bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fenomenología de los universales
Authors: Alvarado José Tomás
Published: July 2019

Resumen: Husserl propone dos descripciones fenomenológicas diferentes de los universales: la primera en Investigaciones lógicas y la segunda en Experiencia y juicio. En este trabajo se presentan y discuten estas dos descripciones fenomenológicas. Resulta que la perspectiva de Experiencia y juicio parece tener que ver con un acceso hermenéutico a los universales, mediado por un lenguaje y una tradición cultural, mientras que la perspectiva de Investigaciones lógicas parece estar centrada en un fenómeno pre-lingüístico más originario. Este segundo fenómeno de los universales parece ser más fundamental. En ambas perspectivas, sin embargo, los universales son dados en nuestras experiencias ordinarias. Entonces, uno debería aceptar universales en principio –dada la evidencia fenomenológica– a menos que otras razones de orden teórico recomienden lo contrario.
Dualismo ontológico y monismo gnoseológico en las Regulae ad directionem ingenii de R. Descartes
Authors: Leiva Rodolfo
Published: July 2019

En el presente artículo analizaremos cómo se produce un primer momento del giro subjetivo cartesiano a partir de la necesidad de dar una respuesta unitaria (es decir, monista) en el plano del conocimiento a una realidad ontológica irreductiblemente dualista, es decir, cómo se concibe un monismo gnoseológico a partir de un dualismo ontológico. A tal fin analizaremos cómo su mathesis universalis expresa el proyecto originario de las Regulae y establece las condiciones generales para su interpretación.nLuego, cómo esta mathesis, comprendida como exigencia epistémica, tiene como correlato gnoseológico una psicología en la que la percepción y la facultad cognitiva conforman un mecanismo integral distinguible, ontológicamente, en cuerpo/mente. Finalmente analizaremos cómo este dualismo ontológico encubre un verdadero monismo gnoseológico en el que toda la realidad es reducida a una dimensión cognoscente en el que la corporalidad asume el papel de «corporalidad ideal».
Tucídides y la vía parmenídea de la verdad
Authors: Sierra Martín César
Published: July 2019

En el presente artículo exploramos el contexto filosófico de la obra de Tucídides. A través del análisis de la verdad en la obra de Tucídides definimos una conexión intelectual con filósofos presocráticos como Parménides de Elea y Gorgias de Leontinos.
Sugerencias sobre el modo de combinar las formas platónicas para superar las dificultades interpretativas del Diálogo Parménides. La distinción entre la participación inmediata y la participación relacional
Authors: Matía Cubillo Gerardo Óscar
Published: July 2019

Este trabajo pretende ser una referencia útil para los estudiosos de la filosofía de Platón. Aporta un enfoque original a la investigación de los procesos lógicos que condicionan que unas formas participen de otras. Con la introducción del concepto de participación relacional, abre una posible vía de solución a las distintas versiones del argumento del «tercer hombre». Puede resultar de interés asimismo el método de generación de los números a partir de lo par y lo impar, propuesto en la interpretación de Parménides 143e-144a. El escrito tiene continuidad en un segundo artículo acerca del ser y la verdad en Platón.
Reification and the refugee: Using a counterposing dialogical analysis to unlock a frozen category
Authors: Mahendran Kesi , Magnusson Nicola , Howarth Caroline , Scuzzarello Sarah
Published: July 2019

Thousands of individuals each year seek refugee status and the question of who can be accepted requires politicians within democracies to seek a public mandate. Unlike other socio-political categories individuals cannot self-identify as refugee; the category must be bureaucratically conferred. Therefore sustained humanitarian public concern is vital to the acceptance of refugees. This article sets parameters on this public concern. It examines how public narratives reify the refugee category. Showing how this reification constrains the citizenship, integration and opportunities of individuals, now safe, yet continually categorized in everyday public discourse as refugee. Interviews, focus groups (Study 1) and ethnography (Study 2) were conducted in Sweden and the United Kingdom (N = 57). The article introduces a counterposing dialogical analysis where public positioning of refugees is counterposed against dialogue by “refugees” anticipating their positioning. The analysis uncovers an hegemonic social representation of humanitarianism indexing “the refugee” as the passive recipient of help framed by a public narrative diachronically frozen in the initial act of flight. Three objectifying reification processes stabilize the category. “Refugees” in turn employ counter-positional tactics of distancing, compensation and future-orientation. The limited success of these tactics suggest the need to scale up such tactics to collective-level communication strategies. Success of communication strategies requires questioning the underlying function humanitarian-talk serves in creating a sense of European identity. Together these strategies could re-work the temporal features of the refugee category facilitating a repositioning and enabling the emergence of post-refugee narratives.
Importância e aplicabilidade da Norma ABNT NBR 5410/2004 no quesito verificação final: segurança e confiabilidade do serviço
Authors: Lima Kaike Eduardo Neves , Lage Eduardo Gouveia Santiago
Published: July 2019

Este trabalho tem como tema “Importância e aplicabilidade da norma ABNT NBR – 5410/2004 no quesito verificação final: Segurança e confiabilidade do serviço”. A NBR 5410/2004 é uma norma que normatiza as instalações elétricas de baixa tensão e coloca que a verificação final leva à certificação de que a rede de energia elétrica não apresentam danos aparentes que possam comprometer seu funcionamento adequado e a segurança. Desta maneira este trabalho tem como objetivo confirmar, por meio de revisões de literatura, a importância da avaliação da conformidade das instalações elétricas, conforme preconizado pela NBR 5410/2004 e posteriormente sugerir um check list a ser utilizado na verificação final. Os resultados da pesquisa demonstraram que a importância da avaliação da conformidade das instalações elétricas, após as leituras, verificou-se que a mesma está pautada na segurança dos usuários, redução de retrabalho, benefícios para a concessionária e na vida útil das instalações. Ao final concluiu-se que ao finalizar uma obra e/ou durante a sua execução é importantíssimo que se realize a inspeção de certificação da instalação elétrica, sendo que a mesma é constituída por vistoria documental e visual.
Relação entre macacos e humanos em espaços urbanos
Authors: Vasconcelos Larissa Leonilda Pereira Melo , Carvalho Aluísio Vasconcelos de
Published: July 2019

Os alimentos possuem grande importância para o desenvolvimento dos organismos e a expressividade gênica está inteiramente ligada aos fatores nutricionais. Dependendo dos alimentos, os animais podem desenvolver características, comportamentos e funções metabólicas não peculiares a espécie, ocasionando um processo de especiação ao longo das sucessivas gerações. Os primatas da atualidade têm se destacado devido a mudança no padrão de alimentação uma vez que as espécies que habitam ambientes urbanos desenvolveram novas habilidades e padrões comportamentais diferenciados das populações naturais.
The Management of Psoriatic Arthritis in Italy: Organizational Impact Analysis of Optimized Pathwaystimized pathways
Authors: Restelli Umberto , Selmi Carlo , Pacelli Valeria , Croce Davide , Costanzo Antonio
Published: July 2019

BACKGROUND: The management of psoriatic arthritis requires competencies in the fields of both rheumatology and dermatology, and a multidisciplinary approach.AIM: To propose an effective pathway for the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of psoriatic arthritis in the Italian context, and to assess its organizational impact on the Regional Health Service of Lombardy Region.METHODS: The analysis was performed through interviews conducted with two key opinion leaders in the areas of dermatology and rheumatology. The current pathway of patients who present symptoms that might be related to psoriatic arthritis was defined and an optimized pathway was then proposed on the basis of the clinical practice, considering the implementation of a dermatology and rheumatology shared outpatient service. The organizational impact of the optimized pathway was then assessed from both the hospital and that of the Regional Health Service of Lombardy Region perspectives.RESULTS: The implementation of the service would have a positive impact on patients’ experience, improving the quality of the service provided, thanks to the multidisciplinary approach adopted, limiting the patients’ resources needed for the diagnosis, reducing the number of visits and time loss. The optimized pathway, therefore, would have a limited impact on the marketing mix, while potentially improving patients satisfaction, increasing the possibility of patients’ retention. To successfully implement the dermatological and rheumatologic multidisciplinary service, a precise communication strategy is mandatory.CONCLUSIONS: The optimized pathway for the diagnosis and management of psoriatic arthritis proposed would have a limited organizational impact at both hospital and Regional Health Service levels, while leading to theoretical benefits in terms of a prompt diagnosis of the pathology.
Diseño de una aplicación móvil para la consulta personalizada de ayudas, becas y subvenciones
Authors: Sagastibelza Lladonosa Cristian
Published: July 2019

Diseño de una aplicación para dispositivos móviles utilizando la metodología del Diseño Centrado en el Usuario. Se destina a las personas que requieren información referente a ayudas, becas y subvenciones, aportando un valor añadido a dicho ámbito gracias a la personalización de los resultados y la comunicación directa con el convocante.
Local synaptic inputs support opposing, network-specific odor representations in a widely projecting modulatory neuron
Authors: Zhang Xiaonan , Coates Kaylynn , Dacks Andrew , Günay Cengiz , Lauritzen J Scott , Li Feng , Calle-Schuler Steven A , Bock Davi , Gaudry Quentin
Published: July 2019

Serotonin plays different roles across networks within the same sensory modality. Previously, we used whole-cell electrophysiology in Drosophila to show that serotonergic neurons innervating the first olfactory relay are inhibited by odorants (Zhang and Gaudry, 2016). Here we show that network-spanning serotonergic neurons segregate information about stimulus features, odor intensity and identity, by using opposing coding schemes in different olfactory neuropil. A pair of serotonergic neurons (the CSDns) innervate the antennal lobe and lateral horn, which are first and second order neuropils. CSDn processes in the antennal lobe are inhibited by odors in an identity independent manner. In the lateral horn, CSDn processes are excited in an odor identity dependent manner. Using functional imaging, modeling, and EM reconstruction, we demonstrate that antennal lobe derived inhibition arises from local GABAergic inputs and acts as a means of gain control on branch-specific inputs that the CSDns receive within the lateral horn.
An automatic fascicle tracking algorithm quantifying gastrocnemius architecture during maximal effort contractions
Authors: Drazan John F. , Hullfish Todd J. , Baxter Josh R.
Published: July 2019

Background

Ultrasound has become a commonly used imaging modality for making dynamic measurements of muscle structure during functional movements in biomechanical studies. Manual measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle are time intensive which limits the clinical utility of this approach while also limiting sample sizes in research. The purpose of this study was to develop an automatic fascicle tracking program to quantify the length and pennation angle of a muscle fascicle during maximal effort voluntary contractions and to evaluate its repeatability between days and reproducibility between different examiners.

Methods

Five healthy adults performed maximal effort isometric and isokinetic contractions at 30, 120, 210, and 500 degrees per second about their ankle on an isokinetic dynamometer while their medial gastrocnemius muscle was observed using ultrasound. Individual muscle fascicles and the two aponeuroses were identified by the user in the first frame and automatically tracked by the algorithm by three observers on three separate days. Users also made manual measurements of the candidate fascicle for validation. Repeatability within examiners across days and reproducibility across examiners and days were evaluated using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). Agreement between manual and automatic tracking was evaluated using the coefficient of multiple correlations (CMC) and root-mean-square error. Supervised automatic tracking, where the program could be reinitialized if poor tracking was observed, was performed on all videos by one examiner to evaluate the performance of automatic tracking in a typical use case. We also compared the performance our program to a preexisting automatic tracking program.

Results

We found both manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle to be strongly repeatable within examiners and strongly reproducible across examiners and days (ICCs > 0.74). There was greater agreement between manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length than pennation angle, however the mean CMC value was found to be strong in both cases (CMC > 0.8). Supervision of automatic tracking showed very strong agreement between manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle (CMC > 0.94). It also had considerably less error relative to the preexisting automatic tracking program.

Conclusions

We have developed a novel automatic fascicle tracking algorithm that quantifies fascicle length and pennation angle of individual muscle fascicles during dynamic contractions during isometric and across a range of isokinetic velocities. We demonstrated that this fascicle tracking algorithm is strongly repeatable and reproducible across different examiners and different days and showed strong agreement with manual measurements, especially when tracking is supervised by the user so that tracking can be reinitialized if poor tracking quality is observed.
The impact of one-decade ecological disturbance on genetic changes: a study on the brine shrimpArtemia urmianafrom Urmia Lake, Iran
Authors: Asem Alireza , Eimanifar Amin , van Stappen Gilbert , Sun Shi-Chun
Published: July 2019

Urmia Lake, the largest natural habitat of the brine shrimpArtemia urmiana, has progressively desiccated over the last two decades, resulting in a loss of 80% of its surface area and producing thousands of hectares of arid salty land. This ecological crisis has seriously affected the lake’s native biodiversity.Artemia urmianahas lost more than 90% of its population during the decade from 1994 (rainy period) to 2004 (drought period) due to salinity increasing to saturation levels (∼300 g/l). We studied the influence of this ecological crisis on the genetic diversity ofA. urmianain Urmia Lake, based on one cyst collections in 1994 and 2004. AMOVA analysis on ISSR data demonstrated a 21% genetic variation and there was a 5.5% reduction of polymorphic loci between samples. PCoA showed that 77.42% and 68.75% of specimens clustered separately in 1994 and 2004, respectively. Our analyses of four marker genes revealed different genetic diversity patterns with a decrease of diversity atITS1and an increase forNa+/K+ATPase. There was no notable difference in genetic variation detected forCOIand16Sgenes between the two periods. However, they represented distinctly different haplotypes.ITS1andCOIfollowed a population expansion model, whereasNa+/K+ATPaseand16Swere under demographic equilibrium without selective pressure in the 1994 samples. Neutrality tests confirmed the excess of rare historical and recent mutations present inCOIandITS1in both samples. It is evident that a short-term ecological disturbance has impacted the genetic diversity and structure ofA. urmiana.
Improving clinical refractive results of cataract surgery by machine learning
Authors: Sramka Martin , Slovak Martin , Tuckova Jana , Stodulka Pavel
Published: July 2019

Aim

To evaluate the potential of the Support Vector Machine Regression model (SVM-RM) and Multilayer Neural Network Ensemble model (MLNN-EM) to improve the intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation for clinical workflow.

Background

Current IOL power calculation methods are limited in their accuracy with the possibility of decreased accuracy especially in eyes with an unusual ocular dimension. In case of an improperly calculated power of the IOL in cataract or refractive lens replacement surgery there is a risk of re-operation or further refractive correction. This may create potential complications and discomfort for the patient.

Methods

A dataset containing information about 2,194 eyes was obtained using data mining process from the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system database of the Gemini Eye Clinic. The dataset was optimized and split into the selection set (used in the design for models and training), and the verification set (used in the evaluation). The set of mean prediction errors (PEs) and the distribution of predicted refractive errors were evaluated for both models and clinical results (CR).

Results

Both models performed significantly better for the majority of the evaluated parameters compared with the CR. There was no significant difference between both evaluated models. In the ±0.50 D PE category both SVM-RM and MLNN-EM were slightly better than the Barrett Universal II formula, which is often presented as the most accurate calculation formula.

Conclusion

In comparison to the current clinical method, both SVM-RM and MLNN-EM have achieved significantly better results in IOL calculations and therefore have a strong potential to improve clinical cataract refractive outcomes.
Conflict of interest explains the size of student evaluation of teaching and learning correlations in multisection studies: a meta-analysis
Authors: Uttl Bob , Cnudde Kelsey , White Carmela A.
Published: July 2019

We examined the associations between the size of student evaluation of teaching and learning (SET/learning) correlations and presence of several conflicts of interest (COIs) including corporate, administrative, evaluation unit, SET author, and funder interests. Our meta-analyses of SET/learning correlations reported by multisection studies show that researchers with a vested interest in finding large positive SET/learning correlations found, on average, large positive SET/learning correlations. In contrast, researchers with no identifiable COIs found that SET/learning correlations were zero or nearly zero. The largest SET/learning correlations were reported by authors with ties to SET selling corporations. Smaller but still substantial SET/learning correlations were reported by researchers with administrative assignments and by researchers in evaluation units/departments responsible for the administration of SET. Moreover, authors with the most significant COIs were publishing their studies primarily prior to 1981 whereas authors with no or less significant COIs were publishing their studies in 1981 or afterwards. Studies published prior to 1981 reported small but significant (r = .31) SET/learning correlations whereas studies published in 1981 and after reported near zero, non-significant SET/learning correlations (r = .06). The presence of COIs was associated with earlier publication date but also with smaller samples. Finally, whereas corporate, administrative, and evaluation unit authors nearly ceased publishing multisection studies on SET/learning correlations, authors from business and economics departments are now responsible for the substantial portion of newer, larger, and higher quality studies published in 1981 and after.
The role of dispersal for shaping phylogeographical structure of flightless beetles from the Andes
Authors: Muñoz-Tobar Sofia I. , Caterino Michael S.
Published: July 2019

Background

Páramo is a tropical alpine ecosystem present in the northern Andes. Its patchy distribution imposes limits and barriers to specialist inhabitants. We aim to assess the effects of this habitat distribution on divergence across two independently flightless ground beetle lineages, in the generaDyscolusandDercylus.

Methods

One nuclear and one mitochondrial gene from 110 individuals from 10 sites across the two lineages were sequenced and analyzed using a combination of phylogenetics, population genetic analyses, and niche modeling methods.

Results

The two lineages show different degrees of population subdivision. Low levels of gene flow were found inDyscolus alpinus, where one dominant haplotype is found in four out of the six populations analyzed for both molecular markers. However, complete population isolation was revealed in species of the genusDercylus, where high levels of differentiation exist at species and population level for both genes. Maximum entropy models of species in theDercyluslineage show overlapping distributions. Still, species distributions appear to be restricted to small areas across the Andes.

Conclusion

Even though both beetle lineages are flightless, the dispersal ability of each beetle lineage appears to influence the genetic diversity across fragmented páramo populations, whereDyscolus alpinusappears to be a better disperser than species in the genusDercylus.
Acknowledgment of Editorial Board and peer-reviewers for 2018-2019
Authors: Green Bart N.
Published: July 2019

This editorial acknowledges the important contributions that the editorial board and peer reviewers make to the journal and thanks those people who volunteered as reviewers this year.
Physical and Mechanical Properties of Three Varieties of Mango
Authors: Osadare T. , Koyenikan O. O. , Akinola F. F.
Published: July 2019

Physical properties of three varieties of mango were studied at 13.75% and 8.74% moisture content levels. Some selected properties such as geometric mean, arithmetic mean, angle of repose, sphericity and crushing force were determined. The average tri-axial dimensions of the seeds gave 38.00 ± 6.8, 42.23 ± 4.12, 33.95 ± 6.91 as average major diameter; 35.60 ± 5.68, 39.18 ± 3.95, 31.44 ± 7.56 as average intermediate diameter and 24.76 ± 5.2, 28.42 ± 5.59, 23.08 ± 3.67 as average minor diameter for Kerosene, Sheri and Sugar mango respectively. The average sphericity of the three varieties of mango seed was 0.74, 0.77 and 0.67 while that of the angle of repose was 40.430, 08.030 and 09.760 for Kerosene, Sheri and Sugar mango respectively. The average crushing force determined using the universal testing machine gave 21.00 N, 10.58 N and 9.46 N for Kerosene, Sheri and Sugar mango respectively. Statistical analysis shows that there is a significant difference in the geometric mean between Kerosene mango and Sheri mango and no significant difference between Sheri mango and Sugar mango, while the average value of the calculated arithmetic mean was found to be statistically different within the three varieties but no significant difference in sphericity. Kerosene mango has the highest value for the angle of repose and crushing force.
Assessing the Economic Losses to Buffalo Owners Due to Late Diagnosis of Pregnancy in Their Milch Buffaloes
Authors: Yadav Rekha , Tripathi Hema , Kumar Parveen , Ramesh Nukala
Published: July 2019

Aim: The present study was conducted purposively to measure the economic losses to buffalo owners due to late diagnosis of pregnancy in their milch buffaloes.

Research Design: Ex-post facto and exploratory research design was used.

Place of the Study: Hisar and Jind districts of Murrah buffalo breeding tract in Haryana, India. Data were collected between June 2017 to December 2017.

Methodology: Data were collected through structured interview schedule from 37 buffalo owners who were taking artificial insemination services from State Department of Animal Husbandry and taking their buffaloes for the pregnancy diagnosis after three months of artificial insemination.

Results: The study revealed that the average per day per buffalo loss was found of Rs. 702 in study area. Average loss incurred by respondents per buffalo on feed was Rs. 5918, on labour Rs. 4155, on milk Rs. 13640 and total economic loss was Rs. 3925 due to late diagnosis of pregnancy.

Conclusion: Thus there is need to create awareness among the farmers regarding advantages of timely pregnancy diagnosis in their animals to minimize these losses in order to get maximum revenue from the animals.
Sedimentological and Geochemical Characterization of Surficial Sediment of a Meander Section of Mbaa River at Nneise–Ugiri Community in Imo State of Nigeria
Authors: Oyanyan Raphael Oaikhena , Nwachukwu Martin Chijioke , Ohaegbulem Modestus Chijioke , Iloanya Nonyelum Stella
Published: July 2019

Sediment deposition has increased at a meander section of Mbaa river resulting in a drastic reduction of water storage. It has necessitated calls for sand-mining or periodic dredging which could have far-reaching impacts on the aquatic ecosystem, depending on the texture and chemical compositions of the sediment. Therefore, surficial sediments samples were analyzed for textural characteristics, mineralogy and chemical compositions. Grain sizes and mineralogical analysis showed that the sediments were moderately sorted, mesokurtic, near symmetrical - slightly positive skewed, subangular – subrounded medium grained-sands, and consist of about 2.5% feldspar, 2.7% rock fragments, 5.4% hematite and 89% quartz. Mean TOC and pH were 0.39 wt% and 6.48 respectively. Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) analysis results showed general low concentrations of metal elements: mean values of alkali/alkali earth metals ranged from 1.33 - 3.72ppm, transition metals ranged from 0.12 - 23.07ppm; while Pb (a poor metal) was not detected. General low concentrations of metals and TOC; and non-detection of Pb suggest lack of mineralization zones and minimal anthropogenic impacts in the upstream areas.  Textural and chemical characteristics and moderate energy of river water flow suggest that human resuspension of the sediment deposit will result in minimal lateral dispersion of sediment in the water column, except during heavy rainfall. Therefore, periodic dredging or sand mining will cause minimal impact on the aquatic ecosystem, especially in the distant downstream areas, whereas within the meander section and nearby areas of the river, it is expected that there will be a significant change in water quality parameters due to the increase in the concentrations of suspended and dissolved compounds.
Academic Freedom
Authors: Brecher Bob
Published: July 2019

This entry focuses on just five of the many manifestations of academic freedom. First, I outline issues around freedon of speech and wonder if it this contested term has not become a mere slogan; I argue that the commonly held notion of freedom of speech should be widened to include issues of what is taught to whom by whom; who controls research; the freedom to publish and to teach.The entry then examines issues about
whose
freedom of speech one might have in mind, raising questions about the increasingly fraught relations between universities and what were once its members but are now its employees. I conclude with two matters not often raised in this context but that seem to me increasingly important: who has the freedom to become an academic; and the relations between university, state, and others.
HIV/AIDS
Authors: Schüklenk Udo , Viens A. M.
Published: July 2019

AIDS, which is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has emerged as the paradigmatic disease for ethical analyses addressing issues in infectious disease control and public health. The ethical issues surrounding HIV/AIDS are best divided conceptually into two parts: life before and life after the advent of life‐preserving therapies. This division provides a natural way to categorize how ethical issues were dealt with not only historically by comparison to recent times, but also in terms of mapping out the ethical relevance of HIV/AIDS in relation to high‐income countries (HICs) and low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). With the attempt to eradicate polio and smallpox and the development of effective vaccines and antibiotics, the threat of serious infectious diseases – besides the incidence of occasional outbreaks or areas of endemic tuberculosis – was considered to be minimal by the late twentieth century. However, with the emergence of HIV/AIDS, a whole series of medical and ethical issues associated with infectious diseases that were thought to be outdated returned with force. HIV/AIDS also brought many of the political, economic, and social dimensions of health to the fore, involving central ethical issues of background justice that extend well beyond the individual patient–doctor relationship. With the demonstrated ability to devastate entire populations, HIV/AIDS also has great ethical relevance for policy and regulatory debates on public health and needs to be discussed keeping in mind background conditions of justice, insofar as they pertain to the economic and health inequalities that exist between populations.
Alienation
Authors: Schacht Richard
Published: July 2019

“Alienation” was one of the buzzwords of the 1960s, coming into fashion with the “counterculture” and the neo‐Marxist philosophy that was loosely associated with it. It became so overused that it suffered the subsequent fate of most intellectual fads: it faded from popular discourse as the Zeitgeist moved on, and also largely lost its brief and limited appeal in the scholarly community. It is arguable, however, that it deserved neither fate; and it may turn out to have an intellectually respectable future, along any of the several lines that pick up on strands of its many uses.
Austin, J. L.
Authors: Warner Richard
Published: July 2019

John Langshaw Austin (1911–60), known as J. L. Austin, held the White Chair of Philosophy at Oxford. His work on ethics focuses on the concept of responsibility, and in particular on promissory obligations and the relation between free action, justification, and excuse. This entry discusses his contributions in those areas and sets them in the broader context of Austin's views on ordinary language philosophy. It argues that Austin saw himself as mapping the fundamental conceptual connections that comprise our notion of action. His work on responsibility, justification, excuse, freedom, and promising are pieces of that project. The entry also examines, and to some extent defends, Austin's ordinary language approach to philosophy, an approach central to his work on ethics.
Imperfect Duties
Authors: Baron Marcia
Published: July 2019

Although the distinction between perfect and imperfect duties predates Immanuel Kant, it received its most sustained and (currently) most influential development from Kant. This entry explain how a division of duties into perfect and imperfect calls into question common assumptions about duties and about the function of the concept of duty in moral theory and in a morally well‐lived life.
Criminal Attempts
Authors: Duff R. A.
Published: July 2019

The law typically criminalizes not only completed crimes, but also attempts to commit them. This raises a number of questions that impinge on philosophy of action as well as on philosophy of law and moral philosophy. We must ask what should count as a criminal “attempt” and why we should criminalize such conduct. This raises broader questions about other kinds of “inchoate” crime: about how they should be distinguished and about why they should be crimes. We must ask why the law should attach the significance it does to whether or not the criminal result that an agent intends or expects to ensue actually ensues (one version of the problem of “moral luck”); why intention should be as crucial for criminal liability as it is in the law of attempts; and how “intention” should be defined. To answer such questions, we must engage at a deeper level with wider aspects of criminal law, for instance its proper aims. Should criminal law be primarily concerned with the prevention of harm, for instance, or with wrongful actions? If its proper concern is with actions, we then need to engage with philosophy of action and develop a conception of human action (and of the role of intention in action) that is appropriate in the context of criminal law.
Political Ethics
Authors: Thompson Dennis F.
Published: July 2019

Political ethics is the practice of making moral judgments about political action, and the study of that practice. It is divided into two branches: the ethics of process, which focuses on public officials, the methods they use, and the institutions in which they act; and the ethics of policy, which concentrates on judgments about the policies and laws governments make. The central question in the ethics of process is the extent to which the ethical principles that govern political office differ from those that govern moral life, and typically involves conflicts between means and ends. The problems in policy ethics implicate conflicts between the values of the ends themselves. The key question is not what policies would be morally justifiable in general but what would be justified as coercively enforced law when citizens reasonably disagree about the values at stake, or when they belong to different communities and nations.
Morality, Definition of
Authors: Wong David
Published: July 2019

This entry discusses and identifies major features attributed to morality. These fall into two main categories: formal and material. Formal features include prescriptivity, universalizability, overridingness, non‐authority dependence, and being about objective facts. Material features include being about benefit and harm. A variety of definitions of morality incorporating at least some of these formal and material features are taken for granted in arguments concerning the normative force and content of morality. Variability in the meanings of morality undermine these arguments. More concerted investigation of the sources of this variability is needed. Possible structures – prototype and theory – for the concept of morality are discussed along with how such structures make possible variability in definitions of morality.
Collateral Damage
Authors: Coady C. A. J.
Published: July 2019

The concept of collateral damage is much used in connection with contemporary warfare and other forms of political violence. As a form of justification for the infliction of civilian or noncombatant deaths and damage it is morally important, analytically difficult, and subject to much abuse in its applications. In essence, the idea covers harms inflicted during war (or other acts of political violence) that are either incidental to the legitimate targeting involved or accidental. In either type of case the damage inflicted is claimed to be unintentional. For incidental damage, the harm done is unintended but foreseen; for accidental damage it is unintentional and unforeseen. If we accept the idea that intentional killing of noncombatants is morally forbidden, then we should also address the question of collateral damage because much of it involves the harming or killing of noncombatants, which seems morally problematic even if it hasn't been brought about intentionally. The circumstances in which collateral damage occurs are crucial since the mere plea that some harms are accidental or incidental is morally insufficient by itself to excuse or justify their infliction. This entry examines the nature of such legitimating circumstances.
Gun Control
Authors: Hunt Lester H.
Published: July 2019

The anglophone philosophical literature on this subject has been growing at an accelerated rate in recent years and embodies a wide variety of opinions. At one extreme are those who call for outright bans – such as Nicholas Dixon (who argues for a ban on handguns) and Jeff McMahan (who proposes a virtually complete ban on all guns for everyone except for agents of the state) – and at the other are libertarians like Michael Huemer and Lester Hunt, who think that there are probably too many restrictions already. Somewhere between them are those – like David DeGrazia, Hugh LaFollette, and Thomas Metcalf – who do not advocate bans but would impose costs on ownership, either directly, or indirectly by imposing them on manufacturers: measures that in either case would make owning firearms more costly and consequently less common.
Aggregation
Authors: Hirose Iwao
Published: July 2019

Aggregation refers to a type of process in which morally relevant features are combined into the overall judgment about those morally relevant features in an impartial and monotonic manner. Some philosophers reject aggregation directly or indirectly. Critics of utilitarianism are particularly hostile to aggregation. But aggregation‐skepticism has counterintuitive implications such as the numbers problem – that is, the counterintuitive claim that the numbers of individuals affected by a certain action makes no moral difference. A number of attempts have been made to avoid this counterintuitive implication by proposing non‐aggregative ways of making numbers relevant. But none of those attempts turns out to be satisfactory. Some philosophers take reasons to be more fundamental than value and attempt to aggregate reasons. But these attempts also remain unsatisfactory because the motivation for, and feasibility of, reason‐aggregation is not well‐established.
Gusdorf, Georges
Authors: Kelley Andrew
Published: July 2019

Georges Gusdorf, a friend of Maurice Merleau‐Ponty and the tutor of Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault, authored more than 35 books. The atrocities of World War II and his internment in a prison camp during the war were factors that precipitated his philosophical emphasis on the individual's perspective and dignity. For Gusdorf, ethics, metaphysics, and the development of a person's character are all interrelated. He begins his moral theory from the standpoint of a philosophy of value that was influential in pre‐ and postwar France. Values are not metaphysical objects in a realm of their own. Instead, they begin as biological drives and instincts that are canalized and finally turned into a project or “destiny” of the individual person. The end goal is to continue to have equilibrium in one's life – an equilibrium with oneself, with other people, and with the world in which one lives.
Superstudio as Super‐Office: The Labour of Radical Design
Authors: Menking William
Published: July 2019

Key avant‐garde players are often assumed to be divorced from the reality of practice. In the case of Superstudio, this assumption is wildly inaccurate. William Menking, co‐founder and Editor‐in‐Chief of The Architect's Newspaper and Professor at Pratt Institute, New York, co‐organised the 2003 exhibition ‘Superstudio: Life Without Objects’ with Peter Lang. Here he puts right some myths about the nature of this well‐known but much‐misunderstood Florentine collaborative, setting it in the context of the intellectual and industrial climate of 1960s Italy, and exploring how its approach can inspire those seeking to rethink practice today.
Avant‐Garde Legacies: A Spirited Flâneur
Authors: Kulper Perry
Published: July 2019

Architect Perry Kulper, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, has produced an extensive set of proto‐digital collage‐like images inspired by his avant‐garde forebears of the 1960s–70s. As he explains, the roots of these visual speculations stretch back a further few decades, to the Dada movement of the early 20th century. All have in common a desire to rethink typologies and transform what is possible.
The Function of Utopia
Authors: Lai Jimenez
Published: July 2019

What is a utopia's function other than as a platform upon which we reflect the reality we already live in? Jimenez Lai, founder of Los Angeles studio Bureau Spectacular, argues that in facilitating criticism, utopias can point the way to solutions for current or future challenges. Drawing parallels between utopian visions in literature and the cartoon caricatures of modern journalism, he presents a series of utopic graphic novels that he has produced which explore issues from hyper density to zero gravity.
Behind the Wheel: Charles Darwin and Superstudio Do the Driving
Authors: Dunn Sarah , Felsen Martin
Published: July 2019

Sarah Dunn and Martin Felsen, partners in Chicago‐based practice UrbanLab, are inspired by the Japanese Metabolists, Charles Darwin's work on Ascension Island and the legacy of Superstudio. Their aim is to reinvigorate Superstudio's notion of positing alternative models of life on earth. Using this concept, they have been able to design urban landscapes that utilise the same flexible evolutionary strategies for a modern, digital and ecologically sensitive world. Here they illustrate their design imperatives with two projects, Filter Island in Chicago and Re‐Encampment in Death Valley, California.
Anticipating the Digital: The Game of Supersurface
Authors: Jovanovic Damjan
Published: July 2019

One of the many legacies left by the work of Superstudio was their iconic grid, which stands not only as a visual trope but as a prescient prediction of the way digital tools organise space. Damjan Jovanovic – an architect, educator and software designer based at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI‐Arc) in Los Angeles – discusses the importance of Superstudio's grid in relation to his computer‐game environment Supersurface, which is a virtual re‐creation of the Italian group's proto‐digital collage environments.
What Comes After the Avant‐ Garde?
Authors: Sorkin Michael
Published: July 2019

Architect, urbanist, writer and New York's éminence grise Michael Sorkin laments the lacuna of politic radical thought that he sees in the nostalgia for the 1960s and 1970s avant‐garde, appropriated purely for its form‐making, and warns that our historic navel‐gazing will not solve anything.
A Solid‐State Aqueous Electrolyte‐Gated Field‐Effect Transistor as a Low‐Voltage Operation Pressure‐Sensitive Platform
Authors: Zhang Qiaoming , Leonardi Francesca , Pfattner Raphael , Mas‐Torrent Marta
Published: July 2019

Flexible pressure sensors are increasingly impacting a wide variety of novel applications such as wearable health care sensors, in vivo monitoring, and even artificial skin. As a fundamental device component, organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) are of great interest due to their inherent advantages related to low‐cost solution fabrication processes and compatibility with plastic substrates. During OFET fabrication, it is almost impossible to avoid the water traces in the organic semiconductor (OSC) active layer, especially when ambient solution processing techniques are employed. Water exhibits a strong influence on the electrical performance in OFETs, such as hysteresis and nonideal transfer characteristics. Here, it is shown that the presence of water in OSCs also results in pressure‐sensitive devices caused by the modification of the water dipole alignment. This exciting phenomenon is exploited in a novel OFET, namely, hydrogel‐based electrolyte‐gated organic field‐effect transistor (HYGOFET), where a soft water‐based hydrogel layer is employed as a dielectric layer. The hydrogel layer plays two major contributions: 1) providing a constant saturated humidity environment and 2) reducing the operation voltage. The HYGOFET exhibits a high electrical performance and relative long‐term stability. Importantly, this device also exhibits an excellent pressure response in the low‐pressure regime (<10 kPa) working with a very low power consumption.
Biocompatible Nanoplatform Based on Mussel Adhesive Chemistry: Effective Assembly, Dual Mode Sensing, and Cellular Imaging Performance
Authors: Wu Nengtao , Yu Aiwen , Zhang Lingbo , Liu Wanqiang , Gao Jinwei , Zhang Chengcheng , Zheng Yuhui
Published: July 2019

The condensation reaction between methyldopa sesquihydrate and ethylenediamine is reported and the assembled nanoplatform possesses green luminescence at 520 nm with excitation‐independent feature. The employment of sodium borohydride during synthesis has stabilized the nanoparticle (NP) size and suppressed uncontrolled autoxidation processes. It is appealing to observe that the fluorescence as well as colorimetric titration demonstrates trace level monitoring of silver ions, and the detection limits are determined to be 68 × 10−9 m (fluorometric) and 71 × 10−9 m (colorimetric), respectively. The optical response to Ag+ ions is assigned to a static quenching process and the corresponding redox reaction including particle aggregation may cause the “on‐off” change. During in vitro studies, two living cell lines (HeLa cells and T‐cells) are used and the negligible cytotoxicity of such NP is verified via flow cytometry and 3‐(4,5‐dimethythiazol‐. 2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assays. More importantly, the visualization of silver recognition in two cells is realized and the availability of polydopamine‐type NPs for the purpose of bio‐medical evaluation can generate considerable interests in future studies.
Alternation of Singlet and Triplet States in Carbon‐Based Chain Molecules and Its Astrochemical Implications: Results of an Extensive Theoretical Study
Authors: Bâldea Ioan
Published: July 2019

A variety of homologous carbon chains (HCnH, HCnN, CnS, CnO, and OCnO) are found to exhibit an appealing even–odd effect. Chains containing a number of carbon atoms of a certain parity possess singlet ground states, while members of opposite parity have triplet ground states. From a general perspective, it is important that this even–odd effect confounds straightforward chemical intuition. Whether the most stable form is a triplet or a singlet is neither simply related to the fact that the species in question is a “normal” (closed‐shell, nonradical) molecule nor a (di)radical or to the (e.g., cumulene‐type) C─C bond succession across the chain. From a computational perspective, the present results are important also because they demonstrate that electron correlations in carbon‐based chains are extremely strong. Whether the “gold‐standard” CCSD(T) (coupled‐cluster expansions with single and double excitations and triple excitations corrections) framework suffices to describe such strongly correlated systems remains an open question that calls for further clarification. Most importantly for astrochemistry, the present results may explain why certain members are not astronomically observed although larger members of the same homologous series are detected; the missing species are exactly those for which the present calculations predict triplet ground states.
Technical efficiency and spatial spillovers: Evidence from grain marketing cooperatives in the US Midwest
Authors: Skevas Theodoros , Grashuis Jasper
Published: July 2019

To date, no study has investigated the role of spatial spillovers in the technical efficiency of farmer cooperatives. This study addresses this issue by employing a two‐stage approach, first measuring cooperatives' technical efficiency using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model and secondly using a bootstrap truncated regression to identify the effect of spatial spillovers and cooperative firm‐level characteristics on technical efficiency. The empirical application focuses on grain marketing cooperatives in the Midwest region of the United States, and shows that spatial spillover effects influence the technical efficiency of neighboring cooperatives. Technical efficiency is also found to be influenced by several cooperative firm‐level characteristics including age, liquidity, differentiation, and membership size. [EconLit citations C21, Q13, R3].