Epistemic virtues a prerequisite for the truth-seeking and constructor of intellectual identity

Abstract The present paper examines the role of epistemic virtues in the formation of intellectual identity and its impact on improving our truth-seeking behaviors. A epistemic virtue is a special faculty or trait of a person whose operation makes that person a thinker, believer, learner, scholar, knower, cognizer, perceiver, etc., or causes his intellectual development and perfection, and improves his truth-seeking and knowledge-acquiring behaviours and places him on the path to attain understanding, perception and wisdom. Virtue epistemology is a set of approaches in contemporary epistemology that regards knowledge as "a true belief arising from humans epistemic virtues." Virtue responsibilism and Virtue reliabilism are two important approaches to virtue epistemology that differ together in their attitude to the nature of epistemic virtue. Responsibilisms regards epistemic virtues as an acquired character traits that must be attained through practice and training with plenty of effort from the agent who possesses the will. In contrast, virtue reliabilisms considers epistemic virtues as reliable and innate cognitive faculties, and believes that this natural faculties has been placed in the human being from the very beginning and, if used in the appropriate condition and in a proper environment, is reliably truth-conducive. So virtue epistemology, which is distinguished from belief-based analytical epistemology by focusing on the cognitive character of the agent rather than the belief, regards epistemic virtues as the constructive factor of the epistemic agent and the condition of reaching the truth. From the two approaches of virtue reliabilism and virtue responsibilism, this paper focuses on the second approach and with using of the nine-fold virtues, that Jason Baehr posed, shows how to make epistemically good and thinker human by utilizing these virtues and avoiding the corresponding vices and through this, gained the truth in various epistemic areas. After explaining these virtues and their role in the two mentioned domains based on the virtue epistemology, the significance of this relationship in the view of Mulla Sadra as an example of Islamic philosophy is examined, For the reason that he sees knowledge as the produce of some factors that epistemic virtues is considered part of them. In the view of Sadra, epistemic virtues is the specific attributes and traits of reason faculty that their function causes man to be a very good and strong perciever, and their actual possesion or their gradual acquisition leads to the perfection of the soul and the dignity of human existence. In a new theory of soul- Ph.D. Student of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Qom University, Qom, Iran (Responsible author) [email protected] Associate Professor of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Qom University, Qom, Iran. [email protected] Professor of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Qom University, Qom, Iran. [email protected] 2/ Comparative Theology, Vol: 9, No: 19, Spring & Summer 2018 knowledge, he considers the journey of the soul from the outset as evolutionary journey, and, on the other hand, he considers all human activities directly as an activity of the soul (epistemic agent), which he performs through his own faculties. As a result, the soul is a increasing and evolving being, while at the same time acquiring knowledge is also from its own activities, and therefore the factors that make up the soul are also influential in its products. Now, as knowledge comes from soul exposure to the outside world, the more this soul is refined from pollutions and adorned to virtues, the better reflection from reality will be. Undoubtedly, the desire to engage in the process of truth-seeking and the responsible use of cognitive virtues and skills lead man to a desirable goal (recognition of truth) and forms his true intellectual identity. In the end, the paper suggests that because of the importance of epistemic virtues in the improvement of truth-seeking behaviors, educating and cultivating of these types of virtues should be part of the spoken and written course content of universities and schools, and must be proper critical thinking is institutionalized and strengthened in the spirit of community members. Educational resources contain a wide range of information that can deeply influence our epistemic behaviors and actions. Hence, it is necessary to include praised cognitive skills and epistemic virtues training in them. Teachers play an important role in educating and developing epistemic virtues as part of the formal curriculum content of educational centers, perhaps as part of critical thinking and logic courses. The formal education of epistemic virtues and the creation of opportunities for practicing and exercising them will be a good starting point for institutionalizing and developing admired cognitive skills among members of the community. In a society where individuals in their epistemic processes use their own cognitive virtues and organize their beliefs on their basis, the community itself and the social relations will also be virtuous, because the necessity of such an virtues is that individuals interact with their peers and In these interactions, rule virtue. Observing fairness towards others, intellectual humility, intellectual generosity, courage against miscreant and one who has weak arguments, observance of neutrality and other epistemic virtues, if it is to be found in societies as a habit and praised skill, then that society will be virtuous and its relations will be healthier and with the cultivating of those virtues, Intellectual and moral development will also become easier and more common. Intellectual virtues (or praised cognitive skills) should be taught to the community members, so that they display such characteristics when engaging in social activities, whean expressing opinions, when doing research, and so on. It is important to change our education policies, because the decay of praised cognitive skills leads to devastating consequences for intellectual identity and the truth-seeking and knowledgeacquiring behavior of the community members

Virtual machine placement in cloud using artificial bee colony and imperialist competitive algorithm

Increasing resource efficiency and reducing energy consumption are significant challenges in cloud environments. Placing virtual machines is essential in improving cloud systems’ performance. This paper presents a hybrid method using the artificial bee colony and imperialist competitive algorithm to reduce provider costs and decrease client expenditure. Implementation of the proposed plan in the CloudSim simulation environment indicates the proposed method performs better than the Monarch butterfly optimization and salp swarm algorithms regarding energy consumption and resource usage. Moreover, average central processing unit (CPU) and random-access memory (RAM) usage and the number of host shutdowns show better results for the proposed model

Analysis of Relationships Between Intellectual Capital and Measurement Performance Indicators of the Pharmaceutical Companies in Tehran Stock

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/2179460X19440Intellectual Capital is the most precious possession of companies in modern economy; therefore, Intellectual Capital of industrial centers is ever-increasingly changing to become the chief indicators both in company operations and in improving its ability to manage the organization capitals. In the main, the current study aims to investigate the relationship between the Intellectual Capital and performance measurement. In this research, the independent variable is the intellectual capital having three dimensions of human, structure and physical capitals, and the dependent variable is the organization operation with two dimensions of economical and accounting which are going to be assessed in this study. The Statistical population is the pharmaceutical companies admitted in the Tehran Stock Exchange from 1387 to 1391 amounting to 30 companies in total. This research investigates the time span from the beginning of 1387 up to the end of year, 1391. Data relevant to variables has been collected by the software of the Stock Exchange. The collection of data has been carried out by means of SPSS. In this study, the researcher used the descriptive and inferential statistics (Spearman test) and the results show that the hypotheses are a s follows 1. There is statistical significance between intellectual capital and performance measurement, 2. There is no statistical significance between the intellectual capital and ROR of the owners’ salary, 3. There is no statistical significance between the intellectual capital and the ROR of the properties, 4. There is statistical significance between the intellectual capital and the value added of the market, 5. There statistical significance between the intellectual capital and economic value added.Intellectual Capital is the most precious possession of companies in modern economy; therefore, Intellectual Capital of industrial centers is ever-increasingly changing to become the chief indicators both in company operations and in improving its ability to manage the organization capitals. In the main, the current study aims to investigate the relationship between the Intellectual Capital and performance measurement. In this research, the independent variable is the intellectual capital having three dimensions of human, structure and physical capitals, and the dependent variable is the organization operation with two dimensions of economical and accounting which are going to be assessed in this study. The Statistical population is the pharmaceutical companies admitted in the Tehran Stock Exchange from 1387 to 1391 amounting to 30 companies in total. This research investigates the time span from the beginning of 1387 up to the end of year, 1391. Data relevant to variables has been collected by the software of the Stock Exchange. The collection of data has been carried out by means of SPSS. In this study, the researcher used the descriptive and inferential statistics (Spearman test) and the results show that the hypotheses are as follows 1. There is statistical significance between intellectual capital and performance measurement, 2. There is no statistical significance between the intellectual capital and ROR of the owners’ salary, 3. There is no statistical significance between the intellectual capital and the ROR of the properties, 4. There is statistical significance between the intellectual capital and the value added of the market, 5. There statistical significance between the intellectual capital and economic value added

The effect of topical olive oil on prevention of bedsore in intensive care units patients

Background: Bedsores are injuries to skin and underlying tissues caused by prolonged pressure. Although, some methods like frequently changing position and using particular tools are used for preventing and caring of pressure ulcers, their prevention would still be as a vital urgency. Olive oil is an herbal product with potential preventive effects to prevent bedsores because of its numerous medical properties. The major aim of this study was to determine whether topical olive oil can prevent the risk of developing bedsores in I.C.U. patients.  Methods: This clinical trial was accomplished in 2014 with 60 patients who were selected by simple random sampling method into intervention and control groups. During three weeks, the control group had received routine skin care, while the intervention group had received topical Olive oil in addition to the routine care. Statistical analysis, including Chi-square, T-test and Fisher’s tests, were performed with SPSS version 20 software.  Results: The intervention group had contained 19 male and 11 female, with an average age of 60.46 ± 18.06 and the control group had contained 20 male, 10 female, with an average age of 50.96 ± 21.38. Five patients (16%) who received routine care plus topical olive oil had developed bedsore after an average of 18.73 ± 5.36 days and twelve patients (40%) who received routine care only had developed bedsore after an average of 15.46 ± 7.40 days. The risks of developing bedsores between two groups were statistically significant (P=0.03).  Conclusions: Our study has revealed potential effects of topical olive oil to prevent bedsores in I.C.U. patients.

Comparison of Effectiveness of the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and the Metacognition Treatment on Anxiety, Depression and Stress Among Breast Cancer Patients

Background: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness the metacognition treatment (MCT) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on anxiety, depression, and stress in the females with breast cancer.Methods: The planning of this study is through a quasi-experimental method of pretest and posttest type with control group. The target society of the research included every cancer patient who admitted to Tehran hospitals for breast cancer. Through assigned randomly, 12 patients were selected for the MCT group and 12 patients for the MBCT group, and the other were assigned control group. The data collection tools included depression, anxiety and stress scale - 21 items (DASS-21) questionnaire. For statistical analysis, descriptive tests and repeated measures analysis of variance were performed.Results: Data analysis with repeated multivariate measurements illustrated that there is a significant difference in the rate of depression, anxiety and stress, in three groups.Conclusion: According to our results, MBCT was more effective compared to metacognitive therapy

The effect of MDMA and pentoxifylline drug on bad/bcl-xl gene dosage expression changes on rat liver

        MDMA generally known as ecstasy, have deleterious effects on the serotonergic neurotransmitter system. Recent findings suggest that the liver and brain are major target organs of MDMA-related toxicities. Although most research is being dynamically performed on brain, however, the molecular mechanisms by which MDMA elicits adverse effects in both organs are poorly undrestood.The present study was performed to obtain evidence for molecular mechanism of apoptosis involved in MDMA-induced hepatotoxicity in rat liver after MDMAadministration. Moreover, the antagonistic effect of pentoxifylline was assessed on hepatotoxicity after MDMA administration. In this experimental study, sample size and power in each group were calculated as 10 rats with 95% confidence level and 5% confidence interval. In the study, four experimental groups were selected including Control Normal, MDMA, MDMA+PTX and PTX+MDMA. MDMA was dissolved in PBS and intraperitoneally injected three doses of 7.5mg/kg with two hours gap between doses. Pentoxyfilline also was injected as 100mg/kg, simultaneously with third dose of MDMA. After treatment, total RNA was isolated from liver tissue (5mg). Absorbance at 260nm, 280nm and 230nm were measured and immediately reverse transcription was performed. Included target genes were BAD and BCL-XL as pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic gene, respectively. After set up and validation, Real-Time PCR were performed and obtaining data were statistically analyzed to determine significantly differences between groups. Using Real-Time quantitative PCR results, BCL-XL gene expression ratio significantly increased in MDMA+PTX group. Moreover, BAD gene expression ratio increased and up-regulated in PTX+MDMA group (P-value <0.001).Our study focused on molecular mechanism of MDMA in programmed cell death using gene expression quantification of a pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptoic gene in MDMA-induced hepatotoxocity. The results shown MDMA prompted apoptosis in liver and pentoxifylline protects hepatotoxicity after and befor taking MDMA.

Effect of Mobile Cell Phone Ringing on Function of Gamma Camera

Abstract: After the start of renal scintigraphy in a 32-year-old woman, there was an abnormal view in frame 6 that was simultaneous with the start of ringing of a mobile cell phone that was in the patient’s trousers pocket. In frame 6 of the flow phase, some bright dots were observed, suggesting photomultiplier tubes. Immediately after that frame, in spite of continued ringing of the mobile cell phone (up to 1–2 minutes), the imaging frames came back to a normal situation. In the case, electromagnetic interference from the mobile cell phone may disrupt the photoelectric functioning of photomultiplier tubes during scintigraphy