bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Approaching Plato’s Euthyphro with a Calm Distance
Authors: Candiotto Laura
Published: June 2018

The present paper aims to discuss how the Socratic method oper­ates with Euthyphro inside the Euthyphro. The first part of the article focuses on the character’s description, upon which it moves to analyz­ing the very method itself not only in terms of its argumentative form but also in terms of its psychological and social aspects. Euthyphro is shown to have been a supporter of religion that was entirely incapable of living up to the religious ideals that he so confidently advocated for. Through his portrayal of Socrates’ refutation of Euthyphro, Plato seeks not only to redeem his teacher but also to criticize the then society. When describing the Socratic method, the present paper proposes to view it with a “calm distance” on the grounds of the fact that the distinc­tive feature of the method consists in creating an emotional distance between Socrates and Euthyphro. The purpose of such a strategy is to make Euthyphro realize the weakness of his position and embrace the purification through the socratic elenchos.
Ethical Dimension of Time in Plato’s Apology of Socrates
Authors: Pacewicz Artur
Published: June 2018

The aim of the present article is to analyse the Apology in its aspect of time. When defending himself against the charges, Socrates appeals to the past, the present and the future. Furthermore, the philosopher stresses the meaning of the duration of time. Thus, the seems to suggest that all really important activities demand a long time to benefit, since they are almost invariably connected with greater efforts. While the dialogue proves thereby to be an ethical one, the various time expressions also gain an ethical dimension.
Philosophy and Ataraxia in Sextus Empiricus
Authors: Massie Pascal
Published: June 2018

This essay addresses two interconnected questions: (a) In what sense is Skepticism a philosophy? (b) How can ataraxia emerge out of epochē? Skepticism is a practice that articulates three moments: equipollence, epochē (suspension of judgment), and ataraxia (freedom from disturbance) and Sextus’ account of how one can move through these moments demonstrates the its philosophical nature. However, to clarify the transition from epochē to ataraxia Sextus offers only one clue: the story of Apelles. If this story is paradigmatic, it is also ambiguous since the transition from epochē to ataraxia can neither be causal nor inferential. Apelles achieves his goal purely by chance. Contrary to a common interpretation, this doesn’t mean that the Skeptic abandons the inquiry (just as Apelles doesn’t abandon painting). Lastly, the essay argues that Skepticism is not only the practice of a certain dialectical method but also a practice upon oneself. The Skeptic must learn to dissociate herself from the thoughts she entertains. Sustained inquiry can coexist with ataraxia because the Skeptic has discovered that her consciousness is distinct from its intentional content now bracketed by epochē. To free ourselves from our attachment to dogmatic beliefs is to opens up a space of self-detachment.
Anaximander’s Treatise on the Earth
Authors: Rossetti Livio
Published: June 2018

The present paper argues that the teachings of Anaximander are much better knowable than they actually appear, since a number of his teachings have the privilege of being almost transparent in their predicative content as well as in their logic. As a matter of fact, one can quite easily come to understand the train of thought which lies behind Anaximander’s most momentous conjectures. Thus, a largely unexpected Anaximander comes to light despite the availability of the majority of the relevant sources since 1903. Two main areas appear to be particularly prominent: on the one hand, the complex body of various conjectures and doctrines that helps to understand the system of spatial relationships from Miletus to the stars and, on the other hand, the equally complex body of conjectures and doctrines whose primarily concern is the macro-story of the Earth from its most remote past to its predictable future. The merits of Anaximander as an earth-researcher are much greater than one could actually imagine. It is suggested here that what philosophy owes to him in particular lies in his quest for knowledge, his method, his cognitive hybris, and his intellectual discipline, rather than individual doctrines. A comparison with Thales follows in the last paragraph.
Opposition and Truth: Parmenides’ Enigmatic Way
Authors: Tarca Luigi Vero
Published: June 2018

In Parmenides’ B 8 37–41, we find a question that raises a difficult problem: how can Parmenides handle the opposition between “being and not” (i.e. being and not being) in the same way as the oppositions which characterize the mortals’ opinions? This question is especially relevant for answering the following theoretical question: how do we to treat the fundamental philosophical question of oppositions at large? To answer these question we need to reinterpret some major points of Parmenides’ thought: the second part of his poem, but also the identification of πέλειν and εἶναι in B 6 8, as well as other passages of the poem. But, above all, the question makes us introduce some distinctions within the concept of negation and, consequently, between difference and negation. This allows us to distinguish the affirmation of the truth of being from the negation of the negation of being (i.e. the negation of nonbeing). This distinction has a major philosophical relevance, as can be seen by referring it to such thinkers as Plato, Hegel and Heidegger.
On Gorgias’ Particular Demonstration
Authors: Wesoły Marian
Published: June 2018

The label idios apodeixis/logos «particular (personal, original) demonstration or argument» of Gorgias is known to us only from the third section of the little work attributed to Aristotle under the title De Melisso, Xenophane, Gorgia. Its authenticity seems to be unjustly questioned. We try to show that from the Aristotelian perspective we can properly understand the context of Gorgias’ own argument from his lost treatise On Not-Being or On Nature. Parmenides – using implicitly the polysemy of the verb ἔστιν/εἶναι – presented a certain ontological argument «being is, because being is being». Gorgias, however, makes a parody of this by offering a meontological argument: «not-being is because not-being is not-being». Consequently Gorgias then attempts to demonstrate, by means of refutation, that «it is not either to be or not be», i.e. «nothing is». We propose, thus, a reconstruction of Gorgias’ account of meonological and nihilistic argumentation. In this context we find in Plato’s Sophist and in Aristotle’s writings certain allusions to Gorgias’ idios apodeixis, which have not been sufficiently recognized and properly interpreted.
John Italos Seen by Anna Komnene
Authors: Jaworska-Wołoszyn Magdalena
Published: June 2018

The historical work of Anna Komnene is one of the main sources which provides crucial information about John Italos. It is worth noting though that princess Komnene sketches in the Alexiad a portrait of this eminent Byzantine thinker that is anything but flattering. Despite the wide range of perspectives and diverse representations of the philosopher, it is actually quite difficult to find in her opus any comments or opinions of decisively positive nature. As a matter of fact, the final opinion regarding the famous “Consul Philosophorum” is formed solely on the basis of downright hostile statements. John Italos is not regarded as an outstanding figure, but rather as a controversial thinker that hardly deserves any recognition. While the present paper investigates the figure of Italos as shown in the Alexiad by Anna Komnene, its aim is to unravel those elements in the work that caused Komnene to express such an opinion about the philosopher.
Sociocultural Byzantine Influence on Thought Formation in Medieval Russia
Authors: Revko-Linardato  Pavel
Published: June 2018

The Byzantine influence was at the very origins of the formation of various philosophic ideas in the medieval Russia. A major factor responsible for this influence was the Orthodox Church. Thus, it was owing to Byzantium that the foundations of Russian philosophy were laid and all its subsequent developments cannot be properly understood without considering the Byzantine influence.
Hedonistic Motif in Plato’s Phaedo – Olympiodorus’ Simplification
Authors: Pacewicz Artur
Published: June 2018

While the aim of the present paper is to analyze Olympiodorus’ commentary to Plato’s Phaedo, particular attention will be paid here to the role of hēdonē. The first part of the text presents the four conceptions of the pleasure that can be found in Plato’s dialogue. Although pleasure does not play the most prominent role either in the Plato’s dialogue or in the Neoplatonic commentary, Olympiodorus’ attitude to this issue reveals an important change and difference between the philosophical views of Plato and those of Olympiodorus. The latter does not seem to discern the possibility that pleasure can have its spiritual dimension (which Plato regards as possible). Thus, the experience of hēdonē is reduced solely to the sphere of the senses and even in this area its role needs to be minimized: in this form it has to be carefully measured and controled. Furthermore, Olympiodorus does not see that so-called hedonistic calculus: whilst it is not strictly speaking connected with virtuous actions, it still can have some significance for the the philosopher’s life.
Testimonies on Plato’s Unwritten Dialectic
Authors: Wesoły Marian Andrzej
Published: June 2018

The present account – conducted in the paradigm of the recent approach to Plato – comprises a new translation with a short introduction and source bibliography. It consists of three major parts: I. Plato’s own testimonies: arguments against writing; II. References within the dialogues to the dialectic of principles (a selection); III. Testimonia Platonica (a selection). Apart from the relevant parts of Plato’s dialogues, the testimonies of Aristotle, Theophrastus and Sextus Empiricus have been taken into account. The translation of the testimonies has been arranged in a more systematizing manner than it was in the previous editions. The idea is to provide the Polish reader with reliable sources on the widely discussed hermeneutics of the written and unwritten Plato.
Plato and ‘the Birdhunters’: The Controversial Legacy of an Elusive Swan
Authors: Motta Anna
Published: June 2018

The aim of this paper is to discuss some features of the doctrines of the agrapha dogmata in Neoplatonism, starting from the reading of an anecdote, presented in the Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy, in which Plato dreams that close to death he becomes a swan which hunters are unable to catch. In fact, the dream is an explanation of the development of the Platonic tradition, and, more precisely, it presents a story of several exegetical disagreements that have survived till the present day. Compared to modern interpretation of the Aristotelic testimony on the “so-called unwritten doctrines”, we can state that the late antique interpretations of them focus and depend on what Plato has left us in his written dialogues, which are the best living images of his oral dialogues. This conclusion is, then, a consequence of a study carried out on Ancient and Neoplatonic texts that leads to the acknowledgement of a Platonic philosophical system as well as to an overview of modern secondary bibliography produced by the esoteric interpretation of Plato and various views of scholars who are against this account.
The Practice of ὀνοματοποιεῖν: Some Peculiar Statements in the Ancient Neoplatonic Commentators on Aristotle
Authors: Granata Daniele
Published: June 2018

This paper shows the role of ὀνοματοποιεῖν in Neoplatonism and how this practice is ruled by an onto-logical canon. While ὀνοματοποιεῖν itself means the making of a brand new name, its usage is manifold. As Aristotle explains in Rh. III 2, poets take advantage of ὀνοματοποιεῖν to catch the undefined and give it a recognisable image, by means of a metaphorical name. In science, this practice, codified by Aristotle, is twofold: ὀνοματοποιεῖν meant both to re-semanticize words wellknown and to create names ex novo for things not discovered or studied yet. After analysing ὀνοματοποιεῖν’s recurrence in Aristotle, I illustrate that, according to Neoplatonic Commentators, impositio can be, both natural and technical, only of things in actuality, having a solid consistency. Intermediates between contraries, presumed relatives and powers as qualities are nameless – as  Philoponus notices in his In Categorias – since they haven’t an independent status and aren’t  definable. This bond between the original rhetorical practice and the ontological perspective, sketched in Int. 1, was strengthened by Alexander, who filled Aristotle’s gaps, stating that names signify things’ being, i.e. the form acquired in actuality.
Już nie Diels-Kranz (DK), lecz Laks-Most (LM)
Authors: Rosetti Livio
Published: June 2018

Z włoskiego przełożył M.A. Wesoły
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Politics: Their Common Field of Inquiry and Their Common Reader
Authors: Skowroński Leszek
Published: June 2018

The aim of the article is to indicate that there is quite strong support in the text of the Nicomachean Ethics for the argument that its inquiry is “political” rather than “ethical” in character – the textual evidence provides reasons to challenge the traditional belief that Aristotle separated ethics from politics and started the rise of ethics as a new branch of philosophy. In addition, one can posit a hypothesis (and this has already been done) that the reader, whom Aristotle had in mind while writing what we now know as the Ethics, was a politician-lawgiver (and not just any educated Greek or – which is even less probable – any human being). So the reader aimed at in the Ethics is the same as the reader aimed at in the Politics – a politician-lawgiver. The Ethics and the Politics are a two-part but inseparable compound that together make a textbook for a politician-lawgiver. Both parts should be read together because the one cannot be understood correctly (i.e. as closely as possible to the intentions of their author) without the other. Aristotle studies human good not from the point of view of the individual but from the point of view of the human community. The highest human good – the philosopher’s eudaimonia – is achieved not by individual effort (or not fundamentally by that) but as a result of good laws and a well-organized life in a polis.
The Refutation of Gorgias: Notes on a Contradiction
Authors: Güremen Refik
Published: June 2018

This paper claims that Socrates’ refutation of Gorgias in the eponymous dialogue is designed not to find out the truth about the nature of the art of rhetoric itself but to refute the master of rhetoric himself. I try to justify this claim by displaying some major contradictions between the conclusions reached at with Gorgias and those reached at with Polus. When these contradictions are taken into account, the discussion with Polus is to be seen as reflecting the genuine Socratic position about rhetoric, whereas the discussion with Gorgias seems only to be devised as a dexterity in refutation.
A Reply to John Dudley on Aristotle, Physics 2.5, 196b17–21
Authors: Giardina Giovanna R.
Published: June 2018

In this article, I restate the interpretation of Aristotle’s Ph. 2.5, 196b17– 21, which I presented for the first time in my book I fondamenti della causalità naturale (2006). According to my reading, both the things that are due to deliberation and those that are not (Arist. Ph. 196b17–18) fall within the group of beings which come to be not for the sake of anything (Arist. Ph. 196b17). In his recent book, Aristotle’s Concept of Chance (Albany 2012), John Dudley found my interpretation laudable and original but rejected it, opting for the traditional interpretation. As he did not provide sufficient reasons for this, I deem it appropriate to discuss more broadly and in greater detail my interpretation in order to demonstrate that it is correct theoretically, linguistically and grammatically. I also discuss a reading of Neoplatonic commentators which seems to me very useful: when commenting on Aristotle, they start with a very prejudicial interpretation which comes from Alexander and which probably determined all later interpretations of the passage. According to this interpretation, beings which come to be not for the sake of anything (Arist. Ph. 196b17) are beings that have no teleology of any kind. Yet this exegetic position faces a series of difficulties which can easily be solved if one assumes, as I do, that these beings have a certain end albeit not an intrinsic one.
Aristotle’s πόλις: The Political Community as a Common Project
Authors: Skowroński Leszek
Published: June 2018

At the beginning of Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says that “the good is the same for an individual as for a city”. The good in question is εὐδαιμονία – the highest good achievable for human beings. In Book X, we learn that contemplative activity (θεωρητική) meets best the requirements set for eudaimonia. Even if we agree that contemplative activity is the good for an individual, how should we understand the claim that contemplation is also the good for a city? I start by reminding readers that for Aristotle the Nicomachean Ethics is essentially a political enquiry and should be read together with his Politics. I focus on the teleological character of his political philosophy and the interlinking of the concepts of the good (τἀγαθόν), nature (φύσις), form (τὸ εἶδος, τὸ τί ἐστι, ἡ μορφή), end (τέλος, τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα) and function (ἔργον). Then, I look at Aristotle’s two closely-connected statements that polis exists by nature and that men are political animals. Having taken into account Aristotle’s opinion regarding the imperfection of this world, which is exemplified by the vulnerability of human lives to fortune, luck and accidents, I conclude that Alasdair MacIntyre’s concept of the political community as a common project explains well how contemplation could be the end of polis. Only very few individuals can achieve the highest good and they can do it only if they have the support of the political community. But all the inhabitants of a polis structured towards achieving the highest good benefit from living in a well-ordered community whose constitution reflects the objective hierarchy of goods.
On the Origins of the Word “Substance”
Authors: Maryniarczyk Andrzej
Published: June 2018

The present article discusses the emergence of the term “substance” (ousia). It is shown that while the word obviously has its roots in Greek language and tradition, it presupposes a much broader context. Thus, to comprehend the full meaning of the term one must take into account the whole philosophical tradition in which it occurs and the whole of reality to which it refers. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that from the very beginning ousia (substantia) was linked to that which exists actually and constitutes the internal principle (essence) of being. This causal nature of the substance is frequently overlooked and the sense of the word is very often reduced to an eternal and immutable substrate (i.e., something static and unchanging).
Melissus, Time and Eternity
Authors: Pulpito Massimo
Published: June 2018

The traditional interpretation of Eleatism has it (1) that Melissus was a disciple of Parmenides (albeit with some divergences) and (2) that Parmenides believed in the timeless eternity of Being. It seems, on the contrary, (3) that Melissus acknowledged the reality of time by conceiving eternity as infinite time. Failing to justify this particular divergence from Parmenides’ approach, certain authors held that it was necessary to reinterpret the Melissan eternity as a form of infinite timelessness. This paper attempts to demonstrate that this reading is groundless and that if the traditional interpretation is questioned then one should reconsider the assumptions (1) and (2) but not (3).
The Presence and Figures of the Others in Democritus’ Ethics
Authors: Motte André
Published: June 2018

Euthymia, the founding concept of Democritus’ ethics, is a thing of the soul, as he says himself, an intimate, eminently personal happiness. What place is given, then, to other individuals in this ethics? Can one be happy without the others? In order to answer these two questions the present paper examines the relevant utterances in which references to the others appear and concludes that despite a clear depreciation of the conjugal bond an altruistic dimension is very strong in this ethics and that several important ideas lie behind this concept.
Life, Birth and Death in Democritus. Atomistic Reflections Between Physics and Ethics
Authors: Peixoto Miriam Campolina Diniz
Published: June 2018

The subject of life, birth and death constitutes one of the main topics in Democritus’ reflection on human questions. He seeks to understand what men think about the processes of birth and death and how they, accordingly, determine their behavior and attitudes. His reflections comprise a wide range of perspectives and aspects that include examining human behaviour and investigating how it reveals a certain temperament or inclination, inquiring about the nature of these processes and extending the analyses of the processes of birth and death to whole beings through the couple generation-corruption. In the present paper, I intend to examine the main theses and arguments which appear in the testimonies and fragments through which Democritus’ thought was transmitted from antiquity. Furthermore, I will also discuss the hypotheses that for Democritus the most important opposition was not life-death, but rather birth-death and that, at the same time, his idea of nature and life comprises both processes in the perspective of atomistic philosophy. I shall show that corruption has to be considered in two different ways, that is, in the context of physical processes that keep the kosmos in its persistence and in the context of the existence of natural beings, both living and lifeless.
Electrochemical oxidation of lignin for the production of value-added chemicals on Ni-Co bimetallic electrocatalysts
Authors: Ghahremani Raziyeh , Staser John A.
Published: June 2018

Lignin has been submitted to electrochemical oxidation in the presence of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co) and Ni-Co bimetallic electrocatalysts, which were prepared by a simple electrochemical deposition process. The composition and morphology of the catalyst were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA). The effects of the three electrocatalysts on the electrochemical oxidation of lignin were observed by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The degradation products were quantitatively analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The rate of electrochemical oxidation of lignin is higher with Ni-Co bimetallic electrocatalyst with higher Co contents and the main products obtained were vanillin, apocynin and 3-methylbenzaldehyde.
Diazoxide toxicity in a child with persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy: mixed hyperglycemic hyperosmolar coma and ketoacidosis
Authors: Mangla Pragya , Hussain Khalid , Ellard Sian , Flanagan Sarah E. , Bhatia Vijayalakshmi
Published: June 2018

Background:

Persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy (PHHI), also known as congenital hyperinsulinism, has been known to go into spontaneous remission, with patients developing diabetes in later life. A temporary phase of hyperglycemia is, however, rarely reported.

Case presentation:

We describe a 16-month-old child, a known case of diazoxide responsive PHHI, presenting with mixed hyperglycemic hyperosmolar coma and ketoacidosis with rhabdomyolysis while on diazoxide treatment. The patient required temporary cessation of diazoxide and initiation of insulin infusion, followed by a relapse of hypoglycemia again necessitating diazoxide therapy.

Conclusions:

Hyperosmolar coma with ketoacidosis is a rare side-effect of diazoxide therapy, documented even in patients with persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy.
Crystal structure of ethyl 2-amino-4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-5-oxo-4H,5H-pyrano[3,2-c]chromene-3-carboxylate, C22H19NO6
Authors: Wang Ning , Liu Yu-Hang , Gao Ming-Lei , Zhao Ye , Wen Ping
Published: June 2018

C22H19NO6, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 9.055(3) Å, b = 17.601(6) Å, c = 11.817(4) Å, β = 91.361(5)°, V = 1882.8(11) Å3, Z = 4, R
gt(F) = 0.0368, wR
ref(F
2) = 0.1038, T = 296(2) K.
The Effect of Piracy and Digital Rights Management on Vertically Related Content Industries
Authors: Bae Sang Hoo , Kim Myungsup , Yoo Kyeongwon
Published: June 2018

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how digitalization affects vertically related content industries with the threat of piracy. We construct a model of vertical relationship where an upstream [a downstream] firm is considered as a content provider [a retailer]. Three business models are proposed depending on who has the right to implement digital rights management (DRM): a vertically-integrated entity, an upstream, and a downstream. First, we analyze how different modes of control on DRM affect the optimal prices and the level of copy protection. The results are dependent upon the different control modes of DRM and the degree of opportunistic behavior responding to increasing piracy costs. Second, we analyze the effect of two types of piracy depending on distribution channels (non-digital versus digital). Strengthening intellectual property rights (IPR) protection results in a price hike for both cases, while we have opposite changes in quantities depending on the types of piracy.
Stand Tall—A Virtual Translation of the Otago Exercise Program
Authors: Shubert Tiffany E. , Chokshi Anang , Mendes Victoria M. , Grier Stephanie , Buchanan Helen , Basnett Jeanna , Smith Matthew Lee
Published: June 2018

Background and Purpose:

The Otago Exercise Program (OEP) is effective at preventing falls and fall-related injuries. The resources and personnel required for program delivery and challenges inherent in monitoring participant adherence and compliance pose significant barriers to increasing the number of older adults participating in the OEP. Alternative delivery systems using virtual platforms may pose a solution. The purposes of this article were to (1) describe the “Stand Tall” intervention, a virtual translation of the OEP; (2) describe Stand Tall participant characteristics and fall-related risk at baseline; and (3) identify changes in physical performance measures associated with fall risk from baseline to 8-week follow-up.

Methods:

This was a quasi-experimental, single-group, pretest-posttest design. Forty-two older adults at risk for falls were recruited. Participants were oriented to Stand Tall by study personnel and then monitored and progressed virtually with face to face check-ins. Participants independently logged in and completed a prescribed a set of exercises 3 times a week for 30 minutes for a total of 8 weeks.

Results and Discussion:

The average participant age was 75.0 (9.1) years and self-reported 2.3 (1.7) chronic conditions. There were more men than women (52.4%) in the study. Participants were primarily non-Hispanic white (90.5%), had a college education (61.9), 40% reported falling in the past 6 months, and 60% screened positive for mild cognitive impairment. Participants were beginning to show decline in function with average single-leg stance less than 10 seconds and 30-second chair rise scores below normative values. Participants demonstrated high adherence rates (>88%) and significant improvements in physical performance measures associated with fall risk. These results may be limited to a less frail population and the study was not powered to demonstrate a reduction in falls.

Conclusions:

Results support that an avatar-delivered version of the OEP is effective, feasible, viable, and enjoyable for community-dwelling older adults. These types of platforms should be considered as potential mechanisms to increase availability of fall prevention programs.
Thermal Conductivity Measurement of Smaller Insulation Specimens Using Standard Heat Flow Meter
Authors: Girardi Graziela , Mukhopadhyaya Phalguni , Zalok Ehab
Published: June 2018

Thermal conductivity measurement of small insulation specimens is an important necessity during new product development processes or when larger specimens cannot be collected during forensic investigation. The research activities reported in this article examined a new approach for measuring the thermal conductivity of small insulation specimens. Six commercial insulation materials were tested using a standard 300 by 300-mm heat flow meter apparatus with a 150 by 150-mm metering area. The results obtained from these tests were compared with thermal conductivity values of standard size specimens. Subsequently, the experimental results were also critically analyzed using a heat transfer modeling tool HEAT3. The observations presented in this article clearly indicate that the proposed new approach could be applied to measure thermal conductivity of a variety of insulation materials of different dimensions using a standard heat flow meter.
Experimental Investigation on Lemongrass Oil Water Emulsion in Low Heat Rejection Direct Ignition Diesel Engine
Authors: Perumal Venkatesan Elumalai , Kandhasamy Annamalai , Subramani Lingesan , Sivalingam Arularasu , Senthil Kumar Appuraja
Published: June 2018

This article discusses the experimental investigation of a new biofuel (lemongrass oil) feedstock as an alternative fuel. The subject has not drawn much attention among the fraternity of researchers. So far, an exploration for a new biofuel feedstock has resulted in demonstrating lemongrass oil (LGO) as an alternative energy source. Nickel-chromium-zirconium coating on piston, inlet, and exhaust valves is achieved using a plasma spray method. The coated engine has been tested with a constant level of neat diesel and varying proportions of 5, 10, and 15 percent of LGO–water emulsion; its properties have been analyzed per the ASTM standards. The considered test fuel was experimentally investigated in a single cylinder diesel engine at 1,500 rpm for its performance, combustion, and emission characteristics. Among the different mixtures, a fuel mixture of LGWM1 (LGO of 94 %, water of 5 %, span 80 of 0.5 %, and tween 80 of 0.5 %) profile had similar properties to diesel fuel, resulting in a higher thermal efficiency and a lower hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide emission. However, oxides of nitrogen and carbon dioxide emission were comparatively higher for the test fuel considered. The cylinder pressure and heat release rate curves show a slight increase at the full load condition as compared with diesel fuel. Against the background of continuous fossil fuel depletion, the fuel blend of LGWM1 (LGO of 94 %, water of 5 %, span 80 of 0.5 % and tween 80 of 0.5 %) acts as a promising alternative fuel for further research work.
Effect of Waste Human Hair Fibers on Shear Behavior of Sand in Dry and Saturated Conditions
Authors: Sahu Raghvendra , Ayothiraman Ramanathan , Ramana G. V.
Published: June 2018

Soil reinforcement using natural fibers has been successfully employed in different projects. Among the natural fibers, the use of waste human hair fibers as a reinforcing material can be the solution for sustainable development. This study presents characterization of human hair fiber–reinforced sand using direct shear tests under dry and saturated conditions. Tests were conducted in three series: (i) Test Series-1: using unsorted human hair fibers (as collected from barber shops) under dry conditions, (ii) Test Series-2: using unsorted human hair fibers under saturated conditions, and (iii) Test Series-3: sorted fibers with lengths of 10, 15, and 20 mm to examine the effect of fiber length when under saturated conditions of sand. All test specimens were prepared at 80 % relative density. Initially, experiments were carried out on dry sand with fiber reinforcement up to 2.0 % by weight of sand. Under saturated conditions, the percentage of fiber content was restricted up to 1.0 %, as formation of fiber clusters was noticed beyond 1.0 %. Under saturated conditions, specimens were prepared with initial moisture content ranging from 1.0–3.0 % by weight of soil for easy homogeneous mixing and then saturated. It is found that the reinforcement using human hair fibers significantly affects the shear behavior of dry sand. However, under saturated conditions, the human hair fiber reinforcement is able to sustain shear strength parameters similar to unreinforced sand, even though these parameters are likely to reduce. The use of unsorted fibers as reinforcement is more beneficial than that the use of the sorted fibers of uniform length.
Residual Stress–Based Fatigue Design of Welded Structures
Authors: Hensel Jonas , Nitschke-Pagel Thomas , Dilger Klaus
Published: June 2018

Fatigue design concepts for welded structures generally consider residual stresses as a factor affecting the mean stress influence. Residual stresses are mostly interpreted as mean stresses. In addition, high tensile residual stresses are conservatively assumed, resulting in maximum effective load stresses from fatigue loading in the order of the yield strength. The consequence of this is that additional static load stresses may have no influence on the resulting fatigue strength because the local effective mean stress (residual stresses and load mean stresses) is always high. The related evaluation concepts neither distinguish between different steel grades nor between different origins and amounts of possible residual stresses in welded joints. The real magnitude of existing residual stresses is also usually not considered, because in practice, usually no explicit knowledge of the residual stresses at critical sites of a construction is available because residual stress measurements are not state of the art in welding practice. For an explicit consideration of residual stresses in design concepts, the sign, the initial amount, and especially the amount of the residual stresses after a load induced relaxation must be considered. Therefore, the steel grade and the condition of the material are of great importance, as well as the local stress condition influenced by welding-induced notch geometry. The article shall give an overview about the state of the art of consideration of residual stresses in fatigue design concepts for welded structures and the background of their development. Finally, a new approach shall offer a possibility for an enhanced consideration of residual stresses in design concepts based on the explicit knowledge about the effective residual stresses that can actually be observed with different measurement concepts.
Vision de l’enseignement de la gestion 2e partie, entrevue avec Monsieur Henry Mintzberg
Authors: Plourde Lise , Meddeb Brahim
Published: June 2018

Réalisée par André Briand en 1991 et réactualisée par Lise Plourde et Brahim Meddeb, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
A Tutorial for Information Theory in Neuroscience
Authors: Timme Nicholas M. , Lapish Christopher
Published: June 2018

Understanding how neural systems integrate, encode, and compute information is central to understanding brain function. Frequently, data from neuroscience experiments are multivariate, the interactions between the variables are nonlinear, and the landscape of hypothesized or possible interactions between variables is extremely broad. Information theory is well suited to address these types of data, as it possesses multivariate analysis tools, it can be applied to many different types of data, it can capture nonlinear interactions, and it does not require assumptions about the structure of the underlying data (i.e., it is model independent). In this article, we walk through the mathematics of information theory along with common logistical problems associated with data type, data binning, data quantity requirements, bias, and significance testing. Next, we analyze models inspired by canonical neuroscience experiments to improve understanding and demonstrate the strengths of information theory analyses. To facilitate the use of information theory analyses, and an understanding of how these analyses are implemented, we also provide a free MATLAB software package that can be applied to a wide range of data from neuroscience experiments, as well as from other fields of study.
Experimental Manipulations of Personal Control do Not Increase Illusory Pattern Perception
Authors: van Elk Michiel , Lodder Paul
Published: June 2018

We report seven experiments to investigate the effects of control threat manipulations on different measures of illusory pattern perception: magical thinking (Study 1–3), conspiracy beliefs (Study 4), paranormal beliefs (Study 5) and agent detection (Study 6 and 7). Overall we did not find evidence for an effect of control threat on any of our relevant dependent measures. By using Bayesian analyses we obtained positive evidence for the null-hypothesis that an experimentally induced loss of control does not affect illusory pattern perception. Finally, by re-conducting a recent meta-analysis we found strong evidence for publication bias and a relatively small effect size for control-threat manipulations. Together, these results cast doubt on the potential efficacy of experimental autobiographical recall manipulations to manipulate feelings of control.
Using the Courts to Protect the Environment in Argentina: Accountability Pitfalls When Judges Have the Last Word
Authors: Kramarz Teresa
Published: June 2018

In July 2006, 17 neighbors and health professionals living in the basin of one of the most polluted rivers in the world—the Matanza-Riachuelo—brought a case before the Supreme Court of Argentina. They claimed extensive health damages due to the level of contamination of the basin. The lawsuit was filed against the federal, provincial, and city governments, as well as 44 private companies [1]. This case study introduces readers to the growing pattern of judicialization of environmental policies. This trend was initially celebrated by many activists since a Supreme Court responsive to people’s demands and focused on protecting the environment could address long-standing policy failures of the executive and legislative branches of government. However, this case study examines two main ways in which judicialization may generate an accountability crisis for communities affected by environmental disasters. First, it raises a theoretical argument that a Court that takes on managerial functions beyond its adjudicative role distorts the normal horizontal accountability functions that are part of the division of powers between the three branches of government. Second, it empirically demonstrates that a Court’s involvement in policy formulation does not guarantee effectiveness and precludes vertical accountability, since citizens cannot vote judges out of office. The case suggests that judicializing environmental politics is fraught with risks to democratic accountability. These must be considered carefully before embracing the judiciary as a band-aid remedy to an executive branch that fails to protect people and the environment.
Concluding Remarks: Social Justice Requires Biocritical Inquiry
Authors: Keel Terence D.
Published: June 2018

Our debate here, among social constructionists, has pivoted precisely on the fact that social constructionists are suspicious of claims about race and genetics for reasons that are much larger than science—issues tied to the limits of language and epistemology, the influence of cultural factors on knowledge production, and the economic realities that order social life. Unjust social and political systems necessarily alter the biological lives of marginalized groups and populations. Therefore legacies of discrimination, pernicious policy decisions, and economic inequality must be framed as causal factors in the emergence of health disparities and human biodiversity more generally. Social justice requires what I term a “biocritical inquiry,” which reverses the orthodox practice of situating genes as the base, foundation, and unmoved movers of human health, behavior, and perceived racial difference. Instead, biocritical inquiry synthesizes scientific research and critical forms of humanistic inquiry that denaturalize genetic differences, revealing the social inequalities and historical legacies of violence, conflict, and discrimination that are inseparable from human biological diversity.
Feminist Mobilization in MEChA: A Southern California Case Study
Authors: Licón Gustavo
Published: June 2018

This article examines the impact of Chicana activism and Chicana feminist mobilization on a southern California chapter of MEChA—the largest and oldest Chicana/o student activist network in the United States—from 1970 through the 1990s. It argues that Chicana activism, and particularly Chicana feminist mobilizations, created the necessary tensions and challenges to transform CSUN (California State University, Northridge) MEChA and its membership. As a result, CSUN MEChA integrated aspects of Chicana feminism into its platform and cultivated Chicana leadership, with an impact beyond the confines of one campus. This article draws heavily from El Popo, the Chicana/o student newspaper of CSUN, as well as from interviews, by the author, of former Chicana and Chicano student activists, to track important discussions and changing points of view over a thirty-year period.
“For a People to Survive in Struggle”
Authors: Robinson Cedric
Published: June 2018

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The Play’s the Thing: An Interview with Rosten Woo
Authors: Decemvirale J.V.
Published: June 2018

I think that “creative place-making” as a concept means something very different from when you combine the words “creative” and “place-making”; it is an extremely contested term and contested set of practices. It’s equivalent in some ways to the words “social practice.” It’s bizarre to describe some art as being social practice; this implies that other kinds of art are not social in their construction, which I think lets those other artworks off the hook. Painting is a social practice—but a social practice that is largely organized around producing objects for rich people. That’s social as well. I don’t want to say that everything is everything, but certainly creative place-making is—in the same way we are talking about democratizing the idea of who can be a curator, I’m interested in democratizing who is a creative place-maker. I think the mode in which I am most comfortable working on the idea of place-making is the mode of documentary. I’m interested in working to change the way that people can see a space and, via that specific moment, change the way that the space can grow or what it can become.
A UK–US “Black Lexicon of Liberation”: A Bibliography of African American and Black British Artists, Artworks, and Art-Making Traditions
Authors: Bernier Celeste-Marie
Published: June 2018

The Western canon of art history exerts a stranglehold that generates almost insurmountable problems for artists and audiences of Black art. It is shaped by gatekeepers who are committed not only to deciding which art is studied and which artists are worthy of inclusion but also to controlling the images and image-making traditions in ways that are structured in dominance. African diasporic artists have mobilized art-making traditions in an individual and collective fight for “a new visual language” that destabilizes and demythologizes any and all such prescription in definitions, theories, and ways of seeing. But at the heart of any and all difficulties in doing justice to them and their struggle is the very real problem of accessing their artworks, artist statements, exhibition histories, and biographical materials. Working with artists, artists’ estates, and galleries over the past few years, I have put together a bibliography for the benefit of researchers, consisting of artists’ archives, websites, repositories, exhibition histories, statements, interviews, and criticism. Conceiving of this compilation as a weapon in the arsenal of social justice, I have assembled this bibliography as a tool for artists and audiences who are dedicated to heeding the rallying cry of African American painter Winfred Rembert as he insists that we all must go “back into the battleground.”
James Oliver Horton, 1943–2017
Authors: McAlister Melani
Published: June 2018

In October 2017, hundreds of faculty, friends, and former students gathered at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to remember James Oliver “Jim” Horton. It was a fitting gathering place. As the museum’s director, Lonnie Bunch, commented, Jim’s legacy is everywhere at the museum, from the fact that several of his former doctoral students are now curators to the foundational commitment of the museum itself: that African American history is not a local branch of US history but integral to its core. Jim always insisted in his lectures and classes and on his many TV appearances and public engagements that “American history is African American history.”
Investigation of symmetric non-spherical particle shapes by applying low-resolution spherical harmonics
Authors: Radvilaitė Urtė , Kačianauskas Rimantas , Rusakevičius Dainius
Published: June 2018

The issue of mathematical modelling of non-spherical shapes of particles is considered. Thus, application of the spherical harmonics (SH) technique in modelling the simplest symmetric star-shaped particles is demonstrated by applying low-resolution functions. The investigation was restricted to a circular cylinder and a rectangular parallelepiped, geometrically primitive, but widespread oblate industrial shapes. The modelling quality was studied by considering selected error norms and the most important integral characteristics of a particle geometry, including the surface area and volume. The presented results discovered new features of the spherical harmonic technique and enhanced understanding of their applicability to describe non-spherical shapes.
Existence and uniqueness of positive solutions for a class of fractional differential equation with integral boundary conditions
Authors: Feng Haixing , Zhai Chengbo
Published: June 2018

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence and uniqueness of positive solutions for a class of fractional differential equation with integral boundary conditions. Our analysis relies on two fixed point theorems of a sum operator in partial ordering Banach space. The main results obtained can not only guarantee the existence of a unique positive solution, but also be applied to construct an iterative scheme for approximating it.
Modeling the impact of mitigation options on abatement of methane emission from livestock
Authors: Misra Arvind Kumar Kumar , Verma Maitri
Published: June 2018

Mitigation of methane emission from livestock sector is crucial to combat the menace of global warming. In the present paper, a nonlinear mathematical model is proposed to investigate the impact of mitigation options, for curtailing livestock methane emission, on the reduction of atmospheric concentration of methane. In modeling process, it is assumed that the mitigation options are applied at a rate proportion to the livestock population. The conditions for reduction and stabilization of atmospheric methane have been obtained. Numerical simulation has been performed to verify the analytical findings by taking the secondary data of atmospheric concentration of methane, human and livestock populations. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to explore the impact of the key parameters of the model system.