Form of Intuition and Formal Intuition

This dissertation is a study of the dichotomy of matter and form in Kant’s theory of intuition. I distinguish between two ways of construing matter and form and argue that these two hylomorphisms are suitable for analyzing the act of intuiting and the intuited object, respectively. The relation between sensations and empirical intuitings should be understood as analogous to the relation between the raw materials for some production and the finished product. The form according to this hylomorphism is what is brought about by the spontaneity of the mind. The production of empirical intuitings is the generation of a kind of mental states that, unlike its raw materials, have intentional objects. What is represented by such an intuiting, that is, its object, exhibits a hylomorphic structure of a different type. I offer an account of spatiality as the form of the intuited according to which to represent something as a spatial object is primarily to represent it as a shaped extension, which is a special case of the more general formed-content structure, the second type of hylomorphism that I explore. On the basis of the exploration of the two kinds of hylomorphism and their respective application to the intuiting acts and the intuited objects, I suggest a solution to the problem of pure and formal intuition. I argue that an act of pure intuiting need not have an object that is a contentless form. At the end of the dissertation, I sketch an interpretation of the Transcendental Deduction of the categories that combines the insights of the two hylomorphisms

Dewatering Bitumen Emulsions Using Interfacially Active Organic Composite Absorbent Particles

One of the major challenges in petroleum production is the formation of undesirable emulsions, which often leads to an increased cost for downstream operations. This problem is exacerbated for bitumen, which contains a greater fraction of interfacially active materials known to stabilize small emulsified water droplets that are extremely difficult to separate. To accelerate separation of emulsified water droplets from bitumen, chemical demulsifiers are extensively used to modify interfacial properties, promote droplet flocculation, and facilitate coalescence of the emulsified droplets. However, the use of chemical demulsifiers is rather system-specific as a result of the overdosing phenomenon. As an alternative to chemical demulsification, composite absorbent particles, prepared by dehydrating well-designed water-in-oil emulsion droplets, were proposed to promote dewatering of water-in-diluted bitumen emulsions. The composite particles were composed of nanosize magnetic particles dispersed in an absorbent matrix coated with an interfacially active material. The composite structure combines the absorptive capacity of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose for water with the interfacial activity of ethylcellulose while retaining the magnetic responsiveness of dispersed Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. Using composite absorbent particles, nearly complete dewatering of water-in-diluted bitumen emulsions was achieved by increasing the dosage of absorbent particles. The dewatering rate was improved using smaller particles of greater specific surface area or increasing mixing intensity to promote contact between absorbent particles and emulsified water droplets. Although the surface of composite absorbent particles was initially suitable for dispersing in non-aqueous media, the subsequent change in wettability upon absorption of water (hydration) caused hydrated absorbent particles to aggregate, providing an opportunity for regeneration/reuse of hydrated particles by first separation particles from diluted bitumen through gravity separation or a filtration process

MOESM1 of Gene mining-based identification of aldo–keto reductases for highly stereoselective reduction of bulky ketones

Additional file 1. Additional table and figures

Additional file 3 of Network pharmacology -based study on the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme

Additional file 3: Supplementary Table 3. YQQYJDF targets in the treatment of GBM

DataSheet1_Enhanced non-linear optical properties of porphyrin-based polymers covalently functionalized with graphite phase carbon nitride.docx

In our work, a flurry of original porphyrin-based polymers covalently functionalized g-C3N4 nanohybrids were constructed and nominated as PPorx-g-C3N4 (x = 1, 2 and 3) through click chemistry between porphyrin-based polymers with alkyne end-groups [(PPorx-C≡CH (x = 1, 2 and 3)] and azide-functionalized graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4-N3). Due to the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) between porphyrin-based polymers [PPorx (x = 1, 2 and 3)] group and graphite phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4) group in PPorx-g-C3N4 nanohybrids, the PPorx-g-C3N4 nanohybrids exhibited better non-linear optical (NLO) performance than the corresponding PPorx-C≡CH and g-C3N4-N3. It found that the imaginary third-order susceptibility (Im [χ(3)]) value of the nanohybrids with different molecular weight (MW) of the pPorx group in the nanohybrids ranged from 2.5×103 to 7.0 × 103 g mol−1 was disparate. Quite interestingly, the Im [χ(3)] value of the nanohybrid with a pPorx group’s MW of 4.2 × 103 g mol−1 (PPor2-g-C3N4) was 1.47 × 10–10 esu, which exhibited the best NLO performance in methyl methacrylate (MMA) of all nanohybrids. The PPorx-g-C3N4 was dispersed in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) to prepare the composites PPorx-g-C3N4/PMMA since PMMA was widely used as an alternative to glass. PPor2-g-C3N4/PMMA showed the excellent NLO performance of all nanohybrids with the Im [χ(3)] value of 2.36 × 10–10 esu, limiting threshold of 1.71 J/cm2, minimum transmittance of 8% and dynamic range of 1.09 in PMMA, respectively. It suggested that PPorx-g-C3N4 nanohybrids were potential outstanding NLO materials.</p

Additional file 1 of Network pharmacology -based study on the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme

Additional file 1: Supplementary Table 1. Genes in WGCNA color modules related to the prognosis of GBM patients

Additional file 2 of Network pharmacology -based study on the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme

Additional file 2: Supplementary Table 2. Active ingredients and target genes of YQQYJDF

Nonhuman Primate IFITM Proteins Are Potent Inhibitors of HIV and SIV

<div><p>Interferon-induced transmembrane (IFITM) proteins are potent antiviral factors shown to restrict the infection of many enveloped viruses, including HIV. Here we report cloning and characterization of a panel of nonhuman primate IFITMs. We show that, similar to human IFITM, nonhuman primate IFITM proteins inhibit HIV and other primate lentiviruses. While some nonhuman primate IFITM proteins are more potent than human counterparts to inhibit HIV-1, they are generally not effective against HIV-2 similar to that of human IFITMs. Notably, depending on SIV strains and also IFITM species tested, nonhuman primate IFITM proteins exhibit distinct activities against SIVs; no correlation was found to support the notion that IFITM proteins are most active in non-natural primate hosts. Consistent with our recent findings for human IFITMs, nonhuman primate IFITM proteins interact with HIV-1 Env and strongly act in viral producer cells to impair viral infectivity and block cell-to-cell transmission. Accordingly, knockdown of primate IFITM3 increases HIV-1 replication in nohuman primate cells. Interestingly, analysis of DNA sequences of human and nonhuman primate IFITMs suggest that IFITM proteins have been undergoing purifying selection, rather than positive selection typical for cellular restriction factors. Overall, our study reveals some new and unexpected features of IFITMs in restricting primate lentiviruses, which enhances our understanding of virus-host interaction and AIDS pathogenesis.</p></div

IFITM proteins undergo purifying selection.

<p>IFITM proteins undergo purifying selection.</p

An Overview of Adverse Outcome Pathway Links between PM_2.5 Exposure and Cardiac Developmental Toxicity

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a significant risk factor for birth defects. As the first and most important organ to develop during embryogenesis, the heart’s potential susceptibility to PM2.5 has attracted growing concern. Despite several studies supporting the cardiac developmental toxicity of PM2.5, the diverse study types, models, and end points have prevented the integration of mechanisms. In this Review, we present an adverse outcome pathway framework to elucidate the association between PM2.5-induced molecular initiating events and adverse cardiac developmental outcomes. Activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were considered as molecular initiating events. The excessive production of ROS induced oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress, DNA damage, and inflammation, resulting in apoptosis. The activation of the AhR inhibited the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and then suppressed cardiomyocyte differentiation. Impaired cardiomyocyte differentiation and persistent apoptosis resulted in abnormalities in the cardiac structure and function. All of the aforementioned events have been identified as key events (KEs). The culmination of these KEs ultimately led to the adverse outcome, an increased morbidity of congenital heart defects (CHDs). This work contributes to understanding the causes of CHDs and promotes the safety evaluation of PM2.5.</sub