741 research outputs found
Reclaiming human machine nature
Extending and modifying his domain of life by artifact production is one of
the main characteristics of humankind. From the first hominid, who used a wood
stick or a stone for extending his upper limbs and augmenting his gesture
strength, to current systems engineers who used technologies for augmenting
human cognition, perception and action, extending human body capabilities
remains a big issue. From more than fifty years cybernetics, computer and
cognitive sciences have imposed only one reductionist model of human machine
systems: cognitive systems. Inspired by philosophy, behaviorist psychology and
the information treatment metaphor, the cognitive system paradigm requires a
function view and a functional analysis in human systems design process.
According that design approach, human have been reduced to his metaphysical and
functional properties in a new dualism. Human body requirements have been left
to physical ergonomics or "physiology". With multidisciplinary convergence, the
issues of "human-machine" systems and "human artifacts" evolve. The loss of
biological and social boundaries between human organisms and interactive and
informational physical artifact questions the current engineering methods and
ergonomic design of cognitive systems. New developpment of human machine
systems for intensive care, human space activities or bio-engineering sytems
requires grounding human systems design on a renewed epistemological framework
for future human systems model and evidence based "bio-engineering". In that
context, reclaiming human factors, augmented human and human machine nature is
a necessityComment: Published in HCI International 2014, Heraklion : Greece (2014
Evaluating the Potential of Legumes to Mitigate NO Emissions From Permanent Grassland Using Process-Based Models
A potential strategy for mitigating nitrous oxide (NO) emissions from permanent grasslands is the partial substitution of fertilizer nitrogen (N) with symbiotically fixed nitrogen (N) from legumes. The input of N reduces the energy costs of producing fertilizer and provides a supply of nitrogen (N) for plants that is more synchronous to plant demand than occasional fertilizer applications. Legumes have been promoted as a potential NO mitigation strategy for grasslands, but evidence to support their efficacy is limited, partly due to the difficulty in conducting experiments across the large range of potential combinations of legume proportions and fertilizer N inputs. These experimental constraints can be overcome by biogeochemical models that can vary legumeâfertilizer combinations and subsequently aid the design of targeted experiments. Using two variants each of two biogeochemical models (APSIM and DayCent), we tested the NO mitigation potential and productivity of full factorial combinations of legume proportions and fertilizer rates for five temperate grassland sites across the globe. Both models showed that replacing fertilizer with legumes reduced NO emissions without reducing productivity across a broad range of legumeâfertilizer combinations. Although the models were consistent with the relative changes of NO emissions compared to the baseline scenario (200 kg N ha yr; no legumes), they predicted different levels of absolute NO emissions and thus also of absolute NO emission reductions; both were greater in DayCent than in APSIM. We recommend confirming these results with experimental studies assessing the effect of clover proportions in the range 30â50% and â€150 kg N ha yr input as these were identified as bestâbet climate smart agricultural practices
Genotyping Validates the Efficacy of Photographic Identification in a Capture-Mark-Recapture Study Based on the Head Scale Patterns of the Prairie Lizard (\u3ci\u3eSceloporus consobrinus\u3c/i\u3e)
Population studies often incorporate captureâmarkârecapture (CMR) techniques to gather information on longâterm biological and demographic characteristics. A fundamental requirement for CMR studies is that an individual must be uniquely and permanently marked to ensure reliable reidentification throughout its lifespan. Photographic identification involving automated photographic identification software has become a popular and efficient noninvasive method for identifying individuals based on natural markings. However, few studies have (a) robustly assessed the performance of automated programs by using a doubleâmarking system or (b) determined their efficacy for longâterm studies by incorporating multiâyear data. Here, we evaluated the performance of the program Interactive Individual Identification System (I3S) by crossâvalidating photographic identifications based on the head scale pattern of the prairie lizard (Sceloporus consobrinus) with individual microsatellite genotyping (N = 863). Further, we assessed the efficacy of the program to identify individuals over time by comparing error rates between withinâyear and betweenâyear recaptures. Recaptured lizards were correctly identified by I3S in 94.1% of cases. We estimated a false rejection rate (FRR) of 5.9% and a false acceptance rate (FAR) of 0%. By using I3S, we correctly identified 97.8% of withinâyear recaptures (FRR = 2.2%; FAR = 0%) and 91.1% of betweenâyear recaptures (FRR = 8.9%; FAR = 0%). Misidentifications were primarily due to poor photograph quality (N = 4). However, two misidentifications were caused by indistinct scale configuration due to scale damage (N = 1) and ontogenetic changes in head scalation between capture events (N = 1). We conclude that automated photographic identification based on head scale patterns is a reliable and accurate method for identifying individuals over time. Because many lizard or reptilian species possess variable head squamation, this method has potential for successful application in many species
Recent advances in understanding the roles of whole genome duplications in evolution
Ancient whole-genome duplications (WGDs)âpaleopolyploidy eventsâare key to solving Darwinâs âabominable mysteryâ of how flowering plants evolved and radiated into a rich variety of species. The vertebrates also emerged from their invertebrate ancestors via two WGDs, and genomes of diverse gymnosperm trees, unicellular eukaryotes, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians and even a rodent carry evidence of lineage-specific WGDs. Modern polyploidy is common in eukaryotes, and it can be induced, enabling mechanisms and short-term cost-benefit assessments of polyploidy to be studied experimentally. However, the ancient WGDs can be reconstructed only by comparative genomics: these studies are difficult because the DNA duplicates have been through tens or hundreds of millions of years of gene losses, mutations, and chromosomal rearrangements that culminate in resolution of the polyploid genomes back into diploid ones (rediploidisation). Intriguing asymmetries in patterns of post-WGD gene loss and retention between duplicated sets of chromosomes have been discovered recently, and elaborations of signal transduction systems are lasting legacies from several WGDs. The data imply that simpler signalling pathways in the pre-WGD ancestors were converted via WGDs into multi-stranded parallelised networks. Genetic and biochemical studies in plants, yeasts and vertebrates suggest a paradigm in which different combinations of sister paralogues in the post-WGD regulatory networks are co-regulated under different conditions. In principle, such networks can respond to a wide array of environmental, sensory and hormonal stimuli and integrate them to generate phenotypic variety in cell types and behaviours. Patterns are also being discerned in how the post-WGD signalling networks are reconfigured in human cancers and neurological conditions. It is fascinating to unpick how ancient genomic events impact on complexity, variety and disease in modern life
âSnakes and Laddersâ â âTherapyâ as Liberation in Nagarjuna and Wittgensteinâs Tractatus
This paper reconsiders the notion that Nagarjuna and Wittgensteinâs Tractatus may only be seen as comparable under a shared ineffability thesis, that is, the idea that reality is impossible to describe in sensible discourse. Historically, Nagarjuna and the early Wittgenstein have both been widely construed as offering either metaphysical theories or attempts to refute all such theories. Instead, by employing an interpretive framework based on a âresoluteâ reading of the Tractatus, I suggest we see their philosophical affinity in terms of a shared conception of philosophical method without proposing theses. In doing so, this offers us a new way to understand Nagarjunaâs characteristic claims both to have âno viewsâ (MĆ«lamadhyamakakÄrikÄ 13.8 and 27.30) and refusal to accept that things exist âinherentlyâ or with âessenceâ (svabhÄva). Therefore, instead of either a view about the nature of a mind-independent âultimate realityâ or a thesis concerning the rejection of such a domain, I propose that we understand Nagarjunaâs primary aim as âtherapeuticâ, that is, concerned with the dissolution of philosophical problems. However, this âtherapyâ should neither be confined to the psychotherapeutic metaphor nor should it be taken to imply a private enlightenment only available to philosophers. Instead, for Nagarjuna and Wittgenstein, philosophical problems are cast as a source of disquiet for all of us; what their work offers is a soteriology, a means towards our salvation
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