Biología y filosofía: en torno al naturalismo de John Dewey

RESUMENLa principal influencia de la biología darwinista sobre la filosofía es el naturalismo. Tal ascendencia se refleja de manera muy clara en y a través de la obra de John Dewey, para quien la relación entre naturaleza y experiencia –o cultura–, fue siempre el problema preponderante de la filosofía. Desde un punto de vista historiográfico se sostiene que Dewey es el primer filósofo en tomarse en serio a Darwin. Aunque afirmar esto quizá no resulte muy arriesgado –sobre todo entre filósofos de la biología–, se pretende sirva como contexto para hacer volver la mirada hacia el pragmatismo, y en particular al experimentalismo como método filosófico de gran fertilidad, relevancia y actualidad. Intento articular esto siguiendo los conceptos relacionados de evolución, cognición y cultura.PALABRAS CLAVETRANSACCIÓN, EXPERIMENTALISMO, EVOLUCIÓN, COGNICIÓN, CULTURAABSTRACTThe chief influence of Darwinian biology on philosophy is naturalism. This impact is clearly manifest in and through John Dewey’s work, wherein the relationship between nature and experience –or culture– is the outstanding problem for philosophy. So, from a historiographical point of view it is claimed that Dewey is the first philosopher to take Darwin seriously. Although this is not a risky claim to make –especially among philosophers of biology–, what I want to do here is redirect reader’s attention to pragmatism, and particularly to experimentalism, as a philosophical method of great fertility, relevance and contemporary application. I try to formulate all this in terms of evolution, cognition and culture as related concepts.KEY WORDSTRANSACTION, EXPERIMENTALISM, EVOLUTION, COGNITION, CULTUR

Evolución en la técnica

Reconciling the concepts of creativity, invention, and innovation with that of evolution in thinking about technique leads to an intertwined problem and objection. The problem is that the first three would imply a purpose or intentionality, while the fourth subsumes a blind and purposeless process. Hence the objection to using the Darwinian evolutionary model in the philosophy of technique. This work aims to propose and support the possibility of fruitfully thinking about technical evolution -beyond a mere metaphor-, without disregarding the first three concepts indicated.Conciliar los conceptos de creatividad, invención e innovación con el de evolución, al pensar la técnica, enfrenta un problema y una objeción entrelazados. El problema consiste en que los tres primeros implicarían un propósito o intencionalidad, mientras que el cuarto subsume un proceso ciego y carente de fines. De ahí la objeción a utilizar el modelo evolutivo darwinista en filosofía de la técnica. El propósito de este trabajo es proponer y defender la posibilidad de pensar fructíferamente sobre la evolución técnica -más allá de una mera metáfora-, sin dejar de utilizar los tres primeros conceptos señalados

CFD study of a bidirectional synthetic jet as an aerodynamic flow control device.

Control of the separation and reattachment of the boundary layer has been the focus of research for a wide range of engineering applications, and it is known that a synthetic jet can be used as an active flow control device for such issues. This work presents a numerical analysis of the potential benefits of changing the inflow and outflow directions of a synthetic jet separately. The basic concept of this new flow control approach, named Bi-Directional synthetic jet (BDSJ), is to induce the Coanda effect due to the jet outflow directed downstream, and change accordingly the inflow direction for an efficient and directed suction of the boundary layer. A widely-used reference case (so-called NASA 2-D Hump) is used to validate the numerical model and to compare results. Three well known Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models are employed and they all show similar trends. Eleven different angles are tested for the inflow and outflow directions of the synthetic jet; the most effective configuration is then compared with the classical synthetic jet and Directed synthetic jet. It is shown that the best BDSJ configuration results in a shorter separation bubble length over the hump, suggesting the potential of BDSJ as a future active flow control device. This work also attempts to answer the question; "How a Bi-directional synthetic jet, influences the aerodynamic coefficients on a aerofoil". Simulations are carried out on an NACA 23012 at a Reynolds number of Re =2.19 • 10⁶, where a two-dimensional structured mesh is used to evaluate the impact of the amplitude and frequency of the Bidirectional synthetic jet on the aerofoil performance over a wide range of angles of attack. Three different jet oscillating frequencies are considered as well as three blowing ratios. The phase difference between the inflow and outflow jets, the position and the configuration of the jet exits are also evaluated. The results suggest that the amplitude of the jet is a key parameter to increase the lift coefficient and a gap between the inflow and outflow jet exits could positively influence the lift coefficient if the central location of the jets coincides with the separation point. On the other hand, the jet frequencies and the phase at which the jets operate do not seem to influence the aerofoil performance significantly. Finally, some guidelines and recommendations are provided to develop further the actual Bi-directional synthetic jet which may lead to its optimal design and manufacture.PhD in Energy and Powe

Geometric Frustration and Dimensional Reduction at a Quantum Critical Point

We show that the spatial dimensionality of the quantum critical point associated with Bose--Einstein condensation at T=0 is reduced when the underlying lattice comprises a set of layers coupled by a frustrating interaction. Our theoretical predictions for the critical temperature as a function of the chemical potential correspond very well with recent measurements in BaCuSi$_{2}$O$_{6}$ [S. E. Sebastian \textit{et al}, Nature \textbf{411}, 617 (2006)].Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Statistical complexity, Fisher-Shannon information, and Bohr orbits in the H-atom

The Fisher-Shannon information and a statistical measure of complexity are calculated in the position and momentum spaces for the wave functions of the H-atom. For each level of energy, it is found that these two indicators take their minimum values on the orbitals that correspond to the classical (circular) orbits in the Bohr atomic model, just those with the highest orbital angular momentum.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Seeds of Change: Strategies for Food Security for the Inner City

The product of a year's work for six researchers, Seeds of Change is perhaps the most thorough documentation of an urban community's food system. Sections on hunger, nutrition, food industry, supermarket industry, communmity case study, farmers' markets, urban agriculture, joint ventures, and food policy councils

Calculation of statistical entropic measures in a model of solids

In this work, a one-dimensional model of crystalline solids based on the Dirac comb limit of the Kronig-Penney model is considered. From the wave functions of the valence electrons, we calculate a statistical measure of complexity and the Fisher-Shannon information for the lower energy electronic bands appearing in the system. All these magnitudes present an extremal value for the case of solids having half-filled bands, a configuration where in general a high conductivity is attained in real solids, such as it happens with the monovalent metals.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure