This article aims to make public part of the research on the concept of ‘light’ in the theological and, above all, liturgical tradition of the Greek Orthodox Church, based on its representation of the concept of ‘hypostasis’. Taking as a point of departure the interpretation of the expression ‘light of light’ [φῶς ἐκ φωτός (phôs ek phōtos)] of the text of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Symbol, the article presents a proposal for the interpretation of the concept of ‘representation’ for this specific case, (...) based on the idea of apomímesis, and applies this concept to a reading of the place of ‘light’ in the Holy Scripture, in the Patrology and in the Greek Eastern Liturgies. (shrink)

Beneficios e incentivos económicos tributarios en materia ambiental para el desarrollo sostenible de terminales marítimos de contenedores y carga general en Colombia.

The paper highlights the key perspectives on mysticism typical for Soviet and Post-Soviet religious studies. Recognizing the vagueness of the ”mystical’, Soviet scholars interpreted it as a belief in ”communication’ with ”supernatural powers’. Furthermore, ”mysticism’ was thought of as a multicomponent entity composed of mystical experiences, mystical beliefs, and ”mysticism’ as a ”false ideology’. Such an understanding resulted from their epistemological settings, i.e. the reflection theory of dialectical materialism. In this light, mystical experiences and beliefs were distorted ”reflections’ of objective (...) reality in the human mind caused by factors both of an individual and a social nature. This understanding still defines the academic interpretations of the ”mystical’ in Russia today. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how Bertrand Russell depicts the relation of mysticism to three other areas of human activity: philosophy, science, and religion, and thus: its special role. In his essay Mysticism and Logic (1914), Russell defines mystical thinking as beliefs in (1) the existence of special insight, (2) the unity of all things, (3) the unreality of time, and (4) the effacement of the boundaries between good and evil. Although he considers full mysticism – as (...) a belief about the ontic structure of the world – to be erroneous – as a life attitude he attributes to it an element of wisdom that is lacking in other areas of human intellectual activity. Mysticism proves wrong also at the epistemological level, i.e. as a certain test of truth. But in its spirit of inquiry, it contains something that science also benefits from, and from which, therefore, scientific philosophy should take its cue. What additionally gives mysticism its value is the claim of impartial contemplation which gives rise to an attitude of love towards the whole world. Significantly, it was the combination of the best features of mystical thinking with scientific thinking and method which gave rise to Russell’s advocacy of scientific philosophy. In light of this, I argue that according to Russell mysticism is not an exclusively religious phenomenon, which is demonstrated, among other things, by the fact that he attributes two aspects of mysticism to the field of mathematics. (shrink)

The article undertakes a phenomenological interpretation of the description of contingency in two late-antique models of the relationship of time and eternity — in the theory of Plotinus, and in the eschatology of Paul on the basis of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. Contingency as a possible property not of time, but of eternity, the presence of the supertemporal in the physical world — this hypothesis promotes a new view of the relationship between time and eternity and a new (...) view of the properties of time. Time remains as immeasurable as eternity, inheriting its character as a phenomenon of consciousness. The article also compares the ideas of H. Bergson and E. Husserl on duration and memory, on the coincidence of moments and the measurability of the movement of time. A turn to Ptolemaic cosmology proposed by Q. Meillassoux seems relevant, an appeal to ancient mathematics and ontology through the optics of post-metaphysical criticism. The search for a new correlationism is significant for the philosophy of time, and contingency, like any coincidence of thought and object, the world and the subject, the signifier and the signified, leads to new forms of manifestation, new phenomena of presence, a new fullness of being in history. (shrink)

The book deals with conceptualization of time in different languages and in different kinds of discourse (folklore, poetry, fiction). Special attention is paid to some culture-specific models of time as well as to linguistic means related to temporal semantics: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, prefixes, particles, and other temporal modifiers. The concept of time is also considered in its logical, axiological and historical aspects.

RELAÇÃO E EFEITOS BIOQUÍMICO-NUTRICIONAIS SOBRE O RETARDO DA MATURIDADE SEXUAL EM BOVINOS -/- -/- Emanuel Isaque Cordeiro da Silva -/- Departamento de Agropecuária – IFPE Campus Belo Jardim -/- [email protected] ou [email protected] -/- WhatsApp: (82)98143-8399 -/- -/- 12. RETARDO DA MATURIDADE SEXUAL -/- -/- Nos animais em crescimento, as deficiências em qualquer dos nutrientes: proteína, energia, macro ou microminerais, vitaminas e aporte hídrico, geram inibição das sínteses de proteínas específicas como os fatores de crescimento. Neste tipo de situação, as taxas (...) de ganho de peso e o desenvolvimento dos diferentes segmentos do trato reprodutivo se alteram. Os animais atrasam a idade a que chegam à puberdade, atrasando a entrada na vida produtiva como animais aptos a se reproduzir. O quadro de atraso à puberdade ocasiona atraso na idade a que se apresenta o primeiro parto, fator responsável por grande parte das falhas na eficiência reprodutiva. Sem dúvida, aspectos nutricionais são os maiores limitantes no crescimento e na maturidade reprodutiva, sendo assim, esse trabalho têm como cunho a apresentação de alguns destes fatores: -/- 12.1 Relação Energia:Proteína -/- A maturidade sexual relaciona-se com um consumo adequado de energia e com a obtenção de um peso corporal adequado; o crescimento depende, em grande medida, da ingestão abundante de elementos energéticos. Uma ração deficiente em energia diminui a velocidade de crescimento, reduz a produção de leite, retarda a puberdade, reduz a fertilidade e diminui a resistência às doenças e ao parasitismo. -/- Uma das causas mais comuns da baixa fertilidade e do atraso da maturidade sexual nas vacas leiteiras é a falta de energia em relação às necessidades do animal ou um balanço de energia negativo; além disso, este atraso no início tardio da maturidade sexual diminui o tempo de vida durante o qual os animais têm uma reprodução ativa. -/- A falta de energia na ração pode ser causada por um consumo insuficiente de alimentos ou por uma baixa digestibilidade de seus componentes (dieta de baixa qualidade) e, por um teor elevado de umidade na dieta. O baixo consumo de energia é normalmente o resultado de restrições alimentares. Em qualquer uma das situações, a falta de energia impede o animal de expressar seu potencial genético de produção e o problema complica-se se, por sua vez, existe deficiência em proteínas, minerais e vitaminas. -/- Como referenciado anteriormente, a energia têm papel fundamental em todos os mecanismos fisiológicos do animal, seja para a reprodução, fornecimento de leite ou para produção de carne, uma vez que possui relação direta com as mitocôndrias celulares. A energia é considerada um tipo de gordura, e possui relação direta com o sistema reprodutivo da vaca. Para a produção de leite, uma vaca pode utilizar suas reservas de gordura e transformá-las em leite, isto é, a cada quilo de gordura corporal pode-se obter de 7 a 9 quilos de leite. O fornecimento de energia têm como fator a categoria animal, o sistema produtivo, a idade etc. logo, a administração de energia deve obedecer os parâmetros de 1,75 a 1,25 Mcal/kg do alimento fornecido, seja matéria seca, volumoso ou ração concentrada. Vale frisar novamente que os níveis de energia administrada devem ser altos (1,72 Mcal/kg) para as vacas no início da lactação e deve-se diminuir gradativamente conforme chega o final da lactação, chegando a 1,54 Mcal/kg ou menos. No caso de prevenção contra o retardamento dos animais à idade reprodutiva, os níveis de energia para as bezerras de 0-3 meses com ± 150 kg deve ser de 1,70 Mcal/kg de MS para mantença e de 1,06 Mcal para ganho de peso diário; para bezerras com idade entre 6-12 meses e um peso de ± 250 kg o nível de energia deve ser de 1,54 Mcal para mantença e de 0,97 para ganho; por fim, para bezerras chegando a categoria de novilhas (> 12 meses) o ideal é o fornecimento de 1,39 Mcal para mantença e de 0,81 Mcal para ganho. Os alimentos que mais fornecem energia são o sebo, a gordura protegida, o milho, etc. -/- O efeito da proteína da dieta na reprodução é complexo. Em geral, quantidades inadequadas de proteína na dieta reduzem a produção de leite e o desempenho reprodutivo (maturidade sexual). Deficiências de proteínas diminuem os níveis de proteínas de reserva ou de transporte no sangue, fígado e músculos o que predispõe o animal a várias doenças que podem levar a não manifestação da maturidade sexual ou mesmo a morte. -/- Há tipos de proteínas como a PB (proteína bruta), a PDR (proteína degradada no rúmen), proteína metabolizável entre outras, ambas possuem relação com a PB e são primordiais no entendimento da nutrição de ruminantes. Os níveis de PDR se forem baixos mostra uma boa população microbiana presente no rúmen do animal, esse compartimento que se desenvolve conforme a ingestão de alimentos concentrados. -/- Para que se possa prevenir o retardamento dos animais à maturidade sexual, deve-se estar atentos aos níveis de proteína que se administra aos animais, em especial para as bezerras que entrarão logo na puberdade estando aptas para se reproduzir. Contudo, o tipo e a quantidade de proteína se limita a fatores como os ingredientes da ração, método alimentar utilizado na propriedade e o potencial produtivo do lote que se maneja. Sendo assim, os níveis oscilam conforme a categoria, idade e peso como demonstra na tabela 1, que traz os níveis ideias de proteína que devem estar presentes na alimentação das bezerras conforme idade e peso médio das mesmas. -/- Tabela 1: Exigências de proteína em bezerras e novilha -/- Nutriente 3-6 meses (± 150 kg) 6-12 meses (± 250 kg) > 12 meses (± 400 kg) -/- PB % 16 12 12 -/- PDR % 8,2 4,3 2,1 -/- Fonte: TEIXEIRA, 1997. -/- Para que as bezerras entrem na maturidade sexual sem atraso ou quaisquer problema, é ideal que a ração que viera ser fornecida para as mesmas possuam uma quantidade básica de 22% de PB presente na composição. Os alimentos mais proteicos são os de origem animal como a farinha de sangue, de penas etc., porém sua administração deve ser limitada. Sendo assim, a tabela 2 traz os possíveis melhores alimentos a serem ofertados aos animais e sua quantidade diária para que se possa suprir os requerimentos dos animais e prevenir o retardamento sexual ou qualquer outro problema reprodutivo que tenha relação nutricional. -/- Tabela 2: Alimentos proteicos e quantidades ideais para bovinos -/- Alimento PB% Quantidade % da mistura ou kg/cab./dia -/- Caroço de algodão 21 ± 50% da mistura da ração (1 kg = 0,5 kg de caroço) -/- Farelo de glúten de milho 23 Pode substituir o volumoso (máximo 3,5 kg/cab./dia) -/- Grão de soja 38 ± 20% da mistura (1 kg = 0,2 kg de grão) ou no máximo 2,5-3,5 kg/cab./dia -/- Farelo de algodão 41 ± 30-40% da mistura (1 kg = 0,3-0,4 kg de farelo) ou no máximo 4,5 kg/cab./dia -/- Fonte: TEIXEIRA, 1997. -/- A Ureia e outras substâncias que contêm nitrogênio não proteico (NNP) podem ser utilizadas pelos microrganismos do rúmen para a produção de proteínas bacterinas. Em geral, a utilização da NNP não é recomendada, exceto em situações especiais de alimentação e sob controle técnico, uma vez que um manejo inadequado, nomeadamente de excessos de consumo, pode provocar intoxicações com efeitos letais (ROIG, 2003; FERGUSON et al., 1989). É claro que as fontes de NNP não possuem aminoácidos e que muitos deles são essenciais e não são sintetizados pela microbiota ruminal. -/- Alguns autores argumentam que o nitrogênio não proteico (NNP) como a ureia, pode ser muito bem utilizado desde que não exceda um terço do total de nitrogênio na dieta diária ou 3% da ração de grãos de cereais e após adaptação gradual de, pelo menos, três semanas. A boa utilização da ureia nos ruminantes depende da ração conter pelo menos 75% de nutrientes digestíveis totais NDT, disponibilidade suficiente de amido e de CNE para converter o nitrogênio da ureia em proteína microbiana e quando o teor de proteína verdadeira da ração não for inferior a 12% (ROIG, 2003). -/- 12.2 Minerais (K e I) -/- Um excesso de potássio no sangue ocorre quando o consumo excede a capacidade do rim de o eliminar, provocando um atraso na maturidade sexual, ciclos sexuais irregulares e baixa natalidade; também interfere na absorção intestinal do magnésio, dificultando a absorção e o metabolismo do cálcio, magnésio e sódio; geralmente afeta fêmeas de alta produção leiteira (com o leite é excretado muito magnésio). -/- No macho, o excesso de potássio diminui a fecundidade, altera as vesículas seminais e influencia a composição espermática. Na fêmea prejudicaria os ciclos sexuais (duração e intensidade). -/- A excreção de íons de potássio diminui quando se ingere pouca quantidade deste elemento e de sódio, e quando há acidose aguda ou insuficiência das glândulas adrenais. -/- O potássio é um elemento de muitas funções no metabolismo animal e participa de múltiplos mecanismos fisiológicos, dentre eles o reprodutivo. Sendo assim, é importante o criador estar atento sobre a administração do mineral na alimentação das bezerras que vão entrar para a maturidade sexual. De forma geral, é indicado fornecer matéria seca que contenha K na ordem de 0,6 a 1% da composição do alimento. Em média, uma vaca de 600 kg que produz 15 kg de leite ingira cerca de 230 gramas desse mineral diariamente. -/- Em crescimento, a função tireoide tem um papel protetor da sexualidade e estimula a puberdade por suas relações com as funções hipofisária e ovariana, atuando como sensibilizador da gônada para o aparecimento do estro; sendo, na fêmea sinérgico com a FSH. Uma deficiência na produção de hormonas da tireoide induzirá uma redução na troca de energia e na liberação de calor corporal, ou seja, ocorre uma diminuição no metabolismo basal do -/- As iodo-proteínas ou tireoproteínas (T3 e T4) beneficiam o crescimento e a secreção láctea, no macho estimulam a puberdade (maturidade sexual) e são gametogênicas (a hipófise é estimulada pela tiroxina e a vitamina A). -/- Para se livrar do atraso e da desordem da administração dos animais e do cronograma da fazenda, o proprietário deve atentar ao fornecimento adequado de I que varia entre 0,34 e 0,88 mg/kg de MS. -/- As formas de prevenção por parte desses minerais poderá ser manejada através dos alimentos, da água ou via suplementação mineral injetável. Por fim, o criador poderá ficar tranquilo e ter seu cronograma estabelecido sendo posto e prática e obtendo êxito no plantel. -/- -/- REFERÊNCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS -/- -/- BARRENHO, Gonçalo José Pinheiro. Nutrição e fertilidade em bovinos de leite. 2016. Dissertação de Mestrado. Universidade de Évora. -/- BINDARI, Yugal Raj et al. Effects of nutrition on reproduction-A review. Adv. Appl. Sci. Res, v. 4, n. 1, p. 421-429, 2013. -/- BOLAND, M. P. Efectos nutricionales en la reproducción del ganado. XXXI Jornadas Uruguayas de Buiatría, 2003. -/- CASTILLO-BADILLA, Gloriana et al. Efecto de la edad al primer parto sobre parámetros productivos en vacas Jersey de Costa Rica. Agronomía Mesoamericana, v. 24, n. 1, p. 177-187, 2013. -/- DEHNING, R. Interrelaciones entre nutrición y fertilidad. In: Curso Manejo de la Fertilidad Bovina18-23 May 1987Medellín (Colombia). CICADEP, Bogotá (Colombia) Universidad de La Salle, Medellín (Colombia) Instituto Colombiano Agropecurio, Bogotá (Colombia) Sociedad Alemana de Cooperación Técnica-GTZ (Alemania), 1987. -/- DE LUCA, Leonardo J. Nutrición y fertilidad en el ganado lechero. XXXVI Jornadas Uruguayas de Buiatría, 2008. -/- DIAS, Juliano Cesar et al. Alguns aspectos da interação nutrição-reprodução em bovinos: energia, proteína, minerais e vitaminas. PUBVET, v. 4, p. Art. 738-743, 2010. -/- FERGUSON, James D.; CHALUPA, William. Impact of protein nutrition on reproduction in dairy cows. Journal of dairy science, v. 72, n. 3, p. 746-766, 1989. -/- GORDON, Ian. Controlled reproduction in farm animals series. Nova Iorque: CAB International, 1996. -/- GRANJA, Yury Tatiana; CERQUERA, Jefferson; FERNÁNDEZ, Omar. Factores nutricionales que interfieren en el desempeño reproductivo de la hembra bovina. Revista Colombiana de Ciencia Animal, v. 4, n. 2, p. 458-472, 2012. -/- MAAS, John. Relationship between nutrition and reproduction in beef cattle. The Veterinary Clinics of North America. Food Animal Practice, v. 3, n. 3, p. 633-646, 1987. -/- NOGUEIRA, E. et al. Nutrição aplicada à reprodução de bovinos de corte. Embrapa Pantanal-Capítulo em livro científico (ALICE), 2015. -/- PASA, Camila. Relação reprodução animal e os minerais. Biodiversidade, v. 9, n. 1, 2011. -/- ROIG, C. Alimentación del ganado caprino. Informe técnico: PROGANO-INTA. Colonia Benítez, Chaco, Argentina, 2003. -/- SARTORI, Roberto; GUARDIEIRO, Monique Mendes. Fatores nutricionais associados à reprodução da fêmea bovina. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, v. 39, p. 422-432, 2010. -/- SHORT, Robert E.; ADAMS, D. C. Nutritional and hormonal interrelationships in beef cattle reproduction. Canadian Journal of Animal Science, v. 68, n. 1, p. 29-39, 1988. -/- TEIXEIRA, J. C.; TEIXEIRA, LFAC. Alimentação de bovinos leiteiros. FAEPE, Lavras, 1997. -/- . (shrink)

Este libro, es el segundo de la serie La Cultura en el Uruguay: una mirada desde las Ciencias Económicas. Tal como señaló en el primer volumen, los estudiantes de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración de la Universidad de la República realizan como trabajo final de carrera, una investigación o ensayo monográfico en un área de su interés, tutorados por un docente universitario o un investigador de reconocida trayectoria. Un gran número de estos trabajos monográficos han hecho un (...) aporte valioso al conocimiento pero, lamentablemente, la poca difusión de éstos hace que el conocimiento adquirido termine olvidado en los fondos de la biblioteca de dicha Facultad, entre cientos de producciones monográficas. Al igual que en el volumen anterior, se pretende en éste, continuar mostrando los aportes que se han generado en el área tanto de Economía de la Cultura como de Gestión de Organizaciones Culturales, en una línea de investigación que me enorgullece coordinar, y en la que vuelco cotidianamente mis mayores esfuerzos. Cabe señalar, que el primer libro trató sobre diversos temas vinculados a la Cultura, atendiendo a una clasificación clásica en la disciplina que divide -o solía dividir- el objeto de estudio en Patrimonio, Artes Escénicas e Industria Cultural, y por ende, abarcó temáticas diversas. En esta segunda entrega, y ante la imposibilidad de recoger la totalidad de los trabajos monográficos producidos en el lapso comprendido entre la edición del primer y segundo volumen, se optó por efectuar una selección temática en vez de cronológica, por lo que se muestran en este libro solamente los trabajos que atañen a la Gestión y Economía de los Museos, y a un tema estrechamente vinculado, por la injerencia que tiene uno en el otro, que es el análisis económico del mercado de arte, en este caso, por medio de subastas. Todos los trabajos aquí presentados fueron tutorados por mí, aunque no en exclusividad. Primando la excelencia académica, y entendiendo que varios de los temas tratados tenían una especificidad considerable, recurrí, tal como es usual en el ámbito académico, -que valora la discusión entre pares y la consideración de opiniones de especialistas- a la ayuda de diversos colegas para que estas monografías pudieran concretarse con el mejor nivel académico posible. La primera investigación que se presenta fue realizada por las Contadoras Ana Macias y Ma. Fernanda Rimoldi, titulada Museos, una visión desde la Gestión de Calidad. Dicha investigación, tutorada conjuntamente con la especialista en calidad Cra Sara Gerpe, buscó determinar si es aplicable el Modelo Iberoamericano de Gestión de Calidad en Museos, para lo que se consideró una muestra de 14 museos montevideanos. Dicho trabajo propició un premio de un concurso organizado por el Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, denominado Tu Tesis en Cultura, y por ende, no necesita más presentación. La Cultura en Uruguay: una mirada desde las Ciencias Económicas El segundo trabajo, titulado Sistema de Museos: Planificación Estratégica. Un diagnóstico previo, de las Cras Andrea de Armas, Cecilia Moreira y Valeria Palacios, trata sobre un caso de estudio de gran importancia para el atractivo turístico y patrimonial, como es el Sistema de Museos de Colonia de Sacramento, y realiza un diagnóstico enmarcado en la gestión estratégica de las organizaciones museísticas. Las conclusiones no son generalizables a otros museos que los que integran el Sistema de Museos de Colonia, sin embargo, la metodología empleada es fácilmente extrapolable a otros museos, tanto uruguayos como del exterior, que busquen comenzar el camino de la planificación estratégica. En tercer lugar, se expone la monografía de los Contadores Yamila Hernández, Sebastián Maidán y Ana Laura Mascheroni, que trata un tema crucial en los albores del siglo XXI como es la Responsabilidad SocialCorporativa. Este trabajo también se basa en un estudio de caso, y la organización bajo análisis es el Museo del Carnaval, museo que tiene una conducta innovadora que posibilita vincular el museo con programas pioneros en responsabilidad social en Uruguay. El trabajo se denomina Balance Social Museo del Carnaval y fue tutorado en forma conjunta con un referente en Responsabilidad Social Empresaria como es el Cr. Walter Rossi. El cuarto trabajo fue una producción de los Licenciados en Economía Tatiana Cóppola y Fernando González y se titula Museos en el Uruguay: Una visión económica. La investigación buscó la relación entre la variable visitante de una institución museística, y otras variables explicativas, como son la valoración del acervo, costos operativos, apertura horaria, entre otras, logrando probar que la variable relacionada a la captación de visitantes, para la muestra analizada, es la variable Difusión. Esta monografía la tutoré en forma compartida con el Dr. Gustavo Bouquet y el Lic. Raúl Ramírez, en una situación absolutamente atípica en el que el número de tutores supera el de estudiantes. Pero bien valió la pena la excepción en vista de los excelentes logros alcanzados. Para finalizar, se presenta la monografía titulada Formación de Precios de Pintura Nacional en Subasta: un Modelo y su Aplicación con la que accedieron al título de Licenciados en Economía Javier Chiossi y Matías De Vecchi. Se incluyó dicho trabajo en este volumen, que trata básicamente sobre museos, porque entiendo que el Mercado de Arte está indudablemente vinculado a la política de compras de los museos, en especial los contemporáneos. Cabe destacar que este trabajo contó con el apoyo de la Dra. Celina Gutiérrez, quien accedió a compartir la tutoría de un tema que escapaba mis posibilidades, logrando un excelente resultado. Merece señalar que cada trabajo original supera el centenar de páginas, y que por ende, no es posible publicarlos completamente, por lo que para este libro se hicieron resúmenes de las investigaciones realizadas, intentando adecuar la terminología y quitándoles el formato estrictamente científico -poco amigable para un no especialista-, de forma tal que su lectura sea accesible al público en general. También quiero señalar, que el prólogo del primer volumen, lo finalicé con la frase: “Espero que este libro sea el primero de una larga lista. Las áreas de Economía de la Cultura y Gestión de Organizaciones Culturales son disciplinas jóvenes que necesitan seguir creciendo. La investigación realizada por trabajos monográficos de fin de carrera en estas áreas, será siempre bienvenida” La Facultad ha comenzado un nuevo plan de estudio, en el que se eliminó la obligatoriedad de presentar una tesina o monografía como condición necesaria para obtener el título. No obstante, aún contamos con una decena de monografías que no han sido publicadas y que espero se concreten en el o los siguientes volúmenes de esta serie. (shrink)

WINNER OF THE SIMON HAILWOOD ESSAY PRIZE. This paper discusses the problem of alienation from nature, considered through the phenomena of reification and de-objectification. I propose understanding alienation as the result of a distorted relation between the subjective and the objective and I suggest a tentative solution via the combination of two ethico-political practices: releasement and reappropriation. In doing so, I put forward a structural-ethical critique and response to our current ecological crisis.

Modern individuals grapple with a paradoxical reality: their lives are characterized by a strong feeling of independence as well as by an intense social interconnection. This article argues that despite an increased discussion of dependence in contemporary social and political philosophy, current ways of theorizing it have disregarded the concrete form that our social dependence takes under capitalist relations. I maintain that without integrating the critique of political economy, we risk offering a defense of dependence that remains unaware of important (...) axes of domination. In particular, I suggest recuperating Marx’s notion of objective dependence, which has been insufficiently discussed in the existing literature. Finally, drawing on recent developments in critical theory, I put forward a normative critique of dependence. I contend that the issue with modern societies is that they promote alienated and reified relations of dependence, transforming the basis of our social freedom into an objective form of domination. -/- . (shrink)

The Russian people are struggling to learn how to create a democracy and a market economy. This paper reviews the results of reform efforts to date and what the Russian people are learning as indicated by changes in answers to public opinion surveys. As a way to continue the social learning process in Russia we suggest the widespread use of process improvement methods in organizations. This paper describes some Russian experiences in using process improvement methods and proposes a strategy for (...) spreading the use of these methods through universities and then through businesses and government agencies. As people use process improvement methods, they gain confidence in their ability to improve the functioning of organizations and society. (shrink)

Notwithstanding diverse opinions and debates about mixing methods, mixed methods research (MMR) is increasingly being used in sport and exercise psychology. In this paper, we describe MMR trends within leading sport and exercise psychology journals and explore critical realism as a possible underpinning framework for conducting MMR. Our meta-study of recent empirical mixed methods studies published in 2017–2019 indicates that eight (36%) of the 22 MMR studies explicitly stated a paradigmatic position (five drew on pragmatism, two switched paradigms between qualitative (...) and quantitative elements of the study, and one was situated in relativist-interpretivism). The remaining 14 (64%) studies did not report their underpinning research philosophical assumptions. Evaluating the merits and limitations of these positions against critical realist assumptions suggests that several paradigmatic disagreements are potentially reconcilable. These include (a) maintaining that ontological and epistemological concerns are important for methodological integrity of a mixed methods study; (b) switching between paradigms in the same study is problematic; and (c) refuting the qualitative-quantitative incommensurability thesis, therefore allowing mixed methods research without compromising philosophical coherence. From a critical realist position, we suggest that both quantitative and qualitative designs are justifiable in a mixed methods study because (1) they help corroborate, refine, or refute plausible explanations of phenomena (epistemological), but (2) with different methodologies utilised to perform different tasks in the same research design related to different psycho-social system features (ontological). We call for a collaborative engagement by researchers across paradigmatic positions to work towards the advancement of methodological pluralism in our research community. (shrink)

The practice and industry of organizational coaching are now well established, but how it is understood theoretically continues to lag behind. In this paper we analyze possible reasons for this state of affairs and argue that the development of coaching as an academic discipline will benefit from adopting philosophical pragmatism as an overarching theoretical framework. This move will enable coaching academics to utilize the contributions to knowledge that different paradigms generate. Positioning pragmatism as a theory of action we argue that (...) organizational coaching is by default a pragmatic enterprise and provide three examples of the considerable benefits to be gained by conceptualizing it this way. Drawing from the pragmatists’ ideas, particularly those of John Dewey, we demonstrate how the theoretical understanding of organizational coaching can be enhanced by considering its nature as a joint inquiry. Pragmatism suggests development as an ultimate purpose for organizational coaching which also helps to resolve fundamental conceptual debates. In light of the complexity and diversity involved in the way that organizational coaching is practiced, pragmatism offers coaches a useful framework for developing the flexibility required for navigating the multiplicity of influences on their practice. (shrink)

Este artículo explora la problemática del cuerpo desde una perspectiva de género. Primero, se estudia la evasión filosófica del cuerpo, así como su inadvertida asimilación a lo femenino. Segundo, se examina la negación capitalista del cuerpo y la posibilidad de entender la diferenciación entre las lógicas de explotación y de expropiación a través de una previa diferenciación entre cuerpos. Se propone finalmente hacer un análisis de la exclusión general del cuerpo como una exclusión particular de lo femenino y de lo (...) popular y se sugiere que el advenimiento de los cuerpos promulgado desde el movimiento feminista, especialmente en su vertiente latinoamericana, traen consigo un potencial democrático y emancipador. -/- . (shrink)

We describe a strategy for integration of data that is based on the idea of semantic enhancement. The strategy promises a number of benefits: it can be applied incrementally; it creates minimal barriers to the incorporation of new data into the semantically enhanced system; it preserves the existing data (including any existing data-semantics) in their original form (thus all provenance information is retained, and no heavy preprocessing is required); and it embraces the full spectrum of data sources, types, models, and (...) modalities (including text, images, audio, and signals). The result of applying this strategy to a given body of data is an evolving Dataspace that allows the application of a variety of integration and analytic processes to diverse data contents. We conceive semantic enhancement (SE) as a lightweight and flexible process that leverages the richness of the structured contents of the Dataspace without adding storage and processing burdens to what, in the intelligence domain, will be an already storage- and processing-heavy starting point. SE works not by changing the data to which it is applied, but rather by adding an extra semantic layer to this data. We sketch how the semantic enhancement approach can be applied consistently and in cumulative fashion to new data and data-models that enter the Dataspace. (shrink)

Within the context of women’s studies, Thomas Aquinas is probably best known for his paraphrasing of Aristotle’s view, which describes woman as a “deformed man”. While the Philosopher indeed adopts the empirically dubious premise of woman’s value being intrinsically inferior to that of man, which he consistently implements throughout his many works, in Thomas’s case the issue of gender is not addressed as clearly and definitively. Above all, Aquinas does not call woman “something deformed”, but “only” occasional and misbegotten. This (...) is a reference to his ontological theory, in which woman is an occasional entity on the individual level, but a necessary one on the general level. He also distinguishes two relations of equality and affirms one of them to exist between woman and man. Although he accepts some of Aristotle’s beliefs (such as the impaired rationality of woman and her natural submission to man), he rejects other which show her as a being devoid of dignity. If one accepts the superiority of the spiritual sphere over the bodily one, it is ultimately possible to interpret Aquinas’s thought in a quasi-feminist way, as evidenced by the existence of Catholic Neo-Thomistic feminism, among others. Its achievements include recognising the divorce of marriages in which there is no friendship, abandoning Aristotelian biology in favour of modern scientific knowledge, and indicating the possibility of a feminist interpretation of the concept of natural law, which should include the welfare of women and minorities. (shrink)

Статтю присвячено складним психологічним і матеріальним обставинам, у яких розвивалася культура України (Києва) у 1994 р. за умов фінансового дефіциту в країні та політичного безладу і невизначеності. Йдеться про зусилля інтелектуалів (філософів та митців) протистояти негативним обставинам тодішньої ситуації і працювати на перспективу. Завдяки фінансуванню Фонду Дж. Сороса було засновано програму «Трансформація гуманітарної освіти в Україні», яка сприяла відбору та виданню підручників нового покоління для незалежної України. Ініціаторами видання був Інститут філософії України та директор програми Н. Вяткіна. Творчий горизонт визначився (...) заснуванням нових музичних програм, зокрема «Київ Музик Фесту» композитором Іваном Карабицем. Він же заснував цикл концертів «Час камерати» та конкурс для молодих виконавців імені Володимира Горовиця. Карабиць співпрацював з художниками Києва, зорганізувавши виставку «Арт Музик Фест». Попри фінансові негаразди, з ініціативи талановитих художників відбулася низка цікавих експозицій. Ці ініціативи підтримував Іван Дзюба, який тоді був на посаді міністра культури. Молоді художники, що не покладалися на доволі реакційну і байдужу до їхньої долі Спілку художників, організували творчий сквот «БЖ-АРТ» (існував з 1994 по 2014 р.). Там розвивалося інноваційне мистецтво. -/- . (shrink)

La investigación buscó la relación entre la variable visitante de una institución museística, y otras variables explicativas, como son la valoración del acervo, costos operativos, apertura horaria, entre otras, logrando probar que la variable relacionada a la captación de visitantes, para la muestra analizada, es la variable Difusión. -/- Se trata de un estudio correlacional, dado que el mismo tiene como propósito medir el grado de relación que existe entre dos o más conceptos o variables y el diseño de la (...) investigación es no experimental, ya que no existe manipulación activa de alguna variable. Además, se trata de un diseño transeccional transversal, ya que se busca establecer la relación de variables medidas en un único momento del tiempo. En una primera etapa se trabajó con los datos recabados en el marco del Primer Censo Nacional de Museos del MEC. En una segunda etapa, se procedió a realizar una encuesta a todos los museos que formaron parte del Censo. La variable clave que se consideró fue la variable difusión. (shrink)

With the ageing of the Portuguese population, there are more people in dependency situations and needing long-term care (LTC). In this context, it is important to ensure the quality of life (QoL) of those individuals, and that quality can be measured through their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and overall well-being. Also, understanding how perceived service quality (PSQ) can be related to how people perceive their QoL is pertinent since service quality is an important factor to achieve patient health outcomes. (...) To develop this project, a LTC unit located in the district of Lisbon was chosen, the LTC unit of Arruda dos Vinhos. The main objective was to assess the relation between the PSQ, the HRQoL and the overall well-being of patients receiving LTC at the LTC unit of Arruda dos Vinhos. A project based on a case study was performed, through interviews based on the items of the SERVPERF, EQ-5D and ICECAP-O questionnaires, which were then analysed through content analysis. Results showed there is a relation between PSQ and HRQoL and between HRQoL and overall well-being. It was also possible to realise that to better evaluate the quality of this specific service, other subjects as the activities performed at the LTC unit, the physiotherapy service and the food provided, should be taken in consideration. Concluding, there is a relation between PSQ and the QoL of the patients receiving LTC at the LTC unit of Arruda dos Vinhos, when quality of life is measured through HRQoL. (shrink)

What follows is a contribution to the horizontal integration of warfighter intelligence data as defined in Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction J2 CJCSI 3340.02AL: -/- Horizontally integrating warfighter intelligence data improves the consumers’ production, analysis and dissemination capabilities. HI requires access (including discovery, search, retrieval, and display) to intelligence data among the warfighters and other producers and consumers via standardized services and architectures. These consumers include, but are not limited to, the combatant commands, Services, Defense agencies, and (...) the Intelligence Community. (shrink)

In the article the main trends of modern philosophical theology are considered in the perspective of methodological tasks. Based on the diversity of the post-secular philosophical situation, the place of theology oft en turns out to be not only in the series of theological disciplines, but also acquires features of interdisciplinarity. Theological studies aimed at solving the problems of humanity, history, and time, combine hermeneutics and philosophical anthropology, philosophy of language and psychological methods, oft en becoming an experimental space for (...) applying of humanitarian approaches. In the paper the ideas of theologians and philosophers of the Bultmann and post-Bultman periods are compared. (shrink)

We describe a strategy that is being used for the horizontal integration of warfighter intelligence data within the framework of the US Army’s Distributed Common Ground System Standard Cloud (DSC) initiative. The strategy rests on the development of a set of ontologies that are being incrementally applied to bring about what we call the ‘semantic enhancement’ of data models used within each intelligence discipline. We show how the strategy can help to overcome familiar tendencies to stovepiping of intelligence data, and (...) describe how it can be applied in an agile fashion to new data resources in ways that address immediate needs of intelligence analysts. (shrink)

Group process methods for problem solving and planning are now widely used in organizations in the United States. Such methods, which involve active participation by employees, are not often used in Russia. We believe these methods would help Russia move from a centrally planned, authoritarian style of management to a more participatory, information-sharing style of management. Accordingly, two training sessions were held with faculty members at universities in Irkutsk and Novosibirsk. This article describes how these meetings were arranged, the results (...) of the planning activities, and the implications of participatory methods of decision making for organizations in Russia and in other transitional economies. (shrink)

We describe on-going work on IAO-Intel, an information artifact ontology developed as part of a suite of ontologies designed to support the needs of the US Army intelligence community within the framework of the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A). IAO-Intel provides a controlled, structured vocabulary for the consistent formulation of metadata about documents, images, emails and other carriers of information. It will provide a resource for uniform explication of the terms used in multiple existing military dictionaries, thesauri and metadata registries, (...) thereby enhancing the degree to which the content formulated with their aid will be available to computational reasoning. (shrink)

In this paper, we attempt to de-naturalize the prevailing economistic imaginary of work that Max Weber and later commentators described as ‘protestant work ethic,’ epitomized in the figure of homo economicus. We do so by contrasting it with the imaginary of skillful work that can be found in vignettes about artisans in the Zhuangzi. We argue that there are interesting contrasts between these views concerning 1) direct goal achievement vs. indirect goal achievement through the cultivation of skills; 2) the hierarchization (...) of mental versus physical dimensions of work; 3) the crafting of non-dominating relationships between the working subject, their object, and their instruments of work, which leads to questions about the sustainability of these relationships; and 4) the relationship between work and well-being, which the Daoist texts conceptualize in a much more holistic, but also more presentist way than Western economic rationality. We conclude by pointing out the relevance of these differences for several contemporary debates about work, by denaturalizing a dominant imaginary of work, by distinguishing different forms of work, by suggesting a different relation between work and nature, and by raising questions about the desirability of the automation of work. (shrink)

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.

It is a matter of fact that Europe is facing more and more crucial challenges regarding health and social care due to the demographic change and the current economic context. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has stressed this situation even further, thus highlighting the need for taking action. Active and Assisted Living technologies come as a viable approach to help facing these challenges, thanks to the high potential they have in enabling remote care and support. Broadly speaking, AAL can be referred (...) to as the use of innovative and advanced Information and Communication Technologies to create supportive, inclusive and empowering applications and environments that enable older, impaired or frail people to live independently and stay active longer in society. AAL capitalizes on the growing pervasiveness and effectiveness of sensing and computing facilities to supply the persons in need with smart assistance, by responding to their necessities of autonomy, independence, comfort, security and safety. The application scenarios addressed by AAL are complex, due to the inherent heterogeneity of the end-user population, their living arrangements, and their physical conditions or impairment. Despite aiming at diverse goals, AAL systems should share some common characteristics. They are designed to provide support in daily life in an invisible, unobtrusive and user-friendly manner. Moreover, they are conceived to be intelligent, to be able to learn and adapt to the requirements and requests of the assisted people, and to synchronise with their specific needs. Nevertheless, to ensure the uptake of AAL in society, potential users must be willing to use AAL applications and to integrate them in their daily environments and lives. In this respect, video- and audio-based AAL applications have several advantages, in terms of unobtrusiveness and information richness. Indeed, cameras and microphones are far less obtrusive with respect to the hindrance other wearable sensors may cause to one’s activities. In addition, a single camera placed in a room can record most of the activities performed in the room, thus replacing many other non-visual sensors. Currently, video-based applications are effective in recognising and monitoring the activities, the movements, and the overall conditions of the assisted individuals as well as to assess their vital parameters. Similarly, audio sensors have the potential to become one of the most important modalities for interaction with AAL systems, as they can have a large range of sensing, do not require physical presence at a particular location and are physically intangible. Moreover, relevant information about individuals’ activities and health status can derive from processing audio signals. Nevertheless, as the other side of the coin, cameras and microphones are often perceived as the most intrusive technologies from the viewpoint of the privacy of the monitored individuals. This is due to the richness of the information these technologies convey and the intimate setting where they may be deployed. Solutions able to ensure privacy preservation by context and by design, as well as to ensure high legal and ethical standards are in high demand. After the review of the current state of play and the discussion in GoodBrother, we may claim that the first solutions in this direction are starting to appear in the literature. A multidisciplinary debate among experts and stakeholders is paving the way towards AAL ensuring ergonomics, usability, acceptance and privacy preservation. The DIANA, PAAL, and VisuAAL projects are examples of this fresh approach. This report provides the reader with a review of the most recent advances in audio- and video-based monitoring technologies for AAL. It has been drafted as a collective effort of WG3 to supply an introduction to AAL, its evolution over time and its main functional and technological underpinnings. In this respect, the report contributes to the field with the outline of a new generation of ethical-aware AAL technologies and a proposal for a novel comprehensive taxonomy of AAL systems and applications. Moreover, the report allows non-technical readers to gather an overview of the main components of an AAL system and how these function and interact with the end-users. The report illustrates the state of the art of the most successful AAL applications and functions based on audio and video data, namely lifelogging and self-monitoring, remote monitoring of vital signs, emotional state recognition, food intake monitoring, activity and behaviour recognition, activity and personal assistance, gesture recognition, fall detection and prevention, mobility assessment and frailty recognition, and cognitive and motor rehabilitation. For these application scenarios, the report illustrates the state of play in terms of scientific advances, available products and research project. The open challenges are also highlighted. The report ends with an overview of the challenges, the hindrances and the opportunities posed by the uptake in real world settings of AAL technologies. In this respect, the report illustrates the current procedural and technological approaches to cope with acceptability, usability and trust in the AAL technology, by surveying strategies and approaches to co-design, to privacy preservation in video and audio data, to transparency and explainability in data processing, and to data transmission and communication. User acceptance and ethical considerations are also debated. Finally, the potentials coming from the silver economy are overviewed. (shrink)

Ethical decision-making frameworks assist in identifying the issues at stake in a particular setting and thinking through, in a methodical manner, the ethical issues that require consideration as well as the values that need to be considered and promoted. Decisions made about the use, sharing, and re-use of big data are complex and laden with values. This paper sets out an Ethics Framework for Big Data in Health and Research developed by a working group convened by the Science, Health and (...) Policy-relevant Ethics in Singapore Initiative. It presents the aim and rationale for this framework supported by the underlying ethical concerns that relate to all health and research contexts. It also describes a set of substantive and procedural values that can be weighed up in addressing these concerns, and a step-by-step process for identifying, considering, and resolving the ethical issues arising from big data uses in health and research. This Framework is subsequently applied in the papers published in this Special Issue. These papers each address one of six domains where big data is currently employed: openness in big data and data repositories, precision medicine and big data, real-world data to generate evidence about healthcare interventions, AI-assisted decision-making in healthcare, public-private partnerships in healthcare and research, and cross-sectoral big data. (shrink)

Immersing in the virtual world of the Internet, information and communication technologies are changing the human being. In spite of the apparent similarity of on-line and off-line, social laws of their existence are different. According to the analysis of games, based on the violation of the accepted laws of the world off-line, their censoring, as well as the cheating, features of formation and violations of social norms in virtual worlds were formulated. Although the creators of the games have priority in (...) the standardization of the virtual world, society as well as players can have impact on it to reduce the realism. The violation of the prescribed rules by a player is regarded as cheating. And it is subjected to sanctions, but the attitude toward it is ambiguous, sometimes positive. Some rules are formed as a result of the interaction between players. (shrink)

Kant develops his political philosophy in the context of a teleological conception of both nature and human history. For Kant, political thought must be undertaken in the context of a progressive historical view of humanity’s place in nature. For this reason Kant would strongly agree with John Rawls’s claim that one of the key roles that political philosophy plays in a society’s political culture is that of ‘probing the limits of practicable political possibility. In this role, we view political philosophy (...) as realistically utopian’ (Rawls 2007, pp. 10-11). The fact that political philosophy has this public role helps to explain the close links that exist between politics and teleology in Kant’s work. Teleology is the study of ends and of the purposiveness of both nature and history. One of the key roles of political philosophy is, for Kant, to probe what politics and human societies more generally can, will and should become in the context of the historically developing and purposive natural systems of which humans are part. Politics must be understood in its natural and historical context, but nature (especially human nature) and history must in turn be understood from a progressive political perspective. For Kant, the historical outcome of this purposive natural system, the end of history, is the full development of humanity’s predispositions for the use of reason within a moral and just society. This volume explores these issues. (shrink)

Although both EU policy makers and researchers acknowledge that public or stakeholder engagement is important for responsible innovation (RI), empirical evidence in this field is still scarce. In this article, we explore to what extent companies with a disposition to innovate in a more responsible way are moving towards the ideal of mutual responsiveness among stakeholders, as it is presented in the RI literature. Based on interviews with companies and non-economic stakeholders in the Dutch Food industry, it can be concluded (...) that innovative food companies are still far from implementing the ideal of mutual responsiveness in a significant way. The tension between the call for the active involvement of stakeholders in the literature and actual stakeholder engagement practices is explained by identifying a number of critical issues regarding stakeholder engagement, which are specific to actors involved in RI in the private sector. Finally, management practices designed to deal with these critical issues regarding stakeholder engagement are identified. (shrink)

In 2016, Béziau introduces a restricted notion of paraconsistency, the so-called genuine paraconsistency. A logic is genuine paraconsistent if it rejects the laws $\varphi,\neg \varphi \vdash \psi$ and $\vdash \neg (\varphi \wedge \neg \varphi)$. In that paper, the author analyzes, among the three-valued logics, which of them satisfy this property. If we consider multiple-conclusion consequence relations, the dual properties of those above-mentioned are $\vdash \varphi, \neg \varphi$ and $\neg (\varphi \vee \neg \varphi) \vdash$. We call genuine paracomplete logics those rejecting (...) the mentioned properties. We present here an analysis of the three-valued genuine paracomplete logics. A very natural twist structures semantics for these logics is also found in a systematic way. This semantics produces automatically a simple and elegant Hilbert-style characterization for all these logics. Finally, we introduce the logic LGP which is genuine paracomplete is not genuine paraconsistent, not even paraconsistent and cannot be characterized by a single finite logical matrix. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework that will help in understanding and evaluating, along social and ethical lines, the issue of killing day-old male chicks and two alternative directions of responsible innovations to solve this issue. The following research questions are addressed: Why is the killing of day-old chicks morally problematic? Are the proposed alternatives morally sound? To what extent do the alternatives lead to responsible innovation? The conceptual framework demonstrates clearly that there is a (...) moral “lock-in”, and why the killing of day-old chicks is indeed an issue. Furthermore, it is shown that both alternative directions address some important objections with regard to the killing of day-old chicks, but that they also raise new dilemmas. It also becomes clear that the framework enables and secures anticipation, reflection, deliberation with and responsiveness to stakeholders, the four dimensions of responsible innovation, in a structured way. (shrink)

This booklet on Active Assisted Living (AAL) technologies has been created as part of the GoodBrother COST Action, which has run from 2020 to 2024. COST Actions are European research programs that promote collaboration across borders, uniting researchers, professionals, and institutions to address key societal challenges. GoodBrother focused on ethical and privacy concerns surrounding video and audio monitoring in care settings. The aim was to ensure that while AAL technologies help older adults and vulnerable individuals, their privacy and data protection (...) rights remain a top priority. This booklet is designed to guide you through the role that AAL technologies play in improving the quality of life for older adults, caregivers, and people with disabilities. AAL technologies offer tools for those facing cognitive or physical challenges. They can enhance independence, assist with daily routines, and promote a safer living environment. However, the rise of these technologies also brings important questions about data protection and user autonomy. (shrink)

For many years there has been a debate about the role of the parietal lobe in the generation of behavior. Does it generate movement plans (intention) or choose objects in the environment for further processing? To answer this, we focus on the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), an area that has been shown to play independent roles in target selection for saccades and the generation of visual attention. Based on results from a variety of tasks, we propose that LIP acts as (...) a priority map in which objects are represented by activity proportional to their behavioral priority. We present evidence to show that the priority map combines bottom-up inputs like a rapid visual response with an array of top-down signals like a saccade plan. The spatial location representing the peak of the map is used by the oculomotor system to target saccades and by the visual system to guide visual attention. (shrink)

In 2035 global egg demand will have risen 50% from 1985. Because we are not able to tell in the egg whether it will become a male or female chick, billons of one day-old male chicks will be killed. International research initiatives are underway in this area, and governments encourage the development of an alternative with the goal of eliminating the culling of day-old male chicks. The Netherlands holds an exceptional position in the European egg trade, but is also the (...) only country in the European Union where the downside of the egg sector, the practice of killing day-old male chicks, is a recurrent subject of societal debate. ‘Preventing the killing of young animals’ and ‘in ovo sex determination’ are the two alternative approaches available to solve this problem. It is clear that both approaches solve the problem of killing day-old male chicks, either by keeping them alive or by preventing them from living, but they also raise a lot of new animal welfare-related dilemmas. A thorough analysis was undertaken of these dilemmas and the results are presented in this article. The analysis resulted in an ethical framework based on the two main approaches in bioethics: a consequentialist approach and a deontological approach. This ethical framework was used to develop an online survey administered to ascertain Dutch public opinion about these alternative approaches. The results show that neither alternative will be fully accepted, or accepted by more than half of Dutch society. However, the survey does provide an insight into the motives that are important for people’s choice: food safety and a good treatment of animals. Irrespective of the approach chosen, these values should be safeguarded and communicated clearly. (shrink)

Maintaining systems of military plans is critical for military effectiveness, but is also challenging. Plans will become obsolete as the world diverges from the assumptions on which they rest. If too many ad hoc changes are made to intermeshed plans, the ensemble may no longer lead to well-synchronized and coordinated operations, resulting in the system of plans becoming itself incoherent. We describe in what follows an Adaptive Planning process that we are developing on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory (...) (Rome) with the goal of addressing problems of these sorts through cyclical collaborative plan review and maintenance. The interactions of world state, blue force status and associated plans are too complex for manual adaptive processes, and computer-aided plan review and maintenance is thus indispensable. We argue that appropriate semantic technology can 1) provide richer representation of plan-related data and semantics, 2) allow for flexible, non-disruptive, agile, scalable, and coordinated changes in plans, and 3) support more intelligent analytical querying of plan-related data. (shrink)

Wittgenstein’s concepts shed light on the phenomenon of schizophrenia in at least three different ways: with a view to empathy, scientific explanation, or philosophical clarification. I consider two different “positive” wittgensteinian accounts―Campbell’s idea that delusions involve a mechanism of which different framework propositions are parts, Sass’ proposal that the schizophrenic patient can be described as a solipsist, and a Rhodes’ and Gipp’s account, where epistemic aspects of schizophrenia are explained as failures in the ordinary background of certainties. I argue that (...) none of them amounts to empathic-phenomenological understanding, but they provide examples of how philosophical concepts can contribute to scientific explanation, and to philosophical clarification respectively. (shrink)

This collection brings together fourteen contributions by authors from around the globe. Each of the contributions engages with questions about how local and global bioethical issues are made to be comparable, in the hope of redressing basic needs and demands for justice. These works demonstrate the significant conceptual contributions that can be made through feminists' attention to debates in a range of interrelated fields, especially as they formulate appropriate responses to developments in medical technology, global economics, population shifts, and poverty.

Phylogeography, a relatively new subdicipline of evolutionary biology that attempts to unify the fields of phylogenetics and population biology in an explicit geographical context, has hosted in recent years a highly polarized debate related to the purported benefits and limitations that qualitative versus quantitative methods might contribute or impose on inferential processes in evolutionary biology. Here we present a friendly, non-technical introduction to the conflicting methods underlying the controversy, and exemplify it with a balanced selection of quotes from the primary (...) biological literature, to invite the philosophy of biology community to pay attention to the elements that have played a primary role in its presumed resolution. We also present the basic features of our own metascientific take on the debate, and point out—as a preliminary step in preparation for upcoming, more detailed treatments—the importance that appeals to authority in fields external to phylogeography per se have played in the current status of this highly visible evolutionary biology dispute. (shrink)

When evidence-based policymaking is so often mired in disagreement and controversy, how can we know if the process is meeting its stated goals? We develop a novel mathematical model to study disagreements about adequate knowledge utilization, like those regarding wild horse culling, shark drumlines and facemask policies during pandemics. We find that, when stakeholders disagree, it is frequently impossible to tell whether any party is at fault. We demonstrate the need for a distinctive kind of transparency in evidence-based policymaking, which (...) we call transparency of reasoning. Such transparency is critical to the success of the evidence-based policy movement, as without it, we will be unable to tell whether in any instance a policy was in fact based on evidence. (shrink)

Heart palpitations, while often benign, can sometimes be indicative of severe underlying conditions requiring immediate intervention. Accurate and swift diagnosis thus remains a clinical priority. "A CLIPS-Based Expert System for Heart Palpitations Diagnosis" represents a novel approach to addressing this challenge, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and rule-based expert systems. Specifically, this system applies a suite of 7 if-then rules to evaluate potential heart palpitations causes and assign one of three outcomes: 1) A confirmed diagnosis of heart palpitations, 2) (...) A suspected link to cardiovascular diseases, and 3) A possible association with anxiety or stress disorders. The expert system offers an intuitive user interface, allowing for seamless symptom input and instant diagnosis based on user-provided information. This paper explores the various phases of this expert system's lifecycle, including design, implementation, and evaluation. Furthermore, the study situates the system within the broader discourse on rule-based expert systems for heart palpitations diagnosis, critically analyzing their efficiency, potential pitfalls, and ongoing challenges. Through this research, the value of integrating rule-based expert systems in clinical diagnostic processes is highlighted, illustrating its capacity to enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes. (shrink)

Various approaches have emerged over the last several decades to meet the challenges and complexities of anticipating and responding to the potential impacts of emerging technologies. Although many of the existing approaches share similarities, they each have shortfalls. This paper takes as the object of its study Anticipatory Ethics for Emerging Technologies (ATE) to technology assessment, given that it was formatted to address many of the privations characterising parallel approaches. The ATE approach, also in practice, presents certain areas for retooling, (...) such as how it characterises levels and objects of analysis. This paper results from the work done with the TechEthos Horizon 2020 project in evaluating the ethical, legal, and social impacts of climate engineering, digital extended reality, and neurotechnologies. To meet the challenges these technology families present, this paper aims to enhance the ATE framework to encompass the variety of human processes and material forms, functions, and applications that comprise the socio-technical systems in which these technologies are embedded. (shrink)

Ensemble perception—the encoding of objects by their group properties—is known to be resistant to outlier noise. However, this resistance is somewhat paradoxical: how can the visual system determine which stimuli are outliers without already having derived statistical properties of the ensemble? A simple solution would be that ensemble perception is not a simple, one-step process; instead, outliers are detected through iterative computations that identify items with high deviance from the mean and reduce their weight in the representation over time. Here (...) we tested this hypothesis. In Experiment 1, we found evidence that outliers are discounted from mean orientation judgments, extending previous results from ensemble face perception. In Experiment 2, we tested the timing of outlier rejection by having participants perform speeded judgments of sets with or without outliers. We observed significant increases in reaction time (RT) when outliers were present, but a decrease compared to no-outlier sets of matched range suggesting that range alone did not drive RTs. In Experiment 3 we tested the timing by which outlier noise reduces over time. We presented sets for variable exposure durations and found that noise decreases linearly over time. Altogether these results suggest that ensemble representations are optimized through iterative computations aimed at reducing noise. The finding that ensemble perception is an iterative process provides a useful framework for understanding contextual effects on ensemble perception. (shrink)

As national and state health care policy -making becomes contentious and complex, there is a need for a forum to debate and explore public concerns and values in health care, give voice to local citizens, to facilitate consensus among various stakeholders, and provide feedback and direction to health care institutions and policy makers. This paper explores the role that regional health care ethics committees can play and provides two contrasting examples of Networks involved in facilitation of public input into and (...) the development of health care policies and adoption of state-wide practices. (shrink)

We present experimental evidence that an interpretation was accurate. Current wisdom notwithstanding, we could interpret from the text alone because its information is redundant: repetition provides internal checks. Knowing neither dreamer nor their associations we made falsifiable predictions that we tested by subsequently gathering information about the dreamer. Predictions were supported. Results were repeated with seven additional dreams. Each dream was tightly crafted, used humor, drama or hyperbole to penetrate the dreamer’s defenses, and furthered the emergence of personality. Our experiment (...) compliments fMRI and statistics because it studies a whole text as a unique narrative: one iteration identified healing steps during therapy; another confirmed the psychological meaning of a myth. Our experiment might generate a body of objective knowledge about interpretation and make interpretation itself more accurate. In the US 20% live with mental illness. Our experiment supports talk therapy against pressure from the drug and insurance industries. (shrink)