"An Ethics of Violence Justifying Itself." Sartre's Explorations of Violence and Oppression

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The Impossible Logic of Assimilation

In this essay I argue that Memmi’s analysis in The Colonizer and the Colonized transcends the colonial situation of the 1950s. The remorseless logic exposed by Memmi, whereby the colonizer and the colonized are locked together in mutual dependence within a polarized society, applies whenever a dominant group insists that various minorities conform to the role assigned to them. Memmi’s philosophical and literary works, read with reference to the logic of assimilation, retain a wider application beyond the immediate context for which they were written.

Representantes da sociedade, governo e setor privado em Mato Grosso são unânimes:: “desmatamento se combate com incentivos e com trabalho conjunto”

O Dossiê Avaliação da Resiliência Socio-ecológica como Ferramenta para Entender a Fronteira Amazônica: Experiências e Reflexões é fruto de um Curso de Especialização para capacitação de lideranças em Mato Grosso. Convidamos 3 profissionais que participaram em todo o processo a conversar sobre suas diferentes perspectivas e visões a respeito do desafio de integrar a conservação com o desenvolvimento em Mato Grosso e como eles aplicam conceitos de resiliência em sua vida profissional.Os três debatedores são unânimes ao reconhecer que ações de comando e controle só conseguem controlar o desmatamento quando acompanhadas por incentivos econômicos. Mas são otimistas que as pressões do mercado, do governo e dos próprios produtores estão conduzindo Mato Grosso para um processo de consolidação do aumento da produção combinada à redução do desmatamento. Os debatedores destacam a abordagem sistêmica e a valorização das perspectivas de diferentes atores trazidas pelo curso como contribuição importante para seus trabalhos

Resiliência, incerteza e gestão de sistemas socioecológicos complexos.: Entrevista com o professor Lance Gunderson

Nesta edição especial, os editores convidados apresentam uma entrevista (texto principal em inglês), realizada com o ilustre professor e pesquisador Dr. Lance Gunderson, um dos precursores da abordagem da resiliência nos Estados Unidos e no mundo. Lance Gunderson possui bacharelado e mestrando em Botânica, e doutorado em Engenharia Ambiental cursados na Universidade da Flórida. Atualmente, ele atua como professor titular no Departamento de Ciências Ambientais da Universidade de Emory nos Estados Unidos, sendo também co-editor chefe do periódico internacional Ecology and Society (www.ecologyandsociety.org). Lance possui uma notável experiência acadêmica e profissional, desempenhando um papel crítico no estabelecimento do grupo Aliança para a Resiliência, e tendo servido como diretor executivo da Rede para a Resiliência, coordenador da Aliança para a Resiliência, e membro do comitê científico do Centro de Pesquisa e Monitoramento do Grand Canyon, além de outras posições de destaque. Desde o início de sua carreira acadêmica como estudante e então pesquisador de pós-doutorado na Universidade da Flórida, o Dr. Gunderson tem produzido uma extensa quantidade de livros e artigos sobre a temática da ecologia e dinâmica de sistemas socioecológicos complexos, tendo organizado, juntamente com o Prof. Buzz Holling, o livro “Panarchy” em 2002 (Panarquia em português), que trata do estudo da dinâmica multi e trans-escalar de sistemas complexos. Em 2007, ele foi condecorado com o título de Beijer Fellow, pelo Instituto Beijer de Ecologia Econômica da Academia de Ciências da Suécia (www.beijer.kva.se). O seu trabalho é voltado para a integração entre ciência e políticas públicas para a gestão de sistemas naturais de larga escala

Detection of impending perfusion deficits by intraoperative computed tomography (iCT) in aneurysm surgery of the anterior circulation

BACKGROUND The aim of our study was to evaluate the additional benefit of intraoperative computed tomography (iCT), intraoperative computed tomography angiography (iCTA), and intraoperative computed tomography perfusion (iCTP) in the intraoperative detection of impending ischemia to established methods (indocyanine green videoangiography (ICGVA), microDoppler, intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM)) for initiating timely therapeutic measures. METHODS Patients with primary aneurysms of the anterior circulation between October 2016 and December 2019 were included. Data of iCT modalities compared to other techniques (ICGVA, microDoppler, IONM) was recorded with emphasis on resulting operative conclusions leading to inspection of clip position, repositioning, or immediate initiation of conservative treatment strategies. Additional variables analyzed included patient demographics, aneurysm-specific characteristics, and clinical outcome. RESULTS Of 194 consecutive patients, 93 patients with 100 aneurysms received iCT imaging. While IONM and ICGVA were normal, an altered vessel patency in iCTA was detected in 5 (5.4%) and a mismatch in iCTP in 7 patients (7.5%). Repositioning was considered appropriate in 2 patients (2.2%), where immediate improvement in iCTP could be documented. In a further 5 cases (5.4%), intensified conservative therapy was immediately initiated treating the reduced CBP as clip repositioning was not considered causal. In terms of clinical outcome at last FU, mRS0 was achieved in 85 (91.4%) and mRS1-2 in 7 (7.5%) and remained mRS4 in one patient with SAH (1.1%). CONCLUSIONS Especially iCTP can reveal signs of impending ischemia in selected cases and enable the surgeon to promptly initiate therapeutic measures such as clip repositioning or intraoperative onset of maximum conservative treatment, while established tools might fail to detect those intraoperative pathologic changes

Avaliação da resiliência socioecológica como ferramenta para a gestão da fronteira amazônica:: experiências e reflexões

A Amazônia brasileira compreende um conjunto único de paisagens e dinâmicas socioecológicas interdependentes, configuradas por uma diversidade de atores, ecossistemas, usos da terra e práticas de manejo de recursos naturais. No entanto, a sociedade brasileira e global vivencia um momento de alto risco em relação à sustentabilidade da mega biodiversidade das paisagens amazônicas. A transformação e degradação destes ambientes decorre do modelo de desenvolvimento adotado no país, em conjunto com o modelo político e fatores associados como mudanças climáticas, desmatamento, uso intensivo da terra para agropecuária, mineração, implementação de infraestrutura de forma inadequada, contaminação por agrotóxicos, entre outros. Estaremos à beira de um limiar (em inglês, “threshold”) de transformação dos sistemas socioecológicos amazônicos, para ambientes mais secos, menos diversos e mais vulneráveis ao fogo, inundações, insegurança alimentar etc.? Como estabelecer um processo de governança para a Amazônia, considerando e respeitando a sua socio-biodiversidade, neste cenário de transformação

Kant, race, and natural history

This article presents a new argument concerning the relation between Kant’s theory of race and aspects of the critical philosophy. It argues that Kant’s treatment of the problem of the systematic unity of nature and knowledge in the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of the Power of Judgment can be traced back a methodological problem in the natural history of the period – that of the possibility of a natural system of nature. Kant’s transformation of the methodological problem from natural history into a set of philosophical (and specifically epistemological) problems proceeds by way of the working out of his own problem in natural history – the problem of the natural history of the human races – and specifically the problem of the unity in diversity of the human species, in response to which he develops a theory of race. This theory of race is, further, the first developed model of the use of teleological judgment in Kant’s work. The article thus argues that Kant’s philosophical position on the systematic unity of nature and of knowledge in the first and third Critiques, and his account and defense of teleological judgment, are developed out of problems first articulated in his solution to the problem of the unity in diversity of the human species – that is, in his theory of race. The article does not seek to establish that these aspects of the critical philosophy are therefore racialised. But it does demonstrate, against those who deny its salience to his philosophy, how the problem of the unity in diversity of the human species and Kant’s theory of race is significant for the development of aspects of the critical philosophy and thus contributes to their philosophical problematics

Activation of the tryptophan/serotonin pathway is associated with severity and predicts outcomes in pneumonia: results of a long-term cohort study

As part of the immune defense during infection, an increase in enzyme activity of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) leads to a breakdown of tryptophan to kynurenine. In previous animal studies, therapeutic antagonism of IDO resulted in reduced sepsis mortality. We investigated the prognostic ability of tryptophan, serotonin, kynurenine and IDO (represented by the ratio of kynurenine/tryptophan) to predict adverse clinical outcomes in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).; We measured tryptophan, serotonin and kynurenine on admission plasma samples from CAP patients included in a previous multicenter trial by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). We studied their association with inflammation (C-reactive protein), infection (procalcitonin) and clinical outcome.; Mortality in the 268 included patients was 45% within 6 years of follow-up. IDO and kynurenine showed a strong positive correlation with markers of infection (procalcitonin) and inflammation (C-reactive protein) as well as sepsis and CAP severity scores. Tryptophan showed similar, but negative correlations. In a multivariate regression analysis adjusted for age and comorbidities, higher IDO activity and lower tryptophan levels were strongly associated with short-term adverse outcome defined as death and/or ICU admission within 30 days with adjusted odds ratios of 9.1 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-59.5, p=0.021] and 0.11 (95% CI 0.02-0.70, p=0.021). Multivariate analysis did not reveal significant associations for kynurenine and serotonin.; In hospitalized CAP patients, higher IDO activity and lower tryptophan levels independently predicted disease severity and short-term adverse outcome. Whether therapeutic modulation of IDO has positive effects on outcome needs further investigation

Spitzer View of Young Massive Stars in the LMC HII Complex N44

The HII complex N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) provides an excellent site to perform a detailed study of star formation in a mild starburst, as it hosts three regions of star formation at different evolutionary stages and it is not as complicated and confusing as the 30 Doradus giant HII region. We have obtained Spitzer Space Telescope observations and complementary ground-based 4m uBVIJK observations of N44 to identify candidate massive young stellar objects (YSOs). We further classify the YSOs into Types I, II, and III, according to their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). In our sample of 60 YSO candidates, ~65% of them are resolved into multiple components or extended sources in high-resolution ground-based images. We have modeled the SEDs of 36 YSOs that appear single or dominant within a group. We find good fits for Types I and I/II YSOs,but Types II and II/III YSOs show deviations between their observed SEDs and models that do not include PAH emission. We have also found that some Type III YSOs have central holes in their disk components. YSO counterparts are found in four ultracompact HII regions and their stellar masses determined from SED model fits agree well with those estimated from the ionization requirements of the HII regions. The distribution of YSOs is compared with those of the underlying stellar population and interstellar gas conditions to illustrate a correlation between the current formation of O-type stars and previous formation of massive stars. Evidence of triggered star formation is also presented.Comment: 63 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication for ApJ; some figures in jpeg format to meet the size limit; preprint with high resolution images can be found at http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~cc5ye/n44yso.pd

Supernova Remnants and Star Formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud

It has often been suggested that supernova remnants (SNRs) can trigger star formation. To investigate the relationship between SNRs and star formation, we have examined the known sample of 45 SNRs in the Large Magellanic Cloud to search for associated young stellar objects (YSOs) and molecular clouds. We find seven SNRs associated with both YSOs and molecular clouds, three SNRs associated with YSOs but not molecular clouds, and eight SNRs near molecular clouds but not associated with YSOs. Among the 10 SNRs associated with YSOs, the association between the YSOs and SNRs can be either rejected or cannot be convincingly established for eight cases. Only two SNRs have YSOs closely aligned along their rims; however, the time elapsed since the SNR began to interact with the YSOs' natal clouds is much shorter than the contraction timescales of the YSOs, and thus we do not see any evidence of SNR-triggered star formation in the LMC. The 15 SNRs that are near molecular clouds may trigger star formation in the future when the SNR shocks have slowed down to <45 km/s. We discuss how SNRs can alter the physical properties and abundances of YSOs.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in the August 2010 edition of the Astronomical Journa