We Make Up the Rules as We Go Along: Improvisation as an Essential Aspect of Human Practices?

AbstractThe article presents the conceptual groundwork for an understanding of the essentially improvisational dimension of human rationality. It aims to clarify how we should think about important concepts pertinent to central aspects of human practices, namely, the concepts of improvisation, normativity, habit, and freedom. In order to understand the sense in which human practices are essentially improvisational, it is first necessary to criticize misconceptions about improvisation as lack of preparation and creatio ex nihilo. Second, it is necessary to solve the theoretical problems that derive from misunderstandings concerning the notions of normativity, habit, and freedom – misunderstandings that revolve around the idea that rationality is a form that is developed out of itself and thus works in a way similar to algorithms. One can only make sense of normativity, habit, and freedom if one understands that they all involve conflictual relationships with the world and with others, which in turn enables one to adequately take into account their constitutive connection to improvisation, properly understood. In outlining these conceptual connections, we want to prepare the foundations for an explanation of rational practices as improvisational practices. The article concludes by stating that human rational life is improvisatory because the conditions of human practice arise out of practice itself

Минералого-петрохимические и геохимические черты околорудного метасоматизма в Западном золоторудном месторождении (Северное Забайкалье)

Приведены данные об условиях залегания, морфологии рудных тел, минеральном составе, физико-химических и термодинамических режимах образования руд Западного золоторудного месторождения Северного Забайкалья. Впервые показаны порядок минеральной зональности (структура) и минералого-петрохимические черты аподолеритовых околожильных метасоматических ореолов. Доказывается принадлежность последних к березитовой метасоматической формации, а месторождения - к золотой субформации золото-уран-полиметаллической березитовой рудной формации. Слабо контрастные аномалии золота, серебра, ртути приурочены к тыловым зонам околожильных метасоматических ореолов в непосредственном обрамлении слабозолотоносных (первые г/т) интервалов кварцевых жил. Аргументируются генетические связи околожильных метасоматических и геохимических ореолов с рудами и образование их в рудообразующем процессе позднепалеозойской металлогенической эпохи. Основные минералого-петрохимические и геохимические черты околожильного метасоматизма рассмотрены в сравнении с таковыми других месторождений Северо-Забайкальского золоторудного района

Synthese und Funktionalisierung von Verbindungen mit binären, ternären und quaternären Chalkogenidometallat-Anionen in ionischen Flüssigkeiten

Die im Rahmen dieses Promotionsprojektes erhaltenen Ergebnisse werden gemäß dem Arbeitstitel thematisch in zwei Bereiche unterteilt: Die Synthese von neuartigen Verbindungen mit Chalkogenidometallat-Anionen (1) und die Funktionalisierung an Chalkogenidometallat-Anionen (2). Als Reaktionsmedium wurden in beiden Fällen ionische Flüssigkeiten (ILs) eingesetzt. (1) Durch die Wahl geeigneter Additive (wie SbCl3) können entsprechende (Halb )Metallatome in die Strukturen der Chalkogenidometallat-Verbindungen eingebaut werden. Dies konnte anhand der Verbindungen 12, 2a2 und 2b2 gezeigt werden, die ein [Ge2Sb2S7]6[GeS4]-Aggregat (12) beziehungsweise ein {[Sn10O4S20][Sb3S4]2}-Anionengerüst (22) enthalten. Am Beispiel der Netzwerkstrukturen in {(C4C1C1Im)2[Sn3S7]} (1a3), {(C4C1C2Im)2[Sn3S7]} (1b3) und {(C4C1C2Im)2[Sn4S9]} (23) wurde der Einfluss des IL-Kations untersucht. 1b3 kann zudem innerhalb von Minuten durch Kationenaustausch in 1a3 umgewandelt werden. Auch bei der Bildung von (C14C1Im)8[Hg8Te16] (4) und (C16C1Im)8[Hg8Te16] (5) spielt die Wahl des Imidazoliumkations eine Rolle. Es handelt sich dabei um Verbindungen, in denen das literaturbekannte [Hg8Te16]8–-Porphyrinoidanion in eine lamellare Doppelschicht aus Imidazoliumkationen eingebettet ist. (2) Der Einsatz von (C4C1C1Im)Cl oder (C4C4C1Im)Cl lieferte mit (C4C1C1Im)4[Sn10O4S16(SMe)4] (15) und (C4C4C1Im)4[Sn10O4S16(SMe)4] (16) Verbindungen mit methylierten Oxothiostannat-Anionen (OTS-Anion). Mit SnCl4 als Additiv konnte (C4C1Im)4[Sn10O4S16(SH)4] (2) und damit eine Verbindung mit protoniertem OTS Anion erhalten werden. Die Reaktion von K4[SnS4]∙4H2O mit (C4C1C4Im)Br führte schließlich zu (C4C1C4Im)4[Sn10O4S16(SBu)4] (1a) mit butyliertem OTS-Anion als Reaktionsprodukt. Diese Verbindung ist im Gegensatz zu allen bisher beschriebenen und hier vorgestellten Verbindungen dieser Verbindungsklasse in organischen Lösungsmitteln löslich (z.B. Acetonitril). Zudem konnte anhand der Synthese von (C10C1Im)6[Hg6Te10(TeDec)2] (3) gezeigt werden, dass Decylierungen von Chalkogenidometallat-Anionen möglich sind. 3 weist eine für Exfoliation günstige lamellare Kristallstruktur auf

Dr. Bertram's Gesammelte Schriften. Bd.4

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2439928~S1*es

Human threat circuits: Threats of pain, aggressive conspecific, and predator elicit distinct BOLD activations in the amygdala and hypothalamus

IntroductionThreat processing, enabled by threat circuits, is supported by a remarkably conserved neural architecture across mammals. Threatening stimuli relevant for most species include the threat of being attacked by a predator or an aggressive conspecific and the threat of pain. Extensive studies in rodents have associated the threats of pain, predator attack and aggressive conspecific attack with distinct neural circuits in subregions of the amygdala, the hypothalamus and the periaqueductal gray. Bearing in mind the considerable conservation of both the anatomy of these regions and defensive behaviors across mammalian species, we hypothesized that distinct brain activity corresponding to the threats of pain, predator attack and aggressive conspecific attack would also exist in human subcortical brain regions.MethodsForty healthy female subjects underwent fMRI scanning during aversive classical conditioning. In close analogy to rodent studies, threat stimuli consisted of painful electric shocks, a short video clip of an attacking bear and a short video clip of an attacking man. Threat processing was conceptualized as the expectation of the aversive stimulus during the presentation of the conditioned stimulus.ResultsOur results demonstrate differential brain activations in the left and right amygdala as well as in the left hypothalamus for the threats of pain, predator attack and aggressive conspecific attack, for the first time showing distinct threat-related brain activity within the human subcortical brain. Specifically, the threat of pain showed an increase of activity in the left and right amygdala and the left hypothalamus compared to the threat of conspecific attack (pain > conspecific), and increased activity in the left amygdala compared to the threat of predator attack (pain > predator). Threat of conspecific attack revealed heightened activity in the right amygdala, both in comparison to threat of pain (conspecific > pain) and threat of predator attack (conspecific > predator). Finally, for the condition threat of predator attack we found increased activity in the bilateral amygdala and the hypothalamus when compared to threat of conspecific attack (predator > conspecific). No significant clusters were found for the contrast predator attack > pain.ConclusionResults suggest that threat type-specific circuits identified in rodents might be conserved in the human brain

Combined analysis of data from two granddaughter designs: A simple strategy for QTL confirmation and increasing experimental power in dairy cattle

A joint analysis of five paternal half-sib Holstein families that were part of two different granddaughter designs (ADR- or Inra-design) was carried out for five milk production traits and somatic cell score in order to conduct a QTL confirmation study and to increase the experimental power. Data were exchanged in a coded and standardised form. The combined data set (JOINT-design) consisted of on average 231 sires per grandsire. Genetic maps were calculated for 133 markers distributed over nine chromosomes. QTL analyses were performed separately for each design and each trait. The results revealed QTL for milk production on chromosome 14, for milk yield on chromosome 5, and for fat content on chromosome 19 in both the ADR- and the Inra-design (confirmed within this study). Some QTL could only be mapped in either the ADR- or in the Inra-design (not confirmed within this study). Additional QTL previously undetected in the single designs were mapped in the JOINT-design for fat yield (chromosome 19 and 26), protein yield (chromosome 26), protein content (chromosome 5), and somatic cell score (chromosome 2 and 19) with genomewide significance. This study demonstrated the potential benefits of a combined analysis of data from different granddaughter designs

Deconstructive Aporias: Quasi-Transcendental and Normative

This paper argues that Derrida’s aporetic conclusions regarding moral and political concepts, from hospitality to democracy, can only be understood and accepted if the notion of différance and similar infrastructures are taken into account. This is because it is the infrastructures that expose and commit moral and political practices to a double and conflictual (thus aporetic) future: the conditional future that projects horizonal limits and conditions upon the relation to others, and the unconditional future without horizons of anticipation. The argument thus turns against two kinds of interpretation: the first accepts normative unconditionality in ethics but misses its support by the infrastructures. The second rejects unconditionality as a normative commitment precisely because the infrastructural support for unconditionality seems to rule out that it is normatively required. In conclusion, the article thus reconsiders the relation between a quasi-transcendental argument and its normative implications, suggesting that Derrida avoids the naturalistic fallacy

Genome-wide association for major depression through age at onset stratification:Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disabling mood disorder and, despite a known heritable component, a large meta-analysis of GWAS revealed no replicable genetic risk variants. Given prior evidence of heterogeneity by age-at-onset (AAO) in MDD, we tested whether genome-wide significant risk variants for MDD could be identified in cases subdivided by AAO. Method Discovery case-control GWASs were performed where cases were stratified using increasing/decreasing AAO-cutoffs; significant SNPs were tested in nine independent replication samples, giving a total sample of 22,158 cases and 133,749 controls for sub-setting. Polygenic score analysis was used to examine if differences in shared genetic risk exists between earlier and adult onset MDD with commonly co-morbid disorders of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and coronary artery disease. Results We identify one replicated genome-wide significant locus associated with adult-onset (>27 years) MDD (rs7647854, OR=1.16, 95%CI=1.11-1.21, p=5.2x10-11). Using polygenic score analyses, we show that earlier-onset MDD is genetically more similar to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder than adult-onset. Conclusions We demonstrate that using additional phenotype data previously collected by genetic studies to tackle phenotypic heterogeneity in MDD can successfully lead to the discovery of genetic risk factor despite reduced sample size. Furthermore, our results suggest that the genetic susceptibility to MDD differs between adult- and earlier-onset MDD, with earlier-onset cases having a greater genetic overlap with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder