A noção de progresso no pensamento de Richard Rorty

O presente artigo visa analisar o conceito de progresso no pensamento de Richard Rorty. O interesse desta análise justifica-se com o facto de o filósofo norte-americano rejeitar a herança do racionalismo iluminista e a acepção de progresso que lhe subjaz, mas, ainda assim, manter um vincado uso de tal termo. Na parte I, expor-se-á a crítica rortiana ao pro­gresso encarado numa perspetiva racionalista; na parte II, retratar-se-á o progresso preco­nizado pelo autor norte-americano; e finalmente, na parte III, sugerir-se-á que, em Rorty, o progresso não é mais do que a projecção narrativa da esperança. O fio condutor do artigo basear-se-á na leitura de Contingência, Ironia e Solidariedade – um das obras centrais de Rorty –, aprofundada e complementada pela de outros escritos do autor.This article aims to analyze the concept of progress in the thought of Richard Rorty. The interest in this analysis lies in the fact that the American philosopher rejects the inher­itance of the enlightenment rationalism, and the concept of progress associated with it, but still uses that word frequently in his work. In part I, we will portray Rortian criticism of the rationalist concept of progress; in part II, we will explain the Rortian concept of progress; and finally, in part III, we will suggest that, in Rorty’s work, progress isn’t more than the narrative projection of hope. The thrust of the article will be based on the reading of Contingency, Irony and Solidarity – one of the author’s central works –, deepened and complemented by the reading of other of Rorty’s writings

Carl Rogers e a prática pedagógica de Filosofia

Este relatório vem dar conta do trabalho levado a cabo pelo mestrando na sua Prática de Ensino Supervisionada, desenvolvida no âmbito do Mestrado em Ensino de Filosofia, durante o ano letivo de 2014/2015, na Escola Secundária de Casquilhos. Após a introdução em que se exporá uma breve caracterização da escola e uma súmula do trabalho desenvolvido, o relatório prossegue por um caminho de três partes. Na parte I, propor-se-á que a intencionalidade educativa do atual programa de Filosofia de 10º e 11º ano exige uma orientação das aprendizagens próxima de uma pedagogia rogeriana, cujos princípios se explanarão a partir do conceito de aprendizagem significativa, salientando-se, ainda, a convergência entre as recomendações práticas de Rogers e algumas orientações didáticas do referido programa. Nas partes II e III, descrever-se-á o trabalho levado a cabo pelo mestrando respetivamente na planificação e condução das aprendizagens em contexto de aula e nos projetos A Aventura das Perguntas – de Filosofia para Crianças – e Colóquio Jovens Filósofos. Finalmente, na conclusão deste relatório, abordar-se-ão algumas reflexões acerca da educação em Portugal e da prática pedagógica da filosofia.This report presents the work carried out by the author in his Supervised Teaching Practice, which occurred at Escola Secundária de Casquilhos, in the context of the Master’s degree in the Teaching of Philosophy. After the introduction in which we will briefly characterize the school and summarize the work that took place, this report proceeds in three parts. In part I, it will be proposed that the educational intent of the current 10th and 11th grade philosophy programme demands a learning orientation close to that which is described by Carl Rogers, whose pedagogical principles will be explained, starting from the concept of significant learning. It will be argued, also, that the practical guidelines stated by Rogers are in convergence with the didactical indications of the programme. In part II we will describe how the author of this report planned and carried out the classroom activities and, in part III, his involvement in the projects A Aventura das Perguntas – Philosophy for Children – and Colóquio Jovens Filósofos will be outlined. Finally, in the concluding section of this report, we will share some thoughts about education in Portugal and the pedagogical practice of philosophy

The role of the lateral amygdala in the retrieval and maintenance of fear-memories formed by repeated probabilistic reinforcement

The lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) is a key element in the neural circuit subserving Pavlovian fear-conditioning, an animal model of fear and anxiety. Most studies have focused on the role of the LA in fear acquisition and extinction, i.e., how neural plasticity results from changing contingencies between a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) (e.g., a tone) and an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) (e.g., a shock). However, outside of the lab, fear-memories are often the result of repeated and unpredictable experiences. Examples include domestic violence, child abuse or combat. To better understand the role of the LA in the expression of fear resulting from repeated and uncertain reinforcement, rats experienced a 30% partial reinforcement (PR) fear-conditioning schedule four days a week for four weeks. Rats reached asymptotic levels of conditioned-fear expression after the first week. We then manipulated LA activity with drug (or vehicle) (VEH) infusions once a week, for the next three weeks, before the training session. LA infusions of muscimol (MUSC), a GABA-A agonist that inhibits neural activity, reduced CS evoked fear-behavior to pre-conditioning levels. LA infusions of pentagastrin (PENT), a cholecystokinin-2 (CCK) agonist that increases neural excitability, resulted in CS-evoked fear-behavior that continued past the offset of the CS. This suggests that neural activity in the LA is required for the retrieval of fear memories that stem from repeated and uncertain reinforcement, and that CCK signaling in the LA plays a role in the recovery from fear after the removal of the fear-evoking stimulus

High resolution HLA analysis reveals independent class I haplotypes and amino-acid motifs protective for multiple sclerosis.

We investigated association between HLA class I and class II alleles and haplotypes, and KIR loci and their HLA class I ligands, with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 412 European American MS patients and 419 ethnically matched controls, using next-generation sequencing. The DRB1*15:01~DQB1*06:02 haplotype was highly predisposing (odds ratio (OR) = 3.98; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 3-5.31; p-value (p) = 2.22E-16), as was DRB1*03:01~DQB1*02:01 (OR = 1.63; CI = 1.19-2.24; p = 1.41E-03). Hardy-Weinberg (HW) analysis in MS patients revealed a significant DRB1*03:01~DQB1*02:01 homozyote excess (15 observed; 8.6 expected; p = 0.016). The OR for this genotype (5.27; CI = 1.47-28.52; p = 0.0036) suggests a recessive MS risk model. Controls displayed no HW deviations. The C*03:04~B*40:01 haplotype (OR = 0.27; CI = 0.14-0.51; p = 6.76E-06) was highly protective for MS, especially in haplotypes with A*02:01 (OR = 0.15; CI = 0.04-0.45; p = 6.51E-05). By itself, A*02:01 is moderately protective, (OR = 0.69; CI = 0.54-0.87; p = 1.46E-03), and haplotypes of A*02:01 with the HLA-B Thr80 Bw4 variant (Bw4T) more so (OR = 0.53; CI = 0.35-0.78; p = 7.55E-04). Protective associations with the Bw4 KIR ligand resulted from linkage disequilibrium (LD) with DRB1*15:01, but the Bw4T variant was protective (OR = 0.64; CI = 0.49-0.82; p = 3.37-04) independent of LD with DRB1*15:01. The Bw4I variant was not associated with MS. Overall, we find specific class I HLA polymorphisms to be protective for MS, independent of the strong predisposition conferred by DRB1*15:01

A MIDI sequencer that widens access to the compositional possibilities of novel tunings

We present a new Dynamic Tonality MIDI sequencer, Hex, that aims to make sequencing music in and across a large variety of novel tunings as straightforward as sequencing in twelve-tone equal temperament. It replaces the piano roll used in conventional MIDI sequencers with a two-dimensional lattice roll in order to enable the intuitive visualization and dynamic manipulation of tuning. In conventional piano roll sequencers, a piano keyboard is displayed on the left side of the window, and white and black note lanes extend horizontally to the right, into which a user can draw a sequence of notes. Similarly, in Hex, a button lattice is displayed in its own pane on the left side of the window, and horizontal lines are drawn from the center of each note to the right. These lines function as generalized note lanes, just like in piano roll sequencers, but with the added benefit that each note lane's height is always proportional to its pitch, even if the user changes the tuning. The presence of the button lattice on the left side of the window illustrates exactly which buttons a performer would play in order to replicate the sequence when playing a physical button lattice instrument

The landscape of human STR variation

Short tandem repeats are among the most polymorphic loci in the human genome. These loci play a role in the etiology of a range of genetic diseases and have been frequently utilized in forensics, population genetics, and genetic genealogy. Despite this plethora of applications, little is known about the variation of most STRs in the human population. Here, we report the largest-scale analysis of human STR variation to date. We collected information for nearly 700,000 STR loci across more than 1000 individuals in Phase 1 of the 1000 Genomes Project. Extensive quality controls show that reliable allelic spectra can be obtained for close to 90% of the STR loci in the genome. We utilize this call set to analyze determinants of STR variation, assess the human reference genome’s representation of STR alleles, find STR loci with common loss-of-function alleles, and obtain initial estimates of the linkage disequilibrium between STRs and common SNPs. Overall, these analyses further elucidate the scale of genetic variation beyond classical point mutations.American Society for Engineering Education. National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowshi

Feasibility of a flash flood forecasting service

Water Qualit

Function of specialized regulatory proteins and signaling pathways in exercise-induced muscle mitochondrial biogenesis

AbstractSkeletal muscle mitochondrial content and function are regulated by a number of specialized molecular pathways that remain to be fully defined. Although a number of proteins have been identified to be important for the maintenance of mitochondria in quiescent muscle, the requirement for these appears to decrease with the activation of multiple overlapping signaling events that are triggered by exercise. This makes exercise a valuable therapeutic tool for the treatment of mitochondrially based metabolic disorders. In this review, we summarize some of the traditional and more recently appreciated pathways that are involved in mitochondrial biogenesis in muscle, particularly during exercise

Strong Coupling BCS Superconductivity and Holography

We attempt to give a holographic description of the microscopic theory of a BCS superconductor. Exploiting the analogy with chiral symmetry breaking in QCD we use the Sakai-Sugimoto model of two D8 branes in a D4 brane background with finite baryon number. In this case there is a new tachyonic instability which is plausibly the bulk analog of the Cooper pairing instability. We analyze the Yang-Mills approximation to the non-Abelian Born-Infeld action. We give some exact solutions of the non-linear Yang-Mills equations in flat space and also give a stability analysis, showing that the instability disappears in the presence of an electric field. The holograhic picture also suggests a dependence of $T_c$ on the number density which is different from the usual (weak coupling) BCS. The flat space solutions are then generalized to curved space numerically and also, in an approximate way, analytically. This configuration should then correspond to the ground state of the boundary superconducting (superfluid) ground state. We also give some preliminary results on Green functions computations in the Sakai - Sugimoto model without any chemical potentialComment: minor revisions, numerical analysis has been redone to obtain some solutions to the complete set of equations, version accepted in Nuclear Physics

Sources of noise during accumulation of evidence in unrestrained and voluntarily head-restrained rats

Abstract Decision-making behavior is often characterized by substantial variability, but its source remains unclear. We developed a visual accumulation of evidence task designed to quantify sources of noise and to be performed during voluntary head restraint, enabling cellular resolution imaging in future studies. Rats accumulated discrete numbers of flashes presented to the left and right visual hemifields and indicated the side that had the greater number of flashes. Using a signaldetection theory-based model, we found that the standard deviation in their internal estimate of flash number scaled linearly with the number of flashes. This indicates a major source of noise that, surprisingly, is not consistent with the widely used 'drift-diffusion modeling' (DDM) approach but is instead closely related to proposed models of numerical cognition and counting. We speculate that this form of noise could be important in accumulation of evidence tasks generally