Nihilism, democracy and liberalism: Maudemarie Clark’s ‘Nietzsche on Ethics and Politics’

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE via https://doi.org/10.1177/1474885116648057Maudemarie Clark is a leading interpreter of Nietzsche’s theory of truth, and as such we are fortunate to have her papers on his ethics, politics and metaphysics collected in one volume. Opening her section on politics – the subject of this review – with a critique of Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind, she condemns Bloom’s Straussian demand that philosophers lie about the fact that no truth exists to protect their way of life as a recurrence of the nihilist ascetic ideal Nietzsche rejected at the end of the Genealogy. In doing so, she definitively frees Nietzsche from Strauss’ grip, and opens up the possibility of questioning anew Nietzsche’s relationship to feminism, queer theory, democracy and community. Her most striking claim is that Nietzsche’s aristocratic ethics can be reconciled with modern democratic politics. Whether that is the case or not is up for debate, but what clearly isn’t, as this collection reminds us, is that we cannot do our thinking about politics without him.</jats:p

Coronary Flow in Patients with Three-Vessel Disease: Simulated Hemodynamic Variables in relation to Angiographically Assessed Collaterality and History of Myocardial Infarction.

International audienceWe study patients with stenoses of the left main coronary artery (LMCA), left anterior descending artery (LAD), and left circumflex branch (LCx) and with chronic occlusion of the right coronary artery (RCA), undergoing off-pump coronary surgery. An analog electrical model is used to provide quantitative estimations of the distribution of flows and pressures across the coronary network (in the stenosed native arteries, the collateral branches, the capillary areas, and so forth). The present paper demonstrates that the clinical information collected for the 10 patients included in the study (Rentrop score, history of myocardial infarction, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)) are well correlated with the predicted hydrodynamic data. Patients with a good collaterality (Rentrop score = 3) or patients without anterior myocardial infarction have (i) less severe stenoses on the LMCA, (ii) lower microvascular resistances, (iii) higher grafts flow rates when the revascularization is performed, (iv) higher collateral flow rates towards the territory of the occluded artery, (v) better perfusion of this area, and (vi) better total perfusion of the heart

Raymond Aron’s "Machiavellian" liberalism

Recent interest in Raymond Aron has focused on his “Cold War Liberalism,” but he is neither a neo-liberal nor a Hayekian libertarian. Instead, this article will argue that Aron is a “Machiavellian” liberal – that his democratic theory is underpinned by an engagement with Pareto, Mosca and Michels. First, it will reconstruct Aron’s dialogue with Pareto. Second, it will explore his overlooked sociological writings on the ruling classes. Third, it will extend the thesis of a post-War French “Machiavellian Moment” to the Centre Raymond Aron, and ask in conclusion whether his theory of democracy can still shed light on today

Nietzsche theorist of the state?

What is Nietzsche's place in the history of political thought? This article attempts to situate Nietzsche by contrasting him with two traditions: the social contract, in particular in its Hobbesian variety, which Nietzsche critically engages with in both 'The Greek State' and the Genealogy; and nineteenth-century theories of the 'withering away of the state', which serve as an interesting counterpoint to Nietzsche's own view of the 'decay of the state'. In doing so, the article challenges the view that Nietzsche does not offer a theory of the state, and should therefore not be considered a political thinker of any kind

‘An Old Carriage with New Horses’: Nietzsche’s Critique of Democracy

Debates about Nietzsche's political thought today revolve around his role in contemporary democratic theory: is he a thinker to be mined for stimulating resources in view of refounding democratic legitimacy on a radicalised, postmodern and agonistic footing, or is he the modern arch-critic of democracy budding democrats must hone their arguments against? Moving away from this dichotomy, this article asks first and foremost what democracy meant for Nietzsche in late nineteenth-century Germany, and on that basis what we might learn from him now. To do so, it will pay particular attention to the political, intellectual and cultural contexts within which Nietzsche's thought evolved, namely Bismarck's relationship to the new German Reichstag, the philological discovery of an original Aryan race, and Nietzsche's encounter with Gobineau's racist thought through his frequentation of the Wagner circle. It argues that Nietzsche's most lasting contribution to democratic thinking is not to be found in the different ways he may or may not be used to buttress certain contemporary ideological positions, but rather how his notions of ‘herd morality’, ‘misarchism’ and the genealogical method still provides us with the conceptual tools to better understand the political world we inhabit.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Franics via https://doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2016.117631

Preface: a special selection on biomechanics in medical application - Part II

Electronic version of an article published as Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, Volume 19, Issue 8, 2019, 1902004:1-8 DOI 10.1142/S0219519419020044 © 2019 World Scientific Publishing Company https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219519419020044Part II of this special issue sums up the selections focusing on the Applications of Biomechanics in Medicine.Postprint (author's final draft

Preface: a special selection on biomechanics in medical applications - Part I

Electronic version of an article published as Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, Volume 19, Issue 7, 2019, 1902003:1-8, DOI 10.1142/S0219519419020032 © 2019 World Scientific Publishing Company https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0219519419020032Part I of this special issue sums up the selections focusing on the Applications of Biomechanics in Medicine.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Conspiracy Thinking in Europe and America: A Comparative Study

What explains conspiracy thinking in Europe and America? This is the first and largest comparative study of conspiracy thinking to date, presenting findings using a representative sample of 11,523 respondents in nine countries. First, it shows that the overall level of conspiracy thinking in Europe is equal to or slightly lower than the United States, contradicting the notion that conspiracy theories is an especially American phenomenon. Second, people more inclined to conspiracy thinking position themselves towards the right of the political spectrum, engage in magical thinking, feel distrust towards public officials and reject the political system. Finally, we find that – surprisingly – the country context in which respondents reside has hardly any effect as predictor of levels of conspiracy thinking or as a moderator of individual-level determinants. Heterogeneity in conspiratorial thinking seems to be largely a function of individual traits

A microfabricated deformability-based flow cytometer with application to malaria

Malaria resulting from Plasmodium falciparum infection is a major cause of human suffering and mortality. Red blood cell (RBC) deformability plays a major role in the pathogenesis of malaria. Here we introduce an automated microfabricated “deformability cytometer” that measures dynamic mechanical responses of 10[superscript 3] to 10[superscript 4] individual RBCs in a cell population. Fluorescence measurements of each RBC are simultaneously acquired, resulting in a population-based correlation between biochemical properties, such as cell surface markers, and dynamic mechanical deformability. This device is especially applicable to heterogeneous cell populations. We demonstrate its ability to mechanically characterize a small number of P. falciparum-infected (ring stage) RBCs in a large population of uninfected RBCs. Furthermore, we are able to infer quantitative mechanical properties of individual RBCs from the observed dynamic behavior through a dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) model. These methods collectively provide a systematic approach to characterize the biomechanical properties of cells in a high-throughput manner.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 HL094270-01A1)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant 1-R01-GM076689-01)Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Cente

MagnetoHemoDynamics in Aorta and Electrocardiograms

Preprint of Vincent Martin et al 2012 Phys. Med. Biol. 57 3177 doi:10.1088/0031-9155/57/10/3177International audienceThis paper addresses a complex multi-physical phenomemon involving cardiac electrophysiology and hemodynamics. The purpose is to model and simulate a phenomenon that has been observed in MRI machines: in the presence of a strong magnetic field, the T-wave of the electrocardiogram (ECG) gets bigger, which may perturb ECG-gated imaging. This is due a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) eff ect occurring in the aorta. We reproduce this experimental observation through computer simulations on a realistic anatomy, and with a three-compartment model: inductionless magnetohydrodynamic equations in the aorta, bidomain equations in the heart and electrical di ffusion in the rest of the body. These compartments are strongly coupled and solved using fi nite elements. Several benchmark tests are proposed to assess the numerical solutions and the validity of some modeling assumptions. Then, ECGs are simulated for a wide range of magnetic field intensities (from 0 to 20 Tesla).Cet article traite d'un phénomène multi-physique complexe incluant l'électrophysiologie cardiaque et l'hémodynamique. Le but est de modéliser et simuler un phénomène qui a été observé dans les machines IRM : en présence d'un champ magnétique intense, l'onde T de l'électrocardiogramme (ECG) s'accroît, ce qui peut perturber l'imagerie médicale synchronisée par les ECG. Nous reproduisons cette observation expérimentale grâce à des simulations sur ordinateur utilisant une anatomie réaliste et un modèle à trois compartiments : les équations de la magnétohydrodynamique "sans induction" dans l'aorte, les équations bidomaine dans le coeur et la diffusion électrique dans le reste du corps. Ces compartiments sont couplés fortement entre eux et résolus par la méthode des éléments finis. Plusieurs cas-tests sont proposés pour tester les solutions numériques et vérifier la validité de certaines hypothèses de modélisation. Enfin, des ECGs sont simulés pour une large gamme de champs magnétiques (de 0 à 20T). En présence d'un champ magnétique intense, l'écoulement du sang dans l'aorte induit un potentiel électrique qui est la cause d'une augmentation de l'onde T d'un électrocardiogramme (ECG). Ce phénomène peut perturber l'imagerie médicale synchronisée par ECG. Le but de cette étude est de reproduire cette observation expérimentale par le biais de simulations numériques sur une anatomie réaliste. Le modèle informatique est constitué de trois compartiments : la magnetohydrodynamique (MHD) dans l'aorte, les équations bidomaine dans le coeur et les équations de l'électrostatique dans le reste du corps. Ces modèles sont fortement couplés ensemble et résolus par la méthode des éléments finis. Les tests numériques montrent que ce modèle est bien capable de reproduire le comportement attendu sur l'ECG