with the intent of sustaining himself on nothing but water and roots. Yet he soon finds that removing .. (shrink)

A common compatibilist view says that we are free and morally responsible in virtue of the ability to respond aptly to reasons. Many hold a version of this view despite disagreement about whether free will requires the ability to do otherwise. The canonical version of this view is reductive. It reduces the pertinent ability to a set of modal properties that are more obviously compatible with determinism, like dispositions. I argue that this and any reductive view of abilities faces a (...) significant challenge: it cannot adequately explain the freedom-grounding element of this ability. The problem has the form of a dilemma. This leaves reasons-responsive compatibilists with two options: abandon theories of free will grounded in abilities or abandon reductive theories of abilities. (shrink)

E-waste, also known as waste from electrical and electronic equipment, is a solid waste that accumulates quickly due to high demand driven by the market for replacing newer electrical and electronic products. The global e-waste generation is estimated to be between 53.6 million tons, and it is increasing by 3–5% per year. Metals make-up approximately 30% of e-waste, which contains precious elements Au, Ag, Cu, Pt, and other high-value elements, valued at USD 57 billion, which is driving the e-waste recycling (...) industry. It is noteworthy that the recycling of precious elements from e-waste has emerged as a profitable enterprise in several parts of developing nations. E-waste contains 50–100 times higher levels of precious metals compared to natural ores, making it suitable for mining. E-waste recycling in developing nations, mostly occurs through the informal sector comprising manual collection, crushing, segregation and selling of precious elements, such as Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Pt, and other rare elements (Nd, In, and Ga). The organized sector, on the other hand, mostly employs mechano-chemical methods, such as pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and bio-hydrometallurgy, which have serious environmental consequences. Both the informal and formal sectors of e-waste processing lead to the leaching of toxic elements into groundwater and soils. Owing to the lesser efficiency of greener technologies, such as phytoremediation and bioremediation, their use in precious metal extraction is very limited. However, this review explores several hyper-accumulating and tolerant plants viz. Brassica juncea and Berkheya coddii, which holds great potential in phytomining of precious metal from e-waste. Thus, the state of the art in precious metal extraction from e-waste as well as the advantages and disadvantages of different metal extraction technologies has been reviewed. (shrink)

CLIMATE EDUCATION FOR WOMEN AND YOUTH Around the world, people still lack basic awareness and understanding of the drivers and impact of climate change, as well as options for reducing carbon emissions and adapting to the climate change impacts. In addition, climate change impacts are not equally distributed. Gender inequalities and development gaps increase the impacts of climate change for women and young people. Driving climate action through educating and empowering women and youth could lead to building resilience within communities. (...) Thus, education and training are crucial to building capacity and enhance their ability to tackle climate change, especially as most of them have no access to information and resources related to climate action. Despite the evidence that education has a strong role to play in both climate adaptation and mitigation, the global education community has done little to advance wide-scale education efforts. Solid, coherent policies and plans are the bedrock on which to build sustainable education systems, achieve educational development goals and contribute effectively to lifelong learning. At a time of growing inequality, closing the gaps in access to quality education requires a long-term vision, engagement, and effective collaboration between various stakeholders. To do that, it’s critical to develop climate educational guides for developing countries that include the most important elements about formal and informal education for women and young people, as well as relevant learning materials and tools. Establishing a climate education coalition provides a forum for expert discussion and unlocks the potential of collaborative work. Embedding climate topics into formal and non-formal education is another priority area for action that could contribute to increasing climate awareness among youth. Community-level climate education projects and initiatives could be a powerful tool for educating and empowering women. Thus, governments and local authorities should ensure funds and provide resources for these projects and initiatives. (shrink)

E-waste is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, yet it is often ignored, especially in Southeast Asia. The “tsunami of e-waste” in the region has been putting our lives and our environment at risk. With the extensive use of electrical and electronic devices, we are also contributing to harming the environment and quickening the climate change by producing and discarding e-waste. Youths are among major users of electronic devices, and hunger for upgraded and newer versions. -/- However, (...) there is still a lack of sensitization on e-waste management issues in the Southeast Asia region. Why should not the young people be pioneers in educating this challenge to the young public? Our FRE-E-WASTE project team is firm in our belief that youths should take the lead in bringing to light this aspect of climate justice, to the best of our ability. -/- Implemented by a group of ASEAN environmental enthusiasts, STEP Forward Education and supported by the U.S. Department of State and the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), FRE-E-WASTE Project seeks to bring together a group of Southeast Asian environmental enthusiasts aged between 18 and 35 to connect and collaborate on e-waste issues in the region and eventually to create a toolkit about e-waste for the Southeast Asia region. (shrink)

This volume offers a collection of in-depth explorations of pragmatism as a framework for discussions in philosophy of science and metaphysics. Each chapter involves explicit reflection on what it means to be pragmatist, and how to use pragmatism as a guiding framework in addressing topics such as realism, unification, fundamentality, truth, laws, reduction, and more. -/- .

P.F. Strawson’s account of moral responsibility in “Freedom and Resentment” has been widely influential. In both that paper and in the contemporary literature, much attention has been paid to Strawson’s account of blame in terms of reactive attitudes like resentment and indignation. The Strawsonian view of praise in terms of gratitude has received comparatively little attention. Some, however, have noticed something puzzling about gratitude and accountability. We typically understand accountability in terms of moral demands and expectations. Yet gratitude does not (...) express or enforce moral demands or expectations. So, how is it a way to hold an agent accountable? In a more general manner, we might ask if there is even sense to be made of the idea that agents can be accountable—i.e., “on the hook”—in a positive way. In this paper, I clarify the relationship between gratitude and moral accountability. I suggest that accountability is a matter of engaging with others in a way that is basically concerned with their feelings and attitudes rather than solely a matter of moral demands. Expressions of gratitude are a paradigmatic form of this concerned engagement. I conclude by defending my view from the objection that it leads to an overly generous conception of holding accountable and suggest in reply that moral responsibility skeptics may not help themselves to as many moral emotions as they might have thought. (shrink)

Phytoremediation is a biological remediation technique known for low-cost technology and environmentally friendly approach, which employs plants to extract, stabilise, and transform various compounds, such as potentially toxic elements (PTEs), in the soil or water. Recent developments in utilising chelating agents soil remediation have led to a renewed interest in chelate-induced phytoremediation. This review article summarises the roles of various chelating agents and the mechanisms of chelate-induced phytoremediation. This paper also discusses the recent findings on the impacts of chelating agents (...) on PTEs uptake and plant growth and development in phytoremediation. It was found that the chelating agents have increased the rate of metal absorption and translocation up to 45% from roots to the aboveground plant parts during PTEs phytoremediation. Besides, it was also explored that the plants may experience some phytotoxicity after adding chelating agents to the soil. However, due to the leaching potential of synthetic chelating agents, the use of organic chelants have been explored to be used in PTEs phytoremediation. Finally, this paper also presents comprehensive insights on the significance of using chelating agents through SWOT analysis to discuss the advantages and limitations of chelate-induced phytoremediation. (shrink)

This paper argues that the principle of continuity that underlies Benjamin’s understanding of what makes the reality of a thing thinkable, which in the Kantian context implies a process of “filling time” with an anticipatory structure oriented to the subject, is of a different order than that of infinitesimal calculus—and that a “discontinuity” constitutive of the continuity of experience and (merely) counterposed to the image of actuality as an infinite gradation of ultimately thetic acts cannot be the principle on which (...) Benjamin bases the structure of becoming. Tracking the transformation of the process of “filling time” from its logical to its historical iteration, or from what Cohen called the “fundamental acts of time” in Logik der reinen Erkenntnis to Benjamin’s image of a language of language (qua language touching itself), the paper will suggest that for Benjamin, moving from 0 to 1 is anything but paradoxical, and instead relies on the possibility for a mathematical function to capture the nature of historical occurrence beyond paradoxes of language or phenomenality. (shrink)

This classic collection of essays, first published in 1968, represents H.L.A. Hart's landmark contribution to the philosophy of criminal responsibility and punishment. Unavailable for ten years, this new edition reproduces the original text, adding a new critical introduction by John Gardner, a leading contemporary criminal law theorist.

The standard event-causal theory of action says that an intentional action is caused in the right way by the right mental states. This view requires reductionism about agency. The causal role of the agent must be nothing over and above the causal contribution of the relevant mental event-causal processes. But commonsense finds this reductive solution to the “agent-mind problem”, the problem of explaining the relationship between agents and the mind, incredible. Where did the agent go? This paper suggests that this (...) challenge against event-causal reductionism is importantly related to debates about fundamentality. It also suggests that extant event-causal answers to the agent-mind problem, ones that suggest that part of an agent’s mind can stand proxy for the agent herself, fail against the challenge. It sketches an alternative reductive view that appeals to entity grounding. This view resolves the commonsense challenge and promises to be theoretically fruitful with respect to other longstanding problems with the event-casual view. The paper concludes with a burden-shifting argument against emergentist agent-causal theories and non-reductive event-causal theories of agency. (shrink)

I defend a weak version of the Pigou-Dalton principle for chances. The principle says that it is better to increase the survival chance of a person who is more likely to die rather than a person who is less likely to die, assuming that the two people do not differ in any other morally relevant respect. The principle justifies plausible moral judgements that standard ex post views, such as prioritarianism and rank-dependent egalitarianism, cannot accommodate. However, the principle can be justified (...) by the same reasoning that has recently been used to defend the core axiom of ex post prioritarianism and egalitarianism, namely, Pigou-Dalton for well-being. The arguably biggest challenge for proponents of Pigou-Dalton for chances is that it violates State Dominance for social prospects. However, I argue that we have independent reason for rejecting State Dominance for social prospects, since it prevents a social planner from properly respecting people's preferences. (shrink)

In a well-known apocryphal story, Theresa of Avila falls off the donkey she was riding, straight into mud, and injures herself. In response, she seems to blame God for her fall. A playful if indignant back and forth ensues. But this is puzzling. Theresa should never think that God is blameworthy. Why? Apparently, one cannot blame what one worships. For to worship something is to show it a kind of reverence, respect, or adoration. To worship is, at least in part, (...) to praise. You cannot praise and blame simultaneously. Indeed, Paul counsels against “back-talk” against God, suggesting we lack the standing to blame our creator (Romans 9:20). Drawing on Strawsonian theorizing about praise and blame, this paper argues that, surprisingly, a person can both blame and worship God. Although blameful worship is possibly epistemically akratic, it may sometimes be acceptable given our nature as finite, emotional beings. In fact, blaming God might on occasion be the only way we have to stand with God’s goodness despite apparent evidence of evil in the world. This suggestion, I’ll argue, should change the way we think about the problem of evil. The problem has interpersonal and moral psychological dimensions that merit serious attention. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Offsetting is a very ineffective way to do good. Offsetting your lifetime emissions may increase aggregated life expectancy by at most seven years, while giving the amount it costs to offset your lifetime emissions to a malaria charity saves in expectation the life of at least one child. Is there any moral reason to offset rather than giving to some charity that does good so much more effectively? There might be such a reason if your offsetting compensated or somehow (...) benefitted the victims of your emission, since that could mean that you would satisfy the duty not to harm others by emitting and offsetting. But that is typically not true. If your emission harms some person and your offsetting benefits some person, then these are most likely different people. Hence, I conclude, we have a stronger reason to give to effective charities than we have to offset our emissions. (shrink)

This paper articulates and responds to a challenge to contemporary compatibilist views of free will. Despite the popularity and appeal of compatibilist theories, many are left with lingering doubts about compatibilism. This paper explains this doubt in terms of the absurdity challenge: because a compatibilist accepts that they do not have causal access to all the actual sufficient causal sources of their own agency, the compatibilist can find their own agency absurd. By taking a cue from political philosophy, this paper (...) argues that a non-ideal construction of the problem of free will allows compatibilists to overcome this existential-metaphysical challenge, and by doing so, perhaps adopt a metaphysically progressive picture of human agency. (shrink)

According to the orthodox treatment of risk preferences in decision theory, they are to be explained in terms of the agent's desires about concrete outcomes. The orthodoxy has been criticised both for conflating two types of attitudes and for committing agents to attitudes that do not seem rationally required. To avoid these problems, it has been suggested that an agent's attitudes to risk should be captured by a risk function that is independent of her utility and probability functions. The main (...) problem with that approach is that it suggests that attitudes to risk are wholly distinct from people's (non-instrumental) desires. To overcome this problem, we develop a framework where an agent's utility function is defined over chance propositions (i.e., propositions describing objective probability distributions) as well as ordinary (non-chance) ones, and argue that one should explain different risk attitudes in terms of different forms of the utility function over such propositions. (shrink)

This paper argues that proper functions are proximal functions. In other words, it rejects the notion that there are distal biological functions – strictly speaking, distal functions are not functions at all, but simply beneficial effects normally associated with a trait performing its function. Once we rule out distal functions, two further positions become available: dysfunctions are simply failures of proper function, and pathological conditions are dysfunctions. Although elegant and seemingly intuitive, this simple view has had surprisingly little uptake in (...) the literature. Indeed, our position departs from that of almost every theorist who has engaged with the issue at any depth. We start by presenting three arguments for the position that proper functions are proximal: one from the specificity of functions, one from their relation to intervention, and one from their relation to pathology. We then consider two case studies evidencing the trouble that accepting distal functions causes for philosophical reflection on the nature of pathological conditions. Finally, we anticipate and respond to three objections: that there can be failure of function without dysfunction; that our account is unacceptably revisionary in respect of normal function-talk; and that our thesis over-generalises from a narrow set of cases. (shrink)

At the end of one side of a manuscript entitled “On Kant” and housedin the Scholem Archive in Jerusalem, one reads the following pro-nouncement: “it is impossible to understand Kant today.” 1 Whatever it might mean to “understand” Kant, or indeed, whatever “Kant” is heremeant to be understood, it is certain, according to the manuscript,that such understanding cannot come about by way of purporting tohave returned to or spoken in the name of “Kant.” For “[t]oday,” sothe document begins, “there are (...) many people who call themselvesKantians, and who profess to have—or actually do have—cognitions inKantian terminology.” Whatever the degree of truth or falsity to suchcognitions, however, neither those who produce these cognitions nor aphilosophy consisting in these cognitions have a right to call themselves“Kantian,” since it is “obvious” that “such terminology is not equivalent to Kantian language” but is abstracted from “language” as innovationstowards the better description of the world. (shrink)

This book is a translation of W.V. Quine's Kant Lectures, given as a series at Stanford University in 1980. It provide a short and useful summary of Quine's philosophy. There are four lectures altogether: I. Prolegomena: Mind and its Place in Nature; II. Endolegomena: From Ostension to Quantification; III. Endolegomena loipa: The forked animal; and IV. Epilegomena: What's It all About? The Kant Lectures have been published to date only in Italian and German translation. The present book is filled out (...) with the translator's critical Introduction, "The esoteric Quine?" a bibliography based on Quine's sources, and an Index for the volume. (shrink)

This article draws on several crucial and unpublished manuscripts from the Scholem Archive in exploration of Gershom Scholem's youthful statements on mathematics and its relation to extra-mathematical facts and, more broadly, to a concept of history that would prove to be consequential for Walter Benjamin's own thinking on "messianism" and a "futuristic politics." In context of critiquing the German Youth Movement's subsumption of active life to the nationalistic conditions of the "earth" during the First World War, Scholem turns to mathematics (...) for a genuine and self-consistent theory of action. In the concept of actual infinity (in Cantor and Bolzano) he finds an explanation of how mathematics relates to "the physical" without reducing the former to an "image" of the latter, and without relying on the concept of geometric intuition. This explanation, insofar as it relies on the notion of actual infinity, provides Scholem with a conception of mathematics (and the history of mathematics) that reconciles freedom and necessity—remarks on which he outlines in his diaries and communicates to Benjamin in early March 1916. (shrink)

Plastic waste accumulation in the environment due to huge volumes of plastic waste produced daily with no effective disposal method and waste management have raised public awareness to look for an alternative to replace the current disposal techniques. Waste utilisation or plastic recycling has been regarded as an excellent method to reduce the abundant amount of plastic waste as well as minimising the environmental impacts. In this article, a total of 163 previous studies between 2012 and 2021 had been reviewed (...) to discuss the utilisation of different types of plastic waste as aggregate in construction materials. This paper evaluates on the use of plastic as aggregate in terms of the physical, mechanical and durability properties of the construction materials as well as the environmental and cost analyses. It was found that the mechanical and durability properties of produced materials were altered after the addition of plastic as aggregates; however, the materials are still fulfilling the requirement of construction materials. Besides, a general SWOT analysis to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of plastic waste utilisation was also conducted. -/- . (shrink)

The pandemic of COVID-19 prompted several paradigm shifts throughout society, including in education. This study aimed to examine the relationships of students' engagement in online synchronous collaborative learning activities (OSCLA) with their self-efficacy (LSE), peer social support (LPSS), state of well-being (SWB), and level of academic performance (LAP). A total of 176 Filipino Grade 12 SHS students, 18 years old and older, from a private educational institution were purposively selected for this study. Data were generated using an online survey. Results (...) show that collaborative learning activities are frequently conducted (median = 4) in their synchronous online classes. It also revealed that their LSE is high (median = 4), their LPSS is high (median = 4), their LE is moderate (median = 3), their SWB is high (median = 4), and their LAP is high (median = 94.85). The results showed a statistically significant correlation of their LSE (r = 0.69, p 0.001) and LPSS with their OSCLA LE (r = 0.438, p 0.001). A statistically significant positive moderate correlation between LE and SWB (r = 0.536, p 0.001) was also found, however, no correlation was found between their OSCLA LE and LAP (r = 0.065, p = 0.393). Thus, the use of a well-designed OSCLA is strongly recommended as it positively impacts students' SWB but should be regularly reviewed for its effectiveness in sustaining improvement in the LAP of the students. (shrink)

I argue, first, that the deprived individuals whose predicaments Nussbaum cites as examples of "adaptive preference" do not in fact prefer the conditions of their lives to what we should regard as more desirable alternatives, indeed that we believe they are badly off precisely because they are not living the lives they would prefer to live if they had other options and were aware of them. Secondly, I argue that even where individuals in deprived circumstances acquire tastes for conditions that (...) we regard as bad, they are typically better off having their acquired preferences satisfied. If they are badly off it is because they cannot get what we and they, would regard as more desirable alternatives. Preference utilitarianism explains why individuals in such circumstances are badly off whether they have adapted to their deprived circumstances or not. Even if they prefer the conditions of their lives to all other available alternatives, most would prefer alternatives that are not available to them which would, on the preferentist account, make them better off. And that, on the preferentist account, is the basis for a radical critique of unjust institutions that limit people's options and prevent them from getting what they want. (shrink)

Automated reasoning about uncertain knowledge has many applications. One difficulty when developing such systems is the lack of a completely satisfactory integration of logic and probability. We address this problem directly. Expressive languages like higher-order logic are ideally suited for representing and reasoning about structured knowledge. Uncertain knowledge can be modeled by using graded probabilities rather than binary truth-values. The main technical problem studied in this paper is the following: Given a set of sentences, each having some probability of being (...) true, what probability should be ascribed to other (query) sentences? A natural wish-list, among others, is that the probability distribution (i) is consistent with the knowledge base, (ii) allows for a consistent inference procedure and in particular (iii) reduces to deductive logic in the limit of probabilities being 0 and 1, (iv) allows (Bayesian) inductive reasoning and (v) learning in the limit and in particular (vi) allows confirmation of universally quantified hypotheses/sentences. We translate this wish-list into technical requirements for a prior probability and show that probabilities satisfying all our criteria exist. We also give explicit constructions and several general characterizations of probabilities that satisfy some or all of the criteria and various (counter) examples. We also derive necessary and sufficient conditions for extending beliefs about finitely many sentences to suitable probabilities over all sentences, and in particular least dogmatic or least biased ones. We conclude with a brief outlook on how the developed theory might be used and approximated in autonomous reasoning agents. Our theory is a step towards a globally consistent and empirically satisfactory unification of probability and logic. (shrink)

Many philosophers think that we should use a lottery to decide who gets a good to which two persons have an equal claim but which only one person can get. Some philosophers think that we should save identified persons from harm even at the expense of saving a somewhat greater number of statistical persons from the same harm. I defend a principled way of justifying both judgements, namely, by appealing to the decreasing marginal moral value of survival chances. I identify (...) four desiderata that, I contend, any such justification should satisfy, and explain how my account meets these desiderata, unlike some previous accounts. (shrink)

The veil of ignorance argument was used by John C. Harsanyi to defend Utilitarianism and by John Rawls to defend the absolute priority of the worst off. In a recent paper, Lara Buchak revives the veil of ignorance argument, and uses it to defend an intermediate position between Harsanyi's and Rawls' that she calls Relative Prioritarianism. None of these authors explore the implications of allowing that agent's behind the veil are averse to ambiguity. Allowing for aversion to ambiguity---which is both (...) the most commonly observed and a seemingly reasonable attitude to ambiguity---however supports a version of Egalitarianism, whose logical form is quite different from the theories defended by the aforementioned authors. Moreover, it turns out that the veil of ignorance argument neither supports standard Utilitarianism nor Prioritarianism unless we assume that rational people are insensitive to ambiguity. (shrink)

The environmental concern of plastic waste (PW) generation has escalated to an alarming level due to the versatility and high demand in various applications. In order to search for an effective way to utilise PW, reusing them for the production of construction material appears as an environmentally-friendly approach. This is also because conventional construction materials often consume high energy during production has caused many environmental impacts. This review paper summarises the previous studies on reusing various PW as raw material and (...) aggregate for construction and its properties with special attention to bricks and paving blocks. This paper begins by illustrating on the properties of plastics and the impacts of PW to the environment. Followed by discussion on reusing PW and its impacts on the overall properties of construction material. This review found that limited studies had been conducted on the usage of PW in the production of the paving block. Besides, most of the studies focused predominantly on compressive strength and water absorption as the main parameters to evaluate the characteristics of bricks and paving blocks. It is concluded that the use of PW in construction material could possibly serve as a sustainable source for construction material in the future. (shrink)

It has recently been argued that indeterminacy and indeterminism make most ordinary counterfactuals false. I argue that a plausible way to avoid such counterfactual skepticism is to postulate the existence of primitive modal facts that serve as truth-makers for counterfactual claims. Moreover, I defend a new theory of ‘might’ counterfactuals, and develop assertability and knowledge criteria to suit such unobservable ‘counterfacts’.

Abstract: The Knowledge-Based System for Diagnosing Breast Cancer aims to support medical students in enhancing their education regarding diagnosis and counseling. The system facilitates the analysis of biopsy images under a microscope, determination of tumor type, selection of appropriate treatment methods, and identification of disease-related questions. According to the Ministry of Health's annual report in Gaza, there were 7,069 cases of breast cancer between 2009 and 2014, with 1,502 cases reported in 2014. In an era dominated by visual information, where (...) 65% of the population are visual learners, the Knowledge-Based System serves as an effective tool to aid long-term information retention by utilizing visual and textual resources. The system features a user-friendly interface, enabling students to diagnose the disease and expand their understanding. Furthermore, it can be accessed via smartphones. The Knowledge-Based System comprises three primary components: Firstly, it provides specific patient-oriented questions to familiarize students with the questioning process. Secondly, it facilitates the analysis of biopsy sample images to determine their integrity and identify potential infections. Lastly, the system incorporates animated videos illustrating various approaches for treating breast cancer. (shrink)

A liberalism which scorns all individualism is fundamentally misguided. This is the chief thesis of this paper. To argue for it, I look closely at some key concepts. The concepts of morislity and individualism are crucial. I emphasize Dewey on the "individuality of the mind" and a Deweyan discussion of language, communication, and community. The thesis links individualism and liberalism, and since appeals to liberalism have broader appeal in the present context of discussions, I start with consideration of liberalism. The (...) aim is to dispute overly restrictive conceptions and explore a broader perspective. To bring the argument to a close, attention turns first to Dewey on value inquiry, to Dewey's "democratic individualism" (cf. Dewey 1939, 179), and to the concept of moral community. Disputing the acquisitiveness of utilitarian influences in classical liberalism, a Deweyan argument from the nature of moral community supports re-emphasis on individualism in contemporary liberal thought. (shrink)